The Nerf Bat Has Fallen

One week late, but I'm here. For anyone that catches this that hasn't seen, The Dreamer, Daydreams, Lord Chompy Bits, and Bury all have brand new errata as of Wednesday. I direct your attention to the stickies located here. 


I am personally of the belief that the Alps and Nekima got hit a little too hard with the Nerf Bat. Nekima is far over-priced for only being able to affect Tots and Young with her Nephilim Heart. In large Soulstone games, she really helps to boost a grow list - but that's 13 SS that you're spending just to help with some growing. Hamelin is just as effective, and at a lower cost. Lower cost means more Nephilim running around the table. And the Alps deserved everything they got, but I feel that making them insignificant really pushed them over the ledge from fixed, to unplayable.

Taking that into mind, I think the new errata is actually pretty well thought out, and doesn't make anything unplayable, but brings them down to the level of most other crews. So what does it all mean?

No Longer the Boogeyman of Tournaments;
Still Head Boogeyman of Malifaux

Daydream
Change into Nightmare Ability description now reads: “If this model is killed or sacrificed by an enemy model's Strike or Spell, its controller may place one buried non-Master Nightmare within 6" of it before it is removed from the table.”

Lord Chompy BitsAll Done Trigger description now reads: “After damaging defender, bury this model and replace it with a friendly buried The Dreamer.” as indicated in the 2nd printing of Rising Powers.

The DreamerAll my Friends Trigger description now reads: “This model’s Controller may place any number of friendly buried non-Master Nightmares within 6” of this model.”
Frightening Dream Spell description now reads: “Place one friendly buried non-Master Nightmare within 6" of this model.”. 

As you can see, Lord Chompy Bits is no longer allowed to play in reindeer nightmare games. This is but one part of why the slingshot is no longer viable. Although, Daydreams can still bring out LCB in a pinch, it'll just cost them their life (via Call Nightmares). And of course, he can no longer be dropped as part of the All My Friends trigger (he's been unfriended...). Dreamer can still drop him, at the cost of one of his (0) actions. 

More importantly is the new vulnerability of LCB. The changes to the All Done trigger are huge to Dreamer players as well as opponents. LCB now has to do damage in order to turn back into the Dreamer. I learned early on just how vulnerable LCB is if you leave him out, and that is not something you want to happen at all.This will make a high Tomes in your hand extremely important, or at least a companioned Daydream in range to Calm Nightmares. This is the key to beating dreamer lists now (in my opinion) - get Chompy to miss that trigger, and he's 'all done' on your terms. 

The Bury errata affects dreamer lists equally, if not more than the LCB exclusions.

Buried: Some models may begin an Encounter buried, or become buried as a result of a Talent or Spell during the Encounter. When a model is buried outside its activation, remove it from the table. 

To bury a model during its activation, resolve any effects which occur before the model’s activation would end, then end its activation, and finally remove it from play. This includes models that were activated through a simultaneous activation (Companion, for example) but have not yet spent their AP. Those models are considered to have started their activations, and therefore their activations end immediately when buried.

While buried, a model is out of play (remains removed from the table), but is still in the game. Effects on a buried model resolve as indicated in their descriptions.

If an effect would remove a buried model from the game:

• That model is still counted toward victory conditions as normal.
• Any Counters the model carries are discarded.
• Any Talents or Spells the model would be able to use when removed from the game, such as the Slow to Die Ability, do not occur.

A model is immediately unburied and returned to play when an effect would allow it to do so - even if that effect was generated by another model than the one which buried it.  
So where once models entered a void in time and space, now they only enter a void in space; and the clock keeps ticking...

Who can read that thing anyway?

This means no more Terrifying, Foggy Stitched ready to go for the next turn. No more super buffed Bete Noir. The clock ticks on, the effects expire. 

Poison still won't affect buried models, as they don't get to activate, so there's no chance for Poison to be applied. But Burning Tokens are a different story, as they take effect outside a model's activation.

The jury is still out on Two-Sided on Lelu and Lilitu. Personally, I don't think it's intended that these models take Wds because they're buried, it doesn't seem right, and obviously was not the purpose of Two-Sided since it was written based on previous Bury rules. It also seems that Lilitu still cannot heal herself while buried, though there's been no definitive ruling on that either. Will update when I found out. 

And then we come full circle back to the Dreamer slinghot. With the new rules for bury, if a model is part of a companion chain, and is buried before it gets to activate, it counts as having activated. So don't companion Dreamer with his Daydreams, only to bring out LCB right away - because then you just blew all of Dreamer's activation.

