New Wolves... yea?

So far, the most enthusiasm I can muster is "Eh".  Looking at the leaked pages we have a so so flier that costs more than the Storm Raven, some DNs, a new "it's not Plasma" weapon....  So, looking like more of the same.

The Wolves were my first 40K army back in the late 80's, before they became space vikings who were afraid of "magic" like teleporters and other things that might make their role as a planetary assault Legion a bit easier...  Though, ironically, they never had a problem with actual magic per their extensive use of Rune Priests (Librarians).  So, I'm pretty disappointed that they seem to be looking like regular Marines with a few different options and without access to much of what makes the Marine Codex actually pretty good.  Seeing some reviews of "Murderfang" being so awesome, then reading the stats...  Well, obviously none of them play or play against Blood Angels where this is simply a named, unique Death Company DN...  More expensive and not as good...  And let's be honest the DNs are simply not good.  3 Hull Points to kill them instead of the 3-6 Wounds at a high T that the Tau/Eldar GK get with their MCs?  Just have to glance AV 12, really not that hard when you have say, a flying tank that shoots 4 twin linked S6 shots followed by d6 + 1 Str 7 twin linked (assuming at least one of the scatter laser shots hit) shots...  So, the DN's time on the field is limited at best.  The game as it stands now has passed the paradigm that the Marines as a whole are based on...

What exactly do I mean here...  Well, mulling it over the last few days/weeks it seems that 40K has become the game of Monstrous Creatures, Fliers and/or Super Heavies.  Not bringing or having a really good way to deal with the above means you are going to have a short and frustrating game...  Been assembling my Imperial Knight, have to admit I think it is going to be pretty darn powerful locally, probably on par with the Eldar Knights.  But with the new "unbound" ability to simply pick and choose whatever you want, all of it being scoring, it almost punishes you for bringing the frankly sub standard "Troops" to the field.  OK, not "almost", it really does punish you.  Marines specifically have expensive basic Troops.  Most of whom cannot even begin to harm the things that are hitting the field.  Sure, they can really hold Objectives, but only while they are alive.  Cover rules tightened up and there are so many things out there that either throw out so much firepower or simply ignore the 3+ save the Marine has...  A lot of armies frankly can do both.  The basic Marine Codex has the new Grav weapons that do a decent job dealing with the MCs and Vehicles overall, but of course, the Wolves do not get them...  They get a "cold" weapon that forces a STR test if you caused a Wound, else it dies...  Eh...  Maybe, but most of the things I am concerned about have Str 6+, T7+, so a long chain of things followed by a 6 (auto fail Str Test) on their part to remove a single MC...  Frankly, I'd rather have the Marine Centurion's uber Grav weapons and just shoot them off the table myself.  So, we have a nice new $50 book for the Wolves that completely fails to address the issues making any Marine based army sub standard, or at least as far as we can see before the book is fully released :-)...  Maybe I'll be surprised, but I am very much doubting it at this point...

So, found what I think are all of my old Warmachine minis...  Will try to wander out to at least observe some games...  Need to get updated cards for the things I know...  But given the amount of metal I found in the "Basement of Doom" I am fairly sure I could field a very sizable force immediately.  Now, not having played since last edition, not likely to be an effective one mind, but...

So, this week... STAW, 40K Wolves, etc...

