Tabletop Teacher

With one gem amongst the other situational and niche Tactics, the Genestealer Cults are going to be more reliant on the general and Specialist tactics. With the School League ruling that only 5 Tactics per force are allowed, I can’t see these seeing much use. With that said, they do provide some interesting reactions to situations, and so have their place in less restrictive Matched, Open and Narrative play. General Tactics Tactic: Unnatural Senses Use when a model is declared as the target of a charge The model may fire Overwatch even if the model isn’t visible  The model counts as obscured Cost: 1CP We’re not starting off with a great one, being as amazingly niche as it is. The model being obscured only counts in terms of Injury rolls, Overwatch needed natural 6s to Hit in any case. In anything but the school’s league this is a nifty tactic to bring out as a surprise to the enemy. However, if you’re ever limited in the number of tactics you can bring feel free ...

I'm officially on my second week of non-stop late nights at work, by which I mean I literally do not get out of the boarding house until 11pm after a 7am start. With the idea of a robot body having more and more appeal, we wrap up our analysis of the AdMech with some of my favourite models from Games Workshop: the Sicarians. Sicarians The Sicarian frame is not the sturdiest in the world, but hits hard and fast. It’s no tank, and it shouldn’t be fielded as such, more an aggressive and panic inducing model. The common attributes of the Sicarian models are as follows: Bionics: 6+ invulnerable save 2 Wounds Lightning quick 8-inch movement Strength 4 They are tougher and faster than your Skitarii units, and at first blush are geared for all out assault. Toughness 3 is not quite the detriment it was in older editions of 40K. It’s still relatively weak, but you’ll be caught by 2+ To Wound rolls less often in Kill Team than in 7th or older. Strength 4 alongside their...

Term has hit surprisingly hard this year, and it looks like I will working for three weeks straight without a day off again. I'm also on the late night shift for three quarters of that, so please forgive any disruption to the post schedule. As a scientitst and geek I should be more into the Adeptus Mechancus than I am. I like the aesthetics of most of the models, but then the fluff pulls me right out of actually purchasing models. I'm not a fan of religious dogma, no matter how many 1s or 0s make up the hymns. It grates against my teacher's ethics to have unthinking discipline, and I find the idea of electronically enforced servitude utterly repellent. But I really like the idea of Skitarii as more free thinking volunteers, out to better mankind's understanding of the universe by defending the engineers and architects who work for it. So I bend the fluff a little in my end to make it work for me. But let's talk about crunch instead. The Troops In dis...

Adeptus Mechanicum are nicely balanced in Kill Team, coming in as quirky Jack-of-all trades. Whilst you might look at them as a shooting force they’ve got surprising punch in melee, and are just a little fragile compared to Space Marines. Their tactics reflect their all-around nature, so lets see what tricks we can pull from them. Canticles of the Omnissiah You can choose a Canticle at the start of each battle round, but you can only choose it once per battle. Alternatively roll for it, and it works even if the Canticle has been chosen before. Incantation of the Iron Soul: reroll failed Nerve tests. Litany of the Electromancer: enemy models within 1-inch of models in your kill team take 1 Mortal Wound on a d6 Chant of the Remorseless Fist: Re-roll Hit rolls of 1 in the Fight phase. Shroudpsalm: Targets of shooting attacks in cover gain an additional -1 To Hit. Invocation of Machine Might: +1 Strength Benediction of the Omnisiah: Re-roll Hit rolls of 1 in the shooting ph...

Primaris Marines do two things well; take a hit and be easy to collect . They might not be as flash as Tacticals or as unique as Scouts, but they'll be a strong anvil to throw at the enemy. And they do have their own tips and tricks too! In talking about the units in detail I run the risk of reproducing the  Core manual , which then skirts dangerously close to copy write infringement. As such I will try to include as many details as needs to be clear, but if you want more you will need to buy the book. What will be included is: Name of the unit Different models in that unit (maximum number in brackets) Wargear options (but keep in mind they can’t carry everything at once!) Abilities Specialisations Any other important pieces will be included in the analysis itself. Right, let’s get started. Intercessor Models: Intercessor, Intercessor Gunner (2), Intercessor Sergeant (1) Wargear: Bolt rifle, Bolt pistol, Frag and Krak grenades, auto-bolt rifle, Stalk...

Space Marines have a frighteningly broad range of strategies available to them, as you would expect from a Faction which needs to contain quite a few Chapter themes and identities (close combat Blood Angels and sneaky shooty Raptors as opposite combat styles come to mind). I’ve written way more than I wanted to on this post, so settle in… this is going to be a long one. And we’re only covering Scouts and Tactical Marines! In talking about the units in detail I run the risk of reproducing the Core manual , which then skirts dangerously close to copy write infringement. As such I will try to include as many details as needs to be clear, but if you want more you will need to buy the book. What will be included is: Name of the unit Different models in that unit (maximum number in brackets) Wargear options (but keep in mind they can’t carry everything at once!) Abilities Specialisations Any other important pieces will be included in the analysis itself. Right, l...

We’re kicking off our look at the Space Marines by analysing their tactics first, before we get into speaking specific units. I’ve written way more than I intended to on this topic, so settle in! The tactics for the Space Marines fall into two general categories: general ones usable by anybody and model specific tied to a particular model. Whilst it might look like they have more Tactics than other factions on the surface, the majority are quite situational, and you’ll probably be looking to use the Basic Tactics first. General Tactics Tactic: Death to the Traitors Use when you select a model to fight in the Fight phase To hit rolls of 6+ result in an extra attack against that model Only useable against Heretic Astartes Cost: 1CP This is a similar, more restricted version of the Zealot tactic. I’ve gone over that one already in the Zealot specialisation post and the same criticism applies here. It’s not one I’d spend precious CP on, unless I had tooled u...

I was initially cool on the idea of the Veteran, blinded as I was by ogling the higher tier abilities. However, on further examination of the tactic I think it will be one of the most used Specialisations and is destined to get calls for a nerf bat. Zealot… well, it sounds cool? Here are some of the ground rules before we go into discussing the Specialists. I’ll only be talking about them in terms of Matched Play, which means the following: Tier 1 only, so only the first ability and level 1 Tactic Only 4 Specialists per team One must be a Leader Each specialist must be unique in the Kill Team (i.e. you can’t field 2 Combat specialists) Veterans The one specialisation I would go cowboy with, having supreme first turn mobility when paired with an assault flamer weapon. They’re also slightly more resistant to the fear caused by going solo. Grizzled: This model ignores penalties to is Leadership characteristic and Nerve tests Not as exciting as some of the other Sp...