620 - More Bolt Action Games (part 1)

Hullo Folks,

As usual, the title says it all. I've been finding an oasis of calm recently in the midst of real life rubbishness, and I've found it at the new gaming club. Not that there's anything amiss with my normal club(!) - it's just that this one is - well - quieter*. 

ANYWAYS, I've played two games there in the last fortnight, and I fancied just quickly breezing through them in two posts:

Game 1 - 2000pts

Something of an ad-hoc affair, which led to me and Guy teaming up with our Brits attacking Steve, Ben and James and their nefarious Germans in order to secure three objectives.

(Some deployment and turn 1 goodness)

The game started well for the Brits as with our opening round Guy's Firefly put a 17pdr shell into a building and blew it to smithereens, taking two German units with it and leaving that objective far less protected. 

The building that was flattened.
This is from later on, after the
lorried PIAT flattened the Puma

Guy and I used the 'denied flank' tactic, and our tactics worked, but we had luck and experience on our side too, it seems. The Germans invested way too much energy and firepower into dealing with my weak but distracting feint on the right, and in the meantime our tanks sat back and blatted away with HE at densely-grouped troops, and our lorries surged forward carrying PIATs and flamethrowers of sure and certain destruction (see above).

Surprising speed and aggression from the Brits paid off in the end against a faltering and uncertain German defence...the presence of my two armoured cars helped, too!

On the centre-right, meanwhile,
MY sneaky wee PIAT immobilises
another threat

...and the AEC III zooms along
the road to join in the fight too!

In the end, we'd somehow gained both the left and right objectives, and the Germans only had tattered remnants with which to defend the centre, so it was a solid win. Top units really could go to the Firefly, the PIATs or the flame team, but it simply MUST go to the transport section and its super-brave deliveries! Pete Johnson Beharry VC, eat your heart out!

In these last two pics, you can
see my troops seizing the right
objective after flying down the
road in a lorry. Next, another
section surges toward the centre.

There you go - uncharacteristically brief; if not the most spectacular of bat-reps.

Take it easy, Good People,

- Drax

*It's also in the most archetypical village hall imaginable, which (on a socio-architectural level if nothing else) brings me a huge amount of happiness.

509 - Bolt Action Battle Report Part 2 - Reflections (+6MMRPC)

Hullo!

Supplemental to my last post [link], here are a few more pics (from my opponent's perspective) and my post-match analysis...such as it is...which are also my first 'post- Bolt action' thoughts.

I shall intersperse the pics - with captions - throughout, for the sake of variety. My notes are transferred verbatim from my 'Seventh Book of Arcane Scribblings' (see here and here):

John's right flank as he assaults, featuring an his sniper (by the building, centre-table); MMG; Divisional AT Gun; Naval Infantry (the 'Black Death', with light bases); T34/85, and some normal infantry on the right).

Feedback Notes: First Bolt Action (28mm) Game, 30/05/15:

Mission: 'Envelopment' - 1000pts - Defending

• Preliminary bombardment is nasty on the receiving end
• 6pdr got in a sneaky wee shot right across the board to hurt the T34 twice!
• My arty bombardment was BRUTAL - pinned 4 units and destroyed MMG
• --> this effectively stalled his attack on my left flank

Facing them, the five rifle-armed Toms holding my left flank. There's an MMG in the window too ;-)

• Remember LOS! Twice my units got in each other's way. 
• Remember 1" firing lanes too...
• Star Player: my PIAT-armed universal carrier, which did a lot, but in particular destroyed his two-man flamethrower team with two 6s followed by two 5s! Yay!
• ALL of my carriers did very well: they pushed up with LMGs blazing very effectively

These chaps lost one man on my right flank.

• Sniper was rubbish, but drew fire well

• OC ran forward and finished off the last man of a squad with his SMG
• One of my half-sections - by mutual agreement - launched an illicit carrier-borne assault over a hedge...and won!
• PIAT team in carrier did get close enough to use it, but fluffed.

The Black Death. Very hard to kill.

• Veteran infantry (like the Navy Boys) are very hard to kill. Very.
• Cromwell positioned itself well, and shot well enough
• MMG team in building did very well
• Don't be absent-minded with dice! - I was TERRIBLE for this: distractedly picking up orders dice left, right and centre.

The carriers bring the fight to the Russian left...

