40k Expansions - Planetary Empires

Morning all,

Been a few days without a blog post over a long weekend, so I thought I'd chip in with some of the projects I'd been doing over the past few weeks, the first one being Planetary Empires.

For the last few months I've been getting a bit lothargic with 40k, so I've tried swapping things around, using different armies, builds etc. and trying to play around the 1500pt mark, as I find it much more challenging to design good lists for and also means I can get a game done in a decent amount of time.

One of the other things I've been wanting to do, is collect all of the 40K expansions available and start using them more in games, as opposed to the "Bring a list and roll from the rulebook"

So I started last month by picking up Planetary Empires, to see if we can get a campaign going over the remainder of the year, in between people's practice for numerous tournaments.

The rules are what they are - a quick and dirty set of rules designed to be added onto, or spiced up by a Games Master. I like the plastic tiles and components, they're just an absolute nightmare to clean up all the flash on. It took me practically a full day on and off, to get rid of the majority of it all from the 90 odd flags the set gives you.

So yeah, hopefully I can get them painted up this month and make a start on a campaign in the near future.

Next up on my expansion hitlist is Apocalypse and Apocalypse Reloaded (along with an accompanying Imperial superheavy).

Peace,
SB

[WHFB] Second game of 8th Ed

Morning all,

Been a few days without a post as I've been too busy in my usual blogging time with work related such and such. However on Monday night, I got to play another game of 8th Edition v Col. Straken's Beastmen army.

 
I can't remember most of what went on, so my main point is to summise a bit more of what I'm learning with 8th Edition and also, see if I'm doing anything wrong and people want to point it out to me - nothing worse than spending months learning a game, to realise you've learnt an incorrect ruling or such.

First off, the 2D6" charge distances are becoming a bit of a bug bear for me. I'm all for the sense of "random factor" involved with it, but personally I find 2D6" distance for infantry to be huge. As an example, the Beastmen are M5 which gives them a charge distance of between 7" and 17". This compared to 7th edition where charges were around the 8" mark... maybe it's just me being stuck in my ways. Personally I'd prefer it if Infantry were to roll 2D6 and pick the highest of the 2 for charge distances.

For a bloke on a horse to only have 3" more than a cow-man on foot when it comes to charge distance, doesn't really do it for me. Admittedly the 3D6 and pick the highest 2, makes it more reliable to roll higher, but I'm not sold on it.

Secondly, playing with just a single Level 1 Wizard means the magic phase gets a bit boring or silly, so in future I'll be taking a second Damsel (assuming points allow it) just to try and get used to the flow of the magic phase a bit more.

Currently it was a case of rolling 1 spell with every available Power Dice I could have, then hope my opponent couldn't roll a double 6 to prevent it. I'd assume this is partly from us playing lower points value games (1500) as the magic system is designed for 1 - 4 Wizards in an army, casting and generating dice.

Also, getting charged as Bretonnians is bad. I got caught out by some mammoth charges by the Beastmen and started to crumble. I used to be quite good at gauging distances in 6th and 7th, so I guess I just need to work on my 8th edition eye and try to see where the new distances come into it.

Overall, I'm enjoying playing Fantasy again and once I get my head round the core rules and additions (I forgot about "Steadfast" on Monday night as an example) I'll start thinking about a second army to go with my Bretonnians and offer an alternative playstyle - most likely an Orc army.

Any thoughts on 8th edition? Or plans to get involved in Fantasy soon?

Peace,
SB

Privateer Press 10th Anniversary Sale

Ello all,

Just thought I'd share this around since it's an EXTREMELY good deal, and there's a few of us that want to start up Warmachine / Hordes:

http://privateerpress.com/privateer-press-10th-anniversary-sale

In celebration of our ten-year anniversary, the Privateer Press online store will be hosting great deals on a selection of products from all our current game lines from now until the end of June. We’re kicking things off with some fantastic offers on our award-winning miniatures games WARMACHINE and HORDES.

