The Eternal Warriors

This guest article is written by Sidetrack Nick.

The Sisters have always had a spot in my heart.  Super-chicks in armor, kicking ass across the galaxy for the good guys.  Add in the graphic novels: Daemonifuge, and the whole army being metal and I love em.  If you want to have a master pimp, bring in an inquisitor and his colorful retinue.  The pimp gives some Sisters a ride in a Land Raider and a bunch of Stormtroopers, assassins, and orbital support give the sisters some variety without destroying or overshadowing their character.  When I heard about the new Sisters coming out, I was excited enough to scrounge up old rhino heavy armor and sisters’ immolator parts to create a pseudo-inquisitorial chimera to charge up in support of the sisters, and I’m very happy with the way it is turning out.

I love the Sisters so much that Rich and I created the Codex: Ecclesiarchy to update them and give them the options to play as a competitive, and more importantly, fun army once again.  When I say that White Dwarf has violated our beautiful Sisters, I say it from a place of deep love and commitment to protect them from obscurity.

This review will have two parts.  The first part will compare the major/overall changes between Codex: Witch Hunters (Andy Hoare and Graham McNeill) and Sisters of Battle Codex Approved from the White Dwarf August and September 2011 issues (Robin Cruddace and Mat Ward).  The second part will be a unit-by-unit comparison.

Faith Points: Three major changes.  1. You roll for points each turn.  These numbers are no longer dependent on the number of characters or squad types. 2. Martyrdom is gone.  No more inspiration or divine intervention on the part of a wrathful Emperor. 3. Each unit has an individualized act of faith they can attempt to use, written in their unit entry. The emperor will only bless them in certain ways now, where before a unit could pull off miracles!

Shield of Faith: The consolation prize.  6+ invulnerable save for all, including vehicles!  Woot!  choke…

Fluff: The Sisters of Battle are now, in canon, non-existent before M36, meaning the Silent Sisterhood of the Heresy are not the Sisters.  Also, Sisters are all recruited from one world, so they no longer have need of any of their black ships to gather null maidens and other recruits.  They no longer have the innate and trained abilities to resist or nullify psychic attack.  They are no longer closely linked to the Inquisition.  Though they, like other Imperial agencies, are somewhat beholden to the Inquisition, they will no longer take to the field beside them.

Overpriced and underpowered?  That has not changed.

Allies: The Sisters have friends???  Yeah, right.

Updates: All Sisters have bolters, bolt pistols, frag and krak grenades and this has not increased their point value.  However, while the price of extra armor has gone up, the price of the vehicles has not been lowered accordingly to make up for the fact as they have in Space Marine codices.

Headquarters:

Inquisitor Lords: GONE. Yes, this includes Witch Hunter variants.

Canoness: For 20 more points you get a Canoness with +1 WS and Stubborn special rule.  True, she gets a bolter, BP, and grenades for free now, but she has far fewer wargear options.

Celestian Retinue: Now “Sororitus Command Squad” is limited to five models instead of ten, and you must take two inferior fighters (one medic, and one banner bearer).  Does the feel-no-pain make up for the lack of more bodies?  Maybe, as you can equip the three Celestians in the squad with special weapons.  However, in an army that relies upon numbers to help make up for lack of close combat prowess, the option of a third special ranged weapon does not make up for the total lack of power weapons and extra bodies.  (Theory: This squad exists only so you have a place to field a Dialogus and Hospitaller in the army, i.e. to sell the previously useless models.)

The Living Saint: One of two improvements in this codex.  Her point cost has gone down to 115 from 201, without the loss of her effectiveness in combat.  The downside, she cannot hit-and-run with the Celestians like she used to.

Inquisitor Karamazov: Inquisitor WHO??  According to the previous codex, he led no less than TWO entire orders of Battle Sisters in a campaign against the enemies of mankind.  However, he no longer is fit to call upon them again.

Priests! Yes, priests are still around.  Confessors are single HQ choices.  Priests are cheaper versions of Confessors, and you can take up to five of them in an army without taking up a force org. slot.

Confessors and their Battle Conclaves: These HQ guys cost 75 points and you can attach a retinue to them which includes sword and shield wielding crusaders, arco-flagellants, and death cults assassins.  There are no psykers or units with ranged weapons, so these are 3-10 melee guys you can run up and get killed with the Confessor.  The Confessor gives them rerolls to hit and Rage,

Arch-Confessor Kyrinov and Uriah Jacobus: These units were put in this codex to sell these little known and unused models once again!  They have some unique special rules, but for the most part are unimaginatively created to sell these old friends of ours.  They do not have any options, so do not make up for the lack of Inquisitors.

Elites:

Sisters Repentia: No significant changes.

Celestians: No significant changes.

Assassins: No, they won’t work with the Sisters anymore.  They would much rather lend their service only to the Grey Knights, who would be lost and defeated without them.

Death-Cult Assassins: Yeah, they’re folded into the hodge-podge, half-assed Battle Conclaves.  If they did not have optional wargear, they would probably have been omitted all-together.

Something stinks!

Troops:

Battle Sisters Squad: No significant change.  Unfortunately, they still only get two special ranged weapons even at twenty strong.  I was hoping they’d at least get one special weapon per five.

Stormtroopers: Who hit who in the what now?  Obviously a waste of ink.

Transports:

Rhinos: Sure!  You can have them!  They cost 35 points now, like most do.  So more of an update than an improvement.

Chimeras! Huh?

Repressors! Yeah, well, go to Forge World to get stats on these.  But they do recognize them in an advertisement following the second installment of the codex.

Immolators: Yes, they still exist.  They cost the same and do less.  They no longer can fire their heavy flamers moving over 6”, and if you want extra armor, it’s 10 more points.  But, at least you can still take them.  Oh, and you don’t get a fire point either, like before.  So, yeah, fuck that.

Land Raiders! The thrill is gone… The thrill has gone away from here… (thanks for putting it in the right words, Mr. King.)  You don’t need no stinking Land Raiders!

Ork Trukks: Nope.  Though they wouldn’t hurt this codex any more than it already has been.

Fast Attack:

Seraphims: This is the second improvement I am pleased to report.  They cost less than before, making them more playable than ever!  Um….  Otherwise, they are about the same.

Dominion Squads: About the same as before.

