I am not a fan of the alternate activation rule in EA. Or, more accurately, I dislike how the focus on number of activations totally skews army selection.
The fact is that I do like that EA has alternate activations rather than a monolithic one-side-moves-all IGO-UGO model. It involves both players all through the game, which has to be a plus.
But the (rules mechanics-driven) focus on a force's number of activations is, in my view the tail wagging to dog to death. No doubt if I were an Eldar proponent I would see it very differently!
The elapse of time is always a difficult concept in wargames. Any computation of turns with a length of N minutes tends to be way off the mark, as is "5 minutes of intense activity and 25 of standing around" to explain a 30 minute turn. It probably helps if you see time as more of a continuum, with the end of one turn sometimes overlapping the beginning of the next one. What it is not is an umpire standing with a stopwatch proclaiming that a unit has to stop doing what it's doing because its time is up. All formations are active all of the time, whether it's their "turn" or not. It's just that simultaneous movement is a pain in the arse to actually manage on a tabletop! So we have alternate activation in EA to reflect the fact that no formation is an island, and that it may have to react to an opponent's move rather than stick to a previous plan.
I therefore find it particularly difficult to rationalise how a player with many activations - let's call them the Agile army - can have half of his army zooming around free of any restraint after one with few activations - the Stolid one - has finished with his. In fact you've effectively reverted to IGO-UGO for part of the turn. So much for alternate activations!
I do get that the Agile army should have more opportunities to find flanks and exploit gaps that the Stolid army cannot easily counteract. But you already have the ability to Retain that allows more than one formation to combine to exploit an opportunity - to get crossfire bonus, to put in blocking forces and so on. I've no problem with any of that, and it is right that there is a risk in assuming that two different formations will combine seamlessly every time you try to Retain, and so failure is always an option. It's possible that, if you overextend in such an exploit, you might find that you've left yourself exposed to counterattack by the next enemy activation, and I'd argue that no move should be free of such risk. But that's largely what an army with excess activations achieves if it waits long enough: risk-free activations. (And given that such armies usually have high strategy ratings they can often pull back by winning the next Strategy Phase.)
It also means that a Stolid army is unreasonably penalised. Effectively, if you take a Steel Legion tank company, you should not even consider taking an armoured infantry platoon as an upgrade, because then you're quickly up to 900 points for that formation. So even though such a combined arms formation should be (and indeed is) powerful, that number of points really needs to be buying you three activations. Because that's the way the rules work. You'll get taken apart by your agile opponent because once you've moved, you're screwed by his ability to zoom around at the end of the turn.
It just seems wrong to me that an Agile army should get, say, 4 consecutive activations with little risk of activation failure and even less risk from enemy action.
I'm therefore thinking about the following as a House Rule:
The Action Phases alternate as normal until one side runs out of activations. The opposing force takes the next Action Test per the rules as written, but each Action Test thereafter suffers a cumulative -1 penalty on the Action Test per attempted activation. A roll of a natural 6 always passes such an Action Test.
So you get one activation without any penalty, and the second is effectively a Retain, but after that you're likely to start failing Action Tests pretty quickly with a -2, -3 and so on. These formations will still default to a Hold action of course, so they're not totally dead in the water, but what they can now achieve before the enemy starts to react is limited. Overall you've probably enough gas in the tank for one decent combined assault, but you can forget zooming around with impunity. Alternatively an agile army (with good Initiative) might be able to turn the tables by constantly Retaining (maybe with Farsight too) and completing their actions before a more stolid foe does, forcing them to take degraded Action Tests. Thus, in many respects, the more Agile army will still retain control over the tempo of the action. They just don't get the risk-free run of activations at the end of a turn.
Clearly this has the potential to penalise the way Eldar and other high activation armies play, so it's not without its problems. However what it might do is encourage an Eldar force to accomplish its critical attacks (with Retaining and Farsight) during the body of a turn, and leaving less critical actions towards the turn's end. There is a danger that "mass" armies (Ork and IG) might game this, taking only five or six units in a 3000 point army knowing that a significant part of any activation disadvantage is largely neutralised by the cumulative -1 Action Test penalty, but I think such an approach would be fairly risky: fail a couple of Action Tests and any plan you had for a third of your army just ran into the sand.
Rather than creating further complexity to prevent such "abuse" - and arguably such armies really should have fewer and larger formations without being at a rules-driven disadvantage - you might well find that an Eldar player simply chooses to field slightly larger formations (perhaps "only" 10 in 3000 pts).
Saturday 22 September 2018
Sunday 22 January 2017
Speed Freaks Trukks
I've been playing around with orky lists, and have looking harder at the Speed Freeks list.
