Imperial Guard Manticore Conversion

The Manticore is one of the best Heavy Support choices out there, with its ability to dish out S10 pies where needed. Now the plastic GM model has always seemed to me more of an ICBM launcher than rockets, and I very much prefer my own version. It is based in the ubiquotous Chimera, of course, and replaces the 4 large rockets by the Space Marines Air Defence missile support by Forge World. It has the standard diameter so it fits perfectly in a Quad Gun support, or be used to transform a Razorback onto a Whirldwind, which by the way was my original purpose. But then I somehow decided I preferred a S10 pie over a S5 one :)

I realize now it looks a bit like the old G.I.Joe Wolverine! no Cover Girl in the IG version though.

Back to the Manticore, I built it so I could use it in different ways - a plain Chimera, Manticore, Whirlwind (in a Razorback chasis) or even a Hydra, using the Guad gun. Here's in standard Chimera APC shape:

When stripped of the topmost part of the hull / turret and ramp, there is a nice cargo area that can accomodate different types of guns.

A few magnets here and there allow the magic. The guns are also magnetized although admittedly, I will hardly move away from the versatile multilaser / heavy flamer configuration.

Hope you like it! Cheers

DA + IG 2000 points

I've been toying for a long time with the idea of a Ravenwing army, and actually using it as motivation to paint the 30+ bikers I'd need for it. Right now I'm only down to 7~8 but hopefully I will speed things up this summer. The first thing that comes to mind is that is beautiful, themed army. The second is that it is quite limited from a gaming standpoint, and this is why I'm striving to fix.

Having never played biker armies, my impression is that the tactics are rather one-dimensional (move up and shoot?), with the occasional outflanking depending on the mission and opponent. I also find the backfield scoring a cause for concern, and leaving a combat squadded tactical unit behind doesn't do much for the army does it? it will not shoot much, if anything at all, and if someone gets close they will die rather quick. And last but not least, flyers. Highly mobile twin-linked plasma talons can be a lever, as it is stealing the opponents quad-gun, but I'd feel more confortable with something more reliable. All in all I think a good way to erase this concerns is looking for allies, and unsurprisingly, IG can help in all 3 points. Let's get to it.

A 30-40 man blob is affordable enough and can dish out some S7 love, perfect to crack light transports for the bikers to shoot down its contents. Hiding behind the Aegis are resistant enough with the 2+ save from GTG and then ordered Back to fight!, and armed with some flamers and a power axe or two are a bit more resilient to assaults than a tacticals. Not by much, but enough. This of course doesn't make a blob but is richer tactically - I can have 1 or 4 scoring units, embark a PCS with 4 flamers in a Vendetta for a turn 5 objective clean up and hopefully attract some bullets from the bikers. The ubiquotous Vendetta is a must, and a Manticore is effective as always.

Not in unless you bring a bike!

On the Ravenwing side, obviously we need to make the bikers scoring and I'm leaning towards Sammael for a few reasons. The first and obvious is that he unlocks the RW command squad, without requiring a biker Libby to do that. The second is to tank some wounds in the command squad, and the third is that it has a very long movement range so I can use him to deny objectives in the late game. OK there is another reason, and is that I absolutely love his model - the jetbike is beautiful and tremendously characterful for this army. Azrael has his merits and could very well be leading a blob of death; my impression is that Azrael can potentially make this army stronger but I'd like to keep the Ravenwing theme stronger. Play testing will determine the winner, as soon as I finish all those bikers.

The aforementioned command squad is the lynchpin of the army, carrying the standard of devastation that gives 4 twin-linked bolter shots to every biker. Combined with the grenade launcher it will make mince meat to most foot units. Given I'm already spending a ton of points in this unit, I will pay the apothecary for the FNP. This unit should be having a 2+ or 3+ cover save most of the time, followed by a 5+ FNP. It's only 5 wounds (8 with Sammael) but hard to bring down, and meanwhile lets the scoring bikers live a little longer. If they survive past T3 when the bolter fiesta should be over, they can use their superior maneuvrability and plasma talons to support other units as needed. 8 TL plasma shots can reliably take down most things in this game.

Speaking of the Ravenwing, the core of the army would be 4 units of 6 bikers with meltaguns. Sammel, the plasma talons, manticore and vendetta provide enough Ap2 and I can torrent down Terminators and Sanguinary Guard with massed bolter fire; what this army needs is melta guns to crack those  transports open and ready to salvo to death its juicy contents.

The icing in the cake is a Darkshroud to provide Stealth to nearby units and help protect them in the early turns.

