Saturday 25 October 2014

Macca's top 5 Nastiest 30k units.

Macca's top 5 Nastiest 30k units.

It's all in the title really. I have worked with a talented team of scienticians to bring you this list of what I believe to be the nastiest units available in 30k at this point in time. This is mostly due to a spirited debate I participated in earlier regarding the cheese level of Moriats.

5: Firedrake Terminators. Terminators. Thunder hammer and storm shield. 2 wounds. Flame weapons are also -1 strength against this unit, immune to fear, and get to reroll 1d6 when failing pinning and leadership tests. Thankfully, the price keeps this unit away from the smaller battles, but they can be brutal.

4: The Moriat. Chain fire on twin plasma pistols. 2 shots needing 2's to hit, and generating free hits for each successful one. These bad boys get a lot of flack on the net, but it is offset by their high cost ratio and glass-cannon nature. Still, bringing this to a 1000 point game is cause for being chased by a mob with torches and pitchforks.

3: Tyrant Siege Terminators. You can get 30 of these in 2000 points. Cataphractii armour, power fist, combi bolter, and a freaking cyclone missile launcher! The squad leader also has night vision and split fire. Universally despised by all who have played against them.

2: Thanatar Siege Automata. Toughness 8, 4 wounds, a plasma mortar with 48" range at s8 ap2 which you must RE-ROLL SUCCESSFUL COVER SAVES AGAINST. These units can also get Feel no Pain, and have a 2+ armour save. I personally have two, but I dare not use more as I value my friends.

NUMBER 1

1: Castellax Battle Automata. These are the number one most hated unit, discovered in a poll I took involving 2 homeless people, a chihuahua, and an Ork player. We concluded that for a troops choice to be toughness 7, 85 points, have 4 wounds, rage, a bolt cannon and a pair of flamers, as well as the option of upgrading to Feel no Pain, that this was pure cheese, distiller extracted, distilled and injected into more cheese. Also known as Keepy's army.

So there you have it. If you have any unit you think should be in the top 5, do let me know. Just so you know, my criteria are:
-Force Org. Slot
-Damage Output
-Points Cost
The better each of these, the more likely you have cheese.

Thursday 23 October 2014

Armies on Parade 2014: Macca

Well, it took me long enough, but here it is, my Armies on Parade entry for 2014. Most people don't show theirs prior to the competition, but for me, winning or losing doesn't matter, as it's a competition based on the votes of the friends and family of those involved. That said, winning feels good, and if I do make the finals, do feel free to vote for me!

The basic board is a Forge World realm of battle board, with a custom built crane (that was a b%&ch) and manufactorum complex. The theme is a small mechanicum force patrolling down the streets, which is ironic as the force is mostly very big guys.


The Krios Tank and Paladin Knight impose.


Custom crane: such a nightmare.


Of course all 3 Knights have the cockpits I kitbashed and installed, which will display on the day.


So that's that. Please wish me luck on Saturday, as I don't have many friends or family, which limits the people voting for me!

~Macca

Saturday 11 October 2014

A Galaxy In Flames Tutorial: Magnets 2.

Every so often, I like to cover old ground, because either people miss out on a tutorial or we we want to show something different. Hi, Macca here, and today I am going to show you another way of magnetising your miniatures.

To start with, I have laid out all my bits, from left to right: Tweezers, magnet stick, pre-done jump pack, magnets, metal Librarian, new pack, stupid glue.


The Magnet Stick

So, the Magnet Stick. I didn't invent this. Truth be told, I have no clue who did, but I have used this for a while now, and thought I'd show the AGIF followers. The idea is simple, the magnets are attached at each end, with a different polarity facing AWAY from the stick. This means that any magnets stuck to one will stick to the opposite side of the other end. I use the end with the two black stripes for items attaching to bodies, and the other end for bodies themselves.

To make it, I simply used a 3mm magnet, and stuck one onto each end of a cut-down cotton bud. This is a very low-tech way to ensure you place all magnets the correct way into a miniature.



