Da Kaybawl Of Da Big Teef: My New Orky Kabal

There was a lot of orky action at the FLGS this past Saturday. I was able to get a couple games in and one of them was the official first game of my new ork army. I had a revelation after a rather late night phone call from Old School Terminator. I have a bunch of old Dark Eldar raiders, warriors and so on and so fourth. I inherited them from OST when I decided to start playing Dark Eldar again, which was several months before the new version of the codex came out.

The revelation was I should use them. OST did not want to see them languishing in my bits box. I use them occasionally, because I have a ton of them, for bigger games involving lots of warriors, but they just sit mostly. OST suggested using them as looted vehicles. The the idea hit me. Orks inspired by the dead killyness of a Kabal/ Wych cult raid on their planet. So a new Waagh! is started by:

Da Kaybawl Of Da Big Teef!

I am going to start the process of converting my raiders into looted Ork trucks. The army is going to be a combination of Bad Moons and Snake bites. In fact the Warboss is going to be a Snakebite with his Nobs that decided to hook up with a Bad Moon big mech. The left overs of a two ork camps that were hit by the Wych Cult of Strife. Big Mek Uzgrub Szazmek is obsessed with “dem ded killy pointy earred gits” and their impressive Truks. Boss Murdoc “Da Big Porka” uglutz and his Thunder Porka Boyz are looking to get revenge for the raid and kill “dem beasties that shredded up da boyz” and prove to those flashy bad moons that they old ways are the best ways.

I got in a game with the local Warboss Matt and his boyz. We played a 1500 point game in a good old pitched battle for kill points. I had first turn and set up my army pretty close together as my mek boy had a custom force field. I had 2 truk mobs of boys, a mob of 12 burna boyz, a mob of boyz with the warboss and my mob of nobz on “bikes” aka da thunda porka boyz.

I should have kept the thunda porkas near the force field area of effect. Matt is quite the orky sniper in the shooting phase. I lost one nob to rocket fire from one of his def koptas. The two battle wagons gunned it forward with the warboss and his boyz and the big mek and the burna boyz. One of the truks stayed behind and the boyz in it piled out to deal with the other def koptas.

After the opposing orks moved forward and hit the exposed units with a torrent of dakka my boyz moved forward. This is where it went all wrong. The opposing warboss got out of his battle wagon with his nobs. They then charged both the battle wagons. The burna boyz wagon was immobilized and the other actually took no real damage. The real issue was when I decided to try and ram the closest battle wagon and deff rolla the warboss and his nobs that were in the way. Da Boss proved that he was A Boss by grabbing the incoming battle wagon by the def rolla and flipping it over. He and da ladz had a laugh at the 2 nobs that got squished in the process. The Burna boyz were removed the following turn from their transport. The Warbosses managed to also kill each other in an even power claw exchange. Sadly when the Big meks hit each other mine never got to swing thanks to his ded killy power claw.

Da Thunda Porkas survived most of the game. They took a lot of fire though and all had a wound by the time they reached da scappin. They went down fighting though. I really do have to put a warboss on a Thunda Porka to beef up the squad and leave all the vehicles based squads to the Big Mek

I am looking forward to converting up all my raiders into Truks. I am also looking forward to putting all these old Dark Eldar bits to good use. I will post pics as I get them modded up.

Until next time....

Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes, War Calls............... ….....WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!!

New Meta: The Foot Army Making A Comback

5^th edition is cited as being the Mech edition. That is mechanized infantry and armies are king. As such the tournament meta has shifted to very mech heavy armies with tons of anti tank. The local meta at my FLGS has shifted from mech armies to foot armies. After a couple years of tanks and armies rumbling across the field in transports people at the shop have gotten kinda tired of the parking lot the table has become. 

Some would say this is a hold over from 4^th edition. It is for players that only have been playing since 4^th ed came out. I actually never played 4^th edition. Although I play tested codex’s, benefit of working for GW back in the day, that eventually became early 4^th edition codexs, I started really playing a lot in 2^nd and 3^rd edition. Foot armies were the norm. In fact the whole concept of a foot army is not weird to me. With the local meta shifting to foot armies and massed infantry I thought I would cover some different concepts you need when doing a foot army. This goes hand in hand with my Dark Eldar Webway list as I have a whole whopping 2 transports in the army. There are two real solid methods of running a foot list. The horde method and using armies using alternate deployment methods.

