Unit Analysis: Noise Marines

Words Hurt Too – Part II

Right, so in the first part of this article “series” I discussed all the options that Noise Marines can take and what they really do. So for this part I’m going to cover their battlefield applications. Now I need to state that I’m not trying to convince anyone to play an all Noise Marine army, hell I don’t even do that. I’m writing this because I feel that Noise Marines are often overlooked and under-appreciated. So with that I shall start with some tactics.

Many people see Noise Marines as a singular purpose unit. What that means is that you either equip a Blastmaster and/or some Sonic Blasters and just sit back and shoot, or you do the other extreme with a Doom Siren and Power Weapon/Fist Champ and drive up into assault. While either load outs might work in their own right I feel like there should be a compromise, a middle ground. So I run mine as follows:

8 Noise Marines, 7 Sonic Blasters, Champion with Doom Siren and Power Weapon in Rhino – 275 pts

“Alright Dan, now that’s just stupid.” Yeah, I know it is. But you know what?... It works! No joke. I know the internets has its theories and that it’s all about list building, and if you use that school of thought, then yes this configuration makes no sense. And this is why the internets with all its beloved trolls are wrong, its all about how you run/utilize units. Especially this one.

Now let me explain before you all troll me, okay? I’ve been running this set up for years now and I understand it through and through. The strength of this unit is its maneuverability and its massive firepower, but as you can see it lacks a very key asset most units need in this edition, anti-tank. This is why I never let them go out alone (after all they are children and they need supervision). I run either CSM with dual melta in Rhino, or Plague Marines with dual Plasma with them to help them out. Cause 9/10 times the only thing that is standing between my Noise Marines and absolute slaughter is a metal box.

Like I said earlier this unit has massive amounts of firepower, more over massive anti-infantry firepower. This units sole purpose is to rupture internal organs, through power and flak armor alike. Not only does 14-21 bolter shots cripple Gaurdsmen and Wolf Scouts, just drive up closer and play that funky music white boi. The closer this unit gets to you, the deadlier it gets. And a CSM general you just have to give them the opportunity and they will shine, like the 4th of July, cause baby they’re fireworks (sorry, had to do it).

This brings me to my second point. You don’t need me to bring up any more stats or numbers. If, by some chance you do, /facepalm yourself and go back to your Twilight books. This unit is semi-situational. It isn’t the all around Swiss-army knifes of other units in the codex. They don’t have any reliable can-opening abilities. So this is why you include Oblits, or Havocs, or Predators, or anything for that matter. Just open those tin cans and let tem play Bach’s 8th symphony of Death. This unit also plays very well with Lash. Whether you have a Blastmaster or a Doom Siren, bunch ‘em up and blow ‘em to bits.

In conclusion…Noise Marines are a very beefy shooting unit, able to out shoot any other unit in the codex when properly equipped. Now they aren’t completely well rounded in all aspects, but they have their place. I’m not saying build an army around Noise Marines, in fact quite the contrary. Build a solid army first, and then add a dash of Noise Marines to taste. They’re an all around infantry butcher squad, so that’s what you should use them as. Perfect for standing and shooting, and also as a charge and counter charge unit. Give a whirl and see what you think. Trust me its fun, and if not me trust Slaanesh he/she/it knows how to rape people (just ask the Eldar).

Mission of the week number 1!

Riddles in the Dark

Game length:
Random Game Length - Ending the Game (pg 90 BRB)


Deployment:
Pitched battle


Special rules:
Infiltrate, Reserves, Deep Strike, outflank

Modified Night fighting rules
Every turn Roll a D6 if the result is a 3+ that turn counts as night fighting,
if a 1 or 2 is rolled Nightfighing is turned off for the remainder of the turn.


Objectives:

Primary
D3+3 Objectives(250 Victory points each)
Victory points
Bonus objectives
+300 victory points: Destroy your opponent’s highest
point costing unit by the end of Turn 3. If two or more
units costing equal points qualify for highest point unit,
you earn this objective by destroying any of them.

+200 Victory points: Destroy all of your opponent's HQ choices
by the end of Turn 4,

+100 Victory Points
for every unit in your opponents Deployment at the end of the game

MUSIC

1250 Tourney report

So yeah, tourney reports w00t?

