Well, it's almost time for school to be starting back up. For UMBC, move-in is this Sunday (the 30th), which is kind of shockingly soon - only 3 days? It's been a fun summer, overall, but truth be told it's about time I got back to the grindstone, so to speak. So, what's on the scope for this next year?
Well, classes, first of all. After taking nothing but Physics courses last semester (yeah, it was bad), I'll be kicking back and relaxing, with only three: Thermal & Statistical Mechanics (which I used to call "Thermodynamics," until the Engineering majors started in about how easy that was), Electromagnetic Theory (rumored to be the hardest course in the major), and Modern Physics Lab (everything's more fun with radiation, right?).
To fill out my schedule (or more frankly, my graduation requirements), I'm also taking Weight Training and Deductive Systems. That's two courses, not one. I'm sort of excited about both: Deductive, because I sorely missed having a philosophy class last semester, and Weights because I don't go to the gym nearly as often as I should. And as everyone knows, the only thing better than being a philosopher is being a philosopher with bulging, He-Man-esque musculature.
But aside from classes, there's plenty to look forward to this year. Some friends of mine got an apartment together, which looks to be a fairly cool place to hang around wasting time. I'm sure they'll booze it up something awful, but enough of them are hygienic enough to keep the place relatively clean and vomit-free.
One would hope, at least. Regardless, it'll be a step up from last year. We won't have to sneak into Erikson (stupid swipe-cards...) anymore, and there won't be nearly as much RA paranoia. Having a good central hang-out makes things a lot easier; last semester everyone was spread around campus, which made things tougher.
Bob, his two friends, and Eyob should all be hanging around a lot more, which should lead to at least one solid campaign starting up. We've been pretty horrible about that in the past, but I feel like it'll work out better this year. With any luck, I'll have this homebrew finished (or at least in open beta) by some time next semester, and that will probably lead to me roping them in for a few games. Who knows? It might be awesome.
Speaking of housing, I'll have a new roommate again this year. I've been fairly lucky with them in the past, so I've got high hopes this year as well. I think I've seen him around; a chill enough guy, as I recall.
Of course, this'll be my last semester (with any luck... friggin' McCann...). Which mean's I'll probably spend the second semester either a) chilling out, waiting for police academy to start, or b) frantically looking for a paying job after changing my mind about the police thing at the last moment. Yeah, best laid plans and all that... Still, I think I've made some good in-roads with the MoCo PD, and they're probably the best department to work at, in terms of taking care of their officers, at least. So that would be cool.
I'm not really going anywhere with this. Actually, I bet this seems like a terribly dull semester so far. But then, the best adventures are the ones you don't plan. I'm sure we'll be involved in plenty of wacky hijinks, and hilarity will undoubtedly ensue.
So here's to next year!
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Oh yeah, 40k! While I'm at school, I'll probably be playing most Saturdays at the Battle Bunker. I'm not sure what to expect from the metagame there. Last time I was there (admittedly, over a year ago) it seemed like they had a fairly good range of players, with all skill/intensity levels equally represented.
Speaking of, there are two new codices coming out this year: Space Wolves, which I've talked about already, and Dark Eldar. Essentially "Space Elves, but Evil," these guys haven't gotten a new codex since 3rd edition, and have always been one of the least-played races. It's kind of a shame, because they're awesome to play (and play against). Hopefully, with a new codex and new miniatures (the current ones, especially the troops, look a little dated, though I always thought the vehicles were some of the coolest), they'll get a big boost in popularity.
There are kind of two separate lists when playing Dark Eldar, depending on which HQ you pick. I went with the standard list, as opposed to the much more heavily close-combat-oriented Wyche Cult option. The main focus of this list are the very fast, very fragile skimmers, which should be able to transport troops around fast enough to take advantage of their excellent close-ranged firepower. A fairly standard "Raider Spam" list, with a few tricks thrown in:
_______________________________________
Dark Eldar - Raiding Party
HQ
Archon (60) [note#1]
-Punisher (20)
-Tormentor Helm (5)
-Shadow Field (25)
Retinue [note#2]
-2x Warriors (16)
. -w/ 2 Splinter Cannons (20)
-5x Incubi (125)
-all mounted in Raider (55)
. -w/ Horrorfex (5)
Troops
10x Warriors (80) [note#3]
-w/ Blaster (5)
-w/ Splinter Cannon (10)
-w/ Sybarite (6)
. -w/ Agonizer (20)
-mounted in Raider (55) [note#4]
. -w/ Horrorfex (5)
10x Warriors (80)
-w/ Blaster (5)
-w/ Splinter Cannon (10)
-w/ Sybarite (6)
. -w/ Agonizer (20)
-mounted in Raider (55)
. -w/ Horrorfex (5)
10x Warriors (80)
-w/ Blaster (5)
-w/ Splinter Cannon (10)
-w/ Sybarite (6)
. -w/ Agonizer (20)
-mounted in Raider (55)
. -w/ Horrorfex (5)
Heavy Support
Ravager (105) [note#5]
-3 Disintegrators (15)
------------------------------------------------------
Note#1:
So, we'll start from the top. The Archon is the better of the two Dark Eldar Lords, and some people prefer to go with the Dracon, equipping him with combat drugs. My thinking is, why? Dracon with combat drugs costs as much as an Archon, who already has +1 to Weapons Skill, Initiative, and Attacks. It's as good as drugs, but permanent (kind of like insanity).
To augment his already-formidable combat abilities, we've given him a Punisher, which counts as a power weapon (and thus ignores armor saves) and adds +1 to his Strength. The downside is that it's a two-handed weapon, meaning he can't gain an attack by wielding two weapons. This limitation is handily circumvented by the Tormentor Helm, which fires as a pistol and counts as an extra weapon in close combat. Thus, he'll get four WS6, Str 4 power weapon attacks at Initiative 7 every turn (or five attacks, if he's charging). And with the Shadow Field, he's got a 2+ Invulnerable save (at least until he gets hit the first time...). For 110 points, I like this guy's odds against any 200 points worth of Assault Terminators.
Note#2:
The Archon doesn't roll alone, though. He's got a retinue along with him, and they're every bit as scary as him. The five Incubi are benefiting from the same "Punisher + Tormentor Helm" combo the Archon has, and their 3+ saves give them more durability than nearly any other Dark Eldar. They'll kill their weight in Assault Marines, Raptors, Striking Scorpions, and most other specialized assault troops.
Two plain-jane Warriors are along for the ride, too. They're there for their guns: splinter cannons put out a decent amount of firepower, and as Assault weapons you'll still be allowed to charge the turn you fire them. This can be fired while you're still embarked on the Raider, or help thin down the enemy's ranks before a charge (also, don't forget your Incubi & Archon's pistols!). Over all, the Archon and his retinue are a hefty chunk of points, but of all your unit's, they're your most durable, and your most dangerous.
Note#3:
Still, let's not get ahead of ourselves. Everyone knows 5th Edition is Troops Edition, so we've brought them in quantity here. Three squads of 10 Warriors form the core of this list, and they're equipped to deal with a variety of different targets. There's the splinter cannon for anti-infantry, the blaster for anti-tank, and the Sybarite with agonizer to take care of tough melee opponents. I
Normally, it's bad practice to have generalist squads; things run smoother when each unit has a set role to fulfill, and enough invested in it to actually be good at that role. But Dark Eldar troops are somewhat hard to do that with; no option for multiple special weapons, etc. Besides, they're not the one who should be doing the heavy lifting anyway; these squads are supposed to be nabbing objectives and harassing weak points in the enemy's force, and generalists make much better annoyances, since nothing can quite ignore them.
Note#4:
What really allows the Warriors (and indeed, the Archon & retinue) to do their job is their transports. The Raider is a great little transport, and practically defines the Dark Eldar playstyle: fast, dangerous, and made of tissue paper. With 10 Armor all-around and the Open-Topped special rule, you'll be lucky indeed if even a single one of these survives until the end of the game. And we're taking 4 of them. Safety in numbers? You'd better hope so.
If they're so fragile, why use them (besides the fact that they're the only transports available, I mean)? Raiders are Fast Skimmers, meaning they can zip around at 24" per turn - great for a last-minute objective grab. As mentioned before, they're also Open-Topped, meaning you can assault the same turn you disembark from them, and every model being transported can fire while still inside. Raiders also are armed with Dark Lances as standard, which are pretty handy anti-tank weapons, with a decent range.
There's one last bit of equipment the Raiders have: the Horrorfex. Basically, it's a grenade launcher that causes pinning instead of killing people. Typically, Dark Eldar have trouble with horde armies, which can spread out to limit maneuverability and absorb losses pretty easily, especially when there aren't many blast weapons on the board. Giving each Raider the chance to pin down an enemy unit, essentially taking it out of the game for a turn, can go a long way towards evening the odds, and for 5 points, I think they're worth it.
Note#5:
And last, some Heavy Support. If you could call it that. The Ravager might have more firepower than the Raider, but it's just as fast and almost as fragile. Essentially, it's a Raider with two extra guns and a slight bump in armor value. I've gone with the 3 Distintegrator option here, which drops your anti-tank firepower but works a lot better against enemy heavy infantry. Considering the only other defense against tough infantry units in this list is the Archon&Friends in close combat, it should be useful. Besides, you've already got 3 Dark Lances on the Raiders; I'd rather put all my anti-Terminator in one basket than all my anti-tank, since it's a lot harder to pick up the slack from a lack of tank-killing.
_______________________________________
So that's the list. If I get around to a second list (don't hold your breath, folks), I'll go with a Wyche Cult, which plays rather differently. The main idea behind this list is being able to be wherever you want on the tabletop. That, in turn, let's you focus the bulk of your force on only a small portion of the enemy, letting you defeat them one unit at a time.
Or at least, that's the theory. Dark Eldar are notorious for having a very steep learning curve, which might explain why they're not more popular. Well, that and the fact that their default color scheme seems to be eye-hurty purple. Still, a new codex, and new models, are on their way! I'll pump out a fresh new list as soon as I get myself a download of it, though I'm not sure of the exact timeline.
Anyway, that's all for now. I probably won't post again until after school's started.
Next Time (general): School Starts, and A Good Time is Had By All
Next Time (40k): Um... huh. Imperial Guard, maybe?
Next Time (Philosophy): Brace for Deductive Reasoning, Hombre!
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
[CopWednesday 8] More Tales of Intern Heroism
At work, I've been doing some different stuff around the Section, since my current project has kind of stalled while we wait for the Sufficiently Advanced IT People to decide they want to help us with our network. That's okay, though, because the stuff I've been doing is uniformly awesome.
For instance, yesterday I was helping bring down an international crime ring. That sounds like I'm joking, but I'm not: apparently, a lot of stolen cars from all over the East Coast are being shipped to Ghana.
It's a lot of trouble working with the police forces of other countries, since there are those pesky international laws and treaties mucking up the process. We're working with the Department of State on getting a new set of extradition treaties over to President Obama (I know, right?) for approval. The other problem is that a lot of other the police in third-world countries (like, y'know, Ghana) are corrupt, so getting anything done over there is rather Spy Vs Spy. Our contact is only known by his codename.
Today, I was busy throwing a gang leader in prison. Or, more specifically, writing up a summary of his previous convictions in an easy-to-read format, so that when he goes before the court on his probation hearing, he'll be found in violation and sent back to prison for another 4 years.
The probation system is, by all accounts, totally worthless. Here's a case-study for you: Guy gets caught in the act, driving a stolen car, with witnesses that can testify they saw him steal it and two others. The judge gives him four years, which seems pretty solid, yes? Except then they suspend all but 30 days of the sentence, and give him a few months of probation after that.
Probation works like this. You get assigned to a Parole Officer, who's probably got a hundred other people she's already working. Every month, you're supposed to check in with her, and if you change addresses or jobs you're supposed to let her know. If you don't check in, ideally she'll come around to you house and give you a stern talking-to, but since she's completely overworked, she'll probably just leave you an angry voicemail. Which you'll delete.
If you get arrested for a different crime, you can automatically be charged with violating your probation, and you can then be sent back to do whatever part of your original sentence was previously suspended. That sounds pretty good too, but in order for it to actually happen, 1) the probation officer has to recommend it (and do the heaps of paperwork associated), 2) the victim of the original crime has to show up and request it (and why would he? Not like they're going to steal the same car twice...), and 3) the judge has to approve the violation and reinstate the original punishment (which isn't too hard, but is more paperwork, and judges are even busier than Parole Officers). And if all that happens, they'll go back and do their full term. But it never happens, because it's asking three people to do a fair bit of extra work when they honestly don't care.
So what the detectives had me do was write up a nice, readable list of everything a particular repeat offender had done in the last four years. This was a guy who simply can't stay out of trouble. At one point, he got out on bond the 17th and was caught stealing another car on the 19th. He most recently shoplifted a few pairs of jeans from a Kohl's.
So this time, when he goes up for violating his parole, we'll get a State's Attorney to read off the big list and make the point that he's not trying to reform, that he's not learning from his mistakes, and that he hasn't ever been truly punished for his actions. We'll call the Parole Officer beforehand and make her understand that if he's not put away, he'll be on probation forever. We'll explain to the judge that unless his previous sentence is reinstated, he'll be back in court a month later dealing with the same guy again and again.
Damnit, we'll make them care.
----------------------------------------------
Annnd now that that's off my chest, how about some Necrons?
I've finally gotten through all the Space Marine Chapters, which is a big relief. To be fair, they're a lot more interesting to build lists with than I gave them credit for, but they don't really have the same number of interesting special rules that a lot of other armies do. And after 5 lists with roughly the same units, who wouldn't want a little change?
That's why what I'm not going to do is do anything even remotely Space Marine related next. So no Chaos Space Marines (who are basically evil Space Marines with spikes on their armor), Daemonhunters (who have access to bunch of Super Space Marines), or Witch Hunters (who are mostly weaker, female Space Marines - and that's only sexist if you think it's redundant).
No, next up are the Necrons, a race of invincible killer robots who, upon rising from their tomb-worlds after a hundred thousand years, gazed over the rest of the diverse sentient life-forms of the galaxy and decided "it has to go." They're conceptually similar to the Tomb Kings (yep, armies of Egyptian mummies) from Warhammer Fantasy, though play rather differently. In short, Necrons are what you'd get if you crossed Im-hotep with Schwarzenegger's Terminator.
Necrons are noted for 3 main things. First, the Monolith, a gigantic, nigh-indestructible pyramid vehicle (Egypt, remember?). Second, basic troops, Warriors, who stand back up after you kill them. Third, automatically losing if a certain percent of their troops are killed (25%, specifically).
There's a common misconception that this is all a Necron army is: Monoliths and Warriors. I'll admit, it's one which I shared until I did my research for this list. There are actually a lot of unique strategies that can be used with this army, from the Wraith Wing (apparently, taking 9 Wraiths transforms them from 'waste of points' to 'awesome') to the Destroyer Rush, but by far the most common is called the Phalanx. That's the sort of strategy I designed this list to use; I'll explain it below, after the list itself.
