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Predator Autocannon Rant

October 17, 2014, 12:33 pm
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In some game systems new expansions devalue the old units that made the game and universe what it is. Where your core units that are supposed to be the majority of your forces are replaced by new units that are much better that you never take the standard ones again. It is a old problem, and not one exclusive to GW by any means.

It has a few names, power creep, shiny new syndrome, expansion-itis, and more. Car Wars, Battletech, and Star Fleet Battles are a few examples of this. By and large GW has done a pretty good job of keeping it under control, but a few units do come to mind, and I will be talking about these other ones in weeks to come.

I love Predators, ever since my first GW vehicle model (seen above on the left). More specifically, I love the look of the Predator with the autocannon turret. Next to the ever present Rhino, the Predator is the mainstay armored fighting vehicle of most Space Marine chapters. The most common variant is the Predator Destructor with it's turret mounted autocannon to chop up infantry and sponson lascannons for armored targets. A classic combination that has totally fallen by the wayside.
Way back in Rogue Trader and 2nd Edition days, the autocannon was a really good weapon. Strength 8, -3 Save (that meant folk in power armor could only save on a 6) and a random but usually fair amount of shots. It was not very good at penetrating vehicle armor, but that is what the sponsons were for.

That all changed with 3rd edition on up. Simplifying the game meant some weapons lost what made them effective. Lots of weapons were rightly dropped altogether. The autocannon was downgraded to make it a less powerful infantry squad version, which is fine, but the Predator's gun should have gotten an upgrade.

The Annihilator version's twin lascannons are good for anti-tank work, but the Destructor's single autocannon is inadequate for its intended role as hunter of infantry and light vehicles. How best to fix that? The Leman Russ Exterminator recently got a upgrade for its autocannons: Twin liked and 4 shots. That is nice, and much better than it was before.

The vehicle mounted autocannon having a increased rate of fire makes sense. It represents a large magazine feeding the gun as opposed to a soldier loading small clips as well as a more robust firing mechanism. The Predator's gun has a much longer barrel. This is key to increasing ballistic weapons muzzle velocity, which equates to longer range, better accuracy, and hitting power. The range on a autocannon is already high, and boosting it's AP or strength doesn't seem right in game terms, but giving it Rending fits well.

So that leave us with:

Predator Autocannon
Range: 48" S:7  AP:4  Heavy 3, Rending

Give it a try, let me know what you think.


The Emperor Protects
And remembers how it was supposed to be




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Happy Halloween!

October 31, 2014, 3:15 pm
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Not only is it Halloween, but also my wedding anniversary. The lovely Mrs. Blackheart gave me an awesome present, Imperial Armour Volume XIII: War Machines of the Lost and the Damned with the nifty slipcase.
 I'm not going into the whole FW vs. GW thing here, but damn, some days it seems that Forge World "gets" 40K so much more than the studio guys. If you are a Chaos player and like tanks and tank-like things then Xmas came early.

A mid sized book for FW, it still comes in at 208 big full color pages. Chaos Astartes tanks, assault vehicles, and super heavies, including all your Heresy favorites, Fellblade, Sicaran and more.

All the things that fly and walk plus a Renegade & Heretic army list.
The book is full of FW's great artwork and fluff. It is really nice to have all of the Chaos vehicles in one book and the update to the Renegade army is well done. I highly recommend it.

Let the Galaxy Burn
And read all about it
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Painting in Bunches

November 7, 2014, 11:13 am
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When you decide to paint a unit, how do you proceed? One model at a time? Or the assembly line method? I normally try and paint an entire squad at the same time, but I usually paint one figure to completion more or less, and then use it as the example. Then I go full assembly line on the rest of the squad and any similar squads.

I also keep a notebook of what colors were used. This allows me to pick the squad or formation back up if I put them down, or decide to expand it, as was the case with my flight of Valkyries.
I painted the lead ship many months before I got around to doing the other two, but looking at the finished trio you couldn't tell.
My Knight formation was slow going, but I am happy with the way they are turning out. Next is that step that can make or break the whole thing: the dreaded decals. The Knights have so many large ones that gloss-coat is a must. As we all know, sometimes gloss-coat is a bit tricky and can go very badly to give your model that frosty look you did not want. Wish me luck.

