Sepulchre of Heroes

2000 Pt Blood Angels List- Descent of Angels

2012-02-10T23:52:00.001-05:00

Here is the 2000 pt Blood Angel list I am running of late.

HQ- Commander Dante: 225
HQ- Librarian: 125- Jump Pack, Unleash Rage, Shield of Sanguinus
Elites- Sanguinary Priests (3): 230- 3 x Jump Pack, 1 x Meltabomb
Troops- Sanguinary Guard (5): 250- Powerfist, Chapter Banner, Infernus Pistol
Troops- Assault Squad (10): 240- 2 x Melta-guns, Infernus Pistol, Power Weapon
Troops- Assault Squad (10): 235- 2 x Melta-guns, Power Fist
Troops- Assault Squad (10): 225- 2 x Flamers, Hand Flamer, Lightning Claw
Fast Attack - Baal Predator: 130- Flamestorm Cannon/Assault Cannon, Extra Armour
Fast Attack- Baal Predator: 130- Flamestorm Cannon/Assault Cannon, Extra Armour
Fast Attack- Vanguard Veterans (5): 210- Thunder Hammer, 2 x Power Weapon

Pts: 2000 Scoring Units: 4-7 KPs: 12-15

I know a lot of people have been hating on Dante, as he is kinda a dick choice against your opponents. If my opponent really feels that way, I typically don't enforce his Death Mask. I take him for 3 reasons.
1- I love his fluff and the model.
2- As a result of 1, I have ALWAYS taken Dante. I used to always take Lemartes as well, but DC just isn't as great a choice any more, though given the opportunity, I take him.
3- I can't justify taking Sanguinary Guard without having them be troops, thus Dante is a MUST.

The Librarian is a new addition. Librarians are just a must these days for psychic defense. As well, his Shield of Sanguinus really is great for DoA armies, and Unleash Rage on a BA squad on the charge is just brutal.

I magnetized my Baal Weapons to maintian tactical flexibility. Though in a tournament I would fix them, most likely as assault cannons, if I know I am going to face a horde or super power armour lists rather than mech, the flamestorms are a better choice.

As well I have fine tuned it down to 3 Priests, giving 1 a MB just to gap 5 pts at the end.

Gothmog's 2012 Hobby Goals

2012-02-10T07:31:00.002-05:00

I typically don't do the whole New Year's Resolution thing (and after a month it really isn't much of one either). It just doesn't seem like just because one digit changed (which ultimately only manages to inconvenience me for a month as I write the wrong year every time I have to date something) that I should change myself.
BUT I was reading Dave Taylor's page (the man from whom I have shamelessly stolen the concept of Genswick). Well he had a list of promises, so I thought I would shamelessly steal from him again.

I extrapolate that by the time I am 30 I will have way too many models to ever finish.

1- Finish painting/basing my 2000 pt Blood Angels Army. I should have paint here starting Monday, so this shall begin very shortly. I haven't been able to paint for over a year, so this shall be a very nice thing. I really am looking forward to it. And I shall focus on my core list. Extra stuff can come later, as of now I need dedication. And as an FYI I used to have the whole force painted, but stripped it in college and have thrown in new models as well.

2- Finish buying/building my Genswick army to accommodate all list variants. I am actually pretty close, but there are still some critical components missing. Once I am gone building and converting them, I am going to try and apply speed painting techniques to the army (without sacrificing promise number 1). Some Ork Zzap guns are on the way already to be my Lascannons and I am trying to acquire some Kannons for mortars.

3- Start posting tutorials online. I have a few in mind already. And with some quality photography equipment I think I can do this decently. I already sorta did with the Savlar Chem Dogs. But I would like to do a hand painted banner tutorial, likely utilizing the Blood Angel's 2nd Company Banner. I built the model for it last night.

4- Continue expanding my Terrain collection. Typically my group used what was available between us or at the local game store. Now that I am out on my own I need to make sure I have a substantial collection of my own to ensure that I am able to play whenever/where ever I am in the world.

5- Resume some of the old blog series I did. Biggest Bang, Power Units, Free Mission, Evolution of a List, Champions of the Game. I haven't done these in a while, I think they would be a good thing to bring back.

6- Try to write a short story for the BL summer submission window. I have some concepts floating around, and I think I can put one together.

7- Give my Specialist Games forces some love. Just a good sidetrack project when I am mind numb from painting marines or Guard. I have plenty of BFG, AE, a Necromunda squad and a Blood Bowl Team all requiring a little love.

8- Speaking of requiring a little love: My Bretonnians require alot. As here in Japan I really have no fantasy players to through down a game with and I myself only have 1 WHFB army, this is the lowest on the list, but some attention sent their way would be good. More than likely it would be repaints/touch ups of what I have. If I accomplish goals 1 and 2 in 2012, 2013 shall be the year of the Knight.

1500 Mordrak and Friends – Discordian

2012-02-01T14:49:00.004-05:00

Playing small point games really isn’t my forte. I actually learned to play 40k through apocalypse, I also learned that Space Marines Players are jerks and will abandon you to face off against an armored company by yourself........ Moving on.

In the near future I plan to enter into a 1500 point tournament. I’m finding Storm Ravens are hard to justify at such low points, so I’ve had to figure out a different way of playing my knights. I haven’t played at this store before and have no info on the rules for the event, so I’m just trying to build well rounded lists.

So far I’ve come up with this approach.....

Mordrak
-5 Halberd Ghosts
Big turn one disruption unit that should soak up a lot of fire. Mordrak also comes with Grand Strategy which lets me adjust my army on the fly.

2X10 Grey Knight Strike Squads
-Justicar MC Hammer
-2 Psycannon, 4 Halberds, 1 Hammer, 2 Dudes
-Psybolt
I really like strikes because they are pretty versatile. Can walk across the table, deepstrike or outflank. If not an objective game I can always give re-roll 1s to wound in both shooting and combat, which would make them a far more killy threat. I can also choose to combat squad them if I see the need, either going with equal parts or combat focused and mini Purgation squads.

2 Dreadnoughts
-Twin Twin-Autocannons, Psybolt
Mobile long range support, which can be made scoring

1 Dread Knight
-Personal Teleporter, Heavy Incinerator, Great Sword
Big Scary dude that also can put pressure turn one. Has a great anti-cheap infantry weapon and can slice through armor. Moves super fast all the time and super duper fast once per game. Great choice for grand strategy shenanigans.

6-8 kill points, 2-7 scoring units

This list has a lot of odd ways of pushing my opponent, but I fear that it will suffer to pure shooting armies that overwhelm my target priority capabilities. I could drop the noughts for another knight, but I think I need the ability to kill fast movers and cheap transports. I could drop the Knight for another strike squad or another nought, but Id lose a really good target for grand strategy options as well as a big scary dude.

Any suggestions?

Genswick Imperial Guard Autocannon Team Conversions

2012-01-29T05:10:00.001-05:00

Just a little bit of work today making my Genswick Autocannon teams. I utilized SM Landspeeder Assault cannons for a Gatling-gun look. I recommend, when ever working with assault cannons for anything, using a pin vice to drill out all the barrels. It will make it look so much cooler.
These will be the only non-wheeled heavy weapons, as my mortars and lascannons will be based off Ork Kannons and Zzap Guns (plus I couldn't reasonably find Empire Cannon chassis for these).
I particularly like the guy dousing water onto the barrel of one of the guns to cool it down.

Converted Savlar Chem Dogs + Genswick Veterans and Ogryns

2012-01-28T01:24:00.007-05:00

Well I have recently done more work on my Imperial Guard though overall production has slowed down (as actual work work consumed more time). But I do have some cool things to show you

First off, I have built some Savlar Chem Dogs to use as my Penal Legionaries for my Imperial Guard Army.

This is actually a pretty simple conversion
First of all I just used simple Cadians (mixed from heavy weapon squads and infantry squads) as the bodies and torsos. I will be adding random assortments of pouches, back packs and sacks to represent the battlefield loot acquired by the Chem dogs, but that is simple cosmetic work.
As for the heads, which give them the Chem dog feel I selected Pig Iron Productions Kolony Militia Winter Heads.

These would actually be really good for any Vahallans or Vostroyans, but since I am going to be doing a winter basing theme for my Genswick (to match my Blood Angels and Terrain), the winter heads made sense. Even the typically bare headed Chem Dogs would want something warm on their heads. Maybe I should acquire some Vahallans to put on terrain as casualties, and remove their heads and replace them with bare ones. But that is beside the point.
To do this conversion I simple took the heads and clipped off the gas filters and then drilled with a pin vice where the filters used to be.

I then took melta bombs and cut the handle away and drilled a small hole in each end. This would form the Chem Dogs Nitro-Chem Inhaler.

Once that was complete I mounted by removing the Candian collar and filling in with some Green Stuff. I then placed the Melta Bomb on back of the Cadian, as seen in one of the above pictures. It works best if one of the ridges rests on the small mounting bracket for a vox on the Cadian's back. I then took guitar string and bent it to shape to fit into each of the sockets on the face and the bomb. Really a cheap and easy way to make a very cool and characterful squad. The hardest part is getting the guitar string the right length and shape and take some practice and judgment.

Beyond that I have another Genswick veteran squad/engineer squad, armed once more with double barreled shotguns.

As well I have constructed two Ogryns.

