Fear To Tread - Two Minute Review

When it comes to reviews, it takes a pretty strong reaction to force me to put one up on the blog here.  And a strong reaction is exactly what was provoked by the latest Horus Heresy 40K novel, Fear To Tread by James Swallow.

Over the previous twenty books, the Horus Heresy series has shown us a side to the 40K universe that we haven't seen before.   However that unique viewpoint of the Horus Heresy has been lost and it often feels we're just going through the motions, until the authors get round to the battle for Earth.  In my opinion, the best HH books (Legion, The First Heretic, Fulgrim) have been those that start before Horus has fallen to Chaos and chart those events from another Legions point of view.  Some (The Outcast Dead, Mechanicum, Nemesis) were just garbage.

Now when you read licensed fiction (i.e. something set in a pre-existing universe,) you accept that the author doesn't have free reign as to where they take their story.  Accepting that, you are entitled to expect some core elements from the existing universe.  When it comes to 40K and the Horus Heresy books, that includes plenty of action, decent dialogue, appropriate imagery and an insight into the particular legion you're reading about.

Fear to Tread does a pretty good job of portraying the Blood Angels; loyalty and division in droves.  The dialogue is pretty engaging too and from unexpected quarters; the dialogue between Horus, the daemon and the Word Bearer is outstanding, as is the way the plot to turn Sanguinius to Chaos is revealed.  Sadly, the rest of the book is spent trawling through some rather underwhelming bolter-porn.  As the legion succumbs to rage and mindless violence, all the finesse in the writing disappears.  I lost all respect for the book when a group of Space Marines were attacked by lampposts.  Yes, you read that correctly.

Then there's the blood.  Yes, they're Blood Angels and a lot of the imagery and symbolism of that legion revolves around the idea of blood; loyalty, sacrifice, anger, violence, family etc.  Fear to Tread really takes this to extremes, however, and some of it is comical - Wait, that blood isn't Blood Angel Blood, that blood is someone else's blood!  Sigh.

Sadly, I'd hoped for so much more from Fear To Tread.  Although the plot is engaging enough, the the writing nowhere nearly up to scratch; really a big missed opportunity.  What really surprises me is the number of 10/10 or ***** reviews you can see online.  Seriously?  I know GW have a lot of fanboys out there, but overall Fear To Tread is just terrible!  Hopefully we won't see James Swallow near another HH book for some time.  Abnett has another Eisenhorn/Ravenor book out later this year, all I'm saying is that it had better be good or I'm going to have to start sending out those threats again.

Doing my bit for the economy.

Or: man, I've spent waaay too much money this weekend.  And it's not like I'm twenty anymore and can drops loads of cash drinking for two days; it was waaay too much money on nerd stuff.

Firstly, I'm a sucker for a discount offer.  Maelstrom have an 18% discount offer on, so I went ahead and pre-ordered X-Wing from Fantasy Flight Games.  FFG put the rules up on their website last week and after a quick read through, there seems to be a bit of depth to the game.  Lots of customisable options usually mean decent replay value and, besides, it's Star Wars...  No release date yet, but there was a big event at a convention in America last week, so hopefully it will be sooner rather than later.

Seeing as there was a sale on, I made sure to pick up a few hobby bits and pieces; some paints, some hobby barbed wire and a pack of bases.  All of which I would have ordered anyway.

Secondly, I caved in and preordered the new Warhammer 40K box set.  I know I said I was done with 40K, but to be honest I enjoy the background and fiction too much to resist!  Then there's the fact that I have bought every boxed game they released since about 1993, I can't break a habit that long lasting can I?

Then there's eBay.  Over the last few weeks we've sold a few bits and pieces, so I had a bit of cash sitting around in PayPal.  And as everyone knows, PayPal money isn't real money until you take it out!  So I picked up a decent hall of Flames of War figures for my Fallschirmjager army, including a couple 88s, and, although I don't strictly need them straight away, the saving on the RRP still makes them a bit of a bargain.

I've also realised that you can buy books on eBay.  Now obviously I knew that already, but looking through pages of books wasn't something I'd done before.  So, bored on a Sunday night, I'm now waiting for half a dozen military history books to arrive, all for 99p each (with the small matter of postage.)

I haven't even mentioned the bunch of miniatures I ordered last week, but I'm blaming the two Posties Rejects, Fran and Ray for that particular purchase.  It also deserves a post of it's own.  So, what are the chances of making it through September without buying anything?

Black Crusade Characters #2: Ingathiel

More Black Crusade goodness this week with some background on Doug's character, Ingathiel.

