Pre-release thoughts about 6th Edition

So with 6th Edition mere days away from launch I thought I'd share a few of my thoughts about the upcoming release, the various rumors/leaks that are making their way around the interwebs and about 5th ed. drawing to a close. So without further ado...

Yep, it's a post about 6th, so here'e the obligatory pic of the rule book.

First off I want to say that I really enjoyed 5th. I honestly wasn't really ready for it to end. However as the rumors of 6th started to come out and it seemed that it was more and more inevitable I did start to lose interest. Not really in playing games mind you. I still have one last game of 5th planned for tomorrow night (where my Eldar will try to get some revenge for their loss at the hands of Yancy's Tau!) But I have had little drive to do anything else with the hobby. I haven't really made any new lists to try out in a couple of months. I have done a bit of hobbying, but it has been a real mental struggle to get myself to sit down at the hobby table these last few weeks. I just find it hard to get inspired to do anything when I don't know if it's going to be any good when 6th rolls around.

As 6th rumors started to spread all over the internet I was skeptical and quite frankly terrified of what 6th was going to bring. Random terrain, random charge ranges, allies, flyers, ap on close combat weapons. When it was just tidbits here and there all we could really do was look at how those things would work in the context of 5th edition and a lot of it honestly sounded horrible to me. I was worried that I wouldn't like it. I have literally zero interest in any other miniatures game I've seen being played so I was beginning to fret that my mini-wargaming days were numbered. Who knows, they still could be.

As more and more rumors and some leaks have come out though we are starting to get a better picture of what 6th is going to be like and I've really started to come around. I still think random charge lengths is terrible mind you, but overall the game looks like its going to be even more dynamic than anything we've played to date.

The rules for flyers look kind of cool. I currently don't have any ready to go, but I may have to get my Razorwing painted up so I can run it as an ally to my other forces.

 The new vehicle damage system and hull points sounds like it will bring the much needed toning down to light vehicles while actually making the more expensive heavier vehicles more worthwhile. I do have 4 Land Raiders so I may have to bust them out and see how that goes!

Wound allocation is going away/changing. I'm not sure if changing to the closest model is the best solution, but I'm willing to give it a chance if it helps do away with all the silly wound allocation shenanigans.

I'm still not 100% sold on the fortifications, but I suspect that in the end most tournaments will not be using this as it makes setting up balanced, fair tables very hard for the TO. At the very least I suspect that Fortress of Redemptions will be a no go. Even if I don't think they're all that great it's still only 0-1 per army so it's impact should be fairly minimal.

The changes to add ap to assault is IMO a good thing. I especially like that power weapons are AP3. It's really gonna see a big buff to terminator squads. These guys are gonna finally be the kings of the battlefield they should be!

Where do I even begin with Psychic Domination?! When we first heard about this it sounded like all powers except Grey Knights were going to be randomly determined. Now as we learn that you get your codex powers OR can opt to roll for PD powers it starts to seem like it will really just provide some new options in friendly games. Since in the end you still get to choose I think it will be a fun new option. I still don't think you'd want to try running it in any sort of tourney, but in a pick-up game at the FLGS, why not?

Then finally the biggest turn around I'm having would have to be on Allies. I loathed the allies rules in the old Deamonhunters and Whitchhunters codex's. I thought it was poorly thought out and unbalanced. When I heard allies were in in 6th all I could think of was that. As we've seen more and more about how they will work though I've gotta say I think it will work. I do think it has the potential to really amp up the power levels in a lot of ways, I also think it will provide so many different combinations that it will kind of balance itself out.

There's of course a lot more going on, but these seem like some of the bigger things to me. All in all as we get closer and closer I'm really starting to get pumped! It's gonna be a whole new game and I'm ready to dive in and start learning the nuances of it!

Also I'm thinking about doing a series of 'Learning' Video Battle Reports where we discuss various rules as the game goes on and afterwards discuss things we learned and what we thought worked well etc.etc. Of course this is the first I've mentioned it to anyone, anywhere so I don't even know if I'll have participants willing to share their thoughts, but we'll see. It's just something I'm toying around with.

