Battles in the Underhive don't often go according to plan.

   I feel so bad.  My life-long buddy, the one that got into the plastic-crack world with me as a youth, came down for his annual visit and only opportunity to play a game.  We chose Necromunda because that's my current obsession and that's where our history actually began.  I was looking forward to it and hoped he did too.  

  In the Underhive, there are proxies for the six 'middle' Houses in the form of gangs.  But there are other, darker and even more vicious forces down there, often not even worshippers of the Emprah (heresy!!!).  My buddy brought one of those factions- the Corpse Grinders!  These are Khorne-worshipping cultists that depend on the gory deaths of others for their enjoyment.  They aren't as tough as the Goliath gangers, nor are they as well-armed as the brutes, but they have their advantages.  The problem was that I didn't know what those were.  

  As he was setting up his forces and describing their stats, rules, and wargear, I became even more scared.  These dudes have how many attacks?!  With what?!  And they get all those special rules!?!  I continually asked him for the credits-cost and the disadvantages.  The problem was that this was my buddy's first time playing them as well, so he wasn't sure.  I was petrified and decided to bring the Escher crew so I could at least have some range and a lot of toxin/gas.  

  Well, it turns out that my selection was great but my impression was completely wrong.  I thought those cultists were so fast that they would be on top of me in a moment.  I thought that they had so much armor that my lasbolts and autogun bullets would fail to hurt him.  And I thought that I would lose at least half my gang just due to his Infiltrate skill.  Instead, my gang took the high ground, failed to miss with any shots and so pinned everyone that even looked in my direction, and then poisoned them to death.  

  When the smoke (green and noxious smoke, mind you) cleared, the Eschers had lost one body to a frenzied leader tired of seeing his friends get mowed down, while more than half of the cultists were dispatched or outright ineffective.  This is because the Corpse Grinders' biggest weakness is their Cool- they will break and run at nearly anything!  If they make the mistake of 'bunching up' so their banner-bearer can buff their movement, then they also make the mistake of watching one go down and the rest will scurry away like scared roaches.  It was sad.  

  My buddy gets once a year to play a game and I'm the guaranteed opponent.  I've been beating him for decades (when he beats me, though, he BEATS me) but at least it's usually fun(ish).  In this case, it wasn't.  I whined about how broken the warband was, only to watch them become broken and useless.  I overestimated them.  Worse, my buddy just got to put down models, move them forward a bit, and then remove them from the table.  I feel so bad.  

  Got an experience like that?  Drop it in the comments below so we can commiserate together (whether on the giving- or receiving-end).  

Happy Gaming!

Hive Primus heating up!

   We got together to play more Necromunda and my game group had an absolute blast!  For this battle, we had some fun setting up the terrain (three hours of fun, in fact!) and then everyone chose a faction and used all the start box for them.  There were a couple of points to all this.  

  First, I brought in the Tinkerturf terrain and the TTCombat MDF terrain so that we could have something other than the 'standard' stuff for the game.  Zone Mortalis is fun, but it really loses that '3d' element of Necromunda that kept all us old neckbeards coming back for more, while the Zone Mechanicum terrain is still only single-level and boring despite the insane detail.  How about just some hab-blocks and multi-level walkways?  The terrain and immersion part of this game is one of the largest draws.

  Then, we used the Orlock, Goliath, Delaque, and Escher (I used my wife's stuff!) to really show off the differences between the bands and their weapons.  We even went with 'custom (10)' crews so that everyone had the opportunity to try out most of the options.  This definitely created some imbalance, but it doesn't matter right now.  

  Finally, we combined the entire game- both sets of terrain and all 4 gangs- on one table so that everyone would be paying attention to everyone else.  My gaming group may be proficient in D&D, but this game is totally new and I wanted to present every opportunity to reinforce all the rules.  There's a reason...

  I introduced Tactics Cards to each of the players for the first time as well.  This gave them a chance to see even more uniqueness but to realize that they can build strategies around more than some equipment and hopeful dice-rolls.  This is where all of my cunning plans fell apart.  

  The first thing that happened as we finished deployment and established initiative for the first turn was those perfidious Delaque shut out the lights!  He found a card in his deck that I didn't even know was there (and I typically play the Delaque right now!) and popped it on everyone.  As the fighters got into their positions, the lumen-globles shut off and visibility was limited to 6".  This tactic was literally a game-changer and slowed ALL the action down to a crawl.  

  At the end of each turn, we could roll to try to get them back on, but it took three turns to get them back on.  By that point, the Orlocks realized that they were outnumbered and surrounded and used their discretion to slink away and not lose anyone.  The Escher saw that their nearest opponents were gone and began dashing across the table to engage with the other two.  The Delaque tried to stay hidden and together (they were rookies, after all), but that just gave the already short-ranged Goliaths plenty of opportunity to drop Shredder ammo and Frag grenades on the trench-coaters.  It was brutal as their lights-off trick backfired spectacularly.  However, the Delaque weren't without their small victories, taking out the Goliath leader, a champion, and another ganger for good measure on their way out.  The Eschers arrived just in time to see the Delaque bottle out and decided not to challenge the infuriated brutes that were left.  

