40k: Number of Troops

I recently read a very interesting article at BoLS. Though it is about how many troops to take in 40k, i think it is germaine to any other game systems as well.

In Annihilation, Troops are just another unit that can become a kill point by dying and generate kill points for killing other units. In most cases, Troops choices are less effective at killing and as easy or easier to kill than similar Elite, Heavy, and Fast Attack units. This is obviously an overgeneralization, but it matches the game design and is more accurate than inaccurate as a general rule. So in Annihilation, fewer Troops choices are better for most armies. The exceptions include Chaos Space Marines Cult Troops - Khorne Berserkers are very killy, Plague Marines are among the most durable, Noise Marines produce significant Dakka, and Thousand Sons have great antipersonnel fire and are the best unit to take Demolisher cannon hits on. Dark Eldar should generally take a maximum number of Troops, as they are a bargain for their killing power. Imperial Guard can go with a large number of Troops, especially if they have a Platoon that collapses into a Commissariat Blob. Yes, you can mount the platoon squads in Chimeras, but blobbing 30+ in Annihilation makes the unit essentially nonviable as a kill point for most armies.

In Capture and Control, most armies really only need two scoring units, as there are only two possible objectives. Reserving a unit to hold your own objective at the end of the game and sending another towards the enemy objective (often obliquely – no sense trying to hold an objective against counter attacks for 3 turns) is generally a good default behavior. If you are Eldar, you need at least two units assigned to each job, as Wave Serpents break down at the most inconvenient times, and walking Eldar Troops aren’t known for their durability. Guardsmen need more units for defense (and possibly offense, but Guard should focus on eliminating all enemy scoring units and/or contesting the far objective, in most cases) – I like 3 units in the area to hold my home objective, and I tend to devote the rest of my Guard force to immobilizing and then eliminating enemy contesting and capturing units. Space Marines often do well to Combat Squad a couple of units for home defense, working on the premise that killing two units is harder than killing one.

Seize Ground can have up to 5 objectives – so obviously you need at least 5 scoring units, right? No, not at all. In almost no cases should you be able to take more than 3 objectives – your opponent has to be really asleep for you to get to 4, and if you’re looking at 5 objectives, just go ahead and go for Wipeout instead.
Seize Ground is the mission designed for Space Marines. Combat squads mean that 6 scoring units are very likely for most Space Marine players, and each unit essentially has to be destroyed totally to be stopped. Eldar also love Seize Ground; mobility is really all they have going for them, so having a lot of objectives to hope to tank shock a Wave Serpent of Dire Avengers onto is a very good thing.

From the articles I take away the following concepts.
1. You don't need to contest all objectives, just the majority of them. If there are five objectives, you need to take 3 to win.
2. Troop choices need to be protected. They need to survive till the end of the game. There are several ways to do so. Firstly shield them in terrains. Secondly take either large units that are hard to reduce to less than half, or make them particularly resilient.
3. One to two troop choice should be mobile, held in "reserve" until toward the end of the game when they can rush forward and take an objective.
4. This means minimum of 3 troops and maximum of 4 troops.
5. Other force selections, whether it be HQ, elites, fast, or heavies should be taken to attack, and they really should focus their attacks on enemy troops as much as they can.

SBG: 1k of Good & Evil

Tonight i completed 1000 pts of good and evil forces. Both are compact forces designed to both fit together in a small GW carrying cases. Both are also all metals and include models whose rules i believe are better in SBG than in WotR.

Good:
15 fountain guards + shields. yes shields, making them D7!
2 warrior of minas tirith with banner (i like placing a banner on either end of, but behind my battle line)
1 avenger +/- captain
1 captain
1 Elendil + shield
1 gandalf the grey
along with
15 dead warriors
1 dead king


Evil:
15 black guards
1 black guard banner
1 black guard captain
1 black guard taskmaster
1 generic ringwraith
1 witch king with crown of morgul
2 castellans & 2 bat swarms (1 of each together to hold my flank)
1 shade (the anti banner)
1 warg chieftain (fast responder)

Planning new Imperial Navy fleet

I have been contemplating a new Imperial fleet for three reasons.
1. I want a fleet consisting of ships most veterans eschew: the Lunar, the Dictator, the Mars, the Overlord, and the Apocalypse.
2. I want a fleet to paint well enough for competition (or so i say now)
3. I want a fleet to name using cities from my favorite state of Texas, and naturally color schemed for the Texas flag.

