The long suffering Space Wolf players can finally rejoice (and we Dark Angel players feel envy) – the new codex is here!  No more using an old book from the dark ages, but something using the newest edition of 40K.

New Releases this month:  Codex Space Wolves; Space Wolves Pack (you can make Grey Hunters, Blood Claws, and power-armored Wolf Guard); Wolf Guard Terminators; Space Wolf Battleforce; Canis Wolfborn; Njal Stormcaller; Lukas the Trickster; the Mega-Paint set, and; a whole horde of Lord of the Rings models (Golden King of Harad, Harad Commanders, Abrakhan Guard, Easterling Commanders, Black Guard Commanders, Black Guard, Kardush the Firecaller, Knight of Umbar, and the Betrayer – whew!).

Pages 16-27 – Design Notes for the new Space Wolf Codex:  Just what you would expect, the designer of the new codex gives his thoughts on the new book.  Mostly, he describes the changes to the codex from the old version.  He also demonstrates that the fluff hasn’t really changed, but there are extra details now that improve the ‘Wolves story.  There are also plenty of great pictures of the new models that should inspire any old or new Space Wolf player.  An example army design is included complete with point totals while on the next two pages is a short guide on how to paint ‘Wolves.

Pages 32-35 – Legions of the Eye:  This is an overview of the new Lord of the Rings models, all of them minions of Sauron.  I have to admit that the models are quite nice.  Too bad you can’t really use them for Warhammer or 40K (not without risking having them denied use in a tournament, at least).

Pages 36-45 – Blood and Sand, Campaigns in the South for LotR:  This is an extensive discussion (with pictures) of running scenarios and campaigns using Easterlings, Haradrim, and similar forces.  The last two pages are a showcase of various armies that the Studio guys run.

Pages 46-51 – Mighty Heroes, Mighty Deeds:  This article is really just a somewhat self-evident discussion of using special characters in Warhammer.  Yes, certain characters just beg to be used with certain types of armies.  We knew that.

Pages 53-71 – The Wrath of the Stormcaller:  This is this month’s big battle report with 2000 points of Space Wolves (duh) going up against a similar amount of Chaos Daemons.  This particular scenario adds the wrinkle of allowing the Daemon player (Alessio Cavatore) to field four major demons.  Otherwise, beyond killing things the aim is to grab the majority of three objectives.  As usual the report includes plenty of pictures.  The two armies are almost all infantry, with only a Soul Grinder and SW dreadnought as exceptions to the rule.  Beyond this you get exactly what you expect, a rundown of the battle blow-by-blow.

Page 73 – Hobby Essentials:  This is a single page on how to model snow (appropriate since you don’t usually associate Space Wolves with tropical beaches).

Page 76-77 – Standard Bearer:  This month Jervis talks about the fun to be had at group painting nights.  This includes how they are handy at helping you “assembly line” a large army while bonding with your gaming friends.  It’s not like there is nothing to debate here, but likewise Jervis is kind of preaching to the choir.  Only a novice to the game is likely to have not heard of group painting nights.

Pages 78-85 – Super-Interchangeable Space Wolves:  Besides sounding like the name of a Japanese anime series, this article is meant to inspire you with all the various ways you can put together the new SW kits to create unique troopers.  This includes showing the entire contents of the new Wolf Pack box, numerous examples of constructed/converted marines, and on the last two pages some pictures of ‘Wolf vehicles.  I certainly think this is a great article if you are getting into Space Wolves for the first time, but can also be helpful just to stir the creative juices when it comes to modeling troopers with some pizzazz to them.

Pages 86-87 – Citadel Hall of Fame:  This month Dave Thomas talks about some classic Bretonnian models he’s painted and still uses in his own army.  Nice to see the Brets getting a little love.

Pages 88-95 – Painting Masterclass:  Maybe the most useful article this month, here is a step-by-step guide for painting up Wolf Guard.  The specific examples may relate to Wolves, but they can easily be translated to any other model that might interest you.  After all, a face is a face is a face regardless if it is a Space Wolf Blood Claw or Empire halberdier.

