Macca's New Table + General Terrain Thoughts

G'day folks, Macca here and today I'm going to talk about my new table, as well as some of my opinions on table setup. First up, the whole table is a Games Workshop Sector Imperialis, with almost entirely GW terrain (the fuel dump is from Forge World's Anphelion Base, and the crane is a scratch build of mine).

When designing this table, I had two key considerations:
-near symmetry
-unique buildings

The idea with a good table is that the sides should be pretty balanced. There's nothing worse than what I call 'Omaha Beach' tables, where one poor sod gets placed in an open field and the other guy deploys inside a fortress. Yes, by the way, I have seen it first hand at a tournament, a marine player was set up in open ground whilst a guard player had 3(!) fortresses of redemption to set up in, needless to say, that was a bit f%&ked.

So, that in mind, each side has 3 main buildings, a pair of craters, a pair of shared central buildings designed to block LOS so that total dakka forces can't just have their way (there are plenty of open areas, but you have to work for them, you can't just rock up and play like the Tau). I also added some unique buildings.

Unique buildings? Well, the idea here is that if I want to add a little extra depth to my games, such as a narrative campaign, these buildings can have special rules and/or be objectives in their own right. I have:
-Water Plant  (a single unit inside here gains FnP 6+, does not apply to MC's)
-Chemical Plant (one infantry or MC unit occupying these ruins counts as having shroud bombs and rad grenades)
-Fuel Dump  (chance to ignite when a unit occupying the dump or using it as cover is shot by a weapon S7 or over, or a weapon with the flamer rule type, on a roll of a 5+. A large blast S4 AP4 is placed anywhere on the dump by the player who ignited the dump)
-Power Plant (add the twin-linked rule to heavy-type las or lance weapons on infantry or MC units if they hold the building uncontested)
-Crane (grants line of sight to the entire map if held for the purposes of barrage weaponry line of sight)

These buildings have some crazy rules, so you can exploit them if you like, and it makes them worth capturing if you can, as much like a real battle, they represent some great objectives. A unit of Castellax with Darkfire Lances holding the power plant? DEATH. Anyway, you don't have to use any of my rules, you can instead use the Book I and IV cityfighting rules and ruins charts.

 STREET SIDE 1

This side of the street houses two of the unique buildings, the Water Plant, as well as the Crane. Two regular buildings, a large broken aquilla and a pair of craters. The power plant is shared between the two sides, as is the large central ruins.

 STREET SIDE 2

On this side of the street, the second half of the power plant is in place, as well as the Fuel Dump and Chemical plant. Two regular buildings, a large marine statue and the last pair of quake craters finish this side.

Here is the crane and fuel dump, as well as a good overview of the large (and very symmetrical)  central building.  The water plant is directly behind the crane as shown.

At this end, the board is relatively open for line of sight, that said however, it also has numerous objects which can be used as cover. (Not including my dice and templates of course.)

The central ruin straddles these twin aquillas. Good ol' Games Workshop, can only make something grimdark with skulls or eagles.

Speaking of which.... SKULLS FOR THE SKULL GOD. I uh, I mean, uh...

I chose to use dull brasses to create the reliefs, using some Thallax Gold from Forge World and some Copper from Minitaire, with several washes of the GW technical paint Nihilakha Oxide. I have a bunch of old bronze and brass floating around here thanks to work (no I'm not stealing it, I recondition it for those wondering) so I was able to do a fairly true-to-life weathering effect.

The quake craters are a very simple scheme, simply designed to suit the board. They are very subdued, and I tried to use as little colour as possible. Every manhole (personhole to any politically correct douche bags) cover is painted in a soft bronze, and heavily tarnished (these things do sit in the street corroding for years and years).

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the table, as well as my crazy ideas for it,

~Macca

Iron Warriors Army: Complete

G'day folks, Macca here with my now very playable Iron Warriors army. Not just that, but I took the photos on my new Imperial Sector realm of battle board. Overall, the army was a really fun project, and whilst nothing too crazy happened with the conversions, the little bits I did I feel add something unique to the force.

First up, I have Narik Dreygur leading his unit of Vorax Automata. This is a nasty unit, but nowhere near as scary as Castellax...

There's also my Iron Warrior Contemptors, complete with chainfists and grav gun hands.

Of course, there's the command squad, led by Kyr Vhalen for +5 to their badassery rolls.

Tyrant Siege Terminators. Why? Because my enemies' tears are the sweetest of nectar.

