The State of my 40k (yes this is includes a rant).

o/

(kicks the dust off of this ol' blog to see if its still alive...)

So, the State of my 40k, my on-again off-again series where I usually just whine/rant about 40k. Rather than just focus on any one army this time I think I'll just do an overview of all of them. Big things are afoot, both around the world and even here locally. 

The Nova Open reveals have induced nerdgasms the world over in the 40k realm, a new psychic...something is coming for all factions! SoBs finally have a release date, PLASTIC aspect warriors after decades of begging!

Emprah be praised! What will we buy first???? 

Locally, there's a 40k escalation league at the FLGS, with prize support and best of all: the only models that get objective secured have to be painted to at least a table top standard! Hell, even Bob, a long-time 8th ed. hold out has a Knight nowadays, as apparently that's what's required to remain 'competitive' in 8th's kick their teeth in with pay-to-win models and make 'em cry meta.

Seriously, every pick-up game I saw in the last few weeks in which I was still a regular at the FLGS' game nights looked like games where any of my armies would be dead on arrival.

Even Neverness' infernal 20+ shots a turn flyer all but wrecked my army on turn one, killing a squad and a half in one volley, requiring my entire army to shoot at it the next turn in hopes of taking it out (which we all know is a really shitty way to try and enjoy a game). Oh, and before you get defensive and bring up the turn 2 'Vyper incident', I'm certain that that was a miracle of dice which will likely never be repeated.

Besides, its not your fault anyways, but rather GW's insistence on making I win button rules to sell over-priced models (Custodes army anyone?) taking just about all strategy out of the game because my new stuff is awesome and your old stuff isn't. Speaking of...don't tell the trolls that infest teh interwebz that you're tired of primaris updates/releases (lieutenants excluded, everyone's sick of those) because without constantly getting newer and better and better releases on a seemingly never-ending basis, that army is (quote) unplayable.

Clearly that wasn't a very good Martini.

...and thru all of that, even with my new projects and 40k purchases I'm just kinda meh. Hell, I'm not really even interested in playing 40k right now, with most all efforts going towards Battletech and a bit of Rogue Stars. Anyways, onto the state of my 40k...

Da Long Wayz Dezert Groop

Da Groop, assembled for their most recent battle.

The baby squiggoth is still on hold, and still awaiting greenstuff. Guess I ought to just order it online given that I almost never make it to the FLGS these days. Also, Krump and Pittance are getting demoted back to a mere nob (appropriately enough, even as puns) as I have a new Da Masta Cheef warboss mini which needs to come out of it's bath of simple green water to remove the resin-mold release agents. Someday I might even assemble my dakka jet as well.

Orks will always be one of my favs, and its doubtful I'll ever sell the army (again) due to too many sentimental models, and following my 7th ed rage-quit/ebay sale and the subsequent horror/anger of My Beloved Wolfy when finding out I'd sold the lion's share of them. As such they're currently holding steady at approximately 1000-1250ish points. 

Spess Mahreenz

Its pretty obvious that GW doesn't give a fuck about any marine that isn't a Primaris marine, and personally I find that heartbreaking. 

To be honest, I'm thinking of liquidating my army again the 500ish points that are left of it (and what little I have left for 30k too). I'll just keep my Rainbow Warriors, Relictors, and Silver Drakes Kill Teams, and my ancient Predator will go into stasis in my dust-proof display box. Technically the Rainbows would still be field-able as a patrol consisting of a Lt., a minimum tac and scout squads and the pred., but I seriously doubt anyone would want to play a game so low in points. So just kill teams for them I guess.

The Eldar

Only three left to go...

The Corsair re-arm-ament is almost complete, though I did keep a squad of 10 Iyanden Guardians with lasguns as is. They are all painted decently, needing only minor touch ups, and match one another relatively well. In doing so they've spawned another project/idea that I'm looking into but I'll get to that below.

Having removed about 200ish points just in over-priced lasblasters alone, my Corsair/Exodite/Craftworld menagerie is holding steady as about the 1k mark. The Corsairs are in dire need of a cohesive paint scheme though!

