A Plague Spreads...

My Experiences with the New Daemons

noreply@blogger.com (Plague Marine) — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 15:00:00 +0000

Thats my Karanak conversion :)

Before the new codex, my Daemon list was built purely for fluff purposes. I was running pink horrors, flesh hounds and nurglings - none of which could be considered powerful units. OK I had Fateweaver in there too, but in most games he ended up being more of a hindrance than a boon and pissing off around turn 2.

A new codex comes around and of course everything changes. Fateweaver is now a shadow of his former greatness, and Horrors and Hounds are bloody brilliant. Admittedly I am playing primarily on a 4'x4' table where the Hounds can get to the enemy easily and the Horrors are usually in range of something. Still, they have been performing brilliantly even under my sub-par generalship.

I'll take you through my 750 point force and then show how I intend to build this up to 1500. Here's the little version:

Chaos Daemons (750)
Karanack (120)
Herald of Tzeentch - Psyker (mastery level 2), Exhalted Locus of Conjuration (95)
17 Horrors (153)
16 Flesh Hounds (256)
4 Nurglings (60)
4 Nurglings (60)

Flesh Hounds now have 2 wounds, which makes them amazingly resilient. OK so they don't have power weapons, but thats not always a bad thing. It means that the unit can remain in combat for the opponents shooting phase against Space Marines. And with S5 on the charge they easily rip holes in any kind of mech with rear armour 10. Oh wait they also have scout! Push them forward 12" after setup and you have one uncomfortable opponent :)
Karanak is a beast (as well as literally). Strength and Toughness 5, and he gives Rage AND Hatred to the flesh hounds. Combine that with the Furious Charge that all Khorne Daemons get and you have one unit that is terrifying on the charge!

Initially I was annoyed that the Horrors had lost their previous Assault 3 ranged attacks. But they have gained a lot in this new incarnation, whilst coming in at HALF the points cost. Using the default Tzeentch power, a unit of 16+ gets 4d6 S5 attacks at 24".

But that is not the full story, you have to add a Herald of Tzeentch to get that. He can bump those attacks up +1S and cast prescience on the unit so they can reroll hits and wounds. He also adds another 2d6 attacks to the units ranged attack, hitting on 3s. Sure you spend on points but I'm pretty sure its worth the pennies.

So last of all I have the poor Nurglings, who have picked up Shrouded but lost Eternal Warrior. Pretty much unchanged in effectiveness. I usually keep them in reserve, and deep strike them in to contest objectives, or tie up enemy shooting units. They work OK.

Chaos Daemons (1500)
Karanack (120)
Herald of Khorne - Greater Reward, Exalted Locus of Wrath, Juggernaut of Khorne (145)
Herald of Tzeentch - Psyker (mastery level 3), Exhalted Locus of Conjuration (120)
Herald of Tzeentch - Psyker (mastery level 3), Exhalted Locus of Conjuration (120)
20 Horrors (180)
20 Horrors (180)
16 Flesh Hounds (256)
16 Flesh Hounds (256)
4 Nurglings (60)
4 Nurglings (60)

So this is roughly how I imagine the list will scale to 1500 points. Two big units of Horrors blasting out S6 shots to anyone who comes near. Two big units of Flesh Hounds marching forward to threaten the enemy battleline. The Herald of Khorne is a poor mans Karanak, giving Hatred but not Rage. At least he brings some AP2 to the party.

Reinforcements - Send In The Dogs!

noreply@blogger.com (Plague Marine) — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 15:00:00 +0000

Told you I was getting back into the swing of things! The paints and brush are back on the table, which is a good feeling. I've been working on a counts-as Khorne Hounds unit for my Rat Daemon army. The above is a unit of 15, which comes in at 225 points of super fast, Grey Knight slaughtering goodness.

I bought a bunch of Chaos Warhounds from the fantasy range, then used green stuff to fill the holes on either side of their head where the horns are supposed to go. That turned out to be rather easy as the scuplting tool could just follow the lines of the hair to either side.

Here they are a little closer. These photos were taken with my new iPhone 5 and it is way better at photographing miniatures that the 4. I'll bring the rest of the rats home from work and take some nice closeup pics of the army very soon.

The dogs will let me run my Daemons at 750 points without Fateweaver, using a list like this:

Herald of Tzeentch - Daemonic Gaze, Bolt of Tzeentch 80
8 Horrors - Bolt of Tzeentch, The Changeling 151
5 Horrors - Bolt of Tzeentch 95
5 Horrors - Bolt of Tzeentch 95
8 Nurglings - 104
15 Flesh Hounds 225
750 points

Wednesday Warriors at Good Games Melbourne

noreply@blogger.com (Plague Marine) — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 15:00:00 +0000

Name: Wednesday Warriors
Location: Good Games Melbourne (365 Lonsdale St, Melbourne)
Time: 12pm-1:30pm every Wednesday
Cost: Free
Army Size: 750 points

Let me introduce to you Wednesday Warriors, a lunchtime 40k meetup in Melbourne CBD. For all of you who aren't getting enough 40k in your week, this is an opportunity to squeeze in an extra game without impacting on your busy schedule.

If you are unfamiliar with the Good Games venue, let me assure you that it is excellent for our purposes. It's in the heart of the city, spacious, quite empty at lunchtime, and has 6'x4' boards with plenty of terrain - enough for 4-5 tables I reckon. Most importantly, the staff are always friendly and relaxed I spoke to the owner and he was happy to have us use the space.

It's all very casual, just rock up with an army and find an opponent, or organise matchup on WAU to ensure a game. Or just come down to talk some 40k strategy and watch the pretty figurines fight.

The default game format is at 750 points with a modified force org of 1 HQ, 2-4 Troops, and 0-2 Elites/Fast Attack/Heavy Support. Defence Lines and Bastions only are allowed for Fortifications. Allies are not allowed. Missions are determined randomly from the book, but use 3 objectives rather than D3+2. Warlord traits are in, but mysterious terrain and objectives are out for simplicity.

Of course if you and your opponent agree you can play anything you like. These guidelines are intended to make it easy to quickly organise a game, and for those games to run in a short period of time.

Battle Bunker Joel and I have given the format a test run and took about 75 minutes from setting up the board to packing away (That was with armies of average size, not Orks or Guard). If you can take the occasional long lunch then why not come down and join us any Wednesday.

Please post on the WargamerAU thread if you are coming down or have any questions...

Get Ready For Some Blogging Action!

noreply@blogger.com (Plague Marine) — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 15:00:00 +0000

Hello loyal readers... well those I still have :) After writing a post a week pretty consistently over the last two years, I have been on a bit of a blogging holiday over the last few months. Its pretty standard as a gamer to hit a lull in one part of the hobby, and I've gone from checking my blog hits daily to not even logging on to blogger in the last four weeks. Of course you can't keep a good gamer down, and I have been busy playing a bunch of great board games and obsessing over the Netrunner LCG.

Do not panic however, because I write to you now reinvigorated with blogging energy. As discussed I am looking into starting a new 40k meet in the city of Melbourne. This is ready to kick off, and I will dedicate a post to it very shortly. I also need to continue my articles on Tau in 6th edition, as delayed as they are. And expect further 40k podcast reviews as required.

But apart from that, you can look forward to a series of articles within which I will review the board games that I have been purchasing and playing. I spend a lot of time researching reviews on the newest games to find the perfect games to spend my hard-earned money on, so most games that I do purchase are full of awesome.

And I might write something about Netrunner sometimes. Occasionally. But I will show restraint with this, because I don't want this blog to degenerate into a card games fan site :)

Silent Blog, Not Wholly 40k

noreply@blogger.com (Plague Marine) — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 15:00:00 +0000

Pardon the weak pun in the title

Sigh. I hate starting my posts by apologising, but its been over a month since my last post so I guess I am a little bit sorry :) So why haven't I been posting? Well I haven't played a game of 40k in months with no sign of the drought ending any time soon. And after working hard painting my Russian Imperial Guard I lost traction on that project. Haven't painted a Space Marine in a couple of months. Hey at least I have picked up the 6th edition rulebook.

So what I have been doing? Playing Android:Netrunner, deckbuilding Netrunner, browsing Netrunner forums and resisting starting a Netrunner blog. I absolutely love this game, the latest LCG from Fantasy Flight. But I've in general avoided posting about it here as this has always been primarily a wargaming blog, and I don't want to spam you all with off topic card game crap :)

That said, I am getting the 40k itch again. I want to play 6th edition games with my Crimson Fists! As a father of two I struggle to find the energy to organise a new playgroup and get out there. I guess I am going to have to make time for it.

One thing I've been considering is starting a 750 point league at Good Games Melbourne on Wednesdays. I actually love playing at this points level because you have to think on your feet and cool stuff happens. Perhaps I'll get that off the ground in the new year.

Otherwise I have recently bought a couple of good board games so I could post reviews of those. I'll also post a toolbox Space Marine list I have been working on recently. Perhaps I'll get some painting done over the summer holidays and have some pretty pics to post!

Anyway, Merry Christmas to all my loyal readers and I hope you have a happy year of gaming to come in 2013.

Resurrecting my Plague Marines III: Army Lists

noreply@blogger.com (Plague Marine) — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 15:00:00 +0000

I'll tell you what; building armies with this new codex is a refreshing change - there are plenty of options! Here is something I am confident I would love to play.