Background

Unlike Balthus, Ingathiel has no knowledge of his origins whatsoever.  His memories become coherent aboard the Monarch of Wrath, a human reaver ship operating from the Rifts of Hecaton.  Ingathiel had presumably been captured at some point in his past and the reaver captain made good use of his size and strength in boarding assaults and the gladiator pits.  Not knowing any other life, Ingathiel accepted this for a number of years and probably would have continued to do so indefinitely.

During a journey through a turbulent warp storm, the Monarch of Wrath suffered a number of malfunctions resulting in a swarm of warp entities materialising on board.  The Monarch was well crewed and well armoured, but the number of intrusions increased.  When summoned to the fighting, Ingathiel found he was particularly resilient to the daemonic attacks.  Indeed, he found he could dispatch the creatures with ease.  Seeing the balance of battle swing in their favour, the crew redoubled their defence and began to clear the ship.

However, the crew, already terrified at the daemons attack, were shocked by Ingathiel's unnatural abilities.  Matters were not helped when Ingathiel's eyes started glowing and energy patterns started playing across his skin.  As the daemonic attack diminished, the captain decided to cut his losses and ordered his prized slave, who he presumably blamed for drawing daemons in the first place, killed.

This proved to be far harder to achieve than he imagined.  Ingathiel, distraught at his masters betrayal, fought back furiously against the crew.  As his rage grew, he discovered he could focus the strange blue fire surrounding him and throw it as a weapon.  Although the crew were in full retreat, Ingathiel continued his assault, eventually forcing the bridge and slaughtering the captain and command staff.

With the ship was derelict and the crew mostly dead, Ingathiel was at a loss what to do next.  For no other reason than it was what he always did after battle, he returned to his cell. He found something there he wasnt' expecting.  The creature that stood in the centre of the cell was difficult to define, as if it's form was constantly changing.  One moment it was blue, the next pink or yellow, one moment diminuative, the next double the size.  To his senses, Ingathiel could tell it was akin to those creatures so recently trying to kill him, but this one showed no signs of violence.

Instead, after a few moments of silence, a crude mouth formed on the creature and it started babbling in a stange, unknown.  As the creature spoke, images flashed into Ingathiel's mind; cities, ruins, stars and nebula and many others, all unknown to him.  Suddenly, the sound and visions stopped and there was no sign of the creature, other than an odd electric stink.  To his surprise, Ingathiel found he could recall perfectly every word the daemon had said, along with every image that had flashed into his mind.  Before he could think on all that had happened, the ship shuddered violently in what was clearly a warp translation back to realspace.

The Monarch had materialised deep in the Screaming Vortex, next to the the massive space station Malignant Spire  Ingathiel managed to easily sell the Monarch and found quick employment as a mercenary.  Over the following years, Ingathiel found he had an instinctive knowledge of all forms of combat and tactics, almost as if it he knew these all along and was only just remembering them.  Ingathiel also found his control of the elemental fire grew and he began to experiment with different manifestations.  Psyker his companions called him and they showed him equal amounts of respect and fear.

Ingathiel primary motivation is to learn more of the creature he encountered aboard the Monarch  and discover the meaning of the message he was given.  Ingathiel is certain that he was chosen for a particular journey, the visions he saw and the creature's message have convinced him.  Ingathiel's travels have taken him to many star systems and planets, he has spent years trawling through ancient books in hidden libraries on forgotten worlds, he has visited countless shrines and spoken with innumerable mystics in the Screaming Vortex gaining snippets of understanding here and there.  The latest trail Ingathiel is following has brought him into contact with Balthus, whom he recognizes from one of his visions.  Why this is so and where they head next is, as yet, unclear.

Creating the Character

Doug wanted a psyker character for Black Crusade, so chose the Sorcerer archetype.  This gives Ingathiel the ability to use psychic powers and gives him a number of of associated skills.  The psyniscience skill helps Ingathiel sense others using psychic powers, Scrutiny makes him skilled in assessing data and peoples moods or motivations, lastly Forbidden Lore (Daemons) gives him knowledge of Daemons, their nature and abilities that most people will be unaware of - very useful for conducting rituals etc.

Talents in Black Crusade are abilities or traits that a character can either do or not do (skills differ as a character can get better at them.)  As a Psyker, Ingathiel is given Meditation that helps him recover from the fatigue caused by using psychic powers and combat, and he also has a certain amount of experience to spend on psychic powers themselves.  It's worth noting that during character creation, characters will not be aligned to a particular Chaos god; it is only by gaining a certain mix of skills and talents that a character will become aligned.  This is significant here as it means that Doug can't pick any God specific powers at the moment (golden oldies like Bolt of Change or Stream of Corruption.)  With that in mind, Doug gave Ingathiel the Doombolt power (for combat) and kept the remaining XP points for later in the game.

