Tactical Rock

Warlord 101

2011-03-24T06:15:00.000-07:00

It is time for another game system review by yours truly. Warlord is Reaper Miniature’s fantasy wargame. It is a skirmish level game set in a high fantasy realm that looks like it could be a D&D campaign realm with all the usual trappings. So let’s look at this game.

Setup
Both players bring forces of a predetermined point size with 1000 points being the recommended size. These forces are chosen from 18 factions that are found in two books and one online faction. Both books contain the core rules, so you will only need to buy the book containing the faction you want to play.

From these factions you construct your army. Armies are broken down into individual troops. Each troop is made up of a leader, basic troops of varying ability, and sometimes an elite model. Some troops can also consist of one model and these single model troops are usually powerful monsters or heroes.

The game is played on a 48”x48” table. It is played with a 10 sided die. Terrain can be as abundant as you wish, and the terrain rules are more abstracted, i.e. no true line of site.

Before the start of the game, players will need to create an initiative deck. An initiative deck is smaller deck of cards created by using a standard playing card deck of 52 cards. Each player chooses a suit (color is best) and a card is added to the initiative deck for every troop a player has. Certain game rules allow for more or less cards to adjust the size of the deck.

The Game Turn
Each game turn has three distinct phases: initiative, action, and end. The initiative phase is where the top card of the initiative deck is turned over. The suit that is showing indicates which player may activate a single troop. The player then conducts actions for that troop. After which the players flip over the next card on top of the initiative deck and repeat the process. It is possible that a player may activate several troops in a row before their opponent does.

The action phase is where troops do things. Every model can make two actions. There is no set order of actions, so models can charge and then fight or they can fight and then move off. This no set order of actions gives a player some tactical flexibility. The actions are grouped by movement, combat, specialty and free actions.

After all troops for both players have activated a single time then the end phase happens. The end phase is basically clean up for the turn. Certain effects will happen, the initiative deck can be altered if troops are wiped out, and the initiative deck is reshuffled

End Game
The game has two types of victory conditions which players must agree upon at the start of the game. Wipeout your opponent is one. The other is play to turn 5, calculate points of what is left on the table, and the player who has more points left wins. This isn’t to say players can’t design their own scenarios or victory conditions, but those are the two conditions provided in the book.

Conclusion
Overall I like this game. I think it provides both a beer & pretzels sort of feel while also allowing for some nice tactical depth. Although there are synergies in this game many of the tactics are based around timing actions correctly, which I am a bigger fan of. I really like the flexibility of turn actions, and the intermixed player activations. I think it’s a game worth trying especially if you enjoyed Mordheim.

So what are you’re thoughts on fantasy skirmish games? If you’re in Austin, TX on April 14th at 7:00 PM I’ll be running a Warlord demo at Dragon’s Lair. Stop on in, say hi, and roll some dice with me.

HOBBY: Adhesives 101

2011-03-21T06:15:00.000-07:00

For the miniature enthusiast there are three types of glue they are familiar with. The most common and most widely used is cyanoacrylate or CA glue. Its more common name is super glue. The other two glues that are used are plastic cement and epoxy. All three have their place in the hobbyist’s arsenal, and this is why I am going to take a closer look at them.
Cyanoacrylate is an acrylic resin adhesive that utilizes water as a hardener. It doesn’t shrink and it can bond two dissimilar surfaces together. The main benefits are fast drying times, and relative decent bonds. Its drawbacks are that certain plastics and non-porous materials may make it difficult for the give to form bonds. Also the glue, when fully hardened is brittle, which may cause breakage.
Now that we know what CA glue is let’s look at using its properties to help us. CA glue is the workhorse glue of the wargamer’s universe. The primary reason is because one can assemble an army in a relative short period of time. Also with a little effort you can cause the glue bond to fail, which means you can easily change out model configurations with edition or codex changes. The drawbacks to this glue mean overtime your tabletop figures will break because of stresses from handling and transport.
Epoxy is the least used of all the glues. It is a two part process consisting of a resin and a hardener. It has a longer drying time than CA glue, which can be advantageous. It has a stronger bond than CA, and it doesn’t suffer from shrinkage like water based glues. Once it is fully hardened it can be sanded and drilled.
Since epoxy is the red headed step child of the modeling world I thought I would explain why you should use it. Its best use is with large multi piece models, and resin kits because it makes strong bonds that will support the weight of your figure. Because it takes longer to harden, you can also quickly clean up any glue mess that should occur on your figure. It will also help fill gaps. The increased hardening time does mean that you will need to get comfortable to hold the pieces in position, or if you can work it out a hobby vise or a third hand tool will work just fine.
Finally, there is our good old standby plastic cement. (As a word of caution the warnings on the bottles about the fumes being flammable and harmful are spot on. The reason why you get the “high” sensation is because your brain is suffering hypoxia or lack of oxygen. This can kill you, so please use your plastic glue in well ventilated area.) Plastic glue is unlike our other two glues in that it is not a resin but a solvent. It works by dissolving and softening the plastic molecules, and after a few minutes to twenty four hours the two pieces of plastic are literally welded together. Many wargamers avoid plastic glue because many of their projects utilize plastic and metal parts, or they like the abilty to pop apart old models to redo for newer codices.
Plastic Cement comes in many varieties. The most commonly known is the Testors Plastic Cement in a tube. This is thicker of the plastic cements and has a gel like consistency. Gel cements can take several minutes to set and then a minimum of 24 hours to cure. Gel cements give you an amount of working time much like epoxy. That way you can get your join in the exact position you want. On the other end of the spectrum you have plastic glues that are almost like water. Plastic Weld is one that comes to mind. It has a set time of a few seconds and will reach full cure in minutes.
My preferred glue of choice is Testors Model Master Model Cement. It comes in a black triangular bottle and is more liquid like. It is more workable than Plastic Weld but will set quicker than the tube glue. The bottle recommends a full 24 hours to cure, but I’ve slapped paint down after only two hours. I am fan of the plastic cements because not only does it glue, but it also fills gaps.
Glue of any type is incredibly based on what your personal tastes. I have provided this more to help beginners and veterans gain a better understanding of the tools available to them and that there are options available.

So what glue do you use the most, and do you have any gluing tips you would like to share with the community?

Hobby: Buying an Airbrush Setup

2011-03-17T08:15:00.000-07:00

Today lets talk about buyin and setting up your first airbrush. My first foray into the world of airbrushing was 12 years ago...

Faves & Raves: Reaper Releases 3-14-11

2011-03-16T08:15:00.000-07:00

Instead of rehashing what is being released this week I'm going to look at what my favorite releases are in this current set of releases. To see the entire list of releases you can go here. Let's begin:
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News: Savage Worlds and Reaper

2011-03-15T06:28:00.000-07:00

Look what showed up late last night. Reaper just announced they will be producing the official miniatures for Savage Worlds. I'm excited to see where this goes.

For the full details you can read the story here.

Hobby: Green Stuff Pro Tips

2011-03-14T08:00:00.000-07:00

It’s time to look beyond the basics when it comes to working with green stuff.

News: A Leprechaun Sighting

2011-03-13T06:00:00.000-07:00

So this just turned up on the Webmaster of Reaper Miniatures desk on March 10th. Do we have a possible St Patrick's Day release? Who knows, but he looks pretty fun.
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Hobby: Green Stuff 101

2011-03-10T08:00:00.000-08:00

For many epoxy putty (a.k.a. green stuff) is a difficult modeling medium to use. This was the case for me until I took a class at a convention on using green stuff in conversions. This class taught me three important concepts when it comes to working with green stuff. Once I learned these concepts, working with green stuff became a breeze.

News: Reaper Box Set Packaging Change

2011-03-09T08:00:00.000-08:00

We interrupt the upcoming best of series with this breaking news. What's this? Is this something that would only be released by a Texas company? Is it a gun case? Is it a lunch box, or maybe...
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For The Time Being

2011-03-08T08:00:00.000-08:00

For the next few posts I'll be using some of my greatest blog hits while I'm getting new content created and doing the facelift. Enjoy!

Occasional Administrative Stuff

2011-03-07T18:39:00.000-08:00

From time to time I post up blog announcements like plans and changes. Over the course of the next week or two I will be giving this blog a face lift. So let’s look at what is in store.Read more »

40k Hobby: Yme –Loc Paint Scheme

2011-01-05T12:00:00.000-08:00

During the Holidays I took some time to paint up a couple of test models for the Yme-Loc army that was sent to The Girl. The first note I will make is that I used a wet palette to paint with. Wet palette allows me to get the most out of my paints. The second important note is that I almost exclusively use Reaper paint products. Reaper makes a line or paints that I really like and they work beautifully with a wet palette. What I'm going to do is list the paints I used in painting the models, and I will give rough Vallejo Game Color Equivalents because they just work out better.Read more »

The Road Ahead 2011

2011-01-03T11:15:00.001-08:00

When it comes to those of us who live in Austin, TX I am more the hobby guru. Not that this is a bad thing, but being more about all things hobby tends to hurt my game. Does this bother me? Not particularly but it reminds me where my priorities should be. Before I talk about my course for the coming year I always like to see where I have been.

Book Review: Faith and Fire

2010-06-09T12:30:00.000-07:00

“Faith and Fire” is an exciting novel about the Adeptus Sororitas by James Swallow. I normally do not pick up novels by authors I do not know on faction fluff that I care very little for; however, this little gem showed up in our break room at work in the take-and-read library. Since it was free and I enjoy the 40k universe I thought I would give it a chance.

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HOBBY: The Word on Seal Coats pt. 2

2010-06-02T20:10:00.000-07:00

If you have not read part 1 do that now. This time around we will discuss paint on sealers.

Hobby: The Word on Seal Coats pt. 1

2010-03-25T18:00:00.000-07:00

I have received multiple requests asking me to write about sealing a miniature once it’s painted. Before you read this article please be sure to read both articles I have written on primer: “Primer on Primer” and “Q & A on Primer.” Many of the concepts I address in those articles apply to seal coats. As a note sealer and varnish are used interchangeably.Read more »

Hobby: Yellow like a Submarine

2010-03-23T16:46:00.000-07:00

The color yellow is the bane to many a figure painter, but it doesn’t have to be. Before we dive into this subject let’s talk paint and what it is made of. Paint has three parts: binder, vehicle, and pigment. Binder is what keeps the other two parts of the paint together. Too little binder and the emulsion that is paint will fall apart. Vehicle is what the pigment is suspended in and contains resins, proteins, plastics, etc. in a liquid form. Pigment is the color.
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Hobby: Lining

2010-03-13T08:00:00.000-08:00

Let’s discuss an important aspect of figure painting. Lining is the act of taking a dark color and painting a dark line in areas where colors meet, and it makes painted figures look more neatly painted. It is an especially handy technique to define the outline of an object on plastic figures where the limitations of casting may cause items to blend into each other. It is commonly seen where clothes meet skin, seams in cloth, and flaps on bags, which is to say where colors change.

