Nathaniel Garro, Knight Errant, Hand of the Sigillite

Hello all, welcome back to the tactica blog. Today we're looking at Malcador's servant, Captain of the Death Guard 7th Battle Company. Nathaniel Garro is an Independent Character HQ choice counting as an agent of the emperor (he may not be warlord however).

Garro's stats are similar to that of a Praetor, but with one less point of weapon skill. His points come in at 75 points more than a stock Praetor. This cost is pretty balenced considering his wargear. (Bear it in mind that as Garro is unattached to any legion I will not be considering his benifits in context to allying to an particular legion force)

Garro comes with an Ap3 sword with rending that causes x2 wounds in a challenge. I myself am not a fan of this, RENDING DOES NOT SUBSTITUTE AP2, Rending relys on number of attacks and considering this is an attack from a single model even 5 attacks (4+1(charge bonus), the sword is twohanded no +1 for 2 CQWs) does not give enough attacks to get reliable wounds. I say this because in combat garro will be hitting on 4s against other HQs, dropping down to 2/3 hits which then will require 6s, which can then be saved against by the defender. This is why im predominantly not keen on Garro.

To combat Garro's weak offensive capability he comes with a super Iron Halo, conferring a 4++ which becomes a 3++ in a challenge. In addition when Garro dies he becomes Saint Celestine (no joke it's practically copy paste from Adepta Sororitus). When Garro dies you roll a leadership test and if it passes he is kept in play with a single wound left.

Keeping with the Rending trend Garro has an Assault 3 Rending Mastercrafted bolt gun. This allows to in theory out shoot other marines but those 3 shots will be against 20 man tactical squads Rending or no Rending. Garro does have precision shot so he can snipe out apothecaries or characters but that relys on 6s to hit and most likely 6s to wound, not good.

Garro's final and cool factor war gear is called; by falsehood cloaked. This wargear allows Garro to deepstrike with no scatter and forces all incoming shots that turn to be snapshots, meaning no Ap1 str10 blasts or Las-Cannons will kill him THAT TURN. This when combined with his resurrect ability and his IMPLACABLE ADVANCE RULE means that he is able to score 2/5 of his special objectives with realtive ease. These are of course Enemy DmZ and score an objective, more on these objectives in a second. This rules combo can net you from 1-3 victory points provided Garro doesnt die before the end of the game.



And now we come to Garro's major drawback (as if he wasnt crap already). At the start of the game you note down 1 of 5 secret objectives (your opponent doesnt know which one). Each one is worth a specific number of VPs if achieved, however if you fail to achieve your objective for Garro you MAY NOT CLAIM A VICTOY, FULL STOP, EVER, AT ALL. Because of this I would always say, pick either 1 or 3 as they are easily achievable considering Garro's ability to preform. These objectives are:

Be in the enemy Deployment Zone at the end of the game (1VP)

Pick another IC, if they survive you get 2VPs

Control an objective (why Implacable Advance is a rule for him), 2VP if the objective is out of
enemy DmZ and 3 if its in enemy DmZ

Kill enemy warlord in a challenge (3VPs)

and Slay a Primarch (3VP), Garro doesnt have to do all the wounds, just land the final blow.




Thanks for reading this little bonus post and Mortariton and Vulkan will be coming up soon. In the mean time Happy Wargaming everyone.

Tactica Newflash FaQ Terminators

As of the newest Forge World FaQ Terminators (with unspecified patterns of TDA) can now be equipped with either Cataphractii Pattern Terminator armour or Tartaros Pattern Terminator armour, which in particular (here we go.....) ALLOWS SWEEPING ADVANCES!!!

Also as Grave Wardens and Pheonix Guard Terminators have UNSPECIFIED Terminator armour patterns, meaning they can choose which pattern they want!

Death guard I'd lean towards Cataphractii. However for Pheonix Guard Terminators this is amazing! Take the Tartaros every time. Bettwen their special charge rule which gives them Initiative 5 on the charge and Sonic Shreikers which give +1 for a crazy I6 on the charge (I5 charged). Which combined with Emperor's Children Astartes having Crusader means these guys are insane now!

