40k Game Balance Thoughts, Pt. 1 Unbound

40k Game Balance Thoughts, Pt. 1 Unbound

There has been a lot of recent debate around the ITC regarding the number.  The recent poll results came back with a limit of 2 detachments.  There was some debate about a runoff to determine if it should be 2 or 3.  The bigger question has been whether to impose any limit at all and what effect it has on the game.  I would like to explore unbound, multiple detachments, codex balance, forgeworld, and super heavies/gargantuan creatures as different posts.

I don't intend to focus on this from a grand tournament perspective that gets the attention of people on the major blogs and sites, but, rather, on the smaller tournaments that are struggling to maintain numbers year over year.  Our own shop has seen attendance slip from around 20 attendees down to 8-12.  Even our local 'con' has dropped dramatically from 50-60 people down to 20-30 last year.

The first topic is also the easiest to dismiss, but tells us a lot about the state of GW's internal teams, their target audience, and how they see themselves.

Bringing all your toys

I'll start off by saying that I believe anyone who thinks the game straight out of the rulebook is 'balanced' if you include everything is wrong.  Games Workshop wants to provide a framework for people to use their model in any way they want.  It isn't designed for tournaments, but can be used in that manner.  GW has been pulling back of their tournament support for a long time.  We do know that their business plan is to sell models and most people will agree that they create some of the best looking and highest quality (remnants of finecast not-withstanding) models on the market.  Their system wide rules writing (i.e. game balance), rule wording , and editing leave a lot to be desired.  They don't care, have admitted that they barely play test beyond their own very small internal teams, and don't have a marketing team that will tell them otherwise because--ooh look, new shinies.

I don't believe they have a grand vision for balance but we just have to trust them is naive.  Working for a large corporation (not in the gaming industry) has taught me a lot about the inner workings.  Much like everyone who become a parent realizes that their own parents were just winging it, I realize that almost no one knows what they are doing from the highest levels to the lowest and planning, estimates, forecasts, and the like are all complete jokes.  Even if, at one time, they had a vision for game balance it would be the first thing to get sacrificed when their stock dropped a pence.

The game has to have some limitations in place.  Specifically, unbound is not a balance against anything.  I also don't think it's some malevolent plan to sell us more models.  It's just them throwing their hands in the the air and saying 'fuck it' play with whatever you want.  It isn't a strategy it's a cop out.

I've never played unbound, have never seen anyone play unbound, and would never play a pick up game of unbound.  There are very few reasons you would want to play unbound -- to spam a specific unit or force org slot (most likely heavy) or because you don't want to take a shitty hq or troop due to poor GW rules (this is where I say screw you GW for taking away assault marinse as troops from Blood Angels).  If I knew someone who wanted to do the latter, I might be inclined, but almost never the former.


Here are some examples of unbound lists that are utterly ludicrous, and yes they all involve spamming some unit an ungodly amount of times:

This squad 97 times

1843 points
19pts Inquisitorial henchmen squad with 1 psyker, 1 acolyte, 1 acolyte with meltabomb
x97
If you thought 20 warp charge armies were bad, try 97 WC, all with psychic shriek, and they can charge vehicles with melta bombs

19 of these pricks, hiding and making baby daemon love children

1805
95 Herald of Tzeentch w/ML3
x19
Similar to the above list, but can count on summoning at least 7 units or a dozen heralds a turn.

This guy is bringing his 9 closest friends

1850
10 Dreadknights, each with an incinerator, hammer, and teleporter.
Has the mobility, shooting power, and assault ability to kill anything else.

Don't forget the 204 Grots

1836
102 Mek Guns with kannons
408 T7 wounds!!!  You could sprinkle in some lobbas for barrage in case things try to hide, but the basic fact is there isn't enough shooting in the game that can put enough wounds on this to dent it.

These lists are in no way unbeatable.  In fact I don't want to even speculate on which is more powerful.  There are hundreds of other lists we could come up with.  These are just a handful of ones I thought up from armies I have.  No balanced list could really hang with these.  Or maybe they could, but the one thing they would not be is fun to play against.

I'm sure that for every 20 players that want to bring their fluffy list based on a book they read, there is only 1 player who wants to bring 37 Thudd Guns.  But it only takes that 1 d-bag to come to the tournament and ruin it for others.  Maybe at a grand tournament, there might be a hard counter to the list, but at a local tournament, it's completely unworkable.  Do you think his opponents are going to have fun watching him roll 148 blast templates a turn?

The "let me bring all my toys" crowd can, but not at a tournament.  There are other hobby aspects of the game that let you do that, but tournaments are about trying to achieve some sort of competitive environment.

Unbound becomes an arms race on who can take the most units that can be exploited in the game system and that's pretty terrible.  Any tournament will devolve into a few people willing to wade into that filth to see who's asshole stinks more.  Maybe it's just for a laugh at first, but people won't return and you die off as a tournament scene.  It only balances itself if everyone uses insane unbound lists, but that doesn't mean you're having fun.

