Fortifications, are they worth it?

Nick speaking,

So we all know the main reason you are now able to purchase your own Fortifications for your army in 6th edition. GW just want to sell more terrain and that's fair enough, they do actually make some cool looking terrain that can easily enhance the look of our battlefields. The question is though, is it worth buying Fortifications for your army? Well, lets have a look at what is on offer and see if we can come to any conclusions...

The first and lowest cost fortification, is the Aegis Defence Line. It is only fifty points for eight pieces of Line, four short and four long sections. The Defence Line is basically a portable barricade that uses the standard barricade characteristics. So, any model in base contact and any models within 2" of them, will gain a 4+ cover save. In addition to this, any unit using the Defence line gains a 2+ cover save if they go to ground and Bikes and Jetbikes assaulting a unit using the Line will have to test for Dangerous terrain. So far, it seems to be the most used fortification that I have seen being played, and I can see why. It's cheap points wise and offers your back field units or weaker units some consistent cover, which could be very useful for those armies that don't get a 3+ armour save as standard.

You can also purchase one of three extras for the Defence Line, including two different Skyfire guns, an Icarus Lascannon for thirty five points and a Quad-gun for fifty points. Or if you don't need Skyfire, you can buy a Comms relay for twenty Points, allowing you to re-roll any reserve rolls. Overall, for just fifty points, or no more than one hundred points, the Aegis Defence line can offer a lot to an army, especially if it's lacking in some areas, like good saves, Skyfire bullets or reserve bonuses.

Next is the Skyshield Landing Pad, which is going to set your army back seventy five points. The Skyshield had two landing pad configurations which can be changed once per turn by a model in base contact with it, as long as the enemy doesn't also have a model in base contact. The configurations are Shielded, giving any units on top a 4++ save against shooting attacks, or Unfurled, where deep strikers, jetbikes and jump infantry etc. do not have to take any dangerous terrain tests for landing on in. Personally, I can't really see the point of spending the extra points on a Landing Pad over having the Aegis Defence Line, apart from maybe giving your long range backfield shooting units some height advantage.

For the same points cost as a Skyshield Pad, you can buy an Imperial Bastion for your army. The Bastion is an armour fourteen Building that comes with four different facing Heavy Bolters, as well as some fire points for any units inside to use, plus you can add any one of the same two guns that are available on the Aegis Defence Line. You can also opt for a Comms Relay if you should so desire. The Bastion also has a roof for a unit to bunker in, so Overall, it can bring a lot to an army that need to hold a decent defencive position.

The last Fortification you can buy comes in at a hefty two hundred and twenty points, The Fortress of Redemption is a set of two armour valued fourteen bunkers and a tower all joined together. One bunker comes with a Missile Silo and the other has a twin linked Skyfire Icarus Lascannon. You are then able to upgrade the Missile Silo to also have a choice of firing a strength eight Krakstorm Missile instead of shooting the strength four Fragstorm, for thirty points. Ten points will buy you four Heavy Bolters, which does seem like a bargain, but with all the extras this Fortress is going to set you back a total of two hundred and sixty points! The Fortress is expensive, but then again it does offer a big area of defencive barricades, with some nice long range fire power.

For me, the best two pieces are the Defence Line and the Bastion. I plan on getting myself a Defence Line at some point, as I think both my Eldar and Nids could make use of it without it being too expensive, points wise. The Bastion is just a bit over the top for me, plus it's not exactly cheap a model to buy, money wise. The Landing pad is interesting, but it seems a bit like something and nothing to me! So what do you make of Fortifications?

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6th Edition Night Scythe Tactics

Nick speaking,

There is no beating around the bush, the Necron Night Scythe has got a massive boost with the new Flyer rules in 6th Edition, or at least, it now does what GW intended it to do when they first introduced it into our robotic army. So what is the best way to use the Night Scythe? I am not talking about making a spammed out Scythe army with Night and Doom Scythes all over the place, that is more like a themed army as such. I am talking about fitting one or two Scythes into a generic army, and how best to make them work...

From my point of few, and from what I am seeing from other Necron players, the Rapid Fire Gauss Flayer is too good, and too cheap, for Warriors not to make a massive come back as the number one troops choice. Sixth edition seems to dictate that you need to be maxing out with five or six troop choices, with less cover saves and more objectives to hold in most missions. This is great, as there is nothing like having a mass of 60+ Warriors in your Necron Phalanx walking towards your enemy. It just looks epic, but where does this leave the Night Scythe in our army?

Well, I am thinking that just one or maybe two Night Scythes is the way to go, Warriors are cheap enough to allow for this and still maintain their numbers. A single Night Scythe is going to be annoying enough for anyone, even if they are Skyfire ready. Talking of that, if you are facing an army that has lots of Skyfire, and you only have one Scythe in your list, at least that's only one thing they can take down with the points they have spent to get the Skyfire, unlike if you had six or more Scythes. Plus, if our single Scythe does go down, at least we have the benefit of the unit inside just go into reserve if it is destroyed. Moving a Flyer is probably the only thing that you need to worry about, when it is zooming, you have to be moving at least 18" and you can only pivot on the spot 90 degrees, so most of the time you are going to have to circle your enemy to be able to shoot the Tesla Destructor. So what is going to come out of your Night Scythe portal?

