Iron Without

[Cynicus]

Right, so

 

I was planning to do a 30k army for a while, and got a bunch of Mk3 armour, iron warriors shoulder pads, and a Sicaran venator (<3 that thing). The idea was always to leave it compatible-ish with the CSM dex, but now wih IA13 I'm honestly more inclined to make a CSM list that is also compatible-ish with 30k, because I reckon it'll be easier finding games that way.

 

I'm not a very experienced player by any means, but I put together a 3000 point list as a starting point for my collection:

 

HQ:

 

Chaos Lord with sigil, lightning claws, mark of nurgle, gift of mutation, veteran, combat familiar 165pts

 

Warpsmith with Aura of Dark Glory, gift of mutation, mark of nurgle, veteran, combat familiar 170pts

 

 

Elite:

 

10 Chosen with 5 combi-bolters, heavy bolter, Icon of vengeance, veterans, mark of nurgle, gift of mutation 290pts

 

Chaos Contemptor with Multi-melta, chainfist with meltagun, extra armour, havoc launcher, dedication to nurgle 265pts

 

Ferrus Infernum Dreadnought with extra armour, dedication to nurgle, destroyer of cities 195pts

 

 

Troops:

 

10 Veteran Chaos Marines with mark of nurgle, Icon of Vengeance, gift of mutation, melta gun, lascannon, power maul 260pts

 

10 Veteran Chaos Marines with mark of nurgle, Icon of Vengeance, gift of mutation, power maul, plasma gun, autocannon 255pts

 

7 Veteran Chaos Marines with mark of nurgle, gift of mutation, lightning claw, Plasma pistol 169pts

 

 

Dedicated Transport:

 

5x Rhino with combi-bolter, havoc launcher, extra armour, dirge caster, destroyer blades 82pts

 

 

Fast Attack:

 

5 Veteran Raptors with gift of mutation, mark of nurgle, 2x meltagun, power fist and combi-melta

185pts

 

 

Heavy Support:

 

5 Veteran Havocs with mark of nurgle, 4x launcher with flakk missiles 195pts

 

5 Veteran Havocs with mark of nurgle, 4x auto-cannon 135pts

 

Achilles Land Raider with havoc launcher, multi-melta, Destroyer blades, warpflame gargoyles, Veteran of the Scouring 427pts

 

 

-------------------------

 

The idea is to use the Achilles and dreads as a wedge and drive it at whatever resistance the enemy tries to mount, using the raptors to go after more mobile armour, using the havocs to create a bubble of dangerous shooting, and the infantry squads in the rhinos to capture objectives and pin down infantry. The warpsmith goes into the Achilles and will, along with AV14 and IWND, make sure that it never freaking goes down. The achilles really is the linchpin, using havoc launcher and quad mortar at range and switching to meltas once it closes the distance.

The nurgle marks and dedications are really just because I like the extra resilience, not for any thematic reason, and I don't intend to model it.

 

I already have some of the models ready and sort-of-painted. I've got the 7-man squad done up, the autocannon/plasmagun squad is all there but needs painting, and the melta/lascannon squad is something I need to yet buy most of the bits for, I only have 5 of them on hand. I've got the autocannons and missile launcher bits for the havocs but need to get bodies to put them on, and the chosen squad is going to take a bit of tinkering with those combi-bolters and such. The dreads, rhinos, and achilles are all things I need to get still, and probably won't get for at least a little while because I'm going to be moving to sunny New Zealand in a few months.

Now, without further ado, some pictures of what I've got:

 

http://i.imgur.com/7lYsYCS.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/zDIzNZG.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/7CL1Tzc.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/wAytIXd.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/LP1YkRh.jpg

[Lord Asvaldir]

Not a bad start, you're certainly right CSM compatible with 30k is better than the reverse, I for one know no one with a 30k army. 

 

Couple things about your list. First off, rhinos are bought as a transport option for a single squad, you should post them with the squad you bought them for. Also helps with comments so I know which squad is going where. 

