Galaxy in Flames news and updates

More Soul Reapers reserves have arrived.

Drop pod from Kiyle in Georgia.
Rhino, 2 Chaos Bikes, and a Chaos Marine squad from Jason in South Carolina, I think this is Papa JJ.

Thanks again guys!

B.smoove and I are working hard on the November Killzone update. It'll contain lots of little updates and clarifications.

The Soul Reapers Mini-dex update is also plugging along at a good clip. This week I will be posting the final replacement unit entry for the project; the Cataphract Terminators.

The podcast tour continues; Last week I was on Episode 40 of the 11th company and this week I am on episode 19 of the Gamers Lounge. Both interviews give a short update on Killzone and the Soul Reapers Revival.

Soul Reapers Vulture Assault Squad: mini-dex Raptor replacement

Hunting Vulture for the new army.

Here is my take on Chaos Raptors; I have thought long and hard about ways of making assault marines a better choice in general.

Done in the same spirit as what I did with the Praetorian unit entry, I have done the same thing with the Vultures creating a unique unit entry.

In my opinion all jump pack equipped units should come with the Hit and Run USR standard. These units are not meant for protracted combats, they should be making lightning strikes hitting hard, then move along to their next target.

For added character I created the Hunting Vulture rule allowing these assault troops an extra dimension to their tabletop use.

Vulture Assault Squad………………125 Points

Stat line is the same as the Raptor entry in the Codex Chaos Space Marine.

Composition:
• 4 Vultures
• 1 Centurion

Unit Type:
• Jump Infantry

Wargear:
• Power Armor
• Jump Pack
• Bolt Pistol
• Close Combat Weapon
• Frag and Krak grenades

Special Rules:
• Fear is for the Weak
• Hit and Run

Options:
May include up to five additional Vultures: +22 points per model.

One model may take an Icon:
Personal Icon………………….5pts
Icon of Perpetual War……….15pts

Up to 2 models may take one of the following:
flamer………………………….5pts
melta gun…………………….10pts

Up to 2 models may replace their close combat weapon with one of the following:
power weapon…………………15pts
power fist………………………25pts

One model may replace their bolt pistol and close combat weapon with the following:
lightning claws…………………25pts

Any model may replace his bolt pistol with the following:
plasma pistol...………………….10pts

The Centurion may replace his bolt pistol with the following:
hand flamer………………………6pts
plasma pistol……………………10pts

The Centurion may replace his bolt pistol and close combat weapon with the following:
pair of lightning claws………….25pts

The Centurion may replace his close combat weapon with one of the following:
power weapon…………………15pts
power fist……………………….25pts

The entire Squad may take melta bombs for 30pts

Upgrade to Hunting Vultures for 20 points.

Hunting Vultures: Some Vulture squads are used to rapidly redeploy across the battlefield. They do this by attaching glide wings to their jump packs, some are even gifted by Chaos with living wings; either way these wings serve the same purpose for Hunting Raptors. Getting them where they need to be, hitting the enemy where they are weakest.

Once per game a squad of Hunting Vultures may be moved anywhere on the battlefield. When making this redeployment move the squad follows the rules for deepstriking found in the 40k rulebook.

Soul Reapers Praetorian Squad: mini-dex Chosen sqd replacement entry

I decided since I am reevaluating the mini-dex entries, I might as well take another look at the units that are used out of the Chaos Space Marine codex.

I then compared the Chosen entry to the other Space Marine elite squads. Units like Sternguard Vets, Vanguard Vets, Sang Guard and Wolf Guard. I really think comparatively speaking the Chosen are total chumps. All they really get is the option to take 5 specialized weapons and Infiltrate. Whoopadidoo! Not really impressive compared to the flair of the other Marine elite.

So after looking at the current 5th ed Marine elite squads, this is what I came up with as a first draft. It is a melding of many of the cool concepts from the other books, with little Reaper spin added. I wanted them to be a completely mutable elite unit, with options to fill a shooting or assault role.

Soul Reapers Praetorian Squad.....105pts

Stats are the same as the current Chosen with +1 attack added.

Composition:
• 4 Soul Reaper Praetorians
• 1 Centurion

Unit Type:
• Infantry

Wargear:
• Power Armor
• Bolter
• Bolt Pistol
• Close Combat Weapon
• Frag and Krak grenades

Special Rules:
• Fear is for the Weak
• No Matter the Odds
• Veterans of Ten Millennia of War

Dedicated Transport:
• May select a Chaos Rhino, Testudo Rhino or Chaos Drop Pod if using the Planetary Assault special rule. In addition one Praetorian squad in the army may take a Land Raider as a dedicated transport.

