First Mission Choice

Posted by Shadowvast on 9. January 2011 12:12

Here it is. The first choice of missions is here.

Mission 1.Origins.docx (14.88 kb)

Get some games in and let us know what you think.

The New Dark Eldar Codex -- First Impressions

Posted by Ranillon on 15. November 2010 18:08

I got my hands on my copy of the new codex the other day and I have to say that my first impression is generally positive.  The rules are interesting and at first glance suggest a number of possibilities for army tactics and builds. 

• "Powered by Pain" is a Real Game Changer -- In the past Dark Eldar came off as less effective regular Eldar, but with this new ability a DE player is really encouraged to get stuck in as soon as possible.  Each time you destroy a non-vehicle enemy unit you gain a new ability for the unit in question, the first one being "Feel No Pain!"  That makes the unit almost twice as durable right there!  Given how fragile Dark Eldar (more so than regular Eldar, IMHO) this is a wonderful ability.

• There are Plenty of Interesting New Units -- There are a bunch of new units and independent characters, enough to provide a lot of variety to anyone wanting a more unique sort of force.  There is the Venom, a new transport (which looks like just a converted Vyper), a bunch of new infantry (Wracks, Bloodbrides, and the Court of the Archon), and two flying units as well!   My one big complaint about these new units is that there are few if any pictures of many of them so that makes during your own conversions almost impossible -- unless, of course, you are just going to do your own design and call it an "Ur-Ghul" or whatever.

• Dark Eldar are Fast, Fast, and Fast! -- Almost everything in the army can hitch a ride on a dedicated transport or has the equivalent of a jump pack.  Add in bringing along a Webway Portal and these bad natured pointy ears can get into close-combat as fast as any force out there.  Meeting the enemy mano-a-mano is reasonably possible on the first turn and pretty much guaranteed by turn two.  The new Dark Eldar are an army that you cannot count on being able to whittle down over two or three turns before hand-to-hand.

• Okay, the Models Are Better than I Thought -- Yes, I still am a bit disappointed that GW decided to keep with the whole "fetish" look for Dark Eldar, but with that said I have to admit that the models are nevertheless quite well done.  There is a stupendous amount of detail while many of the different kits have been designed to make it easy for you to mix and match parts between them. 

• There are Multiple Basic Army Builds -- By default DE only come with two Troops choices, namely Kabalite Warriors and Wyches.  However, if you take the right special characters you can likewise take either Hellions or Wracks as Troops as well.  The first option is a good, if a bit expensive, basis for a fast, all mounted force -- add in some Reavers and flying vehicles and you have an army whose speed is second to none.  The other choice of Wracks gives you a tougher force that comes with "Feel No Pain" by default.  You'd still want to mount them in a Raider regardless as they'd be way too slow otherwise.

• Lots of Nice Toys to Play With:  Dark Eldar come with a wide arrangement of wargear and weapons, far more than before.  They also fill different roles and allow you to have units with real anti-armor ability.  The "Arcane Wargear" seem especially flavorful to me.   There is no unit that doesn't come with a bunch of possible options.

• Can't Any Dark Eldar do Push Ups?  We all know that Eldar (and elves) pretty much all go around with meager threes for Toughness.  What surprised me was to see that almost no DE have greater than a three for strength.  Unless they are "manufactured" units like Wracks it's threes everywhere you look.  Not even the Incubi, the elite of the army, have any better than a three (although their swords give them a +1 strength).  Heck, not even an Archon has better.  Sheesh, can't any of them buy a set of barbells and get working?

More material as it occurs to me.  Still, overall I have to admit that this new codex interests me more than I had thought it would.

Warlord Games Comes Out with Thirty Years War Box Sets

Posted by Ranillon on 22. October 2010 20:24

Just so we here at 40KOrigins labs can occasionally talk about products from makers besides GW here are some pictures of the new range of historical Thirty Years War box sets/models from Warlord Games.  In truth, they are just the same as the English Civil War sets we've already been talking about, but with a few different metal models and historically accurate paper flags.  Point is that you can use a Pike and Shotte army in a ECW and Thirty Years War setting -- using the same Warhammer Historical rules, of course.

Just for those who don't know -- the Thirty Years War took place primarily in what is now Germany (at the time it was a huge collection of different sized states bound together by a common culture and nominal loyalty to the Holy Roman Empire) between Catholic and Protestant sides.  While religion did obviously play a big role behind the conflict it was also a struggle to see who would be the dominant political force in the area -- Would the Catholic Holy Roman Emperor (a.k.a. ruler of Austria) grab back true control of Germany or would Germany remain a collection of competing small nations?  The conflict took approximately thirty years (hence the name) and was devastating to many parts of the region.

