As 7th winds down, hard to find inspiration to play...

I still have my weekly 40k league and other chances to play.  However it's getting harder and harder to do anything other than go through the motions.  No point in building new lists, no point in practicing anything, just..no point.

A bit of Osborne effect here. GW has released so much information so far ahead of the game that I'm sure their sales are non-existent and getting people to throw dice is getting harder.

I will probably revisit old lists, like an old comfy blanket, over the last month of 7th.

Last week I played basically random Dark Angels models I had painted. 

I think next week will be the last run of Sammael + thunderwolves.

I would like to play the 180 boy decurion before it goes. 

One more run with a Ghazzy decurion as well.

If time I'll play the tau/necrons one last time.  I really like the optimized stealth cadre.

That's 4 weeks. That should be the last of 7th.

really 7th can't get here soon enough.

Ork Op Ed: Toys before boys.

There is this view of the Ork army, a view of a endless green tide of Orks that run forward with the idea that I have more bodies then you have bullets. That I will decent upon you with a ferociousness and exuberance to fight.

The 4th edition codex, you could actually do this.

The 7th edition codex, not so much.

You have to have SOME sort of survivability, especially if there is terrain on the board.  Even more so if the opponent has a noticeable amount of blast weapons. The old KFF actually did this pretty well, against most armies anyway.  It really was a must have if you played infantry or mechanized, shooty or assaulty. Combined with the mob rule, where the Orks were fearless until they were almost wiped out meant you didn't have to care how many bodies you put in your dead pile.

The 7th ed codex has taken both of those away, so the mass of cheap boys no longer has any chance of making it across the table.  You must instead spend points to buff up the individual Ork, resulting in fewer models at the same point level.

In other words, toys before boys.

Don't get me wrong, it WORKS.  Units of 30 'ard boys with FNP are just absolutely fantastic and provide a level of survivability that even the old KFF couldn't match.  The combination neuters the Orks usual nemeses such as flamers, SMS, Thunderfires and Wyverns.  Add in the fact that every unit of boys can now take 'eavy armor means you have a very tough army.  The same combination also means damage from the Mob Rule table is almost non-existent.

It's just not very..well, Orky.

Is this guy really worth 3pts less then a Space Marine?

The 'ard shoota boy is 11 points. That's 2-3 points less then your average space marine.  Then you add a 50pt painboy to the unit. 

Those points add up quick. 

I don't like it.  However, despite how much I don't like it, it is actually far superior to the old codex.  FAR superior. I might even consider going back to units of 20 instead of 30, that's how survivable they really are.  Oh, I also forgot to mention that they can go to ground, so being able to hide in terrain adds yet another level of survivability boys didn't have before.

In the end, you'll end up using half the army you use to take.  But you will end up with far fewer of them dying over the course of a game.

Next month is 1850 Maelstrom missions, so I need to run Combined Arms detachments to gain objective secured.

Primary: Combined Arms detachment
HQ: Warboss, heavy armor, pk, bosspole, Da Lucky Stik

HQ: Painboy

Troop: 30 'ard slugga boys, Nob w/PK&BP
Troop: 20 'ard shoota boys, 2x rokkit, Nob w/PK&BP

Elite: 12 Tankbustas, Nob w/BP

Heavy: 14 Lootas, 1x Mek
Heavy: 5x Lobba, 4x Ammo Runt

Combined Arms detachment
HQ: Painboy

Troop: 20 'ard shoota boys, 2x rokkit, Nob w/PK&BP
Troop: 20 'ard shoota boys, 2x Big Shoota

Fortification
Aegis

So that's one unit to sit back and take objectives, and 3 units to be way aggressive.  We'll see how it goes.

First list with new codex

I didn't dive right in like on other books, but instead sat back and watched and read into other people's experiences with the new book. Then combined with my own ideas I built my first list for a pickup game yesterday.

Primary: Combined arms detachment
HQ: Warboss
PK, Bosspole, Da Lucky Stick, Cybork

The new waggh! rule is pretty fantastic, so having a warboss warlord is almost mandatory IMO. Bought the lucky stick, but it never came into play this game.  I stuck with the cybork despite how much it sucks.  I would also normally take 'eavy armor, but I was exactly 4pts over..

HQ: Wierdboy
Level 2

HQ: Mek
Just because I could.

Troop:  30 Slugga Boyz
'eavy armor, Nob w/PK and bosspole
This is the main unit, with much more survivability then regular boys.  Slugga boys really needed to go down in price, not stay the same, but I digress..

