Review of White Dwarf 358

Posted by Ranillon on 29. October 2009 22:38

The theme of this month’s magazine is R.O.U.S. – Rodents of Unusual Size.  Rats!  Big Rats!  Lots of rats!  Rats, rats everywhere!

New stuff this month:  Most obviously, the new Skaven army book.  For plastic models we have the Clanrats, Stormvermin, Screaming Bell/Plague Furnace, Doomwheel, and the Skaven battalion.  The metal offerings are all special characters, namely Skweel Gnawtooth, Queek Headtaker, and Deathmaster Snikch.

Pages 14-23 – The Verminous Horde:  This is the introduction to the new Skaven army book and includes what you expect, namely a discussion with the writer (Jeremy Vetock) of the ideas that went into the new codex, a preview of the units available within, numerous pictures of models, and some thoughts on tactics.  One of the interesting bits is that they’ve taken away limitations on the number of Stormvermin and the old rules stating you needed one unit of clanrats to get access to other things.  They are also bringing back both the Doomwheel and the Vermin Lord.

Pages 26-27 – Listing of Plastic Skaven Models:  This is just really an advertisement, but I have to admit that it is still worthwhile to study.  The new Doomwheel and Screaming Bell/Plague Furnace models are just glorious, far superior to their old metal counterparts.  These pages also demonstrate that you can now easily get an entire, well-rounded Skaven army (well, as long as you convert characters over from regular troopers) in plastic, a heck of a money saver given the huge size of a rat horde.

Pages 28-33 – In Sauron’s Sinister Service:  For anyone who plays the bad guys in Lord of the Rings this is the article for you.  Pages and pages of rules for new units and (generic) heroes.  Too bad we don’t see more of this for 40K and Fantasy.

Pages 34-41 – Blood and Sand:  This is a continuation of last month’s article on LotR scenarios set in the deserts of the south.  Includes a number of scenarios, mini battle reports, and numerous pictures of armies in action.  If nothing else they do look impressive.

Pages 42-49 – Battle for the Fang:  Look, more ra—nope, wait, it’s wolves this time.  In particular, this article covers playing games on Fenris, the icebound homeworld of the Space Wolves.  It goes into some of the more famous battles in the planet’s history, gives some rules for including the effects of (the always bad) weather, and finally a few scenarios that you can run as a campaign.

Pages 52-71 – Return to Grim-Duraz:  The rats return in this month’s battle report with two 2000 point Skaven armies against 3500 points of dwarves (why is it that Warhammer reports seem always to be at gigantic point totals?).  The rats have taken a dwarf stronghold that the stunties want back.  For some added flavor there are a bunch of special rules, including those for competition between the two Skaven armies – it’s not enough that their side wins, but the rats want to outdo their rivals as well.

The dwarf force is pretty much standard while between the two Skaven armies all the new models get a workout.  I won’t say who wins, but the conflict is a bloodbath even by Warhammer standards.  I must say that the commentary on the Skaven and their in-fighting between forces is amusing.

Pages 74-75 – Standard Bearer:  Jervis is back with another commentary, but this one I can heartily agree with.  Namely, he hopes that miniatures gaming with stay away from “computerization” and from attempts to “simplify” things in order to be more popular.  He frowns on pre-painted models and in fact takes pride in the fact that the hobby requires a real investment of time and effort to get right. 

Side Commentary:  While I will sometimes use pre-painted models in role-playing games as disposable cannon fodder I prefer to paint whatever I use (as a result I have two miniature cases full of painted figures from the last RPG I ran).  For similar reasons I dislike the move to all pre-painted that Rackham has made for Confrontation.  I wasn’t much of a player of the game, but I liked the models.  Now with all of the new ones coming with mediocre paint jobs my interest in the game has all but evaporated. 

Pages 76-77 – Sub-In-A-Box:  This is just an ad for the new dwarf model that you can purchase (not receive for free, but get the chance to buy) with a new White Dwarf subscription, but I had to mention it because of what the model is – namely, a dwarf engineer in a space suit!  Nice model, but interestingly nowhere in the piece is the “S” word actually used.  Rather, it’s just “old school”.  I guess dwarves in space really were just a figment of we long time 40K players' imagination.

