About Xenos and Proud

This is a small blog about my Warhammer 40,000 hobby. I will try to concentrate on the tactics behind the general game and my Xenos armies but there will be the odd post about random stuff.

About Me

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Aberdeen, United Kingdom
Xenos and Proud is an 18 year old from Scotland who has been playing 40K for the last 4 years. He loves the 'under-dog' xenos armies, namely his Tyranid Gorgon splinter fleet, his Saim-Hann windrider host, his Tau Vleastean Hunter-cadre and the newest addition, the Shadowfax Corsairs. Although his tactics are mostly 'borrowed', his painting skills still 'developing' and his luck becoming evermore 'ridiculous' he continues to play, paint and roll in the hope that one day things will get better.

Thursday 14 October 2010

Themed Army Building

Yesterday Fritz posted a great article about themed army list building. Clicky

This started me thinking about my own armies, especially the themed ones like my Eldar and upcoming Tau. Specifically if they do/will work well in the way I intended and if it fits within the initial theme of my army. Although my armies aren't incredibly odd or different but it was still interesting to think about how the army would perform in the 40K universe and how that translates to the table.

I think my armies are fairly themed (apart from the Tyranids which are just made to kill) which I enjoy finding and inventing stories about while still being competitive. I try to make unique armies, not run-of-the-mill internet 'auto-win' lists and enjoy giving all my models names but does it mean I cannot compete against these 'auto-win' armies. 

So lets break down my armies. Saim-Hann:

Farseer on bike fully kitted with Doom, Guide, Fortune and Mind War, 7 Bikes with 2 Cannons and a Warlock with conceal, 2 x 4 Bikes with a Connon each, 3 x 2 Vypers with Starcannons, 2 x Fireprisms with holo-fields, spirit stones,star engines and a Nightspinner.

This one is fairly simple to break down and is not incredibly different to other Saim-Hann lists but there are a few of my own personal preferences. Here are the main themes:

- Speed, The entire army can boost 24" and get a 4+ cover save at worst. 
- Mobile Heavy Firepower, There are lots of S6 weapons with the cannons being AP2 and the Prisms giving High S Low AP blasts and anti-tank. The Nightspinner also slows down entire units.
- Hard to Kill, The heavy tanks are all 12,12,10 with fields, the vypers can gain cover saves easily and the large unit of jetbikes have a 3+ armour and a 5+ cover that is usually reroll-able.

The idea with this army is to shove the large bike squad down the enemies throat, forcing them to deal with them while they are almost impossible to kill. Meanwhile the tanks and such pound away from afar, avoiding fire and the other bikes claim objectives. The army works best against slow armies.

Weaknesses: The army is susceptible to deep-striking melta and bolters that rip up the vypers or equivilent.  

Now for my Tau to be:

The army is built around multiple Deathrain suits as I love the amount of high S mobile shots they pump out. It is then filled out with Broadsides to kill heavy tanks, fire warriors to claim objectives and kroot to screen and tie-up units.

This army is meant to be mobile but with very strong long range fire power that can beat mech like nothing else then avoid the contents that spill out. So the good points:

- High Strength, Most of the guns are very high S so can lay down plenty of wounds, forcing units to take buckets of saves.
- Mobile, The core of the army can move and fire at 12" but also has an effective screen for when thats not enough.

Weaknesses: Fast troops with good armour. eg Blood Angels. The army just doesn't have enough shots nor enough AP2-3 to kill marines well and things that can jump past the wall and assault are very troublesome. But thats just a Tau weakness so don't know what to do there.

Well thats my themed armies. Do you theme yours and if so how do they do?

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