Heavy Support:

Orbital Strikes! Naw, the sisters are great at knocking out things at short and medium range.  They don’t need orbital support.

Penitent Engine: About the same.

Retributors: About the same.

Exorcist: For the same price as before, you can get the same tank as before.   Heavy Armor makes them more expensive than the past, but that’s okay, because only masochistic morons would play this army as it is now officially written anyway.

Conclusions:

Nothing New: Okay, so, no new models.  I understand that, but I expected that too.  I don’t think Sisters of Battle players were so much concerned with new models as they are making their army playable and competitive again.

Necrons and Blood Angels too weary to fight on? I thought this was the grim darkness of the far frakkin' future!

Less options, less units, less variety:  This was kind of expected as GW seems to want to streamline things a little by getting rid of odd wargear and cumbersome rules.  Unfortunately, for all the ink they waste on ads and color pictures in White Dwarf, a once-in-ten-years update doesn’t warrant creativity or an extra page or two of excitement.

Did they help out the Sisters’ medium range shooter issues by giving them more movement, shooting, cover, or whatnot options?  Not really.  The few little boosts they gave in those departments were overshadowed by the loss of the variety of acts of faith they used to have.

Tactical considerations: No longer will we see the charges of Immolators with flamers and meltaguns poking out the top hatch.  Now, they must be used far more cautiously, as they not only cost more, but are less effective unless they are already close enough to move and shoot.  Seraphim can now be used in greater numbers, which is cool.  No Land Raiders or Mystics means they have no good long range or heavy armor, and they can’t defend as well against deep strikers taking advantage of their overall poor melee ability.  Not having orbital strikes doesn’t help, and certainly takes out another level of fun in games.

Suggestions: Use the new codex adding in all the units removed from the old codex with units from the Grey Knights, or for a more purely religious feel, play the homebrew Codex: Ecclesiarchy.

Regarding Mat Ward:  So far, I’ve played 1 game with my newly refurbished and upgraded Grey Knights.  I took a well-rounded and balanced force and my opponent was wiped off the table in the first battle.  I think my Dreadknight took a wound.  It was a slaughter, and while it was nice to see my Grey Knights win, I felt like an asshole after I played my friend, as he didn’t have a chance with his equally balanced variety of units against me.  I’m not a great player, but I do enjoy playing, and I want my opponents to enjoy it too.  Maybe if he were playing Blood Angels he would have a chance?

Now, I’ve been handed a crippled and dissected version of the most aesthetically beautiful of my armies with no more of a chance than they did since the release of fourth edition to be competitive.  And to Robin Cruddace and Mat Ward, I give you a big personal FUCK YOU.  To be fair, if these choices were not your own, then I apologize and send the FUCK YOU up the corporate ladder.

This codex is a disservice to the 40k gaming universe and to the players who stuck with the Sisters through three editions.

This guest article is courtesy of Dezzo on the other side of the world.

Hi all, Dezzo here.

Most of you probably know me mainly as a Warhammer 40,000 player / hobbyist. I did get my feet wet with Warhammer Fantasy and Warmachine. I have since left WHFB and WM and moved on to other things. (I am just kind of saying this to show that I am not a stranger to other TTMG systems…)

Just a fortnight ago, I decided to pick up Malifaux.

Why?

Well retrospectively, there were several factors that pushed me into it.

1)       Uh… Games Workshop price hikes.

2)       Games Workshop Trade Embargo to the Southern Hemisphere (I live in South East Asia).

3)       I need some sort of distraction from Warhammer 40k.

4)       Malifaux miniatures are cool.

5)       Malifaux’s low start up cost. (I only spent US$50 and could start playing “full-sized’ games).

6)       Diceless system. (None of that dice falling off the table or cocked dice bullshit).

7)       Game is played on 3 feet x 3 feet (you could play almost anywhere).

8)       Low model count system. (a 25 “point” game requires only 5 – 6 models, take about travelling light).

Okay… probably the factors aren’t that “several”…

The Malifaux community started up quickly. The initial shipment of Malifaux stock that was at our (only) LFG disappeared within a week (leaving the one Mcmourning box which stayed there until a restock came about 1.5 weeks later).

All of the Malifaux players are also WH40k players, some of the Warmachine/Horde players also joined us. The rules are easy to learn, however I found out later that the game mechanics take a longer time to master.

A kind donation by a friend to us was a 3 x 3 PVC board (which he cut from his old bathroom door) which we sprayed with a textured paint. This board is extremely useful as we didn’t need to rely on the store’s 6 x 4 tables to play. We could just move the 3 x 3 board to the painting tables (since most of the Malifaux players are also the painting table painters…)

Terrain was easy to sort out. The game doesn’t need lots of big pieces, we gathered some Warmachine terrain and some of the smaller GW terrain (stuff like barriers), shipping containers (kitbashed) and even aquarium plants.

I chose the Arcanists faction and Rasputina as my main (and currently, only) Master. I like the ice/snow/Russian theme (no coincidence that I chose Sorscha as my Warmachine warcaster). Her boxset included a Ice Golem (tank) and 3 Gamins (fodder). This boxset is pretty good and got me learning the game quickly (primarily because the minions have limited special abilities).

After my first few games, I expanded my crew to include Silent One (a mini master in her own right), Cerberus (beatstick) and a December Acolyte (sniper-scout). I have yet to spend much time on them but my first few games with them were positive (even though I loss all games).

A friend volunteered to be part of the Malifaux “Henchman” program so we can start holding demos, tournaments or leagues. We are scheduled to have a small (1 master / 1 crew list (no sideboard), 12 players) tournament next month, which would be followed by a league (number of games to be decided).

The popularity of the game has surprised many of the skeptics at the store. Of course it remains to be seen if the popularity of the system holds out. One thing is for sure though… almost every day, there would at least be a game of Malifaux being played at the LGS.

For the moment, all of us are enjoying Malifaux. We have made plans to do some investment in Terraclips in the coming months and some of the guys have taken up to dissecting the various factions / masters to figure out tacticas (which is difficult, given the variety of Encounters and variations of Strategies and Schemes you can end up with).

This article is reposted from the Tabletop Hooligans website with their permission. Very well written article.

