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Warhammer 40,000 5th Edition Rumors: Scoring Units
Rolling out for 5th edition it looks like only the “troops” selection of units are going to count as scoring units. On the plus side they are a scoring unit as long as they are not falling back and can capture objectives- no more below 50% not a scoring unit as in 4th. On the really down side 2 of the 3 missions for 5th go with who has the most scoring units. Those with elite, fast or heavy support heavy armies are screwed. It seems the GW envisions your elites, fast, or heavies surging forward while your troops capture objectives. How is this going to effect your current army? Are you going to have to go out and buy yet more models? Let’s take a look at my Saim-Hann army with its current roster of models and my Death Guard army as an alternative adapting them to 5th edition.
Saim-Hann 1750 Points
HQ: (1) Jetbike Farseer
Troops: (6) 3 Jetbike Guardian Units
Troops: (2) 10 Guardian Squads
Fast: (3) 2 Vyper Groups
Heavy (1) Fire Prism
Heavy (1) Falcon
With my Saim-Hann I now have 8 scoring units which I will hold back hiding them while my fast and heavies move out to attack and destroy my opponent’s scoring units. Last turn I’ll turbo boost all my jetbikes to capture objectives.
Death Guard 1750
HQ: 1 Daemon Prince
Troops: (4) 10 Death Guard Squads W/ Rhino
Elite: (1) Dreadnought
Heavy (1) Obliterator
Heavy (1) Obliterator
With my Death Guard list I only have four scoring units and I’m not going to be able to hold them back and surge at the last moment. They are going to have to get in the action and might get taken out. How would a smaller more elite army like this fare against an Imperial Guard, Ork, or Tyranid swarm army?
While skimmers are going to take a big hit in 5th, the ability to take lots of small jetbike units as scoring is huge and beyond offsetting the skimmer loss I’m starting to feel like Saim-Hann Eldar are going to be even more powerful.
Thoughts?
Saim-Hann 1750 Points
HQ: (1) Jetbike Farseer
Troops: (6) 3 Jetbike Guardian Units
Troops: (2) 10 Guardian Squads
Fast: (3) 2 Vyper Groups
Heavy (1) Fire Prism
Heavy (1) Falcon
With my Saim-Hann I now have 8 scoring units which I will hold back hiding them while my fast and heavies move out to attack and destroy my opponent’s scoring units. Last turn I’ll turbo boost all my jetbikes to capture objectives.
Death Guard 1750
HQ: 1 Daemon Prince
Troops: (4) 10 Death Guard Squads W/ Rhino
Elite: (1) Dreadnought
Heavy (1) Obliterator
Heavy (1) Obliterator
With my Death Guard list I only have four scoring units and I’m not going to be able to hold them back and surge at the last moment. They are going to have to get in the action and might get taken out. How would a smaller more elite army like this fare against an Imperial Guard, Ork, or Tyranid swarm army?
While skimmers are going to take a big hit in 5th, the ability to take lots of small jetbike units as scoring is huge and beyond offsetting the skimmer loss I’m starting to feel like Saim-Hann Eldar are going to be even more powerful.
Thoughts?
Eldar vs. Eldar
Finishing up the last battle for round three for the 40K club campaign I was defending one of my territories against a heavy sniper and dire avenger eldar force with a vyper for support. Mission was loot counters and my opponent took first turn moving forward the first group of his dire avengers. I then moved out and opened up on his dire avengers killing a few as their return fire dropped one of my vypers with an awesome 5/6 holo-field roll.
Turn continued with my jetbikes moving out to the center behind cover as I continued to fire into the dire avenger squad wiping them out as sniper return fire was ineffective against my vypers.
I then began moving/shooting/assault moving back behind cover with my jetbikes on his second group of dire avengers as they then advanced forward. Continuing to advance I harassed them leaving one of my small jetbike squads behind cover for them to assault to draw them out for the rest of my forces to open up on. Predictably my jetbikes got assaulted and destroyed following my two vypers and other two jetbike squads wiping out the dire avengers.
Moving into turn six my opponent’s first sniper squad took an objective and his vyper took another. My first vyper contested his vyper objective and my two jetbike squads took two more objectives for a win.
Turn continued with my jetbikes moving out to the center behind cover as I continued to fire into the dire avenger squad wiping them out as sniper return fire was ineffective against my vypers.
I then began moving/shooting/assault moving back behind cover with my jetbikes on his second group of dire avengers as they then advanced forward. Continuing to advance I harassed them leaving one of my small jetbike squads behind cover for them to assault to draw them out for the rest of my forces to open up on. Predictably my jetbikes got assaulted and destroyed following my two vypers and other two jetbike squads wiping out the dire avengers.
Moving into turn six my opponent’s first sniper squad took an objective and his vyper took another. My first vyper contested his vyper objective and my two jetbike squads took two more objectives for a win.
1000 Point Eldar List?
Finishing up the third round of battles the club campaign is moving to 1000 points with a regular force organization chart. I’m planning to run my jetbike farseer with guide/mindwar, vypers and small jetbike squads with shuriken cannons. With the remaining 200 or so points should I fill my list with a falcon, or perhaps a wave serpent with storm guardians? I’m thinking the falcon for some anti-tank since I am not going to take my warlocks with their singing spears.
Over the pat few battles with my warlocks I have found them to be less then effective this time around. Since my jetbike squads have been so small- 2 regular jetbikes and one shuriken cannon jetbike, I have not been assaulting with them, sniping and hiding with the cannons instead. In the past few games I only let loose with destructor once.
Over the pat few battles with my warlocks I have found them to be less then effective this time around. Since my jetbike squads have been so small- 2 regular jetbikes and one shuriken cannon jetbike, I have not been assaulting with them, sniping and hiding with the cannons instead. In the past few games I only let loose with destructor once.
Eldar: When You Jetbikes Are Assaulted
One of the weaknesses of fielding jetbikes is their performance when they are assaulted by an enemy unit. With only one attack back, a WS of 3, and a S of 3 pretty much means they are done for if assaulted by a dedicated assault squad or a unit with superior numbers. While it goes without saying that you should be using the movement range of your jetbikes to the fullest to avoid being assaulted by turbo boosting and assault moving if needed, sometimes there is no avoiding a potential assault. A well versed opponent in the ways of Saim-Hann will be planning to close and assault your jetbikes.
Moving into your assault turn if you see that one of your jetbike squads if going to be assaulted next turn I have found the best you can do is minimize the loss and set up your other units to make your opponent pay for the assault. Use your 6” assault move if possible to spread out the jetbikes of the units being assaulted while trying to make sure your warlock is near the front to get his witch blade or spear into the action. Move your other jetbikes away out of the range of a consolidation or massacre roll and avoid the temptation to support the unit in assault. Assaulted jetbikes are pretty much a loss if they are not destroyed in the first round suffering from not being fearless/low leadership and falling back 3d6 not being able to regroup under 50%.
