Well Christmas is all done, and everything is getting back to normal for most people.
Santa was good to me this year, I got a lot of what I wanted......
Conquest 40k, a game I've been looking at for a long time. Had to wait until boxing day, and a visit from the in-laws, although I suspect that it was all organised by the wife. I've been thinking about decks and looking at website for the last few days and I'm just as excited by everything I've seen. I'll go in to things more in later posts.
Tickets to the Kings of the North Tournament, a two day, 4 or 5 battle ( will have to check) orgy of 40k, pkus a load of other games. Was 2nd on my list after conquest, and will be featured heavily over the next few onths as I sort my list. I've already got a few ideas but will have to have a look at cost and feasibility.
I didn't get my two laser pens from The Army Painter. I was after both the TargetLock and Markerlight laser pens, as I think they could be useful in games. I'll now spend some of my Christmas money on them and get them from my club. It's always good to support your local club.
So all in all, I got the main things I wanted. I know there isn't much in terms of gaming and modelling, but I've got so much waiting to be painted that I don't want to add to it!
A WH40k hobby blog dedicated to the men of the Imperium of Man, from the humble Astra Militarum trooper, to the Scions of the Militarum Tempestus and the super men of the Adeptus Astartes.
Tuesday, 30 December 2014
Wednesday, 24 December 2014
Christmas
Its almost Christmas and Santa is readying his sleigh for a busy night, so this is my last pre Christmas post and its just a short one to say Merry Christmas everyone, I hope you have an enjoyable day and Santa brings you everything you wanted.
I'll see you again in the New Year.
I'll see you again in the New Year.
Tuesday, 23 December 2014
Gaming thoughts
Over the last couple of weeks I've managed to get a game in and watch a few others, the luxury of time off! And I've had a few thoughts on gaming, mostly about three way battles, proxy models and fair play. Nothing ground breaking or new I'd imagine, but I thought I'd put my thoughts down on here, it's what this page is about after all.
I'll start with three way battles. I turned up at the club the other day with no game planned, and was invited to join two other gamers in a battle. Now, in principle it sounded like a good idea, in reality its not. Now, a 2 vs 1 is a different matter, these games can be fun and can be useful for newer gamers, as they can discus details and tactics easily with there playing partner but 1 vs 1 vs 1 are not so simple. Even something as simple as deployment becomes challenging, what size table do you use? What deployment zones? Who table edges are who's? If you could put together a 6 sided table you could get around some of these problems, but not all of them. The other issue is time, these games take a lot more time than normal games. With extra set up times and an extra Player turn per game turn, time quickly disappears.
The only fun thing with these games is who to go after, with a whole host of models on the board, there are always targets. We played a 2000 point battle between a chaos army with a few bikes, a raider, 3 obliterators and marines, a wolf army with thunder wolves, scouts, a grey hunter squad and a whirlwind thing, and my Hjaltland LI, so with 6000 points on the board it was a little crowded, even with there extra 2foot of length we put on the end. Personally, I think games like these are not great, and I would much rather just watch a normal game than try and run another 3 way game.
The next week my game fell through at the last minute, 😞 , so I just watched the three other matches that were being played. One thing I noticed in these matches was the use of proxies, or rather there different uses. All three games had proxies of some sort or another, and all for different reasons. The first game was between Elder and Chaos Daemons, all very nicely painted models with some really good conversions. One of the players was proxying one daemon for a different daemon to test out the rules. The second game was SW vs Orks, with the Ork player using Rhinos for looted wagons, again all models were painted up nicely and there was some good conversions. The Rhinos were painted up in orkish colours and all, so you could just as easily called them conversions. The third fight was Chaos Marines against Orks. The chaos army was mostly painted, albeit in rather random colours and with no overall scheme, but most of the Orks were unpainted ( not a problem as far as I'm concerned ) but there were a lot of proxies, mostly Marine bikes for Ork bikes, random armless Orks for various weapons and large plastic dinosaurs for Squiggoths.
Now, proxing for testing rules is not only sensible but also a reasonable thing to do. It means you don't have to spend time, money and effort on something you may not actually want to use. A friend is using some rhinos as wyverns at present to see if he want to run 4 of them in a list, that's about 136 quids worth of models, a lot of money if he decides not to use them. Although if your still proxying after several months it gets a bit silly. Proxing for units with no models, something of a rarity these days, with a similar model or conversion is also fine in my eyes, as long as it is similar. Using a converted rhino for a looted wagon is fine, both model and fluff wise. I can't think of any other codex entries with out models these days that would need proxying, I'm sure there are some somewhere.