Their Ripper guns are auto cannons with shortened barrels. The heads are from a WHFB Ogres Iron Gut kit and the rest are from a Standard Ogre Bulls kit. I hope to give the Bone Head a more "Genswick" feel to it.
With these guys I was going for a WWI tank crew helmet look as seen here.

I think the paint job will be critical in conveying this fully, but as of now it is nearly spot on.

Unit Review: Brotherhood Champion – Discordian

2012-01-26T11:38:00.006-05:00

The Grey Knight Champion is a very odd ball choice (probably why I like it). He comes in two flavors, one being a standard HQ choice and the other as Crowe the purifier tax. It’s very important to realize that both choices serve very different rolls which I will retouch on later in this article.

Brotherhood Champion
For a cheap price you get a Borther-Captian stat line, +1 ws, -1 bs, -2 wounds, a unique set of equipment and very unique set of special rules.

Equipment wise you’ll notice he doesn’t come in terminator armor but artificer instead, this opens up the ability for sweeping advances assuming your not babysitting other terminators. It also lets him ride in light transports, which is something no other pure grey knight HQ can do (Apparently older grey knights never leave home without their security blankets). He still keeps the standard marine HQ iron halo which combined with his nemesis force sword gives him a durable 2+ armor and 3+ inv in close combat.

Weapons wise he has an already mentioned nemesis force sword and storm bolter, the sword is special in that it always re-rolls to wound. He also comes with frag, krak and psyk-out grenades. Too bad he didn’t get the option to take other grenades; this is often why he’s passed over for other utility choices.

He has a whopping 3 upgrade choices, one of which is digital weapons which in case you’re wondering is completely useless given the nature of his sword (unless you really want that storm bolter security). The other two are brain mines and psybolt, the former can have wacky fun results and the later is kind of meh. All options are really cheap but really not too useful.

Now for his special rules, the stuff that makes these guys real champions. He gives the unit he’s attached to re-rolls to hit on the charge, this can be pretty helpful when fighting other heavy assault units because grey knight have recently lost their weapon skills. He has Hammerhand, which it pretty sweet considering that means he can cast it and so can any squad he’s attached to making them str 6 or if you want allow your squad to activate their force weapons. Those last two abilities combined can make even basic strikes pretty devastating on the charge.

Now for the two rules that make this guy much more then a standard marine chaplain. Heroic sacrifice is a goofy psychic power that basically says “kill target important model with no saves allowed”. This rule alone makes him an incredible tool in close combat especially considering how cheap he is, instead of paying a super high price to put a super close combat monster in your list your putting a 100 point insurance policy against super close combat monsters. This ability was a big deal when the codex first came out but faded away because champions see very little play on the table.

The other important rule is both a great and bad ability. The good. Instead of having a normal attack line the champion can choose between 3 stances. One that lets him gain attacks equal to the number of enemies in base contact with him, one that lets you attack a monster or independent character d3 times at I 10, and the last which lets you re-roll all your saves. The bad. He doesn’t have normal attacks so you can’t just swing away at normal dudes.

Unfortunately it’s also worth noting that unlike a chaplain the champion doesn’t have the ability to make a squad he’s joined to fearless. Something I would gladly have paid more points for if he had it built into his rules.

The ways I have been successful with this guy is to attach him to any non terminator unit. Bide your time until you able to hit an important unit super hard. Following turn have him break off from his squad and run amuck in the back field killing small squads or tanking units I don’t want to deal with (I kept a Def dread locked in combat half a game by doing this). If my opponent has a special character I can’t go toe to toe with, Ill assault him and make sure that only the champion is in base contact. The attached squad focuses on the enemy attached unit while the champion keeps the character in time out, or if he gets killed attempt to sacrifice. Low point games and getting the assault is where this guy shines.

Pros: Super Tank, Anti-character, Cheap compared to other Grey Knight options, Has great potential in buffing a single squad on the table

Cons: No normal attack method, Zero army wide bonuses, Not cheap compared to Inquisitors who can get grenades, Can’t get grenades

Crowe
Has all the rules of the dudes mentioned above, but with some slight modifications. To start off he’s 50% more expensive, which is still pretty cheap. He in fact decided to be a douche and use some super demon sword instead of nemesis force sword, a demon sword that doesn’t actually do anything but hinder him. He loses the ability to have a 3+ inv in close combat and a force weapon, to gain a non power weapon and the ability to give units assaulting him re-rolls to charge and furious charge. I repeat the enemy unit charging him! Wacky right? Did I mention he is in fact not an independent character?

So here’s where he makes up for that. He has +1 Ws, In and Wound. He is the bestest swordsman whoever lived, he has the innate ability to rend on a 4+. So basically instead of having a normal power weapon he has a power weapon that always wounds on a 4+ and generally hates vehicles. He also has the added psychic power Purifying flame, this combined with the champion stance to re-roll saves makes him a super flame blasting tank, that has the potential to generate more attacks then any other single character. This can be very surprising. His last special rule makes purifiers troops. Min or max squads of these guys will make a very power force.

Pros: SUPER Tank Horde KILLER, Anti-character, Cheap compared to other Grey Knight options, Purifier as troops, Makes the most use out of Champion stances

Cons: No normal attack method, Not Independent character, Make people charging him better, have to find a way to get him places or stuck having him wait for people to come to him

The Skinny
If you for some odd reason have an open HQ slot in Grey Knight army (not easy considering the competition) I suggest giving the generic Champion a try. He adds a very unique set of utility options most people don’t expect and adds a lot of potential in making games interesting in variously different ways.

6th Edition? - Discordian

2012-01-19T15:31:00.007-05:00

So it’s real….

No it’s not……..

Maybe it is………

So for the last week everyone and their geek mothers have been going back and forth on whether or not the leaked 6th edition codex is real.

I’m honestly not sure myself. When I first caught wind of it I spent a few hours reading through it and then the next day applying what I read to the armies I played. It was a fun distracting exercise if I do say so myself. It wasn’t full blown list building more like a simple review and application. Here is what I came up with.

Tau:

Let’s start with Tau my first army.

Rail weapons do what now? Shot through everything in a line. Yeah if that’s true it might be a reason to start playing Sniper drones and pathfinder devastator teams again.

Cover more on the 5+ side. Sweet now I can put rail rifles back into my pathfinder squads. And since Tau armies are going to be shooting lines that at worst scatters, who needs Bs bumps.

Pinning now as -1 modifiers for every wound after the first. So what you’re saying is carbines might have a reason to exist…. and maybe I shouldn’t swap out to many marker lights.

Skimmers now ignore terrain period. Tau vehicles being slow meant that you had to kind of go in straight lines to get where you needed so sometimes I’d throw on sensor splines, but this would mean I really would never have to care. PLUS Necron asshat list won’t suck.

The document has burst cannons as Assault 4. This would help make it a possible choice for my suits and make warfish one shot better. This also almost makes Stealth suits priced correctly…. almost.

Eldar:

So power weapons get a parry save. The problem is they have to be normal power weapons with no other effects, which all elder power weapons have because they are usually strapped to a STR 3 space elfs. Off the top of my head this rule will help two units Mr. Cry of the Wind and …..BANSHEES. HOLY SHIT MY BANSHEES.
Eldar tanks and jet bikes will be harder to hit the faster they move because of the whole evasion system. Most people already hate Eldar Holofields this will just make it so much worse.

Also all elder tanks can be a plane if they want to.

Warlock squad upgrades can try to cancel out psychic powers. This doesn’t change my list because I already use them. But it makes my bike squads more then just a mobile heavy flamer.

Witch Blades are not str 7 and have a goofy ability to reroll inv saves. Not a power weapon, no longer always wound on 2+, and lost str 9 versus armor. Do not want.

Grey Knights:

Almost every unit in this book now has way to nullify psychic powers, almost a nail in the coffin of me not taking librarians anymore.

Justicar with MC Swords and maybe Falchions will have a 5+ save. Groovy.

Master crafted groups of weapons reroll as a group, so paladins will be more of a pain in the ass.

Wound allocations were you have to move wounds around at the end of the phase will kind of make up for this.

Deep strike assaulting makes Grey Knights stupid because your entire army can take advantage of this, Especially Mordrak and Callidus. The only downside is I’m fairly sure you’ll loss tons to defensive fire as your opponent lights you up in your turn.

Fortitude might take a hit because of how the new damage chart works.

Landraiders will come standard with a -1 on the chart. This might change my mind about using Ravens…..Oh wait never mind Ravens be planes now with locater beacons. Think about what that means to deepstriking.

Ravens be Planes, enough said.

Im not sure how I like it. Seems like someone went way out of their way to make the most annoying choose your own adventure rule book. Also the Stratagimic system makes list building not as important becasue you can tailor your game to fight your opponet.

It seems like a very complete rule system so it might be worth taking a read if you get the chance, just don’t waste too much time. It still might be a hoax and even if it is real it’s rather rough and super full of spelling errors. Like even more then in my posts.

So what do you think?

Downloads page is down

2012-01-19T02:17:00.000-05:00

I used Mega Upload, which has been taken off line today. I will try and get a solution figured out soon, but I do not believe I currently have all the files.

I apologize and will attempt to solve this as soon as possible.

Genswick: Veterans/Engineers and 2 Infantry Squads

2012-01-12T09:42:00.001-05:00

So last week I finally got some green stuff here in Japan and was able to continue work on my Genswick Imperial Guard Army.

