0 6th Ed. Ramblings and Predictions

I will have the book this weekend.

First, my sources:
http://www.heresy-online.net/forums/showthread.php?t=112662
http://www.lounge.belloflostsouls.net/showthread.php?t=22683

I don't want to go too far and deep into this, but I have some predictions for 6th Ed. that you might or might not agree with.  Please, feel free to chime in and let me know if any of this is incorrect.

Lets start with some of the things I noticed.  Please excuse me if this is unorganized, but I just wanted to write some shit and get it out of my head.  There's a lot of info here, so open up the two threads I linked above so you can follow along.

Also keep in mind that I'll be talking from a DE, SW, BA player's perspective, as well as touching upon GK, Tyranids and other armies I find interesting.  I will use bold and italicized to cover army specific stuff.


Night Vision ignores Night Fighting.  This is good because Night Fighting can happen in any game now apparently (on a 4+).  It changes a little bit, like max range being 36" and anything shooting over 24" gets a 2+ cover save.  Dark Eldar ignores this.

Acute Senses get to re-roll Outflank.  Space Wolves like this.

Rage is now +2 attacks on the charge, and some sources say it has no movement penalties?  Looks like Death Company will be getting a buff.  This is probably in preparation for Khorne Berserkers.

Jink looks like a 5+ cover save for Fast Skimmers and Jetbikes if they move at all.  That means Dark Eldar Flickerfields will only be good when sitting still.  If they go flat out, those models get a 4+ cover save. Eldar players must be shitting their pants right now because every one of their vehicles just got Flickerfields on top of Energy Shields and Holofields.

5+ cover is everywhere now.  Most things provide a 5+ (to include shooting through units, being inside of craters and being partially concealed) though Ruins give 4+.  Lesser degrees of protection makes MEQ easier to remove (greater answer to Paladins), makes it reasonable to kill Guardsman in cover, but makes more elite armies suffer more (Eldar).  Vehicles and models now get cover saves if 25% of the model/unit is covered instead of 50%.  Looks like DE vehicles will be getting cover saves everywhere now:  25% cover is easily obtained, Flickfields out in the open and standing still, or 5+ cover from Jink just because you moved.

New USR named Hammer of Wrath makes it so units attack at I10 hitting at regular strength.  BAs will like this because it works with Jump Infantry.  Not sure if this benefits from Furious Charge or whatnot.

Zoom - a Flyer USR that keeps the flyer from ramming, tank shocking, being rammed, being tank shocked, must move 18" if at all possible, may turn up to 90* before moving, can move upwards to 36". It may still fire 4 weapons when moving at these speeds. If the flyer ends up moving off the table due to the Zoom rule it may roll to come back on the next turn.  Vendettas looking really good right now at 130 points.  Not sure about the Voidraven yet though.  The Stormraven also looks pretty good with its ability to fire so many weapons.  Considering now units need 6s to hit flyers (unless you have a special rule that allows you to use your regular BS), this is pretty huge.

Random charges are in with 2d6 on the charge.  Fleet allows you to reroll the run roll or the charge roll during a turn. No longer allows you to run AND assault in the same turn (as that'd give a unit with this rule a 24" threat bubble under the new rules).  Paladins with 2d6 to charges seem ridiculously scary, especially with Relentless staying the same.  You can now move 6" shoot everything, then charge up to 12" away for 18" threat range on Paladins after shooting.  Fleet looks like smaller distances overall, so less mobility but greater success at getting the charge.

However, units consolidating into combat now happens before units get to strike, and the range of consolidation has been reduced to 3".  That means that although things like Paladins can potentially touch you from 18", not many of them will be in combat.  This applies to all units assaulting.  Combine this with things like Overwatch being able to Snap Fire and the lead unit before he gets into combat might mean no units can actually reach combat.  Hmm..

Feel No Pain is now 5+ and can only be prevented by Instant Death.  This means that Power Weapons can no longer kill FNP units reliably.  ID is the only way to really get rid of them.  This looks to be a copy and paste 5+ Regeneration from Fantasy, but there's nothing in 40K that removes it.  Looks like a buff overall to FNP because now you can't remove them with S7 AP2/1 fire.

Preferred Enemy is now re-roll all 1s for shooting and close combat, both to hit and to wound.  Wolf Priests got better, and Hive Tyrants with Old Adversary (6" PE bubble) definitely got better.