  Even though the game only went four turns, the scoring resulted in the Delaque winning by a score of 6 to 2 (Goliath) to 0 (Orlock and Escher).  They suffered immensely for it, losing half their gang and not being in a great position for the next engagement (if we were playing a campaign).  The point, however, was really to get into the rules and repeat the game turns enough times that my game group feels confident for the next step.  

  What is the next step?  CAMPAIGN MODE!  The guys really like the game, especially the post-battle stuff and continuing action for the storyline.  Between creating memorable deaths (in the darkness!) and creating infamy for fighters (everyone knows Zed with his unerring harpoon gun!), this seems like something they'd enjoy for a sustainable period.  Plus, this gives me more time to spruce up my D&D stuff...

  Well, that's it for now!  Let me know if you're crawling through the Underhive and had the lights go out at the worst time.  As always- Happy Gaming!

The Lion is finished!

   Well, we were not able to get the game this weekend like we planned.  Maybe next weekend...  But I still have to show of the final results, so here it is!  Be sure to check out the last post to learn how I painted it.  Now on to the pics.  

  I will admit that this model is aweome!  GW is great at making models (they are a model-making company rather than a wargame company, according to them), but this is one of the best for a couple of reasons.  The most obvious is that it really captures the 'knight' aesthetic.  And then all the details and the scenery of the base really brings the model to the next level.  

  The two Watchers on the base weren't super-detailed but they carry the Lion's gear, like good squires.  When painting it, I had to make some artistic decisions about these guys.  The Lion is already pretty dark, so I had to figure out how to paint the little guys without drawing the viewers' eyes down on the  model.  I chose to use a dark purple instead of the maroon shown on the box, as red is too striking and can affect the colour-balance.  I think I like the results.  

  The face is especially fun to paint as it was probably one of the easiest bare skins I've even done to end up with such strong results.  Again, from that artistic approach, I had to figure out how much highlighting to put around his hood to keep the viewers' eyes up there without making that hood not match the rest of the model's green.  Again, I like the result- if I do say so myself!  

  The shield is detailed in that last post.  The problem is that there is no other red on the model and I had to keep it balanced as well.  The Eagle-head is supposed to be golden in colour, but doing that would have made the model shift attention to that side with the complimentary red and gold.  So I decided to paint it the same white as his chest and kneepad icons just to keep the balance.  Plus, I'm actually good at painting white and I like to show it off.  

  Finally, the sword was the biggest obstacle to finishing the model.  I didn't know how I was going to paint it but I knew that I couldn't really use a chromatic colour if I wanted to continue the 'knight' aesthetic, so I had to go with metallic.  As before, this is a bit more detailed in that last post, but I had to struggle to get the blue-glow effect on top of the silver.  This part still doesn't satisfy me, but it's done and still contributes to the overall look.  

  I enjoyed the end-result of this paint project.  And my son's eagerness to use him has me proud and terrified- I don't want to see the Lion "ginsu" his way through my armies!  But he'll look good doing it, and I did that, so I'm just going to have to suffer through it.  Because I also want to see this beauty hit the table.  Let me know what you think (including any constructive criticism) below.  

As always- Happy Hobbying!

Can't lose again, Chaos...

   After painting the Lion, my son and I planned for a game in the middle of the week (work schedules are a real obstacle these days), but we didn't get the chance due to having company.  This gave me time to introspecting on my recent success (or lack thereof) with my Chaos Marines.  I've used the new codex three times, twice against his Dark Angels and once against the Black Templars, and I was convincingly annihilated each time.  My conclusion- I suck at Chaos!

  For this post, I'm going to spend a little time talking about my favorite units in the codex and why I use them frequently.  After that, I'll reach a conclusion as to why I fail so badly somehow.  Now, it should be noted that I'd normally fall back to the "Dice tell the story" addage, but my rolls haven't been characteristically bad for the most part.  But I'll get to that later.  

The Leaders

  I always use my Daemon Prince.  For decades, I got owned across tables all around the nation by heretic players and their Daemon Princes, so I have a bit of a chip on my shoulder for this guy.  Now that I'm also a heretic player, I feel the obligation to put him in my lists.  In previous editions, this was always a good choice.  These days are different and he shouldn't be an auto-include now.  In fact, the difference between the winged one and the normal one is more than the just the ability to fly.  

