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!

440 - Apparently there's a new edition of 40K [State of the Union - Part 1]

I do NOT have hobby burn-out.

Far from it, in fact. What I do feel, however, is a pretty significant sense of ennui.

That's right: I went and dropped the e-bomb. A GW-e-bomb to be more precise.

Googling images for 'Ennui' is, err, quite surprising. Couldn't resist this pun though! [source]

Let me explain [knowing that I tend to get too long-winded, I've broken this post down into daily chunks]. I'll try to keep it brief, but - well, you know what I'm like by now. At least there will be hobby pictures too!

In theory this is the time of year when work starts to trail off a little for me; in practice, I've just taken on a second job as an examiner to try to make more ends meet, so over the next month most of my hobby time will go instead to marking papers... but that's not what this post is about - it's just a wee explanation for the minimal posts of late.

Proof beforehand that I haven't been idle, though: 

I'll go into details about these developments in Part 2 - and I'll have a cry for help too!

PART 1.

APPARENTLY, THERE'S A NEW EDITION OF 40K OUT.

Now, I've been playing 40k on-and-off since 2nd edition, and I've always got excited by either new IG codices or new editions of the game - who wouldn't, right? I was dead keen to get the new IG [AM?] Codex...and then I read it...and I kinda went 'huh'. And then I kinda re-pointed my normal list and went 'Huh,' again...and since then I've not really opened it.

Now, a big part of this is that I only very very rarely get to play, but a bigger part is that - well - the new codex (whilst vastly superior to the last one) just wasn't very exciting hobby-wise. There are a some new models that I'm not very excited by and certainly cannot afford (but more on that later) and the golden opportunity to try to re-engineer my lovely Griffon mortars into the new Wyverns...and that's it.

So the deflating nature of the new codex, coupled with my ever-decreasing hobby time has made me - at best - not really care too much about the appearance of a new set of rules to kinda replace the 'old'(?!) sixth edition.

I only every played a handful of games with 6th Ed - maybe eight or nine? - and the two things that really seemed to change the game with it were new psyker rules and the blossoming of flyers and flying MCs (complicated and mostly irrelevant to me as in both cases I've had no models which really use the rules and no real means of countering them either) - this made the prospect of playing competitively (or even pick-up games from unknown opponents) absolutely pointless for me, as I essentially kept playing an army tailored to 5th Ed.

The new edition seems popular with the very vocal (or verbal at least) online competitive players, and I'm given to understand it's good for narrative play too, but I figured as I play so little and have so few spare hobby pounds I'd just wait until opportunity, finance and need all combined before making the investment. Which brings me to...

WHAT AM I GOING TO DO WITH ALL THESE GUARDSMEN?

Easy: nothing.

Or at least, nothing new.

I've decided to (a) pretty much keep on doing what I'm doing and (b) follow the examples of others. By this I mean the following:

a) For about three years now (!) I've spent very little money on GW and very little time. I finished painting up the bulk of my army a couple of years ago, and the ONLY significant purchase I've made since is my Manticore. I've decided to continue this approach; a decision made significantly easier for me by my general lack of enthusiasm for the new product lines and the lack of structural upheaval in the codex.

More importantly,

b) I'm going to follow the wise example of the likes of Zzzzzz and Col. Scipio in that I'm going to take a more mature approach to actually playing. Why should  I bother trying to keep abreast of increasingly irrelevant [to me] rules? I should just build the things I want and play them against like-minded folks using the rules I want - or whatever bits of them I can remember. Great idea - sod it!

To this end, please find below my current and revised list of 40-related hobby projects in no particular order:

• Finish painting my Manticore
• Paint up a whole platoon of Stormtroopers [link]
• Paint up the gun and crew for the first of my Centaurs [link]
• Build and paint up t'other one too
• Finish making my foamboard Fortress of Vengeance (or whatever it's called)
• Finish my second servitor
• Convert the bits Zzzzzz sent me into a cool Malcador-style superheavy (already in the planning stages)
• Do something interesting with the ten brand-new Scions that Zzzzzz swapped for my Bulkytroopers. Thinking lots about this...
• Try to convert at least one Wyvern launcher for my Griffons
• Maybe try out some other conversions, including - possibly - one involving my armoured Sentinel.

You'll note that none of these involve buying anything new, and quite a few involve getting bak into conversion work.

Essentially, at the top of the list in my hobby notebook (The Seventh Book of Arcane Scribblings) is the line 'Stop any further 40K expansion.

...and I reckon that just about sums it all up.

