Ponderings



I really want to like Warhammer Fantasy but I just can't stand it. Considering it is quite the following there must be something to it but whenever I have tried it the game just doesn't live up to my expectations and I find some armies, not mention the magic system, horribly overpowered.

I first started with a Beastman army under 7th edition. Just a small one, but enough to teach me the basics. Almost beat my friend's Dark Elf army. It was a close game, but certain rules immediately struck me as unbalanced. Fast cavalry were too good, and if my men have spears why are they not stabbing at a unit as it walks past? Block infantry doesn't really work. Start way sure, but historically, everything turned to skimishing once the battle horn was sounded.

Then I went with a Chaos Warriors army because it was cheap to do and the basic troops had decent armour saves. For a while it worked, but as soon as current edition game out I lost everything mainly to magic. Everyone would take lore of metal or lore of gold, both of which screwed my entire army over something chronic. So I gave up and sold my stuff, preferring 40K much more.

Now two years late I keep looking at the lovely Lizardman models and the spark is there to retry it. Problem is that I know it will be a waste. I hate the Fantasy rules system with a passion. I don't want to waste time and money on something I won't enjoy regardless of the itch I have.

Just wanted to get that off my chest.

Update

Real life has been hectic of late hence my absence. But do not fear I will be back. I plan on getting my overdue space marine codex review posted this week as well as some topics I'd like to discuss.

Thanks for sticking around.

Initial thoughts

Played my first game with the new Space Marine codex yesturday against my friend Muffin and his Dark Angels. Now I don't have any of the new units yet so I can't say what they are like just yet.

So, what did the new book do for me? Well, the points reductions throughout the book helped me take a command squad for my captain and a second dreadnought. This means that in a 1750pt game like we played I could in theory fit another marine unit in somewhere which is what I have been asking for for quite some time.

Secondly, I proxied some plasmaguns for gravguns to test them out (I was expecting to play against his CSM not terminator heavy DA). I hadn't been impressed with these too much in the book but by jingo they were awesome. First turn, one gravgun took out half a bike squad, and the other dealt a crippling strike to a unit of terminators which struck in on the second turn. They more than made themselves worthwhile and will be seeing future use in my army. But saying that, they are great if you know you are facing MEQs but random pick up games make them a poor choice.

In the next couple weeks I am planning a trip over to GW for some of the new toys and I can give my thoughts on them after play.

EC WIP

My Emperor's Children marine with sonic blaster. Can't wait to start painting him.

Space Marine Warlord Traits

Yay!

My copy of the new Space Marine codex arrived late this afternoon. An initial look through seems ok. I may have been sold on the Centurian Devastators but we'll see. I'll try and get a review up by the weekend.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this book is better than the last.

List Tailoring

Reading a topic today over at 40K Forums about list tailoring got me thinking why don't more people do it? That probably sounds very odd to most of you but to me list tailoring makes far more sense both thematically and practically.

When our club first started we set list tailoring in motion accidentially. The first campaign I ran for them used the Mighty Empires tile set and a varient of those rules. Players knew what codex their opponents were using and to promote store sales and to prevent repetitve lists players could change their lists for each game. Thus knowing who you faced meant that better lists were drawn up, often with units or options that didn't normally see the light of day. Since they were built to defeat a specific codex we saw much more balanced and fun games being played.
When I see games where players turn up with no knowledge of who or what codex they will be playing against, it is usually the same old basic generic lists which are horribly mismatched for the game. I look at that and see it as much less fair than list tailoring.

The only time I see a problem with the list tailoring is where one player has much more of a collection to draw upon compared to another, but that hopefully helps Games Workshop / Independent Store generate sales and promotes players adding to their armies.

Thoughts?

Good bye old codex

Last night I played my last game under the current Space Marine codex. I wanted a fun, non competative game and called up my friend Danny to challenge his Dark Eldar. We forgot a couple things and made some mistakes but it was such a close fun game that it didn't matter. It was exactly what a game of 40K should be.