Between now and June 20th, we’re offering WARMACHINE Starter Bundles and HORDES Starter Bundles! Pick any battlegroup box set, the associated faction tokens, and a set of WARMACHINE or HORDES templates, and receive a free copy of WARMACHINE: Prime Mk II or HORDES: Primal Mk II as well as a free Privateer Press tape measure!
What’s more, we are offering free shipping worldwide on purchases of WARMACHINE and HORDES battlegroup box sets (but no other items), giving everyone a chance to get into these two great games wherever they live in the world.
But that's not all!

The celebration keeps on rolling with great deals on our action-packed kaiju battle miniatures game Monsterpocalypse, our full library of backstock No Quarter Magazine, and our family fun board games Grind and Scrappers. You can find all these fantastic deals right now on our online store today, but hurry. The Privateer Press 10th Anniversary Sale ends June 24th!

 So yeah, it's on until June 20th, so after pay day, I think a Khador battlegrop will be getting ordered!!

Peace,
SB

Badger's Log - Bretonnian Questing Knights

Morning,

Got these guys painted up about 2 weeks ago, but been really busy the past few days and not had chance to get the blog post done, so here they are.

I've had these guys built for about 3 or 4 years, I've just never gotten around to painting them until my latest foray into the world of Fantasy 8th edition.

They're made from plastic Knights of the Realm, combined with lots of Chaos Warrior bits like large swords, axes, hammers etc. I found it was a cheap and easy way to make them.

They are the only unit of Knights that don't have Lances or Shields, so they're also clear on the table top.

The guy at the front in red and blue was originally a tester model, with the intention of starting to paint the rest of my Knights in the colours of Louen Leoncoeur with a variety of different styles, but I abandoned this until I can be fussed to repaint the rest of the army. I kept him in red and blue so I have the option of using him as a Questing Vow Paladin.

So there you go, I'm off to build me a Commissar tonight.

Peace,
SB

40k Fan Fiction

Hi all,

Angryman here.  Recently iI've been looking around the various fan forums for 40K fluff and background material and i've come accross this

the emperor v's horus

let me know what you think

all comments welcome

Painting Orks - Badger Style!

Morning all,

Upon request, I'm going to do a "How to paint Orks" article today. Basically, I've been asked how I paint my Orks and how I paint them so quickly. Included in this, I was given an Ork Warboss to paint up for a Demo Game in June, so I thought I would use him as a test bed and do step by step painting.

Step 1 - Undercoat Chaos Black

Step 2 - Drybrush all metal areas with Boltgun Metal

Step 3 - Paint Boots with Charadon Granite

Step 4 - Pants with Khemri Brown. (When I do large mobs of Boyz, I normally alternate the pants colour with Step 6)

Step 5 - Paint all the skin areas with Knarloc Green

Step 6 - Optional - Paint the Vest of the model with Adeptus Battlegrey (or Pants if alternating)

Step 7 - Straps, belts and such with Calthan Brown

Step 8 - Teeth and Skulls with Dheneb Stone

Step 9 - Power Cables with Ice Blue

Step 10 - Tongue, Hair and Eye lenses with Mechrite Red

Step 11 - Paint back over cloth vest and the draped bit with Chaos Black. Also paint some Tattoos on.

Step 12 - Paint checkerboards on black areas with Skull White.

Step 13 - Wash the entire model with Badab Black

Step 14 - Wait for wash to dry and base the model.

So there you go. Quick and dirty Orks. The Warboss in this guide took me just over an hour to paint, which the thing that took the longest were the checkerboard patterns I did on the Power Klaw and Shoota.

Any questions, drop me a comment and I'll do my best to answer it. Any feedback is also welcome!

Peace,
SB

Grey Knights - Brotherhood Champions

The Brotherhood Champion got ruled out the minute I opened the Codex, 100pts for a one wound model with a special rule for his attacks. But, I then used this guy in a game last week for the purpose of this article and I was pleasantly surprised by him and he didn't get killed!!!

