I figured to give y'all the opportunity to get in on this action as I have. Here's the deal:
One of my good blog-buddies is giving away a fantastic Easter basket full of goodies and even some models. All you have to do is become a follower on his blog and leave a comment on his post.
And I do have to mention- his blog is actually quite good, so please join it just to get your 'literacy' on!
Here's the link (WHERE YOU SIGN UP, and be sure to READ THE DIRECTIONS):
http://sippinonpaintwater.blogspot.com/2012/03/easter-basket-giveaway.html
And here's a sneak-peak of said basket (Do NOT sign up here, just oggle...):
http://sippinonpaintwater.blogspot.com/2012/04/easter-basket-preview.html
Good luck to y'all and wish me luck as well! And of course,
Happy Hobbying!
Where we hobby and play games
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Friday, March 30, 2012
New hotness is old and busted...
Unless you're one of those hobbyists that lives under a rock (and I swear I've met many), you've seen Forgeworld's new 'Tartaros Pattern Terminators'. In case you haven't, here's a picture and the link to look at more...
 |
| http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/New_Stuff/TARTAROS_PATTERN_TERMINATOR_ARMOUR.html |
Now I have to go at these with some of my usual passion.
First off, there's a belief out there that these are 'pre-heresy' pattern. For those of you out there that believe this, you're a moron. Two facts come to the fore in this argument. The primary argument against that belief is Forgeworld's own writeup. Here that is for your reading pleasure:
"Tactical Dreadnought Armour, or Terminator Armour as it is more usually known, is the most resilient form of personal protection available to the Adeptus Astartes. Originally developed during the closing years of the Great Crusade, and adapted from the heaviest of industrial gear, several types and patterns were developed concurrently.
Of these, the Indomitus pattern is perhaps the most widespread, due to its template being held on key Forge Worlds such as Mars, although Tartaros Pattern Terminator armour is also issued to the Veterans of a Chapter’s 1st Company. Perhaps the most advanced form of Tactical Dreadnought Armour, the Tartaros pattern shares many systems with the MkIV ‘Maximus’ pattern of power armour, and provides greater mobility for its wearer than the Indomitus pattern with no loss in durability or protection."
As you can see, these suits are issued to a Chapter's 1st Company- an organization that didn't exist until well after the Heresy. Also, these were developed at the same time as the 'Indomitable' patterns, or the more commonly-known Terminator armor. If you believe that these suits are pre-heresy, then you must believe that the normal Terminator suits are as well.
Of these, the Indomitus pattern is perhaps the most widespread, due to its template being held on key Forge Worlds such as Mars, although Tartaros Pattern Terminator armour is also issued to the Veterans of a Chapter’s 1st Company. Perhaps the most advanced form of Tactical Dreadnought Armour, the Tartaros pattern shares many systems with the MkIV ‘Maximus’ pattern of power armour, and provides greater mobility for its wearer than the Indomitus pattern with no loss in durability or protection."
As you can see, these suits are issued to a Chapter's 1st Company- an organization that didn't exist until well after the Heresy. Also, these were developed at the same time as the 'Indomitable' patterns, or the more commonly-known Terminator armor. If you believe that these suits are pre-heresy, then you must believe that the normal Terminator suits are as well.
In addition, if you look closely, these suits use the same helmets as the Mk V Power Armor suits do. In case you haven't read my blog, a White Dwarf, or just paid attention, the Mk V wasn't developed until the Horus Heresy. Since that is the case, then you must see normal Terminator armor as from the same time period. If you want a basic run-down of Power Armor, please read my blog about it here: http://www.jaysworkshop-agemmanjw.blogspot.com/2011/03/astartes-power-armor.html
Secondly, I have to rant about my impression of these models. I LOVE Terminators. I own 20 for my Ultramarines (and I used to have 20 more, but I gave them to an old boss I had), I own 30 more for my Deathwing, and I've always got an urge to buy more for some strange reason. But I can say that I'll never buy these. Why? Let me explain:
Normally, Forgeworld releases some ridonkulously cool models. But these are terrible. They have no detail. They look like over-plated power armor. The shoulder-pads are tiny, leaving little room to mark them up. The helmets are the same as a normal Marine's, making the model seem too... obvious. The stance is static, and this is compared to the current Terminator models, which is saying something. Check it out:
In addition, the writeup reminds me of ST:DS9's syndrome: "We wanted to be better than our predecessors, so we made up something so fantastic that you have to go with it". Remember how the little 4-deck starship, the Defiant-class, was powerful enough to embarass the massive Galaxy-class and even take on a Borg cube? It's Photon torpedoes were smaller by magnitudes, but also more powerful than the common ones. It's pulse Phasers were only four cannons-strong, but had more power than a Galaxy's 11 Mk X Phaser strips. It's ablative armor and powerful shielding made it more resilient than anything else the Federation had built up to that point. Really? And here's Forgeworld claiming similar things about this set of armor- 'It's tougher, more flexible, and better manufactored than those poopy suits you've been buying for almost a decade now...' Yeah, okay, guys. Keep trying...