(For a cheaper and just as effective option take Eilidon and Legion Terminators with Tartaros Pattern Armour and give them all 5pt Pheonix spears (equal to cost of power fist). With Eilidon's shreiker they go at I5 with ap2. With Eilidon going at I7 (5+1 for shreiker & +1 for being in a challenge) and EC having Crusader built in automatically you should be able to sweep almost anyone and anything (barring fearless so avoid that #chaplains). 

This is awesome stuff from Forge World.

One a sad note heresy era drop pod now work the same way as 40k drop pods where disembarkment is forced on arrival (negating assault vehicle on normal pods).

Also this update makes the main advantage of Gal Vorbak (being able to sweep with a durable unit) redundant so RIP them (they still have T5 and 2 wounds so they're not useless by any means But they're kinda meh now)

But who care we have SWEEPING ADVANCING TERMINATORS.

Thought I'd share this news and give some ideas on how to use the new ruling (expect surprised looks and be prepared to show opponents the FaQ).

If this post seems out of character I'm writing this at a very late hour (I'm a terrible person). Hope some of it made sense & happy wargaming and good night everyone!

Blog Update and Forge World Open Day Link

Hi all, just a quick little blog update for you guys. I've nearly finished my road trip so there will be some new content very soon (probably around the 9th this month NZ time).

Also I thought I would share with you guys the link to some of the photos from the Forge World Open Day (if you haven't checked it out already) as there is a whole bunch of awesome swag that has just been released, namely CORAX HIMSELF WHO LOOKS FANTASTIC  (must buy that model asap!), Dark Fury Assualt Squads (awesome raven guard vanguard vet type units with ALL LIGHTNING CLAWS WITH +1 INTITIVE ON THE CHARGE), the Mastadon Super Heavy Transport which is super sexy and carries 40 troops and has DOUBLE FIGURE HULL POINTS! Also they showed off the new Alpha Legion Head Hunter Squad who look amazing too, quality from FW just gets better and better, yay! Also finally new Warlord Titan Weapons and Head if you need more Titan Dakka!

Super excited about these releases if you can't already tell (they look amazing) and will probably be spending Christmas funds on them myself. Here's the link to the blog with the posts on it: http://battlebunnies.blogspot.co.nz/?m=1

Enjoy the gallery!

Death Guard Legion Specific Troops

Been a little while since my last post, my apologies for that.

Okay so continuing on with Death Guard, today we're looking at their Legion Exclusive units; Death Shroud Terminators and Grave Warden Terminators. I'm going to say now that these aren't the most competitive choices against marines, however against Solar Auxila and Cults these units would be amazing. 

Death Shroud: The elite body guard of the Primarch Mortarion, and you can see why! With (normal) Terminator armour and 2! wounds they are incredibly durable (excluding a Vindicator/Medusa shell to the face). They are expensive at 40 points each but considering you are effectively paying 10 points for an extra wound they are worth their points.

They are armed with Chem Munition Hand Flamers (shred mitigates the strength 3 but gets hot still sucks) (eh) and Deathshroud Power Scythes for lovely Ap2. These are effectively Two-Handed power axes. However they have a special rules where they can swap out their normal attacks for a number of attacks equal to the models in base contact. Normally this would be not a great idea as they would have 3 attacks on the charge but in later turns of combat where your models are more surrounded it could be a good idea (more of a gimic than anything good in my opinion). If you're playing Terminators or you play against Terminators these guys would be a good investment, also they look really nice.

As they have Implacable Advance they are scoring units which is always good.

If there's 5 or less models they can take a Phobos which is a good choice (protects them from pesky Medusa str10 Ap1 Large Blasts). In addition as part of a Orbital Strike rite army they can Deep Strike and with 2 wounds, a 2+ armour save, Ap2 and scoring they will be a threat and difficult to remove.

Finally they can be taken as an HQ choice by them selves as well as Elites, and as characters they can be warlord. Not only that but they can also be taken as bodyguard for Terminator Praetors and the Primarch, meaning if you wanted to you could take a crap ton if them in an army. Take Pride of the Legion and Mortarion: 3HQ, 4 Elite, 6 Troops, 1 LOW bodyguard. 14 Units (double Nurgle's sacred number no less).