  The winged version is a lower Toughness, making him only slightly more vulnerable to mid-strength weapons compared to the other guy.  But he causes 'impact hits' when he charges, which makes that extra movement really helpful.  Unfortunately, his wings make him hard to hide so it's always only a matter of time before he's eliminated by those mid-strength bullets.  The walker is tougher, but his most important trait is spreading the Shadow of Chaos and giving allies nearby the Stealth rule, making all of them harder to hit!  That matters enough that I asked my son to paint up the foot-version for our game.  

  Next up are my Terminator characters- the Lord and the Sorcerer.  The Lord is a beat-stick and has always 'traded up', so he's definitely my leader even when the Daemon Prince is involved.  But the real hero is my Sorcerer- giving his bodyguard squad faster movement with his Warptime power.  Unfortunately, this leads that squad to being a 'minesweeper' and being eliminated after a trade.  Not bad, but that's a lot of points spent for less results.  

Vehicles and Armour

  I used to be a big believer in the Defiler, despite the common impression.  The unit is little more than an over-costed Dreadnought with a weaker Battle Cannon on the front, with options for more weapons.  I've tried to use this a couple of times, but it doesn't seem to destroy anything, so it has become a tarpit.  And a tarpit does not a victory earn!

  

  Being a little disappointed in the Defiler, I'm not entertaining the use of Helbrutes (Chaos Dreadnoughts).  While they're not the most game-breaking unit in the game, their ability to inspire nearby allies to use BOTH of the Dark Pacts abilities is really handy- especially for those Possessed that need all the help they can get.  

Troops and other units

  Speaking of Possessed- they are by far my favorite unit in the codex!  More than simply Imperial marines with spikes and chains, these guys actually reflect the boons of following the Dark Gods.  These guys are tough and can be dangerous when going up against stock troopers.  The problem that they have is they don't have a lot of high-strength attacks.  This means that they need to make Dark Pacts or use their once-per-game ability (or both!) to really cause any damage.  Add in a Master of Possessions to buff them, and they're almost the most powerful unit in the game!  But the unit comes with the character- and dice roll-taxes to reach that effectiveness.  

by Diego Gisbert Llorens

  Now we get to the Terminators again.  Regular Chaos squads are cheap but don't do anything other than take and hold objectives, while Raptors and Havocs are a lot of points but almost always underwhelm.  Terminators come with the resilience and firepower to be worth their points and can serve as a tarpit or a damage-dealer.  But they come with that character-tax as well, so it's always a bit of an investment.  Unlike most other units, the Terminators are actually fun, meaning that they often exceed expectations and, just as often, fall short.  

  Next comes the Obliterators.  While Havocs carry the heavy weapons (and can move and shoot without penalty- pretty handy!), they go down quick and aren't often around long enough to get their points back.  Obliterators, on the other hand, are as resilient as they come and can lay down blistering salvoes to wipe out troops and vehicles with ease.  Better- they can deep strike!  I only use them occasionally, but I think they need to make it into every list now.  

  Finally, the infantry I love to use most often includes my Daemon Prince's bodyguard- the Warp Talons.  I converted my own (I still think GW's models are terrible at representing what a Warp Talon is supposed to be- a warp-mutated Raptor that's more daemon than warrior now), using the old Possessed bodies and wings.  Unfortunately, this unit is terrible on the tabletop.  I've tried all the tricks (including having a Defiler nearby to 'interrupt' and keep his buddies alive) and I'm always disappointed.  Even against regular line-troops, they don't do much.  But they have wings and move quickly, so I like them.  

So what's the problem then?!

  Well, this is where it gets fun.  Obviously, I use the least-good units but they don't suck as bad as most people think.  Plus, the theme of "not just Imperial Marines with spikes and chains" is key for me as I already play enough of the good guys.  I want something different, and including all the daemonically-infused stuff is a great way to keep that theme.  My dice-rolling is typically bad, but not so much that it would result in a 100% loss rate with this army.  At least with one exception- 

DARK PACTS!!!

  Chaos Space Marines have the ability to gain 'sustained hits' or 'lethal hits' simply by taking a Leadership test.  This is great- increasing the unit's effectiveness (with the roll of 6's to hit, of course) and doesn't require special wargear or other upgrades.  They just pray to their Dark Gods and suddenly have more super superpowers.  Unfortunately, failing that Ld check results in a sacrifice that causes up to three Mortal Wounds to the unit.  Guess who can't pass a 2d6 check, requiring a '6', with rerolls?  This guy!  Worse, both my Terminators and my Possessed happen to roll a '3' each time they wound themselves, meaning they lose 20% of their output before they even attack!  Yeah, that's not good.  In two of the three losses, I did more damage to my own army than my opponent did.  Wow.  

  With the extra time (hopefully we can play this weekend), I'll be 'finessing' an army list.  If I can break my unhealthy adherence to the 'fluff', maybe I'll use different units and see more success.  But it's not my unit selection that's killing me, it's me!  Pray better, heretics.  Pray better.  

Let me know what advice you may have below or if you have a similar situation with one of your armies.  As always- Happy Gaming!