RSS
 

Author Archive

Community lessons learnt from a returning player

18 May

It’s been interesting coming back into wargaming, and so far it’s been very enjoyable. Having spent the last however many years blogging and podcasting in the MMO and console space there’s some things that I’ve noticed that I think are quite interesting.

Everybody is a lot nicer.

Reading the comments on blogs there’s a lot less dicks. There are some really retched MMO blog commentators but eveybody seems a lot nicer with tabletop games. Everybody just feels much more mature, even the people who are being nasty.

Forums are actually useful.

If you look at a 40k forum the number of posts that are actually useful and positive is staggering. Look at an MMO forum, you will be lucky to find many positive posts at all nowadays.

Podcasts are a lot longer.

Even if we ignore 6 hour podcasts from 40kuk most  podcasts are just so damn long. Nobody seems to bat an eyelid at 3 or 4 hour shows. It makes listening to more than a couple really hard. I guess it’s because people paint to them, but still I’d like to be able to hear more different opinions during the week with the hours I have free to listen. Shorter weekly shows instead of long monthly/fortnightly shows would be better. They can be recorded in the same night but segments being separate shows that are spread out is a lot easier for me to listen to what I want to from more shows. At the very least having the different times for each segment in the show notes embedded in the file gives me a chance to skip, for example, the 10th description of the same tournament. That’s not to say the quality of the content isn’t good, it’s just too hard to listen to everybody!

Most of all I’ve learnt that I don’t miss MMO blogging or podcasting at all.

 
No Comments

Posted in 40k

 

A link to a battle report (DE vs Orks 750pts)

15 May

My nemesis has written up a nice post about our last game. He’s always had a better way with words than me so it’s a quite fun read.

I think he pretty much described what I was thinking during the game except for my tactically awkward discovery of exactly how weak Dark Eldar vehicles are. I’m tweaking my list for next week and hopefully I’ll not get quite as close to being tabled.

Orks really do seem to be a bad match for Dark Eldar as I just can’t get the momentum up through killing squads. By the time I’ve knocked 20 boyz off the table my unit is so depleted that it doesn’t stand a chance against the next wave of green. I think I need to take a look at more pain token shenanigans, starting the last game with two really helped and I can increase that quite easily.

So what did I learn? Dark Lances are good, as are feel no pain and liquifiers. Getting your ride shot out from under you by an Ork who was lucky to hold the gun the right way round is less so. Most importantly not looking up the answers on the Internet is even better as it’s far more fun to work it all out myself.

 
No Comments

Posted in 40k, Gaming

 

White Dwarf 144 – December 1991

13 May

After last months Epic-tastic issue it’ll be nice to see some other game systems get a look in again. 40k is seeming more and more like the second system behind Epic, which is why I stopped reading back then in the first place. Well there was also going to college and therefore distractions from girls and drink, but mainly it was too much Epic coverage.

We’ve lost all of the store housekeeping sections from the table of contents this week, but they’re all still there. There’s no news section though.

Epic Assault Scenarios (6, 8 pages)

More new rules for Space Marine. It adds fortifications, assault and defence strategies as well as being dug in and hidden setups. There’s some counters to support all of this as well as some colour templates for minefields and razorwire.

Elven Lords (14, 2 pages)

A page of pictures and one of text for the studio Elven Lords models.

Modelling Workshop (16, 7 pages)

What’s this? It’s not a fantasy building this month! What we have instead are similar techniques to make walls and bunkers for Epic. It does use my favourite thing in these articles though, which is to use a base as part of the model. In this case it’s a cavalry base as the roof to a bunker.

Their technique for razor wire is much cheaper than the solutions they sell today. You take the aluminum mesh you use to fix car bodywork and cut that into think strips. I must remember that trick.

Armies of the Imperium (24, 10 pages)

Actually this is a piece on new Epic units in general, with the following getting new rules.

  • Eldar Warp Hunter
  • Eldar Wave Serpent
  • Eldar Deathstalker Prism Cannon
  • Hellbore
  • The Mole
  • The Termite
  • Drop Pods
  • The Leviathan

‘Eavy Metal – Epic Vehicles and Titans (34, 2 pages)

Some more nicely painted epic vehicles. Well the Termites are too heavily drybrushed, but you can’t have everything.