I have hesitated until i found these prow.

Beautiful, no?

more details can be found in this thread at Port Maw and here.

BFG Fleet Overview: Space Marines

Background. In the fluff, Space Marines power lies within each space marine as the epitome of a warrior. As such, space marines force relies on the power of each marine working in conjunction with each other in close encounters. This theme is carried on in how Space Marine fleets play in BFG.


Warp Rift Issue #21 cover.

Strengths. The primary strengths for the Space Marine fleet remains within the individual marine. In game terms SM has a +2 bonus to boarding actions and +1 bonus to hit and run attacks. As a reminder, boarding action can be declared in the end phase when in base to base contact with an enemy ship. Base boarding values + a D6 are compared; higher totals win. Each point of difference between the two totals results in a hull damage for the loser. Space Marines get a bonus modifier of +2 to its total but then Orks and Chaos gets a +1, Dark Eldar gets a +1 in the first round (but a -1 in each subsequent rounds) and Tyranids gets to chose the higher of two D6 rolls rather than be limited to just one D6 roll. Given that these other fleets also receive some bonus for boarding, the Space marine bonus of +2 doesn't really seem that significant. In addition, since part of the boarding total is based on the remaining damage points available added to its current turrets, Space Marines ship size must also be considered. The most numerous ships in a Space Marine fleet will be either strike cruisers with 6 hull damage points and 2 turrets or escorts; most chaos ships will be cruisers with 8 hull damage points and 2 turrets, or the ork cruisers with 10 hull damage points and 1 turret. Considering the ship size, the effectiveness of Space Marine in boarding appears essentially limited to boarding Imperial Navy and Ad Mech (both ally fleets), Corsair and Craftworld Eldars, Necron, and Tau.
On the other hand, the +1 bonus to hit and run attacks is tremendous. Hit and runs can be conducted by Space Marines in 3 forms. Firstly by thunderhawk gunships which are a cross between fighters and assault boats. Secondly by boarding torpedoes, which unlike regular torpedoes can make a 45 degree turn at the beginning of the ordnance phase and attack by hit and run rather than hull hits. Third and finally, Space Marines can make hit and run attack by teleport attacks. Teleport attacks are made by capital ships against enemy ships within 10 cm whose shields are down. Hit and run attacks is conducted with a D6 and checking against the Critical Hits table. Since the Critical Hits table spans from 2-12, most fleet fails on a roll of 1. Space Marines always inflict some damage. Against escorts, any critical damage means destruction; Space Marines can rapidly wipe out enemy escorts (except Eldars). Against capital ships at most 2 in 6 attacks will result in a hull point of damage but can be quite effective in crippling weapon functions.
Another manifestation of the power of a Space Marine is the average ship or squadron leadership is 9 and Marine "Admiral," the Master of the Fleet has leadership of 10 for a measly 50 points.


Red Scorpion By Martin Sharp, 4th place winner of GothiComp09.

An additional strength of the Space Marine fleet is the armoring of their ships: both Marine battleships (Battlebarge) and cruisers (strike cruisers) are armor 6 all around. Space Marine capital ships also have a unique weapon in the form of bombardment cannons with left/front/right firing arcs. Bombardment cannons are battery weapons that always hit on 4+. However like batteries the number of attacks is modified using the battery Gunnery table. This means that the usual sequence of using batteries to take down shields first will reduce the effectiveness of subsequent bombardment cannons shooting while shooting with bombardment cannon first will make be more effective at taking down shields while losing its 4+ to hit advantage to inflict hull damage against armor 5+ and 6+ hull. The rules do not appear to allow a simultaneous shooting with both bombardment cannon and batteries using different colored dice.

