Fresh Coast Gaming

Playing in a Kill Team Campaign

2018-09-24T10:56:00.002-04:00

We've recently started our Kill Team campaign at Gamers Sanctuary in Flint, MI (still time to join if you like!) and while the overall campaign is relatively simple, I think there are a few tools and rules that cane help make things a little easier to understand.

Creating Your Kill Team

The easiest way I've found to create my kill team is using Battlescribe. I've used Battlescribe forever on both my PC and phone. The volunteers lovingly wrote catalogs for each Kill Team faction so that you can create not only matched play kill teams, but also combat rosters.

First make sure you have the Warhammer 40,000 Kill Team data downloaded to your phone or PC. If it isn't showing in your data list, click Add Data and put it in there.

The first thing I did for our campaign was create my first matched play Kill Team of 100 points.

Go into Battlescribe, click New Roster, then select Warhammer 40,000 Kill Team in the Game System dropdown. Then give your team a name, and set the limit to 100 points. Then Add a Kill Team to your roster using the Add button and hit OK.

Now you'll see your force selections on the screen. The first thing to do here is select 'list configuration'. I chose to do Matched Play Kill Team first and just make the Kill Team I wanted to use for my first game. The roster can be done after.

Next we start adding in each fighter we want on our team. Choose one leader and three specialists.

Make sure to choose the options for each fighter. You can only have one of each specialty in a kill team.

Once you've built your list, you can click View Roster and see each fighter and what rules they have. You can name your fighters in the list organization if you have purchased a license (I believe it is $1.99 per year).

After you've saved your roster, go to this site and click through the prompts to get to the Kill Team output page. Click Choose File and find your roster file (mine is in my Dropbox folder). Then click 'Pres' and a PDF will be generated.

Now you have your command roster and data cards for your first game. Print and cut them out so you can get ready!

After you've created your first Kill Team, then I suggest going in and creating your first Command Roster for the campaign. The first one can have 12 models on it. Instead of choosing Matched Play Kill Team, choose Campaign Command Roster as your list configuration. This is really powerful and even lets you keep track of your resources. You could open that on your phone after a game and change your resource values.

The last bit that I wanted to share today is a link on how campaigns work. The campaign wording is oddly written, and I feel easily confusing. This link will give you a better idea how to progress after your first game.

Creating a Genestealer Cult Kill Team

2018-08-09T17:05:00.000-04:00

Warhammer 40,000: Kill Team has hit the wargaming world pretty hard this summer. Lots of blogs, videos, and podcasts have covered how cool it is and how easy it is to get into it. Games Workshop definitely has a hit on their hands.

I've been working on creating my own Genestealer Cult Kill Team from the models I have painted. The book has options for giving each specialist a 'demeanour', your whole team a background, mission, and quirk, and each fighter a name. I've built this team entirely using those rules - I balanced it with the hope it'll be pretty good, too. Welcome to the Cult.

The background for the Saviors is that they're a Shadowstalker Gene-kin cell who stalk the shadows, waiting for the best opportunity to ambush enemies. Their mission is a Sacred Task - Raid Supply Lines. They are preparing for the coming of the four armed emperor by stealing shipments and taking down convoys. Finally, they have a gene deviance - they have Twisted Physiologies. Aberrations in their xenos genes have caused them to have many different mutations, most of them horrific.

Pike Venner is the leader of The Saviors. He has a power maul and an auto pistol. If I'm honest, I picked him because he's smaller than an acolyte, I love what he looks like, and I imagine a neophyte (vs an acolyte) is a lot easier to 'blend in' to the local populace, so maybe he'd be the leader. He's easier to hide behind terrain. You definitely don't want your leader out in the front ready to get shot, because as long as they're alive, you get an extra command point at the start of the turn.

He is an enlightener, which means he prefers to take prisoners alive so they can later be turned into members of the cult. I imagine Pike commands his troops from the back, ensuring they don't every single enemy.

Zassk Lhaska is a Zealot, which means he gets +1 Attack and Strength when he charges. He opens up a lot of cool upgrades later on. Four attacks on the charge with Rending at Strength 5 is pretty great! He has Predatory Instincts - he hunts the enemy kill team from the shadows, smelling them out, finding lone fighters and ending their time in the fight.

This guy is obviously not yet finished but he is next on my list. Metamorphs in regular 40k are really really bad - way overpriced and just not nearly as good as regular Acolytes. In Kill Team I think they have a place, with an extra attack and S6 if they take a Metamorph Claw. Madrax is Unblinking - he never sleeps. He watches the kill team camp when they're in the field and makes sure they aren't surprised. His Combat specialty at level one grants him another attack - five total! Pretty crazy.

Michon Novek is my final specialist (you get three specialists and one leader) and the only Neophyte. He has a flamer and the Demolitions specialty, which means at level one he adds one to the wound rolls with his flamer against obscured enemies. At level two he can re-roll ones to wound! He'll hose down Space Marines pretty nicely. He is a proselytiser - I imagine him bathing enemies in promethium and extolling the virtues of the star gods.

Mallick Gorl is the kill team's absolute unit - he's an Aberrant, a mistake in the gene progress that happens once in a while and leads to an overly strong, overly tough cultist. I chose him to have a Power Pick but I may actually change that to Power Hammer. I like the Power Pick in Kill Team because it does not take the -1 to hit penalty that a Power Hammer does, and it still has S5 and -2 AP. With only two attacks, that -1 penalty can be really tough.

I may end up adding another Aberrant just because you need a fire team of more than one 'type' in order to keep advances you get as you go along and lose a team member. Two aberrants plus a cult icon running around the field would be pretty intimidating!

Sayben Varnway is an Acolyte Fighter who has a Heavy Rock Drill - not only does it look cool, but it does massive amounts of damage at a high AP and causes mortal wounds. This one will be pretty good to take down hard targets later in the game. Unfortunately he has been a huge target every game so far, so I chose to not make him a specialist (he would probably be a Combat Specialist) because I don't want to lose a specialist all the time.

Yohrick Carleon is another Acolyte Hybrid that I added for close combat potential as well as making the Acolyte fire team larger. I want to make sure the entire fire team doesn't die so I added this guy in with just some base equipment.

Skir Cavorla is one of the most revered members of the cult, being chosen to carry the Cult Icon. The Cult Icon is really important - any kill team member within 6" can re-roll 1's to hit in close combat. There is a GSC tactic that boosts that to 12" which is great! I want to focus this guy's ability on really valuable attacks like the drill or power pick attacks.

Groust is the heavy weapons guy out of the group - he carries a heavy stubber. I had tried to use the Seismic Cannon but I haven't really been able to make it work. I think I will likely add one in later, I just wanted to try out the heavy stubber now. I like how it has a huge range so it doesn't take a long range penalty until the enemy is over 18". He's also really cheap - only 6 points.

These two boys are the same. I've tried autoguns and I haven't really been able to make them work, so now I'm going to try shotguns. They are Assault 2 which means they can advance and shoot. When they get within 6" their guns are strength 4, which wounds Space Marines pretty well! These guys will likely stick together and back up the close combat experts, hoping to take out key enemy support and soften up enemy close combat.

I'll be back soon with some more thoughts on Genestealer Cult in Kill Team - thanks for reading!

Event Report: Age of Sigmar Random Team Tournament at Warhammer Store Ann Arbor

2018-07-13T10:19:00.001-04:00

Last weekend I played in an event at Warhammer - Ann Arbor and had a great time! We played an Age of Sigmar tournament that paired up random people each round to fight against another team.

This was one of the first events I've played in Age of Sigmar and definitely the first Age of Sigmar 2.0 event I've played. I played one actual game of 2.0 before this, but this was a pretty quick intro to the new rules!

The format called for each player to bring 1,000 points. You could choose your own realm for artefacts and one spell. I chose to be from Ghur and bring the Gryphon Feather, which gives one of my guys -1 to be hit from melee and ranged attacks and grants him 1" of movement.

I also brought along two endless spells - Chronomantic Cogs and Quicksilver Swords. I wanted the swords to do some sort of ranged damage and I was glad I brought them, because there were plenty of Chaos guys to kill with them. The Cogs were nice but also benefited my opponents a TON.

You can see my entire force here. I actually went pretty character heavy, bringing four heroes in 1,000 points. I wanted to do fully painted and didn't finish another squad of dudes in time. If I had to drop one, it might have been the weirdknob - he's just kinda weak. The Megaboss is nice for his Waaaghh!!!.

The list:

LEADERS
Orruk Warchanter (80)
Orruk Megaboss (140) - General - Command Trait : Ironclad - Artefact : Gryph-feather Charm
Orruk Weirdnob Shaman (120)
Fungoid Cave-Shaman (80) - Allies

UNITS
5 x Orruk Brutes (180) - 1 x Gore Choppas
5 x Orruk Brutes (180) - 1 x Gore Choppas
3 x Orruk Gore Gruntas (140)

ENDLESS SPELLS
Chronomantic Cogs (60)
Quicksilver Swords (20)

In my first game I played with a Freeguild army against Skaven and Nighthaunts. The Nighthaunt rules are pretty bonkers - lots of re-rolls and 4+ saves that aren't reduced by rend. Tons of mortal wound output.

This mission had us holding our own objective and trying to take theirs. The Freeguilders held our objectively easily while I moved forward to try to take theirs. I crashed against the Nighthaunts and all the re-rolls and mortal wounds just hammered me. I did end up destroying most of the line infantry, but not a lot of the heroes. In the end the shooting from my partner was the deciding factor as we won on kill points.

It was a fun game - my partner and one of my opponents were pretty chill.

In game two I was paired up with the Skaven person from round one against my previous Freeguild partner and a player with Khorne Bloodbound. It was an interesting match-up; my Skaven partner had a shooting list against the Freeguild shooting list. The Bloodbound were definitely intent on charging forward like I was.

The Khorne player killed a lot of my guys pretty quickly in Round One, but eventually we managed to kill plenty of his. He then summoned a Bloodthirster...

We lost this one on a Major Loss, I believe.

My final game was with Nighthaunts vs Nighthaunts and Chaos Warriors. It was a fun game, really chill and relaxed. The Nighthaunt guys pushed into each other and a slapfight started while the Chaos guy and I fought each other. I believe we tied on objectives and they won on kill points.

Lady Olynder was on both sides of this one and I have to say she's a destroyer. Lots of mortal wound output and a great model. Expect to see her all the time!

A couple other photos - that Nagash actually died to the grot army, which was hilarious.

I actually ended up around 8-10th place out of 12 players and managed to take home Best Painted Army! I was surprised and really happy because I've put in a ton of effort, so thanks to the people that voted for me.

I had a great time overall. 99% of the interactions I had were very laid back and fun, which was definitely better than average! People really seemed to be there to learn AoS2.0 and just have a good time.

It'd be great next time if we can play on 6x4 tables so we have more room even if it is just so two partners don't have to squeeze around one small side. The store was clean and well-lit, lots of stock, and Ian was very friendly and helped me out with some good stuff. I will be going back!

Fantasy Friday: Prepping for Age of Sigmar 2.0

2018-06-29T10:58:00.001-04:00

Age of Sigmar 2.0 is launching tomorrow (officially) and the excitement is palpable all over. I am trying hard to get a 2,000 point Ironjawz army painted so I can play with confidence and provide a good example for new players.

I took a photo last weekend of our game - please forgive the unpainted mess. I have a huge amount of Ardboyz to paint that you can see on the left side. I also have some Brutes to paint and then I should be good for 2,000 points!

Here you can see the two units I have to paint. Lots of models, but Ardboyz are pretty simple.

I bought this Tablewar case at AdeptiCon and I couldn't be happier with it. I put three magnets on each infantry model and they stick to the sheets really well. I have just enough room for all the Ardboyz in there so this fits my 2,000 points. I like it better than foam for GW models now because they're all getting huge and pointy and wispy.

I finally got my Mawkrusha painted and I'm really happy with him! I used Vallejo Jade Green for the monster itself and then washed him with GW green washes to show detail. It wasn't my favorite model to paint - I wish I hadn't put it together first. There were a lot of spots that were hard to get to.

I've wanted to paint my Fungoid Shaman since I first got him but man, he was tough. A lot of detail hidden behind other pieces. So much so that I had to take the model apart and paint it in pieces, unfortunately. I am not really very happy with the paint job, but I'm happy it's done.

I actually like my paint on this Weirdknob shaman much better than the Fungoid, but in my opinion his rules aren't nearly as great. I used him as my warband leader in Skirmish and he did alright. Looking forward to slinging some endless spells.

One of the first models I painted - my Megaboss. I love this model - and I hope he's better in the new edition. For 1,000 points he works really well as my general.

My gore gruntas are some of my favorite models. I love how huge they are. I wish they did better in close combat but... they're amazing models so I have to use them. I actually have six more to paint at some point, but they are absolutely awful to paint. Lots of hidden detail and the bodies are attached to the mounts.

