Saturday, December 29, 2012

Building a Better City from the Ground Up Part 2

In the last article I talked about how I've wanted to take the Cities of Death experience and make it feel more like you're battling in an actual city rather than a haphazard maze of buildings and detritus. I started off the project by discussing the movement trays that I built to contain my buildings. Today I'm working on painting some of those movement trays so lets take a look. Now I will note that this is all probably much easier with an airbrush but since my first attempt airbrushing something a few years ago was a complete failure, I haven't touched it since. Instead, I do layers of over brushing and dry brushing combined with washes to create the look of my sidewalks. Here's a quick overview:
To start I painted the entire base with black paint. I did this by hand because spray paint would melt my exposed foamcore sides.
Next I over brushed dark grey. I used Americana brand Graphite colored craft paint. Essentially its Abaddon Black mixed with a lighter grey.
 Next I dry brushed Apple Barrel brand Blue Stoneware over that. Think something along the lines of The Fang - a dark blue/grey.
Then I dry brushed again with Apple Barrel brand Country Grey. This is more of a black based grey akin to Dawnstone or Administratum Grey.
This next layer was a mix of a bunch of colors to approximate Bleached Bone/Ushabti Bone.
To help pick out the sidewalk blocks and add a level of realism I washed Gryphonne Sepia into the cracks though any brown wash would do.
To strengthen that definition and add more detail to the gravel patches I then washed the cracks and gravel with Badab Black/Nuln Oil.It should be noted that the dark grey dome will get hit with some sort of metallic and highlighted but this movement tray is essentially done. 
This is the layout of this particular tournament board. As you can see there are an assortment of different sized trays in various states of completion. Essentially there are two that need the full treatment starting with over brushing/dry brushing, and the rest just need various levels of detailing.
Here's a close-up of a major intersection. The two lane highway has Imperial Eagle decals for added effect, and the narrower street actually has little red arrow decals to show the direction of traffic. The crosswalks and lane dividers are not actually painted on either. They are strips of card stock I glued down because I didn't feel like messing with stenciling them on. To blend it all together various greys were stippled over the lines and decals.
You'll notice in these pictures shading in the gutters. I washed Badab Black along the gutters and added some random staining in the streets. As I work along other splashes of black, brown, and green wash will be added to represent various types of street filth. 
What do you think so far? Does it feel more like a cityscape?

In part 3 I'll talk about detailing the buildings and stretching the value of your Cities of Death buildings. Thanks for reading. -Nick

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Reblog: Building a Better City From the Ground Up Part 1


In May of 2009 I composed this blog post and took the below photos. It was supposed to be Part 1 of a series of articles on getting the most out of Cities of Death terrain and attempting to truly capture the "city feel" that I think most city boards lack. Not surprisingly because I work so slowly, I never composed a Part 2 to this article. I've still be working on this concept off and on for 3 years now and as I prepare the 4 Cities of Death boards needed for the 40K Warzone Tournament at Adepticon, I figured I'd resurrect this post rather than rewrite it all over again, starting with the original intro.

The spectacle of the game is one of the most important things to me. As such, city fighting has fantastic opportunities for stunning visuals. One of the principle visual hang ups I have with most city boards is that they don't take into account city blocks and roads. Instead, the board is a haphazard collection of buildings randomly spaced about creating a maze of totally irregular fire lanes. These boards are very suitable for game play but they just don't convey the same feel I get from walking the streets of Chicago.

