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.

Jetbikes for Tau

Custom conversion by a guy named super0sonic @ tau online

It is a little known fact that after writing the Elite and Heavy Support sections of the Tau codex, Games Workshop outsourced the writing of rest of the codex to Nepal.

I have been thinking about the Tau, a lot, recently and I could not recall what their fast attack options were. Once I cracked open their dusty tome, I discovered that the Tau fast attack FOC is missing something…oh yeah, the fast attack part!

First, the options available now and then some speculation and wishlisting...

Let’s have a look, shall we….

Gun Drones – Jump infantry (Jet Pack) @ 12 points each. Let’s see…jet packs are not truly “fast” in any instance. A 6” “jump” during the movement phase with the option of making another 6” “jump” during the Assault phase. 6” + 6” = 12”….

Space Marines (all varieties) get “jump” packs and make a 12” “jump” during the Movement phase with the option of a 6” “charge” during the Assault phase. Hmmmm…12” + 6” = 18”

Is this the best that a technologically advanced civilization can do again a bunch of Luddites (i.e. Humanity)?

To sum up; Gun Drones = NOT fast. Couple this with a lousy stat line and a relatively shorted ranged weapon that will only hit its target 2/3rds of the time (no weapon upgrades either!) and you have a weak and slow fast attack choice that is a bit pricey.

Next!

Pathfinder Team – standard, albeit pricier Fire Warriors (Shas’la) that MUST take a Devilfish (80 points).

The markerlight, which is the Pathfinder’s stock in trade, is a Heavy 1. The Devilfish is a Tank and a Skimmer and has zero firing ports.

So, let me get this straight…must take a transport that happens to NOT be a fast skimmer, a non-fast skimmer that CANNOT be fired from, and once disembarked they cannot even fire their trademark weapon (the only reason for taking them in the first place) because disembarking counts as moving. Well, hell I can do that in a Land Raider!

In the end Pathfinders are only capable of moving as fast as their transport. The same exact transport available to the rest of the army. A transport that moves as fast as any other vehicle in the game…Nope! Definitely not fast attack.

Next!

Piranha Light Skimmer Team – more expensive than a SM landspeeder but at least tries, as it is a fast skimmer.

Not a bad choice overall and with the option to field up to 15 of them (900 points, no upgrades) you at least have some redundancy. Vehicle upgrades are long in capability and short on weapon options.

Hopefully, the lack of weapon options on all Tau vehicles will be addressed in the new codex (whenever that is). This will make them more versatile. Points should be lowered to compensate for the “open-topped” drawback. SM landspeeders are 10 points cheaper and are NOT “open-topped”.

To sum up; Piranhas = fast attack. A bit pricy for what you get but can get around the board quite fast.

Next!

Vespid Stingwings – a flaccid statline for the same cost as a Space Marine; fleet, skilled flyer, and move as jump infantry (the real kind, not uh, the “jet pack” kind). A nice weapon is provided but, no other options are available.

Their statline means you should stay out of close combat but the short range of their Neutron blasters means that you mostly will not be able to avoid being assaulted.

In short; Vespids cost as much as Space Marines but are not nearly as capable. They are armed with a powerful (yet criminally short ranged) weapon. They do, however, move as “real” jump infantry and therefore fully earn their fast attack assignment in the FOC.

Roughly half of the Tau fast attack options are neither “fast” nor “attacky”.

How can this be fixed?

I feel that adding in some new blood will be the answer. Move the Gun Drones and Pathfinders to where they really belong, the Troop FOC.

I think that Tau jetbikes have epic potential. It would give them a much need boost to their Toughness and truly illustrate their technological mastery over gravity. Plus, if more weapon options are available they could be custom tailored for specific missions.

So, gentle readers…

What do you think?

AND

What should be the fourth option in the fast attack FOC?

Dead Killy Tournament Results

On November 7th we had the first Dead Killy: Kill Team Tournament at the local GW.

For a $10 entry fee and a readable copy of your army list you got into the tournament.

We had a field of ten competitors. This brought the prizes given out to $120 in total (I put up $20 to get the ball rolling).

The prizes given out were 1st Place ($48), 2nd Place ($24), Last Place (Booby)($12), and Best Appearance ($36).

I would say that a great time was had by all. A two-way tie for 2nd place went down as well as three-way tie for last place. We did end up running "playoff" games so that clear winners were found.

1st Place went to a local school teacher named Ryan Degenhardt and his brutal Tau Kill Team.