Review: Battle Missions Kill Team

2010-03-12T04:47:00.000-08:00

In the 40K 4^th ed. hardback rule book we found one of my all time favorite ways to play 40K: Kill Team. There were all sorts of great rules for sneaking about and executing a special operations mission. The major drawback to this mission in 4^th ed. was that there were about 3 pages of rules that made Kill Team a game unto itself.

Hobby: Q & A on Primer

2010-02-23T18:08:00.000-08:00

Recently a friend of mine asked some questions about primer. His questions elicited responses that I did not cover in my original Primer on Primer. The answers were more specific and he found them more helpful than my original article, so I thought I would share the questions and answers here. I grouped some of the questions together because the answers are related.
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Project Log: The Shelf of Shame

2009-12-26T09:48:00.000-08:00

Well there it is in all of its procrastinated glory. I have even more unpainted figures for the Empire, but this is the army that I will be painting up according to the list that I drew up in my last installment. As you can see my force is in various stages of paint, from bare plastic/metal all the way up to being done.

WFB Hobby: Coming Out of Semi-Retirement

2009-11-30T20:33:00.000-08:00

Over the last two years my tournament WFB armies have been pretty much retired. They would come out from time to time to play friends or help folks out in tuning their forces up, but I have really not had much of an interest in playing tournament games with them. Mind you some of this is due to some absolutely horrendous sportsmanship at the first WFB ‘ard Boyz. Well, Minus 67 has talked me into pulling my oldest army out of retirement, which is now 20 years old. It is the one army I own that has the best chance of being competitive in the Daemon/Vampire dominated tournament scene, and one of the few armies that consistently shows up in the top ten rankings. That army is the Empire.

My Empire army is a multi-generational army that was started on the tail end of 3rd start of 4th edition. Its main core of troops was initially built using the figures found in the GW-Milton Bradley Game called Battlemaster. Many of those figures are still in my army, and yes they are absolutely tournament legal because they were made by GW. In 6th edition my army got its first real face lift with the figures that came out with the boxed set. Then in 7th edition, after the recent army book, I got the battalion box with the new style troops.

I’m sure that by now many of you are wondering what all of this rambling is about and I assure you that I have a point. I’m going to write a series of hobby articles revolving around rehabilitating this old army for tournament play. I will also discuss some of my thought processes behind unit selection and tactics. Overall, I will be focusing more on the hobby aspect of all of this because that is what I enjoy the most, and it will give me a framework for the hobby articles I have thought about writing.

I’ve designed a preliminary army. The build had a few main goals. They were: 1. Use what I have. 2. Make something fun to play and play against. 3. Make sure it has a chance to perform well. 4. Leave room for improvement.

With that in mind I designed the following list. It is far from perfect, but it looks interesting and should put up a decent fight.

Empire Army List

Arch Lector Of Sigmar on War Altar x1 w/ Wyrmslayer Sword, Armor Metoric Iron, Van Horstman's Speculum; 295pts
3x Battle Wizard Level 2 w/ Dispel Scroll x2; 450pts
Knights Blazing Sun x10 w/Full Command, Steel Standard; 290pts
Halberdiers x30 w/ Full Command; 170pts
Spearmen x30 w/ Full Command; 170pts
Crossbowmen x20 w/ Full Command; 180pts
2x Handgunners x10 w/ Marksman, Hochland Long Rifle; 210pts
Great Cannon x3; 300pts
Mortar x1; 75pts
Hellblaster Volley Gun x1; 110pts

Total: 2250pts 134 Models 8PD/7DD

The goal with this build is for the big units to act as meat shields for the casters. The Arch Lector is for general beat down, and I think it is pretty self-evident what the shooters are for. I realize that I spammed my artillery and casters, but I think that is a small matter. My greatest strength is guessing range, and I have enjoyed a lot of success with the big guns. Nothing brings a wider smile to my face than when my opponent walks into the mouth of the Hellblaster, or when my opponent thinks my ranges are off only to find that they have been hit by three cannons and a mortar.

I will be looking at ways to add a Steam Tank into this army. I may also look at some alternative builds, but for now it looks like I have a good starting point.

In my next installment I will face my shame publicly by producing the Portrait of Shame, or as I call it, “What I should’ve finished painting ages ago.” I will examine what exactly I will need to do to get this force fully painted and on the table. I will discuss how I will plan this all out, and I will look at what will need to get its paint stripped and what can just remain as is.

All right readers your turn! Have at my build. Also let me know what major army plans you are looking at for the 2010-2011 Tournament Season.

Hobby: Vallejo Course Pumice

2009-10-23T20:40:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite mediums for applying to the base of a figure is Vallejo Course Pumice. This stuff is pumice sand in a suspension of acrylic resin, which looks like a sandy paste. When it is dry it has a rough sandy texture to it. This stuff has some utility beyond basing, which is why I love using it so much.

I utilize this stuff just as one would use sand and PVA/white glue. The main difference is that when the pumice is dry it is much harder and I do not have the flaking problem that one may get with sand. I also have found that I can add bits pushed down into the pumice. When I do this the pumice effectively glues the bit down to the base. The reason I have moved to using this is that any gap in the slotta base is easily and quickly covered over by the pumice.

When I use the Vallejo Pumice I start by guessing at a portion I will need, and I will take out that portion from the tub and place on an old bottle cap or jar lid. I transfer what I need out of the tub so I do not prematurely dry out what is left in the tub, which is also a useful tip when working with premixed spackle.

Once I have my working stock, I begin applying the pumice to the base with an old #11 X-Acto blade. (Important safety tip: when using old hobby blades for non-cutting projects be careful because they are dull the cuts they can make to you are worse.) I start working from the inside of the base outwards, and I work with a wet blade. A wet blade is a blade that has been dipped in water, and is useful because it will smooth the surface of the pumice.

Once the pumice is applied to the entire base there are a few directions to go. The most obvious is to let the pumice dry and treat it like sand on a base. This works just fine and is most useful when painting armies. However, I like getting outside of the box and found that this pumice will hold bits on to the base like glue. What I have done is applied bits from my bits box, talus, or ballast to bases to add some visual interest.

At the beginning of this article, I wrote about the utility of this product. One of my favorite aspects about the Vallejo pumice is that it adds some actual weight to a base. It doesn’t add enough weight to counter balance off center metal models, but it works perfect for plastic figures. My other use for this product is on vehicles. I have found it works great for modeling mud build up on tracks, track guards, and tires.

There are some who will argue that sand works just as well, or that the $12(US) price tag is a bit much. However, I have based close to 4 dozen figures and still have more than half a tub left. Also when you are spending $15-$60(US) for single models the price consideration becomes negligible. Overall I like this stuff and recommend that everyone give it a try.

Before I close out this article I thought I would share a picture of my finished witch figure from my last article. Enjoy!

For those of you who have used the Vallejo Course Pumice tell us about your experience with it. Also feel free to post up your ideas with how you would use this stuff.

Back in Black

2009-09-30T20:17:00.001-07:00

Up until recently I have shied away from using black as main color on my figures (my Ravenwing being the exception of course). I was dissatisfied with how black looked. It either looked overly grey or that I had made a pathetic attempt at highlighting. After a lot of internet searching and discussion with my professional painting friends, here is what I leaned.

Most of us who paint on an intermediate level understand the idea behind shadow, base color, and highlight. GW’s paints are designed to capitalize on this idea as are the figure paints of other paint companies. This subject alone can spawn pages of discussion on color theory and paint mixing. On a basic level the idea is about properly rendering color in three dimensions through using rough proportions of 25% of the painted area being a shadow tone, 50% base color, and 25% highlight. I admit those proportions are terribly scientific and not representative of a painting style. However, those proportions are helpful when thinking about painting black. Black’s shadow and base color is black, which means once you have applied a solid layer of black all you will be doing is bringing up the highlights. This can be quickly observed on any model painted by GW’s Heavy Metal painters, and is obvious on chaos warriors or marines in black power armor.

The next concept in painting black is that black isn’t really black, at least not on cloth. Black is achieved in cloth through mixing dyes. This can be most easily observed in men’s dress socks. The color of black on the sock may be brown, blue, red, green, violet, and rarely grey. This knowledge can help us paint our highlights naturally. Armed with these two concepts, we turn to color selection.

Many painters, including myself at one point, will highlight black through the additive process. This means that we start with black and build our highlights by adding white to the mix. This is an acceptable way to highlight black, but I began to notice on my figures that these grayscale highlights looked flat and lacked life. This is when I discovered the paint color “Payne’s Grey”.

This wonderful near black color can be mixed using black, blue, and a dark brown. Alternatively you can get this pre-mixed. GW’s version is Necron Abyss, which is not as near black as I would like, but could easily be made closer by adding Chaos Black to it. Reaper Miniatures makes a color called Blue Liner that I feel is spot on, and it is what I use.

I start by applying my first highlight of pure Blue Liner where I want the highlights to start and paint towards the brightest point of the highlight. After this is done I will start adding an off-white color to the mix and repeat. It is important to note that I add these highlights where the paint is thinned about 50/50 with water, and I add very little white at a time because white can quickly lighten up the color, which can spoil some of your transitions.

It is important to note that using an off-white color is preferred. I suggest this because pure white can bring up the color too fast, and make your work look chalky. If you’re using GW colors I would suggest for your off-white using Bleached Bone, Dheneb Stone, or Astranomicon Grey mixed with some Skull White. I use a set of three off-white colors from Reaper. They are Linen White, Leather White, and Ghost White. Using any of these off-white colors will produce some really great effects when used with Payne’s Gray.

The wolf that used in my opening image uses a lot of these not black concepts and when you look at it you begin to see that working outside of grayscale gives the wolf's pelt depth and yet it still looks black.

Here is an example of my work using Payne’s Grey. I utilized Ghost White on this model. I’ll admit it is far from perfect, but I do like the depth that the blue in the Payne’s Grey gives to the highlights. (This figure is far from done.)

How do you highlight black? Have you used these colors before? Tell us how these concepts work for you.

Into the Woods

2008-10-20T20:11:00.000-07:00

+++ Date: 2008797/m36
+++ Astropath: Octavian
+++ Destination: Pax Imperialis, Lord Solar Macharius
+++ Subject: Servo Skull Battle Report for Sparas
+++ Thought of the Day: Firepower is the salvation of the Emperor.

Your Lordship,
The Empire of Man has been blessed by your mighty courage and steadfast faith. Your occidental example has filled each man in this crusade with an effulgent faith that pushes them on to mighty deeds.