So to recap this is the list

Sammael

1x RW Command Squad
5 Black Knights including RW Champion (<--5 points to make precision shots and a EW? sold), Apothecary and Standard of Devastation

4x Ravenwing Attack Squads
6x Bikers, 3 squads have 2x meltaguns


1x Darkshroud

IG allies:

CCS, 3 meltaguns (<-- to shoot down drop podded dreads, monoliths or any other heavy armour that gets too close)

PCS, 4 flamers (<-- rides in Vendetta or stays back to protect the platoon)

3x Infantry Squads, 2x Autocannons, 2x Flamers

ADL with Quad-Gun

It's an army to likes to go first, turbo-boosting to get a 2++ cover save on the command squad/Darkshroud and 3++ on the bikes. The infantry platoon stays on home objectives and the manticore goes after high toughness/AV objectives. The RW grenade launcher can reduce the toughness of many nasty units to 5 (Wraiths and the like), making them susceptible to insta-death.

The worst match-ups that I can foresee would be going second against very shooty armies like Venom-spams or Tau / IG gunlines. The bikes should be deployed either out of LOS or range, and  reserved / outflanked if I can't protect them reliably.

Flyers... well I have decent AA. Not nearly enough to counter flyer-heavy armies but hopefully we'll be seeing less of those as more AA options are made available. And if come across 6 Scythes, well, at least I will enjoy a fun T1 :)

Not the most competitive of armies but something I'm really keen on fielding. I would appreciate feedback while I'm painting / building this army - any blatant weaknesses or suggestions for improvements?

The Gaunt's Ghosts project

It often happens to me that I’ve read a BL novel, watched an action movie or browsed a comic and I want to produce a unit or army to play it in the 40k world. After devouring several Gaunt’s Ghosts novels I knew I was in one of those “have to field this” moments and started to figure out how to do it. In the end it’s just Guardsmen right?

How to play it

Well let’s recap what make the Tanith First-and-Only stand out from other units, from a military standpoint: the Ghosts are an elite light infantry unit that excel at scout and stealth operations. So basically are a foot unit with camo-cloaks.

In terms of weapons, they favor  flamers as the default special weapon although they also sport a sniper in each platoon (which based in the size and number, I’d say resembles a standard squad). Heavy weapons are less common but there is always an autocannon (“Try again” Bragg) or missile launchers, that they call “tread-fethers”, at hand. M’kay. That is a bit confusing to start with, as foot IG doesn’t like to move from behind the Aegis/home ruins and definitely do not scout up the field. On the other hand, Vets usually ride in Chimeras or even Vendettas and sport meltas or plasmas. Hmm.

The camo cloaks are expensive for what they do but even with that, their survivability and usefulness would be close to nothing. A possibility is using Al-Raheim (let’s call him Corbec if you know what I mean) and outflank 30 or 40 of them, with assorted power axes and melta bombs. I haven’t played against outflanking IG blobs in 6^th but in late 5^th they were nasty. Admittedly because the meta was so meched up that finding 150+ foot guardsmen was a surprising prospect. An ATSKNF character to lead them would be useful but a) I haven’t seen a single power armour dude in 7 books so far, which is refreshing and b) I’m not even sure I can find a way to do it. So let's leave it as a 30-40 men platoon with Al-Raheim; depending on points I’ll add a Lord Comissar Hark or Gaunt.

In 6^th, and specifically in a tournament context that is where I play the most, perhaps (note the italics) I could use them as sort of distraction unit, proving I don’t sink too many points there. Just show up in a flank near an objective and capture/contest it. Even better if use them with my usual drop pod wolves as there will be lots of units for my opponent to clean off his DZ. I don’t mind not using an über optimized list, as long as it’s not an auto-lose list, which admittedly this could very well be. Tell you what, I’ll run this in a couple of casual matches and see what it does. At least, it doesn’t care much about Flyers.

How to model it

There are 6 metal models still available in the GW site, but don't look that great. I believe more were released in the past but I'm not willing to spend eons on ebay to purchase them at a reasonable price. Well Cadians are relatively affordable aren’t they? But they look too formal, a well drilled unit out of the Eye of Terror’s West Point. The Ghosts are meant to be, well, way less formal. They all wear black matte fatigues and cloaks, but then some wear caps, some helmets, most go without any head gear. Then you have the Tanith-bred with long black hair and tattoos while the Verghastites are mostly slum gangers, although there are also PDP militia and refined career officers… and there are also female troopers. Cadians definitely don’t work. The Catachans, well I could use some parts here and there but not as the base. So after looking for a while at independent companies, I’ve found out a very nice unit from Victoria miniatures that looks like the real thing. The inspiration is obvious and the level of detail seems nice. For $45 I’m willing to give it a try. 

Camo cloaks, check.
Assorted heads, check.
Knives, different poses, accessories, check, check, check.

