The Disciples of the Four Ride Forth Again!

 I'm planning on playing my first official game of 40K today in about 2 years under the newest 6th Ed. ruleset. A friend and I are only playing a 500pt starter game (as my "finished" model selection is somewhat lacking), but I'm so geeked about tonight!

 It will be my CSM's versus (presumably) vanilla SM's (or possibly Space Wolves) - any play suggestions or gaming tips for a relative newbie would be greatly appreciated!

Here's my army list:

=HQ=
Chaos Lord
- Power flail (power mace, essentially, but my finished Chaos Lord fig has a flail modeled, so...)
- Melta Bombs
- Ichor Blood
- Veteran of the Long War
- Mark of Khorne
105 pts.

=Troops=
8 Chaos Space Marines
- Meltagun
- Veterans of the Long War
Chaos Rhino transport
- extra Combi-bolter
172 pts.

6 Khorne Berzerkers
Skull Champ (couldn't resist, prefer it to Berzerker Champ)
- Power Weapon
- Melta Bombs
- 5 Chainaxes
- Veterans of the Long War
- Icon of Wrath
Chaos Rhino transport
- extra Combi-bolter
220 pts.

Total: 497 pts.

 My thinking is to have the Lord grouped with the Berzerkers, roll them all up in the Rhinos from as far forward as I can field them, and pop smoke grenades for cover.

The next turn, I'll have the Berzerkers and Lord charge into CC against something dangerous. If it ends up being Bjorn the Fell-Handed or something, between the added weapon strength on the charge from the Lord and/or the combination of Melta Bombs, then they ought to crack it open given enough time. Meanwhile, the CSM's deploy out from within 24" using the Rhino or terrain for cover and lay down as much fire as they can (ideally Rapid Fire range) with a Melta for support if anything heavy shows up via Deep Strike or what have you.

 This is a variation of a list I fielded in 5th Edition at a gaming shop again some random guy, where I had a Slaaneshi Lord with a generic Daemon Weapon paired up with my Berzerkers - first charge against my opponent's troops, I had something like 19-20 attacks and chopped up most of his Space Wolves into tiny pieces. He had also fielded Bjorn the Fell-Handed and I ended up immobilizing him before engaging in close combat, but it turned out my opponent was a bit of a poor sport and insisted that despite being immobilized, his Dread was still able to turn to face my troops from any side where they couldn't dent his armor and so I eventually moved off opposite a hill out of LoS of Bjorn with my remaining troops, so the game was pretty much a and he complained about how I should've stayed and fought. (I afterwards read the 5th Ed. rulebook more specifically and realized he actually was playing unfair with Bjorn so far as immobilization and facing, and this same immobilized Dread rule carries forward into 6th Ed.)

 In any case, I added extra Melta Bombs on the Lord and a +Strength weapon to make sure that doesn't happen again, and I'm hoping that anything the Berzerker crew can't take care of, the remaining CSM gunline can with support from the double-bolstered Rhinos (if they survive).

 Like I said, comments and any suggestions on the tentative army would be great, and I'm trying to get my painting mojo back so I can finish up the CoC figures I have pending (from previous posts) - the customer said there's no rush on them and I've been busy with work and family
(and "painter's block"), but despite that I want to be respectable and get his commission done as quickly and as well as I can.

The Disciples of the Four, Revised

I've kinda settled on a 1,000pt. tentative Chaos Space Marine army list making some revisions to my last army layout - I've gotten 2 games under my belt now under the new Edition and played polar opposite 500 pt. armies: an all-Warrior Tyranid list and a Space Wolves force fielding Bjorn, an Iron Priest, and squads of Long Fangs. My battle with the 'Nids was one-sided in their favor, but I ended up playing a draw against the Wolves and there were some stupid things I did (or didn't do, just as likely) in both games that I shouldn't repeat.

=HQ=
Undivided Chaos Lord
- Daemon Weapon
- Combi-melta
140 pts.

=Troops=
6 Khorne Berzerkers
- Skull Champion
-- Power Fist
Rhino w/ twin-linked bolter
201 pts.

10 Chaos Marines
- Icon of Chaos Glory
- Meltagun
- Meltagun
180 pts.

=Heavy Support=
5 Havocs
- 4 Missile Launchers
Rhino w/ twin-linked bolter
- Havoc Launcher
205 pts.

Defiler
- 2 Extra close combat arms
150 pts.

=Fast Attack=
3 Chaos Spawn
120 pts.

