Here is an update on my Kraken.
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
How To properly Tarpit in Warmachine.
Tar-pitting is one of the biggest fundamental tactics in any war game. Here we will be looking at proper tar-pitting specifically in Warmahordes. The reason why is because Warmahordes require specific placement of the individual models compared to Warhammer 40,000 where that's more of a unit based placement, but the tactic is sound in both games.
The Idea of a tar-pit is to slow your opponent's momentum in the game. Tar-pits achieve this by forcing your opponent to engage the unit and only deal out the minimum amount of casualty's possible. Forcing your opponent to engage a tar-pit unit will take the enemy unit's out of combat from more important things or prevent the unit from controlling an objective.
In this image you can see a standard unit who just charged the Raiders. As you can see the Raiders where positioned in such a way that the unit would have to engage the models in the front row. If they tried to charge the models in the second row they would be taking two free strikes severely weakening the charging unit. Effectively I was able to force my opponent to charge ten models and only take five casualties.
Alternatively my opponent could also only dedicate one model to one model only using five models to kill off five of my models. Which is one of the best ways to counter a tar-pit. The down side would be that the other models would only get one chance of killing that one model so on a counter thought sending the entire unit into melee would grant a better chance of killing those models. This would be situational, depending on what unit you are using and what unit you are charging.
As for tar-pitting in Warhammer 40,000 it's a lot simpler than Warmahordes since you don't need to worry a whole lot about model position.
So if you are looking for a way to improve your infantry in Warmahordes I highly would practice this sort of unit placement. When you're bored grab your models and practice placing them apart so that enemies can't charge through them. If they have reach then you want the models to be roughly 2" apart while blocking any charge lanes. If they don't have reach then you have .5" to work with or keep a good distance between the first and second row of the unit so the second row will be out of melee of your opponents unit. I would also note any special abilities units have like shield wall since that can also affect placement for tar-pitting units.
Good Luck!
Friday, July 27, 2012
Iron Kingdoms Full Metal Fantasy Roleplaying Game
Here is a bit of news from Privateer Press. They have relasesed a New Insider today with a preview of character creation in there game Iron Kingdoms Full Metal Fantasy Roleplaying Game.
http://privateerpress.com/community/privateer-insider/insider-7-27-2012
Pre-Release is at Gen Con and I think the game comes out sometime in October.
http://privateerpress.com/community/privateer-insider/insider-7-27-2012
Pre-Release is at Gen Con and I think the game comes out sometime in October.
Monday, July 23, 2012
Warhammer 40,000 6th Edition Review Part 2.
Now on to part two of the review.
Terrain and playing a Game
Now I don't know about other wargamers out there but I have actually had to deal with players (mostly jokingly) asking to play with out terrain. What I really love about Warhammer 40,000 6th edition is that they clearly force players to have terrain on the field.
So playing a game the players must determine the battle and battle field for there game. This is done by rolling a d3 for deployment and a d6 for mission type (3 deployments and 6 missions). Players then role to see who goes first or second(fortifications get deployed first). Then players will determine Terrain. Terrain is placed as d3 pieces per 2x2 area on the game board. Once terrain is placed players then roll for a Warlord Trait. Now I really love this concept. It allows the HQ's to be more useful on the field then just for the sake of having an HQ. You will pick off of which chart you want and role a d6 to determine which one your HQ will have. Now I rather have the ability to choose which one but Games Workshop decided to add randomness as a balance to Warlord Traits and Psyker abilities (It turns it into a meh kind of feel). Once the armies are done deploying the player who goes second has a chance to seize the initiative. I have a huge grip against this rule. I don't like the idea since it makes the first player to bank on the opponent not role a six. I do see both sides of an argument for the rule but I would rather have it completely gone then screwing my deployment over.
In the Grim darkness of the far future there is only war.
Fluff. it's needed for any kind of wargame although depending on the gamer they just might not care. Warhammer 40,000's fluff is extensive. When I mean extensive it's roughly one hundred pages worth (Also remember that there's more fluff in books and codex's). The fluff for the game is huge. It's a lot to take in but is awesome. Along with the general fluff of the game it also goes into some of the fluff of the different factions in the game. Giving you a pretty basic idea of who they are. With sixteen different factions and the ability to create your own identity within the factions instantly propel this to a top spot for me. It really allows a player to apply his imagination to his army to really make it his own.
Miniatures Miniatures and More Miniatures!
Now we are unto Miniatures. This section of the book is nothing more then talking about and show casing there product. It's there to help players getting started with putting and painting there miniatures so they can then get them onto the battlefield. Personally I think they could of gone a bit more in depth with painting a miniature but they give the basic idea.
More things about Battles!?
Well this section way in the back of the book is talking about campaigns and alternative battles. They also mention some other supplements like Cities of Death and Planet Strike.