For me, the obvious choice is a big group of Immortals, I like the idea of having troops in it for a start, and the Immortals stronger gun and better save is going to win over Warriors, as you never know where you will need to get out and what you will need to take down. The Scythe movement is where we are going to be able to take full advantage of having troops in it. Being able to unload and Rapid Fire our Immortals to target isolated groups is the number one use, or if that is not needed, we can just unload them in the last few turns to take objectives.

The Necron FAQ states that we can move 36", disembark and shoot Snap Shots, or Disembark at 24", shooting at normal ballistic skill, not forgetting we can move the unit six inches as well from disembarking. This means we can effectively move and Rapid Fire anything that is 42" away at full ballistic skill, nothing to stiff at! The only issue with the portal is you cannot embark back on the Scythe once you are off it, this is understandable, as the thing is moving very fast, so it does make sense. So now we are out on foot and have destroyed our isolated target, now what? Enter the Veil Cryptek!

EDIT:
The new FAQ now lets you embark on a Night Scythe, but I still think this Cryptek idea is valid and still works well...

The Veil Cryptek has just changed the one hit wonder Immortals, into a very mobile unit that can move around the board targeting and distracting other units, and if still up at the end, Veil in to hold or contest any objectives, including the Linebreaker. He also adds another dimension to the unit if the Scythe had been destroyed and the unit has been placed back into reserve. I know you cannot deep strike back in the next turn, but at least you will be back to full movement around the board the turn after that!

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How will 6th Edition effect my Space Wolves?

Nick speaking,

As many of you already know, my Space Wolves are based on the 13th Company chapter from the Eye of Terror Codex. They were lost for so long that their Vehicles no longer functioned. A full foot army, except for a very small elite group of Storm Claw Bikers. As soon as I heard about the new Hull Point rules in 6th Edition, making it much easier to Wreck a Rhino, my initial thought was that my 13th Company Space Wolves would finally go back to their original Eye of Terror status, of having no tanks.

When the latest edition of the Space Wolves Codex hit, making my Eye of Terror Wolves defunct. I spent a lot of time trying to go down the foot list route, and to be fair, I had quite a bit of success, especially with the Loganwing variant, but lets face it, a Loganwing army is a Loganwing army, it's not really 13th Company Space Wolves! I ended up making my own bit of fluff up for the army, allowing them to have vehicles. I made my Space Wolves have a few expert engineers who could keep the tanks rolling, and If they were able to loot Chaos armour to adorn, why couldn't they loot a few Rhinos as well? So that's what I did, a 75/25% ratio of Space Wolves and Chaos vehicles, allowing me to MSU or Rhino Rush depending on how I felt.

So what is the current situation for Rhinos and Razorbacks in 6th? It is pretty obvious that the 6th Edition rules and mission objectives have been designed to change things up from what they were in 5th. Vehicles, and Vehicles with troops in, can no longer hold or contest objectives. I think the days of Razorback MSU have been numbered, making way for the Rhino to excel. Good job I magnetised my Razorbacks then! Even with all the problems the Rhino has of being easy to kill in 6th Edition, I still think it has a place in my army. The Rhino only has to stay up long enough to get you to where you need to be, which in theory, should be easier to do than if you were on foot. I am not saying foot Wolves are a total no no, as I am definitely going to have a go at making them work in the future, but I am going to have to give the Rhino a fair trial before I get my walking boots out.
 
I had already decided that I found MSU Razorback Spam to be a bit boring to play, so I was already playing larger units of Grey Hunters in Rhino's anyway. The only change will be to switch from Melta to Plasma for obvious reasons. As for the Wolf Guard pack leader, I am thinking the Combi-Melta/Power Fist combo has to go, no point being initiative one in a Challenge is there? I can see my Long Fangs also getting a switch up, with a few Missile Launchers being switched out for Lascannons to help bring down any AP2 dudes. Not sure if we still need three groups of them either yet, maybe only time will tell on that one. I also can't really see me using Wolf Scouts anymore in great quantities either, they still have a place mind you, but nothing like they were before!

I think it's very early days for me and the Wolves, but overall, I don't believe 6th Edition is going to have a massive impact on my army. There will be some changes of course, but being Marines, it's going to be nothing like the changes I will have to make for my Xenos armies, in particular my Nids, which I am going to have to have a look at next...

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Space Wolves 6th Edition Battle Report

Nick speaking,

Time to get my Space Wolves on the table for their first 6th Edition game. Once again, we were playing a small 1,000 point game, so I thought I would give the good old faithful Rhino a chance to prove their worth. It was a very enjoyable game for the both of us, although we did find there was an unusual lack of assaults, due to everyone wanting to rapid fire their Plasma guns instead...

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