When the assault begins if you have the same initiative try to get your attacks back and take down a model or two, if not then pull off the closest models if there is a chance to regroup from a failed morale, if not then it doesn’t matter. When your opponent wins the assault and consolidates/massacres you want to make sure they can’t sweep into another unit of your jetbikes catching them for next turn- you want your opponent to end out in the open. Now move in with your vypers and other jetbikes to at least wipe out that unit and make your opponent pay for the assault.
Warhammer 40,000 Campaign: Round 5
The club moved into round 5 of the campaign with an extra 100 points which I spent on two jetbike warlocks with destructor. Opponents and mission were randomly chosen with me again attacking the Raven Guard space marines with loot counters as our objective.
My vypers and jetbikes faced off against two plasma cannon tactical squads, a chaplain led tactical squad and two land speeders. I won the turn roll off and passed first turn to the space marines who advanced the chaplain squad and held the land speeders hidden in reserve. Knowing the movement reach of the speeders and with the long lanes of fire with the plasma cannons set up I planed to hold back, blast the advancing chaplain squad once they were close enough to move, shoot, assault move back into cover with my jetbikes and then move all out on last turn to claim objectives.
The chaplain squad continued to advance and was now behind some area terrain as all my jetbikes moved ahead blasting with two warlock destructors, six t-linked shuriken catapults, and three shuriken cannons. I caused eighteen wounds and only managed to drop two marines!
Moving well through the difficult terrain they assaulted my first jetbike squad wiping it out as I regrouped and made a wall around my other jetbikes with my vypers so they could not be assaulted as I fired everything into the ‘chappy squad taking them down to the sergeant with a plasma pistol and the chaplain himself. They fired blowing off one of my vyper’s star cannons before being wiped out with my return fire. I then held back the rest of the game as the remaining Raven Guard squads moved forward to try and claim an objective followed by their land speeders. Taking the last turn I contested the two Raven Guard held objectives and claimed two myself for a victory, capturing another territory.
My vypers and jetbikes faced off against two plasma cannon tactical squads, a chaplain led tactical squad and two land speeders. I won the turn roll off and passed first turn to the space marines who advanced the chaplain squad and held the land speeders hidden in reserve. Knowing the movement reach of the speeders and with the long lanes of fire with the plasma cannons set up I planed to hold back, blast the advancing chaplain squad once they were close enough to move, shoot, assault move back into cover with my jetbikes and then move all out on last turn to claim objectives.
The chaplain squad continued to advance and was now behind some area terrain as all my jetbikes moved ahead blasting with two warlock destructors, six t-linked shuriken catapults, and three shuriken cannons. I caused eighteen wounds and only managed to drop two marines!
Moving well through the difficult terrain they assaulted my first jetbike squad wiping it out as I regrouped and made a wall around my other jetbikes with my vypers so they could not be assaulted as I fired everything into the ‘chappy squad taking them down to the sergeant with a plasma pistol and the chaplain himself. They fired blowing off one of my vyper’s star cannons before being wiped out with my return fire. I then held back the rest of the game as the remaining Raven Guard squads moved forward to try and claim an objective followed by their land speeders. Taking the last turn I contested the two Raven Guard held objectives and claimed two myself for a victory, capturing another territory.
40K Apocalypse Battle: Chaos Space Marines vs. Space Marines
This past President’s Day marked another full day of gaming at the club with a giant 10,000 point Apocalypse battle along with smaller pickup games throughout the day., ending with the next campaign round in the evening.
Appointed as Warmaster for the Chaos forces we fielded 2500 points of World Eaters, Emperor’s Children, Iron Warriors with Abaddon the Despoiler, and Death Guard with Typus under the personal command of yours truly.
The followers of the false emperor fielded numerous land raiders, vindicators, whirlwinds, and tactical marines including a dozen or so drop pods and 5 squads of Death Company Blood Angels all under the command of Marenus Calgar.
Terrain setup was a ruined city on one side and scattered ruins in an open plain on the other divided by a river. Two objectives were placed in both the city and plains, with two more on the bridges and we selected the open plains. Meeting with the other guys on my side (who I anointed my chosen) we put together a pretty solid plan.
Being objective based I wanted to bid high enough to get last turn figuring we could weather a first round of shooting if we deployed in cover and as hidden as possible. Tactically the Death Guard would use their T 5 and feel no pain to dig in and hold the two objectives on our side of the board. Iron Warriors would provide long range fire into the city to soften up the lackey marines and then push for the two objectives on the bridge. Emperor’s Children would deep strike their terminator heavy force into the city to make a play for an objective in there and keep the marines in the city busy from pushing for the bridge objectives before using a strategic redeploy to pull out. Finally the World Eaters would do what they do best and flank march into the city and cause as much carnage as possible. With fifty Death Company on the board I knew that whatever they hit and charged would be rended to oblivion so I wanted to keep them in the city and away from the advancing Iron Warriors heading to the bridge even if that meant sacrificing all the Emperor’s Children and World Eaters. Before starting the game I made it known to my chosen:
“I Warmaster Fritz offer an entire star system to the chosen who brings me Marenus Calgar’s head and the gauntlets of Ultramar!”
With the loyalist space marines taking first turn they advanced onto the bridge on the right side of the board with a line breaker formation of vindicators backed by a land raider and Death Company trailing behind. Vindicator and devastator fire destroyed two Iron Warrior rhinos a dreadnought and a land raider hitting us really hard first turn and allowing the loyalists to spear head onto the bridge. With most of their forces hidden in the city we concentrated out obliterator, vindicator, and defiler fire on the line breaker vindicators only managing to stun two of them! Multiple shots fired and not one kill! One of my chosen remarked that perhaps Tzeentch was angered at not being included in this black crusade and as a result was influencing our dice rolls.
Turn two had the first half of the loyalist reserves coming in with drop pods that attempted to land near the objectives on our side of the board. With the disruptor beacon asset I chose half made it to their target and the other half I had land right next to my entrenched Death Guard just outside a ruined fortress that they held- twenty space marines vs. fifty Death Guard would be no match! Unfortunately the other sides orbital bombardment came in and they dropped it on my Death Guard and rolled beyond well taking out twenty of Nurgle’s finest taking it down to thirty Death Guard vs. twenty. Opposite the Death Guard two more drop pods came in next the Iron Warriors as they got out and fired plasma guns, melta guns, and bolters decimating the ranks of the Iron Warriors. Moving into our turn two things were looking grim for our black crusade. Almost half our forces were destroyed with the World Eaters and Emperor’s Children yet to come in, we currently only controlled one objective held by my Death Guard, and the loyalist marines were all over our deployment zone and not a single chaos space marine had even entered the city yet to spill blood. A bit demoralized my chosen began to question if the dark gods even favored me and I quickly crushed any dissention in the ranks by threatening to turn anyone who questions the warmaster’s vision into a chaos spawn! There was no playing defensively now as we shifted to an all out attack.