• Light A-T guns are actually a lot more powerful than I realised. This seems a little simple for Late-War, but I guess it makes sense within the straightforward rules mechanic.
• Light mortars are super-good - especially with smoke! 
• Smoke sticks around very well in Bolt Action...

...and to the right,

• In 'reserves' missions, carriers are great to tow-on the 6pdr and lug the MMG into position. I know this, because I also got in two-and-a-half turns of another game in which I was able to do just this.

Verdict?

Awesome opponent; awesome game.

= win.

Cheers!

- Drax.

PS: 6MMRPC: Time is tight, as I knew it would be, but I've started getting some proper paint onto those Orks...Yay!

POST 500 - "Why Am I Here?" - A glance fore and aft.

"Why Am I Here?" was the title of my first post, seven years and four days ago, and it seems apt to bring it back for today.

But first, 

POST 500! 

Hooray! 

...and thank you for swinging by!

It seems crazy to think that we're still doing this, seven years in; it seems crazy to ponder how many hours I've spent on this blog and how many friends it's brought me. Thanks, everyone.

I've got a whole raft of things I want to say and do in this post, but that'd get silly, so I'm going to limit myself here to three significant things, and then use the rest as content over the coming couple of weeks. The three things are as follows:

1. Issue the 'competition' to win a star prize;
2. A brief look back at each of the four previous centenary posts, (and this week's goodies) and,
3. An announcement.

Firstly, then: the competition. 

Actually, it's not a competition so much as a draw, and it's really simple (because I've little to offer as a prize): please leave a comment at the end of this post, and if you'd like to be in with the chance of randomly being picked as a winner, then just mention it. I won't take offence if you don't! The prize is as follows:

I will paint up a unit for you - free of charge - and cover the postage too, as best I can. You know that unit that you really cannot be bothered to paint? I'll do it. You know those models that you need to be finished at some point but they're right at the bottom of your priority list? Send 'em to me. The caveats are: (1) I'm not brilliant at painting - I'll do a serviceable job, but it's not pro-quality, and (2) it'll take me a while. I promise I'll give it my best shot, though...

There you go! Free painting for one unit. Not a bad prize, if you just need stuff painted!

Next, a brief look back at previous centenary posts:

Post 100 - Drax's Guard Army [link]:

This was the first group shot of the glorious 2/24th Cadian. Ah, glory days indeed! This was almost a year after starting the blog and about seven months after moving from Norwich to sunny Devon.

Post 200 - Drax's Army Painted [link]:

By this point, we'd had the first addition to our family - our eldest daughter - but I still managed to describe the 2/24th as "my pride and joy!" Incidentally, this shoot is the one my current blog header comes from!

Post 300 - Drax's Whole Army [link]:

In June 2012 I was lucky enough to be frequenting the now-defunct Giant's Lair in Plymouth: the only time in my almost 25 years of wargaming that I've been able to play regularly. By the way, if you weren't around during this period, I recommend checking out this post: there are some cracking pics! I really like this one: 

Post 400 - Day 4/14 - the 400th Post [link]:

Wow - this is truly mundane! I did genuinely enjoy bashing out fourteen posts over the course of a fortnight though: it was a fun (and very popular) challenge, the 'Forced Fortnight' - it also got me to plough through a lot of hobby work. By this time, I'd had another child (Daughter #2, the tubby ginger one) and I'd taken a demotion at work, to give me more family time. Great decision! 

The sprue, by the way, is from my Matilda II, which I've yet to paint properly...it's waiting in the wings, trust me. I've got plans for it. This is symbolic, really, of my move away from 40K and towards historical - in this case, Bolt Action in 15mm.

That leads me, as it happens, to where I am now: I now have my core force assembled in 28mm Bolt Action...and there's more on the way! Here's a pic of my core, legal 'reinforced platoon' - with luck I'll have about 1000pts' worth by the end of the month when I nip up to Kirton Games for my inaugural Bolt Action games!

L-R; Front-Back: Cromwell, Sniper & Spotter, 2Lt, FOO, PIAT & Loader, 1 Section (in two teams so as to be force-legal) and a Recce Carrier with pintle-mounted Bren. 

There'll be far more posts about these puppies over the coming weeks, trust me!

Finally, an announcement:

I think it's time for me to quit 40K. I've not played with my army for literally over a year...and even then I had to dust them off. It was an absolutely blinding game against Gravis, but it was a last hurrah under the old Codex, and before GW went properly, finally batshit crazy. 