___________________________________
Necrons - Teleport Phalanx
HQ [note#2]
Necron Lord (100)
- w/ Resurrection Orb (40)
- w/ Veil of Darkness (60)
Troops [note#1]
10 x Necron Warriors (180)
10 x Necron Warriors (180)
11 x Necron Warriors (198)
Heavy Support [note#3]
Monolith (235)
------------------------------------------------
Note#1:
That didn't take too long, did it? Necrons have a comparatively brief Codex. They have exactly 1 Troops Choice, and there's only one optional bit of equipment for that choice (which is fairly useless, so I went without). Is this lack of diversity totally crippling? Not really. The good thing about Warriors is that they're decent at everything. Their Gauss Rifles are basically bolters, plus they also always score a Glancing hit on vehicles on a roll of 6, meaning massed fire can severely disrupt enemy vehicles, regardless of their Armor Value.
Besides their gun, Necrons have about the same stats as Space Marines, except their Initiative is only 2, making them a good bit worse in hand-to-hand combat (I've always said that Initiative is the most important close-combat stat, and this is a good example of that). The trade-off is that, unless they're killed by a weapon with twice their Toughness (that is, Str 8 or higher), they have a 50-50 chance of standing back up the next turn, much like a T-800 Terminator, which is why this ability is called "We'll Be Back".
The other reason to take loads and loads of Warriors is that they're your cheapest 'Necron' models (yes, not all Necrons have the 'Necron' Special Rule, which can get confusing). According to the Phase Out rule, if you're down to less than 25% of your original number of 'Necrons', you automatically lose the game, as your entire army's robotic AI brains decide to flee in cowardly terror (technically, "disappear for the battlefield in an eerie fashion," but I like my version more). Having a lot of them makes it that much harder for an opponent to win just by shooting all your 'Necrons', which is often a major weakness for the Necrons.
Note#2:
As with the Troops, your HQ choice isn't really a choice at all, as you only have one. Fortunately, this time he's got a good number of wargear options, so you won't always be seeing the same exact one.
The Necron Lord has a pretty unimpressive stat-line, at least in HQ terms. However, he can be equipped to be a fantastic support unit, which is what I've done here. His two most expensive options are also the two most useful, and I've taken both of them. Honestly, that's a little much, but having only one Lord kind of make it necessary.
The first bit of wargear is the Resurrection Orb. A staple of the Phalanx strategy, the Res Orb helps any Necron unit with a model within 6" by allowing them to always get a We'll Be Back roll, even if the weapon's Strength would normally deny them one. This is a big help when your opponent starts lobbing battle-cannon rounds (Str 8, AP 3) at your lines, or opens up with his Vindicator, or shoots his Ion Cannon, or... Basically, take all the things that normally kill huge numbers of Warriors, and they now kill only moderate numbers of Warriors. At 40 points, it seems expensive, but it only has to save two Warriors and it's practically made it's points back already.
The second bit of wargear is the Veil of Darkness (sounds nefarious, no?). This doodad allows you to teleport your Lord and one unit he's with to anywhere on the table instead of moving. Note that: instead of moving. Not when they deploy, but every friggin' turn, you could be deep-striking. Necrons are usually one of the slowest armies in the game, right? Not anymore. Especially given 5th Edition's focus on Troops and the ability to get them onto objectives, the Veil seems vital for Necron success.
Note#3:
And lastly, the Monolith. When people talk about tough vehicles, this is what they mean. Not only does it have AV14 all the way around, the Monolith also has the Living Metal special rule, meaning your opponent never gets more than one die for Armor Penetration, and always rolls against AV14. This one rule screws over the anti-tank capability of nearly every army in the game. Eldar Bright Lances, and their cousin the Dark Eldar Dark Lance (see what they did there?)? Sorry, this over-rides the Lance rule. Meltaguns, meltabombs, multi-meltas (and 5th Edition is practically Melta Edition)? Enjoy only rolling 1d6; if you get a 6, you'll Glance it. Tyranid Monsterous Creatures? Vanquisher Cannons? Chainfists? Nothing. The only real threat to the Monolith are Tau Broadsides and maybe Vindicators, if they can get within range.
So if it's so tough, why not just ignore the durn thing? Well, that's usually what they'll do (maybe even what they should do). But the Monolith is far from being all armor and no guns. It's got the Gauss Flux Arc, which is like a Heavy Bolter (Str5, AP4) that shoots d6 shots at everything within 12" (great when you deep-strike the Monolith, as explained below). It also has the Particle Whip, a big ole Ordinance Blast weapon that's essentially a shorter-ranged (24") Basilisk round, with the added bonus that it counts as AP1 at the very center of the blast.
If that's not enough, the Monolith has two other tricks. First, if you don't fire the Particle Whip that turn, you can instead teleport any Necron unit within 18" from where they are to the 'portal' of the Monolith. This is useful for pulling them out of a close combat and regrouping your forces. Additionally, it allows you to re-roll any failed We'll Be Back rolls for the unit that turn, greatly increasing the unit's survival rate. This technique is sometimes called "The Washing Machine."
Second, Monoliths can deep-strike from reserves, and, if it would normally land on top of enemy units (due to scatter, usually), that unit is moved to make room for the Monolith. This allows you to come in right on top of enemy lines and push them aside, splitting their battle line or clumping them up for a particle whip attack. Monoliths can also bring in units from reserve by having them emerge from its central portal, letting them get into range more quickly.
____________________________________
So, how does the Necron Phalanx work? Like it's namesake, it's all about keeping several solid block of durable infantry in close formation, for mutual protection. Specifically, you want to keep as many units of Warriors as possible within 6" of your Lord (to make use of the Resurrection Orb) and within 18" of your Monolith (to re-roll We'll Be Backs for whichever unit suffers the most casualties). This gives you a very durable block of troops, backed up by a very tough vehicle. Used properly, you should be able to weather whatever attack your enemy can throw at you.
If that seems a little too passive for you, remember that Veil of Darkness. There will probably be a few units that can give you problems from long range; teleport next to them and rapid-fire like mad. Likewise, there might be an unclaimed objective hanging in the open on the fifth turn; teleport on top of it and claim it as your own.
People say Necrons have kind of been nerfed in 5th Edition, since Glancing hits are a lot less lethal now, among other things. However, they're still a very tough army, and very fun if you enjoy playing a solid, impenetrable block of units. They're also probably the cheapest army to play, and rather easy to paint, too. Just sayin'.
Next Time (CopStuff): We'll see; hopefully something cool will happen.
Next Time (40k): Dark Eldar, aka Those Evil Elves
Next Time (Philosophy): Who Knows?
For instance, yesterday I was helping bring down an international crime ring. That sounds like I'm joking, but I'm not: apparently, a lot of stolen cars from all over the East Coast are being shipped to Ghana.
It's a lot of trouble working with the police forces of other countries, since there are those pesky international laws and treaties mucking up the process. We're working with the Department of State on getting a new set of extradition treaties over to President Obama (I know, right?) for approval. The other problem is that a lot of other the police in third-world countries (like, y'know, Ghana) are corrupt, so getting anything done over there is rather Spy Vs Spy. Our contact is only known by his codename.
Today, I was busy throwing a gang leader in prison. Or, more specifically, writing up a summary of his previous convictions in an easy-to-read format, so that when he goes before the court on his probation hearing, he'll be found in violation and sent back to prison for another 4 years.
The probation system is, by all accounts, totally worthless. Here's a case-study for you: Guy gets caught in the act, driving a stolen car, with witnesses that can testify they saw him steal it and two others. The judge gives him four years, which seems pretty solid, yes? Except then they suspend all but 30 days of the sentence, and give him a few months of probation after that.
Probation works like this. You get assigned to a Parole Officer, who's probably got a hundred other people she's already working. Every month, you're supposed to check in with her, and if you change addresses or jobs you're supposed to let her know. If you don't check in, ideally she'll come around to you house and give you a stern talking-to, but since she's completely overworked, she'll probably just leave you an angry voicemail. Which you'll delete.
If you get arrested for a different crime, you can automatically be charged with violating your probation, and you can then be sent back to do whatever part of your original sentence was previously suspended. That sounds pretty good too, but in order for it to actually happen, 1) the probation officer has to recommend it (and do the heaps of paperwork associated), 2) the victim of the original crime has to show up and request it (and why would he? Not like they're going to steal the same car twice...), and 3) the judge has to approve the violation and reinstate the original punishment (which isn't too hard, but is more paperwork, and judges are even busier than Parole Officers). And if all that happens, they'll go back and do their full term. But it never happens, because it's asking three people to do a fair bit of extra work when they honestly don't care.
So what the detectives had me do was write up a nice, readable list of everything a particular repeat offender had done in the last four years. This was a guy who simply can't stay out of trouble. At one point, he got out on bond the 17th and was caught stealing another car on the 19th. He most recently shoplifted a few pairs of jeans from a Kohl's.
So this time, when he goes up for violating his parole, we'll get a State's Attorney to read off the big list and make the point that he's not trying to reform, that he's not learning from his mistakes, and that he hasn't ever been truly punished for his actions. We'll call the Parole Officer beforehand and make her understand that if he's not put away, he'll be on probation forever. We'll explain to the judge that unless his previous sentence is reinstated, he'll be back in court a month later dealing with the same guy again and again.
Damnit, we'll make them care.
----------------------------------------------
Annnd now that that's off my chest, how about some Necrons?
I've finally gotten through all the Space Marine Chapters, which is a big relief. To be fair, they're a lot more interesting to build lists with than I gave them credit for, but they don't really have the same number of interesting special rules that a lot of other armies do. And after 5 lists with roughly the same units, who wouldn't want a little change?
That's why what I'm not going to do is do anything even remotely Space Marine related next. So no Chaos Space Marines (who are basically evil Space Marines with spikes on their armor), Daemonhunters (who have access to bunch of Super Space Marines), or Witch Hunters (who are mostly weaker, female Space Marines - and that's only sexist if you think it's redundant).
No, next up are the Necrons, a race of invincible killer robots who, upon rising from their tomb-worlds after a hundred thousand years, gazed over the rest of the diverse sentient life-forms of the galaxy and decided "it has to go." They're conceptually similar to the Tomb Kings (yep, armies of Egyptian mummies) from Warhammer Fantasy, though play rather differently. In short, Necrons are what you'd get if you crossed Im-hotep with Schwarzenegger's Terminator.
Necrons are noted for 3 main things. First, the Monolith, a gigantic, nigh-indestructible pyramid vehicle (Egypt, remember?). Second, basic troops, Warriors, who stand back up after you kill them. Third, automatically losing if a certain percent of their troops are killed (25%, specifically).
There's a common misconception that this is all a Necron army is: Monoliths and Warriors. I'll admit, it's one which I shared until I did my research for this list. There are actually a lot of unique strategies that can be used with this army, from the Wraith Wing (apparently, taking 9 Wraiths transforms them from 'waste of points' to 'awesome') to the Destroyer Rush, but by far the most common is called the Phalanx. That's the sort of strategy I designed this list to use; I'll explain it below, after the list itself.
___________________________________
Necrons - Teleport Phalanx
HQ [note#2]
Necron Lord (100)
- w/ Resurrection Orb (40)
- w/ Veil of Darkness (60)
Troops [note#1]
10 x Necron Warriors (180)
10 x Necron Warriors (180)
11 x Necron Warriors (198)
Heavy Support [note#3]
Monolith (235)
------------------------------------------------
Note#1:
That didn't take too long, did it? Necrons have a comparatively brief Codex. They have exactly 1 Troops Choice, and there's only one optional bit of equipment for that choice (which is fairly useless, so I went without). Is this lack of diversity totally crippling? Not really. The good thing about Warriors is that they're decent at everything. Their Gauss Rifles are basically bolters, plus they also always score a Glancing hit on vehicles on a roll of 6, meaning massed fire can severely disrupt enemy vehicles, regardless of their Armor Value.
Besides their gun, Necrons have about the same stats as Space Marines, except their Initiative is only 2, making them a good bit worse in hand-to-hand combat (I've always said that Initiative is the most important close-combat stat, and this is a good example of that). The trade-off is that, unless they're killed by a weapon with twice their Toughness (that is, Str 8 or higher), they have a 50-50 chance of standing back up the next turn, much like a T-800 Terminator, which is why this ability is called "We'll Be Back".
The other reason to take loads and loads of Warriors is that they're your cheapest 'Necron' models (yes, not all Necrons have the 'Necron' Special Rule, which can get confusing). According to the Phase Out rule, if you're down to less than 25% of your original number of 'Necrons', you automatically lose the game, as your entire army's robotic AI brains decide to flee in cowardly terror (technically, "disappear for the battlefield in an eerie fashion," but I like my version more). Having a lot of them makes it that much harder for an opponent to win just by shooting all your 'Necrons', which is often a major weakness for the Necrons.
Note#2:
As with the Troops, your HQ choice isn't really a choice at all, as you only have one. Fortunately, this time he's got a good number of wargear options, so you won't always be seeing the same exact one.
The Necron Lord has a pretty unimpressive stat-line, at least in HQ terms. However, he can be equipped to be a fantastic support unit, which is what I've done here. His two most expensive options are also the two most useful, and I've taken both of them. Honestly, that's a little much, but having only one Lord kind of make it necessary.
The first bit of wargear is the Resurrection Orb. A staple of the Phalanx strategy, the Res Orb helps any Necron unit with a model within 6" by allowing them to always get a We'll Be Back roll, even if the weapon's Strength would normally deny them one. This is a big help when your opponent starts lobbing battle-cannon rounds (Str 8, AP 3) at your lines, or opens up with his Vindicator, or shoots his Ion Cannon, or... Basically, take all the things that normally kill huge numbers of Warriors, and they now kill only moderate numbers of Warriors. At 40 points, it seems expensive, but it only has to save two Warriors and it's practically made it's points back already.
The second bit of wargear is the Veil of Darkness (sounds nefarious, no?). This doodad allows you to teleport your Lord and one unit he's with to anywhere on the table instead of moving. Note that: instead of moving. Not when they deploy, but every friggin' turn, you could be deep-striking. Necrons are usually one of the slowest armies in the game, right? Not anymore. Especially given 5th Edition's focus on Troops and the ability to get them onto objectives, the Veil seems vital for Necron success.
Note#3:
And lastly, the Monolith. When people talk about tough vehicles, this is what they mean. Not only does it have AV14 all the way around, the Monolith also has the Living Metal special rule, meaning your opponent never gets more than one die for Armor Penetration, and always rolls against AV14. This one rule screws over the anti-tank capability of nearly every army in the game. Eldar Bright Lances, and their cousin the Dark Eldar Dark Lance (see what they did there?)? Sorry, this over-rides the Lance rule. Meltaguns, meltabombs, multi-meltas (and 5th Edition is practically Melta Edition)? Enjoy only rolling 1d6; if you get a 6, you'll Glance it. Tyranid Monsterous Creatures? Vanquisher Cannons? Chainfists? Nothing. The only real threat to the Monolith are Tau Broadsides and maybe Vindicators, if they can get within range.
So if it's so tough, why not just ignore the durn thing? Well, that's usually what they'll do (maybe even what they should do). But the Monolith is far from being all armor and no guns. It's got the Gauss Flux Arc, which is like a Heavy Bolter (Str5, AP4) that shoots d6 shots at everything within 12" (great when you deep-strike the Monolith, as explained below). It also has the Particle Whip, a big ole Ordinance Blast weapon that's essentially a shorter-ranged (24") Basilisk round, with the added bonus that it counts as AP1 at the very center of the blast.