The mighty Krieg Korps has met with some setbacks on the world of Sparas. Attached is the holo vids from our servo skulls. We will analyze this data, so we can defeat the orks that infest this world.

Week 2
Once again my Orks take to the field of battle against the IG. This week the terrain was more wooded, so my main concern was for my Truks surviving fire and delivering their packages. This was a tight game until the end and I had a lot of fun playing it.

Opponent: Death Korps of Krieg (Nick S.)
Mission: Seize Ground (4 objectives)
Deployment: Spearhead
Environmental Effect: Touch of Fear
Ork Forces: Same as last week but included for review
1 Warboss
10 Trukk Nobz
15 Kommandos
12 Ork Trukk Boyz
30 Shoota Boyz
30 Shoota Boyz
3 Lobbas
3 Deffkoptas
3 Deffkoptas
12 Burnaz
1 Looted Wagon
(As a note we decided at the beginning of the game that the IG Sentinels would use the Scout USR in the BRB instead of their scout rule.)

Turn 1
I had initially lost the deployment roll which meant that I was going 2nd, but I attempted a “seize the initiative” roll and succeeded. I took advantage of this by moving my trucks behind cover so they could attempt to survive the incoming fire on my opponent’s turn. I positioned the looted wagon with the burna boyz in it behind a tall wall which made it out of LOS for my opponent. My two Shoota Mobs moved to secure the two objectives in my deployment area.

In my opening salvo my Lobbas targeted the middle of an IG squad, got a hit on the scatter die, and scored eight hits on the primary squad and one on a squad in the AOE. All 9 hits wounded causing the most wounded squad to go to ground. Some sporadic big shoota fire caused two more guardsman to die.

The Death Corps went directly into the shooting phase. My two truks absorbed a lot of fire many of which were misses, but nothing that would stop them from advancing. The forward unit of Shoota Boyz took it on the chin from a battle cannon and a lot of combined firepower causing them to loose 13 boyz.

Orks: 2 DKK: 1

Turn 2
My reserve rolls brought mixed results. The Defkoptas came in on the short board edge of my opponent, but my Kommandos came in on the opposite board edge. Movement in this turn left me exposed, but I expected it because my opponent had wisely deployed his forces so there would be a 12” zone of no cover that I would have to cross. So my truks were out in the open this turn. I did move my Shoota Boyz that had been chewed up into the area terrain where the forward objective was, so I could get a 4+ save against any other incoming Battle Cannon Shells.

During my shooting phase, I targeted with my Lobbas the unit that suffered a single wound from them last turn. Once again I scored a hit and was rewarded with eight hits and wounds. The unit passed its pin check. This time I focused my Big Shoota fire on a single squad and was able to cause enough wounds for a leadership check, which was failed. My Defkoptas shot at the rear aspect of a Leman Russ and caused it to explode.

The Death Korps rolled for their reserves and got an HQ choice and one Fast Attack choice of sentinels to come in. His moves were mostly for maximizing fire, but the shooting phase came quickly.

In the shooting phase both of my Truks that were working their way to the flank got shot up and destroyed. The boyz that piled out were minimally wounded. The front squad of Shoota Boyz endured another round of shooting loosing 4 boyz. The Kommandos got flamed by the fast attack Sentinels losing 9 and failing their leadership check. The Defkoptas got flamed by the HQ sentinel and shot up by two squads causing them to run off the board.

The Sentinels that had flamed the Kommandos decided to assault them. The Boyz rallied and fought them. The sentinel killed most of the squad while the power klaw nob popped one, and knocked the flamer off of the other. The Nob decided to run after having his squad wiped out.

Orks: 2 DKK: 1

Turn 3
Nothing arrived in reserve on this turn. The Truk Boyz and Nobz moved decidedly towards the IG lines intent on getting tied up in assault. Unfortunately the Nobz fell victim to their Warboss’ Mega Armor, which gave them a whole 2” on their move. The forward Shoota Boyz finally got more than 50% of the unit in cover.

The Lobbas Once again ranged in on a fresh unit this time killing only eight guardsman. The Big Shootas once again shot at the IG but this time they made their cover saves.

The IG reserve roll brought on the second HQ and Fast Attack Sentinels. The sentinels positioned themselves in such a way so they could shoot at the Burna Boyz making their way around to the right side of the IG lines, while the single command HQ came in on the flank of the boyz holding the rear most objective.

The IG Shot at the Nob Squad and only managed to thin the squad by 3 Nobz. The sentinels shot at the looted wagon knocking off its gun, while the other single Sentinel shot at rear Shoota Boyz squad.

The HQ Sentinel assaulted the Shoota Boyz and caused two wounds when all was said and done. The squads Nob was two turns worth of consolidation away from getting into contact with this Sentinel. The remaining Sentinel, that had flamed the Kommandos earlier, assaulted the Truk Boyz dealing no initial wounds but caused a wound on the nob when it detonated.

Orks: 1 DKK: 1

Turn 4
On this turn the last unit of Defkoptas flew in behind the IG lines again. The Burna Boyz moved up in their Wagon and got themselves in a position to smoke an IG squad. Once again the Nobz fell victim to their difficult terrain check of 1”, and the Nobz were thinking of leaving their leader behind.

In the shooting phase a “Waaagh!” was declared and the Nobz rolled a mighty 2 for their Waaagh! The Truk Boyz were able to get within an inch of their quarry, a Leman Russ. The Lobbas shot at the unit that they shot at last turn scoring their 4th hit in a row on the Artillery Die wiping out that squad, and inflicting a wound on a man from another unit. Shots rang out from the Big Shootas hitting one of the lone Heavy weapon teams from the barraged IG Squads, but only managed to kill the loader. The Burna Boyz caused 56 hits, which caused my opponent to just pull the models.

The Truk Boyz assaulted a Leman Russ and the difficult terrain check for the Nobz netted me a whopping 2” which was far too short of the six I needed. The Russ thankfully became wrecked, but it left the Truk Boyz in the open. The Defkoptas assaulted 2 squads inflicting no wounds and being wiped out in return. The Combat in the rear of my lines killed 3 more boyz but brought the power klaw up so it could effect the Sentinel next turn.

The Sentinels, next to the Burna Boyz, were positioned so they could smoke them. while the rest of his army opened up with shooting.

The shooting phase saw the Burna Boyz wiped out and the Truk boyz were shot up leaving only the Nob after he executed one of his own boyz. The Nobz lost two more models, but most of the shots leveled at them went wide.

In the assault phase the Sentinel caused no wounds but the Nob’s fury caused the Sentinel’s power plant to overload and explode killing 8 boyz.

Orks: 2 DKK: 1

Turn 5 (Last turn)
The Nobz and Warboss finally decided that they were fed up with each other and parted ways. This helped the Warboss actually make a roll greater than 2 and the Nobz were able to move up to get into assault range. The looted truck moved up and tank shocked units off the rear objective.

The Lobbas fired once again but the string of hits was no longer to be had. Instead, the shot drifted into the unit in the ruins that the Nobs were preparing to shoot. Luckily for the Nobs only 3 guardsmen died. The forward Big Shootas rang out again and killed another lone guardsman in the open.

The lone Truk Boy Nob and the Warboss charged a squad next to the wrecked tank but the Nob was killed before he could use his power klaw. The Warboss killed five men, but they decided to stick it against the mighty Warboss. The Nobz assaulted the previous barraged unit in the ruins and wiped them out to the man. They positioned themselves to claim the third objective

The IG reconsolidated around their rear objective, and their last tank moved up to contest the objective that the Nobz were trying to capture.

The Guard shot the Looted Wagon up and destroyed it loosing a few men to the blast. They shot up the Nobz but not enough wounds were caused to push them off the objective.

The fight with the Warboss continued in the assault and in this turn the Warboss managed to cause enough wounds to have them flee.

Orks: 2 DKK: 1
Ork Win

Wrap Up:
Overall, this was a great game. This was much closer than last weeks contest and I owe that to the more open terrain. The unit of the game for me has to be the Lobbas because they accounted for more than 50% of the wounds caused. The Burnaz continue to be a one shot wonder that I might replace with more Kommandos. I am also thinking of ditching the Mega Armor for heavy armor to increase the speed of the Nobz. Once again Thanks for the game Nick!

Macharius leaned back in his chair lip pursed in displeasure when he saw the fall back order appear in the reticule of servo skull. As he watched the video survey of the fall back, the camera view was yanked back by what appeared to be several feet, and Macharius warrior’s reflexes caused him to flinch.

“Oi! Wots dis?” came a harsh orkish voice across the audio track.

“It’s one uv does floatin’ hummie skullz.” explained another voice. With that the camera was whipped around and an Ork came into view. “Whot you gunna di wif it?”

“I was gunna throw it into one of them hummies runnin away.” described the Ork in the reticule. The camera view quickly pitched around, and then the view was one of the camera being thrown. The last image that the servo skull recorded was of its impact with the flak vest of a Guardsman, and then static.

It Begins

2008-10-10T19:40:00.000-07:00

Red dust swirled around the tires of the pieced together truck as it slid to a stop, and as it did a hulking ork jumped over the side of the truck bed. His steel shod boots hit the ground with a thunderous clang, and he strode forward with an arrogant air about him. The ork’s emerald hued skin was stained grey by the dust of the road with green trails of skin cleared by the sweat running down his face.
“Oi! Blasta!” he bellowed out. “Git me peepin’ toobz from de sack.” The command caused a small willowy runt to dive into a large equipment bag. Within moments he reappeared with what looked like two oversized sniper scopes that were joined together like binoculars by scraps of metal tubes. The homemade binoculars were as big as the olive skinned runt, and he hefted them over his head as he ran them over to the ork who bellowed for them.
“Here dey is Masta Kurg,” squeaked the nasally voice of the runt. The large ork scooped up the binoculars and as he did his tiny servant got tangled up in the binocular’s neck strap. The massive ork peered through his “peepin’ toobz” and saw that they were almost at there destination.
He and his warband were headed for an ore refining facilty that was crewed by automatons of the Adrantis Union. As he scanned the facility and the surrounding area his face broke into a toothy grin. “Oi! Listen up Boyz. It looks like the Impies ‘ave done our job. You gonna let ‘em take what’s rightfully ours?”
“No!” came the raucous reply.
“Den go git what’s ours!” and with that the war band spilled into the basin where the ore refining facility stood.

Week 1
This week in the Bell of Lost Souls Macharian Crusade my Orks fought against the Genswick Rifles played by Brandon. We played a medium sized game (2000pts) on the mining world of Lapis Majoris. I had forgotten about the environmental effects so none were in effect.

