Update - Masters Armies

Just a heads up on armies for the Masters:

40k

The Chaos codex being released on 8th October will be used at the 5th Annual Masters in December. Participants will have had two months to digest and play the book and that is ample time.

No other books released after 8 October will be used.

Fantasy

The last Fantasy Army Book allowable at the Masters will be the White Dwarf update of the Daemons of Chaos. Although Warriors of Chaos are rumoured for November, one month is insufficient time for everyone to come up to speed.

Hopefully GW will have released FAQs for Vampire Counts and The Empire by that date.

"We Are His Children"

More Emperor's Children info from the new Codex:

Noise Marines:

4 + Noise Champion: 95 pts
Additional Noise Marines: +17 pts

Wargear:

Power Armor
Bolter
Bolt Pistol
Frag & Krak Grenades
*Any model may take a CCW + 2 pts

Sonic Weapons:

Sonic Blasters: +3 pts
* any model may upgrade their bolter to a Sonic blaster

Doom Siren: +15 pts
* the Noise Champion may take a Doom Siren.

Blastermaster: +30 pts
* if the squad number at least 10 models one may upgrade their bolter to a Blastermaster.

Icon of Excess:

FNP +40 pts

Slaanesh Marked Units:

Chaos Marines 15 pt
Terminators 35 pts
Obliterators 74 pts
Havoks 15 pts

So from this it appears that my Noise Bikers, Noise Havoks and Noise Terminators are out - although the Termies and Havoks can be Mark of Slaanesh (as per GTBC). Obviously I'm going to have a lot of spare Blastmasters.   The question comes as to whether rather than using the Chaos Codex that I may be better using Codex:Grey Knights to construct my EC. Certainly it allows me to create both Noise Terminators and Noise Havoks with Psycannons filling the Blastmaster role and the Sonics reduced to Storm Bolters.   Alternatively I can look at running Noise Marines - dropping the Blastermaster from my 6 man squads - and allying in Daemonettes.   Only 8 days until the book comes out

Review - Sarissa Precision Movement Trays

A couple of weeks ago I decided that rather than recycle my old movement trays - mostly Back2Bas-ix and Warpuppy - I would buy new trays to fit the current army builds for Daemons, Lizards and Night Goblins.

Looking around on the net and having listened to a few reviews I started looking at the trays made by Sarissa Precision in the UK. At around the same time James brought his High Elves over and he was using the product.

I jumped on their website to check them out and found that they offer two options - basic movement trays and the same with custom cut bases included.

 Here are the trays and the custom cut bases

Firstly, the website was a joy to use. Everything is clearly laid out with different tray types having a dropdown menu where you can specifiy the exact size tray that you want. If you want horde trays for Bloodletters, you can get them; Skirmish trays for Screamers, yep again you can order them.

In the end I ordered 29 trays - from Horde to Skirmish (11 Daemons, 9 Night Goblin, 9 Lizards) - all for under NZD 200 including postage. Their prices are just about the cheapest on the market particularly when you take into account the degree of customability on offer.

Postage is very cheap GBP 2.50 flat for under GBP 50.00, free above. I made three separate orders - paying GBP 7.50 I didn't have to - but I was keen to get each order as soon as it was in stock.

I needn't have bothered. All three orders were on my doorstep four days after ordering. Given they came from the UK that speed of service is staggering.

The trays arrive with each size in its individual plastic bag

Onto the trays themselves. Three things appealed to me when I saw them. Firstly, they are complete trays with lips on all four sides. A lot of alternatives e.g. Back2Bas-ix are three sided being open to the rear. There are benefits to this however I believe four sided look "smarter". Secondly, the tray comes as two piece - top and bottom - rather than multi-part where you have to put the lip/top together. Again given these have been precision cut they look neater and have less potential for variation from square. Finally being supplied as atop and bottom you can put your steel paper as a layer between the top and bottom rather than cutting it to fit inside the lip. Again this gives a neater finish.

Overall I am very happy with the purchase. They score well on Product, Price, Service and Postage. I can't recommend them more highly.



Bad Moon Rising!!!!

So I have put together my list for the Night Goblins tomorrow:

Black Orc Warboss (General) - and Shaman's Minder!!!!!
Level 4 NG Great Shaman

NG Big Boss BSB
NG Shaman

49 Night Goblins - Full Command, Nets, 2x Fanatics
49 Night Goblins - Full Command, Nets, 2x Fanatics
20 Night Goblins - Muso, Bow, 1x Fanatic
20 Night Goblins - Muso, Bow, 1x Fanatic
20 Night Goblins - Muso, Bow, 1x Fanatic

Squig Herd - 18 Squigs, 12 Handlers
Squig Herd - 18 Squigs, 12 Handlers

Doom Diver
Doom Diver
Mangler Squig
Pump Wagon
Anarkarok Spider

I am going to get slaughtered but they should be fun.

Armies on parade will be 2x Dark Elves, High Elves, Daemons, Warriors, Beasts, Lizards and one unknown (Peter W)

Four Weeks to Skitterleap

Less than a month to Skitterleap and the field has expanded to 24 people. I'm hoping that it will push up towards 30 over the next couple of weeks to end the tournament season on a high.