I've played 40K since - I played Zzzzzz-style, chez Zzzzzz, and it was a thoroughly enjoyable game, but I didn't need 4500pts' worth of Guard to play it - in fact, I didn't even use a single one of my models. And still had a blast. 

Now, I love my army, but they take up room...and I not only haven't kept up with the pace of change in 40K (I can't afford to!) I've also realised, on a fundamental level, that I don't want to. I just don't want to play their games any more. Literally AND figuratively. I strongly dislike the recent shifts in aesthetic, and I don't even like where they've taken the fluff these days: something GW's always done well. No. Alas, there's simply no part of the GW hobby that still attracts me. 

Except Zzzzzz-style gaming, because that's really fun.

So I'm left with a sprawling, painted, uniform, outdated, archaic Cadian Imperial Guard army that hasn't even been reworked for the current codex. I will probably have to sell it, and I cannot imagine for a second that I'll get a good price for it. I also have the issue of the couple of units I'd wish to keep...just for the memories, y'know...but I suspect this is all a post for another day.

Anyone want to buy a Guard Army? One very careful and loving owner...

Sorry if this feels like a betrayal to any of my few remaining 40K readers, but it doesn't mean I'm going to stop enjoying your posts (assuming the internet is functioning well enough for me to enjoy them...!)

So.

Here endeth the 500th lesson.

The Emperor Protects.

- Chris/Drax.

492 - EXCITEMENT! First X-Wing Tournament - Part 2

Time, then, for Part Deux of my Exe-Wing tournament write-up. 

I left you at the halfway point:

Game 1: Modified Win - 12-0
Game 2: Match Loss - 0-100

Next, Game 3

Game 3: Tim with Empire: a Decimator List
Notes and Result:

This Tim also seemed fairly well matched with me in terms of experience, and was a very helpful chap to boot. Plus, he wooed me with a generous offering of Fox's Glacier Mints on the sidelines. Yay! He brought with him the kind of list I'd been fearing: the Decimator was captained by Capt Oicunn and packing proton bombs, flanked by Howlrunner and Backstabber with another Academy Pilot making up numbers.

Me deploying first meant that Oicunn set a course to overrun me, and - not being sharp-witted enough to avoid this fully - I sacrificed the Z-95 to take the hit from the terrifyingly pointy ship. So far, so inevitable, but what I'd completely forgotten about was the proton bomb just about to drop out of its pointy backside. Rats. I've never played against bombs before and was caught out utterly: both the Z-95 and the X-Wing took a hit.

Bugger. 

Tim was also kind enough to remind me before the game about how the bombs work.

Bugger.

Pointy nastiness

Still, I rallied my forces, managed a sneaky wee bit of K-turning and some cunning manoeuvring, and started fighting back. First to fall was the Decimator itself - I stripped its shields, crippled it with some lucky rolls and finished it off soundly by managing to steer most of my ships to have it arc. Rather pleasingly, it was the sturdy old Y-Wing that finished it off!

Gritty survivors!

At this point, Tim's defences sadly crumbled, and to my surprise and delight his other three ships soon went too. He was kicking himself that he hadn't focussed on destroying my Y-Wing when it was limping, but honestly my Mutts and Mongrels were on a roll in this game, and astonishingly they all made it through.

Result: Match Win (99-0)

Game 4 - Tom with a 'Phat Han' List
Notes and Result:

This was one match-up I was really interested to play - I was quite excited going into my last game! 

I was playing against Tom, who knew his Star Wars fluff inside-out and really enjoyed the construction of my list, noting how typical it was for the rebels to just cobble together whatever ships they could find for a sortie. I guess that's why I was fielding a 'Prototype' A-Wing, right?

First, a brief note on the tactics I'd been using through the day:

- None.

That's not strictly true. I was trying to use the A-Wing as a flanking outrider, but that was about it, and now I was facing an actual outrider: the beautiful YT-2400 'Outrider' piloted by the marvellous Dash Rendar and escorted by Chewbacca in the YT-1300 Millennium Falcon, helped out by his crewmates R2-D2 and C3PO. The crew choices were a wee bit beardy maybe, but the two ships together look amazing - and how very cinematic to see the two smugglers zooming round the board together!

