Spikey Bits

I'd like to intorduce our first guest writer here at Spikey Bits, TPM Blood Angel. Paul has been playing Blood Angels probably longer than most, and even won Baltimore GT with them.  Since the new BA's are coming out soon I've asked him to do a write up on them.

With the new Blood Angel codex coming out the biggest question is: To mech or not to mech?

The Baal Predator has moved to the fast attack choice, so now you can field a total of 6 Space Marine AV 13 tanks in the standard force org chart. To make things even sweeter they are considered fast vehicles. This means you will be able to move 6 inches a turn and fire all of their weapons.

Synergy and redundancy are two of the primary concerns when building an army list so I think keeping the predator weapon load outs somewhat similar across the board is key. The optimal configuration for your heavy support predators is most likely an Auto Cannon turret and Lascannon sponsons. The twin las turret is just way too many points for what you get out of it. You are also going to end up with a ton of las cannons in your army, but more on that later.

Having an Auto Cannon turret and Lascannon sponsons allows you to threaten similar enemy threats and often you won’t be wasting your auto cannon shots on things that you would like to be shooting your Lascannons at. Too many times I see people building out devastator squads (which most armies shouldn’t take anyway  IMHO) with half Lascannons and half heavy bolters. This is a huge mistake because there is rarely ever going to come a time when you will be firing those weapons at the same target.

This isn’t the case with the Autocannon due to it’s high strength value. You can pop IG chimeras, most Dreadnoughts, Rhinos and a lot of other popular choices out there right now – not to mention wound any monstrous creature in the game with reasonable success. Basically, the same stuff you’d be shooting your lascannons at.

So my heavy support choices:  3 Preds with Autocannon turrets and Lascannon sponsons. 12 str 7 or greater shots per turn.

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With fast attack I think a lot of people taking the Baal Predator will try and go for the flamestorm cannon. If you’re using some sort of combined attack with jump pack marines or drop podding/ flying Deadnoughts then the Flamestorm on outflanking Baals might be a good choice.

I am not a big fan of my tanks not starting on the table though. For the list synergy I think the best option is going to be the twin Assault Cannons with Heavy Bolter sponsons. Most of the time you’re going to be shooting these weapons at similar targets. In a pinch you can also use the Assault Cannons to pop transports (remember that rends will auto pen most transports) or since they are also fast you’ll have no problems getting side armor shots on Chimeras which the assault cannons will absolutely destroy. Once all the armor and hard targets are gone you’ve still got the long-ish range to whittle down enemy troops, remember they are fast so its 6"- 12" + range of the gun. You can move six inches to scoot away from the enemy while pounding them with fire.

If you’re facing a straight horde army then you’ve got the volume of fire to tear them to shreds as well, as long as you focus your shots and burn down a unit at a time.

Fast Attack Choices: 3 Baal preds with twin Assault Cannons and heavy bolter sponsons. 30 str 5 or greater shots per turn.

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Remember what I said about having a lot of Lascannons? Well, that brings us to troops.

Scoring units are critical in 5th ed. Taking assault marines and removing their jump packs gives you a price break on their transport. To me, the no brainer choice here is the Razorback. You take a 5 man squad, give them a special weapon and a close combat upgrade and put them in a twin Plasma Lascannon turret Razorback. This gives you long range fire and the short range hard target popping power that you’ll need for things like Terminators, Nob Bikers, or whatever else managed to make it across the table through your 6 Predator field of fire.

Adding in these Razorbacks gives you ELEVEN (11 - !!!!!!eleventyoneoneone) Las Cannons or, in short, enough las cannons to make the mech IG or Ork Battlewagon spam list cry.

With this mech variant you’ve got 11 fast vehicles that can zoom around the battle field while still dishing out their full complement of firepower and also deliver your 3+ armor scoring units to the objectives. On tables with little terrain or cover you’ve also got a ton of vehicles that you can screen the rest of your army with.

By just taking 5 assault squads and the Razorbacks you’ve got a few points left over to play with. You can take a beefed up HQ choice or maybe another AV 13 choice in the form of a Dreadnought.

This was, obviously geared towards the ‘to mech’ option. Next we’ll talk about ‘not to mech’ where you can drop 60+ assault marines reliably on turn 2 or three right in your opponents face.

What do you think so far about the new Blood Angel choices?

Today I wanted to talk about my Nob Biker squad, and their custom bases. This is kinda of a summary repost from my original three blog posts back in April '09, but now that I got more followers I want to get some input on them.