You need a structure in place to be able to run tournaments or play the game in general, otherwise, what's the point.  Not everyone can come up with their own house rules and game system, that's what we expect (to pay) GW to do by purchasing rulebooks. 

My fun list

I think my first conclusion is the tournaments should be fun.  I always want to bring out the most people possible and want everyone to enjoy themselves.  We will not allow unbound armies because their fundamental nature will be exploited.  The number of individuals who will only attend a tournament if they can bring 10 dreadknights is vastly inferior to the number who would never attend a tournament where someone could bring 10 dreadknights.

Next up we'll examine the confusing world of battle-forged armies in 7th.  People are still frequently confused by detachments, formations, CAD, and how to properly build an army.  These solve some of the issues outlined above, but do we need a limit on how many and does it affect the pwoer curve.

Ordo Xenos Inquisitor with Conversion Beamer

 Ordo Xenos Inquisitor with Conversion Beamer

After a few years of wanting the model, I finally have him finished and painted.  The model is from Moonfleet Miniatures, the gun is from chapter house, and the base is from WarGamma.  Various bits are attached from the terminator kit.

I considered several models from Kabuki like the Napoleon or Rommel both of which have a nice military general type feel and a pose that would work with the beamer.  I couldn't tell how big they were so I didn't want to take a risk.  The "Scientist Thinking" I used is on the small side, but works well enough.

Chapter House doesn't appear to sell the conversion beamer anymore.  I ordered a lot of stuff from Chapter House several years back and was mostly disappointed with it.  I have 6 magnetic razorback turrets.  The resin didn't line up very well, so most had to be glue in place and don't rotate.  The magnets holes don't line up well with the gun holes and they didn't include enough.  The worst thing I ordered was the Storm Raven extension kit.  It took a ton of work to get it to even build and I really wish I hadn't bothered.  It's fine as long as you don't look closely.

The beamer wasn't as bad as the rest, but was pretty brittle.  I ended up pinning it all the way from the backpack far into the actual gun itself.  That's why it is in one straight line rather than bent like it should be.  It's pretty secure now.  I magnetized it so I could swap out with another model if I change my mind or add a master of the forge.  The book and grenade bits were added to keep it from rotating and falling down but also give it more of an official look.

WarGamma 25mm bases came in groups of 13.  I used 10 for the PAGK and have 3 for various inquisitors and other ICs.  I painted it very similar to the seller, although I feel mine are a smidge better.

I painted him and the two assassins concurrently and he only took 2 days, but the backpack took me another few days before I was satisfied.  I think the glowing effect on the gun turned out ok.  It looks better in person because of the mix between glossy and matte.  I didn't want to go with OSL and risk the chance to repaint parts of it if I didn't like how it turned out.  The drybrushing is supposed to reflect that it is older technology that is falling apart and in need of constant repair.

His role in my army is to sit inside the imperial bunker and blast away with servitors.  In order to make my Nemesis Strike Force Detachment work I need reliable reserves and to lessen the chance of deep strike mishaps.  The Inquisitor takes serve skulls to reduce scatter to only D6" and the bunker lets me take a comms relay to re-roll reserves.

The bunker has 8 fire points and is fairly impervious to most damage at AV14.  For only 60 points, I can get 3 servitors with plasma cannons, throw in another 10 points for a psyker to add to my WC pool and possibly cast psychic shriek.  They can get out and run to an objective if needed.

The beamer itself has a unique weapon profile that gets stronger the further away it lands.

Range	S	AP
0”-18”	6	-
18”-42”	8	4
42”-72”	10	1

It's a small blast running you only 45 points.  This will let you put pressure on backfield vehicles such as manticores and devastators.  The AP1 will blow vehicles up nicely.  If they enemy gets in close you can start shooting them with the plasma cannons.

Additionally,  you can add Jokaero for lascannon shots and possible buffs like adding 12" to the plasma cannon range.  They are pricey at 35pts for only BS3.  There isn't a very effective way to take advantage of all 8 fire points though as this only uses half the potential.

Unfortunately, you can't cast blessings inside a vehicle or building, so no prescience.  This doesn't make sense to me at all, but it is the rule.

If the bunker is damaged, the occupants will be hit pretty hard, but in general, they'll be pretty safe inside since most of my army is deep striking midfield turn one and a bigger threat.  At least enemies can't assault, throw grenades, or flame inside anymore.

According to the rules, the bunker is a member of your army and can man the comms.  The comms should go outside the building rather than on top, just in case it gets destroyed.  It should be close to the unit inside so if they are forced to disembark they can man it.

I also take the void shield upgrade when points are available.   It can help protect the guys inside and a separate unit on top, which I never usually do, but the option is there.

