How to win at 40k

In order to accomplish your goal of being a victorious player you have to decide the kind of play style that you like and are comfortable with.  Are you a charge across the field and beat face or are you shooty or stealthy.  Once you figure out your style then pick an army that complements that style.  I play space marines.  They are resilient, versatile, and reliable. Space Marines are good at everything,  where most other armies are great at one thing.
    Next, how to build an list.  What you put in your list is not important if you don't have an battle plan in mind.  Or don't know how to use the list.  If you put the best squads from your codex and they don't gel with the list theme, they will die and you will lose.  Do you know the objective/ mission?  Do you know the army you will face?  Are you playing in a comp tournament? These questions will steer the list in an advantage for you.  The best thing you can do is build a list that is good against all comers.  I like to take lots of troops.  I avoid expensive vehicles. If I take an Land Raider, what would I do if it dies on turn 1.  Cry! And maybe lose the game.  Any vehicle that expensive is going to be an target.   I like to keep my vehicles cheep. Remember,  it only takes one shot to destroy a vehicle.  So, expect vehicles to get destroyed.  I lost 5 vehicles (land raider crusader, vindicator, and 3 rhinos)  in one round of shooting during a tournament on turn 3.  That was over 550 points in 5 shots.  If you plan on fielding big squads, just remember they are cumbersome and are often a large blast magnet.  But because of their size you have a better chance of holding an objective or making it to your opponents line. Try to have a theme that flows and also has that unit that compliments your style and delivers an hammer blow.  Currently the sternguard are my choice.  
   Deployment: Regardless of your list if you deploy badly your  goal of victory just got harder.  Simple things like, placing your heavy weapons so they don't need to be moved, putting an hq In a squad,  and don't deploy in the open, are often forgotten when the thrill of playing a game hits.  Take a step back.  Look over the table.  I personally don't like reserving my entire army.  The thought of giving my opponent the advantage of facing only small portions of my army against the whole of theirs is suicide.  Two or three units maybe.  Can your battle plan make reserves useful?  Yes!  Using Drop pods help because you instantly get half, rounded up, first turn. Other armies have similar first turn deep strike potential.  If you got first turn and plan to sit back, choose the deployment zone with more cover in it.  If charging forward choose the one that provides the best line of sight blocking along the way.  If you didn't get to choose, you have to deploy in a way to counter what your opponent did.  I like to refuse flank and deploy to the weaker side of my opponents force.  Making almost half of their army useless until they move into a better position.  So now, I have my whole army only facing about half of theirs.  When I deploy first, I like to place my big guns in the center of my line.  This causes my opponent to split their army and maximizes the usefulness of the big guns.  Deployment is key.  Figure out what works for you and your play style.  
    Play your list alot.  The better you know your list the easier it becomes to know their strengths and avoid it's weaknesses.  If an unit doesn't perform well once, don't swap it out yet.  Give it a couple of games.
       Being a winning 40k player dosen't happen over night.  Keep at it.  And the w's will start to come your way.

Blood Scorpions

Working on my chapter of space marines.  The Blood Scorpions.  For more info see http://www.codexbloodscorpions.blogspot.com/.

Chaplain Centuris

Vet. Sgt

Melta, in da face!

Twin linked Assault cannon Razor (still needs highlights)

10 man assault squad.

The dreaded Death Company!

Bowie Battle Bunker

The Games Workshop Battle Bunker is coming to Bowie, Maryland. Estimated opening is mid may. Khan drove by the site at Hilltop Plaza Shopping Center 6820 Race Track Road Bowie, Maryland 20715. And here is what he found!

How to kill storm shield spam

I am getting ready for a tournament at the end of April. It is a doubles tournament. I am concerned that I will face lots of storm shields. So, I need to create a 1250pts list that 1:works to my play style, 2:is competitive, and 3:compliments my teammate. To deal with terminator armor I need ap 2 or better and lots of it. I came up with a pretty lethal combination that could cripple a 10 man th/ss terminator squad. First start with an epistolary librarian with smite and null zone. Next take a ten man sternguard squad with 2 plasma guns and 8 combi plasma with rhino. Keep the librarian in another squad in a transport that keeps close to the sternguard. Once with in range of the terminators, cast null zone, which causes a re-roll on all successful invulnerable saves. Then jump the sternguard out of their rhino and rapid fire those plasma. I rolled this scenario out many times and I killed an average of 8 ss terminators. This is an one hit wonder squad unfortunately. They more than likely will die being so close to the enemy. Having good supporting units could prolong their life. A vindicator, mass bolter shots, etc... So far, space marines are the only codex I could think of that modifies or causes a re-roll of a invulnerable save. I don't have all of codexes so my knowledge is limited of other armies. How do you deal with the current meta of th/ss terminator spam?