I do like the zoomy detachments they have, and my eye was caught by the Warbands where the foot units are mounted in trukks. For 200 points you get one Nobz unit, three Boyz, four Trukks, plus any any four from Scorchas, Warbikes or Warbuggies. Also the Nobz and Boyz can fire while mounted in the trukks (albeit not very well but, hey). So that's 12 units that travel at 35cm for 200 points - not bad! You can also go Big for 375 points or 'Uge for 550.
I had a few of the Defeat in Detail Skinnerz flatbed trucks gathering dust so I thought I'd maybe make up a detachment just to get me started. Then I got to thinking how I'd represent the boyz as mounted rather than in contact with the trukks. I don't really want to balance stands precariously across the trukks - I would if I had to, but bleh. I could model boyz onto the beds, but how to show when they were dismounted? Then some inspiration crept stealthily across my forebrain, as it often does at 3 in the morning. On checking the models (later in the day) it seems that the beds on all of the truck models are 8mm wide and about 15mm deep (but also open to the rear), so I reckon I'll be able to go for something slightly larger than the minimum base size (which is 20mm x 5mm) and still fit 3 figures on it, with only a slight overhang over the back of the trukk. Result? Well I'll have to see if I can really get 3 models (the minimum number of infantry models per base) onto something about 20mm x 8mm. Only time will tell.
I may also drop in a small magnet into the trukk bed and boyz base - I wouldn't want the boyz falling off as they career over the landscape, now would I?
I do like the zoomy detachments they have, and my eye was caught by the Warbands where the foot units are mounted in trukks. For 200 points you get one Nobz unit, three Boyz, four Trukks, plus any any four from Scorchas, Warbikes or Warbuggies. Also the Nobz and Boyz can fire while mounted in the trukks (albeit not very well but, hey). So that's 12 units that travel at 35cm for 200 points - not bad! You can also go Big for 375 points or 'Uge for 550.
I had a few of the Defeat in Detail Skinnerz flatbed trucks gathering dust so I thought I'd maybe make up a detachment just to get me started. Then I got to thinking how I'd represent the boyz as mounted rather than in contact with the trukks. I don't really want to balance stands precariously across the trukks - I would if I had to, but bleh. I could model boyz onto the beds, but how to show when they were dismounted? Then some inspiration crept stealthily across my forebrain, as it often does at 3 in the morning. On checking the models (later in the day) it seems that the beds on all of the truck models are 8mm wide and about 15mm deep (but also open to the rear), so I reckon I'll be able to go for something slightly larger than the minimum base size (which is 20mm x 5mm) and still fit 3 figures on it, with only a slight overhang over the back of the trukk. Result? Well I'll have to see if I can really get 3 models (the minimum number of infantry models per base) onto something about 20mm x 8mm. Only time will tell.
I may also drop in a small magnet into the trukk bed and boyz base - I wouldn't want the boyz falling off as they career over the landscape, now would I?
Monday 28 November 2016
Alpha Legion plans
I'm intrigued by the Alpha Legion chaos space marines. Check 'em out on the
Lexicanum wiki if you're not familiar, but the Chaos Space Marines of the old XX Legion are "experts in infiltration, covert operations, and
manipulating events in their favor" and who promote revolution and revolt in the Imperium. Whether they are for or against the long-term interests of chaos is a moot point but, for now, they're happy to foment trouble.
So I fancy making an CSM war band as part of the Alpha Legion Uprising Chaos Army List, but there is also the Vraskian Traitors Chaos Army List, where they are listed as allies. These are both developmental lists under NetEA. I could squeeze them into a Black Legion CSM list too, which has the advantage of being a "final" list, but I'd have to give up on my cultists and mutants.
So let's see ...
The Alpha Legion warband is led by Lord Decius Jugurthala. He and his Ordo Omicron first planted the seeds of their plan several centuries ago. The plans of the Alpha Legion run very deep! Ever since then they have cultivated the beliefs of their cult, nurtured their operatives and grown their support base; brick by brick, soul by soul. There are only a couple of hundred Alpha Legion marines in the war band, but they continue to cause disproportionate problems for the Imperium. Operating from their carefully cloaked war barge Perfidiae, they control their web of operatives and stir troubles, pirate important cargos, encourage mutant uprising, and look forward to the day when they can turn whole systems towards Chaos. The Chaos Space Marines are looked on as demigods by many of their followers, who are by now convinced of the utter corruption and evil of the Ecclesiarchy and Administratum. The Emperor is still revered, with Chaos Undivided being seen as His creation whose message has been warped by the parasitic crows that run the Empire.
That will do for background; its enough to get me started anyway.
