Mantis Warrior List Thoughts

I've been running my Mantis Warriors as a bike free Kahn list for as long as I can remember with enough success to keep at it. At some point I hope to do an article about the finer points of an entire army that has the option of outflanking and which units are best at it, but tonight I am pondering a more specific army list question: what use is a Tac Squad Drop Poding with double Melta in an outflanking army? And even though the Thunderfire Cannon is unmatched against xenos, is it justifiable to drop it when faced with so many Mech Marine opponents?

Below is the list I took to a tournament in Long Island, NY and placed 2nd out of 40 players. A lot of the success could be contributed to the Drop Pod squad in rounds 1 and 2 where they claimed a Storm Raven and a Land Raider respectfully (each with assault terminators inside). However in the third round they only managed to immobilize a daka Dreadnought and conceded two kill points. A perfect trade for this unit is 10 Assault Marines with a flamer and sgt w/ twin lightning claws.

DROP POD PROS

can knock out a major vehicle first turn

counts double if it holds a major assault unit

is a scoring unit

DROP POD NEGATIVES

not good against armies without an expensive vehicle

not good against an army in reserve

only works in Dawn of War if you go second

two easy kill points right into enemy deployment zone

the unit NEVER lives to score

Although I have not used the Assault Squad with jump packs yet (briefly used the squad in a rhino but no good) I feel outflanking with an 18"charge range could be great, especially if I find 115pt to add a jump Chaplain. 

So what about the Thunderfire Cannon? That thing is awesome but I might just have to drop it in favor of a jump chaplain for the soon to be outflanking Assault Squad.

LAST TOURNAMENT LIST 1850pts

Khan (160)


Terminators*5 (200); thunderhammers*3, lightning claws*2
Land Raider Redeemer (240); ex armor (15), multi-melta (10)

Terminators*5 (200); chain fist (5), heavy flamer (5)

Sternguard Veterans*5 (125); combi-plasma*2 (10)
Razorback (40); twin-plasma & lascannon (35), dozer blade (5)

Tactical Squad*10 (170)
power fist (25), melta gun (5), missile launcher
Rhino (35)

Tactical Squad*10 (170)
power fist, melta gun (5), missile launcher
Rhino (35)

Tactical Squad*10 (170)
combi-melta (10), melta gun (5), lascannon (10)
Drop Pod (35)

HEAVY SUPPORT
Thunderfire Cannon (100)

~so what do you think I should do? There is a tournament coming up in three weeks in Grapevine, TX which I will bring one of the two lists.

MORDHEIM CAMPAIGN WEEK: 1

Got my first Mordheim game under my belt and although my warband faired well in combat against the men of Middenheim, my post game rolling was pretty crappy...

Kagan Witch Burner's Devoted enter the City of the Damned to face the unclean.

A band of men from Middenheim are spotted looting a portion of the evil city and a challenge is issued.

Old Man Lex and Benny the Red take aim with Snipey the Tillian Marksmen on the approaching Wolf Men.

Only Snipey's aim is true enough to catch one of the enemy in the open, but most of the bolt's velocity was lost at such long range and only knocked a Swordsman down.

The rest of the Warband follow Kegan behind a burnt out building while another volley of crossbow bolts are sent into the Middenheimers. This being the boy's first battle, the poor Youngblood hadn't learnt the finer points of evasion when running in the open and was taken out by the Tillian. Boy will have that Old Battle Wound for the rest of his days...

The Middenheimers learn to hide behind buildings...

... and ambush the Warhounds Toothy and James! Both pups are taken out along with the Flagellants Ivan and Dieter. Now on the second story of the building, the Snipey the Tillian took careful aim and shot one of the Champions in the arm before being charged by the other. Drawing his Sword Snipey showed the Middenheimer how it's done in Tillia and knocked him from the second story before jumping down after him easily taking him out of action! 

Fierce fighting in the street sees the Zealot crawl away.

Ganging up on the Swordsmen does nothing.

... but Kegan shoots the Middenheim Captain in the eye!

Post battle: although my Tillian Marksmen took out three enemies in the game (two from shooting and one in combat) his level up only and got him Leadership 8!!! ugh. To make matters worse both Flagellants died; only 110 gc lost there. I was able to buy back one Flagellant with my earnings but I feel I took a step back after with battle. 

GAME TWO: Chance Encounter

WITCH HUNTER FLAGELLANTS

Made some progress tonight while I watched the Texas Rangers shut down the Tampa Bay Rays in game 5 of the American League playoffs! Not at all happy with the quality of the photo but what-evs. 

PLASTIC HEROES

Made some progress on my two plastic Witch Hunter Heroes this evening. Neither are ready for paint, but both are getting close. The one on the right got a chain mail shirt with sleeves and bottom showing under his breast plate. The one of the left had work done to his peg leg but isn't quite finished and a cobble stone base. Eventually all the members of the warband will have their bases done like this.

I generally don't like using plastic models for Heroes in Mordheim but these two are coming along nicely.

WITCH HUNTER HEROES

I made some progress on getting my Mordheim warband together for our upcoming campaign in Austin. Still not sure when it will start so I am not in a huge rush to get it done. Above is my captain and his trusted Warhounds. The captain still needs some work. I have a cross bow pistol I still need to add and his paint job needs some touch ups.

Here are all my Heroes that I worked on today. On the Right is my Warrior Priest armed with shield and hammer. Second from the Right is a Witch Hunter with pistol sword and buckler. Middle is Captain. The two on the Left are my WIP Witch Hunters with Cross Bows. They were totally bitz box bashes. The one of the right was missing a foot, and I couldn't find it. He will have a putty peg leg and both will have putty chain mail sleeves and other equipment.

I've never played with Witch Hunters so I am pretty excited. Anyone else out there ever used them?

MANTIS SCOUTS

I just finished painting a 10 man unit of scouts (minus the bases) this week for my goal of just painting models I already own before buying any new SM models. Even though I have over 2000pts painted of Mantis Warriors I easily have more than that unpainted. 

Here are some close ups of the members of the unit. The yellow pants are a little bold to say the least but I like the way they turned out, and honestly I could not come up with a more suitable color for them.

Below is a WIP Space Hulk Terminator. I haven't quite decided what to paint next; either four more Space Hulk Terminators, a Landraider, or a Landspeeder Storm... any thoughts?