Friday 30 September 2011

E-Mail In - Is the Chaos Codex Really That Bad?

E-Mail In :

Gmort.

You accuse the Chaos Marine Codex of being shit all the time but it seems to me like there are a lot of really good and interesting units in it that people just aren't using properly (if at all). Even though dual-lash isn't meant to be that good anymore people are still using it in tournaments and doing really well. Are you just following the 'internet wisdom' that's portrayed as true just because people like Stelek and Kirby say so or do you genuinely think it's that shit?


Name withheld by request.

Reply :

I genuinely think it's shit.....
...
...
...
Sorry, were you expecting a detailed answer?


There are plenty of examples of breakdowns of the Chaos Space Marine Codex all over the internet if you want to look for them. I've even done one myself,

Is the Chaos Codex Viable Any-more?

The basic problem is that every unit ranges from slightly to grossly over-costed and a hell of a lot of it's underpowered as well. The few units that were good (relatively) can now be easily countered by the newer dex's for a variety of reasons.


If anybodies really that interested then I can do a newer breakdown of the Codex taking into account the current list building trends but I honestly think that the only viable way to use your models is through the medium of 'Counts-As'. If people want me to write one I will...

...I won't enjoy it though, lol.

Thursday 29 September 2011

Forge Master Idea.....

For those of you who are unaware I've recently rekindled my interest in RPG's with a bit of Deathwatch...

In an effort to make us create models of our characters our GM offered an 'in-game' reward for doing so* which was a pretty clever idea.

* It was only an extra point of Renown, but every little helps.




Of course about a fortnight after creating him his wargear changed so I had to do it again. So I promptly built my Techmarine character model with his 'Signature Wargear' Storm Bolter added to his single Servo Arm and was pretty much done.....until recently that is.

You see Brother Mortis and his Battle Brothers in Kill-Team Epsilon have been making quite a name for themselves and Techmarine Mortis is nearing the rank at which he can start looking at becoming a Forge Master and getting a whole heap of new toys...

While searching the internet looking for ideas to steal inspiration I stumbled across some pretty inspiring (for me at least) Techmarine sketches.




I have therefore decided to model my character in what I (currently) foresee as his ultimate form should he survive to Rank 7 or even 8.

I have certain things that need to be included amongst which are the fact that I want to represent his 'Tank' stats by using Terminator Armour as a basis. I also want to include his full set of Servo Arm attachments as well as all the possible Mechadendrites from various of the 40K based Fantasy Flight books which I'm reasonably sure my GM will allow as none of them are game-breakingly useful.

This means he'll need to be equipped with...

1) A Storm Bolter with a suitably badass looking sight on the top as I've paid the extra requisition for a Motion Predictor already. I'll probably just duplicate the one I made for Mortis's current incarnation as I'm quite happy with it.

2) A Thunderhammer, as I'm going to try to negotiate with my GM to get one instead of the Omnissiah/Power Axe as my character is more of a bruiser than a skilled melee warrior and they have the exact same Requisition and Renown requirements. They are also somewhat ironically a more common Tech-marine weapon in the various codices than the Power Axe is so from a background point of view it makes sense.

3) The following arms and attachments relating to his Servo Harness,

Servo Arms x2,
a Combi-Tool,
a Fyceline Torch (basically a Flamer),
a Plasma Cutter (can also be used as a short-range Plasma Pistol),

and the following Mechadendrites,

Ballistic Mechadendrite (contains a compact Pistol weapon so should be easy to model),
Manipulator Mechadendrite (basically a mini version of a Servo-Arm),
Medicae/Torture Mechadendrite (as a Techmarine can't take Medicae till rank 7 this will be an aid to Interrogation for now),
Optical Mechadendrite (To all intents and purposes a tentacle with cameras and a spotlight in the end),
Utility Mechadendrite (A slightly improved Combi-tool),

and finally a Breacher (a drill, basically) which comes as part of another bionic upgrade that I wrote some amazing 'Fluff' to justify and that's not even getting started on how he's going to be plugged into all those Servitors, lol.

Of course the tricky part is working out how the fuck I'm going to do it.....

The other Battle Brothers were unsure about the practicality of Brother Mortis's newest Servitor.....

Any bright ideas anybody???

Wednesday 28 September 2011

Beginners Guide to Deathwatch - Part 6 - Deathwatch Devastator Marine





Deathwatch Devastator - An Overview.
If your idea of a good time is watching things die from a good safe distance then this is the character for you. As with the Assault Marine, the Devastator has a fairly well defined area of expertise and all his upgrades are biased towards that speciality. He has upgrades for the improvement of both Full Auto and single shot weapons as well as those that increase the damage of his shots and pretty much none whatsoever for the purposes of hitting things better in assault.

