Power Level VS Points

A Chaos Sorceror is 5 Power Level points, but what is it in regular Points?

I have been thinking about this for awhile and I finally decided to do a comparison of army lists Power Level VS Points.  In all of my games of 8th edition I have used Power Level to build my list.  I have made the assumption based on feel that 100 PL is approximately 2000 Points, but am I correct?

Here is my army list from the previous battle report:

100 Power Level

HQ

Chaos Sorceror with Force Sword and Bolt Pistol and Eye of Tzeentch Relic

5 Power Level

102 Points

Warpsmith with combi-flamer and mechatendrils

5 Power Level

56 Points

ELITES

Helbrute with Twin Lascannon and Missile Launcher

7 Power Level

147 Points

4 Chosen 2 Flamers and 2 Meltaguns

1 Champion with Power Sword

7 Power Level

136 Points

TROOPS

19 Chaos Marines, Icon of Vengeance and 2 Plasma Guns

1 Champion with Powerfist

15 Power Level

308 Points

9 Marines with Missile Launcher and Plasma Gun

1 Champion with Power Fist

9 Power Level

180 Points

9 Cultists with 1 flamer

1 Champion 

3 Power Level

49 Points

TRANSPORTS

Rhino with Havoc Missile Launcher

4 Power Level

81 Points

Rhino with Havoc Missile Launcher

4 Power Level

81 Points

FAST ATTACK

3 Spawn 

6 Power Level

99 Points

4 Raptors with 2 Meltaguns

1 Champion with Chainsword and bolt pistol

6 Power Level

119 Points

HEAVY SUPPORT

3 Obliterators

10 Power Level

195 Points

Predator with Twin Lascannon Turret and 2 Lascannon Sponsons

9 Power Level

190 Points

Predator with Twin Lascannon Turret and 2 Lascannon Sponsons

9 Power Level

190 Points

POWER LEVEL: 100

POINTS: 1933

So it seems my feelings were correct.  So far at least my 100 PL army equates to just under 2000 Pts.

Next I am going to point out a 200 power level list which I will feature in my next battle report.

200 Power Level

HQ

Chaos Lord with 2 lightning claws and Fleshmetal Skeleton Relic
5 Power Level
86 Points

Chaos Lord in Terminator Armour and 2 lightning claws
6 Power Level
117 Points

Chaos Sorceror in Terminator Armour and Force Axe and Combi-Bolter
8 Power Level
158 Points

ELITES

Helbrute with Twin Lascannon and Missile Launcher
7 Power Level
147 Points

Helbrute with 2 Helbrute fists with 2 Combi-bolters
7 Power Level
156 Points

Helbrute with Helbrute Plasma Cannon and Helbrute Fist with Combi-bolter
7 Power Level
144 Points

4 Chosen 2 Flamers and 2 Meltaguns

1 Champion with Power Sword

7 Power Level

136 Points

TROOPS

19 Chaos Marines, Icon of Vengeance and 2 Plasma Guns

1 Champion with Powerfist

15 Power Level

308 Points

19 Chaos Marines, Icon of Vengeance and 2 Plasma Guns

1 Champion with Powerfist

15 Power Level

308 Points

9 Chaos Marines with Missile Launcher and Plasma Gun
1 Champion with Powerfist
9 Power Level

180 Points

9 Chaos Marines with Missile Launcher and Plasma Gun
1 Champion with Powerfist
9 Power Level
180 Points

9 Chaos Marines with Lascannon and Plasma Gun
1 Champion with Powerfist
9 Power Level
180 Points

9 Chaos Marines, 1 with a flamer, 7 with chainswords and bolt pistols
1 Champion with Powerfist
9 Power Level
138 Points

TRANSPORTS

Rhino with Havoc Missile Launcher

4 Power Level

81 Points

Rhino with Havoc Missile Launcher

4 Power Level

81 Points

Rhino 

4 Power Level

70 Points

FAST ATTACK

3 Spawn 

6 Power Level

99 Points

4 Raptors with 2 Meltaguns

1 Champion with Chainsword and bolt pistol

6 Power Level

119 Points

4 Raptors with 2 Meltaguns

1 Champion with Chainsword and bolt pistol

6 Power Level

119 Points

HEAVY SUPPORT

Predator with Twin Lascannon Turret and 2 Lascannon Sponsons

9 Power Level

190 Points

Predator with Twin Lascannon Turret and 2 Lascannon Sponsons

9 Power Level

190 Points

Predator with Twin Lascannon Turret and 2 Lascannon Sponsons

9 Power Level

190 Points

Landraider with Twin Heavy Bolter and 2 Twin Lascannon Sponsons
19 Power Level

356 Points

9 Havocs with 4 Lascannons
1 Champion with Chainsword and bolt pistol
10 Power Level
230 Points

POWER LEVEL: 199

POINTS: 3951

So it appears that 200 Power Level is approximately 4000 Points.

