Stay Away Warhammer 9th Edition

The last couple games I have played of Warhammer Fantasy have been using my beloved Warriors of Chaos. Prior to that I snuck in a Dwarf game and prior to that was a lot of Orcs and Goblins.

All of them play very different. The Warriors, at least the way I play them, are fast moving, hard-hitting, putting out a ton of attacks and have an effective range of base to base.

The Dwarfs have a ton of shooting and are the slowest army this side of Vampire Counts and Tomb Kings...and both of those have elements that are faster (Chariots and various knights).

The O&G have some ranged stuff...that never hits...some sneakily good magic and can put out a ton of attacks. They are also much faster and more random than the other two armies.

I enjoy playing all of them and the Beastmen too. The weird part is way back when we first started getting back into Warhammer one of the armies I most seriously considered was the High Elves. I have plenty of models. I have the book. I have tried to make armies. I have even played a game or two with them.

In theory they are a fantastic army for me. They are fast, they can throw out mighty wizards, some knights, a dragon, shooting...they have everything I am looking for.

That begs the question why I do not play them much more frequently. Ultimately I think it is a matter of style.

They do not put out large numbers of shots. Their shooting has always proven ineffective for me...there is nothing quite like having an army of good BS lay out a ton of shooting and seeing goblins be more effective...

They die to a stiff breeze, my magic failures are legendary (in my mind), and fitting in those dragons means big games.

The problem is to play a game big enough for me to take a dragon means the other player can take multiple things that I then have no way of dealing with. Counter-intuitively, playing with my favorite elements is about the only time under 8th edition rules that I feel like I lost the game before it started simply by putting stuff in the list I want to play.

*sigh*

On the bright side, when that is the biggest complaint you can make about an edition...it is a good edition. Well done, GW. Please don't make the mistake you are making with 40k.

What I mean is this; in Warhammer, you can pick up the game with the basic rules and your army book. You have just a handful of other armies to deal with and you pretty much know what you will face.

If I run into Skaven I will face numerous war machines and hordes. If I face Tomb Kings I win. I mean, I will face lots of ineffective shooting and easy to re-kill skeletons. If I face Empire I will see a couple war machines, some Demigryphs, a Steam Tank...

In 40k if I am up against, say...Space Wolves, I might be against Imperial Knights, Tau, Eldar and the Inquisition. 4 codexes...or more if they are using Forge World and/or some of the various data slates and formations.

If I am facing Tau I might be facing some of the above or Tau-specific formations, dataslates, etc.

In other words, it is impossible to know what you will be facing or to keep up on the rules. The entry bar for new players is so stiff that unless they run into the right player they will simply not be able to learn the game or, if they do, they will constantly be getting slaughtered when they run into stuff with rules they don't expect that blister them.

This is unfortunate because the rules are otherwise awesome and I am loving the game. I think for the foreseeable future, I will seek out games that are "single codex, no allies, forge world or dataslates" until I know the rules better.

And I really hope the rumor I heard that Warhammer Fantasy in 9th will go to a similar model. Because that would stink.

40k Heresy

Back in (censored) when Fullur, Fixed Dice and I played 40k the Wolves were my army of choice. Partly because I like Wolves, partly because they could pump out lots of terminators. I like terminators.

Of course, Terminators were as broken as could be back then. They had an armor save of 3+...on 2d6. If I remember correctly. Though weapon strength did reduce it. But they were awesome.

And even when they were toned down to a more reasonable level I liked them. One reason I picked Space Wolves when I was deciding to look into 40k again was the possibility of running "LoganWing" (for the uninitiated, Logan Grimnar makes Terminators troop choices so you can essentially run a 100% terminator army).

As I have been painting away, it was with the idea of running them as Space Wolves.

I am not locked into that as I have used iconography from whoever the marines were in the Battle for Macragge set and Space Wolves, I plan to mix in some Dark Angel models as well from Dark Vengeance...

Except I have been reading the Dark Angels rules. And they are actually the army list I want to play. Arguably worse than Space Wolves, they can run essentially all-Terminators with maybe a couple vehicles.

Oh, it would not be a GOOD army. It would number I think 12ish models at 1000 points and add essentially that many models per 1000 points thereafter. They could not put out enough firepower to take out horde armies...or even properly built Space Marine armies...and they could not get to tanks quick enough to overwhelm them. Any Maelstrom of War mission would pretty much be auto-loss..

