8th Edition 40k Thoughts: So Far... So Damn Good

Valhallans defend their supply fields from infiltrating Chaos forces on Hammerfall V.  Captain Gloval personally leads the defense of the control tower while the mysterious Eversor assassin known only as The Ghoul of Hammerfall lurks nearby, waiting in the dark to punish the wicked, the alien and the abhorrent. 

This past weekend I had probably a too-huge game of 8th edition 40k with my buddy Jason at Headwound minis. He brought his immaculately converted and painted Nurgle forces upon which I would cut my teeth (ew,) as they properly ransacked my Imperial air base in a bold dawn-to-dusk raid. 1500 points and several hours later I was feeling pretty damn satisfied that my Valhallans were properly bloodied and performed to themes very well. Better, I felt like I had the hang of a game new enough to me that I bother to say it with feeling.

I will post up a batrep shortly (still sorting out the Photobucket debacle) but wanted to share some thoughts on how this game went, given I have been staring at 40K in recent years through the store window, despite owning a bunch of stuff and having played it previously for a very long time. Others have done a way better job at pro/con'ing this edition, like my pal Joe, so I leave it to them for the long form. On the below, my view comes mostly as a Guard player wading into the new rules.

Story: The game was full of dramatic story-inducing moments that came from play outcomes. YES. I think that correlates to the Indexes and how they are all unique in appreciable ways and also, the simplified ruleset. Universal Special Rules of last edition are gone, and while I get that their algebra helped organize features and functions of units well across lots of different play, like competitive to casual, especially through a TO's eyes, it seemed dull and bookish to me. I play great games like Bushido, Imperial Assault, Strange Aeons, Robotech... these games have story in their play and feel unique as you navigate through your game and it helps if they not so cumbersome. I didn't feel that in previous 40k editions, it felt like an Advanced Philosophy class trip, lost and plodding through an endless swamp and debating the whole time about Jungian Star Wars themes. The current indexes and rules have what seem like a lot of fun options that breathe some anima into the people, place and things involved. Isn't that the point? Reading Dan Abnett to replay those conflicts?  Give me the damn story and you can keep your the tourney complexity. More on the Index in a sec.

Army Building: Still cumbersome compared to other games. Was sorta hoping GW gets stats and costs on one page. Still perplexed why there is Battle Forged play and other mode, it isn't like they give you distinct Campaign and Skirmish modes like FFG's Imperial Assault, but a sit-down over a cup of tea gets it done. Costs were reportedly up this edition but my old 1500 point force came in about the same. What I noticed most coming back to the game was the wargear options are all gone from the index, so while I couldn't spend a last few points on Carapace armor or Master Crafted weapons, I was inherently avoiding the pitfall of previous editions: wargear splurges. All that aside as a positive, it did force me to drop heavy weapon options in squads if I wanted to squeeze in another Sentinal or what have you. Tough choices as usual but easier to get to the table and the Index has enough ability that comes with the basic costs, including commonly used squad-level gear like vox, standards, med kits, etc.

Index Staying Power: Remains to be seen but the counter-culture habits I live by are alive and singing Glee's cover of Born to Run when I consider that I could happily play out of the free ruleset along with Index Imperium 2 and Xenos Index 2, maybe forever. One of my best friends Pete at Not Snakes Gaming noted that 40k is no longer competitive and as I agree with that I also give thanks for it. I want games that feel right to characters and situation. As far as Astra Militarum, Chaos and Orks go, Indexes feel right to the character of the forces, situations and games I want. Codex releases may change things like complexity and dissonance with who you think your army is, but I am content playing these Indexes instead of a Codex, if I prefer one over the other in the end. Finally, a good value from GW with each book around US$25 and including what equals several codex to boot.

Terrain: Just weird, these terrain rules. The game now boils down to LOS and if you simply have it or not. Cover saves don't seem to be factoring unless you are talking Characters by themselves and I think that does speed up the game a bit. So terrain effects are dead? Yes! Wait, unless you use Fortification rules in Imperial Index 1, then it seems like a U turn in the face of easy. I love building terrain more than any other part of this hobby. I am a bit perturbed since I took pride in building terrain that reflects play. A few weeks ago Joe mentioned all of this terrain rule jazz to me and I joked it sounds like Privateer game's norm of flat mousepad terrain. Seeing GW releasing what equates to the same thing in their boxed forces makes sense now, given how terrain rules read. So be it. Building LOS blocking terrain can be fun too.

