~Your daily dose of tabletop fun! Enjoy. If you have an awesome shot you think would make a great BoLS pic of the day, email us! We know you have cool stuff.
Friday, July 31, 2009
40K Pic of the Day 7-31-09
~Your daily dose of tabletop fun! Enjoy. If you have an awesome shot you think would make a great BoLS pic of the day, email us! We know you have cool stuff.
The BoLS Lounge is Open
Today is a big day for BoLS! After months of preparation and planning, we are proud to open the BoLS Lounge to all of our readers.... so get on over there and reserve your name. You will find a link to the Lounge in the top nav-bar for easy access, and more interactive Lounge elements will be coming soon.
The Lounge offers forums for all of your favorite Games Workshop games, covering all aspects of the wargaming hobby from army collection, to hardcore tactics, to painting and modeling.
We also have isolated many of the top centers of the wargaming hobby and set up sub-forums just for fellow local gamers to enjoy. Link up and just chat about whats going down with the gaming scene in your own backyard. Many new features are already lined up and will be rolling out in the weeks ahead to make your Lounge experience even more fun.
Now the next question will be what does this mean for BoLS, and our daily editorials, news, and rumor coverage? The answer is... NOTHING. You can still expect you daily dose of BoLS to stay just where you like it. You just have another way to indulge your hobby.
EPIC: GW looking at supporting again?
Matthew Otter - Space MarinesIf you have been following my series on Epic:Armageddon, you will already have read about mine and others' lamentation regarding GW's apparent lack of enthusiasm for their Specialist Games products.
It's because of this apparent lack of enthusiasm that I was more than a little surprised to learn about the new Epic displayat Warhammer World in the UK.
EpicUK display caseApparently, the awesome blokes over at EpicUK (you guys rule! keep up the great work!) were approached by GW representatives earlier this year about hosting "an exhibition of the best EPIC tournament armies seen at EPIC UK events".
Matthew Otter, EpicUK Chairman, writes "EPIC UK have [sic] been in talks with Games Workshop to see if we can hold another EPIC display in the future and it all looks hopeful".
Ryan Downes - The Lost and the DamnedFor a larger dose of Epic Awesome, check out the slideshow posted on Photobucket!
~What could this mean? Is it possible GW is finally feeling The Love for Epic:Armageddon and the other Specialist Games? Has the wasted potential of these ranges finally been noticed by The Suits? Particularly with the imminent release of Planetary Empires, merging the Awesome Factors of Battlefleet Gothic and Epic:Armageddon with Warhammer 40,000 makes a lot of sense. What say you all?
Thursday, July 30, 2009
40K Pic of the Day 7-30-09
~Your daily dose of tabletop fun! Enjoy. If you have an awesome shot you think would make a great BoLS pic of the day, email us!
40K RUMORS: Space Wolves Roundup
Collated info brought to the community by Warseers: The Dude
GENERAL INFO
-To be released October 2009
-Codex written by Phil Kelly
-Space Wolves will supposedly be “even less Codex Astartes” than they were before. This would cover unusual squad sizes etc.
RULES
Army-wide Special Rules
Sagas – Characters can take special skills called Sagas. They are said to work similar to the Vampiric Powers used by Vampire Counts. 75hastings69 gave the example that a character with “Saga of the monster killer” (made up name) may be better at killing Monstrous Creatures, but would suffer a drawbacks such as needing to kill a certain number of them per game.
Wolf Claws – The Space Wolf version of Lightning Claws, allow you to choose to either re-roll “to hit” or “to wound”.
Special Characters
-Logan Grimnar: No news yet
-Ragnar Blackmane: No news yet
-Njal Stormcaller: No news yet, but would share the Rune Priest standard rules.
-Ulrik the Slayer: No news yet, but would share the Wolf Priest standard rules.
-Canis Wolfborn: Mounted on a large cybernetically enhanced Fenrisian wolf. Wears Power Armour and has a pair of Wolf Claws. Canis also allows you to take two cavalry choices, either wolves, or more Marines on wolves.
-Bjorn the Fellhanded: Early rumours reported Bjorn would have AV14 all around, but these have been thrown into disrepute recently.
Special Characters will likely have prescribed (maybe unique) Sagas attached to them.
HQ
-Wolf Lords: May take up to two Sagas. They will have a wide variety of weapon options. May possibly be able to make one unit of Wolf Guard a Troops choice.
-Wolf Priests: Combines the skills of Codex Marines’ Chaplain and Apothacary. Armed with Power weapon, Iron Wolf Amulet (4+ Inv) and Healing Balms and Potions as standard. Will allow units to re-roll “to hit” and also confer Fearless and Feel no Pain on any unit they join. May take up to one saga.
-Rune Priests: Armed with Force Weapon and able to take Space Wolf Specific psychic powers. May take up to one Saga.
-Iron Priests: Will most likely be brought in line with Codex Techmarines. May take up to one Saga. It is unclear if they will be HQ or Elite.
ELITES
-Wolf Guard/Terminators: May take a Wolf Guard Battle Leader who will be able to take up to one Saga.
-Wolf Scouts: Will supposedly remain the same and gain the option be mounted in a Land Speeder Storm
-Lone Wolf: A one-man unit that will be “really strong” and act similar to Tyranid Lictors
-Wulfen: Possibly a "Legion of the Damned" style Unique choice, or maybe something based on HQ selection. It is unclear if they will appear at all.
TROOPS
-Blood Claws: Have supposedly been re-worked in respect to "Berserk Charge" to make them 5th Edition compatible. May take a Wolf Guard as a squad leader.
-Grey Hunters: Rumoured to be able to take a second special weapon in their squads. May take a Wolf Guard as a squad leader.
TRANSPORTS
-Rhino: No news yet
-Razorback: No news yet
FAST ATTACK
-Blood Claws Skyriders: Blood Claws with Jump Packs.
-Land Speeder: No news yet
-Land Speeder Storm: Likely Added
-Bikes/Attack Bikes: No news yet
HEAVY SUPPORT
-Long Fangs: May possibly receive some sort of special rule allowing them to move and fire, but not assault. May take a Wolf Guard as a squad leader.
-Land Raider: Crusader and Redeemer most likely added. Also rumours of a unique Land Raider variant, possibly with three twin-linked Assault Cannon.
-Predator: No news yet
-Whirlwind: No news yet
-Vindicator: No news yet
-Leman Russ Exterminator: Almost certainly removed
~Bigred here. Standard caveats apply to all of this until we have a copy of the codex in hand, and special thanks goes out to The Dude for putting together the latest of his famed roundups. In particular I'll be eagerly awaiting this "saga" concept, and seeing what they have done to make Long Fangs viable on a 5th edition tabletop.
40K NEWS: Astro Mag #5 is Out
Hi folks,
A quick one today, The fine folks over at The Astromonican mag have kicked out their 5th e-zine issue. Go check it out!
Astro Mag #5
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
40K Pic of the Day 7-29-09
~Your daily dose of tabletop fun! Enjoy. If you have an awesome shot you think would make a great BoLS pic of the day, email us!
BoLSCon: 3 Week Alert!
BoLSCon 2009
August 22-23
Doubletree Hotel, Austin, Texas
BoLSCon is just 3 weeks away!
UBER-PRIZES
Remember back when we said we had $4000 in prizes and giveaways? OOPS, now its up to over $11,000 of value, with more prizes and gifts still coming in! That averages out to more than the cost of the BoLScon Floor Pass per attendee! The prizes now occupy Bigred’s entire dining room, and we still have not added the dozens of Battalion and Battle Boxes from Battleforge Games.
LIST SUBMISSIONS
Fantasy players have their list submission set back to August 14th. If you have already submitted your Fantasy list, you are free to resubmit it later. We are doing this so that people who are attending Bayou Battles in Houston can make changes after they see how their armies do there. Remember that Bayou Battles attendees will receive a $20 rebate for BoLSCon, paid at the BoLSCon registration desk.
NARRATIVE SLOTS STILL AVAILABLE
Due to some players shuffling around between event tracks, we have a few slots available again for the 40K Narrative track.
Warhammer 40,000 2000pt Tournament
Warhammer Fantasy 2250pt Tournament
War of the Rings 2000pt Tournament
Warhammer 40,000 3000pt Narrative Events Anti-tournament
Open Gaming
Pod Racing
Lucky-13s
REGISTER NOW! There are only 3 weeks to go!
~Come on down to beautiful, sunny Austin and enjoy a weekend of your favorite games with the Fly Lords. We'll see ya there!
40K PLAY AID: Badab Teaser - The Minotaurs
Hi Guys,
Badab is merely days away, and we are working on proofreading. For all you guys salivating for some Badab-era fun, here is a look at one of the more challenging paint-schemes to ever grace a tabletop. I present...
Captain Minos and the Minotaurs. This is a space-based chapter that led an epic hunt for their arch-rivals - the Lamenters. I hope you find them to have some cool background and rules, not to mention possibly a serious challenge for any 40k painter.
~Enjoy and by all means comment away. You can expect something along this format for each and every chapter in the Badab War, along with a detailed history, tons of color plates, maps, and a full 4-part branching campaign that allows you to change the history of the conflict as either Rebel or Imperial forces.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
40k Deep Thought: Killing VS Surviving?
So I've been having a lot of discussions about what is the single key element that a unit can have in 5th edition. Without boring you with the myriad details, the lines have been drawn in the sand between two main camps who both think they have 5th edition all figured out:
The Butchers
"It doesn't matter what the other guy does. A 4x6 board is actually pretty small, and in 5-7 turns my super lethal models will find and clear you off of the little parts of it that matter... Lethality wins!"
The Survivors
"5-7 turns isn't enough time to deal with a large bunch of models trying to minimize thier losses. Cover is everywhere. I have enough super tough units spread around, that I can batten down the hatches, run down the clock, and contest my way to victory. Survivability is king!"
~What do you think is the superior approach, and where do you fall on the Butcher vs Survivor spectrum. If you have specific armies, lists, or units you feel are great examples of either type throw them up into the comments. The floor is your's generals.
BoLSCon: Jwolf's Challenge List
LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLE!!!
Hi all, Jwolf here. I’ve got some challenge games coming up with Jawaballs and Fritz at BoLSCon, and I struggled with what to play. Do I play Chaos Space Marines, because I love Berserkers? Dark Eldar, because they make mobile armies look static? Or the Tallarn? In the end, I decided to go with my good old Imperial Guard. Here is my list:
JWolf's IG "Brick to the Face" (2000pts)
Company Command Squad: Company Commander with Plasma Pistol, Powerfist, and Meltabombs, 3 Plasmagunners, Medic, Bodyguard, Carapace Armor
In a Chimera with Hull Heavy Flamer, Turret Multilaser, and Hunter Killer Missile
Le Soldat Marbo
6 Ratlings
4 Ratlings
Infantry Platoon
Platoon Command Squad: Platoon Commander with Bolt Pistol, Power Weapon, and Meltabombs, 3 Flamers, Medic
Platoon Squad: Grenade Launcher and Mortar
Platoon Squad: Grenade Launcher
Heavy Weapon Squad: Lascannons
Heavy Weapon Squad: Autocannons
Veteran Squad: 6 Shotguns, 3 Meltaguns, Bolt Pistol and Power Weapon
In a Chimera with Hull Heavy Flamer and Turret Multilaser
Veteran Squad: 6 Shotguns, 3 Meltaguns, Plasma Pistol and Power Weapon
Valkyrie with Multiple Rocket Pods and Multilaser
Hellhound with Hull Multimelta, Extra Armor, and Smoke Launchers
Armored Sentinel with Lascannon
Medusa with Enclosed Crew Compartment
Leman Russ Battle Tank: Hull Heavy Bolter and Sponson Heavy Bolters
Leman Russ Demolisher: Hull Lascannon and Sponson Plasma Cannons
THOUGHTS
So I know that both of these guys are going to be very mobile, and I’m taking a list that isn’t nearly as mobile as I could make it. Why? Well, if we’re testing our playstyles against each other, I think I should play it my way, and my way is plenty of guns and no concern about what my opponent brings, so that is what I have done with this list. I look forward to giving the Fifth Dimension a personal guided tour of the Brick-in-the-Face Dimension.
~Now of course it would be ungentlemanly of Fritz or Jawaballs to custom tailor a list based on this one. I trust they will take good representational lists for their well-documented playstyles. Who do you all think will prevail? Come on don't be shy....
Monday, July 27, 2009
40K Pic of the Day 7-27-09
~Your daily dose of tabletop fun! Enjoy. If you have an awesome shot you think would make a great BoLS pic of the day, email us!
40K SNEAK PEEK: Chicago GD - Ork Supa-Kannon & Space Wolves
Images provided by BoLS readers: Hook & Sean
Straight from the mini cabinets of Chicago Gamesday 2009. Here are some nice shots of our previously blurry Space Wolves, and a new Forgeworld Ork Supa-Kannon upgrade kit for the Battlewagon.
~Enjoy guys!
Goatboy's 40k Thoughts: Setup and Go!
Goatboy here with some setup thoughts for everyone to chew on. As I have said earlier, setup is one of the most important factors to winning in the new landscape of Warhammer 40k. It is interesting to see how the shift of going first to shoot that lucky lascannon has been replaced with going second to respond to enemy mistakes. The question I want to talk about today, is when going second is preferred.
Each army can fit into 3 different categories. They are kinda obvious and most player’s armies fit into these molds. You have assault, mix, and shooty armies. I know all armies shoot in some way, but you know the difference between a true shooty army and a mixed army. What I want to get into is how I would set up for each army if you are going first and second. Hopefully seeing set up examples can help you not get totally destroyed during the Turn-1 shooting phase.