Forty Emperor’s Children terminators deep struck into the city all making it past the loyalist jammer beacon, five World Eater squads flank marched crashing into the city streets followed by Abbadon himself leading a squad of Iron Warrior terminators materialized into the city calling out Calgar to a personal battle. Typhus and his terminator champions also teleported into the city but were disrupted an redeployed to that far corner of our deployment zone effectively taking him out of the game with nothing to shoot/assault or reach by footslogging.
On our deployment zone the Death Guard opened fire with bolters, plasma guns, and melta guns wiping the twenty drop pod marines from the field as defilers and obliterators surged forward blasting the Death Company and vindicators on the bridge breaking and stalling their advance to only one vindicator and a hand full of Death Guard.
“Let the Galaxy Burn!” echoed through the streets and combi bolter and reaper auto cannon fire filled the air.
Now put on the defensive the loyalist started turn three with the rest of their forces coming in. Four more drop pods attempted to strike into the plains and objectives on the bridges effectively cutting off the Chaos advance, but were ALL disrupted by our jamming beacon allowing us to redeploy them on the far side of the city effectively taking them out of the game.
Trying to regain their momentum in the plains the remaining vindicator fired to no effect as the remaining Death Company surged ahead throwing a vortex grenade taking out a Death Guard obliterator before charging into the assault led by Chaplain Lemartes himself.
Inside the city squads of Death Company decended on the ‘Children terminators supported by devestator squads splitting fire on the ‘Children and World Eaters while a lone Ultramarine Land Raider broke ranks making its way to Abbadon. The dice rolling was fierce and the losses for Chaos were staggering beyond belief- all forty EC terminators were lost and a little more then half of the World Eaters leaving only Abbadon and his chosen terminators. A crushing loss but it had worked perfectly in drawing the loyalists away from the objectives on the bridge as their forces were now to far away to reach them by the end of the game.
Moving into our turn four I ordered to continue pushing forward to the bridges with the Iron Warriors supported by Death Guard since our rear was now secure as a lone Death Guard obliterator assaulted Lemartes felling him with a single power fist blow. With the second half of the World Eaters coming in they poured into the city to continue the carnage.
Moving into the last turn of the game (5) since time was running out the loyalists made a final push with their land speeders and a lone land raider to secure the objectives on the bridge capturing both of them while holding the two objectives in the city as the lone land raider next to Abbadon surged forward dropping its assault ramp as Marenus Calgar and his terminators disembarked to shoot and assault Abbadon and his chosen. A battle of epic consequences Calgar went down faster then a space marine neophyte failing to score a single wound on the Despoiler!
“Hail Abbadon!”
With our final turn Chaos continued the push blasting the loyalist land raider holding one of the bridge objectives while being just short of the other while the remaining World Eaters in the city ran wild to little effect ending the game with three objectives held by Chaos and three by the loyalists for a tie.
Appointed as Warmaster for the Chaos forces we fielded 2500 points of World Eaters, Emperor’s Children, Iron Warriors with Abaddon the Despoiler, and Death Guard with Typus under the personal command of yours truly.
The followers of the false emperor fielded numerous land raiders, vindicators, whirlwinds, and tactical marines including a dozen or so drop pods and 5 squads of Death Company Blood Angels all under the command of Marenus Calgar.
Terrain setup was a ruined city on one side and scattered ruins in an open plain on the other divided by a river. Two objectives were placed in both the city and plains, with two more on the bridges and we selected the open plains. Meeting with the other guys on my side (who I anointed my chosen) we put together a pretty solid plan.
Being objective based I wanted to bid high enough to get last turn figuring we could weather a first round of shooting if we deployed in cover and as hidden as possible. Tactically the Death Guard would use their T 5 and feel no pain to dig in and hold the two objectives on our side of the board. Iron Warriors would provide long range fire into the city to soften up the lackey marines and then push for the two objectives on the bridge. Emperor’s Children would deep strike their terminator heavy force into the city to make a play for an objective in there and keep the marines in the city busy from pushing for the bridge objectives before using a strategic redeploy to pull out. Finally the World Eaters would do what they do best and flank march into the city and cause as much carnage as possible. With fifty Death Company on the board I knew that whatever they hit and charged would be rended to oblivion so I wanted to keep them in the city and away from the advancing Iron Warriors heading to the bridge even if that meant sacrificing all the Emperor’s Children and World Eaters. Before starting the game I made it known to my chosen:
“I Warmaster Fritz offer an entire star system to the chosen who brings me Marenus Calgar’s head and the gauntlets of Ultramar!”
With the loyalist space marines taking first turn they advanced onto the bridge on the right side of the board with a line breaker formation of vindicators backed by a land raider and Death Company trailing behind. Vindicator and devastator fire destroyed two Iron Warrior rhinos a dreadnought and a land raider hitting us really hard first turn and allowing the loyalists to spear head onto the bridge. With most of their forces hidden in the city we concentrated out obliterator, vindicator, and defiler fire on the line breaker vindicators only managing to stun two of them! Multiple shots fired and not one kill! One of my chosen remarked that perhaps Tzeentch was angered at not being included in this black crusade and as a result was influencing our dice rolls.
Turn two had the first half of the loyalist reserves coming in with drop pods that attempted to land near the objectives on our side of the board. With the disruptor beacon asset I chose half made it to their target and the other half I had land right next to my entrenched Death Guard just outside a ruined fortress that they held- twenty space marines vs. fifty Death Guard would be no match! Unfortunately the other sides orbital bombardment came in and they dropped it on my Death Guard and rolled beyond well taking out twenty of Nurgle’s finest taking it down to thirty Death Guard vs. twenty. Opposite the Death Guard two more drop pods came in next the Iron Warriors as they got out and fired plasma guns, melta guns, and bolters decimating the ranks of the Iron Warriors. Moving into our turn two things were looking grim for our black crusade. Almost half our forces were destroyed with the World Eaters and Emperor’s Children yet to come in, we currently only controlled one objective held by my Death Guard, and the loyalist marines were all over our deployment zone and not a single chaos space marine had even entered the city yet to spill blood. A bit demoralized my chosen began to question if the dark gods even favored me and I quickly crushed any dissention in the ranks by threatening to turn anyone who questions the warmaster’s vision into a chaos spawn! There was no playing defensively now as we shifted to an all out attack.
