Getting back into the swing

[wellweee]

So after about 3 years of sitting in a dark corner of the world, it's time to dust off my old 40k armies and see what has managed to actually survive multiple moves. This is partly due to the fact that fantasy is no longer offered at tournaments, and Age of Sigmar hasn't really taken off, so it's a good excuse to shift my attention back. Now I haven't actually played a competitive game since the end of 5th ed, so I have very little idea of what the hell is going on, but I've read through the rulebook (ok, I skimmed it), and the two codices of the armies I own, so it seems alright.

Sadly my two armies are very 5th ed, one being a decent of angel BA list (although the stormraven did lose a wing during transit somewhere down the line), and the other an old Space Wolf list which is in very sorry shape (Somehow I've lost an entire box which had 2 land raiders, a Dreadnought and a rhino inside, so they are really short on transport atm). That being said here is the list I was thinking for a local tournament coming up (trail by fire), made up of the surviving models and a few things I quite like the look of. Please point out if I have anything wrong (I'm bound to do it)


Primary Detachment - Baal Strike Force

HQ


Captain
Artifer Armour, Grav-Pistol, Valour's Edge, Melta Bomb and Jumpack
165pts


Troops

5 Scout Squad
4x Snipers, Camo and Missile
84pts

5 Scout Squad
4x Snipers, Camo and Missile
84pts


Elites

5 Death Company
Jumpacks, 1w/Power Fist and Infernus Pistol
155pts

Death Company Dread
Blood Talons
135pts

Fast Attack

10 Assault Marines
2 plasma pistols
200pts


Second Detachment - Combined Arms Detachment (Space Wolves)

HQ

Wolf Lord
2 Power Fists, Runic Armour
175pts

Rune Priest
Mastery Level 2, Plasma Pistol
100pts


Troops

9 Grey Hunters
Close Combat Weapon, flamer, Rhino
184pts

5 Grey Hunters
Plasma Gun, Razorback w/Lascannons
165pts


Elites

Murderfang
135pts


Heavy Support

6 Long Fangs
5 missile launchers
165pts



total 1747pts


I have no real idea of what the tournament will be like, but normally (well several years ago), they were pretty much from the book. The idea of the list was picking out what might work from what I had. Sadly losing the rhino and land raiders means that most of my space wolves now have to jog across the battlefield, which rules out most of them (I still have something like 3 full packs of grey hunters and a pretty nice wolf guard squad (no terminators)). The plan is to group the assault marines (with captain) and the death company together and use them to clear a path for the following grey hunters. The longfangs and snipers will provide fire support and cover the backfield. The two muderbots will get in the way of anything that tries to clear out my fire support. It stated as I needed an elite for the Blood angel detachment, and so I put down the death company dread, then I remembered the Murderfang entry, and thought it would be funny to run both and see the look on your opponent's face, shame I couldn't stretch for some drop pods for them. The rune priest can either join the grey hunters, or sit back with the long fangs (thinking of taking divination on him).

Anyway thanks for any help you can offer.

What I have left (incase you were wondering)

Space Wolves
-Lots of Grey hunters
-Wolf Guard unit (armed with a mixture of weapons (at least 5 have dual plasma pistols))
-5 wolf scouts
-another Long Fang unit with missiles
-Dread with multimelta

Blood angels
-Baal pred
-Dreadnought
-Razorback
-Stormraven (although needs fixing)
-10 assault marines
-5 vanguard vets
-10 tac marines
-6 sternguard
-command squad (with 2 meltas)
-2 libarians (1 with jumpack)
-1 sanguinary priest with jumpack
-1 chaplin with jumpack

[wellweee]

I guess no-one had anything to add to my list, so I have no idea whether that is a good or bad thing.

Anyway, after mulling it over for the last few days I've decided to drop the two dreadnoughts. As much fun as seeing what the two of them get up to in a game, I've decided without drop pods it probably won't work too well, and there are probably better things that could use those points. So I now have 273pts to fill in my list.

The first replacement is a sanguinary priest with jumpack, bolt pistol and meltabomb (is modeled on the figure, but will probably take the meltabomb of the captain) so that's 81 pts. The Priest will go with the assault marines and captain and create a harder hitting, more survivable unit.

So after that I've not sure, 190pts can get me a pretty nice unit, so most things are on the table, and would probably work. I could get some Grey Hunters on foot and secure the midfield with them, another unit of Long Fangs, a Dreadnought, or Lemartes for the DC. I could even squeeze in a sternguard squad in a razorback with 2 meltas (or just with bolters). Or a command squad with 2 meltas in a razorback. So many choices...

[Dave Mcturk]

sadly think the state of the 40k forums is an indication of whats happening to the game.

i play a lot of 7th ed games at 1750pts - but over the 4th-7th generations we have introduced more and more 'house rules'.

good luck getting back into 'mainstream' 40k ...

imo if you want to field 'competition' armies with 'new' codexes you need to concentrate on:
decent 'ap' for your weapons [closeq. or shooty] so plenty of melta / melta bombs - plenty of power weapons or variants
decent saves - getting IV saves will always help - so turn sternguard into vanguard if you fancy it - stormshields can make a huge difference if you are lucky
vehicles and walkers in particular are now very dodgy - other than as a rapid deployment tool, my current preferred option is 6man squads in razorbacks - which has its limitations but can deliver a decent alpha strike,...
{turning rhinos or variants into razorbacks or back again is a relatively simple modelling challenge}

imo jump troops are very similar to bikes but the inability to 'jink' and the T drop makes bikes a little better - unless you hit eldar reapers ! - i would certainly mount most characters up if only for the T boost

im currently running a combat squad of vets - seems pricey - but as they can split any which way - or not - it has some utility
[skinny sarge + melta bombs - four vets with melta bombs - 5 stormshields - three skinny - two with fists and melta bombs] { my thinking is that on the charge 3 fist attacks is a good anti-vehicle policy - but if attacked or v heavy stuff 'armourbane' on a single attack is actually better}

surely you want your plasma guys in the rhino so they can fire ? and the other squad in the razorback ?

if youve not played much since 4th/5th there are a lot of subtle [and some very unsubtle] rules / codex changes so get some practice in

lots of players are raving about grav ... but imo you cant beat melta ... and i wont touch plasma with a barge pole ... it doesnt quick kill any of the nasty stuff out there [wraith, warriors, meganobs, orc warbikers - even guardian jetbikes with a bit of a boost
can laugh at it] -

enjoy