When I am out and about I think about terrain a lot. I look at the architecture around me and I pick out details that can be translated into the game board. After much analysis I decided that my randomly sized city buildings, however nice, were no longer suitable as they were. I needed to create city blocks. The solution I came up with was movement trays for my buildings. Though I'm actually a lot further along in the process of making these city blocks, I have only really spent the last couple of days detailing out the city block movement trays themselves so I took some step by step photos.
The above picture shows a piece of 1/8" masonite or hardboard cut to 24"x12". My city blocks currently are in 24"x12" and 12"x12" sections to start. To frame in the movement try I have applied strips of 1" wide foam core. You will also notice the 1"x1" gap in this photo. That space was left so that I can later create 1"x1" bases for sign posts, street lamps, statues, and the like.
The next picture is a close up of the sidewalk tiling. I cut 1"x1" squares out of card stock and glued them down. Sidewalks are rarely perfect so every so often I cut the 1" square into 2-3 pieces and glued them down to create cracks in the sidewalk.
This corner is heavily damaged. I actually am running low on foam core so I used some scraps that were not perfect. In beat up older neighborhoods like mine, cement this busted up happens occasionally. In the grim darkness of the 41st millennium where there is only war, I'm sure its the norm. You might notice I threw in some sprue offcuts under the sand.
Another broken section of sidewalk - again with sprue offcuts. Notice how I didn't let the sand extend onto the bare masonite in the center as that would prevent the buildings from sitting flat.
Its the little details that bring a piece of scenery to life. This random piece of plastic I beam that was laying on the table was promptly glued down onto the sidewalk when I saw it sitting there. After it sat for a moment I went back, added a bit more watered down white glue and sprinkled some sand around it.
In one of my terrain boxes I have an old Soy Yogurt cut labeled "dome things". This random plastic "dome" was glued down to represent some sort of waste water access. Again, just a sparse sprinkle of sand was added around it.
Here is a photo of the movement try with it filled with buildings. The fit was a little snug so the two large Chicago style "3 flats" a leaning out. I need to trim the ruined building at the end like 1/16" to take that pressure off. You will notice a couple of rings. Those are man holes. I have another Soy Yogurt cup labeled "ring things" and these metal rings were glued down and then card stock circles were glued into the center of each as covers.Here's the same block shot from the left. The large ruin was a building made before I standardized the bases for the movement trays so I literally glued the hardboard base onto a properly sized pink foam base and added sidewalk tiling to make it seem like the it was actually deliberate.
I don't want to get into the manufacture of the specific buildings in this first part of the article but I wanted to show how each of the building sections is on a semi-standardized base that is then dropped onto the movement tray, allowing for different looking city blocks to be set up each time.In my Chicago neighborhood there are vacant lots interspersed between buildings on most blocks. Some of them are makeshift parks or community gardens and others are just overgrown detritus collectors. Sometimes they are fenced in, sometimes there are walls, and other times they are wide open. This represents what was likely once one of the nicer vacant lots on the block - probably a community garden or tiny park.When placed together you can see how the movement tray creates a more genuine looking city block.

Okay, so that's pretty much it from the original article. Part 2 will continue onward with the "From the Ground Up" and focus more on the movement trays themselves as they are base coated, painted, and laid out on the board along with thoughts on the streets themselves.
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Thanks for reading. xNickBaranx

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Overwhelmed by Projects: Adepticon and Wreck-Age

I've been really quiet lately but it hasn't been because I haven't been hobby-ing it up. I actually have been so buried in projects that finding time to blog about it all has been difficult.

Here's a quick run down of what's going on...

Adepticon
Base coating building movement trays for the city buildings. The borders are strips that are separated into 1"x1" sidewalk blocks.
Most of my time lately has been spent on preparing for Adepticon - specifically the 40K Warzone Tournament. I had started work fleshing out the rules and gathering the stratagems I wanted to use as far back as July, but then I needed something functional submitted to Mr. Matt Weeks for them to post up. I'm pleased with myself because the event I ran last year I was still working everything out up right up until Adepticon weekend. This year I had the main body of work submitted before most everyone else. You can see the complete tournament rules and a sample scenario here:

40K Warzone Tournament Rules

By the end of January I'd like to have the complete scenarios up as well as the special rules for each table. The 40K Warzone Tournament is largely about battling under unique and interesting conditions that you don't encounter in a standard game. I want people to be able to show up and have a fun time and not be blindsided by a bunch of special rules or random charts they weren't prepared for so I want everything available to the players in advance.

In addition to all of the nuts and bolts aspects of the event I am attempting to provide all of the tables and scenery for the event. Luckily I have a foundation built up between my personal tables and the tables I started making for last year's event so I should be in good shape - I hope.

Once all of that essential stuff is out of the way, then I can start working on my Orks and Tomb Kings for the two events I'm signed up to play in - 40K Combat Patrol and Warhammer Fantasy It's How You Use It.

Wreck-Age

Long time readers will know that I've painted a few Wreck-Age models. The guys at Hyacinth Games live 4 blocks away from me and I've known them for years. Crunch time is upon them to crank out their debut edition of the game so they've been coming over weekly to do some play testing of scenarios and to discuss mechanics and the like. I've really been enjoying myself. I've always been a rule tinker and I'm excited to lend my input and time to help them get their game off the ground. Here's some game shots from this week (Note: This is my scenery but not my models.):
Staker Outrider scanning the darkness for my Drifter scum during a Night Raid mission.
One of my Bacon Bombs barrels passed his Staker Guard and assail the Staker Outpost, only to meander about in blind boar rage because the Drifter Handler was gunned down before he could press the detonator. 
Expect a lot more info and photos as the countdown to Adepticon progresses - that is if I can find the time to blog between projects.