Both of these uses of proxies are fine in my eyes, there sensible and reasonable. The final example of proxying is not so clear cut. The Ork player was proxying a number of different units for different reasons. He was using SM bikes as war bikes, similar in size and shape, they are reasonable proxies, but with no attempt to orkify them, does it make them less valid? Along with using various random Ork models to represent various units, such as plain old Orks boys as Runtherders and random Orks as Weirdboyz, it adds to the question of their validity as proxies. The one example however that I find hard to deal with though is when it comes to Forge World items. Proxying to test rules is fine, as FW models aren't cheap, and no one wants to fork out a load of hard earned cash for something that may turn out to be useless and proxying a plastic dinosaur for a Squiggoth is ok, border line but ok, but 3 is pushing it a little I feel. This is especially so when you know there not doing it short term until they can buy the real thing. The other thing is a matter of scale. What size is a proper Squiggoth? I haven't ever seen one, nor do I have the measurement for one, so how do I know that the plastic dinosaur is an accurate proxy? If its a little out, I won't be bothered, but if its a lot out I would. After all it can make a big difference in a game using true line of sight and base to base contact.
I may well be being a little harsh with my criticism, but I feel that there is a big difference between proxying a model or two in the short term and half an army on a regular basis. Now, I'm more inclined to allow there player in question to get away with this sort of thing as he's just a kid, he's enjoying the game and he's the future of the hobby. It does kind of make the game very one sided if he's bringing lots of FW units or high powered units, all of which are proxies. Maybe it's just me being a grumpy old man. But it does kind of flow in to my next point, fair play.
I bring this up as the other Ork player, playing the SW's, fired a shock attack gun and rolled a double, a 3 I think, meaning he had to place the template on the nearest unit, friend or foe. Now, he chose to place it slap bang in the middle and take 7 hits, when he could have placed it at the edge and taken just 3. Now, he lost 5 boyz, which didn't do to much to him, as he drew the game in the end, but it could have done a lot more damage in the long run as opposed to loosing just 1 or 2 boyz. That's about 9 to 16 hits different in cc, and that could be huge against MEQ's. So what's that answer?
Personally, I think you can look at it in several ways. In friendly games I would play it that either let your opposition choose or choose with them, or just drop it in the middle and let the dice fall as they will, after all its a friendly. In a more competitive setting, I would either draw a straight line and place it on the closest model regardless of what the model is or choose a corner of the unit and go from there, after all its a competitive environment and every wound counts. You can bet that your opponent won't give you easy wounds and their playing for the win as well. I've bent a few rules in my time on the tournament tables, some intentionally, but mostly just by accident or over enthusiasm. Fair play though does require both sides to partake, if one side is playing for the win regardless of the game, them its fair play to use the rules to your advantage as much as possible.
In the end though, its up to the players and the environment your playing in. The main thing though, is to make sure your having fun!
I'll start with three way battles. I turned up at the club the other day with no game planned, and was invited to join two other gamers in a battle. Now, in principle it sounded like a good idea, in reality its not. Now, a 2 vs 1 is a different matter, these games can be fun and can be useful for newer gamers, as they can discus details and tactics easily with there playing partner but 1 vs 1 vs 1 are not so simple. Even something as simple as deployment becomes challenging, what size table do you use? What deployment zones? Who table edges are who's? If you could put together a 6 sided table you could get around some of these problems, but not all of them. The other issue is time, these games take a lot more time than normal games. With extra set up times and an extra Player turn per game turn, time quickly disappears.
The only fun thing with these games is who to go after, with a whole host of models on the board, there are always targets. We played a 2000 point battle between a chaos army with a few bikes, a raider, 3 obliterators and marines, a wolf army with thunder wolves, scouts, a grey hunter squad and a whirlwind thing, and my Hjaltland LI, so with 6000 points on the board it was a little crowded, even with there extra 2foot of length we put on the end. Personally, I think games like these are not great, and I would much rather just watch a normal game than try and run another 3 way game.
The next week my game fell through at the last minute, 😞 , so I just watched the three other matches that were being played. One thing I noticed in these matches was the use of proxies, or rather there different uses. All three games had proxies of some sort or another, and all for different reasons. The first game was between Elder and Chaos Daemons, all very nicely painted models with some really good conversions. One of the players was proxying one daemon for a different daemon to test out the rules. The second game was SW vs Orks, with the Ork player using Rhinos for looted wagons, again all models were painted up nicely and there was some good conversions. The Rhinos were painted up in orkish colours and all, so you could just as easily called them conversions. The third fight was Chaos Marines against Orks. The chaos army was mostly painted, albeit in rather random colours and with no overall scheme, but most of the Orks were unpainted ( not a problem as far as I'm concerned ) but there were a lot of proxies, mostly Marine bikes for Ork bikes, random armless Orks for various weapons and large plastic dinosaurs for Squiggoths.
Now, proxing for testing rules is not only sensible but also a reasonable thing to do. It means you don't have to spend time, money and effort on something you may not actually want to use. A friend is using some rhinos as wyverns at present to see if he want to run 4 of them in a list, that's about 136 quids worth of models, a lot of money if he decides not to use them. Although if your still proxying after several months it gets a bit silly. Proxing for units with no models, something of a rarity these days, with a similar model or conversion is also fine in my eyes, as long as it is similar. Using a converted rhino for a looted wagon is fine, both model and fluff wise. I can't think of any other codex entries with out models these days that would need proxying, I'm sure there are some somewhere.