As I’m certain everyone in the gaming universe is well aware of by now, Games Workshop has announced a wide range of price increases currently set to take effect at the end of May. Veterans, and even most neophytes, in the gaming community, would normally roll their eyes at this completely expected maneuver, shrug their shoulders, and move on.

This has not been the case this year. A number of news items have made this a very different merry-go-round of pain for our friends in Great Britain this year, and this may be the year that our friends at Games Workshop have finally overreached, perhaps fatally. Rumors had been circulating for months that GW was going to change production of their metal models over to a resin formula to save on costs for months, an announcement that was eventually confirmed. The first wave of Games Workshop’s new “Finecast” range is coming our way soon. Considering the cost savings of resin over metal, few expected prices would increase this year. Nobody expected that Games Workshop would actually lower prices-that would be madness-but very few people actually expected that GW would actually have the stones to raise prices after publicly switching to a production method they were admitting was going to save them a significant amount of money.

This was not the only public relations disaster that was related to costs coming our way this year. For years, our gaming friends down under have paid significantly more for the same product we enjoy here in the northern hemisphere. Now, some of that had to do with exchange rates and shipping costs, but with the proliferation of online retailers, many in Australia came to the realization they could order from brick and mortar retailers in Great Britain online, and pay for shipping, around the globe, and still save significantly more money over driving around the block and buying from their friendly local gaming store. Or from the local Games Workshop Retailer, which are much more prevalent elsewhere in the world than they are in the US.

Here in the United States, there aren’t a whole lot of areas that depend on GW for brick and mortar play. Independent retailers comprise most of the gaming market here in the United States. We here at Tabletop Hooligans have an amazing FLWS to play at, Brothers Grim Games, and the nearest official Games Workshop Store are the two small stores in New York City, which have less floor space than the storage closet in the basement of Grim. On-topic, though, elsewhere, especially in Australia, Games Workshop in theory generates tremendous revenue from direct sales through their brick and mortar stores. So, that box of Space Marines they sell for $40 in the United States, they in theory sell for approximately $75 in the land of Kangaroos and Steve Irwin. (It does fluctuate a bit due to exchange rates).

Games Workshop, realizing the amount of money they were losing due to their customers not being stupid and exercising their free market rights going elsewhere (even if that elsewhere was a retailer on the other side of the planet) put pressure on their distributors and those retailers to stop selling outside the European Union. The legalities of this are questionable. I’m not going to delve into international trade law here in this editorial, because frankly most of you don’t care and I’m not entirely up on the subject myself, but the end result is the most popular retailers that Australians did business with can no longer sell outside the Eurozone-the European Union and a handful of countries associated with it. Technically, that includes the United States and a bunch of other countries, but, hey, at least we don’t pay seventy five bucks for a tactical squad, right? I managed an independent retailer before. I’ve seen GW exert extremely unfair influence in the industry before. They get away with it because, to be blunt, nobody has the money to go after them in court. Games Workshop hasn’t just shut down shipping to Australia, but indeed, to the entire Southern Hemisphere. That’s right, half of the globe, is prohibited from shipping to the other half of the globe, because it’s cutting into Games Workshop’s own profits.

The “nerd rage” that the combination of these practices has engendered has been spectacular. If, however, the gaming community at large wants to actually effect change, then we need to come to some sort of rational conclusions as a group and do some things.

1: Games Workshop is a publicly traded company. At the end of the day, the thing that the current corporate directors care about is the stock price. Now, that’s ultimately really short sighted, on par with the sort of financial decisions that triggered the Great Recession of 2008. Right now, it’s working for them, because the stock price is still fundamentally sound, in fact, it’s increased because GW’s profits are up. But, they’re only up because GW’s done a number of things that in long term are really going to cost them. They’ve done a great deal of cost cutting, including cutting staff, stretching out release schedules, closing retail stores, and let’s not even talk about the low quality of the way they support their releases after a new book comes out. At the same time, they’ve consistently raised prices year after year. They’ve maintained their profits, yes, but sales volume is down significantly. Looking at their yearly reports, it seems that since 2006, sales by volume have decreased at least 10%, but profits have remained about steady, probably due to a combination of price increases and ‘trimming the fat’ elsewhere. Games Workshop boasts that they make a 75% markup on most of the products sold in their store. As someone who worked in retail for a number of years, let me tell you something-that is an insane profit margin. An electronics store is lucky to make a 10% markup on a high ticket item like a laptop or TV, which is why they try so hard to get you to buy accessories or a warranty. Your friendly local gaming store normally has about a 30% markup on that same box of space marines, which has to go to things like rent and employees. Don’t believe me on this financial information? Remember, they’re a publicly traded company, it’s all required to be available! Check it out on their investor’s website.

http://investor.games-workshop.com/downloads/results/results2010/2009-10_FinalFullYearReport.pdf

2: There’s nothing a publicly traded company hates more than bad publicity. But, if you want to have a lasting impact in such a way that actually has a positive impact on the hobby we all enjoy, we have to do things intelligently and respectfully. Remember, this is a company that we all have given hundreds (or thousands) of dollars over the years and have enjoyed the products they’ve produced. The day-to-day employees who work at the Battle Bunkers are not responsible for these asinine policies. Nor are the guys who write the rules systems we enjoy, nor the sculptors who create the models we love. Hell, even Matt Ward isn’t responsible for this debacle. When talking about this entire situation, remain calm, responsible, and reasonable. But be sure to be on-point about this: We as a community can no longer tolerate a company treating its customers in such a fashion. We have other options. Unlike in the past, when Games Workshop was basically responsible for 90%+ of the tabletop games industry, there’s a whole host of competition out there who treat their customers with far more respect and kindness than Games Workshop corporate has shown us recently. Privateer Press and Battlefront Miniatures are certainly the two biggest that come to mind, but I’ve seen Malifaux, Infinity, Dystopian Wars, Battletech, and a number of others all making their rounds around the shop recently. Also, nobody’s forcing you to use only Games Workshop miniatures at your local friendly gaming store-obviously if your only option is a GW store, then that’s that, but certainly at the Grim that’s not the case.

3: Games Workshop targets two demographic groups with its merchandise: Males 18-49 and teenage boys, both with disposable income. These two demographics are the most coveted in the United States for advertising revenue because, well, we buy tons of crap. Our attention is constantly being fought over as a result. We, as a group, have decided for whatever reason to spend money on Games Workshop products. We’re mostly educated people with disposable income to spend on stuff. We need to make it clear to Games Workshop that we’re not going to spend it on their products any more.

