Last battle of 1.0

  I rushed home from my day off work (yes, I'm one of those people who willingly goes into work on their day off) to play a game with the wife after she got off.  I spent my weeknights after work building the rest of the Stormcast and getting ready to play against her unbeatable undead army and we planned on getting this one in before the new edition of Age of Sigmar hit.  And it was a fun game!

  We played the mission "Knife to the Heart" from the GHB 2017, which meant we played diagonal deployment with one objective marker in each deployment zone.  We each took a 2,000 point army and set up the battlefield using some of her new terrain from the mausoleum set.

The battlefield.  She was very happy to place down her newly-built terrain because... undead.  

  Her force consisted of a Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon, a Vampire, a Mourngul (Forgeworld, thanks Redmon!), 2 Harbingers, 20 Skeletons, 2 units of 10 Skeletons, 2 units of 10 Grave Guard (which never even saw the battlefield), and 10 Hexwraiths.  Ouch!

Her army, including gravestone markers...

   Meanwhile, I took Vandus Hammerhand, a Celestant-Prime, a Knight-Venator, a Lord-Relictor, 2 units of Liberators, 2 units of Judicators, 2 units of Retributors, and a unit of Prosecutors.  My plan was to keep the Celestant-Prime in reserves to charge his hammer and bring him in later when he was needed most. 

My army, in all its gold and grey glory!

   Deployment was simple.  We each set up in our corners, with a unit of Judicators guarding my objective and a unit of 10 skeletons guarding hers.  Otherwise, we put our powerful stuff in the middle to face off against each other.  Since she finished deploying first, she got to choose who took first turn and she (wisely) turned that over to me.  Time to get our battle on!

Deployment

  My first turn started with Vandus Hammerhand moving up to take the heroic point atop the hill and the rest of the army fanning out to tray to pincer her force.  Some shooting and lightning breath saw me take down six skellies and wound the Vampire, only for her to raise five of the skeletons back in her turn.  Rather uneventful and unimpressive.  In the meantime, she rushed up and set to charge Vandus atop the hill, but failed.  Woohoo!  But her Harbingers were able to charge my Knight-Venator and kill him quickly.  What she didn't know was that it was a trap to lure them in for my Paladins to take them out...

End Turn 1

  I won the roll-off to take the second turn (thank Sigmar!), so charged a unit of Liberators and the Prosecutors into her Hexwraiths and Vandus plus some Liberators into the Mourngul.  In my turn, the forces of undeath waxed so many models that I even failed a ton of Battleshock tests and lost  the Prosecutors, most of the Liberators from two units and a whole unit against the Harbingers.  Ouch!  Her turn saw her charge the Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon into the stronger unit of Retributors, and bring the Skeletons and Vampire against Vandus and his Liberator support.  It took much more than I wanted, but the Harbingers were finally killed while the Mourngul healed up all his wounds and commenced to finishing off the rest of my basic warriors.  I was not liking this at all.

End Turn 2

  She won the die roll to get the first turn and I knew this was going to be bad.  Her Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon finished off the Retributors he was facing while the Vampire, Mourngul, and even some skeleton spearmen finished of Vandus.  And to add insult to injury, the Hexwraiths continued to destroy their way to holding the flank.  It was time to spring my trap- I brought in the Celestant-Prime behind the undead's guarding unit and tried to rush my surviving Retributors to support.  I also positioned the Judicators so that they would all be able to shoot at the Vampire Lord and give the powerful Starsoul-mace wielding Paladins the opportunity to banish the dragon-rider, which they did!  Now we were getting somewhere.  With the mighty swing of Ghal-Maraz, the Skeletons guarding her objective were instantly cleared and I was able to distract her from winning the game.  It may have taken some work, but now I wasn't feeling like the battle was going to be a loss. 

End Turn 3

  I won the roll-off for the fourth turn and I moved so that I could hopefully get everything into place.  Some more shooting and maneuvering was all I could do to try to pull this battle out.  My wife responded by completely abandoning any effort to take my objective so that she could defend hers and moved her Mourngul and Hexwraiths to come after my attack.  Luckily, everything was still out of charge range and all she could do was toss some Mystic Bolt magic at the Prime.  It hurt, but I was still alive. 

End Turn 4

   There was still hope and we had made it to the last turn of the game.  If everything went in my favor, I might be able to steal victory from the bone-jaws of defeat.  And it all started with the roll-off for first turn.  She won it.  Uh oh...  Her Mourngul and Hexwraiths charged the Celestant-Prime and fought a hard battle that saw the Mourngul get smashed to death by the mighty hammer of Sigmar.  But, of course, the Hexwraiths overwhelmed him and took him down.  While demoralizing, it was obvious that neither of us would win the game at this rate.  My turn saw me do little more than stand around looking golden and glorious. 

End Game

  I have to give my wife credit as she felt so bad for beating me that she stopped healing her units and chose not to bring in her extra Skeletons or any of the Grave Guard.  Even with all that, she still was able to destroy the vast majority of my army and keep me from stealing victory from her despite not having a plan other than winning.  It was sad.  But I thank my wife for being willing to almost lose just to make me feel better. 

  This now means that my wife's undead army didn't lose a single game in the first edition of Age of Sigmar.  I'm not sure what I can do as my son can't beat her with any of the Chaos armies we own and I can't beat her with the blessings of lightning-forged warriors of Sigmar himself.  And now she wants Nighthaunt?  Oh man...

  It's going to be very interesting to see how the second edition of the game treats each of our armies and what we might be able to do to even out the battles again.  But we really enjoy AoS and look forward to it next week.  Hopefully my 70-hour work-weeks won't keep me from enjoying this high fantasy!

