So, GW finally get around to sorting these out, and I think they've addressed most of the annoying Internet rules bashy ones, and done a good job of covering some of the other situational ones.
Tyranids: DOWNLOAD HERE
Blood Angels: DOWNLOAD HERE
I'd like to think the "MAWS FAQ" page had a hand in making them sort it out quicker ;)
Happy now Nid players?
SB
Wednesday, 30 June 2010
Tuesday, 29 June 2010
[Orks] Road To Britcon 2010 - Game 1
Morning all,
It's that busy time of year again where everyone starts to rush around thinking about Britcon - what to take, which characters to use, how to play a mission and where will all our beer money come from?
This year is the first year I've decided I don't want to be painting anything before the tournament and I want to know my rules inside out, as opposed to in previous years where I've played new armies, new units and new configurations for the tournament.
One of the more notorious armies at Britcon has always been the Tyranids. They won in 2008 and have come pretty highly consistently. Now with 5th edition, people will moan and complain about "Meta-games" and "Nerfing" but I still think 5th Ed Nids are ace and a very dangerous army to face on the table.
So I've got my same army I took last year, knowing it pretty well and isolating the one silly weakness that cost me a game in the tournament - giving a Mek a Burna instead of a Power Klaw, along with a pointless Ammo Runt upgrade on the Warboss on a bike, he's now got a Kombi Skorcha to allow the bikes to deal with Hordes.
We played a Pitched Battle deployment in an Objectives mission. 2 being set up in my deployment zone, 1 being set up in the Tyranid deployment, 1 slightly further out.
I deployed with my 2 big Boyz mobs in the middle of the table, flanking a Burna Battlewagon with KFF Mek. The left boyz Mob supported by the Deff Dred, the right supported by Killa Kans. I set up a unit of 15 Shoota Boyz on my left objective, 17 Grotz on the right. I then kept my Warboss and Nob Bikers on the far right hand flank, able to utilise their Turbo Boosting and fast speed.
The idea was to be that my foot sloggers could hold the middle and go for a Tyranid objective each, with their respective support units and the Mek and Burnas for support where needed.
I didn't take notes, so I thought I'd just cover the major points of the game and give a conclusion in terms of the list and preparation for Britcon.
The Burna Boyz were, like last year, immense. They wiped out a unit of Tyranid Warriors, Alpha Warrior, Hive Tyrant and Tyrant Guard, Tervigon and Mycetic Spore, along with the help of their friendly Big Mek.
The Nob Bikers have a good showing despite getting thinned out pretty early on. They took down a Dakka Fex, Trygon Prime and the Warboss went after a unit of Hive Guard and wiped them out.
The Slugga Boyz as usual were steadfast. They killed when needed to and held firm most of the other times. The sheer amount of attacks they can put out is still horrible to any opponent.
The Shoota Boyz didn't do much at all, when faced with a unit of Gaunts they fled and continued to run off the board.
The Grotz... well, they set up and did nothing all game. Which means they had a good game!
The Deff Dred managed to destroy a Tervigon in close combat, thin out the Tyranid warrior unit and also destroy a unit of Gaunts via Skorcha attacks causing them to flee and destroy them by attempting to assault. Then clearing the Gaunts off the objective they were camping in, meaning a possible draw turned into a guarenteed win.
The Battlewagon showed BS2 isn't always so bad, taking out a Mycetic spore in a single shot, but it didn't manage to do much else aside from deliver the Burnas to the fight.
The Killa Kans managed to hammer the Doom of Malan'tai, but not without taking 2 casualties in return along with providing extremely valuable support fire for the rest of the army.
Conclusion
Overall it was a good 2 - Nil victory. I had a plan, stuck with it and the dice went my way. I crowded the park where it was necessary and played to the mission.
I just feel I need to work on my manouverability a bit more with the Boyz and try to keep them alive. In a 32 - 0 scoring scale, all the troops are important if I'm trying to aim for the top.
Peace,
SB
It's that busy time of year again where everyone starts to rush around thinking about Britcon - what to take, which characters to use, how to play a mission and where will all our beer money come from?
This year is the first year I've decided I don't want to be painting anything before the tournament and I want to know my rules inside out, as opposed to in previous years where I've played new armies, new units and new configurations for the tournament.
One of the more notorious armies at Britcon has always been the Tyranids. They won in 2008 and have come pretty highly consistently. Now with 5th edition, people will moan and complain about "Meta-games" and "Nerfing" but I still think 5th Ed Nids are ace and a very dangerous army to face on the table.
So I've got my same army I took last year, knowing it pretty well and isolating the one silly weakness that cost me a game in the tournament - giving a Mek a Burna instead of a Power Klaw, along with a pointless Ammo Runt upgrade on the Warboss on a bike, he's now got a Kombi Skorcha to allow the bikes to deal with Hordes.
We played a Pitched Battle deployment in an Objectives mission. 2 being set up in my deployment zone, 1 being set up in the Tyranid deployment, 1 slightly further out.
I deployed with my 2 big Boyz mobs in the middle of the table, flanking a Burna Battlewagon with KFF Mek. The left boyz Mob supported by the Deff Dred, the right supported by Killa Kans. I set up a unit of 15 Shoota Boyz on my left objective, 17 Grotz on the right. I then kept my Warboss and Nob Bikers on the far right hand flank, able to utilise their Turbo Boosting and fast speed.
The idea was to be that my foot sloggers could hold the middle and go for a Tyranid objective each, with their respective support units and the Mek and Burnas for support where needed.
I didn't take notes, so I thought I'd just cover the major points of the game and give a conclusion in terms of the list and preparation for Britcon.
The Burna Boyz were, like last year, immense. They wiped out a unit of Tyranid Warriors, Alpha Warrior, Hive Tyrant and Tyrant Guard, Tervigon and Mycetic Spore, along with the help of their friendly Big Mek.
The Nob Bikers have a good showing despite getting thinned out pretty early on. They took down a Dakka Fex, Trygon Prime and the Warboss went after a unit of Hive Guard and wiped them out.
The Slugga Boyz as usual were steadfast. They killed when needed to and held firm most of the other times. The sheer amount of attacks they can put out is still horrible to any opponent.
The Shoota Boyz didn't do much at all, when faced with a unit of Gaunts they fled and continued to run off the board.
The Grotz... well, they set up and did nothing all game. Which means they had a good game!
The Deff Dred managed to destroy a Tervigon in close combat, thin out the Tyranid warrior unit and also destroy a unit of Gaunts via Skorcha attacks causing them to flee and destroy them by attempting to assault. Then clearing the Gaunts off the objective they were camping in, meaning a possible draw turned into a guarenteed win.
The Battlewagon showed BS2 isn't always so bad, taking out a Mycetic spore in a single shot, but it didn't manage to do much else aside from deliver the Burnas to the fight.
The Killa Kans managed to hammer the Doom of Malan'tai, but not without taking 2 casualties in return along with providing extremely valuable support fire for the rest of the army.
Conclusion
Overall it was a good 2 - Nil victory. I had a plan, stuck with it and the dice went my way. I crowded the park where it was necessary and played to the mission.
I just feel I need to work on my manouverability a bit more with the Boyz and try to keep them alive. In a 32 - 0 scoring scale, all the troops are important if I'm trying to aim for the top.
Peace,
SB
Monday, 28 June 2010
MAWS 40k's House Rules FAQ
Afternoon all,
After some discussion, this should have been done a loooooong while ago. I've wrote up a quick FAQ on some issues we've faced over the weeks at the club, which has been sped up by the fact there's been debate over the WH/DH "Can they ally anymore?" issue with the PDF.
So have at it: http://maws40k.wikispaces.com/faq
It's currently a work in progress, so the more questions that get asked - the more answers we can provide on here. You can also find a link on the right hand side of the page, in our handy "MAWS Links" section.
Peace,
SB.
After some discussion, this should have been done a loooooong while ago. I've wrote up a quick FAQ on some issues we've faced over the weeks at the club, which has been sped up by the fact there's been debate over the WH/DH "Can they ally anymore?" issue with the PDF.
So have at it: http://maws40k.wikispaces.com/faq
It's currently a work in progress, so the more questions that get asked - the more answers we can provide on here. You can also find a link on the right hand side of the page, in our handy "MAWS Links" section.
Peace,
SB.
Friday, 25 June 2010
[Update] Daemonhunter and Witchhunter PDF
Thanks to Mitch for the comment he left us on the last blog entry, where has emailed GW HQ and got an answer to the question about Allies:
It's worth noting however it's still down to individual tournament organisers, so it's best asking in advance - although I can't see why they would have any problem with it.
Once again, thank you to Mitch for getting the answer, which I've copied and pasted from his blog Mitch - Ottawa Gamer onto here to share with people.
Peace Out
SB
So basically they're saying the Paper Codex trumps the PDF and that Allies ARE allowed, which is cool and the way we would have ended up playing at the club anyway.Sent: Thursday, June 24, 2010 10:34 AM
To: US Customer Service
Subject: Rule Book question
I noticed there is a codex: deamonhunters pdf now on the website
The english version is missing the inducted guard/marines, where the german/french/itallian/spanish version includes the allies part
Does that mean that English speaking people got a mistake on the book?
Does this PDF override the paper codex I just purchased for 30$?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mitchell!
The new PDF is up for the people who do not have access to buy the codex anymore. The missing Alies section in the U.S format is indeed a mistake. And whichever one the tournament/event organizer says to use is the one that we have to abide by. I know that for our tournaments we will be using the Physical codex and NOT the PDF. I hope this helps!
Thanks!
John Hollingsworth
Customer Service Specialist
It's worth noting however it's still down to individual tournament organisers, so it's best asking in advance - although I can't see why they would have any problem with it.
Once again, thank you to Mitch for getting the answer, which I've copied and pasted from his blog Mitch - Ottawa Gamer onto here to share with people.
Peace Out
SB
Thursday, 24 June 2010
[News] Daemonhunter and Witchhunter Codex PDFs
Hey guys,
It's been a while coming, but GW finally deliver the Codex PDFs for the Daemonhunters and Witch Hunters.
You can find the Codexes on the GW Website, but you'll need to Register / Log In to get access to them
The first thing the Internet seems to be up in arms about is the supposed removal of the Allies rules from the Daemonhunters book. A lot of blogging sites have jumped on this as an attempted move to "Nerf Imperial Guard Mystic Spam" from the "Meta Game". I personally think it could be an oversight on the part of GW.
They've cut a LOT out of the PDF codexes, even removing the section on building a Grey Knight army (with the Force Org chart picture) and some other ones such as defining what is and isn't a Grey Knight unit... leading some Internet idiots to start quoting things like:
"Grey Knight Dreadnaughts are Grey Knights now... so they get all the special rules etc."
Apparently there's also some variation between Regions. Apparently, the French Codex has a 4 shot Assault Cannon and the Allies rule present.
It's also noted that the Witch Hunters codex still has the box for what can be allied into a Witch Hunter army, but no mention of what can be allied out.
The last point of debate is whether this PDF over-rides the printed Codex, or if it is simply a tool to allow Electronic access to a book they no longer wish to print, providing the stats for new players and a reference printout for existing players? People are arguing the Blood Angels PDF and the Warriors of Chaos Fantasy one in White Dwarf superceeded their relative Codex and Army Books, but this doesn't seem to be an update, just making it available.
So what do you reckon?
Balls up by GW and they forgot some pages? Conspiracy theory to get rid of Imperial Guard Mystic Spam? Blogging sites are all over-reacting? Or even a mega conspiracy from GW to remove allies and force players to buy new models to fill that chunk of their army?
Personally, I think that they're rushed the release of this, when really, if they're cutting some pages from the book, they should have replaced them with new pages covering the necessary information and a big filler picture for the rest of the space.
If they have got rid of Allies from both, then that's about the end of my Brotherhood of the Forge army plans...
Peas and Glove.
SB
It's been a while coming, but GW finally deliver the Codex PDFs for the Daemonhunters and Witch Hunters.
Image courtesy of: Dakka Dakka
You can find the Codexes on the GW Website, but you'll need to Register / Log In to get access to them
- Daemonhunters: Download Here
- Witch Hunters: Download Here
The first thing the Internet seems to be up in arms about is the supposed removal of the Allies rules from the Daemonhunters book. A lot of blogging sites have jumped on this as an attempted move to "Nerf Imperial Guard Mystic Spam" from the "Meta Game". I personally think it could be an oversight on the part of GW.
They've cut a LOT out of the PDF codexes, even removing the section on building a Grey Knight army (with the Force Org chart picture) and some other ones such as defining what is and isn't a Grey Knight unit... leading some Internet idiots to start quoting things like:
"Grey Knight Dreadnaughts are Grey Knights now... so they get all the special rules etc."
Apparently there's also some variation between Regions. Apparently, the French Codex has a 4 shot Assault Cannon and the Allies rule present.
It's also noted that the Witch Hunters codex still has the box for what can be allied into a Witch Hunter army, but no mention of what can be allied out.
