Flames of War - Alternative History for 1944 Campaign

 

In an attempt to get back into Flames of War, myself and fellow gaming buddy Daryl have decided to start new armies. We're hoping that this will give us the impetus to learn the new (ish) third edition rules, and give us a different gaming experience from our usual 40k battles.

 

You may remember that we started looking at Flames of War last year, but for various reasons we never managed to get into the game properly. For me, two of the reasons were the birth of my first baby and planning a wedding (six days to go... gulp!). However, I would be lying if I said they were the main reasons. In fact, the real reason is that I have a real moral issue with wargaming the second world war. It still feels too close, too real and the politics and issues that underpinned the era are too serious and tragic to make it seem like 'just a game'. This was exacerbated by my picking the Germans - an SS tank army, no less - as my force of choice! Originally I simply wanted to pick a veteran/elite tank force, and the SS Panzergrenadiers in the Earth & Steel book seemed the ideal choice. However, as time went on, I found I just couldn't condone playing the army (they are the bad guys, after all), so the models remain largely unpainted and unused.

 

Recently though, I've decided to give Flames of War another try. This time I'll be picking an American light tank company. This should help mitigate my worries about doing the wrong thing morally (ie, they're not the Nazis). Another problem is that it's hard to justify games between two Allied armies - Brits vs Americans or Russians, for example.

 

But this morning I had a brainwave - a slight tweak to the history of WW2 would allow all of the above issues to be avoided. I've laid my ideas out below...

 

1944 World Map:

http://www.lsuart.net/ww2.htm

 

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DATELINE: Europe, July 1944

 

It is a time of global war. Masses armies, the largest known throughout history, clash all across Central Europe. In the East, the Great Bear advances toward Berlin. From the West, the New Americans and Colonial British push ever further onto the continent, every inch bought through blood, sweat and tears. Caught in the middle are the Germans, a once-proud nation brought low by the evils of Nazism and racial hatred.

 

Against this backdrop of titanic struggle, the actions of a few brave men tip the balance of war in a most unexpected fashion. Colonel Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg, in collusion with senior military leaders including Field Marshal Erwin von Witzleben and General Ludwig Beck, planned an audacious attempt on Hitler's life. Knowing the Chancellor would be at his secret Wolf's Lair base in advance of his meeting with Italian dictator Benito Mussolini on 20th July 1944, von Stauffenberg prepared a briefcase packed with explosives, which he undertook to plant under the table in the Fuhrer's strategy room.

 

The attempt was successful. Hitler was killed instantly, along with several of his closest advisors. As news spread over the days following, support for the mortally wounded Nazi party quickly disintegrated and many - on both sides of the conflict - made concerted efforts to bring the war to a close. But it was not to be...

 

Hitler's Assassination at the Wolf's Lair

 

Picture: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/Bundesarchiv_Bild_146-1972-025-10%2C_Hitler-Attentat%2C_20._Juli_1944.jpg

THE SOVIET PERSPECTIVE

 

On hearing the news in Moscow, Stalin was delighted. The crumbling of the Nationalist party in Germany was nothing short of victory in his eyes, a vindication of the Soviet communist movement and revenge for the destruction wrought in previous years on the eastern front.

 

In light of the disarray that resulted from von Stauffenberg's unexpected success, Stalin urged his Red Army to make all efforts to take Berlin at the earliest opportunity. The Soviet armies redoubled their western offensive, with their ultimate goal the annexation of Germany into the USSR and the creation of a geographical buffer between them and the crusading Allied forces.

 

THE BRITISH EMPIRE PERSPECTIVE

 

Having committed untold men and resources into the D-Day landings and subsequent push into Normandy, the success of the Hitler assassination was received with mixed feelings in London. Delight over the collapse of the Nazi party was the predominant emotion, however the victory was bittersweet in consideration of the human cost of D-Day.

 

Churchill realised instantly that the destabilisation of Germany would lead to a power struggle of unimaginable proportions. The fate of Europe - it's security, financial future and political direction - would be decided either through diplomacy, or through force. In either case, Britain must safeguard it's shores, and those of it's dependants around the Empire.

 

THE AMERICAN PERSPECTIVE

 

Having only initially entered the war in 1942 after the provocation at Pearl Harbour, the mood in Washington was one of aggressive self-defence. Having committed so much to the European and far eastern theatres, it was unthinkable to simply withdraw and leave Europe to be overrun by the Communists. It was quickly decided, therefore, that America must maintain a strong presence in Germany, claiming that nation for the peoples of the world as a bastion of freedom and democracy.

 

THE GERMAN PERSPECTIVE

 

Whilst their political leaders may be in disarray, the German armed forces were still largely intact in the summer of 1944. The morale of the common masses was raised considerably as the yoke of facism was lifted, and the armed services rallied to defend the Fatherland behind the unifying forces of  Von Witzleben, Beck and von Stauffenberg (now a national hero) and the remotivated German Home Army.

 

MOTIVATIONS

 

The German people, under the cosh on both western and eastern fronts, wish only to defend their original national borders against the rapidly advancing Allies and Soviets.

 

The Soviets see the opportunity to spread Communism throughout Europe, widening it's sphere of influence and creating a formidable geographical barrier between the hungry west and the fertile farmlands and oilfields of her heartlands.

 

The British Empire, much like the embattled Germans, now only wish to secure her own borders. However, the conversion of middle Europe to Communism cannot be tolerated, and neither can the encroachment of American interests so far from the young nation's distant shores.

 

The democratic American desire is to prevent it's ideological enemy, the great Red Bear, from controlling the political future of Europe. In addition, America must protect it's own lucrative oil interests from unwanted competition from the Eastern European fields in Maikop (Russia), Grozny (Chechnya) and most of all Baku (Azerbaijan).

THE THEATRES OF WAR

Against this backdrop of upheaval and confusion, each nation must fend for itself in a constantly evolving political situation. Former alliances are forgotten as new agendas are drawn up. Previously friendly nations become bitter enemies and unexpected alliances are formed. Far from ending the war, the death of Hitler has instead proved the catalyst for even further conflict. The prize? The defence of your own nation, control of Europe and the world itself!