To anybody who says the “Green Tide” style of list does not work has obviously never played a real one. The only time I have ever rage quit in a tournament, after the game was over, was the spanking I received by Team Americas Shawn Kemp and his Ghazghul Thraka powered Green Tide list.

The Horde Method relies on massed infantry, and I mean massed. Looking across the table at 50 man blob squads and multiple mobs of 30 boys is pretty disheartening. The main strength of a horde style foot list is its ability to win be attrition. “Green Tide” lists run by many ork players now forgo any truks and battle wagons and field as many boyz as they can fit in the list supported by mobs of lootas or flash gits. OST runs his Deathwing all on foot, ominously marching his terminators forward while the devastator squads pound the enemy from afar. Orks and Tyranids lend themselves well to the horde style. Large numbers of boys or gaunts although not robust make up for it in sheer numbers. I have been experimenting with Horde style Eldar lists. The integral part is of course Guardians, both Storm Guardians and Guardian Defenders.

Running units of 15 to 20 guardians with a warlock works well. The Warlock usually has the conceal power for the defenders to help keep them alive as they march across the table and the Storm Guardians Warlock has the Enhance power to bolster their fighting ability. The real key to running a Horde list with Eldar is long range support. Night Spinners are great for hitting close combat units and pinning them down as well as killing a few in the process. Dark Reapers are effective for getting rid of harder targets and light vehicles. I personally like using Swooping hawks to jump in and deal with vehicles. They can also deep strike in and hit the back field if you opponent was not smart enough to ensure there is no good available landing zone for deep striking units. Taking out hard hitting artillery like manticores and such is essential to foot unit survival. Regardless of how you do it you must support the advancing foot units. Having fast moving units that are capable of dealing with armor are ideal, both for harassing units and contesting objectives.

Using alternate deployment methods is the other effective method of doing a foot list. This is the method I am using with my webway list. It eliminates the need for transports and an excessive amount of kill points. Infiltration, outflanking and Deep striking your whole list can throw your opponents off. They have no idea where you are going to come in. Granted they can guess. When I place my webway portals my opponents know my forces are going to come pouring thru them. I can still come from the board edge though. If you mix deployment styles this can really throw your opponent off. They will either spread out, which makes it easier to divide the army up and kill it a unit at a time, or they will turtle up in one spot, giving you board control.

Even when you have several or one alternate deployment method the goal is victory thru attrition. Having several deployment options gives you flexibility. It also lets you mix up the flow of the game so your opponent can't adjust quickly. It helps you gain and keep momentum which is essential.

I am going to try and get a game in this weekend using my Guardian horde list so I can bring you a battle report as a decent example of a good footdar list. That and I have not had the Craftworlders out for a good romp in a while.

Also thought I would throw in a nice pic of the next half of the court of the archon.  The Slyth and the Lahmean.  I actually like both of them.  I may have to start experimenting with the Archons court and see if they are as horrible as people think they are.

Until then...

Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes, War Calls............... …......WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!

A Hero Falls: The Webway List VS Grey Knights

Well I have been rewarded this week with a great night of 40K with the gang at the FLGS. Most of the Dark Future Games crew was on hand, as well as GT from MI40K. After weeks of no 40K I finally got in a game. I broke out the Webway list once again to test the tweaks after my narrow loss to Old School Terminator in my last game. With a current record of 7 and 2 I was hoping to get a good test. I indeed found a decent test for the Webway list in the form of the Emperors finest. Grey Knights.

Tony, one of our resident Tau players, broke out his growing Grey Knights force. He has been testing his list and as he was the first person there that night I accepted his challenge. I streamlined the webway list down to 12 kill points. The left over points from the extra units were pumped into improving the wargear on my hekatrixes and haemonculi.

I was going up against a force made up mostly of purifiers lead by Castellion Crowe. They were supported by 2 Dread Knights, a venerable dreadnought and a Strike Squad. We rolled a capture and control mission with my favorite deployment type for the Dark Eldar. Dawn Of War.

