Khorne Rhino

Khorne Rhino
Originally uploaded by Xadhoom.

I've recently painted the transport for my Khorne Berzerkers. It's the most red I've ever painted in one go, and I could never have done it without the excellent Citadel "foundation paints".

I sprayed the tank Chaos Black, coated it Mechrite Red, and then built up a solid coat of Blood Red. I believe I will highlight quite a bit with Blazing Orange, but we shall see. The most important factor is getting the army painted to a gaming standard, not to win any prizes for my not-so-great painting skills (altough they are constantly improving)


Khorne Rhino
Originally uploaded by Xadhoom.

Video Battle Report: Dark Eldar vs Tau

I played this game versus my buddy Norau about three weeks ago. Always eager to play different armies, I took my brothers old Dark Eldar to the field. I took a webway portal list, complete with a Dracon with retinue, Talos, Ravager and a lot of other interesting units. I even included some Scourge, Mandrakes and Grotesques!

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Dark Eldar and the webway, the Webway Portal is a wargear item which can be deployed on the field by a character. When activated, any Dark Eldar reserves can enter from the portal, as if it was a board edge! This can be devastating, and was one of the most powerful builds in 4th edition. Watch the video to find out how the Dark Eldar fared in 5th.



Apologies for the lighting. We played late at night, and my camera isn't very good in poor light conditions.

Optimal squad size in 40k

5 Necron Destroyers are braver than 4
Originally uploaded by Xadhoom.

Thinking back to the days of 4th edition, squad sizes were often dictated by the rule that said: A squad below half strength is no longer scoring. This lead to squad sizes of even numbers (4, 6, 8, 10 and so on) being favourable.

The idea was that your opponent had to kill one more model in order to get you below half strength, whereas squads with uneven number of models (3, 5, 7 and so on) was sub-optimal. Your opponent had to kill 4 members of a squad of 6 models to make it non-scoring. If you'd only taken 5 models, he would only have to kill 3.

...and then 5th edition came along
This is no longer the case in 5th, but many people seem to think even numbers are better. They are not.

Consider a unit of four models. If they are Troops, they are scoring to the last man. If they are not, then the number of models doesn't affect their scoring status at all. The only impact number of models has (other than being harder to kill and doing more damage), is whether they take morale checks from a certain amount of fire power.

A unit of four models must take a Morale Check if it loses a single model. This can be disastrous, especially if the unit type is Jump Infantry, Bike or a similar fast type which retreats 3D6". It may flee off the board due to a single casualty!

Always take 5 Necron Destroyers, never 4
Fritz over at Return of the Star Gods has an excellent Necron Destroyer tactica on his YouTube account. There is only one area where I feel he makes a mistake, and that is the squad size of his Necron Destroyer units. He takes 4 models. This unit may give away a Kill Point from a single shot, even before We'll Be Back-rolls, which makes it brittle.

Ld 10 is all good, but you will fail it from time to time. For the cost of a single model more, your opponent has to divert twice as much firepower before a Necron Destroyer unit of 5 models has to take a potentially devastating Morale Check.

It is pretty clear that 5 Destroyers are superior to 4, but considering how much firepower it takes to take out two models of a T5 Sv3+ unit, there is really no reason not to take the full compliment of 5 models.

Optimal squad sizes
To conclude this article, I'll just go ahead and list the optimal squad sizes in regards to when the unit will be taking Morale checks. The unit is as brave as possible for the least amount of points, so to speak.

Size - Tests after how many casualties?

1. -
   
2. 1
3. 1
4. 1
5. 2 <- Optimal
6. 2
7. 2
8. 2
9. 3 <- Optimal
10. 3
11. 3
12. 3
13. 4 <- Optimal
14. 4
15. 4
16. 4
17. 5 <- Optimal
18. 5
19. 5
20. 5
21. 6 <- Optimal

Will you be taking squads of 5 or 9 models instead of 4 and 10, to take advantage of this, or is the return really too small to even consider?

Video Battle Report: Necrons vs Tau

The Necrons will rise again!
Originally uploaded
by Xadhoom.

I have read a lot of negative press about the Necrons in 5th edition. Determined to prove that they are still at least playable, I took them to the field once more. This time, against my buddy Norau's Tau.

The Necron army I played actually won a tournament for me in 4th edition, so I was very excited to see how they would perform in 5th.

The game was 1500 points, Seize Ground with 3 objective markers. The Tau set up first and got first turn.



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