And for this game, I genuinely planned and played tactics: The A-Wing was deployed in a feint to swoop by and strafe the Falcon before zooming off to run interference with the Outrider. This worked. Whilst the A-Wing stopped Dash Rendar doing what he should do best by flying annoyingly in his way, the others systematically swarmed round the Falcon and took it apart. Rather poetically, after my Mutts took it in turns to get in Chewy's way, it was obstructed by the X-Wing, ion-ed twice by the Y-wing, then finished off by the Z-95.

Then it was just a matter of chasing down the Outrider - cue 'Benny Hill' music as my ships bumbled round the board in the last minutes of play, crashing into each other and trying to head Rendar off at the pass. The B-Wing was on its last hull-point and bound to die, but as it happened, my rush to manoeuvre meant that all of my ships ended up crashing into each other within Range 1 of the Outrider - meaning that he couldn't actually shoot me: Woo-hoo!

This time, the X-Wing took the final shot. Nice. The tactics worked.

The dying moments - a portrait in three parts.

Result: Match Win (100-0).

Endgame:

To my surprise and utter delight, it turns out that I finished sixth out of twenty-two!

Top-eight! Woo-hoo!

I got as a prize not only the special character card we all received but also a shiny new (literally shiny) X-Wing dice bag. Bolt Action here we come!

It really was an absolutely smashing day, and the X-Wing system - if not too roughly abused - is genuinely a great leveller for newbies. Thanks go out to all the organisers.

Here's to next time, eh?

Fly Casual...

- Drax.

427 - 'After the Storm' - One Last Outing for Codex: Imperial Guard

Situation:

Opposing forces have been widely scattered after violent atmospheric disturbances in the last twelve hours, with infantry digging-in deep, naval forces grounded and armoured units being secured within impromptu laagers. Now though, as the rad-storms and electron blizzards begin to subside, the ground elements have started to reorganise and get back to the job at hand.

Drax's force before the mission...

In this sector, both sides are keen to locate an unidentified object which disappeared suddenly from scanners after plummeting from high orbit towards a post-industrial wasteland deep in no-man’s-land.

I've taken my cue here from the parallel post from Col. Gravis [link], who has been kind enough to agree to play me in one final 'hurrah' for the Imperial Guard in its current incarnation.
 
As I'm so out of practice, and as - quite frankly - I feel massively intimidated by the huge amount of rules and units I just don't understand in 6th Edition, I penned a wee scenario specifically for a roughly equal clash of two similar but individual forces. More particularly, I wanted something which would work visually too, and that required a good 'ol clash of Guard no-frills infantry.
 
The scenario calls for flyers and artillery to be left at home, and for the army to be broken into two core elements: the main infantry force of 1500pts, and a more rapidly moving cavalry group of 1000pts, which will arrive from scattered reserve as the game goes on.
 
You can see in the good Colonel's parallel post [link] his force's composition, so here is mine (with some explanatroy notes afterwards for newer readers):

Main Force - comprising core elements of B Coy, 2/24th Cadian Light Infantry:

HQ:
(70pts) Coy Commander (basic) with 4 veteran snipers

TP:
(440pts) 1 Platoon
- HQ w. 3 gren, 1 flamer
- 1 Sect w. plasma
- 2 Sect w. melta
- 3 Sect w. gren
- SWS w. 2 melta, 1 demo charge
- HWS w. 3 autocannon
- Mortar Squad w. 3 mortars

(430pts) 2 Platoon
- HQ w. 3 gren, 1 flamer
- 1 Sect w. plasma
- 2 Sect w. melta
- 3 Sect w. gren
- SWS w. 2 gren, 1 flamer
- HWS w. 3 missile launchers
- Mortar Squad w. 3 mortars

(415pts) 3 Platoon
- HQ w. 3 gren, 1 flamer
- 1 Sect w. plasma
- 2 Sect w. melta
- 3 Sect w. gren
- SWS w. 2 gren, 1 flamer
- HWS w. 3 autocannon
- Mortar Squad w. 3 mortars

(150pts) Hardened Veterans w. G/Sgt Harker, gren, flamer, sniper, h/bolter team

= 1505pts.

Cavalry Force - Comprising Atts & Dets from 1/24th and IVth Cadian Armoured Regt:

(No FOC Requirement)

(35pts) "Stephenson's Horse" - Scout Sentinel w. multilaser 

(145pts) Hellhound, "Cerberus" w. inferno cannon, h/bolter, h/stubber and smoke

(145pts) Hellhound, "Helios" w. inferno cannon, h/bolter, h/stubber and smoke

(140pts) Devil Dog, "Gelert" w. melta cannon, m/melta and smoke

(185pts) Leman Russ MBT w. battle cannon, hull lascannon and h/bolter sponsons

(165pts) Leman Russ Annihilator w. T-L lascannon and hull lascannon

(180pts) Leman Russ Exterminator w. exterminator cannon, 3 h/bolters and h/stubber.