Space Hulk Questions and Answers (36,  3 pages)

A selection of questions that came up at Games Day 1991.

Noise Marines (40, 2 pages)

40K content at last! Chaos get one of their iconic units. There is, of course, a song lyric from D-Rok included because of Warhammer Records still existing for reasons I still can’t fathom. I’ve said it before but why on earth did they become a record label?

Dark Elf Army (42, 5 pages)

Nice army overview piece and example list.

Warhammer Fantasy Battle Playsheet (47, 2 pages)

Cut out and keep summary sheet.

Wardancers (50, 2 pages)

Clearing up more questions about Elven Wardancers for Fantasy.

Basic Terrain (52, 5 pages)

Really nice introductory piece on basic gaming terrain. How to make hills from polystyrene (that your models won’t fall off), Woods, Hedges and the table itself. Of course tables were 8×4 back then instead of 6×4 so no wonder people had a problem fitting a dedicated board into their homes.

Dwarf Army (58, 4 pages)

Wayne England runs through his expansions to his Dwarf army. I really like these pieces, but I do wonder if they are accurate about if you really would have those in a viable force. They’re almost the precursor to the tale of 5 gamers pieces today.

Titan Data Sheets (62, 11 pages)

Titan weapons and their data sheets.

New Releases

  • Noise Marine (£3.99 for 2)
  • Slasha Gargant (Epic)
  • Imperial Leviathan (Epic)
  • Eldar Wave Serpent (Epic)
  • Eldar Deathstalker (Epic)
  • Eldar Warp Hunter (Epic)
  • Super Cyboar and Snakebite warboss.
  • Bionik Boyz
  • Ork Heavy Weapons (extra options)
 
1 Comment

Posted in 40k, Epic, Space Hulk, WHFB, White Dwarf

 

Games Workshop Price Rises 12th May 2012

12 May

It’s a big Space Marines release this time as the range moves over to Finecast. There’s a few interesting things in there like the Apothecary with Chainsword that wasn’t listed before so that’s an old model coming back. This isn’t the whole range moved over so I suspect we are about to lose a few of the less popular models from the range.

Overall it’s nearly all price rises across the board, just one sneaky price cuts this time I’m afraid.

  • Space Marine Thunderfire Cannon. Was £30.75. Now £36.00 +£5.25
  • Marneus Calgar, Lord Macragge. Was £10.25. Now £11.00 +£0.75
  • Chief Librarian Tigurius. Was £10.25. Now £11.00 +£0.75
  • Chaplain Cassius. Was £8.20. Now £9.50 +£1.30
  • Sergeant Telion. Was £8.20. Now £9.50 +£1.30
  • Chapter Master Pedro Kantor. Was £8.20. Now £11.00 +£2.80
  • Captain Darnath Lysander. Was £12.30. Now £13.00 +£0.70
  • Sergeant Chronus. Was £10.25. Now £11.00 +£0.75
  • Kor’sarro Khan. Was £10.25. Now £11.00 +£0.75
  • Forgefather Vulkan He’stan. Was £12.30. Now £13.00 +£0.70
  • Shadow Captain Kayvaan Shrike. Was £10.25. Now £11.00 +£0.75
  • Space Marine Librarian with Staff & Book. Was £8.20. Now £9.50 +£1.30
  • Space Marine Librarian with Force Sword & Bolt Pistol. Was £8.20. Now £9.50 +£1.30
  • Space Marine Librarian with Force Axe & Plasma Pistol. Was £8.20. Now £9.50 +£1.30
  • Space Marine Chaplain with Crozius & Power Fist. Was £8.20. Now £9.50 +£1.30
  • Space Marine Chaplain with Skull Helmet. Was £8.20. Now £9.50 +£1.30
  • Space Marine Terminator Chaplain. Was £8.20. Now £13.00 +£4.80
  • Space Marine Techmarine. Was £12.30. Now £13.00 +£0.70
  • Space Marine Apothecary with Chainsword. Was not available before. Now £9.50
  • Space Marine Captain in Terminator Armour. Was £10.25. Now £11.00 +£0.75
  • Legion of the Damned Squad. Was £20.50. Now £22.50 +£2.00
  • Space Marine Damned Legionnaires 1. Was 2 packs at £10.25. Now £20.50 No Change
  • Space Marine Damned Legionnaires 2. Was 2 packs at £10.25. Now £20.50 No Change
  • Damned Sergeant with Bolt Pistol & Power Weapon. Was £8.20. Now £9.50 +£1.30
  • Damned Legionnaire with Flamer. Was £8.20. Now £9.50 +£1.30
  • Damned Legionnaire with Multi Melta. Was £8.20. Now £9.50 +£1.30
  • Damned Legionnaire with Heavy Flamer. Was £8.20. Now £9.50 +£1.30
  • Space Marine Veterans. Was 2.5 packs at £8.20. Now £25.50 +£5.00
  • Space Marine Veterans Mk 2. Was 2.5 packs at £8.20. Now £25.50 +£5.00
  • Space Marine Masters of the Chapter. Was £20.50. Now £20.50 No Chnage
  • Ultramarines Tyrannic War Veterans. Was 2 packs at £10.75. Now £20.50 -£1.00
  • Space Marine Bike Squad Upgrade Pack. £6.00 + 3 packs of £7.50 bikes. Was £25.50
  • Crimson Fists Shoulder Pads. £6.00
  • White Scars Bike Squad Upgrade Pack. £6.00 + 3 packs of £7.50 bikes. Was £25.50
  • Crimson Fists Tactical Squad Upgrade Pack. £6.00
  • Crimson Fists Assault Squad Upgrade Pack. £6.00
  • Iron Hands Tactical Squad Upgrade Pack. £6.00
  • Space Marine Casualties. £15.50
 
