All Quiet on the Western Front

Afternoon all, just a quick one today to apologise for the lack of activity over the last few weeks. I'm currently in the middle of moving and it's all gotten a bit manic and as a result I've not had much time to myself.

Rest assured though, normal service will resume within the next few weeks.

Until then though, wish me luck!

Gaming Focus - The Art of Objective Placement in 40K

Evening all, in today's post I'm going to look at objective placement. In 6th edition objectives are king, and where to place them on the board is paramount to your success at holding them and ultimately going on to win the game.

Now, I'm not saying that I'm going to give you the be-all and end-all guide to placing objectives, but hopefully this guide will help some of you think about how you place yours in your future games.

So, lets get cracking. Below is an example of a typically set up 6'x4' table in my FLGS. As you can see, there is a ruin in each corner quadrant and one in the centre (the grey bits) and then scatter/area terrain between (the green bits).

For this the purpose of this guide, we're going to go with the Dawn of War deployment set up, and on the diagram you can see the deployment zones and table centre line marked on it. But obviously the principles mentioned can be put to use in Hammer & Anvil and Vanguard Strike deployments also.

Example 1 - x2 Objectives 

In this first example, we'll deal with each player having one objective each to place. In this type of game, most players tend to gravitate towards placing their objective in a chunk of terrain in their own deployment zone and castling up as shown in the diagram below. 

Before I go any further, I should point out that the objectives on the diagram are the solid, coloured dots in the centre of the circles. The circles are the 12" zones around the objective where you can't place any other objectives. This "control zone" (as I like to call it) is actually a powerful tool that you must learn to harness to give you the upper hand in the game.

Right, back to the guide. As I said, when presented with a 2 objective game, most players tend to castle up in their deployment zone as above and it generally turns into a game won by the player who gets First Blood and/or Slay The Warlord. This is of course unless one player decides to grow a pair and launch an assault to clear out the unit claiming the opposite objective or contest it. Either way, it's not a very exciting game with an inevitable outcome. Yawn!

The other issue with castling up is the potential to give away an easy secondary in Line Breaker. Think about it, if you place your one and only primary objective in your deployment zone, and your opponent decides to go for it to either claim or contest, you're basically inviting them to get Line Breaker, feasibly handing them the win on a plate through minimal effort on their part.

To try to mitigate this, don't place your objective in your deployment zone. Try placing it in the midzone, just outside your deployment zone as shown below. This still gives you the choice to castle up nearby in cover and then go for the last turn claim but also negate the Line Breaker threat somewhat. I know what you're thinking, "I'd still go for Line Breaker, it's easy!", but be honest with yourself, when playing how often do you get tunnel vision for the primary objectives and the killy secondaries and forget about Line Breaker? Psychological tactics you see. If you get tunnel vision, what are the odds your oppo does too? 

Example 2 - x3 Objectives

Things get a little more interesting when you've got more than 1 objective each to deal with, and this is where things start to get tactical. That's what we're going to look at in this example.

Ideally, you obviously want to place first as then you are in complete control of where your oppo needs to go. This is where the "control zones" come in. These are actually used as cover denial believe it or not. I'll demonstrate below:

Player B wins the roll off for objective placement and places their first objective in the midzone. Note how the placement means that the control zone extends into the central ruin. This serves 2 purposes. Firstly, there is no way that Player A can now legally place their objective within the ruin, denying them the option of deploying scoring infiltrators straight into hard cover on an objective within the midzone. Secondly, the actual location of the objective marker in Player A's half is enticing. If he takes the bait, it forces him to place his unit in the open if he wishes to claim it, leaving it vulnerable to shooting attacks (get those big guns ready!) and easy to assault if necessary. However, fight the urge to claim this objective yourself early in the game as it leaves you open to the possibility of receiving an asskicking in the same vein as you were hoping to deliver, unless you have some hard as nails scoring unit you can stick on there such as wraithguard etc.

Next up, Player A gets to place his objective. Let's assume he wants to play it safe and keep a home objective to give him a bit of security. The table now looks like this:

Player B then gets to place the final objective. Now this is the kicker as the final location is really dependent on the type of army you have. If it's a fast army then the final location should be in your oppo's deployment zone to give you Line Breaker if you get there. If it's a slower army then it should be in the midzone to prevent your oppo getting Line Breaker. Lets assume Player B is an Eldar player (like me!) and has a load of jetbikes in his army. So he places his final objective like so:

This final placement again forces Player A to claim the objective while out in the open and exposed to attack. This kind of layout allows Player B to corral Player A's forces and effectively control the movement of Player A's army and hopefully pick it apart and leave Player B to move onto the objectives at his leisure.

