Mojo List #1: Witch Hunters

I lied! today is only Monday, but I finished the first list (while studying for my Calc exam that's in about an hour and a half, naturally). Well, the first Army List for my Mojo series is here! I was utterly surprised, and somewhat excited, to see that Witch Hunters took the top spot. This is an army I know very little about (since I face them the least) and it was incredibly fun reading through their codex and creating a, what I consider, good list using my general "Army Mojo" principles. I decided to set a point limit at 1500 for all lists, as it really forces you to think about every choice and isn't entirely conducive to downright unit spam. So here is the list, and after I will describe why I picked the units the way I did.


HQ
Canoness - 139
+ Bolt Pistol, Eviscerator, Frag/Krak Grenades, Rosarius, Jump pack

Elites
Repentias - 210

Troops
Battle Sisters Squad - 179
+ Flamer, Melta Gun
+ Rhino Transport (Smoke Launchers)

Battle Sisters Squad - 179
+ Flamer, Melta Gun
+ Rhino Transport (Smoke Launchers)

Battle Sisters Squad - 179
+ Flamer, Melta Gun
+ Rhino Transport (Smoke Launchers)

Fast Attack
Dominion Squad - 221
+ x2 Flamers, x2 Melta Guns, Frag Grenades
+ Rhino Transport (Smoke Launchers)

Seraphim Squad - 227
+ Hand Flamer, Inferno Pistol, Frag Grenades, Krak Grenades
+ Veteran Sister Superior with Bolt Pistol and Eviscerator

Heavy Support
Exorcist - 135

Total = 1499pts

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So the basic idea behind this list is to be able to get up close quickly. Every unit is capable of moving 12" in a given movement phase, only the Repentias are limited to 6" (and even then, if the roll a 1 or 2 they will move 6+D6"). It is a fast list. For obvious reasons, the jump-pack Canoness will be attached to the Seraphim squad allowing for a pretty potent close-combat squad as there are two Strength 6 Power Weapons in that squad, plus twin-linked flame pistols and twin-linked inferno pistols (Strength 8, AP 2). The Repentias are also very good in close-combat since each of them have Eviscerators and the Repentia Mistress as a Power Weapon that adds one to her initiative.

Now each Battle Sister squad has a flamer and melta gun. As I mentioned in my Space Marines, Jacked post, is something I am fond of. It allows tactical flexibility on a unit scale rather than on an army scale. Personally, I find it more fun and useful but that comes down to my style of play, though I highly recommend trying it out. Anyways, each Sister squad is capable of taking down hordes or tanks given the situation. Not only that, but using the Rhinos, you can effectively create walls that bottleneck enemy troops, allowing you to pick them off much easier.

The Dominion squad was chosen with the same idea behind the Battle Sister squads, but I get double the special weapons. They will be most useful in a situation where I need more anti-horde power or more anti-tank power so, effectively, they play a support role (in that they'd be supporting the Sister Squads in a situation).

The Seraphim and Repentia squads are there to keep the Sister squads alive as they whittle down the enemy with fire (quite literally) and to take down threatening long-range units or to tie up threatening close-combat units. Either way, I feel that they would do very well on the battle field.

The Exorcist has the simplest role, it is to provide long-range anti-tank (or anti-high toughness) support.

Now I have played against Witch Hunters a handful of times, and never a "pure" force (there were always Guardsmen, Grey Knights, etc. in their lists). I am interested to here your thoughts on this list, especially those who play against Witch Hunters more often or play with them occasionally! Is this a good/decent list? Is it total crap? Let me know why- the more knowledge we can pack into these lists the better!

