Thursday, June 30, 2011

Siegeworld 2011

The biggest and best Floorhammer game in the world is every year at Siegeworld

From Kirk Damann (Grandmasterspectre), Siegeworld Founder:



There was much carnage to be had.

Some basics.

A little shy of 200K points.

We used a new diamond style deployment which gave every player two flanks (each with a different player). I think it worked very well and made the game a little more fluid. It also resulted in much more titan close combat. The power of the titan CCW became very clear even on small chassis vs. big guys without one.


We used the AA overwatch rule. It worked very well with flyers having trouble getting at positions with good local AA protection, it also clearly steered aircraft to less tough nuts to crack. However, where a concentrated landing was attempted with good support, the AA got beaten down and the landers came in.

Str D template reduction was used, which worked very well (as always). Titans were really after other titans.

The mega gargant proved able to fend off dreadnought melta strikers, but still had a fight, the ability to carry good troops in a titan really helps survivability.

Terminator on Terminator gets ugly. The Black Templar/Imperial fist front resulted in 100+ terminators facing 170+ terminators.

This battle really showcased how tough Armor 14 is. In both tank on tank fronts my forces were slowly whittling down the enemy, but in one I had demolishers vs. battlecannons and the other was russes vs. pred annihilators. In total, I only lost about 5 tanks from both combats, where over 30 were involved causing easily twice that much damage, but mostly against lighter chassis.



Some highlights.

Two reaver titans going nuclear the same turn (one actually damaged the other).

The mishaping templars. 5 terminators mishap landed in the middle of nowhere (in front of my warlord advance). With my warlord advance having wiped out the opposition and advancing, it turned its guns on them as the only thing in range (basically, it was meaningless, as the terminators would never do anything). The squad could not fail an inulnerable save and absorbed the fire of 2 shadowswords and an entire warlord before finally dying. 


 

Monday, June 27, 2011

40K 6th Edition Rumor Update - Part II



The Blood of Kittens posted some more 6th Edition rumors, so I am posting them here.    BoK is the best source for GW rumors and are teh web site that busted the Adepticon cheating last year.  Since then I have followed them as I love a web site that isn't political and tells it like it is.  SO here is the latest from them:


some more:
- narrative rule with strategy points: can agree with other player to with fix stock of strategy points, both players can spend them, then the looser of the bidding can use his strategy points on top
- damaged super heavies are cheaper, have only one structure point left, give 5 victory points
- pistols can make only a single attack in cc
- new close combat weapon: colossal power weapon: 2D6 against vehicles, models with S5 attack in I-order, models with lesser attack last. dreadnoughts double strength, dreadnought cc is colossal weapon
- IC can still be picked in cc, that seems to be huge, as in most meeles their is a wall of models that are in base to base contact
- movement is really fast now, every unit behaves almost the same, but you need marker for movement distances
- only very tiny paragraphs for unit types
- favorite tactic: charging unit with large ork mob, attack with almost every model, than shoot the hell out of another unit

- models that have charged already locked unit have I 10 this turn
- Assume leadership: Standard bearers, etc. that assume leadership count as squad leader in all respects (two saves, directed wounds), any other model that assumes leadership only in regard of performing unit actions
- if you deploy in 24” distance from enemy you cannot shoot with 24” weapon or assault with 24” movement
- models must always consolidate out of 1” of vehicle after attacking it, if locked in combat with another unit, vehicles are ignored for pile in moves after combat, must use this pile in move to bring 1” between unit an vehicle, artillery and walkers are obviously exceptions
- swarms have Eternal Warrior (1)
- Seize the initiative: same name, but completely different rule: stratagem, 1 str. point, after the deployment of both force, but before placing infiltrators, roll a D6, on 5+, enemy must place infiltrators in contact with his own table edge, no scout moves allowed
- whole unit or squadron must make the same reaction
- Pistols: got confused by what I though were two contradicting short statements; units with pistols can attack with pistol’s S, AP1,2,3 pistols confer Rending (2) (Rending on 5+), Gets Hot! wounds count against combat resolution,
on charge: can make full attacks
in any other turn: can make single attack, does not get bonus of second ccw, etc.
- if both player agree, the charge movement and pile in move before combat can be made as one move with combined movement distance after the first model was engaged to fasten things up
- Characters: shooting wounds are directed, too
- Advanced rules: evasion value (normal rules: always use short distance), all reactions, Torrent of Fire, Directed wounds, damage chart modifiers for AP, flyer mode, ramming, Stratagems: bidding stays intact but only re-rolls can be taken, unique units, measuring*
* normal rules: can measure anytime you want, advanced: movement: measure full movement distance you want to go, i.e. 6” for a advancing, can’t measure 12” surge distance, anything else: measure distance to target
you play either all advanced rules or none at all
- Hit & Run: still random: 3D6” consolidation move
- Morale checks for casualties: only in enemy’s shooting phase
- witchblade can now cause ID after psychic test like force weapons
- there is a small box for rare movement situations: if infantry unit moves as jump infantry (or any other unit type has movement rules of another unit type), it uses the jump infantry movement rules, but for shooting and close combat it counts as original unit type, so it is still easy to hit, if an unit moves flat out and there is no column in the to hit chart, take the moving column, exotic movements count as ‘moving’ even if faster than flat out move, deep striking units count as ‘moving’ , if units that are immobile arrives from reserves but not via deep strike, they are placed in contact with table edge normally and remain there for the rest of the game, we shall assume the the bunker has decloaked or something similar, units disembarking from deep striking vehicles use the disembarking rules for charging, so no charge unless fleet rule
- Master-crafted: re-roll one to hit roll, if several models attack with master-crafted weapons of the same type, roll the dice together, then re-roll as many dice as there are master-crafted weapons
- if you shoot through interfering models, you cannot snipe
running out out steam because I don’t get the errata info and I have reached even the tiny details of the rules :(
but I have one big thing left:
- monstrous creatures: 2D6 versus vehicles, ignore armour, move as infantry unless stated otherwise, are ignored for Abandon as ICs, IGNORE TERRAIN WHEN CHARGING


Saturday, June 25, 2011

40K 6th Edition Rumor update


If you don't follow The Blood of Kittens website you should.  They are the best source for GW rumors and tend to be right on the mark.  Well, here are their latest.  6th Edition rumors!!

(There will be more the next few days as these guys keep bringing out more stuff!).

From Rideroftheerk:

...the following is copy and pasted from hour long icq sessions, so there might be some missing bits, but most of the time, nothing has changed. we all know what unit coherency is, these are not actual rule texts but answers for my questions about the rules
I tried to arrange all fragments in proper order and corrected grammar, but most kudos go to my friend for being helpful while being annoyed of GW

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
As I am done with GW forever. I love the miniatures, I like the new rules (been pretty enthusiastic about it), but I hate the company, that makes them. If you knew what I know you would feel the same. GW doesn’t care for their customers one bit. The whole corporal culture is cynical as hell. The managers despise the hobby and all immatures who play it. There is a huge rift in the management and most of the executives that actually play the game have left or are leaving the company right now.

Layout
Pretty crisp and clean
on odd pages there is the normal rule text with examples, on even pages there are the usual diagrams and charts, and small boxes with definitions
Lots of rules that were formerly explained within the text, are now only summarized in the text, the full rules are given in these boxes, you can read the rules text very fast without much detail, there are some boxes that have a name of a rule, but are empty otherwise. I guess that there should be page references to later pages, for example in the terrain rules, there is Torrent of Fire mentioned, the rule is explained much later (in a box), there is an empty box in the terrain section that reads Torrent of Fire however
So you have both: clear rules veterans and easy reading for first-timers
But it seems that there is not much space left for pictures, though

Fundamentals:
characteristic tests as normal,
if unit must make test, it is made by squad leader
vehicles fail every test automatically if they don’t have the value
test on ld is made with single D6 on halved value, vehicles pass these tests automatically
Majority characteristic: characteristic-value with most wounds in unit, if draw, use the higher

Keep track on:
wounds
movement distance
morale condition
everything else can be forgotten between actions

Saves:
4 kind of changes: armour save, cover save, invulnerable save, Feel no Pain
no model can ever make more than two saves or one re-rollable save
normal models can only make one roll or one re-rollable roll
Situation where two rolls are eligible:
- one of the saves is FnP
- model is character
- model is bracing

Feel no Pain (1-3): save on 5+,4+,3+, only negated by AP 1, 2 and wounds that don’t allow armour saves, the only save that every model and not only ICs may take in addition to another save

