Descent of Crows - 1000pt Army

My current force of Shadow Crows are getting closer to completion! With the assault squads completed, I only have the Vanguard Veterans, Priest, and Librarian to get through. While I was originally keeping pace with a 200pt per month escalation, I have been inspired to complete them at a faster rate. With an elite force, this is not so difficult. I figured I would begin thinking through variants on my initial 1k list.

I have only managed a few kill team games and one 500 pt 2v2 match with them, and I am still learning the little nuances about assault that I could normally ignore with my Tau. My army is expending a lot of points for reliable deepstriking and fast movement. I am learning that I need to make use of this to the upmost of my ability if I want to make sure those points are not wasted.



With that said, here is what I have been building my models towards:

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Librarian x1 - Jump Pack, Shield and Bloodlance powers

Sanguinary Priest x1 - Jump Pack, Power Sword

Vanguard Veterans x6 - Jump Packs, and a few melta bombs
- Sergeant with Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield
- Storm Shield Bolt Pistol
- Lightning Claw Bolt Pistol
- Lightning Claw Storm Shield
- Bolt Pistol Chainsword
- Bolt Pistol Chainsword

Assault Squad x10 - Jump Packs, Sergeant with Pow Fist, 2x Meltaguns

Assault Squad x10 - Jump Packs, Sergeant with Pow Fist, 2x Meltaguns

1000pts, 28 models, 5-7 Killpoints

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This leaves me with a pretty small force for 1k points, but also a good amount of flexibility with starting on the board vs a reliable deepstrike, and combat squadding for spreading melta hits if needed. One of the decisions to field a risky force like this is to aim for faster games, one way or the other :).

The lynchpin of the force is the vanguard veterans. If they mishap I am in serious trouble, and if they scatter out of charge range I am still in a tough spot. The storm shields can help them possibly weather a bad turn of shooting, but primarily to help them take on things that would normally rip through my regular squads. The problem is that it bumps up the price of the squad quite a bit.

I have to decide, at 1k points is deepstriking worth it? Lets look at a list without the vets that is more about jumping across the board to do their dirty work.

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Librarian x1

Sang Priests x2, chainswords

Assault Squad x10, Pow Fist, 2 meltaguns

Assault Squad x10, Pow Fist, 2 meltaguns

Assault Squad x10, Hammer, 2 meltaguns

~15pts leftover, apply meltabombs or a lightning claw on priest
1000pts, 33 models, 6-9 Killpoints

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This would be using my VV as normal marines, and opening up my other box of assault marines to make up the rest of that squad. This list focuses on weight of numbers in a deployed force. I could combat squad into 6 units to cover late-game objectives or hit more units with melta/assaults. I can stay full squads for killpoint efficiency and utilize the librarian squad to gain cover during the approach. But I am forgoeing deepstrike for the most part. I could always drop combat squadded melta-sacrifice units if really needed, but I cant expect to get a charge off without the van vets. I am gaining a second priest bubble which can be game-changing, but also sacrificing power weapons. If I can manage a claw on both ws5 priests it might even out, but on the other hand I do not want to draw more threat to them then they already have.

What do you all think? Keep it simple and efficient at such low points, or go for the gusto with expensive veteran badasses? Work the Librarian dread in?

The Shadow Crows

We are scattered, we are lost, but we are not yet dead. We become Crows now, until the 10th flies high once more." - Commander Korvydae, Shadowcaptain of Raven Guard 10th Company, “The Shadow Crows”

Here is a look at the beginnings of my newest 40k addition. Rather then rewrite the whole thing, here is a mostly copypasted post from the ATT forum..

Thoughts Behind the Army:
When I began to plan for this army I decided that I wanted a few specific things.
Jump Packs, Lightning Claws, and Beakies. Raven Guard became an obvious choice, and I did enjoy what little fluff they have.

While Shrike or Korvydae's Forgeworld rules would work OK for a jump pack list, I feel the Blood Angels DOA rules really make it much more viable, but I really did not want another red army. Korvydae's rules mimic Dante (although he is very much Dante's junior), so I chose to establish him at a time where he has grown considerably in power, and perhaps at the head of a more gritted force. My Korvydante army was born.

I was rather disappointed with the showing for Raven Guard in the Imperial Armor book. I've modeled this force off of an interpretation of Korvydae further on in his life. His company have been torn asunder, and he has gone a bit crazy trying to replenish these losses. I'm not entirely sure if he has been ousted from the RG, possibly to atone by overseeing a newly founded chapter at this point. Their equipment colors have been stripped down to base materials either in penance or because they have been cast off. It is possible that they have uncovered long lost equipment belonging to the original legion, maybe even some of Corax' experiment chambers. It can be a rather tired idea in some space marine stories, but one that could explain the method of advancing newer recruits into marines in such a small force, and gene-instability mimicking the red thirst.

I will be trying to avoid overly Blood Angel units like Sanguinary Guard and Death Company for now, though I do plan to have some things that stretch RG fluff. Sanguinary priests will be lore keepers with relics or banners reclaimed from the dropsite massacre, my librarian Furioso was made mostly just for the sake of modelling him, etc..

Current Showing:
The army is forming in tune to a monthly escalation league. My killteam 200pt force performed very well, although I have chosen to give the scouts the boot for the next round. In their place, a librarian dread and a fully fleshed out assault squad to bring it to 400.


I have since modelled a second assault squad and 6man VanVet group, as well as a priest and librarian. I particularly like my repurposed Ezekiel shown here. I stripped my 10year old paint job, and hacked up his feet quite a bit, but I think it was for the better. Pictures of the assault squad and VanVets will follow next week. At present force I have 1250pts, though that is including the scouts which dilutes the jumppack idea a bit. I plan to play this army for awhile and determine if I want to go up to a 2k force. I most likely would add another assault squad, another priest, and an honor guard with Korvydante.

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Mass Effect Model - Normandy SR1 Complete!

After much taping, detailing, and airbrushing, the Normandy is complete! This was my first complete scratchbuild, and it sure was taxing. But I learned a lot and I'm pretty happy with the end result.



The glare in the lighted pictures is due to my gloss coat coming out a bit fuzzy(it was drying too quick when leaving the airbrush) You can see how much it reflects when the light is on in the pictures due to the bumpy nature of the coating, but its still black without a flash. This isn't too big a deal as it is, but I should be able to fix it with a correct coat of gloss/matte finish. I will probably pick up a can tomorrow and test this out before packing up for shipping Tuesday.

Now for a break, and then to think about MEM2011 project :]