Julius Firefocht

I'm sure this has been said before, but it is a sound decision to wait for the CSM 9th Ed Codex before you start the army. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain just by waiting. But let's say you decide to take a leap of faith and join the fight against the False Emperor. In that case I bid you welcome, brother. Here are some things you can look out for. ~~~~~ 1) Pack more multi-damage weapons You already know Imperial Marines are hot picks, so you are almost never going to lose out by packing multi-damage weapons in your army to make the Primaris Marine's 2W profile irrelevant. Even if you do not face Imperial Marines, multi-damage weapons will still do well against everything else except the most numerous of horde armies. I would suggest the following options, none of them are from Forgeworld and they can be easily purchased at your local store: - Forgefiends (with Hades Autocannon) - Lord Discordant (Supports Forgefiends, comes with auto-hitting 18" 2-damage flamers) - Obliterators (currently only available from the SC: CSM box) - Havocs (with lascannon/missile launcher/autocannons. Autocannons do a fine job of taking out Primaris Marines at a cheap cost) - Terminators (with combi-plasma for overcharging, trade with friends or go to Ebay for bits if you need to) 2) Get durable infantry to hold objective markers, and play to win via objectives So you got a core of units with strong multi-damage firepower in your army. That's good, the next step is to get durable units to help you hold objectives. I would recommend Rubric Marines and Plague Marines from the 1Kson and DG codex respectively, both are tough infantry even though they come with only 1 wound each. Or you can go for a blob of normal 20-man Slannesh Chaos Space Marine units, use a Dark Apostle to give them the -1 to hit prayer, and cast Delightful Agonies on them for 5+ FNP. The point is, we have access to tools that can make the humble CSM or cultist tougher beyond what their point values suggest, in case you want to explore that route. Why is playing to objectives so important for Chaos Marines? Simply put, we cannot beat Imperial Marines decisively in a head-on fight. Between their doctrines and universal AP-1 on the most basic Primaris bolters, a static shooting match is definitely not in our favor. On the other hand, capping objectives and scoring secondaries will win you the game even if your OP Imperial Marine opponent has massacred 9/10 of your army at the end of the game. Against an army that is roughly as competitive as CSM, your margin of victory grows larger. My test games of 9th Ed so far really drove in the importance of holding objectives and fulfilling secondaries over the "Kill Them All" approach, and fortunately CSM can do that competently. 3) Psychic Mastery I think its fair to say that Chaos Marines still possess an edge over Imperial Marines in terms of psychic powers. For example, just putting Ahriman in your army in a Thousand Sons patrol detachment will allow you to output a steady stream of mortal wounds while denying up to 3 enemy psychic powers. And this is before any of your mandatory Daemon Princes are accounted for. Not much to say here, just find room for Ahriman and at least one Thousand Sons Daemon Prince in your army if possible. These units will pay for their points easily. ~~~~~ That's about it for starters! There are other dirty tricks that a CSM army can pull off, mostly from the Alpha Legion and Night Lords Legion Traits and strategems, feel free to do some research online if you are curious. I still think you really should wait for the upcoming CSM codex before committing to this army, but in the meantime may the odds ever be in your favor.

The entire original Imperial Fists chapter was wiped out to the last man in the War of the Beast. It was rebuilt by each Imperial Fist successor chapter contributing some Marines and formally declaring that those Marines are now the reborn Imperial Fists, with the same armor colors, traditions and all. For all intents and purposes, it was as though the Imperial Fists were never wiped out. I think you can try a similar idea. Some allied Alpha Legion cells contribute a few Marines to reform the warband, just enough to rebuild around that core of veterans. Then you can use the new Crusade system to thematically rebuild your warband. Not to mention it is totally in character for the Alpha Legion to pull this kind of stunt. "We are Alpharius." "Strike off one head, and two more shall grow in its place."

