North West Grand Tournament

Hi all,

Angryman here, 3 MAWS players will be entering the GT in Warrington on September 17th and 18th.


Its a 6 game tournament using the E.T.C. scoring system.  Each mission has a primary and secondary objective along with VP scoring.  The tournament rules pack is here

Rules pack

In order to take part in the team event we will be taking on a mercenary (to be decided on the day) as 4 players are needed to enter.

The armies entering will be:

Me - Tyranids
Rob - Night Lords (Chaos Space Marines)
Pete - Imperial Guard (Al-Rahim themed army)

The tournament is 1750 points, my list comprises of

HQ

Hive Tyrant 170

Leech essence

Paroxysm

Old adversary 25

Tyrant Guard x3 180

Lashwhip x3 15

Total 390

Elite

The doom of malan’tai 90

Mysetic spore 40

Total 130

Hive guard x3 150

Hive guard x3 150

Troops

Termagant x12 60

Termagant x12 60

Tervigon 160

Adrenal glands 10

Toxin sacs 10

Catalyst 15

Total 195

Tervigon 160

Adrenal glands 10

Toxin sacs 10

Catalyst 15

Total 195

Heavy

Trygon 200

Adrenal glands 10

Total 210

Trygon 200

Adrenal glands 10

Total 210

Army total 1750

Kill ponts 11

This list is a cut down and slightly changed version of the 2K one I took to Britcon last year.  I'm not expecting to win the tournament but I'll aim for mid-table and above.

All comments welcome.

Fluff

Hi All,

Angryman here, I got thinking about the rumours for 6th Ed but more specifically,  the background stories (fluff).  Its rumoured to move the timeline on so we officailly enter the 42nd Millenium.  It got me thinking, what do we, as the playing community want to happen?

I'd like to have the Imperium on the very brink of collapse, the emperor could die, visions of doom across the length of the galaxy, uprisings, heresy, a new saint could appear to give the Imperium hope, all the stuff that make the hobby worth playing.

I'd like to see more xeno interaction, The Necrons are rumoured to be waking up fully so I want the Void dragon (rumoured to be on Mars) to stir from its slumber, I want to see another massive WAAARGH by Ghazghkull Thraka (but not on Armageddon), I want to see another Black Crusade led by Abaddon the Despoiler, I want another massive Tyranid Hive Fleet to invade, the Tau could have a 4th phase expansion, the Eldar could start to exit the galaxy.  I want the Chaos Space Marines to take the fight to the xeno's (that would be worth a good read).

Basically I want more of what we have had but in a grander scale.

So what about you guys want from your hobby?

All comments welcome

Battle Cry

Hi all,

Angryman here, I was playing Dawn of War 2 the other day and it got me thinking about battle cry's and what the 40K races have for theirs.

Some of the more well known ones are:

Orks



Khorne Berzerkers



Space Marines

What would the other races shout?
Tyranids - NOM NOM NOM HISS
Eldar - We're better than you
Tau - For the greater good
Imperial Guard - I hope i'm not in the first wave
Dark Eldar - Hurt me bitch
Sister of Battle - We're not as good as Space Marines
Chaos Daemons - Your soul is mine (Shang Tsung anyone???)
Necrons - I'll be back

Very brief battle report

Hi all Angryman here.

Monday night I pitted some of my newly painted Salamanders against Brother Captain Uriel Ventris's Ultramarines.

It was 1500 points, objectives (3) and Dawn of war setup.

I won the roll for deployment and opted to deploy 2nd.

My list consisted of
Vulkan He'stan
5 THSS termies
land raider redeemer with melta
Iron clad with heavy flamer in a pod
Dreadnought with heavy flamer in a pod
10 man tactical with pow fist, flamer and miss launcher in a rhino with extra armour
2 5 man tactical squads with a lascannon razorback each

I can't recall in great detail the Ultramarine list but it went roughly like this
Chaplin Cassius
5 man sternguard in razorback with lascannon/TL plasma gun
10 man tactical with plasma cannon / plasma gun in rhino
10 man tactical with miss launcher in rhino
10 man terminator squad, 2 chainfists, cyclone miss launcher, assault cannon
Chaplin in terminator armour
2 attack bikes with multimeltas
Landspeeder with heavybolter

The ultramarines combat squaded the 2 tactical squads and set up the heavy weapons with good lines of fire in buildings and the other half of the tactical squads occupied an objective and deployed in a rhino.  I setup nothing on the board.

Turn 1  - Ultramarines

The huge terminator squad advanced towards the objuective the salamnders were holding, the 2 attack bikes turboboosted forwards and the rhino with the marines advanced.

Turn 1 - Salamanders

The Ironclad dropped down in the pod near an ultramarine objective, the 2 razorbacks with squads moved on, the landraider and the rhino moved on.  The razorbacks shot at a rhino and did nothing, the ironclad did nothing (very bad turn of shooting)

Turn 2 - Ultramarines

the razorback arrived from reserve, an attack bike moved behind the ironclad, the terminators advanced, the other attack bike advanced.  The Ironclad was destroyed by a melta from the attack bike, a lascannon was shot off the razorback.

Turn 2 - Salamanders

The other drop pod arrived with the dreadnought, the rhino and landraider advanced towards an ultramarine objective.  both Ultramarine attack bikes were destroyed, a rhino was immobolised and the other stunned and storm bolter destroyed.