If that's not enough, the Monolith has two other tricks. First, if you don't fire the Particle Whip that turn, you can instead teleport any Necron unit within 18" from where they are to the 'portal' of the Monolith. This is useful for pulling them out of a close combat and regrouping your forces. Additionally, it allows you to re-roll any failed We'll Be Back rolls for the unit that turn, greatly increasing the unit's survival rate. This technique is sometimes called "The Washing Machine."
Second, Monoliths can deep-strike from reserves, and, if it would normally land on top of enemy units (due to scatter, usually), that unit is moved to make room for the Monolith. This allows you to come in right on top of enemy lines and push them aside, splitting their battle line or clumping them up for a particle whip attack. Monoliths can also bring in units from reserve by having them emerge from its central portal, letting them get into range more quickly.
____________________________________
So, how does the Necron Phalanx work? Like it's namesake, it's all about keeping several solid block of durable infantry in close formation, for mutual protection. Specifically, you want to keep as many units of Warriors as possible within 6" of your Lord (to make use of the Resurrection Orb) and within 18" of your Monolith (to re-roll We'll Be Backs for whichever unit suffers the most casualties). This gives you a very durable block of troops, backed up by a very tough vehicle. Used properly, you should be able to weather whatever attack your enemy can throw at you.
If that seems a little too passive for you, remember that Veil of Darkness. There will probably be a few units that can give you problems from long range; teleport next to them and rapid-fire like mad. Likewise, there might be an unclaimed objective hanging in the open on the fifth turn; teleport on top of it and claim it as your own.
People say Necrons have kind of been nerfed in 5th Edition, since Glancing hits are a lot less lethal now, among other things. However, they're still a very tough army, and very fun if you enjoy playing a solid, impenetrable block of units. They're also probably the cheapest army to play, and rather easy to paint, too. Just sayin'.
Next Time (CopStuff): We'll see; hopefully something cool will happen.
Next Time (40k): Dark Eldar, aka Those Evil Elves
Next Time (Philosophy): Who Knows?
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Udvar-Hazy Center's Thunderhawk Gunship Display Cancelled
Yesterday, I went to the National Air & Space Museum's annex down in Fairfax, the Udvar-Hazy Center (pronounced "hah-zee," not "hay-zee," apparently). They essentially took a big, empty hangar, stuck walkways around the sides, and filled it with all the planes they didn't have space for at the Museum proper.
Among the aircraft on display were:
-the Enola Gay, the bomber that dropped the nuclear bomb on Hiroshima,
-an SR-71 Blackbird (man, that plane just looks fast),
-the Space Shuttle Enterprise,
-an Air France Concorde jetliner,
-the last surviving Do 335, perhaps the best, and probably the most ridiculous, fighter plane of WWII.
There's something about airplanes that seems inherently patriotic to me, which is strange, considering how they're made and used pretty much world-wide. If anything, flight should be more an expression of the romantic ideals of freedom and independence, and of human potential (similar, I think, to space exploration). It only seems patriotic in the context of competition between nations, like the Americans versus Germans with propeller planes or Americans versus Russians with jet fighters (again, similar to space exploration).
In any event, I'd recommend the Udvar-Hazy Center to anyone who has some interest in aircraft, or just history in general. It's a fairly small museum; you can see everything there in about an hour and a half, even at a leisurely pace. It's free to get in, though parking is $15 - except! For some reason, when we went, parking was free. It could be because it was a weekend, or possibly because we went late in the day (arriving at 5 and leaving when the center closed at 6:30), of for some other, unexplained reason (a strike of the Smithsonian Parking Lot Toll-Collector's Union, perhaps?).
For whatever reason, it was free, and the Udvar-Hazy Center is therefore well worth the price of admission. So while you're still sitting around bored this summer, grab some engineering/historically-minded friends and drive down to Fairfax.
--------------------------------------
Meanwhile, Space Marines. Warhammer 40,000's poster-boys, they're genetically-enhanced supermen who run around fighting to protect the rest of the Imperium from {whatever}. They're one of the most versatile armies, with a lot of generalization and a good bit of durability for their infantry, making them a very forgiving army to play.
This in turn means the Space Marines (as I may've mentioned before) are an excellent list for beginners, since you can afford to make a few mistakes and still win. The boxed 'Starter' sets invariably come with Space Marines and whichever enemy makes sense at the time (Orks in Fifth Edition's "Assault on Black Reach", Tyranids in Fourth's "Battle for Macragge", and Dark Eldar, weirdly enough, in the Third Edition boxed set). More than half of beginners start out playing Space Marines, because they're the "good guys" in these conflicts, and the reams of ridiculously over-the-top fluff that come with the boxed sets make this very clear.
The Ultramarines are, by far, the most common Chapter of Space Marines among these players. What are Ultramarines? They're the most plain, boring, by-the-book (in fact, wrote the book) Space Marines, and their color is blue. Ultramarine, geddit? Their symbol is an upside-down greek omega (such that it looks like a fancy U). Oh yeah, real creative. Because they're basically just blue Space Marines, they are sometimes called "SMurfs," and by extension all Space Marines that use the basic SM Codex. Another common term is "Vanilla Marines."
Regardless, the Marines have one of the newest Codices, and are quite powerful on the tabletop when played well. As noted before, they have excellent, tough basic infantry, who have access to a solid selection of heavy and special weapons, coupled with fairly cheap tanks, and both dirt-cheap transports and expensive-but-ludicrously-tough transports.
The new Codex has a wide selection of fairly balanced units, which results in a wide selection of viable tactics. I've tried to hit most of them already, with the Chapter lists. To review:
Black Templar - Assault-oriented, mounted in heavy transports
Blood Angels - Assault-oriented, unmounted but with jump-packs
Dark Angels - Tough, versatile heavy infantry with bikers as support
Space Wolves - Close-ranged firepower, all mounted in drop-pods
There are a few units that are unique to Vanilla Marines, and a few others that aren't, but that I haven't gotten to use in a list yet. I've tried to include some of both in this list, while presenting a different Space Marines tactic - the Razorback Rush. To the List!
___________________________________________
Space Marines - Hybrid Razorback Rush
HQ
Librarian (100) [note#2]
-Avenger (0)
-Null Zone (0)
Troops
Tactical Squad (170) [note#1]
-w/ Meltagun (5)
-w/ Missile Launcher (0)
-Sergeant w/ Powerfist (25)
-mounted in Razorback (40) [note#0]
Tactical Squad (170)
-w/ Meltagun (5)
-w/ Missile Launcher (0)
-Sergeant w/ Powerfist (25)
-mounted in Razorback (40)
Scout Squad (75) [note#3]
-all w/ sniper rifles (0)
-all w/ Camo Cloaks (15)
Fast Attack [note#4]
Attack Bike (40)
-w/ Multimelta (10)
Attack Bike (40)
-w/ Multimelta (10)
Heavy Support [note#5]
Vindicator (115)
Vindicator (115)
-------------------------------------------
Note#0:
Razorbacks as essentially Rhinos (remember back at the Black Templar list?), with equally light armor. However, they sacrifice some transport capacity (dropping from 10 to 6 models) in exchange for a turreted heavy weapon. In the case of these, it's twin-linked heavy bolters; they're great at mowing down infantry, and unlike the other turret options, which cost almost as much as the Razorback itself, they're free. The role of the Razorback is to put out a steady steam of harassing firepower while shuttling my scoring, objective-claiming Troops around in relative safety, and for their points (only 40!), there's nothing better.
Note#1:
I just realized I've never included a proper Tac-Squad before now, despite that being the standard, basic infantry unit of the Space Marines. This one is designed to be transported in a Razorback (hence the 'Razorback Rush'). But, you may've noticed that I bought a squad of 10 Marines, despite there being only space for 6 aboard the Razorback. What?
The key is the "Combat Squads" special rule. This allows you to split a Tactical Squad of 10 marines down into two separate units of 5 each. In this way, one combat squad (consisting of the Sergeant w/ Powerfist, the marine with the meltagun, and three normal marines) to load up into the Razorback, while the other (with the missile launcher and four normal marines) remains stationary at the deployment zone.
This lets you take full advantage of the mix of special and heavy weapons in your tac-squad. Remember, a heavy weapon (like the missile launcher) cannot be fired if you moved that turn, while an assault weapon (like the meltagun) can. Meltaguns also have very short range, while missile launchers have fairly long range. That means that the guy with the missile launcher is best used to sit stationary and engage long-range threats, while the guy with the meltagun wants to drive up in his Razorback, hop out, and shoot them from close range. By splitting the squad, you can do both.
Thus, from the two Razorback (half-)mounted Tactical Squads, you get four combat squads. Two of them form a miniature firing line on your side of the table, while the other two drive around in their Razorbacks, going out to claim objectives or hit critical targets.
Note#2:
This is also the first list I've used a Librarian. No, not the maternal lady in glasses who reshelves your books; a Space Marine Librarian is a psyker. and as such has access to a few different psychic powers (which essentially take the place of magic spells from Warhammer Fantasy). Unlike the Chaplain or Captain HQ choices, the Librarian is a support character, meant to back up your other units. On his own, he's still pretty good in a fight, though without an Invulnerable Save he'll dies quickly against dedicated close-combat troops.
When choosing which powers to bring, it's important to remember what role you want the Librarian to play. In this case, he'll attach to one of the Razorback squads (taking that last free seat), to help get close enough to disrupt the enemy with his powers while keeping out of trouble. For this role, I gave him Avenger and Null Zone. Null Zone allows you to negate any invulnerable saves of an enemy within 24", making your shooting more likely to be fatal. Avenger is basically a flamethrower that ignores all but the best armor saves, making it awesome in the sort of close-range shooting that the Razorback squads should be going for.
The Librarian also comes equipped with a Psychic Hood. With this handy bit of gear, any psychic power used within 24" of you has about a 50% chance of being cancelled out. While often useless, against enemies that rely on their own psykers (Eldar, usually, though Imperial Guard, Chaos, and other armies have them as well) the Hood is maybe the most useful part about the Librarian.
Note#3:
Yet another handy unit in this list is the Scout Squad. Essentially Space-Marines-in-Training, Scouts aren't as hardy as the Marines. They make a great backfield support unit, however, and are still scoring, meaning they're ideal for holding an easy "home" objective close to your deployment zone. With Camo Cloaks, putting them in cover makes them suddenly much harder to kill. With five sniper rifles, they don't seem like a huge threat, meaning most opponents will just ignore them. However, due to the Sniper rules, one lucky round of shooting can be a game-changer - pinning a critical unit, rending through heavy infantry, picking off that Monstrous Creature's last wound, etc. All in all, Scouts are a great support option.
Note#4:
Meet the bike squad's older brother. Attack Bikes are basically a motorcycle-with-sidecar, where the sidecar is toting an anti-tank gun. Attack Bikes are very fast, and the multi-meltas they're carrying are very deadly against enemy armor. With Toughness 5 and 2 Wounds each, plus an invulnerable save when turbo-boosting, they're even fairly resilient. Between the two of them, your Attack Bikes should be able to suppress most any enemy vehicles.
As a side-note, I considered instead spending these 100 points on a Landspeeder, which is another neat Space Marine unit I haven't used yet. Essentially a light, quick skimmer, an excellent Landspeeder load-out these days in to have a multi-melta and assault cannon, which gives it great versatility and firepower (and comes in costing exactly as much as the two bikes). However, I picked the bikes, because 1) they're probably more durable; with AV10 all-around, even a single lucky bolter shot can wipe out your entire Fast Attack section, and 2) I don't really need the sort of anti-infantry the assault cannon offers me; the chance of engaging two enemy vehicles is, I suspect, much more vital to this list. Still, if you're a big fan of Landspeeders (and they are pretty sweet), that's a possible alternative here.
Note#5:
One gun is enough, if it's big. The Demolisher Cannon mounted by the Vindicator is Str10 (the strongest allowed), AP 2 (low enough to pierce any armor save), and Large Blast Ordinance. This means that it can kill both huge swathes of infantry, regardless of type and vehicles of any Armor Value (remember, Ordinance weapons roll 2 dice and keep the highest for armor penetration). It can insta-kill anyone with a Toughness less than 6, probably without any kind of save, including Feel No Pain. In fact, it's easier to list what isn't scared sh!tless by this gun: Monstrous Creatures (which it'll still kill, just not in one shot), and maybe very small, cheap vehicles (where it'd be hard to kill enough to justify it's points cost).
So, what's the weakness? For one, short range: 24" is fairly short for a tank-mounted gun, and probably means getting within melta-range of enemy infantry unless you have support. It's front armor is decent, but the sides and rear are still vulnerable to most heavy weapons. Likewise, with only one really dangerous gun, a single 'Weapon Destroyed' damage result effectively neuters this tank, and since the gun is hull-mounted, an 'Immobilized' result limits your choice in targets so much it's almost as bad.
And of course, there's the fact that everyone knows this tank can wreck them, so on first turn it's going to have every anti-tank gun on the field pointed at it. That's why you take two; to ensure one of them survives long enough to do some shooting, at which point it'll earn it's points back in no time. Remember: a lone tank is a target. Two of them, supporting each other, are your most dangerous weapon.
________________________________________
Geez, did that seem a lot longer than usual to anyone else? If there's one thing that surprised me about the new Space Marine list, it's just how cheap everything is. Razorbacks for 40 points? Multi-melta attack bikes for 50? A sniper unit for 90? Vindicators for 115? On the same note, this list have five different scoring units (when broken into combat squads), and still manages to be fairly well-balanced between Troops, Fast Attack, and Heavy Support. Of all the lists I've made so far, this might be the most formidable. (Probably because I didn't get suckered into taking any gigantic points-sink combos this time...)
Next Time (40k): The Necrons, or "What happens if John Connor fails"
Among the aircraft on display were:
-the Enola Gay, the bomber that dropped the nuclear bomb on Hiroshima,
-an SR-71 Blackbird (man, that plane just looks fast),
-the Space Shuttle Enterprise,
-an Air France Concorde jetliner,
-the last surviving Do 335, perhaps the best, and probably the most ridiculous, fighter plane of WWII.
There's something about airplanes that seems inherently patriotic to me, which is strange, considering how they're made and used pretty much world-wide. If anything, flight should be more an expression of the romantic ideals of freedom and independence, and of human potential (similar, I think, to space exploration). It only seems patriotic in the context of competition between nations, like the Americans versus Germans with propeller planes or Americans versus Russians with jet fighters (again, similar to space exploration).
In any event, I'd recommend the Udvar-Hazy Center to anyone who has some interest in aircraft, or just history in general. It's a fairly small museum; you can see everything there in about an hour and a half, even at a leisurely pace. It's free to get in, though parking is $15 - except! For some reason, when we went, parking was free. It could be because it was a weekend, or possibly because we went late in the day (arriving at 5 and leaving when the center closed at 6:30), of for some other, unexplained reason (a strike of the Smithsonian Parking Lot Toll-Collector's Union, perhaps?).
For whatever reason, it was free, and the Udvar-Hazy Center is therefore well worth the price of admission. So while you're still sitting around bored this summer, grab some engineering/historically-minded friends and drive down to Fairfax.
--------------------------------------
Meanwhile, Space Marines. Warhammer 40,000's poster-boys, they're genetically-enhanced supermen who run around fighting to protect the rest of the Imperium from {whatever}. They're one of the most versatile armies, with a lot of generalization and a good bit of durability for their infantry, making them a very forgiving army to play.
