Ideas for weapons

Here's my take on what special weapons I would like to see. Special weapons are an untapped resource of gameplay changing devices. And quite frankly, they are the flare in a unit. Well, the heavy weapons are too, so I'll come up with them as well.

In reality, there are heavy weapons, rifles, and light machine guns sprinkled throughout the platoon. GW has the rifles and heavy weapons down pat, but where are the LMGs? See, the rifles fire, while the LMG's setup, then the LMG's fire, while the riflemen move out, and the heavy weapons set up, then the heavy weapons fire, and the LMG's move up to the riflemen, then the riflemen fire, and the HMGs move up, So we are constantly moving forward, and providing superior firepower. So how do we translate that in warhammer? well, for starters, it would be a special weapon, of around 5-10 points, It would be at the 5 point level, just rapid fire with str 4 AP 5 and it would fire 2 shots at range, 3 shots up close. at 10 points, we can clock in assault 3 str 4 ap5. All I know is, I want an LMG, and I ponder why they haven't added it. I mean, I like the current special weapons and all, (except the sniper, which is underpowered) but they get a little old, and the LMG is an untapped obvious resource.

Next up, Automatic Shotgun! if you saw the movie the expendables, where the AA-12 rapes the bejeesus out of around 20 men in under ten seconds, then you know how cool this idea could be. It would be similar to the flamer, but instead it would be a non-template way of squeezing in anti-light infantry. See, str 4 ap 4 assault 4 but only range 12. So it's a good way of ripping a squad a new one, without the hassle of a template, or your opponent weaseling his way out of it by spreading his units out.

Next up, Climb Cord! not even a weapon, but the ability to scale walls! it would basically give a unit the ability to scale walls treating them as difficult terrain! whats the benefit? your opponent isn't expecting it, and you can use it to weather particularly assaulty armies a little bit better.

Designated Marksman Rifle, is my next opt for special weapons. Range 30, pinning, rapid fire, str 3 (or 4 if you're space marines) and thats about it! oh and it and the unit it accompanies may measure range before firing.

The heavy weapon...The Pepperbox. Perfect for anti-horde, it's basically a heavy shotgun! it's template, and str 6 ap 4! so basically, everything it's template touches, is toast! Now this would be an awkward unit requiring much finesse, but, still a nice option.

The OTHER heavy weapon, well, the lascannon isn't "cutting" it any more. And melta is king in anti-tank. And in what world, fictitious or otherwise, is a handheld device more adept at cutting through steel, then a massive cannon? My proposed solution? think Javelin Missile Launcher, instead of taking them on head on, it flies straight up, and plummets back down to hit the top armor, or otherwise, the rear, armor, in terms of armor value. So, I don't know if it could be another mode for the rocket launcher, too op at that point, I think anyway. But str 8 is spot on for the str of this weapon. So I dunno

Oh and I would like to see heavy mortars become a thing for guard. Just sayin, forgeworld is on to something there.

Finally, the underslung grenade launcher. Str 3 ap - blast. 5 points, and 2 shots. somewhat ineffective but still, really cool. shouldn't be as much of a special weapon, but like a weapon attachment, that may be taken on 2 or 3 guardsmen.

Well, I'm all out of ideas, other than making the sniper better, but I've posted on that before, so yeah. :p

Game Garnering

So what exactly can we learn from RTS games? I bring this up, because I play them, I play them a whole lot. So how can I take what I've learned from them, and apply them here?

Well, the only thing they have in common, is war, and sadly, that's about it. Whereas they focus more on base construction, and economy, we only focus on fighting. However, we can learn a few things, like terrain ideas, and unique conversions for our models.

The maps are fantastic, so go ahead and steal a few of them! the buildings are all cool too, if you play lotr, lotr bfme II is a fantastic game if you need some ideas for things like orc pits, or uruk hai buildings.

My favorite thing I ever garnered from a game, was from shogun II total war (I know it's not even out yet) but in their siege matches, the units all fall back to the castle, instead of off the battlefield, creating a flowing battle. I adopted that for one of my favorite articles, this one

Next up, we have special characters! For example, Tychus Findlay, basically a big guy, perhaps a slight higher toughness or strength than most characters, but his real power lies in his minigun, which he'll gladly use to destroy just about anything (I smell an assault cannon). and you can do that with just about any character.

Finally, the last thing we can take away, are scenarios. In every single campaign for any RTS there are unique scenarios, that would be interesting to adapt to a tabletop game. For example: in Star Craft II there is a mission where you have to go out and gather resources, before being swallowed by lava. We can recreate this, buy making it objectives, and whenever we roll a 3+ the next turn the surrounding area floods with lava, and it's not based on holding the objective last, but for every turn that you have units near an objective, you get a point at the end of your opponents turn. So if its your turn, you move units out, your opponent then takes his turn, when he's done, if you still have units there, you get a point.

so there we go, adapting video games to table top, just some ideas, now get out there and make some stuff up too!

Control of the Overmind

What is control in warhammer? it is being an active player, but also it's being a good statistician (yeah, that's I word, I know because spell check tells me so). So once you become an active player, meaning, you have a strategy that you use regardless of your opponent, or terrain, or anything else. What else is there to master?

Well, for starters, tweaking is important, as your list gets older, it becomes less effective, and more effective. For starters, the game might get old, and your opponents will be familiar with it all. However, you will become more skilled in it all. But as always, tweakage is important (spell check tells me that's not a word, but I disagree). See, without tweaking, you won't stay as interested either, and your keen wit, is the difference between flipping a coin, and playing the odds in your favor.

Other than that what else is there? MIIIIIIND GAAAAAMES. Now I could write whole articles on the subtleties of the setup. But to each his own, and there are things we have to learn to master on our own, or else they lose their touch of awesome. So there is a field for you to explore on your own, that never runs out... well, until you run out of people to play mindgames with.

Anything I'm forgetting? NEW ARMIES :DDDD
If you play this game, there is ALWAYS a new army you could collect, or you could expand your current one. The game never ends, and we never have to stop buying plastic crack :D

Ominous Futures

So what is the logical conclusion for the warhammer 40k universe? and will we ever see it? or will we somehow spiral deeper into shit?

SO, logical conclusions, I'm going to put forth 3 scenarios, that I think aren't too far off what will probably happen.

First: Crush hope of Teamwork
Humanity, Eldar, and Tau, (maybe a fourth upcoming race? we're overdue afterall! *hopes they bring back squats*) they all team up, to take down a new nid infestation/black crusade, and learn that they aren't so different after all, and humanity begins to relax a little, then they lapse right back into hatred after a darkage caused by the lapse, perhaps inventing a new chaos god (I smell a God of Remorse!! can you say emo's / scene kids?)

Second: (least likely) Epic Team up!
So again, Humanity, Eldar, and Tau team up, and they all defeat one of the big baddies. They create a new era of civility and cooperation amongst the stars...but they still fight...>.> I dunno we have to have a reason to fight, otherwise no game.