= 995pts.

(sorry about the garish light blue, but there's a thematic reason!)

The three platoons recive their briefings and blessings before kick-off...

A brief explanation:
(NB: Should anyone want links to older posts detailing these points, just ask. I don't anticipate a rush!)

Inf Company: this is my core army, and I've gone for it in its absolute standard configuration - I've not changed a thing.

HQ - in his 'marching order' - not how he poses for pics. For the last two years I've run my CO with four snipers...almost always disastrously. His team is comically ineffectual, but I've grown rather fond of them.

The three platoons: I know some of the weapons load-outs seem weird, but they're designed with an element of low-level tactical self-sufficiency, and this is how they've played for years. It's not usual for me to take the demo charge SWS (1 pl) but this game isn't about sound, fighty list choices, is it?!

Veterans: I've taken Harker, because I love the slight awkwardness of his rules and I haven't fielded his model in an age, and eveything else from that squad is there simply because I like the figures!

NO MARBO. Nope. I LOVE Marbo and his cheeky wee antics, but I decided that this scenario doesn't really suit my Marbo figure, and as I made this list before rumours of his imminent departure spread, I've left him at home. I'll miss him though...

Stephenson's Horse: Only my most dedicated readers will know about this fella (presented herein his vanilla guise) --> [link]

The Hellhounds: I love my hellhounds. Love 'em. And there'll be a few targets for them to toast too, methinks.

The Devil Dog: Yes, I do KNOW that it's the worst anti-tank unit in the Imperium, but I just love the way it haplessly bimbles around the tabletop missing everything with high-powered weapon!

The Leman Russes: I thought I'd pick the three models (as in, types) of Russ that I like best. So there.

Overall, it's more of a whimsical list than a fight-y one, and - as usual - I haven't nearly enough serious anti-tank...but then, this is a game about wholesale slaughter really, not of anything too sensible!

Right then.
Until tomorrow night...

- Drax.

386 Imperial Guard Codex Wishlist (Drax Version)

Hullo!

I rather suspect this one won't be the only post about this.

Even when I'm in the loop I don't tend to follow the rumourmill, and I visit BOLS so rarely now I feel like a stranger in a land. Nevertheless, I'm given to understand that there is another Imperial Guard Codex in the pipeline.

With no reference to any rumours at all, here are my first thoughts:

Dear GW,

1. Please proof-read it. Just for a change. Oh, and why not check it's not intrinsically contradictory too...?
2. Voxcasters. Please make them good again. Please?
   
3. Sentinels. They're just so very iconic: please make them more useable once more. It'd be a shame to make them cheaper than their equally-iconic 35pts, but then again they are way too expensive compared to anything else that's similar. Why not give them their one weapon for free? - it's not like they're going to hit anything anyway!
4. Hydras. I've not played new flyer rules much, but please just make the things fit the fluff. They must be able to engage both surface and air targets.
5. Veterans - I don't care how effective they are in-game, but please make sure they've got lots of fun options!
6. Vendettas - I don't play them myself, but they're quite evidently overpowered. I used to think they were - quite frankly - daftly overloaded and overpowered. Then GW started releasing all the really daft Space Marine flyers. Yup.
7. Orders? I dunno. I like the mechanic, but they can really slow the turn down. Plus it's rubbish having to do them first.
8. Make Techpriests FUN again, won't you? Personally, I'd love to see 2nd-Ed-style Techpriests running ino destroyed tanks to personally fire their guns...but we all know that's WAY too fun, right?
9. Make the Devil Dog worth taking. It's such a fun little idea and it should be the mainstay of IG light anti-tank vehicles (I love to roll with one) but instead it's eclipsed in every single way by the Vendetta.
10. Bring back support weapons platoons. Why would you ever have got rid of them? -It's such a beautifully Guard thing! Madness.
11. Regiments! Bring 'em back! Whether or not they're supported rules-wise (and whyever not?) at least acknowledge the existence of more than four of them.
12. Why don't the IG have any scouts? Like, y'know, proper recce scouts?
13. Please think about options for troops. Currently, heavy weapons squads CANNOT take a transport to help them lug their gear around but CAN take krak grenades for when they go tankhunting. Naturally, special weapons squads (y'know, the ones that are ideal for BS3 tankhunting) cannot take either!
14. Leman Russes. Why do they have only 3 structure points?
15. Given the abundance of monstrous creatures and high-toughness things on the 41st Millennium these days, might the Imperal Guard have started training units to deal with them? Only, my Str3 lasguns aren't much use. Giant-Killers - that's what we need.
16. A model for hydras, maybe?
17. Leman Russ Annihilators in main rules?
18. Make Masters of Ordnance actually useful. I mean off-table artillery barrage useful For a price, of course. And it'd be cool if you could detach a squad for their protection...
19. Give Penal Legionnaires teeth again: the 6th Ed rules for assaulting from reserve and using frag grenades against tanks pretty much scuppered the Legion's usefulness. A pity, because they're fun.
20. Stormtroopers - make 'em cheaper or make 'em better. And finally...
21. COOL, USEFUL, FUN-TO-MODEL MEDICS! PLEASE! (PLEASE?)

