Beginners Guide to Deathwatch - Part 5 - Deathwatch Assault Marine

Well lets get stuck in shall we?

Deathwatch Assault Marine - An Overview.
If your idea of an ideal Space Marine involves wading into the enemy and then hacking him/them to pieces then the Assault Marine is the character for you.

Though each Specialisation has access to abilities outside of its expected range of expertise, it's unlikely you'll have the points to spare on them for quite a while if you choose the Assault Marine. Due to the combat mechanics of Deathwatch your far more likely to get hurt in melee than at range so if your going to be charging into the enemy as your primary method of getting shit done then you need to be wholly dedicated to it from the start. I'm in no way trying to put you off the Assault Marine because they're extremely fun to play, It's just that unlike a more support character (like a Techmarine or Apothecary) your role in the team is focused exclusively on one thing.....Of course if your into that 'one thing' then your going to enjoy this guy a lot, lol.

There are of course still role-playing opportunities to be had.

My own group has two Raven Guard characters in it (One's a Tactical Marine geared towards sneaking and sniping and the other is an Assault Marine) and they quite often work together with the sniper wounding a powerful enemy or forcing it to waste it's dodge move and then the Assault Marine leaps in and finishes it off. Though this might not seem like typical Assault Marine behaviour it is very typical Raven Guard behaviour as they are known for exploiting enemy weaknesses. Conversely we previously had a Black Templars Assault Marine who would just charge headlong into any enemies (regardless of their strength or numbers) meaning that the rest of the team had little choice but to join him as we were all now at penalties to shoot because the fucker was in the way....

As you can see from those examples, hyper-specialised needn't mean one-dimensional ;-)

Characteristic Advances.
Primary.
The Assault Marine advance table prioritises Weapon Skill, Strength, Agility and Perception. Weapon Skill decides how likely you are to hit what your swinging at, your Strength bonus adds to your Melee damage done and your Agility governs how easy you can dodge an enemies attacks as well as deciding who goes first. As you can see you need to increase an Assault Marines Characteristic scores in a number of areas (rather than for example a Techmarine who only really needs to up Intelligence at first) to make him effective. Of the three areas I mentioned Weapon Skill and Agility are (imo) the most important as a Space Marines strength bonus is already doubled due to Unnatural Strength and will get an extra +2 on top of that due to your +20 strength from wearing Power Armour. Perception isn't anywhere near as important in comparison. It's also worth mentioning that your Agility bonus governs how far you can move as well which becomes important when charging (or running away tactically withdrawing to a superior position in order to reassess the situation).
Secondary.
Toughness and Fellowship. Any damage received is reduced by your Toughness bonus and as Marines come with Unnatural Toughness they can absorb quite a lot of damage by default. Saying that though you can never be too tough in a game of Deathwatch so I'd be increasing that stat as soon as possible. Fellowship is only really an issue if you want your Marine to be in a command position in the group.
Tertiary.
Ballistic Skill, Intelligence and Willpower. The first time our Black Templars Assault Marine used his Bolt Pistol the GM made him use a half action to take the wrapper off.....I'm joking of course but none of these stats are of any real importance to you at first unless you have a pressing role-playing reason for wanting them to be.....

Okay then. Weapons Skill needs to be upped as a priority with Agility a close 2nd then follow that with increases to Strength and Toughness. As your Primary characteristics can be upped relatively cheaply it's worth upping all those (except for Perception) by two levels at first and then seeing how it goes from there.

Standard Equipment.
So 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.

Additionally an Assault Marine gets,

Astartes Chainsword.
It's a better weapon than the standard Combat Knife but as hitting things is your 'bread and butter' you'll be wanting to use the 'Signature Wargear' Talent to get yourself something better as a matter of priority. Signature Wargear is available at Rank 1 for an item of up to 20 requisition and you can up that item (or exchange it completely) to one of up to 40 Requisition at Rank 2. You'll need a renown level of 'Respected' to get a Power Sword or Power Axe (both 20 Requisition) so be patient and then grab one or the other as soon as they're available.

