Busy Week, Hobby Time, A Primarch

This past week seemed to fly by.  Ironically it was a full week of work but I could never seem to catch up on sleep.  One night I think I must've gotten nearly 10 hours of sleep and yet still I went to work feeling like a zombie.  Hopefully changing my routine will help things.  But I foresee a week full of cleaning and chores ahead of me.

That said, I was still able to put in a wee bit of hobby time.  With me narrowing down my lists for Crucible, I dropped what should be the last of the models I'm stripping into the Simple Green vat.  Though I should only need about 2 or 3 Destroyer models, I opted to drop as many as I could fit (in this case, 9).  I hope to brush them clean of their old paint job on Monday or Tuesday and prime them on Wednesday or Thursday night.

I did wash some of my HQ units with black as well as my second Canoptek Spyder.  But I really need to work on getting some of my Scarabs ready.  I figure that getting roughly 7-9 ready should suffice for any Scarab Farm shenanigans...however an opponent might ignore them, leaving me with plenty of options moving forward.  They are fast little buggers and can rapidly outpace the Spyders.

Though I did argue with myself about potentially losing the snow theme, for now I'm moving forward with the idea.  It is funny because I always thought that the white color scheme with a black wash and then details picked out would be easy; however the consensus seems to be it is a tough scheme to execute due to the difficulty of painting white models.  In hindsight I should've probably stuck with Lead Belcher and then picked out the blue details.  Oh well!

Bag o Dice

One thing I did pick up this week from Amazon was Chessex's popular "Bag o Dice".  In this case I bought the 1 [lbf] bag with only D6's in there.  I probably could've used an assortment of D8, D10, D12, and D20's but I also wanted options if I decide to move forward with another idea...

YouTube Batreps

....namely, YouTube battle reports (or Batreps for short).  This is something I'd toyed with in the past and while I would like to record some of my games with my friends and such, I'm not sure I'm willing to put in the work/money to do it right.  From what I've gathered, beyond the things like having a good personality and being able to banter, there are a few basics to take on.  Namely, I need to have a good camera, good sound, and good lighting.  I think that a lot of the paint jobs I'd do would be good enough for table top and thus good enough to post.  But had to do a bit more investigating on what to get.

 

As for as I can tell, a Canon Vixia HF R700 would work great.  It has a pretty good quality (can record in 720-1080P) and has a microphone jack as well.  For a moment I thought I might be able to snag one off of Best Buy for $199.99, but it seems to be long gone.  I have found various "bundurus" on Amazon that would provide a tripod, memory card, and in some cases even some lighting.

Suffice to say, there are enough after market components that I can get a good microphone and even a couple of LED lights to help me with lighting.

But even having satisfied the quality requirements for audio and video, I still need to figure out how I'd process said videos.  I need to think about things a bit more as this isn't a random investment.  Plus at the moment, it isn't like I have a ton of time to do much either.

Rise of a Primarch

Of course the big news this week has been the release of rules and fluff for the return of Roboute Gulliman.  Unlike most, I harbor no ill will towards the Ultramarines and find him to be a very interesting albeit "goodie two shoes" style hero.  Given how "grim-dark" the setting can be at times, it is a bit refreshing to see a character like Roboute re-introduced.

All fluff aside, his rules are what has caught my eye.  He seems to be a beast in close combat and while his shooting isn't ultra powerful, he will be hitting most anything he needs/wants.   He does seem to be a great force multiplier but the only issues I've had thus far with him is the fact that he is a Monstrous Creature and as a result does not have the Independent Character special rule.

As it stands, the game is slowly creeping more and more in favor of "death star" type units being the best.  Him having the IC rule would instantly make him that much more surviveable.  There are ways to insure that he stays on the board much longer (Invisibility in particular), but it is far from being a guarantee.

I will be interested to learn of the formations provided by the last of the Gathering Storm books.  Perhaps one will allow him to form a super unit with Cypher and the GK Librarian.