When it came to Ingathiel's Passions, Doug picked choices based on the backstory he wanted.  Ingathiel is seeking knowledge and is certain he is on a legendary quest, so he has the Foresight pride, increasing Perception, but lowering Fellowship.  Psychologically damaged but his experiences on the Monarch of Wrath, Ingathiel is always on guard against treachery, so he has the Betrayal  disgrace, giving him some starting Corruption, but making him very untrusting (and untrustworthy.)  Lastly, Ingathiel has the Arcane motivation as he seeks to understand his visions, giving him yet more Corruption and increasing his Intelligence at the cost of a little Strength.  After these adjustments, Ingathiel's stats are:

WS	BS	S	T	Ag	Int	Per	WP	Fel	Inf	Cor
42	39	42	44	36	51	46	49	43	23	6

I mentioned in the last BC post that Corruption was the negative marker (too much and you "lose" the game,) but it's a little more complicated than that.  Many skills, particularly psychic skills, need a higher Corruption to work and, in this case, that represents how under the sway of Chaos your character has become - how unholy he is.  So gaining Corruption can be quite important; the balancing factor is, depending how you gain said Corruption through either success or failure at a task, you may well end up with glorious Chaos gifts (Darksoul, Magnificent Horns) or hideous mutations (Eye-stalks, Tentacles)

So Ingathiel is looking pretty healthy so far.  He has average weapon and ballistic skills, as well as average Strength and Toughness.  Although not very agile, he has a high Intelligence (useful for all those Lore tests he'll be making,) very high Willpower (essential for using psychic powers) and above average Perception and Fellowship.  At this point, Ingathiel still has a plenty of XP to spend, but Doug wants to save that until some of the more powerful powers are available.  Finally, after acquiring some Warp-Totems and a tasty looking Plasma pistol, Ingathiel is ready to go.

Hopefully you've enjoyed the back stories and the summary of how characters are created in Black Crusade.  Next time, I'll put up a couple session reports from earlier in the year featuring the two characters.

Black Crusade Characters #1: Balthus

  

We managed another session in our Black Crusade campaign this week, although we only managed to fit in a short encounter and some combat before we ran out of time, short and sweet.

I've intended to put up more Black Crusade content on the blog (they seem to get a lot of attention,) but for a few reasons I haven't managed much.  Last week, I started writing up a couple of our earlier sessions, but before I put them up, I thought it would be a good idea to hear a bit about the characters we're running.  So I asked the guys for a bit of background material and some thoughts on how they created their character.  First up is Cal's alterego, Balthus.

Balthus might look like this.  None of us can draw, so
we simply reuse the artwork from the rulebook.

Background

Originally, Balthus was a member of the Maréchals Triomphant space marine chapter. Details are unclear, but somehow the Maréchals were caught up in the Dovinian Schism and brought before an Inquisitorial Conclave for punishment.  The entire chapter was sentenced to undertake a penitant crusade lasting a century, into the Kalmar expanse.  During this time, the chapter were denied resupply or the authority to recruit and replace fallen brethren. Finally, despite years of constant struggle against the xenos of the expanse, the Maréchal Triomphant were deemed tainted beyond redemption and ordered to return to their homeworld and prepare to be disbanded.

This caused an split in the chapter.  Some insisted their duty was to accept the judgement as just for their past, others insisted it was anathama for Space Marines to passivly wait for death.  In the end, most of the remaining Maréchals chose to reject Imperial authority and leave the Imperium entierly.  Firstly, the fleet returned to their home world, unleashing a devastating bombardment that destroyed their fortress monastery, before heading away from Imperial space.  Pursuit was never far behind.  For years the remnants of the chapter evaded pursuing Imperial forces, raiding for resupply when the opportunity arose, until they were finally cornered in the Hamiss star system.

Balthus was among the handful of survivors to escape the slaughter.  He moved from system to system, conflict to conflict until, eventually, he found himself in the Screaming Vortex, in the company of other renegades and heretics.

Balthus has a healthy hatred for the Imperium and naturally seeks revenge against the forces who destroyed his chapter.  Yet his hatred is tempered.  He knows that, ultimately, he will not bring the Imperium down.  Instead, he holds his very survival as a victory against the enemy, a sign that for all the might of the Imperium, he continues to triumph over them simply by existing.  So he fights where and when he can, preferably against the Imperium; each day he survives is another wound inflicted.