 The Emperor Protects
He could look after my brush-tips a little more
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Regular Brass Scorpion

November 14, 2014, 11:30 am
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When Apocalypse first came out in 2007 we were all excited to see that one of the new units was a 40K version of the old Epic Brass Scorpion.
I happened to have a unbuilt Defiler laying about. I picked up some extra bits, and like legions of others, went to work. I was pleased with my creation and it had many good games. Then Forge World released this monster:
About the size of a Baneblade, it was now the Greater Brass Scorpion and had new rules to reflect its much greater stature. It was almost twice as many points as before and far deadlier. My Defiler knock-off was puny in comparison, so what to do? 

For a while I just used my (Lesser) Brass Scorpion as a regular Defiler, but it always left me a bit unsatisfied. So after much deliberation I chose to make my own stats for the Regular Brass Scorpion. 

Taking the Defiler as a starting point, not that many changes were needed. No longer a Super Heavy, it did not need so many secondary weapons. Swapping out the Battle cannon for a Demolisher cannon was the first step. Ditching the Hellmaw flamers was sad, but necessary if it was to be a reasonable amount of points. Boosted its base attacks, the front armor value, and gave it Rage.  

The hardest part was the big gun the tail. On the Greater Scorpion it is an impressive STR 6, AP3, 10 shot weapon of death. A bit overpowered for a secondary weapon on a non-super heavy. I decided to go with a enhanced Reaper for the Regular Scorpion.

I am pleased with the results. Similar to a Defiler, it now feels more like an Khornate assault weapon rather than a artillery piece. 
As always, I welcome your feedback. 


Brass Scorpion…………………………220 points
                                                         Armor                              
                         WS  BS      S       F     S     R      I      A    HP
Brass Scorpion     3    3    6/10    13   12    10     3      4     4          

Unit Composition:
• 1 Regular Brass Scorpion

Unit Type:
• Vehicle (Walker)

Wargear:
• Demolisher Cannon 
• Blood Reaper Autocannon
• 2x Powerfist 
• Demonic Possession 

Special Rules:
• Daemon
• Daemonforge
• Rage
• Fleet
• It Will Not Die

Heavy: The Brass Scorpion is a Heavy Support choice for a Chaos Space Marine army that includes at least one HQ selection that has a mark of Khorne.

Blood Reaper Autocannon: Same stats as a Reaper Autocannon, just now Heavy 3 

Blood for the Blood God!
And his Mechanical Daemons too

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The Devil is in the Decals

November 21, 2014, 12:53 pm
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Decals. That finishing touch to a model. Sometimes they curl up and fall off after a few months. They always look like decals, shiny and obvious. But that is not how is has to be!

This article is aimed at those who don't know the mystical and arcane art of applying decals. It's not simple, but it is worth the effort. The end result is decals that look painted on and never peel off.

Know your foe: Water slide decals like to adhere to a very smooth surface. If you did not paint with a gloss or satin finish you will need to transform the surface of the paint. This is easy. Clear glosscoat is available at most hobby shops in spray form. I use Testors ($7). The only danger here is that if the weather is outside nominal use parameters it may fog up and give the model a frosty look. This is easy to avoid, do not spray paint if it is cold or windy out. Use a light coat. One pass only. Then do not touch it for 24 hours. Fingerprints are next to impossible to remove.

Assemble your tools! Now that the glosscoat has set it is time to get down to business.

 You will need: the sharpest hobby knife on hand, a pair of tweezers, (the kind that stay closed are prefered), two old paint brushes, paper towels, a few Q-tips, and a bowl of warm water.

Plus chemicals. I have used Micro Set and Micro Sol for decades. (Get some from Amazon by clicking on the widget on the right--) You will need a bottle of each.

What they do: Micro Set aids greatly in the adhering of the decal to the paint finish. Micro Sol is a weak solvent that softens the decal allowing it to conform closely to the models surface. Don't drink them.

From here on out this is the method that works consistently well for me. Applying decals is like sex or cooking, everyone does it a little bit differently, but the same.