So, the Borg OP 1 event is over and done… J  I did fairly well, with a solid second place…  Still not sure what to take against the Borg frankly.  I’ve come close to getting it with Federation and Dominion fleets.  I think the Klingons have the right tricks going against the Borg if they build their fleet with ONLY the Borg in mind.  I suspect the Dominion could throw out the amount and consistent levels of damage required to simply punch through the layers of shields and ablative armor….  REALLY liking the things available to modify the dice results on the Dominion fleets.  NOT liking the lack of maneuverability that they seem to have as their standard.  Didn’t make much difference in 2 of my three battles, the “tactic” of rush right at them and shoot like you are voting in Chicago (“Early and Often”) works well enough in general against the things that I can kill in that single exchange/volley.  Borg Cubes are not among the ships that I will likely be able to do this with.  Usually there is the “Feedback Pulse” which starts by nullifying an attack, with half of the damage being redirected BACK at the firer..  Probably a bit overpowered for the game as it stands now.  8 points is a lot, but to completely negate a strong attack?  Especially since it is virtually impossible to kill anything Borg in a single attack.  So, a lot of the ways I can think of to kill off the Borg involve disabling upgrades or lots of attacks, all of which are threats, but none overpoweringly so…  Klingon ships all get to the 5-6 Attack range without issue (OK, their “modern” ships of the line, support ships not so much, nor the TOS ships), so a “swarm” of 3-4 decent Klingon ships should be able to concentrate fire on a single target and expect to throw out the 15-24 Attack dice that should be able to deal with anything.  VERY different I think than the Star Wars version where the TIE swarms seem to be the build to beat.  The Klingons are good here, but not impossible to defeat in detail as you can maneuver fairly well and frankly the Klingon ships are NOT the most resilient.   Cloak can help against Torpedo boats, but there are ways to still fire Torpedoes at a cloaked ship…  And of course, you can simply fire your normal weapons.  Cloaked ships have no shields, so 3-5 Damage kills them off for the most part…  The Dice in this game are weighted to the Attack over the Defense with one more “Hit” result than “Evade” result on the dice themselves…  So, even assuming each side gets to throw 5 dice for their attack or defense, statistically the odds favor the attack.  And far more things that modify Attack than Defense so…   A little of the “Rock Paper Scissors” that most games seem to have where the thing that kills the “rock” of the Borg is vulnerable to something that cannot itself deal with the Borg…  J  Yeah, the “deck building” aspect of the game is one of the things I find more appealing… 

So, next game will likely be at Gen Con, I am signed up for one of the 100 point events, we’ll see…  Hoping to see demos of the Dragon version of the game and maybe pick up some of the previous exclusives…  We’ll see J…  Pack of Cloaked ships coming in at $40 might be something to snag…

Missed out on this week’s 40K game…  Wiped out and just not feeling up to playing after playing Sunday…  To be honest, 750 points is hard to actually play in any case.  Too many “gimmick” armies can do too well, and just not enough on the table to cover the “oops, I lose” roll with so few dice being rolled…  Looking like I’ll actually get my Knight finished up at some point.  I DO think it will be fun to play, and really not too hard for a prepared opponent to deal with.  Titans on the other hand might be more difficult for players not playing “slightly more aggressive” Marines like me…  Really liked how my Fleshtearers worked last game, if I remember to actually fire my weapons, you know ALL of them, it would probably have been an easy victory for me…  The DC DN dropping onto the Heavy Weapon Teams and only firing the Flame Thrower was a major “oops” J  The Melta and Magna Grapple would have each likely killed another Team leaving him without weapons realistically to take me down before I moved into his Infantry…  The other lads did well, just that 6 Marines can only kill so many before the odds catch up with you between Overwatch and CC… 

Wolves are next up, and based on the rumors so far, I am completely underwhelmed.  The ONE big consistent strength they had over the years was that their lads remembered that they could bring a rifle, close combat weapon AND a bloody sidearm.  If this goes away, I have a whole bunch of non-WYSIWYG minis in my army and frankly I am not so sure I’ll bother changing them.  Hell, the 30 Legions have this option, as do the Chaos Marines, so pulling it from the Wolves would likely be a deal breaker for me.  They’ll continue to be painted in their original Legion colors, not that silly baby blue crap and I’ll use them as a Legion list I guess.  They DO get a Flier, though it looks like the Cestus Assault craft, though only a single “hull”…  Rules sound “eh” so far, but I like it better than the Storm Raven…  Saying that, my conversion for a Storm Raven I do like, and it works well enough for me J…

Did dig up my old Warmachine things, I was somewhat surprised how many I have...  I did not remember them all, but there they are I guess...  Cleaning them off, mostly dusty, not damaged really...  No clue how many points in a modern game of course, but a lot of metal there...  Time to get some MKII cards and see about setting up a game or three with Joe and company to get the initial rounds of having my ass kicked to learn the hard way out of the way :-)...  Since I left the game near the top of the standings for most leagues, etc., good I think to be starting at the bottom and learning the correct way...