LOS: Sorta weird. Facing and fire arcs are gone (unless you are a Valkyrie pivoting to go Supersonic for some reason) and said Valkyrie was clipped by a Nurgle Vindicator who fired backwards at me without pivoting. Did not see that coming. Also, getting LOS on a pile of Plaguebearers by the Leman Russ tread  was weird as well. Just gotta get used to that.

Movement Phase: Fine.

Psychic Phase: Interesting, must explore more.

Shooting Phase: Easier. Sorry, I guess seasoned players may balk and say what difference is there really but I will tell you it is way easier for me to learn and also to teach to my son, so that means something. Statlines are verbatim now, good when you have to keep your short term memory filled with other bits of episodic and particular rules, etc.

Melee Phase: Finally a melee phase where I feel like I have some game in the options, even if it means choosing the order my Valhallans are slaughtered, since after all, their job is to die to slow things down, not win hand-to-hand. Players alternate choosing which side of their side of melee fights is cool. Having a say means I have some initiative in how things die on both sides. I like that, especially as a guard player.

Morale Phase: Again, good. I was never a fan of all the modifiers some games pile on, especially over large forces and games. This seems fair and leaves me options to get more shooting in after falling back. Good.

Game Speed: Lots of debate on this point. I believe my experienced brethren when they say the 8th changes do not really speed things up but I do think the play is cleaner and not as prone to operational mistakes that can change the outcomes. THAT is something I like a lot and something I attribute with speed. A short game filled with re-sets and backtracking from complicated play feels slow to me.

So overall, not bad at all. I give it an A-/B+ for how the state of the game stands and what seems like GW listening to at least some of the customer base on what they want. Looking forward to getting some more GW to the paint bench and more 40k in the books (be that Index or Codex.)

Batrep soon! Bye!

-Yeti

40K: 50K Point Apocalypse (Coverage from my game group PAGE and the Winter Apoc Game)

This is a video review of my game group PAGE and the annual Winter Apocalypse game for 40K. The polar spaceport is my work... just realized I never posted any of that up so I will get on that soon. Also within is all of the crazy amounts of work in terms of figures painted, club terrain and awesome stuff guests brought. If you are in the PA area and want to join us for almost any game, something specific or something different, just reach out. We are active at most area stores including Redcap's and we will also be running some events at NOVA again this year, stay tuned!

Star Wars Imperial Assault: Painted Figs with Litko Bases and Re-Posed ATST

Here is some more painted Imperial Assault I have been working on the last 2 weeks for our ongoing campaign which I am running with my cousins and my son. These sculpts are fun to paint and have decent detail but clean up could be a nightmare with flash if you are counting on making these showcase paint jobs. So, don't bother. Color adds so much to the game and a tabletop painting standard is more than enough to bring it to life. I added Litko clear bases too, which I really like on these models. I used a jeweler's saw to remove the figures from their bases. I'll close this post with a few other in-game shots.

Gideon Argus

Mak

Diala with brass rod saber blade

Gaar

Stormtroopers and Scout Trooper with EWeb

Imperial Officer

Royal Guard

Darth Vader with brass rod saber blade

Imperial Officer #2 conversion/General Weiss on Foot (Weiss is magnetized at the waist so he can be mounted in the ATST)

ATST, reposed

Weiss mounted in his Experimental ATST

Warmachine: Khador Mechaniks WIP

So, campaign starts October. I'm betting mechanics will finally be useful enough to warrant taking them in many campaign games. Starting a damaged warjack in a game because you have no choice and having mechanics rushing to fix it while the game starts sounds like the level of stress I enjoy in my games. Not kidding.

Anywho, thanks to the generosity of my buddy Finn, I now have a unit of Khador Mechaniks. Thanks Finn!

Yes, I converted them. And yes, I actually like the sculpts a lot but not the repetition. So, I lopped off their heads (save the leader, who is awesome) and replaced them with Maxmini heads I had laying around for my Valhallen IG. Adds just enough visual variety to make them more interesting and still let me get it all done in one sitting.