 

Building Two Trygons From One Box

The finished article

In order to complete my army for next weekend's Open War XVII tournament organised by the First Company Veterans club, I needed to build two Trygons - and I decided to cut costs by attempting to build both from a single box! Here is how I did it...

Materials





Work in progress # 1

First, an admission. Whilst I did make two Trygons from the one box, I did need one or two extra things - the biggest one being a monstrous creature body. In this case, I used the body from a 'spare' Carnifex that our Dave (he of the painting masterclasses soon to grace the Claws & Fists blog) very kindly gave to me in return for lifts to a recent tournament. I addition, I used Milliput, some thick plasticard, some Halfords' wire mesh and an old resin truck from the bitz box.

Trygon # 1

The first model was made from the main tail-pice of the Trygon model, plus the Carnifex body mentioned earlier. I also used the large base from the main kit, which I weighted down with the resin truck to give the finished model some stability.

I wanted this model to look like it had just wrecked the truck, so I positioned the main tail-piece to appear as though the Trygon was enveloping it within it's tail, ready to be crushed and slashed into pieces by the might of this Tryanid moster (much like the Squats were in the late nineties). To finish the look, I fixed the barbed tail-end on the other side of the truck, so it looks like the Trygon is looping underneath the wrecked vehicle.

The body was an easy fit, and only needed a bit of milliput to fill in the gaps. The head was another matter, however. As I was keeping the main head for the second model, I again had to dip into the bitz box, where I found an old Carnifex head (ebay is wonderful, isn't it?!). I sliced off the top of the head and then affixed it to the Mawloc crest (the one with what looks very much like deeley-boppers on it). The hardest part was then to fix this completed head assembly to the body. This was done using lots of polystrene cement and then milliput, the surface of which I carved to match with the ridged armour plates  on the back of the Carnifex body.

Parts used:

• Trygon main tail
• Trygon barbed tail
• Carnifex body & claws
• Mawloc crest
• Carnifex head
• Trygon small spiky claw bits
• Large base
• Resisn truck (base decoration & weight)

Trygon # 2

Work in progress # 2

The second model was made from all the bits in the kit that weren't used above. I started by cutting a piece of thick plasticard into the right shape, to act as the base. I wanted this Trygon model to look as though it were appearing from a subterranean sewer, so I cut a rectangle of metal car-repair mesh and then sliced it nearly in half. I folded and bent the two halves over to look as though this Trygon had slicced clean through the metal grating. To finish the base, I cut thin rectangles of plasicard with I stuck around the mesh to look like the concrete edges of the sewer-drain.

The main body of this model was straight from the Trygon box, so this followed the instructions that come with the kit. The tail was fashioned from the tail-loop which usually curls around the base of the Trygon (a bit of a waste, if you ask me!). Firstly I needed to straighten the tail-loop, which I did by slowly and evenly heating the plastic over a small candle (just like we all used to make biplane wing-wire and sailing-ship rigging by stretching platic sprue over a candle or lighter). This worked very well, although I did have to take time on this to make sure I didn't melt the detail off of the tail!

Once the tail had been glued onto the base and the body had been glued onto this, the claws and head were fixed on. Again this was as per the normal instructions. Once all the gluing was done, I used Milliput to fill in all the gaps - in particular underneath the tail-loop, which is basically hollow as it's supposed to be glued down onto a base.

 

Parts used:

• Plasticard (base)
• Trygon tail-loop
• Trygon 'scorpion' tail
• Trygon body, claws & head
• Car repair mesh

Painting

The two models were undercoated with Halfords grey primer (my primer of choice). Once this was dry I base-coated with Ice Blue, and then liberally applied a wash of Asurman Blue over this. Armour plates and claws were based with Liche Purple, over which I layered rough stripes of successively lighter shades of purple/white mix onto the edges of the armour plates. Finally the teeth were painted with Skull White.

The bases were base coated with (very old) Codex Grey, which I wet-blended with various shades of darker and lighter greys. I washed the base with a thick coating of Ogryn Flesh, and once this was dry I drybushed with a couple of light shades of grey. The resin truck and metal mesh were drybrushed with Gun-Metal and the edges of the drain were picked out with stripes of black and yellow.

Paints used:

• Ice Blue
• Asurman Blue wash
• Liche Purple
• Skull White
• Grey, yellow, black & Ogryn Flesh (basing)
 





White Dwarf Spine Image - Death Guard?

I've just seen on the always-excellent Faeit 212 blog the combined spines of the last four White Dwarf magazine spines.

It seems to be the general consensus that the image depicts a Dark Angel, however I would like to offer an alternative - could it be a Death Guard plague marine? The clues are there:

• Dark green armour? Check.
• Off-white tabard? Check.
• Red detailing? Check. 

All these basic colours fit perfectly with the classic Plague Marine colours. And if you look closely at the White Dwarf spine image, it appears there are some Nurgle-style plague mutations on the chect, and the backpack looks non-standard too.

Now, I am quite willing to be wrong (it happens a lot), but we know rumours of a Chaos Legions codex are rife, and I think it always helps to have alternative opinions to balance any argument!

Plague Marine (thanks to
http://mallius.blogspot.co.uk/2010_05_01_archive.html)

Achieving the Impossible - Competitive Chaos Marines

Recently I've had an itch which I need to scratch - that is, to revisit the Chaos Space Marines codex and see if there are some left-field ways of building a CSM force capable of competing with Space Wolves, Grey Knights, Imperial Guard mech/leaf-blower builds and other armies which are rightfully considered to be competitive in tournaments. The reasons for this are simple - firstly, my original 40k army is Chaos Marines, and right now they are simply collecting dust, and secondly, I think we can safely expect a new Chaos Legions and/or Renegade Marine codex any time soon, so time is short to 'enjoy' the current codex.

The Masterplan

Whenever I plan an army (no really, I do plan) I aim to be able to achieve three main things:

1. Destroy enemy transports early in the game

2. Eliminate opposing troops

3. Have enough surviving scoring troops alive at the end of the game to claim objectives

This may be a bit over-simplistic, but it helps me to approach a codex with clarity of thought. I am a mainly fluffy player, and I will often compromise my army's overall efficiency by including units that I love, or by building the whole army around a theme (all drop-spore Tyranids, all jump-pack Marines etc). Nothing wrong with fluffy playing of course, but you can only lose so many times before the  novelty wears off! 

