Keep in mind. The Eldar collection I inherited began around the time that the Harlequin boxed set came out. This was before Avatars (well, harlequin sergeants were called Avatars), this was before Dark Eldar. Hell, this was before aspect warriors. Since then it has grown. I have probably 80 or so Guardians. 3 Wraithlords (one harlequin), 4 vypers, fourteen jet bikes.
I have Nuadhu. Who in the world has Nuadhu? Just me, right?
So, my read of the new Eldar Codex is probably a lot different than other peoples...and that's good I think. Let me try this another way, between Howling Banshees and Striking Scorpions, you would have been a fool to pick the banshees, and realistically, you would have been better off putting your points into a seer council. Between Guardians and rangers, that was a toss up, but they were both better than dire avengers. Dark Reapers were nice, but better than a fire prism or a falcon with a combat crystal? No way. Bikes were useless. Even the special wild riders from the craftworld codex. They were too expensive and they didn't do anything. The Phoenix Lords weren't worth the points, and the Avatar was worth the points even if he never did anything. In other words, while the Eldar codex had grown over the years to encompass a large array of models, half the book would have been a mistake to use. Eldar have a plan for victory--that plan did not include Swooping Hawks. Nice models. Great chance to really show off your painting skills, but actually putting Swooping Hawks on the table was a big f'ing mistake.
Now, from what I understand, the big news behind the codex is the inclusion of this new HQ choice: The Autarch. Okay. I'm not against that. That's nice. I'll probably never use him since the Eldar have ten or so HQ choices already. I suppose if I run out of points, I could put in an Autarch, but I don't really need a cheapie HQ for my Saim Hann force. Plus, given WYSIWYG, I can already see that people will expect me to have twenty versions of this guy so that I can play every Autarch combination. So...I'll convert, but I'm not going to be going crazy on this.
The big news for me is that the codex seems to have brought back to life the troop choices that had fallen into ill repute. Swooping Hawks and Howling Banshees, Jet Bikes and Dire Avengers are all worth buying again. The bad news is that Eldar vehicles aren't nearly as kick butt as they once were, but let's face it, that combat crystal on all the vyper combination was...how should I say this...unfair (and not just in the 40k in 40 minutes games where it wasn't unfair but rather cheating). The best part is that GW didn't cheap out on this. Their solution to the "fix the Eldar" dilemma is ingenious in its simplicity. Half the Exarch powers now extend out to the squad. Wow! That's a good idea. It's great. Oh, and give everybody Fleet of Foot. That was the stupidest crap I'd ever heard of in my life. Half the army could fleet of foot, unless they had an exarch; that was dumb.
But I think the single most worthwhile thing they could have done in the new book (besides making War Walkers worth buying again...thank you GW) was that they brought back the Harlequins. They even made them an interesting troop choice. They aren't the "unofficial Harlequins from GW's site, but for that we should be thankful, I have a feeling that these harlequins will hold their own. My only complaint is that they took out the Solitaire, but I'm sure the Solitaire will make an appearance soon enough.
Problems? Yeah. The way the book is set up there's kind of like this doubling up thing. Under each troop choice is this intricate list of what everything does and then the second half of the book features the point cost of those same items. That's kind of dumb. Just put the PV down with the troops. Last night I was reading the Striking Scorpions entry and was tricked into believing that they didn't have shuriken pistols anymore. Because the weapon wasn't new it wasn't explained along with the striking scorpions; I had to go to the back of the book to look at the "real" army list to see that they were still using two hand to hand weapons at the same time.
My other complaint centers around GW's ever shrinking photo gallery in these codexes. With the number of painters out there, it seems ridicolous that I can't get more than one picture of a Fire Dragon and no pictures of guardians from Saim Hann (the craftworld I play). I realize that most of Saim Hann is flying around and all, but to have that same tired old picture from the old Eldar codex and the old Craftworld Eldar codex...well, I want to see some new stuff. When you pay $20, I think you can ask for some full color glossys.
All in all though, I think that this is a wonderful incarnation of one of the classic 40k armies. I realize that Eldar players are not as common as Necron or Marine players, but as the army has been around for awhile, it has accumulated a lot of different figures to account for, and so I can appreciate the complexity that goes into making rules for the Eldar.
On a final note, this has little to do with the codex itself, but the hot new figures for the eldar are NOT the Autarch. What GW has done with the always ugly Wraithlord and the war walkers is absolutely amazing and I recommend hitting a store just to see these figures.
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Slow month for 40k
Jeez, it's been a while. Well, ebay's been flopping, or not flopping depending on how much money I guess I want to make. The problem with ebay is that you really know the ammount of time you put into something and you put it up to sell. Past that point, it wouldn't be so bad, but they let you know how many people are "watching" the item and so as a seller, you know that there's interest. If the item doesn't sell past that point, you know that your prices are too high, but then, I'm not about to drop my prices just because...some of this stuff takes quite a bit of time and effort. In other words, I make this pact with myself to not sell out by selling low, and then... well...and then I have an attic filled with scenery that I need to do something with.
At that point, I should update my bargain bin, but things have been hectic around here. I hope to get pictures up this weekend.
On the playing front, not much to report. Our spot has had major surgery (the ceiling was coming down) which meant not much playing for a few weeks (and a number of comments from the landlord who simply cannot wrap his head around miniaturized wargames). We've supplemented with guitar hero to pass the time and are now, nearly, back on course.
Back on course, by the way, means that I can bring back the scenery that's worth playing on. Last week we did manage to get in a game played almost exclusively on unpainted, unworked out scenery. There was one hill that looked like a hill. Two forests that didn't have any trees. Six or seven little hills made out of green styrofoam that looked like...green styrofoam, and a pink building frame for the center to the table. Oh yeah, and an obligatory terrain bit from Battle for Macragge. We played carnage with four 40k in 40 minutes armies, and no one won because, well...we forget to make the half strength morale checks. My army, though, was last to reach the point where they could not claim the center of the table and I learned a really important lesson: I hate the dark eldar.
Seriously, a raider with a disentegrator, a splinter cannon, and 10 guys inside all rapid firing--what kind of bullshit is that?!?
But, as per usual, the genestealers (which I was playing) did pretty well, managing, in one turn to dessimate an entire squad of grey knights without taking a single casualty. I like to only play Tyranids once in a while so that I don't spoil my fun with too much of a good thing.
In any case, supposedly the week after Thanksgiving is the grand re-opening of Chris's attic and at that time I plan on putting up a new battle report. I am gearing up because we plan on innaugerating the new attic with a city fight board, and well, I want to do this right. I should be putting some pictures up soon under coming attraction, but I'm not sure how forthcoming they will be. After all, we've cleared the attic. No reason to take crappy scenery back out of the box when I can replace it.
Chris is telling me that there may be a big con at Stoneybrook that he wants me to go in on with him. Supposedly one of his WOW guild members runs the show which guarantees us super top secret backstage passes. In any case, I don't think they'll have too much complaint when I show up ready with an Ice World to run some 40k games.
I plan on writing more later about molding techniques so watch for those, but I think that belongs in its own post and not in an update.
At that point, I should update my bargain bin, but things have been hectic around here. I hope to get pictures up this weekend.
On the playing front, not much to report. Our spot has had major surgery (the ceiling was coming down) which meant not much playing for a few weeks (and a number of comments from the landlord who simply cannot wrap his head around miniaturized wargames). We've supplemented with guitar hero to pass the time and are now, nearly, back on course.
Back on course, by the way, means that I can bring back the scenery that's worth playing on. Last week we did manage to get in a game played almost exclusively on unpainted, unworked out scenery. There was one hill that looked like a hill. Two forests that didn't have any trees. Six or seven little hills made out of green styrofoam that looked like...green styrofoam, and a pink building frame for the center to the table. Oh yeah, and an obligatory terrain bit from Battle for Macragge. We played carnage with four 40k in 40 minutes armies, and no one won because, well...we forget to make the half strength morale checks. My army, though, was last to reach the point where they could not claim the center of the table and I learned a really important lesson: I hate the dark eldar.
Seriously, a raider with a disentegrator, a splinter cannon, and 10 guys inside all rapid firing--what kind of bullshit is that?!?
But, as per usual, the genestealers (which I was playing) did pretty well, managing, in one turn to dessimate an entire squad of grey knights without taking a single casualty. I like to only play Tyranids once in a while so that I don't spoil my fun with too much of a good thing.
In any case, supposedly the week after Thanksgiving is the grand re-opening of Chris's attic and at that time I plan on putting up a new battle report. I am gearing up because we plan on innaugerating the new attic with a city fight board, and well, I want to do this right. I should be putting some pictures up soon under coming attraction, but I'm not sure how forthcoming they will be. After all, we've cleared the attic. No reason to take crappy scenery back out of the box when I can replace it.
Chris is telling me that there may be a big con at Stoneybrook that he wants me to go in on with him. Supposedly one of his WOW guild members runs the show which guarantees us super top secret backstage passes. In any case, I don't think they'll have too much complaint when I show up ready with an Ice World to run some 40k games.