Pages 78-79 – Dawn Raid:  A new (yet familiar) scenario for 40K that uses objectives.

Pages 80-87 – Painting Masters:  This is a pictorial full of examples from various painting gurus that will simply blow you away.  The level of detail and gracefulness of effect is just ungodly, more than enough to make merely competent painters like me both envious and depressed.  My favorite is Darren Latham’s Saint Celestine model – her face is just amazing with subtle layering and mimicked make-up that would look good on a full sized person.

Pages 88-91 – Painting Workshop:  After proving how unworthy we all are in the previous article this one presents methods for painting up Easterling models from Lord of the Rings.  Again, even if you don’t play the game or use these figures the techniques are still going to be educational.

Pages 92-93 – Don Murray’s Space Wolves:  Another look at a player’s completed army, in this case a Space Wolf force that includes a bunch of infantry, three vehicles, and two dreadnoughts (including Bjorn).  Not to the standard of the Painting Masters efforts, but still quite good.  It’s an example of a great finished product I think anyone could achieve with a lot of practice and patience.

Pages 94-103 – ‘Eavy Metal Painting Masterclass:  Another step-by-step painting clinic, this time for Kor’sarro Khan.  It really goes into great depth on every part of the model and in the process gives examples for how to do up things like fur, using white paint (it's harder than it sounds), and outlining.

Next month:  The Fortress of Redemption!

My Must Have Unit -- Dreadnoughts!

Posted by Ranillon on 27. October 2009 23:27

Ron over at From the Warp has asked we members of the FtW Blogger Group to talk about what unit in our army (or, in my case, my favorite 40K army) is the "must have" we can't live without.  As you can tell from the title of this post my must have are Dreadnoughts -- for my Deathwing army, naturally.

Admittedly, when it comes to the Deathwing you don't have many choices to begin with (at least if you want to stay "pure"), but with that said dreadnoughts are clearly my "gotta have" unit. 

The basic reason is simple - Deathwings need firepower.  At first glance that may not seem like that big of a deal given that we are talking about a terminator force, but heavy weapons are in fact hard to come by (especially after GW decided that apparently terminator squads already had so much extra dakka the only fair thing was to reduce them down to a single heavy weapon).  With Dark Angels stuck using the defective Cyclone Missile Launchers dreadnoughts are the only real way to get effective anti-vehicle boom, most obviously via a twin-linked lascannon.  Still, any extra firepower is more than welcome.

Dreadnoughts are also the only real vehicles you can take with the Deathwing.  Sure, you can take a land raider but in most regular games you won't want to.  One, they are quite pricey and, two, they can't deep strike and thus you could easily have it lumbering on to the field far away from the real action.  By comparison, even in the DA codex dreadnoughts can arrive using (admittedly over-priced) drop pods.  That in turn allows you to take advantage of the one bit of mobility that the Deathwing enjoys - dropping right where you need them rather than having to hike across the board.

Dreadnoughts are also tough.  With a forward armor of 12 and the bonuses that come with being a walker (remember, you have to hit them on their front armor in close-combat) they are hard to kill even without making them venerable.  With their dreadnought melee weapon they can take on pretty much anything and have a reasonably chance of winning.  Of course, you can also take them with two heavy weapons if you like and just sit back and blow things up.  Either way, they give you staying power that even terminators lack.

Finally, dreadnoughts are just cool.  The idea of an nigh eternal warrior trapped in a mobile sarcophagus fighting the Emperor's foes has got to stir the imagination.  You also have a lot of different possible weapon choices and the option of making them venerable (too bad DA can't take an Ironclad).  Add in what you can do with conversions and you end up with a unit that is both fun to play and to paint.  Who could ask for anything more (well, at least if you play Deathwing)?

Gotta Have It!

Posted by Ranillon on 23. October 2009 14:20

This is not new information, but I just had to blog about this -- the Fortress of Redemption is up for pre-order at GW.