For the moment, I'm content that the story is moving forward.  Killing off the Emperor would be a huge step for the lore.  Something that has pretty much not changed in decades.  As a fan of the setting, I'm definitely waiting on pins and needles to see where things go!   

Campaign Rules - The Conquest of Entara

I originally wrote the basic campaign rules and tried to keep things as simple as possible.  As the campaign progressed, I updated a few to reflect some of the things that happened in game ranging from characters surviving attacks with post-game rolls to simply killing off characters that had taken one too many Las Cannon shots to the head.  Below are the final rules I came up with.

Campaign Special Rules

This campaign is first and foremost a way to learn the basic rules for Warhammer 40,000 and to “forge the narrative”. The basic rules will be followed with a few fun exceptions introduced.

 

Special Rules for Imperium of Man

Any Squat model (using the rules for Codex: Astra Militarum) have +1 Toughness. This represents their increased resistance to gravity and how they’ve adapted to centuries of working in mines. To represent how some of the colonists have become cultists of Nurgle, each Squat unit must roll a D6 at the beginning of the game. A roll of 1 results in the unit suffering from Fear: Nurgle (i.e. any unit with the Mark of Nurgle or devotion to Nurgle will cause Fear on the unit).

Starting Mission 6, all models with Chapter Tactics (Iron Hands) have gained Hatred: Nurgle for the rest of the campaign.

 

Special Rules for Eldar

The Eldar Warlord in every scenario must roll a D6. On a roll of 4+, the Warlord gains the “Knowledge of Elleem” rule to show how much they have studied the historical maps for the region of conflict. This rule allows the Warlord to redeploy up to D3+1 units after they have been deployed. Conversely, the Warlord can choose to instead give the Scout USR to 2 separate units.

Farseer Teldrim is considerably more adept in all matters pertaining to Elleem. As a result, he gains the “Knowledge of Elleem” rule on a roll of 2+. However now that he possesses the Index, he automatically passes his roll when in the battle.

Autarch Ithrain has proven to be quite sturdy despite getting shot down in various battles. As a result starting after Mission 7, he never has to roll on the Curse of Defeat table.

 

Special Rules for Chaos Space Marines

Any unit with the Mark of Nurgle or devotion to Nurgle rolls a D6 at deployment. On a roll of 3+, the unit gains the Preferred Enemy: Imperium special rule to represent the knowledge gained from the cultists of Nurgle.

The forces of Chaos have gained access to summoning the Daemon Siri. She/He always possesses a new body and as a result may not be upgraded and never rolls on the Curse of Defeat table.

As a result of Henrick’s treachery after Mission 8, no Daemons of Nurgle or units with the Mark of Nurgle may be taken by Henrick’s forces. His Chaos war band has been split into multiple factions.

 

Character Progression/Penalties

Special characters are vital to the campaign. These characters stand to gain benefits from victory in battle. That said defeat also comes with its penalties.

 

Campaign Victory Points

Campaign Victory Points (CVP) can be gained by an army in various ways. Any army gains victory points by fulfilling one of the following:

1. 1 Campaign Victory Point is gained by winning a game.

2. 1 Campaign Victory Point is gained for completing the “special” mission for the scenario.

3. 1 Campaign Victory Point is gained for defeating the enemy warlord and having yours survive.

 

Boons of Destiny

Every 2 Campaign Victory Points gained allows the general to grant a benefit to any character in the army. These bonuses can be applied to a model with the Independent Character or Character rules. In order to gain a benefit, roll a D6 then consult the table (the effects are permanent as long as the character lives):

1. Battle Lust: +1 WS and +1 Leadership

2. Athletic Conditioning: +1 Strength or +1 Toughness

3. Perfect Timing: +1 BS and +1 Initiative

4. Lightning Reflexes: +1 WS, +1 Initiative, and +1 Attack

5. Overwhelming Power: +1 Wound or +1 Mastery Level (if not a Psyker, character becomes ML 1)

6. Wisdom of Battle: Gain 1 USR selected from the following list:

a. Adamantium Will

b. Eternal Warrior

c. Stealth

d. Infiltrate

e. It Will Not Die

f. Furious Charge

g. Daemon

Note - The player can save up to 4 Campaign Victory Points before they must be used.