Next and finally is Grave Warden Terminators. Cataphractii Terminators with here's the kicker; only Ap4 weapons (told you they were Auxila killers). They have 2 shot str6 for negating Auxila FNP and 2 shot blasts that cause Toughness tests and INGORE COVER (die Auxila fools, die). In addition they can all fire a template with Ap4 that triggers Toughness tests in the same why.

They are all armed with power fists which is an incentive not to charge them already. And as if each Terminator firing a wall of death attack AND power fists wasn't discouraging enough any unit charging them will count as Disordered (no plus one attack or Furious Charge) and they count as going across dangerous terrain. Making them one if the hardest units to charge in 30K if not the whole 40K universe.

Against marines these guys won't make their points back easily but against armies with 4+ armour or worse they will make their points back super fast.

My apologies for the long delay and the short post (not a lot to review). Primarchs Mortarion and Vulkan will be up next, leading into Salamaders as the next legion.

Also let me know who you would like to see next, I'm thinking Night Lords/Raven Guard or Iron Warriors/Imperial Fists. Thanks for reading and happy war gaming. 

Death Guard HQ characters and consul synergy.

Sorry there hasn't been anything in a while, life got in the way (looking at you Betrayal At Calth box set)

Anyway here it is, thought I'd look at something new with the consul types let me know what you think. FYI this is quite a long post. 

Enjoy

So staring off here I just go through and list what each Consul type does and what you can do with them (and any other you should knows). These are just quick overviews as the tactics change dramatically depending on consul type and army build.

Master of signals +1 BS: Heavy support troops
Orbital strike
Nuncio-vox
Support officer (use Death Shroud)
No rite (you'll need another MotL HQ for rite in order to get HS troops)

Vigilator: grants scout to unit (gets grave wardens in range)
If taking rite you don't benefit from move through cover (as the rite give it to everyone natively) but it does grant infiltrate to the centurion and his squad, which is really nasty with heavy squads. (Gets you onto objectives and firing your weapons quicker)
Sabotage attack: D6 str 5 ap6 on a 2+ (deployment phase) take out Rhinos (always hits weakest facing)
First blood in deployment
Can be compulsory

Forge Lord:
Cataphractii + Cyber familiar = 3++
Cortex Controllers: single Castellax
Rad Grenades  (you can get them anyway) 
EH

Primus Medicae: Feel No Pain
Recover VP's from destroyed units
Cataphractii armour (join with your Terminators)
Can be good, attach them where Apothecarys can't go i.e. Terminators
Very expensive 
Support officer

Siege Breaker: Tank Hunter and Wreaker for attached units (heavy support squads who are troops?)
Phosphex shells on Medusas

Praevian: for when you want to play mechanicum AND space marines
Can't be Bulky
Castellax or Vorax 
If he hits the Automata get PE
Combo with Enhanced Targeting for 2+ rerollable 
Can pick: Furious Charge, Tank Hunter or Scout.
Death Guard upgrade doesn't give much so pick one of the options.

Moritat: eh. Doesn't really fit in.

Now we're onto the good stuff, Death Guard special characters and man are these guys awesome.

Crysos Morturg

This guy is essentially a ubber centurion. He is a psyker (super rare in 30k) with the Biomancy power Endurance, this allows you to make your heavy support marines relentless and giving them an amazing 4+ FNP which makes them awesomely durable. Meaning you can fire heavy weapons on the move AND survive almost anything, TRUE DEATH GUARD STYLE. Endurance also applies Eternal Warrior on the target unit so your 2 wound Death Shroud ignore str8 + guns in particular Medusa Siege guns and against str7- you get an amazing 4+ FNP on top of your 2 wounds and 2+ armour. 

As warlord he automatically gets to allow himself and 3 non vehicle units to Infiltrate, which is awesome. Infiltrate Grave Wardens and get in range turn 1, infiltrated Death Shroud so you can apply pressure turn 1.

However he doesn't have Master of the Legion so you can't take a Rite Of War so weigh up what you want to do -guaranteed Inflitrate 3 units or gain the benifits of a rite- and build your list around your decision.

