1st Game of 6th.

So I had my first game of 6th Edition last week as the start of my project for which the outline can be found here.

I played against Mike Leach who is an experienced tournament player and is (according to Rankings HQ at least, lol) one of the top Space Marine players in the UK. He bought a Grey Knights list he'd been working on modelled as Custodes which suited the purposes of the test as it had some annoying flying things in it for me to attempt to kill.

I'll do this as a brief battle report with any relevant 6th Ed. observations inserted as appropriate.

My Army was some of my 'Night Reapers' 2nd Company counting as Blood Angels...
1x Librarian c/w Combi-meltagun and Shield of Sanguinius and The Sanguine powers,
2x Tactical Squads c/w Plasma Cannon, Meltagun and Combi-Melta in Assault Cannon Razorback,
3x Assault Squads c/w Meltagun, Infernus Pistol and Meltabombs in Assault Cannon Razorback,
1x Baal Predator with Heavy Bolter Sponsons,
1x Predator with Heavy Bolter Sponsons,
2 x Predator with Lascannon Sponsons.

Mike's army was...
1x Grandmaster c/w Psycannon and Halberd,
1x Vindicare Assassin,
2x10 man Strike Squads c/w 2x Psycannons, 7x halberd, 1x Master Crafted Daemonhammer and Psybolt ammo,
1x 5 man Terminator Squad c/w Psycannon, Master Crafted Daemonhammer and Psybolt ammo
2x Flying Bastards* c/w Personal Bastard Teleporters

*They were Dreadknights with some upgrade which meant they could fly and which also apparently made them invulnerable to all forms of weapon fire**
** I'm not bitter about that at all by the way...well not much anyway...

We rolled some daft mission whereby Heavy Support were scoring but also Kill Points (or whatever they call them now) and we had four objectives. Mike won the roll off to go first and promptly made me swap table sides as the one side had easier initial access to two of the four objectives and was closer to a third...

Off we go then...

Gmorts Deployment Picture 1

My Intention was to shoot the crap out of the unit on objective 1 but not bother to attempt to claim it (unless I cleared it early enough to drive one of the scoring tanks onto it) and also to torrent to death anything that might be wondering onto objectives 3 and 4 before rolling some Transports onto it/them.

Gmorts Deployment Picture 2

As I was going to use my Librarian to get me a 5+ Cover save I saw no need in creating too much of a 'parking lot' as it's entirely possible for a front rank of wrecks to get in the way of the rest of my units and due to 6th Edition Cover Save changes I wasn't going to be able to get a 4+ save anyway.

Mike's Deployment

Mike Deployed on one objective and in walking distance of a 2nd. His Terminators appeared to be planning on walking onto the objective marked as 4 on the first picture while his Flying Dreadknights occupied my army. A pesky Assassin was perched in a building ready to take pot shots at whatever he damn well pleased. Mike was going first and I failed to seize the initiative.

He then remembered that we had to roll for night fight which we did. As it turned out night fell...which probably helped me more than Mike as it happened.

Some of his units moved forward and the Dreadknights decided to fly straight towards my fire support and I promptly fired everything in my army at them...

Here they come...

Bastard...

I slightly damaged one of them...

6th Edition - Note 1
Things that fly are annoying as hell. I was hitting on 6's and against the pitiful few hits I actually got I was wounding on 4's (Assault Cannons) against which he was getting a 2+ save on all but the rends. I'll work out the maths later (another article in the making, perhaps?) but I can't see me doing much better against 'Flying Circuses' either. The solution is either more shots, something that can deal with Flyers without having to hit on 6's or perhaps some higher strength shots to make wounding more likely once I actually hit...

Mikes other shooting made a bit of a mess of one of my transports and to be fair a statistical improbable amount of saves made courtesy of the Librarians 'Shield' power is all that stopped this from being a crippling of my army.

The turret mount indicates where the vehicle was as I had no craters available.

6th Edition - Note 2
Vehicles are much more delicate than in 5th. Glancing hits that would normally have been shrugged off managed to gradually chip away at my vehicles Hull Points. I have a few options for dealing with this.

