New Space Wolves: WHAT WERE THEY THINKING

+++++RANT WARNING+++++

First READ THIS.

So I want to know what they were thinking with the new SW. Were they not thinking? In all fairness, I haven't seen the Codex yet. I am basing all this off the Rumour mill. Maybe it won't be as bad as it looks to me right now. But I have a soapbox, and I am going to stand on it.



First off: The Good/Okay
It is okay that Bjorn is AV 14. I get that. Fine. Whatever.
Ragnar should be a combat beast.
Njal. Okay, Tigurius is suppossed to be wicked powerful, looking into the Shadow of the Nids. But it seems like Njal is more of a combat Librarian. Sure he knows crap tons-o-powers, but he will most likely only use 2-3 a turn. As long as he is super expensive, cool. Oh, and Mephiston better get an I save when the new BA come out.
A little weird that Logan Grimnar is now the best SM leader, but okay I guess. At least all these dudes are wicked expensive. But they are characters. I'd rather have some sweet expensive ones from a fluff and balance point than the new Guard tactic of TAKE ALL THE CHARACTERS IN THE BOOK.
SW should have acute senses. Agreed.
Non-Gay He-man Character with a wolf pack. Pretty cool. Anything that can pull off He-Man minus the Homo-eroticness is fine by me.

Where it really starts to go down hill:
1. Wulfen.
Unless it is something like DC they jacked it up. What the hell needs to be more "mysterious". They are werewolfs. Done. If you read the SW novels, you understand fully what they are already. They should have done with Wulfen what they did with The Legion of the Damned in the SM codex. My friend owns 15 Wulfen models. What is he going to do with them now?

2. Sagas
So let me get this straight. You remove the trait system from the SM. You remove Doctrines from the IG. You make SM use chapter tactics, which you can use only one of.
Then you add Sagas to Space Wolves. Why? It is chapter traits with a different name and instead of just generally selected, a Character takes them. Big Whoop. They still affect the whole army.

3. Counter attack.
They already got acute senses. Why should they be better than ever SM out there? Huh? And the rule is called Battle Brothers (at least right now). WHAT! All SM are battle brothers. SW are more drinking brothers than battle brothers. Actually, just drinking buddies. I am pretty sure they are into the whole "Personal Glory" thing. Thats why you gave them the SAGAS. So what is it? A tight knit band of brothers, or a bunch of glory hounds (pun intended)? MAKE UP YOUR MIND. Yeah, so you say they are all wicked expensive and you will always be outnumbered. BUT when facing SM they should have roughly the same number of guys and same ability. SW shouldn't be these gods amongst SM.

4. Multi use blood claws.
This can swing two ways. I am fine with them being used as Infantry, Jump Infantry or Bikes IF AND ONLY IF Jump Infantry and Bikes make them fast attack. If they stay troops, then why play any other SM list?

5. Long Fangs.
They were better than normal devs already. Now they are doubly better. Since SW are better than normal Marines and then Long Fangs are better than normal Devs, you get twice the bonus. So what if I pay more, THEY SHOULDN'T BE LEAPS AND BOUNDS AHEAD OF NORMAL SM.

6. Two Special Weapons
SO now they are better than Chaos Marines. Damn. Damn Damn. Damn.
"Ten men and 2 special weapons for 150". WHAT THE HELL. It costs Blood Angels 190 for a ten mand squad (which does give 1 DC), but UNUPGRADED. AND I don't have counter attack and acute senses. ANGRY!!!! Wait, I remember seeing things saying "The SW will be super expensive and you will always be outnumbered". 150 pt, twin special weapon, 10 man scoring units. Really?

7. BOLT PISTOL, BOLTER, AND CHAINSWORD!!!!
YOU ARE NOT CHAOS MARINES! YOU ARE NOT CHAOS MARINES!
Now go back to bullet 6. 150 pts. 10 men. 2 Special weapons.
Now read bullet 7 again. There is no intelligence left in codex writing. They do whatever they want each time and don't even read the other books. They don't care about balance. I seriously think that in play testing, if a new army doesn't win 2/3rds of the time or more, they delay it and make it better. Thats why it is taking forever for Dark Eldar.