Mission: Annihilation
Deployment: Spearhead

1 Warboss
10 Trukk Nobz
15 Kommandos
12 Ork Trukk Boyz
30 Shoota Boyz
30 Shoota Boyz
3 Lobbas
3 Deffkoptas
3 Deffkoptas
12 Burnaz
1 Looted Wagon

Turn 1
I won the roll and decided to go first. The GR attempted to seize the initiative, but to no avail. I choose to deploy in the quarter to my right. I moved my trucks and Burnaz in a wagon to the left while my Shoota Boyz and Kommandos moved towards the right. I opened up with some shooting from my Lobbas into the middle of his lines and managed to cause 6 wounds between two units. This caused the unit that took the largest number of casualties to become pinned. My shootas and Kommandos shot at units on the right but no one panicked.
On his turn 1 he positioned his units to counter the Pincer move I was attempting. On my right he lit up my Kommandos with flamers and las fire, which caused them to break and run. His first demolisher round smoked six orks in a shoota squad, his next demolisher round hit a truk but the hit was saved, and his third demolisher immobilized the truk boyz truk. The Hellhound tried to hurt the looted wagon but missed.
Rifles: 1KP Orks: 0

Turn 2
On this turn both of the Deffkopta units came in from reserve and managed to come in on his deployment zone. Both units positioned themselves for rear shots on a Demolisher and the Hellhound. The Nobz moved up to assault a demolisher and the Ogryns next to it, and the Shoota Boyz Moved up to assault the right flank. The Looted Wago decided to go full speed ahead into Impassable terrain and were stuck in place for the turn.
In my shooting phase one unit of Deffkoptas smoked the demolisher, while the other only caused the Hellhound a shaken result. The Lobbas once again hit home and this time they smoked the unit that was forced to go to ground on the last turn. The Shootas shot at their intended chargees, but only caused a wound.
In the assault phase the Nobz with warboss charged the tank and the Ogryns. The Nobz killed two Ogryns on the charge and detonated the tank, while the Ogryns caused three wounds, managing to kill a single Nob. The Warboss then finished off the unit with his Power Klaw. The shootas forgot to charge which opened them up to a severe punishment.
The Rifles moved on the right to maximize their fire against the shoota boyz while on the left every unit positioned itself to deal with the Deffkoptas and Nobz. Once the smoke had cleared from all the fire power two Nobz, one kopta from each unit, and six Shoota Boyz laid dead. One of the units of koptas decided that one dead kopta was one too many and they flew away.
The koptas were charged but the combat ended up drawn, so on a lucky roll the koptas disengaged with their hit and run ability.
Rifles: 2KP Orks: 4

Turn 3
The Nobz moved to engage one of the command units of the rifles while the forgetful Shootas positioned themselves to charge both a tank and the two units that had shot their squad down to 11 men, while the full size shootas finally cleared the terrain they had been mired in and got into charge distance of the tank. The Burnaz in the wagon finally got on the move and moved up to back up the Nobz.
The empty truk of the Nobz went over to deal with a small squad of flamers moving to outflank the Nobz and killed a man in the shooting phase, which was the only shot that had effect I the shooting phase.The Lobbas attempted to deal with the Rifles line near the back of the board and they deviated off of the board. The rest of the mob used the Waaagh! to consolidate their charge positions.
The assault phase brought a Commissar and command squad into a fight with the Nobz. When the fight was over the senior officer in the squad noticed that he was the last guy around and decided to run away. The Nobz followed so that he would not be able to rally on his next turn.
Both units of Shootas charged into the Demolisher with the smaller unit being able to charge into both the tank and the unit that had shot them up on the previous turn. The tank had its main gun knocked off by a big choppa while the power klaw detonated it. The squad that shot up the shootas was wiped out, while the detonated tank killed seven boyz, with the shot up squad taking four of the seven casualties.
The Rifles were finished with the Nobz and dumped every shot that they could into them. When the smoked clear 2 Nobz, a painboy, and the warboss laughed at the Imperials because they were unharmed. The Hellhound popped the empty truk that was running around.
Rifles: 2 Orks: 9

Turn 4
After a so-so shooting phase every remaining ork unit on the board charged the closest GR Squad to them engaging a total of five units. Before a single round of Combat was fought General Collins sounded the retreat (conceded.)

Orks: Win

Wrap-up
Wow! Nobz are the win. They accounted for more than half of the kill points I earned and absorbed more than 50% of my opponent’s firepower. The Boy of the Game goes to the Nob Painboy who kept his unit alive through thick and thin. A hearty, “Great Game!” to my opponent Brandon who put up a great fight.

Kurg raised his massive powered claw into the air in triumph as the Imperial forces broke and ran from the battle. His boys ran the stragglers down, and as they did he remarked to his men, “They sure looked like nails wearin’ skirts.” The mob broke into hearty guffaws. “Right ladz lets get what wees come for.”

‘ard Boyz Round 1 list and Battle Reports

2008-09-15T16:15:00.000-07:00

‘ard Boyz Army Comp
Here is what I played for the first round of the ‘ard Boyz Tourney.

Ghazghull Thraka 225 pts
1 Big Mek SAG, Power Klaw, ‘eavy armor, bosspole, Cybork Body, Ammo Runt 143 pts
8 Nobz ‘eavy armor, stikbombz, Bosspole, Painboy, grot orderly, Waaagh! Banner, 2x Power
Klaw, Truk w/ Armour Plates, Grot riggers, Boarding Plank, Reinforced Ram, Wrecking Ball, 383 pts
12 Kommandos w/ 2x Burnaz and Boss Snikrot 235 pts
15 Burnaz 225 pts
15 Lootas 225 pts
12 Ork Trukk Slugga Boyz w/ Rokkit, Stikbombz, Nob w/ Power Klaw, ‘eavy armor, bosspole, Truk w/ Armour Plates, Grot riggers, Boarding Plank, Reinforced Ram, Wrecking Ball, Red Paint Job 214 pts
30 ‘ard Slugga Boyz w/ 3x Rokkitz, Nob w/ Power Klaw, bosspole 370
30 Shoota Boyz w/ 3x Shootaz, Nob w/ Power Klaw, ‘eavy armor, bosspole 240 pts
30 Shoota Boyz w/ 3x Shootaz, Nob w/ Power Klaw, ‘eavy armor, bosspole 240 pts

Brief Synopsis of Game play

Game 1 vs. Black Templars: Massacre +1 battle point
This game was fun and I enjoyed my opponent. This was as close to a “flawless victory” that I got. I garnered 21 points from this round. The main lesson that was reinforced for me was stick to your plan. Since this mission was “Seize Ground”, I decided to focus on securing each of the five objectives and keeping them clear of the enemy presence. I also knew that since I was playing a horde army I would have to play each round as if it were my last.

My opponent was foolhardy enough to run his entire army at me, and I took advantage of this by moving my forces forward. Once my forces were where I wanted them, I shot at him and caused all of his forward troops to move towards my lines. This allowed me to assault him on turn 1.

My ‘ard Boyz managed to turn out casualties against his chaplain and command squad and ended up locked in combat because of the Templar’s fearless in hand to hand rule. Ghazghull, the Nobz, and the truk boyz hit two squads of sword brethren and when the dust cleared a lone Templar stood, which I was able to consolidate into with both units because he poorly choose who lived. He was trying to pull casualties so as to disengage Ghazghull, but 1 model from old Thraka’s unit was able to consolidate into base to base thus dragging the whole unit along.

Turn 2 was where my opponent attempted a weak retaliation and brought in 2 of his three deep striking units. Luckily for me all of his shooting was being made by Star Wars Storm Troopers and I was left fairly unscathed. As we launched into the assault phase it was announced that we had 30 minutes left.

This time the tables turned for my ‘ard Boyz as they were charged by the Emperor’s Champion and friends. The fight was bloody and the ‘ard Boyz lost and were run down. The lone Templar was cut down but he at least took two Orks with him, after which the Truk Boyz ducked behind the hill out of sight, but within 3” of the objective. Ghazghull consolidated towards an objective near the Templar lines.

On my part of turn two Ghazghull and his squad moved to capture an objective. Both of my Shoota mobs moved in and captured 2 more objectives, while the Burna boyz moved up to clear my opponent off the fifth objective. Once the boyz had moved into position they opened up to gun down nearby targets. Between the Lootas, SAG, and two units of Shoota Boyz I managed to thin the EC and his unit down to just the EC and a mook. As I began my assault moves time was called. Oh well maybe next time I will be able to secure all of the objectives instead of all but 1. I was a little annoyed that Snikrot and his Kommandoes didn’t make it out of reserve.

Game 2 vs. Imperial Guard: Tie no extra battle points 597 VP Orks to 587 VP IG

Game 2 got started after lunch. Interesting note during our 1 hour lunch the kids playing in the tournament decided to have an impromptu who brought the best character throw down. It was fun to watch, and in my opinion really in the spirit of the tourney and the game.

Game 2 began with the IG player going first. My opponent was a teenager who was a very excellent opponent. Thankfully the dawn of war rules saved my keester in this turn, but he did get off a lucky shot which threw Ghazghull and his gang out of their truck. However he forgot to bring in his forces, which I also did for a few of my units on my first turn.

When my turn 1 came I brought my Burnaz on but forgot about the Lootaz. GRRR!!! I then moved just about everything toward his lines. I did get a bit luckier than my opponent and managed enough shots to cause two squads to take morale checks, which one squad failed. Not bad for an opening salvo.

When turn 2 hit, the Hellhound, 2 Russes, and storm troopers rolled on along with a flamer special weapons squad being deployed behind my firing line. It was impressive, and it managed to kill the SAG, take out half a Shoota Boyz squad and immobilize the last remaining Trukk.

Then the hurtin’ time came for the poor IG. Once againg Snikrot thought that Ghazghull had the battle handled, and sat on the bench. The Lootas came on and got into a position to assault the Flame throwers that were in my lines. All but one unit moved up in preparation of an assault. Ghazghull declared a Waaagh! and the IG were immediately knee deep in Orks. The Orks had assaulted six units, and only managed to get 2 kill points. I knew that the KP rules were going to anger me greatly. Needless to say, he was now down six squads.

His turn 3 came and well the other Hellhound rolled on, but not his last Russ (whew.) I was able to withstand the fusillade of fire that came towards my orks, but as it became my turn game was called. Curses! Snikrot benched by my dice again!

Game 3 vs. Orks: Minor Loss
This like the last game was an evenly matched brawl against a great opponent. There was so much occurring I could not relate it all. The balance swung on the second half of the second turn where I dusted his fire base off of his objective with Snikrot and contested it, but he captured mine with his Nobz Squad. The pivotal battle was where Ghazghull and his unit rolled snake eyes on the difficult terrain check and they were more than an inch away. Curses! That stopped me cold from earning 5 KPs.

Wrap Up
I tied for fourth, but won on VP so fourth place was mine. The nice thing is that the second place player will be unable to attend the next round, so I will be going to regionals.