I plan on writing more later about molding techniques so watch for those, but I think that belongs in its own post and not in an update.
Monday, October 23, 2006
My special place
I'd like everyone to know that I, Monstro, have a special place. It's the place where I put scenery bits that I plan to use within the next twenty four hours, like that second floor to the bombed out building that fit perfectly and that I lost in my special place for nearly 2 weeks, or the sidewalks that I plan to mold from some child's toy that are perfectly detailed and to scale, there in my special place now too, wherever that is...
You see, what I do is I look through my bits and I say, "Grip tape, this will be perfect for the fences that I'm about to make." And then I move the grip tape to my special place and lose it.
Of course, since I'm a scenery designer, that means that half the crap I own was bought at a dollar store, a clearance bin, a yard sale (tag sale for you New Englanders), or browsing through the Final Cut, Big Lots, Walmart, or Home Depot. In short, half of the things that make it into my special place are things that I can't just go out and buy again. The Bit Bin on my website is an attempt to not have a special place, but let's face it, it's incomplete: I have five other boxes filled with stuff that have yet to be catalogued. Not to mention two little bookshelves covered with bits, pieces, chemicals, clay, rocks, flock, and paints that I'll never get to.
I write this here as advice to fellow scenery designers. DON'T HAVE A SPECIAL PLACE. It's just somewhere where you can conveniently lose things for weeks on end. Leave that important bit in with the general mass of crap you've collected. Yes, it will take more digging to get to it, but damned, you'll be able to find it without having to tear your house apart. Or you'll go out and buy a suitable standing part, which is right when you find the original, and now there's no damn continuity between your pieces!
Man, those sidewalk things were sweet. I'll never find them again.
You see, what I do is I look through my bits and I say, "Grip tape, this will be perfect for the fences that I'm about to make." And then I move the grip tape to my special place and lose it.
Of course, since I'm a scenery designer, that means that half the crap I own was bought at a dollar store, a clearance bin, a yard sale (tag sale for you New Englanders), or browsing through the Final Cut, Big Lots, Walmart, or Home Depot. In short, half of the things that make it into my special place are things that I can't just go out and buy again. The Bit Bin on my website is an attempt to not have a special place, but let's face it, it's incomplete: I have five other boxes filled with stuff that have yet to be catalogued. Not to mention two little bookshelves covered with bits, pieces, chemicals, clay, rocks, flock, and paints that I'll never get to.
I write this here as advice to fellow scenery designers. DON'T HAVE A SPECIAL PLACE. It's just somewhere where you can conveniently lose things for weeks on end. Leave that important bit in with the general mass of crap you've collected. Yes, it will take more digging to get to it, but damned, you'll be able to find it without having to tear your house apart. Or you'll go out and buy a suitable standing part, which is right when you find the original, and now there's no damn continuity between your pieces!
Man, those sidewalk things were sweet. I'll never find them again.
Saturday, October 14, 2006
Monstro: Not Quite Beta Material
So, recently I've been told that my blog is too old school to allow commentary from new school hep cats. In other words, it's not beta. So, I decided to rectify that situation by becoming beta. Good news! I am now beta. Isn't that awesome. Bad news. My blogs aren't.
You see when I log in as Beta Monstro, it asks me whether or not I want to make a blog. It does not give me the option of transferring over the blog. According to blogger.com, as time goes on they will be asking more and more blogs to move over to the beta format. They just haven't asked me yet.
Obviously I could open up yet another blog called Gretchin Rock! or some shit like that, but man, I've got links going back and forth from my site. That sounds like an incredible nightmare.
Of course, this does make me feel a little better. I think I've received three comments on my blog total, and one was quite clearly a mass mailer. On my website, my guest sign in book is pitiful. Maybe I should run a bulletin board? By the way, anyone out there know how to run a bulletin board?
The idea that there are thousands of Warhammer junkies out there who would just love to comment on my blog is, I think, inticing, but my general attitude is: "how the hell would they find me?" I have a vision of how this thing sort of works and it involves using ebay as advertisement for my website, and from there, maybe they find my blog. Or the opposite, maybe people who look for 40k websites will find "The Empire of Mankind" and move from there to my website. I did not expect, however, to get anything going until I started putting crap up on ebay again.
Well, last week the website got 71 unique hits. Eleven of whom stuck around for more than twenty minutes. Where are these people coming from? Well, glad you like what you see, tell friends. I will attempt to put up more stuff on the bargain bin shortly.
As for people who'd like to comment, man, I'm trying. I really am. I have a minor in computer science. I have worked as a webmaster. I can obviously design a web page. But I know nothing about how computers work. If there is some "interesting" feature that I should be using, forget it. I'm a busy man, or I'm not a smart man; take your pick. But if I can't figure out how to get frinds on my IM account, I sure as hell can't get my blog turned beta until they make it some sort of push button operation.
There's always anonymous posting. I would love to publish even anonymous posts so long as they're not rudeness or open hostility.
You see when I log in as Beta Monstro, it asks me whether or not I want to make a blog. It does not give me the option of transferring over the blog. According to blogger.com, as time goes on they will be asking more and more blogs to move over to the beta format. They just haven't asked me yet.
Obviously I could open up yet another blog called Gretchin Rock! or some shit like that, but man, I've got links going back and forth from my site. That sounds like an incredible nightmare.
Of course, this does make me feel a little better. I think I've received three comments on my blog total, and one was quite clearly a mass mailer. On my website, my guest sign in book is pitiful. Maybe I should run a bulletin board? By the way, anyone out there know how to run a bulletin board?
The idea that there are thousands of Warhammer junkies out there who would just love to comment on my blog is, I think, inticing, but my general attitude is: "how the hell would they find me?" I have a vision of how this thing sort of works and it involves using ebay as advertisement for my website, and from there, maybe they find my blog. Or the opposite, maybe people who look for 40k websites will find "The Empire of Mankind" and move from there to my website. I did not expect, however, to get anything going until I started putting crap up on ebay again.
Well, last week the website got 71 unique hits. Eleven of whom stuck around for more than twenty minutes. Where are these people coming from? Well, glad you like what you see, tell friends. I will attempt to put up more stuff on the bargain bin shortly.
As for people who'd like to comment, man, I'm trying. I really am. I have a minor in computer science. I have worked as a webmaster. I can obviously design a web page. But I know nothing about how computers work. If there is some "interesting" feature that I should be using, forget it. I'm a busy man, or I'm not a smart man; take your pick. But if I can't figure out how to get frinds on my IM account, I sure as hell can't get my blog turned beta until they make it some sort of push button operation.
There's always anonymous posting. I would love to publish even anonymous posts so long as they're not rudeness or open hostility.
Friday, October 13, 2006
Space Marine Tactical and the las cannon option
Again, this is based primarilly on my playing space marines in the most recent battle, but I'm not quite sure that the las-cannon option for the space marine tactical squad is the best option available.
With a devastator squad, it seems to me, you know what you're doing. You put them in the corner of the board and there they sit. They fire. They don't fire. Either way, you know they are where they're supposed to be.
The problem with the tactical squad armed with the las-cannon is that you're inclined to sit them back like a devastator squad and let all the regular marines sit around doing nothing the enitre battle. That's a lot of people getting nothing done so that you can fire 1 measley las-cannon shot a round. Enhhhh... I'm just not sure it's worth it. Keep in mind, the standard of the tac squad is the sergeant with a really mean hand to hand weapon. So, you have a squad sitting at the edge of the board which will never get into hand to hand armed with a sergeant with master crafted power claws or something like that. That, or you make a squad with a las cannon and you put them in close so the sergeant can attack shit and the las cannon never fires.
I think the heavy weapon in the tac squad sort of has to be viewed as the thing you use if there's no reason to move. The problem is, when that weapon's a las-cannon, you kind of invent reasons not to move.
Obviously, all this is a thing of personal preference, but this is, I think the reason I suck with tactical marines but I love playing Thousand Sons. There's no reason the Thousand Sons shouldn't keep moving forward. After all, they want you in rapid fire range and their sergeant is an absolute bad ass. There's never the whole, "but then I'm wasting a las-cannon shot" to screw up your game.
With a devastator squad, it seems to me, you know what you're doing. You put them in the corner of the board and there they sit. They fire. They don't fire. Either way, you know they are where they're supposed to be.
The problem with the tactical squad armed with the las-cannon is that you're inclined to sit them back like a devastator squad and let all the regular marines sit around doing nothing the enitre battle. That's a lot of people getting nothing done so that you can fire 1 measley las-cannon shot a round. Enhhhh... I'm just not sure it's worth it. Keep in mind, the standard of the tac squad is the sergeant with a really mean hand to hand weapon. So, you have a squad sitting at the edge of the board which will never get into hand to hand armed with a sergeant with master crafted power claws or something like that. That, or you make a squad with a las cannon and you put them in close so the sergeant can attack shit and the las cannon never fires.
I think the heavy weapon in the tac squad sort of has to be viewed as the thing you use if there's no reason to move. The problem is, when that weapon's a las-cannon, you kind of invent reasons not to move.