Magnetising

When drilling your holes, there are a couple of ways you can do it. As a tradesman, I will sometimes tape my drill bit, as I know I have reached the correct depth when the tape touches the miniature. In this instance, I have just 'eyed it' (10 years in my trade, I assure you, my MK I eyeball is pretty damn accurate). The drill used this time out is a power drill, because a pin-drill and a metal miniature means 20 minutes of dicking around.



Now, I drop a magnet onto the white end of the stick. It self-orientates, and I apply a droplet of stupid glue before placing it into the miniature.



At this point, you should be able to have your parts on each end of the magnet stick. Fancy.


Now, I repeat the process, but with the opposite end of the stick. Simple stuff really. Finally, I try all the packs on, admire my handy work, treat myself to a beer and wait for the V8's to come on TV.





I hope you got something out of this, I did, I get beer.

~Macca

Wednesday 8 October 2014

Sevast Nomen: Raven Guard Moriat

Of all the Raven Guard, few can boast a story of such woe as Sevast Nomen. Raised amongst the first warriors of the XIXth Legion, Sevast fought in some of the last battles of the Unification Wars, as well as the scouring of Lysithea. Most members who fought in this campaign were withdrawn from the Legion, recalled to the Emperors gene forges. Whether Sevast was fortunate or not to escape this fate, we will never know, but it is said that the seeds of his madness were sown during this campaign.

Over the long years that followed, Sevast served capably in the assault companies of the XIXth, fighting with their cousins in the Luna Wolves across a score of worlds. With the finding of Corax, the structure of the Legion changed, with most of the senior Terran-born Captains being removed from their posts.  Lacking senior officers, Sevast was placed in command of his assault company, thanks to his seniority more then any outstanding combat record. Looking to redeem themselves, the Terrans of his company took to heart the changes that Corax had wrought to their legion structure, however, the tactics and brutal assaults taught to them by the Reaver assault units also remained.

It was during the Battle of Gate 42 that Sevast's story comes to a head. The pitiful task of the frontal assault fell on Sevast and his assault company, as well as scores of Deliverer Terminators and other Terran-born assault companies. In the grueling battle that followed, Sevast's entire company was decimated, leaving him the sole survivor. Sevast felt betrayed by the Warmaster. For years the Luna Wolves had been their most trusted cousins, but they had led the mighty Raven Guard to their doom. It was here that Sevast snapped, a madness and battle lust falling upon him even when outside of battle. All that remained was for him to take up the mantle of the Moriat.

Sevast was last seen amidst the opening hours of the Istvaan V massacre, leading some of the earliest strikes against the traitors, he and his destroyer cadre wreaking havoc with their arcane weapons. It is believed he died fighting the very Reaver units that had fought beside just years before. Sevast was the exemplar of the Moriat, fighting with either his Kiavahr Pattern plasma pistol and Volkite Charger, or with a regular Mars Pattern pistol. His wargear spoke of a force of terror, a creature who sought to torment his foes, and not just kill them. His helmet was a unique skull faced helm, and he bore gruesome spikes and trophies, possibly earned in his time with the Reavers.


Sevast in-game utilizes the rules and wargear of the standard Moriat Consul, backed by the Raven Guard Legion tactics. The model came first, and the fluff came second.



Sevast and his destroyer cadre

A lone Moriat, with pistols of unique design... and kinda lame rules.

Tuesday 7 October 2014

Macca on Tactica: Raven Guard

G'day, Macca here, and I want to share the good word of Corvus Corax with you. Today sees me talking about my 2nd ever Heresy passion project. You see, the Raven Guard was a Legion I chose for selfish reasons. In short, they were:
-I wanted to try a dark army (don't it sucks)
-I wanted a Legion that wasn't released yet, because people get on bandwagons (Eldar, cough, Tau, cough)
-I wanted a Legion that was less common, and so more interesting to look at.

Anyway, enough of that, here is the very quick nuts and bolts.

Raven Guard Special Rules

So, you decided you want a Raven Guard Horus Heresy force, and I must say, you made a good choice. The Raven Guard are amongst the best forces in 30k, even if they don't have the badass terminator units or close combat monsters of other armies. This is ok, because you don't play an army like Raven Guard and expect to punch Kharn or Sigismund in the face in combat, instead, you are going to strike hard and fast from the shadows. Very fluffy.

