Escalation and Stronghold Assault

NDG  here in Chicago got in Escalation and Stronghold Assault yesterday and I've been really intrigued to look at both of them.

Escalation is Apocalypse-Lite. GW wants us all to own and play with Super-Heavies even if we don't play Apoc scale games, so they expanded the force org to include a 3rd optional category called Lords of War (the other two being Allies and Fortifications).

The goal is to make it legal to play these in standard pick up games without all of the fanfare and set up of Apocalypse. To balance it out, if you don't field a Lord of War and your opponent does you get a +1 to your Seize the Initiative roll. Additionally, an additional secondary object/source of victory points (similar to Line Breaker and First Blood) appears to give you a VP just for doing 3 Hull Points in damage to the Super-Heavy.

Its not like a typical Expansion book in that there are no Stratagems or other additional layers of the game to pick and choose from added. Instead, there's a Lord of War Warlord Traits table you can optionally roll on and a bunch of new scenarios to choose from, but it is made very clear that playing these models in standard rule book missions is fine, and these missions are just to expand your options for themed conflict.

Its a savvy move to try and sell big kits to people who cap their games at 2000 points. All of the data sheets appear to be the same as Apocalypse, and D weapons remain unchanged. This just allows you to access all of that information without owning the Apocalypse book.

Stronghold Assault is a much shorter book and is much more in the vein of Cities of Death and Planet Strike.

Once again they are trying to get you to purchase more kits, this time the scenery ones. It provides you with the data sheets for all of the Fortification related scenery kits and gives you new combos. It also introduces 3 new ones with no art/photos and thus, NO KIT TO SELL US. This was a huge surprise to me with GW's recent policy of not introducing army list options without kits.

Unlike Escalation which is clearly trying to get you to play standard 40K with Lords of War, this book is approached knowing full well that you're already using Fortifications in your games (at least Aegis Defense Lines anyway) and then gives you a bunch of new scenarios to play in order to play out Siege battles. So its kind of like Planet Strike without the grandeur and additional set up. You pay your points for your Fortifications, pick a mission, and play. Its not like learning a new system and all sorts of funky rules EXCEPT! The Building rules are expanded to make using the new kits even more clear.

From the 4th Edition 40K Rule Book under "Raid Missions". Raids used Sentries, Hidden Set Up, and Divided Forces. Other 4th Edition Raids included Sabotage and Ambush. There were also Breakthrough and Special Missions, each with their own FOC charts. Most players ignored these parts of the book I think. I LOVED those parts of the book.

This book plays into a certain nostalgia for me as it resurrects a handful of old scenarios like Strongpoint Attack and Break Through from the 3rd and 4th Edition 40K Rule Books. I always loved the scenarios in the back of the book more than the tired Standard missions you play all the time.

Overall, I think both books are really cool. I have a Baneblade and a Stompa kit waiting for my attention but I'm not sure they'll get paint just yet. If a plastic Thunderhawk was released beside this book, that would have been a different story. I'd probably be writing this while foaming at the mouth.

The book I was less excited for, Stronghold Assault, has wormed its way into my conscious however, and I think I'd really enjoy playing some Siege missions and I'm trying to think of events for both NDG and Adepticon that could possibly make use of this book. We'll see.

-Nick

Review APOCALYPSE WAR ZONE: PANDORAX

I'm a complete Dark Angels fanboy and had to break the bank and pick up Apocalypse War Zone: Pandorax by Jervis Johnson yesterday.


Here are the specs:

The story details Abaddon the Despoiler raiding a death world full of Imperial mining colonies while a regiment of Catachan Jungle Fighters were stuck on system. Abaddon goes straight for the largest hive city on the planet. A man named Colonel Strike of the 183rd Catachan Jungle Fighters offers resistance but the hive falls and Colonel Strike orders Imperial retreat to the various mining colonies scattered through the jungles and mountains. He is surprised when his pursuers back off from giving chase. Dating back to the Horus Heresy the Pandorax system was used to channel Daemons straight from the Realm of Chaos through an underground gate called the Damnation Cache. Only the Ruinous Powers, some of the Heresy era leaders, and the Grey Knights know of its existence (because they sealed it off). However, over the past 10,000 years it had been forgotten.