Obviously, all this is a thing of personal preference, but this is, I think the reason I suck with tactical marines but I love playing Thousand Sons. There's no reason the Thousand Sons shouldn't keep moving forward. After all, they want you in rapid fire range and their sergeant is an absolute bad ass. There's never the whole, "but then I'm wasting a las-cannon shot" to screw up your game.
Marine Snipers
If you read my recent battle report, you'll notice my use of marine snipers. I don't know. The juries still out.
I've noticed that GW has this habit of making a weapon that's almost okay. Hits always on a 2+ (cool). Wounds always on a 4+ (cool). Full armor save (nearly useless). The same is said of nearly every harlequin weapon available, ultimately making that army not worth playing. I don't know. I haven't seen the new Eldar codex so I dont' know if Harlequins are in it whether they've been improved or what, but as it stands now, you either take the target's toughness out of the equation or their armor out of the equation, but never both. Some weapons should have that capacity. Without such potential, harlequins kind of suck.
As for the marine sniper rifle, who exactly is it good against? Eldar Wraithlords? Tyranids? Anyone else. I mean, a bolter against most infantry grant a better to "wound roll" and have a better capacity to ignore armor saves. Plus you get two shots at close range. Like I said, the jury is still out.
Two things, I think, keep the marine sniper squad in the game. Well...three unofficially. The unooffical "third reason" is that I have about sixty space marine scouts and I want to play them as a "10th company army." With that many scouts, you kind of hope you can pull their cool force--the sniper rifle--out of the pit of uselessness.
The second reason not to immediately abandon the sniper rifle is its ability to kill low armor vehicles. It's alright at killing walkers, sentinals, and all manner of hover vehicles. I know what you're saying: "no it's not very good. It has to roll a 10 minimum on two dice." Well, yeah, but a whole squad with those weapons gives you a pretty good shot that someone will roll a 10 or higher.
This brings up the third advantage, and one that I keep forgetting. Scouts have inflitrate. The real trick then is to make a scout assault squad and send it forward, but there's another advantage to having infiltrate beyond being able to get as close to the enemy as possible. Infiltrate allows a squad like snipers to set up with a clear shot at whoever they're mission is to take out that battle. They don't have to get close, and they shouldn't; that's not the point. But you can set them so that they are perfectly positioned, after everyone has deployed, to have an open shot at the speeder or whatever.
I just wish they could insta-kill. That would make them loads better.
I've noticed that GW has this habit of making a weapon that's almost okay. Hits always on a 2+ (cool). Wounds always on a 4+ (cool). Full armor save (nearly useless). The same is said of nearly every harlequin weapon available, ultimately making that army not worth playing. I don't know. I haven't seen the new Eldar codex so I dont' know if Harlequins are in it whether they've been improved or what, but as it stands now, you either take the target's toughness out of the equation or their armor out of the equation, but never both. Some weapons should have that capacity. Without such potential, harlequins kind of suck.
As for the marine sniper rifle, who exactly is it good against? Eldar Wraithlords? Tyranids? Anyone else. I mean, a bolter against most infantry grant a better to "wound roll" and have a better capacity to ignore armor saves. Plus you get two shots at close range. Like I said, the jury is still out.
Two things, I think, keep the marine sniper squad in the game. Well...three unofficially. The unooffical "third reason" is that I have about sixty space marine scouts and I want to play them as a "10th company army." With that many scouts, you kind of hope you can pull their cool force--the sniper rifle--out of the pit of uselessness.
The second reason not to immediately abandon the sniper rifle is its ability to kill low armor vehicles. It's alright at killing walkers, sentinals, and all manner of hover vehicles. I know what you're saying: "no it's not very good. It has to roll a 10 minimum on two dice." Well, yeah, but a whole squad with those weapons gives you a pretty good shot that someone will roll a 10 or higher.
This brings up the third advantage, and one that I keep forgetting. Scouts have inflitrate. The real trick then is to make a scout assault squad and send it forward, but there's another advantage to having infiltrate beyond being able to get as close to the enemy as possible. Infiltrate allows a squad like snipers to set up with a clear shot at whoever they're mission is to take out that battle. They don't have to get close, and they shouldn't; that's not the point. But you can set them so that they are perfectly positioned, after everyone has deployed, to have an open shot at the speeder or whatever.
I just wish they could insta-kill. That would make them loads better.
Battle Report updated
I have officially put up a battle report on my site. Chris and I play against one another. I'm playing Ultramarines (which is my main army which I never get to play) and Chris is playing Daemonhunters. Wee Fun!
It's pretty much win-win for the Emperor.
It's pretty much win-win for the Emperor.
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
new stuff for dead worlds
I suppose it's not too hard to figure out that I really like Ice Worlds. The problem with ice world is that, in 40k, they're just worlds that are white rather than green (or brown). I think that's...nice. I mean, I like the aesthetic, but...can I get some more, I suppose is what I'm asking. I mean the idea behind an alien ice battle is troops popping out from under the ice and losing your dreadnought in a fozen lake and giant geo-thermal vents, and that damn monster that grabs Luke and hangs him in this cave. That's an ice battle!
So, two things. First of all, up on my website, monstromakes.com, I now have rules for using Stratagems to spice up your ice world games (including a couple of new stratagems). My list of new stratagems is growing, but I've decided to put them out a bit at a time as a teaser.
But not teaser on point two. I've put up the basics for how to make snow and ice effects for ice world scenery. I got tired of answering all the damn emails one at a time. I figure, if you read those directions and want to make the ice world scenery then chances are, you aren't rushing to me to buy scenery anyway. On the other hand, if you look at the directions and think, "oh, I'm never going to do that," maybe you'll be more willing to buy the scenery from me. So, yes, that's kind of a trade secret, but not one that, if leeked to the world, will put me out of business.
So, two things. First of all, up on my website, monstromakes.com, I now have rules for using Stratagems to spice up your ice world games (including a couple of new stratagems). My list of new stratagems is growing, but I've decided to put them out a bit at a time as a teaser.
But not teaser on point two. I've put up the basics for how to make snow and ice effects for ice world scenery. I got tired of answering all the damn emails one at a time. I figure, if you read those directions and want to make the ice world scenery then chances are, you aren't rushing to me to buy scenery anyway. On the other hand, if you look at the directions and think, "oh, I'm never going to do that," maybe you'll be more willing to buy the scenery from me. So, yes, that's kind of a trade secret, but not one that, if leeked to the world, will put me out of business.
Monday, October 09, 2006
3 Way
Heh...heh...heh... I said three way.
Hey all, I put up scenario rules for a three way battle up on my website. I say this because I know that three way scnerios are a rarity. I will be playtesting it tomorrow at which time I will be shilacked as normal. I'm hoping that at that time (cross your fingers), I will have a battle report to put up.
Wish me and the Ultramarines luck so that my foes (who will most probably be IG and Daemonhunters) will fall by the forces of the emperor.
Hey all, I put up scenario rules for a three way battle up on my website. I say this because I know that three way scnerios are a rarity. I will be playtesting it tomorrow at which time I will be shilacked as normal. I'm hoping that at that time (cross your fingers), I will have a battle report to put up.
Wish me and the Ultramarines luck so that my foes (who will most probably be IG and Daemonhunters) will fall by the forces of the emperor.
negative cover
This is a reprint from my website:
As of now, there are a few ways to define cover: height, cover save, difficult ground, area, passable/impassible, dangerous, etc. All of these are well and fine, and I would even say the more variance you put into your cover rules the more dynamic the game will be. Let's face it, your 1000 point Necron list doesn't really change much from week to week, but the board does.
That being said, I would like to add another terrain characteristic that I'm pretty much stealing whole sale from Dawn of War: negative cover. Negative cover means that an area of the board is more dangerous than just being out in the open. Maybe there are things nearby that might explode if shot (making that position intensely dangerous) or perhaps moving or "getting down" is an impossibility. In D.O.W., negative cover is generally applied to any water areas. I especially like this because the rules concerning water, standing or otherwise, seem to me to be remarkably inadequate. Most people say that water is impassible terrain, be it stream or ocean.
What negative cover does in terms of game mechanics is that it allows opponents to re-roll misses during their shooting phase. Thus, it isn't that the water is impassible, exactly...it's just that you don't want to be caught in it!
Two special concerns for negative cover (over and above the enemy re-rolling misses in their fire phase). First off all, if the enemy re-rolls misses those hits must be allocated to troops that are actually in the negative cover. This is different than the general cover idea of majority rule. Some members of the squad can be in negative cover, while others may be out of negative cover (or even in cover! In which case majority rule, and the troops that are in negative cover get a cover save).
Lastly, as far as hand to hand is concerned. Negative cover still counts as cover. Troops without special equipment charging a unit in negative cover will attack last.
As of now, there are a few ways to define cover: height, cover save, difficult ground, area, passable/impassible, dangerous, etc. All of these are well and fine, and I would even say the more variance you put into your cover rules the more dynamic the game will be. Let's face it, your 1000 point Necron list doesn't really change much from week to week, but the board does.