Weaknesses. Given the focus on the individual marine warriors, space marine fleets sometimes feel particularly like a "one trick" fleet. Space Marines lack the variety of ships and variety of armaments that allows other fleet to be all around competitive. Pure Space Marine fleets do not have carriers of fighters or bombers, and lances. Space Marines also only have two capital ships to choose from, the battlebarge and the strike cruisers. While the battlebarge maybe relatively comparable to most battleships in other fleets, the strike cruiser doesn't match up well against most cruisers. Thus the Space Marine fleet is more like a system to deliver marines to attack rather than a fleet of warships for ship-to-ship slugfests.

Fleet Composition. Given that BFG is a naval game, Space Marine fleet should include a battlebarge at first opportunity. It is the only ship that can go toe to toe with enemy ships. Unfortunately there can only be one barge at up to a 1k points fleet and a second for up to 2k. The rest of the fleet will be made up of either strike cruisers and or escorts. Given there are several escorts to choose from and only one strike cruiser choice, let us look at the escorts first. Space Marines can choose from among 3 Space Marine specific escorts and upgrade the 3 Imperial Navy escorts to Space Marine standards. Firstly is the Hunter escort for 40 points armed with 2 points of torpedoes and 1 point of battery. While 2 points of torpedoes may not sound like much, they can also launch boarding torpedoes, which make them very Space Marine. Hunters are better than the 35 points Space Marine upgraded Cobras. For an extra five points you get 5+ armor instead of 4+ and 35 cm movement rather than 30 cm. The Space Marine Gladius for 45 points has 4 points of batteries but when compared to the Space Marine upgraded Sword for 40 points, the only return for the 5 points difference is a 5 cm extra movement. In my opinion this might give the Gladius an edge as strike cruisers have a similar 30 cm movement as the Gladius while the Sword would be a slower 25 cm. As you might have guessed, the Space Marine Nova has a similar role as that of the Firestorm. However, for 5 points more it gains a 10 cm extra movement but loses one point of turrets. Among the 6 escorts, I believe the most worthwhile are the Hunters (much superior to the very useful Cobras for a small charge of 5 points).
Strike cruisers are nearly quintessentially Space Marines with armor 6, fast and maneuverable, armed with both thunderhawks and bombardment cannons. Model wise if you don't like the looks of the Specialist Games striker cruiser, look at the Grey Knights strike cruiser from Forgeworld.



Fleet Tactic. At 1k points, a Space Marine fleet should have one barge, 2 to 3 strike cruisers, and 3-8 escorts. The barge should hold off enemy capital ships with its 45 cm batteries while contributing to the fleet hit and run attacks with its own thunderhawks and boarding torpedoes. Strike cruisers, like most light cruisers can be played as super escorts to support and protect the fleet, or used offensively in pairs. The Hunters should support thunderhawks with their torpedoes. Defending ships must choose between directing their defensive turrets against attacking thunderhawks or boarding torpedoes but not both. While enemy escorts may be easily eliminated with hit and run attacks, these attacks may be better spent against enemy capital ships. The ability to take down a whole bank of weapons (dorsal vs starboard vs port vs prow) can really reduce a significant amount of offensive power of a capital ships, much more so than a destroyed escort in my opinion.

In summary, a Space Marine fleet is all about hit and runs. If you are looking for more diversity, there are alternative list available. An Armageddon list allows a mix of SM and Imperial Navy. Another option is to use the Chaos 13th Black Crusade. This is the list that most if not all Chaos Space Marine players should be fielding but without the use of marks of chaos, it could represent a chapter who has retained their pre-heresy ships or even to represent a pre-heresy marine fleet. Chaos Space Marine also has the +2 bonus to board, +1 bonus to hit and run, as well as the availability of thunder hawks. In truth, this may be preferable to a standard barge/strike cruiser Space Marine fleet. The 13th Black Crusade list would give you more ship options as well as being cheaper to purchase.

This post is a slight update of the one originally posted at BoLS

BFG Fleet Overview: Necron

I plan for this post to be the first in a series of analysis of the various fleets in BFG. I want to start with Necrons for two reasons. Firstly, the Necrons are rated one of the strongest fleet in BFG. While most of us may not play BFG Necron ourselves, I do think it helps to understand how tough they can be so when we build our own fleet, we will continue to keep them in mind. Secondly, I am helping a friend start a Necron fleet and thus I have to apply some thoughts and focus for my recommendations.