Actually I've been wondering about this. Why can't Death Company benefit from the 5+ FNP aura? I mean, sure its a bit of a waste on them since DC comes stock with a 6+ FNP, but is there anything in the Codex that outright says DC do not benefit from that banner?

Concise analysis. But this is why i am so disapointed in this codex...look at the investement required in a few units which have tremendous damage output but no staying capability. After that charge you are still looking at a lot of guns aimed at these very units. Not to mention that this is 4 HQ and a large elite. No troops or anything to allow you to get CP which all these units will use to try and get the damage where it needs to be. This isnt an army...its a one trick poney and its not even a good trick at that. I do think it is up to the player to decide how much of a one-trick pony they would like their army to be. For example, I would personally run Astorath and a 15-man JP DC blob with 2 THs and rely on my CP reroll to get the crucial Turn 1 charge off. Add in Mephiston just because he is that useful. We still have access to Shield of Sanguinius for a 5++ on the DC...a 5++ followed up by a 6+++ is quite acceptable to me. The above package should not cost more than 700 points, give or take. 700 points out of 2000 points to deliver a strong punch on Turn 1, and more importantly tie up the opponent's crucial assets so that the other 1300 points of pure dakka (Devs, Hellblasters, Land Raider Crusader, Baal Pred) can get to work and clear as much enemy as they can. It really does not sound so bad. I could also follow up with MSU Tactical Squads in TLLC Razorbacks, with some Assault Marines to grab last min objectives via Wings of Fire. My point is... before this Codex, I could not envision a way to play BA properly. Any army I made with the Blood Angels Index could be literally replicated and improved upon by Codex Space Marines. Now this BA Codex gives us very viable options to do a huge and reliable melee Alpha Strike if we so choose to, while retaining almost all the shooty goodness from Codex Space Marines. I say "almost" because we are still missing Centurions, though that gap is arguably filled by Baal Preds. So forgive me if I cannot understand why there are feelings of dissatisfaction around. The 8th Ed Codex is definitely not perfect (Dante, I am looking at you), but this is quite literally the best we had in the last few editions, so I personally am not going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Well.. having read through most of the spoilers in detail, here are some units that I think will be the crucial keys to victory, in no particular order: 1) Astorath/Your own Chaplain with the Warlord Trait that grants the Fearless aura Reasoning: The Fearless aura is important because it leads into... 2) 15 to 20-man blob of JP Death Company with at least 3 Thunder Hammers Reasoning: You want to charge into as many things as you can in your turn. A 20 man blob will cover as much ground as you need and kill most things you need to kill on your Turn 1 charge, while the Fearless aura from the above will ensure that you lose no Death Company to morale checks even if you take massive casualties. So, in order to make your Turn 1 charge, you will need... 3) Lemartes Reasoning: This guy combined with the Descent of Angels strategem will give you a very high chance of making the charge on Turn 1. In order to diversify your threats, here is the best Distraction Carnifex in our codex... 4) Mephiston Reasoning: Move him up to his maximum speed, cast Wings of Sanguinius to move another 12" and reroll charge distance, and cast Quickening to start blending enemy tanks and high value targets with his S10 Force Sword. Honorable mention goes to.... 5) Librarian Dreadnoughts Reasoning: Seriously. A flying dreadnought with huge threat radius and access to additional D3 attacks via Quickening? And a Character that cannot be shot at if it is hiding among friendly models? Where else do you get such a bargain? To really seal the deal by offering multiple threats, maybe you want to throw in a squad of TH/SS Terminators to follow up. The rest of the army can consist of Baal Preds, Devastators/Hellblasters to hold your deployment zone or even Razorbacks with TL Lascannons. The choice is yours, but I would advise against playing a full assault army in such a shooty edition... ultimately all of the above are expendable tools that you must use to kill whatever you need to kill so that the rest of your army can mop up. Remember.. anything in this game dies in a turn or 2 if the opponent wants it dead! Just make sure your own guys kill more than their cost and you are good to go.