Finally, Dreamer players can put LCB on the table without hanging their heads in shame, and Dreamer opponents can play a fun game with a realistic possibility of winning (except Marcus (just kidding)). 

REJOICE!

Spam and Cheese

So, it's a little more challenging to publish weekly updates than I had figured, and great job to the guys that do it, especially to the youtube channels that manage to shoot and edit multiple videos every week. So from here on out, I'll commit to a bi-weekly post.

I have a couple exciting things in the works, including some experiments that I'm sure all miniature gamers will appreciate. So check back in two weeks for some cool stuff.

Today, however, I want to share my 1500pt Necron army that I'll be fielding in the Neverland Games monthly tournament this Sunday. Missions will be determined at random before each round, and we are allowed to bring two 1500pt lists, where 1000pts of each list has to be the same. I believe the only thing I'll be swapping out is Trazyn the Infinite instead of the generic Overlord.




1500 Pts - Necrons Roster



Total Roster Cost: 1500



HQ: Imotekh the Stormlord (1#, 225 pts)

   1 Imotekh the Stormlord, 225 pts



HQ: Overlord (1#, 215 pts)

   1 Overlord, 215 pts = (base cost 90 + Mindshackle Scarabs 15 + Sempiternal Weave 15 + Resurrection Orb 30 + Phase Shifter 45 + Upgrade to Phaeron 20)



: Royal Court (3#, 125 pts)

   1 Royal Court, 0 pts

      1 Harbinger of Despair, 60 pts = (base cost 25 + Harbinger of Despair 5 + Veil of Darkness 30)

      1 Lord, 65 pts = (base cost 35 + Resurrection Orb 30)



: Royal Court (3#, 125 pts)

   1 Royal Court, 0 pts

      1 Harbinger of Despair, 60 pts = (base cost 25 + Harbinger of Despair 5 + Veil of Darkness 30)

      1 Lord, 65 pts = (base cost 35 + Resurrection Orb 30)



Elite: Deathmarks (5#, 95 pts)

   5 Deathmarks, 95 pts = 5 * 19



Elite: Deathmarks (5#, 95 pts)

   5 Deathmarks, 95 pts = 5 * 19



Troops: Immortals (5#, 85 pts)

   5 Immortals, 85 pts = 5 * 17



Troops: Immortals (5#, 85 pts)

   5 Immortals, 85 pts = 5 * 17



Fast Attack: Canoptek Scarabs (5#, 75 pts)

   5 Canoptek Scarabs, 75 pts = 5 * 15



Fast Attack: Canoptek Scarabs (5#, 75 pts)

   5 Canoptek Scarabs, 75 pts = 5 * 15



Heavy Support: Canoptek Spyder (3#, 150 pts)

   3 Canoptek Spyder, 150 pts = 3 * 50



Heavy Support: Canoptek Spyder (3#, 150 pts)

   3 Canoptek Spyder, 150 pts = 3 * 50



Validation Report:

c-1. File Version: 1.42 For Bug Reports/www.ab40k.org; b-1. Roster Options: Special Characters; a-1. Scenario: Normal Mission

Roster satisfies all enforced validation rules



Composition Report:

HQ: 2 (1 - 2)

Elite: 2 (0 - 3)

Troops: 2 (2 - 6)

Fast: 2 (0 - 3)

Heavy: 2 (0 - 3)



Created with Army Builder® - Try it for free at http://www.wolflair.com

What's in this can is still scarier than an army of zombie robots....

The Spam
Two units of 3x Canoptek Spyders and two units of 5x Canoptek Scarabs allows for some major spamming. That's increasing my Scarab units by 60% on the first turn. Even though the Scarabs can't conga line across the board since the FAQ, the are still beasts, with a potential 24" assault range. With 4 base attacks and entropic strike, these guys should eat any vehicle on the field, and hold up to any other unit below S6. All the while, adding more scarabs to the unit. Imotekh's night fighting combined with Stealth makes the Scarabs extra hard to shoot at too, so I shouldn't have to worry about losing too many before they get where they need to be.

I've encountered a few problems in playtesting. First is making sure that the Spyders keep pace with the Scarabs, with a 12" assault move, it's easy to leave the spyders in the dust; and considering I just took a unit of bare-bones Spyders, I'm not getting the most use out of that 300pts when they're sitting in the back trying to play catch-up. Additionally, save for vehicles (which the scarabs can eat alive), the two Scarab units should have different targets. Getting all your scarabs tied up in a single combat for 3 turns is a horrible waste.