-Nick

PS. If you missed it check out my guest editorial on BoLS that ran last Friday December 7th. Some Tournament Organizers and players want the tournament circuit to play under strict adherence to the "Eternal War" portion of the 40K rule book and others want to completely strip out the randomness that is somewhat common place in 6th Edition. People refer to these camps of thought as "True 6th Edition" and "40K 5.1". I think both camps are engaging in some half baked zealotry. I've always liked tournaments for new scenarios, awesome tables, beautiful armies, and unique experiences so trying to get everyone to support one camp or the other just seems wrong, so I spoke up about it. Enjoy!

The Search for "True 6th Edition"

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Crimson Fist Storm Talon

Hey All, So, wow adepticon huh.. crazy how fast things sell out these days.. seems like when i first attended 5 or 6 years ago there were team tournament slots open right up until almost the weekend of the event. Thats great for them though.. sadly, my being out west and being currently unemployed and *** see very bottom of this post *** Saw Nicks last post here and his event sound so very much fun! actually last year i didn't attend the championships or the team tourney and i think had an even better time attending smaller events. I wish you the best Nick, the storm of vengeance was a blast last year! Alas, i am still buying toys soldiers left and right even if i am not currently gaming... Here is my converted Storm Talon. Lots of green stuff to fill big gaps. still not 100% sold on it, but i think it looks a ton better than the stock model (obviously IMO!) Also, bought the ork bomba too, so maybe that will be coming up the pipe next
As always too, i notice how slightly crappy my paint job is as soon as i photograph it.. eh.. oh well! Primed it on a very hot day and the primer just cracked and left crazy creases all over it, so just said oh well on this one. In other news.... Just bought a Coronado 25ft sailboat, that needs some love and care and most likely most of my winter... hopefully will still try and find some time to get some 40k in!!!!

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Adepticon Pre-Registration Coming Soon and Other Musings.


Today is November 8th, 2012 and according to Adepticon.org we are 161 Days away from Adepticon. Additionally, the Pre-Registration Shopping Cart goes live on Monday November 12th at 7PM CST. What does this all mean? Well, it's time to start thinking about Adepticon 2013 and making plans.

It just so happens that I started putting together a new event for this year a couple of months ago. Its an idea I had been kicking around for a couple of years, and I think it will be a lot of fun. But before I get to that I want to talk about the events I want to participate in.

A lot of the events are already populated in the shopping cart and you can get an idea of when they are scheduled for and what they entail. Adepticon has been pushed to 4 full days of gaming this year so that means our heads are going to explode with all of the options, so I want to talk about some of my favorites:


This event runs a couple of times Adepticon weekend. I participated in it last year and it was the most fun I had all weekend. It had a lighthearted atmosphere, it was only 1000 points, my opponents were fine and accommodating with me even though I hadn't played Warhammer since 6th Edition. If you've got a Fantasy army that never seems to come off the shelf, bring it and play in this event. Personally, I have a Warsphinx I bought just for this year that's still in the box. Hopefully I can find the time to pull it out and paint it up.


I honestly haven't played Necromunda in over 10 years. I doubt I remember how any of the mechanics work. But! Depending on what Hobby Seminars get scheduled Thursday night I might just dust off the Cawdor models and bring them along. Necromunda was the first GW game I became completely immersed in honestly. I had been playing Warhammer and dabbled with 40K but they didn't fully suck me in. Necromunda honestly showed me that the bigger games could be just as immersive and it was after my love affair with Necromunda that I truly fell in love with 40K. As I said though, whether I participate in this is dependent on Hobby Seminars and any schedule shuffling. Its not a top priority.


This is my baby - I'll be running it. I'll talk about that in detail at the end of this article.


If this event wasn't taking place during the exact same time slot that mine is, I would be way into participating. This event sounds exactly like how tournaments used to be - lighthearted with cool scenarios. This is some of what I'm trying to bring back with my own event. It'll be hard to compete with this event but with 800 40K players in a room I guess I'll be okay.


