Game Design - Random Thoughts 01

My gaming group is a fickle bunch. They will buy practically anything for a system that they already own.

Totally used without permission

As such, I have access to nearly the entire collection of Warhammer 40k material starting with Rogue Trader up to the present.

The same could be said for Pathfinder. While very few of of the group own the core rule book, everyone owns at least ONE Pathfinder book.

This can be a problem if we want to try something other than grimdark battles or fantasy role playing. Especially since there is some laggard response to any new attempts at purchasing products/systems outside of what we already play.

For instance, I want to play miniature space battles. Everyone has a few star ship miniatures from various manufactures/factions. What we lack is a generic cohesive rule set. Now, I am personally a big fan Full Thrust. The price is right (free) and allows for comprehensive ship design.

The problem is lazy players. I have e-mailed them all the rules. I have even printed out the rules for myself. The lazy SOBs will NOT read the damn rules or stat out their ships prior to getting together to play. Not to mention Full Thrust uses specific symbols to represent ship statistics which takes time to get used to/instinctively interpret/use.

Seriously, when I have time to play, I want to PLAY, not teach, nor design my lazy buddy's fleet for him.

SO, I must create a rule set so simple, that a near comatose turnip can design a fleet in a few minutes and has rules simple enough that it encompasses no more space than two pages or so.

From FreeVector - Looks really cool

Here are a few principals I want to include in the system;

1: A single 3x5 card per unit(s). No army lists, no codexes, no clipboards.

2: Every stat must be equally important during the game. If it does not meet this criteria, it's out. This will assist with internal balance, if that type of thing is important to you.

3: Only positive modifiers that are added together. If a negative modifier applies it should be mechanically added to other sides bonuses.

4: No IGOUGO

5: There should be an element of randomness/fog of war integral to the system.

Just a few thoughts. More to come in the future!

Flames of War: "Open Fire!" Review

Having made out like a bandit I found myself with a ton of holiday gifts in the form of cash to buy new toys with.



In the past I have toyed around with 15mm in the sci-fi arena and found it to be fun. However, I have been hearing really good things about FoW since 3rd edition came out.

So I traipsed down to my local game store and bought the starter set known as, "Open Fire".

I was unprepared.

You get ton of stuff in this box; over 100 miniatures, a quick-start guide, a rulebook shrunk down to pocket-size, bases, laminated full size army lists for included forces, and terrain (in the form of cardboard punch-outs and a sweet V-1 rocket objective/terrain piece). You also get the magnets for magnetizing the turrets on your tanks!

Fantastic stuff.

The quick-start guide and portions of the rulebook are photos of a game in progress, with overlaid graphics and explanations written in comic book form. The quick-start guide was worth a read no matter what.

The miniatures are fantastic. The eight tanks come on a sprue and have to be assembled. Kind of a pain at 15mm scale but fantastically detailed. The sprues even include optional stowage for each tank so that even at 15mm scale you can individualize your vehicles.

The men are included on two sprues, are one piece, and are glued to the bases in "teams" which is a concept that works within the rules.

My only complaint at this juncture is that while the vehicles are in separate poly bags and are either US green or German grey the soldiers themselves are uniform grey/green color and are intermixed on the same sprues. So, be prepared to use a magnifying glass and a well lit area for assembly. Of course, at 15mm if you should get some mix ups it is doubtful anyone will notice.

As mentioned, terrain is included in the form of punch out walls, houses, and trees. Also in the set is damn sweet V-1 rocket and launch rail that just looks great. Terrain matters in the game and it is awesome that it was included.

Points-wise both armies are close in points; 790 to 830 if my math is correct. I have heard that most games are in the 1500-2000 point range. This means that purchasing two starter sets and splitting it with a buddy is very viable in getting a functional army on the table at club levels.

I cannot speak to the mechanics as yet but I know it is an IGOUGO rule set (not my favorite kind). However, from a cursory inspection of the quick-start guide the rules seem to be fairly decent. They are however, not deep into simulation territory. So, if you are looking for a rule set that distinguishes between the individual weapon capabilities of a regular soldier, then it is probably not the game for you.