Total: 996 pts.

I'd really appreciate feedback on the list, especially if you could give some of the reasoning behind your suggestions. (I'm trying to pick up as much knowledge here about army list composition as I can, since I don't have a lot of actual playing experience - 5 games total so far.)

My Army Challenge, Pt. 2

 Well, it's not much of an army and it's got a few stand-ins because I didn't have enough time to finish putting together the conversions (and my wife came home for lunch from work, and it would've been in trouble to not be social) - but it's mine:

 I noticed that I went over in terms of Berzerkers needed points-wise and I need to finagle an Icon of Chaos Glory bearer for the regular CSM's, but assuming I proxy the Vindicator for a plain ol' Rhino, I should be good to go.

My Army Challenge

 Doing the math, I figger it's been about 5 years as of round about this time since I got back into the miniature painting hobby - right off the bat I was painting Warhammer 40K stuff (I started with a Blood Angel and moved right on into some other difficult-to-paint colors, working myself into a corner of display figure painting and a few Demon awards to show for it). I've taken a stab at about 4 armies, most of them still works-in-progress.

 I think it's about time I actually had an army of my own I could use to play the game. I need to quit farting around and actually stick some pieces together, temporary or no, and get sufficient points' worth of plastic bodies to be able to field a starting force - a few vehicles thrown in for variety. The one I've made the most progress on is my Chaos Space Marines - I've got an army list, a tentative tactical plan for how I'm going to deploy my troops, and, more importantly, the expectation that there's going to be a group getting together at a hobby store about 35 minutes away from my house this evening composed of folks I may or may not know from the old now-closed Games Workshop store I used to frequent. (I'd rather attend the supposed Saturday gathering, but I'm going to some seminars/a convention this weekend with my wife, so that's out for this week.)

 The challenge: I'm going to have 500 points assembled by 5:00pm EST this evening. I have no idea what time anyone else is going to be at this gaming store, or even if I'll actually get to play, but I don't care - I'm on a mission... I'll be taking my assembled "beginner" Disciples of the Four CSM army with me when I leave later today.

 The forces of Chaos and their quest for ruin oppose me:

[Edit] (Somebody asked for a screenshot...) [/Edit]

Relative Killy Virtues of CSM Power "Stuff"

 Apparently by trying to tweak my CSM Codex-standard 500 point army list a bit so far as the retinue of Khorne Berserkers accompanying my Undivided Chaos Lord into battle, I seem to have hit on a very polarizing topic in the community under 5th Edition Warhammer 40K rules: the relative killy virtues of Power Fists vs. Power Weapons.

 The scenario is that my Chaos Lord and a smallish number of Berzerkers (say, 5, one of whom is a Skull Champion) are piled into a Rhino APC to rush across the battlefield, pile out under cover of smoke grenades and supporting firepower and then run at a charge, howling for blood to be spilt and frothing at the mouth with maniacal anticipation.

 All things working out as planned, so the Berzerkers have Furious Charge with a bonus to Init. and Str. and an additional Attack for initiating the assault. The Chaos Lord does his bloodletting, but let's assume that there are more than enough warm bodies with pulses still standing for the Berzerkers to have their fun.

 Now if I'm understanding correctly, if the Skull Champion had a Power Weapon he would get all his attacks at a slightly higher Init. the first Assault turn, get a bonus Attack for the pistol in his off hand, an extra attack for the charge, and any hits would ignore enemy armor saves. A lot of potential hits at better-than-MEQ Initiative, in other words.

If I tooled out the Skull Champion with a Power Fist, however, he would attack with a 10 Str, get an extra attack for the charge, and cause
Instant Death to MEQ's. The down side is that in current 5th Ed. rules he wouldn't get an off-hand weapon attack unless he had another Power Fist, a Lightning Claw, or something similar. Oh, and he'd strike dead last in Initiative order with all his Power Fist attacks - there's not much point in saying he'd use his Bolt Pistol for all his carnage just for
the sake of running with a higher Init. since that kinda defeats the whole point of having him assigned a Power Fist, you can't split Assault attacks between weapons rules-wise, and the Fist is so much more intimidating.

 With only 5 Berzerkers and a worst-case scenario, the unit might all be dead before the Champion is even able to get medieval on the squad's intended victims with his Fist. Myself (being an absolute novice player), I think it would make more sense to have as many attacks at as high an Init. as possible and be able to cut through armor like butter. Judging from what I've read on various 40K-related forums, the majority opinion favors Power Fists versus Power Weapons.

