Free Form Miniatures game test #1

Since I have a massive collection of miniatures that are both un-built and un-painted I threw this suggestion to my friend Chris: let's try a free form game of minis. I put forth that the only rules we start with are for points of units only based on the size. A small mini on a 10mm base was 1 point, a man sized mini on a 10mm was 2, a 20mm base was 4 and a 40mm base was 8 points. He brought an 5 man iron hands squad w/a Forge Father and a contemptor. I brought a gang of grots lead by a Runtherd. Among them was an ork w/a bionik eye and an anti-tank rifle and a squig hound. So we set up on a table of ruins and decided that the Space Marines were drawn by psychic presence of a grot-weird boy(which we decided was a grot who was clutching his head).

This was after the first few activations. We determined that while you didn't have to, you could clump models into groups that could be activated at the same time. The benefit is that you have more models to act (shooting at a model or charging another) though you decrease the amount of activations your side has. The success of any given ranged or melee attack was determined by studying the model making the attack and the model being targeted. After discussing it we would both agree upon a success roll on a d6. When a 1 or 6 was rolled you would roll again to determine a critical hit or failure. When a model was hit we used the something like the Necromunda damage table
: 1,2 knocked down 3,4 Wounded 5,6 Down. This in turn was modified by how powerful we determined the weapon was or how tough/weak the target was.

We used movement values and weapon ranges similar to those used in 40k but that was because we knew of them and could use it as a basis for decisions more easily.

This is where my squig hound lunged forward and ravaged a meltagunner, wounding him twice.

Here's where his squad leaps forward to assist him and my poor netter is shot thrice.

An ambitious grot races out and attempts to take down the Iron Father. His attack fails and he is subsequently cut down.

Both my Runtherd and the Iron Father are wounded and knocked down due to combat or shooting. My netter took the opportunity to run up and net him at which point my whole gang ran up to try to help dragging him off the board. It was a valiant effort but as the marines ran in chase they wielded their bolters with deadly accuracy, critting two of the grots helping. In the end my crew was cut down with 1" to go. It was a great test and I can't to try more.

Pre-Heresy Emperor's Children

Before the big update I had been running an Emperor's Children army and decided to start modeling them all Pre-Heresy. As the new codex has come out I rewrote my armylist for 2000 points. Here it is:

Lucius 165pts
Sorcerer w/Mark of Slaanesh, Sigil, Mastery 3, Burning Brand, Spell Familiar, Boon of Mutation 205pts
5 Noise Marines w/CC Weapons, Doom Siren, PW, Veterans of the Long War, Rhino 170pts
5 Noise Marines w/CC Weapons, Doom Siren, PW, Veterans of the Long War, Rhino 170pts
5 Noise Marines w/CC Weapons, Doom Siren, PW, Veterans of the Long War, Rhino 170pts
10 Noise Marines w/Blast Master, 8x Sonic Blasters, Banner of Excess 264pts
10 Noise Marines w/Blast Master, 8x Sonic Blasters, Banner of Excess 264pts
Heldrake 170pts
3 Obliterators 210pts
3 Obliterators 210pts
1998pts

I converted my heldrake as a plane:

My squads of 5 that push the assaults w/Veterans of the Long War I modeled as being more like vets using Sanguinary guard armour:

The basic squads I'm converting to have MkV armor:

The "Icon of Excess" which gives feel no pain I figured could be represented by an apothecary in the squad:

One squad of the Obliterators are Legio Cybernetica robots and the other is going to be a single terminator with a mob of servitors holding, rearming and attaching heavy weapons to him. Thoughts are welcome!

CHAOS HAS COME!

Well it's been a billion years since I've posted and the new Chaos Space Marine Codex has been out for quite a bit now so as penance I will go through the entire codex and give a quick overview of how I feel about/uses of/rating out of 5 for all of the codex entries.

So let's jump right into it starting with:

HEADQUARTERS!!!!!
Abaddon- A beast as always. Powerhouse but a points sink. Unlocking Chosen as troops is cool but there again they are points sinks themselves. 4/5

Huron- Random psychic powers, claw is no longer a fist(good and bad). He let's d3 infantry units infiltrate. Best warlord power in my opinion. Kind of average as an HQ but pretty cheap. 4/5

Khârn- "Initiative one? Not anymore!" *raise middle finger* Hitting on 2s and rerolling misses against space marines. The betrayer is back and better than ever. 5/5

Ahriman- Psychic powerhouse. If this is your deal go whole hog. He slaps out powers like a champ and like Huron he lets some units infiltrate. Thousand sons infiltrating just sounds funny. 3/5

Typhus- Come on bring the...zombies? Changing a unit of 35 cowering pitiful scum into a groaning zombie horde for free is kind of awesome. A bit of a beast in CC though a good chunk of change. All manner of crazy nonsense abilities. 5/5

Lucius- Short of challenging a terminator this boy will eat up the competition. Attacks equal to his opponent's WS and rerolling to wound makes this fool a character killing fool. 5/5

Fabius Bile- Not much of a change from before and only upgrades 1 squad though it's for free. 3/5