Inquisitorial Detachment
79 Ordo Xenos Inquisitor with conversion beamer and 3 servo skulls
70 Henchmen: 3 servitors with plasma cannons, 1 psyker
100 Imperial Bunker with comms relay and void shield
249 points

Or barebones at 172 points if I'm strapped for points.
79 Ordo Xenos Inquisitor with conversion beamer and 3 servo skulls
18 1 psyker, 2 henchmen
75 Imperial Bunker with comms relay

Inquisition Deathstar

Inquisition Deathstar

Henchmen

While painting my models, I've been trying to think of ways to come up with lists that can utilize the cool things I've painted, but never use.  This might take some people by surprise, especially since we're several years removed from when DCA were actually used.  Keeping them alive is difficult, plus you have to remember all the special rules.  Your opponent might get a little peeved once you read out the long list of buffs and debuffs.

1750 Inquisition Deathstar
Grey Knight Nemesis Strike Force Detachment
125 Librarian, falchions, combi-melta, melta bombs
200 5 Terminators, 1 Psycannon, 1 hammer, melta bombs
265 10 Interceptors, melta bombs, 2 incinerators
200 Stormraven
205 Dreadknight, teleporter, greatsword, heavy psycannon
205 Dreadknight, teleporter, greatsword, heavy psycannon

100 Bunker w/comms & void shield

Inquisitorial detachment
79 Xenos Inq w/3 skulls & conversion beamer
70 Henchmen: 1 psyker, 3 Servitors w/plasma cannons

99 Xenos Inquisitor  w/2 skulls, Rad & Psychotroke grenades, power armor, Psyker
185 Henchmen: 2 Priests, 3 crusaders, 6 Death Cult Assassins

18 Henchmen: 2 acolytes, 1 psyker

Bunker mates

This is just an addition to my previous NSF list, but swaps the Purifiers in the Stormraven for an inquisition squad and adds a interceptors.

Deployment is simple, just the servitor henchmen with the beamer inquisitor sit inside the bunker.  If my opponent has no barrage, I can hide the psyker henchmen squad behind the building for the extra WC each turn.  The building mans the comms to make sure my GK comes in turn 1.  I actually prefer to go 2nd unless my opponent has something that can take out a bunker at long range.

In most cases, we're going to have the Terminators, interceptors, and 2 Dreadknights drop right on my opponents front lines (aided by 5 skulls), then the Stormraven come in with the inquisition deathstar turn 2.  The stormraven is a solid flyer killer, another reason to want to go 2nd.

Crusaders

The inquisition deathstar is pretty durable once they make it into combat and deadly, but paper thin if they are outside combat.  The DCA have 2 base and 2 power weapons, giving 4 total on the charge at I6, WS5, and S4.  The Crusader has another 2 attacks on the charge at I3, but only S3.  The Priests each have another 2 I2 attacks, but only WS3, S3.  Potentially, he can smash, but I don't see many reasons to do this.  Everyone even has an invlun.  The DCA have a 5++, Priests have a 4++, and Crusaders a 3++.

Inquisitors

Generic Inquisitor

The Inquisitor brings rad grenades for -1 toughness, psychotroke grenades for shenanigans and another power weapon and maybe even activating force (although you may not be targeting the correct unit if you need this).  For your psychic roll you really only have Telepathy as the primary option.  Prescience doesn't give you much since you have no guns and the unit already has most of the buffs.  Getting hammerhand from Sanctic would be nice, but you perils on any doubles so it isn't worth it.  Telekinesis is Telekinesis.  Pyromancy isn't too bad, but I think Telepathy is strictly better.  Invisibility and Shrouding are the juicy targets while Dominate and Terrify are good.  Mental Fortitude won't help too much and hallucination isn't really worth WC2, but with Psychic Shriek in as the primaris you'll always have a useful power.

You'll want to check what the Psychotroke grenade does before you use your war hymns.  The effects are all really good (#2-6) or does nothing (#1).  If the opponent is reduced to 1 attack (#2), dropped to I1 (#5), or attacking themselves (#6) you may not need to reroll saves and instead would rather re-roll wounds to finish them off.  Keep in mind, you're still only T3, plus the opponent has -1T.  The other roll drop the opponent to Ld2, which may not help too much, but could cause them to run away.

Priests bring Zealot (hatred and fearless) plus can chant war hymns to buff the unit further.  The war hymns from the priests require a leadership test at Ld7, which only goes off a little more than 50% of the time, which is why we need 2 for redundancy.  Almost always you'll want to use the Emperor Protects with these T3 models as it allows you to re-roll all failed armor and invulns.  If you really want to finish the fight and ensure they die, then the Righteousness of the Emperor lets you re-roll to wound.  Finally, the emperor's strength gives smash to the priest, letting him have AP2 attacks but he's still only S3 (I don't think this lets him double the strength again with an eviscerator for S10 attacks, which would be cool).  You'll test for protects first, then try again if it fails.  If it goes  off try for Righteousness.

Death Cult Assassins

The DCA are your killing beasts, the Crusaders are there to tank wounds with the (hopefully) re-rollable 3++.  Multi-charging helps avoid overkill.  You don't want to be left hanging in the wind with only your invulns (and no re-rolls).

