6th. Oh My Eyes.

And so it begins. Sixth edition is here, and I've been thumbing through it looking at the rules and whats new. We knew what a lot of them were, but its nice to see it in black and white. Only, thats the thing. Its not in black and white. Its in aged yellows, oranges, and the complete book is full colour. Wow. I'll talk about the rules a little later on, but first of all I'd like to talk about the aesthetics.

Simply put, the layout design is amazing. Lots of nice little touches, and you never know whats going to make your eyes weep in joy next, weapon designs, emblems, or the latest in spectacular John Blanche pieces. This seriously is some good stuff.

The background section, 'The 41st Millenium' is full of fluff for where the world lies now. The Emperor could be on his last brain cells, aliens are growing ever more varied, and it really does make you wonder if there will be some sort of broken Imperium in the future. Theres also some nice sections for all the other races with some history and artwork, some of which is old but still looks nice.

As a photographer myself, theres some great images in there too. Whether they could have been a little more experimental is questionable, but I think you go too far and you're not showing the full quality of the miniatures off. 

All in all its a great looking book and, I have to say, worth the money. Its a pity that the price hike has been so high on the miniatures themselves with no reason as to why. 

The rules themselves are pretty good. Myself and my nephew had a small game, about 500 pts or so, just to teach him the basics and so I could see how a few of the changes work. Wound allocation has potentially slowed the game down, but I think its worth it as it makes so much more sense and adds implications to assaulting, whether its doing it yourself or getting assaulted. We both fielded a dreadnought to see how the hull points stsyem works, but what do you know? My nephew blew my dreadnought up with some rending assault cannon and then a 6 on the damage table. Damn! He proceeded to win the game 3-1. It was a good laugh though and just a simple exercise to see how the rules work. Assault troops with the Hammer of Wrath are a bit more deadly, although 3d6 falling back meant mine rolled 13" and feld. Doh! 

Looking forward to the first night at the club playing, and seeing what everyone else thinks of the rules. 

Whats your thoughts so far?

6th Edition Officially Here.

In 7 days at least. Its finally been announced by GW that the 6th edition of Warhammer 40,000 is coming out on the 30th. We all knew this, but its nice its all a definate. Rules will quickly become known and fact, instead of mystery and rumour. Boltguns will chatter from 24", but not until chainswords have been swung. Official pictures from Games Workshop show the book in all its astoundingly gorgeous glory.

It may be £45 for the standard rulebook, but what a standard it is. It really does look the part, and I cannot wait until the 30th when I am able finally thumb through and offer my thoughts on all the rules. I'm hoping to get some games in as soon as possible with the new rules, and shall be posting thoughts. Its quite possible that I may even do my first video post concentrating on the new rules. Excitement!

Tomorrow I'll be visiting my local GW to gather as much info as I can get, and possibly even see if theres any games being run either from a demo rulebook or by the information gathered by the staff. 

What excites you most about 6th edition?Is it being over-hyped? Or are you too caught up in the hype to even care? 40k will undoubtedly change, lets hope its for the better.

Sixth Sense.

 

So the last few days have been incredibly fruitful for those of us awaiting the new rules that Warhammer 40k Sixth Edition will bring. How will our armies be affected? How will it affect our opponants? How, and perhaps most importantly, will it affect our fun.  

One of the key sentences I've picked up on is that it has been said they GW want to make 40k more cinematic. This screams out to me as an ideal not of intent. I play games of 40k not to win or lose, but to have those hilarious or dramatic moments when the dice either favour or betray you and give you those jaw dropping moments. One of the richest things this hobby brings is its background story for the games. Why wouldn't you want your games ot be more involving of moments that tie into this richness? How the rules will help this, we won't know for certain until the rulebook is not just been in our hands, but has been used for a number of games. 

I like now that you have a Warlord. This HQ choice is then given an ability and can help add a wee bit of flavour to your army. Does he count as a scoring unit therefore making him a very hands-on character? Or does he give his Leadership to other friendly models and have such an inspiring presence? I think its a great little touch and helps add a little richness to your army.

Being able to buy buildings is a great idea, as hopefully it may encourage people (myself included) to be more hands on when it comes to building terrain. Is it practical to have to carry a bunker around? Probably not, but have themed armies that include certain fortifications or siege terrain could work well. Another cinematic box ticked. 

There was said to be a picture of a Beastman Guardsmen and mentioned ab-humans, YES!!! Anything ab-human could mean the possiblility of Squats. The more I hear about the new rules the more I see the 5th edition rulebook cwtching up into bed making sweet love to the 2nd edition rulebook. 2nd Edition was the last rulebook to feature squats, and thus gives me hope for a future appearence. 

Having to remove the nearest models from shooting attakcs sounds great too, when a unit is advancing towards you and only the guys in the back are falling its a wee daft, and now I'll be picturing the first lines falling with the slightly better troops behind ready to take their place. 

The rules for Snipers where if you hit with a six YOU allocate the wounds, this makes snipers a much better choice than they were and fits in with the sniper ethos much better. 

