This Is What A Healthy Game Community Looks Like

by SandWyrm

Thursday is the official X-Wing night at the North Store, but Farmpunk and I usually game on Wednesdays (or the odd Monday) because of our wives' schedules. Well, I got a rare chance to go out this past Thursday night, and this is what I saw. Five simultaneous games of X-Wing, and one game of Warmachine being played in a packed room. Seriously, I haven't seen the game room this stuffed with players since the heydays of 5th Edition 40K. It was glorious.

Hear Ye, Hear Ye!! New Game Night at the North Store!

by Anonymouse Foodie

Let it be henceforth known that the Games Preserve North is changing its 40k night!

That Other Company's Fantasy Wargame...

by SandWyrm

Mrs. Sandwyrm was having a ladies night at the house with some church friends, so after hitting Chick-Fil-A, I decided to take the kids down to the North Store. Their 40K shipment usually comes in on Thursday and I wanted to snag some new Speeders for the Emo-Wing.

40k TOURNAMENT Game Preserve Keystone

 by: Uberdark

did the imaginary hot chick get your attention?
Yes that's right, the GP NORTH is doing a tourney.

Battle Report: Mech Guard vs. Vulkan Marines

by SandWyrm

I went down to the North Store tonight to practice with my new Guard list for the 1750 tourney in 2 weeks. Spaguatyrene was there with his two sons. One of whom was testing a Vulkan list for the tourney. So his dad set up a game between us.

A Fine Looking Battle

by SandWyrm

It's been some 12 years since I first started my Tallarn Guard army in the Spring of 1998. But I can now say proudly that my 2K Mech Guard list is finally completely painted. Whew! Those last few Stormtrooper models were a real pain.

To celebrate, I took them down to the North Store hoping to finally get a game in with JB from Kokomo, who has the best looking Ork army I've ever seen. I lucked out, as he was there and anxious to play me. We set up the best looking table we could with the store's terrain and went at it. Fortunately I brought the good camera to take pics with.

List Question: Tyrannids

by SandWyrm

Hey SandWyrm,

It's Andrew from the game preserve, I play Tyranids (the red and tan ones) also the 4 raider space wolves. I wanted to throw my 2k tyranid list at you see what you think. Feel free to put it up on Theback40k I don't mind. As one of the few opinions I respect and accept I'd love to get your feed back.

Battle Result: Emo-Wing vs. Wolves

by SandWyrm

I had a good game tonight vs. a North Store regular who I'm nickname "Notdog". He had just won a game with his Nids and wanted to try his luck against the Emo Wing with his Space Wolves.

Wait... I Won?

by SandWyrm

Mrs. Sandwyrm was feeling particularly generous tonight, so I got to head down to the North Store even though I'd already gone down to the South Store on Sunday. I didn't even have to ask, she just told me I could go. I love my wife!

Anyhow, I got there too late to grab a game with anyone else, so Gibbs (the store guy) agreed to play me with his Mech Eldar at 2K.

Battle Report: Emo Wing vs. Genestealers

by SandWyrm

It's game two for the Angels, this time versus a Genestealer-heavy Nid build.

Emo-Wing: First Game

by SandWyrm

Had my first game with the Emo-Wing tonight vs. Protem's foot Marines. Here's a quick report.

I Think I Finally Have Some Local Painting Competition

by SandWyrm

So I went down to the FLGS for the first time in almost a month tonight (stupid work...), and what should I find, but the best looking Ork army I've ever seen.

Shadowsun, won't you come?

by: farmpunk

Daedalus Nix came to Indianapolis for some job training, and sent SandWyrm and I an e-mail asking for a game. SandWyrm had the flu, and I was more than willing to give Daedalus a game.

Daedalus plays Tau, and this was his 2nd 'official' game. I let him choose what list of mine he would play down at the good 'ol FLGS.

Battle Report: Drow, Drow, Drow, Your Raider...

by SandWyrm

 

Man... I had the shakes. Almost three weeks had gone by without a game. First the South Store was closed because Buckler had food poisoning (On the same night as the Super Bowl playoffs... hmmnnn...). Then I got sick with the Flu for the third(!) time this winter. 

So I was REALLY happy to finally get a chance to go down to the New North Store on Wednesday with Farmpunk. Turnout was pretty good considering the recent move. We had 6 people total, 4 of whom ended up playing. Farmpunk got to play the new 'Nids, while I got to play some Dark Eldar. (more...)