1) More vehicles
2) Better protection for vehicles
3) Some thing of a higher (or more immediate) target priority to draw shots.

I'm as yet unsure of which solution I'll go with...

At this point Mike has two objectives to my one and has got the point for 'First Blood' so is safely in the lead at this point.

Mike's shooting and punching then maims my fire support and further chips away at my vehicles. The ability to pre-measure helps Mike to put his units in perfect range to kill what he wishes to kill and the fact that a I forgot that the closest model is removed first costs me a few models I'd rather not have lost. The only bright side is that I could now shoot at the Dreadknights without needing 6's to hit...unfortunately it took all my armies remaining shooting to do so and thus I was unable to do much to inconvenience the objective holding units.

At this point Mike has three objectives to my one and has the additional 'First Blood' point. It is at this point that Mike reminds me that Heavy Support choices are Kill Points as well as Scoring but these losses are evened out by my killing of his Dreadknights.

Some clever use of measuring and some strategic 'Look out sir' rolls mean that I only manage to kill three Terminators.

6th Edition - Note 3
The 'look out sir' rule combined with the 'closest model removed' rule is going to be seriously open to abuse especially when combined with the ability to pre-measure. I can see some people falling out over this one...

Just the boss left...

Where the hell are you going...

After some exchange of fire between the two of us I reduce this unit to the Grandmaster who promptly withdraws to a more strategic location. In true Night Reapers fashion I shoot him in the back while he's running away ;-)

MINE!!!!

Things begin to look a bit more hopeful at this point as I have managed to get rid of the Terminators threatening the middle two objectives and I have torrented one of the Strike Squads off an objective. It's too late for me to get an objective holding unit to it but fortunately it's too late for Mike to get one to it either. My point for killing his HQ evens out the one he got for scoring first blood, we're equal on Heavy support kills and I now have two objectives to his one. Unfortunately I'm running low on troops and the one objective that will probably decide the game is being defended by a squad of one and a combat squad with an attached Librarian and I'm less than confident about their ability to hold off the nine remaining members of the Strike Squad especially with the assassin in support.

Mike's Assassin is apparently highly trained in the destruction of vehicles but is a bit shaky when it comes to killing people and manages to roll a one followed by a one and therefore kills no-one this turn. Then as occasionally happens in a game with dice even a terrible roll can sometimes benefit you. In this case Mike's above average shooting combined with my below average saves results in my entire unit dying from shooting giving Mike's unit nothing to charge...this leaves one guy holding the objective and giving me a narrow and quite probably completely undeserved victory...

So what have I learnt?
Vehicles die more easily, things that can fly are a pain in the fucking arse and now that you can pre-measure I should really remember to do so.....I also made a few silly mistakes (as did Mike I think) because we were unsure of some rules and spent more time checking the rules than planning our next move. A re-match is probably in order ;-)

Thoughts and comments are (as usual) most welcome.

Making the Transition to 6th.

Rather than piss around with strategy articles and theoretical 6th Ed. lists that cost a 2nd mortgage to purchase...I'm going to try a different approach.

I'm going to have a number of games using one of my standard 5th edition lists and then analyse it's weaknesses within the new ruleset. Then based on what occurs I'm going to tweak the list and then try it out again, have another test, see how it does and so on till it becomes as viable as possible...there are going to be a few self imposed 'rules' for this project however...

1) One list at a time.
I'll start with my Blood Angels list and see how that goes, then probably the Space Wolves or generic 'best-Of' Marine list and then I'll move on to something none Marine such as Tyranids or maybe Imperial Guard.

2) No Allies.
Well not at first anyway. The codex the list is taken from is going to have to stand alone for the first few games (no fixed amount but probably the first 10ish).

3) No more than one or two unit changes per battle.
This could be a unit and it's transport I suppose but I'm not making the mistake I've made previously of dumping a unit after a single poor performance or changing an entire set of unit configurations just because one guy missed a vital shot.....

4) Cost.
Times are hard in the current economy and I (like many of you) can no longer afford to drop a few hundred quid on models only to find out that they don't work or I don't need them or the much rarer but still occasional occurrence of 'damn that looks shit now I've assembled it'.