I have plenty of figures available for basing. I intend to mount the CSMs four to a base for CSM Retinue, three for CSM Terminators and two for CSM bikes, all on 30mm x 20mm bases. CSM Infiltrators and Havocs will be based three and four respectively to a 40mm x 15mm bases. That way I should be able to distinguish the different troops from a distance.
I have started basing beastmen (to represent mutants), seven to a 40mm x 20mm base, and three Big Mutants (minotaur models) to a base of the same size. I know those sound like big bases, but they comply with the basing rules and it will help them look more horde-like. For cultists I'll use Imperial Guard, with the occasional cultist or mutant thrown in, and these will represent PDF troops that have accepted the Truth of the message of the Ordo Omicron, and who are willing to die to free their Emperor from the shackles of the Imperium.
Something that I have only just learned from Wikipedia is that Omicron represents the value 70 in Greek numerals, so I might see if I can make up cultists companies with that many figures. I love happenstance!
So I fancy making an CSM war band as part of the Alpha Legion Uprising Chaos Army List, but there is also the Vraskian Traitors Chaos Army List, where they are listed as allies. These are both developmental lists under NetEA. I could squeeze them into a Black Legion CSM list too, which has the advantage of being a "final" list, but I'd have to give up on my cultists and mutants.
So let's see ...
The Alpha Legion warband is led by Lord Decius Jugurthala. He and his Ordo Omicron first planted the seeds of their plan several centuries ago. The plans of the Alpha Legion run very deep! Ever since then they have cultivated the beliefs of their cult, nurtured their operatives and grown their support base; brick by brick, soul by soul. There are only a couple of hundred Alpha Legion marines in the war band, but they continue to cause disproportionate problems for the Imperium. Operating from their carefully cloaked war barge Perfidiae, they control their web of operatives and stir troubles, pirate important cargos, encourage mutant uprising, and look forward to the day when they can turn whole systems towards Chaos. The Chaos Space Marines are looked on as demigods by many of their followers, who are by now convinced of the utter corruption and evil of the Ecclesiarchy and Administratum. The Emperor is still revered, with Chaos Undivided being seen as His creation whose message has been warped by the parasitic crows that run the Empire.
That will do for background; its enough to get me started anyway.
I have plenty of figures available for basing. I intend to mount the CSMs four to a base for CSM Retinue, three for CSM Terminators and two for CSM bikes, all on 30mm x 20mm bases. CSM Infiltrators and Havocs will be based three and four respectively to a 40mm x 15mm bases. That way I should be able to distinguish the different troops from a distance.
I have started basing beastmen (to represent mutants), seven to a 40mm x 20mm base, and three Big Mutants (minotaur models) to a base of the same size. I know those sound like big bases, but they comply with the basing rules and it will help them look more horde-like. For cultists I'll use Imperial Guard, with the occasional cultist or mutant thrown in, and these will represent PDF troops that have accepted the Truth of the message of the Ordo Omicron, and who are willing to die to free their Emperor from the shackles of the Imperium.
Something that I have only just learned from Wikipedia is that Omicron represents the value 70 in Greek numerals, so I might see if I can make up cultists companies with that many figures. I love happenstance!
Friday 25 November 2016
Building an army
What follows is a bit of a mental ramble regarding how I should go about rebuilding my Epic armies. I could just pick the figures and models I like, but that would likely end up as a rather unsatisfying heap of unconnected ideas. Some structure is needed!
Epic Armageddon / NetEpic / EpicUK - it goes under various guises now, but it lives on in the UK (which is closest to me geographically) under the Epic UK banner. There it is typically played as a tournament game between armies of 3000 points. It therefore makes sense to impose the much-needed structure on my army building by using their tournament army lists as a basis.
It is unlikely that I will get to play against and opponent any time soon, so my armies are unlikely to be killers on the tournament scene. However I will strive for some approximation to tournament forces. To that end I'll follow some of the advice here (obligatory external link warning) on the Tactical Command forum. Jaldon454 seems to have drawn up some pretty sensible ideas, so I'll take them onboard.
That said, I very much doubt that I will be a slave to them (not that I suspect Jaldon would, or should, care one jot). The notional split of any army between Grunts, Fast Attack and Support makes perfect sense, but I suspect some Imperial guard armies will be short on Fast Attack, just as some Ork armies will be short on Support. But that will just add colour to any force, and colour is what I am interested in. Sure, to win a tournament game I might have had to capture some objectives in the enemy half of the table, but if my Imperial Guard army is built to sit behind fortifications, opting to grind out an attritional slugfest with an Eldar enemy, then that's OK by me.