The last point of debate is whether this PDF over-rides the printed Codex, or if it is simply a tool to allow Electronic access to a book they no longer wish to print, providing the stats for new players and a reference printout for existing players? People are arguing the Blood Angels PDF and the Warriors of Chaos Fantasy one in White Dwarf superceeded their relative Codex and Army Books, but this doesn't seem to be an update, just making it available.
So what do you reckon?
Balls up by GW and they forgot some pages? Conspiracy theory to get rid of Imperial Guard Mystic Spam? Blogging sites are all over-reacting? Or even a mega conspiracy from GW to remove allies and force players to buy new models to fill that chunk of their army?
Personally, I think that they're rushed the release of this, when really, if they're cutting some pages from the book, they should have replaced them with new pages covering the necessary information and a big filler picture for the rest of the space.
If they have got rid of Allies from both, then that's about the end of my Brotherhood of the Forge army plans...
Peas and Glove.
SB
Wednesday, 23 June 2010
[Battle Report] The Weekly Waaagh! in Spearhead
Hey all,
After my post Monday afternoon where I showed off my attempt at a Spearhead list, Monday night I actually got to play the game - our club's first game of Spearhead.
We rolled for the deployment and got a standard Pitched Battle style setup where we had to stay in our own half and 18" away from one another (I can't remember the name!) and then the mission was to get as many scoring units into the enemy deployment zone.
To setup, we were allowed to place 1 Spearhead formation on the board, or 3 non-Spearhead units. So, us having 2 Superheavy units involved, wanted to place them on the table to take each other on. Everything else would come on in reserve.
I placed my Stompa down first, hiding behind the largest building I could in my deployment zone, and the Hellhammer wedged between terrain pieces for cover to the front. Each Super heavy took a penetrating hit before the game started as per their Spearhead rules - the Stompa was unable to move for the turn and the Hellhammer unable to shoot in the turn.
Turn 1 - Orks
First turn to the Orks, the Stompa was unable to move, so couldn't get out from behind cover to threaten the temporarily toothless Hellhammer. Fortunately for the Orks, I had taken 3 Trukk Boyz with Rokkit Launchas in a Mechanised Assault Spearhead which meant they could Outflank and show up from Turn 1. I rolled a 5 for my Outflank roll, meaning I could choose which edge they came on - this was to be the beginning of a few very lucky rolls here...
The 3 trukks all came on behind the Baneblade, looking for some very hopeful Rear Armour shots with their shoddy Ballistic Skill using Rokkit Launchas...
3 Ork Boyz with Rokkit Launchas shoot at the reat armour, 2 actually managing to hit the gigantic vehicle and 1 managing to make a Penetrating Hit.
Somehow (the Ork must have been covered head to toe in Blue Paint) I managed to roll a 6 on the first damage roll meaning Hellhammer loses a Structure point and Chain Reaction allows me to roll again.... Another 6 and a Chain reaction... And a 5. Meaning with 1 16pt Ork Boy managing to destroy a Hellhammer in the first turn, before it had a chance to do anything - Sorry Imperium, but that was an absolute fluke shot.
Needless to say, the Boy has now been promoted into the Tankbusta Corps with Honours! On the down side, 1 Trukk was Immobilised and the other 2 were Stunned.
Turn 1 - Imperium
Having had the Hellhammer destroyed, the Imperium attempted some swift justice, bringing on their own Mechanised Assault Spearhead, with the aim to get revenge on the Orks by taking down their Stompa. 2 Grey Hunter squads in Rhinos armed with Meltas drove onto the board from the side egde and crippled the Stompa with 2 Weapon destroyed results - 1 removing the Titan close combat weapon and the other removing it's primary Cannon.
Turn 2 - Orks
In this turn, Ork reserves started appearing from their board egde, with a Tankhunter Spearhead of Killa Kans and a Crusher Spearhead Battlewagon with Tankbustas and a Kustom forcefield Mek attempted rolled onto the board.
Both attempted to destroy the Rhinos and Grey Hunters, but managed to fail miserably. 5 S10 penetrating hits from the Deff Rolla managed nothing but Shaken, Stunned and the Storm Bolter destroyed. Seems like Ork luck has run out!
Turn 2 - Imperium
Reinforcements showed up in the form of Wolf Guard Terminators, drop podding close by the Tank Hunter Killa Kans and the Battlewagon. The Grey Hunters jumped out of their stunned and shaken Transports, one of them managing to bring down the Battlewagon in an explosion of Red Paint, flames and burning Tankbustas.
The Grey Hunters then moved into assault with the Tankbustas, killing several and another one being lost to No Retreat rules. The Mek and Tankbustas managing to thin out a Grey Hunter or two in return.
A spearhead Dreadnaught moved onto the board and made the nearby Ork Trukks his main priority, immobilising another one.
To top the start of the game off for the Imperium... deep striking Grey Knight terminators ended up very harshly deepstriking off the board and suffering a destroyed mishap result... Ouch... 800+ points destroyed via bad (or good for the orks) dice rolling without doing anything.
Turn 3 - Orks
In turn 3, all my remaining reserves showed up - 2 Units of 3 Killa Kans with Big Shootas, a Seek and Destroy spearhead consisting of 2 Killa Kans and a Deff Dred and a walking Big Mek with Forcefield to safeguard all of the above.
The combined firepower from all the Kans near the Wolf Guard terminators managed to thin them down to 2 terminators. The Stompa unleashed a hail of fire on the Grey Hunters and then proceeded to literally Stomp them in close combat until they ran away.
The Tankbustas and Grey Hunters continued their fued in the middle, neither running away and slowly whittling one another down.
Turn 3 - Imperium
Lots of Dreadnaughts showed up this turn and decided to take offence to my Trukks being in their half of the Board so managed to blow up 2 of them and assault the Boyz inside.
Combined with this, the Wolf Lord himself showed up and jumped into combat with the Boyz but had a pitiful round, killing nothing, despite his supposedly superior combat prowess.
Turn 4 - Orks
The Orks started to head up the board, the Killa Kans and Deff Dred focusing on killing off the Drop Pod and remaining Terminators, dispatching them without too much trouble.
The Ork Trukk Boyz moved to combat the newly arrived Dreadnaughts but the rocket launchers bouncing off their armour. 1 Dreadnaught becomes immobilised and loses an arm.
The Stompa finished off the fleeing Grey Hunters it crushed most of in the last turn, and the Tankbusters and Grey Hunters remain locked to the death.
Turn 4 - Imperium
With all it's force now committed or destroyed the Imperium had it's last throw of the dice in terms of attack, throwing all the Drednaughts and the Wolf Guard battle leader into combat with the Ork Boyz and trukks around their deployment area - hoping to drive off the scoring units.
The Orks however did become depleted, but managed to hold firm, destroying a Dreadnaught and causing the Wolf Lord to lose a wound.
The Tankbusters finally were destroyed, but the Grey Hunters were now left 2 models strong... the Melta and the Rending Wulfen Marked leader in the hopes they can remain alive, they moved away to the corner of the board, attempting to blow something up with the Melta along the way and having no luck.
Turn 5 - Orks
The Egg and Spoon race now began! With the turns running out, all the Killa Kans, Deff Dred and the Stompa then began to turn and run towards the finishing line of the enemy deployment zone.
The Boyz and Double Dreadnaught combat continued with 1 squad of Boyz being forced to flee.
Turn 5 - Imperium
The only thing remaining were the last Grey Hunter squad with Melta, who attempted to rear armour the Stompa and had no luck, along with the 2 Dreds in the Imperial Deployment Zone.
Another Ork Boyz squad began to flee from combat, but a Drednaught was destroyed in the process.
Turn 6 - Orks
The Ork Kan wall continued to race, but were having no luck, with run moves rolling low... They weren't going to make it.
More Boyz died in the Drednaught combat, but they held firm and managed to damage the Drednaught, knocking off his Dreadnaught close combat weapon.
Turn 6 - Imperium
This turn, I think the Dreadnaught finally got popped leaving the win open for the Orks.
We then rolled for a turn 7 and it ended there... Some extremely lucky dice rolling!
Conclusion
Some things we thought after the game (aside from the Hellhammer destruction and GK Terminators flying off the board) was that the Long table deployment, combined with Outflankers and Deepstrikers meant that the vast majority of the table didn't get used.
Had it been a game involving Eldar, Valkyries or Tau, then I'm sure it would have, but in re-acting to Outflanking or Deepstriking threats meant committing forces in our own deployment zones, meaning restricted movement.
Overall though, I enjoyed Spearhead. It somewhat combines the scale and Chaos of an Apocalypse game with the speed of a normal game of 40k. We managed to get a 2,500pt game played in the space of a normal 1,500 - 2000pt 40k game, along with refeering and watching a bit of War of the Ring too.
Looking forward to the next game, where I may leave the Stompa at home and bring an extra Battlewagon, Warbuggies and Looted Wagons for even more chaos!
SB
After my post Monday afternoon where I showed off my attempt at a Spearhead list, Monday night I actually got to play the game - our club's first game of Spearhead.
We rolled for the deployment and got a standard Pitched Battle style setup where we had to stay in our own half and 18" away from one another (I can't remember the name!) and then the mission was to get as many scoring units into the enemy deployment zone.
To setup, we were allowed to place 1 Spearhead formation on the board, or 3 non-Spearhead units. So, us having 2 Superheavy units involved, wanted to place them on the table to take each other on. Everything else would come on in reserve.
I placed my Stompa down first, hiding behind the largest building I could in my deployment zone, and the Hellhammer wedged between terrain pieces for cover to the front. Each Super heavy took a penetrating hit before the game started as per their Spearhead rules - the Stompa was unable to move for the turn and the Hellhammer unable to shoot in the turn.
Turn 1 - Orks
First turn to the Orks, the Stompa was unable to move, so couldn't get out from behind cover to threaten the temporarily toothless Hellhammer. Fortunately for the Orks, I had taken 3 Trukk Boyz with Rokkit Launchas in a Mechanised Assault Spearhead which meant they could Outflank and show up from Turn 1. I rolled a 5 for my Outflank roll, meaning I could choose which edge they came on - this was to be the beginning of a few very lucky rolls here...
The 3 trukks all came on behind the Baneblade, looking for some very hopeful Rear Armour shots with their shoddy Ballistic Skill using Rokkit Launchas...
3 Ork Boyz with Rokkit Launchas shoot at the reat armour, 2 actually managing to hit the gigantic vehicle and 1 managing to make a Penetrating Hit.
Somehow (the Ork must have been covered head to toe in Blue Paint) I managed to roll a 6 on the first damage roll meaning Hellhammer loses a Structure point and Chain Reaction allows me to roll again.... Another 6 and a Chain reaction... And a 5. Meaning with 1 16pt Ork Boy managing to destroy a Hellhammer in the first turn, before it had a chance to do anything - Sorry Imperium, but that was an absolute fluke shot.
Needless to say, the Boy has now been promoted into the Tankbusta Corps with Honours! On the down side, 1 Trukk was Immobilised and the other 2 were Stunned.
Turn 1 - Imperium
Having had the Hellhammer destroyed, the Imperium attempted some swift justice, bringing on their own Mechanised Assault Spearhead, with the aim to get revenge on the Orks by taking down their Stompa. 2 Grey Hunter squads in Rhinos armed with Meltas drove onto the board from the side egde and crippled the Stompa with 2 Weapon destroyed results - 1 removing the Titan close combat weapon and the other removing it's primary Cannon.
Turn 2 - Orks
In this turn, Ork reserves started appearing from their board egde, with a Tankhunter Spearhead of Killa Kans and a Crusher Spearhead Battlewagon with Tankbustas and a Kustom forcefield Mek attempted rolled onto the board.
Both attempted to destroy the Rhinos and Grey Hunters, but managed to fail miserably. 5 S10 penetrating hits from the Deff Rolla managed nothing but Shaken, Stunned and the Storm Bolter destroyed. Seems like Ork luck has run out!
Turn 2 - Imperium
Reinforcements showed up in the form of Wolf Guard Terminators, drop podding close by the Tank Hunter Killa Kans and the Battlewagon. The Grey Hunters jumped out of their stunned and shaken Transports, one of them managing to bring down the Battlewagon in an explosion of Red Paint, flames and burning Tankbustas.
You'll have to now forgive the vagueness of some of the turn descriptions... I was trying to play this game, referee a War of the Ring Game and follow a World Cup game on my phone...
The Grey Hunters then moved into assault with the Tankbustas, killing several and another one being lost to No Retreat rules. The Mek and Tankbustas managing to thin out a Grey Hunter or two in return.
A spearhead Dreadnaught moved onto the board and made the nearby Ork Trukks his main priority, immobilising another one.
To top the start of the game off for the Imperium... deep striking Grey Knight terminators ended up very harshly deepstriking off the board and suffering a destroyed mishap result... Ouch... 800+ points destroyed via bad (or good for the orks) dice rolling without doing anything.
Turn 3 - Orks
In turn 3, all my remaining reserves showed up - 2 Units of 3 Killa Kans with Big Shootas, a Seek and Destroy spearhead consisting of 2 Killa Kans and a Deff Dred and a walking Big Mek with Forcefield to safeguard all of the above.