He shoots at shit and it dies.....that's what he does ;-)

Characteristic Advances.
Primary.
Ballistic Skill, Strength and Perception. Strength and Perception are more there for 'Fluff' reasons than anything else as you don't need a high Perception score to hit things and Astartes heavy weapons can be lifted and used by even the weakest of Marines. Ballistic Skill is the one that all your points should be going into for reasons that I'm hoping I don't need to explain, lol. Ballistic Skill is also the characteristic score used if you need to unjam a weapon which is another good reason for having it high.
Secondary.
Toughness, Willpower and Fellowship. Toughness is always useful as the Marine that just made a large chunk of the enemy forces disappear in an explosion of blood and internal organs is likely to leap up the enemies target priority list quite quickly. The other two abilities can be ignored for the most part unless you have a role-playing reason for doing so.
Tertiary.
Weapon Skill, Agility and Intelligence. You don't need any of these though Agility is required for both the 'Dodge' Skill and for deciding who goes first in combat situations so could be worth enhancing....prepare to pay through the fucking nose for the privilege though.

Standard Equipment.
As should be expected you get the usual Astartes Power Armour, Astartes Bolt Pistol, Frag Grenades (3), Krak grenades (3), Astartes Combat Knife, Repair Cement and one Chapter Trapping that everybody gets.

In addition the Devastator gets given the following,

Astartes Heavy Bolter with Backpack Ammo Supply.
The Heavy Bolter is an excellent weapon for dealing with pretty much any foe, especially when combined with the wide variety of requisition-able alternate ammo types available for any weapon that fires bolts. Heavy Bolter rounds are more expensive than standard Bolter ones but that's to be expected. The Backpack Ammo Supply increases the weapons capacity from 60 to 250 which is a considerable increase.

A brief interlude on weapon damage.
In the latest errata for the Deathwatch RPG system there is an alternative (and apparently optional) set of weapon stats that reduce the effectiveness of a number of weapons for reasons of balance. Though the errata refers to them as optional it's worth noting that all Fantasy Flight books set in the '40K' world released since appear to be using the errated stats for any Marine or Marine-like weapon. Which you use will be up to your GM but bear in mind that when people on forums complain about the Heavy Bolter being 'broken' they are referring to the original non-errated version. Our groups GM has recently started to make us use the new stats and to be honest it hasn't really effected us greatly though he may have altered our opponents power-levels accordingly.....Maybe he'll have something to say on the matter in the comments section.....

Starting Skills.
None.
Well other than the Standard Marine ones which all Deathwatch Marines get. None extra then if your being picky.

Special Ability.
You get to choose one of the following pair of options. One is a 'Solo' mode option the other is a 'Squad' mode one.

Immovable Warrior.
Solo Mode ability first. If your standing behind cover and wielding a heavy weapon then you get a +10 bonus to all Ballistic Skill tests as well as gaining the 'Sturdy' Talent. The Sturdy Talent gives you a +20 bonus to tests to resist being grappled and also gives the same bonus should somebody attempt to use the 'Takedown' talent on you.

Unrelenting Devastation.
This is the Squad Mode ability and has been re-worded in the errata so I shall therefore be quoting the 'new' version.

When the Marine successfully attacks and damages a horde with a heavy weapon he does an additional 1d5 damage to the hordes magnitude. Rather nicely this extra damage stacks with any other ability with similar effects. The effect applies per attack so under normal circumstances this will only happen once per turn. If you happen to hit more than one horde, you get to pick which one takes the extra damage.

Of the two I personally prefer Unrelenting Devastation as our GM is rather fond of hordes of enemies and cover isn't something you can consistently rely on being where you want it to be. Neither are bad though.

Advance Tables.
The Devastator Marines own Advance Table has all the shooty upgrades in it as you'd expect.

You'll be wanting to take 'Mighty Shot' straight away as it adds 2 to the damage of any weapon you fire. What other abilities you select will depend entirely on which weapon or weapons you intend to focus upon. 'Cleanse and Purify' is useful if you plan on taking Flamer type weapons for example. From the Space Marine Advances the 2nd level of Signature Wargear (Rank 2) is a common investment (you need the first level beforehand, though) as most heavy weapons can be acquired permanently for under the 40 requisition your allowed with only the exotic stuff being out of your price range...