Both of these uses of proxies are fine in my eyes, there sensible and reasonable. The final example of proxying is not so clear cut. The Ork player was proxying a number of different units for different reasons. He was using SM bikes as war bikes, similar in size and shape, they are reasonable proxies, but with no attempt to orkify them, does it make them less valid? Along with using various random Ork models to represent various units, such as plain old Orks boys as Runtherders and random Orks as Weirdboyz, it adds to the question of their validity as proxies. The one example however that I find hard to deal with though is when it comes to Forge World items. Proxying to test rules is fine, as FW models aren't cheap, and no one wants to fork out a load of hard earned cash for something that may turn out to be useless and proxying a plastic dinosaur for a Squiggoth is ok, border line but ok, but 3 is pushing it a little I feel. This is especially so when you know there not doing it short term until they can buy the real thing. The other thing is a matter of scale. What size is a proper Squiggoth? I haven't ever seen one, nor do I have the measurement for one, so how do I know that the plastic dinosaur is an accurate proxy? If its a little out, I won't be bothered, but if its a lot out I would. After all it can make a big difference in a game using true line of sight and base to base contact.
I may well be being a little harsh with my criticism, but I feel that there is a big difference between proxying a model or two in the short term and half an army on a regular basis. Now, I'm more inclined to allow there player in question to get away with this sort of thing as he's just a kid, he's enjoying the game and he's the future of the hobby. It does kind of make the game very one sided if he's bringing lots of FW units or high powered units, all of which are proxies. Maybe it's just me being a grumpy old man. But it does kind of flow in to my next point, fair play.
I bring this up as the other Ork player, playing the SW's, fired a shock attack gun and rolled a double, a 3 I think, meaning he had to place the template on the nearest unit, friend or foe. Now, he chose to place it slap bang in the middle and take 7 hits, when he could have placed it at the edge and taken just 3. Now, he lost 5 boyz, which didn't do to much to him, as he drew the game in the end, but it could have done a lot more damage in the long run as opposed to loosing just 1 or 2 boyz. That's about 9 to 16 hits different in cc, and that could be huge against MEQ's. So what's that answer?
Personally, I think you can look at it in several ways. In friendly games I would play it that either let your opposition choose or choose with them, or just drop it in the middle and let the dice fall as they will, after all its a friendly. In a more competitive setting, I would either draw a straight line and place it on the closest model regardless of what the model is or choose a corner of the unit and go from there, after all its a competitive environment and every wound counts. You can bet that your opponent won't give you easy wounds and their playing for the win as well. I've bent a few rules in my time on the tournament tables, some intentionally, but mostly just by accident or over enthusiasm. Fair play though does require both sides to partake, if one side is playing for the win regardless of the game, them its fair play to use the rules to your advantage as much as possible.
In the end though, its up to the players and the environment your playing in. The main thing though, is to make sure your having fun!
Friday, 19 December 2014
blood angles codex
Well, I've had a look at the new codex and I'm impressed. I like it, there are still a lot of options, and many of the lists people said were dead and buried are still alive and kicking. Yes, a pure decent of angels army is gone, as is a pure DC list, but that's not a major problem as two scout troops can be bought for a little over 100 points and that fills your troop tax.
The codex also takes the BA's to where they should be, as they are a Codex Astartes chapter with just a few differences, unlike the SW's and DA's. Personally I would love for the BA's to move away from the codex for the extra flavour. SW's are very different already, DA's should be more different with raven wing and death wing as more central to their organisation, and BA's should be moved to be more about fast vehicles and assault troops. The Black Templars are another chapter that has a lot of flavour and should be kept as they are. This would in my opinion create a lot more choice and flavour to the general SM force. But I can moan about that more later, back to the BA codex.
As for my lists, well, I need to sit down and work out points, but it looks good to me. There will be some alterations regarding tac squads with heavy flames and assault squads with melta weapons, but on the whole the plan still looks good. Once I've got the list sorted I'll post it up with the others on here, hopefully it won't take too long, but we're rapidly approaching Christmas, so it will probably be in the new year.
Some things I noted about the codex though are;
Although DC are now elite rather than troop, they have come out better than before. As far as I can tell there is not restrictions on the number of units you can take. This means that with 4 elite slots you could take 60 DC rather than just 30. In addition if you wanted more dreads, you can take more as well, potentially up to 4 DC dreads, with 2 Libby dreads as well. So all in all, I think DC's came out up.
