tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26205387243641473342024-03-18T23:11:47.547-04:00Blame It On The DiceGaming and Gaming Culture in the Indianapolis Area.CaulynDarrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14556761303500891267noreply@blogger.comBlogger184125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2620538724364147334.post-19242567532006560392014-03-14T16:29:00.001-04:002014-03-14T16:29:35.892-04:00Some local Indy guys are running a Kickstarter<iframe frameborder="0" height="360" scrolling="no" src="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1700755582/mercs-recon/widget/video.html" width="480"> </iframe><br />
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I'm in.CaulynDarrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14556761303500891267noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2620538724364147334.post-4286079715053111232014-03-11T15:05:00.000-04:002014-03-11T15:05:11.256-04:00This explains EVERYTHINGJust read a post on Dakka that explains the level of discourse about 40K.<br />
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40K is a beer and pretzels game for 12 year olds.<br />
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Get it! If someone makes about as much sense talking about 40K as a drunk 12 year old: it's because they are!CaulynDarrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14556761303500891267noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2620538724364147334.post-88571373854213870642013-12-02T10:01:00.002-05:002013-12-02T16:52:56.650-05:00X-Wing Buyers GuideI know a few people who are starting to get into X-Wing or have expressed some interest in it. So I figured I'd post about that instead of how December is the month 40K died. <br />
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The thing to know about X-Wing is that ship upgrades are distributed among the different sets. So, I'd recommend collecting both Rebels and Imperials if you want to get tournament level serious with the game. Fortunately, the game has fairly good balance right now, so for casual play you can do well with just about whatever. I would say the game is more about movement than list construction, and at the national tournaments people continue to do well with basic wave one ships and upgrades.<br />
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Still, if you're just getting into the game, you are probably wondering where to start. I'm going to run down all the expansions and give my opinion on what you need them for from the perspective of both Rebel and Imperial players.<br />
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<b>Starter Box: Required for both Rebels and Imperials.</b><br />
You can't skip this one. You get the asteroids and movement templates and a few other required game play materials. For the rebels you get Luke, Biggs, and R2-D2. Still very strong cards in the meta. The Imperials get some named TIE pilots. TIEs are the bread and butter of most Imperial lists; cheap and effective.<br />
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<b>X-Wing: Rebel-Buy 1-3; Imperial-Don't Buy</b><br />
The basic X-wing is a strong ship with a good mix of attack, defense, and utility. The stand-alone pack gives you different pilots than the ones that comes from with the starter. Namely, Wedge; arguably the best pilot in the game(Pilot skill 9 and targets roll one less defense die). <br />
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<b>TIE Fighter: Imperial-Buy at least 4(including the starter box TIEs); Rebel-Don't Buy </b><br />
Like the X-Wing, this one comes with different pilots than the starter. Also like the X-Wing it comes with one indispensable pilot. In this case, it's Howlrunner. She gives nearby Imperial ships a re-roll on an attack die. After movement, the next most important thing in the game is action economy. Granting re-rolls without having to spend an action to do it is an extremely powerful ability in this game.<br />
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<b>Y-Wing: Rebel-Buy 0-2; Imperial-Don't Buy</b><br />
The Y-Wing isn't a bad ship, but none of them can take an Elite Pilot Talent. This means they haven't benefited from newer releases as much as some other ships. Dutch gives out free focus locks; a very powerful ability. They can also take turret weapons, and the ion cannon turret is very effective. Another strike against them is the lackluster utility of Photo Torpedoes. They require too many actions to effectively use and cost 4 points each to boot. Rebels don't have the points to spend on such inefficient options. <br />
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<b>TIE Advanced: Imperial-Buy 0-1; Rebel-Buy 0-1</b><br />
It's essentially a TIE with shields and the option to take missiles. All of the pilot choices are just too expensive except for Vader, who is my second choice for best pilot in the game. It also comes with Swarm Tactics,and Squad Leader Elite Pilot Talents. These are universally good action efficiency cards, and a reason for even Rebel players to consider picking one up.<br />
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<b>A-Wing: Rebel Buy 1+; Imperial-Buy 1+ </b><br />
Maneuverable, but with weak offence and defense. It's not the greatest ship in the game, but it can use missiles and has the only non-unique rebel pilot card that can take a Elite Pilot Talent. Tycho is also another of the game's top pilots. The A-wing comes with and Elite Pilot Talent called "Pushing the Limits" that gives you an extra action for the cost of a stress. It's an essential card for an elite pilot based list. Plus that song from Scarface goes off in my head every time I use the ability in the game...so, bonus.<br />
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<b>TIE Interceptor: Imperial-Buy 1-2; Rebel-Buy 0-1</b><br />
An up-gunned and more maneuverable TIE with two really good pilot cards(Tur and Fel), but they are a little too expensive to use more than one or two. It comes with an EPT that improves the boost ability to include Hard-1s. It could be useful for some crazy Rebel lists.<br />
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<b>Millennium Falcon: Rebel-Buy 1; Imperial-Buy 1 </b><br />
It's 360 degree primary weapon make it one of the better Medium sized ships. The generics aren't any good, so you need to take the named pilots who are a little too expensive to use more than one in a list. This is also the only place to get the Shield and Engine Modification cards, so even Imperials need it.<br />
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<b>Slave-I: Imperial-Buy 1-3 Rebel-Buy 1</b><br />
It's an X-wing with more shields and hull. It's got a forward and backward firing arc, but it's hard to maneuver. The generics are really good, so you can build an effective 100 pt list that uses 3 of them. Rebels need it for the Gunner crew card, and the Stealth Device upgrade card. If you also play B-Wings, you'll want to poach its heavy blaster cannon.<br />