Actions
The rules make really clear what an unit can do and what not. There is an own chapter for the basic concepts. Every special rule has only to state: can do x, y, z and it is perfectly clear that the unit can still a, b and c
Actions:
- movement: movement in movement phase, sometimes only special types of movement are allowed: advance, surge, flat out, fleet; charge and disembark have to be rules out explicitly
- consolidate moves: every other move, has to be mentioned explicitly
- psychic powers
- shooting
- Reactions
- residual actions: any other action, for example popping smoke
unit is immobile: abbreviation for cannot move, react, make consolidation moves

Reactions
models can react every time the conditions are met

- Going to Ground:
who: non-vehicles, non-monstrous creatures
when: unit is being shot at, before rolls are made
instant effect: -
lasting effect: Suppressed, if not already Suppressed

- Brace:
who: tanks, walkers, monstrous creatures
when: being shot at, before rolls are made
instant effect: one weapon destroyed ignored, two saves for MC like IC
lasting effect: Suppressed, if not already Suppressed

- Flying High:
who: jet pack infantry, jump infantry, jetbikes
when: being shot at
instant effect: count as being flyer for shooting, opposing player can make 6” consolidation move with the unit
lasting effect: Suppressed, if not already Suppressed

- Evade:
who: skimmer, fast non-tanks, jetbikes, bikes, jet pack infantry, jump infantry
when: unit is being rammed or tank shocked and nearly fails morale check
instant effect: on 3+ can make 6” consolidation move, ignores ram if out of the way
lasting effect: -

- Return Fire:
who: (disembarked) units with Overwatch
when: unit is shot at the first time in the phase
instant effect: unit can fire rapid fire and assault weapons with a single shot at attacking unit, range 12”, resolved simultaneously, opposing unit is fearless (2) and stubborn for this purpose
lasting effect: -

- Charge by chance:
who: non-vehicles, walkers
when: Trapped, tank shock
instant effect: charge by chance
lasting effect: -

Terrain:
there are two different things: to be in cover, to be in terrain
every piece of terrain has a footprint, if an unit is this area or touches it, it is in terrain, being in terrain is important for movement and assaults
to decide if a model is in cover, you use true line of sight, cover is usually used for shooting, though some weapons use terrain

terrain is open, impassable, or has any number of the following attributes:
- difficult terrain: unit can only advance through it, if a single model moves through
- dangerous terrain:
units that move through dangerous terrain must make a test
non-vehicles make dangerous terrain test for every model that has actually moved through it at the end of the phase
vehicles must designate a point where they enter the terrain before the movement, than make the test, if vehicle is stunned, immobilized or destroyed, move it to designated point in a straight line
for every failed test, the unit gets a hit
non-vehicles: failed on 1: auto wound on unit, allocated together as Torrent of Fire
vehicles: roll depends on movement distance: advanced = failed on 1, surged = failed on 1-3, flat out = failed automatically, vehicle gets S8 hit against side armour
walker only ever fail on 1
non-vehicle units make only a single dangerous terrain test a turn, vehicles every time they enter a different dangerous terrain
- leveled: must spend movement for vertical advancement, non-walker vehicles and bikes can’t move vertical in leveled terrain

difficult and dangerous terrains are always ignored if the movement isn’t taking place in the own movement phase

Preparation and consolidation phase
These phases are collecting basin for all kinds of action that takes place before the movement or at the end of the turn. The player which turn it is may choose the order of these actions freely.

preparation phase: psychic powers, placing reserves, rallying, joining/ leaving, claiming mission markers

consolidation phase: rallying, consolidation moves, jet pack moves, joining/ leaving, embarking, killing multi-wounded units

consolidation move: moves outside the movement phase (jet pack movement, embarking, joining/leaving, falling back, moves after combat, tank shock evasion …) and moves that are described as consolidation moves are consolidation moves
cannot end in contact with enemy, ignores terrain even if performed in own movement phase, all units are relentless for this movement, can move even if fired heavy weapon, can fire heavy weapon afterwards, doesn’t affect unit speed for being shot at if not stated otherwise

Abandon: If there is more than one model with less than its initial wounds in an unit in the consolidation phase, the owning player must remove all but one as casualty ( ID(3) ). Independent characters are ignored.

movement phase:
Units can stay stationary or move in different speeds. They can advance and use their normal movement or they can surge and double their movement distance. Some units can go flat out or fleet and triple their movement.

Advance: normal movement: every action allowed
Surge: double movement: close combat, consolidate moves, psychic powers, reactions, residual action allowed
Flat out: movement: triple movement: only reactions allowed, use own columns on to hit chart
Fleet movement: triple movement, can charge, count as moving against shooting, cannot forced surge

If the unit goes through difficult terrain it can only advance. No unit can ever go flat out or fleet through terrain.

Forced surge: Units can surge through terrain if they are allowed to go flat out outside terrain this turn. Tanks cannot force surge (except during a ram).
If the unit fails an I-test, terrain is treated as dangerous terrain.
During a charge, every unit can try to surge through. If the I-test is failed, the unit still can only advance. units, that have passed their I-test for the fleet movement, automatically pass this I-test.
Can’t surge if there is another reason for the restriction to advance movement than terrain.

Unit types:
infantry: 6”
beasts/cavalry: 8”, fleet (1)
jump infantry: 8”, ignore terrain*
jet pack infantry: 6”, ignore terrain*, 6” move in consolidation phase
jetbikes: 10”, ignore terrain*, flat out
(eldar jetbike: jetbike with Fleet (2) )
bikes: 8”, flat out, cannot force surge
vehicles: 6”
fast vehicles: 6”, flat out
fast skimmer: 8”, flat out
walker: 6”, treat terrain like infantry

* as long as they don’t start or end in terrain

Fleet (1): infantry, beasts, monstrous creature, jump infantry, jet pack infantry: I-test, if successful, can perform fleet movement, can always advance during disembarkation;
bikes and jetbikes: I-test successful: can make 6” move in consolidation phase
Fleet (2)/Bounding Leap: as Fleet (1), no I-Test required

Random movement: roll a D6: 1-2 unit moves as infantry, 3-4 unit moves as jump infantry but cannot ignore terrain, 5-6 unit moves as beast

Charging:
no model may enter 1” of enemy models unless it charges,
the only difference between a charge and a normal movement is: models may enter 1” of enemy models.
all other movement restrictions apply, unit must stay in coherency, are subject to terrain
charging units can make a forced surge
an unit can charge more than one unit, but must stay in coherency, cannot move closer than 1” to enemy units that are not charged
The units in contact are now locked. If any model moved through terrain, the defending unit can claim to be in terrain in the assault phase, in the assault phase, both unit pile in before trading blows

Charge by chance:
sometimes units are forced to perform a charge in another phase than the movement phase, the charge by chance is a pile in move, as if the charging and defending unit were locked but have lost contact, the defending unit can make a pile in move afterwards (even if it is his phase, the defending player piles in last).
the combat is fought in the next assault phase and no side counts as attacker or being in terrain, no side can use grenades, no further pile in moves occur before the fighting

Movement distance is important for shooting, only the attempted movement in the movement phase counts (other movements do not count, consolidate moves don’t count, even a vehicle that has movement 1” can claim having moved flat out),
can be ‘overridden’ by three events outside movement phase:
fighting in close combat : stationary
become immobile: stationary
falling back: moving

Wounding:
To wound chart:
wound everything at least on 6+

Wound Allocation (cc and shooting):
hit as normal, wound against majority

mark dice that represent special weapons and attacks or roll separately
1. decide whether to use Torrent of Fire or not
2. target’s player allocate wounds to models, beginning with one chosen armour group, if every model in this group has a wound, start with another armour group and so on, if every model in the unit has a wound, start over
—> multiple wounds: count for allocation as as many models as wounds remain
3. pick an unresolved armour group, determine which wounds are directed
4. directed wounds: roll saves for directed wounds, shooting player removes casualties
5. roll all remaining saves of this armour group, owning player removes casualties
6. goto 3

Directed wounds:
there are directed wounds in close combat and long-range combat, casualties from directed wounds are removed by owning player of the attacking unit
Wounds cannot be directed if targeted unit has Shielded USR, Torrent of Fire is used, vehicle diverts its fire or non-vehicle, non-MC unit is in fire corridor
Number of directed wounds: After allocating wounds to an armour group, it is determined if the how many and which wounds are directed as following:
- every attack from an IC in close combat is a directed wound,
- of the remaining wounds, every second wound, beginning with the first, from a Sniper weapon is directed.
- Of the remaining wounds on-sniper wounds, every fifth wound is directed, owning player of the shooting unit decides which wounds are directed

Torrent of Fire/Blows: if torrent of fire is used, the targeted unit is a single armour group, the owning player can choose one model, the whole unit has the same combination of armour saves
During a Torrent of Fire, no wound is directed