So, lets take a look at his stats first, he comes in at WS 7 and Initiative 5, the rest is as per standard marines except he is LD10. He comes with Artificer armour and Iron Halo as standard (2+/4++ saves) and an Anointed Blade, which is Nemesis Force Sword (so +1 Invulnerable in combat) that can re-roll failed wounds. So now looking at this guy he looks a little more tempting, a 2+/3++ is pretty survivable in combat, and he is hitting on 3's before most units, but he is still only one wound, surely he must have more going for him for a 100pts.

Well, this is where he gets interesting, he has a few special rules, the first is Titans Herald, this lets you re-roll failed Hits the turn the Champion and his squad assault an enemy (just like a Chaplain). He also comes with a Special Attacks, he has to pick one of three options:

The first is Sword Storm, the Champion makes ONE attack against EACH enemy model in base contact with him (and doesn't get a bonus for charging). This means he can get up to around 7 attacks against a large squad, quite a good number, but he could also end up with only one or two if you charge the wrong units.

Secondly is Blade Shield, the Champion forgoes making any attacks but can re-roll any failed saves. This could be handy if he is in a unit of terminators and they charge a small elite squad where he gets few attacks and would be little use, while keeping him alive against the enemies attacks aimed at him.

Lastly we have Rapier Strike, I think this would probably be the most useful if you want him in a dedicated assault unit. The Champion makes D3 attacks (+1 if he charged) at Initiative 10, but they must be targeted at a single Independent character or Monstrous Creature in base contact.

The Brotherhood Champion has two psychic powers, the first being Hammerhand (+1 strength) like every Grey Knight unit. But he also has Heroic Sacrifice, which comes into play if he dies, if successful he makes a single attack against one enemy model that was in base contact when he died (the Champion picks I assume), if the attack hits, both models are removed from play with no saves of any kind.

The Brotherhood Champion has very little he can take as wargear, limited to Digital Weapons (re-roll one failed hit) for 5pts, these seem pretty pointless when you want him to be charging to get his re-rolls anyway. Empyrean Brain Mines for 10pts, these let you pick one enemy model who then has to take an Initiative test, if they fail they cannot attack that turn (very very tempting). He can also take Psybolt Ammunition (+1 str to the storm bolter) for 5pts, this is great if you have spare points, but I prefer more men.

So, 100pts, for a one wound Chaplain with funky attacks and isn't fearless, is he worth it? Maybe, maybe not, all I can say is, when I used him he managed to hold up and almost kill 20 Daemonettes virtually on his own. He survived their rending attacks as they charged in and got 7 attacks using his sword storm ability, killing 5 of the enemy (even with me forgetting that all Grey Knights have Preferred enemy!!!).

Well there you go, another HQ down, let us know your thoughts on the Brotherhood Champion.

Col.Straken

[40k] Dark Eldar Sneak Peeks Pt2 Razorwing

Quick one.

Razorwing (Left) and alternate load out with Disintegrator cannons (Right) picture. Me wants!

WANT. Very, very, very mucho.

Peace,
SB

[40k] Dark Eldar Sneak Peeks!

Here you go, hot off the press on GW website:

Cronos Parasite Engine

Talos Pain Engine

Venom

Scourges

The other release is the Dark Eldar battleforce, which consists of:

• 10 Dark Eldar Warriors
• 10 Dark Eldar Wyches
• 3 Reaver Jetbikes
• 1 Dark Eldar Raider

So yeah, there you go. I'm also annoyed they've released those really nice Scourges, after I spent my hard-earned pennies on Dark Eldar Warriors and Tyranid Gargoyles and made my own.

What do you guys think? Really nice stuff, especially how huge the Talos / Cronos is. Reminds me of the brain-bug things from Half Life 2.

All up for advance order on the GW Website HERE

Peace,
SB

Sisters of Battle Rumours

These are probably everywhere around the internet now, but for those who can't view on phones and such, I'll repost here and add my thoughts.