Pages 96-103 – Master Modelers:  This is a few pages of examples of how to use GW terrain kits, some regular around-the-house junk, and cleverness to create some truly great scenery.  I especially like the example of the deluxe Skyshield landing pad – it uses only GW kits to great effect.  It’s the sort of finished product anyone could create with sufficient dedication.

The rest of the issue (and any pages I did not specifically list) are the usual GW ads and event listings.  I won’t tell you what the last page teaser is for, but it’s something that Indiana Jones’ father really, really wouldn’t like.

Just a quick post (life is just too damn busy) -- here are two more videos from Origins 2009.  We are approaching almost a 1000 views for the World's Largest Apocalypse game video so I thought I would add some more coverage.  Likewise, there is also a video showing our table from the convention, including good pictures of the awards and prizes for the RTT.

 

 

The English Civil War took place between 1641 and 1651, although as a historical event it really did not end until 1660.  During that time there were actually three wars – the First (1642-46), Second (1648-49), and Third (1649-51) Civil Wars – the execution of the King (1649), a short-lived republic (1649-53, 1659-60), the Protectorate (1653-59), and finally the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660.  The society of the British Isles was thrown into chaos, governments came and went, and a lot of people suffered.  The effects of the conflict were far reaching and are still being felt today.  For instance, 15-25% percent of the population of Ireland died and the war led directly to the centuries of conflict and religious strife that has plagued the Emerald Isle ever since.

Causes of the War

At its heart the English Civil War was about the respective roles of the King and Parliament, the relationship between English, Scotland, and Ireland, and finally social strife between Protestants and Catholics.

The king at the time was Charles I (1600-49), the second monarch of the Stuart dynasty.  The Stuarts had ruled Scotland for generations, but England only from 1603 when Charles’ father James took the throne after the Tudor Elizabeth I died childless.  Physically small and suffering from a lifelong stutter, he grew up to be a prickly, haughty, and fully aristocratic personality who believed deeply in the Divine Right of Kings.  He was a man better suited to be a ruler than politician, but had the misfortune to be king of a country with a comparatively strong parliament.  His autocratic rule and disinterest in compromise slowly poisoned relations between the king and his parliament, but it was two major issues that primarily led to a break between the two.

The English Civil War?  Who Cares?  I know what you are thinking – an article on some long ago conflict with primitive technology and people dressed oddly?  What does it have to do with anything current, let alone Games Workshop gaming?  Let me answer the second question first – there are many links between GW and historical miniatures gaming, from those who work/have worked for the company to the fact that Warhammer Fantasy is in many ways just historical miniatures with different names and some magic thrown in.  Likewise, since it is Warhammer Historicals it is using the Warhammer brand.  As for the second the importance of the English Civil War(s) lies in the effect it’s had on our modern systems of government and democracy.  Both Great Britain and the United States (among others) can trace a lot of its “constitutional” ideals back to the period of the conflict.  It went a long way toward resolving not only the relationship of King with Parliament, but also what it meant to be a citizen in a democracy.  Think of it this way – while the connection for anyone from Great Britain (or the Commonwealth) is obvious, it is nearly as strong for the United States.  Remember that for the Founding Fathers the English Civil War was a relatively recent event.  Benjamin Franklin was born just 46 years after the Restoration and for him and many of his ultimately rebellious contemporaries the events of the Civil War were as relevant to them as the two World Wars are to us.  Thus, the English Civil War and its effects had an important formative influence on the U.S. constitution.

The first was that for many years Charles ruled without parliament meeting at all.  At that time it only met whenever the king called it into session, but after disputes in the early part of his reign he simply dismissed parliament and wouldn’t reconvene it.  That left him in something of a bind as it was parliament that traditionally controlled the purse strings to pay for the workings of government.  To get around this Charles came up with a number of different strategies mostly utilizing old, all-but-forgotten laws which allowed him to collect some of the money he needed.  These measures were widely unpopular and fed the growing feeling that Charles was in fact a tyrant ruling without the consent of the people (well, at least the important people).

