Tuesday, October 26, 2010

[40K] A Newer Player's Questions: Random

It was 40K night last night, so I took the opportunity to watch, ask questions, try to learn, and of course; get more confused in the process. [This is a normal process for me. I'm actually getting a LOT closer to feeling confident about playing a game than I was a month ago.]

So onto the many random, unrelated questions I've gathered recently. I plan to start a series with a more focused set of questions next week. But today, you get random.

1- It has been suggested to me (repeatedly) that I might enjoy Blood Angels since I freely admit to "playing like a brick". I have resisted pretty heavily for a couple reasons.  These include: they don't have a lot of customizable options; They're a lot more mobile than I feel comfortable with (I like go-fast in theory; in practice I lose my mind); They are the new internet rage and seem to have a reputation for being very competitive (which I could not live up to) and lastly- for those of you that know me in real life: They're angels. We know how crazy I get about angels... I think I'd go positively mental trying to do justice to an Angel ARMY.

Can anyone convince me either way that I am wrong or missing a point on these guys?

2- Power of the Machine Spirit is in my Codex, but there's at least a little confusion on how it applies now. Can someone explain it as it works for my army now?

2a- Same goes for Drop Pods. Do I have the old rules or the new ones?

3- Command or Assault Squads apparently "NEED" a ride. I'm still a little fuzzy on why, but I'll believe you because it seems easier that way. If those guys are Terminators (because I tend to change my mind), they CAN'T take a transport. But they can Deep Strike? If that's accurate, is there a benefit or advantage of one over the other?

4- On transports: They look cool, but seem very squishy. The transport in question was a Land Raider. I'm wondering if they are worth my trouble. I heard something about not moving too much and still be able to shoot but failed to ask for more details...is it per turn, or overall that the restriction applies?

5-I have a real and legitimate reason for not being able to use rare earth magnets. Is there something else I can use for modding and modeling?


And, because 40K is more fun with pictures- a shot from last night that was pretty awesome. No real reason, just: it' looked fun.

The Chos in front, facing the LR actually ARE Chaos dudes. The Chaos guys facing the camera, coming OUT of the Raider, are completely modded to "count as" Space Wolves. Grimnar is about to have lunch.

11 comments:

  1. 1. They're vampires.

    4. If you don't move, you get to shoot everything. Just consider fire arcs, because a large landraider has a hard time pointing both it's side guns at a single target.

    5. Pinning. I've seen people fit 2 tiny pins into even arms/hands. I have a few pics already snapped and just waiting for time to expand on it, but there are small finger twisted hobby drills available, and wire from hardware stores.

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  2. 1) You can always pick up a BA successor. The Flesh Tearers, for example, aren't about angels at all. Their thing is a giant, bloody buzz saw. Then you've got the Blood Drinkers, Lamenters, and so on. As for gameplay, BA are very flexible and can play many different ways, almost all of them viable.

    2) For SM/SW/BA, it lets you fire 1 more weapon than normal. So if you go 6" you can fire 2, 12" you can fire 1. For DA/BT, it's the old "move straight ahead even if stunned". Should be covered in the Land Raider entry.

    2a) SM/SW/BA use new pods, DA/BT use old.

    3) They don't need one, but since their options lend them to getting up close with meltas/flamers/pointed implements they like getting close quickly. Transports (or jump packs/bikes) help tremendously.

    4) Transports are more durable now due to the forgiving damage table, but melta kills you dead. Best way to keep your rides alive is to take lots and use cover/smoke launchers. They're extremely useful and open up a lot of new avenues of attack due to their mobility, durability, and fun stuff like tank shock.

    5) Don't glue stuff down, pin things, or simply use blu-tac.

    Hope that helps.

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  3. Vampires? Crap. Definitely NOT. No way, not for me.

    Chumby: I'm operating without a big book- all learning is from the mini rules that came in Black Reach. (Working on fixing that issue, but I gotta paint a buncha Mexicans first)

    Thanks for your great explanations.

    Blue Tac. OH man am I dense. That's a good option.

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  4. 1. Unless you are concerned about tournament wins and perfectly optimized forces, play the army that appeals to you aesthetically. If you aren't fired up about your army visually and based on play style of the force, you will get bored and regret having spent the money on minis you don't like.

    2. Use the rules for PotMS and Drop Pods as in your codex. BT PotMS sucks compared to Space Marines, but our Drop Pods are better.

    3. They need a ride in the sense that if your opponent sees a decked out scary unit coming his way he will focus fire on it and wipe them out before they can do anything. The Rhino or LRC with Smoke Launchers will ensure that they have a good chance of getting to the action intact.

    As far as terminators deep striking, it depends on their kit. BT terminators with Assault Cannons and Tank Hunter are excellent deep strikers. If they are assault terminators you will want them in a Land Raider Crusader to ensure that they get the charges off.

    4. You can move up to 6" and fire 1 weapon. You can be stationary and fire all weaponry. Land Raider Crusaders aren't squishy at all. They only fear melta weapons. Everything else is an annoyance.

