Rules Generalisation

As you may have been aware there was a poll about the Generalisation of Rules. I put this up as reading through the Grey Knights new codex and comparing it to the old one I noticed they are now standard marines with flashy weapons.

Now to expand after seeing it was almost a 50/50 split between against and for, so lets look at each sides argument quickly (please add anything I miss in the comments).

Firstly lets look at the argument FOR rules generalisation. This obviously makes the game easier, if 50% of the armies run the stat line of a Space Marine (straight 4's) then it means people know what they are facing and what can kill them.

Rather than having various rules which allow an army to get back up (Feel no Pain, We Will be Back) and rolling them all into the standard Feel No Pain means everyone will know how it works as almost everyone can get the same rule through one upgrade.

Secondly the AGAINST argument. The statement of 50% of armies running a Marine stat line although makes it easier for people to know what they are facing also reduces the diversity and individuality of the game.

How many people want to line their men up against the same stat line with a few tweaks rather than an army that has to play completely differently because it is weaker with more men, or tougher but has less men?

Every new codex seems to bring the same toys with different names and upgrades to the table, almost everyone has a Monsterous Creature with a very similar stat line. Most armies can take a few units of 2+ saves, and power weapons.

Lastly which really ground me was the fact that Blood Angels got Blood Fists and Blood Strike Missiles, and Grey Knights got Doom Fists and Mind Strike Missiles, these were less rules than names, but surely they could be a bit more creative with their ideas in general.

P.S. This was a poorly written post just to get you thinking about the ideas of Generalisation (of Rules and Names) so... Enjoy.

Badger's Log - Skaven Rat Ogres / Dark Eldar Grotesques

Morning,

After actually managing to get some photos taken yesterday, I'll start moving through what I've painted up over the last few weeks, whilst I have more stuff on the paint table waiting to be finished (some Brotherhood of the Forge stuff - for those interested).

So without further ado, here's 6 Rat Ogres.

These guys form a Webway escape party, accompanied by a Haemonculus. I use these guys as bare bones vanilla squad. I didn't see much point in taking a squad leader upgrade (Aboration? Can never remember) since the temptation is there to start whacking on upgrades and such, plus, I'd need to attach a Haemonculus anyways.

I might get hold of a proper Rat Ogre box (rather than the Island of Blood) and use the two in that as a Liquifier Grotesque and the Squad Leader with some upgrades (Venom Blade? Flesh Gauntlet?).

In total, I've got 8 Rat Ogres now (6 here, 2 on square bases from Island of Blood) so I'm wondering if they're actually any good in Fantasy? And whether a big unit of 8, or 2 units of 4 are worth using? I'm yet to actually look at the Skaven Army Book as I'm still not playing much Fantasy.

What do you guys reckon - both to whether they're good in Fantasy, and what upgrades I should give the Grotesque Aboration?

Peace,
SB

Badger's Log - Skaven Plague Monks / Dark Eldar Wracks

Morning all,

This is a semi-confusing post to write up, so bear with me... Over last week I painted a LOT of Skaven stuff I'd had lying around for a few months. The idea being that anything in my Dark Eldar army that is Haemonculi related (Haemonculi, Grotesques, Wracks) would be made from Skaven plastics.

These would be:
- Warlocks, Packmasters and the IoB Warlord as various Haemonculi
- Plague Monks as Wracks
- Rat Ogres as Grotesques

Right, that's the back story over with, here's 20 Plague Monks I painted last week...

Generic Wrack (Left) and an Acothyst with Venom Blade (Right)

There's the first two models. A generic Wrack (two poisoned close combat weapons) along with an Acothyst, his flail classing as his Venom blade. I like to keep the squad upgrades incredibly cheap and I've  become a huge fan of the Venom blade for 5pts. Last week's game I could fit so many tidbits here and there in my list, because I dropped Power Weapons or Agonisers on squads that didn't really need them, or lowered some upgrades on other things.

The horde of Ratmen descends upon the dining room table!

As for painting them, I originally went with a Mechrite Red colour scheme, but thought they clashed far too much with the rest of the Dark Eldar army I had. They blend really well on the battlefield with the rest of the army now they're Ice Blue robes, I think if I'd left them Mechrite Red it would have looked more proxyish than it already does.

Now... the idea for these guys is they'll ALSO be used in two other armies. I've got the square bases knocking around to use them with my Island of Blood stuff for Fantasy, but also I'm hoping to use them to make a start on an Epidemius all Nurgle Daemon army, with some various other Skaven units involved.

