The Zoology of Skorne

As they march to war, the mighty Skorne empire employs powerful warbeasts to fuel their campaign. The Bloodstone Marches and Eastern Wastes are home to a wide assortment of exotic beasts that the Skorne have captured and sent into Immoren to bring down their foes. The light beasts have a large variety, ranging from various forms of cyclopes to strange baslisks and the elusive razorworm. The heavy beasts of the empire are the powerful titans that are found roaming wild in the Marches, accompanied by the Rhinodon and famed Molik Karn, chieftain of the cyclopes. In this article, we are going to look at Skorne beasts more in-depth and discuss pros, cons, and strategies of each. Now remember, this is my take on the Skorne beasts and I know everyone has their own preferences. Also, I will not be discussing warlocks, solos, or units in this article however I may bring up other models that a beast works well with. For my general overview of the Skorne army, please look at my article Hordes 101 – The Factions: Skorne.

New Poll - Painting: What's Your Take?

Hey everyone!

Our competitiveness poll has closed and the results are in! While a third of you are hard-nosed tabletop killers looking for the challenge of serious competitive play, a near-majority favor a balanced approach with a good representation of both knives-out tournament play and storyline campaigning. Finally, a handful eschew the serious stuff completely and stick to their beer, pretzels, custom scenarios, and cool storyline gaming. Thanks for voting and letting us know what you think!

This time, we're looking to get an idea where you guys are when it comes to painting, especially after some of the recent discussions about adding detail to your minis. Do you toil at the painting desk to make every model a masterpiece? Maybe a quick, table-ready 3-Colors-Done scheme is your style, or maybe you never quite seem to get all your models painted, no matter how much you try. Let us know!

-Dis.

Hordes 101 - The Factions: Circle Orboros

Hello Everyone!

The holiday is largely behind us; one more night of debauchery looms, and then we're on to 2011! I hope everyone had a great whatever you celebrate. I got to spend some time at the painting desk (and not enough time gaming), but in the meantime, I managed to put together an overview of those most radical of eco- terrorists, the Circle Orboros!

Theme

The mysterious Circle Orboros is an interesting contradiction: an order of human beings devoted to the primordial entity known as the Devourer Wurm whose goal is the destruction of human society...

Adding Character to your army: Using your Models like a canvas. Part 2

Previously I discussed using the large "empty" parts of models to add character to your army by painting more than just a simple color/highlights.  I discussed using the grieves of the legs on Space Marines, and Storm Shields as a place to paint scenes or iconography such as flames, lava, meteors etc.  I discussed this in reference to my Salamander army and primarily the 3 Siege Shields I painted with 3 differing sets of icons of the Salamander Chapter.  In this article I would like to take you through the process of painting the night sky/space using no black paint.  I won't be using my Salamanders for this article.  The Siege Shields on my Salamander Vindicators finally provided me with the inspiration I needed to add character to my Space Wolves.

Space Wolves: The Perfect Starter Army?

The Space Wolves.  The Emperor's most brutal Legion, called upon only when there is the threat from a force so terrible there is no choice but to destroy it completely.  If the Ultramarines are GW's flagship army then the Space Wolves must certainly be their personal favorites.  Each time a new SW codex comes out (ok, both times) the Space Wolves get an extremely powerful set of rules and units.  This time around the SW codex is so strong I would have to say it makes a near perfect starter army for new players.  Let's look at why.

Prospero Burns Review (with Minor spoilers)

Greetings C&C readers.

I had the joy of spending my holidays with the latest Horus Heresy novel "Prospero Burns : The Wolves unleashed" by Dan Abnett. Picking up the novel I was disappointed before I even opened the book when I saw the name Dan Abnett on the front; instead of one of the authors well versed in Space Wolves (aka the guys who wrote the highly enjoyable Ragnar Blackmane novels). I don't hate Abnett as a writer, but of the many 40k universe novels I have read his typically are the novels that end up at used book stores.

Happy Holidays from C&C!

The Christmas Truce of 1914 in WWI

Hey Everyone!

No matter what your presents are under or around, or whether what's inside the wrapping paper has a WS/BS or MAT/RAT, (or is just socks!), on behalf of all of us here at C&C I'd like to wish you a happy holiday and lots of gaming oriented, non-sock gifts!

-Dis.

