Report from the Painting Front

pHaley, p Stiker and Journeyman Warcaster

Good evening everyone, I wanted to get you all a quick post to update you on what I've been up to since we talked about villains a while ago.  Besides being the magical Christmas land that is MtG spoiler season (really stoked for Narset Transcendenat, btw), I've gotten some time to paint up the Cygnar models I had sitting around.  I've also included a couple of pictures of Skorne models I've tried to varnish.  I say try, because this week's hobby project is figuring out how to get the *$^&%*& nozzle of the spraycan unclogged. 

I was looking forward to running pStryker in a battlebox escalation league, but my schedule means I can't get in more than one game a week and I'd rather not spend that stumbling over the focus rules.  Neither of the casters is really a tournament caster, but there's nothing really bad about them either.  From what I've seen of them, Cygnar casters aren't that good at getting in and assassinating their opponent themselves, but are fantastic support bots.  I'll probably enjoy getting to use them to buff units like gun mages to ridiculous accuracy,

Crap, it's huge.  We're giving it to the rookie?

Jr. may be the best three points you can spend if you want to run warjack heavy in Cygnar.  Odd thing about Warmachine, it's got a lot fewer machines than Hordes has beasts.  It's not unheard of to have Hordes lists, especially Legion, to have only their caster, beasts and likewise, it's actually common to see Warmachine lists that have just one light warjack because the caster gives free points to be spent on jacks.  Running jacks means your caster has to expend focus to make them worth much of a damn.  Junior. doesn't have all the rules a normal warcaster does or as big a focus stack (3, where pHaley is 7 and pStryker is 6), but that's the max one jack can be allocated each turn.  Junior can, and probably at some point will be, in command of the Stormwall colossal that Cygnar has.  I've got most of it covered in the base colors I want it to be in, but there's a lot of surface area there.  Another challenge is figuring out how to get a good cream color that distinctly isn't Bleached Bone.

I hate class photos

When it comes to actual gameplay, I've bene using my Skorne.  I'm loving that my limited model selection means I'm actually getting familiar with their rules and used to using them in conjunction with each other.  I started the game with pMorgoul (Edward Scissorhands) and enjoyed him, but I've been working on using pMakedea (2 Swords) and eHexeris (Staff) since variety and having a caster with a larger fury stat are really, really good for getting better at the game.  Don't get me wrong I love Morgoul, he makes a single beast a cruise missile, but his small fury stat and vulnerability to being knockdown make him feel more fragile than he probably is.  I don't have the troopers to make pMakedea's buff spells particularly worthwhile, so I've been sticking with eHexeris recently.  He's got a buff, a debuff, two nukes an arc node (very rare for hordes) and is pretty damn beefy on defense and offense without his spells.  So that's what I've been up to.  Hope to see you guys around once I get my next unit ready and get my next unit in from the FLGS.

Hobby Table VIII

Well met noble readers, and welcome back to the Hobby Table.  Today's article was inspired by a somewhat spur of the moment decision on my part, and really features something I love about the hobby; the ability to use the models and the rules as jumping off points for your own ideas.  While I was meandering through the halls at work today I found myself returning again and again to a movie I watched last night, and couldn't help but draw ideas on how to re-create the feeling I got from the film on the tabletop.  So if you fancy a look at some of the ideas I've had so far, then read on as I try to capture the feeling of the film.

Hobby Table VII

Hello Everyone, and welcome back!  I received a plethora of positive responses to the first of this series within a series (yes... this article has achieved series-ception), and as such I feel like it might be fun to add to it.

Remember this article is based on the idea of bringing some storytelling to the 40k universe, and after a massive scale game of 40k held by myself and many others, I felt it could be a fun task to bring some life to it beyond the models.  The last time we found ourselves reading a report sent to the Ordo Heretics by First Prefect Alea Nortellus of the Tyron System.  Of course, none of the occurrences which took place in the previous article were a part of the actual game itself, but was used to set up the setting, characters who will return in this installment, and of course, leave you with some thoughts as to what terrible threat looms on the Horizon for the populace of the Tyron System.  Now we shall continue that report.  Hopefully you're as eager as I am to see what happens next.