Now here is an event that I am glad is running several times over the weekend because it also overlaps with mine and honestly, I'm losing my mind over the prospect of participating. What are the selling points for me? It uses the Zone Mortalis 40K Expansion rules. Unlike a lot of 40K players on the internet who whine and complain about the 40K expansions, I absolutely love them. When Cites of Death came out I lived and breathed it for a year. Way back in 2nd Edition when Arid Terrain rules were printed in Citadel Journal, I lived and breathed that for 6 months of near daily gaming. I love being put into new situations and environments that add depth. The next selling point is that Brian from Gentleman's Ones is running it and making the tables. For those that don't know he ran the Killzone event the last 2 years at Adepticon and made all of the most gorgeous tables you saw at Adepticon both years. Needless to say, this is the event I am most excited for because if there are two things I love about the hobby its 1) Playing in cool environments and scenarios and 2) Playing on gorgeous terrain. For me this is the must attend event of Adepticon 2013.


I'm really looking forward to what my friends at Hyacinth Games are cooking up. Once again, Brian from Gentleman's Ones who is now part of the Hyacinth team is making the tables so I know they will be beautiful and Wreck Age is a really interactive game that keeps all of the players engaged constantly. Plus, I only need to bring 3 models? Sure, count me in.


The 400 point classic tournament many have come to know and love - myself included. I was planning on this being my go to 40K event this year that I was going to put a lot of time and energy into preparing for until the Zone Mortalis event jumped in the way and hit me like a truck. I'm still excited for some Combat Patrol, but I'll worry about those models after I complete my boarding party.

Sunday has a hodge podge of cool stuff with more Zone Mortalis, Combat Patrol, and a BattleFleet Gothic tournament that might suck me in. We'll see. So many options!

Okay, so with all of that excitement out of the way, let's talk about the Warhammer 40K Warzone tournament that I will be running. And since I only have 4 days to get the organizers everything for my pre-reg cart info, I'd love to get some feedback and discussion going. 


"Hello all! I am running a tournament event at Adepticon this year and I am looking for some last minute thoughts and assistance before I hand in my finalized rules. This is a very non-standard tournament. It is 1000 points with a 250 point side board, it uses stratagems, it has the possibility of attacker/defender scenarios based on match ups, and the 4 boards each person will play on will be greatly varied from very open terrain to very dense terrain. If you like the 40K Expansions and unique environments of play, you will hopefully dig this event. This is the sort of event I would like to play in and I'm hoping others will find it entertaining and fun as well. Below are the basic rules first, and then a list of Stratagems. After reading through everything I'm looking for the following insights:

1) Are any Stratagems overpowered? And in what ways would you suggest to tone them down?
2) Are there any Stratagems that I omitted that you really enjoyed using in your games at home that you feel should be here?
3) Are there any "no brainers" or Stratagems you'd never take?
4) I never address Warlord Traits. Do you think they should be included or would only further muddle the special rules you would have to remember each game?

Thanks in advance. Read on and please hit me with as much useful feedback as you can. Thanks! 

-Nick" 

40K Warzone Tournament
Throughout the galaxy the forces of the Imperium and their foes wage battle across every imaginable war zone - arctic tundra, ash wastes, cavernous space hulks, jungle death worlds, cities in flames, and former paradises ground down to nothing but endless lines of muddy trenches. The nature of the field of battle is as much the concern of warlords, generals, and entities as are the enemies they fight. But what would you do when you were forced to battle your way across a near featureless desert, and every scrap of cover is so important that they are objectives in and of themselves? How would your masses of troops fare when cornered on a narrow street and faced with the billowing flamers of the enemy? Can you dig yourself in enough to withstand an orbital bombardment from your enemy? The 40K Warzone Tournament will force you to ask yourself these questions. How will my forces and generalship stand up to battling my enemies across 4 varied and unique war zones?

The 40K Warzone Tournament is meant to present a new challenge for 40K players coming from both tournament and narrative predilections, and is meant for fans of 40K Expansions like Cities of Death, Planetstrike, and Zone Mortalis. Those familiar with some of those expansions may recognize the concept of Stratagems. This tournament utilizes the Stratagem mechanic and features its own list of available Stratagems to pick from and use.

Each player in the 40K Warzone Tournament must bring a force of up to 1000 points with an additional side board of up to 250 points. Every general may also select 1 Stratagem from the provided list. All Stratagems must be properly modeled to be used in play and please be certain to read the Stratagem fully as some have changed slightly from their original GW published versions.