  Let me know how your games of AoS have been treating you and what you think of the 2nd edition.  Otherwise, Happy Gaming!

Small battles against big bugs

  Summer just started for the kids (as we know, non-wealthy adults don't get that 'summer' thing) and it was time for another throw-down.  This time, I didn't want to waste an entire day playing, so we decided to stick to just a 1,000 point game.  That also allows me to set up a smaller table and not have to clutter the already shrinking hobby room.  I forgot how fun smaller games were for a bit there. 

  I should also note that I was going to use the Open War cards that I finally decided to pick up.  But the cards aren't made for smaller battles and battlefields, so we agreed to just do the standard "Kill and 12" mission.  After all, the only true goal is to push around our dolls and roll some dice, right?

  The battlefield was simple.  I added a couple of hills and tree bases because it makes sense that Imperial forces would try to catch the enemy before they get into the heart of the cities.  Otherwise, it was a densely-packed table with plenty of line-of-sight blockages all over the place. 

The battlefield

  I chose to play the Imperial Guard, er, I mean Astra Militarum for this one.  My Ultramarines haven't been performing great and they needed some rest, so I relieved them and brought in the big guns.  My force consisted of a Company Commander, Platoon Commander, Primaris Psyker, three Infantry Squads rocking flamers and riding in Chimeras (the heavy stubbers aren't modeled, but I took them), an autocannon Heavy Weapon Squad, a Hellhound, a stock Leman Russ, and a Basalisk.  It was meant to be a cross-section of the IG's arsenal while not being particularly spammy or cheezy. 

Sound Off!

  I was worried about the force that my son decided to take.  It didn't really seem all that powerful to me and simply lacked the numbers that could stand up to my many flamers.  He took Old One Eye, a Broodlord, two Thornback Carnifexes, 2 smaller units of Genestealers, a unit of Warriors, and a unit of Hive Guard.  There was some speed, some monstrous tough-guys, and some pretty decent shooting considering that I'm wearing nothing but flak armor. 

Chitin and Claws!

    I won the roll-off for deployment and focused my vehicles behind the buildings (especially hiding the Basalisk) and the Armored Fist units (the infantry riding in their Chimeras) on the nature side.  He deployed the Carnifexes in the city, hid his Hive Guard (I hate those things so much), and put his mobs of 'stealers on the nature side as well.  We did the roll-off for first turn and, of course, I got it by having the fewest drops. 

Deployment and Game On!

  The first turn saw the very little actually happening.  I ran the command Chimera towards the center of the line, planning on being the 'countercharge' unit and charged the Hellhound foward.  My shooting phase saw me plink down a couple of Genestealers and, using my tanks and artillery, putting some wounds onto Old One Eye.  After all, I didn't want him to get too close.  In return, the Genestealers and their Broodlord attacked the Hellhound and damaged it pretty hard, but didn't kill it.  Everything else, of the larger variety, just began their implacable advance towards me.  Using his Hive Guard and a well-timed strategem, he took out my Heavy Weapons squad and earned First Blood.  I really hate those guys. 

End Turn 1

  The second turn saw me move up with my Armored Fist section and disembark a unit or two to lay down some flame on the surviving Genestealers.  I chose not to retreat with my Hellhound, hoping he would kill it off and I would explode in his lines.  A bit more big guns focusined on Old One Eye saw me able to finish him off and earn the Slay the Warlord.  Battle Cannons are so good!  The Genestealers almost finished off the Hellhound, falling just one wound short of finishing it off. 

One more wound.  Really?

  Seeing my tactic and understanding the suicidal nature of the crew of the Hellhound, he retreated far enough way that it didn't matter.  The Tyranids continued their advance through the city and opened fire with their guns, finishing off the Hellhound and putting some damage into one of my Chimeras.    Sure enough, the Hellhound exploded and managed to take a couple of Genestealers down, but nothing near what we were hoping.  The Broodlord and remaining Warrior charged the other Chimera holding the flank and wounded it pretty well.  But by the time the smoke cleared, it looked as though the Imperial Guard had eliminated the little threats. 
 

End Turn 2 

  Turn 3 was bad for the Imperium of Man.  The remaining two Carnifexes were now in range to charge through the ruins into my tanks and the Broodlord was busy chomping his way through a transport.  The Chimera retreated so that the Infantry Squad could unleash lasgun fire into them, but this is where my son remembered his rules.  The Warrior was closer and behind a bunch of rocks and couldn't be seen, so my troops were too skittish to shoot at the monster in front of them.  The transport had retreated, so it couldn't shoot at all.  That meant that the flank was completely wasted.  Only the targeting of the Basalisk would help, only it failed to wound the Warrior.  The Psyker got out of his transport and started making his way toward the tank line to support and the two Chimeras chose to start up the middle and put some wounds on at least one of thes Carnifexes.  It didn't work.  The helpful gaze of the Emperor was definitely not on us.  Meanwhile, the Tyranids simply continued their implacable advance and peppered shooting- shooting my retreated Chimera to bits and finally charging both Carnifexes into my Leman Russ .  His Hive Guard even shot a whole squad off the table (did I mention I hate those things?).  Funny enough, my son's tactics again paid off as the first monster to charge was behind a building and unable to be seen, so I couldn't fire overwatch with my big tank.  The other simply sauntered in unworried.  It was a bad turn for me and a great one for my son's Tyranids.  

