"YOU'RE THE DUKE! YOU'RE THE DUKE! A NUMBER ONE!"

A great Escape from New York quote (delivered by the late/ great Donald Pleasence)there to start the next Dark Eldar unique HQ review, Duke Sliscus.



The Duke of New York is one take on Duke Sliscus





I see him more like Sol from Doomsday

He commands the Sky Serpents. He is the true pirate of the Dark Eldar army. He deals in contraband, fast ships, slave raids and the loot it brings. He is famous for unpredictable behavior. He is known to be both charming and bloodthirsty. He is bit of an eccentric; never wearing the same clothes twice, dines on poisoned food, and is known to carve poetry into the flesh of his foes (great imagery there). He also has luminous alabaster skin that is hand scrubbed after each real space raid. It seems he cannot fathom the air of the lesser races on his skin. So yeah, he seems a bit weird, except when you have power it is eccentric.

He boasts a WS 6, BS 6, strength and toughness 3, 2 wounds, 3 attacks, leadership of 9 and a 4+/ 6++ armor save. He is armed with a blast pistol, plasma grenades, ghostplate armor, combat drugs, shadowfield (so a 2++ until that fails then a 6++ ghostplate save) and the serpents bite. He has all the regular Dark Eldar rules, fleet, night vision, power through pain, and is an independent character. He also has Serpent’s Venom, Serpent’s Bite, Low Orbit Raid and Contraband. All this runs him up to $1.50 which is pretty reasonable, in my mind for a HQ choice.

Serpents Venom any Warrior or Trueborn squad the Duke deploys with, at the start of the game, gets their splinter weapons a buff, wounding on 3+. A nice little buff if you build a big ol’ squad of warriors with dual splinter cannons and the Duke. Just an ugly thing if their target is non-vehicular.

Serpent’s Bite these are twin blades the Duke wields in close combat. They wound on 2+ and if you roll a 5 or 6 when wounding they count as if caused by a power weapon. I like these you can put out 5 attacks on the charge, hit on 3+, and wound on 2+. Then if you roll really well to wound, you get power weapon wounds to boot.

Low Orbit Raid Ravagers, Venoms and Raiders in the Duke’s army have the deep strike ability. Now this is great since you get the benefit with out the added cost per vehicle. Want vehicles falling from the sky and don’t want to pay the points? Then just take the Duke.

Contraband allows you to roll two times on the combat drug chart and choose which roll you want. This is stellar if run a lot of units with combat drugs along with the Duke. You have a great chance to get the result you want, or at least a better result than you initially rolled; just watch those double one’s. That roll will make any Dark Eldar player cry.

He is no slouch in combat. Having a blast pistol is nice, especially with WS 6. He can also tear it up in close combat with his attacks, initiative, plasma grenades, drugs, shadowfield/ ghost plate armor (his is one of the better armored Dark Eldar in the book) and Serpent’s Bite.

He fails as do the rest of the army in strength and toughness. So once again look for him to get better with drugs and pain tokens, just like the rest of this army. Man do I sound like a broken record when it comes to this.

After the Baron, the Duke is my second favorite unique HQ. He brings a lot to a force with his rules and fairly low cost. If you want vehicles raining from the skies, grab the Duke. If you want a fire base of warriors/ trueborn with 3+ poisoned splinter rifles/cannons, start the Duke with them. If you like a ton of Wyches and want the “good” combat drugs just add the Duke to the list.



Randomness and closing in on a century (or post #97)

Well low and behold as I arrived home yesterday and there was the shiny new Grey Knight codex. There is a tiny amount of satisfaction gained when you get a pre-order a day prior to official release. So I gave it a quick once over and was not overly impressed, but I'll dive into it this weekend and see what is really up with it.

Second is I want to say good luck to the people attending Adepticon this weekend. My team from last year is not attending. We waited a week after pre-registration opened to sign up and we were surprised to see the teams tournament was full. A reason why my painting slowed a bit, but I have lots of new Night Lords photos to post. I was busy painting while I had no computer, and playing Dragon Age.

Third, you Adepticon people, get and post lots and lots of pretty pictures. We all want to see them.

Last, and most importantly, don't believe anything on the interweb today. It is April 1st and that means everyone will be trying to be funny or dupe the gaming, movie, geek, nerd and general community. It is an every year occurrence that today is amateur hour. So if there is a new 40K, movie, game, sport, life or whatever story/ rumor, pass by it. There will be subtle believable ones and there will be outlandish rumors. Don't be the guy that falls for it and posts it on some site. You'll look the fool. Don't believe anything today that is to good to be true. I've done what I can now the rest is up to you people.

However, it may already be to late!

