I have been playing Warhammer 40k for about a year now. I started out with Space Marines, like most new players do. Like super soldiers tend to be, these guys are tough. You can make several tactical mistakes in a battle and still have a chance to scrape out a victory due to their heavy armor and toughness. There is nothing inherently wrong with this but it felt like my soldiers were doing the work for me. That's when I decided to try my hand at leading real men into battle.
That is when I started playing the Imperial Guard, the guys with the biggest balls in the galaxy. These guys stand toe to toe with the nastiest and most brutal alien filth out there. At the core they are just normal soldiers put into extreme situations. These guys are at the opposite end of the spectrum from Space Marines. With their standard loadout they have pitiful armor, weak weapons, and die in droves to concentrated fire. Make one blunder while leading these guys and you'll lose a huge chunk of your army in one blow. I learned this the hard way sending 30 screaming Cadians lead by a commissar charging across open ground against Space Marines, only to lose the majority in four rapid blasts from a Thunderfire Cannon. The survivors moved into cover against a traffic wall and fought valiantly but died the next round to bolter fire.
As much as I liked the Imperial Guard, I ran into hard times personally and had to sell that army on Ebay. I have no doubt that the 214th Cadians are still kicking ass for the guy who bought them in Ohio. I took a break from Warhammer, then started again with Dark Eldar. They share the same inherent weaknesses as Guardsmen with their light armor and low toughness, but they make up for that with killer weaponry and blazing speed. This speed comes with a price because their vehicles can be destroyed with lucky shots from nearly any weapon.
Last Saturday I got my first taste of the mayhem that is leading a Dark Eldar army into battle. A friend from work was hosting a 1350 point tournament. It was 4 games, each with a different objective. These guys are frequent tournament players, hitting nearly every major event from Chicago to Tennessee. Most had been playing since the early 90's. I was outmatched but not intimidated.
Leading my army was an Archon with Blaster. This guy can pop even the heaviest tanks open, but his loadout gives him a very niche role. If he gets into close combat with any heavy handed character he's probably going down. Following him into battle was 4 squads of his Kabalite warriors mounted in Raider gunboats armed to the teeth with poisoned splinter weaponry and several more Blasters and their long range variants, Dark Lances. Backing them up were 2 Razorwing Jetfighters, their expert pilots scoring the most kills of any of my units, and one squad of winged Scourges armed with even more Blasters. Needless to say, I was expecting heavy vehicles. Only one of my four opponents brought any vehicles, and these were only Chimera transports instead of the heavy tanks I was expecting.
These were my first games with the Dark Eldar army. I knew they were fragile, but I also knew that they have enough firepower that they could gut an opponent and can potentially win the game based on the very first turn of play. Another aspect of Dark Eldar is that they literally feed off the agony of their opponents. Kill an enemy squad and your own warriors gain benefits. My approach was to concentrate fire with my gunboats, bring down one enemy squad at a time so that my warriors could gain those Pain Tokens to counter their fragility. This works in theory, but a good general never places all his eggs in one basket. If you focus on one power unit, the other 3 kill you next turn. My tactics didn't work for me in any of the four battles I played.
The good news is that with every loss I gained insight on what I did wrong. Next time I plan on bringing a much more diverse list. The most success I had were with my aerial support. They sport a dazzling array of missiles that can devastate light infantry units, and cause enough wounds that even heavy infantry are bound to fail at least a few of their armor saves. With every loss a general has to learn from his failures or risk suffering another defeat. That is a part of the Warrior's Code. Stay tuned for how I do next time!
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Introduction
An Introduction...
"Welcome warrior, lay your axe by the fire and listen to the tales of those who come before you. Theirs is a tale of bravery, uncompromising valor, and rage. It is with sword and rifle that the world is tamed, not with words. Every general worthy of leading men knows that there are many roads to victory. It is here that we walk down each of them..."Okay, let's get straight to it. If you're reading this chances are you are an RPG or miniature wargaming fan. If you aren't please keep reading and I'll try my best to make a fan out of you. Either way there is more than one way to win a battle, be it in Warhammer 40k, Total War: Shogun 2, or any of the other hundreds of wargames out there. You can roll with the brute force Spartan approach, embrace guerrilla warfare, or use more unconventional tactics such as assassination, misdirection, and magic. Being able to adapt to any tactical situation and come out on top is the Warrior's Code!
Now for the specifics. This blog is the product of a lifelong nerd with a love for history, miniature gaming, and video games. I will be posting game reviews, miniature battle reports, painting logs, and much more. Stay tuned and thanks for reading!
Currently playing: Total War: Shogun 2, Dawn of War 2: Retribution, Company of Heroes
Currently painting: Dark Eldar Raiders and Kabalite Warriors
Currently reading: Courage and Honor: An Ultramarines Novel by Graham McNeill
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