Thinking Outside the Box

So this week's plan is to take a fresh - and more importantly critical - look at the Chaos Space Marines codex, and to try to address the three tactical points above. I'm hoping that, with the advent of elite, low model-count tournament favourites like Grey Knights, Loganwing, Deathwing et al, that this might give  the old book a new lease of life. Of course I'm a realist so I'm not expecting miracles, but it's worth a try.

Where Your Help Comes In

I'd love to hear from you! If you play Chaos Marines, let me know what works for you (let's keep it positive; there's plenty of blogs dedicated to negativity already out there!). If you regularly play against Chaos Marines, let me know what you have come to dread facing.

So, thanks in advance for your comments!

Later this week I will comment on your responses, and also publish my thoughts on what I think could work. Finally, I intend to play some games with the best 1,750pt list that we can come up with here. So Mick, Andy, Gav, Dave - this means I'll be looking for some practise games! And if the army works reasonably, I may even take it to the Open War tournament in Manfield in April.  

Doom of Malan'tai

When drawing up a list for my Tyranid army, one of the first names on the team-sheet is always the Doom of Malan'tai. When delivered into the heart of battle using a Mycetic Spore, the Doom is a very useful unit. This article is not, however, about how to use the Doom of Malan'tai, but rather about how people feel about facing this particular unit.

What do you get for the points?

Just to remind everyone who may not be familiar with the 5th edition Tyranids Codex, the Doom of Malan'tai is a 90-point unique unit (but not an independent character!) which is usually selected along with a 40-point Mycetic Spore. So to summarise:

• Worth 130pts, and giving your opponent two relatively easy kill-points
• A Toughness 4 single-model infantry unit that cannot be attached to another larger 'bubble-wrap unit

Let's compare what else costs about the same. How about: 

• A lascannon-sponsoned Predator?
• A Vindicator?
• A CSM Daemon Prince?
• A Furioso Dreadnought?  
• A 10-man squad of melta-toting IG Veterans or Stormtroopers
• An IG Vendetta, Basilisk or Medusa

.... and the list goes on. So, it is clear that there are plenty of very effective units throughout the game that are the same cost (or cheaper) than the Doom. So the question is, why are folks so perturbed about playing against it?

Psychological warfare (aka, the bottom lip wobbles)

The impetus for this article is the tournament I played in last weekend at Malstrom Games in Mansfield. The tournament itself was fantastically organised as always, and the guys who I played were all friendly and competitive-but-not-waac. Trouble was, every time I placed Doom onto the board, I found that I had to explain the model's special rules, which on more than one occasion was met with slack-jawed surprise, followed by petulence, annoyance, or outright anger. I also thought one guy was going to cry, or at least call over the tourney ref to complain that 'it's not fair'!

I realise that against some armies the Doom is phenomenal - Ork hordes and IG infantry are particularly susceptible. I actually find it's even better against elite armies such as all-Terminator forces, where the loss of a handful of models represents a big percentage of the army. On the flip-side, most players nowadays have the sense to hide their infantry in transports, against which the Doom is impotent.

I field the Doom of Malan'tai almost as much as a pyschological shock to the opponent, as much as an offensive unit in it's own right. Just like other 'shock' units, your opponent will focus far too much attention (and shooting) against this model, which pleases me - it means the rest of my army is surviving relatively unscathed!  

In conclusion

So is the Doom 'broken'? Compared to the effectiveness of some other similarly-valued models, I don't think so. Especially not when it is only toughness 4 - a decent round of shooting from bolters, shuriken catapults or sluggas will quickly wear him down, and of course missile launchers and lascannons will 'double him out' and instantly kill, should a single 3++ save be failed.

Which units do you include in your army that your opponent is unreasonably scared of?

Which units do you not like facing? Or think are 'broken' or overpowered for their points?

Upcoming 40k Tournaments

Not all tournaments are about
winning at all costs!

I've just returned from a fun weekend at the Caledonian Uprising tournament, and have promptly signed up for another two tournaments!

Whilst the Scottish ETC team's Caledonian Uprising was a competitive affair, it was also good fun and a real social event, where like-minded people (ie us 40k-playing geeks) can have a good laugh together. I've made a good number of friends at tournaments in the last year or so, so I always like to have a tournament or two on the calendar to look forward to.

The next two events I'll be attending are Open War XVII, which is the  First Company Veterans club tournament, and Blog Wars III, which is an independently-organised friendly competition.

Open War is on Saturday 14th April (my birthday, no less!) and comprises three games at 1,750pts. In keeping with the current zeitgeist, special and unique characters are allowed, which I think is great - a lot of the recent codexes rely on special HQ choices to unlock certain army builds, so I'm hoping to see a lot more variation at tournaments in 2012 than we saw last year, where cookie-cutter Space Wolves, Grey Knights and Leaf-Blower Guard forces ruled the roost. This tournament features three unique 'in-house' missions, which also adds to the fun. You'll find the tournament pack (inclding the three missions) here.  

The second tournament I've signed up to is Blog Wars III, which is my personal favourite of the year. It is organised by Alex of the 'From the Fang' blog, and is really a chance for us 40k bloggers (and our gaming mates) to get together, play games, swap stories, and generally have a good laugh together. The feel of this tournament in particular is friendly and easy-going, which is a big draw for me. Alex also goes to great lengths to devise new missions for each tournament he runs, and this is another reason I like it so much.

I'll probably also try to make it to one or two other tournaments this year too; one I'm very keen on is Tim King's Summer Skirmish, which is a twelve-game 500pt weekend cometition. Last year's inaugural event was great fun, even considering the 8-minute tabling delivered to me by the UK's top player, Josh Roberts, in the first round. Ouch! Humbling, to say the least.