That is all.

- D.

377 State of the Union (and Painting Charts) Part I - 40K

Hullo, Gentle Readers.

I thought it was time enough to try to explain whereabouts I am with my hobby at the moment. It'll be in two parts - here's the first.

For those of you who are long-term readers, this might explain some bits and bobs. Word heavy, I'm afraid!

Firstly,

Warhammer 40K.

A weekend ago I had the singular pleasure of going up to Oxfordshire to play Chez Zzzzzz with Zzzzzz himself and Col. Corbane. In case you didn't see, we played a bloomin' massive game of Apocalypse...which was my first game of 40K - in any sense - since September 2012. That's a long time gone.

The reason I've had such a long absence was because of my second daughter coming along, and wanting (needing?!) to actually spend more time with my family. This compounded with my slight wariness of Sixth Edition (see below), the unusual sense of having my IG army pretty much where I want it(!) and an abject lack of any spare funds to make me put the hobby on the back-burner.

Playing with Zzzzzz's little men really gave me something of a kick up the jacksie to get back to 40K - but not with any major expansion projects: that's simply not an option. Instead, I'm trying to finish odds-and-sods off, slim-down the bitz-box and work on a couple of fun conversion projects. Watch this space!

Sixth Edition, Codices and Money.

Let's get this straight: I really like almost everything about 6th Ed (I'm looking at you: tank assault on rear bloody armour still!) - it's just I'm a little less keen on what GW and players seem to be doing with it.

I love that the rules are now more fun and really really seem designed to encourage a more narrative style of play, but two-and-a-half things concern me...and I'm pretty sure they're entirely contrived to sell more plastic crack. Which is a shame:

1. Allies. These rules seem to allow armies to too-easily plug gaps which have tradionally needed to have been filled by careful planning and tactical acumen. That's not to say the rules are wrong or bad, I just think they could've been more restrictive. Seeing nothing but easy-win, all-powerful IC-builds on the table gets a little tiresome, I should think.
2. Flyers (and Monstrous Creatures, and Flying MCs - that's the 'half' bit noted above). These simply do not fit in the scale or mechanic of 40K. Skimmers work fine, but flyers? No. Just an excuse to sell rather overblown (and at times rather silly) large models. As for MCs and Flying MCs? This is really just a bias. My IG flashlight gunline is simply not able to damage anything with a high toughness in any meaningful way, and I'm too old and too grumpy to change my lovely poor bloody infantry.

I'm disinclined to make any changes to my IG army because I have no money. Which leads to...

Codices and money.

There's no news in noting how very, very expensive 40K has got, but I simply have nothing spare for it. What worries me for the future is whether I'm going to care enough to spend the money on a new codex for the Guard when it comes out. £12 for a soft-cover is one thing - fine! - but shelling out for a giant hardback filled with bloomin' John Blanche scribbles in addition to (presumably) ridiculous power leaps in the capabilities of the average Guardsman is less attractive. I imagine the way that fighty ICs have been jammed into every recent codex means that the next Guard codex will have at the very least Solar Macharius and probably the Emperor himself.

And finally...

It's been a year, but here's the famous Draxian Painting Chart (TM) as it stands:

 

'Til next time and Part II then...

- Drax.