Astartes Jump Pack.
This doubles your Base Movement when using it and obviously allows you to leap over things while your doing it. It also gives you the equivalent of the Flyer (12)* trait for up to a minute. You need the Skill Pilot (Personal) to operate one effectively but Assault Marines get that ability for free anyway.

* there's a whole section on Flying in the rulebook and I'm not going to be covering it her, sorry.

Starting Skills.
Pilot (Personal).
You can use an Astartes Jump Pack.

The Personal Pilot Skill is governed by the Agility Characteristic so that's another good reason for making sure it's as high as possible. You shouldn't be required to make a test in normal circumstances but expect to take one if your attempting to do something.....tricky.....

Special Ability.
You gain the 'Swift attack' Talent as standard and then get a choice between either 'Wings of Angels' or 'Wrathful Descent'

Swift Attack.
As a Full Action in combat you get to attack twice. This Talent and the similar ones available later are what makes the difference between a character suited for combat and one that isn't and it's why it's difficult to make an effective melee character who isn't an Assault Marine. Later on you can purchase Lightning Attack which ups your attacks to three and this can be done as soon as Rank 2 for a mere 600 XP.

And now decision time. You can only choose one of the following and you can't change your mind later (Unless your GM is very kind or you can come up with a clever reason for doing so , I suppose).

Wings of Angels.
You can go an extra 20 metres of Movement if you pass a Challenging (+0) Pilot (Personal) test. If you use this ability in conjunction with a 'Charge' you add additional 1d5 Damage to your melee attacks. This only works in Solo Mode.

Wrathful Descent.
When making a Charge against a Horde you may inflict an additional 1d10 damage to the Hordes Magnitude** on his first successful attack. You need to be in 'Squad Mode' to make this work.

**Basically this means he'll kill an extra 1d10 of the enemy Horde he's charged into.

Which of these you pick is entirely up to you and will somewhat depend on whether your particular Kill-Team uses the Squad Mode rules much. If forced to make a choice I'd go with Wrathful Descent as my GM seems to turn anything we face into a Horde of some description, lol.

Advance Tables.
As I'm sure you've guessed these are biased towards abilities that enable you to kill shit more efficiently in assault.

The various 'Hatreds' from the Deathwatch Advance Table are nice for their +10 Weapon Skill Bonus but you need one for each race. Hunter of Aliens also gives +10 Weapon Skill and additionally adds 2 to your damage (Vs. Aliens only obviously) and stacks with Hatred for a nice +20 should your 'Hatred' be appropriate to the race your fighting.
The Generic Space Marine Advance Table has Sound Constitution at Rank 1 for the bargain price of 500 XP and you can take it twice at that Rank for an always useful extra couple of Wounds.
There's nothing particularly exciting at Rank 1 of the Assault Marines Advance Table and you'll most likely be using all that initial XP on statistic upgrades anyway. However at Rank 2 you'll be wanting to take Lightning reflexes (Doubles your Agility Bonus for Initiative rolls) and Lightning attack (So you get three attacks in melee). Occasionally overlooked is the Sure Strike Talent which you may find particularly interesting. Basically when you roll to hit in Deathwatch the number on the dice is reversed to decide upon hit location. Sure Strike allows you use the result 'as is' which makes your chance of hitting somewhere vulnerable a bit more likely ;-)

Some General Advice.
I think I've covered most of it as I went along, but to summarise.
Up Weapon Skill, Agility and Strength as soon as possible, followed by Toughness. Get yourself a better weapon via Signature Wargear as soon as your Renown level is high enough and make sure you buy the Lighting Reflexes and Lightning Attack abilities as soon as they're available.

I think were done now.....Next time....the Devastator.....

Beginners Guide to Deathwatch - Part 4 - Deathwatch Apothecary.

Lets go with an age old system and go through these in Alphabetical order. Apothecary first then and I'll be using the system detailed here to do it,

Deathwatch Apothecary - An Overview.
As expected the Apothecary is the member of your kill-team who patches you up when the dangerous world of 40K role-playing decides to bite you, shoot you, explode around you or otherwise subject you to some event that lowers your Wounds total in some way.