Heavy Bolter - 20 Requisition (you get this as default wargear anyway)
Plasma Cannon - 30 Requisition, Distinguished Renown.
Multi-Melta - 35 Requisition, Respected Renown.
Heavy Flamer - 15 Requisition, Any Renown.
Lascannon - 30 Requisition, Respected Renown.
Missile Launcher - 10 requisition, Any Renown.

As with any character the two extra wounds available at 500 XP each at rank 1 of the Space Marine advances is always useful. Unfortunately most of the Deathwatch Advance Tables Skill increases apply to Weapon Skill not Ballistic Skill as apparently hating something makes you better at chopping it's head off but not blowing it's head off.....

Some General Advice.
This bit is fairly obvious, lol. Up your Ballistic Skill to the maximum possible as soon as possible, take the 'Mighty Shot' talent and 'Signature Wargear' your favourite toy as soon as your at sufficient renown. Our own Kill-teams Devastator has developed a liking for the Plasma Cannon...

Next time...The Deathwatch Librarian.

Tuesday 27 September 2011

House of Paincakes Article No.38ish

My usual Tuesday iHoP article can be found here. This week on the delicate subject of why Power-gamers are fucking ace.

While surfing the internet looking for inspiration for this Tuesday Eye-Candy I found a survey on the sexiest comic book characters of all time (as voted for by a bunch of nerd perverts like me and you*). Fortunately for the purposes of this segment many of  these characters had been played on film by real women and those that hadn't were cosplay favourites at the very least, lol.

* If your NOT a nerd who has fantasies about comic book characters then that last bit was obviously an ironic joke.....

Starting at the top.....

No.1 - Catwoman.
Lets be honest, there was no way that we'd get a slutty Catwoman costume for Anne Hathaway in the new Batman franchise as it would go against the whole style that they've been going for. At least it's tight I suppose ;-)


No.2 - Poison Ivy.
I liked the Uma Thurman costume about as much as I like the Anne Hathaway one so I found a picture I liked better instead.


No.3 - Wonder Woman.
The 'reboot' of the Wonder Woman series has apparently failed at the first hurdle. Though there are vague rumours of a movie featuring Christina Hendricks in the works...


No.4 - Rogue.
I'm not sure whether I actually find Anna Paquin attractive or not...


No.5 - Storm.
I've always thought that Halle Berry's body is far superior to her face which is a shame as the bit I liked most was covered up completely in the X-Men film.


No.6 - Jean Grey.
I suppose your spoilt the choice in the comic book world if you like Jean Grey as she's been herself, Phoenix, Madelyne Pryor and a Jean bomb*


* Tell me what comic issue that last reference is from and I'll be very impressed ;-)


No.7 - Power Girl.
Yet to make a film appearance (to my knowledge at least) but makes quite regular appearances in the world of cosplay (so many in fact that I was spoiled for choice).


No.8 - Emma Frost.
Oh, Yes....


No.9 - Supergirl.
I've chose to completely ignore the fact that somebody actually played Supergirl in a film and use this much better picture instead.


No.10 - Black Canary.
Never heard of her. Fortunately this cosplay girl had.


There's something quite satisfyingly definitive about a top 10. I mean if it was a top 9 or a top 11 then no-one would take it seriously...

Games Workshop are sorry...apparently...

An apology from Games Workshop for not guessing that more than five people might want to buy something at their event.....


Games Workshop
 The Games Workshop Newsletter27.09.2011
In this issue: Special Games Day message from our CEO
Special Games Day message from our CEO
To all Games Day 2011 customers,

It was great to see you all on Sunday at what proved to be our busiest Golden Demon and Games Day in quite a few years. The gaming tables, hobby areas and displays were packed all day, particularly the Dreadfleet demo games and our staff have fed back how much they enjoyed talking with you throughout the day. We hope you enjoyed it too.

It was good to see how popular some of the new activities were, such as the Masterclass demonstrations and Armies on Parade, both of which we will run again next year. We will also continue to show more of the Golden Demon entries on the big screens, which again proved popular. As always the reviews are already under way to build on what worked well and look at what we can do better.

On the latter, I'd like to apologise to those customers who had to queue for the sales stands in the morning. I'm afraid we were unable to cope with the sheer volume of people wanting the new Warhammer Forge, Forgeworld and Black Library releases. Lessons have been learnt and we will ensure that next year we are better prepared in the sales area so that any queuing is kept to a minimum. I'd like to thank you all for your patience while we sorted this out and I cannot speak highly enough of the behaviour of those in the queue during this time. You were amazing. Thank you.