This in turn means the Space Marines (as I may've mentioned before) are an excellent list for beginners, since you can afford to make a few mistakes and still win. The boxed 'Starter' sets invariably come with Space Marines and whichever enemy makes sense at the time (Orks in Fifth Edition's "Assault on Black Reach", Tyranids in Fourth's "Battle for Macragge", and Dark Eldar, weirdly enough, in the Third Edition boxed set). More than half of beginners start out playing Space Marines, because they're the "good guys" in these conflicts, and the reams of ridiculously over-the-top fluff that come with the boxed sets make this very clear.
The Ultramarines are, by far, the most common Chapter of Space Marines among these players. What are Ultramarines? They're the most plain, boring, by-the-book (in fact, wrote the book) Space Marines, and their color is blue. Ultramarine, geddit? Their symbol is an upside-down greek omega (such that it looks like a fancy U). Oh yeah, real creative. Because they're basically just blue Space Marines, they are sometimes called "SMurfs," and by extension all Space Marines that use the basic SM Codex. Another common term is "Vanilla Marines."
Regardless, the Marines have one of the newest Codices, and are quite powerful on the tabletop when played well. As noted before, they have excellent, tough basic infantry, who have access to a solid selection of heavy and special weapons, coupled with fairly cheap tanks, and both dirt-cheap transports and expensive-but-ludicrously-tough transports.
The new Codex has a wide selection of fairly balanced units, which results in a wide selection of viable tactics. I've tried to hit most of them already, with the Chapter lists. To review:
Black Templar - Assault-oriented, mounted in heavy transports
Blood Angels - Assault-oriented, unmounted but with jump-packs
Dark Angels - Tough, versatile heavy infantry with bikers as support
Space Wolves - Close-ranged firepower, all mounted in drop-pods
There are a few units that are unique to Vanilla Marines, and a few others that aren't, but that I haven't gotten to use in a list yet. I've tried to include some of both in this list, while presenting a different Space Marines tactic - the Razorback Rush. To the List!
___________________________________________
Space Marines - Hybrid Razorback Rush
HQ
Librarian (100) [note#2]
-Avenger (0)
-Null Zone (0)
Troops
Tactical Squad (170) [note#1]
-w/ Meltagun (5)
-w/ Missile Launcher (0)
-Sergeant w/ Powerfist (25)
-mounted in Razorback (40) [note#0]
Tactical Squad (170)
-w/ Meltagun (5)
-w/ Missile Launcher (0)
-Sergeant w/ Powerfist (25)
-mounted in Razorback (40)
Scout Squad (75) [note#3]
-all w/ sniper rifles (0)
-all w/ Camo Cloaks (15)
Fast Attack [note#4]
Attack Bike (40)
-w/ Multimelta (10)
Attack Bike (40)
-w/ Multimelta (10)
Heavy Support [note#5]
Vindicator (115)
Vindicator (115)
-------------------------------------------
Note#0:
Razorbacks as essentially Rhinos (remember back at the Black Templar list?), with equally light armor. However, they sacrifice some transport capacity (dropping from 10 to 6 models) in exchange for a turreted heavy weapon. In the case of these, it's twin-linked heavy bolters; they're great at mowing down infantry, and unlike the other turret options, which cost almost as much as the Razorback itself, they're free. The role of the Razorback is to put out a steady steam of harassing firepower while shuttling my scoring, objective-claiming Troops around in relative safety, and for their points (only 40!), there's nothing better.
Note#1:
I just realized I've never included a proper Tac-Squad before now, despite that being the standard, basic infantry unit of the Space Marines. This one is designed to be transported in a Razorback (hence the 'Razorback Rush'). But, you may've noticed that I bought a squad of 10 Marines, despite there being only space for 6 aboard the Razorback. What?
The key is the "Combat Squads" special rule. This allows you to split a Tactical Squad of 10 marines down into two separate units of 5 each. In this way, one combat squad (consisting of the Sergeant w/ Powerfist, the marine with the meltagun, and three normal marines) to load up into the Razorback, while the other (with the missile launcher and four normal marines) remains stationary at the deployment zone.
This lets you take full advantage of the mix of special and heavy weapons in your tac-squad. Remember, a heavy weapon (like the missile launcher) cannot be fired if you moved that turn, while an assault weapon (like the meltagun) can. Meltaguns also have very short range, while missile launchers have fairly long range. That means that the guy with the missile launcher is best used to sit stationary and engage long-range threats, while the guy with the meltagun wants to drive up in his Razorback, hop out, and shoot them from close range. By splitting the squad, you can do both.
Thus, from the two Razorback (half-)mounted Tactical Squads, you get four combat squads. Two of them form a miniature firing line on your side of the table, while the other two drive around in their Razorbacks, going out to claim objectives or hit critical targets.
Note#2:
This is also the first list I've used a Librarian. No, not the maternal lady in glasses who reshelves your books; a Space Marine Librarian is a psyker. and as such has access to a few different psychic powers (which essentially take the place of magic spells from Warhammer Fantasy). Unlike the Chaplain or Captain HQ choices, the Librarian is a support character, meant to back up your other units. On his own, he's still pretty good in a fight, though without an Invulnerable Save he'll dies quickly against dedicated close-combat troops.
When choosing which powers to bring, it's important to remember what role you want the Librarian to play. In this case, he'll attach to one of the Razorback squads (taking that last free seat), to help get close enough to disrupt the enemy with his powers while keeping out of trouble. For this role, I gave him Avenger and Null Zone. Null Zone allows you to negate any invulnerable saves of an enemy within 24", making your shooting more likely to be fatal. Avenger is basically a flamethrower that ignores all but the best armor saves, making it awesome in the sort of close-range shooting that the Razorback squads should be going for.
The Librarian also comes equipped with a Psychic Hood. With this handy bit of gear, any psychic power used within 24" of you has about a 50% chance of being cancelled out. While often useless, against enemies that rely on their own psykers (Eldar, usually, though Imperial Guard, Chaos, and other armies have them as well) the Hood is maybe the most useful part about the Librarian.
Note#3:
Yet another handy unit in this list is the Scout Squad. Essentially Space-Marines-in-Training, Scouts aren't as hardy as the Marines. They make a great backfield support unit, however, and are still scoring, meaning they're ideal for holding an easy "home" objective close to your deployment zone. With Camo Cloaks, putting them in cover makes them suddenly much harder to kill. With five sniper rifles, they don't seem like a huge threat, meaning most opponents will just ignore them. However, due to the Sniper rules, one lucky round of shooting can be a game-changer - pinning a critical unit, rending through heavy infantry, picking off that Monstrous Creature's last wound, etc. All in all, Scouts are a great support option.
Note#4:
Meet the bike squad's older brother. Attack Bikes are basically a motorcycle-with-sidecar, where the sidecar is toting an anti-tank gun. Attack Bikes are very fast, and the multi-meltas they're carrying are very deadly against enemy armor. With Toughness 5 and 2 Wounds each, plus an invulnerable save when turbo-boosting, they're even fairly resilient. Between the two of them, your Attack Bikes should be able to suppress most any enemy vehicles.
As a side-note, I considered instead spending these 100 points on a Landspeeder, which is another neat Space Marine unit I haven't used yet. Essentially a light, quick skimmer, an excellent Landspeeder load-out these days in to have a multi-melta and assault cannon, which gives it great versatility and firepower (and comes in costing exactly as much as the two bikes). However, I picked the bikes, because 1) they're probably more durable; with AV10 all-around, even a single lucky bolter shot can wipe out your entire Fast Attack section, and 2) I don't really need the sort of anti-infantry the assault cannon offers me; the chance of engaging two enemy vehicles is, I suspect, much more vital to this list. Still, if you're a big fan of Landspeeders (and they are pretty sweet), that's a possible alternative here.
Note#5:
One gun is enough, if it's big. The Demolisher Cannon mounted by the Vindicator is Str10 (the strongest allowed), AP 2 (low enough to pierce any armor save), and Large Blast Ordinance. This means that it can kill both huge swathes of infantry, regardless of type and vehicles of any Armor Value (remember, Ordinance weapons roll 2 dice and keep the highest for armor penetration). It can insta-kill anyone with a Toughness less than 6, probably without any kind of save, including Feel No Pain. In fact, it's easier to list what isn't scared sh!tless by this gun: Monstrous Creatures (which it'll still kill, just not in one shot), and maybe very small, cheap vehicles (where it'd be hard to kill enough to justify it's points cost).
So, what's the weakness? For one, short range: 24" is fairly short for a tank-mounted gun, and probably means getting within melta-range of enemy infantry unless you have support. It's front armor is decent, but the sides and rear are still vulnerable to most heavy weapons. Likewise, with only one really dangerous gun, a single 'Weapon Destroyed' damage result effectively neuters this tank, and since the gun is hull-mounted, an 'Immobilized' result limits your choice in targets so much it's almost as bad.
And of course, there's the fact that everyone knows this tank can wreck them, so on first turn it's going to have every anti-tank gun on the field pointed at it. That's why you take two; to ensure one of them survives long enough to do some shooting, at which point it'll earn it's points back in no time. Remember: a lone tank is a target. Two of them, supporting each other, are your most dangerous weapon.
________________________________________
Geez, did that seem a lot longer than usual to anyone else? If there's one thing that surprised me about the new Space Marine list, it's just how cheap everything is. Razorbacks for 40 points? Multi-melta attack bikes for 50? A sniper unit for 90? Vindicators for 115? On the same note, this list have five different scoring units (when broken into combat squads), and still manages to be fairly well-balanced between Troops, Fast Attack, and Heavy Support. Of all the lists I've made so far, this might be the most formidable. (Probably because I didn't get suckered into taking any gigantic points-sink combos this time...)
Next Time (40k): The Necrons, or "What happens if John Connor fails"
Friday, August 14, 2009
[Cop Wednesday 7] Holding Oneself Hostage
Last night, I got to attend a presentation from one of the Lieutenants (one of the two hardest ranks to spell; remember, 'lieu' as in 'in lieu of', 'tenant' as in 'apartment dweller') of the Emergency Response Team, which is kind of MCPD's version of SWAT. More exactly, SWAT is the tactical portion of the unit, which also includes hostage negotiators, medics, etc.
Most of it was an overview of how that unit functions, which was interesting, but a little dry. At the end, though, he went into a little more depth as to the sort of negotiation tactics he'd normally employ, and gave us a few interesting cases he'd worked.
First off, you might wonder why any county, MoCo included, would need a dedicated Hostage Negotiation team. After all, hostage takings are fairly rare occurrences, and doesn't the FBI have people for that kind of thing? You're both right and wrong. There are around 15 or 20 true hostage situations each year in Montgomery County and the surrounding area (face it, we're the richest county around, which is why other jurisdictions sometimes let us step in if they're not prepared).
Twenty isn't very many. However, the negotiators don't just work pure hostage situations, but any sort of barricade or suicide-in-progress as well. There's a fine-ish line between hostage and barricade situations, sometimes. Technically, if the perpetrator hasn't directly threatened the lives of those he's barricaded himself (and nearly all hostage takers are male) in with and made a demand (usually for an escape route, judicial pardon, money, etc.), it isn't a proper hostage scenario.
In general term, the Lt. described hostage negotiating as being "just like talking on the phone, but for eleven hours straight, and with someone you don't like." Essentially, the negotiator calls the perpetrator up and attempts to convince him to give himself up. It's kind of a tough sell, sometimes.
One example he gave was of a man who was accused of raping his 13-year old granddaughter on a weekly basis. The granddaughter's brother had found out, and took the girl to the Family Crimes Section. The presentor's wife (eight months pregnant at the time, no less) was working Child Abuse at that time, and assigned two SAT officers (Special Assignment Team, a district's plainclothes officers, and a sort of 'stepping stone' between Patrol Officer and Detective) to go to the house and make sure the grandfather didn't make a run for it.
He didn't, but when he noticed the police were outside he locked all the doors and threatened to kill himself. The more pragmatically-minded of my readers may be thinking "well, let him," but that's not County policy. Everyone's a person, or some such idealistic nonsense (which I believe, no less).
So they tried everything to get him to surrender. Our presentor, fairly new to negotiating at that time, showed up to the scene a few minutes after his wife (collective 'aww' from the audience, there) and was able to make contact with the grandfather. After about six hours of talking to him, he still adamantly refused to come out. They even let his daughter, the 13-year old granddaughter's mother (who would latter testify that he had raped her, too, years before) get on the phone in order to coax him out.
According to the negotiator, most perpetrators are deeply ashamed of their actions. It seems illogical, but you have to realize that almost no hostage-taking happen on purpose. You go in to rob a place, the police show up, surround the place with guns, and all the sudden you're trapped inside with a bankful of civilians. What would you do? The point is, they don't want to be seen as 'the bad guy', and more importantly, they don't want to die. It's the negotiator's job to provide an out: some way that they can stay alive while maintaining a few shreads of dignity.
Our child-rapist, of course, had probably figured out that there wasn't much chance of that. Even after the family's pleas, he broke off communications, but could still be seen pacing in front of the windows, gun in his mouth.
Rather than allow his to just ignore the police outside, a single rubber shotgun slug was fired through the window. This was, the negotiator assured us, purely as a "wake-up call," letting him know that business was meant and hopefully getting him back on the phone.
Instead, he must've assumed the shot was a precursor to an all-out raid. Rather than be taken alive, the perpetrator committed (commat?) suicide by shooting himself in the heart, on the same couch where he'd alleged raped his granddaughter.
This was, according to our negotiator, "a win."
Was it? I mean, kinda. The guy was about as dirty as they come, and the paperwork involved in filing a suicide is a lot simpler than taking a multiple-rape case to trial. But still. A man died, and a man's daughter and granddaughter were raped, repeatedly. Even on a good day, it's kind of hard to feel happy about that.
But still. At the end of the day, I suppose it's that kind of moral vascillating that stresses people out, strings them out, and in the end, burns them out. It's a lot easier to say "scratch one rapist" than to wonder about whether there was any trace of goodness left in him, or to think that maybe, for all he put them through, his family probably still loved him (they certainly acted like it, at least). That kind of thinking will wear you out, and get a lot of funny looks from the guys at back at HQ to boot.
So scratch one rapist.
Next Time (philosophy): Not GitS; I'll hold off until I finish Season 2
Next Time (Cop Stuff): It's kind of winding down, but hopefully something cool will happen once more before summer's out
Next Time (40k): Augh, I'm so behind. SMurfs next time, Necrons after that.
----------------------------------------
Meanwhile! I downloaded Scarlet Weather Rhapsody, my very favorite fighting game about little girls with magical powers beating each other up. To be fair, I generally loathe fighting games (something I've always regretted but never sought to change), but this is one of the few I can enjoy playing (the others being any of the Super Smash Bros. games, mainly).
To anyone not familiar with the Touhou series, they're a series of "Curtain-Fire Shooting Games" - picture a top-down shooter (like that TI-83 classic, Phoenix), but with hundreds and hundreds of bullets. And instead of spaceships fighting other spaceships, they're little girls fighting fairies. C'mon, you know this looks hardcore.
Most of it was an overview of how that unit functions, which was interesting, but a little dry. At the end, though, he went into a little more depth as to the sort of negotiation tactics he'd normally employ, and gave us a few interesting cases he'd worked.
First off, you might wonder why any county, MoCo included, would need a dedicated Hostage Negotiation team. After all, hostage takings are fairly rare occurrences, and doesn't the FBI have people for that kind of thing? You're both right and wrong. There are around 15 or 20 true hostage situations each year in Montgomery County and the surrounding area (face it, we're the richest county around, which is why other jurisdictions sometimes let us step in if they're not prepared).