So what are your thoughts here in the final few days of 5th? Are you excited? Anxious? Filled with unbridled rage at how this will ruin your army? Let me know, I'm eager to hear about it.

Till next time...

Night Spinner: Finished

Two posts in one day! 

Well awhile back I posted some WIP pics of my first Night Spinner. I finally got around to finishing it up today. Here are a few pics of the finished product. 

Front view

Side view.

Top view and proof that I should probably invest in a light box.

Close up of the Doomweaver. 

So this is the first time I have attempted to paint the cockpit windows. In the past I have painted the pilots and left the window unpainted. Most of them end up falling out at some point or they would get really floppy so I would then glue them down. Not knowing better at the time I used super glue and the window then all fogged up. I decided to give painting the windows a try on this and figure if I liked the effect I would go back (eventually) and paint the rest of the vehicles cockpits the same way. Well, I like it, so it looks like I've gone and created yet more work to add to my overwhelming backlog. 

I guess it's not technically done as I don't have the twin-linked shuriken catapult painted up, but I have a bunch of those laying around so no worries. ;)

Video Battle Report: Eldar vs. Copper Dragons (counts as Blood Angels)

The final video battle report from the Battle Barn. This one is a 1500pt battle between my Eldar of the Saim--Hann Craftworld vs. Tim's Copper Dragons, which he was using the Blood Angel Codex for. We decided to have to missions with Capture and Control as the primary and Annihilation as the Secondary. The deployment was pitched battle. Tim won the roll for first turn and elected to have me go first.

End of an Era

No, this has nothing to do with 5th edition coming to a close and the approach of 6th edition. It's much more sad than that and hits much closer to home.

As many of you know the place I play at regularly is known as the Battle Barn (yes it's literally a barn, red paint job and everything!) Well it's going to be closing soon. It's not all doom and gloom though. The reason the barn was opened was because there was no place in town to game and Jeff (the owner) and Brian (our de-facto club president) decided that to try to keep gaming alive they would clean out the barn and have regular game nights.

Recently though, a few new game stores have opened their doors and are offering open gaming. Places like Cobblestone Hobbies in Holland and Alpha Omega Coffee and Games in Cedar Springs have gaming on Saturday afternoons while Big Kidz Games in Grand Rapids offers open gaming everyday of the week (even on Fridays during Friday Night Magic!)  With a few options open now for regular gaming there is no longer a need for the Barn and so sadly Jeff has decided to close it.

I have made many friends in the few years that I have been gaming out at the Barn and I hope that they will continue on to these new locations (as I will frequent all of them!) It's great that gaming has become so strong in the area to support multiple locations but the Barn will be missed.

I want to thank Jeff and especially his wife for opening up his Barn to all of us these past few years. It's been a great run!

GW Wrapped In Mystery! Ooooh, whatsat? Could it be 6th.

Seriously, it's like a mystery, wrapped in an enigma, wrapped in a sweater vest (thank you Lisa Simpson for that line.)

Super Mega Team Battle Go!

This weekend the Barn hosted a Cookout and day of gaming on Saturday as opposed to our usual Friday night gaming. Knowing this was coming I spearheaded a large, multi-player team game. My friend Jeff also pitched in with developing a unique, themed mission for the battle. In the end we had a total of 7 players, 4 for the forces of 'Order' and three for the forces of 'Disorder'. The game ran at 6000pts per side with the four forces of order bringing 1500pts apiece while the 3 players for Disorder brought 2000ts each.

The mission Jeff came up with was the Evacuation of Tarsis Ultra with the following rules:


Board Size 4' x 12'

Deployment



Forces of Order deploy first anywhere on the table or in reserve

Forces of Disorder go first and can either be in reserve or come in on first turn like dawn of war

Objective
Forces of Order
Defend the evacuation craft 

Forces of Disorder
Destroy the evacuation craft before they are able depart the planet

Evacuation Craft
Starting on turn 2 roll a d6. On a 4 up the next evacuation craft arrives. Roll a d3 to determine the number of game turns the craft remains on the planet loading passengers

While landed the evacuation craft have 4+ cover saver from enemy shooting but count as stationary for assault purposes. The evacuation craft can fire their weapons normally during the FoO turn.

