Monday Musings

Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots

One of my favourite bands is The Flaming Lips. I even proposed during a performance of Do You Realize?? at one of their gigs. That song originally came from the above album, "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots". So, with the Necrons out next week, I was thinking, how cool would an army of pink robots be?!

I'm still a bit unsure about Necrons though. The models look awesome but I'm not convinced I want anther BS/WS/S/T 4 army with AV11 transports. That's one of the reasons I really like the Dark Eldar, just because they're so different. In the meantime, I've also come up with a Grey Knight list that I quite like the look of. I'll post that later in the week for some feedback...

Rumour Control

Coming soon - Arrow of Desire: S6 AP2 Large Blast

So, there's been one "dark, satanic mill" missing from "England's green and pleasant land" recently - the rumour mill. GW's news blackout surrounding the Necrons has, in my opinion, been incredibly short sighted. Until last week's leak by Beasts of War, we hadn't seen any of the new miniatures. I understand that GW want to sell some extra copies of White Dwarf but they would have been much better off drip feeding information, building interest and, in these uncertain economic times where toy soldiers aren't a necessity, allowing people to plan their purchases.

Planning to purchase any pink robots? Rabid for reliable rumours?

Waarrrgh!!

"Wot yoo lookin' at?"

"Dunno. But itz lookin' back and itz ugly"

The two Warbosses circled each other like caged tigers, Power Klaws ready to strike. Ghazghkull Thraka broke the silence,

"I'm 'ere fer ya boyz. Deres sum krumpin' dat needz ta be dun"

Nazdakka Wotsmirk snorted,

"Ova my ded body"

"I hoped youd say dat"

They threw themselves at each other, Power Klaw ringing against Power Klaw and they both struck. Nazdakka swung again and Ghazghkull ducked before jumping out of the way of the return swing.

"I'm gonna smash your teef in!" Nazdakka yelled as he forced Ghazghkull back with swing after swing of his Klaw. He was starting to get the upper hand but then suddenly

Snik!

Ghazghkull's Power Klaw closed around the throat of his opponent, decapitating him instantly. The headless body stood motionless for a second, before it finally surrended to gravity. Ghazghkull turned to Snotripper Rustybitz, the Big Mek,

"Get yer Waggonz an get yer Kanz an that spiny fing wot stopz us gettin shot. Itz time to smash sum eadz!"

So, this is the fluff explaining why our two Ork armies were fighting together at the GW Doubles. If I'd written it before the tournament, we'd have scored another point and finished 11 places higher!

Doubles - Day 2

So, after a tough Day 1, we decided to sack off the 40K themed pub quiz. Instead, Andy's wife, Janet, picked us up and then we grabbed my fiance and a take-away on the way back to theirs. We proved our rock 'n' roll credentials by all falling asleep on the settee watching Forest Gump!

Game 4 vs Blood Angels & Space Marines

Two Vindicators, 5 TH/SS Terminators, a Captain with a Relic Blade, a 10-man Tactical Squad and 5 Scouts in the SM half. Two big Jump Pack Assault Squads, some Death Company and a Baal Predator in the BA half.

Again, we got lucky in winning the roll-off to be the attackers. This meant that we managed to get a first turn charge off and wreck a Vindicator and take out the Captain and a Combat Squad.  In the end, we managed to wipe out Dave's half of the army but Steve's remained reasonably intact. This meant that he could claim one Objective and contest another. However, the Nobz just about managed to get back to their deployment zone carrying one of the other Objectives so we just about won.

Game 5 vs Eldar & Eldar

In this mission you had to get as much of your army off the opposite board edge as possible. So, what's the worst possible list to face? Mech Eldar! Plus they went first. They had Eldrad, a big Seer Council with him and lots and lots of flying vehicles.

Turn 1 saw them Fortune and Turbo-Boost. Turn 2 saw most of their army leave the board. Somehow we managed to bring down the Seer Council but that just allowed them to cut their way through the Ork hordes in search of their secondary mission which was to kill all of our troops. The game was over by the end of Turn 2 and the only highlight we really had was Ghaz killing Eldrad at the bottom of Turn 7.

