The Legion: XX - Hydra Dominus

Greetings Alpharius, and it's so good to see you too Alpharius! Today's 30k piece kicks off an attempt to delve into the legion by legion rules that form the backbone of 30k. It's just as much about trying to establish the definitive handbook to the legions as it is for my own knowledge and benefit, as I feel the fervor of battle is much more manageable when I'm familiar with all the individual little parts and pieces. Likewise, I know that expertise spills over into my list construction owing to the same principles. It's easier to build a more cohesive whole when I know how all the parts tend to work and mesh together. Plus, by starting with the Alpha Legion, I get to do some window shopping in terms of what's available in the other legions. How's that? I'll show you.

Tau Formation Tactica – Optimized Stealth Cadre

Hey hello guys, gals, and xenos filth. Today, we’ve got a very special guest piece by TheGraveMind. Though typically a loyal servant of the Hivemind, he’s recently been acting awfully fishy, and nothing has spurred him on so joyfully in the service of the Third Sphere as the introduction of the Ghostkeel. I’m sure something resulting from years of abuse to his bugs has prompted this, but I’m still not sold on the idea of being sneaky in a Riptide. Nevertheless, he’s here with some points about why the Optimized Stealth Cadre is one of the most powerful tools in the “new” Tau codex.

Critique Corner - Dual Wing

Hello and good day one and all. I'm excited to be presenting the latest edition of Critique Corner, with another list brought to us by Sparrowhawk. This one deviates from the 'All bikes, all the time' that he and so many have been so enamored with of late, though it does build off the Dark Angels first two companies, meaning bikes and Termis are present, and in almost equal measure. We're all set to square off at 2000 points, so let's see how the list shapes up.

Chemical Imbalance: Admiral Ackbar

Good day fleet commanders, and welcome to Rites of Battle. Corvus here with another riveting observation and opinion piece. With the Star Wars Store Championship season in full swing (Havoc and I haven't had a weekend off this year between 40k, Armada, and X-Wing) it's lead to a lot of time spent playing, and unfortunately that's left little time to pause and reflect. But today, reflect I shall, and on the hottest topic of the Armada circuit: Admiral Ackbar.

The Horus Heresy: A Primer

The time is finally upon us. Calth is betrayed, and the Imperium has begun a conflict that will endure for ten thousand years. Battle lines are being drawn, and the thought on everyone's mind is "Are you with the Emperor, or against him?"

RoBPod # 31: Kayoun

Hey guys, Corvus and Havoc here with our review or discussion on the particulars of the '7th Edition' Tau codex. There's an extensive model release, but the rules updates themselves are surprisingly lacking. What's this mean for the fish and for GW? Tune in and find out!

Honor the Codex: Back in Black // Ride the Lightning

Hello and good day readers. Today's post was originally going to be centered around digging unique tricks, units, and builds out of all the Marine codices (seeings how they've all been updated!) but, by good fortune, GW saw fit to release two new Space Marine supplements as a part of Kayoun (Also known as Warzone: Damocles 2nd Edition), and these are the long rumored Raven Guard and White Scars supplements, since those highlight those former legions which sought to battle Shadowsun. They're more expansive reconstructions for these two chapter tactics than simple supplements, but recycle enough from the basic blue book that they aren't quite standalone codices. So, without further ado, let's dig in.

Digging into Trenchers

Greetings Gentlereaders,

I've been listening to a pretty good podcast on WWI called History of the Great War and all that talk of trench warfare makes me want to talk about one of the Cygnar units I got with my army.  They haven't hit the table yet for me because I thought they were overpriced chaff, but then Haley3 came out and people started raving about them.  I'm still not sure about it, but I'm also timed out of table time, so sadly I can only throw out my thoughts and see what you think.  And these guys are surprisingly deep for models that don't see much table time.  Guess we can blame the availability of mercenaries, taking jobs away from hardworking Cygnaran models.  Anyway, let's dig in and see what's in there.

Honor the Codex/Critique Corner Mashup: Bikes!

It's that time again! Sparrowhawk has given me another list to review. Today's order? 2500 points of bikes, bikes and more bikes, crossing party lines to find White Scars, Dark Angels, and even a Knightly friend, as well as some timely air support. Now, before we hit the break, Sparrowhawk did clarify for me that this list is designed around the RAI argument that any DA character which you equip with a bike earns the benefits of the Raven Wing special rules. Thus, my review will act with those constraints (or lack thereof) in mind.

Composers and Musicians

It's that time of year again for Havoc and I: the League of Legends World Championship. This means hours committed to hobby time in front of my PC, watching anxiously, hoping my bracket survives, and that my favorite teams are contenders, and not mere footnotes. Nevertheless, it has me thinking about composition. So often, I find myself wrapped up in the power, balance, or imbalance, of a single unit. But with this most recent world tournament, we've seen a number of upsets in the group stage already, owing to players and teams valuing strong, "OP" picks over the strength of a team composition. So, what does all this have to do with 40k?