Options:
May include up to five additional Soul Reaper Praetorians: +19 points per model.

One model may take an Icon:
Personal Icon………………….5pts
Icon of Perpetual War……….15pts

Up to 3 models may replace their bolter with one of the following:
flamer………………………….5pts
melta gun…………………….10pts
plasma gun………………….15pts

Up to 3 models may replace their close combat weapon with one of the following:
power weapon…………………10pts
power Fist………………………20pts

Any model may replace his bolter and/or Bolt Pistol with one of the following:
twin-linked bolter………………...5pts
combi-weapon………………….10pts
plasma pistol...………………….10pts

The Centurion may replace his bolter and/or bolt pistol with the following:
twin linked bolter………………..5pts
combi-weapon………………….10pts
hand flamer………………………6pts
plasma pistol……………………10pts

The Centurion may replace his close combat weapon with one of the following:
power weapon…………………10pts
chaos rune weapon…………...15pts
power fist……………………….20pts

The entire Squad may take melta bombs for 30pts

The squad may take jump packs for 10pts per model.

Veterans of Ten Millennia of War

The Praetorian squad must take one skill from the following:
Scouts…………………………5pts
Preferred Enemy……………10pts
Hit and Run…..………………15pts
Furious Charge………………20pts


No Matter the Odds: Praetorians automatically pass all tests to regroup. Usually squads that regroup cannot move and count as moving, but these restrictions do not apply to units with this rule. If a sweeping advance catches any Praetorian unit they are not destroyed and will continue to fight as normal. If this happens the unit is subject to the No Retreat rule.


Veterans of Ten Millennia of War: The Praetorians have been waging war since the Great Crusade; they have become living avatars of War. Praetorian squads must chose a veteran skill from the selections listed in their unit entry.

Games Workshop shares the background for the New Dark Eldar Codex Part 2

As a real nutter for the 40k background, I must build a Dark Eldar army!

These guys are just wicked Kool!

Soul Reapers mini-dex update coming soon

I'd like to start off by saying a big thank you to the Disciples of Fire (my followers) for all the support for this project over the eighteen months.

Since I lost my army last week I have been taking a fresh look at the Soul Reapers Mini-dex. I have played a few games against some really competitive players and lists recently, and have found the Soul Reapers a little underpowered. Not devastatingly so, but underpowered none the less. They are really struggling against the Space Wolves and Blood Angels.

Magilla pointed out that since they are a fragment of the World Eaters they should be more Killy. I agree, but not in a frothing madman way. I am thinking a balance between the Space Wolves and Blood Angels is where I want them to fall.

So although I had decided that the last update was the final one before the finished product, I have changed my mind.

I have used this opportunity to tweak things just a little.

Soul Reapers mini-dex tweaks

Here are initial changes to the min-dex.



1) Fear is for the Weak now reads: Soul Reapers are subject to the Stubborn USR found on page 76 of the MRB. Additionally they may also attempt to regroup even if the squad has been reduced less than half strength through casualties. (The FiftW rule while nifty in its previous form gave a slight boost to remaining in combat but had the negatives of being Fearless without the perks. I at no time ever want to make the Reapers Fearless, so I went back to my original idea of using Stubborn. Since there is no Icon of Chaos Glory giving rerolls of LD tests, it should work fine now, which is why I ditched the idea originally.)



2) Icon of Perpetual War now reads: Any unit that bears this Icon may re-roll any result of one on the “to wound” dice in the assault phase. It has also been lowered to 15 points.



3) The Harbinger of Malice has had his Alchemical Injectors enhancing abilities changed to: grant the bearer and any squad he has joined with +1 Initiative, Feel no Pain and Preferred Enemy USR’s. He has also had a 5 point increase in his base cost.


4) The Apostle of Malevolence moves to the elite section. He loses a wound and a few other stat changes, plus has his base cost lowed to 75 points. (I know this is a bit controversial, but this fits in with the theme of the Soul Reapers better, because other than Xusia, Apostles do not lead warbands into battle.)


5) Soul Reapers Biker Squads now have the Skilled Rider USR at no points change.


6) The Infernal Assault Bikes make their return to a stand alone unit as well as remaining an upgrade to the Bike Squad.


