Thursday, July 15, 2010

A Relook into Khornate



The 1st phase of the league is coming to an end. I'm more than happy on the result I have managed to achieved in the league table thus far. While waiting for the league finale, I have suddenly redevelop my old interest in Khorne army again. I always have a special favor towards Khorne since the day I get to know Warhammer 40k and play zerkers heavy army on my first day on TT. However, I have abandon them (sadly) due to I found that I have reached a bottleneck where I could not lead my beloved zerker into competitive scene.

After a year, I felt that I have get the hang of 40k rules than I was first introduced to this game, and I have improved overall as a player in the sense of tactic and strategy (hopefully I'm right on this!). I'm ready to look into a full khornate army again.

Here's the list that I initially drafted,

World Eaters Again v2

Abaddon

7 men Chosen, 3x melta, 2x pf, rhino

8 men PSM

20 men berzerkers, champ, pf

5 men CSM, IoCG, rhino

8 men Havocs, 4x autocannon, IoCG

1 Land Raider, EA


Yes you read it right, the 20 zerkers squad are footslogging !! Cant believe in a mech heavy meta games nowadays some marine are still travel by foot eh ?? The doctrine is simple, abby ride in LR with 8 PSM to absorb firepower while zerkers following tightly behind the LR to gain cover save. The rest are pretty much self explained. The only problem I foresee is that I might suffer against 2x LRs army as I initially plan to throw in 2 obliterators but unfortunately dont have enough points to do so. Well... I'll play test this fun list this weekend and we'll see how.

Hopefully this time around I can play them cunning and right.

PS. I was always wondering what happened if Khorne start to "think" cunningly, Fear the Khorne ?? xD

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Analysis on Tyranids FAQ

I believe everyone are excited about this (and probably I can hear some nids players moaning). So, today I'm going to do a small analysis on the effect of Nids FAQ had on the current nids players.


1. Cover Save from Mawloc and Malantai Special Rules

Rejoice now, finally GW has did some game balance to the game itself. You are now entitled cover save from Mawloc's Terror from the Deep (TftD) and Doom of Malantai's Spirit Leech attack. Does that mean it's a nerf to Malantai, I think not, this changes has however given a glimpse of hope to survive from its aura attack. So from now we can see more footslogging army hugging into an area terrain when they see the nids are fielding in Malantai. Same goes for Mawloc, but for me, I would prefer to hide in terrain instead of letting its special rules to kick in.


2. Deepstriking Mawloc

Now, you can have that beast Mawloc DS into a clear terrain, even if there are models on top of it. Normally you cant do so but Mawloc is an exception to this rule now, as per the FAQ. I foresee people might willing to play test it after the FAQ due to str6 Ap2 that can screw any unwary footslogging army is too good to be skipped (like Malantai). For those who play trygons, then I would expect them to switch to Mawloc as the points are cheaper and they share almost identical stats.


3. Shadow No Longer Affect Psyker in Transport

The major benefactor from this clarification would be Eldar which relies heavily on their psyker. Second would be SW as they also have some pretty cool psyhic power that could dealt a considerable damage towards the nids. I dont foresee any changes for other army as they generally lack of psykic power that could pose a threat to the nids.


4. Lash Whip & Initiative Modifier

Another changes that benefit the Eldar, and also Dark Eldar. With doom, banshee still possess a great threat with their power weapon against nids warrior and other MC that could gear whip. Dark Eldar shared the same thing due to their combat drug, but I doubt their chances in cc with warrior due to lack of capability to reroll.


5. Deepstrike with Wings Model

Icing on the sugar. Never like the idea of having a winged MC ds into the heat of battle, especially an MC with no invul save. With so many meltagun in today meta game, DS winged MC is more or less equivalent to dead MC.


The rest are pretty much rules clarification which I dont foresee could influence how it would change the way Nids player would have field and play. As a summary, GW has done a good job (cant believe I said this, but credit is given to where's it due) for doing such effort to clarify and balance out the game itself.

Saturday, July 3, 2010

And the League Continues...

2 weeks past by, the league that I participated are full with bloody battles. I to, of course, not an exception.. Recorded a few wins and a loss. Although I grieved the loss and joyful over the unexpected won against the top ranked player, I have not forgotten to learn from the mistakes in every game. And I feel that I just have to share with everyone,


1. Never Underestimate Your Opponent List

It's easy to say than done.. I cant deny the fact that sometimes I underestimated my opponent due to the weird thing/combo in their list, especially the opponent himself is a new player. I strongly believe every player build their list to a certain of degree of competitive, and once you fall into their competitive element of their list, you will soon find out you are in deep trouble. We have heard alot of all this new "weird" lists lately, like foot slogging eldar, 130 footslogging orks, the return of Nidzilla etc which are deadly if you did not handle it correctly. So, proceed with caution, unless you know your opponent codex like the back of hand.


2. Never Overestimate Your List

Unless you are playing army size above 2k or 3k which allow you to basically filled everything from your codex, otherwise every list have their own weakness. Do not have the mentality of your list is the best or unbeatable, you never know when the lady of luck turn her back on you or your next opponent has just design a list just to nail you.


3. After the Game

Well.. what did you guys do after the game ?? Laughing at the funny moment that happened in the game just now ?? Or frustrated on the dice roll that screwed you big time ?? Well.. be honest, I did both of these before too. But now, I would quickly summarize what I have did well and what mistake I made while the game is still fresh in my mind and learn to it. It helps a lot to improve you as a player tactically. Of course, do not forgotten to shake and joke with your opponent.