Forty Emperor’s Children terminators deep struck into the city all making it past the loyalist jammer beacon, five World Eater squads flank marched crashing into the city streets followed by Abbadon himself leading a squad of Iron Warrior terminators materialized into the city calling out Calgar to a personal battle. Typhus and his terminator champions also teleported into the city but were disrupted an redeployed to that far corner of our deployment zone effectively taking him out of the game with nothing to shoot/assault or reach by footslogging.
On our deployment zone the Death Guard opened fire with bolters, plasma guns, and melta guns wiping the twenty drop pod marines from the field as defilers and obliterators surged forward blasting the Death Company and vindicators on the bridge breaking and stalling their advance to only one vindicator and a hand full of Death Guard.
“Let the Galaxy Burn!” echoed through the streets and combi bolter and reaper auto cannon fire filled the air.
Now put on the defensive the loyalist started turn three with the rest of their forces coming in. Four more drop pods attempted to strike into the plains and objectives on the bridges effectively cutting off the Chaos advance, but were ALL disrupted by our jamming beacon allowing us to redeploy them on the far side of the city effectively taking them out of the game.
Trying to regain their momentum in the plains the remaining vindicator fired to no effect as the remaining Death Company surged ahead throwing a vortex grenade taking out a Death Guard obliterator before charging into the assault led by Chaplain Lemartes himself.
Inside the city squads of Death Company decended on the ‘Children terminators supported by devestator squads splitting fire on the ‘Children and World Eaters while a lone Ultramarine Land Raider broke ranks making its way to Abbadon. The dice rolling was fierce and the losses for Chaos were staggering beyond belief- all forty EC terminators were lost and a little more then half of the World Eaters leaving only Abbadon and his chosen terminators. A crushing loss but it had worked perfectly in drawing the loyalists away from the objectives on the bridge as their forces were now to far away to reach them by the end of the game.
Moving into our turn four I ordered to continue pushing forward to the bridges with the Iron Warriors supported by Death Guard since our rear was now secure as a lone Death Guard obliterator assaulted Lemartes felling him with a single power fist blow. With the second half of the World Eaters coming in they poured into the city to continue the carnage.
Moving into the last turn of the game (5) since time was running out the loyalists made a final push with their land speeders and a lone land raider to secure the objectives on the bridge capturing both of them while holding the two objectives in the city as the lone land raider next to Abbadon surged forward dropping its assault ramp as Marenus Calgar and his terminators disembarked to shoot and assault Abbadon and his chosen. A battle of epic consequences Calgar went down faster then a space marine neophyte failing to score a single wound on the Despoiler!
“Hail Abbadon!”
With our final turn Chaos continued the push blasting the loyalist land raider holding one of the bridge objectives while being just short of the other while the remaining World Eaters in the city ran wild to little effect ending the game with three objectives held by Chaos and three by the loyalists for a tie.
Eldar Vs. Thousand Sons
1750 Cleanse Alpha
Facing off agasint infantry heavy Thousand Sons backed by lesser daemons I took first turn by moving into the table quarter ahead of me and to the left. My plan was to make it appear as if I was going after two table quarters first to hopefully spread out my opponent's movement and then double back with all mt forces and go from table quarter to table quarter taking him down one section at a time. My tactics worked as planned and even with all my firepower it was hard to wipe out his 'Sons with them getting cover saves vs. my star cannons. The AP 3 bolts took down most of my jetbikes, destructor did its job, and my runes of warding took care of the psychic powers. With no ability to shoot the lesser daemons were pretty much fodder but needed to be wiped out either way as they were scoring units. Turn six ended with 3 areas controlled by me vs. 1 for my opponent.
Warhammer 40,000 Campaign: Round 4
Round four kicked off with my Saim-Hann defending one of my territories against two huge hormagaunt swarms led by three warriors. Mission was take and hold with me planning to shield my jetbikes from being assaulted with my vypers while concentrating all my shots on the warriors to disrupt synapse.
I deployed the full 12” forward since I wanted to get all my shuriken catapults into range on the first turn and this almost proved fatal had we both deployed head on rather then on a diagonal. Tyranids took first turn moving six, fleeting six, and with the 12” assault range were just an inch or so short of assaulting me. Saim-Hann first turn had my vypers flanking to the right as my jetbikes moved into range with everything planning to target the warriors. I was feeling pretty confident until my vypers shot at the warriors- 2 scatter lasers, 1 star cannon, and 3 shuriken cannons = 1 warrior dead. Such a horrible round of shooting had me sweating it out since gaunts would now be able to assault me no matter what with their speed. Stepping up with my jetbike shuriken cannons I made up with some amazing rolling dropping the other two warriors.
Moving into turn two the gaunts failed their leadership and fell back 3d6 of the board securing a victory and retaining my territory for the Saim-Hann.
I deployed the full 12” forward since I wanted to get all my shuriken catapults into range on the first turn and this almost proved fatal had we both deployed head on rather then on a diagonal. Tyranids took first turn moving six, fleeting six, and with the 12” assault range were just an inch or so short of assaulting me. Saim-Hann first turn had my vypers flanking to the right as my jetbikes moved into range with everything planning to target the warriors. I was feeling pretty confident until my vypers shot at the warriors- 2 scatter lasers, 1 star cannon, and 3 shuriken cannons = 1 warrior dead. Such a horrible round of shooting had me sweating it out since gaunts would now be able to assault me no matter what with their speed. Stepping up with my jetbike shuriken cannons I made up with some amazing rolling dropping the other two warriors.
Moving into turn two the gaunts failed their leadership and fell back 3d6 of the board securing a victory and retaining my territory for the Saim-Hann.
More Eldar Farseer Trickery
Some advice and emailing with a fellow reader has me re-thinking my Farseer and Warlock bodyguard setup. I’ve dropped guide from my Farseer and gone with Mindwar and Eldrich storm along with a singing spear, and runes of warding (& jetbike of course). With her are three Warlocks on jetbikes with singing spears, 2 destructors, and embolden.
I’m still running my mindwar/headhunting tricks and of course using the mobility of the jetbikes to effectively tank hunt with the spears and attack isolated units by blasting them with the destructors and storm. However, the real gem (thanks Peter) is with embolden allowing me to re-roll leadership tests. No more failing psychic powers or perils of the warp as a psychic test is leadership based.
