How I learned to stop worrying and love the Helldrake

You can’t hunt what you can’t kill. Pretty simple concept really, if your opponent can’t do any damage to your unit – you are free to do what you want. What are we talking about? Why the Helldrake of course! Everyone’s favorite barbeque and vector strike specialist custom made for taking out 3+ armor and almost anything else that gets in his way. Previously I talked about the effect this little guy has had on the game and not over reacting and reminding everyone that there aren’t 3 Helldrakes waiting for you around each corner. Now, let’s talk about some of the tools we have that we can use against this marine killing machine.

Helldrake Stage 5: Acceptance

Let start out by saying this is not a rant about how Helldrake is broken, how it ruins the game, or how I crapped my pants and learned to like it when I see that God Forsaken critter on the other side of the table. If you are still anywhere in stages one through four, skip this article and move on to another author who might be in one of the same stages of Denial, Anger, Bargaining or Depression as yourself. Those of us here have already moved on to Acceptance and are quietly plotting the death of our enemies and ways to neutralize them.

Building Better Allies in Blocks

Working through small ally contingents for use with my Space Wolves has led me to thinking about a system of putting together ally forces in a concept of building blocks. The concept of building blocks follows a simple format that creates a single ‘base block’ being your primary detachment. The’ base block’ starts at a bare bones 1,000 point list with no frills and no gimmicks, just wholesale pain at discount prices. To this base block we add detachments of allies that are preformatted into ‘task blocks’ depending on the situation. These ‘task blocks’ fall into three categories: offensive, defensive and operational. In my system ‘task blocks’ only requirement is to be less than 750 points, this gives you a package at the most common point value of 1,750 points.

Drop Pod Defense: 101

I have talked about this at length previously and I find myself once again going back to a foundational principle in order to discuss a proper defensive posture for an aggressive Drop Pod army. The essence of warfare is a violent struggle between two hostile, independent, and irreconcilable wills, each trying to impose itself on the other. War is fundamentally an interactive social process. Clausewitz called it a Zweikampf (literally a “two struggle”) and suggested the image of a pair of wrestlers locked in a hold, each exerting force and counterforce to try to throw the other. War is thus a process of continuous mutual adaptation, of give and take, move and countermove. It is critical to keep in mind that the enemy is not an inanimate object to be acted upon but an independent and animate force with its own objectives and plans. While we try to impose our will on the enemy, he resists us and seeks to impose his own will on us. Appreciating this dynamic interplay between opposing human wills is essential to understanding the fundamental nature of war.

Warhammer 40k Tactics - Strike Packages 2.0

In my previous discussion I laid out a list of qualities that I think are essential in a solid strike package – durability, mobility, lethality and adaptability. I like to think of these qualities as a starting point that I use when putting together what I refer to as a ‘strike package’. Keeping in mind that in my definition a strike package is a unit that is used to target specific portions of an opponent’s army and eliminate them quickly and efficiently without resorting to using the famous ‘make it fit wrench’ of simply tossing the kitchen sink, or a hammer, at the problem. That being said, strike packages are very much a ‘maneuver warfare’ based concept and people well versed in ‘attrition warfare’ will probably find the concept foreign, and or useless, to them. 

Maneuver Warfare - He's got it!

TFM: My Assault on Assault on Black Reach Part 15

From Stuff I Have Painted: Space Marines

5 Minute History: Razorback

The Space Marine Razorback is a light armored vehicle used by Space Marines in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. The original Razorback model was released by Games Workshop in 1994 for the second edition of the Warhammer 40,000 tabletop game.

5 Minute History: Land Raider Variants

Aside from the ones commonly seen, other variants of the Land Raider have been described in various Games Workshop publications in various forms. Some published variants have actual game stats while others have merely been mentioned in passing as background material. These rarer modifications of the Land Raider are in service with some chapters of the Space Marines. This article is a follow up to the original history of the Land Raider history found HERE.

Gaming: Mass x Velocity = Momentum

Momentum can be defined as "mass in motion." All objects have mass; so if an object is moving, then it has momentum - it has its mass in motion. The amount of momentum that an object has is dependent upon two variables: how much stuff is moving and how fast the stuff is moving. Momentum depends upon the variables mass and velocity. In terms of an equation, the momentum of an object is equal to the mass of the object times the velocity of the object.

5 Minute History: Drop Pods

Orbital Drop Pods are specialized atmospheric reentry craft that can be used to deploy Space Marines in a Space Marine army. A Drop Pod has the appearance of a huge, metallic, five-petaled flower bud when it opens upon landing. The interior is a transport chamber for the pod's passengers. In the background, Drop Pods are launched directly from ships in orbit around a planet. They crash down through the planet's atmosphere, at the last moment slowing down via thrusters located on the bottom of the pod. They reflect the nature of the Space Marines as an elite rapid-deployment force, giving them the capacity to reach the battlefield, from their warships in space, within a matter of seconds. Upon landing, the pod's "petals", which are actually doors, open up to disembark its passengers. Many Drop Pod miniatures for use with both the Warhammer 40,000 and Epic 40,000 tabletop games have been released by Forge World, although the original model was an early Epic release. In October 2008 Games Workshop released a Space Marine Drop Pod boxed set in the form of a well detailed plastic kit.

Original Epic 40,000 Drop Pods, open

Original Epic 40,000 Drop Pods, closed

5 Minute History: Thunderhawk

The Thunderhawk is a massive, heavily-armoured spacecraft used by the Space Marines for a variety of missions. They carry a payload of powerful bombs and can easily claim the skies above a battlefield. There are currently two different variants that have rules for both Warhammer 40,000 and Epic tabletop games.