Cut out the decals. I use a new X-acto blade to cut out all the decals I will be using. Make sure to cover the decal sheet with a paper towel so your hand is not touching the sheet. The oils on your skin can cause problems with the film covering the decal. Some people avoid this by using scissors, but a lot of modern decals sheets are too crowded for me and scissors.
Put the decals in a bath of warm water. Cold water takes forever to loosen the glue and makes the decal stiffer. I give the decal 40-60 seconds under water and then pull it out and place it on a damp paper towel.
Giving the decal a few more seconds to soak up the water, I now apply some Micro Set on the spot where the decal is going to go. Don't worry about putting too much on too wide an area, it dries totally clear.

Now the tricky part. Slide the decal off the backing paper and onto the model. I use a damp Q-Tip to hold the decal down and slowly slide the backing paper away under it. This is the moment to move the decal around a bit to get it in position. You can add a bit of water or Micro Set to loosen it and reposition it.
After it is where you want it, very gently dab the decal with a paper towel taking care not to move it. Let it sit for a few minutes. Then apply some Micro Sol to it. After you have put on the Micro Sol do not move the decal! If you try it will disintegrate into mush. One coat is fine if the decal is on a smooth surface. If the decal is on a uneven or bumpy surface put another coat on after five-ish minutes.

I use separate brushes for the Set and Sol. Then I don't use the brushes for anything but the Set and Sol. Yes, I have them labeled. Let everything dry for at least a few hours. Now you have great looking decals on a really super shiny model. That's right, time for Dullcoat! Same drill as for putting on the Glosscoat, just a diffrent can. The Dullcoat also protects the decals very well so you don't have to worry about damage while handling the model.

And there you have it. It is a bit time consuming but the difference in appearance and durability makes the MicroSet/Sol choice an easy one.

The Emperor Protects
Decals now get a 2++ save 

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Armageddon Released

November 26, 2014, 1:41 pm
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Warhammer 40,000 Armageddon for the PC is now available. Head over to Steam or Matrix Games and get it this week for $10 off. I'm downloading it now and will have a review up in the near future. Looks great if you like the turn based wargame thing. Which I do, very much.


The Emperor Protects
Armageddon's Tourist Bureau has its work cut out for it.
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Toxicrene

December 9, 2014, 9:24 am
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I've assembled my Toxicrene/Maleceptor kit as a Toxicrene, and it is pretty nice. A good sized monster, with big (and perhaps unwieldy on the tabletop) tentacles. 

A note about construction: The instructions default to the Toxicrene in the rearing up position, with one claw on a unlucky Terminator and the other claw up. The model can also be built with a lower pose. This is descriped in tiny print on the cover of the instructions. I'll admit I did not notice them until after I had assembled the body. Good thing I wanted the default pose.

It is important to let the arm sockets dry before attaching the tentacle arms. Otherwise they may push in and that is no fun. Alternatively, you could leave the head off so you can put your finger on the socket and hold it in place while you glue the tentacle arms on.
The fallen Terminator is a really nice touch and I can't decide if I am going to put it under the Toxicrene's claw or on a base by itself and use it as an objective. 
With a Dreadnought for scale
I'll get this beastie painted and unleash it upon the battlefield soon.

The Hive Mind Hungers
Now with even more Tentacles!
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Codex Blood Angels

December 13, 2014, 12:52 pm
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Everyone's favorite space vampires are back! The boys in red got a serious FOC readjustment. This brings the Blood Angels back in line with the fluff, that they are a Codex Chapter with just a few quirks. They like to get up close and personal, but aren't made out jump pack troops.

Here is a quick run down of the big changes that jumped out at me.

Everybody that isn't a tank or speeder has Furious Charge. Oh. Yeah. No more rolling for Red Thirst.

The Baal Strikeforce FOC is 1 HQ, 2 Troop, 1 Elite compulsory and the regular optional choices. Which means you can have 4 Elites in your force. The Command Benefit: Red Thirst, +1 Initiative on the turn any unit charges. Very stabby indeed.

HQ
Lord Dante and Master Seth are in the Lord of War slot. Dante got some nice buffs, Eternal Warrior, and his Axe of Heretic Smiting is now +2 Strength, Master Crafted.