This guy isn't a combat character but with Eternal Warrior he might survive longer than expected. Keep him out of combat end of story. Seriously with only power armour and a power sword he will go down vs any combat character. Use this guy as force multiplier, he does specific things for your army so build around his abilities and buffs.

If you work your list around him, Morturg can and will be an amazing force multiplier.

Durak Rask

This guy is pretty awesome. He is a Master of Ordnance AND Master of the Legion. In other words you get all of the MoO benefits on troop choice Heavy Support Marines. 

This means you can get Tank Hunter & Wreaker troop choice Heavy Support Marines who have move through cover.

He's no slouch in combat either with 1 more wound than normal and Artificer armour and a Thunder Hammer, meaning he can ID enemy characters without having to roll sixes. (with Rad Grenades he can even take on the normally ID immune Bike & Jetbike Praetors of assault armies).

He has the awesome trait of making fiendlies within 12" reroll 1's when targeting enemies who are within 3" of an objectives. This makes your heavy weapon squads EVEN MORE AWESOME. 

As Master of Ordnance he also allows Medusas to take Phosphorex shells, which again is awesome.

Overall this guy is totally awesome and embodies what Death Guard do best.

Calas Typhon

Calas Typhon is a Praetor equivalent wearing Cataphractii Terminator Armour with a grenade harness, a Master Crafted Power Scythe, a Hand Flamer with Chem Munitions, Rad grenades and a Nuncio-Vox.

As a Master of the Legion, Typhon gives you access to Rites of War. However Typhon doesnt give you any special army bonuses like the other two characters. Typhon is effectively just a special combat Praetor.

However he does have 2 extra unique abilities:

A) he has a once per game Ordnance 3 large blast poison (4+) orbital strike with Ignores Cover. However it has a major drawback: it's only ap4, meaning it doesn't do jack against marines compared to normal MoS orbital strikes.

But what this does mean is Typhon is amazing against Auxilia. Auxilia infantry normally huddle behind aegis line fortifications and have 4+ armour save and what does this strike have... ap4 and IGNORES COVER.

B) Typhon is a masterly level 1 psyker who rolls on Telepathy. Coming with the Primarus power (Psychic Shriek) he can and will rip the heart out of TEQ and elite infantry. The rest of the powers are pretty snazzy too. 

He can't be a psyker when Mortarion is around before the Isstvan campaign. (In other words he's a psyker in normal/tournament games)

His warlord trait is situational, no enemy unit may claim an objective if the unit is within 3" of Typhon. Which is nice but there are so many better traits. Where this comes into its own (yet again) is against Solar Auxilia. Auxilia infantry squads are large and spread out to minimize template casualties and to score as many objectives as possible. Because Typhon's rule effects the whole unit you are having a more significant effect. The trait allows you to gain contested objectives but overall isn't that amazing.

If you know you'll be up against Solar Auxilia Typhon might be a good buy, but otherwise the other Special Characters or a upgraded chatacter will be better.

With both Typhon and Morturg as psykers the Death Guard are actually one of the most innately psychic legions (as of writing Thousand Sons haven't been released). While their psychic range is alittle bit more limited in scope compared Word Bearers (who can also make non specific HQs psykers) you have access, you have access to some of the best powers in the game.

That's all from me this time, more Death Guard are coming soon. Thanks for reading and happy war gaming.

Argel Tal

Death Guard Legion Overview

Ok so kicking off with our next legion: the infamous Death Guard.


 These guys bring a new meaning to "Superior Firepower".

Getting right into the meat of it:
These guys have immunity to fear (Night Lords hate these guys) and pinning, meaning they're better able to bring their heavy weapons to bear.

With the Death Guard Rite, Heavy Support Squads become troops. I personally like taking missile launchers on these guys. They come pretty cheap compared to the other weapons and are very versatile, they can take on light-medium armour, hordes and they can straight up ignore 3+ armour which is golden.


Also, these guys re-roll difficult terrain tests for areas of all difficult terrain (finally, we don't have to play on swamp boards anymore!). Extra bonus: successful fleshbane and poison wounds must be rerolled (Suck it dark Eldar!).