When selecting your army, you need to take into consideration two things: your Raven Guard specific rules and restrictions, and your Rite of War. Whilst most Rites of War are neat but not overly effective, the Raven Guard one is excellent.

Specific rules: Infantry (not terminators) gain fleet of foot and infiltrate. Jump Infantry and Bikes get Furious Assault. The down side of this is that you can't have more vehicles then you have units with the rule 'Legiones Astartes Raven Guard'. That's no real drama however, as your force works best around infantry.

Rite of War: Decapitation Strike. Preferred enemy independent characters (target a unit with a character and let the re-rolls begin), you get to re-roll to seize the initiative and to deploy, you can take drop pods as dedicated transports across the army, as well as Deathstorm pods becoming elites. The downer is that you only get 1 Consul, can't take allies or fortifications, and only get 1 heavy support choice. Which is fine, because you're limited on tank models anyway, so just take a Sicarian or Fire Raptor and watch your opponent get pissed off at your air superiority.

Playing With The Raven Guard

Ok, lets start at the top: Corax. When it comes to Primarchs, on the surface he looks a bit dull, lower weapon skill, worse armour, but when you look at his special rules, holy shit! Your whole army will get automatic 6" run moves, and acute senses. On top of that, the big man himself is actually a close combat beast, able to tear apart Angron and even put a dint in the Warmaster himself. All the regular toys for killing Primarchs don't work here, because guess what? You wanna shoot him? Cool, snap fire, BITCH. Yes, if he isn't the closest model in the Raven Guard to your firing unit, you may only take snap shots at him. That means you can't use your Felblades, Typhons, even a Vortex Missile, because none of them can snap shoot. Corax will 99% of the time make it into your lines, and when he does, it's bye bye. On that note, twin archaeotech pistols (making him essentially a jump-pack Moriat on top of being a badass), +1 strength and initiative on the charge, and 3 combat modes which you get to pick each turn, being an extra D3 attacks, -1 to hit penalty to every model striking at him, and all attacks by Corax of a 5+ always wound, regardless of toughness. Yes, he will wound Toughness 10 on a 5+. Deal with it.

What the fuck man, Alan Bligh injected him with freaking hero steroids!


As far as special characters go, it plays like this: Alvarex Maun, yes, Kaedus Nex, maybe against Mechanicum.

Alvarex is simple: run him as the warlord, get re-rolls on all reserves, and you gain no-scatter deep strikes within 18". You can also use him for line of sight for any barrage weapons fired by friendly units. Yes, that means Death Strike Missiles fired from the UK will get reduced scatter here in Australia. Deal with it.

Kaedus guns suck. His infiltrate within 6" is handy, but the fact his guns are s4 ap4, albeit with rending, means he can't reliably kill power armour. That said, I was trying to find a use and decided that he would (after I tested the theory) wipe a 6 man Thallax unit in one turn. How? Shoot and assault my friend.

The Darkwing Storm Eagle is costly, but blind and concussive missiles are handy, the nose gun only being a heavy bolter is fucking shit, so I just go to regular Storm Eagles.

Dark Fury Assault Squads are shit. Too expensive for what they do, which is kill power armour in CC. Guess what, in 30k, AP3 grows on trees, you can buy a Whirlwind Scorpius for cheaper then this unit AND it will do s8 ap3 at 48". (and you'll use Alverax for LOS. What, problem?)


When selecting your actual troops you need to take into account your special rules. Infiltrating devestators for example is a fine choice. Using infiltrate across a wide amount of your army can force your opponent to really defensively deploy, lest you get an alpha-strike off that ruins their entire game plan. (Cat has had me do this to him about 15 times now and it still gives me a chuckle to see him lose his shit, which is probably why I do it 90% of the time haha.)

Jump troops and bikes are good choices to go alongside the infantry in the Raven Guard. This is because they gain the furious charge bonus, plus, they are rapid support elements that can be alongside the infiltrated units in turn one. Further, if you play like me, it gives you deep strike options, and you can really have some fun with this.

So, What's The Play Style?