Armour group: number of model that share the same combination of saves, for example: 3+ armour save, Feel no Pain (1), no invulnerable save, 6+ cover save that is re-rollable on 1

Shooting:

for determining if a particular model in the unit can shoot, check range and line of sight from this model

cover saves:
fire corridor is measured from squad leader, to the two outermost models in the target unit, if 50% or more models are invisible or partial invisible due to cover or vehicles or monstrous creatures, the unit is in cover,
non-vehicles/MC are invisible for determining cover saves, but if such an unit is in fire corridor, wounds cannot be directed
if unit is covered mostly by fortifications or models are completely invisible: 4+ save
if unit is covered mostly by vegetation: 6+ save
if unit is covered mostly by vehicles or anything else: 5+ save

To Hit chart:
it is the same chart as the wound chart, but with seven columns from 0 till 6
(evasion value in brackets, abbreviates for small chart)

rows:
buildings (0)
stationary vehicles, MC, bikes (1)
stationary infantry, jet pack infantry, jump infantry, beasts // moving vehicles, monstrous creatures (2)
short distance // moving infantry, jet pack infantry (3)
moving bikes, jump infantry, beasts // swarms // flat out vehicles (4)
flat out bikes (5)
flyers, beacons (some narrative missions use beacons) (6)

columns:
BS 1-10

every column is: …. 6+ 6+ 6+ 5+ 4+ 3+ 2+ 2+ 2+ …. but is shifted up or down
I give you the BS value for every column that hits on 3+: 1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5 // 6 // 7

if distance from squad leader to target is less than 12”, unit can always change column to short distance column
if a model moves like a different unit type, the initial unit type is still used for the chart

Assault weapon: bonus attack for second close combat weapon if unit has charged

Pistols: model can use it as additional close combat weapon or use its Strength in close combat but gains no bonus for another ccw, if pistol is AP 1,2 or 3, attacks are Rending (2)

Blast (Small) and Blast (Large):
scatter as before
don’t use line of sight for determining cover saves, if majority of unit is in terrain, models get cover saves
marker has infinite height, only in leveled terrain it is two-dimensional
multiple Barrage is used every time when there comes more than one blast marker of the same type from a single shooting unit

Template: if there is a range given in a template weapon’s profile you can place the small end anywhere in this distance

Sniper (1): always wounds on 3+, Pinning, every second wound from a Sniper weapon beginning with the first is a directed wound
Sniper (2): always wounds on 3+, Rending (1), Pinning, every second wound from a Sniper weapon beginning with the first is a directed wound

Pinning: must make a pinning morale check

Tracer: treat every target as stationary

Anti Air: treat targeted flyer as flat out vehicle

Rending (1-3): 6,5+,4+ on to wound roll wound automatically and are AP2 or count as power weapon, D3 extra armour penetration

Poison/Dissolving (X+): as before, for shooting and close combat

Lance (1-3): treat AV as 13,12,11, no modifiers on damage chart ever

Instant Death(1): caused by double strength and other effects, models without Eternal Warrior (1-3) loose all wounds
Instant Death(2): models without Eternal Warrior (2-3) loose all wounds
Instant Death(3): also called removed from play, models without Eternal Warrior (3) loose all wounds

Eternal Warrior(1-3): Immune to Instant Death of same or lower level

Assault Phase:

Engaged model: a model that is in base to base contact with enemy model is called engaged, a model that is in contact with friendly engaged model is also called engaged, so if you have a long queue of models that are all in base to base contact and the first is in contact with enemy, alls are engaged

Pile In Move: consolidation move, 6”, priorities:
- must move as man models as possible in base contact with locked enemy unit
- as many models as possible must end the move engaged with model of unit it is locked in close combat with,
- rest of the model must move as near as possible to engaged models
if it is not possible to bring a single model into contact, the distance is increased with 3” until one model is engaged
At the end of the pile in move, every struggling, still unengaged IC is placed in contact with engaged model of enemy’s choosing.

Pile in after charge:
charging units make Pile In move, than the defending unit makes a Pile in Move

Attacking
Every engaged model can attack. If it is engaged with more than one unit, it can decide freely.
WS majority is used
IC are unit of their own in close combat

Initiative order:
Always strike first/last: unit strikes before I1 or after I10, is not affected by I modifiers, if unit always strikes first and last, it strikes in normal I order

charging unit in terrain: strikes at I1

Power fist: strikes always last

Feint: models can attack in a lower initiative phase if they want

Grenades: unchanged

Resolving combat
unchanged, but no more -1 for under half strength

No retreat:
Fearless units (or units that stay in combat even if they fail their morale check) make normal morale checks after loosing a combat, if failed, can decide nonetheless to stay in close combat, but every model in base to base contact may make a single attack against unit, if a model is in base to base contact with several Fearless units that failed their test, it can make one attack against each unit

Sweeping Advance: normal, unmodified I of squad leader is used

Pile in after combat: all locked units make Pile In moves, order is chosen by the player who’s turn it is, units that are no longer locked and not falling back, make a 3” consolidation move, the unit counts as being stationary

Special rules
distinction between special rules and universal special rules
Some USR and other special or weapon rules have more than one level. If no level is given, the rule is treated as level 1. Only exception: Lance and Fearless are level 2 by default
USR are always conferred to or from joined IC, other special rules not
deployment rules and rules in codices are temporarily lost if not every model in the unit has it, if it is not explicitly stated otherwise

all USR:
Preferred Enemy: as before
Tank Hunter: as before, but it only works against tanks
Counter Attack: as before, negates Furious Charge
Veiled(1): if unit targets veiled unit, must roll 3D6 x 3” over distance or forfeit shooting
Veiled (2-3): 2D6” x 2
Acute Senses/Night Vision(1-3): reroll Veiled roll of equal or lower level
Furious Charge: as before
Hit & Run: as before
Overwatch: can react with returning fire
Move through cover (1): I-Test to ignore terrain
Move through cover (2): ignores terrain
Sworn Brothers/Mindless Slaves: if squad leader is killed, every other model in unit can assume leadership
Rage: must always at least advance and use full distance towards enemy (for example raged infantry must at least move 6”, if decide to surge, must move 12”), if shaken or embarked, ignores the rule
Shielded: as long as one model with this rule remains in target unit, wounds cannot be directed wounds
Slow and purposeful: Relentless; can only surge, if S-test is passed, if unit moves through terrain, it cannot force a surge, units with SaP and Fleet and/or Flat out have Relentless and Random movement instead, negates Preferred Enemy
Shock Troop: always rolls a single D6” under 18” in a deep strike, a hit is a hit
Skilled Rider/Driver/Ranger (1): reroll dangerous terrain tests
Skilled Rider/Driver/Ranger (2): ignore dangerous terrain tests
Stealth (1): +1 on cover save, must take Vanish reaction if unit takes a shooting reaction
Stealth (2-3): +1,+2 on cover save; 6+,5+ in the open, must take Vanish reaction if unit takes a shooting reaction

no USR:
Relentless: always count as stationary for firing weapons
Swarms: use the moving beasts (4) column in the chart regardless of movement or unit type, Blast and Template Weapons cause Instant Death (2) against swarms

Vehicles:

damage chart:
only negative modifiers: -2 glancing, -1 any hit except AP1 and AP – against tanks, -2 AP – against tanks (AP 1 flat +1 gone), -3 hit by blast marker but hole not over vehicle and vehicle is not open-topped (no more halved S for blast markers)

chart unchanged, but if vehicle blows up (6+ on chart), embarked troops and models in D6” get S3 AP – hit, if vehicle blows up embarked troops are Suppressed, if the vehicle is only wrecked they are fine

if a flat out moving vehicle is immobilised (4) or wrecked (5) it blows up (6+) instead and embarked units are Pinned instead of Suppressed.

close combat basically the same:
no close combat resolution against non-walkers, but units can decide to break off and make a 3” consolidation move
hit stationary vehicle automatically, advancing vehicle on 4+, at any other speed and skimmers on 6+

Shooting: stationary: fire all weapons, advance: fire one, surge: no weapon
fast as before: advance and fire all, surge and fire one
every weapon can target different unit, when doing so, cannot cause directed wounds, even with Sniper weapons

Transport:
Fire point: can fire if vehicle has advanced or surged, but only 12” regardless of weapon type, embarked troops are relentless
Embarking: 4” move in consolidation phase in contact towards access point, if squad leader reaches access point, unit is embarked. If not, no move is performed
Disembarking: 4” in movement phase from any access point or base in case of flyers, consolidation move, counts as having moved the same distance category as vehicle, i.e. stationary, advance, surge; no charge
cannot disembark if going flat out or if unit cannot move as fast as vehicle, i.e. cannot disembark at surge speed into cover, as you can only advance in cover
if vehicle was stationary, unit can move normally from access point instead of disembarkation move, can charge
fleeting units can advance from access point instead of making disembarkation move if vehicle advanced or surged

