40K Hobby: 40K, Bolt Action and a Cat!

Hobby Progress, The September Edition.

Hmm, been a slow month here on the ACW blog but in the real world lots of things have been getting done though, just not much I wanted to talk about. Personally, I have been pondering the current state of 40K and it's near future. The more I ponder the more I have doubts about it because to my perception 40K as a game has reached a critical mass. The game has changed considerable in just a couple of years and is now bloated with new rules, added complexity, more source books, more models, more formations and the big, shiny gotcha units/formations being introduced all the time. You have to be a danged rules expert just to be competent in a tournament these days with so much information that must be retained. I'm fearful that the entire system is going to collapse upon itself before too long from player fatigue. With such a high learning curve and ever increasingly pricey models, how on earth are new people going to get interested in sticking with this game? 

Anyway, I might write an article about my feelings on this mater later, for now check out this insightful article as it pretty much falls into line with how I have been feeling of late about the state of the 40K as a game.

Don't get me wrong here, I still want to play casual 40K games and I still have plans of bi-weekly video battle reports once the game room is done. I'm just worried about the current trends and I have a bad feeling about the future of this venerable game. I do hope that the feeling is unfounded.

The Road to Glory Narrative Campaign

My Summer 40K League was meant to be a casual gamer's event and it was a success, some people still couldn't help being competitive but we know whom those people are in our club and we expect it so we do not hold it against them because we still like them. Heh.

Next up I am planning a casual narrative campaign to kick off in October. Interest in it is good so I am not complaining. It has me thinking that 40K players are wanting casual events, maybe this is the new trend with players because of all the bloated rules/models nonsense going on that I was talking about?

Check out the beginnings of the campaign here.

40K Hobby Progress

On a happier note, Khorne dawgs! I finished up 10 more dawgs for my Redstone Rumble list. From opening the box to finishing all 10 models it took me about a month - that is super fast for me!

Here is the link to the excellent video tutorial for painting these dawgs. 

So this is what I saw when taking photos of the flesh hounds.
Emilou: "Meow."
Translation: "Daddy, why are you giving those models more attention than me?"

Pay attention to me!

 Bolt Action Hobby Progress

Yes, progress is happening with my American army in Bolt Action. I have the core of my platoon pretty much put together except for the Lieutenant and his attendants.

Let me tell you this, as 40K players we have been spoiled when putting together our infantry models which have only a few parts. These bolt action models have many parts: body, arm options, weapon options, belt accessory parts, backpack options, head options and other accessories. I suppose all these parts is because of historical accuracy, which is a great thing. But sometimes getting those danged arms to fit and glue just right with a weapon can be a real frustrating deal, I had to just walk way a couple of times. Luckily, you get better with it the more models you build.

Personally, I think next year will be a big year for Bolt Action as a game and for my interest in it. Delving into a new hobby is an exciting thing.

Anyone interested in Bolt Action and it's mechanics (it is a lot like 40K but with far, far less clunky rules) check out these Norwegian guys video battle reports at Tabletop Battle and +Tabletopbattle , they will teach you a lot about the game just by watching them play. I enjoy their battle reports so much I decided to support them by becoming a monthly patron.

Please forgive the not so good pics below, I was in a hurry.

First squad

Second squad

Third squad

Sniper team and bazooka team.

40K Rules: ITC Allows Tithe-Summoned Gliding Bloodthirsters

Hells yes.
Just recently Frontline Gaming had their quarterly ITC rules vote where they allow the players to vote for certain rules changes to be implemented or not. Here is the results of the rule that is making Khorne Daemonkin players rejoice:

Question 11

Khorne Daemonkin: Bloodthirster/Daemon Prince summoning, can they choose to swoop or glide when they enter the game from Deep Strike? If they enter the game “flying,” they must wait 2 game turns before they may assault. Allowing them to choose to enter “jumping” means they enter play on the ground, and wait 1 turn to assault.

Note: they must still swoop when entering the game normally from reserves.

And here is the response from Frontline Gaming's Reece about the results:

" This has been a hot button issue, lately and a classic RAW vs. RAI argument (as are all of the remaining issues). I’m happy to see the community choosing to lend a hand to their KDK friends, and go with the RAI interpretation on this one. Again, this to me shows that folks do not vote in their own self interest. Obviously, 66% of all ITC participants are not KDK players, yet that many were willing to vote for a ruling that benefits them. That’s a good thing, IMO, and it means we as a community care more for doing what we think is fair than what may benefit us, personally. KDK players be stoked! In ITC events you can realistically summon your big boys and have then actually participate in the game! "

Get the full article from Frontline Gaming here.