I got first turn and I was able to deploy my Haemonculis with his Wrack body guard in their venom almost on top of the Grey Knights objective which was placed near the center of the table on a hill. A Razorback containing a squad of Purifiers set up behind a ruined building.

Turn 1

My venom on the board moved to the objective in the center while the second one moved on from the board edge towards my objective. The Razorwing fighter moved to the left side of the board to engage the loan Razorback on the table. Both Haemonculi and their Wrack body guards disembarked. I deployed the webway portals and took a couple of dark lance shots at the Razorback but despite being able to see could not hit.

The Grey knights moved on in force. A second Purifier squad moved to support the one that had set up on the table. Crowe moved onto the table flanked by two weapon laden Nemesis Dread Knights and the Venerable Dreadnought. The strike squad and the 10 man Purifier squad moved up on the right to engage my Haemonculis and his Wracks. I lost the lead Venom to Assault cannon fire, while most of the Wracks were mowed down by Heavy Psilencer and Psycannon fire.

Turn 2

With the webway portals deployed next to the objectives I rolled for reserves. The Beast Master Pack came howling with bestial fury from the lead portal sitting on the Grey Knight objective. The first Wych Squad sprinted out of the second portal moving towards the approaching Purifier squads moving up the left side of the board. The Razorwing managed to stun a Razorback while the Beast Master opened fire with their splinter pods and wounded the Dread Knight set up for close support. They then assaulted the Dread Knight and struck it down before it could even manage to swing its massive sword.

Crowe, Incensed seeing his brother marine struck down moved to engage the Beast Master pack. Assault cannon fire tore into the unit from the nearest Razorback as did the second Dread Knight. The Strike Squad had disembarked and added their storm bolters to the torrent of fire. The second Dread Knight and Crowe charged the Beast Masters and although a wound was dealt to both, the Pack was cut down.

Turn 3

The second Wych squad Emerged form the lead portal followed by the third. The last squad also contained the Mistress of the Cult Of Strife, finally deciding to grace the field with her presence. Lelith Hesperax strode onto the field like a hunting cat. She locked eyes with Crowe and bade him to wait his turn with a single raised finger and a malicious grin. The Haemonculus, now sans wrack body guard, joined the second Wych squad giving them 2 pain tokens in the process. Lelith and her squad moved towards the Strike squad and the remaining Dread Knight. The Second Wych squad moved to engage the Dreadnought. The first Wych squad made it to the Purifiers held up n their Razorbacks. The Razorwing managed to immobilize a Razorback while the remaining Venom manged to wound Crowe with a torrent of splinter cannon fire. Lelith hit the strike squad like a bullet while a majority of the rest of the squad engaged the Dread Knight. The second Wych squad charged the Venerable Dreadnought while the first squad charged the Razorbacks on the left flank. Lelith cut down the strike squad to a man and the last was cut down by the Wychs next to Lelith. The Dread Knight was wounded 3 times and manged to cut one Wych down. The combat lost the Dread Knight turned and although it could of stood strong, it was just to close to the board edge. The venerable Dreadnought fell to haywire grenades as did a Razorback.

The Grey Knights fought back with fury. Crowe moved to help the Purifier squad now liberated from their Razorback. The 10 man strong purifier squad closest to Lelith combat squaded and moved to engage the Wych squad the killed their venerable brother and that was now holding their objective. The Purifiers inflicted heavy casualties . The Squad forced from their transport moved and engaged the lone Venom immobilizing it and then destroying it with a Daemon hammer.

Turn 4

The Grey Knights were loosing ground fast. Lelith moved to engage the Purifiers on the objective. The Razor wing moved into optimal firing position on the Purifiers that had destroyed the Venom and unleashed its load of missiles. Crowe moved to engage Leliths squad while the remaining Razorback on the left flank tank shocked the wych unit that had destroyed its counterpart. They Wyches moved and were assaulted by the Purifiers left after the missiles barrage from the Razorwing. They were cut down and the Wyches surrounded the Razorback that had tried to run them down. Lelith killed the remaining Purifiers while the remainder of the Wych squad on the hill dispatched the rest of the squad that had assaulted them in the previous turn.