The biggest thing that I learned was that speed is an Ork’s friend. I also had “remember the mission rules” lesson pounded into my skull. Hopefully it will stick. I may also see if I can round up a rules runt to help me look up pertinent questions in the book and to deflect all questions away from me that slow down my game play. Hope you enjoyed my ‘ard Boyz wrap up.

Cross Posted at

Adeptus Astragalactica
Austin Miniature Minions

Tactics: Mob Rule

2008-01-30T18:14:00.000-08:00

So today I was having one of those moments where I was contemplating the vicissitudes of 40k, and my mind began to circle the drain of the new Ork “Mob Rule” CSR (codex special rule.) Once it went down the drain it entered a very, very dark place. Let us look at the rule. It says, “Ork mobs may always choose to substitute the number of Orks in their mob for their normal Leadership value. If an Ork mob numbers 11 or more models, it has the Fearless special Rule.”

I think this is a genius rule. It accurately shows that the Orks are force of numbers, and as they get smaller due to combat attrition their morale begins to fail. Where I went with this rule was an attempt to make the first sentence work for the Orks in a new way. Many Ork players utilize this rule in its most direct “Gorker” method of use. I have never been a “Gorker,” but a “Morker.” This is evident in my clan of choice: Blood Axes. (If Gorker or Morker are unfamiliar terms for you do some research in GW’s Gorkamorka Game.)

I bet you are wondering how Orks can use “Mob Rule” cunningly. First we need to explain the most basic tenet of this rule all Orks have it. Second “may always choose to substitute number of Orks in their mob for their normal Leadership value,” doesn’t specify the lower limit. Therefore, an Ork mob of two may have their base Leadership of 7 (-1 if they are below 50%) or a Leadership of 2.

This rule is terribly helpful for getting large units of Gretchin tied up in close combat out of the way. Yes! I said exactly what you think I said. One can use this rule to disengage Gretchin mobs from combat. It is quite easy, and should only be done in your opponent’s close combat phase. Gretchin mobs use the Runtherderz leadership for Morale checks. Since at most there would be three Runtherderz in the mob, and they have the “Mob Rule” CSR… Basically, you are counting on the Grots loosing close combat, which they will unless your opponent is terribly unlucky. What it boils down to is tying up a unit with Grots, and when you are ready to assault your target with a proper Ork mob then you pull out the Grots and let fly.

My other “Cunnin’ Plan” has to do with using 3, 6 man Kommando Mobs. If at all possible infiltrate them 12” away from your opponent, and try to have them about 9”- 12” from your closest foot sloggers. Many players get nervous about units being fairly close to their lines, so they will send out a unit to deal with the threat. Hopefully, if they got first turn, and they assault this sacrificial lamb, then your chances are good at loosing the close combat. Make sure you pull your casualties so you are no longer engaged. That way when you “fail” your leadership test your opponent will be hanging out in the wind with no choice but to get hit by a ton of Boyz. At very least you have brought your opponent within reach of all of your 12” shots.

The key to playing “Mob Rule” effectively is to quit thinking like a Goff. Most Ork players want to get tied up in lengthy close combats where they are inflicting maximum damage. Effective use of the “Mob Rule” CSR requires pulling casualties to disengage your unit, careful positioning to ensure that you can easily break from combat, and small enough units of Orks so that you can break off combat without being below 50%.

Painting Pointers

2008-01-30T18:12:00.000-08:00

I realized after a few read throughs, that Atredies article was not about lazy painting, but about working smarter not harder. When one has nine pointers on how to turn out painted forces they aren’t lazy; they’re economical. The thought occurred to me that many of his pointers were the base for which advanced painting techniques come from, so I thought I would share some tips on improving your painting ability.

1. Paint often

If you paint 5 minutes or 5 hours, you must paint everyday. This simple act will improve your skills, even if you are not trying to. Painting on a daily basis will build muscle memory and fine motor skills. I find that when I go without painting it takes me some time to get back into it, so save your self the hassle.

2. Ask

I find that I have learned more from asking others more experienced than me how they accomplish various effects. Painters love telling you how they accomplished a project, so take advantage of this willingness to share.

3. Research

You should always look for new techniques. Thanks to the internet this is a fairly easy task. For example, Micron Pens have made some of my painting tasks easier, and in fact I have become faster painter because of these miraculous pens.

4. Tools

If you are really into painting figures invest in your tools. I used to think that brushes or paints were the same as any other. I must say I was truly mistaken. Cheap hobby paints are substandard when compared to figure paints and artist paints, and brushes are not all created equal. Since I’ve upgraded my brushes and stopped using cheapo paints my work has improved. Please understand by no means are your tools magic “PF Flyers” but they will assist you in the quest for improvement.

5. Cheat

Painting is all about the art of illusion. If you find a shortcut, a rule to break, or technique that gives you a better illusion then do it. By no means are any set of pointers or advice meant to be hard fast rules. This is your hobby, so in the end it is up to you to define how to best approach it.

Finished Pre Heresy DA Commander

2008-01-21T14:38:00.000-08:00

Well ladies and gents I have completed a comissione piece that is now all made of awesom and win. So without further ado, or guilding the lily:

Crosposted at Adeptus Astragalactica

Codex Ork FAQ

2008-01-16T19:56:00.000-08:00

So why is it that the German GW Studio can get their crap together one week after the release of a new codex and produce a FAQ that means a lick? What have we heard from England for us English speakers/ readers? Well we have heard that the German FAQ is only for Germany and that the Germans took it upon themselves to fix the screw ups, and by no means is this official for English. Hmmm I guess that means I'll be playing playing in the German GT. ;) Anywho for your edification here is the link on GW Germany's site. Oh BTW you'll need to be able to read German. Teh German FAQ

On the Death of Heroes

2008-01-11T15:57:00.000-08:00

This will be a small departure that has a point. On January 10, 2008, Sir Edmund Hillary died. He was a hero of mine, so in memory of this great explorer I present my favorite quote that was attributed to him when he failed to reach the summit of Everest in 1951. He said, “You defeated me! But you won’t defeat me again! Because you have grown all you can grow… but I am still growing.”

The point: Don’t let defeat be the end. So many times we face defeat, or loss, and we give it permission to win. From defeat we assume the position that we are unable, or that we will never win. Defeat is a better counselor than victory. That is because victory is the result of successful learning, and that you have applied the lessons that have been presented to you. Defeat means that something or someone has presented a lesson that we either haven’t learned or that we are wrestling with. Defeat is also the wonderful reminder that we are human.

So tonight let us raise a drink to a man that showed us defeat will enable us to find victory!

Cross posted at The Adeptus Astragalactica

Battle of the Wagons

2008-01-10T16:19:00.000-08:00

Codex Orks is upon us now and I will be writing up yet another review. However, I noticed something in my recent games with the new codex that I thought should be addressed because it deals with a larger, more important, concept. A thought began swimming in my head over the last few months. It was: why is it that my über points expensive, larger than life, battle wagon ineffective? I was thinking about fielding a Pez dispenser instead because at least the Pez dispenser would do something.

Well the thought finally dawned on me what the difficulty was. My Battle Wagon was suffering from a case of Multiple Purpose Disorder (MPD). MPD is an Armored Fighting Vehicle (AFV) that cannot settle on a battlefield role. What I mean can be seen in our friend the Land Raider. A Land Raider is a great transport. It is also a pretty mean tank, but it has trouble when it is being tasked to do both at the same time.

So how does this apply to my friend the Battle Wagon? Well I was arming it to the teeth with tons of upgrades thinking that I would drive forward, drop off troops, and shoot the tar out of my opponent. This in and of itself was terribly flawed thinking. The reason was that it was so expensive that I could only take one Battle Wagon, and so on turn one my Battle Wagon was a fire magnet/ points sink.

This has inspired me to revise how I look at the Battle Wagon. The Battle Wagon is not a tank; it is an infantry support vehicle. Let us take a close look at the upgrades it can be given and it will become painfully obvious how to use this vehicle.

Shooty Weapons
The Battle Wagon has a wide array of weapons available. What should be considered is the range on most of them. The Big Gunz and Big Shootas have comparable ranges. They can hit targets out to 36”. The Kill Kannon and Rokkit Launchas can strike targets out to 24”. The significance here is 24” is too short when it comes to ranges. Almost every army in the game will have longer range artillery/ heavy weapons and they will stomp the Battle Wagon into the ground.

If you were to take the maximum shooty weapon load out for the equally ranged weapons then you would be paying the following: 35 points for 36” ranged weapons and 100 points for all 24” weapons.

Choppy Weapons/ Upgrades
This is where the Battle Wagon gets ugly. The Def Roller, Wrecking Ball, Boarding Plank, and Grabbin’ Klaw make the Battle Wagon a juggernaut. These weapons exceed the strength of the shooting weapons, and are comparatively cheaper than the shooting weapons. They also give the Battle Wagon the ability to inflict major damage on opponent tanks and vehicles. The cheaper cost of these upgrades gives an Ork player the chance to have more battle wagons in their force.

Me Orky No Wat’s
Either option for the Battle Wagon is perfectly acceptable. If you are going to upgrade the guns to be Kill Kannon and Rokkits then by no means should this vehicle consider transport duties. It must shoot every turn and move as little as possible. Once your opponent has knocked the ordinance weapon off then it can be a transport, but not until it has been relieved of its ordinance weapon.

This battle wagon will excel at infantry support. What I mean is primary targets for this tank should be soft juicy infantry models, and not tanks. Let your opponent sweat the decision to target your Wagon or your Boyz, and let your wagon pummel your opponent’s infantry with high-AP-insta-kill goodness. The Shooty Wagon will run from 150 to 270 points, but that depends on the options and weapons you put on it.

For this warlord, my money is on the Choppy Wagons. I think that their ability to get the boyz to their destination will be invaluable. I also think that their ability to engage close-by targets will increase their threat ability. The big consideration is that fully loaded out for close up duties, with infantry killing guns, only costs at most 175 points. A lower cost will allow you to take two of them. Two Wagons will ensure that you will be able to use them beyond turn 1. Failing that, you will have distracted a lot of fire from your advancing horde.

When I utilized a little point manipulation I figure that I will be able to take two Battle Wagons in a 2000 point game.

So before you throw your Battle Wagons onto the field, take a look at what you want them to do. I feel that by avoiding MPD, and specifically tasking your Battle Wagons, you will be a force to be reckoned with.

New Year Plans

2008-01-07T16:36:00.000-08:00

Many websites and blogs run a New Year or year in review post of some variety, so I’ve decided that I should reflect on what happened for me this last year in gaming and let my readers know what is going on for the upcoming year.

2007 in review
This last year has been a big year for me. We will start with the release of the Empire Army book for Warhammer Fantasy. The release of this marked the beginning of a year filled with all sorts of new releases for me.