Horde of Typhus (2000ish points)

Typhus
Chaos Sorcerer - Mark of Nurgle
8 Plague Marines - 2 melta, combi-melta, power fist
5-7 Plague Marines - 2 plasma
Rhino - havok launcher
5-7 Plague Marines - 2 plasma

Rhino - havok launcher

20-30 Plague Zombies
20-30 Plague Zombies
Hellbrute - auto cannon, heavy flamer
Land Raider - dozen blade
Vindicator- daemonic possession
3 Obliterators - Mark of Nurgle

Typhus unlocks Plague Zombies and upgrades Plague Marines to troops. He sits at the very heart of this army. Also he has an awesome AP 2 large blast attack in close combat, and rocks a bunch of cool psychic powers I'm sure.

Of course to fully utilize this powerhouse of death I need I get him into close combat, and nothing says "close combat delivery system" like a Land Raider. The Chaos Land Raider is the awesome because it had a dozen blade so rarely immobilises itself. It's either the Raider, or buy another box of terminators to serve as Ty's bodyguard.

The rest of the army is just the stuff that I already own. I should make another Obliterator though; that is lots of fun. These models were bought during 5th edition, but my general impression of 6th edition is that any well thought out army can do well. I'm especially intrigued by the Vindicator, given the improvements to blast weapons vs vehicles, and the decrease in melta.

I'm sure I'm missing a few upgrades etc. as I don't have the codex yet. I know dirge casters are cool, and I think there is something that makes the havok launcher better?

Shopping List

So what do I need to purchase to make this force a reality? And in fact to get my 6th edition career off the ground?

40-50 preloved Zombies - $70
1 preloved Land Raider - $50
1 mini rulebook - $40
1 CSM codex - $70
Transport Foam - $40
Total - $260 (Note: all prices in Australian dollars)

Ouch and meh. Jeez this game is expensive even when you are as cheap arsed as I am. Also the above assumes that I scratch build Typhus. Otherwise, I'll need to find another $35.

Update: Managed to build only 16 Zombies with a strong lack of right arms. And bought a mini rulebook off WargamerAU for $25... On my way...

Resurrecting my Plague Marines II: The Unpainted

noreply@blogger.com (Plague Marine) — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 00:26:00 +0000

Following on from my previous post, here I am going to go through my unpainted / unassembled Chaos Space Marine models. These forces have been gathered from bargain purchases off Wargamer AU in the four years since I built the original army. These reserves have been patiently awaiting their chance to be unleashed on unsuspecting enemies and spread a little pestilence.

In general I love the assembly and modelling part of the hobby, but the level of detail I have gone to in this army makes some of the tasks a little onerous. Still with a new codex (well I don't actually have the codex but its starting to look like I'll have to pick it up) one can find the patience and energy to do what has to be done :)

Looks like I have another 10 vanilla Chaos Space Marine models, ready for conversion into Plague Marines. As this process takes me about 2 hours per model, I hope to avoid this whenever I can, in all honesty :)

Possessed Chaos Space Marines. I lost the fifth after leaving it behind after a game. I look upon these as a bits factory - I want to use their awesomely Chaosy backpacks on my Aspiring Champions and other characters. Some of those hands will make great power claws or even counts as lightning claws? There are many possibilities.

Zombies!!!! Rawr. Looks like I have 20 or so. Not enough, sadly, if I want to run a couple of units of 35... which I do! But I have lots of Cadian Imperial Guard bits as well which I will probably kitbash them with. Perhaps I can dig up a few more suitable zombie heads and do a bit of green stuff magic to spin these out to 30, but I will still want more. I've been thinking that a few zombies draped over my Rhinos and vehicles might also be "attractive".

Enough bits to make 3 Chaos Terminators; or 2 Obliterators and a scratch-built Typhus? More likely!

Here is a second Rhino all blinged up and ready for an undercoat, with those distinctive doorway arches. Oh wait a second, it needs a green stuff sliming first. I guess the gunner also needs a Plague Marine head - I'd better get the guitar wire out. *sigh*

There is something about Vindicators that just screams to me "put one in your Death Guard army". I think its the short range and tough looking seige shield. This model was purcased very cheaply - with good reason! The seige shield was very difficult to attach and a few bits are missing, but nothing that can't be fixed with a little Nurglification.

Chaos vehicle bits that I can use to pretty up the Vindicator.

What a horrifying apparition. Up there in the list of most ugly Games Workshop models of all time, its the hideous yet strangely compelling Chaos "Hellbrute". Luckily for you the undercoat makes it difficult to make out the details in the picture above. He's armed with a chain flail I guess. Don't worry, I have the missing foot!

Resurrecting my Plague Marines I: The Painted

noreply@blogger.com (Plague Marine) — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 15:00:00 +0000

Well, well, well. A new Chaos Space Marines codex sees the light of days. Four years ago (or something to that effect) I was just getting back into 40k. I had harboured a fondness for the followers of Nurgle for a long time, and made the commitment to start a Nurgle army. My idea was to theme the force around a Chaos Sorcerer and his immediate retinue, supported by a horde of plague animate zombies brought back to life by the Sorcerer's will.

By the time I had got my shit together and bought a couple of CSM boxes, the new simplified codex wa released and my plans were in tatters. The best they could do was vary my zombies as Lesser Daemons, which didn't really work thematically. They (and my chaos lord) didn't have Feel No Pain damn it! I love my FNP. I built that force up to around 1200 points, before my "el cheapo" Crimson Fists force started to dominate my hobby time.

But now the time of the zombie is at hand, and I find myself digging up my old minis and reconsidering their potential in the light of the new codex. I've photographed everything in stock to share with you the reader. In this article i'll go though all the painted minis.the next article in this series will cover the unpainted and unassembled forces I have managed to gather. In the final article I will consider future purchases to round out my force, and post a couple of potential lists covering both my current army and potential future builds.

As always, apologies for my appalling photography - although I suspect that it is getting better. In reality these models look grimey with a contrasting slick shines slime effect. It doesn't come out right in the photos.

Starting off I have 14 plain old Plague Marines, armed with a variety of weapons including bolters, bolt pistols, swords and knives. Each of these models takes me a long time to build, with guitar wire and lots of battle damage - usually about 2 hours each! I have also worked to ensure that each model has a unique pose. Some of them have a great, natural looking dynamic pose, others are more average, but overall I am very happy with the core of my forces.

Accompanying the above we have Plague Marines equipped with the latest in special weapon technology: 2 flamers, 4 plasma and 2 meltas.

To lead my marines I have a couple of Aspiring Champions. They are both armed with power fists, but neither are awesomely posed. Not sure what the optimum armament is in this edition, it will require further study :) I have some Possessed bits that could be used to fancy them up.

My Chaos Lord with a Plague Reaper daemon weapon. The weapon fell off, but apparently thats OK because he can't take the reaper anymore :( Lords are nice, but Typhus is crying out to be taken with his new awesome rules. Perhaps this guy is destined for a Chaos Sorcerer conversion?

My custom built Nurgle Obliterators. I love these guys - they look way more awesome than the picture lets on. And now we actually have rules for marking Oblits, so T5 will take care of being doubled out by nasty lascannons.

Plague Marines love a ride as much as the next marine, and this pimped out Rhino is all ready to do the job. I love the spray paint effect applied to the log on the door. Just not sure here to put the combi weapons - are they even still allowed?

Everyone loves a "Hellbrute", and here is one I prepared earlier. Armed with an autocannon which I believe is the business in the edition :) Now won't destroy your own vehicles, so what's not to love?

Finally, I have a couple of zombie objectives that do a good enough job of being objectivey. Not sure if they will be appropriate however if I add actual Plague Zombies to the army, as there might be some confusion.

Android: Netrunner Initial Thoughts

noreply@blogger.com (Plague Marine) — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 16:00:00 +0000

It finally arrived! I walked into Good Games Melbourne during lunchtime on Tuesday. Looking around and lo and behold - a bunch of large brown boxes labelled Fantasy Flight Games. The first had something about Star Wars minis, so I threw it aside. But there underneath was what I have been waiting for all these weeks, "Android: Netrunner" in bold print.

From there it was easy. I grabbed the guy from behind the counter and forced him to open the boxes. I then waited patiently whilst he called his boss for a retail price. $55 later, and the box was mine. I think I was probably the first person in Melbourne to own a box.

Getting back to the office I assembled a couple of the basic decks (Shaper vs Weyland) and played for 10 minutes with a coworker. I taught him as we played, which I found extremely easy to do. This game just flows naturally, and I just love the way that the cards in front of you become servers you are protecting. The theme is deeply entwined with the mechanics. And the art it right up my alley.

Guess I'd better list the things I don't like, which are all minor.

These cards are very thin. I was nervous touching them without sleeves as they seem easy to scuff or bend. Sleeves are a must!
Some of the corners were not cut as smoothly as I would have expected.
I don't really like all the different counters they provide. Would have preferred one simple token that can then be used for all requirements. Personal taste!

