Tuesday 28 August 2012

Deciding on a Legion

With the Forgeworld Horus Heresy books fast approaching, I'm trying do decide on a Legion to collect. Although my Thousand Sons are in the works, they aren't likely to be included in the first book, and I want to be able to use the Pre-Heresy rule set straight away. I can always include my Thousand Sons as Grey Knight allies if I want to field them.

Now logic would dictate that they cover Istvann III and the Dropsite Massacres in two books rather than one, otherwise they've got to cover 11 of the Legions in one book.
With this in mind, the most likely candidates for inclusion off the bat for the traitors are Luna Wolves/Sons of Horus, Emperors Children, Death Guard and World Eaters, as the Legions present at the intial betrayal.
Of these, I don't like the Death Guard (they just don't inspire me), leaving me with a choice of Son of Horus, World Eaters or Emperors Children. It's very tempting to build a small force of each of them, but that would very much depend on how much time and money I have.

Of course if they cover the Dropsite Massacres in the first book, it's going to be Night Lords, no question, but they can wait until I know they have printed rules.

To be honest I can see myself having armies for most of the traitor legions, complete with Primarchs by the time this is done, but right now I'll settle for one. The question that's vexing me right now though is, which one?

Friday 24 August 2012

Deamons in 6th Edition

Had a 1750 point game with my Deamons against a friends Deathwing tonight, my first with the army in 6th Edition.

My list was roughly the following

Epidemus
2 x Nurgle Heralds with Breath of Chaos
Herald of Tzeentch with Disc and Breath of Chaos
2x units of 3 Flamers
2 x units of 14 Plaguebearers
2 x units of 9 Horrors
1 x Tooled up Khorne Deamon Prince on foot
1 x tooled up Tzeentch Deamon Prince on foot with Breath of Chaps and Soul Devourer
3 x Fiends

His army was, off the top of my head

Belial with TH/SS
Divination Terminator Librarian
4 x Deathwing Squads
2 x Venerable Dreads, 1 Multi-Melta, 1 Twin Lascannom
1 x Mortis Dread - Missile Launcher and Lascannon

The mission was Big Guns Never Tire with 3 objectives. The game ended with the Deathwing pretty much wiped off the board, minus two Dreadnoughts which were tarpitted with Horrors and Plaguebearers respectively. It was an interesting game, highly enjoyable and left me with a good impression of how the army works under the new rules.

Here's some of my observations:

-Flamer are immense.  Despite the points drop in the White Dwarf expansion, I think they've gotten better. They still ignore armour completely with their templates, but with the new Hull Point system they've become great at taking out vehicles too with their ability to glance on a 4+.
Coupled with overwatch they've become almost obscene, due to the D3 automatic hits - a squad of 3 killed a Deathwing squad who charged them and even took out his Dreadnought with a torrent of glancing hits. This, along with being jump infantry, so they can go wherever they're needed now makes them the best unit in the codex in my opinion - just chuck them down, toast the enemy and laugh as they try and charge you

Breath of Chaos is your friend in 6th, even more so than it was in 5th, because now it can help shield you from assaults on the turn you arrive and you can put into your list in horrendous amounts. A strategy I'm thinking of trying in future is trying to bubblewrap my scoring units with models with Breath in the final few turns, to stop last minute objective stealing

- The changes to Reserves really help Deamons out under 6th. With 3+ to come on from turn two, they can overwhelm the enemy quite quickly - I had all but Epidemus and his unit down by my turn 2, giving me a very strong base of scoring units early on, while the Flamers and Princes could be brought to bear very easily. A huge weakness of the army in the past has been everything arriving piecemeal, but now you get enough early enough thatthis seems to be a thing of the past

Also, which the deep strike mishap table becoming more forgiving, my army arrived more or less intact, barring a 'delayed' result on Epidemus' unit turn 1 and a 'misplaced' result on my Khorne Prince that meant he spent most of the game running for an objective. If i'd been playing 5th edition with this army, both units would've been dead.

- A nasty trick I've found with the Tzeentch Deamon Prince is to give him Soul Devourer, nominating him to count as having a Power Maul, then take Unholy Might, making him strength 7. As it states in the rulebook that monstrous creatures count their close combat attacks as ap2 due to having the 'Smash' special rule. This combo makes him a true combat monster - he killed Belial and without even breaking a sweat by using Soul Devourer's secondary ability to cause instant death as if it was a force weapon, then pulped his squad to boot.

All in all deamons have gotten a lot better in 6th Edition. I need to playtest them a lot more, but I think they've got real potential. I'll report my findings when I have more.