Some interesting observations:

- 1 Power Level point equates to approximately 20 points

- Some units are way more expensive points-wise than they were in the previous edition.

- Rhinos are definitely over-costed in Points and probably also Power Level.

I want to compare certain units builds' Power Level Vs Points.  I have had some thoughts on which units could be abused using Power Level as well as some conversations and I want to see if we were right.  Also the disparity of Power Level Vs Points had been a big concern for me before I started playing 8th and I am not certain it matters.  I will explore this below.

9 Chaos Terminators, 9 with Chain Fists, 9 with Combi-Meltas, 1 with Icon Of Vengeance
1 Champion with Chainfist and Combi-melta
28 Power Level
730 Points

9 Chaos Terminators, 9 with Combi-Bolters, 9 with Power Swords
1 Champion with Power Sword and Combi-bolter
28 Power Level
370 Points

9 Chaos Havocs 4 with Lascannons
1 Champion with Power Fist
10 Power Level
242 Points

9 Chaos Havocs, 4 with Heavy Bolters
1 Champion with Chainsword
10 Power Level
170 Points

Some more interesting observations:

- Some units are a steal when using Power level as long as they are kitted out a certain way.

- The Terminators have a huge points swing depending on the wargear loadout; from 370 to 730!  That's a swing of 360 points!  You could have two units of 10 Terminators with Power Swords and combi-bolters for one unit of Combi-melta and Chain fist terminators in the Points system, but it would cost you 56 Power Level points to have two units of terminators!

- A Squad of 10 Chaos Terminators, if using the conversion I came up with above where 1 Power Level = 20 Points, should cost 560 points.  560 is almost directly between 730 and 370.

- 560 Points is a lot more than Terminators used to cost!

- I am pretty sure any unit that can really be kitted out like terminators, in other words, Chosen and Ork Nobs are going to be able to be taken advantage of in Power Level games.

- The Havocs have a swing of 72 points.  This would allow you to buy a unit of Havocs with 4 heavy bolters and a rhino in a Points based army for the same cost as one unit of Havocs with Lascannons, but in a Power Level game both Havoc units are the same Power Level points.

- When playing Points it seems you can generally get a better deal.

- Power Levels probably balances out between the two players and between the units as long as one person isn't trying to maximize the power out of units like Terminators.

- Power Levels aren't as granular so when you take an under-strength squad you simply end up paying more Power Level points than you probably should.


Closing thoughts:

I think Power Levels are a good way to play games between friends who have armies already built.  Play WYSIWYG and no one should have any issues with balance.

Power Levels aren't a good way to play for Power Gamey Tournament Players (PGTP).  I have played in a number of tournaments where these players exist.  They aren't the same as Win At All Costs (WAAC) players who will literally cheat using fast dice rolling and measuring inconsistencies with tape measures etc. because they have a low self esteem (Or at least I think they must have low self-esteem to cheat in a game like this.), but these are players who will try to create lists that give them every possible advantage to win.

The reason I say this is that both PGTP and WAAC look to use everything they can to their advantage and will build a brand new army from scratch to take advantage of the Power Level inconsistencies.  It would stagnate the tournament environment.  There would exist units and armies that everyone would play with no variety because a PGTP or WAAC player would take the unit at its most powerful build every time and the Power Level would stay the same.

With a Points environment for tournaments more options are available and subsequently more army builds.  As I mentioned above I could take 2 terminator units for the price of one in a Points-environment but I could not do the same in a Power Level environment because both units would cost the same Power Levels even with drastically different equipment.  Each terminator unit fills a different role but Power Levels don't account for that.

I think GW knew what they were doing with Power Levels even though I initially did not agree with the decision.  I feel like if I played in tournaments I would never touch Power Levels; and for good reason!

The separation of Points from Power Levels and the choice to put all the Points in the back of the codex was a smart move.  By separating out Points to a list in the back, GW can simply update Points occasionally to make sure they are balanced with the other armies they make in the future.  The Power Levels can stay the same, because face it, us casual players don't care so much.  We want to play games with our armies!  I can do that with Power Level, slightly easier even than with Points.

Points are more granular and more flexible than Power Level.

In conclusion, GW did a smart and good thing for the players and the company.  I think they have successfully been able to separate the casual from the competitive finally after many many Editions of trying.

Its 2013 and there is a lot to talk about

Happy 2013! Its been a while since I posted but don't worry I am still here and in 2013 I will continue to chronicle my gaming right here.

There are number of things to talk about, the first being my campaign game from Saturday.