My battleline troops, Brutes. I love these models and to be honest they're why I started buying Age of Sigmar stuff. I'm very happy with how they turned out and will have ten more painted this summer with two handed weapons.

Check out more of our Age of Sigmar 2.0 coverage coming soon!

The Walking Dead: All Out War Project Journal

2018-05-31T14:42:00.002-04:00

One of my goals this spring has been to paint my pretty huge collection of The Walking Dead miniatures. I've purchased everything for it, including all the MDF buildings (I think?). It is a ton of walkers and survivors, but for the most part they're easy to paint as they're mostly simple clothes, skin, and weapons.

I want to eventually finish everything, but first I'm focused on what I needed for a competitive game and then I'm focusing on finishing everything for the campaign scenarios that came with each expansion.

The first thing I did was actually send my vehicles, objectives, and barricades out for commission. Nanocraft Painting did a great job with these and was fast and affordable. My intention was to get these done at the same time I was painting survivors and walkers.

The army vehicles, police truck, hardware truck, RV, tractor and ambulance were not painted - they are 1/43 or 1/50 vehicles that work great for the game that I picked up along the way. I glued their wheels so they won't move, to the behest of my 5 year old.

The RV is actually a Breaking Bad RV in 1/43 scale that I found on eBay after watching some auctions for a bit. It is perfect scale and looks just like Dale's RV. I have the MDF one from Mantic but haven't painted it yet, so this one works well for now! In the future I can use both in a big game.

You can see here the highlighting and weathering NanoCraft did on the cars, looks great!

They also painted my barriers. I had picked up an extra equipment expansion so that I had a ton of extra ones. I like the variety and the wood hues. They came out well!

The last set they painted were my objective markers. These look perfect and fit in really well on my boards. The bag of guns in the bottom right is a special objective for some games.

Getting all the extraneous stuff painted quickly, affordably, so I didn't have to do it really helped me focus on the survivors and walkers. I did end up picking up some other scatter terrain though. This store on eBay has a ton of scatter terrain that is painted at a really good value.

You can see here the mattresses, barrels, office equipment, and couches from that seller. They look great and really add some life to a board that might just be cars, objectives, and models.

I picked up some 1/48 scale dollhouse furniture kits to use inside each house. This is a little overwhelming - I have to figure out how I'm going to use them. Do I base them, or do I just glue them down? I don't want them just sitting in the piece because they'll fall over and roll around. Either way, they look great and will be perfect.

Along witht he furniture I picked up some stick on 1/48 scale dollhouse wallpaper and flooring. It looks really great and definitely takes these MDF kits from plain to living. It is not the most fun having to cut them out and make sure they all fit - I probably should have done it before I glued the kid together - but then it would have been hard to spray them.

The last piece I have today is this massive Greene family barn. It is HUGE. I sprayed it red then oversprayed some weathering. I painted the floor and wood brown, the roof gray, and detailed the doors. Finally I flocked the outside part where the base is. For a few hours work I think it came out really effective and can't wait to give it a try on the board.

I finished quite a few walkers, as well. I really only need 17 for a standard game, but this will help when I want to play a larger game. I do still plan on finishing the rest of my walkers for some variety - but I can put that off for now as I have plenty. I did end up going with clear bases as TWD can take place in buildings, a prison, a farm, forest, etc. The only problem I had was the walker feet are rather small so they pop off sometimes as the contact is not great.

I have two crews finished so far. The Woodbury crew at the top has Brian Blake (who would become the governor), Lilly Caul, Raymond, Wes, Bob, and Gloria. I chose these people mostly because they show up in the Walking Dead novels by Jay Bonansinga (which I heartily recommend). Lilly is a great character and I had to paint her first.

I also chose to paint the Greene family as the 'good guys'. Hershel leads his clan with Otis, his teenage daughters, Arnold, Maggie, Billy, and Lacey. The Woodbury crew definitely has more seasoned killers in it, but these folks can hold their own, especially when they're defending their farm!

These models aren't too hard to paint and I'm not going for an 'eavy metal paint job. I basecoat and use an Army Painter wash to fill in the shadows and highlights. Overall I think they look great and they're ready to battle on the tabletop.

Check back periodically to see my progress - thanks for reading!

Warhammer 40,000: Genestealer Cults Index Review: New Unit Ideas

2018-04-24T15:56:00.000-04:00

I successfully attended AdeptiCon in late March and had a ton of fun. I played in the Miniwargaming.com Narrative Campaign day with my fully painted Genestealer Cult army and got a ton of great feedback, including folks stopping to say how cool they looked. It felt really good!

Now I'm at the end of the Index Review. After taking a look at all the units, I wanted to propose new units for the Codex. While I realize the chances of this happening are slim, I always daydream and I wanted to get them down on 'paper' so to speak. I'm not going to dedicate a lot of time to writing out stats, mostly focusing on themes and strategy.

Mechanics

There are a few units in the game (like techmarines) that can repair vehicles. I'd like to see GSC have access to an entire unit of mechanics that are there to not only fix vehicles, but pilot them as well. When they are driving or on board a vehicle, it would not only possibly recover wounds, but it might be able to negate them as well (perhaps a 5+ FNP roll for Goliath vehicles instead of 6+). They could make the shooting of the vehicle a little more consistent as well, perhaps making heavy weapons ignore movement. On foot they'd probably not have powerful weapons - they could have something like a power maul (wrench) and perhaps wear 4+ heavier armor.

This would make our vehicles more durable (I have found GSC just crumple) and more consistent in the shooting phase (if you move, most GSC vehicles are just useless in the shooting phase).

Bikes

Most factions have some sort of bike troop and it'd be great if GSC could have some as well. Perhaps buggies instead? Maybe a unit of three of them, they carry similar weapons to a Rockgrinder but are not as tough and faster. Perhaps they could drill up from the ground? Maybe they provide some sort of bonus to cult ambush - making it more reliable - through radio work.

The only real need they'd fill would be making cult ambush not such a crap shoot, but they'd be sweet kits, I'm sure.

Suicide bombers

This could be a unit of GSC that get very close to the enemy and detonate mining explosives, causing mortal wounds. There aren't a ton of ways for GSC to cause mortal wounds so this could fill that niche. My idea would be a kit of five of them, and you pay for them before the game starts - say 20 points each. Then you secretly assign them to neophyte or acolyte squads and during the game they pop out and attack.

Mining suit heavy infantry

This could fill two roles - adding another heavy support choice, and putting a more durable unit into the list. Perhaps dual-role kit with the mechanics. I'd really like to see at least a 3+ armor save on these guys - think a really heavy kit like Sigourney had in Alien. They'd be slow, maybe 4" speed, and wouldn't have Cult Ambush. You could load three of them onto a Goliath Truck, kinda hanging off the side. They'd have flamers and some sort of power fists.

A durability rule, like perhaps they could only ever take one 'damage' from each wound, would be cool. Anything to provide some more durability and a heavy support choice. Care would have to be taken to keep them from overriding Aberrants (which would need an effectiveness bump anyway). I would think these guys would be about twice the points cost, so Aberrants could keep their utility.

Hideout markers

Legions of Nagash in Age of Sigmar have a really cool rule with gravesites that allow you to reinforce your troops. You put out two points in your own territory and two in your opponent's. At the start of your turn you can choose a SUMMONABLE (in this case, it would be a Troops unit) within 9" of the point and heal D3 wounds or bring back D3 wounds of models.

This would be amazing for GSC! I don't think it would be super overpowered, but it would really help with our durability issue, and it really reflects the lore of the GSC - popping up out of the shadows at any opportunity without number.

Purestrain Genestealer Buffs

Not necessarily making Genestealers better, they're already pretty good. What I'd do is make them inspire units within 9" of them. Any Genestealer Cult infantry would add +X to their Leadership. What X is, I don't know - my first guess would be +2 but I'm not sure. The point would be to help the units not get blown off the board from morale while also showing how the purestrains affect the regular cult members with inspiration and adoration.

It's a holy war to them, not just a method of fighting

One of the themes that really comes out of the Black Library novels is that the GSC leaders and fighters on the ground really consider their uprising a Holy War, not just a battle. I am not exactly sure how you would represent this in game, besides affecting their morale. GSC units already have higher than average leadership scores, but could they go higher?

Could infantry have a FNP type of thing? I don't know, there already is a lot of it and it makes the game take longer. This again really goes back to the durability aspect of the GSC. They are a glass cannon, but they're expensive, and often times their cannon doesn't hit hard enough. They need to be more durable.

Something to negate overwatch besides just a spell

While Mass Hypnosis is pretty great, I wish my crazed-cultists-who-have-been-laying-in-wait-for-weeks-waiting-for-exactly-the-right-moment-to-strike didn't get absolutely flamed to death by any unit with flamers. Perhaps a stratagem to make it so when a unit charges they don't take overwatch fire? Maybe take a page out of the Idoneth Deepkin and have each turn of the game have specific 'phases' of the uprising - or even just one 'uprising' turn. In that turn, GSC infantry can't take overwatch fire. I dunno, something would be great and again, help us with our durability problem.

That's it for my Genestealer Cult Index Review. I'm going to index my review at the top of the page for later and I'm sure I'll put more content on this blog about GSC - including a large review when the actual codex comes out. Thanks for reading!

Warhammer 40,000: Genestealer Cult Index Review - Army Listing

2018-04-02T11:56:00.002-04:00

I had a great time at AdeptiCon, buying lots of stuff and playing tons of great games. My Friday was spent playing in MiniWargaming's Oscinia narrative campaign day. I brought a 2,000 point Genestealer Cult list and managed to go 1-2, winning one game pretty big, losing one game decisively and losing one game pretty badly.

I think the two losses were bad matchups, however with some better charge rolls I could have done better in the closer loss. Custodes are just impossible because they have tons of re-rolls, armor saves, and high volume shooting attacks. I think perhaps with a new codex if all we get are lowered point values I'll do better, but we'll need better rules as well to win more.

My list includes a decent amount of variety with some armor, lots of bodies, and some Forge World stuff. I've played quite a bit with this current list and I feel pretty comfortable using it. That isn't to say that I'm winning a lot, just that I know how to use the mechanics and rules etc.

2000 MWG [99 PL, 1978pts]
Battalion Detachment +3CP (Tyranids - Genestealer Cults) [73 PL, 1469pts]

HQ
Primus [4 PL, 76pts] Bonesword
Magus [5 PL, 97pts] 2x Familiar, Power: Might From Beyond
Magus [5 PL, 97pts] 2x Familiar, Power: Mass Hypnosis

I've been using this for a bit and I love the two magi - they're great models and they're very evocative of the theme of GSC. The Primus is incredibly useful now after Chapter Approved 2017; you can spend one command point to roll three(!) dice on the ambush table and choose which one you'd like. He can also then reroll those dice if they're not good enough.

I may consider dropping one magus and putting in another Primus (my Sly Marbo primus) just because those ambush rules are so good. The Primus is very good in close combat. Magi are pretty great with their force staves too. Mass Hypnosis is hopefully cast on a unit that I'm charging after a cult ambush to save a ton of overwatch fire coming my way.

Troops
Acolyte Hybrids [10 PL, 189pts] Cult Icon
5x Acolyte Hybrid
Acolyte Hybrid (Heavy Weapon) Autopistol, Heavy Rock Saw x3
Acolyte Hybrid (Heavy Weapon) Autopistol, Demolition Charges
Acolyte Leader Lash Whip and Bonesword

Acolyte Hybrids [10 PL, 217pts] Cult Icon
5x Acolyte Hybrid
Acolyte Hybrid (Heavy Weapon) Autopistol, Heavy Rock Drill x2
Acolyte Hybrid (Heavy Weapon) Autopistol, Demolition Charges x2
Acolyte Leader Lash Whip and Bonesword

Acolyte Hybrids [10 PL, 216pts] Cult Icon
5x Acolyte Hybrid
Acolyte Hybrid (Heavy Weapon) Autopistol, Heavy Rock Cutter x3
Acolyte Hybrid (Heavy Weapon) Autopistol, Demolition Charges
Acolyte Leader Lash Whip and Bonesword

These are the units that are doing a lot of the work. Rending claws help wreck infantry and the heavy mining gear takes down vehicles and monsters. Hopefully I can get off a Might From Beyond on one of these units to add attacks and strength when I really need to take something down. The demo charges are included just in case I have a time when I need a shooting attack.

Overall I was very happy with how these units did in the campaign games. They can fight infantry or vehicles and do well. I wish they were a little tougher against shooting - often times if they miss a charge or totally destroy their enemy they just get swept off the board by small arms.