2nd and 3rd Place went to, two Dark Eldar players. Zach took 2nd and Cody took 3rd.

4th place was, surprisingly, a Necron Kill Team that consisted only of 8 or 10 warriors.

Last Place was a hard fought affair with Ork Lootas, Plague Marines, and Space Marines battling to be the best (of the worst?). Chris' mix of sniper scouts and assault marines took the day and summarily declared that they were the worst of the lot.

Cale's Plague Marines took Best Appearance. We had to go to an outside judge as the three painting judges were tied between the plague marines and Ryan's beautiful Tau force.

My daughter Lauren was the photographer for the day and also did an outstanding job. Unfortunately, she did not take pics of either of the two best painted forces in the tournament.

BA StormRaven unveiled!!!

Warseer posted some text and picture from the GW website.

The image and text have since been taken down...

Dice Like Thunder fails their invulnerable save...

...but are not subject to instant death because they are The Eternal Warriors!

Ha Ha. Anyway, the talk of the intenetz is that DLT is going away to be replaced by the new podcast known as The Eternal Warriors. The first?! episode should be out some time during the first week of November.

The cast will stay the same, the format will stay mostly the same (only the inclusion of Warmachine is changing), and the schedule will stay the same. No plans are in place to have forums as they do now but, each of the cast members will start their own blog to communicate with the listeners and keep us abreast of their hobby efforts.

When I heard the news that DLT was ending I found myself feeling a little sad. I felt bad enough when 40K Radio (the original) ended but they were only my second love. DLT was my first.

However, a quick jump over to their forums renewed my hope that quality podcasting will continue from the guys I have come to know. No details are being given about the name change and there probably never will but, there has not been a collapse from the inside or an IP issue, it is something else entirely. All it really means to us is that we will now have a two week wait before we can download a current episode.

To the crew I wish the best of luck and godspeed as they make they jump to the new name.

Dead Killy - Kill Team Tournament

Image totally stolen from Dr. Gabes Miniatures

This tournament will be held on November 7th, 2010 at the Tomball Crossing Games Workshop. Entry fee is $10 and all money goes for prizes. Four prizes will be awarded; 1st place, 2nd place, Best Appearance, and the Booby (last place) prize. Come and get some!


The Dante model was a custom build and I found it on Dr. Gabes Miniatures blog. Impressive isn't he?

Played my 2000 point Dread heavy SM list against the new Dark Eldar last Saturday. For the love of God keep they away from you and shoot them! They are brutal in close combat. The dark lances while plentiful did not really have as much of an effect as the wyches and the Augubriel Beil (or whatever his name is). It was like a bad dream. Power weapons were flying everywhere! Marines are going to need to bring the firepower because very little can whoop up on these guys in hand-to-hand.

A Great Idea

Rust, Dust, and Ceramite wrote a post that makes a lot of sense to me.

Keeping our fellow gamers who are serving overseas supplied with hobby material.

Check out his post and see if volunteering some models for overseas duty is your cup o' joe...

Dark Eldar = flight stands done right

No pic for this one but I did get my grubby hands on the display models of the new raider and DE jetbikes.

Besides being fine models in and of themselves I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the flight stands have been re-engineered.

Flight stands now end in a ball joint that mates with a socket in the bottom of the models. This means that the wimpy stud is no longer there to break off in your model as well as the fact that you can "pose" your models as they ride down your enemies...

The friction seemed just right and I can see using a coat of paint to tighten it up as the joint loosens up over time.

Certainly a step in the right direction.

Score! part deux

Local GW had a Bizarre Bazaar today.

Picked up two complete sets of AoBR Orks for $35!

As purchased a five-man assault squad for $5!

Could not be happier right now!

Gotta keep using the exclamation point!

Oh, that looks bad...

I just viewed the new trailer for the Ultramarines movie.

Not impressed.

The level of CGI is looking more "Toy Story" than "Avatar".

Lets hope the story is up to snuff.

Score!

Somebody got their closet cleaned out!

A trip to my local Goodwill toy section yielded the following finds.

Cobra gunship (movie)
GI Joe HUMMV
Transformers Vector Prime
Two sets of Tamiya kits (Barricades and brick walls)
Boba Fett action figure

Total + tax = $9.21

Score!

Items of Interest 001

Just a few things from around the net that I have found noteworthy.

Table Top War has an interesting article concerning assaults and when a vehicle become immobilized. Certainly something to either; make you aware of a little known situation that may come up, or send you off into a spittle spraying rage. Immobile vehicle assault situation

Incunabulong does some interesintg Tau mathhammer concerning twin-linking and markerlights. Well worth a few minutes read to bring up your Tau tactics. Maximize your Tau markerlights.