Flying the unfriendly skies or a review of Baron Sathonyx

The first unique Dark Eldar HQ choice I decided to review is, what I think, is the most fun. He is not the most powerful or most frightening, but he will be the fastest from the start, Baron Sathonyx.

So who is this guy? Well he was once part of the Kabal of the Slashed Eye. That is until he decided to bring a Farseer he captured in their base. He was then exiled (why it was just a lone Farseer in the heart of Commorragh) and began a new life in the depths of the vast city. In the depths he began a life as a merc for hire. He is known as a master of espionage, and blackmail. He is also the driving force behind the Hellion gangs. If a force wants Hellions for a real space raid, they go through him. He has garnered a following as a collector and leader of the exiled, deposed and iconoclastic of Dark Eldar society. This and his “antics” have also placed a price on his head. He is wanted both for help and for the harm his “help” has caused.

He has, what is pretty common for the upper echelon Dark Eldar units, a WS 6, BS 6, strength and toughness of 3, Initiative 6, 2 wounds, 3 attacks, a hefty leadership 9 and a 5+ save. He is also and independent character, jump infantry, comes with a custom skyboard, splinter pistol, hellglaive, phantasm launcher, and a shadowfield (for a nice 2+ invulnerable save). There is also the standard Dark Eldar rules; fleet, power through pain, and night vision. He also has a few special rules; Hit-and-Run, Bones of the Seer, Twilight Shroud, Master of Skies, Custom Skyboard, and is the Lord of Hellions. All this and he only cost $1.05, which is silly cheap for his equipment and abilities.

Bones of the Seer  gives you a +1 on the dice roll for deployment zone. This is nice for what is, usually, a first strike or cover needing army

Twilight Shroud  which gives him and a unit he is attached to the stealth universal rule

Why give him stealth? A jump infantry unit in terrain has to take dangerous terrain tests and that could deplete his forces.

Master of the Skies allows the Baron and an attached unit a re-roll on failed dangerous terrain tests, there that is better. Now the Twilight Shroud is useful! He can also re-roll both his initiative test on hit-and-run as well as the distance of this ability.

Custom Skyboard  is his ride and it gives him a +2 strength on the turn he charges (along with the hellglaive that is a nice strength 6)

Lord of Hellions this opens up Hellions as troops

Well what makes this guy so fun? Well his ability to take a Hellion filled army. Forget those lowly three fast slots, you can now take upwards of nine squads of these skyboard crazies! You can look for a lot of splinter pod shots to soften a target and then get that nice +1 strength when you charge the remains! The downside to this is the lack of special weapons in Hellion units. Sure they are fast and can throw a lot of damage, but a blaster or heat lance would be helpful in these squads. So one will have look to other units to pop armor for you.

The Baron does hit fairly hard on the charge, five strength 6 attacks (or higher if he has that all important 2nd pain token) that will hit most armies on 3+. The hit and run ability with this is also quite nice. A sizable squad with Baron attached can jump into and out of combat quite easily, thanks to the Master of Skies rule. It can also dictate, through a re-roll, how far it moves for its hit-and-run. The problem is that Hellions are not incredibly tough and a bad round of combat can deplete the squad and have the Baron flying off the board.

Power through pain and the "good" combat drugs in the squad will greatly help him and any unit he joins. This is pretty common for all the Dark Eldar units. The more pain the better, as long as you are on the giving end.

He also has the downside of all other Dark Eldar, he is fairly weak. The toughness of 3 and 5+ regular save will be his downfall eventually. Running him at a dedicated close combat unit without help is still a bad choice. He has a nice initiative and strength on the charge, but all his attacks are savable. Used in a joint effort his squad and another can make a problem for many units in the game (even vehicles that aren't walkers can fall to a pain and drug filled Hellion squad), remember quantity over quality. This should be common knowledge of all Dark Eldar players. Also do not lose the shadowfield, once that is gone the Baron will probably be following soon after.

For as a HQ that comes with: a 12” move that ignores terrain (or can fly through it re-rolling if it goes bad) a 2++ invulnerable, stealth and strength 6 on the charge, a $1.05 is a steal. Baron Sathonyx can give you some descent tactical options that are not available with other HQ units. He is definitely the most fun to try, albeit not the tops when it comes to damage output.

Have you seen this unit? Part 2

Part 2 of this little series will focus on another Space Marine unit, the Land speeder Storm. Now this unit is only available (currently) for the codex or regular Space Marines.



This vehicle does look neat. Why is it not being used?