5) .....
There isn't actually a 5 but my OCD has become more severe of late and won't allow me to have a list that isn't in multiples of 5...I recently spent a rather disturbing hour watching the TV and couldn't quite put my finger on what was wrong till I realised that the volume was on 17...not 15 which would have been fine, 20 which would have been optimal or the slightly more (if only just) tolerable 18...but 17...I still have the nightmares...

I've already made a start on this project and have had my first game of 6th...so my cherry has been popped so to speak...It beckoned me and I was powerless to resist...

An artistic interpretation of 6th edition tempting  me in like a Snake with an unusually tempting apple...As It had cunningly gleaned that I don't like apples particularly it tried a different approach...

I'll compile the pictures of the 1st game and my somewhat random learning experiences from it into a coherent article and post it over the weekend some time...

Arcane Miniatures - New Releases

Well I post Games Workshop Newsletters so why not other companies as well...

This week there are new miniatures available from Andrea Miniatures, Scale 75 and Privateer Press. The latest edition of Figure International is also available, and pre-orders are now being taken for No Quarter 43 (due 25th July). Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Based on the novella by Robert Louis Stevenson, Scale 75's latest release depicts the transformation of Dr Henry Jekyll into his sinister alter ego, the evil Edward Hyde. This 75mm multi part miniature is an ideal project for the skilled painter / modeller... Order yours now ›› Praetorian Guard Scale 75 also have a new miniature from their 'Rome' range, the Praetorian Guard. Again 75mm scale, this figure can be assembled in one of two ways - helmeted and carrying a weapon as pictured, or bare headed - the pose otherwise remains identical. Order yours here ›› Caesar's Triumph, 52BC Continuing the Roman theme, Andrea Miniatures latest release is a 54mm miniature of Julius Caesar, celebrating his defeat of the Gallic tribes led by Vercingetorix at Alesia despite being heavily outnumbered. This was considered one of Caesar's finest military achievements, completing the Roman Conquest of Gaul. Order yours here ›› Figure International 42 The latest issue of Figure International from Andrea Miniatures is now available. This edition features articles on figures such as Mila Kusanagi and the Barbarian of Draco, background on digital modelling, interviews and more. Order yours here ›› No Quarter 43 This edition of Privateer Press' gaming magazine includes a look at Hordes: Gargantuans, a Level 7 scenario report, more info on the soon-to-be relreleased IK RPG, Gut & Gears looks at the Animantarax, and much more. Preorder your copy - street date of 25th July. Preorder yours here ›› Vladimir Tzepesci Reclaiming his long-denied birthright, Great Prince Vladimir Tzepesci rides his warhorse Vsada into battle to defend the lands of Umbrey restored to his family. He wields weapons of the ancient Tzepesci horselords, carrying a spear in one hand and the mace Huntsman in the other. In stock now. Order yours here The Sons of Bragg The Sons of Bragg swagger across western Immoren like living legends, each mighty with both sword and voice. The Sons are heard long before their arrival, Wrathar leading the chorus of his brothers Tor and Rhudd. Their voices join in perfect harmony to belt out powerful chants that sustain them despite impossibly grievous wounds. In stock now. Order yours here Everblight Succubus Products of generations of Everblight's manipulations, succubi are fonts of blighted arcane power. To create each one, a specially selected Nyss is brought to the spawning pools and ritually bathed in the blood of a warlock. It emerges as something no longer wholly Nyss. In stock now. Order yours here Tiberion Character Kit Few warbeasts survive long enough to distinguish themselves in the service of the skorne, but the fiercely intelligent and disciplined Tiberion has fought alongside Tyrant Xerxis for over a decade. He serves his master Xerxis with all the devotion of a sworn soldier, standing immovable against waves of enemies. In stock now. Order yours here

Follow us on Twitter | Forward to a friend  Copyright © 2012 Arcane Miniatures You are receiving this email as a result of a previous relationship with Arcane Miniatures either through a purchase on our online store / Ebay or through our mailing list signup. Arcane Miniatures 35 St Pauls Square Birmingham, West Midlands B3 1QX United Kingdom

Forge World Newsletter #310

At the risk of sounding negative...again...I don't like this very much...