371 'Difficult Terrain' - The Weirdness of Tabletop Hills

Hullo, All.

Here's something which has been nagging me for a while now: why are terrain hills in tabletop battles usually so very 'unrealistic'?

[image used without permission from Kallistra, with no implication intended about their hills, which look beautifully crafted.]

This was brought to my attention by three things. Firstly, my attempts at 'imagining' line-of-sight when I played on very makeshift, mostly 2D terrain, here. Secondly, my recent realisation that I have pretty much no terrain that is not 40K cityfight stuff; and thirdly, I read an excellent and intriguing set of exploratory rules for cover on hills over at The M42 Project.

I was also re-watching 'Band of Brothers' for the umpteenth time, and when I saw them studying the D-Day sand tables I got very jealous.

[source]

I suppoe what I wondered was, 'can natural undulation be better represented in tabletop wargames?'.

I know that the simple answer here is no. For most practical purposes, normal terrain hills are fine...they're just not very realistic.

Obviously, the smaller your figures the better hills work, and there's always bound to be an element of silliness and abstraction when a 28mm figure is 'hiding' whilst standing up on a reverse slope (again see M42's ideas here) - but even in the reasonably small-scale Flames of War the hills seem a necessary yet unconvincing add-on.

No doubt a board of gently rolling downland or stark, rocky valleys would be beautiful, but a pain in the jacksie ruleswise and an absolute bugger to store too...but has anyone ever played on a more 'realistic' board like that? Did it work okay? Do please share.

That's enough from me - my brain has stopped functioning. Anyway, you get the idea.

Stay well,

- D.

361 Advice Sought: How Do I Equip an Armoured Sentinel?

Exactly as it says above, folks: I'm after a bit of advice, please!

[image from GW]

One of my very very few 40K purchases over the last three years was a partially (badly) made armoured sentinel...dirt-cheap on ebay.

HOWEVER...

I've never played with one before: they seem an incredible points sink, but I really like the model. My question though, is what do people think is the best armorment and tactical role for it?

Please help if you've any insights!

Many thanks,

- Drax.

337 'Deep' Thoughts - Why are there no moats in 40K?

PLEASE NOTE: This post is  NOT meant to be a serious suggestion - just the product of a tired and idle brain mucking around! See my comment below for details.

Well now.

Mrs D is full-term and about fit to pop with Child, Infant, No. 2, Changing for the use of,  and I've noticed with not a little dismay that not only have I had practically no hobby time in the last month, I've also been neglecting the blogosphere both passively and actively. So here are some thoughts about something whose absence is conspicuous in the 41st Millennium...

Moats.

source

I love moats. I love digging them (in sand, naturally!), exploring them, running up-and-down them, seeing them and just being awed by how - well - awesomely effective so simple an idea can be.

So why don't we ever see them in 40K?

Take the slightly ill-fated 'Planetstrike' expansion: one of the things which (as I understand it) added to its lacklustre impact [pun intented] is the ease with which certain assualty or melta-bomby troops could appear next to the walls of the (oddly arranged and isolated) fortifications and simply either cut them open or melt a hole through them. This would be trickier under 12 feet of water (or acid, or slime, or magma...or whatever happens to flow around 40K battlefields).

source

Now the real trick is this: even if you place your meltabomb or use your chainfist underwater, in a well-moated fort you'll merely be attacking the rock beneath the fort, and not the supestructue itself. I'm not saying this wouldn't work, but it'd certainly take a lot of time. And you'd get pretty soggy. 

'But Drax,' I hear you cry, 'Many fortifications have a dry moat!' And you're right, of course.

But think about how they often work practically: the best one are comically deep and some of them even have my favourite features: caponiers and counterscarp batteries (or counterscarp loopholes), so that once the enemy are in your dry ditch you can absolutely rake them with enfilading and counterscarp fire. I'm not saying this is flawless, but it's a hell of a lot better than just plonking your fort down somewhere flat...

Southsea Castle, which was local to me growing up, is a classic example of this practice. Here it is from the air (the caponier is at the bottom and the counterscarp loopholes may be seen around the inside of the outer ditch wall); the second picture is along one of the countescarp tunnels in the outer wall:

 (the blue patches are the daylight through the loopholes. Source.)

Either way, I think if I ever build my own Fortress of Redemption I suspect I may just model it with a moat!

-D.