Trapped: if an enemy model is in base to base contact with access point of closed vehicle, access point cannot be used. If every access point is blocked, the unit cannot disembark. If the unit is forced to disembark because the vehicle is destroyed, the unit is placed on the wreck or in the crater. If the unit is forced to disembark for another reason it is destroyed. The units that were in base to base contact with the access points must make a charge by chance on the embarked unit immediately if it can react
Flyers in skimmer or flyer mode and open-topped vehicles are not subject to this rule. If embarked units have to disembark place them as near as possible to the vehicle (wreck) or base

Multiple embarked units: must use different access points, if Trapped, choose access points, respective unit must charge

Skimmer: no more cover save for flat out movement

Squadron: must target the same unit,
if consists of at least two vehicles, one is squadron commander
commander: as long as commanding vehicles exists, every immobile result in squadron on vehicle with weapons left is weapon destroyed instead
rest unchanged, old allocation rules

Lumbering: can only surge if roll of 4+ on D6, if moved not faster than advance: can fire every turret mounted weapons in addition to normally allowed weapons

open topped:
has no further effect than that units can disembark and fire everywhere, no charge advantage, no damage modifier

Tanks
cannot force a surge, even if they are flat out, but can ram
AP 1 and AP – only useful against tanks

Non-tanks:
only non-tanks can force surge through terrain outside of ram
fails I-test automatically, so gets a S8 on 4+

Ramming:
now every tank shock is a ram, a ram is a straight movement with max speed (flat out or surge), if tank cannot go faster than advance, cannot ram
tank can force surge through terrain, but still can’t go flat out through it
only one turn before the movement is possible

three things can happen: tank shock through unit, passing interfering terrain, ramming attack against vehicle or building or impassable terrain

no disembarking or shooting from embarked unit or vehicle is possible after ramming

terrain:
S8 against side on 4+ as normal
Skimmer can choose to fly over terrain or go through. If go over, no tank shock or ram on units in terrain.

Tank shock:
an unit under the vehicle’s path must make a morale check
if it fails, the unit evades headless and is falling back
If check is nearly failed, unit is rolled over
If check passed but not nearly failed, can decide if nothing happens nothing happens as tanks passes by or unit is rolled over
Rolled over: unit can attempt to stop vehicle (like death or glory)
shaken units can’t try to stop
if the tanks presses on, the unit gets D3 S5 hits with Rending (2)

Ram against vehicle/building:
both vehicles deal an automatic hit to the opposing vehicle
the hit is resolved against the side in contact
to calculate the S, take the AV in contact (if it is a tank, always take the front AV) and subtract a modifier
-6 if ramming vehicle has surged
-4 if ramming vehicle moved flat out
impassable terrain and buildings have AV 14 for this purpose and can’t be damaged

Ram against walker
walker can try to stop tank as if rolled over, if vehicle isn’t stopped, impact is resolved as ram, walker cannot charge by chance

if tank would end movement on unit:
may make a 6” special move in any direction but they must try to make place for the tank, if they would be still under the vehicle they may make another 3” move and another and another, until they are 1” away from the tank and in coherency, moves are treated like consolidation moves, but can performed in every situation even if unit is immobile or can’t perform any other action
the evading unit can perform a charge by chance on the vehicle, if it can react, afterwards

comes to halt, if it: touches vehicle, building, impassable terrain, 1” before an unit in close combat or is stunned, destroyed or immobilized, movement distance is reached

Artillery: vehicle, squadron, immobile, AV 10 /10 /10, BS as crew,
no commander
can place one crew counter per artillery, some can have additional crew members
can remove counter to ignore a single crew shaken or stunned result
can fight in cc like a walker, with WS, S, I as the crew, the number of attacks is the number of crew counters plus the number of artillery devices
enemy attacks are resolved solely against the artillery

Flyers:
- can decide every round in the preparation phase: count as fast skimmer or flyer, can decide upon arrival from reserves

flyer mode:
- If flyer is in reserve, it is placed in harry reserve every time, even if it can’t outflank
- Flyers from reserve are place in the the preparation phase on any table edge
- unlike other vehicles, flyers cannot turn as they like
- ignore all terrain, even impassable
- up to 18” movement, no surge, no flat out, one turn anywhere during the movement up to 90 degrees
- must move 12” in straight line in preparation phase, can turn up to 45 degree at the end of the movement,
- must move 12” in straight line in consolidation phase, can turn up to 45 degree at the end of the movement, if reaches table edge or can’t be placed at the end of the turn, flyer is put back in harry reserve, cannot change into skimmer mode
- Flyers can always fire every weapon at a single target, all weapons have AA rule
- no (dis-)embarking, except special drops if unit has Aerial Drop special rule
- if immobilized (4) or wrecked (5), place Blast (Large) marker in random direction in 3D6”, causes S5 (against side armour), place crater
- Embarked troops are destroyed if flyer in flyer mode is wrecked or destroyed. If immobilized, unit is placed in crater, get S5 hit each, Suppressed
- flyers have their own column in the to hit chart, Blast weapons don’t use their marker, use BS to hit, if marker targets another unit and touches flyer, hit is ignored
- barrage and ordnance weapons can fire direct, but must re-roll hits, even if twin-linked, weapons that hit automatically can’t hit flyers, that includes shooting, rift and shock wave psychic powers that hit automatically
- close combat: in contact with base, attacks hit on 6, any other unit than jump infantry, jetpack infantry and jetbikes must re-roll hits
- cannot be rammed, base is treated like unit in close combat

Aerial Drop: flyer with this special rule can disembak units even if in flyer mode, in any phase embarked jump infantry and jet pack infantry can be placed via deep strike on a point, the flyer has moved over in this phase

IC: can roll two saves at the same time,
All wounds from an IC in close combat are directed. count as separate unit in assault phase for dealing damage
joining: 3” move in preparation or consolidation phase, assumes automatically squad leadership
combat: if IC is part of an unit that is in close combat, but isn’t in base to base contact, it is moved into it by the shortest distance

Squad Leader:
You must nominate one model of every unit to be the squad leader, if the unit entry doesn’t make clear which model it is in the first place.

Banner/Icon/Trophy: if squad leader is killed, standard- or icon bearer automatically becomes new squad leader.
If one or more independent characters have joined the unit, one of them automatically becomes new squad leader. If the IC is killed, the normal leader takes over.

Squad leaders can take two saves, all wounds from squad leader in close combat are directed
only applies for initial squad leader.

If the unit must take a characteristic test, use the profile of the Squad leader.
used for all kinds of things

Every time when something is measured from the squad leader, or he has to make a test for the unit, but the unit has no leader anymore, the opposing player can choose one model for this purpose

psychic powers:

Psychic test: morale check to use power, if morale check is failed, no more powers this turn from this psyker

perils: unchanged

power levels: number of psychic powers per player’s turn
power types:
- shooting power: count as firing a weapon, line of sight, BS roll or scatter if blast, fire point needed
- rift power: count as firing a weapon, true line of sight, no BS roll or scatter, only disembarked, targets suffer described effect, wounds from rift powers cause ID (2)
- modifying power: preparation phase, no line of sight or BS roll, no fire point needed, distance from hull, can only target own models inside transport; if target splits during the turn, the psyker’s player can decide on which part the power remains
- aura: preparation phase, psyker and joined unit are effected, if psyker leaves unit, power stays only with psyker, no BS roll, no fire point needed, transport unaffected, sustained power
- shock wave: count as firing a weapon, no line of sight, no BS roll needed, radius from base edge, must be disembarked, units in transports are unaffected

block: psyker in normal condition in 24” of other psyker can attempt to block psychic power, on 5+ blocked, on 1 perils of warp attack (unchanged), if equipped with similar wargear, psyker can decide which to use, only one block attempt per power

passive powers: no need for psychic test, not subject to block, don’t work if unit ‘can’t perform any action’
resonating powers: can stack
sustained powers: if psyker is shaken or engaged in close combat, power is blocked
rampant power: if psyker uses a rampant power, cannot use another power this turn, even with power level 2 or more

force weapon: as before, ID(2)
witchblades: as before, besides: force weapon with ID(1)