Hit hard and hit fast. Seriously. You will lack heavy armour and heavy infantry 90% of the time, so you have to kill your enemy heavy shit asap. Personally, I run Alvarex in nearly all of my lists, and that's because he is a force multiplier. By this, I mean he increases my whole army effectiveness. Reliable reserves thanks to his warlord trait, (re-roll reserve rolls) as well as his special jukebox which allows no-scatter deep strike.

The way it works is simple: I infiltrate him with a squad, such as recon marines, and hide him as best as possible. In turn 2, my moriat and destroyers will drop in, safely exactly where I want them, and then I open up the whoop ass. On top of that, I know my air support is almost certain to arrive and help back the push.

When using the infantry, you have no more killing power then any other legion, but you are faster, you can run around the battlefield all day long, moving to objectives, or watching a squad of World Eaters try and charge you but never making it. Your troops are a great speed bump for your enemies, allowing you to concentrate on killing what matters.

Special note: My FUCK YOU list to Mechanicum players in 1500 points is as follows: Moriat with plasma, 2x 10 destroyers with Rad missiles, Master of Signals, 2x tac squads, 1x dev squad. If you play it right, you can kill TWO castellax units a turn. How? Destroyers fire rad missiles, which will hit 2 maybe 3 castellax with each shot. You get 4 shots a turn. Each wound is on a 2. You also get to re-roll it. It's also ap3. If they take a wound, their toughness drops by the amount of wounds caused. IF you can hit two castellax from two slightly different directions, you can drop them to toughness 4 or 5 with some savvy shooting. Then, you riddle them with bolter fire from the tacticals, and if close enough, charge them with furious charge toting destroyers. The moriat and master of signals will deal with Thallax and Tech Thralls with ease, and the devs can deal with any armour.



In the end....

That's it, that's how they roll. Simple, sweet. You don't rely on plasma, melta and all that to do your killing, just good old fashioned bolter fire, speed of manoeuvre, and destroyers coming out of every orifice. But that's fluffy, and the Raven Guard are a great example of a fun fluffy force that is also very competitive.

That's all from me, if you have Raven Guard, or have played against them, let me know what you think, Macca

Sunday 5 October 2014

Raven Guard vs Alpha Legion 30k battle report

G'day, Macca here with a quick battle report between the Alpha Legion and Raven Guard. This is an over 2000 point game, and was incredibly fun and funny. Be warned, it's a long one because it's full of pics. So, lets get on with is shall we?

The Forces:
 The Alpha Legion force is a veteran one, with a Praetor, Exodus, 3 squads of veterans in rhinos with havok launchers, a Legion Recon Squad in carapace, a Land Speeder squadron with havoks and multi-meltas, a Sicarian and a Sicarian Venator. To cap off the force, an Imperial Knight Paladin took to the field.

The Raven Guard force is a high-speed army. The force contained Strike Captain Alvarex Maun, a Praetor with jump pack and lighting claws backed by a command squad, Apothecary, a Tactical Squad, a Tactical Support Squad with Volkites in a drop pod, a Breacher squad with two graviton guns, a full Legion Destroyer squad with Rad missile launchers, a jetbike squad, lascannon devestator squad and a pair of Storm Eagles. Of course, an Errant Knight backs the powerful force.

The deployment was simple, the mission played was Legendary Mission: Deliverance from Book III. The mission revolves around the Raven Guard extraction from Istvaan V. The special rules involved victory points for killing named characters, bonus points for killing units in close combat, and killing primarchs. This rule was modified for Imperial Knights. For the traitors, any unit wiped out immediately goes into ongoing reserves! Yes, that's right, infinite traitors, or in this case, closet loyalists. From turn two, the Raven Guard roll a D6. on a roll equal to the turn number or less, the random length begins, and the opponent makes a secret D3 dice roll. This determines the remaining game turns, and keeps the loyalist on edge.

Cat deployed conservatively, with the Alpha Legion grouped together in case of my infiltrating shenanigans (Raven Guard lolz). For the Raven Guard, I chose to infiltrate very little, namely the breachers with Alvarex Maun. Keeping in mind my stealth rule on all my foot troops, I tried to use the large areas of cover to block line of sight where possible.