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<b>B-Wing: Rebel-Buy 0-2; Imperial-Buy 0-1 </b><br />
A aery expensive ship with a lot of hull and shields for its size. They do torpedoes better than Y-wings, and are very customizable with access to BFGs, Systems, and EPTs. Imperials may want the unique system and BFG card for their big ships.<br />
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<b>TIE Bomber: Imperial-Buy 0-2; Rebel-Don't buy</b><br />
A TIE that makes up for 1 less defense die with 3 extra hull. They do expendable ordnance really well, and the named characters are good. Nothing here for the rebels though.<br />
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<b>HWK-290: Rebel-Buy 1, Imperial-Buy 0-1</b><br />
Stat wise the ship is very forgettable, but it is almost an indispensable support ship for Rebel lists. It's also very modifiable, can equip a 360 degree turret, and is the only small ship that can take crew. Imperials could make good use of the Recon Specialist on their big ships. <br />
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<b>Lambda Shuttle: Imperial-Buy 1-2; Rebels-Buy 0-1</b><br />
The imperial's support ship. Good stats and base cost, but pitiful maneuver dial. Can be configured with upgrades to be really annoying. Rebels want its upgrades to do equally annoying things. <br />
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From the spoilers seen so far the Imperial Aces pack is going to be a must buy for both factions as well.CaulynDarrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14556761303500891267noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2620538724364147334.post-73008875926269571352013-11-07T10:41:00.000-05:002013-11-07T10:41:03.610-05:00I will not be making that Monty Python reference in reference to the new Inquisition CodexExcept in that meta-hipster way of acting to cool to actually mention it while hypocritically mentioning it. You know, to appear all clever.<br />
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Anyhow. I'm a little excited by the new Inquisition Codex. It's not a supplement or an update, and it came out of nowhere. Makes it ripe to be a blank canvas to project all of my hopes and dreams onto. I'm hoping for that magic piece of Inquisitorial wargear that poofs screamerstar or jetseer councils out of existence. In the crap-shoot that has been GW's codex quality this edition you never know what your are going to get.<br />
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At least it is a pretty generic bit of modeling opportunity. I can pull in all the third party models I want to make an Inquisitorial detachment. I get to have my cake and eat it too, for only the cost of an eCodex.<br />
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Plus the Eisenhorn books were awesome.CaulynDarrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14556761303500891267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2620538724364147334.post-87502971224595117572013-10-29T08:37:00.000-04:002013-10-29T08:37:10.059-04:00Some simple fixes to improve 6th Edition 40K6th edition has some issues, but I think they all stem from some simple core rules problems. Mainly flyers and wound allocation. I don't think their approach was all bad, they just failed in execution. They didn't anticipate the full effect these changes had across the system. <br />
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We all hoped flyers would be balanced out in the codexes. Everyone would get their own jet planes and AA units, and it would all work out in the end. So far this has been inconsistent. Most of the new flyers have been underwhelming. Plus, outside of Tau no one got decent AA options. As a result there's not much to challenge the trifecta of Nightsythes, Vendettas, and Helldrakes. Well except for Wave Serpents, but I'll get to that later.<br />
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<b>#1: Change snap shot rules to -2 BS instead of always BS 1. </b><br />
For a good chunk of the field, things stay the same but it has a few effects. You still have an advantage for the 4, 5, and 6 BS models you pay the points for. The small elite armies like Marines need an answer to Helldrakes. Letting some of their units act as supplemental AA that can hit on 5+ instead of 6+ would help in that regard. It also will forces flyers to stay away from elite ground units because their combined small arms fire gets scary. And what's more cinematic than your BS 6 warlord pulling a Patton on a flyer bearing down on him, hitting on 3+ with his plasma pistol?<br />
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<b>#2: Weapons that fire in overwatch can't fire in their next shooting phase</b>. <br />
This change goes in hand with the previous one. If we make snap shots better we have to compensate for their increased efficiency in defensive fire. Makes it consistent with interceptor fire in that all out of phase shooting forfeits your next shooting. We also clarify that shooting phase rules like Multi-trackers don't work in defensive fire.<br />
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<b>#3: Allow focus fire on armor saves like with cover saves</b><br />
Wound allocation is a major time sink and NPE in this edition. In concept it's cool, but it's exploitable. If I can fire on the guys outside of the woods instead of the ones inside the woods, why shouldn't I be able to shoot my lasguns at the cultists I can actually hurt instead of the Chaos Lord in impenetrable terminator armor. A slightly altered way to word it is to say that the wounds must be taken on models that have the majority armor value first. Though I think the first way is better from a pure rules simplicity standpoint. <br />
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<b>#4: Something has to be done about that Serpent shield</b><br />
It's ridiculous. Even as a life long Eldar player it shames me. I'm torn about the actual fix. I think the range is too long on it for starters. My gut says to strait up reduce the range to 18". A fairer option may be to just attenuate the number of shots as the range increases. So you get D3+3 at 12", D3+1 at 24", and D3 beyond that.<br />
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<b>#5: And that stupid Hellturkey...</b><br />
It's too versatile. Either it should loose torrent, or template weapons should be disallowed while a flyer is zooming. Make the thing enter hover-mode to use the baleflamer.<br />
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<b>#6: No joining MC's with IC's: Period.</b><br />
The Riptide loophole is ridiculous. Close it. <br />
