Battle Report: Dark Eldar vs Death Korps

Hey there folks.  Along with the new year coming up I have a new project forming in the dark corners of my apartment.  I recently rejoined the dark brethren of the webway and started a new army of Dark Eldar.  I leaped at the chance to not only play some of my favorite models in the GW line, but to also do some large scale conversions.  So far I've had some fun converting the warriors and even some Incubi, and I have plans for more down the road.

However, I wanted to get used to their style of play again, as well as have fun with a new approach to running my Imperial Guard.  So I thought I'd try both at once and challenge myself to see what I could do to out-think myself.  It's a fun method to re-evaluate one's own perceptions of their army.  So I decided to battle myself, man-o e... well same man-o.

Podcast #8: The Hammer of the Emperor

Join myself and Rites of Battle's newest Lexicanum, Trooper as we discuss something that hasn't been on the 40k scene for nearly half a decade: The Imperial Guard.  As two players who play the army, but in vastly different ways, we'll be looking into our Forgeworld Alternatives codexes for the army known as The Hammer of the Emperor... among other, less honorable names.

Cheers!

Honor the Codex: Pt. 8 Heavy Support

Here we find ourselves, in the final slot of the former FoC: the Heavy Support. Let's remember, 6th edition has added fortifications and, recently, Lords of War. So, one would expect the HS section full of potent firepower, and plenty of toys to make the Imperial Fists happy, wouldn't we? Keep reading to find out if our enthusiasm is well founded.

Happy Holidays

From the staff here at Rites of Battle, we want to wish you all happy holidays and offer our appreciation for your continued support and viewership.  We hope your stockings are filled with many a fine figurine and your dice turn up sixes.

Happy Holidays to all.  Enjoy the time with family, friends, or just the plain old crazy folks you share in the festivities with.

Cheers!

Critique Corner I: The First Sons of Dorn

Salutations everyone, and welcome to the first in a line of list reviews.  Recently I received an email requesting my thoughts on a list.  After a quick discussion, we agreed it might be fun to do this as an article so that others could chime in with their thoughts on the list as well.

Obviously, there is no way for me to be able to guarantee anything, since often times a play area, personal preference, or plain old bad dice can make or break a list.  But I'll do my best to offer my outlook and suggestions for the lists I receive on a macro and micro scale, so that you can get my insights as I look into the overall balance of a list, and at each unit in it.

Today's list comes from Douglas Wade.  He is running a 1,500 point list out of Codex: Space Marines, using Imperial Fists for his Chapter Tactics.

The Difficulties of Making it Worth it's Points

Greetings Gentlereaders,

One of the biggest distinctions in talking about units in 40k, especially in light of our recent podcast, is how to make units "worth their points."  From a design perspective, this is a much more difficult task than most of us would probably think.  Listen to how our discussion grew beyond its stated bounds and began re-designing the whole game from the ground up.  Thinking more about the basic mechanics of the game brings me to think the statistic system of the game make calculations of value damnably complex.  Hopefully you'll be willing to go through why 40k is so frustrating from a mathematical perspective and how that makes designing 40k such a difficult task.  If you're not up to delving into it with me, let's just say that the core rulebook's rules causes drastic shifts in the value of weapons and armor from target to target.  That means that making a rule for determining what a stat point is worth is possible, but quite complex.

--Beginning of Math--

Guest of the 11th Company

I recently had a chance to speak to the 11th Company about a few topics on behalf of Rites of Battle, and was happy to see it was worth editing into their podcast.  I chime in briefly somewhere around the 1 hour, 3 minute mark.  It was quite fun to be included in such a well established staple of the 40k online community.

Check out The 11th Company, podcast 185.

Cheers!

Honor the Codex: Pt. 7 Fast Attack

Well hello again readers. Things are certainly moving right along for our analysis of the Space Marine codex. Today, we'll buzz through the fast attack section. Traditionally, my analysis of this section has been less than stellar. In 5th edition, bikes died to the prevalence of missile spam, and speeders were taken out of the notion that they were too cheap to ignore. Past that, I was underwhelmed at the options that were presented. For a shock force, Space Marine fast attack options are still somewhat less than amazing, though they have improved significantly versus last edition.

Challenging the Truth that Doesn't Exist

Greetings everyone.  Let me open this article by stating that in no way am I trying to undermine or insult anyone, which may immediately cause some to worry.  This article was brought about by an idea that had popped into my head having overheard something that struck me as both fascinating and undeniably relevant in 40k.  It even extends beyond the boarders of the grim dark, and could in itself be considered a core foundation to making yourself a better gamer.  And like all good foundations, it's simple.

"One should always aspire to challenge what they believe in.  It's deciding that you "know" the truth that sets you up for failure."

~ Richard Garriott

Honor the Codex: Pt. 6 Elites

Ah, now we're finally in to the heart of the beast. For an army that bills its self about being elite, the elites slot must be something truly special, right? Well... Maybe. Keep reading and find out if this jam packed section truly lives up to its namesake.

Podcast #7 - New Dice!

What's this? What's this? A podcast in the air? Join myself, Heretic, and Godfrey as we have a free form and open table discussion about the state of 40k post C:SM, and do a little though experiment about the dice we roll.