I am also thinking about checking out an 'away' fixture. All the tournaments I've entered have either been held at Warhammer World (our club's home) or at Maelstrom Games in Mansfield, which is a superior venue for wargaming, in my opinion. So my targets for 2012 are to concentrate on getting better at playing (you'll notice I still haven't mentioned my position in the final standings of this weekend's Caledonion Uprising) and to play at an away tournament - possibly it'll be Vanquish V, on 31st March to 1st April in Bristol.

If you're interested in getting involved in a tournament, the best place to start is here: Warhammer Forum 40k Tournaments List. And if you've played at a tournament recently, or you're thinking of attending one, let us know!  

Going Green

The Ramones: The Perfect
Band for the MTV Generation?

As you may know I am a true product of the MTV generation, and as such my attention span is short. This manifests itself most obviously in my inability to stick with one army for more than a period of a few months, which is unfortunate as my modelling & painting time is limited to only a few hours per month. This means that I have several armies which are partially-completed and playable, or very much works-in-progress. Let's see:

Chaos Space Marines

My first 40k army since rejoining the game in 2009. The Chaos Marines are actually a finished and fully-functional army and total over 3,000points, although they are certainly not optimised for tournament use (ie no Lash-Daemon Princes). This army are in hibernation until Games Workshop delivers us a shiny new Codex!  

Eldar

Ahem. Anyone who knows me knows I cannot play Eldar, any more than I can rub my stomach and pat the top of my head at the same time. The debacle at last summer's tournament is testament to this fact. The 2,000pts of Eldar I have are in deep storage until either I get a LOT better as a player, a new easy-to-play codex arrives, or until I decide to sell the lot. The last option is a distinct possibility.

Tyranids

Now my main army, and one I enjoy playing, especially now I am using as an all-reserve 'Drop-Spore' force. I have a couple of additions to make to this army - a Trygon and a Mawloc - and then this army will be completed.

Pre-Heresy World Eaters

This is my 'suitcase' army which I take away on longer work-trips in a shoebox so I can get a few games in, even when I'm a long way from home. This army performs reasonably at about 1,500pts, and really only needs a couple of Dreadnoughts with Blood Talons, and attendant Drop-Pods, to finish it off (though I don't think Drop-Pods will fit in the shoe-box, but that's a problem for another day).

Squats

Finally, my labour-of-love, the Squats-as-Imperial Guard. For almost as long as I've been back in the hobby (about two and a half years now) I've been boring people with how I'm going to bring Squats back, and how I'm going to make all these fantastic conversions. Well, the army is.... nearly there! I have about forty infantry painted and another twenty on the painting table waiting for some attention. In the last two weeks I have also converted five Chimeras into heavy support tanks - specifically, two Hydra, two Medusas and one Manticore/Colossus (depends how big a gun-barrel I fit to this last one). Pictures will appear over the next few weeks to prove I have actually done these! In addition, I have already made two Termite Transports and two Skylord Airships, although these all need repainting. Finishing off the Squats is this summer's job, and my target is to have a good 1,750pt force ready for Alex's Blog Wars III tournament this summer.

So What Next?

...apart from finishing off the above four armies, you mean? Well, I fancy doing a few one-off modelling pieces, for example a dinosaur-riding Eldar Exodite which I have wanted to do for ages now. After that though.... it'll be Orks!



Orks

To be honest, I think I should've just started with Orks two years ago and that would've been that. I really think that Orks could be the perfect army for my highly-complex 'heads-down-and-charge!' tactical mentality. Therefore, I had a quick look on ebay last night and I may have bought a few models (better not say how much I spent, in case Mrs. Grazer is reading). Suffice to say I now have enough Ork models to keep me going for quite a while!

Ork Tactics 101: Chaaarge!

The exact models I have are:

HQ choices:

1 x Warboss

2 x Weirdboys

3 x Meks

Elites Choices:

5 x Nobz

3 x Painboyz

8 x Bikes

Fast Attack Choices:

4 x Deffcoptas

2 x Half-Trakks

1 x Scorcha

3 x Buggies

Troops Choices:

60 x Gretchin

42 x Boyz

5 x Trukks

So there you go! This will be my 2013 project I suspect, once the Squats-as-IG are finished. Now all I need to do is think about army lists... ...and that is where you guys come in! I have played against Orks a couple of times, and all I can remember is a terrifyingly-fast green horde devouring my forces at lightning speed.

What Ork army builds have you successfully used? Or had used against you?

Based on the above list of models, what army builds would you recommend to a novice Warboss like me?

Sneak Preview! Codex: Squat Stronghold

Over the last month or so I have put a fair bit of thought into my Fandex: Squat Stronghold. I've had the luxury of working away from home for a couple of weeks, and I've put the time to good use - the document now stands at some eighty pages and at the last count was exceeding sixteen thousand words (I didn't realise I even knew that many words...).  

Anyhow, for those of you loyal, interested or just plain curious, I have decided to post up three teaser pages, each one detailing a particular unit:

Termite Transport

Squat Engineer Sappers

Iron Eagle Gyrocoptor

 Just click on the image to open up a larger JPEG image of the page (I'm not bright enough to work out how to publish a pdf on the blog - if anyone knows, please feel free to let me know the secret!).

As for the three pages, please feel free to read 'em and let me know your comments. They are very much first drafts and completely unplaytested, but I thought it would be good to show everyone that I have been working, and there is something to show for your patience!

Codex: Squat Stronghold - Progress at Last

I have wisely spent the festive period (and a dull week working in Glasgow) coming up with some great ideas for my meisterwork, Codex: Squat Stronghold. I won't be revealing all my secrets here now, as I'm really hoping to get the Codex itself to a point where I can publish a first online draft in the next 6-8 weeks, but you'll find below a list of things that I have been thinking about and developing recently:

• Full Warhammer 40,000 timeline, from 9,000 B.C. to the 41st millenium
• Comprehensive description & background material for the Squat race
• Detailed history and back-stories
• Unit types
• Stats for all units
• Special rules for all units
• Style of play analysed and worked into army design & unit rules

In particular, I have made major progress with two things:

BACKGROUND

For me the most important thing to get right is to give the Squats a valid and realistic reason still to exist in the 41st millenium. We all know (and I for one personally despise) the lazy cop-out explanation that the Squats were eaten by the Tyranids. What utter bunkum! It is totally unplausible for the Tyranids - a race that exists only to consume biomass - to expend time and energy on devouring worlds that are devoid of any indiginous life, and populated solely by a relative handful of frontiersmen, miners, traders and warriors, all of whom live in inpossible-to-detect subterranean cities. 