I'll be posting up more stuff that I've painted up, over the course of the week. Any thoughts guys?

Peace,
SB

New Tau FAQ

Hi all,

Angryman here, for all you Tau fans out there (you know who you are)

Here is the new FAQ for the Tau Empire, with all the web chatter about a new codex currently circulating and now this, could we be seeing a 3rd Tau codex soon?????

Tau Empire - FAQ March 2011

All comments welcome

Rules Arguments: How Far Is Too Far?

Morning all,

In my daily checking of wargames goings on whilst my PC chugs into gear, I noticed this rules debate on Bell of Lost Souls: Bell of Lost Souls - Astral Aim Conundrum

I'll quote it here directly:

Today's Conundrum: the Astral Aim Psychic power possessed by Grey Knight Purgation squads.  First the relevent rules snippet:

"...If the Psychic test is passed, the unit (and any accompanying character) can shoot at any enemy unit within range, even if they do not have line of sight to it, or it is outside the distance they can see in a night fight."

The Conundrum: Can a Purgation squad embarked in a vehicle which passes its Astral Aim test blaze away at targets as listed in the rule for the power, or not?  In general, how does Astral Aim interact with vehicles and fireports, if it does at all? 

The Case For:  Codex overrides core rulebook, and the psychic power clearly states "can shoot at any enemy unit within range" upon a psychic testing being passed.  Other rules restrictions on firing are ignored.  The second part of the listed sentence simply lists 2 common examples of restrictions that are ignored, not all the restrictions that are ignored (which the first half of the sentence covers).

The Case Against: The psychic power doesn't specifically override the firing restrictions listed in the firing port rules in the vehicle section of the core rules. If they wanted that ability, they would have listed it specifically.

 This is another one of those, personally, idiotic rules arguments that people seem to draft in from a silly discussion, then it spreads around the internet like wildfire with everyone and their mum trying to claim this at the next tournament or whatever else.

It's the Doom of Malan'tai situation all over again, where someone decides "Well, it doesn't say specifically it doesn't, so..." and then everyone jumps on it.

Personally, because a power says "ignores line of sight" or "all the unit" doesn't mean it bypasses any existing rules to do with vehicles. There's still only X number of guys who can fire from fire points from a Rhino / Razorback. And whilst it's comical to imagine 5 Grey Knights all sticking their bolters up through the sun-roof and firing, it's rules "debates" like this that really start to drag 40k down.

It's like this in the Imperial Guard book, as an order:

First Rank Fire, Second Rank Fire

 ...If the order is successfully issued, the ordered unit immediately shoots at any visible target. If the enemy is up to 12" away, models firing Lasguns fire three shots, rather than just two... Etc.

So what I could interpret is that if I issue this order, the unit immediately shoots at a visible target, regardless of any maximum range because it doesn't say they follow normal rules for shooting. Just that they fire at any visible target.

Now I know that's clutching at straws as an example and probably a bad one... but surely is it not the same thing as saying that a Grey Knight power allows them to bypass the rules for fire points in vehicles?

I'm not trying to bash BOLS or any rules debates and such. I don't want to start getting into a flame war and targetting people / blogs.

It's more of a discussion to ask "How far is too far?" when it comes to rules debates.

Personally, I think the Grey Knight example above is massively clutching at straws and making an argument out of nothing. I've seen it before with the Doom, and at the end of the day, just had to rule it for ourselves at MAWS.

However, when you go out into the "real world" people don't always agree.

So how far have you seen the rules debated? Ever came up with a crazy debate or conunudrum yourself?

Peace,
SB

[Poll] Generalisation of the Rules

Morning all,

Just wanted to draw attention to the poll that's  been put up asking the question "Is generalisation of the rules the way forwards?" and get people discussing it here.

It depends as well in what we deem the generalisation and the rules. For me, it comes in the form of army selection within a codex.

Personally, the last era of codexes from I'd say, Orks onwards, have really tried to stick with a formula of WYSIWYG with models and equipment, rather than the days of "My Khorne Lord has this, this and this magic item that you can't see - Oh, and he counts as a Daemon Prince".

I like being able to look across the board at an army and (proxying, count-as etc. etc. aside) that I'm facing a Carnifex that has X number of wounds and Y armour save. Rather than "He's got WHAT upgrades?!" or a Daemon Prince who, Mark aside, I can know what he has and is capable of doing.

This trend got bucked a bit with the Dark Eldar codex (from my own knowledge) with the amount of Arcane Wargear that's knocking about, stuff I've no idea how I'd make to show on a model without him having a spare base beside him to store it all on.