The 4 Warzones featured this year will be an arid desert wasteland, a city on fire, a ship or space station zone mortalis, and a muddy trench battle under punishing bombardment.

General Rules and Restrictions:
- Select a 1000 point army adhering to one of the 3 FOC Charts listed below with a 250 point side board that stays within the constraints of your chosen FOC.
- Pick and model 1 Stratagem from the provided list.
- Allies are legal.
- Fortifications are not legal. (Its hard/dumb to drop a bastion in the middle of a series of tunnels or a dense city.)
- 1 Imperial Armour unit is allowed per player.
- You must select and comply with one of these Variant FOCs.
Combatant FOC: 2 HQ, 2 Elites, 2 Fast Attack, 3 Troops, and 1 Heavy Support.
Attacker FOC: 2 HQ, 3 Elites, 2 Fast Attack, 3 Troops, and 1 Heavy Support.
Defender FOC: 2 HQ, 2 Elite, 1 Fast Attack, 4 Troops, and 2 Heavy Support.
- There are no restrictions on what you can bring, but understand that a Flyer, Landraider, or Battlewagon will probably be useless in the corridors of a zone mortalis and will not be able to be fielded on that table. Infantry, walkers, jump troops, and light vehicles should compose the majority of your forces. Save your large vehicles for your side board or leave them home all together.

Scenarios and Tables:
- Every Warzone table will have a name and 2 laminated cards.
- The Scenario Card will be double sided and have two scenarios on it to choose from. One will be a standard scenario. The other would be an attacker/defender scenario. The scenario card will explain how to determine your scenario.
- The Special Rules Card will have all of the Warzone special rules and classifications for every piece of terrain on the board so that the pre-game terrain discussion can be skipped/shortened to make more time for game play.
- Scenarios and Special Rules will be posted in advance. It is highly recommended that you read through your Rule Pack in advance of not only the tournament, be previous to making your list.
- Table size will vary based upon the Warzone being fought over.

Awards:
- Best General (battle points acrued)
- Best Painted (highest painting score)
- Best Sportsman (highest sportsmanship score)
- Best Overall (highest combined score)

Stratagem List

DIRTY TRICKS
Booby Traps
-D3+3 booby trap markers may be placed in any terrain feature that a model can reasonably enter (city ruins, forest, fortifications, trench lines, swamps, etc) on the table not within the enemy's deployment zone.

-Should the terrain feature in which the marker is placed be removed or destroyed, the marker itself is lost along with it.

-The player controlling the booby trap may choose to trigger it when any enemy model or unit moves through the terrain feature where it is placed. Roll a D6: on a 4+, the booby trap is triggered. On any other result it is removed as a dud. The owner of the target unit must choose a single model (Note: this should be the front model as per 6th Edition) which takes a Strength 8 hit, at AP 2, with no Cover Save allowed. Booby traps only work once the attack has been made. Vehicles hit take the damage against their front armor.

-Booby traps only affect the level of the terrain piece that they are on. For example, a booby trap set on the 2nd floor of a ruined building only affects models that move onto the 2nd floor.

-Objective markers cannot be booby trapped unless they are place within a piece of terrain that can be booby trapped. Mysterious Terrain can be booby trapped, and it will not interfere with its pre-existing Mysterious properties.

Demolition
-The Demolition stratagem is declared during the Deploment phase as normal, but its target is kept secret until the stratagem is actually used. The target can be any terrain piece not in the opponents deployment zone or it can be any underground or shipboard passage.

-The player writes down the target area, and the turn in which the demolition will occur. This is kept secret to be revealed when that turn arrives.

-In the player's own Shooting phase of the nominated turn, roll a D6. On a 1, the device is a dud and does not explode. On any other result, the piece of terrain is destroyed and replaced with suitable rubble or wreckage with a smoke cloud.

-The cloud of smoke is so dense that it confers a 5+ Cover Save for any models behind it.

Nick. Compare “Destroying City Ruins” CoD 37 to 6th Edition building rules.

Fog of War
-Your enemy is not expecting to be attacked and are not sure of your positions. On the first game turn enemy units may only shoot or assault normally if they first pass a Leadership test in order to do so. If the test is failed they may not do so that turn. Units that failed their roll may fire Snapfire shots but cannot choose to run instead. Units that failed their roll may not make a Fleet move.

Preliminary Bombardment
-After both armies have deployed but before the first turn, roll a D6 for every enemy unit and terrain piece on the tabletop. On a roll of 6, the unit or terrain piece is hit.