Ok, calm. Rant over... 

One main aim of the codex is to create a more satisfying backstory for the Squats, one that doesn't ask the reader to suspend their normal, rational beliefs (such as one can when reading science fiction). One of the most important things when writing fiction is to ensure that a character's motives, decisions and emotions are realistic - so that, even though he or she may exist in a fantastical universe, their reactions to a particular set of circumstances are entirely rational and realistic. This is in fact one of my major grumbles with corporate/primetime TV, and Eastenders in particular. It is not that I object that much to soaps and dramas per se, it's just that the protagonists' reactions are usually either totally disproportionate to the severity of the given situation, or their decisions are completely at odds with what I would consider to be a rational or logical thought process. This in fact led me to deliver a ten-minute rant (on Christmas Day evening, and directed at my pregnant girlfriend and her mum, no less) on why the current kidnap & subsequent house-fire Eastenders storyline was utterly unbelieveable and why 'real' people would never make those decisions. To their credit, the girls laughed at me, told me to shut up and continued watching. So I collected my toys and placed them back in my pram. Ahem. 

Soooo.... Long story short, I have come up with several different backstories to explain the Squats' continued existence in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. They all start with the invasion of the Homeworlds by Hive Fleet Nemesis and the Imperium's abandonment of the Squats to this fate. The different variants of the story then seek to explain how the Squats survive the Tyranid scourge. Suffice to say that so far, Chaos, the Demiurg, the Ultramarines, the Warp itself, and countless others are all involved in the story!
STYLE OF PLAY

The second major aim of the codex was to develop a totally unique style of game-play for the army. Very quickly I decided that the Squats would most likely favour a stoic, break-us-down-if-you-can attitude in war, so the army is designed to be a lot like Jose Mourinho's Chelsea team - very strong defensively, but with a vicious counter-attack ready to strike on the break.

To that end, I have developed special rules for many of the specialist units to suit their defensive nature. The psychic units - Living Ancestor and  Spirit Lords - have powers which allow army units, or even scenery, to be moved around prior to the game, during deployment. The engineering units - Guild Engineers and Sappers - allow vehicles and weapons to be upgraded with either universal special rules or the ability to twin-link shots, or re-roll scatter dice for example. The Sappers also allow pieces of scenery to be rigged with mines and boobytraps, thus ensuring the Squat player has a good chance of whittling down the enemy before they reach the doughty defenders. 

TIL NEXT TIME...

Hopefully then, I've whetted your appetites with a few tasty morsals to tease you until I've fleshed out the Codex a bit more. Til then, keep watching this space!   
   

Tyranid 'Drop-Spore' Army Increase to 1850pts

I am due to attend the Caledonian Uprising at Maelstrom in Mansfield in January, and army lists need to be submitted by 22nd December - next Thursday! To say I am in a quandary would be an understatement. The list needs to be 1,850pts, with Special Characters allowed - all to suit the prevalent ETC tournament scene, it would apprear.

The core of the army is largely fixed - I will be taking a modified version of my very own 1,750pt Drop-Spore Tyranid force which I had so much fun with at Blog Wars II which Alex of From the Fang organised and ran last month. The 1,750pt army is as follows:

HQ - Hive Tyrant with Wings & Hive Commander

ELITE - 2 x Zoanthropes in Mycetic Spore
ELITE - 2 x Zoanthropes in Mycetic Spore
ELITE - Doom of Malan'Tai in Mycetic Spore

TROOPS - Tervigon with all the trimmings
TROOPS - 10 x Termagants
TROOPS - Tervigon with all the trimmings
TROOPS - 10 x Termagants

HEAVY - Carnifex with Heavy Venom Cannon & Twin-Linked Devourers with Brain-Leech Worms in Mycetic Spore
HEAVY - Carnifex with Heavy Venom Cannon & Twin-Linked Devourers with Brain-Leech Worms in Mycetic Spore
I have tinkered with the list slightly to remove the Tervigon upgrades I didn't use (ie Onslaught), which leaves me with 120pts to spend. I really want to keep with the deepstriking modus operandi of the army (only the Tervigons start on the table, and only then in objectives-based missions) so I do not want to add any foot-slogging units. The army has a decent firebase, consisting of the 'dakka' (I hate that term!) Carnifexes and the Zoanthropes to deal with tanks, and good anti-infantry capability courtesy of the flying Tyrant and of course Doom. All in all, the army works and I'm afraid to tinker with it!

So, what are my options?

I have thought about adding 8 x Genestealers - they are my favourite model in the whole hobby after all, so they don't need any justification! However a unit of 8 is likely to be dealt with very easily, even if they arrive from reserve via a board edge using Outflank.

the other viable option I have thought of is to add 7 x bases of  tunnel-swarming Ripper Swarms, with Spinefists. They complement the deepstriking theme of the army, are multi-wound troops (ideal for objectives missions), have multiple short-range shooting attacks which may surprise a few folks, and can be used to tar-pit strong opposing units for a turn or two.

So, I need your help!

What would you suggest? Genestealers? Ripper Swarms? Or something else entirely?

All positive comments gratefully received!

Sons of Taurus Reveal 'Fandex: Lost and the Damned'

Legendary Legions

It's no secret that I am a big fan of home-grown Codexes, so I was delighted to see that the guys on the Sons of Taurus blog have written their very own Lost and the Damned book.

I've not had a chance to read it yet, but I wanted to share the news of it's release with you so that you can read and enjoy it as much as I hope to!

You'll find the Sons of Taurus blog here:

http://sonsoftaurus.blogspot.com/2011/12/codex-lost-and-damned-designers-notes.html

...And the Fandex here:

http://sonsoftaurus.blogspot.com/p/codex-lost-and-damned-wip.html

Check it out, and let me know what you think!

Query: How Effective are Psyker Battle Squads against Space Marines?