With Zealot and the Righteousness of the Emperor war hymn, you'll be re-rolling to hit and to wound against the enemy with -1T.  The DCA will be swinging at I6 with each attack having an 80% chance to kill a PA SM.  The 6 DCA alone will average 19 dead MEQ kills before they even get a chance to swing.  Even against orks, a full strength squad will kill 29 boyz, leaving only the nob, before they even get to swing back.

The Priests still need to be painted.  The one on the right is custom built

This is a terrifying amount of killing ability, that only really works because you have the dreadknights, terminators, and interceptors mucking things up before you even arrive.  Hopefully, this squad is forgotten about because you aren't getting a charge off until turn 3.

It's only 274 points including the IC.  Really, you can't even call it a deathstar at all.  That's less than a bloodthirster, less than a 5-man paladin squad, nearly the same price as 3 grave centurions.  Of course, it's substantially less survivable than all the aforementioned units.  One of the primary identifiers for deathstars is ultra durability.  Of course almost anything can be made ultra durable with invisibility, so if my GK librarian rolls for it, he has the potential to cast it on them.  The unit is fearless while the Priests are still alive, which helps.

Regular old bolters kill this unit.  It would take only around 70 shots to kill and quickly lose effectiveness with every death.  Compared to other deathstars like Paladins, which require 36 bolters shots to kill each model or Screamerstars that require 216 to kill each model, this is nothing.  Even Flyrants require 54 shots per wound when they are flying.

Inquisitorial council makes difficult decisions-- Burritos for lunch?

I think it's more effective now than ever, even though it requires choosing your target a little more delicately.   The old Grey Knight codex in 6th allowed DCA and Crusaders to take 'power weapons' so you could pick.  I modeled my crusaders with halberds (+1S, AP2 unwieldy) and modeled the DCA with staff (nunchuks, +2S, AP4) and sword (AP3).  This gave me more versatility, but it didn't have priests, so war hymns were out.  The Inquisition codex forced them both to take power swords, but limited my transport option to only Land Raiders.  Since I don't have any Land Raiders, I didn't have a delivery mechanism for the unit.  With 7th edition, battle brothers can embark in each others' transports, so now I can use a Stormraven.

Another generic inquisitor

Once I get the priests painted then I'll try this list out.  It's not going to win any lists, but it will be fun to see it overkill some poor unit only half its cost, then get shot to hell (and probably the Storm Raven that delivered them as well).

Current Hobby Progress

Current Hobby Progress

I've got a lot of balls in the air now.  I've primed a lot, but run out of black so I'm waiting for my FLGS to order some more black.  The weather hasn't been cooperating with my schedule either.  It's going to take me all year just to paint what I've got queued to prime.

27 Ork boyz - Initially shoota boyz that were ripped off and re-armed with slugga and choppa. Mostly primed already.  I thought it would be too big of a pain to prime just the arms.

8 Tankbustas and 2 Tankbusta Nobz - Pre and post assembly.  I thought my last batch was slick, but these are even better.  Loaded with bits from as many sources as I could find.  They've got bombs and rokkits coming out their asses.

Kommando Nob - He's not shirtless, but with a little camo, will do just fine.

9 Crusaders - The are Bretonnian men-at-arms.  I wanted to use them armed with power halberds (+1S, unwieldy) with the 3++ to go along with the Death Cult Assassins, but never found the right list.  It only took me a few nights to finish them and they look pretty decent.  They were the last of my inquisition troops to finish.

Inquisitor with conversion beamer - I've had the conversion beamer for a few years from Chapterhouse, but never had the right model to complete.  I wanted to use the Titan Princeps but eventually gave up.  Instead this is a "Scientist Thinking" from Moonfleet Miniatures for cheap.  The beamer is actually magnetized and the inquisitorial bits on the side are there to hold it in place.

Dante - His model is old and still finecast.  It would have been nice to get a resculpt with the last codex.  Instead I'm building my own from leftover bits, mostly Sanguinary Guard.  I'm waiting on the backpack to arrive.

Death Company - Bolters successfully ripped off and replaced with a mix of power weapons and a few fists.  A power fist that can't be challenged out is a beast.  The heads are separate because painting them that way is easier.

Lascannon Devastators - Assembled and ready to prime.  I'm favoring these over my old plasma cannon squad because I can't twin link them with prescience anymore.  They outrange then and are better are destroying vehicles and MCs, which I need more than AP2 killing.

Tactical Marine with lascannon - If I have to take tacticals, I'm considering a lascannon for the heavy.  Once I get more pods, then I'll probably go with heavy flamers.

Sternguard - Made from a combination of bits from various sources.  Should be even better than my previous squad.

Magnetized arms - Assault squads are alpha strike units now.  What  better way than dual wielding pistols.  Plus meltabombs because my GK really need them in every squad.

Nurglings - Ready to prime.  I've already started working on the bases.  These are going to look great.  They are unfortunately, so much bigger than the old metal ones.