Dark Mechanicus/Renegade IG.

No doubt you can see the need for my cultists to
eradicate this clearly deranged foe...

Nope, no further progress on the Venomcrawler from my last post. I did get a 3rd squad of cultists cheap though bringing that little band of misfits up to about 300 points. They just need some motivation by me which is sadly lacking these days. 

RETROHAMMER

Kinda sad to think that these convoluted rules were a simpler time...

Going back to those Iyanden guardians with lasguns. In looking at my whole Iyanden contingent, they're all 2nd ed models (like many Eldar armies due to 20 year old metal aspect warriors still being the standard), so I looked to our friends in France and sure enough, they had all of the 2nd ed rules, codexes, etc. available as PDFs and I downloaded all of it (well, only the codexes that are relevant to me), and assuming I can figure out the old rules again, maybe see if Neverness (or somebody) would be interested in playing some 2nd ed retrohammer at some point. 

2nd ed does have the issue of not including My Beloved Wolfy's Fem Fa'Tau as they weren't invented yet, but she currently has zero interest in playing 40k at this point, and thus her 2kish army of Tau remain in stasis. 

*****

Well I think this rant post has a high enough word count to make up for my recent lack of posts...lol. 

The Quad Sabre Platform

o/

Some years ago I ordered a Forgeworld Sabre defense platform with quad heavy stubbers (i.e.: 2 twin-linked stubbers). It was little more than an amusing (to me) waste of a heavy support slot (why would anyone take that over a Leman Russ?). Indeed I even mentioned it way back here under that same concept, wasting points. Six S:4, AP:6, twin-linked shots with a 36 " range, and a loader with a lasgun who functions as little more than ablative wound (the Sabre uses artillery rules). When fielding a heavy weapons platoon in my Vraks army (led by a command section with another single heavy stubber team), I'd place it deep in my deployment zone, and blaze happily away at anything it could remotely hurt within range. In general my opponents would ignore it unless they'd run out of other targets, or the game was going badly for them where I'd then get the 'I'm going to kill that stupid thing just cause you like it.' type of comments.

Wanting another, my friend Screech got me a second Quad Sabre last year for Christmas (I think) as he figured it was the least worrisome thing that he'd have to face on the table. Not a bad train of thought. However, it then became twice as effective...
At some point i realized that vs. just about any MEQ army (which is to say, most armies on the table), my Sabres function the same as long ranged & accurate bolter fire. Whether a bolter or a stubber, MEQ get a save anyways. However now pumping out 12, 36" ranged, twin-linked shots, they were starting to mow down marines via the 'death by a thousand paper cuts' method. Long Fangs really don't want to split their fire @ some Sabres, but have little choice when the stubbers are all pointed at them! The Sabre battery went from an amusing diversion to something fairly high on the target priority list. I know Murl's Nids often rank these as priority target #1! Something about their ability to mow down gaunts I guess...

Then the conversation (often with Screech) turned to:

I need another one for a full battery.

No you don't.

Sure, think of it, 18, twin-linked shots!!!

Umm, no.

No really, it'll be awes-

NO. YOU. DON'T.

-but, i...

NO!

So as Christmas approached, Screech was in a quandry. Not knowing what to get me aside from a third Sabre, which he wanted nothing to do with. Asking if I wanted ANYTHING else, I asked for 'something for my Aurora scouts'. I won't ask someone to give me gift that they're absolutely loathe to have me field. So instead he gave me a Landspeeder Storm, something of a 'must have' for an all scout army! While he is curious to see what it can do, a BS:3, opened topped speeder full of scouts didn't seem to be all that worrisome to him (note his initial thoughts on the 2nd sabre...) as landspeeders are kinda rare around here for whatever reason.