I'm planning on trying some urban camo on them. We'll see how that goes.

With greenstuff blending around the neck...

Warmachine: Khador Underway

I knew it was bound to happen. I graduate college, start in on a huge backlog of projects both game-related and no, start a rhythm of painting, prioritizing and sorting what the hell needs to be built. I kept wondering if I would let myself be drawn into some painting and playing that had nothing to do with the work I most lamented not doing because of life (eg. Strange Aeons).

So now I’m in a Warmachine campaign. I already planned a Fall of Strange Aeons but instead I’m dragging out all the Khador I neglected to paint in Mk i.

Campaign starts in October, and we have a meeting tomorrow night to run out our charter, ways and means, that sort of thing. Between us we have a ton of terrain so the pics on Sarcophagi should look pretty good around Halloween.

So, stay tuned as I dust off my old red paint mix batches… which are all dried out. And GW changed their color formulas… great.

The Wall of Shame or What I Could Paint for the Campaign Since I own it Unpainted:

Warcasters:

1. eSorcha
2. Vlad
3. eVlad
4. eButcher
5. Strakhov
6. Old Witch

Jacks:

1. Destroyer
2. Devastator
3. Spriggen
4. Kodiak X2
5. Drago (definitely painting him)
6. Marauder (already converted it)

Units:

1. IFP
2. Doomreavers
3. Greylords
4. Man O War Shocktroopers
5. Man O War Demolition Crew
6. Widowmakers
7. Great Bears
8. Uhlans

Solo:

1. Koldun
2. Kovnik
3. Fenris

Where the frig to begin... more as I decide and progress.

In the meantime, pics of what I already have painted, Not much!

Strange Aeons: Game 3, "Left Holding the Bag"

This is the third battle report for a Strange Aeons campaign that I played with my group. This was a 16BP start on both sides, with my team still sore from the last game that saw civilian William Forsythe die to a Night Gaunt and Agent Connery developing Ballistophobia. Agent Petri lost his tommygun to the Night Gaunt via Destroy Weapon. Still with a Map Piece, the team looks to stay on the cooling trail of  the Church of Dagon, gain some XP and skills though they aren’t sure if they are the hunters or the hunted…

The mission was “The Bagman” with me going first as Threshold, who had to exit the far corner of the graveyard with the secret carrier, "Monk" McGuinn, surviving to get perks. We used a 2’x2’ terrain board I had built a long time ago that has a graveyard, stream with humpback bridge, ruined Church and catacombs below. There were no special rules here, just standard rules for difficult/impassible terrain and the usual cover modifiers. The entire footprint of the ruined Church was half-movement Difficult Terrain and the water half movement no cover save. Everything else is WYSIWYG. The condensed results are the picture captions and there are more pics of the terrain board at the end of the thread.  

Threshold and terrain board built/painted by Yeti, Lurkers built/painted by Pete Ceretti.

16 BP Threshold & Lurker Lists

Yeti: Threshold (rebooted from last game’s loss):

Agent Connery (Character, Command, Heroic, Two Fisted, twin .45’s, Bowie Knife, Ballistophobia)

Agent Petri (Heroic, Tommy gun, .45, Bowie Knife)

Civilian “Monk” McGuinn (.22 and knife). Additionally, Monk is carrying the bag in this scenario.

Pete:  Lurkers List
Cult Leader (.45 and knife)

Cultist (knife)

Cultist (Shotgun)

Hybrid

Hybrid

Lurkers deploy in the graveyard across from the church, advancing in a picket and listening for the burglers they knew were there...

Connery swept his flashlight across the murky dark of the catacomb. The wet yet warm smell of damp minerals rose to head-height, the heady aroma of loamy grit in the air and something else, like old cinnamon and grease… the team seemed to wade through the vapor more than walk through it. “Monk” McGuinn, the town’s professional antiquarian they had drafted this morning, stood before one of many alcoves and shifted feet as he held the grotesque ceramic urn in his large, professional hands. His grip trembled in the dank chamber and the moving flashlight beams silhouetted the group crazily, like a mob of photographers flashing away in slow motion. He looked at Connery and cleared his throat. “This is… extraordinary. Just magnificent. If Dr. Forsythe was here, he’d of course be happy to see this… the glyphs are… unprecedented but authentically real and the fetish stored inside is... amazing.”