Tuesday 21 August 2012

Forgeworld Horus Heresy makes my wallet cry


Forgeworld have posted up confirmation that their first Horus Heresy book will be at Games Day UK this year and that it'll be entitled 'Betrayal'. By the looks of things it'll cover the events of the Isstvan Massacres, both the purging of the loyal elements and the drop site massacres, which in my eyes, should fit nicely into one book.

With this in mind I'm going to see if I can finish up my first few squads of Thousand Sons, including a small unit of Jetbikes and maybe adding a small contingent of another Legion before the book hits. Then I can start adding some of the goodies that FW bring out for it. Personally, I'm hoping for:

- Mechanicum Battle Robots
- A list to fully represent a Crusade/Heresy era Thousand Son army at the height of their powers
- A list for Imperial Army support contingents, so I can represent my Prospero Spireguard properly
- Rules for Loken and the Mournival, Erebus, Lucius, Tarvitz, Eidolon, Garro, Kharn, Argel Tal and the other major players from the HH Novels
- Rules for Magnus the Red in the first book, although I know that's not likely

I know that's hoping for a lot, but a man can dream.

For now I'm off to coax my wallet from cowering in a corner, then raid bitz websites for pre-heresy parts. At some point I may post an article on how I make Pre-Heresy marines - it's surprisingly easy and cheaper than you think.




Monday 13 August 2012

Something a little different...

Was looking at the Space Wolves lists on the internet for inspiration and I realised they all seem so samey and boring. It's all either Rune Priests, Wolf Guard, Grey Hunters and Long Fangs, with the occasional Land Speeder or Dreadnought thrown in, or Loganwing. Neither of these really seem to scream 'Space Wolves' to me and are really just forces that can be fielded with other codices with minor tweaks.

So I've decided to write a list that really emphasizes the quirky nature of Space Wolves. Not sure how competitive it'll be, but it'll sure be fun to build and play with.

So without further ado, what do you guys make of this:


2000 Company of Tra List




Wolf Lord Rylak Foestrider, Jarl of Tra

Frost Axe, Storm Shield, Thunderwolf, Saga of the Warrior Born, Wolf Tail Tailsman, Wolf Tooth Necklace, 2 x Fenrisian Wolves, Runic Armour

Rune Priest Olyk Dragonfoe

Saga of the Beastslayer, Master of Runes, Tempests Wrath, Murderous Hurricane, Chooser of the Slain, Wolf Tooth Necklace, Runic Armour

Rune Priest Morek Arjacson

Divination, Runic Armour

Wolf Priest Bjorn Ironhand

Runic Armour, Bike, Saga of the Wolf Kin, Wolf Tooth Necklace, Wolf Tail Tailsman

Iron Priest Marduk Farsight

Thunderwolf, 4 x Cyberwolves, Wolf Tooth Necklace, Wolf Tail Tailsman

Iron Priest Varek Ironfinger

Thunderwolf, 4 x Cyberwolves, Wolf Tooth Necklace, Wolf Tail Tailsman

Grey Hunters 'The White Wolves'

10 x Men, Power Fist, Wolf Standard, 2 x Plasma Guns, Mark of the Wulfen

Grey Hunters 'The Cloud Runners'

10 x Men, Power Fist, Wolf Standard, 2 x Plasma Guns, Mark of the Wulfen

Swiftclaw Bikes 'Lokhir's Thunder'

5 x Bikes and 1 x Attack Bike with Multi-Melta, all have Melta Bombs and 1 x Plasma Gun

Fenrisian Wolves 'The Dark Manes'

15 x Wolves

Thunderwolf Cavalry 'The Void Stalkers'

4 x Cavalry, 1 x Storm Shield

Sunday 12 August 2012

4 Things i hope they DON'T do with the Chaos codex

I've been hearing a lot of rumours about the next chaos book, some good, some that make me worry about the future of my favourite race. With that in mind, instead of posting up my wishlisting, I thought I'd share some of my thoughts on what I hope doesn't go in there, for various reasons.

So here we go...

1. Icons

Under the current rules, those units that are dedicated enough to their patron to carry an Icon into battle proclaiming their glory are rewarded with bonuses in battle, such as +1 toughness for Nurgle. That is until Bob the Icon Bearer is unlucky enough to be taken out (a much more common occurence under the new wound allocation rules), at which point apparently the unit stops being dedicated to their god and loses their bonuses.
In background terms, this apparently means a unit of Nurgle Terminators are apparently cured of all their infections, making them just as tough as any other marine, those dedicated to Khorne lose their lust for battle and those Slanneshi-fuelled madmen lose their speed and lust for sensation that has driven them for the last 10,000 years. Tzeentch, I can see the background justification for, as the Changer of Way likes to screw over his own followers on a whim, but all the while you've got to ask yourself, why don't one of the others pick up the fallen icon?