Note: As of writing this article the ITC FAQ has not been officially updated to include the new Bloodthirster summoning rule.

I'm gonna get you sucka'!

What players does it effect?

This effects everybody that plays with the ITC rules/FAQ, and that includes a large amount of players and tournaments. ITC is probably, without much argument, the largest accepted set of standardized tournament rules for 40K players in America. If your local 40K community does not use ITC then I would say to give them a look over, they provide a rock-solid revised rules base that attempts to create a fair and even 7th edition rule set. ITC isn't for everybody, it places limits on list building and nerfs some of the more powerful rules (D weapons and invisibility for example). One of ITC's best features is that they allow the players to vote on rules changes every three months, how cool is that?

Even if you do not use ITC rules you could look at the vote as an indication of how the community generally feels about the issue overall. Granted, not all local metas are going to feel the same but hopefully by seeing this vote result it will help you, and your local community, make a decision on the 'thrister summoning rule if you guys have been on the fence about it.

How does it effect play?
This is a game changer, it makes summoning a Bloodthrister/winged Prince with Blood Tithe a much more palpable option for Khorne players. No longer do you have to wait two turns before the 'thirster/prince can enter assault, but only one! That's huge. Right off the bat a gliding Tithe-summoned 'thrister can immediately be an asset by contesting objectives (since it isn't flying) and can be a huge boon just by forcing your opponent to spend valuable shooting to kill it. Your opponent has exactly one turn to deal with the 'thrister before it starts to touch things and makes them explode!

How does it effect Khorne Daemonkin list building?
With a now immediate effect on the battlefield, the allure of tithe-summoned 'thirsters/winged princes is tempting once again. Khorne players could shift their lists into the direction of farming Blood Tithe so to summon one, two or maybe even three 'thristers in a game and that can be a real game changer. The Blood Host detachment could be given another chance, despite the hated Possessed tax. That Possessed tax may very well be worth the cost of it now as well as the Artefacts; The Blade of Endless Blood and The Axe of Ruin.

Kor'Lath the Axe of Ruin
This artefact has gone from meh to good overnight. The rules for the axe refers to the Blood Tithe table for summoning rules so obviously, an axe summoned 'thrister will be treated as a Tithe-summoned one.

With the immediate threat of a 'thrister attacking only one turn after jumping out of the axe - this artefact should give your opponent pause when dealing with the Lord/Prince wielding it. Think about it, for 50 points your slain HQ transforms into a gliding 'thrister. Next turn it might be down a couple of wounds due to the axe's Caged Fury rule, but still a 'thrister is a demi-god in close combat regardless and he will destroy what he touches. That means your opponent must do his best to deal with the 'thrister so basically he has to deal with TWO HQs, not just one. The amount of diversion this poop-inducing axe born 'thrister can produce is well worth the axe's weight of points (IMHO) because this 'thrister can NOT be ignored for a turn like before.

++++++

40K Hobby Progress: Khorne Daemonkin and Other Hobby Stuffs

Get'n 'er done.
Finally after at least half of a year I've made solid progress on my hobby. Oh, it only took me about one and half months to get ten bloodletters done but progress is progress and I'm happy with the results. Now I've got 20 bloodletters painted for my Khorne army so can't be more happier than that - my army gets more Khorney by the day.

Redstone Rumble list must get done by October.
Yep, updating my Khorne army to this , as explained in my last posting because last year my Redstone list was CSM with Daemon allies but now I am all about the new Khorne codex. So ten new bloodleters done. Check. Now for the rest, heh.

To finish my update this is what is needing to be accomplished:

• Paint Heldrake (Goatboy)
• Assemble & paint six Khorne bikers.
• Buy, assemble & paint 17 flesh hounds.
• Paint wingless Khorne Daemon Prince.
• Optional: assemble (me) & paint three Bloodcrushers (Goatboy)
• Optional: paint Bloodthirster (Goatboy)

As you can see I've got my work still cut out for me and with options in case I want to have those models available for blood tithe summoning.

Wingless Daemon Prince
If I have the blood tithe available early enough in a game I sometimes like to bring in a wingless Prince so to assault the next turn. Of course he will get shot at a lot but that just means more of my other dangerous Khorney stuff doesn't get shot at so win - win.