I want to confirm for everyone that the Sisters new “book” will be coming out sometime this year (most likely before the Necron release). There is more– SoB will be White Dwarf only release stretched over two issues, with a online PDF by the end of the year. I had reported this possibility (in a cryptic matter before) on BoLS, so this is a confirmation of said rumor. Cruddace will be the author for PDF as well. No word on new sculpts, but my bet is on only resin recast of existing models. As for the rules I have nothing to report as of yet, but look for at least two ecclesiastical characters from the fluff/past to appear in the new dex. - From Blood of Kittens

 So yeah, sounds very much like a "Get you by with what models you've got, since we've messed something up" or a "Here you go, now be quiet." release.

I'm not too keen on it being in WD, I think it could be seen as a ploy to bump up buying it, especially since I know a lot of people have dropped off from WD, and I personally haven't bought it in almost 2 years, aside from the Spearhead issue (hence my reasoning).

Personally, I'm not up in arms about it all being in WD, as hopefully it will clarify a few things in sisters book, make it a bit easier to work with and possibly provide a few new characters or units.

What I would expect is:

HQ's:
Cannoness
Redeemer / Priest type Hero
Special Chars

Elites:
Priests as per Sanguinary Guard
Celestians
Repentia
Arco-Flagellants

Troops:
Sisters of Battle Squads
Storm Troopers (Likely be the first thing to go..)
Zealot Mobs (as was in the WD Chapter Approved thing a while ago)

Fast:
Seraphim
Dominions
Immolators (Yep, this is where I reckon they'll go)

Heavy:
Retributors
Penitent Engines
Exorcists

So that's my predictions. I reckon the Zealot mobs, the article will say "Use Empire Flagellants for" and the characters will be relevant to whatever models they have available.

What do you guys reckon? I think I'll be waiting for a PDF to become available on the GW site, and waiting to see what goes on...

[WHFB] First game of 8th Ed

Morning all,

Last night I played my first proper game of 8th Ed Fantasy. I played once with the Island of Blood set against Sanguinus, but we probably messed up a ton of rules or completely forgot some things.

So last night I dusted off the Bretonnians after spending the last few weeks painting a few units (still got pictures of my Questing Knights to put up) and got them onto the table against the High Elves.

We played 1500pts so I could get the hang of the rules and not be at the club until Midnight. My list was as follows:
Paladin - Barded Warhorse, Shield, Lance, Virtue of the Joust
Paladin Battle Standard Bearer - Barded Warhorse, Virtue of Duty
Damsel - Level 2, Warhorse, Chalice of Malfleur

8 Knights of the Realm - Full Command
8 Knights of the Realm - Full Command
30 Men at Arms - Spear, Shield, Full Command
16 Archers - Standard, Musician, Defensive Stakes, Braziers

8 Questing Knights
5 Mounted Yeomen

Field Trebuchet.

I was massively surprised at how much I was able to fit into a 1500pts list (assuming I didn't calculate anything wrong in Excel!!)

Time for some pictures...

Overall, I did well because I was allowed to charge with the Knights, plus the Bretonnian Lance formation works really well since it allows rank bonuses for 3 models instead of 5, which means that I can get decent rank bonuses for less models.

Overall, my thoughts on 8th edition:
- Magic is a lot more random, and it didn't pay off for Mike's High Elves. I don't think his Level 4 wizard ever managed to cast a spell, either from bad rolling for Winds of Magic, or bad actual casting rolls.
- I also don't think I managed to do very well with casting either, but I'm not sure if that was my being a fantasy Noob or whether that's just how magic is.
- Combat seems a lot quicker, although I've yet to play against Undead yet (they were the bane of my 6th and 7th Ed games!!)
- Movement seems a lot more free flowing and far less intricate than in 7th ed, having to deal with angles, move 1" here, wheel, 1" here, then you minus some movement for something else.... Nope, seems to be miles easier to deal with now.
- Guessing ranges is out of the window now. One of the challenges I loved about 7th Ed was being good at guessing ranges of things on the table, whether it was charge ranges or warmachine shots. Also, with pre-measuring it gives a fair bit more scope for options.
- Random charge ranges are a bit meh for me... I like the idea of keeping things fresh and there always being a chance it could fail, but at the same time I liked being good at guessing charge distances.