Conclusions

In the end we finished joint 39th (out of 113) which we were pretty happy with. Plus, we manged to post a winning record, which was a first for either of us at a tournament. Some quick points:

Ghaz was a beast, chopping down the enemy left, right and centre and refusing to die. 

There weren't as many Marines as we expected. We only played 3 MEQ armies out of 10.

We should have practised a bit more (this was my fault since I'd not been around much due to work before the tournament) We only played one game and we didn't have the opportunity to iron out the list. For example the Kanz were a bit rubbish all the way through. We could also have done with playing through the missions as well.

Despite the ker-azy missions, it was a fun tournament. All of our opponents were great guys and it was very well ran by GW.

We're not as good as our 3-2 record suggests. The results were a bit odd. We got absolutely battered in the first and last game and there wasn't much we could have done about it. Game 2 was against two guys who were still quite new to the game and very new to their army and we just capitalised on their mistakes. Game 3, I don't think our opponents had read the mission that closely and practically handed us the victory by letting us go first. Which left game 4 as a proper, down the wire game.

Read the rules pack. We were supposed to have written some fluff as to why our two armies were fighting together. Erm, they're Orks! However, the extra point would have seen us finish joint 28th instead. Curses! Just to rub it in, I've knocked up something and scheduled it for tomorrow...

Rise of the Machines

This weekend sees the long-awaited re-release of your friendly neighbourhood undead Androids, the Necrons (especially if your name is Steve). For as long as I've been playing, Necrons have been a little bit, umm, naff. From the first Necron Warrior that was given away on the front cover of White Dwarf in the mid-nineties, they have always been an under-realised army for me. But I think that officially stops today!

Identity

Critically, the new Necron models have been given some character, which has been sadly lacking in previous releases. The infantry models all seem to have a unifying theme not unlike the Tomb Kings, themselves recently released by GW (one wonders if there were some leftover Tomb King bitz lying around the studio and got utilised on the new Necrons?). The poses are also great - no longer are they the stiff old pensioners of WH40k, but instead are now fully positionable. Indeed, they almost look alive!

Big Guns

The other big change to the Necron line of models is the addition of some much-needed technology.  The Necrons have gained two vehicle kits today, the first a frankly awesome-looking battle barge (top picture) and a shorter gun-skiff (right). Both of them are very evocative models, bringing to mind ancient tombs and (at least for me) the Alien pilot scene from the original 1977 movie.

What Next?

So there you go - a quick glance at some of the new models from Games Workshop. I am very pleased indeed that GW seem to be going through a really creative phase at the moment. Long may it continue! I look forward to seeing some of the new Necrons on the gaming table very soon - Gav, I think you have some serious thinking to do - Dark Eldar or Necrons? I know which I'd go for!

In other news, please check out my personal blog ROGUE TRADER -  latest posts include a review of Lantz McDonald's re-released Fandex: Adeptus Mechanicus and also the latest development work on my very own fandex, Codex: Squat Stronghold. Please check it out, and feel free to get involved! We always love to hear from you.

Deep Thought - There are no Wolves on Fenris

It's no Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors


One of the best things about 40K is, that if you can think it, then you can do it. And that's really the idea behind Deep Thought. These are going to be those "wouldn't it be cool if" army ideas that are probably more useful in the bar over a pint than on the table. Now, this series was inspired by the Blood Angel codex letting you take lots of Dreadnoughts and Alex & Darren's "No Guns" Tau idea. We'll be seeing those in future weeks but because we're primarily a Space Wolf blog, we're going to start with something "Wolfy"

Canis Wolfborn allows you to take Fenrisian Wolves as Troops, however, they can never claim Objectives. Wouldn't it be cool if we ignored that drawback and had an army purely made up of Wolves and guys riding Wolves? Yes, it would...