8. Terminator Troops.
Well, there is no point to play Dark Angels anymore. They killed a codex. Flat out killed it. SM can have bike troops, SW terminator troops. Game Set Match. You had a good run Dark Angels. Sorry your list was the last one written with some semblance of balance and thought. Obviously there was a board meeting the day after your release where it was decided from now on everything would be, and I (hypothetically) quote the GW game designers, "More Super Awesomer" than the previous release.

So with my luck either they will realize the monster they created and make BA worse, or they won't stop and make BA even better. Either way, I am scared and I lose.

This post is dedicated to the Dark Angels. Rest in Peace.

1996-2009

Necromunda: Spyrer Gang Commission, My Arbites List

So my club, the Wargamers at Georgia Tech, is starting up Necromunda this semester.

I am playing Arbites. My gang consists of the following:
All have Knives and Choke Gas Grenades
Leader: Power Maul and Suppression Shield
Handler: Power Maul and Suppression Shield
Heavy: Heavy Stubber, Bolt Pistol
Enforcer: Plasma Gun, Bolt Pistol
Enforcer: Power Maul and Suppression Shield
Enforcer: Power Maul and Suppression Shield
Enforcer: Shotgun, Bolt Pistol
Enforcer: Shotgun, Bolt Pistol
Enforcer: Shotgun, Bolt Pistol
Enforcer: Bolt Pistol, Melta Bomb, Photon Flash Flares
Cyber Mastiff

Next is the gang I was commissioned to do for another player.
I made the Spyrer gang for around $50 in parts, which is far less than if you just bought the GW models, which would come in at $85.

I used Eldar bodies (4 guardians and 1 dire avenger exarch) for their torsos. The two Orrus have modified SM legs (cut off the square butts). The others all have guardian legs.

The Orrus, Yeld and Malcadon all have SM Scout heads. The Jakara has an Eldar head made to look a little more feminine to match the female guardian body.

Orrus weapons are SM Powerfists with bolt pistol barrels underneath to represent the bolt launchers.

The Malcadon has SM Combat knives as the claws and guitar string as the power cables.

The Yeld utilizes a dire avenger exarch arm for its pistol (ammo clip removed). His wings are made from Dark Angels Ravenwing bike cowls. I used 2 sets, thinned them down and glued them back to back so both sides look like wings without being too thick.

The Jakara has a Dire Avenger Exarch sword and a terminator shoulder pauldron sheild for her mirror sheild.
See the GW ones here.

Group Photo: Spyrers

Yeld Back

Yeld Front

Malcadon Back

Malcadon Side

Malcadon Front

Jakara Back

Jakara Side

Jakara Front

Orrus Back

Orrus Front

Apocalypse Knight Rules

POLL RELATED POST

So I don't like the rules that exist for Knights. I don't think they reflect what was put forth in the Mechanicum book.

So what do you think of these rules? Poll over there --> but comments are better.

Knight Rules

~500 pts
Super Heavy Walker
2 Structure Points
AV F:13/14 (not sure yet) S:12 R:11
BS 3 WS 3/4 (not sure yet) A 2
3 Power Feilds
Titan Close Combat Weapon, Primary Weapon
Double Blaster- 72" S8 AP3 Ordnance 2 5" Blast, Primary Weapon
OR
Vulcan Mega Bolter

Chin Twin-linked Heavy Stubber
OR
Chin Heavy Bolter
OR
Targeter +50 pts (+1 BS)

Agile-
May move an extra d6" in the shooting phase and fire blaster as Ordnance Barrage or Vulcan at -1 to its BS
May move an extra 2d6" and not shoot

Meltdown- 1/2 of the warhound (see Apoc main book)

POLL RESULTS
Do you like my Knight Rules?
Should be the only ones 0 (0%)
Will use 1 (12%)
Yes 4 (50%)
Eh 2 (25%)
No 0 (0%)
Will use... OTHER ONES 0 (0%)
Remove the post. Now. 1 (12%)

Nurgle Great Unclean One Scratch Built Commission

Well this is something funny. Something Awful's WTF 40k?

First off, sorry the photos aren't the best. Hope to resolve that in the near future.

The Great Unclean One cost only around $30 and has plenty of bitz left over. I may even make a custom Zoanthrope with what I have left. It is made from an inverted Carnifex Torso as the main body. On the Chest/Stomach (after cutting off the spike) I put the spore cysts carapace. I then added heap tons of green stuff and sculpted. The arms are WHFB Ogre arms. The sword is from the soulgrinder (leftover from here). The horns are from carnifex tusks and one of the actual carnifex horns.