Also.. another point of 8th edition, is that I'm apparently blessed by the dice gods to pass every 5 or 6+ Ward Save under the sun. I must have passed about 90% of the Ward Saves on my Knights units.

Overall, 8th Ed seems like good fun and I'd like to get a few more games under way whilst I carry on painting the rest of my Bretonnian units.

Peace,
SB

Grey Knights - Grand Masters and Brother Captains.

I said I wanted to go over the units in depth and I am going to start at the top. I am going to put the Grand Master and Brother Captain together as these guys are almost identical, but will brief over the differences.

So firstly, the great Grand Master, there are now apparently only 8 of these guys and never any more than this and we know that two of these are Draigo (Supreme Grand Master), and Mordrak (the guy with the ghosts of christmas past). You would think that these guys must be the ultimate killing machines as they have survived countless battles with Daemons and even had to hunt 6 of the deadliest on their own to become Paladins first (apparently). The Grand Master Sports a WS and BS 6 which isnt bad, he also comes with 3 wounds and Initiative 5, sounds good so far. But, he only has 3 attacks... and has to pay 10pts for +1 attack, he comes with Terminator armour as standard and carries a Nemesis Force Sword (+1 invulnerable in combat). This guy weighs in at a hefty 175pts, but, despite not being a monster in combat he has the Grand Strategy ability to give D3 infantry, jump infantry, walkers or MC's (not including Independants and Henchmen) one of four abilities, these are:

Re-roll To Wound rolls of a 1 for the duration of the game.

Counter-attack.

Scouts.

claim objectives as if they were troops.

The last of these is a HUGE bonus in an army which relies on its Elites and Heavy Support as much as they Grey Knights now do.

As for his wargear choices, he can take the standard Grey Knight equipment of:

Halberd (+2 Initiative) for 5pts

Falchions (+1 attack) for 10pts

Warding Stave (2+ inv in combat) 35pts

I normally keep him with a Force Sword as he gains a 3+ invulnerable in combat, but I may consider the Halberd as Initiative 7 would help against other HQ's the other two options (especially the warding stave) just seem too expensive for what they do. The Grand Master can also take any of the "heavy/special" weapons that Grey knights can:

Incinerator (str 7 Flamer) 5pts

Psilencer (Str4 AP- heavy 6) 35pts

Psycannon (Str7 Assault cannon) 45pts

with these I would keep him with his Storm Bolter, or maybe give him an Incinerator if I really felt like I had to upgrade it, the other weapons are just too expensive to consider when they are much cheaper elsewhere. He can make any of his weapons Master Crafted for 5pts per weapon, I would only consider this on his Close Combat weapon as his low amount of attacks mean that hitting is critical.

The Grand Master can be upgraded to a level 2 Psyker for 35pts, meaning he can cast either of his two psychic powers and still use his Force Weapon, or just got for two psychic powers.

Lastly, the general wargear:

He can take up to three Servo-skulls for 5pts each (these guys let you roll 1D6 scatter for Deep Strike and Blast weapons within 12" of them, and stop enemy infiltrators and scout moves within 12", but if the enemy moves within 6" they dissapear)

Blind Grenades (defensive, so -1 attack for people charging him), Meltabombs, digital weapons (re-roll one failed wound) for 5pts each

Empyrean Brain Mines (nominate one enemy model in base contact, they must pass an Initiative test of cannon attack that phase) 10pts

Psychotroke Grenades (these do all sort of things that can be helpful but it is luck of the dice), or Rad-grenades (-1 enemy T the turn they assault or are assaulted) for 15pts

Orbital Strike Relay (this is like the old Orbital Strike, but the bearer cannot move, but can assault, and you can shoot one of three options) 50pts

For these, I would consider Servo-skulls if you have alot of blast weapons (not many here to be honest) or a Deep Striking army, but they are cheaper on Inquisitors. The digital weapons are worth considering as it only takes one wound to kill with a Force Weapon, as for the rest, I think they are too pricey to consider on an already costly model.