MUSIC? <---friggen amazing

So yeah, list went something like

haemie

2x 3 blasterborn dual cannon venoms

4x warrior blaster dual cannon venoms

2x ravagers

1x razorwing

Sooooomething like that :o

So some table pics (BTW this was run by my man JEFF)



I REALLY WANTED TO PLAY ON THIS TABLE



So yeah with that out of the way.
12 peeps showed up.

army spread: (if i can remember XD)
eldar
DEx2
Swolves
GKx2 (mordrak wing, and PURIFIER SPAM)
codex marines
BA (a crazy DC list)
chaos (My man joe, running a lash hybrid with some ONE THOUSAND SONSSSSS)
IG
er...yeah cant remember anything else >_<

K now onto THE BATTLES

BAM, first round ELDAR!!!!!!!
farseer
avatar
10x funky shooty guys? IDK they died to splinter fire XD
another 10x of the above
5x wraith guard and a warlock
banshees too
2x wave serpents
1x falcon

Deployment:

Actually im retarded and thats top of four.

Mission was:
DOW
KP

Turn 1:
he moves on
i shake a stupid wave serpents

Turn 2:
he blows a cannon off a venom
I shake 2 serpents -.-

Turn 3:
he derps and fails :/
I wreck a serpent
explode another
kill all the wraith guard with me splinters
and a few banshees

Turn 4:
he wiffs hard frackin core
I kill avatar (and get a door prize :D the 2010 adepticon model)
the banshees
and the wave serpent

Turn 5:
He runs XD
I kill his shooty guys

Hes down too a running to cover farseer and 3 shooty guys

Turn 6:
I kill the shooty guys and the far seer eats 12 Lances

result:
tableing full 1250.
Guy was awesome, awesome army and he took it well.

ROUND 2:

Table set up (ignore my ghetto transportation :)

Mission:
pitched
CNC

His list:
(it was super sick looking XD)
R priest
LL jaws
R priest
wolf tail talisman (idk what that does >_<), jaws, murderous hurricane
R priest M bombs, Jaws, Tempests wrath

3x 7 man standard, rhino, melta GH packs

3x Pfist, melta wolf guard

3x 4 ML LF

I saw this list and was like....fml

deployment;

:(

Top of 4

:P
He had like 6 LF left XD
Turn 5 he was tabled and regretting doubting my paper airplanes XDDDDDDDDDDDDD

Round 3:

Mission:
Spear head
Sieze ground

His list:
captain
2x 5 man cyclone termie squads
2x 10 man tacs one razor, melta, flamer, ML, LC
3x MM/HF speeders

Table:

(mid action bottle grab)

Top of 4:

It was going downhill for him.

I ended up winning 2-0
He had 14 marines left and a razorback

Now, Im on table one vs the PURIFIER SPAM GK guy, whos been absolutely talking up his boys in silver :P
and how their psybacks would OWWWWNNNN my venoms :P

Mission:
Have more scoring units in six inches of the objective then your opponent at the end of the game.

His list:
some cheapie inquis with CM and PA
4x purifier squads, halberds, 2x pscannons in psybacks
PSYFLEMANNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

I saw this list and groaned and just how SPAMMY IT IS, we had played before nova format and i lost by one objective (forgot the dice were objectives, but i admit i sucked that game)

Deployment;

This is where i made my mistake:
I moved right in a sweeping motion towards him 0.o when i should have moved left blocking his shots and swamping the objective...

Game went:
He messed up my raorwing
I moved up, blew a razor
he wrecked like a venom?
I vaporized foot squad
He went on to keep wrecking venoms while i was derp herping around and plinking at razors
Game turns when the psyfelman got bored and went BOOM

I started sweeping towards the middle around 3rd?
He disembarked squads and went towards middle, he blew that venom/co away
I went, BWAAAAAMP and killed his squad on objective while plonking mine on there
rinse n repeat

It ended up going to 7 in truly epic fashion

and the verdict is....
I had run a warrior squad barely within 6 to cancel out his one XDDDDDDD!!!!!!!!!!