All death guard suffer from -1 for sweeping advance rolls but if you're in combat with something that isn't a terminator as death guard what are you doing? This shouldn't be a problem as this army plays a solid static gun line and its heavy assault/assault prevention units are terminators (who mostly can't sweep anyway).   Not any more suckers, our scythe-wielding terminators can now sweep!


Without the specific Rite you're not really gaining a huge advantage over other Legions and there aren't that many combos that stand out (let me know if there's anything you use that works).

Any flamers/heavy flamers/flame weapons in general, may take a 0 point upgrade which gives them SHRED at the expense of Gets hot. This is redundant in Zone Mortalis so if you're playing that don't buy this. Also, twin linked flamers/heavy flamers already have shred so don't get this on them either.


One fun tactic is to buy the way under pointed Promethium Relay Pipes fortification, which gives nearby flame weapons TORRENT (HELL YES BABY), adds some SCORING TROOPS HEAVY SUPPORT SQUADS with Heavy Flamers with Chem Munitions. Then drink your opponent's tears. Bonus points if they were playing a Solar Auxilla or Militia/Cults army.


Again you're really not gaining anything from not taking the specific Rite Of War. Heavy Support troops are where it's at for Death Guard.

With the Rite, you also get a flat Move Through Cover for everyone (feel like Ophra) which is always nice. The only issue is a large portion of your army is going to be static as they will have Heavy Weapons, so try to deploy on your objectives and if you can place the objectives in/as close to the deployment zone as you can. Because of this, you will want heavy assault units such as terminators in transports moving forwards to capture forward objectives. (Do this while you rain cover fire missiles at your opponent).



Deathshroud Terminators, awesome horde/elite infantry cleaners who really live up to their image. with their scythes they can attack as many times there are models in base contact (Tyranids will hate this army, it's like they were designed to combat them...) Edit, they now just add one attack if you're in base contact with more than one model.

Deathshroud in assault land raiders makes great forward objective grabbers.

They are kinda expensive at 2 power fists each, but boy do they get the job done (and they keep their Ap2, unlike certain legion terminators). And the best part? Not only are Terminator-armoured, THEY HAVE 2 WOUNDS EACH!!! One of the best units in my opinion.

They're easy to understand, perform extremely well, are super hard to kill and they synergise perfectly. The only issue is you can't have them as troops if you use the Reaping RoW. *sadface* that would just be broken. Also, they are expensive so don't expect to see them in many -2000 point games unless you are going elite. (Taking Pride of the Legion in a Onslaught Force Organisation for 4 Heavy Support slots for Heavy Support marines isn't actually a bad idea and can work well ((also give you 2 LoWs for extra fun super heavy tanks), only draw back is you must go second unless you seize, which can work for you as they have to burn a game turn or walk into range of your HS squads #indepthmetagaming.) I'm secretly tempted to play Death Guard now haha.


The Death Guard relic is pretty lame, -1T for enemy units within 6", but with Rad Grenades and Power Scythes (see below) your still wounding on 2s, the only benefit is you will instant death them so if you're up against other 2 wound Termies it could be good. Bear in mind it's only 6"s so it's only one unit per turn.


Okay so Death Guard have some nice unique war gear, I've already kinda covered the Power Scythe, but I'll run it down again with better detail; it's a power fist priced power axe, that gain one extra attack if there is more than one enemy model in base contact. (updated)

If you take the specific Rite of War characters can take Rad Grenades which is Awesome (shredding lightning claw terminators that wound on 3s!?)



Grave Warden terminators are good, but honestly with the lower range (24") and ap4 they aren't fantastic. They can be used to hold objectives but I personally think a heavy support squad does it better (I say HS squad because they guys are a heavy support slot choice and therefore don't become troops in a PotL Rite list). However against Solar Auxilla, these guys would be good, with ap4 blasts versus ap5 frag missiles. Effectively these guys are specifically for anti-Auxilla fighting.




Your HQ is nothing jaw dropping like Erebus, Iron Hands Autek Mor or mister Imperial Fist Sigismund.