Pink Horrors and Heralds - 22 Pink horrors, 2 heralds on foot, 1 on a disc.  These look slick as shit.  I'll do a full post once I get the last 11 ordered/painted.

Assassins - Finished the Calidus and Eversor.  I rebased them all with a common theme.  I'll do a full post once I order/paint the Culexus.

Next up to paint

• Conversion Beamer Inquisitor - This is mostly done already, just finishing up the Beamer itself.
• Nurgle - 10 Plaguebearers, 3 Plague Drones, 3 Nurglings, Mamon, and a Herald.  I don't feel like it will take me too long.  The basis will be all industrial tech with typhus corrosion and ryza rust everywhere.  It should contrast nicely with the rotting bodies.
• Ordo Hereticus Inquisitor - Primed and ready to paint.  I don't actually have much use for this model so it might sit a while longer
• 2 Priests - Primed and ready to paint.  These guys are slick.  If I only had a delivery option for them.
• 10 Interceptors - This would finish up my Grey Knights. I feel that I should finish them soon, otherwise, they might fall further behind as I've got 5 more Terminators that will go ahead of them in priority.
• Death Company - Pretty much everything BA needs to be painted or repainted.  I know DC will form the basis for what I want to do, so I should get to them soon.

BAO Tournament Results

 BAO Tournament Results

Here are the results of the BAO
http://bloodofkittens.com/blog/2015/02/23/tits-tournaments-las-vegas-open-2015-top-lists/
Looking at the LVO lists, you see quite a diverse set, to the surprise of many.  Only 1 eldar, no tau, and few knights.  What can we learn from the winning lists?  Is there more army variety than ever before because of allies like some hypothesize?

1st Place

The winner is a Tyranid list with 25 units (including 3 Flyrants, 10 spores, 6 lictors, 3 mawlocs) and a bastion for reserve control is quite a nightmare of a list.  I give credit to the player for coming up with the list and for playing it well. 

Personally, I always thought the 6th ed Tyranid codex was decent and could kick any of my codexes' asses thoroughly.  Ignores cover from Tau and Eldar was rough on it, but it is for everyone else as well, so that isn't a fair comparison.  Once the Rising Leviathan supplements hit, they were really good. Now with the Leviathan proper supplement, they're top tier and no one is going to dispute that.

Most Tyranid lists aren't easy to play (unlike most deathstars or spam lists).  It helps when your army's top unit is an HQ and you can field dirt cheap troops (rippers, spores).  This gives the army a lot of flexibility, although much of it is lost with synapse.  Even termagants are decent considering they are only 40pts for a min squad for pretty much 3s across the board vs what I pay for grots at 35pts for 2s.  Termagants have a chance to do something, while grots are objective holders and speed bumps only.  It makes for a very versatile core to have cheap troop options and effective HQs. 

2nd

The 2nd place list is the most surprising, but still follows a lot of the same principles as the Tyranid list.  Threat overload and MSU.  I didn't see how the list actually played, but I assume the command squad with 3 meltas in a pod dropped first turn along with the 7 man scout squad likely accompanied by Lysander and Mephiston.  The scouts can combat squad into 3-6 units.  Centurions and Thunderfire cannons we know are good.  I've been warming up to Lascannon devs over plasma cannons (because I can't cast prescience inside a building) and have the bits ordered to build my own, so I'm not surprised by their inclusion.  With the Imperial Fists, you get tank hunter which is so much better than furious charge for Devs that it isn't even a fair comparison.

It has alpha strike potential mixed with a fair number of bodies.  Once again it takes the same principles above and uses them effectively to play the mission.  I suspect with proper terrain coverage, line of site blocking, and mix of types this list can very effectively hide to limit damage.  On a proper table it give you more strategic options.  This list is designed to give the player as many strategic paths to maximize their skill.

3rd

In 3rd was an Eldar list with a Lynx sporting a pulsar, 4 wave serpents, some jetbikes, etc.  I'm guessing that the Lynx sat on the skyshield while the farseer cast fortune on it.  Maybe the power was denied or he didn't roll for it.  I'm not sure why he lost.  This is the most typical of the lists, but with a lynx instead of a couple of wraithknights.  A list full of mostly broken lists in the hands of a great player will do well.  The only thing to note here is that this list was the only one not to have any allies.  Yes, the Eldar book is one of the few that can do that.  Not much to see here, moving on.

4th

A Space Wolf and Astra Militarum list took 4th.  This sported 6 pods, 3 medusas, a vendetta, and most strangely a single Rhino.  It isn't a list I've seen before, but I can see why it is effective.  Grey Hunters are good, Vendetta's are good, Medusa's are good.  Common logic dictates that while 2 meltaguns are good (grey hunters), 3 are even better (AM vets).  Freelance pods are quite silly.  From the description of the player, it seems like he was a huge dick to play against. An outside the box list, but it's easy to see why it works.