Diet and exercise moving along...  Getting up early to hit the weights and elliptical while my lovely wife rides her bike and hits the weight machine...  Seems to be a VERY good thing, regaining some of the strength I lost over the last year of not working out, etc...  Silly heart attack and other stresses...  But feeling pretty good these days :-)  And getting to work out with my wife is always a good thing...

Borg OP 1...

So, a few options for the OP starting this evening at the Gopher...

I call this "Fuck you, we brought a Battleship":
Dominion 90 Borg 5

4th Division Battleship (36)
Gul Dukat (5)
Remata'Klan (4)
Boheeka (2)
Photon Torpedoes (6)
Volley of Torpedoes (6)
Dorsal Weapons Array (3)
Shroud (1)
Ship SP: 63

5th Wing Patrol Ship (22)
Gelnon (3)
Breen Aide (2)
Ship SP: 27

Total Build SP: 90

Generated by STAW Builder
http://www.dracossoftware.com/STAWHome.html

Turns like a tug boat, but if I wind up in a Joust with two ships I can fire a 7 dice Torpedo attack from the Volley and then a 9 (!!) dice attack at a second target which I do not need a Lock on...  So, Cloaked, whatever...  Boheeka should get at least one guaranteed hit, will likely have Battle Stations ready for that on one...  With a bit of luck, should be able to cripple or kill 2 ships and the other 2 ships are just there to keep things off my back...

This one is more balanced:

Dominion 90 Borg 1

Koranak (26)

Weyoun (5)

Breen Aide (1)

Remata'Klan (3)

Cloaking Device (4)

Ship SP: 39

4th Division Battleship (36)

Gul Dukat (5)

Boheeka (2)

Omet'Iklan (5)

Dorsal Weapons Array (3)

Ship SP: 51

Total Build SP: 90

Generated by STAW Builder

http://www.dracossoftware.com/STAWHome.html

Two good ships, should throw out a lot of damage, the Kornak loaded out to surprise 2 ships from a cloak...  More likely the one I play if I go Dominion...

And a Federation build...

Fed Borg 2

USS Voyager (30)

Mr. Spock (4)

Adm. James T. Kirk (5)

Hikaru Sulu (3)

Pavel Chekov (3)

Ship SP: 45

U.S.S Enterprise-D (28)

Jean-Luc Picard (6)

Engage (3)

Dmitri Valtane (3)

Montgomery Scott (5)

Ship SP: 45

Total Build SP: 90

Generated by STAW Builder

http://www.dracossoftware.com/STAWHome.html

Two good ships, the potential to mess up other folks combos with Admiral Kirk...  360 degree firing arcs, decent damage, and fast ships...  

NOT sure either can take down a fully loaded Borg ship, but they'll at least know they were in a fight and it will be fun to play...

First 7th Ed Escalation League and STAW Borg OP1...

So, guess I will be playing in the 40K League starting up tonight…  Something to kill time I guess.  Overall it does not look bad, but it is essentially the 6.5 version of the game that not only did not fix some of the VERY major issues, it introduces another set of “WTF” issues.  As long as no on brings the stupid broken crap, it will be fun, but I have to admit to having FAR less enthusiasm for this.  Tim is using the BAO rules verbatim, so…  Well, honestly not entirely sure WHAT that means at this point.  Not really seeing any major restrictions.  I guess I could put together my Spartan and run a few Land Raider class tanks across the table.  Playing Blood Angels (Fleshtearers), so I can bloody well drop my tanks right into their DZ.  So, looking at the 750 point level for the first few weeks I’ll likely bring:

Reclusiarch (Jump Pack)

Death Company (x5, Jump Packs, 2 with Power Weapons)

Death Company DN (Not sure which weapons, guessing the standard “I Don’t Care” CCW vs the “Claws of Eternal Combat”, Heavy Flamer, Drop Pod)

Storm Raven (MM, TL LC)

So, LOW model count, but I think that with the Drop Pod AND the DN being super scoring (“Objective Secured”), having the flier and troops that simply do NOT run away…  Could null deploy, but risky as you still lose when you have nothing on the table at the end of any Game Turn…  But still…  Could be hilarious J… 