Creating the Character

Below are Balthus starting stats.  Most of these are self-explanatory if you've ever played an RPG or 40K/Warhammer.  A characters Infamy represents how feared and notorious he is while the Corruption stat represents, well, how corrupt his soul has become through evil deeds, contact with daemons etc.  Black Crusade, like all the 40K RPGs, uses a D100 mechanic, generally the higher the stat the better.  At this stage Balthus is still relatively unknown, but isn't that corrupt either.  When your character reaches 100 Infamy, you have become so powerful you essentially "win" the game, but having 100 Corruption sees your character become so degenerate you "lose."

WS	BS	S	T	Ag	Int	Per	WP	Fel	Inf	Cor
50	37	50	49	37	34	42	31	41	26	0

Balthus follows the Chosen Archetype.  Unlike most other RPGs, Black Crusade doesn't make use of classes or roles.  Instead, players choose an Archetype, a group of Skills and Talents that point their character in a general direction, but from there characters can progress in any way a player chooses.  As a Chosen, Balthus starting skills are mainly concerned with combat and in particular melee combat.  Although all Chaos Space Marines are skilled in combat, Chosen are particularly deadly.  This however comes at the expense of other areas, Balthus is not as skilled in command and tactics as he could be, nor is he particularly skilled out of combat, communicating with aliens or gathering information etc.

Black Crusade uses a mechanic called Passions to give your character some, well, character.  Each character chooses (or randomly rolls for) one Pride, Disgrace and Motivation that not only describe their personality, but change their stats or give other effects.  In this case, Balthus has opted for the Fortitude Pride, increasing his Toughness at the expense of his Agility and Intelligence, the Dread Disgrace, increasing his Perception but lowering his Willpower, and finally the Legacy Motivation, increasing his Infamy but, again, lowering his Intelligence.

As with most RPGs, players get a small amount of experience to spend on their characters before the game starts.  Compared to human characters, Chaos Space Marines get very little experience at this point (due to their higher stats,) so Cal gave Balthar the training to correctly use power weapons and the Furious Assault Talent (who doesn't love Furious Assault?)  Players can also give their characters some extra equipment for starting the game.  We bent the rules here slightly, giving Balthus a good quality Legion Power Sword (hence the earlier training) in addition to his armour, bolter and chainsword.

So that's Balthus, former loyal servant of the Emperor, now rogue, renegade and heretic. He's not exactly blessed in the brains department (but by no means thick,) but is more than able to carve through most opponents he'll face while dodging most incoming attacks. Although Balthus is handy at intimidating and threatening people, he'll need help with most other social and other skill tests.  Fortunately, no one ever travels alone in the Screaming Vortex. . .

Rose Tinted glasses time - White Dwarf

 

For the first time in about a year, I bought a copy of White Dwarf.  We were on holiday and I always read a lot, so just wanted something else to get the wargaming fix in.  I didn't how much I missed the old familiar, self-satisfied GW rag.  It reminded me of my younger days when getting WD was essential for new rules and models (no internet in those days, kids.)

This didn't seem like a great issue, but was enjoyable enough.  Most of the issue was taken up with their new releases, which isn't a great surprise, but there was a good mix of rules, painting and pics.  I quite like the recent trend in 40K to get these bigger kits out in plastic.  I'm really tempted to pick up a Storm Talon to paint, just for the hell of it.  There was also a decent article called "The Battle For Cardrim" but I'd have appreciated a battle report (however scripted) to go with it.

Good.  Good, but not great.

Still, I can see a lot of changes from the magazine I remember.  The tone of the writing has become much blander; much like commercial promotional material, they talk about one great unit or kit choice, then go to pains to say that all their other units and kits are equally great too TO THE MAX!  Contrast the writing to Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy or No Quarter and the difference is quite stark.  Probably it was always written this way and is due more to my tastes changing than any massive change in editing.

Is it just me, or has the standard of the painting declined as well?  There wasn't a 'Eavy Metal masterclass, but there was a painting guide for two of the new flyers.  Neither guide came close to the standard of the studio models?  I still have plenty of the old masterclass articles and refer to them all the time (my Warmachine Khador troops are painted following the Space Hulk Terminator guide,) a shame if they've gone.  And another thing, where are the prices for all the new releases?

Ah, a list of model shops in Moldova and Macau - how would I cope without?