Librarian Dread is now a HQ. The Sanguinary Priest is a HQ and a single model with two wounds and Ld 10. Brother Corbulo is a seperate choice. Captain Tycho has two profiles (again), and the Techmarine now a HQ choice. The Reclusiarch is gone, and the 2 wound Chaplain moved to HQ.

Troops
Big changes here. Now only two choices! Tactical Squads and Scouts. Tac Squads gained Grav guns and Heavy Flamers as options, but lost Land Raiders as a dedicated transport.

Elites
Lots of choices here, good thing you can take 4 in a FOC list. Vanguard Veterans, Death Company and Lemartes, and all the non-psychic Dreadnoughts are now here. And yes, Blood Talons lost their "mulch" stetting and have to settle for x2 Str, Shred.  

Fast Attack
The Assault Squad is the only addition in Fast. Vanguard and Baal Predator moved out.

Heavy Support
The Baal Predator went from Fast to Heavy. Predators, Whirlwinds, and Vindicators can buy overcharged engines. Land Raiders no longer fall from the skies.

Being a (mostly) Codex chapter I was disappointed not to see the Stormtalon gunship, or the Landspeeder Storm as a transport choice for the Scouts. I also miss the Reclusiarch. The rest of the changes make sense to me. I have yet to look deeper at the Psychic stuff, and the of details on some units. That's why there will be a part II.

"So fear not and be proud, for we are the sons of Sanguinius, the protectors of Mankind."
-Commander Lord Dante
 
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Another Year Closer to the Grim Darkness

January 2, 2015, 9:27 am
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Happy New Year and all that! 2014 was a very good year for my gaming interests, I can't wait to see what 2015 brings. What new madness will GW unleash? Is Wizkids dumping Star Trek Attack Wing? Will Fantasy Flight Games run out of awesome gaming surprises? We shall see.

I have a bunch of 40K projects for this year (some left over from last year) and a slew of new games. Last year I started to expand the scope of this blog beyond that of just 40K, and I will continue to do so. In the wings I have All Quiet on The Martian Front, Mars Attacks, Deadzone, DUST Tactics, as well as some new board games. Is there a game that you would like to see more coverage of?  Let me know.

My blog goal for this year is to have a new post every Friday at least, more if possible. Lots of fun stuff will happen this solar cycle, I'm glad you are a part of it!


The Emperor Protects
But not against cheap champagne hangovers

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Sanctus Reach, Mission 1

January 9, 2015, 1:12 pm
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And we are (finally) underway! The two supplement books that make up the Sanctus Reach Campaign tell a good story of an Ork invasion of a Imperial Knight World. The missions are varied and a have good flow to them, each one a highlight of the "historical" war.

Mission 1 is The Red Waaagh! Descends. The Orks making planetfall against Imperial defenders using the revised Planetstrike rules. I took two platoons of Guardsmen with heavy weapon sections in support to start in the fortifications. A pair of Leman Russ tanks and three Sentinels were my reserve force. Matt, the Knight commander had a Paladin and a Errant, also starting in reserve to avoid the first turn bombardment.    
Mrs. Blackheart started the Firestorm bombardment and did a lot of damage to the defenders, notably most of my anti-aircraft assets and heavy weapon squads. Then the ladz came from the sky, and using the Heavy Duty Drop Stratagem, two Deff Dreds and a unit of three Killa Kanz came with them.
She chose suicidally dangerous drop sites. To our dismay, they paid off and Facerippa with his meganobz, plus a unit of Boyz landed inside the walls of the firebase.
I took my lumps, and waited for the reinforcements to arrive. Sadly they came piecemeal and died the same way. Mrs. Blackheart was able to mass her forces and with a well timed Waaagh, spelled doom for the Knights and any hope for the defenders.
The Orks paid a very heavy price but in the end the Imperials ran out of troops first and the Firebase fell to the invading horde.
The battle did not go our way at all, but it was a tense, fast moving affair. It always seems to come down to reserve rolls. If the Knights had shown up together we would have had a real chance to hold onto the base and win. Maybe.