Third: (most likely) Deeper into shit!
Humanity faces an uprising of followers of the sensei emperor/ whatever other second coming of the emperor. Humanity fucks it up. They kill the second emperor. In a gambit for a coup a high ranking official tries to take his place, and further splinters humanity. Enter new faction of followers of both the sensei emperor, and new wannabe emperor. With humanity weakened, a fourth tyranid hive fleet crashes onto the scene! with two tiny splinter hive fleets too, (don't want every hive fleet to be major, need some lil' uns) with the new push of the tyranids, with crazy new units! (like... infestors from starcraft, or maybe like a new overmind collective) then chaos gets a new dex renegade Guard (just to push more shit down humanities throat) emperor's chair, totally fails, and he dies, astronomican goes out. Orks, nids, chaos, splinter factions of humanity, everything hits the fan. New Space Marines come about, to cleanse it all, playing more like movie marines, and being phenomenally over-priced.

The theme here, isn't really the end of warhammer, because, if everything ended peacefully, where would the war be? I don't wanna play in the 40k universe, when the 50k universe has been written, and we're all playing in the "past" history. that's weird! But how much more F'ed up the bum can humanity get before it just gets too unbelievable that we have clung on this long? right now we're facing the end of the galaxy, from not one, not two, not three, but four races, that are all quite capable of bringing down the galaxy. So answer me this GW, How much more can we get ourselves into?

Fighting Against the Odds

All to often, if you're playing against a good player, at some point, the odds will be stacked in his favor. See, he can put all of his force to one side, forcing you to bring half of your force over. He can spearhead down the middle, and get into CC so you can't shoot, and he'll be ripping at your throat. So what do you do when you can't win?

First of all, minimize casualties, no matter what, if you can minimize casualties by even a fraction, DO IT. Soften the blow, because, it will hurt, but if enough of your men survive a counterattack is quite possible with reinforcements.

Second, analyze the entire battlefield. See, if he has more points than you in one battle, he's lacking somewhere else, see if you can strike a hammer blow. If not, then prepare to counterattack. Move your forces in such a way if at all possible that you catch your opponent all around, at least to look cool, and possibly prevent an avenue of retreat. If attacking directly means you can squeeze even just one more model in, do that, but if possible without minimizing the force of your blow, surround them.

Third, counterattack. Hit em hard, hit em back with as much force as possible.

Now, if you are faced with the fact, even if you counterattack, everyone there is still going to get wiped out, DON'T counterattack. Just pull back, and strike that hammer blow from before. If that's not possible either, just bolster your defenses elsewhere, and pray that your men can shoot down your attackers with their fire superiority.

Stormtrooper Madness

So there is an apocalypse unit, that Guard can take, GW has it in their archives, where you take three units of stormtroopers, in 3 valkyries. And the big deal here, is when they get out of their transports, they can fire not once, but twice, and I don't mean two shots, I mean, to shooting phases in one turn... thats 4 shots a man. And it can be one at one target and another at another, combine that with pinning first turn from spec ops, and you get, 120 pinning shots, at up to 6 targets... statistically, that's 30 dead marines :D and yeah, it's pricey, but like stormtroopers, it's worth the ridiculous price, for the ridiculous cool

Buying Models

One of the things that you have to do as a hobbyist is buy the models. Duh. But the point is, there are a lot of ifs ands or buts about it. See first of all, what you should buy, then how to buy it, and all that within a budget of what you can get, what you need, and what you want. SO lets get started!

What you need: obviously, two troops, and one HQ, a lot of people swear by the whole starter box thing, I for one, don't. See, What an imperial guard army needs, is vastly different from what another army needs. For example, guard get one troop and one fast attack, in our starter box... well, we're gunna need another box, AND then we need to buy a whole nother command squad. O.o
and did I mention that it's fewer points there than 500? cuz it is. and that cost over $200 ;~; it's hard bein guard. SO that all said, if you play guard, do what I did, buy six packs of ten men, $130, and then hit up one heavy weapons squad, for $35 bucks. That right there, is cheaper, for the same thing - two sentinels. So, there you take your ten men squads, make four of them regular squads, and split the 20 remaining men, into 4 squads of five. Make 2 platoon command, and 2 company command. Next up, spread the heavy weapons love. There are three of every kind, one platoon could be all heavy bolters, the next all rockets, and then have lascannon heavy weapons squad from the box. (that's what I did) and then you can give the command squads mortars or autocannons. To make regular models heavy weapons teams, one model needs to be laden with ammo, so he is without doubt to anyone looking at him, a loader. The other, get creative, start snapping off arms, and combining parts, use green stuff to fill in any cracks if you're picky, if you can't afford green stuff, then like me, you can't afford to be that picky. But yeah, it's very doable. If you're really a stickler, cut a base out of masonite, foamboard, or just use a poker chip.

What you want: eventually everyone wants a huge army, decked out with elites, heavy support, maybe some fast attack sprinkled in. or if you're like me, six massive troops choices. The thing to remember here first is, if you want practicality or flair. If the answer is practical, then go for what's best, if it's flair, go with what you want. As guard, I can't afford ogryns in large numbers, but I can afford decent ammounts of stormtroopers, so I compromised, and headed with stormtroopers, they aren't "great" but they have flair, and are more practical than a $500 pair of 10 ogryn squads.

Where to buy: If you don't mind playing the risks of Ebay, the reward can be fantastic. I however, do not trust people, and go to great lengths to avoid purchasing from Ebay. So instead, I roll with good ol' GW, despite the higher cost. So if you're really desperate then I say go ahead and use Ebay, if you are patient, then roll with GW.

:p

Pronounced Veterans not "Vetchrans"

So one of the things I set out to do when I first made my imperial guard army, was to field a very elite force of guardsmen. I wanted the best no matter the price, and I got that. We had good BS we could infiltrate, we got 3+ coversaves, we were space marines, only lacking in the str and T departments, everything else, we were on par, and we could infiltrate. People did not expect that, not at all. Nowadays, I'm stuck with fielding either large platoons, or veterans. The veterans I field are a supplement to the remainder of my army. For each of my three platoons, I have one veteran squad, to bolster the line. Two of my veteran squads have cameleoline, and are just shootier versions of my line squads. One is a suicide squad, sent to outflank and just hold their position/contest objectives. I can often make people shoot at my veterans, and with their 3+ coversave, I'm happy with that. Too much flak comes in, I might just go to ground. But in order to make people shoot them, I just point out, they have three special weapons, and a heavy weapon, or two if they have harker. Naturally, they want to take out the more bang for their buck, leaving my weaker squads alone, in favor of shooting the bigger threat.

Nut Hugging cover

Under what circumstance should a unit break cover? if at all possible, never. When it's impossible to hold cover, such as, your flank has collapsed, or you're making a mad-dash towards an objective, then try to garner some cover, anywhere you can get it. If you're men aren't in cover, and they aren't space marines, then you're in trouble. See, cover, is the difference, between certain death, and probable survivability. To move out of that, is to risk certain death. The majority of cover nabbing takes place not during play, but when you set up the board. Make sure, that you have a plan nomatter what happens to keep your men in cover. Only move, if you can move into cover. and NEVER just leave cover. EVER it's dumb, and it'll get you killed. Why did you move that unit up? because I wanted to get a little closer? well guess what? no that unit is GONE. So never leave cover. Beyond that, always deploy your men in cover, especially if you're going second. Movements should be brief, and done in such a way that units still retain a coversave at all times, with half the unit being in cover. Basics, but they bear repeating.