The combined firepower from all the Kans near the Wolf Guard terminators managed to thin them down to 2 terminators. The Stompa unleashed a hail of fire on the Grey Hunters and then proceeded to literally Stomp them in close combat until they ran away.
The Tankbustas and Grey Hunters continued their fued in the middle, neither running away and slowly whittling one another down.
Turn 3 - Imperium
Lots of Dreadnaughts showed up this turn and decided to take offence to my Trukks being in their half of the Board so managed to blow up 2 of them and assault the Boyz inside.
Combined with this, the Wolf Lord himself showed up and jumped into combat with the Boyz but had a pitiful round, killing nothing, despite his supposedly superior combat prowess.
Turn 4 - Orks
The Orks started to head up the board, the Killa Kans and Deff Dred focusing on killing off the Drop Pod and remaining Terminators, dispatching them without too much trouble.
The Ork Trukk Boyz moved to combat the newly arrived Dreadnaughts but the rocket launchers bouncing off their armour. 1 Dreadnaught becomes immobilised and loses an arm.
The Stompa finished off the fleeing Grey Hunters it crushed most of in the last turn, and the Tankbusters and Grey Hunters remain locked to the death.
Turn 4 - Imperium
With all it's force now committed or destroyed the Imperium had it's last throw of the dice in terms of attack, throwing all the Drednaughts and the Wolf Guard battle leader into combat with the Ork Boyz and trukks around their deployment area - hoping to drive off the scoring units.
The Orks however did become depleted, but managed to hold firm, destroying a Dreadnaught and causing the Wolf Lord to lose a wound.
The Tankbusters finally were destroyed, but the Grey Hunters were now left 2 models strong... the Melta and the Rending Wulfen Marked leader in the hopes they can remain alive, they moved away to the corner of the board, attempting to blow something up with the Melta along the way and having no luck.
Turn 5 - Orks
The Egg and Spoon race now began! With the turns running out, all the Killa Kans, Deff Dred and the Stompa then began to turn and run towards the finishing line of the enemy deployment zone.
The Boyz and Double Dreadnaught combat continued with 1 squad of Boyz being forced to flee.
Turn 5 - Imperium
The only thing remaining were the last Grey Hunter squad with Melta, who attempted to rear armour the Stompa and had no luck, along with the 2 Dreds in the Imperial Deployment Zone.
Another Ork Boyz squad began to flee from combat, but a Drednaught was destroyed in the process.
Turn 6 - Orks
The Ork Kan wall continued to race, but were having no luck, with run moves rolling low... They weren't going to make it.
More Boyz died in the Drednaught combat, but they held firm and managed to damage the Drednaught, knocking off his Dreadnaught close combat weapon.
Turn 6 - Imperium
This turn, I think the Dreadnaught finally got popped leaving the win open for the Orks.
We then rolled for a turn 7 and it ended there... Some extremely lucky dice rolling!
Conclusion
Some things we thought after the game (aside from the Hellhammer destruction and GK Terminators flying off the board) was that the Long table deployment, combined with Outflankers and Deepstrikers meant that the vast majority of the table didn't get used.
Had it been a game involving Eldar, Valkyries or Tau, then I'm sure it would have, but in re-acting to Outflanking or Deepstriking threats meant committing forces in our own deployment zones, meaning restricted movement.
Overall though, I enjoyed Spearhead. It somewhat combines the scale and Chaos of an Apocalypse game with the speed of a normal game of 40k. We managed to get a 2,500pt game played in the space of a normal 1,500 - 2000pt 40k game, along with refeering and watching a bit of War of the Ring too.
Looking forward to the next game, where I may leave the Stompa at home and bring an extra Battlewagon, Warbuggies and Looted Wagons for even more chaos!
SB
Tuesday, 22 June 2010
Ursus' first command
Last night was my first game of Spearhead, and I took my Space Wolves with a couple of Grey Knight Allies, 4 Dreads and a Hellhammer superheavy (a baneblade that got told it was a Hellhammer to be precise.) I will let you decide how it went for me!
It was Ursus’ first time in command and he had been requested by the Inquisition to support them as they tried to stop Waaagh Nobrot, they had had reports of a Stompa leading a swarm of Killer Kans. Ursus had come up with a solid plan with the support of the Grey Knights and a Hellhammer, the Hellhammer would draw the Orks close before opening fire and the remaining forces would attack from various angles to cause disorder or chaos among the Orks.
As the Hellhammer trundled into position the Ork Stompa could be seen moving between buildings, the superheavy powered down so that the Orks crude sensors didn’t pick up its heat signature. Little did Ursus, or even the Inquisition know that the Orks had been cunning and three trukks roared to life only metres away from the idling tank, one Ork boy who had obviously spent the last few years on the target range fired its Rokkit and hit a power coupling crippling the tank but the warhead didn’t explode and drove deeper into its armour cutting more and more power cables and finally detonated deep within the Hellhammer amongst its high explosive ammunition, the Super heavy tank exploded in a nova of heat damaging all three Trukks and leaving a crater where the Imperials hopes once lay.
While Ursus’ squad prepared themselves in their drop pod, he remained in the Strategium to help plan the counter assault. Two squads of Grey hunters with Meltaguns drove their rhinos recklessly behind enemy lines they quickly fired their tank destroying weapons and sheared off both the Stompas most fearsome weapons at the joints, but failed to be able to stop its rampage the same way the Orks destroyed their icon of victory.
As the Orks walker contraptions known as Killer Kans horded into the immediate vicinity, Ursus declared the beginning of their counter assault and his Grey Hunters deployed out of their Rhinos to face down the oncoming horde after it had been hit by a speeding Battlewagon. Ursus’ squad was launched and he saw them land amidst the enemy, it took a moment to realise he himself was supposed to be in the Drop Pod, and he dashed towards the launch bays to commandeer a Thunderhawk trying his best not to look like a complete fool as his squad held an entire army at bay.
One of the dreadnoughts had finally arrived at the battle and opened up at the closest Ork Trukk destroying it with contemptuous ease causing the Orks inside to bail out before the towering machine charged into battle ripping two apart with its huge claws. The Grey Knights, although had been deployed were no-where to be seen and suspected that they had teleported to a different location after discovering a daemonic infestation elsewhere on the planet.
The Ork Horde swarmed over the Space Wolves who had been abandoned by their Inquisition allies and their only hope lay in ruins before it had fired a shot. The Space Wolves were slowly torn apart by the Kans and the Stompa with little able to fight back as all their heavy weapons had been destroyed or elsewhere on the planet the Ork Waagh could only gain strengths in the coming days. Ursus landed and charged straight into the closest band of Orks supported by 3 Dreadnoughts but his last stand didn’t last long and the overwhelming numbers of the Orks tore him and the Dreadnoughts apart. The Orks had suffered few casualties compared to the Space Wolves and were eager for more destruction. But with nothing else in sight they turned their glaring red eyes towards the main hive of the planet.
Well as you can see, it went very very badly, but oh well, better luck next time eh.
Monday, 21 June 2010
[Orks] First Attempt at a Spearhead
Afternoon all,
I figured since the well of Articles has been quite dry over the last week, due to personal situations for everyone and the World Cup!
Tonight at the club, we're going to have a go at Spearhead for the first time, so I've whipped up a list that's mostly just an excuse to get a Stompa on the table...
I'm hoping that it will be in similar vein to Apocalypse games, in that lots of stuff gets blown up and there's some crazy situations. I swiftly found though that putting the Stompa in, really chewed up my points...
Big Mek Rorshark's Spearhead:
HQ: Big Mek
Kustom Forcefield, Power Klaw, Eavy Armour, Bosspole, Cybork Body.
HQ: Big Mek
Kustom Forcefield, Power Klaw, Eavy Armour, Bosspole, Cybork Body.
Elites: 15 Tankbustas
2 Tankhammers, 2 Bomb Squigs
Heavy Support: 3 Killa Kans
3 Big Shoota
Heavy Support: 3 Killa Kans
3 Big Shoota
Spearhead: Crusher Spearhead
Battlewagon - Red paint Job, Armour Plates, Kannon, Deff Rolla, Boarding Plank
Spearhead: Tank Hunter Spearhead
3 Killa Kans, 3 Rokkit Launcha
Spearhead: Mechanised Assault Spearhead
12 Trukk Boyz, Rokkit Launcha, Nob, Power Klaw, Bosspole, Trukk, Red Paint Job, Armour Plates
Spearhead: Outrider Spearhead
2 Killa Kans w/ Big Shoota
1 Deff Dred w/ 3 Dred CCWs and Skorcha
Spearhead: Superheavy Vehicle
Stompa
TOTAL: 2500
I did want to have a firebase of 2 Lootas towards the back, along with some Meganobz in a 2nd Battlewagon, but as I say... the lure of a Stompa was too strong.
I was also eager to have as many Spearhead formations as I can fit into a list, and it quickly turned into a puzzle - "I've run out of Heavy slots, how can I fit more Killa Kans in???".
We'll see how it goes, but has anyone out there had a go with Spearhead - if so - what do you reckon to it?
Expect an attempt of a Battle Report tomorrow :)
I figured since the well of Articles has been quite dry over the last week, due to personal situations for everyone and the World Cup!
Tonight at the club, we're going to have a go at Spearhead for the first time, so I've whipped up a list that's mostly just an excuse to get a Stompa on the table...
I'm hoping that it will be in similar vein to Apocalypse games, in that lots of stuff gets blown up and there's some crazy situations. I swiftly found though that putting the Stompa in, really chewed up my points...
Big Mek Rorshark's Spearhead:
HQ: Big Mek
Kustom Forcefield, Power Klaw, Eavy Armour, Bosspole, Cybork Body.
HQ: Big Mek
Kustom Forcefield, Power Klaw, Eavy Armour, Bosspole, Cybork Body.
Elites: 15 Tankbustas
2 Tankhammers, 2 Bomb Squigs
Heavy Support: 3 Killa Kans
3 Big Shoota
Heavy Support: 3 Killa Kans
3 Big Shoota
Spearhead: Crusher Spearhead
Battlewagon - Red paint Job, Armour Plates, Kannon, Deff Rolla, Boarding Plank
Spearhead: Tank Hunter Spearhead
3 Killa Kans, 3 Rokkit Launcha
Spearhead: Mechanised Assault Spearhead
12 Trukk Boyz, Rokkit Launcha, Nob, Power Klaw, Bosspole, Trukk, Red Paint Job, Armour Plates
Spearhead: Outrider Spearhead
2 Killa Kans w/ Big Shoota
1 Deff Dred w/ 3 Dred CCWs and Skorcha
Spearhead: Superheavy Vehicle
Stompa
TOTAL: 2500
I did want to have a firebase of 2 Lootas towards the back, along with some Meganobz in a 2nd Battlewagon, but as I say... the lure of a Stompa was too strong.
I was also eager to have as many Spearhead formations as I can fit into a list, and it quickly turned into a puzzle - "I've run out of Heavy slots, how can I fit more Killa Kans in???".
We'll see how it goes, but has anyone out there had a go with Spearhead - if so - what do you reckon to it?
Expect an attempt of a Battle Report tomorrow :)
Thursday, 17 June 2010
Quick Question
Hi all,
Angryman here with a question, Does anyone think Relics up and coming computer game 'Space Marine'
will get FAQ'ed by Games Workshop?
All comments welcome!! (but keep 'em clean)
Tuesday, 15 June 2010
[Orks] Preparing for Spearhead
Morning all,
In a lull between big articles for me, I thought I'd talk a bit about Spearhead and what I've been up to at my paint desk recently. Having been stuck on painting Guardsmen and Tanks for a while, I thought the other day that I'd do some actual converting and modelling and decided to add to my Ork army, especially with talk of playing some Spearhead coming soon, I wanted to crank out even more Orks!
Raiding my bitz box for everything possible, I managed to get enough bits to make 5 more of my converted Killa Kans. 4 with Big Shootas, 1 with a Grotzooka / Rokkit Launcha.
So here they are in their unpainted stage. I finally managed to get the Plasticard Visors and Teef to stay put, after they decided to break off when spray painting. These guys aren't supposed to be pretty - they're cheap and nasty - but quick to make and crank out so I can get a load of walkers on the table.
I then thought, if I'm going to be playing some Spearhead, I'll be taking Tankbustas. Then, after assembling some WHFB Orc Archers over last weekend, I found I had 2 spare Boars from a Chariot used in another conversion. So I thought "I wonder what I can use these for?", then I thought immediately of an Ork strapping bombs to a Boar, giving it a swift kick and seeing which way it will run. So these "Bomb Boars" were born, counting as 2 Bomb Squigs in my Tankbusta unit.
Now I know Tankbustas get bashed by the Internet list mongers, and Bomb Squigs don't do anything to help that (especially with the increased number of Vehicles on my side of the table) but the bitz were there and I thought they would be fun.