This past Saturday night I played the 3rd game in our Eye Of Terror Iron Warrior VS Eldar campaign.  This is the first game played at my humble abode and the first game on Eidolon.  I will have a battle report up later this evening I hope.  I took lots of pictures.
Here you can check out the previous two battle reports on my friend's blog:
http://eyeofisha.blogspot.com/


I also talked to another friend of mine who is running my gaming group's annual big game this year.  We will be using my walls that I built for the big game I ran a few years ago.  I got excited thinking about it so I took some pictures.  They will be up here soon.
Here is my friend's blog talking about the big game this year:
http://excursionsbeyondthecall.blogspot.com/

Since the big game is right around the corner in March, I have been trying to kickstart my hobby juices again.  I need to start working on new figures as well as repair older broken figs.  I hope to show my work on here as I progress.


I still also intend to do a review of the Crusade of Fire campaign book and do another podcast update.

Look for another update on here later today....

Chaos Codex Review Part 2

In my previous post I discussed the history of Chaos Codexes and my experience with them from 3rd edition on.  This post will focus on my thoughts of the new Chaos Codex and my reactions to the reactions of other people on the internet to this release.

First, I want to discuss the Appearance of the book.

This is the first 40k Codex to be released in full color and hard cover.  I think it looks fantastic and there is a lot of new art work I have never seen before.  There is some rehashed art work that has been around since 3rd edition.  The art work of the Emperor versus Horus and the chaos ships entering the warp as a couple examples of this.  However, these may be the only lingering old artwork.

I see a lot of brand new art work as well.  And its mostly well done.  I am a bit disappointed that there isn't any John Blanche stuff since I am a huge fan of his art work and he really captures the 41st millenium I feel.

With a few small complaints I've listed above I still feel that this book is the best looking codex that I've ever seen.  I love the small bits of art scattered through out like the axe dripping blood suspended above the chaos star on page 64.  I also like the borders, very chaosy and evocative.

On the whole I'd give Appearance a 9/10.

Next I want to talk about the Fluff (and I know GW hates that word).

I have read most of it.  What I've read is actually pretty well-written and it does give a new reader just exactly what drives Chaos Space Marines.  Like the last book there is a lot written about warbands and there are a couple of sections talking about this mentality.  They also list a number of warbands and give some brief back ground info about them.  Its a neat idea and i like the Renegade/Warband idea of a chaos army.

They also discuss the Traitor Legions and go into quite a bit of depth on the Horus Heresy.  Which is a part of the background that I felt GW neglected during the whole of 5th edition.  They tell the story of the Heresy and actually bring in a lot of elements and story that has been flushed out with the Black Library novels.  The talk about Istvaan III and Garro and the Eisenstein.

There is a timeline section that details a number of different events since the Heresy and gives brief blurbs about battles I've never heard of before.  I am sure these will be fleshed out in a number of upcoming Space Marines Battles novels from Black Library.

The Iron Warriors have a paragraph about what drives them.  They mention Perturabo's orchestration of the Siege of Terra and the Iron Warriors love of big guns and in particular Vindicators.

I think they did a much better job in the Fluff of this book than the previous one and for that I give it a 8/10.

The Organization of the book is a bit frustrating to me.

I will get over it the more I use it I am sure but you have to flip from the army list section back to the wargear section then back to the other relevant section to find out what a specific Chaos Artefact or Reward does and then go back to the army list entry to see if you want to use it or not.

It harkens back the 3.5 Codex in that there is an armoury page that lists points costs for specific pieces of wargear and weapons.  I do like that.  Its one of those things that right now I am not familiar with the special pieces of wargear yet so it just takes a while to put together a list because of all the page flipping involved especially since a lot of the rules in the codex refer to new special rules in 6th ed that I am not yet familiar with.

Well I will give Organization a 4/10, they could have put stuff closer together in the book of they wanted.

Next up is the overall Chaos Space Marines Release that occured on October 6th.

This release was looked forward to by every single chaos player out there.  We all have been dying for new rules for our beloved army for many many years (okay not as many as Dark Eldar).  And there are alot of people on the lovely interwebz that are panning this release.  They say they didn't release enough new models and that they should have redone Plague Marines or whatever.  People also are saying the new daemon engines don't fit the look of the old models.

I say they released plenty of new stuff.  I am fine with the quantity and I am also fine with the way the new models look.  I was mostly interested in new rules anyways.  The thing about the new rules and the new models is that you can take the new daemon engines and convert them how you see fit to make them fit the look you are going after.  The rules themselves do not suggest a specific look for the daemon engines.

There will be more models released.  I have heard this rumor and I feel pretty confident that this is not the only release of chaos models until the next codex.  I have heard of new cultists and a new helbrute so you don't have to run out and buy Dark Vengeance to get those models.  I also feel the upgrade resin kits for thousand sons and others are simply stop gaps until they release new models.  No need to get worried here folks.