Turn 3 - Ultramarines

The landspeeder arrives and moves into cover, the terminators advance towards the Salamander objective (this unit scares me), the rhino moves away from the Salamander objective.  The razorback moves to get a better shot.  The las/plas razor back shoots at the landraider but does nothing, the terminators shoot at the dreadnought and destroy its close combat arm, the miss launchers misses the salamander rhino.

Turn 3 Salamanders

One razorback with a squad re-claims an objective, the other razorback drives off in order to contest the an Ultramarine objective late on in the game, the rhino moves towards the other Ultramarine objective, the Landraider moves towards the same objective and disembarks the terminators and Vulkan whilst the dreadnought moves to claim a cover save.  In the shooting phase the dread shoots the rhino but does nothing, the landraider shoots at the rhino but does nothing, the 2 pods shoot the Ultramarine combat squads and kill 1 marine

Turn 4 - Ultramarine

The terminators move into charge range of the dreadnought, the razorback disembarks the sternguard, the combat squad holding an object moves back further into cover.  In the shooting phase a Salamander razorback (killing 2 marines) is destroyed and the rest of the army shoots the terminators but causes no damage (yay for me).  In the assault phase the terminators make short work of the dreadnought.

Turn 4 Salamanders

the rhino moves to claim the objective, the landraider moves up to support, the razorback moves away from the Ultramarine terminators in a hope to contest the Ultramarine objective, the Salamander terminators move into assault range of the las/plas razorback, Vulkan detaches from that squad and move towards the combat squad with the miss launcher.  In the shooting phase the landraider uses both flamestorms and kills all but 2 combat squad members and most of the sternguard, Vulkan runs towards the other combat squad, the pods take pot shots at combat squads.  In the assault phase the terminators destroy the razorback

Turn 5 Ultramarines

The terminators move towards the razorback, Cassius joins the remains of the combat squad and they move towards the objective, the last Salamander razorback was destroyed in the shooting phase.  In combat the terminators then assaulted the squad that emerged from the destroyed razorback and annihilated them.

Turn 5 Salamanders

The tactical squad from the rhino disembarked, the terminators ran towards the remaining sternguard, Vulkan changed his mind and ran back towards Chaplin Cassius, the remaining combat squad members ran towards the held Ultramarine objective whilst the landraider moved off and headed in the same direction.  In the shooting phase the landraider fired....and did nothing, the combat squad fired.... and killed 1 Ultramarine (not enought to cause a morale check), the tactical squad fired everything on the Cassius and the 2 survivors and killed the 2 marines, the 2 pods took pot shots..... and killed nothing.  In combat the terminators charged the sternguard and Vulkan charged Cassius - the showdown was set!!!!!!  The terminators bulldozed over the sternguard.  The HQ showdown was tense - it was my first outing for Vulkan, dice were rolled, wounds were scored and Vulkan was killed!!!!!!!  how did this happen??????  as a result The Ultramarines held one object and contested the Salamander objective and won 1 - 0.

I couldnt believe it it was only after the game i realised i should have combat squaded my full tactical squad so i could have used the miss launcher, oh well you live and learn.  Here are come pictures of the battle

The Ironclad is about to get a Melta in the ass

That rhino is gonna burn

evil man with red eyes

bye bye dreadnought

The showdown

As usual, all comments welcome

1000 Marines?

Hi all,

I've been playing on the tinterweb this morning whilst having my coffee and I came across the following article

1000 marines

It details the 'full' strength of a typical chapters marines (Ultrasmurfs) and hypothesises that the typical 1000 marines is in fact a lot more.

Discussion Topic: Librarium: The 1000 Marine Myth This article has been viewed 10716 times.

