Tactics: Dealing with Psyker Death Stars

I recently attended the MI GT and saw or played against some very tough lists.

Currently a very common theme is the SM Librarian Conclave Formation.

It was in maybe 20/60 lists. Also prevalent where Psyker heavy Deamon or Eldar...or worse yet Deamon and Eldar lists. Dealing with Psykers is a must in current competitive play.

Much attention is given to Invisibility, but many other powers have game changing affects.

We know by now that the Culexus is the BEST counter to psykers in the game.


However keeping him alive, even with his great rules, and getting him to the right part of the battle field is another thing.

Here is a decent solution, albeit with some point investment. I have used the Culexus in 10 tournament games now and I struggle to keep him where the action is, or not over commit him. I tend to get all excited about his shooting attack, over commit, and get him dusted.

Since the GT I have been mulling over how to best use him without harming my overall list.

Here is the simplest solution I have come up with. Enter the Storm Raven gunship taken as a Fast Attack source.

Putting a Culexus in a Storm Raven will provide him excellent maneuverability. One must kill the Storm Raven to get to the Culexus or slow him down. A flyers natural durability gives him a enormous advantage. This is exacerbated by all or nothing lists that take no anti-air, almost guaranteeing he will be within his 12" range with is ability to nullify psykers.

Additionally, that bubble size will increase dramatically as it will extend 12" from the entire hull of the model.

The Storm Raven is an assault vehicle, so as long as you do not move over 6" he will be able to choose his place and time for a pin point assault.

This is not a bad investment as the Storm Raven remains effective anti-air or anti-infantry fire unit depending on how you load it out. I would tend use it for anti-air. Additionally it is not half bad with a TL Lascannon and TL MM to fire on Knights or other big baddies.

The ability to deliver a dread naught across the table into CC with a recently nerfed unit containing psykers is also a plus.

Putting your Culexus in a Storm Raven allows your anti-psyker unit to keep up with fast moving psykers...like the popular Super Friend ulta-unit. Thus allowing you to at least target the unit normally, though you may still need to get past Re-Roll Jink and/or 2+/3+ host of saves.

The point investment her is noticeable, but not painful... 340 points (200 for the Raven, 140 for the Culexus)...not really that heavy a price tag if it can pull some other duty once in a while.

Depending on how your dice treat you, investing in a way to increase the reliability of your Culexus/Storm Raven combo to come in turn two may be warranted. Tigerius is nice with his reserve reroll or a Comms Relay etc.

Hope this helps some of you deal with uncontrolled psykers populating the game tables near you,

BDS  

Gaming Aid Revised: SIDE A (Game Progression Check List) SIDE B (DEPLOYMENT GUIDE)

I have seen a some interest in my gaming aid since I have been carrying it around with me lately; locally and also got an email recently.

So I revised it. I removed the Chaos tables and included graphics of the three deployment options.

Side A has the pre-game progression on it; including end of game rolls, night fight etc.

Side B has three graphics on how to set up in the three deployments...key here being "Vanguard" which seems to stump more than a few...myself included initially.

Just click on pic below for the Google file. I printed mine with a color printer. Laminated it. Then I use it for a book mark in my small rule book...generally in the Psychic power section.

SIDE A:

BDS40K.blogspot.com 1.  Select Warlord a.        Done at army selection…not pre-game 2.    Determine Mission 3.    Determine Deployment Type 4.    Roll For Table Sides 5.    Place Fortifications a.    Player who won d6 table side roll places 1st 6.    Place Terrain (if applicable) 7.    Place Objectives a.    Player who won d6 table side roll places 1st Objective b.    No objectives within 6” of any table edge c.     No objectives in or on impassable terrain, buildings, or fortifications 8.    Roll for Warlord Traits 9.    Roll for Psyker Powers 10.  Roll For Night Fight (d6 roll of 4+) 11.  Roll for Choice of 1st Turn and 1st Deployment 12.  Player Deploys 13.  Second Player Deploys 14.  Roll for Infiltrators (if both players have infiltrators) 15.  Deploy Infiltrators 16.  Roll for scout moves (if both players have scouts) 17.  Make Scout Moves 18.  Turn over hidden objectives in “The Scouring” mission. 19.  Roll for Seize the Initiative 20.  Start of Movement Phase Rolls a.    (i.e. Blessing, Maledictions, Orders) 21.  At START of Turn 2 Roll for Reserves a.     Happens before start of movement phase rolls (i.e. Blessing, maledictions, orders) b.    Arrive on d6 roll of 3+ on turn 2 and 3 c.     Arrive automatically turn 4 d.    Cannot assault /use any abilities/special powers required to be on table at start of turn. e.     Roll for all units, then can choose which to deploy in any order f.     After deploying all reserve units begin normal movement phase (see #20) 22.  Roll for Night Fight Turn 5 if not activated pre-game a.    d6 roll of 4+ it is in effect rest of game b.    otherwise roll each turn till game end 23.  End of Turn 5 roll for game end a.    ends on d6 roll of 1 or 2 24.  End of Turn 6 roll for game end a.    ends on d6 roll 3 or less 25.    Game Ends automatically on Turn 7