So my rating for the Release is a 7/10.  It could have been more, but its sufficient.

Next up is the Rules themselves.

I think this rulebook is a nice compromise.  It feels like a mix of the 3.5 and 4th ed book.  On first glance it looks alot like the previous codex but once you start looking deeper you realise this codex can do things that the previous one never could.

Take a chaos lord with mark of Khorne and Berzerkers are troops.  Take Typhus and Cultists become plague zombies.  Take a chaos lord and give him so much wargear that he can kill almost anything in the game.  The are some of the cool new possibilities with this codex.

I like that Dreadnoughts (Helbrutes) are usable again.  Their fire frenzy has changed for the better.  No more shooting my own guys because I rolled a dice and was unlucky.

Chaos Lords, Daemon Princes and Sorcerors can be killing machines or simply cheap dudes if you don't want to spend the points.

Chaos Space Marines are cheaper than before and they are also more customizable.   They can be shooty or assaulty or a jack of all trades or you can spam 5 man squads in rhinos or take huge 20 man blobs.

Cultists are a new troop choice that are really cheap, not very tough, but nice and fluffy.

Chosen are very customisable as are terminators just like before.

There are actually viable fast attack choices now.  Bikes and Raptors are cheap enough points-wise to be used now.  The Heldrake is a decent flyer.

Chaos Predators have gone down by 20 points usually than the old codex.  Its weird that they are still more expensive than the Space Marine version because they are EXACTLY the same otherwise.

Obliterators went down in points but they cannot fire the same gun two turns in a row.  I am ok with that.

Havoc went down ALOT in points so they are similar in cost to Long Fangs.  They also get Flakk Missiles.  I am very happy about those two things.

Overall this codex is not the glorious return to the 3.5 edition codex but its light years better than the previous one.  The Rules are well done.  I am going to give them a 8/10.

I will have to give this new codex a score of 7/10.

I think its a vast improvement.  It could have been more.  But I think GW got this one mostly right.  The are so many different builds that I have barely begun to scratch the surface of what this codex has to offer.

In the next post post I will wrap up my review with some army lists and some of my plans for new stuff I want to do with this codex.

Until then....

Chaos Codex Review Part 1

I thought I'd start this out with a History lesson.

I started playing 40k in 1998.  I had been collecting and painting GW miniatures and buying White Dwarf since 1993 or possibly earlier I cannot remember.  I got started with HeroQuest and then BattleMasters.  This introduced me to the GW universe.

No one I knew, including myself, had the money to buy an entire army.  What I would do is buy a box here and a blister there and I saved up money at one point to buy the Fantasy Battle 4th edition box set.  I was into fantasy at the time and I built a small Dwarf force and then started buying some Chaos stuff.

By 1998 I had gone off to college and there was a game store just a few blocks away from campus.  I decided to hit it up and see what was happening there.  I also decided that I would buy the 3rd edition rulebook for 40k because it just came out and I figured what better time to get into a new game then when its newest edition of the rules came out?  I also found out that every Tuesday there was a 40k night at the store.  This began me on my journey into 40k, one which today found me walking into my local gaming store and purchasing the newest Chaos Codex.

Chaos had fascinated me since I was young.  I loved the Chaos Warriors and the Sorceror and the 'Gargoyle' in the HeroQuest box and whenever my Dwarf character rounded a corner and bumped into one I would always be scared to take him on.

I started with a Dwarf army as I said earlier and then switched to Chaos for Fantasy Battle.  When the new edition of 40k came out I figured I stick with Chaos because I already knew about the 4 gods and the daemons and such.

In the 3rd edition rulebook there were rules for all of the 40k armies including Chaos Space Marines.  They had to reboot the army rules and throw out the 2nd edition Codexes because 3rd edition was such a huge change to the rules.  2nd edition was really more of a skirmish game.  If you played a game of 2,000 points in 2nd edition it could go all day long.  Necromunda was based off of 2nd edition rules.

Third edition was really the beginning of 40k, the miniatures war game.  The rules allowed you to field an entire army and actually play a game in under 3 hours, many games I played were under 2 hours.  This was the environment I was walking into.

The rules in the Big Black Book(BBB) of 3rd edition were OK.  They were quite basic but they had a lord and sorceror and daemon prince and all of the greater daemons and lesser daemons for ALL 4 chaos gods.  Great I thought, I will play Black Legion because I thought the Horus Heresy fluff was awesome and that The Black Legion were the best of all the bad guys.

Shortly after the BBB came out GW released the 3rd ed Chaos Codex.  This codex fleshed out alot of the rules and added new stuff which I can't remember all of it right now and I don't feel like finding the codex.  But it was a nice bump from the BBB rules.