List Lineup

Well, poll is closed and removed (taking up too much space). So here is the lineup with how many votes they received in parenthesis (for ties I choose the order)

1) Witch Hunters (12)
2) Chaos Space Marines (12)
3) Imperial Guard (11)
4) Tau (9)
5) Chaos Demons (8)
6) Black Templars (8)
7) Space Wolves (8)
8) Eldar (forgot to add them into poll, so they'll go here)
9) Space Marines (8)
10) Demon Hunters (7)
11) Tyranids (7)
12) Dark Angels (6)
13) Orks (5)
14) Dark Eldar (3)
15) Necrons (2)
16) Blood Angels (2)

I will try to post one every two to four days, but it depends on my schedule. I may push Tyranids back a bit just because they'll be getting a new codex in January, but it depends on whether or not I'll be able to get my hands on the codex. We'll see.

Anyways, expect the first list on Tuesday!

Chaos Rising Video and Army List Poll

First, the poll...

So for those of you that have been following the Army Mojo posts, this may be old news...
I will be creating an army list for every playable race in 40k. There is a poll to the left that will close Saturday night- just pick the four you want me to write a list about first and those will be it. If there's a tie, I get to pick the order of the winners :)

Now as some of you may have noticed, in my haste I forgot to include Eldar... whoops! I will add them in about middle of the road when I'm posting the lists and my many apologies to you Eldar players!

And now the Chaos Rising Video, posted on Gamespot yesterday. I can't freaking wait for this game (March '10!)

Army Mojo: Heavy Support

And the last installment of the Army Mojo series… kind of. In the coming weeks I will be posting an army list for EVERY playable army using the general ideas that have been posted in this Army Mojo series. It should be fun for me to do but more importantly it should serve as a great example for how you can use these ideas and apply them to a list. Without further adieu, here’s the Heavy Support article…

Heavy Support tends to, obviously, be your support element in an army. Whether they’re tanks, powerful shooting units, ordnance or what have you, they help to put the hurt on an enemy at long range. Without long-range and steady support, your fast-paced army will get rocked by some pill-box tank sitting in a well-protected corner. It is crucial to have some long-range support element in your army to provide a softening “first-punch” before your fast and elite portions of your army get up close and most of the time this element will come from the Heavy Support slot.

Ordnance is incredibly useful on a battlefield (ask any Imperial Guard player) and if you have a viable option, it tends to be very wise to take it. Even if it isn’t all that powerful (Space Marine Whirlwind, for example) it can still dish out the hurt and force your opponent to spread his troops out which could potentially deny cover saves if you position your other troops correctly. Just the knowledge that your opponent has a tank that dishes out a 5” pie-plate is an advantage against most players. Plus, if this tank can dish out Strength 8 and above and AP 3 and below, expect a lot of mayhem to be had! Of course there are also the pill-box type tanks like Space Marine Predators. Not exactly the strongest tank in the bunch, but they can certainly hold their own positioned correctly and can dish out some nice damage. Infantry-wise, it all depends on your list and if you are comfortable playing with them. Heavy Support infantry can be tough to use in some lists since most of the times they’ll be the only infantry unit you have sitting back and shooting and thus they’re vulnerable. However, in the right hands they can be very useful, it’s just necessary to know the weaknesses of the unit even more than the strengths so you can keep them alive.

ADDENDUM: From Silent_P on the Astronomican Forums:
Artillery is designed to do two things. First it is utilized to soften up your opponent. Dishing out templates and blowing holes in the opposition's line will give your army the flexibility and room it requires to maneuver. Second, your artillery has the ability to help control the pace of the battle. By pinning enemy units you are allowing your own army to move that much faster. Converse to that, by shelling your opponent as he comes marching towards you forces him to speed up his movement. He can't pause to shoot at your own line because he knows the next round a pie-plate is going to be landing on his unit. In my opinion half of the battle is already won when you begin taking elements of control out of your enemy's hands. The biggest trick of the matter is keeping your heavy artillery alive while sneaky enemy units attempt to neutralize them.