4: How can we do that, you ask? By respectfully contacting them and letting them of our displeasure. And not via the internet, which for some bizarre reason has the ability to trigger mass revolution in the Middle East but not make suits in a board room realize their pricing policies for little plastic soldiers are inefficient. Be respectful and contact them by letter or by phone. The customer service number in the United States is 1-800-394-4263. I don’t have the number for other countries, but I can’t imagine it would be that hard to find. They log and track every phone call they receive. Remember, the nice woman or man on the phone is NOT responsible for the pricing policies Games Workshop is implementing. Be polite to that person, because you’re far more likely to get a positive result if you’re polite, and if all this works, they’re going to be dealing with a lot of phone calls. That said, express your displease over the near-constant price increases they’ve hit us with over the last ten years. In 2001, a box of space marines cost around $25. Now it costs $40, and that’s before whatever price increase they’re going to hit us with at the end of the month. They’ll say something about the price of oil, and manufacturing costs, and that’s fine. You can reply with that little nugget I shared in about the 75% profit margin on product in GW stores, the fact that GW opened another manufacturing plant in Alabama a couple of years ago to cut costs, and the fact that many of their most popular kits-the entire Space Marine range, for example, much of the Eldar plastics, a lot of the Guard stuff-has long since paid for itself a hundred times over. Remember at all times to remain respectful, though. I really can’t emphasize this enough.

Another option is to send a letter. The effort it takes to actually send snail mail means that it gets special attention. In Congress, staffers actually take the time to address constituents that send their Congressmen and Senators letters, simply because so few of them do that they tend to be active in politics. They’re people that can be relied on to talk about the issues to their friends, to encourage them to vote. So by giving those people attention, they can help influence other voters. Even if you call Customer Service, send Games Workshop a letter. Address it to Tom Kirby or Mark Wells, care of Games Workshop, at the following address:

Games Workshop
Willow Road
Lenton
Nottingham
NG7 2WS

Remember to be respectful and polite. Make a coherent, personal, impactful argument. Don’t be a douchebag, or internet toughguy. That completely undermines whatever you’re trying to say and nobody will take you seriously. Worse, you’ll get the cops after you for sending a threatening letter through the mail.

5: Having done all these things, and sworn up and down we’re done buying Games Workshop products…DON’T BUY ANY MORE GAMES WORKSHOP PRODUCTS. Be done with them. God knows I already own enough stuff of theirs to have multiple armies for years to come. I don’t ‘need’ anything else, in sense one could need something in a completely optional hobby one spends disposable income on. The only way to make them see reason is to affect the stock price. The only way to hit the stock price is to shake sales (and cause such a titter of customer discontent through actions like this that investors get antsy). That means not buying their products, no matter how awesome the new War Sphinx looks! In the meantime, support your local gaming store by getting into another game. In a lot of cases, you’ll discover that they can be a lot of fun. We’re starting up a Warmachine and a Flames of War league at Grim in the next couple of weeks, and as much as I’m looking forward to the Grim 40K GT in June, I’m also looking forward to stepping away from the style of Games Workshop games for a bit and getting into the different game styles represented in those other two games systems.

I want to thank all the people participating in the discussions taking place on DakkaDakka, Warseer, and Spacebattles. Some of the ideas and information in this editorial came from various people in those forums and I want to acknowledge all of those people for their collective contributions. I’ve been playing Warhammer and Warhammer 40K for almost fifteen years now and I’ve been gaming for twenty. I want my kids to one day participate in the hobby with me. But I want it to be affordable enough that I don’t have to mortgage the house my wife and I are currently shopping for in order to be able to do it.

Garrett Petersen is an occasional contributor to Tabletop Hooligans. He is an Aquarius and enjoys BBQ, long walks on the beach, and the smell of a combi-melta in the morning. When not gaming he is completing a master’s in special education and also breeds tropical fish. His wife isn’t sure which hobby she hates more. He can be reached at slacker22 at gmail.com

This guest article is brought to you by Inquisitor Medina.

I thought I’d throw out a few thoughts I’ve had about the Grey Knights codex from the UK perspective. So, in best UK style it was off to the converted church hall, tea cup and vaguely thought out army list in hand, to try out the Grey Knights. I decided that, rather than try to build the perfect list, I’d have a go at trying out a few different units to get a bit of variety. It was also part of my goal of buying as few new models as possible. Here is what I took:

• INQUISITOR (ORDO MALLEUS): Psycannon , Terminator Armour , Daemonhammer, 2 Servo Skulls
• Callidus Assassin
• HENCHMEN: 3 Death cultists, 4 Acolytes w/t flak armour, las pistol & chainswords, 3 Acolytes with Carapace armour & multimeltas, 1 Servitor w/t Multimelta in a Chimera with multilaser and heavy bolter.
• GRANDMASTER: Pair of Mastercrafted Nemesis Falchions, Terminator Armour, Blind Grenades, Rad Grenades
• Techmarine: Conversion beamer
• 1 Paladin: Halberd
• Strike Squad: 10 Grey Knights: 2 Incinerators, 2 Forceswords, 6 Halberds
• 6 Terminators: Justicar w/t mastercrafted daemonhammer, Knight w/t Brotherhood Banner, Knight w/t Incinerator & force sword, 3 Knights w/t Halberds, Psybolt ammo.
• Dreadnought: T/L Lascannon, Nemesis Doomfist

I was lucky enough to get a game against Jon “Commissar Random” from the Overlords. He’s a nice guy and brought a semi-mech guard list with plenty of tanks/walkers but no Valkeries. We played a terrain light game and the centre of the board was pretty open. I’m not going through the battle; mainly because my luck was bad enough to fall so far into the extreme end of the probability curves that things happened that couldn’t really be blamed on the unit, or how it was used. I just wanted to sketch out a few things that stuck me. In some ways I selected my army in the way GW seems to: a grab here and there. In contrast the guard were their usual efficient machine of tanks, vets and command squads.