One of the units I'm thinking of including in my Squat 'counts-as' Imperial Guard army are Psyker Battle Squads, possibly two units of 6-7 each. I've seen them used to devastating effect against some armies, however I am unsure how well they perform against loyalist Marines, bearing in mind they automatically rally the following turn with their ATSKNF special rule.

Have you used Psyker Battle Squads against Marines? Or had them used against you? Opinions and thoughts gratefully received!

Hive Fleet Nemesis Drops In To Blog Wars II

This weekend saw the second running of the excellent Blog Wars tournament, perfectly organised as usual by Alex of From the Fang. This tournament is fast becoming the highpoint of my wargaming season, with it's unique blend of specially written missions and competitive-yet-fun gaming. The real draw of Blog Wars for me is the missions that Alex has come up with, coupled with the mandatory choice of at least one unique character selected from your codex. In my case, that meant fielding an almost entirely deepstriking Tyranid force, as follows:

HQ - Hive Tyrant with Wings & Hive Commander

ELITE - 2 x Zoanthropes in Mycetic Spore
ELITE - 2 x Zoanthropes in Mycetic Spore
ELITE - Doom of Malan'Tai in Mycetic Spore

TROOPS - Tervigon with all the trimmings
TROOPS - 10 x Termagants
TROOPS - Tervigon with all the trimmings
TROOPS - 10 x Termagants

HEAVY - Carnifex with Heavy Venom Cannon & Twin-Linked Devourers with Brain-Leech Worms in Mycetic Spore
HEAVY - Carnifex with Heavy Venom Cannon & Twin-Linked Devourers with Brain-Leech Worms in Mycetic Spore

The list is unashamedly designed designed to combat my particular nemesis, MSU/mech Space Marines! My regular gaming friends Mick & Gav (of Claws & Fists) & Dave Pooley all play variations of Space Wolves, and fellow Claws & Fists contributor Andy plays Blood Angels too, and I find that I really struggle to crack open their tanks with any Codex I pick from, and with Tyranids the problem is amplified massively. Therefore my Drop-Spore list is built specifically to limit the opponent's shooting opportunities, whilst bringing my forces in close enough to allow me to get quickly into the thick of the action. Everything except the Tervigons and Termagants deepstrike in, and with the Hive Commander rule, most of the units arrive on turn 2 (with a bit of luck!). Depending on the mission, the Tervigons either start on the table (objective-based games) or in reserve (kill-point games). The ultra-fragile Termagants will always start in reserve if possible!

My initial anti-tank threat is of course the two units of Zoanthropes, whose job is to crack open Rhinos, thus revealing the fleshy Marine targets inside. Deepstriking into action inside Mycetic Spores means the two units of Zoanthropes can usually draw the perfect firing angle on the rear aspect of two different transports, almost guarrenteeing wrecked or exploding tanks because of their AP1 lance!

The second anti-tank threat is the two deepstriking Carnifexes, again inside Mycetic Spores. The Carnifexes pose two threats - the first being multiple shooting attacks on their arrival (Str. 9 from the Heavy Venom Cannon and six twin-linked Str. 6  hits from the Brain-Leech Devourers), and second the obvious effects of a subsequent monstrous creature assault on the tank. What's not to like with Str.9 plus 2D6 of armour penetration?!

The rest of my army is based around spawning Termagants from the two Tervigons, which act as multiple objective-grabbing units. In kill-point missions Tervigons are an absolute liability, so must be kept in reserve for as long as possible (not so easy with the Hive Commander's plus-one to reserves rolls!). However in objectives missions, Tervigons - themselves a Troops choice - and their scuttling spawn are wonderful, and frequent game-winners.

So with this in mind, Andy and I arrived at Maelstrom on Saturday morning ready to see what the day would bring...

GAME ONE vs. BLACK TEMPLARS

The first game was a largely-traditional affair, being kill-points and pitched-battle set-up. My opponent was a top guy named Rick, who was using an all-infantry (and largely Terminator) Black Templars army. Not the multi-Rhino mech list that my Tyranids were deigned to beat, that's for sure! However, my opponent seemed wary of my nearly all-deepstriking army so the early psychological battle seemed to have been won. Unfortunately that's the only battle I did win in the first game! Rick's awesome multi-unit Terminator Squad (two special characters and 10-ish Assault Terminators) was incredibly tough to fight against, and in the end my army was whittled down because I didn't have enough AP2 shooting once the Zoanthropes had been gunned down by the Cyclone Launchers and Lascannons in Rick's supporting firebase.

Result: A fun game against a great bloke, but a disappointing thirteen-to-zero kill-point loss.

GAME TWO vs. IMPERIAL GUARD

The second mission, and opposing army, seemed ready-made for my Tyranids. The mission was to grab table-quarters and hold them uncontested with troops choices (or with your nominated Unique Character). My opponent was Commissar Dave and his Imperial Guard. Again, it was a fun game (for me, at least). I have to thank Dave for being so calm, patient and stoic as my whole day's quotient of luck arrived in two turns of shooting, where my Zoanhropes and Carnifexes wrecked every one of Dave's tanks before he had a chance of retaliating. Coupled to that, the Doom of Malan'Tai then sucked the life-force from his foot-troops.

In the end though, the game was won by my Tervigons and Termagants. I was lucky with my spawning rolls, which meant I was able to swamp three table-quarters with at least half-a-dozen small Termagant units. The final battle came down to a duel between one of my Tervigons and Commissar Yarrick. I had to kill him twice, but he finally stayed down and the Tyranids won the game.

Result: A paper-scissors-stone victory for the Tyranids against just the sort of mechanised force the army was designed to work against.

GAME THREE vs. BLOOD ANGELS

In the final game I was paired against Matt of From the Fang (I always seem to play one of the FtF boys in the last game of a tournament!). The mission was to hold five objectives, which again is something my Tervigons & Termagants should excel at. However, Matt had something to say about this! He poured down a terrific rate of fire from his Predators and Storm Raven, and assaulted well with his Blood Talon-armed Dreadnoughts and Mephiston - a particular highlight for me was the Dreadnought/Tervigon close assault in the early turns.