For games with more objectives, just take the principles discussed and expand on them. Same process, just more markers. Also, with more objectives you can also give yourself a freebie in your home deployment zone, just remember to give your oppo more tempting options in the midzone so that your home objective is ignored.

Now, as I said before, this isn't the be-all and end-all guide but hopefully it's been of some use. Just remember, it's not an unbeatable system and Lady Luck will always do her best to screw over your best laid plans but don't forget, fortune favours the brave!

Any thoughts? Anything you'd do differently? Hit me up in the comments

Getting Started with 40K - 500pts of Fun!

Afternoon all, today I thought I'd take a look at putting together some basic lists for new players with the aim of allowing them to have short, hopefully fun games with small armies which will help to reinforce the main game rules, along with some of the quirky rules that come with specific forces. Now before we get going, I should also point out that these lists are designed to be as wallet friendly as possible to put together because, as we all know, this glorious hobby of ours isn't the cheapest! So, with that in mind, I've tried to make multiple units out of single boxes where possible to try and keep the start up costs down.

The Lists:

1) - CRAFTWORLD ELDAR

HQ: 

Spirit Seer

TROOPS: 

x3 Jetbikes

x3 Jetbikes

x5 Dire Avengers in a basic Wave Serpent w. Holofields

FAST:

x5 Warp Spiders

HEAVY:

x1 Support Platform armed with a Shadow Weaver

Army Total = 492pts

Eldar are an extremely elite army and are therefore quite expensive to get a sizable force going due to the small squad sizes you get in the boxes. However, as you can see from the above list, what you can do is put together quite an effective force at a relatively low points cost, especially with the new codex. This list gives the new player plenty to get to grips with, without overloading them with too many rules. 

Basic rules wise, they get a psyker, a tank (which is both fast and a skimmer), a deep striking jetpack unit, a jetbike unit with twin linked weaponry, turbo-boosting, Hammer of Wrath, jink saves and an artillery unit with a barrage weapon. Army specific rules wise, they get to play with battle focus, bladestorm, the serpent shield and holofields, eldar jetbike movement, the warp jump generator and the monofilament rule. The small model count and mixed unit types means multiple games can be played in a short amount of time enabling the new player to reinforce the basics and the Eldar specific rules.

2) - SPACE MARINES

HQ:

Mastery Level 2 Librarian

TROOPS:

x6 Tactical Marines armed with a plasmagun w. Veteran Sergeant upgrade armed with plasma pistol

x6 Tactical Marines armed with a plasmagun w. Veteran Sergeant upgrade armed with plasma pistol

x5 Scouts w. Veteran Sergeant

FAST:

x5 Assault Marines w. x2 flamers

Army Total = 498pts

Marines are another elite army, but being the poster boys of 40K, they arrive in slightly more wallet friendly squads (although the new plastic librarian's £18 price tag is taking the mick a bit if you ask me, but that's a whole other conversation). They're also a fairly forgiving army for a beginner due to their decent BS, T & 3+ save.

The above list is a nicely rounded list which I feel gives a measure of tactical freedom while also helping to nail down the basics again quite nicely. Main rules wise we have a psyker, scouts, jump infantry, Hammer of Wrath, Gets Hot!, Template weapons, rapid fire and high AP weapons. Army specific rules gives you psychic hoods, "And They Shall Know No Fear" and then Chapter Tactics. The plasma weaponry in the list will give players something to help deal with any light armour that might pop up in this size list, and MEQ opponents. The jump pack flamers will help deal with any lightly armoured horde infantry. This would be a nice list to play on a 4'x4' table packed with plenty of cover, such as a cityfight board.