Immediately on the heels of that book came Codex: Dark Angels. I was mildly entertained that my two longest running armies had back to back releases. I was pleased with both books and have had a lot of fun playing them.

2007 also saw the release of Apocalypse, which I strongly feel is demonstrating the future direction that Games Workshop is going. So far, the games of Apocalypse that I have been a party to have been fun, which is where I think GW is going. This new addition to the game has allowed many of us to dust off our Armorcast Super Heavy Tanks and Titans. It has also encouraged me to begin the fine art of scratch building, which has been fun and challenging.

Plans for 2008
I’ll start off with the biggest plan for 2008. It will be that I will be graduating from the University of Texas in the summer. What this means is that while school is on I know I will be posting less. With family, school, and hobby, it will be the last that takes the back seat first. However I did accomplish a lot last semester with hobby stuff so we will see how it goes. I think that video blogging might save my keester and alow me to do some more blogging.

My scratch building plans are going to include some Stompas, finishing my first Battle Wagon, making a second Battle Wagon, and detailing the Thunderbolt. I also really want to get to work on painting my Orks.

Finally, as long as there is going to be prize support for our tournaments in town I would like to try and bulk out my Nids and Orks with newer models by attending as many Tourneys as I can.

Well there you have it. Looks like an exciting year!

Video Blog From Dragon's Lair Tourney

2008-01-06T11:30:00.000-08:00

This is my first attempt at video blogging. I understand that each clip is a bit short however they were made on the fly during the Dragon's Lair Tourney. Each clip is a per round basis and each one gives a quick synopsis about what was going on during the Tourney. Tell me what you think.

Sheet Styrene Unwrapped

2008-01-05T07:16:00.000-08:00

After some feedback on the Thunderbolt WIP I thought that it would be useful to reveal some of my sheet styrene techniques. I teach better through showing rather than writing, so if this is too confusing please contact me and we can get together here in Austin and I will show off these secrets.

With any scratch building project you will always need plans and/ or scale patterns from which you will base your project. As I said in my WIP article I found the pattern for the Thunderbolt on the Table Top War website. However in time I will become more adventurous and turn out a Warlord Titan with plans, but until then I’m going to stick with the project at hand. For this entire project I used Evergreen sheet styrene products. Evergreen sheet styrene can be picked up at any Hobby Town, or your local hobby store. (If you live in Austin, TX try Kings Hobby.)

With any sheet styrene project always use plastic cement. It will give you a better bond and results. I have, in the past, used Zap-A-Gap on sheet styrene and have been severely disappointed. I suggest using Testors Model Master Cement, or LiquaWeld. Both are fine products that basically weld your plastic pieces together.

What helped the Thunderbolt turn out as well as it did was the most basic angle in any construction project: 90°. What I did was print the pattern out in paper and test fit the entire pattern. Since paper is cheap and easy to work with it gave me a good idea where I would find all of the areas where two sheets, or a fold, would make 90°.

Here is why: Once you have made a three sided box structure all of your other joins to that box will be made easier. On the Thunderbolt’s nose section I joined the 90° joints first which made all of the other joints fall in line. Also it is much easier to join squared up objects with each other than trying to fit individual sheets together

Since this pattern was originally designed as a card stock “tape and fold” project I utilized a thinner stock of sheet styrene so that I would have very little adjustments to make in the pattern. The thicker you go with sheet styrene the more adjustments you will have to make. For example the vertical stabilizer, wings, and elevators use a thicker stock of styrene than the rest of the aircraft. But since they were static pieces I could use a thicker sheet without affecting the overall pattern or build.

As for the “how to make 90°” I will explain with illustrations.

Our first illustration, I think, shows it fairly simply. If we were to use an Evergreen “L” bend strip we are able to quickly and easily obtain the desired 90°. First what you would do is glue the L bend with the side that will be mounting flush with the second sheet. After about a minute or so, when you glue has basically set, apply glue to your L Bend and sheet and mount flush with your other sheet. Now this isn’t the technique I used because I needed some rigidity to the joints, which gives us illustration two.

Illustration 2 and 3 is how I made the joins between the sheets. I used the machined edges of a rectangular rod to create my 90° joins. After that I clipped the lengths I needed with my handy spru cutter, and then I followed the steps for gluing like with Illustration 1.

Illustration 3 is how I made the tail section. The tail section had very few 90° joins so I scored the plastic lightly, enough that it would bend then I set the angle and then glued the piece to straddle the joint. Illustration 3 shows glue in the joint, which I had to do when the plastic bend would break. It did twice for me so you will find you will need to glue the join. With the technique you also need to be incredibly careful not to use too much glue because if there is too much glue in the empty space the drying glue will draw the thinned sheet plastic toward the structural member.

Ok well that does it for now. If you have any other questions post them here and I will try and answer them.

Thunderbolt WIP

2008-01-03T18:20:00.000-08:00

I was so excited about completeing the air frame of my Thunderbolt that I had to get these Pics up. The template I used was from Table Top War. These templates were more for paper, but with creativity and Evergreen Sheet Styrene I turned out the basic frame for my Thunderbolt. The materials ran about $10, which will allow me to do more than one project. (Before anyone extols the virtues of "For Sale" signs at The Home Depot; all I will say is that The Home Depot doesn't provide any helpful hints on scratch building models like the local train/ model shop.)

This is stage one. I still have gap filling, body work, and weapon systems to do. Overall I am happy with how this turned out since this is my second scratch built vehicle that I have ever done. Here are some more pics I hope you enjoy.

Review: Foundation Series Paints

2007-06-11T19:20:00.000-07:00

Before I invest whole hog in new paint lines, I like to check out a few of the paint line’s colors. I do this to this to see if the new paint is going to be worth investing in. Well I spent a cozy evening with two colors in the Foundation Paint Series by Games Workshop and here are my thoughts.

Because I play Dark Angels I decided to pick up Mechrite Red and Orchide Shade. The main thrust of my experiment was to see exactly the type of coverage I could expect, paint thickness, and to test the rumored drying speed

Coverage
Wow! The descriptions in the “White Dwarf” were not kidding. This stuff can cover black like no other’s business. I didn’t paint the stuff directly on the model from the paint pot. I transferred paint to my palette, and then thinned it with my “gunk” mixture. (Gunk is a mixture of water, flow improver, and slow dry additives. For more info on “gunk” go here.) This thinned mixture went on well. The nice part about the thinned paint is that it took fewer coats to obtain coverage.

Normally it takes 6 to 8 coats of almost any color to obtain coverage over a black primer coat. With the Foundation Series Paints it took two thin coats to obtain coverage. (I would like to emphasize that when I said thin I meant it. I thinned the paint 1 part paint, to 1 part gunk mix, and 1 part water.) When it comes to coverage this paint does the trick.

Paint Thickness
This paint is about as thick as standard GW paint. If you use a lot of GW paint you will understand the maxim of the Heavy Metal Team: Always thin your paint. The Heavy Metal Team has this maxim because GW paints tend to be a little thicker than the Vallejo or the Reaper Master Series paints. An experienced painter will thin any paint that they use to some degree.

If a painter doesn’t thin the Foundation Series Paints the results they will obtain are atrocious. The best way to describe it is leaving a paint pot open for an hour and then painting from that pot without thinning the paint at all. If the painter paints over details they may as well start over because this paint will appear to fill details in like putty. I think that this effect is also heightened by this paint’s opacity

Drying Speed
Straight out of the pot this paint dries almost as fast as rubbing alcohol. This has some advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is that is if you are trying to turn out a fully painted army as fast as you can then this paint is the way to go. Foundation Series Paints are perfect for assembly line painting. This is because by the time you reach the end of your assembly line the first model will be dry and ready for the next color.

This fast drying can be a disadvantage. When it is thinned with anything, it is terribly difficult to blend, and needs to be manipulated almost as soon as it is painted. During my session an example of this was experienced while painting an arm. I started at the shoulder and moved my way towards the hand. By the time I had finished the hand the shoulder was already dry. This occurred in the space of less than a minute.

Overall Opinion
Using the Movie Critics star system, I will rate this with paint brushes in lieu of stars. So out of five paint brushes I give this 2 1/2 paint brushes.

I’m giving it this rating because Foundation Paints are a great tool for the intermediate to advanced painter. It allows these painters to paint a nice saturated base color from which to work up from. The experience I had with the paint was that it was great for laying down my base color tones. It worked well for painting red over black, and for painting an eve shade of green. I wasn’t inclined to use it any further than that. As soon as I had the base color I was looking for I immediately switched over to my GW and Reaper Master Series paints because of the vibrancy, flow, and workability of these colors.

I would recommend giving them a try. Try them in a color that you use often and are familiar with. I would not recommend sinking $45 on them unless you are absolutely sure you know you will want and use them.

Laying Your Plans Part 2

2007-06-11T19:17:00.000-07:00

In our last installment we talked about the various stages of the game and how to plan for them. I will continue using the stages of the game discussion to further develop my ideas on planning. Last time I touched on movement and this time I’m going to focus solely on moving your units.

The main idea of your movement is to be goal oriented. At the start of the game you should have a basic idea of how you want your units to move, and where they need to go. In Chess there is a school of thought called “Position over Piece.” This school of thought states that your control over a position on the game board is of primary importance. Thus the importance of any one piece, other than the king, is secondary to controlling your board position. What this means is control your positions at all costs. I bring this school of thought up because to obtain your position on the field you need to move there.

With this in mind we will look at two aspects of movement. The first aspect is offensive movement and the second is defensive movement. These aspects of movement will help you achieve and maintain your goals.

Offensive troop movement is the type of movement that we are the most familiar with. It is very straight forward movement. Its main goal is to provide you’re your troops with opportunities to attack. Ultimately this is what we will have to do if we are hoping to win.

When we make offensive moves there are a few considerations we will make. First we must consider how the movement will help our troops inflict the most damage. Next we think about how our move will help us achieve the mission objectives. Last we need to ensure that our movement doesn’t reduce the effectiveness of our other units.

As we probe into the first of our considerations, we look at few battlefield factors. Maximum damage is achieved through clear lanes of fire, reducing the opponent’s chances of taking cover, and maximizing weapon potential. A good example of this is moving a troop armed with bolt guns within 12” of an opponent in order to utilize the Rapid Fire rule.

The second consideration we need to make can make or break the chance for victory. Alpha level missions make the mission primary in importance. Failure to obtain the objective means a loss. For Gamma level missions and higher the victory points for the missions can ruin your chances for victory.

If we delve deeper into this subject we begin to see that there are some items that require some scrutiny. When we are moving towards the objective we should figure out an estimated time of arrival. If we estimate that it will take us four rounds to reach an objective purely through moving then it will be in our best interests to get there as fast as possible.