In Part 2 (in a couple of days), I'll look at my future directions for Flames of War and ask for some hobbying help. Stay tuned, and thanks for reading!

- Drax.

434 - Trucks, Halftracks and Other Impressive Things Afoot in the Blogosphere...

Hullo, All.

There are so many exciting things happening at the moment - especially with the new Guard Codex - that I felt I just had to share some of them with you. I hope you'll indulge some of these links, as they're worth it!

Firstly, THESE are starting to appear - thank the Emperor:


used with permission - Tabletop Fix.

 - Above is the version spotted by Tabletop Fix at Salute - it's by Zinge Industries [link] - and I'm pleased to note that we've already seen pics of a halftrack one currently being worked on by the very talented Karitas (please check it out):

This is just about the only thing that could possibly entreat me to buy this truck. Boy, it really does look better with wheels!

Secondly, there was a very interesting debate yesterday on Faeit 212 about the nuts and bolts of the Wyvern's shooting mechanic - in particular the prolonged awkwardness of shooting a battery of three vehicles at once, following the 'Rules As Written' approach.

It really is terribly convoluted and complicated.

The Faeit 212 discussion is worth a read [here], but the (mostly accurate) nitty-gritty is discussed in a far more straightforward way on Pins of War [here]. It's absolute bloody lunacy.
Fnally, please allow me to publically thank Karitas and Courtney H for yesterday - they know why(!) - and Zzzzzz for his centaurrific generosity. It's things like these and people like these that keep me coming back, y'know?

- Chris.

432 - TIme for Some StormTrooperTempestusScions, Methinks!

Alright then, I'll admit it: I do quite like the new Stormtrooper Scion rules.

What this means - essentially - is that I think it's time, at last, for me to finally put together that Stormtrooper platoon I always intended to. Yes, they're expensive to field, and yes, I may have to do a wee bit more conversions for weapons etc., but...

...we're getting the band back together.

Earlier tonight I delved into the (increasingly dilapidated) shed and dug out the remaining 28 beret-style stormies I've accumulated over the years:

(Sorry for crummy mobile phone pics.)

 They will of course join these guys:

And, in addition to the handful of Kasrkin I have (lovely lovely models), I also found this squad of bulkytroopers:

The only real problem I have is that the faces of these beret troopers are at best flat, and at worst almost utterly devoid of detail. Luckily, I have a plan. And it involves Mad Robot Miniatures...but more on them when this project kicks off!

Until next time then...

- Drax.

431 - Codex: Astra Militarum - Drax's First Thoughts

Well now, an interesting and evidently fairly contentious read. Here are my thoughts on the new Codex: IG, but please bear in mind that although many online commentators have thought  already about how to get the most fighty lists out of certain combinations of units and characters etc., my reflections are purely from a Draxian perspective.

In no particular order then - feel free to respond by numbers if you've anything to add:

1. Why is the Devil Dog so much more expensive? Everyone knows its the worst and most inconsistent anti-tank choice in the imperium - why punish those of us who still persist in fielding it?!
2. Orders: these are pretty sweet, actually, although I still find the system something of a time-drain in a game. Still, it appears that there is no longer a requirement for the senior officers to issue their orders first, so that's something.The 12" range for all orders is also A Good Thing.
3. I like Techpriests even more now, although it's weird that it's taken sooooo verrrrry loooong for the IG to finally be blessed with any sort of machine spirit!
4. That said, the cost of the Company Command Squad has increased a little.
5. Snipers are now only 2pts each! That's great news! In fact, I think I worked out that a nice little stationary BS4 anti-personnel squad with 3 snipers and a heavy bolter would cost only 76pts! Someone else has pointed out that you can now field a Special Weapon Squad with three snipers (BS3) for just 36pts - nice!
6. I think that G/Sgt Harker is a bit better now, although maybe without infiltrate. Whyever wouldn't GW give veterans - VETERANS - the chance to infiltrate for a price?
7. Why why why why why can't Heavy Weapon and Special Weapon Squads have access to transports? Surely they have a decent claim on a set of wheels - have you seen the size of an IG autocannon + tripod compared to its two-man crew?!
8. It's good to see that every normal guardsman (incl. HWSs and SWSs) now have access to Frag and Krak grenades. [In case you're unaware, in the old IG codex special squads couldn't take them but heavy squads could! Bonkers!]
9. Medipacks are now only 15pts - not before bloomin' time. I might start taking medics again!
10. Advisors are cheaper now - and seemingly better, although I'm conscious that many pundits seem to be pinning competitive hopes on buffing squads - especially 'blob' squads - with characters and advisors, and for me that's not really how it ought to work.
11. Similarly, Priests seem to be better now, although as pretty much all of my gameplay revolves around not letting my Guardsmen get into bayonet range, I don't know if Priests will make much of a difference to me. See also point 10, above.
12. Why get rid of so much? I get the ridiculously cynical approach of making the Taurox cheaper than the Chimera, but seriously, who exactly is meant to benefit from getting rid of so many of the heavy support choices? The company and the game can only do better out of offering a wider variety of units. Bonkers. I may yet be using my lovely Griffon battery as 'Wyverns' (but see this [link])
13. I don't own any flyers, but thank God that GW has finally remembered their old line that the power generation for multiple lascannon has a deleterious effect on transport capacity,but I'm interested: does it only apply to the Vendetta, or will the bloody Adeptus bloody Astartes also be sent the same memo? I'm fairly sure I've seen landraiders *spit!* THREE OR MORE LASCANNON ON EACH SIDE, and I'll wager they still have room for some power armoured goodnes inside! Harrumph. Good to see their points cost go up too. By the way, am I right in thinking that the only squads who can now actually ride in Vendettas at starting strength are the Glory Boy 'Scions', Command Squads, Weapons Squads...and Ratlings?! Odd.
14. Special Weapons Squads can now take 3 demo charges (for 90pts all-in). Suicide Squads, anyone? Mind you, there still aren't normal Guard models for it...
15. WHY DOES A LEMAN RUSS STILL HAVE ONLY THREE HULL POINTS? It's an absolute bloody travesty. Strewth - a bloomin' Sentinel has TWO. 
16. On that note, why are some Hellhound variants more expensive than Leman Russes? - Bonkers.
17. This doesn't affect me at all, and I'm not even sure  without looking that it's a change, but Conscripts can't have special weapons any more.
18. I have to say, the Storm Troopers (Scions) really do seem to have improved. Reckon I might need to expand my painting of these chaps and their mates?
    
19. The models pages seem a little uninspired. That sid, on p87 of the Codex, there is a standard bearer painted up with what appears to be a non-white flesh tone - go GW!
20. No Marbo...but just have a look at what Menzies Tank over at 512th Cadian has had to say about this [here] - it's just bloody brilliant!

Thoughts, Ladies and Gents?

- Drax.

429 - "We Interrupt This Broadcast..." NEW CODEX: IG!

My copy of Codex: Astra Militarum has arrived (with free orders cards) courtesy of the guys at Kirton Games - thankfully just before I go away for a few days. My thoughts to follow,

Wait, out.

425 - Is This the End of Creed?

Just a thought, but in the email GW just sent out, did anyone else notice that those stalwarts of the Eye of Terror, Creed and Kell, are now just listed under the more mudane title, "Imperial Officers"?

(taken from GW's email)

So then... does this mean tht Creeeeeeed! is a thinng of the past?

 

Hmmm...

 

- Drax.

 

424 - "New Wyvern Pics"

You'll note the quotation marks. Sorry GW - Drax got there first on this one.

From my original post in April 2009, may I present the Imperial Guard Wyvern:

Ach! "Imperial Guard" - maybe that's where I went wrong. I guess I should have called them "Astra Something-or-Other" instead - "IG" is just too damned prosaic these days!
Anyways, a rumour's popped up over at the wonderful Faeit 212 [link] suggesting that this is the direction the new Astra Militarum is going. Let's play, shall we...?

• Chimera chassis? - CHECK
• Pivot-mounted mid-range indirect fire weapon? - CHECK
• Alternative mount for hydra flak cannon? - CHECK.

This is my version in its original post, by the way - if you're still interested: link. I was pretty proud of it at the time: it was intended as a support weapon for command squads, hence the typically Draxian grenade launchers at the back! The turret-front weapon, by the way, has been down-scaled to a heavy stubber. I detailed the whole design and realisation process on the blog too, including the Drax-style swept-back hull - it's all there under the 'wyvern' tag [here].

Oh yeah - this is the version with the hydra:

 

...You'll note it's the same chassis. Sadly, it's my hydra version which has seen all the gameplay. booo-ring.

 

By the way - if you came here under false pretences, then I apologise. It's just a bit of fun. I'm as excited as you are about the new incoming codex!

 

- Drax.

409 GW, White Dwarf and Representation of Minorities (or) "Dear Jervis..."

And now for something a wee bit different...
 