 What do you folks think? I'm wondering what would be better for my small CSM force-in-progress. So far as modelling, I've got either extra-killy Power "stuff" option covered with a planned conversion for my Skull Champion.

The Disciples of the Four and The Shriven (It's All Dan Abnett's Fault)

 Here's something a little different that's not specifically about painting and modeling! Although I've taken a few stabs at trying to crank out an army for 40K in the past, most of which are now relegated to work-in-progress status and many of those linked to in the Gallery of my painting website, I haven't really had any fully realized army lists or troop rosters in mind to work towards - more often just vague half-formed plans. With the goal of keeping myself on track (as well as possibly getting feedback on the validity/combat-worthiness of my forces), I've been busy the past few weeks in spare moments trying to narrow down selections for two completely different army lists for forces I'd like to field in the hopefully near future - one is fairly straightforward from the current Games Workshop Chaos Space Marines Codex and the other has been planned out more from a modeling, conversion, and back story standpoint over the past several years and just lately been pigeonholed into one of the army lists from Forge World's three Siege of Vraks Imperial Armour books. The more convoluted army list of the two is now a Nurgle-biased force using the Renegades and Heretics list out of Imperial Armour Vol. VII, and is serving as my starting point for representing a force of The Shriven as taken from Dan Abnett's First and Only novel in the Gaunt's Ghosts series - for anyone who's already read in past entries about my unwholesome fascination with them as described in the book, I apologize in advance.

 Bear in mind that I hardly have any tabletop 40K play experience under my belt as I've consistently been more of a painter and converter than a gamer since getting back into the hobby about 4 years ago, but I'm looking to make a serious attempt at planning, assembling and painting up a few small armies (500 points or so each) with several goals in mind: 1) I'd like to actually play 40K for once with a fully painted and game-legal army of my own, 2) I want to complete a starting force of Chaos Space Marines in a loose, non-Legion-specific Warband of my own design for the sake of getting something playable "soonish" while still allowing for some conversion and variety in painting, and 3) I'd like to finally be able to put a force on the table as allies of my CSM Warband so as to represent remnants of The Shriven from First and Only - an army composed of the former workers, administrators, disciplinarians, and leftover general populace of the Forge World of Fortis Binary who were corrupted by Chaos, went rogue, and overtook the planet itself.

 My first army list has been easier to wrap my head around, as I'm more familiar with the Chaos Space Marine Codex, their troop types, and the overall concept of how the Chaos Marines theoretically handle themselves on the tabletop. This first list represents a smallish beginning force of troops from my self-designed Warband, The Disciples of the Four, that I've been kicking around ideas for in my head ever since Games Workshop released the latest CSM Codex:

=HQ=
Undivided Chaos Lord
- Daemon Weapon
- Combi-melta
140 pts.

=Troops=
5 Khorne Berzerkers (w/ Chaos Lord attached to these guys in game-play)
- Skull Champion
-- Power Fist
Rhino w/ pintle-mount twin bolter
185 pts.

8 Chaos Marines
- Icon of Chaos Glory
- Meltagun
Rhino
175 pts.

Total: 500 pts.

 In terms of a back story, The Disciples of the Four are an extra-zealous splinter group from the post-Heresy Word Bearers Legion, some time after the Legion's retreat to the Eye of Terror. Essentially, the originators of The Disciples split away from the Word Bearers Legion due to a difference in ideology: they felt their former comrades were somewhat lacking in "enthusiasm" - outside of converting whole populaces to worship of the Chaos Powers, building unholy monuments that stretch up into the stratosphere, and dogmatically enforcing their religious will on the conquered, they felt that the Word Bearers Legion's somewhat "distanced" spiritual approach didn't go nearly far enough. The Disciples of the Four want to demonstrate the might and the glory of the Gods of Chaos to the rest of the galaxy physically as well as from a "spiritual" standpoint. My Warband essentially will be marked with rampant mutation and corruption of the body and soul (from a "sane" 40K perspective) as a sign of their devotion to the Fell Powers, and the higher one progresses in the overall hierarchy within The Disciples, the more marked and favored they will be by the 4 Chaos Gods (read: rife with physical perversion and deviation from the semblance of their former appearance).