If you like really nice miniatures, have only a little room to play (as opposed to 28mm), enjoy a fairly tight yet abstract rule set then you might want to look more into FoW. I know I am.

For $70 USD I rate this a 9.0 out of 10 on my own personal satisfaction scale.

Predator Rescue, Part 03

After I completed gluing the magnets into openings to mount the turret I went ahead and glued the top panel down completely.

I did some more filing on the hull itself, mostly to neaten up the appearance of the tank overall.

The entire model was already primed a nice flat black. Since my army is painted in Blood Angels colors I figured I would stick with that scheme.

I have never been a huge fan of the all red look of the BA and I have taken pains to include a fair amount of black as well as yellow, green, and white in the army. Think of Death Company colors.

One of my Rhino's is painted in a mostly black with red as the trim color. My other Rhino is primarily red with black as the trim color. I firmly put my predator between the two and decided on a 50/50 color balance between black and red.

I use quite a few cheap acrylic paints in my arsenal and my standard undercoat prep for red uses the Americana brand in Khaki Tan.

In my opinion not only are acrylic paints inexpensive, you can make them into truly wonderful paints using water, matte medium, and flow improver to make them smoother to use. Even with the required doctoring they are still much more inexpensive than the GW pots. The base coat worked as intended and the red went on smoothly and with very few blotches.

I added some greeblies in the form of tow hooks, HK missile launcher, and smoke dischargers. Since I had completed a majority of the painting I went ahead and used decals for the first time.

Colors blocked out and decals applied. More on the magnetized sponsons next post.

For decals I used conventional wisdom. A coat of gloss where the decal would go. Application of the decal using decal solution and once dry the application of a matte coating over the entire decal to blend/lock it into place. I am very happy with the results and the decals really seem to give the vehicle an identity that is in context to the force.

At this point I would have no issues with putting this on the table. However, I do owe it some washes, drybrushing, and weathering. I also need to discuss the work I am doing on the sponsons.

Predator Rescue, Part 02

So, I spent the evening filing and gluing where necessary.

The turret has been filed and the autocannon has been glued into a fixed elevation. You will also notice that I have covered the turret ring with a playing card that is glued in place. Originally I thought that the addition of the card would give some much needed friction and help hold the turret in position. Boy did it! However, I was in a magnetic mood and decided to glue a magnet into the interior of the turret directly to the playing card. Now the entire turret will stay in place because of the magnets. See the pictures for details.

Playing cards make pretty decent modeling material

The top panel of the hull just needed some filing and it popped into place as pretty as you please. I also layered some playing cards that I glued together with some super glue. I then glued the card into the turret ring opening and finished that off by gluing a magnet to the underside of the playing card.

I was originally going to paint the interior of the hull and then remembered that a predator has no transport capacity and therefore no reason to open the ramp. So, I will not be painting the interior. The exhaust pipes have been drilled out and opened up.

The Bitz Barn is currently out of stock on Rhino track sets. So, I turned to eBay and found four sets for sale ranging from $10 to $11 (including shipping). I am not ready to spend that kind of money just yet. Remember, I wanted a nice cheap tank in comparison to retail price.

I can see four possible outcomes to the track issue.

1. I run without tracks at all. This smacks of white trash though.

2. I fabricate my own tracks in some manner. Sounds, tedious.

3. I wait for The Bitz Barn to get restocked. The lazy, yet cheap method.

4. I bite the bullet and pay $10-$11 for a complete set off of eBay. The lazy method.

This bears more thinking...

Greeblies for the turret

Predator Rescue, Part 01

Well, 6th edition hit and I could no longer deny my lust for GW, yadda, yadda, yadda. More later.

My latest endeavors have been to run solo 40K skirmishes using the Savage Worlds RPG. More on that later.

As such, I have been on a bit of a terrain building jag lately. I will post more about that in the future.

Needless to say my gaming life has continued and involved the stripping and repainting of my Blood Angels (for the third time!). I have also been working some of my back log as well as picking up the Dark Vengeance starter and going ga-ga over those particular miniatures also.

Basically, my self-imposed exile from GW and 40K failed in the most spectacular fashion.