ASSAULT ARMIES
This is either some kind of horde like list or something with a bunch of specialized assault units. These armies normally have some sort of death star unit that will take the brunt of damage, while the other assault elements get into position to hit you like a wave. You have seen this in the old hated army Nob Bikerz, as well as some of the new TH/SS gating variants. The transition to mech has hurt these armies, as no matter what weapon skill they have, they will most likely be hitting a moving vehicle wall on a 6. These assault armies will have to evolve to survive, but I think they can be viable as they can just play towards the objective or mission game and ignore non-essential stuff as they run around the board hoping they can keep hold of the prize.
SHOOTING ARMIES
IG has been the new king of the gunline, and has pushed this type of army into the top tables. Guns, guns and more guns are what these armies are about. Besides that they have flesh walls to keep the power klaws, meltaguns, and other nonsense far enough away from the teeth of the army. Now of course these armies are not the most fun to play with and against, as most games are, if you get there you win and if you don’t, well you will be putting models into their foam prisons.
MIXED ARMIES
Now of course the mixed army is another bag and rewards a player with both sides of the game. You get to have great counter assault units as well as enough shooting elements to take out the big things that might hurt you. Of course a fully big gun/mech army can give you problems, but your assault elements can help you as you try to get there with good cover fire from your shooting elements. Normally these armies fit into the power armor type, as they can survive to get there as well as having the good shooting options and assault options. I am hoping some of the new armies coming up will push towards the balance army category, but we will see.
DEPLOYMENT
Here are some graphics to look at how I would set up based on each army choice. I set it up based on the normal missions in the BGB.
Pitched Battle
Shooty army
Going first
Here you set up in the middle. This way you can hopefully keep from getting your army ganged up on one flank. If you sit in the middle, your long-range fire will be able to hit just about anything on the board. Also you can set up with your tanks hidden behind your other tanks and hopefully keep from losing to a lucky seize the initiative roll.
Going Second
Here you set up on one side (of the 2 shown), all the way to the back. You want your opponent to have to make two full movements as well as run to try and get to you. This way you can get your maximum amount of shooting in and thus normally letting you win the game. If they get to close, throw a unit for them to eat. Don’t assault them, but let them chew on some guys. After they are done shoot them to bits with your rapid fire weapons and anything else that might not scatter on top of you.
Assault Army
Going first
Set up in the middle like the shooting army, but here you are trying to be close to the enemy. The middle set up will allow you to respond to a flank set up and hopefully pull your transports around to keep them around each other to allow for support for each one.
Going Second
Here you pick a side (of the 2 shown) so you can hopefully keep some of the firing away from you on the other side. Just move forward and hope you can cause enough anarchy by getting there as soon as you can. Usually once you get there, the bodies are going to hit the floor. Try to assault more then 1 unit, as you only have 6 or so turns to get your job done, and you are usually wasting 2 turns trying to get there. I know a smart player won’t let you get a multiple assault hit, but you can always try. Sometimes the board is just too covered with things that can get squished.
Mix Army
Going First
You set up like the assault army, except you try to use your assault elements to cover your shooting elements. This way you can allow your shooting to get as many shots out at your opponent as well as let them try to deal with the threat right in front of them. A lot of the time, the shooting element is more important then your assault element.
Going Second
Here you set up like the assault army, except ensuring your shooting elements are hidden. I know you can get the initiative, but it is not needed if you set up right. Cover your guys, as your assault elements normally have high movement to get out of the way and let you get your shots off.
Dawn of War
Shooty Army
Going First/Going Second
Just march out the first turn. You can move forward, get in your shots and take care of business. In fact, if you have a mech shooting army, this mission is just made for you. Move out on whatever side you feel you can get the most shoots out of, and make your opponent pay for his “mistake”.
Assault Army
Going First
Start in the middle with some elements to hopefully survive. A lot of the time, they are just there to draw the enemy out to a certain position to allow you to know where you need to go. This way you can hopefully keep your guys at least somewhat alive as you try to get there.
Going Second
This really depends on what kind of army. If you have some kind of bike army, turbo boost out on the first turn. If you are some kind of foot army, start a few inches away from the middle, with two units and hope you can use them to take some attention away from your more important assault elements. If you have vehicles, stay away first turn and try to rush out with smoke around you.
Mixed Army
Going First/Going Second
Just like the assault, keep your assault elements back, and have them rush out with their vehicles. Depending on what your shooting elements are, either have them walk out and hide in some terrain for a turn, or have the tanks move out 6 and shoot something. This is a harder mission for you as both elements really need each other on the board to work at their best.
Spearhead
Shooty Army
Going First 
This isn’t the best set up for you. The assault army is going to be closer then a pitched battle, and won’t be without their back up like a dawn of war game. Try to stay back and tempt an army with a second turn assault with some of your elements. As soon as they shoot forward, move back and lay down some fire from your back elements. This will hopefully keep pulling them forward and allow you to get the maximum number of shots out at them.
Going Second
This is going to be harder, as they will get a good turn of movement and might get some second turn assaults. If you can, throw some vehicles in the way and let them explode. I know you might lose a turn of template fire, but instead of killing 1 or 2 guys after cover saves, you will get a chance to cover the entire squad as they try to get into the wall box you threw in their way.
Assault Army
Going first
This is what you want to do in this setup. This will let you get your vehicles forward and hopefully allow you to get some smoke/speed/saves that will allow you to keep some of your jerks around. You are looking at a turn two getting some kind of job done and hopefully getting mixed up with some guys. The games most important turns will be the first 3 for you, so try to get there as quick as you can. Ignore the vehicles or bait they throw in your way and just go for the juicy stuff behind if you can.
Going Second
Your set up is the same, as you are always trying to get there. Cover some of your elements with your less assault gods and hope they can survive the first volley of fire to get some kind of better save or into some terrain that will help. This is one of the few setups where the assault army really needs to go first. Since you are locking the opponent into one corner, you won’t have to worry about the deny flank set up as much as the other setups.
Mixed Army
Going first
Just like the assault army, shoot out your assault elements to scare the opponent, while your shooting gets down to business taking out the pieces that could hurt your assault elements. This army needs each piece to work together to work, and thus you need each element to do its “job”.
Going second
As before, your assault elements cover your heavy shooting and lets you keep your pieces on the table. Normally assault elements are pretty hardy so they can take some fire while your heavy stuff waits to unload on anything in front of it.
CONCLUSION
Each army has it’s own strengths and game playing styles. I have lately been on a more balanced kick, as it lets you play all aspects of the game. Nothing is more boring then just rolling a bunch of dice and telling your opponent you just shot them off the board. It just isn’t my style and I would rather make sure that something is always going on. Those game stories we always talk about normally don’t deal with how you rolled a bunch of 6’s and didn’t let your opponent cross the middle of the board. It just isn’t exciting.
As usual shoot me an email if you want to ask any questions. I try to answer as fast as I can. What do you consider when you deploy and what do you think of these charts? The floor of open gentlemen.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
40K Pic of the Day 7-26-09
~Your daily dose of tabletop fun! Enjoy. If you have an awesome shot you think would make a great BoLS pic of the day, email us!
40k Hobby: Objective Markers
Something that is often overlooked when most people build armies is having a set of objective markers. Sure you can use some spare dice or pieces of torn up paper, but with just a few hours of extra work, you can make a very unique set of markers that not only compliment your army, but enhance the feel of the game. They don't need to be Golden Daemon winners, just presentable on the gaming table.
While in the process of updating my Mordians for BoLSCon this August, I came across someone with an unopened blister of wounded Praetorians who, without their pith helmets, are indistinguishable from my minis.
I decided to combine them with GW's new "Mines, Bombs, & Bobby Traps" boxed set. Not only does it have a lot of cool mines and unexploded artillery shells, but it also has some great looking pieces of battlefield debris. To make a good deal even better, each box comes with TWELVE 40mm bases to put these finely detailed resin pieces on.
I find that using your own, custom made objective markers also has a psychological effect on the game. I'm sure we've all had games where we forget about an objective because it looks like just another die or it gets lost in the terrain. If you spend a little extra effort on your markers, you'll have a hard time losing them on the board, and you might be more compelled to stop your opponent's forces from getting their grubby hands/claws/tentacles on them!
~ What do you all use as your objective markers? If anyone has some that they're proud of, we'd love to see them!
WFB: Dreaming of Zharr Naggrund
So by now, everyone knows the big news from yesterday. It was revealed at Gamesday: Chicago that the Chaos Dwarfs are returning to Warhammer Fantasy. They are probably the new non-human new race mentioned here.
Now as you can see from these two pics, the tiny little tidbits we have been given of the Chaos Dwarfs have changed QUITE a bit over the decades. This thread is to hear from you guys: the players.
What are you expecting, dreaming, hoping for in a Chaos Dwarfs army? What niche would you hope to see it fill in the WFB universe and what army characteristics would you like see it embody to give it a unique, yet equal footing compared to the other races? Put on your designer's cap and have some fun.
~You never know who reads these things so have at it. The floor is yours gentlemen.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
NEWS: Gamesday Chicago-2009 LIVEfeed
Hi guys,
Today is Gamesday Chicago, and the rumormill has been pulsating regarding something that GW has been planning to unveil for the masses. Never fear folks for Alex, Kevin, and Rick from Terranforge are on the job, reporting live to BoLS from the event floor all day.
We will be updating this post reguarly with their pics, news and updates. Check back regularly!
10:00am...And he's in!
11:00am...Our first catch of the day! Forgeworld Chaos Reaver Datasheet (probably from Siege of Vraks:3)
12:00pm...More Chaos Reaver (I can't read German, can someone help me out), and a sketch of a Mechanicus Terminator! Interesting...
1:00pm...Jervis spoke:
-The Studio loves the idea of Chaos Legion specific codices. It will allow GW to build Legion specific models, but is still a while off.
-Necrons are further along that that, and Mike (???, unclear) has been dropping hints of what we may see in an upcoming Necron codex in various books.
-Global Studio Presentation starting soon...
1:30pm...We can expect superheavy kits to be bigger and better in the future. Trenches and rivers for the Realms of Battle board have been mentioned.
~Bigred here. Gee, can you think of any superheavies that might be bigger than the Baneblade...hmm?
2:00pm...The Other Shoe Drops:
-Chaos Dwarves WILL be updated!
-Imperial Guard will be a full plastic range in time. This WILL include various IG Regiments.
-In an embrace of tech-marketing, GW will hire an tech guy to help produce regular podcasts, similar to the ones which came out with the launch of 40k 5th Edition.
-If anyone else is there in person, drop info into the comments, or email us.
40K - FANTASY RUMORS: 2009-2010 Schedule
Hi guys,
Its almost August and that means its about time for the rumormill to start cranking out the projected schedule for the next 4-6 months. Here is what we've been hearing as well as what's been kicking around elsewhere around the net.
Late 2009
No big surprizes here. Wolves are officially confirmed by GW as of now, and the Skaven train has appaently left the station. Look for both of these before the holidays.
-Space Wolves
-Skaven
Early-mid 2010
Chatter has been growing regarding nids from several sources, and their general sci-fi popularity tends to see them updated somewhat regularly compared to the more specialized xenos codices. Blood Angels seems odd, but its is a recurring theme, and perhaps the design studio is unhappy with the results of the White Dwarf codex? Perhaps a percieved coat-tails tie-in with Space Hulk?
-Blood Angels
-Tyranids
The Usual Suspects
Word of these guys keeps being bantered about in the seemingly eternal locked-in-amber "they are in progress, but don't look for a release right away" mode. It's especially tearful to continue to hear this type of chatter for the Dark Eldar who have been waiting for soooooo long.
-Beast of Chaos
-Necrons
-Dark Eldar
~Remember standard caveats on these rumors, but as with anything else, the trustwortyness is highest for the recent stuff and gets more uncertain as we move out in time. Jump in guys!
Friday, July 24, 2009
40K HOBBY: Chaos Obliterators By Conversion
Custom converted Obliterators based on plastic Chaos Marine Terminators is something I've been considering since the release of Apocalypse Reload last summer thanks to the Obliterator formation datasheet in that book. The only thing holding me back was wanting to see roughly how that would look by checking out the conversions of others first. After seeing an article on this topic here on BoLS recently, I was fairly certain that convincing Obliterators could be made using plastic Chaos Terminators, so I immediately set about building some of my own.
The first consideration in undertaking this project was that the end product be bulky enough to be convincing. While no conversion will please everyone who sees it and you ultimately only have to please yourself, I wanted the size of the finished product to appear to convincingly represent Obliterators to most onlookers. I didn't want them to just look like Terminators with different weapons. There were other considerations too. In the end, my conversions were completed with the following in mind:
1) Putty: Kneadatite ("green stuff") would be sculpted on them to not only represent the fact that Obliterators are daemonic creatures whose flesh is often in flux as they morph from one shape and set of weapons to another, but to also increase the bulk and width. This I hoped would give my conversions a visual connection to the GW production models both in size and style. When adding putty to these models I carefully balanced the need for morphing flesh and bulk with the desire to keep the great detail already on the armor of these models. I didn't want to lose all that so I judiciously sculpted around it in places. I also used the putty to cover the joins between the many different parts used on these conversions and to provide the look of weapons growing right out of flesh.
2) Ranged Weapons: Instead of a random mass of odds and sods weaponry protruding from my Obliterators, I decided to have some fun with giving each one a primary weapon from the list of those currently available to Obliterators under the current Chaos Marine Codex. Each model would have a different weapon to increase the variety and fun of the project, and these weapons would appear to morph directly from an arm of the models. Making them a bit oversized would be desirable in this case as that would enhance the size and magical nature of each model's final appearance.