332 Drax's First Games of 6th Ed + Reactions

Hullo All,

Well now, I'm delighted to say that in the last three days I've finally managed to play my first games of 6th Edition. Three games, in fact: a 2500pt sparring match with Jay at The Club (in prep for an upcoming tourney) and two 1000pt fluffy games this evening against the excellent Col. Gravis. What follows however isn't a battle report so much as a brief overview and then my thoughts so far on 6th Edition (If you want to skip, it's the bit in colour, below).

[Incidentally, check out Gravis's new pseudo-Praetorian gatling gun sculpts currently on sale!]

The first game was The Emperor's Will with Dawn of War deployment; me going first. I took a mech list (with which I'm always rather uncomfortable) and thought I was going to take an absolute battering from Jay's assaulty Blood Angels, but in the end he had a lot of metal nuts to crack and he was unlucky with the dice. A horrid, cheesy psyker battle squad and a failed terminator charge didn't help, I'm not proud to say!

This evening, Gravis and I decided to try to play a couple of small games with fun, fluffy forces, and as it happened the forces were fairly evenly matched, both being predominantly infantry (which we both enjoy) with a smattering of other bits. I took it as an opportunity to try out two rare choices: firstly one of my elusive Leman Russ Exterminators, and secondly my three sentinels, each on their own. For his part, Gravis tried two lists: one more offensive, with his beautiful cavalry and mounted vets; the other more static, instead brimming over with heavy weapons teams.

Game one was The Scouring/Dawn of War, and the second was Purge the Alien/Hammer and anvil. In each case I won the toss and opted to go second and first, respectively. To summate, the first game started off evenly matched and anyone's guess but eventually swung my way, and in the second game, as I arrayed my troops in a straight line in range and marched Somme-style towards inevitable death it looked for all the world like it'd be entirely one-sided...but somehow - just like in game one - a combination of Gravis's ill-luck and my sneaky flanking units rolling in from the correct flanks was enough to turn the tide. As I am The World's Slowest Player of 40K and we're still digging for new rules, Gravis gracefully conceded. 

Two great and sporting opponents - thanks, chaps!

DRAX'S THOUGHTS ON 6TH EDITION

 In no particular order, and please shout if I've got something wrong! I've just colour-coded it too - green is 'good'.

1. I really really love everything about snap-firing
2. ...except the hydra being forced to do so against ground targets (although I've not yet experienced this)
3. Pre-measuring, huh? Wow - that makes a difference. I like it, but it does seem to'cheapen' the game, somehow...
4. I really really like the new wound allocation rules.
5. Precision Strike is a good rule, and works
6. No assaulting at all out of 'normal' vehicles in normal circumstances? Technically this really benefits me as I suffer it far more than I use it and chimeras are (quite rightly) rubbish for assaults, but this rule really makes no sense at all when the vehicle hasn't moved
7. Hull Points - great. This seems to work fine and makes sense, but it's a real shame they wouldn't stretch to giving Leman Russes that fourth HP.
8. WHY oh why are vehicles still hit on rear armour in assault? Why on Terra not make it side? 
9. I like that glances have no other effect now. Works well.
10. Snipers are way better now, though mine still fail to do anything useful!
11. 'Look out Sir' is a bit of a pain, but a good counter to the new wound allocation system 
12. Plasma guns are considerably better now
13. ...As is mounting heavy weapons in chimerae
14. I like the new vehicle movement rules
15. 'Barrage sniping' is sneaky. I don't like it, but now I know about it, how do I avoid playing to it?
16. Mounted troops not claiming objectives? Well, it's daft of course, but it was needed for the game
17. Barrage always scatters 2d6. Grr. Makes a bit of sense, but I'm not mad keen. Still, this is countered by the very reasonable buff to whole-blast full strength.
18. I really like the different kinds (and values) of objectives
19. I like the tiered VP system.
20. VERY DISAPPOINTED to see, in Purge the Alien, the veiled return of Kill Points. What a bloody stupid mechanic. seriously.
21. Not being able to assault from resrve has somewhat put the kybosh on my poor Penal Legion, but will doubtless be very good for my squishy guardsmen in the long run!
22. Like the new missions so far
23. Psychic rules (what I've seen) are ineresting and flavoursome.

Overall then - although there's doubtless tons I can and will add to this list, albeit metaphorically, those are my thoughts so far. Let it hereby be known:

Drax approves of 6th Edition 40K.

Cheers!

- D.