I'm all for generalisation in terms of speeding up the game, player awareness and such, but I do feel it can lose some of the charm in character building and also some set piece moments within the game. It's what I liked about LOTR:SBG for a while, was that you could do all the crazy heroic things that are read about in the books but that's where a player narrative comes into it, I guess.

What do you guys reckon - both in terms of codexes and the rules in general?

Peace,
SB

It's been a long time

Hi all,

Angryman here, its been a while since I've posted on the blog so i thought I'd post something short and sweet.

I played a 2500 game last night with my Tyranids v's Chaos Space Marines.  I've not had my nids out for a long time and it shocked me at how much i had forgotten how to use them.

I forgot to use abilities, to cast psychic powers and even to roll for reserves.

So my question is this, has being forgetful ever cost you a combat or a game and will you share with us?

All comments welcome.

Grey Knights: Nemesis Theoryhammer!

This Morning I was at GW half an hour after it opened ready to get the new Grey Knights Codex and have spent the day reading and re-reading unit rules and weapon options. Now to help build a list for Monday I propose a bit of Theoryhammer, this will break down each unit and what I think it can/will do and if its worth the cost, these will be brief overviews only looking at main points (and not including Special Character HQ's)

HQ's

First up we have the Grand Master, he now weighs in at 175pts basic but has a WS and BS 6, Initiative 5 and a 4+ invulnerable. He has the option of swapping his storm bolter for a Psilencer, Incinerator or Psycannon, although these are interesting I think the only upgrade worth taking is the Psycannon giving 4 Str7 Ap4 Rending shots, but at 20pts, its a bit overpriced. He comes basic with a Force Sword giving him +1 to his Inv save in combat, for 5pts he can take a Halberd (+2 initative) or Daemonhammer (Thunderhammer). He can also take a Warding stave or falchions but these are overcosted on an already expensive model. The best upgrade I think this guy can take is up to 3 servo skulls, these stop people infiltrating or using a scout move within 12" of each!!! plus reduce your Deep Strike and Blast shooting scatter to 1D6" within 12" and at 5Pts each, are cheap. The reason this guy has jumped in cost is because now he now has Grand Stratergy which means he can give D3 units, Scout, Counter-assault, Scoring or Re-roll to-wounds of a 1. This guy will always feature in any army I build.

The Brother-Captain is exactly the same, but at 150pts with a BS of 5 and doesn't have the Grand Stratergy ability. This guy is good if short on points but if you can't spare 25pts then your better with a Librarian.

Leading onto the Librarian he is also 150pts and comes with the Hammerhand power, he can take any number of powers at 5pts each (some fun ones there aswell) he is only WS5 and has 2 wounds, but can add alot to your army. Depending on how things work, I may add one of these into my army.

They have added a new HQ which is the Brotherhood Champion, this guy is 100pts with minimal upgrade options (fine by me) he has only 1 wound, but a WS of 7. He lets the unit he is with re-roll to hits on the turn he charges (think Chaplain). In my opinion he is alot of points for 1 wound, I will be leaving him alone for now.

Lastly we have the Inquisitors, these guys come in three flavours, Malleus, Hereticus, and Xeno. They have similar wargear except for a couple of specialities. I will be sticking with Malleus and at 25pts (for each of them) they come cheap, my favourite upgrade is the Daemonweapon which is a randomised weapon (could be fun) for 15pts, keeping him bare bones except for a couple of Servo-skulls at 3pts each and power armour at 8pts. He may get dropped for a Librarian depending how he works.

Elites

Here we have a Techmarine now, This guy comes with a power weapon rather than a Force weapon, but can be upgrade to have a force weapon. He is a standard Techmarine but can take Servo-skulls, Force Weapons and a Conversion beamer. At 90pts, I think this guy will be overlooked as I find Techmarines a little pointless (especially seeing as Rhino's can repair themselves anyway).

Next is the squad everyone cried cheese over, the Purifiers, these guys will be used alot by everyone, and I wont be an exeption, though my reason is that Incinerators now cost 20pts on a standard squad and these guys get them free. They are 240pts for 10 men, can take 4 incinerators (a saving of 40pts) and take Halberds at 2pts each (normally 5pts) and a Daemonhammer for 5pts (normally 10pts). The biggest benefit these guys have is that if they pass a psychic test then every enemy model in assault with them takes a wound on a 4+ and any casualties (after saves) are added to combat resolution. The bigger the Horde the more likely you are to win!!!