All close combat weapons have AP values now:

Powersword: AP3, gives user 5++ in CC
Poweraxe: +1S, AP2, I1
Powerfist: 2xS, AP2, I1
Chainfist: 2xS, AP2, I1, 2D6 vs. armor
Powermaul: +2S, AP4
Powerlance: +1S & AP3 on the charge, AP4 otherwise
Lightning Claws: S User, AP3, Melee, Shred, Specialist Weapon
Forceweapon: AP3
Force Sword S User, AP3, Melee, Force
Force Axe S +1, AP2, Melee, Force, Unwieldy
Force stave S +2, AP4, Melee, Concussive, Force

Does this honestly mean you can't harm Terminators with Power Weapons that's not a I1 striking weapon?  'cause I'm seriously worried about things like Paladins now (between this and the 2d6 charge range).  Maybe the reduction of overall cover save to 5+ will be even this out.  More importantly, what does this mean to Frost Blades, Huskblades or Boneswords?  A codex FAQ MUST be shipped upon 6th Ed. release.

Overwatch and Snap Fire.  Snap Fire allows you to fire weapons you wouldn't normally be able to fire at BS1 (heavy weapons, sponsons on a tank that has moved and fired it's main weapon....more information will be available on the exact details upon the release of the rulebook). Blast weapons may not snap fire.  Overwatch states that charged units able to shoot may do so using the Snap Fire rules. Templates hit d3 times, blast weapons may not be fired. This can only be done once per unit per turn.  Looks like Orks will be loving this shooty change.

Shooting now only works against models the unit can see, with the enemy unit taking saves from closest to furthest, only pulling casualties as models fail their saves. This will likely slow games down, but should prevent other wound allocation cheese that occurs.
Shots from Overwatch also allocate wounds this way and can prevent a unit from successfully being able to assualt due to taking enough wounds that the first rank doesn't reach the unit.
Regardless of the number of hits actually made, you can only wound and kill models that are in range of your weapons.
No Half Strength blast templates vs vehicles. Templates now do full strength hits regardless where the center hole is.
Independent Characters and Snipers may allocate wounds to visible models in range with rolls of 6s to hit.
Grenades may now be used as a shooting attack.
Unit Leaders (example: Battle Sister Superior) and Independent Characters benefit from "Look Out Sir!" save versus shooting to prevent from taking wounds.

Sounds like a better change overall, although I'm worried how much this will slow the game down.  A lot of rules lawyering I see with this one.

Vehicle Hull Points and damage:

When a vehicle is glanced 1 Hull Point is removed for each successful glancing hit. When a vehicle suffers a penetrating hit a Hull Point is lost and then a roll on the vehicle damage chart is made (+1 for Open Topped, +1 for AP2 and +2 for AP1, no penalties for AP-): 1-2 Shaken, 3 Stunned, 4-5 Weapon Destroyed, 6 Explodes!). When all Hull Points are gone the vehicle becomes a wreck.
Most vehicles have 3 Hull Points, however some have 4 (examples: Soul Grinder, Land Raider, Ghost Ark, Monolith) and others have 2 (examples: Vyper and Ork Buggies).
Overall, a better change for vehicles, but I'm unsure whether or not I like what this means for Dark Eldar.  Does the 5++ offered from Jink justify the 2 Hull Points and higher damaging weapons?  This makes vehicles riskier, which is a great change, but sad for my paper airplanes.

Disembarking can only be done if the vehicle moved 6" or less and must be placed within base contact with the access point and then moved upwards to 6" from the access point. No more 8"+ bubble from the access points when disembarking.
Huge nerf for the likes of Orks and DE who relied on jumping out of their vehicles from 2" after moving 12".  I need to see the rules for Open-top vehicles, but this worries me a lot as a DE player who likes Wyches.

Psychic Powers.  There's a lot of them, so I'm not going to bother posting it.  They're in the links above.  In a nut shell, if your army doesn't have a Psyker or solid Psyker protection, you're pretty much boned.  A 6+ to save as Psychic protection doesn't justify getting nuked repeatedly by these abilities.  Orks, Dark Eldar, Tau, I feel bad for you.

Allies
Perks/Penalties based on trust level between two armies. Some armies can't ally with certain other armies and Tyranids aren't allowed Allies.
Can NOT ally with your own army to break the FOC.
Allies require you to take 1 HQ and 1 Troop choice before taking any other options. May take an additional Troop Choice and up to 1 of any non-HQ choice from the Ally's army.
Looks like a nightmare for game balance, but we'll see how this plays out.

There's some other rules out there, but for now, I'm done.

Detail: 6th Ed. Ramblings and Predictions

0 Minis game mechanics

I'll try to keep this short but deep.

Do you like minis games with high lethality?  What I mean by this is how fast your units die on the battlefield.  An example could be a unit in Warhammer missing their armor save or a unit in Warmachine getting sniped.  How fast do you want your units to die?  What feels right to you?