The Enemy is Upon us!
Orks:1 Imperials:0
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Knights Strike Back

January 16, 2015, 4:41 pm
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Sanctus Reach mission 2, the Knights headlong charge into the Ork hordes. I am usually loath to use stand-ins for a real game, this time I had no choice. The Imperial side wanted just Knights, to properly represent the "historical" setup. That is five Knight for a 2K game, I only own three. So we used a Tau Riptide and a Eldar Wraithknight at the start of the game and subbed them out for proper Knight models as we took losses.

The Imperial forces must exit the board and half the Orks start in reserve. Sounds like a cakewalk for the Knights. It's not. All Ork reserves have Outflank and the Knights are going the long way down the table. Mrs. Blackheart started all her Dreads and Kans on the field. As awesome as Knights are, they can be overwhelmed. We lost a Knight for three dreads and two Kans.
Then a mob of Tankbustaz arrived right behind the Knight Errant on our left flank. It only took a single point of damage from 15 rokkits, but only killed off three orks in hand to hand. 
The remaining dozen orks with tankbusta bombz did the trick. Of course only two tankbusta boyz survived the resulting explosion.
More ladz arrived but were mown down before they could do enough damage. The three remaining Knights survived, (one had only a single hull point left) and squeaked out a victory, 5-4.
A good, close game. I am having a lot of fun with the Knights, they are powerful, but far from invincible, and look great on the table. Well worth the work I out into them.
Two weeks until the next battle report. In the meantime I will review Mars Attacks and Star Wars: Imperial Assault next week.

For the Emperor!
Orks:1, Imperials:1

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Mars Attacks

January 23, 2015, 3:08 pm
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In the campy near future there is only war. Mars Attacks: The miniatures game is made by the other miniatures company in Nottingham, Mantic Games. The second of two big Mars-themed minis game to get funded on Kickstarter (All Quiet on the Martian Front being the other) it promised a fun and fast playing skirmish game. So how does it do?
Short answer? Very well. The base game (which can be had for $61.00 on Amazon) comes with a bunch (40) of nice looking figures. The Martians have clear helmets that need to be put on them, but all the rest are one piece molds and are ready to play out of the box. Cardboard stand ups are provided for five civilians, a giant bug, and the flaming cattle. We'll get back to that last part in a bit.

You get a fair amount of nifty ruined brick building modular scenery and a smattering of urban accessories. Also included is a well illustrated 44 page rulebook, the game map, a deck of action cards, game counters, and a handful of eight sided dice.
Helmets not yet attached
The game is played on a 8x8 square grid depicting the center of small town, USA. Being grid-based it removes all the fiddly bits of using a ruler for movement and weapons range. The ten scenarios in the book follow the story of the Martians attack on Greenville and ramp up in scale and complexity. Not that this game ever gets very complex. Which is one of the reasons I really like it.

Gameplay. Oh yes, the real reason we are here. Theme and nice components are fine but can only carry a product so far, especially a licensed one. Play is smooth and fast. On a Player's turn she may
activate up to two individual models and/or play a action card. This alternates between players until all models have been activated. Then both players draw new actions cards and the next round begins. Victory conditions are generally achieved by reaching 8 Victory Points first. VPs can be gained in a number of ways depending on the mission, such as killing units, finding items, and holding positions.
Combat is resolved quickly via an opposed dice rolls for both ranged and close combat. The heroes are the meat of the missions and are varied and interesting, with some good skills and abilities.

The action cards add that something "extra" to the game. The cards may help an attack, be powerful off board attacks or a random event. The events are fun: civilians popping up and wandering around the battle zone, stray artillery strikes, a giant mutant bug, or a herd of flaming cattle running across the map.

I recommend this game. It is low-complexity, fun, and fast playing. Mantic has a number of expansions coming soon, so replay value looks to be high. Now I just have to find the time to paint up the minis...

We Come in Peace!
Ack, Ack, Ack! 

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Neo-Egyptian Skeleton Robots!

January 31, 2015, 3:07 pm
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I have always liked the necrons. It's like someone took Iron Maiden's  Powerslave album cover and mixed it with The Terminator, but in Space! This is were the quest for the most epic '80's-'90's evil sci-fi villains wound up. And I am still totally good with it. I think the Necrons have come the farthest in development of any of the 40K races, given their meager beginnings in White Dwarf #217 (1997) as the Necron Raiders. I really enjoyed the last Codex, when they gave the Necrons some personality and a better backstory, making them much more fun and fleshed out as a race.