Unit conditions:
Morale checks: roll with 2D6 against squad leaders Ld as normal, but result of a failed or passed roll varies from situation to situation i.e. psychic test, pinning test, casualties, and are given for every situation. there is no more: “make a normal morale check”
In some situations a morale check can not only be failed or passed, but also be nearly failed. Nearly failed is if rolled higher than halved LD (rounding up) but below or equal to Ld, modifiers are applied before halving, but there are no more modifiers outside close combat

five usual situations: lost close combat, heavy casualties, pinning, psychic test, rallying
checks due to other fleeing unit is gone

Heavy casualties: made in consolidation phase, 25% casualties or more in a shooting phase: if failed: fall back

Pinning:
if morale check fails, unit is Pinned, if nearly fails, unit is Suppressed

Lost close combat:
unchanged, difference in combat resolution as modifier

- Suppressed:
non-vehicle and non-MCs units cannot move flat out, fleet, force a surge, shoot, use psychic powers, react, if they fail a T-test, they cannot surge and charge
vehicles and MC: can still react and fire a single weapon, cannot ram, (vehicles fail their T-test automatically), vehicles can only voluntarily become suppressed, embarked units in a suppressed vehicle cannot shoot from within
infantry, beasts, unit with swarm get Stealth (1) or level of stealth one up up to 3
if charged: looses suppressed status immediately
if forced to make another morale check: morale check, if nearly failed or failed, unit is Pinned instead of Suppressed
- Pinned: cannot move, shoot, make consolidate moves, use psychic powers, react
infantry, beasts, unit with swarm get Stealth (1) or level of stealth one up up to 3
if charged: looses Pinned status immediately but cannot use defensive grenades and Counter Charge USR and gains no bonus from terrain
if forced to make another morale check: morale check, if nearly failed or failed, unit is Falling Back instead of being pinned
- Falling Back:
in moment of breaking unit immediately makes consolidation move towards own table edge with surge distance, count as having surged for purposes of shooting
can act in subsequent turn as normal, but must attempt to move and simultaneously end their movement not closer to any enemy unit. If they cannot move in the movement phase because of this they are removed from play. Therefore they cannot stay stationary voluntarily or charge an enemy.
They can perform consolidation moves, but cannot end nearer to any enemy unit. Unit cannot react.
if charged: if charging model reaches the unit, unit is destroyed and charge is unsuccessful
if forced to make another morale check: unit is destroyed, does not apply for rallying
if reaches voluntarily or during their initial move the table edge: are removed from play but don’t count as destroyed
- Shaken: abbreviation for Suppressed, Pinned, Falling Back
- Immobile: abbreviation for cannot move, cannot react, cannot make consolidation moves

Rallying: suppressed and pinned units automatically recover in the consolidation phase of their next player’s turn
A falling back unit with squad leader can make a morale check in the preparation phase if there is no enemy unit in 6”. If successful the unit can act normally. If failed, the unit is not destroyed. A falling back unit can embark into a vehicle an rallies immediately. The 3” movement can be towards enemies as long as it end inside the vehicle.

Fearless (1): if any morale check for rallying, casualties, tank shock or in close combat fails, the unit can decide to pass it anyway, Fearless units treat Pinned as Suppressed, treat Falling back as normal condition
Fearless (2): as Fearless (1) but can decide to pass Pinning tests, too

Stubborn: always use the unmodified Ld for morale tests in close combat, Stubborn and Fearless (1-2) units must always choose to pass a morale check

Misc:
swarm = model with swarm rule
there is no special rule for allocating wounds against units with multiple wounds

Mission rules:
3 old types of placement, only one type of mission

Sequence:
place terrain -> decide type of placement -> place mission markers -> decide first turn -> choose stratagems -> put units in reserve ->deploy remaining units -> deploy infiltrating units -> make scout moves

First turn:
roll-off, looser bids a number of strategy points, opponent can raise or bail out, both player can raise the stake until someone bails out. Winner can decide to go first or last
Player that goes first can decide table edge and has to deploy first
The looser can spent the strategy points on stratagems

Placing mission markers: 1 marker is placed as near as possible to the middle of the table, 4 markers are placed in turn, starting with the player that goes first. marker has to be more than 12” away from table edges and other markers
marker use a 60mm base and are impassable terrain, the center marker is flat and doesn’t block line of sight, the players can use every shape they want for the markers they place, as long as it doesn’t overlap the base significantly

Night Fighting: all units Veiled (1)

Scout: 12” move before the game after infiltrators are placed, outflank

Infiltrator: can be placed anywhere outside 18” of enemy models, count as veiled (2) as long as they make no voluntary action

Outflank: nominate side, on 3+ comes from there, on 1-2 from other side

Deep Strike: mishab table as before, place squad leader,
if in 6” of enemy: 3D6” scatter, use arrow on hit symbol, if in 12”: 2D6” hit is hit, in 18”: 1D6”, outside 18”: no scatter
may only advance on turn of arrival, even with fleet or flat out, count always as (advance) moving, charge allowed

Reserves: unit(s), their transport and joined IC count as one unit for all reserve related purposes, but the unit has to start inside the transport and IC has to be in the unit, units can use special deployment options of the vehicle but not vice versa,
1. nominate any number of outflanking units to harry, place them near the table, facing the enemy’s table edge
2. flank guard: nominate half (rounding down) of the remaining units to arrive in turn 2, place them near the table, facing the small table edge
3. rear guard: the rest arrives in turn 3, place them near the table, facing the own table edge
In the preparation phase
when you put an unit in reserve you have to decide upon a deployment method

In preparation phase:
flank guard: from turn 2 on: arrives on 2+
rear guard: arrives in turn 2 on 1, and from turn 3 on on 2+
harrying units arrive on 4+ from turn 2 on
all remaining reserves are arriving on turn 6

for every harrying unit that is in reserve in the enemy’s preparation phase, you can make the enemy reroll one reserve roll

units from reserves are placed in the preparation phase in base to base contact with table edge (if not deep striking), if there is not enough space, placed back in reserves

Victory Points
both armies can collect victory points throughout the game, there are two ways: claim a kill, claim a mission marker at the end of the game turn:

Claim Kill:
every destroyed tank (not vehicle), walker, monstrous creature or independent character is a kill. Every squad leader that is killed is a kill (not counting standards, etc.)
Every kills gives one victory point

Claim Marker:
You check in your own preparation phase if you hold or control a marker. Opponent checks in his preparation phase.

You control a marker, if there is one of your scoring units in 3” of the marker and no enemy scoring unit. If you control a marker you get 3 victory points.
You hold a marker, if you don’t control it, there is one of your non-scoring non-vehicle units in 3” and no enemy unit. If you hold a marker you get 2 victory points.

You start in the preparation phase of the second going player in the second game turn. The player that goes first checks a last time at the end of the game as there is no preparation phase in turn 7.

Vehicles and shaken units are completely ignored. Embarked units only count if transport is open-topped.

Game length:
6 turns

Stratagems:

1 can place automatic turret
immobile BS 3 10/10/10
is equipped with twin-linked weapon
can choose one weapon, that an infantry model from FOC Troop can be equipped with

1 the first or last game turn is night fighting

1 can re-roll one outflanking roll and one deep striking scatter roll per turn

1 can block every psychic power on 6+ even if no psyker in 24”, psykers block on 4+

1 steal the initiative: if going second, roll at the start of the game a D6, on 6 you go first

1 own units use Ld 10 for pinning morale checks

2 one unit for every full 1500 points can get one of the following USR: Tank Hunter, Shielded, Fearless (1), Preferred Enemy, Relentless

2 decide during deployment if rear or flank guard: roll a single reserve roll for all units in chosen guard

2 Mine Field: makes one piece of terrain for every full 750 points dangerous

2 units of both forces that are holding or controlling mission marker have Overwatch USR

3 can make one non-vehicle unit upon deployment scoring

3 enemy deep striking units must subtract 6” from distance to enemy to see how they scatter

2 all weapons of one unit for every full 750 points have the Anti Air and Tracer rule

4 you can switch units from rear guard to flank guard until you roll the first reserve roll,
every unit can decide upon arrival which deployment method it uses: deep strike, normal reserve or outflank,
one unit for every full 1500 points per turn can change its deployment method to one it cannot normally be deployed with

4 All own units count as having surged or moved flat out before the game.

4 all own units are equipped with offensive grenades

6 all enemy units count as being in terrain in their first turn

6 all own units count as Veiled (2) in turn one

6 enemy rear guard and flank guard units roll like harrying units for their arrival

12 Pitch black: Night fighting with Veil (2) during the whole game

12 own units: weapons fired in 6” range count as twin-linked

12 enemy must re-roll successful cover saves

every stratagem can only be taken one time,
for every unspent point, once per game one roll may be re-roll, this cannot be the steal the iniative roll


