Macro Madness

I've recently invested in a new DSLR (a Canon 7d for those interested) and one of my first purchases for it has been a macro lens so that I can take some nicer pictures of my models.

 A flesh tearers death company dread, advancing up the street

A building complete with poster

An Arvus Lighter flying high above the city. 

 These are just some test shots I took a while back. I'm still getting used to the camera, so please forgive any dodgy shots. I also took it to Salute the other week and took a whole bunch of pics of all the cool tables there. When I've had a chance to sift through the shots I'll post some.

Grey Knights

Sorry about the lack of updates the last month - work has kept me extremely busy. I've had a little time for hobby, but not loads - mostly been spent painting and building Dark Eldar, but more on that another time.

Codex Grey Knights, in all it's glory

Today I wanted to take a look at the new Grey Knight codex from a fluff-oriented gamer's perspective. We've heard a lot about the various strengths and weaknesses of the codex, and plenty of speculation on what might make good competitive builds, as one might expect, but the Codex GKs also has some interesting options for more fluffy players like myself.

Firstly, it's a great counts-as codex. And I'm not thinking about this from 'how do I squeeze more l33t out of my chaos models' perspective, but rather from a 'what cool looking force can I build that isn't covered by other dexes' point of view.

Many people were bemoaning the shift from an =I= focus in this new codex - the fear being that the =I= would take a back seat at best, but I've actually been quite impressed with the implementation so far. Sure, you can no longer abuse the allies system to make an uber-build of doom, but I find the inquisition sections open up plenty of possibilities for characterful armies using the henchman warband and Coateaz.

Orange furry alien Oblits, basically

There are so many options here, you could pretty much build an army just using Coateaz and this one force org entry. Crusaders to hold the line, Warrior Acolytes for some cheap firepower (I'm thinking of using my Necromunda Enforcer models as Arbite Acolytes), some Jokaero's for Heavy Weapon support, and a unit of Arco Flagellants for counter assault. Sure, there are more competitive lists out there, but the option to build an ad-hoc militia force is finally here - something I've been wanting for a long time.

In a week or so I'll be playing a scenario with a friend of mine based around the defence of a world caught unawares. I'll be using a small force of Dark Eldar, against a large civilian militia. We were struggling to find rules to represent the militia, but these will work great.

The other thing I love about this codex is the option for armies with a really tiny model-count. 2 wound 2++ terminators with feel no pain that count as troops mean you can risk a really small force and still have a decent chance of success. When I finally get around to actually getting some Grey Knights, this is probably the way I will go. 12 man army anyone?

Fluff gamers vs Competitive gamers - a BOLS editorial response

A nearly-finished Dark Angels Dread
that was sitting on my desk.

BigRed just posted an editorial on BOLS which makes interesting reading - you can get to it here:

It makes interesting reading, and the message seems to be 'lets all just get along' which I heartily endorse, but I do feel the analysis is somewhat lacking. Interestingly, I was in the middle of writing a piece for this blog about the same subject, so I've folded that material into my response which I'm posting here for your perusal.

I'd be interested to hear what people think on the matter...

---

Dreamwarder's Response.

I strongly agree with the sentiment, but strongly disagree with the analysis. I would guess Kahoolin is a 'strategist' from reading this, since he doesn't really adequately represent the thought processes of the 're-enactor' (terrible name), at least not as I understand it.

Firstly, calling fluffy gamers 're-enactors' only serves to make them seem more stupid. How can you 're-enact' in a science fiction wargame? Or a fantasy wargame for that matter?

A better term would be 'storytellers' - as it's the story of the game that is more important to fluffy gamers. This doesn't mean they are any more or less strategically adept in their playing than a 'strategist', it just means that telling a good story is more important to them than winning.

My 1st Edition hardback Rogue Trader.
Hands off. 

You can try and make a link with RPG gaming if you like, but that would be as fatuous as saying that all 'strategy' gamers take their inspiration from CCG gaming. Sure, some might, but it is by no means the sole influence. Local play style is probably just as important, as is the context in which one was introduced to the game in the first place.

I played Rogue Trader when it first came out and loved it, but not because of any percieved RPG elements, but rather because it was a wacky skirmish game with good battle-simulation rules. The detail was impressive, and allowed for a style of cinematic storytelling through wargaming that was reminiscent of playing with star wars figures, only with RULES and DICE (bear in mind I was 11 at the time).

As 40k has matured, it's scale has grown and with it the rules have streamlined. It's now a fully fleged wargame rather than a skirmish game, and with that some of the detail has eroded, but it has still retained its 'cinematic' feel for me, and when I play some part of me that is still 11 years old rejoices.