Crysos Morturg is nice, he's nothing amazing stats wise but the reason you would take him is that he automatically has the Master Of Ambush warlord trait (lets his unit & 3 other unit infiltrate). This means you can throw your Terminators up field really early. Really you want him to infiltrate your nasty squads. One tactic you could use to be really jammy would be to infiltrate 3 CONTEMPTOR DREADNOUGHT TALONS OF 3 DREADNOUGHTS EACH (because they are deployed a squad but can act separately afterwards). This may not buy you many friends but it will ruin anyone's day. The final thing to note for him is he doesn't have Master of the Legion, so no Rites with him. (Also he's a filthy Loyalist XD) Also, he's a Psyker with Endurance (relentless Heavy Support marines with missile launchers anyone?) and Smite for ap2 brain Dakka.




Next, we have Durak Rask (who got killed by our little friend Crysos Morturg). This guy is pretty awesome as he is both a Master Of Ordnance (and all associated buffs) AND a Master or the Legion (rites of war). He confers tank hunter and wrecker to any squad he joins (Troop choice heavy support squad most likely). Also, he makes all friends within 12" re-roll to hit rolls of 1 when you target enemies within 3" of an objective. (Pretty snazzy) Also, note that by making your HS squads troops he lets you tank more choices, like MEDUSA SEIGE GUNS (and as he is a Master Of Ordnance they can take PHOSPHEX SHELLS MUWHAHAHA).

If you were going to be taking The Reaping (pretty much why you play Death Guard in the first place) and you don't want to have to take a Melee character/you wanted a Master Of Ordnance too then this guy is amazing. (Has a thunder hammer for smashing heads too)




Next and finally we have the fat Zombie Lord himself...wait this is 30k... Calas Typhon. Typhon gives you a Praetor in Cataphractii pattern Terminator armour with a master-crafted Power Scythe, a Hand flamer with Chem Munitions, a grenade harness for charging in terrain, Rad grenades for -1T enemies! and a nuncio Vox. Also, he is a Level 1 Psyker (if non-traitor Mortariton is on the same battlefield he pretends he's not a Psyker and you can't use his powers) who can draw from Telepathy powers (which overall are pretty nice).

Keeping with the Anti Auxilla theme once per game Typhon can drop an Orbital Strike that has 3 LARGE BLAST TEMPLATES, Poison 4+ (getting an anti-Tyranid feel again...) Ap4 (more anti ) with NO COVER SAVES! (COME ON THAT JUST SCREAMS "DIE SPACE BUG DIE!!!"). It will always scatter 2D6 (says nothing about scattering in the direction of the small arrow on the hit symbol so assumedly it can be a direct hit). But with 3 LARGE BLASTS WHO CARES! PS, he can't move before he does this.

His warlord trait is iffy: No enemy units within 3" can claim objectives. Means no one can contest your Implacable Advance Deathshroud Terminators (yay). But there's better traits on the table (sacrifices must be made). (It's measured by the unit not by the objective so you can deny objectives which are actually more than 3"s away, but it's still pretty rubbish)

He's quite expensive, but for what he does for your army he's worth it, especially against Auxilla armies. DRINK PETTY HUMAN TEARS.

With Rad grenades and Power Scythes, any attached Deathshroud will wound on 2s and have ap2. Bye bye terminators.



As an overview, Death Guard is a Heavy Weapon based army that tends to work as a gun line (but can work really well with synergised forward elements, I will post on this in more detail later). Your Rite of War limits your manoeuvrability -you can't run, but you shouldn't be running you should be FIRING DEATH APON YOUR ENEMIES, and you only get 1 fast attack slot, but you can take loads of heavy support so EH- but offers you a metric tonne of heavy fire support. Your legion rules help your morale and keep you shooting.

Overall Death Guard is a static heavy army that works at nearly any point level and should achieve a solid win rate. 

Hope you enjoyed reading, more Death Guard is coming.
Also, I've just ordered my Betrayal At Calth box set so I might upload my thoughts on the game. I'd be keen to try out playing Death Guard myself for some fun. Also, I'll then have 3500-3750 points of Word Bearers.


Finally, I'd just like to say a massive thank you to all of you guys and girls that read this blog, it's really awesome to see the numbers from all over the world and to find out that I'm not just totally crazy. XD. Thank you all so much it's really amazing, and I look forward to future blogs.