My custom Deredeo. How custom? Well, not very, this was a pretty subtle conversion, with some Thallax chain-bayonets attacked to his main guns, an Iron Warriors icon on his left knee and physical hazard stripes added to the right of his torso and his right shin. The only reason I made them physical instead of just painting them (which is like 10 times easier) is that I wanted to make him match my existing Dreadnoughts.

Graviton Rapiers. Why? Well, not many people have them, so it's something different. I also made the guns removable so I can use quad mortars or quad lasers in the future.

The weathering is pretty restrained I feel, with a tiny smidge of rust and some chips and scratches.

Iron Havocs with Autocannons...

...Iron Havocs with Heavy Bolters

The Tormentor.

I love this tank so friggen' much, just for the rule of cool.

Iron Within, Iron Without

I hope you enjoy the army, if all goes well, I will also be doing a video battle report on this table and with this army come this weekend! Btw, if you're in Ballarat, hit me up and if I'm around, you can come over for a game of 30k.

~Macca

On Rules Lawyering and Common sense

Howdy all,

Felix here with my first post on A Galaxy in Flames (the premier location for hard hitting Heresy content).

Those of you who know me, or have read my self confident comments online will know that I have a particular penchant for getting involved in arguments on our favourite heresy pages every time a rules dispute rears its sexy head (I just can't say no to that smile).
For those of you who don't know me, or haven't read those comments, well....read above.
So, that said it's only fitting my first post on AGiF is to weigh in on a pair of rules issues making the rounds on the internet and causing undue confusion where there shouldn't be.

Forge World Metallic Airbrush Paint Set: Quick Review

G'day guys, Macca here. Tonight I want to take a really quick look at these new paints. I had several arrive last week (to be honest, this very bundle), along with a bunch of Minitaire and GW paints, so I will launch into a quick two cents on them. (Note: I only tested the metallic paint range)

So, I primarily used Iron Hands steel, as I have been working on my Iron Warriors and it's a close enough match to the Tamiya Titanium Silver I have been using. Overall, I liked it as it was easy to use and was a very clear colour, and I was able to paint a Deredeo, 3 Rapiers and 5 Vorax with them no dramas whatsoever.

As I also painted my new Sector Imperialis table, I used the Thallax gold in some places on my large aquillas. It's a good colour, however it simply wasn't lasting for that job, and I chose to use Minitaire instead to finish that particular job. This leads me to my next section:

Pros and Cons

Pros:
-solid colour, the metallic particles don't separate leaving you with that horrible clear filler liquid
-colours are pretty well matched to their assigned jobs (Grey Knight Silver suits Grey Knights funny enough)

Cons:
-not a dropper bottle, which f#%king sucks
-price. This is a big one, as you can get more for less from pretty much any other airbrush brand in regular usage, such as Vallejo Air, AK Air, Minitaire etc.
-no noticiable improvement over Vallejo Air or AK

General Thoughts

I think these are really good paints. I also think they are price gouging you for what they deliver, as the pros are pretty much covered by other brands, brands that don't have the negatives. Sure, it's really convinient to buy Emperors Children Purple, rather than try and match the purple of other brands, however, for the price of this set of just 5 paints, I brought 10 Minitaire paints from badger at 30mL each. You do the math, and that's 300mL of airbrush paint for the same cost as 100mL from Forge World. Yuck.

Now, the prices may be better in the UK and offer a more favourable comparison, however here in Australia, I find myself seeing zero advantage to them.

Lastly, don't buy their airbrush cleaner, don't buy their thinners, because I can buy 250mL of each at Toyworld here in Australia for $11.99 each, which, again, is roughly half the price of Forge World and I also don't have to pay to ship them. Oh, and no, I did not test these products, but I don't think they are going to offer much of an improvement over Tamiya, AK, Vallejo etc. as they are all paint manufacturers and they all make great paints.

Verdict/ TLDR:

Great paint, but other people do the same product for cheaper. I favour no particular brand, I like what works for me, so this is entirely subjective, but if you have ever used Vallejo Air, these paints are almost identical.

~Macca

Did Forge World Make Guilliman The New Horus?

I came across the maths for this on 1d4chan, so take it with a grain of salt, but these are the math hammer stats for Guilliman vs the other Primarchs (who have rules). Has Forge World cracked the blue pepper grinder?