I have taken a fast run through the new Codex and here is what I have found:

Standard high level production of the book. Great art and lots of pretty pictures of models. Seems like there is a little less fluff, but I have not read through it yet, so I'm not sure.
Reanimation Protocols: Yep, now it works just like Feel No Pain with a few improvements against Instant Death stuff. I'm not sure how I feel about the change. On one hand it will make things move much faster, but it does take away that moment when a bunch of the models who just died get back up. Gameplay wise, I think it will work more in favor of the Necron player. We will see.

I like all the Warlord traits. Living metal got better as did the Doomsday Cannon by a little bit.

Entropic Strike is now just like Gauss Weapons but for hand to hand attacks. yes it does lose some flavor but much easier to keep track of during the game.

A lot of units got cheaper. the Praetorians and Lychguard by a substantial amount. Only the Wraiths, Scarbs, and Night Scythes went up in cost.

The Stalkers squad size now 1-3 models. Yay! Tomb Blades options are cheaper and the squad size in now 3-10.

Destroyers can only upgrade 1 model to a Heavy Destroyer, but you can now take a squad of 1-3 Heavy Destroyers as a Heavy.

Crypteks work a bit differently now. Alone they are a HQ choice. There are a few ways to take several in Formations and the new and very different Necron Detachment system. The Crypteks are no longer restricted in the wargear they can take, they have full access to the Technoarcana and Artefacts of the Aeons lists. And any unit with a Cryptek attached gets a +1 to Reanimation Protocols, so very useful guys.

The C'tan have four entries. Nightbringer and the Deceiver are unique elite choices. The Transcendent C'tan replaces the older C'tan Shard and is now a heavy. The Tesseract Vault joins the Codex in a Lord of War slot. There are six C'tans powers are now, and they are all in the form of shooting attacks. The Powers are rolled randomly before each shot and they are all pretty powerful, some more than others. Each power has two stat-lines, one for Transcendent and one for Coalescent. The Coalescent profile is use only for the Tesseract Vault and has double range and more shots or  bigger blast, depending on the weapon.

I have saved the worst for last. All the rumor guys were right. This Codex is lame because they have completely nerfed... the Tachyon Arrow! Sure it is still Strength 10, AP1, but the range have been reduced by, um, I'm not sure how to subtract anything from infinity, but it must be a huge number.
Now the range is now only 120"! How am supposed to I shoot people across the solar system?
It is nice to see the Necrons brought up the 7th edition standards. I have not seen anything that is terrible, maybe a little too much streamlining in places but it is a solid Codex. Time to raise my own undead-ish robot army!

They Are Legion
And make Awesome Metal Album covers


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The Fall of House Kestren

February 6, 2015, 12:42 pm
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Meanwhile, back on Sanctus Reach, Mission 3 is underway. The Knights reckless headlong charge into the invading Orks is at its end. The good news: the Knights have reached Grukk's grounded flagship. The bad news: The Knights are overextended and surrounded. And Grukk has a Stompa.

The mission starts with all the Imperial Forces on the table and the Orks "only" have a Stompa. Said Stompa did four hull points to the Knight Errant and turned two Chimeras into swiss cheese.
The Guard and Knights had some very fine shooting with most weapons hitting. Mrs. Blackheart's rum-fueled force field prevented most of the damage. So many hits so little damage! A very disappointing shooting phase led to the assault phase. The Knight Errant made a 10" assault into the Stompa and tore into it. Sadly the Stompa still had one HP left and dispatched the damaged Errant.

Even with a -1 to her reserve rolls the Orks arrived en masse and outflanked us. Once again we were too close to the table edges and paid dearly for the mistake.
I'm beginning to really hate Tankbustas
Big Hugga just wants to hug.
Needless to say it went horribly wrong. Deff Dreads everywhere, and those damn tankbustas well within charge range. The Orks shooting was predictable Orky, with no losses on the Imperials side. The Assault phase was also very Orky, with high losses for the the Knights and Guard.
Yep. Hate Them.
The Paladin was taken out in frenzy of tankbusta bombz, and I lost a Leman Russ to a very grabby Deff Dread. On my turn I was able to put down the Stompa,but was far too late to save this game for the Imperials. Turn 3 was the end for us. I was left with my HQ Vanquisher and a few Guardsmen on foot surrounded by Boyz. Final score Orks 11, Imperials 5.
I don't know what's going on, but I'm sure it's illegal.
Had we paid the slightest bit of attention to the possibility of being overwhelmed by jerks using outflank we would have put up a better fight. As it was the battle captured the feeling over being overextended and then cut off. A fun game, if a quick one.