My list was:

Master of the Forge with conversion beamer.
10 man tac squad with flamer and missile launcher. Sarge had plasma pistol and power weapon.
10 man tac squad with flamer and heavy bolter. Sarge had plasma pistol and power weapon.
10 man tac squad with flamer and heavy bolter. Sarge had plasma pistol and power weapon.
5 man terminator squad with assault cannon.
5 man assault terminator squad with thunder hammers and storm shields. Sarge had a pair of lightning claws.
Stormtalon with heavy bolters and assault cannons.
Dreadnought with multi-melta and heavy flamer in drop pod.
8 man devastator squad with four plasma cannons.

Knowing DE I decided that I would not go the vehicle route and instead focus on a defensive gunline (which I still don't think is all that viable under 6th) and up to a point it worked. What ultimately proved to be the winning unit was his jetbike squads which mullered two tactical squads through the use of dangly chains and hooks, before I could gun them down.

We wrapped up turn 6 as the venue had to close. I may have been able to snatch a win had we played to the 7th turn.

All in all a very good send off for this codex.

Motivation Lost

I'm still suffering from a lack of motivation where model painting comes into the hobby. I'm enjoying player some games with my space marines but the whole painting/modelling side of things is still out searching for a muse.

My chums over at The Fishy Way of Gaming and The Path of the Outcast, and I are supposed to have started a Tale of 4 Gamers type thing with me going Emperor's Children (no one gives them any love around these parts). I think we all need a little motivation though. So far I have begun to paint the basics for the EC HQ but in an evening I didn't get much done.

I'd love to have the ability to paint properly but I just don't have the patience nor the steady hand. If it was up to me I'd simply play with bare plastic models I think. I think that is part of it though. If I could paint awesomely I would probably be more into this side of the hobby.

League End Rant

Our 2013 40k league at the Primarchs club has come to a rather pathetic end. It was dragged out far too much and now too many people have dropped out, often for no real reason. All of which has annoyed me to no end. I do all the hard work and they just have to turn up and play. Even if you can't win, still play because its a game of 40K surely?

Theres a small Warhammer Fantasy league starting up next under someone else's charge, so I can just relax and hope that next time I'll have people stick to it. It will require a fixed dates for games, and if one or both players don't turn up without a good reason they get a lose. Players that drop out, again without good reason, they get a ban from the following league. That's what I am thinking right now.

When To Give Up?

In a thread this morning by my friend KhorneGuy, he talks about when should a player just give up. It's an interesting read that you can find here: When To Give Up?

I'm doing this response because we had something very similar to what he describes happen at a league game about a month ago. My nephew (Dark Angels) was playing opponent J (new Eldar codex) in a game where deployment was opposite ends of the table (Hammer and Anvil?). The problem was that J had filled his list with long range marine killing lances, star cannons and the nice new Wraithknight. My nephew had figured that he needed to do something similar and had maxed out all his lascannon options. Both deployed behind cover and sat there. Neither player was prepared to move forwards because it was just going to be shooty death and no good general wastes the lives of their troops. Turn 2 my nephew rage quitted saying that there was no point in playing if J was not going to move forward. J obviously wasn't going to move forwards either.

In that situation I was both in agreement because it would be foolish to do so and rolling my eyes in desperation because what is the point of playing if you don't? Yes, it was a league and it was competative but still! There was no right or wrong outcome to this. I've had more than a few games against opponents were were creaming me left and right but I stay until I have no chance of winning, even if the game has become no fun because of it. But there you have the rub of it, because if the game isn't fun why are you still playing? Both players need to have that fun and rage quitting isn't making the game fun for either side.

What do you guys think? How should this sort of situation be handled and when is it ok to just quit mid-game?

Dark Eldar combat drugs

Some time back I was asked to do the Dark Eldar combat drugs in the same style as the war lord traits, so here they are. As always, a big shout out to Miscreant for the card back.

 

 

New Space Marine Toys!