Troop: 30 Shoota Boyz
Big Shoota x3, Nob w/PK and bosspole

Fast: 2 Deffkoptas
Buzzsaw
I still love me some deffkoptas, and the slight drop in price is pretty cool.

Heavy: 15 lootas
1 mek
Took the mek, obviously, for mob rule.

Heavy: 2 Mek Guns
Kustom Mega-Cannons, 2x ammo runts
I love these, for the price the hitting power can't be overstated.

Heavy: 4 Mek Guns
Lobbas, 4x ammo runts
The great Lobba, now bigger, badder, cheaper.

Ork Horde Detachment
I took this just for the extra HQ slot, even though it means losing Objective Secured.

HQ: Big Mek
KFF, bosspole
The KFF isn't the 50pts of broken it once was, and it never really came into play until late game.  I'd rather have the old version and risk coming up against ignore cover armies, that's for sure.

HQ: Wierdboy
Level 2
More psychic awesomeness.

HQ: Painboy
He rode with the KFF and Warboss in the 'ard boys unit.  HUGE.

Troop: 30 Shoota Boyz
Big shoota x3

Troop: 12 Shoota Boyz
Trukk w/Reinforced Ram

Troop: 11 Slugga Boyz
Nob w/PK and bosspole
Trukk w/Reinforced Ram

A couple of trukks that can provide quick objective grabbing, but remember they don't have objective secured.  I kept one trukk in reserve, the other in range of the KFF.

Fortification: Aegis Defense Line

I knew I would be playing Tau, but I went with this as-is anyway.  I wanted to try out the big mob of 'ard boys with FNP and it was just fantastic, taking round after round of shooting.  I did fail 1 morale test, though, but with armor and FNP that resulted in no casualties.

Another HUGE help in this game was getting the warlord trait that allowed all units within 12" to use the warlord's LD.  I can't stress how useful this particular trait will be going forward. I liked it before, because I could keep my lootas on the table but now it's good for everyone.

Pretty much the entire game both my psychic phase and Mek Guns were fail..throwing 8 dice as possession and failing!!!  The scatter die wasn't on my side, that's for sure.

That's the nice thing about mek guns, they are so cheap that if they scatter a lot an fail, you're not missing much.  My opponent however didn't like them, and wasted a turn of shooting at them, only to realize how useless that was.  If I had been rolling better on scatter, I think the game would have been a lot more of a blowout for my side.

7th edition Ork FAQ. Relevant for all of what..3? weeks.

The 7th ed FAQs hit the interwebs today, and after going over the document I've got a couple things to say.

First, that there is nothing in the FAQ that stops all nobs in a unit of nobs (or Paladins for that matter) from being characters.  Yep, the faq that stopped it from happening was in the 6th ed rulebook FAQ, and not the Ork FAQ ..which I just confirmed with the copies of both I have on my computer.  Since the Nobs are specifically listed as Characters in the Ork FAQ.

However, that does not mean..well, anything. Characters (or IC's) no longer have precision shots, wounds from challenges bleed over so no reason to throw a Nob into one to help save the unit, and finally the changes to Look out Sir! means no wound shenanigans. 

So ya, Nob bikers are all characters..for nothing.

Next is the changes to wierdboys.  We can no longer take book powers at all (that goes for Blood Angels and Space Wolves as well).  The warp'ead option is gone replaced with a 25pt upgrade to a level 2. Not bad. They could have kept the warp'ead option as being able to re-roll the power like it was before. 

Still, a level 2 psycher for a mere 75pts is pretty awesome. 

The rest of the FAQ pretty much just reiterates everything in 7th edition language. 

At least we get to keep the Ramshackle table..for now!

7th edition op ed: scoring units.

So what's the big deal? Well, unlike every other edition of the game I've played, vehicles can be scoring in 7th.  There is no longer said restriction.  In fact, the only restrictions on scoring is a zooming flyer/FMC, a unit falling back, a rule that specifically says otherwise (aka Death Company) or an unoccupied building. That's it. Also notice the swarm rule isn't a restriction anymore either.

Such a complete swing from 5th/6th editions.  A complete 180 from what we've been doing for what..6 years now?

On the flip side I do really like the Objective Secured rule as a great, tactical complement to the opening up of scoring units. It still gives the troop slot a special place on the battlefield.

That being said, you will still see an almost instant reduction in the troop slot in 7th, leaving more points for more deadly units.  Unless, you're an Ork player where the troop slot is your best slot!

Armies like Seer Council were already very light on troops, but now they will be even more so, and without any real penalty for doing so. I mean it's not hard to contest an objective controlled by 3 jetbikes.