Since then I've built myself a couple of decks and played a few games. Both decks are capable of winning and have done so twice. I have chosen the consummate data thief Gabriel Santiago as my first runner. I like the criminal cards like Sneakdoor Beta and Inside Job which let you apply pressure to the Corp from the first round. As a Corp I went for NBN, which has great ability to tag the runner, but at the cost of a weaker economy than most Corps. Splashed with Scorched Earth of course. I also have lots of cards to advance, and some advancement tricks.

For those of you interested, here they are. I have also posted these on Boardgame Geek, here and here.

Gabriel Deck

1 Aurora

1 Ninja

1 Mimic

1 Gordian Blade

1 Corroder

1 Yog.0

2 Sneakdoor Beta (want 3)

3 Special Orders

3 Sure Gamble

3 Easy Mark

2 Stimhack

3 Inside Job

3 Forged Activation Orders

3 Infiltration

2 Account Syphon (want 3)

3 Armitage Codebusting

2 Crash Space (want 3)

2 Decoy

2 Sacrificial Construct

2 Bank Job

1 Lemuria Codecracker

1 Desperado

2 Data Suckers

NBN Deck (49 Cards)

3 Tollbooth

3 Wall of Static

3 Enigma

3 Ice Wall

3 Matrix Analyser

2 Data Raven

3 Private Security Force

3 Priority Requisition

2 Breaking News (want 3)

2 Astroscript Pilot Program (want 3)

2 Anonymous Tip (want 3)

2 Psychographics (want 3)

2 Closed Accounts

2 Aggressive Negotiation

2 Scorched Earth

2 Shipment from Kaguya

3 Hedge Fund

2 Red Herrings

2 Ghost Branch

1 Melange Mining Corp

2 PAD Campaign

Android: Netrunner: The Eternal Wait

noreply@blogger.com (Plague Marine) — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 16:00:00 +0000

You know that unhealthy feeling when you start to get obsessed with a game? Spending all your waking hours:

writing army lists / deck lists
cycling repeatedly through every related web forum, waiting for new posts
studying spoilers to memorise stats
talking about it to people who don't care...

Well I got it bad for Android:Netrunner - and I don't even have the game yet! I have been walking to my FLGS each day at lunch, and asking the same question - "Netrunner?". The answer is invariably no, but the exercise is good for me. Just recently the answer changed to something like "We expect the ship in Sydney any day now", then "The boxes are in customs", all the way to "In a trunk on the way to our warehouse and should be in tomorrow" (that was today). I wrote a haiku to capture my frustration:

Still no Netrunner

Its always due "tomorrow"

Cry virtual tears

I really can't wait to get my hands on this :) If you don't know what I'm talking about read my preview article. In the meantime I have been devouring all the related content on the web that I can. Here are some useful online links that will be of value if you want to learn more about this awesome game:

a really enthusiastic review
the Board Game Geek forums
the Fantasy Flight forums
the Fantasy Flight news rss (add to your blog reader)
the Card Game DB card search engine
the Card Game DB deck builder

That's all for now, hopefully in a few hours I will be drooling over my freshly unpacked cards and giving them a run against the boys at work.

Tau in 6th Ed: Crisis Suits (POST FAQ!)

noreply@blogger.com (Plague Marine) — Sun, 23 Sep 2012 12:19:00 +0000

I dropped an article one week ago going through the Tau crisis suit armoury options and unit configuration options in detail. Then, after all this hard work, Games Workshop release their now famous Warhammer 40k 6.1 Ed FAQs, screwing up several of my analyses and ruining a couple of tactical options that I was looking forward to trying out on the table.

However I can't complain because (A) they at least reinstated target locks to their former glory, and (B) these FAQs are fair, balanced, and the best thing to happen to 40k since, um ... OK I dunno. Maybe the Ork codex. Whatever, choose something that you liked. So instead here is the revised version, with original text scored out when no longer applicable, and new coolness added.

Oh yeah, not relevant to this article but disruption pods now give shrouding! Thats a 3+ cover save for all Tau vehicles which have 25% cover. Just saying :)
Armoury

Airbursting fragmentation projector: At first glance this special issue gun, which ignores cover, might be considered weaker in an edition without the ubiquitous 4+ cover save. But you shouldn't forget that night fight, defensive grenades and jink saves all both provide cover that this can ignore. There is a special rule added in the FAQ that makes this gun handy to have around at times - Barrage. In 6th edition this means that wounds must be allocated to the model closest to the center of the template until that model is dead. You can use it to snipe out a special model from a squad, though. Its unintuitive, but if you get 6 models under the large blast template then that is 6 wounds on the model you have targeted. Pity that Look Out Sir prevents you from killing special characters this way. (GREAT)

Blacksun filter: Whereas it used to double your vision distance at night, now it grants the Night Vision special rule. This is awesome because it means you ignore night fighting restrictions entirely! But the fun doesn't stop there, because this special rule is conveyed to the unit if any members have it! Now for the price of 3 points we can ignore night fighting, a rule that occurs in 50% of all turn ones in 6th edition and might continue further on occasion. This is mandatory. (GREAT)

Bonding knife: I could never quite find the points for this in 5th edition. Now that units only loose the change to rally (except double ones, I know!) when they fall below 25% size, this is less useful than ever. (BAD)

Burst cannon: This gun benefits from reduced cover saves a little I guess, but not much. Having to be 18" away might seem more dangerous with random charges, but you do get a 2d6" jump move in the assault phase. But like all the Tau S5 weapons it is better in 6th edition because it can glance vehicles to death. (GOOD)

Command and control note: Still useless.

Cyclic ion blaster: It has potential for AP1 which is nice in 6th edition, but its low S means that it is missing out on the benefits of glancing vehicles. There is no reason to take this now. (BAD)
Drone controller: Shield drones are better now because their 4+ invulnerable save will be more useful in 5+ cover. Gun drones are consequentially worse in this area, but those S5 guns can glance now people! So they are still balanced with each other. At first I thought drones might be slightly less useful with the new wound allocation system, because previously I was able to choose where the wounds go: put instant death wounds on drones, AP4 wounds on suits, etc. I don't think these hijinks are going to work as well now... except, did you know that drones take on the unit type of the model with the drone controller? That means that when attached to a character, drones are now characters! So that means they can Look Out, Sir! and issue and accept challenges! Especially great on an Independent Character where they can Look Out, Sir! on a 2+. (GREAT) Scratch that, drones no longer count as characters which is a real shame I tell you. Still, this is more than made up for by the ruling that units like Paladins and Nob Bikers are no longer all character units. (AVERAGE)

Ejection system: Still meh. Try not to die instead. It does protect you from slay the warlord, but hes likely to die next turn anyway. (BAD)

Failsafe detonator: It still blows up and prevents the enemy's pursuit. S8 AP- does as much damage as it did before. (AVERAGE)

Flamer: Better in 6th edition with that overwatch snapshot. But what the hell are you doing getting charged? And bigger units will mean that a small unit with flamers in the back field will make less of an impact. Get a real gun. (AVERAGE)

Fusion Blaster: Tau never needed melta to kill tanks, and with hull points and S5 spam it's easier than ever. Now there is no reason to venture anywhere near 12" from the enemy. (POOR)

Iridium armour plates: Did somebody say 2+ save? This guy is going to be at the front of your suit unit, taking all the fire and shrugging it off. Look Out, Sir! the AP1 and 2 stuff to those nearby shield drones and you should be OK. Hey look at the drawback: the additional 6" move in the Assault phase is reduced to D6". Well there ain't no 6" move any more, its 2D6". Guess that means that this just got awesome! (GREAT) Damn it they killed this one before it had a chance to fly. The item has been reworded to replace the usual 2d6 roll for movement with a d6 roll. No as good now, though still situationally useful. (AVERAGE)

Missile pod: It was the gun de jour in 5th edition, and that's not about to change. Medium strength high rate of fire is great for glancing tanks to death, and I am really liking the twin-linked option to help out against fliers. The 36" range works great with blacksun filters as we will always get to use it to its full potential. (GREAT)

Plasma rifle: I heard a rumour that plasma is the new melta. Other armies are switching to plasma to deal with 2+ saves, now that their close combat weapons have been neutered. But Tau always had to do this anyway, so no change there. Being able to glance vehicles to death is nice. Getting +1 on the damage chart will only occasionally have an impact. (GREAT)

Positional relay: The positional relay lets you bring one unit in from reserves on a 2+ - but now units come on with a 3+ anyway, so its not so useful for that. As for playing Ninja Tau and keeping the majority of your force off the table until turn 5, that isn't going to work anymore as you are only allowed to place half your army in reserves. Leave it at home. (BAD)

Shield generator: A 4+ invulnerable save is better now with less cover around. But its still not worth giving up a weapons slot. Take a gun drone. (BAD)

Stimulant injector: In 5th edition I used to find this almost overkill, as usually when my Sash'o dies it was in spectacular fashion underneath a thunderhammer or similar. Now that characters can take point and absorb all the wounds for a unit, this is a bargain at the price. (GREAT)

Target Lock: For some unfathomable reason the Games Workshop Tau Codex FAQ update got 6th edition boldly pronounces "this piece of wargear no longer has any effect". Despite there being rules in 6th edition that explicitly deal with targeting multiple units. This really sucks, is surely and oversight, and needs to be fixed ASAP so that Tau can keep their competitive edge. But then they redeemed themselves in 6.1 edition, reinstating this iconic piece of Tau wargear to its former status.