Hmm quick check, do our Sanguinary Priests still have the +1S aura?

Just about the only Marine army that stands a chance of making Tactical Marine spam work out is Dark Angels. A block of 30+ Tactical Marines marching up the board with 4++ save aura from Azrael.. though I would question why are you not giving that 4++ aura to Deathwing Terminators?? Also note that even in this scenario you will still die like flies to AP-1 weapons, which this edition just so happens to have an abundance of. Or you can try Ultramarines Tactical Squads with Guilliman. Rerolling to hit and to wound is a giant force multiplier, but the question remains. Why are you using that buff on bolter Marines instead of more powerful units like Terminators and Hellblasters? And these are the armies that stand a remote chance of making Tactical spam work. I could potentially see this work out when we get our Codex and assuming we get a Chapter Tactic that rewards our units for charging. Having a block of cheap Tactical Marines jump out of Rhinos on turn 2, rapidfiring weapons and charging in to finish off their target, then capping objectives in late game. It could work out, but I would not bet on it.

Hail brothers. I have come into possession of 2 complete sets of Primaris Marines from Dark Imperium, and I am thinking of painting them in the colors of the Knights of the Chalice successor chapter. Link here: http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Knights_of_the_Chalice It is stated that this Chapter is formed fully out of Primaris Marines, so I will be exclusively using Primaris Marine models for my infantry and perhaps some Blood Angel vehicles such as Baal Pred, as otherwise the army is literally unplayable. So, a couple of questions: 1) Are there any decals available for the Knights of the Chalice currently? 2) What are their vehicle color schemes? I can easily envision how their dreadnoughts will look like but not their tanks. Red body with black turrets and black hatches? Thanks in advance!

I see where you are coming from but you are comparing us to an army that has a primarch and a new codex. We are still on the index and our primarch is dead. Comparing apples to oranges here. Yes the stratagems are amazing. But unless you want to just on the blue train we'd have to build every list without a primarch. Honestly, I look forward to the challenge. Something else I want to point out here is you tooled out the DC to be really expensive and did not use terminators like the blue list. Gulliman is something no one except ultra marines can do. I've had thoughts of switching to the boys in blue because of it. And they have amazing dice! (I'm one of those weirdos that likes to have everything match) But I really really like heavy flamers and Blood Angels are the only faction besides T'au and maybe Tyranids that lets you field them in heaps! Plus the Flesh Tearers look boss! Anyway, I think if we are going to compare lists we need to make them a little more equal. I also want to point out that Death Company, imho, should always be equipped with bolter+chainsword. Focus them on the infantry and let your lascannons take out the big stuff. The DC squad generates 9 T-Hammer attacks, 9 power sword attacks and 16 S4 chainsword attacks on the charge. Compare that to 10 T-Hammer attacks from the blue Assault Termies. The DC squad is cheaper than the Termies too, I would argue that the DC squad provides better value than the blue Assault Termies. As for Guilliman vs having no Guilliman... let me put it this way. Dante and a Primaris Lieutenant will provide nearly the same buff as Guilliman. This is my attempt to build an army that can perform nearly as well as the blue army, yet it still falls short for reasons I have already listed. Lastly, I do not see it as comparing apples to oranges. No matter what, we are playing the same game under the same basic ruleset, fluff such as "having a living Primarch vs having a dead Primarch" should not be a factor in game balance, much less competitive gameplay. Even in the market, people will buy the tastier apple that is somehow still cheaper than the orange lol