Turn 5

The remaining squad of Purifiers was unable to get out due to the wych squad surrounding their crippled Razorback. Crowe Stood alone on the field. The Wyches parted as their mistress strode forward with purpose and malice. She gestured to Crowe and charged. He struck with mercurial speed. Lelith parried and pirouetted like a deadly ballerina and separated Crowes head form his shoulders. The Razorback containing the last Purifier squad became their coffin as the wych squad, as one, primed their haywire grenades and slammed them onto the hull of the crippled vehicle. The Mon-keigh had been cleansed to the man. The humiliation Lelith had been dealt by The Master of the Deathwing had been re-payed by a fraction. The debt will only be satisfied with Belials head. Decorating her chambers.

So it ended with a near tabling. All that was left at the end of turn 5 was a razor back with no weapons and a gimped out rhino. We did not get a turn 6 so the game ended with me controlling both objectives. I have to say despite the purifiers striking at the same initiative with the wychs, thanks to force halberds, and hitting me every turn with purifying flame every turn it was not as bad as I thought it would be. The FAQ stated that it counted as a close combat attack so I get the 4+ save wyches get in close combat. This helped immensely and I am glad it was spelled out in the FAQ. After the game we went and broke down the action. Tony gained some very good insight and we discussed what to change in his list to make it more effective.

Well next time I will be discussing the new Meta that seems to be catching on again, at least at our FLGS. Foot Armies. Also I have acquired a bunch of orks from OST. The Thunder Porkas are making a comeback.

Until then.........

Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes, War Calls............. …....WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!!!

A Guest Writer: Mr O's Guide To Photographing Minatures

Well since I was unable to play in Ard Boyz this year due to semi foreseen circumstances, most notably The Stormlords birthday and 3 dozen Jello Shots, I do not have a battle report of my success.  Instead we have  guest writer today.  Mr. O is the official Rememberancer of Craftworld Lansing.  He has taken many pictures for the blog and for the tournaments that I have hosted and played in.  He has been nice enough to write up a little about taking pics of your miniatures. SO read and enjoy.

So you have just finished painting, converting, and or building a mini and the results are amazing. Now how do you share your artistic victory? You could carry the piece around with you, show everyone you know, and even show complete strangers shouting. “Look what I did!” I have found this approach flawed, as those that know you get annoyed at you shoving things in their face and strangers get really freaked out when you excitedly show them little men with swords and carry on about things like dry brushing and ink washes.

Luckily there is a better way to share your hard work. Taking a picture and using the wonders of the internet to share it with people you know and people you don’t. Welcome to Macro Photography.

You grab your camera plunk down your mini and snap off a picture or two. When you upload it disaster has struck! It’s all blurry and the glare from the light has hidden all of your hard work! Fear not, I am here to assist you in this and help solve your picture taking problems. There are 5 things that you need to keep in mind when taking a good photo especially of something small. These items are Composition, Lighting, Camera Shake, Background/Foreground, and Focal Plane. Let’s take a look at each one of these.

Composition: Simply placing a mini on your table and taking a picture is very simple and quick. It also makes for a picture that looks rushed and unprofessional. A snapshot if you will. The figure you are taking a picture of, whether it is one mini or a squad of mini’s, should be the focal point with out anything fighting for the viewer’s attention. I have seen a great many people photo bomb themselves. Try to keep the mini as the central piece. I could go on even more about subject weight and placement but that is for another time.

Lighting: The absolutely most important piece of photography is lighting. After all the nature of photography uses light and shadow like a painter uses pigment and a brush. You want enough light to illuminate your work and not too much light to add glare and wash out said same work. I have found multiple sources of indirect lighting tend to work the best. Also don’t be afraid to switch it up, you can always rest lighting. If you have 4 lighting sources you have 4 or more different light setting you can play around with including the flash of the camera itself. Since most of us are going to use a digital camera we have the freedom of being able to take a large number of pictures. This is a very useful tool with lighting. Take a picture with every single lighting variation you can think of and every different angle. You will be surprised at the results you get. Even if you have to take 50 pictures to get 1 or 2 good ones that is not bad at all.