Targeting Array: Hitting accurately is still good. Pity that this doesn't help with snapshots or it would be awesome. Its good for some weapon configurations. (GOOD)

Vectored Retro-Thrusters: This gives Hit and Run to a special character - which in 6th edition now means he gives it to the whole unit. Survive a round of combat and you are ready jump out and lay down some plasma. (GREAT)

Unit Configuration

6th edition seems to favour bigger units, ideally fronted by an IC with a rerollable 2+ invulnerable. OK we don't have that, but I think we can build a pretty awesome IC-lead large unit with lots of dakka. ~~What really hurts is the loss of target locks, damn you GW! Once they fix that fiasco then Farsight is going to be an enticing options.~~ The other option is to play Farsight, which does become a big points sink but is probably a lot of fun. Not something I have ever done, but with target locks back in play this is something to consider.

Anyway here is my attempt to build the "unkillable" crisis suit unit:

Shas'o - missile pod, plasma rifle, vectored retro-thrusters, hard-wired multitracker, hard-wired blacksun filter, hard-wired drone controller, 2 shield drones, iridium armour, stimulant injectors (185 points)

If we are taking a big unit, then the Ld 10 is going to be mandatory. Shield drones to maximise the effectiveness of their independent character status. Iridium armour and stimlant injectors to shrug off wounds. Black sun filter and retro-thrusters to give the whole unit Nightfighting and Hit and Run.

Shas'ui - Missile pod, airbursting fragmentation projector, multitracker, hard-wired drone controller, 2 gun drones
2 Shas'vre - missile pod, plasma gun, multitracker (206 points)
Not sure about the airburster but it needs testing on the battlefield. It's better here than on the Shas'o, as the bad BS doesn't show so much with template weapons.

Tactics wise, you put the shield drones up the front and/or sides as required, using 2+ 4+ "Look Out, Sir" rolls to distribute wounds throughout the unit. Those sheild drones rock a 2+ save from the Iridium Armour. As they die off the Shas'o moves to the front and takes over.

40k Rulebook and Codex FAQs Summarised

noreply@blogger.com (Plague Marine) — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 12:18:00 +0000

This is just me copying and pasting the interesting looking entries from each FAQ, without large amounts of thought. It the ruling was obvious to me I didn't bother. Take it for what it is.

My general impression is "well done', this is a positive and well thought out update, something that we all wished for I'm sure. Some of the cheesiness of 6th edition has been toned down - Fateweaver, Tau drone characters - leaving Flyers at the top of the cheese mountain.

You can find all the FAQs on the Games Workshop site.

Main Rulebook

Page 35 – Special Rules, Feel No Pain.

Add the following paragraph “If one or more models in a unit have the Feel No Pain special rule then the Mixed Saves method of Wound allocation should always be used for allocating Wounds and removing casualties from that unit; Feel No Pain rolls should be individually made after each failed armour save.”

Page 49 – Flying Monstrous Creatures, Grounded Tests. Change the second sentence of the third paragraph to read “A Grounded Flying Monstrous Creature is treated as if it is in Glide mode with immediate effect, and can therefore be targeted normally and charged in the following Assault phase. Furthermore, the model automatically loses the Jink special rule (if it had it), but can otherwise revert to Swoop mode again in its next turn.”

Page 83 – Skimmers, Special Rules.

Change this sentence to “Skimmers that are not also Heavy Vehicles have the Jink special rule”.

Q: Can a character make a Look out, Sir attempt to pass a Wound from an overheating Gets Hot weapon onto another member of his squad? (p16)

A: No.

Q: Can you use a witchfire power when resolving Overwatch? (p21) A: No.

Q: Can the Feel No Pain special rule be used to resist a Wound suffered from the Perils of the Warp? (p35)

A: Yes.

Q: If a model has the Eternal Warrior and Feel No Pain special rules, can it still make Feel No Pain rolls against Wounds that inflict Instant Death (Eternal Warrior states that the model is immune to the effects of Instant Death, after all)? (p35)

A: No.

Q: The rulebook states "A unit that makes a Scout redeployment cannot charge in the first turn." Does this mean that if your opponent has the first turn and you go second, your Scouting unit can charge? (p41)

A: Yes.

Q: The rulebook says that you halve your Attacks characteristic if you perform a Smash attack. However, if a Monstrous Creature has an uneven number of Attacks, (3 for example), but has charged that turn, does it receive the bonus Attack for charging before or after halving its Attacks? (p42)

A: You halve the model’s Attacks characteristic first, then apply any additional modifiers. In the example above, the model would halve its Attacks first (rounding up to 2), then receive a bonus Attack for charging.

Q: Flyers are entitled to choose whether or not to use the Skyfire special rule at the start of each Shooting phase. Can Swooping Flying Monstrous Creatures also do this? (p49)

A: Yes.

Q: Does a Flying Monstrous Creature that arrives via Deep Strike count as arriving in Swoop mode? (p49)

A: Yes.

Q: If a melee weapon ignores armour saves, such as a Tyranid bonesword or Captain Tycho’s Dead Man’s Hand, is it treated as an unusual power weapon and therefore AP3? (p61)

A: No – it ignores armour saves completely.

Q: If the Blood Lance or Jaws of the World Wolf psychic power (or any beam power for that matter) passes through more than one enemy unit, does my opponent get to make a Deny the Witch roll for each unit affected?

A: No. The first unit affected by the psychic power can attempt to Deny the Witch, but if that test is failed, every enemy unit is affected as normal.

Q: Are models free to move underneath Zooming Flyers? (p80)

A: Yes, though enemy models must finish their move at least 1" away from the Flyer’s base.

In my rush to post I missed what was probably the most important of all the new changes. You can no longer use Look Out Sir to redirect wounds to any model in the unit.

Page 16 – Shooting Phase, Look Out, Sir
Change the second sentence of the second bullet point to: “Determine which model in the unit is closest to the character, and resolve the Wound against that model instead.”

Page 26 – Assault phase, Look Out, Sir
Change the fourth sentence of the first paragraph to: “Determine which model in the unit is closest to the character, and resolve the Wound against that model instead.”

Imperial Guard

Page 48 – Leman Russ Battle Tank, Lumbering Behemoth.
Replace this entry with the following: “A Leman Russ follows
the rules for Heavy Vehicles on page 83 of the Warhammer
40,000 rulebook.”

Tau

Page 26 – Battlesuit Armoury, Iridium Armour.
Change the last sentence to read “These increase the model’s
Armour Save to 2+, but the additional 2D6" move in the
Assault phase is reduced to 1D6".

Page 30 – Armoury, Disruption Pod.
Change the last sentence to read “A vehicle with a disruption
pod has the Shrouded special rule against any weapons firing
from more than 12" away.”

Page 28 – Armoury, Target Lock.
Replace this entry with “A model with a target lock can shoot at
a different target to the rest of his unit.”

Q: Can any kind of Tau Drones ever be considered characters? For
example if attached to a character with a Drone Controller? (p31)
A: No.

Space Marines

Nothing of interest

Tyranids

Page 83 – Close Combat Weapon, Lash Whips.
Change the second paragraph to read “Any enemy model that
is in base contact with a Tyranid with one or more lash whips at
the beginning of the Fight sub-phase counts their Initiative
value as 1 until the end of the Assault phase, regardless of their
actual Initiative.”

Space Wolves

Page 83 – HQ, Bjorn the Fell-handed, Unit Type.
Change unit type to Walker (Character).

Page 83 – HQ, Bjorn the Fell-handed, Hull Points.
Add a Hull Points value of 3.

Q: If Logan Grimnar chooses to wield the Axe Morkai in one hand,
does it count as a frost blade (as mentioned in the special rule) or a
frost axe (as implied by the weapon’s name and the model itself)? (p56)
A: A frost blade.

Q: Can I attempt to use a Rune Priest’s runic weapon, a Wolf Tail
Talisman and make a Deny the Witch roll to nullify an enemy psychic
power?
A: No. You can only make a single attempt to prevent an
enemy psychic power, so choose your method carefully.

Orks

Page 58 – Ghazghkull Thraka, Prophet of the Waaagh!
Change the third paragraph to read “Furthermore, for the
duration of the Waaagh!, all friendly Ork Infantry units
automatically count as rolling a 6 if they Run, and models with
the Slow and Purposeful special rule exchange it for Relentless
instead. All non-fleeing friendly Ork units become Fearless for
the duration of the Waaagh!”.

Q: If a Looted Wagon fails its Don’t Press Dat roll it must move ‘as far
as possible’. Does this mean it has to move Flat Out? (p54)
A: No.

Sisters of Battle

Nothing to see here.

Necrons

Page 44 – Canoptek Wraiths, Whip Coils.
Change the second paragraph to read “Any enemy model that is
in base contact with a Canoptek Wraith with whip coils at the
beginning of the Fight sub-phase counts their Initiative value as
1 until the end of the Assault phase, regardless of their actual
Initiative.”

Q: Do units hit by lightning as a result of Imotekh’s Lord of the Storm
special rule benefit from the Stealth or Shrouded special rules due to
Night Fighting? (p55).
A: No.