Dashing Through the Foe

So Beasts of War recently put up a video, about running between two pieces of terrain. They give the basics of how to use unit coherency to move a unit effectively. What they neglect to say, is what the maximum distance you should attempt this at is. Which is 8 inches for a safe bet, 9 inches for a risk, anything higher, do at your own peril.

They neglected to state this fact, because it's easy to manipulate in a video, and also, don't attempt with squads who have taken casualties, it just won't work, unless you're lucky, in which case, attempting this one way or another, doesn't matter. Just sayin, I tried this several times, and personally, it works great, if the distance is low, if it's high, just find another way.

Dying to the Fullest

One of the things that I generally count as a rookie mistake, and one that I myself do often, is misjudging a units durability, or also, bad application of their firepower. For example, me and my friend were playing a 300 point (ish) game, and I had a squad of heavy bolters. My heavy weapons squad was the only unit I had placed that my opponent could shoot. I had first turn of shooting, but statistically, I knew they would get one kill, yet still, I deployed them, thinking nothing of it. After only one round of shooting, and losing one heavy weapons team, they fell back, and off the table.

The proper thing to do in those cases: Never ever give your opponent one thing to shoot at, unless the odds are ridiculously stacked in your favor. See, it's either you present most of your army, or none of it. Otherwise, you will lose the units you have placed to the fore, and then no matter what you do, you're at a disadvantage thanks to a lower amount of points. So, just don't present that part of your army. See, if I had put that squad in reserve, or if I had moved them behind some terrain, to bring out later, then I would have won the battle, but I didn't. I made a costly mistake.

Now this is easier to do in smaller games, then it is larger games. In larger games, I would have had far more men on the table then the 21 I did in this game, and in that scenario I would have held onto my heavy weapons teams. Anywho, what I'm tryin to say is, DON'T leave units to die, if you can, just fall back, or use enough forethought to reserve them.

We Aint Movin Mountains, We're Buildin' em!

So, I am anxious to spread the good news, of... I BUILT A MOUNTAIN. I've done some cool terrain projects before, but in the scope of WWI and cities, very few are monumental in scale. My cities are short, because that makes everyones lives easier. But today, out of the blue, totally unplanned, I built, a mountain. So here it is:
I know, it's more of a hill, but that's besides the point. So why is it so ugly? well, it's unpainted, but I wanted to leave it unpainted, to show you the building materials! sooo, here's what I did, I build up a base of styrofoam, use whatever you have alot of. You don't even need to slope the surface, or have a complete structure, a good 30% of mine is hollow. anywho, once you have the skeleton built up, then cover with a ridiculous ammount of toilet paper!!! I used popsicle sticks for the walkway, and I used rocks for the... well the rocks. I'll be sure to post painted pics when I'm done :D

Combat Speed

It seems like no one is revving their engines with the hobby these days. All the big guys have really slowed down. And GW keeps focusing on warhammer fantasy, which I respect, but I have no true desire to play at the moment. So where is the 40k? the fans haven't stopped hungering, I know I haven't.

For me the biggest disappointment of all has been miniwargaming. I fell in love with their antics and their fantastic wacky style, but now... I don't know, in fact it's borderline crushing. I no longer get excited when I see a MWG video is up, most of them I can't even stand to sit through, their just that bad. And I'm not just calling them out, I can't name a single Warhammer enthusiast, that has kept up their enthusiasm in these, the waning days of 5th edition.

So in the end I guess what I'm trying to say is, that I miss the way everyone used to be fired up, and I hope that it gets back to that fervor soon, and I wouldn't mind seein some new people gettin into it.

OH and while I'm calling people out, Beasts of War... What the hell happened?! You're just Godawful nowadays. I haven't seen a single video from BoW that I have liked in a VERY long time. Their fall was as quick as their rise, in other words, VERY SHORT.

I generally don't like to call people out, but these are feelings I've had for some time now.

Glory to The First Man to Die!

I remember losing my first battle. And I learned a lot. I had a string of victories against my more rookie friends who had started out with me. And I had lost before, but that was with borrowed armies, armies I didn't much like. But when I got my own army, everything I'd studied for, everything I'd worked for, I was unbeatable. Then came along, the Space Marines. I had never fought Space Marines. I had no idea their armor was 3+s. I had no idea how crippling to my entire army that was. I didn't have a single weapon that could pierce that kind of armor. I could devastate 4+s with my autocannon spam. But there was just nothing I could do. And when my guardsmen charged, with their WS 4, and their I 4, for the first time ever, I was fighting on even ground.

I was crippled by the damn 3+ armor, and their average men, being far better than anything I could bring to the table. So from that day onward, I more than anything else, pack armor piercing weapons. It's not uncommon for me to field upwards of 25 ap3 or lower weapons.

Now needless to say, that's a little overkill, but I just hate fighting space marines. To the point where no matter who I'm fighting, I will fight dirty if they are space marines. Nicest guy in the world, FUCK YOU. Because I just have this gut hatred of space marines. 3+ saves are too good. Just sayin, a guardsmen with a lasgun has less than a 5% chance of killing a space marine. less then a five percent chance. whereas a space marine, has an almost 50% chance of killing a guardsmen. And the points difference, says that three guardsmen with lasguns should be able to kill a space marine. Nope.

Ok so I'm not usually this anti space marine, I have worked myself up into a rant, but still, the point is, my first loss had an impact on me as a player.

General Tactics

There are some general rules of thumb, that I have often heard explained in great detail, but I never understood why no one boiled it down to the very basics. So here's my take.

Rule #1
Don't be something you're not.
Usually, the obvious approach, is the better of the two. Whereas Khorne Berserkers are fantastic in CC, Tau firewarriors, not so much.

Rule #2
Power armor is a bitch (blessing)
if you're opponent is space marines, just know that 66% of whatever you shoot at him, is going to bounce off. aka, you're gunna need a lot of dakka.

Rule #3
Don't overvalue your army
In other words, if your friends want to play a 1500 point game, and your army is really 1300, don't just throw in useless stuff for 200 points. You WILL lose.

Rule #4
Nothing Fancy
lets say you're Space Marine Tac squads are fighting orks. Don't beat around the bush with fancy maneuvers, just start shooting as soon as possible. Or vise versa, if you're orks, don't wait for anything, CHARGE, do hug cover, but don't ever slow down.

Rule #5
Lone Vehicles Don't Last
if you have one tank, or one dreadnaught, or one sky ray missile defense gunship, DON'T expect it to last. Not that you shouldn't field it, just deploy it with forethought, like reserve it, or put it in cover or something creative. Here's why: every army has anti tank power, and guess what, that whole section of anti tank, has nothing to shoot at, but your one vehicle, so yeah.

Rule #6
Total War
every unit, every model, every single weapon, must fire whenever possible, don't forget a unit, and try not to preoccupy the unit with silly little things like running, or anything like that. Just working for it's part in destroying your opponent.

Rule #7
Bastards win tournaments, but they lose friends
Be nice. If you're winning, and your opponent makes a small mistake, go ahead and let him have a do-over. Or say you know that your opponent will be utterly crushed if you do something, don't do it. Just have a good time, and remember, it's a GAME. played for FUN.