Onto actually talking about Spearhead though, I'm really excited to have a game of it. My vehicle tally for Orks looks like this:
- 2 Battlewagons
- 3 Trukks
- 1 Looted Wagon
- 1 Looted Wagon with Boomgun (2 more on Standby when I can magnetise some Guard tanks)
- 3 Warbuggies
- 11 Killa Kans
- 1 Deff Dred
- 1 Stompa
I'd not realised I had so many Killa Kans until making this other unit of 5, but that's still not enough! There's 12 Spearhead formations in all, and here are a few ideas of what I'd have in mind to do for the Orks:
Armoured Spearhead - Stick this on my Looted Boomgun wagons, no need for a KFF to hang back with them then...
Ambush Spearhead - 3 Infiltrating Stealthy Deff Dreds? Yes please. All I need to do is hope they don't get smashed to pieces close up. That'd be a good idea for these guys to take out Support Weapons fire and then start hitting rear armour on the lap around.
Mechanised Assault - Trukk Boyz personally, 3 mobs of them. Coming on from the side table edge being fast vehicles, I think this seems pretty cool.
Tankhunter Spearhead - Personally, this goes on a unit of 3 Killa Kans with Rokkit Launchas. The improved BS, along with the Tank Hunter special rule turns these into pretty handy light armour busters. I would have liked these to be able to go onto the Warbuggies, but they're Fast Open topped Vehicles and this spearhead only applies to Tanks and Walkers.
Archeotech Spearhead - I can't really say I'm favouring this one. My tank units Strength of weapons is already pretty decent for what they are, and the Walkers don't have strong enough weapons to merit using it on.
Outrider Spearhead - I see this one being used on a Deff Dred "commander" along with 2 Kans as a Bodyguard offering their Protection Duty special rule.
Skyfall Spearhead - No use in the Ork army, but I'm sure there will be plenty of Valk Vet spamming Alpha Strike guard armies out there that LOVE this.
Monstrous Spearhead - Again, no use to the Orks, but Tyranid players are drooling at this one... non-Tyranid players are quaking in fear!
Mass Attack Spearhead - This is perfect for 30 strong mobs of Ork Boyz. S7 grenades when attacking Rear Armour AND able to Re-group below half... awesome!
Crusher Spearhead - Only would really work on Battlewagons, but in spending 15 pts for that... I'd rather have spent the extra 5pts to take a Deff Rolla on each and do far more useful damage.
Seek And Destroy - This can be used on bikes. I'm envisioning either Turbo-boosting Nob Bikers able to Turbo Boost and still fire, or for a Wazdakka and Warbiker bodyguard to do the same.
Superheavy Spearhead - Just because I need an excuse to get my Stompa on the tabletop more often...
So what do you guys reckon to Spearhead? And any thoughts for your armies on the Spearhead formations? I would expect to see more Monstrous Creature formations to keep the Nids happy in the future.
SB.
In a lull between big articles for me, I thought I'd talk a bit about Spearhead and what I've been up to at my paint desk recently. Having been stuck on painting Guardsmen and Tanks for a while, I thought the other day that I'd do some actual converting and modelling and decided to add to my Ork army, especially with talk of playing some Spearhead coming soon, I wanted to crank out even more Orks!
Raiding my bitz box for everything possible, I managed to get enough bits to make 5 more of my converted Killa Kans. 4 with Big Shootas, 1 with a Grotzooka / Rokkit Launcha.
So here they are in their unpainted stage. I finally managed to get the Plasticard Visors and Teef to stay put, after they decided to break off when spray painting. These guys aren't supposed to be pretty - they're cheap and nasty - but quick to make and crank out so I can get a load of walkers on the table.
I then thought, if I'm going to be playing some Spearhead, I'll be taking Tankbustas. Then, after assembling some WHFB Orc Archers over last weekend, I found I had 2 spare Boars from a Chariot used in another conversion. So I thought "I wonder what I can use these for?", then I thought immediately of an Ork strapping bombs to a Boar, giving it a swift kick and seeing which way it will run. So these "Bomb Boars" were born, counting as 2 Bomb Squigs in my Tankbusta unit.
Now I know Tankbustas get bashed by the Internet list mongers, and Bomb Squigs don't do anything to help that (especially with the increased number of Vehicles on my side of the table) but the bitz were there and I thought they would be fun.
Onto actually talking about Spearhead though, I'm really excited to have a game of it. My vehicle tally for Orks looks like this:
- 2 Battlewagons
- 3 Trukks
- 1 Looted Wagon
- 1 Looted Wagon with Boomgun (2 more on Standby when I can magnetise some Guard tanks)
- 3 Warbuggies
- 11 Killa Kans
- 1 Deff Dred
- 1 Stompa
I'd not realised I had so many Killa Kans until making this other unit of 5, but that's still not enough! There's 12 Spearhead formations in all, and here are a few ideas of what I'd have in mind to do for the Orks:
Armoured Spearhead - Stick this on my Looted Boomgun wagons, no need for a KFF to hang back with them then...
Ambush Spearhead - 3 Infiltrating Stealthy Deff Dreds? Yes please. All I need to do is hope they don't get smashed to pieces close up. That'd be a good idea for these guys to take out Support Weapons fire and then start hitting rear armour on the lap around.
Mechanised Assault - Trukk Boyz personally, 3 mobs of them. Coming on from the side table edge being fast vehicles, I think this seems pretty cool.
Tankhunter Spearhead - Personally, this goes on a unit of 3 Killa Kans with Rokkit Launchas. The improved BS, along with the Tank Hunter special rule turns these into pretty handy light armour busters. I would have liked these to be able to go onto the Warbuggies, but they're Fast Open topped Vehicles and this spearhead only applies to Tanks and Walkers.
Archeotech Spearhead - I can't really say I'm favouring this one. My tank units Strength of weapons is already pretty decent for what they are, and the Walkers don't have strong enough weapons to merit using it on.
Outrider Spearhead - I see this one being used on a Deff Dred "commander" along with 2 Kans as a Bodyguard offering their Protection Duty special rule.
Skyfall Spearhead - No use in the Ork army, but I'm sure there will be plenty of Valk Vet spamming Alpha Strike guard armies out there that LOVE this.
Monstrous Spearhead - Again, no use to the Orks, but Tyranid players are drooling at this one... non-Tyranid players are quaking in fear!
Mass Attack Spearhead - This is perfect for 30 strong mobs of Ork Boyz. S7 grenades when attacking Rear Armour AND able to Re-group below half... awesome!
Crusher Spearhead - Only would really work on Battlewagons, but in spending 15 pts for that... I'd rather have spent the extra 5pts to take a Deff Rolla on each and do far more useful damage.
Seek And Destroy - This can be used on bikes. I'm envisioning either Turbo-boosting Nob Bikers able to Turbo Boost and still fire, or for a Wazdakka and Warbiker bodyguard to do the same.
Superheavy Spearhead - Just because I need an excuse to get my Stompa on the tabletop more often...
So what do you guys reckon to Spearhead? And any thoughts for your armies on the Spearhead formations? I would expect to see more Monstrous Creature formations to keep the Nids happy in the future.
And as a side note, if anyone out there has any Force Pylons from Battle for Macragge boxset, please get in touch. I've got the urge to build up some more Killa Kans and have run out of them to use as feet!
SB.
Monday, 14 June 2010
[Editorial] The Primarchs - Then and Now Edition - Pt 1, The beginning
Once upon a time, the Emperor was to become a father, not to one child, nor two, but 20!
These children were not your average kids, they were made from his flesh and blood, literally. These were pretty much clones, they were built to represent the different aspects of war and we believe the Emperor himself!
The Emperor with 18 of his dearest children before they were cruelly whisked away.
Unfortunately, while the Primarchs (which his kids were lovingly called) were still in their gestation tubes a tragedy befell them and they were scattered throughout the universe, each happening to land on a human planet.
Some people believe that this was no accident and it is debated whether the Emperor or the Gods of Chaos planned this, both have their merits, and it is very possible that it was a mixture of chance and planning on both parts.
Some of the Primarchs were touched by Chaos at some point, two developing mutations like Sanguinius, and possibly Fulgrim (no-one is naturally that good looking). This is of course, unless the Emperor created his legendary children to be like this himself. However we do know that Magnus was touched by chaos, but not in an insidious way, they had a bit of a lovers tiff and Magnus subsequently lost his eye while battling the ancient god (or a Daemon Prince representing) Tzeentch. This battle was fought in the Warp where Magnus was using his “aetheric body of light” the wound although inflicted on his will and spirit translated to the real world and his eye had disappeared, with no evidence that one was ever there.
Over the following articles, I am going to take in in-depth (slightly tongue in cheek) look at the Primarchs and how their legions have coped since the Horus Heresy.
But firstly, let’s take a look at their dad. We know very little about him and there are a few good articles on Bell of Lost Souls taking an in depth and theological look at the Emperor and are very thought provoking, I hope my articles are of similar ideals. However, if you are a follower of the Lectitio Divinitatus please look away, this article and the articles to follow contain many heresies and blasphemies towards the Emperor.
The Emperor, he has been around for a while, and has a potent psychic aura. This aura actually stops many people being able to look upon him because of his “divine” beauty.
The Emperor crusaded around Earth (also known as Terra) and extinguished the preachers and most devout followers of every religion on the planet. He believed that religion was the cause of separation between humanity and his goal to unit them under atheism could be said to have proven that it is, however, he also had a large army of Thunder Warriors. These Thunder Warriors were an early precursor to the Space Marines, and they were feared by all the Emperors enemies, these are a more likely factor for Terra to follow his rule, than because religion causes division.
After conquering the planet the Emperor turned his eyes to the stars and his first stop was Mars, where he took the form of the “Omnissiah” which is the Mechanicums idea of machine perfection. Here the Emperor had his fleets built and prepared the legions or Space Marines for the Great Crusade, each Legion was like the Emperors grandchildren, each built using a similar but simplified version of the Primarch project. The Space Marines were ordinary people who were “mutated” by and implant called the “Gene Seed” this was created from the DNA of their respective Primarch.
During/After the Horus Heresy, the Emperor has had very little impact on the Imperium, this is most likely because he is dead and his corpse and people suspect his soul is being sustained by the Golden Throne which requires thousands of Psyker sacrifices to keep it running. The biggest impact that the Emperor has had in the last ten thousand years is that the Lectitio Divinitatus is now renamed the Ecclesiarchy and is actually the leading religion among the populace of the galaxy. Without the Emperor to deny his divinity and peoples belief that he has ascended and now watches over the Imperium in spirit does not help stop the spread of the Imperial Religion.
It is quite ironic how the Emperor went on the Great Crusade to unite humanity under the Imperial Truth and they are now united under the Imperial Religion. We will look in depth about this later on the article for Horus and his downfall.
Next time, we shall look at the 1st legion… The Dark Angels, and their Primarch Lion El’Johnson.
[Necrons] 5th Edition Revisions - Necron Lords
Morning all,
I was hoping to do an article on my first game of Spearhead over the weekend, but unfortunately I had to pull out of playing. So I thought I'd try to continue this series on what would be good to see in terms of a 5th Edition Necron Codex.
In this article, I'll discuss the rumoured changes to the only official HQ unit in the Necron Codex - the Necron Lord.
The Choices
Firstly, there is massive debate over whether there will be a system of Silver, Gold and Platinum Lord choices in the Codex. Personally, I think this is a bit of a backwards Step that GW won't take. It harks back to the old situation we had with Space Marine Captains and Commanders, Chaos Lieutenants and Lords, Witch Hunter Palantines and Cannonness.
The proposed idea is:
- Silver Lord, S and T 4 with 2 Wounds and 2 Attacks.
- Gold Lord, S and T5 with 3 wounds and 3 Attacks.
- Platinum Lord, supposedly wears a C'Tan suit and is a toned down version of old C'Tan.
To me, the Silver Lord is completely un-necessary and as I say, harks back to an older, less streamlined edition. Nowadays the key is "That's the official model, that's what rules it uses".
I personally think it will be a case of we get a Necron Lord and a C'Tan choice. Equivalent to how the Chaos Marines have a Chaos Lord and a Daemon Prince. This article is about how the Necron Lord will be changed in 5th edition so...
Stats
I would guess that the Necron Lord will stay mostly untouched in terms of the profile. First and foremost, the Lord is a Support Unit but his stats match, or better some Marine style HQ units, so it's tempting what to do with him.
Wargear
Now that the usual Armoury / Wargear section of the books have been removed, I feel the Necron Lord will lose a lot of their options around, especially now with the trend that most upgrades tend to remove a pistol / close combat weapon.
I think the likely starting wargear for the Lord will be the Staff of Light along with a "Free Hand". The freehand will be able to take one of the following:
- Resurrection Orb, same as currently. Will allow Feel No Pain (We'll Be Back updated) to be used regardless of situation, within usual distance.
- Gauss Flamer? This would be a cool option to see on the Necron Lord, one of the only models to be able to carry this and thin out some hordes or flush from cover. I'm thinking it's a Wrist mounted weapon - if you can imagine the Super Battle Droids from Star Wars... you'll see what I mean.