With due respect, Brother, I have adapted and tried many tactics for Blood Angels. Practically all roads lead back to a shooty army with a countercharge element. Here is how such a list would look like at 2K points: ~~~~~ ++ Spearhead Detachment +1CP (Imperium - Blood Angels) [105 PL, 2000pts] ++ + HQ + Commander Dante [11 PL, 215pts] Primaris Lieutenants [4 PL, 74pts] . Primaris Lieutenant: Master-crafted auto bolt rifle + Elites + Death Company [18 PL, 242pts] . Death Company Marine: Thunder hammer . Death Company Marine: Thunder hammer . Death Company Marine: Thunder hammer . Death Company Marine: Bolt pistol, Power sword . Death Company Marine: Bolt pistol, Power sword . Death Company Marine: Bolt pistol, Power sword . Death Company Marine: Bolt pistol and chainsword . Death Company Marine: Bolt pistol and chainsword . Death Company Marine: Bolt pistol and chainsword . Death Company Marine: Bolt pistol and chainsword + Heavy Support + Baal Predator [8 PL, 164pts]: Storm bolter, Twin assault cannon . Two heavy bolters: 2x Heavy bolter Baal Predator [8 PL, 164pts]: Storm bolter, Twin assault cannon . Two heavy bolters: 2x Heavy bolter Land Raider Crusader [19 PL, 316pts]: 2x Hurricane bolter, Multi-melta, Storm bolter, Twin assault cannon Predator [9 PL, 202pts]: Twin lascannon . Two lascannons: 2x Lascannon Predator [9 PL, 202pts]: Twin lascannon . Two lascannons: 2x Lascannon Predator [9 PL, 202pts]: Twin lascannon . Two lascannons: 2x Lascannon + Dedicated Transport + Razorback [5 PL, 117pts]: Storm bolter, Twin lascannon Razorback [5 PL, 102pts]: Storm bolter, Twin assault cannon ++ Total: [105 PL, 2000pts] ++ Created with BattleScribe ~~~~~ Strong anti-tank with no less than 14 Lascannon shots per turn, strong anti-horde with 48 Assault Cannons shots, 12 heavy bolter shots and 24+ bolter shots in rapid-fire range. All backed up by Dante providing rerolls to hit and the Primaris Lieutenant providing rerolls to wound on 1s. I believe all can agree that this is a strong list capable of holding its own in most tournaments. Now, let's take a look at what an Ultramarine version of this list would play like: ~~~~~ ++ Spearhead Detachment +1CP (Imperium - Space Marines) [81 PL, 1639pts] ++ + HQ + Sergeant Chronus [18 PL, 322pts] . Land Raider Crusader: 2x Hurricane bolter, Twin assault cannon + Elites + Terminator Assault Squad [12 PL, 251pts]: Teleport Homer . Terminator Sergeant: Lightning Claw (Pair) . 4x Terminator w/THSS: 4x Storm shield, 4x Thunder hammer + Heavy Support + Predator [9 PL, 190pts]: Twin lascannon, Two Lascannons Predator [9 PL, 190pts]: Twin lascannon, Two Lascannons Predator [9 PL, 190pts]: Twin lascannon, Two Lascannons Predator [9 PL, 190pts]: Twin lascannon, Two Lascannons + Dedicated Transport + Razorback [5 PL, 102pts]: Storm bolter, Twin assault cannon Razorback [5 PL, 102pts]: Storm bolter, Twin assault cannon Razorback [5 PL, 102pts]: Storm bolter, Twin assault cannon ++ Super-Heavy Auxiliary Detachment (Imperium - Space Marines) [18 PL, 360pts] ++ + Lord of War + Roboute Guilliman [18 PL, 360pts] ++ Total: [99 PL, 1999pts] ++ Created with BattleScribe ~~~~~ 16 Lascannon shots, 48 Assault Cannons shots, 24+ bolter shots at short range. All rerolling to hit and to wound thanks to Guilliman, thus vastly multiplying the actual amount of firepower generated. The Land Raider Crusader hits on 2+ thanks to Chronus, and anything that deepstrikes in will eat that vast amount of firepower before being slaughtered by Guilliman and the Assault Terminators. Feel free to drop one vehicle to get Space Marines Scouts and prevent deepstrike bombs on your tanks. To add insult to injury, the Ultramarine Las-Pred is 10 points cheaper than ours. I saved 40 points in the UM list compared to the BA list while generating a lot more firepower thanks to the rerolls. Make any BA army list and Codex Space Marines will outdo it while being cheaper in cost. To conclude? Yes, I know every unit in our army has a place. But so does every other codex. I do agree that in a casual environment, we are fine, we can get by with almost anything we want to field. But so does every other army out there. In a competitive environment where advantage generators like Guilliman exist and the Ultramarine army needs to do little more than standing still and throwing obscene firepower down the board turn after turn while our BA boys pay in blood to get into assault range? And if we don't play the assault game and play the shooty game only to be outshot by the very same Ultramarine army? I await our upcoming Codex with bated breath lol. EDIT: I forgot that Ultramarines have a Killshot strategem that adds 1 to wound rolls and to wounds generated by the Predators. And Guilliman adds 3 CP just by being there, while providing a 1/3 chance to refund any CP that you used. Truly disgusting.