7 simple rules to game by.

Tent City

So one of the things I'm doing this week, is building a massive set of terrain focused on a new terrain scape. I currently have three main battlefields, WW1 terrain, which is really nice, but the mud color gets a little old, and there isn't alot of further branching out I can do. And two city variations: my original cardboard buildings that have been spraypainted with textured spraypaint, and are more of a snow themed, than cityfight themed board. Then recently I made a good ol' giant city, of a ton of buildings. Well NOW, I'm focusing on a more Wake homeworld set of terrain. Like beaches, bogs, and the pacific theater of wwII.

I'm using mostly bombed out trees, and natural defenses for most of the terrain. Another thing I'm doing, is making some tents. One is a forward medicae facility, whilst another is a supply dump, and three are for troops.

SO HOW TO MAKE TENTS... the non boring edition!

Paint some canvas. Boom. Done.

buy some canvas, and soak it in whatever color you want it (olive ftw) and then drape it over or find a way to put it in the position you want it. and you're done. It will dry fairly stiff, so go to town with forming it.

Just a chat about what I'm doing and how its coming along!

Background

Every time I see a new warhammer army, one of the questions I ask the owner is, what's the background? half the time I get an enthusiastic storyline that blows my mind with awesomeness. The other half the time they're like "... they're just space marines..." or like "...tyrannid can't have backgrounds..." and if you ask me, that's just being fucking lazy. You spent the time collecting, painting, and piecing together the models, why not come up with a little story?

Now I don't expect you to write whole books (like me :D) but at least give them a unique name or something, or a company. Right now, Ultramarines 3rd company, with Captain Hagar Samuelson. DONE. Came up with a named character, and a company... NOT HARD TO DO AT ALL. But when you tell me that it's just ultramarines, and there's a ubiquitous captain of anonymity, then my mind just can't comprehend it. The gears have nothing to grip onto, so I'm left with this single spinning gear, and the rest are like.... alright.... no work today I guess...

So to all of you who have an army that doesn't have a background, to all of you who have an army that doesn't even have any thought put into the models other than what GW has pumped into us, then shame on you! Love your models a little, and show them the dedication they show you, and maybe they will start rolling better.

For example, lets say you have tyrannids, and the big thing there is that tyrannids aren't individuals. Well, what hive fleet are they with? what planets have they been for them to adapt? for example, deep sea nids was a thing Blue Table Painting did one time. They were a deep turquoise and covered in barnacles and just looked really cool. Another thought is what if the tyrannids had just been on, lets say... a desert. They're like a bone color, with sand for the carapace color. With a little green stuff you could extend their jaws down a little, and make them look a little more intelligent from doing so, the simple changing of an angle has a lot to do with how we perceive them on the table. They could favor burrowing tactics and their gargoyles could be styled like vultures. Where as their Hormagaunts could be styled in more of a rattler snake look. The rippers could be done like dung beetles and the bigger creature like carnifexes could have more mottled skin like an elephant's. And that's all off the top of my head, there is a fantastic background, their with hive fleet Kraken and they invaded a desert world, conquered it, and adapted to it. There you go.

Every army can have a background, every army can be personalized, every single army has a story to tell, so get out there and tell it!

...Lemmy is God! (facial hair in your army)

Alright, so as soon as I got my green stuff, I started slappin on beards and cigars left and right, quite frankly, I am a lover of facial hair, and proud. in the end I think that Men need beards, to be men. anywho, I love the bejesus out of some lemmy beards too. Mustache sideburn combo, mmmm mmmm MMMM! good stuff right there. And models with beards roll better on their toughness value! so if your army doesn't have any beards, GET KRAKIN!

see wut I did thur? I made a krak grenade joke... hehe

So Board.

Gaming boards. We need em. We love em. But they're so Goddamn difficult to make, store, and transport. So how do I go about construction? I find, like most gamers, MDF board works best. Medium Density Fiber board, is a fantastic, cheap, sturdy, and very common, way to go about this. What's next for our MDF boards after purchase? well, while you're at the store, ask them to cut it in 2 foot x 2 foot sections. This way you get a small number of sections, large enough, but not too small, and easy to store. So what's the downside? well for starters, you'll have lines in your battlefield, from the gap between pieces, but more importantly, you'll need a table that is at least 3 feet wide still, because they boards won't stay up otherwise, and that there is a good enough reason to consider sticking with the larger, uncut boards. But eitherway, you should be good enough with 2x2 sections.

Next, determining what to put on it. Usually, I would say "NOTHING" but that's because I favor modular terrain. However, in the case of my beloved WWI settings, I can't, since my foray into the modular trench world, ended very badly. SO I'm going to have to design a board, that is... modular... with trenches... talk about difficult. but that's another article for another day.

So what to put on your board? NOTHING. See, that's what I would say... so I said it. Here's why: unless it's dug into the board, there isn't a thing that should be on it, other than texturing. See, if you want roads, make them modular, if you want buildings, make them modular. If you want forests, make them... MODULAR. So you can move them around, and never have the same game twice :D

What to texturize with you ask? (I don't care if "texturize" isn't a word!) basically water down some glue, slap on some of said glue down to board, and add dirt. Once that's done, paint it. Once that's done... you're done...

BUT WAIT... what kind of battlefield should it be? generic? city? ash waste? desert? snow? or zany? well, let them pick annoying question guy. but I recommend whatever you like. Generic favors more grass and dirt, while city and ash waste favor a more gray, but you should know these things already...

IKNOW IT WAS A FILLER ARTICLE OKAY! ... there I said it... >.> I'll write about my WWI board when I get around to making it. Which will be within the next two months >.> or never... we shall see....

IG Elites Section Review

Often times I find people giving tactics and advice through reviewing the codex. So I'm giving it a shot with one of the shortest, and hardest to define categories, the Elites Section. So hur goes.

Ogryns: I like small units of ogryns, because they still get the job done in CC, and their job is to provide a speed bump, and they do that considerably well. Even the hardiest heroes have a tough time killing them in CC, they will, but it will take them a while. with a unit of three, having a total of 9 T 5 wounds. Overall, if you ask me, just a hair too expensive, I think for a viable option should have been closer to 30 points a pop. :/ but hey, still good.

Storm Troopers: There are three ways to field storm troopers that work, infiltrating, mini mech, and deepstrike melta. Deepstrike melta is the most common option, as it only requires 5 men, and its deepstriking melta... not too shaby, but if you want melta this is the ONLY way to deep strike it, so yeah. Outflanking chimeras, is a fun idea, but your better off using them to support your line, and provide a little extra oomph of firepower somewhere on the table fast. Infiltrating is a decent option, and the one I take most on a given game. I find taking twenty of them with two plasmaguns each, and a plasmapistol, nothing else, and infiltrating is a fine way to get a turn of shooting on the enemy and devastate their forces early on. In the long run they are going to die, a horrible violent death no matter how you use them, so yeah FOR THE EMPERAWR

Ratlings: I love the bejessus out of some space hobbits... seven meals a day, one for every hour they're awake. Anywho, they are great, as a cheap durable unit, that can also snipe. I find taking the bare minimum here of 3 for 30 points is a great way to get another unit out there, and get it to soak up some shots. Go to ground for a 2+ coversave, and you can put them anywhere on the board, thanks to infiltrate.