The Cheese
If you didn't already see what I was doing, each Deathmark unit is getting joined by a Harbinger of Despair with a Veil of Darkness as well as a Necron Lord with a Ressurection Orb. Additionally, my Independent Characters are joining each of these units as well to confer Relentless on the units. The Veils of Darkness allow my Deathmarks to move around the board via Deep Strike, and thus enter from reserve via Deep Strike even though not all the models in the unit are allowed to, as you can use the Veil of Darkness to move in from reserve (FAQ). But the real point of all this, is the Abyssal Staves. For those unfamiliar, an Abyssal Staff is a S8 AP1 Flamer, but it's power is significantly leveled by the fact that it rolls against the opponents Leadership in place of their Toughness. However, Royal Court members joining a Deathmark unit benefit from the Hunters from Hyperspace rule (FAQ). This means so long as you're using it against a marked unit, you're hitting with an AP1 Template on a 2+, ouch... Of course the Resurrection Orbs are there to make the unit more durable.

The rest of my list is just my two minimum required troops in the form of Immortals to claim objectives. And as I stated before, if playing a mission such as Seize Ground, I'll be swapping my generic Overlord for Trazyn to give myself an extra scoring unit.


Remember, check back in two weeks for the results of one of my experiments! Comments, Questions, and Requests are always welcome!

Special Mid-Week Update!

Today's update is in response to a supposed leak of Warhammer 40k 6th Edition. A link was posted on Dakka Dakka yesterday, which was removed, but another link was provided here. 

My first suspicion about this not being a 6th Edition Rulebook is the first page of the pdf, which to be honest, I'm sure most people skipped over being that it's just the same old introduction. But of note is one particular paragraph:

"We recommend playing at least some games with

the basic rules to learn the core mechanics. Even

experienced gamers might want to switch back to

them when playing really apocalyptic games with

thousands of points. For this reason it is no shame

to come back to this book when you have some

games with the introductory rules under your

belt."

This is the first paragraph of the book, so no fluffy introduction about the universe of 40k. If you look at page 1 (different from first page) of the 5E Rulebook it says that these are the Basic Rules. Why would a 6E Rulebook not contain basic rules?

This leads me to believe that if this leak is legitimate, it is actually a type of expansion book rather than a 6E Rulebook. Possibly a 5.5E...

The other notable absence is comprehensive Codex updates. Even though the Necron Codex is new, some of the new rules, particularly the changes to Rapid Fire, would still require an update. So why would GW not update a brand new codex? Obviously there are rumors that the Necron Codex was designed with 6E in mind, but I really believe that some of the new rules would still require an update, even if slight.

There ARE updates however, for BOTH Chaos Space Marines and Tau Empire. More than likely, one of the two will get a new codex in March. Why bother updating the old one unless this "6E" is coming out in February.

Additionally, for a rulebook that is not the "Basic Rules", it still contains the rules for Annihilation and Seize Ground.

In my opinion, this pdf is a fake, for the reasons listed above, and for the fact that it is way too formatted to be a playtest copy. There may be some clues to 6E changes, but I wouldn't get too excited about them.

If it's not a fake, I'd say to keep a lookout for an expansion book, because this is not a replacement for 5E.

As a side note, I don't condone any violation of Non-Disclosure Agreements. If you're a playtester, keep it to yourself, it's not worth the trouble.

2011 in Review; 2012 Preview

Last April, I started this blog in response to my LGS wanting game reviews for his website. A few months later, I tried to start updating regularly, but then got overwhelmed with wedding planning, and had to take a hiatus.

The wedding is over, and my wife and I just finished moving into our new apartment, complete with a game room in an attempt to contain our hobbies.

I've decided to keep a log of my miniature gaming this year, and I'm already up to 5 games (and 5 losses) of 40k. That's right, I've crossed to the dark side with the release of the new Necrons. Will start posting pictures as I finish.

Stay tuned every Friday for a brand new update, and feel free to comment or PM if you want to see any games reviewed.

Don't forget to join me for miniature night every Wednesday evening at Neverland Games!

Getting Monstrous

Recently I've picked up playing a little bit of Hordes from Privateer Press. This isn't so much a review as it is a write-up of Hordes through the eyes of a Malifaux player.

Backtracking to a little over a year ago, my experience with miniature gaming conisted of Uncharted Seas. Since naval combat is quite different than skirmish games, I didn't have any idea what to expect when I picked up Malifaux.

So with Malifaux being my benchmark, and with all the minis players that have come to Malifaux from other games, I wanted to share a breach-side view of Hordes.

Disclaimer: I am not switching games, Malifaux is still my favorite, just diversifying my miniature collection.