The Thousand Marine Myth Contrary to the popular belief that a Space Marine Chapter is limited to only 1000 Space Marines it becomes obvious under very little scrutiny that this is not the case at all. This article will use the Ultramarines as the prime example of how a Codex Chapter is actually organised. Nominal Strength The 4th Company at full strength Captain Idaeus 1 Chaplain, 1 Apothecary 1 Company Standard Bearer, 5 Veteran Sergeants 6 x 10-strong Tactical Squads 2 x 10-strong Assault Squads 2 x 10-strong Devastator Squads 4 Dreadnoughts 15 Rhinos, 5 Land Speeders 5 Land Speeder Tornadoes 5 Land Speeder Typhoons 25 Bikes, 5 Attack bikes Note: 4th Company now at full combat strength At its nominal strength each company contains one hundred Space Marines, this has been stated numerous times in Index Astartes articles and the various Marine codices. With 10 Companies, each with ten squads of ten Marines we have our mythical 1000 Marines. Our best guidelines for the actual figures however are Codex: Space Marines (3rd Ed.) and Index Astartes Vol. I and to a lesser degree Imperial Armour Vol.2: Space Marines & Forces of the Inquisition. The appendix of Codex: Space Marines shows a snap-shot of the Ultramarines chapter during 745.M41, the most useful listing here is that of the Fourth Company which states "Notes: 4th Company now at full combat strength"1 This implies that not every Company listed in the appendix is at full strength. The Fourth Company is however and is listed in the sidebar to the right: This enables us to take the Fourth Company as our basis for comparison. Captain Idaeus, a Chaplain, Apothecary, Company Standard Bearer, 5 Sergeants and 100 marines makes 109 marines. The Veteran Sergeants would serve various functions throughout the company, perhaps replacing sergeants in ordinary squads. I wondered to myself where the Sergeants that were replaced would go, before I realised that they would likely serve as part of the Captain's Command Squad (perhaps why command squads are allowed bolt pistols and close combat weapons.) That means that if four Veteran Sergeants went to tactical squads, Idaeus' command squad could consist of a Veteran Sergeant, Apothecary, Company Standard Bearer and Four Sergeants... making seven marines. However, that's me rambling. Battle & Reserve Companies So, if we take the Fourth Company as our basis, and apply it to the Second, Third, and Fifth companies, the four Battle Companies are made up of a total of 436 marines. Now, the Reserve Companies. At full strength, each of the Reserve Companies is made up of ten squads. The Sixth and Seventh have Tactical squads, the Eighth has Assault squads, and the Ninth Devastator squads. Each Company also has a Captain, Chaplain, Apothecary, Standard Bearer and a number of Veteran Sergeants (let's assume 5, as that's what the Fourth Company has at 'full strength') So, 109 in each of these four Companies adds another 436 marines to the chapter, making 872 marines. Running Total of Ultramarines: 872 The First Company First Company Strength Captain Invictus 2 Chaplains 1 Apothecary 1 Company Standard Bearer 8 Veteran Sergeants 87 Veteran Space Marines 74 Tactical Dreadnought Suits 3 Dreadnoughts 18 Rhinos 7 Land Raiders We'll now turn to the First Company, please see the strength listed at right: Now, the first company in this force disposition is under-strength. As all marines in the first company are veterans (and would have -and still can- served as sergeants in other companies, it must be assumed that all sergeants are 'veteran'. Second edition made reference to the first company, stating that veterans deployed either as ten veteran squads of ten men each, or twenty five-man terminator squads. So it must be assumed that the First Company has 100 battle-ready warriors. (Keep in mind this is in addition to the 45 or so veteran sergeants in other companies.) I cannot be sure whether the two Chaplains would apply to all Codex-adherent Chapters. Cassius isn't mentioned elsewhere, whilst Tigurius is, so perhaps one of these two Chaplains would count as the Master of Sanctity. Taking the 872 marines so far, and adding 100 veterans, a Captain, Apothecary, Standard Bearer and two Chaplains makes 977. We're now only 23 away from the magic 1000, and we still have a long way to go. Running Total of Ultramarines: 977 How many Veterans in a Chapter? In the listing of the Ultramarines Chapter in Codex: Space Marines (3rd Ed.) there are 87 Veteran Marines and 8 Veteran Sergeants in the First Company. That's ninety-five marines plus a Captain, Standard Bearer, two Chaplains and an Apothecary (total 101). Now, I've often heard the argument that Veteran Sergeants are part of the First Company serving in other Companies. Whilst it's undoubtedly true that they've served in the First Company, are qualified in the use of Terminator armour, and bear the Crux Terminatus, they are clearly listed as part of the Company they are assigned to in this disposition chart. They have yellow shoulder pads if they're in the Second Company and so forth, in other words, the Veteran Sergeants in other Companies are in addition to the 100 or more veterans actually in the First Company. To explain further: the 95 veterans are in addition to twenty-five in the other nine Companies. That makes 120 veterans (and that's taking into account casualties taken in this report by companies such as the fifth - if each company had five Veteran Sergeants, as the 4th Co. does, that would be 45 additional veterans!). The reasoning behind this decision is two-fold, I believe. Firstly, it allows other Companies to benefit from the battlefield experience of the Veteran Sergeants. Secondly, it ensures that if the First Company is savaged in a battle such as the one for Macragge's polar fortresses, the Chapter's entire veteran-stock isn't wiped out. There are still Marines with extensive battlefield experience, Terminator training etc. who can be placed back into the First Company. It serves as a useful redundancy, an insurance policy against the worst the galaxy can throw at a Chapter if you will. The Tenth Company The Tenth Company is the only Company that has a large amount of lee-way in its strength. The Ultramarines and Astartes Chapters in general do not have a fixed recruitment quota. The haste with which men were turned into Marines was part of the reason why the Legions fell. The size of the Scout Company can vary wildly, perhaps being as small as thirty Neophytes to perhaps as large as 130. The only constants in the Tenth Company are the Captain, Chaplain, Apothecary and a number of Veteran Sergeants (let's assume five, with each sergeant having two squads under his purview). That's eight, to add to our 977 (making 985). The Codex: Space marines (3rd Ed.) organisation chart also makes reference to 'Neophytes' (are they different to Scouts? Perhaps they're recruits with partial training and augmentation?) and 'Recruiting Sergeants'. Seven Recruiting Sergeants are listed, who I presume would lead the squads. So I guess we'd better add that seven to the total. If we also assume 100 scouts - this is a hypothetical Chapter, so let's assume recruitment is good at the moment) we come up with an updated running total: Running Total of Ultramarines: 1085 Headquarters HQ and Support Strength Headquarters Marneus Calgar, Lord Macragge, Master of the Ultramarines Ancient Helveticus, Chapter Standard Bearer 3 Chaplains Librarius Chief Librarian Tigurius 4 Epistolaries, 7 Codiciers 12 Lexicaniums, 4 Acolytum Apothecarion Corpus Helis, Chief Apothecary 11 Apothecaries 5 Initiates Armoury Fennias Maxiim, Master of the Forge 4 Techmarines Suprema 28 Techmarines 8 Apprenta Having finished the Companies, we can begin to look upstairs, which is where things become a little clearer for us: Five members of the HQ element together with 28 Librarians, 17 Apothecaries and 41 Techmarines gives us a total of 91 specialist (or apprentice specialist as these numbers also include trainees for each specialty) Marines, bringing our running total to 1175. It's clear that these supernumeraries are not considered to be part of the Companies by the manner in which the personnel table is laid out. Each is clearly identified as an individual support or command element in its own right and is not associated with any particular Company in any way. Running Total of Ultramarines: 1176 Fleet Strength A number of key elements in this section are supposition based on the 'standards of reporting' in this chart together with limited information presented in other pieces of fluff such as Black