Badaab War: Fire Hawk Space Marines

Codex Space Marines is gaining momentum. White Scars' populating the tournament table top is only slowed by the difficulty in painting white well. Eldar Wave Serpent spam is taking win after win.

But quietly, Forge World may be doing an end around on "official" use in GW games. See this post.

Last week two very cool documents/updates were released by FW:

Badaab Special Characters

Badaab Chapter Tactics

Now there is quite a bit to digest in those two very nice, large updates.

But, let's take a look at one that will allow to approach the game from a different angle. In that I mean this. Tau gave rise to screamer star/council star. The search for ways to get to grips despite poor 6th edition rules for assault and overwhelming fire power. What is better than a unit that can move fast, AP2 and has a 2++ save?

Eldar are now eclipsing Tau or allying with them due to the Wave Serpent and another unit that can re-roll a low invulnerable save; the council star.

So many players are looking for ways to out do both these armies with either assault that can not be denied or, ha ha, trying to out shoot them. Space Marines may change many of the large MC builds but still have an uphill battle with some of the other builds.

There is another way to approach the game. You could take the approach to flood the board with cheap, fast, well concealed troops and say, "Come at me Bro!." Few armies can create crazy shooting and erase armies quickly in assault.

With that in mind, Fire Hawk Space Marines present a very interesting alternative to what is out there now. Combine this with a giant stamp of "OFFICIAL" right around the corner, we may see a whole new set of variables to consider.

Frankly, in my opinion if the I-Pad only codei are "official" you have no business disallowing FW. I-Pad codei are the least available rules not included in your codex. They are produced by subsidiary; Black Library. They are not available at the same level as a hardback, at least not at first. They require a $250-400US  IT investment then buy the codex. Where is the difference from FW? But, that is a different article.

Here is a sample draft army that puts so many troops on the ground, flying, jumping, hiding around that instead of killing stuff you can game the mission.

Now you will need to review the rules for the Fire Hawk's Chapter Tactics and the Special IC. But, the major thing to grasp is that Vanguard Vets (elites) and Assault Squads (fast attack) are counted as scoring units.

LIST:

Knight-Captain Elam Courbray
Jump pack, Iron Halo,Sword Excellus,, Hit and Run, Martial Contemp 185 points

5 Van Guard vets, with sgt., jump packs, 2 melta bombs 120
5 Van Guard vets, with sgt., jump packs, 2 melta bombs 120
5 Van Guard vets, with sgt., jump packs, 2 melta bombs 120

5 Scouts, with sgt., combiflamer, Land Speeder Storm with Hvy Flmr 110
5 Scouts, with sgt., combiflamer, Land Speeder Storm with Hvy Flmr 110
5 Scouts, with sgt., combiflamer, Land Speeder Storm with Hvy Flmr 110

10 scouts, sgt., 10 sniper rifles, camo cloaks 140
10 scouts, sgt., 10 sniper rifles, camo cloaks 140
10 scouts, sgt., 10 sniper rifles, camo cloaks 140

5 assault Marines, 2 flamer, Drop pod, sgt 95
10 Assault Marines, sgt, melta bombs, flamers x2 185

6 Devastators 4 mulit-meltas 124
1 Stalker 75
1 Stalker 75

1849 points.

So here you find 15 possible scoring units and 75 scoring bodies. 9 units can deep strike, 8 units can quickly redeploy from 12-24" to contest/claim.

Now you will see many, many flamers in the list. For two reasons, one scouts can not miss with flamers and Fire Hawks get +1 to flamer strength on turn they deep strike. They also get +1 Hammer of Wrath. Of course they are still marines, so they benefit from "They shall Know No Fear" allowing them to break and then move 3" and re-group etc.

In addition you have up to 9 units that can scout and/or infiltrate.

When you add all this up it provides you with a tremendous amount of tools that will allow you to "out general" your opponent. Which I find more appealing than just purchasing the best army and rolling dice at your opponent anyway.

On top of that, they have a very cool back story and nifty color scheme. Really, nothing is cooler then the Legion of the Damned if you ask me anyway. I would see how this works and with a little tweaking all those Vanguard squads could be replaced by LoTD squads with melta and provide some very annoying units in your opponents backfield.

Thanks for the read,

BDS