What about damage on armor?  Do you like the Warmachine warjack design where you have to take off multiple boxes, thus damaging certain weapon systems before being boxed?  Or do you like the 40K mechanic there's a vehicle damage chart that determines what happens to your vehicle?  The difference between these two is that in 40K, your vehicle can potentially get 1-shotted off a lucky roll whereas in Warmachine, this is almost impossible.

Going off of vehicle damage, what about Flames of War?  This is where your M4 Sherman tank has 6 armor in the front and the main gun from the Panther is strength 13.  There's basically no saves you can take from this kind of firepower and once you're hit, you're good as dead (3+ firepower kills you instantly).  It's realistic, it's visceral and the damage feels very real.

So with that said, what kind of lethality feels good to you?  Do you enjoy the damage mechanic of Warmachine, Warhammer or Flames of War.  All 3 plays with armor so I'm a bit curious to see what your opinions are.  As you guys know, I'm designing a mech-style minis game on the side and I'm looking for feedback.

To keep the design gears turning, I want to talk about combat systems really quick.  Let's just take ranged skills for now and compare how it works in those games mentioned above.  Do you guys like the Warhammer mechanic?  I'm talking strictly Warhammer WHFB and not 40K (because 6th Ed. will see range modifiers).  You have a BS of 3, you normally need 4s to hit but in long range, it'll be +1 so 5s.  Do you guys like Warmachine?  You have a RAT of 7, vs. a DEF14 target you need 7s to hit on a 2d6 system.  There is no such thing as long range, but if you stand behind cover you get +4 to your DEF and if you stand still and aim, you gain +2 RAT.  Warhammer also has forms of cover, so the biggest difference here is the aiming mechanic vs. long range modifier.

Now, let's check out Flames of War.  You have a Trained soldier shooting at a Veteran soldier.  The Veteran soldier has years of combat experience and knows how to use the terrain to his advantage, knows when to take cover and how to respond to war in general.  The Trained soldier knows only what he has been taught (vs. a Conscript who's otherwise garbage).  The combat system in Flames of War incorporates battlefield experience with combat performance.  A Veteran soldier needs 4s to be hit whereas a Trained soldier needs 3s and so on.  There's also long range +1 modifier, concealment (from cover), and Gone to Ground mechanics to further increase/decrease your chances of being hit.

The one thing to keep in mind here is the lethality of the games mentioned and the weapons used in games.  The majority of the damage from Warhammer 40K and Flames of War comes from ranged weapons.  The majority of the damage in Warmachine is melee based.  Take a moment and look at how damaging certain weapons are in relation to proximity and the combat system itself.  FoW might have the highest lethality of all the game systems, but their unique combat system makes certain troops completely ineffective vs. others by default.  Of course, just in any miniatures game that uses dice mechanics, a lucky roll from a Lascannon can down a Land Raider when shot by a Guardsman.  Luck exists, so I'm trying to find that fine line where it fits my main design goals:  A deep game that's easy to understand and pick up.

Thanks for reading!

Detail: Minis game mechanics

0 Some thoughts on 6th Ed. gameplay

Takin' some slaves.

After a month or so of gaming with 12 or so games under my belt, I think I'm feeling 1500-1750 being the most optimal level of balance.  I built a few MEQ lists at 1500, but I found that they suffer a little bit in terms of choices, allies and overall list construction.  At 1750, I think MEQ can step up to the plate and feel pretty comfortable.  I always feel comfortable with my DE at 1500, and I feel no different when I step up to the plate at 1750.  In fact, I feel that 1750 allows me to make some serious list alterations for the better.  Options open up and I'm able to expand and max out all my squads if I want to.

I've also noticed that some armies tend to scale near infinitely.  I played a funny game the other day with a list my friend made (the list was pretty bad).  The guy I played against had a pretty good idea how to build a IG list with GK allies, and I found myself wondering what the hell I was up against.

Here's what I had:

10x ASM w/ JP Priest

5x Sanguinary Guard w/ JP Chaplain

Stormraven w/ 10x ASM on foot w/ some Lamenters FW dude (not my list)

and a Baal Pred w/ TLAC and HB sponsons in reserve

I tried to play well, I really did.. but the list was so disgracefully bad I don't think I had a chance.  I asked him if he was deliberately trying to fuck me and he said no.  After I got tabled by turn 4 by..

CSS squad manning ADL Quad-Gun

Platoon squad

2x Heavy teams w/ ACs

2x Leman Russ

2x 10x GKSS Rhinos w/ Psybolts and 2x Psycannons

and a Vendetta

I asked him why the list is so bad.  His reply is:  I just took random ass shit.  Gee man, thanks.  Last time you build my list.  In fact, the only reason why I didn't take something I made was because I wanted to try something different.  Never again.