5th

A daemon list came in 5th place that features Fateweaver, 4 heralds, 2 squads of horrors, 2 screamer squads, and a plague drone squad.  Plenty of anti-armor, summoning, and durability are key here.

I just primed my drone squad and I'm curious as to how he used them, did the heralds attach, deepstrike, join later?  Not a typical deathstar, but 28 T5 wounds with FNP is a bitch to remove.  Considering they also have shrouded, can potentially get a 3++ (grimoire), or invisibility it's pretty obvious that it can work very well.  They are upgraded with venom stings and the heralds are probably taking baleswords, so that's a lot of instant death attacks.  My concern would be that the heralds are too slow.

6th

Surprisingly, yet not, in 6th was a Chaos Space Marine list with Daemon allies.  Surprising because most people think CSM are bad, but not when you realize that the CSM detachment is 2 min units of cultists, 2 hell blades, a brass scorpion and a predator. 

Ok, I'll admit the predator is very surprising and I'm very curious to see how it was used.  He also has a daemon summoning CAD with 3 HoT and 3 squads of Pink horrors.

The horrors summon while the cultists sit on objectives and wait for the hellblades to mulch stuff with their 6 TL Str7 rending shots.  I love the hellblade and would like to get at least one at some point.  However, I still don't know what to make of that predator with destroyer blades.  The real key is that the brass scorpion is pretty hot with the proper support.  Super Heavies are good, news flash.

7th

7th places were White Scars and an Imperial Knight.  Khan--good, Chapter Master kickass--good, command squad--good, bike squads with metla/grav--good, Sicaran--good, Imperial Knight--good.  We've learned nothing.

8th

Rounding out 8th place is a Grey Knight and Red Scoprions list.  Essentially Draigo, GK libby, Loth, and the centurions gate around and kill stuff while 3 dreadknights take care of the rest.  Yawn.  Deathstar + underpriced MC == win.

Summary

So what did we learn?
1) MSU is good
2) Deployment flexibility is key
  a) This includes drop pods, which were featured in 3 of the top 4 lists.
3) Deathstars are still viable
4) Summoning units is good, pink horrors do it cheaply and effectively plus they're troops.
5) Wave Serpents, Centurions, Flyrants, IK are really good, duh

What didn't we see in the top 8
1) Single source lists -The Eldar list was the only one with a single detachment, but still had a fortification and FW super-heavy LoW.

2) Tau - I suspect the maelstom missions and line of site blocking terrain limited their effectiveness.  Many of the players who jumped on Tau in 6th have since moved on.  With Maelstrom the typical lists are too static to be effective at the highest levels.
3) Tactical marines - Bikes are better in every way, scouts are cheaper and present more options
4) Necrons - The codex was too new.  Prepare to be sick of them in every tournament because GW doesn't playtest.

Does this change my opinion on the state of 40k? No, here's why:

Skill can trump a list, but only if you really know what you're doing.  People often say that to discount when something is overpowered.  However, the average player is well... average.  Common advice I see for 40k players it to continually practice against good players, different lists, and scenarios.  This isn't achievable for most players. Broken units are still broken when they make it easy for someone with no skill to win disproportionately.  Even worse, they're boring to play and play against.

That's the major difference between what you're seeing here at a hard-core tournament and what you see at a local tournament or pick-up game.  At the highest level, they know how to handle almost everything that comes at them.  Most players don't.  So maybe they aren't broke if you know the strategy and have seen it multiple times, but since that doesn't apply to most players, then it still qualifies as broken.

Changes

 Even though no one in the top 8 used it, I still think BAO needs to remove the self-allying rule change.  It does have a ripple effect on other tournaments that want to use the ATC format.  The justification was that Tyranids needed the help: they didn't and they don't.  Or that since the Space Marine codex can self-ally others should too.  I'm not sure how someone can self-ally with the SM codex to take advantage of this particularly well. 

I can tell that the nerf to invisibility changed the lists people would bring.  I'm not sure their fix is the right answer, but anything to discourage deathstars is ok with me.  It does make some units actually viable (like my seekers), but it makes too many units over the top.

Journey of a Boy

Journey of a Boy

Orks were my first army and have gone through a lot of changes since I've started with each new edition and the codex update.  It seems that with each iteration, the optimal way to use boyz has changed significantly

2011 5th edition

I used slugga/choppa boyz in battlewagons backed up by smaller squads of shoota boyz.  It was fairly effective and I had a lot of luck right away.  I struggled with high armor values (AV13+ with Necrons and multiple land raiders), highly mobile armies (mostly DE), and real melee units (Paladin star, but then again, who didn't struggle with this dull deathstar).  I had enough scoring units and 3 squads of lootas to at least go toe to toe with fully mechanized forces.

2012/2013 6th edition

Wholesale switch to shoota boyz.  Hull points diminished the durability of battlewagons, plus the changes to movement, assault, and charge range killed it for me.  Instead, I used large, cheap blocks of 30 shootas w/optional big shootas. They could assault reasonably well and helped with board control.  The real hammer unit was the nob bikers, now at T5.  I backed these up with lootas and artillery for solid dakka overall.   Orks were considered a low-tier codex, but I had a lot of success with this list.  The codex overall was pretty terrible, with only a few viable units.