So there you go... wait a minute, where are the psykers? MAGIC IS THE DEVIL'S WORK!!!
...I haven't used them, and never will, so I am the last person who should give you advice on them.

And for Marbo check out, THIS ARTICLE

Mathammer <.< OH NO HE DI' ANT!

Alright, I admit it, I am a fan of mathammer. In MODERATION. I put it up on alot of my articles because it's the only way to demonstrate the effectiveness of what I'm talking about. I mean I could rant all day about how a guardsmen can kill a space marine with a lasgun, and it would be useless, because we all know that sucks. so I often resort to statistics to give my words a little more meaning, it's the only way I know how, other than battle reports, which I am not particularly good at writing, so :/

Now I don't banish people for mathammer, and I've never done it on the table, but when I'm building my list I do it because I build risky lists. I like the idea of my regiment being unique one way or another, and I want to see if my zany ideas work on the table, without having to play a whole game just to find out.

Retro Army... using the old dex!

Alright, I know, I'm the only one that misses the old dex, I can't stand the lack of doctrines in the new one. Where is the flavor? we're all the same!

So without further hesitation, here's the list:

command squad:

Heroic Senior Officer
mastercraft powerfist
stormbolter
boltpistol
carapace armor
trademark item
refractor field


4 veterans
storm bolters
3 w/ carapace armor

2 mortar squads
1 lascannon squad


Troops:
2 platoons as follows:

command squad
junior officer
stormbolter
veteran standard bearer
veterans w/ stormbolters

1 rocketlauncher squads

3 squads
shotgun veteran sergeants w/ bolt pistol, cc weapons and carapace armor
grenade launchers

one more platoon:
command squad
junior officer w/ storm bolter and powerfist
4 vets w/ grenade launchers

1 heavy bolter squads

3 squads
shotgun veteran sergeants w/ boltpistols and CC weapons and carapace armor
grenade launchers

Doctrines:
Die Hards
Iron Discipline
Hardened Fighters
Close Order Drill
Sharpshooters

total value: 1999

Alright tired of reading? well, if you skipped it (or are unfamiliar with the old codex), the thing to gather was, 120 infantry, each with stubborn, the ability to rally when below half strength, ld 9 initiative 4, WS 4, and the ability to reroll ones when shooting. And many can re-roll their failed morale and pinning tests. As well as a few heavy weapons squads, seasoned to taste.

Overall plan is simple... MASS INFANTRY ATTACK. Rely on the hard charging men who refuse to back down, even as guardsmen! lets say this: 20 guardsmen, against ten space marines, in CC no one got the charge, no preliminary shots, just somehow they appeared in CC. My lads get a total of 28 attacks (sergeant has 2 base attacks, plus extra ccw and bolt pistol, both bought from the armory for 2 points) Space Marines clock in with 13 attacks (bolt pistol, plus two base for sarge) Space Marines hit half the time, meaning 7 hits, and we'll say 5 wounds, of the five wounds, 1 was saved, for four dead guardsmen. Now my guardsmen are initiative 4 so their attacking at the same time. With half of their 28 also hitting, for a total of 14 hits. Now of those fourteen, only 5 will wound, in the end we get two dead space marines. Point for point, on par, and my guardsmen were clockin' in at 9 points a pop, so not too shabby, especially since we didn't get the charge. Now here's the thing, my lads, will test at ld 9, and will re-roll a failed ld test, so they get to stay! and will eventually at that rate, grind down the Marines, and with reinforcements (keep in mind, my platoon command squad and another squad weren't in the engagement) then we'll win hands down every time.

That all said, this list is in its entirety just for fun, I don't know why but I have a hard on for seein' guard win CC and particularly against more smarmy opponents. Not to say we wouldn't be fucked against one squad of terminators, but hey, 120 lasguns and stormbolters firing with sharpshooters, they might do a little damage against somebody.

Houserule shenanigans

Houserules that are used in an average game between me and my friends:

Unless it's flat on the table, its COCKED reroll immediately

Only Dustyn can make a dice that missed, hit, since he hits them with other dice, making them flip... and he is just too swell to argue with.

and uh... oh yeah!

campaign veteran stuff, can't stack, and you must give it to a troops choice... until we get a necron player, in which case, should veterans even apply? I guess it wouldn't be fair to keep that from them...

oh and instead of the winner getting to pick two choices (I mean the loser just lost bad enough...) we just give him a reroll if he chooses to do so.

Other than that, we allow the people a little leeway in custom characters, as long as we can all agree on a points value, we'll let em scrap in.

I've always felt like houserules are a category for awesome that we just don't use... hrm....

VIOLENT TERRAINIFICATION!!!!!!!!

I don't know about you's guys, but, I looooooove dead bodies... >.> ...on terrain that is... anywho, I think that they add flavor and add bring back the idea that we aren't playing chess, and that we are in a dark universe, filled with horrors beyond what a human mind should be able to take.

Three problems arise however when you're doing dead bodies.

First and foremost, its still another model... it costs money, and you'll never be able to use it once you decide to apply it to the terrain. This can be avoided by making a few men as they die, go ahead and put them on their base, and green stuff blood flying out, it wouldn't be cool to have a whole squad of them, but ya know it'd be cool in moderation (especially for pictures... hrm!)

Next up is the danger's of making a corpse... its dangerous if you don't have the proper tools, even though carpentry is one of my many hobbies, I still don't have the proper tools for this. Proper tools = dremel. What I do... >.> and don't do it yourself (wink) is take a knife, and work it around via stabbing the model... now you can't stab a glued model, otherwise it'll break apart. So you'll need to know what you're gunna do before you glue together the model. And most dangerous of all, you'll be... I mean... I have to hold the small parts of the model while I stab it.

Finally we have the limitations of our imagination. What do I do with a few scattered dead bodies? Prop a few of them against cover, have a few hanging over the side with no legs, like they were scrambling over the cover from a grenade, and didn't make it out in time. Have a few of them scattered through out the pieces just on the floor, if it's a muddy place, bury them a little. If you have the green stuff skills, make a raven eating them. Blood effects are fairly easy, just make a string of green stuff, and pinch it down to a blob of green stuff, and do a few to get the whole bursting effect. If you want pools of blood, take green stuff and VERY THINLY it should be see through thin at parts, and spread it out wherever you want blood, that'll give it the different texture, and a raised area.

Anywho, have fun with it, and let those bodies hit the floor!

... God I hate that song...

Urban Design

When constructing buildings for terrain in warhammer, there are a few things to consider: unit mobility, LOS blocking, and fortifications. that's just the in game stuff too, let alone stuff like storage, construction method, all sorts of things, but today I'm sticking with in game.

Unit mobility is one of the biggest flaws I see with buildings out there today. Suuuure that ten story starscraper looks cool... but who cares if units can occupy it, if it takes all game long just to move through it! I don't give a damn if your terrain looks great, if I can't use it, I ignore it... not really I love evocative terrain. Anywho, that said, three stories is the absolute max I would give a building, I would say two in a collection of terrain. Two story buildings are better for the sake of interesting gameplay, and one stories are the mainstay and should be very vast in number.