3) Blades, Spikes: Modeling combat blades and wicked spikes on the models would give them another visual connection to the GW production models as well as making them appear bulkier and add to the sense of their daemonic ability to create weapons out of their flesh as desired. Some of these spikes originate from the Chaos Spawn and Chaos Possessed sprues while others were modeled from commercially available plastic strips (e.g., manufactured by Evergreen or Plastruct). Especially because I had modeled only one gun on each Obliterator, I wanted to use the spikes sprouting from the flesh of the models to convey their capricious and sinister magical nature. To that end I modeled both organic and inorganic looking spikes and blades. This would be a visual reminder that Obliterators can change their weaponry at will and that these creatures are in a constant state of change.
4) Kit-bashing: Parts of the conversions would come from kits other than the Chaos Terminators. This would be done to enhance the variety and final appearance of the models as well as to further dissociate their appearance from that of Chaos Terminators. Sources included Chaos Spawn, Chaos Possessed, Chaos Terminator Lord, and the Chaos Mutation sprue.
5) Scenic Basing: Each model would have a bit of scenery to stand upon on their 40mm base. This would enhance the final appearance and increase the visual height of the models. Adding a bit of height would hopefully further contribute to making the final product appear convincingly Obliterator sized. Most of the scenic bits for this final touch came from a single Imperial City tile. Carefully removing details from both sides of the tile provided more than ample parts for the six models I was planning for a start. By using polystyrene parts for my scenic bits, I was able to glue the Obliterators directly on top of the scenery with plastic glue, no pins or super glue required. The rubble around the scenic bits was added using slate from the GW basing kit. I wanted an "urban wasteland" look for these squads.
The three painted models shown above are the results of my first conversion attempt. The results seemed good enough based on feedback I received from my local hobby community that I was emboldened to create a second squad of three, pictured below in their finished but unpainted state. Though these conversions are not for everyone I'm sure, I received enough unsolicited "cool Obliterators!" comments from passersby to be satisfied with the results both for myself as a hobby project and for unmistakable presentation as Obliterators in games.
That Obliterator formation in Apocalypse Reload packs a colorful and mighty punch in games. I'm looking forward to giving it a try as soon as my second squad of conversions is painted. Combined with my one squad of production Obliterator models, I have the mandatory three squads for the formation. As much fun as it was building these conversions, I may even convert one more squad.
Finally, a friend of mine has suggested that I paint the large eye on the single-eye-in-place-of-a-head Obliterator the same way he painted the large eye-head on one of his models as a sort of fun "big brother, little brother" tie-in between his Blood Pact Chaos Cultists and my Renegade Chaos Marine Legion. I think it's a splendid idea. What do you think out there?
As usual, feel free to leave your hobby comments and questions below. I'll do my best to answer any direct hobby questions I spot in the bunch.
BoLSCon Update, Doubletree Deals
BoLSCon 2009
August 22-23
Doubletree Hotel, Austin, Texas
Only a few of you have submitted your lists for verification so far – it’s worth your time to get your list in by next Friday (not a subtle hint).
Remember that Friday August 21st we’ll have Lucky 13s battles (with more giant war machines than you’ll see anywhere else this side of Nottingham), so all of you participating in the 40K campaign can get your credit.
See you in August!
Warhammer 40,000 2000pt Tournament
Warhammer Fantasy 2250pt Tournament
War of the Rings 2000pt Tournament
Warhammer 40,000 3000pt Narrative Events Anti-tournament
Open Gaming
Pod Racing
Lucky-13s
REGISTER NOW! There is one month to go!
~Come on down to beautiful, sunny Austin and enjoy a weekend of your favorite games with the Fly Lords. We'll see ya there!
40K EDITORIAL: The Most Important Thing
Jwolf here,
I promised I’d talk about what I have found is most important in 40K. My goals in playing 40K are much the same as I’ve seen in the comments – I want to have a strong community of players, I want people to have fun playing games with me, and I want to win. I read a lot of other forums and blogs and I see a huge number of complaints about bad gaming, with one common theme running throughout – why is my gaming experience so poor? In the end, what seems to be missing is the same element, the most important one. At the risk of sounding cheesy, I think the most important element of any good tabletop gaming is respect.
Winning games, in and of itself, is fun. And we’ve all had the game where we pulled some sneaky trick to pull a victory from the jaws of defeat, which has a certain extra sweetness. The game that doesn’t work is the one where the victor pulls a trick with the rules, “forgets” something that allows him to win, or constantly challenges their opponents’ credibility. Winning through these behaviors – I won’t honor them with the description tactics – is still fun for some people, but is not fun for their opponents. No one respects a player who wins by playing a dishonest game.
I have a reasonably well-deserved reputation as a hard player. Every time I come to the table, my default goal is killing every single model in my opponent’s army (and I often succeed in this goal). And yet I have no trouble getting games. This is due to a combination of factors, but I like to believe it has to do with the respect that I freely give to my opponents, whether they are 15 year veterans or brand new players with some cobbled together Battleforces. Remember that no one comes to the table to be embarrassed or made fun of, so save your taunts for old friends. If the game ends well, and you have a pleasant and respectful conversation with your opponent about what happened in the game, the odds are good that you’ll have a willing opponent for next time.
This is just as true in tournament games as in pick-up games; treating opponents with respect makes the game better.One of the best things about playing games in Austin is the gaming community. We’ve just recently finished our first War of the Ring escalation league (12 weeks from 500 to 2000 points) and our second tournament. Emerging out of this, we’re in the discussion of what works and what doesn’t, and the guy who showed up in both as the 800 pound gorilla nobody wanted to face is right in the middle of the discussion. This sort of dialogue is only really possible in a gaming community where people respect one another enough to look across the table and try and find a way for everyone to have a good experience with the game.
For 40K, before I even finished my Psyker Battle Squad, discussions with other players led me to bench them – so that my opponents would have more fun playing the game. Remember that your opponents have a choice of how to spend their evenings and weekends and treat them as you’d like to be treated and your gaming community will thrive, which will give you a larger opponent pool, more interesting games, and help you reach that gaming Nirvana we all dream about.
~The comments are open
Thursday, July 23, 2009
40K Pic of the Day 7-23-09
~Your daily dose of tabletop fun! Enjoy. If you have an awesome shot you think would make a great BoLS pic of the day, email us!
40K SNEAK PEEK: Veteran Sgt. Harker Mini
Picture brought to the community by Warseer's: Mega Nutz
Look what's been hiding in the latest white dwarf, in the middle of a big picture spread. Oh those photographers are tricksy... We've cleaned it up a bit with some photoshop magic. With the recent news of the upcoming Iron Hands Stracken mini, it looks like GW is steadily working thier way through the Imperial Guard character range.
~For some reason this mini makes me want to watch Predator. "I ain't got time to bleed"
POLL: Planetstrike Attackers Edition
OK guys,
Its BoLS-Polls time, and todays topic is Planetstrike. You're flipped through the book and gotten in a handful of games. My question fellow generals is what is the most powerful army for ATTACKING in Planetstrike?
Take into account the revised FOC chart, relative strengths of the defender's FOC, and those new Stratagems. Remember that many armies behave very differently under the new FOC. I can't wait to see how this one turns out.
~The floor is your generals, and by all means explain and defend your position in the comments. Poll, right hand column, ATTACK!
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
40K Pic of the Day 7-22-09
~Your daily dose of tabletop fun! Enjoy. If you have an awesome shot you think would make a great BoLS pic of the day, email us!
BoLSCon Update, One Month Out
BoLSCon 2009
August 22-23
Doubletree Hotel, Austin, Texas
We’re coming up on the last month until BoLSCon, and things are shaping up nicely. Our truckload of Planetstrike terrain arrived last night, so this weekend will see a flurry of Aegis Defense Line and Bastion construction and painting at bigred’s house.
Only a few of you have submitted your lists for verification so far – it’s worth your time to get your list in by next Friday (not a subtle hint).
Remember that Friday August 21st we’ll have Lucky 13s battles (with more giant war machines than you’ll see anywhere else this side of Nottingham), so all of you participating in the 40K campaign can get your credit.
On a personal note, I’m very excited that I have some games scheduled. Jawaballs and Fritz are coming down, and we’re going to see how the Fifth Dimension does down here against my One Dimensional Approach (If I kill you, I win). We’ve got games scheduled for Friday evening as well, so bring the popcorn.
See you in August!
Warhammer 40,000 2000pt Tournament
Warhammer Fantasy 2250pt Tournament
War of the Rings 2000pt Tournament
Warhammer 40,000 3000pt Narrative Events Anti-tournament
Open Gaming
Pod Racing
Lucky-13s
REGISTER NOW! There is one month to go!
~Come on down to beautiful, sunny Austin and enjoy a weekend of your favorite games with the Fly Lords. We'll see ya there!
40k Painting: Salamanders
Here are some pics of some of the Salamanders I've been painting up for the Badab War this fall. When I pick an army, 75% of my decision is in how much I like the color scheme. That's what drew me to the Salamanders: their true green armor with a touch of black, accented with flame patterns.After reading up on some of their background and Vulcan's nifty ability to make the best weapons in your army (melta/flame weapons and thunder hammers) twin linked or master crafted, I was sold.
Rather than leave all those extra ammo pouches and purity seals on the sprue like I usually do (after all, they have no real effect on game play), I saw them as a way to make each marine unique. It also makes it appear that every squad member has a specific role (sniper, electronics, demolition, etc.).
I wanted a few of my Salamanders to have mk. 6 "Corvus (Beakie) Armor," namely special weapons troopers. It only makes sense that the squad members with meticulously cared for, master crafted melta guns should also be the most experienced, veteran troops in the squad. The only real bit of conversion work I had to do on this model (since the current boxed sets come with studded shoulders) was filing down the banding on one of the pauldrons.
I also added a smaller version of a Salamander's mantle to the squad sergeants and squad banners. The scale patterns were painted on by hand rather than sculpted.~ If you're interested in learning some of the painting techniques I've used on these models, let me know. If there's enough interest in something (the blending, scroll-work, basing, etc.), I'll write up a stage by stage article.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
40K Pic of the Day 7-21-09
~Your daily dose of tabletop fun! Enjoy. If you have an awesome shot you think would make a great BoLS pic of the day, email us!
40K SNEAK PEEK: Hellhound Sprues
Following up on the Demolisher sprues, you Imperial Guard treadheads will love this. Here we have 4 sprue shots of the new Hellhound combo kit.
As with the new Demolisher kit, i find that that this is a lot more than just some minor modifications to the ancient hybrid metal-plastic Hellhound, but an entirely new chassis. Check out all the side-hull panels and base turret differences, along with that cool fuel tubing atop the chassis and the quad tanks inside the main hull, behind that hinged rear access door. This kit allows the building of all three Hellhound/Banewolf/Devildog options.
~I'm think those side panels and tracks may be the future Chimera, but time will tell. Enjoy guys. This is due out in August.
40k EDITORIAL: What Really Matters?
Hi all, Jwolf here.
Since the new Imperial Guard Codex came out, we've been having a lot of discussions about what really matters in 40K. Rather than tell you my thoughts first, I'll ask you the question now, and give you my answer later. Here are some of the lines of thought we've explored, as a basis for the discussion:
List Maximizing?
Is building a great list a good thing or a bad thing? Or is making a bad list actually better?
Wargear Spamming?
If Eight Meltaguns are good, are Eighteen Meltaguns better? (Spam, even as a theme)
Denial Tactics?
Playing to deny your opponent two turns of shooting (surrendering the initiative and holding everything Reserve) - good tactics or President Nixon?
~I especially want to hear from people who play a lot of tournaments AND play with very casual players - where is the balance? What do you think matters most in playing the game?
Monday, July 20, 2009
40K Pic of the Day 7-20-09
Sit down, its just the jetwash...
~Your daily dose of tabletop fun! Enjoy. If you have an awesome shot you think would make a great BoLS pic of the day, email us!
40K SNEAK PEEK: Leman Russ Demolisher Sprues
You Imperial Guard guys will want to see this. Here we have 4 sprue shots of the new Leman Russ Demolisher combo kit.
I think you will find that this is a lot more than just some minor modifications to the venerable old Russ, but an entirely new kit. Check out all the hull and base turret differences, along with that new track guides system on the interior of the sides for ease of assembly. The all new sponson weapons, and Demolisher/Punisher/Executioner bits are just extra coolness on top!
~Something tells me the basic Russ is going to be overhauled to use this kit in due time. Enjoy guys. This is due out in August
Goatboy's 40k Thoughts: I Want a New Army!
Now we all know that we can’t play the same plastic miniatures day in and day out. Things get boring and the desire to learn something new and try a different play style out drives us to buy more plastic and fill up a room with empty sprues and cardboard boxes. What I want to talk about, is how I decided to create and buy a new army.
Usually the first thing I do is always purchase the codex. I normally buy every codex that comes out since I like reading every army to see what will annoy me across the table during a game. I usually have a good idea what kind of army the codex pushes me toward.
The first thing I do is look at the range of minis and make sure the models are something I like to play. Now I am one of those players that only brings out painted models if I can help it. I don’t like seeing fields of grey on the board, so I want to make sure I will paint the army. This means the models have to look cool. The first thing any army has to do to get my attention is have that "it" factor in the mini range. Also, I like to only use plastic if possible, so if the range has a majority of metal minis that will often stop me right there. I find metal is just too much of an annoyance with the super gluing and constant repairs from the dropped models.