HQ
Canis Wolfborn
Wolf Lord, Thunderwolf Mount, Storm Shield, Wolf Claw, Saga of the Warrior Born

Elites
Iron Priest, Thunderwolf Mount, 4 Cyberwolves

Troops
13 Fenrisian Wolves, Cyberwolf
13 Fenrisian Wolves, Cyberwolf
13 Fenrisian Wolves, Cyberwolf
13 Fenrisian Wolves, Cyberwolf
13 Fenrisian Wolves, Cyberwolf

Fast Attack
5 Thunderwolf Cavelry, Power Fist, Storm Shield, Melta Bombs, Bolter
5 Thunderwolf Cavelry, Power Fist, Storm Shield, Melta Bombs, Bolter


So, you have the Fenrisian Wolves out in front giving cover to the 3 units behind. Once you get into charge range, you can either split Canis and the Wolf Lord off or keep them with their TWC unit as needed. You'll be able to get a 2nd turn charge at worst and once those TWolves hit, they're going to do a lot of damage. . Don't get me wrong, you'll struggle in Objective missions and there are some lists you haven't got a chance of dealing with (3 Land Raiders?!) but I still think it would be a fun list to run.

Oh man, we love our army lists here at C&F! So, what do you think? Got any ker-azy ideas you'd like to see given the Deep Thought treatment?

What I don't like about 40K

I've been playing 40k for about 2 years now, I play pretty much once a week and I've attended about 12 tournaments over that period. I own well over 5000 points of Space Marines/Blood Angels, 2000 points of Orks and about 1750pts of Tyranids. I also read a large amount of blogs and listen daily to several excellent podcasts. I think it's fair to say that I'm fairly well immersed in the hobby, recently I think I've been able to put my finger on something that has been bothering me about the game.

I like to think of myself as a fairly relaxed gamer, I would certainly not consider myself WAAC or even that bothered about winning. But despite that I do tend to come away from some games (wins and losses) with a sour taste in my mouth and, I am sad to say, that these can be both tournament and friendly games.

I think there are a couple of reasons for this, firstly rules interpretation. Sometimes I come away from games feeling that the winner has been decided by whoever stood more firmly behind their interpretation of a rule (or rules) or who was more willing to be relaxed about a particular call on a grey-area of the rules. This can and has gone for and against me in the past and it sours both wins and losses equally. Cover saves for vehicles are a perfect example of this, in the current meta-game vehicles are king and keeping them alive is crucial to many a game-plan, so getting cover saves can make or break a strategy. Proving that a vehicle is 50% obscured has surely lead to more arguments and disgruntled losers than any other part of the 40K rule-set. Conversely I know I've felt awkward after sticking to my guns on denying a cover save to my opponent and then blowing up his vehicle.

The second thing that bothers me is bad match-ups. OK, this is a big boy game and part of it is list building, you don't need to tell me that I love list building. What I am starting to object to though is lists that are so powerful that I cannot play the game I want to play and expect to have any fun doing it. This has been sparked by a list I have played a couple of times over the last few months and perhaps I'm just not used to it yet, indeed I used to think the same think about tri-Long Fang Wolf lists, but at the moment I just would not accept a game against that list. If I was drawn against it in a Tournament I would grin a bear it but it would put a cloud over my day. Don't get me wrong, I'm totally against comp restrictions in Tournaments, you should be able to play a list any way you want to. As with the issue I have with rules interpretation, I have also been on the right side of a bad match up and it doesn't feel good either.

So I guess you're going to be thinking something like “all right then genius, what do you propose to do to solve these fundamental issues which spoil the game for you?”. Well short of GW writing a perfect set of rules with no room for interpretation supported by codices which are perfectly balanced across the myriad of army builds they make possible, there's nothing to do really. As I said before I fundamentally disagree with comp restrictions, they are just someone else's interpretation of what makes the game fun. In my opinion, the only fair way to play the game is with the rules as written and make the best of the vagaries and power variances, if that's just not good enough for you then get out of the game and stop whining about it.

For my part I will continue to play 40K, though I'm not going to be playing as regularly as I used to. Perversely I'll probably stick to playing tournaments rather than friendlies, this is because I can pick the ones whose rules packs/philosophies I agree with and I care slightly less about feeling bad after playing someone I just met than someone I'm friends with. Also I resolve to stop concerning myself with my final tournament placing and just do my best to enjoy the weekend playing a game that has got me by the gonads!

Feel free to post below if you agree, disagree or have identified other things which bother you about 40K and let the readers know what you're doing to make the game more enjoyable for you.

