6th ed. Allies: Not Before The Apocalypse!

There are some armies in 6th edition 40k that won't ally "Not Before The Apocalypse". Most notably, tyranids cannot ally with any other force in 40k.  There are also other combinations (daemons and grey knights -- what? no heretic inquisitors?), but tyranids seem to have been singled out as the only army without any ally options.  In some regards that isn't a surprise.

BUT.... if we're playing an apocalypse game, I'm allowed tyranid allies, right?! 

 *evil smile*

Allied Thoughts for Fateweaver

With the new edition on our doorsteps, I've been trying to think about how to maximize the advantages of being able to take allies for daemons (and chaos space marines -- but I'll leave that for another day ... although ork stompas did cross my mind). 

So, I started thinking about Fateweaver and his special ability: he can have his friends re-roll saving throws. What could be exploited with this?  

The first thought I had was to marry him up with something that had good shooting.  That connected me to the idea of having multiple units of obliterators.  Perhaps up on the roof of a piece of scenery that we bought as part of the new force organization chart?

Alternatively, perhaps some Tau allies (not best buddies, but as I read it, could still be affected by Fateweavers rules -- let me know if you disagree) on the same roof could also work well.  Railguns (etc.) could be very appealing there!

Ork allies might make for an entertaining alternative.  Not exactly known for their shooting, but in vast numbers, that could make for a fun army list!  The same might be said for Imperial Guard.

There's too many thoughts zooming around my head to think about with allies.  I think some testing is going to be needed before a final list is built for my 6th edition version of chaos armies.  But the prospect of allies are certainly making me think -- they're going to be a great innovation for 6th!

Power Weapons and FNP for 6th

I must admit that I'm a little torn about the 6th edition rules for power weapons and Feel No Pain (FNP).  Although I've not yet got the new rules (and hence going by the rumours), it seems like power weapons are now AP3.  This gives terminators a big buff, but on the other hand makes units like bloodletters and bloodcrushers a touch worse off.

On the other hand, feel no pain moving from 4+ to 5+ means that my plague marines are suddenly a lot weaker.  No longer do they have an equivalent 2+ save -- it's a 2.33+ save equivalent.  This makes me sad as small arms fire is going to bring them down more frequently.  It feels like this change has been brought in to specifically tackle other armies (Blood Angels?).  I hope that the new chaos and daemons codex makes plaguebearers and marines back to 4+ FNP -- their points value is now over costed.

On the other hand, they now have a FNP save against power weapons which they never had before!  But then again, only a small subsample of opposing units have access to those weapons by the bucketful.  So its not going to particularly balance the move to 5+ FNP I think.  Maybe I'm wrong.  Either way, it'll be good to finally get hold of the new rules when they come out and play a few games through.  There's a number of game changers in there (allies, fortifications, etc.) that go above and beyond these considerations and we'll all be re-thinking our army lists as a result!

6th ed Psy Power: Molten Beam (Pyromancy)

With the pre-orders for 6th Edition Warhammer 40,000 up for sale at Games Workshop, the news is coming in thick and fast.  On the pre-release page for the psychic powers card set, we get our first glimpse of one of the new power available to certain psykers.

Its called Molten Beam and falls under the Pyromancy umbrella.

On the surface, it is the psyker's melta gun: the same stats and range as a melta gun: S8, AP1, 12" range, assault 1, combined with the melta special rules.  This will give many psykers a tactical edge if the rumours about these powers being in addition to the regular powers turn out to be true.  A deepstriking librarian with access to pyromancy can suddenly turn in to a vehicle killer, in addition to other purposes (turning enemies in to chaos spawn! for chaos ... but interestingly, Space Wolves and Blood Angels apparently aren't getting access to pyromancy  - unlike regular marines of all other types).

The only thing I'm not certain about is the "warp charge 2" words in the top right corner.  I'm guessing that this refers to the psykers level, but wouldn't wager on that.

The image above is of my vintage bone armour chaos champion.  The connection to psychic powers (however tenuous!) is that I used to use this miniature as the Changeling (lower image): a Tzeentch horror with a unique power (the glamour).

That brings me circuitously to my final thoughts: daemons are not getting access to these powers.  I suppose that the principle reason is that daemons powers are not psychics, fundamentally -- they're ingrained and intrinsic in to the daemon themselves (i.e. no psychic tests ever). So I can see that angle.  But perhaps the next daemons codex will give access to them at some cost (e.g. swapping of powers perhaps)?  A forlorn hope maybe...

Wargames Gallery: Challenge Accepted!

"Challenges in Sixth Edition?";

"Challenge accepted, servants of the false emperor!"

(image from the recent Wasp Campaign battle)

A Nurgle List for 6th Edition

With all the recent rumours about allies, I thought one of the obvious starting points for chaos players to consider is an "Armoured Epidemius" list.  Mixing the advantages of chaos space marines and other chaos essentials to maximize the count, this is the first list that I've been tempted to put in to play and experiment with once the new rules hit.

1500 points of Nurgle Allies:

Daemons:

HQ: Epidemius (110 points)

Troops: 10 Plaguebearers with an instrument of chaos (155 points)

Chaos Space Marines:

HQ: Daemon Prince, Mark of Nurgle, Wings, Doombolt (160 points)

Troops: 5 plague marines, 1 plague champion, 1 melta gun, 1 flamer (170 points)

Troops: 5 plague marines, 1 plague champion, 1 melta gun, 1 flamer (170 points)

Troops: 5 plague marines, 1 plague champion, 2 plasma guns (185 points)

Dedicated Transport: Rhino with havoc launcher (50 points)

Dedicated Transport: Rhino with havoc launcher (50 points)

Dedicated Transport: Rhino with havoc launcher (50 points)

Fast Attack: Blight Drone (125 points)

Fast Attack: Blight Drone (125 points)

Heavy Support: Vindicator with Daemonic Possession (a Nurgle Possessing daemon, of course! hehehe...) (145 points)

Whilst the vindicator might be disallowed (replace with 2 obliterators instead!), the list is gunning to get the count of Epidemus up as fast as possible (assuming that he comes in in the "first wave" ... but that's going to be an interesting interplay between chaos marines and daemons in itself: can marine icons be used by chaos daemons for instance?).  The blight drones provide a much needed fast attack slot option for this army and the daemon prince is there to both distract and get rid of enemy vehicles.  The load out of the plague marines is one of my preferred options, providing them with tactical flexibility, backed up with mobility in the rhinos.