I can see the justification in losing weapons in the heat of battle.. The survivors may not have the training to use the weapons of their fallen comrade and many weapons are hardwired onto their bodies, like powerfists or Terminator heavy weapons, but come on, all they have to do is lift the icon of their god, the symbol of their devotion, off the ground and wave it around a bit.

Please GW, sort this out and don't give us this awful system under the new 'Dex, especially with so many precision shots and closest-man-dies wound allocation shenanigans going


2, 'Dragon Flier'

One of the biggest rumours going round is that Chaos Marines are going to be given a Dragon-like construct/ MC that's going to be amazing at taking out flyers

While I have no issue with the idea of a biomechanical 'anti-flyer' unit in itself, I hope they don't include it in there as an alternative to giving us a new flyer of our own. There's a lot of Chaos aircraft in the fluff, ranging from the Helltalon and Hellblade to stuff like captured gunships and Harbinger Bombers, Locusts and the other smaller aircraft.

It's not like Chaos never field aircraft and just giving us the Dragon as our only anti flyer option will just result in more or less every single list including one, two, or even three of these things, making a CSM army under the new 'dex just as boring as the Lash Princes and Obliterators tag team we see at the moment.

Fluff-wise it'll hurt people who play those Warbands/Legions that don't use the overly deamonic elements of the list so much, like Night Lords, Alpha Legion and a great many homebrew warbands, such as my own. Please GW, don't do this to us.

3. Special Characters and Legions

This is an interesting one, as it's one of my most fierce hopes and also the one most likely to be dashed: I really hope you don't need to field a special character to field a legion-specific army, ie. Kharn for World Eaters, Typhus for Death Guard, etc.

I can see why it works under the codices brought out under 5th ed. With marines, each chapter represents a unified, tight-knit group of warriors, operating under the same banner and way of warfare. There are no splinter factions of each roaming the galaxy, for example, there aren't say a dozen different White Scars warbands running around, each completely autonamous from the others and full of hate for the warbands who claim to be White Scars too. Instead you've got 10 companies, each probably lead by someone similar to Korsarro Khan, with a lot of chopping and changing of units between companies, so it's entirely possible that Khan would be leading any White Scars force at any time

But with Chaos, it's different. The legions have fragmented into tiny warbands, each doing their own thing. Many of the Chaos SC's are actually outcasts from their own legion. For example. Typhus turned his back on the bulk of the Death Guard in disgust, Ahriman was cast out of the Thousand Sons after the Rubric and Kharn actually caused the splintering of the World Eaters, therefore, without a massive retcon (that would actually involve rewriting many of the HH books to boot), GW can't really say that 'Every Thousand Sons force is led by Ahriman', for example, as he commands a tiny, tiny proportion of the legions assets and he wouldn't be welcomed back into the fold under any circumstances.

Instead, I like the rumour that whatever mark your Warlord has will allow that gods cult troops to be troops, while the rest are elite, putting a stop to cherry picking the best marks for units that are extremely unlikely to happen in the fluff, such as Double Slanneshi Deamon Prince HQ, leading Plague Marines and Khorne Beserkers for troops, supported by Obliterators
.
To be honest, as elegant a system as that rumour is, I don't care how GW does it, as long as they deal with cheesemongering-fluff-destroying crap like that. If you want a mixed army, play pure Black Legion, then you can do something like that and still play by the fluff.

Chaos is one of the few forces where a generic build-it-yourself Warlord makes far more sense that having named characters. Yes, you can rename them, but it's just not the same and suddenly having every khorne-aligned chaos lord in the galaxy wielding a huge axe and a plasma pistol, with a chance to hit your own side is a wee bit silly, just like having every slanneshi-aligned one wielding a whip, a sword and a magic suit of armour that eats souls is just as bad.

4. 'Eye of the Gods'

And finally, seeing as I could go on more or less forever with his post, one thing I really, really, praying to a god i don't believe in, hope does not happen is the rumoured fantasy-esque eye of the gods table that's heavily rumoured, giving you upgrades across the game as you win challenges and slay Monstrous Creatures, ranging from small mutations to full blown deamonhood.

Now i'm not against random mutations in chaos. To be honest it's what i've been hoping for the return of for years. What gets me is the final point: Deamonhood.

At it's heart 40k is a narrative game, despite the sheer amount of cheesy tournament players out there. At the end of the day, you play the game for it's story - the heroic exploits of a character of your choosing. You follow their career game by game. The chance of spontaneously rising to deamonhood ruins that, as next game, unless you're playing a campaign and have a house rule in place, your lord will be mortal again, breaking a big piece of background, which is once the gods have seen fit to raise you to deamonhood, you shed your mortal form forever.