...can't put my finger quite on why...I just don't...
 
Forge World Newsletter #310

Hi there,
            We’ve got a little something from the Imperial Navy for you in this week’s newsletter, in the form of the fantastic new Avenger Strike Fighter, and we’ve also got a reminder about the events that we’ll be attending over the summer.

Imperial Avenger Strike Fighter
The Avenger is a dedicated strike fighter, intended to conduct high-speed, low-level attacks on ground targets, with armoured vehicle formations and high-value strategic assets such as munitions dumps forming its principal prey. TheAvenger Strike Fighter boasts firepower that exceeds most other Imperial aircraft of its size, and in particular its reputation as a tank-killer is due to the Avenger bolt cannon it carries.

The Avenger is an ancient design, believed to originate on Ancient Terra sometime during the Age of Strife. It was adopted by forces loyal to the Divine Saint Sebastian Thor during the bloody wars of faith now called the Age of Apostasy. Its effectiveness is such that it is now a staple of any Imperial Navy air support mission, holding a glamour of holy import in the wider Imperium. The Avenger is often specifically requested by the Adeptus Sororitas should they require close support in their purgations, whatever the truth of its providence.

The Avenger Strike Fighter is a finely-detailed multi-part resin kit designed by Daren Parrwood. The kit contains two crew figures and a fully detailed cockpit interior, and the two lascannons supplied with this kit can both be supplemented and replaced with other Forge World Imperial Navy weapons.
Full rules for the Avenger can be found in Imperial Armour Aeronautica, and the kit is available to pre-order now for despatch from Friday 27th July.

Forge World 6th Edition Rules Updates
The Imperial Armour team have been hard at work compiling a set of PDF updates that allow our full range of models to be used in games of 6th edition Warhammer 40,000 alongside the relevant Imperial Armour book. We are amending and adding to these updates regularly, and they can be found on our Downloads page.

If you have any queries about Imperial Armour rules, army lists or units, please send an e-mail entitled 'Imperial Armour rules query' to forgeworld@gwplc.com, including examples of how the situation has arisen in play. You can also call 0115 900 4995 within the UK, 011 44 115 900 4995 from the US and Canada or 00 44 115 900 4995 from much of Europe

Forge World Events News
On Saturday 28th July, we’ll be making our way to the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Chicago, IL for Games Day North America. For this event our intrepid team will be joined by writer Alan Bligh and miniatures designer Phil Stutcinskas. 

Sunday 12th August is the date for Games Day Germany, held at the Gürzenich Köln. Forge World designers Will Hayes and Edgar Skomorowski will be in attendance, alongside our heroic team. 

August 16th to 19th will see us travelling to Indianapolis, IA, for GenCon 2012 where we’ll be joining the guys from Games Workshop and the Black Library. Alongside a wide selection of our range, attendees will also be able to buy our 2012 Event Only models: the Skin Wolf and Imperial Enforcer.

We’re not tired of America yet – August 31st to September 2nd is PAX Prime, and again ourselves, Black Library and Games Workshop will be attending. We look forward to seeing you there!

Games Day Germany Reservation Orders now being taken
As always we will be bringing a wide selection of our range of resin kits, modelling supplies and books to Germany, and we’re now accepting reservation orders for this event. Remember, a reservation order is the best way to ensure that we will have the exact products that you want, packed and waiting for you to collect.To place a reservation order, please send an e-mail to forgeworld@gwplc.com titled ‘Games Day Germany Reservation’. We will require your full name, a contact telephone number and the list of kits you’d like to order.

Alternatively you can telephone the Forge World customer service team on 00 44 115 900 4995, and you can also place your reservation order with GW Germany Customer Service directly, by telephoning 049 211 540 2222 or e-mailing mailorder@gwplc.com. We must receive your reservation orders byFriday July 27th for Games Day Germany. In the week before the event we will send you a confirmation e-mail that will contain your order number, details of any items that we will be unable to supply and a total price in Euros that will be payable on the day.