Assault marines defiantly came out of the new codex better than before. Again they moved, but being able to take 4 melta weapons for about 135points is brilliant, although I'll be going for a slightly more expensive load out but keeping every one with a pistol and CCW. Still, these boys will be the core of my army and with one of the formations in WD all about assault marines, they will defiantly be hitting my table soon.
Tac squads with flamers for horde control. As far as I could see, there is now nothing stopping me having a hand flamer, flamer and heavy flamer in my squads. Combat squadded, this will put 3 templates in a 5 man squad, stick them in a Razorback with a TL flamer and you'll have even more template death.
Baal preds moving to Heavy is good, as it frees up that extra slot for assault marines, and its really where they should have been all the time.
Drop pods have also made it in to FA as non-dedicated transport. Brilliant for allied guard, suicide demo SW squad anyone?
The codex formation is nothing to shout about, but as I said about the assault marines, I'm looking forward to the WD ones and possibly the Shield of Baal ones as well, but I haven't heard much about them yet.
When all is said and done though, I'm looking forward to getting stuck in to the codex and sorting out my army and getting them on the table.
The codex also takes the BA's to where they should be, as they are a Codex Astartes chapter with just a few differences, unlike the SW's and DA's. Personally I would love for the BA's to move away from the codex for the extra flavour. SW's are very different already, DA's should be more different with raven wing and death wing as more central to their organisation, and BA's should be moved to be more about fast vehicles and assault troops. The Black Templars are another chapter that has a lot of flavour and should be kept as they are. This would in my opinion create a lot more choice and flavour to the general SM force. But I can moan about that more later, back to the BA codex.
As for my lists, well, I need to sit down and work out points, but it looks good to me. There will be some alterations regarding tac squads with heavy flames and assault squads with melta weapons, but on the whole the plan still looks good. Once I've got the list sorted I'll post it up with the others on here, hopefully it won't take too long, but we're rapidly approaching Christmas, so it will probably be in the new year.
Some things I noted about the codex though are;
Although DC are now elite rather than troop, they have come out better than before. As far as I can tell there is not restrictions on the number of units you can take. This means that with 4 elite slots you could take 60 DC rather than just 30. In addition if you wanted more dreads, you can take more as well, potentially up to 4 DC dreads, with 2 Libby dreads as well. So all in all, I think DC's came out up.
Assault marines defiantly came out of the new codex better than before. Again they moved, but being able to take 4 melta weapons for about 135points is brilliant, although I'll be going for a slightly more expensive load out but keeping every one with a pistol and CCW. Still, these boys will be the core of my army and with one of the formations in WD all about assault marines, they will defiantly be hitting my table soon.
Tac squads with flamers for horde control. As far as I could see, there is now nothing stopping me having a hand flamer, flamer and heavy flamer in my squads. Combat squadded, this will put 3 templates in a 5 man squad, stick them in a Razorback with a TL flamer and you'll have even more template death.
Baal preds moving to Heavy is good, as it frees up that extra slot for assault marines, and its really where they should have been all the time.
Drop pods have also made it in to FA as non-dedicated transport. Brilliant for allied guard, suicide demo SW squad anyone?
The codex formation is nothing to shout about, but as I said about the assault marines, I'm looking forward to the WD ones and possibly the Shield of Baal ones as well, but I haven't heard much about them yet.
When all is said and done though, I'm looking forward to getting stuck in to the codex and sorting out my army and getting them on the table.
Tuesday, 16 December 2014
My wish list
With Christmas around the corner I thought I would do a spot of wish listing, not just for Christmas but in general as well. Now considering most of my models are still unpainted, or still in boxes (my Valkyrie from June!!) I am not looking for any models for Xmas.
There are a few things I do want for Xmas, the first being the wh40k Conquest card game from FFG, have looked at this and even played a game, this is defiantly no. 1 on the wish list. The next two items are pretty similar, and are the Army Painter laser pens, both the single spot one and the line one. I know a few people who use a pointer to check line of sight and such, and they can be very useful, so I figured I would get one of each and I should be covered for those 50/50 decisions on LoS and the like. Lastly, there is a tournament up this way in April next year. The Kings of the North is a weekend tournament, with 40k plus other games going on, and having played in the last few tournaments run by these guys, I hope to play in this one. As usual, the sole aim is not to come last, that's it, not going to have a fully painted army or going for a WaaC list, so it's about having fun and not coming last!
And that's pretty much it, my Xmas wish list, short and sweet, mostly cos of the amount of unpainted models I already have, I don't need any more.
Also on my wish list for the future are a large number of models;
For my MT force,
Two boxes of 20 man dreamforge Eisenkern Stormtroopers. These are my count as scions, modelled with modified las guns and various bits of kit. 40 blokes should finish my company nicely.