Adding Character to your army: Using your Models like a canvas. Part 1

Painting an army is a great experience for me.  I love playing with fully painted armies so much;it is extraordinarily rare for me to play a game in which all my figures aren't fully painted.  Now I am not snobby enough to insist on only playing other fully painted armies but since I completed my first army all the way I haven't been able to bring myself to play unpainted armies again.  While I am not the greatest painter in the world I know my way around a mini and my Salamanders are often given a bit of praise.  I began that army before the 5th ed Marine Codex came out so I had no idea there would be so many Salamander armies out there.  I played them in the first tournament at our FLGS after the codex came out and was the only Salamander player there, the next month there were 3 of us.  While my force was fully painted I began to struggle with ways to make my army stand out.  I came up with several ideas by thinking of my minis as pieces of canvas.  In this article I am going to explore what I mean.

How to deal with TFG.

TFG, better known as "That F%#@ing Guy", is known and maligned by pretty much everyone in the gaming community.  They also exist and can't be ignored.  Their favorite habitat is the competitive environments of Tournaments and competition based leagues/campaigns, normally where prizes and bragging rights are in ample supply.  TFG can ruin your day/game if you let them, but there are a few simple things you can do to mitigate TFGs effect on your game and provide you with good tools to counter their non-sense.

New Poll - Competitive or Casual?

Hey everyone!

Our Warmachine poll has closed and the results are pretty clear: Over half play Warmachine or are considering giving it a try; a handful aren't opposed to it but are similarly uninterested; and a stalwart few remain illuminated in the light of the Emperor. Thanks to everyone for voting and letting us know what you think!

This time, we're looking to see what kind of game you most like to play. Are you a listburner ready to crush all who oppose you on the tournament table, a loremaster looking to weave the coolest story possible from the action on the table, or maybe a bit of both?

-Dis.

Warmachine - Ranking the New Character Warjacks

Hello everyone!

The new Warmachine Character Warjack kits have been out for a few weeks now (or much longer for those out there with ninja skills or a GenCon badge); we've seen a few of them on the field so far and we've had plenty of time to discuss their various merits and drawbacks. So, here we go with an overview of each, ranked in order from best to worst.

Warmachine Steamroller Tournament Wrap-up

Hey Everyone!

Our last Steamroller of 2010 is in the books and it was a great event. The format was 50 points, tier lists only. We had a field of eleven players, representing the following factions and lists:

Hordes 101 - The Factions: Skorne

Usurped from the Cygnaran throne, Vinter Raelthorne headed east into the Bloodstone Marches. After making contact with the inhabitants there, he saw potential for conquest... potential for revenge. Vinter mobilized the Skorne empire, appointing Archdomina Makeda as his general to lead the war into Immoren where King Leto would fall and Vinter could resume his rightful place once again at the throne of Cygnar. Of course, ambitions don't remain dormant and it didn't take long for Makeda to see that the Skorne were being used as a tool and nothing more. History tends to repeat itself and once again Vinter lost his place at the throne, overthrown yet again by Makeda. Assuming the title of Supreme Archdomina, Makeda now leads a full frontal war on Immoren in her quest of complete domination.

New Player 101: Tournaments and you, building a list.

At some point most players, of any game, will want to play in a competitive environment.  This may take the form of a league, gaming group, campaign, or a tournament.  Whatever the environment in which you wish to compete writing up a "good" list is a complete necessity.  You'll notice I put good in quotations because it is a rather relative term particularly in regards to lists written for table top miniature gaming.  The point of this article isn't to tell you the #1 greatest lists on the net.  If you want that head on over to Dakka or Warseer, there are links on the page, you'll find a myriad of lists on either site.  Rather what I want to explore here is how to go about writing your own "good" list for competitive play.  As usual I will write with 40k as my basis, since that is my #1 game after all, but the principles are broad so other gaming systems can certainly use the information I present after the page break.

Tournaments: Mission Variations

The Warhammer 40k 5th ed rule book, while great in many respects, didn't do a stellar job with the missions. I understand where the writers of the missions were going, they wanted to provide casual gamers with two separate rolls to provide, what they viewed, as more variety.  The problem was it didn't provide enough variety, and it even created a cripplingly bad mission possibility.  In pick up games this isn't a big deal, if both players hate the mission/deployment rolled or have had a streak of playing that mission/deployment they can just agree to re-roll the mission/deployment.  For tournaments and structured leagues though things get stickier, gone are the days of "official" GW rogue trade missions.  This problem of mission selection actually applies to more than just 40k tournaments so if you play WM/H, WHFB, FoW etc. read on because I simply use 40k as the basis for analyzing the broader issue.

Hordes 101 - The Factions: Trollbloods

Warjacks are impressive. They are 10-ton engines of destruction, representing the pinnacle of human engineering, marching to war alongside phalanxes of regimented troopers outfitted in the finest wargear their nations can craft. What could possibly stand before such an artifice of doom?

Yo Momma.