 
Click picture to embiggen

I love - love - this model.  I've been collecting up bastion models here and there with the plan of doing a really nice fortress for possible use next year at Origins.  Now I am going to hold back until I get my hands on one of these before doing any real work.  With this and some clever use of other bits and models I think I can do up something mighty impressive.

The only problem is that I have to wait until practically December to get one!  Then again, maybe this means I can get an extra one for my birthday or Christmas.....

40K Follies -- Doggie Treats

Posted by Ranillon on 23. October 2009 00:25

Space Wolves Codex Review, Addendum: Wolfwing Example

Posted by Ranillon on 19. October 2009 16:08

Stating that the new Wolf Guard rules make for an effective substitute for a Dark Angels Deathwing army, but let’s do a direct comparison of two 1500 point army lists and see what differences pop up.

However, let me first list what I consider to be the “average” Deathwing force:

• The Big Leader in charge (who allows for terminators to go as troops)
• Another character to add some extra punch
• 3-5 Terminator Squads
• 1-2 Dreadnoughts, usually with Drop Pods so they can join the infantry in deployment

Keeping that in mind let me produce two roughly comparable lists, one using the Dark Angels rules and the other the Space Wolves.

The Deathwing Force (1500 Points):

• Belial with two Lightning Claws      
• Interrogator-Chaplain in Terminator Armor   
• 5 terminators with Apothecary, 1 chainfist and assault cannon  
• 5 terminators with 1 chainfist and assault cannon   
• 5 terminators with 1 chainfist and assault cannon   
• 5 terminators with 1 chainfist and assault cannon   
• Dreadnought with TL Lascannon in Drop Pod  

 The Wolfwing Force (1499 Points):

• Logan Grimnar        
• Wolf Priest in Terminator Armor     
• 4 WG Terminators with 3 PF, 2 combi-plasma in Drop Pod w/DW* 
• 4 WG Terminators with 3 PF, 2 combi-plasma in Drop Pod w/DW* 
• 5 WG Terminators with 4 power fists and assault cannon in Drop Pod 
• 5 WG Terminators with 4 power fists and assault cannon in Drop Pod 
• Dreadnought with TL Lascannon in Drop Pod    

* There are only 4 members in order to make sure that the characters have space in the drop pod

So, just what are the differences between the two and how well do they compare?

 The Deathwing force has 23 models, 5 heavy weapons, 2 vehicles, 21 storm bolters, 5 power weapons, and 16 power fists.  They are all fearless and can teleport wherever they wish to go.

 The Wolfwing force has 21 models, 5 heavy weapons, 6 vehicles, 16 storm bolters,  4 combi-plasmas, 5 power weapons, 14 power fists, and Logan’s funky “I can be anything” axe.  They have great leadership, acute senses, counter-attack, and everyone has a drop pod to use.

 In terms of firepower it’s a toss-up:  The Deathwing assault cannons are more dependable, but the Wolfwing has enough extra Deathwind and combi-plasma guns to produce even more damage - just not in a way you can necessarily rely upon.  That is, you need to be careful in how you use the latter to get the most out of it. 

 In close combat the Space Wolves are clearly going to be superior with the possible exception of vehicles since the Deathwing come with extra chainfists.  Whether or not this is important will depend greatly on the sort of enemy it’s facing – usually, this won’t be a big deal.  By comparison, Space Wolves – especially with the abilities of Logan Grimnar – are going to go up against even specialized close-combat armies with a good chance of success (only their fewer numbers really hamper them, a deficiency the Deathwing shares).

 To my mind the real advantage of the Wolfwing isn’t per se whether or not purposefully identical armies in design as the same in power (it seems to me that generally speaking they are), but that the Wolfwing gives you so many different options.  It’s easy to switch out abilities, add different sorts of troopers to any of the units, and so forth. 

 In other words, you aren’t as likely to get bored with army selection nearly as quickly as with the Deathwing.  It also gives you many more ways to adapt to the forces you play.