And what about characters who refuse deamonhood, like Abaddon? Does that mean they don't roll on the table? How about the other, mortal special characters (btw, there are no deamonic SC's)? Asie from breaking the rules of the 40k universe, it'd be a big change in their fluff to have them flitting back and forth from deamonhood. Or, again, how about the legions who don't embrace chaos in its entirety, like the Night Lords and Alpha Legion?

Give us the table but leave deamonhood out of it.


So there you have it. Of course, it's just my opinions, so feel free to comment and disagree (in fact, i actively encourage it). Let me know what you think and what your thoughts on the new chaos codex are, whenever it may reach us.

Until next time, happy gaming!

Friday 10 August 2012

2013 40k releases leaked?

 There's been a massive rumour dump on Warseer, detailing what's apparently coming in 2013. I don't normally post rumours up here but if even half of these turn out to be true, I shall be very very happy.
Looks like there's something to please most people, my thanks go out to Vovin of Warseer for posting it up


281041230110209 Imperial Agents Enforcer with Heavy Stubber RE c01 Len_B 02 cc
284054630110202 Kroot Kroothawks RE c01 Len_B 02 cc

286010311080200 Cult Hybrid Upgrade Pack PL a10 XianD 02 cc
286011130110208 Patriarch Dumas, The Veiled Fiend RE c01 Len_B 02 cc
280002330140207 Sisters of Battle Canoness with Power Axe RE c01 Len_A 02 cc
280000211440200 Sisters of Battle Seraphim / Patronica Squad PL a14 Len_A 02 cc
280000111440201 Sisters of Battle Battle Sisters PL a14 Len_A 02 cc
280000411840206 Sisters of Battle Exorcist / Catafalque of Sins PL a18 Len_A 02 cc

281047530110208 Imperial Agents Obsideo Assassin RE c01 Len_B 02 cc

281049111440209 Imperial Agents Deathwatch Kill Team PL a14 Len_A 02 cc
281049230140202 Imperial Agents Deathwatch Librarian RE c01 Len_A 02 cc
280002430140206 Sisters of Battle Prioress Lazarea Verata RE c01 Len_A 02 cc
280002230140208 Sisters of Battle Sister Superior Magdalenia RE c01 Len_A 02 cc
280000330740205 Sisters of Battle Repentia Squad RE b07 Len_A 02 cc

288023030140207 Harlequin Solitaire RE c01 Len_A 02 cc

283041230710209 Cabal Tarellian Cotor with Dragontongue RE b07 Len_B 02 cc
283041530110204 Cabal Alpha Psyker RE c01 Len_B 02 cc
282021211440203 Mechanicus Battle-Servitors / Khorne Caedes Engines PL a14 Len_A 02 cc
287018930140205 Freebooters Ogreen Kaptain RE c01 Len_A 02 cc
285000030110204 Cypher RE c01 Len_B 02 cc

256145512010301 Tau Empire Nautilus Defence Platform PL a20 Len_B 03 cc

256146011840307 Tau Empire Mako PL a18 Len_A 03 cc
256145730740301 Commander Farsight RE b07 Len_A 03 cc
256146211440307 Tau Empire Vespid Stingwings / Vespid Spinewings PL a14 Len_A 03 cc

208263530941100 The Avatar of Khaine RE b09 Len_A 11 cc

208284511450206 Eldar Wraithguard / Cataphracts PL a14 Len_C 02 cc
208284711550201 Eldar Sky Chariots / Shining Spears PL a15 Len_C 02 cc
208285011450208 Eldar Warpspiders / Everguard PL a14 Len_C 02 cc
208285230150200 Eldar Black Warden RE c01 Len_C 02 cc
208297830180402 Phoenix Lord Kyme'doc, The Planetwister RE c01 XianD 04 cc

208281811450202 Eldar Eldritch Raiders PL a14 Len_C 02 cc

208282112050207 Eldar Webway Gate PL a20 Len_C 02 cc
208283411250206 Eldar Phoenix Lord Nuadhu, The Fireheart / Alean Vyper PL a12 Len_C 02 cc
208283512050200 Eldar Spirit Warrior PL a20 Len_C 02 cc
208283911550202 Eldar Dragon Riders PL a15 Len_C 02 cc

208286130150208 Eldar Fire Dragon Xentarch RE c01 Len_C 02 cc

208286230150207 Eldar Dire Avenger Xentarch RE c01 Len_C 02 cc
208286330150206 Eldar Howling Banshee Xentarch RE c01 Len_C 02 cc
208286430150205 Eldar Striking Scorpion Xentarch RE c01 Len_C 02 cc
208286530150204 The Avatar of the Young King RE c01 Len_C 02 cc

