Tuesday, July 24, 2012

40k Sixth Edition Test Run & 2 Years of One Inch Warriors!

After breaking down and buying the new 6th Edition rulebook (I always tell myself I'll just wait for the small one to come out with the box game...) I took the new rules for a test run in a small 1,000 point game of my Orks versus my buddy Justin's Imperial Guard.  Afterwards we concluded that we didn't get the full 6th Edition flavor in the small game we played, but I figured it'd be worth documenting the more noteworthy points of the battle.

We ended up fighting the Emperor's Will mission (which is just like Capture and Control from 5th) with rather hastily generated army lists.  Neither of us had played 40k in nearly two years since we've been more preoccupied with Fantasy, so we were both pretty rusty.  This was more of a hindrance for me given the issues that Ork armies have nowadays and in hindsight the list I took was so bad I won't even comment on it since this post is supposed to be a report on the new rules and not my shitty generalship (full disclosure, Justin gave the Orks a wupping just like Wesley Willis wupped Batman's ass).

Moving along, the warlord traits we rolled ended up being utterly useless.  My Warboss got furious charge... which he already has.  Justin's CO gained the ability to re-roll failed reserve rolls, but he elected to put everything on the board with guns blazing out of the gate. 

The change that stood out the most during our game was vehicle damage.  Hull points make vehicles feel more balanced.  Orks obviously have a hard time with armor, but with the opportunity to whittle down an enemy tank it seems like you get slightly more out of what little anti-armor you have instead of having to get lucky with a good roll on the damage table.  It's satisfying when you tell your opponent you're about to unload on his tank that is hanging on to life by a single hull point!

On other fronts, the new casualty removal system is surprisingly easy to use, even when you have a mixed up mob of Ork Nobs. I'm a not huge of fan of the reduction to cover saves, but I can live with it.  Mysterious objectives are a fun additional, particularly when the one in your deployment zone gives you a bonus to cover saves!  Pre-measuring is good and makes perfect sense (it's the 41 millennium, I would think genetically-engineered-super-soldier-space-marines would have a good grasp on the range of their bolters so they don't waste ammo on out of range enemies).  Getting random charge distances for this seems like a fair trade.  I'm also a big fan of the snap-shot rule.

The one element that I don't like is having to generate random terrain effects in the middle of the game.  I understand the idea is that your warriors do not know what dangers lurk in that dense, foreboding alien jungle, but having to consult a terrain chart every time a unit comes into contact with mysterious terrain interrupts the flow of the game.  A simpler rule would have been something along the lines of rolling doubles for difficult terrain tests inflicts damage on the unit.  That way, there's less chart consulting and having to mark terrain features with paper scraps during the game, ruining the atheistic of the board.  You might think I'm being hypocritical considering my positive views on random objective effects, but the objective rule are more streamlined considering there's only one chart.  It also seems that most of the mysterious terrain effects are just "narrative" ways to get your dudes killed faster.

In closing, from the perspective of a casual 40k player whose main squeeze is fantasy, I think 6th Edition is positive step for the game.  

On a more important note, this post marks the two year anniversary of my blog!  To mark to occasion, I give you a photo of a Ork dreadnaught I made from an Imperial Guard sentinel and a spattering of other bits.  He's kicked more ass than any other unit in my Ork army.

Sunday, July 8, 2012

Product Review - Secret Weapon Leaf Litter

A little while ago From the Warp had a great post about putting together woodland themed bases.  The concept is equally applicable to jungle bases and Ron's post got me thinking about how I could punch up my Lizardmen.  I've been using static grass and clump foliage, but that doesn't quite give the impression that my army is marching through a dense Lustrian jungle.  After doing some research on Google images, I determined that the best way to represent  jungle terrain on a standard sized infantry base was to model on some fallen leaves.  I turned to Secret Weapon Miniature's dark green leaf litter, a blend of various dried herbs and whatnots that smells rather lovely.  I've previously used dried, crushed bay leafs for autumn leafs on a Halloween diorama, so I had little hesitation about using this product.

I used my Saurus Calvary and albino Saurus Lord to test out the product, and I'm very satisfied with the results.  I didn't go overboard with applying the leaf litter, as I wanted a more subtle effect:


Since this worked out so well, I'll eventually go through and apply the leaf litter to the rest of the army, and there should be plenty in the bag to get the job done. If you really wanted to do-it-yourself, you could concoct your own blend herbs and tea leaves, but for the price and convenience, Secret Weapon's is the better option.  If you're interested in trying this stuff out, check out Secret Weapon's how-to video for the product.

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Slann & Temple Guard Family Portrait


If you're gonna put down a unit that costs 700+ points, you want it to look good.  I'm fully anticipating that in the next game I play with these guys, freshly-painted-model-syndrome will kick in and they will die a horrible, agonizing death.