Though each Speciality has it's own role to play, the Apothecary is pretty much essential. Whereas some skills can be attempted by anybody (classed as Basic in game terms) albeit at a penalty, due to the way that Skills work in Deathwatch only those trained in any Skill classed as 'Advanced' can actually attempt to use it at all. Basically this means that even a guy who's never exercised in his life could attempt to jump across a hole in the ground but would be unable to perform brain surgery without the necessary training. The relevant Skill in this case is called 'Medicae' and an Apothecary gets it for free whereas any other Marine would be unable to gain it until Rank 7 (ridiculously high in Deathwatch terms).

If your team doesn't have an Apothecary your going to be in serious trouble should your team get badly hurt in a combat engagement of any kind.

Characteristic Advances.
Primary.
The Apothecaries primary skills are Weapon Skill, Intelligence and Perception. Of these the most important is Intelligence as it directly effects Medicae. The other two have obvious uses but none of these are important to the Apothecaries primary function.
Secondary.
Ballistic Skill, Strength, Toughness, Agility, Willpower and Fellowship. So basically everything else then...As you can see there's great scope for shaping your Apothecary into a wide variety of secondary areas of expertise as the ability to heal others can be enhanced relatively easily and early on in your career path.
Tertiary.
None. Apparently Deathwatch Apothecaries are very well rounded individuals, lol.

If your Intelligence score is below average then you should use your one re-roll at character creation to attempt to improve it if at all possible.

Standard Equipment.
Astartes Power Armour, Astartes Bolt Pistol, Frag Grenades (3), Krak grenades (3), Astartes Combat Knife, Repair Cement and one Chapter Trapping. All Deathwatch Marines get these but I've listed them here just so you don't forget about them.

Additionally an Apothecary gets the following,

Astartes Bolter with Fire Selector.
The signature weapon of a Space Marine as I'm sure you all know. The Fire Selector allows you to switch between up to three different ammo types as a 'Free Action'* and is fitted to Deathwatch Bolters for free.

* In game terms this basically means you can do it so quickly that it doesn't impact on your ability to perform other actions that turn.

Reductor.
This allows an Apothecary to retrieve the Progenoid glands (or Gene-seed as it's also known) from a dead Battle Brother. Though he could still extract the glands without it, the Reductor reduces the time needed considerably (down to a single turn per gland). It can also be used as a melee weapon that doesn't do a great deal of damage but has an excellent 'Penetration' rating so will punch straight through most standard Power Armour (which is sort of the point, I suppose). Progenoid retrieval is extremely important in game terms as it gives some bonus's to the stats at the character creation stage when you build a new character to replace the one that 'died'. This is another reason why the Apothecary is an essential part of any kill-team.

Narthecium.

The 'Tool of the Trade' for any Apothecary worthy of the name. In rules terms this device adds +20 to Medicae tests when used on a Space Marine patient, raises the threshold at which a patient is considered Lightly damaged** and doubles the amount of damage healed by first aid. It also can contain up to ten doses of any one drug, but this drug (if any) must be requisitioned separately.

** Briefly then...A lightly damaged character can be healed by more than a heavily damaged one. The Narthecium raises the threshold of Lightly Damaged to three times the characters Toughness bonus rather than two times.

You may also want to requisition yourself a Diagnostor Helmet (15 Requisition) as it gives a further +10 bonus to Medicae. As it's below 20 Requisition you could also take it as Signature Wargear so you don't have to requisition one from the armoury before every mission.

Starting Skills.
Medicae.
Well what were you expecting, lol. This means you can heal people.....without it you can't.....It's that simple.

Performing 'First Aid' on a subject involves rolling against your Medicae score which as a starting character will be you your base Intelligence (40 is average) added to the +20 bonus from your Narthecium (detailed above). If you roll below this score (60 in this example) each of your subjects wounds suffered will be healed by the Apothecaries Intelligence bonus (which would be 4 in this example).