4 Taurox's built to Prime spec, two Gatling armed and two missile armed variants,
Two Tauros with grenade launchers, converted from land speeders and ork wagons
One Tauros Venator with multilasers, also converted from a land speeder and an ork wagon
One Vulture with both 4 MRPs and twin link punisher options, for some extra air power
And for the rest,
One more chimera for my Hrossey vets,
One chimera hull for conversion in to a wyvern, to join the other two for a full battery,
A baneblade super heavy, just because every guard army should have one,
And that's pretty much it, not a very long list, but there are some expensive options on there. None of them are particularly important as I can run everything I want to with what I already have.
There are a few things I do want for Xmas, the first being the wh40k Conquest card game from FFG, have looked at this and even played a game, this is defiantly no. 1 on the wish list. The next two items are pretty similar, and are the Army Painter laser pens, both the single spot one and the line one. I know a few people who use a pointer to check line of sight and such, and they can be very useful, so I figured I would get one of each and I should be covered for those 50/50 decisions on LoS and the like. Lastly, there is a tournament up this way in April next year. The Kings of the North is a weekend tournament, with 40k plus other games going on, and having played in the last few tournaments run by these guys, I hope to play in this one. As usual, the sole aim is not to come last, that's it, not going to have a fully painted army or going for a WaaC list, so it's about having fun and not coming last!
And that's pretty much it, my Xmas wish list, short and sweet, mostly cos of the amount of unpainted models I already have, I don't need any more.
Also on my wish list for the future are a large number of models;
For my MT force,
Two boxes of 20 man dreamforge Eisenkern Stormtroopers. These are my count as scions, modelled with modified las guns and various bits of kit. 40 blokes should finish my company nicely.
4 Taurox's built to Prime spec, two Gatling armed and two missile armed variants,
Two Tauros with grenade launchers, converted from land speeders and ork wagons
One Tauros Venator with multilasers, also converted from a land speeder and an ork wagon
One Vulture with both 4 MRPs and twin link punisher options, for some extra air power
And for the rest,
One more chimera for my Hrossey vets,
One chimera hull for conversion in to a wyvern, to join the other two for a full battery,
A baneblade super heavy, just because every guard army should have one,
And that's pretty much it, not a very long list, but there are some expensive options on there. None of them are particularly important as I can run everything I want to with what I already have.
Friday, 12 December 2014
Blood Angles
As mentioned in a previous post, my second SM army will be based on the BA codex. I have always liked The BA's since an old friend of mine played them way back in 2nd ed. Their Image and fluff always attracted me, and marked them out as something different, although, back in 2nd I was a Wolves player alongside my IG. I don't remember how allies worked back then, if they even existed at all, and my rule book has long since disappeared, but I alwys found it fun playing the two together, classically using the guard as human shields.
This time around, with the aquisition of a number of Khorn Beserkers and not being a chaos player, there really was only one choice, a proper BA attack force. With a good mix of loyal and chaos parts, I plan to build up a very mishmashed force, one on the edge of sanity, using whatever it can find to replenish supplies. In many ways this is similar to my other force, the Disciples, although, for different fluff reasons. The force will consist of a lot of assault marines and a vanguard squad, with a tac squad and possibly stern guard for support. There will also be the standard Baal pred for some extra dakka. I will however be staying away from some of the more unique choices, such as death company and sanguinary guard, as I don't want a BA army in different colours, I want a different successor chapter with its own identity. I know that many of the BA's successor chapters keep a Sanguinary guard to honour there founding chapter, but the Eagle Knights are not confirmed as successors.
So am I looking forward to the codex release, yes I am. It will be interesting to see how many of the rumours play out, and how many are just false doom mungering. Only time will tell on that one, but so far I really like the look of the new kits. The tactical marines look good, and I think that I will be using them in support of assault troops, and so the heavy flamer will be very useful. A tac squad with heavy flamer, flamer and either combi-flamer or hand flamer. I would prob go for hand flamer just cos then I can use it every turn, a strength 3, 4 and 5 templates every turn will wreck havoc with hordes or any squad really, provided I can get a hand flamer on the sgt in the new dex. I prob won't buy the new kits, just convert, as I have several IG flamers and heavy flamers spare. I also like the death company box set, it has lots of options and parts, good for conversion. The only things that may prove problematic are the hand flamers and infurnus pistols. I would like the hand flamers for the tac squads and the infurnus pistols for at least one, if not two assault squads, depending upon upgrades, as I intend to use a squad or two for assaulting vehicles. Although, if all else fails, there is always the vanguard squad chocked full of infurnus pistols and power fists, guarteed to ruin any vehicles day.
One consern is what is happening to the red thirst and descent of angles. Descent of angles is now a warlord trait, which could prove a bit problematic for an allied detachment, but the rule may have been replaced with something else. Hopefully, the red thirst will become an army wide trait in the same way as the chapter tactics for the main SM chapters.
Well catching up with the latest rumours has lead to so disappointment, Assault troops are no longer a troop choice. This is going to mess with my plans a bit, but the formation rumours may well make up for this disappointment. Two heavy flamers in sternguard maybe useful, but it doesn't go with my idea of sternguard as elite hunters.