End Turn 3

  In desperation, my next turn started with the Infantry Squad moving up into a position to finish off the Warrior and Broodlord, a Chimera aiming to help, and the other Chimera dashing across the battlefield to try to stop those Hive Guard.  The Basalisk finished off the Warrior, splattering it all over his Broodlord and distracting him long enough take some fire from multiple directions.  Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to finish him off.  The Carnifexes were slowly beating the Leman Russ, but at least it was shielding the artillery from harm for the time being.  The Psyker climbed into the ruins and began the Smite-storm, at least hurting the injured monster a little more.  But the 'nids weren't done just yet.  The Broodlord charged and wiped out the squad that shot at him and the Hive Guard peppered the incoming Chimera even more, slowing it down as the tracks were shredded.  And the Carnifexes just continued to beat on the Leman Russ. 

End Turn 4

  Still the IG fought on.  The Company Commander set up to charge the Broodlord but watched as it was obliterated with multi-laser fire from the Chimera (whew!) and the Leman Russ continued to hold out.  The Tyranids were down to few models but they were all making a dent as he continued to beat on the heavy tank and spread Hive Guard ammo onto transports all over.  At this point, we had to roll to see if the game continued.  With some amount of suspense and the Guard's victory in had currently, the die stopped on a six and the game continued.  Nooooo!

End Turn 5

  The next unwanted turn was as bad as the 3rd.  The damaged Chimera couldn't get much closer, so the last Infantry squad hopped out and started beating feet to the remaining Hive Guard as the transport moved closer to support.  They were able to kill one of the last two and charged into combat with bayonets fixed, but couldn't quite finish him off.  Unfortunately, the Leman Russ finally succumbed to the massive talons of the Carnifexes and the Basalisk was now unprotected.  Even with the Psyker tossing Smite in their direction, it wasn't enough to kill one and the end was certainly near.  With the 'nids doing all the damage they could in their turn, it came to another roll.  The Imperium really needed this one as the game was tied.  But the die fell on another six and the game continued. 

End Turn 6

  The final turn saw the Guardsmen finally kill the last of the Hive Guard (moral victory!), but also saw the Carnifex killing the Basalisk.  While there was nothing left of the xenos but two Carnifexes, it was still a defeat for the Imperial Guard, er, Astra Militarum.  With the secondary objectives and kill points counted, it was a victory for the Tyranids, 9-7. 

End Game

  It was a great game.  Were it not for the random game length, the Imperium could have pulled this one out.  But the Tyranids were not to be denied their chance to cause havoc and they certainly did.  What I was most happy about was that my son is actually using tactics now.  He still missed some rules like the rerolling for the monstrous scything talons, but his use of line-of-sight blocking terrain and order of charges is really making my goal of dominating him difficult.  Stupid learning.  

  As I write this, my wife and son are playing Age of Sigmar and her Legion of Nagash is dominating Nurgle.  I don't remember the last time she lost a battle since that darn army book came out.  Maybe I need to dust off my Ironjaws and see how well she does against them...

  Until next time, Happy Gaming!

My Choppa is bigger than your Axe!

  We were itching for some gaming over the holiday weekend and decided to get some going.  First, the wife's unbeatable Legion of Nagash destroyed my son's Slaves to Darkness, which led him to revamping his army and challenging me to a game.  The cool part is that I had just finished painting up my Warchanter (only 17 months after I got them- I'm fast!) and I was excited to put down the greenskins to kill some Bloodletters.  We only played 1500 points because, well, I only have 1500 points of Ironjaws.

  We chose to play the Scorched Earth scenario from the GH 2017- there are 6 objective markers, placed in each 'quarter' of the table (there are 6 quarters on a 4'x6' board), each worth 1 point to the player that controls them at the end of their turn.  A player can also destroy an objective in their enemy's deployment zone and gain d3 points, but we didn't take advantage of that in this game.  The battlefield itself was set up as a 'basic' one with trees, hills, and even an Orc fort and Herdstone to mix it up.  I miss the old fantasy setups and figured to go 'old school' with this one...

The battlefield

Blood for the Blood God!

  We each laid out our forces and the Khorne army actually seemed a bit scary.  Including a Mighty Lord of Khorne, a Bloodsecrator, a Bloodstoker, an Aspiring Deathbringer with Impaling Spear, a couple of units of Blood Warriors, some Bloodletters, Bloodcrushers, and Skullcrushers, I realized that this force had a lot of choppiness to it.  Add in a Khorgorath and a Soulgrinder and I knew I was going to have my work cut out for me.  He made the Aspiring Deathbringer the general and gave him the Crimson Plate artifact.

Gork! Mork! Gork! Mork!

  My army consisted of a Megaboss riding the Mawcrusher (which I had just built), a Megaboss, the painted Warchanter, a Warcaster, 2 units of Brutes, a unit of 'Ardboyz, and a unit of Gore Gruntas.  I realized that I was severely outnumbered in both characters and dudes.  But I had a Mawcrusher, so...  He was my general and I gave him the Destroyer artifact so both his axes were damage 2 (I built this model as the big bad character but will use him like this to represent the 'basic' version until I get more greenskins).






  Setup was pretty simple.  He set his forces in a bloodthirsty line across the table and set the two big models right in the middle.  That meant that he was going to be able to challenge me in every direction.  So I went with a bit of a 'refused flank' deployment, placing everything to the left except the Gruntas and Warcaster.  This was to keep him distracted and create a hammer to smash at least half the force up front.  And with no shooting to speak of, I had to make sure that I could have the power once I got there.

Setup.  Notice the objective markers in white and red...