At the end of the book they have the rules for the different psyker abilities I was talking about in the first part of the review along with reference sheets to units, weapons, and playing a game. This is followed by a pretty good index.
Finished.
Yes this is a very large book with a lot of pages. Overall the game looks very fun. They seem to have a very cinematic feel to the game along with adding more strategical value out it (At least more then I can remember out of 5th edition). I thoroughly enjoy a lot of the rules and the game feels more like a large movie battle. There are still some problems that could make the game better but overall I am happy spending the money on the book.
Terrain and playing a Game
Now I don't know about other wargamers out there but I have actually had to deal with players (mostly jokingly) asking to play with out terrain. What I really love about Warhammer 40,000 6th edition is that they clearly force players to have terrain on the field.
So playing a game the players must determine the battle and battle field for there game. This is done by rolling a d3 for deployment and a d6 for mission type (3 deployments and 6 missions). Players then role to see who goes first or second(fortifications get deployed first). Then players will determine Terrain. Terrain is placed as d3 pieces per 2x2 area on the game board. Once terrain is placed players then roll for a Warlord Trait. Now I really love this concept. It allows the HQ's to be more useful on the field then just for the sake of having an HQ. You will pick off of which chart you want and role a d6 to determine which one your HQ will have. Now I rather have the ability to choose which one but Games Workshop decided to add randomness as a balance to Warlord Traits and Psyker abilities (It turns it into a meh kind of feel). Once the armies are done deploying the player who goes second has a chance to seize the initiative. I have a huge grip against this rule. I don't like the idea since it makes the first player to bank on the opponent not role a six. I do see both sides of an argument for the rule but I would rather have it completely gone then screwing my deployment over.
In the Grim darkness of the far future there is only war.
Fluff. it's needed for any kind of wargame although depending on the gamer they just might not care. Warhammer 40,000's fluff is extensive. When I mean extensive it's roughly one hundred pages worth (Also remember that there's more fluff in books and codex's). The fluff for the game is huge. It's a lot to take in but is awesome. Along with the general fluff of the game it also goes into some of the fluff of the different factions in the game. Giving you a pretty basic idea of who they are. With sixteen different factions and the ability to create your own identity within the factions instantly propel this to a top spot for me. It really allows a player to apply his imagination to his army to really make it his own.
Miniatures Miniatures and More Miniatures!
Now we are unto Miniatures. This section of the book is nothing more then talking about and show casing there product. It's there to help players getting started with putting and painting there miniatures so they can then get them onto the battlefield. Personally I think they could of gone a bit more in depth with painting a miniature but they give the basic idea.
More things about Battles!?
Well this section way in the back of the book is talking about campaigns and alternative battles. They also mention some other supplements like Cities of Death and Planet Strike.
At the end of the book they have the rules for the different psyker abilities I was talking about in the first part of the review along with reference sheets to units, weapons, and playing a game. This is followed by a pretty good index.
Finished.
Yes this is a very large book with a lot of pages. Overall the game looks very fun. They seem to have a very cinematic feel to the game along with adding more strategical value out it (At least more then I can remember out of 5th edition). I thoroughly enjoy a lot of the rules and the game feels more like a large movie battle. There are still some problems that could make the game better but overall I am happy spending the money on the book.
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Warhammer 40,000 6th Edition Review
Welcome to the Art of War-gaming. Since I have had a chance to really go through the Warhammer 40,000 6th Edition Rule Book I can give my opinion of the game compared to other war-games like Warmachine/Hordes, Malifaux, and Infinity.
The rules is the meat for this book, and it's a good thing they have it right up front. Now I barley played Warhammer 40,000 during 5th edition so I am going to be looking at this from a new/other war-gamers perspective.
The first thing they talk about is the models (we will refer to models but this can also involve units of models). Each model has nine different stats. Weapon Skill, Ballistic Skill, Strength, Toughness, Wounds, Initiative, Attacks, Leadership, and Armour Save. This stats will determine how well a model acts on the battlefield. The book then goes on to some basics of war-gaming in general. Measuring (Warhammer 40,000 allows players to always measure distance between models while other war-games only allow a player to measure after they declared an action), Dice and templates (I should also note that Warhammer 40,000 uses true line of sight which means that you need to get down and see what a model sees. If your model can see an enemy model they may take an action against it).
Turns are broken into three phases. Movement, Shooting, and Assault.
We will talk about the shooting phase first. In the shooting phase players will basically fire there ranged weapons or run. Players will use a models Ballistic Skill in order to determine if they hit who they are shooting at. From there players will determine the strength of there weapon vs the toughness of the enemy model and consult a chart. Once players determine how many wounds a model will suffer the enemy model will take any saves that they are allowed to.
During the shooting phase players may utilize cover from terrain and other models. Now the shooting player has options to try and get around this. They can declare they are focusing on shooting a target that has a different cover save then the rest of the unit. The enemy model has the options too though. They can declare that they are going to ground in order to get better cover (although the unit wont be able to declare any actions) or a model can jump in the way of the incoming fire to protect a character model.