    Roboute Guilliman VS Horus
        Horus will use his Talon of Horus (Rerollable 3+ is better than flat 2+, and Disabling Strike can counter the slow-burn effect of Preternatural Strategy) and hits 4 times, wounds 3.555 times, 1.778 after saves, than 1.278 for the Armor of Reason and IWND will take that down to 0.944 wounds at the start of the next turn.
        Guilliman hits 2.5 times, wounds 2.222 times (Gladius), 0.74 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.4.
        Guilliman loses this fight (Quite appropriately).
        Note: Due to the nature of the fight this match doesn't take into account Preternatural Strategy (Because is balanced by Disabling Strike). Also do note that after the first few wounds inflicted from Horus Guilliman will have his WS and S significantly reduced, making it even easier for Horus to win.

    Roboute Guilliman VS Angron
        Angron Round 1: Angron has Hatred, so on the first turn he will hits 5.333 times, wounds 4.444 times, 2.222 after saves, 1.722 after Armor of Reason re-roll and IWND take it down to 1.388.
        Angron Round 2: Angron hits 4 times, wounds 3.333 times, 1.667 times after saves, 1.167 after re-roll and IWND will take that down to 0.833 wounds at the start of the next turn.
        Angron Round 3 and thereafter: Angron hits 3 times, wounds 2.5 times, 1.25 after saves and 0.75 after re-roll. Then IWND take it down to 0.417
        Guilliman Round 1/2/3: hits 2.5 times, wounds 2.222 times, 0.926 times after saves and FNP, and IWND will take that down to 0.59 wounds at the start of the next turn.
        Guilliman Round 4 and thereafter: hits 3.333 times, wounds 2.963 times, 1.234 times after saves and FNP, and IWND will take that down to 0.9 wounds at the start of the next turn.
        Surprisingly, Guilliman win this fight in 8 rounds (Angron need 11 to kill him), 'for his resilience (Armour of Reason) coupled with Preternatural Strategy makes him outdamage Angron on the long run, even though initially it was the Red Angel to have the edge.

    Roboute Guilliman VS Fulgrim
        Fulgrim Round 1: hits 5.333 times (Fireblade is MC), wounds 3.555 times, 1.278 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.944 at the start of the next turn.
        Fulgrim Round 2 and thereafter: hits 4 times, wounds 2.667 times, 0.8333 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.5 at the start of the next turn
        Guilliman Round 1/2: hits 2.5 times, wounds 2.222 times, 0.74 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.407 wounds at the start of the next turn.
        Guilliman Round 3 and thereafter: hits 3.333 times, wounds 2.963 times, 0.988 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.654 wounds at the start of the next turn.
        Another surprising victory, even if by a small margin: Papa Smurf needs only 10 turns to kill Fulgrim, while Fulgrim needs 11.
        Note: Actually, Guilliman has a lot more chances to kill him while surviving using the Hand of Dominion, Concussing Fulgrim to Initiative 1 will make him lose all his advantages, making him only deal 0.1667 wounds per round, after all calculations. But I used the Gladius as reference in the off chance he didn't inflict at least a wound per turn (only 7% chance per turn after Round 3, but Alas).

    Roboute Guilliman VS Mortarion
        Mortarion hits 2.5 times, wounds 1.666, 0.333 wounds after saves and after IWND they become 0 wounds
        Guilliman Round 1: hits 2.5 times, wounds 2.083 times, 1.042 after saves, and IWND take it down to 0.486.
        Guilliman Round 2 and after: hits 3.333 times, wounds 2.777 times, 1.388 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.833.
        Easy win for Guilliman, as Mortarion cannot hurt him at all mathematically.

    Roboute Guilliman VS Ferrus
        Ferrus: hits 2.5 times, wounds 2.083 times (Forgebreaker and Servo-Harm), 0.542 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.208 at the start of the next turn.
        Guilliman Round 1: hits 2.5 times, wounds 2.083 times (Hand), 0.694 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.361 wounds at the start of the next turn.
        Guilliman Round 2 and thereafter: hits 3.333 times, wounds 2.778 times, 0.926 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.593 wounds at the start of the next turn.
        Guilliman win this fight.

    Roboute Guilliman VS Konrad Curze
        Curze Round 1: hits 4 times, wounds 3 times, 1 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.667 at the start of the next turn.
        Curze Round 2 and thereafter: hits 3 times, wounds 2.25 times, 0.625 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.292 at the start of the next turn
        Guilliman Round 1/2: hits 2.5 times, wounds 2.222 times, 1.111 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.778 wounds at the start of the next turn.
        Guilliman Round 3 and thereafter: hits 3.333 times, wounds 2.963 times, 1.481 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 1.148 wounds at the start of the next turn.
        Guilliman easily win this fight.
        Note: Konrad could attempt to even the odds with Hit and Run, negating Preternatural Strategy while gaining the +1 attack for the charge (and sniping some wounds with his knives). But so long as Guilliman uses his power fist by the second round of combat Curze will be locked to initiative 1 and will be dead before it's guaranteed he'll be able to leave combat.