Later in the game I had managed to disperse most of Matt's jump infantry, and by turn five I was claiming two objectives to Matt's one. However, I was doing this with about four models! Sadly for me the game continued to turn seven, by which time Matt's surviving forces had whittled me down to just a couple of models left, and ended with a climactic double assault between a Tervigon and a Predator, and the Doom of Malan'Tai and another Predator!

Result: A turn five win ended up being a turn seven defeat for the Tyranids in a fun and see-sawing game, where the result hinged on the final dice roll!
TOURNAMENT RESULT

In the final reckoning, my Drop-Spore Tyranids ended up a solid fifteenth out of twenty-two. Not bad for an army concept conceived at midnight only eight days ago! In addition I had a fun day and met lots of top guys, so all in all a very good event.

I will also go on record as saying I really like the Special Missions, so please keep 'em in for next year Alex!

Squats as Imperial Guard - Army List Plan

After a week away for work, I'm back home refreshed, recharged and raring to get stuck into my Squat army. Longtime readers of the Claws & Fists blog will know just how long I've been going on about doing this, but it really is the main thrust of my efforts now (especially now that I've got a serviceable Tyranid army to use at club nights and tournaments).

As well as working on my long-term project of creating my own fandex: Squat Stronghold, my medium-term plan is to get a counts-as Imperial Guard army on the table as quickly as possible. I already have a number of models scratch-built, which you can see below, along with about thirty or forty infantry models which I have freshly painted in the last few months.

Newly-painted infantry

The aim of my counts-as Imperial Guard army is to get a Squat army on the table at the earliest opportunity, and make it as competitive as possible against the power-armoured forces which the boys of Claws & Fists (Gav, Andy & Mick) and 1st Company Vets (Dave, John/McTicTac et al) regularly trounce my Tyranids with. I may even take the Squat army to a future Blog Wars tournament, run by Alex of 'From the Fang' blog fame.

The list I have come up with is as follows. I'd be really grateful for any comments you have, both from Imperial Guard players, and from Marines players who have faced off against the tanks and guns of the Imperial Army.

Scratch-built Airship
(counts as Valkyrie / Vendetta)

HQ

1 x Company Command Squad w/Creed
1 x Company Command Squad

'FREE' CHOICES

1 x Techpriest Enginseer  w/2 x Servitors

ELITES

1 x Battle Psyker Squad (Overseer & 6 x Psykers)

Scratch-built Termite
(counts as Chimera)

1 x Battle Psyker Squad (Overseer & 6 x Psykers)

TROOPS

1 x Infantry Platoon:
   - Platoon Command w/Autocannon team   
   - Infantry squad
   - Infantry squad
   - Heavy Weapons Team (3 x Autocannon)
   - Heavy Weapons Team (3 x Autocannon)
   - Heavy Weapons Team (3 x Autocannon)  

Converted Ramshackle Games
vehicle (counts as Hydra) 

   - Heavy Weapons Team (2 x Autocannon & 1 x Lascannon)
   - Heavy Weapons Team (2 x Autocannon & 1 x Lascannon)

FAST ATTACK

1 x Valkyrie

HEAVY SUPPORT

Converted Ramshackle Games
vehicle (counts as Colossus/Medusa)

Ordnance Battery with 1 x Colossus & 1 x Medusa
2 x Hydra Flak Tanks
1 x Colossus

TRANSPORTS

2 x Chimera (for Psyker Battle Squads)


The main idea behind the army is to use the Hydras and Autocannons in the Heavy Weapon Squads to take out Rhinos, leaving the large blasts from the Valkyrie, Colossi(sp.?!) and Medusa to deal with the infantry. The Psyker Battle Squads will sit back for the first turn or so, hiding in their Chimeras, until the opponent's infantry are out of their transports. Once the Marines have been extricated from their Rhinos/Razorbacks, the Battle Psykers will use their powers to reduce the Marines' leadership so that they are more likely to run away once I start killing 'em all.

That's the plan, anyway - what do you think to it?  

Perfect for Primarchs

This evening I stumbled across Scibor Monstrous Miniatures, a Polish company who seem to be making some very detailed sci-fi (and fantasy) models at the moment.

Historical Models

The ones that caught my eye most were their 'historical' sci-fi Knights. Each one is themed around a particular period of ancient military history, for example Spartan, Celtic, Egyptian, Roman Centurian and so on.

Getting a Sense of Scale

One thing I don't know (yet) is how big the models actually are! The range is 28mm, however we all know that that doesn't really stop miniatures designers from wildly exaggerating the dimensions (Space Marines would be over 8ft tall in 'real life' for instance).

Talking of Space Marines, I do think that these models could be perfect for a tabletop representation of a Primarch. The picture at the top of this article could easily be Sanguinius of the Blood Angels, and the picture shown to the right could be the Dark Angels' very own Lion El'Jonson.

Cowardly Cowardly Custodes

The other models that grabbed my attention were these 'Roman Legionary Veterans'. One of my regular gaming friends (Simo of Claws & Fists fame) recently mentioned that one of his favourite 'expanded universe' units in WH40k were Imperial Custodes, and these models struck me as being just right for them. I really like the poses, and the monk-style tabards and hoods sit right with the fluff too.

These are some of the nicer models I've come across recently.

What models have grabbed your attention recently?

Fandex: Adeptus Mechanicus - A Review

Lantz McDonald's meisterwork, Fandex: Adeptus Mechanicus, has just received a major overhaul and has been re-posted on his website here. It is of course this magnificent work that is my major inspiration for my own Codex: Squat Stronghold. If my book is even half as good, I'll have done a great job (and, probably spent more time than I really should have).

The latest version of the Codex features pictures, model photographs, a few new units and rules, but most importantly lots of background information, stories and fluff.  The previous version of the book was great, but was largely a collection of unit descriptions and army list entries. This latest release goes a step further, and the result is a fully rounded book worthy of the word Codex.