Once we have estimated the speed of our arrival then we look at how likely we will be able to hold the objective. If you lack the ability to hold the objective then it doesn’t make a lot of sense to move towards it. If this is the case then we might want to think about how we can time, or plan, our movement to deny the objective to our opponent.

Our third overall consideration is watching for how our movement can affect our army’s effectiveness. This seems like a “no-brainer” but I’ve seen how not taking this into account can hurt a force’s effectiveness. The most basic question to ask one’s self when moving is, “How will this stop me from shooting or assaulting?” By asking this question you will be able to make better moves. When you move your troops watch your lanes of fire, assault routes, and routes, toward the objectives. An example would be assaulting a wide formation in such away that the close combat blocks your other troops from obtaining targets in future rounds.

After talking about offensive movement lets talk about defensive movement. Defensive movement is a fine art that requires forethought, ingenuity, and a flair for the cut throat. The main idea behind defensive movement is preventing your opponent from doing something. There are three major actions we look at preventing: movement, shooting and assault.

When trying to move defensively we look at a few factors. We look at what battlefield terrain is on the table, and second we look at what troops and vehicles we possess that can fill this role. Terrain and vehicles do the lion’s share of the work, but troops may also be utilized for defensive movement.

Terrain serves many purposes. It can provide cover, slow movement, and block lines of sight. Creative use of terrain can potentially provide an extra turn of shooting, improved initiative in close combats, and excellent lanes of fire. Never underestimate what terrain can do.

Vehicles can assist your army in reaching their objective or your opponent. From main line battle tanks to the standard APC’s all vehicles can help your troops make it to their objective. For example a line of thee Chimeras nose to tail across the board can provide a 12” wall for your troops to run behind. Some vehicles can also claim objectives which can potentially be useful near the end of the game.

Troops can also be moved defensively. One of the most common ways is to move a unit forward to intercept a potential assaulting unit so the remainder of your force may escape. This will give your force a chance to take up a better firing, or defensive, positions from which to engage your opponent from. Also never forget the at least 1” away rule. This can help mange your opponent’s movement.

The big idea that I will leave you with is that movement can make or break you. Plan your movement. If you make and execute your plans then you will be dictating the actions of battle to your opponent instead of having your opponent dictate your actions.

Next time we will build on movement and move into the shooting phase.

Creative APC Driving

2007-06-01T15:46:00.000-07:00

There are many other uses for the Rhino besides the rolling pill box, portable wall, and instant terrain. Here are some other creative uses for the Rhino that I’m sure will give your Rhinos more mileage.

Long Range Rapid Fire
This is my favorite of all of the uses of the Rhino. Since you can’t assault from a Rhino if you have moved said vehicle you can certainly shoot. The 4th ed. rules on Rapid Fire made this a perfect tactic for any marine player. So what you do is jump your marines out after moving 12” deploy the 2” away from the door and light your opponent up. If you got first turn and they deployed at the front edge of their deployment zone then you most surely get some hits in.

This tactic is also very useful for increasing the range of our friend the melta gun. Especially if your opponent has vehicles deployed 24” from you. AP 1 means that if you hit all your penetration rolls will be penetrations. This tactic is especially useful in cracking open full Rhinos so your Devastator squads can ruin the squads contained within.

Bracketing
Ever find yourself in a situation where you are facing a particularly nasty IC. End your troubles with bracketing. What you do is create a very narrow lane of fire either between two Rhinos or a rhino and area terrain. Now you make sure that the only closest target is that pesky enemy IC in that narrow lane. Once you have done this gun away and watch that pesky IC disappear.

The Miraculous Magnificent Multi-Melta

2007-04-27T15:44:00.000-07:00

A not often used and usually ignored heavy weapon is the Multi-Melta. This weapon is usually overlooked because its range is terribly short when compared to the other heavy weapons. Also the move or fire component of this weapon limits this weapon’s usefulness to short range fire fights or one shot per game situations. These components along with power and utility of the other heavy weapons really make this weapon look like a weak choice.

Benefits
There are some real benefits that make this a weapon worth taking. The first benefit is its point cost effectiveness. In the new Dark Angel codex it is 10 and 15 points depending if you are fielding it in a Tactical Squad or Devastator Squad. This makes this weapon a good candidate for selection especially if you are looking to trim points out of your force.

The next benefit of this weapon is its power. Strength 8 AP 1 doesn’t seem like much but when faced nose to nose with a Land Raider you will always get a penetrating hit. Also the extra die of penetration will help if vehicles get within half the distance of your range. The low AP will allow you to get confirmed kills on anything you wound.

There are also some hidden benefits. A hidden benefit that I have found quite handy is so many folks treat this as a weapon of no consequence, and therefore they tend to ignore it as they are shooting at your army. This allows squads that are packing this weapon the opportunity to get close enough to use it.

The ability to establish a forward firebase is also something worth considering as a hidden benefit. What I mean by this is your opponent is most likely ignoring these deadly weapons, and therefore they are able to get up into position relatively unscathed. This enables this squad to dominate through firepower the position they take up. If you add this with a few supporting tactical squads you will find that you are wiping away the opposition with little resistance.

Applications
Now that we have covered the benefits lets talk about the tactical applications of this weapon. These applications are fairly sound and typically lack the flair for the broken that is usually seen with most tactical discussions.

I call this first tactic “Shoot and Slide.” Unfortunately this is a tactic that only a Black Templar Army may use, but it is a sound tactic. I came up with this tactic while fighting my friend’s Templar Army. I had noticed that his army lacked any real distance tank busting ability. This was hurting him because I was able to get my tanks and APC’s up close. His general response was that the army was a mobile force and didn’t have the time to wait for heavy weapons.

As I considered this I discovered a way that Templar players can have their cake and eat it too. “Shoot and Slide” basically relies on the Templar “Fall Forward” rule. What one would do, who is interested in this tactic, is place a unit that has a Plasma Gun and Multi-Melta in a spot that will draw the attention of enemy shooting, e.g. near a mission objective. Because you are grabbing their attention your opponent will want to shoot at you. In effect your opponent will be “reeling in” the squad with the Multi-Melta. This will drag your Multi-Melta into range without you ever making a conscious effort of moving, and you will be able to fire your heavy weapon because “Fall Forward” doesn’t count as movement for purpose of shooting.

The purpose and benefit of the Plasma Gun is two-fold. First it has the same range as the Multi-Melta and the bolters. Second it has the chance to overheat and kill the marine. Now I bet you have just read that last sentence more than once. Overheat is a good thing in this case. What you are doing is making your rules work for you. What you are hoping for is the gun overheating on you and forcing you to move closer to the enemy. This will at least help you inch ever closer to your opponents lines especially if he gets wise to you using your rules to your benefit.

There is a related tactic I call “Point Blank Fall Back”. This tactic relies on the Marine unit with the Melta weapon failing a fall back check. What you are hoping for is an enemy vehicle near enough to the fall back corridor that once the move is done you will be able to plug the vehicle with your Melta weapon at the start of your turn from within half the weapon’s range. Alternatively this can also be useful for getting back to your lines to deal with a particularly nasty unit in your deployment zone. (This Tactic wasn’t initially a tactic but a move of desperation made while loosing. It illustrates why you should play out your games because you can learn things not normally garnered from winning.)

Our next maneuver I call “Wall of Tank”. What we do to accomplish this maneuver is walk our Multi-Melta devastator squads up behind advancing tanks or Rhinos on turn one. On turn two if the vehicles are still mobile move the tanks out of the way and let rip with. If the tanks have been immobilized in some way chances are still pretty good that you will have something to shoot at.

Laying Your Plans part 1

2007-04-25T15:53:00.000-07:00

In any game of Warhammer Fantasy Battles or 40k you must plan your game. As the old adage says, “He, who fails to plan, plans for failure.” It may be cliché, but it is so true. With this in mind I am beginning a series on planning your battles.

In this first installment we are going to talk about the various stages of the game. The “stages of the game” idea is not new. In fact I’m borrowing it directly from the best strategy game man has ever created: Chess. If you want a better understanding of these concepts I would suggest going down to your local library and checking out any number of Chess books that they certainly have in the stacks.

In the game of Chess there is no fixed game length like there is in any variant of Warhammer, but there is an opening, middle, and an end. These are fairly distinct phases, and most experienced chess players know what phase of the game they are in. By knowing where they are in the game they are able to play accordingly.

In Warhammer you should have a rough idea about what you want your units to do while you are deploying them, but by the time your first turn occurs you should have a solid idea what each unit is going to accomplish throughout the game.

The Opening
The opening in any Chess game will make or break your game. Failing to complete your opening as you have planned will cost you the game. This school of thought in Chess was given to me by Gary Kasparov, and in any game of Chess I have ever played, as well as Warhammer, this theory has held true.

The point of the opening phases of the game is to position your pieces/ forces to optimize their mid game attacks. Control is the name of the game in the opening. You are working on obtaining the perfect position to strike from. You are moving to position yourself to capture/secure/achieve objectives. This is also a great time to create appearances. (I will get into that thought in a latter article.)

Game opening should never go more than two turns. If it does chances are real good you didn’t plan your opening. The main idea of the opening is positioning your units in such a way that in the mid game they will be able to get the most bang for their buck.

Now don’t think I’m advocating the idea that you should only move to the exclusion of all else. What I’m saying is get yourself in a position so that your units can shine, e.g. many experienced players will not place their units in the gun sights of a Vindicator so use that knowledge to help secure objectives.

Advice for Openings
In the opening turns of the game never give in to the temptation to react to the actions, or inactions of your opponent. Feel free to respond to your opponents actions but do not abandon your plan. When you understand the difference between responding and reacting you will begin to control your games.

The biggest regret that I hear from the losing side is, “I should have stuck to my plan.” This is any player’s biggest challenge and best hope for a win.

The Middle or Mid Game
The mid game is the point where the “rubber is meeting the road.” An old military adage that works here is, “The plan of attack will not survive contact with the enemy.” This is the point of the game where your plans combined with your dice rolls are making or breaking you.

The focus in the mid game is scoring units. If you can prevent your opponent from scoring you will win the game. Focus on taking your opponents units below 50%. Give special attention to forces that are near the objective. By keeping objectives opponent free you will force his troops to move, to get out of place, and generally make your opponent’s game life difficult.

Advice for Mid Game
While working on keeping your objectives opponent free make sure you have units ready and able to grab objectives. If you have a way to bring in reserves then make sure that you do. Reserves will help you respond to your opponent’s weakened forces and may help you grab objectives.

This is where you tweak your battle plan but don’t make such a large tweak that you spoil your overall plan. Use your master plan to make your adjustments.