Over the next several years White Dwarf started adding new units like Cult Terminators.  For those of you who don't know what those are, they are Terminators which are basically Plague Marines, Berzerkers, Thousand Sons, and Noise Marines but in Terminator armour.  They added Minor Psychic powers for every Psyker in the game.  And they started their Index Astartes(I:A) series.  This was an article in White Dwarf each month with background fluff and rules to play each of the original founding legions in order from 1st to 20th legion (but as they were currently in 40k).

When the issue with the Iron Warriors I:A article came out, I read the fluff and was hooked.  This was also around the same time that Graham McNeill's novel Storm Of Iron was released.  I started buying more models and building the army using the rules in the White Dwarf.  It was the first time (since 2nd ed) that any chaos army (but only if you were Iron Warriors) could take a vindicator (or a basilisk).  I loved the idea of Space Marines running around with servo arms and big guns and tearing down the fortresses of the False Emperor just because they were bitter and angry.

Rumors then began swirling about a new Chaos Codex and I was so excited!  It looked like it would have all the rules for all the legions in the codex itself and I couldn't wait.

When I bought that book I thought it was the best thing GW had ever created!  There were so many options and so much wargear and so many ways of building your list it was mind-boggling!  There were rules for all 9 of the Legions.  Daemon Weapons were first introduced.  This codex had everything you could easily build a warband or renegades or a legion of 10,000 year old bitter veterans of the long war.  You could lean heavily on daemons or on psykers or just marines and guns (which is what I did).

After Tuesday night gaming sessions at the game store me and my buddies would head out to a local greasy spoon and order breakfast at 1am and talk for hours about this codex.  There were so many combinations and combos that we never got tired of trying to find new things to do with it.

My Iron Warriors began expanding as my gaming group started making our Big Game an annual event.  I scratch built dreadclaw assault pods and a titan as well as a flyer.  My army quickly reached 10,000 points of fully painted 10,000 year old bitter and angry Iron Warriors.  And it was a golden time to be a chaos player.

This codex lasted through part of 3rd and most of 4th edition.  It did well and you could adapt it and your tactics as the main rules changed.  Near the end of 4th edition rumors of a 5th edition were out there on the internets.  But right before 5th edition hit, we chaos players got blind-sided.

GW released the above codex.  This codex was supposed to herald a new age of codex and rules writing which 5th edition would carry on.  It was streamlined and simple, not a whole lot of flipping back and forth and trying to find fiddly rules.  It moved Dreadnoughts to Elites (They used to be heavy support and in the previous codex IW could take 4 heavy slots.)  which seemed ok until I read their new fire frenzy rules which made them almost unplayable.  Now they shot at the nearest unit friend or foe.  It removed the god-specific daemons and gave us generic 'lesser' and 'greater' daemons.  There were no legion rules anymore.  They barely mentioned the Iron Warriors.

I was initially a bit perturbed. and thought well I can still kinda build my army.  I can take marines and tanks a vindicator so its not so bad.  Then they released Codex Chaos Daemons and Orks.  These two codexes seemed to have a bit more options in them then my codex did.   And then 5th edition hit.  I loved the new objective based missions and tanks were actually pretty good, so my army was ok.  I was miffed about no legion rules, but it could be worse.

Then the current Space Marine codex was released.  It had a bunch of chapter-specific characters in it which allowed you to play that chapter if you took them.  I was not happy.  They took away my special rules for my army and gave the loyalists a bunch of new armies in one book.  They also added a ton of new units and new options for customization.  All of the things they removed from the chaos codex they gave to the loyalists and thus began a new age of Cdex writing for GW where each codex got more and more options and ways to build multiple armies from the same book.

All of 5th edition was codexes that got more and more customisable while my codex remained incredibly static and boring.  I moved on to Forgeworld buying the Vraks books because of the new chaos army lists that were in there.  I built a traitor guard army based off of those rules.  I even built an Apostles of Contagion Nurgle warband from them.  I then went Imperial with the Minotaurs Chapter from the Badab War Forgeworld books because they had special rules for fighting Space Marines and were pretty dark.

Rumors of 6th edition began sprouting up and I began getting excited for some new rules that might lend my chaos army a new life.  6th ed came and I like it a lot!  It makes everything fresh and interesting and adds more story elements into the game.  And now after waiting for 5 years for GW to do something with my beloved Iron Warriors a new book was released at midnight.

I ran out a bought it just a few hours ago.

I have been looking through it and coming up with new army lists.  It is a very nice book full color and hard bound.  There are a lot of options that are new in it including cultists!

In part two I will go through my thoughts on the new codex.....

New Chaos Codex

I am picking up the new codex this Saturday and I can't wait!