...So whilst having a clear-out I found this: a photocopy of a letter I handwrote to Jervis back in 2008. I thought I'd share it with you lot, on the offchance that someone might want to see what I had to sy back then. Amongst my ramblings I cover such ground as

• stuff I like
• stuff I don't like so much
• representation of 'race' (?) in 40K
• representation of gender in 40K and
• different adjectival versions of 'elf'.

It's a fun read. Honest. And no: I don't pretend that it's some super-academic post-feminist treatise on the state of the world today: it's just a rambling letter:

If, perchance, there's anyone who's genuinely interested in the contents but can't be bothered to read it, then just drop me a line, and I'll see if I can type it up.

Cheers,

- 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.

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.

321 "Dear Games Workshop..." (a genuine complaint)

I just sent them this. Pity.

Dear Games Workshop,

I have been playing Warhammer 40000 since its Second Edition, and have always been loyal to the company. Despite - like many long-term players - being dismayed at disproportionate price hikes over the last decade-or-so in particular, and despite your apparent unwillingness to listen in any meaningful way to your 40K customer base, I have always striven whenever possible to buy my models and rulebooks directly from GW. 

A last week I pre-ordered my copy of the new Sixth Edition rulebook. Like so many others I have been full of positive anticipation for it and the new direction in which I assume you will be nudging the game and the hobby, encouraged, of course, by your trailers and publicity for the launch. Imagine, therefore, my displeasure and disgruntlement at not receiving my pre-ordered rulebook today. This after having received an email on Wednesday 27th June informing me it had been shipped. I find this utterly, utterly unacceptable.

I live in a rural area. By no means am I in the back of beyond: I'm only 25 minutes from Plymouth - a major city, postal hub and (for that matter) GW store location. However, other family commitments, coupled with the cost of travel, parking etc. and an apparently misplaced faith in your ability to post a book to me in a reasonable amount of time meant that I knew I'd be unable to get to a GW store on the feted 'launch day', so I chose to take advantage of your pre-order service. In the past my use of this service has resulted in the receipt of your products in a very timely manner indeed - my copy of Codex: Imperial Guard, for example, arrived the day before its official launch. This made me a happy customer. To wait until an 11am post in order to discover I did not receive something posted three days ago and then be in a postition to be able to do nothing about it is simply not good enough.

I called your helpline, and a pleasant gentleman called ++++ reassured me that I ought to receive my order "in the first half of next week" - "hopefully Monday", and explained that they don't usually get products to home addresses for launch days, suggesting that I ought to have gone to a store to pick it up. He also provided me with a tracking reference (although what help that will be on a Sunday when nothing travels in the post or on Monday when I'm hard at work I don't know) and (only) after listening to my complaint gave me this address to which I might email my thoughts on the matter. Please be clear: my grief is not with ++++.

I fully anticipate and appreciate that there would have been some notice/tickbox/small-print etc. advising me that delivery time might be upto 28 days or somesuch, but what was certainly lacking was a HUGE warning clearly stating something to the effect of:

"IF YOU WISH TO RECEIVE THIS PRE-ORDERED PRODUCT ON ITS LAUNCH DAY, PLEASE ENSURE YOU GET IT SENT TO A GW STORE, AS IT PROBABLY WILL NOT GET TO A HOME ADDRESS ON THE RIGHT DAY".

Maybe this could even come with an addendum: "...EVEN IF IT GETS POSTED THREE DAYS EARLIER AND YOU LIVE ON THE UK MAINLAND".

Please forgive the flippancy there, but I hope you get a sense of my frustration (and this really is the crux of my complaint): If it had been made clear that I probably wouldn't receive my pre-order on or before the advertised date then I wouldn't have pre-ordered it. In fact, I would have planned to visit GW Plymouth or GW Exeter and I almost certainly would have purchased more of your products whilst in store.

In short, you have lost the faith of someone who really ought to be a valued customer; you have lost money I would have spent; you have almost certainly lost my direct custom, which will now most likely go to independent traders who seem not only to be more friendly but also a damned sight more efficient; and you have lost an awful lot of goodwill in someone who has always championed your work in a rather public and widely-read context, albeit anonymously. 

I respect that you still run your business primarily from the UK, and I applaud you for the friendliness of your customer services team. I only hope that (a) someone has taken the time to read and understand this complaint, and (b) someone has the wherewithal to reply to me personally. I hope you are able to take my comments on board, and I look forward to your response.