That being said, I would like to add another terrain characteristic that I'm pretty much stealing whole sale from Dawn of War: negative cover. Negative cover means that an area of the board is more dangerous than just being out in the open. Maybe there are things nearby that might explode if shot (making that position intensely dangerous) or perhaps moving or "getting down" is an impossibility. In D.O.W., negative cover is generally applied to any water areas. I especially like this because the rules concerning water, standing or otherwise, seem to me to be remarkably inadequate. Most people say that water is impassible terrain, be it stream or ocean.
What negative cover does in terms of game mechanics is that it allows opponents to re-roll misses during their shooting phase. Thus, it isn't that the water is impassible, exactly...it's just that you don't want to be caught in it!
Two special concerns for negative cover (over and above the enemy re-rolling misses in their fire phase). First off all, if the enemy re-rolls misses those hits must be allocated to troops that are actually in the negative cover. This is different than the general cover idea of majority rule. Some members of the squad can be in negative cover, while others may be out of negative cover (or even in cover! In which case majority rule, and the troops that are in negative cover get a cover save).
Lastly, as far as hand to hand is concerned. Negative cover still counts as cover. Troops without special equipment charging a unit in negative cover will attack last.
Sunday, September 24, 2006
The New Site
For the most part, my activity on Ebay has sort of dwindled...which is kind of hurting me because business is pretty good right now for selling scenery on Ebay and I'm out of the loop. I took myself out of the loop for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, I got a really big custom order and I don't think I realized how big. It's very close to being done so I'm happy about that, but it took a damn long time to build. Teaching three classes and trying to get a Ph.D. is taking more time away from my business than I figured. Maybe I
was a bit too optimistic about the whole thing.
The other thing consuming my time has been the creation of my new web site. I've gone from having 250 mb of space to 2 gigs and so I'm really excited by the possabilities of what I can do. Of course, it's just me and so again, I'm possibly getting a little too optimistic about how much ass it will kick, but nonetheless, all signs point to "major."
My gaming group, thank God, has finally decided to play one on one games instead of the four way (or more) battle that we've been playing week after week after week. for the past year or so. The result is that two of the players who rarely win, won--which I assume makes the game a bit more enjoyable. I mean, it's a friendly game and all, but still, no one wants to lose every week. So, congrats Chris and Russ on your fine victories, and Chris, I underestimated your demon hunters--it won't happen again.
The funniest part about our last game was that Russ, the durability tester in my group, commented on my lack of stuff up on Ebay. I think he may be checking to find out what kind of scenery is going to be in play. I don't know. It's kind of funny. Russ, if you're reading this, I'm bringing the death world again next week. Hurrah for the death world!
I haven't heard anything from Griffon Games, but then I need to take them some better stuff I think. I don't know. I'm a pretty harsh critic of my work so...there you go.
That's it for now.
was a bit too optimistic about the whole thing.
The other thing consuming my time has been the creation of my new web site. I've gone from having 250 mb of space to 2 gigs and so I'm really excited by the possabilities of what I can do. Of course, it's just me and so again, I'm possibly getting a little too optimistic about how much ass it will kick, but nonetheless, all signs point to "major."
My gaming group, thank God, has finally decided to play one on one games instead of the four way (or more) battle that we've been playing week after week after week. for the past year or so. The result is that two of the players who rarely win, won--which I assume makes the game a bit more enjoyable. I mean, it's a friendly game and all, but still, no one wants to lose every week. So, congrats Chris and Russ on your fine victories, and Chris, I underestimated your demon hunters--it won't happen again.
The funniest part about our last game was that Russ, the durability tester in my group, commented on my lack of stuff up on Ebay. I think he may be checking to find out what kind of scenery is going to be in play. I don't know. It's kind of funny. Russ, if you're reading this, I'm bringing the death world again next week. Hurrah for the death world!
I haven't heard anything from Griffon Games, but then I need to take them some better stuff I think. I don't know. I'm a pretty harsh critic of my work so...there you go.
That's it for now.
Friday, September 15, 2006
Busy, busy, busy
Well. Let's see.
I now have a physical place that is selling my stuff. I take the first armload of stuff down to Griffon Games later this afternoon. I am really excited about this because I like the store. its a good place to play, the staff is helpful, and everything looks really good. When I first came to Massachusetts, I went to Griffon games and pretty much slobbered over their display case. Now I will be in it...not for my miniatures obviously, but for my scenery. It's a hell of a accomplishment for me.
Next up, the website is getting re-vamped. My beautiful and wonderful wife has signed me up for enough space to make it much bigger and much better. But even better, it will have a much shorter URL, which I think makes the whole thing more convenient.
Custom orders have been coming in and that's always good. A few small ones, some larger ones. Regardless, it's nice to see that side of the business taking off because I really much prefer working with a customer in mind than anonymously for ebay. Of course, with Ebay there's no deadlines and that's nice too. I will in the future be doing both, don't worry.
Moreover, someone finally pointed out that all the email addresses on my Bargain Bin were wrong. Great! The one part of my website where I sell stuff and I couldn't sell anything offf of it. I kind of gave up on the bargain bin because of this so you can all rest assured that now that the problem is fixed, more stuff will be going up.
Well, that's the appraising of stuff at this point. Keep watching the site, it should be getting a major facelift very soon.
I now have a physical place that is selling my stuff. I take the first armload of stuff down to Griffon Games later this afternoon. I am really excited about this because I like the store. its a good place to play, the staff is helpful, and everything looks really good. When I first came to Massachusetts, I went to Griffon games and pretty much slobbered over their display case. Now I will be in it...not for my miniatures obviously, but for my scenery. It's a hell of a accomplishment for me.
Next up, the website is getting re-vamped. My beautiful and wonderful wife has signed me up for enough space to make it much bigger and much better. But even better, it will have a much shorter URL, which I think makes the whole thing more convenient.
Custom orders have been coming in and that's always good. A few small ones, some larger ones. Regardless, it's nice to see that side of the business taking off because I really much prefer working with a customer in mind than anonymously for ebay. Of course, with Ebay there's no deadlines and that's nice too. I will in the future be doing both, don't worry.
Moreover, someone finally pointed out that all the email addresses on my Bargain Bin were wrong. Great! The one part of my website where I sell stuff and I couldn't sell anything offf of it. I kind of gave up on the bargain bin because of this so you can all rest assured that now that the problem is fixed, more stuff will be going up.
Well, that's the appraising of stuff at this point. Keep watching the site, it should be getting a major facelift very soon.
Sunday, September 03, 2006
Thinking about levels of height for terrain in 40k
Because people use space marines as the basic unit of measurement in the 40k game, level one is an inch or less. Level two is an inch to three inches, and level three is three inches or more. This is, of course, absolutely wrong, and what's worse, it makes boards look like crap. Chances are 90% of your terrain is going to be level one; it provides cover for level two minitures but it doesn't block line of sight. That means, 90% of the stuff on your table should be an 1" tall. Does anyone have a board where that's true? If so, how does it look? Like crap? Yes, I imagine it does.
Now, I know that there are a lot of people out there who assume that if a building or structure has holes in it at less than an inch then it's considered level one terrain. Great. So, a ten inch tall building is level one because you can peek through a window.
This all seems to me to be badly worked out solutions to a common game problem. Here's a better solution. First of all, don't use marines. Marines are one of the smaller of the level 2 miniatures. A better idea is to use something like a wraithguard, a Tau crisis suit or a Tyranid ravener. If you use a Tyranid ravener for instance, you'll find that level two really starts at about 2 1/2". Level one is below 2 1/2" and level three starts at about 4 1/2" or 5". Well, why not? I mean really, if I put something down on the table that's 5" tall, very few players are going to have trouble believing that it can provide cover for most level 3 models (except the Defiler, of course). 3"?....Not really. Put something down that's 3" tall and put a Land Raider behind it. Hull down, yes; blocked LOS, no.
Keep in mind that this is also extremely useful for terrain designers like myself. If 3" is level three, than a 3" hill is level three and there's really not that much room to do much in terms of sprucing that hill up. You can't carve out interesting symbols in a 1" space--at least, you can't carve them out so that they look interesting from 5' away. But if a level one hill is up 2 1/2" tall, and a level two hill up 4" tall, all of a sudden there's more room on the board to move upward without having to get weird about it, or without making pieces on the board look out of scale.
So, final results or me are: level one hill 1 1/2"-2" tall. Level two 3" tall minimum. Level 3 about 4 1/2 or 5" tall. Of course, this coincides nicely with the basic unit of scenery building: the styrofoam sheet which sells in 3/8", 3/4" or 1 1/2".
How's that for convenient
Now, I know that there are a lot of people out there who assume that if a building or structure has holes in it at less than an inch then it's considered level one terrain. Great. So, a ten inch tall building is level one because you can peek through a window.