Neophyte Hybrids [5 PL,73pts]
7x Neophyte Hybrid
Neophyte Hybrid (Special Weapon) Webber x2
Neophyte Leader Power Pick, Web Pistol

Neophyte Hybrids [5 PL, 69pts]
8x Neophyte Hybrid
Neophyte Hybrid (Special Weapon) Grenade Launcher x2
Neophyte Leader Autopistol, Power Maul

These guys are basically guardsmen with autoguns and some special weapons. They really don't do much, to be honest. They sit on objectives and sometimes pop out and back in with cult ambush later in the game to jump on an objective (if they're alive). They die to a stiff breeze so really they're here to fill out the detachment and hold objectives. If they shoot anything successfully it is a bonus.

Elites
Aberrants [7 PL, 186pts]
Aberrant Power Hammer x5

These guys ride in the Rockgrinder and jump out and hammer stuff. In the three games I played they probably made their points back. I would use them again, but I really hope they get some sort of durability change in the new codex. Being T4 and 5+ armor, they again just die to a swift breeze.

Fast Attack
Cult Armoured Sentinels [3 PL, 60pts] Lascannon
Cult Armoured Sentinels [3 PL, 60pts] Lascannon

I was pleasantly surprised by these units and I was much happier taking them than the scout heavy flamer version I've been using before. I plop these down on the flanks and help push off deep strikes as well as take potshots and see what I can do D6 damage to. I would definitely take these again.

Heavy Support
Goliath Rockgrinder [6 PL, 136pts] Cache of Demolition Charges, Clearance Incinerator, Heavy Stubber

I had been using this unit with a Heavy Seismic Cannon forever (it was better in 7th edition) but recently changed to the Clearance Incinerator and I couldn't be happier. It actually hits things and does damage. It is a perfect 'soften up' tool for when the Rockgrinder is going to charge in.

Spearhead Detachment +1CP (Imperium - Astra Militarum) [26 PL, 522pts]

HQ
Tank Commander [12 PL, 234pts] Display Tank Orders, Grand Strategist, Heavy Flamer, Plasma Cannons, Warlord
Command Executioner - Turret-mounted Executioner Plasma Cannon

I've been using this as my Warlord for a while. The ability to take a relic and a warlord trait that aren't garbage (the GSC ones are B L E H) is cool, and they're a really good Astra Militarum trait and relic. I've chosen to use this Plasma tank and it does really good damage and is reliable. Leman Russ tanks are in a really good place right now - very tough, lots of shots, and hits reliably if you have a command tank.

In the future, I'm going to try a battle cannon tank (specifically, a model from Victoria Miniatures that is amazing). I hope that in the future when we get our codex our relics and warlord traits are worth taking.

Fast Attack
Hellhound [6 PL, 123 pts] Heavy Flamer, Turret-mounted Inferno Cannon, Track Guards

I am very happy with this tank, even if I was using it totally incorrectly for the last few months. I have been using it as a D6 Inferno Cannon tank when in the new codex it got upgraded to 2D6 hits. It is a fast tank, it doesn't take movement detriments as it takes damage due to track guards so it just runs straight at the enemy and flames everything (with no damage output detriments from damage).

Heavy Support
Cyclops Demolition Vehicle [3 PL, 60pts]

Cyclops Demolition Vehicle [3 PL, 60pts]

Sentinel Powerlifters [2 PL, 45pts]

The Forge World selections I have made are amazing. The two demo vehicles drive 10" each turn and in the shooting phase, explode, doing 2D6 S9 AP -2 hits to everything (even my stuff) within D6" inches. They managed to kill quite a few models in my first and third matches. I usually try to hide them behind my tanks so they can advance with everything else.

The Sentinel Powerlifter is great because it gets a scout move, so you can basically have it right up in your opponent's grill in turn one, hitting with three attacks at S10. Even if it is just holding up a Land Raider it is doing its job!

I have one more article in the hopper where I discuss unit additions I'd love to see for the Cult. Check back later and thanks for reading!

The Road to AdeptiCon 2018 - Light at the End of the Tunnel

2018-03-19T15:57:00.001-04:00

It's been a fast few months. The holidays really hammered my hobby progress for AdeptiCon, and I had a major event change in February, so I've really been cramming in a lot the last few weeks. I have had my Shadespire guys finished for a while. I'm also bringing my Skorne for Company of Iron, but those have been finished for years.

I ended up with ~60 infantry models, five walkers, and four vehicles painted. Some of them aren't shown here but will be used another day. My cult is called The Saviors.

Here you can see the army as a whole. I've also painted a statue piece - the cultists have taken down a set of primaris marine statues and they're erecting a purestrain genestealer statue. You can also so the mine entrance from which the cultists have exited.

I painted thirty acolytes with three of each type of special heavy weapon. Each squad has a cult icon and a leader with a lash whip and bone sword. I ended up giving some squads purple icons just to give it a bit of a different look. I also painted six aberrants - sweet models that are unfortunately only available in the Deathwatch Overkill box set.

I finished two scout sentinels with heavy flamers, two armored sentinels with lascannons, and one sentinel powerlifter. I actually was planning to go to AdeptiCon with the scout heavy flamers, but they just haven't been doing what I wanted. So instead I painted the lascannon sentinels in the last few weeks and they're going to work great!

I finished two Leman Russ tanks and chose to bring my plasma executioner tank as a command tank. I really like the Hellhound model and it has worked well. My Rockgrinder is actually going to be using a clearance incinerator instead of the seismic cannon. I just haven't had much luck with that.

Here you can see my neophytes, which are basically guardsmen. They're armed with shotguns and autoguns, one squad has webbers and one has grenade launchers. They're really there for holding objectives.

Here are the leaders of the cult and the purestrain statue being erected. I have two magi (one GW model and one hybrid model from another manufacturer) and a primus. The statues are primaris marines that have been knocked over and a purestrain genestealer (54mm Inquisitor model). The two civilians, one an artist and one a laborer, are from Reaper with GSC heads.

I'll follow with some action shots. Here you can see Pontiff Novius taking down Typhus. She also killed a cadre fireblade in the next game.

The vehicles stand out against most tabletops because they're so bright. I really like how the red dust turned out on the sides of the vehicles as well.

The infantry also pops really well with the turquoise color. Overall I'm very happy with how everything has turned out and I can't wait to get some games in. AdeptiCon has once again served as a great way to finish an army!

Warhammer 40,000: Genestealer Cult Index Review - Heavy Support Choices

2018-03-14T13:31:00.001-04:00

You can see my first article in this series here. I covered HQ selections, overall traits for the Genestealer Cult, relics, psychic powers, etc. The second in the series is about troops and dedicated transports and can be found here. The third in the series is about elites and can be found here. The fourth article in the series is about heavy support choices and can be found here.

I've added two Forge World Astra Militarum units to this review because I think they're a little less known and they really add to the lists I've been using.

Cult Leman Russ

As Genestealer Cults take over planets, they take vehicles and tanks and make them their own. Once the uprising happens, they slap on Genestealer Cult icons and roll out. Leman Russ tanks are available, but only the standard battle tank, not the demolisher variant. That means you don't get a punisher cannon (lots of bullets) demolisher cannon (howitzer) or executioner (big plasma cannon).

You do have a battle cannon, eradicator nova cannon, exterminator autocannon and vanquisher battle cannon. From what I can tell, the math supports taking the regular battle cannon pretty much every time. I modeled my first painted LR with a vanquisher tank, and unfortunately it got changed to strength 8 instead of 9 and due to lack of shots it gets outperformed vs vehicles by every other LR weapon.

Overall, Leman Russ tanks are very solid for their points - Toughness 8, 12 wounds, 3+ save. Sponsons and hull mounts make them huge weapon batteries and the ability to shoot a turret gun twice without a movement penalty is massive.

Honestly I don't plan on using my Leman Russ tanks in a Cult detachment unless they get something different and great in the codex when it is released. Currently I use a Tank Commander from an Astra Militarum spearhead detachment because he hits better (3+). I sometimes bring a second Leman Russ for him to command.

On my second painted Leman Russ I actually put a heavy flamer on the front hull mount to try to discourage units from charging it to tie it up. The Vanquisher tank is all in on vehicle destruction with a lascannon hull mount and two multi melta sponsons.

Goliath Rockgrinder

The Genestealer Cult has access to some really cool-looking mining vehicles. The Rockgrinder, while still a light vehicle, is more of the tanky version. It has a drilldozer blade - a sweet name for a melee attack - and is Strength 8, 6+D3 attacks when it charges, hits on a 5+, and D3 damage at -2AP. It is nice to charge in before your infantry unit to soak overwatch and then actually do some damage. Add a Primus nearby and it hits on 4+.

At toughness 7 with a 4+ save and a 6+ wound ignore mechanic it is somewhat tough. A move of 10" is rather slow for light vehicles, and once it has taken half damage it goes down to 6". I hope they bump it up to 12" for the new codex.

It can carry six Genestealer Cult Infantry models, fewer than the Goliath Truck or a chimera but I consider this a huge value. I usually put aberrants in there, but you could put six acolytes with two heavy weapons in and pop them out to destroy softened up targets. Sometimes I reserve a spot for the Primus so that I get that +1 to hit with the models jumping out, as well as the rockgrinder.

It can take one heavy weapon - a heavy mining laser, heavy seismic cannon, or clearance incinerator. The laser is a one-shot weapon that is basically a short range lascannon. The seismic cannon has more shots - at close range it has two shots at Strength 8. It has a 'rending' type of special rule where you get AP-4 on wound rolls of 6+. It also has a heavy flamer with 12" range which is cool.

The seismic cannon and mining laser sound really nice at first - S9 and S8 when they roll to wound - but man is it tough when you actually use them. That +1 to hit for heavy weapons when moving means you're rolling one die looking for a 5+, or four or two dice looking for a 5+. I almost never hit with the seismic cannon.

I'm planning to try out the clearance incinerator and see how that does. The AP and damage of the laser and seismic cannon are what drew me to them, but since they almost never do anything, the incinerator should do better, especially since the vehicle wants to be up close and assaulting anyway.

It can also take a cache of demolition charges, which would be really nice when paired with an incinerator to use on heavy infantry. Get up close at 6" range, throw down D6 S8 AP-3 D3 damage shots, then D6 S5 AP-1 shots, then a heavy stubber as well, then assault.

Overall, this vehicle is really themey and fits well in a GSC list. It is tough and the transport capacity is great. At this point I think the best loadout is probably a clearance incinerator with demolition charges, transporting an assault unit upfield.

Cyclops Demolition Vehicles

The first of the Forge World entries, this is a tiny tank that looks like a 1/4 scale Leman Russ without the turret. It is basically a 40k reproduction of the Goliath demolition vehicle from WW2. You drive it at the enemy and blow it up when it gets close, hoping it doesn't blow up in your own lines beforehand.

They have solid stats - 10" move, toughness 6, 4 wounds, 3+ armor. During a shooting phase, if they didn't advance, they can voluntarily blow up. Every unit, friendly or enemy, within D6" is hit with 2D6 S9 AP -2 D3 damage hits.

This is pretty bonkers, especially against vehicles and heavy infantry. On average, you're going to do 8 wounds to most battle tanks and kill three terminator equivalents. If you can get it near a character, so much the better, since it just auto-hits and doesn't have to target the closest.

For 60 points, I believe these are a steal. They're also incredibly easy to hide behind tanks and transports because they're tiny. Even if they're just soaking up anti-tank fire because your opponent is afraid they're doing their job. They explode on a 3+ and do D3 mortal wounds to units nearby, which isn't crazy but you definitely want to move them away if they have one wound left - perhaps advance them to get them really close to an enemy unit.

Sentinel Powerlifter

Normally used for moving heavy equipment, the Powerlifter is a godsend for cults. The other sentinels we have access to are wet noodles in close combat. This one is a beast!

For 45 points you get a scout sentinel that has no gun but has 3 attacks (normal version has 1), hits on a 4+ at strength 10, AP-2, and D3 damage. Did I mention it has a scout move? If you're going first, deploy 12" on, scout move 9", move 9", then charge 2D6. Hit a light vehicle, transport, or even just cause a heavy hitter to have to retreat next turn and maybe do some damage in the process. It is 45 points.

The kit isn't available from Forge World anymore, so I used an armored sentinel kit and added a heavy claw from the recent Shadow War tractor kit. I think it looks pretty cool. Obviously not realistic, but its 40k!

I've now gone through every slot available to the Cult - keep an eye out for what army list I'm using lately and then some of my suggestions / wishlist for the codex. Thanks for reading!

Warhammer 40,000: Genestealer Cult Index Review - Fast Attack Choices

2018-03-06T16:06:00.000-05:00

You can see my first article in this series here. I covered HQ selections, overall traits for the Genestealer Cult, relics, psychic powers, etc. The second in the series is about troops and dedicated transports and can be found here. The third in the series is about elites and can be found here.