Then last week I was perusing ebay looking for nothing in particular, when I spotted a quad sabre (sans the loyalist IG gunner). Just for the hell of it, i placed a bid. Becoming the high bidder (at my max bid) I bumped my bid up another $2 (which was still about $10 below retail), figured I'd lose the auction & promptly forgot about it. That is until I got the 'Congratulations, you won!' email from ebay!

So now I have both a landspeeder storm for the Auroras, AND a full sabre battery for the renegades, mwuhahaha!!!

Also I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas! My Mom will be flying in Wednesday, so I'll be too busy to post till after the Holiday.

So what happens when the side projects are no longer on the side?

o/

Well I ended up going with the test rat pack for Morheim the other night. I wanted to see if blowpipes are actually useful, rather than just over-priced, ineffective & very situational weapons. It would seem to me that no, they aren't useful, and they are in fact the waste that i thought they were. True the dice weren't with me, but I doubt that the blow pipes would have made a difference even if they were. In the aftermath of the game (where my dice rolling continued to fail) 4 of the rats in my test pack (including three characters, one of whom was my assassin adept) died.

The test pack was thus disbanded after it's first and only game.

Despite this debacle I've been rather enjoying Mordheim, indeed so much so that I've ordered some minis from the FLGS to form a human mercenary warband. (the captain* @ right is just one of the minis ordered). I made up a preliminary list but will have to finalize it after I open up and see just what all is in the Empire Free Company (or warband in a box) at a later date. I'm thinking of using the Marienburg list, though painted in the colors of Sollund, with a theme of it being a desperate attempt to raise funds to reinstate Sollund as a province (or something like that, I'll figure it out later).

Also, this morning I got a shipping confirmation email for another 5 Quar that I ordered a little ways back. Those Quar will bring my total up to 11 Royalists, which will equal what I'll get when I buy the Crusader starter deal (again @ some later date). However the Quar, BFG, Mordheim, Heavy Gear, etc., all got me to thinking about 40k (or rather my lack thereof). I've played 40k I think twice in the last 6-8 weeks or so. That's it, and here's the kicker, I don't miss playing it.

At all.

I'm just not having fun playing the game. I'm sure the MC/pysker spam nid list that I got handed every week for several months had a hand in that, but no more than the never ending onslaught of the Space Wolves and their apparently now required 'deathstars'. I still recall when that codex came out, it felt like I was fighting the entire chapter as there are so many SW armies here locally (and more have been added since that time!).

In years past I had 'blackballed ' a player or two as their idea of fun was to murder you to the point of you weren't having any fun playing the game (looks @ Warfrog), yet lately it seems that everyone wants to play 40k like that! WTF? Do I really need a sign on the door to my own game room that reads 'No Powergamers'?

So ebay would be the only option right? Well, I've been thinking on that concept for some time as well, and the problem is, is that I'm down to my favorite armies at this point (barring the GK which are a test of sorts). They're the ones that I don't want to sell. Yet, why keep them? Most of 'teh nterwebz' scream 'PLAY WARMAHORDES!' whenever someone says that they're tired of 40k. However i don't like that game.

Nice minis, but I don't like the play style, or the fact that every character is a special character. Additionally, a friend of mine recently played a demo and commented that the game felt like it was designed for you to be a total dick. Yup, that's what I recall from my past WM gaming experiences in WM Mk I. I took a really long & hard look @ Mk II, and nope, still the same game @ its core. Killer combos from 'teh interwebz' is what its all about (even more so than 40k, cause WM is supposed to be for competitive players). Brian @ the Gentleman's Ones called it 'mental masturbation' in his first impressions of the game, and I couldn't have phrased it better myself.

Waits for the WM players to stop screaming their just as unbiased opinions about the games that I like to play...

So, at this point in time I find myself enjoying all of my (not-so) side projects, and instead shelving my massive 40k collection, while still not wanting to sell it. Indeed, its becoming a struggle to get myself to even paint my few GK minis just to see if that idea will work, if only to save all of my otherwise worthless inquisitorial retinues from the auction block. Hell, I feel dirty every time I open the GK codex (and I do so only sparingly). I mean, who (over the age of 13) actually read Draigo's fluff and thought 'wow, that was really good'?