- Veil of Darkness. I would say this offers a cover save or Night fighting to the units, to avoid a Battlecannon shot blowing up the unit. I've got a feeling the Deep Strike use of this will be removed.
- Chrono-heart: A bit of a combination of Chronometron and Gaze of Flames from the current Codex. Reduces the threat of an easy Assault on a Necron unit.
Then we talk about the options to upgrade the Close Combat weapons:
- Staff of Light: Is as standard and how it is in the Codex.
- Warscythe: Make it more like the Pariahs with the built in Gauss Blaster. I do like this weapon though...
- Flayer Claws: Either 1, or a pair. Similar to Lightning Claws with with a twist?
Along with this, Invulnerable Saves are pretty much "As Standard" with most HQs. I think the likelihood is a built in Phase Shifter, with 4+ Inv, maybe drop this down to a 5+ Inv.
I'd also be some Movement options like:
- Destroyer Body: Move like a Jetbike
- Spyder Body: Attacks like a Monstrous Creature, loses Independent Character?
- Pariah Gene: Lord gains Fleet and Furious Charge?
I'm a bit short on ideas for Movement options. I've seen plenty of Spyder Body conversions knocking around that prompted the idea for Spyder body idea. The Pariah Gene option just makes me base the idea around changes to Pariah's I'd like to see.
Build Unlocking
The main thing as a support unit that the Necron Lord is, would be to unlock new army builds in what is a stale Troop section for the Necron army.
- Lord on Destroyer Body: Similar to Space marine captain on Bike. 1 unit of Destroyers become Troop choices.
- Flayer Lord: All Flayed Ones become troops.
- As standard: 1 unit of Immortals becomes Troops.
- Pariah Gene: 1 unit of Pariahs become Troops.
Conclusion
A lot of this is wish listing, ideas bouncing around in my head and a fair bit of emptying my Brain into the Blog Article.
What do you guys think? Any other ideas you may have bouncing around, or any critiscisms of what I've thought up?
SB
I was hoping to do an article on my first game of Spearhead over the weekend, but unfortunately I had to pull out of playing. So I thought I'd try to continue this series on what would be good to see in terms of a 5th Edition Necron Codex.
In this article, I'll discuss the rumoured changes to the only official HQ unit in the Necron Codex - the Necron Lord.
The Choices
Firstly, there is massive debate over whether there will be a system of Silver, Gold and Platinum Lord choices in the Codex. Personally, I think this is a bit of a backwards Step that GW won't take. It harks back to the old situation we had with Space Marine Captains and Commanders, Chaos Lieutenants and Lords, Witch Hunter Palantines and Cannonness.
The proposed idea is:
- Silver Lord, S and T 4 with 2 Wounds and 2 Attacks.
- Gold Lord, S and T5 with 3 wounds and 3 Attacks.
- Platinum Lord, supposedly wears a C'Tan suit and is a toned down version of old C'Tan.
To me, the Silver Lord is completely un-necessary and as I say, harks back to an older, less streamlined edition. Nowadays the key is "That's the official model, that's what rules it uses".
I personally think it will be a case of we get a Necron Lord and a C'Tan choice. Equivalent to how the Chaos Marines have a Chaos Lord and a Daemon Prince. This article is about how the Necron Lord will be changed in 5th edition so...
Stats
I would guess that the Necron Lord will stay mostly untouched in terms of the profile. First and foremost, the Lord is a Support Unit but his stats match, or better some Marine style HQ units, so it's tempting what to do with him.
Wargear
Now that the usual Armoury / Wargear section of the books have been removed, I feel the Necron Lord will lose a lot of their options around, especially now with the trend that most upgrades tend to remove a pistol / close combat weapon.
I think the likely starting wargear for the Lord will be the Staff of Light along with a "Free Hand". The freehand will be able to take one of the following:
- Resurrection Orb, same as currently. Will allow Feel No Pain (We'll Be Back updated) to be used regardless of situation, within usual distance.
- Gauss Flamer? This would be a cool option to see on the Necron Lord, one of the only models to be able to carry this and thin out some hordes or flush from cover. I'm thinking it's a Wrist mounted weapon - if you can imagine the Super Battle Droids from Star Wars... you'll see what I mean.
- Veil of Darkness. I would say this offers a cover save or Night fighting to the units, to avoid a Battlecannon shot blowing up the unit. I've got a feeling the Deep Strike use of this will be removed.
- Chrono-heart: A bit of a combination of Chronometron and Gaze of Flames from the current Codex. Reduces the threat of an easy Assault on a Necron unit.
Then we talk about the options to upgrade the Close Combat weapons:
- Staff of Light: Is as standard and how it is in the Codex.
- Warscythe: Make it more like the Pariahs with the built in Gauss Blaster. I do like this weapon though...
- Flayer Claws: Either 1, or a pair. Similar to Lightning Claws with with a twist?
Along with this, Invulnerable Saves are pretty much "As Standard" with most HQs. I think the likelihood is a built in Phase Shifter, with 4+ Inv, maybe drop this down to a 5+ Inv.
I'd also be some Movement options like:
- Destroyer Body: Move like a Jetbike
- Spyder Body: Attacks like a Monstrous Creature, loses Independent Character?
- Pariah Gene: Lord gains Fleet and Furious Charge?
I'm a bit short on ideas for Movement options. I've seen plenty of Spyder Body conversions knocking around that prompted the idea for Spyder body idea. The Pariah Gene option just makes me base the idea around changes to Pariah's I'd like to see.
Build Unlocking
The main thing as a support unit that the Necron Lord is, would be to unlock new army builds in what is a stale Troop section for the Necron army.
- Lord on Destroyer Body: Similar to Space marine captain on Bike. 1 unit of Destroyers become Troop choices.
- Flayer Lord: All Flayed Ones become troops.
- As standard: 1 unit of Immortals becomes Troops.
- Pariah Gene: 1 unit of Pariahs become Troops.
Conclusion
A lot of this is wish listing, ideas bouncing around in my head and a fair bit of emptying my Brain into the Blog Article.
What do you guys think? Any other ideas you may have bouncing around, or any critiscisms of what I've thought up?
SB
Thursday, 10 June 2010
War of the Ring: First Impressions
Afternoon all,
I was scheduled to put this post up after playing a game at the club on Monday night, but distractions got in the way, and I had been brewing the "Bandwagon" article for a while.
Anyways... in an attempt to provide a break from 40k, I recently started looking into War of the Ring, fuelled by the desire to put the large collection of LOTR Models I had, to some kind of use on the tabletop, to decide if I should be selling them.
It started about a month ago, with a few quick 800 point games on a Saturday afternoon. The first one taking about an hour and a half and forgetting 90% of the special rules associated with characters, upgrades and not using Heroic Actions.
After this, we then replayed the game using the same army lists at the club focusing a bit more on learning how Heroes work in the game, along with the magic system.
This Monday, I had a game using practically the same lists, but at 1,000pts which I spent and invested in Gandalf so I could have some anti-Witch King magic. So it squared up - 1,000pts of Gondor against 1,000pts of Mordor in a 5 Objective game.
Now in War of the Ring, the Objectives are placed at the start of the game, and once picked up by a unit, are carried around until they are defeated in Combat, or killed and the objective is passed to the Winning unit or dropped on the spot, respectively.
Guards of the Fountain Court protect the exposed Flanks of Gandalf's Warriors of Minas Tirith as they prepare to attack the dread Mordor Troll.
Boromir of Gondor leads a unit of Swan Knight cavalry into battle to combat Mordor Warg Riders.
Rangers of Gondor shelter in cover as Warg Riders approach from the flank, and Orc Trackers lie in Ambush...
So what are my initial thoughts on War of the Ring?
First off the game is very unpredictable. That doesn't mean you can't have an overall plan and it's down to luck... It just means that unlike 40k, you can't account for opponent actions being as predictable as "This turn, I do this, your turn you do that etc.".
Also, as it plays, I move, you move, I shoot, you shoot - each army has a chance to react accordingly and it become a bit more tricky to flank enemies and also means you do have a chance to stop that big burly monster charging into your ranks. As opposed to just having to take it on the chin for a turn.
Heroes in this also play, what I think, is a much more strategic role in the game. Where in 40k and Warhammer, you would have a character that (generally) remains the same stats all the way through... in War of the Ring Heroes eventually get weighed down and dragged under in a fight. It also again, can reduce some of the predictability of 40k - thanks to acting out of turn, being able to modify dice rolls etc. This is an aspect of the game that really appeals to me in that it is simple (once you get the hang of it) and extremely effective - although it can be annoying to be on the recieving end of it.
Also, the magic system is miles more free-flowing than Warhammer Fantasy. Every spell following the same procedure and simply increasing or decreasing stats accordingly, or in some circumstances, causing direct damage.
The last factor I like of the game is there is ALWAYS a chance what you're doing can fail. Such as the random charge distances in the game - something I really enjoy. It's a tradeoff between moving close enough to the enemy that you will be guarenteed a charge, but even then, roll a dreaded 1... and your guys will remain rooted to the spot.
Overall, I really enjoy War of the Ring and hope that GW continue to support it via some ace new plastic kits. I can understand that some people don't like it because there are "Broken Lists" or "Super Units", but at the end of the day, I think Fluff ties much more strongly with army lists in this game than 40k, providing you play someone who's pretty decent.
The game is by no means simple, but to me, it's very clean cut and straightforward. It means quick, decisive games and much less flicking through books and rulebashing your opponent.
Anyone else played WOTR? I know a few of us are looking forward to Intro games - so what do you think of it?
SB
I was scheduled to put this post up after playing a game at the club on Monday night, but distractions got in the way, and I had been brewing the "Bandwagon" article for a while.
Anyways... in an attempt to provide a break from 40k, I recently started looking into War of the Ring, fuelled by the desire to put the large collection of LOTR Models I had, to some kind of use on the tabletop, to decide if I should be selling them.
It started about a month ago, with a few quick 800 point games on a Saturday afternoon. The first one taking about an hour and a half and forgetting 90% of the special rules associated with characters, upgrades and not using Heroic Actions.
After this, we then replayed the game using the same army lists at the club focusing a bit more on learning how Heroes work in the game, along with the magic system.
This Monday, I had a game using practically the same lists, but at 1,000pts which I spent and invested in Gandalf so I could have some anti-Witch King magic. So it squared up - 1,000pts of Gondor against 1,000pts of Mordor in a 5 Objective game.
Now in War of the Ring, the Objectives are placed at the start of the game, and once picked up by a unit, are carried around until they are defeated in Combat, or killed and the objective is passed to the Winning unit or dropped on the spot, respectively.
Guards of the Fountain Court protect the exposed Flanks of Gandalf's Warriors of Minas Tirith as they prepare to attack the dread Mordor Troll.
Boromir of Gondor leads a unit of Swan Knight cavalry into battle to combat Mordor Warg Riders.
So what are my initial thoughts on War of the Ring?
First off the game is very unpredictable. That doesn't mean you can't have an overall plan and it's down to luck... It just means that unlike 40k, you can't account for opponent actions being as predictable as "This turn, I do this, your turn you do that etc.".
Also, as it plays, I move, you move, I shoot, you shoot - each army has a chance to react accordingly and it become a bit more tricky to flank enemies and also means you do have a chance to stop that big burly monster charging into your ranks. As opposed to just having to take it on the chin for a turn.
Heroes in this also play, what I think, is a much more strategic role in the game. Where in 40k and Warhammer, you would have a character that (generally) remains the same stats all the way through... in War of the Ring Heroes eventually get weighed down and dragged under in a fight. It also again, can reduce some of the predictability of 40k - thanks to acting out of turn, being able to modify dice rolls etc. This is an aspect of the game that really appeals to me in that it is simple (once you get the hang of it) and extremely effective - although it can be annoying to be on the recieving end of it.
Also, the magic system is miles more free-flowing than Warhammer Fantasy. Every spell following the same procedure and simply increasing or decreasing stats accordingly, or in some circumstances, causing direct damage.
The last factor I like of the game is there is ALWAYS a chance what you're doing can fail. Such as the random charge distances in the game - something I really enjoy. It's a tradeoff between moving close enough to the enemy that you will be guarenteed a charge, but even then, roll a dreaded 1... and your guys will remain rooted to the spot.
Overall, I really enjoy War of the Ring and hope that GW continue to support it via some ace new plastic kits. I can understand that some people don't like it because there are "Broken Lists" or "Super Units", but at the end of the day, I think Fluff ties much more strongly with army lists in this game than 40k, providing you play someone who's pretty decent.
The game is by no means simple, but to me, it's very clean cut and straightforward. It means quick, decisive games and much less flicking through books and rulebashing your opponent.
Anyone else played WOTR? I know a few of us are looking forward to Intro games - so what do you think of it?
SB
Tuesday, 8 June 2010
[Editorial] Why do we play?
Hi all,
Angryman here with a question, Why do we play wargames?
Do we do it to satisfy any megalomaniac tendencies? Is it to indulge the child residing in us all? some do it to to get away from the wife and kids, others because they never really lose the geek streak!