These are the new space marine anti-air tanks or so I have been repeatedly told. I think they look really nice though the top one is better of the two. They will need to be either really really good or at least cheap otherwise it will be better sticking with the Aegis defence line.

 

 

By all accounts these are Centurians. I guess they are the "dreadknight" type things the rumour mill was suggesting. Personally I am not much of a fan. They just look too bulky. Depends how they play though I guess.

Still here

I'm still here. Life has just been a bit pants the last month or so, not to mention a zero interest in doing anything painting related. Motivation seems to be a problem right now.

On a up note though I have been given a shedload of a friend's spare marines including a huge amount of Horus Heresy sprues which will help fill in the numbers for my Sons of Tantalus chapter. I also have the Angron primarch model which is £50 GBP roughly so I may see if I can get something for it on Ebay.

I've also decided (again) to do a smaller second army. I had wanted to do a CSM army and since no one plays Emperor's Childen they are going to be the legion I go with. I might not have done it but for my good chum Fish who has badgered me into it.

Once life settles back down again I hope to catch the painting bug again and I can show you were I am up to with my chapter.

6th edition - one year on

It has been a year since the release of 6th edition Warhammer 40K give or take a few days. Still feels like only last weekend that I was waiting outside my nearest Games Workshop store at 7:30am. At the time I devoured the rules, got some of them wrong, and tried to adapt my game to the new rules. I did a series of Youtube videos about the changes and it included a few kneejerk reactions. GW were screwing with my game and it took a while to adjust to that. However, a year on what do I think of the game?

Pros:

• I know some folks don't like the random elements but I do. To me they represent a balancing element that each player has to adapt to. Thumbs up for me.
• Terminators are finally viable. Everyone is hung up on how few AP2 close combat weapons there are but I think it is a good thing. They still die to mass firepower so whats the problem?
• Flyers. Flyers have been a nice addition to the game and are not as tough to deal with many people think.
• Random psychic powers and war lord traits.

Cons:

• Challenges. I hate this rule as I feel it doesn't work very well. Had it been limited to named special characters then I wouldn't grumble, but it hurts the standard squad sergeant who finds himself facing Abaddon or something figure ten times his points cost!
• Land Raiders last longer but other vechicles die too easily. Hull points was not the answer in my opinion. Vehicles need to be more survivale.
• There is too much anti-air coming into the game. It is almost making the option of flyer is becoming less and less viable because of it.
• Secondary objectives are an addition that I have become to despise. On one hand it has made it so that armies must sally forth but it has hurt players like myself who do better and prefer defensive play.
• Vanguard Strike deployment. AARRGGHH!!!! Why not just stick to the old and far less irritating table quarter deployment? FFS!

What are your thoughts?

Trait Card Backs

With a big thanks to Miscreant over at 40k Forums, we now have some card backs for the warlord and warzone traits that I've done.

 

 

 

Codex: Eldar and Iyanden supplement review

 

 

So, I have finally finished the new Eldar codex and played a game against it (which I lost by the way). This is my review of that book.

 

The first thing to comment on is the awesome detailed history of the Eldar. If only the Tau codex had this much detail I might have been more pleased with it but never mind. A huge chunk of the book is made up of this history which goes into some real depth on the race. One thing that struck me as I finished it, is that Games Workshop seem to have completely retconned the whole Blackstone Fortress stuff as it has no mention what so ever, not even in Eldrad's description. Rather dissapointing but if it is being ignored than it may stop be grumbling that Eldrad should be dead and not in the codex.

 

As for the new special rules, Eldar now have Ancient Doom which gives them hatred towards anything with a mark of Slaanesh but also gives them -1 leadership against anything with said mark. They also have Battle Focus which allows them to run then shoot or shoot then run in the shooting phase. This was a pain to me in my test game and I knee jerked against it but time will tell as the new codex gets played.