The fast attack slot for Genestealer Cult is pretty thin, so this should be a quick read. It is thin but fierce!

Cult Scout Sentinels

Small, bipedal walker vehicles with an open top, scout sentinels are fast and cheap. They come stock with a multi-laser, but for 9 more points you can put a heavy flamer on it. 54 points for a T5 4+ armor save vehicle that can scout 9" before the game starts then move 9" and flame something 8" away.

It sounds really cool but I have had bad luck with it. The randomness between rolling a 1 or a 6 for the number of hits, the heavy flamer only having a -1 AP, and the 4+ save means you might get too close and get into combat after rolling poorly on your heavy flamer.

The heavy flamer does not take a hit penalty when the sentinel moves, so that is pretty nice - the other options like autocannon, lascannon, missile launcher, and multi-laser are only hitting on 5s when it moves. For that reason, and the lack of toughness of the platform, I likely still would take a heavy flamer almost every time on this model and use it to spread out my net of 'no deep strike'. With two of them you can push back your flanks or force an enemy to one flank. Consider adding a sentinel chainsaw with extra points leftover to give it a little more oomf in close combat.

The Astra Militarum version is a little cheaper on some options right now. Autocannons and hunter killer missiles are 3 points cheaper. For 53 points you can put out a decent amount of firepower each turn. Heavy flamers are 2 points cheaper which is basically negligible unless you need to fill out an AM detachment.

If you're using these models in an AM detachment, consider this stratagem for late game objective grabbing (if they're still alive).

Use this Stratagem at the start of your Shooting phase. Select a unit of Scout Sentinels from your army. This unit can immediately move 2D6" but cannot shoot or charge this turn.

Cult Armored Sentinel

I have used scout sentinels quite often already and have been disappointed mostly in the D6 flamer roll. I am going to try out armored sentinels - specifically with lascannons.

The armored sentinel gets +1 armor save and +1 toughness vs his little brother which really go a long way to helping it survive and remain a thorn in the side of your enemy. While T6 won't stop your enemy wounding it on 3 with most anti-tank weapons, light anti-tank weapons at S6 won't be wounding on 3s. Lots of the -3 AP stuff out there will still leave armored sentinels with a 6+ save, 5+ if they're in cover.

It is just a bit slower than the scout sentinel and doesn't get the scout move, but for five more points than a scout sentinel you get that tougher platform. I am thinking about taking two of these and putting them on flanks to engage and harass enemies. Lascannons will make them really annoying when they do hit, hopefully wounding with a high roll on that D6 damage.

With these I would consider moving once to get in position, popping smoke, then sitting still and shooting as much as I can. Even consider throwing a 6 point HK missile (in an AM detachment) to get a turn of 4+ and hope to spike the D6 damage roll.

120 points for two lascannon shots, 12 wounds that don't degrade, T6 and a 3+ armor save is pretty good. Plus the models look really sweet - maybe my favorite GW vehicles!

Overall I think you're going to use either scout or armored sentinels as ways to push back deep strikes, provide some weak threats to your enemy, and grab objectives if they're still alive.

Warhammer 40,000: Genestealer Cult Index Review - Elite Choices

2018-03-01T11:59:00.004-05:00

You can see my first article in this series here. I covered HQ selections, overall traits for the Genestealer Cult, relics, psychic powers, etc. The second in the series is about troops and dedicated transports and can be found here.

The Elites slot for any army is really where you want some good mobile or heavy infantry that is going to take the fight to the enemy. The GSC elite choices shine in some ways and really fall down in others.

Hybrid Metamorphs

The first selection in the book is one of the most-maligned. For 18 points (13 + 5 for a metamorph talon) you get a pretty normal elite statline with 3 attacks and a 5+ save with toughness 3.

They are not really very much different from acolytes, even coming from the same kit. They come with an additional attack (the acolytes have 2 + 1 from a cultist knife) that they can use their rending claws for, so that's pretty nice. They can have some specialist weapons in the talon, whip, and claw.

The talon is almost useless - it gives you +1 to hit, but you can definitely have a primus nearby and a cult icon to give you a similar benefit. The whip makes it so they can fight even if they die before they get the chance. That's nice, but I hate equipping my guys for death. It does mean they don't actually have to use the whip, they can still use their rending claws.

The Metamorph claw gives you +2S, which you can combine with Might From Beyond and the Iconward banner to have S8, which is cool. It has no AP, though =/ It would be great if this had an AP or the 'rending' effect, especially when you're paying 19 points for a model equipped with it.

Metamorphs do have an autopistol and can take a hand flamer, but again they're extremely costly for what they do.

Overall, these guys are very overpriced, points-wise, for what they do. I'd rather not see a points decrease, I'd rather see an effectiveness increase, mostly because I don't want to buy and paint even more models.

What would I do? These dudes have the survivability of a guardsman. I'd make them toughness 4 and give them a 4+ armor save at least. I know GW takes a lot of it very 'literally' in terms of what the models have on them physically. They are wearing robes and not heavy armor or anything - but perhaps they could change the story of these dudes to say they have a harder exoskeleton?

Perhaps make their cult ambush roll +1 or +2 since they're the cult's elite fighters. Change whips to make it so enemies can't fall back. Maybe make them a brotherhood of psykers. There are a ton of options to make these dudes usable and I hope GW really gets creative.

Aberrants

One of the coolest models they released with a really cool background, aberrants are a neat option for list-building in that they give you a heavy hitting 'power hammer' type unit. At either 27 or 33 points they're not cheap, but they are toughness 4 with two wounds and they knock down all damage against them by one (to a minimum of one).

They hit on 3+, which is pretty standard for elite infantry. They don't have a gun, but they do have strength 5 to make their melee better. Along with that they only have two attacks.

Their two options for melee weapons are a power pick and a power hammer. The pick has them hitting at S5 AP -2, D3 damage, which is alright for killing infantry. The hammer seems like the real reason you'll take these guys - strength x2 at AP -3, damage 3 - you're going to use these to bash down vehicles. Unfortunately these are -1 to hit like a thunder hammer or power fist. You can offset that by having a primus near them.

They do have some interesting synergies - Might From Beyond makes them have 3 attacks at S12 with power hammers. Getting to S14 is a magic number, as then you're wounding T7 tanks on 2+ - so if you have the Iconward nearby with the relic banner they're S14. It requires a few different things to just get that 2+, but it's pretty nice. You're still not going to wound T8 tanks on 2+.

The thing I've found with these guys is that they are just not survivable. I can unload them out of a truck and charge a land raider, do a decent amount of damage, but the next turn the land raider retreats and these dudes just melt to bolter fire. If I fail the charge then they melt. I wish they were maybe T5, or had a 3+ armor save, or had a 4+ FNP, or something. Maybe make them have 3 wounds and be really unique - it reflects their devotion to the patriarch.

They also have a low number of attacks and with the -1 for power hammers you're just not going to do enough. I suppose you could lower the points on them overall and make up for that with bodies, but again you're purchasing and painting more stuff.

I've been using a group of four of them in a rockgrinder and I think I'll up that to the full six that can fit in there and see how it goes.

Purestrain Genestealers

Purestrain genestealers are a little different from regular Tyranid genestealers. They come in groups of five and have the same statline. If you bring over 10 dudes you get 4 attacks instead of 3, which is pretty great. I am not sure yet how to balance bringing a ton of dudes vs morale losses - that is to say, if I bring 20 guys, am I just wasting some of them on rolling a bad morale check vs just having them destroyed by bolter fire?

The main difference between these genestealers and Tyranid genestealers is that these guys can cult ambush. They also receive +1 to hit and don't take morale checks with a patriarch, so I consider him auto-include.

20 purestrains plus a patriarch comes in at 450 points, which is a ton, but if you can get them all into combat with a good cult ambush roll + 8" move you'll get 80 attacks, hitting on 2+ and rending AP -4 on a 6 to wound. Take the purestrain talons for free to use against stuff with an invulnerable save like Harlequins etc. With 20 guys you're gonna make it out of combat and weather shooting better, especially with a patriarch nearby to ignore morale. Add on something nice like Might From Beyond for +1A and +1S and these dudes are really mulching all infantry they touch.

Not much else has to be said about Purestrains - they're great and I bring them about 50% of the time. People have done the mathhammer and say acolytes are better, but I just have a gut feeling regarding the 5+ invulnerable save that purestrains have. They're 15 points vs 11 points for an acolyte, so perhaps just more bodies for acolytes is better. Purestrains definitely have a 'shock' factor for opponents, so perhaps one unit of purestrains and a patriarch to take down harder targets as cover for your acolytes.

Stay tuned for my next article - all about Fast Attack and the mighty sentinels!

Warhammer 40,000: Genestealer Cult Index Review - Troops and Dedicated Transports

2018-02-16T15:27:00.001-05:00

You can see my first article in this series here. I covered HQ selections, overall traits for the Genestealer Cult, relics, psychic powers, etc.

In 8th Edition troops have become fairly important not only for holding objectives, but for filling out detachments. The Cult has access to only two troop selections: neophytes and acolytes, and two dedicated transports: the chimera and goliath truck.

Neophyte Hybrids

Neophyte hybrids are the basic infantry of a genestealer cult. They're very similar to guardsmen, in that they have the same stats except for they have a bonus leadership to represent their cultish fanaticism. They can take up to 20 models, although I imagine most people will stick to ten or fewer due to transport limitations and morale with diminishing returns.

They can take autoguns, lasguns, and even shotguns. Shotguns are +1 strength at half range. Two neophytes can have special weapons - flamers, grenade launchers, or webbers. Webbers don't seem to really do anything in 8th Edition, so I recommend grenade launchers, mostly because it is just a lot of extra shots on the D6, and you don't really want these dudes within flamer range.

I've seen people say you could have all ten use shotguns and pop out of a truck and shoot their Assault 2 strength 4 guns - it sounds like a neat idea. I have made ten guys just to try it. I don't know if it would do a ton, especially with no AP.

Two neophytes can take heavy weapons - a heavy stubber, mining laser, or seismic cannon, or two neophytes can make a team and haul an autocannon, heavy bolter, lascannon, mortar, or missile launcher. Lately I haven't used these heavy weapons so much just because they take a 5 point model and make them 30 points while they're still only BS 4+ and die to a swift breeze. It would be interesting to have a bunch of neophytes on the board holding objectives with mortars and grenade launchers just to throw as many dice as possible. Mortars are so cheap.

Neophytes have Cult Ambush and Unquestioning Loyalty. I don't often Cult Ambush them simply because I need something on the board to start the game and they can do that. They also hold objectives and shoot at 24" range. they are good targets for Unquestioning Loyalty - often having a magus near them lets him pawn off wounds on them.

They can have a Cult Icon but I don't know if I'd ever use it. They only have one attack each and no AP on their melee weapons. It would take a lot for them to become melee monsters that would benefit from an Icon. They do come with an autopistol as well as whatever gun you give them, so they can shoot in the shooting phase while engaged in melee - don't forget!

The Neophyte Leader is important because he has Leadership 8. He can take a chainsword, power maul or power pick. I usually give him a power maul just because it looks cool. He has killed marines and things in the past while the rest of his neophytes die, so its not a terrible idea.

Overall, I think neophytes, especially at 5 points per model, are just fine. I don't see them going down to the cost of a guardsman because they have that extra point of leadership. Obvious special rules like cult ambush and orders come into play but I think they're fine at 5 points. Right now I've been taking one squad of them but I could see taking two to try to fill out a brigade detachment.

They're squishy but mostly I attempt to get them in cover or out of LOS and just hold objectives. They can even return to the shadows late game and cult ambush onto an objective. They can actually shoot out of a goliath truck, so perhaps even having them with a mortar inside lobbing rounds out could be a good idea.

Acolyte Hybrids

As a troop squad, acolyte hyrbids are great at doing heavy lifting, even while being numerous and squishy. In the 'fluff' they are constantly mentioned as being everywhere - you are clearly supposed to bring a ton of them. The models, like the rest of the range, are amazing.

They have a better statline than neophytes, gaining one better WS at 3+, one better Strength at 4, and one better attack. They still have a 5+ save. They can go up to a squad size of 20 just like neophytes. They come stock with an autopistol, cultist knife, rending claw, and blasting charges (frag grenade).

Again, they have Cult Ambush and Unquestioning Loyalty. Cult Ambush will absolutely be used for these guys. You want them popping out of ambush, destroying armor with their anti-tank weapons, then hopefully engaging another target nearby or getting into cover.

The equipment they have access to really makes them special. For every five guys you can take two heavy weapons: a heavy rock cutter, heavy rock drill, heavy rock saw, or demolition charges. The saw is cheapest and hits like a power fist with a -1 to hit; pile on a Primus nearby, add a cult icon, and hit them with Might From Beyond for 3 attacks, hitting on 3+ and re-rolling 1s, at strength 10, -4 AP damage 2. The saw is less than half the points of the drill and nine fewer than the cutter. Both the cutter (it looks like giant scissors) and the drill have ways of inflicting a ton of extra wounds, though.