Codex Review - Mark of the Wulfen

You wouldn't like me when I'm angry

Codex Review - An Introduction

I feel like I've been planning this for ages and here it finally is. A couple of quick points before I start though.  Firstly, this is probably going to be a bit scattergun. That's because I don't have any set order in which to go through things but, hopefully everything will come together in the end. Secondly, here at C&F, we believe that you should be free to take any unit that you like - at the end of the day it's your army. Hence there will be no "you have to take this unit" or "don't take this, it's rubbish" Instead, I'll just be talking through my experiences of what's gone well and what's not gone quite so well...

Mark of the Wulfen - What is it?

Deep within the Canis Helix, lies the Curse of the Wulfen. Some fall victim to this curse during the Test of Morkai, the final trial to become a Space Wolf, and become inhuman beasts stalking the plains of Fenris. Others overcome it and are welcomed into the hallowed ranks of the Vlka Fenryka. However, there are those who manage to control the Wulfen only until they are in the fires of battle. Then, the beast within emerges, the warrior eschewing his weapons to fight with tooth and claw.

In the game, this is represented by the Mark of the Wulfen. A Space Wolf who takes it replaces their Attacks characteristic with D6+1 Rending attacks. You don't get any bonuses for additional hand weapons but you still get you charge bonus.

Who can take it?

(Deep breath)

Wolf Lord
Wolf Guard Battle Leader
Wolf Guard
Wolf Scout
Lone Wolf
Grey Hunter
Thunderwolf Cavalry
Sky Claws

For the TWC, it sets you back 5 points for every one else it's 15.

I can see a good case being made for giving a Wolf Lord the Mark so that you could use im as Bran Redmaw (at least until IA11 comes out!) However, most of the time, the Wolf Lord or WGBL will probably be taking "proper" close combat weapons. It's a similar story for the Wolf Guard with their discount weapons while the TWC already have 4 Rending attacks so it seems a bit self-defeating to swap that for D6+1 (you could possibly argue that it's useful for wound allocation but I think taking one with a Boltgun is a better option)

Take a chance

Whenever I've use MotW, I've given it to Grey Hunters or Wolf Scouts. In this case it's a straight choice between another guy or the Mark. So, that's a guaranteed 4 base attacks vs an average of 4.5 base attacks (on the charge/counter it's 6 vs 5.5)  A lot of people talk about minimising randomness and I have plenty of tales of rolling low when I needed to roll average (or indeed forgetting that I had MotW at all!) Conversely, I have stories of rolling high and doing far more damage than I should have done.

Don't count on Rending

My first thought when I saw this in the codex was; "8 rending attacks?! I'll cut through units with this!" Similarly to above, I can point to times when I've rended my way through Dreadnoughts but I've also had games like the two a couple of weeks ago where I managed a single rend in 13 turns of Warhammer 40,000. Far better to look at MotW as a way of potentially increasing the number of regular attacks that a unit can put out. So, if your faced with Terminators or Meganobz, don't just charge in because you've got some Rending attacks.

Is it worth it?

That depends. Personally, I like the risk/reward nature of it while some people will prefer the reliability of an extra guy. I also think it suits quite an aggressive playstyle as you really want to get stuck in to make the most of those potential attacks. For me though, the key is having a plan for the unit and your army as a whole. In some circumstances, it can change a small unit from one that will fold into one that will hold, allowing you to counter-charge. I like to run it on bigger units, as it can give a nice increase to the damage output but you're still pretty killy even if you roll poorly for it.

Having said that you'll notice that MotW is conspicuous by its absence in my 10WC list. This is because if those units get charged, I want them to get killed so I can shoot whoever charged them. As I said MotW is a personal preference based on list and playstyle.

One final point and this whether or not this is relevant will depend on what sort of gamer you are. Personally, I'm the kind of guy who likes to sit in the bar after a game and talk about the cinematic things that happened in the game and MotW is almost perfect for this. The times when I've rolled badly with it will never overshadow the impossibly good roll that led to 5 Wolf Scouts doing so much damage to to 2 10-man Ork squads that they fled off the board.

Mark of the Wulfen - love it or hate it? Share your sagas of MotW glory and defeat below the line...