In fact it seems to me that the needs of a tournament scene have created a disconnect between what looks like a good army and what plays like a good tournament tool. Much of what I have read in the Tactical Command forum hammers home the need for a large number of "activations". This is a by-product of the rules, where you alternate actions with each player activating a command in turn. If Player B still has three commands left to move when Player A has exhausted his, then these can zip around freely without worrying too much about counter-moves from the enemy as their feet are now fixed in cement (until next turn anyway). There is therefore a significant short term advantage that can be gained by having a large number of small units on your side of the table. OK, that's the way the rules are written, but it's a nonsense and is too gamey for my purposes. So I'll need to prepare army lists, but I'll also expand the commands where I feel it looks better. I mean, would you call 10 Ork Nobz, 30 Ork Boyz and 10 Grotz a "warband"? Really??
EDIT: some more thoughts on the activation arms race on the D6 Addiction blog here.
Epic Armageddon / NetEpic / EpicUK - it goes under various guises now, but it lives on in the UK (which is closest to me geographically) under the Epic UK banner. There it is typically played as a tournament game between armies of 3000 points. It therefore makes sense to impose the much-needed structure on my army building by using their tournament army lists as a basis.
It is unlikely that I will get to play against and opponent any time soon, so my armies are unlikely to be killers on the tournament scene. However I will strive for some approximation to tournament forces. To that end I'll follow some of the advice here (obligatory external link warning) on the Tactical Command forum. Jaldon454 seems to have drawn up some pretty sensible ideas, so I'll take them onboard.
That said, I very much doubt that I will be a slave to them (not that I suspect Jaldon would, or should, care one jot). The notional split of any army between Grunts, Fast Attack and Support makes perfect sense, but I suspect some Imperial guard armies will be short on Fast Attack, just as some Ork armies will be short on Support. But that will just add colour to any force, and colour is what I am interested in. Sure, to win a tournament game I might have had to capture some objectives in the enemy half of the table, but if my Imperial Guard army is built to sit behind fortifications, opting to grind out an attritional slugfest with an Eldar enemy, then that's OK by me.
In fact it seems to me that the needs of a tournament scene have created a disconnect between what looks like a good army and what plays like a good tournament tool. Much of what I have read in the Tactical Command forum hammers home the need for a large number of "activations". This is a by-product of the rules, where you alternate actions with each player activating a command in turn. If Player B still has three commands left to move when Player A has exhausted his, then these can zip around freely without worrying too much about counter-moves from the enemy as their feet are now fixed in cement (until next turn anyway). There is therefore a significant short term advantage that can be gained by having a large number of small units on your side of the table. OK, that's the way the rules are written, but it's a nonsense and is too gamey for my purposes. So I'll need to prepare army lists, but I'll also expand the commands where I feel it looks better. I mean, would you call 10 Ork Nobz, 30 Ork Boyz and 10 Grotz a "warband"? Really??
EDIT: some more thoughts on the activation arms race on the D6 Addiction blog here.
Saturday 3 September 2016
Gorsnik ug Morgrim
Orks are something I seem to have collected in large amounts. And for some reason I am drawn to the Bad Moon clan - maybe because I'm an accountant by training - which I thought had a bit more depth of background than the more one-dimensional Goffs.
Anyway, somewhere in the mists of time Gorsnik ug Morgrim came to the fore. A Bad Moon ork warlord of great cunning (and even greater teef!) Gorsnik considers himself a cut above your average bone-headed ork. Sure, he likes a bit of rough-and-tumble as much as the next ork, and enjoys gnawing on bits of the carcass of his small-minded challengers, but he really does feel he is the reincarnation of Mork. (OK, that's not quite how he puts it, but that's the sense of it.)
Like any self-respecting Bad Moon, Gorsnik likes to show off his wealth. A lot of this is invested in wagons and guns of all sizes, but he also keeps some smaller clans sweet by providing them with plenty of enemies and teeth. He's also diligent about crushing any opposition from these war bands, lopping off the head of any ork who's getting ideas above his station.
Expect to read more about Waaagh! Gorsnik as time goes by.
Anyway, somewhere in the mists of time Gorsnik ug Morgrim came to the fore. A Bad Moon ork warlord of great cunning (and even greater teef!) Gorsnik considers himself a cut above your average bone-headed ork. Sure, he likes a bit of rough-and-tumble as much as the next ork, and enjoys gnawing on bits of the carcass of his small-minded challengers, but he really does feel he is the reincarnation of Mork. (OK, that's not quite how he puts it, but that's the sense of it.)