Heresy in the Library - Wolf King

Greetings good people and welcome back! Trooper here with another installment of "Heresy in the Library", where I review Black Library publications and let you, the reader at the other end of the data-slate, know how it is! Up for review is the new Horus Heresy novella Wolf King. In the aftermath of the disastrous engagement with the Alpha Legion and with no help coming from the nearby White Scars Legion, the Vlka Fenryka flee into a nearby nebula. Leman Russ is distant and it falls to his sons to lead the remnants of the VIth Legion out and back to Terra.

RobPod #30: Ork Klanz & Planz

Had to go retro for this one.  Ooooorrkkkksss iiiinnnnn Sppppaaaaaccccceeee!

Hey Everyone, welcome back.  This time around we get a guest in the studio, and the topic is everyone's favorite grim dark fungus!  It's Orks on da menu, and for those who stikk around, there's some extra special tricks for folks looking to make their Orks a little more unique from those every day run-a-da-mill greenskins.

If you're interest is peaked, cheack out our review of the current Ork codex (and some 7th edition highlights) here!

Cheers!

State of My Game

Most appropriate image I could think of

Greetings Gentlereaders,

It's been a while, but grad school has me doing enough reading and writing on my computer that I don't always get in a game, much less write about anything I don't have to.  Far from abandoning the blog, I've been trying to deepen my understanding of WM/H and playing Cygnar been doing a lot to help with that.  I'll be trying to give an impression of my experiences with each of my armies and the systems they exist within.  I'm still somewhat a journeyman with regards to both, but I'm learning more and thought it best to share that experience with you all.  Maybe there's something you hadn't considered that it will bring to light, maybe there's something I haven't seen that you can point out to me.  But enough talk, have at you!

RoBPod #29: X-Wing Wave VII and the 501st

Hey guys, in celebration of our 501st post, we've done an X-Wing podcast discussing the release of Wave VII and the new Force Awakens Starter!

Reformation Theses for 40k

I've finally done it. I've sat down and committed to article a proposed changelog for 40k. I've had the fortune of a lot of good discussion with friends and peers whom I respect greatly within the 40k community recently, and after seeing many of them leave the hobby for other games (30k and X-Wing, with some splatters of WM/H) I've tried to distill a list of things that grinds our gears for 40k. It's not a comprehensive log, and won't fix all gripes for all players. It's quick. It's dirty. But I'd like to think it's mechanical enough, and focused on the game rather than GW, to be able to try to kick around and see if it improves game feel for folks. So, here goes!

Honor the Codex: Building Steam, Talking Tax

For those of you have been longtime readers, you know that we here at Rites love talking about how 40k plays for different armies at different points costs. Whether we're talking about kill team, escalation leagues, tournaments, or apocalypse, it's fascinating to us to see the different dynamics that pan out based on available resources. So, that said, I'm fortunate enough that my FLGS is hosting a new 40k escalation league. After my last, very poor experience, I've decided to enroll my Ravens. They've got more options available to them, and I'm always excited to try new things with them.

Battle Report XI

Welcome to another Battle Report!  This time it's a wild and crazy 3,000 point per player battle where Orks but heads against the forces of Chaos.  For starters, we got to play on the amazing Istvaan table, which was designed for a massive battle at it's core.  Even though our armies pale in comparison to the scale (and beauty) of those it was intended for, it was a fast paced game.

I brought my Orks to bear against another local from my FLGS, and while it was a harsh match, he was a most enjoyable foe all the way to the bitter..... bitter end.  So sit back and enjoy the carnage!  I didn't have a copy of his list to put here, but I can give you the jist of both forces:

The Time for Attack: Rebel Armada (Wave I)

Fellow Rebels, the Imperials believe they have us beat, but I bring good news and hope, our first wave of reinforcements is arriving! Our fighters will overwhelm the enemy, and take shelter in the mighty wings of our frigates. Lock wings to attack position, and let's being our attack run; the first wave is here!

I Smell Er-rat-ta

Greetings Gentlereaders,

Today I'm going to do my best to cover the direct effects and metagame implications of the recent errata document released by Privateer Press. There's some very simple, but impactful changes that hit a certain pair of epic sisters, and everyone's favorite mad scientist.  Combine that with some buffs to under-loved models and it feels like PP isn't just attempting to fix rules writing problems and typos, but rather to fix their mistakes in balancing models.  After my experience with GW erratas and their liberal use of "the most important rule," I'm happy to see something addressing perceived balance problems, even if they aren't addressing some of the problems I've heard are the most egregious.  With that preface, let's dig into these changes.

Team Up for Great Justice!

Greetings Gentlereaders,

Today I get to chat with you about one of my new favorite models supporting the armies of the ancestors, the young Tyrant Zaadesh.  As our part of the cycle of lesser warlocks, Zaadesh brings a distinctly Skorne spin on the concept.  He's impulsive young warlock, but he's also a man driven by his vision of the empire "as it should be."  When Makeada overthrew Vinter Raelthorne, she adopted the mantle of Supreme Archdomina and was the first skorne to rule the whole of the people.  Zaadesh wants to return the empire to its traditional ways of house warfare and infighting.  For all that divisive backstory, he is a piece in your arsenal that can bind together a list and take the weight of running a beast heavy list off some of our fury-starved casters.  If you're willing to take some risks, Zaadesh can be very rewarding, even if his beasts don't look like much on their own.