Turn 1:
The closet loyalist force moved forward, the sicarians providing a wall of mobile cover with their tough av13 hulls. Cat quickly used Exodus (the Alpha Legion special sniper) to wipe most of my lascannons (3 failed saves on 7 sniper shots ><) followed by firing the Rapid Fire Battle Cannon from his knight into my jetbikes. To add to the pain, the Sicarian Venator pummled the Errant Knight, half killing it with the first shot!

The Raven Guard response was simple, strike hard, rinse and repeat. I dropped my drop pod using it to block the armour from clear shots at my tac support squad, who opened up with thousands of volkite shots. When the smoke had cleared, Exodus was down two wounds and pissed off. My knight moved into the center, and working with the graviton guns of the breachers managed to kill a rhino and strip some hull points as well as shake the sicarians.

Turn 2:
Carnage. The Alpha Legion moved up, with the marines piling out of their rhinos and devestating the volkite squad. The knight then charged into Alvarex's squad, killing most of them, whilst the rest of the army moved for vantage points.

Conversely, the Raven Guard reinforcements arrived. Two storm eagles, the destroyers and the praetor and command squad came in. Thanks to Alvarex's special rules, I do not scatter deep strikers within 18" AND get to reroll failed reserves. The destroyers and Command squad landed bang on, and combined with the storm eagles managed to devastate armour and infantry alike. To finish my turn, the Errant Knight charged, and thanks to some very lucky rolls, saved Alvarex and co. from eing squashed as well as getting me a well needed VP.

As the turn ended, the Raven Guard were strong, however, with infinite reserves of manpower, the Alpha Legion would be no push over.

Turn 3:
The Alpha Legion turned the fight again, with charges from the veterans crippling the already depleted volkites. The destroyers also felt the combined wrath of the remaining speeder and the Alpha Legion Praetor (Alpha Legionaire No.7. Alpharius). Whilst the Raven Guard were dominant, the next turn would see a flood of reserves.

Keeping the momentum, the Raven Guard pushed further forward. At this point my strategy was simple: dominate the Alpha Legion deployment zone. By doing this, I was hopeful that I could easily deal with the reserves coming in. The Command squad cleaned up the veterans, saving the Apothecary who high tailed it out, and the storm eagles pushed forward.

Turn 4:
The Alpha Legion reinforcements hit hard. The Destroyers were exposed and riddled with fire, whilst the incoming Sicarian pumped a storm eagle, narrowly not killing it with the first salvo. The main reinforcements were just a wave away.

For the Raven Guard, the crippled storm eagle flew into ongoing reserves, and the other vectored for the sole surviving marine  from the veterans who had assaulted the volkites (easy kill point). The destroyers fired at and charged the veterans on the hill, however, the overwatch slew two of the 5 before the assault even commenced. The command squad targeted a rhino that drove on behind the church, easily smashing it. Importantly, I rolled a 2, so the game would soon end, based on Cat's super secret D3 roll.

Turn 5:
With a roar of engines, the Alpha Legion renewed the fight. Firstly, a rhino outflanked, firing and taking down a breacher. The Land Speeders flew in, throwing their firepower into the knight, who managed to make invulnerables  against both melta shots. The Venator added its fury into the unshielded side, but luckily for the knight, managed to only strip a hull point, leaving it on 1. The veterans on the hill wound up finishing off the destroyers for another VP.

This turn for the Raven Guard was all about threat elimination. The Command squad leaped over the church and assaulted into the Venator (killing it and losing one of their own in the explosion, the knight queefed against the marines on the hill, whilst the incoming half-dead storm eagle managed to pop the Alpha Legion Rhino. The unfortunate occupants were then riddled with fury of the Legion, killing all but two.


Then, it was all over. Cat informed me that he had rolled a 2 for his D3, meaning that the Raven Guard had been successfully saved. The final score was a mighty 21 VP's to the Raven Guard, and 6 to the closet loyalists. The outcome I can attribute to two things: my Knight killing his and surviving, and the always dominating performance of the storm eagles.