Like any self-respecting Bad Moon, Gorsnik likes to show off his wealth. A lot of this is invested in wagons and guns of all sizes, but he also keeps some smaller clans sweet by providing them with plenty of enemies and teeth. He's also diligent about crushing any opposition from these war bands, lopping off the head of any ork who's getting ideas above his station.
Expect to read more about Waaagh! Gorsnik as time goes by.
Aspides Basilikoi
And now I've posted a quick piece on "my" space marine chapter, the Emperor's Shields or "Aspides Basilikoi" as they call themselves.
Rather than a blog post, I've put it up as a more permanent "Page" (see bar above) which will be subject to periodic addition and amendment.
I plan to put up a post where I make a major addition to one of the pages.
Rather than a blog post, I've put it up as a more permanent "Page" (see bar above) which will be subject to periodic addition and amendment.
I plan to put up a post where I make a major addition to one of the pages.
Wednesday 3 August 2016
A Journey of Return
I have a confession to make. Games Workshop was my first love as a wargamer.
There, I've admitted it.
Sure, I played D&D and a collected a few ancient figures (Maurikian and Nikephorian Byzantines), but rather half-heartedly. White Dwarf first appeared when I was at university, and I collected (almost) all of the early issues, I even ended up with a subscription for a while. That pushed me on down the RPG route, but gradually they developed the Warhammer universe, and it was a pleasure to watch it grow (even if it was a little quirky at times).
But no matter how I tried I could never really get into their beaky Space Marines© (sic), or WH40K in 28mm in general. Family had come along for me by this time, and I lost a few years somewhere - years that included the release of Adeptus Titanicus - but in 1989 I spotted the release of Space Marine and I was absolutely hooked. So much little 6mm goodness! I then duly picked up Epic 40,000 (1997) and Epic Armageddon, but work and family (and disenchantment with the GW way, perhaps) diverted my attention from wargaming and I even missed the elimination of the Specialist Games brand in 2013. Sic transit gloria GW.
But somewhere in that time I collected mountains (well, small heaps) of Epic scale miniatures of all sorts. Lacking an opponent my collection was totally unfocussed, but Orks were quite prominent.
Recently I chanced on the NetEpic and Epic UK sites where Epic is kept alive, and may even be stronger than it ever was.
So I'm hooked again. I must now finish a 3,000 point Ork army. Probably more, as I have to somehow include the many gargants (including a scratch-built one, of which I am quite proud) which I should get onto these pages. Then there's the IG army that I kinda foisted on my son (not that he was really that interested, and still isn't), whose models are mouldering somewhere. Space Marines? I wrote up a whole backstory on the Aspides Basilikoi chapter (did I mention my flirtation with Byzantines?) which I need to resurrect or rewrite. And the Tau look really cool - a whole different set of tactics!
Anyway, this blog will get updated as time permits, but at least it gives me a place to record and solidify my thinking.
Enjoy!
There, I've admitted it.
Sure, I played D&D and a collected a few ancient figures (Maurikian and Nikephorian Byzantines), but rather half-heartedly. White Dwarf first appeared when I was at university, and I collected (almost) all of the early issues, I even ended up with a subscription for a while. That pushed me on down the RPG route, but gradually they developed the Warhammer universe, and it was a pleasure to watch it grow (even if it was a little quirky at times).
But no matter how I tried I could never really get into their beaky Space Marines© (sic), or WH40K in 28mm in general. Family had come along for me by this time, and I lost a few years somewhere - years that included the release of Adeptus Titanicus - but in 1989 I spotted the release of Space Marine and I was absolutely hooked. So much little 6mm goodness! I then duly picked up Epic 40,000 (1997) and Epic Armageddon, but work and family (and disenchantment with the GW way, perhaps) diverted my attention from wargaming and I even missed the elimination of the Specialist Games brand in 2013. Sic transit gloria GW.
But somewhere in that time I collected mountains (well, small heaps) of Epic scale miniatures of all sorts. Lacking an opponent my collection was totally unfocussed, but Orks were quite prominent.
Recently I chanced on the NetEpic and Epic UK sites where Epic is kept alive, and may even be stronger than it ever was.
So I'm hooked again. I must now finish a 3,000 point Ork army. Probably more, as I have to somehow include the many gargants (including a scratch-built one, of which I am quite proud) which I should get onto these pages. Then there's the IG army that I kinda foisted on my son (not that he was really that interested, and still isn't), whose models are mouldering somewhere. Space Marines? I wrote up a whole backstory on the Aspides Basilikoi chapter (did I mention my flirtation with Byzantines?) which I need to resurrect or rewrite. And the Tau look really cool - a whole different set of tactics!
Anyway, this blog will get updated as time permits, but at least it gives me a place to record and solidify my thinking.
Enjoy!
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