It will be the fourth tournament in Wellington this year - Runefang, Horned Rat Gobbo, Call to Arms were the others - and all will have had a field of two dozen. This is encouraging and shows that we are building a base of tournament goers.

A New Warriors of Chaos?

The drums have been beating quite loudly over the past week that the November release will be an update to "Warriors of Chaos". The expectation is that this means a new book - and certainly that would be the preferred option for the Fantasy base - but GW surprised with the Daemons update. With so much time being expended on 40k and with The Hobbit to hit before year end, you can't rule out another White Dwarf fix-it.

My own feelings are that I'd be surprised if it is anything less than a full book. Though not to the same extent as with 40k, Chaos mortals are a key tenet of the Warhammer lore.

So what would we expect to see in a new Chaos book. Well a few fixes immediately spring to mind:

• A reason to take Marks other than Tzeentch. Yes, you see some Marauders and Warriors marked Khorne and Marauder Horse marked Slaanesh but Tzeentch is the predominant Mark.
• This extends to characters where the Disk Lord/Sorceror Lord is the mainstay in most armies
• A fix for Forsaken. A skirmisher troop type is a great idea and certainly in keeping with the fluff, however the Forsaken are probably the unit least seen in the whole of Warhammer Fantasy (even Razordons get more love).
• The Eye of the Gods table needs to be fixed - not the concept but the mechanics. How often before a game do you hear "You go and get a coffee while I work out what my Chosen are".
• I'd like to see Dragon Ogres get some love so they can fill the role of fast moving monsters ala Mournfang/Demigryphs rather than people papering over cracks with Knight bus solution. The knight bus is impenetratable to some armies and so consigns games to borefest from outset - especially if combined with...
• Two Warshrines. The Chaos Rare needs some love. Upgrade the Shaggoth or introduced a new monster. Chaos Rare at the moment is 2x Warshrines (usually marked Tzeentch) or two Hellcannons if the comp lets you.
• Chaos seem to be poster boys for the SPCA, they are the only people concerned when their dogs die. Animal lovers yes, but I question the need for a Panic Check.

The one thing I'd hate to see removed is the Infernal puppet. I think it is a great part of the list and a fantastic leveller in the magic stakes. Hope it is perservered with.

So what do you want to see with Chaos?

My 40k Chaos Armies

Starting with my Emperor's Children and Death Guard, it appears that the new 6th Ed codex is broadly in line with the Gav Thorpe's Bastard Child version.

Noise Marines and Plague Marines can be taken as Troops if you take Lucius (EC) or Typhus (DG) or a Marked Lord as your HQ.

Unfortunately it appears that Noise Havoks have gone and there is no capacity for sonic upgrades on anything but Noise Marines. So that Noise Biker squad I have is still a non-starter. However it does appear you can mark Oblits - Mark of nurgle looks a given.

However the saddest thing is that it appears Cult Terminators missed the cut. Yes you can take Marked Termies but that doesn't give you weapon options (EC) or FNP (DG).

Does anybody know anything specific on options around these two armies?

Skitterleap Shakeout

This weekend I have a few out of towners and a few locals coming around for some games of Warhammer Fantasy. The premise is an opportunity for people to get some practice in for Skitterleap which is little over four weeks away.


From out of town we have the Williamsons and Sam Whitt and the locals are James, Hagen, Tom and myself.

It will be interesting to see what armies are on show. By my reckoning it will be:

Neil – Brets

Peter – who knows but hopefully Tomb Kings

Sam – Dark Elves

Hagen – Lizards

James – High Elves

Tom – Daemons (new army book update)

Myself – Night Goblins

The aim is to get through a couple of games each so people can iron the kinks out of their lists.

Forgeworld in 40k

I've always been pretty permissive with Forgeworld in the tournaments that I run and to date have had no problems. At this year's "Fields of Blood" a few people brought Forgeworld models and there were no outcries.

Is there anything in the Imperial Armour books that you think you could bring to a 1500 point game and it would be completely unbeatable? I don't mean couldn't be killed, rather given missions and normal list requirements would unduly advantage you?

Want to hear people's thoughts.

The Dea(r)th of Fantasy FAQs

One area where Games Workshop improved between 2010 and 2011 was in the release of FAQs. The release of a new Army Book was followed with a comprehensive FAQ three to four months later that addressed all the points not identified in their in-house playtesting.


This was great and certainly addressed one of the previous points of contention that had been aimed at GW. People felt that the Studio had turned over a new – proactive – leaf and that this was their path for the future.

Unfortunately, winter has returned.

The Vampire Count book was released in January 2012 and The Empire book in April 2012 and to date we have had no FAQ for either tome. This isn’t because there aren’t issues, you can check out a summary of the VC ones here and The Empire here.

It is really sad that there has been a return to the old ways and I can only hope that GW see that releasing timely FAQs is not only a easy means to keep customers happy but also an integral part of their customer service premise.