Anyway, I got the bug to get a Predator tank. I have always liked the look of them and there is something about the symmetry/silhouette that I find elegant. Not wanting to pay the $57.75 to pick one up at the local GW, I bought one off of eBay.

Now, I specifically looked to buy a cheap pre-used/assembled/abused model. I have a fair amount of experience stripping models and rebuilding them. So, I was essentially looking for some one else's piece of junk to make a part of my army. I always figured that I could disguise the most egregious abuse as combat damage.

So, after some judicious bidding I ended up owning a destructor-pattern predator with lascannon sponsons. I got this low-mileage and slightly abused item for $30.99. That's ~47% off of the NIB price.

Fully Convertible

From the pictures you can see I got a model that has no tracks, two broken lascannon sponsons, one mis-glued hatch plug, and no apparent filing down of the mold lines. Oh, and it was covered in dust.

One the plus side I will not have to strip the model as the primer job is quite good.

The turret mount is in good shape and has been glued (correctly) in place. No issues there. One of the hatch plugs is upside down and shows the periscope and mounting cross/indention for mounting the HK missile. As this does not interfere with the functioning of the turret I am not going to mess with it. All this part needs is a filing/trim to correct a bit of a tight fit and it is good to go.

The whole shebang!

The turret is missing the cupola hatch and that will be dealt with out of my bits box. The storm bolter mount has cracked but not yet broken. I am going to use a bit of glue to correct that issue. A general filing and trimming will bring the turret up to snuff. The autocannon elevates and depresses a bit too easily. That will either be frictioned up using some white glue or just plain old glued into the correct elevation.

The sponsons/lascannons needs some filing and to be re-glued into place. Magnetization will also happen.

Worse mounting design ever!

The hull needs very little clean up/filing. The interior is clean and the ramp functions nicely. This might be the first Rhino STC with a painted interior, in my army. The exhaust pipes will be drilled out and some greeblies from my bitz box will finish the overall look of the tank.

The sides are glued into place and appear to have the correct spacing. Complete track sides are available for $1.60 per side from The Bitz Barn. I will be placing my order shortly. Luckily, tracks are not needed during the refurbishing/painting of the said tank.

We threw track, Sarge!

Finishing up that Full Thrust review...

Sorry, folks.

Seems that my last post, a supposed review, didn't actually review anything.

Full Thrust is flat out the best space combat game I have ever played.

There are several reasons for this (in no particular order);

1. Free - 'nuff said

2. Build your own ships! - the point build method seems fairly balanced with every option having a counter of some sort.

3. Cinematic movement with a nod towards inertia - movement is life or death

4. Range and facing matters.

5. Dead simple basic mechanic - gets you playing within a few minutes.

6. The options, oh God, the sheer amount of options that you can use to add to the basic game. Objects, bases, minefields, stealth, sensors, repair parties, towing, and even more!

7. Scaleless - You are not locked into a given scale and you can even use markers or chits instead of miniatures.

8. Hexless - no special board required to play - you are not constrained for instance you could turn the living room floor into a huge battle space.

9. Equipment light - dice, ships, movement record sheet, ship status record (you can fit 12 on a regular page), measuring tape, turning template (made from and old CD), and a pencil. I already owned all of this stuff for other games, except for the turning/vector template which I made from an old AOL CD and a sharpie

10. Tons of resources. Even a Facebook fan page.

11. Alternating activations/integrated turns

The system lends itself best to each side having less than 10 ships per side. I got my gaming buddies to play and we were knocking out games within a few minutes. No game lasted more than 20 minutes and that was with 3-5 ships per side. We played six games before calling it a day.

We did not play with fighters and I have heard that "paper" carriers can break the system at some level. I don't have enough experience to say one way or another.

In the end I cannot recommend Full Thrust enough. Hell, its free, you're not risking anything to try it out.

Bring the Rain! - A Full Thrust Review

These days most of my hobby time is devoted to painting miniatures for my various Pathfinder games.

I have been interested in playing a space combat game for a while.

I tried Star Wars Starship battles when it came out but, in the end, found it to be too simplistic.