Anyways, I looked across the table and wondered: How the fucking shit does he have all that while I barely have anything on the field.  Yes, it could be that my friend likes really overpriced options, believes that variety is the spice of life (or death to marines), and that nipple armor is cool.  It could also be that IG is just really competitively costed and GKs make up for every weakness they ever had.  Since everyone HAS to deploy 50% of your army now, DoA is completely dead and BA armies will have to deploy almost everything or fail utterly.  I seriously see no other alternative:  You must saturate the field with targets minus your flyer, or else you're just not threatening vs. an army that puts down everything on the table.

I went back to my desk the next day and wrote up a BA list.  Here's what I came up with:

Librarian JP

2x 10x ASM jumpers w/ PF/Infernus, 2x Meltas

2x 5x ASM in TLLC Razorbacks

1x JP Priest

2x AC/LC Predators

1x Stormraven w/ EA, TLMM, TLLC

Alright, the list is definitely much better and fits under the criteria that I have with all my MEQ armies:  No less than 30 scoring marine boots on the table.  There's a good amount of Lascannons in there, on Fast-moving hulls, but definitely a lot less than I wanted at 1500 points.  Since the SR has to go in reserve, my presence on the field is 4 vehicles as cover, Libby w/ jump ASM unit and the Priest w/ the other ASM unit.  Ideally, I probably want the RBs to sit back and hold scoring troops while my AC/LC plays the strafing Lascannon game.  The JP Libby, Priest and 2x 10x ASM squads will had to go in reserve, and hopefully everything comes on on Turn 2 for mass pressure on my opponents side of the board (while at the same time, relieving pressure from my tanks).

I know I went off on a tangent a little, but here are some things you can take from what I've said so far:

• Marines feel pretty limited at 1500.  They feel much better at higher point games.
• Dark Eldar feels really good at 1500, I think that's their strongest point range.  At 1750, they're still good, but other armies can put out a lot more fire.  On the plus side, DE also gets more options at this level.
• All reserve armies are dead - you must saturate the field with targets or else you're bound to fail.  I think the magic number is at least a 70-30 points spent showing on the field vs. what's in reserve (including fliers).  Anything smaller and it'll work against you vs. an army that deploys in full.  Of course, this depends on what you field and what the match-up is, but this is a good starting number I think.
• Unless you have IG allies, I'm not convinced that 1500 is a good place for taking allied troops.  I tried mixing a few lists together, but I always feel like I'm choked on points for bodies, or I just don't cover enough bases.  I see myself focusing a lot on singular armies at 1500 and only look towards allied options at 1750+.
• I feel IG plays very well at all levels, but get even stronger as the points go on due to Squadrons and competitive options in every FOC slot (basically the same as 5th).  This also applies to them being Allies options (this is new to 6th), and GK helping out their main weakness makes them even stronger than before.
• Lastly, something needs to be done with the Warlord traits.  There's times your opponent rolls something that's awesome: Stealth/MTC Ruins and I roll Outflank when I have no units to Outflank.  Or, he rolls +1 to reserve rolls when he has nothing to reserve, and I roll Night Fighting vs. his shooty army.  Although Warlord traits are kinda fun and add a nice random element to the game (yes, I said nice random), it's a pretty big game-changer.  Maybe we can do what NOVA Open plans to do and that's:  Roll 1 dice on 2 different trait charts, pick 1 trait from the 2.

Detail: Some thoughts on 6th Ed. gameplay

0 Which Forgeworld models are OP?

Forgeworld: Yay or Nay?

I'm not a huge Forge World fan as most of you know already, but all this talk about FW becoming official has got me thinking.  By official, I mean that the stuff FW puts out will be allowed in tournaments and can be taken whenever just like a normal codex option.  Also, the lack of anti-air has a lot of people looking towards FW as possible options.

Before we continue down this path, I want to touch upon my biggest fear about FW models.  I'm all for player options, but I'm not for adding more imbalanced units.  From what I can see, FW does put out a lot of stuff that's fair, but they also put out stuff that's really powerful.  Even more questionable, the units available for the Imperial armies far outweigh the Xenos armies in both power and availability.

With that said, which FW units are considered overpowered?

Should there be a ban list?

If so, who gets to make these decisions, and when does it stop?

Should we start banning Codex units too?

Looks like we're back to permission only again.

Detail: Which Forgeworld models are OP?

0 Build-A-Hero Part I

Sup bro, wanna go?

Here's a little game that's both fluffy and fun.

I had a talk with one of my friends on who I would be from any codex in the 40K universe.  The only rules are that you must be able to build him from a 40K codex.  I think our next step is to physically build the model and paint them for use in our games.  That way, you can actually be on the battlefield!

Here's me..

Wolf Lord, Runic Armor, Belt of Russ, Frostblade, Wolf Tooth Talisman, Wolf Tail Talisman, Meltabombs, Saga of the Warrior Born

For now, don't write the points out on your dude.
Why?  Because there's a Part II coming to this exercise that you guys will love.