The game overall was fantastic, the mission is actually quite well designed, with just a few key rolls swinging it heavily toward the Raven Guard. The stratagem of dealing with Alpha Legion units on arrival aggressively rather then hanging back and allowing Cat to mass his forces probably helped me along. At the rate of attrition, I would have lasted to maybe turn 7 or 8, but in a potentially 9 turn game, if I lost all my models on the table, it would be game over.




 Power knife: stab stab hack hack stab stab
 Die closet loyalists!

So that's it, hope you enjoyed it, because we sure did!

Friday 3 October 2014

30K vs 40K, are they compatible?

Uh oh, Rage Will Abound

Macca here, and I am here with my view on 40k vs 30k compatibility. This often comes up on blogs, Facestalk pages and gaming forums, and often leads to very critical debates. Craig and Corublo pointed out in a previous blog about the strange tidings that 30vs40 heralds. So, what's the definitive answer?

WARNING: I AM EXPRESSING MY OPINION, NOT THE OPINION OF ALL ON THE BLOG. ALSO, THIS IS NOT A "YOU WILL DO OR ELSE", RATHER A "MY SUGGESTION IS..". READ ON ONLY IF YOU'RE NOT GOING TO SAY "HOW DARE YOU TELL ME WHAT TO DO" AT THE END. BECAUSE I'M NOT. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

From the mouth of Forge World Horus Heresy FAQ's itself:

"Q: Are the armies and units in the Horus Heresy books by Forge World meant to be used in
games against regular Codex armies, such as say Grey Knights or Orks? 


A: While Forge World’s on-going range of Horus Heresy books and their game content are all
designed to use and be compatible with the Warhammer 40,000 rules, they have been fine-tuned and
focused on playing battles in the milieu of the Horus Heresy rather than in conjunction with the
Codexes representing warfare in the 41st Millennium, and this will remain the case.
Designer’s Note: This means that while you are, of course, free to have fun and play games against
your friends using any forces you like, and Horus Heresy forces will be broadly ‘a fair fight’ with
Codex forces of the same scale, certain rules anomalies and inconsistencies may be thrown up that
you have to deal with, although these should not seriously affect the game in most cases. (For
example, certain units, such as those with the Stubborn special rule are at a premium costing in
Horus Heresy armies over their regular Codex counterparts, owing to the results of play testing
within their own sphere.)"


So, the official line is 'kinda, maybe, sorta'.

Well, that doesn't help much now does it?

Well, what is the answer?

I don't have one. I have an opinion, a strong one, and I have my reasons for it. Mostly it comes down to balance. 30k pays a premium on special rules, with rules added or taken away with great fluidity, as well as having a rule set designed for a previous edition and not yet updated.

So, comparing the basics, a marine squad in 40k, your stock standard troops are very singular. They have a bolter and a bad attitude. They don't have special weapons, and they don't have And They Shall Know No Fear. This means that they are able to be run down in combat, aren't always going to regroup, and are unable to take on heavy infantry or heavy armour with any reliability. The basic squad size is 150 points for this.

Compare this to your codex friends. They do have special and heavy weapons, as well as And They Shall Know No Fear, Chapter Tactics and Combat Tactics. Legions have Legion Traits, however, they are 100% optional, unlike their codex cousins (descendants?) who must take a Chapter Tactic. Forge World Legion traits also have a negative, or situational positive also accompanying them.

For example, Salamanders in the Horus Heresy get:
1) Auto-pass fear checks, and may re-roll 1D6 when pinning and morale checks are failed
2) +1 strength on their flamers, and -1 strength to enemies attacking a model with this rule. The kicker? Only the infantry have this rule.

However, the real negatives are:
1) Cannot add initiative to a sweeping advance score, and move -1" when running or charging, they also
2) Cannot take moriats, destroyers or phosphex weapons. Brutal.

The Codex Salamanders however get:
1) ALL MODELS IN THIS DETACHMENT may re-roll all failed saves against flamer weapons.
2) Flamers used by ALL MODELS IN THIS DETACHMENT may re-roll failed 'to-wound' rolls and 'armour penetration' rolls that aren't glances or penetrating hits.
3) Every character in the detachment gets a free master crafted upgrade for one weapon.

There are zero negatives, these are all positives. To me, this helps to create an unbalanced factor, as one army is getting free-buffs on their units whilst the other isn't simultaneously.