Now, onto the Brother Captain, this guy is almost identical, but only has a BS 5. he cannot be upgraded to Psychic level 2, and his Psilencer and Psycannon are 5pts cheaper. He also does not have Grand Strategy, but costs only 150pts, He does keep the Psychic Communion and Hammerhand Psychic powers though. Psychic Communion allows you to either Add or Minus 1 to each reserve roll you make, but the user must start on the board.

So there you have it, I personally ALWAYS run a Grand Master instead of a Brother Captain as I think the Grand Strategy is well worth 25pts. However, I don't give him any upgrades as I think he is expensive enough and the squad he is with can usually help deal with any threats he meets. I will let you decide which you think is best though.

Until next time

Col. Straken

Necron Rumours - Part 2

Hi all,

Angryman here with the 2nd wave of Necron rumours - all thanks to these goes to 'The Bell of Lost Souls'

13) Necron Warriors have the same basic statline they had before except they now have a 4+ save. Now before you go crazy, also note that their points cost is 12 points, which is a 1/3 price drop (down from 18 points). That means you get 1/3 more Warrior models in the army for the same amount of points...it also makes losing an entire unit due to sweeping advance, not nearly as painful.


I know a lot of cynical people will hate this and accuse GW from simply making the change to sell more Warrior models, and you could be right. But personally I was always hoping they were going to make Necron Warriors not quite as tough and dump the points cost on them, so you could really take a ton of them...given in my mind they are supposed to be more like a shambling horde of undead robots than some sort of small elite force of super-warriors (but that could just be me).

So this change alone totally changes the army from out of the 'MEQ' umbrella and makes their base statline unique in the game (which is good, IMHO).

14) Immortals have lost their T5 (down to T4), but keep their 3+ save. However, their points cost has dropped to 17 pts a model, which is an 11 point drop (more than 1/3 a drop from the previous cost of 28 pts)!

15) All units in the army benefit from the new WBB rule, not just the units that were formerly classified as 'Necrons' in the current codex (even Scarabs!). So although you're only getting a 5+ save in many cases, you're still getting it on some of the more expensive stuff in the army as well (and there are some pricey new units to counterbalance the relatively cheap Warriors and Immortals). Also the vehicle that can add models back into the unit is also able to use this ability on any unit.

16) Rez Orb is still in the game and boosts the new WBB rule to a 4+ instead of a 5+, but only affects the unit it is in. I have a strong suspicion that this is an upgrade that Crypteks can take (I'll confirm if I find out), so I'd imagine you can get quite a few units in the game getting the 4+ bonus save if you want to pay the points to take them for your Crypteks and then split those Crypteks off to lead units.

17) Veil of Darkness is now definitely something Crypteks can take (so you can have a bunch of 'em in the army), but it no longer allows a unit to be pulled out of combat (and neither does the Monolith), except in the case of the Veil carried by one of the named Lords.

18) In the new fluff it sounds like the C'Tan were mainly killed off by the Necrons (or something like that), so the C'Tan that you field in the game are just remaining shards of their power. They're naturally still a really mean Monstrous Creature who rocks in combat, but you can also purchase a bunch of different abilities. These abilities are in line with a lot of the things we've seen in the last few codexes, things like: messing around with Deep Striking enemy units, making enemies moving through terrain differently, and allowing the Necron player to change some of his deployment, etc. So it sounds like you have a lot of different options with the C'Tan that really mess with the enemy army and/or supplement your own. And they are not one per army (so you can have 3 if you want to use up all your Elites on them, although it sounds like the other Elites choices are pretty awesome as well).

19) Some of those six new vehicles include flyers (not sure how many), which can move at cruising speed and fire all their weapons.

20) Besides a few units that are Fearless (Wraiths, Tomb Spyders and Scarabs), the army doesn't have any sort of blanket immunity to morale. They are still Ld10, but obviously we know that still leaves them very vulnerable to being run down in combat, and it looks like that will remain a big Achilles heel.