Example: Brother Tripsalot has suffered several different wounds in a recent encounter with something or other scary and is considerably below his starting total of 20 (for the sake of this example). He has taken 3, 7 and 5 Wounds of damage respectively and has asked his teams Apothecary to patch him up. Brother Sawbones has an Intelligence Score of 45 so (but for some reason has left his Narthecium at home) needs to roll under 45 in order to successfully heal his Battle Brother. Sawbones rolls a conveniently below average 40 and so therefore succeeds on his test. With his intelligence bonus of 4 (the first digit of his Intelligence score) he heals 4 wounds to each separate injury. So the 3 damage is healed completely and the other two lots of wounds are reduced to 3 and 1 respectively. Brother Tripsalot is now restored to a more respectable total of 16 and marks this on his character sheet. The 4 wounds total that were not healed are still classed as 'treated' and can not be healed further until extended medical care can be obtained. If he had his Narthecium then he would have needed to roll 65 or under (due to the +20 it gives him to his Medicae score) and would have been able to double the amount healed from 4 to 8 therefore completely restoring Brother Tripsalot to full health.

Special Ability.
You get a selection of three but you can only pick one so choose wisely.

Guardian of Purity.
As long as the Apothecary has access to his Narthecium any Corruption points picked up by him or his team are reduced by 2 (to a minimum of 1). I'd personally only pick this ability if I had an extremely strong role-playing reason for doing it as it's (in game terms at least) the least generically useful.

Create Toxins.
If you can get a tissue sample of a specific race you can manufacture a poison specifically to poison that enemy type. This takes an hour of game time and adds the Toxic quality to the kill-teams weapons for a number of rounds equal to the Apothecaries Intelligence Bonus. This ability isn't bad but as with 'Guardian of Purity' detailed above I'd only take it for role-playing purposes because of...

Enhance Healing.
On a successful Medicae test for First Aid you heal an additional 1d5 Wounds. This is the one that most players should take as it's the most generally useful.

Advance Tables.
As you'd expect, the Apothecaries advance tables deal primarily with the use of chemicals and drugs (Chem-use), bodily enhancements (Resistances, Hardy) and also Interrogation. What you take will depend entirely on how you perceive your Marine's character to be. Fortunately most of the Apothecaries upgrades are pretty obvious in purpose.

Some General Advice.
Re-roll your Intelligence score if it's particularly bad, upgrade your Intelligence score with experience points as a priority and take Enhanced Healing as your Special Ability and your basic duties should be easy to accomplish. What else you wish your character to be good (or bad) at is entirely up to you ;-)

Well I hope that was of some help. Next time we'll look at Assault Marines.....

Thoughts and comments are (as usual) most welcome.

Dreadfleet is here..... Apparently.....

I fucking hate Pirates. When did dying of Scurvy, Typhus and Pulmonary Tuberculosis while on a weevil and rat infested piece of rotting wood become cool?

Apparently some people actually like pirates which was a bit of a surprise to me..... admittedly a giant mechanical squid powered by Chaos Dwarves is an interesting idea.....

The Games Workshop Newsletter 17.09.2011 In this issue: Sail ho! Dreadfleet is here...

Advance Order Dreadfleet Today - Limited Numbers Only, Order Now Dreadfleet is the game of pirate battles on the Warhammer high seas, full of nautical mayhem and deadly adventure, and it is now available for you to Advance Order. What's more, from ships to sea, everything you need to play is in the box. Make sure you place your order now to ensure you get your copy, because this product is only available in strictly limited numbers. Once it's gone, that's it - it's gone. So, don't be a landlubber - place your order for Dreadfleet before it's too late!

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Forge World Newsletter 283

 Forge World Newsletter #283

Hi there,
            In this week’s newsletter we can announce two more Games Day UK exclusive pre-release items that will be on sale in limited numbers, well in advance of their scheduled release date…

Dark Eldar Tantalus
First crafted, so it is said, for the Archon Surasis Grief of the Kabal of the Dark Mirror, the Dark Eldar Tantalus is an assault skimmer, somewhat larger and more complex in design than the Raider, and accordingly better armed. Its distinctive twin-hulled design houses powerful engine-reactors slaved to enhanced drives and its unique scythevane armament.

One of the largest Dark Eldar vehicles yet encountered by the Imperial war machine, the cruel reavers who crew this sleek engine of destruction take delight in mounting high-speed attacks, slicing through the hulls of enemy vehicles and rending infantry into crimson shreds, heralded by the screech of the molecular dissonance fields of its scythevanes and the rapid fire of its pulse-disintegrator armament.