Still, despite misgivings, I continue to feel GW drawing me in again.  Definetly not Fantasy though, GW lost me there when they reduced my Skeleton Warriors to 5 points in an effort to make me buy even more.  But 40K was my first "proper" wargame and, although Black Crusade keeps me in with 40K, I do miss the full game.  With the convienently announced new edition, I might have a look sometime.  Probably I'll wait until any new box set comes out first though.

Black Crusade Announcement - Tome of Fate

   

It's like I'm psychic (or a Psyker!) Days after Hand of Corruption arrived in the Man Corner, FFG have announced the next book in the Black Crusade series: The Tome of Fate.

Instead of releasing separate player/GM/adversary and adventure books, the next four supplements seem to combine aspects of all these books, but focus on each of the Chaos Gods in turn.

I'm pleasantly surprised to see that Fantasy Flight Games have taken a different direction with Black Crusade than previous 40K RPGs. 

From their website:

The Tome of Fate introduces four new Tzeentch-centric Heretic Archetypes, as well as foul daemons, arcane weaponry, mighty daemon engines, and vile minions for followers of the Master of Fate. Players of all alignments will also gain potent new psychic powers and daemonic rites to fuel their struggle against the hated Imperium. The fallen forges of the Hollows, the mutants of Dread Korvaska, and the ancient Necrons awakening from within the Pillars of Eternity: these and other secrets of the Screaming Vortex shall stand revealed. All this and more lies within The Tome of Fate, including a dangerous new adventure on the sorcerous world of Q’Sal!

 
So a largely, but not exclusively, Tzeentch book that sounds that it covers all the Black Crusade bases.  What immediately caught my eye was the Daemon Engines.  Do they mean the same thing as the old Epic Daemon Engines?  If so, although the Tzeentch engines were rubbish, I'll be looking forward to the Khorne book for these guys:
 

 

Well I'm really looking forward to this next release, love the direction FFG have taken and will be interested to see more previews over the next few weeks.

Black Crusade - First Session Report

Thanks to the miracle of modern science (well, actually, just a couple mobile phones and a laptop,)  I was able to finally run a session of Black Crusade, the latest 40K RPG from Fantasy Flight Games.  I roped in a couple of former members of the Granite Gamers (our old University wargaming group) to play as the characters, while I ran the game itself.

Serocil might look like this, but significantly more unholy

It was all a bit short notice, so, to save any hassle, I generated a few characters to choose from and adapted an old Dark Heresy adventure to a suitable evil theme.  This was the first rpg session I've participated in a couple years and the first I've GM'ed in even longer, so it took a little while to get back into the swing of things.  After half an hour or so, we were back rolling dice like veterans!

The session began with Taran, a renegade Imperial commander now in the sevice of the Dark Gods, and Serocil, a Dark Mechanicus Heretek, arriving at Tarsus Hive with the vague aim of spreading corruption and death amongst the Hive population.  We'd decided that Taran looked "normal" enough to still fit into Imperial society, but Serocil's many augmentations looked far too unholy for him to walk around freely, so he disguised himself as Taran's sevitor/bodyguard.  To keep the deception authentic, We also decided that Serocil could only communicate with Taran via the voxlink with one word messages.

The duo decided to pose as Inquisition agents and contact the local Adeptus Arbites to get an idea of the political situation in Tarsus Hive and the various criminal groups in operation. This was the first stage of the adventure and relied on Taran making successful charm, inquiry and deceive skill tests while dealing with Imperial personel.  Meanwhile Serocil made lots of scrutiny, tech and logic tests to covertly access various security systems in the hive. Thanks to the Infamy point mechanic, Taran was able to pass a particularly difficult inquiry test to find out the chief arbitor had apparantly been contacted by Inquisitorial agents some months earlier!

After leaving the Arbites headquarters, the pair had a good knowledge of the key installations in the hive, the amount of and location of the security forces as well as a rough knowledge of the various criminal gangs operating in the area.  They then toured some of the hive, focusing on areas they thought vulnerable to attack, namely the water purification plant, the main generators and the hive's ruling court.  At this point, they also failed to notice they were being tailed.

Hive Tarsus

With a little prompting, Taran and Serocil decided to head to the lower levels of Tarsus Hive and find a secure base to operate from.  Whilst moving through an industrial plant area, they were ambushed by a gang of hivescum.  At this point, they could have talked their way out of things and, indeed, used the gang to help them find a base.  Serocil, however, decided he'd had enough of hiding under his extravagant disguise, so threw it off, pulled out has plasma cannon and started glooping people.

