Hey gang!
I often operate under the creed that I write when I have something to say.
Lately, in all the hubbub of the 6th Edition rumors and mysterious files appearing out of nowhere and people trying to figure out if they're real (my Magic 8-Ball keeps coming up with, "Signs Point to Yes", but what does it know?) and all the other goings-on, well, I haven't really felt like I had anything original to say. It's not that I haven't been doing...things...I've been doing book reviews for BoLS lately (the latest being the one for Hammer & Anvil that went up a few days ago). But while that's writing, that's for BoLS and not really content for my personal blog (though BigRed would disagree).
Anyway...what do I have to talk about? What interesting thing that is uniquely mine?
I now own a piece of 40K history.
You see, a while back, Darkwynn (a friend of mine) decided to sell the infamous Leafblower army, the one he won 'Ard Boyz 2009 with, the one that started an entire army genre.
On a whim, I bought it.
I've gotten a couple of games in with it, and even had a learning game against Darkwynn to get a handle on how to play this army. I can safely say it's not nearly as lethal in my hands as it was in his -- in fact, I've joked about re-naming it "Petal Pusher". It plays very differently than my beloved power-armored dudesmen. I have also proven that you can lose, and lose badly, with the army if you don't know what you're doing with it.
So I'm going to chronicle some of my misadventures in learning a new army, and prove that it's really not the list, it's the general that makes all the difference along the way.
Does that mean I'm abandoning my other armies? Tossing aside the GKs? Forgetting my Ultramarines (which this blog is named after)? Nope. But I've been craving something different lately, and this fits the bill perfectly.
Ever feel the need to really switch things up? What do you do when you feel the need to expand your horizons? Does the spectre of public humiliation of losing with what should be a great army ever hold you back?
So, last time we talked (or so) I discussed moving away from a Draigowing/Paladin heavy army.
I've since been trying out pretty much a list every week or so trying to find one that I liked and that worked as well as I wanted.
The problem, you see, is that I really like Paladins, and so I've been pretty determined to keep them in the army. While it may not be the best decision I've made in terms of points efficiency and so on but I really like Paladins and so for the time being, they're in. :)
So, working off the basis of a 5-man Paladin squad it was time to come up with something to go along with them.
Considering the severe lack of long-range firepower is pretty much the entire GK 'dex, I decided to go ahead and add a couple of "psyflemen" dreads. Yeah, I know, they're the darlings of the Internet right now and having played a few games with them, I can understand why. No, they are auto-game-winners or anything but they definitely do fill a role that really nothing else in a "pure" GK list can do, and shoot across the board reliably.
I like units that are useful in all phases of the game -- this is why I like Paladins so much, they're good in every phase of the game. I tried a few games with GKSS but they were fairly useless in CC -- 1 attack pretty much gimps them to the point where you really don't want to get in melee with them, and that's a shame.
So...Purifiers.
Crowe Purifiers.
You have no idea how badly I don't really want to run them, but point-for-point, there's really no substitute for Purifiers, and being able to take them as troops? Yes, please.
Except...well, I can't quite seem to get the hang of using Crowe. Some of my fellow Austinites love him and use him to great effect but I just can't seem to find anything to do with his odd-duck ass. More often than not I was struggling to come up with a use for him, so...well, I'm thinking he's not going to work for me.
So...I tried to cheat the system.
I created an abomination of a list with 2 Grand Masters and minimal 5-man strike squads, Paladins and 3 units of Purifiers...planning on using the Grand Strategy x2 to get scoring Purifiers without paying the "Crowe tax".
In the end, though, after much discussion, I settled on something a bit more reasonable: 2xPurifiers with Rhinos and Psybolt, 2xGKSS, Paladins, 2xPsyfleman and one Grand Master. I figure I can still use Grand Strategy to make Purifiers (or Paladins, or a Dread) scoring if the game type calls for it, otherwise it's probably time to make some scouting Paladins and/or Purifiers...man I love Grand Strategy -- the counter-attack "power up" rocks as well (mmm, Paladins with counter-attack).
The main strength of this list, though, is in the number of boots on the ground, and then number of storm bolters (32) and psycannons (14) it can bring to bear each turn. That's...a whole lot of shooting -- and it works. Well.
I'm concerned about the lack of a Librarian, though, even though I really haven't missed him the last few games I've played without him.
After a few games with the list (and if I make any tweaks) I'll post the list (though it is very simple, really) and let you know how it works out -- hopefully, somewhat near now I want it to. :)
How about you guys? Ever had a unit that you liked so much you just couldn't drop it from a list, even if "conventional wisdom" said it wasn't the "best"? Ever had to tear down an army and start over? How did it work out?