Demolition charges sound cool, but you only get to use them once a game, they have a 6" range, and they hit on 4+. I don't know about it. Most of the time you want to be in melee and you can't use them in that. If you blow up your enemy with a demolition charge then perhaps they pick the front models and you don't make your charge. It would be great to soften up a vehicle, however. Or you can throw them in a goliath and they can keep throwing charges as long as it's alive.

They also have an extra cultist knife, which is kinda annoying. You roll all your melee attacks with weapons then do one extra each for the cultist knife. I almost always forget. It is just a basic melee attack.

The acolyte leader, again very important due to LD8, can take a bonesword, or a bonesword and lash whip. I have mine modeled with them but I'm not sure how important they are. They can already use rending claws which I feel are better. If it has a whip you can have him die and then still fight that phase, but you don't want that dude dying.

Everyone can take a hand flamer, but at 8 points for only 6" range and D3 hits it is pretty well overpriced. I'd really like to see that be much cheaper - I don't have a good feeling of fair, but maybe half that price? You're taking an 11 point model and making it almost doubled by giving it a weaker flamer.

You definitely want a Cult Icon with these guys - re-rolling 1s and if they have a Primus nearby hitting on 2+ is crazy! They chop through everything. The Primus also allows them to re-roll their cult ambush and roll three dice for it using a stratagem. Seems like a no-brainer.

Right now I am using two squads of 16 acolytes in my list that I'm playing. That includes four heavy weapons which can get pretty pricey, but do a ton of damage. I cult ambush these guys in when it looks like I have a good opportunity to take out some armor. They do a lot of work!

The only beef I have with these guys is how squishy they are. Often times if you get a bad cult ambush, or you kill the enemy completely, you're just left out to dry and you get hammered by bolters and lasguns in one turn. I would really love it if they had some sort of special rule; perhaps they could immediately return to the shadows for 1 CP if they completely wipe out an enemy.

I am not a fan of the -1 to hit special rules some models have - it is very frustrating and doesn't seem fair. These dudes need something, though. Perhaps an invulnerable save? Or lower their points so you can take more, although that just raises the price for players and takes more time to paint.

Overall, I've really come around on these guys - mostly I was using purestrains to start but I really like these models and as I'm painting them I'm fielding more. They're solid.

Goliath Truck

The really cool, iconic GSC transport vehicle. For about a hundred points you get a vehicle that can move 12" with 10 wounds, toughness 6, and a 4+ save. It also has Rugged Construction that gives it a 6+ ignore wound roll.

It can only take a twin autocannon and heavy stubber as its main armaments. It can add a cache of demolition charges which are pretty great but you have to be 6" away to use it.

It is open-topped, which really differentiates it from a lot of other transports - the guys inside can shoot out while it is driving around. Putting out 14 autogun shots, 1 autopistol shot, 2D6 grenade launcher rounds, 3 heavy stubber shots, and 4 autocannon shots is a lot! Of course you're hitting on 5+ on the stubber and autocannon, but they help.

There isn't much more to say about this vehicle - the rules are pretty cool, the model is amazing, and it fits the theme really well. Don't forget that it can transport 10 GSC infantry models - that includes purestrains and aberrants as well as neophytes or acolytes. The major problem I have with this vehicle is that the weapons are usually hitting on a 5+ since you're moving, so often times it just feels like you're wasting time shooting them.

Cult Chimera

The Cult Chimera is very similar to the Astra Militarum version. The points seem to match up with a minor difference in the cost of a heavy flamer. The AM version can take really nice equipment like Track Guards, but I doubt the GSC will ever get access to that inside the codex - that is one way to differentiate the two.

The main difference between this vehicle and the Goliath Truck is that it has Toughness 7 and a 3+ armor save, making it more survivable. How much that matters depends on the weapon that is shooting at it, and the truck does have a Rugged Construction save so it may be a wash in many situations.

It comes with a multi-laser that I think a lot of people will switch out for a heavy flamer and save a point. Adding another heavy flamer to the front instead of a heavy bolter gives you a tough delivery vehicle that can hose people with promethium when it gets there. I would probably choose the Goliath Truck most of the time but I do have a heavy flamer / heavy flamer Chimera for some fun.

Please help me out with any notes you have if I've missed anything - next week we'll take a look at Elite choices!

Warhammer 40,000: Genestealer Cult Index Review - HQ

2018-02-13T14:30:00.000-05:00

I've been playing my Genestealer Cult quite a bit since 8th Edition came around and I feel like I've got a pretty good handle on it now. While I think the list itself is fairly weak, I love the models and I've been trying to make it work. I don't really need to win every game or whatever to have fun - I mostly just want close games, so I don't mind throwing stuff on the board that is less competitive.

I want to review each selection for GSC (not Astra Militarum or Tyranids) not only for you, the dear reader, but also for myself - sort of a self review. I'm also eager to hear thoughts from others and things I might have missed. I am not really up to date on all the competitive stuff for every other list in Warhammer, so I may miss opportunities here or there - let me know what you think!

HQ Selections

There are two special rules available to all three HQ characters - Cult Ambush and Unquestioning Loyalty.

Cult Ambush is available to most everything in the GSC and allows you to basically 'deep strike' and then sometimes assault with better results. You roll a D6 on the table and follow the results. A six is amazing - it allows you to place 9" away from enemies then do a normal move. Five allows you to move D6" or shoot after placing 9" away. Four allows you to place 9" away. Three through one are just bad, for the most part.

One character can attach to each unit doing this. When they deploy on the table they have to be within 6". This is really useful for getting your Primus or Patriarch out there with your guys to fight.

I'd really appreciate it more if you just rolled a D3 - on a one you place 9" away, two you place 9" away and can move D6" etc, on a 3 you get to move as well. Overall its not a bad table but really you're just fishing for fives or sixes; anything else is basically a failure and your unit is left out in the open ready to be shot to death (with 5+ armor saves).

Unquestioning Loyalty allows you to pawn off a wound on a character to GSC infantry units within 3" on a dice roll of a 4+. Versus ranged attacks its somewhat situational, as it may not be possible for your characters to be targeted anyway. For melee attacks it's pretty great - save your character by having some neophytes pulled off instead. It also doesn't seem to be optional; it doesn't say 'you may' in the rules at all, so you have to do it. Kinda sucks when your guy is obviously going to die and you have to pull off genestealers instead, but it is definitely theme-y.

If you have a GSC warlord you can use FOCUS OF ADORATION as your warlord trait instead of the BRB ones. This allows you to do a heroic intervention with GSC infantry when they are within 6" of your warlord. I am not sure exactly how often this will come into play, but when it does it'll be pretty cool and hopefully a masterstroke for the GSC player. It's pretty theme-y.

GSC have two strategems - Return to the Shadows allows you to choose a GSC infantry unit more than 6" from any enemy models (not one that has arrived as reinforcements). That unit then goes into Cult Ambush and can come back the next turn. This is a throw back to the GSC codex when you could basically do it all the time. This one costs 1CP which is pretty good. I see this basically as allowing you to fix a poor Cult Ambush roll the next turn; it also allows you to bring a unit off the table if they've killed their target and are just being battered by small arms fire.

Meticulous Uprising is really where you're going to spend your CP. It allows you to roll two dice on the Cult Ambush table instead of just one, hoping for better results. If you're including a Primus you can include a third die, which is a great way to almost guarantee you're going to get a good result. For 1CP this stratagem is solid.

The cult have two characters that can cast psyhic powers. We have access to three powers overall. Mass Hypnosis manfiests on a seven and has an 18" range. Units affected by it can't fire Overwatch, fight last, and subtract one from hit rolls. It's pretty nice in that our dudes melt to Overwatch, especially flamers. Subtracting one from hit rolls is amazing as well.

Mind Control manifests on a six and has a 12" range, which makes it less useful. You roll three dice and if it meets or beats the the models leadership you can use the model to make a shooting or melee attack. It's nice when you can get it off against vehicles with a ton of shots, but the 12" range means you have to get your Magus really close, or maybe a patriarch. I don't generally take this.

Might From Beyond manifests on a seven and has an 18" range. It gives GSC infantry +1 attack and strength. It is generally overkill on genestealers, nice on Acolytes to get the plus one strength with heavy melee weapons, and super nice with Aberrants because they get an additional attack.

Primus

The Primus is the leader of the cult - the dude who organizes all the acolytes and neophytes to rise up at the right time all over a planet or city. The Primus is, for me, mainly a force multiplier. He allows you to re-roll the Cult Ambush table result and if you use 1CP you can roll three dice on the table and re-roll one (I think, only one). He also adds 1 to all fight phase rolls for GSC units within 6" - amazing!

His combat stats are somewhat pedestrian - he's toughness three with five wounds and a 5+ armor save with no invulnerable save. He does hit on a 2+, and he does wound non-vehicles on a 2+ with 'rending' on a roll of a 6.

Mostly I just use this guy with ambushing units, especially acolytes. He gives them +1 to hit so the rock saws are hitting on 3+ instead of 4+ and rerolling 1s due to the Cult Icon. He also helps guarantee their ambush to be one of consequence.

At 76 points, he's a bargain, especially for helping you get down an ambush or maybe even two during the game. I really wish - and this goes for the whole index - that somehow he was less squishy. I get that he's a human-ish dude and guard guys aren't really tough but perhaps he could have some sort of 'shadows' thing. I think -1 to hit modifiers are cancerous so I'm not really sure what to do. If your opponent chooses to attack him and you don't have guys around to pawn off hits or you fail your 4+ roll, he's just gonna die.

Patriarch

The patriarch is your big daddy combat machine. He's toughness five with six wounds and a 5+ invulnerable save so he's much more survivable than any other GSC character, plus he's hitting on 2+ with a strength of six with six attacks.. You can re-roll failed wound rolls and if you roll a six, instead of AP -3 and D3 damage his hits are AP -6 and 3 damage! He's a machine who will take down most infantry and lots of vehicles, especially if you can get a strength buff on him like Might From Beyond or a banner.

He adds +1 to hit for Purestrain Genestealer units with 6", so its not as good as the Primus, but still very good, making them hit on 2+. He also allows GSC units to auto pass morale checks within 6". Just like purestrains, he can advance and charge, so he's very very fast. This is great for after you finish off an opponent after an ambush - you can move, advance, then charge, hopefully netting you maybe one turn of taking shooting attacks.

You can also add up to two familiars - basically letting you cast an extra psychic power once per game and adding another wound. Adding wounds is pretty cool and maybe worthwhile, mostly because he also has Unquestioning Loyalty, so he can be very tanky.

When it comes to psychic powers, I really like Mass Hypnosis on this guy because it allows you to blind a unit before you charge. They can't overwatch you and they hit on -1.

At around 150 points he's not overpriced. Overall I really like this guy, but I haven't been using purestrains lately so I haven't been taking him so much. If you want maybe the best way to not give up a Warlord kill in matched play, you probably want this guy.

Magus

The Magus is definitely my favorite character. He's cheap at 73 points and comes with a psychic power. He's again very squishy, at toughness three with four wounds and a 5+ save. He has an autopistol force stave, so he's not doing much in the shooting phase, however in melee he can do some damage with three attacks, hitting on 3+ and with strength five, AP -1, D3 damage. He's actually killed a few characters he had no business fighting. He can have two familiars, which again helps as ablative wounds.

He does have a special rule that gives units within 6" an attempt to deny one psychic power if it targets them. It's not especially useful - I don't know if I've ever used it - but it could come into play at some point.

Mostly I just use this dude for casting cool spells. I like Mass Hypnosis as a method to support your dudes advancing up the board. Might From Beyond can make neophytes into combat monsters as well as being a great multiplier for Aberrants. And when you really need it, of course Smite helps you take down hard targets.

I think the only thing I might want changed for these guys would be an additional wound and maybe an additional psychic power. Maybe a psychic power only they can use. A FNP type power that symbolizes the cult's intense fanaticism would be really welcome.

Acolyte Iconward

The Iconward is the standard bearer for the cult. He's a minor character but he's mentioned multiple times in the books I've read (Genestealer Cults and Cult of the Warmason) because they're important in the theme. In terms of in-game stuff, these guys are kinda terrible =/

They have the same basic stats as an acolyte, with the same equipment, with four wounds instead of one. GSC infantry can re-roll morale tests within 6" of him, which is nice, but I find when I fail a morale test, it is because I already lost a ton of dudes - it is usually all or nothing.

The other special rule they have is decent, but still not enough to take them. GSC models within 6" ignore wounds on a D6 roll of a 6. This is okay, but its only models, not units, so you have to keep the Iconward very very close to whatever models need it.