From what I've seen on various blogs and such its been leaked on the internet and people have begun weighing in on the ups and downs of it.

The things I have been hearing have all been pretty darn good and I am starting to build some ideas as to what I want to do with this new codex.

I am excited that the basic Chaos Space Marine is going down to 13 points.  Its not identical to the previous codex as far as what that 13 points gets you, but I am very ok with it.  I will be able to field more Iron Warriors for the same points cost as before.  This is one thing that frustrated me with the current codex is that everything was so expensive points-wise.

The War(p)smith seems to be exactly what I want in a WarSmith.  If Predators go down in points I will be a very happy camper.

Once I get the Codex on Saturday I am going to post a review as well as a few army lists.  Saturday is my day of Chaos!

Talk to ya then...

Its been awhile....

So I haven't posted anything in quite a while.  I apologize to anyone out there who reads this blog but I have been very busy the last couple of months.

I will get back to posting regularly very soon.

With all of the new stuff coming out for 40k I will have lots to talk about in the next month.

Some things that have been on my mind:

- New Chaos Codex.
   I am very excited about this.  It looks like the Iron Warriors will be back in a big way.  I am very curious    about the options that the War(p)smith gets.  If he can take different weapons besides a power axe I will be quite happy.  I also hope I can take a War(p)smith as the compulsory HQ choice so I don't need to take a chaos lord.  If I can the Warsmith Morgoth will come out of retirement so long as he can keep his lightning claws.  I will update the model with Mechadendrites and I think it will look really cool.

  I also have been eyeing up the new Daemon Engines and have been thinking about some conversions to do to them.  I am not 100% happy with the looks of those models right out of the box so I have some ideas on how to use the kits.  I want to get some legs from a Defiler and put them on the Forgefiend and give him the 2 hades autocannons.  The Dragon I want to convert to look more like the Forgeworld Hellblade/Helltalon and either use the Forgeworld rules or the GW rules.  I won't know until I can look at the codex.

   I am excited for cheaper Chaos Marines and to a lesser extent Cultists.  I have been adding guardsmen to my traitor guard and may just use allies instead of cultists.  Again I have to wait and see what the codex has in it.

  I also heard rumor of a fortification upgrade in the codex and I can't wait to see what it is.

- Horus Heresy Forgeworld Books
  I am planning on picking up all of these books eventually.  If I field an army out of them it will probably be Iron Warriors.  I will probably only buy the Perturabo Model.

- New projects
  I have been assembling Khorne Berzerkers and Khorne Terminators for my Skulltakers warband based on the Siege of Vraks books.  I bought the Lord Zhufor model from forgeworld and he is assembled and almost ready to be primed.

  I also have been working on more traitor guard for my Iron Warriors.  I have 3 Chimeras and am looking to buy more from a buddy of mine along with a Vendetta.  I bought a Forgeworld Vendetta upgrade kit at Gen Con.  I have three squads that are mostly done that will be mounted in the chimeras.


I am going to take some pictures of some of these projects soon and will post them hopefully this weekend.

Look for more posts soon...

6th Edition and My Old Armies

I know, I know, everyone's put in their 2 cents about 6th edition all over the interwebz already but I have a few words to say as well.

I want to start with my first impressions with the caveat that I only know as much as I've read so far on different blogs and forums out there.  I don't have any new rumors to spread unfortunately.

So it appears to me that 6th edition is going to be a boon for garage and/or basement players.  The people who get together with their friends every week or so and play a game or two.  People like me mainly.

Why do I say a boon?  Well this new edition appears to have added in various elements of all the expansions the GW has come out with during 5th including flyers, planet strike, scenarios, special terrain, etc.  This is cool because it provides a framework for games for the more casual and 'narrative' players to play games with.  I could call up my buddy and say, "Hey I wanna play a 2,500 pt game themed around a ruined city with my own terrain pieces using my guard and Iron Warrior armies using this and this specific rules."

The ability to combine armies I already own into one force with predefined rules to allow that makes 6th easier for casual gamers to do something cool.  It also lets you play with those bastions and defense lines you bought without having them just be terrain or playing a planetstrike game.

The biggest problem with 6th edition I feel will be its use in tournaments.  The allies and fortifications rules will become a headache and possible nightmare for organizers.  They have more things to review to make sure the armies are legal and also that the terrain people bring is legal.  The fortifications are ripe for abuse AKA modeling for advantage.

Tournaments can solve this issue by disallowing allies and fortifications and of course coming up with their own scenarios (which they do now anyways).  I feel that this edition more than any other since 2nd will be open to abuse if played to the letter of the rules and tournament organizers should understand this and not just allow any old shenanigans.  Comp was created because of the stupidity of some of the combinations that 2nd edition allowed.