    Roboute Guilliman VS Vulkan
        Vulkan hits 2 times, wounds 1.667 times, 0.3333 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.
        Guilliman Round 1: hits 2.5 times, wounds 2.083 times, 0.694 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.139 wounds at the start of the next turn.
        Guilliman Round 2 and thereafter: hits 3.333 times, wounds 2.778 times, 0.926 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.37 wounds at the start of the next turn.
        A long as f**k fight, but Guilliman take the win 'cause Vulkan can't mathematically harm him.

    Roboute Guilliman VS Lorgar
        Lorgar hits 3 times, wounds 2.5 times, 0.75 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.417.
        Guilliman Round 1: hits 2.778 times, wounds 1.85 times, 0.926 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.593 wounds at the start of the next turn.
        Guilliman Round 2 and thereafter: hits 3.333 times, wounds 2.963 times, 1.48 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 1.15 wounds at the start of the next turn.
        Even with forcing Guilliman to re-roll 5's and 6's for the first round Lorgar will still lose.
        Note: this doesn't take into account Psychic Powers and with Precognition on Lorgar will win. On the other hand, Guilliman's rerollable DtW does have the potential to keep the fight's outcome up in the air.

    Roboute Guilliman VS Perturabo
        Perturabo Round 1: hits 2.667 times, wounds 2.222 times, 0.611 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.278.
        Perturabo Round 2 and thereafter: hits 2 times, wounds 1.667 times, 0.333 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.
        Guilliman Round 1/2: hits 2.5 times, wounds 2.222 times, 0.74 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.407 wounds at the start of the next turn.
        Guilliman Round 3 and thereafter: hits 3.333 times, wounds 2.963 times, 0.988 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.654 wounds at the start of the next turn.
        Again, Guilliman wins pretty safely. Starting to see a trend here.

    Roboute Guilliman VS Alpharius
        Alpharius hits 2.92 times and wounds 1.701 times (Remember he got Preferred Enemy), 0.35 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.017 wounds at the start of the next turn.
        Guilliman Round 1: hits 2.5 times, wounds 2.222 times, 1.111 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.778 wounds at the start of the next turn.
        Guilliman Round 2 and thereafter: hits 3.333 times, wounds 2.963 times, 1.482 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 1.148 wounds at the start of the next turn.
        Guilliman wins really easily, as the damage Alpharius does is almost irrelevant, thus making the claim that he personally killed the lord of the Alpha Legion actually believable...

    Roboute Guilliman VS Rogal Dorn
        Dorn Round 1: hits 2.666 times, wounds 2 times, 0.5 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.167 wounds at the start of the next turn.
        Dorn Round 2 and thereafter: hits 2 times, wounds 1.5 times, 0.25 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0 wounds at the start of the next turn.
        Guilliman Round 1/2: hits 2.5 times, wounds 2.222 times, 1.111 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.778 wounds at the start of the next turn.
        Guilliman Round 3 and thereafter: hits 3.333 times, wounds 2.963 times, 1.482 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 1.148 wounds at the start of the next turn.
        Guilliman easily win this fight taking less (Aka: None) damage and dishing out more.
        Note: Dorn doesn't use Sundering Blow because he would actually cause less damage with it.

    Roboute Guilliman VS Corvus Corax
        Corvus hits 4 times (Scourge)/3 times (Shadow-walk), wounds 3 times (Scourge)/2.25 times (Shadow-walk), causing 1 wound (Scourge)/0.625 wounds (Shadow-walk) after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.667/0.292 wounds at the start of the next turn.
        Guilliman Round 1: 2.5/1.666 times, wounds 2.0833/1.389 times, 1.389/0.926 wounds after saves and 1.055/0.593 wounds after IWND.
        Guilliman Round 2 and thereafter: hits 3.333/2.5 times, wounds 2.963/2.083 times, 1.975/1.389 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 1.642/1.055 wounds at the start of the next turn.
        Guilliman easily win this fight
        Note: Like Curze, Corax could try to use Hit and Run to even the odds, having even more bonus than Curze thanks to his uber-Furious Charge, but unlike Curze it wouldn't work for too long as the second time they fight (whether Corax charges or Guilliman catches him) Guilliman will have him concussed (He's using his fist for a reason) for the rest of the fight and will kill him before Corax can escape again, thus making the strategy not viable against Papa Smurf.