He does have access to a relic - which is nice that GW saw that Iconwards were not being used and added it in Chapter Approved - GSC infantry units get +1 strength when they are within 6" of the Iconward. That is really nice, especially for acolytes who are pouring on a ton of attacks.

I wish this guy did something better. I don't see him used much in lists online or in person, and I actually haven't used him yet. Perhaps change Nexus of Devotion to 'Units' and make it 5+? Or make units harder to hit at -1 within 6"? That mechanic is really aggravating, but it would represent how hard the dudes are fighting on through everything. Perhaps you could use the Return to the Shadows stratagem within 6" of enemies if he's near. He needs something to make him more useful.

Check back later for the next section where I'll talk about troops and dedicated transports!

The Road to AdeptiCon - Warhammer 40k Genestealer Cult

2017-12-29T14:33:00.000-05:00

In my previous article I took a look at what I was painting for the Age of Sigmar team tournament at AdeptiCon. I finished ten brutes and three gore gruntas, so now I'm switching a bit and painting some Genestealer Cult models.

I'm taking part in only one 40k event, and its a small one - the 40k Combat Patrol on Saturday. This is just 450 points with limited availability of vehicles etc. I'm looking at using this:

+++ 450 Point Combat Patrol GSC [34 PL, 446pts] +++
++ Patrol Detachment (Tyranids - Genestealer Cults) ++
+ Dedicated Transport +
Goliath Truck: Cache of Demolition Charges, Heavy Stubber, Twin Autocannon
+ HQ +
Magister Balventius - Magus: Power: Mass Hypnosis
+ Troops +
Acolyte Hybrids: 16x Acolyte Hybrid
. Acolyte Leader: Lash Whip and Bonesword
Neophyte Hybrids
. 7x Neophyte Hybrid
. Neophyte Hybrid (Special Weapon): Grenade Launcher
. Neophyte Hybrid (Special Weapon): Grenade Launcher
. Neophyte Leader: Autogun, Autopistol
Created with BattleScribe (https://battlescribe.net)

It isn't much to push around, and it is definitely a one trick pony. The neophytes will ride up in a truck while the acolytes ambush and do their best to take apart a target. If the ambush doesn't go well it might be game over. I'm not sure about it yet - I may change it up.

I painted the acolytes, so for now I just have to paint the truck. You can see the acolytes in this photo above on the left. I used them in their first game this past weekend. They're pretty cool - tons of attacks with a high AP if you roll a six. They can reliably ambush well with a primus attached as well. They are a little expensive, points-wise, but hopefully that will change with a new codex.

I have a bunch of neophytes painted and ready to go as well. I likely won't be using any heavy weapons in the combat patrol, mostly just relying on them to throw demolition charges from the truck when they get close. Otherwise, I'm not really sure what to do with these guys other than sit on objectives. Their shooting is OK but mostly they're just bodies.

+++ 1500 pts vs dick (Warhammer 40,000 8th Edition) [100 PL, 2007pts] +++
++ Battalion Detachment +3CP (Tyranids - Genestealer Cults) ++
+ Dedicated Transport +
Goliath Truck: Cache of Demolition Charges, Heavy Stubber, Twin Autocannon
+ Heavy Support +
Goliath Rockgrinder: Cache of Demolition Charges, Heavy Seismic Cannon, Heavy Stubber
+ HQ +
Councilman Zell - Primus: Bonesword, Warlord, Warlord Trait: Focus of Adoration
Magister Balventius - Magus: Familiar, Power: Might From Beyond
+ Elites +
Aberrants
. Aberrant: Power Hammer
. Aberrant: Power Hammer
. Aberrant: Power Hammer
. Aberrant: Power Hammer
Purestrain Genestealers: 10x Purestrain Genestealer, 10x Purestrain Talons
Purestrain Genestealers: 10x Purestrain Genestealer, 10x Purestrain Talons
+ Fast Attack +
Cult Scout Sentinels
. Cult Scout Sentinel: Heavy Flamer
Cult Scout Sentinels
. Cult Scout Sentinel: Heavy Flamer
+ Troops +
Acolyte Hybrids: Cult Icon
. 5x Acolyte Hybrid
. Acolyte Hybrid (Heavy Weapon): Autopistol, Heavy Rock Cutter
. Acolyte Hybrid (Heavy Weapon): Autopistol, Heavy Rock Drill
. Acolyte Hybrid (Heavy Weapon): Autopistol, Demolition Charges
. Acolyte Hybrid (Heavy Weapon): Autopistol, Heavy Rock Cutter
. Acolyte Leader: Autopistol, Cultist Knife
Acolyte Hybrids: Cult Icon
. 5x Acolyte Hybrid
. Acolyte Hybrid (Heavy Weapon): Autopistol, Heavy Rock Saw
. Acolyte Hybrid (Heavy Weapon): Autopistol, Heavy Rock Saw
. Acolyte Hybrid (Heavy Weapon): Autopistol, Demolition Charges
. Acolyte Hybrid (Heavy Weapon): Autopistol, Heavy Rock Cutter
. Acolyte Leader: Autopistol, Cultist Knife
Neophyte Hybrids: Cult Icon
. 5x Neophyte Hybrid
. Neophyte Hybrid (Heavy Weapon): Mining Laser
. Neophyte Hybrid (Heavy Weapon): Seismic Cannon
. Neophyte Hybrid (Special Weapon): Grenade Launcher
. Neophyte Hybrid (Special Weapon): Grenade Launcher
. Neophyte Leader: Autopistol, Power Pick
++ Spearhead Detachment +1CP (Imperium - Astra Militarum) ++
+ Heavy Support +
Cyclops Demolition Vehicle: Cyclops
Cyclops Demolition Vehicle: Cyclops
Leman Russ Battle Tanks
. Leman Russ Vanquisher: Lascannon, Multi-meltas, Turret-mounted Vanquisher Battle Cannon
+ HQ +
Tank Commander: Heavy Bolter, Heavy Bolters, Heavy Stubber, Kurov's Aquila
. Command Punisher: Turret-mounted Punisher Gatling Cannon
Created with BattleScribe (https://battlescribe.net)

This is my 100 Power Level list that I'm using in a friendly against a fellow goon Dick S. Mostly I'm just using more stuff I am painting - more acolytes, the truck, demolition vehicles, and another Leman Russ. I could probably splash in some more hard-hitting Astra Militarum stuff, but I wanted to try out using GSC stuff.

You can see here our last game - Tyranids and GSC vs Blood Angels. We played a unique scenario from Shield of Baal that was fixed for 8th Edition. The new Leman Russ rules are amazing; they cost a ton of points but they shoot twice if they move half their move or less. With a tank commander it'll be pretty great.

An extremely 40k thing happened during our game - the Librarian dreadnought flew across the field to attack my tank. As he was charging, my Leman Russ overwatched and hit with a multi-melta with a six, then damaged him, then rolled a six for the amount of damage! Then the Librarian dread did 16 damage to my tank, it exploded and did three mortal wounds to the dread, killing it!

I have one Rockgrinder painted and will have a goliath truck painted as well for AdeptiCon. They're great models - one of my favorite GW ones. The Aberrants here got out of the Rockrinder, did a bit of damage to the razorback, then got annihilated by shooting and melee from an assault squad =/

I'm really excited to finally get these guys painted. I'm prepared for a lot of disappointment - my efforts so far in 8th Edition with GSC have been pretty one sided (for my opponent). I don't really care if I win that much, but I'd really like close games. Hopefully I get them!

The Road to AdeptiCon - Age of Sigmar Ironjawz

2017-12-04T14:34:00.002-05:00

Our team will actually be the opposite of this - my Ironjawz will be helping out Pat's ghosty undead

AdeptiCon is just around the corner again and of course, I've planned a lot of work for myself. I've been really happy to try new stuff each year at AdeptiCon the last few years so I went even further this year - trying all new events.

One of the bigger projects I have to finish by then is my Team Tournament list for Age of Sigmar. I've chosen to bring my Ironjawz while my buddy Pat is bringing his Death alliance list. I really like the look of Ironjawz models, especially the brutes.

The team consists of two players with 1,000 points each. I've chosen to go with a low model count list, just bringing brutes and gore gruntas.

I've played around a lot with different unit combinations, but to be honest there aren't a whole lot of things to do with 1,000 points when your main units cost 180. It has been suggested to use more gore gruntas, but holy cow they are expensive. Even getting a Start Collecting! box is $85 - and granted, you get a ton of stuff in it - but I don't really need the other stuff so much. So I'm passing on more gore gruntas for now.

The general idea is the army advances upfield with the megaboss to help the brutes hit better. I am guessing Pat's army will be pretty slow as well so I'm not so concerned about it. The gore gruntas are there to grab objectives if I need it.

I don't know how competitive it will be - mostly I just aim to have a good time and take down huge stuff with brute dudes =)

This is my megaboss, Garzagh. I've had him painted for a while. I'm using the Stoneskulls paint scheme from the how to paint book with a few variations. I added some pieces on so that hey's not the same as everyone else's megaboss and I gave him a Stormcast to stand on.

If I end up not liking my list so much, I may sub in these guys. Ironskull's Boyz are from Shadespire and cost 80 points in AoS, so they fill gaps, so to speak. They're not super special but do provide extra wounds and bodies.

I ended up doing some conversions with these guys, too. They're basic Black Orcs so I gave them bigger weapons - chopping off the axe or sword heads and putting on Brute variants. Gurzag got a claw and a big axe. I think they turned out pretty great!

These are bad photos, but I've finished the first ten brutes. Five each in a 'squad' with a boss with a claw and bopper. I actually didn't do a ton of customizing on these guys, they're mostly built straight from the box and glued down on plain bases. I did end up putting some basing kit pieces on from the Age of Sigmar Shattered Dominion basing kit set.

I am trying to go for a sandy desert feel with all my guys - something that Pat was happy to base his guys for as well.

With these ten dudes finished I now have to finish ten more brutes and three gore gruntas and I'll be ready to go for the Team Tournament.

Here's my checklist:

Shadespire warband for Thursday [X]
Age of Sigmar 1,000 point Vanguard for Friday [ ]
Warhammer 40k 450 point Combat Patrol for Saturday [ ]
Warhammer 40k 100 PL army for Saturday evening friendly game [ ]

Check back later to see my progression - thanks for reading!

Fall In Purchases

2017-11-07T14:20:00.003-05:00

The vendor hall was pretty packed this year with lots of new stuff - I decided to take some home with me!

I picked up two Chain of Command trackers so I can get playing. I like these because they show the different effects each command dice has. From Phalanx Consortium

I picked up all these flags from The Flagdude. I wanted to get some for Sharp Practice, so I got one each of Confederate and Federal that would be general enough to use for most battles later in the war. I also picked up two (by accident) French flags for Napoleonics, a British flag for Napoleonics, and a NC state flag for Rev War.

The rulebooks! I wanted to pick up more TFL rulesets so I got Dux Britannarium and the Raiders supplement for it as well as I Ain't Been Shot Mum from Brigade Games. I also picked up the new Plausible Deniability expansion for Skirmish Sangin from Phalanx.

I picked up a Confederate camp set from Old Glory, ten Foundry ACW minis at the Flea Market, two boxes of Spanish Grenadiers for my Peninsular War game from Brigade Games, a Blood and Plunder template set from Phalanx, and a Coehorn mortar from Sash and Saber.

I also purchased an army for Triumph!. I picked up a Northern Chinese dynasty set from Essex at C&B Miniatures.

Here they are based up.

Here is my big purchase for the convention - a ton of Congo stuff. I played in a game on Friday morning so I was excited. I decided to paint up a jungle tribe and purchased models for it from Brigade and others. I also bought a giraffe and a crocodile because why not.

I received this when I returned home. It is a collapsible dice tray with our podcast logo. Not poorly priced and arrived from Singapore pretty quick.

I'll post my thoughts on the con later this week - just wanted to get photos out of the way!

Fall In! Photo Gallery

2017-11-06T15:58:00.001-05:00

I attended Fall In last weekend and it was a blast. Here are a few photos with captions for the things I remember.

When we first arrived - a view of the Host's roof under construction

Lots of Flames of War tables already set up Friday night

The Lampeter room was where I spent most of my time over the weekend playing TFL games and Triumph

They were running Commands and Colors American Revolution on Friday night - looks great!

There was a 40k tourney going on Thursday night and Friday

Some Epic

A huge Black Powder ACW game

I had some really fun Triumph tournament games while watching the Bills get destroyed on my tablet

Blood and Plunder demos!

The TFL area getting set up

Paul and I played through a really fun Congo game!

Chain of Command!

More Chain of Command

There were a ton of great I Ain't Been Shot Mum games - lots of people attending!

The TFL area getting ready to go!

We had a great Sharp Practice game set in the south during the AWI

The IABSM game was gorgeous!

