Drumroll Please...

Just thought I might take a moment to introduce myself before I start posting wildly and you're all left sitting there wondering who I am and if I have any credibility.

I have been War gaming for 2 years now this fall. While this may not be a long time to many of you veterans I must say that my first army was Daemonhunters (now Codex: Grey Knights) which in my opinion should have had a stamp across the front cover labeling it “Warhammer 40k: HARD MODE”. Needless to say, I got my face stomped plenty of times before I started winning any games. In an army where your basic troop model is 25 pts and your squad leader is 50 pts base you either learn fast or don’t learn at all. So I quickly began to learn basic and advanced tactica for 40k (some of my first opponents being gojira’s longfang Space Wolves and braverifle’s aptly named “Chester” of Daemons consisting almost completely of Bloodcrushers).

Facing such opponents taught me quickly how to utilize my highly costed PAGKs to their full potential. While I had read up on Silent Requiem’s “Way of the Water Warrior” I found myself having tons of PAGK models at my disposal and lacking in funds to purchase land raiders. So I quickly fell into a play style of infantry based combat. Whilst this tend to be rather amazing against other infantry based list with a stock Stormbolter, WS5, S6, and True Grit…I quickly realized how difficult mechanized enemies would be to tackle.

After having moderate success with footslogging GKs against mechanized armies I began to play Tyranids (upon stumbling onto a deal I could not refuse…i.e. 13,000 pts in bugs for $300) and was suddenly overwhelmed by the amount of bodies I could throw on a board. Tyranids only served to reinforce my already growing belief of strength in numbers…not only could I not take rhinos for GKs but rather I didn’t want to…1 transport meant (keeping in mind daemonhunter rhinos were 50 pts) 2 less wounds, a turn or so of 4 less stormbolter shots and 4 less attacks, now whilst a transport might defend against the loss of more than these wounds…sometimes it did not…and so I could not justify vehicles for power armored units. Back to bugs, I got Tyranids as a 5^th edition codex…so I guess me never having 85 pt carnifexes made me appreciate the book a little bit more than the existing Tyranid player. I got to learn the book without having to relearn the army. Tyranids made me reach one important realization above all others.

OPTIONS ARE GOOD

…and not only are options good, they’re better if you have them in game instead of only in unit selection. Tyranids brought with them special rules like FnP, Infiltrate, and Outflank, as well as many different movement types and force multipliers. Tyranids, when used correctly can choose who buffs what and when and where they do it. You can build a single list and emphasis the protection or destructive capabilities of a single unit simply by choosing to do so mid game.

Then Grand Strategy was born. A single ability to choose from four emphases and apply them to most any unit you take. Gorgeous. And Grey Knights had all sorts of useful tools like teleport packs that could be combined with the aforementioned Grand Strategy to give you…options. And in the creation of this ability we have really seen the birth of the true water army. Land raiders are no longer a necessity as Grey Knights have the mobility or numbers they needed in order to accomplish the goals you deem they should handle. My play style and I are all about adaptability, in list building and mid game, I have learned how to counter the curveballs by allowing myself the freedom to do so.

As you may have guessed from the above, I am very against net-lists and generally against single purposed units that have little to no flexibility.

I will soon post more on:

-Tyranid Unit Choice

-Tyranid Movement Tactica

-Modernized Grey Knight Water Tactica

-The Downfall of Net-listing

If you ever have any questions or topics you would like to hear about, especially concerning my two armies, be sure to message me and I will usually respond in a timely manner.

~ductvader