I also have some Kromlech bits that I purchased for my SW (like feral faces) and a few Krieg knives and weapons. After the first 10 are completed, I can start adding special characters like the sniper Larkin, female sergeant Criid or sergeant Domor with his augmented bionics. All in all sounds like a plan!

P.S. if it the outflanking blob doesn’t work, I’ll just use them as vets in a chimera. Or leave them to decorate the shelf where the Gaunt’s Ghosts novels are J

Gaunt's Ghosts: The Founding Review

Time and time again I have been thrilled by Dan Abnett's work, especially in the Horus Heresy but also in other works such as Lone Wolf or Titan. And being Imperial Guard the very first army I had back in 2nd edition (metal Cadians from the warp!), I couldn't resist to have a look at one of Abnett's most celebrated stories, Gaunt's Ghosts. This review covers the 1st Omnibus featuring the first 3 novels: First And Only, Ghostmaker and Necropolis plus a short story that serves as epilogue for the third novel, In Remembrance.

So who is this Gaunt and who are the Ghosts?
Colonel-Comissaur Gaunt is hardened Imperial Comissaur who happens to be also Colonel of the Imperial Guard, so is both a military and political leader. After many years of service he is awarded command of a newly founded regiment, the Tanith 1st. On the same day in which Gaunt was making planetfall to the planet Tanith to be put in charge of his new regiment, a Chaos fleet striked out of nowhere and there was no one to stop them obliterating the planet. Gaunt was faced with a difficult choice: stay with his new regiment and die fighting for Tanith, or save as many men as possible so they could live to fight back another day. Gaunt chose the latter and so happened that Tanith only every raised one regiment for the Imperial Guard, never to be followed by another. On one hand he saved about 3.000 souls for the Emperor's service but that also won the enmity of most of them, who were negated the choice of fighting -and dying - for their home planet and families.

With no planet to go back to, with no family to defend anywhere, with a catastrophic event they couldn't prevent, the Tanith survivors are really ghost soldiers that tread from one war theater to the next with a grim resolve of vengeance and the bitterness all is lost for them. Ghosts is also a nickname from their very special scouting abilities, for the Ghosts use black fatigues and camo cloaks, and are extremely skilled at remaining unseen if they want to. Most of them feature tatoos in their faces and have black hair, making them look as a ragtag band to other rival regiments.

The Ghosts - grim, silent, tatooed badasses!

The novels

First And Only introduces the Tanith 1st, the first and only regiment the planet Tanith ever produced. It is an introductory novel to Gaunt and some of the most celebrated Ghosts as they fight against a Chaos invasion on the Sabbat system.

The second novel, Ghostmaker, is more of a collection of small stories are centered about remarkable members of the Ghosts: sniper "Mad" Larkin, hulking "Try again" Bragg, young Trooper Caffran, Colonel Corbec, Major Rawne (who happens to want to kill Gaunt for leaving Tanith to die), Chief Medic Dorden, Gaunt's adjutant Milo and a few more get his time in the spotlight. Personally I feel it is too early in the series for this type of introspective, that it would be better once we know more about the Ghosts, but I also can see it working the other way and in later novels it certainly helps knowing more background about the main characters.

The third novel, Necropolis, is where the action really kicks in. The Ghosts are called to defend a hive city in a nearby planet, in which turns out to be - guess what - the actions of Chaos. This is a pretty intense novel that raises the bar from the previous two, in terms of complexity, number and depth of the characters, and tension. The closing short story In Remembrance acts as epilogue of the fight in the hive, a few days after the war is decided


Veredict: 7.5/10
The novels are great fun and 15€ is a great price. I guess it just feels... a little too plain after the Horus Heresy. Take the 30k era,  most characters lie in a blur grey zone- is Magnus a traitor or just can't escape his destiny? would Horus have turned evil if the Emperor would have been closer at hand? In the Ghosts series there is usually a clear distinction between the good and the bad, right and wrong. That said, I'm growing fond of the Ghosts and can't wait to read more of their adventures. If you are looking for something different to read, give them a try.

The Lion's blob

One of they key axioms to understand 6th Ed is that anything is better when allied to Imperial Guard. This is because IG has all that the primary army might need, and at a very reasonable cost. 130 points Vendettas (and in squadrons of 3!), manticores and especially, lots of cheap scoring bodies.

Now consider the new Dark Angels codex. Azrael makes both Death and Ravenwing scoring, and provides the unit he is with a 4++ and fearless.

So for a bit more than the cost of Deathwing Squad, DA can instead ally to IG and have Azrael lead an IG blob. S That's 50 fearless bodies with a 4++, a few power axes and melta bombs, quite a nasty propositon. It is very difficult to deal with such a deathstar while it's surrounded by his Death and Ravenwing squads, that not only have a serious offensive potential but are also scoring.