The Grey Knights codex has to be one of my fave codexes. It just feels diverse and full of flavour. It also feels like it embodies the spirit of the army. Does that make effective on the table top though? Well there’s the rub …  I tried using the above list keeping everything except the dreadnought, techmarine and paladin in reserve. Sadly ruins were lacking so the tactic of hiding a dreadnought in ruins that had been bolstered defence by the tech marine didn’t pan out.

GOOD POINTS

The Paladin as a 55 point troop unit. Great. I used the Grandmaster to make him a troop. He sat on my objective and held it (killing half a IST squad, routing them, then holding up 2 sentinals in CC for 2 turns before the game ended).

The Techmarine with conversion beamer: I really liked this. He sat in a corner and sent long range s10 blasts at a tank. Ok, so I kept rolling 1’s on the damage table, but hey that was par for the course this game). I didn’t get much use out of bolster defences but I plan on putting him and a rifleman dread in a set of ruins and using them for anti tank.

The Inquisitor; he didn’t do much due to deepstrike problems but the fear factor of that stubborn deep striking unit with an extra psycannon is lovely and he’s a very cheap HQ.

Psychic pilot: this was fantastic. My dreadnought just kept shooting. Was awesome.

Forceswords: cheaper than halberds for strike squads. The extra initiative of the halberd doesn’t justify the cost against guard/orks, so it is only really for marines but still not worth the extra points. Plus can someone tell me why the best equipped force the Imperium has to offer doesn’t seem to carry bolt pistols? It’d make a heck of a difference!

BAD POINTS

Deepstriking:

Having held almost the whole army in reserve, I ran into some issues. Firstly, with the Grandmaster in reserve, no psychic communion to assist with reserve rolls. This meant that my Chimera didn’t arrive until T3. Alone. By then the dreadnought, Techmarine and Paladin had taken a whole armies worth of shooting (again I say that psychic pilot is very good!). My 2 strikes squads refused to arrive until T4. They deep struck and failed to kill anything with their shooting. This left basically 2 squads of T4 3+ save marines. They will merciless gunned down by the massed plasma vets of the dug in guard.  No matter how well timed you think your deep striking is, if you don’t make the reserve rolls, you are screwed. To rely on it for a whole army is probably insane.

On T5 the callidus arrived. Very unimpressive. On T5, the terminators deepstruck, scattered 11 inches into a wall and rolled a 1 on the mishap table. Bye Bye 300 points. On T5 the Grandmaster arrived – bit pointless by that late in a game. So over a third of the army stayed out of the game until T5 and for half the game I was playing with less than 600 points on the table. This might well be outside the statistical range you’d expect but when it does, it kills you bad. Not enough teleport homers or servo skulls either…..

Callidus: where to start. An interesting unit and an old favourite. I loved the old rules and fluff. I took her in this list to give it a unit that could hit devastators and targets out of range of my very short ranged Grey Knights. She has a wonderful stat line and a nice attack on the turn she arrives. Sadly she has a major flaw. She deploys via deepstrike within 3 inches of the unit she targeted without scatter. This is a really crappy. She will not kill an entire unit, even with the D6 AP2 hits. So she is then left right next to it. She can’t move and she can’t assault. The neural shredder is not a good weapon as most units it attacks will have a leadership of at least 9, more likely 10. She will die quickly. She will get gunned down without any hassle without ever getting into assault. Epic fail. Avoid.

Eternal warrior, storm shields and melta.

I understand why fluff wise they probably wouldn’t have as much melta. They should have a damn sight more than they do. I think GW might have forgotten how much mech and melta there is out there these days. Lack of storm shields is baffling. Lack of Eternal warrior or storm shields on a HQ means you get hit by melta or plasma and you can say bye bye to those Paladins, Librarians, Grandmasters etc very quickly.

I think that the relaxed British game suits Grey Knights and I’m sure better players will do much better with them with some interesting combo’s. They are cheap model wise, fluffy, and they have some cool tricks. I’ve already been hacking the halberds off the strike squads and I’m planning many more psycannons and am so tempted by a Landraider but first I need to find the story for the army.

In our continuing series of Friday guest articles, this is brought to you by Koschai and his blog.

I’ve been thinking a lot about Uncharted Seas recently. Between my Greek looking Undead ships, my Classical Human Galleons and a new expansion into Chinese looking Junk’s, I have a serious interest in the setting, play style and rule set. So given this realization, I felt it worth my time writing not so much a review, for the system is far from new having spawned two spinoffs (yes it’s a Grandfather), but an article on why Uncharted Seas remains a top tier miniature war-game.

If you have any presence online following wargaming communities or listening to podcasts you will be aware that a few years ago a new startup company Spartan Games released a sea based fleet game. Widely compared to GW’s Man-O-War from the early 90’s in favorable terms it featured a very simple rule set and some nice resin miniature boats set in a fantasy naval combat setting. The initial release was typical of a startup company, they had a very simplistic rule set that suffered from a lack of complexity, limited line of sight rules and a very “beer and pretzel” feel. The models were nice but certainly no threat to a company like Forgeworld along with having little selection beyond basic starter sets. On the plus side though the rules were very fluid, had a strikingly effective playability and the models themselves were set at a very low price point while maintaining a reasonable quality standard (unlike the aforementioned Forgeworld).

Gaining ground fast, Spartan communicated in an unprecedented way with its customer base via forums, quickly developing and releasing bolt on rules to cover most inadequacies and keeping up a very fast paced expansion policy in releasing new ships which included two whole new races. A 2^nd printing of the rulebook added many of the additional rules and Uncharted Seas began to really surge in popularity. It still had a few issues however with multiple PDF’s and errata’s downloadable but existing outside the core rulebook.  Fast forward a way’s and we saw Spartan continue on all fronts going from strength to strength. While releasing a second game system using the same core rule pattern (Firestorm Armada, a space fleet game) they have increased the range with a further 7^th race and released a multitude of different ship types that have really given the game a dynamism. The rules have been cleaned up and consolidated in a 2^nd edition rulebook. Resin issues have improved as the company have learned from their mistakes (many of which were with the very poor launch of their 2^nd game Firestorm Armada) and are now increasing their quality, and the complexity of their models dramatically.