The Tantelus, designed by Daren Parrwood, is a detailed full resin kit that includes a set of etched brass deck panels. Measuring nearly 11” from prow to stern, this twin-hulled vehicle is a great addition to any Dark Eldar army. With its full rules contained within the forthcoming Imperial Armour Apocalypse Second Edition, the Tantalus will be available in limited numbers from the Forge World Sales stand at Games Day UK, priced £85.

Land Raider Proteus
The Land Raider is perhaps the most iconic of all Imperial armoured vehicles. Its distinctive silhouette is recognisable to foe and ally alike, announcing the indomitable presence of the Adeptus Astartes, the heroic and super-human Space Marines. Many patterns and designs of this honoured and ancient war machine exist across the myriad worlds of the Imperium, and among the oldest of such designs is the Land Raider Proteus.

Mechanicus tech-savants believe that the Land Raider Proteus is a precursor to the Phobos pattern vehicle now found amongst the armouriums of the Adeptus Astartes.  Bulkier and faster than the Phobos, ancient and forgotten data-looms describe the Proteus as a forward assault vehicle, commonly fielded in Explorator missions during the dawning days of Mankind’s fledgling galactic empire.

This full resin kit, designed by Phil Stutcinskas, is packed with some amazing details and two different hull-mounted weapon options to supplement its twin-linked sponson-mounted lascannons. Available for the first time in limited numbers at Games Day UK, the Land Raider Proteus is priced at £80.

Games Day UK Seminars and Reservations
Tony Cottrel will be hosting a couple of Seminars during the day. To get tickets for the Seminars follow the signs to the Westside restaurant and you wil find the Seminar room. The tickets are limited to one per person on a first come first served basis. The seminars are limited to 142 seats each so it is best to get there early to avoid disappointment.

Sadly we can no longer accept reservations for Games Day. Reservations this year will not be held at the Forge World sales stand but will have their own area next to the recruitment stand in the main foyer.

Games Day Italy Reservations Now Being Taken
With Games Day Italy, 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 the online store, as well as our Event Only MkIII Boarding Space Marine and Chaos Dwarf Hellsmith figures and the models 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.

Games Day Australia Update
A huge selection of the Warhammer Forge and Forge World ranges will be available from the Forge World stand at Games Day Australia, which will be held on 1st October at the Australian Technology Park, Redfern, NSW. Both our 2011 Event Only MkIII Boarding Space Marine and Chaos Dwarf Hellsmith models will be on sale, and to mark the return of Games Day Australia, we’re also offering an exclusive last chance to buy some of our previous Event Only models as well.

If you have placed a reservation for Games Day Australia, you’ll soon be receiving a confirmation e-mail with your order number, details of any items we’ve been unable to reserve, and a total cost in AU$ payable on the day.

Please contact GW Australia Customer Service for full details of pricing at the event, or download a pdf copy of our updated 2011 Forge World catalogue and brand new Warhammer Forge catalogue.

Thanks,
Ead Brown
Customer Service Manager

Forge World

Deathwatch for Beginners - Specialities - General Information.

I'm going to start briefly with some generic information about how I'm going to format this particular part of the series of articles and then I'll get into the specific specialities later in the week.

An Introduction.
So It's time to look at which career we'd like to pick for our character. 
As I've touched upon in earlier articles the character generation system (if taken strictly in order) generates your characteristics first, followed by Chapter selection and then speciality. This means that strictly speaking you could roll your stats, pick a Chapter that improves those you like and then pick the speciality that your profile would best exploit.
However it's far more likely that you've already decided that you really want to be a Blood Angels Assault Marine or Ultramarines Techmarine or whatever and that's what you'll be playing regardless of your dice rolls. This 2nd method I find makes far more interesting characters as they have often end up with flaws that allow for role-playing rather than have you end up with a 'perfect' starting character which can be quite boring to role-play. For example your Assault Marine might have a low Weapon Skill but shit-loads of Toughness which immediately brings to mind an image of your Marine as a grizzled Veteran who wins combats by just plain refusing to fucking die...