-A squad takes D6 Strength 5 AP 4 hits that cause pinning. Cover saves are allowed if the majority of the unit is within area terrain or behind barricades.

-Vehicles struck suffer a Glancing hit on a roll of 4+.

-Vehicles in a squadron are rolled for individually.

-Units that start the game in reserve will not be hit by a Preliminary Bombardment.

-Small terrain pieces, such as sections of razorwire, tank traps, and barricades are removed automatically if hit – replace with a crater if you have one.

-A squad deployed within a building or fortification cannot be targeted, but of course the building or fortification can. If the building or fortification is hit roll a D6. On 1-3 the result is a Breach!, 4-6 the result is a Tremor. Units on the battlements can be targeted as normal.

-If a unit is struck whilst sheltering in a potentially dangerous terrain feature, roll a D6. On a result of 4+, the potentially dangerous terrain feature becomes a dangerous city ruin. These terrain features will be clearly marked during the tournament, but as a general note will be reserved to city ruins, large precarious rock features, forests of massive trees where large dangerous objects could become dislodged and crush those below, and terrain features like fuel and ammo dumps that could be ticking time bombs waiting to explode.

-If a unit is struck while sheltered within underground tunnels or on board a ship, designate a target model the blast is centered on. Roll a D6. On a 1-5 the squad simply takes a pinning test instead of taking casualties for being hit. On a 6 the squad take hits exactly as detailed above. Additionally, the force of the explosion is so strong that every unit friend or foe, within 12” of the target point must also take a Pinning check. Each unit only has to take a single Pinning check during the Preliminary Bombardment.

Slash and Burn
-All pieces of terrain are on fire or are a smoking ruin. Before either side deploys roll a D6 for each piece of area terrain. 1-3 Burning: The area counts as Dangerous Terrain. 4-6 Smoking: Add +1 to the Cover Save of any unit in the terrain.

-Both Burning and Smoking terrain blocks any line of sight that is drawn across and beyond them.

ARMORY

Combat Engineers
This stratagem provides a means of equipping your army with a wide range of combat engineering equipment. This confers all of the rules listed below, regardless of how individual models are equipped.

All Infantry models are equipped as combat engineers. All of the following rules apply, unless the unit is falling back.

- (Nick. Lots of things to check against 6th Edition rules and CoD38)

Flakk Mods
-One unit in your army my grant Interceptor and Skyfire to all of its heavy weapons.

Sacred Totem
-The Sacred Totem must be modeled on a 40mm base and be representative of either a non-combatant of the race or some sort of motive device carrying the Sacred Totem.

-The Sacred Totem can be deployed with a unit at the start of the game or it can be held in Reserve with a unit. If deployed in a Transport it counts as 2 models.

-When the Sacred Totem is deployed or comes on from Reserve roll a D6. 1-2 the unit becomes Fearless. 3-4 the unit has Preferred Enemy. 5-6 the unit gains Furious Charge.

-If the unit with the Sacred Totem is defeated in close combat or the Sacred Totem is destroyed, the entire army becomes -1 Leadership for the rest of the game.

-The Sacred Totem is Infantry, Independent Character, WS/BS 0, Toughness 5, Wounds 2, and has a 4+ Invulnerable Save. As an Independent Character it can leave and join other units and benefits from Look Out Sir.

Siege Shells
-All of your tanks already armed with Strength 10 ordnance blast weapons are equipped with siege shells in addition to their normal ammunition.

-A siege shell's use is declared before firing. It fires with the following profile:
Range 18”, Str 10, AP -, Type Ordnance 1, Blast

-Should the hole in the center of the blast marker land within a Potentially Dangerous scenery piece, it will become Dangerous Terrain on a D6 roll of 4+. If the scenery piece is already Dangerous, it will be destroyed and replaced with rubble on a D6 roll of 4+. Siege shells need not target enemy models – the scenery piece may be the target.

-Siege Shells give you +1 on the Building Damage Table.

Wrecker
-All of your Monstrous Creatures and all models armed with Dreadnought Close Combat Weapons are equipped with wreckers.

-A wrecker-equipped unit that moves into contact with an obstacle may remove it from play on a D6 roll of 4+. It may cause a Potentially Dangerous area of terrain it moves into contact with to become Dangerous Terrain on a roll of 4+, and for Dangerous Terrain to become destroyed on a 4+. Replace the terrain piece with rubble.

-The unit may not shoot, run, or launch an assault on a turn in which the wrecker is used.