This is a reasonably priced fast attack vehicle. It is a skimmer, open topped, armor 10 on all sides and fast. It comes standard with a heavy bolter, jamming beacon, cerberus launcher, and is ballistic skill 3. It has the Deep Strike and Scout universal special rules. Finally, it is ballistic skill 3 and can carry 5 scouts (and only scouts). What does the jamming beacon and Cerberus launcher do you ask?

The jamming beacon, well, is a jamming beacon. Any icon, teleport homer or other item of that sort will not work with 6” of this vehicle. So deep striking without error (icon, homer etc) will not work if within 6” of the Storm. It also causes any unit attempting to deep strike within 6” to roll 4D6” for scatter instead of the standard 2D6”. Wow that sounds pretty useful.

The Cerberus launcher gives a nice assault buff to any squad jumping out to fight. An enemy unit that is assaulted, by the squad embarked on the Storm, will suffer a -2 to their leadership for that assault phase. Wow quite a buff in the hectic world of 40K close combat.

So why is this vehicle left off battle fields? Well I think it is due to the fact it is a frail non-dedicated dedicated transport. It can only carry scouts and five at that. There is not a lot that is scary about five scouts jumping out to assault. Wait how is it dedicated and not dedicated? Well it is a vehicle with transport option (non-dedicated) that can only carry scouts (dedicated to scouts only).

Then there is the fact it competes with; bikes, non-open topped speeders with better ballistic, attack bikes and even Vanguard Veterans. Space Marine players look at these as better fast attack options than then Storm.

There is also the ballistic skill of 3, which is not terrible. It is just low for marines. You can swap the heavy bolter on the Storm for a heavy flamer, multi melta or assault cannon. However, at ballistic 3 half of those shots are going to miss. The heavy flamer at least mitigates the BS 3, but when you need a multi melta shot, you can find it cheaper and more accurate elsewhere in the codex.

Last is the fragility of the vehicle. The armor 10 typical for a marine speeder, however, the open topped is not there. Plus regular land speeders can be bought in squadrons, and gain the added benefit (basically) of extra armor and wound (glancing/ penetrating) allocation. The Storm is singular and open topped armor 10. A well aimed and rolled boltgun can drop this vehicle, just ask the Dark Eldar.

How could this be changed in the future? Well first thing is that this should be a dedicated transport option for scouts and not a fast choice. Even, keep the limit of only a five scout capacity. Sure more scouts would  This just makes sense. Why it was not done in the first place is a mystery. Maybe it is the fear of multiple jamming beacons or the cerberus launcher instead of the three that can be taken now. Is there fear that too many people would be running multiple small five man scout squads in Storms, instead of tactical marines in Rhinos? Was G.W. afraid the Storm and scouts would out sell marines and Rhinos? Who knows?

This is a nice looking model, the attached scouts are a great touch. The abilities and special rules for it's wargear make for a possibly fun transport. There are definitely a tactical use for the Storm, especially with Blood Angels falling from the skies, demons dropping out of the warp, and a myriad of Terminators teleporting. It is a shame that a descent looking model has been shelved by its location in the codex.

Have you seen this unit? Part 1

Redheaded stepchildren, all 40K armies have them. These are units that never get used mostly due to competition within the force organization slot, cost, or specialized use.  These are units that might function well in the small gaming communities, but are rarely seen in wider circles or tournaments. 

Muck like Ken Burns (documentary guy for those who don’t know) I want to look at these units and see, what they are, why they are not used, and hopefully how they could have/ should have been made appealing to gamers.

This might take some time and will span the 40K universe. So where to start? Well let’s go with the most popular and polarizing army, Space Marines. The first unit that jumps out at me is prevalent in every Marine codex, the Whirlwind.

The little war engine that could

This is essentially a mobile artillery piece on a Rhino chassis. It can deliver a strength 5 AP 4 ordnance barrage (large blast), or a strength 4 AP 5 ordnance barrage (large blast) that ignores cover. This can be done directly or indirectly with ranges of 12”-48”. It can move 6” and fire directly or hide and fire indirectly. It is also relatively cheap for all Marine chapters.

So why is this not taken by most Space Marine players? The first is the fact it is a heavy support choice. Every Marine book has great heavy support choices (Devastators, Long Fangs, Land Raiders, Predators). The Whirlwind cannot compete with the damage a Devastator squad, Predator or Land Raider can dish out.  The armor 11 on all sides also cannot compete with the front armor the Predator or the all around armor of the Land Raider.  There is also the transport ability of the Land Raider as well.

The majority of the heavy support choices all cost more than the standard Whirlwind, but that is not why the Whirlwind is usually passed over.  It looks to be due to its frailty and damage output.

How could this have been made to be a more appealing vehicle? The simple answer is always seems to be, “make it stronger”, but I disagree. I think that the Whirlwind should have been given the option to be taken as a squad.

