Calypso2ts - Daemon Changes - WD Analysis

I had a chance to grab a copy of this month's white dwarf which features a Daemon Battle report in it.  Overall, it provided a good glimpse into some of the changes to the Daemon book.  The biggest one, which is something that I have generally negative feelings about is the loss of Daemonic Assault.

For the uninitiated, Daemonic Assault was basically a drop pod deployment for all Daemons - with a twist.  You chose your preferred wave and on a d6 result of 1 or 2 the other half came in turn 1.  The rest arrived via normal reserves.  This made Daemons a bit of a gambler's army - your deployment was the balancing of the Deep Strikes required to put you in position to take down your opponent.  If executed correctly, an opponent had a single turn with which to react to your assault units before they came crashing into their lines.

Other losses include the elimination of army wide Eternal Warrior and Fearless which is not unexpected.   The Daemonic Assault change is not unexpected either - there has been a push in 6th edition to eliminate Null Deployments.  What do these changes mean for Daemons?

Horus Heresy - Mysteries & Fluff Questions

On a topic a little different than what we normally cover, I wanted to discuss some of the recent mysteries revealed in the recent Black Library, Horus Heresy novels. I’m a big Black Library - Horus Heresy fan, and I wanted to get some input from our like-minded readers concerning a few questions that some of the most recent novels brought up. If you’ve been keeping up with the Horus Heresy series, you know that a number of “mysteries” have been hit upon already

While I don’t think that  I’ll be discussing anything that will spoil any of the Horus Heresy books (ie, OMG, the Emperor is really a 3rd Alpharius!?!), I’ll keep my thoughts below the fold. So, there’s a number of mysteries to be solved, but let me know what you think about the following:

1) Does each Primarch have a ‘Super Power?’

2) Are the Space Wolves ignoring the Edict of Nikaea?

3) Why doesn’t the Emperor tell the primarchs about what he’s doing on Earth?

Calypso2ts - Daemons w/ CSM vs SM w/ SW - 1850

This is a game I had the chance to get in a few weeks ago versus a combined arms Space Marines/Space Wolves force.  I want to share it because it really worked to highlight the advantages that CSM allies can bring to a Daemon army.  Unfortunately I cannot recall my opponents name - he was a great guy who just happened to be looking for a game that weekend.  He had a board setup already and we rolled up:

Deployment: Vanguard Strike

Mission: The Scouring

A Tyranid Unit Worth Taking?

     Continuing our ‘A Tyranid Unit Worth Taking’ series (Here’s Hyv3mynd’s original A Tyranid ListWorth Building post, and my follow-up), I wanted to hit upon the changing roles of Genestealers, as well as a few of the heavy support options I’ve been playing around with. This past weekend, I attended an 1850 tournament at a local Con where I was able to try out a few ideas that I’ve been tinkering with. My full list is below, but I specifically wanted to try using the Broodlord as a support model, and to include a Tyrannofex. I’ll go over my 3 games, and how some of my units performed.

http://www.coolminiornot.com/301404?browseid=4332704

Batrep: Grey Knights vs Chaos Marines and Guard 1850pts

 I've been able to start sneaking in more games recently.  Work's been keeping me out of the monthly tournaments so I haven't been working on any tournament builds, just fun stuff I've been wanting to try.  This week, Chris from Buffalo (sinistermind) accepted my challenge and brought out a Typhus list.  This was also exciting for me since I'm working on a Typhus list of my own.

Calypsots - CSM and Sorcerer Painting

Following the huge painting push I went through before Da Boyz back in November I have had a bit of trouble getting back into painting.  Other life stressors contributed as well - is it me or are the holidays terrible for Warhammer?!  The important part is that I had a few days where I was able to sit down for a few hours and do some painting and modeling.  The painting aspect was the most therapeutic  but this also represents my first real foray into kit bashing.  Below is the Sorcerer I will be using as an allied HQ - and maybe in a CSM army at some point.

I wanted to keep the models consistent with my Daemons colors - since I already spent so much time discussing CSM allies for Daemons - which means Purple, Pink, Teal and Green are the primary colors with fleshy tones for the skins.

The Battle for Mith'ler

 This week's battle report is a special treat.  Kevin (grubnards) and I planned out a 2,000pt game with mostly painted armies (pardon my mycetic spores) and I asked him to write-up the game from a cinematic perspective.  Army lists and a turn-by-turn can be found here (bottom of the page).  If you enjoy this format, voice your support with a comment and I may be able to persuade Kevin to write stories for the blog on a more regular basis.

The Cost of Attending GTs and a Few on the Horizon

     A few weeks back, I saw a blog post talking about the costs of attending a GT. After a few paragraphs outlining the hundreds of dollars you have to spend, I stopped reading. It may be that the Northeast is a GT rich environment, but I was able to attend 3 GTs last year for under $200/event.

     The reason I bring it up is because GTs are a hell of a time. Everyone should consider going to one, and it's not that much of a drain on the pocket if you can plan accordingly. Let's take last year's Colonial GT as an example. The key is to get a group together to split the costs:

Calypso2ts - CSM Allies - HQ

It has been a bit of a crazy last two week with work, but I finally have some time to sit down and finish up on CSM Ally mandatory units.  I discussed troops in two posts with part 1 and part 2.  The general conclusion for a Daemon army I drew was you want units that are cheap, provide bodies and whose primary job is to man a comms relay for the Daemons while also providing objective camping and some synergy to act as a force multiplier.

Although a good argument can be made for including CSM's as troops, I am going to discuss HQ units to be taken with a swarm of cultists sitting behind an Aegis.  The discussion of fortifications for Daemons can come at another time!

Batrep: Tyranids vs Deathwing (Old) 1850pts

 This game was actually round #2 at our annual invitational tournament that finishes out tournament season.  No, you didn't miss round #1, it was just pointless to write up really.  I was paired against a guard army with 3 chimera hulls, 3 russes, a flyer, and 2 unique characters.  Keep in mind this event was a "comp" event.  The mission was Purge the Alien, deployment was Hammer/Anvil, there was no night fight, and I had to go second.  Needless to say I was down 6-2 by turn 3 when I conceded with no killpower left.  This game was much closer and actually worth writing up.