Library novels with regards to Astartes fleets. Fleet Command 48 Pilots, Gunnery Officers and Command Crews 18 Navigators 8 Strike Cruisers, 3 Battle Barges 12 Rapid Strike Vessels 32 Thunderhawks The reference to 'pilots' leads me believe that Thunderhawks have dedicated crew, which I'd understand and which is at least partially backed up in the Space Wolf novels by several scenes where Ragnar reveals he had once wanted to be a Thunderhawk pilot and where he communicates with Thunderhawk crew who are noted as being full Space Wolves. Further, Imperial Armour Vol.2 lists the crew of a Thunderhawk as 3 - Pilot, Navigator & Gunner and lists the crew type as 'Space Marines'4. I'm assuming the 'Navigators' listed below the Thunderhawk crew in this list are in fact members of the Navis Nobilite assigned to the Chapter to navigate Battle Barges and Strike Cruisers. Thus they will not be added to the total of Astartes warriors. Still, we can add the 48 Thunderhawk crew to our Marine total with reasonable certainty. Running Total of Ultramarines: 1224 Vehicle Crews It would be fine to stop here, but then I read in fine print this sentence: "(Note that vehicles (not bikes) and spacecraft include complete crew components).1" This got me thinking about all the times you see a blue Ultramarines Rhino with a red crewman. Evidently the crew are drawn from elsewhere in the Chapter other than the 10 Companies. It makes sense when you think about it - it stops Marines being drawn away from their squads for other duties and seriously weakening the actual strength of each Company. Pages 44 & 45 of Insignium Astartes also state that the entire Sixth and Seventh Companies are trained to use, respectively, Bikes and Land Speeders and the text further implies that such vehicles are attached to other Companies complete with their crew drawn from these Companies.2 Again, this strengthens the argument that vehicle crews are not drawn from the Company they serve with. Note that other sources such as the Black Library novel 'Iron Snakes' state that vehicle crew are drawn from the strength of the (in this case) squad they are assigned to3. This may be because the squad is on its own in this story and does not have the resources available to a full Company or due to the myriad differences in doctrine that appear in even ostensibly Codex following Chapters. However, this does mean we need to factor in crew for all listed vehicles. For this I won't include Land Speeders or Bikes as Insignium Astartes implies the crew for these are drawn from the Reserve Companies. From the Strategic Disposition, the Fourth Company has fifteen Rhinos. Rhinos are listed as having a crew of one in Imperial Armour Vol.24, that's 15 crewmen in the Fourth Company, and by extrapolation sixty in all four of the Battle Companies at full strength. We add the same strength for the Reserve Companies and that's 120 in the eight main Companies. The First Company is listed as having 18 Rhinos (so 18 crew) and 7 land raiders (or 14 crew - 2 per vehicle4). 138 Rhino crew plus 14 for the Land Raiders makes 152. Running total of Ultramarines: 1376 Marines Heading back to the Armoury, we have the vehicles in the sidebar to the right: Armory 14 Predator Destructors 11 Predator Annihilators 8 Vindicators 9 Whirlwinds 14 Rhinos 14 Razorbacks 12 Land Raiders (including Variants) Crew strengths are from Imperial Armour Vol.24 Predator tank, both variants: 2 crew (Commander/Gunner, Driver), total 50 Marines 8 Vindicators: 2 crew (Commander/Gunner, Driver), total 16 Marines 9 Whirlwinds: 2 crew (Commander/Gunner, Driver), total 18 Marines 14 Rhinos: 1 crew (Driver), total 14 Marines 14 Razorbacks: 1 crew (Driver), total 14 Marines 12 Land Raiders: 2 crew (Commander/Gunner, Driver), total 24 Marines Maximum total of crewmen for Armory vehicles: 136 Marines. Note this figures assumes all these vehicles are used at the same time which seems unlikely, or at the least are each assigned a permanent crew who would be assigned to it even when it was undergoing repairs etc. Final Total of Ultramarines: 1512 Non-Combatants & Non-Astartes "Although the Codex describes a number of ranks and responsibilities within the Headquarters staff, only a very few of these officers actually accompany the Chapter to war. Many are noncombatants of advanced years whose roles are to recruit and train new members or administrate the Chapter. Some ranks described by the Codex include the Chapter's Ancient (or Standard Bearer), the Master's Secretarius, the Lord of the Household, the Chapter's Armourer, the Commander of the Fleet, Victuallers, the Commander of the Arsenal, Commander of Recruits and Commander of the Watch."1 This means it is likely that there are older or disabled Marines stomping around helping the Chapter, for example it is presumed that the Captain of each Astartes vessel is one of these disabled vets who has been grafted to his ship with Mind Impulse Units and other arcane technologies. Although there are no numbers to extrapolate from a reasonable estimate might be between 20 and 40 of these 'non-combatant Marines' exist in most Chapters providing services ranging from captaining Astartes vessels to training to logistical support to simply shuffling papers. However it is to be imagined that in the worst case even these warriors would draw bolter and chainsword from the armoury and join the defence of the Chapter if required. Also to be considered are the sizeable numbers of Chapter serfs and starship crews when considering the precise weight of numbers a Marine Chapter can bring to bear, particularly in self defence. Author The major contributors to this article were Commissar Molotov and the Emperor's Champion. SCC, Sigismund Himself and the Ultramarine forum members also contributed . The Grey Areas In no way is this assessment of a Chapter's strength definitive, numerous grey areas exist, some of the major ones are listed below: The Chapter disposition given in Codex: Space Marines1 gives separate strengths for the Librarium, Armoury and so forth but not for the Chaplaincy, this lays some doubts over the precise number of Chaplains (and hence Marines) in a Codex Chapter. Also not noted are apprentice Chaplains though some older fluff5 indicates that Chaplain trainees act simply as regular Battle-Brothers on the field and thus may not be annotated as trainees in such a chart. Are acolytes and apprenta as listed in the Librarium and Armoury Astartes Marines as well? Or are they senior Chapter serfs? Dreadnoughts: Do they count as 'Marines'? The crew of a Dreadnought is listed as 'Space Marine' in Imperial Armour Vol.24 so should they be included in the total of Marines? Astartes Fleet Crews: Again we have only hazy data here, it may be that each Astartes vessel has several Marines on board as crew acting in senior roles as Captain, Chief Engineer and so forth. Anecdotal evidence in the Space Wolf novels, most particularly 'Wolf's Honour' shows most of these tasks are performed by Chapter serfs but no definitive evidence exists either way. Vehicle crew: Areas of doubt have already been explained in the vehicle crew section. Detached Marines: Marines may be detached to serve with the Inquisition, primarily the Deathwatch, but also with Rogue Traders and other Imperial forces. Are such Marines included in the mythical 1000? Best Guess The final number of Marines in a Chapter is impossible to determine, it is our best guess that the number of Marines in a full strength Codex Chapter is in the region of 1400-1600 warriors, far in excess of the mythical 1000 so often quoted both in the fluff and in the 40K community. Hopefully this article has gone some way to showing a more realistic assessment of the strength of the Astartes. Related Topics Behind the Astartes: The Support of the Space Marines Units of the Astartes Masters of the Chapter Editor's Note It should be noted that this article contains a large degree of supposition and many of its elements are underpinned by educated guesswork rather than hard fact. As such this article should not be considered as 'factual' or 'canon' in the strictest sense of the word. However many of the extrapolations and considerations in this article seem reasonable to a large part of the WH40K community and this article presents an excellent starting point for any discussion on 'How many Marines are there in a Chapter?'. - Ed. References 1Codex: Space Marines (3rd Ed.) Insignium Astartes2 Iron Snakes (Black Library Novel)3 Imperial Armour Volume 24 'Chaplains & Commissars' from the WH40K Compendium (Red)5 Codex: Space Marines (4th Ed.)

