WestRider

Other than the Helldrake, CSM don't really have much that's a "must have". Bikes and Spawn can be pretty fun, Havocs are good if you can put some work into converting Autocannon*, Plague Marines and Noise Marines are both good with a Marked Lord to let them be Troops, Predators are solid, MaulerFiends are also fast and make a fun accompaniment to some other fast Units. Oblits are the same reliable option they've always been, but their models are still kind of bad. The Black Legion Supplement isn't great. It's got a couple of cool new Relics, but the requirement to take Veterans of the Long War on everything that can really adds up, and you often end up with really tiny and fragile Armies. Most of the time I've seen it used, it's just been to pull in an HQ with one of the special Relics, some Culties in Troops, and maybe open up an extra Fast or Heavy slot. *I've heard rumours that there's going to be a new plastic Havoc kit coming out soon, which should make that less of a problem. For now, they're pretty easy to do by extending the barrel on the Heavy Bolter that comes in the CSM kit and adding one of the gargoyles from the Vehicle sprue on the end.

Bringing this back because I got some more Kage Baker, and after the first one, they do in fact get much better. The second, Sky Coyote, is my favorite so far, but Mendoza in Hollywood and The Graveyard Game were also good. I also found Caves of Ice (the second Caiphas Cain book) for 50 cents at a library fundraiser, and that was one of the most fun 40K novels I've run across. Highly recommended.

Eh, now that I've got mine magnetized on their flying stands, it's not really that much harder than moving 45 of anything else. Even the last time I took Chaos Marines to OFCC, I was rocking more Models than that.

None of them require you to max out the Broods. If I were running SkyBlight, I'd probably be looking at bringing ~45 Gargoyles or so, with the 6-9 FMCs doing most of the heavy lifting. The Artillery Node is definitely the first one I'm going to be trying, tho. I've got everything for it, and Heavy Support is really crowded for Nids these days, so it's a nice direction to expand outside the FOC. And I usually run a minimal Warrior Brood with Barbed Strangler anyhow, so that isn't the "tax" that it might be on some players.

After the underwhelming Vanguard Dataslate, it looks like GW finally got a hit with the second round. 1. Incubator Node 1 Tervigon 3 Termagant broods Special rule: Tervigons must reroll 1’s when spawning 2. Synaptic Swarm 1 Tyranid Prime 3 Warrior Broods Special rule All units in formation have 18’ synape range 3. Sky blight Swarm 1 Hive Tyrant (must take wings) 1 Crone 2 Harpies 3 Gargoyle broods Special rule All Gargoyles have “Objective secured” which means they can control objectives even if it is being held by an scoring enemy unit. Also they get “Sky Swarm” If a Gargoyle unit is wiped out it returns to play in reserves on the roll of a +4 4. Living artillery node 1 Exocrine 3 biovores 1 Warrior brood (must take 1 basic biocannon) Special Rule: Organic Bombardment with these units range weapons are pinning and any range weapon (from the formation) fired from with in 12 inches of the warriors can reroll scatter dice for barrage or blast weapons 5. Endless swarm 3 Hgaunt broods 2 Tgant broods (possibly 3. The eBook and iBook versions disagree.) 1 Warrior brood Special rule: Endless Swarm If a HGaunt or Tgant unit is wiped out it returns to play in reserves on the roll of a +4 All of these look at least usable to me if your list was inclined in that direction, and the Skyblight Swarm and Living Artillery Node look excellent. Scoring Gargoyles outside of the FOC that can respawn? Extra accuracy for my Blasts while opening up Heavy Support slots? Yes, please.

You'd be surprised at how often there's something around that a volley of shotgun fire plus a Charge from some Vets can really do some damage to. It's a good way to finish off stuff that's been weakened earlier, especially backfield Units.

And that silliness is kind of what I was trying to highlight in Pax's post: He was recommending a strategy that more or less forced the Nid Player to rely on Model-to-Model comparison instead of Point-for-Point comparison, because he was letting the Knight Player pick all the fights. Over in the Knight Thread, I pointed out that 380 Points for a pair of Trygons pretty reliably wrecks a 370-ish Point Knight, tho probably at the cost of one of the Trygons, making that a fairly reasonably balanced match. Fexen, Crones, and Tyrants are all good in their way here, too. The fact that Knights don't have any access to Ignores Cover and rely on Blasts rather than high RoF Weapons also means that Venomthropes are pretty awesome against them.