Firstly, lets look at what the Necrons can do in the movement phase. They are a particularly fast fleet, their cruisers have 30 cm movements and their escorts move 40-50 cm. Their battleship though only move 20 cm, which is pretty average. Another aspect of their speed is where the standard All Ahead Full (AAF) special movement order generates an additional 4D6 cm (4-24 cm) in movements with no turns allowed, Necrons ' AAF is D6 x10 cm (10-60 cm) and a turned is allowed every 20 cm moved. For Necron players, their enhanced speed allow for faster closings and faster exits from the encounter. For playing against Necrons, this will necessitate concentrated shooting to inflict all the damage while you can.

In the shooting phase, all Necron attacks are particularly powerful, especially against all Eldars. Their batteries are called lightning arcs that always consider their targets as closing (the most favorable aspect compared to moving away and abeam). In addition, lightning arc attacks are not affected by the negative column shift modifier of Eldar holofields or Dark Eldar shadowfields. However, as it stands, no Necron ships has lightning arc with a range more than 30cm. The Necron lances are called gauss particle whips what can bypass shields on a to hit roll of 6. I think this sounds better than it actually works because most of us always fire our batteries before our lances, using batteries to take down shields prior to lances shooting. Holofields and shadowfields usually allow 2+ saves against lances but this is not allowed against gauss particle whip. Currently gauss particle whips are only available on capital ships with 45cm ranges. Necron main capital ships (tombships and scythes) are also armed with a unique weapon called the star pulse generator. With each star pulse generator all enemy ships and ordnance within 20 cm receive one hit against its facing armor (or 4+ for each ordnance marker, not wave) and once again, holofields and shadowfields offer no saves. Given these three weapons, Necron players should start with lightning arc batteries (when there are a minimal number of blast markers are in play to be negative modifiers), then the star pulse generator (not affected by blast markers but must roll against armor) , and then gauss particle whips (which only require a 4+ to hit and so best applied once shields are down).

One other special weapon available only as an upgrade for Necron cairn tombship is the sepulchre. The sepulchre destroys each ordnance marker (not waves) within 20 cm on a 4+. The sepulchre can also force a leadership test of one enemy ship within 20 cm. If the leadership test is failed, that ship suffers a permanent -1 to its leadership value for the game and cannot go on any special order, including Brace For Impact (BFI), until the end of the ship owner's next turn. For those facing against a Necron tombship, keep low leadership ships more than 20 cm away if possible or squadron them to maximize leadership values. In addition, since both the tombship and the line cruiser scythe are also armed with the star pulse generator, ordnance attacks should only be conducted within attack range so as not to leave ordnance markers on the table to be attacked.

In the end phase, Necron ships armed portals can make additional teleport attacks over the standard of 1 based on the number of portals they are armed with (3 for tombships, 2 for scythes and 1 for jackal escorts). The teleport attack restrictions of 10 cm range and no functional defensive shields remain in play but the restriction that the target must have less remaining hull points than the attacker is waved (though jackals can only attack ships with current hull points of 6 or less)


Tomb ship model by Asmodean GothiComp05 submission.


Against enemy shootings instead of shields Necron ships have saves, 4+ for tombships, 5+ for cruisers, and 6+ for escorts. In addition all Necron ships have an intrinsic all around armor of 6! Both of these make a Necron ship a very tough nut to crack. And if they have to go on Brace For Impact (BFI) their saves go to 2+ though this does reduce their armor to 4+. I have looked at this to determine whether it would be more effective to attack Necron ships with lances first, and then if they go on BFI and lower their armor to allow follow up batteries or ordnance attack to be more effective. It doesn't.

tomb ships gain nothing to brace against batteries; it stay at 3/36 per battery die
cruisers go from base of 4/36 to 3/36
escorts go from 5/36 to 3/36

against lances tomb ships go from base of 3/12 to 1/12 per lance die
cruisers go from base of 4/12 to 1/12
escorts go from base of 5/12 to 1/12

With a tomb ship, if batteries fire first, BFI really doesn't help so I would decide to brace based on the number of lance attacks. With a cruiser or escorts the gains of BFI against batteries fire is marginal, so I wouldn't brace if batteries fire first and again wait for the lance attacks. If lances fire first, I would decide on brace, which might later reduce ever so slightly battery attacks.
I am not sure it makes that much of a difference on analysis but I can see how firing batteries first might eek out a few additional hits. Thus when shooting against Necrons, I think it would be easier just to keep the usual order of batteries attack first, followed by lances.