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There's probably some other balance issues that should be addressed, but I don't want to get to nit-picky. I don't want perfection, just playable. Good enough is good enough. I can live with random charges and things like that. Randomness to a certain extent can be mitigated by play style and good list construction. The goal here was to get the major items that are standing in the way of this being a fun game. The really obvious missteps that a design team that was paying event the slightest attention would have FAQ'ed into oblivion months ago.CaulynDarrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14556761303500891267noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2620538724364147334.post-29619312640866154142013-10-25T14:05:00.000-04:002013-10-25T14:06:33.674-04:0040K: The only game I can not play for 3 weeks and still get burnt out and exhausted from.La Sigh. Is 7th edition out yet? GW bought out by Hasbro? CaulynDarrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14556761303500891267noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2620538724364147334.post-46387680550900661512013-10-24T08:01:00.000-04:002013-10-24T08:01:13.548-04:00Is this really Torrent of Fire's Business Model?I was trying to mine some data to make a statistical argument in favor of my army seeding idea. I was getting close to something like a 5-8% increase in the odds of a non Tau/Eldar Army winning a 4 round tournament. I was basing this on the approx 70% win rate of Taudar versus the 50% or less for armies that don't include either. <br />
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Torrent of Fire had a nice article about the numbers from Nova, but I wanted some for later events. This got me exploring the site a little more. I originally understood ToF to be online engine for running tournaments, but apparently it's also a knowledge base for winning tournaments. And they sell the data to players. For $9 a month you get access to tournament players statistics like win rates and armies they uses. Plus they have articles on how to win tournaments and such. They guarantee a 200% increase in your win rate.<br />
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This leaves me a little queasy. I know that not everyone is a fan of Stelek, but back at the begging of 5th edition he did a lot to jump start 40K's competitive community. Part of how he did that was by being open about how to build list and play to win tournaments. Disseminating all that knowledge that used to just be hoarded by the top players was really good for the game. <br />
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With Stelek checked out on 40k, fewer people are doing that anymore. I would have no sense of the top 40K meta if my regular opponent wasn't one of the top tournament players in the country. And now we have a site offering to sell that knowledge. That is what the blogging community is here to disseminate in the first place. <br />
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Anyway, I won't pay for someone else's analysis of 40K. I also think allowing players to pay for the competitive advantage of accessing other player's statistics is wrong. If that data was available to everyone, that's fine. Selling it; not cool.<br />
<br />CaulynDarrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14556761303500891267noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2620538724364147334.post-6915584541830595312013-10-23T09:46:00.000-04:002013-10-23T09:46:12.730-04:00Codex Power Level Seeding for TournamentsComp is BS. I think it's a terrible idea to punish people for using the armies and units they like. On the other hand, current 40K game balance is a hot mess. For the sake of fairness something has to be done about the dominant armies being played by dominant players so that the guy who really loves his Dark Eldar has an outside shot. The win rates of armies that include Eldar and Tau over ones that don't is pretty disheartening.<br />
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Seeding is a pretty good approach to providing decisive tournament results when you can't have the mathematically required number of rounds to pick a true winner. The problem with seeding is that 40K tournaments are so different in terms of terrain and scenarios or just the variance of 40K as a rules system. It's hard to get a very good sense of how good a players is outside of the extremes of the scale. The best players rise to the top, the worst fall to the bottom, but there are lots of good players that can fall in between due to pairing and luck. The solution so far has been to have two day tournaments where the first is essentially a seed for the second. That approach worked pretty well for 5th edition, but with the skill multiplier effect the power armies have this edition, we're seeing second day top brackets looking pretty homogeneous in terms of army selection. <br />
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My solution: mirror matches for first round. Pair the first rounds according to primary/ally choice. We get to cut half of the power army players out of contention right off the bat while still rewarding player skill. This cuts the skill multiplier effect of army selection out of the results for the first round. It incentives diversity in codex selection while not penalizing the band wagon jumpers out rite. You're going to lose to a better player with same army eventually in the tournament. Best that it happens earlier before you knock out decent players hamstrung by poor GW balancing. <br />
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<br />CaulynDarrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14556761303500891267noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2620538724364147334.post-1380493386694053042013-09-18T12:46:00.000-04:002013-09-18T12:46:59.196-04:00Iron Hands Venerable DreadsHaven't seen any anyone post about this. Land Raiders seems to be the mainstream first choice for abusing It Will Not Die, but I think Venerable Dreads may be the better option. <div>
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The core of the list would be two Master of the Forges, two basic Techmarines, and 4 or 5 venerable dreads. The venerable upgrade will make it difficult to one-shot the dreads. Then on your turn you have a 5+ and a 4+(3+ with harness) from a Techmarine to restore hull points. Throw in all those Bolster Defenses and maybe a Skyshield and those Dreads become pretty survivable.</div>
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Another bonus to using all those Techmarines and MotF is they can tank for Tactical squads with their 2+ armor saves.</div>
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Iron Hands Marines w Allied Ultramarines - 1850 </div>
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Master of the Forge w/Conversion beamer</div>
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Master of the Forge w/Conversion beamer</div>
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Tigurius</div>