Narratives rules:
- optional rules: apocalyptic weapons, super heavy vehicles (not much changed, but rules for damaged super heavies for small games), formations
- new deployment types, mostly taken from mission expansion
- new victory conditions
- rules for games with predetermined strategy points for both players
- three sets of additional stratagems: fortifications, deployment options, reinforced buildings
- special terrain: ruins, streets, hell rivers, deathworld mangroves, warp gate, sand pit, orbital landing platform, habitat block
- highly modular: you can mix deployment rule, victory condition, optional rules, available stratagem sets, number of strategy points to spent and special terrain: voila, you have your own mission.

some more:
- narrative rule with strategy points: can agree with other player to with fix stock of strategy points, both players can spend them, then the looser of the bidding can use his strategy points on top
- damaged super heavies are cheaper, have only one structure point left, give 5 victory points
- pistols can make only a single attack in cc
- new close combat weapon: colossal power weapon: 2D6 against vehicles, models with S5 attack in I-order, models with lesser attack last. dreadnoughts double strength, dreadnought cc is colossal weapon
- IC can still be picked in cc, that seems to be huge, as in most meeles their is a wall of models that are in base to base contact
- movement is really fast now, every unit behaves almost the same, but you need marker for movement distances
- only very tiny paragraphs for unit types
- favorite tactic: charging unit with large ork mob, attack with almost every model, than shoot the hell out of another unit

Friday, June 24, 2011

Wayland Games rejects CItadel Finecast due to struggles with quality

Citadel Finecast is certainly a step up from the pewter miniatures we are so used to.  But among the gripes people have (Cost and quality control), the problems in quality control have been the most discussed.  Today Wayland Games, a very large online retailer announced they won't be carrying Citadel Finecast due to a phenomenal 55% error rate. 

From Wayland Games website:

We regret that we are not presently retailing the Citadel Finecast range.

Unfortunately, a randomly sampled assessment revealed what we feel to be an excessive level of actual and potential flaws that, if reflected across our entire stock of Finecast, could have resulted in unacceptable inconvenience to our customers. Although we will be returning our present stockholding to the manufacturer, please be assured that we remain committed to carrying the Finecast line and will be restocking in due course.


For your information, we sampled and then assessed 60 sealed blisters with 30 taken at random from each of two deliveries of stock. Failures were 17 (57%) of 30 and 16 (53%) of 30, making 33 (55%) of 60 in total. While failure doesn’t necessarily denote the blister content as being of less than merchantable quality, for our purposes it does categorise it as having a visible flaw that might be of sufficient concern to a customer such that the item might be returned. Details and images were provided to the manufacturer, with redacted copies of the images appearing below.

Please note, the blisters remain sealed and so images were taken through the product packaging.
 



There are a whole slew of images on the Wayland Games website, and you can see the numerous faults with Finecast models.

I applaud Wayland Games for standing up based on quality.  Finecast, despite all the hype, are injection molded plastic models.  I am unclear why they are having such production problems at GW with a tried and true process.  

GW is charging top dollar for these miniatures, and we have every right to expect top quality.  I am glad we have a retailer who won't just accept what they are given.

Alec

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Planetstrike Apocalypse! July 16th at the L.A. Bunker

James Bell
At the suggestion of James Bell, the awesome manager of the Los Angeles Games Workshop Battle Bunker, the next Apocalypse game will be Planetstrike!

It will be fun to do something different and mix Apocalypse and Planetstrike.  More rules are to follow, but keep the date open!


Planetstrike Apocalypse, Saturday, July 16th at 11:00am at the L.A. Battle Bunker.


PLANETSTRIKE SUMMARY

Basically, Planetstrike is set up into two sides, Attacker coming in from orbit and a Defender plane side that is dug in but spread out all over the planet.

Defender - The Defender has larger Troops (8) and Heavy Support (6) sections and gets to set up the entire battlefield. Buildings, defenses, etc. cost the Defender no additional points, but standard terrain density is supposed to be followed. The Defender may keep units in Reserve (to avoid the Firestorm), but they enter from a random table edge (including the Attacker's Drop Zone edge as it is their planet) and must roll on the reserve chart for availability.

Objectives - The Defender also decides which buildings (preferably an odd number) are the Objectives. ANY UNIT CAN CLAIM OR DENY AN OBJECTIVE! The game is supposed to end on a random turn length (5 to 7 turns). Defender counts Objectives only if at least ONE MODEL is present AND NO Attackers are within BASE CONTACT with the Objective. Attackers claim Objectives if they have at least ONE MODEL in base contact with the Objective REGARDLESS of Defenders being present or not.

Stratagems - Both sides pick Stratagems (Points equal to number of Objectives). Some Stratagems are Attacker/Defender/Race specific and can only be used ONCE. Each Stratagem has a different Point cost as some are nastier than others. It will take too long to describe all of them, but here is the generic (non-race specific) titles:
       
Attacker - The Attacker has larger Elites (6) and Fast Attack (6) sections within their Organization Chart. The Attacker may choose to Deep Strike ANY of the following units: Infantry, Jump infantry, Jetbikes, Monstrous Creatures and anything with a normal Deep Strike capability. Note that ANYTHING Deep Striking with the Deep Striking Special Rule may assault the turn they enter play. The Attacker also gets to choose which table edge is their "Drop Zone" so units can enter by that edge. ALL attacking units use the reserves Special Rule (3+ on Turn 1, 2+ on Turn 2, Automatic on Turn 3).

Firestorm - Before the Attacker starts, they get d6 + (# of Objectives) of Barrages. (Str 9, AP 3, Ordnance 1, Barrage). These do not cause Morale Tests. If nothing is hit, you may place a crater.

Bastions Bastions - Have an AV of 14 all around and typically have three sides with firepoints and one side with an access. Each Bastion can contain a single infantry unit OF ANY SIZE plus any Independent Character Infantry that has joined them. Anyone can enter freely into an unoccupied Bastion, but Bastions CANNOT BE ASSAULTED until they are ruined. Bastions have Automated Weapons and each one may fire at a separate unit. The Automated Weapons have a BS of 2 and ALWAYS shoot at the CLOSEST enemy unit.

Interceptor Guns
- The Quad-Guns, Icarus Lascannons and Missile Silos may choose to shoot at Deep Striking Units once the units are placed instead of shooting in the next turn.

Defense Lines - Defensive Lines provide a 4+ Cover Save and units Going to Ground within them gain +2 to their Cover Save. Units along the Defensive Lines are treated as being in base contact if they are within 2" of each other.

Landing Pads - They can be shielded (4+ INV save) or unfurled and have a AV of 13.

Indomitable Fortresses
- Count as a Bastion with three sections. Each section is treated as a separate Bastion for attacks, # of units inside, etc. They also have Missile Silos (Str 8, AP 3, Heavy 1, Ordnance, Barrage, Interceptor).

Sunday, June 19, 2011

SoCal Apocalypse No Limit Apocalypse Game - 76,000 points

Well, the L.A. Battle Bunker was host to what turned out to be a 13 player, 76,000 point Apocalypse Game on Saturday.  And everyone said they had a blast even though the Evil Munchkin team got slaughtered and almost tabled!  The final score was 6 objectives to 0.

This was our first NO LIMIT Apocalypse game.  Meaning there were no house rules.  So what was the result?  

Well, the first house rule we ever came up with was no Flank March unless a formation gave it to you, and then it only applied to that formation.  Well, it was clearly obvious why we have that rule.  The team that took Flank March rolled over their opponent.  Everyone agreed, this was the single biggest factor in the game.

Other than that, there were no broken formations or excessive cheese.  Flyers were on both sides and not a huge factor, and there were an even amount of Titans (that got whacked early).  I supplied Titans to both sides as well as Super Heavies.

Seems the couple gamers complaining about too many rules didn't bother to show up.  The gamers that did show up basically brought the same forces they always do.  There wasn't a single problem and everyone had a blast, which is the most important thing.

Next month, Planetstrike Apocalypse!


Four 4'x8' tables made up the battlefield

One of the tables fills up with Artillery and Necrons!

Tony the Titan!  It's gggrrreeaaaat!

The Eldar advance

The Imperial Artillery took a big toll.

The Evil Munchkins

The Jackson 6

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Chapterhouse Studios releases new models, previews upcoming releases





Chapterhouse Studios, well know for pissing off GW and getting sued for it, hasn't slowed down one bit.  In fact, they seem to be getting better and better.  And the prices are VERY reasonable.  Of all of them, the Conversion Beamer is totally awesome and I want 6!  (I do everything in multiples of 3).