Its quite an interesting read and when you compare it to other chapters fluff e.g. Salamanders (who are meant to be a smaller chapter) and Black Templars (who are meant to be on par with the legions of old for fighting strength) it makes you think!!

Just how many Space Marines are there in the galaxy??? 

If you take it as gospal that there are approx 1000 chapters with approx 1000 marines each you get the golden number of 1000000 space marines.  The article puts forward the theory that the codex astartes poster boys are approx 1500 marines strong.  As they are the 'template' for most other chapters to follow, that would put the approx 1000 chapters at 1500 strong so the galaxy would have 1500000 Space Marines.

Now we know that not all chapters are organised like the standard 10 companies e.g. Space Wolves, Salamanders, Black Templars.  This means that the number of Space Marines in the Galaxy could well exceed 1500000.  There are chapters that are declared lost e.g. Fire Hawks, Raptors, Brazen Skulls.  These chapters could just be operating outside of Imperial contact or travelling through the warp which has a distorting effect on time e.g the Tiger Claws.  This means there could be closer to 2000000 Space Marines as any 'missing or lost' chapters would then be replaced with a new one - based on the Ultramarine chapter template which could have upto 1500 space marines.

Thats it, my brain is hurting from thinking, all comments welcome

6th edition rumours

Hi all,

Angryman here, I thought I'd share some rumours that have been going around for those of you who haven't seen them yet

All thanks to this post goes to 'The Bell of Lost Souls'

"Fat, massive, toadacious blocks of salt with these, guys. I mean huge. Moon sized. Like, if the moon was the size of the sun, then they would be moon sized blocks of salt that you should take, but they're more like sun-sized blocks of salt. I didn't believe them when I heard them second hand, but here they are.

As we get towards 6th edition, some things are rumored to be changing. White Dwarf is rumored to be going back to what they had before, with more battle reports and painting how-tos and less advertisements. Sisters of Battle is the poster child for the 'White Dwarf Codex' which may be getting more full-on Codices in the future depending on popularity. One such example would be for the Chaos Legions Codex, which would have a core, and then White Dwarf additions for other Legions as the months progress.