Q: Does a Canoptek Wraith equipped with a particle caster receive
+1 Attack in close combat? (p94)
A: No.
Q: Is there any way to embark back onto a Night Scythe?
A: Yes – follow the rules for Embarking on page 78, treating
the Night Scythe’s base as its Access Point. Note that this is
possible despite the Night Scythe being a Zooming Flyer.

Chaos Daemons

Page 49 – Fateweaver, Oracle of Eternity.
Change the first sentence to read “Because of the incredible
prescience of the Oracle of Tzeentch, Fateweaver and all
friendly units chosen from Codex: Chaos Daemons within 6" reroll
all failed Armour, Invulnerable and Cover saves.”

Page 73 – Daemonic Gifts, Chaos Icon.
Change the second paragraph to read “When a friendly unit
chosen from Codex: Chaos Daemons Deep Strikes within 6" of an
Icon of Chaos, it does not roll for scatter, provided that the
icon was on the table from the beginning of the turn and has
not arrived from Reserve in the same turn.”

Page 74 – Gifts of Tzeentch, Soul Devourer.
Replace the second, third and fourth sentences with the
following profile:
Range S AP Type
Soul Devourer - User 3 Melee,
Soul Devour

Dark Angels
Chaos Space Marines

Didn't bother to read - new Codex coming soon

Blood Angels

Q: What Mastery Level is Mephiston? (pg 47)
A: Mastery Level 3.

Eldar

Page 44 – Vehicle Upgrades, Star Engines.
Replace the second sentence with “It may move up to 24" when
moving Flat Out instead of the normal 18" for a Fast Skimmer”.

Page 49 – Shadowseer, Veil of Tears.
Replace the entire entry with “The Shadowseer and her unit
have the Stealth and Shrouded special rules”.

Page 57 – Fuegan, The Fire Axe.
Replace the last sentence with the following profile:
Range S AP Type
- +1 2 Melee, Smash

Q: Are the effects of the multiple Runes of Warding cumulative (i.e. two
Runes of Warding in range would cause the character to roll 4D6 when
taking psychic tests)? (p26)
A: No.

Q: Do Dark Eldar allies count as Eldar for the Farseer psychic
powers Fortune and Guide? (p28)
A: No.

Q: If I have the classic Howling Banshee Exarch model with a power
axe, does she strike at Initiative 1 (for Unwieldy) or Initiative 10 (for
the Banshee Mask)? (p31)
A: Neither. Treat the axe as a stylised executioner for +10
points.

Dark Eldar

Page 58 – Dark Eldar Wargear, Huskblade.
Change the last sentence to read “A huskblade is an AP2 melee
weapon with the Instant Death special rule.”

Q: Can a Helliarch’s stun claw be used to ‘snatch’ enemy Independent
Characters who are involved in a challenge? (p28)
A: No.

Q: When allocating Wounds caused by a unit of Reaver Jetbikes
making a bladevanes, cluster caltrops and / or grav-talon attack, from
which direction is the attack considered to have originated? (p29)
A: Allocate hits from these using Random Allocation.

Q: Does Baron Sathonyx’ Custom Skyboard add +2 Strength to his
Hammer of Wrath attacks? (p48)
A: Yes.

Black Templars

Q: Must the ‘Consolidate move’ towards the enemy for Righteous Zeal
be made in full? (p23)
A: Yes.
Q: Is the Abhor the Witch, Destroy the Witch vow taken instead of
normal Deny the Witch rolls? (p25)
A: Yes.

Review: 28mm Russian Heads from West Wind Productions

noreply@blogger.com (Plague Marine) — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 16:00:00 +0000

I'm building a WWII Russian themed Imperial Guard Armoured Company. Its taking me a while, but one of the blockers has just been overcome - my Russian heads from West Wind Productions have finally arrived. West Wind have a line they call their Separate Heads System, where most of the heads they make for 28mm lines are available separately.

Firstly, let me complain about how long these tool to arrive. They took a LONG TIME. Checking my emails, I put my order in on 23rd June and was informed they shipped from the UK on 5th July, two weeks later. They arrived OVER FIVE WEEKS after that, on 10th August. Don't expect swift service here folks.

At least everything arrived as ordered. I ordered 80 heads with helmets and 20 with caps. They come in packets of 20, with four connected to each sprue, cast in white metal. There is also a colourfully illustrated catalogue, that sadly has no pictures. Duh! There aren't any pics online either, I had to go sight unseen and that doesn't help sales folks.

This is what you get in the package.

Here is the contents unpacked.

Here is a comparison of the Russian heads with IG heads.

The heads have a little minor flash and annoying casting line on the top of most helmets. You will need to file them all down. Converting these heads to fit nicely on Imperial Guard torsos is serious modelling work, not for the beginner by any stretch. I suspect that the models these are designed to attach to have a recessed circular hole matching the peg that each head is cast atop of. This would make them very easy to work with. I guess I could have drilled a hole for each, but I would need a drill bit exactly the right size which I don't have available.

So what I did was first grab the head with pliers and twist right-left until the metal fractures. Usually this is at the base of the peg, sometimes closer to where the peg joins with the head. Then if the peg is longer, I used wire cutters to shorten the peg and create an angle so that it fits nicely into the Imperial Guard torso. Then I filed down the peg so that the bottom is flat and the edges sloping in slightly. Finally a dab of superglue and the head is on.

Here are two models with the helmets, one painted and one unpainted.

Overall, the effect is fine and I am happy with this purchase, but I wouldn't recommend it for people without a good chunk of modelling experience. It takes a fair bit of work and patience to get these converted. The faces are OK but nothing special. Some of them look a little distorted but nothing that can't be fixed in the paint job.

Tournament: Judgement Day 7

noreply@blogger.com (Plague Marine) — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 16:30:00 +0000

So I'm back and recovered from a day of 6th edition 40k action at the annual Judgement Day tournament. This 750 point tournament is hosted by the Western Suburbs Wargaming Association, and this was the 7th year of its operation.

I had just finished painting this army the night before. A bunch of rats from the Warhammer box set painted up as Horrors and Nurglings, lead by the big man Kai-rat Fatecheeser himself. The display board was a plate I bought from a $2 store on the way home from work the night before, covered with air-drying clay, and spray painted and dry brushed in the morning. Here's the list:

Fatecheeser
6 Horrors with bolt and icon
5 Horrors with bolt
5 Horrors with bolt
4 Nurglings
4 Nurglings

My Games

The first mission was 3 objectives with Dawn of War deployment (read pitched battle). My opponent was rocking a simple Space Wolves Logan-wing list:

Logan
10 Wolfguard with 5 Terminators, 2 assault cannons
5 Wolfguard with 1 Terminator, cyclone missile launcher

Tough to kill, but not very mobile. Packs a lot of shooting, but Fatecheeser can help me there. I got my preferred wave - actually this happened for every game. Fatecheeser dropped next to the centre objective with a squad of Nurglings, and a squad of Horrors scattered backwards into my deployment zone - right near an objective. They held this for the rest of the game, keeping out of range of my opponents guns. The Nurglings moved forwards to cover Fatecheeser from assault. Shooting was ineffectual.

My opponent shot back and got 20ish wounds on Fatecheeser, but I saved them all - thanks to the Feel No Pain Warlord trait he rolled up! I then proceeded to completely forget for the rest of the game that he only got FNP when within 3" of an objective. 6th edition comes with a lot to remember. In my turn the rest of the army deepstruck in (yay for 3+ reserves) and I flew Fatecheeser and shot the small squad. Managed to kill two, which was enough for them to fail Morale and flee the table.

After that the game degenerated into a brawl as Fatecheeser assaulted the big squad with one Nurgling squad, whislt the other held Logan off for most of the game. Unfortunately I forgot about his ability to turn people within 6" into Chaos Spawn - I would have had 4 goes against Logan's Toughness 4! Unfortunately the game lasted until turn 7, when he finally killed Fatecheeser and the Nurglings, charged forward to the centre and contested that objective, giving us one each. It was a victory to him because he got bonus points for killing my warlord.

Next up was some kind of diagonal deployment, with whatever 6th edition calls kill points as the objective. This time I was facing a balanced Sisters of Battle list:

One sisters squad in a Rhino
Another on foot
Retributors with heavy bolters and a multi-melta
the irrepressible Celestine
a big squad of Serephim

I dropped in and bloody Fatecheeser took a wound from dangerous terrain - at least he hung around. I killed a few sisters in shooting, managing to drop the second wave in the general vicinity of Fatecheeser. More shooting nearly removed one squad of sisters, without me having taken much damage at all in return But then that big wimp Fatecheeser took a wound and ran away screaming, leaving my weak little horrors in the dog poo.

It's real hard for horrors to stand up to any kind of shooting, especially now that they can't go to ground. I'm pretty sure I was tabled. Charging flamers with swarms is not a good idea, I took 6 wounds from one flamer! Then later on facing Seraphim with 4 flamer pistols there was no way I was going to charge that :(

Sorry, no more pics from here...

Sooo two losses but I'm having fun. Next up is the Relic mission, with another kind of deployment that I get to ignore. My opponent had brought a pretty soft Dark Eldar list:

Archon
Wyches in a Raider
Warriors with splinter stuff
Trueborn with some gun they never got to use
A Reaver with disintegrators

Fatecheeser and horrors dropped in right on the Relic. One squad of horrors promptly eliminated the Trueborn, who weren't in cover. I was doing well, but Nightshields prevented me from taking shots at the Raider. This cost me as he was able to to get into assault range. But then it all went to hell as Fatecheeser took a wound and stumbled, confused, off the board! I was tabled by turn 5.