Choosing Heavy Support units comes down to, you guessed it, what role they’ll play in the army. This MUST, MUST, MUST be determined while making your list, otherwise I can guarantee the tank will be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Now if you make the tank versatile, just be sure you play it correctly. You need to know what is more of a threat to you and what you will have a better chance killing. If there’s a Land Raider in front of your Autocannon/Las Cannon sponsons Predator and a Dreadnought next to it, be damned sure you’re shooting that Dreadnought as you have far better chances of killing it than a Land Raider even if that is more of a threat at the moment. With versatile units it is incredibly important to understand the difference between immediate threats and real threats, but that’s a different article for a different time.

The thought process for Heavy Support is very similar to Elites. It all comes down to play style, unit preference, skill and how that unit will be a cohesive element within your army.

Well that's it for the article portion- now to put it to the test! Besides wanting to hear your thoughts on comments on this list, I want to know what army you think I should make a list for first so make sure you vote for your four army choices on the left hand side of the page!

Army Mojo: Fast Attack

Fast Attack happens to be a FOC slot that many armies either take full advantage of, or they don’t even tough it. This has everything to do with what your list looks like and how you plan to play said list. Fast Attack units usually can be separated into two sections: close combat and guerrillas. In reality, you kind of want to think of all (well, nearly all) Fast Attack choices as guerrilla units. They excel at attacking swiftly, and then finding protection or attacking swiftly and hope they did enough damage that they don’t die next turn. I’ll separate these off and talk about both.

Close Combat
This, generally, is where you see the bulk of Fast Attack choices on the table falling under. For obvious reasons, their specialty is close-combat. However, these units are also generally less powerful in hand-to-hand than an Elites choice that would be chosen for the same purpose. However, what they lack in power they make up for in speed. A Fast Attack infantry unit will, in most cases, have an 18” assault range (either 12” or 6” for movement and 6” or 12” assault). This enables them to get into combat earlier, and thus neutralize a potential key unit on the enemy team. A good example of where this is useful is if you are a Space Marine player with an Assault Squad. Your enemy is playing as Eldar and they have a Dark Reaper team hidden in some cover. Attempting to out-shoot these units to death can be costly since you are sacrificing shots that could be used to take down assault units such as Howling Banshees and you have a very low chance of killing them as you are against a 3+ armor save plus a probable 4+ cover save if you happen to be shooting with AP2 or less weaponry. However, if you are able to Assault these Dark Reapers, you neutralize their strength (killing marines with their AP3 guns o’ death) and simultaneously take advantage of their weakness which is close combat. This idea can be applied to many more similar situations and is how you tend to see Fast Attack close combat units played.

Guerrillas
This particular division of Fast Attacks, while still applying to the Close Combat division somewhat, takes the most advantage of the biggest strength these units have: speed. No matter what your Fast Attack choice, if you are not darting around the field every turn, you’re doing something wrong. This applies even more for Guerrilla units as their mission is to get in, put the hurt on, get out. It’s a cat-and-mouse like game where you are the mouse that’s toying with the cat, but hiding just well enough so the cat can’t get you back. It’s all about positioning both your unit and the rest of your army. Guerrilla units never (or, well, rarely) succeed on their own. They rely on other units providing just enough distraction to the enemy to make him question what is more effective to destroy, the guerrilla unit or the other dangerous elements of your army? Not only that, but the other units often provide passive protection for the guerrilla. How? Well if you are able to position your unit correctly, the enemy will be in a lose-lose situation. If he kills the guerrilla he will end up getting shot to pieces or eaten up in close combat by another unit, however if he kills those units the guerrilla will be free to roam and wreak havoc elsewhere. It is a very frustrating situation for your opponent, and one that will be advantageous to you no matter what he chooses.

In closing, Fast Attack units have one general strength, and that’s speed. If you are not constantly taking advantage of this or your list isn’t able to provide enough protection and support for these units you need to either re-think your list or just ignore Fast Attack altogether. After all, they’re not for everyone.

Only one more section to go, Heavy Support! What are your thought not only on this section, but all of the rest? Is this shaping up to be a useful article series?