Next up LOS blocking. If a ruin is 6 inches in length between the shooter and the target, then guess what? no shooting for you good sir. And if the shooter is two inches into his own terrain, the enemy also gets a coversave. These are things to think about during construction, and it goes hand to hand with unit mobility. See, if your building is 6X6 and we'll say that the squad starts 3 inches out of the building, then they have to roll 2d6 already to get in it. Then they have to roll 1 d6 to run, that leaves them on average, still well within the terrain, so yeah, now they get a coversave, but if they want to fire at maximum range, the enemy gets one too. LOS is more commonly thought of with walls, not ruins, and that is important too. Make sure your buildings have enough windows to shoot out of, but not so many as to it might as well not be there.

Lastly, and my favorite, is fortifications. Nothing says Imperial Guard like sandbags, barbed wire, communications lines, trenches, pungi sticks, and snare mines, and let your buildings wear that badge of honor with pride! not only will it scream, I AM A HUMAN AND PROUD, but it'll also be the difference between your men growing up to be veterans, or dying fresh off their homeworld. See, sandbags, could in theory, if your opponent is nice enough, yield a 3+ save, on top of the regular cover provided by the building. The barbed wire, yeah, that's dangerous terrain buddy. Pungi sticks, that's dangerous terrain, and pinning, as the men try to aid their impaled friend. Snare mines, they're defensive grenades. So what I'm saying is, it's like free stuff... its on the battlefield, for the taking, and no one is using it. SO TAKE IT.

Deep Striking Guard

In the old dex, your entire guard army could infiltrate, or deepstrike. Now that's gone, (why am I the only one complaining about this?), and we went from entire army could deepstrike, to one unit, that can deepstrike. Granted, there's two, but I don't understand why anyone would deepstrike a vendetta or valkyrie, when they're faster deployed as normal. So that leaves us, with the overly boastful storm trooper. For literally the most bang for your buck, 3 units of 5, two meltas each, and they can reroll scatter die, what's not to love? oh yeah, that's 315 points, for 15 models, none of which will survive for very long. However, the thing to note here, is that they can kill anything, I mean anything, daemon princes, land raiders, tac squads, you name it, they can efficiently kill it, unless, it's a moderately sized unit, like say, 35 guardsmen, but if it's small in model count, then you have three squads that can deal with it efficiently.

Lets think for a minute about the other unit, the Valkyrie/vendetta, and the fact they too can deepstrike, and no one uses that. For starters, it's borderline useless, unless you really just wanna get a unit in there. Lets say you were using this as a last minute objective grabber. You have a squad of vets, loaded up in the vendetta, and you deepstrike it in next to a building, in a perfect world the squad gets out, and just claims the objectives, or at least contests. The Vendetta counts as having moved at cruising speed, and therefore can still shoot a little.

But you could also just drop them off there without the fear of deepstrike mishap... just sayin.

Constructing a City

Alright, so, I often see players in a city fight, and I ask myself "where's the city?" I see a few GW builings, and often one large home made building. Yawn. So whats the problem? I suppose it's the time, but in all reality, I can crank out ten buildings, and have them creative and great looking in just 5 hours of solid work.

Tools:
exacto knife
2 sheets of foam board (preferably black or white)
a tube or two of tacky glue
and one large sheet of tempered hardboard from your local hardware store
and some models for scale reference.

I mean, basic shit. Just cut out some building blocks, like about two dozen 6 inch x 4 inch two dozen 4 x 4 and a few odd ones here and there. Distress the building blocks, piece them together to form small ruins, and presto, buildings! You've seen it a hundred times, I know I have. Just gotta build in bulk.

BUILD LOTS AND LOTS OF BUILDINGS. We're talkin as many as you can take before you go insane.

To add rubble, just take regular ol' styrofoam, and cut it so the flat, not all particley side is glued onto the building, then add dirt and other rubble like things, such as rocks, and pieces of metal, and paint it all the same color, presto, a complete nicely painted, fairly detailed building.

Now while you're at it, go ahead, and envision at least two or three unique buildings. I like to use video games for inspiration, find a map on a video game you like that has buildings, find a building layout you like, and then, build it!

For example, in CoD 2 for 360, (my favorite of the series) on the third Russian level, there's a three story, fairly tall building, that is half bombed out, and filled with machine guns, sandbags, and is just really interesting and complex. I tackled that behemoth, right as my construction methods changed. Now, it lies, forever incomplete on a shelf. BUT soon, I shall post a tutorial on that specific building alone. And you better believe it will either be a video, or very pic intensive.

anywho, these buildings don't have to be over the top, but just make a few that stand out, and build the rest in bulk. I already posted an article on roads, here's teh link: ROAD CONSTRUCTION LINK

I don't want to see an inch of table not covered in either buildings, or roads. THEN you have a cityfight, THEN you may say, I am fighting, not in a town, not in the outskirts, but a CITY.

and feel free to get jiggy with it...

Urban Warfare

My second favorite warzone, right behind World War one, is the city fight. See, each one, is as grueling and desperate, and just as personal for the combatants. However, they're very far apart in many aspects. On one hand, you have the trench style warfare, where there is little cover, line of sight is only blocked by going downward, the majority of the battlefield is completely flat and devoid of structures. On the otherhand, we have urban warfare, where you might hold one intersection, and be defending from all sides, as you can't see where anyone is, there is too much junk. The joy for me, is making each one work, and no army is as iconic in either scenario, as the Imperial Guard.

In a city fight, which is the focus of this article, as it is far more common, the key here, is intersections. Where as much line of sight can be afforded as possible, down the roads. Now there are a few ways to do this, one way, is to prior to the battle, when you're settin up the board, put barricades down the road, so your men can take cover, and have long lines of sight, easily the best option, as you can just set up camp in the road. The worst way to go about this, but still works against some opponents, is to just cram your models in the intersection without cover. Rely on numbers to survive, and you might get by against armies like orks or tyrannids, who have a fair lack of shooting. The third and, most flexible option, is to load up in the buildings around the intersection, which works, but LOS can easily be manipulated.

That brings me to another subject, manipulate the balls off of LOS. See, if you move your models right, time your Move Move Move orders, or something like that, your opponent won't see your men, until you are good and ready to attack, and as long as you're the one who decides when the battles happen, make sure they happen in your favor.

A word on army coherency. Keep your men in a few large groups. Don't spread out all over the city. If your opponent is sprawled out, meaning, relatively few units are grouped together, then use the buildings and impassable terrain, to strike with a larger force then they can retaliate with. Don't just slug it out army against army, fight army against smaller army, so you can win. Also, if you find your units underfire and the same trick played on you, go to ground, and hit em with the big guns, barrage units have never been happier to save your boys using their high angled shots, than in a city fight. Don't have basalisks, or mortars? then use what you got, just make sure your lads underfire, don't retaliate, and focus on survival, they can get their revenge once reinforcements arrive, and together they can take down the big boys. Now, if your lads are royally screwed, sometimes just falling back a bit, like through a building is all it takes. Keep in mind, if you are more than 6 inches deep in area terrain, you can't be shot at, so do take advantage of that, and live in the ruins even if necessary.