I prefer my Platoon Command Squads with Flamers (or occasionally Meltaguns), and the Plasmaguns in my Company Command Squad or a Combined Platoon that I'm planning on using Bring It Down or Prescience on a lot. I'd also note that a Command Squad can only take one Heavy Weapon, you can't double up on that option. The Autocannon is definitely my Heavy Weapon of choice for Guard. Nice and cheap, and even in 6th, there are a lot of situations where that extra shot is worth more than the extra S and AP on the Missile Launcher. Everything Chappy said is solid, too.

I can't imagine how you would get anything like a fair fight, given that a Knight costs more than 100pts more than even the most tricked-out of MCs. Against a pair of Carnifexes (240-270pts, depending) should cause ~5HP of damage to it- a Harpy in combination with one of the other fighty MCs should likewise cause enough damage to bring it down, or nearly so. (Carnifexes on the charge will be exceptionally unpleasant due to large numbers of S9 HoW hits.) Nids in their basic build actually fair relatively well against Knights. I did specify "single" MC. The whole point is that, if taking Pax's strategy and hanging back to force the Knights to Charge you in Cover, the Knight Player can arrange things so that there never is a fair fight, because the Nids have completely surrendered the initiative.

There isn't a single Nid MC that I wouldn't Charge with an undamaged Knight, Cover or no. A Trygon is probably the worst-case scenario, and even one of those doesn't kill a Knight in a single round on average, while a Charging Knight does kill a Trygon in one round on average, especially if the Trygon's taken a couple of Wounds from Battle Cannon fire already. A damaged Knight shouldn't be Charging a Trygon or anything with Electroshock Grubs, but if it's still got 4+ HP, pretty much anything else is a reasonable target. Or they can just camp Objectives, blast away at Scoring Units, and generally grind. A pair of Crones will probably account for a Knight or two, but if the Nids are putting much in the air, they're going to end up weak on the ground. Not to mention the fact that a Nid list based around Melee MCs is just fodder for most Tau, Eldar, SM, Daemon, and IG Lists, so you're getting into the Rock/Paper/Scissors aspect that's my core complaint about 6th and all the add-ons.

The more I think about it, the more I think the Knights are actually the worst step in this direction yet. This is the first time since I started playing where it's possible to field an entire Army that's completely immune to almost every basic Weapon/Troop in the Game, and doesn't give up Scoring Power to do it. Even with 3rd Ed Armoured Companies, you could work on getting around to rear armour and stuff, but this is an entire Army that's completely immune to anything below S6 (S7 in Assaults) without some kind of special Rule like Rending or Armourbane. At least in 5th, I could crack transports and then open up with my basic firepower at the dudes who fell out. With Fex Spam, Bolters and Lasguns could still do something, even if it wasn't terribly effective. With Knights as an Army, most of the Models in a reasonably balanced force have no role except to cower and die.

That makes some sense. But it also makes the Tegan & Sara thing seem even weirder to me. There are at least half a dozen other states where I would have expected them to make the list at some level.

I've only even heard of like 15 of those bands. Tegan and Sara being most popular in Idaho kind of cracks me up, for some reason.

Welp, there goes at least one purchase. I was looking forward to spikying one of those up for a Renegade Knight House.

It's making me somewhat more leery of no holds barred environments, that's for certain. It was the inclusion of Escalation that decided me on not heading over to Ballard for the Tournament a week and a half ago. I'm going up against a Knight this weekend, but my buddy gave me the heads up that he got one, so I can be sure not to bring a casual list that skimps on Anti-Tank. In this context, that stuff all works fine, but without that kind of pre-negotiation, I do feel like it really cuts down on the range of viable Army Builds.