Hi, I'm a Wolf Lord from the Space Wolves Chapter.
Who are you?

Detail: Build-A-Hero Part I

0 The most powerful armies in 6th

Only the strong will survive.

Well, 6th Ed. has been out for around a month now and it's pretty clear me which armies are the most powerful.  I'm not going to beat around the bush here, I'm just going to flat out say it (not in any order):

Necrons

Grey Knights

Imperial Guard

For me, these armies are by far the most powerful compared to everyone else.  Other armies have gimmicks right now, and that's pretty much it.  You have flying circus Daemons, deathstar Eldar + DE allies, Nob Bikerz, and other stuff out there, but these armies stand out above the rest.  Some armies saw more boosts, some saw some nerfs, but in the end, everyone made it out of 6th Ed. alright.  On a whole, every army improved in some ways, and lost in some ways and it looks like everything is going to be balanced at the end.  Except..

...These three armies that I listed above.  I'll start with Necrons because they're the talk of the town right now. Being the last book before 5th Ed., it's a no-brainer that the army was designed with 6th Ed. in mind.  In fact, it's such a no-brainer that this was their design philosophy that when the FAQs came out, Necrons received virtually no nerfs of any kind.  They were already a pretty strong and well-balanced army at the end of 5th (even taking home some serious tournaments), but they were nowhere near as strong as they are now.  A lot of their units saw incredible buffs in the way of Flyers, their Deathmark sniping is just insane with the new rules, their HQs/Wraiths and Destroyers saw epic boosts to their effectiveness, they can turn on the lights vs. Night Fighting on their turn, and their Gauss drops vehicles much better than they did in 3rd Ed.  In short, Necrons lost nothing, but gained everything they need to be a dominant force in the meta.  The entire book is strong, with virtually no bad choices and plenty of competitive options.  In a way, they remind me of Space Wolves in terms of sheer points to competitive options, except they're not as cookie-cutter as Space Wolves.  Instead of seeing RBs and Long Fangs, you will see a lot more WTF options all packed in one cost-effective list.  This is what sets them apart on top of their other little goodies.

However, I don't think Necrons are the strongest.  I think they are the army that benefited the most from the new rules and lost nothing, so that in combination with an already good book is what makes them powerful.

Next, I'll talk about a book that didn't receive as many buffs as the 'crons, but made it out just fine in the new edition.  That book is none other than Grey Knights.  The entire army turned from Daemonhunters to MEQhunters when the re-write came and that pissed me off the no end.  Everyone had Force Weapons, the Rifleman w/ Psybolts is just out of control and there's so many powerful psychic powers and unstoppable [grenade] effects that made assaulting the army impossible.  They are costed better, shoot better, assault better and just preform better than regular MEQ (especially in MEQ matchups), making GKs the best marine book out there.  Now that the entire army has access to the coveted 2+ armor save and sport one of the strongest psychic lores out there i.e. Divination, the army is still remarkably strong.  Their access to Stormravens also helps the flyer coverage of the army and it seems like there's nothing GKs can't do better than their MEQ counterparts.

With GKs being the best marine army, it's safe to say there's only one spot left among the most powerful armies of 6th Ed.  Ever since the book came out, it's viewed as one of the most controversially underpriced, maladjusted and powerful army books ever written in 40K history.  That book is none other than Imperial Guard.  With the coming of Hull Points in 6th Ed., a lot of people claim that that would be the death of armored IG units.  Oh man were they wrong.  Mech IG is the damn same; gaining greater mobility, the ability to Overwatch and bonuses to Rapid Fire Plasmas.  It almost seems like IG are there to break the rules of the game entirely, making 3rd Ed. Eldar seem tame in comparison.  There's orders for accuracy, denying cover and making enemy units drop dead in their socks.  They have access to the most underpriced piece of shit excuse of a unit I have ever seen in the form of the Vendetta, and now IG can take allies to compensate for their various weaknesses.  All across the board, large blast templates now fall with full effectiveness, reserves are denied or provided via Officers and enemy fliers can eat shit from the Hydra flak, in addition to the now purchasable Aegis Defense Line.  They shoot as good as marines, score better with more bodies, pour out 3x-4x the amount of heavy fire and seemingly have answers to everything you put on the table.  I read this somewhere on the internet a long time ago about IG, and I still think even after these long years the same feeling applies:  "No other army in the game makes your army feel as inadequate."

On that note, I'll close off this post.  To me, it's pretty clear which armies are just outright better in this new world of 40K.  The NOVA Open is coming up and its our first 40K major where players all over the world can try their cheese.  I can't wait to see the results as I predict my analysis here will be well-justified in the final standings of that tournament.  Of course, there's always the concept of bad draws and gimmicky lists coming up on top.  Only the future can tell if that's the case.

