Allies of Inconvenience- Episode 26: Thoughts to 9th Edition 40k and Indomitus

We are back after a canceled Adepticon and months of Quarantine and we have the excitement of 9th Edition to talk about! We kick off the episode with an extensive Hobby Progress and we have had quite a lot of down time to work on hobby. After that we launch into discussion about the 9th edition previews we have seen so far, from the new suggested "minimum" for table size to the exciting new terrain rules and everything in between! We close out with discussion about "what's in the box" for the upcoming Indomitus release and those amazing Necrons and less than amazing Space Marine Marneus Kart.

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00:00 Intro
04:25 Hobby Progress
23:26 9th Edition Previews Discussion
1:00:04 Indomitus "What's in the Box"

Songs and Soundclips
Blue Mark- Atlan Urtag
Kaap mere- Bugotak
All Clips: Auralnauts Copper Wear Mask

Allies of Inconvenience: BONUS Adepticon Roadshow Special

Join Chris and myself in our mad ramblings on our Journey to Adepticon 2018!

Listen to us babble on about such things as

-Adepticon Lists

-Codex: Kroot

-Necron Previews

-Big Guys that need to come back to the game

-Tau and their Magic School Bus

AND MORE!

This episode is very stream of concious (and not the best audio TBH) BUT should give you some good laughs. ENJOY!

Listen/Subscribe with iTunes 

Adepticon 2018- Team Display: Trazyn's Collection in the Vaults of Solemnance

I give you our Team Tournament display this year,  The Vaults of Solemnance, the Collection of Trazyn the Infinite

We had Necrons (obviously) and then things that Trazyn has collected over the years INCLUDING

-Adeptus Custodes

-Sisters of Silence

-DOOOOOMRIDER!

-Sons of Malice

-Maximillian Weismann is "212 Arethusa"... since Trazyn couldn't get the baneblade in time, and isn't particularly concerned with accuracy he has a Leman Russ Punisher

-CREEEEEED! and the Cadian 8th

-The Inquisitor, Lictor and "Thrice Damned Kroot" from Xenology

-The Retinue of Inquisitor Valeria

-The Tanith 2nd (saved at their founding)

-The Vostroyan XXI

And then a few other jokes...

-Missing game aides (Templates, scatter dice, etc)

-Necron "Pokeball" and a Lavendar Town Remix

-The bell from Gathering Storm

-An empty box for YOU!

Welcome to my little dark corner of the universe. A refuge in a galaxy of uncertainties and calamities. A place I’ve carefully curated over the years to contain the most esoteric collection you will ever witness

The section before you is a presentation of gilded champions, well kempt conscripted dullards, and a menagerie of conceited war dogs. All these artifacts of life-choices have found purpose in my home, kept safe and still from the ravages of time.

I’m sure some of them have names that matter, but it’s what they represent that drew my attention. Whether it be that they did something of importance, or they may simply be that last of what they were. I’m sure if I allowed it, they would voice an opinion on the matter of their custody. But I simply can’t allow the chance the galaxy would never see their likes again.

Take your time, take it all in. Your perspective and input will be well received. Who knows, while you certainly won’t be allowed to leave, you might impress me enough to keep.

Road to Adepticon 2018, The Necrons Part 1

Discordian here. I've been doing a lot of work on what I'd call a temporary army. It's something I plan to bring to Adepticon in 2018, but I don't plan to to really expand it past 1000-1500 points that I'm making.

As I've been working I've taken some pictures, and I figured I'd share.

Some Non-Traditional Immortals

Not a Fan of the the Goofy Necron Drivers

Really not a fan of those drivers

Everything ready for some primer

I'm also going to engrave my own bases

I've been in the building stages for a little while now, and I've finally gotten to a place were I felt comfortable thinking about starting to paint. When I make some progress there I plan to make a "Part 2".

I'm still missing a few planned things, but I'm holding off in case GW gives me a reason to buy something else before the Adepticon rules cut off.

Missing! 5 Characters that need to return to the game

I’ve played through a few editions. My Grey Knights have had 3 whole shake ups at this point.

Through those editions I’ve seen quite few things disappear. And nothing gets more annoying than when characters get removed. Especially when several editions ago, army wide special rules were tied to special character rules and whole lists became unusable overnight because people up and left for places unknown.

These are a few of the ones I noticed that I really think should come back.

1. Mordrak

I want you to meet my Mordrak.

Cool guy, right? He’s got a cool hammer and he’s in a badass Space-Knight get up. The reason he has a shield is because when I made and painted this model, a Grandmaster could take one.