206304711540308 Chaos Bike Squadron PL a15 Len_A 03 cc

206305211440303 Chaos Noise Marines PL a14 Len_A 03 cc
206304811440300 Chaos Thousand Sons PL a14 Len_A 03 cc
999030530110288 White Dwarf 5 RE c01 Len_B 02 pr

200462312010203 Space Marine Astartes Battle Fortress Defence Wall PL a20 Len_B 02 cc

200462412010202 Space Marine Astartes Battle Fortress Tower / Pillar of Heroes PL a20 Len_B 02 cc
200462512340209 Space Marine Astartes Battle Fortress Monastery PL a23 Len_A 02 cc

208281612050205 Eldar Lamia Strike Fighter / Moon Siren Bomber PL a20 Len_C 02 cc

208283611550205 Eldar Jetbikes PL a15 Len_C 02 cc
208287930150207 Eldar Warlock with Force Staff RE c01 Len_C 02 cc
208288530950204 Eldar Swooping Hawks RE b09 Len_C 02 cc

200470512040203 Space Marine Land Avenger PL a20 Len_A 02 cc

200468512010203 Space Marine Praetor Warmachine PL a20 Len_B 02 cc
200465411540206 Space Marine Bike Squadron / Crusader Bike Squadron PL a15 Len_A 02 cc
200467830740205 Space Marine Skyshatter Cannon RE b07 Len_A 02 cc
200469630140209 Space Marine Terminator First Hand RE c01 Len_A 02 cc
200469230140203 Space Marine Librarian with Jump Pack RE c01 Len_A 02 cc

200462811440204 Space Marine Neophytes PL a14 Len_A 02 cc

200464511440201 Space Marine Techmarine with Artificer Squad PL a14 Len_A 02 cc
200468011440204 Space Marine Sword Brethren / Nightflame Veteran Squad PL a14 Len_A 02 cc
200472230140203 Space Marine Librarian Epistolary RE c01 Len_A 02 cc
200475630110203 Paladin Marshall Sieghelm RE c01 Len_B 02 cc

200470612040202 Space Marine Land Avenger Vulkan / Land Avenger Invictus PL a20 Len_A 02 cc

200470331080275 Space Marine Bionics Upgrade Pack RE a10 XianD 02 li
200470231080276 Space Marine Defender Upgrade Pack RE a10 XianD 02 li
200471330110208 Iron Father Maalthun RE c01 Len_B 02 cc
200471730110204 Chapter Master Tu’Shan RE c01 Len_B 02 cc
200480130110202 Severus Agemman, Regent of Ultramar RE c01 Len_B 02 cc
200480630110207 Helveticus the Ancient, Bearer of Honour RE c01 Len_B 02 cc

201278911240205 Ork Warbuggy / Deff Racer PL a12 Len_A 02 cc

201281911240205 Ork Wartrakk Skorcha / Flakk Trakk PL a12 Len_A 02 cc
201279011540202 Ork Deff Koptas PL a15 Len_A 02 cc
201286730140200 Wazzdakka Gutsmek RE c01 Len_A 02 cc

227162030941106 Dark Eldar Grotesque Squad RE b09 Len_A 11 cc


202321411411107 Imperial Guard Storm Troopers / Iron Cloak Veterans PL a14 Len_B 11 cc

202342311811101 Imperial Guard Hydra PL a18 Len_B 11 cc

271074511840390 Bloodthirster PL a18 Len_A 03 186080111840398

271074611840399 Lord of Change PL a18 Len_A 03 186080211840397
271074811440399 Chaos Daemons Warp Stalkers / Chaos Furies PL a14 Len_A 03 186080311440398

201281712010205 Ork Flying Fortress / Rokk Launcha PL a20 Len_B 02 cc

201279412010205 Ork Gun Fortress / Mega Tellyporta PL a20 Len_B 02 cc
201283811440204 Ork Flash Gitz / Tellyporta Nobz PL a14 Len_A 02 cc
201279911440206 Ork Meganobz / Painboy Cyborks PL a14 Len_A 02 cc
201285130140209 Ork Warphead RE c01 Len_A 02 cc

201283912010207 Ork Klan Fort PL a20 Len_B 02 cc

201284130740204 Ork Boar Squigs RE b07 Len_A 02 cc
201284430940212 Ork Squiggotaur RE b09 Len_A 02 mf

201283611540203 Ork Big Guns / Pulsa Launchas PL a15 Len_A 02 cc

201285230140208 Ork Painboy with Cleava Harness RE c01 Len_A 02 cc
201285630140204 Ork Grot Nurses RE c01 Len_A 02 cc
201286930140208 Gorbuzz ThreeEye RE c01 Len_A 02 cc
201287430140200 Gritlegg Maksmesh RE c01 Len_A 02 cc
201288330140208 Boss-Kommissa Grotzki RE c01 Len_A 02 cc

