Forcing Mistakes

Winning a game of 40k is not about building and buying an uber army list.  Winning a game of 40k isn't dependent upon having 9 Vendettas, being a rules lawyer, playing the newest codex and exploiting the non-FAQ'd loopholes from said codex, and cheating, nor is it dependent upon verbal/physical/emotional intimidation of your opponent.  Winning a game of 40k comes down to 2 main factors luck and mistakes.

New Player 101: Games of a different size

One of the most common questions asked of me by new players, "besides what army should I play?", usually deals with what size games they should play.  This is a concern for new players on several levels.  First new players rarely have 3000 points of an army from which to build a list, normally they are constrained by the battleforce or two they bought and the HQ choice they picked up along the way.

New Player 101: Deception and 40k

Deception is simply put the act of deceiving, and anyone who has played 40k long enough will know what this article will be about but for those of you who are newer to 40k this could be be a proverbial light bulb moment.  Warhammer 40,000 is a table top miniature game in which we move plastic, or metal, miniatures in a preset manner, and shoot or assault opposing miniatures in an attempt to accomplish a specific set of objectives.  Basically 40k is warfare on a small scale and if you recognized the picture at the top of this article then you probably already know that all warfare is based on deception.

Rules to Remember: Assaults and Initiative Order

Assaults are a huge part of 5th edition 40k.  Most of the "uber" units are assault based, Nob Bikerz, TH/SS Terminators, Death Company, Thunderwolf Cavalry, etc.  One of the things that makes the majority of these units good are their ability to allocate wounds in an effective manner thanks to wargear variation.  This variation coupled with the attachment of characters can create several different initiative levels in CC, creating the need to pay careful attention to several key factors.

And They Shall Know No Fear: Troops Choices part 1

As you know from the previous articles on the topic of C:SM a lot of the internet has begun to turn against the often maligned "Vanilla" Marines.  This is especially true when you start to talk about the troops choices given to each of these armies.  With the coming of Grey Hunters and Assault Squads as troop choices the Tactical Squad has become even more looked down upon. 

New Player 101: Don't worry about Win/Loss records.

I know how trendy it is to put your W/D/L record in the bottom of your signature on sites like Dakka, Warseer, and the BoLS lounge.  But if you are a new player to 40k and are looking at these records and wondering what your record will look like take heed of these truisms.

And They Shall Know No Fear: Generic HQ choices.

C:SM has been with us now for over almost 2 years, in that time we have seen the codex torn apart and put back together in a myriad of ways.  The biggest change from the 4th ed codex to 5th was the removal of Chapter Traits in lieu of Special Characters to give your army a personality.  This has caused the "generic" HQ choices to be left by the wayside in some gaming circles.  This is truly a pity because some of the more "basic" HQ choices are excellent.

Stuff You Should Buy Now.

Hello everyone.

Sadly, the GW price increase is true. Anyway, here's a quick list of some stuff you should pick up now, before, say, the last day of the month.

Orks: Goffs for the win.

As you probably have seen on here Game Empires new campaign is map based and takes place on the world of Avellorn.  I have previously mentioned my less than enthusiastic relationship with my Ork army and how I chose them as my army for the campaign with hopes of motivating myself.  So far the motivation seems to be working, I didn't get as much painting done last week as I would have liked due to family commitments but I no longer feel apathetic about the project which is good.

The Avellorn Campaign - Regions of Avellorn

The full scope of the campaign has almost been revealed, all that remains now are the veteran honors units can utilize and the campaign special characters. Here now, though, are the regions of Avellorn Secundus, and the rules associated with them:

And They Shall Know No Fear: Named Characters

In this series we will explore the finer points of the Adeptus Astartes.  The Space Marines are the elite of the Imperium, the Emperor's finest, the Angels of Death.  With the coming of C:SW and C:BA, C:SM has seen some decline in the time they see on the table top.  Some people claim they are no longer a viable option, a little too outdated, not enough tricks up their sleeve.  All of that is hogwash in my opinion and in the next few articles I want to explore why I believe this.  The most important reason I believe C:SM is still not only viable but one of the best codices, is variety and adaptability.  Everyone knows that the new trend in the 5th edition codices are to have Special Characters who can change your army make up and sometimes the force org chart itself.  Also, melta and mech appear to be king and they won't be going anywhere soon.  That being said lets look at some of the Special Characters for the Space Marines and what kind of lists you can build with them.