All this has culminated in their release of the 3^rd game setting Dystopian Wars. A masterful Steam punk game that draws from everything they have learned to date. That however is not my focus as steam punk holds little fanfare for me. I am still very interested back at the roots of the company with Uncharted Seas, which despite the newer kids on the block holds plenty of Spartan’s attention. This year we are promised another new race as well as a revamping of some of the original starter sets and a host of new ships.

I would be remiss at this point not mentioning the starter set’s themselves. One of the key driving factors in Spartan’s success is its entry point. While the rules will cost you close to $30, a standard price these days, the basic fleet is, depending on your choice, anywhere from $30 to $65. This is crazy cheap and for that you get a full box containing 10 models, some counters and a card deck that while optional, truly enhances the game play and is unique to the race/fleet choice.

Further this 10 model starter kit is a balanced 500 (well there abouts) army, a standard points level that is not just desirable but not far off the max you will want to play in a casual game. Unlike battle forces from companies such as Games Workshop or Privateer Press that are just a teaser demanding additional purchases to be truly played, this starter fleet if you were to choose to could be all you ever needed!

That however is not going to happen as when you start to look at your options, including dwarvern submarines, Dragons both large and small, Giant Balloons and Dirigibles, as well as martyr fire ships and ork assault transports. Not to mention Flagships for all races, it’s hard to imagine not wanting to branch out and build a real fleet.

To the rules themselves, while fleshed out they maintain a core simplicity with a number of hit’s required to damage a ship and a number of dice being rolled, dependent on range and weapon type requiring 4’s to hit. The additional mechanic of exploding 6’s, or a 6 meaning 2 hits with an additional dice being granted (and that has the potential to produce another 6 with continuing effects) grants even the smallest ship that 1 in a million chance of taking down a Battleship. Beyond that, some line of sight rules, movement distances, turning circles, wind effects, integrated flying and submersible rules, ramming and boarding actions the game plays very smoothly. The card decks though optional are in my opinion essential to add magic and some individual race specific differences to each fleet, especially when playing starter boxes where the fleets otherwise are all very similar.

So, why then am I writing this up, a review for an established game seems questionable. The answer is that while established and popular in certain circles, much focus has been diverted to newer games such as Spartan’s Firestorm Armada and the new Dystopian Wars, or returned to refocus on larger established entities such as Warmachine, Flames of War and of course Warhammer. I think this is a shame personally as while I play Warhammer 40k as my mainline hobby, I really enjoy Uncharted Seas.

I would therefore encourage anyone out there reading this who has any interest in fantasy based sea battles that this game is neither out dated nor eclipsed. It’s still expanding rapidly, already has a tried and tested rules that encourage dynamic games of naval warfare on the high seas and is facing a very exciting future.

This weekly guest article comes to you courtesy of The Jersey General.

Despite what GW seems to believe, what with completely ignoring it, the Internet has become a big part of our hobby.   Of course that leads to many turning to this magical world of all-you-can-click porn and Nigerian princes waiting to give you money to get hobby advice.  One of the biggest debated questions usually becomes “what army should I start with?”   Now the easy answers are usually what do you like…what models appeal to you…Do you want to play IG and always win… but then there are those looking for a good army to provide an introduction to the game and many people (and seemingly GW) say Space Marines.  I think this is just not a wise decision.  Modern Marines have become trickier to play and can be complicated for a novice player.  Personally I go for something a bit pointier and say to pull out the tried-and-true devotees of the dark gods…the Chaos Space Marines.  Why? They can field a varied army list, they’re fairly simple and straightforward and they will teach a player how to play the game.

First, I feel the CSM dex and the Ork dex are the bar to which other dex’s are measured as to quality. I say this for 2 simple reasons. 1 they’re balanced and 2. you can easily have a half dozen players all have completely different armies that are all competitive. Orks lose the recommendation just because they’re labor-intensive. A new player may be overwhelmed when he asks what he’d need for a 1750 point army and the answer is 160 models. So Chaos it is then. Chaos has the ability to become the army you want it to be. First you can take Marine squads and add marks to give them a bit of a bonus.  These guys are decent all-around and have the added bonus of not forgetting those heavy chain-swords in their other pants so unlike their loyal counterparts, they can engage in CC and have a shot at doing fairly well.  They’re not fearless, but since our focus is about learning the game a new player should know how morale works before getting too many fearless units or modifiers like ATSKNF.  These guys can get transports, can be run in horde-sized mobs and can take plenty of weapon choices to get their assigned job done.  When the rookie is ready to start specializing there are cult troops.  Here you have scoring units with stats and special rules that put them on par with some armies elites.  They do what they’re designed for well and even the less popular choices like Thousand Sons are viable in the right list.

Second, you have the models.  They’re readily available, largely plastic and lack massive gaps in their model line that are becoming common in newer armies. New players don’t always like the idea of reading about some cool unit only to discover there’s no model (and sometimes no picture…) and they have to build one themselves.  Yes, there are a few metal models that are a pain (Oblits) but lets be honest…in this hobby learning how to deal with these sort of models is part of learning the hobby.  If the new player does want to convert, though you have options and there are Chaos aspects that are forgiving.  A plastic Chaos Marine and a bit of greenstuff can make a Plague Marine and seeing that they’re supposed to look like rotting blobs of putrid flesh it can look less then spectacular and still be suitably Nurgle-y for example.

Chaos introduces basically everything you need to know to play the game. They don’t have any funny rules, but use most of the core rules you’ll see. They have monstrous creatures, independent characters, named characters, normal troops, fearless troops, vehicles, transports, walkers and just about anything else you’ll need to know about. Through the army, you’ll see Relentless, Slow and Purposeful, Furious Charge, Feel no Pain, and just about every other universal special rule in the book.  The only things missing are fast, open-topped or skimmer vehicles.

Chaos are more of a jack of all trades then most armies. Their basic troop can hold its own in CC, can bring special or heavy weapons and can take marks to specialize their mission further. Beyond that you have cult units. As a player gets to know himself as a gamer, he will discover what strategies he likes and what works for him. He can then expand with cultists that follow what he wants from the army. This is also an army that can grow with the player. With some armies when the time comes to expand, it’s often more of the same thing (ask Necron players what I mean…). That’s not a bad thing at all, but if a player has a budding force and wants to experiment, having so many choices gives new opportunities to try things out without completely re-building the army or changing its entire construction.