200461211440203 Space Marine Scouts with Astartes Grenade Launchers PL a14 Len_A 02 cc

200467911540205 Space Marine Gale Claw Supremacy Fighter PL a15 Len_A 02 cc
200465011440203 Space Marine Space Marine Tactical Squad PL a14 Len_A 02 cc
200465512010202 Space Marine Land Raider Medusa PL a20 Len_B 02 cc

271081411840399 Great Unclean One PL a18 Len_A 03 186083311840397

271081511840398 Keeper of Secrets PL a18 Len_A 03 18608341
1840396


Ones that particularly interest me are what looks like the reintroduction of Genestealer Cults, Solitaire (Harlequin army ftw!), enough Ork stuff for a new codex, including a character called Boss-Kommissa Grotzki (suggesting Grot Rebellion lists), plastic Greater Deamons and what looks like new faction 'Imperial Agents'

Now just got to wait see if it actually pans out this way

Wednesday 8 August 2012

Brother Hrogar WIP

Taking Supermegamatt and Headologist's advice from yesterday's post, I've decided to apply myself to my Space Wolves and pack away my other projects for now, setting myself small goals. My first goal is to get a Grey Hunter Pack plus their Wolf Guard done in the next few weeks. I've also signed up to an army painting challenge on Warseer in order to keep me on track. 200 points a month is nice target to work towards. By the time the next 40k league at my local gaming club starts up next february, I should have the majority of my army done.

So here's Hrogar, my first WIP member of the Grey Hunter Pack 'The White Wolves'. Every model and pack in the army is going to be named and have their own saga. I'll post his fluff up once he's finished..

I don't like the look of the 'Eavy Metal paint job for the Space Wolves, so I've gone for a darker, Pre Heresy-like scheme for him, using a basecoat of Space Wolves greay, followed by an Etherium Blue drybrush and several layers of Badab Black to dull it down. It's quite a nice look, I think.

 Another thing to note is that unlike most Space Wolves that you see, he's wearing a helmet. This is going to be another major feature of my army - only the Rune Priests and particularly reckless members of the Rout are going to go without them, after all only a fool removes his helmet in the heat of battle and the Sons of Russ are no fools. Plus i think armies look so much more menacing with very few bare heads.

What do you guys think of him?

Tuesday 7 August 2012

Hobby Burnout

Got so many projects going on at the moment and so much to do, I've kind of hit a wall where I can't bring myself to do much at all. I've got Deathwing, Chaos Marines, Deamons, Thousand Sons, Space Wolves, Empire and Dark Elves sitting on my 'to do' shelf, all with loads left to do before they even approach being finished. It's doing my head in.

I thought I'd get loads done while I was on summer break from Uni, but the wall of projects facing me has had the opposite effect.

I need to have a think how to motivate myself. Anyone got any ideas?

Monday 6 August 2012

Mordheim Battle Report - The Beast of Vorrheim

 A few weeks back, me and a few friends gathered for a game of Mordheim, as part of an ongoing Empire in Flames campaign we've been playing through for the last year or so. It was a special game for me, partly because it was the last game in the campaign I could part in before I moved away, but also because it was a mission I'd been looking forward to immensely - Monster Hunt!

The Beast of Vorrheim


Deep in the heart of Ostermark, close to the site of ruined city of Mordheim, Baron Boriz Ludunof of Vorrheim was in despair. Owing to his ancestors habit of being buried with their most valuable possession, his family crypt was now overrun with a hideous scaly Dragon intent on plundering it. Being young, the beast seemed content to nurture its ill-gotten horde, yet had slain all his best fighters in turn when they had been sent to rid the town of it.

In desperation he put word out of his plight, offering the spoils of the beasts horde to any who could slay it. To his surprise, it was not one hero who stepped forward, but no less than four bands of adventurers, fresh from the ruins of Mordheim, all eager to claim the prize for themselves, to the detriment of their rivals...



Our task was a simple one: Kill the Dragon and hold onto the horde by driving off all other opponents. In game terms this meant if there ever was only one side in the beasts lair and no opponents within 6 inches, they'd claim victory and get a load of gold, wyrdstone and equipment for their troubles.

Four Warbands arrived to claim the treasure. It would've been five but one of our regulars and his Vampire counts couldn't make it down.

Anyway, first up were my Dark Elves, battered and bruised after a string of recent defeats, led by Varkar the Fellblade, after the Highborn sprouted an arrow to the chest in the previous game and died outright (again!) and the Sorceress was too wounded to participate in this game. They took up position in a building, hoping to make a dash across open ground to slay the beast up close and personal without taking any more casualties

 Next up were Victoria's Empire warband (can't remember what province), whose shooting had proved unerringly accurate throughout the campaign and were responsible for much of the drubbing that my DE had been taking recently. She chose to set her archers up in a commanding position on a hill, with a small close combat contingent ready to take the fight to the dragon.