I have purchased and played the quite excellent Battleship Galaxies when it came out. It is a really nice game with some unique resource management challenges built in as part of the game play. My only real gripe is the set up time involved and the somewhat limited play area (even though two game boards are included). I never felt like I got a real chance to outmaneuver my opponent.

I received some Firestorm Armada ships for Christmas and they are very beautiful ships. Unfortunately I am not interested in purchasing another rule set or learning it. Especially one that requires cards, tokens, and dice.

So, I hit the interwebz hard and found several free rule sets that seemed to fit what I was looking for. Of all the choices available, the most popular seems to be Full Thrust.

Full Thrust was originally published in 1991 or thereabouts. A second edition was released circa 1995. Jon Tuffley wrote these rules. Jon is well know for running Ground Zero Games and authoring several rule sets such as Stargrunt 2 and Dirtside 2. Don't be thrown by the age of these rules! They have stood the test of time and survived.

Full Thrust is non-setting specific. So, you can play practically any background you can come up with. Conversions can be found throughout the Internet covering setting specific ships and fleets for old favorites such as Star Trek, Star Wars, Starblazers, BSG, BFG, and Babylon 5.

There are many Full Thrust resources out there;

http://fullthrust.star-ranger.com/

http://www.homegame.org/siefert/uftwwwp/

http://www.spinwardstars.com/ft/

Ammund Runec

Pathfinder character I regularly play. Owner/Manager of the Black Steel Mercenary Company.

Ammund Runec

Male Human Fighter 10                          Initiative +3                               Speed 30 ft. (6 squares)

AC 17, touch 14, flat-footed 13 (+3 Dex, +3 Studded Leather)

HP 101                                                                                     Fort +9, Ref +6, Will +4

Base Atk +10; CMB +12; CMD +26

STR 14, DEX 16, CON 14, INT 14, WIS 12, CHA 12

Deadly Aim, Dodge, Improved Critical (Longbow), Point-Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Rapid Shot, Toughness, Vital Strike, Weapon Focus (Glaive), Weapon Focus (Longbow), Greater Weapon Focus (Longbow), Weapon Specialization (Longbow)

Acrobatics +6, Acrobatics (Jump) +4, Appraise +2, Bluff +10, Climb +7, Craft (Bows) +13, Diplomacy +13, Disguise +2, Escape Artist +3, Fly +3, Heal +1, Intimidate +8, Perception +7, Ride +3, Sense Motive +7, Stealth +10, Survival +8, Swim +2

DF = Darter Fletching (+1 to hit)

PBS = Point Blank Shot (+1 to hit and damage)

DA = Deadly Aim (-3 to hit, +6 to damage)

RS = Rapid Shot (full-attack action, -2 to hit to each attack)

VS = Vital Strike (x1 attack only, roll 2d8 plus modifiers for damage)

Widow’s Lament (+1 Bastard Sword) +14/+9 (1d10+5/19-20)

Glaive +13/+8 (1d10+3/x3/ Reach 10)

Heart Seeker +19/+14 (1d8+8/19-20/x3)

Heart Seeker (DF) +20/+15 (1d8+8/19-20/x3) 

Heart Seeker (DF, PBS) +21/+16 (1d8+9/19-20/x3)

Heart Seeker (DF, RS) +18/+13/+18 (1d8+8/19-20/x3) – Full Attack

Heart Seeker (DF, RS, PBS) +19/+14/+19 (1d8+9/19-20/x3) – Full Attack

Heart Seeker (DF, RS, DA) +15/+10/+15 (1d8+14/19-20/x3) – Full Attack

Heart Seeker (DF, RS, DA, PBS) +16/+11/+16 (1d8+15/19-20/x3) – Full Attack

Heart Seeker (DF, VS) +20 (2d8+8/19-20/x3) – x1 Attack Only

Heart Seeker (DF, VS, PBS) +21 (2d8+9/19-20/x3) – x1 Attack Only

Heart Seeker (DF, VS, DA) +17 (2d8+14/19-20/x3) – x1 Attack Only

Heart Seeker (DF, VS, DA, PBS) +18 (2d8+15/19-20/x3) – x1 Attack Only

5150: Star Army

For my first foray into 15mm sci fi gaming I decided to use Two Hour Wargame's 5150: Star Army.