The final game was the two objective Capture and Control replacement. My final opponent had brought Orks:

Warboss in mega-armour
Nobs on foot with painboy
12 Boys on foot
3 Kannons
Looted Wagon with Boomgun

I was putting up a good fight, holding up the Nobs and Warboss with Nurglings as I shot happily at Orks. Fatecheeser flew across the table, eventually charging the Kannons and killing a couple of Snotlings - before taking a wound in return and, thats right, flying off the bloody board. Killed by a Snotling. That summarises his performance for the day.

The Tournament

Of course with this being one of the first tournaments to run 6th edition here in Australia, there was a lot of questions in the air about how the new system would run in a tournament environment. The organisers took the angle of keeping it as simple as possible, using rulebook missions and excluding special rules for most of the day. By special rules, that included warlord traits, night fighting, reserves (!), mysterious terrain and mysterious objectives. They also dropped the number of games in the day from 5 to 4. This gave us 1.5 hours, a quarter of an hour more that usual, and that was plenty of time event with me having only learnt the rules from the internet and never having actually put them in practice.

I've been to the last 5 JDs, and this was by far the smallest and most relaxed of those. Numbers were in their mid 30s, rather than the 60 plus that turned up last year. This was obviously caused by a reluctance in the community to jump in to 6th edition. I think a lot of that would be because the mini rulebook has not yet been released - I raised this issue in the wargamerau forums before the event and was assured that it was OK to turn up sans rulebook. Others might not have been willing to do this, and unwilling to shell out the $120 (wtf?) for the rulebook in this country. It didn't really have a negative effect on my experience (nice to have the space really) but I'd like to share the fun with a few more gamers. Next year?

With only 4 games the day ended earlier than expected. Prizes were distributed and I missed out on the wooden spoon, coming 32nd out of 34. Prizes were provided by Bunker Games, who I want to mention here because they seem to have an amazing deal on GW models: 25% off always, plus a 10% cash back kind of thing on top of that, plus other deals on top of that! If I ever buy something new... Usually a large portion of the participants head off the La Porchetta for pizza and 40k discussion. No one seemed up for it this year which was a pity, not the least because I have an unhealthy obsession with pizza.

Here's a few pics of the more eye-catching armies:

Quick Update Before Judgement Day: Army Pic

noreply@blogger.com (Plague Marine) — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 22:30:00 +0000

Well time to jump into the car and head off to Judgement Day once more. Here are the boys all ready for transport. Not really ready for my first 6th edition game...

I'm promise I'll take photos! Tournament report coming.

Netrunner: A Classic CCG is Reborn

noreply@blogger.com (Plague Marine) — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 16:00:00 +0000

Along time ago in 1996, after Magic had created a brand new genre of gaming, a new CCG was popping onto (and often out of) the market every time i visited my local gaming store. One of these, a little game called Netrunner, was written by none other than the creator if Magic himself - Richard Garfield. It was themed on cyberpunk style corporate hacking, and in an original twist it was 2 player asymmetric, with one player taking on the role of the Mega-Corporation, and the other playing the insidious hacker breaking in to the network.

Netrunner was quite a revolutionary game bringing bags of new tech to the SCCG genre. However it also suffered from issues in balance, and it was discontinued relatively quickly. This is one of those games that the players have never let die, and the crew on http://www.netrunneronline.com/ have apparently worked to balance existing cards, as well as release their own virtual expansions online. The game obviously inspires loyalty in its players.

Now the super-awesome news is that Fantasy Flight are releasing Netrunner as an LCG! Actually the full title is "Android: Netrunner", and the game is going to be set in the Android universe, which is apparently a very cool and immersive board game. Seeing the great care that has been paid to the other products in their LCG lines, and the positive reception they have received, I have no doubt that this is going to be a great product, and might even be a game changer in the industry.

That's enough talk. Now sit back and ogle the pretty cards:

Well I don't know about you, but I intend to pick up two of the starter sets as soon as this comes out. I want to get deeply into this game with my wife. We are both big fans of cyberpunk and, as I have never played this before, I am hoping this could be a game that we can geek out over together :)

40k Squeaky Daemons

noreply@blogger.com (Plague Marine) — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 16:30:00 +0000

Kai-Rat Fatecheeser!

I'm going to the Judgement Day 7 tournament on August 4th, less than three weeks from today. They are going to be running 6th edition, of which I have not even seen the rulebook. I'm not going to buy the big rule book (its $120 is Australia!) so I pretty much will have to learn the rules from the internet. That should be fun.

However in order to keep myself on my toes I have decided to build a new army for the event. Its a stupid idea I have been playing with in my head for a while - building a budget Chaos Daemons army using only the skaven models from the Isle of Dread box. My original idea was to model Horrors by taking a basic skaven model and replacing the hand weapons with sculpted flames, so that each rat's hand appears engulfed in fire. The flames would be painted blue/green/yellow to look magicky.

The next logical step is to use the Rat Ogre models as Daemon Princes. Also with their hand on fire to represent the good old Bolt of Change. I had done a couple of test scupts of fire when I was thinking of building a fire themed Ork army, with Wierdboys on fire and Lobbas with flaming ammunition. So I knew it was possible.

I've got a set of moon-themed resin bases that I won at Judgement Day 5, which I am going to use mainly because I have all the right base sizes. My idea in painting them is to keep the colours drab, paint the flames and eyes bright, then have a have a stab at object source lighting. Might not be a good idea to do that in the next three weeks though! I guess they will be lucky to get three colours in the time available.

I have a few more ideas to round out the army. I have some Giant Rats that will work beautifully as Nurgling bases. The LotR Warg models will make a perfect Flesh Hound - everyone needs something to deal with the ubiquitous Grey Knights right? Finally the skaven two-rat special weapons teams should be convertable into Flamers with a little thought.

Thank the lord that Judgement Day aren't requiring list submission before the even. I have a heap of list ideas though I need to settle soon if I am to make sure that everything is painted. I'll leave you for now with the two examples of lists I am thinking of taking:

Squeaky Daemons (750)
Herald of Tzeentch - We are Legion, Master of Sorcery, Bolt of Tzeentch (95)
8 Horrors - Bolt of Change, Changeling (151)
5 Horrors - Bolt of Change (95)
5 Horrors - Bolt of Change (95)
8 Nurglings (104)
Daemon Prince - Mark of Tzeentch, Daemonic Flight, Master of Sorcery, Bolt of Tzeentch (210)

Squeaky Daemons with Cheese (749)
Fateweaver (333)
5 Horrors - Bolt of Change (95)
5 Horrors - Bolt of Change (95)
5 Horrors - Bolt of Change (95)
8 Flesh Hounds - Fury of Khorne (130)

Probability of Failing Charges (including Fleet!)

noreply@blogger.com (Plague Marine) — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 16:00:00 +0000

Sadly with the demise of my local club I haven't been able to get in a game of the new 40k, so I haven't had much to post. I will say that I love most of the changes in theory, except the god-awful wound allocation rules and the game balance fucking of the flier rules. With all the new rules and dice rolling I thought I could help out by calculating the probabilities of a very important new mechanic.

Random charges have got to be up there in the list of most controversial changes in the new edition. Personally I'm on the fence, but then again I only play shooty armies. It's pretty harsh for assaulting armies to fail a charge. The rules now are that units roll 2d6 to determine their charge range (after a 6" move). Saving your jump pack for the assault allows you to reroll the dice. Fleet allows you either reroll both dice or just reroll one of them.

There are two questions to get an understanding of here, be it through intuition or math hammer:

What is the chance of making a charge for a given distance?
When a unit with Fleet fails a charge, when should you choose to reroll only the lowest die?

Well I have all the answers for you!

First of all, this table tells you the chance of failing a charge, both for normal charges and those enhanced by Fleet or jump packs. The Fail Combos column is the number of dice rolls that fail the charge, out of the 36 possible combinations on two dice. Note that in order to achieve the percentages shown in the Fleet column you must know when to reroll the lower die and when to reroll both dice, which I explain below.

Distance	Fail Combos	Normal	Fleet	Jump Pack
3"	1	3%	0%	0%
4"	3	8%	1%	1%
5"	6	17%	3%	3%
6"	10	28%	7%	8%
7"	15	42%	15%	17%
8"	21	58%	28%	34%
9"	26	72%	43%	52%
10"	30	83%	60%	69%
11"	33	92%	73%	84%
12"	35	97%	91%	95%
	Chance of Failing a Charge

So lets have a quick look at this. Only a 28% chance of failing a 6" charge, but up to 58% for an 8% charge. The probabilities shift quickly in the middle of the charge. Interestingly Fleet has a 28% chance of fail at 8" and 60% chance at 10", which suggests you are getting something like a 2" bonus on everyday charges. Lets make that a rule of thumb:

Fleet roughly gives you an extra 2" of charge distance

There is a tonne of information in the above chart and its going to take a while before all this stuff becomes intuitive. Maybe worth printing out a copy for the short term?