First of all here are my Veteran w/ shotguns AND/OR my DKK Engineers depending on which list I am running.

Doubled barreled shotguns just seemed the most appropriate approach for Genswick shotguns. The Meltabombs will be melta-bombs for IG lists when they have demolitions and Gas grenades when they are engineers in a DKK list. I gave them different helmets from the normal Genswick rank and file as the Tommy helmet didn't seem quite appropriate for guys in a mine.
I particularly like the "Sergeant" figure. The pick just works to me, and if you notice, on his right hip is a little bird- paint it yellow and he has a canary for mines/countermines.

Next up is some members of Platoon Command Squads.

These aren't quite done. I still need 1 officer (going to use the guy on the right here). And I need to make the melta-gunners, but I am still waiting on those bitz in the mail. So the vox is the horn, and each squad has a small horn on the waste of one of the soldiers. These larger ones just seem more appropriate for a command unit. The officer I have is the Officer of the Fleet model from the current IG range with a Brettonian helmet and holstered sword added (power weapon).

Last of all are the 2 rank and file infantry squads. Both of these are missing their special weapons and one sergeant is missing a power weapon (waiting on bitz once again). I particularly like the use of the hammer as the power weapon.

And a full army shot for fun

The only thing missing that is built is the 3 DKK Grenadiers I have done.

OH And I have seen the 6th edition "leak". I for one don't really like it (assault before shooting- because if I ran at you with a pistol and a knife, I would wait until after I hit you with the knife to shoot you), and while it seems to be "legit", there are too many flaws and general sloppiness/disorganization to it that doesn't seem right to me. Plus, with GW trying to keep a lid on everything to satisfy the makers of the Hobbit, I doubt anything close to what is real would get out. Anywho I shall be ranting on that later, and I am sure Discordian will chime in too. And point out how some small aspect of the leak shall spin into the ultimate DOOM OF THE GAME!

1500 and 2000 pt Eldar List

2012-01-11T09:54:00.000-05:00

Camera Issues today. Tomorrow pics of Genswick.

To fill in, just 2 quick Eldar Lists I threw together to demonstrate the principles of list building to a friend. They are in no way intended to be competitive, but have some fun units he liked and explain how force org and such works.

HQ
Farseer- 105: Mind War, Fortune (attach Farseer to Storm Guardians)

Fuegan- 195 (attach to Fire Dragons)

Elites
Fire Dragons (5)- 100: Exarch w/ Firepike (embark in Falcon)

Troops
Dire Avengers (10)- 150 : Exarch w/Power Sword and Shimmer Shield, Bladestorm
Transport- Wave Serpent- 120: Eldar Missile Launcher

Storm Guardians(10+1)- 122: 2 x Flamers, Warlock w/ Embolden
Transport- Wave Serpent- 120: Eldar Missile Launcher

Guardians (10)- 80

Guardian Jetbikes (3)- 76: Shuriken Cannon

Heavy Support
Falcon- 145: Bright Lance

Reapers (5)- 175

Wraithlord- 110: 2 Flamers, Wraithsword, Shuriken Cannon

Pts: 1498
Scoring Units: 4
Kill Points: 12

TO MAKE IT A 2000 PT LIST ADD THE FOLLOWING

Elites
Harlequin Troupe (6)- 172: Troupe Master w/ Power Sword, Harlequin Kiss, 2 x Fusion Pistols, Death Jester

Troops
Wraith Guard (10)- 396 : Warlock w/ Spirit Seer and Conceal

ADD Eldar Missile Launcher to 10 man Guardian Squad- +20

Pts: 2000
Scoring Units: 5
Kill Points: 14

Terrain WIP- Giant Robots and Scratch Built Bastion

2012-01-10T04:55:00.003-05:00

First of all thank you to Ranter McRanterson for his post this week.

As well, I managed to get a bunch more work done on Terrain and my Genswick army (post tomorrow).

Today's post is exclusively about the terrain progress though. And it features giant robots.

Like this guy. He is a Bandai, Master Grade 1/100 scale MS-06J Zaku II (Principality of Zeon Mass Productive Mobile Suit). Otherwise known as a Zaku from the popular Japanese Animated Mobile Suit Gundam series. You can get these pretty cheap here in japan (approx 2000 JPY) and you can get them at department stores like Aeon (their version of a Super Target I guess). I picked up 2 of these, but have only really experimented with building one. I went ahead and followed the instructions, which are self explanatory and have no need to be documented here. BUT I will say that a Master Grade model is awesome and very cleverly constructed. It has like a million points of articulation and was pretty fun to build and play around with. Once I was done I figured out what pose I wanted my Zaku in roughly and cut foam to fit and support it. All my terrain will ultimate be winter scape, so the little bits are actually going to be built up snow drifts.

Once I had those in place and glued down I began going to town on my Zaku to make it a wreck, blown out at the waste. A pin vice, pair of clippers and some random bits of wire did the job just fine.

I also completed my scratch built bastion first seen in this post. Really all I did to finish it was reinforce the edges with some odd Japanese epoxy and add on firing points.

Next piece of terrain is actually my least favourite and really only seems good for games of Apocalypse. It is way too large and really not that model friendly in terms of usable space.

As you can see it is a trench embedded into a hill. I added a small bunker and fire point on opposite ends. I wish I had done it slightly differently, like doing 2 firing points instead of a bunker and having an L shaped trench.

The final piece was actually built by Mrs. Gothmog. And I have to say it has a brilliant simplicity to it, and a lot better than my obscene monstrosity of a hill above. Not too large, reasonable amount of space for models to stand on and reasonable cover from multiple angles but exposed from others.

So that is all for now, but I will have a significant post on Genswick tomorrow. One Veteran Squad and Infantry Squad built this week, plus some command squad elements.

6th Mumers - Discordian

2012-01-09T11:51:00.006-05:00

First off Sorry Mr. Flappy Mc Flapperson, I’m lazy and the other jerks didn’t do anything so I got lazier.

So there are these rumors of 6th edition hitting the streets next spring. There are also a lot of people popping up chirping in about crazy rules that will change the game. If you want to read about them I’m sure you can find one of the main 40k forum sites, they have tons of rumors threads dedicated to this. One thing that really makes me happy is the mention that upon 6th edition release errata updates will be done for each of the older books like they did in fantasy. Wow its like someone decided to do work or something.

They couldnt have fired everyone uselful

One of the big questions is how the current codexs be affected by these rules. And I’m beginning to think there are subtle hints hidden inside most of the 5th edition codexs pointing to things to come.

Deepstrike PUNCH!

Like This But Far More Effective

This is a big one. The rumor is you will be able to assault out of deepstrike, Wow. There are a couple of downsides to apparently. If your within 6 inches of a enemy you scatter 3d6, 6 to 12 inches 2d6, 12-18 inches 1d6, and outside of 18 no scatter. One of the other mentions is if you’re within 6 you always scatter using the small arrow on the hit as your direction, so it will be very dangerous to just pop up on the table and go to town on some poor fool walking in the middle of a peaceful field.

I’m beginning to think this is somewhat if not all true. I play Grey Knights and when the new codex came out I was super happy to have a new shiny book with a competent army, a break from my poor poor Tau.

One of the first things I noticed that did piss me off in the new book is that the Callidus Assassin can no longer assault the turn is shows up, instead she has this deepstrike with no scatter rule (she also lost “A Word in your Ear” dam it).

Another unit that I heard early rumors about was Mordrak and his buddies. I loved the idea of this unit simple because this guys imaginary friends are in fact a unit of Terminators. When I looked him up in the book you get this weird realization that his ghost can’t buy any gun upgrades. So they show up storm bolter some shit, they don’t even get Psybolts, and hope enough of them are left next turn or your opponent didn’t just simply drive away. They do get to deepstike without scatter first turn.

See the key phrase here there? Deepstrike without scatter. Here’s couple of other guys with similar rules.

Dante: A guy in army that already scatters only 1d6 less when deepstriking has this ability to just be placed, how he is used now is simply a safe melta gun deployment method which when you scatter only 1d6 in the rest of the army isn’t to special. Also notice how descent of angels is 1d6 less, not just 1d6, see what they did there and how it could be applied to the rumors heard.

Imotekh: The new jerk on the block has this ability to pick one unit on the table and all flayed ones deepstriking around that chosen unit don’t scatter. Doesn’t sound like much because flayed ones are terrible. No rending, no fleet, no power weapons without a babysitter, no guns, 4+ save, and cant be freakin troops like everyone hoped. Now imagine if these guys could burst out of the ground and give you a big hug. Makes them make more sense right

Marbo: really doesn’t need it because he can do something the turn he shows up. Cool story, I’ve seen him blow himself up….. it was great.

Lictors and Deathleaper: yes there rules say they can’t assault the turn they show up but that’s something that could be changed in one of the codex updates mentioned above. I bring these guys up because I only saw lictors played once and that was mostly because my friend played nine of them as a joke. Hilarious yes, effective not so much.

Kheradruakh the Decapitator: Same deal as the Lictors. Can’t assault the turn he shows up because of his personal rules, but would so make sense if he could because he is not an independent character. Also read his fluff, its awesome, he’s like making a stereo system based on human eye sockets or something. You’ll want to play him until you realize he literally does shit nothing and doesn’t even unlock Mandrakes as troops.