Berks brings up some love of this game that we all hate to love or love to hate. feel the love!
For the love of the game.

Micropanzer unveils a walker model for $25/$30 that is all metal and looks like it could be used as a sweet Tau Apocalypse walker. Side-by-side size comparisons to existing 40K models gives you an idea of it's size. $25/$30 for a 20 piece half pound of metal model is a good deal by anyones definition. Check it out!
Micropanzer Light Assault Walker

Rules Writing = Hard

Wow, it has been a month now since I started writing the miniature rules that I want use. What a long strange journey it has been. I know the rules, they reside in my head. Getting them on paper is a completely different story.



I can actually see the rulebook, I have dreamt of it at least twice, in all of its glossy color glory...



It does not help that as I sit here writing, or attempting to, I have several models on the shelves that are looking at my. Guilting on me is more like it, "Take us outside to play", "We need some more paint work", Your gonna fail, the 40K rules as they stand now are the greatest ever written!". Or something like that. I am almost sure I imagined it, right?



Having no feedback on anyone interested in playtesting or even submitting faction names has not helped. I want you all to be as excited as I am!



So, as to tease you along I have been converting some of the 40K characters into E.O.D. stats.

These are not final stats. BTW if any of you know the maximum of any stat listed in 40K could you pass that on. For instance the highest WS I can find is 9. If you know of something higher let me know. I need the max stat of any category in 40K, whether it is BS, T, S, Ldrship, etc.

Engine of Destruction - Introduction

The draft of the intro to the ruleset I am writing titled "Engine of Destruction".


I love games. However, there is a disconnect between the two types of games I love.

Role-playing games (RPGs) are the ultimate in character expression. Your character is ultimately customizable into the type of avatar you desire. All of the customization comes at a price though; you usually are only able to control one character at a time.

Miniature wargames on the other hand allow you to control multiple characters, squads, platoons, companies, and perhaps even entire armies. The end result of that scope of control is the loss of individuality. The sheer scope of war and units under your command take away some of the personality or you units. The myriad factors affecting warfare also affect your armies and the rules concerning these factors in other game systems can be a bit…arcane.

In these rules I have sought to attain several goals; customization/personalization of your forces, a unified mechanic to cover all battlefield situations, balance against your opponents, freedom to use whatever miniatures you choose to use, and freedom from the restraint of an established constrained universe.

Customizing and personalizing your units will be easy and intuitive. If you want to outfit a squad with nothing but missile launchers go right ahead. However, you need to be prepared to pay the price for those decisions. You will be able to increase the effectiveness of your units as they continue to survive on the field of battle and they apply their experience to their actions in future battles.

A unified mechanic will keep things simple and the action moving. A simple mechanic does not however mean that you will have to settle lack of depth.

Balance is a serious consideration. Chess has ultimate balance as both players have identical units that are equally capable and the only deciding factor to the game is the competence of the respective commanders. However, who wants to play on the same battlefield with the same identical units every time? We are all aware of certain companies that regularly release army books that “creep” up the effectiveness of that particular army and subtly reduce the effectiveness of the remaining armies. Further, when you purchase a model you are not only paying for the materials, time, and talent required to manufacture that particular model but the “in-game” capabilities of that model. In short if you want to continue to have the most effective army it is almost compulsory that you start the new flavor of the month army and buy the requisite models to remain competitive. Balance is a nebulous concept especially when army books are outdated from the current rules by an edition or more.

Use the models you want to use. If you prefer 15mm, then use them. 25mm or 28mm, use them. If you prefer to use action figures or Lego minifigs, go right ahead. Do you prefer the intimacy of a small skirmish game, the thrill of commanding a few squads or platoons, or the god-like power of commanding an entire army including off-board assets? You can and the game mechanics will not change. Prefer playing in an established universe? Go ahead. Prefer to create your own? Go ahead. Prefer to pit your home-brewed units versus established units by other publishers? Go ahead. The balance will be there. You bring the talent.

This does not mean that you are going to be bogged down in minutiae. Unit creation will take about 30 seconds per unit. You will not need a fistful of tokens, cards, or reams of paper in order to track your unit’s capabilities on the battlefield. One sheet of paper will usually be the maximum you need to know your armies vital statistics.

This is just the draft but I feel that the meat is there. I will be looking to recruit some playtesters in the near future. Drop me a line if you are interested.