This book is a revamp of the original 5150 and centers exclusively around military combat from skirmish up to company level.

For $25 I received a comb bound soft cover book of 97 pages. The front and back cover are color with a black and white interior. A .pdf copy was also included for free. I happen to carry my .pdf copy on my phone.

Inside we are treated to a genre specific treatment of the Chain Reaction 3.0 rules. This is not an IGOUGO set of rules.

Truth be told, even on your activation not much seems to happen. The beauty is in the reaction system. As you meet the enemy (or THINK you do) things begin to happen. Sometimes involuntary movement triggers new reactions which cascade into a whole different set of reactions. This is all handled very simply and moves quite quickly.

In the end it is not impossible that you discover the enemy and the initial contact quickly reaches a crescendo of violence that leaves one side or the other quite dead. This is roughly what happens in the real world. As the old military axiom states, "No plan survives contact."


This is a nice set of "loose" rules. They move fast and do not require a ton of time to learn. Ed (the author) has also included a little "STOP" point at the end of each major section with a suggestion to play with the new pieces and parts until you are comfortable before continuing.

These rules do not have points values assigned to the units. Period. This is not a tournament set of rules. It cannot be played that way.

What I like is that the rules can be played head-to-head, solo, or cooperatively. In fact the rules mostly seem to revolve around the solo gamer. Which is why I picked this set of rules. You do not need anyone to play against and the "enemy" army plays realistically even though dice rolls decide their actions from moment to moment.

Oh, one other thing, you only have a modicum of control over your own forces. Once the Chain Reaction is set off, your forces can fight bravely or even flee the board whether you want them to or not. The one exception is your Star. He is your, "in-game" avatar and will do what ever you want every time.

Miniatures scale is left deliberately vague and the rules work quite well with either 15mm or 28mm (the two scales I game with).

Terrain, buildings, cover, concealment, and vehicles all receive their due and are quite comprehensive.

There are seven premade army lists and a brief fluff/background section that I cheerfully ignored because I brought my own. The background is based off a RPG setting written by Wes Davis. So, you could always go there to learn more if you wanted to.


My gripe. My only real gripe is the editing. I would love to edit this rulebook for Ed.

The sections seem illogically placed for roughly 75% of the book. The are are no real section breaks in terms of page breaks. One section stops and the next immediately starts. Even though it would have made more sense to continue on a new page. Campaign rules are before the mission rules, etc. Just seems to me, to be illogically laid out in most places.

Charts...Ed loves himself some charts. They are neat and easy to read and I fully understand why they are needed. What I would have liked to have seen is ALL of the charts compiled at the back of the book so I could print them out as a booklet of only charts. That said, most of the charts aren't even needed in a typical game but, it would have been nice.

However, I would not let those two things discourage you. For the price you get a very flexible and robust set of rules. There is a very active Yahoo Group that supports these games and publishes a lot of user content that you can drop right into your game.

I give this set of rules a rating of 75%. Damn good with room for some improvements.

9/11 - 4 month update

It has been almost 4 months since I updated this blog.

My feelings on GW have not changed.

However, I have continued gaming.



I am not only running a Pathfinder game set in Eberron, I am also playing in one. I had forgot for a long time how much enjoyment I get from a good RPG. Not to mention the price point to play is much, much lower than tabletop war gaming.

I have been playing Warmachine quite a bit more. I bought a Khador starter box ($50) and received another $80 worth of Khador stuff for my birthday. I can field a good 35-40 points. This makes for a fast and yet very tactical game. good stuff. Now that Privateer Press has released (or soon will) a 2-player starter box it is only going to get better. I have not even read the fluff concerning the Iron Kingdoms but, I am still having fun.

My Battletech fever has tapered off a bit. However, I am planning on getting ti going again pretty soon. Getting in at least one game each week is my goal. I find the depth of detail to game play a real draw. I actually enjoy more of minutiae than I thought I would.