We'll have to see what rumours come true, and what's just wish listing.
This time around, with the aquisition of a number of Khorn Beserkers and not being a chaos player, there really was only one choice, a proper BA attack force. With a good mix of loyal and chaos parts, I plan to build up a very mishmashed force, one on the edge of sanity, using whatever it can find to replenish supplies. In many ways this is similar to my other force, the Disciples, although, for different fluff reasons. The force will consist of a lot of assault marines and a vanguard squad, with a tac squad and possibly stern guard for support. There will also be the standard Baal pred for some extra dakka. I will however be staying away from some of the more unique choices, such as death company and sanguinary guard, as I don't want a BA army in different colours, I want a different successor chapter with its own identity. I know that many of the BA's successor chapters keep a Sanguinary guard to honour there founding chapter, but the Eagle Knights are not confirmed as successors.
So am I looking forward to the codex release, yes I am. It will be interesting to see how many of the rumours play out, and how many are just false doom mungering. Only time will tell on that one, but so far I really like the look of the new kits. The tactical marines look good, and I think that I will be using them in support of assault troops, and so the heavy flamer will be very useful. A tac squad with heavy flamer, flamer and either combi-flamer or hand flamer. I would prob go for hand flamer just cos then I can use it every turn, a strength 3, 4 and 5 templates every turn will wreck havoc with hordes or any squad really, provided I can get a hand flamer on the sgt in the new dex. I prob won't buy the new kits, just convert, as I have several IG flamers and heavy flamers spare. I also like the death company box set, it has lots of options and parts, good for conversion. The only things that may prove problematic are the hand flamers and infurnus pistols. I would like the hand flamers for the tac squads and the infurnus pistols for at least one, if not two assault squads, depending upon upgrades, as I intend to use a squad or two for assaulting vehicles. Although, if all else fails, there is always the vanguard squad chocked full of infurnus pistols and power fists, guarteed to ruin any vehicles day.
One consern is what is happening to the red thirst and descent of angles. Descent of angles is now a warlord trait, which could prove a bit problematic for an allied detachment, but the rule may have been replaced with something else. Hopefully, the red thirst will become an army wide trait in the same way as the chapter tactics for the main SM chapters.
Well catching up with the latest rumours has lead to so disappointment, Assault troops are no longer a troop choice. This is going to mess with my plans a bit, but the formation rumours may well make up for this disappointment. Two heavy flamers in sternguard maybe useful, but it doesn't go with my idea of sternguard as elite hunters.
We'll have to see what rumours come true, and what's just wish listing.
Tuesday, 9 December 2014
What next???
So what's next?
Well, the MT list is going to get an overhaul in light of the news about FW, so there will be some Tauros and Vulture gunships. I've got a few ideas for converting some land speeders in to Tauros and Tauros Venator, an example of what I'm thinking about can be found here. There was a better example that I found, modelled around Tallarn IG, but I can't seem to find it again. The Vulture will be the standard Forge World item, unless I can find an alternative that I like. The Vulture will have either twin-linked Punishers or 4 MRPs, still deciding upon that. Also this will all mean that the whole MT list will need reworking, but that will be posted up in time.
In addition, the new BA codex is due out soon, and when I can get eyes on a copy I'll be having a look at my Eagle Knights list to see what changes I need and to see if I still need to convert a Rhino shell in to a Baal Predator. I'll also muse over any information, releases or rumours that I think are interesting or relevant to my gaming.
Also, we can't forget that it's almost Christmas and so there will hopefully be plenty to talk about, with new toys and all.
I'll also try and update on what is happening on my painting table, which is currently nothing, even though I have a multitude of half painted and based models, and also any games that I manage to get in, again probably not many.
On a personal note, things will quieten down on the blog, not only for Christmas, but my wife is due with our second on New Years Eve, so any free time I did have is about to disappear completely!
Well, the MT list is going to get an overhaul in light of the news about FW, so there will be some Tauros and Vulture gunships. I've got a few ideas for converting some land speeders in to Tauros and Tauros Venator, an example of what I'm thinking about can be found here. There was a better example that I found, modelled around Tallarn IG, but I can't seem to find it again. The Vulture will be the standard Forge World item, unless I can find an alternative that I like. The Vulture will have either twin-linked Punishers or 4 MRPs, still deciding upon that. Also this will all mean that the whole MT list will need reworking, but that will be posted up in time.
In addition, the new BA codex is due out soon, and when I can get eyes on a copy I'll be having a look at my Eagle Knights list to see what changes I need and to see if I still need to convert a Rhino shell in to a Baal Predator. I'll also muse over any information, releases or rumours that I think are interesting or relevant to my gaming.
Also, we can't forget that it's almost Christmas and so there will hopefully be plenty to talk about, with new toys and all.