Anyway,

Characteristic Advances.
Everyone's got to be good at something....
Each speciality has their own chart which details just how easy it is for them to increase their particular abilities. These are divided into four levels each of which gives a stat increase of five. These are described as Simple, Intermediate, Trained and Expert and the XP cost goes up each time. In broad terms the skills that are iconic for your character will follow a 200, 500, 1000, 1500 XP progression. Those that are somewhat alien to your archetype follow a 750, 1500, 2000, 5000 progression with the general ones in-between costing 500, 1000, 1500 and finally 2000.
As you can see the system 'encourages' you to increase certain stats over others while still giving you the option to increase those others should you feel so inclined. For simplicity in future articles we'll refer to the various skills as 'Primary', 'Secondary' and Tertiary. For example, A Techmarine's Primary skills are Strength, Toughness and Intelligence with Weapon Skill, Ballistic Skill and Perception being Secondary. Last and apparently also least are Agility, Willpower and Fellowship. It's however worth noting that not all specialities have all of these divisions. I'm personally a big fan of this system as it guides you in the right direction without outright banning you from increasing an unlikely stat if that's what you like*. In the write-ups for each speciality I'll be giving some recommendations on which stats are mandatory and which you can be a bit more flexible with as well as some idea of just how far you need to go with the upgrades.

* Of course your GM might still ban you from doing it...

Standard Equipment.
Cool free stuff.
So each speciality gets the equipment appropriate to his profession. In this section I'll be detailing what equipment they get, what their used for and what other equipment might be useful to get as 'Signature wargear' or to requisition for each mission. In 'background' terms Deathwatch Marines get very little in the way of personal possessions so you'll need to pay XP for the various 'Signature Wargear' upgrades if you want to keep anything different with you for every mission. You don't get many of these as you work through the ranks so the bulk of your 'toys' will be coming from the Deathwatch armoury and I'm afraid the Deathwatch wants them back afterwards. What war-gear you take is entirely up to you but certain choices are optimal.

Starting Skills.
You've done the training course to operate that haven't you?
Certain specialities get Skills and/or Talents for free without needing to pay XP for them. Most of these are pretty obvious as your not going to be much of an Apothecary without the Medicae Skill now are you? We'll look at what you get and how best to utilise them as well as any other abilities that compliment them well.

Special Ability.
You can do WHAT?
Sometimes you'll get a list to choose from and with others you'll just be told what you have been given. In the event that your speciality gets a choice we'll look at what they are, what they do and which are the most useful. If you don't get a choice we'll just look at what they do, lol. At this point I'll mention that just because certain choices are better from the point of view of the games mechanics doesn't make them the only choice....this is a role-playing game after all ;-)

Advance Tables.
But I want my Assault Marine to be a technical expert!!!!!
Bad luck then you should have rolled a Techmarine. There's a wide selection of choices regarding Skills and Talents and it's just plain impossible to earn enough XP to take them all. Certain choices are more optimal than others but it's easy to get caught up in the 'power gaming' frame of mind and neglect the fact that this is an RPG. I'll go through some of the more obvious upgrade choices and tell you which ones are the most useful but like all advice you can ignore it completely and I won't be offended in any way....well not much anyway.....
There is a get-out clause of sorts called 'Elite Advances'. Basically you can take any skill or Talent you like as long as you pay at least 750 XP for it and can justify it to your GM. These sort of upgrades are ENTIRELY up to your GM to approve or refuse and if he's anything like mine the answer will probably be no.....They should also really only be used for character development purposes rather than as an attempt to turn your Techmarine into a close-combat god...

Okay so that's what I'll be doing and how I'll be doing it. If you have any specific questions then you can e-mail me at the address on the right-hand side and I'll see what I can do to help.

For those of you who are interested I'll be starting with the Deathwatch Apothecary ;-)

The rest of the Battle Brothers began to suspect their Apothecary of being a Slaanesh worshipper...

House of Paincakes Article No.37

My usual iHoP article can be found here.

Tuesday Eye-Candy will be bought to today you by Kelly Hu who I have seen playing a Policewoman/FBI Agent/Secret Agent in virtually every cop show on Television at some point. It almost seems unfair to any other Oriental looking actresses out there as they're not getting any work till Mrs Hu retires, lol.