   The Ironjaws won the roll-off for first turn and I easily gave it to the Bloodbound.  Here's where Khorne's mighty plan started to crumble.  The Soulgrinder charged up as fast as it could, followed closely by the Khorgorath.  The rest of the army advanced a bit.  But this was all about that Soulgrinder.  It unleashed its hellish shooting atacks and immediately killed off four of the 'Ardboyz and I knew what my first target had to be.  He finished his turn with 2 points  In my turn, I cunningly (with inspiration from Mork, of course) slid my Gruntas away from the advancing Bloodcrushers while setting a trap.  The Brutes in the middle slowly advanced, waiting to see where they were going to unleash their Gork-driven madness.  Everything else (the other Brutes, the 'chanter, and the 'caster) all stayed and held their objectives.  Then the chopping began.  First, the Mawcrusher charged the Soulgrinder and were supported by the 'Ardboyz.  With all their combined attacks, they took down the Soulgrinder with roars of war while the Mawcrusher took a bit of damage.  When the smoke cleared, the Orks had claimed the fourth objective, giving me 4 points.

Turn 1- Bloodbound 2, Ironjaws 4

   The roll-off for the second turn was won by the Bloodbound and they denied the Orks their back-to-back turns.  They moved the Khorgorath in to fight the 'Ardboyz, a unit of Blood Warriors to try to slow down the Mawcrusher, and the other Blood Warriors down to plug the gap on the other side of the Ork fort.  Meanwhile, the Bloodcrushers moved up to hopefully get in charge range of some casters or boars, but failed to make any charges.  After seeing the Khorgorath get smashed into the ground by the Mawcrusher and losing a couple of Blood Warriors to the 'Ardboyz, the forces of the Blood God saw their hopes disappearing.  Still holding two objectives, they got 2 points.  In return, the Brutes charged around the fort and engaged the Blood Warriors, led by the Megaboss, and killed them off easily.  The Gore Gruntas charged the Bloodcrushers and killed one.  And the 'Ardboyz finished off the Bloodstoker that lost all his support.  Holding 4 objectives, the lead widened for the Ironjaws.

Turn 2- Bloodbound 4, Ironjaws 8

  Still not having lost anything significant, the Ironjaws were emboldened and won the roll-off for the third turn.  Seeing no hope of stopping the beastly boulder-like Mawcrusher and watching as the objectives were taken from them, there was little the Khorne forces could do.  A last hurrah saw some more slaughter in favor of the greenskins and the Bloodbound simply quit the battlefield.  The final score was 11-4 with nothing Khorne could do.

  The lessons learned in this battle- the Soulgrinder should not have jumped out in front so quickly.  All it did was make him a target and he was the one with the ability to hurt the Orks from range.  The deployment wasn't bad, but the forces needed to be a bit more focused on being able to hold objectives.  Most importantly, the Megaboss on Mawcrusher is cheezy!  I mean, seriously!

Hey Mom, I'm a monster!

  Now we did play another game the next day.  I used the same list but my son tweaked his army quite a bit.  We played a different scenario but I took no pictures.  I still won, but only by a score of 12-11.  The main story goes like this- The Mawcrusher charged up and flattened Valkia the Bloody, then charged and took some time to finish off a Lord on Juggernaut and some Blood Warriors.  Having been bogged down, a unit of Wrathmongers wandered over and enticed my Mawcrusher into killing himself in one round!  From that point of the game, a Chaos Giant kicked around the 'Ardboyz but was taken down through poor fighting order and the surviving forces jockeyed around the battlefield trying to get those objective points.  The last turn of the game saw the Ironjaws sneak one out with the Gruntas stealing the point held by Bloodletters now too busy fighting a Megaboss.  It was an awesome game.  However, the Choppa is still mightier than the axe...

  Great games over the weekend and it felt good to both wield the paint brush and the dice again!  Now I'm just waiting patiently for the 2.0 to drop... Until then, Happy Gaming!

Already!?!?

  In case you've been living under a rock, it was recently announced that GW is going to release a 2nd edition of Age of Sigmar in June.  After only three years, the game will get its first real update and join the ranks of games that can't simply depend on an FAQ or two to stay stable.  Funny enough, we've seen that a game isn't as respected in the grognard circles unless there's multiple editions to fight over, so, um, congrats to AoS for joining the pantheon!

  I love Age of Sigmar and the new version of 40k.  I'm a huge fan of GW's desire to turn their games into accessible, FUN expressions of dice-man battles rather than exercises in mathematics and abstract concepts of shoot-dash-chop combat.  I see complaints all the time on the interwebs about certain parties hating these new games and claiming that they don't represent real-world battles or that certain 'immersion-creating' concepts have been ripped away, like shooting out of combat and vehicle armour facings.  They can keep their complaints.  I vehemently disagree.  When I'm playing games, I want to discuss things with my opponent and remember to take my turn rather than have to dedicate half a day to playing with miniature painted dolls.  My self-worth is not dictated by how strongly my GI Joes beat your GI Joes. 
 
  With that comes the fear that I have.  I worry that GW will start to introduce even more complicated concepts into their newer versions of the game, returning back to the ridiculous need to be Good Will Hunting and forgetting that the game is supposed to be fun, not detailed.  I used to be a huge fan of the uber-detail that came with games like Star Fleet Battles, AD&D 1st and 2nd edition, and RoboTech.  I've grown.  Let's not forget that the miniatures gaming hobby has lost many potential gamers to the more simplistic video game market because it's, well, easier to just plug the disc in and mash buttons.  Oh, and that 'immersion' argument is easy to meet since the games have, you know, graphics and cut-scenes.  I don't want complicated detail-driven games that require my undivided attention anymore, I want social tools that bring people together and allow for conversations and some competition. 

  In case you're wondering where my worries are coming from, let's look at another game that's getting its 2nd edition- X-Wing.  They're adding turret-aiming actions, bullseye firing arcs, stacking actions, and even forcing the need for an app to generate points and build squadrons.  The game was wildly successful because it was short on prep, required no additional modeling, and the rules were easy to pick up in a jiffy.  I'm not saying that X-Wing is being turned into the 32-impulse turn sequence that was my favorite Star Trek combat game, but it's definitely becoming significantly more complicated.  How much is that going to affect people wanting to play that game versus this stuff.  I'm looking forward to the new edition and my TIE Fighters being able to stand up to the rebels a bit better, but I'm also wary of just how much that game really needed new shoes...