Caw CAW

probably going to be just as annoying

Almost every new codex has gotten giant fast skimmers. No surprise people have been guessing flyers will not be restrained to the open skies of apocalypse. One thing that really caught my eye is the new “Aerial Assault” and “Supersonic” rules mentioned both in Darkeldar and Necorns. Both these rules kind of give their respective fast skimmers plane like abilities. Generally that didn’t perk my interest too much until I read about the new Night Scythe from the Necorn Codex.

It has both of these rules but one of them doesn’t make sense. “Aerial Assault” allows the Night Scythe to fire all….. ONE of its guns if it moves 12 and under inches. It doesn’t have the option to get a second one which is making me guess that Aerial Assault will have added functions come spring.

Preferred Headshot

BOOM

I heard about the rumor of Preferred Enemy applying to shooting before the new Necorn codex. Then when destroyers showed up hating “Everything!” It kind of makes the rumor seem super plausible because these guys really don’t seem to be the touchy feely type of close combat.

This might just be wishful thinking but imagine if this was true and it was applied to a Hive Tyrant escorting some Tyrannofexice across the board with his nifty little aura ability.

Tiered USR

Some raise your hand if you hate how everyone has felt no pain. Okay well imagine if only a few people had 4+ feel no pain and everyone else had varying versions that where either 5+ or 6+. Sound a little fairer? I do because I’m super annoyed of having to tell my fire warriors it’s not their fault.

One thing that makes me feel GW if willing to adjust the issue of spammed FNP is the introduction of the Assassins Synskin 6+ feel no pain. Super shitty for them but super awesome in pointing that there is totally the possibility of different versions of feel no pain. And for that matter different levels of other USRs like instant death, eternal warrior, stealth, etc……

Bugs with Goggles

So acute senses/night vision has been seen added army wide to both Space Wuffs and Dark Eldar. Not too odd, one is a bunch of underrepresented werewolves struggling not to become mounts of mounted cavalry. And the other is a bunch of emo elf douches who like to cut themselves in the corner and attach arms where arms shouldn’t be. Awesome fluff right, that’s one of the main reason I love this game.

Now I want to take a look at the Raveners from codex Tyranids. WTF. I hope this points to a change in the general mechanic of Acute Senses, otherwise I think GW is just screwing with us or kind of doesn’t understand the game they make.

I do Say Buzz mm'yess

So if you have a new codex and want to believe GW can write a decent rule system, take a look. Look for things that don’t make sense in the current game system. Find anything?

6th Edition Codex Space Marines: What I'd Like To See

2011-12-31T04:57:00.000-05:00

So rumours of 6th edition are floating around. Due to the nature of my location and work I haven't been able to follow them with the diligence they are due. BUT this has not stopped me from thinking about what the Staple codex of every edition release should look like.

For the first time in release history I think the codex is "Complete". By this I mean there are almost no additions that can be made in terms of new units. At most something like the Storm Raven, but I'd rather NOT see that, because as I have said in the past there really needs to remain a distinct difference between the Vanilla SM codex and the divergent chapters. And GK are already in their own way super Blood Angels, we don't really need more Blood Angel-eque elements brought into another codex.

But continuing on down this train of though, there are not many units to be added. I see people asking for Contemptors in the main codex, but I disagree with this. They should remain a Forge World item to be added by people who want a to add a touch of pre-heresy. Sure some beefing up of the standard dread would be nice, but there is no need to add yet another variant of Dreadnought.

There will likely be something "new", and personally what I would like to see is Deathwatch Space Marines if anything is to be added to the codex. They though are unfortunately are alot like Sternguard, and therefore not a likely candidate. Plus there is already Legion of the Damned filling out the "Outside" orginization type squad.

But instead of focusing on the potential (or lack there of) for new units, lets focus on what changes can be implemented and what aspects I want to see come forth.

1- The rebirth of the Space Marine Captain: This is critical. Fluff wise, this guy should be the man. He in all respects is a BA. And he is suppossed to be most commonly seen leading large forces of Space Marines (multiple squads and tanks) into battle. As is stands right now, why take him when there are perfectly good characters (Vulkan) or Librarians and such. Well then, lets give the player reason to take them. This ties in with the next bullet

2- Chapter Tactics/Traits System: Okay, the old chapter traits system was a little odd, people picking strengths and weaknesses, and often mitigating the weakness so they didn't matter at all. But switching from that to a completely character driven chapter themes. So what we do is put a list of chapters in the back, each with a chapter tactic. No advatages or disadvantages, just clever rules for a large list of chapters (more than just legions and popular ones). At least 20 IMO. When you take a captain, he HAS to choose one of these. You obviously would still have a generic one like what he currently has in the Codex (Ultramarine Tactic), and you don't HAVE to play the chapter that it is listed for (how many Ultramarine Vulkan's are there). The special characters would then just take their respective chapter's tactic to an extreme, or add some other little bonus to it.

3- Make normal terminators worth taking again- I am not sure how to do this, but right now they are not worth taking versus Assault Terminators. Possibly a cost decrease or cost increase on storm shields, or the ability to take special ammo on storm bolters.

4- Make Landspeeders cooler/more reliable- As well make the storm a dedicated transport for scouts, but otherwise the normal speeders, IMO aren't anything to be particularly envious of, especially when a Razorback can do their job just fine and don't die nearly as easily. Maybe if their weapons weren't as expensive, or the options were expanded (wouldn't Plamsa Cannons be nice). Give them teleport homers possibly.

5- Cheaper bikes- I just think they are too expensive for what they do and are so seldom seen as a result. Actually I think the Fast Attack section is as a whole.

6- Assualt/Special Weapons Devastators- Why are devastators ONLY heavy weapons. They seem like they should be masters of destruction at range in any form. Many other armies have special weapon squads of sorts, why not make devastators capable of the same- Flame Throwers, Meltas, Plasma Guns, some form of Grenade Launcher and Storm Bolters as a set of choices rather than just heavy weapons or as an alternative to them.

7- Plastic Veterans- I think that is pretty self explanitory. Really an entirely plastic range would be most excellent, even things like Techmarines, Librarians and Chaplains. I think it was successful as the Captain, and can be done with other character types too. Then make the current range ones finecast in case you still want those specific models.

That's all I can think of for now. If I have more ideas I will append them here. Happy New Year all!

Hopefully mine New Year brings my orders (and a couple posts on terrain I am working on, the Ogryns I ordered and will convert up as well as my Genswick and their Savlar Chem Dog Penal legionaires!)

Imperial Guard "Genswick" Army Project- 9 Lists to work from

2011-12-20T09:24:00.005-05:00

First off, may the Great Leader RIP.


Thank goodness the Golden Throne doesn't actually exist

So this weekend as I was going over my Genswick stuff I broke out the Army lists and made some adjustments.

First of all, let me clarify, these lists are in no way shape or form to be competitive. My Genswick plans are for a fun, fluffy army with lots of character rather than power. Even if they rarely win, to bring such a hobby intensive army to play will be fun. As well, the idea is to overlap as many units as possible at the fundamental core of the lists, while including aspects both fluffy and presenting unique hobby opportunities (Savlar Chem Dogs, Ogryns, etc. etc.)

List 1- 2000 pt Krieg Siege Regiment
HQ- Co Command Squad: 115- Master of Ordinance; Regimental Standard; Vox; Power Weapon
Elite- Grenadiers(10): 200- Melta-gun x 2
Elite- Heavy Mortars(3): 150
Troops- Infantry Platoon
-Platoon Command Squad: 75- Melta-gun x 2; Power Weapon, Vox
-Infantry Squad: 80- Plasma Gun; Vox
-Infantry Squad: 85- Melta Gun; Power Weapon; Vox
-Infantry Squad: 80- Flamer; Power Weapon; Vox
-Heavy Weapon Squad: 65- Mortar x 3
-Heavy Weapon Squad: 95- Lascannon x 3
-Heavy Weapon Squad: 80- Autocannon x 3
Troops- Engineers(10): 130- Gas grenades
Troops- Engineers(10): 130- Gas grenades
Troops- Hades Breaching Drill: 50
Troops- Hades Breaching Drill: 50
Fast Attack- Death Riders(10): 180- Power Weapon
Heavy Support- Leman Russ Battle Tank: 200- Lascannon, Heavy Bolter Sponsons, Extra Armour
Heavy Support- Leman Russ Battle Tank: 200- Lascannon, Heavy Bolter Sponsons, Extra Armour

Pts: 1965 (30 pts to play with still) Scoring Units: 9 KPs: 19
Model Count: 98 Infantry, 10 Cavalry, 3 Artillery Pieces, 4 Tanks (115 models)

List 2- 2500 pt Krieg Siege Regiment
ADD THE FOLLOWING TO LIST 1
Troops- Infantry Platoon
-Platoon Command Squad: 75- Melta-gun x 2; Power Weapon; Vox
-Infantry Squad: 85- Melta-gun; Power Weapon; Vox
-Infantry Squad: 80- Grenade Launcher; Power Weapon; Vox
Fast Attack- Banewolf: 130
Fast Attack- Banewolf: 130

Pts: 2465 (30 pts to play with still) Scoring Units: 12 KPs: 24
Model Count: 123 Infantry, 10 Cavalry, 3 Artillery Pieces, 6 Tanks (142 models)