Belial, 2 units of 5 terminators and a Land Raider is 995 points. Belial pumps out 2 shots at 24" the first unit gives another 10 shots + a cyclone missile launcher, the second unit would most likely put out zero shots as they would be th/ss and the Land Raider puts out a couple Lascannon shots. That is a recipe to lose.

Worse, I spent a ton of time painting up 45ish models in the Space Wolf scheme...which I love.

And the Dark Angels I have were painted by someone else. While they painted them in an "approved"...but I am not fond of either the color scheme or the paint job.

I am notorious for my army hopping. In fantasy I seldom play any army twice in a row. Unless it is Warriors of Chaos who fit me like a glove...small, hard hitting, tough...hmm, sounds like terminators...except the Warriors dish out a ton of attacks. Anyway, I might play Beastmen this game, then O&G, then Warriors, then O&G, then Dwarfs, then Warriors, then High Elves...

So there is no reason to think I will not do the same thing with 40k. The Tau will probably be my "competitive" army with lots of crisis suits rolling around and the Space Wolves will be my most frequently played but mediocre army...and yes, they are the army I will play more than the rest put together...but the Dark Angels may sneak in there a surprising amount. And when I get the models assembled and painted, the Chaos Marines will make a few appearances as well.

I am just surprised to learn the Dark Angels are something I am quickly becoming fond of...

Warhammer 40k Space Wolves V. Dark Angels

So I invited a few of the Starving Crazed Weasels over for some introductory Warhammer 40k games. In preparation, I made lists for the Tau, Dark Angels, Ultramarines, Space Wolves, and Chaos Space Marines. Each list was 505 points and included a very basic commander, a unit or two of basic troops, something "hard to crack" and something that could crack tough stuff.

Example; the Tau had 3 Crisis suits, 1 with a Fusion Blaster, all with a Shield Drone so they are rolling a 4++. The Chaos Space Marines and Dark Angels each had a unit of Terminators and something in that unit to crack same. Space Wolves got a Dreadnought with a multi-melta. Ultramarines had a Lascannon on a Vindicator.

Fixed Dice and his son made it so we decided to roll random. He rolled up the Dark Angels and I rolled up...Space Wolves. 1 in 4 chance of same army I have played all the time and I got it. Pretty funny.

I put one unit guarding the objective in cover, the second unit ready to go after the objective in the middle of the field and the dreadnought on the far left. They put the terminators behind the building opposite mine, combat squadded the other two and put the missile launcher up high, the 5 guys down low by the objective where I promptly forgot about them.

Space Wolf Turn 1 
With my unit in the open I started moving towards the ruins in the middle. I planned to take cover, try to take out terminators with Plasma shots and sheer volume of fire, then seize the objective late in the game. The Drednought advanced on the left flank.I took a few shots, doing nothing to the Terminators and taking out a couple of marines on the left.

Dark Angel Turn 1
He ran his terminators out of the forest, saving the wound caused by the only Dangerous Terrain test he failed. His shooting was inconsequential for the most part...but that part was huge. He glanced my Dreadnought with his Missile Launcher.

Space Wolf Turn 2
I had good line of sight on the Terminators and unleashed everything. Did a wound with the plasma this time...to myself when it got hot and i could not save. He saved all the potential wounds. Did take out a couple marines on the left with the dreadnought. He was down to just two. meanwhile, I got into the ruins, passing all my dangerous terrain tests.

Dark Angel Turn 2
He got into the building with his terminators and took out a marine from my building. He also glanced the Dreadnought a second time with the missile launcher.

Space Wolf Turn 3
I unleashed everything at the terminators from both units. He actually failed two saves this time...3 turns of shooting and I finally have taken him out. Sadly, he then saved both wounds I caused with the Plasma... Unfortunately, the Dreanought rolled a 1 for the Melta and he saved the wound the Stormbolter caused.

Dark Angel Turn 3
He realized the 5+ cover save was pointless in light of their invulnerable save and figured out I was holding 2 objectives to his 1. He started coming out of the building towards my big unit in the center of the table. He also moved out the unit I had forgetten and got his Melta within 12" of the Dreadnought, hitting it, penetrating...goodbye Dreadnought.

Space Wolf Turn 4
I desperately needed some kill points and tried, I really did...but I could not take out his 3 marines and his Terminators. I think I took out 2 of the 3 marines but it would not be enough. meanwhile, I moved the big unit out from the cover of the building they had been in since the beginning of the game in a desperate attempt at his terminators.