After finding a range of minis I like, I then start to devise a paint scheme. It is very important if you desire a cohesive army, to have a pre-determined paint scheme. What it will do for you is allow you to figure ways to work through the army. This doesn’t mean every model has to look the same, but it does mean that they need to have some kind of connection between each of the units. I like to write down all the paints I used as well as the layering method I used for each. This makes it easier when you have to work through the models towards the end of army. This can also work with any conversions or design aspects you want to incorporate throughout the army.
Once I figure out the army range and paint scheme I get into the whole design aspects of the army. I am one of those, have every option available players, so playtesting the army is not something I do for the list. I theorize and then build and paint the army. Once it is done I take it out on the field and see if it works. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t and that usually means more purchases at my local store. I like to have all options because it allows me to have an evolving army that isn’t something that everyone seeing day in and day out. I know a lot of people don’t have this option, as their budgets are limited, but it is something I like and is one of the ways I can explore an army list and range. It also gives you flexibility to try out new things from week to week, and protects you from the evolving meta-game that can leave fixed static armies high and dry (such as the recent power level change to Nob-bikers).
After all of this I usually have a nice looking force that I can take to the table-top and hope to place in a tournament, as well as give a good game to anyone. Now of course this doesn’t go into how I convert most of my army and look for ways to make an army more affordable. We'll save that for a future post.
The following pictures are some of the new things I worked on for the Ork army I am currently machining through. I had to do a rush Meganob order so here are 10 metal clad Orks running around. They go well with all the trukks and battle wagons I have finished so far. The new Forge World half trakk ork trukk looks awesome and it is calling to me. Damn you GW resin masters!!!
As usual shoot me an email at Goatboybols@gmail.com if you have any questions, want me to review a list, or give you some thoughts on art etc. What are your thoughts on starting new armies? How do you pick and design your next one, and when do consider your current army finished and know its time to move on to something different?
Sunday, July 19, 2009
40K Pic of the Day 7-19-09
No Sergeant, why?
~Your daily dose of tabletop fun! Enjoy. If you have an awesome shot you think would make a great BoLS pic of the day, email us!
WFB RUMORS: Azhag the Slaughterer
Hi Warhammer Fantasy folks,
This amazing Wyvern with Orc rider has been floating around the net for a long while, but scuttlebutt says it will be making its way to the shelves in the first half of September, after some alterations to allow for mass production were made. She sure is a beauty.
~Now rules may be something else, but that's for you players to decide.
40K Rumors: Latest Space Wolves
Rumors collated for the community by B&C's: Megaladon
Ok guys, 2 new batches of 40k Space Wolves rumors rolled together here:
BATCH 1
"I can't really explain too much on "Sagas" and the name they have chosen to call the new marine traits.
The Space Wolf army is themed on movement. Move, Assault, Fire, Move, Assault, Fire, etc. Its not meant to be a static army. It's also an army to be filled with lots of Troop Choices.
13th Company are not officially dead but are special choices based on your army. This Im not clear on whether they are a "Legion of the Damned" choice, or something based on the HQ you purchase.
Pack Leaders are now unit upgrades and are not purchased from Elites. This Im not 100% on either.
Grey Hunters are strongly rumored to be able to take a second special weapon in their squads. That is something that I don't understand why Salamander's don't have anymore.
Long Fangs "May" be able to have some sort of a special rule where they can move and fire, but not assault.
Blood Claws have been re-worked to level with 5th Edition in respect to "Bezerk Charge." What it is Im not sure. "
BATCH 2
"What I have heard with respect to the Saga's is that
Wolf Lords will be able to take two sagas. They will have a wide variety of weapon options. I have also heard that they will be able to make on unit of Wolf Guard a troops choice but I need confirmation on this.
Wolf Priests will basically be a chaplain and apothacary combined in that they will have a Power weapon, Iron wolf amulet and Healing balms and potions as standard. So they will ignore armour saves, have a 4+ invulnerable save and confer Feel no Pain on any unit they join. They will be able to take one sage and apparently cost about 130pts.
Rune Priests will come with Force Weapon as standard and will be able to take some very nifty psychic powers unique to them. They will be able to take one Saga.
Iron Priests will be brought in line with the Techmarines of the normal codex. I do not know if they will be HQ or Elite but they too will take one Saga.
Wolf Guard battle leaders will be an upgrade for Wolf Guard packs and will be able to take one Saga as standard. "
~Standard caveats apply to all this stuff until preview copies hit the stores. Expect the codex out in October.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
40k Hobby/Painting: Slaanesh Characters
These are two minis I converted and painted more out of fun than anything else. As much as I love my Thousand Sons, I enjoy the conversion/painting possibilities for Slaanesh characters even more.
For these two models, representing a Slaanesh Lord with the Blissgiver on a daemonic steed, and a Slaanesh Sorcerer with wings, I hit up the Warhammer Fantasy Slaanesh character models. The Lord is a combination of the Fantasy Slaanesh Lord with Steed boxed set, while the Sorcerer is a combination of the Fantasy Slaanesh Champion, the helmet from the Lord box, and some wings I had in my bits box (Fury wings or something similar work just as well).
Each model has a shield permanently attached to the left hands, which can either be replaced with a chaos marine gauntlet, or filed off to look like a wrist guard like what I did.
The Lord required a little bit of extra modeling, and was based off a similar conversion from a friend of mine up in Dallas. I had to cut the top section of the snake down and file off part of the back to make the upper torso fit without looking out of place.
As for the paint scheme, I tried as best as I could to emmulate an Emperor's Children color scheme with what little Tentacle Pink I had left. In order to allow them to better fit into my Thousand Sons army, I painted one of each of their shoulder pauldrons blue with the yellow serpent.
~ If anyone else has any Slaanesh character conversions for 40K or Fantasy, we'd love to see them, so feel free to post a link!
40K TACTICA: Tau in 5th Edition
A guest post by Darkwynn
Tau tactics
A while back several of the Fly Lords were sitting in our FLGS talking about picking armies on the bottom end of the Warhamemr 40k popularity scale to learn, play and write about. JWolf got Dark Eldar, Bushidoredpanda picked Necrons, Bigred somehow escaped free and clear and I picked Tau. I started Tau back before 5th edition with the typical Fire-knife and Hammerhead combo which worked great but found out quickly that this didn’t cut it any more in 5th edition.
What does work …?
Fire warriors in Devil Fish: I always thought of Fire warriors as one of the top basic troops in the game for mid to long range firepower. Strength 5 that could reach out and touch someone was great especially when used in synergy with Marker lights. Now against most armies that can deep strike, outflank and have the ability to close in a turn or two, the Firewarrior has lost a lot of its main benefits. The kicker is they are still a basic unit you need in your army to score. What I have been doing which works out great is putting 12 man Fire warrior units into Devilfish and just never getting out unless I have to or I can combo them up with two Firewarrior squads and rapid fire into a single target unit. Your Devilfish aren’t equipped to tear through armies but they are good enough to whittle down units in combined firepower which is what you need.
Like a School of Fish….
I spend a lot of points on Firewarriors in vehicles and I usually have three hammerheads to support them. What has been working in 5th I keeping all my vehicles in a big clump. I play "move the block away from the enemy" and circle around the board. If you haven’t noticed before with Tau, they are not going to wipe you off the board in any way but they can hit key targets around objectives and come in at the last moment to take control. It’s the old motto of duck and weaves which plays to Tau’s true strength’s. If you get caught on the chin just once or the enemy gets close enough to engage in close combat you won’t get away and the army is done.
Lone solider…
Before 5th edition people would run heavy on Fire-knife suits in my Tau armies (which were units with plasma rifles and missile pods). They were great taking out heavy infantry and light vehicles, quickly stripping enemies of mobility before jet-packing back into hiding. Right now, I think people wont find them effective anymore because of true line of sight. The Crisis Suit squads are too small to take a bunch of small arms fire and you are still going to lose pricy models when you get hit by strength 8 weapons.
Suits in general have lost a lot of their benefit because they can’t protect themselves from the enemy like before with the jetpack rule. Now what has been working (and I have to give credit to Minus67 for this one) is running solo HQ’s with melta gun or flamer combo’s. They are going to die and you will have to accept it. But, if you deep strike them behind key targets such as Land Raiders or Lootas you have a pretty good chance of taking those lynchpin units out early game easily makeup those 70 points you spent on that HQ. This suicidal playstyle works even better when you have a Pathfinder’s Devilfish on the board and you can reroll the deep strike result to make sure you land in range of your target. its not the most elgant solution out there, but it can cheaply buy a Tau army time as the enemy is waylaid early game and hey...Its for the greater good!
Pathfinders - the double edged blade
First of all I have to say I hate the Pathfinder unit. They are expensive and they have minimal damage output in exchange for their markerlight bonuses to other units and even then it’s not that much of a boost. Now that I have said that, they are needed so you can give a boost to your Fire warriors or give a bonus to your Hammerheads to make your hits counts. The big thing though is they are static and have a hard time being a flexible unit. On top of that the Markerlight is heavy so you can’t move or shoot and then you are only BS:3 - hitting half the time. Your army is going to be ineffective and brittle if you try to bring a large amount of markerlights to the table. If you do run Pathfinders just buy a small unit and use the bonus of their Devilfish to help get your battle suits into position.
~Its your turn fellow Shas'Os. Tell us how you have had success expanding the Tau Empire Tau in 5th edition. What units have worked for you? Any special tricks that you use that are successful on the tabletop? Easy opponents? Most dreaded foes? The floor is your's gentlemen (and ladies).
Friday, July 17, 2009
WFB Pic of the Day 7-17-09
~Your daily dose of tabletop fun! Enjoy. If you have an awesome shot you think would make a great BoLS pic of the day, email us!
40K NEWS: Forgeworld Decals & Ork Halftrakk
Hi all,
Forgeworld just rolled out 2 snazzy new decal sheets for us, and a new Ork-Half-track kit.
Valkyrie/Vulture Decal Sheet
Ork Decal Sheet
Ork Halftrakk
All this stuff is available for pre-order now, and ships out the week of July 27th.
~I like those Valk decal sheets as they are in white, which you can't do with home-made logo sheets. Also that halftrakk is kinda cool for giving your Ork army a little visual pizazz.
40K CHALLENGE: Winners and Updates
Good day everybody, its FRIDAY! I have some updates on a couple of our recent challenges.IG Command Squad Winner
Everyone give is up for Simon Brown! His IG command squad won a hard fought victory in the Battleforge Games IG Command Challenge, and Simon's squad has earned their Valkyrie, that is headed over their way as we speak. Congratulations!
Iron Halo Valkyrie Basing Challenge Update
The folks at Iron Halo want you all to know that anyone with one of their new large oval bases has till the end of July to get your painted submissions to them with a Valkyrie or other flyer on one of their bases.
You can put any flyer model on that you want, you can use the funky GW flying stem if you wish, or not. You can paint the base anyway you want and you can add any details to the base if you wish. What they want to see is how you have used it, and how cool your flyer looks on the base.
Iron Halo will give away 3 prizes of vouchers, a $50US, a $30 US and a $20 US to the 3 that get the most votes, and they will also give out 3 $15 US spot prizes for random coolness we like, that may or may not be the best painted.
Email them the following details along with your pic:
a) Name you want on the entry (real name, nick name etc)
b) What the model is.
c) A description of the model or background to the model and the base.
BFG: Admiral on Deck
A guest article by: fracas
Previously Admiral Halsey introduced you to Battlefleet Gothic. I want to follow up on that post with some thoughts of my own.
Whenever I am looking at a "new" game, or one that I am not currently playing, whether it makes a connection with me starts with whether the genre interests me or not. BFG initially appears to be a spaceship battle game, but since it involves models playing on a flat surface, BFG sometimes feel more like surface navy battles from WW2. There are carriers, battleships, battlecruisers, cruisers, and light cruisers, and a variety of escorts. The only class of ship missing from the game is submarines. But there is enough difference in the game mechanics to make it different from surface naval battles. This model on tabletop reality of game mechanic still makes BFG appealing to me.
Next thing I look at is whether there is a faction that would appeal to me. If there is a faction you like in 40k, it is in BFG. In fact, BFG has factions to play not available in 40k. I'll list them for you.
Imperial factions:
Imperial Navy (Gothic list, Armageddon list, Bastion list)
Space Marines
Adeptus Mechanicus
Chaos factions:
Chaos Navy
Chaos Marines (including demon ships)
Alien Factions:
Eldars (Corsairs and Craftworld)
Dark Eldars
Orks (Pirates and Waaagh)
Necrons
Tau (Including Kroots, Nicassar, and Demiurge ships)
Tyranids
All factions have different ships and play differently. I am pretty certain there will be a faction that will appeal to you to play. I hope to give you a better sense of each factions in future posts.
Since this is a GW game, one other question I need to address is how much support the game gets from GW. It is a specialist range game and not one of the core game so no, it does not get much support. Having said that, I think it gets more than any of the other specialist range games. At Games Day Baltimore in 2009, BFG was the only Specialist game featured as far as I can tell. In terms of products, in addition to the primary rulebook, typically referred to as the Big Blue Book, there is Armada, which added 9 fleet lists to the original four. Since then, two additional fleets and models have been released since Armada (Craftworld and AdMech). The rules have been cleaned up in a FAQ and though not perfect, certainly pretty damn good. Best of all, all rules and fleet lists are available for free as downloads on the GW BFG Resources page. There is also a very healthy online community for BFG as exemplified by Warp Rift webzine and their annual model contest GothiComp.