Yet, it was the other great issue that ultimately triggered the war – Charles interest in moving the churches of England and Scotland toward a more traditional direction that returned some of the pomp and circumstance lost since the reformation.  In a Protestant land rife with what by modern standards would be called religious bigotry these changes were commonly seen as the first step in moving the British Isles back toward hated Catholic control.  The fact that Charles had married a French princess with the stated aim of bringing back Catholicism didn’t help things.  Nor did Charles’ typically heavy handed approach to the matter.

Things came to a head in 1639 when in reaction to the attempted imposition of a new prayer book on the Scottish church the region rose in revolt.  The cash strapped Charles found it hard to respond forcefully to this threat and so finally, after eleven years of personal rule, recalled parliament.  However, instead of a compliant political body ready to help defend English honor this “Short” parliament instead spent its time attempting to air the numerous grievances it had collected over the previous decade.  Exasperated, Charles once more dismissed parliament and attempted to deal with the Scots alone.  The result was a humiliating defeat that forced him to yet again recall Parliament to gain the funds he had promised the Scots in return for peace. 

This “Long” parliament (named so because it would stay in session throughout the wars) picked up exactly where it had left off.  At first Charles acceded to its wishes, forgoing many of the sources of revenue he had used during the years of personal rule and accepting changes to his religious policies (in particular, he ended up gaining support from the Scots by giving them most everything they had originally gone to war to secure).  Yet, this did not mollify parliament.  When in 1641 the Irish rose in rebellion the parliament refuse to give the king control over the army in large part because they feared he might just turn around and use it against them.  There were also rumors that Charles had helped engineer the uprising for just such a purpose.

The king had had enough – when a rumor spread that the parliament was on the verge of impeaching his Catholic wife Charles sent his men to arrest a key five of its members.  Entering the meeting chamber itself Charles asked where the men might be (they had skipped out right ahead of his troops) only for the speaker of the house to famously reply, ”May it please your Majesty, I have neither eyes to see nor tongue to speak in this place but as the House is pleased to direct me, whose servant I am here.” 

The king had gone too far – his action seemed to confirm the parliament’s fears that he was a tyrant, while its failure signaled that he was weak enough to be challenged.  Feeble attempts at rapprochement failed and the two sides – the Royalists and Parliament – organized for war.

The Course of the Civil War(s)

Technically speaking there were three English Civil Wars (their dates are listed above), but they tend to be lumped together into a single larger conflict.  By far it is the First Civil War that is seen as the primary struggle, in large part due to the fact that just which side might win was truly undecided.  However, once losing the first go around the Royalists were at a serious disadvantage in the following two struggles when compared to the victorious parliamentary forces.  

The first great battle of the Civil War was at Edgehill in October 1642.  It should have been a Royalist victory, but instead turned into a draw when Charles’ superior cavalry went charging off after their defeated Parliamentary equivalents rather than regrouping to inflict a coup de grace on the enemy army as a whole.  This failure turned the war into more of a slogging match that would go on for four long years.

There were plenty of victories and defeats for each side, but generally speaking the war started off well for Charles only to go sour over time.  At his height the king controlled perhaps half of England, but started to lose territory toward the end of 1642.  A decisive defeat came at the Battle of Marston Moor where the Royalists lost to a combined force of Parliamentarians and Scots.  The result was that Charles forfeited the north of England.  However, the inability of his enemies to take proper advantage of their victory allowed the king to continue to resist into 1645.