The Realm of Chaos books owed a lot to
RPGs (and John Blanche's odd mind)

When you look at how 40k is played by the designers and their mates you can still see this strong influence of narrative gaming which has very little to do with RPGs but a lot to do with enjoying the story told by beautifully painted models and scenery - it enables the gamer to fully visualise their fantasy world and immerse themselves in it. As I've grown older my painting and modelling skills have improved along with my terrain making. My friends and I are now in our thirties so we don't have the overactive imaginations our 11 year old selves had, but we have awesome looking models and terrain to help get us back to that place of creating great stories with our games.

Contrast this with what seems to be the norm on the American wargaming scene where you see a very different sort of play-style. Lots of in-store gaming with frankly pretty basic terrain and a focus on 'net-list' driven min-max style gaming that takes its cue from games such as Magic the Gathering. The focus is on beating the other player rather than enjoying the ride, and who can argue with that since the ride is nowhere near as pretty, at least when compared with the gaming tables of the Perry Twins where Jervis gets to play most of his games.

The 40k Compendium. Arguably the first step
on the road to codex books, army lists and
'game balance' - such as it is.

When I started in the hobby, I was still at school, and GW's in the UK didn't have great facilities for in-store gaming, plus they discouraged kids my age. Then the 90s came along and kids were actively encouraged, but I still played most of my games with friends at their houses. We weren't great with the rules and 40k and Fantasy were the first wargames we had ever played, but we loved fighting battles with our spess mahrines.

Contrast this with the introduction to the hobby of most American gamers, the bulk of whom seem to have got into the games in adulthood, and have transferred from other games (such as Magic-the-Gathering-type CCGs) As Kids growing up in the UK there was a strong element of 'playing with star wars figures' in how we shaped our battles, we just got to roll dice to decide who died. For US gamers coming to 40k fresh from CCGs, competition is everything, and finding a kickass combo of units that no-one else has spotted is the heart and soul of the game.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, I can understand how these two very different styles of play have polarised, and why a highly competitive style of play is more dominant 'across the pond', or why a more fluffy style is more dominant in the UK (particularly amongst GW designers) but I don't think you can break down the difference in play-styles to the lone factor of 'some wargamers like to RPG it a bit' - there are many factors that have influenced the way the game is played, and I think the trans-atlantic divide has created a disproportionate focus in the states (and consequently online) on the competitive side of the game, which has led many US-based critics to lambast the GW designers for not playing (and designing) the game 'their way'.

Personally, I hope the GW designers never change. If you want a well-balanced, tightly written competitive wargame then go for warmachine or hordes, but if your inner 11 year-old wants to play at star-wars figures again, then the privateer games just won't cut the mustard. You'll need to go to good ole' 40k.

Cities of Death Closeups #2: The Promethium Refinery

 The Promethium Refinery was one of the first ruins I constructed for the city. The inspiration was quite simple - I'd picked up a chemical plant kit from the platformer range, and I was looking for an opportunity to use some of the bits. They mix very well with the GW building kits - particularly the AdMech building, as you can see below.

Again, this ruin could be used to represent a standard Cities of Death Strategem (fuel dump would be the obvious choice) but there are many more interesting ways to use it in spicing up a game.

For a start, fuel is pretty explosive as we all know, and anyone who was anywhere near the Buncefield fuel depot in North London when it blew up in 2005 will remember the magnitude of the explosion. Perhaps centering a massive explosion on the ruin when it gets turned to rubble by siege shells and the like might provide some fun? Particularly if one were to combine such a dangerous possibility with making the ruin a key objective, or perhaps placing a retrievable objective inside it (think capture the flag). For a suitable sized explosion, the apocalypse rules might provide something, or failing that the deathstrike missile explosion rules could be used.

One could also make the ruin particulary volatile, giving any weapons fire of any magnitude that traces its LOS through the ruin the possibility of touching off a big bang (any to hit roll of 1 on a shot that passes through the ruin causes a bang might be one way).

Indeed, an entire scenario can be built around the Promethium refinery which can provide for some interesting gaming opportunities. For example:

Battle for the Refinery

Agree points value and choose forces as normal - this could be a Cities of Death battle (using terrain similar to the above) or the refinery could be in a rural or other remote area. Regardless, set up the terrain as you see fit with the refinery in the middle.

Roll off. The winner places a single objective marker somewhere within the building footprint of the refinery. This could be a simple 40k green plastic flag, or a specially modelled objective marker (an injured soldier would work well), or whatever you commonly use to mark objectives.