I fought valiantly with the colonists but was eventually pushed back by superior numbers and firepower from the British side

The vendor hall! Lots of amazing stuff in here.

I played my first game of Chain of Command and managed to get most of my leaders killed

Evening Shadespire

Prepping ACW Sharp Practice (my game)

Pummeling volleys from the Bummers eventually knocked the Georgia militia off the board

There was a great Peninsular game setup as well

This was pretty insane

This was some sort of riverboat game

A chariot race board

Skirmish Sangin!

There were a few games for kids, pretty cool

This couldn't be more Pennsyltucky if it tried

General D'Armee getting kicked off - all the blinds on the board

I managed to get all my guys killed again in a Big Chain of Command game

Maybe next year it'll have shingles!

I'll post up more about what I bought and played with more thoughts - for now, just a photo dump!

Prepping for Fall-In!

2017-11-01T12:29:00.000-04:00

It has been a slow summer and fall in terms of miniature hobby stuff. There have been a ton of great video games that came out - Uncharted Lost Legacy, NBA2k18, Madden, Wolfenstein 2, Destiny 2, etc. I've mostly been doing that stuff. I have made plans to attend Fall-In, the fall HMGS convention, though, so I've been cranking out models to finish just in time.

I'm very excited for Fall In - I've never been before and I've heard a lot about it. This year players have organized a Lard Day for TooFatLardies afficionados which really tipped the scales for me in terms of going.

Here's the overall event list, just a snapshot. It's something like 30 pages. I know its a bit daunting to keep updated by dang I would like this in a real mobile web format instead of a huge PDF, its really hard to use.

The TFL schedule is easier to read, while less detailed. I'm planning on playing Chain of Command, Sharp Practice, and General D'Armee. I'm really excited to get games of CoC and GDA because I haven't played them yet, just read the rules.

Here you can see what I'm working on in a VERY ROUGH stage. I am painting six deserters and seven militia guys for my ACW scenario I'm running Saturday morning. I really hope people sign up for my game!

Here are the handouts I'm working on for my game. I made unit cards and leader cards for each Sharp Practice player. I've put them in PowerPoint but I think I'll port them to PDF and add in text boxes so everyone can use them.

I'm reading this book on the way down called Sherman's March. It's a narrative, so its written more in a style of a story than it is a dry history. It includes quotes to back up all the narrative portions and really gives you an idea of what the march was like.

I also had a t-shirt printed for Combined Arms Podcast - I'll be wearing it this weekend, stop by and let me talk to you about our new cast =)

Sharp Practice: Terrain, Tokens, and Reference Cards!

2017-09-29T16:06:00.004-04:00

It's been a busy month with work, kids soccer and school, and the weather has been extremely hot! So not a lot of stuff done in terms of actual gaming. I did manage to make and purchase a few good things, though. Check them out.

The first items I wanted to highlight are these peninsula buildings from Tablescape (http://www.tablescape.co.uk/). They're hard foam and very well done! They are just the right size, light, and easy to transport. I like the drybrushing - they'll fit in really well for my peninsula table when I do that at Flintcon in February.

These came over from Britain with a quick turnaround. I would definitely recommend them and will be purchasing more, I'm sure.

I purchased these roads on eBay from Nerd Herd Wargaming. They're hard board roads that have been painted and drybrushed, then flocked. They seem like they're going to hold up really well.

They are probably the perfect size for Black Powder all the way through WW2. I like the crossroads and joins as well. They sell other pieces that I'll likely pick up at some point. For this cost you can have enough roads for a few tables.

We have been trying to figure out a solution to making Sharp Practice a little easier to play. The key things we get hung up on are which leader is which number and who has activated. I designed these tokens and then asked Diecutomy to print them and they turned out great!

There are way more than I'll ever need, but perhaps someday we'll play a really big game. I tried to get every single thing that I'd ever need to mark on a board. I'm excited to use them at Fall-In.

I'm also working on these unit and leader cards. They're not done yet, but when they are, I'll post up the files. The easiest way I've found to make them is in PowerPoint. I'm hoping to make it as easy as possible for players to have all the information they need so they can focus on playing the game and having fun.

Let me know what you think. Thanks for reading!

Pas De Charge - Building a French Napoleonics Force for Sharp Practice

2017-09-01T15:35:00.002-04:00

I previously showed my British troops for the Peninsular campaign and now I'm almost done assembling my French troops. I am aiming to have everything painted by the first weekend in February when we have FlintCon.

I have planned out a force here that will hopefully be somewhat equal to the British force, but also provide a fun experience that makes players feel like they're fighting a skirmish in the Napoleonic Peninsular War.

The first thing I noticed was how much worse French regulars are in the Sharp Practice book - not having Sharp Practice, Drill, or Controlled Volley, and having a Crashing Volley of three, plus they're Conscripts & Volunteers. After conversing with some other players, that reflects the poorer quality of troops sent to Spain and the overall better trained British regular.

A group of eight French regulars costs four points, while a group of eight British regulars costs 6, so the British will definitely be outnumbered if I'm using straight points to balance. I'm aiming for a somewhat close total for each side.

I actually haven't used a Sharp Practice force with formations this large, so it'll be interesting to see how it works. Perhaps the players will choose to break off a formation of two groups with an officer to counter a different threat.

You can see here the main force - two formations of four groups each in an attack column. These are line infantry who will form the bulk of the force. I've attached a level IV leader and a level I leader to one formation with a level III leader and a level I leader to the other. The level IV leader is the overall commander, and the level Is will help pull shock off or break off groups to fight elsewhere if necessary.

The models are Warlord Games late French infantry. I really like the greatcoat look as its quite a bit different from the regular uniformed look. I am not a huge fan of so many guys all at support arms, but I'll add in some different looks with other models. My goal is to eventually have a Black Powder or General D'Armee force as well, so I'll need a lot of guys and plastics fill it well. They're easy to assemble, the rifles and bayonets are durable, and they look great.

The sabot bases are a bit of a rough mix which I'll rectify with an order coming in from Warbases.

I included some extra officers in the back just in case - Sharp Practice is very officer-driven and once I paint them if I find I don't like one I'll switch it out for a different model. I also have two deployment points which I'll focus on later once they're painted, but one is a light infantry group resting and the other is an adjutant signing orders and sending them out.

Here you can see my light infantry voltigeurs in the front - they're my skirmishers. They are a mix of models from Brigade Games and offensiveminiatures.com, both groups looking great. They'll add some different poses to the force in general.

Originally I was going to include some Lancers and some artillery, however I've gone back on that as the horses take longer to paint and the differences in rules between artillery and cavalry and regular infantry. I want to keep it easy for the players. I've also been told that cavalry are harder to use effectively with just one group.

Here you can see the names of my officers. I used a French name generator. I have a lot more officers here than I've used in the past, but perhaps more officers for the same amount of groups will help the players keep the gaming moving forward and troops shooting at each other more.

This guy is one of my favorite troops - he's going to be a sergeant. The model is from Gringo40s.

The last part of the force I need to get and put together are the grenadiers, which I ordered from Warlord Games. They have a different pose from the line infantry, which will again help the line infantry blend in a bit and look different. They're also a better match for the British because they're regulars and have some better stats. And of course they'll be great models to paint with the huge bearskin hats. The color will stand out quite a bit vs the drab greatcoats as well.

The last thing I'm really excited about is the Pas De Charge ability. I hope the players really understand this and it helps them get into combat. It allows a French player to play two command cards and remove two shock points from a group or formation, while moving that group or formation forward with three dice. This is a pretty amazing way to get into combat and I think it helps shore up the overall poorer French infantry as well as show how the troops operated.

Check back next week, I'll have a few more things to show for this project - I'm excited!

Building a Peninsular War Napoleonic Force for Sharp Practice

2017-08-21T15:58:00.001-04:00

I've been flopping about an idea for my next Sharp Practice participation game - you may remember last year when we did ACW - and I've looked at The American War of Independence, The Texas Revolution, and finally The Napoleonic Wars. I've chosen to do a game set in the Peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars.

The first force I'm going to paint are my British models. I've had a bunch of Hanoverians for a while, but from everything I have researched, they pretty much only fought at Waterloo (they're wearing peaked caps). Instead I bought a couple boxes of Perry Miniatures Line Infantry. I talk about it on our latest episode of Combined Arms Podcast but I really liked the variance in poses of the Perry minis. I have probably 20 Warlord Games marching guys that will be used too from a sprue sale a while back.

Backing up a bit, I know little to nothing about the Napoleonic Wars. They are very confusing to me as someone who hasn't researched because there were so many coalitions and campaigns and locales. I've decided to start small and read what I can to get a better understanding. I would definitely recommend Black Powder's Albion Triumphant 1 sourcebook as a great way to get an introduction to what the Napoleonic Wars were all about and who fought.

You can see here almost my entire force I need to paint. I haven't included my 95th Rifles, of which I own some from Brigade, Offensive Miniatures, and Warlord. I didn't paint them because they're almost everywhere in terms of wargames boards so I wanted to do something different.

Instead, I chose to model my force as a patrol during the retreat to Corunna and afterwards. I've included two sections of light infantry skirmishers who represent parts of the 43rd Foot. I've included five groups of infantry from the 4th Foot, two groups marching with rifles at shoulder (Warlord Games) and three groups firing from Perry. I've also included a section of light dragoons from Perry.

The officers are really from all over - some from Brigade, some from Perry, some from Warlord. I have some from Calpe Miniatures on the way as well as some from Front Rank. Both companies minis looked great on their sites. With such a huge variety of minis available its cool to try out some from all the different companies and see what they're like.

The plastics went together well - the Warlord Games ones are really easy to put together, just a pack and a head and they're set. The Perry infantry are a little more to do, but you get better poses by adding arms etc. The dragoons were really easy to put together. I left them unglued on their horse so I can take them off to paint.

The light company guys are mostly from Brigade, who makes amazing light infantry. There are some Perry plastics in there too - I didn't realize that some of the arms in the kits were light infantry with the 'wings' as opposed to line infantry, and I made some by accident. They each have a sergeant to oversee the skirmish line.

I intend to use the PaintingWar British Infantry guide as they are invaluable. I do think I'll add on some Spanish regulars, probably two groups of eight, as an extra to the force later on. They'll provide a little contrast and perhaps some more story opportunities. Check back later to see what progress I've made!

A Tale of Four Warlords: Blood Angels for 8th Edition

2017-07-12T13:45:00.000-04:00

I finally got a chance to play some Warhammer 40k 8th edition. So far I have played a total of three games and I have enjoyed each one. I decided to start out in the new edition with my Blood Angels. I primarily played my Tau almost exclusively in 7th edition in friendly games and local tournaments. I almost considered selling my Blood Angels but its hard when you have all the models setup in a nice display case. Anyway, I bought in with the Primaris Marine portion of the new Dark Imperium box set. This was actually the first time I have ever bought a 40k starter set.

The updated fluff for the Blood Angels has them almost wiped out of existence. The last stand on Baal against the Tyranids was almost a lost cause if not for Roboute Guilliman showing up to save the day. While I would have preferred a more heroic Blood Angels centered come back, the fluff nicely set up the need to "reinforce" my army with the new Primaris models.

Meanwhile on Baal...

The starter set models were simple to assemble thanks to the easy to follow instructions. Almost all of the individual marine bits were really close together on their respective sprues.

Priming the Primaris Marines

I decided against adding additional Blood Angels bling bitz to the new Primaris marines and built them stock. Honestly, I am still working on painting the last Blood Angels tactical marine box since each model has lots of little details to finish.

Aribrushing base coat layers

I did some layering with the airbrush to get the models base coated. I mostly used GW Mephiston Red followed by Minitaire Brown Ghost Tint for the shadows. I then did a top down airbrush layer with a mix of Mephiston Red and PP Khador Red Highlight. I then dry brushed with the Khador Red highlight but the armor started looking a bit too orange. So i went back and dry brushed again with Mephiston red. Overall, the base coating came out great. Now on to the detailing.

My first 8th edition game - 75PL list

As I mentioned I did get to play three games so far. Two of the games were 75PL Maelstrom games and one was a 1500 pt Eternal War mission. I tweaked the list but stuck with a single Battalion detachment each game.

I tried to take a balanced list with a good mix of mobility, firepower, and close combat support

So far the Storm Raven is the clear winner in the army list. I still remember when it was exclusively a Blood Angels thing before it was available to all the marine chapters.

So far I really have enjoyed the new rules. It definitely feels like a whole new game and I have enjoyed experimenting with different units again. Thanks for reading!

A Tale of Four Warlords: Genestealer Cult Army Lists

2017-06-27T11:32:00.001-04:00

If you've been a fan of Games Workshop games for any period of time you'll likely recall the 'Tale of Four Warlords' articles in White Dwarf. Players choose an army and show progress from building, painting, and playing a force. They provide their thoughts on how it goes and show lots of photos. We're planning on doing that here with three of us for the new edition of 40k. We aren't necessarily starting new armies, but we're expanding our current forces to include some more options and have fun!