Moving further into the Hive, they caught a different gang preparing an ambush and successfully intimidated the leader into taking them to their lair.  A successful security test revealed the lair was indeed a secure place to fortify and, after making a couple violent examples, the loyalty of the remaining gangers was guaranteed for the time being.

At this point, the climax of the session arrived, as did the mercenary squad trailing the duo, who appeared and attempted to take the heretics into custody.  Apparently, something about Taran and Serocil in the Arbites headquarters had made someone suspicious, and they had then used this team to keep track of them.  Fraternising with criminals was all the evidence needed for the mercs to act.

This last action was actually a bit underwhelming, as I overestimated how strong the merc force would be in combat (I used the bounty hunter and guardsmen profiles from the Black Crusade rulebook.)  Serocil was easily cutting down troopers with his plasma weaponry, while Taran charged forward with his power sword and killed the leader.  In the end, I didn't even use the gangers to support the fight.

Taran venturing into the underhive

With that last action, we finished the session and left Taran and Serocil for the time being. The pair were now reasonable secure in the underhive, with a base to operate from and a gang of thugs under their control.  News of the massacre in the industrial plant would surely be all over the hive by now, spreading fear to the law abiding population.  Taran and Serocil were now well placed to work out the next stage of their insurrection.

However, there are still a number of dangers facing our evil heroes!  It's unclear if any of the merc strike team escaped the encounter in the underhive and however useful a gang of hivescum are, they are unlikely to be of much use if superior security or criminal forces attack.  Lastly, there are the unconfirmed reports of Inquisitorial agents working in Tarsus Hive. If the rumours are true, the two groups will almost certainly come into conflict in the future.

So that was our first RPG session in years!  I'm not sure how regular this will be, as it needed a lot of planning just getting the three of us free on one night (even with us just on phones and computers,) however, as a one-off it was an absolute blast!

I really like a lot of the mechanics in Black Crusade and, even though we set the game on an Imperial world, it felt quite different to any of the other 40K RPGs I've played.  We're going to attempt anothr session in the near future, just to see how we fare against some tougher opponents and try out the Ritual and Minions rules!  Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed reading this report.  Please let me know if there's anything you'd like explained or if you've any suggestions for future sessions! 

Rationalizing. . . Or selling off some unwanted loot.

Part of this past weekend saw me spending some time rationalizing (terrible word!) my wargaming activities and priorities.  This meant making some decisions about what games to keep around and what to move on.  In the end, three things have been given the heave:

First to go was Malifaux.  I've played a couple dozen games of Malifaux, but can honestly say I haven't really enjoyed any of them.  The first few games, we were still learning the rules.  Then, I played a few games with my first starter set; moving on to trying a couple other crews.  In the end, I'm perfectly comfortable with the rules and have worked out several different tactics, but I'm still waiting for the fun to start!  I still think it's a very commendable game, with a great card mechanic and some wonderful background fiction and artwork, but I've decided it's just not for me.

Secondly, some WWII stuff has gone.  Some rules, Disposable Heroes & A Coffin for Seven Brothers and Rapid Fire, and some miniatures, 28mm Bolt Action Brits.   Why these choices? Well, I don't see any point in collecting the same army in two different scales (I have a 15mm Brit Infantry army for Flames of War,)  and I've never really liked some of the mechanics in either of the two rule sets.

Lastly, the last of my Warhammer stuff has been packed up and is ready to ship out.  Actually, I only have a couple of  army books and some unpainted Vampire Counts miniature left.  I've never been able to enjoy 8th Edition Warhammer.  When it was first released, I felt that GW had accentuated all of the things I disliked about WH Fantasy; random movement, random magic, super-hero characters, uber-monsters.  After a year or so, these trends seem to be firmly entrenched in GW's business plan, so it's time to say cheerio to Warhammer World (at least for the moment.)  So, for the first time in about 20 years, I'm not able to have a game of either WH or 40K with my own books and minis!  I'll still keep up with GW news and products and, of course, I'm loving Fantasy Flight's 40K RPG series of books, but for the moment it's time for a break.  Maybe with 6th Ed 40K next year I might change my mind. . .


So with a bit of space on the shelves, and some cash in the PayPal account, I kind of feel like starting something new.  No idea what yet, historical or sci-fi or fantasy?  Completely new game or existing rules?  6mm of 28mm? So many choices.  Any suggestions anyone?


I'm not a big fan of blogs advertising things for sale, so I'll just point you in the direction of my eBay page, just in case you may be interested in my castaways!