The Rules: The case against BA LRs Benefiting from DOA

Do Blood Angel Assault Squads with a Land Raider Dedicated Transport confer the Descent of Angels rule onto their deep striking Land Raider?  No, and here's why.

The Avellorn Campaign

Week 0 of the Avellorn Campaign has begun. Planetfall has been made all across the continent and the various armies have begun consolidating their respective positions. Imperial forces gained some ground in the cities but were outfought in the larger expanses of Avellorn Secundus. Final details of the continent map and which forces control which territories will be posted this weekend after all Week 0 games have been played and reported. Until then, a bit of campaign fluff: A communication between an Ordo Xenos Inquisitor already on-world and his master...

Rules to Remember: Random Edition

Yesterday was the first day of the new map campaign at Game Empire.  We have around 25 people signed up to play and last night saw a good 6 or so games being played.  There are a few newer players in the group and some seasoned 4th ed players who are still trying to make that leap into 5th edition.  Dis and I are the "go to guys" for rules questions that pop up on league nights and given the current composition of the group there can be quite a few throughout the night.  This isn't to say our group has no idea what's going on or that Dis and I are rules encyclopedias but the questions did seem to have a bit of a pattern.  I wanted to throw out a list of questions and answers we ran into last night.

For the Love of the Game: Orks edition.

As you may know I have an Ork army which I have very little love for.  I have played a few games with them and every time win or lose (I haven't drawn) I end up tossing them in a Tupperware container (literally) with little care about how the game went.  Maybe I am a human through and through because I didn't like my Tau army either but I am determined to finish and use my Ork army, or at least discover why I am so blase about them.

Rules to Remember: Independent Characters

This is the first article in a series we are calling Rules to Remember.  The purpose of this series is to provide simple rules reminders for often forgotten or misused rules.  We are basing this off of our own gaming group and area so these may not be problems for your gaming group.  If you have something you would like us to address please let us know!

40k Zen – Change Your List, Not Your Army

Eventually the time comes when you sit down to get ready for a game and you realize that all your lists are starting to look pretty similar. Why not just use the one from last week? All that’s different is a bit of wargear here and there and plus or minus a dude or two in the squads. It wasn’t all that fun last week though, and it probably won’t be again. This is boring, you start to tell yourself; it’s the same thing, over and over. The conclusion? Time for a new army!

Building a Crashed Valkyrie Terrain Piece, Part I

As it sometimes happens through some unfortunate circumstances one of our beloved model vehicles gets damaged. This happened to Dis and I when we inherited a Valkyrie from one of our friends. During transportation and storage it was broken beyond repair. Now, we all hope this will never happen, but when it does do not despair! There can be new life for your once beautiful, intact model, a life in which it’ll probably see more time on the table than if it was part of an army: as scenery! So rescue it from the trash and make some cool terrain out of it! 

The Blood Angels Project

There’s a lot of Blood Angels chatter out there. It’s understandable; Tyranids are fully dissolved into the Meta and the Dark Eldar rumors haven’t kicked into gear yet, so we don’t have much else to talk about. Unlike Tyranids however, I’ve been seeing wildly varied responses to the Flawed Marines.

(Kinda) Custom Scenery Workshop

Somewhere in an old edition of the 40k rulebook there’s a small discussion of the importance of terrain, and how some people will build three or four full armies before they even think about building scenery, gathering some pieces to make interesting battlefields can be equally important. It adds to the visual appeal of the game much like a fully painted army. Of course, it’s often hard to fit in hobby time to build scenery when there’s an army of unpainted dudes staring up angrily at you from the painting desk. No matter how important it is to have cool looking tables, we only have so much free time, and generally the choice is to build, paint, and play games with painted models over whatever terrain we’ve got.