Unfortunately for him he didn’t have an official GW model, because the only thing left of him rules wise is a single Warlord trait. Just to twist the knife deeper GW went and made a new Grey Knight character model, WITH a hammer, just not Mordrak.

Don’t get me wrong, Voldus seems like a cool dude. His fluff boils down to him being an executive assistant that ended up getting promoted to be CEO because his boss was vaporized trying to go Emperor Palpatine on someone. 

Hilarious

But he’s not, “My imaginary friends can beat up your imaginary friends, because my imaginary friends are a unit of terminators” Mordrak,  esquire the 3rd,  cool.

2. Vect, Duke, Baron, Mayls, and/or Kheradruakh

So, Dark Eldar players thought it was bad when they lost Kruellagh the Vile. Read that slowly in french and drop the “e.”

The latest Codex update straight up Game of Thrones’d their characters. Five characters overnight disappeared, with absolutely no replacement. They also were all unique characters that all did something unique for Dark Eldar armies. Vect being removed was equivalent to someone saying “Hey we don’t need this Calgar Guy around anymore”.

What’s really funny is that Y’Raine is pretty much what Malys should have looked like. When I heard that model wasn’t going to be her I assumed Y’Raine had shanked Mayls in the night, and stole all her stuff.

At least Kheradruakh has been making head way in the fluff. For those who don't know he made a appearance in Gathering Storm One. He finally managed to finish his special room during the onset of the Commorragh Daemonic Incursion, and flipped a face down that unleashed the Shadow realm killing all the Daemons.

3. Sly Marbo

Personally, fuck this guy and I hate him. But I must admit he is one sly sneaky cool bastard Guard should have back.

He was an auto-take scourge back in 5^th, jumping out of nowhere and throwing a demolition charge. And on more than one occasion I saw him kill himself. And he was totally not Sylvester Stallone or Rambo. 

My friend had made a custom model throwing a Greater Barking Toad. For reasons why, you can find out Here.

But summarized, the Greater and Lesser Catachan Barking Toads spontaneously combust when startled, typically killing everything within a one kilometer radius, including the toad itself.

Thou Shall Know Some Fear

4. Valeria

Helynna Valeria was weird one. She is an Ordo Xenos Inquisitor that was bundled into the 5^th edition Grey Knights codex. She too didn’t have a model, so she got axed when Inquisition was broken out.

She was kind of like Batman in having a bunch of weird wargear, including a Pokeball that Trayzn the Infinite gave her after she accidentally wandered onto one of his planets and then managed to escape with heavy casualties. It was a gift accompanying this letter.

"Dear Lady, let me express my fulsome appreciation for your most generous gift. It is so very rare to discover another of my own kind that appreciates my work, therefore to find understanding amongst a member of another race is nothing short of a revelation. I realise that you briefly trod my galleries, but the fact that you spotted in so short a time that my Acabrius War collection was lacking three regiments of Catachan warriors reveals that you truly have a collector's eye for detail. And to send five regiments! Such generosity will allow me to weed out and replace a few of the more substandard pieces in my collection. If I might level a minor criticism, the instructions issued to your gift were manifestly not as clear as you thought, as most of them had to be forcibly restrained -- sadly it seems that the lower orders will always behave like an army of invasion, whether that be their purpose or not. However, this is a minor complaint and seems almost churlish under the circumstances, so please allow me to repay your gift with one of my own. Accompanying this message is the Hyperstone Maze, one of a series of Tesseract Labyrinths constructed at the height of the Charnovokh Dynasty. It is a trinket really, only of interest to scholars such as you and I, but I trust you will find it amusing -- assuming you have the wit to escape its clutches, of course."

— Hyperscroll message from Trazyn the Infinite, addressed to Inquisitor Valeria, c. 805.M41

The reason she should come back is that currently Inquisition has a at least one for the other two Inq factions. With out someone like her, Xenos is literally just represented by a grenade caddy, That jackass that stole all my GK Techmarines grenades right off his belt.

(Ed- They also killed her off.... so yeah...)
(Author- They Maybe killed her off............)

5. Nightbringer/Deceiver

Shards don’t count. I want the real things back. GIANT SUN EATING MONSTERS SMOOSHED INTO ROBO TUXEDOS.

These would be a great FW lord of war candidates for Necrons. Mostly just the older models, just much bigger. Maybe while they’re at it a Giant Robot Dragon and Something in a big hamster ball, for the Void Dragon and Outsider.

(EDITOR- Gothmog- BONUS!!!)

6. Moriar the Chosen

To prove this is still a blog with its roots firmly in Blood Angels, I can't let this list slip by without mentioning Moriar the Chosed- THE Death Company Dreadnought!

