At the moment it looks like one of our locals is contemplating a break from the hobby. On a local forum he has posted up the things he has for sale and we (the forum members) are all over it like Wayne Rooney with a superannuitant prostitute. A distress sale always brings out our carrion like qualities.
However it got me thinking about people leaving the hobby and the advice I try to give them.
I had a break of 16 years from the hobby when I went to University and found rugby, booze and the way to the local Teachers’ College (women). However before I hung up my tape measure I put one of my armies into storage. When I wandered back into the hobby I had something painted that I could use right away. This really helped when re-starting.
So if you are ever looking to take a break from wargaming I’d urge you to put at least one army away for future access. Life changes and what isn’t of interest now may return in a few years and it is nice not to have to start from scratch.
Yes, figures and styles change but it’s nice to have an easy re-entry to the hobby which you can use while you paint up something more current. Who knows it might even have some “classic” value.
I’m happy to report that the local in question is doing just that – keeping his two painted armies. This is especially good given the glacial pace he paints at normally!
Friday, April 8, 2011
American 40k Meta
I was reading an Adepticon report last night and one thing that pricked my notice was around “counts as” army requests in the 40k Open tournament.
It appears that the TOs received 40 requests to use one army as another in the Open, and 38 of these were to “counts as” Space Wolves!
I was talking to Charlie last night and he reckoned that a lot of these would be seeking permission to use other units e.g. Juggernauts as Thunderwolf cavalry. I’m not so sure that I’m drinking that Kool-Aid….call me cynical but I suspect the requests were for a little more than that.
The other interesting observation was the relative popularity of the various armies. The big five were in order:
• Space Wolves - 43 (I hope 38 weren’t “counts as” )
• Blood Angels - 40 odd
• Imperial Guard – high 30’s
• Orks/Space Marines – low 30s
Last year Guard were the biggest representation with 60+ so it looks like the two marine variants are army de jour at least in American non-comp events. Interestingly only 6 Dark Eldar (the last new book) were there.
It appears that the TOs received 40 requests to use one army as another in the Open, and 38 of these were to “counts as” Space Wolves!
I was talking to Charlie last night and he reckoned that a lot of these would be seeking permission to use other units e.g. Juggernauts as Thunderwolf cavalry. I’m not so sure that I’m drinking that Kool-Aid….call me cynical but I suspect the requests were for a little more than that.
The other interesting observation was the relative popularity of the various armies. The big five were in order:
• Space Wolves - 43 (I hope 38 weren’t “counts as” )
• Blood Angels - 40 odd
• Imperial Guard – high 30’s
• Orks/Space Marines – low 30s
Last year Guard were the biggest representation with 60+ so it looks like the two marine variants are army de jour at least in American non-comp events. Interestingly only 6 Dark Eldar (the last new book) were there.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Tomb Kings Rules Emerge
Picked up from Brad Morin's Land O Misfit Toys blog:
Well GW has published a page from the upcoming Tomb King book... It is the rules for two of the new units... Here is the text without having to yank out the magnifying glass... Interesting stuff.... Now if I only had a points value to match...
Sepulchral Stalkers (Really Ugly Medusa Monsters)
M WS BS S T W I A LD
7 3 3 4 4 3 3 2 8
Troop Type: Monstrous Beast
Special Rules: Animated Construct, Entombed Beneath the Sands, Nehekharan Undead.
Trans&^*%ing (having trouble reading it) Gaze: This is a shooting attack with the following profile:
Range 8 inches
Strength 1
Special: See Below
A Trans^&*%ing gaze is a magical attack and does not require a roll To Hit. Instead, when the unit shoots, roll and artillery dice for each Sepulchral Stalker in the unit and add the results together. The target suffers a number of automatic hits equal to the result. When rolling to wound with these hits, substitute the target’s Toughness with its Initiative value. If the target has several initiative values, always use the highest. Targets with no Initiative value are immune to this attack. No armour saves are allowed against this attack. Finally for each misfire rolled a stalker suffers D3 automatic wounds with no armour saves allowed as they catch glimpses of their own reflection in their foe’s sword blades and polished shields.
The Necropolis Knights (or… Snake Surfers)
Necropolis Knights:
M WS BS S T W I A LD
4 4 4 4 4 1 3 2 8
NecroSerperent
M WS BS S T W I A LD
7 3 0 5 4 3 3 3 8
Troop Type: Monstrous Cavalry.
Special Rules: Animated Construct, Killing Blow (Rider’s Only), Nehekharan Undead, Poisoned Attacks (Necro Serpents ony).
Necropolis Knights have a total armour save of 3+. This takes into account the combined effects of mount’s Animated Construct special rule and the rider’s armour and high vantage point
Thanks Brad, love your work
Well GW has published a page from the upcoming Tomb King book... It is the rules for two of the new units... Here is the text without having to yank out the magnifying glass... Interesting stuff.... Now if I only had a points value to match...