At the end of the day an army choice is something a gamer has to consider carefully. This is far from a cheap hobby, so its important to pick an army that becomes an investment. Just about any army can be picked up by a rookie and will draw them into the hobby if its right for them (except maybe Necrons, sorry guys but you still suck). Putting a few hundred bucks into some models means changing your mind completely isn’t always an option. Having an army that can change with a player, do so many things and get them into the game is valuable so I usually will point someone to chaos first. Besides, Grandfather Nurgle always needs more children to spread his infectious love.

This first guest article for our month long contest is from Dobie over at The Many Posts of Dobie Gillis.

If there is any one consistent truth about Warhammer 40k, its the prevalence of the Space Marine. It’s fairly easy to say that there are many, many Marine players, and that they are the iconic army of the forty-first millennium. Now, like every other player, I too find some interest and value in the Space Marines. They are fun to play, have an amazing history and background, and they are a very competitive army. When I collected my first real army, as opposed to a motley crew of miniatures, it was the Space Wolves. I loved the uniqueness and different kind of flavor that they gave the Space Marines. Sadly, I have floated away from the Space Wolves, due to the overwhelming number of bandwagon jumpers and haters of the new codex. I wished to go back to the uniqueness and interest that the Space Wolves had created for me in the beginning. I loved being the only guy bringing the Space Puppies. It set me apart from all of the other Space Marine armies out there. I like being unique. It was at this time that I had decided that I wanted to develop my own chapter of Space Marines.

Now, I had some experience with the creation of characters and back story. I am an avid reader and writer, an actor, and I LOVE RPGs, in particular Dungeons and Dragons. The concept of creating my own persona was certainly not new to me. I found the process of creating a Space Marine chapter, however, strangely difficult. It’s tough to create a unique overall design concept, but still be within some form of reality within the 40k universe. After a few months of deep thought and rough concepts, I was able to truly flesh out my own chapter, The Shadow Guard.

I figured that somewhere out in the realm of gaming, there would be another player that would love to create their own unique persona for their chapter. I wrote this article to hopefully help that other person go through the steps, and they will hopefully be successful in their own creation. These are some of the tips and ideas that I used to create my own design concept.

Step 1- Loyalist or Traitor?

This step is fairly simple. Does the chapter stay true to the Imperium or have they moved away, or possibly into the grips of Chaos? This, of course, is a really simple, but incredibly important decision in the overall  development of their background.

Step 2- Chapter History?

Where have these guys been? Who founded them? Why were they created? What are their overall motives and desires? What sort of traditions and ideals do they hold dear? These questions really emphasis the foundation that establishes what your chapter is now doing in the 41^st millennium. In theory, that could be a LOT of history to cover.

Step 3- Home world?

Where do these guys call HQ? What sort of planet is it? What kind of people inhabit the planet? Do they even have a planet? This creates the realm in which your Marines live. In a hive world, the Marines will likely play completely different roles on the planet and in the entire galaxy compared to a agri-world. Tied in with this concept would be, How does your chapter interact with the rest of the Imperium? Do they say F*** you, we do our own thing, or do they follow orders to the T?

Step 4- Leaders?

Who leads them now? What sort of person is he? Are there multiple leaders? What sort of relationship is there between the leaders and the rest of their battle-brothers? This does require a bit more of personal development beyond the normal marine, but I think it is important because it can give a hero that you really enjoy fleshing out.

Step 5- Appearance?

Especially with the role of hobby in Warhammer 40k, this is incredibly important. What sort of colors do these Marines wear? What kinds of symbols and other regalia are common? Do they have a very constant pattern or personal freedom? What would your leader wear? What would they wear outside of battle?

Step 6- Tactics?

This, for most competitive players, is the most fun step of the development. How does your Space Marine chapter win the fight? Do they bring as many heavy weapons as possible? Do they rely on manpower and brute strength? What sort of wargear do they have access to? If you could pick a preferred special weapon and heavy weapon, what would it be? Favorite vehicle? Each of these ideas can really emphasis your own personal strategies and preferences in the game, and they create an awesome set of fluff.

Step 7- Which codex should I use?

This step is the one that I write with some trepidation. I know from my own experiences, that many people ignore the true background and fluff of the codex in the effort to win games. That to me is perfectly fine. If you think it fits thematically with your own creation, that is ok. I would warn against the stretching and bending of the fluff to basically fit a square peg into a round hole. For example, just because the Space Wolves codex allows for 4 Psyker HQs does not mean that they would be good thematically for your Thousand Son army. Seriously. Don’t do it.

There you have it. Seven easy steps to create your own Space Marine chapter. Now the eighth step involves building, painting, writing, and, most importantly, playing. Keep track of your wins and losses. Creates small stories and little scenarios about your Space Marines. Did they totally whip Abbadon’s ass? Or did they get trashed by the Sisters of Battle? When you have your own creation and characters within the game, it creates more interest outside of gaming. I have found that it really adds a lot of interest and, most importantly, fun into my games. I record my amazing feats in order to look back and smile upon my achievements.

I hope that this article was some help to you all, and I would love to hear about what you have created! You can check out my blog at www.themanypostsofdobiegillis.blogspot.com , but most importantly…

FOR THE EMPEROR!

In the continuing series of guest articles, this article comes to you courtesy of Bladebaka from our Forums.

The Space Marine Thunderfire Cannon has been seeing a lot of love from multiple podcasts recently. Some of you might be thinking, “What is all this hoopla for?” I hope to bring your questions to an end, and determine once and for all if the Thunderfire Cannon is as underrated as some wish us to believe.

1. Combat Capabilities
The Thunderfire Cannon comes with two models: the cannon itself, and a basic techmarine gunner. The cannon is considered artillery, and as such, any time a glance or penetrate is rolled on the cannon itself, it is immediately destroyed. This may sound like a major defect in the noble TFC’s résumé (and it is, at times, but more on that later), but I firmly believe that it is not that big of an issue, because you have that free techmarine! Let’s look at him now.

The techmarine has the regular techmarine statline, complete with special armor that confers the 2+ save. That’s not all, because he has the servo-harness that comes with a flamer and twin-linked plasma pistol, which both may be fired at the same time; and two servo-arms that are Str. 8 power fist attacks (just subtract the power ) that are made separately from his profile. By himself, he’s a pretty formidable character, when let loose.