THE BIONIC MEN

In general, the army has the feel of the Imperial Guard to me, in that most of the infantry - HQ choices included - have roughly human statistics (that is, low-to-medium stats across the board) and a decent save (4+ or 5+ on infantry). However, the Ad Mech have a big surprise up their sleeves - Cult Bionics. In addition to an armour save, the vast majority of infantry models also benefit from a second save of 5+ which, if passed, ignores the wound altogether. It is not dissimilar to Feel No Pain in this respect, and observes the same limitations (ie does not count against hits from power weapons, AP1 and AP2 shots et al).

COMPLEXITY RULES 

The other major trick in the AD Mech's armoury, and my favourite invention of Lantz's, is something called Complexity Value. Every vehicle in the army has a value ranging from 1-4 (apart from the Warhound Titan, but that's a whole other kettle of fish!). Each point of complexity value allows the owning player to reduce a roll on the vehicle damage table by one, however once the complexity value points have been used up, they are gone for the remainder of the game! This makes the vehicles of the Ad Mech much hardier than a typical tank, and all but guarantees that they will survive until at least turn two.

NEXT TIME...

So, Lantz has certainly spent a large amount of time developing unique units for his codex, and every slot in the army list is filled with well thought-out and fully rounded choices. Tune in again tomorrow for the start of my section-by-section review of the army!

Developing Codex: Squats - Army Characteristics

The next part of my development of the Squats codex is to think about the characteristics of the army - that is, how will the army play in a typical game. After some brainstorming, I've decided on the following:

Squat 'Race' Characteristics:

• Resolute, tough, strong-minded
• Unlikely to fall back or be affected by negative psychology
• High tendancy to hold grudges ('Book of Grudges'??)
• Naturally resiliant to opponent's pychic powers
• Few psychic powers / psykers in army
• Ancestor Lord will be only psyker
• Squat psychic powers will be defensive and/or synergistic (ie upgrading troop charactistics or powers, similar to Eldar Doom & Guide powers)
• Mechanically & technologically highly adept (with particular aptitude toward plasma and energy weapons)
• Subterranean dwellers

Squat Technology:

•  Widespread use of tunnelling machines (Termite transports etc) - all transports arrive from deepstrike in a similar way to Space Marine Drop Pods (ie half arrive on turn one, rest arrive from reserve)
• Tunnellers cause hits (large blast template?) on opposing models when arriving
• Opponent's vehicles stand chance of falling into subterranean tunnels, depending on number of tunnellers in Squat army
• Use of air balloons & air-ships - slow moving but stable weapon platforms
• Reconnaisance 'Spotter' air balloon allows units out of line-of-sight to use balloon's LoS for targetting blasts & barrages
• Light infantry armour (5+)
• Unit upgrade to provide 3+ / 4+ (?) cover save (vs. ballistic shots only) from 'energy bubble generator'
•  Sappers (scouts) allow areas of terrain to be secretly nominated as difficult/dangerous and booby-trapped land

One thing I will not be doing is limiting the army's 'foot' speed. I think that would fly in the face of every other race currently in 40k. If 6th edition brings in variable movement speeds (eg Tyranids, Eldar moving possibly 8"?) then I would consider dropping the Squats down to 4", but until that time, everything (from Genestealers to Ratlings) stay at 6".

As I start developing rules and stats for individual units, I will use the above characteristics as a general guide, and flesh out some of those points in more detail to hopefully make a really unique army! 

Developing Codex: Squats - Unit Names Revealed

This week, I have been planning the unit types that will feature in my grand work, Codex: Squat Stronghold. Some of the units are traditionally associated with the Squats, and existed all the way back in the original first and second edition lists. Some units, especially the heavy vehicles, hark back to the days of the wonderful Epic Squats. Other units I've just made up cos I like the sound of the names, and the codex needs a good spread of unit types to give any potential army a proper balance.

So without further ado, here are the unit names that I will be fleshing out into proper army list entries:

HQ CHOICES

WARLORD
THANE LORDS - advisors & specialists
ANCESTOR LORD
ENGINEER GUILDMASTER
UNIQUE CHARACTER – KING XXXXXX
UNIQUE CHAR. – GUILDMASTER XXXXXXXX - will make Guild Bikers into Troops choices
UNIQUE CHAR. – XXXXXX (TYRANT-SLAYER ) - possibly make Slayers into Troops choices

ELITE CHOICES

GUILD ENGINEER
HEARTHGUARD
WYVERN GUARD (EXO-ARMOUR)
CLAN LORD - unit upgrade for Troops units
FORGEMASTER - unit upgrade for Troops, sim. to IG Priests?
SLAYERS - sim. to IG Penal Legion?
LONGBEARDS - 'veterans' Squat unit

TROOPS CHOICES

CLAN COMMAND SQUAD (LORD & ENTOURAGE)
CLAN WARRIORS
BERSERKERS - assault unit
DRAGONS - special weapons unit
THUNDERERS - heavy weapons unit

TRANSPORT

TERMITE

FAST ATTACK CHOICES

IRON EAGLE GYROCOPTOR - sim. to Valkyrie / Vendetta but without transport capability
IRON CLAW ‘SCOUT’ GYROCOPTOR - single-seat flyer sim. to Ork Deffkopta
‘SPOTTER / OBSERVATION’ BALLOON
STERNHAMMERS - shock attack Squat unit
SAPPERS  - demolition scouts
GUILD ENGINEER ATTACK BIKE / TRIKE
GUILD ENGINEER WAR TRIKE
‘GRENDEL’ EXO-TRIKE

HEAVY SUPPORT CHOICES

LAND TRAIN (ENGINE & BATTLECARS)
GOLIATH MEGA-CANNON
THUNDERFIRE CANNON
SKYLORD / AIRLORD AIRSHIP
SKYHAMMER FLAK-TRACK
MOLE

SUPER-HEAVY CHOICES

COLOSSUS
LEVIATHAN
CYCLOPS
OVERLORD AIRSHIP
HELLBORE

Over time, I will be detailing each of these units. First I will be writing a brief synopsis for what the unit should do, it's motivations, and it's abilities and hindrances. Then I will draw up stat-lines, weapons profiles, wargear options and points values. Phew! It'll be a long and hard task, but one I'm really relishing. I can't wait to get stuck in!

Which units do you think ought to feature in Codex: Squat Stronghold?

What abilities, special rules or features do you think they should have?