Chaplain Centuris

Miyamoto Musashi and 40k

The Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi. If you haven't read this yet, you must put it on your next to read list. Once you are finished, read it again, and I am not kidding, you will have a greater understanding of his meanings on the second read through.
I'm going to quote directly from Chapter 1, THE GROUND BOOK;
"Strategy is the craft of the warrior. Commanders must enact the craft,
and troopers should know this Way. There is no warrior in the world
today who really understands the Way of Strategy."
On it's surface it seems pretty straight forward right?... until you realize that what he refers to as 'Strategy' is actually a fight... and when I say a fight, I mean with swords and to the death. And this guy knew a ton about his craft having faced and cut down around 60 guys in 'comparisons of strategy'.
Here is another quote, "As I will explain in the second book, the Water Book, there is no fast way of wielding the long sword. The long sword should be wielded broadly and the companion sword closely." Here he is explaining his reason or method for wielding two swords where most of the duelists of the time only used the long sword. Another way of looking at this is use *ALL* your weapons and when you use them, use them for what they are meant to do. The long sword is long and is best when used farther from you, and the short sword is best when up close and personal. If you are using your short sword as far as you can swing it, and your opponent is using his long sword, you have already lost as your opponent can strike you before you get into range. Run this through a 40k filter and you get, use your units on the battlefield for what they are good at and you will get the best from them. I have compared 40k to the greatest version of Paper, Scissors, Rock I have ever played. Paper beats Rock, but Scissors beat Paper and Rock beats Scissors.
Devastators out shoot everyone else at long range, Tactical wins at middle ranges and Assault wins up close fights. Use *ALL* your weapons (your units) for what they are good at and you will get the best you can from them. Expect a unit to shoot like a Devastator squad, hold their ground like Tactical and assault like an Assault squad and they will fail you.
Every time.

More later...
-Khan
Miyamoto Musashi (c.1584–June 13 (Japanese calendar: May 19), 1645),
also known as Shinmen Takezō, Miyamoto Bennosuke, or by his
Buddhist name Niten Dōraku was a famous Japanese samurai, and is
considered by many to have been one of the most skilled swordsmen in
history. Musashi, as he is often simply known, became legendary
through his outstanding swordsmanship in numerous duels, even from a
very young age. He is the founder of the Hyōhō Niten Ichi-ryū or Nitenryū
style of swordsmanship and the author of The Book of Five Rings, a
book on strategy, tactics, and philosophy that is still studied today.

kill points or victory points

I understand GW is trying to simplify the game.  But, when you are playing in a tournament and you draw a Deathwing army with only 8 kill points and you have 23, you are screwed.  This very thing happened to me.  My opponent only had to kill 9 things to guarantee victory.  Unless I tabled him.  I almost did.  At the end of the game he only had a librarian terminator with one wound left.  I knew what I was getting into with my list.  I expected most of the field to have similar kill points amounts.  If it was victory points I would of had a massacre.  Yes, he killed half of my army but I almost tabled him.  Some tournaments have gone to victory points.  Others use multiple mission objectives.  Which way is right or fair?  That my friends depends on the person playing the game.  If you wanted it 100% even and fair then for every model you kill, you get the points.  IE: kill an Ultramarine space marine and get 16 points.  But some of us are not good at math. And would need an hour to add up what got killed.  I had an idea on how to modify the kill points system.  When you wipe out a unit, you get 1 plus the hundreds value of the unit.  For example, If I wipe out a ten man tactical squad worth 170 points, I would get 2 kill points. 1+1+2.  Or if I took down an ten man Terminator Squad worth 400 points I would get 5 kill points. 4+1=5. A single land speeder(50 points, has no hundreds place) would earn only 1 kill point because 0+1=1.  It still penalizes the many small unit (MSU) armies because of the plus 1.  This is only in theory and I plan to keep a running tally of the win loss difference between regular kill points and my modified kill points.  Or kill points 2.0.