Oh by the way, Chaos Legions by March 1012 and 6th edition by October 2012, which will feature Eldar as the poster child. Heavy Xenos influence for 6th edition, including the long-awaited Tau update.

Here's a doozy. Fluff changes. (prepare for heavy summary) We're moving on from the 41st millenium into the 42nd. Yup. Here's the rumor: mankind's days are really waning. They're heading down the crapper fast and xenos, especially Necrons, are coming into quite the threat. Well, mankind just doesn't have the power, and now Necrons are threatening Chaos, and the Chaos forces are like 'well wtf guyz'. So, Chaos has to fight across the galaxy against the enemies that mankind were fighting against, perhaps even allying with loyalist forces against a common foe. This will be expanded on in the coming Codices, including Necron and Chaos Legions, which should set up for the big fluff change in 6th edition. Some of the rest sounded more like wish, opinion, and extrapolation; Void Dragon coming up, Primarchs coming back, Emperor's descendants being found by an unnamed portion of the Imperium in order to fight the Void Dragon, etc etc...

Now here are some other things that are founded in reality: Matt Ward? Gone. Don't expect him to be writing any more Codices. His baby was 5th edition, and now that 5th edition is up, Ward is done. Board Members for GW? 3 of the old geezers gone. Company-wide changes. Everything since Tyranids? Made for 6th edition.

Speaking of 6th edition again, the main rulebook that comes out is supposed to be 'the book to rule all books'. It'll have ways to include Superheavies and rules for Fliers in regular games, and should errata a lot of rules in Apocalypse, past FAQ's, and past Codices to make it all fit together. It'll have updated stuff for Planetstrike, Cities of Death, etc, perhaps even to make room for more expansions in the future.

Ugh. The person I heard this from is a good friend and reliable source, and the person *he* got this information from is an unnamed employee of a certain facet of our favorite gaming company that deals with items made out of a material that is notorious for melting if exposed to direct sunlight and heat. By the way, all those rule sets that Forgeworld has been making? They may suddenly find themselves approved for regular games.

I honestly feel tainted by a lot of this information. I'll be the first to say that so much of it is so unreal and so uncharacteristic for Games Workshop that it doesn't feel like it could happen at all. Moving the fluff forward? Having superheavies in a regular edition? Making Codex *supplements* exclusively through White Dwarf (and subsequently free a month later on their website like most White Dwarf stuff)? Knocking Space Marines down a notch?

But think about it. 5th edition has been the edition for the Imperium. Imperial Guard, Grey Knights, Space Wolves, Blood Angels, and of course Space Marines have all gotten Codices, and Black Templar and Dark Angels have been FAQ'd to match up. The only xenos forces we've seen have been Orks (which were technically still 4th edition), Tyranids, and Dark Eldar. And now Sisters of Battle are going to be covered. That leaves Tau, Orks (since they weren't really in 5th), Eldar, Chaos Marines, Necrons, and Chaos Daemons left to be covered. NONE of those are imperial forces, so it almost seems like they've been stacking the deck so that they can put a heavier focus on the xenos, which is a prime opportunity to advance the fluff. By advancing the fluff through xenos codices, they can then re-glorify the imperial forces by updating them further into 6th edition after they've figured all that stuff out.

Also, Chaos Marines have been a group of much attention. The Horus Heresy novels, Black Crusade RPG, and features as main villains in many a video game. They have a lot of new fluff that hasn't been explored before, and a lot of new material has been created that has kept them in the limelight, even if they haven't been on the gaming tables. They are Imperial Enemy No. 1. They are a very popular force. To have them suddenly take the spotlight in new fluff in a new edition only makes sense. A force as potent as the Chaos Legions, Legions of marines that number in the thousands, whose leader commands the last Black Fortress (one of the few great weapons against the C'Tan), is a force that can wreak proper havoc again, either in the form of a new Black Crusade, or in the form of a totally different type of war. Thus far, Chaos has seemed content to chill out in their warp homes within the Maelstrom and Eye of Terror, with the 13th Black Crusade being the last great push, and that was solely against the Imperium and anything else that happened to be in the way. There are many an enemy that Chaos can fight besides the waning Imperium, such as the Necron that they abhor for their desire to snuff out the sensation that Chaos enjoys.

There are a lot of other things that simply don't fit. We've already heard rumors about fliers, but the superheavies thing is a stretch. 'One book to rule them all' is a bit of a stretch, as that would cannibalize all of the books that have already been printed. Also, Forgeworld being brought into the fold doesn't make sense either. Though they've been pumping out a lot of new stuff, their business model is built as a boutique, and if they suddenly shift gears to mass-produce their stuff to satisfy the new net lists that come out, then that will completely undo their business model. On the other hand, Games Workshop has kicked metal straight out, so to get all their factories devoted to resin might end up increasing Forgeworld's production as well simply by volume of production.

Anyway, like I said. Salt, salt, salt. Not only am I hearing all of this second-hand, but it's difficult to weed out what's speculation on the speaker's part, and what he intended as rumor. I suppose we'll just see if he's right. The first hint would be Chaos Marines in March 2012 huh?"

What does everyone think? For me personally I like 5th edition, its a better flowing game than 4th edition, if GW can make things fairer for all codexes then all the better, the game becomes more about tactics rather than newer pointer toys, but I also think it is about time the fluff and timeline moved on, I want to hear about mankinds power waning, I want to hear about xeno threats, I just want more of everything fluff wise.  The bits mentioned about incorporating forgeworld and superheavies, if it is true is just a money making scheme, they design a ruleset that allows you to use bigger stuff and everyone will want one for their armies (but that is just my opinion, I'm sure the money grabbing bastards at GW have the customers at the heart of all their desicions............).