Camera Shake: When taking pictures of things with small details and zoomed in, your very hands will minutely shake and cause blurry pictures, for this I say use a tripod, use a tripod, and use a tripod. The only other way to do this is to set the camera on whatever surface you are shooting on as well, although this limits the angles that you can use. So I say to you use a tripod, they keep the camera steady and most of them have jointed arms so you can pivot the camera and get some really great angles to take pictures. If you can set a time and stand away from the camera, that way you have no chance of shaking the camera and causing blur. If you must depress the shutter button yourself try this easy technique, take a breath and depress the shutter button on the exhale. You will be relaxed you won’t have the micro-tics that we all have thanks to our nervous systems.

Background/Foreground: When selecting your background and foreground for a shot (oh you heard me right) keep in mind the piece you are shooting and the colors involved. The kitchen table and flatware does not make a good background and can be distracting. Use contrasting colors. I find some construction paper under the mini and behind the mini. For a dark paint job I use either gray or white, and for a light colored mini I use black. Therefore the colors on the mini will stand out more and be more appealing to the eye. It is very important for the material you use to not have a glossy finish. This will make your situation harder to get the right lighting and cause unwanted glare.

Focal Plane: When taking a picture of a group of mini’s it is important to make sure that one is not in front of the others. The camera will focus on the front mini and all the other minis will become blurry. Line your group up in one even line for tight shots and to shoot regiments pull the camera back. Yes you won’t get fine detail but you get a nice crisp clear shot of the whole group.

I hope this was helpful in the photos you take and helps you get better shots. I spent many hours learning these techniques and experimenting with lots of variables. If you have further questions let me know and I will do my best to answer them. Also some of my personal photography can be found at: www.gregariousclaw.deviantart.com

Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes, War Calls........... .............WAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!

 

The Webway List Development Continues: Wych Weapons and Beast Masters

Picture By Beckjann

Now that the Dark Eldar codex has been out for a while, I have finally reached the point of discovering things seemingly for the first time. That is wargear or weapon load outs I have dismissed in the past are gaining some ground and in some cases surprising me with their effectiveness. Once you have time to get a real feel for an army this happens. It even happens with armies you have been playing for years, case in point my new love affair with Storm Guardians and Swooping hawks, a very potent combo, more on that later though.

I have been experimenting with the “Freak Show” list, a Haemonculus coven list, and of course my Webway list which is 95% give or take Wych cult. I have been experimenting with different weapon load outs on my Wych squads to keep them flexible, so they can adapt to any situation, and Lethal To stay in line with the 11^th Foundation of Vengeance.

As is the Hekatrixes are armed with power weapons and a Phantasm Grenade launcher to give them a slight edge and because I can't afford to give them all agonizers. All 3 Wych units have Haywire Grenades as will to deal with armor and anybody who thinks they are going to be cute and charge them with a dreadnought. The wych weapons are the things that have been changing. I originally had a pair of Shard Nets and Impalers to start. This was decent as long as I could get them in base contact. I then discovered how good Razor Flails are. Given the toughness of most of my opponents having a re roll to hit and wound is nice so I swapped to just Razor flails. I have decided on one of each in the wych squads now. I could double up on one, but I would have to try and find 30 points in the list to do it.

My real discovery was Hydra Gauntlets. I decided to experiment with them in my game against Old School Terminator last week. My unit of Hekatrix Blood Brides had 3 pairs of them. For those of you who don't know Hydra Gauntlets cost 10 points, as do all the other wych special weapons, and count as 2 close combat weapons. Instead of giving you one bonus attack though, they give you D6 bonus attacks. I figured this would make up for the unit being 10 members as I am going for an overwhelming number of attacks to make up for the lack of powered attacks.

With the Blood Brides having 2 attacks base plus one for two close combat weapons, a bonus attack on the charge and Lelith Hesperax in the unit made it pretty stabby to begin with. The 3 pairs of Hydra Gauntlets kicked the number of attacks up by a lot. My average roll was about 12 more attacks combining all 3 D6's. The 15 member wych squads get give or take about 45 attacks on the charge, 4 of these are the hekatrixes powered attacks. Lelith aside, as she was getting about 11 attacks give or take,all powered, against the Death Wing Termies, the Blood Bride unit was getting almost the same number of attacks as the 15 member squads and in some cases more despite having 5 less members.