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Techmarine</div>
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Techmarine</div>
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Dreadnought w/ 2x TL-Autocannons, Venerable </div>
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Dreadnought w/ 2x TL-Autocannons, Venerable </div>
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Dreadnought w/ Plasma Cannon, TL-Autocannons, Venerable </div>
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Dreadnought w/ Plasma Cannon, TL-Autocannons, Venerable </div>
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10x Tactical Squad w/ Flamer, Lascannon</div>
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10x Tactical Squad w/ Flamer, Lascannon</div>
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10x Ultramarines Tactical Squad w/ Flamer, Plasma Cannon, Verteran Sergeant</div>
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Thunderfire Cannon</div>
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Thunderfire Cannon</div>
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Skyshield Landing Platform</div>
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CaulynDarrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14556761303500891267noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2620538724364147334.post-74710391893730958032013-09-15T18:53:00.000-04:002013-09-15T18:53:46.077-04:00According to the Marine iBook codex, these are legalSome fun with the broken Force Requisition tool.<br />
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I'm going to assume undefinedptr is a special piece of wargear that gives the player the ability to crash their opponents codex and reduce all of their models to 0 for every stat.</div>
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<span id="goog_1435887757"></span><span id="goog_1435887758"></span><br /></div>
CaulynDarrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14556761303500891267noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2620538724364147334.post-70021518996819786302013-09-12T07:48:00.000-04:002013-09-12T07:51:34.248-04:00Fail Requisition; not a good collection manger; not a good army builder; not really sure what it isGW eventual sorted out their Apple book store upload issues and the version of the Space Marine codex with the Force Requisition feature is available...without the ability to add units from Elites or Fast Attack. Those aren't really important right? They swear we'll get them in a few days.<br />
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On the surface the interface isn't too bad. It could be the basis of a basic quick and easy army builder tool if it weren't missing some key features. It lacks a strait up list view of the units you've added. It also has no way to edit a unit once created other than to delete and recreate it. </div>
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They say it's a collection manager, but its structured pretty badly for that. Collections don't always match legal unit sizes and composition. How do you represent those 20 extra plasma guns you have from the bygone days of 4th edition? It doesn't have a way to specify what version of a model you are using, Is it a 2nd ed Tech Marine model, or a 3rd ed Tech Marine? These are all the features you'd want if you where managing your collection of Space Marines collected over a decade in the hobby. And who gives a hell about points in your collection? My closet isn't limited to only holding 4000 points of Space Marines.. </div>
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The UI is structured better to be an army builder, but with a few fatal issues in that regard. You can't set a target point size, your can't make more than one list, and you can add allies(not even allies from the same codex using another Marine Chapter). It's also annoying in that any new unit you create is not added to the point totals until after it is saved, and, as I mentioned above, immutable from that point forward. </div>
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Software is hard, and I pity the poor dev who had to develop this in whatever scripting support apple provides in their iBook framework. But this seems like something that should have never been advertised and released. It feels like some prototype a dev wrote as a proof of concept, and some manager decided to ship as a real product. </div>
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It's disappointing really. A fully integrated in codex army builder would be the killer app for digital rule books. </div>
CaulynDarrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14556761303500891267noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2620538724364147334.post-58592053724985645412013-09-10T14:25:00.002-04:002013-09-10T14:26:01.324-04:00iBooks Space Marine Codex pulled from iTunesFrom the digital division's Facebook Page:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Hey everyone,</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">The enhanced edition of Codex: Space Marines will be unavailable for a short time while we resolve the upload issue with the new Force Requisition feature. We are working with Apple to solve this as soon as possible.</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">We realise this might have caused some inconvenience for you, so to thank you for your patience, we’ve added bonus content to the codex - all the Space Marine Datashee</span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">ts from the Apocalypse rulebook and the Black Templars ones from Warzone Armageddon.<br /><br />If you’ve already bought the enhanced edition of the codex, then you’ll be able to update your copy automatically once the codex is back on sale.<br /><br />Thanks again for you patience while we work hard to get this fixed.<br />I’ll update you as soon as we have more news.<br /><br />- Eddie</span></blockquote>
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Yay, I get some free stuff I need another book to understand and use. For a version of the game I avoid like the plague.CaulynDarrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14556761303500891267noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2620538724364147334.post-57300113625270414252013-09-09T08:49:00.001-04:002013-09-09T08:49:50.340-04:00Space Marine Codex Review: Get your 3+ onI'm still a little pissed about the iCodex bait and switch on the army builder tool. There's apparently been a Facebook message from GW's digital division stating that "technical difficulties" with apple prevented the version with the new tool from being uploaded. They say it should be up some time this week. We'll see.<br />
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So Heldrakes still exist, and Marines got no Interceptor units. This is a serious problem, but otherwise the codex looks solid. <br />