The Necrons uses a different critical hit table which make them a bit more at risk for weapon failures and permanent leadership loss. This might be exploited by assault boats attacks and bombardment cannons, typical of Space Marine attacks. Also worth noting is that there are no Necron ordnance whatsoever; no torpedoes and no attack crafts. Necrons will use both turrets and the star pulse generator defensively in lieu of ordnance for defense or offense.

When choosing any fleet, the first question is what is your main stay ship class, battleship, cruisers, or escorts. As previously alluded to, there are no Necron carriers. One tomb ship battlship with a sepulchre is the same points as 2 scythes. Though a tomb ship has only 12 hits to the 2 scythes 16 hits total, its 4+ saves to the scythe 5+ saves make them fairly equivalent in durability. The tomb ship can field more lighting arc batteries but 2 scythes have more gauss particle whips and portals, and using 2 models will also extend the effective range and attacks of the star pulse generator. Given also that a tomb ship can only be taken for each scythes, it appears to me the scythe is the mainstay of the Necron fleet. The other Necron cruiser is a light cruiser with only 4 hits, only lighting arc batteries and 1 turret makes it a support vessel rather than a ship of the line. As a support vessel though it will grant the Necron player an additional +1 leadership (making the total modifier +2) for special order tests when there is an enemy ship on special order as well. Despite the 6+ armor the 6+ saves value for escorts make them the most vulnerable component of the Necron fleet. Of the two, the jackal is the superior escort as you get more for the points: 200 points with 4 jackal raiders get you 16 points of lightning arc batteries and a total of 8 teleport attacks that can be applied against ships with 6 hit points remaining whereas only 15 points of lightning arc batteries with 5 dirge raiders. I don't see the faster dirges make up the difference in value when compared to the jackal raider.

One last consideration. Necron capital ship destroyed but not a drifting hulk counts as twice its cost for Victory Points and thrice if destroyed and left as drifting hulk. More so than against other fleets, at least in VPs, it pays to concentrate your fire against Necron capital ships.

Cross Posted at Bell of Lost Souls

BFG Tactic: How to inflict damage

Before I get further into each fleet list, I want to go over how, in game terms, you inflict damage on your opponent ships. In each and every phase of the game there is an opportunity to inflict damage. How is that for a wargame!

Movement phase.
To inflict some hurt while moving, you have to ram. To ram a ship must first pass a special leadership test to go on “All Ahead Full.” Then if the movement takes into base to base contact, a leadership test is immediately required to actually hit the target ship. This leadership test is easier when ramming a larger ship and harder when ramming a smaller ship. The result of ramming is a number of dice used to inflict damage; the number being dependent on size of ship. Shields are ineffective against ramming. Both ships are at risk for being damaged but if rammed in the side or rear, the rammed ship will likely take more damage than the ramming ship. Once ramming attack is completed, the ramming ship must move forward and completes its remaining move. However, a ship can only make one ramming attack per phase. Note that since ramming requires base to base contact, cruisers may opt to be on a large flying base rather than small ones, and thus increase its ability to ram. Obviously doing so will make it more vulnerable to ordnance attacks.

To inflict some hurt while your opponent is moving, you must have deployed ordnance attacks (torpedoes or bombers) in the path of his ship. Once in contact, ordnance attack is immediate.


Tau Emissaries by Lord Chronos, heat winner from GothiComp 08.

Shooting phase.
Always start shooting with batteries rather than lances. Each hits (whether damages is inflicted or not) typically leaves a blast marker on your target. Battery weapon effectiveness will be degraded if it has to fire at or through any blast marker. Since shooting is by one ship or squadron at a time, batteries based ships should fire first, mixed battery-lance ships should be in squadrons, and lances should be used to finish the destruction.