A lot of people complained about the Blood Brides and their points cost. The big beef was is the extra attack worth the 3 extra points, you also get a leadership of 9 instead of 8 which is nice. Honestly though other than having extra bodies the numbers all hash out to about the same. The Blood Brides are just more concentrated killy. In fact in this case they were a little cheaper as I left out the Syren as Lelith is attached to the unit. I am still trying to fit in haywire grenades for them as well, but this may be a pipe dream as I am already budgeted on points pretty hardcore.

So take a second look at units you don't usually use and experiment with weapon load outs. One of the major keys to victory is using things people have not seen before. I know I have also bee promising pictures and I have one of my newly constructed clawed fiend. I have Decided to not use any of the beast master models to do my beast master pack.  This Clawed Fiend was made from leftover Chaos Span bits gifted to me from Old School Terminator.  I am also using Chaos hounds as Kymerae which are from Old Schools filed Chaos Marines count as Space Wolf Experiment.   I may have to use Razor Wings if I can't find some sort of bird model I like.We will See.  once I get the Hellions converted I will post some pictures of the Beast Masters Themselves.

I am almost done building all the models in the list.  Ebay has been pretty instrumental in getting all the models.  I really like having a big bits collection.  It pays to get bits off of people when the chance arises, you will never know when you might need them.   Now the task of painting and making a display board begins.  I will try and post progress picks as I make actual progress.

Until then.........

Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes, War Calls.............. ….........WAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!!!

The 11th Foundation Of Vengeance: Dedication

After almost a month away from the FLGS I finally got back to Evolution and got a game in. This was the first test drive of the slightly overhauled webway list. To test the new list out I challenged the head honcho of Dark Future Games, Old School Terminator. We have not had a game in a while and he had mentioned he was taking Deathwing back. I was intrigued due to the fact I have not played a Dark Angels, let alone a Deathwing, since they updated the FAQ. This game proved to be very fun and very challenging. Having an entire army of Terminators across the board is pretty intimidating, especially when they all have thunder hammers, storm shields and one equipped with cyclone missile launchers.

I was starting to second guess my list changes. I did not have a lot of power weapons in the list and it really relies on an overwhelming number of attacks in close combat to get the job done. It has a nice amount of shooting and since most of it is poison it can deal with large targets well. Heavily armored targets not so much.

I will have a battle report next time. Needless to say it was close and the variable game length thwarted my plans slightly, but it was mostly a good opponent and a thick ass army that lead to the webway list getting its 2^nd defeat. It can be kind of scary looking across the table at an entire army of Terminators with thunder hammer, storm shields and one cyclone launcher per squad. You can loose the faith, as it were, in your list and even your plans and abilities when faced with a tough opponent. Faith is not the 11^th Foundation Of Vengeance though. Faith has no place in vengeance. Dedication does though.

When you are dedicated to a cause or an idea you are almost totally committed to that idea or cause. If you start second guessing yourself and have doubt you can be your own worst enemy. Besides good lists and good strategy a large portion of playing 40K is psychological. Granted its only really hardcore in tournaments. There can be a psychological aspect in friendly games, but it is usually takes the form of friendly smack talk. Going into a game with prizes and street cred on the line is a completely different animal. Players can get very intense and its easy to get disillusioned with a game or even the hobby when this happens. This hobby malaise can be brought back to the FLGS and really affect everybody.

There has been a pretty bad malaise hitting the FLGS this summer. People are loosing motivation and dedication to the hobby. I myself have fallen victim to it. I have not painted in almost 4 months and I have lots of half assembled models. Combine this with the fact I am an hour away from my FLGS now and its bad mojo. There is a light though showing thru the gloom. I have had 2 losses with my webway list in a row, but both games were close, competitive and above all they were fun. I am feeling the motivation coming back. I thought a new army would cure it completely, but it did not. I am still going to build DA orks, but I just had to re dedicate myself to the Dark Eldar.