Thanks,
Ead Brown
Customer Service Manager
Forge World

Night Reapers 2nd Company Assault Marines

The Imperial Guard Captain stood outside his command tent and awaited the arrival of the Astartes. He'd never heard of the Night Reapers Chapter and if he was honest had been hoping for one of the chapters of legend such as the Ultramarines or Dark Angels...of course any Astartes support was to be gratefully received as he couldn't afford to lose any more men in yet another futile assault on the bunkers guarding the pass. He had no armour to speak of and no air support at all so his options for the assault had been limited to massed infantry assault which (as he had attempted to inform high command in as tactfully a way as possible) was doomed to failure.

He had unfortunately been correct in his assessment....anti-infantry fire from the armoured positions had cut his men down long before they reached a position from which they could do any damage and despite his (subtly worded) protestations a second assault had been ordered. The transmission from the Astartes offering their assistance was unexpected but extremely well timed...

Four Razorback transports with dual Assault Cannons mounted on their backs idled their engines while the four squads of Assault Marines stood around them readying their weapons and the distinctive sound of Chainswords being activated drifted towards the Guard Captain and his Command Squad. The commander of the Marines was an imposing figure in metallic blue armour shrouded in a cloak of dark grey material with a strange helm with spiral marked horns completing his rather unorthodox appearance. An unwieldy looking axe that occasionally glowed with a cold blue/green light was connected into his armour by a thick length of power cable and a arcane looking combi-weapon was held casually in his other hand.

"We will assault immediately after our basic preparations are complete" "we'll vox you when the path is clear"

With that brief situational assessment complete the Librarian turned and walked over to his men and their transports.

The guard commander stood in the middle of his enemies command centre and surveyed the scene of devastation. Body parts littered the floor and smears of blood coated the walls of what had once evidently been the enemy commanders office from the look of the papers, maps and other miscellaneous items that had survived the Astartes purging of the area...

The defenders had been unprepared for the speed at which the transports had navigated the pass and the weight of fire from the Razorbacks Assault Cannons had forced them back into their bunkers and had reduced their suppressing fire to next to nothing. The disembarking Marines quickly breached the armoured doors with Melta weaponry, before entering the facility and butchering those inside who had stupidly attempted to resist their entry.

...one of the Marine unit leaders entered the office. He was cloaked like his superior but lacked the ornate headgear and weaponry that he possessed...

"The area is secure..." he stated somewhat obviously "you may proceed with your mission" and as quickly as they arrived they were gone...

Camera Issues....

My camera is fucked and my shitty old phone will not take pictures that are anywhere near good enough to put on the blog...you will therefore have to take my word for the fact that the twenty Assault Marines are done and based, lol.

This weeks project is some Ironclad Dreadnoughts that I've had at the 'Basecoat' stage for about two bloody years....

When last you saw them they looked like this,

when next you see them they'll look better...not much better...just better, lol.

Forge World Newsletter #309

Flyers appear to be the flavour of the month...

