There should have already been a GT Vancouver by now. I mean back when Baltimore didn't have a GW store Vancouver did. Before LA, before Calgary, Vancouver had a GW store and GW finally noticed this, thus the addition of a January GT. Which I will win, or at least score better at.
Not only does this call for another revamping of the army I got a new rule book and likely new assault rules to work with. Even before I went to Calgary I knew you needed a shooty army. So I vowed to have a shootier army, that was better painted, with a display base and more variety as that was offered up as a possibility why I didn't score better in army selection which was one of my big goals last time.
Before anything was officially announced I was scheming and this is what I jotted down based on rumors and a quick look at the Codex. I also owe a debt to Pete Haines for his musings in the Dwarf. The Death Guard army list update done on GW's online presence had no bearing on me. I'm putting in an early vote for Pete Haines as GW Vancouver guest.
My rough draft was a Chaos lord with a deamon weapon and Nurgling infestation and retinue in a Landraider. I found the Landraider nigh unkillable and I am so forcing my opponent to try and kill one.
To continue my shooty theme and because it's well painted and versatile I want the Beast Rabaan and what chaos player with any conversion skills at all isn't planning a Defiler. I also wanted to take advantage of the 14 man squad rule. I've dubbed this squad "The Gun Line".
I was also thinking off 14 Plaguebearers and 7 Nurglings but as you'll see below I reconsidered. I wanted to make use of my converted Rhinos and to have some movement so a Rhino squad is a must. The other rule I was taken with and listening to Pete I'd planned a mobile Lieutenant on a bike or with a Jump pack. This I guesstimated to be ~1700 points.
When I finally got my Codex I stayed up till 2am scheming and pricing out my first draft Vancouver GT army. I still have a few points to spend on more Chaos Rewards and wargear but I plan to start converting, once I paint some more Bloodbowl rats and model for the Two Towers contest. This is what I came up with:
I started with a new Lord. I'd envisioned the conversion now I just have to price it out and build and paint it. I decided on no Man Reaper. I don't think I need it with Nurgling Infestation. I also decided on no gun at all! I always want more strength so a great weapon is a well spent 3pts in my mind. I'm even toying with using some of my left over 30 points on deamonic strength! I also have a Mark of Nurgle (natch) and Deamonic Fire which is a bargain at 5pts in my opinion. This came to ~98pts. I'm kinda happy my lord is under 100 points but it's tempting to juice him up. I may sell back a wound and go with a Lieutenant to lead my force.
The two best things in a Chaos army are the lord and the Retinue (Chosen). There is no way I'm going in another GT with out a retinue. It just is so cool and it puts fear into the opposition. I need six, with the Lord I get the sacred number and a free champ. I plan to make them all cool looking and have names. I also plan to use some of nice conversions that didn't make it to Calgary that I've already done.
After buying the guys and their marks I priced them out as 6 separate models. Model one, the free champ also got the sorcerer upgrade. Then I gave him Doombolt as it seems to be the one with the most range. Even my retinue has to be able to shoot and at 12" I think I can kill a lot of stuff once I get out of the Landraider.
Model two is my new school terminator lord. The model is too cool to be a Joe marine even though it would be cheaper so I've gone with Terminator Champion (+29), Lightning Claw (+15), and Combi-Mealta (+10). This guy cost a lot and I hadn't even bought any troops at this point so I decided that was enough champ upgrades.
The icon bearer doesn't have to be a champ, so I've decided for looks and also tactically to make it a separate model. I got some converting to do, but I got a plan. I gave this squad two plasma pistols, which I could thanks to the six powered armor models (counting the lord I hope). The final guy is just a plain Bolt Pistol and CCW guy. I may have to give back the second plasma pistol, in which case I may go with another Terminator since they are a better deal with the new rules and I have a cunning plan of course...
My next three choices were my three HS choices. A vanilla Land Raider and the Beast Rabaan were easy to price out. The Defiler, needed some thinking. I decided to go with the Havoc instead of the Flamer upgrade and Twin Linked Heavy Bolters so it wouldn't be armed identically as the Beast. I didn't buy indirect fire cause I wanted to keep it affordable.
The next up is "The Gun Line". 14 Plague Marines with bolters, two upgraded to Plasma guns, a free icon and champ. The champ will have Meltabombs. This will be Syphilis Squad and is basically a merging of the three bolter armed squads in my Calgary GT army. I hope this single squad will be better then the three separate squads cause it will be more work to kill and still will be able to put out 2/3 of the fire power, not a bad deal eh? This along with my defiler and to a lesser extent the Land Raider will be my firebase. The Landraider will move after firing the Lascannons some so my Lord and his retinue can get into combat effective range.
"The Rhino Unit" is designed with versatility in mind. I kinda see it as using members of Green I though I decided to go with Flamers in another squad. Two mealta guns firing out Rhino hatches sounds cool and for range I included two bolter guys the rest have Bolt Pistols. Their free champ, I thought what other cool model do I have that never made it too Calgary (beside the terminator and old school bolter guys from Green I) and I came up with Epilepsius the Unbalanced. Although a demotion, I wanted as many cool models as I can for GT Vancouver. Besides he's armed to be a cheap lord and everything costs less for aspiring champions.
So far I'd stuck with my plans, but having read the rules a couple of times, I decided that a 14 member Plaguebearer squad wasn't such a good idea. So I settled on seven with seven Nurglings this fit in with my shootier theme and provided the variety Steve suggested.
Continuing the variety theme and bringing back one of my favourite tactics is "The Plague Scouts". I think these guys will be Green II though they'll have the flamers. They'll also have the Aspiring Champion with Powerglove who looks cool, kicks ass, and got cheaper. Even with all this wholesome goodness they still costed less then 200pts. Leaving me with points to spare.
This army seems awesome in my humble opinion. With it I will crush all opposition. Now I just have to stop jacking off and paint and convert so I can get it done up and start practicing. I plan to have a better looking army so I will be using the best looking guys I've got available and converting additions and replacements as needed. See you there assuming I can get a ticket. I will be faxing in my entry on the first day or go with express post like I did last time if fax is not an option...
Officially entered in 2003 Vancouver GT