I WON :D

Game was pretty ridiculous and i guess i got all hissy when my lances failed to hit any of his vehicles and acted childish, didnt mean to though.

So yeah i won haha, first tourney win with DE (first tourney, other then ARD BOIZ actually)

For lewts i got:
50 bucks in prizes (chose 2 hellion bawkses :D HELLIONS FTW)
and the 2010 adpeticon model for nuking that avatar with splints

Heres my gracious GK opponent posing for a pic:

Awww dave, never doubt the venoms bro, never doubt em....

Oh btw the sallies guy 3rd round won best painted:

old school models ftw?

Im out-

3 color minimum/army showcase

Well, theres a 1250 5 round free tourney tomorrow at the fantasy flight events center that I'm attending.

It's got a 3 color minimum...
I barely achieved that.

Now I wont lie, I procrastinate waaaayyy too much.

So here's some pics













So yeah, plan is to re do em for the GT in February.

Tourney report tommorow too.



-I'm out

Unit Analysis: Noise Marines

Word Hurt Too - Part 1

So this week I wanted to talk about my favorite unit in the 40k universe, the Noise Marines. Now anyone who knows me will tell you that I’m completely dedicated to Slaanesh, so it makes sense why I love them so. If any of you have read the book “Fulgrim” you’ll know what I mean. I just love everything about them, their fluff, their color scheme, the weapons, the god like drug habits, etc. so when this toilet paper worthy codex came out those oh so many years ago I knew I had to use them; and I must say, they perform outstanding.

Now I know what most of you will say and think. I understand the current meta, and I know how many others play CSM. But I do things my own way, and I’ll be damned if I don’t have a unit in any army I field. (though I’m serious about the damned part, I think Slaanesh is watching me) So lets see…where to start…

Well the first point many use against me is that they aren’t the best troop unit we CSM generals have at our disposal. Okay, true. Noise Marines have some stiff competition in the troop slot. There’s Plague Marines and Khorne Bezerkers, hell even regular Chaos Space Marine squads can have more optimal load outs. But hear me out. Let us start with the points.
Noise Marines are only 20 points a model, more than CSM but less that other cult troops. Just like other cult troops they’re fearless, and they get the Mark of Slaanesh whish boosts their initiative to 5. So that’s 5 points more that CSM for fearless and I5, I’ll take it. The I5 makes sure that they are perfect for assault, both giving and taking (yes that’s supposed to be an innuendo). With it they will most likely be striking before everyone else, and having 2 CCW as well as any power weapon option attacks means you’ll be able to soften the blow coming back your way.

“Dan, WTF?! Zerkers are I5 on the charge and have more attacks!! And Plague Marines have a higher toughness with FNP and defensive grenades!!!” Yeah, I know, thank you for stating the obvious. I understand that KB are monsters in CC and that PM are amazing at soaking up pretty much everything. But Noise Marines shine in other ways. No they can’t take Melta Guns, but you know what they can take? Wait…wait for it…Sonic Weapons!!!

I love sonic weaponry!! And the codex allows you to kit out your squads in lots of different ways. First there’s the good old reliable Sonic Blaster. For five points you get an Assault 2 or Heavy 3. Notice the or? I understand that it’s an extra five points, but the versatility it provides is unparalleled for anti-infantry guns. This now allows you always fire up to 2’ whether you move or not. Now we shall break for some mathhammer…

So, lets look at a regular marine shooting a bolter at another marine. That means you need a 3+ to hit, a 4+ to wound, and then get through a 3+ armor save. It gives you a 8.84% chance to wound per shot. With a full Tactical squad, lets say with only bolters, firing at full range you’re scoring about .8 wounds.

So now, with sonic blasters, you’re getting twice that…1.6 wounds. And that’s at 2’, not 1’. And if you don’t move obviously you’ll get 3 shots, and that’s 2.4. We all know that the more dice you roll the better, or closer to average, and that’s what Sonic Blasters gives you.