Finally, the last thing I want to talk about are the missions. It seems that theres more variety, and more abilities and changes for objectives and units as to what they do and who can hold what etc. I love this especially if its true that secondary objectives are in also. This adds even more to the game and will hopefully encourage more fluff inspired games. 

Overall I'm really looking forward to seeing the rules, and I'll certainly be playing some games as soon as possible to try them out. Lets hope we get plenty more of those little moments that we'll remember in years to come and add to the legend our armies build.

Club Night!

Welcome to another post about the gaming exploits of Tredegar Wargames Club! Last night we had a few games going on. Bam, Owain, and Louis played some Gorkamorka, Alun and Morgan had a couple games of 40k, and we also had Andrew teaching a new lad the basics of 40k. 

I myself took a night off to annoy people with the camera, which is almost as much fun as playing a game. Picture time!

Alun and Owain having a deep and meaningful conversaion about how many squigs it takes to blow up trukk. "One is neva enuff"

Gorkamorka in full swing. Bam did loads of damage, but so did Louis and his stikkbomb throwing ork. Owains gang on the other hand took plenty of scrap. 

Monstrous creatures abound! Or unbound? Daemons versus Edlar, an Avatar, two Wraithlords, 2 deamon princes and some greater deamons. Ouch! Bit of a bloody affair, and a revenge match was being fought as I left.

Grots uze fink deyz iz orks. Too'pid runtz

 

Caroline pleasing the dice gods with a statue.

Alun explaining to Morgan what he's going to do to him. 

Morgan as it was happening. 

One of Andrews nurgle termies, more on these in a few weeks where I hope to be showcasing his army!

Venerable Mike soothes his addiction for breweries by making a Dwarven one for fantasy.

Bugman likes!

Corrupting the young to the ways of 40k! They were going to play the Black Reach book, but no rules for Orks could be found so it was two Space Marine armies. Note the gap plugging. 

Next week myself and Jordan will be playing against Alun and his Daemons, although I believe he will be using some Chaos marines too in a apocalypse rules game. Jordans taking Grey Knights, and I'll be using the Evandalists. Should be a good one!

6th Edition Starter Set.

And so this is where it all began. 

For me.

Yes, 6th edition is soon here, and with it comes a tide of hype and and no doubt there will be praise and critics, a conflict between gamers over what edition of the game they prefer that mirrors the conflicts we love to play out on our tables. I first played 40k when it was on its second iteration, and probably only played around 4 games. Ever. I remember the rules well however, as I used to play more Necromunda which had a very similar ruleset. It was easier for my younger mind and its more intimate setting was quicker and easier for myself and my then soon to be brother in law to play. The boxed set came with 2 tactical squads, 20 orks, and I think 20 gretchin. All the models were the same, as plastic was back in those days, but gave you enough troops to fight a few games with. 

As you know, with 6th edition soon coming there have been 3 versions since, and I've only played 4th edition since then and my proper foray into 5th edition. I love playing the game, and I, like many gamers, am excited about the new version. But the main meat of this post is about one thing. Starter Sets.

3rd edition featured the Black Templars, some of you may not know who these are as a codex for this Chapter is long overdue. In the box you were given a tactical squad, and a land speeder. On the other side were the new Dark Eldar, with around 15 or so of this new xenos to expunge from the galaxy. These models were all multi-part, and much better looking than the 2nd edition set. But there just wasn't enough in there. 

4th edition was similar, Ultramarines taking the cover and there was a tactical squad, a pilot model, some nice looking scenery pieces depicting a crashed aquila spacecraft, and some tyranid mini's. Again, a bit more variation but could have done with more. 

And then there was Reach. 

Black Reach.

What a great little set. Back to the more familiar Space Marines versus Orks rivalry, you had a tactical squad, a terminator squad, a captain and a dreadnought. The Orks had a warboss, a squad of orks, 5 nobs, and 3 deffcoptas. What an awesome way to start playing 40. Some great models, not very poseable but you didn't mind as there was so much in the box. Definately by far the best set that has been released.

So where will 6th edition take us? The rumours so far are Dark Angels and Chaos, either in one set or seperate. Belial, deathwing, tactical squad and maybe some bikes are rumoured, while Chaos may get a sorceror or other HQ choice, some Chaos Space Marines to make a squad, some cultists, and some sort of Dreadnought which may be a new thing.... interesting! How much is true of course should be taken with a handful of pepper, but lets hope the improvement keeps coming. But this led me to think... what is your ideal starter set? Why not make a bundle deal?

For example....

Rulebook, templates, a troops unit for your army, a limited choice hq, and maybe another squad or vehicle to add some flavour for a slightly discounted price?  I like the idea of the new starter set, but what am I gonna do with Dark Angels if they have all the iconography on them and aren't easily convertable? Not much I think. So why not make them vanilla marines? Surely you can't go wrong, especially if theres some bitz add-ons you can get hold of? Ho hum, only time will tell. The starter set is always an appealing way of getting into a new rules system, and while I will buy the rulebook on the release date, I will be intrigued to see what the new starter set has to offer.