All comments welcome

How I've been spending my time

Hi all,

Angryman here, I've not posted anything for a while due to work, holidays etc, so  thought I'd share with you all what I've been upto hobby wise recently.

As I couldn't make any of the regular competitions I attend at this time of year I've been painting in order to fill my 40k tournament void.

I must apologize for the picture quality and the couch covers in the background (feel free to pass comment).

First off I decided to paint my Tyranid re-enforcements (as I'm using them on Monday night against Col. Straken).

A unit of Hive Guard

The Doom of Malan'tai and a Mysetic Spore

A Scythed Heirodule

The Doom and the Mysetic spore are non GW models.  I had made my own spore out of paper maiche and was collecting bits to convert a Doom but then I saw these models online, a few weeks later here is the end result.  The Heirodule is a forgeworld model that I got 2nd hand off a club mate.

After these had been painted I decided to paint my Baneblade, it won't win any golden daemon awards but it will do for club gaming.

I then made a start on my Salamander space marines, when I started collecting them I thought I'd treat myself so I bought forgeworld doors for my rhinos and land raider and shoulder pads for my terminators.   I've had these guys base coated for about a year and never got round to painting them properly so as the weather was crap and the riots were happening in Salford I decided to make a start

Each squad had a power fist, flamer, missile launcher and a rhino



Ironclad Dreadnought with melta gun, heavy flamer and drop pod



Dreadnought with multi melta, flamer and drop pod



Landspeeder with heavy flamer and multi melta



Landraider Redeemer with multi melta and terminators



Assault Terminators with thunder hammer and storm shields, these guys will form Vulcan's bodyguard



Predator with Autocannon, Heavy Bolters and Storm Bolter alongside a Whirlwind



The only thing missing from this army is Vulkan Hestan, as i get paid tomorrow he'll be top of my shopping list!!!



The army in all its painted glory (so far....)

Well that's it, I've been painting for a long time, my wife Isn't happy with me, I've not seen my kids for a few days as my face has been at the end of a brush but I think it was worth it, what do you think?

all comments welcome

Gaming Rustiness

Morning folks,

Thought I'd throw a quick one out here before the weekend sets in. Monday night, I had my first proper game back at the club, using a tweaked Dark Eldar list. It went ok, considering I'd not played using the Dark Eldar for a while (week before I played using Daemons), but as with any return to things, there's always going to be a bit of forgetfulness and "D'oh!" moments.

So here we go...

First up, I forgot to bring on my Beastmaster unit in Turn 1 while playing Dawn of War, so I then said I would leave them in reserve. This was an extremely stupid thing to do, as I had a Dreadnought outside my base in turn 1. Bringing them on would have denied the area he could drop down in and also reinforced my home objective.

Secondly, when the Beastmasters finally came on I brought them on the wrong side of the table. By about turn 2, as Angryman had committed his Land Raider, Terminators, Dread, Speeders etc. on one side of the table, I went to move all my Raiders, Venoms and units over to his objective - abandoning mine as he had no Scoring Units capable of claiming it. Anyways, I placed my Beastmasters down on the far right of the table thinking "I'll get them up as fast as I can to support the attack on his home objective".

That then left an un-harassed Dreadnought sat in the ruin that was my home objective, facing down 3 Wracks, who had no chance against the Dread. What I *SHOULD* have done, was bring the Beastmasters on (Turn 4) and then charge into the Dread, keeping him locked there, away from my base. I had 10 dogs, along with 3 Fiends, so with 4+ Invulns or whatever else, I maybe stood the chance of tying him up and forcing the Terminators to try and get there in time to stop the Wracks.

On the bright side, I remembered my Combat Drugs, remembered that I have Night Vision and even remembered that a Ravager has Armour 11 on the front and sides (although it didn't matter much, because it got Melta'd in the rear!).

And  I have to say, I had immense luck with some of my Flickerfield and cover saves. The Raiders and Venoms shrugged off a fair bit of fire, and it was only once they'd been stunned and bashed by Thunder Hammers that they actually got dragged down.

Ah well - such is the way with 40K. It was a top game either way, but I had way too many "Oh, you absolute pillock" moments for my liking.

Peace,
SB

Badger's Log - Deathwing HQs

Ello all,

Blogs are like buses, you wait ages for one and then two show up together. I've been mega busy at work over the last month (still am) but I thought I'd chip in with some info and pics of what I've been working on at home.

First up, I've been hanging fire on getting a Space Marine army for ages, despite how many people said I should. I've never really liked the background of the poster boys of the Imperium and they've never really had a chapter that I liked. I toyed with the idea of Space Wolves for a while, but then there's 3 people at MAWS who have Wolf armies and I don't fancy making it 4. Then I thought about how I can make an elite army on the cheap - Deathwing.

If I was going to do Marines, I'd do them properly. Always being vastly outnumbered, but the hardest guys I can get onto the battlefield. Luckily, a bloke from MAWS was selling a LOT of GW stuff, so I picked up some stuff on the cheap ready to go.