However, you'll all be more likely to remember her as Lady Deathstrike from the 2nd X-Men movie or as the Sorceress from The Scorpion King.

As Lady Deathstrike or Deathstryke depending on how picky your being,

As the Sorceress from The Scorpion King,

from the Computer game Red Alert 3,

and finally a few as herself which are big enough to use as desktop wallpapers should you feel inclined,

See you next Tuesday.

Warhammer Forge Newsflash

 
Warhammer Forge Newsflash

Games Day UK News! Hi there, Here at Forge World we’re frantically preparing for the biggest Games Day of the year, Games Day UK held at the Birmingham NEC on Sunday 25th September. Those of you who will be there will be able to buy two fantastic miniatures well in advance of their scheduled release dates, and we can now bring you the first sneak peeks of them. Remember they will be on sale at Games Day UK in limited numbers, so don’t wait too long to buy them. Exclusive Pre-Release Products Available at Games Day UK The first is another amazingly detailed resin character model designed by the talented Edgar Skomorowski.  Border Prince, mercenary general, wanted criminal and dastardly sell-sword, Lietpold the Black, also known as Lietpold the Bloody, Lietpold Turncloak and Lietpold the Liar, is a man to whom profit is more valued than honour or loyalty. This notorious character is perhaps the most detailed miniature yet released by Warhammer Forge. Lietpold the Black will be available from the Forge World Sales stand at Games Day UK in limited numbers, priced at £24. The second model to be showcased at Games Day UK is the first in a brand new range of Warhammer monsters. When the eightfold storm engulfs the Warhammer world, the most violent and savage aspects of each Wind of Magic can be summoned using dark and ancient rites, and bound by Wizards into forms shaped by the Lore they serve. The Incarnate Elemental of Beasts, designed by Keith Robertson, is a base and brutal servant-form, created to defend an Amber Wizard and destroy his foes. Available at Games Day UK in limited numbers for £45.00, this highly detailed and immense full resin monster is the perfect centrepiece for any army. Games Day Tickets Still Available If you’ve not yet bought your Games Day UK ticket, be quick because they’re selling out fast! You can order yours by visiting www.games-workshop.com. If you need transport to get to the NEC, coaches will be leaving from Games Workshop stores nationwide, so why not pop in to your local store for more details. Thanks, Ead Brown Customer Service Manager

Another Teaser from Forge World.

I've no idea what this one is either.....

Guesses anybody???

Games Workshop - Sneak Preview.

Apparently the long rumoured 'Specialist game' release from Games Workshop is going to involve Pirates.....which is a shame as I'd much rather have had something to do with Battlefleet Gothic or a Space Hulk expansion.

Never mind,

The Games Workshop Newsletter 12.09.2011 In this issue: Have you seen this man?

For more information, make sure you visit games-workshop.com or head into your local Hobby Centre on September 17th...

Primarchs - Perturabo

Having most recently done Rogal Dorn of the Imperial Fists it seemed a logical progression to attempt to do stats for his arch enemy Perturabo of the Iron Warriors.

He's one of the Primarchs that has received little in the way of attention in the Horus Heresy books and most additional information about him is basically the same shit we already know.

He is described as being 'cold and brooding' but I suppose being dumped at a random location in the galaxy with no idea of your origins is hardly the best way to turn a child into a well adjusted person. Being a master of siege-craft and with a grasp of advance technology far above that of his brother Primarchs you'd think that he's get some credit but evidently his contributions to the great crusade were largely skipped over by the history books with all the decent publicity going to the more 'popular' of the Primarchs. The most famous example of this is him being described simply as the 'comrade' of Leman Russ and Jaghatai Khan during a campaign to oust a particular Ork Warboss when it was Perturabo who actually worked out how to penetrate the defences.

Being forced to split his Legion in order to garrison the planets they had taken further increased this feeling of bitterness so when their own home planet was overtaken by rebellion forcing the Iron Warriors to brutally oppress their own home-world it's understandable that switching allegiance to Horus was an easy choice for them. Perturabo is yet another example of a Primarch who's siding with Chaos could have been avoided by the simple application of a 'well done son' from the Emperor.....