  Age of Sigmar could not be simpler- there are four major factions that can make armies of very esoteric collections.  There are mini-factions that gain special benefits and fit a 'theme' so much better (I mean, Blood Elves as good guys?  Really?!?!).  And the rules detail all six phases of a turn on four pages.  FOUR PAGES!  Anything can hurt anything and the special rules really aren't that detailed as they are either buffs for buddies or a special rule that creates an extra opportunity to lay down some damage.  That's it!  The only way this game would be simpler is to turn it into a board game (which haters already claim it is because they're... haters). 

  So what are the rumours for the next edition?  Apparently, you won't be able to shoot out of combat anymore.  Oh no!!! Because only Stormcast, the newest elves, and the wood-guys were the only ones that could to begin with!  This makes me happy, not because I think it was 'immersion-busting', but because it gave the cursed Stormcast posterboys an advantage that the other factions couldn't take advantage of.  Apparently, the Hero Phase (I accidentally refer to it as the 'command phase' all the time) will be expanded and magic will become much more in-depth (more spells, more choices, what does that mean?).  There will be an introduction of command points, which may lead to strategems.  Otherwise, I'm not sure what all of this actually leads to.  The most important aspect to me is that the current Army Books will not be invalidated, especially considering that I just started buying them.  Talk about bad timing if that were the case!  In any case, it doesn't sound like the game is getting much more complicated.  And that's all I really care about.  It's a freakin' game.  Let's keep it THAT and not a NASA project, please. 

  It should also be noted that my wife is especially geeked about this.  Not really because of the new edition, but because her Nighthaunt are being redone for this.  She loves her ghosts and now she's getting more.  This makes me less happy for two reasons: First, she always beats me and I'm not a fan of always losing.  Second, this eliminates any rebuttal against buying Nagash.  Which will lead to me having to buy more Stormcast (yes, I actually play them, I'm not a hater) and getting that messiah-dude with wings.  Which will lead to expanding my Ironjaws to get them above 1600 points.  Which will lead me to adding Archaon and his special knights.  This new edition is going to cost me a lot more than a new rulebook...  Darn you GW!!!

  Let me know how you feel about the new edition coming so soon.  Otherwise, Happy Gaming!

Which is better?

  I've played a couple of games recently and used my Primaris marines against my son's Tyranids.  I didn't post about it because, well, it's a lot of work to take pictures and remember everything that happened.  More, I lost those games and it got me to thinking about something. 

  I love my Primaris marines, but they aren't as effective as the so-called 'mini-marines' that I've used for decades.  And with the upcoming release of the special-ammunition wielding Deathwatch marines, I really started to wonder if Primaris are really worth more than their old school counterparts.  Now I'm not talking about the Delta-force wannabes that are getting released, I'm just talking about in the Ultramarines list.  Hmm...

  Since Primarch Guilliman wrote the codex, many things have changed in the Imperium's armed forces.  The days leading up to the Horus Heresy saw the different squads in the Astartes all specialized with their wargear and purpose with very few options inside the units.  Realizing that splitting the legions would require some creativity, he ordered that the troops (or 'Battleline') units should have some variety of weapon options and be able to split once in the campaign area to fulfill various roles.  This is seen in the Tactical Squads. 

  The Tactical squad ranges in size from five to ten, with one being the leader (the 'Sergeant') and another being the backup (the 'Squad Leader').  One member of the squad would be designated to carry a special weapon (flamer, meltagun, plasma gun, or grav-gun later on) and another would be designated to carry the heavy weapon (heavy bolter, missile launcher, plasma cannon, lascannon, multi-melta, and eventually the grav-cannon).  Finally, the Sergeant has access to a wide variety of weapon options himself, including power weapons, plasma pistols, and even combi-bolters.  This would give the unit the ability to manage assaults, firefights, and supporting fire roles depending on the immediate need.  A squad to overwhelm the opponent with numbers and armed with boltguns or split down to specialized teams with one being an assault element while the other layed down covering heavy weapon fire.  This captured the 'good at everything but not great at anything' aspect of the regular old marine squads. 

  Now let's look at the gaming elements of the Tactical Squad.  Each member is worth 13 points per model and comes with the free boltgun, bolt pistol, frag and krak grenades.  The special weapons add another nine to seventeen points while the heavy weapon adds ten to 28 points.  The Sergeant can take close combat weapons worth zero (for the chainsword) up to twelve points and shooty weapons from two points to nineteen points, including pistols.  This means that the squad can range in points from 65 points for five regular dudes to 214 points for a full squad with all the most expensive options (if I have my math correct).  Ten wounds, a grav-cannon, a meltagun, a combi-melta, and a powerfist for over 200 points?!?  Wow!

  Now for the other unit that is supposedly replacing the reliable Tactical Squad- the Intercessors.  When Primarch Guilliman returned, he apparently wanted to return the Astartes back to the glory days of specialization and revealed the creation of the newer, taller, tougher, meaner marines.  This new Battleline unit is the same in size, from five to ten, but all come equipped with bolt rifles.  They have no options for special weapons or heavy weapons, and the Sergeant can only be armed with a power sword (or chainsword if you're a Blood Angel) and one in every five marines may also take an under-slung grenade launcher.  But that's it.  These Intercessors are meant to be the basic troopers of the 'new age' and use advanced bolter ammunition to spray their opponents while depending on their increased toughness to stay around longer. 
 