Before Hive Atika falls a distress call is sent out and it is met with response from a massive Imperial Fleet and the entire Chapter of Dark Angels. Meanwhile, Abaddon is joined by the famed Huron Blackheart from the nearby Maelstrom.

The book has a very detailed account of the fleet actions that took place off world and if you still own a bunch of Battle Fleet Gothic ships like myself you can recreate the fleets, potentially in their entirety and fight it out. No BFG rules are given in any way, but all of the classes of ships are named in perfect detail for those that have the ships and books.

The centerfold battle of the book, the true feature of the book is absolutely inspirational. It is a battle that takes place during one of the fleet actions  and involves a huge battle taking place on the Revenge, and Imperial ship, while the battle rages outside across numerous asteroids and below deck in a separate chamber deck. It is gorgeous and has a bunch of cool rules.



There are then Pandorax specific rules a few pages later for fighting "on world" that include forests with massive lizards that can eat entire squads that get too close and the like. As a fan of terrain rules, I dig this, even though it takes the "Mysterious Forest" rules and takes them to Apocalypse scale in their effects.

Then there are 3 more Apoc scenarios. The one that stands out in my mind involves 6 tables representing massive mountain peaks spaced specifically so you can fire from one table to another. Also, during Breaks forces can redeploy to another table. It seems incredibly cool.

Then there's the usual War Zone Strategem/Effects Cards, Finest Hour rules for a 3 different commanders, and a bunch of formation sheets.

The Appendix is great for anyone who doesn't own a bunch of early 2000's 40K crap because a huge chunk of fluff from the old Codex:Catachan Jungle Fighters and Battle Fleet Gothic rulebook are printed on the last few pages.

I will say, the Dark Angels don't get as much face time as I was hoping but this is still an inspirational book and highly recommended for fans of Imperial Guard (Catachans, Cadians, Vostoyans represent), Dark Angels, Grey Knights, and of course, Chaos (Chaos Space Marines, Black Legion, Daemons, and Red Corsairs.)

-Nick

Trudging Along

I thought I'd be making this post over 2 weeks ago. Hot on the heels of my last batch of five Marienburgers, I pressed myself hard and cranked out four more. Then I got caught up with other things and had the fifth guy to complete the row stuck on my desk ever since. Today I finally had an hour free to finish him up and get some photos taken. So at this point this Spearman unit is at 10 models. The immediate plan is to get the unit to 15 Spearmen models and then 5 Free Company as a detachment. The front rank of Spearmen is on deck for completion as are the Free Company.

As of late I have had models on the brain. When I have free time I'm pouring through my old pile of White Dwarf magazines, old army books, or reading blogs like Dave Taylor Miniatures, Fort Buyaki, and Brian Carlson's Miniatures Workbench among others. I'm very excited to paint, convert, and get models on the table. It also fuels my project ADD like I'm on speed and I am finding it even harder to focus. Tomb Kings got announced as coming in May, I was looking through an old White Dwarf from the release of the last VC book and it has me jonesing to paint Spirit Hosts just because I love their look, and then I've been looking at a lot of Apocalypse articles. This leads me to a question for you all. You see way back when I bought a plastic Baneblade that was originally meant to get a red paint job to go with my Redemptors of Golinar. But the only army I have far enough along to actually warrant an Apocalypse piece would be the Angels of Absolution. I've seen other people put Baneblades with their marines so it isn't a huge deal and converting the Baneblade to look a little more streamline and marine-like could be good fun. Below is an ancient John Blanche drawing of the Dark Angels in massed battle. In their midst is an unusual tank with a Demolisher Cannon on the front, and an unknown turret on top. So the question I ask all of you is, what Baneblade/Stormlord variant do you feel it is most like. I'm going with Hellhammer. But maybe there is something in the Forgeworld range that I'm missing. Any thoughts?

Status update for Nick:

Points: 14

Models Painted: 10 Infantry, 1 Tank

Models Purchased in 2011: 1 (Steam Tank)