GUNS FOR SHOW. KNIVES FOR A PRO.
Welcome Brothers and Sisters, I’m James, an average closet Warhammer Nerd who has been drawn back into the Warhammer Universe by a Slaaneshi Fiend (friend) I thought I had left the Grim Dark Future behind me in the late 90’s….but it looks like I am back. Join me on my journey back to social and tournament 40K gaming.
Guns for Show, Knives for a Pro, you’re absolutely god damn right! More on that as we go.
This week I thought it was about time I started to share my army list that I will be pinning my London GT hopes and dreams on. 11 weeks out now and that time is going to fly by. I am past the point of no return really in terms of changes to my list, so fingers crossed there aren’t any drastic dataslate points changes although, I do have some slack built in.
Having decided on the Vanguard Spearhead detachment for its all round mobility, flexibility and the nice -1 to hit and always have cover outside of 12 inches buff, I started the list with the Warlord.
I ended up deciding on a Gravis Captain as my Warlord, I was tempted by Tor Garadon, his special ability punching up to AP -4 Damage 4 Strength 14 against monsters, vehicles and fortifications is hellishly good but his unit buff of, ignores cover is a bit meh. Darnath Lysander still hits hard AP-3 Damage 3 Strength 10 and has a much better unit buff, making his unit really tough to kill but… I’m holding out for the new assault terminators to be released and the new Lysander. We could get news of that at the next big GW reveal show. The Bonus of the gravis captain, is that not only is he hard as nails himself T6 with 6 wounds, 4+ Invulnerable save and he also halves damage from attacks but he can grant a stratagem at reduced by 1 CP each turn.
LYSANDER
Will Fists get a new release?
So who does the Captain lead….10 Heavy Intercessors of course, I know!! not something you see everyday but I’m hoping there is some method to my madness.
These chunky lads are tough, T6 and 3 wounds a piece, that’s 30 wounds in the Unit(36 with the Captain), they are OC 2, they are +1 armour save when on an objective against damage 1 attacks, giving them a 2+ save. They have a damage 2 bolt rifle, 30 inch range which is heavy and assault. Sat static on an objective thats 22 attacks hitting on 2’s (2 heavy bolters in there…yes they hit on 3+ they’re chunky you see!!) Depending what else is going on the Captain can use his Strat for 0CP to give them +1BS and +1 AP. So even if they move, that would be 22 shots hitting on 2’s Strength 5 AP -2 Damage 2. Not bad and thats without considering Oath of Moment, when they could be firing into a lot of T9 tanks and heavy elites and wounding on 4’s.
The plan for this Unit is mid range fire support, holding an objective perhaps and just being a really tough brick to hold up a section of the battlefield. Sure they aren’t great in combat but the Captain can take a fair chunk out of a lot of enemies with 7 attacks, 5 power fist and 2 relic blade and their firepower is scary enough to make enemy elite melee units wary of just striding over for a slap fest.
For some more “That’s not a knife, this is a knife” action I have a Combi Lieutenant better know as RAMBO!! How can you not take this guy, cool miniature, great rules and abilities and doubly a pain in the ass for the enemy when used in Vanguard Spearhead with the uppy downy strat. He gets to select an objective for the whole army to re-roll 1’s on wounds and because I had points left over, this guy is a Shadow War Veteran! This enhancement gives him a 12 inch aura to increase enemy stratagem costs by 1 CP. This can be really annoying for an enemy general having to consider now spending 2 CP to re-roll a charge or to use a grenade for example. RAMBO’s plan is to be a major pain in the ass utilising all his guerrilla expertise.
RAMBO
a MAJOR pain in the enemies backside
Backing up RAMBO on the front lines, 2 units of Scouts. Again cool minis and very adaptable for their price. 70 points for a 5 man unit with 2 wounds and a 4+ save is decent. They still die fast but they are far from a paper shield.
I’ve taken a couple of the special weapons for fun, sniper rifle, heavy bolter and missile launcher, the Sgt’s have chainswords and the others have ditched their guns for combat blades!! More big scary knives!! I think more often than not they are going to be tangling with other enemy scouting and screening units in Melee, so the combat blades give them 3 attacks with a handy -1 AP. This might just give them the edge over similar enemy units and if they last a round longer thanks to having taken out 1 or 2 extra bad guys then thats a win. Oh and did I forget to say they can uppy downy for free at the end of the opponents turn. I’m not saying this is a game changer but it can just mess with your opponents plans and really adds to this army being hard to contain. In general these guys are going to be doing scouty things trying to prove their worth and become the next RAMBO. Scoring early secondaries, scrapping with light infantry and sadly for them probably being cannon fodder and or a meat screen against rampaging enemy melee units or fast moving tanks and mounted units.
Next in the knife wielding maniac crew are 5 Incursors, now I’m not totally sold on these guys, we’ll see how they go. The +1 to hit buff they can give the army sounds great but it depend how long I can keep them in the mix and alive! Their rifles only have 24inch range, so it’s unlikely they are going to be able to mark any big enemy tanks for the hit buff but depending how my opponent is playing it could be useful. They’ve got the haywire mine to use once per battle which can chip in some useful damage. They have blades for melee in this case the paired combat blades like RAMBO and with the sustained hits which can slice and dice other scouting screening light infantry enemy units. I may well end up subbing these guys out for some Incursors as the sticky objectives is just very very handy. BUT!! let’s give these lads a chance. +1 to hit could be very tasty for some of my heavy firepower. They also get to scout 6” which could be good on some layouts. Strangely they don’t get to infiltrate but the scouts do.
Lastly for the scouting support crew a choice not seen much in competitive lists, the Invictor Tactical Warsuit!! I’m calling it, people are sleeping on this guy. I know its tank shock is lame now it isn’t based on strength but kitted out with the Incendium Cannon this guy is a light infantry muncher. He has a heavy bolter, a grenade launcher a heavy stubber and the bad boy Incendium Cannon. This puts out D6+3 strength 6 AP-1 damage 1 attacks, that can roast a lot of T3 infantry. I don’t see this guy going toe to toe with big monsters, knights or terminators, I see him beating the hell out of the little guys, he tactically bullies weaker targets lol and if needs be, then a kamikaze charge to hold up big stuff from getting through my lines. He hits hard, he just isn’t as durable as his Honoured Dreadnought Brothers. He also scouts 8” so can get to some surprising places deep in the opponents half of the battle field very quickly…….Aaaand unless I am mistaken, with use of a strat it can be uppy downied as it has the Phobos keyword. This guy could really cause havoc for enemy home objectives!!
Next blog I’ll cover the meaty juicy heart of the Blasted Praetorians…Hail DORN!!
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