I picked up a Legion of Everblight battlebox. I chose Legion, because, as a painter, I liked the color scheme. Sure, I could have painted another army with the same color scheme, but with no other real reason, I didn't have a reason not to start with Legion.

First of note, is the attacks. Obviously Malifaux's card-based system is different than any dice-based game, but it's still different because the defender doesn't have a chance to defend. They only have a set number you have to beat. In Malifaux, you could win a duel against the same model in two different situations, with two very different numbers, and conversely lose those duels just the same. So it is different to get used to that the defending player doesn't get any real interaction except for providing their model's stats.

I picked up the Hordes MKII rule book. This is truly a rule book from a company that has been in the gaming industry for too long. So much is spelled out in the book that you can tell PP has been dealing with people who try to work around the rules for a very long time. MKII goes so far as to tell you that a model with an ability can be referred to by that ability, for example, a model with say the "tracker" ability, can be referred to as a "tracker". If that's not desperation in the face of extreme rules lawyering, I don't know what is.

Fixed heights based on base size is another interesting aspect. All models with a large (50mm) base have the exact same height (2.75"). In Malifaux, the base size and height are independent; though there is some correlation, that doesn't stop Pere Ravage from being Ht 1 on a 40mm base.

Hiring works much the same way, including the Warlock's warbeast points, which they add to your hiring pool, but only for hiring warbeasts. The difference being, that you don't get to use your leftover points in game. It seems to me like you'd want to make sure to have a few extra low cost models just to fill in your points, otherwise they feel wasted.

Encounter sizes become more various as Hordes supports much larger sized games. From a small duel, to a 4+ Warlock Apocalypse.

A big difference in gameplay is when the game is over, sure there are scenarios to gain VP, but if your Warlock is eliminated, it's game over, and your warbeasts just wander away. This is largely different from Malifaux as not only can your Masters die and your crew keeps going, but some Masters have a nasty habit of dying excessively and coming back to life (looking at you Outcasts).

Activating your whole army at the same time is a little bit daunting as well when you're used to being able to respond to your opponents moves. It definitely seems to take more strategy so as not to walk right into your opponents trap, especially when you don't really know what all the models do.

Overall, Hordes is a good game, and much easier to pick up than Warhammer. I like the idea of bonded warbeasts over campaign or league play, and look forward to getting some more games in.

Feel free to leave your comments, especially if you'd like to see any games reviewed.

Quarriors!

(Basically, it's a Dice Building Game)

-Some Lawyer Guy

WizKids has just released their new game of uber strategic hexahedron monster combat mayhem. Well, dice game for short.

Quarriors! works like most deck-building games, specifically I find it plays a lot like Ascension and Nightfall; the only difference is instead of shuffling a deck, you shake a dice bag.

Drawing six dice per turn, the dice add an additional randomness to the game. That means the dragon die that you just paid for, may only add to your quiddity pool (quiddity is the currency of Quarriors! used to buy additional dice and summon creatures)

Added cards mean that your dice act differently and cost different with every play.

Included are four colored dice bags, which match the four colored glory markers, along with a glory tracker that marks victory levels for 2, 3, and 4 players. The collectible tin is an exact replica of a dragon die. Not sure how 'collectible' that is, but hopefully we'll see some expansion tins in the future.

Unfortunately, my set had some misprinted dice, although another set in the same shipment was perfect. I'm confident WizKids will make sure my problem is solved, or else I'm sure you'll hear about it here.

Great game, and great replayability!

Nightfall

If you've ever played Ascension, you know how awesome it is to build a deck with a lot of power; and how disappointing it is to have to hit the Cultist 10 times with all that power. When Night Falls, things change and your opponents become the targets of your attack.

AEG's new game Nightfall is now available in stores like Neverland Games.

Unlike most deck-building games, Nightfall allows you to attack your opponents; but unlike many popular Trading Card Games, players don't start with a life total. Instead, wounds are tracked by wound cards which are shuffled into your deck along with all of the cards that you bought.

The player with the fewest wound cards at game's end is the winner, but beware, the more wounds a player gets, the more ferocious they will become.

Every game is different as the cards that are used are drafted at the beginning of the game, so strategies are sometimes hard to develop since players have to work with what's available.

Gameplay works with a 'chain' which allows players to play as many cards as they wish during their turn or their opponents turn, so long as those cards can be 'chained' together. The chain also grants bonuses to certain cards, called kickers, if they're chained off of the right kind of card.

Overall, Nightfall is an excellent deck building game that fills gaps left by others and has great re-playability. And up until April 10th, head over to AEG's The First 100 Days and enter to win a free copy of Nightfall.