The mother-goddess, Dhunia, that is. Her blood runs in the veins of the Troll race, empowering them to defend her against the ravages of those who seek to defile her. Trollbloods have been a people in decline, scattered and divided, relegated to ever-shrinking territories on the fringes of the "civilized" nations. Enough is enough though, and the Trollbloods have had it up to here. Powerful warlocks have joined forces behind a commitment to unify the Kriels and take the fight to their enemies. It is time for the Trolls to take back what is theirs, by any means necessary.

Momma said knock you out.

New Poll: Warmachine, What is With That?

Hey everyone!

We've had a solid influx of Warmachine/Hordes content over the last couple weeks as new contributors have come on board and the basics articles have started flowing out. What do you think? Does Warmachine sound like a game you'd give a chance, or not give the time of day?

-Dis.

Warhammer 40,000 Tournament Wrap-up

Hello everyone!

We had our final 40k Tournament of the year this past weekend, and despite the predations of the dreaded Holiday Season combined with the fell disease known only as ‘Cataclysm’ stealing away the souls of our usually stalwart gamers, we had a great event! 

Warmachine 101 - The Factions: The Protectorate of Menoth

I was first introduced to Warmachine at its most basic level: four boxes, each containing some ‘jacks and a warcaster. My friend started listing each of the factions and a trait or two that corresponded to them. He looked at me expectantly, anxious for my decision. However, I noticed one box he hadn’t described. The art on the front depicted what looked to be four robots, a big one with a mace, a small robot with a shield and halberd, another small robot with a flamethrower, and a human-sized robot with flail. Out of the four, this box sparked the most interest. I asked him about it.

“The Protectorate of Menoth? They’re religious fanatics from the desert. They use fire and stuff.”

Luckily, it turned out that the Protectorate does far more than just play with fire.

Hordes 101 – The Game

Hello Everyone!

We have had some great success in getting people on board to do write-ups for the various Warmachine and Hordes factions; so far we’re only missing articles for Cryx, Legion of Everblight, and Mercenaries. Which is pretty impressive, considering I was expecting to have to do them all myself! Before we go off guns blazing into the Hordes factions, however, I thought it would be a good idea to talk about some key concepts of the game, and with that in mind, here we go!

Warmachine 101 - The Factions: Retribution of Scyrah

Elves have a bit of a stigma. They're effeminate. Weak. They may be highly skilled and possessed of craft and technology far beyond other races, but they are too emo to get anything done. Elves generally seem content to bemoan their fate as a dying race, occasionally amusing themselves by playing mind-games with lesser mortals, cryptically alluding to events in ancient history or potential futures in the most condescending way possible.

Well, it's time to draw the line. Let's turn that emo into metal and at least go down fighting. Enter the Retribution of Scyrah.

New Contributor: Thrasymachos

Twenty years ago, Milton-Bradley published a little game called HeroQuest. That was the beginning. I was enthralled by the miniatures, the gameplay mechanics and the overall aesthetic. Little did I know, I had unwittingly acquired the taste for the much larger genre of table-top minatures gaming...

Warmachine 101 – The Factions: Khador

Hey everyone! Over the next couple weeks we’re going to take a look at the various factions of Warmachine, including some ideas on where to begin, what type of play each faction represents, and some land-mines to avoid when you’re starting out. I’m not going to try and throw out specifics about how fast a given faction is or that their troopers are overall better shots; I’m going for a general overview. I trust you guys to figure out the numbers on your own if you’re interested in a faction. I will also be putting up what I consider to be a good ‘learner’ list for each faction at 35 points, and some ideas behind what went into them. For this first installment, we’ll be starting in the cold north with the faction that is dearest to my heart, the sons and daughters of the Motherland, the Khadorans!

Warmachine 101 – The Game

Hey everyone! Between getting married, fending of illness, and getting ready for the Holidays in retail, it’s safe to say I’ve been out of the loop! Nevertheless, the dust has finally settled from Thanksgiving and now is the brief calm before the Christmas storm kicks in, so I’m back at the keyboard. Through all the hoopla the one thing I have been able to do is play a bunch of Warmachine, including three tournaments in as many months and more games than I can count, and I decided it’s time to start providing that previously-promised Warmachine content. So today, we’re starting simple with an overview of the game, including some notable differences between it and 40k.

Lists: Is Razorback spam really that good? Part 2

The first part of this article got a lot of good feed back so I thought it would be a good idea to write a follow up. Those of you didn't read the first part should go check it out here before reading on, be sure and read the comments because Lee, the SW player from that article, gives really good feedback in the comments.  Lee was gracious enough to come in and play a few games at Game Empire in Pasadena against me since I hadn't had the chance to play against him or that type of list before.  Below the break you'll find a few short synopses of the two games we played.