2014 to the present 7th edition, new codex

A points increase and change to mob rule all but killed the shoota boy.  Now, it's all slugga/choppa boyz.  The superior choice is actually biker boyz, but those are cash expensive.  I can get a 30 man squad of boyz for about the same cost as 3 biker boyz, due to availability on ebay.  With the move of lootas to heavy, the dakka build lost it's teeth, now we have to come up with a whole new build.  More units are viable, but they are hard to make work cohesively.  I feel like there is a lot of potential to still explore.

The Green Tide formation is 10 squads of boyz joined as one.  I can see how it works, but seems like a chore to play.  It is a possibility I would like to explore at some point.

A Boyz journey to the present

Towards the middle of 2013, I won a few ebay auctions and acquired 60 boyz.  Now at this point, I already had 40+ slugga/choppa and around 80 shoota boyz.  However, as a proper ork player, you can never have enough.  So the squad was going to be split into 18 slugga/choppa and 42 shoota boyz.  The actual mix was 20 shoota and 42 slugga choppa from the assault on black reach set.  Unlike more recent box sets, these are not the actual kit, but rather snapfit with arms molded onto the body.  Therefore, I had to snip off additional arms and use cheap shootas acquired from ebay to turn them into proper shoota boyz.  They were primed, but never painted, because I didn't actually need that many.

Fast forward to 2014.  I'm started to use Orks again and realize that shoota boyz are not optimal.  I paint up the primed slugga choppa boyz so that I at least have 2 full squads of slugga choppa boyz to use.  However, I still had 42 shoota boyz sitting in a shoe box in my closet.

So what do I do with them?  I have tons of bitx sitting around, so a few weeks ago I decided to convert some of them back to slugga/choppa boyz.  So far, I've got 28 converted back, which should give me another full squad of 30, plus I now have 88 boyz, which I can use for a green tide formation.  Just so we're clear, there are AoBR boyz that were clipped and converted to shoota boyz, then had their arms ripped off and converted back to slugga/choppas.

This leaves me with 14 shoota boyz.  Let's keep going. I have the bitz to convert 8 of those to more tankbustas, a ramshackle group anyways.  I just need a few more bit to make them complete, but that will give me 2 squads of 8.

With the 60 boyz, I also received 5 big shootas.  Now that rokkits are the same price, they are the superior choice.  Plus the tankbustas can be used as regular rokkit boyz if needed in the green tide formation.

I've been heavily considering running Zhadsnark.  Unfortunately, he doesn't allow big guns.  The only positive is that I can go with 3 squads of  lootas. I currently have 30 painted another 7 primed.  What the hell, let's max out at 45.  I'll take the 5 big shootas and 3 of the remaining shoota boyz and make them 'proppa lootas' using bits leftover from space marines, tau, grey knights, etc.

So I'm down to 3 of the shoota boyz.

Summary
42 shootas, 5 big shootas
-->28 Slugga/Choppa boyz
-->8 tankbustas
-->8 lootas
-->3 spares

End result
88 Slugga choppa boyz
78 Shoota boyz
16 tankbustas/rokkits
45 lootas

Of course, silly me -- I won another ebay auction for 2 boxes of boyz new on sprue.  Whereas the loota box only has 4 lootas and a mostly useless mek model inversely the boy box has 11 models including the Nob.  While, I don't need the nob it really gives me 22 models.  So that leaves me with 25 models to figure out how to build.

I'm leaning toward building 20 of them as slugga/choppa boyz.  I could then take 4 full squads of slugga/choppa boyz (with nobs and a couple of rokkits) or a green tide.  I could also magnetize them so I can attach my death company back packs so that they can be impromptu stormboyz.  The won't match the current stormboyz, but so what.  This will give me some flexibility.

Other conversions

Almost all my nobs are sporting slugga and big choppa or power klaw.  No sense in that now that a shoota is a free upgrade.  I can mostly get away with just adding a shoota barrel, of which I have dozens sitting around, already primed.

I also need a Kommando Nob.  There aren't many good options for this.  My Kommandos are bare chested, but there is no comparable option without ordering expensive parts from Poland.  I'll make do with one that's partially built. and just repaint him.

Since I have plenty of nob bodies, I can build two tankbusta nobs.  For only 15 points, they become more survivable and resilient to morale.  Although in that squad, the nob inflicting D6 Str 4 hits is going to kill a couple of expensive models and not just 6 point boyz (damn you mob rule and army wide Ld7, can't the nobs be at least Ld8).

I also don't have 10 PK nobz for the Green Tide, but a simple arm swap will suffice.

I've already converted most of my Nob bikers to have a swappable army so they 'count as' regular biker boyz, though I'm not sure who would be that pedantic.