I’m still running my mindwar/headhunting tricks and of course using the mobility of the jetbikes to effectively tank hunt with the spears and attack isolated units by blasting them with the destructors and storm. However, the real gem (thanks Peter) is with embolden allowing me to re-roll leadership tests. No more failing psychic powers or perils of the warp as a psychic test is leadership based.
Warhammer 40,000 Army Transport Case
How do you transport your models to the game? I used to carry all my jetbikes and guardians in a standard GW model case and my vypers and grav-tanks in another case with neither fitting very well. The GW cases are great for figures and square like vehicles but Eldar vehicles are a different matter.
When looking for a new case (and I’ve been using the army transport case for about a year now) I wanted something that could hold all my models safely, along with room for a codex, papers, dice, tapes, etc. I was a bit skeptical since the AT case isn’t hard shelled but with the foam trays inside and zipped up it is plenty sturdy and the zippers have held up really well.
In the front two pockets I keep my templates, dice, tapes, and a calculator for victory points. In the top pocket is my codex, army lists, and other gaming papers. The first level of the case is jetbikes and guardians, second level is more jetbikes, stands, with the bottom holding my vypers and tanks.
What I really like about the setup is that I can lay out the foam trays in a line under the gaming table and as I take losses the models can go right into it. Setup and pack up is much easier and I’ve cut the foam compartments to fit my models just right.
When looking for a new case (and I’ve been using the army transport case for about a year now) I wanted something that could hold all my models safely, along with room for a codex, papers, dice, tapes, etc. I was a bit skeptical since the AT case isn’t hard shelled but with the foam trays inside and zipped up it is plenty sturdy and the zippers have held up really well.
In the front two pockets I keep my templates, dice, tapes, and a calculator for victory points. In the top pocket is my codex, army lists, and other gaming papers. The first level of the case is jetbikes and guardians, second level is more jetbikes, stands, with the bottom holding my vypers and tanks.
What I really like about the setup is that I can lay out the foam trays in a line under the gaming table and as I take losses the models can go right into it. Setup and pack up is much easier and I’ve cut the foam compartments to fit my models just right.
Challenge Of The Fates (Part I)
It was always like this in those moments before battle. Silence as the warhost mounted their jetbikes, waiting for the signal, anticipation of the hunt building.
Molding his body to the grav-seat of his jetbike, Jerai released it from the mounting coupling as it gently drifted into place among the other wild riders. As the last of the first riders this was perhaps his final chance to distinguish himself and gain enough honor to ride with the ranks of the clan’s bodyguard to Farseer Sarai. Activating the gravitic accelerators in unison with his brothers the silence was replaced with the low purr of scores of jetbikes preparing for glory.
“For clan Sarai!” saluted the Warlocks with their witch blades as the webway portal shimmered into focus spilling over the spirit stone outline across the wraith bone frame. Shifting his jetbike forward Jerai followed his brothers through the inky blue portal to challenge the fates.
Soaring above the green clouds of the planet with its twin suns to the left, and a band of shimmering stars above, daybreak had just taken hold on the horizon as the sound of howling wind filtered through Jerai’s helmet.
“Brothers, prepare to dive and ride low!” empathed the groups Warlock as his life stone implanted inside Jerai’s helmet glowed strong next to a row of six others. Shifting his weight slightly to the right Jerai followed his kins-brothers through the clouds blinding his sight for a moment before opening up to the battlefield below.
“Get dem big ‘uns blasting them proper!” ordered Orgok as the snotlings around him frantically scattered up the crude gang planks and ladders of the heavy artillery. Seconds later the hulking cylinders of each barrel loaded and began firing at an uneasy pace sending snotling guided shells screeching across the battlefield.
“That’s better and proper you runts!”
“Boss…” called out a muffled tinny voice.
“Keep pounding dem!” grunted Orgok as the cannons loaded their second magazine and continuing the shelling.
“Boss! Over there….” nagged the tinny voice as a small snotling began to pull on Orgok’s boot while pointing to an approaching red blurr in the sky.
“What is it you git?!?” asked Orgok as the air around him suddenly exploded in a shower of sparks and metal as the snotlings manning the artillery were cut down and sheared apart.
“Rahhh! Where is my shootaz?!” yelled Orgok as a formation of sleek red jetbikes flew overhead with their shuriken weaponry blazing.
A swift pass with many kills, Jerai’s spirit leapt with elation, as he guided his jetbike around following the formation for another pass.
“Go go go!” raged Orgok as a group of ork boyz in reserve took up position firing shooterz and slug throwers wildly at the re-approaching jetbikes who slid gracefully in the air avoiding most of the outgoing fire.
Crouching low in his seat Jerai jinked the jetbike side to side as tracers and large caliber slugs fanned out from the orks below.
“Wait till they are all close and such! Hold yer fire till I say the word!” replied Orgok as he focused his bionic-mek eye on the lead jetbike.
“Blast em!” he screamed as the mob of orks and surviving snotlings opened up with everything they had on the jetbikes as one exploded and fell form the sky.
Unable to avoid the incoming ork fire from the sheer force of the attack angle Jerai ducked behind the front screen of his jetbike as a hail of slugs tore into the front nose and right tail fin tearing away the wrai tbone armor protecting the internals of his jetbike.
Firing away with the shuriken catapults under his jetbike Jerai staffed a bloody path through the orks as the jetbike next to him shuttered and went down in a ball of flame and shrapnel.
Pulling hard out of the dive Jerai glanced over their shoulder at the remains of the mob below as a few of the survivors continued to fire at the retreating jetbikes to no effect.
“The artillery has been neutralized, the vypers can make their run now.” Empathed the Warlock to the seer council as the third life stone inside Jerai’s helmet slowly winked out.
“Brothers, we are going in with the vypers as a screening force.” Relayed the warlock to the group as new orders were empathed to him.
Pushing his bike forward the purr of its gravitic motors was overshadowed by the bass like bellows of the vyper squadron engines as it formed up behind the jetbikes. Three vypers armed with bright lances on a swiveled gunners mount snapped into position as they trailed long silk like family banners behind them.
Slowing to a mere few inches in front of the vypers Jerai’s unit matched their speed moving as one whole. One of the clans famed strategems the formation was pulled together to appear as one unit only to break away at the last moment to confuse its attackers.
“Target ahead” alerted the lead vypers as the gunners on the back turned and aimed their bright lances ahead as the group streaked towards a towering ork gargant…
Molding his body to the grav-seat of his jetbike, Jerai released it from the mounting coupling as it gently drifted into place among the other wild riders. As the last of the first riders this was perhaps his final chance to distinguish himself and gain enough honor to ride with the ranks of the clan’s bodyguard to Farseer Sarai. Activating the gravitic accelerators in unison with his brothers the silence was replaced with the low purr of scores of jetbikes preparing for glory.