The best thing you can do to really show off converted and painted models, is to put them on bases that will show off their detail , and accent the theme of you army.   I figured a base with a bunch of battlefield debris with a rocky deserty look was the way to go for these lads. So, I painted them up in a desert scheme to match the rest of my Ork horde.

First I basecoated them with Scorched Brown, then drybrushed over that with Kommando Khaki, followed by Bubonic Brown. The metals were picked out with P3's Pig Iron and washed with Devlin Mud. Then I used wood glue to affix GF9's "Straw Grass" flock to them. I use the wood glue as opposed to super glue because I think the grass just looks "fuller" when it dries.

So now its time to mount my models on their new scenic bases. Of course I'd have to pin each of them down to their base, which is fine because I know they will be sturdy. I won't have to worry about them falling off the base either (unless I drop them- UGH!)

Here's the Nob Bikers mounted on their new bases.  Since they now made the bits for Big Choppas (Nobz Box)  I splashed a few of those around the squad. Who can't resist four STR 7 hits on the charge per model?
I converted a Waaagh Banner from a Black Orc arm and an Orc Warboss Standard from Warhammer Fantasy.  I had to magnetize the arm at the shoulder to actually store it, as the whole model wouldn't even fit in a 4" foam tray!

Then I sketched the outline of the banner in pencil as a guideline for the freehand paint job. Next I went over it with black, and highlighted that with three grays; Adeptus Battlegrey, Codex Grey, Ghostly Grey & Codex Grey 50/50 Mix. When I was done I just used the eraser to get rid of any unwanted pencil marks that were left behind!

Of course I still have some Power Claw Nobz, plus the wonder twins: Warboss Snorg and Painboy Steve. Check out the Warboss on his new base of doom! Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!


Note the Attack Squig shamelessly stolen from the Fanatics Box. I also converted a flame on the Kombi-Skortcha from an Ork Boy Topknot bit. I think in the near future I'll go back and add a small banner pole to him just so he's taller that the rest of the ladz.

Last but not least is Painboy Steve. I did a lot of customizing with this model, and I think he turned out pretty good.

First he had to have a masked head, and that weird doctor head light saucer thing. Next he needed some Dok's tools and and a bone saw for operating. Then I converted him a Painboy gun from a slugga, bosspole, and burna.

I also painted a "bone cross" on his bike cowl so everyone knows he's the Dok!

So that's it. I'm itching to get these guys on the field, with the new Deff Rolla rules and see what the army can do!

-MBG

What do you think? Use the standard base for the model, or buy something that looks good? Jawaballs has a great line of affordable custom resin bases in his store to choose from!

Well its morning here at Adepticon 2010. Here is a look at the scenery for the 40k events, and some sample armies that look great.



The terrain looks great, and is pretty varied throughout the tables themselves, so I doubt anyone will play on the same table twice.

MBG back again with an interesting debate, which Inquisitor ally do you take?  It seems like more and more players take an Inquisitor ally with Mystics to protect against deep strike threats like Daemons, Drop Marines, and shortly Decent of Angels. Now we're all adding in a Psychic Hood for threats like Tyranids, Space Wolves, Eldar, and quite possibly the new Blood Angel powers as well.

With all that being said, what version of the Inquisitor should u take? Do you burn the HQ choice and take the Inquisitor Lord for the LD 10 Psychic hood? Taken with 2 Mystics and the lowest henchmen it's like 100 points.  Or do you take the Elite Inquisitor with the LD 9 Hood, and 2 mystics for around 40 points? Is the +1 LD stat worth 15+  points?

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Lets compare the two choices.  Deafhobbit did some math for me on a recent BolS post.

You have 36 potential combination on 2d6, with ld 10 vs ld 10, and are trying to roll higher than your opponent.

So, what we'll do is figure out if your opponent rolls n, with n equal to 1 - 6, what do you need to roll to beat him. Total up the number of possible results where you win and put it over 36 (the total number of possible combination), and those are our odds.

If opponent rolls a 1, you need a 2+. 5 cases
If opponent rolls a 2, you need a 3+. 4 cases
If opponent rolls a 3, you need a 4+. 3 cases
If opponent rolls a 4, you need a 5+. 2 cases
If opponent rolls a 5, you need a 6+. 1 case
If opponent rolls a 6, you cant stop him.

5 + 4 + 3 + 2 + 1 = 15

15 / 36 = .41667 = 41.667 % For LD 10
 9// 36 = .25 = 25% For LD 9 ( you can stop a roll of 5 or 6 by your opponent)

There may also be some real world factors such as the dice, the table etc., but this is the math on it.  You will negate that psychic power about 25% of the time for the LD 9 which is a big difference from the LD 10.  Against some armies like Eldar who HAVE to have x power, it's still pretty crippling.
So which Inquisitor will you take?