No Comments

Posted in 40k, Prices

 

White Dwarf 143 – November 1991

07 May

It must be progress, now the magazine is audited at 73,134 copies per month. Oh what I wouldn’t do for the current numbers…

Games Workshop Stores (2, 2 pages)

Blah blah blah. Still no Welsh store. No, really, there’s nothing to say about this.

Games Day 1991 (4, 2 pages)

Light piece on the last games day. It doesn’t really say anything that interesting.

Games Workshop Readers Poll (6, 3 pages)

It’s asking what you think of the magazine and interestingly A.R. Dunstan who used to own the magazine I grabbed off eBay plays 40k regularly and doesn’t own the game. Or any other games. And he buys the models he plays with from an independent store.

I think we can tell a lot by what he filled in. He owns 20 copies of White Dwarf and 2 other people read it. He wants more ‘Eavy Metal, painting guides and catalogue sheets. It’s probably hard to believe now, but back then those adverts at the back of the magazine were really useful.

Games Workshop and Citadel Miniature News (11, 1 page)

A supplement for Space Marine is coming called Armies of the Imperium. It contains Marine and Guard army details and lots of cards. They’re hiring miniature painters too and on 9th of November you got a discount in store if you wore a Games Workshop T-Shirt.

Epic Stompers (12, 9 pages)

Rules for Ork Stompers in Epic. Hang on, it’s Epic now? Or are they just saying that Stompers are epic? Also included are the rules for Ork Dreadnoughts, Chaos Androids, Eldar Wraithguard, Eldar Dreadnoughts, Ork Shokk Attack Gun, Mole Mortar, Space Marine Dreadnoughts, Grey Knights and Chaos Dreadnoughts. There’s the cards for them as well. I can’t help noticing that some of those units are 6mm versions of the Space Crusade models…

‘Eavy Metal 1 (22, 2 pages)

Pictures and words for a few models. The old style Blood Angels with that pale red that is shaded to a very light colour have a Land Speeder. I really wished I could paint like that back in the day, nowadays I of course think it’s too much. There’s also a really nice Blood Angels medic that has some very effective white painting.

Modelling Workshop – Coaching Inn and Stables (24, 13 pages)

You know the drill. Foam board, balsa wood and templates. This time it’s a pretty big build that looks good and I think I might have to build it. Still, it’s yet another version of the same old thing so it’s getting to be more filler every month.

Man of War (38, 2 pages)

What’s this? A new game? With boats? And a wrong name? Before Dreadfleet was Man O’ War. Before that was apparently Man Of War which is the worse of the three names.