So onto what I like about 6th:

- Allies in casual play
- Fortifications in casual play
- Blast Templates where the circle in the middle means nothing.
- Hull Points
- New Scenarios
- New Objectives
- New scoring units

What I dislike about 6th:

- Mystical forests or whatever the crap it is they are calling them
- Random Charge distances
- Fleet of foot units not being able to charge after they fleet
- Jump pack units hitting with I10 when they assault.
- Character challenges (Just plain stupid!)
- Power Axes? how are they going to address the difference between and axe and a sword?  The Space marines codex gives units power weapons, are they axes or swords?

What I think the game will be like:

- Shooting will become more powerful.
- Hand to hand will be avoided by most of the best players and most armies with a couple of exceptions.
- Flamers will make a comeback because of overwatch and shooting at the unit that is assaulting.
- Tanks will be more powerful in the early game and get less powerful as the game goes on (but will survive most of the game).
- Flyers will have a huge impact and most people will want them in their army one way or another.

Predictions:

- Forgeworld will become more relevant and become legal at tournaments
- GW will release more digital codexes and rules
- More terrain will be released.
- GW will bring back veteran gamers who may have left the game during 5th.
- I will enjoy 6th edition.


Wow that was longer than I thought it would be.  I can't wait to look back at this post in 6 months and see where I was right or wrong.

On to what my plans are for 6th:

- Bust out the Iron Warriors again and give them new Guard allies.
- Expand my Apostles of Contagion army by making it a mix of Chaos Marine and Guard codexes.
- Make a brand new Space Marine Army with Inquisitorial Allies.
- Hold my breath for the new Chaos Codex.


I still plan on putting up the rest of the Into The Dark Scenario's battle report, hopefully later today.  I also will soon be coming out with army lists for the above allies ideas.

So until next time may your bolters never tire......

Its been a month

I haven't posted anything since May 1st and I bet some of you may be wondering whats going on.

I have been busy doing a lot of traveling and work has been pretty crazy.  On top of that with all of the rumors around 6th edition I haven't been very motivated for the hobby.  I have played some games this month both Arbitrator and 40k but I haven't been motivated enough to post anything about them.

This weekend I will be playing several Arbitrator games and at least one 40k game and I hope to be able to post battle reports of them next week.

The rumors about 6th edition have been a downer for me.  I don't like anything I have heard about 6th edition and I hope they are all wrong either that or the stuff we haven't heard about will make the stuff we have heard about tolerable.

I have just gotten into the swing of things with 5th and have my Minotaurs which are the first space marine army I have ever completed and I have really liked playing them with 5th edition.  I worry that 6th will make me completely change how I have to play the army to make it work.

If I have to roll a d6 everytime I have to assault to see how far I can assault, then my Minotaurs will completely change to a pure shotting army with NO hand to hand.  Shooting is already an incredibly powerful part of 40k and this change will make assaulting even less useful to the point where I will abandon it as a strategy all together.

If there is a psychic phase added with random powers I will also abandon my librarians as they will be too random for my liking.

If terrain randomly effects units that enter it even moreso than it does now, I will never enter terrain again with any unit unless absolutely necessary.

If random game length goes away then whoever gets the first turn will once again become a huge deal like it was in 3rd and 4th edition and again change what I bring to a game.

And if I have to deal with people bringing their own terrain that they can buy with points then it had better all be  identical to the size of the terrain piece GW says it should be otherwise there will be a hell of a lot of modelling to advantage.  Imagine a bunker that is 2 foot square and you get the idea.

And if my characters have to issue challenges to enemy characters I am just going to puke because of how stupid that will be.

I can't see how any of these changes are good for the game if every scenario one plays uses all of these rules.  For one-off scenarios and special events and game with your friends who like wacky stuff maybe these changes will be ok.  For creating a level playing field like in a tournament or at a game store for a random pick up game these changes will only result in bitching.

I hope this isn't just the pessimist in me but I am having a hard time seeing how these changes will make 6th better than 5th edition.

Just as a disclaimer I am not a tournament player or a guy who goes to game stores for random games with people I have never met.  I go to one tourney a year and probly play at the local store less than 10 times a year.

Anyways I just had to get some of this off of my chest its been eating away at me for about a month now.

Been kinda lazy as of late.

Ya, I haven't posted in a while, but here goes.

I bought a box of fantasy battle zombies which is the last of the zombies I need to buy for the Apostles of Contagion Army I am building.

I looked at the army list I had and decided to change it up a bit. I will have champions in each plague marine squad with powerfists and no combi-flamers on the rhinos.

One squad of Plague Marines will be only 6 strong and Necrosius will ride with them.