The North Store Is Dead. Long Live The North Store!

by SandWyrm

In case you haven't heard, the Game Preserve in the Fashion Mall has closed. The store will re-open across the street from the Fashion Mall's east entrance, a few doors down from Kohls. Next to the big Ulta cosmetics store. (more...)

The new learners

I wandered down the the local FLGS for the usual Wed. night lunacy. There are 2 FLGS's on my side of town now, and a lot of the kids and collegians are back at school. Wed. night attendance is getting scarce.

I do enjoy when new kids come in. There were a pair of brothers who came in dragging their mom with them. They wanted Carcasonne. IN A BAD WAY. and most of the expansions. I forget sometimes that there ARE kids that find good games and go for the gusto with them. they were all a-twitter with how cool, and fun Carcasonne is.
My wife and I own Carcasonne, and a variant of it, Ark of the Covenant, which we like a bit better (mostly for house rules, requiring you to make sound effects for when you do 'Biblical' stuff)
There were also a pair of Brothers who came in chomping at the bit to try Warhammer. They decided on the Science fiction type, and were going to get a Black Reach box, and some paint. It's kinda nice to see a 9yr old, and a 6yr old excited to get plastic dollies.
That kind of enthusiasm does me good.

There was a new guy who showed up, with his Space Marines. He was a vet player, but had been away for the last 2-3yrs. Poor guy lived in an area with the only games being on the Navy Base. Since He's not Military, it was kinda tough to get games.
It was kind of a re-learning for him to get 5th ed. Which is good. I need to teach more, it shores up my rules knowledge. I also siezed the initiative! OMFG! It finally happened! I play a lot of games, and I don't get to sieze the init!
it was Dawn of War deployment, so it meant he was up at midfield, too. It was a good game, but getting the init really can hamstring someone.

Dude! Where's My Advance?

 by SandWyrm

 

After a week of 40K withdrawal due to family commitments, Farmpunk and I finally managed to get over to the North Store for a rematch. We were the only ones there... again. But at least that meant that we got our pick of tables. Protem was off in the Phantom Zone or something this week.

We rolled up Annihilation with a Spearhead deployment. I then rolled first turn... Hooray!

I brought 4 squads of Vets in Chimeras. One of which was packing plasma. The CCS was tooled out with melta and an Astropath. With a Hellhound, Russ, and Demolisher in support. The Sentinels were packing autocannons. This was one Hellhound short of my usual mix, but I'm catering to the comp rules for the upcoming 1500 pt. South Store tourney, where you lose points if you max out any FOC category besides troops. You also gain points if your troop choices are equal to or more than any other 2 categories combined.

Farmpunk brought 2 units of =][= Stormies in Rhinos, with 2 units of melta/flamer Sisters (Also in Rhinos) to keep them in line. The Exorcists were there, of course. But he also brought along an inducted IG platoon with lascannons and plasma. The Platoon Command was in a Chimera and was equipped with 4 meltas.

Farmpunk also brought along the Saint, just to show me how she works.

Deployment

I chose a corner that gave Farmpunk a nice big building to hide his Platoon in on the opposite side, but I wanted to make sure that I had enough room to maneuver around. The corner I chose had 3 approaches to the center of the board, while Farmpunk's had only 2. The last thing I wanted was for one dead Chimera to hold up my entire advance! And hey, prying IG out of buildings is what Hellhounds are for. :)

Farmpunk set up his armor in cover as much as he could, with the intent to weather the storm and then hit me hard in return. The Saint was set up in the middle of the 3 tanks in his center.

Turn 1

Farmpunk tries to steal the initiative, but rolls a 3. Ere we go...

I move everything up and pop smoke on my forward Chimeras. The Russ and Demolisher reach out and immobilize the center Sister Rhino, which means they're walking into my line! Even better, the Saint is caught in both large blasts and is insta-killed. She shuffles off to heaven, waiting to deep strike back in later.

The Sentinels fire their Autocannons at the Rhino on my left. Only one has LOS, but it's enough. Both shots penetrate and blow up the Rhino, killing 4 of the 5 Stormies. Leaving a single melta gunner out in the open.

On his turn, Farmpunk moves this lone Stormie into cover, while moving the Rhino full of Sisters back towards the ruins where the IG platoon is.

(With this move, his advance is over.)