Yours,

[Me]

320 Wait - Did You Say There's a New Edition Coming?

Ach, well - I guess no-one's going to be reading my stuff for a while. But I got a notification today that my book's been 'dispatched' so hopefully I'll have it before too long...though doubtless I'll miss the post and have to troll down to the Post Office to collect it.

Meantime, I thought I'd come up with a wishlist of 5 things that would make playing my ol' Guard a little less painful at times, along with a link:

1. Fix voxes somehow. Even in a pdf update. Make them useful and fluffy like they should be.
2. I hope in GW's/Mat Ward's plan to make everything impossible to kill that Guardsmen don't now die too easily...
3. Vehicles should use their side armour values when assaulted
4. Please don't make all the bloody terrain into fiery Guard-deathpits
5. Let's have a glimmer of hope for humanity, please? Just one?

Here's to it...

- D.

310 FREE DOWNLOAD: 'The Commander's Field Handbook'

Hullo, All!

Last week I was trawling Suneokun's 'Pathfinder' blog, and I was reminded of the excellent resource he created for Imperial Guard players to download - an aide-memoire for fielding the Imperium's finest - so I decided to re-advertise it, not least for the attention of all the newer bloggers I've been following of late:Please follow THIS LINK HERE to go to Suneokun's page and download the 2 page pdf file, and please spread the word, as it's dead useful and a real masterwork, with artwork by Ron (FTW), too.
- Drax.

284 Heavy Weapons Squads Re-Based

Evening, and I hope my readers on the US Eastern Seaboard are okay...

Well now - here's a post that 'does exactly what it says on the tin', just for completion's sake. I've spent a surprising mount of time this Summer re-basing my heavy wespons teams to bring them into line with the newer rules. Mostly these are on 60mm plywood bases I bought cheap on eBay, as I can't afford any more GW ones! It's a quick late-night snap just before Mrs. Drax asks me to tidy up, so excuse the lack of pic quality [the shinier models are the older, glossed ones]:

Along the back row are my three mortar squads, and in front of them are two autocannon squads and a missile squad. These comprise the heavy support for each of my platoons, and in front of these are my heavy bolter and lascannon squads which I hardly ever use).

Keep well, and if you like brilliant IG tank conversions, do please check out Oink's Overambitious Terrain Project(s) - 'coz his really are fantastic!

- Drax.

252 Improvements to Codex: Imperial Guard

You all know I love the Guard, and this is an impromptu explosion of my cumulative thoughts over the last couple of years - this is simply a compilation of my considered ideas on how and why I would improve Codex: IG...
NB: For the quick version, just look for the contentious bits in red:Firstly, HQ units:

1. I'm generally fine with all of them, although I think Jarran Kell is a tad expensive. Other things I'd do include the following:
2. The Commissar Lord (and all commissars for that matter) would have a power weapon as standard...they are only Str 3, after all!
3. The Primaris Psyker would have a better second power too - nightshroud's rubbish.
4. I'd also give the advisors freedom to choose whether to force re-rolls or alter the dice rolls.

Elites:

1. Ogryns would be only 30pts each, just because it'd be nice to see more of them (something Mr. Cruddace failed to fix).
2. Ratlings are fine - I love that they have laspistols!
3. Stormtroopers would be brought down to only 14pts per model. There's no way they should cost more than a space marine, and again, it'd be nice to see more of them.
4. I'd make Veterans into an Elites choice again. It would solve so much spam (but see my entry on chimeras, below).

Troops:

1. Commissars as above.
2. I'd reduce Chenkov's cost - and that of his special rule - as I think it's a fun idea that's simply never used.
3. Sergeants would have the option of carrying a lasgun: not an unreasonable step, methinks.
4. Heavy Weapons Squads and Special Weapons Squads would have access to chimeras. Why on Terra would you not give a transport to the guys with the heavy guns and ammo?! (again, see my points on chimeras though...)
5. Special Weapons Squads would have access to krak grenades. It's daft that SWSs can't take them, but the HWSs can, even though they (a) really oughtn't to be assaulting vehicles and (b) have quite enough to carry as it is!
6. Conscripts are great, but I miss the option of a stand-alone conscript platoon - with a more practical Chenkov, this could be fun!
7. Again, if Veterans were 'Elites' again, (as the name rather implies anyway), it'd force players away from using them to claim objectives and towards more diverse lists. The bitching would be awful though!
8. Penal Legion rock: such a great fun unit design.