What say you?

6th Edition: Out on the 30th.

And here is apparantly what it will look like. (Apparantly)

Theres so many things going around about rules changes and as far as I'm concerned it all looks for the better. People will always complain because they're into the system of knowing which rules they can bend and tailor a force around such things to gain advantages. Now, they have to start again.

440 pages of full colour goodness, how much rules and how much fluff? Who knows. I'd guess at around 60-40 in favour of the rules. I love some background so hope theres a nice chunk in there! Lets hope the new set of rules herald a much richer experience of gaming, 5th had a good foundation, hopefully 6th edition will add some much needed depth to the experience.

Pre-order on the 23rd, out on the 30th!

Evandalists Stormtalon: so far!

Complete and utter work in progress but the colour scheme is there, tidying up then highlighting and detailing. I'm pretty happy with how it looks so far, can't wait to get the pilot painted and canopy put on top. Still a fair way to go but I'm not rushing, shall take my time and hopefully have it done in the next 2 weeks.

In its first game it performed fairly well, hopefully it can continue or at least soak up a lot of fire and leave other elements of my army to do well. I'd love to see a squadron of these.... could happen!

Breaking in the Storm Talon!

So Mondays game was against the Blood Angels of Mike. I was up against Assault Termies in Stormraven, 5 assault troops with jump packs and accompanied by a captain and jump pack, 9 terminators, predator, devastators, a tactical squad, and two dreads. Myself, land raider with assault termies and chaplain, 2 tactical squads with rhino's, 2 scout sniper squads, dread, vindicator, predator, legion od the damned, and the brand new storm talon.

Capture and Control, and we placed our objectives in opposite corners of the battlefield. Land Raider, and tactical squad to try and capture the opponents, while the scouts, dread and vindicator held mine. Everything else, reserve! 

My vindicator advanced and managed to destroy the one dreadnoughts assault cannon, which meant I could target faster elements while he trundled towards me. The land raider and rhino advanced the full 12" to close the gap. I managed to knock a few devastators off but my Land Raider was then immobilised, meaning my termies would have to trek a wee bit. They managed to get into combat with the other dread, but when Mikes terminators got involved w had a long drawn out combat, eventually wiping my guys out. Mikes dread was left immobilised and only one of his terminators left. Not bad by my guys!

My predator arrives, and manages to immobilise Mikes Rhino, but my vindicator misses. Then Mikes assault guys deep strike down amongst my lines, yikes! During the next turn the vindicator wipes out the assault troops and the Legion of the Damned turn up and manage to wipe out the captain with a well placed meltagun shot. Phew!

Storm Raven arrives! Shoots over, immobilises my vindicator, and dumps down the assault terminators on my objective... nasty! They wipe out the first scout squad and look to threaten the second who still hold the objective, but the Damned marines are able to make it into combat and after 3 rounds of combat whittle down the termies until none are left. Phew!

On the other flank, my other tactical squad arrives and advances up to support the other tactical squad whose rhino had been blown up. They are able to assault Mikes tactical squad who hold the objective after the second TS whittle them down with rapid fire. The Storm Talon was able to kill one terminator, and used its supersonic move to contest the objective in case turn 5 was the last. In turn 6 it too poured fire into the tactical squad. The first tactical squad was then able to assault the remnants and take the second objective. Game won! Close mind, but the Storm Talon is fully bloodied. It may not have killed an awful lot, but its supersonic move could have potentially won me the game and its shooting then helped to wipe the Blood Angels out. Score!

Evandalists vs Half Deathwing Company

Yep, HALF, of the Deathwing. I think it was about 2650 ish points, so Mark could fit in as many terminators as he could. And Belial. I didn't know what to expect in this game so I went with a little bit of plasma, 2 Termie squads in Land Raiders, one with Chaplain and one with Captain, 3 tactical squads, Khan and a bike squad, and vindicator and dreadnought. Capture and Control time! Deployment, I kept many units off so I could react to my opponents actions. The vindicator, dreadnought and devastators with plasma cannons started as these could do a lot of damage. Although they only killed about 5 terminators in total!

Then my units make an appearence. The Land Raiders come on and unleash my terminators who do well against their DW counterparts, and Khan and a tacitcal squad come on from the far side to assault the DW objective. 

I was able to take control and kept the pressure on Mark by being able to choose what to assault after weakening with plasma shots. In turn 5 I got control of my objective and by the end of turn 6 I had full control of the DW post too. 

It was an enjoyable game against an army I had no idea how to play, but my tactics going in seemed to work reasonably well. Terminators are good, but perhaps not good enough. The Dark Angels codex is a little old now, and it seems like a good time for GW to bring a new version out. Will they? Who knows. Playing against them it felt a little dated and a tad underpowered. Mark did well with what he had but some of the limitations were a little harsh. A win for me and another enjoyable game=]