While the rules are free, the models are obviously not. Next then is the question of whether it will cost oodles of dineros to get into the game. The only fleets with plastic models are Imperial Navy and Chaos Navy. My all plastic cruiser 1.5k Chaos fleet costs about 90 US$! My all metal Tau fleet costs about $200 for 2000 points. This is definitely cheaper than 40k. It is not only cheap enough for anyone to get into the game, I think it is cheap enough for you to get a second fleet to entice others to get into the game with you (especially if your second "try it out you 'll like BFG" fleet is Imperial or Chaos.)
~Bigred here. Fracas will be back from time to time to take us through the paces of BFG and the strengths and weaknesses of the different fleets. He also runs Warmancer, one of the best BFG blogs out there, so by all means you interested Naval Cadets should check it out.Thursday, July 16, 2009
Video Killed the Radio Star
In our never ending attempt to bring you, the loyal reader, the latest and greatest, BoLS has invested in our own high quality video recording studio. OK, well, it's not that high quality. And its not really a studio; more like an old chair with a sheet over it. But there is video! And with the help of a $10 display turntable plundered from eBay, I bring you....
Bell of Lost Souls in 360 View-O-Rama Vision!
These are just some sample shots I did earlier today. We still need to work on getting the quality a little better. But, if everything goes well, we should be able to give you a 360 view of our upcoming modeling projects. Any advice for aspiring videoBlogers or past BoLS models you would like given the 360 treatment?
Bell of Lost Souls in 360 View-O-Rama Vision!
These are just some sample shots I did earlier today. We still need to work on getting the quality a little better. But, if everything goes well, we should be able to give you a 360 view of our upcoming modeling projects. Any advice for aspiring videoBlogers or past BoLS models you would like given the 360 treatment?
40K DISCUSSION: The C'Tan Gods
As a fan of many of the "Big Hitter" choices from any codex, I was naturally drawn to the C'tan. I'm not saying they are the best game choices that can be made, but for a generally fun (and scary) HQ there are few better options. I have used the C'tan effectively in the past and will continue to run them. Everyone knows that Necrons changed dramatically in 5th edition (mostly for the worse). However, I believe that the C'tan themselves actually got better. The prevelence of assault and the addition of the run rule really gave them a boost. I don't have much in the way of tactical input, but I think they are worth discussing.
C'tan Rules
I won't go into all the rules, but I'll touch on the three I think are most important.
Monstrous Creature - Everyone knows what this means. There are few large models as potent as the C'tan for taking down armor.
Immune to Natural Law - The ability to ignore terrain is always a good thing. The improvement to assault grenades are also going to be helpful, but moreso for the deceiver as the Nightbringer is only I4.
Necrodermis - This is one of the best features of the C'tan. Not that they really needed any help in assault, but this little cherry means that even if they do end up getting killed, the resulting explosion can potentially wipe out a squad.
The Nightbringer
Lightning Arc - Having your own personal short range las cannon is always a good thing right? Eh, in this case it's only so-so. I'd say it's most useful for taking a wound from another MC before assaulting. Generally, I think running to get closer to the enemy is the better option.
Gaze of Death - Another ability that will rarely come into play on the field, but when it does it has the potential to be pretty devestating. I have had a few occasions where the Nightbringer was tied up by 20 genestealers, the gaze made quick work of them in only a couple turns.
Etheric Tempest - Though useless against many of the models you'll face in a regular game, it can be a good tool to prevent him from being held in combat by huge numbers of gaunts or grots. Usually the Gaze is enough to take them down, but if there are warriors nearby they would be more effective.
The DeceiverDeceive - Against low leadership squads/models this power can be pretty devastating. The fact that it even works to pin fearless units can also work in your favor.
Grand Illusion - Any redeployment ability can be useful. Though I will admit for Necrons, it's usually less so. I can see it being used to redeploy a unit that would want to attack a flank.
Dread - Again, really not useful against high leadership models, which are generally the only models that will be attacking you or can even cause you harm. I can see it being useful against units that have poison or a similar ability.
Misdirect - Probably the most useful of the Deceiver's abilities. Any time a model can leave combat before being hit can leave a squad open to the torrents of shooting that Necrons can dish out.
General Issues
Pros: Huge stat line, monstrous creature, can be devastating in close combat, lots of interesting abilities.
Cons: Not 'Necrons', very high point cost, no help in Necron resurrection.
I personally enjoy using the C'tan in my armies, both because they can be so overwhelming in certain situations and the models are pretty good looking. They probably don't belong in a serious tournament army where phase out is a serious problem.
~I haven't had many opportunities to use The Deceiver, but I often use my Nightbringer. What are everyone elses thoughts on the usage of the C'tan in their armies? Have you had any good or bad experiences facing them? Lets hear from some tales of the Star-gods on the tabletop guys.
40K PLAY AID: Badab Teaser - The Astral Claws
Hi Guys,
Badab is around the corner, and we are working on final polish and proofreading. For all you guys salivating for some Badab-era fun, here is a look at the big man himself. I present...
Master Lufgt Huron and the Astral Claws. You've all seen him post war in the CSM Codex, and here is our take on the man during his last days before the fall of his chapter. I hope you find them to have some vaguely unsettling organizational doctrines.
~Enjoy and by all means comment away. You can expect something along this format for each and every chapter in the Badab War, along with a detailed history, tons of color plates, maps, and a full 4-part branching campaign that allows you to change the history of the conflict as either Rebel or Imperial forces.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
40K Pic of the Day 7-15-09
~Your daily dose of tabletop fun! Enjoy. If you have an awesome shot you think would make a great BoLS pic of the day, email us!
GW NEWS: Blog and White Dwarf Archive
Hi guys, a quick one.
Did you know GW now puts up a quick daily post on their website? Go check out thier "What's New Today" section.
Also, they have just started to publish select White Dwarf articles online in their new White Dwarf Archive. It is not very full now, but we'll see where they go with this.
~I don't know if there's a way to request individual articles, because there are lot of old gems out there that would be great for newer players to see. I for one would like to see the Index Astartes series that covered all the first founding legions from several years back. Those were a goldmine of background fluff; covering many traitor chapters that had no previous real details. What ancient articles would you request?
News: Army Builder v3.2
For those of you too busy playing the game I thought I would bring to your attention a news item from Lone Wolf Development about our favorite army list creator. It looks like sometime this month Army Builder afectionately known as AB will be dropping a new version. According to the post on their website here are some of the new features:
- Save rosters to PDF - Email PDF rosters to tournament organizers or friends, to print out exactly like normal Army Builder printed output.
- Model list output - View the combined model list for your roster, including how many individual models of each type are required, and the equipment they need. Turn your roster into a "what-to-pack list" with a single click!
- Mobile friendly output - Save your roster to a "mobile friendly" output format, for viewing on your iPhone or other mobile device. Touch a unit name and it expands, displaying all the unit details - touch it again to hide it. Unit options can also be displayed with a single touch.
- Updated user interface - We've updated the user interface to take advantage of the larger monitors more prevalent today. Army Builder 3.2 is now optimized for viewing on a 1024x768 monitor, while gracefully scaling up and down to higher or lower resolutions as needed.
- Do more work with fewer clicks - The "New Roster" form, the starting page for all new armies, has been overhauled to make it easier to configure your roster. Choose a race or a predefined points cost with a single click. Ruleset information to configure your roster is displayed right there on the form.
- Better notification of updates - Army Builder 3.2 informs you of updates on the "Select Game System" screen, so you can be instantly informed about new data file updates.
- Added flexibility for common tasks - The Options list now displays every option in a tree structure, allowing you access to more options with fewer clicks. Any categories you're not interested in can simply be collapsed and ignored.
- More information at your fingertips - Army Builder 3.2 gives you more information about your choices in several ways:
*Composition group info windows now display the minimum / maximum counts for each category.
*In the options list, right-clicking on an invalid option explains why it's invalid.
*Validation errors can now include more descriptive error messages. - New interface design - Many buttons and other areas of the interface have been redesigned for a more modern, cleaner look and feel.
- New features for data file authors - Many common tasks for data file authors have been improved, reducing the workload for data file authors. Army Builder 3.2 also catches more common errors, resulting in quicker debugging time, and higher quality data files for the user.
- All this and more - Many other minor improvements are included, including validation icons at the top of printed output, improved text summary and BBCode output, optimized HTML generation, and more!
There is a catch to all of this, it is free to those who have a their licences current and active. That means if you want the new version you will either have to pay full price, or make sure your licence is updated.
So what do y'all think? I am pretty jazzed about the new output abilities. I am especially excited about the mobile output abilities. Will any of you use the mobile output?
40K RUMORS: Space Hulk Contents?
Rumors brought to the community by DakkaDakka's: Chief Librarian Vaako
A little morsel that's been making the rounds over the past day:
"I was talking to a manager and he said that Space Hulk is confirmed for a september release. The box itself will contain:
~Further commenters have indicated that 10 terminators is a more realistic number. Standard Caveats apply to all of this scuttlebutt, and there is alot of contradictory stuff out there. Who can say what will appear out of the Mystery Box come mid-August?
Updated to include the original poster's revised terminator count.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
40K Pic of the Day 7-14-09
~Your daily dose of tabletop fun! Enjoy. If you have an awesome shot you think would make a great BoLS pic of the day, email us!
BoLScon 2009 Prizes, Brackets, and Brigades
BoLSCon 2009
August 22-23
Doubletree Hotel, Austin, Texas
I wanted to take a few minutes to explain how we plan to give away the awe-inspiring piles of loot we’ve got for BoLSCon this year:
Winning and Placing – Yes, we’ll be giving trophies and prizes to the winners of events. Our tournaments have just as many placings as you’d expect, and we have separate painting prizes for multiple categories as well. Whether you like to play hard or paint well (or both), we've got a spot for you.
Consolation Brackets – Both 40k and Fantasy two day tournaments split out a consolation bracket for the second day. I have seen consolation brackets before, but most of those only offer a prize for winning the whole bracket - not good odds. Our consolation brackets give out prizes for multiple placings in multiple categories, just like the main tournament, so if your first day finds your dice cold, warm them up and you’re back in the hunt for loot!
The Brigade Game – Every participant in the 40K and Fantasy tournaments will be entered in one of three color-coded "brigades" randomly at registration time. After each round, the brigade with the most battle points for that round wins. We will randomly select a player from the winning brigade to receive a prize. So that means every game you play well increases your chances of winning, so play hard.
Warhammer 40,000 2000pt Tournament
Warhammer Fantasy 2250pt Tournament
War of the Rings 2000pt Tournament
Warhammer 40,000 3000pt Narrative Events Anti-tournament
Open Gaming
Pod Racing
Lucky-13s
REGISTER NOW! There is a little over a month to go!
~Come on down to beautiful, sunny Austin and enjoy a weekend of your favorite games with the Fly Lords. We'll see ya there!
40K EDITORIAL: Hot Versus Cold Armies
Hi all, Jwolf here.
So I decided to goof off with the Dark Eldar and give them a whirl for ‘Ard Boyz. I won’t be moving on to the Regionals, and I noticed something in my games, particularly in the second game – I needed to roll hot, I didn’t and that was enough to keep me from winning. None of my opponents’ rolled particularly stunningly well, but they didn’t need to. Average rolling kills Dark Eldar just fine.
Even the slow-witted theorists out there can understand that a Mechanized force in 5e has advantages in taking and holding objectives that exceed their supposed disadvantages in having more Kill Points available for Annihilation games. Locally we’ve seen a huge increase in Meltaguns to deal with all the transports, but there are only so many ways to pile in the anti-tank weapons.
The question I have is if the army isn’t Imperial Guard, Space Marines, or Chaos Space Marines (the three armies with access to buckets of cheap transports) what do you do?
-I tend to go for the guns – killing everything that can score or move fast wins games.
-Fritz has his 5th Dimension; using the clock to be in the right place at the right time, and generally hiding otherwise. (I think the Guard’s Hydras are the end of the DAVU Wave Serpent, so we’ll see how much fun this is now).
-Goatboy comes at you like a Spider Monkey – maximum numbers of knife fighters, with some backfield guns lurking just to divide your focus.
~Here’s the challenge – how do you take a Hot list (one that will not, on average, win games without having good rolls) and turn it into a Cold list (one that wins with average rolling)?
Monday, July 13, 2009
40K Pic of the Day 7-13-09
~Your daily dose of tabletop fun! Enjoy. If you have an awesome shot you think would make a great BoLS pic of the day, email us!
40K HOBBY: Bastion Bash
After purchasing the Planetstrike book on July 4 I was immediately inspired by the two-Bastion kit-bash shown on page 24. I knew I had to give the project a go myself and I was going to wait till my Imperial Strongpoint bundle set arrived around July 18, but two things intervened. First, a friend of mine starting working on a similar project and second, another friend of mine actually showed up for our first Planestrike game last Thursday with the same conversion already built. After seeing a finished version of this project I just couldn't wait, so I bought a couple Bastions at the Annapolis, MD Games Workshop store and started on the project almost immediately.
The pictures above and below provide a close-up of the finished conversion before the start of painting and the addition of final parts like the window and rooftop weapons. If you'd like to attempt this project yourself, here are a few tips:
1) First, carefully join the bases of two Bastions together by leaving the fourth side off of both.
2) Install the floor in the half that will have the crenelations added directly on top. Note that you will leave the crenelation piece off of the side that joins with the other half of the Bastion.
3) Carefully use cutting tools to remove one of the bay window areas from one Bastion side piece. This is where you will install a door so that it appears that the taller half of the Bastion can be exited onto the roof of the lower half. I cut just below the riveted band on the bay window I removed.