Now the second table I have shows some of the the different combinations of dice you can roll on failures, and the probability of failure if you just reroll the lowest die. You need to look at the chance of failure when rerolling one die, and compare it to the chance when rerolling both dice, in order to determine which course of action to take. The Worthwhile column says whether the odds on the single die are better than rerolling both. The Y/N value means that the odds are identical.

Luckily (because there is no mathematical reason for this) the entire table can be summarised into a single rule of thumb:

Reroll the lowest die when the highest die is 4 or higher;

unless it has no chance of success

To be honest I am amazed that so much work and such complexity can be summarised so easily. Amazed - but relieved! Hope this is helpful to you all. As always, I have tried to keep the Mathhammer to a minimum :) For those of you who care, here is the second table. Its an ugly one:

Distance	Low Die	High Die	Combinations	Reroll Fail %	Worthwhile?
5"	1	3	2	17%	Y/N
	1-2	3	4	33%	N
	1-2	2	3	50%	N
6"	1	4	2	17%	Y
	1-2	3	4	33%	N
	1-2	2	3	50%	N
	1	1	1	67%	N
7"	1	5	2	17%	Y
	1-2	4	4	33%	Y
	1-3	3	5	50%	N
	1-2	2	3	67%	N
	1	1	1	83%	N
8"	1	6	2	17%	Y
	1-2	5	4	33%	Y
	1-3	4	6	50%	Y
	1-3	3	5	67%	N
	1-2	2	3	83%	N
9"	1-2	6	4	33%	Y
	1-3	5	6	50%	Y
	1-4	4	7	67%	Y
	1-3	3	5	83%	N
10"	1-3	6	6	50%	Y
	1-4	5	8	67%	Y
	1-4	4	7	83%	Y/N
11"	1-4	6	8	66%	Y
	1-5	5	9	83%	Y
12"	1-5	6	10	83%	Y

Pre-Review: A Game of Thrones LCG

noreply@blogger.com (Plague Marine) — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 16:00:00 +0000

There is a group of people at my work who have been playing games after work on Fridays. I think it all started when I brought in Bang! one day, and since then I have also had success with Carcasonne, Settlers and Battlestar Galactica. Now four of us have put together $15 each to buy the "A Game of Thrones" living card game.

I've always thought that the workplace provides a great environment for getting into a CCG. The reason is that by only playing with participating workmates, you can easily control the available cardpool and this keep costs low. Well an LCG is a little different but I assume the same general principals apply - there is no need to buy all the little expansions when no-one else is either. New cards will come through trading, and buying the occasional expansion to be shared amongst the plaayers.

A Game of Thrones (AGoT) is based on the epic, violent and raunchy fiction of George RR Martin. If you haven't read the books you have probably watched the HBO series. I have only seen the first two episodes, which were great btw, but I read the books 10 years ago and really enjoyed them. The story just keeps getting more and more convoluted.

Fantasy Flight are producing a bunch of these LCGs now, including Warhammer Invasion, Call of Cthulu, Lord of the Rings, and coming up... Star Wars! The idea is that instead of buying CCG boosters by the box until your games room is full of cards you never use that cost a fortune, you spend less money to get complete playsets of the cards, and know in advance what you are getting. Note that you spend a LOT less money, $80 will get me a playset of nearly all the cards I would ever need. I adore this model - if only AEG would get on board and do an LCG for Legend of the Five Rings.

So about the game... well so far I have only played a few faltering rounds at lunch as we learnt the rules, so I'm in no position to properly review it. But I'll go through the basic components and turn sequence to give you a rough idea of the gameplay. Expect a thorough review... well, sometime this year. Maybe.

Components

The box comes with four playable houses; Baratheon, Stark, Lannister and Targaeryn. Each player gets a 45 card main deck and a 7 card plot deck. Competitive main decks are 60 cards minimum but the deck supplied is great value, with lots of powerful cards. Plot decks are always 7 cards, though a few of the cards provided are only useful in multiplayer games (they are still playable 2 player though).

The main decks are constructed from 4 types of cards. Characters should apparently make up 50% of your deck. They are the key to the game as they participate in challenges to hurt your opponents and earn you power. Locations are cards that are harder for your opponent to effect and give their own bonuses, often reducing card costs or adding to your gold pool. Attachments are cards that attach to a character or sometimes location and enhance it. Finally Events are one-time effects that are used when they say and then discarded.

Also included are gold coin tokens and little power tokens that are used to score. Gold tokens provide the resources to bring cards in to play, like mana in magic. Earning 15 power tokens wins you the game. The tokens are good quality and printed on 3mm cardboard.

Finally you get a board which goes in the middle as a place to keep your gold coins and power tokens, which is completely optional. You also get these 6 cute chesslike pieces that each represent a different special role you can take in the multi-player rules. They look awesome but aren't a very important part of the game.

Turn Sequence

You start off with some gold with which you can buy some starting characters. Then the game goes through a series of phases, within which each player participates in turn. This repeats until one player ends the turn with 15 or more power, in which case they win the game.

The Plot phase consists of each player choosing one of their seven plot cards, which are then simultaneously revealed. In addition to any special rules on the card, Plot cards determine the spending gold, play order and damage caused by challenges for each player. This is a unique mechanism that seems to have a lot of depth. I can imagine the choosing the right plot cards might take a lot of iterations. The plot cards that you get in the starting decks are OK, but some are multi-player only and many have no real synergy with the associated deck.

The Draw phase is when you draw two cards. There that was easy.

Players can bring their Characters, Locations and Attachments into play during the Marshalling phase. The player with the highest initiative plot card goes first, then play proceeds clockwise. Most of these cards have a gold cost.

In the Challenge phase players finally get to beat on each other. Challenges consist of groups of characters comparing their total strength with modifiers in order to damage the targeted opponent. There are three very different types of challenge, but really they vary only in who can participate and the type of damage dealt. Successful Military challenges result in the defender having to kill off some of their characters. Losers of an Intrigue challenge must discard a number of cards. A player pulling off a Power challenge gets to appropriate power tokens from the loser.

The Dominance phase lets the player with the most strongest standing (untapped) characters earn a point of power - there are of course cards that can then enhance this gain. This is followed by the Stand phase, where kneeling (tapped) cards stand up ready for another round. Finally the poor players are hit with the Taxation phase, and loose all the gold coins remaining in their gold pool. Nope, gold doesn't hang around from turn to turn so no use hoarding it.

And that is it! So far its taken us ages to play, but that is to be expected. Hopefully the next games will speed up and I can get a taste for how everything meshes together. I'll keep you posted.

Podcast Reviews - Mantic + 40k

noreply@blogger.com (Plague Marine) — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 16:00:00 +0000

I have three new podcasts up for review this week. Interestingly two of them are Mantic related, which has been so rare up until now as to be non-existent.

Before I get into the reviews, just a quick note that The Overlords podcast has finally switched to a biweekly format. This is great news for me, as I had dropped them from my subscription list strictly due to time constraints. They are back on now and I enjoyed hearing those familiar voices.

Table Top Generals (site)

This new podcast is brought to you by the folks from the There Is Only War blog. I happened to be a blog subscriber (one of 50 Followers) so imagine my surprise when this popped up in my blog reader one day. Happy to grab the scoop on another podcast, I navigated over to the site and hit the play button.

My immediate impression was that these guys are on to something. They are well spoken, on-topic and talking about interesting subjects. The inaugural podcast discusses the Warpath system from Mantic Games, which has intrigued me. Then they talk about trouble with Games Workshop, which is close to all our hearts. Lots of honest, no-nonsense discussion that packs a lot into the episode.

The podcast format is simply two friends chatting on the mic about a single topic. They have released three half-hour episodes so far, and are about to set up an iTunes feed so you don't have to stream it from the website (which doesn't work on the iPhone). The production values are fine, I can't help being impressed by the quality of this podcast so early in its life. Can't wait to hear more guys, especially around your Mantic experiences and the transition to 6th edition.

Mantic Podcast (feed site)

You know how valuable information is when it comes straight from the source. Those of us with Games Workshop habits are used to surviving on droplets and trickles that make it through their tightly clasped hands. Mantic have done some great work showing us that mass miniature battles don't need to be done the GW way, and now they have even released their own podcast! Imagine that...

I was pleasantly surprised on hitting play to hear the dulcet tones of none other than Dave Symcox, head host of the 40k UK podcast. He introduced us to the other hosts, including his traditional sidekick Josh who it turns out actually works for Mantic in sales! The third member is Ron, who actually owns Mantic, so we are getting right to the source here folks. Everything flows nicely and the production is top notch.

Turns out Dave wasn't on episode two, but the quality is still there. There is plenty of content in the first two episodes; interviews with game designers, a lot about the upcoming Kings of War hardcover rulebook, some stuff about competitive play, and many tidbits about what is coming next (who are "The Plague?"). We are promised some analysis of different units and tournament tactics which I look forward to. Its very nice and a must-listen for anyone interested in broadening their 40k horizons.

Ohiohammer (feed site)

Apparently the original Ohiohammer podcast has been around for a while covering Warhammer Fantasy. The Second Founding is a recent biweekly offshoot, focused on good ol' 40k. The format consists of a crew of guys (5 I think?) chatting about their hobby progress and a main topic. I haven't heard anything in the way of strategy. They throw in the occasional interview too.