Dark Angel Turn 4
He charged my Grey Hunters by the objective. Overwatch whiffed, though I did blow up my Plasma gun with it. I hit and hit hard, but he saved 7 or 8 potential wounds, then killed all but 1 of my Marines with his power fists.

Space Wolf Turn 5
Desperate times call for desperate measures. I thought about hiding my 1 trooper but decided to take every shot I could at the Terminators. I hit hard and he saved another 6 or 7 potential wounds. In his turn he killed my last trooper and ran to hide. I covered two objectives to his one and I think finished off his terminators on the 6th turn but either way he had first blood, an objective and 2 kill points to my one kill point and 2 objectives for the win.

What went Right
I hit with a ton of shooting. My plan was pretty solid. I maximized my firing opportunities, concentrated fire, I just could not wound. I got every objective I reasonably could.

What went Wrong
My Dreadnought got outshot by a missile launcher despite having 3 shots/turn to his 1. I put so many wounds on the terminators they made about 10 saves for every fail. But that is what Terminators do. I mis-placed my Dreadnought, he should have been in the center of the table. And when he charged with his Terminators...it was over. Grey Hunters with no Power Weapon simply cannot deal with 2+ saves except by pure volume, and that is bad strategy.

It was a ton of fun, hopefully they enjoyed it as much as I did.

Warrios of Chaos v. DoC

So Space Monkey has been working on painting up some DoC for a while. He is using it as practice for when he paints his High Elves, figuring even if you mess it up a bit...it is Chaos, still will look good.

He has enough painted up for a 1250 point game so we decided to try a small one. I speed-built a list of Warriors...which means I went with the old reliables. I started with a block of Chaos Warriors with shields and full command. They fullfill multiple purposes; if we roll up Watchtower, they give me a great unit to throw in there, if we roll up Blood and Glory I have a pretty reliable standard, and they are just a great choice anyway...rugged, tough fighters in any scenario.

Next I picked a unit of Skullcrushers because...well...they are awesome. A unit of Knights, and I had just enough points left for an exalted hero with shield to be my BSB (with Rampagers standard) on a juggernaut and another on foot to be the general.

We rolled up Blood and Glory which is probably my second favorite scenario (right behind watchtower) but since he only had 2 banners and this was going to be more of a learning game, we elected to just play battleline instead. And even that we modified. We really just set up our armies without paying attention to what the other guy was doing.
 I put the big block of charriors on my right, the Skullcrushers in their left, the Knights behind the crushers.

He put his Bloodcrushers opposite my Skullcrushers, Bloodletters behind them, his Skullcannon on their right (from my perspective), his slaanesh damonettes on the far right (cleverly disguised as with elves for their better looking models) and hiding behind that 40k building in the far back left corner is a modified Ancient Treeman being converted into a D-Prince.

I won the roll to go first.

WoC Turn 1
Since I had not been able to fit in either Marauder Horsemen or the H-cannon and had no magic, I had a threat range of base to base. I advanced far enough that he had a possible but unlikely charge of about 17"...he would have needed a 10 with his Bloodcrushers. My Warriors advanced behind me and I started swinging the knights out wide to the right. (We had ruled the ruins in the center of the table buildings that could be moved around/through no problem, their only function was line of sight blocking, which was bad for me. I wanted him shooting his cannon at them, not my multiwound models).

DoC Turn 1
Space Monkey set his trap. He moved the Bloodletters and Bloodcrushers back, making it all but impossible for me to get the charge. He also flew his D-Prince out of sight but facing the middle of the table. If I advanced my Skullcrushers they would get combo charged, in the front by the Bloodcrushers and in the flank by the D-Prince.He moved the cannon forward and aimed it at my Skullcrushers...and as you can see in the picture above, I had taken my character out of the unit, so a well-placed cannonball could take out a Skullcrusher AND my BSB.

Oops.

He had no magic he wanted to try, so on to the shooting phase. His movement backwards was an excellent plan. It meant he would get at least 1 and possibly two turns of shooting at me and get the charges if he so desired. Furthermore, I believed I had nothing to deal with his cannon or D-Prince and thought the Skullcrushers v Bloodcrushers was a fair fight.