Sepulchral Stalkers (Really Ugly Medusa Monsters)
M WS BS S T W I A LD
7 3 3 4 4 3 3 2 8
Troop Type: Monstrous Beast
Special Rules: Animated Construct, Entombed Beneath the Sands, Nehekharan Undead.
Trans&^*%ing (having trouble reading it) Gaze: This is a shooting attack with the following profile:
Range 8 inches
Strength 1
Special: See Below
A Trans^&*%ing gaze is a magical attack and does not require a roll To Hit. Instead, when the unit shoots, roll and artillery dice for each Sepulchral Stalker in the unit and add the results together. The target suffers a number of automatic hits equal to the result. When rolling to wound with these hits, substitute the target’s Toughness with its Initiative value. If the target has several initiative values, always use the highest. Targets with no Initiative value are immune to this attack. No armour saves are allowed against this attack. Finally for each misfire rolled a stalker suffers D3 automatic wounds with no armour saves allowed as they catch glimpses of their own reflection in their foe’s sword blades and polished shields.
The Necropolis Knights (or… Snake Surfers)
Necropolis Knights:
M WS BS S T W I A LD
4 4 4 4 4 1 3 2 8
NecroSerperent
M WS BS S T W I A LD
7 3 0 5 4 3 3 3 8
Troop Type: Monstrous Cavalry.
Special Rules: Animated Construct, Killing Blow (Rider’s Only), Nehekharan Undead, Poisoned Attacks (Necro Serpents ony).
Necropolis Knights have a total armour save of 3+. This takes into account the combined effects of mount’s Animated Construct special rule and the rider’s armour and high vantage point
Thanks Brad, love your work
The Tomb King Book - Are GW for Real?
The two outstanding issues for me with the upcoming Tomb King book concerns direction on where Games Workshop are taking the game. The first of these relates to Magic Items and the second on their Magic system.
1. Magic Items
As I have said previously on this blog most of the problems with “power creep” are in relation to army specific magic items or powers (Daemonic Gifts, Vampiric Powers etc). With the new rulebook GW greatly increased the Common Magic items levelling the playing field to a certain extent. They, then, greatly reduced the book-specific items with the release of the Orc & Goblin book where only eight were included.
I am really hoping GW continues this with Tomb Kings, as I do think it is the right direction. The book specific items can be tested far more rigorously in the limited in-house playtesting GW does (they’ll say it is exhaustive but I don’t call what I’m guessing is not much more than 100 games, exhaustive).
It will be the first thing I check when I get the book as I think limited race-specific items is incredibly important for long term game balance. If they have reversed this move then people are right – “It’s no fun being green”.
2. Magic System
One thing that always appealed to me about the Tomb Kings was their unique magic system. The use of the relentless magic of incantations gave the army a flavour of its own – and helped make it one of the most reliable armies under 7th Edition.
However, as written, the system didn’t really transfer to 8th Edition.
My understanding is that GW have brought Tomb King magic in line with the other races but with their own spell deck. I hope this isn’t the case as it removes a real point of interest. If it is the case, I hope that there is some overlying mechanism that makes them more than “sandy” vampires.
That will be the second thing I check when I get my talons on the book.
1. Magic Items
As I have said previously on this blog most of the problems with “power creep” are in relation to army specific magic items or powers (Daemonic Gifts, Vampiric Powers etc). With the new rulebook GW greatly increased the Common Magic items levelling the playing field to a certain extent. They, then, greatly reduced the book-specific items with the release of the Orc & Goblin book where only eight were included.
I am really hoping GW continues this with Tomb Kings, as I do think it is the right direction. The book specific items can be tested far more rigorously in the limited in-house playtesting GW does (they’ll say it is exhaustive but I don’t call what I’m guessing is not much more than 100 games, exhaustive).
It will be the first thing I check when I get the book as I think limited race-specific items is incredibly important for long term game balance. If they have reversed this move then people are right – “It’s no fun being green”.
2. Magic System
One thing that always appealed to me about the Tomb Kings was their unique magic system. The use of the relentless magic of incantations gave the army a flavour of its own – and helped make it one of the most reliable armies under 7th Edition.
However, as written, the system didn’t really transfer to 8th Edition.
My understanding is that GW have brought Tomb King magic in line with the other races but with their own spell deck. I hope this isn’t the case as it removes a real point of interest. If it is the case, I hope that there is some overlying mechanism that makes them more than “sandy” vampires.
That will be the second thing I check when I get my talons on the book.
International Finance 101
Just to give people an idea of how ludicrous the pricing model Games Workshop uses in this part of the world, have a look at the following real-life example.