I hope to start posting more often. I have considered changing the name of the blog to something a little less 40k-ish. I wonder if I can do that in Blogspot?

Take this job and shove it...

GW continues to knock them out of the ball park.

Trade Embargo and a price increase?

I have roughly 5000 pts of SM/BA, ~2500 pts of Tau, ~1500 pts of Necrons, and ~1000 pts of Orks.

I have no need to buy anymore to continue to play the game.

eBay will be my source of any new models from here on out.

I have only been playing for two years and it is clear that GW does not like me.

So, I am moving on. I'll still play 40K but I won't be buying anything else directly from GW.

Battletech is my new passion. My $50 starter set came with enough stuff that six people could each field a platoon's worth of mechs. Two players could run a battalion vs. battalion level battle.

Battletech has been around longer and is still on the "first" edition. Sure there have been some revisions along the way, most of those clarify or add something to the game.

So long GW. It has NOT been fun.

P.S. Your rules suck and the constant power creep with each codex release will NOT make me start a new army. Rather, I will start a new game.

Fuck You, very much.

Dear GW: Thunderwolf Cavalry

Dear GW,

I am writing this letter because I love you. I feel you are currently in a self-destructive phase with the bad behavior you have been displaying since we met.

Price raises, corporate tinkering with the stores, a substandard ruleset...

Despite that I still like you...a lot. I want to help. Let me give you some advice.

First, you have screwed the pooch (pun) concerning Thunderwolves. Your players really like them. They like them so much that they have been busy converting them, kit-bashing them, and buying alternative models from your competitors. Yup, classic capitalism in action, there was a void and someone filled it. Several someones at the time of this letter. Let me tell you, your competitors are churning them out. Fast, pretty, and inexpensive.

Flat out, you are losing the market share. Sure, you might exert some will and ban alternatives from 'ard Boyz or Adepticon but, that is only a stop gap measure.

You need to get off your bum and get your own product out. Of course, I have some qualifiers. Allow me to illuminate them.

1. They must be pretty. You already do this really well.

2. They need to be plastic. Again, something you can do.

3. They need to be packaged advantageously. This means five to a box, with enough bits to customize them.

4. They must be inexpensive. You really really suck at this part. This will be painful but if you want to win back the market share you have to be prepared to lose some profit margin. In the end, you can only ever blame yourself. Also, your competitors are selling them for about $7-8 per model.

I know this has been painful for the both of us. I am only telling you this because I love you.

I won't mention the 25th Anniversary BattleTech Introductory Box that has 26 models in it and all of the supporting material for only $50. I think I'll cover that next time.

Yours,

Brother Vizlani

What a Day!

I did not attend Adepticon this year. I may never reach a point where I am good enough to justify a four-day trip to Chicago to play 40K.

What I did do on Sat. was take part in my local GW's tournament.

2000 pt Last Man Standing

The rules are simple. No reserves unless they deep strike or outflank. No walking on from your board edge. Three turns or 30 minutes, whichever comes first. If it dies, it does not go into the next game. Same with immobilized or weapon destroyed results, they carry over into the next game. Using a techmarine you can repair damage "in game". Reloads are available for one-shot weapons (combi-, hunter-killer, etc.).

The goal is to be the, "Last Man Standing".

I won't bore you with details except to say, I placed third. I survived the seventh and final game with 522 points of BA intact. Dark Eldar took first with 943 points. Black Templar finished second with 602 points.

Fun was had by all. The F-bomb was dropped on several occasions. Someone got chewed out. Like I said, a great time.

For my troubles I scored a box of Death Company. Using all the bits in the box I intend to kit out a full assault squad and dress up my BA (bone-stock SM miniatures) like proper Angels of Death.

Look for another post soon, with my views on how GW can still pull a win concerning Thunderwolf Cavalry.

The Future is...Grey

Ok.

http://www.motifake.com/image/demotivational-poster/0901/grey-knights-grey-knights-warhammer-40k-space-marines-demotivational-poster-1231564907.jpg

Played my first game against Grey Knights today.

I ran a 2000 pt Deathwing army;

Belial

5x 5 man Terminator squads with a mix of TH/SS, Power Fists, 2x Assault Cannons, and 3x Cyclone missile launchers.