 
 Then there were Hayden's High Elves, a warband bloated to monstrous proportions, owing mainly to the prowess of his Pit Fighter and stupid amount of bow fire available to him. He'd only been defeated twice, a feat which was possible only because all the other players allied against him. He chose the hill with the watchtower between Victorias and my warband, sheltering part of his force behind it in case he didn't win first turn


And finally there was Adam's Empire Warband (again, Province unknown), which set up opposite the High Elves, hoping the sheer amount of Handguns in his force could swing the battle in his favour, despite having taken a beating recently, resulting in a lot of deaths, but also a couple of new heroes rising up from the ranks.



I won first turn and crept forward cautiously, sending my Cold One Beasthounds forward to try and lure the dragon out into the path of my crossbows. I quickly realised how many enemy bows and guns they were exposed to and ducked them behind a fence for protection.



The others sent their men forward, eager for glory, despite the long slog across the table to the door. In typical Dark Elf fashion, I decided to wait and let them enter. Rather they get torched than me

 After her first few shot bounce off the dragons hide, Tor instead turns the attention of her Archers to Hayden's advancing Elves, knocking one onto his arse and putting another out of action.


Undeterred Hayden advanced his High Elves on the lair, opening fire and wounding it several times but it regenerated them all (we were using the Baby Hydra rules so it actually presented a challenge). The Druchii watched their Asur cousins from the safety of cover, pinging a few crossbow shots their way but not achieving anything. Valkar kept his head down, wondering how on earth they were going to break through the mass of High Elves and claim his prize;

 The answer came in the form of Tor's Empire which were approaching the door from the other direction. She'd made an alliance with Adams Empire, but it seemed like she'd had the same idea as me, letting him going in first. Nobody wanted to be the first one torched!

Gently does it lads...

Then inspiration hit me, by giving up my share of the loot from the battle, I bought my way into the Empire alliance. I didn't mention I didn't care if I got the loot or not, seeing as I was out of the campaign after this game anyway.


After a quick tactical discussion while Hayden went out for a smoke, I sent my two Cold One Beasthounds (now affectionately known as Fifi and Fido) into the crypt, the theory being it was better to lose two 20g Henchmen than the expensive heroes that they were thinking of sending in. One quick blast of flame later, BBQ Nauglir was on the menu, but the move brought the dragon into charge range of the mob of Empire troops bearing down on it, supported by one very plucky Druchii with a net....


Seeing the chance of victory slipping away, Hayden desperately opened fire at the beast with everything he had, bringing it down to a single wound, but once again its scales knitted back together, recovering all but one wound. If High Elves ever deigned to swear, they'd be inventing some rather choice new curses round about now.

Take aim!....

Up on their hill, Tor's archers took aim again, hitting and wounding with pretty much everything. With it down to one wound (again), everyone watched with baited breath as Hayden rolled for the beasts regeneration save....

Victory Dance!

....and the Beast was dead! Now all that remained was for our unholy alliance to drive off the High Elves and claim victory. While I dashed my men forward to take cover in the crypt, it seemed that one of Adam's heroes, gifted with stupidity, frenzy and the nickname 'Whirlwind Bill' decided to take the fight to them.

Back! Back I say! 

After a few minutes laughter at his antics, which included him stopping dead in front of the HE lines due to stupidity, then charging in frenzy at the High Elf lines, having miraculously survived the storm of arrows being shot his way and stayed out of charge range of his thrice-cursed Pit Fighter, he actually secured victory by cutting down two High Elves in a single round of combat, driving them back to 7" from the crypt and fulfilling the win conditions. 

After much celebration we worked out injuries. Hayden's warband suffered badly, finally losing some Henchmen to bad injury rolls, whilst one of his heroes was forced to sit out the next two games and another was blinded in his right eye. Tor and Adam came out lightly, with a few minor injury results. Whirlwind Bill gained 'Strike to Injure', making his future antics all the more entertaining, whilst Fido had to be put down (Sad face)

                                              

So there you have it, the Wandering Mind's first full Battle Report. All in all it was a cracking game and a great way to end my involvement in the campaign. It's a shame I can't carry on, but I've moved from Norfolk to Cambridgeshire now so it's a little impractical to say the least for me to carry on. If I can find enough people interested in joining in, I do want to try out some of the other Specialist Games though. Possibly Necromunda.

Let me know what you think of the report. I might do more in future, depends if I can find the time to do one. It's hard to fit a game in at a club if I keep stopping to take pictures. If I can get some Necromunda going it'll be easier, as the games tend to be lot shorter.