-It may be used on a piece of terrain that is occupied by a unit.

DEPLOYMENT
Advanced Reserves
-D3 of your units in Reserve may roll to come in from Reserve on the 1st turn instead of waiting until Turn 2 to roll.

-Reserves that attempt to come in on Turn 1 need to roll a 4+ for their Reserve roll to come on.

Familiar Ground
-All of your units have the Move Through Cover and Scout special rules.

Hidden Deployment
-Calculate how many Hidden Deployment Counters you need. You need at least 1 counter for every unit in your army, including units placed in reserve. Each unit including attached characters should be represented by a Counter for every 10 models (rounding up) it is the equivalent of for Transport purposes, thus a unit of 6 Terminators and Chaplain in Terminator Armor is the equivalent of 14 models. Rounding up it should be represented by 2 Counters. Vehicle Squadrons should be represented by a Hidden Deployment Counter for each vehicle. Additionally, roll D3 and add this amount to your Hidden Deployment Counter total.

-Notate on your army list which counters represent units going into Hidden Deployment and which units are going into Reserves. Any Hidden Deployment Counters not assigned to represent a unit are Dummy Counters.

-Deploy your Hidden Deployment Counters in your deployment zone as if they were units as per the rules of the scenario, grouping all of the Hidden Deployment Counters for a given squad within 3” of each other. Dummy Counters may be added to these groupings to obscure your numbers.

-Hidden units remain Hidden until they take some sort of action in the game (moving, shooting, using psychic powers, etc), or they are charged in hand to hand combat, at which point they are revealed and placed on the table in base to base contact with their Hidden Deployment Counters. Units revealed on the table must be in squad coherency.

-Units under Hidden Deployment can still be affected by Preliminary Bombardment. Only reveal a unit that is hit by the Preliminary Bombardment.

Possibly remove the Preliminary Bombardment rule and add the spotting rules from the rulebook pg 366 (376pdf).

Tunnel Network
-Only Infantry units without a Transport Vehicle may use the Tunnel Network.

-Tunnel Network entrances are placed before sides are selected. D3+3 Tunnel Entrance Markers are placed anywhere on the table at ground level.

-Infantry placed in Reserve must declare if they are coming onto the table from the Tunnel Network during deployment.

-When Infantry in Reserve become available, they may move onto the table via a Tunnel Network Marker as if it were a table edge, so long as there are no enemy models within 1” of it. They may not launch an assault on the turn they arrive.

-Should only one player take advantage of this stratagem then only that player will be able to deploy via the Tunnel Network Markers. If both take it, then both may use any Tunnel Network Marker on the Table.

-If more reserve units come available than there are Tunnel Network Markers from which they can deploy, they are not deployed that turn. Roll for each unit again next turn.

-Only one unit may deploy from each Tunnel Network Marker per turn.

OBSTACLES
Obstacles can be placed anywhere on the table.

A player using Barricades, Razor Wire, or Tank Traps, but not Minefields, gets D3+3 sections of whichever type is chosen, and each Obstacle can be up to 6” long and no more than 1” wide.

Barricades
-Barricades are allocated as Obstacles.

-Barricades provide a 4+ Cover Save.

-Barricades are difficult terrain.

-Barricades are difficult ground for all vehicles apart from skimmers and fliers, but are removed from play if passed through by a non-skimmer vehicle.

-Barricades otherwise follow the standard rules in the 6th Edition rule book.

Razor Wire
-Razor Wire is allocated as Obstacles.

-Razor wire is difficult terrain for all non-vehicle models. Vehicles can drive over razor wire with no effect.

Tank Traps
-Tank traps are allocated as Obstacles.

-Tank traps are impassable to all vehicles except skimmers and fliers.

-They do not affect non-vehicle movement, but provide a 5+ Cover Save for non-vehicle models sheltering behind.

Minefield
-A minefield may be placed when an enemy unit opts to run. All models in the running unit must take a Dangerous Terrain test. You may then place a minefield marker covering 6” x 12” in area encompassing as many members of the target unit as possible. This area is treated as both difficult and dangerous terrain for the rest of the game.

Possibly replace this with the Minefield mechanic from the new rulebook page 366.

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Im back....