I got back into the hobby because the gothic setting of the 40K universe with its dark and forboding character really appeals to me, Its something I've remembered from when I started playing as a kid. The tactical challenge the game brings, the socialising and the break from the kids are just a bonus!!
So, Why do you play wargames?
Angryman here with a question, Why do we play wargames?
Do we do it to satisfy any megalomaniac tendencies? Is it to indulge the child residing in us all? some do it to to get away from the wife and kids, others because they never really lose the geek streak!
I got back into the hobby because the gothic setting of the 40K universe with its dark and forboding character really appeals to me, Its something I've remembered from when I started playing as a kid. The tactical challenge the game brings, the socialising and the break from the kids are just a bonus!!
So, Why do you play wargames?
[Editorial] All Aboard The Bandwagon: Internet Lists
Afternoon one and all,
You may have read in a couple of other articles over the past few weeks about Conflict North 2010. This was my first tournament in about 8 months, and the first time I'd been to a tournament that's well publicised and lists are not vetted prior to the event, and the amount of Carbon Copy lists of what is popular on the internet, was apalling. Don't get me wrong, it was a good tournament and I really enjoyed the day, armies and respective players.
But, after seeing what's going on and inspired by some user comments to replies on other blogs, I thought I'd start a series of articles about the popularity of "trends" and "builds" in 40k at the moment - "All Aboard the Bandwagon".
So in this article, I want to talk about people using "Internet Lists", known around the Blogsphere as "Cookie Cutter" lists.
What is an "Internet List"?
An Internet List is generally a list of several people's devising that has been touted around the Internet, on forums or Blog websites, generally along with someone proclaiming a hefty Win/Loss record along with it.
Internet lists focus around the current trends or - a phrase I don't like to use - the "Meta Game", with a very large emphasis on unit spam. As an example, I'll use a list posted on BellOfLostSouls called "The Leafblower".
2 Company Command Squads – 3 Plasma, Medic, and Powerfist in each, mounted in Chimeras. An Astropath and a Master of the Fleet.
Elite Daemonhunter Inquisitor - Terminator Armor, Psycannon, Force Weapon, and retinue (Mystics, Hierophant, Sage).
Psyker Battle Squad – in a Chimera
Infantry Platoon – 3 Squads in Chimeras with Heavy Weapons, Command with 4 Flamers in a Chimera
2 Special Weapons Squads – Flamers and Demo Charge, Meltaguns and Flamer.
Veteran Squads – Meltaguns and Shotguns in a Chimera. Meltaguns, Shotguns, and Demolitions.
2 Valkyries – Multiple Rocket Pods.
2 Medusas – Enclosed Crew Compartments. 10/2 Ordnance Blasts are obvious.
2 Hydras – 72” range twin-linked no Moving Fast saves Autocannons are obvious.
Manticore – d3 10/4 Ordnance Barrage Blasts.
I've seen many, many, many worse off lists in terms of Spam, but this was the kind of Carbon Copy list that was on 4 of the 12 tables at Conflict North.
If the Internet says it will win, people will run out, spend their hard earned cash and then want to win games with it... It shows on the table as well. Half painted armies, hastily glued together to get on the table - for the sake of a Tournament Win. To me, it takes away the overwhelming majority of the hobby - building, converting, painting, basing - which only serve to enhance the enjoyment of the game itself.
Admittedly, there are people who want nothing more than to be the best at 40k - winning by whatever means. Trawling the internet in search of Uber Tactics to try and beat all the public players they come across. People are fully entitled to do this of course, it's their money and time at the end of the day. The same way I get enjoyment from seeing my fully painted army assembled and ready for picture taking on the tabletop, they enjoy winning at all costs.
The "Must Haves" in your List
This has become more and more prominent in the past couple of years, with the rise in Internet forums, the Blogsphere and "Codex Creep". Nowadays, lists are built around these kind of "Must Have" units:
- Eldar: Jetbike Seer Council, multiple small units of Pathfinders
- Guard: Veteran Melta Spam in Valkyries, Command squad Plasma Spam, Allied Inquisition
- Orks: Nob Bikers and Loota Spam
- Chaos Marines: Plague Bearers in Rhinos, Berzerkers in a Raiders, 2 Lash Princes
- Space Wolves: Thunderwolf Cavalry, screened by Fenrisian Wolves
- Blood Angels: Assault Squads, with the Jetpacks removed backed up by lots of Sanguinary Guard and Storm Ravens.
- Tyranids: Tervigon Spam with the Doom in a Spore
- Chaos Daemons: Skarbrand / Fateweaver combo.
Now of course, everyone is entitled to use these units, after all, they're in the Codex, and I myself use things like Nob Bikers and I bought myself 3 Valkyries because I love the concept of the models.
There are some units that when the Codex comes out, everyone looks at the unit and says "No thank you - that's way too expensive for what it can do." Then, the Internet lists slowly trickle in. 1 writer puts him in and claims an excellent win record and this multiplies and multiplies until slowly, we've got an actual name for that army "build", such as the "Blood-Weaver" list.
Conclusion
I guess what I'm saying in this rant, is that I'm getting bored of a certain Blogwriter here, Forum poster there, posting their army lists to large numbers of readers and it being taken as the Gospel Truth on what NEEDS to be in an army list from that Codex. It summed it up completely at Conflict North when the person on the table next to me said "It looks like some people have been on [A Certain Blog Site] rather than opening the Codex for themselves".
I don't like to moan via the Internet, nor do I like to argue with people or cause rifts. At the end of the day, it's a game of plastic Toy soldiers. Some people want to go out there with the sole idea to win and that's cool with me. What I personally don't understand is why people go out their with Carbon Copy lists they've found on forums as a "How to Win at 40k for Dummies" approach.
I'll relate it to an earlier time when I used to play Xbox games online. There was certain tricks and selections people would make, in order to get an immediate edge over other players, rather than play a game based on skill. For example, Halo 2 had what I would consider an exploit, where a Plasma Pistol shot would be fired at the enemy, then weapon switch to a Rifle and fire, by which time the Pistol blob would have hit the enemy - reduced them to 1% shield - and the Rifle finish them off. Within a week of me first seeing this in a game, it was everywhere.
Likewise, when I have played online sports games, I choose the team I've supported all my life - Manchester United. However, when certain games favour certain players or teams, these are always the ones that get chosen during online play.
Enough of the Computer Game references...
Why play a balanced* game of skill against 2 opponents, when you can give yourself an immediate edge before a dice has been rolled? Some of the excellent moments I've known of were:
- A Necron army getting into the 40k Grand Tournament, ahead of a very tournament orientated Chaos Marine army.
- My "How Not To Play Orks" approach at Conflict North managed to see me end up at Mid-Table.
- An extremely balanced Codex Marine army outplaying another tournament Orientated Tyranid list.
- Seeing a Black Templar list on the table at a Tournament...
Next time you think about writing a list, consider modelling opportunities, paint schemes and what else is actually in the codex, rather than what the Internet says is good and bad. Last night, I saw Biovores and Genestealers on the table. That's the first time in 4 years of playing 40k I've seen Biovores used, and at least 2 years since Genestealers - since the Monstrous Creature spam 4th Edition Nid lists were up on the net.
So have at it guys. If I'm wrong, then let me know what you think and why. This won't turn into a shouting match or a "my stick is bigger than your stick" competition. I'd like a serious and well thought out debate on whether the Internet has done more harm than good with lists.
Peace,
SB
* I am aware 40k does have some balance issues, and favour certain things. But personally, I think the game is only as balanced as the players on the table allow it to be.
You may have read in a couple of other articles over the past few weeks about Conflict North 2010. This was my first tournament in about 8 months, and the first time I'd been to a tournament that's well publicised and lists are not vetted prior to the event, and the amount of Carbon Copy lists of what is popular on the internet, was apalling. Don't get me wrong, it was a good tournament and I really enjoyed the day, armies and respective players.
But, after seeing what's going on and inspired by some user comments to replies on other blogs, I thought I'd start a series of articles about the popularity of "trends" and "builds" in 40k at the moment - "All Aboard the Bandwagon".
So in this article, I want to talk about people using "Internet Lists", known around the Blogsphere as "Cookie Cutter" lists.
What is an "Internet List"?
An Internet List is generally a list of several people's devising that has been touted around the Internet, on forums or Blog websites, generally along with someone proclaiming a hefty Win/Loss record along with it.
Internet lists focus around the current trends or - a phrase I don't like to use - the "Meta Game", with a very large emphasis on unit spam. As an example, I'll use a list posted on BellOfLostSouls called "The Leafblower".
2 Company Command Squads – 3 Plasma, Medic, and Powerfist in each, mounted in Chimeras. An Astropath and a Master of the Fleet.
Elite Daemonhunter Inquisitor - Terminator Armor, Psycannon, Force Weapon, and retinue (Mystics, Hierophant, Sage).
Psyker Battle Squad – in a Chimera
Infantry Platoon – 3 Squads in Chimeras with Heavy Weapons, Command with 4 Flamers in a Chimera
2 Special Weapons Squads – Flamers and Demo Charge, Meltaguns and Flamer.
Veteran Squads – Meltaguns and Shotguns in a Chimera. Meltaguns, Shotguns, and Demolitions.
2 Valkyries – Multiple Rocket Pods.
2 Medusas – Enclosed Crew Compartments. 10/2 Ordnance Blasts are obvious.
2 Hydras – 72” range twin-linked no Moving Fast saves Autocannons are obvious.
Manticore – d3 10/4 Ordnance Barrage Blasts.
I've seen many, many, many worse off lists in terms of Spam, but this was the kind of Carbon Copy list that was on 4 of the 12 tables at Conflict North.
If the Internet says it will win, people will run out, spend their hard earned cash and then want to win games with it... It shows on the table as well. Half painted armies, hastily glued together to get on the table - for the sake of a Tournament Win. To me, it takes away the overwhelming majority of the hobby - building, converting, painting, basing - which only serve to enhance the enjoyment of the game itself.
Admittedly, there are people who want nothing more than to be the best at 40k - winning by whatever means. Trawling the internet in search of Uber Tactics to try and beat all the public players they come across. People are fully entitled to do this of course, it's their money and time at the end of the day. The same way I get enjoyment from seeing my fully painted army assembled and ready for picture taking on the tabletop, they enjoy winning at all costs.
The "Must Haves" in your List
This has become more and more prominent in the past couple of years, with the rise in Internet forums, the Blogsphere and "Codex Creep". Nowadays, lists are built around these kind of "Must Have" units:
- Eldar: Jetbike Seer Council, multiple small units of Pathfinders
- Guard: Veteran Melta Spam in Valkyries, Command squad Plasma Spam, Allied Inquisition
- Orks: Nob Bikers and Loota Spam
- Chaos Marines: Plague Bearers in Rhinos, Berzerkers in a Raiders, 2 Lash Princes
- Space Wolves: Thunderwolf Cavalry, screened by Fenrisian Wolves
- Blood Angels: Assault Squads, with the Jetpacks removed backed up by lots of Sanguinary Guard and Storm Ravens.
- Tyranids: Tervigon Spam with the Doom in a Spore
- Chaos Daemons: Skarbrand / Fateweaver combo.
Now of course, everyone is entitled to use these units, after all, they're in the Codex, and I myself use things like Nob Bikers and I bought myself 3 Valkyries because I love the concept of the models.
There are some units that when the Codex comes out, everyone looks at the unit and says "No thank you - that's way too expensive for what it can do." Then, the Internet lists slowly trickle in. 1 writer puts him in and claims an excellent win record and this multiplies and multiplies until slowly, we've got an actual name for that army "build", such as the "Blood-Weaver" list.
Conclusion
I guess what I'm saying in this rant, is that I'm getting bored of a certain Blogwriter here, Forum poster there, posting their army lists to large numbers of readers and it being taken as the Gospel Truth on what NEEDS to be in an army list from that Codex. It summed it up completely at Conflict North when the person on the table next to me said "It looks like some people have been on [A Certain Blog Site] rather than opening the Codex for themselves".
I don't like to moan via the Internet, nor do I like to argue with people or cause rifts. At the end of the day, it's a game of plastic Toy soldiers. Some people want to go out there with the sole idea to win and that's cool with me. What I personally don't understand is why people go out their with Carbon Copy lists they've found on forums as a "How to Win at 40k for Dummies" approach.
I'll relate it to an earlier time when I used to play Xbox games online. There was certain tricks and selections people would make, in order to get an immediate edge over other players, rather than play a game based on skill. For example, Halo 2 had what I would consider an exploit, where a Plasma Pistol shot would be fired at the enemy, then weapon switch to a Rifle and fire, by which time the Pistol blob would have hit the enemy - reduced them to 1% shield - and the Rifle finish them off. Within a week of me first seeing this in a game, it was everywhere.
Likewise, when I have played online sports games, I choose the team I've supported all my life - Manchester United. However, when certain games favour certain players or teams, these are always the ones that get chosen during online play.
Enough of the Computer Game references...