White Scars though is almost entirely troops as it is, so they will only gain in power from that. 

I'm really limiting myself to those two builds as pretty much all the other scary 6th ed builds are nerfed..anything TauDar, anything Space Marine/Tau which is what I played, etc.

Now for the fun part..Orks!

The first thing that came to mind was the Ork Dreadnaught.  Sure, vehicles are still fragile but just a little less so with the change to the damage table (plus we still have the KFF).  But what makes the Dreadnaught fun again is that they can be taken as troops!  So now not only can the Dread score objectives, but with a big mek will gain Objective Secured at the same time! That's just freaking awesome as far as I'm concerned.

I'd also like to see Kommandos again, especially Snikrot.  Sure they can't assault but they can still carry 2 burnas and now they can score objectives.  Say playing tactical objective missions, you place as many as you can close to the board edge.  Then Snikrot comes on, taking whatever objective you need for the card you have.  It can be spendy for just one point, but any pressure taken off boys or lootas is worth every lost kommando.

Same goes for Defkoptas. Not as flexible as Snikrot but can turbo-boost to almost any objective on the board.  And if they jink, so what? Just like all Orks making snapshots, you're really not losing much.

Orks don't really have a lot of options for deployment tricks and reserves.  In fact, those two above are it.  However both of them are great options and have their own positives and negatives. 

I might just have break out Snikrot again..before the new book hits.

7th edition op ed: why isn't anyone talking about jink?

As I was reading through the rulebook last night and tonight, the one thing that stuck out more then anything was the change to the jink rule.

In 6th, skimmers, bikes and jetbikes just got a cover save for moving.  Flyers could choose to evade for a cover save.

Now, in 7th all of them must choose to jink or not. This is done *before* to-hit rolls are even made.   If you choose to jink (for an improved 4+ cover save instead of 6th's 5+), then you can only snapshot the next turn.

This is a big difference and really challenges the effectiveness of Wave Serpents, Hammerheads, and bikes of all kinds.  I know I loved giving my Hammerhead and Skyray a 4+ cover save (disruption pods) just for moving a nudge.

No more.

I don't think this will curb the enthusiasm for White Scars bike armies much at all, but any decent amount of AP3+ shooting will mean making a hard choice.

It will also take a smidgen of survivability away from Seer Council.  Not much, but that means any decent amount of AP2 shooting is a lot more dangerous then it once was.

Waveserpents though will pay the heaviest price IMO.  They will really need to make hard choices between saves and shooting, especially at the 36" range of scatterlasers.  Hanging back may fix that but it means losing the twin-link on the serpent shield. 

For Orks, it means the Dakkajet may actually gain a bit of survivability, but Defkoptas loose some.  I'm still a fan of them, and despite the change to jink I think they have a nice role to play in 7th.

More on that to come.

7th edition psychic powers leaked...WIERDBOYS HO!!!

ORKS GET BOOK POWERS!!!!

Leaked pics here

I'm almost giddy over this. Orks have access to the 2 schools of Daemonolgy and Force power.

After going over the powers, the ones that stand out to me are:

1. Hammerhand. Whole unit gets +2 Str. ..the WHOLE unit..plus TWO strength..
2. Sanctuary.  Gain +1 invul save, which means gaining a 6+ if you have none. Great boost to cybork Nobs, and even a whole unit of boys with a 6+ is not shabby at all.

Also it seems double force org is out.  Which means I'm limited to 3 Wierdboys.

Of course, this is only for a few weeks before the new Codex hits.  We'll have to see what happens after that.

So the 7th edition Allies matrix has been spoiled..oh where art thou?

Oh man the impending Ork book better be good considering how much they get screwed in the allies matrix. And snap shots.

The only Allies of Convenience is Chaos Space Marines - which, honestly, I've wanted to build a detachment of them forever anyway.  Glad I didn't spend any real money on a Blood-Axe painted Tau detachment..well I actually have not spent any considering the 12 Firewarriors I do have i bummed off my cousin..

So the question will stick with me a while..do I build a "normal" CSM detachment or an "Orkified" CSM detachment..

The other thing that really hurts is the rumor that snapshots will be -2 BS.  Hopefully that does NOT mean Orks can no longer snapshot at all being BS0...

And lastly is maintaining Eldar and DE as battle brothers.  Seer Council is a LOT less scary without the Baron attached..

Anyway only a week an a half before 7th hits. I will of course sacrifice food for a week to buy the books and dive right in!