List 3- 1500 Point Imperial Guard Variant 1
HQ- Co Command Squad: 110- Master of Ordinance; Regimental Standard; Vox; Power Weapon
Elite- Stormtroopers(10): 185- Melta-gun x 2
Elite- Ratlings(5): 50
Troops- Infantry Platoon
-Platoon Command Squad: 65- Melta-gun x 2; Power Weapon; Vox
-Infantry Squad: 70- Plasma Gun; Vox
-Infantry Squad: 65- Melta Gun; Vox
-Infantry Squad: 60- Flamer; Vox
-Heavy Weapon Squad: 60- Mortar x 3
-Heavy Weapon Squad: 105- Lascannon x 3
-Heavy Weapon Squad: 75- Autocannon x 3
Troops- Veteran Squad- 100: Demolitions, Shotguns
Troops- Veteran Squad- 100: Demolitions, Shotguns
Fast Attack- Rough Riders(10): 115- Power Weapon
Heavy Support- Leman Russ Battle Tank: 200- Lascannon, Heavy Bolter Sponsons, Extra Armour
Heavy Support- Leman Russ Battle Tank: 200- Lascannon, Heavy Bolter Sponsons, Extra Armour

Pts: 1500 Scoring Units: 9 KPs: 15
Model Count: 94 Infantry, 10 Cavalry, 2 Tanks (106 models)

List 4- 2000 Point Imperial Guard Variant 1
ADD TO LIST 3
Elite- Ratlings(5): 50
Troops- Infantry Platoon
-Platoon Command Squad: 65- Melta-gun x 2; Power Weapon; Vox
-Infantry Squad: 65- Melta-gun; Vox
-Infantry Squad: 60- Grenade Launcher; Vox
Fast Attack- Banewolf: 130
Fast Attack- Banewolf: 130

Pts: 2000 Scoring Units: 12 KPs: 21
Model Count: 124 Infantry, 10 Cavalry, 4 Tanks (138 models)

List 5- 2500 Point Imperial Guard Variant 1
ADD TO LIST 4
COMBINE RATLINGS- Ratlings(9): 90
Elite- Ogryns(5)- 130
Troops- Penal Legion (Savlar Chem Dogs): 80
Troops- Penal Legion (Savlar Chem Dogs): 80
Heavy Support- Basilisk: 140- Enclosed Crew Compartment

Pts: 2500 Scoring Units: 14 KPs: 24
Model Count: 148 Infantry, 10 Cavalry, 5 Tanks (163 models)

List 6- 3000 Point Imperial Guard Variant 1
ADD TO LIST 5
INCREASE RATLINGS- Ratlings(10): 100
VETERAN SQUAD ADDITION- Melta-Gun x 3: 30
VETERAN SQUAD ADDITION- Melta-Gun x 3: 30
INFANTRY PLATOON ADDITION-
Troop- Heavy Weapon Squad: 90- Missile Launcher x 3
Troop- Veteran Squad: 135- Las Pistol and CCW; Melta-gun x 3; Grenadiers; Vox
SQUADRON LEMAN RUSS BATTLE TANKS
Heavy Support- Leman Russ Vanquisher: 205- Lascannon, Heavy Bolter Sponsons, Extra Armour

Pts: 3000 Scoring Units: 16 KPs: 27
Model Count: 165 Infantry, 10 Cavalry, 6 Tanks (181 models)

List 7- 2000 Point Imperial Guard Variant 2
HQ- Company Command Squad- 115: Power Weapon, Regimental Standard, Melta-gun, Master of Ordnance
HQ- Lord Commissar- 80: Power Weapon
Elites- Storm Trooper Squad- 195: Power Weapon, 2 x Meltagun
Elites- Ratlings (5)- 50
Elites- Ratlings (5)- 50
Troops- Infantry Platoon
-Platoon Command Squad- 55: Power Fist, Melta-gun
-Infantry Squad- 110: Commissar, Power Weapon; Power Weapon, Melta-gun
-Infantry Squad- 65: Power Weapon, Flamer
-Infantry Squad- 65: Plasma Gun
-Heavy Weapon Squad- 105: Lascannons
-Heavy Weapon Squad- 75: Autocannons
-Heavy Weapon Squad- 60: Mortars
Troops- Veteran Squad- 130: Demolitions, Shotguns, 3x Melta-guns
Troops- Veteran Squad- 130: Demolitions, Shotguns, 3x Melta-guns
Fast Attack- Rough Rider Squad- 115: Power Weapon
Heavy Support- Leman Russ Demolisher Squadron (3)- 600: Heavy Bolter Sponsons; Lascannons

Points- 2000 Scoring Units: 9 KPs: 18
Model Count: 101 Infantry, 10 Cavalry, 3 Tanks (114 Total Models)

List 8- 2500 pt Imperial Guard Variant 2
ADD TO LIST 7
ADD Commander Chenkov- 50
ADD Commissar- 35
Troops- Conscripts (20)- 155: Send in the Next Wave (Savlar Chem Dogs)
Fast Attack- Banewolf- 130: Extra Armour
Fast Attack- Banewolf- 130: Extra Armour

Points- 2500 Scoring Units: 10 KPs: 21
Model Count: 122 Infantry, 10 Cavalry, 5 Tanks (137 Total Models)

List 9- 3000 pt Imperial Guard Variant 2
ADD TO LIST 8
COMBINE RATLINGS
ADD POWER WEAPON TO 2nd COMMISSAR- 10
ADD PLATOON STANDARD TO INFANTRY PLATOON- 15
Elites- Ogryns(5)- 210
Troops- Infantry Platoon
-Platoon Command Squad: 60- Melta-gun x 2; Power Weapon
-Infantry Squad: 60- Melta-gun
-Infantry Squad: 55- Grenade Launcher
- Heavy Weapon Squad: 90- Missile Launcher x 3

Points- 3000 Scoring Units: 14 KPs: 26
Model Count: 158 Infantry, 10 Cavalry, 5 Tanks (173 Total Models)

It is late here now and I have an early day tomorrow (Off the ship, on leave, on vacation, exploring Kyoto, no less than 4 UNESCO World Heritage Sites to visit tomorrow). BUT I will be back to post more tomorrow night. Ideally the follow up lists.

Cool conversion ideas

2011-11-05T04:43:00.003-04:00

Just some cool conversion brainstorms that I thought I would share. No reason to hog awesome ideas, especially if I can't afford to do them or have the time to do them as of now.

So had this cool idea which I think would be great to make any of the following
-Blood Angel Terminators
-Word Bearer Terminators
-Custodes Terminators

What you do is take this body and death masks of Sanguinary Guard

And put them on Terminators/Chaos Terminators/GK Terminators (I think they would be the best frame). Some FW shoulder pads or MKI terminator armour conversions for shoulder pads would even further enrich the models. Scrolls and tabards as well. Suggest you make the CC termies. Some fancy Storm Shields from Chapterhouse studios would probably be good too.

Next idea: Brass Beasts of Khorne Army
Take a mix of Khornate chaos daemons and Necron arms, chests, and legs. Instead of wings on Blood Thirsters and DPs, use Sonic Blasters and engine exhausts and some green stuff to make large jump packs. Dreadnights, Killa Kans, Dreadnoughts and Sentinels also provide good bases to work from for these larger models. Like I would like the do a Blood thirster with said jump pack, the body of a soul grinder, two sets of defiler claws for arms and GK dreadknight legs. Basically mash as much metal with daemon flesh as possible. Don't think it is fluffy, go read Daemonworld. That book set the standards on chaos. Blood Crushers and Soul Grinders are very appropriate additions.

Fantasy Ogre Orc Maneater- Surprised I have never seen this. Ork glyphs on the belly plate and big choppa for his weapon. A grot minion. Big iron jaw like Gazskull Thraka. Horned helmet. Paint it like it obviously is from a major clan (Bad Moonz, Speed Freaks etc. etc.)

Howling Griffons- Those new FW Mk II, III and IV kits are just begging to be combined with Brettonian bitz, scrolls, medieval iconography and a red/yellow quartered colour scheme to create this classic chapter.

Planned Holiday Project

2011-11-04T10:55:00.000-04:00

Well the holidays are coming up and I plan on using them wisely here in Japan by building and painting terrain and my army. I made more progress on the terrain from my previous post before going underway, but have been on hiatus since leaving my home.

So the plan is to place a large FW order here shortly. Mostly heresy variant marines, but I am also going to get some heavy mortars for my Genswick, as well as some more green stuff so I can continue assembling them. So look forward for more to come on that.

To splash up some of my influx I am going to use some items from Chapter House Studios, such as the spartan helmets and combi-weapons (Mk III Iron Armour Sternguard Vets with Combi-Meltas anyone?)

I should have ample time to get a large chunk done as I will be working very light days and have less things to occupy myself with in Japan (other than X-Box).

I will probably post again tomorrow, but I have to head out for now.

Terrain WIP- Scratch Bastion

2011-10-13T09:41:00.000-04:00

Hey Internets! Today I share some of the terrain I managed to start. I am further than this post presents, but just wanted to share some with you. I decided to start with a scratch built bastion of sorts.

To get in the mood for AWESOMENESS, I popped in a movie. Good for hobby work like this which cna be tedious at times. My movie of choice- Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Get them Nazis!

So I was able to procure Plasticard while in the states at the Newport Hobby House in Newport RI. I also managed to procure some more once I returned to Japan at a local model hobby store (tons of Gundams).
I then went and raided the Japanese equivalent of Lowes and got some MDF and Insulation foam, as well as assorted glues to try out.