Detail: The most powerful armies in 6th

0 New Daemons are here

Daemons are here!

Youtube video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eK5VN90Ftxg

Check out the main website for more info!
Rules to come in the next White Dwarf I hear.

Expand to see more!

Exalted Chariot of Slaanesh - Plastic

Hellflayer of Slaanesh - Plastic

Plaguebearers of Nurgle - Plastic

Nurglings of Nurgle - Plastic

Flamers of Tzeentch - Plastic

Screamers of Tzeentch - Plastic

Detail: New Daemons are here

0 More Death Guard on the way!

My Death Guard on the table.

Well, the CSM codex is expected to drop in September and I'm happy to report that my Death Guard are ready to go.  In fact, they're so ready that I placed an order today from FW to get more DGs.  Right now, I have 35 built and ready:  4 of them are Champs w/ Fists, 2 of them have banners which might need replacing, 4 of them have Plasma Guns, 4 have Meltaguns and rest are Bolters.

I have to remake some of my Death Guard Terminators so they'll be ready for the new book.  From what I read from the rumors, there are no Cult Terminators in the game.  However, you are able to mix Marks and Icons on your units so they can potentially gain +1T and FNP.  I really hope this rumor is true because that'll mean all the DG units I have will be well-represented on the battlefield.

One of the things that excites me the most is the ability to take allies with CSM.  I'll be shifting heavy focus to the CSM codex once the book comes out so I can unlock the book's true potential.  As for what kind of lists I'll make, here's what I plan on doing:

• Typhus or Chaos Lord w/ MoN (this really depends on who's the most cost effective choice)
• Zombies if I take Typhus as a huge unit of fodder (supposed Fearless, FNP and cause Fear)
• Death Guard Plague Marines (if the lord unlocks these guys as troops)
• Some regular CSM troops w/ MoN
• A unit of 7x Terminators w/ assorted combi-weapons, MoN and hopefully FNP
• As for heavy support, I hear Havocs w/ MoN will be back so I'll probably do that
• That reminds me, I'll probably need to buy an Aegis Defense Line..
• I don't think Oblits fit the Nurgle theme, but I need to find some cost effective AT options.
• Last, but certainly not least, I'll take Plaguebearers and Epidemis because the combo is just too good not to.

There are 3 rumors that really scare me:

• Plague Marines going up in price, but gain Poisoned Weapons.  I'm not sure what this means, but if its 25ppm, I would be fine with that.  If it's more like 30, they better be freaking godlike or else I won't be able to justify the points.  And if the Poisoned Weapons mean Poisoned in shooting and in close combat, that's just utterly ridiculous.
• The second thing is the Chaos Lord with a specific mark being able to unlock "cult" units as troops (since they're going to be Elites).  If this is not true, well, that freaking sucks because it means I'll have to take Typhus every game.  What if I don't want to take Typhus and want to build my own Lord of Nurgle?
• The last thing is the Marks being meshed with Icons (if true); or rather if +1T and FNP on regular CSM will be most cost effective than Plague Marines.  I'm a little worried how this will turn out because it's really up in the air how good or bad this can be.  I hate the idea that units have to hold a stupid Icon, that once you kill that model you lose the FNP or whatever.  That's just ridiculous.

Alrighty, it's time for me to ask some questions:

• What is the most cost effective and fluffy option for heavy support choices for Death Guard?  Let's take some wild stabs in the air shall we?
• What kind of allies (outside of Epidemis) do you think will help Death Guard the most?
• What do you think about all the new CSM units? (check my last post for the actual rumors)

Random Fact:
Did you guys know that Seekers of Slaanesh are one of the most underrated units in the game?  10 of them costs 170 points, but on the charge they put out 50 WS4 I6 S3 Rending attacks!  Even though they are T3 and only sport a 5++, they have cavalry movement (12" move, ~7" charge), Fleet, have offensive and defensive grenades, and have Hammer of Wrath.  With a combined threat range of 19" charge that's not slowed by terrain, they can murder entire squads of MEQ at a time if left unchecked.  Talk about getting your money's worth.

Detail: More Death Guard on the way!

0 When does it become spam?

This happens a lot more in 40K than it does in Fantasy, but when does army composition become spam?  If you have 3 10-man Grey Hunter units in a Rhino, is that considered spam?  What about 3x Baal Preds in your army?  What about taking 3x 10-man units of Assault Space Marines geared out in the same way?

What exactly qualifies as spam?

At what number does it qualify as spammy?

Do they have to be the same loadout?