-MBG

Just two days to go till the Gladiator Tourney at Adepticon for some fun times and good battles. I just finalized my list and I have to say I'm pretty happy with it.  I'm not taking any Super-Heavies, but I think I have plenty of firepower to deal with them- ten Lascannons, and 2 Maticores to be exact.

I'm using my Ork Looted Guard for both the Gladiator and the Championships. So if you see me there be sure to say hi!

The plan is still the same as my test game bat rep, use the INF platoon to screen, envelope or divert incoming threats to the tank line, and pour out fire against the rest of the enemy.  In theory is sounds pretty good, but who knows what the missions will be like.   If I'm lucky I'll be able to set up my battle-line, and go first most of the time. That's all anyone can really ask for I suppose.

Here is my list, revised down to 2250.

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2250 Gladiator

HQ: Company Command Squad (185 pts)
   Plasmagun x2; Lascannon, Astropath, Chimera- HF

Elite: Inquisitor (60 pts)
   Psychic Hood; Hierophant Mystic Mystic

Elite: Psyker Battle Squad ( 155 pts)
   8 Psykers, Chimera- HF

Troops: Veteran Squad ( 155 pts)
   Meltagun x3, Chimera- HF

Troops: Veteran Squad (175 pts)
   Plasmagun x2; Lascannon Chimera- HF

Troops: Veteran Squad (175 pts)
   Plasmagun x2; Lascannon Chimera- HF

Troops: Veteran Squad (185 pts)
 Shotgun x6; Meltagun x3; Demolitions, Chimera- HF
     
Troops: Veteran Squad (11#, 165 pts)
 Shotgun x5; Meltagun x2; Lascannon Chimera- HF
   
Troops: Infantry Platoon (265 pts)
   1 Infantry Platoon
      Platoon Command Squad
      Infantry Squad Commissar
      Infantry Squad
      Infantry Squad
      Infantry Squad

Heavy Support: Manticore Rocket Launcher (160 pts)

Heavy Support: Manticore Rocket Launcher (160 pts)

Heavy Support: Hydra Flak Tank Battery (150 pts)
   2 Hydra Flak Tanks


Fast Attack: Vendetta Gunship Squadron (130 pts)


Fast Attack: Vendetta Gunship Squadron (130 pts)


-MBG

Hey everyone. I'm back with what I think is my best bug conversion to date; The Slitherqueen.  This baddie will be the leader of my Waterbugz as they decimate the Ultramar sector, or at least central Virginia lol.  Well as you can see I used the same theme as my Slitherfexes, but added some armor plating on the front.

So I started the model out the same as my other 'fexes, okay actually I stole the lower torso from one- cause lets face it I don't need to run six Carnifexes anymore. Then I added the Hive Tyrant torso, and some extra spikey plates in the back.

She's armed with twin Devourers (or I guess now they are Brainleech worms?), Bonesword and Lash Whip.  When I was dry-fitting everything together I didn't really like the pose of the Lash Whip bit that comes with the Tryant, so I had to come up with something better suited to what I wanted.

I ended up using another Devourer bit, and a Venomthrope whip I had left over from making the Slitherguard- hey that model comes with four Lash Whips, might as well get my monies' worth!  Then I puttied up the gap, and viola insta-whip! Now I just need to find a fast way to make boneswords, lol.


Okay so here's a better look at my new pet, from both sides.  If you haven't seen the rest of my Waterbugz conversions you can check them out here.


-MBG

It seems like time does fly- because almost one year ago, April 12th to be exact, I started this blog. It's definitely been fun and kept me well motivated to get projects done to share them with everyone. I sincerely hope you all have gotten something out of it as well, too.

Sooooo I thought it would be cool to give a little something back to everyone who's tuned in over the past year, and maybe gain some new readers as well. So what I'd like to do is have 100 followers for Spikey Bits' Birthday on April 12th.

Now to motivate everyone to share the blog with their friends or to just keep reading, there will be a give-away!  I will be giving away a brand spanking new plastic Space Marine Venerable Dreadnought kit!   All you have to do to be eligible is to be subscribed follower of Spikey Bits on April 12th 2010.  I'll roll a D100 and whomever the lucky follower is will receive the booty (so to speak).  Of course if there is more than 100 followers on that day, that's okay to. I'll just have to figure out another way to select a winner randomly!

Well thats it. So spread the word!  Hopefully together we can grow this thing into something bigger for us to all learn from, and make some new friends along the way.

<3 MBG