First I cut my basic shape seen here. Seven inches at the base, 4 at top, and I honestly forget how tall. Then I glued them together along the edges, 2 pieces inset and 2 resting on them.

To make the floor/ceiling I figured out how deep I wanted it and then just marked how wide that was and cut a square. Glued the edges and dropped it in the dried pyramid.

Now for the base I had to cut the insulation foam to match the MDF board.

Then I drew out where the hill will round out at. Inside the line is shallow, outside the line is steep.

I then outlined the bastion itself to make sure that I wouldn't cut away the base of my structure when it came time to shape my terrain.

Next would be to shape it using a foam cutter and then glue it to the MDF with my super awesome glues!

I will share more when possible. As well here is a cool thing I went and saw in Japan. Kumamoto Castle. Really has me inspired for more terrain and I think come December I will attempt some Asian inspired works as well. And to boot I had the idea of using some of the Gundam models (much cheaper here is you are familiar with them in the states) as wrecks on the terrain, as if humanity fought an advanced race on the battlefield, or possibly ancient wrecks to represent some strain of humanity defeated in the Great Crusade.

How to fix SM, CSM and revitalize WD and the Website in ONE SWOOP

2011-10-11T03:45:00.000-04:00

First of all, sorry for the LONG hiatus. The 3 guys I got to contribute pretty much stopped apparently and the Navy keeps me busy, plus the hobby scene in SW Japan is DEAD. Or rather non existent. I have built some terrain which I will share soon BUT in the mean time let me throw up a post.

Now I know what you are saying "Sure CSM needs work, but Codex Space Marine isn't broken really."
Well, you are right. BUT it does need to be fixed. "But you don't fix what isn't broken." True. I guess the word I am looking for is correct. "Huh?" Well you correct what is wrong, don't you. "Well...yeah... but how is SM wrong." Ah, well let me tell you.

CHARACTER DRIVEN ARMIES. This has been my biggest issue with SM and IG since they came out- removal of the traits/doctrine system for the implementation of the Character based codex variants. I never liked how to play Salamanders I HAD to take Vulkan Hestan or Pedro Kantor for Crimson Fists. These characters are some of the greatest heroes to walk the stars of the 41st millennium. Why are they fighting in 1500 point battles ALL THE TIME. From the fluff I remember, the Chapter master typically only deploys when at least one whole company is on the field and typically MUCH MORE. Plus from a rules standpoint, they can be over kill. You are talking about combat beasts that necessarily don't fit the army. Kantor for instance. If I have a lot of Sternguard vets, say supplemented with some devastators, I am playing a ranged SM army, where all of Kantor's extra umph counts for nill, nada, zilch. Just his storm bolter. Or say Vulkan, who twin links flamers, meltas, and master crafts thunder hammers. But if I am not taking Assault Terminators in my army, that is 1/3 of his benefits I am not utilizing, and I am paying a lot for it.

Good thing the fluff covers this. There is one unit that can fix this. That is right. Just one. The Space Marine Captain. This is the guy that is supposed to be leading large forces of Space Marines most often. Now what to do with him. WELL, say you take a SM captain and in doing so you unlock a variety SM Tactics, just like the characters do. These are just simpler versions of what their liege lord does, or you are sacrificing the combat prowess for their relative simplicity or flexibility. Take the Salamanders for instance. Their captain could twin link flamers and melta's, but not Thunder Hammers. Or say a Crimson Fist. Maybe instead of ALL Sternguard being scoring, just one unit. This way you get a flavour of your army of choice without having to take grand characters. Further more it will bring one of the most fundamental characters back to the game. Just make sure that the Captain has the widest selection of wargear (ie opposite of the Blood Angels captain) in the army as well and you will be set.

Now where does CSM fit into this? Well you could do the same thing with Chaos Lords to allow for legions to be played. Say you and to do World Eaters. When you take a Lord and give him the favouritism of Khorne, it makes the MoK more robust than it currently is and bans the taking of the MoN, MoS, MoT (you can still have unmarked CSM). You could also do things separate of the Marks for things like Iron Warriors. Say you make a lord a Warsmith and gives your army Tank Hunters USR or you can get +1BS. Stuff like that. Can also be an option (limited) for daemon princes or at least a character DP or two.

Now where does making White Dwarf and the Website viable hobby resources once more come into this. WELL it is quite simple actually. I remember a day when there were chapter approved articles with supplemental units and characters and cooooool game stuff. Well this can happen once more. Say that 6 months after a new Codex SM drops with my above proposal someone comes up with cool ideas on how to play Howling Griffons, Storm Giants and Celestial Lions chapters. So they write up 3 new Space Marine Tactics and they put these into the next WD as a supplement of the Codex and make them available on the website shortly there after. Same for CSM. And furthermore they could take it to the next step buy creating an awesome character from each of these chapters with expanded versions of these new powers. IE Howling Griffons Chapter Tactic- Masters of All Trades- You may make one Assault or Devastator Squad Scoring. Character Chapter Tactic- You may take up to 3 Assault Squads or Devastator squads as Troop choices. See how it works. This is just a quick and dirty example but I think it gets my point across.

Re-designing your list by getting a NEW ONE

2011-06-13T00:59:00.007-04:00

Recently I started writing up several lists for Ardboys. First I started by looking at my normal 2000 point list and seeing without changing them what I could add. It then occurred to me this might not be the best approach. Why? Because army list should be something that flows together and is built for its role. If you build it with sections that look like additions or subtractions, you might be passing up units that help your army for units that simply just fit. I know simple right, but you'd be surprised at how many players I see playing the same thing over and over again especially myself. At a certain point its ends up feeling like a elaborate game of connect four.

So delete everything you have and look at what models you actually own, sadly in my case that appears to be a lot (I really wish I didn't have so many models that barely see the light of day or paint). And if you take the time to create a list and play it, I think it really adds to your enjoyment and your opponents. Especially if you play in a small group that are stuck in their ways.

So Finecast

2011-06-03T04:20:00.005-04:00

So Games Workshop has moved into using a resin like substance. I know the news about this has been out for awhile, but since my local store finally got some in stock I figured I'd say something about it.

The only models I got to see where a box of Dark Eldar Incubi and a Archon. The Archon was very well done minus a huge about of cleaning up of the flash that needed to be done. Unfortunately the Incubi didn't fair to well, both their weapons and heads where sadly warped. The heads almost to a point that they might not be salvageable.

The material itself is very light and very soft. Which for me means it can be easily converted using basic hobby tools, but will not stand up to well any of the slightest man handling or occasional stray dice. Also make sure your very sure where you wanna glue things.

On the plus side the material unlike forge-world stuff, doesn't need you towash all the crap off of it before you prime it. Its better compared to Privateer Press's material but a little more on the lighter side. It is really good for the smaller detail stuff but I dont expect them to start making the larger vehicles anytime soon with them because they really don't require that much detail and probably wouldn't be very sturdy.

As for the models choices I am kind of irritated at the fact that they decided to start off producing models that already exist. I guess it was easy for them to just reuse their old molds, but I would have liked them to have started off making some stuff that doesn't exist yet. I know there weren't wracks and grotesgues yet, but im sure their would have been plenty of people looking forward to some tyranid kits and some Space Wolfs riding other Space Wolfs.

P.S. Thankfully only few tau stuff has been done and by the time a actual new codex comes out for my beloved little guys, any problems they might have had with this new material are taken care of so their wont be any crappy model kits hiding on the shelves.

Are Games Workshop's price increases as bad as we think?

2011-05-17T23:23:00.010-04:00

So, this week has generally been considered a "Bad Week" for hobby enthusiasts. Price Increases, Fine Cast Price Increases, Discount retailer cut-outs. I will say, I am not too happy myself. BUT I see a lot of "This is the last straw" and "After 10 years, I'm done" kinda comments. Which got me thinking, how bad is it over the 10 year run? Well lets do some basic math. Nothing complicated. I am no economics expert by far, but just a long time enthusiast taking a step back and thinking before making any decisions like "Time to jump ship to Privateer Press only! GW is going down!"

So, lets take some units that 10 years ago (2001) had a pretty standard cost.
Land Raider- $50
Terminators - $45
BFG Imperial/Chaos Plastic Cruisers- $15
SM Combat Squad- $15
SM Tactical Squad- $25
IG Chimera- $35
SM Rhino- $30
Brettonian Grail Knights- $50

This is pretty accurate as far as I remember. Some of them I know are dead on.

Okay, so now for my point. The Consumer Price Index is the method generally used to track inflation. If you don't know ANYTHING about it, essentially the price of several essential items, such as toilet paper, water and sewage utilities, etc. etc is tracked over time to compare prices one day to another to measure inflation. Food and Energy are not included because they are considered too volatile and prone to shortages or oversupply.
How this works it that essentially these items hold the same basic value to society as they always have. Toilet paper is just toilet paper after all. It is not a passing fad or volatile market. So basically, if 10 years ago toilet paper cost $.50 per roll, and today it cost $1.00 per roll then inflation has doubled in those ten years, or rather something worth a dollar today was only 50 cents back then.