Is 40K a repetitive game with redundant units?  Without redundancy, it appears that lists are less effective because there's a higher chance they won't impact the game if they're destroyed.  The argument for most people when they ask the old-aged question of:  How many Land Raiders should you take?  Most people reply with 2.  Why 2?  Because if one goes down, you have another.  At the same time, these players are also the same players that bitch about 3-4 Razorbacks with TLLC sitting across the field from them.

Personally, I don't think spam is necessarily a bad thing in a game like 40K.  In fact, I don't think the game is designed to promote different units on the battlefield.  Is this a problem with internal book balance (useless units vs. non), or is this just player mentality?  Something to think about.

Detail: When does it become spam?

0 Bringing back vehicle death

Goatboy recently wrote a article on BoLS that touched upon a very sensitive issue.  By sensitive, I mean mech players are going to cry buckets of tears all over the place.  Seriously though?  I don't give a shit.  I'm sick of seeing Razorspam and Chimerawalls to a point every list on every site looks the same.  Let's be honest, 5th Edition was good, but not nearly good enough.

This is fine if you think about it.  5th Ed. was GW's first attempt at getting True Line of Sight right.  They did good for the most part; it sped up the game and made things visually impressive.  However, they failed on two major accounts:  The general cover system and the Vehicle Damage Chart.  Everything right now, is too forgivable.  A 4+ cover on everything means half of your shots are negated and the glancing modifier means you can never destroy a vehicle with a glance under normal circumstances.  This is ass.

Here is what I want in 6th Ed., more so than any other change GW can think of:

• Increase vehicle lethality by bringing back ways to kill vehicles with glancing shots.  A simple -1 modifier for glancing instead of -2 will do the trick.  This will result in a lot of vehicle death everywhere once you throw enough heavy weapons into the fray.
• Decrease the general cover bonus for all units by 1.  This means everything will get 5+ cover for the most part, which is perfectly fine for me.  Skimmers, Jetbikes and anything capable of turbo-boosting should get a 4+ cover at best.

Who is willing to test some of these rules out and see how it will effect the current armies out there?  I have a bunch of 40K armies that would like to experiment.

Detail: Bringing back vehicle death

0 Got some polls up!

Hey guys (and girls?),

On the right hand side of the blog, you'll see two polls you guys can vote in.  I have multiple votes toggled so you guys can vote for more than one.  However, for the most accurate results, I ask that you only vote for your top 2.  One of the polls have to deal with site content and the other focuses on the games I'm involved in.  I specifically didn't put what armies you would like to see because I need a general feel of what gaming archetype everyone's into.  Army stuff can come later.  After voting, feel free to post some comments and elaborate on why if you want to.  I take feedback/criticism quite well.

Lastly, I would like to ask my blogmates what you would like to see as future content on this site.  Shoot me some ideas and let's open up a discussion.

Thanks everyone!

Detail: Got some polls up!

0 Price hikes again

GW really wants to kill themselves as a company.  I don't know what the deal is, but 40 bux for a box of 5 power-armored dudes (BA box) just doesn't do it for me.  That, and the near 70 dollar Land raiders.

More info can be found here:
http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2011/05/gw-news-may-2011-price-increases.html

and here:
https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?pli=1&key=tIytonRUpm6fRkxpIjqcDzQ#gid=0

I was going to start a VC army... but now I'm having second thoughts.

I've been a supporter of GW for 11 years now, ever since I was little but now shit's getting ridiculous.  Let's sum it up.

• LotR was a huge flop in the dick and it should be dropped completely.  They should reallocate all their resources and focus on WHFB and 40K support; their main cash cows.
• Another thing that they need to do is do previews for army books and units so players have something to look forward to.  It gives players drive, hope and fuels passion for their hobbies.  Privateer Press knows what's up, Spartan Games knows what's up, and so does Mantic Games.  GW really needs to get up and smell the coffee.
• Furthermore, GW should release sneak peak of rules and have the community respond to how things will work out.  Test rules, pre-release rules, rules that player can test, give feedback and post their reasoning in a dedicated GW forum.  This in turn, should have the designer themselves, or community managers post and give feedback to the players to show they ACTUALLY GIVE A FUCK.
• You combine this prehistoric way to do business on top of the fact they just increased prices to ridiculous levels AND restricted retailers to only sell to their region and you have a recipe for disaster.  Mantic, PP and Spartan are probably laughing their ass off right now.

In other words, GET WITH THE TIMES GW.

Detail: Price hikes again

0 Get ready for Battle Chronicler

From now on, my Fantasy Battle Reports will be using Battle Chronicler.

It will look something like this once the action starts:

And the Archmage casts blah blah blah..
Excited?

I am.