2x Tactical squads with a meltagun apiece.

Land Raider - stock

10x sniper scouts

He ran 2005 pt of the following;

Draigo

10x Terminator Paladins w/a Apothecary

Land Raider - stock

Dreadnaught w/ TL Lascannons

10x Grey knights

Paladins were carrying a mix storm bolters, 3x psilencers, 1x psycannon. The regular squad also rocked a psilencer and a psicannon.

1x Vindicaire Assasin

1x Culexis Assassin (I think that is the name, the one that comes out of YOUR squad)

We played annihilation from the short table ends. Deployment zone was 18 inches deep.

He walked everything. LR was empty.

I had mucho terrain to hide behind. I castled up and let him walk to me. I shot him up the entire walk, AND he did walk for about 30 inches.

Krak Missiles WILL double out paladins IF he fails his armor save AND his FNP roll. Final tally - 16 missile shots (13 total hit and wounded) resulted in ONE paladin death (7.69 % success rate).

I had marginally better luck with the lascannons. I managed to take eight lascannon shots against him. This resulted in three paladin deaths (37.5% OVERALL success rate).

He lost no other paladins to me. Period.

He ate four of the five terminator squads. Flat out killed them. The psilencers (12 shots per round) killed me. When in range he was getting off 50 shots (36 psilencers, 1x psicannon, and 12 storm bolter shots). The psilencers were getting 16-18 wounds on my five man terminator squads by themselves. Even 2+ armor saves cannot hold up to that type of punishment.

My own rolls for the day ran in the 38-46% success range, so a little below the statistical average.

In the end we played out 7 full turns and I had killed one assassin and five paladins. I had Belial and his terminator squad left, as well as an immobilized LR that had a TL heavy bolter left.

Perhaps armoring up will be a better tactic.

Against the paladins you either need to kill them with weight of fire, which frankly, any type of space marine has trouble doing. OR go for the double out using high strength low AP weaponry.

Either way, expect a LOT of grey knight armies to be showing up in the future.

Multiple Vehicle Explosions

This came up for the third time in my gaming career this weekend.

When multiple attacks against a vehicle results in multiple penetration rolls and more than one of those penetration rolls results in a Destroyed - Explodes! results, what do you do?

I stand by the position that each explosion result is counted as a hit against all passengers and all models inside the blast radius.

I have found in the rulebook or a FAQ or something that this is indeed the case. The only problem was that in the heat of the moment, I was unable to find it in an official document.

It came down to a roll off which I won. Since then I have been perusing the FAQs and forums searching desperately for the exact wording so I can highlight the hell out of it. I might even sticky-tab it.

I have read the various opinions in some of the forums. Some say only roll once others agree with my take on it.

I feel for the folks that think you only roll once. I mean to basically paraphrase their arguments, "how many times can a vehicle explode?".

On the surface it would seem vehicles can only explode once. However, if we look deeper the prevailing logic might be flawed.

Vehicles (and presumably high-tech future war machines) are packed full of potential explosion factors. Just off the top of my head I thought of the following; ammunition, fuel tanks, high-pressure systems, exotic energy plants, charged power capacitors, etc.

If only one of these were to explode it would be enough to destroy a vehicle. However, if more than one of these systems should critically fail in an explosion the force or power of the explosion has a high probability of increasing as well.

This would be replicated in-game by the multiple explosion results resulting in multiple hits against all relevant parties.

So, if any of you have the relevant page reference to an official rules document, please drop me a line in the comments section.

If you agree or just think I am totally off my rocker. Please do likewise.

Stromraven, Furioso, and Battleforce for preorder

It's true!

Head over to GW's newsletter and check it out!

Does GW hate God?

That's quite a catchy title, I know.

I have no idea if GW does, in fact, hate God but, I do have some observations about GW that I want to share.

First, lets establish my base so we have a common frame of reference. I am an old fart, ex-military, Christian (more on this later), white, from the South, and middle class. I was raised Catholic and upon gaining adulthood, promptly left the church. My absence from organized religion lasted for 18 years before I, "came back into the fold". I did what all reformed Catholics do and became a Baptist. It goes without saying that I believe in God. I (try) to follow his teachings and live a good (what I judge to be good) life. I don't recruit people into the church. I have barely read 1/20th of the Bible.