Typing in $1 for 2001, that would be $1.27 today. So lets modify our GW shopping cart if the cost perfectly matched inflation
Land Raider- $63.5
Terminators- $57.5
BFG Imperial/Chaos Plastic Cruisers- $19.05
SM Combat Squad- $19.05
SM Tactical Squad - $31.75
IG Chimera- $44.5
SM Rhino- $38.1
Brettonian Grail Knights- $63.5

And now lets do a price comparison to what they ACTUALLY are today: + means we benefit as the consumer, - meaning GW benefits as the producer
Land Raider- $63.5 - 62 = +1.5
Terminators- $57.5 - 50 = +7.5
BFG Imperial/Chaos Plastic Cruisers- $19.05 - 20 = -.95
SM Combat Squad- $19.05 - 22.5 = -3.45
SM Tactical Squad- $31.75 - 37.25 = -5.5
IG Chimera- $44.5 - 35 = +9.5
SM Rhino- $38.1 - 33 = +5.1
Brettonian Grail Knights- $63.5 - 57.75 = +5.75

Okay, So as we can see, there are actually several units that you are doing better on today than 10 years ago (assuming my prices were right to being with, pretty sure they are). What we do see is a rise in the basic cost of Troops. GW knows you need the most of them, so they make more money there. Whereas with more unique units, it is more about moving inventory to make money. They know the troops will move, but Land Raiders, Grail Knights and Terminators ship a lot less than tactical marines.
BUT TACK on to that the fact that 10 years ago, there was no Free Shipping unless you bought $100. Now, the bottom is $15, which if you are buying any model you a virtually guaranteed to get. It basically only discourages you from buy 1-2 paints at a time. So when you look at it, the cost of shipping in many cases erases the price increase unless you are making a lot of bulk orders.
As well, 10 years ago, 1500 points was a more regular game size than the standard 2k today. That is partially our fault as the players for moving to larger games which in turn require more units and therefore more money from us.

So, does it suck. Yes. 10 years ago I didn't have bills to pay or worry about money. So to see prices go up on something I have loved for all that time stings a little, because I now DO have money to worry about. But, is it reasonable? I think I have shown it is at least understandable. So for all you veterans out there going "Ugh this sucks. 10 years ago was so much better." In actuality, was it? I think we have been spoiled by these online discount sales, which we all do love. But GW has already shown they are behind inflation in many places. Can't blame a business for wanting to stay in the "Chaos" Black.

BUT on the other hand, GW today needs to learn a few basic facts
1- It has never before seen levels of competition. It used to be the only kid on the block. Now, it is just the biggest, but there is strength in numbers with a lot of rivals out there.
2- There is a lot more exposure today via the internet and blogs, meaning opinion will be harsher and more easily swayed by a few very vocal people online.
3- There level of hobby support is at an all time low. White Dwarf is a glorified catalog. Online is just a Store rather than a hobby site and forum. Your printed products have not developed like other companies. And there are no more bitz except through 3rd party providers.

So while I did defend GW at the start of this blog, I will criticize them now. You need to learn perception is reality. You are not immune to the consumers wishes. If we think you are going to far, whether the math says so or not, you need to believe that you have gone too far.

Is this time too far? Only time will tell.

The good news is that Forge World stuff is seemingly now more affordable than ever before!

What an Adeptus Mechanicus Codex should look like

2011-04-28T07:03:00.001-04:00

So there has been buzz recently over Ad Mech. Subtle buzz, and community only buzz, but buzz none the less. I think at this point, especially after the books Mechanicum and Titanicus, it is only a matter of time before GW does an Ad Mech Army. The fluff for them isn't nearly as vague anymore and they are becoming much more well defined and are surprisingly more militant than one would think.

Overall Concept-
I think this would be a very diverse army with alot of choices and the ability to go small and elite or large and guard like depending on how you play it. I think it will need to be very synergetic though and have a lot of force restrictions based on HQ choices (certain units can only be taken under others, some are made scoring, some are made troops, some 0-1 restrictions are lifted, etc. etc.)

So HQ Units first-

Well one choice would be "Techpriest" and you would then have to choose which rank to purchase him at, like a librarian or a Guard Officer. The ranks would be Arch Magos, Magos and Logis. These choices are really just stat line changes and such, not much influence on force org. What would influence the force org would then be what order you choose them from. Now the codex would not include every order, as some are not going to be common on a battlefield. The ones to choose from I think should be as follows
-Explorator- Would come with orbital strikes and some deep striking capability for the army
-Biologis- Would give something like Red Thrist, but rather everyone would gain the USR Preferred Enemy against whoever you are facing on a successful roll
-Technicus- Would some how buff vehicles
-Cybernetica- Would unlock certain units
-Executor- These guys represent Titan Legion and Knight Orders, but in this context they will help with Knights and certain Skiratti

Next Choice would be a Skiratti Commander. This guy would really be a combat beast, and would allow Preatorians (an elite choice) to be troops.

There would be 2 Possible Retinues. One would just be a generic "Science Team" of some sort and would be like a command squad. Would consist of the following options: Skiratti Bodyguard, Servitors, Lexmechanics, Transmechanics, Iron Priests, Genetors, Artisans, and a Famulous

The second retinue would be for a Cybernetica tech priest only and would be an elite Cybernetica Maniple.

Next ELITES

So first choice would be the Preatorians. This would be the elite unit that no Ad Mech army would want to go without at least one of. Essentially their terminators. As said above, a Skiratti Commander should make them troops, or maybe just scoring. Squad size would be like 3-9 or something.

Next would be a 0-1 Selection of a Legio Cybernetica Maniple. These guys would be AWESOME. A Cybernetica Magos would lift the 0-1 ban obviously. Squad would consist of a Techpriest and 1-4 Robots. Robots would be of the following variants
-Collosus
-Conqueror
-Crusader
-Castellan
Not sure what each variant would do yet, but it would be cool.

Next Choice would be the electro priests that show up through out black library books. Probably a unit of 3-5 CC monsters with their electrical powers. Some sort of exploding electrical discharge when they die would be in order. Hi I, A, and WS in order. Power weapons. Expensive.

Then would be a Cydonian Sister, or more commonly known as an Admech Assassin. She would have fleet, to represent her hover feet, and would be another CC monster. Character killing would be her mission. Maybe only allowed if you take an Archmagos.

Last Elite unit would be an Auxilia Myrmidon. This would be lead by a Magos Militant, and consist of Secutors and Myrmidons, depending on the points you want to spend. These guys would just be elite combat techpriests essentially.

TROOPS!

Though I actually don't think they should look like the above from more recent descriptions, the first obvious troop choice would be Skiratti Hyspasist Squads. I think what they will need to be is a much more barbaric (almost SW like) but techno force still. Genebulked, armoured up, cyborgs. Squads would be 9 Troopers and 1 Tribune/Magnus. What I think there should be is 3 basic variants when you buy them, and one special one
Start with this statline- WS3 BS3 S3 T3 W1 A1 I4 LD9 Sv4+
1- CQB Variant- +1WS +1S, 2 CCW
2- Ranged Variant- +1 BS, Unlocks More special weapons. Only one to take heavy weaps
3- All Pupose Variant- +1WS, +1BS
4- Legio Elite- If you take an Magos Executor, you would gain access to Titan Legion Skiratti. They would be one of the above variants and gain the Tank Hunters USR.
Lasguns and shotguns as standard choices. Laspistols and CCW as stand on CQB. Upgrades for bolt weapons. Auto Grenade Launchers, Meltas, Plasmas and Needle guns as ranged spec weapons. Autocannons, HB, plasma cannon, lascannon, multi-melta heavy weapons. Have a 3+ armour save upgrade.

Next would be an Enginseer and Servitor Cohort. 1-3 Enginseers, up to 5 servitors per seer. Gun servitors, technical servitors and combat servitor choices. This standard affair for Enginseers.

Last troop choice would be Heavy Servitors. Basically think of Ogryn Servitors. Just big guys with power fists, thunder hammers, and big guns. The catch would be they are non scoring and have some sort of detrimental USR. Slow and purposeful is ideal. Not fast in combat, just hard sluggers.

TRANSPORTS
Didn't give this much though. Chimera and LR? IDK. I think this would be more of an afterthought to fit what is developed as the rest of the army.

FAST ATTACK
This section of the army would probably be the weakest and the least used, but is there for players to utilize as they like.
Light Cataphract Squadron- Some sort of light, fast armoured vehicle. Maybe a skimmer? Landspeeder-ish.
Centurions- Think of them as jetbike preatorians. Similar to Necron Destroyers really. Require a Skiratti Commander as HQ, as they would be rare and only employed with a significant Skiratti force.
Mameluks- Essentially a Hyspasist bike squad. Or maybe mechanical steeds to give more of a nod to their name sake and add a cavalry unit to the game.

HEAVY SUPPORT
First up would be Sagitarri Squads. Essentially Heavy Weapon Hyspasists. They would have the ranged variant stat line and unlimited heavy/special weapon choices.

Next would be Cataphracts. These are the armoured components of Skiratti legions. Squadrons of three tanks like IG tanks. Would have access to LR executioner, punisher and vanquisher. Then have Admech tanks, like above. I think that is called a nexus. Not sure though.

Then their would be a Cataphract Walker Squadron. Ad Mech Killa Kans essentially would be good. Something heavier than a Sentinel, but less than a Dreadnought to justify and Squadron of 3.

Then there would be a Balisteria Battery. This is the Ad Mech artillery. Some sort of exotic big guns is in order IMO.

Lastly, and only unlockable by a Magos Executor would be the Knights.

These guys are BA. If you have not yet read Mechanicum, do so. The above seems a little big though, maybe something more along the lines of the following.