This is another thing that can really sap the dedication out of a player. If you are an army hopper, buying a new army when it comes out because its the power flavor of the moment, it can be rough. You really have to play an army for a while to gain a feel for it and win with it. Sure some armies are more powerful than others on paper, but the real power comes form the person commanding it. A seasoned general who knows his army in and out and has dedicated lots of time to the army will win way more often than somebody who is building and playing the flavor of the moment.

You must be dedicated and see things thru. This is the 11^th Foundation Of Vengeance. I have my beast master pack almost built and I am shy on wyches. I plan on having a hobby night tonight at my lair to get an inventory on what I need to complete the webway list model wise. I may have some pictures up.

Until then.

Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes, War Calls....... ...........WAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!!!!!!!

More 6th Edition Rumors.

So I was going through my blog roll, which is very big, and catching up on posts. I read some very cool and somewhat unbelievable rumors over on Faeit 212. It would seem he has an inside source that has some pretty fantastic rumors. I particularly like the one about the Eldar being the poster Xenos for 6^th edition. I also like the one about Matt Ward going bye bye. So here they are in all their unbelievable glory.

via DrBored
Fat, massive, toadacious blocks of salt with these, guys. I mean huge. Moon sized. Like, if the moon was the size of the sun, then they would be moon sized blocks of salt that you should take, but they're more like sun-sized blocks of salt. I didn't believe them when I heard them second hand, but here they are.

As we get towards 6th edition, some things are rumored to be changing. White Dwarf is rumored to be going back to what they had before, with more battle reports and painting how-tos and less advertisements. Sisters of Battle is the poster child for the 'White Dwarf Codex' which may be getting more full-on Codices in the future depending on popularity. One such example would be for the Chaos Legions Codex, which would have a core, and then White Dwarf additions for other Legions as the months progress.

Oh by the way, Chaos Legions by March 1012 and 6th edition by October 2012, which will feature Eldar as the poster child. Heavy Xenos influence for 6th edition, including the long-awaited Tau update.

Here's a doozy. Fluff changes. (prepare for heavy summary) We're moving on from the 41st millennium into the 42nd. Yup. Here's the rumor: mankind's days are really waning. They're heading down the crapper fast and xenos, especially Necrons, are coming into quite the threat. Well, mankind just doesn't have the power, and now Necrons are threatening Chaos, and the Chaos forces are like 'well wtf guyz'. So, Chaos has to fight across the galaxy against the enemies that mankind were fighting against, perhaps even allying with loyalist forces against a common foe. This will be expanded on in the coming Codices, including Necron and Chaos Legions, which should set up for the big fluff change in 6th edition. Some of the rest sounded more like wish, opinion, and extrapolation; Void Dragon coming up, Primarchs coming back, Emperor's descendants being found by an unnamed portion of the Imperium in order to fight the Void Dragon, etc etc...

Now here are some other things that are founded in reality: Matt Ward? Gone. Don't expect him to be writing any more Codices. His baby was 5th edition, and now that 5th edition is up, Ward is done. Board Members for GW? 3 of the old geezers gone. Company-wide changes. Everything since Tyranids? Made for 6th edition.

Speaking of 6th edition again, the main rulebook that comes out is supposed to be 'the book to rule all books'. It'll have ways to include Super heavies and rules for Fliers in regular games, and should errata a lot of rules in Apocalypse, past FAQ's, and past Codices to make it all fit together. It'll have updated stuff for Planet strike, Cities of Death, etc, perhaps even to make room for more expansions in the future.

Ugh. The person I heard this from is a good friend and reliable source, and the person *he* got this information from is an unnamed employee of a certain facet of our favorite gaming company that deals with items made out of a material that is notorious for melting if exposed to direct sunlight and heat. By the way, all those rule sets that Forgeworld has been making? They may suddenly find themselves approved for regular games.

I honestly feel tainted by a lot of this information. I'll be the first to say that so much of it is so unreal and so uncharacteristic for Games Workshop that it doesn't feel like it could happen at all. Moving the fluff forward? Having super heavies in a regular edition? Making Codex *supplements* exclusively through White Dwarf (and subsequently free a month later on their website like most White Dwarf stuff)? Knocking Space Marines down a notch?