I should probably mention I loved Man O’ War

Space Marine Battle Report (41, 19 pages)

A massive battle report for Space Marine. Alaitoc Craftworld face off against Blood Angels in an epic battle in Epic. Unlike today it lists way more details of what was planned, what happened and general analysis. It’s quite fascinating.

‘Eavy Metal 2 (60, 2 pages)

It’s a tiny Eldar-ific couple of pages with some fantastic painting for 6mm models.

Imperial Guard Colour Schemes (63, 12 pages)

More Epic content with some fluff, painting ideas and rules for the Shadow Sword, Baneblade, Storm Hammer and Gorgon.

New Models

  • Storm Hammer 076054/7 8 and 6
  • Manticore Type 2 076066/3 and 7
  • Basilisk Type 2 076066.3 and 5
  • Vindicator Mark 2 076041/10
  • Gorgon Mark 2 076041/12
  • Ork Stompers (Plastic boxed set of Ork Stompers, Eldar Dreadnoughts, Ork Dreadnoughts, Chaos Androids, Marine Dreadnoughts, Shokk Attack Guns, Chaos Dreadnoughts, Terminators and Mole Mortors)

No 40k content again, but a really nice month for Epic.

 

 
No Comments

Posted in Epic

 

Games Workshop Price Changes May 5th 2012

04 May

It’s a big Necron release this week so we have a bunch of new models, but only two have changed price by being replaced with Finecast and even then it’s one up and one down. There’s a scary amount of Marine changes in a few weeks so there will be another update later in the month that I expect to be full on price rises.

Necrons

Both of these changes are based on the Destroyer hull and have become upgrade packs instead of complete models so the price of the Destroyer (£12.50) is factored into the new prices.

  • Destroyer Lord. Was £15, now £17.50 (+£2.50)
  • Heavy Destroyer. Was £20, now £18.50 (-£1.50)

Not a bad compromise if you ask me. The model you only need one of goes up, and the one you need more comes down in price.

New Models

  1. Necron Triarch Stalker (£28.50)
  2. Necron Tomb Blades (£24.00)
  3. Necron Canoptek Wraiths (£28.50)
  4. Necron Canoptek Spyder (£20.00)
  5. Nemesor Zahndrekh (£11.00)
  6. Vargard Obyron (£9.50)
  7. Illuminor Szeras (£13.00)

Mostly priced as you would expect, with the Canoptek Spyder seeming expensive but coming in at the old Heavy Destroyer price so there’s some precedent there. I will have to see the size of the model in person to know if it’s overpriced.

The big shock is the sub £10 Finecast HQ model with Vargard Obyron. I had been getting the feeling at £11 was going to be the new minimum going forwards.

 
No Comments

Posted in 40k, Prices

 

Drowning under piles of magazines

02 May

My evenings are now seemingly consumed by piles of White Dwarf because I keep asking myself questions. Is this large pause between 40k codex releases at the moment unusual (nope, not really) and when exactly did all the big things happen? What I really need is a nice timeline webpage to put it all in, so that’s what I’m working on.

The White Dwarf posts have slowed down a bit recently because of it, but I really need to get everything together in my head as I go on. They’ll start again in a day or two.

 
No Comments

Posted in General

 

Hobby Update: Painting

26 Apr

Actually playing games and wanting to get those armies painted has cut into my plans to paint everything released this year, but with a Necron wave coming in a few weeks I need to push on. Those Space Wolves are nearly done, they just need a final push and then the Hivelord is probably only a few hours off finishing too now that I’ve done the boring part. That’s a lot of plastic to paint with boring flat colours, at least the highlights will be a bit more fun. One thing is certain, I really don’t like painting Space Wolf armour.

I did buy some of the new paints. Then I grabbed some more. Then I grabbed some more. I have all the bases now and pretty fine they are too. The textured paint would be pointless, but I’ve used it a couple of times already to touch bases up so I’m even liking that. I can’t get to grips with the drybrushing paints though, they really don’t give an effect I like, but then again I’m not the worlds largest drybrushing fan anyway.

The big shock is the new how to paint book and DVD being actually good. Lots of really good advice and a nice format for the step by step guides. The most important tip is to water down your paints, but we all knew that already. Some of those new GW paints really are a big gloopier than they need to be.