Anyway, I like to tinker with models since I have tons of chaos bits laying around and so built the prince as you see in the pictures. He was a winged model that was siting around with some ugly neon powder blue half-ass paint job on him. Bought him from ebay last year for a Flying Circus army but that fell through when 7th edition hit. So I threw him into some Simple Green for two weeks, scrubbed off the lose paint and disassembled it.

I added the helm and dangerous looking tentacles to make him look more interesting, he is in beast mode! I think I am going to leave off the giant shoulder pads, thinking this model stands alone without the added distractions of over-sized shoulder boulders. And if anyone seriously claims that the prince is not WYSIWYG without the shoulder pads then I will poop on their heads because they are sh**heads and don't deserve another second of my valuable wargaming fun time.

Oops, I just saw that I forgot to put green stuff in whats left of the wing slots, will get that done before the model is primed. And normally I would send off large models for Goatboy to paint but I'm going to give this Prince a try for myself, it seems like it will be a fun challenge instead of the normal dread I feel when presented with a large model to paint (and paint it well).

The Game Room

Cue the failure music, WAH-WAH-Waaaaaaaaaaaa. Nah, it isn't that bad, just delayed for awhile. You see there is this thing called life and it decided to whammy me with many home repair bills all in a row. That and I've got to get my Redstone list done soon and then there is these other games I want to start investing in. Heh, the life of a gamer.

Actually the making of the game table won't cost me much - it is buying all the terrain for said table that will cost bunches. The whole idea of my game room is to make video battle reports on a biweekly schedule so it has to look good or nobody will want to watch because there is lots of batrep competition out there!

Other Wargaming Hobby Progress, Age of Sigmar

What? There are other games out there besides 40K? *shock*. Well, yeah, there is! Folks, we are living in a golden age of wargaming and there is so much to choose from which means the best eventually rises to the top over time and gets bigger from all the wargaming interest out there in the community right now.

So I split a box of Age of Sigmar with a club mate, of course I got the Chaos half! Those models are OMG beautiful, which is the main reason I bought them. The other reason being is that I wanted to try out this new GW game, it had impressed me with the beautiful models, simple rules and free living document rule set. So far it is a hit with my club, we got over half a dozen people diving into the new boxed set. This is all evidence for my theory that AoS was partially targeting 40K players from the get go - the models are gorgeous and they can all pretty much all be easily meshed into existing 40K armies because they are that accommodating to the look and feel of 40K.

We had a discussion about AoS on my club's last podcast, go give it a listen if you are interested, it is good listening material while you work on your hobby progress. SMG Podcast Episode 24

Even more new games. BOLT ACTION!

Yeah, stoked about this game. I am a long time WWII buff, from as far back when I was a kid watching WWII movies on the TV. The entire war and the historical period surrounding it just fascinates me to this day and I never get tired learning about it. So naturally I have progressed to wanting to play a WWII historical wargame and I have chosen Bolt Action by Warlord Games.. The only other real option would have been Flames of War but that is 15mm based which I don't care for, I like the 28mm heroic models to push around, it feels more real and exciting, and the models are beautiful when painted up well.

For those of you whom do not know, Bolt Action has been around for about three years now and it is gaining popularity. Warlord Games is doing right by this game and they already have a vast and colorful model range and not just for infantry and vehicles but also for terrain. And wow, the terrain! Most of it is from a company called 4Ground and I highly recommend them, such gorgeous terrain and it is affordable and some of it even pre-painted! Sorry, GW, your terrain is good but I'm going with 4Ground, it is even better.

Two more big reasons for wanting to start BA comes from the fact that Warlord Games wants to interact with their gaming community, they listen and give back. Huge props to them for doing this, it is the modern way a gaming company should treat it's customer base. The other reason is that the rules are what I call '40K light'. BA rules really are a compressed and simplified 40K ruleset, probably because one of the game designers was a former GW employee. It flows quickly and intuitively but it doesn't feel like you are giving too much realism away for a smooth flowing rule set. 40K players will recognize and pick up on BA game mechanics super quick.

I highly recommend this game and I have high hopes for it within my club. Can't wait! I will be writing more about Bolt Action in the future.

And you guys?

What are you guys working on? 40K still keeping you occupied or are you branching out to other games also?

All your game are belong to us.