This all seems to me to be badly worked out solutions to a common game problem. Here's a better solution. First of all, don't use marines. Marines are one of the smaller of the level 2 miniatures. A better idea is to use something like a wraithguard, a Tau crisis suit or a Tyranid ravener. If you use a Tyranid ravener for instance, you'll find that level two really starts at about 2 1/2". Level one is below 2 1/2" and level three starts at about 4 1/2" or 5". Well, why not? I mean really, if I put something down on the table that's 5" tall, very few players are going to have trouble believing that it can provide cover for most level 3 models (except the Defiler, of course). 3"?....Not really. Put something down that's 3" tall and put a Land Raider behind it. Hull down, yes; blocked LOS, no.
Keep in mind that this is also extremely useful for terrain designers like myself. If 3" is level three, than a 3" hill is level three and there's really not that much room to do much in terms of sprucing that hill up. You can't carve out interesting symbols in a 1" space--at least, you can't carve them out so that they look interesting from 5' away. But if a level one hill is up 2 1/2" tall, and a level two hill up 4" tall, all of a sudden there's more room on the board to move upward without having to get weird about it, or without making pieces on the board look out of scale.
So, final results or me are: level one hill 1 1/2"-2" tall. Level two 3" tall minimum. Level 3 about 4 1/2 or 5" tall. Of course, this coincides nicely with the basic unit of scenery building: the styrofoam sheet which sells in 3/8", 3/4" or 1 1/2".
How's that for convenient
Saturday, August 26, 2006
Quick Tip: the glue gun
Seriously, you want to use the glue gun. The glue gun will glue shit together. Yes, it's hot, but then, you aren't a real scnery builder until you have your first third degree burn. Ahh, nothing like scalding hot glue melting your skin. You take it off, but it takes a bit of you with it.
Alright, problem. Crazy glue, sucks, doesn't work half the time, and won't bond to a lot of surfaces (but man it bonds skin like nobody's business). Better glues take longer to dry. By the way, Mod Podge is king of the White glues. It takes an hour to dry.
Here's where the glue gun comes in. It will hold something for awhile. It is not a permanent solution, but it will definitely hold something for long enough so that the E6000 or the Gorrilla Grip will dry. That's why you use the glue gun.
I'm not sure if this will work for little miniatures. I imagine that the gloopy mess of the glue gun is prohibitive, but that's really not my department.
Alright, problem. Crazy glue, sucks, doesn't work half the time, and won't bond to a lot of surfaces (but man it bonds skin like nobody's business). Better glues take longer to dry. By the way, Mod Podge is king of the White glues. It takes an hour to dry.
Here's where the glue gun comes in. It will hold something for awhile. It is not a permanent solution, but it will definitely hold something for long enough so that the E6000 or the Gorrilla Grip will dry. That's why you use the glue gun.
I'm not sure if this will work for little miniatures. I imagine that the gloopy mess of the glue gun is prohibitive, but that's really not my department.
More paiting big stuff
The first thing you need to know about painting big things is that you have five stages of highlighting, so beyond anything else you do, you are already going to be highlighting five stages. Maybe you want to do more. Fine. But five's pretty good.
Those stages are: Base coat. Oh I know what you're saying, the base coat isn't a highlight, it's the base. Very good, but not really. The priming is the real base. Don't screw around and make this harder than it has to be. Spray paint it black. Use Krylon, or whatever, if there's no styrofoam involved. Use Design Masters or H20 if there is styrofoam (neither of these paint lines will melt styrofoam, except for Design Masters Black) Then you paint over that. Probably in really dark grey.
stage 2: Overbrush- Overbrush is what happens when you make sure the brush isn't dripping but you don't care whether the whole area gets painted. Yes, you're still slathering on the paint, but you couldn't care whether it gets in all the cracks.
stage 3- Overbrush with crappy brush- Either a foam brush or a stenciling brush. You're looking for a crappy brush that will barely hold paint. Obviously if it holds less paint than your good brush, it will spred less paint too. You can buy a bag of stenciling brushes at Michaels for about $2 for a bag of $20. By the way, when I say good brush, I mean a pack of brushes 4/$2 you buy from hardware stores. You're wasting your money buying anything better than that.
Stage 4- Drybrush with good brush- Do the drybrushing thing, just like you normally would. It's a little harder with a big brush, but don't worry about it, you just need less paint than before.
Stage 5- Drybrush with a crappy brush- It's really here when you'll figure out the ingenious nature of the crappy brush. I swear all of those effects you've been trying to do for years, the crappy brush does them naturally. You'll say, "wow, it only deposits paint on top edges!" Yes, that's because it's a crappy brush. Remember Monstro's motto: you don't need talent when you have the right tools.
Now as for how to paint. You should prefer downward strokes from the top of the scene to the bottom rather than attempting to paint in all directions all over the model. Remember light FALLs. And therefore, the top should be lighter than the bottom. Also, you're going to want to lighten large flat spaces. Steps 1-3 are technically still your shadow stages. Large flat areas really don't have shadow on them.
Mostly, take no time. Honestly, the quicker you go painting large things, the better. You can overdo this, and for most 40k painters, that's the real temptation. I can paint a road in about thirty minutes, most of which is spent shuffling pieces.
Good, now all you have left is the metalic bits. Test out all your silvers to find out which is lightest and which is darkest. Paint the thing the darkest. Good, now you'll want a reddish copper. That's rust. wash the thing in rust, running a wet brush down the flat parts of the silver thing to keep them clean. Great now take your really bright silver (or if you have a silver pen this will work even better) and put a straight line through the middle of all the flat pieces. Whallah. You're done.
Those stages are: Base coat. Oh I know what you're saying, the base coat isn't a highlight, it's the base. Very good, but not really. The priming is the real base. Don't screw around and make this harder than it has to be. Spray paint it black. Use Krylon, or whatever, if there's no styrofoam involved. Use Design Masters or H20 if there is styrofoam (neither of these paint lines will melt styrofoam, except for Design Masters Black) Then you paint over that. Probably in really dark grey.
stage 2: Overbrush- Overbrush is what happens when you make sure the brush isn't dripping but you don't care whether the whole area gets painted. Yes, you're still slathering on the paint, but you couldn't care whether it gets in all the cracks.
stage 3- Overbrush with crappy brush- Either a foam brush or a stenciling brush. You're looking for a crappy brush that will barely hold paint. Obviously if it holds less paint than your good brush, it will spred less paint too. You can buy a bag of stenciling brushes at Michaels for about $2 for a bag of $20. By the way, when I say good brush, I mean a pack of brushes 4/$2 you buy from hardware stores. You're wasting your money buying anything better than that.
Stage 4- Drybrush with good brush- Do the drybrushing thing, just like you normally would. It's a little harder with a big brush, but don't worry about it, you just need less paint than before.
Stage 5- Drybrush with a crappy brush- It's really here when you'll figure out the ingenious nature of the crappy brush. I swear all of those effects you've been trying to do for years, the crappy brush does them naturally. You'll say, "wow, it only deposits paint on top edges!" Yes, that's because it's a crappy brush. Remember Monstro's motto: you don't need talent when you have the right tools.
Now as for how to paint. You should prefer downward strokes from the top of the scene to the bottom rather than attempting to paint in all directions all over the model. Remember light FALLs. And therefore, the top should be lighter than the bottom. Also, you're going to want to lighten large flat spaces. Steps 1-3 are technically still your shadow stages. Large flat areas really don't have shadow on them.
Mostly, take no time. Honestly, the quicker you go painting large things, the better. You can overdo this, and for most 40k painters, that's the real temptation. I can paint a road in about thirty minutes, most of which is spent shuffling pieces.
Good, now all you have left is the metalic bits. Test out all your silvers to find out which is lightest and which is darkest. Paint the thing the darkest. Good, now you'll want a reddish copper. That's rust. wash the thing in rust, running a wet brush down the flat parts of the silver thing to keep them clean. Great now take your really bright silver (or if you have a silver pen this will work even better) and put a straight line through the middle of all the flat pieces. Whallah. You're done.
Friday, August 25, 2006
Painting big stuff- the philosophy
First of all, painting scenery has very few of the same artistic components as painting miniatures. There are reasons for this, but before I go into those, simply, think about what you want a miniature to look like. You want that space marine to look like the light of the emperor is upon his reflective armor. Every edge highlighed up to the lightest shade of the base color before it becomes white and everything on the miniature describable as "rich."
This philosophy is fine. As far as painting is concerned, it comes from the romantic school, where what you are painting is, essentially, idealized versions of the warriors of the 41st millenium. You're not painting gritty realism. I rarely see a space marine that doesn't look fresh off the drop pod. The armor doesn't look 10,000 years old and dented by hundreds of rounds of bolter fire. No one so much as has mud on their boots. There are no drowned out effects. Hell, what your going for when you paint a miniature is that the miniature looks like the paint is still wet. Look at White Dwarf and you'll see what I mean.
There's nothing wrong with that. Miniatures are meant to be painted as if they could be picked up and examined and someone will raise cries of oooh or ahhh. It's just that you're not going for any of those kinds of things with scenery. Every so often you see someone paint a building the same way they'd paint their war hero, and well...it just looks cartoon-esque. I mean, you're making a hill--does the light of the emperor really fall on hills the same way it falls on Brother Captain Sterne. I think not.