The End or End Game
Have you ever found yourself in the middle of turn four and said, “I’m losing”? Well now you know how to spot the end game. It is the point within the game where every move every dice roll only solidifies your win or your loss. In my experience, I’ve seen the end game as early as the end of turn two, and as late as the final dice roll.

Success in this phase is totally dependent on your ability to succeed in your opening. What you set up at the start of the game will come to fruition at the end of the game. When you reach the end game ask yourself this, “Am I winning or am I losing?” The answers to this will dictate what you should do.

If you are losing then try and narrow the margin of loss between you and your opponent. Who knows? Maybe you’ll squeeze out a draw by the end of the game. This might help you especially if you are in a tourney. It is far easier to recover from a draw then a loss.

If you are winning then your entire goal is to clench your win by increasing your margin of victory. This may sound like a no brainer to you, but I can’t begin to tell you how many times I’ve watched my opponents drop the ball and give me huge wins or draws. The game isn’t over until the end of turn six.

Advice for End Game
Focus. If you keep your eye on the ball you will accomplish your goals

Next time... Plans for moving

A Review of “Codex: Dark Angels”

2007-03-26T18:17:00.000-07:00

Now that we have had a month plus to look at, consider, and make cunning plans; lets get down to the brass tacks of this book. Some would say that the strength of this new codex lies in the Ravenwing and Deathwing special rules. Some have said the strength of this codex is in the special characters. I disagree with all of these opinions. The heart and soul and strongest rule of this codex is Combat Squads. Some readers may ask why I think this is the greatest achievement of this codex. I’ll explain.

Tactical Flexibility

Recently I’ve been noticing a disturbing trend in Basic Marine Armies. Many Marine players have been moving in the direction of squads as delivery systems for tooled up characters. I don’t blame players for this shift.

Since 3rd edition 40k I’ve seen marines played one of two ways: Firing Line, and Blitzkrieg. The Firing Line tactic has been the most prevalent, while Blitzkrieg has been a more recent advent of 4th edition.

Most Marine players, myself included, have noticed that most of the unit weapon upgrades were point sinks to stick unused points in. Flamers, if taken, barely got fired. Melta Guns, might have, got a single shot off per game. Plasma Guns are useful if you plan on standing off and shooting, but are otherwise a waste especially if you wanted to assault. Infantry heavy weapons of any sort were only useful when you were standing off and shooting, but became completely useless when the battle became a running gun fight.

The Combat Squad special rule finally allows the heavy weapons to do their job, while the special weapons can move up and get into firing range. It gives the Dark Angels a strong firebase, without affecting their ability to run and gun.

Mission Completion
I touched on this a little in the last section. Most of the missions require that the player move out of their deployment zone and secure, capture, or destroy something. Very few of the missions allow the player to win by sitting back and shooting. Because of this many Marine armies went with the objective denial strategy, which would almost always run into problems if their opponent got last turn.

Combat Squads allow the Dark Angels to send out elements to accomplish the mission. It also provides an on the field reserve element by making the opponent engage the units more likely to accomplish the mission. (On the field reserves are units that will most likely still be at full strength near the end of the game, and able to be a scoring unit.)

Scoring Units

Besides the Imperial Guard and the Land Raider Transport option, there are no other armies that I know of in 40K that can create multiple scoring units from one slot on the Force Organization Chart. The ability to have multiple scoring units from one slot is invaluable. It is invaluable because the chosen force will give up Victory Points stingily.

What these multiple units also do is saturate the field with individual units. Imagine for a moment that you and your opponent both have 11 Force Organization selections, but because you are playing Dark Angels your 11 selections are 22 scoring units. Not only are they 22 units, but they are 22 individual units that must each be targeted separately. Most armies have a difficult time killing 5 marines with a single unit, and that alone is the beauty of the Combat Squad special rule.

The Ravenwing and the Deathwing have their place within the ranks of a Dark Angels army. However, if you want tactical flexibility, the ability to accomplish your missions, and more scoring units than your opponent then accept no substitutions. Take Combat Squads.

The Magic of Guessing Range part 2

2007-03-22T15:58:00.000-07:00

In our last installment we talked about math and using parts of your body as reference in aiding you in guessing range. In this installment we are going discuss battle field reference points and advanced math techniques. It always helpful to have a scratch pad at your table for these techniques.

Battle Field Reference Points

This technique was garnered by watching the movie “Kingdom of Heaven.” In Warhammer Fantasy Battles you cannot pre-measure out into the field, but while you are deploying you can use a ruler to measure spacing between units and leadership radius. You know the depth of your deployment zone what you’re determining is the width. Get a rough idea where the middle of your deployment zone is. Get to know where the middle of each table quarter is. (It is real easy. In a basic game of WHFB it will be 12” in from the left or right table edges at the front of your deployment zone.) Make mental notes or written notes where these points are. Also make written or mental notes where these reference points are in your opponent’s side. (This is accomplished by drawing mental lines from your points to the front of your opponent’s deployment zone.)

Now that you have made a mental or written map where these point are you are ready to apply step two.

Advanced Mathematics

Scarecrow in “The Wizard of Oz” summed up the principle we are going to use: Pythagorean Theorem. It states: In any right triangle the length of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares of the two sides. Simply put a² + b² = c². This is where we combine techniques.

Using our battle field references, we can now determine where a unit is on the field plus or minus to the closest point. So now all we do is apply a little math and we will know exactly where they are.

Example: Enemy unit is 6” out of their 12” deployment zone and 6” to your left of the center line of the table. Your Empire Mortar is at 6” in your deployment zone and 12” from your right table edge. This means that your opponent’s unit is 18” to the left of your mortar and 24” forward. This makes their unit exactly 30” away from your mortar.

Tips on These Techniques

First and foremost: work on these calculations during your opponent’s turn. This will speed up how long you take during your turn. Next you want to practice. If you practice you will increase your speed, and after a while you’ll be able to eyeball ranges. Third don’t be afraid of over or under guessing you will improve with time.

Tricks of the Trade

Tip 1 A very common occurrence in WHFB is to see your opponent measure the distance between their missile troops and your troops to see if they are in range. This measurement works both ways. So the tip is never let any measurement get wasted. If you get quick enough you’ll be able to see potential charge distances, firing distances, and other items that are considered guesses.

For example I had an opponent not believe that I was in range with a Whirlwind shot I had made, and asked me to measure it out. I measured the distance for him, but as I was doing this I made mental notes of everything that I could possibly hit.

Tip 2 Mark your deployment zone short at the beginning of the game. You can mark it short, at most, by about an inch to an inch and a half. The human eye, and most casual observers, won’t be able to tell 10 ¹/₂” and 12” apart. It looks pretty close. If your opponent is working under the assumption that you deployed 12” in when you really deployed at 10” then you might experience a failed charge or they miss with missile troops. I’ve seen many a dwarf player do this so that they get the ability to charge.

The Magic of Guessing Range Part 1

2007-03-20T19:05:00.000-07:00

So have you ever played against anyone who seems to never miss with their artillery? Or played against a marine player that when you question his distance retorts with, "You're right it's not 48 inches it's 43 and 3/4 inches." What makes it worse is that they are right. Well dear reader I am about to expose the secrets and mysteries behind guessing range.

Ever wonder how ancient man made measurements? It was with his body. There are only two measurements that we'll need to concern ourselves with the span and the cubit. A span is the measurement from the tip of your thumb to the tip of your pinky when they are spread out at their widest. The cubitis the tip of your middle finger to your elbow. The measurements are roughly 6 and 18 inces respectively. These are good reference guides if you need a rough idea of what 6 or 18 inches looks like.

The better method is math. Math is your friend. If math is too tough for you I repeat the instructions of the 13th Warrior, "Grow stronger." It is well worth your time and it gets you to pay attention during the entire game. If the unit is directly in front of you then by knowing how far on the table you deployed, plus how deep your opponent deployed, subtracted from the overall length of the table you will have the exact distance between you and your enemy.

Next time we'll look at more complex guessing and little dirty tricks to use.

2007-03-19T16:15:00.000-07:00

Well here is one of many images of Reaper's Dire Drake Kaladrax.

Painting:

Primer Coat: Krylon Black Primer

I then used multiple coats of drybrushing. The Skelatal parts were drybrushed about 6 times with GW Scorched Earth. Then drybrushed about four times with GW Graveyard Earth. I then drybrushed 3 coats of GW Bleached Bone, and then hit it with one drybrushed coat of GW Skull White.

The horns and claws were drybrushed with two coats of GW Shadow Grey. The fleshy parts of the wings were drybrushed 6 times with GW Scorched Earth. Then drybrushed 3 times with GW Dark Flesh, and 3 times with GW Vermin Fur. The base (not shown) was drybrushed in succesive layers of GW Codex Gray adding white. He took about 30 hours grand total including sanding, puttying, and painting.

Paint Stripping

2007-03-19T16:10:00.000-07:00

Paint stripping models: This is for all those here in America Who don't have a DIY near them

Tools needed: Simple Green, Paint Stripping Brush, Old Tooth Brush, small plastic Foldgers can with lid

Shopping for tools: At the Home Depot near me in Aus, TX the paint stripping brush and Simple Green are on the same aisle (which was also on the same aisle as the varnish). Paint stripping brushes have a white handle and red nylon bristles keep asking until you find someone who can lead you to it. (I had to ask 10 people before I found someone who actually knew what I was talking about.)

Use: Drop Minis in coffee can, cover with undiluted simple green, put the lid on, leave in garage, or other out the way location. (I wouldn't leave it in your house cause it will make girlfriend/ wife/ S.O. fairly uptight after the third day of smelling sassafras) I let this concotion steep for 5 to 7 days for maximum effect. Using your paint stripping brush scrub your model until clean. I would use the tooth brush on plastic minis because the paint stripping brush has a light sandinig effect on plastics you may not want.

Rules of the Road

2007-03-19T15:58:00.000-07:00

Rules of the Road
This is not exhaustive. These are rules that I will have in effect for this Blog. If you don’t agree please refer yourself to Rule 1 until you do.

1. My Blog my rules.
2. The First Amendment protects me not you. Since this is my Blog I reserve the right to edit, censor, delete, etc. I will leave most stuff alone unless it breaks these other rules.
3. Be gentle. I’m an amateur posting on my hobby.
4. Please no flaming or personal attacks. You may not agree with me and that’s ok.
5. Please reasonably and logically post your views and comments.
6. Please no profanity. If your vocabulary is so limited that you must express yourself that way then *&%$#@! use the old comics code way or bleep yourself. I’m trying to keep this work/family/kid friendly.
7. I’ll follow my rules. If I don’t, let me know.
8. Have fun.

My first post

2007-03-18T10:15:00.000-07:00

I'll post my rules later, but this is going to be my blog on my hobby and hobby related stuff so you should all hear from me soon.