Goatboy’s 40K: LVO & the Future
Goatboy here again and today I want to talk about the future of my hobby after the LVO.
Right now 40k is in a weird spot with a ton of rules bloat that makes it hard for any new blood to come into the game. I still love the models and the hobby – but it is time I stepped back a bit and played something a little less nutty. I will play some events but I think my rush to try and get to the top 8 will be less pressing of an issue. Still – overall I think the rules are pretty good, the FAQ helped answer some things, and really just some kind of reworking on how armies are built with what rules to use is what 40k needs. Here is hoping 8th edition does bring some of this with rumored digital rules release, simpler system of army building, and hopefully a return of a competitive ruleset.
But – with LVO still on the horizon I am still playing 40k. I have jumped back and forth with list ideas all based around my need to play Magnus. I think LVO will be the big hey day for the Genestealer Cult as the LVO FAQ doesn’t do nearly as much damage to its potential as the new GW FAQ. This leads me to think about trying something a bit different and bring a list I know how to play – as well as having access to Magnus and some tricks.
Meet Magnus
I went with this Death Star build that forgoes some of the heavy summoning I suspect to be around. I am not a fan of the summoning mechanic as I feel it slows the game down, pushes to much of the issues with 40k right now (free units), and I do not want to fly with all that crap. Of course I could summon alright with the build so I will have a small amount of jerks as needed – but I am hoping to not fall for that nonsense. I am obviously not the answer to fixing 40k but until 8th hits I might as well play with the toys that work.
LVO – Final Goatboy List – Thousand Sons CAD/Black Legion Cyclopia Cabal/KDK Gorepack
Thousand Sons CAD
Sorcerer, Bike, Lvl 3, MoT, VoTLW, Staff of Arcane Compulsion, Spell Familiar, Aura of Dark Glory
Cultists X 10, MoT
Cultists X 10, MoT
Predator, Perdus Rift Anomaly
Magnus – Warlord
Cyclopia Cabal
Sorcerer, Lvl 3, VoTLW (Free), Bike, Spell Familiar, Force Sword, Meltabomb
Sorcerer, Lvl 3, VoTLW (Free), Bike, Spell Familiar, Force Axe
Sorcerer, Lvl 3, VoTLW (Free), Bike, Spell Familiar, Force Axe
Gorepack
Chaos Bikers X 3, MoK
Chaos Bikers X 3, MoK
Flesh Hounds of Khorne X 13
Using Magnus & Buds
As you can see – I went with the Chaos Deathstar as I didn’t want to play Bark Bark with a DA Battle Company, a big ole Thunder Star with Rune Priests, or whatever other “good” guy star that is out there. I only play bad guys most of the time so might as well continue with using the biggest bad guy himself – Magnus. The idea here is that Magnus’s Warlord traits makes units go through Difficult Terrain around him, the staff gives another -2 to guys charging the unit, and then I can create a circle of doom with hopefully some much needed psychic protection. I end up having 2 abilities to steal other opponents units to shoot – one basically ignores a nearby assassin/sister and the other has to worry about it. Plus the Cabal has a lot more access to different sets of spells to help me out – the new Chaos Space Marine ones (Evil Null Zone, Evil Fortune, Evil Anti Knight stuff, Evil Anti Psyker stuff), Biomancy, Telepathy, etc. I was initially running a Rheti Council to get Magnus and multiple casters – but forcing me to take one Tzeentch really lessened my ability to deal with stuff. Plus the Cabal is a heck of a lot cheaper.
The random Predator is there as that is the cheapest “evil coteaz” you can get right now. If only the Chaos Space Marine book was updated I could take a FA Rhino – but alas I cannot. It also helps I have a crazy conversion that looks way to awesome to be such a crappy Predator. But oh well – it will end up winning me games by forcing that reroll on a Seize of getting the jump on some Tau nonsense. I am worried about the “smaller” amount of dogs but I need that protection. If I could only take a Rhino.
The Gorepack is a simpler way to get a good deal of dogs with added in benefit of hating Psykers and getting hammer of wrath. The bikes are basically MSU guys who might get a chance to generate a Blood Tithe point – most likely by dying for the greater evil that is a Chaos Allied Doggie Star. I don’t expect to survive to the top 8 as 500 players mixed with the added issues of match ups, terrain set up, and even the overall threat of surviving Las Vegas to play well. I suspect myself to go 4-2 of some sort but who knows. The top 8 will probably be full of people maximizing their points. But heck it just means I can lose, not play Sunday, and hopefully go check out the AOS event.
The Great Post-LVO Beyond…
After this event I will finish this fun Death Guard army, finish client work, and hopefully get started on my new AOS army. Right now the plan is to go full Tzeentch as the models look awesome, the army seems good, and I just need a palate cleanser to help clear out the hot mess that is 40k right now. I will try to write up some Cadia thoughts later on this week as I feel the detachments are pretty neat and not too crazy over powered. The Saint is a beast – but you kinda suspected her to be this way – especially in how I think 8th might create “tough” characters by removing some instant death and other “clunky” options.
Also look for some paint/article discussions for the new Cadia character box. I ended up getting one and plan on painting them. The idea is to try and do them clean so most likely the article will be full of me being sad I can’t make this model into a chaos guy. I have already built Cawl and let me tell you – he is amazing but a complete pain in the butt to get together. His instructions were fine, he is just full of tiny stuff. I am already going to remove one thing as there is no hope it will stay on the model. Look for that coming soon as I need to finish a Knight and a few things for LVO.
~ It’s tourney time! What do you think of my list?