I am also a sci-fi/fantasy nut. I have played Dungeons and Dragons (and other RPGs for that matter) for 25 years. I have been quite active in 40K for about two years. Active, meaning I play between 40 and 60 games per year. So, I know what our hobby is all about.

I am also old enough to remember when every well-meaning parent was hell-bent on "protecting" America's youth by obliterating DnD completely. Seems the overzealous religious types got there nose bent out of shape about "demons" and alleged "satanism/witchcraft". It was pure poppycock. Were there some troubled, depressed, and impressionable young people that took it too far? Yes. Much like there are troubled youth still to this day, busy taking things too far.

Parents are protective of their children (duh). Even the hint of danger, real or perceived, will turn a parent against you.

I do not know at what age GW intends to recruit its customers. All indications would point to children between 10-14 years old. This is purely based upon my own observations around the 3-4 local game stores that I frequent. However, GW is not doing itself any favors if that is its intended "new customer base".

For example;

I got my newest GW Newsletter in my e-mail. The subject line was, "Chapter 666: Hammer of Daemons". Say what?

Now, I know what this means. I play Space Marines and I am always looking to add more power armor to collection.

But. and this is a big one...

The average parent is ignorant. They have no idea what our fictional little universe is about. However, the parent controls the money flow. I also know that the parent is going to key off of certain words and phrases. Let's take a peek into the average parents thought process...

"Hmmm, what to get little Johnny? He likes the 40K thing... Looks okay.

What is this? 666? Isn't that the mark of the beast or something?

Daemons?

What?

What kind of game is this for children?"

Yes, I believe that fairly and accurately represents what the average person probably thinks when they read about GWs product.

or take this from the back of the DE Codex.

"...pure evil in its most sickening and elemental sense..."

"Sadists and murders all..."

"...utterly inhuman, eternally thirsting for the anguish of others..."

The is no effing way I am letting my kid play a game of, "Sadist and Murders". Or so goes the thought process.

So...

If GW is so creative and innovative of a company, why even bother digging into Judeo-Christian pop culture references like, "666"?

Why even have a religious connotation at all?

Was having aliens as the sole antagonists of this story not creative enough? Did they really need to bring pseudo-religious overtones into the story?

If the goal is to get new players between 10-14 y.o., why is there no effort to "win over" the parents? I will tell you, you do not "win" over anyone's parents by seemingly exposing them to and/or promoting occultism.

Seriously, it is only going to take one event involving a troubled youth and 40K and the media firestorm (fuelled by overzealous parents) will blow up this hobby. Look at what the false panic of the 80's did to TSR, the publisher of DnD.

Well, that's it. The rant is over. I just needed to get that off my chest and out there for discussion.

1000 pt Shrike list

This list is extremely lean in the objective capturing department.

195 pts - Shrike

400 pts - x10 Assault Treminators TH/SS

110 pts - x5 Tactical Marines + Melta bombs and Teleport Homer

145 pts - x5 Tactical Marines + Rhino + Melta bombs and Teleport Homer

150 pts - x5 Devastators + x4 Missile Launchers

1000 pts - 6 KPs - 27 Models

Oh how I love this list.

As long as I get good reserve rolls I am looking at a 2nd or 3rd round arrival of Shrike plus his attached squad of (fleet) Assault terminators.

This list is absolute garbage for capturing objectives but, it is a brutal in-your-face-might-table-you-if-you-are-not-careful @ 1000 pts.

This list is easily evaded by a mobile foe.

Random Stormraven Reference

I got a copy of Deathwatch from Fantasy Flight Games for Christmas.

As I was reading through the section on the Storm Wardens chapter, it mentioned the Stormraven.

The mention was set in an account of a battle between Orks and the Storm Wardens.

Could this be an indication that regular Space Marines will be able to take the Stormraven at some point?

Merry Christmas

Wishing you all wonderful holiday filled with food, friends, family, and fun.