The =][= Stormies in the center move up 12" through the area terrain and pop their damned =][= smoke. His Platoon Command moves up on my right and fires it's meltas into my lead Chimera. I fail both cover saves and the Chimera is wrecked. The squad gets out with it's (painted!) melta gunners lined up for a shot next turn.

The Sister squad in the immobilized Rhino, meanwhile, gets out and they start slogging toward my dead Chimera. I can almost hear Farmpunk licking his lips in anticipation of what those girls will do to that poor Vet squad.

The Exorcist on my left manages to immobilize the Hellhound, while the one on my right whiffs entirely while shooting at my Sentinels.

Turn 2

No Marbo.

First off, I kill that lone =][= Stormie with the meltagun that's hiding in the ruins on my left. The Hellhound's Inferno Cannon makes short work of him. I don't need a hero causing trouble for me later. :)

I move up both my Command Chimera (the one with the Antenna), and the Plasma Vets for point-blank shots on the smoked Rhino full of =][= Stormies in front of me. I also move up the Sentinels for shots at the same Rhino. =][= smoke is tough to get through, so I wanted maximum firepower available.


Q: How many shots does it take to wreck a Rhino with =I= smoke?

A: Twenty Three

I fired 4 meltas, 3 double-tap plasmas, 2 multi-lasers, 3 Sentinel Autocannons, and finally the Demolisher Cannon at the damned thing before I got enough Weapon Destroyed results to kill it! Sheesh!!!

Meanwhile, I moved up the Vets from the wrecked Chimera for perfect shots at the back of the Chimera in front of them. They managed to blow off the turret and immobilize it. Forcing his PCS to bail out and move into the ruins.

On my left, the Russ spoke again and the Rhino on my left was immobilized. Hehe...

On his turn, Farmpunk moves the walking Sisters into ruins and gets off a perfect heavy flamer shot at my guys before charging the survivors. I pulled my casualties from the front to try and make it harder to get to them, but the girls rolled a 6 and dove right into combat. My guys lost the combat by 2, but held their ground. Which wasn't what I wanted with so many heavy flamers lined up all around them. Grrrr!

The =][= Stormies who got blown out of their smoked Rhino in the center now move up and lay into my command Chimera with their meltas, blowing it up. The Sisters in the immobilized Rhino to my left then get out and kill everyone in the Command Squad, save Colonel Lawrence. Who falls to his knees and thanks the Emperor for his Refractor Field.

The Chimera with the Plasma Vets explodes too, thanks to the PCS hiding in the ruins.

Turn 3

On my turn I have Colonel Lawrence order himself back to his feet and move him up into the ruins. The PlasVets then move back to the ruins behind the line to make way for the surviving Chimera on my right to move in and kill the =I= Stormies with it's heavy flamer, which it does.

Marbo pops out in the ruins next to the left-most Sister squad and kills 5 of them with his Demo Charge. The Demolisher then kills 3 more with it's cannon, causing the squad to run to within an inch of the table edge.

The Sentinels then charge the Sisters who are already in combat with my Vets on the right and kill 4. Farmpunk then loses the combat by two and... RUNS! The Sentinels run them down.

Wow!

At this point it's pretty clear that the game is over, but we played out the rest of the turn before the game devolved into tactical discussions mixed with joking around. The Saint returned to earth and flamed the Plasma Vets, while the PCS and right-most Exorcist killed off the Sentinels. But after that Farmpunk was really left with nothing effective on the table. Marbo would surely finish off 2 Sisters, while the Saint was facing a fresh Vet Squad and 2 battle tanks.

Once those were gone, I'd be trading fire between the Russes and the Exorcists. Our bet was on the Russes, so we called it with the score at 6 KP to 4.

Conclusions

Farmpunk's error was pretty much the same as mine in the last game. He wanted to be the beatdown, even though he wasn't. You can't pop =][= smoke before the game starts, so all those transports were just sitting there waiting for my alpha strike to take them apart. I was able to stop 40% of his mobility before he even got to move.

I think that his best bet would have been to put all of his transports in reserve and come in later to threaten my far left flank. With a decent set of reserve rolls, he could have popped 2-3 of my tanks and forced my right flank to change course and double-back.

Or, he could have castled up as far away form me as possible and forced me to drive into his lascannons and Exorcists. But I think the reserves idea would have been better.