As I said before, I LOVE Terminators, but I'm not an idiot and I don't buy models because someone tells me they're better. Make them look better, and try to be somewhat respectful when you caption your sales pitch. Then, maybe, I might drop the money.
Okay, I've ranted. Let me know what y'all think!
Happy Hobbying!
(P.S.- I can't end this without showing you a picture of a model I adore! Check out this new SM flyer from Forgeworld:
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Death by a thousand points...
I've actually been playing some games of 40k in the last couple of weeks. And, strangely enough, I've determined something.
Bigger games suck now!
Yep, I said it. I have begun to like smaller games. Why? What do I mean? Well, let me explain.
First off, the game of 40k is no longer balanced. There is an absolute heirarchy to armies in terms of power. The core rules are pretty solid (minus my suggestions and many more), but the codices have definitely outgrown any hope of fair battles with armies. For example, Eldar cannot compete with Necrons or Grey Knights at 2000 points, unless the Eldar army is specifically designed to win (Seer Coucils and War Walker spam, anyone?) and the GK player is an idiot. Necrons can kill an entire horde of Orks in one turn with a cheap little skimmer and the Orks can do nothing about it. IG have one actual good list-build option (parking lot!!!), otherwise it's fodder for anyone that wants to test their killing ability.
Main point here is that the larger the game, the more these unbalanced options come to maximum power. Does this mean small games eliminate this? Gosh no, but it definitely mitigates it. I dare someone to take three squads of thunderhammer/storm shield Terminators at that points value and see how quickly 'death star' tactics fail.
Secondly, the larger games used to be easier to play for 'newbies' when everything had the same stats in a given army (3rd and 4th editions, remember?). Now, with 5th edition, GW seems to be returning to the days of 2nd edition when a veteran had a higher statline than a troop, a character higher than a veteran, and a captain higher still. It used to be simpler for newbs to be able to memorize their dice-rolls and get comfortable with the system because their leader was the only divergence from the VAST majority of their army. Now, trying to teach the game or even play it without the veteran gamer's 'computer brain' (of which I'm lucky enough to have, even if it was forced for years) can get rather confusing. And that confusion can be demoralizing, especially to the poor newb. This isn't as big a deal to the hardenend vets of us out there, unless we're trying to get our friends into it.
Do smaller games eliminate this? Hell yes! If one only has four squads to deal with, then you'll only have two stat-lines to memorize!!!
Finally, and this is the biggest deal, big games take too long. I used to be able to go to my local game shop and play three full games in the span of a single day (that's right, ten hours), with time to shoot the breeze, get food, and generally horse around. Even tournaments have increased the time for rounds and given less break-time in between those rounds because of this. And that's for experienced, competitive gamers! Imagine what that poor newb feels like when a 2000 point game takes four hours to play and his opponent is not only smashing him, but also annoyed at how long this newb takes to play.
I can play a small game with a newb as fresh as my wife (whose interest in my games is more obligatory than genuine) in two hours flat. Add to that the teaching aspect and the narration of the action, and you have a fun, quick exercise for a game that isn't difficult for either party!
Let me drive this home with a complete example:
I am a fair gamer with a massive collection of everything I ever want for 40k (and much more besides, unfortunately). With that, I have taught my brother, who has a rather keen tactical mind, how to play the game and played with him a few times. I chose to put Eldar (in my experienced hands) against Blood Angels (forgiving, powerful, and downright new-ish) at 1500 points. woth simple Pitched-Battle deployment. Here's the breakdown of our battles-
First is the Force Organization Chart: At 1000 points, a player must take 1 HQ and 2 Troops as normal, but may only select 1 Heavy Support, 1 Fast Attack, and 1 Elite option. A player may NOT select additional options beyond HQs and Troops as most of the imbalace of the codices is found in the remaining three slots. In addition, both sides sharing the same limitations in army-building makes the matchups pretty obvious, even for a newb.