4) Construct a door to fill the now open rectangular space. In the Planetstrike book, the GW studio builders used part of the door that comes with the Bastion kit. I decided to save that part for another project by scratch-building a fortified looking door out of plastic card, rod and strips.
5) Trim the two crenelated pieces as needed to allow the Bastion side with the custom door on it to be set properly on the taller Bastion half. This will require the removal of about 1/8" inch. Plastic flush cutters should work well or a hobby saw.
6) Finish building the tall part of the Bastion as desired. Arm and decorate the whole model to your taste.
There you have it, the double-Bastion bash! Of course, you don't have to stop there. One friend of mine I mentioned earlier who's still in the midst of this project is building this conversion with three Bastions and the face of the tall center section will use the Shrine of the Aquila large eagle panel when it's released. In other words, let your imagination and your hobby skills run wild. There are some other cool Bastion conversion ideas posted on the GW website. Happy kit-bashing.
I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed my first Planetstrike game and am looking forward to more. I also used my Imperial Guard army with their new Codex for the first time in that game and enjoyed getting familiar with that too. I've been quite impressed with the sheer fun of every recent 40K expansion starting with Cities of Death. In fact I like the expansions so much, I rarely play a "regular" game of 40K at all anymore.
I'm also terribly impressed with the scenery kits GW is producing these days and the new Planetstrike terrain is as much fun to build and convert as some of their miniature soldiers. The new Bastions are just so versatile and there is a plethora of optional decorative bits in the kits which should prove highly useful on some other projects.
So how many of you out there have tried Planetstrike and what do you think of it? Have you had any fun with the new terrain kits? As always, feel free to share your comments below.
Goatboy's 40k Thoughts: No Ard Boyz for me.
So I didn’t get to play Ard boyz this year. I had my own personal wedding stuff to do as well as another wedding to go to. So that meant no rolling lots of dice and making jokes about the name of the tournament for me. I showed everyone the list I was planning on taking, and today I want to go into the things I saw as I stopped by after talking to the musicians for my own shindig.
What did I see that was winning games? Mech. Lots and lots of mech. This means lots and lots of square boxes driving around the board (and some weird alien stuff). The reason for this is threefold (really four, but who's counting) and I want to go into it, and ways you can mech out your own armies.
MOBILITY: First of all, mech helps you get where you need to go, relatively safely. A lot of armies benefit from the initial 12 inch move you are guaranteed to get as you push forward with your box of doom. This is a great benefit as the game has gone from the 48 inch stand off, to a 24 inch game with the new edition. This ability to move is a huge benefit in games now, as you can easily push around the board to get into better positions. The game of shooting as many turns as you can, has really changed to getting into position to win via controlling real estate.
CONTROLLABLE TERRAIN: Secondly Tanks are the only item in the game that give you large controllable terrain. I know I have talked about this before, but making walls with your vehicles is a tactic that can help turn the tide versus an assault horde army. Basically you create a wall that takes a lot of pain and suffering to get rid of, even if it has a butt of armor 10. Be prepared to have walls of vehicles keep you at bay as you try to get at your opponents objective. With one mission being a two objective game, an assault style army is going to have an uphill battle as it tries to push through steel to get at whatever is shiny on the other side.
RESILIANCE: Third mech APCs let you create extremely difficult to remove objective holders. We have all seen a Rhino full of Plaguemarines on an objective. Its size means you can’t just get near it to contest, you have to engage it someway. Plus the guys inside are extremely difficult to get out, as well as hard to deal with once they disembark and oozing all over the battlefield.
SPEED OF PLAY: The fourth thing about mech forces that is a bit understated is that they allow you to complete a game in a quick amount of time. Changing your 60+ infantry army into 6 units to move around is a big bonus in today’s tournament scene as well as game scene where you only have one day to get your dice rolling addiction on.
Now those are the thoughts on why mech has started to roll over the meta game and take over many local game scenes. Now how can armies change to either fall in line or stop this?
One way is to amp up on your good anti vehicle weapons. Now I know a lot of armies don’t have the options that some do. Melta isn’t as prevalent as I feel it needs to be. I think every army should have access to something melta in it, just to ensure they have a good chance to pop the enemy's metal piñata. So what do those armies do? Well crack open your codex and go line by line over each unit and see what options you have. Rending is a good way, as it can help you get into the penetration range on some of the tougher vehicles. Anything that lets you reroll your misses is great. As we all know, when hitting a moving vehicle, you are basically hitting like a blind ork (terribly), so we need to find ways to either help get the most chances to win with a 6. Some armies allow for rerolling of misses with special abilities, and I believe that is something you need to look for in any army without the glorious special word on a weapon, melta.
Another way to go is to try and to negate the bad guy's tank movement. Deepstriking can be a great key in getting near something before it gets a cover save. Now I don’t think a fully deep striking army is going to win it for you. A crafty opponent will just bunch up an wait for you to come down and bring their full army onto your head as come raining down from the sky bringing flowers and cake. I do think it does help to have some parts of your army coming down to try and catch things before they get moving.
So what kind of stuff did you see at your local Ard Boyz? My local store, BattleForge Games had 1st IG, 2nd IG, and 3rd Drop pod mix marines in their top 3. I know the other local store had IG, Marines, and CSM at the top too. All of the lists had mech elements in it, and their superior movement plus survivability versus anti horde weapons really helped them push ahead. Comment or shoot me an email. I would like to see what kind of stuff is winning and what might come out in round 2. Also how many would be interested in another post from me during the week, just giving out a random list I am thinking about? Email me questions at goatboybols@gmail.com.
(Commission for John Lyons of Beasts of War)
(Valk for Andrew Bailey for Arbites)
(Final 3 Killa Kans for Chris Rocke)
Sunday, July 12, 2009
40K Pic of the Day 7-12-09
40K SNEAK PEEK: Space Wolves Minis
Lower image brought to the community by Warseer's: anselminus
Looks whats floating around the tubes today. Word is these are made using the new Space Wolves multi-part plastic kit.
"The Space Wolves were one of the first Space Marine Chapters founded by the Emperor; fierce and barbaric heroes of legend who charge fangs bared into the teeth of the enemy. In October, this Chapter of ferocious warriors is being re-launched with a brand-new Codex and range of Citadel Miniatures."
~Oh, the floodgates are opening. I guess this pretty much confirmation of the Space Wolves in October talk. You guys should pencil it it. Finally, the last of the "add-on" non-stand-alone codices falls.
40K NEWS: Bitz Pack Releases
Hi all,
GW just put up some little bitz packs and collectors range additions.
Warhammer 40K
Bastion Upgrade pack
Cities of Death Floor pack
Meltaguns
Imperial Guard Tank Accessories
Tyranid Monstrous Arms
Tau Shield Drone Set
Warhammer Fantasy
The Chase
Animosity Orcs
Orc Shields
~All this stuff is available for immediate purchase.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
40K Pic of the Day 7-11-09
40K NEWS: 'Ard Boys Begins
As you read this, the first round of the 'Ardboys national competition is underway across America.
Countless 40k contestants are throwing down to try to be the best player in the 2500pt no-holds-barred world of competitive play.
Yours truly is actually running one of the local tournaments here in Austin, and I will be putting up pictures and short summaries as I liveblog during the day to give you some glimpses of a tiny little slice of the national scene.
To every player out there: good luck gentlemen (and ladies).
~It will be very interesting to see what the meta-game has evolved into a month after Imperialguard has landed on our shelves. More soon.
UPDATE: Meta wise, we are seeing a tie for most common armies of IG, CSM, MEQ, with a smattering of others. Here are some shots of the battles so far. The current leaders are the Kabalite Eldar!
UPDATE #2: Quite a great tournament here in Austin with many dramatic ups and downs in the round-to round standings. Final Army winners were 1st: IG, 2nd: IG, 3rd: SM, with more IG just outside of the winners brackets, and tanks aplenty in most of those lists.
LotR TACTICA: Elven Kingdoms by the Numbers
A guest tactica by: iamaddj
In part five of our ongoing “War of the Rings By the Numbers” series I am going to talk about the Elven Kingdoms army list. The Elves are considered by many to be one of the underpowered army list. I however disagree, and find the Elves to be a very powerful list. A few things to keep in mind when discussing Elven armies:
-In general Elves have a high fight, but a low defense making them a more offensive army.
-Elves also get some of the best archers in the game, and should be able to outshoot most other armies.
-All Elven units cause terror and have Pathfinders (Master), as well as high movement. These advantages are not to be over looked, as they mean that they are a very menverable army, and failed terror checks by enemies will really play up the Elves high fight.
Anyway on with the list.
INFANTRY
Galadhrim Infantry Regiment: One of the two basic infantry options for Elves, the Galadhrim are a costly lot. At 50 pts with shields (and I would always take this option, they lose nothing but gain a lot) you won't see too many of these guys on the field. At F6 with their glaives they will get a lot of attacks but strength 3 will limit their destructiveness. With shields they are the match of most other armies rank and file troops, but still more expensive. They have the advantage of being able to take a caster, but like most unit upgrade casters, I would see if a epic hero can’t do his job better for not much more. In general this is a unit I would skip.
High Elf Regiment: The other basic Elven infantry unit, is another unit I am not too fond of. 5 pts more then their Galadhrim cousins, the High Elves (Elves from the olden days of the Last Alliance) gain a point of fight but lose a point of defense and the option to take a caster. They don't have shields so will be better off if they get hit the flank/rear then Gladhrim, but it will be bad anyway. Since the drop in defense means that the average enemy will now hit them on a 5+ rather then a 6+ this is a pretty big deal, meaning for me it will be Galadhrim over High Elves here (the drop makes no difference against S4 troops so if you’re fighting Uruk-hai these guys are the better choice). One advantage of these troops is having a F7 captain, who is great for duals.
High Elf Cohort: The High Elf Cohort is really one of the shining gems of the Elf list and I would not leave home with out this unit in some form. Elf warriors are already good so give them defense 7 (normally their weak point) and you have a killer unit. Though they may seem like little more then really expensive versions of other armies rank and file units, they have some unique advantages. Movement of 8, the high fight, pathfinders (master) and terror all combine to make this unit very potent, but the captain is really where it is at. Though the Commander (what they call the captain of this unit) is only 50pts like other captains he is F7 and most importantly comes with 3, read that 3 Might. This means that he can really take other heroes and epic heroes apart, whats not to love about these guys?
Guards of the Galadhrim Court: Same stats as High Elf Cohorts, but with Pikes rather then glaives. They also have orcbane and can take a caster. Not a bad unit. They will really make Warg Riders cry. I can take or leave these guys and the price means then even if I take them, I won’t take too many.
Rivendell Guard: A legendary unit of High Elf Cohort, I like these guys quite a bit. While they lack any real stat advantage over the regular Cohort (stalwart being the only real difference) they do have two advantages. First they are a Legendary unit rather than rare and second they have a max size of 6 companies rather then 4, so you make a really beefy unit out of them. They seem to find their way into every Elf list I make.
Guardians of Caras Galadhon: While at first glance this unit may just seem to be a Legendary unit of “Guards of the Galadhrim Court” it has some major advantages. For no cost increase the Guardians of Caras Galadhon gain S4 and Stalwart, as well as a 3 might hero, making them a rather tough unit. In particular S4 and Orcbane will serve you will when fighting armies of Mordor, plus these guys just got some nice new models!
ARCHERS
Galadhrim Archer Regiment: Galadhrim Warriors with bows, these are some of the best archers in the game, and can make up the common part of your elf army. They have the ability to take a Caster with wilderness spells, and I mostly see this option being used to cast “guide arrows” on the unit, but consider this, for the cost of the caster (who gives each company an extra shot) you could just buy two more companies of archers. Which is better? I leave that to you.
High Elf Archer Regiment: Similar to the Galadhrim Archer Regiment these guys are just the High Elf Regiment with longbows. These guys represent a good medium infantry unit for the Elves as a large unit will often put out 50-60ish shots a turn as well as being a fairly solid CC unit. I would take these over the regular High Elf Regiment any day as the loss of the point of fight from having glaives is more then made up for by their having longbows. Still these guys will die in droves if hit with a really CC unit. All in all they make a good core of your army and are a good (if expensive) way to fill up common slots.
Wood Elf Warband: While it is possible to field wood elves without giving them longbows I don’t know why you would as they only really shine as archers. However they do make amazing archers! Longbows, shot value of 3+ and enchanted cloaks means that they will put out 11 shots a company at long range and not be shot back at, simply amazing. Keep them out of combat however or they will end up as dead as the trees they take their name from.
Mirkwood Sentinels: Another good archer unit. This superior unit of Wood Elves has all the same things going for at as the regular Wood Elf Warband, with the addition of a nifty special rule, Enrapturing Song (this give the sentinels a chance to reduce the strength of enemy units fighting them in close combat to 1). While it may seem that Mirkwood Sentinels are simply a replacement archer unit for Wood Elf Warbands, I prefer to use them on the flanks of my main line, and charge them in with a real combat unit in the hopes of reducing the enemies strength thus helping the rest of the army out.
Gildor’s Household: A legendary unit of Wood Elves led by Gildor. Gildor might only have 2 might (low for the leader of a legendary formation) but he is a Mastery 2 caster which makes up for this. Add in Ambusher to the unit's rules and you get a very versatile unit.
Haldir’s Elves: Legendary Galadhrim Archers. This is the unit in every army that gains the Take Aim! rule (allowing them to increase their shot value). While they are not a bad unit, they are nothing really special and Haldir in my eyes is too good an epic hero to waste in this unit. I would skip them.