 

The Eldar have been balanced in the psychic area. They are now longer the overpowered psychic force. Farseers and Spiritseers now get two new disciplines to choose from in addition to those from the rulebook; Runes of Battle and Runes of Fate. What makes these nice is that each power has two powers you can use. Again, these are much more balanced.

 

On to the units...

 

HQ.

There Eldar still have a huge chunk of special characters to choose from. The new one is Illic Nightspear, a Necron hating ranger type who upgrades rangers into pathfinders. All in all these seemed appropriately points costed despite being monsters on the battlefield. I still think Eldrad will be the only one (other than the Avatar of Khaine) to be played.

 

Troops.

Dire Avengers are still my top choice in the troops department even though Guardians seem to have a slight boost. I just don't see Guardians being worth the time, just as I thought under the last codex. Guardian Defenders with weapon platforms, Storm Guardians, Windriders and Rangers make up the rest of this slot.

Wave Serpents remain the troop transport and I have to agree with many Eldar players that it was dissapointing there wasn't an option to make this an assault vehicle.

 

Elites.

Fire Dragons and Harlequins are the best options in my mind from the typical Elite options. I don't expect Striking Scorpions to make much of an appearence, and since Eldar players are hung up on an inability to spud Terminators I don't think you'll see Howling Banshees unless they know who they are going up against.

Wraithguard however will always see use I think. They are still just as good as ever. Wraithblades, however, are just going to be avoided by most I think to be worthwhile. Wraithguard can at least shoot. Both can be taken as Troops though if you have a Spiritseer.

 

Fast Attack.

Still not impressed by Swooping Hawks. If Skyleap worked differently then I might think otherwise but they just don't seem to do much on the battlefield. Warp Spiders, on the other hand, are a real nuisence. They caused me much trouble in my test game against this codex. Not that they did much damage but I had to keep an eye on them and they kept me occupied when I should have been focussing forwards. Shining Spears and Vypers are ok but haven't seen them played as yet.

Eldar get two new flyers in this codex; Crimson Hunter and the Hemlock Wraithfighter. My regular Eldar opponent dislikes them for base armour and no permanent invulnerable saves. The Crimson Hunter certainly seems to be the better option in my mind. The Hemlock is too short range to be too effective. I don't like the models though. The Forge World planes looked a lot better.

 

Heavy Support.

Dark Reapers are still a fantastic choice from this slot, as are Fire Prisms and Falcons. The weapon support platforms, now called Vaul's Wrath Support Batteries are about the same. The Night Spinner has been made better since it appeared in White Dwarf a few years ago. The monofilament Doomspinner has been improved and locally is being called pseudo-rending.

I found War Walkers better. The weapon options are the same points costs so no longer will have to deal with just swarms of these armed with scatterlasers, which pleased me as a space marine player. This also helps make War Walkers more versatile on the battlefield.

This just leaves us with Wraithlords and the new Wraithknight. Wraithlords (and Wraithguards) no longer need a Spiritseer guide either, which is a nice improvement. The Wraithknight is a nice model, though it looks too fat to be Elder IMO, but at £70 each I don't expect to see many.

 

Over all I think this is a nice codex, and a more balanced approach than the last one. I think they will still always win any game if they know what codex they are going up against.

 

Which brings me to the Iyanden codex supplement. Oh boy, where do I start with this?

 

If you are a collector like me, then this is a nice addition if an expensive one. If you are looking at this for a addition to the Eldar codex, then save your money. The Iyanden supplement is simply a history guide with pages devoted to showcasing painted models. The actual rule additions are almost pointless. Iyanden gets a single new psychic power, their own warlord traits and artifacts. There are now changes to the FOC just an increase to the number of Spiritseers you can have and a Wraithknight or Wraithlord can be your Warlord.

 

A waste of money completely.

Iyanden Warlord traits

My copy of the Iyanden codex arrived this morning, so for those who play them here are the warlord traits.

Eldar Warlord Traits

As a continuation of my Warlord trait cards, here are the new Eldar ones. Feel free to help yourself and I hope they add to your games.