5 Minute History: Space Marine Attack Bikes

The Space Marine Attack Bike is a bulkier, more heavily-armed variant of the Space Marine Bike. In appearance, it is just a standard bike with a second rider in a sidecar. The original Attack Bike model was made entirely of metal and armed with a multi-melta released in 1989 during Rouge Trader.

5 Minute History: Space Marine Bikes

The Space Marine Bike is a relatively common mode of transportation for Space Marines in the Warhammer 40,000 tabletop miniatures game. It is a two-wheeled vehicle reminiscent of modern motorcycles. Though classified as a "vehicle" for obvious reasons, in-game, bikes are treated as infantry models that can move further and are a bit more resilient. Space Marine Scouts can also make use of Space Marine Bikes, with slightly different rules from those of Space Marine Bikers.

5 Minute History: Whirlwind

The Whirlwind is an artillery support vehicle used by the Space Marines, it is a mobile multiple missile launcher along the same lines of the modern M270 MLRS. Another variant of the Space Marine Rhino, the Whirlwind concept first appeared as a conversion of the Rhino in the pages of White Dwarf 117 magazine in September 1989. The first actual Whirlwind kit was released by Games Workshop in 1995 during the 2nd edition of Warhammer 40,000. That original model was essentially a Rhino plastic kit with an additional metal turret composed of multiple missile launcher tubes. With the release of the 4th edition of Warhammer 40,000, the a new Whirlwind model was released based on the newly-designed Space Marine Rhino. This latest version of the Whirlwind features a fully-plastic turret assembly.

MK I Whirlwind Circa 1989, author unknown

5 Minute History: Landspeeder Part Deux

Over the years, numerous Land Speeder versions have been released with a wide array of weapon combinations. To accommodate these various incarnations, the Land Speeder entry in the Space Marines' army list allows several upgrades to the common single-weapon-armed Land Speeder. In addition, there are a few Land Speeder variants that have gained rules of their own.

The Ravenwing Master-Crafted Landspeeder is a unique variant of the Land Speeder ridden only by the master of the Dark Angels chapter's 2nd company, known as the Ravenwing. The Master of the Ravenwing's speeder is heavily armed with twin-heavy bolters and twin-linked assault cannons. In addition, the specialized speeder is equipped with superior targeting equipment and a protective shield generator. The Master of the Ravenwing model kit was released in 1999 by Games Workshop to coincide with the release of the Dark Angels codex.

2010 Image from: awakeningynnead.blogspot.com

5 Minute History: Landspeeder Part 1

Land Speeders were introduced along with the other first edition Warhammer 40,000 vehicles, the Rhino and the Land Raider. The first Land Speeder model was made entirely of metal. It looked more-or-less like two flying seats in front of two large turbines. The Space Marine crew were entirely exposed. This early version of the Land Speeder was armed with a meltagun and a turret-mounted multi-melta. During this edition of the game, Land Speeders were not entirely limited to the Space Marines; The Imperial Guard had their own Land Speeders. The Imperial Guard Land Speeder model was almost-identical to the Space Marine version, except for weaponry. The Imperial Guard Land Speeder was armed with a hull-mounted heavy bolter and a turret-mounted plasma cannon, then-called a "heavy plasma gun".

And you thought Big Red's Death Guard speeders were old!

5 Minute History: Predator

The original Predator miniature for Warhammer 40,000 was released in 1990 as a fully plastic kit. The tank was essentially a variant of the Rhino chassis with a turret and weapons in side sponsons. Later that year, a miniaturized Predator model was released for the 1st edition of the Epic, then-named Epic Space Marine. The original version of the tank had a much rounder turret, reminiscent of the Russian T-62 tank and rounder sponsons (This version is now designated as a Predator Destructor).

Original Predator with 'lolli-pop' turret

5 Minute History: Rhino

The ubiquitous transport vehicle known as the Space Marine Rhino was first unveiled by Games Workshop in 1988. Originally, it was meant as a transport vehicle for squads of Space Marines and Imperial Guard for the tabletop miniatures game, Rogue Trader, the first edition of Warhammer 40,000. It appears as a small, turretless tracked vehicle not unlike the M113 armored personnel carrier used by many of the world's armed forces. Like the M113, the Rhino's use in the various games that it appears in is that of a highly mobile, armoured troop transport.

5 Minute History: Vindicator

Unlike most other Space Marine vehicles, the Vindicator did not originate in the Warhammer 40,000 tabletop game. The first conception of the tank was in 1989 with the 1st edition of another Games Workshop tabletop game, Space Marine. In the same year a Vindicator conversion using the Space Marine Rhino plastic kit was featured in White Dwarf Magazine 118, published in October of 1989. The article showed how to use cardboard and plastic pieces to modify a Rhino MKI into a Vindicator in addition to presenting rules for its use in Warhammer 40k. The first actual Vindicator kit for Warhammer 40,000 would not be released for another 10 years until the height of the 3rd edition in 1999. This kit is based on an original plastic Rhino body with metal components for the frontal Demolisher cannon and the extra armor plating on the sides between the exhaust stacks.



First Vindicator kit released in 1999



5 Minute History: Land Raider

After a couple months of Guard Vehicle history its time to switch gears: The Space Marine Land Raider.  Used by the Space Marines, their Chaos counterparts and the Inquisition, it is one of the most resilient vehicles in the game. It was one of the first vehicles to be introduced by Games Workshop for the Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader tabletop miniatures game. Originally, it was available to Space Marine and Imperial Guard armies. The second edition of the game, and all Imperial Guard armies since, have removed the vehicle from Imperial Guard army lists. It is armed with two twin-linked sponson mounted lascannons, and two heavy bolters. Additionally Space marine players can outfit it with a pintle mounted storm bolter and/or a hunter-killer missile.

The Original MK1 Land Radier