If you have read any of my past battle reports and/or ponderings, you know getting my guys into fair fights is seldom part of the plan. I like to go in with overwhelming force so even if I fluff my rolls I win and when I win, I want them to need snakeyes to avoid running. He flipped the script where I would have a whittled down unit being victimized by being on the wrong side of an unfair fight. I was already planning a most un-Warriors like strategy of running behind the nearby building to get out of sight of the cannon and save whatever was left of my unit. If he came to me we would fight but I was not going into the valley of death.

If you are a long-time reader, you also know when I have shiny new models I want to put on the table, they have a history of...well, unperforming seems to generous. Such as the Shaggoth, who got shot off the table by Dark Elves in two turns. Or Galrauch who never got a spell off and never got into combat. Or...well, he had three units I would have been excited about if I were he. The cannon was one.

Apparently being within eyesight of me is bad news for other people's models as well...because it promptly misfired and blew itself up.

Meanwhile, his weakest unit was way out on my right. He tried to cast something, his book chart forced a test and his herald took a wound, then I dispelled whatever he tried.


Not a good turn for DoC.

WoC Turn 2
His cannon blowing up changed things. Now I just had to get to where when he flank-charged my crushers I could flank charge his. I moved the Warriors into the ruins and angled them to get him when he got me, moved my knights over to face the daemonettes, and put the BSB back with the Crushers.

DoC Turn 2
Now he had to come to me. His Daemonettes charged the Knights, his Crushers charged mine. While the 'nettes made it handily, he WOULD have made it with his Crushers...if not for that retrograde move back in turn 1. He came up 2" short and had moved back 2.5".


It did shuffle him forward to where I would need an 8 to get him...

His herald and my Champion went into a challenge. He got 2 wounds through so got overkill. Then the knights did what they do, chopping down 4 or 5 of those peasants in front of them, saving everything else he hit me with. He lost another 5 or 6 to instability and after one round of combat I had 4 of 5 knights standing and he had 1 'nette and the Herald from what had been 10+ Herald. Things are looking good for the Warriors.

WoC Turn 3
I thought the smart play would be to make him come to me or combo-charge the Warriors and Crushers  but the fun play would be to declare the charge with the warriors on his Bloodletters and Crushers on his Crushers so that is what I did.

Note that both of these were much closer to "fair fights" than I like to get involved with...but I made both charges.

Except they turned out to not be all that fair. My Exalted declared a challenge, his champion Bloodletter accepted. I got overkill, rolled on the table, failed my LD test and became a Spawn...I did a couple wounds, he took more from instability and his unit shrunk precipitously.

Meanwhile, my Skullcrushers turned out to have a few advantages...such as higher strength due to ensorcelled weapons, more base attacks for the riders, frenzy which he does not get, and an extra Hero character throwing frenzied attacks...I had something like 19 extra S5 attacks wounding on 4s. He lost his last wound to instability.

But all was not well in the world of the Warriors.

Remember that herald and single 'nette? Well, his Herald got past the saves of 2 knights and the last two knights could not muster a single wound against him. They lost the combat...and ran. I can count on one hand the number of times I have ever had knights run. Wiped out? Sure. But RUN? Never.

DoC Turn 3
Well, he naturally declared the charge with his 'nettes and ran down my Knights. Whoa.

Meanwhile, the only un-engaged unit was his D-Prince, so he came to visit the Skullcrushers.

So my Exalted BSB and he went into a challenge. He hit with every attack, wounded with all, I saved most. I hit him with half, wounded once.

Against his Herald and Bloodletter, he had maybe 3 attacks, did a wound. I had about 13 attacks...and hit 1, wounded zero. But won anyway because of ranks/banner, etc. He passed LD test.

Warriors Turn 4
I am 100% engaged so no moving, shooting or magic...straight to the battle phase. He again did a wound with his Bloodletters. I again could not wound, though this time I "only" had 10 attacks to his 2...and again I won based on ranks, banner, and he passed LD.

This time I saved all the wounds his D-Prince did and he did not save mine, failed his test and died to instability.

DoC Turn 5
The winds forced my Bloodcrushers to take a LD test on 3d6 and take a wound for every point I failed by...so a Crusher died outright. I finally put a wound on his Herald and we called it a game.


What went right:
His cannon blowing up was the game, really. Had it hit the crushers and taken one or more out (67% chance) and also done in my BSB I would have had little choice but to run hide behind the building or get wiped out in just a couple turns.

