Evolution of a List

For those that have seen my battle reports my list has essentially stayed the same with only minor changes. This particular build has been getting modified for a hell of a long time by this point and I am sure that there will still be some modifications that will be made in the future. In this post I really just want to look at the evolution of my current list starting from where it began to where it was at in my last battle report. This has the potential to be a rather long post so don't say you weren't warned hahaha!

First Incarnation: Lessons Learned

A lesson I learned from playing Space Wolves was to start list building with troops in mind first, not the fancy HQ. I knew I wanted to have a fast assault based army so assault marines were the natural choice for troops. I gave my sergeants a power sword and infernus pistol. I give them this wargear because I needed some anti armor because I did not want tanks or devastators to provide my anti armor capabilities so the infernus pistols gave me that ability and the power swords were there because a sergeant deserves a fancy weapon and I did not have any available lightning claws. 

The rest of my army was comprised of Commander Dante, Sanguinary Guard, and Death Company. Dante provided me with an accurate deep strike ability with my Sanguinary guard who had two infernus pistols with them, this unit provided me with an almost guaranteed dead enemy vehicle the turn they came in. Vanguard Veterans were supposed to assault the unit that were the biggest threat to my sanguinary guard and either kill them out right or just hold them up for a turn. Death Company were supposed to do what they do best and that is kill everything on the board or take an entire armies turn of shooting at it which allows everything else to live for that turn.

Results: I had a lot of mixed results with this list, one game I would completely table an opponent and then the next battle I would feel lucky to get an assault. The unit that was doing the least for me, and taking up a huge chunk of points was my death company. Too often would they not do enough damage in a game so it was with a heavy heart that I took them out of my lists except for large apocalypse games.

Second Incarnation: Ass Kicking and Friendly Advice

I took this list to a tournament. Same assault marines as last time, vanguard veterans were upgraded with a storm shield and an extra power sword. I added another squad of sanguinary guard with no upgrades except for the mask that caused fear. This tournament was just in time for it to be about a month or so after 6th ed came out so I figured it would be a good test to see how well this list would fair in 6th edition. 

I lost every single one of my game. It was a 3 game, one day tournament and I played Necrons, Imperial Guard, and a White Scars army. It was a terrible showing for me and rather disappointing. I knew I had to put a lot more work into my army.

Results: After talking with a friend all summer and doing a lot of list building back and forth I decided to scrap my elite and HQ heavy army, Dante is around the price of a land raider, and shuffle things up a bit. Terminators came into my army along with a Reclusiarch to boost them in combat. Sanguinary priests also started making it into my lists on a regular basis.

Third Incarnation: Fire Power?

With terminators and the assault squads becoming permanent in my army it has been a continuing struggle to find a proper third element for my force. I thought land speeders were the answer to this problem since it would also answer by need for anti armor with their cheap multi meltas and missiles. A single Sanguinary Priest also made a permanent add on to my lists, I gave him a jump pack, Infernus pistol, and a power fist. 

Results: The land speeders did not even make it to the paint stage before I gave up on them. They gave up first blood far too often and rarely destroyed a vehicle or did anything of worth. Perhaps I gave up on them prematurely but I don't think I did. Needing to give my terminators a boost I also added a Sanguinary Priest to their unit. It is also important to note that the priest give a 6 inch feel no pain bubble to all Blood Angel models so it was handy to have a priest in the back field to assist my assault marines if theirs died.

Fourth Incarnation: Need for Speed

Terminators, Reclusiarch, and Sanguinary Priests along with two assault squads are now permanent in my lists. My assault marines were lacking a kick so I upgraded them to flamers. I had been experimenting with hand flamers for a long time but they were expensive and strength 3 just was not cutting it to let my guys have an extra attack in combat. My sergeants also got their lightning claws out of the armory and that re-roll to wound has been incredible almost every game. I still could not figure out a way to get a good combat unit in my army without spending a lot of points on a jump pack unit. I did try a third assault marine squad but the army as a whole was too soft, the only hard punch was from the terminators and that not good enough.

Results: Bikers! Fast, hard hitting, shooty, tough, this looks like an awesome unit. What put me off from this unit for such a long time was the cost per model which is silly since it is cheaper than a death company marine with a jump pack. I slowly built up my force of these to unleash them on the battle field.

Fifth Incarnation: Terminators...

The basics are still in my army, but now you can add bikes and a bike sanguinary priest to the unit. I had a few hundred points still to work with and after the initial success of my bikes I was very temped to just add more. However I was having a problem with my terminators deep striking all over the place, I wanted a unit that could help bring them in safely and could potentially do something useful in return.

Results: Scouts became my answer. A cheap choice that can hide with their teleport homer and allow the big guys to drop in safe and sound, ready to smash heads in. I also flipped back and forth between a captain and librarian to lead my bike unit. Having psychic powers was nice but having an invulnerable save was also a nice ability.

Sixth Incarnation: Space Marines!

At 1500 points all I can do at this point is shuffle little things around but as anyone that has watched Mulan would know, a single grain of rice can tip the scales. If you have seen my last battle report you know what my latest list looks like and how it works. The scouts and bikers have come from the White Scars chapter in order to save me points and get me some absolutely incredible bikers that are also now a troop choice.

Results: Not perfected but it feels damn close. This army is now so fast on all fronts. Scouts have the infiltrate and scout move for me to get them wherever I need them to be and the terminators will be teleporting 6 inches away from them. At this point it almost feels like my assault marines are the slowest part of my army with turbo-boosting bikes and all that crazyness. Also being able to add the 5 extra assault marines was a nice addition since I finally was able to end a game with assault marines on the field. They also offer a bit of added flexibility for assault weak units or capturing objectives. 

Potential Future

I may switch out the 5 assault marines for more bikers. I don't think I will try and switch organization charts to make Khan my warlord since I really think having the Reclusiarch as my guy is far more advantageous. Khan is more vulnerable in close combat especially since his unit is not nearly as beefy as 5 thunder hammer/storm shield terminators and his +d3 victory points if he kills the enemy warlord in a challenge is a bit risky in a lot of circumstances. I would rather throw him at a monstrous creature and try rolling a 6 to wound to instant kill it while the Reclusiarch laughs at anything he faces. 

Thanks for reading, if you have any suggestions for my future lists for 1500 points and above please let me know. I do plan on buying some new bikers eventually so that my opponent is not confused as to what sort of bikers they are. At the very least I will make a Khan model so it is more obvious who they are. Have an Emperor blessed day!