21) Scarabs sound great. They are cheap, have the new WBB rule, move like beasts and have an ability that erodes enemy armor when they get into combat with it. Any non-vehicle model they wound, but don't kill, has its armor save turned to a dash (i.e. nothing) for the rest of the game. If they hit a vehicle, on a 4+ the vehicle loses a point of armor value on ALL facings, and if any facing is reduced to zero, then the vehicle is destroyed (I'm not sure if this ability kicks in for each hit they get on the vehicle, or just once no matter how many hits they cause). There are some items in the army that also have a similar ability to erode armor, including one of the C'Tan powers.

So it sounds like Scarabs may play a major role in most Necron armies!

22) Overall, CC is definitely still the weak point of the army, but it looks like they've got a lot of different places they can take special rules to slow down or screw with approaching enemy, including some of the C'Tan powers, but also some of the different gear they can take. But they also have some different potential counter-assault units, which mainly come out of the Elites section (besides the new Walker, the C'Tan and the flayed ones in Elites there are 3 OTHER brand new units in there as well, for a grand total of 6 Elites choices). The Flayed ones are, being consistent, cheaper than they were and now have 3 Attacks base (but their save is now 4+ as with standard Warriors). One of the other new Elite units is also CC oriented, but is very pricey points wise (but is S5/T5/3+save). This unit can wield a Warscythe, but they are not called Pariahs (no idea if that's what Pariahs have 'turned into' or not).

Another new Elites choice is a sniper style unit that can Deep Strike into play normally or it can choose to immediately Deep Strike immediately after the opponent brings an enemy unit on from Reserves, and they have some nasty additional damage ability against one nominated unit...obviously we need more info to know how useful this will really be, but the concept of countering an opponent's Reserve deployment immediately sounds interesting at least.

The last new Elites choice is an Elite Jump Infantry unit with very close range shooting and some decent CC ability (and are also S5/T5/3+save).

23) Fast Attack has 4 choices...Wraiths, Tomb Blades (jetbikes), Scarabs & Destroyers.
 
All comments welcome

[Event] Phalanx 2011 - St Helens

Morning All,

Thought I'd point out Phalanx 2011, since it's happening not mega far from us.

Saturday 18th June 2011

Welcome to The Phalanx Show website. In it you will find information about the clubs and the traders that will be attending Phalanx 2011 as well as directions and timetables making it as easy as possible to find. Phalanx is the premier event for wargamers in the North West and now in it's 18th year. Phalanx 2011 will be on Saturday 18th June at the Sutton Community & Leisure Centre in St. Helens and opens to the public from 10am to 4.00pm. Adults £3.00, Children £1.00, accompanied children free. You will find over 40 top traders, bring & buy, demonstration, participation and display games. There will be prizes for the best game in each category. You can print a Bring and Buy form here if required, fill it in and bring it, together with your goodies with you on Saturday!

Catering facilities are available for most of the day.
There is also plenty of FREE parking and easy disabled access.
You can contact the Sutton Leisure centre on 01744 810910

The St. Helens Spartans are proud to support

Please note that all photographs on the website are, to the best of our knowledge, used with permission. However if there are any problems please contact us and we will do our best to come to a solution.

For Trade information and Bookings: email phalanxtrade@gmail.com
For Club information and Bookings: email phalanxclubs@gmail.com
To find out more about the club visit http://www.spartans.org.uk

Anyone else looking at going? There's the possibility of some MAWS demo games going on from other members of the club, but with plenty of retailers and a bring and buy, it might be worth a trip down!

I've added it to the MAWS40k website HERE

Peace,
SB

Badger's Log - Bretonnian Men-At-Arms

Morning,

I've been away over the weekend so not had much chance to do anything further with painting, but in an effort to get playing Fantasy again, I dragged out all my Fantasy related stuff from boxes and set myself the goal of trying to paint 1 unit a week.

First and foremost (until I get some Black Spray) I've set about on my Bretonnian army, since they're my first and only fully fledged Fantasy army.

So yeah, there you are, 15 Men at Arms with Halberds and shields.