“For clan Sarai!” saluted the Warlocks with their witch blades as the webway portal shimmered into focus spilling over the spirit stone outline across the wraith bone frame. Shifting his jetbike forward Jerai followed his brothers through the inky blue portal to challenge the fates.
Soaring above the green clouds of the planet with its twin suns to the left, and a band of shimmering stars above, daybreak had just taken hold on the horizon as the sound of howling wind filtered through Jerai’s helmet.
“Brothers, prepare to dive and ride low!” empathed the groups Warlock as his life stone implanted inside Jerai’s helmet glowed strong next to a row of six others. Shifting his weight slightly to the right Jerai followed his kins-brothers through the clouds blinding his sight for a moment before opening up to the battlefield below.
“Get dem big ‘uns blasting them proper!” ordered Orgok as the snotlings around him frantically scattered up the crude gang planks and ladders of the heavy artillery. Seconds later the hulking cylinders of each barrel loaded and began firing at an uneasy pace sending snotling guided shells screeching across the battlefield.
“That’s better and proper you runts!”
“Boss…” called out a muffled tinny voice.
“Keep pounding dem!” grunted Orgok as the cannons loaded their second magazine and continuing the shelling.
“Boss! Over there….” nagged the tinny voice as a small snotling began to pull on Orgok’s boot while pointing to an approaching red blurr in the sky.
“What is it you git?!?” asked Orgok as the air around him suddenly exploded in a shower of sparks and metal as the snotlings manning the artillery were cut down and sheared apart.
“Rahhh! Where is my shootaz?!” yelled Orgok as a formation of sleek red jetbikes flew overhead with their shuriken weaponry blazing.
A swift pass with many kills, Jerai’s spirit leapt with elation, as he guided his jetbike around following the formation for another pass.
“Go go go!” raged Orgok as a group of ork boyz in reserve took up position firing shooterz and slug throwers wildly at the re-approaching jetbikes who slid gracefully in the air avoiding most of the outgoing fire.
Crouching low in his seat Jerai jinked the jetbike side to side as tracers and large caliber slugs fanned out from the orks below.
“Wait till they are all close and such! Hold yer fire till I say the word!” replied Orgok as he focused his bionic-mek eye on the lead jetbike.
“Blast em!” he screamed as the mob of orks and surviving snotlings opened up with everything they had on the jetbikes as one exploded and fell form the sky.
Unable to avoid the incoming ork fire from the sheer force of the attack angle Jerai ducked behind the front screen of his jetbike as a hail of slugs tore into the front nose and right tail fin tearing away the wrai tbone armor protecting the internals of his jetbike.
Firing away with the shuriken catapults under his jetbike Jerai staffed a bloody path through the orks as the jetbike next to him shuttered and went down in a ball of flame and shrapnel.
Pulling hard out of the dive Jerai glanced over their shoulder at the remains of the mob below as a few of the survivors continued to fire at the retreating jetbikes to no effect.
“The artillery has been neutralized, the vypers can make their run now.” Empathed the Warlock to the seer council as the third life stone inside Jerai’s helmet slowly winked out.
“Brothers, we are going in with the vypers as a screening force.” Relayed the warlock to the group as new orders were empathed to him.
Pushing his bike forward the purr of its gravitic motors was overshadowed by the bass like bellows of the vyper squadron engines as it formed up behind the jetbikes. Three vypers armed with bright lances on a swiveled gunners mount snapped into position as they trailed long silk like family banners behind them.
Slowing to a mere few inches in front of the vypers Jerai’s unit matched their speed moving as one whole. One of the clans famed strategems the formation was pulled together to appear as one unit only to break away at the last moment to confuse its attackers.
“Target ahead” alerted the lead vypers as the gunners on the back turned and aimed their bright lances ahead as the group streaked towards a towering ork gargant…
Warhammer 40K 5th Edition Rumors Continued
More 5th edition rumors regarding skimmers and fast vehicles suggest a toning down of speed from 24” overall to 18” overall. If this is true it is going to cut down on the speed and redeployment capability of my warhost. Right now I can completely be on the other side of the board in two turns, in 5th, Star Engines might be a real option now, but that is adding more points to even more fragile units- in my case vypers. If it’s true my jetbikes are going to be faster then my vypers and wave serpents?
Warhammer 40,000 Campaign Round 3: Saim-Hann vs. Space Marines
Round three found my Saim-Hann forces striking out against a territory held by the Raven Guard Space Marines. Two five marine tactical squads with plasma cannons, a ten marine tactical squad led by a chaplain, and a land speeder faced off against my three vypers and three jetbike squads.
Mission was take and hold with Saim-Hann deploying first behind one building for my jetbikes, and another to my left with the vypers. Raven Guard deployed exactly how I would have- plasma cannon squads in hard cover with a command of the battle field, tactical squad with chaplain to advance to the center, and the land speeder off to the side to harass and counter my vypers.
Saim-Hann game plan was to move, shoot, move in the assault turn back to cover with my jetbikes firing on the plasma cannon squads with shuriken cannon fire on one side, while on the other my vypers also light up the plasma cannon squads. Once they were dealt with both units would meet in the center and hit up the chaplain lead assault squad with everything.
My opponent won first turn and passed it to me so I stated by moving my vypers to the side opposed by the Raven Guard land speeder as my jetbikes were just short with their cannons to the plasma squads. This was a major problem as there was no cover along the way for me to hide behind so they were pretty much out of range for the entire game. I also held back with my vypers from shooting since it would have exposed them to return plasma fire and the land speeder. Turn one for my opponent was also short as he just stood there with nothing to shoot at the and speeder hidden behind cover.
Redeploying my jetbikes I turbo boosted them behind the building to my left to link up with my vypers as they swung out and fired on the first plasma cannon squad killing three marines- with my star cannons being less effective with the 4+ cover saves for being in cover.
Moving his land speeder out my opponent took the lead as I would have as he fired on my vypers missing the first plasma cannon shot, hitting with the second but failing to glance and hitting with the assault cannon and heavy bolter of the speeder but failing to glance any of my vypers. I sighed a breath of relief, saved by a round of horrible rolling as I now began to systematically dismantle his forces. Moving my jetbikes forward and my vypers back behind the side of the building I was able to concentrate all my shots on the land speeder while the terrain blocked me from being shot at by the plasma cannons.
Shots at the land speeder: 4 star cannon shots, 4 scatter laser shots, 18 shuriken cannon shots = a lot of stuns, and immobilizations taking it out. Saim-Hann takes the first kill of the day!