    5. That I don't know about.

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  5. Determining what army you want to play depends on several factors:

    1.)Do you want to play competitively or just have fun (although, you can do both…but that is a whole other topic).
    2.)What units do you like? By this I mean:
    a. Visually
    b. Conceptually
    3.)What style of army do you want to play? 40K offers a host of choices:
    a. Horde:
    i. Orks
    ii. Tyranids
    iii. Imperial Guard
    b. Mechanized
    i. Imperial Guard
    ii. Space Marines
    iii. Space Wolves
    iv. Blood Angels
    v. Eldar
    vi. Dark Eldar
    c. Fantasty in Space
    i. Space Wolves with Thunderwolves
    ii. Chaos Daemons.

    The list goes on and on. I play Angels Encarmine (Blood Angels) because I like to go fast (I think I was an Ork Speed Freak in a previous life), I like the concept of a jump pack assault army, I didn’t want to play Space Wolves (mainly because everyone else is), I like the background story, I like the idea of fielding a whole lot of tanks (even in fast attack slots), and I also really like the models.

    I would start with picking a couple of models that you like aesthetically and conceptually and then narrow your choices from there.

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  6. "Chumby: I'm operating without a big book- all learning is from the mini rules that came in Black Reach. (Working on fixing that issue, but I gotta paint a buncha Mexicans first"

    those books are actually the same, page for page. The black reach book is just missing a couple hundred pages of fluff, so you have all of the rules.

    all chumby was saying is that you need to follow the rules printed for things in your codex. So, if 2 codices have different rules or points costs, you need to use those found in your army's codex.

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  7. What Dethtron said. The mini-rulebook is the exact same, it just doesn't have fluff. Codex-specific rules like PotMS and Drop Pods are in their relevant book.

    BA have the vampire angle too, but there are successor chapters with different takes on it.
    Flesh Tearers: http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Flesh_Tearers
    Lamenters: http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Lamenters

    And you can always make up your own successor and fluff.

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  8. Magilla, Dethtron, Chumby & all-

    I'm sticking with BT.

    My friends are wackos and I think they want to SEE the BA army in person.

    At the moment, we only have one guy that plays them and he has really only played them a couple times. He does that, though- plays a list, figures out its weaknesses, takes it apart, plays it again in a different configurations, and then puts them away.

    I'll re-read (again) the rules on the sections I'm fuzzy with- and then watch it get resolved.

    Nikephoros: The "oh, crap here comes the CC squad, I better shoot" was explained to me a little better in person last night than what I got out of your previous comment- but I didn't quite connect the dots until your comment today. It now makes perfect sense.

    Thanks so much for all of your wise comments.

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  9. 1. As I frequently say, "Rules. Models. Fluff. Paint. Mix and match as desired." Just because you may use the BA rules doesn't mean you have to use any other aspect (witness those Chaos "Space Wolves") If you think you'd enjoy PLAYING them, do so, and come up with a look you'd like to do.

    2. As in the BT codex.

    3. The benefits of transports: A- can be faster, though with run and falling forward that's debatable. B - greatly improves the protection for the squad - if it's a very expensive unit, spending a little extra for a rhino is good - while inside can't be shot at, even if destroyed can potentially use as cover/los blocking, can los block/provide cover to guys walking behind it. While in transport unit can't be shot, directly assaulted, targeted with psychic powers, etc. C - LRs are expensive, but can be powerful on their own. Vulnerable to some things, but insanely resilient to everything else. D - get to tank shock, which is always fun.

    4 - Regular vehicle - stationary and shoot all. Move 6, shoot one weapon plus defensive weapons (S4 or less). Move 12, shoot nothing. The LR crusader is the prime candidate to "abuse" this. Move 6 - fire one weapon, the multimelta. Since defensive, can also fire the hurricane bolters. Then use POTMS to fire the TL assault cannon, rerolling the misses due to twin-linked.

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  10. 2. Black Templar PoMS works like this: you may fire one additional weapon than normal, as long as your vehicle did not move more than 6". This additional weapon is fired at BS 2 (which needs a 5+ to hit), and must fire at the same target as the other weapons on the vehicle.

    2a. BTs use the old Drop Pod rules. Everything is the same as the new rules, except they roll for reserve instead of being able to come on in the first turn.

    3. A Land Raider Crusader will help ensure that your Terminator Assault squads get much closer to your enemy, and thus get to fight in hand to hand. Normal Terminator squads (and Command squads) have ranged weapons, so they don't necessarily need a transport to be effective. They do benefit from a transport, but they can also deep strike onto the table as well.

    4. sonsoftaurus gives a good example of how to do this.

    5. Pins would probably be your best bet. You can drill a hole into both parts that you want to swap out (ie an arm and a torso). Glue a paper clip into the hole on one of these parts (ie the arm), and poke it into the hole of the other part without gluing it. Most models can be held together this way fairly well.

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  11. Avoid Blue Tac

    This stuff is oily and unless your minis are painted AND varnished, will create a horrible surface to paint on.

    There is white tac out there that isn't as oily, but it's also not as sticky.

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