My BSB out-fighting his Lord-Level D-Prince was ridiculous. By Skullcrushers performed quite well against his Bloodcrushers.

What Went Wrong
My knights being unable to compete with daemonettes? Really? Getting run down? It was hilarious but completely unexpected. And hilarious.

My Warriors verse the Bloodletters lasted about 6 rounds of combat. His last guy staid single-handed through 3 or 4 rounds. I was in shock.

Overall, very fun, he got to see what his army played like on the field. Definitely a strong build, it gave my borderline power-game build all it could handle and was a misfire away from maybe running me completely off the table.

Warhammer 40k, Space Wolves v Orks

So on the heels of my first game, there was another guy wanting to play, we settled on 505 points. I had not brought any character models other than the Njal model which I scaled back to a regular Psyker. I went with I think the dreadnought, 6 man grey hunters, and 10 man hunters. I had almost nothing to deal with hordes or armor.

He brought Ork horde. We basically just decided to play "line up and kill the enemy".

He had a mob of 20 boys, another mob of 20 with a big boss with boss-pole, and 5 big shootas.

He chose to let him set up and go first...then seized the initiative.

I advanced slightly to make sure all my guys could shoot, then unleashed my Psyker. Oops, doubles, perils of the warp, wound. Tried a second power with 2 dice...oops, doubles, perils, died. Hmm. Psychic phase is just as strong as my magic use in Fantasy...

At least I took out his 5-man big shootas in the first turn. Wow, already better than last game.

He moved forward as far as possible, unleashed 40+ shots and did not a single wound.

I made a slight retrograde movement to make charging harder and started whittling down his unit with the Big Boss, who made about 5 Look Out sir rolls over the course of the game and passed all but the last one.

I was never able to turn my attention to the guys on the right but on turn 3 he failed his charge and initially failed his morale check, but then remembered the Boss pole and passed it.

I had a choice. He was about 3" in front of my 10 Grey Hunters. If I fired I would get rapid fire, 20 shots and not get +10 attacks for attacking, but not face overwatch. Quick math told me the 20 shots I lost were more than the 10 attacks I gain so I fired.

What a colossal blunder. First off, he had more guys than me, so he gained more attacks by charging. Second, I had bolt pistols...I could have fired them and then charged, thus losing 10 shots but getting the charge and keeping him from getting 12-14 attacks, whatever number of orcs he had left, and their overwatch does not bother me much, I might lose 1-2 models at worst. Oh, and I could stop any potential Hammer of Wrath for him.

So I rapid fire, whittle him down, he charges next turn, a full 20 boys into my 6 men and the others into my 10 man. My Overwatch does nothing, really. He gets Hammer of Wrath with he 20 models and takes out like 3 of my guys right there. They have about 5 attacks each so of course he wipes my unit out.

Meanwhile, I forget I have counterattack and cost myself another 10 attacks but put a hurt on his big unit.

Next turn I charge my Dreadnought in and take on his Big Boss. I wipe out the rest of that unit but am down to 4 or 5 guys at this point. I am far short of the number of guys I had back at the beginning of the game...as seen above.

Anyway, I forget the Dreadnought CC weapon does not go last so his Boss and my dreadnought attacked at the same time.

Had we been keeping track, this was turn 5.

Turn 6 he charged his other mob in and in the dreadnought and boss killed each other. Turn 7 he finished off all but one of my grey hunters.


This game was played in about 40 minutes. It was what I had wanted the first game to be...very small, manageable...fast play, fast results, learned a lot, figured out a lot of mistakes I made...and had I played it properly, I probably would have done much, much better.

Really enjoyed the game, look forward to my next one.

Warhammer 40k Space Wolves v Orks

So several days ago I decided to take the plunge and actually PLAY my first game of 40k. It is a bit early for several reasons. There is a new edition I do not have the rules for, I do not have certain key models painted up (heavy weapons), etc. But I wanted to play and had the time, so I asked on a local game board for someone wanting to play a 500 point game.

My theory was at 500 I would not run into super heavies, land raiders, stuff I flat out could not handle and plus I just wanted a really basic move/shoot/save get to know the rules type game.I could throw in a couple units of Grey Hunters, a basic Wolf Leader, maybe a dreadnought which are supposed to not be overly good right now and learn the basics.