Twenty isn't very many. However, the negotiators don't just work pure hostage situations, but any sort of barricade or suicide-in-progress as well. There's a fine-ish line between hostage and barricade situations, sometimes. Technically, if the perpetrator hasn't directly threatened the lives of those he's barricaded himself (and nearly all hostage takers are male) in with and made a demand (usually for an escape route, judicial pardon, money, etc.), it isn't a proper hostage scenario.
In general term, the Lt. described hostage negotiating as being "just like talking on the phone, but for eleven hours straight, and with someone you don't like." Essentially, the negotiator calls the perpetrator up and attempts to convince him to give himself up. It's kind of a tough sell, sometimes.
One example he gave was of a man who was accused of raping his 13-year old granddaughter on a weekly basis. The granddaughter's brother had found out, and took the girl to the Family Crimes Section. The presentor's wife (eight months pregnant at the time, no less) was working Child Abuse at that time, and assigned two SAT officers (Special Assignment Team, a district's plainclothes officers, and a sort of 'stepping stone' between Patrol Officer and Detective) to go to the house and make sure the grandfather didn't make a run for it.
He didn't, but when he noticed the police were outside he locked all the doors and threatened to kill himself. The more pragmatically-minded of my readers may be thinking "well, let him," but that's not County policy. Everyone's a person, or some such idealistic nonsense (which I believe, no less).
So they tried everything to get him to surrender. Our presentor, fairly new to negotiating at that time, showed up to the scene a few minutes after his wife (collective 'aww' from the audience, there) and was able to make contact with the grandfather. After about six hours of talking to him, he still adamantly refused to come out. They even let his daughter, the 13-year old granddaughter's mother (who would latter testify that he had raped her, too, years before) get on the phone in order to coax him out.
According to the negotiator, most perpetrators are deeply ashamed of their actions. It seems illogical, but you have to realize that almost no hostage-taking happen on purpose. You go in to rob a place, the police show up, surround the place with guns, and all the sudden you're trapped inside with a bankful of civilians. What would you do? The point is, they don't want to be seen as 'the bad guy', and more importantly, they don't want to die. It's the negotiator's job to provide an out: some way that they can stay alive while maintaining a few shreads of dignity.
Our child-rapist, of course, had probably figured out that there wasn't much chance of that. Even after the family's pleas, he broke off communications, but could still be seen pacing in front of the windows, gun in his mouth.
Rather than allow his to just ignore the police outside, a single rubber shotgun slug was fired through the window. This was, the negotiator assured us, purely as a "wake-up call," letting him know that business was meant and hopefully getting him back on the phone.
Instead, he must've assumed the shot was a precursor to an all-out raid. Rather than be taken alive, the perpetrator committed (commat?) suicide by shooting himself in the heart, on the same couch where he'd alleged raped his granddaughter.
This was, according to our negotiator, "a win."
Was it? I mean, kinda. The guy was about as dirty as they come, and the paperwork involved in filing a suicide is a lot simpler than taking a multiple-rape case to trial. But still. A man died, and a man's daughter and granddaughter were raped, repeatedly. Even on a good day, it's kind of hard to feel happy about that.
But still. At the end of the day, I suppose it's that kind of moral vascillating that stresses people out, strings them out, and in the end, burns them out. It's a lot easier to say "scratch one rapist" than to wonder about whether there was any trace of goodness left in him, or to think that maybe, for all he put them through, his family probably still loved him (they certainly acted like it, at least). That kind of thinking will wear you out, and get a lot of funny looks from the guys at back at HQ to boot.
So scratch one rapist.
Next Time (philosophy): Not GitS; I'll hold off until I finish Season 2
Next Time (Cop Stuff): It's kind of winding down, but hopefully something cool will happen once more before summer's out
Next Time (40k): Augh, I'm so behind. SMurfs next time, Necrons after that.
----------------------------------------
Meanwhile! I downloaded Scarlet Weather Rhapsody, my very favorite fighting game about little girls with magical powers beating each other up. To be fair, I generally loathe fighting games (something I've always regretted but never sought to change), but this is one of the few I can enjoy playing (the others being any of the Super Smash Bros. games, mainly).
To anyone not familiar with the Touhou series, they're a series of "Curtain-Fire Shooting Games" - picture a top-down shooter (like that TI-83 classic, Phoenix), but with hundreds and hundreds of bullets. And instead of spaceships fighting other spaceships, they're little girls fighting fairies. C'mon, you know this looks hardcore.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Psych! More Marines Today
I'm off work this week, due to my boss (the Sergeant at Auto Theft) being required to attend a conference. Now, I say that like he's doing it against his will, but really I think he's pretty happy to be spending a week in Colorado with his wife and no kids. He told me he'd almost gotten to go to the International Auto Theft Conference, in Australia, last year, but it didn't quite pan out. I guess if you have to sit through a seminar on the differences between the passenger-side door locks of a 2003 Honda Accord versus those of a 2004 Honda Accord, you might as well do it in some exotic locale sipping complimentary champagne.
As a result, I've had more time than usual to waste completing my quest to read every Codex and write up a 1000 point list for it. I've already got two more after this one worked out, which should indicate how fortunate it is I got a job this summer, lest I have run out of different armies the week after I started.
Anyway, I obliquely promised Necrons last time, but I'd forgotten about the fourth (and thankfully final) unique Space Marines Chapter, the Dark Angels (has the Space-Marine-Chapter-naming-scheme become obvious, yet?). Don't worry, though; after this I'll knock out the plain old normal Space Marines and then we'll get back to the more alien armies.
The Dark Angels are loosely based on the old 'secret societies', especially the rumors surrounding the dissolution of the Knights Templar (which is an interesting read in Wikipedia, by the way). And yes, you're correct in noting that I already attributed the Knights Templar as the inspiration behind the Black Templar Chapter. What can I say? Maybe they're just not that creative.
Anyway, the Dark Angels are essentially identical to the vanilla Space Marines, with two exceptions:1) they cost slightly more (in points, I mean) than normal Space Marines, and 2) they have two special characters who allow for interestingly one-dimensional unit selections.
Specifically, they have two characters who allow you to field specific 'companies' of the Dark Angels. These are Belial, Master of the 'Deathwing' 1st Company, who allows you to count Terminator Squads as Troops instead of as Elites, and Sammael, Master of the 'Ravenwing' 2nd Company, who lets you count Biker Squads as Troops instead of as Fast Attack.
Now, I know I already gave this big explanation (in the Blood Angels list, if I recall correctly) about why I am loathe to include special characters in my armies. That said, without special characters, the Dark Angels are effectively just Space Marines in green armor (and with robes, which are pretty awesome-looking, I admit). Thus, the main ways people play Dark Angels are either as Deathwing or Ravenwing, and take almost exclusively Terminators or Bikers, respectively.
Then there's some people who mix the two, producing what's know as a "Deathraven" army (the alternative, Wingwing, is strangely ignored). I've gone this route with the army below; though technically more of a Deathwing list, it has elements of the Ravenwing as well, and at higher points levels could have a more even mix of units.
As usual, 'elite' armies like Deathraven have trouble at low (<1500) points levels, so recognize that this isn't the most tactically comfortable army. That said, I do think it is capable of winning games, or I wouldn't have presented it.
___________________________________
Dark Angels - Deathraven Teleport Assault
HQ
Belial, Master of the Deathwing (130) [note#1]
-Twin Lightning Claws (free)
Troops [note#2]
Deathwing Terminator Squad (215)
-2 w/ Stormbolter & Powerfist (free)
-1 w/ Assault Cannon & Powerfist (30)
-1 w/ Stormbolter & Power Weapon (free)
-1 w/ Twin Lightning Claws (free)
Deathwing Terminator Squad (215)
-2 w/ Stormbolter & Powerfist (free)
-1 w/ Assault Cannon & Powerfist (30)
-1 w/ Stormbolter & Power Weapon (free)
-1 w/ Twin Lightning Claws (free)
Deathwing Terminator Squad (215)
-2 w/ Stormbolter & Powerfist (free)
-1 w/ Assault Cannon & Powerfist (30)
-1 w/ Stormbolter & Power Weapon (free)
-1 w/ Twin Lightning Claws (free)
Fast Attack [note#3]
Ravenwing Attack Squadron (120)
-w/ 2 meltaguns (20)
--------------------------------------------------
Note#1:
First, I might as well point out the obvious: Yes, I broke down and took a special character. I kind of had to, even more than usual, and to be fair, Belial is one of the least-unique characters out there. Aside from making your army officially a Deathwing (and thus, Terminator Squads count as Troops, which is awesome), he's basically just a Company Master in Terminator Armor. Heck, in the previous edition of the Codex, he didn't even have a name; you just upgraded your normal HQ to be him.
He also gives you two options that I didn't get to take advantage of in this list: upgrading one Terminator to an Apothecary (letting you ignore the first failed save of each turn, a great ability) and upgrading a different one to be the Standard Bearer (giving that entire unit +1 Attack & letting everyone nearby re-roll Morale checks). Both are excellent, I just didn't have points for them. If this were an 1100-point list, they'd be in there.
While we're talking about options, I've given Belial the Lightning Claws, as it's probably the most useful close-combat setup for him, and you're only losing 2 stormbolter attacks to gain an extra attack plus rerolling to-wound.
Note#2:
The meat'n'potatoes of this list are the three Deathwing Terminator Squads that make up the Troops section (and it's basically a one-course meal, so I hope you like meat'n'potatoes). Note that I said 'Troops', there; the main draw of the Deathwing is that you get to use Terminators as scoring, objective-claiming Troops choices, so you don't have to worry about those comparatively-squishy Tactical Marines running around. Almost every member of the squad is outfitted differently, allowing you to play games with the Wound Allocation rules, though the benefits of this are somewhat limited (despite the big deal Dark Angels players seem to make over it...).
The thing Terminators are good at is being good at everything. Okay, that's an exaggeration, but they're still darn good at a lot of things. More importantly, they're durable enough that even if they fail the first time, they'll probably get a second (and third, and fourth...) chance at it. In shooting, each squad is toting an assault cannon (yes, that same old awesome-kill-everything-gun I've been pushing the last four lists) and 6 stormbolter shots just to pitch in. In close combat, they throw out 5 Power Weapon attacks (three of which reroll to-wound) and 6 Powerfist attacks (so Strength 8, but Initiative 1). Attach Belial to one squad, and it'll be able to beat down pretty much anything in the game.
Deathwing Terminators have the ability to teleport (that is, Deep-Strike) into the battle, meaning the termies' slow pace shouldn't hold you back too much. You can even make a Deathwing Assault, which is like a Drop-Pod Assault (half your force Deep-Strikes first turn) but better, since it's completely optional.
Note#3:
Of course, even meat'n'potatoes tastes better with some gravy. Here is the 'Raven' portion of our Deathraven - a squad of three Ravenwing Bikers. Bikes are nice because they're fast and somewhat tougher to wound than normal Marines, and they can Turboboost to dash 24" and gain an Invulnerable save, but with only three models, this unit is still the most fragile thing in your army, and the only one that will be deploying on the table if you're going the 'everything teleports' route.
The key here is to keep them hidden behind terrain. It's a fairly small unit, so that shouldn't be too impossible for the most part. Then zip them out to an enemy vehicle and take it down with those two meltaguns. Another nice bonus is the Teleport Homer each bike has equipped, which lets you Deep-Stike your Terminators much more accurately if you do so near the bikes.
___________________________________
What's there to say about this list? It's tiny - only 19 models, though they're each quite durable. Despite that, I suspect it is a rather Unforgiving list to play (ha-ha, 40k-fluff pun!).
Deathwing is, at it's heart, a slow army. There's no one here who can move more than 12" a turn, maximum. The Ravenwing elements help make up for that, but not enough that you'll have much mobility. Essentially, you get to decide where you'll be once (when you Deep-Strike), and you'll be there the entire game, so choose well. The bikers can help with that, letting you teleport in more accurately.
You can mitigate this weakness in a few ways. If you're playing an objective-based mission (and 2/3rds of them are), you'll have a natural advantage in holding an objective, since your toughest units are also all scoring. When placing objectives, put three of them close together, in a little triangle, and Deep-Strike into the center of the triangle. This will let your units support each other and still be able to make a Turn 5 dash for the objectives. Mutual support is very important, because you'll almost always be outnumbered, especially against horde-style lists.
When fighting a mobile opponent (jetbike/mechanized Eldar, mechanized Tau, mechanized Guard, mechanized Anyone...) you'll run the risk of being outmanuvered and avoided. Take advantage of the space you threaten. With your powerfists, you can put some hurt on most vehicles, and you'll crush anything you charge in close combat (I hope, at least...), so anything that stops within 12" of you is going to regret it. Be stretching out a line of Terminators as far as you can, you can block off about a foot (5 x 1" bases + 2" between each one = 13"). With three of these, you can hold even very mobile forces in place, preventing them from getting away from you, though at the risk of being somewhat spread out.
Overall, this is an interesting list, with a very tight style of play that you don't see much of these days. It's fewer models than I'm usually comfortable with, but the more I look at it the more I like it.
Next Time (40k): /sigh/ Boring old Smurfs
Next Time (CopStuff): Hostages this Thursday(!!)
Next Time (philosophy): Ghost in the Shell, most likely
As a result, I've had more time than usual to waste completing my quest to read every Codex and write up a 1000 point list for it. I've already got two more after this one worked out, which should indicate how fortunate it is I got a job this summer, lest I have run out of different armies the week after I started.
Anyway, I obliquely promised Necrons last time, but I'd forgotten about the fourth (and thankfully final) unique Space Marines Chapter, the Dark Angels (has the Space-Marine-Chapter-naming-scheme become obvious, yet?). Don't worry, though; after this I'll knock out the plain old normal Space Marines and then we'll get back to the more alien armies.
The Dark Angels are loosely based on the old 'secret societies', especially the rumors surrounding the dissolution of the Knights Templar (which is an interesting read in Wikipedia, by the way). And yes, you're correct in noting that I already attributed the Knights Templar as the inspiration behind the Black Templar Chapter. What can I say? Maybe they're just not that creative.
Anyway, the Dark Angels are essentially identical to the vanilla Space Marines, with two exceptions:1) they cost slightly more (in points, I mean) than normal Space Marines, and 2) they have two special characters who allow for interestingly one-dimensional unit selections.
Specifically, they have two characters who allow you to field specific 'companies' of the Dark Angels. These are Belial, Master of the 'Deathwing' 1st Company, who allows you to count Terminator Squads as Troops instead of as Elites, and Sammael, Master of the 'Ravenwing' 2nd Company, who lets you count Biker Squads as Troops instead of as Fast Attack.
Now, I know I already gave this big explanation (in the Blood Angels list, if I recall correctly) about why I am loathe to include special characters in my armies. That said, without special characters, the Dark Angels are effectively just Space Marines in green armor (and with robes, which are pretty awesome-looking, I admit). Thus, the main ways people play Dark Angels are either as Deathwing or Ravenwing, and take almost exclusively Terminators or Bikers, respectively.
Then there's some people who mix the two, producing what's know as a "Deathraven" army (the alternative, Wingwing, is strangely ignored). I've gone this route with the army below; though technically more of a Deathwing list, it has elements of the Ravenwing as well, and at higher points levels could have a more even mix of units.