  It's hard to actually give any game-related info as they are so basic that the above description pretty much covers it.  They are 18 points per model, may take one of three different kinds of bolters (the free bolt rifle with an AP -1, the 1 point assault-oriented auto bolt rifle which gives 2 shots out to 24" for a point, or the sniper-like stalker bolt rifle that is heavy and costs two points), may include a grenade launcher for every five for a point, and otherwise come as-is.  The really big difference (besides lack of options) is that they have two wounds and two attacks each.  Otherwise, there's not much difference other than they are just... bigger.   

  I've found that against horde armies with low damage weapons (like Termagants), Intercessors are the way to go.  The 'staying power' of the two-wound models can make a huge difference.  But these Intercessors just don't put out a lot of damage.  Against more powerful weapons (like Hive Guard and their artillery guns), the Intercessors melt away like butter and they lose effectiveness very quickly.  I like the bigger models, but I don't like how the game is set up with a bunch of dice or damage-heavy attacks, which makes my big marines just bigger targets.

  On the other hand, there's something to be said about the cheapness of the Intercessors.  Remember how I mentioned that the Tactical Squad can easily get up to 200 points or more?  Intercessors, fully loaded, end up being around the same but they come with twice as many wounds and bolters that punch through armor a bit better (not to mention the increased range).  In this modern world of Command Point-farming, being able to quickly and cheaply fill a Battalion to get those extra five CP can be much better than trying to pay points for an optimized Tactical Squad or three.  Obviously, everyone uses Scouts, but that hide-chapping reality is another post for another time. 

  So which one is really better?  I like to be the purist and either only use old-school marines or the new Primaris-type, but I'm finding that I'm basically choosing cheap and no teeth or expensive and no staying-power.  Good weapons or wounds?  Little guys with options or big guys with time?  It's a hard decision and one that I'll continue to mull over.  In fact, my next battle will see me use my old marines and see if I'm more satisfied with the 'ol Tactical Squad than the newer Intercessors.  I may even *gasp* start to mix them up a bit!  But that's going to require some mental adjustment on my part. 

  If you happen to play with marines and have enough to be able to compare, let me know what you think!  I look forward to seeing if I'm just being crazy or if this is a great philosophical question that teases the minds of others.  Until then, Happy Gaming!

How the 40k FAQ chaps my hide

  Okay, so my last post saw me making fun of the internet's nerd-rage over the FAQ released a few days ago.  I find the reactions absolutely entertaining, even more than my own kids' birthdays.  But I do have to admit that there are some things that actually affected me.  Now I'm not going to decry the FAQ as the end of my favorite game or some kind of effort by GW to make me join the exodus to other systems (I wonder how Heroclix is doing these days...), but even I have to show that there's some things that made me exclaim in frustration.  Just like in politics, it's not wise or rational to be so partisan, and I'm here to show that I'm a gamer like anyone else and I hate change.

  The rules changes that I showed in the last post were the 'big ones'.  There were many smaller changes that were dropped into each of the individual forces that are easy to miss.  That is, of course, unless you're playing one of those armies and suddenly those smaller changes become a bit bigger.  I have been working on my Word Bearers of late and there's some things that definitely got me.  I'll get into that in a bit.  But first, I want to talk about a rules clarification or two that affects everyone and actually don't make a lot of sense to me.

  The most impactful one, and the change that has the internet aflame, is the clarification about units charging units on platforms (or in ruins and such).  Here's how the FAQ reads:
"Q: If a unit declares a charge against an enemy unit that is entirely on the upper level of a terrain feature such as a ruin, Sector Mechanicus structure, etc., but it cannot physically end its charge move within 1" of any models from that unit (either because there is not enough room to place the charging unit, or because the charging unit is unable to end its move on the upper levels of that terrain feature because of the expanded terrain rules for it – as with ruins, for example), does that charge fail? A: Yes."

  Remember that completing a charge involves being able to finish with the base (or model in the case of vehicles that hover or fly) within 1" of the enemy.  But if there's not enough room on the ruined floor or platform, then the charge is failed and basically impossible.  I wouldn't normally have a problem with this except for two things- that most people build their ruins with very narrow floors (mostly because that's how GW sells the ruins) that can be stuffed with models, and that monsters and vehicles already cannot get to the upper levels of ruins (previously FAQ'd).  This means that my five-story-tall Wraithknight can't reach the guys on the top of the ruins, staring him right in the face, and it means that large-base models like Terminators can make themselves unreachable simply by taking position and filling up the upper floor(s) of the ruins.  This makes no sense to me...

  Next, in dealing with Reserves (already the biggest contention in the FAQs), we find that effects such as the Auspex for the Space Marines can't be used against transported units.  Here's how it reads: "Q: If the unit arriving as reinforcements has another unit embarked inside it which must disembark after it has been set up (such as units embarked within a Drop Pod, or a Tyrannocyte), can the firing unit shoot at the unit as it disembarks? A: No – though the unit can shoot at the Drop Pod/ Tyrannocyte before the units inside disembark."

  This is contrary to the way it used to be, where the Drop Pod (the specific example that I'm going with here) would spit out the troops and then the shooting unit would obliterate them.  While this doesn't really hurt my feelings, it just feels a bit 'cheezy' and rather defeats the purpose of that rule.  On the plus side, people who complain that Drop Pods are no longer useful have obviously missed this new ruling.  This protects those embarked troops from the one counter in the game and guarantees that they'll be able to spend a turn being safe (and getting into combat).  I know what I'd do if I were on the battlefield and I know what the enemies would do in WWII (anti-tank fire to force the bail-out and then spray the evacuees with machine gun fire).  But 40k moves too fast for that, apparently.


  Oh, and I would be remiss if I didn't toss this oldie out there:

  Yes, I mean that in both reference to the Drop Pod immunity and the general feelings about this FAQ.  Now that it's out of my system, let's continue.