Until next time, happy gaming!

Friday 3 August 2012

Throgg the Troll King, painted

I love sorting through my boxes of hobby things, I keep finding all sorts of old projects that never developed into full armies that keep threatening to distract my hobby-addled mind.

The latest treasure that I've unearthed is my Throgg conversion that I started before Christmas. I remember posting up a WIP but I never showed the finished model. Here he is in all his glory. Sorry for the poor pictures but I can't seem to be able to locate my decent camera atm.


I quite like how he's turned out, considering how basic a conversion it was - an Ogre Kingdoms Gorger with Green Stuff-ed scales and crown.I might spend some time on him, neatening up the details and finishing up the base.



One day he'll be part of my planned combined Chaos army (Beastmen, WoC and Chaos Dwarfs), but that's way off in the future once I get my money situation sorted, for now he's going to sit on my shelf of random models, looking pretty (well, as pretty as a hulking ugly Troll can be).

First game of 6th ed

Managed to get a game in against a friends BA tonight, my first with my Deathwing since February and also my first 40k game since 6th ed dropped. I have to say it was an interesting experience.

My list was basically Belial, a Divination Librarian, 3 Deathwing Squads, two Vindicators and a Land Raider. His list off the (top of my head) consisted of Astrorath, Death Company and DC Dread in a Stormraven, a Tactical Squad, an Assault squad and the rather surprising addition of some Devastators with Plasma Cannons. Can't remember the name of the mission we played (not owning the 6th ed book yet to check) but it was the one where Fast Attack become scoring (like that helped me, being the one slot Deathwing never use) and the value of the objectives were randomised.


After a closely fought first four turns, whittling down his force and pretty much neutering his plasma squad with shooting and driving him back towards his table edge, losing only my Vindicators in return. Then the victory got whipped out from underneath me when he managed to turn the tide quite nicely when the Stormraven finally arrived from reserve, with the Redeemer of the Lost pretty much taking out Belials squad and another Terminator Squad single-handedly

I gave him the game at the end of turn 5, what with me having only a single squad left and having to dash off to catch a train, but it was a good game. Despite being cut short, I took a lot from this game. Here's a small list:

-Terminators, even Tactical ones, are awesome now. They're ridiculously tough in combat,although little has changed at range
-Fliers are scary - his Stormraven was a game changer, mainly due to the fact that i knew I had nothing to shoot it down with. I need to tackle this problem or get some of my own.
- Wound allocation is a little weird. I had no choice but to let Belial die to the Death Company shooting before combat, as all wounds are are taken on the closest model until he dies. Very unrealistic that all shots happened to hit the commander, leaving his squad untouched
- DA Librarians are useful again, especially Divination ones giving out re-rolls. I'm also looking forward to trying out a Pyromancer one in the game against Orks I've got scheduled for next week
- A HQ with an Axe is a scary scary thing - Astorath doubly so.
- Vehciles are fragile, but still useful in a Deathwing list to draw fire away from the Terminators by providing a massive threat if not dealt with

 - Combats involving characters suck, as apparently you can't pick them out in combat unless you challenge them, which majorly sucks for DW, not having tough characters to take them on with. This seems a little weird to me, but we were running out of time so I didn't press the issue. I'll look it up at some point

All in all I rather like 6th edition. The game seems to flow quite nicely, seems to have got more balanced and is great fun to play too. I'm looking forward to seeing what else this edition brings. As i mentioned, I have agame against Orks next week. It should be fun, although I think I'm going to have to rewrite my list to include some Cyclones, or else have a serious think about my anti-horde capability. I'll post up my thoughts soon....

Thursday 2 August 2012

Space Wolf Huskaerls

I was going through my boxes of spare sprues today and found some Cadians and Space Wolf sprues lying around, so I decided to experiment. The result was a small group of Fenrisian Huskaerls to support my Space Wolves.



The Huskaerls are featured in Battle for the Fang and are essentially PDF regiments raised from Fenris to man the Fang and occasionally fight alongside the Vlka Fenryka off-world. I'm going to use them as an allied IG Veteran squad, led by a converted Commissar Lord, mounted in a Vendetta, giving me cheap scoring to dump on a quiet objective, leaving my Grey Hunters to do what they do best: crush the enemies of Russ!



I like how they've turned out, considering they were just just a simple head swap. They look like they could be troops from Fenris, while still managing to have a more uniform appearance than my Space Wolf packs (they are Imperial Guard after all). At some point I'm going to do a shop on a bitz website to get the parts for the rest of the squad. I might see if I can get hold of some cloaks to put on them too, but I'll see how the finished squad looks without them first.

What do you guys think of them?