Back for more!

I am back from hiatus folks!

I had to take a break from the Damned Army to refocus on family and to keep from going insane.

So what's new?  I skipped out on the Storm of Silence this year.  I usually try to make that one even though its more competitive than the Harvester (my fave), its fun to go up against the big fish and really learn a lot about my army.

Right now the Damned army is on the back burner.  It was taking way too long to paint those minis, even though they turned out beautiful!  No one ever said I had an abundance of patience.

But its time to start prepping for the Harvester.  Its not a very competitive event, and there's more focus on appearance and sportsmanship than the Storm.  I still have my beautiful Khusters Cav, though with the 7th edition changes, bikes have become tougher to run.

Or have they?

Jink used to be such a big boon to bikes.  Now its an even better save thanks to the change, but comes at a cost of firepower.  And as any general of a bike army will tell you, losing that firepower is a big hit.

So how do we reconcile the new coat for cover saves?  Dark Angels have an answer.

This last week I took a meta list I swore I'd never touch, and made some modifications.

Instead of Sammael and the Dakka banner, I made a Ravenwing list using Azrael and a Command Squad.  There are some benefits.  First, Azrael still makes Ravenwing count as Troops.  Second, his "everyone has Ld 10" rule will help a bit against Psychic powers.  Lastly, he is only a bit more expensive than Sammael, and does the same job, to give shielding to the Dakka banner squad.

I dropped the Black Knight CS for the Dakka banner.  Mostly because they rely on jink as well.  I replaced them with a standard CS with storm shields, an apothecary, and stuffedbthem into a razorback for the same cost as the Ravenwing CS.

I threw in my 35 bikes and added two Darkshrouds to round out the 1850.  The Darkshrouds will give all my bikes a 6+ cover.  Not as good as Jink, but better than nothing.

That's one option.  My second option is a bit more drastic and crazy.

Iron Hands bikes.

These were the Chapter tactics I had chosen for the Damned army project.  It still gives only a 6+ FNP, but the survivability is no longer dependent on a couple of fragile units.

There is a huge downside though.  No scout moves, no hit & run, no ignore dangerous terrain, no Ld boosts, and a ton of other little nuances.

But I can choke my opponent by bringing in 60 bikes.  60.  That, my friends, maybe crazy enough to work...

Time for a play test.