  The single biggest change, and one that has me a bit butt-hurt, is found in both the main rulebook FAQ and the Chaos Space Marines codex FAQ.  It chaps my hide because I literally spent this week working on some new models for my Word Bearers, expecting to take advantage of a specific tactic and a unit that I've never used before.  I had no idea that something that had already been FAQ'd was going to get changed.  I didn't see this one coming at all.

  As you can see, I converted my Terminator Sorcerer back to being a Terminator Sorcerer and I finally built my Warp Talons that have been waiting for their claws for about seven years.  If you can't figure out my plan by now, I was going to deep strike with both units, and then cast Warp Time on them and guarantee my charge.  I wasn't terribly worried about doing it on Turn 1, so the major FAQ affecting that doesn't really apply.  But now it turns out that I can't do this little tactic at all!


  Here's the FAQ change that does this to me: "The rules for reinforcements say that when a unit is set up on the battlefield as reinforcements, it cannot move or Advance further that turn, but can otherwise act normally (shoot, charge, etc.). Q: Can such a unit move or Advance for any other reason e.g. because of an ability such as The Swarmlord’s Hive Commander ability, or because of a psychic power such as Warptime from the Dark Hereticus discipline, or because of a Stratagem like Metabolic Overdrive from Codex: Tyranids, etc.? A: No."

  Well dammit!  For once I was planning on doing something that some may consider to be a good tactic and GW stole it from me!  Like, stole it from me AS SOON as I got it!  I feel like a kid who just opened his lollipop around my older brother's friends on Halloween night.  That hurt.  I'm actually considering writing some whiny posts on gaming forums to express my displeasure because I'm so mad.

  Oh, another rule to mention is that the Reserves rule (while I'm on that) has been changed so that only half the POWER LEVEL in units in the army may be held off the table rather than half the COUNT of units.  This affects those Terminator players, which I was also considering.  But I didn't have to hobby on any of those, so I don't feel quite so robbed.  But losing my Warp Time on deep striking Warp Talons?  Really, GW?!?!?  Grrr...

  Okay, I've expressed my displeasure with the FAQs as well.  Nobody can blame me for being a "GW Apologist" or just plain partisanship.  I, too, have my problems.  But overall, I wasn't effected by the FAQs and I don't think they were anywhere near as bad as people are making them out to be.  I love 40k.  I'll keep playing it.  I just won't get to threaten people with my clawed daemonic bat-win crazy guys like I wanted.  Maybe I'll build some bikes...

I like 40k!

  Let me know if there's any tiny changes that you think people are missing and that may have affected you UNIQUELY below.  I don't want to hear about your Blood Angels or Grey Knights, but I do want to hear about those little things that may have slipped through the cracks of the blogosphere.  The gamesmanship involved in this FAQ is almost more interesting than the game itself.  Happy Rules-lawyering!

40k Is Dead, Long Live 40k!

  If you play the grimdark game, then you've probably heard that the new FAQ has been released.  While I love the game (and I really do), I love the drama even more.  The blowback from this FAQ has been as intriguing as a Mexican soap opera (telenovelas, for those that don't get six Mexican channels like I do) and I've loved every minute of it.  In fact, me and my tournament buddy have spent more time laughing at the comments about it than actually talking about the game.  He, being bored as possible after work, even made up a bunch of memes to represent this.  His memes will be smattered throughout this rant- all credit to him.

  Now if you're living under a rock and don't know that the FAQ was released, you can find it here.  There are some changes that actually do matter a bit, and I'll discuss them for this post.  You can find everyone and their mothers making comments about how they feel about these FAQs all over the blogosphere, but I'm hoping to be the rational, no-so-Chicken-Little voice in there.  So let's get started!

  Where to begin...  Oh, I know!  Let's go with the old 'beta rules' that have been floating around for a few months.  The first is the 'targeting characters' rule.  In the original version of the game, we saw players hiding that precocious assassin in the ruins somewhere and then claiming that it kept you from being able to target that captain standing in the open just a bit further away.  One character that can't be seen stopping the enemy from being able to shoot at the only target possible.  It wasn't terrible, but it was a ridiculous tactic.  Now, well, characters simply can't block other characters (as long as they have less than ten wounds, of course).  This doesn't stop the gun drone from pulling the same trick, but it definitely cuts down on the reason that people took assassins (other than to, you know, assassinate stuff).

  The other beta rule that was made official was the escalating Smite difficulty level.  There are many armies out there that were filled with cheap psykers (thanks FW!) or just set up to lay out the unstoppable mind-bullet strategy.  It's now official that every subsequent attempt to cast that power adds one to the warp charge value.  This means that the third time you cast the power requires a '7' to cast rather than a '5'.  Keep in mind that this makes the warp charge higher, it does NOT apply a modifier to the roll.  I only mention this because it's separate from modifiers to the roll, which certain other armies enjoy (like the Eldar).  Otherwise, this rule is meant to slow down the Smite-spam a bit and get back to the bullets and blades that make the grimdark so... grim and dark.

  Now those rules shouldn't surprise anyone as they've been 'in play' for many months now.  I hear some complaints about it (especially the character targeting rules), but most people were already prepared for this.  Now to the rest...

  The biggest problem with 8th edition, for tournaments specifically, has been 'spam'.  For those that live under that rock (it's surprising how densely-populated that under-stone is), that describes the wash-and-repeat of players taking a single powerful unit from the codex and including in their army list about a gazillion times.  We've seen it in previous editions, but this edition had made spamming almost a requirement in the competitive sphere.  We even saw the winner of the latest huge tourney do it with seven (that's right- SEVEN!) flying Hive Tyrants.  Not to disparage these choices (after all, it is a tournament and winning really is the point), but it doesn't make the more casual gamer very happy.  No worries- GW loves to appease the fluff-bunnies in us all, so they added the 'Rule of Three' to a game with a bunch of Rules of One already.