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<b>Chapter Tactics</b><br />
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I like pretty much all the various Chapter Tactics. The Ultramarines version is a little bit of a let down compared to the rumors. It's more situation than the others, but its better than a kick in the teeth. I guess it's OK since Tigurius is stupidly awesome to make up for it. My favorite is probably Iron Hands for army wide 6+ FNP and It Will Not Die on all characters and vehicles. <br />
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I prefer the Chapter Tactics that don't force your hand at army creation (Ultras, Iron Hands, Imperial Fists), but you can make some nasty lists around the others too.<br />
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<b>Warlord Traits</b><br />
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Not the best, not the worst. <br />
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<b>Relics</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
There's a storm shield that gives you eternal warrior for 50 points. And some other decent but overly expensive stuff. <br />
<br />
<b>Wargeer</b><br />
<br />
Grav weapons are nasty, but skip-able on most units. On Tacticals it just doesn't gel with their range bands and the rest of their shooting. Do you really want to get a 10 man tactical squad within 18 inches of a T6 2+ nasty for only two shots? Take plasma instead. Bike mobility may make them worth it, especially since you can get two. The pistol seems to be a bit more universally usable but still expensive for a single shot.<br />
<br />
Relic blades are way over costed. You don't pay 25 points for a melee weapon unless it's AP2.<br />
<br />
<b>HQ's</b><br />
<br />
Tigurius wins at being a special character in the Marine Codex. He's got re-rolls out the wazoo, 3 powers, and only 165 points. None of the others seemed to have changed much in relative strength, but I may have been too blinded by Tigurius's awesomeness to notice.<br />
<br />
The generic chapter master is much improved. 20 more points, but +1 to attacks and wounds. His stat-line now matches Calgar's. I personally like Iron Hands Masters with Sheild Eternal, Artificer Armor, and a Thunder Hammer. 4 wounds, 2+ , 3++, 6+ FNP, It Will Not Die, and Eternal warrior for 230 points.<br />
<br />
The librarian came down in points, everything else had minor adjustments. Techmarines are one per HQ, and don't take up a force org slot. Still 50 points base for a 1 wound model. Space Marine Servitors are no longer the worst unit in the game. Honor Guard got cheaper, but not enough to make them worth it. <br />
<br />
<b>Troops</b><br />
<br />
Tacticals getting cheaper was a lie. While the base cost came down, Veteran Sergeants and weapon options are no longer free. So a 10 man unit with Veteran Sarge, flamer. and missile is actually 10 points more expensive. It is fair to say that building the unit is more flexible. <br />
<br />
Scouts are cheaper and can take Land Speeder Storms as dedicated transports. Stil BS3. Sniper scouts still have a place in some lists.<br />
<br />
<b>Elites</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Cost adjustments all around here. I still think Vanguards are still too costly. Legion of the Damned are a lot more interesting. Not that much more expensive than Sterngaurd for a 3++, and all their ranged attacks ignore cover. <br />
<br />
<b>Fast Attack</b><br />
I think Assault Marines came down in price enough to justify taking a unit. At least in Ultramarine lists where you can buff them for a turn. Bikes are nice too. GW really wants you to buy bikes this edition. They must have really high profit margins given that the molds are at least 15 years old.<br />
<br />
<b>Heavy</b><br />
Shooty Centurions are nice. The grav-cannon setup has range issues, but I think their justified in order to deal with Riptide and Wraith Knight spam. Their point cost and lack of invul make them not quite over the top. Their a good unit to run in an Iron Hands detachment since the sergeant gets It Will Not Die as part of the mix.<br />
<br />
I really like 65 point Whirlwinds. Especially when the tournament meta relies so much on hiding weak-sauce troops behind terrain in order to win games.<br />
<br />
I'll pass on the new AA tanks. Ground based AA needs interceptor. Using your own fliers for flyer defense is a better option when you don't have it. <br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Conclusions</b><br />
What to do about Heldrakes and cover ignoring Riptide Ion blasts is the trouble. I'm not seeing any good counters here and marines need em badly since the 3+ save is all they have going for them. It's just like the previous codexes where they give out a few shiny new toys to cover up that they didn't fix any of the basic structural problems with the army or the edition. Still the band-aids are enough to get them onto the table at least. And the grav weapons are enough of a hard counter to make players think twice about spamming Riptides and Waithknights. Unfortunately tying up hard counters in specific armies is not a good strategy for overall game balance.<br />
<br />
<br />CaulynDarrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14556761303500891267noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2620538724364147334.post-16456523674357403392013-09-07T09:12:00.000-04:002013-09-07T09:12:28.304-04:00Warning about the iBooks Marine codex!!As far as I can tell from the copy I downloaded it doesn't include the promised "Force Requisition" collection management/army builder tool. This is very annoying as that was the sole reason I bought the iBooks version over the ebook one.<div>
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I'll let you know if the situation changes.</div>
CaulynDarrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14556761303500891267noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2620538724364147334.post-90893183159805387042013-08-14T10:24:00.000-04:002013-08-14T10:24:22.961-04:00Warhammer Disk Wars...This is interesting<a href="http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=4295">Fantasy Flight just announced it.</a> It's a revival of the old Disk Wars game mechanic. <a href="http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/397/disk-wars">Effectively a miniatures game without miniatures.</a><br />
<br />
I've heard that one of the particulars of the Fantasy Flight/Games Workshop partnership is that FF couldn't directly create a GW licensed game that used standard miniatures. Which is understandable. I just don't know how GW thought it would be a good thing to approve this use of the license. Are they really that deluded to think that a game like his is not an almost direct competitor to their products because it has no miniatures? Maybe Fantasy is doing so bad that GW considers it a write off, and at least making some money off the IP is better than nothing.<br />