 I'm keeping with an Undivided belief approach in the Warband's adoration of the Chaos Powers (ideally for the most variety in painting, conversion and gameplay), and from a "fluff" standpoint, so long as any potential new members or allies likewise show complete devotion to the Ruinous Powers (both spiritual and corporeal), then The Disciples of the Four would be accepting of whoever (or whatever) wishes to join up with them in their efforts. I more or less adopted this "theme" for the sake of not getting stagnant or bored painting-wise, meaning I'll be able to incorporate Games Workshop's canonical Chaos Marine Legions' color schemes and styles of appearance that I've always liked directly into my force as well as (suitably corrupted) Loyalist Marine Chapter paint schemes and insignia; so long as I maintain certain specific elements from figure to figure such as iconography or particular armor panels in set colors, I'm thinking things won't look too motley.


 My second army list is a first stab at getting some models on the tabletop so as to represent a playable force of The Shriven - I have no experience whatsoever playing Imperial Guard or even against IG, so this is more an attempt to combine the ideas I want to get across with something that will hopefully be effective in-game. Compared to my planned Chaos Marine force, I'm expecting more or less every figure of my Shriven army to be converted from original base models/parts in some way - in other words I'm planning to get my Disciples of the Four troops painted up to a reasonable standard using whatever shortcuts and repetitive batch painting I can tolerate, so as to be able to actually play a game with my own figures, while The Shriven troops will be a bit more involved in creation and can be worked on in the background. So far as a back story goes in terms of their alliance with my Warband, they're intended to be leftovers of The Shriven forces in First and Only after the involvement by Gaunt's Ghosts on the Forge World of Fortis Binary. In the book (without ruining a great read) they are allied with the Iron Warriors and have a leaning towards long range bombardment, trench fighting, self-mutilation (former work-related protective gear sewn directly into their flesh, for example) and the use of, um, poisonous chemicals and daemonic rituals. Here's my planned army list for The Shriven as a separate small force to complement my initial Chaos Space Marine troops:

=HQ=
Renegade Company Command Platoon
Company Command Squad (more or less comparable to the Troop Platoon Command Squad from the newest GW Imperial Guard Codex)
1 Champion, 4 Renegades
(Champion has laspistol/CC weapon, 2 have lasguns, 2 have autoguns)
- Vox-caster
- Chaos banner

Mortar Squad (part of Platoon)
3 Heavy Weapons teams
- Lasgun & mortar each team
- Chemical shells (poisoning of bombardment targets on a 2+, and Marine-killing AP)
125 pts.

Apostate Preacher of Nurgle (comparable to the Ministorum Priest from the latest IG Codex)
- Bolt Pistol
- Eviscerator
67 pts.

=Elites=
5 Plague Marines (same as in the GW Chaos Space Marine Codex)
- Plasma Gun
130 pts.

=Troops=
Mutant Rabble (more or less comparable to a squad of IG Conscripts, and will have the Preacher attached in game-play)
20 Mutants
- 2 Flamers
92 pts.

Mutant Rabble
20 Mutants
- Flamer
86 pts.

Total: 500 pts.

 Given the unfolding of the story in First and Only, this force represents The Shriven "in exile" finding a welcome home as allies amongst The Disciples of the Four, as well as a following of mutants and degenerates trailing in their wake as The Shriven recouped their numbers and sought refuge on a number of worlds following an abrupt separation from their previous "protectors." I'm blaming the current lack of tanks and other fun means of mass slaughter on my difficulty in cramming heavy armor and warm bodies into the same 500 point army list, but I could also say that in their departure from Fortis Binary they were forced to leave a majority of their heavy guns behind but still have a leaning towards trench warfare tactics, heavy fire support. and long-range bombardment as learned from their time with the Iron Warriors.

 Feedback on either the army lists or my "fluff" for them would be greatly appreciated, as I'm pretty much a newbie when it comes to army building and actual gaming in 40K - I haven't even played anything in 5th Edition, for example, outside of a single brief run with 500 points' worth of unpainted and borrowed Orks when the Assault on Black Reach set first came out. For anyone interested, I've had a running work-in-progress thread over on the RelicNews Painting & Modeling Forum with both my work on The Shriven and (moreso) the Disciples of the Four for quite a while now. (Barring a few in-progress projects in what free time I have, my planned focus in the near future will ideally be on getting the troops for both these army lists assembled, playable and painted!)


 As an aside, it's nice to see I'm not the only one who has similar opinions about modeling, painting, army building and (eventually) playing using Forge World models and rules as a main focus of an army. Ron over at From the Warp made a post about this regarding his Deathwing Space Marine army: From the Warp: Using Forge World stuff