 Connery lifted his foot from a stagnant pool of water on the catacomb floor and shaking it out, unleashed his annoyance of… well, everything over the last 36 hours, through his retort, “I don’t think ‘happy’ is the word he would have used to describe that thing. And he’s dead, as sure as we’ll be if we don’t step on it. Secure the piece and let’s get going. We have little time before the owners come home.” He ignored the extra splashes he thought he heard and how the reflected flashlight seemed to show wriggling in the black pool.

Threshold advance up and out of the catacombs with the stolen relic.

“Correction. We’re out of time Connery,” said Agent Petri, who stood in the greenish light at the bottom of the passageway, looking at the daylight above, “I hear voices.” Connery imagined Petri’s ruined half face watching the stairwell, the mass of scars from the Night Gaunt still suppurating and salving as it tried to heal. That face resembled the craggy natural rock formations of this tomb which they had discovered. Unlike Petri, who wore his good heart on his sleeve, this place was evil and it strained to keep its secrets out of the light of their torches. Connery learned long ago, the hard way, that like people, the earth can be good or bad. This earth was god damned devilish and he was happy to leave, silently promising it a return visit from Petri with a cask of blasting powder for the troubles.

“Tick-tock boss, gotta go.” Petri started up the cavernous stairwell, not checking to see if they followed him up, the tunnel amplifying and hopefully transforming the distant voices he heard into what sounded like strange croaks and barks.

A shotgun wielding Cultist and Hybrid cross the road and make for the Church entrance.

 When they reached the surface, they were back in what had been a garden path set into the foot of the cliff face. They had entered the ruins of the Church from the other side through holes in the cracked foundation, into a debris clogged cellar and down the crypt stairwell. Connery signaled Petri to cross the old cellar and gain the first floor above them, to help McGuinn and guard the high ground. If anybody was around, they’d have to make a racket to get to them or come through the doorway of the Church, which smiled, open, like a jack o’ lantern's missing tooth. He spun suddenly as he thought he heard a shuffle in the back of the chamber. He wasn’t sure they were alone. He noticed Petri staring back past him too, flashlight steady and .45 ready.

Only a day before, Connery, Petri and young Forsythe had flushed the Dagonite Cultists from their now-ruined lair in the suburb West of town, pursuing them East out to a farmstead known for bootlegging and human trafficking. What they hadn’t expected in their haste to run the cult leader to ground was the damned Night Gaunt, whose horrifically slender frame housed the terrible power and great silence which accompanied a murderous rampage. It is possible the creature was only delayed in fully materializing by the Threshold’s interruption of the Church’s rites before yesterday, only delaying the complete summoning of the beast that darted through the pine trees into their midst, a dim shadow of murder that left Forsythe dead and the desperate agents evading the pursuing cultists all night long. Connery and Petri probably survived because the beast was then considered pre-emergent. 

Now they were adrift, midweek, a day ahead of a monstrous daemon and a day behind the criminals that summoned it.

2 Cultists hear the Threshold team clattering through the open cellar so they flank around while the Hybrids and Cult Leader watch the front door... The Threshold are trapped!

Petri looked back at Connery and whispered, “This doorway funnels us too, boss.” Connery had moved them towards the door anyway and nodded, his .45’s out. He felt something… something like electricity in his fillings or cold air in his sinuses. His pistols felt heavier, less reassuring and something troubled him at the thought of how loud they will be… too loud. The voices were getting closer. Crouching among the fallen walls and timbers he peered down the great stairs of the Church, across the courtyard and the nearby road to the graveyard beyond. Risking a longer gaze, he counted. Several purple robed cultists and 2 brutish, ugly men with a pallor he didn’t like. His palms sweated. Were the ugly men civilians? Why did they look familiar? Were they in a dossier he has seen before? Or on a distant street? He was thinking too much about their squashed muzzles and the too-round orbitals.

A Hybrid sniffs the air, croaks and waits as footsteps come down the stairway...