Second, and far less important but big philosophically, neither army may repeat a choice selection. No '2 squads of Dire Avengers' or '2 Assault Squads'. Yes, I know some armies have no choice (remember old Necrons?), and some armies have terrible Troop options (yay Boyz mobz!), but the point is to put different units on the tabletop and, sometimes, suffer the pain of trying to use a crappy unit well. This does, believe it or not, make the game more balanced and FUN!
Lastly, create 'parity' in opponents. There should be a reason these two armies are fighting one another in the gaming sense- guns against guns, speed against speed, armor against armor, etc. There is nothing less fun than watching your tiny Grey Knights army get mauled by the massive, unkillable tide of Tyranids. Can it be done? Why yes! But what fun is it to see a winged Hive Tyrant eat your Stormraven and then eat a squad of purifiers while some crappy Termagants tarpit your Terminators? Now don't get me wrong, you can always have these fights without parity, but the real fun is when you get to play a game within a game based on comparable tactics. Weakest point, I know, but it's been proven in my experimentation so far...
I must throw my disclaimer out there- I'm all about the big games myself! I don't own every single Apocalypse book and model just because, and I didn't spend a decade in a GW Hobby center promoting big games for just sales purposes- I actually enjoy big games! But I've noticed a distinct lack of fun in this, my hobby of over two decades, and I believe I've found a way to bring it back.
I hope this may provide some insight to y'all's gaming journey and even make it a little more addicting as it has for me lately. Also, I'd like to thank AWC for inspiring this with their team-tourney rules (credit where it's due) and GW for initially forcing me to play smaller games, all to which have led me confidently to this article.
As always, let me know what you think and Happy Gaming!
Bigger games suck now!
Yep, I said it. I have begun to like smaller games. Why? What do I mean? Well, let me explain.
First off, the game of 40k is no longer balanced. There is an absolute heirarchy to armies in terms of power. The core rules are pretty solid (minus my suggestions and many more), but the codices have definitely outgrown any hope of fair battles with armies. For example, Eldar cannot compete with Necrons or Grey Knights at 2000 points, unless the Eldar army is specifically designed to win (Seer Coucils and War Walker spam, anyone?) and the GK player is an idiot. Necrons can kill an entire horde of Orks in one turn with a cheap little skimmer and the Orks can do nothing about it. IG have one actual good list-build option (parking lot!!!), otherwise it's fodder for anyone that wants to test their killing ability.
Main point here is that the larger the game, the more these unbalanced options come to maximum power. Does this mean small games eliminate this? Gosh no, but it definitely mitigates it. I dare someone to take three squads of thunderhammer/storm shield Terminators at that points value and see how quickly 'death star' tactics fail.
Secondly, the larger games used to be easier to play for 'newbies' when everything had the same stats in a given army (3rd and 4th editions, remember?). Now, with 5th edition, GW seems to be returning to the days of 2nd edition when a veteran had a higher statline than a troop, a character higher than a veteran, and a captain higher still. It used to be simpler for newbs to be able to memorize their dice-rolls and get comfortable with the system because their leader was the only divergence from the VAST majority of their army. Now, trying to teach the game or even play it without the veteran gamer's 'computer brain' (of which I'm lucky enough to have, even if it was forced for years) can get rather confusing. And that confusion can be demoralizing, especially to the poor newb. This isn't as big a deal to the hardenend vets of us out there, unless we're trying to get our friends into it.
Do smaller games eliminate this? Hell yes! If one only has four squads to deal with, then you'll only have two stat-lines to memorize!!!
Finally, and this is the biggest deal, big games take too long. I used to be able to go to my local game shop and play three full games in the span of a single day (that's right, ten hours), with time to shoot the breeze, get food, and generally horse around. Even tournaments have increased the time for rounds and given less break-time in between those rounds because of this. And that's for experienced, competitive gamers! Imagine what that poor newb feels like when a 2000 point game takes four hours to play and his opponent is not only smashing him, but also annoyed at how long this newb takes to play.
I can play a small game with a newb as fresh as my wife (whose interest in my games is more obligatory than genuine) in two hours flat. Add to that the teaching aspect and the narration of the action, and you have a fun, quick exercise for a game that isn't difficult for either party!