    TL;DR version:

Surprisingly, despite being a more strategical kind of character and his generally not outstanding (for a Primarch) stats, Guilliman is actually a beast in 1 on 1 fights if they drag on long enough, turning the odds in the long run even against the most specialised Primarchs (in a really tactical way) and mathematically losing only to Horus.

So yes, Forge World has indeed made Papa Smurf 'King Shit'. That said, I personally like Guilliman, I just think it's a shame that power creep in 30k reared its ugly head with this Legion (in comparison to the other Legions already released, man, you gotta see a change here, look at Emperors Children, they aren't kicking Papa Smurf any time soon!)

~Macca

I'm At Fault: Good Hobbyist vs Bad Hobbyist

Opinions are like assholes, everybody has them! G'day folks, Macca here with a little wordy article. Recently on a forum, a friend of mine decided to share his opinion on the hobby, which also happened to belittle a person. The fallout was very noticeable from this incident, and I wanted to share some of my own thoughts on the do's and do not's of good hobbying.

The Golden Rules:

1) Whenever you share any opinion in this hobby that makes fun of someone or something, you will be perceived as in the wrong. Don't argue with this, just accept it.

2) The best thing to do, is to is to quietly back away from the topic. Go somewhere else, and let your nerd rage cool off.

Some Examples?

When on one forum, I was forever seeing a group of gamers who would post rules questions. You know the type, "what does a bolter do" or "how do I move". Basic questions that anyone who has read the rules or had any games should know. After a while, I decided to open my mouth, well, not actually my mouth, I made the now-infamous flow chart:

So, where did I go wrong? Well, first of all, whilst humorously intentioned, the people who felt it was directed against them felt that it was putting them down. Thus, I was an elitist, and a jerk. I failed rule number 1. If I hadn't have posted it, I would have still been on that forum, as myself and several others all got the banhammer for that one. Thus, I should have followed rule 2.

Another time, I was on a page that didn't allow any reference to blogs, websites, specific painters or any some such. If we chose to upload a photo with a watermark, it got pulled. Needless to say, one day an argument broke out on the page, with people complaining about their work being stolen etc. I understood the reasons why the page had the rule, they didn't want to just be a page where people only came to advertise their own shit, aka "Joe Blogs Commission Fuck Job, you pay, we fuck your miniature." (I might copyright that name...)

Anyway, point was, I didn't agree with the admins, they felt I was disrespecting their power base despite me playing the middle man, so guess what happened to me? I got booted from that forum too!

So Can I Actually Comment On Anything?

Yes! Of course you can! However, there are a few things to take into account:

-The circumstances. Maybe this hobbyist is doing what they are doing because it's all they can do. They didn't have the bits to convert marines with close combat weapons, so they used ork arms. It's ugly, but give the guy a break, this hobby costs a lot of money and not everyone has it.
-Their experience. They post up a picture captioned "really proud of this model", but when you look at it, it's like your 4 year olds' drawing of a cat, it looks nothing like it should. Seriously, who the fuck draws a pink cat with 7 legs?
-Will your comment provide actual feedback that will improve them?
-Will you provide positive criticism? Aka something better than "you paint like shit, burn your brushes and punch your mum for having you."

If your comment doesn't actually do any of the above, then it's probably best to apply golden rule number 2, because sure as the pope shits in the woods, it's going to bite you on the ass as per golden rule number 1.

Also, a quick point is the way in which you word your answer. Yes, for myself, I can put a miniature up and get told by my mates "looks shit fuckhead", but I know they really only mean it is half-shit and that I should burn it. Now, that's fine with my friends, but if I go on some random forum and post nice work asshole", I'm 99.99% sure that I will probably cop the torch and pitch fork treatment.

I guess it can all be summed up as:

Don't be a dick.

So, the overall article here may be a bit boring, but I do think it has some valid points, specifically the two golden rules. I am still on the slow road to shutting my mouth, so I can personally vouch for how hard it is to shut up, but I am sticking with it. Yes, I have some very strong opinions, but they are best expressed in a well thought-out manner in a forum like this, as opposed to a shit throwing competition with trolls on BOLS or Facebook.

Do you agree? Let me know below, in fact, I encourage you to share stories of where you failed the golden rules, or where someone else did. Just be sure to keep it courteous, and remember that 'Joe Blogs Commission Fuck Job' is taken.

~Macca