It was during this time that the other man most associated with the period of the Civil War came to prominence:  Oliver Cromwell.  Born in 1599 he seems to have been something of a ne’er-do-well in early life until undergoing a religious conversion in his mid thirties.  Now a devout Puritan he was a member of both the Short and Long Parliaments and when war broke out turned himself into a cavalry commander.  He raised his own troop of men – the “Ironsides” – and gained a reputation for success over the course of the first few years of the war. However, it was leading the attack that won the day at Marston Moor that truly made him famous.  Because of this, when Parliament decided to try a different approach to fighting the war after the frustrations of 1644, Cromwell was in position to influence and then command the force that would ultimately lead him to become Lord Protector – The New Model Army.

More to come…

Hi everyone. I just wanted to poke my head in here to let you all know the following....

• I am holding a small 40k tournament at the Armoury in Pickerington on Nov. 7th. 3 rounds, 2 hours each.
• 1500 point armies, WSYWIG models only, and only the current codex. No imperial armour or other non codex units allowed.
• Please bring a clearly legible printed copy of your list with you.
• We start rolling dice at noon, so please arrive well before that to get checked in and get your list approved.
• I like to stay on or ahead of schedule, , so I WILL stop you rolling dice in the middle of a combat if I call time and you are still going. I do give warning at the half hour, 15 minute, and 5 minute marks though.
• $10 entry to help cover prize support, and I give awards to the winner and best sportsman!!  There are only 12 spots open, and they will go quickly, so call the store at 614-833-1331 to get paid up and registered in advance!   

I hope to see you there!

Over the summer I picked up the Warhammer Historicals rulebook for the English Civil War, a period of history I've long seen as interesting.  What surprised me, however, was how the rules themselves were so much like regular Warhammer and yet were not.  Frankly, I think it has a lot of great ideas that you could use to tweak your Warhammer game.  More fundamentally, it is a good case study for how to provide more variations for your GW gaming in general.

So, I am starting a series on the English Civil War and gaming to run this week.  It will include some new History in Gaming material, a review of the Warhammer Historicals rules, and some commentary on how they relate to Games Workshop miniatures games in general.

More to come...

I've been working on the new models I gained by purchasing my copy of Space Hulk, most notably the Terminators (given I play a Deathwing force).  After a night's worth of work I have them all converted.

I made sure to add all of them to terminator size bases -- it makes them fit for 40K while not getting in the way of playing straight Space Hulk -- while also taking the time to convert as much of their Blood Angel regalia as I thought appropriate.  I know that some people might just want to go ahead and play them as given even if they aren't BA players, but after going to the trouble of having my own chapter with its own paint/symbol scheme I didn't want my new additions to stand out.

Here are some examples of the minor alterations I made:

 

In the first example I filed down a whole section of BA iconography to instead fit in a small shield from an Empire box set.  Since shields are part of Star Guard (my chapter) symbolism it fits nicely.  In the second example take note of the wings on the right leg -- I altered them just enough to change the blood drop into regular angel wings.  I also left in the obvious BA symbol on top, however, as there wasn't any easy way to replace it and as long as it exists in isolation in comparison to what's on the rest of the model it should still look nice.

 

In the third example I worked off (thank goodness for my dremel tool!) the iconography on the shoulder pad so that I could instead later paint in the Star Guard starburst symbol.  By comparison, I left on the shoulder pad relief on the fourth example as it is more generic and can fit with any chapter scheme.  I will paint a starburt beneath it so as to preserve the overall effect.

That is all for now.  When I get to painting them I will naturally post the results of my efforts.

As most of you no doubt know the Space Wolf codex is inbound and expected to arrive in early October.  Various places have extensive lists as to what's inside -- here is one at Farseer -- and let's just say a lot of it is looking pretty impressive or at least darn cool.  Here are some random thoughts on the subject (in no particular order):

• First, my usual refrain -- once again Dark Angels (and Blood Angels) are looking even more boring.  It's really hard to see how any of the immediate Marine codexes pre-SM codex really relate to those SM and after.  The SM and now SW codexes are full of new and interesting adjustments, units, or up-scaled characters.  Even if some of them prove to be overpriced at least they get your interest going.  By comparison the Dark Angel equivalents are ho-hum and unimaginative.  This is especially when you compare the new SW characters to their DA brethren.  The Wolves are varied, come with a lot of configuration possibilities, unique, and expand design choices.  The DA characters are all basically clones with minor differences in weapon load-outs and stats.  Yawn.