I'll also try and update on what is happening on my painting table, which is currently nothing, even though I have a multitude of half painted and based models, and also any games that I manage to get in, again probably not many.
On a personal note, things will quieten down on the blog, not only for Christmas, but my wife is due with our second on New Years Eve, so any free time I did have is about to disappear completely!
Friday, 5 December 2014
Hildasay PDF
This force is similar in nature to the Eagle Knights SM chapter, it is formed of the remnants of my imperial forces. While I don know the exact amount of models that will be available to me for this force, I do know that it will be very heavy weapon team oriented. From memory I have about 6 missile teams, 6 mortar teams, 6 heavy bolters, 6 las cannon teams and a couple of auto cannons. This means that I can field at least 8 squads of heavy weapons, meaning that I will need to field two platoons, and so at least 4 squads, 2 PCS and one CCS. hopefully I should have the models for this, although I'm not sure how effective the force would be, as it would be a bit of a glass hammer, hitting hard but not being able to take much return fire. Although, with all those heavy weapons, there shouldn't be much to shoot back! In addition to these models, I also have 3 scout sentinels and a hell hound, the one mentioned in the Hrossey vets list.
The fluff,
The Hildasay PDF is a small force, formed around the extensive use of heavy weapons. The reason for this is due to the fact that the planet is a vastly overpopulated hive world, where the planets law enforcement and the Adaptus Arbites form the major power and exist in such number that the PDF has no need to contain large number of infantry units. However the law enforcement forces do not possess many heavy weapons as there main tasks are patrolling the confines of the Hive, where heavy weapons are to cumbersome and would take too long to get in to suitable fire positions, should any exist. Therefore, in the event of an invasion or a more serious uprising, the PDF can be called upon to deploy with there heavy weapons in support of the law enforcement forces.
The reason for the substantial law enforcement troops on the planet is due to the vast overcrowding that is present within the hive world. This is due to some historical disaster that befell the world of Hascosay, around which the moon or Hildasay orbits, and the fact that the moon use to be a prison. With the mass exodus that occurred from Hascosay, the hives expanded massively and almost uncontrollably. This lead to a number of riots and uprisings, as both food, water and supplies ran in short supply. This lead a massive recruitment drive by the local law enforcement amongst both the upper classes and the scum of the lower hive, all recruits draw by the promise of both pay and guaranteed meals. This had the effect of also reducing the available man power and equipment for the local PDF units, and lead to there specialisation with heavy weapons.
These units will be used as support units for my main forces, either the Hjaltland L.I. or the Hrossey Yeomanry, and maybe even deployed alongside the Space Marine chapters, to supply heavy support. On the whole, they probably wont be deployed much, but they are useful to have, as when they are deployed, they can provide some considerable punch.
The fluff,
The Hildasay PDF is a small force, formed around the extensive use of heavy weapons. The reason for this is due to the fact that the planet is a vastly overpopulated hive world, where the planets law enforcement and the Adaptus Arbites form the major power and exist in such number that the PDF has no need to contain large number of infantry units. However the law enforcement forces do not possess many heavy weapons as there main tasks are patrolling the confines of the Hive, where heavy weapons are to cumbersome and would take too long to get in to suitable fire positions, should any exist. Therefore, in the event of an invasion or a more serious uprising, the PDF can be called upon to deploy with there heavy weapons in support of the law enforcement forces.
The reason for the substantial law enforcement troops on the planet is due to the vast overcrowding that is present within the hive world. This is due to some historical disaster that befell the world of Hascosay, around which the moon or Hildasay orbits, and the fact that the moon use to be a prison. With the mass exodus that occurred from Hascosay, the hives expanded massively and almost uncontrollably. This lead to a number of riots and uprisings, as both food, water and supplies ran in short supply. This lead a massive recruitment drive by the local law enforcement amongst both the upper classes and the scum of the lower hive, all recruits draw by the promise of both pay and guaranteed meals. This had the effect of also reducing the available man power and equipment for the local PDF units, and lead to there specialisation with heavy weapons.
These units will be used as support units for my main forces, either the Hjaltland L.I. or the Hrossey Yeomanry, and maybe even deployed alongside the Space Marine chapters, to supply heavy support. On the whole, they probably wont be deployed much, but they are useful to have, as when they are deployed, they can provide some considerable punch.
Tuesday, 2 December 2014
The Eagle Knights Space Marines
This is my second SM chapter, the fluff for this chapter is less developed than for the other chapter, as is the army list. There are two main reasons for this; firstly, I don't know exactly what models I will have avaliable to me after I have finished the Emperors disciples. I will have some remaining, including a number of rhino hulls and several CC units, mostly chaos berserkers. Secondly, the list is based off the Blood Angles Codex, which is due very shortly. As such, units may change, war gear will certainly change and points will definitely change. This will mean that the list will have to be rewritten and there is little point rewriting something when I will not get around to using or playing the list before then.
Anyway, here is the fluff.