Have a great week, happy wargaming and see you guys all next time.
Argel_Tal



'Rest? We were not made to rest; we go on, unflinching, unstoppable, unending in our strength. The Emperor did not make us for such mortal concerns as hearth and home, vanity or contemplation; we are his engines of war, his hammers, beating out the fabric of existence into a vessel fit for Mankind to inhabit.'

— Ferrus Manus, as quoted in Shadow of the Gorgon by the Remembrancer Czel Atternus (from Horus Heresy Book 2: Massacre, page 234)

Forge World Open day round up

forge world has shown the world their new projects, and they are pretty awesome; we're getting new Wraithknights, The Doom of Mymeria is getting a revamp for the new craft worlds codex. The Mechanicum Ordinator is nearly finished. Eldar coriars are getting jetbikes (ties into Mymeria).

Horus Heresy wise we're getting Natheniel Garro, a new Leviathan Dreadnought (super contemptor), Mechanicum Ordinators, also we're getting Black Sheilds, Blood Angels, Dark Angels and White Scars.

Also there are some awesome Golden Demon entries.

Enjoy: http://forum.spikeybits.com/showthread.php?26374-Warhammer-40k-Open-Day-Coverage

Thanks for reading
Argel-Tal

Emperor's Children Special Units (Re-Written as of Feb 2016FAQ,recommended Re-Read)

++EDIT: this post has been majorly re-written in light of the February 2016 FAQ (primarily over Terminator armour becoming able to Sweeping Advance). If you've read this post before and you like Emperor's Children I would re-read this post!++

I am finally back, sorry for the lack of new content on the blog recently, having just finished with mock Exams and being midway through my break I've not found much time for writing, but never the less, I am back and I bring the specialists of the Emperor's Children with me. So without further ado, let's get started

Special units for the Emperor's Children Legion in the Forge World Horus Heresy Expansion.

Kakophini: right off the bat these guys are specialist heavy support marines with early sonic weapons that preceded noise marine weapons. With Heavy 2 gets hot weapons they're not amazing. These weapons, however, have a special rule where if one or more unsaved wounds are caused by a weapon with this rule, the target must take a leadership test with a -LD modifier squad equal to the number of wounds suffered. If the test is passed there is no effect. If the test is failed the target unit takes D6 instant death wounds that cannot be saved against. This makes these guys amazing against Mechanicum Monstrous Creatures (Automata) and Multi-wound Legion terminator and Characters.

If taken as part of the newer (book 6) Emperor's Children Rite, they become Troops (therefore scoring) which is amazing AND they gain RELENTLESS which makes Kakophoni amazing. These guys will pretty much outshoot any other troops at a better range, the only issue is that they will occasionally blow themselves up. Clocking in at 270 for a full squad with Artificer armour and a Phoenix Spear on the Orchestra they're pretty cheap for the amount of damage they can do to elite units. 

I'd buy these guys a rhino to be honest, gives them some turn one survivability. Turn one drive into cover, turn two, get out with relentless and open fire.

-Footnote- With the new Legion rule (+1 Initiative on the charge) and sonic Shriekers stock these guys can actually hold up well in an assault. Don't run them head first into combat but don't be afraid to charge a weakened squad after shooting them (relentless). 

Priority targets for these guys should multi-wound models; Automata, 2 wound legion terminators and Independent characters and their squads in order to get the maximum effect from their weapon's instant death bonus wounds.

Also as a note, these guys are more deadly in shooting than an equivalently priced tactical squad (10 kakophini vs 15 tacticals with extra swords and sonics)

Pheonix Guard Terminators. Ok, right away these guys have NO ranged weapons. They do have phoenix spears which means that these guys really shouldn't be in combat with other terminators that have 2 wounds, unless they have already been reduced in numbers (ie Justaerin and Deathshroud) as they become ap3 in the second round of combat. These guys do have one interesting (awesome) benefit; they are equipped with Tauros pattern terminator armour, which means that they are able to SWEEPING ADVANCE!! While this seems awesome the draw back from the Pheonix spears is still a major issue for them. 