"Hmm....
Nice to hear more about a Draigowing, I'm working on 20 paladins, a librarian, a vindicare, and Draigo although he seems lost in the mail.
Any advice?"
My reply:
If you're going to go down the Draigowing road and include a Vindicare, I would say find the points for a Techmarine. He has a couple of uses: 1. Bolster that ruin and park your Vindi in it for a tasty 2+ cover save. 2. Grenade caddy -- though if you use him for this (and you should), make sure you pony up the points to give him a warding stave, it's the only way to give him an invul save, even though it's only there in CC the warding stave gives him a shot at surviving power weapon/high strength attacks (and he WILL be singled out if you don't hide him, your opponents will HATE those grenades). I've run a Techmarine with a paladin squad and done some tests with running him with a DCA/Crusader squad and the grenades really help and the invul keeps him alive. If you do run him, though, keep in mind the Techmarine can NOT deep strike, so you can't use that as your delivery method for the unit he's attached to.
Other than that, keep in mind that Draigowing is the most elite of the elite armies, you have to REALLY know your stuff to squeeze every point of effectiveness/efficiency out of it to win games. Consider a Land Raider or Stormraven to get them into CC (which is where they really shine) but choose every assault carefully. Avoid TH/SS terminator units because you'll struggle against them, soften them up with a few rounds of psycannon/storm bolter lovin' before assault. Definitely kit each one out individually because you'll need the wound allocation shenanigans to keep them alive longer. Always take a Brotherhood Banner, the extra attacks REALLY help. Also, remember if your pallies don't cast hammerhand that turn (the libby and/or Draigo and/or Techmarine can do that for you) you can use the BB's auto-activate force weapons ability to shorten those rounds of combat versus pesky multi-wound enemies (ork nobs, I'm looking at you).
If at all possible, use the Vindi to snipe out rune priests, Njal, librarians, etc. -- anything that hampers your ability to cast psychic powers. While they aren't required for GK to perform (strictly speaking) they definitely make things easier, and with Draigowing, you have to use every trick in the book to make it work. It goes without saying that if you play against Eldar and they have Runes of Warding...well, it's going to suck, and suck hard, and there's no getting around it. However, if you can mange to drop the Farseer with a lucky Vindi shot or chop him up into tasty elven chum in assault, you're in business. Unless you're playing footdar, though, most of the time the Farseer will be safely hidden away in a transport. If you can crack that open, yay, if you can't...well, continue the game minus psychic powers. Psychic powers are great buffs, but (as I mentioned), they aren't necessary.
Remember what I said about a delivery system? Here's the downside: you lose valuable rounds of shooting while embarked. And paladins with psybolts and 2 (or 4, if you're taking a full-size unit) psycannons is a punishing volume of fire. You need it. Maybe think about taking a full-size unit and combat squad them into two units, one with 4 pyscannons and a storm bolter as a firebase, the other all storm bolters. Attach a libby, Draigo and the Techmarine to this unit, embark in a LRC and head off to beat face while the other combat squads shoots, shoots, shoots to victory.
One thing I feel I should warn you about, though. Draigowing is a very unforgiving army. You just don't have the bodies to absorb wounds that any mistakes you might make will cause. You need every model in the army doing everything it can every turn or you'll quickly find yourself in trouble.
If you're looking for some other advice from other (probably much more capable players), I would suggest Black Blow Fly's Terminus Est blog (love that name, being a fan of Gene Wolff). He's been running Draigowing for a while and presents some solid ideas/advice. I got the idea of running combat-squadded paladins split along CC/shooting roles from him.
Finally, I can hear what some of you are thinking (OK, not really, as that would make me some kind of mutant), but I can imagine what some of you are thinking: "Joe, just last post you said you were giving up on Draigowing because you couldn't make it work. What gives with you passing out advice on how to use it?" That's a great question, thank you for asking. Yes, you're right, I decided that I couldn't make it work, specifically in a competitive environment. But I also said that I don't think it's an issue with the list itself, rather, my skill as a player -- all I'm doing here is relating my experiences with a Draigowing list, and hoping that Bryce (or anyone else) can build upon my experiences and hopefully do something great.
I love the concept of Draigowing -- Paladins are everything I think terminators should be (well, actually, they aren't, I think they should be at least T5, but that's a pipe dream). I do plan on re-visiting them after getting better at 40K in general. The list is too unforgiving for the number of mistakes I make in an average game.
Good luck, Bryce. I hope you can take Draigowing to the next level!
What do you think, guys? Have you ever had a concept for an army list that you just loved, but couldn't quite make it work? Did you stick with it, or did you move on to something else? Ever re-visit a list concept? How did it go if you did?