 

On your marine and chosen squads, I think your weapon options are rather sub par. For marines, I've never been happy with heavy weapons-you don't want a squad of 10 standing around just so your heavy weapon can shoot. Instead, take advantage of our ability to take 2 special weapons-2 plasma being my favorite, 2 melta is good as well on an assault oriented squad. Also for your champions, unless you plan to send the squad into an assault (which you shouldn't without ccw/pistols, MoK/S and the appropriate icon), then weapon options are wasted on them. No need to spend the pts. Then for the chosen, their great asset is you can give them assault oriented gear, or give them 5 of a special weapon-plasma or melta. Flamer actually isn't bad either for an assault chosen squad. Either way, combi bolters are a waste of their potential, I'd switch them out. 

 

Also for a 3k list, you are incredibly light on armor. I would be taking 4 troop choices at 3k so you can double force org, take 4-5 heavy support choices-either a few obliterators, maybe some predators-use that sicaran you have for sure. What you have so far for heavy support is decent, but you could get so much more-and I have to say I'm not a fan of the achielles, for its price you could take the typhoon super heavy tank or 2-3 other heavy support options with more firepower. 

 

Also with your characters, how are they getting around? If they stay on foot, I'd make one marine squad assault oriented, send the lord with them, otherwise he needs a bike. Combat familiars are a waste of points. 

 

Lastly, you've got way more gifts of mutation floating around than you need. You're spending 70pts on them which is a ton. I love gifts myself, they are not a great choice but fun to use, I'd just cut them down to HQs only. 

[Cynicus]

Thanks for the feedback! I'm putting heavy weapons on the CSM because their job is mostly to camp in cover. I may switch a few of those gifts out to also give the squads CCWs to counter-assault as needed. I mostly listed the rhinos separate because I'm not sure yet which of the two havoc squads is getting one. The lord will probably go with the 7 man squad, they're supposed to have CCW and pistol rather than bolters, which I forgot to note on the list. 

The Chosen are maybe not entirely optimal, but I really like the idea of modelling that squad and playing it nonetheless. Assault gear on them seems kinda pointless, would rather get some terminators if I went that route.

I like the achilles because it isn't a super-heavy and is cheaper, money-wise (and I already have a Lord of Skulls and a Stormlord for that slot if I wanted to fill it) and because I like the idea of having it constantly regenerate HP through IWND and the Warpsmith riding along.

Finally, the Sicaran Venator: unfortunately there are no rules to use it for 40k Chaos, and considering how its fluff emphasizes that the tech was lost after the heresy, I doubt there ever will be.

[Lord Asvaldir]

Well it's your army of course do as you please, however I've never found heavy weapons to work on marine squads. You just don't have the firepower, especially at 3k to force your opponent to come to you, which means lots of wasted bolter shots each turn if you're sitting back field. With special weapons, you're not wasting shots. 

 

Assault chosen have worked very well for some people, and even if you want to model them with combi bolters, I'd make them plasma gun count as-combi bolters just are not a good choice plain and simple.

 

Thing is with the achielles, sure it's cool that you can keep regenerating hull points and be very hard to kill, but if I were your opponent I'd just ignore it- you're wasting the melta shots or the quad gun each turn because they are meant for  different types of targets, and for that many pts  you could get a tri las predator, a few obliterators and a sicaran-much better choices. 

 

I'd use the venator as a normal sicaran then, it's too good to pass upon especially at 3k. 

[Cynicus]

I really, really find that kind of counts-as stuff disagreeable. I don't mind it if other people do it, but I like my army to be 100% modelled as per their equipment. The venator is really too different to effectively use as a regular sicaran, no turret, heavy bolter in a different place with different mounting. Any thoughts on the Dreadnought tag-team? I'm rather fond of the FW IW dread and contemptor models.

[Lord Asvaldir]

Maybe count is as a vindicator then? At least in that case you could say it's just a different model demolisher cannon. 

 

Again, there are much better choices, and you're making a very big pts investment, but you seem more interested in just taking what you like which I can respect, I do the same when I take my dark apostle over a chaos lord. I'd consider a plasma cannon and plasma blaster over your current weapon options for the contemptor, makes it a great anti TEQ option. 

[Cynicus]

That's an idea, I suppose I don't have anything to deal with the really heavy infantry like that, and enough melta on the board already.

Edit: that gives me some conversion ideas, could maybe see about getting some of the Hectaon Aiakos bits.