Ok, what about xenos? They were around in 30k.

They were, except they are all cowering and hiding in holes whilst the Horus Heresy played out. The Imperium is all powerful, within an inch of owning the galaxy at this point. The xenos aren't fighting the Legions, they are fleeing. These are basically the words of Alan Bligh himself when the Heresy series started. Does this mean you can't play it? No, not at all, however, the forces are pretty unbalanced. There is the extreme of Wave Serpents at one end of the spectrum, down to cheaper troops like firewarriors at the other. An example of one of my 30k lists is:

1x Praetor
10 Destroyers with jump packs and rad missile launchers
2x 10 Tactical Marines
Sicarian Battle Tank

An Eldar list I have played at a 'fluffy' tournament last year was:

1x Farseer
4x 5 Dire Avengers with Wave Serpents
1x Crimson Hunter

Like, what the fuck. You think that's a balanced game? You the the 30k stands a 50% chance of winning? What if it was Tau?

1x Buffmander
2x Riptide
1x 6 Fire Warriors

1x 10 Kroot
3 Broardsides with High Yield Missiles

See, your 30k isn't fighting these lists and having a good time. It's not to say all lists would lose, but you are fighting a tough battle.

Well, perhaps unbound?

Fuck off with that shit. It's not 2nd ed, 2nd ed used percentages, not 'take what you like'. Stop saying it's like 2nd ed. It's not.

Rant aside, 30k has Rites of War, at least 4 universal ones, and a custom one for each Legion. 30K also offers you multiple Force Organization charts, such as Lord of War charts. If you can't make a fun, fluffy list that covers all bases using these options, you're kidding yourself. Fuck unbound, it takes the customization built into the game away.

Can I use the 7th ed rulebook even though 30k was designed for 6th?

Sure you can. Why not use the 3rd ed book while you're at it? It's honestly up to you, it's your game, nobody is forcing you to go one way or another. Personally, I know it was built for 6th, and balanced as such, so why force it to fit the new edition? A golden rule my dad told me was:

"Just because you can, doesn't mean you should".

The old man had some good ideas sometimes, and he is right in this case. If you find yourself having to ask a lot of questions because the changes are too severe, it's probably a bad sign. If you have a repressed psyker like Sevetar suddenly pumping out reliable powers with a shrug of the shoulders, or lending his Warhammer Fantasy power dice 40k Psychic Charges to a mate, then there is a obviously a problem.

For me, personally, until they FAQ HH for 7th ed, I'm staying with 6th.

What's the final answer?
Well, as always, "do whatever you like". I'm just expressing my concerns about the cross-over. For friendly games, it's especially not a drama, but for competitive gaming, it's a nightmare and a clusterfuck of balance dramas and shitty poorly-designed objective cards. Yeah I said it, sue me.

I'd love to hear your feedback tho, do you play 7th? Do you play unbound? Do you run Eldar and play against Legions AND still have friends?

~Macca

Wednesday 1 October 2014

Would You Like To Play A Game? Cost Comparison 30k vs 40k

In the nasty voice of that little puppet from Saw: "Would you like to play a game?"

Yes. Yes I would. Hi, it's Macca here, and today I am going to revisit the cost-cost ratio of getting involved in the 30k hobby. Why? Because a lot of people still think it costs too much. They could in fact be correct, but I thought I would lay it all out and see what we get. The force I have chosen is Iron Hands as they are in both 30k and 40k, rougly around 1500points. These two lists were written by two skilled wargamers are aren't affiliated with this blog, just they have the misfortune of knowing me. Thanks again for the lists Nath and Kyle.

A few notes on the lists, the Iron Hands 30k list is a straight list, no allies. The 40k list however uses a small allied Dark Angels contingent. This is a Top-General list from the USA, and as it is highly competitive, I am using it in original form in order to compare solid lists from both 30k and 40k. I will tack on the lists for anyone who is curious in the comments section if you don't believe me or I hurt your feelings.

Core Rules

First up, we have our core rules. These prices are going to be in Australian $$, so Americans, don't have a Krispey Kreme induced cardio when you see them.

