Resurrection

I'm Back From the Dead!

Only, I really wasn't dead.

Yes, I know it’s been awhile since I posted anything. A lot has come and gone since I last posted. Dwarfs were released. The Community was shocked with the invention of a whole new faction (for 40k at least) that consisted of a single, yet entirely awesome, model- Imperial Knights. Now we are hearing the rumblings of the new Imperial Guard book, 40k “not” 7^th edition, and WFB 9^th edition. So let’s take a quick peek at each of these. I’ll try and keep it quick and leave the detailed breakdowns to separate posts, but as frequent readers will know, I can’t always help myself.

So what can I say about my hiatus? Life happens. I don’t want to belabor the point too much with a giant article explaining where I’ve been so I’ll sum up each month in a single word: December – Holidays, January – Plague, February – Promotion. So a mix of good/bad/memorable in there.

Okay, now back to the hobby. The Dwarf book dropped back in January to little fanfare. Really the release was less than stellar with nothing earth-shattering and no “big” unit for Dwarfs. The new kits they did receive though? Awesome. The gyrocopter is fantastic and the Ironbreakers/Irondrakes are beautiful. If they didn’t cost $50 for 10 models I’d buy a group just to paint. The new plastic clamshell characters range from “Awesome“ (Runesmith, Lord Character) to “Goofy” (daemon slayer).

On the miniatures front, I’d rate the dwarf release as a solid B. They didn’t see many releases but the units that did see a release proves that GW remains top dog for detail and quality sculpts.

On the rules front, Dwarfs became hard as nails while gaining back much needed list versatility. They saw many cost reductions across the board with very few increases. The increases they did receive came in areas where earlier books also saw a rise in points for similar units. They received several benefits which give them bonuses when charged or charging that are extremely useful. While the Dwarf gunline did receive a nerf through point increases and the loss of Dwarven accuracy the new rules make other units more viable. Longbeards are better and more abundant. Ironbreakers are a solid choice for a core defensive block. Irondrakes are a great ranged choice that can hold well in combat. The Gyrocopter went from zero to hero in the new book AND you can take 6 of them. Overall, I’m super excited to play against Dwarfs when I get the chance as now they have many more lists available to them instead of the same boring gunline with thunderers, quarrelers, and war machines.

The Imperial Knights model and book threw everyone for a loop. Myself and a number of my buddies have been wanting something like this ever since GW released the Stompa for the original Apocalypse ruleset (as Stompas were the Ork equivalent of Knights back in Adeptus Titanicus). Nonetheless I was still surprised when the first leaked pictures came out. More than that, I was stunned! The model itself is easily one of the best plastic models that GW has released. I can’t wait to get mine in the near future and build it up. It might even inspire me to go back and work on Void Knights (probably not). I even love the rules! A Strength D chainsword is amazing and completely balanced by the relative fragility of the Knight. Now I simply want more Knight types (specifically a Castellan or Crusader).

That leaves us with the rumor-mill. I don’t often talk of rumors as keeping up with the ever-shifting milieu takes far more time than I have to invest in this hobby (I’d never get to paint or play) but I do want to poke at a few that are out there as they have some pretty big ones sitting on the horizon.

So first, Imperial Guard. Or is that Astra Militarum? I’m excited but only because I think Guard will be a great release. I do like the Taurox transport that has been spotted but I wish it came with an option for wheels instead of treads. I’m eagerly awaiting this release. I’ve always wanted to run a large infantry horde IG army. But let’s hop back to the IG name switch issue real quick. I’ve seen too many people complaining about this. Really, people? It’s a name. Who the hell cares? You know why GW is making all of these name changes? To protect their IP. It’s hard to protect a generic title like “Imperial Guard” but GW can change the name to Astra Militarum and suddenly enforcement of IP becomes far more clear-cut. Don’t like it? I really don’t care. It’s a name.

Now for the “not” 7^th edition 40k I’m actually fairly excited. Why? Because I hope they rebalance the rules so that the game isn’t all about shooting. I want to run my Void Knights but I didn’t even bother starting them when the Space Marine book saw release. Why? Because I don’t want to run a list that is already limited based on the basic-rulebook’s disdain for assault. Eldar? Same thing. Orks? Same. I enjoy running either balanced lists or lists focused on assault. I have no reasoning for this, but that is my preference. So for the “not” 7^th edition stuff I’d love to see the following:

Consolidation from combat to combat.
Assault after deep strike/outflanking
Change assault move somehow so that it is impossible to fail a charge if you are 1-2” away. 3” fail I’m okay with, but there should be a way to guarantee a charge of such short distances.

