Special Operations: Killzone

I have always loved seeing the creativity of wargamers. Be it converstions, house rules or terrain features that boggle the mind. In the absence of a desire (In this case a skirmish or smaller scale of 40k that doesn't take place in the hivespire of Necromunda) a game was created by Big Jim and B. Smooth. This is Special Operations: Killzone.

Now first off I'd like to point out that Necromunda is a great game. It allows me to withdraw to my young second edition playing self and enjoy the 40k universe while throwing unit coherency out the window. There is a drawback though. You are confined to the spire, never knowing the sheer joy of warriors that far surpass your own: Space Marines, Tyranids and Eldar to name a few. I'd also like to note that this is by far not the first 40k skirmish supplement that I've seen. My criticism is that most of them that I've seen are built off of the old Kill-Teams game from the back of the 4th edition 40k rule-book. This is alright if that's your bag but I just want to throw my guys at my opponent and have him throw his back without any of this "Oh no! We've alerted the sentries!" nonsense.

What Killzone does is introduce new army-book specific errata and new rules about moving/shooting/combat that streamlines the game even more. No longer do you roll for moving through terrain. Your gun that fires more than 1 shot can spread the shots out into a "Killzone." They also introduce new equipment upgrades that you can give to your models to improve their stats and give them new abilities. The equipment really adds a personalization to each model. "This is Sergeant Killsalot. He's a blademaster with close-combat accessories and he's here to mess you up!" You can then take this and model a figure with the appropriate equipment mods to really make your force stand out.

I think the thing that stands out about Killzone is it's playtime. To quote Harsh Rhettoric "You can play like 5 games in a night! It's awesome!" This is a boon for players that just don't have the time to play through a whole game of 40k or just have a super busy schedule. I'd really like to thank Big Jim, B Smooth and all the contributors that helped develop this game.

Crazy Ideas In The Modeler's Mind

So in my Chaos Space Marine army I have a Greater Daemon which is representing an American Battle Suit that operates in space. Basically jump jets, close combat weapons etc. I want it to look like a somewhat different version of my Tin Man which represent a Daemon Prince.

                                                                          WIP Tin Man

With that in base I kind of want to steal an idea I saw on the Games Workshop site where a Deff Rolla was used to make Killa Kans:

It looks a little like a Chaos Space Marine dreadnought but I really like the feel of the spikes and the patched surface. It feels to me like quick patches for a space-borne mech. Hopefully I can get a hold of a Deff Rolla soon. *Itchy Modeling Fingers*

Choosing Units From A Codex: A Personal Bias

Often I find myself wonderin why I chose the armylists that in do. Typically you won't find me fielding the common, the popular or even (to my usual dismay) the effective. When I read through a codex I take in the fluff and the rules and weigh them equally. This leads me to my own opinion on a unit not solely based on fluff or stats. I know most players chose units that are pure power. The unit or model is chosen because of it's value in the mechanics of the game.
Now when I consider what is a "good" and a "bad" unit I find my opinion crafted at the moment I read the codex. I lean towards units that "feel" or sound cool. From the outside this might appear to be along the lines of when we were kids and chose models because they looked cool. Let me explain how it's different. In the Chaos codex I like Greater Daemons. I don't recal the last CSM player that I've seen w/a Greater Daemon. Sure you see Daemon Princes but the GD is just not seen as good. I've heard that people don't use it because it costs a champion model. I don't see this as a detriment or an increase in points or even a waste of a champion. I think this is awesome! If you have 4 units of troops roaming across the board and a Monstrous Creature bursts out of it's ranks to charge the turn in comes in? Sign me up!
Another example would be the Pyrovore in the Tyranid codex. No one uses them. I have never in my gaming experience seen any Tyranid player use them. I love Pyrovores they have Heavy Flamers an Power weapon attacks. On top of that they blow up. They blow up! It's rare but I played a game where Pedro Cantor blew himself up by powerfisting a Pyrovore. That's 100% awesome! Why wouldn't you want stuff like that to happen? Admittedly I'm the craY guy who cheers on the opponent and wants him to blow up my vehicles. I just enjoy the odd rules and the crazy possibilities in a game where you generally see the same thing over and over again.
This is what usually drives me to determine what is goods and what is bad.