Hobby Table VI

Greetings and welcome to another Hobby Table.  Looking back on this series, I introduced it as being one that would fall on a number of topics pertaining to the hobby that didn't just revolve around the game itself.  We all know that at the end of the day, much of Warhammer 40,000 is about the stat lines, the dice, and the missions.  But there is so much more to this game than simply how a game pans out.  There's a story to it as well.

While almost every Hobby Table has been about trying to create innovative or unique mission types, I wanted to delve into something a bit more towards the idea of storytelling.  After all, if this game didn't have such an intricate and well developed lore behind it, there wouldn't be much more to it then an expensive game of chess.  Recently a fair number of us got together to simply put models on the table and throw some dice.  I am going to take that game, and establish a developed piece of lore for this engagement.  So lets jump right into it.

Hobby Table V

Hey guys, and welcome to another edition of Hobby Table.  Once again I have had some fun with my spare time and have come up with another unique scenario for people to enjoy.  Inspired by my Death Korps, and eager to create a fun (if toxic) atmosphere for those beer and pretzel lovers out there.

Hobby Table IV

Greetings to all of my fellow gamers and hobby enthusiasts out there and welcome to another edition of Hobby Table. As my search for making 40k more interesting continues, I have come up with another mission type that takes a game type we see come up frequently in the old "roll for mission, roll for set-up" scenarios. Looking back at the previous missions created here, I have been adapting them a little more each time I play them, and as it turns out they all have a mission and set up reflected without being a simple copy and paste.

First we had Meat Grinder, which is a somewhat more involved version of Seize Ground with a flopped deployment. Secondly, we had Containment, which added a bit of spice and variety to Annihilation on Pitched Battle. So after looking at the options, I realized I had not come up with a mission to reflect Capture and Control or Spear Head deployment. This lead to my newest mission creation...


Mission: Assault on the Control Room

On the battlefields across the galaxy, it is no surprise that the force with the best organization will almost always triumph. This has proven itself time and again, and so it is this mission that reflects on the battle for tactical supremacy on the front lines.

This battle is designed to show sabotage tactics to remove an enemy's command center on the front lines, so as to gain the edge over the enemy.


Objective
The game plays by standard Capture and Control rules as described in the Warhammer 40,000 rulebook.


Set Up
Divide the table in half diagonally from corner to corner. Once done, both players roll a dice and the winner chooses one of the sections, and the opponent deploys opposite. Units must remain 12" or more away from the centered diagonal line of the table.


Deployment
After determining deployment zones. The player going first must place his/her Control Room (point) within their deployment zone. The opponent then does the same. After the points have been placed, deploy units as normal.

Please note that units fall back to the long table edge of their deployment zone.


Reserves
Both armies may use reserves as normal.


Victory Conditions
Whoever has the most objectives at the end of the game wins. In the event that no points are left at the end of the game, Victory Points will be used to determine the victor.


Special Rules

Control Room: In this mission, the control points represent the focus of command for the army's front line. As this is the case, it has been well fortified to protect it from fire. If the point is placed in a piece of terrain, that piece of terrain is considered to have the "Bolster Defenses" special rule. Please note that this benefit will work on any terrain, and will not allow the piece of terrain to be "Bolstered" further.

If the point is placed in no terrain, units with a model in base to base contact with the control room with benefit from a 5+ cover save. Please note units may not benefit from this save if a model in that unit is more than 3" away from the point.


Set Us Up the Bomb: It is the goal of this mission to both destroy the enemy's Control Room, and defend one's own point from being destroyed. Each army has created a bomb powerful enough to reduce the enemy's fortified Control Room to rubble, but it must be done from the inside.

Nominate a model in the army to carry the Bomb. Units selected from the HQ section may NEVER carry the bomb (no general will risk carrying a bomb in combat). If the model carrying the bomb is killed, another member of that model's unit may pick up the Bomb immediately. If there are no other models in the squad or the model was not a part of a unit, the bomb is simply left where it was. In order to pick it back up, a model must be in base to base contact with the bomb at the end of it's movement phase (or at the end of a Run! movement).

If a model with the Bomb starts it's movement phase on (within 3" of) the enemy's Control Room and the point is considered uncontested, the bomb is immediately set off. Place a Large Blast Template centered on the Control Room. Any units (friend or foe!) with a model under the blast take that many S5 AP- hits with no cover allowed.