Smash the 'umnies!
Orks:2, Imperials:1

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Xeno Rumble

February 13, 2015, 5:47 pm
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I have a few posts I am working on for your entertainment, but none are ready today. Mostly because I lost track of it being Friday and all. So, here are some pics of a Eldar vs. Tau battle. It was going to be a BatRep post, but things happened and it has been in the standby folder for months now. The text of how the battle went was lost when my hard drive crashed. I can't recall the specifics, but it was a very close battle that went a full seven turns.


The Eldar were victorious by two victory points. Tau vs. Eldar is a fluid, mobile battle, punctuated by really high firepower, and a lot of fun. Got to give it for the Xenos, they can party.

The Emperor Protects
Let's you and him fight! 

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Enter the Steel Host

February 20, 2015, 11:59 am
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Sanctus Reach, Mission 4. The Knights are overextended and cut off from Imperial lines. The Orks are closing in for the kill, can a spearhead of Guard Armor breakthrough and reinforce the Knights in time?

2500 points per side, the Imperials have ten models, the Orks just about 100. The Knights start on the far left side of the field and must get to the far right side and off the table. Half of the Orks start in the center, the other half will come on from the left side, so the Knights must boogie or get completely swamped. The Imperial Guard tanks all start in reserve and arrive on the right side.

Scoring is really straightforward, and all about the Knights. The Orks get D3 points for killing a Knight, and the Knights get D3 for getting off the table, plus the regular 1 point for killing the enemy warlord.
The Knights start by killing off a Deff Dread and put some damage on the Ork Battlewagon full of bad things, but cannot stop it. On the Ork turn, said Battlewagon pulls up close and unloads Grukk Face-rippa and his Mega-Nobz friends. They gleefully hack down a Knight, but the resulting explosion goes quite poorly for the lads. Grukk survives by using the big Mek as a shield, and seven out of eight Mega-Nobz are vaporized. A very costly win. Not that Grukk cares.
Turn two sees six of the Guard tanks arrive. The Mega-Dread, and a Deff Dread fall to battle and lascannon fire. The last Leman Russ to fire hits the Battlewagon in the rear and kills it with a single shot. Live by open top, die by open top.
Grukk responds by charging the Knight Errant with his one remaining minon. The Mega-Nob is splattered, but Grukk's stupid luck holds and he is unharmed by the huge chainsword. The Ork Warlord hits with all attacks and the Knight explodes under the onslaught. Grukk is wounded by the titanic blast. He was finally put down by the last Paladin on the following turn.

The rest of the Guard armor showed up and put a hurting on the Orks from across the table. More Orks arrived and managed a couple of points damage on the withdrawing Paladin, but it was too late to stop it exiting the field.
The Imperials fought very well, but that thrice damned Grukk put the game just out of reach for us. Orks 5, Imperials 4. Gah.

Tough situation for the Knights to start with, they needed just a bit more luck than they got. Good mission, I would like to give it another try.

Mr. Face-ripper will see you now.
Orks:3, Imperials:1


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DungeonQuest, New and Improved

February 27, 2015, 9:33 am
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Good old DungeonQuest. Originally a Norwegen game, it made its breakout in 1987 when Games Workshop picked it up and released it in the UK and North America. It fell out of print somewhere in the '90s and lay dormant until Fantasy Flight Games relicensed it in 2010.

Unfortunately, FFG messed with the combat system and made it over-complicated and slow. Thankfully FFG did listen to its fans and now we have DungeonQuest Revised! Basically, they took out all of their changes.