Ahh. That 'New Store' smell

Sandwyrm, Protem, and I went to the NEW shop in town, Saltire games (saltiregames.com). It's not really too far from where I live, and has good gamespace available. It even has that 'new stripmall' smell to it (like 'new car' smell, but with paint, drywall, and carpet smells). (where Saltire's at)

I don't think they've got much of a 40K group courted. Several of the guys from the North Game Preserve will probably trickle over. I like the North GP, but there's not really space for gaming, which is too bad. They ARE a Mall store, and keep up appearances for random people filtering in at the 'Fashion Mall' as the Keystone mall is dubbed.

I'm pondering approaching the management about getting a league going, or maybe even running a tourney. I've not run a tourney, and it would be a good way to get people to actually come to a new store, use entry fees to get store credit, and see what the store can do for us. I think between Sandwyrm, protem, and I we could come up with enough terrain for 5-6 tables. Even if some of the terrain is my models, or random strange looking things we paint up a bit with spray adhesive and sand.

next: Sandwyrm goes backdoor on vets, or... hot chimera love

The Deathstar has landed

"Although The Planetary Defense forces have fought bravely, with faith and fury to purge the Daemons from without. Now we must purge the Daemons that might lie within... "
-Inquisitor Lord Dominic Trakuyev


The Sandwyrm/Farmpunk battle series continues, as we both evaluate the new IG 'dex, by pitting it against a few of the OLDEST codexes out there.

This week, I wanted to try the big nasty. no, not that big nasty.... The Land Raider Crusader
It was time to try DH against the IG.
Farmpunk's 1500pt DH list

I know Sadwyrm's list was pretty similar to his list last week, but I believe he dropped the sponsons on all of his tanks this week, to get a little more umph! out of troops.

We rolled up Dawn of War Deployment, and an Annihilation mission. We were actually on a 6x4 table for once, but of course, I didn't use most of my side. Sandwyrm won the roll to go first, and elected to take advantage of bringing all of his men to bear first.

With setup, Sandwyrm had a Company Command with lascannon and plasma behind a Vet Squad hunkered with it's las plas in a ruined building corner. then to my right on the back edge of his side, he had a Vet squad snaking around a hill with it's las plas sticking out to get shots, and keep cover.

I had started with the GK mini-purgation squad at mid-field, on the left side, foolishly just in front of a ruined building. They REALLY should have been at least IN the rubble, but I was so hoping night fight would be kind, and I could possibly get forward enough to get shots on the Co. Command, with no cover save. I also put the Inq. Lord's squad in the center of the board in a building, to take up a good firing point.

I thought MAYBE, just for once, I might seize init. I really needed to. nope. This would end badly I thought.

First turn, all the tanks and Sentinels roll on the board. The GK mini-purgation squad doesn't survive, and not thinking, I assign a Multilaser wound to the Inq. Lord to save with his 3+.... which he promptly took to the face, and was insta-killed. oh this was gonna be bad. More of the Inq. Squad went down, and they ran, but were at 50%, so they regrouped on my turn. If you're keeping track, Those two Squads make up 432 points of my force. And I hadn't even come on the board yet.

since my long range shooting was gimped for this turn, I didn't do anything, but roll all my forces on the board 12", and pop smoke on one of the two rhinos. I was hoping to do a smoke shuffle, and have the rhinos give cover saves to each other as the rolled up the board, with the Land Raider Crusader on the left of them. so I rolled them on on the left side of the board, across from the Exterminator, and Demolisher, and a melta vet squad in a chimera.
I was hoping to get maybe one of the IST's over there.

Turn two:
Turn two's shooting saw more burning shells of rhinos on my side of the board. The smoked rhino got immobilized, and lost it's StormBolter. The unsmoked rhino now was a smoking, wreck.
The big Crusader could care less. The Sentinels WAY over on my right hand side couldn't get shots off from being stuck in too much cover for them to manage to walk through, and Marbo's Demo Charge only immobed the smoked rhino. The IGST's DeepStruck into the edge of the building the Inq. Lord Had been in, but they didn't shoot up too much. The Servitors looked blankly at them, as the hotshot lasguns pinged off their cover.
I was almost sick over having lost the squads, and my transports. I figured Game was over. I thought perhaps Sandwyrm would hunker back and pound away, and I'd have to hope Shelia could make 2-3 KP's all by herself. I told Sandwyrm I thought I should concede at this point...but I had 2 aces in my hole. Shelia, and the Crusader.