Another option Noise Marines can take is the Blastmaster. This gun also has 2 profiles that you can fire it as. Either a 36” S5 AP4 Assault 2, Pinning or a 48” S8 AP3 Heavy 1, Blast, Pinning. Obviously you’re gonna wanna remain stationary with this bad boy. The gun speaks (literally) for itself. I have to admit that I don’t really have that much experience with using them because, well, they cost 40 pts and you can only take up to one per unit. Is it good? Yeah, it can be. Is it worth it? No, not really.

Now the last in the armory, and my personal favorite, the Doom Siren. For those who don’t know it’s a S5 AP3 template weapon. That’s right, a AP3 template!! Is there really any downside to it? Well, it’s only available for the Noise Champion. That means that you need to spent 35 pts just to access the gun, which is another 15 pts. It’s completely worth the 15 pts, but it does make your Champion 50 pts, and that’s before any power weapon options. The pay off is amazing. This single gun takes the unit from being above average to down right hellish.

So lets recap quick. Noise marines are cult troops which means that they’re Fearless. They also come with the Mark of Slaanesh which gives them +1I, so a 5 instead of a 4. We covered their armory which basicly goes like this – Sonic Blasters, yes; Blastmaster, no; and Doom Siren, hell yes! That’s it for this week. I’ll be doing a second part later this week going over some basic tactics that focus on Noise Marines and their synergy with the rest of the CSM codex.

Till then, billie_joe out, oh and Death to the False Emperor.

unit of the week No.1! Imperial guard Veterans

Ahhhh veterans, the Swiss army knife of the
Imperial guard and the back bone of any mechanized Imperial guard army.

Veterans are different than basic guardsmen in that they have BS4, and a sergeant with Ld 8. But what makes them the star of the show is the ability to take three special weapons, making them the anti-tank squad of choice along with the CCS, all mounted in either Chimeras or Valkyries. The sniper rifle is a complete waste on the veterans, and flamers and Grenade Launchers can be gotten for cheaper elsewhere (a PCS or SWS, perhaps), leaving the Plasma gun as the other top notch option for the Vets. The downside to the Plasma gun is their ready availability in platoons, Leman Russ Executioner, and even sentinels (well, the last two are plasma cannons, but they share a common target pool). One veteran can take a Heavy Flamer instead of another special, but like in command squads, the cost in both points and opportunity is too great for anything other than a fun choice. Veterans can take a heavy weapon, and the decision of whether or not to take advantage of that will no doubt be the source of much future debate, but my current rule of thumb is: never for Airmobile squads, always for foot squads, and sometimes for mechanized squads. If you’re packing melta guns in a chimera, you might expect to move full speed, but you also might stay put to shoot with the chimera. In those times, packing an autocannon for 10pts is simply a good buy. Further, vets with three plasmas and a lascannon run only 135pts, and can tuck into cover or a Chimera to provide great cover fire.

Veterans can take one of three doctrines: Carapace armor, camo cloaks and defensive grenades, or melta bombs and a demo charge, all for 30pts. Carapace armor is overpriced as always, but provides a good way to use Kasrkin models without having to swallow the awful Storm Trooper rules. The camo cloaks are also quite pricy, and defensive grenades are nice but not enough to save veterans from anything but the weakest charging unit. Demolitions add a nice mix to the squad, and while 30pts is a lot of points for a demo charge in an airmobile squad that charge can often reap huge benefits. Melta bombs are also generally good.

So all in all veterans are an AWESOME inexpensive troops choice but remember to not spend to much on them because remember they are a T3 unit with a 5+.

The Emperor Protects

Derp, here's a dreadnaught my friends

Whatever heres a dreadnaught i painted look at the pretty picture <3

heres a link to the ebay posting: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190593573877#ht_500wt_949

Infinity terrain! (cheap)

(insert music link here -.-)

Well since my FLGS has a ton of terrain, I decided to make more!

(because when I take a Ton of
It for infinity...people tend to get negative...)

So I set out on my first terrain project!

Pics:





Its easily enough to fill a 4X4 (my preferred table size for infinity).

I plan on just spraying them
With stone textured spray paint
And then a lighter color for added variety!

And add sand bags and barrels for even more LOSB goodness!
(like the amount I need when i play my DE)...

That's all for now, thanks for reading.


-I'm out