I decided to purchase the new Tomb Kings kits when they went up on Advance Order. I wanted 2x Warsphinx and 2x Stalkers/Knights.
The cost from UK internet retailer Wayland Games (www.waylandgames.co.uk) including airmail postage was GBP106.50. This included a discount to GWUK’s prices of 21% and postage of GBP4.50.
To order the same from GWNZ via shop or mail order was NZD $412.
The NZ price is equivalent to GBP191.58……so buying from Wayland means I get the models at a discount of 44.4%.
I feel sorry from the NZ Games Workshop shops and other local retailers. It is an enormous gap that in these penny-pinching times can’t be ignored.
Personally if the gap was around 10-15% I would buy locally but as a hard-nosed advocate for market efficiency it is a gap too big to ignore. I appreciate that according to accepted wisdom regarding GW’s market strategy that I am not one of their target market but I suspect in these miserly times for retail that local shops would prefer I dropped the $2,500-3,000 (UK Prices) per annum with them rather than via the internet.
Sorry guys, it’s all about the cash……the rest is just conversation.
I decided to purchase the new Tomb Kings kits when they went up on Advance Order. I wanted 2x Warsphinx and 2x Stalkers/Knights.
The cost from UK internet retailer Wayland Games (www.waylandgames.co.uk) including airmail postage was GBP106.50. This included a discount to GWUK’s prices of 21% and postage of GBP4.50.
To order the same from GWNZ via shop or mail order was NZD $412.
The NZ price is equivalent to GBP191.58……so buying from Wayland means I get the models at a discount of 44.4%.
I feel sorry from the NZ Games Workshop shops and other local retailers. It is an enormous gap that in these penny-pinching times can’t be ignored.
Personally if the gap was around 10-15% I would buy locally but as a hard-nosed advocate for market efficiency it is a gap too big to ignore. I appreciate that according to accepted wisdom regarding GW’s market strategy that I am not one of their target market but I suspect in these miserly times for retail that local shops would prefer I dropped the $2,500-3,000 (UK Prices) per annum with them rather than via the internet.
Sorry guys, it’s all about the cash……the rest is just conversation.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
First Thoughts on New TK Models
Well, Tomb Kings looks a very easy upgrade if you have an existing army.
It looks like the rumours of a re-do of the existing range were well wide of the mark. That means for those of us with an existing army virtually any purchases (bar the Tomb Golds) will be new units. There is much gnashing of teeth on the forums already but I’m happy that that is the case.
The pictures Jack posted are from an early copy of May’s White Dwarf and as a result are quite small but I can see myself splashing out on all the new units. The Warsphinx looks great and the Knights and Stalkers look pretty good too.
I’m guessing that the release will be accompanied by new Tomb King magic cards. I’m keen to see whether they have preserved the difference or whether we revert to sandy VCs.
It looks like the rumours of a re-do of the existing range were well wide of the mark. That means for those of us with an existing army virtually any purchases (bar the Tomb Golds) will be new units. There is much gnashing of teeth on the forums already but I’m happy that that is the case.
The pictures Jack posted are from an early copy of May’s White Dwarf and as a result are quite small but I can see myself splashing out on all the new units. The Warsphinx looks great and the Knights and Stalkers look pretty good too.
I’m guessing that the release will be accompanied by new Tomb King magic cards. I’m keen to see whether they have preserved the difference or whether we revert to sandy VCs.
First Tomb Kings Pictures
In the last day or two, the first pics of the new Tomb Kings models made their way to the internet. There's a whole bunch of new plastic kits coming out:
The models certainly look new and shiny, but I'm not sold on some of them, especially the snake-surfing skeletons. The Tomb Guard on the other hand look amazing. I can't wait to see all of them in the flesh though.
It's a shame that the rumours were true, and none of the old plastics are being updated. I'm not sure how well the new range will mesh with the old.
It also looks as though GW is continuing in its current trend of giving every army a big plastic monster (or in this case two!). It will be interesting to look at the state of the game in 6 or 12 months to see if this design concept has had any effect on how the game and metagame evolve.
Friday, April 1, 2011
If You Build A Bridge, They Will Come.....
It is going to be interesting to see if those that left the Fantasy game after the release of 8th Edition start to drift back now that new Army Books are being released. Effectively will the March release of Orcs & Goblins and the May release of Tomb Kings provide the bridge for them to re-enter the fold?
GW Game Designers Try to Address the Gap Between 7th and 8th Edition Fantasy Players
Well, the answer should be a resounding “no” but I’m guessing the reality might be a more muted “yes”, for some.
Why do I say it should be “no”?
Well nothing has changed in the game with the release of the new book(s). All the reasons they gave for walking away from 8th Edition are still there:
• Pre-measuring
• The impact of “big” magic
• The supposed demise of redirecting
• A greater potential for uncertainty
• Dislike of scenarios
So it’s hard to see how their perceptions of any of these will be modified by the introduction of the new book(s).