Let me drive this home with a complete example:
I am a fair gamer with a massive collection of everything I ever want for 40k (and much more besides, unfortunately). With that, I have taught my brother, who has a rather keen tactical mind, how to play the game and played with him a few times. I chose to put Eldar (in my experienced hands) against Blood Angels (forgiving, powerful, and downright new-ish) at 1500 points. woth simple Pitched-Battle deployment. Here's the breakdown of our battles-
- Hold table center- Blood Angels smashed! the Eldar, losing not a single unit
- Capture and Control - Blood Angels killed all Eldar while Eldar killed one unit in return
- Kill points- Blood Angels 6, Eldar 1, and that was a game that ended halfway through turn 3
- Kill points- Eldar win 4-3
- Kill points- Blood Angels win 5-4
First is the Force Organization Chart: At 1000 points, a player must take 1 HQ and 2 Troops as normal, but may only select 1 Heavy Support, 1 Fast Attack, and 1 Elite option. A player may NOT select additional options beyond HQs and Troops as most of the imbalace of the codices is found in the remaining three slots. In addition, both sides sharing the same limitations in army-building makes the matchups pretty obvious, even for a newb.
Second, and far less important but big philosophically, neither army may repeat a choice selection. No '2 squads of Dire Avengers' or '2 Assault Squads'. Yes, I know some armies have no choice (remember old Necrons?), and some armies have terrible Troop options (yay Boyz mobz!), but the point is to put different units on the tabletop and, sometimes, suffer the pain of trying to use a crappy unit well. This does, believe it or not, make the game more balanced and FUN!
Lastly, create 'parity' in opponents. There should be a reason these two armies are fighting one another in the gaming sense- guns against guns, speed against speed, armor against armor, etc. There is nothing less fun than watching your tiny Grey Knights army get mauled by the massive, unkillable tide of Tyranids. Can it be done? Why yes! But what fun is it to see a winged Hive Tyrant eat your Stormraven and then eat a squad of purifiers while some crappy Termagants tarpit your Terminators? Now don't get me wrong, you can always have these fights without parity, but the real fun is when you get to play a game within a game based on comparable tactics. Weakest point, I know, but it's been proven in my experimentation so far...
I must throw my disclaimer out there- I'm all about the big games myself! I don't own every single Apocalypse book and model just because, and I didn't spend a decade in a GW Hobby center promoting big games for just sales purposes- I actually enjoy big games! But I've noticed a distinct lack of fun in this, my hobby of over two decades, and I believe I've found a way to bring it back.
I hope this may provide some insight to y'all's gaming journey and even make it a little more addicting as it has for me lately. Also, I'd like to thank AWC for inspiring this with their team-tourney rules (credit where it's due) and GW for initially forcing me to play smaller games, all to which have led me confidently to this article.
As always, let me know what you think and Happy Gaming!
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Why walk when you can ride?
As I frantically try to write up an IG army list, I've realized that I have a problem. You see, IG aren't the greatest of armies. The soldiers are nothing to be scared of, for certain. However, a plethora of heavy weapons will make them a bit scarier. Unfortunately, not so much that I suddenly like the infantry.
No worries, the Imperial Guard has AWESOME tanks! The Leman Russ is feared throughout the galaxy as its big gun is as destructive as any opponent can imagine (and there's lots of options for that big gun- each of them ridiculous!) and its thick armor makes the tank a real pain to have to kill. The IG also has great artillery tanks, between the good 'ol howitzer on tracks to the scary multiple rocket system (also on tracks). But best of all are the transports- the reliable Chimera.
The average soldier in the Imperial Guard is an adequately equipped human conscript who lacks the wargear and training to be of any real threat to the powerful enemies of mankind. Worse, this soldier is then stuck walking into a hail of firepower the enemy designed just to defeat the meagre defenses of that flak vest and pot-helmet issued by the IG. Both of these problems can be solved by loading a squad into the Chimaera and rolling right at the enemy. Not only is the soldier now safe from the deadly raking of bullets and bolts sent downrange by the enemy, but the APC has enough armor to survive small arms fire and packs enough firepower to make even renegade Space Marines take pause.