Anyway I hope you all returned home safely and enjoyed sharing your purchases and stories with your friends and families. Keep your eyes posted on the Games Workshop website and your local Hobby Centre Facebook site for more pictures and videos from the day.

Until next year.

Mark Wells
CEO

Monday 26 September 2011

Saturday 24 September 2011

Games Workshop Games Day 2011

So it's Games Day tomorrow and I'm unfortunately not able to go due to being poor :-(

I'll have to settle for watching things such as this,



and then being jealous of or the people who are going.....

.....the Bastards, lol.

Friday 23 September 2011

Forge World Newsletter 284

 Forge World Newsletter #284











Hi there,
            With Games Day UK looming on the horizon, we’ve got more exclusive pre-release items to announce today. As with the other exclusive releases we’ve revealed in the last few days, these will be on sale at Games Day UK in limited numbers.
            
Imperial Armour Apocalypse Second Edition on sale at Games Day UK
Imperial Armour Apocalypse Second EditionFirst announced at Games Day Chicago back in July, we can now confirm that the brand new Imperial Armour Apocalypse Second Edition Expansion book will be available to buy in limited numbers at Games Day UK, priced at £26.
This book substantially updates and expands the first edition of Imperial Armour Apocalypse with 32 new entries, and is packed with over 90 Apocalypse datasheets for Legendary units such as the mighty Crassus Armoured Assault Transport to the fell Daemon Lords of Chaos. Also included are new Forge World units for Warhammer 40,000 including the Contemptor Pattern Dreadnought and its variants, and the Dark Eldar Tantalus.
This 128 page, full-colour hardback book provides comprehensive and updated descriptions and rules for using all of Forge World’s recent additions to its model range in your games of Warhammer 40,000 and Warhammer 40,000 Apocalypse. Within you’ll also find new Apocalypse battle missions to play including ‘The Lion and the Hawk’, ‘Shattered City’ and ‘Fortress Assault’, as well as lots of new options and background to enhance your games.
Imperial Armour Apocalypse Second Edition is available to pre-order now for despatch from the 30th of September.

 Imperial Emplacement
Imperial EmplacementAdding to our new range of hollow resin scenery is the Imperial Emplacement, designed by Blake Spence. This is a detailed free-standing terrain piece that will be on sale at Games Day UK in limited numbers, well in advance of its scheduled release date.
Designed as an emplacement for almost any size of Warhammer 40,000 vehicle, from Chimeras and Leman Russ to Macharius and Malcador-based super heavy tanks, and even the mighty Baneblade, the Imperial Emplacement features a wealth of detail such as ammunition stowage, unexploded munitions, a targeting cogitator and an observer’s position. The base of the Imperial Emplacement has been reinforced with trench plates to act as duckboards, and the scenery piece also features plenty of space for crew models as well as vehicles.
Ideal for use as both a gaming piece to fight battles over or the basis of a detailed diorama, the Imperial Emplacement will cost £22.
Forge World and Warhammer Forge Studio
The ever-popular Forge World Studio area will have even more amazing displays, artwork, concept sketches and work-in-progress projects for you to admire at this year’s Games Day - our entire design team will be on hand, split across three areas, allowing you better access to talk to our talented designers and to see some amazing, as yet unseen miniatures. The Studio team have also been hard at work creating a totally new display board for this year’s Games Day, showcasing part of the Eldar assault upon Betalis III that will be detailed in the forthcoming Imperial Armour Volume 11: The Doom of Mymeara.
On the subject of books, jaw-droppingly detailed models are only one half of the Forge World range. We also have a dedicated Book Design team who are responsible for the colour profiles, layout, artwork, photographic art, star maps, page textures – everything that makes an Imperial Armour or Warhammer Forge book the masterpiece it is. Graphic Artists Ian Strickland, Rhys Pugh, Kenton Mills and Sam Lamont will be showcasing their work and explaining exactly what goes into laying out a book, and they may even have their high-tech cogitators with them so you can see this work in action. The chance to see a piece of artwork being worked on ‘live’ cannot be missed!
Games Day Italy Reservations now being taken
With Games Day Italy, held at the Forum Guido Monzani in Modena on 16th October, rapidly approaching, we are now accepting reservation orders for this event. This is the best way of ensuring that we will have exactly the models you’re looking for, packed up and waiting for you to pay for on the day.
To place a reservation order, please send an e-mail entitled ‘Games Day Italy Reservation’ to fwreservations@games-workshop.co.uk, making sure to provide your full name and a list of the items you’d like to reserve. You can also phone the Forge World Customer Service team on 0011 44 115 916 8177.
You can place a reservation for anything currently available from our online store, as well as our Event Only MkIII Boarding Space Marine and Chaos Dwarf Hellsmith figures and the items in this newsflash. We will provide a confirmation e-mail before the event that will contain your order number and a total cost in Euros, payable upon collection. 
The cut-off date for Games Day Italy reservation orders is 3rd October, so make sure your e-mail reaches us before this date.
Thanks,
Ead Brown
Customer Service Manager
Forge World