My Warhammer Historical Haul'O'Booty

Whenever I see a sale or bargain, I try to do one of two things; get something I'll get a lot of use from , or try something I'd not normally buy, but am interested in.  Thanks to Warhammer Historical's 50% sale, I've had the chance to get the best of both worlds:

Chariot Wars:  A Warhammer Ancient Battles supplement for biblical combat.  I've a couple 1:72 scale Egyptian and Hittite plastic (Arfix?) armies packed away, just waiting for a decent set or rules.

Trafalgar: A great rulebook and a workmanlike set of rules, I've had a first edition copy for a couple years, but the amount of errata and faq published meant I'm quite happy to get an updated copy for £10.

Waterloo:  What a book!!! Close to 300 pages, hardback pages, history, campaigns, rules, hobby - the whole package!   £18 is an absolute bargain, not to mention a great introduction to the period.

Vlad the Impaler:  Another WAB supplement, about a period I know exactly nothing about. What better excuse to buy another rule book.


The Art of War:  Err. . . See previous entry.  I thought this was about several countries in far east, but is actually about ancient China only.  Still, an interesting and (from a European point of view) alien period of history.  This book has some great photos in it.


Armies of Chivalry:  Another WAB supplement with inspirational photos.  I bought this primarily for the Wars of the Roses lists, but there is a surprising amount of content here.


All have the great production quality you'd expect from Games Workshop (however unloved Warhammer Historical has been.)  Waterloo is an immense tome, on a par with the eighth edition Warhammer rulebook for quality and above it for content.  Furthermore, I think Trafalgar is an example of the (almost) perfect wargame rulebook, with a skilful balance of rules, history, hobby, scenarios and inspiration, combined with some wonderful illustrations and photographs and, above all, with a design philosophy that puts the gamer at it's heart.


So whatever my misgivings of why there is a big sale at WH, I'm really happy with what I've picked up as a result. Even though I'm still undecided as whether or not to pick up the Great War rules.


Finally, word on the t'internet says that WH have more books in production.  Lets hope any new products measure up to the fine standards they've set themselves.

Dreadfleet - wow, what a lot of whining!

Thanks to their massive publicity machine, almost every nerd on the net will have heard of GW's upcoming boxed game, Dreadfleet.  And what a reaction the announcement has generated.


First off, in case you've not heard much about Dreadfleet, here's a little blurb from GW's blog:


"Dreadfleet is a standalone boxed game for two (or more) players that includes everything you need to make war on the high seas of the Warhammer world. At your command are two fleets of ships - the Dreadfleet led by the Vampire Count Noctilus, aboard his gargantuan sea-hulk the Bloody Reaver; and the Grand Alliance commanded by the Pirate Captain Jaego Roth, who recently stole the Heldenhammer - the pride of the Imperial Fleet, and one of the largest galleons to ever sail the high seas. After his family's death at the hands of Count Noctilus, Captain Jaego Roth is after revenge and no one will get in his way."


You can also hear a studio introduction, featuring author Phil Kelly and some dubious voice acting:

So there you have it. A game in a box; everything you need to play, including a game mat, miniatures, scenery, rules, cards etc.  Dreadfleet is set in the Warhammer World, but otherwise unrelated to GW's other games.  Lastly, Dreadfleet is on a limited print run, so the "while stocks last" guff is plastered all over the publicity.


Almost immediately afer it was announced, Dreadfleet and GW started taking flak.

The biggest criticism of Dreadfleet I've heard online, is simply that it isn't either Warhammer Quest or Blood Bowl.  In many ways, GW have left themselves open to this kind of attack through the success that their re-release of Space Hulk was.  They took an older game that many of their customer would describe as iconic and look back on with nostalgia, gave it a makeover (with some kick-arse miniatures) and made a heap of cash.  However, the fact that this release isn't the one that many (some) people wanted, does that justify the scorn being poured out?


Can we speculate why GW decided not to produce a remake of Warhammer Quest or Blood Bowl?  Yes, of course we can.  The most obvious reason is their licencing agreement with Fantasy Flight.  A Warhammer Quest release (assuming a £60/$100 price point) would conflict directly with the second edition of Descent just released.  The stand-alone nature of this release and the inherently expansion driven nature of Descent means that this kind of release would harm both companies and be to the benefit of neither.

Why not Blood Bowl?  Again the standalone release GW seem to be going for would prohibit this.  There are, roughly, eleven Warhammer races.  Is it reasonable to expect that many teams in a standalone box?  No.  So do GW release a box with, say, four races and basically piss off half their customer base by not having their team available?  On the other hand, do they release a box with just two teams and then leave it at that?  Again no, Blood Bowl was a game based on leagues and multiple teams and ignoring that would be a very poor decision to make.  Alternatively, teams could be drip fed in individual box sets, but this would contradict GW's core business strategy, taking attention, resouces and floor space away from their core product.