Please note if the bomb is dropped, place a 25mm base to represent the bomb. Also, a player may never move another teams Bomb in the event it is dropped.


The Price of Failure: If at any time your Control Room is destroyed, units arriving from reserve must re-roll successful rolls to arrive.


The game uses standard mission length, and allows any and all standard rules to be used (i.e. Deepstrike, Outflant, Scout, etc.)


I hope you guys enjoy! Till next time

Cheers!

Hobby Table III

For this Edition of Hobby Table, I will be introducing a new mission variant I have come up with and have been playing around with. It is a simple game but has a unique twist involved. I have play tested a beta version of it, and I must say it went rather well. So let's get to it.

Mission: Containment
This mission focuses on the idea of a member or unit of one army being captured by the enemy in hopes to gain information or other boons (like the location of the missing snacky cakes) from their captives. Not being one to let the enemy get away with this, a battle insures shortly after.

So here's How it works.


Objective
The game plays by standard Annihilation rules as described in the Warhammer 40,000 rulebook.

Set Up
This game uses the Attacker and Defender system for players involved. The Defender represents the player who has had a unit kidnapped in them midst of the fight, while the Attacker represents the captures. Please look to the Special Rules Section for further details on this.

Deployment
This game uses standard Pitched Battle Deployment as described in the Warhammer 40,000 rulebook.

Reserves
Both armies may use reserves as normal.

Victory Conditions
This mission follows the Kill Point system used with the Annihilation rules in the Warhammer 40,000 rulebook. The player with the most Kill Points at the end of the battle is the winner. Please make note of the special rules section.

Special Rules:

Containment: Before Determining who will go first, roll a dice. The winner may choose to be the Attacker or Defender. Each Player, starting with the Defender chooses a single unit from their own army. This unit may be any unit with a WS. The Attacker then does the same.

After Determining deployment zones, split the Attacker's deployment zone into 6 equal 1' sections along the length of the long table edge. the Attacker rolls a dice; the number rolled corresponds to the section (always start counting from the left) in which the containment takes place. The contained unit is placed in the middle of the section (as the sections are all 12" x 12", the middle of the section if found by measuring a further 6" over, and 6" forward).

The Defending Player chooses a single unit from their army.  This can be any unit, including Independent Characters.  This unit is considered Captured, and is unable to do anything until freed.  The Attacking player must now take the unit he/she has chosen to do the containment, surrounding (as best as possible) the contained unit while staying at least 1" away, but no more than 2" away from their captives  Neither unit may make voluntarily actions (including moving, shooting, assaulting, anything!).

If the unit containing the captives falls back, is assaulted, or is removed from the table as a casualty, the captive unit returns to it's owners control immediately, and may act as normal on the owning players turn.

Please note if the containment is broken for any reason, it may not be re-established, and both units then act normally.


Valuable Information: The Unit being held prisoner is holding information that is highly valued by both sides. If the captive unit is still being contained at the end of the game, the Attacker gains an additional 5 Kill Points.

However, if the unit is freed but later destroyed, the Attacker gains 3 additional Kill Points (as they denied the Defenders the same valued information).

If the Captive unit is freed, and survives, the Defender gains an Additional 5 Kill Points.

The game uses standard mission length, and allows any and all standard rules to be used (i.e. Deepstrike, Outflant, Scout, etc.)



So there you have it. Containment is a fun game that takes the most basic of basic games (Pitched Annihilation) and adds a little twist. Also, I know the rolls seem incorrectly labeled (The Attacker seems to be Defending, and vise verse) but it was done this way with the Dark Eldar's Piratical Raider's Rule in mind.

Hope you guys enjoy it as much as I do.

Cheers!

Hobby Table II

Hello everyone, Loki here with another edition of Hobby Table. This time we'll be focusing on my latest pet project for a good friend of mine. Mr. Clark has been extremely interested in running a Blood Ravens army as he really enjoyed them from the Dawn of War series, and we were trying to find a way to match their fluff.

After a disappointing look into the standard Marine codex, as well as a look into the Space Wolves codex, we weren't entirely happy with the fit either way. Thus the idea was born to create a home brew codex that would take the Codex Space Marines, and give it some tweaks here and there to make it a feel of it's own.