  In the Rule of Three, no unit may be included in an army more than three times.  This does NOT apply to troops (Orks appreciate that) or transports (Eldar appreciate that more).  Now, here's the deal- so many people are upset about this one because they only have a limited number of HQ options, which means that they are now limited on how big an army they can bring.  This applies to the newest army, Drukhari (Dark Eldar), but it also applies even more to the more esoteric armies like Adeptus Sororitas (Sisters of Battle), Harlequins, and even Imperial Knights.  Oh darn.  Because how dare GW make strike force style armies not be able to bring massive Epic-level lists!?!  Oh, the anger.  I laugh because, well, I play by the fluff.  For example, did you know that a company of 100  marines is led by a single Captain, supported by a single Chaplain, and is often joined by a single Librarian?  I know, crazy talk!

Actually, this is still legal...

  The next change in that is the Battle Brothers rule.  Keep in mind that both of these are effectively the new 'beta rules', which means they're not actually hard-and-fast rules yet, or they only apply to 'organized play', meaning it only affects tournament players.  In this rule, all it means is that no detachment may include units that share no faction keywords beyond 'Imperial, Chaos', etc.  So no more Vanguard detachments with Saint Celestine and three Assassins.  No more Spearhead detachments with Cawl and three Assassins.  Luckily, those crazy assassin-lovers are rather immune as they are now allowed to take a Vanguard without the required HQ choice.  But the rage seems to be simple misinterpretation.  To adhere to this rule, all a player has to do is take detachments to make the 'soup'.  So how about an IG battalion, a Custodes supreme command, and a AM spearhead?  Apparently, that requires too much thought and loses the whole point of the 'soup' list.  It doesn't.  But who am I to stand in the way of the poor reading comprehension skills?

  Speaking of the 'beta rules', the last one that has people going crazy is the First Turn Deep Strike rule.  According to this little change (and I use the word 'little' cheekily), units must deploy wholly in their own deployment zone if arriving from reserves (or arriving from special effects like 'Da Jump') IN THE FIRST TURN.  What 40k had started seeing was the so-called Alpha Strike, but with assault units.  To offset this, GW decided to nerf that a bit and make it to where the player would have to wait until Turn 2 to pull this tactic off.  Here's where my buddy's meme-making skills really came to shine:
 

  So according the entire blogosphere of overly-vociferous 40k players, this just RUINED any hope that assault-based armies will ever win again.  Blood Angels suffer the worst, because players forgot that there's other tactics than the 'gold-bomb' or 'death-company-strike'.  All those other units in the codex were summarily ignored, almost like Blood Angels don't know how to brush their teeth without Jump Packs.  Of course, waiting a whole turn to drop the 'gold-bomb' or using Jump Packs to actually move around the table is too much to ask of people.  Just.  Too.  Much.  Grey Knights also suck, because apparently they only own Terminator Armour to teleport with.  The most elite of the Space Marines but they can't remember how to walk...  And let's not even mention how those gunlines are now completely unstoppable! 

  Now these rule changes aren't the only things that came from the FAQ.  There were also some points adjustments, like Dark Reapers going up by seven points each.  Because that'll stop Reaper-spam...  More relevant to me, my Daemon Prince, er, Primarch, went up another 15 points to 400!  Oh no, now I'm angry!!!  How dare GW make me pay for the ultimate army-buffing character in the game!  I'm so mad.  I think I'll quit the game now!   

  Oh, maybe not.  Because I'm rational.  I don't actually think the problem is Bobby G, I think the problem is how cheap Assault Cannons are.  After all, I have yet to see an army list with the blue guy that didn't have him surrounded with Ass-backs.  Because that's what he does- buff transports with Twin Assault Cannons rather than the very marines he's supposed to lead.  Like Devastator Squads.  Or Terminators.  Or even, wait for it, the Primaris marines that he ordered to be created!  But whatever- fifteen more points isn't that much.

You should only pay 150 points for me because I'm awesome!

  I love this game.  I wasn't effected by this FAQ in any meaningful way.  I don't play in tournaments, I don't spam powerful units or Smite-casters.  I play mono-dex armies.  And I actually deploy almost everything I have on the table to shoot down my opponent in Turn 1 (and usually fail spectacularly).  So unless I'm missing something, I'm not sure what all the anger is about.  The tournament players that initiated the need for these changes will find ways to adjust and break the game in other ways.  The casual gamers will... well, they'll just keep playing the way they always have.  I will.

  As I'm talking to my tournament-oriented buddy, we commiserate about how ridiculous the reaction to the FAQ has been.  Many of the ITC players (the big names that everyone knows) aren't worried about it and I don't think anyone else should be if they're not.  After all, those tourney players of the highest level are the ones that this FAQ was aimed at.  All while the lesser players are freaking out.  It's insane!  And I'm loving it.  I actually wish there was an FAQ every day now.  I find the reaction and drama more interesting than the game itself.  And remember, I'm a former servant of the Emprah, so I have a special connection to this community.  My goodness has it been a fun (read: hilarious) couple of days...

  With all this negativity, I can only come to the conclusion that 40k 8th edition is now a dead system.  Gamers will flee the game and once again pull out their X-Wing minatures.  They will write their own fan-made rules that look a lot like 7th edition.  Because Emprah-forbid that the company try to make the game a little less one-dimensional.  Oh well, I guess I'm playing a dead game now.  Like so many others... (anyone remember Star Fleet Battles?)

 40k is dead!  Long Live 40k!