Instead I got an answer from a guy wanting to play 1000 points. Whoops. I know already that at most I can muster 2 Lascannons  and at 1000 points I might see something like an Imperial Knight, or Land Raider or other stuff like that I flat-out could not handle. So I know going in it will not be a game I have a chance of winning but I don't really care, I want to play so I agreed.

I furiously painted up Njal Stormcaller on the theory Jaws of the World Wolf could give me a 3rd weapon against stuff I could not otherwise handle. Unfortunately, he sucked up a third of my points right there. I also threw in a Vindicator to give myself a Lascannon, though that meant I needed a 6-man unit of Grey Hunters. A dreadnought gave me a 2nd Lascannon and a unit of 10 Grey Hunters rounded out my selections. They did have Melta guns...but with a 12" range.

I rounded it out with a unit of Terminators; 3 with Storm Shield and Thunder Hammer, 1 with Assault cannon and 1 with Storm Bolter. They could tear open just about anything...IF they could get in close.

So I had a slow-moving army with only very little that was hard to crack.

He showed up with a list full of Forgeworld, allies and armor...he had 3 assorted Rhinos (Lascanonns, Las-Plas, another tough one), a Mortise Dreadnought, although not the one I can find rules for as his had cannons spewing out 12 shots apiece in addition to the missile launchers...when the game started all he had on the table was armor I would struggle to crack open. Oh, and a unit of Devastators...the long fangs I did not have.

In other words...the very thing I had not wanted to play against. Also, what with portions from Inquisition, Space Marines and some third faction, I am not sure how it was battle-forged...here is where not having the rules handy hurts a bit. Had I really cared I would have asked to see his list, but I did not and do not...I just wanted to experience the basics rather than reading about them.

He was playing a "siege army" which meant in addition to the regular three objectives he had another one he had to control at the end of the game to win. So I planted my terminators right next to it, my lascannon vindicator behind a hill close by, the other rhino and 10 grey hunters and dreadnought off to the right.

It has been a few days since the game so some of the details are a bit hazy now.

My first turn my lascannons both hit, one glanced, the other failed to wound. I bounced the far right rhino forward 6", not realizing I could go 12" since I completely forgot the Storm Bolter on it and never fired it once, nor used either firing point. so that was a mistake.

Then I found out Njal could not take Jaws, he had to use rulebook powers. Then I was told that something with say...warp charge 2, you had to get at least 2 "4s" and every die you rolled had to be a 4. So after the first turn I did not even bother trying Psychic stuff, making my most expensive unit and a quarter of my points wasted.

Meanwhile, he took out one of my Storm Shield terminators. this was bad as they were hiding out waiting for mid game to move out and seize the only objective that mattered when he got close to it, close enough for me to go can-opener him with my thunder hammers. This was the side of the field that would determine the game.

On the far side, I moved the rhino forward and sideways to give my Grey Hunters cover as they seized the objective in the center of the field. He blue up his own Rhino when his Rhino plasma got hot and killed it, giving me first blood.

 I also popped my 6 grey hunters out. The guys on the right were going to wipe out 5 Imperial Guard, then advance to take the linbreaker and his backfield objective while the 6 grey hunters would advance to take out his 3 remaining space marines and take the objective in the center of the field.

My twin-linked lascannons proceeded to immobilize one rhino and spent the rest of the game either missing entirely (3 to hit with a re-roll :-() or failing to wound (2+ on d6).

On the bright side, it forced him to get out. On the dark side he had a Storm Shield Centurion with a 2" save I could not touch that started heading towards the key objective

Meanwhile, he turned his Devastators on my Dreadnought, penetrated, and blew it up on the 2nd or 3rd turn. I now had 1 lascannon and 2 thunder hammers to take out 2 rhinos and the dreadnought.

His 5 Imperial Guard proceeded to destroy my advancing Grey Hunters so bad that when I finally took them out I had 2 guys left. My 6 guys could only take out 1 of his 3 space marines. My Terminators failed 2+ saves at such a frenetic rate that I lost all 3 thunder hammers by turn 4.

I did manage to get a penetrating hit on the dreadnought with my Assault Cannon (?) and rolled a 6 on the damage chart. I was pretty excited thinking I would blow it up...but for some reason I am unsure of it had no appreciable effect.