As a squad the lowly armor 11 is mitigated a bit. The damage potential of the tank is also increased. It would not be game shattering either. Is a squad of Imperial Guard Griffons are game breaking? They are very similar to the Whirlwind and can be run 1-3 in a heavy slot. The option to run two or three Whirlwinds as one heavy support slot would be much more appealing than it is now.

So why wasn’t this done? Was it some long standing G.W. rule, since all Whirlwinds are single they all will be single. Is it some Marine fluff that says they never to be used as a squad? Why is a strength 5 template better then three strength 5 templates? Who knows?

I would think they could sell more of these models if there was a squad option.  I also think they might be more prevalent on the tabletops if they could be taken as a squad. In the world of 5^th edition where vehicles are tougher and quantity of wounds caused is better than quality, who wouldn’t want to throw two or three strength 5 large blasts at an opponent?  

So until the next Marine codex is released I think the Whirlwind will stay where it is, in boxes on store shelves.

long long ago a cool Spiderman villian or the other transport

The second and last transport option for the Dark Eldar is the Venom. It seats five, is armor 10 on all sides, is an open topped fast skimmer and clocks in at the previous codex Raider price. There is only a blurry drawing in the codex of this vehicle. So once again there is no model for a codex unit that many people want to/ do use.

What do/ will you look like Venom?

Well what else is the Venom? Well not much. It comes standard with a twin linked splinter rifle, splinter cannon and flicker field. Wait...it comes with what? Yup a 5++ save (no comment) and two poisoned weapons. Once again if the flicker field wasn't stock it would be cheaper and easier to throw all over the army. It can have many of the Raider-esqe upgrades: Retrofire Jets, Chain Snares, Grisly Trophies, Envenomed Blades, and Night Shields. The twin linked rifle can be swapped for a splinter cannon as well. Honestly, I wouldn't dump the extra points for most upgrades, well except for the splinter cannon. i can see a few uses for that armament.

So Ian, what do you think? How would you use this?

Well, if I was to use this transport I would run it with Trueborn with dual dark lances and swap the twin linked splinter rifles for a splinter cannon. This could make for a nice anti-transport platform. I can see moving 6", firing dark lances at a Rhino and then dropping 12 splinter cannon shots on the contents.

I can also see going the double splinter cannon Trueborn and double splinter cannon on the Venom. This will pepper the heck out anything that isn't a vehicle.

I see the same pros and cons as the Raider. If you want multiple small units and a transport option for them, then this is the vehicle for you. There really isn't much else to say about this besides....MAKE A MODEL FOR IT!  PEOPLE WANT IT  AND WILL BUY IT!

paper thin,cool main gun,fast transport..oh the Raider

Well everyone else has moved on to the Grey Knights and mostly forgotten the Dark Eldar, well not me. I started reviewing them and damn it, I'm gonna finish.

The Raider is the first of two transport options for the Dark Eldar. It is a fast, open topped skimmer. It has a spectacular armor 10 on each facing and can transport 10 people (or 5 Grotesques). It also comes standard with a ballistic skill 4 dark lance. All this for five more points than it used to cost (it was once 55 points). Wait it also has Night Vision like the rest of the army.

Now as it is the main transport for the army it is probably important to have one or four depending on playstyle.  Most units that walk can buy then so they can ride instead. Is it worth it though? Well lets look at upgrades, and there are quite a few, before we decide.

Disintegrator Cannon is a free weapon swap with the dark lance. Not bad if you face a lot of 3+ armor, that is not in a vehicle.

Shock Prow this adds D3 to the vehicle front armor when ramming. Meh.

Torment Grenade Launcher enemy units within 6" suffer -1 leadership and must pass a morale test to assault the vehicle. Nice,but why would anyone assault this when they can easily shoot it and assault the contents after. Armor 10 is not hard to beat.

Retrofire Jets allow the Raider to deep strike. Awesome ability, but being a larger model it might be hard to land where you want.

Chain Snares these act a lot like the Reaver blade veins. They cause D3+1 strength 4 AP - hits to unengaged models the Raider passes over. Much like the ability it gives, I'll pass over too.

Grisly Trophies friendly units within 6" can re-roll failed leadership rolls. I like this, as re-rolling leadership is always good.

Envenomed Blades when assaulting the vehicle, enemy units take a strength 4 AP- hit for every 1 they roll. PFFFFFFFFT!!

Splinter Rack embarked units may re-roll to hit with splinter weapons. This is also nice if you run a squad with a splinter cannon and go drive-by guys. Just don't drive to far or you won't get to shoot with the neat-o re-rolls.