Lastly, tanks. Always, but always, have a screening unit of infantry. Wherever you can spare them, give a tank a squad to provide it cover. Do this, and your tanks will last infinitely longer. Why? because enemies will come out of every crevice in the city, with powerfists, meltas, and a myriad of nasty tank killing goodness. Pack a squad around them, and suddenly, the tanks have a shot at either a coversave, a retreat, a tankshock, anything at all, and the tank is more likely to make it. I find special weapons teams with flamers or grenade launchers make fantastic screening units for this. Demolishers are king in city fights, where their range doesn't matter as much, and their unbridled killing power can truly shine.

The Sentinel

Some people look at sentinels as a cheap way to get a multilaser or an autocannon in. And that's fine, at 35 points a pop, who wouldn't like to take 9 of these babies for 315 points? but as they are almost that much money for that many points, I take two, and field them as separate units. I field them separately not because I don't like squadrons, but because they need to be on opposite ends of the board. If I had four I would field them as two units of two, but I don't. anywho, down to the nuts and bolts, I slap some cameleoline on there, and a lascannon... but a lascannon requires the heavy sentinel... well, yeah it does. Dude that's racking up some serious points... So? we don't have that kinda points to spend willy nilly now do we? yeah but, I mean let me get to what it does. See I plant each one on opposite ends of the board, in cover. Now the enemy, if they wish to destroy it, and they have to, otherwise they'll be bombarded by lascannons, they have to get through a 3+ coversave, and 12 armor. Doesn't sound intimidating? alright, lets run a lascannon against it. We'll say it already hit. There's a 50% chance of piercing, and a 16% chance of a glance. Then the cover save brings that 50% to a measly, 16%... yeup. and the Sentinel is still fairly cheap, considering it's survivability. Lets run the DREADED MELTA against it. So to hit, a space marine has a 66% chance of hitting. Then the melta has roughly a 60% chance to wound if it hits, bringing the probability of getting this far to a 40%...then we get cover, which brings it to a sad 13%. And that's melta.

Alright, so we get it, it's tough. But where's the dakka? Well, by placing one on opposite ends of the board, you'll get a nice fire arc, pretty awesome range, and did I mention lascannons yet? you know how they sucked against the sentinel? try poppin a rhino, against, side armor now. Yeah, pop goes the weasel - I mean rhino. Though I really just take this for its survivability it will get a fair amount of kills

Other loadouts for the sentinel, include but are not limited to:

Autocannon scout sentinel with camonetting:
much cheaper variation, and only slightly less effective in all areas.

Rocket Armored Sentinel:
if you fight MEQ and they don't always pack heavies, or you have bigger fish for them to fry, this little guy can supplement the firepower of your lads, and if it needs to, it can get in CC with the Marines, and basically be invulnerable, unless they have a powerfist :/

Scout Sentinel With Heavy Flamer:
Outflank... with a heavy flamer... need I say more?

Plasma Sentinel:
Tired of terminators yet?

Bite the... bolt?

What is it about that one unit, that we all know sucks, but has so much appeal? For example, the storm trooper, he's awful, but he's so damn cool. Why are we so pulled to field them? maybe its just me. But there are all sorts of units like that. For example, dreadnaughts, are fairly bad, but so iconic to the Space Marine image, that they are fielded, and I personally would field three, I love them that much. The Tyrannid Carnifex was pretty nerfed in the last codex, but guess what, still awesome to field, just cuz he's... you guessed it, badass. Other units like this include, but are not limited to: Conscripts, Necrons in general (hehe), Soulgrinders, 'ard boyz, and whirlwinds.

Now those are all really cool, really fluffy units, but lets be honest, they don't pull their considerable weight.

Who's knows, maybe they'll be updated in the next dexes... at least make them cheaper GW... I mean, I would happily pay 10 points for a storm trooper, or 3 points for a conscript. Come on.

Scope in Campaigns

One of the biggest things for me, and if you've any of my hundreds of articles, you probably know this, is campaigns. Now why campaigns? because I get to not only create my army, I get to create a war for them to fight! and I can use whatever I imagine... and my opponent agrees too... <.< So, one of the things I've always wanted to do, was get that feel of a larger scale war. I don't mean apocalypse, I mean, the nuts and bolts of what goes on before and after a battle, and back to another battle, and so forth. I guess what I'm trying to say is, a larger scope.

No matter what I come up with it always turns out too complicated, or too easy to take advantage of in some way shape or form. I've come up with battles fought over entire rooms, and we had to declare battles, and we used poker chips to represent our forces, which were our armies. But we ended up playing on the floor and that broke our backs, as well as led to more than a few stepped on models.

SO latest Idea, is to take a poster board. And if you really wanted to go out, you could build a terrain feature and use that. But use poker chips to represent forces. Each "outfit" we'll call them, and each outfit is a representative of our armies, really you can cut and paste them. The terrain features is like a board, of boards... I mean by that, you have cities, rivers, mountains, any terrain you like. Hell make it all flat no mans land if you want. Draw up suitable markers on the posterboard, and the like. Each unit has to use 6 inch movement, like regular models. 12 if every unit has a transport, or is just all vehicles.

When two opposing chips come within 24 inches of one another, a battle is started. Here's the fun part. You get to choose where you place them, and whatnot, so you can take advantage of terrain features for your armies, and that will create more depth alone. But the best part, is how multiple armies interact.

Say for example, you have a company of infantry, and the enemy throws a company into the mix as well. So you have one poker chip where the enemy is in 24 inches. But, kind of like piling in for close combat, multiple poker chips can pile in 6 inches before a battle. and if they come from the proper angle, then that whole army can outflank. On the appropriate side obviously. If an army doesn't come in from an angle, they just treat reserve as normal, but only if it had to pile in. If it was within 24 inches to start with, then you can deploy as normal.

So what constitutes an outfit? Well for starters, screw force org, it has to be a minimum of 200 points, and a maximum of 700. Why so low? well, if you had it at 2000 points per poker chip, aka, each chip being your entire army, you would take too long to do the battles in a reasonable time. Also if two chips interact, how would you field two of your army? so in that sense, you can still take more points than your army is worth, just make sure that your units don't overlap, meaning, spread out your forces a little. If you have like a 100000 point army, then by all means, make each chip 2000 points, just make sure your opponent can do the same.

Now how do you win? Fighting in reality, is never just destroy your enemy. It's to protect something, or to break something. So in that regard, each man must take three objective markers (could be different colored poker chips, or objective markers from in game) and declare one to be worth three points, and the other two worth one point each. The one point each, or Forward Command Posts, they are going to give any of the defenders the following special rules in the ensuing battle over the objective: troops have stubborn, and may rally even if below half strength. The Attackers have the Special Rules: all infantry have counter attack special rule, as well as the stubborn rule for all models.

Tired of reading yet? well, for the final 3 point objective, treat it like the siege rules I have written in a previous article

or come up with your own :D

SOOOO, agree on a point limit, get the chips for that point limit. Remember, 200 to 700 points per chip. 3 objectives per side, two, one point objectives, and one 3 point objective. Treat chips like the models that are in them. For example, the slowest unit there, if they aren't in a transport, are as slow as the whole force must move, infantry = 6 inch movement, vehicles = 12 inch movement, fast vehicles = 18 inches. 24 inches to enter battle, chips may pile in on the defenders side, meaning, whoever initiates the conflict may not consolidate, but in response to a battle, the side being attacked may pile in chips within 6" of the battle. Lastly, be creative, spice it up.