As a note. I’m fine with random charge rolls. I use them in fantasy all the time without batting an eyelash. But in 40k they are broken by comparison. In Fantasy I can wander up to within my move distance+2 and I’m guaranteed a charge (unless the enemy flees, in which case I have to catch them).
One the flip side, overwatch on the turn you charge an enemy unit SHOULD count towards their combat resolution. I think this will go a fair distance to rebalancing the consolidation rules and allowing assault after deep strike/outflanking. Moreover, Overwatch should happen regardless of consolidation (in other words, if you charge/consolidate into an enemy unit, they WILL shoot you). The advantage of consolidating into an enemy would be that overwatch deaths don’t count against any combat resolution.

For Fantasy 9^th edition I don’t know what to believe. To be fair there haven’t been many specifics other than the words “overhaul” and “streamlined” keep coming up in every discussion. To some people this means aggregated books. To others it means smaller armies using rules more akin to War of the Ring. Personally, I think the only real fixes they need are some tweaks to magic, war machines, and small point level matches. I’d be excited if they included any of the following:

Scatter cannon bounce placement. When a marker is placed to indicate where the player would like the cannonball to hit, the marker should scatter by d6”, then determine where it lands and the bounce.

This is simply an idea. My point is that cannons need to be less accurate. I don’t like the “guess” mechanic so I tried to come up with something different.

Magic needs to be either harder to cast or easier to dispel.

If either happens, remove the dispel scroll. It’s a crutch and always has been.
Alternatively the “uber” spells need to be rebalanced so that they cause wounds and allow armor saves or ward save as applicable.
Shadow Magic needs some rebalancing. I’d suggest altering mindrazor since Shadow has two uber spells, Pit of Shades & Mindrazor.

Disrupting ranks should break steadfast.
Monsters, Cavalry, and Chariots should disrupt ranks on the turn they charge to account for the “shock” factor of these troops. Now, they shouldn't disrupt ranks when charging the front, but rather be allowed to disrupt ranks in the flanks/rear regardless of the number of models/ranks.
Skirmishers should regain 360° visibility and the ability to determine the number of models in the front rank when forming up for combat (with a caveat that any models touched by the charge move must remain in combat).

Alternatively (and I hesitantly put this out here because I don’t know that I agree with it), Skirmishers should allow for rank bonus for each full rank they have when forming up for close combat.

Add another point level for games (Right now we have an Army at 2000 and grand army at 3000). We’ll call it “Skirmish Army” for this bullet point and it would cover 500-1000 point levels. I imagined it originally as a non-percentage based restriction system like 6th and 7th edition. Something like 0 Lords, 1-2 Heroes, 2+ Core, 0-2 Special, and 0-1 Rare. If an armybook demands that a special character must be taken (Paladin BSB, TK Heirophant, etc) then they receive an additional character slot to offset that restriction.

Alternatively change the limits to Lords 10% Max, Heroes 25% max, Core 25%+, Special 25% Max, Rare 10% Max. This would favor cheap horde armies a little too much but it is an option. For instance, I could get a unit of 25 Plague monks with Command and a plague banner (almost, actually 23). Chaos Chosen? 10ish depending on how they equipped.

So that’s my two cents for this post. Scattered throughout this post are pictures of my current projects. The list can be seen below:

Space Hulk Terminators – I’m painting them up as Angel’s Sanguine because I love halved and quartered color schemes. First test miniature is DONE and I have base coated all of the non-seargeant/librarian figures.
Skaven Landship Bell – Work continues on this albeit at a snail’s pace. I just haven’t had a large block of time to rough out plans for the bell structure and that has to happen before I continue.
Imperial Knight – Alright, I don’t have this model yet but I’m getting one soon. When I do I’m going to chain myself to my desk until it is built and painted. Why? Because I’m super excited. The picture below is one of my painted knights from Adeptus Titanicus. Yes, I’m using those colors again.
Infinity – I stalled on this project too. Not for any other reason than I remembered how much I hate painting orange. I love the color. I love how it looks on finished models. I hate painting it. So I’m rethinking my approach at the moment.
Random Projects – When I get stuck on the above projects too long I will pull random models off the display shelves to paint. In the queue are an Ork Mek, Ork Kommando, Ork Snikrot, a couple D&D Figures, Major Victoria Haley, Khador Sorscha, Malifaux Snow Storm, Ikit Klaw, Queek Headtaker, Skweel Gnawtooth, Deathmaster Snikch, a Wood Elf on stag, and an Ogre Firebelly (and a few more).