So, if Dark Angel players weren’t sure of it before now they can be – we had the misfortune to play a force that was the last codex under the old (and quickly abandoned) GW theory of streamlining over niftiness.  Now they have gone to the latter with a vengeance with every codex dripping with cool new toys and possibilities.  Over time there is always some griping about how “new codex A has outclassed my old codex B”, but in the case of Dark Angels it really is a fair criticism.  Their codex was nothing too amazing to begin with and is growing more uninteresting real fast.



Okay, enough with the grousing…

• I like the concept of Sagas.  It’s a great way to offer flavor and provide different basic tactical possibilities – plus the built in limitation of you can only take one once keeps down the cheddar.  This is also true for character material in general, also a good thing.

• Njal being able to cast three psychic powers a turn is just insane.  I hope he costs a lot.

• Bjorn is a great concept – a venerable dreadnought as a special character.  It’s really something any and all the founding chapters (not just DA) should have, IMHO.

• Wolf Guard still seem to have the old function of beefing up regular troop squads.  The extra leadership is handy, but the ability to take a power weapon is especially nice.  It gives them real close-combat bite.  Unless their price is outrageous I see them as part of pretty much every Space Wolf force.

• Arjak’s lowbrow version of Mjolnir is pretty sweet as it’ll allow you to get in a close ranged attack before charging – and at S10 AP1.  Great for going cheek-to-cheek with high value targets.

• I have to wonder how tempting Wolf Scouts will be since they are still elites.  There are just so many other choices that seem nicer that I expect they’ll only be taken when part of a deliberate strategy (as opposed to “god, they are great!”).

• You can’t take heavy weapons with any troop choice, but I usually wouldn’t anyway.  You want them to stay mobile.

• Lukas the Trickster’s “Last Laugh” rule is killer.  Sure, it’s not guaranteed to work, but the fact that there is a good chance it might will result in high value enemy units – especially characters – avoiding Lukas like the plague.  If you take him expect your opponent to throw a lot of small stuff in his way in hopes of a kill through attrition.

• Space Wolves seem to get all the new rules from Codex: Space Marines assuming they get the unit or item in question at all.  So, thankfully, no annoying issues like Land Raiders that strangely can’t hold as many troopers as your allies the next valley over.

• I know that Thunderwolf cavalry are 50 points base, but they seem potentially worth the points.  If nothing else the models are going to look great.  Thunderwolves strike me as a unit you’ll see a lot just because they catch the imagination (although, GW’s likely imaginative high prices on the models may dampen interest, admittedly).

• Being able to take wolves as a unit is just nice all on its own.  Again, a real flavorful addition.

• Long Fangs still get to fire at two different units, which is handy – although I suspect only if you go for the lascannons and want to nuke two enemy vehicles a turn (when facing infantry you’ll more likely want to just concentrate fire on a single unit).

• Bye, bye Exterminator – Hello, Redeemer.

That’s enough for now.  I will give a more in depth review when the actual codex arrives in October.

Yes, yes, I know that Space Hulk has been out for a week now, but I was off visiting Washington D.C. and then making up for lost time at work.  So, I had to wait until Friday to even grab my copy.

 

The first thing you notice picking up the game is that it is heavy.  This is all the more impressive given that it is also a big box.  Try wiggling it and you won't hear a lot of jiggling.  At the very least you get a lot of stuff for your $99.

Next thing I noticed upon opening it that the interior box sides have pictures of all the space marines models found inside.  This is actually fairly handy as it shows you how the finished models should look like.  It also gives you a template for a possible paint job.