I ran my 2 remaining marines toward the center objective, my rhino died shortly after tank-shocking his Imperial Guard and ramming his Rhino, and threw everything else toward the siege objective, but the firepower disparity was just too much. He killed my 5 grey hunters on the far left, the terminators, blew up my Lascannon Rhino and when the game ended I had 1 Grey Hunter locked in combat with his 2 marines.

I got crushed, essentially tabled, but as soon as I saw the point levels that we were going to play at. No big deal, I learned the basics, got some stuff done (he ended the game with 2 rhinos immobilized and another with 2 hull points left, I did wipe out 1 5-man unit and almost another) and enjoyed the game.

Looking back I know a couple of things I could...and should...have done different, and with slightly better rolls it is possible I could have dealt with more of his armor, but I simply did not have enough heavy weaponry to do well in the game. I will be back with painted Long Fangs...

40k

I dearly love Warhammer fantasy. That should be obvious by the sheer number of armies I have...I can play pretty good size games with proper, painted models with Dwarfs, High Elfs, Beastmen, Orcs & Goblins, Brettonians, and of course my favorite, the Warriors of Chaos. I even have about 1000 points of Vampire Counts, though have only ever played them maybe once?

Unfortunately, the Starving Crazed Weasels live far enough away that I cannot really get in games with them during the week and, being at different points in our lives, we no longer have the 2nd Saturday of the month reserved for games so we scarcely get in games. Hopefully at some point they will become more frequent again.

Way back in second edition we used to play 40k. I was Space Wolves and Eldar, Fixed Dice was Imperial Guard and Fullur ran Orks. I liked it even though it was a broken game at that point...the Space Marines were unstoppable back then, could not be touched.

Meanwhile, I have been practicing painting with water. First I dialed up some Tau. I tried Krylon primer/paint as a red base coat. I found it difficult to paint over. Worse, I was using quick-shades, washes, and so forth for shading.

On the one hand, I am actually not bad at it...my Orcs turned out pretty well with some very cool definition on their muscles. Same for the Beastmen. And some clothing. However, outside of those select things, I do not like the dirtied up, shadowed look. I like sharp, crisp, bright colors. I really prefer the older style of painting to the modern.

Between those issues I ended up not liking the paint job on the Tau so when I started the Space Wolves (which will be my primary 40k army) I used black primer. First up I painted up some tacticals from Assault on Black Reach.

I went with a pearlized blue and pearlized purple scheme, highlighting it with golds, coppers and bronzes. I love the result as they are a very colorful, bright looking army.

Then I started painting the actual Space Wolves. Not a huge fan of the wolf pelts. Have not really figured out a way to make them look good as they do not fit my color scheme.

Meanwhile, I have been keeping my eye out for sweet deals on figures and picked up pre-painted Ultramarines, Dark Angels, some Tau, and Chaos Space marines and some unpainted Necrons and Orks.

For those doing math, between the various means, I now can play at least 7 different Warhammer 40k armies. Not big games and not competitively as I do not have some of the heavies and super-heavies that are needed, but I can play.

So I have been reading up on the rules, had 6th edition rules and was getting ready to try a game when GW went all GW on me and changed the system to 7th.

There are several things stopping me picking up the rulebook.

1, they always come out with a set like Dark Vengeance that is scarcely more expensive than the rulebook itself but comes with a decent selection of models for 2 armies. Reading between the lines of what I have written above you might guess I pretty much always pick up a couple of them.

2, I think the fluff for both systems is ridiculous. Let me see if I can boil it down; "superhero goes on a rampage, slaying thousands of enemies at a time and stopping noted enemy x (or being stopped by "good guy" hero y".

Anyway, I am not going to pay 3 times the value for horrific writing and rules I can get basically for free by picking up models I want to pick up anyway. So I wait for the rules to come out in a box like Dark Vengeance or the forthcoming Stormclaw box which I hope to get 2-3 boxes of.

So the upshot is I have been wanting to get in a game of 40k for a while, just been waiting to finish painting up an army. I was going to use the Tau, but between the time I started painting them and the time I had them ready they got a new book and became super-powered. So I decided to wait a bit.

Now a new shop has opened just about 5 minutes from me. The Friendly Local Game Store
That is actually their name...

They are playing 7th, which I do not know all the rules for, however, I have gotten in a couple days. A little information about them coming shortly.

I would like to take this moment to welcome myself back to 40k because I love it. When I can't get together with my preferred opponents in the Starving Crazed Weasels, this will be a nice sideline.