Let me be clear here. The armor is NOT thick enough to withstand heavy weapons or the more powerful assault weapons, nor are the vehicle-mounted guns powerful enough to kill a Space Marine easily or even scratch a heavy tank. But a Chimera IS protected enough to keep the soldiers inside a bit safer than if they were walking and it IS armed well enough to put out a large volume of medium strength firepower. This vehicle is so good, in fact, that a single infantry squad doubles in cost (or costs a bit more than simply double points) but triples in effectiveness. Why is 'Mech-guard' (and the very similar 'Leafblower', for that matter) so common in the tournament scene? THAT'S why!
Yay, Chimeras!
And therein lies my problem. As I try to make a good list, I find that I need Chimeras to make this work. I had packed up my IG long ago and then recently pulled out the figure case that housed my 250 or so infantry models (thank you, hobby buddy who made me interested again!). I know how many of each kind of 'big' tank I have and even how many Sentinel walkers I have, but I had no clue how many Chimeras I owned. Last night, I finally pulled them out again and found that I have 8 in total. That's enough to make any IG player happy. And then I realized something disturbing...
My Blood Angels ALL have jump packs except the two Tactical Squads and a Death Company. But I have three Rhinos, so they can ride. My Ultramarines Battle Company is equipped with 5 drop pods, leaving three squads to travel the battlefield- in Rhinos. My Deathwing has three squads of deep-striking Terminator squads and three more who ride in, you guessed it, Land Raiders. My Eldar come equipped with Wave Serpents and Falcons, my Tau roll on foot except when I pay for their Devilfish(es)... hell, even my Word Bearers have three more Rhinos set aside for them! It appears that I can't live without a transport for any squad I own! Maybe it's because I grew up and live by the largest Army base in the world, mostly populated by the the US 1st Cavalry Division. Maybe it's because this philosophy of warfare has infiltrated my thinking and now I use it in my 40k hobby. Or maybe it's just because I've always liked tanks.
In any case, let me ask the same question every Cav soldier asks every light Infantryman-
No worries, the Imperial Guard has AWESOME tanks! The Leman Russ is feared throughout the galaxy as its big gun is as destructive as any opponent can imagine (and there's lots of options for that big gun- each of them ridiculous!) and its thick armor makes the tank a real pain to have to kill. The IG also has great artillery tanks, between the good 'ol howitzer on tracks to the scary multiple rocket system (also on tracks). But best of all are the transports- the reliable Chimera.The average soldier in the Imperial Guard is an adequately equipped human conscript who lacks the wargear and training to be of any real threat to the powerful enemies of mankind. Worse, this soldier is then stuck walking into a hail of firepower the enemy designed just to defeat the meagre defenses of that flak vest and pot-helmet issued by the IG. Both of these problems can be solved by loading a squad into the Chimaera and rolling right at the enemy. Not only is the soldier now safe from the deadly raking of bullets and bolts sent downrange by the enemy, but the APC has enough armor to survive small arms fire and packs enough firepower to make even renegade Space Marines take pause.
Let me be clear here. The armor is NOT thick enough to withstand heavy weapons or the more powerful assault weapons, nor are the vehicle-mounted guns powerful enough to kill a Space Marine easily or even scratch a heavy tank. But a Chimera IS protected enough to keep the soldiers inside a bit safer than if they were walking and it IS armed well enough to put out a large volume of medium strength firepower. This vehicle is so good, in fact, that a single infantry squad doubles in cost (or costs a bit more than simply double points) but triples in effectiveness. Why is 'Mech-guard' (and the very similar 'Leafblower', for that matter) so common in the tournament scene? THAT'S why!
Yay, Chimeras!
My Blood Angels ALL have jump packs except the two Tactical Squads and a Death Company. But I have three Rhinos, so they can ride. My Ultramarines Battle Company is equipped with 5 drop pods, leaving three squads to travel the battlefield- in Rhinos. My Deathwing has three squads of deep-striking Terminator squads and three more who ride in, you guessed it, Land Raiders. My Eldar come equipped with Wave Serpents and Falcons, my Tau roll on foot except when I pay for their Devilfish(es)... hell, even my Word Bearers have three more Rhinos set aside for them! It appears that I can't live without a transport for any squad I own! Maybe it's because I grew up and live by the largest Army base in the world, mostly populated by the the US 1st Cavalry Division. Maybe it's because this philosophy of warfare has infiltrated my thinking and now I use it in my 40k hobby. Or maybe it's just because I've always liked tanks. In any case, let me ask the same question every Cav soldier asks every light Infantryman-
Why walk when you can ride?!?
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