However, I’m guessing that we will start to see a softening of attitudes towards the game. Why? Well because 8th Edition is more fun……certainly than 7th Edition……and despite “The Sundering” it also has a bigger player pool. What will this mean? Well over time I think we’ll see the disaffected start to drift back to the game despite the “flaws” they identified still being there. In part this will be because of the release of a new book for an army that they have a part of their gaming history invested in.
But then I don’t think I was Nostrodamus when I suggested that 8 months ago.
GW Game Designers Try to Address the Gap Between 7th and 8th Edition Fantasy Players
Well, the answer should be a resounding “no” but I’m guessing the reality might be a more muted “yes”, for some.
Why do I say it should be “no”?
Well nothing has changed in the game with the release of the new book(s). All the reasons they gave for walking away from 8th Edition are still there:
• Pre-measuring
• The impact of “big” magic
• The supposed demise of redirecting
• A greater potential for uncertainty
• Dislike of scenarios
So it’s hard to see how their perceptions of any of these will be modified by the introduction of the new book(s).
However, I’m guessing that we will start to see a softening of attitudes towards the game. Why? Well because 8th Edition is more fun……certainly than 7th Edition……and despite “The Sundering” it also has a bigger player pool. What will this mean? Well over time I think we’ll see the disaffected start to drift back to the game despite the “flaws” they identified still being there. In part this will be because of the release of a new book for an army that they have a part of their gaming history invested in.
But then I don’t think I was Nostrodamus when I suggested that 8 months ago.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Equinox Fantasy - Round 3 and Wrap-up
Game 3: Derick Williams (Lizardmen)
Mission: Dawn Attack
Oldblood on Carnosaur
Scar vet, BSB
Skink Priest
20 Saurus, FC
20 Saurus, FC, Spears
30 ish skinks w 2 Krox, FC
Steg
3 Terradons
Ancient Steg
2 Sallies
2 Razordons
I'd never played Derick before, and this looked like it could be tough. I know from playing Dark Elves that Saurus do bad things to elves, as do Salamanders. Stegs are hard to kill and dish out the pain when they charge, but at least there was no Life magic to heal them up. I think I rolled up Miasma, Enfeebling, Pendulum and Mindrazor as my spells.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Review - Army Builder – A Tool Every Gamer Should Have
Army Builder, the list building software from www.wolflair.com is probably the one gaming tool everybody should have. It is as critical as dice, tape measure and template in the greater scheme of things.
Essentially it is a software interface that lets you build your list and generate a roster without needing to go through a labourious spreadsheet process. Oh, I know there are going to be those that say “I can do all this on Excel and it doesn’t cost me a cent” and yes you are right, however look at the features you get with Army Builder:
• Multi-system software
• Monthly updates for new codexes/army books/bugs
• Multiple output options
Army Builder works on a license basis (USD 29.95 per year) but with the appropriate datafiles (free) you get access to all the armies in the system. The software allows you to build your list to a given points value and has an in-built validation system that checks that you satisfy all list criteria and importantly don’t break any of the list rules. There is no chance to generate a list with multiple Arcane Items or for your BSB to have a Magic Banner as well as Magic Items, to name two common list mistake.
As a TO I commonly use the system to validate participants’ lists and in the past five years and almost 1000 lists, Army Builder may have had a “bug” less than 10 times. Where else would you get 99.9% reliability?
Army Builder lets you build your own lists and easily change items and units at a keystroke. It is a great tool if you are thinking of a new army but want to play around with lists before you commit.
Seriously if there is one purchase you make this year then Army Builder should be it.
Essentially it is a software interface that lets you build your list and generate a roster without needing to go through a labourious spreadsheet process. Oh, I know there are going to be those that say “I can do all this on Excel and it doesn’t cost me a cent” and yes you are right, however look at the features you get with Army Builder:
• Multi-system software
• Monthly updates for new codexes/army books/bugs
• Multiple output options
Army Builder works on a license basis (USD 29.95 per year) but with the appropriate datafiles (free) you get access to all the armies in the system. The software allows you to build your list to a given points value and has an in-built validation system that checks that you satisfy all list criteria and importantly don’t break any of the list rules. There is no chance to generate a list with multiple Arcane Items or for your BSB to have a Magic Banner as well as Magic Items, to name two common list mistake.
As a TO I commonly use the system to validate participants’ lists and in the past five years and almost 1000 lists, Army Builder may have had a “bug” less than 10 times. Where else would you get 99.9% reliability?
Army Builder lets you build your own lists and easily change items and units at a keystroke. It is a great tool if you are thinking of a new army but want to play around with lists before you commit.
Seriously if there is one purchase you make this year then Army Builder should be it.
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