SyFy is just doing re-runs. ShowCase is actually producing it, and it could continue even if SyFy drops it. I don't have a problem with the fact that S4 was more plot-intensive, I have a problem with the fact that the plot was incoherent, contradictory, and frustrating. Also, there was way too much of Rainer and Massimo, and not nearly enough of Tamsin and Vex. I think part of it is also that the writers suck at writing PI stories, so the nominal foundation of the show is really shaky. Another reason I tend to compare it to Angel :P

Just got caught up on Lost Girl, which just finished Season 4. Good lord what a train wreck. I'm having trouble describing it without using obscenities. The writers are either as lost as the title character or they're deliberately trolling their own show. We're talking Angel Season 4 bad.

I'd add some Jetbikes for the Farseer to chill with and for last minute Objective grabs. Holofields on the Serpents, too. Other than that, pretty much whatever you think looks cool. You've got a nice solid core here.

This was posted without a source over on TTH, but it wouldn't surprise me if it works out this way:

What FAQ limiting the KFF? The only mention of it I can see in the FAQ currently up on GW's site still has it affecting "Units within 6"". If you've got some Bikes to run him in, or can generally rely on decent LoS Blocking Terrain, a Biker Warboss with Power Klaw is a significant threat to AV14. Not enough on his own, but as a complement to a couple of StormTeks, the Scarabs, and other bits.

I pick on the Ravenwing because they're the easiest example, since the SM ones are really good, and the DA ones are mediocre at best. The DeathWing are more or less the same story, except that unlike Bikes, Vanilla Terminators are overpriced too (they cost like three Marines, shoot like one and a half, and die like two), so it's a slide from bad to worse, which is less dramatic. It's the same with all of their stuff. They've got some cool tricks, but they're so expensive, and they die just as easily as the cheaper versions, and so the Army as a whole is too fragile and falls apart. I love my DA, and I still love to bring them out for casual games, but I've been forced to admit that they just don't play on the same level as the Vanilla Dex. The only things I really feel positive about in the Dex without reserve are the Power Field Generator and native access to Divination.

Finally got around to seeing Lilo and Stitch. Didn't watch it for years because it seemed like it was built on "wacky antics"-type humour, which I can't stand. 10/10, it was the best flick I've seen in ages. Great characterization, wonderful plot, solid humour (even the slapstick stuff), even the antagonists are sympathetic, just a wonderful movie.

On Lord Hanaur's list, instead of shelling out for the single Commander Model, I'd just buy another box of Crisis Suits and convert one of them up all fancy to be the Commander. @Pax: Yeah, paying 6 Points more per Bike compared to a Khan list to gain Teleport Homers and benefits from easily snipable Banners while losing Skilled Rider*, Move Through Cover*, larger potential Squad Size, better Special Weapon access, and better Support Units is so much more "elite". *They don't have the specific Rules, but the effects are the same.

Vanilla, BA, and DA all have quite a bit of overlap, but they each have some unique specialist Units. The Vanilla ones are mostly shooty, with things like the Storm Talon gunship, the ThunderFire Cannon, and Centurion Devs. They also have some Assault toys like Assault Centurions and Ironclads, but they're sub-optimal. DA are shooty as well, but generally end up being more fragile, expensive, or gimmicky than the Vanilla stuff. Their Flyers suck in comparison, their Bikes and Terminators are overpriced, and a lot of their fun options come from special Banners that are stuck in small, vulnerable Command Squads. BA get Assault Marines as Troops, basically get Jump Packs for their Honour Guard/Command Squads, have Death Company and Assault Dreads. Still haven't really changed since you played them. SW are also aggressive and good in Assaults, but they tend to stay on the Ground and grind forward. They've got the weakest Fire Support options, and no Flyers at all, but Grey Hunters are one of the best Troops Units in the Game, and they can carry a lot of weight. GK are the most different of the Marine Dexes. Storm Bolters and Power Weapons on everyone, a totally different set of Special Weapons (but basically what you want are the Psycannon), even more expensive than regular Marines, and with a ton of shenanigans they can pull. Decent in Assaults, especially against Marine-type Opponents, but at their best as a mid-Range Firepower Army in my experience.

The Escalation supplement has moved a bunch of Super-Heavy stuff into regular 40K. Not all places accept its use, but it seems to be gaining ground. Dark Angels suffer from a number of issues, but mostly just that White Scars can do their best trick (all Bike Armies) better and cheaper.