These complaints also ignore the fundamental business decision GW are making by producing a standalone, limited run box.  It's to generate a one-off, high spike of revenue.  This release comes at half way though the financial year and, to my eyes, is intended to influence their half yearly shareholder announcements.  Anything wrong with that?  No, not at all.  GW is answerable, financially, to it's shareholders, not to their customers.  Their Space Hulk release was at the same time in the year and was a huge success in this respect.


As customers and consumers, we have the choice whether to take advantage of the game (and support GW's business plan as a result,) or not to buy the game and move on.  As a side point, GW took a lot of heat last year when they "found" some excess Space Hulk stock, and were able to offer the game a second time.  A repeat of this is unlikely, due to both the PR flak they would take and the fact that large numbers of customers bought multiple boxes to sell on (sealed copies are going for well over £100 nowadays)


So most of the chatter seems to be about what Dreadfleet isn't  "It isn't what I wanted" "It isn't a proper game" "There's nothing else to it but what's in the box."

Is there anything good to say about the release?  For starters, the contents look lush!  Each ship looks distinctive (although there is the feel of a pastiche when you look at the ten ships together) and they seem to be surprisingly large (if the comparison picture is to be believed.)  GW appear to have adopted a few mechanics from Fantasy Flight and have introduced some random card and ability mechanics that sound interesting.


Unfortunately, GW haven't released any information on either the game mechanics or the rules, so assessing Dreadfleets quality as a game is pretty difficult.  Probably a mistake, Fantasy Flight make all their rules available online, before release, and this makes it easier to assess new games.  


So, will I pick this up when it's released?  To be honest, I'm not sure yet.  I haven't mentioned the price point yet, £70, which puts it about £15-£20 above the price for a "normal" boardgame, but there is a lot of stuff in the box.  Also, some of the islands could double up as Dystopian Wars terrain.  Also, the Mrs, who isn't a gamer, made some agreeable noises when she saw the ships. . .


So undecided.  Still a couple weeks before release, so we'll see what happens. . .

Catching up on the news. . . Warmachine

With the decorating nearing completion, breathing room in the house is still at a minimum. At least I've been able to actually get back on the computer and catch up with what's been happening in the gaming world.


The biggest announcement I've seen in a while is Privateer press seeing fit to release a starter set for Warmachine.  This "Two-player Battle Box" has a lot in common with the starter sets of another certain miniatures company in that a) it includes a mini-rulebook, b) it has pretty much everything needed to start playing, and c) it looks an absolute fracking bargain!


What really surprises me about the set is the apparent RRP in pounds sterling.  It's $100 and normally that equates to a £79.99 in the UK (Ref: the large Fantasy Flight box games,) with the usual 10% online discount taking it to £71.99.  


Maelstrom are the only company I can see accepting pre-orders for the set, but their RRP is £69.99!  With the 10% off discount, they're charging £62.95 - with free postage!!!  Whatever way you look at it, that is a bargain.


Besides the rulebooks, you're getting basically two faction battle boxes (Menoth getting a different 'jack though) with an additional unit each - plastic Man'o'War and Cinerators (Khador players will be happier here!)  I think the Protectorate of Menoth force is 21 points while Khador comes in at 20 points. Throw in another unit or a couple solos and you have a standard 25 point army.


I am slightly surprised that both forces have medium based, multi wound units.  Providing one force with a small based unit and a solo choice would have put every unit type (baring cavalry) in the starter box.  Also, I noticed the product description doesn't make it clear if there are templates in the box, or just a ruler - two jacks and both casters use AOEs and the Repenter uses the spray template.  Still if that's the worst thing about the box set, PP are onto a winner here surely.


It's good to see that two large companies are able to learn from (White Dwarf finally including rules/profile previews like No Quarter) and improving upon each other (Island of Blood; great box set, absolutely useless as a starter set.)

Speaking of GW, rumours of the 40K 6th edition box set have started to surface - two boxes, each with one complete army Dark Angels or Chaos,) terrain and rulebook.  This sounds plausible, and is an obvious step for GW to counter the amount of components that appear on eBay following each release.


I'll be interested to see how the Warmachine box sells and if it affects the overall number of players.  Both Island of Blood and Assault on Black Reach sold by the bucket load, but GW still has a falling player base.  


Regardless, this is definitely a day one purchase for me!