Why play a balanced* game of skill against 2 opponents, when you can give yourself an immediate edge before a dice has been rolled? Some of the excellent moments I've known of were:
- A Necron army getting into the 40k Grand Tournament, ahead of a very tournament orientated Chaos Marine army.
- My "How Not To Play Orks" approach at Conflict North managed to see me end up at Mid-Table.
- An extremely balanced Codex Marine army outplaying another tournament Orientated Tyranid list.
- Seeing a Black Templar list on the table at a Tournament...
Next time you think about writing a list, consider modelling opportunities, paint schemes and what else is actually in the codex, rather than what the Internet says is good and bad. Last night, I saw Biovores and Genestealers on the table. That's the first time in 4 years of playing 40k I've seen Biovores used, and at least 2 years since Genestealers - since the Monstrous Creature spam 4th Edition Nid lists were up on the net.
So have at it guys. If I'm wrong, then let me know what you think and why. This won't turn into a shouting match or a "my stick is bigger than your stick" competition. I'd like a serious and well thought out debate on whether the Internet has done more harm than good with lists.
RantComplete++
If RantComplete = 1 Then
EndRant()
Endif
Peace,
SB
* I am aware 40k does have some balance issues, and favour certain things. But personally, I think the game is only as balanced as the players on the table allow it to be.
Sunday, 6 June 2010
Under rated and under used units
Hi all,
Angryman here again with another article about hardly used units, this time it's the turn of the Adeptus Astartes Techmarine.
The techmarine has always been a unit that everyone likes the idea of but no-one ever uses. In the latest space marine codex the techmarine has been given a major face lift. It can now be taken in 3 different force organisation categories.
- HQ - Master of the forge
- Elites - basic techmarine
- Heavy - Thunderfire cannon
Master of the Forge
 |
| Image Courtesty of: http://gravengames.co.uk/iron-guard-master-of-the-forge/ |
If taken this choice allows you to take Venerable and Ironclad Dreadnoughts as heavy and elite choices. You also get to take the conversion beamer, this is a variable S and AP heavy 1 blast weapon, determined by the distance from the firer to the intended target. He also comes with a full servo-harness (2 servo arm attacks at S8, I1 and ignores armour., It also has a twin linked plasma pistol and a flamer) and artificer armour (2+ sv) as standard.
This is the 'basic' techmarine. He comes with a servo arm (1 S8 I1 ignoring armour attack) and artificer armour but can be upgraded to have a full servo harness.
Thunderfire Cannon
This is one of the new units given to the space marines. He comes with a servo arm and artificer armour but cannot be upgraded to a full servo harness. This unit can be given a drop pod. The Thunderfire cannon has 3 different types of ammo (airburst, surface and subterranean) all have a long range and are all heavy 4 blast. Airburst shots ignore cover and subterranean shots cause wounded units to move as if in difficult and dangerous terrain.
Master of the forge and Techmarines can take a variety of additional extras, from power weapons to various pistol types. This means you can have a character (as both are independent characters) you can attach to a squad to give it some extra punch in combat. A full servo harness upgrade gives you 2 S8 I1 ignoring armour attacks. This is AFTER the techmarine has attacked with any power weapons he has been given and AFTER they have shot into combat with a flamer AND a twin linked plasma pistol. Imagine the damage this could deal out if he is attached to either a terminator squad in a landraider or an assault squad in a drop pod.
The techmarines can also take servitors
These may be taken for every master of the forge and techmarine in your army list. This are basically a meat shield for the techmarine with 1 advantages. Upto 2 servitors may be upgraded to take either a heavy bolter, a multi-melta or a plasma cannon. The only disadvantage they have is that they must test for mindlock every friendly turn (roll a dice and on a 1-3 they can do nothing unless with a techmarine / master of the forge).
Techmarines are worth trying, they can allow you to take more dreadnoughts in your army, they come with artillery, they can improve cover saves and are quite handy in the assault phase.
All comments welcome.
Thursday, 3 June 2010
[Paintlog] More Imperial Guard
So over the past couple of weeks I've been trying to hammer out a batch of 30 Guardsmen in assorted flavours - mostly the old metal command squad models.
Last night I finally finished the batch, and then this morning whilst I had the AM off from work, I managed to finish some special characters too! So I thought I'd share them on here.
First up is my Plastic Lord Commisar. He was made out of the plastic Senior officer bits, and the Cloak and Power Sword arm came from left over plastic Empire Pistoliers. He's painted Black and Red mostly to emphasise the fact he's a Commissar and not an officer.
This is my Manutian variant of Veteran Sergeant Harker. A tough as nails Guardsman who's carrying a Heavy Bolter. He was made from the Heavy Flamer plastic Guardsman in the Command squad, with the Flamer removed and a Valkyrie Heavy Bolter in it's place.
This is my Manutian variant of Ursarkar Creed, who didn't quite turn out like I planned. I was originally going for a "Rally to me Chaps!" look, but then realised I gave him a hat already - so why would he have a helmet? - and then the fact I painted him like Cyclops from the Xmen.
On the bright side, the way he is stood and the way his chin sinks into his neck makes him look like a chubby commander.
The Master of the Fleet was made from a Valkyrie gunner body, with a Warhammer Fantasy Zombie head - to try and make him look like a wisened yet non-Combat officer. The comms unit in his hands was made from a Heavy Weapon Gunner arms, with the "plug" bit painted to look like a screen.
The Master of Ordnance made from a Tank Commander with a peaked cap, along with a good pair of spotting binoculars! I painted him in a blue scheme so that he was visibly different from the rest of the Command squad.
3 Sanctioned Psykers I had with the batch of Guardsmen, that will either take the place of a Primaris Psyker, or form the basis for the begginning of a Psyker Battle Squad. If I get chance, I think I'll go back and touch up some more of the details on their jackets. I'd also like to have a go at making them look more stressed, maybe darkening the eyes or something.
3 More Ratlings, taking my total up to 8 now, which I think will be the maximum the unit reaches. Looking forward to using these guys on the Tabletop, despite many people considering them to be not as good as other units in the codex.
And this is the rest of what I painted... something like 2 full command squads and plenty of special weapons and Vox casters.
So yeah, I've had a busy time painting and now I've got about 5 tanks and a loooooot of Guardsmen to finish off this army. The aim is the end of the Summer hopefully!
Comments and Critiscism as usual guys!
SB
Last night I finally finished the batch, and then this morning whilst I had the AM off from work, I managed to finish some special characters too! So I thought I'd share them on here.
First up is my Plastic Lord Commisar. He was made out of the plastic Senior officer bits, and the Cloak and Power Sword arm came from left over plastic Empire Pistoliers. He's painted Black and Red mostly to emphasise the fact he's a Commissar and not an officer.
This is my Manutian variant of Veteran Sergeant Harker. A tough as nails Guardsman who's carrying a Heavy Bolter. He was made from the Heavy Flamer plastic Guardsman in the Command squad, with the Flamer removed and a Valkyrie Heavy Bolter in it's place.
This is my Manutian variant of Ursarkar Creed, who didn't quite turn out like I planned. I was originally going for a "Rally to me Chaps!" look, but then realised I gave him a hat already - so why would he have a helmet? - and then the fact I painted him like Cyclops from the Xmen.
On the bright side, the way he is stood and the way his chin sinks into his neck makes him look like a chubby commander.
The Master of the Fleet was made from a Valkyrie gunner body, with a Warhammer Fantasy Zombie head - to try and make him look like a wisened yet non-Combat officer. The comms unit in his hands was made from a Heavy Weapon Gunner arms, with the "plug" bit painted to look like a screen.
The Master of Ordnance made from a Tank Commander with a peaked cap, along with a good pair of spotting binoculars! I painted him in a blue scheme so that he was visibly different from the rest of the Command squad.
3 Sanctioned Psykers I had with the batch of Guardsmen, that will either take the place of a Primaris Psyker, or form the basis for the begginning of a Psyker Battle Squad. If I get chance, I think I'll go back and touch up some more of the details on their jackets. I'd also like to have a go at making them look more stressed, maybe darkening the eyes or something.
3 More Ratlings, taking my total up to 8 now, which I think will be the maximum the unit reaches. Looking forward to using these guys on the Tabletop, despite many people considering them to be not as good as other units in the codex.
And this is the rest of what I painted... something like 2 full command squads and plenty of special weapons and Vox casters.
So yeah, I've had a busy time painting and now I've got about 5 tanks and a loooooot of Guardsmen to finish off this army. The aim is the end of the Summer hopefully!
Comments and Critiscism as usual guys!
SB
Wednesday, 2 June 2010
[Battle Report] Necrons v Eldar 1500pts
Afternoon all,
On Monday night, myself and Angryman needed a break from our respective "first choice" armies, and from the standard Tournament style of gaming. So we decided to play a 1,500pt game from the Battle Missions book - using armies we've not played for a long time in my case, or barely at all with him.
The Lists
I quickly learnt when trying to write a 1,500pt list for the Necrons that I don't get many models on the table - especially when I'm so used to playing as the Orks. All I knew is, I wanted to jump around the table a bit and keep the Eldar on their toes.
Seethreepio, Necron Lord: Staff of Light, Veil of Darkness, Phase Shifter
ArtooDetoo, Necron Lord: Staff of Light, Resurrection Orb, Phase Shifter
5 Immortals
3 x 11 Necron Warriors
3 Necron Destroyers
Monolith
The Eldar were something along the lines of:
Farseer
Wraithlord
3 War Walkers
5 Fire Dragons in a Falcon
10 Dire Avengers in a Wave Serpent
13 Guardians with Starcannon Weapon Platform
12 Guardians with Starcannon Weapon Platform
2 Vypers
Since we'd played the Rulebook missions to death, we decided we would play a random scenario from the Battle Missions book and ended up with "Mobile Defence Force" which we had 5 objectives.
Only half of the Eldar army could deploy on the table - Infantry, Walkers and Monstrous Creatures - everything else (including units in a Dedicated Transport vehicle) would have to be kept in reserve. However, the Eldar units could begin to roll for reserves from the first turn.
Set Up
Objectives were split around the board fairly evenly, and the scenario called for the Eldar to deploy first. So the 2 Guardian Units, Farseer, War Walkers and Wraithlord on the board. These guys could set up anywhere in the Eldar half of the board, and each Guardian unit started on an objective tag-teamed with the Warwalkers at 1 objective and the Wraithlord at the other.
My Necrons deployed 1 unit of Warriors on a right side Objective, 1 unit near the far left objective with the Res Orb Lord and the Immortals with Veil of Darkness Lord out of sight. The Destroyers set up towards the left hand board edge, ready to square up to the War Walkers. The Monolith and 3rd Warrior squad remained in reserve.
I will forewarn readers. My memory of the game is patchy at best so forgive me if some of the details are a bit vague.
Turn 1
Necrons:
First turn went to the Crons. The Lord and the Immortals Veil of Darkness'd to near the middle Guardian squad and War Walkers, ready to unleash a torrent of fire on the Central objective. The Destroyers also moved up the field to target the War Walkers with their Gauss Cannons.
The middle Warrior squad, shot the middle Guardian squad, forcing them to take a Leadership test which they passed. Whilst the Destroyers, Immortals and Lord attacked the War Walkers destroying 2 of them.
Eldar:
The Eldar reserves began to show up on turn 1 leading the charge with a Vyper and the Dire Avengers in their Wave Serpent showing up.
Retaliation was swift for the Eldar - focusing their attacks on the Destroyer unit. The Farseer Doomed the unit, then Guided his supporting Wraithlord. Between the firepower that got put out from those units, plus the Vyper that arrived, the Unit of Destroyers was killed and could then not attempt a WBB roll.
Objectives: 2 - 1 to the Eldar
Turn 2:
Necrons:
No sign of the Monolith and Warriors so far. Warriors with the Res Orb Lord moved up the field to rapid fire the middle Guardians. The Immortals and Lord moved closer towards the central building - with the War Walkers and Guardians.
In the shooting phase, the Middle Warriors managed to cause the Middle Guardians to flee and whittled them under half strength in the process meaning they're unable to rally. The Immortals and the Lord attacked the War Walker. The Left Warriors managed to cause the Farseer and Guardians to take a Leadership but they easily passed.
In the assault phase, the Immortals and the Lord charged into the remaining War Walker and dispatched it, losing 1 Immortal in the process.
Eldar:
I think no reserves this turn, but the Dire Avengers and Vyper moved up the field towards the Left Objective. The Fleeing Guardians continue to run off the board, but were able to take some pot shots at the Lord and Immortals forcing one down.
The Guardians and Wraithlord began to hammer the Left unit of Warriors through a Doom / Guide combo, forcing about 4 of them to be needing WBB rolls next turn.
Turn 3:
Necrons:
Still no sign of the Monolith.. the Lords begin to grow Impatient. The Immortals and the Lord move into cover in the middle building. The Middle warriors move up towards the middle objective but remaining Chain-like leaving a man behind sat on the back objective. The far left Warriors leave the safety of their Cover to begin moving out towards the objective.