Choose deployment type and deploy accordingly.
This is an objective mission with a twist. The winner is the player holding the objective at the end of the game, but the objective can be moved by any unit that is able to claim it (ie a scoring unit in range with no enemy units contesting). In order to pick up the objective, the player declares that he is doing so, and places the objective on a model in the claiming unit (assuming they meet the conditions to claim it). From that point on the unit is considered to be carrying the objective and it will travel with the model that is carrying it until the controlling player declares he is putting it down. A unit carrying a objective can behave normally in every way except one - they are unable to initiate assaults (although they can fight as normal if assaulted). All models in the unit behave as normal except the model carrying the objective who is unable to shoot and in close combat will only fight with one attack at the strength on his profile. If the model carrying the objective is killed he drops it where he fell, although if the unit is not locked in combat or falling back another model may immediately pick up the objective (just transfer it to that model). The unit will also drop the objective if they break and fall back at any time.

The game lasts 5 turns. Whoever controls the objective at the end of the game is the winner. If it is contested at the end of the fifth turn, another turn must be fought. If it is still contested at the end of the 6th turn, another turn must be fought. This continues until the turn ends with the objective uncontested, or one player's forces are completely eliminated.

In addition, any shot that traces its LOS through any part of the promethium refinery risks triggering an explosion. If any shot tracing it's LOS throug any part of the refinery rolls a 1 to hit, the refinery explodes. Resolve the explosion as though a Deathstrike missile had landed on the centre of the refinery. This can only happen once. After the refinery has exploded, replace it with suitably modelled rubble. If the objective was caught in the explosion, it scatters 2D6 inches in a random direction (use the scatter dice - in the event of a hit, use the direction of the tiny black arrow on the hit symbol).

Cities of Death Closeups #1: The Broadcast Station

Ok so in the previous post you will have seen some shots of my new City of Death in action. This was probably the single biggest terrain project I've ever undertaken, and I'm really only half way through - so far it's taken about three months, with several weeks of holiday consumed by working on it pretty much round the clock. Thankfully the first 'phase' is pretty much done so I'm taking a break and enjoying what I've finished so far before moving onto phase 2.

Phase 1 was all about getting the ruins built and the street sections finished. Phase 2 will be about building a rubble version of each ruin (so that the ruins can be destroyed by siege shells etc), and sorting out some scatter terrain.

 I thought it might be nice to look at some of the ruin pieces in more detail over a series of posts, and maybe look at ways they could be used to spice up games by introducing a few house rules.

First up, the Broadcast station.

 The idea behind this piece was to come up with something that had a lot of height and was also largely an intact building. I wanted it to be useable as an objective in its own right, and a huge fricken radio mast seemed like as good an objective as any. Below you can see a wide shot of it fully painted, with nearly the whole mast in frame.

The mast itself is not climable, meaning that most of the height is merely decorative, but it does serve to give the board a 'skyline' which looks pretty nice.

Game-wise, there are numerous ways you can use such a piece. Obviously it could be used to represent a COD stratagem, such as the command centre, but beyond that it can be used to create a characterful scenario - for example recapturing a broadcast tower that is being used by the enemy for their own ends. In an apocalypse game it could be used to represent a vital objective (being worth two or three regular objectives) and it may be fun to introduce some unusual benefits for those posessing the tower - for example, if one player is holding the tower uncontested at the end of his turn, then he could be allowed to reroll any leadership tests his men have to take in his following turn. Or he may be allowed to force his opponent to reroll his leadership tests. Or both. A titanic battle over a vital objective such as this broadcast tower could serve to create a very characterful game...

 I've recently been working on some "Cities of Death" terrain, and in the coming days I plan on posting some suggestions for gaming in a city that go a bit beyond the 40k rulebook and Cities of Death supplement, but for now here are some pictures of what I've been working on. The game in progress is a battle between my Crimson Fists and my friend's Tyranid horde.

 The Tyranids advance through the ruins of a cathedral...

 A Trygon Prime emerges at the end of the street...

 The defenders hurry to bolster their defences...

An armoured column advances to meet the threat.

Blog premise

Greetings Imperial Citizen.

This blog is dedicated to the fluff-driven 40k gamer for whom winning is not as important as participating in a game that tells a strong story. That's not to say we don't like winning,  neither does it mean we don't think 40k should be played competitively, but we recognise that tournament-focused competitive play is not the only way to play the game, but it is the most commonly talked-about approach to 40k on teh internetz.

This blog seeks to correct that imbalance somewhat.

Here you will find regularly posted articles and suggestions for playing 40k that emphasise using the game to create a compelling narrative without worrying too much about how many objectives you've captured or how many kill points you've racked up. We'll be posting scenarios and inspirational ideas to help steer your games away from competitve tournament-style play, and towards creating fun stories through your games, set in the 40k universe. Also expect to see battle reports, house rule suggestions and inspirational pics of armies, terrain and battles in progress.

In short, watch this space.