 

The material inside is both extensive and of high quality.  The two pictures above are of some of the counters and some of the hallway sections.  All are made of thick, sealed cardboard that is apt to last a long time.  It also gives you a lot of different sections to make a wide variety of board designs.  Besides the models (which I will get to in a moment), there are the two rulebooks, dice, and a hourglass (well, a "few minutes" glass I guess).  All this just screams "high quality game".

I made the mistake of not buying Space Hulk when it came out in 1996 (in my defense it was just a few years into my GW habit) and had only played the game once or twice way-back-when.  So, I didn't know much about the game mechanics.  Looking through them now they seem solid, yet straightforward.  Think of it as a tactical version of 40K where you play a single squad, not an army.  As such there is more detail involved, although not as much as you might think.  Unlike regular 40K here you need to keep track of things like facing, how much ammunition you have left, or just how many different actions you can take during a turn.  Fortunately, Space Hulk otherwise jettisons a bunch of unnecessary rules when compared to 40K in order to keep the action coming.

The rulebook is surprisingly thin, a testiment to the emphasis on playability.  It includes many visual explanations of various basic concepts.  So, happily, it shouldn't take more than five minutes to teach someone the basics and get playing. 

The scenario book is much thicker and full of material to use to provide a variety of settings for your Space Hulk games.  It also includes a fair amount of fluff describing the story basis of the game and even bios of the individual marines making the assault.  Of course, the heart of this book are the scenarios themselves.  Twelve are included using various board and squad designs.  The back page is a visual listing of each space marine figure gloriously painted. In particular, I like Brother Claudio (even if his catch phrase should obviously be, "Hey, bub.")

 

Then there are the models themselves, the true jewels of the set.  There are 12 Space Marine terminators (in 40K terms two squads, a "commander" figure, and a librarian) and 22 genestealers including a new Brood Lord (who is really just a genestealer on steroids).  All of them are just beautiful, with the marines being easily (IMHO) the most expressive terminator models as a set that Games Workshop has ever done.  While the 'stealers are fairly cookie-cutter (what do you expect from bugs?) each marine is unique.  They are two or three piece plastics so you won't be able to pose them differently without a lot of effort, but why bother?  They look great already.

The marines are mostly standard powerfist and storm bolter troopers, but there is one heavy flamer, one assault cannon (which in this game can blow up), one lightning clawed dude doing his best Wolverine impression, and one fellow with thunder hammer and storm shield.  The commander comes with storm bolter and power sword while the librarian has a force axe and SB.  As I feared they are positively dripping with Blood Angel regalia, but as they are plastic working the stuff off or converting it into something more to your liking will only require elbow grease.  Of course, if you are a BA player already congratulations -- you've hit the jackpot.  By comparison the genestealers are just like the ones you are used to, but their unique poses will still make sure they stand out even in the middle of a huge Tyranid horde.

How well will they convert over to 40K?  Well, you'll have to buy some bases for them, but they will usually fit on one without problem.  At most you may have to do a little choice shaving.  The genestealers and brood lord will fit nicely into any current 'Nid army (hopefully that will remain so when the new codex arrives), but the terminators will be more problematic.  Unless you are playing Dark Angels (at least so far) and can mix-and-match termy types as you please you won't be able to legally take all the marines at once.  There are 9 "standard" terminators you could bring (if you are playing vanilla marines) as one large squad, but your close-combat termies will have to stay home unless you buy them some buddies in order to finish off a complete assault group.  The presence of only one "sergeant" figure also limits you to a single unit without any additions.

Still, the models look great and are worth the $99 all by themselves (a similar amount of standard terminators and genestealers would set you back over $200).  So, at worst you can think of the extra marines as being available to load out your squads as you please.

My overall assessment is that getting the new Space Hulk game is a must for anyone who thinks they can use the models or play the game with friends on a regular basis.  It is pricey I suppose, but then again so is everything when it comes to miniatures gaming.  If nothing else I plan on having a lot of fun painting up my new models -- I'm 12 more terminators closer to having a complete terminator company!