Forge World Newsletter #309

06/07/12

	Hi there,             In this week’s newsletter we’re hot on the heels of the brand new Warhammer 40,000 rulebook with Imperial Armour Aeronautica, a book that covers our entire range of flyers and anti-aircraft units. We’ve also got a set of updates available to download that allow you to field all your Forge World models in the new edition – read on for more! Imperial Armour Aeronautica A brand new Forge World supplement book for Warhammer 40,000, Imperial Armour Aeronautica, written by Neil Wylie, contains fully updated 6th Edition rules for 34 flyers and 13 anti-aircraft units fielded by the Imperial Navy, Space Marines, Orks, Eldar, Tyranids, Tau Empire, Necrons, Dark Eldar and Chaos. These include complete rules for two brand new aircraft: the Space Marine Storm Eagle Assault Gunship and the Imperial Navy Avenger Strike Fighter. In addition to the vehicle data sheets this book also provides you with the wargear and special rules unique to the terrifying airborne war engines of the 41st Millennium. Alongside these is a new narrative campaign, the Scourging of Kerrack, which provides six new missions specifically designed to incorporate aerial combat into your games of Warhammer 40,000 and Apocalypse, including detailed rules for developing Ace pilots over the course of the campaign. Also included is an Apocalypse rules appendix, updated for the 6th edition of Warhammer 40,000. This 112-page, full colour, hardback book is lavishly illustrated with photographs and line drawings as well as campaign maps, and it is an indispensible reference for our full range of flyers and anti-aircraft units. Imperial Armour Aeronautica is available to pre-order now for despatch from 27th July. Forge World 6th Edition Rules Updates The Imperial Armour team have been hard at work over the past week, compiling a set of PDF updates that allow our full range of models to be used in games of 6th edition Warhammer 40,000. The first of these updates, which cover Warhammer 40,000 vehicles, and Apocalypse units are available to download now from our website. We are also excited to announce that experimental rules for the Spartan Assault Tank are now available to download as well. If you have any queries about Imperial Armour rules, army lists or units, please send an e-mail entitled 'Imperial Armour rules query' to forgeworld@gwplc.com, including examples of how the situation has arisen in play. You can also call 0115 900 4995 within the UK, 011 44 115 900 4995 from the US and Canada or 00 44 115 900 4995 from much of Europe Forge World Events News On Saturday 28th July, we’ll be making our way to the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Chicago, IL for Games Day North America. For this event our intrepid team will be joined by writer Alan Bligh and miniatures designer Phil Stutcinskas. Alan will be holding some Q and A sessions on the day – spaces will be limited so be sure to get there early! We’ll be bringing you more details on these exclusive sessions in the coming weeks. Games Day Germany Reservation Orders now being taken Sunday 12th August is Games Day Germany, held at the Gürzenich Köln. Designers Will Hayes and Edgar Skomorowski will be in attendance, alongside our heroic team. As always we will be bringing a wide selection of our range of resin kits, modelling supplies and books, and we’re now accepting reservation orders for this event. A reservation order is the best way to ensure that we will have the exact products that you want, packed and waiting for you to collect. To place a reservation order, please send an e-mail to forgeworld@gwplc.com titled ‘Games Day Germany Reservation’. We will require your full name, a contact telephone number and the list of kits you’d like to order. Alternatively you can telephone the Forge World customer service team on 00 44 115 900 4995, and you can also place your reservation order with GW Germany Customer Service directly, by telephoning 049 211 540 2222.  We must receive your reservation orders by Friday July 27th for Games Day Germany. In the week before the event we will send you a confirmation e-mail that will contain your order number, details of any items that we will be unable to supply, and a total price in Euros that will be payable on the day. Games Day Spain Thanks to everyone who came to see us in Barcelona last weekend for Games Day Spain. We were especially appreciative of the British weather laid on to make us feel at home, and Mark Bedford had a fiendishly difficult time picking a winner for the Forge World Best in Show trophy. Eventually he chose Michel Adinarayanin's fantastic Contemptor vs Decimator diorama. Warhammer Forge were represented in the prestigious Slayer Sword winner as well - as you can see here, Pablo López's fantastic Marienburg Land Ship and Savage Orc Diorama was a worthy winner. Thanks, Ead Brown Customer Service Manager Forge World

Happy Independence Day.

So apparently today is a celebration of the day that the honourable, kind and generous people of Great Britain gave the American people a country all of their own out of the goodness of their hearts...The American people were that grateful that they and the British became the best of friends forever...

...that's what our history books say anyway ;-)

A typical group of Americans...apparently...

Night Reapers - Assault Marines Progress

I made a start on the four squads of Assault Marines from my Blood Angels list. They have a dry-brush of my metallic blue colour, most of the metal bits are now Boltgun Metal, those with cloaks have a base coat of Adeptus Battlegrey and the shoulder pad edges also have their foundation coat of Iyanden Darksun.

Several other models have been bought up to the same stage as well,

I've also been reading the 6th Edition rulebook with what I'd like to consider an open mind...there's some good stuff in there but it's mixed in with some quite unforgivably poor rules interactions that I'm hoping get rulebook FAQ'd out of existence, lol.

6th Edition FAQ's...

...they can be found here,

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/article.jsp?categoryId=1000018&pIndex=1&aId=3400019&multiPageMode=true&start=2

Too tired to analyse them now...