The Cannon, however, is in a league of its own. It fires one of three weapon profiles, each with different stats and different uses: Surface, Airburst, and Subterranean. Surface has a nice Str6 AP5 Heavy 4 Blast profile. I use this one standard, as its the all-’round best of the three.
However – If your enemy has a unit dug into cover, the Airburst comes into play with its Heavy 4 Str5 AP6 Ignores Cover profile. MMMMM, Tasty.
And the Subterranean profile, with Str. 4 AP – Heavy 4 Blast Tremor… Not the best, and doesn’t have much use in game, aside from being able to maybe slow down a unit or three… I personally hardly use it unless a hammer unit is heading for a squishy unit of mine, and I want to slow it down a bit.

2. Modeling
Now, I’m sure that you’ve heard Rich bitch about the smooth sailing that is assembling the model is, and sadly, his whining is pretty correct. I’m certain that the dye (what you call a metal mold) got screwed up in some way… anyway! there are guides for exactly what sanding, shaving, scraping, drilling, and all-around fitting of the model, so that will not be covered here. There are also other alternatives, but for Tourney legality a conversion using Rhino treads and cut up Land Raider sponsons with some plasticard and tank bitz works well, as shown on post #15 here.

3. Battlefield
The Thunderfire cannon is worth every point in battle. For only 100 points you get 4 Str. 6 AP 5 shots at 60″ range with a marines’ BS to reduce scatter. I’ve personally taken out entire squads of Khorne and Nurgle marines, Bugz, and taken down some Meth’d-up raiders. Plop down a small blast template, roll to scatter 4 times… pretty straightforward. Also, after a round or two of this, you’ll possibly have garnered double the points cost of your “Piece”, as well as providing an annoying gnat that your opponent often feels obligated to focus on, leaving you to be a tricksy hobbit for a turn or two.

To combat the fragility of the cannon, stick it in some terrain for a cover save, because once it get shot at… it’ll probably go down. Of course, that is also a catch-22: the gun may die, or on a 5+ the techmarine dies. If the techmarine manages to survive, you have a free independent character to attach to a squad, repair a vehicle, and boost a ruins’ cover save to 3+… Which you may want to do to the ruin you put your Cannon in, as you do this before the game starts. Also, a unit of servitors may be taken for no Force Org slot cost, and add +1 to the 5+ dice roll to repair things!

All in all, I believe that the Thunderfire cannon is well worth its points, and personally, even better than a whirlygig or Predator for purely points cost, if not tabletop efficiency. If you are still skeptical about the idea of using one, just try it out for a game or two — I’m sure you’ll learn to love it.

The Overlords has a podcast but the heart of our merry men is our gaming club. Of course inflicting our cockney accents on the world has been great and and we are having a hell of a time but perhaps rather naively we never thought it would take off and we set our sights very low. It was just an audio poster for our club to get new members so we have a bigger gene pool to play in.

Over time, having played at various gaming clubs boredom has been a killer and have seen many people drop out. Specifically regarding 40k. I have heard all sort of gripes about the rules and a whole manner of things, but ultimately they were bored. As an active gaming group, to survive, you need a varied diet and the right attitude to stave this off and retain members. The right attitude, in my opinion is quite a big thing. Not just in terms of a large percentage of keeping a club going but also that the right attitude is not one attitude but a variety with at least some common elements: fun and adventure. Yes this is indeed a follow on from my last article.

Okay here comes the main course. Commissar Random (Jon) and I tried something different and had a complete blast. It was exciting, a laugh and with little planning turned out to be a great game. Here’s what we did. After a couple e-mails and a brief chat with Pat from the 11th Company we decided to write each other a 1500pt list to play. The object of the game was to write shit lists. And as there were four lists involved we certainly got all kinds of shit. Plus add in some banter and smack talk, this created a great scene, not to mention some cross podcast fertilization. As a side note there is a bit of banter between us regarding scenery and the differences (although I’m sure this isn’t really the case) between the UK and US and getting into the spirit of the game. Jon and I agree to ‘Yankee-fy’ the board, as Pat put it and we set it out like an open field where we were fighting over a pond and Pat and Neil agreed to play on a “Necromunda” Board.

I won’t go into the lists as you’ll have to listen to ours and the 11th Company’s podcast to get the detail but there was Jon and I standing on a board playing the world’s crappiest lists with virtually no scenery (I was cursing Pat so much, at first, but now it’s okay) and then we started playing. The more the dice rolled the more we got into the game. It turned out close and there were plenty of cinematic moments. I doubt I’d choose to play the list again but we were all willing to do it for a laugh and a laugh we had. We had an evening that was a departure from the norm, and a great way to chill out with your mates. Fun and Adventure.

My point is that when you think you are getting a bit board with 40k, perhaps because you only have one list or a few opponents why not try something whacky for a few weeks just to inject some fun into it. Think about these:

If you only have one army and say 1500pts play smaller games where you have to make a choice and leave stuff out

Get your mates to write a list, accept it and play it or swap armies with your mates

Play weird points like, 1130. You would be surprised how just deviating from 1500, 1850 and 2000 etc changes things up

Go back over old codicies and play some of the army specific missions with different forces

Play doubles games

Invent your own missions (or at least download alternatives from the web)

You choose your lists. Take something different. Take something that does not make sense. Take something where the units don’t gel. If you’ve been playing long enough to start getting board at least you are opening up the doors to tactical thinking once again and stretching yourself.

Kill Zone!

These are just a few suggestions. There are plenty more I’m sure.

I remember confronting someone who was threatening to drop out because “40k is crap, the games always end up the same way, what’s the point.” I pointed out that he played the same list, played just three missions and played the same person each time. I suggested there is more to 40k than the way he approached it. Doing something different does not have to be as drastic and dramatic as our shit kicking list game (not that we did it out of boredom but just for the heck of it) but by just changing just one of those three variables, he had a completely different game. So do yourself a cheesy (cheesy quaver = flavour, bit of cockney there) and mix it up. As soon as things feel a bit stale for you, don’t let it fester. Talk to your group and get them to do something different. Don’t drop out because you’re board of the game, there is a whole universe at your finger tips. There is no reason to get bored.

So just like a hermaphrodite hooker, mix it up, keep an open mind and you never know which way it’s going to go.