After the number of turns have elapsed the evacuation craft depart the battlefield at their max speed toward the defenders board edge.

Evacuation Craft 
FA 12 SA 12 RA 12
Fast Skimmer
TL-Multi Melta - Nose
TL-Lascannon - Turret
Ceramite Plating
Power of the Machine Spirit

End of Game
Game ends when either the last craft is destroyed or is safely off the table.

Winning
The side that either defends/destroys the most evacuation craft wins.


In addition to this primary mission I really wanted to make this a true 'beer and pretzels' game. So I came up with a fun little side mission. 


At the beginning of the game each player was allowed to place 2 objectives anywhere on the board not 12" from another objective. Then starting on turn two, at the beginning of their sides turn any player who solely controlled one of the objectives could 'claim' it. Once claimed they would turn the objective in to me and on the bottom of the objective (we were using poker chips) I had placed a number. I would consult a legend I had in my pocket and the player would either recieve some pretzels or one of a variety of beers [Mug root beer for the minors (-;]


I also wrote up a small bit of fluff to accompany the battle. 

Farseer Madiyas of the Saim Hann craftworld after casting the runes saw a swirling vortex that would cost thousands of Eldar lives if not quelled swiftly. At the heart of this maelstrom was a human dignitary from the planet the mon-keigh call Tarsis Ultra. The planet is currently acting as a staging point for several chapters of Space Marines a well as a regiment of Imperial Guard. Knowing that his craftworld lacked the military might necessary to face such an assemblage of forces he and his council of seers decided upon a desperate plan. They would lure a host of their dark kin from the webways and a splinter of hive fleet Leviathan to the planet. Tarsis Ultra would be utterly destroyed by such a force, but what concern of the Eldar is that so long as the machinations of chaos are stopped.

For the Forces of Order we had Dale with his Imperial Guard,, Yancy with his Tau,  Reese with his Space Wolves and  Tim with his Copper Dragons Space Marines (for his perspective and more pics you can check out his blog at http://talesoffireandice.blogspot.com/2012/06/escape-from-tarsis-ultra.html)


The forces of Disorder were comprised of Austin with his Tyranids, Jeff with his Dark Eldar and pulling the puppet strings were my Saim-Hann Eldar. 


Anyway, onto the pictures.

Setting up the battlefield.

The forces of Order prepare to defend the evacuation.

The forces of Disorder arrive.

Farseer Madiyas and the Seer Council do battle with aThunderwolf cavalry and  a Wolf Lord on Thunderwolf mount. 

The battle is joined by some Dark Eldar Wyches (Reese had to leave for a time so the Sentinals are standing in as proxies till his return) The Council and Wyches would end up winning out on this one but...

In this picture you can see some of the spoils of War! 

.... later some Grey Hunters, with a little help from Vulkan would get their revenge. 

In the end the forces of Disorder were able to win out by destroying two of the escape craft. My Fire Prisms linked up to take out one while a Carnifex managed to punch one down before it could make it off world. This game was a ton of fun. Afterwards we all agreed that the primary mission needed some tweaks, but it worked well enough for an afternoon of fun. I also think the beer and pretzels mission needed some tweaks, I was afraid that it would be too easy and we'd run out of beer, but I was wrong and we actually had leftovers (for shame, guess I'll have to drink 'em at home.) 

Holy Baals, GW goes Digital!

GW plans on releasing a new entry every month. The Space Marine codex includes the rules for the StormTalon. Will we finally see living documents for their products? We can hope. You can find out more details here" http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/article.jsp?type=article&aId=22200010a This is pretty frickin' sweet, or at least it would be if I had an iPad! Welcome to the digital age GW, hopefully they discover Android soon!