To increase a ship’s shooting effectiveness, consider rolling for that ship to go on special order “Lock On.” This will allow the ship to re-roll all misses. However, all special orders, except for one, must be declared at the beginning of the movement phase, so a little forethought is required.

The one exception to when to check for special order test is the special order “Brace for Impact!” Bracing can be tested for against any attacks made by your opponent, thus this is typically during your opponent’s shooting phase but can also be tested for during his movement phase (against ramming) or the shared ordnance phase, or the shared end phase. Bracing gives your ship a 4+ save against each damage inflicted but must be declared and test for before the number of actual damages inflicted is determined. Note that a failure to brace against one ship’s attack does not prevent rechecking when another ship attacks whether it be against the ship that previously failed a Brace for Impact test or another ship that has not even tested. In general, if you estimate that there is a reasonable chance your ship will be crippled in the entirety of your opponent shooting phase, not just from this one ship currently attacking, you should consider going on Brace for Impact.

One amusing target for attack during shooting, as well as during the ordnance phase, is to attack your opponent’s hulks. A lucky roll may cause it to explode and engulf surrounding ships with equivalent of lance attacks (4+ to damage). Note though that any ships within range can be damaged by such a blast, yours and his. If your ships are more resilient against such attacks, say by having hollofields or with active saves, it might make tactical sense as well.


Eldritch Path Thousand Sons Acheron by Giulio DDM, final winner of GothiComp 08.

The Ordnance Phase.
The decision to launch ordnance must be made at the beginning of the movement phase. This is because other than the launching of ordnance is free the first time and does not require the special order “Reload Ordnance.” Every subsequent launches require the special order to be passed and this has to be declared at the beginning of the movement phase.

Since the ordnance phase is shared, once you are done with moving your ordnance, your opponent will get to move his. Thus the first thing I do is use my fighters to take out his ordnance. This will clear the board for my ordnance to move and attack. Note that bombers or assault boats can take out an equal number of enemy fighter. This might come into consideration because a) he cannot reload ordnance until his own movement phase, b) he might fail his reload test and thus his other planned special orders as well and c) you might want to sacrifice some attack craft so that others may reach their target.

Since most torpedoes cannot maneuver and must move directly forward, I typically attack with my torpedoes first. Defensive turrets can only defend against either torpedoes or attack crafts. If there are threatening bombers within reach, your opponent will have to decide whether to waste his turrets against less effective torpedoes or save them for against a more vicious bomber/assault boat attack that may never come! Next I direct the bombers to their target. Unlike torpedoes, bombers can attack any enemy ship within range. Assault boats are killer against escorts but are less likely to kill capital ships. The basic assault boat attack has a 5 in 6 chance of taking out an escort. I save them till the end to finish the kills I need as I usually prefer to kill capital ships before escorts.


Imperator Ex Machina Venerable Battle Barge by ehlijen, heat winner from GothiComp 08.

The End Phase.
There are two ways to inflict damages in the end phase: boarding and teleport attacks. Since boarding must be declared in the movement phase when a ship ends its movement in base to base with an enemy ship, it seems best to resolve boarding before teleport attacks. Larger ships are more effective against smaller ships but both ships can be damaged.

Teleport attacks are made by capital ships not crippled or on special orders against ships without active shields within 10 cm. Teleport attacks are resolved just as hit and run attacks conducted by assault boats.

Final Thought.
You really have to plan ahead with BFG, starting with what special orders you want for each ship/squadron, and prioritizing the order to test for because once failing one, you cannot test the remainder. In addition, knowing how to inflict damage and more importantly how you want to inflict damage will affect your fleet’s ship choice, as well as how to safeguard against them.

BFG: Alternative Models 2

From the Gothicomp gallery you will notice this ship:

This ship is from the Cold Navy line and for ordering info go here.
Interesting enough, I have several models from this line with ships for both Terran Republic and Mauridian Empire when they were metals (now resin).

In my search for more of these models i came accross Ninja Magic. Some of their models are shown below. They also are in the process of producing rules for their models and i will definitely keep an eye on them.