But think about it. 5th edition has been the edition for the Imperium. Imperial Guard, Grey Knights, Space Wolves, Blood Angels, and of course Space Marines have all gotten Codices, and Black Templar and Dark Angels have been FAQ'd to match up. The only xenos forces we've seen have been Orks (which were technically still 4th edition), Tyranids, and Dark Eldar. And now Sisters of Battle are going to be covered. That leaves Tau, Orks (since they weren't really in 5th), Eldar, Chaos Marines, Necrons, and Chaos Daemons left to be covered. NONE of those are imperial forces, so it almost seems like they've been stacking the deck so that they can put a heavier focus on the xenos, which is a prime opportunity to advance the fluff. By advancing the fluff through xenos codices, they can then re-glorify the imperial forces by updating them further into 6th edition after they've figured all that stuff out.

Also, Chaos Marines have been a group of much attention. The Horus Heresy novels, Black Crusade RPG, and features as main villains in many a video game. They have a lot of new fluff that hasn't been explored before, and a lot of new material has been created that has kept them in the limelight, even if they haven't been on the gaming tables. They are Imperial Enemy No. 1. They are a very popular force. To have them suddenly take the spotlight in new fluff in a new edition only makes sense. A force as potent as the Chaos Legions, Legions of marines that number in the thousands, whose leader commands the last Black Fortress (one of the few great weapons against the C'Tan), is a force that can wreak proper havoc again, either in the form of a new Black Crusade, or in the form of a totally different type of war. Thus far, Chaos has seemed content to chill out in their warp homes within the Maelstrom and Eye of Terror, with the 13th Black Crusade being the last great push, and that was solely against the Imperium and anything else that happened to be in the way. There are many an enemy that Chaos can fight besides the waning Imperium, such as the Necron that they abhor for their desire to snuff out the sensation that Chaos enjoys.

There are a lot of other things that simply don't fit. We've already heard rumors about fliers, but the super heavies thing is a stretch. 'One book to rule them all' is a bit of a stretch, as that would cannibalize all of the books that have already been printed. Also, Forgeworld being brought into the fold doesn't make sense either. Though they've been pumping out a lot of new stuff, their business model is built as a boutique, and if they suddenly shift gears to mass-produce their stuff to satisfy the new net lists that come out, then that will completely undo their business model. On the other hand, Games Workshop has kicked metal straight out, so to get all their factories devoted to resin might end up increasing Forgeworld's production as well simply by volume of production.

Anyway, like I said. Salt, salt, salt. Not only am I hearing all of this second-hand, but it's difficult to weed out what's speculation on the speaker's part, and what he intended as rumor. I suppose we'll just see if he's right. The first hint would be Chaos Marines in March 2012 huh?

via ZARDRA
6th ed prediction's.
well it's been a while since i heard from some of my buddy's in gw and was quite surprised to hear from one or to that what i had predicted for 6th ed is also what they have been hearing on the jungle drums in gw hq, sooooo i thought i would share what i said back then ( 6 or 7 months ago ) again just before i begin this is not 100% set in stone but from what i have been i told i am meant to be very near the mark.

September should see the release of a rather special box set for Bloodbowl! including a plastic arena!

at some point next year there is meant to be a few drop downs from forge world to gw in the shape of a warhound titan or thunderhawk plus some other goodies,

then on to the new books, chaos will get a book for each of the 4 powers to expand there ranks, and there will be a set of book ( codexes ) to enable you to create your own individual legion for both loyal and traitor's. as well as a host of new models to create the new ranges as well.

with chaos getting more powerful there needs to be some thing else to level the playing field, soooooo fingers crossed there will be a couple of primarchss returning (Volken any one!!!! ) and it will be the year of the fliers! yes lots of flying machines.......... speaking of machines there is another race or 2 that could well be making an appearance, Mechanius!!!. well I’ll leave it at that, although i did here that ultramar is meant to brake away? oh well let me no what you think :):victory:Games Workshop (the people who have all your money) 

So take them as you will. Sounds a bit out there to me personally. This really kinda goes against the usual thing for GW. I would like to see the resurgence of the Xenos armies and the return of a powerful Traitor Marine force.

Next time the 11^th Foundation Of Vengeance.

Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes, War Calls........... ............Waaaaaaaaaaagh!!!!!!!!!!!