What I need to purchase for the army still:

2 Chimeras ( I am working on a deal to acquire these from a buddy of mine)

1 Renegade Nurgle Sorcerer ( i want to use the Fantasy battle nurgle sorcerer model.)

7 Plague Marines

What I need to build:

3 Rhinos

21 Zombies

3 Plague Marine Squads

1 or 2 Sentinels (depends on my final army list)

2 possesed models incase my sorcerers get possessed

3 Spawn models I started years ago but never finished.


So as you can see I still have some work to do yet.

Traitor Guard

So the next army I completed was actually an extension of my Iron Warriors. This new army is a traitor guard army based on the rules in the Siege of Vraks books from Forgeworld. I have units in the army from all three Vraks books, so when I play a game I have alot of variety of units to choose from, I have approximately 3,500 points.


The army has a Company Command Squad, 2 platoon command squads, and 6 10-man platoons of renegades. It also has a squad of 5 renegade ogryn bersekers, 6 hounds of Xaphan with ogryn handler, 2 squads of 10 disciples of Xaphan (veterans essentially), 3 mortars, 60 mutants, 22 plague zombies, 13 beastmen, 5 Enforcers (commisars essentially), 7 sentinels, 2 Lemas Russes and a Malcador Defender (its the 5 heavy bolter variant).

This army is quite fun to play as I have a lot of choices to build a 2,000point army. I like to fit in all the renegade guard squads if possible. The Company Command squad has a vox-caster which is used for spotting if I take an Artillery Strike.

This is essentially an allied renegade army that fights alongside my Iron Warriors, it is led by a renegade Tech-Priest.

Later I will post pictures of these units when I get a chance.

What armies do I play and why?

This post is about the armies I've chosen to play and why.

I have a huge Iron Warriors army totaling around 12,000 points.
I started building this army when the first Index Astartes article about the Iron Warriors was printed in White Dwarf. I can't remember when that was but maybe 8 years ago or so. They just captured my imagination. I liked the idea of a Chaos Marine army devoid of daemons, an army that was very similar to an imperial space marine army except they hated the Imperium and wanted to tear it all down. They excel in siege warfare and bring big guns and lots of marines and tanks to the battlefield.

That was my vision for the army, a huge mechanized marine force, with big guns. I think I've hit the nail on the head with my army. One thing to note, I only have 6 Obliterators and only 4 are painted in Iron Warriors colors. I never cheesed out the army list with the 3.5 Chaos Codex like alot of people did. I have never played in a game where I took all 6 Oblits that was under 5,000 points. In fact, at 5,000 points I usually only take 4.











Now a days, this army is just not as effective as it used to be. Its not really a competitive army at 2,000 points or below. The new chaos codex has gutted the flavor and options the old one has, and I've grown a bit weary of playing them, that's why I've branched out recently into new armies.



Stay tuned for the next post.....Traitor Guard.

A note on my style of wargaming.

When I started wargaming it was back in the early 1990s and I was in middle school. I got into Warhammer Fantasy Battle first. I bought White Dwarf and I bought and painted figures. I was never able to play anyone though. No one I knew was as interested in buying, assembling and then painting their army. But I didn't care I liked the miniatures and loved the background.

I am in this hobby because it IS a hobby. I am into 40k because I LOVE the background. I would have stopped playing a decade ago if I wasn't so in love with the gimdark 40k universe.

All of this makes me the type of gamer that I am. I build armies because of their fluff, and because I think they'd look really cool as an army on the tabletop.

My gaming group, D-Company is another reason I am so involved in the hobby still. We are a gaming group that doesn't have a store to game at. We game in our basements. Almost everyone in my group has their own table in their house.

Every year we put on events at Rock-Con, Rockford Illinois' annual gaming convention, and we also put on an annual 'Big Game' and this year it looks like we will be putting on a tournament as well.

Forgeworld and home-brew rules are welcome in my group. One thing we have been striving for recently is to play this game the way WE want to play it.

I recently did an experiment with one of my friends. I have been complaining about the new Chaos Marine Codex since it first came out. I think its deplorable how GW stripped it of everything that made the 4th edition codex cool. Well my friend and I did a test. I played an army built from the old codex and he played an army built from the current one. the result? a tie!

Anyway, that is what I mean, My gaming group is awesome because we allow stuff like in our ranks.

Well enough for now, I've published more stuff today than I probably should have in a whole week, but whatever.

This is my first blog.

This is the first blog I've ever created. This will chronicle my adventures in all thing 40k.

I will begin this blog with my newest army I've started to build, The Apostles of Contagion, hence the title of the blog.

I will also talk about other armies I've built in the past or armies I wish to work on in the future.

This blog will also be about my 40k RPGing, the GMing I'm doing and the tales of Inquisitor Raxxus.

I will do many other things on here as well, such as book reviews and the like.