Chimeras:

1. Keep the same unit price, but...
2. only one Heavy Weapons Team could fire out of the hatch (see point 4, above)
3. I'd allow three normal/special weapons to fire out, (five's too many) but after passengers had fired from the hatch, the vehicle would count as 'vulnerable to blasts/templates' until the start of its next movement. Just like the old codex - some sort of balance is needed.
4. Of course, having Veterans as 'Elites' would help...
5. They should have costing options for the Forgeworld turret weapons upgrades - autocannon (+10pts) and T-L heavy bolter (+10pts).

Fast Attack:

1. Rough Riders should have both a laspistol and a close combat weapon: they should be able to fight well without their blasted lances.
2. Bane Wolves should be 140pts per model
3. All the Hellhound variants should have smoke launchers as standard, for no extra points: it's daft that they don't.
4. Valkyries and Vendettas should have a side armour of 10. 11 at best, but they've no right to be as heavily armoured as they are on the side.
5. Vendettas should be 160pts. They are way too cheap for three T-L lascannon in addition to everything else they can do. I'd be tempted to drop their transport capacity, too.

Heavy Support:

1. ALL Leman Russ Variants should be armour 14/13/11. It's insane to think that someone can open one up in a frontal assault as easily as a chimera or an artillery piece.
2. Lose the poxy Eradicators, and bring on the awesome Annihilator variant. The fluff and the models already exist, and - let's face it - if you can put SIX lascannon on a Vendetta with 12 folks inside(!) you can certainly squeeze three into a tank. Why on Earth did Cruddace omit it from the codex?
3. Camo netting would be half the cost (15pts) for artillery pieces ('Ordnance Battery' vehicles)
4. Lose the Deathstrike. Simply should not be in a normal codex.
5. I'd bring back Heavy Weapons Platoons. Sure, Heavy Weapons Squads are less robust now, but organisationally, it was a fun way to include them in a support platoon, rather than tagging them onto otherwise more manoeuvrable infantry platoons.

And finally,
Voxes and Orders:

1. Orders should work exactly as they currently do, but voxes should provide an unlimited range for officers to order their troops. Note that LOS to target (for example) would still be required as appropriate. For a lengthy rant about voxes, please see this post.

Thanks for your time. I'd love to read any comments you may have, and I've numbered the points to help you shoot me down!

Yours aye,

- Drax.

234 Armoured Infantry - Warriors and Chimeras

Hey All,

I love my Armoured Fist platoon, and (although they're finished) I was pleased to find a book in the local library about the chaps who do this stuff in real-life to help me find out a little more.

Dusty Warriors: Modern Soldiers at War is a detailed account of 1PWRR Battle Group's 2004 deployment in Al Amarah and Basra. Written by Prof Richard Holmes (who was at the time the Regimental Colonel of the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment) it's a lavishly detailed account based mainly on the testimonies of those serving in the battle group.

A Warrior IFV from 1PWRR

Like many of you, I enjoy military histories, and Holmes's style mixes quiet humour with gentle authority to great effect. That said, Dusty Warriors is far more personal and subjective (if not quite biased, per se) than his previous comparable works, such as the excellent 'horse and musket'-era Redcoat and Tommy - about the Great War. This perspective is openly acknowledged and explored, and I believe it adds significantly to the enjoyment of the book.

What did I learn from it? Well, I think the following were my main lessons, some 40k-related:

1. The British public were (and remain) largely unaware of the ferocity of the fighting in Al Amarah, as there was very little media coverage for some considerable time;
2. The personnel of the 1PWRR battle group routinely demonstrated feats of extraordinary physical and moral courage (Pte Johnson Beharry won his VC in Al Amarah);
3. The role of an armoured infantry unit is more fascinating than I anticipated;
4. Life aboard the Britsh 'Warrior' IFVs seems intense and the cameraderie simply awe-inspiring;
5. The rules, role, reliability and weaknesses of an IG Chimera make it a wonderfully comparable beast to the Warrior;
6. I've been mis-naming my mounted infantry detachment (1st battalion, Cadian 24th) as 'mechanised' where 'armoured' is more appropriate. Henceforth they shall be redesignated '1/24th Cadian Armoured Infantry'.

Pte Johnson Beharry with his Victoria Cross

I've also decided to use an extract from the book in class with my Year 9s next week!

So there you are. It's not to everyone's taste, but I found it highly engaging, and although I'm not prone to posting things like reviews, I was so moved by some of the accounts I thought I'd share.

Thanks for reading.

By the way, my converted Salamander-proxy IFV is now completely finished (hooray!) but I've not been home in the daylight all week, so I can't photograph it (boo!). Pics soon.

Cheers,

- Drax.