This unit also has a special rule which confers +1 initiative in the first round of combat (this stacks with the updated legion rule for I6 on the charge (I7 on the Champion) which is awesome as it allows you to take full advantage of the Ap2 round of combat with their Pheonix Spears in killing the enemy before they get to strike back and to make sweeping advances easier (I7+D6+D3)

With Weapon Skill 5 they hit on 3's, go before their opponents, and then SUPER SWEEPING ADVANCE.

The major issue with these guys I have is over killing the enemy and getting iced by plasma, Melta or Medusa guns the next turn. To counter this make sure you've killed those threats before you charge in. I like to but these guys in a Caestus Assault Ram giving me a Large blast Melta shot before I disembark. My lists also have Mortis Contemptors with Kheres Assault Cannons which I use to kill threat tanks and Phoesphex Rapiers to kill off special weapon squads (and pretty much EVERYTHING (with 3+ saves)) Plan and act at least 1 turn ahead of the game and maintain Target Priority/Saturation on threat units until the offending unit is removed. Bottom line, If your Terminators will be at risk, don't disembark them.

Enter the final Emperor's Children special unit; the Palatine Blades. More WS5 marines armed with bolt pistols (don't forget) and charable sarbers, why are these guys good, well they can ALL opt to take Power swords (great for anti-PA as they will get 3 attacks each on the charge each all at ap3  {pistol & melee weapon+charge bonus+base=3}) hitting on 3s or Phoenix spears for ap2 anti-elite attacks (two handed so only 2 attacks on the charge)

Instead of giving them Pheonix Spears I'd take power swords as this unit should be used for taking out power armour units, not terminators, leave that for your more heavily armoured units and artillery.

These guys are like improved Veterans as due to the new Legion rule they're I5 in the charge with super cheap Power Swords (each power sword cost a melta bomb) 

As chosen warriors they can ALL opt to accept challenges  (protecting your sergeants in artificer armour from ap2 weapons) (but as they are not characters they do not get the extra +1 initiative for being in a challenge, much sad face). 

Palatine Blades can also take jump packs for improved movement and hammer of wrath attacks, which making them a better version of the yet to be created VANGUARD VETERANS. (I like doing this in a Angels Wrath or Drop assault Vanguard rite of war army with Eidolon as it allows them to repeatedly benefit from both the Shriekers and Pheonix Spears in addition to Eilidon's charging benefits  [hit and run for jump pack infantry])

Giving them jump packs is a great way of avoiding having these guys removed from the table before they do anything. The increased movement reduces the amount of firepower that can be directed at them as they cover the table faster and they can get stuck in much faster than if they were footslogging (and a Rhino transport does not allow assaults after disembarking leaving them vulnerable for a turn) 

These models are vulnerable to fire -compared to terminators or other legion elites- due to their 3+ armour and one wound each so they should either have jump packs so they can get stuck in faster or a transport vehicle preferably with assault vehicle (land raider comes to mind).

The reason you would take this unit over Pheonix Terminators is that they have shooting potential, can be transported in cheaper vehicles in larger numbers and can be given Jump Packs. Always get rid of charnable sabres, unless you need a meatshield body. I would jet packs or an assault vehicle transport (LR, Storm Eagle etc) on this unit. I'd give the sergeant Artificer Armour and Melta Bombs just to tank wounds and provide flexibility to the unit. 

Keep in mind this unit is either for removing 3+ armour units of infantry (Power Swords) or units that have 2+ armour but no invulnerable save (when given Spears), not both! You need to pick one and tailor them to that chosen task. Also, these guys are NOT FOR REMOVING TERMINATOR SQUADS! Who will have ap3 or better for cheaper than you!

Also keep in mind this unit is very expensive and gets more so with Jet Packs and aren't scoring!

That concludes my review of Emperor's Children special units. 

Would love to hear input and/or thoughts from you guys on my lists and any of the ideas within these tactica posts. As always check out my other posts for more Horus Heresy reviews and Tactica. 

We've got Death Guard and Salamanders up next, post in the comments anytime with what legions you would like to see me review next.

Thanks for reading, Argel-Tal out.