Sure we have Cassor these days, and that guy is a BEAST, but why did they have to make him? Heck, they could have left everything the same and named him Moriar instead. Would that have been hard? It is like the Voldus/Mordrak thing above. GW took away something cool, and then to rub salt in the wound, when they finally made another DC dreadnought character, they made it someone else? Why?

Now I could go on and and on with more characters (Veteran Sergeant Cluetin, Ibram Guant, Col. Schaeffer, Mogul Kamir, DOOMRIDER... maybe a list by me for another day)

My top 10 kits that need to move from FW to plastic

There have been a lot of models over the years moved from Forge World to GW Plastic- The Wave Serpent, Valkyrie, Baneblade and Drop Pod to name but a few. All of these moves have greatly benefited the game and hobbyists, and it is a trend that should not stop. Below is a list of the 10 kits that I believe would over all do the most for the hobby and hobbyists. Note, this is not just a Space Marine lovefest either. Plenty of (heretical) Xenos kits made the cut.

Space Marine Deimos Pattern Rhino- This would go a very long way to making warhammer 30k viable as a game everyone has access to. With Burning of Prospero and Betrayal at Calth we have a good core, but those vehicles still come at a premium cost. I understand the rest staying with Forge World, but making this would really bridge the gap from "Desire" to "Realtiy" for alot of potential 30k players. I am banking on it so much I am ever so slowly starting a 30k Dusk Raider army myself. But very slowly to ensure I eventually get this kit. It just makes too much sense, esepcially since it is also still entirely useable for 40k.

Imperial Navy Thunderbolt Fighter- The Valkyrie/Vendetta are cool and all, but some sort of Strike Fighter capacity would be excellent for the Guard. This is a classic model and very easy to make in plastic IMO. Could potentially be made available to all Armies of the Imperium. A workhorse of the skies that should be used in more games. I have a Forgeworld one I need to refinish. If they came out with plastic ones, I'd buy 2 more no questions asked and run a flyer wing for sure.

Space Marine Storm Eagle/Fire Raptor- Another 30k/40k crossover potential. While a plastic Thunderhawk would be amazing, it is probably never going to happen (a Titan would happen first). BUT This is pretty close. It can me made into 3 different units (Fire Raptor, Storm Eagle and ROC pattern storm eagle) and is a great looking model to boot that already uses several plastic Storm Raven Parts. Plus, the usual warping people have to deal with with the model would be a thing of the past.

Ork Squiggoth- Orks don't get enough love, especially since the Stompa is one of the worst LoW for its points in the game. A brand new, more dynamic sculpt along with some new cool rules and you will see it fly off the shelves for sure. A usable Gargantuan creature with endless conversion possibilities on it. I guarantee you everyone who plays 40k would love to see this, whether they play orks or not. Given that Orks also have no true answer to the Knight, this would be a smart move IMO.

Tyranid Heirodule- Another beasty for the game. If anyone should have more plastic gargantuans it is Tyranids, and the Heirodule perfectly fits the bill. It is the right size, playable in normal games and comes in two flavours. New rules once again and you'd have something highly effective and desired by players, especially if it is made to be their answer to Imperial Knights.

Imperial Guard (DKK, Elysians, etc.)- This should follow the Horus Heresy model of late. But it would be really awesome to get 1-2 core sets of various guard regiments that I can they upgrade with Forgeworld parts or kitbashing. Everyone LOVES DKK, but they are the most cost prohibitive army in the game. Having a plastic infantry box of them would be amazing, add variety, and have many many uses (IG, Chaos, Renegades)

Necron Pylon- YOU MUST CONSTRUCT ADDITIONAL PYLONS. Another Xenos force without a lot of attention recently. This kit is super simple and yet has 3 profiles I believe! Really great potential for a cross over to plastic and something that I am sure a lot of Necron players would love to see. Given that IG has like 70 versions of the baneblade and Imperial now have Knights, there is no reason why Crons can't have another LoW, particularly one in the price range of Knights.

Eldar Hornet- I keep seeing these. A lot. They just are really popular right now. Really that is the extent to my logic of making them plastic. They are a fun little kit with some good rules. Index it in price right between a Vyper and a Wave Serpent and I sure it would sell in droves.

Space Marine/Imperial Guard/Solar Auxilia/Renegade Rapier Batteries- Why isn't this a thing already? Seriously, it is one chassis design that can mount like 54 different weapons to it. It is usable in 30k and 40k. It is usable by SM, IG and Renegades. I mean COME ON! It screams "MAKE ME IN PLASTIC". Heck, you could even combo in the thunderfire cannon with it if you tried hard enough. It is such a useful kit, but so expensive right now. In plastic it would fly off the shelves and has great magnetization potential for sure. The only problem would be "What crew do we sell it with?"