 

Curse of Defeat

This campaign isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. Using special characters and giving them the ability to gain powers also means they can lose them in a battle. This applies to any character that has rolled on the Boons of Destiny chart or is the Warlord for your force. If the character loses all their wounds in combat, they must roll a D6 at the end of the battle. On a roll of 1-3, they are considered to have Major Wounds. If they roll a 4-5 they have Minor Wounds. On a roll of 6, they have shrugged of their maladies. The actual penalties are as follows:

Minor Wounds – Character suffers -1 WS/BS/Initiative.

Major Wounds – Character suffers -1 Strength, -1 Toughness, and -1 Wound (all to a minimum of 1).

If the character is an Eternal Warrior, he or she may add +1 to their dice roll to show that they have been hardened by years of war or physical training. Every time a character already has Minor Wounds and suffers an additional Minor Wounds effect, they are downgraded to having Major Wounds. If they have Major Wounds and suffer an additional Minor Wounds effect, the effects are cumulative and they are on the brink of death (but are still alive). Any further wounds suffered at this point will result in permanent death. If a character already has Major Wounds and suffers another Major Wounds roll, the character is removed from play (potentially altering the storyline). On the flip side, if a character has Major Wounds and survives a battle, they are upgraded to only having Minor Wounds. Any character that has Minor Wounds that survives a battle loses the negative effects of Minor Wounds. The player can choose to not have the character participate in a battle at all. If this happens, the character loses any Major Wounds and Minor Wounds effects they are suffering...they make a full recovery!

Subsector Strellia Lore (Part 2)

The Imperium of Man

The campaign takes place in the year 114 of the 37th Millennium. As it had happened before, astropaths in Cadia began receiving communications from the subsector.  This time, the High
Lords of Terra would not gamble having a short window to operate. Resources are always needed, but more importantly the Imperium has lost much of its technical knowledge in the thousands of years since the Horus Heresy.  Unlike the first rediscovery, it seems that there are actual survivors.  The second expedition to Entara did not expect there to be any rescue and knew they had to fend for themselves.  They immediately rationed their supplies and set up agriculture to help them survive. Entara was clearly a mining world but it had enough area that could be cultivated to sustain the population.  Despite the need to survive, the Squats remained loyal to the Emperor and tried to produce as much as they could should the Warp storms abate and allow them a chance to escape.  As a result, the Squats still had more than a few serviceable ships and had maintained a high level of technology.

Unwilling to leave things to chance, the High Lords have dispatched the 803rd Cadian Regiment to aid in the evacuation of the technologies on Entara.  In case of conflict, Imperial Knights of House Etiru and the 5th Company of the Salamander Space Marine Chapter were sent to support the Cadians as well.

At the same time, word reached the Iron Hands of Medusa that two of their brothers from the original 30 that had gone to Entara had survived. Though they were still loyal to the Imperium, the survivors claimed they would only speak to members of their legion.  As a result, Clan Atraxii of the Iron Hands Space Marines traveled to Entara to rescue their battle brothers and discover the secrets they possessed.

A young recently sanctioned chapter from the 23rd Founding may also play a role in the campaign.  The Fire Guard Chapter of Space Marines share a strong bond with their progenitor chapter, the Iron Hands.  Having only existed for decades, the Fire Guard call their flagship the "Fury Gauntlet" their fortress-monastery.  Subsector Strellia may very well provide a location for the chapter to set down roots and build a more permanent home.

As always, the Inquisition would not be left out of this operation. Though it was never clear if the first anomaly was a warp storm, the possibility that two happened in the same area screamed the taint of Chaos was present. Ten thousand years is a long time and they needed to be sure that these survivors had not turned to the Ruinous Powers to survive.