Chaos Lord- Damn cheap and with tons of options available! 5/5

Sorcerer- Customizable with the new variety of powers though I'm only really happy with the Slaaneshi powers. Take it as you will but still customizable pretty well. 4/5

Daemon Prince- A saucy beast w/the new rules for flying monstrous creatures. Able to take demon weapons that soar their attacks through the roof or make them squad destroying beasts, slap on the ability to make them mastery 3 sorcerers with access to the biomancy powers and you have a CC monstrosity on your hands. 5/5

Warpsmith- A nod to the Iron Warriors who drops the efficiency of cover, comes with a meltagun which he can fire in addition to his own ranged attacks. Not to shabs but not the best in CC. 4/5

Dark Apostle- The "evil chaplain" who gives units his LD of 10. I don't really see this HQ as being that useful. Fearless HQs can transfer it to units they've joined. Sure they can give their zealot abilities to their squad and let you reroll Chaos Boon table results but for the price I don't think it's that good. Slap on the fact that you can't put them in Terminator armor and you have a lack luster HQ.
2/5

Well there's the HQ. Hopefully I'll be able to overcome my laziness and come back with the troops review. I'll go over the options that you can unlock as troops as well to give a better overview of all options.

The Dark Templar's Contest!

Skip on over to The Dark Templar's blog to join his contest for a coveted and very skillfully converted Blood Angel Sanguinary Priest. Also in the prize is the legendary "Melta guy." Be sure to check out his back story it's awesome. 

As yet unnamed giant battle platform game!

So I've fixated on making a game where three factions duke it out using giant weapons platforms in the decaying ruins of Earth cities. Plot points: Humans make intelligent robots, robots rise up but right as aliens from the closest planetary system show up to take over our planet. 3 way battle royale! Quick plot aside right now I'm working on the rules. I've gotten a few lists together in regards to weapons and technology. As it stands there are three sizes of platforms with internal space and exterior "hard points." Sounds too much like the Tau Crisis suit equipment so I'll eventually change that. There's gear that overlaps each faction and there'll be unique items too but I haven't gotten to that yet. Anyway here's the lists so far:

Solid Weapons:
Cannon (Shell)
Artillery (Shell)
Railgun
Missile Pod
Chain Cannon
Flak Cannon
Mega Rocket
Cluster Cannon
Anti Aircraft Artillery
Gun Battery

Energy Weapons:
Cannon (Plasma)
Cannon (Laser)
Cannon (Lightning)
Artillery (Plasma)
Laser Battery
Anti Aircraft Laser
Heat Ray
Graviton Blaster
Plasma Caster

Melee:
Tentacle
Grappling Arm
Arm
Drill
Hydraulic Lance
Claws
Lightning Staff
Lightning Whip
Energy Blade

Defensive Upgrades:
Armor Plating
Reactive Armor
Energy Shielding (All Around)
Energy Shielding (Single Facing)

Energy Equipment:
Fission Reactor
Fusion Reactor
Nullgerät (Nullpunkenergiegerät - Zero point energy device)
Solar Cells
Capacitor Cells


Transportation: 
Tank Bays
Aircraft Hanger
Drone Deployer

Well that's it so far.

Campaign Army: Feral Orks

So the two friends I've made at the GW store and I are trying to start up a kind of narrative campaign. Roughly it entails some Iron Hands who survived the Istvaan V massacre and hunted down some Emperor's Children. Long story short they were forced to land on a planet with three moons surrounding a dying star. The planet's rapid orbit strays incredibly far and close to the sun and as such it is wracked with tidal forces and extremes in both hot and cold. The planet and it's sun's predicament came about due to the Eldar. They battled fiercely with Orks on the planet's surface but finally decided the planet was not worth their effort. They skewed the planet's orbit and quickened the star's demise. Since then the orks and their technology have degenerated into a feral state. All three forces will clash on the surface of this horrid world known as Ragnarok (Not my choice of name).
Rules wise we will be playing every game with the random Death World effects from the most recent White Dwarf Magazine. On top of that after every battle you choose a unit that survived. They roll on a table and receive a random USR (reroll if it's one they already have).  That way we get a little "veteran" thing going on. If that unit is later killed they lose the USR.
Specifically for the Ork player I've created a mash up of the 3rd edition Feral Ork list from the Chapter Approved book and the current Ork codex. Here it is:


Feral Orks
All non vehicle units in the "Feral Orks" come standard with "Magik Warpaint which confers a 6+ invulnerable save.
(May not take Cybork body, warbikes or kombi-weapons)


HQ:
Old Zogwort
Warboss (may be mounted on a Boar(counts as cavalry) for 40pts)
May take Weirdboys as Elites. If upgraded to Warpheads they are counted as HQ. (A warphead may be mounted on a Boar(counts as cavalry) for 40pts)