Since the chapter has a huge thing for psychers we are giving it a good many perks to both powers to use, and gaining an edge (a psycher wargear item called The Raven's Claw is buyable for librarians that make ties on psychic hood checks go to them instead of the usual caster).

We have introduced a number of characters including many from the dawn of war two games (Tarkus, Cyrus, Thule, and Angelos are among them) and will be mostly upgrades for their respective squads, though some would be Independent Characters as to be expected.

Though we've only reached the tip of the iceberg, I plan to spend a lot of time making this codex and of course it won't be legal in tournament play, there will be many play tests and a lot of good games to see coming from our home brew dex that should be great to see.

I hope this peaks your interest and would love to here your thoughts and any suggestions you may have.

Cheers!

Hobby Table I

The Hobby Table will be a continuing post dealing with the sides of 40k that don't happen on the battlefield. These discussion will deal with the topics mostly found outside of battles such as the painting, mission creation, and other miscellaneous topics that don't fit in battle reports. Enjoy.

Mission: Meat Grinder

So today I ventured down the the keep where a Joe and a Sabo were in the midst of a battle. After a short conversation, Sabo agreed to come over and play again at the house. I decided when I got home that I wanted to have a little more fun with this game than a standard mission. My first thought was to try out the Evacuation mission from the back pages of the BRB. After Sabo showed a little hesitation due to the harsh environment rules... I decided that perhaps it was a good opportunity to dust off the old mission I had come up with while coming up with unique missions for a prior tournament event.

This game is a little more interesting than a usual mission and is suppose to simulate the very heart of a major battle. These fights generally consist of two major objectives, 1. Claim vital intelligence points on the battlefield which could be key to holding the field after the struggle has begun. 2. Destroy the enemy down to the final grunt.

Of course a battle depends on the ability for an army to tactically respond to every situation and to do this an HQ must be in the area to help maintain a sense of order.


Objective
The goal for both armies is to hold the majority of the objectives by the end of the battle; in addition they must also have more kill points than the enemy.


Set Up
The Table is split into 6 equal 1 foot wide sections along the length of the long table edge. Once done, both players roll a dice and the winner chooses a section closest to one of the short table edges. The opponent then takes the opposite section. 6 objectives are to be placed on the board (one in each section), but must remain more than 12" from another objective. Players set up objectives in the half of the board closest to their deployment zone, starting with the section closest to the board's center working out. Each player sets up one, then the opponent sets up one, until all are objective markers are placed.


Deployment
Both armies are to be set up in the far sections (the two closest to the board's short table edges) and the two armies take it in turns to set up one unit at a time until all units are deployed. All units must be placed in the section closet to the army's respective board edge. Units with the "Fleet" special rule, and all units purchased in the "Fast Attack" slot may be placed in the first or second sections.

Please note that units fall back towards the short table edges in this game.


Reserves
Both armies may use reserves as normal.


Victory Conditions
The mission calls for the armies to have nothing less than a merciless victory. In order to win, a player must hold the majority of objectives, and have more kill points than the enemy. If one of these requirements is not met, then the battle is a draw.


Special Rules

Meat Grinder: All non-HQ units have this rule. So long as a friendly HQ remains on the table, units that are completely destroyed (including any dedicated transports purchased for that unit) must return to the battlefield from reserves as if they had been placed there and return in the following controlling player's turn.

If there are no friendly HQ models left on the board, units that have been completely destroyed must roll to see if they can continue to come back into play. On a 4+ the unit will return as normal, but on a 3 or lower, the unit has been lost in the insuring chaos brought on by the lack or organization and are no longer in play.

Please note that units yield kill points as normal every time they are completely destroyed.


Objective Secured: If either player has a scoring unit within 3" of an objectiveat the end of their turn, then the objective is said to have been "secured". A secured objective counts as being controlled even if the unit that secured it moves off.

The only way the objective can change hands is for an enemy scoring unit to secure it themselves (just as described above).




The game uses standard mission length, and allows any and all standard rules to be used (i.e. Deepstrike, Outflant, Scout, etc.)



I hope you enjoy the mission as much as we did. and there will be a picture based battle report soon to show you how the game went. Until then...

Cheers!