SIDE B:

Contains the graphics for the Deployment Options. Which I can not seem to get to show on the blog; but you can readily obtain it from the Google Doc linked to the picture on the left.





Here are some finished shots side by side to the rule books for size reference:

Here you can see SIDE B on left in the bottom pic. These are laminated and ready to go. I made two. I have a 2000 point game set up today with a bud and he doesn't know it yet, but he is getting a BDS40K Game Aid.

Hope you find this helpful and thanks for the read,

BDS

6th Edition Gaming Aid: Game Progression with Commentary

In a follow up to my last post regarding the importance, or lack thereof, of troop choices, I took the time to make another gaming aid I would share.

I recently attended a tournament and found I am not the only player that consistently forgets to roll for night fight.

I even ran into a couple players at the top tables that did not realize the roll for table side is separate from the first turn/deployment roll.



This got me thinking on making another aid, as the GW game summary is a little lacking as it does not include one  very important roll.....NIGHT FIGHT.

Then I also felt I needed to include some in game rolls as well and came up with the following:

 

1.       Pick Warlord a.       Done at army selection…not pre-game 2.       Determine Mission 3.       Determine Deployment Type 4.       Roll For Table Sides 5.       Place Fortifications a.       Player who won d6 table side roll places 1st 6.       Place Terrain (if applicable) 7.       Place Objectives a.       Player who won d6 table side roll places 1st Objective b.       No objectives within 6” of any table edge c.        No objectives in or on impassable terrain, buildings, or fortifications 8.       Roll for Warlord Traits 9.       Roll for Psyker Powers 10.    Roll For Night Fight (d6 roll of 4+) 11.    Roll for Choice of 1st Turn and 1st Deployment 12.    Player Deploys 13.    Second Player Deploys 14.    Roll for Infiltrators (if both players have infiltrators) 15.    Deploy Infiltrators 16.    Roll for scout moves (if both players have scouts) 17.    Make Scout Moves 18.    Turn over hidden objectives in “The Scouring” mission. 19.    Roll for Seize the Initiative 20.    Start of Movement Phase Rolls a.       (i.e. Blessing, Maledictions, Orders) 21.    At START of Turn 2 Roll for Reserves a.       Happens before start of movement phase rolls (i.e. Blessing, maledictions, orders) b.       Arrive on d6 roll of 3+ on turn 2 and 3 c.        Arrive automatically turn 4 d.       Cannot assault /use any abilities/special powers required to be on table at start of turn. e.        Roll for all units, then can choose which to deploy in any order f.        After deploying all reserve units begin normal movement phase (see #20) 22.    Roll for Night Fight Turn 5 if not activated pre-game a.       d6 roll of 4+ it is in effect rest of game b.       otherwise roll each turn till game end 23.    End of Turn 5 roll for game end a.       ends on d6 roll of 1 or 2 24.    End of Turn 6 roll for game end a.       ends on d6 roll 3 or less 25.    Game Ends automatically on Turn 7

There are some important sequence issues listed here that can drastically change the outcome of your game if you are not familiar with them.

The choice of table side, later followed by the Night Fight roll PRIOR to your roll for deployment/1st turn is particularly crucial.

Thanks for the read and hope you find it helpful,

BDS