Advancing his chaplain led tactical squad they began to make their way to the center of the board and I knew even with my star cannons they were going to be tough to crack. The chaplain made them fearless so there would be no falling back, they were a large scoring unit, and were carrying a plasma gun and plasma pistol. I kept my jetbikes hidden behind terrain since the plasma cannons and plasma gun would have wiped them out being such small squads, so my vypers moved on the plasma cannons squads while staying out of range of the advancing tactical squad.
Firing into the marines in cover was again difficult with them only loosing one more as return plasma and bolter fire stunned two of my vypers. Moving them away for a turn behind cover the remaining on traded a few more ineffective shots in the hopes of taking out at least one of the plasma squads but I had no luck.
Moving into turn six the chaplain led squad had advanced far enough to claim the center and the plasma cannons squads in hard cover were doing their job at keeping me away, but now it was time to snatch victory with the speed of my jetbikes and vypers. Moving over the terrain my vypers and jetbikes moved to the center placing two of my vypers in a V formation infront of the tactical squad as my jetbikes bunched up close behind to also take the center but get into range with their shuriken catapults.
I was now ready to unload on the chaplain led squad and had blocked my jetbikes from a potential assault forcing the squad to assault my vypers if they were planning on assaulting anything. I knew I would take some return plasma cannon fire on my packed together jetbikes but currently I had 5 scoring units to his one so the game was mine no matter the outcome.
I opened up on the chaplain squad with my vyper and jetbikes killing everybody but the plasma gunner and chaplain as they returned fire (with the plasma gun over heating and killing the marine) along with plasma cannon fire which took down three jetbikes and stunned a vyper.
Game ended with 4 Saim-Hann scoring units vs .0 Raven Guard scoring units along with me picking up another territory bringing my total to 4 controlled so far.
Mission was take and hold with Saim-Hann deploying first behind one building for my jetbikes, and another to my left with the vypers. Raven Guard deployed exactly how I would have- plasma cannon squads in hard cover with a command of the battle field, tactical squad with chaplain to advance to the center, and the land speeder off to the side to harass and counter my vypers.
Saim-Hann game plan was to move, shoot, move in the assault turn back to cover with my jetbikes firing on the plasma cannon squads with shuriken cannon fire on one side, while on the other my vypers also light up the plasma cannon squads. Once they were dealt with both units would meet in the center and hit up the chaplain lead assault squad with everything.
My opponent won first turn and passed it to me so I stated by moving my vypers to the side opposed by the Raven Guard land speeder as my jetbikes were just short with their cannons to the plasma squads. This was a major problem as there was no cover along the way for me to hide behind so they were pretty much out of range for the entire game. I also held back with my vypers from shooting since it would have exposed them to return plasma fire and the land speeder. Turn one for my opponent was also short as he just stood there with nothing to shoot at the and speeder hidden behind cover.
Redeploying my jetbikes I turbo boosted them behind the building to my left to link up with my vypers as they swung out and fired on the first plasma cannon squad killing three marines- with my star cannons being less effective with the 4+ cover saves for being in cover.
Moving his land speeder out my opponent took the lead as I would have as he fired on my vypers missing the first plasma cannon shot, hitting with the second but failing to glance and hitting with the assault cannon and heavy bolter of the speeder but failing to glance any of my vypers. I sighed a breath of relief, saved by a round of horrible rolling as I now began to systematically dismantle his forces. Moving my jetbikes forward and my vypers back behind the side of the building I was able to concentrate all my shots on the land speeder while the terrain blocked me from being shot at by the plasma cannons.
Shots at the land speeder: 4 star cannon shots, 4 scatter laser shots, 18 shuriken cannon shots = a lot of stuns, and immobilizations taking it out. Saim-Hann takes the first kill of the day!
Advancing his chaplain led tactical squad they began to make their way to the center of the board and I knew even with my star cannons they were going to be tough to crack. The chaplain made them fearless so there would be no falling back, they were a large scoring unit, and were carrying a plasma gun and plasma pistol. I kept my jetbikes hidden behind terrain since the plasma cannons and plasma gun would have wiped them out being such small squads, so my vypers moved on the plasma cannons squads while staying out of range of the advancing tactical squad.
Firing into the marines in cover was again difficult with them only loosing one more as return plasma and bolter fire stunned two of my vypers. Moving them away for a turn behind cover the remaining on traded a few more ineffective shots in the hopes of taking out at least one of the plasma squads but I had no luck.
Moving into turn six the chaplain led squad had advanced far enough to claim the center and the plasma cannons squads in hard cover were doing their job at keeping me away, but now it was time to snatch victory with the speed of my jetbikes and vypers. Moving over the terrain my vypers and jetbikes moved to the center placing two of my vypers in a V formation infront of the tactical squad as my jetbikes bunched up close behind to also take the center but get into range with their shuriken catapults.
I was now ready to unload on the chaplain led squad and had blocked my jetbikes from a potential assault forcing the squad to assault my vypers if they were planning on assaulting anything. I knew I would take some return plasma cannon fire on my packed together jetbikes but currently I had 5 scoring units to his one so the game was mine no matter the outcome.
I opened up on the chaplain squad with my vyper and jetbikes killing everybody but the plasma gunner and chaplain as they returned fire (with the plasma gun over heating and killing the marine) along with plasma cannon fire which took down three jetbikes and stunned a vyper.
Game ended with 4 Saim-Hann scoring units vs .0 Raven Guard scoring units along with me picking up another territory bringing my total to 4 controlled so far.
Warhammer 40,000 Battle For Salvation Campaign: Club Round 3
Round three kicked off at the club with each army getting +100 points to spend on their lists. I picked up three more jetbikes as a few of the guys banked their points for later. Round 3 battles:
Tau vs. Kroot
Tau vs. World Eaters
Tau vs. Ulra Marine Scouts
Saim-Hann Eldar vs. Raven Guard
Eldar vs. Tyranids
Tyranids Vs. Spectral Knights Space Marines
Raven Guard vs. Chaos
Eldar vs. Imperial Guard
Tau vs. World Eaters
Tau vs. Ulra Marine Scouts
Saim-Hann Eldar vs. Raven Guard
Eldar vs. Tyranids
Tyranids Vs. Spectral Knights Space Marines
Raven Guard vs. Chaos
Eldar vs. Imperial Guard
Saim-Hann Kin: Raiders of the Blood Serpent
A fellow Saim-Hann player’s Cloudstrike Squadron: Raiders of the Blood Serpent .
Wow!
40K Tactica: How To Win With Eldar Jetbikes
Just because your jetbikes have a 3+ armor save doesn’t mean they are space marines. Repeat this again and don’t forget it. Jetbikes are awesome till they get shot at is the other.