The Crusader Stormed 12" forward again, and took a potshot Power of Machine Spiriting it's Multimelta at the Demolisher, getting a can't move or shoot result. I was fine with that. short of destroyed, I needed it to not shoot. anything. Shelia was still watching TV in the Secret cave somewhere in reserves land.
the IST's in the right hand rhino got out and moved forward to fire at the IST's, and the left hand IST's got moved out to shoot Marbo down. The plasma cannon Servitor powered up to hit the tightly clustered IGST's, and never stopped powering up. The 'Gets Hot' roll fried his poor brain, as the second Sage hadn't survived to tell him to shut down and try again. The Hbolter rattled the IGST's, and cleaned them out.

Turn three:
Turn 3 saw the right side Melta vet chimera roll forward 6" to get melta shots off on the Crusader. I thought it was toast... but it miraculously lived, and took a few lascannons as well.
One of the IST squads got shot up, leaving the Meltas, as a lot of fire went to the big deathstar rolling across the board. A Multi-melta fell off the Crudaser, Which was a relief for me. I needed 12" more movement. The sentinels still trudged through rubble, and had no clear shots. The center Vet squad finished off the Inq. Squad.

On my side of the board, Shelia came out of cover on turn 3, and was going to make a difference. She set her sights on the Co. Com. fried 3 of 5, and poked 2 more in the eye. I was glad to see she was in a pretty good mood today.
The forward IST's failed to pop the left side Chimera, and hoped not to get shot up by the center Russ and Melta Chimera again.
The Crusader once again rolled forward to spit out the giant hammer it was hiding inside it's anvil-like exterior. The 10 GK's and Grandmaster had scores to settle, as they hit the stunned demolisher, and melta-chimera. Destroying both, and losing a GK from blasts during assault. The Poor Vets inside the Chimera were shocked by the fury of the GK's they were pinned down in the rubble of their exploded tank.
I was glad I hadn't given up the game last turn now...

Turn 4
saw the Exterminator take down a couple GK's, and the LRBT scatter wide on the GK's... Thank goodness!
The forward IST's got chewed up, and died. The back IST's took a few shots like pros, and kept movin.
Shelia finished with the Commander, and set her sights elsewhere.

Shelia opened up on the Vets in cover in the center, cleverly attacking the HWT, not in cover, and pulling the rest of the squad to her. She finished off a few too many however, as the boys freaked out and ran off the board.
The GM charged into the wrecked Chimera, killing off the vets as they tried to run away.
The GK's moved towards the Exterminator, and Blew it up. The LRC moved into Sandwyrm's backfield, and chewed up the squad that had been behind the hill, as it advanced to the center of the table, away from the rampaging knights. The back IST's got a no move or shoot result on the LRBT. good enough for me.

Turn 5:
turn five saw the last Meltavet Chimera turn it's attention to the Crusader. Only to have all shots ping off the hull. Shelia took a few more shots like a pro, ducking behind cover. The Lascannon sentinel shots went wide, and the chimera moved too far to fire this turn.

Shelia ran over to the new Vet squad, flamed, then charged, chasing them off the board, and stunning the Chimera. The back IST's blew up the LRBT, taking a few of them with it. the GK's and GM shot up the side armor of the Chimera for a few more stuns and shakens.

Turn 6:
Shelia's luck runs out, as she falls to plasma shots from the las las/plas vets. The Sentinels miss, and fail to pen the crusader, and all other IG forces have been defeated, or silenced.

The IST's move up and take down the last vets, and the GM and GK's thrash against the Chimera, taking it apart with enough immobilized results to take off all weapons, and finally destroy it.

We call the game here, with 12KP's for the Inquisition, to 6 for the IG.


Thoughts:

having an Anvil roll across the board, and unload a nasty Hammer unit is pretty viscious. I underestimate what those 681pts (10GK's, Grandmaster, and LRC) can do. They were frighteningly effective at taking out tanks, as well. Maybe that's how it feels to run Nobs in a Trukk at the opponent.

Shelia also was gold. She's meant for taking on Leader squads, and lower Ld troops. again, Shaking and stunning tanks with her Mind flayer was a valuable asset. I was surprised at how much havoc she wreaked this game. Then again, she needed to.

The game would have been different had she not shown up Turn3. Then again, if any of the Melta shots had destroyed or Immobilized the Crusader before my phase of Turn 3, it would have been very different as well.


I think Maybe having the Sentinels in reserve, or even outflanking might have helped.

I also wish I'd left the GK Mini-Purgation squad further back, and not assigned any wounds EXCEPT lasgun shots to the Inq. Lord.