As usual, 'elite' armies like Deathraven have trouble at low (<1500) points levels, so recognize that this isn't the most tactically comfortable army. That said, I do think it is capable of winning games, or I wouldn't have presented it.
___________________________________
Dark Angels - Deathraven Teleport Assault
HQ
Belial, Master of the Deathwing (130) [note#1]
-Twin Lightning Claws (free)
Troops [note#2]
Deathwing Terminator Squad (215)
-2 w/ Stormbolter & Powerfist (free)
-1 w/ Assault Cannon & Powerfist (30)
-1 w/ Stormbolter & Power Weapon (free)
-1 w/ Twin Lightning Claws (free)
Deathwing Terminator Squad (215)
-2 w/ Stormbolter & Powerfist (free)
-1 w/ Assault Cannon & Powerfist (30)
-1 w/ Stormbolter & Power Weapon (free)
-1 w/ Twin Lightning Claws (free)
Deathwing Terminator Squad (215)
-2 w/ Stormbolter & Powerfist (free)
-1 w/ Assault Cannon & Powerfist (30)
-1 w/ Stormbolter & Power Weapon (free)
-1 w/ Twin Lightning Claws (free)
Fast Attack [note#3]
Ravenwing Attack Squadron (120)
-w/ 2 meltaguns (20)
--------------------------------------------------
Note#1:
First, I might as well point out the obvious: Yes, I broke down and took a special character. I kind of had to, even more than usual, and to be fair, Belial is one of the least-unique characters out there. Aside from making your army officially a Deathwing (and thus, Terminator Squads count as Troops, which is awesome), he's basically just a Company Master in Terminator Armor. Heck, in the previous edition of the Codex, he didn't even have a name; you just upgraded your normal HQ to be him.
He also gives you two options that I didn't get to take advantage of in this list: upgrading one Terminator to an Apothecary (letting you ignore the first failed save of each turn, a great ability) and upgrading a different one to be the Standard Bearer (giving that entire unit +1 Attack & letting everyone nearby re-roll Morale checks). Both are excellent, I just didn't have points for them. If this were an 1100-point list, they'd be in there.
While we're talking about options, I've given Belial the Lightning Claws, as it's probably the most useful close-combat setup for him, and you're only losing 2 stormbolter attacks to gain an extra attack plus rerolling to-wound.
Note#2:
The meat'n'potatoes of this list are the three Deathwing Terminator Squads that make up the Troops section (and it's basically a one-course meal, so I hope you like meat'n'potatoes). Note that I said 'Troops', there; the main draw of the Deathwing is that you get to use Terminators as scoring, objective-claiming Troops choices, so you don't have to worry about those comparatively-squishy Tactical Marines running around. Almost every member of the squad is outfitted differently, allowing you to play games with the Wound Allocation rules, though the benefits of this are somewhat limited (despite the big deal Dark Angels players seem to make over it...).
The thing Terminators are good at is being good at everything. Okay, that's an exaggeration, but they're still darn good at a lot of things. More importantly, they're durable enough that even if they fail the first time, they'll probably get a second (and third, and fourth...) chance at it. In shooting, each squad is toting an assault cannon (yes, that same old awesome-kill-everything-gun I've been pushing the last four lists) and 6 stormbolter shots just to pitch in. In close combat, they throw out 5 Power Weapon attacks (three of which reroll to-wound) and 6 Powerfist attacks (so Strength 8, but Initiative 1). Attach Belial to one squad, and it'll be able to beat down pretty much anything in the game.
Deathwing Terminators have the ability to teleport (that is, Deep-Strike) into the battle, meaning the termies' slow pace shouldn't hold you back too much. You can even make a Deathwing Assault, which is like a Drop-Pod Assault (half your force Deep-Strikes first turn) but better, since it's completely optional.
Note#3:
Of course, even meat'n'potatoes tastes better with some gravy. Here is the 'Raven' portion of our Deathraven - a squad of three Ravenwing Bikers. Bikes are nice because they're fast and somewhat tougher to wound than normal Marines, and they can Turboboost to dash 24" and gain an Invulnerable save, but with only three models, this unit is still the most fragile thing in your army, and the only one that will be deploying on the table if you're going the 'everything teleports' route.
The key here is to keep them hidden behind terrain. It's a fairly small unit, so that shouldn't be too impossible for the most part. Then zip them out to an enemy vehicle and take it down with those two meltaguns. Another nice bonus is the Teleport Homer each bike has equipped, which lets you Deep-Stike your Terminators much more accurately if you do so near the bikes.
___________________________________
What's there to say about this list? It's tiny - only 19 models, though they're each quite durable. Despite that, I suspect it is a rather Unforgiving list to play (ha-ha, 40k-fluff pun!).
Deathwing is, at it's heart, a slow army. There's no one here who can move more than 12" a turn, maximum. The Ravenwing elements help make up for that, but not enough that you'll have much mobility. Essentially, you get to decide where you'll be once (when you Deep-Strike), and you'll be there the entire game, so choose well. The bikers can help with that, letting you teleport in more accurately.
You can mitigate this weakness in a few ways. If you're playing an objective-based mission (and 2/3rds of them are), you'll have a natural advantage in holding an objective, since your toughest units are also all scoring. When placing objectives, put three of them close together, in a little triangle, and Deep-Strike into the center of the triangle. This will let your units support each other and still be able to make a Turn 5 dash for the objectives. Mutual support is very important, because you'll almost always be outnumbered, especially against horde-style lists.
When fighting a mobile opponent (jetbike/mechanized Eldar, mechanized Tau, mechanized Guard, mechanized Anyone...) you'll run the risk of being outmanuvered and avoided. Take advantage of the space you threaten. With your powerfists, you can put some hurt on most vehicles, and you'll crush anything you charge in close combat (I hope, at least...), so anything that stops within 12" of you is going to regret it. Be stretching out a line of Terminators as far as you can, you can block off about a foot (5 x 1" bases + 2" between each one = 13"). With three of these, you can hold even very mobile forces in place, preventing them from getting away from you, though at the risk of being somewhat spread out.
Overall, this is an interesting list, with a very tight style of play that you don't see much of these days. It's fewer models than I'm usually comfortable with, but the more I look at it the more I like it.
Next Time (40k): /sigh/ Boring old Smurfs
Next Time (CopStuff): Hostages this Thursday(!!)
Next Time (philosophy): Ghost in the Shell, most likely
Sunday, August 9, 2009
An American Space Wolf in London
So I finally got my entire 40k Army assembled. You can thank The WarStore for that one - Neal is a true pro. Of course, painting it up properly will take much, much longer, but until then, the Gray Tau of Doom are ready to roll.
I played a couple Combat Patrols last week against my old roommate and a 12-year-old kid with (go on, guess) Ultramarines. I won't bother with the details, but suffice to say a good time was had by all (with the possible exception of that time Eyob's last Chimera immobilized itself on a dangerous terrain test, letting me shoot it in the side armor, letting me explode it, killing half the squad inside...)
Anyway, I finished up my next list. Actually, I had it finished a few days ago, but I kind of didn't feel like shifting gears from "dude... people..." to "VIKINGS IN SPAAACE!!," so I let it sit for a few days. That said, brace for SPACE VIKINGS.
The Space Wolves are the third 'special' Space Marines Chapter, and have the disinction of having the most out-of-date Codex (yep, even older than Dark Eldar, if you believe it). Never fear, though: a shiny new 5th Edition Space Wolves Codex will be coming out this October! (And I'm sure Dark Eldar will be right behind it, promise...)
In any event, the Space Wolves Chapter is loosely based on old Viking lore. That, and wolves - everything's Wolf This or Fang That or Somesuch Pack, etc. Just keep reminding yourself: it's not furry, it's badass. And slightly furry.
In any event, Space Wolves have a fair number of differences from normal Marines, from their Troops choices to the wargear they're allowed, and sadly I'm not building a list big enough to really give a good scope of the differences. 1000 points is small enough already, but Space Wolves have a weird rule requiring them to take 1 HQ for every 750 points (or fraction thereof), meaning I need 2 in this list, along with the regular two Troops selections. That doesn't leave much space left over for cool stuff.
So instead, I went with a common Space Marine tactic that the Wolves seemed especially good at: Drop Pod Assault. Basically, every unit enters play via Deep-Striking drop pods. What makes the Space Wolves good at this is their combination of good firepower with durability, meaning they can land in the middle of the enemy force, shoot them up thoroughly, and still survive the return fire/counter-charge.
But enough! To the list!
__________________________________
Space Wolves - Drop Pod Assault Team
HQ
Venerable Dreadnought (125) [note#1]
-Assault Cannon (30)
-Heavy Flamer (5)
-Extra Armor (15)
-in Drop Pod (50)
Wolf Priest (95) [note#2 part 1]
-Healing Potions & Balms (25)
-Bolter (2)
Elites
4 x Wolf Guard Bodyguards (100) [note#2 part 2]
-all in Terminator Armor (20)
-all w/ Runic Charm (20)
-2 w/ Assault Cannons (40)
-2 w/ Combi-plasmas & Power Weapons (40)
-in Drop Pod (50)
Troops [note#3]
9 x Grey Hunters (153)
-8 w/ Bolters (8)
-1 w/ Meltagun (10)
-in Drop Pod (50)
9 x Grey Hunters (153)
-8 w/ Bolters (8)
-1 w/ Meltagun (10)
-in Drop Pod (50)
------------------------------------------------
Note#1:
Remember the Furioso Dreadnought from the Blood Angels list? This guy is the same concept, but better at everything. He's got an assault cannon (no such thing as too many!) that's shooting at BS 5, and a heavy flamer rather than a flamer, for extra roasting-your-enemies goodness. And he's just as great in close combat, too.
Space Wolves' Venerable Dreadnoughts are a neat choice for a lot of different reasons besides raw firepower, too. For one, they fill an HQ slot, which takes care of one of the two I'm required to have. Second, his 'Hard to Kill' ability lets you force the enemy to re-roll the damage dice after a hit, significantly increasing his survivability. He's also 'Old & Wise', letting you reroll when deciding who gets first turn - very important for drop-pod lists.
Note#2:
A big chunk of points went into this unit, but the result is pretty awesome, and incredibly tough to kill too. First off, we've got our second HQ choice [part 1], a Wolf Priest with Healing Potions & Balms, and a bolter just for that extra shot. He's a pretty good hand-to-hand fighter, but his main role is glorified field medic for his 'bodyguards', [part 2] the four Wolf Guards in Terminator Armor with Runic Charms.
What makes them so tough? Let me explain. Terminator Armor gives them a 2+ armor save, meaning only one in six wounds will actually kill them. Runic Charm allows each one to reroll 1 failed armor save per game, meaning they'd have to fail twice in a row (1/36 chance, if you're keeping track) in order to die. On top of that, the Wolf Priest's Healing Potions & Balms allows you to ignore one failed save each turn (not just armor save, it works with their Invulnerable save, too).
This makes them so hard to kill that most people will just give up on it, but they do so at their own peril. Two of the Wolf Guards are armed with assault cannons (8 Str6 Rending shots per turn!) and the other two have combi-plasmas (which are bolters with a single-shot plasma rifle attached) and power weapons, making them nasty both in shooting and against an assault. Overall, this unit cost 342 points, and will probably soak up enough firepower, and dish out enough in turn, to be worth that price every time.
Note#3:
Oh, right. Troops. With all that effort spent making a truly frightening Terminator squad, it's easy to forget that I've brought two units of troops. These guys are great in their own right, though. Grey Hunters are essentially Space Marines, which means on the turn they land they'll either be pumping an enemy squad full of bolts with their bolters, or ripping some unfortunate vehicle a new exhaust port with their meltagun. What makes them nifty, though, is True Grit (hey there, all you UMBC people), which lets them use bolters as bolt pistols to get an extra attack in close combat. Thus, even though they get all the firepower of a Tactical Squad, they fight as well as an Assault Squad when they get charged.
______________________________________
Drop pod lists all play roughly the same, though this one has some nice tricks to help it out. First off, remember that you're going to be deploying by the "Drop Pod Assault" special rules, meaning half your pods will arrive on your first turn, with the others showing up as usual in the next couple turns.
Use this to your advantage - namely, using the Ven-Dread's "Old & Wise" ability, give your opponent first turn. He'll essentially waste the turn, having nothing to shoot at, since you won't have a single model on the table. Then you drop in your dreadnought and bodyguard squads, right into the middle of his line, and take a big chunk out of his two most valuable units.
On his next turn, he'll have to shoot at your toughest units; either the Venerable Dread with it's re-rolling damage, or the nearly-indestructible terminator bodyguard (the only real threat against them is a plasma cannon, so watch out for those). After that, you can drop in your last two squads of Grey Hunters, either taking out more of the enemy with bolters and meltaguns if they come in on Turn 2 or 3, or dropping directly onto your objectives if they come in towards the end of the game.
Like any list that spends a lot of points on mobility (200 for the four drop pods), this list doesn't have the same amount of firepower a less mobile army will have. It's therefore vital for you to limit return fire as much as possible, both by getting the the first shot (by going second, as above) and by positioning yourself so only a portion of the enemy can return fire against you at any given time.
Next Time (40k): Rise of the Machines (nope, not more Space Marines)
Next Time (Cop Stuff): Hostages this Thursday
I played a couple Combat Patrols last week against my old roommate and a 12-year-old kid with (go on, guess) Ultramarines. I won't bother with the details, but suffice to say a good time was had by all (with the possible exception of that time Eyob's last Chimera immobilized itself on a dangerous terrain test, letting me shoot it in the side armor, letting me explode it, killing half the squad inside...)
Anyway, I finished up my next list. Actually, I had it finished a few days ago, but I kind of didn't feel like shifting gears from "dude... people..." to "VIKINGS IN SPAAACE!!," so I let it sit for a few days. That said, brace for SPACE VIKINGS.
The Space Wolves are the third 'special' Space Marines Chapter, and have the disinction of having the most out-of-date Codex (yep, even older than Dark Eldar, if you believe it). Never fear, though: a shiny new 5th Edition Space Wolves Codex will be coming out this October! (And I'm sure Dark Eldar will be right behind it, promise...)
In any event, the Space Wolves Chapter is loosely based on old Viking lore. That, and wolves - everything's Wolf This or Fang That or Somesuch Pack, etc. Just keep reminding yourself: it's not furry, it's badass. And slightly furry.
In any event, Space Wolves have a fair number of differences from normal Marines, from their Troops choices to the wargear they're allowed, and sadly I'm not building a list big enough to really give a good scope of the differences. 1000 points is small enough already, but Space Wolves have a weird rule requiring them to take 1 HQ for every 750 points (or fraction thereof), meaning I need 2 in this list, along with the regular two Troops selections. That doesn't leave much space left over for cool stuff.
So instead, I went with a common Space Marine tactic that the Wolves seemed especially good at: Drop Pod Assault. Basically, every unit enters play via Deep-Striking drop pods. What makes the Space Wolves good at this is their combination of good firepower with durability, meaning they can land in the middle of the enemy force, shoot them up thoroughly, and still survive the return fire/counter-charge.
But enough! To the list!