There Assassins are still around and better than before, but also more expensive, I may add in my Vindicare as I enjoy this guy, but it is unlikely as there are better options.

Inquisitorial Henchmen are here only available if you take an Inquisitor, Deathcult assassins and Daemonhosts have been added in here along with Stormtroopers. I plan to take 3 Daemonhosts are they look fun, but expect they will be dropped for either a Librarian (along with the Inquisitor) or a Vindicare.

Venerable Dreadnought is in here, same as normal, with a couple of special options they aren't worth the 175pts basic it costs! This guy will not be seeing any action.

Lastly, the dreaded Paladins, 55pts each (ouch!!!) 2 wounds and can take an apothecary for an extra 75pts (55pts + 75pts!!!). These guys could be a solid wall that cannot be broken, with a 2+ save, two wounds, and Feel No Pain, and the ability to equip them all differently. I am going to try these guys out a few times, but expect them to be dropped to normal Terminators saving me roughly 200pts.

Troops

Here there are only two choices, firstly, Terminators, These guys are your basic Terminator with a Force Weapon. At 200pts (the standard), they are cheap for how good they are, and can take a Daemonhammer or Halberd for free, Also, like the Paladins can take a Brotherhood Banner which gives you +1 attack and auto-pass your force weapon psychic test for 25pts. If I don't take Paladins I will take at least one unit of these guys.

The second choice is a Strike Squad, 200pts for 10 men, with Force Weapons, can take Halberds at 5pts each or Daemonhammers/falchions (+1 attack) at 10pts each. They get Psilencers for free but being a heavy weapon I think I will avoid these as Psycannons are now only 10pts. A Str 7 Assault cannon for 10pts... yes please. These guys are a solid choice and I will take two units in every game (because I have to and want to).

Fast Attack

Here we have the Stormraven which is well known from the Blood Angels and I may look at taking one at 205pts instead of a Land Raider, but until I buy the model this guy wont be featuring for at least a couple of months. It is a beast and will be able to ferry 6 Terminators (or Paladins) along with a Dreadnought quickly to the heat of battle (if I am mistaken please tell me).

The only other Fast choice is the Interceptor Squad. These guys are identical to Strike Squads but move as Jump Infantry and can "shunt" 30" which means with a Grand Master making them scoring can threaten the board on the last turn to capture or contest almost any objective. I am planning on using at least one unit of 5 for exactly that reason. Plus my old models don't have backpacks so they are a good reason to use the new ones that come in the new boxes.

Heavy Support

Here we have the big guns at last. Firstly is the Purgation Squad, these guys pay a bit less for their Halberds and Daemonhammers (a full squad of Daemonhammers could be fun) but the Psycannon and Incinerator have swapped costs. The Astral Aim psychic power would be useful with 4 Psilencers (as its AP- anyway) meaning you could pour out 24 Str4 shots at anyone (even out of Line of Sight) giving them their armour or a 4+ cover, but weight of fire would be horrendous. I may think of these guys if I buy any men.

The Nemesis Dreadknight falls into this catagory and I have already bought one just because I love the model (although others don't). This guy weighs in at 130pts basic with WS5 BS4, S and T 6 and 4 wounds. He has a 2+ save and 5+ invulnerable as basic and 3 attacks. For 25pts you can give him a Broadsword which lets him re-roll to-hits, to-wounds and armour penetration rolls!!!! This will be taken every time. He can also take a Daemonhammer which hits at initiative order for 10pts. He can take a Heavy Incinerator for 30pts (put the short end 12" away) a gatling Psilencer for 35pts (heavy 12!!!) or a Heavy Psycannon for 40pts (Str7 Rending Large Blast), I have opted for the Psycannon first, but am unsure as it is a lot of points. This guy can also take a Personal Teleporter, making him jump infantry and giving him the "shunt" like Interceptors (and imagine him scoring using the Grand Master), but at 75pts I have left it off to start with.

Lastly we have the general options of Land Raiders and a Dreadnought, these guys cost a fraction more than usual as they can ignore stunned and shaken with their Fortitude power (along with Rhino's and Razorbacks). For now I wont be using them as I think Servo-Skulls will work better for getting up close quickly, even though I am still risking Deepstriking.

So there we have it, my quick(ish) Nemesis Theoryhammer. I hope it helps you in looking at Grey Knights as an army and as an enemy. I will still be putting up an in-depth overview of each unit after I play a few games with each but for now, enjoy.