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Old list with a twist

Sunday, October 23, 2011


I've been revisiting the first army list I made for Nova back in February which focused on two of my favorite units from the space marine codex: bikes and dreadnoughts. I played a couple practice games with a variation of this list, but in all fairness, those were my first games getting back into 40k after a couple years off. The original list needed work for sure, but I probably lost these first games due to being rusty with rules and tactics. By the time I had found my bearings again, I had already moved away from the Master of the Forge and all those dreadnoughts.

The MotF on bike is still one of my favorite conversions and I'm determined to make him work. I've been working on incorporating a few other new units into my lists as well (Thunderfire Cannon, Assault Terminators, Land Raider Crusader) and thought I would try putting it all together into one list. Here's what I came up with:

Captain - Bike, Lightning Claw
Master of the Forge - Bike, Conversion Beamer

8x Bikes + Attack Bike - 2x meltaguns, Multi-melta, Powerfist
8x Bikes + Attack Bike - 2x meltaguns, Multi-melta, Powerfist

Dreadnought - 2x TL-Autocannons
Dreadnought - 2x TL-Autocannons
5x Assault Terminators - 2 w/ LC's, 3 w/ TH+SS
Land Raider Crusader - Extra Armor, Multi-melta

Ironclad Dreadnought - Seismic hammer/meltagun, Hurricane Bolters
Dreadnought - Plasma cannon
Thunderfire cannon

The biggest weakness off the bat is the low # of Troops choices. Of course I have the option of combat squadding the bikes and making 4 troop squads, but only if the mission calls for it as the full sized squads are much more durable. I can definitely see myself splitting one of the squads with the meltas and power first sgt. going off to do what they do best with the other half of standard bikes riding around with the MotF way in the back so he doesn't get insta-sniped and can get maximum range with his beamer.

The rifleman dreads open up some transports while the thunderfire, plasma cannon, and conversion beamer drop blast templates on anything that pours out and is bunched up. The LRC carrying the terminators and the IC dread deploy aggressively in hopes to draw fire away from the bikes and also keep people honest who want to charge in all up on my grill. I'm really liking this list. Not only do I think it will be fun to command, it's got a lot of decent ranged shooting, some scary counter charge / close combat units, really tough basic troops, and a spattering of heavily armored targets that will hopefully create priority issues for my opponents. Aside from the thunderfire, the rest of the army can be quite mobile.

I still have some assembly and painting left to be done before I can field this particular list, but this is something I'd like to try when I get back to playing games after the baby comes.

What do you think?

5 comments:

  1. Are you a father, yet? I like the sound of the list, let me know if you want to get together and try it out. I've been trying to get back to painting and working of some of my own stuff.

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  2. Yeah, I was wondering the same thing! If not, have the butterflies kicked in?

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  3. Haha, not yet but I think we're getting close! Definitely excited though :)

    I'll let you know when I can get together for a game next as I would love to try this list out. Are you still going strong with those blood angels?

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  4. Trying to. They just seem to do dreadnoughts better. We'll see how that works for me.

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  5. re: your list, I like it. I think the addition of the powerfists to the bike squads makes them much more versatile - a threat in all 3 phases of the game. And I noticed you dropped the command squad. Replacing them with the Termies in an LRC may actually be the way to go. You get a mobile, tough as nails unit that doesn't need your captain to tag along and so can support the core units in taking objectives.

    Your plan to bring the techmarine along with one of the bike squads would be a must, but does a master of the forge count as an IC? I dont have the codex at hand right now, but I know Iron Priests for Space Wolves are not ICs.

    I'd be a little concerned about having to walk the iron clad across the table, but if you keep him near the LRC then I imagine he'll take less fire.

    The thunderfire cannon is a great addition to your army. It's cheap and dangerous, and also less likely to get shot at because of 1. how difficult they can be to get rid of, 2. they're NOT mobile like the rest of the army so they feel like less of a threat. Also, their abilities are not just limited to lots of firepower. The ability to make a unit move as if in difficult terrain will work greatly to your advantage, especially because of your mobility.

    Your biggest weakness will be one you've already pointed out - scoring units - but there is another concern; overall low model count. You're going to have to spread yourself pretty thin in order to cover all objectives in seize ground missions. Not only will your bikes be spread thin, but I imagine it will be difficult to contest a lot of objectives.

    I look forward to going up against it at some point!

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