The Eagle Knights were founded during the 21st founding, and although no official records of there parent chapter exists, it is suspected that they are a descendants of the Blood Angles. This is due to many marines exhibiting symptoms of the red thirst, and to a lesser degree the black rage. While the red thirst is common amongst the chapter, the black rage is not and as such the chapter has not death company. At anyone time there is usually no more than a squads worth of marines that have succumbed the to black rage within the whole chapter.
The lack marines developing the black rage has been put down to the efforts of the Adeptus Mechanicus in Perfecting the gene-seed. While this is seen as an advantage by many, it has lead to a number of issues, one is the tendency for marines to have highly aggressive nature. This has lead to a high number assault marines within the chapter, and an overall focus towards close combat within the chapter. However, the main flaw that has presented itself is the mutations of the marines bone structure, much like that of the Black Dragons. In a similar way to the Black Dragons, the Eagle Knights are viewed with suspicion by the inquisition, with many inquisitors believing the chapter is tainted by Chaos. Although in contrast to the Black Dragons, the Eagle Knights comply willingly and completely with any requests from the inquisition or any other imperial forces, viewing their mutations as a curse not a gift. The main mutations are in the form of bone growths but can form mutations of the soft tissue.
The Eagle Knights are specialists in close quarters fighting, where their aggressive nature is most useful. Those that are not so aggressive in nature are formed in to tactical squad to support the efforts of the assault squads. As such each company has a larger number of assault marines and fewer devastator squads, usually 5 assault squads and only 2 devastator squads, supported by 3 tactical squads. I addition the chapter also utilises a number vehicles, notably rhinos and razorbacks, tuned up to the limits of possibility, and can often be seen racing across the battle field, hot in pursuit of the jump pack equipped assault marines. It is rare to see an Eagle Knight walking to battle when other, faster methods of transport are available.
Within the Hjaltland campaign, the Eagle Knights have taken on their usual role of shock forces. Wherever there is a strong point or area of strong resistance from enemy forces, the Knights will launch lightning raids getting up close and personal, digging out even the most stubborn of enemy.
Although, they are always happy to serve alongside other Imperial forces, there relationship with the Disciples is strained at best. This is due to the deformities' that each chapter suffers, with the Knights seeing the Disciples with contempt for inviting upon themselves the very thing which the Knights wish to rid themselves of.
Anyway, here is the fluff.
The Eagle Knights were founded during the 21st founding, and although no official records of there parent chapter exists, it is suspected that they are a descendants of the Blood Angles. This is due to many marines exhibiting symptoms of the red thirst, and to a lesser degree the black rage. While the red thirst is common amongst the chapter, the black rage is not and as such the chapter has not death company. At anyone time there is usually no more than a squads worth of marines that have succumbed the to black rage within the whole chapter.
The lack marines developing the black rage has been put down to the efforts of the Adeptus Mechanicus in Perfecting the gene-seed. While this is seen as an advantage by many, it has lead to a number of issues, one is the tendency for marines to have highly aggressive nature. This has lead to a high number assault marines within the chapter, and an overall focus towards close combat within the chapter. However, the main flaw that has presented itself is the mutations of the marines bone structure, much like that of the Black Dragons. In a similar way to the Black Dragons, the Eagle Knights are viewed with suspicion by the inquisition, with many inquisitors believing the chapter is tainted by Chaos. Although in contrast to the Black Dragons, the Eagle Knights comply willingly and completely with any requests from the inquisition or any other imperial forces, viewing their mutations as a curse not a gift. The main mutations are in the form of bone growths but can form mutations of the soft tissue.
The Eagle Knights are specialists in close quarters fighting, where their aggressive nature is most useful. Those that are not so aggressive in nature are formed in to tactical squad to support the efforts of the assault squads. As such each company has a larger number of assault marines and fewer devastator squads, usually 5 assault squads and only 2 devastator squads, supported by 3 tactical squads. I addition the chapter also utilises a number vehicles, notably rhinos and razorbacks, tuned up to the limits of possibility, and can often be seen racing across the battle field, hot in pursuit of the jump pack equipped assault marines. It is rare to see an Eagle Knight walking to battle when other, faster methods of transport are available.
Within the Hjaltland campaign, the Eagle Knights have taken on their usual role of shock forces. Wherever there is a strong point or area of strong resistance from enemy forces, the Knights will launch lightning raids getting up close and personal, digging out even the most stubborn of enemy.
Although, they are always happy to serve alongside other Imperial forces, there relationship with the Disciples is strained at best. This is due to the deformities' that each chapter suffers, with the Knights seeing the Disciples with contempt for inviting upon themselves the very thing which the Knights wish to rid themselves of.
A generic assault marine from the Eagle Knights Chapter. This assault marine will be from a "second wave" Rhino based squad, as shown by the lack of jump pack. These marines are used to follow the main assault wave and re-enforce and mop up after the initial assault.
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