The thing is, scenery isn't painted (generally) in the romantic school. The reason is that you've seen a building, you've never seen a space marine. You can romanticize a space marine much more easilly than you might a building. Most 40k scenery is based off of scenes from the world wars. Again, you can see actual pictures of those things. Objects that have been in a warzone for a couple of days are generally covered in dust, can you imagine what they look like having survived shelling for a few centuries?
The other source that 40k draws its scenes from is sci-fi, but sci-fi is pretty standard stuff. Scenery is either earth tones (Tantoine, Pitch Black, Starship Troopers) or grey scales (Death Star, Terminator, Aliens). --For a good combination of both, see Dune or Universal Soldier--. Most things drawn from sci-fi are HUGE in scale("that's not a small moon"). It is better to think King Kong (the over the top Peter Jackson version) than it is to think Braveheart. Braveheart scenery is perfect for Fantasy, not for 40k. Hell, in Empire they aren't on an icy continent--even Antarctica is too small. They have to be on Hoth--an ice planet.
So big, and rather simple in color. Simple color has the added effect of really making the details on the miniatures pop...and after all, they're the one's you're spending lots of time (or money) on painting, right?Keep in mind the tenants of this philosophy. Quite a few miniatures are already on the verge of looking busy all by their lonesome, put them on a giant checkerboard crazy looking building, and they clash. For Orks this tends to not be as much of a problem. They're kind of supposed to clash. But for imperial stuff, the scene can quickly look like a carnival, and unless you're playing Harlequins, you don't want that.
Keep in mind, however, that when I say that colors should be "simple"--I am refering to the number of colors on the palate, and not on the actual painting. You're still going to have to do a lot of highlighting and shadowing of grey. You're still going to have to pick colors that go together. And, despite what I'm saying, there are still some color choices that you'll have to make. If everything's grey, after all, think how much a single yellow object will stick out. Sometimes, you'll want that.
This philosophy is fine. As far as painting is concerned, it comes from the romantic school, where what you are painting is, essentially, idealized versions of the warriors of the 41st millenium. You're not painting gritty realism. I rarely see a space marine that doesn't look fresh off the drop pod. The armor doesn't look 10,000 years old and dented by hundreds of rounds of bolter fire. No one so much as has mud on their boots. There are no drowned out effects. Hell, what your going for when you paint a miniature is that the miniature looks like the paint is still wet. Look at White Dwarf and you'll see what I mean.
There's nothing wrong with that. Miniatures are meant to be painted as if they could be picked up and examined and someone will raise cries of oooh or ahhh. It's just that you're not going for any of those kinds of things with scenery. Every so often you see someone paint a building the same way they'd paint their war hero, and well...it just looks cartoon-esque. I mean, you're making a hill--does the light of the emperor really fall on hills the same way it falls on Brother Captain Sterne. I think not.
The thing is, scenery isn't painted (generally) in the romantic school. The reason is that you've seen a building, you've never seen a space marine. You can romanticize a space marine much more easilly than you might a building. Most 40k scenery is based off of scenes from the world wars. Again, you can see actual pictures of those things. Objects that have been in a warzone for a couple of days are generally covered in dust, can you imagine what they look like having survived shelling for a few centuries?
The other source that 40k draws its scenes from is sci-fi, but sci-fi is pretty standard stuff. Scenery is either earth tones (Tantoine, Pitch Black, Starship Troopers) or grey scales (Death Star, Terminator, Aliens). --For a good combination of both, see Dune or Universal Soldier--. Most things drawn from sci-fi are HUGE in scale("that's not a small moon"). It is better to think King Kong (the over the top Peter Jackson version) than it is to think Braveheart. Braveheart scenery is perfect for Fantasy, not for 40k. Hell, in Empire they aren't on an icy continent--even Antarctica is too small. They have to be on Hoth--an ice planet.
So big, and rather simple in color. Simple color has the added effect of really making the details on the miniatures pop...and after all, they're the one's you're spending lots of time (or money) on painting, right?Keep in mind the tenants of this philosophy. Quite a few miniatures are already on the verge of looking busy all by their lonesome, put them on a giant checkerboard crazy looking building, and they clash. For Orks this tends to not be as much of a problem. They're kind of supposed to clash. But for imperial stuff, the scene can quickly look like a carnival, and unless you're playing Harlequins, you don't want that.
Keep in mind, however, that when I say that colors should be "simple"--I am refering to the number of colors on the palate, and not on the actual painting. You're still going to have to do a lot of highlighting and shadowing of grey. You're still going to have to pick colors that go together. And, despite what I'm saying, there are still some color choices that you'll have to make. If everything's grey, after all, think how much a single yellow object will stick out. Sometimes, you'll want that.
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Cities of Death- Battle report
Chris and I played Deamonhunters versus Thousand Sons on a Cities of Death board last night and I have to say, even with my second forray into COD, I really really like it. There's something of the grittiness of Rogue Trader in it but with the rule clarity of 4th ed.. We played the second level up on Firesweep mission, so it was essentially capture the flag with five ruined buildings and one intact building (a water cooler). I think my major victory came the very first roll of the game when my dreadnought got firefrenzy with the Inquisitor's squad in his sight (twin linked las cannon and havoc launcher). After that, it was all sort of downhill for the Emperor's finest.
However, Chris and I had loads of fun. I think we had more fun being in a city then we did playing the game, but we both kind of came to the same agreements and I thought I'd share them with you.
First of all, if you're going to take special building stratagems (like ammo dump or medical facility) then take them all in the closest building. Chris kind of spread them out and it just ended up taking too long to get to the building that would have allowed him to re-roll to wound rolls.
Second, range is never better than punch. You're just never able to get a long shot off. So, if you have the choice, I would suggest always going for the punchier short range weapons, or even better, load up on hand to hand troops--they will come in immensely handy.
A spin off on this is that dreadnoughts seem to be far more useful than vehicles. Your average tank is going to get within charging range before it can get its shots off, and that means its opened itself up to some of the more powerful weapons in the game.
Third, we decided that at least one grey knight in any squad should be armed with a thunder hammer, because, man, they can't do shit against dreadnoughts. Oh, I know, this is their downfall, but its a huge downfall. They are supposed to be bad asses, but they never seem to come through. If you're playing daemonhunters concentrate on the army that they're running around with. Think of it as an IG army that can get terminators or a space marine army that can get crazy personalities, but don't think of it as a daemonhunter army with some people tagging along. You'll be wondering why you have no las cannons and you won't be able to stop the predators, the Land Raiders, or the Dreadnoughts.
I'm still curious to see what my Eldar do in the city fight. I think next week we're back to a 2 on 2 match up, so we'll see then maybe.
By the way, I got the booby trap stratagem. It was absolutely awesome. I think it killed one guy, but who cares. I had booby traps everywhere! If the rules allow, get it twice.
However, Chris and I had loads of fun. I think we had more fun being in a city then we did playing the game, but we both kind of came to the same agreements and I thought I'd share them with you.
First of all, if you're going to take special building stratagems (like ammo dump or medical facility) then take them all in the closest building. Chris kind of spread them out and it just ended up taking too long to get to the building that would have allowed him to re-roll to wound rolls.
Second, range is never better than punch. You're just never able to get a long shot off. So, if you have the choice, I would suggest always going for the punchier short range weapons, or even better, load up on hand to hand troops--they will come in immensely handy.
A spin off on this is that dreadnoughts seem to be far more useful than vehicles. Your average tank is going to get within charging range before it can get its shots off, and that means its opened itself up to some of the more powerful weapons in the game.
Third, we decided that at least one grey knight in any squad should be armed with a thunder hammer, because, man, they can't do shit against dreadnoughts. Oh, I know, this is their downfall, but its a huge downfall. They are supposed to be bad asses, but they never seem to come through. If you're playing daemonhunters concentrate on the army that they're running around with. Think of it as an IG army that can get terminators or a space marine army that can get crazy personalities, but don't think of it as a daemonhunter army with some people tagging along. You'll be wondering why you have no las cannons and you won't be able to stop the predators, the Land Raiders, or the Dreadnoughts.
I'm still curious to see what my Eldar do in the city fight. I think next week we're back to a 2 on 2 match up, so we'll see then maybe.
By the way, I got the booby trap stratagem. It was absolutely awesome. I think it killed one guy, but who cares. I had booby traps everywhere! If the rules allow, get it twice.
A Funny Story About Game's Workshop
So, there are two game stores in my area where one can purchase 40k merchandise. Both are twenty minutes away in opposite directions. One, Griffin Games in Greenfield (everything's a field in Massachusetts) absolutly rocks. It's what you'd expect in a game store: big selection, numerous titles, four tables, book cases full of scnery, etc.. The other is a GW store in a mall. It's one of those tiny stores too. It has two tables, both are maybe 4'x4', and I'm stressing maybe. And they generally have a game set up so that they can teach barely intersted (and slightly astonished) people how to play the game by pitting a squad of space marines versus a land speeder.