Thursday 22 September 2011

Forge World Newsflash.

 Newsflash


Hi there,
With Games Day UK only three days away, we’ve got three more exclusive pre-release items to announce today. As with the other exclusive releases we’ve revealed in the last few days, these will be on sale at Games Day UK in limited numbers. So without further ado…


Tamurkhan: Throne of Chaos on sale at Games Day UK
Tamurkhan - The Throne of ChaosThe first of our exclusive Games Day UK pre-releases is the eagerly awaited Warhammer Forge expansion book, Tamurkhan: Throne of Chaos.
This book retells the brutal conquests and bloody battles of the Chaos Warlord Tamurkhan and his horde in their quest to attain the favour of the Dark Gods. In this 208 page, full-colour, hardback book you will find: the saga of Tamurkhan the Maggot Lord, lavishly illustrated and darkly detailed; an extensive bestiary section and a campaign system allowing you to fight the battles of Tamurkhan’s horde in games of Warhammer.
The book also contains The Legion of Azgorh, a fully playable Chaos Dwarf Army list,  as well as rules for playing massive battles with forces drawn from all the different Chaos Army books.
Printed on high quality paper, which gives an amazing depth to the full colour artwork, each page is richly embellished with finely detailed illustrations. Full colour maps reveal never-before-seen vistas of the landscape and geography of the Warhammer world. The hardback, leather-effect binding, embossed with gold lettering, has been designed to emulate the faded binding of an arcane tome, down to the inclusion of the classic red silk-effect page marker.
Tamurkhan: Throne of Chaos will be on sale in limited numbers at Games Day UK, priced at £45. Forge World’s Book design team will be on hand throughout the day to autograph your copy, and explain how they put together this amazing book.

Relic Contemptor Dreadnought
Relic contemptor DreadnoughtHot from the resin mines comes Simon Egan’s latest creation, the Relic Contemptor Dreadnought.
Given the rarity of the Contemptor-pattern chassis, it is not uncommon for those Chapters blessed enough to count these ancient war machines amongst their arsenal to embellish their armoured sarcophagus with scripture, honour scrolls and additional details to commemorate the heroism and indomitable valour of the Ancient enshrined within.
Fully compatible with the rest of our Contemptor weapons, the Relic Contemptor has been sculpted with a high level of detail, making the perfect painting project and a fantastic centrepiece to any Space Marine force. On sale in limited numbers from our Sales stand, the Relic Contemptor costs £32.

MkIc Deimos Pattern Rhino
Mk1c Diemos Pattern RhinoThe ubiquitous Rhino Armoured Personnel Carrier is a mainstay of the Space Marine Chapters, and has been in continuous use for ten thousand years. Its true origins are more distant still, and ancient records mention the RH1-N-0 Tracked Exploration and Multi-Purpose Defence Vehicle STC accompanying explorator missions during Mankind’s Golden Age. Re-armed and re-purposed for military use, the Rhino has remained a mainstay of the Imperium’s might over the millennia since.
There are many known patterns and designs of this robust vehicle, and the MkIc Deimos Pattern Rhino is among the oldest variants, first issued en-masse to the Astartes Legions of the Great Crusade. This pattern is armed with two turret-mounted bolters, slaved to the target-logis systems of the Rhino’s machine spirit rather than the more common pintle-mounted storm bolter seen on both the earlier MkIb Mars Pattern vehicle and the later MkIIc design that became more common after the Horus Heresy.
The MkIc Deimos Pattern Rhino, designed by Daren Parrwood, is a complete resin and plastic kit, containing a standard Games Workshop Rhino kit as well as sufficient resin conversion components to construct the MkIc Deimos Pattern variant. Priced at £33, this fantastic kit will be on sale in limited quantities at Games Day UK, well in advance of its general release date.
Thanks,
Ead Brown
Customer Service Manager
Forge World
Related Posts with Thumbnails