3) - DARK ELDAR

HQ:

Archon w. Agoniser, Ghostplate Armour & Webway Portal

TROOPS:

x5 Wyches w. Hekatrix upgrade & Phantasm Grenades in a Venom w. Night Shield

x10 Kabalite Warriors w. Splinter Cannon

ELITES:

x4 Kabalite Trueborn w. Shard Carbines in a Venom w. Night Shield

Army Total = 493pts

Ah, the Dark Eldar, the literal definition of a glass hammer. These guys are a fairly advanced army to play, more so even then their Craftworld cousins I'd say. The reason for this is they aren't as forgiving as the other armies. They have no psykers to help buff/de-buff units and they are extremely fragile but dear lord they don't half pack a punch. They are excellent at shooting but thrive off combat. They have the tools to deal with most enemies including big gribblies such as Wraithknights and Trygons etc due to the abundance of poison weaponry they possess. However, if your attack fails YOU WILL BE PUNISHED. SEVERELY! Dark Eldar armour is either non-existent or made of papier mache, depending on what type of units you're fielding. Having said that though, they are great fun to play and the codex offers an extremely wide range of army builds to play with.

This list exposes new players to the following main rules: invulnerable saves, fast skimmers, open-topped vehicles,jink saves, poison weapons, assault weaponry, reserves & fleet. Army specific rules really only include Power from Pain and some of the specific wargear rules. The basic tactic for this list is to get up the board as quickly as possible in the venoms, deploy the webway gate and get the warriors deployed from the webway and shooting at anything and everything!

4) - TAU EMPIRE

HQ:

Cadre Fireblade w. x2 Shield Drones

TROOPS:

x7 Fire Warriors w. Shas'ui upgrade armed with Markerlight, Target Lock & x2 Shield Drones

x7 Fire Warriors

FAST:

x4 Pathfinders w. Shas'ui upgrade & Blacksun Filter

x4 Pathfinders w. Shas'ui upgrade & Blacksun Filter

HEAVY:

x2 Broadsides w. High-yield Missile Pods

Army Total = 499pts

The Tau are the epitome of All for One and One for All. Their units are designed to support one another and provide overlapping fire options. They're crap in combat, but with the amount of firepower they can lay down, you shouldn't be letting your opponent get into combat. The presence of markerlights and supporting fire means if your opponent does attempt a charge, they're unlikely to make it into combat without losing a few plastic dudesmen on the way in due to the increased BS for overwatch and the amount of rounds coming their way.

The above list allows players to get to grips with the following main rules: Jetpack infantry, ignores cover, invulnerable saves, mixed units, overwatch, split fire & rapid fire weapons. Army specific rules include markerlight effects & supporting fire. I think it's a fun little list with a low model count which should allow a few games to be played in short time frame. The only downside is the physical costs of the broadsides as they're 30 quid a pop from GW direct, but can be sourced cheaper from indies/online retailers.

So there we have it, my take on 4 starter lists for some of the more popular 40K armies (and to be honest, because they're the codices I have! :P). I know they aren't really competitive but that's really not the point. They're basic, solid backbones to base larger armies on, which will allow new players to get to grips with the main game mechanics while not breaking the bank. Of course, there are loads of other options that could be put into the lists, but that's for the newbies to decide as don't forget, a big part of the game is to devise your own lists and develop your own play style. Us vets can't do it all for them!

Any thoughts on the lists? Anything you'd change without getting too competitive and without give the new guys all the answers? Hit me up in the comments!

The Ebb & Flow of the Traffic

Afternoon all, just thought I'd post a quick update on how things are going with the blog.

It's been just over 2 weeks since I launched and I've been pleasantly surprised with the amount of visits I've had.

Since my first post I've managed just shy of 250 unique views, which (for a one-man band like myself with not a huge amount of content at the moment) is frankly amazing!

So firstly, to all of you who've taken the time out to have a look at what I'm up to a big thank you! The fact that you've actively clicked on a link to one of my posts is very appreciated and extremely encouraging, as to be honest if people weren't looking then I'd probably stop posting. Also, I'd like to take this opportunity to again shout out to Lee & the guys at Talk Wargaming, and to thank them for letting me join the TWG Blog Network as this has provided a lot of my visitors.

Secondly, I want to know what you guys, my readers (awesome, I actually have readers! ^_^ ), want to hear about. Are there any wargaming or hobby topics you want me to cover that don't seem to get much air time on the other blogs? Do you have something you want to post about but don't have a blog yourself on which to post it? If so, then either ping me a PM on Twitter (@geochimp) or Heresy (where I post as "Jams"), or email me through here to let me know what you're thinking. I'm more than happy to have guest posts if people want somewhere to lay down some thoughts or show off some mad hobby skillz.