After faffing around for a large amount of time over the paint scheme, I stuck with my Black and White paint scheme based on one of the Bretonnian Lord models (can't remember the name of the realm...). Then with Enchanted Blue detailing to match the

If I can be bothered I'm hopefully going to repaint the army in Red and Blue, similar to the GW studio army and similar to a Questing Knight that I painted as a tester.

The other thing you may notice is *GASP* I've not used Black wash on them. This'll soon get rectified when I repaint them up in nicer colours.

Next thing on the paint desk is a remaining 7 Questing Knights.

Peace,
SB

Latest Necron rumour roundup

Hi all,

Angryman here.  I wanted to share the latest Necron chatter with you all

1) No surprise here, but Necrons are still essentially Tomb Kings in space fluff wise. A shift in fluff is now that all of the higher up necrons are intelligent while the lower level ones are still basically automatons. I guess that's roughly the same as it used to be, but apparently there is more emphasis in the sentience of the higher Necrons now (hence the named Lords).


2) C'Tan are still in the codex...sort of. They have been moved to the Elites section and are now a single unit choice, but with variable upgrade powers you can take.

3) We'll be Back is no longer called that and it is NOT Feel No Pain. Basically it is a 5+ bonus save similar to Feel No Pain, but doesn't get cancelled out by double strength, AP1/2, etc. In addition, this save is made at the END of the phase after morale tests are taken. If the unit is wiped out or is falling back at the end of the phase, then the save cannot be used. So as an opponent, if you manage to wipe the unit out or make them fall back, then you prevent any Necrons from getting back up...unless the unit has something called the 'ever-living' rule, in which case it gets to attempt this save even if the unit is wiped out.

4) Gauss Weaponry does NOT have rending. It retains the 'auto-glance' on a penetration roll of a '6' rule, but apparently otherwise has lost the 'auto-wound' on a roll of a '6' regardless of Toughness that it used to have. The Gauss Cannon is now apparently Assault 2 & AP3 (I'm assuming the Strength is still 6). The Gaus Flux Arc on the Monolith no longer automatically hits every unit within range, instead each one fires separately and can hit four different targets.

5) Phase out is gone.

6) Destroyers now count as jump infantry and there is a new Fast Attack Jetbike unit called Tomb Blades.

7) Immortals are now a Troops choice. Pariahs are gone. Flayed Ones are Elites.

8) There are indeed 6 named characters (although I have no more info on them). There is also a Necron Overlord and a bodyguard unit called Crypteks. Crypteks can be split off before the game to lead units of Necrons, very similar to Wolf Guard in the Space Wolves codex. Crypteks can take a bunch of different technology upgrades, so there is kind of a way now to have personalized squad leaders in a Necron army.

9) They army is much more mobile now in general. They have several units of jump troops, and 2 new transport vehicles. 1 transport can carry 15 necrons while another can carry 10. Jump pack units count as 2 models and jetbikes count as 5. The one that holds 10 is able to recover casualties to a unit (although can't take it beyond its starting strength). Necron vehicles besides the monolith are open-topped skimmers. However they have something called 'Quantum shielding' which gives their front & side armor +2 until the vehicle takes its first glance/pen, at which point it loses the shielding. One of these two transports (not sure which one) is apparently a personal transport for the Lord (and his retinue).

10) There are six new vehicles in the codex (including the two transports mentioned above). Two of which seem to be based around this old Jes Goodwin design: http://storage.canalblog.com/29/28/731795/53057637.jpg

11) In general Necrons have a lot more long ranged fire support. There is also a new weapon type called Tesla weapons. These weapons, on a roll of '6' to hit automatically cause two more hits. The biggest version of the Tesla weapons has a chance of hitting all other units close to the target; both friend and foe. One of the new vehicles carries the doomsday cannon: 72" S9 AP1 Heavy 1 large blast. BS4.

12) In the Elites section there is a big new walker. It has a heat ray that that is either a melta or flamer depending on what you want to do. Any unit hit by this vehicle is marked (as in: laser targeted), which means that all other necrons count as being twin-linked for shooting at the marked enemy unit that turn.

All thanks for this goes to 'the bell of lost souls' and 'dakka dakka'
 
All comments welcome