1x 7th Edition BrB. This bad boy clocks in at $140 ($122.47us).

I am not going to add in psychic cards, because they aren't a huge part of what makes the Iron Hands work in 30k or 40k, for where the cards are needed, we will just read straight out of the Core Rulebook. As for dice, tape measures etc, we all do our own thing there.

Totals: 30k $140             40k $140

Army Specific Rules

The army specific rules refers to all the codexs, campaign books, supplements etc that you would need to play.

Space Marine 6th Ed. Codex: $90 ($78.73us)
Iron Hands Supplement Clan Raukaan $83 ($72.61us)
Dark Angels 6th Ed. Codex: $90 ($78.73us)

Horus Heresy Legion Astartes Starter Collection: £50.00 or $92 Au (80.48us)

That's it, that's army specific rules (not to mention that you have 12 Legions' worth of rules plus some Mechanicum in the Forge World books). (The 6th ed codex also has rules for 6 chapters, so y'know.)

Totals: 30k $232             40k $412

HQ

For this, we will use a common build for both. These builds are the ones favored in their respective game systems.

Chapter Master Smashf%&ker (Bike Lord of Doom. IF you don't know it, look up Smashf%&ker) and a mate with power fist and shield. So, we will need a Space Marine Bike x2: $19, Space Marine Force Commander x2: $37, and, if you don't have the bits lying around for the hammer and shield, we better throw in a full terminator box for those bits too. So add another $74 to that.

For the Dark Angels, we will use  6 ravenwing bikes, and a librarian. This will give us the 5 man Ravenwing command squad (2x $70 each, with the spare bike going to the Librarian who also costs $30)

For our Iron Father in 30k, we will just grab the already excellent off-the-shelf model with all the parts, for a tidy £19.50 ($36.19Au).

Totals: 30k $268.19             40k $768

Troops

Now we have our token HQ's out of the way, let's move on to troops. Now, troops are subjective, but a mate of mine Nath runs a couple of tac squads in Rhinos, as his Rite of War works nicely with a mech force in 30k.

So, lets just add 30 Tac marines and 3 rhinos. 30 MK III Legion Marines with 3 Rhinos (link here) comes to £246 ($456.57Au). We also need a set of 10 plasma guns for one squad for £11 (20.42)

For the 40k force, the troops require: 10x space marine scouts and 2x Land speeder storms for the Iron Hands, and 5x scout snipers for the Dark Angels. That's $123 for the scouts and $100 for the speeders.

Totals: 30k $745.18             40k $991

Elites & Fortifications

5x company vets in a drop pod with combi-meltas from the Dark Angels, for this, we will use a box of Sternguard at $70 and a stock drop pod for  $55. We will pretend we have enough combi-meltas.

We will also need a Firestorm Redoubt for the 40k force.

Iron Hands Contemptor with 2x Autocannons £33 and £17 for the arms. ($92Au)

To top it off, both forces will require a sheet of Iron Hands decals for £12 (22.27Au).

Totals: 30k $859.45             40k $1138.27

Heavy Support

The 30k Iron Hands here will need a pair of Sicarians for £144 rrp ($267Au)

Totals: 30k $1126.45             40k $1138.27

The Damage

The two tournament lists come in at $1126.45 for the 30k and $1138.27 for the 40k. This makes the 30k the winner by $11.82. A mighty win. In US Dollars that's $985.42 and $995.76 respectively. The model counts is 37 for the 30k inc. 6 vehicles, and 32 for the 40k inc. 1 fortification and 3 vehicles.

So for those of you saying that Forge World and 30K is out of your price range, if you can afford a competitive 40K army, you can afford to play 30k.

Now, for those out there who are brimming with rage and pointing out this that and the other, this is AUSTRALIAN RRP. Yes, we can't compete with the UK, we know this. For those in the USA, you can see the price gouging we take even though our dollar is near identical (and at times rises above yours, FYI). The point is that the two game systems are near identical in terms of cost now, so where Forge World was once a mighty white elephant, the preserve of neckbeards and kids with too much of daddy's money, now it is within your grasp.

Quit your bitchin' bout costs, go and buy a 30K army and have some fun!