__________________________________
Space Wolves - Drop Pod Assault Team
HQ
Venerable Dreadnought (125) [note#1]
-Assault Cannon (30)
-Heavy Flamer (5)
-Extra Armor (15)
-in Drop Pod (50)
Wolf Priest (95) [note#2 part 1]
-Healing Potions & Balms (25)
-Bolter (2)
Elites
4 x Wolf Guard Bodyguards (100) [note#2 part 2]
-all in Terminator Armor (20)
-all w/ Runic Charm (20)
-2 w/ Assault Cannons (40)
-2 w/ Combi-plasmas & Power Weapons (40)
-in Drop Pod (50)
Troops [note#3]
9 x Grey Hunters (153)
-8 w/ Bolters (8)
-1 w/ Meltagun (10)
-in Drop Pod (50)
9 x Grey Hunters (153)
-8 w/ Bolters (8)
-1 w/ Meltagun (10)
-in Drop Pod (50)
------------------------------------------------
Note#1:
Remember the Furioso Dreadnought from the Blood Angels list? This guy is the same concept, but better at everything. He's got an assault cannon (no such thing as too many!) that's shooting at BS 5, and a heavy flamer rather than a flamer, for extra roasting-your-enemies goodness. And he's just as great in close combat, too.
Space Wolves' Venerable Dreadnoughts are a neat choice for a lot of different reasons besides raw firepower, too. For one, they fill an HQ slot, which takes care of one of the two I'm required to have. Second, his 'Hard to Kill' ability lets you force the enemy to re-roll the damage dice after a hit, significantly increasing his survivability. He's also 'Old & Wise', letting you reroll when deciding who gets first turn - very important for drop-pod lists.
Note#2:
A big chunk of points went into this unit, but the result is pretty awesome, and incredibly tough to kill too. First off, we've got our second HQ choice [part 1], a Wolf Priest with Healing Potions & Balms, and a bolter just for that extra shot. He's a pretty good hand-to-hand fighter, but his main role is glorified field medic for his 'bodyguards', [part 2] the four Wolf Guards in Terminator Armor with Runic Charms.
What makes them so tough? Let me explain. Terminator Armor gives them a 2+ armor save, meaning only one in six wounds will actually kill them. Runic Charm allows each one to reroll 1 failed armor save per game, meaning they'd have to fail twice in a row (1/36 chance, if you're keeping track) in order to die. On top of that, the Wolf Priest's Healing Potions & Balms allows you to ignore one failed save each turn (not just armor save, it works with their Invulnerable save, too).
This makes them so hard to kill that most people will just give up on it, but they do so at their own peril. Two of the Wolf Guards are armed with assault cannons (8 Str6 Rending shots per turn!) and the other two have combi-plasmas (which are bolters with a single-shot plasma rifle attached) and power weapons, making them nasty both in shooting and against an assault. Overall, this unit cost 342 points, and will probably soak up enough firepower, and dish out enough in turn, to be worth that price every time.
Note#3:
Oh, right. Troops. With all that effort spent making a truly frightening Terminator squad, it's easy to forget that I've brought two units of troops. These guys are great in their own right, though. Grey Hunters are essentially Space Marines, which means on the turn they land they'll either be pumping an enemy squad full of bolts with their bolters, or ripping some unfortunate vehicle a new exhaust port with their meltagun. What makes them nifty, though, is True Grit (hey there, all you UMBC people), which lets them use bolters as bolt pistols to get an extra attack in close combat. Thus, even though they get all the firepower of a Tactical Squad, they fight as well as an Assault Squad when they get charged.
______________________________________
Drop pod lists all play roughly the same, though this one has some nice tricks to help it out. First off, remember that you're going to be deploying by the "Drop Pod Assault" special rules, meaning half your pods will arrive on your first turn, with the others showing up as usual in the next couple turns.
Use this to your advantage - namely, using the Ven-Dread's "Old & Wise" ability, give your opponent first turn. He'll essentially waste the turn, having nothing to shoot at, since you won't have a single model on the table. Then you drop in your dreadnought and bodyguard squads, right into the middle of his line, and take a big chunk out of his two most valuable units.
On his next turn, he'll have to shoot at your toughest units; either the Venerable Dread with it's re-rolling damage, or the nearly-indestructible terminator bodyguard (the only real threat against them is a plasma cannon, so watch out for those). After that, you can drop in your last two squads of Grey Hunters, either taking out more of the enemy with bolters and meltaguns if they come in on Turn 2 or 3, or dropping directly onto your objectives if they come in towards the end of the game.
Like any list that spends a lot of points on mobility (200 for the four drop pods), this list doesn't have the same amount of firepower a less mobile army will have. It's therefore vital for you to limit return fire as much as possible, both by getting the the first shot (by going second, as above) and by positioning yourself so only a portion of the enemy can return fire against you at any given time.
Next Time (40k): Rise of the Machines (nope, not more Space Marines)
Next Time (Cop Stuff): Hostages this Thursday
Friday, August 7, 2009
7 is a Big Number, when its in Billions
"The Population Reference Bureau predicts that the world's total population will double to 7,000,000,000 before the year 2000."
"I suppose they will all want dignity," I said.
"I suppose," said O'Hare.
-Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut
For the record, the US Census Bureau currently (August 7, 2009) estimates the total world population is 6.776 billion, so Vonnegut's prediction (or the PRB's, rather) is off by 224 million people, which is, give or take a few hundred thousand, about the population of Indonesia.
I was watching a baseball game the other day on TV(the Nats have taken a sudden upswing in non-suckiness, though it would be short-sighted to attribute this to the removal of Acta as manager). Around the fourth inning, the camera starts panning around the stadium, zoomed out, and you could see the hundreds of fans, packed in close, eating hotdogs or ordering beers or waving those foam finger-thingys. Gripping their mitts, hoping to catch a foul ball.
And it struck me as strange, to see all those thousands of people, and to think that they all have souls.
Or, if you dislike the term 'souls', that they all have personalities, families, feelings, preferences. Each one has hopes and dreams and some mistake in their past they look back on with shame. A large portion of them have been in love, and it felt just as special and unique as it felt when you were in love, too.
Did it ever occur to you just how many people there are in the world? Not just human beings, I mean, but people. In my example above, for instance: Nationals Park has a maximum capacity of 41,888 (not that it'll ever be filled in the immediate future, considering how bad they still are...). That's more people than I've known in my entire life.
Don't believe that? How many new people do you meet each day? Today I met three, and that was more than usual. 3 people per day * 365 days per year * 20 years in my life so far = 21,900 people I've ever met. That's a little more than half the capacity of a midling-sized baseball stadium like Nationals Park.
In order to fit the entire population of the world into baseball stadiums the size of Nationals Park, you would need 161,765 of them. That is, incidentally, one for every person living in Sao Tome.
Maybe I'm the only one who's surprised by this? For some reason, it never struck me before just how vastly the human race exceeds my ability to appreciate it. I'll never be able to see even a small portion of these people's unique personality quirks. I'll never even be able see most of them.
Part of this probably goes back to Dunbar's Number. Remember, that refers to the couple-hundred-or-so humans that you are mentally capable of thinking of as actual people. Beyond those few hundred, people just become 'guy who delivers my mail', etc. I think it just bothered me that there's another, even larger group of people who I'll never even lay eyes on. And outside that group, there's a still larger group of people who don't even exist to me.
I'm not really sure where I was going with this, but it was bugging me.
Next Time (Philosophy): Yes, I skipped over "LHC & Cthulhu," get over it.
Next Time (40k): Space Wolves, or Space Marines Part III
Next Time (CopStuff): Been a while, eh? One week until Hostage Negotiations
________________________________
Also from Slaughterhouse-Five:
Our hero, Billy Pilgrim, watches a movie backwards:
"It was a movie about American bombers in the Second World War and the gallant men who flew them. Seen backwards by Billy, the story went like this:
American planes, full of holes and wounded men and corpses took off backwards from an airfield in England. Over France, a few German fighter planes flew at them backwards, sucked bullets and shell fragments from some of the planes and crewmen. They did the same for wrecked American bombers on the ground, and those planes flew up backwards to join the formation.
The formation flew backwards over a German city that was in flames. The bombers opened their bomb bay doors, exerted a miraculous magnetism which shrunk the fires, gathered them into cylindrical steel containers, and lifted the containers into the bellies of the planes. The containers were stored neatly in racks. The Germans below had miraculous devices of their own, which were long steel tubes. They used them to suck more fragments from the crewmen and planes. But there were still a few wounded Americans, though, and some of the bombers were in bad repair. Over France, though, German fighters came up again, made everything and everybody as good as new.
When the bombers got back to their base, the steel cylinders were taken from the racks and shipped back to the United States of America, where factories were operating night and day, dismantling the cylinders, separating the dangerous contents into minerals. Touchingly, it was mainly women who did this work. The minerals were then shipped to specialists in remote areas. It was their business to put them into the ground, to hide them cleverly, so they would never hurt anybody ever again.
The American fliers turned in their uniforms, became high school kids. And Hitler turned into a baby, Billy Pilgrim supposed. That wasn't in the movie. Billy was extrapolating. Everybody turned into a baby, and all humanity, without exception, conspired biologically to produce two perfect people named Adam and Eve, he supposed."
"I suppose they will all want dignity," I said.
"I suppose," said O'Hare.
-Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut
For the record, the US Census Bureau currently (August 7, 2009) estimates the total world population is 6.776 billion, so Vonnegut's prediction (or the PRB's, rather) is off by 224 million people, which is, give or take a few hundred thousand, about the population of Indonesia.
I was watching a baseball game the other day on TV(the Nats have taken a sudden upswing in non-suckiness, though it would be short-sighted to attribute this to the removal of Acta as manager). Around the fourth inning, the camera starts panning around the stadium, zoomed out, and you could see the hundreds of fans, packed in close, eating hotdogs or ordering beers or waving those foam finger-thingys. Gripping their mitts, hoping to catch a foul ball.
And it struck me as strange, to see all those thousands of people, and to think that they all have souls.
Or, if you dislike the term 'souls', that they all have personalities, families, feelings, preferences. Each one has hopes and dreams and some mistake in their past they look back on with shame. A large portion of them have been in love, and it felt just as special and unique as it felt when you were in love, too.
Did it ever occur to you just how many people there are in the world? Not just human beings, I mean, but people. In my example above, for instance: Nationals Park has a maximum capacity of 41,888 (not that it'll ever be filled in the immediate future, considering how bad they still are...). That's more people than I've known in my entire life.
Don't believe that? How many new people do you meet each day? Today I met three, and that was more than usual. 3 people per day * 365 days per year * 20 years in my life so far = 21,900 people I've ever met. That's a little more than half the capacity of a midling-sized baseball stadium like Nationals Park.
In order to fit the entire population of the world into baseball stadiums the size of Nationals Park, you would need 161,765 of them. That is, incidentally, one for every person living in Sao Tome.
Maybe I'm the only one who's surprised by this? For some reason, it never struck me before just how vastly the human race exceeds my ability to appreciate it. I'll never be able to see even a small portion of these people's unique personality quirks. I'll never even be able see most of them.
Part of this probably goes back to Dunbar's Number. Remember, that refers to the couple-hundred-or-so humans that you are mentally capable of thinking of as actual people. Beyond those few hundred, people just become 'guy who delivers my mail', etc. I think it just bothered me that there's another, even larger group of people who I'll never even lay eyes on. And outside that group, there's a still larger group of people who don't even exist to me.
I'm not really sure where I was going with this, but it was bugging me.
Next Time (Philosophy): Yes, I skipped over "LHC & Cthulhu," get over it.
Next Time (40k): Space Wolves, or Space Marines Part III
Next Time (CopStuff): Been a while, eh? One week until Hostage Negotiations
________________________________
Also from Slaughterhouse-Five:
Our hero, Billy Pilgrim, watches a movie backwards:
"It was a movie about American bombers in the Second World War and the gallant men who flew them. Seen backwards by Billy, the story went like this:
American planes, full of holes and wounded men and corpses took off backwards from an airfield in England. Over France, a few German fighter planes flew at them backwards, sucked bullets and shell fragments from some of the planes and crewmen. They did the same for wrecked American bombers on the ground, and those planes flew up backwards to join the formation.
The formation flew backwards over a German city that was in flames. The bombers opened their bomb bay doors, exerted a miraculous magnetism which shrunk the fires, gathered them into cylindrical steel containers, and lifted the containers into the bellies of the planes. The containers were stored neatly in racks. The Germans below had miraculous devices of their own, which were long steel tubes. They used them to suck more fragments from the crewmen and planes. But there were still a few wounded Americans, though, and some of the bombers were in bad repair. Over France, though, German fighters came up again, made everything and everybody as good as new.
When the bombers got back to their base, the steel cylinders were taken from the racks and shipped back to the United States of America, where factories were operating night and day, dismantling the cylinders, separating the dangerous contents into minerals. Touchingly, it was mainly women who did this work. The minerals were then shipped to specialists in remote areas. It was their business to put them into the ground, to hide them cleverly, so they would never hurt anybody ever again.
The American fliers turned in their uniforms, became high school kids. And Hitler turned into a baby, Billy Pilgrim supposed. That wasn't in the movie. Billy was extrapolating. Everybody turned into a baby, and all humanity, without exception, conspired biologically to produce two perfect people named Adam and Eve, he supposed."
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Sir? The gentleman with the chainsword would like a word with you...
So after a week away visiting relatives, my parents and little sister came home yesterday and immediately began complaining about the horrible state of uncleanliness that my brother and I let the house fall into. Specifically, the odor. The term 'septic tank' may or may not have been bandied around while they searched for more eloquent descriptors.
Now look. I'm not a particularly messy person. If I have a place I keep something, I put it there (it's the things I don't have a place for that give me trouble). Even after a week without my mom's regular cleaning madness, the downstairs area where my brother and I spend most of our time was essentially merely as messy as usual. A pleasant, masculine sort of messiness that lets you know someone with better things to do than clean lives there.
The part that smelled like feces was the upstairs, and the reason it smelled that way was kittens. My little sister, tree-hugging peace'n'love hippy that she is, helps out the Humane Society by fostering cats over the summer. This summer, she went a little overboard and got five of them; a mother and four kittens. Which is fine, when she's the one dealing with them. When she goes on vacation and leaves them with me, that's less-than-fine.
Now, kittens are friggin' adorable, to a point. But past that point, you realize they crap all over the place and then roll around in it. I mean, I thought cats were supposed to be the clean ones, and dogs were messy, but apparently these kittens decided to break down such age-old stereotypes.
That's not to say it's entirely their fault. I'm sure we could've done a better job disposing of the scoopings from the kitty litter, and the stack of dirty dishes left in the sink was at least contributing to the 'aroma', but the smell was 90% kittens. Nevertheless, it's obviously all my fault that they were crapping on themselves, and I'm a cruel, horrible person, according to my sis. At least she promised never to leave me alone with them ever again...
Fortunately, a family came to see them today, and once they take care of the paperwork will be adopting one of them. I'm hoping we can find 'good homes' for the rest of the blighters before too long. So, anyone want a kitty?
Regardless, I finished yet another army list for 40k. This is #4, the quarterway (that's not a word, is it?) mark as far as the 16 official, tournament-legal Codexes go. If I run out before the end of the summer, I might go crazy and write up lists for some of Bell of Lost Souls' excellent fan-produced armies (Riot Police? Heck yes.), but let's not get ahead of ourselves.