The other day I contacted both stores to determine whether they would be interested in my services. The guy at Griffin Games was out on vacation so...cross your fingers...but the guy at GW was in.
Me: "So, do you guys ever have people make scenery for your store."
Them: "No."
That was about it, but it reminded me of a funny story which I would like to now share.
Okay, so the funny story happenned awhile back. I had managed to purchase two Obliterators off of Ebay and the third one arrived in the mail but it was the old kind (will those work as Termies?) and so in my disappointment, I broke with my plan to slowly build up my Obliterators on the cheap. No, I don't play Iron Warriors (grumble grumble frickin' cheaters grumble).
So, I walk into the GW store on a Saturday afternoon and it's loaded with twelve year old guys who could probably come up with better shit to play on at their house, but you know...it's a GW store...it's official. So anyway, they're all huddled around a table watching a squad of Orks charge...whatever (anything's charge range if the table's small enough!) and there's a mother and her son on the other side of the store, and the son is attempting to convey to his mother how necessary it is for her to buy him a Necron battleforce or some shit like that, and the big owner of the store (and I do mean big!) is attempting to run the battle for the kids while two register jockeys in their red shirts (which is unfortunate because the store is just outside the exit of Target and it really looks as though they've escaped, or that Target has started selling 40k stuff). Anyways, the two red shirts are up there looking smug because they know if they were playing the Orks they would have charged a different enemy. Yey team.
So, one spots me over at the shelving unit marked "Chaos" and he siddles up because I'm the first male adult he's seen in the store for a while. I am obviously NOT a mother listening to some argument that ends with her $60 lighter, nor am I one of the kids at the table, of whom only one will buy a Terminator and that will be that for this week. Oh no no no, I have money. I can afford to spend bucku bucks. Just as importantly, I look like I know what I'm doing. Chances are I'll be buying something impressive. So, here he comes, offering "Can I help you?"
I resist the urge to plead, "Look, I used to play Squats, now I play Eldar. You're not going to discontinue that army too are you?" After all, this red shirt, he is not the face of evil. He is, at best, a Nurgling to Grandfather GW in Nottingham or some crap where they have absolutely lost their frickin' minds.
This is what I honestly say to him, "Hey, yeah I'm looking for the Obliterators. I've got two, I need a third. I was trying to, you know, wait for one to come up on cheap on Ebay..." he looked around nervously hoping that no one heard me mention the dreaded E word, "but I'm tired of waiting. I'll tell you, with prices in these stores going up and up, it's hard to justify buying the lead, but sometimes you've got to do what you've got to do. I can't paint the Obliterators unitl I have that third one, so I guess I'm willing to break down and pay the $20."
His reply, no shit: "They're $25, they raised the price last week."
And that was when I kind of lost it.
"My God, is the company going out of business."
He looks around knowing that the trouble is starting.
"$25 for a piece of lead are you crazy? I could cast twenty of them for that price."
Really, it's getting ugly and he hurries me over to the register as I go into good old days mode. "I remember when I could buy twenty space marines for $30 and Rhinos came three to a box for $25." Which, by the way, they did.
He rings me up and I walk out of there with my $25 miniature with the stares of confusion from a group of twelve year olds, and a nice mother who suddenly realizes just how senseless her son has become. Hopefully she bought him that Battleforce on Ebay.
Anyways, two weeks later I go to my game night and who should show up but the red shirt guy who was trying to usher me out of the store. He tells me that he doesn't blame me, that he doesn't much like GW either and he doesn't mind that people are mad at the company.
The thing is though, he doesn't really mean it, and I launch into another tirade about how GW going out of business would be the best thing for the game. You'd finally be able to afford the minis and there wouldn't be the threat of another "edition" of rules every two years.
It is then that I find out why the GW employees are so fiercely loyal to the company they work for. They pay for bits by the pound. They pay like a tenth of what the rest of us pay. That's their employee discount. That's crazy.
I'm fairly sorry that the GW store does not want to buy my scenery. Mine looks better than there's. Had they said, "come on down and we'll take a look," they could of put me on payroll or at least given me the employee discount, but too bad.
Last time we were in there they had three deli trays from a dollar store put together with four cardboard tubes from wrapping paper that were supposed to be elevators and all of this was set on a black base with clear glossy plastic over it. It looked horrible. I said nothing. I stay to their display case now looking at the miniatures all lit up with beautiful day bulbs (which isn't exactly a trick, but it's sneaky nonetheless). My wife looked at the scenery and said, "You should tell them how to make scenery honey." I thought the red shirt standing next to the scene was going to choke. He'd built it and up until she said something he was all but beaming with pride.
The other day I contacted both stores to determine whether they would be interested in my services. The guy at Griffin Games was out on vacation so...cross your fingers...but the guy at GW was in.
Me: "So, do you guys ever have people make scenery for your store."
Them: "No."
That was about it, but it reminded me of a funny story which I would like to now share.
Okay, so the funny story happenned awhile back. I had managed to purchase two Obliterators off of Ebay and the third one arrived in the mail but it was the old kind (will those work as Termies?) and so in my disappointment, I broke with my plan to slowly build up my Obliterators on the cheap. No, I don't play Iron Warriors (grumble grumble frickin' cheaters grumble).
So, I walk into the GW store on a Saturday afternoon and it's loaded with twelve year old guys who could probably come up with better shit to play on at their house, but you know...it's a GW store...it's official. So anyway, they're all huddled around a table watching a squad of Orks charge...whatever (anything's charge range if the table's small enough!) and there's a mother and her son on the other side of the store, and the son is attempting to convey to his mother how necessary it is for her to buy him a Necron battleforce or some shit like that, and the big owner of the store (and I do mean big!) is attempting to run the battle for the kids while two register jockeys in their red shirts (which is unfortunate because the store is just outside the exit of Target and it really looks as though they've escaped, or that Target has started selling 40k stuff). Anyways, the two red shirts are up there looking smug because they know if they were playing the Orks they would have charged a different enemy. Yey team.
So, one spots me over at the shelving unit marked "Chaos" and he siddles up because I'm the first male adult he's seen in the store for a while. I am obviously NOT a mother listening to some argument that ends with her $60 lighter, nor am I one of the kids at the table, of whom only one will buy a Terminator and that will be that for this week. Oh no no no, I have money. I can afford to spend bucku bucks. Just as importantly, I look like I know what I'm doing. Chances are I'll be buying something impressive. So, here he comes, offering "Can I help you?"
I resist the urge to plead, "Look, I used to play Squats, now I play Eldar. You're not going to discontinue that army too are you?" After all, this red shirt, he is not the face of evil. He is, at best, a Nurgling to Grandfather GW in Nottingham or some crap where they have absolutely lost their frickin' minds.
This is what I honestly say to him, "Hey, yeah I'm looking for the Obliterators. I've got two, I need a third. I was trying to, you know, wait for one to come up on cheap on Ebay..." he looked around nervously hoping that no one heard me mention the dreaded E word, "but I'm tired of waiting. I'll tell you, with prices in these stores going up and up, it's hard to justify buying the lead, but sometimes you've got to do what you've got to do. I can't paint the Obliterators unitl I have that third one, so I guess I'm willing to break down and pay the $20."
His reply, no shit: "They're $25, they raised the price last week."
And that was when I kind of lost it.
"My God, is the company going out of business."
He looks around knowing that the trouble is starting.
"$25 for a piece of lead are you crazy? I could cast twenty of them for that price."
Really, it's getting ugly and he hurries me over to the register as I go into good old days mode. "I remember when I could buy twenty space marines for $30 and Rhinos came three to a box for $25." Which, by the way, they did.
He rings me up and I walk out of there with my $25 miniature with the stares of confusion from a group of twelve year olds, and a nice mother who suddenly realizes just how senseless her son has become. Hopefully she bought him that Battleforce on Ebay.
Anyways, two weeks later I go to my game night and who should show up but the red shirt guy who was trying to usher me out of the store. He tells me that he doesn't blame me, that he doesn't much like GW either and he doesn't mind that people are mad at the company.
The thing is though, he doesn't really mean it, and I launch into another tirade about how GW going out of business would be the best thing for the game. You'd finally be able to afford the minis and there wouldn't be the threat of another "edition" of rules every two years.
It is then that I find out why the GW employees are so fiercely loyal to the company they work for. They pay for bits by the pound. They pay like a tenth of what the rest of us pay. That's their employee discount. That's crazy.
I'm fairly sorry that the GW store does not want to buy my scenery. Mine looks better than there's. Had they said, "come on down and we'll take a look," they could of put me on payroll or at least given me the employee discount, but too bad.
Last time we were in there they had three deli trays from a dollar store put together with four cardboard tubes from wrapping paper that were supposed to be elevators and all of this was set on a black base with clear glossy plastic over it. It looked horrible. I said nothing. I stay to their display case now looking at the miniatures all lit up with beautiful day bulbs (which isn't exactly a trick, but it's sneaky nonetheless). My wife looked at the scenery and said, "You should tell them how to make scenery honey." I thought the red shirt standing next to the scene was going to choke. He'd built it and up until she said something he was all but beaming with pride.