Here are the kits with the Chapterhouse descriptions:

First off is this nice conversion kit for the Imperial Guard Chimera.  Call it a rapid-response variant if you want,  we just refer to is a the "Wheeled Chimera Conversion Kit".  This kit is composed of 9 highly-detailed resin pieces and easily replaces the tracked side pieces on the Games Workshop Imperial Guard Chimera.  MSRP will be $13.50.


We are also releasing a much-needed (in this humble hobbyist opinion) TRU-Scale Conversion kit for the Games Workshop Space Marine Storm Raven.  This resin kit expands the hull of the Storm-Raven making it much longer and actually makes it realistic to think the Storm-Raven can carry the troops it is supposed to carry.  We also included a grapple for carrying dreadnoughts (easily magnetized if you want to actually mount your walkers on the transport) as well as a hatch to cover the turret mount if you are inclined.  MSRP $17.50 for the 9-piece resin kit.


Next up are three smaller conversion kits.  First is a set of five resin "gun-halberds" for 28mm scale models (or Heroic Scale).  These weapons are composed of a power halberd that incorporates a bolter at the head.  These may be a good match for "Grey Knight" players or for those custom made custodes models.  Each 5 weapon set MSRP is $6.00.
 

Next we have a conversion-beamer and servo arm backpack set that is sculpted to work seamlesly with Games Workshop Space Marine models. If you are an aspiring tech-marine and are tired of trying to put together your very own conversion-beamer, this kit may save you some headaches.  Consisting of 4 resin pieces, this easily poseable and magnetized kit MSRP's for $9.50.


Lastly we have a new door kit for Games Workshop's Land Raider vehicle.  This 6 piece resin kit consist of 4 doors, 1 set of wings (for side door) and one chain of ammo (for same door).  The set features grim-reaper or death angels in various battle poses.  Whether you are a Dark Angel fan or just like the gloominess of grim-reapers, this set adds a personal touch to the already awesome Games Workshop Land Raider plastic kit.  This kit simply replaces the standard doors that come with the GW model.  MSRP is $10.50.


Friday, June 17, 2011

Forgeworld New Releases!

Forgeworld has just put up information on four new releases.  You can, as always, find them here.

The Dark Eldar Reaper

Space Marine Heavy Weapons set to go with the classic armor sets.

Astral Claws decal sheet


Eldar Decal Sheet


Thursday, June 16, 2011

More Sisters rumors from Blood of Kittens!

Blood of Kittens has really made a name for itself by posting the best 40K rumors on the Internet.  Here are more Sisters Rumors.

It is that time again, thanks for reading and posting your questions. Let me start by letting everyone know I have no idea (or will never know for sure) about new model releases. I don’t know if the new sisters release will be resin or plastic or the numbers in the boxes, but like I said before my bet is on Finecast re-release. Now with that out-of-the-way on to new rules…
What is not in the Codex:

Repressors
Arbites

The Units (some more information than others):

Canoness: Here is my special shout out to the Canoness: you are terrible. I mean grossly underpowered. Now this is going to sound like a cop-op, but I am not going into details because my hope is that she will be changed before release. It just sounds and looks like she is an unfinished product. She gets her own retinue that cannot do anything; she starts out cheap, but her upgrades are expensive and lame when you compare to everything else. So here is hoping to GW getting her fixed.

Repentia: Forgot to mention they have fleet

Celastians: Cheaper than a Marine, but not really anything going for them (that I know of)… extra attack. Re-roll hits for act of faith

Sister Battle Squad: Can still get a Heavy Flamer

Shraphim: They are pretty amazing. Cheaper than a Space Marine you get a Jump Packing, Hit and Running, and an act of faith that has them re-rolling wounds. You can also upgrade them to run with double hand flamers and melta pistols. They act both as an extra close combat weapon and become assault 2 instead of being twin-linked. So that means Assault 2 melta weapons.

Dominion Squads: Still get 4 special weapons. Act of Faith twin-linked.

Retributor Squads: Pretty fantastic. CHEAP! Talking under Long Fang cheap to fully kit out. Expect the return of the Heavy Bolter with these. Act of Faith is Rending.

Penitent Engines: Again fantastic. Same statline (Walker). No Scout or Infiltrate. Cheaper and can be a squadron aka 9 Engines. They still get the 1D6 attacks, but any wounds generate additional attacks (don’t know if they work like Blood Talons). 6+ Invul (don’t know if they generate faith)

That is all I got guys, if I get more will let you know. As always you can get a new developments by following Blood of Kittens.

Best way: Register with Blood of Kittens and receive email warnings about impending rumors or news.


Or join Blood of Kittens on Twitter

As always for those that don’t want to sign up for anything, don’t worry you will get all the same information as everyone else just no advance warning.

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

No Limits Apocalypse this Saturday at the LA Battle Bunker

There was a lot of whining over the past few months about actually having house rules to try and make the Apocalypse games fairer at the L.A. Battle Bunker.  Of course, most of this came from one former Apocalypse40K forum member who liked the rules he unilaterally made up (like Valkyries can't be flyers), but when we discussed on the forum new rules for game balance, he threw fits on how I was "limiting" his enjoyment.

Well, I play in 3 different Apocalypse groups and we discuss all the rules at length before we put them in effect, and when we do, usually all 3 groups use the same rule.  There is nothing arbitrary about how we implement house rules.  If you have never run a game for lots of gamers at a game store, you don't realize how you need to have rules so EVERYONE can enjoy the game.  But gamers love to whine anyway, so...

That being said, and basically to prove a point, we are holding a NO LIMITS Apocalypse game this Saturday, June 18th at the Los Angeles Games Workshop Battle Bunker.  That means no house rules, just the basic Apocalypse Rulebook (And Reload/IA).   Bring as many points as you want.  We will balance the sides.

I will give a rundown on Sunday on how the game went.

And the Big Game II is coming this January.  Stay tuned for news.

Alec


Monday, June 13, 2011

Sisters Codex Rumors!


The Blood of Kittens has established itself as the source for 40K rumors. Here are their latest om the Sisters.......


As always let us start with the easy ones that pretty much everyone figured was going to happen.

Allies gone
Inquisition gone
Faith streamlined
USRs updated to 5th
Cheaper Unit costs
Inquisition elements gone

So let start with the big one and perhaps most controversial change to Sisters of Battle: Faith
I am amazed reading around the Net how quite few people had great guesses on how the new faith works. One caveat about the faith rules: I only have most of the story so let us hope someone else can pluck the rest from the aether. The only thing that really stays the same is only faith producing units can use faith. Gone is the over and under rules based on model count and gone is faith powers that everyone can use. It is replaced with every unit has its own unit specific act of faith to call upon.

So for instance Repentia Act of Faith allows them to always land an attack even if they are killed before they can swing. They are little bonuses like re-rolling to wound and hit, no USRs. Now this if fine and dandy if you just pop a faith point and bam! power goes off, but not so fast. Acts of Faith require that you roll 5+ to activate . This makes faith much more unreliable… maybe. 

In addition every unit that can get faith generates 1d6 faith points per turn. This also means that a new faith pool is generated each turn with no storing of past faith. As well faith can be activated in multiple phases of the game, so for instance you can re-roll to hit in your shooting phase or in your assault phase. What is not clear is a few things. Like how many dice can you throw at a single act of faith? How many times can you attempt to activated a power? If you get an act of faith to go off in one phase does it carry over to the next phase? If you fail an act of faith does that mean you cannot try again in another phase? I don’t have the answers, but what do you think?

Random tidbits:

All Faith generating units get +6 invul save
All units that can get transports get Immolators or Rhinos
Assassins gone (Death Cult still in)
Wargear with the same names as GK wargear stay and get changed over. (e.g. Psybolt Ammo)
Karamazov gone
Priests in, pretty much same as before.
No change to the general Bolter, Melta, Flame concept of the Sisters
Specifics
Sisters have about 5 HQ choices including Special Characters
St. Celestine: Same price as a Grand Master you get 2+/+4 saves, WS/BS 7 Jump Pack, Fleet, Power Weapons always wounds on 4+ Has the power to come back like GK Thawn if killed.

Confessor: Takes the slot of the old Inquisitors. Cheap HQ (Warboss). Can create a henchman band using most of the henchman found in the GK codex. What makes the Confessor extra deadly is the ability for it to re-roll hits and wounds for her and the squad. This is the translation of the rumor matrix. So think for one second about her and the Death Cult together?

Repentia: Cheaper close to SM cost. FNP, Rage, Fearless, 6+ invul, no transports

Battle Sister Squad: Cheaper 10-20 unit size (no combat squads), but has access to Immolators which begs the question… Immolators either get increased transport capacity or Sisters break the rules concerning model count and buying transports. Multiple acts of faith.

Exocists: Pretty much same as before.

This is it for now gents and dames. If you have any questions let me know I can see if can get them answered sometime this week with another post.