As for equipment, we have mention of a weapon known as 'Forgebreaker' which was basically a Primarch sized Thunder Hammer gifted to him by Horus himself. He's quite obviously going to have decent armour but I can't really improve it over what I give Primarchs normally as 'Primarch Armour' is already as good as I care to make it. There has also been mention of his use of a Storm Bolter but I can't for the life of me remember where I read it, but I'm going to give him one anyway but base it around the slightly increased weapon stats that I used for Rogal Dorns Boltgun. I was tempted to give him some kind of Servo-Harness but have decided against it as I don't think it's the sort of thing a Primarch would use, I may well give him equivalent repair abilities though to reflect his mastery of technology.

Okay then,

Perturabo, Primarch of the Iron Warriors.

All credit to slaine69 at deviant art for this picture.

WS 7, BS 7, S 7 (10), T 6, W 6, I 5, A 5, Ld. 10, Save 1+/3+inv.

Composition : 1 (Unique)
Unit Type : Infantry

Wargear:
Forgebreaker*, Primarch Armour, Primarch Storm Bolter**, Frag and Krak Grenades, Melta-bombs.

* Forgebreaker - Counts as a Master Crafted Thunder Hammer (Strength increase already included in profile) that rolls an additional D6 for Armour Penetration vs. vehicles. Additionally due to it's size, combined with the strength of a Primarch even the most advanced armour fairs little chance of defending against it. Therefore any successful invulnerable saves made against it's attacks must be re-rolled.

** Primarch Storm Bolter - A Primarchs weapons all utilise the most advanced technologies available - Range 36", Strength 5, AP 4, Assault 4, Master Crafted, Rending.

Special Rules:
Acute Senses, And They Shall Know No Fear, Eternal Warrior, Independent Character, Might of the Primarch, Relentless, Tank-Hunter, Master of Siege-Craft***, Master War-Smith****, Will of the Primarch.


*** Masters of Siege-Craft - Perturabo and his Iron Warriors Legion have spent centuries learning the weaknesses in every possible defensive structure and vehicle - Any Iron Warriors unit in an army containing Perturabo gains the 'Tank Hunters' special rule as long as the unit has not moved that turn. Any unit containing Perturabo himself gains the Tank Hunters rule whether they have moved or not and also gain the 'Relentless' rule. Additionally, any unit containing Perturabo may reduce the cover save of a unit they are shooting at by D3 (rolled for before the units shooting has begun but after the target has been selected).

**** Master War-Smith - Perturabo's grasp of machine engineering was greater even than that of the most senior Magi of the Adeptus Mechanicus - Perturabo may use the 'Blessing of the Omnissiah' rule with the following modifications. Perturabo is not limited to a single use of this ability each turn and need not be in base contact with a vehicle in order to repair it. Any vehicle within 6" of the Primarch may repair a Weapon Destroyed or Immobilised result (Your choice)on a 2+ and any vehicle within 12" may do so on a 4+. Should Perturabo be in a transport vehicle at the time then this abilities range is measured from the hull of the vehicle and also may be used on the vehicle in which he is being transported.


Strategic Assets:
Perturabo's controlling player gains one of each of the following Strategic assets though they may ONLY be used by Perturabo or Iron Warriors units.

Tactical Assets - Careful Planning, Camouflage, Recon.
Battlefield Assets - Tunnels, Bunkers.
Support Assets - Scheduled Bombardment.


Iron Warriors units gain access to the following additional options.

War-Smiths - As inheritors of their Primarchs special talents those Iron Warriors with the greatest grasp of technology inevitably work their way into positions of command - Any Iron Warriors Sergeant (or Aspiring Champion should you be using the Chaos Codex to represent them), Captain or War-Smith (Equivalent to a Chapter Master) may purchase a Servo Arm for 15 points or a Servo Harness for 25 points in addition to his normal equipment. These gain all the benefits of the equivalent piece of War-gear from the Space Marine Codex. Additionally he may replace his Bolt Pistol, Boltgun or close combat weapon with a Thunder Hammer for 30 points.

That should do it,

Thoughts and comments are (as usual) most welcome.