Sure they're marketing this stuff towards kids these days, but kids have short attention spans and shallow pockets from which to spend. Whereas older players like me have long term addictions to feed. I dunno. I'm just not quite sure on just where to go from here with 40k...

* Photo is a copyright of Games Workshop & used without their permission or consent (though if I'm buying one then I think they ought to be grateful enough to allow me to post it w/o a disclaimer).

To hell with the Metagame, let's waste some points!

I'm calling in a snow day, almost 5" on the ground & the potential for the roads to get icy, so I'm skipping the game shop tonight. Anyways I've been thinking of the whole 40k metagame concept. Metagaming is heard quite often in association with 40k, so much so that if you look up the term on wikipedia 4ok is referenced. I see it mentioned all the time on the BoLS, but in the Austin gaming scene, competitive as it appears to be, I think that that's quite necessary. Indeed for a tournament or playing in a very competitive group, metagaming is part & parcel of 40k. To play in just a standard pick up game, where fun supersedes the 'must win' scenario? No, I don't think it is.

There are a LOT of units in 40k that almost never see the table, purely because they fail in the metagame. Units that aren't the best use of points, rendered obsolete by newer rules, they're too situational, or they suffer from simple mediocrity. Prime example: Chaos Spawn. No one around here uses them, because they suck. That's a real shame as the new models are really good in my opinion. In general, most every non-tournament list I build (damned near all of them) has about 100-150 points devoted to unit(s) that aren't very good on the table top, but I like the models and the concept behind them. Sure I may be all but handing my opponent a few easy kill points in an annihilation scenario. But who cares, its a game. This is supposed to be just for fun. Here are some of my favorites:

The Inquisition. Virtually every Imperial list I build has an elite choice inquisitor of some sort and his little band of idiots in it. I have so many that I could probably go 3 months, @ 1 game a week before I'll run out of inquisitors. I like their fluff, their novels, but no one else ever uses them. Their too situational. Demon armies make few appearances locally, although the new Zoanthrope rules may give inquisitors with psycannons a new lease on life as proxied Ordo Xenos. Here's an example: Inquisitor Ben Franklin & his retinue (the resemblance is striking, no?) Franklin was historically famous as a drinker & skirt chaser. So his retinue has 2 'acolytes' with las pistols & 'man catchers' (shield your eyes kids), and an apothecary with a keg of the Emperor's finest brew!



The Imperial Forestry Service, DON'T FEED THE XENOS! VIOLATORS WILL BE SHOT! Lol, if ever I had a 'signature' unit, this would be it. The forestry service is merely a guise of the inquisition, deployed to frontier or agri-worlds undercover to smoke out heretics where ever they may hide. 'Ranger Smith' with his bolter & his squad of 'Foresters' (Storm Troopers) are always quite popular when they hit the table with their rhino! (these are old warzone models)





Imperial Atlas armored recovery vehicle. If my Guardsmen aren't accompanied by an Inquisitor, odds are that this tank is why. Forgeworld's update PDF gave this quite a buff here recently. Now with the same armor as a standard Russ, and the ability to repair damaged vehicles in B2B (I've not managed to do that yet, but it was an excuse to buy the repairmen who's sole purpose is to remind me to make the repair roll) In general though, I use it purely because I like the model. Though the heavy bolter & stubber do manage to kill stuff periodically.



Sabre defense platform. My renegade IG army never fights without it! The Sabre can have a twin-autocannon, heavy bolter, or lascannon, but none look as cool or are as an ineffective use of a hvy. slot as a quad heavy stubber! Using the artillery rules, its rather fragile too. Though generally low on the list of priorities, I often hear 'you really like that dumb thing, so I'll shoot it first!' I have Rogue inquisitors to back up my renegades as well, with the infamous 'Khorne Dog' being my favorite!



So anyways, hopefully this will inspire someone to shelve the metagame for a small percentage of your list, and just put something on the table for reasons other than just pure combat effectiveness.