What are we lacking? IMO we are lacking a clear path to victory. What do I mean by that? Call it a cheapshot or an "I WIN" button, but you might have noticed that most 8th Ed armies tend to have a very obvious way to win in this edition. Here are some common combos, for example: ~~~~~ Dark Angels: Azrael and a Landspeeder Darkshroud surrounded by Las-Preds and Marine gunline. Everyone buffed by rerolls to hit, everyone has a 4+ invul save and opponents suffer a +1 modifier to hit them with shooting attacks. Chaos Space Marines: Too many to list. The most common is the Terminator bomb, where 5+ Chaos Terminators all equipped with Combi-Plasma and a Terminator Lord and Sorcerer deepstrike in on Turn 1, 9" away from the targeted unit that needs to die. Sorcerer casts Prescience on the Terminators, and they overcharge their Combi-Plasmas to let fly with rapid-fired S8 AP-3 D2 shots, with a +1 modifier to hit. The Sorcerer can also cast Warptime to move the Termies after deepstriking and practically guarantee a first turn charge. Space Marines: Too many to list. But the simplest is to castle up within 6" of Roboute Guilliman with shooty units and tanks, kill everything in front of your army with reroll to hit and reroll to wound. RG is a character that has 9 wounds so he cannot be shot at when he is surrounded. Tau: Take Supreme Command Detachment, field nothing but Commanders in Crisis Suits with guns of your choice, abuse the rule where characters with 9 wounds or less cannot be shot unless they are the closest model. Enjoy your invisible Crisis Suits. Eldar: Wave Serpent spam. Case closed. ~~~~~ These are just some of the more common builds. These strategies are not easy to counter because they make use of core game mechanics such as Turn 1 deepstrikes and character shooting immunity, and the units required to perform them are usually shooting and out of harms' way. The units themselves usually bring great value to the player as force multipliers or brutal beatsticks. Here are the Blood Angel equivalents of the so-called "I WIN" button: ~~~~~ - Drop multiple Death Company Marines with Lemartes, and attempt a Turn 1 charge with a 48% chance of success after rerolls. After you succeed, the opponent unit falls back and his entire army massacre your Death Company by massed shooting. - The Red Tide. Field hordes of Assault Marines, Vet Assault Marines and Death Company with jumppacks, supported by vehicles. Given the amount of firepower available out there now... well, good luck crossing the board to get into charging distance. - Dante with Stormravens. (No longer viable after the recent FAQ, and in any case Space Marines can easily replicate the same idea by using 3 CPs to upgrade their Jumppack Captain to Chapter Master for the same reroll to hit.) - Mechanized tank and Dread list using Baal Preds and Furioso Dreads, which Space Marines does better anyway with Sgt Cronus and Guilliman. Also, Ironclad Dreads for Space Marines. ~~~~~ ...That's it. When your best party trick can be nullified by the opponent making use of a core game mechanic to fall back, and whatever else you have can be done by other armies more cheaply and more effectively, you have to be a true believer to not buy Guilliman and play BA as red Ultramarines. And you know what is scary? I am not sure our upcoming Codex will solve our problems. Our issues are too deep, too embedded in the core game mechanics of 8th Ed. Shooting is much more potent than assault in 8th Ed, this is a truth we must acknowledge. In other for us to overturn this fundamental design quirk and allow our assaults to match shooting in lethality, the game designers will have to make something that will allow us to gain overwhelming advantage in the charging and assault phase. If that comes to pass, people will start wondering why they should not play Ultramarines as Blue Blood Angels, and the cycle begins anew. I too hope that we will get a strong yet balanced 8th Ed codex, but as they say... the greater the hope, the deeper the disappointment.