Monday, August 21, 2006
Upstairs, downstairs.
If you've ever watched someone really play gin rummi then you have some inkling of what it is to design a lot of scenery all at one time. First of all, you have to understand the constraints. My workshop is about 12'x10'. It's tiny. I do most of my work on a card table and the space on my desk. I have little 1x1 1/2x trays that I move around with my various projects on them. I am able to paint in the living room, which I do while I'm watching my son. I store most of my materials in my attic, which is about four times the size of my workroom, but I can't go up there when my son is sleeping. So, when my son is sleeping, I can't go into the attic, and when he's awake, I watch him 50% of the time. Meanwhile, anything that involves a hot knife, resin pouring, spray painting, or baking, is done on my back porch. Mine is a second story apartment. Meanwhile, as it is impossible to store certain materials upstairs because of my son and his sleeping (well, he's 9 months old so cut him some slack), I store the materials that are vital to my trade in the basement or, as is the case now, I let them collect in my anchorite cell hampering my every movement.
Did I mention that I'm claustrophobic?
On any given day, I run up and down probably twenty flights of stairs. Not bad for an aesthmatic I'd say. Meanwhile listen to this:
River
2 sets of city ruins
2 sets of ice craters
2 sets of glaciers
1 set of road
2 sets of brick walls
2 longhouses
death world
ice wals
2 spires
ice hill
Jungle
Pine forest
This is my list of stuff that I'm currently working on and that are close enough to completion as to require only one or two more tweeks. That's 19 things! And most of those things contain multiple parts. I've counted 'Death World' as one thing, but clearly it isn't one thing. It's 13 plates!
So, the question then becomes, how in the hell do I do it. Good question. The trick to this is, strangely enough, performing like tasks. I look a the list and I try to determine from what I see how many of these products are going to require me to cut styrofoam. Great. That means downstairs. Okay, what else can I do downstairs?
Today I cast road pieces and sanded them flat on the ends (that's downstairs work). I spray painted them (also downstairs). I put "ground" on the river bank (not technically downstairs, but the basement is becoming the place where I put down large ammounts of things that need plaster of paris or hydrocal--the basement has a sink, but it lacks a drain...go figure). I also put flock on the walls, the same flock needed on the river banks, so it was...downstiars, that's right. And then I went upstairs, and while my child played in his play pen and we watched "Reading Between The Lions," I painted glaciers so that they would be really white and not blue.
And then, out of nowhere, I made the pine forest, which might have been a mistake as I think people are getting a little tired of the ice world stuff. Yes, it may be time to move on.
My point is that this is reminiscent of the game Gin Rummi where people move cards around to make their stuff. I find that I'll start the day with two projects and then quickly, while I'm waiting for the hydrocal to dry, I'll find myself making a hill, and well, as long as I have to spray paint a hill, I might as well cast some rock walls real quick, and there's no sense casting just some rock walls, why not cast some gothic bas relief plates so that I can make a bunker, and now I'm gluing, so I might as well... It can be days before I get back to the original thing.
Aye.
Did I mention that I'm claustrophobic?
On any given day, I run up and down probably twenty flights of stairs. Not bad for an aesthmatic I'd say. Meanwhile listen to this:
River
2 sets of city ruins
2 sets of ice craters
2 sets of glaciers
1 set of road
2 sets of brick walls
2 longhouses
death world
ice wals
2 spires
ice hill
Jungle
Pine forest
This is my list of stuff that I'm currently working on and that are close enough to completion as to require only one or two more tweeks. That's 19 things! And most of those things contain multiple parts. I've counted 'Death World' as one thing, but clearly it isn't one thing. It's 13 plates!
So, the question then becomes, how in the hell do I do it. Good question. The trick to this is, strangely enough, performing like tasks. I look a the list and I try to determine from what I see how many of these products are going to require me to cut styrofoam. Great. That means downstairs. Okay, what else can I do downstairs?
Today I cast road pieces and sanded them flat on the ends (that's downstairs work). I spray painted them (also downstairs). I put "ground" on the river bank (not technically downstairs, but the basement is becoming the place where I put down large ammounts of things that need plaster of paris or hydrocal--the basement has a sink, but it lacks a drain...go figure). I also put flock on the walls, the same flock needed on the river banks, so it was...downstiars, that's right. And then I went upstairs, and while my child played in his play pen and we watched "Reading Between The Lions," I painted glaciers so that they would be really white and not blue.
And then, out of nowhere, I made the pine forest, which might have been a mistake as I think people are getting a little tired of the ice world stuff. Yes, it may be time to move on.
My point is that this is reminiscent of the game Gin Rummi where people move cards around to make their stuff. I find that I'll start the day with two projects and then quickly, while I'm waiting for the hydrocal to dry, I'll find myself making a hill, and well, as long as I have to spray paint a hill, I might as well cast some rock walls real quick, and there's no sense casting just some rock walls, why not cast some gothic bas relief plates so that I can make a bunker, and now I'm gluing, so I might as well... It can be days before I get back to the original thing.
Aye.
Friday, August 18, 2006
Night fight Tonight!!
Okay, so Tuesday last, I went to play 40k as I always do, except that I knew we'd be a man down as one of our regulars had headed out to S.F. to hang out with his wife's family.
When I got there, one of the other regulars bowed out of the fight because three way batttles are kind of dull and that left me playing Eldar versus my buddy Russ who plays IG, and Russ suggests that we play this new scenario that he found that he really thought looked good. The scenario allowed for reserves, no deep strike, no infliltrators, but most importantly it started as a night fight and on turn four you rolled a dice, on a 4+ the sun came out and the night fight was over.
It sounded good. Let me say that. I love the idea of a night fight because it means that tanks aren't going to be as important. People with long range weapons just don't get to fire all the way across the board and the hand to hand troops are more likely to get in close before they can be fired upon. Or so I thought.
Here's what I learned. First of all, the Eldar (ex rulers of the universe) have yet to master the highly technical advance of the searchlight. Whereas, the IG have a searchlight every third man or so. All those tanks pretty much get searchlights, the IG player need only highlight a squad and everybody on his side can annhialate you.
As it turned out, I needed to worry more about cover more during a night fight because the IG could see me, and I couldn't fire back because they were always out of range. Oh sure, I could rush across the battlefield (not a very strong Eldar tactic), but I still wouldn't be able to open fire until I was within 21" on average.
The game lasted something like 30 minutes. It was a route. I managed to destroy one sentinals multilaser, but it didn't matter because it still had a search light.
I think the bottom line is that night fights have tactics to them, but not the one's you'd expect. The game becomes about annhialating one foe at a time. Shining down one search light so that one vehicle is vulnerable and then unleashing with everything on the target it illuminates.
This is well enough for most armies. IG excel at it, but if you're playing a night fight battle, leave the Eldar at home. They can't get searchlights so they're pretty much just waiting to get destroyed. They can only attack the thing that hit them with the searchlight, and if they're fighting IG, that target will always be a Chimera (because its expendable) or a Leman Russ (because very little can kill it). The hundreds of little guys out there will stay safe for most of the battle.
When I got there, one of the other regulars bowed out of the fight because three way batttles are kind of dull and that left me playing Eldar versus my buddy Russ who plays IG, and Russ suggests that we play this new scenario that he found that he really thought looked good. The scenario allowed for reserves, no deep strike, no infliltrators, but most importantly it started as a night fight and on turn four you rolled a dice, on a 4+ the sun came out and the night fight was over.
It sounded good. Let me say that. I love the idea of a night fight because it means that tanks aren't going to be as important. People with long range weapons just don't get to fire all the way across the board and the hand to hand troops are more likely to get in close before they can be fired upon. Or so I thought.
Here's what I learned. First of all, the Eldar (ex rulers of the universe) have yet to master the highly technical advance of the searchlight. Whereas, the IG have a searchlight every third man or so. All those tanks pretty much get searchlights, the IG player need only highlight a squad and everybody on his side can annhialate you.
As it turned out, I needed to worry more about cover more during a night fight because the IG could see me, and I couldn't fire back because they were always out of range. Oh sure, I could rush across the battlefield (not a very strong Eldar tactic), but I still wouldn't be able to open fire until I was within 21" on average.
The game lasted something like 30 minutes. It was a route. I managed to destroy one sentinals multilaser, but it didn't matter because it still had a search light.
I think the bottom line is that night fights have tactics to them, but not the one's you'd expect. The game becomes about annhialating one foe at a time. Shining down one search light so that one vehicle is vulnerable and then unleashing with everything on the target it illuminates.
This is well enough for most armies. IG excel at it, but if you're playing a night fight battle, leave the Eldar at home. They can't get searchlights so they're pretty much just waiting to get destroyed. They can only attack the thing that hit them with the searchlight, and if they're fighting IG, that target will always be a Chimera (because its expendable) or a Leman Russ (because very little can kill it). The hundreds of little guys out there will stay safe for most of the battle.
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