I'm also in the process of building 6 Traktor Kannons (1x5 or 2x3) and 5 Kustom Mega Kannons.  Lobbas are great, but do jack squat against flyers, 2+/3+ armor saves, and most vehicles.  Flyers are still really big around.  Flyrants are terrifying and this is the perfect counter unit to them.

Sorry for a lack of pictures 

Grey Knight Conversion Progress

Grey Knight Conversion Progress

Grey Knights

I've made great progress with my Grey Knight Strike Squad conversions since January.  I actually played my first match with them last week and they performed surprisingly well.  I'm happy with the NSF detachment pushing multiple units right in the enemy's face turn 1.  The comms combined with inquisitors for accurate deep strikes thanks to servo-skulls, things came in reliably and right where I wanted them.  I may look into pushing even more units into reserve such as interceptors and I'm even consider *gasp* a strike squad again.  We'll see.

To recount my plan, I have 20 strikes and 10 purgators.  They would be converted to 10 purifiers, 10 interceptors, and a reconfigured, but mostly unchanged, squad of strikes.  In addition, I needed a squad of terminators and an HQ of some sorts.

Infantry

Terminators, Librarian, Inquisitor

I'm very happy with the progress I've made.  The Librarian and 5 GK Terminators are complete.  The Strikes and Purifiers are done as well, leaving only the interceptors remaining.  I have all the parts ready to go, I just need to paint them, though the backpacks are currently separate to make it easier.  I'm still a few magnetized single handed swords short if I don't want to run any halberds, but usually I'm ok.  I even managed to finish the Dreadknight swords.  Let's take a look

Grey Knight Librarian with combi-melta and falchions

The Librarian was converted from leftover bits from the Dreadknight and some leftover Terminator legs.  I went with dual falchions over the halberds (+1 Strength) or staff (adamantium will) because I felt it would be more useful overall.  The combi-melta is magnetized.  I still need a way to add/remove meltabombs, though realistically, I'm always going to take them.  I'm happy with how the model turned out.  The base isn't my favorite but it distinguishes him from the rest of the Terminator squad.

Grey Knight Terminators

The Terminators are quite boss. All the weapons are magneitzed for halberds, swords, or even a hammer or two.  The psycannon is magnetized as well so I can switch to psilencer.  I kept up with my daemon base theme with a nurgle-ish cesspool base.  The swords and halberds all continue the lightning theme I've settled on.

Grey Knight Strike Squad

Here is the Strike Squad.  The two incinerators came from the Purgation squad, but otherwise, the squad is pretty much the same.  There was very minimal touch up work done.

Grey Knight Purifiers

The Purifiers were overhauled the most.  The psycannons were removed and replaced with magnetized arms for hammer or sword.  The heads were popped off, stripped, and repainted with white.  I actually painted them a couple of times.  Any sort of wash I put on the heads looked horrible.  It took me a while before I was happy with the pure white heads, but now I really like them.  I did get vanguard vet hammers to use, although only a few are painted so far.  The one handed hammer look is great for them, very dynamic.  The swords were my first attempt at NFS and I've been pretty unhappy with them, so they were painted over and re-done in lightning.

Grey Knight Interceptors

The interceptors still need to be painted.  I want to run through a few tests with how to do the backpacks before I commit.  Most of the squad needs to be fully painted.  I'm still tweaking my list to see where they fit in.  They are essentially the same cost as a purifier squad but trade mobility and deployment options for the extra attack and psychic power.  The shunt with 2 interceptor is incredibly powerful for taking out backfield scorers.

Combat squad out of a SR for 4 WC and 2 shots at Cleansing Flame

Dreads

The Dreadknights are now fully done (well, I could maybe go for a psilencer) with the completion of the swords at long last.  I originally wanted to use an airbrush for the swords because I was skeptical it could work on a large scale.  I proved myself wrong and they really look outstanding.  I don't have any interest in adding a 3rd Dreadknight.  I can only take 2 in a Nemesis Strike Force detachment anyways, and 3 seems too spammy to me.  Full post coming on them.

I still have 1 Dreadnought left to paint, but I may end up selling him.  I also have 2 rhinos plus accessories to use them as razorbacks of all sorts, including the forgeworld psycannon variant.  They aren't finished, but look close enough.  In fact, I've never finished a Rhino based vehicle, too many clean lines.

Next Steps

Grey Knight Terminators, good value

I may eventually consider getting more Terminators.  So far, they seem to be a really solid value.   I've already regretted not having the option to add extras to my list already.  In an elite army, I often end up with an odd number of points like 40 or 60 that isn't enough to add a full unit, but I could add 1 or 2 terminators.  Instead I've been bulking of inquisition squads non-optimally.

I've settled on running them with 1 hammer and 1 psycannon per 5 dudes.  I also take the melta-bombs so they can threaten vehicles without having to cast hammerhand.   Little metal boxes still seem to give me trouble.  This works out to 200 pts for a 5 man squad, 395 for 10.

Army on the move