Labels

3D Printing (7) 40K Fluff (3) 40K Nation (2) 6th Edition (32) 7th Edition (8) Aaron Lovejoy (2) Accessories (4) Adepticon (10) Adeptus Mechanicus (19) Aetherium (1) Airbrushes (1) Alan Bligh (1) Alpha Legion (9) Analytics (1) Anvil Eight (1) Apocalypse (43) Apocalypse Games (6) Apocalypse World Records (9) Armies (2) Art (2) Astra Militarum (1) Battle Reports (20) Battlefleet Gothic (2) Battlefoam (3) Battlefront Miniatures (1) Betrayal at Calth (7) Big Daddy (1) Black Templars (3) Blood and Skulls Industry (7) Blood Angels (21) Blood Ravens (1) Campaign (1) Chainsword (1) Chaos (18) Chaos Space Marines (35) City Fight (1) Collectors Editions (1) Conquest (2) Conventions (1) Conversions (14) Cosplay (5) Crimson Templars (5) Daemons (4) Dark Angels (29) Dark Eldar (5) Dave Taylor (2) Dawn of War (1) Death Guard (1) Death Korp of Krieg (1) Death Korps of Krieg (2) Dice of War Games (2) Digital Downloads (2) Dreadnoughts (2) Dreamforge (7) Drop Zone Commmander (1) Dust (1) eBay (6) Eldar (33) Emperor's Children (1) Eternal Crusade (1) Events (2) Facebook (1) Fantasy Flight Games (5) FAQ (6) Feast of Blades (1) Fellblade (14) Finecast (2) Flames of War (2) Flash-Gitz (1) Flyers (16) Forge World (394) Fraud (2) Games Workshop (77) Gamesday (1) Garro (1) Giveaways (8) Grey Knights (5) Heresy Trading (1) Hobby Articles (26) Hobby Supplies (1) Horus Heresy (333) Horus Heresy Weekender (31) House Rules (7) Imperial Fists (12) Imperial Guard (25) Imperial Knights (22) Inferno (6) Inquisition (3) interviews (4) Iron Hands (8) Iron Warriors (5) KICKSTARTER (7) Killzone (1) Knight Titans (5) Legal Issues (3) Legio Custodes (21) Legion of the Damned (4) Leviathan Crusader (1) Lord Inquisitor (12) mastadon (1) Mastodon (1) Mechanicum (9) Minotaurs (1) Mobile Devices (1) Moritat (1) Necrons (14) New Releases (4) Night Lords (4) Objective Scoring (2) Orks (28) Painting (4) Plastic 30K Kits (1) Podcasts (1) Primarchs (2) Privateer Press (1) Prospero (3) Raven Guard (8) Ravenguard (1) Resin accessories (108) Retailers (7) Roboute Guilliman (1) Rumors (95) Salamanders (5) Scam Alerts (1) Scratch Builds (24) Siegeworld (5) Sisters of Battle (11) Sisters of Silence (8) SoCal Apocalypse (5) Solar Auxilia (12) Sons of Horus (4) Space Hulk (3) Space Marines (55) Space Wolves (13) Special Ops (1) Starter Set (5) Stormbird (1) Supplements (2) Tactics (1) Tallarn (1) Talons of the Emperor (1) Tau (19) Terrain (15) The Big Game (20) The Big Game 2 (17) The Big Game 3 (14) The Big Game 4 (3) The Black Library (117) The Emperor (1) The Inner Geek (4) Thosand Sons (3) Thousand Sons (15) Thunderhawk (4) Titans (24) Tom McBride (33) Tools (1) Tyranids (13) Ultramarines (12) Video Games (16) Videos (1) Wahammer 40k (3) Warhammer Forge (1) Warhammer World (6) Warhawk (3) Warhound Titan (2) Warlord (16) Warmachine (1) Week in Review (1) White Dwarf (10) White Scars (4) WIP (2) Word Bearers (4) World Eaters (3)

Disclaimers

Apocalypse40K is a registered trademark of Dice of War, Inc.. ©Copyright 20010-2013. All rights reserved.

Warhammer 40,000
This web site is completely unofficial and in no way endorsed by Games Workshop Limited.

Adeptus Astartes, Blood Angels, Bloodquest, Cadian, Catachan, the Chaos devices, Cityfight, the Chaos logo, Citadel, Citadel Device, Codex, Daemonhunters, Dark Angels, Dark Eldar, 'Eavy Metal, Eldar, Eldar symbol devices, Eye of Terror, Fire Warrior, Forge World, Games Workshop, Games Workshop logo, Genestealer, Golden Demon, Gorkamorka, Great Unclean One, Inquisitor, the Inquisitor logo, the Inquisitor device, Inquisitor:Conspiracies, Keeper of Secrets, Khorne, Kroot, Lord of Change, Necron, Nurgle, Ork, Ork skull devices, Sisters of Battle, Slaanesh, Space Hulk, Space Marine, Space Marine chapters, Space Marine chapter logos, Tau, the Tau caste designations, Tyranid, Tyrannid, Tzeentch, Ultramarines, Warhammer, Warhammer 40k Device, White Dwarf, the White Dwarf logo, and all associated marks, names, races, race insignia, characters, vehicles, locations, units, illustrations and images from the Warhammer 40,000 universe are either ®, TM and/or © Copyright Games Workshop Ltd 2000-2008, variably registered in the UK and other countries around the world. Used without permission. No challenge to their status intended. All Rights Reserved to their respective owners.

Warhammer
This web site is completely unofficial and in no way endorsed by Games Workshop Limited.

The Chaos devices, the Chaos logo, Citadel, Citadel Device, the Double-Headed/Imperial Eagle device, 'Eavy Metal, Forge World, Games Workshop, Games Workshop logo, Golden Demon, Great Unclean One, the Hammer of Sigmar logo, Horned Rat logo, Keeper of Secrets, Khemri, Khorne, Lord of Change, Nurgle, Skaven, the Skaven symbol devices, Slaanesh, Tomb Kings, Trio of Warriors, Twin Tailed Comet Logo, Tzeentch, Warhammer, Warhammer Online, Warhammer World logo, White Dwarf, the White Dwarf logo, and all associated marks, names, races, race insignia, characters, vehicles, locations, units, illustrations and images from the Warhammer world are either ®, TM and/or © Copyright Games Workshop Ltd 2000-2008, variably registered in the UK and other countries around the world. Used without permission. No challenge to their status intended. All Rights Reserved to their respective owners.


General This web site is completely unofficial and in no way endorsed by Games Workshop Limited.

Adeptus Astartes, Battlefleet Gothic, Black Flame, Black Library, the Black Library logo, BL Publishing, Blood Angels, Bloodquest, Blood Bowl, the Blood Bowl logo, The Blood Bowl Spike Device, Cadian, Catachan, the Chaos device, Cityfight, the Chaos logo, Citadel, Citadel Device, City of the Damned, Codex, Daemonhunters, Dark Angels, Dark Eldar, Dark Future, the Double-Headed/Imperial Eagle device, 'Eavy Metal, Eldar, Eldar symbol devices, Epic, Eye of Terror, Fanatic, the Fanatic logo, the Fanatic II logo, Fire Warrior, Forge World, Games Workshop, Games Workshop logo, Genestealer, Golden Demon, Gorkamorka, Great Unclean One, the Hammer of Sigmar logo, Horned Rat logo, Inferno, Inquisitor, the Inquisitor logo, the Inquisitor device, Inquisitor:Conspiracies, Keeper of Secrets, Khemri, Khorne, Kroot, Lord of Change, Marauder, Mordheim, the Mordheim logo, Necromunda, Necromunda stencil logo, Necromunda Plate logo, Necron, Nurgle, Ork, Ork skull devices, Sisters of Battle, Skaven, the Skaven symbol devices, Slaanesh, Space Hulk, Space Marine, Space Marine chapters, Space Marine chapter logos, Talisman, Tau, the Tau caste designations, Tomb Kings, Trio of Warriors, Twin Tailed Comet Logo, Tyranid, Tyrannid, Tzeentch, Ultramarines, Warhammer, Warhammer Historical, Warhammer Online, Warhammer 40k Device, Warhammer World logo, Warmaster, White Dwarf, the White Dwarf logo, and all associated marks, names, races, race insignia, characters, vehicles, locations, units, illustrations and images from the Blood Bowl game, the Warhammer world, the Talisaman world, and the Warhammer 40,000 universe are either ®, TM and/or © Copyright Games Workshop Ltd 2000-2008, variably registered in the UK and other countries around the world. Used without permission. No challenge to their status intended. All Rights Reserved to their respective owners.