He will mostly be used as Kugath for a Nurgle Chaos Daemons army.

I know his feet aren't on the ground fully, but this element will be incorporated into his basing.

My sculpting skills have definately improved. I plan to keep honing them, so if you want something made you can contact me at sepulchreofheroes@gmail.com

Games Day UK here I come...

NEXT YEAR

Thats right, me and my friends were thinking of doing Games Day UK. Well that and touristy things. But mainly Games Day. Too late to make arrangements this year, but we are starting to think about next years.

We have a funny idea for a group Golden Daemon: A poker game. The players: An inquisitor, a kroot, a pile of nurglings, the avatar, one of da boyz, the Deceiver (holding 5 aces), and a Carnifex. We know it isn't a legal entry if we all work on it, but we want to do it anyways to just show off.

For some personal GD entries, I have some thinking to do.

We obviously will bring armies. So I am crossing my fingers for early 2010 BA so I have time to play test out a list to bring for a tourney.

I know it is a long way off, but this is how these journeys happen.

So a new tag is born today: Odyssey

Anyone want a Titan Game?

First off sorry for the absence once more. Starting school back up plus a little vacation in there really caused havoc. And not having a functional camera. I have some sweet things to show you guys (A custom converted Spyrer gang for Necromunda and a scratch built Great Unclean One)

So I was sitting around today in class and got bored so I started formulating rules for a game of Titan combat.


As of now I am still working on it, but I will need beta testers soon enough.

I am going to try and keep it somewhat simple. A middle ground between Aeronautica Imperialis and 40k.

It is a d6 system utilising hex bases (but not a grid).

What I have so far are the movement and manueverability rules. These are based on a "Manueverability Score" generated each turn by your actions that turn. If your score gets too high, your titan can become off balanced and suffer for it (even fall if you take too many risks).
The Score is a composite of a d6 roll plus modifiers for size, speed, and terrain features. Damage will be incorporated as well once I develop the combat in greater depth.

So keep a look out for V1.0 of the game.

Poll Results
Do you want to play a Titan Game?
Absolutely 9 (69%)
Yes 3 (23%)
No 0 (0%)
I'd rather die 1 (7%)

Apocalypse mind sets

So I have been playing in a Lucky 13's campaign at a local gaming store this summer and it is really giving me a contrasted view to how I have traditionally played apoc games.

Even though I believe the games have been a little smaller in total size than the Georgia Tech Megabattles I have ran in the past, they play out very differently and I think it boils down to a few simple factors.

1- Emphasis on vehicles/infantry. I think the GT games have been geared much more to vast infantry combat rather than armour v armour. This is a very interesting way to play out Apoc in my opinion. Rather than being concerned with a superheavy duel or matching tanks co v tank co, you are playing more like a normal game on a grander scale. I recommend you try it sometime.

2- Balance. My club always strives to balance superheavies and points. We have done a very good job of this so far, with nothing dominating the game (other than a Super Monolith last time, bleh). But at Lucky 13's, people have shown up with Super Heavy flyers, which if you don't plan to fight specifically, they are nigh unstoppable. Titans are another thing that throw off the balance in a very similar matter. I suggest that unless you have a balance on each side of these things, then you restrict them. Baneblades and their variants aren't overpowered as long as oneside does not faild excess amounts against a side with none. But then again last game I destroyed a Shadowsword with 1 lascannon shot, so it can be done.

3. Scenarios. I think when players put their minds to it, they can come up with better scenarios than GW ever puts out. Asymmetcial, attacker/defender, crosslinked tables, amphibious assault, etc. etc. Give it a try.

Here is an example of a wacky scenario we have though of (but not tried) at my club.

You set up 3 sets of tables. Put what ever terrain you want on them. Then place "elevators". These elevators can carry infantry and walkers down to the next level, which should be set up like an indoor hangar/warehouse. Once again on that level there are elevators that go down to a bunker level. This table is accessible only by infantry and is laid out with corridors and rooms. Each table has 2 objectives (or more if you want, but make each table have as many as the next). You could even make certain things in certain levels effect the others, like a defence laser control room in the bottom floor grant control of a laser on the surface, or a building on the surface have secret tunnels to the hangar, or the hangar have a valkyrie to go up to the surface and a way to collapse a tunnel in the bunker.

Well there is just my general rant for now.