Hey there.... Been a quite a few months for me since i've done much of anything 40k related.. sadly, that is... But now i am back from multiple midwest vacations and settling back into modeling and painting and hopefully getting my first 6th edition game in soon! Found a forum for the NW that has been a great resource so far for meeting folks in the area. stoked! Anyhow. recently picked up the choas codex online from GW and in order to get the free shipping, ordered a warpsmith too. This model is incredibly sculpted and easy to put together. I honestly could not really see using it for my deathguard army, but definitely can see some sort of capacity in my guard AdMech army with allies now. So, with a little chopping, sawing, filing, and greenstuffing, its complete.
Might just run as ally detachment as either Techpriest or SM Captain... will see, haven't really done much list building yet. Anyhow, here is one of leaders Also, picked up the dark vengeance box set when it first came out. Might use the cultists as cultists in my DG army, but may also use them as penal legion in my AdMech army or maybe both.. ha..
Here are the rest of the squad
Here is one of the chosen from the box set too
Thats it for now. Have a couple more models coming soon. so stay tuned!!! Cheers, Brose

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Converted Dual Storm Bolter

I own a lot of Rogue Trader era Rhinos. Most of them are in boxes, half converted or in storage bins sitting half painted. To be honest, I've always loved the Rhino in all of its incarnations. With the release of 6th Edition people have fled from mechanized builds feeling that troop transports are too much of a liability with their new limitations on both disembarking and a perceived fragility. My mentality is that I own them, so I'm going to use them, so how do I make them into something more usable?
This is a fraction of what I own of just old school Rhinos..
At the tail end of 5th Edition I had already started to think about doing things a little differently. If I like Rhinos so much and I'm going to use them anyway - why not make them as annoying to the opponent as possible? I decided I wanted to start toying with upgrading them in unconventional ways. My first idea was to pay the 5 points for a Pintle-Mounted Storm Bolter. The single Storm Bolter can add some supporting fire from the Rhino and make it a little more effective, so why not try and improve that effectiveness? For 5 more points I'm essentially adding the fire power of a 15 point Space Marine. Now a Rhino that might get ignored by a savvy player might draw more attention and that might draw fire away from my all important scoring units.

In the spirit of WYSIWYG I usually only ran one of my Rhinos that way because that was the only one that I had set up with 2 Storm Bolters. Well last week I just wanted to convert something. I had this Rogue Trader era Rhino that I had stolen the driver compartment off of a 2nd Edition Sisters of Battle Immolator. The 2nd Edition Immolator traded in the 2 top hatches for a single central hatch with twin linked Heavy Flamer that I had simply replaced with the standard Imperial Storm Bolter hatch. The problem is, if I wanted to double up my Storm Bolters where would I put it?

My solution was to look at the housings on a variety of Space Marine upgrades and build one to hold 2 pairs of Bolters. The Bolters are two pairs of extra Rogue Trader era Rhino Bolters that I trimmed, filed, and pinned on top of each other. I scratch built the housing and decided it needed an ammo feed. I looked at the Attack Bike Heavy Bolter and decided to build a similar box. I had used a hunk of sprue for the center of the box so I filled the angled areas in with green stuff. Here are two angles on the converted Dual Storm Bolter.
I don't think its my best work but I'm a little rusty. I still felt it was cool enough to paint up and use in games. so over the next week it was meticulously painted to my usual standards.
The only thing I messed up on is that the specific Rhino this Dual Storm Bolter was built for was once the subject of a great quandary - dating back before there were pictures of Angels of Absolution vehicles in Forge World books. The question I had asked myself back then was, "Does the wing always face the same direction - feathers to the right? Or does it flip depending on the side of the vehicle its on so that the feathers always point to the back of the vehicle or nearest side?" I ended up learning that it was the latter, but my first inclination so many years ago was to go with the former. So now, when I painted this Angels of Absolution logo I automatically painted it to face the "right way". You will understand better when you see this next photo.
Still, I think it came out pretty cool and it adds a little bit of character to my Rhinos. Around the same time I had the idea to trick out my Rhinos with extra Storm Bolters I started entertaining the idea of alpha striking Rhinos equipped with Hunter Killer Missiles. On one Rhino it seems like a waste of points, and maybe with its single shot it is. But what about if you roll onto the table with 3 or 4 Rhinos, and get off a flurry of HKM's? Or maybe you save them all to late in the game just to force your opponent to focus on those annoying little Rhinos, blocking line of sight, directing focused fire, and harassing their lines? Sounds like fun to me. Maybe these will get some attention next? Just because.
 Let me know what you think. Am I crazy for trying to make these options work? Thanks for reading. -Nick