Those of you who are not familiar with DungeonQuest, here is a quick rundown: 1-4 players are sneaking into Dragon Fire Castle to steal some of the dragon's sweet golden loot. Whoever escapes the dungeon with the most loot wins. The map of the dungeon starts as a blank grid with the dragon's treasure chamber into the center. Every turn a player explores a space and adds a room tile or two to the map.
The players must overcome many kinds of obstacles in their quest of gold: traps, moving corridors, and monsters. All while racing against the sun. If the sun sets and you are still inside Dragon Fire Castle, you lose. Once (if) you reach the treasure chamber it's time to grab all you can. If you disturb the sleeping dragon...it will go poorly. Then simply (not really) find your way back out before sunset.

It is a random and often times brutal game. Many times the "winner" was the hero who died last. Having all four adventurers get killed is not uncommon, which is why when we play it two-player we each take two each.
 
The game is up to FFGs excellent standards for components, and has just had a reprinting. The game sets up quick and plays very fast, with each game taking around 45 minutes. Highly recommended for when you are in the mood for some light, fast gaming. Just don't get too attached to your characters.  

Go Roll Some Dice
And Try not To Wake the Dragon

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Tyranid Tweaks

March 13, 2015, 2:11 pm
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As a new week comes to a close, I still don't have a copy of the Harlequin codex to review. I have been told the shipment bound for my FLGS is stuck in the snow somewhere where they get snow.
It's a nice 77 degrees here with a pleasant breeze coming from the ocean.

So, let's talk about the Tyranids a bit, shall we? I know the Tyranids are not "broken" still they play differently than they used to, and frankly differently than I and a few of my fellow Warlords want them to. One of the great things about having a, um, let's say, "mature" gaming group is the willingness to try things to make the game more enjoyable for all.

Here are a few easy rules tweaks we are playing with:

ALL monstrous creatures get Feel No Pain (5+).     
Far too many high AP weapons and other shooting shenanigans (I'm looking at you Eldar!)
The big ones just die too fast and easy nowadays. By giving them Feel No Pain it puts just enough uncertainty back into fighting them. We want the big adrenaline fueled monsters being driven on by the Hive Mind to feel more like it.

Fast and Deadly: Any unit with Fleet may run and charge in the same turn.
Remember when Genestealers were scary? Ravagers were worth their points? Hormagaunts bounded across the table? This works very well now to give a bit more balance back to a close combat army.

Hive Guard are BS:4 and WS:3.
Why the hell did this get changed from last Codex? The fluff on this is great, this unit lives to shoot, and has been made to do so.

And of course our Lictor changes.
Because Lictors should be fun.

And we are thinking letting the Trygon shoot OR assault the turn it arrives. We will have to playtest that one first. Should be interesting.

The Hive Mind Hungers
And Wants More Hand to Hand to Mandible


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Forbidden Stars

March 17, 2015, 3:59 pm
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Surprise! Fantasy Flight has just pulled the curtain back on another new 40K product.
Forbidden Stars is a 2-4 player strategy game. Players are fighting over the Herakon Cluster, long lost to warp storms, now accessible.
Four races are in the box:The Ultramarines Space Marine chapter, the Eldar of Craftworld Iyanden, the Evil Sunz Ork clan, and the World Eaters Chaos Space Marines . The map is randomly generated for each game so replayability looks very high.
And lots of awesome plastic! It is not due until 3rd Quarter, so we will be keeping an eye on this one.
Go Roll Some Dice!
And Get Ready for Strategic Level Combat

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Daphne's Dragoons

March 27, 2015, 12:02 pm
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I while ago I finished up a trio of Valkyries, now I have some proper troops to put in them. I have always liked collecting forces in thematic detachments. The fluff for the stormtroopers (or whatever the High Gothic name is for them) was further improved with their mini-codex, so I had to build a airmobile platoon of them.

They are led by Commissar Lord Daphne, (one of only two female Imperial Guard figures GW made) and the HQ squad, Alpha cozy in their Valkyrie Vendetta.

Beta and Gamma squads each have a fully tricked out Valkyrie Gunship, making this detachment a nice 1125 points. Next week they shall undertake a mission in the Sanctis Reach Campaign, just them dropping in on some Orks. Should be fun.    
The Emperor Protects
"This is Romeo Foxtrot, Shall We Dance?"
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