YES.

APOC Units
A new army require new Apoc units, and this is the perfect one to introduce Ordinatus pieces to the game. Don't you agree?

Well there you go. That is all my brainstorming. I think it would be a sweet army to play and I hope I made it diverse/unique enough for you to think so too.

Random Thought Feel No Pain - Discordian

2011-04-07T03:18:00.002-04:00

So after checking out all of the units in the new grey knights codex something popped out, the assassin has a modified 6+ Feel No Pain save. Could this really mean GW has decided to change their policy about giving everyone a 50% chance to avoid bad stuff?

Frankly with the current trend I found this shocking. Its been awhile since I played a game where their wasn't at least one unit in my opponents army ruining all my attempts of small arms fire. The problem I see is that even if they change up what FNP saves are per unit, like with the assassins, its not going to change the older books that wont be updated forever. So......I was wondering how the USR itself could be changed in the next edition to force people to play smarter and not assume their best units have this get out of jail free cards.

Thats when I might have had a break though.....

Before thinking about this and inflaming my hate of FNP and its mass proliferation in 40k I had finished playing a game of fantasy. And one of my favorite mechanics of that game is the modifying of armor saves due to strengths of weapons. Thats when I wondered what if thats how FNP worked. For every point above the toughness of the unit the save goes from a 4+ to worse. I thought about how it would effect common FNP spamming units I felt it was actually a novel idea to change the USR.

It wouldn't hit units like Plague Marines and Plague bearers hard because most of the stuff tougher then them is already bypassing their FNP because of the other basic rules of it, but it would curb all the cheaper stuff the can spam the rule. Dark Eldar and Guard for example will take FNP on a 5+ generally because the game is more centric around str 4, a 6+ on str 5, and on str 6 where is gets bypassed anyways they wouldn't get one.

What do you guys think? Any chance this is me coming up with a totally dumb idea?

Gothmog's thoughts on Proxy and Counts As

2011-04-06T07:54:00.001-04:00

So I know it has been going around the webzones and interblogs for sometime now, but I thought I would chip in my 2 cents on the whole “Counts As” debate. I am a middle grounder and in my own humble opinion, I believe I have the ideal answer to counts as armies and proxies.

First off let me say proxies have only FIVE instances for their use, and then only for fun games.

1- You left the model at home. I once left a single terminator at home. The squad is 5 terminators. If you aren’t going to let me use a suitable replacement for the game, you are a poor sportsmen.

2- The actual model broke and you haven’t managed to fix it yet. This should only be temporary. Same reasons and number one apply though. They can’t legitimately use the unit, but they have it, so be cool.

You know that kid that annoys you that seems to break everything

3- The model is unfinished. EXACT same as above, just a slightly different circumstance

4- You are play testing a new character/unit/army before buying it. Everyone should be able to experiment with a codex without having to invest $$$. It costs enough as it is, some people can’t afford to toss away $50 just because they are curious on whether something fits their play style or not.

5- You are learning the game. Same as playtesting really.

So there are the five, but some are so close it is really like 2 and a half, but what evs.

Now that you know WHEN you can proxy, I will tell you what proxying is. It is using an equivalent sized model to fill in for another model, whether wysiwyg or not. Base and height are the most important factors. Bulk to some extent as well. It does not have to fit your paint scheme, your army, anything.

Remember, a suitable model

See, Suitable

NOTE I said model. DO NOT use a Dr. Pepper bottle as a Mr. Carnifex. That isn’t proxying. Okay, so it is, but it is very poor and unsporting. So no!

My sentiments exactly

Proxying is NOT so you can show up today and play SW, tomorrow and use CSM, the next day use BA. Just because they are all in power armour, it does not give you the right to use every codex under the sun. You do that, you are unsporting and I will not play you. It tells me you are just tailoring your list to beat me, are a power player, and probably aren’t a fair sportsman in other aspects of the game.

Now for Counts As. This is not the same as proxying. To me counts as is very much a part of the hobby and it is truly the definition that matters.

What counts as is building an army where the fluff and appearance do not match the established fluff and appearance of the codex they are to use. As a rule of thumb as well, a counts as army should be unable to be used as anything other than 2 codices, and in most cases only 1.

Now what I mean by this is you choose a theme to establish. In this case I am going to go with Night Lords CSM. As we know, you can’t really represent a Night Lord Army utilizing the CSM codex. So I am going to counts as Blood Angels. What I then do is proceed to meticulously model my unit to conform to the rule of the Blood Angel codex whilst maintaining the appearance of the Night Lords legion. When I am done, this army should ONLY be playable as Blood Angels. Now, since it is Night Lords, I most likely will be able to use the CSM codex as well, but I should have units to represent the units from the CSM book. I should not run my Assault Squad “Raptors” as Chosen on foot. I should have models to fit that. My Terminators are not Obliterators. Etc. Etc. That is proxying. I should not also be able to switch to another Power Armour based codex. I picked Blood Angels for the list, and CSM for the theme. Those are my limitations.

Now if I make something like Adeptus Mechanicus and decide to use the SW codex, I should only ever use the SW codex for this army, as it was built with that in mind and has no actual game equivalent.

The thing you must do as the Counts As player though is making sure you are making the choices that fit your fluff. DON’T ABUSE YOUR NEW CODEX. If you decide to play Ultramarines 8^th company and you want to use the BA codex, that is fine. What is not fine is then proceeding to take furioso/librarian dreads, sanguinary guard, storm ravens, and Baal Preds. The Ultramarines do not have these, so you should not be choosing them, no matter how much you like them. If you like them, make your own BA army, or invent a new Blue SM chapter that if second founding of the BA. No Ultramarines markings. This does not mean to not be creative though. Note, I didn’t take out Death Company. They could be a great representation of Tyrannic War Veterans IMO. Convert and paint them properly and it is really convincing. You can even use the fancy Ultramarine chaplain model and the “Character” name in your army, though based on BA chaplain rules.

You basically need to think of Count As as an army of conversions rather than someone abusing the system.

If you are still on the fence, let me put this forward to you. My Genswick Guard that I am doing. They are not guard models. They are really converted Brettonian models, and I will be using some ork stuff as well. Would you complain about them? This is technically a counts as army. However they will clearly be Guard, despite that I am using non-IG models, and I will make it absolutely clear what everything is and answer every question you have.

There is also something called the “Rule of Cool.” If some one took the time to make a themed army and modeled everything and really thought it out, don’t be the person to discourage such fine hobby work by not playing with them. What they did is cool, so be cool about it and let them play.

SO to recap, showing up with a force you can use the same models for X different armies depending on how you feel isn’t count as. That is just large scale proxying and is wrong. Actually taking the time to think about a list and how to make a themed army to fit the constraints of a codex but match your desires in appearance and fluff is Counts As. The first is wrong. The second is good. Be creative. DC Tyrannic War vets, Sanguinary Guard Raptor Chosen, Deamon Prince Dreadnought etc. etc. Convert, be cool, and be a fair sportsmen. Remember, your army is just one army, not many.

For everyone not Counts As, remember the rules for proxying. Enforce them, and you may see a culture change in the game that will make everyone happy.

Multiple Proxy Disorder.

Mordrak and Friends - Discordian

2011-04-05T18:19:00.006-04:00

I have played a few games using Mordrak and have had mixed results. For the most part he does work to scare people away from spreading out their forces, nothing scares flanking units like a bunch of ghosts popping out of some random boulder. But you need to really think ahead on what you want his unit to accomplish during a game if you want to play him otherwise he will spend all day chasing units like a dog chases passing cars.

So far they are all I have finished painting

But the real advantage I see in him is reactionary deployment. As someone who has played Eldrad many of times setting up first and then being able to move even one unit after your opponent has deployed is incredibly useful. And since Mordrak and friends can't buy any special weapons, thats for the most part the real advantage of his special rule "first to the fray". Although never underestimate mass bolter fire on a 5+ armor units caught in the open.

There is always the option of attaching independent characters to him, but I'm not to motivated to do it. The reason why is because I feel Mordrak and his buddies are largely expendable. You should put him on the table where your opponent will have to deal with him like on a objective in the no mans land or behind a building your opponent was planning on moving up and castling around. He's for the most part a unit I will leave unsupported and rather use the rest of my resources to support everything else moving up. This doesn't mean put him in first turn rapid fire zones or banshee class assault unit running distances. Just put him in a place your opponent will have to keep looking over muttering "what am i going to do about those jerks"

Throwing the occasional non instant killing wound on Mordrak is also fun, getting more ghosts after the game has started is always great. The last game I played I took a perils casting Hammerhand and was like "wait that triggers a ghost roll sweet". Just remember he is a assault unit and everybody leaves the party if he dies, so don't risk it too much. One thing I didn't catch from the leak to the final addition is they changed it to added at the end of the phase. Sorry Mesdoram :(.

"Wait what happens when he takes a wound?"

I think for now he's going to be my primary HQ choice. His surprise factor despite how well he preforms the rest of the game has always payed off.

My next two projects are going to be finishing up my buffer Librarian and a storm raven. All I have to do for the librarian is paint his staff and some detail work, but the raven will take a little more time....

He's a Force Multiplier with FORCE

I hate all the stuff they decided to put on top.

I wouldn't mind hearing what you guys think of where I put the top turret weapons instead. They are magnetized and so are the wings and tail, it allows me to keep them with the rest of my army without getting a bigger case.