Like I said though, I have almost NO confidence that I can do much other than die with a book so badly outdated, but this is pretty much the opposite of the “standard meta” would say I should bring.  750 points is simply too small to try to cover more than the most basic stuff, hoping that it is a fun list that does not get swept or alternately sweep people off the field and give them the (mistaken) impression that the BA book is somehow overpowered J…

Sunday is the first month of the 6 month Borg OP event…  Looking at bringing either a Federation or Dominion fleet to the field, and leaning heavily toward the Federation…  With some of the things I have I can field:

Fed Borg 2

USS Voyager (30)

Mr. Spock (4)

Adm. James T. Kirk (5)

Hikaru Sulu (3)

Pavel Chekov (3)

Ship SP: 45

U.S.S Enterprise-D (28)

Jean-Luc Picard (6)

Engage (3)

Dmitri Valtane (3)

Montgomery Scott (5)

Ship SP: 45

Total Build SP: 90

Generated by STAW Builder

http://www.dracossoftware.com/STAWHome.html

Gives me 2 pretty decent ships that can fire 360 degree arcs (if needed), repairs, good fast movement and a few tricks and frankly disposable upgrades to keep the Borg off my back for a bit while I deal with the opposing fleet…  We’ll see I guess J

7th ed 40K Escalation League and Borg OP for STAW

So, I guess I will see how silly the seventh edition is...  Not a lot else going on gaming wise at the moment, pick up games of STAW mostly...  Like I said I will likely break out my old Cygnar stuff to get in some games.  Cheap option as I have a really big force from first edition of that game...  Just not entirely sure where they all are in the Basement of Doom ™... I hesitate to think how much I spent on that game, though they did a good job getting cheap/free stuff to the Volunteers back in the old days...  Still, I suspect I can field quite a large force of them...

But back on target as the caffeine hits...  I think I will break out my Fleshtearers again.  They are just odd enough not many people currently playing remember them really and some of the rules in the current edition work well for them.  Yes, they are coated WAY high given their book was written two editions ago and early in that one I think...  Still, Deep Striking onto objectives and having the only things AFAIK that can Assault out of Reserve might make it possible to get in a few quick victories...  League rules for "fully painted" are a breeze as my lads have been repainted since their last book...  I think a few Vehicles need finishing but there will be a LONG time before we get to that level...  I know I have my Jump Troops (20+) and Sternguard ready with all of the HQ options I would use...  Death Company, more than I can field at this level, and "a few" Dreadnought options...  The Sanguinary Guard I picked up in a random trade are not painted but I am unlikely to use them...  Storm Raven is ready and it is still looking amazing in this edition I think...  I do not have the "real" model, just a mod I made, but it looks good I think...  So I am confident that I have a decent force for 1500 point battles...  And we will see I guess...

Have the Borg OP coming up in a few weeks at the Gopher, so looking at a few options for Fed and Dominion:

Dominion Borg 1

4th Division Battleship (36)
Gul Dukat (5)
Boheeka (2)
Omet'Iklan (5)
Dorsal Weapons Array (3)
Ship SP: 51

Koranak (26)
Gul Evek (2)
Remata'Klan (4)
Cloaking Device (4)
Tetryon Emissions (3)
Ship SP: 39

Total Build SP: 90

Generated by STAW Builder
http://www.dracossoftware.com/STAWHome.html

The BB can guarantee 2 hits with the Primary weapon...  Starting at 6 Dice, 7 at Range 1, seems like a fairly decent damage output for that.  The Cloaking Keldon class vessel has some potential to do a 5 Dice attack to 2 targets (6 at Range 1) from cloak...  Between the 2, I should be able to throw down a lot of damage to a few targets...  Like to kill one/turn if I can catch them...  And since those ships are among the fastest in the game...

Working on a Federation build as well....  Will make the "game time" decision I suppose WRT the build I use...  Locally, the TO is allowing us to bave a few builds ready so depending on the blind pull as we are playing "faction pure" otherwise...  No real advantage for the most part, but a lot of us would rather play that way than the "all stars" builds...