ELITES
Nobs (May take a Big Squiggoth as a Deddicated Transport)
Squiggoth 40pts
Standard WS2 BS2 S5 T6 W3 I1 A3 Ld7 v 6+
Stubborn, Monstrous Creature
May take a single: Big Shoota +5pts
                               Rokkit Launcha +10pts
                               Lobba +15pts
TROOPS:
Ork Boys. Up to half (rounded down) of the units of Ork Boyz in the army may be upgraded to 'Ard Boyz. May take a Junka Trukk as a dedicated transport.
Junka Trukk 25pts
Front 10 Side 10 Rear 10 BS 2
Weapons: May take a single: Big Shoota +5pts
                                               Rokkit Launcha +10pts
                                               Lobba +15pts
Special Rules: "The poor lack of maintenance means that these trukks are liable to mechaninal failure on a regular basis. Before the vehicle moves roll a D6. On a roll of 1 something has snapped, blown up or seized and the crew must spend the remainder of the turn repairing the damage. The vehicle may not move this turn."
Gretchen

FAST ATTACK:
Skulkas(Stats/Options the same as Kommandos) as Fast Attack. In addition for free they may deploy as per the Ymgarl Genestealer "Dormant" rule from Codex: Tyranids
Squig Herdaz
    1-3 Herdas 12 points (same stats/options as Runtherd+Infiltrate/Stubborn)
    10-30 Squigs WS4 BS- S3 T4 I4 A2 Ld5 Sv- Stubborn, Furious Charge
When all Herdaz in the unit are killed remove the entire unit from the game.
Boarboyz (Same stats/options as Ork Boyz but 9pts per model and count as cavalry)

HEAVY SUPPORT:
Big Gunz (Only Lobbas)

0-1 Units of 1-3 Squig Katapults (Same Stats/costs as big guns but costs +15 per gun to upgrade)
Squig Katapult
48" S*  Ap- Notes Heavy 1 Barrage, Blast, Pinning
*Non Vehicle units under the blast template must make an armor save. Those that fail are removed from the game. Roll for vehicles under the template: 1-2 Nothing Happens 3-4 The Vehicle is Shaken 5-6: The Vehicle is Stunned
If the template causes any non-vehicle casualties keep the template where it lands. On subsequent ork turns roll a D6: 1-3 The Swarm disperses. 4-6 The swarm scatters 2d6 inches (On a hit move the swarm in the direction of the arrow). Resolve the blast again.

Squiggoth:
Big
WS2 BS2 S7 T6 W4 I1 A3 Ld7 Sv 5+ 50pts
Massive
WS2 BS2 S7 T7 W5 I1 A4 Ld7 Sv 4+ 60pts
Stubborn, Monstrous Creature
Weapons: A Big Squiggoth may take a single: Big Shoota +5pts
                                                                           Rokkit Launcha +10pts
                                                                           Lobba +15pts
                A Massive Squiggoth may take a up to 2: Big Shootas +5pts per gun
                                                                                   Rokkit Launchas +10pts per gun
                                                                                   Lobbas +15pts per gun
Transport A big Squiggoth may be used to transport up to 10 models. A Massive squiggoth may transport up to 20 models. When embarking/disembarking from a Big or Massive squiggoth count it as being an open-topped vehicle. If the Squiggoth is killed and the passengers may be crushed. All models embarked take a wound on a 4+ (regular armor saves allowed). Place the embarked models as if the Squiggoth was a vehicle that blew up.

Well there it is. Thoughts?

40k Skimmer Indy 500 Test Run

A couple days ago my game fell apart due to tornado (Dallas area). After the craziness passed I was sitting around the store and wrangled a couple of guys together to test out the Indy 500 rules I had made a while back. We tested one lap and quickly found out a couple of things. Terrain rolls on 1 and 2 are ridiculous. In the first half of the lap I think we immobilized on terrain a total of five times combined. That's been changed to 1. Overall the flow and balance of the game seemed alright. Nothing seemed overpowered but I really liked  the feel of it. I'm going to try to test it out a couple more times before I try starting a league. One thing I do want to do is have a faction based upgrade Chaos, Imperial etc. If anyone has any suggestions I'd really appreciate it.

Finalized Bile List

Alright well I've come back to using Chaos and after testing I've come to the following list. It is a little self destructive but here we go:

HQ:
Fabius Bile 160pts
Chaos Lord w/MoK, Daemon Weapon 140pts
Greater Daemon 100pts

Elites:
5 Chosen w/5 Plasmaguns 165pts
Chaos Dreadnought w/2*CC Weapons, Extra Armor 115pts

Troops:
10 Bile Upgraded Chaos Space Marines w/Champ w/Combi-Plas, 2x Plasmaguns w/Rhino w/TL Bolter 270pts
10 Bile Upgraded Chaos Space Marines w/Champ w/Combi-Plas, 2x Plasmaguns w/Rhino w/TL Bolter 270pts
5 Bile upgraded Chaos Space Marines w/Champ w/Combi-Plas, Plasmagun w/Rhino 165pts
5 Bile upgraded Chaos Space Marines w/Champ w/Combi-Plas, Plasmagun w/Rhino 165pts

Heavy Support:
2 Obliterators 150pts
2 Obliterators 150pts
2 Obliterators 150pts

So Bile and the Lord will ride in the smaller rhinos and I've done double CC weapons on the Dread to ease up on the crazy shoot your own troops thing. Thoughts?