Detail: Get ready for Battle Chronicler

0 What a new HE book would look like

First, the design vision of what 7th Ed. High Elves are supposed to be:

• Defense over offense; but quick enough to switch if needed
• Use of ASF as a damage buffer; kill the enemy before they kill you
• Strong in magic; both offensive and defensive; in lore and in items

I've been reading some wishlisting stuff from Ulthuan.net and I've never face-palmed more in my life.  With this in mind, from a game developer's point of view, this is how I think GW will design a new High Elves book for 8th Ed:

• If ASF is to remain, expect to see very minor price changes. Maybe 1-2 points across the board.
• If ASF is taken out, expect to see very drastic changes to the design process of the Elves themselves. I highly doubt that price will change too much because unless they change the fluff of the High Elves, they're to remain a small and compact army. With that in mind, expect to see HE striking in I order regardless of what weapon they wield. This is not ASF, but it will remain as Speed of Asuryan.
• With the current shift of limited magic items, expect to see a good amount of special characters. From a design standpoint, they are the ones that carry the "truly" unique magic items that our race use. For example, Star Lance and Armor of Caledor will disappear and Imrik will be added back to the army book. If you look at the new TK book, you can see Flail of Skulls (removed from the current book) on one of their new Heralds.
• The aspect of bringing Honors back is very unlikely. If you look at the trend of how GW books develop, they are trying to eliminate any aspect of army design that might be too complicated. This makes the book easier to jump into. Clear examples are the 4th Ed. CSM codex where they removed all the Legion specifics and wargear, the 5th Ed. Tyranid codex where they removed practically all the customization options, the 6th-7th Ed. High Elves book where they dropped our Honors, the 6th-7th VC book where they dropped the Bloodlines, the list goes on and on. Honors will not come back, stop wishing for it.
• Every unit will have a special rule. If not every unit, then 95% of the units in the book. That's how 8th Ed. O&G did it, that's how TK did it. Expect Shadow Warriors to have strong passive abilities, Ellyrion Reavers to do something special, and Lothren Sea Guard to be the finest Marines in the world, and Sword Masters to do cool things as well. That's just how all the units are designed these days. The really generic boring units that don't add anything special like Archers (at least our archers) won't get anything special except for a points decrease and comes with light armor. Everything else that has a real name in the lore or (and pay attention to this) have COOL and fancy models for, will get all kinds of special rules. This is to promote not only model sales, but encourage players to take a good amount of them. You think its coincidence that TK have the ability to take a Special version of their new T8 monster AND a Rare version? They can field like 8 of those things on the field if they wanted to. That's 400 dollars worth, you think GW's stupid? They are a business, a business that charges 20 dollars for a Zoanthrope.
• You might see a lot less customization on our lords and heroes, but we'll get a price drop across the board with more effective units. I studied the TK book these last couple of days and that's how the book is made. O&G is the same way. 8th Ed is all about big units, the ability to take a Spearmen Horde or fielding Dragons everywhere (and this will happen). More chaos, more models dead, more models sold.
• Dragons and Griffons will get a overhaul for the better. There's a reason why there's a 50 dollar model out there that's not really selling because of 8th Ed. TLoS and warmachines. GW might be blind, but they're not stupid. Expect to see much improved Dragons for their costs out there.
• Also, I want to touch upon the fact that you'll NEVER see a lord that's limited to 3k+ games. A 700 point Teclis? Not in my vocabulary. Settra is 475 with his Chariot, which is playable in a 2k game. GW knows the standard is 2k-2.5k for a normal sized game. 3k is where shit goes all over the place. They designed the rules, they designed the models. In order to sell more models they need to sell it at the level that everyone plays.

Of course, I can be completely wrong and they'll give the book design over to someone like Ward or Cruddace and they'll turn the book inside out.

Detail: What a new HE book would look like

0 Getting back into WHFB

It's been a long time since I broke out my High Elves and put them on the table.  I have to be honest, I haven't really had much fun with WHFB 8th Ed.  With the huge emphasis on horde-formation units, overly powerful magic spells, pre-measuring and random charges, it's pretty much a different animal from what I enjoyed in 7th Ed.  Don't get me wrong, 7th Ed. was filled with horrible things too.  These things were Daemons, VC and Dark Elves.  What's the difference between the two?  One was army books in the standard codex creep mannerisms that GW is known for and the other is the core rules the govern the entire edition.  It was the army books that caused a lot of the headaches for me, not the actual game rules.  If anything, only the magic rules needed a slight tweak.

What about you guys?  How is Fantasy doing in your area?  What do you like about 8th that's keeping you in the game?  I still have some friends that play, so I'm probably going to throw down next week and see how it goes.

Btw, here's the rankings for SCGT:

PS - I'm still on overtime.. so that's why I haven't been posting.

Detail: Getting back into WHFB