So thanks again for the first 250 views and here's to the next 250 and beyond!

New Logo

Morning all, big news today.

I now have an official logo! Check it out at the top of the page. Cool eh? 

One of my buddies Cris (aka Varakir over at Heresy) knocked it up with his awesome photoshop/illustrator art-fu.

I think having a proper logo adds a bit of class to these random musings of mine :)

Opinions? Hit me up in the comments.

Path of the Artisan - Part IIa: I hate my brain!

Morning all, just a quick update on my plans for single 40k mini entries.

While helping out a fellow #warmonger on Twitter with regards to an alternative to use for a spiritseer, I came up with the brilliant idea of mixing a bonesinger with the current spiritseer model. Now this might be a tad on the difficult side as, for those of you who don't know, the bonesinger was a limited edition release with the 2006 Eldar codex and they now go for stupid money on eBay.

Luckily, I have 2 of them, one of which is missing some bits and will therefore be the perfect candidate for a conversion. This might give me the edge a bit as I don't think there'll be many bonesingers kicking about at Golden Daemon.

Oh, while I'm on the subject, when I was rummaging in my bitz box, I also found the limited edition Inquisitor Gideon Lorr so there's another option.

I hate my brain sometimes...

Path of the Artisan - Part II: The Saga Begins

Evening all, as I mentioned last time, I'm aiming to enter the 2014 Golden Daemon and this week I've started laying down my plans and deciding on what categories to go for.

The definite categories I'm going to enter are: -

• Warhammer 40,000 Single Miniature
• Warhammer 40,000 Monster
• Warhammer Single Miniature

Then the possible categories depending on time, money & motivation are: -

• Diorama
• Duel
• Warhammer Monster

quite the ambitious workload I think you'll agree!

Now, what will I actually be painting I hear you ask? Well, that's still up in the air a bit. The possibilities are:

40K Single Mini:

40K Monster:

Warhammer Single Mini:

(All of the above images are used without permission. Copyright Games Workshop PLC)

So those are the contenders for the main categories I'm looking to enter. I just need to tie down my final choices and decide on basing themes etc (which isn't my strong point unfortunately).

Over the next few days if I get time, I'm going to start sketching out my ideas for the diorama and duel categories so wish me luck.

That's it for now though, any preferences on which of the possibles I should go for? Hit me up in the comments.

The Talk Wargaming Blog Network

Evening all, just a quick post today to let you know I've joined the Talk Wargaming Blog Network. 

As you can see, on the right hand side of the page there is now a live feed of blog pages in the group covering a wide range of topics. Go on, have a look!

Also, don't forget to check out Talk Wargaming too, it's a live wargaming chat so if you ever get tired of posting things on forums and waiting an age for a response, this it the place to go.

Path of the Artisan - A Quest for Painting Glory in 2014

This past weekend hosted Games Day 2013 at the NIA in Birmingham, and with it, the annual Golden Daemon painting competition.

Now, the vast majority of attendees who are vocal on the forums seem to agree that "Games" Day is a bit of a misnomer nowadays unfortunately. However, Forge World rocked up to save the day with Primarchs & Legions & Tanks (Oh My! - sorry), and it was the Forge World guys who spurred me into action with plans and ideas for next year's Golden Daemon which, all being well and funds permitting, I plan to enter. So what, I hear you ask, inspired me? Well, it was this: -

This bad boy is a WIP from Warhammer Forge and I've got an idea for using it in a 40K diorama. How and what is for me to know for now, but if my plans come to fruition I'll be logging my progress on my entries(!) throughout the year with the aim of getting my hands on one of these,

and I hope you'll follow me through the process. I think I'm going to have a go at some of the single mini categories, but if I can scrounge the pennies together, a 40K diorama is definitely on the cards. It just depends on which one of my crazy ideas makes the cut and whether or not I can keep the motivation going to get it finished.

Strangely, I've already had some ideas for the Single Warhammer Miniature category. Now this is most unlike me as I'm not a huge fan of Fantasy, but, there are some gems out there in the range which warrant further investigation, particularly some of the Skaven & Lizardmen characters.

Anyways, for now I'm off to ponder the possibilities and start planning, but if any of you have had a bash at Golden Daemon in the past, I'd love to hear about your experiences and any advice you might have for me so hit me up in the comments.