Winning (and by that I mean wiping out enemy units) with jetbikes follows a pretty straight forward formula: (Terrain Hopping) + (Sniping) + Closing W/ Destructor & Massed Shuriken Fire) = Winning.
Terrain Hopping: You must use what terrain there is to your advantage to minimize the profile of your jetbike squad. Meaning, use terrain to block line of sight and lanes of fire from your opponent. Make sure that you position your jetbikes around terrain so they can’t be shot at in your opponent’s shooting phase.
As in chess take a moment to look at your opponent’s units asking yourself how they may move to get into position to fire at your jetbikes. Pay special attention to “fast” enemy units such as speeders, bikes, etc. These units might look to be out of range but with their movement potential and with a long range weapon such as a land speeder with a heavy bolter you may come into range and not even know it.
The next step is to plan your movement of attack. Look for isolated units near the edges of the board along with terrain features that you can move to safely preventing return fire to get you close to those enemy units. Moving along the sides of the board is always better then coming down the center with your Saim-Hann. Moving down the center means you will potentially take fire from enemy units directly ahead of you and from both the right and left. Moving and sticking to one side means you will lessen potential return fire by removing one of the side lanes of fire.
Sniping: So with an enemy unit picked out and your lane of approach mapped through the terrain use the speed of your jetbikes to close the distance to the range of your shuriken cannons. (You do have shuriken cannons?) Move out, shoot the cannon, and then move back behind cover in the assault move. This is the first step in wearing down your opponent hopefully accounting for a few kills here and there depending on who you are shooting at- space marines, tyranid gaunts, etc. You want to star weakening your target and aggravate your opponent with the 6” move in the assault phase. If your opponent responds in such a way that your jetbikes become threatened and you are taking fire don’t hesitate using the turbo boost next turn to get out of there and begin setting up a new target.
Closing: Once you have weakened the marked unit with your shuriken cannon firing it is time to close in and finish them off. You have to position yourself so you can move, shoot, and then assault if needed. Move out and close, hit the unit with shuriken catapult/cannon fire and wash them over with destructor. Depending on who you are fighting this is where larger groups of jetbikes come in. Hitting on 4+ is ok, and the twin-linked makes it better but against space marines there will be armor saves, so you want to throw enough dice out there to make your opponent save lots of time. Getting close is also important beyond getting the best coverage of the destructor template. A savvy opponent will remove killed models from the front ranks hoping to put more then 6” so you can’t assault., thus leaving you open next turn for shooting. With a good round of shooting and destructor and already weakened with some good shuriken cannon sniping you should be able to wipe out the unit or bring it down to a few lone models. This then brings in the assault move with your jetbikes. Surge forward and assault- even with only 2 S 3 attacks per model (not counting the warlock’s witch blade) you should be able to finish off your opponent and then hopefully get a good massacre roll to get back behind cover.
Winning (and by that I mean wiping out enemy units) with jetbikes follows a pretty straight forward formula: (Terrain Hopping) + (Sniping) + Closing W/ Destructor & Massed Shuriken Fire) = Winning.
Terrain Hopping: You must use what terrain there is to your advantage to minimize the profile of your jetbike squad. Meaning, use terrain to block line of sight and lanes of fire from your opponent. Make sure that you position your jetbikes around terrain so they can’t be shot at in your opponent’s shooting phase.
As in chess take a moment to look at your opponent’s units asking yourself how they may move to get into position to fire at your jetbikes. Pay special attention to “fast” enemy units such as speeders, bikes, etc. These units might look to be out of range but with their movement potential and with a long range weapon such as a land speeder with a heavy bolter you may come into range and not even know it.
The next step is to plan your movement of attack. Look for isolated units near the edges of the board along with terrain features that you can move to safely preventing return fire to get you close to those enemy units. Moving along the sides of the board is always better then coming down the center with your Saim-Hann. Moving down the center means you will potentially take fire from enemy units directly ahead of you and from both the right and left. Moving and sticking to one side means you will lessen potential return fire by removing one of the side lanes of fire.
Sniping: So with an enemy unit picked out and your lane of approach mapped through the terrain use the speed of your jetbikes to close the distance to the range of your shuriken cannons. (You do have shuriken cannons?) Move out, shoot the cannon, and then move back behind cover in the assault move. This is the first step in wearing down your opponent hopefully accounting for a few kills here and there depending on who you are shooting at- space marines, tyranid gaunts, etc. You want to star weakening your target and aggravate your opponent with the 6” move in the assault phase. If your opponent responds in such a way that your jetbikes become threatened and you are taking fire don’t hesitate using the turbo boost next turn to get out of there and begin setting up a new target.
Closing: Once you have weakened the marked unit with your shuriken cannon firing it is time to close in and finish them off. You have to position yourself so you can move, shoot, and then assault if needed. Move out and close, hit the unit with shuriken catapult/cannon fire and wash them over with destructor. Depending on who you are fighting this is where larger groups of jetbikes come in. Hitting on 4+ is ok, and the twin-linked makes it better but against space marines there will be armor saves, so you want to throw enough dice out there to make your opponent save lots of time. Getting close is also important beyond getting the best coverage of the destructor template. A savvy opponent will remove killed models from the front ranks hoping to put more then 6” so you can’t assault., thus leaving you open next turn for shooting. With a good round of shooting and destructor and already weakened with some good shuriken cannon sniping you should be able to wipe out the unit or bring it down to a few lone models. This then brings in the assault move with your jetbikes. Surge forward and assault- even with only 2 S 3 attacks per model (not counting the warlock’s witch blade) you should be able to finish off your opponent and then hopefully get a good massacre roll to get back behind cover.
Saim-Hann Warlocks: Non Destructor Psychic Powers
As a strong advocate of taking destructor when fielding jetbike warlocks I have been reviewing the codex to see if I have missed another angle or tactical edge to exploit with some of the other psychic power options. Try as I may, when mounted on a jetbike, I can’t really see any reason to take anything other then destructor.
Conceal: A 5+ cover save conferred to your warlock and the attached squad they are with. Might be useful for a group of foot based guardians out in the open but with the warlock and guardians on a jetbike you already get a 3+ save and if you turbo boost that jumps to a 3+ invulnerable save. If I have to get caught out in the open either through terrain setup of to claim an objective I alw
Conceal: A 5+ cover save conferred to your warlock and the attached squad they are with. Might be useful for a group of foot based guardians out in the open but with the warlock and guardians on a jetbike you already get a 3+ save and if you turbo boost that jumps to a 3+ invulnerable save. If I have to get caught out in the open either through terrain setup of to claim an objective I alw