I know that looked like a lot of rules, but it's quite simple after a few minutes of rereading. Consider things like minefields, which count as difficult terrain for your opponent, or vast forests that do the same. However, maybe if that outfit has a unit that has move through cover, just one, it applies to the rest of them, as they show them the way. Things like that, be creative, have fun. Keep in mind this is no way a perfect rule set, just an idea.

When Does it End?

Ok, at what point is an army too large? When do we stop collecting models, and pick up a new army?

I've tried to collect other armies, Orks and Iron Warriors in particular, but I can't bring myself to do it. Everytime I'm about to buy the codex and some models, I think, or I could expand my IG army... and I always go for expanding my current IG army. I just love IG too much, to where until I can devote more of my income to the hobby (damn you bills) I can't bring myself to do it.

Does any one else have this problem? or is it just me?

Thirty Seconds Yanks!!!

Lets face it, we all love the shit out of D-day. The idea of dozens of massive transports, unloading hundreds of men into a hornets nest of pure hell. As Sun Tzu puts it, to do so puts them on Death Ground. Where there is no retreat, the only way out, is forward. This creates a do or die mentality that is instilled in everyone there, allowing men to do more than they are actually capable of. Where is this in warhammer? you could argue it's in all mech, like it is nowadays. Instead, I look to... The Gorgon.

If you're not familiar with the Gorgon, its because its a forgeworld model. Now I scoured the interwebs as I still am unsure on how to actually get rules for forgeworld models, short of forking out ridiculous amounts of money for their book sets. So here's what I found, AV 14 13 10, 3 structure points, superheavy, transports 50 models, and may take 4x heavy bolter sponsons (plus other loadouts, but that's what you want) and 2 twin linked heavy stubbers. its also open topped, and that's a blessing as well as curse. This will all run you 450 at base cost (replace bolters with mortars) or 510 with heavy bolters.

so what does all that mumbo jumbo mean? for starters, it's tough. and as a superheavy, it can fire at 6 different units, and as it is open topped, models that disembark can assault, as well as, if it blows up, they only take a str 3 hit if inside of it. Now you can't fire the units inside of it, even though its open topped. That's a special rule it has, as the walls are too high, such is the price for high AV.

so now we're familiar (at least have a decent grasp) of the Gorgon. Now how to use it. For starters, the obvious advantages of a transport, protecting the infantry, forming a massive firebase. However, we can also use this to create cover for guardsman everywhere, it doesn't have to perform the assault alone.

The biggest problem here, is "why would you want your men closer to the enemy?"

Well, in the old guard dex, (my preferred one) you could give guardsmen Initiative 4, Ld 9, and WS4, not to mention you could also make them all stubborn. This was kinda designed for that. Nowadays, we're forced to use WS 3 no matter what, and stubborn? Fuck that. But here's a thought. Straken and a shit ton of conscripts. 40 conscripts and straken, would still be hitting on the same 5+s as regular guardsmen in CC. as well as Str 4 initiative 4, give the conscripts a priest, and suddenly WS isn't such a big hurdle as they can reroll. Give straken's unit a standard bearer, and then they'll reroll their shitty ld5 morale checks. Not to mention straken can give the order to get back in the fight.

Mathammer wise, against 20 space marines, keep in mind, they can assault out of the transport. Without straken, 40 conscripts in his bubble of hate, and with reroll to hits from the priest, we're lookin at 80 attacks, 26 hits, with rerolls adding 18 more hits, for a total of 44 hits (look at that, more hits than 40 space marines would get against space marines, hrm?). So now about 22 wound, and about 7.62 space marines fail their saves, and die.

Space Marines attack at the same time with 22 attacks, 15 hit, 10 wound, 7 saves fail, meaning seven guardsmen dead, BUT WAIT, they win combat, thanks to the standard Straken has, so now SM take morale check -1 to ld, and that's without the priest or straken's attacks added in. just what 40 conscripts under their leadership can do. and people say guard can't assault.

Anywho, point is, you can reliably win against SM, in assault, with guard. And the Gorgon lets you get their safely.

Gorgon ftw! and really badass too!

Are They Light Tanks? or Are They Bunkers?

The Chimera. I used to be a fan. And still am, just that I use them vastly different. Whereas I used to rush them up, and rely on outmaneuvering my opponent... but that absolutely didn't work, as Guard just aren't able to go one on one. So here's the new way of using them. When I take them, I use two or three, and just sit them still. I take bare bones here, multilaser and heavy bolters. They are ingrained in my defenses, so thick that cover saves are without question mandatory. If it blows up, I put it in a spot where my guys could possibly get a cover save. Anywho, just keep em parked. Occasionally I may put a unit in them, heavy weapons teams allow all the heavy weapons to fire from within, with no aspect of losing my men in one explosion, keep in mind, heavy weapons teams are one model each with two wounds, impossible to lose any from the explosion. But I'll only squeak them in if the enemy rolls up with any heavy anti infantry.

After the battles halfway through, I'll pile a unit in, and gun it. All my chimeras with some form of troop choice in them, and make a dash to claim objectives.

I try not to rely on this, as they usually blow turn two. But sometimes you'll get lucky. Either way you're bound to get your points worth out of these puppies, so yeah.

Quality Versus quantity

The age old question of should I take a large amount of really bad people, or a small amount of the best of the best. The reason to do so in warhammer is points, the reason to do so in reality is a mix of casualty numbers, and expense to train these units. So in warhammer what does this mean? well, certain armies are designed to fight one of these ways. But every army can still go either way. Orks can make nobs troops, IG can field veterans, Space Marines can load up on sternguard, just gotta take 10 regular Marines too. Anywho, point is, every army can also field horde, IG...can be IG. Space Marines can field scouts and tac squads, Orks can field mass slugga's, everyone can take loads of troops. So where I'm going with this is, its a decision we all make when we pick our armies.

In quality armies, each man is worth his weight in gold, and must be used to the max efficiency the commander can afford. This favors more skilled and veteran players. Where as a quantity army, each man is worth less, and its what they accomplish as a whole that matters. This favors beginners, who's mistakes are afforded by high numbers.

Wait a minute, that's the opposite of how GW has made it! Space Marines are cheaper and easier to collect than a horde army, favoring beginners!

Well you know what? they also made the snipers in the Space Marines, you know, the scouts, they made them the noobs. So they obviously just don't give a shit.

Anywho. Play styles are based less on the army we field, and more on what we like. I could field my current battle plan, and use Space Marines. I could even do it with orks. When it comes down to it, quantity, has been made the better of the two. Why? because that makes more money for GW. Why? because that takes more time to collect, giving you a reason to continue the hobby. Why? because we love plastic crack.

There is a niche market who enjoys fielding small veteran armies, and I do too, but sadly the days of quality armies are now fairly rare, and find themselves in use only as a side dish to the main course. I will field them for fun, and for particularly casual games, but never when the shit hits the fan.