The quality of content is variable; some has been interesting and other parts I find myself skipping. These guys have a very laid back, laconic style which I find almost soporific. This might not be helped by the loud background static, they really need to work on that. It's an OK podcast, though I'm not going to put this on my subscription list. I think they should shorten the episode length and crank up the tempo to add a bit more energy to proceedings.

The M42 Project - A 40k Alternative

noreply@blogger.com (Plague Marine) — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 16:00:00 +0000

I should have posted this a long time ago. I want to bring to the attention of all my readers the brave and original efforts of the crew at the M42 Project. This site is an attempt to build a set of balanced, simple wargaming rules in order to provide a directly competing alternative to the behemoth that is the 40k rulebook.

The site's progenitor is Sandwyrm, one of the contributors to The Back 40k; an excellent 40k blog that I have been following for years. I always liked his content there and so when he dropped the bombshell that he was making a serious attempt to write an alternative rule set for his 40k armies it got me excited. I quickly subscribed to the new blog he set up to document this endeavour.

It started off with a couple of dozen posts, discussing generally what the scope and philosophical grounding of the rules should be - and then went quiet. Ah well, I thought to myself, looks like Sandwyrm has bitten off more that he could chew. But six months later all hell has broken loose.

There is a prolific amount of development going on at the site at the moment, and people are joining in and taking ownership of various parts of the project. Basic rules for movement and combat have been proposed and evolved. Fluff, army lists, project management and some kind of graphic design are all in progress. Anyone can post their own opinions on the rules as they progress. I feel guilty that I haven't directly participated, but hey - at least I'm doing my bit to spread the word :)

With the 6th edition of 40k on the brink if birth its going to be an interesting time for the M42 project. Who knows whether it will lose momentum or get bigger and bigger. Perhaps there will be a pause whilst the new rules are digested, before the needs that caused the launch of M42 resurface. Stay tuned...

Life Sized Space Marine Armour and then some

noreply@blogger.com (Plague Marine) — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 00:54:00 +0000

Sometimes people do amazing things. And then you meet some dude named Thorssoli. This gaming legend has done the most awesome thing that a 40k fanatic could ever do - he's gone and built himself his own full scale Space Marine power armour suit!

Actually he's making a whole bunch of them, even one with a heavy bolter AND the custom backpack. They stand 8' tall for christ's sake! Of course words fail to convey even an ounce of the ability this guy have. Have a look for yourself!

Want the full story? Then do what I have been doing over the past few months - start on page 1 of his forum blog and keep reading.

The Forum

As I am apparently terrible at providing in-depth articles at the moment, I thought I'd try to spam you with a few little things like this until I am inspired to write something with more heft. Anyone else nervous about 6th edition?

List Evolution: Imperial Guard Tank Company: Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Plague Marine) — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 18:00:00 +0000

Having just blogged about my existing projects, I was inspired to revisit my Tank Company and move it forward. From a painting viewpoint it's a relatively easy project. I intend to mainly paint the models with sprays and washes, and won't be too worried about the details.

However I'm theming the army on WWII Russians, so I have acquired some tank rider models to attach to the Russes - probably using magnets. I also intend to replace all the Cadian heads with Russian heads from West Wind Miniatures. Its going to take me a while to get around to ordering those, but meanwhile I can move forward with painting the tanks.

What I'm really happy about is the new list I have come up with. It's always been my goal to squeeze 6 Leman Russ into a 1500 point list. My earlier versions were hampered by trying to include Pask and mechanise the troop selections, reducing me to only 5 Russes which was dissatisfying.

Recently I read a blog post where the writer praised his IG army for not including any AV 12. Just guardsmen and Russes. I liked the idea of denying my opponent an efficient target for his missile spam, so pulled out the old Guard codex and had a go. This is what I've come up with.

Russes and Blobs (1500)
Company Command Squad - standard, officer of the fleet, grenade launchers (100)
Infantry Platoon (200)    Platoon Command - grenade launcher
    2 x 10 Guardsmen - meltagun, lascannon
Infantry Platoon (200)
    Platoon Command - grenade launcher
    2 x 10 Guardsmen - melta gun, lascannon
Leman Russ Squadron (315)
    Battle Tank - heavy flamer
    Battle Tank - lascannon1
Leman Russ Squadron (315)
    Battle Tank - heavy flamer
    Battle Tank - lascannon
Leman Russ Squadron (370)
    Punisher - heavy bolter, heavy bolter sponsons
    Battle Tank - heavy bolter, heavy bolter sponsons

So first of all, YAY! 6 Russes in 1500, with the necessary scoring support and some more anti-tank in there too. Secondly I have ALL the models for this. They are assembled right now (ok, the weapons teams are blue-tacked) and sitting in my IG box ready to throw on the table. Notice how tight I am for points - I'd love to add a few additional special weapons to those command squads.

I've been forced to drop Pask, which is a pity, but I really like the feel of the minimal infantry platoons packed with lascannons. The standard should see them holding their ground from shooting casualties, an they should flee from assault - letting me let loose on the assaulter with battle cannons. The officer of the fleet is there to help cover the weak mobility of this list - outflankers and deep strikers can quickly threaten the tank battle line, when I really want the enemy to match forwards across the table into withering fire.

One alternative would be to add a couple of power swords to one of the blobs, downgrading them to auto-cannons to pay for it. But for now I'll see how I go with the list as is.

Give me another 250 points however, and I can really start covering my weaknesses :)

Russes and Blobs (1745)
Company Command Squad - standard, officer of the fleet, lascannon (115)
Infantry Platoon (325)    Platoon Command - 3 flamers
    10 Guardsmen - meltagun, auto-cannon, power sword, commissar

    2 x 10 Guardsmen - meltagun, auto-cannon, power sword

Infantry Platoon (210)    Platoon Command - 3 grenade launcher
    2 x 10 Guardsmen - melta gun, lascannon
Leman Russ Squadron (315)    Battle Tank - heavy flamer
    Battle Tank - lascannon1
Leman Russ Squadron (315)
    Battle Tank - heavy flamer
    Battle Tank - lascannon
Leman Russ Squadron (465)
    Punisher - Commander Pask, heavy bolter, heavy bolter sponsons, heavy stubber, dozer blade
    Battle Tank - heavy bolter, heavy bolter sponsons

So I've returned to Pask, who is awesome in a Punisher. He makes it a great anti-tank vehicle and makes the heavy stubber a good buy. I've given him a dozer blade to protect my investment, especially as he may want to move forward.

I've upgraded one of the blobs substantially, with an extra squad, power swords and a commissar. As they may want to move (like charging Tau!) I've downgraded the lascannons in this squad to auto-cannons, which saves a few points. With the remaining points I upgraded the armament of the various command squads.

There is one thing I'm unsure of. Is it worth scrimping on points in order to upgrade the Commissar to a Lord Commissar? With a camo cloak he gives the whole blob Stealth which is cheesy but damn good! Still it's a stupid rule and I'm loathe to use it. I'll give the above a go and see what happens...

New and Old Projects

noreply@blogger.com (Plague Marine) — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 18:00:00 +0000

I'm about to start assembling and modeling on a new 40k army, and I'm getting pretty excited about it. This will initially be a 750 point force hopefully ready for this years Judgement Day around August. The great thing about this project is that the total cost of the models is only going to be $30! How is Plague Marine going to perform such a feat? Well there is going to be a lot of sculpting involved; by the end of this I should be a master a sculpting flames and painting object source lighting. That's all I'm going to say for now, but you should see more once I complete a test model.

Anyway this lead me to sit back for a second and ask the question: exactly how many projects am i juggling at the moment?

Travel 40k - Eldar army - ready to assemble
40k - Adding models for a 3000 point Black Templars Deep Strike army - 10%
40k - Space Marine bike army - 40%
40k - Imperial Guard Armoured Company - 30%
40k - Rifleman Dreadnoughts - 80%
40k - Deathwing army - 70%
40k - Adding models for 1500 point Plague Marine army - 50%
40k - Draigo Wing - I give up, it's too hard to magnetise
FoW - British Parachute Company - 90%
FoW - German Panzerregiment - ready to paint

Note that all the loyalist marine projects are really Crimson Fists :)

Well that's not too bad. 8 projects in various stages, plus one abandoned. I've been in worse situations. Lets see how many I get done eh?

Good luck completing all your projects readers!

WIP "Young Helbrecht" Sneek Peek

noreply@blogger.com (Plague Marine) — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 18:00:00 +0000

For an upcoming campaign, I'm painting and adding new models to my Crimson Fists army so that I can play a 3000 point all deep strike list.

I'm going to need a Helbrecht counts - as; and it just so happens that I have his headless body, with distinctive back-slung combi-melta, lying in my bits box from. Well that made this project easy. I had to cover his bionic arm with green stuff as he hasn't lost it yet - that happens at the culmination of the campaign!.

The final touch really glams up the model. There were a bunch of cherub-held cloaks in the bits box at Battle Bunker so I grabbed one. I think it makes him look cool.

The other character I needed to build for that 3000 pt list was an Emperor's Champion. I didn't want him to look fancy as usually he is just one of the battle brothers. So I gave him a wreath (hard to see in this picture), a spikey bit, and he is looking up at his sword. Nothing Fancy. I wonder if he would look better with a shield?