<br />
A cheap tactical war game that uses GW's IP and has solid mechanics? That's the holy-f'n'-grail. Can't wait for the 40K version myself. The only downside is the lack of actual miniatures. Hmm...Maybe something with magnets... <br />
<br />
CaulynDarrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14556761303500891267noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2620538724364147334.post-30958741414070325572013-08-09T07:42:00.000-04:002013-08-09T07:42:25.350-04:00Less Fugly MarinesI was right. The ranged combat ones do look better.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMCUyQF-P987MMDAtDEohZtATuK3FsDu2kD2ou4TS3IlIV4D6oxAeEGjScxCfDMxwWtu7OGpSzRQeIpHvswwyFTiX0ir1LuDz2pU79DdsI27hh000LpzXyhyKSBgBWeIGfaV6WwBFKzb4/s1600/LessFugly.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMCUyQF-P987MMDAtDEohZtATuK3FsDu2kD2ou4TS3IlIV4D6oxAeEGjScxCfDMxwWtu7OGpSzRQeIpHvswwyFTiX0ir1LuDz2pU79DdsI27hh000LpzXyhyKSBgBWeIGfaV6WwBFKzb4/s320/LessFugly.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
The oversized prop comedy drills on the close combat ones really screwed with the proportions on what's still a pretty badly proportioned model. At least with these the eye isn't drawn away from the center of the model so much. Makes them look more taller than wider. <br />
<br />
If they had stretched these guys out on the vertical axis 1/2 or a full inch, I think they would have been truly badass. Which has kind of been GW's design studio problem through out 6th edition. They're just that much effort away from awesome. Always falling just 10 yards short of a touchdown. You know, while continually raising ticket prices despite never winning any games or scoring any points. <br />
<br />
Though, man, I want to see rules for these guys. I wonder how much 3 with 2 Heavy Bolters and a Hurricane bolter each cost points wise. <br />
<br />
These, I would almost buy if they didn't cost $78.CaulynDarrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14556761303500891267noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2620538724364147334.post-16260054200363080442013-08-08T08:05:00.000-04:002013-08-08T08:24:49.354-04:00Fugly MarinesI read the rumors about the new super-terminators in the upcoming Marine codex this morning, and was thinking about what kind of model I could use as a reasonable proxy for them. If they turn out to be good. I have a bunch of these guys from AT-43 laying around:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_haJPAnbl7ffOsw3WylNdToFtIOc6a611BNBEAiJo0G5JSxtIYRxRHQ-i3TRzw9kdxDH1FDGnRjt8MfLYOZTsHnPv40RkdZGFjTEQtRPB9GLv9xV10rqmxmV668vUG9p5XKXZ_Fas58Y/s1600/RKATR21_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_haJPAnbl7ffOsw3WylNdToFtIOc6a611BNBEAiJo0G5JSxtIYRxRHQ-i3TRzw9kdxDH1FDGnRjt8MfLYOZTsHnPv40RkdZGFjTEQtRPB9GLv9xV10rqmxmV668vUG9p5XKXZ_Fas58Y/s1600/RKATR21_1.jpg" /></a></div>
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I thought maybe with a few bits swaps...nah. Too Orky for marines. This is the big kit for the new release we're talking about. On par with the Riptide and Wraith Knight. It's got to be awesome and dynamic, and way better than any conversion I could do. </div>
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Then I saw these:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5DohIusmli8EOSz-vmPL52vrrfU90J97153xZRCS8NMKigkQ_nvXCMbptj_xazs6khucpdPqgiEAzbw1qoR-4NhpkpnOlackfYLGODkkL7XrLnKNM71EMVP52E4T2VyncQghvufUtGI4/s1600/fugly.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5DohIusmli8EOSz-vmPL52vrrfU90J97153xZRCS8NMKigkQ_nvXCMbptj_xazs6khucpdPqgiEAzbw1qoR-4NhpkpnOlackfYLGODkkL7XrLnKNM71EMVP52E4T2VyncQghvufUtGI4/s320/fugly.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Yeaaaah. Maybe they just don't photograph well. Maybe the ranged combat ones look better. Maybe GW realized marines sell no matter what. </div>
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Edited to add...</div>
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I don't necessarily think this is a problem with the sculptors or design team themselves. More likely decrease dev time, physical production constraints, and top down directives(Must have big $$$ kits!) are making it hard to produce top of the line models. So instead of "hey, I have this cool idea for a kit," it's "Make me a kit that cost $75 retail, fits in a standard size box, and you have 2 months." That's my internal rationalization at least. </div>
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CaulynDarrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14556761303500891267noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2620538724364147334.post-58196120872054212382013-08-06T13:14:00.000-04:002013-08-06T13:14:23.982-04:00Don't buy from Warlord Games...EverWarlord's been releasing dice bags to go along with their Bolt Action game. The latest one has the unit insignia for the Afrika Corps. The one with the great big swastika on it. Yeah, I know, that was the the symbol the actual army used, and historical gamers like their accuracy. I personally think it's crass to prominently display a symbol historically and still today used as a symbol of violence and hate. Decals on your 15mm army, yeah fine whatever. Dice, well, your going with a theme I guess.<br />
<br />
At one point are you fetishizing it? I've played German armies in Flame of War. Usually Wehrmacht; the common soldiers. At first I did it because I thought they had the cool tech and rules where solid. It helped that due to their elite status I could build the army on the cheep. If I had the opportunity to do it again, I probably wouldn't build a German army. Having though about it, even just the common German solider fighting for the Nazi's is too problematic for me. Still, back then I sometimes wondered about people who play SS armies in FoW. Of all the units and all the armies in the whole of WWII, why that one? OK, you like Tiger tanks. Aren't there like 8 other lists that use them that are just regular army? <br />
<br />
Anyway, I wasn't going to make a stink until I saw this post from Warlord games on <a href="http://www.tabletopgamingnews.com/2013/08/05/76848/">TTGN</a>.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">
Afternoon gents,</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">
This was always going to be something of an emotive product but we would rather give our customers the options to buy the very items they have been asking us to produce than pretend these symbols didn’t ever exist.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">