Overall, I think this GK force is a nasty, hard-hitting party. I don't think it's quite time to count out either of the Inquisition armies quite yet. Both have some nasty tricks up their sleeves.

I think I'm going to work on Inducted and Allied IG/Inq. lists for a few weeks.

Pop Goes the Rhino

Farmpunk and I had our rematch this week: Seize Ground with a Dawn of War deployment.

No pictures unfortunately. We both forgot to bring a camera. And my camera phone is evidently too old (4 years) to send a flippen' email anymore. Damned Verizon.

If you were to ask Farmpunk about the game, he'd probably describe it along the lines of a lascannon up the rear access point. But despite the utter massacre his forces endured, he still would have won had the game ended on turn 5. Or pulled a draw had the game ended on turn 6. That's the thing about Sisters of Battle. You have to kill every stinking last one of them. Because they're the most dangerous when their squads have been reduced to 2-3 models.

Turn seven began with a lone Sister Superior surrendering to my troops in the middle of the field. While his Inquisa-Lootas(tm) and Exorcist looked on from the corner of the board. In all, I lost 3 troop squads, a Chimera, 5 Stormies, and one Sentinel. In KP, it would have been something like to 9 to 5 in my favor.

Random Lessons/Observations from this game vs. our game from last week:

1) You may be tempted to put meltas or flamers in your command squads and hide them in the rear so they can counter-fire enemy troops that reach your lines. But honestly, just put a lascannon in the squad and stick them up front. It's far more important to stop the enemy BEFORE they reach your lines. 'Cause if they get to you you're dead anyhow. I did the former last game and the latter this game. The latter worked out much better.

2) There is absolutely no point in using a squad of scout Sentinels as outflanking tank hunters if you take autocannons instead of lascannons. So just suck it up and pay the extra 30 pts.

3) Sentinels are often used as tar pits to tie up enemy squads. But this was the first time I've ever seen stormtroopers (=I= version) used as a tar pit to tie up an outflanking Sentinel squad. And they did, for 3 turns after my Sentinels came on and popped an Exorcist with their lascannons! HAHA!!! Farmpunk was cursing the whole time that he didn't buy krak grenades for them. The Sentinels finally won the combat (1 wound to zero) and destroyed the stormies. After which they sniped the last two sisters off of an objective. :)

4) Think long and hard about putting sponsons of any kind on a Russ. They're way too expensive for what you get. Lumbering Behemoth means that you get a much better value out of moving your Russes and firing your hull weapon in addition to your main gun. I pulled the sponsons off of the Demolisher this game. I will very likely pull them off the Exterminator for the next game.

5) I've been on the fence for a while about taking my Leman Russ Exterminator (H4-TL Autocannons) vs. a standard Russ. But I really fell in love with the Exterminator this game. "Pop Goes the Rhino!" Plus, sometimes you need to lay down some heavy dakka without the risk of hitting your own troops.

6) Never, ever run a lone character towards a line of Imperial Guard and expect to live through their shooting phase. I don't care if you're a 10-foot tall Ork Warboss in Mega Armor or a Cannoness with a 3+ Inv save. Just don't do it. Given 20+ save rolls, you WILL roll enough ones to die.

7) I've said some really, really unkind things about the new 16-pt. Stormtroopers lately. But when I costed up a squad of five for this game and compared it to the old codex with identical equipment + deepStrike/infiltrate, the difference in cost between the two was only 11 measly pts. And for that 11 pts. I not only get AP3 lasguns, but I can also choose my insertion type (Deep Strike w/Re-roll, Outflank w/Pinning, Scout w/Move through Cover) at deployment instead of when the list is built!

So I hereby apologize to GW for badmouthing the new Stormies. They rock as an insertion unit. Don't go crazy and buy too many or use them as line troops. But, much like Marbo, they are an excellent knife that you can place wherever you need one. Hell, if I had dropped the melta from the squad (Because they have AP3 lasguns and kraks as standard now.), I would have paid just ONE extra point for them in comparison.

8) Sheila the Callidus Assassin's single most important asset these last two games has been her ability to automatically stun/shake tanks with her neural shredder.

9) Sheila can jump out of close combat at the beginning of the phase. Sly Marbo can jump out of close combat at the end of the phase. Guess who ends up chasing who around the board? It reminded me of Brock Samson and Molitov Cocktease from the Venture Brothers series on Adult Swim. It finally ended when Sheila took a lascannon to the face from my command squad. :)