During the Assault phase a player may declare a charge against an enemy model. Assaults in Warhamer 40,000 are just as deadly as shooting, since they will be charging in to enemy's with some form of a gun (Also the distance in which a model may charge is randomized by 2d6's). The enemy will get a chance to shoot blindly at the charging enemy in order to defend themselves. Once both model's are in combat characters can issue challenges or the models will duke it out till one side is defeated.
Special Rules, Unit types, and war.
The next part of the book talk's about special rules which is a lot of rules. It is twelve pages of special rules that models will ether gain or start with. Unit Types talk about how different models that are ether Infantry, Artillery, or Flyers and what special rules that they gain.
The war-machine of warhammer 40,000 includes a ton of different things from ranged guns to swords and Psykers. Psykers have powers that can enhance your own models or a power to lash out against an enemy model. Not including what a Psyker gets in his codex there are six disciplines with six different powers. In order to see what powers a Psyker has they will role a d6 and that's what power they have. If they don't like the power they got on there role they can opt for a seventh default one (the Psyker will re-roll any powers that they already have).
Vehicles and flyers are a big deal now in 6th edition. All vehicles have hull points and lose hull points when they take a glancing hit or penetrating hit. When a vehicle takes a penetrating hit the shooter will role on a chart to determine what the results are; which can be anything between having the crew shaken up a bit to the whole vehicle exploding.
Whew that's a lot of stuff so far. Stay tuned for a part two.
Overall
The book looks really solid, It's a hard bound book full color with four hundred thirty two pages on quality paper. For the price of about seventy five dollars it feels a bit steep but in my opinion it feels priced right.Introduction & Rules
The first section of the book is a simple introduction to Warhammer 40,000. It gives a basic idea of what you need along with a extremely short battle report between two army's.The rules is the meat for this book, and it's a good thing they have it right up front. Now I barley played Warhammer 40,000 during 5th edition so I am going to be looking at this from a new/other war-gamers perspective.
The first thing they talk about is the models (we will refer to models but this can also involve units of models). Each model has nine different stats. Weapon Skill, Ballistic Skill, Strength, Toughness, Wounds, Initiative, Attacks, Leadership, and Armour Save. This stats will determine how well a model acts on the battlefield. The book then goes on to some basics of war-gaming in general. Measuring (Warhammer 40,000 allows players to always measure distance between models while other war-games only allow a player to measure after they declared an action), Dice and templates (I should also note that Warhammer 40,000 uses true line of sight which means that you need to get down and see what a model sees. If your model can see an enemy model they may take an action against it).
Turns are broken into three phases. Movement, Shooting, and Assault.
We will talk about the shooting phase first. In the shooting phase players will basically fire there ranged weapons or run. Players will use a models Ballistic Skill in order to determine if they hit who they are shooting at. From there players will determine the strength of there weapon vs the toughness of the enemy model and consult a chart. Once players determine how many wounds a model will suffer the enemy model will take any saves that they are allowed to.
During the shooting phase players may utilize cover from terrain and other models. Now the shooting player has options to try and get around this. They can declare they are focusing on shooting a target that has a different cover save then the rest of the unit. The enemy model has the options too though. They can declare that they are going to ground in order to get better cover (although the unit wont be able to declare any actions) or a model can jump in the way of the incoming fire to protect a character model.
During the Assault phase a player may declare a charge against an enemy model. Assaults in Warhamer 40,000 are just as deadly as shooting, since they will be charging in to enemy's with some form of a gun (Also the distance in which a model may charge is randomized by 2d6's). The enemy will get a chance to shoot blindly at the charging enemy in order to defend themselves. Once both model's are in combat characters can issue challenges or the models will duke it out till one side is defeated.
Special Rules, Unit types, and war.
The next part of the book talk's about special rules which is a lot of rules. It is twelve pages of special rules that models will ether gain or start with. Unit Types talk about how different models that are ether Infantry, Artillery, or Flyers and what special rules that they gain.
The war-machine of warhammer 40,000 includes a ton of different things from ranged guns to swords and Psykers. Psykers have powers that can enhance your own models or a power to lash out against an enemy model. Not including what a Psyker gets in his codex there are six disciplines with six different powers. In order to see what powers a Psyker has they will role a d6 and that's what power they have. If they don't like the power they got on there role they can opt for a seventh default one (the Psyker will re-roll any powers that they already have).
Vehicles and flyers are a big deal now in 6th edition. All vehicles have hull points and lose hull points when they take a glancing hit or penetrating hit. When a vehicle takes a penetrating hit the shooter will role on a chart to determine what the results are; which can be anything between having the crew shaken up a bit to the whole vehicle exploding.
Whew that's a lot of stuff so far. Stay tuned for a part two.
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