Space Marine/Imperial Guard/Solar Auxilia/Renegade Malcador- Last but not least, yet another 30k to 40k vehicle, And unlike the rapiers, the crew problem is really easy- just put 1 space marine on the sprue and 1 human with 3 heads (1 IG, 1 Solar Aux and 1 chaos). BAM, you have a "Warhammer 40,000" generic kit. Its numerous profiles in 40k and options in 30k make it a great combo kit once again. Plus it just looks plain cool.

Adepticon Coverage Part 5: Zone Mortalis Tournament (with lists)

I really need to finish covering Adepticon don't I? Sorry, life is crazy busy sometimes.

Having played Necromunda on Thursday night and waiting for the 40k team tournament on Saturday and Sunday, I had to fill up a Friday. I thought about the 40k friendly, but figured I was going to get enough "real" 40k during the tournament and I wanted to get some other games in. One of my team mates saw there was a Zone Mortalis event, so we figured why not? It is not often that one has a chance to play some of the coolest rules there are. It is just too hard for most of us to build and store a board capable of playing such games.

If you don't know what Zone Mortalis is, it is 40k fighting in the most extreme of environments. It is supossed to represent battlefields such as the inside of a Space Hulk or Starship, the Underhive or a cramped cave network. Sound fun? Well it is AND the rules are FREE from Forge World!

GET THE RULES HERE

The format at Adepticon was the Combatant Zone Mortalis Force Org Chart and a limit of 750 points. A key thing to note is that in Zone Mortalis ONLY TROOPS AND ELITES ARE SCORING! This would come in handy later.

Knowing that I had a premium for space and time, I wanted to play the lowest model count army I could. This would help speed up games at the event, but more importantly it meant I had less to paint and could ensure I had all the models I needed by and at Adepticon. What fit this bill? Well, Dreadnoughts of course. They also happen to be the largest thing you can take in Zone Mortalis.

Then I had a realization. I could run ALL DREADNOUGHTS. Since the minimum number of Troops required is one, and I have the only dread troop in the game (Cassor the Damned), this was PERFECT.

In three games I had a W-W-T. BUT This was enough, with my battlepoints and paint score to win BEST OVERALL!
BA Dreads (730)
HQ- Librarian Dreadnought- 225: Melta-gun, Mastery Level 2, Legacy of Glory: Battle of Terra (IWND, though I never had to use it I believe)
Elites- Contemptor Dreadnought- 225: Extra Armour, Magna Grapple, Blood Fist w/ Storm Bolter (I wanted a Heavy Flamer, but had to make do with the model I had), Kheres Assault Cannon
Elites- Furioso Dreadnought-150: Blood Talons, Melta-gun, Storm Bolter (once again, wanted HF, but alas WYSIWYG and such is life with Metal Dreads), Smoke Launchers (also WYSIWYG. Magna Grapple would have been taken otherwise)
Troops- Cassor the Damned- 140: Blood Talons, Melta-gun, Storm Bolter, Magna Grapple

GAME 1- OVERWHELMING FORCE vs Nurgle CSM
HQ- Typhus
Troops- Plague Marines (5)- 135: Meltagun, Champion w/ Melta-bomb
Troops- Plague Marines (5)- 130: Meltagun
Fast Attack- Spawn(4)- 144
Fast Attack- Spawn(3)- 108

Setup- 4 x 4 board with Table quarters deployment zone. Deploy within 6" of the board edge. Night Fight turns 1 and 2. Primary Objective- Kill Points. Secondary- Slay the Warlord, First Blood, Linebreaker. Secondary are for Battlepoints only and not determining victor.

Strategems available- Attacker- Sustained Assault. Defender- Barricades and Sentry Gun. Reaction fire and Cold Void in effect.

This game did not go well for my opponent, but at least he walked away with Best Sportsman in the end. Basically the board was a large open room in the middle, where I proceeded to move all my dreads. The game started with 2 in reserve, but in the end it didn't matter. All he could do was he throw his spawn and Typhus at me. The spawn put up a fight and bogged down my Contemptor... untill my Furiosos arrived and wiped them up. Typhus was just outright splattered. In the end I only lost 1 or 2 hull points total and he had 3 Plague Marines left. Max battlepoints and all secondary objectives achieved, total 18.

