Warhammer 30K Team Game and the Magnus Death Star

In my latest 30K game I teamed up with my brother who plays an Ultramarines drop assault army. We faced off against an Iron Warriors and Thousand Sons duo. The game size was 5000 points a side with each player running an Age of Darkness Legion Astartes detachment and each side had one super heavy. I had a knight errant and my opponents had a legion typhon.

Bottom of turn 2. Ultramarines and Emperor's Children flank attack

The game fluctuated back and forth between who was holding on to the most objectives and it looked like the Emperor’s Children/Ultramarines duo would come out ahead. We had pushed really hard on the right flank which had the most valuable objectives. I think the turning point for my team was when Magnus entered the fight with his 10 man Terminator bodyguard. With the right psychic powers they are able to turn into the toughest nut to crack in the history of 30K. Each terminator can achieve a re-rollable 2++ save. If Magnus gets a chance to shoot he can fire as a D weapon most of the time. This allowed him to smoke my Spartan and knight errant back to back. It didn’t take long for my army to fall apart after this and my Ultramarine ally wasn’t faring much better either.

Eidolon makes a last stand with the remainder of his assault squad

My marines hopelessly defend the objective marker against Magnus's onslaught

In the end my team lost the battle due to my team not being able to handle psychic powers very well. What is one to do? I think I need to bite the bullet and find a way to write in the Sisters of Silence into my army. I have wanted to go fluffy with my list, but I have been stomped by the Magnus Deathstar one too many times now. I think psychic power heavy lists in 30K don’t have many counters other than the sisters so I feel compelled to try an allied unit in my next game and see how it goes.

The Return Of Squats In The 41st Millenium

These are exciting times in the hobby. With specialist games like Blood Bowl and Necromunda making a comeback, which I once thought would never see the light of day, we now have proof that one of my old 40K favorite races is also returning. Squats!

I have long felt that Squats truly belonged in the 40K universe and were never given the treatment they needed. The fantasy races into the future archetype was what originally attracted me to collect and play Warhammer 40K.

Recently previewed squat mercenary at the Forge World open day

I have to reign myself in a bit because what I want is a full on army release, but this may just be a one off. If that is all this is, then I'll just have to be satisfied with a cool looking mini that says that Squats are indeed a current part of the 40K universe again (beyond the small blurb in the rulebook). I do have my doubts that the time and money would be invested into this model if Games Workshop wasn't already thinking of what the potential could be for a larger release. This could be an expansion to a full on Squat Necromunda gang to an army list for 30K or 40K. Noted, you could have a Squat-like army in 30K if you used an Imperial Cults & Militia, but you either have to convert most of it, which some people aren't as interested in or buying the expensive RT or 2nd edition era models. 

One of my favorite scenes out of the 2nd edition rulebook.

That's right, kill that cheesy Eldar scum!

I see potential for some really cool miniatures down the road if GW proper of FW decided to move this forward. Epic had a fully fledged army for the squats back in the day and that would be a welcome move for me. 

Land Train HO! Choo Choo

 Who wouldn't like seeing a 40K scale land train on the table? I don't know of anyone that thinks this would be a bad move on the part of GW. Plus, I could add it to the growing 30K army that I have been working on for the last two years (slowly, at that).

The Emperor's Children Seek Allies! Enter House Seneca

Having played a fair amount of games with my EC army I’ve begun to branch out some. The main reason is due to encountering an opponent that my army is ill equipped to deal with. My latest challenge has come from a Thousand Sons player that fields all terminators usually with Magnus to lead. Being in a special Rite of War for Thousand Sons, all of these Terminators have force weapons and a 3++ save. I realized that I could really use a D weapon to cause some pain to this unit.

I decided to not only to begin including a unit of 10 Volkite Culverins, I also wanted to take an Imperial Knight Errant. Being a fan of Legio Mortis I decided that I would have this knight come from House Seneca, which has sworn fealty to Legio Mortis. Bonded houses tend to match the colors of the legion they support so that’s how I will paint my knight, in Legio Mortis colors.

My hope is that once one of the Thousand Sons Termies teleports in my knight will be able to charge in and dish out some D weapon wounds which have the best chance of knocking out 2 wound termies with one failed wound. My next game is coming up soon enough so we will see if this was effective or not.