Diary of a Chaos Space Marine

So the other day a friend linked me to an interesting fan-fiction that I thought you all might appreciate.  You can find it here.  It's very long, but a very good read.

Ravenwing Attack Squad

This last weekend I finished painting up a Ravenwing Attack Squad. That's 6 bikes, one attack bike and one Landspeeder Tornado.

While you will see the bikers swinging chainswords, their main role will not be melee. I just like the image of them swinging chainswords like a roudy post-apocalyptic biker-gang and really, who doesn't? The option given was to equip them with EITHER a bolt pistol OR a chainsword. In game terms they're virtually identical, since I'd be using the twinlinked boltguns on the front of the bike for any kind of shooting. Given this, they only get one attack. Two if they charge. If they're in combat, however, they cannot leave at their own discretion. They are not considered "vehicles." Due to this, their role is going to be more mobility and shooting. I have equipped my Sergeant with a Power Sword just incase things get hairy, though. Twin-linked bolters are nothing to sneeze at, especially considering that due to them being mounted on the bike, I do not count as having moved when I fire. This means I can fire once up to 24" despite moving. Not bad at all. Add to that a Heavy Bolter on the Attack Bike, and a Heavy Bolter/Assault Cannon combo on the Landspeeder ... and I have a lot of anti-infantry firepower that is extremely mobile.

Oh, there is one added benefit to Ravenwing. All bikes count as having a built-in Teleport Homer. Didja hear that? That means no rolling to scatter when I teleport my Deathwing Terminators in (as long as they come within 6" of a bike). Of course, I plan on taking advantage of this rule. I'd be a fool not to.

Saim Hann

This is a quick plug for a fellow blogger who shares the 40k passion.

You can find his blog here:  saimhann.blogspot.com

His area of expertise centers around a Saim Hann craftworld themed Eldar army.  What does this mean?  Jetbikes.  Lots of jetbikes.  Warlocks on jetbikes, Farseers on jetbikes, Vipers, Holo Fields, Spirit Stones, etc.  Everthing jetbikes.

In contrast to the army I'm attempting to assemble (which draws its strength from its variety of unit selection), Fritz's army focuses on using mobility to win the day.  He recently won a 'Headhunters' award at a tournament, which means he got the most HQ kills in the tourny, thanks to his jetbiked Farseer with Mindwar.  That's no small feat.

Go check him out if you're interested in a different perspective on Eldar. 

Tyranid Warriors

Enter the first brood of Tyranid Warriors:

What you see here is 3 Warriors. One with a Barbed Strangler, the other two with Deathspitters. This team, when their shots land, are built to devastate with blast templates. But that's the most minor of their uses. The guns were given to them so they had something to do on the advance.

Their real strength lies in close combat. they are equipped with Scything Talons, Adrenal Glands (WS), Flesh Hooks, Toxin Sacs, and Leaping. Leaping will help them reach their opponent in that final 12" assault, but it doesn't help their initial 6" move. Being synapse creatures, they're slow. They're too slow for my needs, really. I plan on having Raveners, Gargoyles and many many Hormagaunts. All of these will easily outpace the Warriors, Tyrant, and Zoanthropes early on.

As we saw in the first Battle Report, this is exactly what happened. I was lucky to actually make that leadership roll for the Hormagaunts. I cannot count on that good luck to continue.

Currently, my plan to alleviate this was to have a Broodlord infiltrated. He would act as a waypoint for the rest of the Swarm. ... but am I leaving all my eggs in one basket? What happens if he's taken out early on?

To answer this, I plan on replacing one of my two Ravener broods with a brood of Winged Tyranid Warriors. Now I will have a total of 3 Warrior broods, but I'm ok with that. The Winged Warriors will easily keep up with the swarm. Also, since morphed up warriors with wings are cheaper than a 6-man Ravener brood, this left me with a little extra points ... enough to get a second Carnifex. woot.