Click to Biggie Size Images

Yes, what you just read is correct -- during the 17th Century Sweden was one of the great powers of Europe and stayed that way until the early 18th century when Russia took their place.  It was the intervention of Sweden under the King Gustav II Adolf the Great during a critical part of the war that saved the Protestant side from defeat.

The primary force on the Catholic side was the Holy Roman Empire -- whose power was based around the Emperor's direct control of Austria and related territories.

Again, Click to See Bigger

It should be noted that over the course of the war most every power in Europe got involved in one way or the other, although to what degree could vary greatly.  Nor did a nation's participation necessarily match their religious preference.  For instance, even as the French crushed organized Protestantism in their own country (although arguably mostly to secure absolute rule of the king) they primarily fought against Austria in order to limit its power.

See, that is why I like historical gaming -- it allows you an excuse to learn about vitally important periods of time -- events that lead directly to the world we live in now -- which you'd otherwise never know about!

New Plastic Bloodcrusher Sprues

Posted by Ranillon on 10. September 2010 22:33

Since I don't want this blog to become the all English Civil War channel I thought I should likewise put some work into my Daemon 40K army.  To that end I bought the new plastic bloodcrusher set (click the thumbnails to biggie size).

The detail is really nice and being plastic it makes possible conversions a snap (although these look so good -- er, evil -- already I don't think I need to).

Beyond the Khorne models I am planning to add some Tzeentch models -- in particular some Pink Horrors and Lord of Change (got that model at 1/2 price a few years ago) -- and a Nurgle Daemon Prince.  My Khorne prince is a great model, but not so great in actual combat (he's too vulnerable to being shot up before getting into close-combat).

Island of Blood First Impressions

Posted by gbprime on 6. September 2010 22:39

One trip to my local game shop later, Isle of Blood is now in hand.  I fended off my kids as best I could to open it during dinner and started gawking at the minis instantly.  My first impression is that the pics on the web I have seen do not do the set justice.

It's the detail in the miniatures.  I knew I was buying a set where the plastics have limited posing, but the troops are far better than I expected.  The Lothern Sea Guard are quite highly detailed, packed with equipment, and just LOOK like elite troops.  Likewise, the well equipped Ellyrian Reavers actually have 4 different poses, and for 5 models, that's pretty good.  Even the clanrats are exceptional, having just as much detail and SIXTEEN separate poses.

Character-wise, the models are pretty darn good as well.  The Moulder and Warlock Engineer look positively evil and have a lot of detail packed onto their small frames.  And the High Elf Mage... oh my lord the high elf mage.  He comes in 3 peices... back of torso w/ cloak, front of torso, and head/chest/staff.  The result is a dynamic mini with DEPTH to it, rising into the air in the midst of a spell effect (instead of just on top of it as in previous mage versions).

The two army commanders deserve special note.  They too are awesomely detailed, but are oddly infuriating to a modelling and conversion gamer such as myself.  There is only ONE way to assemble them.  The skaven warlord comes in two peices... his front torso and arms w/ weapons, and... the rest of him.  You basically clip on his breastplate and arms.  The only modification possible would be a forearm/weapon swap. 

But even that meager swap is a lot more conversion potential than the griffon rider.  The griffon comes in 7 peices and is a great model, but the rider's lower leg and upper arm on each side of his body are molded to the two halves of the griffon itself, along with bits of cloak and flowing ribbon.  The rider's torso and the other half of his cloak fit in between these halves.  Assemble it any other way, and the prince's arms are floating in the wrong locations.  Yes, you could chop off the arms and flowing cloak, and make a saddle out of greenstuff, but you'd still have to make any substitute rider match up to the lower legs that are molded to the griffon's feathers.  It's a bit disappointing, and I'd rather have seen a rider you peg onto the griffon, or even legs and waist molded to the griffon with a totally separate upper torso, making conversions easier.

Woes about the commander models aside, this set is awesome.  Highly detailed minis and the all-important mini rulebook make this a set worth owning.  Even if you trade away the minis (I'm trading Ranillon rats and receiving his elves), the value of the tradebait that comes with the rulebook is well worth it.  (The Ebay buy-it-now for the Elf Griffon Rider is currently varying between 15 to 21 bucks.)

And for gamers like me, whose small kids nick his range sticks and blast templates... bonus.  =)