In the shooting phase the Lord and Immortals peppers the Farseer's squad with shots, forcing another Leadership test which he managed to pass. The Warriors shot at the Dire Avengers in their Transport but were out of range.
Eldar:
The 2nd Vyper showed up this turn and Zoomed onto the board alongside it's Twin. The Dire Avengers moved up to camp near the Left Objective. The Fire Dragons in their Falcon also showed up and moved into position to reinforce the Eldar home objective.
During shooting, another 2 Immortals went down from Guardian fire and the Farseer doomed the left Necron warriors and Guided the Wraithlord. These all combined to fire on the Warrior squad, who managed (through lots of cover saves from around the table) to only take a few to go down for WBB - after all but 1 of them stood up with WBB last turn.
The Dire Avengers, having jumped out of their Transport also attempted to Bladestorm the Necron Warriors, forcing 4 to WBB, after they passed their Leadership Test.
Turn 4:
Necrons: Now we're talking. The Monolith and Warriors showed up, managing by an Inch, not to scatter off the table, after deploying near the Eldar home objective. The Reserve Warriors then walked out from the Portal, ready to rapid fire anything nearby.
The Immortals and Lord secured their central position, the Middle warriors consolidated back to their objective and the Left Warriors edged out towards the Eldar Wave Serpent.
Necron shooting was pretty feeble... the remaining Immortals shot the Farseer and Guardians, causing a few wounds but they once again stood fast. The Warriors coming through the Monolith opened up whatever fire they could on the Wraithlord causing 1 Wound, followed by the Flux Arcs off the Monolith causing another Wound.
The Left Warriors retaliated at the Dire Avengers, killing off several of them, but they followed the Farseer's example and stood firm.
The Wraithlord then charged into the Warriors that emerged from the Monolith and crushed 2 of them. They passed their Leadership test and remained Resolute.
Turn 5:
Necrons:
The Monolith moved around the Eldar objective and transported through the Warriors that were locked in Combat with the Wraithlord unable to hurt him by conventional means.
The Immortals and the Lord shot again at the Farseer Guardians picking off more of them. The Flux arcs off the Monolith managed to wipe out more of the Guardians and again they did not run. The tradeoff between Warriors and Dire Avengers resulted in nothing much and the rest of the shooting in the army slowly fizzled out.
Eldar:
The 2 Vypers began their dash towards my Home objective, hoping to contest it in the hope the game went to a 6th or 7th Turn. They would at least be 1 turn away. The Fire Dragons leapt from their Falcon with the Monolith in their sights. The Wraithlord began to move through cover to stop the Monolith and Warriors.
However, the Fire Dragons were unable to dent the giant Necron vehicle and were then left open to attack next turn. The Guardians shot at the Reserve Warriors. The Dire Avengers Wave Serpent failed to do any damage to the Leftside Warriors.
At this point: 1 - 0 to the Necrons....
Lowe and behold, we rolled for a Turn 6...
Turn 6:
Necrons:
The Monolith remained where it was in order to fire again. The Warriors edged forwards but were outside of distance of the Objective.
The Monolith and Reserve Warriors managed to wipe out the remaining Guardians and remove the Farseer's final wound (previous were lost from Perils of the Warp) and the Fire Dragons, also immobilising the Dragons Falcon.
The remaining 2 Warrior squads attempted to target a Vyper each, 1 becoming Stunned for the next turn and the other successfully passing it's cover saves.
Eldar:
The remaining Vyper moved to within Contesting distance of the Home Necron objective and the Wraithlord failed his Wraithsight test.
The Dire Avengers transport tried to thin the Left Warriors out and only managed to kill 1 Warrior and that was all the shooting for the Eldar force!
The deciding roll would be whether there was a Turn 7.... And alas No..
Final Result
Drawn Game: 3 Contested Objectives, 2 Empty Objectives.
This was a reeeeally close game between two very mobile, heavily shooting focused armies and it could have swung either way. Both of us enjoyed playing new armies, as it's a welcome change from Hordes of 5/6+ save Boyz and Gaunts and I could rely on more of my units not dying!
It was also fun to play against an Eldar army, as I'd not played against one for a while. I'd really forgotten the Synergy they need to play well as an army - makes me consider wanting to start them at a Combat Patrol level.
I may have got some of the events in the Battle Report out of sequence, so apologies. I really need to take a notepad with me in future and jot down things that are happening each turn!
Until next week readers!
SB
On Monday night, myself and Angryman needed a break from our respective "first choice" armies, and from the standard Tournament style of gaming. So we decided to play a 1,500pt game from the Battle Missions book - using armies we've not played for a long time in my case, or barely at all with him.
The Lists
I quickly learnt when trying to write a 1,500pt list for the Necrons that I don't get many models on the table - especially when I'm so used to playing as the Orks. All I knew is, I wanted to jump around the table a bit and keep the Eldar on their toes.
Seethreepio, Necron Lord: Staff of Light, Veil of Darkness, Phase Shifter
ArtooDetoo, Necron Lord: Staff of Light, Resurrection Orb, Phase Shifter
5 Immortals
3 x 11 Necron Warriors
3 Necron Destroyers
Monolith
The Eldar were something along the lines of:
Farseer
Wraithlord
3 War Walkers
5 Fire Dragons in a Falcon
10 Dire Avengers in a Wave Serpent
13 Guardians with Starcannon Weapon Platform
12 Guardians with Starcannon Weapon Platform
2 Vypers
Since we'd played the Rulebook missions to death, we decided we would play a random scenario from the Battle Missions book and ended up with "Mobile Defence Force" which we had 5 objectives.
Only half of the Eldar army could deploy on the table - Infantry, Walkers and Monstrous Creatures - everything else (including units in a Dedicated Transport vehicle) would have to be kept in reserve. However, the Eldar units could begin to roll for reserves from the first turn.
Set Up
Objectives were split around the board fairly evenly, and the scenario called for the Eldar to deploy first. So the 2 Guardian Units, Farseer, War Walkers and Wraithlord on the board. These guys could set up anywhere in the Eldar half of the board, and each Guardian unit started on an objective tag-teamed with the Warwalkers at 1 objective and the Wraithlord at the other.
My Necrons deployed 1 unit of Warriors on a right side Objective, 1 unit near the far left objective with the Res Orb Lord and the Immortals with Veil of Darkness Lord out of sight. The Destroyers set up towards the left hand board edge, ready to square up to the War Walkers. The Monolith and 3rd Warrior squad remained in reserve.
I will forewarn readers. My memory of the game is patchy at best so forgive me if some of the details are a bit vague.
Turn 1
Necrons:
First turn went to the Crons. The Lord and the Immortals Veil of Darkness'd to near the middle Guardian squad and War Walkers, ready to unleash a torrent of fire on the Central objective. The Destroyers also moved up the field to target the War Walkers with their Gauss Cannons.
The middle Warrior squad, shot the middle Guardian squad, forcing them to take a Leadership test which they passed. Whilst the Destroyers, Immortals and Lord attacked the War Walkers destroying 2 of them.
Eldar:
The Eldar reserves began to show up on turn 1 leading the charge with a Vyper and the Dire Avengers in their Wave Serpent showing up.
Retaliation was swift for the Eldar - focusing their attacks on the Destroyer unit. The Farseer Doomed the unit, then Guided his supporting Wraithlord. Between the firepower that got put out from those units, plus the Vyper that arrived, the Unit of Destroyers was killed and could then not attempt a WBB roll.
Objectives: 2 - 1 to the Eldar
Turn 2:
Necrons:
No sign of the Monolith and Warriors so far. Warriors with the Res Orb Lord moved up the field to rapid fire the middle Guardians. The Immortals and Lord moved closer towards the central building - with the War Walkers and Guardians.
In the shooting phase, the Middle Warriors managed to cause the Middle Guardians to flee and whittled them under half strength in the process meaning they're unable to rally. The Immortals and the Lord attacked the War Walker. The Left Warriors managed to cause the Farseer and Guardians to take a Leadership but they easily passed.
In the assault phase, the Immortals and the Lord charged into the remaining War Walker and dispatched it, losing 1 Immortal in the process.
Eldar:
I think no reserves this turn, but the Dire Avengers and Vyper moved up the field towards the Left Objective. The Fleeing Guardians continue to run off the board, but were able to take some pot shots at the Lord and Immortals forcing one down.
The Guardians and Wraithlord began to hammer the Left unit of Warriors through a Doom / Guide combo, forcing about 4 of them to be needing WBB rolls next turn.
Turn 3:
Necrons:
Still no sign of the Monolith.. the Lords begin to grow Impatient. The Immortals and the Lord move into cover in the middle building. The Middle warriors move up towards the middle objective but remaining Chain-like leaving a man behind sat on the back objective. The far left Warriors leave the safety of their Cover to begin moving out towards the objective.
In the shooting phase the Lord and Immortals peppers the Farseer's squad with shots, forcing another Leadership test which he managed to pass. The Warriors shot at the Dire Avengers in their Transport but were out of range.
Eldar:
The 2nd Vyper showed up this turn and Zoomed onto the board alongside it's Twin. The Dire Avengers moved up to camp near the Left Objective. The Fire Dragons in their Falcon also showed up and moved into position to reinforce the Eldar home objective.
During shooting, another 2 Immortals went down from Guardian fire and the Farseer doomed the left Necron warriors and Guided the Wraithlord. These all combined to fire on the Warrior squad, who managed (through lots of cover saves from around the table) to only take a few to go down for WBB - after all but 1 of them stood up with WBB last turn.
The Dire Avengers, having jumped out of their Transport also attempted to Bladestorm the Necron Warriors, forcing 4 to WBB, after they passed their Leadership Test.
Turn 4:
Necrons: Now we're talking. The Monolith and Warriors showed up, managing by an Inch, not to scatter off the table, after deploying near the Eldar home objective. The Reserve Warriors then walked out from the Portal, ready to rapid fire anything nearby.
The Immortals and Lord secured their central position, the Middle warriors consolidated back to their objective and the Left Warriors edged out towards the Eldar Wave Serpent.
Necron shooting was pretty feeble... the remaining Immortals shot the Farseer and Guardians, causing a few wounds but they once again stood fast. The Warriors coming through the Monolith opened up whatever fire they could on the Wraithlord causing 1 Wound, followed by the Flux Arcs off the Monolith causing another Wound.
The Left Warriors retaliated at the Dire Avengers, killing off several of them, but they followed the Farseer's example and stood firm.
The Wraithlord then charged into the Warriors that emerged from the Monolith and crushed 2 of them. They passed their Leadership test and remained Resolute.
Turn 5:
Necrons:
The Monolith moved around the Eldar objective and transported through the Warriors that were locked in Combat with the Wraithlord unable to hurt him by conventional means.
The Immortals and the Lord shot again at the Farseer Guardians picking off more of them. The Flux arcs off the Monolith managed to wipe out more of the Guardians and again they did not run. The tradeoff between Warriors and Dire Avengers resulted in nothing much and the rest of the shooting in the army slowly fizzled out.
Eldar:
The 2 Vypers began their dash towards my Home objective, hoping to contest it in the hope the game went to a 6th or 7th Turn. They would at least be 1 turn away. The Fire Dragons leapt from their Falcon with the Monolith in their sights. The Wraithlord began to move through cover to stop the Monolith and Warriors.
However, the Fire Dragons were unable to dent the giant Necron vehicle and were then left open to attack next turn. The Guardians shot at the Reserve Warriors. The Dire Avengers Wave Serpent failed to do any damage to the Leftside Warriors.
At this point: 1 - 0 to the Necrons....
Lowe and behold, we rolled for a Turn 6...
Turn 6:
Necrons:
The Monolith remained where it was in order to fire again. The Warriors edged forwards but were outside of distance of the Objective.
The Monolith and Reserve Warriors managed to wipe out the remaining Guardians and remove the Farseer's final wound (previous were lost from Perils of the Warp) and the Fire Dragons, also immobilising the Dragons Falcon.
The remaining 2 Warrior squads attempted to target a Vyper each, 1 becoming Stunned for the next turn and the other successfully passing it's cover saves.
Eldar:
The remaining Vyper moved to within Contesting distance of the Home Necron objective and the Wraithlord failed his Wraithsight test.
The Dire Avengers transport tried to thin the Left Warriors out and only managed to kill 1 Warrior and that was all the shooting for the Eldar force!
The deciding roll would be whether there was a Turn 7.... And alas No..
Final Result
Drawn Game: 3 Contested Objectives, 2 Empty Objectives.
This was a reeeeally close game between two very mobile, heavily shooting focused armies and it could have swung either way. Both of us enjoyed playing new armies, as it's a welcome change from Hordes of 5/6+ save Boyz and Gaunts and I could rely on more of my units not dying!
It was also fun to play against an Eldar army, as I'd not played against one for a while. I'd really forgotten the Synergy they need to play well as an army - makes me consider wanting to start them at a Combat Patrol level.
I may have got some of the events in the Battle Report out of sequence, so apologies. I really need to take a notepad with me in future and jot down things that are happening each turn!
Until next week readers!
SB
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