With it looking like the next batch of releases are mainly Necrons and finecast re-releases that I can ignore May sounds like an easy month for painting. Which is handy as the Tervigon is still bare plastic…

 
No Comments

Posted in Paint Everything

 

Hobby update: games

25 Apr

The thing I have always been useless about with 40k is actually playing. I can buy models, paint them and read the books but there’s never enough space for a table or enough time to play. Because of this I’ve started playing weekly games on a table I’ve set up permanently in the garage so that I have zero excuses.

Having the foundations of several armies including marines, necrons and grey knights I of course decided that Dark Eldar were the best for me to learn the game with. My regular opponent picked my Orks and we set about learning the game properly at the princely level of 500 point games.

That level seemed to be a good idea to me and I have to say it’s all worked out how I thought. It’s a small enough number of units (3 + HQ) as to keep the games manageable. It’s also a manageable amount of painting so we don’t get swamped. I can imagine starting at 1750 or higher would result in a serious painting motivational issue, especially for Orks.

Along the way we have learnt a couple of things. Dark Eldar don’t like getting charged by a 30man slugga boy squad for instance, and Orks don’t like 4+ poisoned guns. Five man units of stormboyz don’t do much if they get shot before they attack and 10 man squads of boyz are a bad idea if you are on foot. There’s also some clever tricks using the Baron and a squad of Hellions that I’m slowly learning that would perhaps work better on an army other than Orks. Hit and running to get extra movement is all well and good, but when you have that many attacks coming back at you even though you struck first you tend to run out of squad members quite quickly.

Our next options are to swap sides in order to get a bit of experience of the other play style, and then to move up to 750 points. I’m going to add in some vehicles for the DE so they have more movement, and the Orks can make do with another 20man boyz mob and a battlewagon to transport them. Well my lances have to be good for something other than instakilling Nobz, right?

The problem is that I’m getting restless already. What would Tyranids do to those Orks? How about Necrons… So many playable armies on my shelf (at last at those points levels), so little focus.

 
No Comments

Posted in Gaming

 

White Dwarf 142 – October 1991

15 Apr

We’re entering the last few months of old Games Workshop as a management buyout will happen very shortly after this issue is written and so must have been starting to kick off already. It’ll be interesting to see how the December 1991 management buyout effects the magazine as it certainly had an effect on the games that GW supported.

Games Workshop Store News (2, 2 pages)

I feel sorry for whoever had to do these pages each month.

Undead Army (4, 5 pages)

Another army creation piece. I would love them to do something along these lines nowadays.

Painting Skeletons (6, 2 pages)

Some proper dedicated painting content for a change! In reality all they have done is expand out a bit of the army articles.

Space Hulk Questions and Answers (12, 8 pages)

A rather large piece about rules clarifications for the pre internet era. Actually I might have had access to the internet by this time if I think about it. Most people didn’t even know what it was though.

Painting Epic Armies (20, 16 pages)

How can it take 16 pages to say “paint your 6mm man one colour and then drybrush with a slightly lighter one?” Or was that just me. It’s actually one of those pieces that slips a bit more content in by having Blood Angels, Ultra-Marines (where did the hyphen come from?) and Dark Angels company colour schemes in there as well.

The Black Sail (36, 10 pages)

Fantasy fiction by Neil McIntosh. Think I’ll give this to Fantasy Roleplay.

Space Marine Titan Weapons (48, 12 pages)

A large amount of extra weapons and heads were released, and these are the rules for them. Fancy having a landing pad on your titan? How about a wrecking ball? There’s also some rules for the Ork Great Gargant and Imperial Reaver, which I assume means that they weren’t in the new rulebook.

Confrontation Weapons (60, 15 pages)

Page after page of weapon descriptions for Confrontation. It’s mainly a game of lists…

New Releases

  • Reaver Titan 072701 – Now with more options for weapons.
  • Titan Heads and Weapons 072812 A staggering number of heads and weapons. They came randomly in blisters which was annoying when you wanted something specific.
  • Ork Great Gargant 079854

No 40k content this issue, but some good things for Epic and Space Hulk.

 
No Comments

Posted in Confrontation, Epic, Space Hulk, WHFB, WHFRP, White Dwarf

 
« Older Entries