Is the swastika a symbol of a tyrannical regime that visited death upon millions be they armed or otherwise? Most certainly. However, we didn’t receive the same reaction to the Soviet dice bag and I’m sure we all agree that the Soviet union had a similar record. Come to think of it the Romans weren’t angels yet plenty of Roman re-enactors, etc. The Waffen-SS were fanatical and responsible for an atrocity or two yet they prove extremely popular subjects for wargames armies. Where do you draw the line? In the end that is up to each one of us to decide.,</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">
Ultimately this comes down to you the customer and your own ideals. If you find the image less than savoury or distasteful then please don’t buy it. For many, this is merely a symbol of the army they choose to wargame with and nothing more. For those players, we have produced this dice bag. It is not intended as a political statement but as a receptacle for your 6-sided gaming dice that follows the theme of the army of toy soldiers you choose to play with.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">
As this is only available via our webstore it will be up to the individual to decide whether they wish to add this to their wargaming collection or not. It won’t sit on store shelves or be thrust upon the unwary at shows. Any questions of legality or morality falls firmly with the customer – we do not presume to tell anyone what they should or should not buy. We are aware that in Germany the Swastika is banned but, like our other dice bags, it will not be made available to retailers and therefore not pose a problem.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">
We fully appreciate that this will not be everyone’s cup of tea, just as political correctness isn’t pleasing for others. Please take this for what it is – a dice bag for playing games with model soldiers.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">
Cheers,</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">
Paul Sawyer<br /><a href="http://www.warlordgames.com/" rel="nofollow" style="color: #6b7340; text-decoration: none;">http://www.warlordgames.com</a></div>
</blockquote>
It's totally not a political statement to sell swag with swastikas on them apparently. I guess symbols magically loose all meaning at the 70 year mark. Or if you have a problem with it, you're just some PC liberal whiner. Ok, that's a bit of an exaggeration of his point. What's more troubling is the apologetic's behind allowing it. Because Rome and Communist Russian were bad, then it's OK to display Nazi symbols. If anything that's an argument that you shouldn't be slapping any of these symbols on things you're selling for a profit.<br />
<br />
You also shouldn't be able to hide behind "giving your customers what the want" when what they want is so freaking problematic. I'd rather go broke than cater to the Nazi fetish demographic. You can be a historical wargamer and even play WWII Germans without ever displaying a swastika. That little bit of historical inaccuracy is worth it to not even be accidentally associated with a genocidal fascist regime.<br />
<br />
It's products and apologetics like this that give closeted racist assholes cover to fly their racist freak flags in public. It's either that or they're ignorant of what that symbol means to people. Either way, not good. Why would you want to own something with that symbol? It's short-hand for hatred and genocide. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.ushmm.org/research/library/bibliography/?content=liberators">Play one of these divisions instead.</a>CaulynDarrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14556761303500891267noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2620538724364147334.post-49501605733113283192013-07-15T07:41:00.002-04:002013-07-15T07:41:41.813-04:00Go see Pacific Rim, go, NOW!Why aren't you seeing it yet? I told you to go. <br />
<br />
This movie is 3000 metric tons of kick ass. It's also way better than a movie about giant-robot-smash has to be. Plus Idris Elba. And directed by the Guillermo del Toro who also directed the Hellboy movies.<br />
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Go see! CaulynDarrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14556761303500891267noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2620538724364147334.post-79690941392786858692013-07-10T09:06:00.002-04:002013-07-10T10:00:58.233-04:00In case you haven't noticed, Wave Serpents are ridiculously good.Spaguatyrine is freaking out about them. That says a lot right there. Honestly, Krak missile and Lascannon spam is the way to go. They wreck all of Eldar's good stuff.<br />
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<div>
I tested out a 4 serpent list with a Karandras guardian blob. It worked pretty well, but it needed a little more Wave Serpent. I'm thinking of trying this out next:</div>
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Eldar 1850</div>
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Spirit Seer</div>
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5x Wraithgaurd w/ D-Scythes in a Wave Serpent w/ Scatter Laser and Shuriken Cannon </div>
5x Wraithgaurd in a Wave Serpent w/ Scatter Laser and Shuriken Cannon<br />
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5x Fire Dragons in a Wave Serpent w/ Scatter Laser and Shuriken Cannon </div>
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5x Dire Avengers in a Wave Serpent w/ Scatter Laser and Shuriken Cannon </div>
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5x Dire Avengers in a Wave Serpent w/ Scatter Laser and Shuriken Cannon </div>
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5x Dire Avengers in a Wave Serpent w/ Scatter Laser and Shuriken Cannon </div>
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Fire Pirsm w/ Shuriken Cannon</div>
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Fire Pirsm w/ Shuriken Cannon</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
Just need to get some Wraith Guard. I'll probably try it with proxies first. Oddly enough, it's not that much different from what I was playing in 5th. Wave Serpents and Fire Prisms FTW. I think you could run a list with 9 serpents at 1850. But you're taking Banshee squads to get the extra Serpents at that point. Kind of sad really. </div>
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I've also been thinking about an Eldar/Tau hybrid:</div>
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XV-8 Commander w/ 2x Plasma Rifles, Puretide Chip, Iridium Armor</div>
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Riptide w/ Smart Missiles, Ion Accelerator, Early Warning Override</div>
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Riptide w/ Smart Missiles, Ion Accelerator, Early Warning Override</div>
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12x Firewarriors</div>
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10x Kroot w/ 1x Hound</div>
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10x Kroot w/ 1x Hound</div>
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Avatar w/ Fast Shot</div>