McGuinn hugged the swaddled ceremonial vase like an ancient sleeping toddler, his bug-eyes peering over the bundle as he tread through the moldering cellar’s debris. Connery urged him towards the doorway above as Petri, already on the first floor over them, offered an arm up. Connery held the vase as McGuinn flailed his way over, via an avalanche of mortar, dust and flooring.

Voices. Shouts. Footsteps. They were made.

The Threshold see they are surrounded and prepare to make a break for it. Connery orders McGuinn down the front stairway first and says, "Run for the car across the graveyard when I start firing." This was a critical blunder on the part of the Threshold. Yeti had meant to have Connery go down and out first, to start shooting Lurkers out of McGuinn's way but due to Command, Connery sent McGuinn down the stairwell first, followed by Connery. There was not enough space for bases to pass each other. McGuinn would have to run the gauntlet outside first with Connery hopefully killing intercepting Hybrids and Cultists after the rabbit ran, with three sets of pistol shots, due to Heroic.

The second Hybrid stalks the doorway...

McGuinn tears out of the doorway. Connery fails both of his tests to shoot due to Ballistophobia. McGuinn is charged by the one-legged Hybrid but McGuinn guts him instead! The other Hybrid fails his check from seeing his brood brother killed and suffers Stupification. The Cultist with knife on right side of doorway Frenzies and attacks Connery. Agent Petri and the Cultist with a shotgun open up on each other, sending spall and wickering debris into the air.

Hybrid #2 recovers from Stupification and attacks McGuinn, who then lands a clumsy but effective knife jab into the hybrid's neck. The hybrid collapses in a welter of black blood as he paws at the swaddled vase containing the apocryphal architeuthis tooth, which the hybrid dies saying that fast three times. Agent Petri trades shots with the cultist on the side of the house, cover saving both men from grievous gunshot wounds.

The Cult leader smiles beneath his silk hood as he pumps a critical pistol shot through Forsythe's waistcoat, for a Major Injury and KO. The Cult Leader picks up the tooth in front of Connery. Connery stabs the screeching cultist to death in the doorway with a wet thud. As the dead cultist slumps down the wall, Connery trains both .45's on the Cult Leader from the doorway as a last ditch effort to save the game. If the Cult Leader survives Connery's fire he can use both moves to get almost off the board for the win. But Ballistophobia strikes again and Agent Connery hesitates, overcome by panic and fear and fails all attempts at shooting his pistols. The Cult Leader smirks and backs away as shots spak against the doorway, covering fire from the remaining Cultist. Connery decides not to pursue, since the other cultist has now moved to block Connery from pursuing and has him zeroed. Agent Petri fires on the Cult Leader from the side of the ruins, hitting him with a crit hit but he fails to wound. The day is lost to the Lurkers and the Cult Leader escapes with his artifact.

BALLISTOPHOBIA!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 Agent Connery looked in the rear view mirror as a bloom of fire and smoke geysered up from the front of yet another church. Debris pattered on the roof of his speeding car, one which he had hidden nearby. He didn’t see if Petri made it out but the resourceful Italian obviously had time to tripwire the Dagonite’s car; once a Mob man, always a Mob man. Connery had faith he’d see him at the safe house tonight. McGuinn was still back there, sprawled out on the overgrown lawn of the church entrance piled with those strange, dead... men? And also left holding the empty bag they had fled with, a feint. It would have have been great to bring that cursed vase and retched squid tooth back to HQ for study but as things were, plans change, sometimes on the fly, and sometimes, like now, it was for the better. Hopefully, it would take the Dagon cultists awhile before they realized that the relic they just rescued from McGuinn wasn’t the only thing taken from the alcoves of their unholy crypt, the death of the antiquarian a currency in the purchase of time via an elaborate ruse. Connery would be back and next time things would be different. He patted his bulging pocket and wisps of grey-blue vapor puffed out of the mouth-like pocket, like a smoking monkey he once saw at a carnival. He laughed at that, a strained, more exasperated-than-merry chortle and imagined the Cult Leader, wide-eyed, throttled in Connery's bare hands. 

He drove East towards the safe house.“Next time... it will be different. Everything will be different.”