I've assembled everything I've currently got (pictures over the weekend maybe?) but I thought since Col.Straken talked about conversions yesterday, I'd show off my Deathwing HQs in an unpainted state.

Belial with Lightning Claws - Magnetised on the arms to swap weaponry out.

 

Belial with Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield

Belial with Storm Bolter and the Sword of Silence

Chaplain with Storm Bolter and Crozius Arcanum

Librarian with Force Weapon and Storm Bolter (Lots of Grey Knight bits used!!)

So yeah, they're all made from plastic assault terminators with various bits of I've bought or pestered to be given off other MAWS members.

Really excited to get painting these guys now though and get them used in games!


Peace,
SB

A look over the years

I thought that seeing as my Birthday is just a week away (no-one told me!) I would take a trip down memory lane and look at some of the models I have built and painted over the last six years.

My first army that I bought, built AND painted was my Eldar, before that was my Daemonhunters (but Suicide Badger painted them). With my Eldar I had an Idea for a Khainite (Khornate) Exodite army that had scavenged weapons and armour from battlefields. My list was weak as I didn't understand about having a mission for each unit properly, and having units which could fill multiple roles. Although I had a list which consisted of

The Avatar
12 Storm Guardians
12 Guardians
10 Pathfinders
6 Fire Dragons
10 Banshees
and a Fire Prism

with various other bits added on, I think I did well and tried to use ideas I had read and heard to adapt, but the problem was these ideas didn't fit my playstyle which I began to figure out as I got bored with my Eldar. Below is one of my "Conversion" attempts and one of the first models I painted, which was a Tau Devilfish turned Wave Serpent.


As you can see, it was just hacked at with a knife then painted black and red with a roughly painted Khorne symbol, not my best painting skills, but was a start.

I fumbled around with a couple of armies after 1-2 years of Eldar and decided I enjoyed Chaos, as the suited my playstyle of throw some men at the enemy and see what sticks. The problem was I had big ideas for my Chaos and I am still working on making them into a World Eater and Night Lord coalition with the beginnings on mutation showing on some models.

I finally decided to do a Raven Guard army as I loved the idea in the 4th Edition Space Marine Codex, the problem being they had a new book, but I thought I would give it a try anyway. My biggest conversion was this Land Speeder Storm (about a month before they announced the official model)

There was very little special about it, I kept the conversions simple, swapping the Marine bodies for Scouts and adding some antennae along with a cluster of Guard grenade launchers for the Cerebus launcher. This was also my first use of 'Ard coat and the Decals, I would have painted the better but I only spent two weeks on them so the white didn't work properly (a lesson for when I started basing my World Eaters, and painting my brighter Space Wolves and Grey Knights)

Next I turned to Space Wolves which I had put off when I heard about the new Codex, I gave it a quick read through and spotting they kept the Scouts outflanking behind the enemy and Long Fangs splitting their shots I lept onto buying 1500pts for a tournament which was a month away. I opted for a Logan terminator army with fire support from one unit of Long Fangs with Grey Hunters in Rhinos to rush for objectives or hang back.

This was my attempt at making Logan Grimnar as I HATE the metal model, I did some mild conversions to make his Axe look like it could be used as a Hammer, and giving him a "wrist" mounted stormbolter, which was just put on the back of a power fist. This was my first attempt at Fur, and was very pleased my Idea worked of using bestial brown with my newfound love of Washes. I also managed to paint him bright colours without them looking spodgy and washed out. I have now adapted my list to use less terminators and more men on foot led my Ragnar (which I also converted)

My biggest conversion was my attempt at a Tyrannofex, I used a Carnifex and ALOT of greenstuff. It is probably one of my best conversions to date and when painted will hopefully look like it is supposed to belong in a Tyranid army.

Keeping with the Tyranids I think one of my best painted conversions/dioramas is my Parasite of Mortex clawing the face off a Salamander (to encourage Angryman to get painting his Salamanders). My Tyranids were painted to look rotten and sickly seeing as I loved the Venomthrope model and rules along with them being started just after my stag do when I felt very very ill. I used brown and green washes which made the models stand out and gave them some definition where my painting skills couldn't. The Salamander was also fun for me to paint, especially the power axe which I spent two hours on to get the red looking like it was rippling lava.

My most recent painting was my six man Deathwatch Kill Team. These guys represent the pinnacle of my painting abilities to date and if you compare them (and the Tyranid) with my Eldar you can see that in six years I have improved if not largely. I managed to layer the whites/parchment to give it a bright colour rather that a spodgey greyish black. I also used a similar method on the Lightning Claws as with the Salamanders Axe giving it a flahsing effect.

So, The point of this post (other than to make myself feel better that I have improved) was to say how we have all changed and advanced in certain areas. I no longer JUST take what models I think look cool, though that does play a big part. I have figured out how I enjoy playing and what my basic tactics usually are. I enjoy hitting the opponent hard and fast using short range firepower to assist my combat troops, while keeping a few heavy weapons at the back to keep my flanks safe, I also try to take at least one unit that can deep strike or outflank.

I now know with conversions sometimes the subtlest changes are the best, a weapon or head swap and repositioning of a model can make it a thousand times better than chopping and changing every last drop.

I have also learnt alot about painting, layering is important, building up the colours helps to get the shade you want. Most importantly, washes make a half decent paint job ten times better.

So, how far have you all come in the time you have been in this hobby, my six years have seen alot of money spent, but some good friends earned and tips and pointers learnt.