GAME 2- CAPTURE GROUND vs Necrons
HQ- Lord- 50: Staff of Light
Elites- Flayed Ones(7)- 91: 14 x Flayer Claws
Elites- Flayed Ones(7)- 91: 14 x Flayer Claws
Troops- Immortals(5)- 85: 5 x Tesla Carbines
Fast Attack- Canoptek Wraiths(5)- 215: Whip Coils
Fast Attack- Canoptek Wraiths(5)- 215: Whip Coils

4 x 4, 6" Deployment Zones, single objective dead center, 4 more not withing 6" of another objective or each other. Primary Objective- 3 VP for the center objective, 1 for the surrounding. Secondary- Slay the Warlord, First Blood, Line Breaker.  Secondary are for Battlepoints only and not determining victor.

Strategems allowed: None. ZM rules in effect: Reaction Fire, Cold Void, Catastrophic Damage (falling ceilings and what not).

A much tougher game. Apparently, this player won the last 3 or more years with the same list. I tell you, those Wraiths ignoring Terrain kinda breaks Zone. However, he was not counting on facing 4 Dreads.  Basically, got a bogged down assault of my Librarian and Cassor vs the 10 Wraiths. This ended up eating up 4 turns (2-5). I did loose both dreads in the end though. HOWEVER while that assault drug on, my Contemptor took the center objective and my Furioso killed off a bunch of Flayed Ones and Immortals. Turn 6 he made a last attempt gambit assaulting my Contemptor with his remaining Wraiths, also attempting to contest the center objective... BUT remember in Zone Mortalis ONLY TROOPS AND ELITES ARE SCORING. So no contesting. I held 4 VP to his 1 (Flayed Ones held the one my two dead dreads had been going for). He  took away Slay the Warlord, though I also got First Blood. Neither of us got Line Breaker.  So 14 points for the battle, 32 overall.

GAME 3- INVASION vs Imperial Fists SM
HQ- Captain- 140: Artificer Armour, Thunder Hammer
Elites- Terminator Assault Squad (8)- 310: 5 x Twin Lightning Claws, 3 x TH&SS
Troops- Scouts(5)- 60: 5 x Sniper Rifles
Heavy Support- Centurion Devastator Squad(3)- 240: 3 x Grav Amp & Grav Cannons, 3 x Hurricane Bolters

4 x 4, 6" DZ. Primary Obj: 3 VP for each unit in enemies DZ. 2 VP for each unit destroyed. Secondary: Slay the Warlord, First Blood and Last Man Standing (Player with greatest number or surviving units at the end game). Secondary are for Battlepoints only and not determining victor.

Strategems allowed: None. ZM rules in effect: Reaction Fire, Cold Void, Catastrophic Damage (falling ceilings and what not).

This game basically involved our forces walking up the sides of the board and slugging it out in the middle. I sent Cassor up the right, Contemptor up the middle and my Lib & Furioso up the left.He sent his Terminators and Centurions at these two and his Captain and Scouts at Cassor.

This actually led to some crazy Shenanigans. Flaw 1 for him was to try and blow open doors with his Cents. Flaw 1 for me was leaving Cassor unsupported.

On the left I broke open a wall (the first one of all 3 games) and sat there waiting for his Terminators. They ended up approaching too close and getting assaulted, loosing and Falling back to where they were hidden but useless.

On the right, I failed a charge at the Captain with Cassor (snake eyes) and then he through grenades at me with his Scouts and Captain, charged, the scout sarge challenged me (Cassor is a Character), and wasted my attacks turn 1. He lost the first turn, but held his ground. Next turn, his SCOUTS killed Cassor with a Krak Grenade, getting him 1st Blood.

YET back on the left, his slowly plodding Centurions found them selves facing 3 dreads, and where Shot up and then Assaulted, dying before they could even strike back.

With the death the game ended, his scouts and captain just 1 inch short of my deployment zone, so we tied the primary objective, 2 VP to 2 VP. He got First Blood as well. We each had 3 units left, so no one got Last Man Standing. Points for the game: 6. Total, 38. Average: 12.67/18.

In the end, turns out I tied Battlepoints with the Necron Player I faced in game 2, BUT since I had beat him, I won the tie breaker and took the event.

Each of my opponents were great sportsman and the games were really fun. I particularly enjoyed my last game. Such a crazy outcome with the Scouts, and the guy I was playing was awesome!

Each of the armies looked great to boot.

Sorry there aren't more/better pictures, read this post to find out why! 

4 Dreads payed off big AND they were SUPER FUN to run. I may try and do Zone again next year, though I will likely run a different list (I don't want to be "That Guy"). I will still include 1 or 2 dreads, but I am thinking a decked out Death Company would be pretty gnarly to have.