CAVALRY
Galadhrim Knight Regiment: The lone unit of Elven cavalry, the Galadhrim Knights are a beating and a half. Though many focus on their low defense as a major weakness they overlook the advantages of Galadhrim Knights. The first is that unlike EVERY other cavalry unit in the game they have 4 base attacks! That is twice as many as any other cavalry unit in the game. This not only means that the option to take longbows is a very attractive to me (expert riders plus 6 shots a company makes them the best mounted archers in the game) but also gives them a whole lot of attacks. Combine them with a hero like Celeborn and on a turn they charge a unit that fails its terror check they will have 18 attacks apiece, not too shabby eh?
HEROES
Glorfindel, Lord of the West: He’s a caster! He’s a monster! He flies! He’s amazing! Glorfindel (the Elf so awesome they had to cut him from the movies so he didn’t outshine all the heroes) is indeed a mighty beast. Combining the abilities of a caster, the ability to move like a flying monster, several banes, and a solid stat line Glorfindel is a solid choice in any army.
Galadriel, Lady of Lothlorien: A solid caster, with “Touched by Destiny” and several other good rules, Galadriel is in many ways a lesser version of Gandalf. Cheaper, with almost all the same abilities, but just a little worse.
Galadriel, Protectress of Lothlorien: A combat version of Galadriel with no casting. The only thing this hero has over the cheaper combat heroes is a fight of 10, a truly awesome stat that is not to be overlooked. Sadly her rules Spirit Grasp and Spirit Walk have no actual effect on the game (since the special rules of heroes don’t transfer to the units, pg. 69) but maybe that will change at some point, for the moment it does not really take away from the power that is Galadriel.
Celeborn, Lord of Lothlorien: Celeborn is a mediocre hero in normal use, clocking in at 175 pts, for a good caster, with good stats. He lacks epic strike, a huge weakness, but has epic defense (nice to help buff up that weak Elven defense). Taken at face value he is a little expensive for what you get. There are both better casters and better combat heroes for the same or cheaper cost, though he represents a good blend of both. However placed in a unit of Galadhrim where his Lord of Lothlorien rule comes into effect (giving his fight to the whole unit) he can really shine.
Thranduil, King of Mirkwood: This guy is one of my favorite Elf heros. Good stats, a mastery 2 caster, epic strike and epic shot combine to make him a real beast. I particularly like combining him with a “consular” in order to boost his might and unleash 4-6 epic shots in a turn; devastating to a unit and death to a monster. At only 25pt more then an Elven Sormcaller (their unit upgrade caster) I would take him anywhere I had planned to take a Stormcaller.
Elrond, Master of Rivendell: A good caster who can handle himself in a fight (Fight 8) Elrond is not a bad choice. Epic Renewal allows him to spread some might around and Epic Restoration allows him to do some healing, but for his point cost you could easily take two other casters who are also not bad in combat.
Legolas, Prince of Mirkwood: Legolas, son of King Thranduil (and favorite of Fangirls everywhere) is another amazing Elf hero. Though somewhat weak in combat (fight 6 with no epic strike) he allows his whole unit to fight before they normally would, a great boon to the weak Elves who are now able to strike before their enemies. In addition he has “Crippling Shot” which allows him to reduce an enemy monsters resilience to 1. Combined with Epic Shot this means Legolas can kill almost any enemy monster he sets his eye on. Pricey but worth it.
Cirdan of the Havens: A cheap caster (75pts) that also gives him unit a 6+ save. Not much to see here but a good choice over all.
Gil-galad, High King of the Elves: As befits the Last High King of the Elves, Gil-galad is one heck of a hero. Fight 10, 6 Might, and he gives his company a +2 bonus to hit! What more could you want? How about Epic Defence, Epic Sacrifice, and Epic Leadership (which allows friendly formations to re-roll courage tests) as well as Inspiring hero. Able to both lead his army well and kill just about any other hero in the game Gil-galad is truly a hero of the 2nd Age. Alas all this awesome comes with a price. Gil-galad clocks in as the most expensive good Hero in the game, (only Sauron, Lord of Rings is more exspensive), but boy will he earn those points back!
Liv Tyler (Arwen Evenstar): Thought by many to be an unnecessary addition to the movies Liv does not do a good job here of proving her worth. Priced the same as Thrandil but far worse, the only thing that can really be said for Liv is that she’s better then a Stormcaller, for not much more. It would appear she is unnecessary addition to the army list as well.
Elladan and Elrohir: Twin sons of Elrond these two heroes are each a low, low (one time only offer, going fast!) 35pts each, making them cheaper then a captain. Though a little worse than your average captain (only 1 might) they do have the advantage of sometimes sharing their might. One has Epic Strike the other Epic Defence, use them as captain replacements in your units to save a few points.
Haldir, Guardian of Lorien: Another cheap hero, Haldir has Epic shot and Epic Sacrifice rounding him out to be a solid hero.
~Well that’s it for the Elven Kingdoms, tune in next week for our next installment.
Friday, July 10, 2009
40K Pic of the Day 7-10-09
~Your daily dose of tabletop fun! Enjoy. If you have an awesome shot you think would make a great BoLS pic of the day, email us!
WFB HOBBY: Sculpting Ogre Conversions
Today I wanted to showcase the work of a friend of mine who used to work at Games Workshop. Jake Landis is an extraordinary hobbyist with tons of talent in the painting, sculpting and general creativity department. Once upon a time he used to spend much of his days building some of the spectacular scenic tables that were featured at North American Games Day events. Jake is no longer with Games Workshop, but that hasn't stopped him from putting his creative talents to good use on his own projects. Watching him work when we're at the Battle Bunker together is always a treat.
One of Jake's most recent projects involves sculpting conversions on Ogre Kingdoms models. This project comprises massive amounts of sculpted Kneadatite (aka "green stuff") to dress his Ogres up as if they are Mongol warriors in traditional garb. The picture at the top of this article shows three finished products of this effort, while the two photos below provide both back and front views of work in progress.
If you'd like to see more of his work, head on over to Jake's own personal hobby website.
I hope you'll take the time to check out the website of this talented sculptor and hobbyist. There is a comments area at the site and Jake is one of the nicest, most helpful veteran hobbyists you're likely to meet, so if you have any questions or encouragement, feel free to leave some comments in the appropriate area on his site. Thanks!
40k Deep Thought: The Mega-Mech Builds
Hi guys. As lots of folks around America are preparing for the 'Ardboyz competition I wanted to talk a little about something I've seen more and more these days.
I think that there is a spectrum of army possibilities that exists within our beloved 40k, ranging from tiny elite armies to hordes, and everything in between. Every so often a new codex comes along and expands the game with exotic possibilities that just didn't exist before and all of the community has to adjust.
The IG codex has been one of these events. It has given rise to something I call the "Mega-Mech" army builds. With the easy access to vehicle squadrons, combined with the budget costing of many tanks if you don't go crazy on the upgrades, it is very possible for common sized lists to field @20 tanks. Not sentinels, and little stuff like that, but 20 REAL tanks. Combine that with small cheap scoring units who often have no intention of ever leaving their transports until very late-game and you have one heck of an armoured behemoth that is a real nut to crack for many armies and codices out there.
Consider this theoretical list:
5 chimeras
3 hellhound
3 banewolfs
3 demolishers
3 hydras
+minimum dudes
~My question to my fellow generals, is are you seeing the rise of the mega-mech builds, and how would/are you adapting to deal with them. Please give some concrete examples of what your favorite codex would do to deal with effectively. Also, are lists like these any more unbalancing than the old Armored Company lists that GW eventually chucked, saying the game's constraints just didn't work well with them. The floor is your gentlemen.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
40K Pic of the Day 7-9-09
~Your daily dose of tabletop fun! Enjoy. If you have an awesome shot you think would make a great BoLS pic of the day, email us!
40K RUMORS: Space Wolves - Round 2
Rumors brought to the community via Warseer and Estalia-Cordoba.
OK, so we must be within the 3 month window, because all the canaries are singing. Latest Space Wolves skuttlebutt from all over the place around the tubes:
-Leman Russ is out, a Land Raider Variant with possible assault cannon armament is in.
-Space Wolves ICs are equipped in a method broadly similar to WFB Vampire Counts characters. You basically build a "Saga" for your hero, which fluff wise lists his heroic deeds, and grants various sets of package-deal special abilities. ~Very much Viking in nature. I Approve!
-Bjorn is said to have AV:14 front armor, with other details contradictory in nature.
-Jump-pack options will be changing in the new codex, and jump-pack marines are called "Skyriders".
From our fellow enthusiasts overseas there is also this:
- Todo el ejercito mantendrá la regla de contraataque y todos menos los los garras sangrientas, irán con la regla de disparar con una mano "pero algo mas especial":
En principo parece ser que le querian dar el equipo completo como hicieron con otros codex (bolter, pistola y Arma de CaC) pero al final parece que podrian haber optado porque "cualquier miniatura con esta regla y armada con un BOLTER (nada de rifles de plasma) pueda hacer fuego rápido y asaltar ese mismo turno". Ahi es na...
- Los garras van con HA 4 (al parecer mantienen la HP 3) y cambian su regla actual por asalto rabioso.
- Los colmillos largos al parecer van a ser muy muy buenos. Segun comentan, no venden muchos devastadores marines y menos aún de colmillos largos, por lo tanto podrian potenciarlos bastante. Por lo visto a parte de mantener su regla actual (dividir el fuego entre dos unidades), el lider de la jauria tambien daria a la unidad la regla de implacables. De todos los rumores este es el que mas que cuesta creerme.
- La guardia del lobo tambien será bastante potenciada, pero solo se ha a filtrado que tendran toda una pagina con configuraciones de equipo.
- Lo que se comento de un Bjorn de multiples blindajes 14 (aún no se sabe a ciencia cierta por cuantos lados pero frontal contad con ello).
- Ragnar por lo visto a a ser un energumeno de cuidao. Aparte de un buen perfil, su inclusion en ejercito daria a este ligeros y a la unidad a la que se una armas aceradas y +1 ataque.- En cuanto a fechas casi con seguridad serán el codex de octubre y se presentarán todas las novedades en el Games day inglés que cae por esas fechas.
~Standard Caveats on this this stuff. Have at it guys (especially you Spanish translators). I can almost hear the Wolf calls on the wind from here. Maybe its just me, but I have a feeling this codex is going to fall very, very far from the standard Space Marine Codex. Just as Russ would have wanted.
FFG NEWS: Warhammer: Invasion Card Game
Those folks over at Fantasy Flight Games are kicking their Warhammer games into overdrive. Hot on the heels of anouncing the Rogue Trader RPG, and Chaos in the Old World, we get this new offering: Warhammer: Invasion Card Game.
"Warhammer Fantasy has been in existence for over two decades. Now, Fantasy Flight Games is proud to announce the Warhammer: Invasion LCG! Taking place in the war-torn setting of Warhammer Fantasy, players muster their forces, collect vast resources, venture out on perilous -but rewarding- quests, build and develop their kingdom, and lead massive sieges against heavily fortified foes. Designed by Eric M. Lang, award-winning designer of the Call of Cthulhu and A Game of Thrones card games, Warhammer: Invasion puts you in charge of an empire seeking to rule the lands.
Will you play the indestructible grudge-bearing Dwarfs, the shrewd and manoeuvrable Empire, the savage and destructive Orcs, or the entropic and mutating forces of Chaos? Or will you cleverly craft an alliance, playing the combined might of the forces of either Order or Destruction?"
Warhammer Invasion LCG Core Set contains:
1 Rulebook
220 Cards representing 4 factions
4 Capital Boards
35 Resource Tokens
60 Damage Tokens
4 Burning Tokens
MRSP: $39.95
No release date listed.
~There was initially a decent period of lag after FFG first got the GW licence, but they seem to be truckin along now.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
40K DISCUSSION: The Other Necron Heavy Support Options
Everyone knows Monoliths are the heavy hitters of the Necron codex, but what about the often overlooked other options from the Heavy Support section of the codex?
Tomb Spyders and Heavy Destroyers seem fairly reasonable on paper. A tough monstrous creature and a super fast weapons platform seem to be just what the doctor ordered. Or is it?
Tomb Spyder
Pros: Tough, can generate free scarab bases, monstrous creature attacks, greater return capability for wiped out squads, fearless, squads of 3, acts independently
Cons: Slow, 3+ armor, fearless, not "Necron"
Spyders are not really a unit that lends itself to "tricks" and tend to be more of a support unit. The ability to generate a scarab base is a great way to have a couple extra wounds (or one high power shot) to absorb. However, I think the best ability they have is the extended We'll Be Back distance for wiped out squads. 12" can cover two or three squads that can act as kamikaze units and dive into the enemy lines, yet still come back after being wiped.
Despite being monstrous creatures, I find they tend to be weak close combat units against non-vehicles. just a couple power weapon attacks and the spyder falls. Also, the prevalence of power fists, means the scarabs are going to fall quickly to normal attacks, and the fist will finish off the spyder. Fearless can also be a problem in combat, a 5+ save is not going to let the scarabs last long against a heavily lost combat. Giving them a staff of light may be the better option, but keeping them away from combat units with such a short ranged gun can be trouble.
Heavy Destroyers
Pros: High strength gun, longest range in the codex (tied with normal gauss cannon), base toughness 5, highly mobile, "Necron", one of two necron ap2 weapons
Cons: Single shot weapons, expensive, no invulnerable save, only 3+ armor, max squad of 3
Heavy destroyers also don't lend themselves to "tricks" and are pretty simple. They don't have the longest range, so keeping them away from las cannon fire is really not going to happen. I haven't had much luck with my destroyers, preferring monolith's myself. I am working on a list now that runs 3 full squads to see if numbers helps their odds.