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5x Fire Dragons in a Wave Serpent w/ Scatter Laser and Shuriken Cannon </div>
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5x Dire Avengers in a Wave Serpent w/ Scatter Laser and Shuriken Cannon </div>
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5x Dire Avengers in a Wave Serpent w/ Scatter Laser and Shuriken Cannon</div>
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Wraith Knight</div>
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Normally I'm not a fan of the Wraith Knight, and I think the new Avatar is also problematic. I'm hoping this list has enough big nasties that an opponent won't be able to handle all of them.</div>
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CaulynDarrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14556761303500891267noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2620538724364147334.post-38570388086583816592013-06-28T09:42:00.001-04:002013-06-28T09:42:18.821-04:00WTF Dust?So Battlefront was supposed to take over marketing and distribution for Dust starting this month, but nothing has happened. Not even a "Hey something big's coming!". All we got was the press release a few months back, and then nothing. I'm sure Fantasy Flights selling off their existing stock still, but when that's gone what happens? <br />
<br />
Oh well. Guys at the south side Games Preserver are throwing a Dust Warfare tournament on July 20th at 10:00 AM. I'll try to make it, but I'm not sure what the point level for the tournament is.CaulynDarrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14556761303500891267noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2620538724364147334.post-21246534337034222542013-06-26T08:01:00.000-04:002013-06-26T08:01:34.732-04:00Space Elf HoverboardsStill playing around with Blender to make me some Space Elf hover boards to print in 3D. I've been making some progress, but I'm still learning the tool. This is what I've got so far...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdodlKCp3BwBPubMixRs4C0i4NIt3_0p8rTvP9IREwwUfK7pEyxG-8cheNLNooP9jgoxdZSHCjdMmid6tKirDX6M5Du0pKf-JomT_ZoJi65mlHQCAwwN4ggoBZ0ZD75ELN0mKTg4awMyo/s1600/HoverBoard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="237" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdodlKCp3BwBPubMixRs4C0i4NIt3_0p8rTvP9IREwwUfK7pEyxG-8cheNLNooP9jgoxdZSHCjdMmid6tKirDX6M5Du0pKf-JomT_ZoJi65mlHQCAwwN4ggoBZ0ZD75ELN0mKTg4awMyo/s320/HoverBoard.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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It's two linked together to save on the printing costs. It's still a little rough. The underside is pretty devoid of detail. I don't want to add to much more because it will up the volume and the price. Right now these two together will cost roughly $7.50 to print. Throwing in a box of guardians to make the riders, a squad of 6 would cost about $60. Still a bit more than I'd like, but it does save $20 bucks off of buying 6 Jet bikes directly from GW. </div>
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It may be cheaper to print off a single set, and then cast more with a basic resin casting kit from the hobby store. The lack of underside detail may be beneficial in that case since I could get away with using a one sided mold. </div>
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Though getting the Guardians to make the riders are still the bulk of the cost. </div>
CaulynDarrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14556761303500891267noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2620538724364147334.post-32157266741387130132013-06-25T09:13:00.001-04:002013-06-25T09:13:39.494-04:00Wow - You did something good GW? Keep doing it. Less of the other stuff please.<a href="http://www.blacklibrary.com/games-workshop-digital-editions">So GW is releasing some digital content for devices other than the iPad</a>. When I first heard about it, it was only some 15 page fluff supplements for 5 bucks each. Not very useful. But now they added the Eldar Codex to the list. For only $32.99. That's like what a codex should cost in a sane world. I'm floored. An actual reasonable business choice that benefits their consumers. Does this mean there's a new power behind the throne at GW?<br />
<br />
This format apparently doesn't have the bells and whistles of the iBooks version. Still, way worth it for the reduced cost. Kind of sucks that they didn't release it until three weeks after the codex proper hit the shelves and most of us probably either already bought the print or previous digital edition. I hope that this doesn't lead to poor sales for this version and hurt the prospects of future releases like this.<br />
<br />
Of course, I rather like the iBooks versions. While it's unfortunate that they are the same price as the physical book, the cross-referencing, automatic FAQ updates, and quick navigation make them very useful. Especially in this edition where I've found that I need to double check some of more tedious special rules and tables frequently. <br />
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<br />CaulynDarrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14556761303500891267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2620538724364147334.post-28717831159645314152013-06-19T21:59:00.000-04:002013-06-19T21:59:08.901-04:00Man of AwsomeJust want to let everyone know to ignore the reviews on Man of Steel. I'm usually pretty trusting of the rottentomatoes score, but this is the bizarre exception to the rule. I think it took a 15-20% percent hit because too many critics are overly invested in the old Reeves/Donner films.<div>
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MoS isn't a perfect movie. It's got a few clunky issues, but overall it's a decent movie. It has less problems than the latest Trek movie, and it easily beats out the non Robert Downey Jr. equipped Marvel films. It's got none of the ironic snark of the Marvel films. It's a much more serious move. All the actors involved turned in great performances. Crowe and Costner where awesome, and Shannon's Zod was one hell of a villain.</div>
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It's also the first time in live action where superman is actually super. The action matches what he can do in animation and the comics. A frakin' deisel locomotive gets thrown at someone's head!</div>
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Worth watching, </div>
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CaulynDarrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14556761303500891267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2620538724364147334.post-9180308398434414682013-06-14T09:24:00.000-04:002013-06-14T09:24:10.863-04:00Anyone Not Going to Tippcon?Just wondering if anyone was going to be around Indy this weekend for 40K at G2D4.CaulynDarrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14556761303500891267noreply@blogger.com2