What a Tale of Four Warlords Looks Like in White Dwarf

I've shown my Genestealer Cult models before, as I painted some for the Shadow War Armageddon League we had, but I am further expanding that into a full fledged force now. I purchased a bunch of models and put them together when they came out, but really haven't done much since as I got overwhelmed. This is a chance to take all that stuff and paint it for some great tabletop games!

The first batch of painted cultists

I wanted to give myself some milestones before I started so I put together three lists - 50 Power Level, 75 Power Level, and 100 Power Level. I think we'll probably be using Power Level to start out, at least, because its really easy and lots of people would like to try it out. It is nice, in particular, because for some reason Genestealer Cult stuff became a lot more expensive, points wise, and so the models I have with hand flamers etc. don't need to be re-done and removed because their points aren't good.

Power Levels are also just a ton easier.

I put together a 50 Power Level list and I can currently use it without having to paint anything. It is easier, since I already have a ton of genestealers painted for my Tyranids. 50 Power Level is fairly basic, with just a few units and some characters to back them up. With this list I hope to get a good cult ambush with my genestealers and patriach, while the neophytes and magus hold the line. The aberrants ride in the rockgrinder and move out to take an objective or hit a hard target.

Patrol Detachment (Tyranids - Genestealer Cults) [50 PL, 1040pts]

HQ

Father Larsa - Patriarch [7 PL, 150pts]

Magister Balventius - Magus [4 PL, 73pts]

Troops

Neophyte Hybrids [10 PL, 154pts] Cult Icon

15x Neophyte Hybrid
Neophyte Hybrid (Heavy Weapon) Mining Laser
Neophyte Hybrid (Heavy Weapon) Seismic Cannon
Neophyte Hybrid (Special Weapon) Grenade Launcher
Neophyte Hybrid (Special Weapon) Grenade Launcher
Neophyte Leader Autopistol, Power Maul

Elites

Aberrants [7 PL, 164pts]

Aberrant w/ Power Hammer x4

Purestrain Genestealers [16 PL, 360pts] 20x Purestrain Genestealer

Heavy Support

Goliath Rockgrinder [6 PL, 139pts] Cache of Demolition Charges, Heavy Seismic Cannon, Heavy Stubber

For my 75 point list I chose to take what I already had and add in a troop unit - some acolytes. These are the guys with the hand flamers that went from five points to eight, and with an additional cost increase on the base acolyte, made them unusable. I'm painting one of each heavy weapon so I can try them out and see which one I like.

So for this 75 PL list I have to paint those ten acolytes plus a sentinel (one of my favorite models that GW has ever made), and a Leman Russ tank. While the Leman Russ tank in regular points is pretty expensive, its nice for power levels to not have to worry about magnetizing etc. to take things off or put them on. So to finish that 75 PL list I need to paint a tank, ten acolytes, and a walker.

In general, the acolytes will be trying to ambush and provide some support for the genestealers, while the Leman Russ has been added for some battleline durability and anti-tank / monster firepower. The sentinel is again another AT vehicle.

Patrol Detachment (Tyranids - Genestealer Cults) [74 PL, 1457pts]

HQ

Father Larsa - Patriarch [7 PL, 150pts]

Magister Balventius - Magus [4 PL, 73pts]

Troops

Acolyte Hybrids [10 PL, 195pts]

4x Acolyte Hybrid
3x Acolyte Hybrid (Hand Flamer)
Acolyte Hybrid (Heavy Weapon) Autopistol, Heavy Rock Drill
Acolyte Hybrid (Heavy Weapon) Autopistol, Heavy Rock Saw
Acolyte Leader Lash Whip and Bonesword

Neophyte Hybrids [10 PL, 154pts] Cult Icon

15x Neophyte Hybrid
Neophyte Hybrid (Heavy Weapon) Mining Laser
Neophyte Hybrid (Heavy Weapon) Seismic Cannon
Neophyte Hybrid (Special Weapon) Grenade Launcher
Neophyte Hybrid (Special Weapon) Grenade Launcher
Neophyte Leader Autopistol, Power Maul

Elites

Aberrants [7 PL, 164pts]

Aberrant w/ Power Hammer x4

Purestrain Genestealers [16 PL, 360pts] 20x Purestrain Genestealer

Fast Attack

Cult Armoured Sentinel w/ Lascannon [3 PL, 60pts]

Heavy Support

Cult Leman Russ [11 PL, 162pts] Vanquisher Battle Cannon, Lascannon, Hunter-Killer Missile, Heavy Stubber, 2 Multi-Melta

Goliath Rockgrinder [6 PL, 139pts] Cache of Demolition Charges, Heavy Seismic Cannon, Heavy Stubber

For the final bump up to 100 Power Level, I'm looking at painting two more sentinels, a goliath truck transport, and another magus. I already have my primus painted, so I'm good there. I want to take a second to talk about how cool the new detachments are.

I'll be honest, I don't really want to paint 60 acolytes or neophytes at this time. Purestrain genestealers, while not only being the hardest hitters and most durable troops I have, also use more points / power levels. So I chose the detachment that allows you to have more Elite choices and fewer Troops choices. I also wanted to support my guys with another magus to throw out some Smites and support spells, so I chose to take just a command detachment that requires three HQ choices and nothing else, and I get a bonus CP for it!

I really wanted to try maybe another Leman Russ tank in this list but it just didn't fit - especially since the first detachment only allows two heavy choices. I did take another unit of genestealers which will hit really hard, hopefully from ambush. The Primus will likely be attached to them so they can re-roll their cult ambush roll.

The acolytes will likely roll in the goliath truck here, while the additional lascannon sentinel will provide AT firepower. The scout sentinel is pretty cool because it can scout up the board and throw down a heavy flamer somewhere - hopefully helping the ambushers get off a charge by taking out some chaff.

You'll notice that all my characters are named - I'm planning on doing up a quick backstory for each one as it's been pretty fun to do that for some of my Tyranid characters, like the Crimson Overseer.

Vanguard Detachment +1CP (Tyranids - Genestealer Cults) [88 PL, 1840pts]

HQ

Father Larsa - Patriarch [7 PL, 150pts]

Troops

Acolyte Hybrids [10 PL, 188pts] Cult Icon

4x Acolyte Hybrid
3x Acolyte Hybrid (Hand Flamer)
Acolyte Hybrid (Heavy Weapon) Autopistol, Heavy Rock Saw
Acolyte Hybrid (Heavy Weapon) Autopistol, Heavy Rock Cutter
Acolyte Leader Lash Whip and Bonesword

Neophyte Hybrids [10 PL, 141pts] Cult Icon

15x Neophyte Hybrid
Neophyte Hybrid (Heavy Weapon) Mining Laser
Neophyte Hybrid (Heavy Weapon) Seismic Cannon
Neophyte Hybrid (Special Weapon) Grenade Launcher
Neophyte Hybrid (Special Weapon) Grenade Launcher
Neophyte Leader Power Maul, Autopistol

Elites

Aberrants [7 PL, 164pts]

Aberrant x4 w/ Power Hammer

Purestrain Genestealers [12 PL, 270pts] 15x Purestrain Genestealer
Purestrain Genestealers [12 PL, 270pts] 15x Purestrain Genestealer

Fast Attack

Cult Armoured Sentinels [6 PL, 120pts]

Cult Armoured Sentinel Lascannon
Cult Armoured Sentinel Lascannon

Cult Scout Sentinels [2 PL, 54pts]

Cult Scout Sentinel Heavy Flamer

Heavy Support

Cult Leman Russ [11 PL, 225pts]

2x Multi-melta, Heavy Stubber, Lascannon, Vanquisher Battle Cannon

Goliath Rockgrinder [6 PL, 139pts]

Cache of Demolition Charges, Heavy Seismic Cannon, Heavy Stubber

Dedicated Transports

Goliath Truck [5 PL, 119pts]

Cache of Demolition Charges, Heavy Stubber, Twin Autocannon

Supreme Command Detachment +1CP (Tyranids - Genestealer Cults) [12 PL, 222pts]

HQ

Chairman Zell - Primus [4 PL, 76pts] Bonesword

Magister Balventius - Magus [4 PL, 73pts]

The Witch Yamima - Magus [4 PL, 73pts]

Created with BattleScribe

Please keep your eyes on the blog for my next article where I'll be discussing each character in my force and their background.

Bloodbowl!! League and Hobby Update

2017-06-15T09:48:00.000-04:00

I have been the lone FCG representative playing one of GW's all time best games, Bloodbowl! The game received a new box set last year with great new minis and a updated pitch. It's been awhile since I played using BB miniatures instead opting for the online version on my PC. The new box set inspired me to sink my teeth into the hobby side again as well as join a league at my local store. It's been a lot of fun and the rules were easy to pick up again. Hobby and some league highlights below.

Years ago I took a human team, The Ligers, in a BB league all the way through a season, playoffs, and eventually won the championship. I still consider some of my all time favorite minis gaming moments during that playoff run. So when members of that old league contacted me about getting into BB again at a different FLGS, I was all in. I decided to build and play a new Ligers team for the league from the human models in the new set. During the season I managed to get the whole team painted.

Throwers

Catchers

Blitzers

Ogre

Linemen

Star Player - Griff Oberwald

Templates and Team Tokens

One other thing I did during the season was make copies of the dugout and scoreboard. I cut the copy into two smaller pieces and laminated them. This allowed more room around the table edges instead of the one big board.

We just finished the season and are about the begin the playoffs. I ended up with a record of 4-3-3. There were a lot of close games and some epic comebacks too. Most of the players in this league ended up with "finesse" type teams instead of "bashy" so there has been a lot of scoring. I'm going into the playoffs as a 3 or 4th seed so we'll see how it goes. Here's some highlights from pics I took during the season. Most of the players were using old school models with myself and a Skaven player having the new releases.

I found a great army builder that tracked all my stats and upgrades. There are quite a few resources out there for BB but The Little Army Designer has been one of the best I've found.

The Ligers are heading back to the playoffs. Bloodbowl or bust!

Free RPG Day 2017 Preview

2017-06-05T09:21:00.000-04:00

Free RPG Day is an annual event across the world now in its tenth year. Interested gamers can find participating FLGS at the retailer locator. Their site also has a list of all products offered, but I've decided to preview the top 5 products I think people might be interested in.

1. Dungeon Crawl Classics Adventure/Quickstart

You're no hero. You're an adventurer: a reaver, a cutpurse,
a heathen-slayer, a tight-lipped warlock guarding long-dead secrets.

DCC is one of my top three games these days. Based heavily on Appendix "N", Gary Gygax's inspiration for original D&D. The core book is incredibly well designed and loaded with great art. They offer a full line of adventure modules written by some of the premier authors in adventure design.

This quickstart offers rules for play up to level 2. You can build level 0 characters to run a 'funnel', one of the most innovative features of DCC. You take a bunch of level 0 characters into a lethal module called a funnel, and the ones who survive get to level up to 1. The booklet actually includes a funnel from the core book and a brand new level 1 adventure. This is a huge value in a free product.

2. Runequest Quick Start

Runequest, from Chaosium, is the granddaddy of British fantasy RPGs. Based in the Glorantha setting, which is loosely based on medieval Europe, this game was one of the first with an extremely detailed fantasy setting. Using a D100 system similar to Call of Cthulu, task resolution is pretty simple.

The fact this game is a quick start and adventure in one makes this a huge value.

3. Timewatch / 13th Age

13th Age is one of the top fantasy RPGs on the market right now. It's sort of a spiritual successor to D&D 4th Edition with simplified mechanics and more story elements. Characters define something special about their character when they are created: "I am the only Dwarf in the world who can channel magic" or "I am the last of an order of Paladins devoted to a dead god". Swords Against Owlbears is a really exciting title for fans of fantasy gaming. Owlbears are classic D&D monsters

Timewatch is a time traveling RPG from Pelgrane where you play a band of time agents who defend the timestream from interference. I haven't played it but free adventures are always useful.

4. Conan RPG

Modiphius' Conan RPG has been getting mixed reviews because of its 2D20 system. People either love it or hate it. I'm interested in the adventure for the content, not necessarily the game system. Robert E. Howard's Conan stories are some of my favorite fantasy stories and heavily inspired D&D.

5. Starfinder First Contact

I am not super interested in this, but many people will be. Paizo is making a Sci-Fi RPG using the Pathfinder rules. For me this is a pass because Pathfinder is already too complex and bloated. There are plenty of great Sci-Fi RPGs like Fantasy Flight Star Wars and Stars Without Number. But there are lots of Pathfinder fans who will be interested in this bestiary.