~What benefits have you seen with taking spyders or heavy destroyers over monoliths? Has anyone had any luck using them? Let's see if we can come up with some current situations where they would come in handy. Does anyone have any ideas for lists using these two that have good results?
40K RUMORS: The Wolftime Approaches
Selected rumors brought to the community warseer's: BDJV and 75hastings69
Fasten your seatbelts. Talk on the tubes is the Sons of Russ are returning this October.
WOLFRIDERS?!
BoLS has been hearing talk of at least one unit capable of riding wolves and this might be it:
-The new trade order form lists Canis Wolfborn ($41.25) in the marine section.
He's got a very big wolf in a not so weired way as that sounds.
-Wolfguard Leader/Wolfguard Bodyguard riding wolves!
EQUIPMENT
Always reliable Brimstone has been dropping hints:
-Lightning Claws pah, the Wolves of Fenris have no use for such items.
In relation to this recently released mini:
Others step in to say:
-They are called Wolf Claws in the new codex, you can choose to either re-roll to hit or to wound.
CHARACTERS
-Njal Stormcaller indeed is back, and with a new model, holding a gnarled staff out before him.
-Bjorn is back
MINIS
-2 new plastic kits:1 of them can be used to make pretty much every SW troop choice by combining the oooodles of spares on the sprues with normal vanilla marines kits (e.g. a box of devastators plus the extra from the sprues will make your Longfangs. IIRC there are around 30+ heads on the sprue!!! There may also be a special vehicle, but I'm not sure if it's a complete kit or if there will be an upgrade sprue to add to the existing kit.
-Metal Wolfguard Bodyguard terminators
~Standard Caveats apply, but much of this is now multiple-sourced. It looks like this October timeslot falls just past the September 27th date for Gamesday UK. We have heard chatter that a lot of this will be formally rolled out there.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
40K Pic of the Day 7-7-09
~Your daily dose of tabletop fun! Enjoy. If you have an awesome shot you think would make a great BoLS pic of the day, email us!
First BoLSCon Prize Announcement
BoLSCon 2009
August 22-23
Doubletree Hotel, Austin, Texas
Remember when we said that BoLScon's $4000+ prize pool will have lots of cool random prizes? Well some of them are alloted to early registrants. Congratulations to our first Random prize winner, Andrew B. of Washington, DC! Andrew was randomly selected from registrants, and will receive a Battleforce Box of his choice.
And, now that we've given a prize, the cat is out of the bag. We will have more drawings for registrants and pre-submitted armies between now and August 6th. If you've been holding off your registrations until BoLScon is right around the corner, well that time has arrived! We will also have plenty of random giveaways during the actual events as well.
Warhammer 40,000 2000pt Tournament
Warhammer Fantasy 2250pt Tournament
War of the Rings 2000pt Tournament
Warhammer 40,000 3000pt Narrative Events Anti-tournament
Open Gaming
Pod Racing
Lucky-13s
REGISTER NOW! There are less than 2 months to go!
~Come on down to beautiful, sunny Austin and enjoy a weekend of your favorite games with the Fly Lords. We'll see ya there!
40K EDITORIAL: Playing Fast is the Key to Paradise
Good day cadets! Today we will be talking about speed of play, and how it can take a soft, weedy officer candidate, and make an Emperor's-Blessed, enemy-crushing, merciless Catachan Devil out of him. Lets get right to it. At ease!
Playing fast is one of the most important skills to master if you want to be a strong player. Here are some key reasons:
#1 You make more mistakes when you play faster. Mistakes mean that things don’t go as planned, and you have to improvise more. This means you have more practice for when that missile immobilizes your Land Raider (after your opponent Stole the Initiative, of course), or all your Drop Pods scatter exactly away from their targets.
#2 You play more games in the same amount of time if you play faster. Playing more games is incredibly important for improving. You may not have the good fortune to have a wide variety of opponents and armies to fight against, but even playing twice as many games against your friend’s Ultramarines will increase your ability to understand the game more fully.
#3 When you play fast, you develop your instincts. Almost anyone can calculate the odds, given time. Playing fast takes that time away, so you learn to trust your feelings. Like Luke, at the Death Star. Being able to decide which target to fire on, which objectives you can and cannot take, and where your opponent will break through your defenses are all matters best managed through instinct.
#4 Playing fast develops your focus. Playing fast eliminates the long pauses to think about what you’re going to do after your opponent’s turn. This teaches you to be thinking about what you are going to do while your opponent is playing, instead of updating your Facebook profile or whatever it is you might be doing instead. Keeping focused on the game is one of the pieces too many players do not have.
~I want to note that none of these suggestions are pointed at people new to the hobby, nor do I mean to criticize anyone for playing casually at a relaxed pace. All tournaments have time limits, so practicing to remove the fear of the clock is your friend.
Now your assignment cadets is to try to get in just 1 extra game the next time you head out to games night. If you normally play 1 game, try to get in 2; if its normally 2, try for 3. You will be pleasantly surprised how quickly you will learn to hone that killer instinct once you get in the groove of playing fast and aggressively. It also has the effect of flustering opponents who are often taken aback at seeing a quick bout of activity upset thier well-laid battle plans. Flustered players make mistakes... What say you?
Monday, July 6, 2009
40K Pic of the Day 7-6-09
~Your daily dose of tabletop fun! Enjoy. If you have an awesome shot you think would make a great BoLS pic of the day, email us!
40K REVIEW: Planetstrike
Hi guys,
Bigred here, with our latest Warhammer 40000 product review. I have recently finished reading my copy of Planetstrike and want to go over it in detail with you guys who may be debating whether its worth your time.
Basics
80 Pages
B/W with color plates (like a codex)
Standard codex sized format
Softback
Price: $25 USD
Content Breakdown
Planetstrike Rules: 25 pages
Strategems: 13 pages
Campaigns and Missions: 8 pages
Fluff and Painted Mini Section: 26 pages
Content Review
First up, this book is an expansion for the main rulebook, so if you are already a 40k player, you're ready to go. In the same vein as Cities of Death, the book mainly covers large attacker-defender style missions, instead of the balanced missions with no predefined roles we get in the standard rulebook. With differing sides and contrasting FOC tables, Planetstrike will require a little bit of pre-planning, and lends itself well to narrative gameplay or more organized playstyles than just simple pickup games.
Planetstrike Rules
After a brief introduction we get right into the meat of the rules section. This is broken into 2 broad categories:
-Organizing a battle
-Defensive Terrain
Organizing a battle is a real homage to the old "battles" section of the 4th edition rulebook with even more embellishments added in. Both attacker and defender are presented with new FOC tables, allowing both players to build up forces that are otherwise not possible outside of Apocalypse. Things like 6 elites for the attacker and 6 heavy suppport choices for the defender and much more are guaranteed to peak players interest ,and produce some very different games.
The book goes on to cover the placement of objectives, how forces arrive on-table, and the attackers and defenders goals and objectives. In general the attacker has a hard road early to mid-game with the defender gaining the advantage of position, and formidable defenses, but it is the defender who will start the sweating late game. Objectives may be claimed by the attacker with only a single surviving model, and every squad counts as scoring, so the attacker must not only be prepared, but thorough with his firepower. Even small rag-tag remnants of attacking squads can achieve victory.
Defensive terrain is the visual highlight of Planetstrike. Here we get detailed rules for:
-Bastions
-Interceptor Guns (with limited overwatch abilities!)
-Defense Lines
-Landing Pads
-Fortresses
The rules are clean, and work with the core rulebook well. Did I mention that all defensive weapons on the new terrain pieces fire at BS:2 and are awarded to the defending player for FREE!
Strategems
After the core rules, we move onto the Strategems. These are really cool, if somewhat analagous to the Cities of Death strategems section. There are a large set of strategems divided into attacker and defender pools, to spice missions up. From attacking Stasis Bombs, to defending Drop-Bastions, there is something for every game. The section then moves on to my favorite part of the entire book: race-specific strategems. Here we see such awesome abilities as the Space Marines mighty Drop Pod strikes, to the fear-inducing terror of Dark Eldar assaults, and their craftworld brother's deceptive use of the Web-way. Along the way, we get little background tidbits on some of the game's older races that is sure to tantalize the fluff nuts.
Campaigns and Missions
Next up is a short section that expands the default Planetstrike mission presented earlier into a full set of 6 missions with differing special rules and objectives for variety. These may be played in series to represent a mini-campaign depicting the invasion of a world, and are a treasure trove for narrative gamers or campaign designers. I can see many of these being used with Planetary Empires to really add depth to league play.
Fluff and Painting Section
Next up a large section covers many famous invasions of the 40th Millenium, covering every race out there. Many of Warhammer 40k's older codices get a nice dusting off with dramatic new stories, and artwork. The Dark Eldar and Space Wolves are standouts in this department, with a bunch of intriguing hints and information.
Finally we hit the obligatory crazy color battle plates chock full of pretty pics. While not as over the top as the Apocalypse books, we get to see every major race slugging it out in and around the new Planetstrike terrain sets. High quality 'Eavy Metal work abounds, along with lots of Forgeworld goodies and its definately inspiring.
Downsides
While everything is good so far, there are some issues. Once again, we see Witchhunters and Daemonhunters left in the cold strategem-wise. While there are thankfully Grey Knight and Sisters models in a couple of pics, I'm starting to get the feeling that continueing from Apocalypse there is some reason GW is not mentioning those two codeices by name any longer. Some will note the broad similarity between Planetstrike and Cities of Death, and the criticism is warranted. Both supplements are broadly similar, and you will find the strategem sections to be blurred reflections of each other.
Summary
On balance, Planetstrike is a good bargain for the price, with the terrain sets being even better. If you enjoy the drama of disparate roles for both players, or you feel the standard pickup-missions from the rulebook are getting a little old, you will love this product. It opens up the game to include new playstyles that let you use your existing minis collections in new ways. The ruleset dovetails nicely into the existing rulebook with little to no hickups, and the expansion of the game to include such common 40th Millenium themes as bastions, fortified lines, and the like will only enhance the dark-gothic look of your tabletops. Lastly, it is cheaper and more accessable than Apocalypse supplements, being an add-on to the core game.
4 Stars (out of 5)
Goatboy's 40k Thoughts: Lets have Fun Dangit!
Lately we have been theorizing stupid lists for Ard Boyz and I have come to the conclusion that I just don’t care. I'm not bringing something insanely tough. I know some friends locally have been having some crap luck as of late, so they have built crazy tough, very expensive Forgeworld-enhanced IG builds that I personally find awful. These are the types of builds that can crush a normal player and make them not want to play again. It isn’t an artful army, full of interesting strategies or methods to win. No it just sits, and shoots, shoots, and shoots some more, before leaving you wondering why you wasted your 25 minutes to set up on the table.
Now where this is all going, is that with discussing this list and how it might work, it really brings up the question: is it really all the fun to win in all cases? Lately, I have found the games where both players are losing models can be a hell of a lot of fun. When just one player is pulling off models its often a miserable time for BOTH.
I know I am the “hard” player here, but trust me, winning the game on turn 2 or 3 is just not worth my Saturday. Thus my change of armies on Saturday to something that has more strategic elements to it, as well as some goofy bits that makes for an interesting game. So lets talk about how to create fun games and armies for yourself AND your opponent.
First thing you can try, is agree upon a build with your opponent. Nothing is worse then bringing something to the table that is goofy and having your opponent have a “no mercy” army facing you. So make sure what kind of army you are playing against. If they want to test a hard list, bring a hard army in response. I know I have played some hard lists against people in training for tourneys as well as goofy lists when they just wanted to goof off.
This leads to my number two thing, don’t be a jerk. If you know your army seems to be too tough, do something stupid. Give them something to kill. Nothing is worse then just not doing anything in a game, and as an opponent you should watch for ways to make things fun. Yeah it might not be the smartest thing to do, but this is a game of plastic guys, so winning here really isn’t that important as making sure you both have a fun time in the grand scheme of things.
The third thing I sometimes do, is let opponents take stuff back. Or I tell them when they miss something that would crush me. Nothing is worse then forgetting to do something that is important to the game, and you as an opponent, noticing it and not telling your opponent, is a pretty crappy thing to do. There are two people in this game, and if both get some kind of win in there, both will leave the game happy.
Finally, and I know that sometimes its hard: don’t complain. I know losing or rolling bad can suck, but the less you complain about it, the better the game will be. I know I have fallen into this rut at times with my newest addiction: Fantasy, and luckily I have some friends that will give me crap for being a whiney tittie baby. It is a hard thing to stay on top of, as sometimes luck can just continue to shove you further into the realm of crap. If your dice are failing you, then what you need to do is just go with it. Just see how bad they can get and see if you can top your last game with worse armor saves. I know a lot of Indy GT’s will give out awards for the worst rolling and I feel this is a good way to make light and have fun when dealing with the bad.
I know this isn’t your usual rant on how to create a better army. Lots of this stuff doesn't work well in a tournament space, but knowing how to play "up" or "down" based on your opponents is one of the true marks of a confident mature player. I know we all cherish our freetime and this game asks a lot more of us than videogames or other projects, so lets make that time enjoyable.
Again, as usual shoot me a question if you want at Goatboybols@gmail.com. I will always answer any questions you might have as well as give out any advice. I was on 40k radio last week, so check it out to here me talk about one of my favorite armies, Chaos Space Marines.
The pics below are some of the stuff I finished this week. I was pretty productive and got a lot of stuff done. I did another spawn as well as 3 more converted Oblits for a client. I also finished up two VC characters for another. Look for a Valk this week and more ork stuff. Woot.