Hi all, I recently started up a Drukhari army and I am trying to DIY a storage solution for the Voidraven Bomber and Razorwing Jetfighter model kits. Can any kind souls please let me know the following dimensions of the Voidraven Bomber and Razorwing Jetfighter models, in inches: Wingspan: Length: Height with and without flying stand: Thank you!

Today, Khârn got killed by Mephiston. Sorry, I could not resist it. :D

I'm in it for the Taiwanese hooker lipsticks. :P Nah, lets be a bit more serious. The Blood Angels were not my first army, though a squad of Space Marine Terminators were the first minis I ever purchased. My first army was actually the Grey Knights, because I was young in 40K fluff and lore at that time, and had no opportunity to do proper research on the "normal" Space Marine chapters. On the other hand, a friend of mine had passed me his Daemonhunters codex, a book which actually started me off on 40K proper. I wanted to play Grey Knights because they looked good and rocked in close combat. But my favourite colour is red and for a period of time, I actually contemplated painting my Grey Knights red, just to have an army that visually appealed to me. Then as I read more about 40K, I realized that there was another Chapter of Space Marines who actually wore red armour and were close combat oriented as well. They were called the Blood Angels, and my readings revealed that they had a glorious history that stretched all the way back to the Great Crusade, the Horus Heresy and the Siege of the Emperor's Palace. Those were the days of 3rd/4th Ed, when all Blood Angels had Furious Charge built in and when the Death Company were totally free. Brutal indeed, but I had started on my Grey Knight army by now and it would take more than that for me to actually abandon the Grey Knights for another army. The person that finally convinced me was the Blood Angel's Primarch, the great Sanguinius. The Angel Primarch who stood on the walls of the Emperor's Palace, leading his Marines in person to defy the forces of Chaos to the bitter end. The Primarch who slew the greatest Bloodthirster ever in single combat, high above the Eternity Gate. And the Primarch who performed the ultimate sacrifice, defying Horus and staying loyal to the Emperor to the last. Sanguinius never gave up, going down fighting to his last breath. Truly an inspiring figure, and an example of honour, courage, tenacity and loyalty worthy of emulation even in real life, outside the world of tabletop gaming. Sanguinius' sacrifice and the origins of the Black Rage, and how each and every Blood Angel, while being the most noble of Space Marines, constantly had to fight a battle for control within himself. That in itself was tragic, but I also appreciated the irony of how the Blood Angels' weakness provided the means for them to obtain strength in the battlefield, while simultanously gifting them with humility and an understanding of their mortality. By the Emperor, I believed that was better fluff and background than the Grey Knights ever had. So without a second thought, I put down the 20 power armored Grey Knights and 5 Grey Knight Terminators I had been working on, and stocked up on red paints instead. I also went out to get myself the Space Marine Army Box Mk II, the one that had 5 Assault Marines, 15 Tactical Marines, 5 Scouts and a Rhino. Since that day, I had counted myself as a proud Blood Angel, and had never looked back. I might have dabbled with other armies. Indeed, I still kept the Grey Knight minis that I worked on in the past, while working on some Emperor's Children Noise Marines that I acquired cheaply. But my main army will always be Blood Angels. To quote, because they are just so dang bitchen' regardless of the rules!