Motorcycle front...  Not a lot.  Vacation last week, catching up this week.  Need to get the Title straightened up for the Magna to sell that one.  Great bike, but not for me...  The Silverwing is still chugging along.  Hope to get the both sold and a Goldwing to replace, so we'll see I guess...

Vacation in MI, 40k and STAW...

Mkay, been in MI for the week...  Was fun and great being here with the family.  :-). Ready to get home though.  Missing the cats, dog and sleeping in a real bed....  Really missing the motorcycle as well...  So many going by here, and not helping that there are several really nice Goldwings for sale here.  Ah well :-)

Gaming wise, new 40k league starting Monday...  Looks like an escalation league.  Eh, not so sure, but lacking other games to play...  Might break out my Cygnar and see how they play these days...  Or just play the Crimson Fists for now.

40k was pretty dead for a while here.  I do not think that it was one person really...  I know several of the newer players were frustrated trying to play against the Tau player and the Necron/Chaos player...  Heck, the older players pretty well stopped playing when it became obvious that there were really only a few "power" armies...  Only one Eldar player actually used the power lists, and he was a fairly new player who changed away from it quickly after a few games.  Our older Eldar lads played "fluffy" forces that were powerful but not even close to over the top...  The new edition hit and chatting with Dave, GW sales at the store were pretty poor.  Too many of us in wait and see mode I think combined with the extremely high cost of the new books...  This coming right after several expansions that are now in the rulebook leaving several of us feeling like we were ripped off and burned by GW...  Feel bad not buying more, but honestly not so sure I will buy more 40k stuff ever again...  Well until the next shiny thing at least :-)

STAW is coming along...  Next OP event is the 20th, and really looking forward to that...  New stuff to buy when I get back :-). Battleship and Battle Cruiser hit, along with an Enterprise refit...  Will not play Borg, so no interest in that...  But the game is a LOT of fun to play...  Really kind of looking forward to the Dragons version of the game...  Will be hitting Gen Con for one day this year, and hopefully it will be demonstrated there...

STAW and 40K... Which will last?

So, looking at the local scene it would appear that 40k is pretty much dead.  Again, this is just locally at the one store I go to.  Lots of us HAVE armies, but not a lot of new folks coming out to play, and not a lot being purchased.  This is more important to the Store of course with the realities of running a business and all... Our normal Monday night for 40k would appear to be dead or dying, so it will likely become something else which presumably draws more business for the store.  Miniatures night perhaps?  I find myself playing STAW pretty much every week now...  Will probably break out the old Warmachine minis and see how Cygnar plays these days...  Might be a few weeks though as off to Chicago this weekend and next week is Tolono Fun Day followed by a trip to some mysterious island in Lake Michigan the next week...  Of course there is some big couch thing arriving at some point in there...  

So a few weeks off at least, but it does seem that Warmahordes is taking the empty slot that Warhammer used to fill...   Looks like PP's game is growing rapidly again, and the big groups of people playing it seem to point to that being the longer term success of the system.  Now, I do not know if GW has killed 40K or not, but with the really expensive rulebook right after a bunch of other expensive books that did their level best to unbalance and destroy the system?  So far it is looking "not so good" for GW...  But then this has happened before locally.  There was a time when no Warhammer of any type was played, Confrontation and Warmachine were huge and things looked pretty good.  Not to say there were no problems.  I was the "Press Ganger" for PP at the time here and my first Tournament for Warmachine saw 12 players...  Not bad for a small local event in a new system.  Problem was 9 of them had the same Warcaster and essentially the same army.  9 Khador forces led out by Sorsha ?  So, it only took a little time before the sheer unbalance of that particular character became obvious, and to PP's credit, they fixed it...  

Looking over my STAW stuff, I have a few more ships I'll likely pick up...  Liking the Cardassian ships overall, but the Vulcans look amazing...  We'll see, unfortunately one of the 2 Vulcan ships is a prize next month...  Been pretty darn lucky and ended up with most of the prize ships for the months I have played.  So, yes, figured out the game pretty quickly.  It is a lot of fun.

Motorcycles...  Still need to straighten out the title for the Magna then sell it.  Then the Silverwing...  The Wing is running well, but really wanting to swap up to a Goldwing...  Most likely next year at this point though.