Anyway, this time, it's the Blood Angels, who are basically Space Marines, but angrier, and painted red. The basic backstory here is that the Blood Angels' bloodline suffers from a debilitating genetic flaw known as the Black Rage that makes them occasionally go into a blood-thirsty rage and start killing everything. Which is really pretty useful, it turns out.
Blood Angels are an assault-oriented force, which to me means one thing: chainswords. Have I explained these things yet? The name says it all, as they are in fact chainsaw swords. Anyone who's played Doom or Gears of War (which features a chainsaw bayonet(!!)), or seen Evil Dead or Texas Chainsaw Massacre, can understand why a chainsaw that you can swing around like a sword would be awesome. Weirdly enough, though, these ridiculous weapons are just the basic armament for a Space Marine.
So anyway, on with the list:
_________________________________
Blood Angels: Jump-Pack Assault Force
HQ: [note#3]
Chaplain (100)
-Jump Pack (20)
-Meltabombs (5)
Elites: [note#2]
5 x Death Company (3 free + 2 for 60)
-Jump Packs (25)
Furioso Deadnaught (100) [note#4]
-Heavy Flamer (5)
-Mounted in Drop-Pod (50)
Troops: [note#1]
Assault Squad (140)
- w/ Powerfist (25)
Assault Squad (140)
- w/ Powerfist (25)
Assault Squad (140)
- w/ Powerfist (25)
Heavy Support: [note#5]
Baal Predator (100)
-Heavy Bolter Sponsons (25)
-Extra Armor (15)
----------------------------------------
Note#1
The core of this army (as usual in 5th Edition, aka Troops Edition) are the three minimum-strength Assault Squads that make up the bulk of the infantry in the list. These guys are equiped with chainswords and pistols for the extra attack, and jump-packs, which let them move 12" per turn in the Movement Phase and Deep-Strike into the battle if you so choose. The Sergeants each have a powerfist, which should be fairly respectable at taking out vehicles, provided you can get close enough to assault them. They should be fast enough to let you crash the enemy gun line in opening and still claim your objectives in the end-game. One thing that worries me is the small squad size: only 5 guys in each squad, which severely hampers their survivability.
Note#2
The Death Company are the best free troops in the game. Basically, for each regular squad of Marines you take, you get one free 'Death Company' (representing those Blood Angels who succumbed to the Black Rage). I gave them all jump-packs, so they're essentially Assault Marines on crack. They get the Fearless (making them largely immune to morale effects), Feel No Pain (letting them shrug off a normally-fatal wound on a roll of 4+), Furious Charge (letting them get extra Strength & Toughness when they charge), and Rending (letting their attacks sometimes ignore armor saves). The downside is that they have to always move towards the nearest enemy unit, unless you attach a Chaplain to the unit. Otherwise, they're fantastic.
Note#3
So naturally, I included a Chaplain, to attach to the Death Company, thereby eliminating their main drawback. The Chaplain is a great addition to the squad: not only does he add his own considerable close-combat abilities, but he also allows them to re-roll To Hit on the turn they charge. The jump-pack lets him keep up with the Death Company, and the melta-bombs are there to round out the list and gain a little bit more anti-armor punch.
Now, I feel like I should point something out before I continue: I never, ever use Special Characters. My rationale is that the galaxy of 40k is a grim, dark place, filled with trillions of humans. It makes no sense that your army would have one of the few guys who has an actual name. Also, what if he's killed? Most people can be replaced, but it doesn't make sense for this same special hero to keep coming back game after game. That said, most people don't have the same objections to it that I do. In fact, most all of the most competitive lists include at least one Special Character. If you want, replace the Chaplain I've chosen here with "Lemartes, Guardian of the Lost". He's the same points cost (which was intentional, on my part), and a good bit better.
Note#4
Now, time to introduce two of the Space Marines' signature units: the Dreadnaught, and the Drop Pod. Dreadnaughts are some of the toughest, heaviest-hitting Walkers in the game, and can be kitted with a variety of weapons to focus on either ranged support or close combat. Drop Pods are essentially big landing pods, and allow large squads of troops (or a single Dreadnaught) to Deep-Strike into the battle when they wouldn't normally be allowed to do so. If you read Starship Troopers, you're familiar with the concept. Drop Pods have a special 'Inertial Guidance System' (way to technobabble, guys) that allows you to Deep-Strike with almost no chance of suffering a mishap (normally, there's a chance you won't land where you intend, and if you land on enemy units or in impassable terrain you may be destroyed immediately).
The Blood Angels have a special version of the Dreadnaught, the Furioso. It replaces the standard Dreadnaught's ranged weapon with an extra close-combat arm (giving it an extra attack in close combat) that has a built-in meltagun (for a powerful short-ranged anti-tank attack). I upgraded it with a heavy flamer built into the other arm, too. The idea is to drop in behind the most dangerous enemy unit (via Drop-Pod) and unload whichever weapon is appropriate (meltagun for vehicles, flamer for troops). If it survives the next turn of enemy fire (Dreads are pretty tough), it can then charge into close combat with whichever target presents itself, getting 4 Str 10 attacks on the charge.
Note#5
Finally, the Heavy Support. The Blood Angels have access to a unique tank, the Baal Predator. This is essentially the standard Predator used by vanilla Space Marines, but replaces the autocannon or twin-linked lascannon with a twin-linked Assault Cannon. I ranted about how great a weapon the TL'd Assault Cannon is in my last list (remember, the gun on the Land Raider Crusader?), so there's no need to rehash that here. I also added heavy bolter sponsons, for some extra help dealing with large hordes of infantry that might otherwise give this list trouble.
The Baal Predator has another cool bonus, too: Over-Charged Engines. This special ability lets you move (and shoot!) as a Fast vehicle on a roll of 4+, though at the risk of not being able to move at all if you roll a 1. This makes the Baal both hard-hitting and surprisingly fast, though somewhat unpredictable. The Extra Armor is there to let you keep moving (by downgrading 'Stunned' to 'Shaken' on the Damage Table) to stay out of trouble, but I'm not sure how good a use of points it is, so it could easily be dropped and the 15 points spent elsewhere.
___________________________________________
As you can see, every unit in this list either has a jump-pack (and therefore a 12" move) or some other means of getting to grips with the enemy fast (Drop Pod, Over-Charged Engines). Honestly, I'm not convinced this is really a good idea; Jump Packs aren't nearly as awesome in 5th Edition (Transports Edition, remember?), but the ability to Deep-Strike almost your entire force is pretty cool and handy. This list has some clear flaws (minimum strength troops selections, reliance on close combat) but hopefully has enough of both redundancy (three identical Assault Squads, plus one extra-awesome one) and counter-options (the Deep-Striking, wherever-you-need-it Dreadnaught) to make up for this.
Next Time (40k): Space Wolves, yet another Space Marines Chapter
Next Time (philosophy): How a little knowledge is a dangerous thing
Next Time (Cops Stuff): Hostages, man. Look forward to it!
Now look. I'm not a particularly messy person. If I have a place I keep something, I put it there (it's the things I don't have a place for that give me trouble). Even after a week without my mom's regular cleaning madness, the downstairs area where my brother and I spend most of our time was essentially merely as messy as usual. A pleasant, masculine sort of messiness that lets you know someone with better things to do than clean lives there.
The part that smelled like feces was the upstairs, and the reason it smelled that way was kittens. My little sister, tree-hugging peace'n'love hippy that she is, helps out the Humane Society by fostering cats over the summer. This summer, she went a little overboard and got five of them; a mother and four kittens. Which is fine, when she's the one dealing with them. When she goes on vacation and leaves them with me, that's less-than-fine.
Now, kittens are friggin' adorable, to a point. But past that point, you realize they crap all over the place and then roll around in it. I mean, I thought cats were supposed to be the clean ones, and dogs were messy, but apparently these kittens decided to break down such age-old stereotypes.
That's not to say it's entirely their fault. I'm sure we could've done a better job disposing of the scoopings from the kitty litter, and the stack of dirty dishes left in the sink was at least contributing to the 'aroma', but the smell was 90% kittens. Nevertheless, it's obviously all my fault that they were crapping on themselves, and I'm a cruel, horrible person, according to my sis. At least she promised never to leave me alone with them ever again...
Fortunately, a family came to see them today, and once they take care of the paperwork will be adopting one of them. I'm hoping we can find 'good homes' for the rest of the blighters before too long. So, anyone want a kitty?
Regardless, I finished yet another army list for 40k. This is #4, the quarterway (that's not a word, is it?) mark as far as the 16 official, tournament-legal Codexes go. If I run out before the end of the summer, I might go crazy and write up lists for some of Bell of Lost Souls' excellent fan-produced armies (Riot Police? Heck yes.), but let's not get ahead of ourselves.
Anyway, this time, it's the Blood Angels, who are basically Space Marines, but angrier, and painted red. The basic backstory here is that the Blood Angels' bloodline suffers from a debilitating genetic flaw known as the Black Rage that makes them occasionally go into a blood-thirsty rage and start killing everything. Which is really pretty useful, it turns out.
Blood Angels are an assault-oriented force, which to me means one thing: chainswords. Have I explained these things yet? The name says it all, as they are in fact chainsaw swords. Anyone who's played Doom or Gears of War (which features a chainsaw bayonet(!!)), or seen Evil Dead or Texas Chainsaw Massacre, can understand why a chainsaw that you can swing around like a sword would be awesome. Weirdly enough, though, these ridiculous weapons are just the basic armament for a Space Marine.
So anyway, on with the list:
_________________________________
Blood Angels: Jump-Pack Assault Force
HQ: [note#3]
Chaplain (100)
-Jump Pack (20)
-Meltabombs (5)
Elites: [note#2]
5 x Death Company (3 free + 2 for 60)
-Jump Packs (25)
Furioso Deadnaught (100) [note#4]
-Heavy Flamer (5)
-Mounted in Drop-Pod (50)
Troops: [note#1]
Assault Squad (140)
- w/ Powerfist (25)
Assault Squad (140)
- w/ Powerfist (25)
Assault Squad (140)
- w/ Powerfist (25)
Heavy Support: [note#5]
Baal Predator (100)
-Heavy Bolter Sponsons (25)
-Extra Armor (15)
----------------------------------------
Note#1
The core of this army (as usual in 5th Edition, aka Troops Edition) are the three minimum-strength Assault Squads that make up the bulk of the infantry in the list. These guys are equiped with chainswords and pistols for the extra attack, and jump-packs, which let them move 12" per turn in the Movement Phase and Deep-Strike into the battle if you so choose. The Sergeants each have a powerfist, which should be fairly respectable at taking out vehicles, provided you can get close enough to assault them. They should be fast enough to let you crash the enemy gun line in opening and still claim your objectives in the end-game. One thing that worries me is the small squad size: only 5 guys in each squad, which severely hampers their survivability.
Note#2
The Death Company are the best free troops in the game. Basically, for each regular squad of Marines you take, you get one free 'Death Company' (representing those Blood Angels who succumbed to the Black Rage). I gave them all jump-packs, so they're essentially Assault Marines on crack. They get the Fearless (making them largely immune to morale effects), Feel No Pain (letting them shrug off a normally-fatal wound on a roll of 4+), Furious Charge (letting them get extra Strength & Toughness when they charge), and Rending (letting their attacks sometimes ignore armor saves). The downside is that they have to always move towards the nearest enemy unit, unless you attach a Chaplain to the unit. Otherwise, they're fantastic.
Note#3
So naturally, I included a Chaplain, to attach to the Death Company, thereby eliminating their main drawback. The Chaplain is a great addition to the squad: not only does he add his own considerable close-combat abilities, but he also allows them to re-roll To Hit on the turn they charge. The jump-pack lets him keep up with the Death Company, and the melta-bombs are there to round out the list and gain a little bit more anti-armor punch.
Now, I feel like I should point something out before I continue: I never, ever use Special Characters. My rationale is that the galaxy of 40k is a grim, dark place, filled with trillions of humans. It makes no sense that your army would have one of the few guys who has an actual name. Also, what if he's killed? Most people can be replaced, but it doesn't make sense for this same special hero to keep coming back game after game. That said, most people don't have the same objections to it that I do. In fact, most all of the most competitive lists include at least one Special Character. If you want, replace the Chaplain I've chosen here with "Lemartes, Guardian of the Lost". He's the same points cost (which was intentional, on my part), and a good bit better.
Note#4
Now, time to introduce two of the Space Marines' signature units: the Dreadnaught, and the Drop Pod. Dreadnaughts are some of the toughest, heaviest-hitting Walkers in the game, and can be kitted with a variety of weapons to focus on either ranged support or close combat. Drop Pods are essentially big landing pods, and allow large squads of troops (or a single Dreadnaught) to Deep-Strike into the battle when they wouldn't normally be allowed to do so. If you read Starship Troopers, you're familiar with the concept. Drop Pods have a special 'Inertial Guidance System' (way to technobabble, guys) that allows you to Deep-Strike with almost no chance of suffering a mishap (normally, there's a chance you won't land where you intend, and if you land on enemy units or in impassable terrain you may be destroyed immediately).
The Blood Angels have a special version of the Dreadnaught, the Furioso. It replaces the standard Dreadnaught's ranged weapon with an extra close-combat arm (giving it an extra attack in close combat) that has a built-in meltagun (for a powerful short-ranged anti-tank attack). I upgraded it with a heavy flamer built into the other arm, too. The idea is to drop in behind the most dangerous enemy unit (via Drop-Pod) and unload whichever weapon is appropriate (meltagun for vehicles, flamer for troops). If it survives the next turn of enemy fire (Dreads are pretty tough), it can then charge into close combat with whichever target presents itself, getting 4 Str 10 attacks on the charge.
Note#5
Finally, the Heavy Support. The Blood Angels have access to a unique tank, the Baal Predator. This is essentially the standard Predator used by vanilla Space Marines, but replaces the autocannon or twin-linked lascannon with a twin-linked Assault Cannon. I ranted about how great a weapon the TL'd Assault Cannon is in my last list (remember, the gun on the Land Raider Crusader?), so there's no need to rehash that here. I also added heavy bolter sponsons, for some extra help dealing with large hordes of infantry that might otherwise give this list trouble.
The Baal Predator has another cool bonus, too: Over-Charged Engines. This special ability lets you move (and shoot!) as a Fast vehicle on a roll of 4+, though at the risk of not being able to move at all if you roll a 1. This makes the Baal both hard-hitting and surprisingly fast, though somewhat unpredictable. The Extra Armor is there to let you keep moving (by downgrading 'Stunned' to 'Shaken' on the Damage Table) to stay out of trouble, but I'm not sure how good a use of points it is, so it could easily be dropped and the 15 points spent elsewhere.
___________________________________________
As you can see, every unit in this list either has a jump-pack (and therefore a 12" move) or some other means of getting to grips with the enemy fast (Drop Pod, Over-Charged Engines). Honestly, I'm not convinced this is really a good idea; Jump Packs aren't nearly as awesome in 5th Edition (Transports Edition, remember?), but the ability to Deep-Strike almost your entire force is pretty cool and handy. This list has some clear flaws (minimum strength troops selections, reliance on close combat) but hopefully has enough of both redundancy (three identical Assault Squads, plus one extra-awesome one) and counter-options (the Deep-Striking, wherever-you-need-it Dreadnaught) to make up for this.
Next Time (40k): Space Wolves, yet another Space Marines Chapter
Next Time (philosophy): How a little knowledge is a dangerous thing
Next Time (Cops Stuff): Hostages, man. Look forward to it!
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