7) The Mauler Predator entry has been changed to give Sponson options and has had a slight points increase. (This brings it in line with all other Pred variants in that they once had a total set up including sponsons and now are basically a turret with optional sponsons.)



8) Gore Daemons gain the option for 25 points to take the Icon of Salmora: this icon channels the power of the once great Daemon Prince Salmora. Roll a D6 for the banner at the beginning of every turn that it is on the table and consult the following chart.


1 All daemon models in reserve arrive immediately with in 6 inches of the Icon.

2 All daemon models within 6 inches gain +1 Toughness this turn.

3-4 All daemon models within 6 inches may re-roll any failed saves.

5 All daemon models within 6 inches gain +1 Initiative this turn.

6 All daemon models within the unit bearing the icon count all their attacks as Poisoned 3+.

I am still looking at a few other things, so this will not be the end of the tweaks.

Games Workshop shares the background for the New Dark Eldar Codex

Interesting stuff, from Phil, Jess and Adam.

I cannot wait til this codex hits!

Farewell Dice Like Thunder

It saddens me to say goodbye after listening to the Dice Like Thunder guys for well over 80 episodes. The show as it is now must end due to circumstances out of the current casts hands.

The good new is they cast will still be podcasting under a new name. The Eternal Warriors will be the name of their new show. The first episode should be posted up within the first week of November.

I look forward to seeing the guys get a fresh start on show that will be completely created by them for the listeners.

Good luck guys, I will be listening! Upward and Onward!

The Soul Reapers Revival begins: Reserves have started to arrive

So over the last three days I have started to get the generously donated models.

So far I have received:

a Drop pod from Inquisitor 17

Chaos Bike from Daniel in Alabama

Lord Zhufor from Mike

FW dread and some 3rd hand Chaos Bikes from Sons of Taurus

Thanks to everyone for the help getting the Soul Reapers back on their feet. Every little bit helps.

Secret Weapon Minis comes to the aid of the Soul Reapers

Misterjustin of Secret Weapon miniatures has offered to aid in the Soul Reapers Revival project and outfit the entire army with free bases. I have chosen to get the the recently release beveled edge Flagstone bases.

So that is just one more thing I don't need to worry about; no more agonizing over building themed bases!

Thank you Justin your help is very appreciated!

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank everyone again for the donations of miniatures and all the comments of support through this affair.

Upward and onward!

-Jim

Huge props to the 40k Blog and podcast communities

You guys are Awesome! I really appreciate the outpouring of support in this dark time for me. I am very touched by all the well wishes and offers to help with replacement, you have rekindled my faith in the gaming community.

Ya'll have helped me through this bleak day and gave me many chuckles to lighten my mood!

An additional big thank you to my buddy Magilla Gurilla from Tabletop War and his efforts to coordinate the replacement for the lost minis. He immediately jumped into action taking my story to our friends in the Podcast community posting a call for help on the Independent Characters and 11th Company forums. I have also gotten the support of my friends at the Gamers Lounge and Dice Like Thunder podcasts.

Looks like I will be able to recoup most of my losses in plastic through your generosity.

Again I am extremely grateful for the support.

Lucky for me I decided not to rebase the Sorcerer Xusia or the DP Titus the Butcher, so at least I am rebooting the project with two fully painted and converted leaders!

Fear not the Soul Reapers will return and sally forth from the Storm of Souls to wreak havoc on the tabletops once again! I have put too much blood, sweat and tears into the army and mini-dex to let this sort of thing derail me. I am a wargamer and that will never change.

Sometime tomorrow I will put up my plan for rebuilding the Soul Reapers.

Edit: Thanks to Menzies the artist behind the Soul Reapers for this great missing poster, that gave me a good giggle with my morning coffee!

Tragedy strikes: the Soul Reapers have been stolen!

I spent this weekend over at my buddies house building transports and finishing up the rebasing efforts on the Soul Reapers. I built and painted 55 bases and remounted all my painted models; the army was looking schweet. I was feeling very satisfied and was looking forward to a fun photo shoot to show the Soul Reapers in all the ruined temple based glory.

I had to work the graveyard shift last night, so I packed up the Reapers and headed to work. I parked as usual in the security patrolled, gated parking lot, right next to the office door and went in for my shift. We had two operators out last night so I spent the night moving pallets instead of in the office as usual.

The crew and I headed out for breakfast/lunch at the Denny's down the road round 4AM. My van and models were intact at the time, I know this cause I shuttled 6 of us.

We ate and headed back to work around 5AM. A few of us went outside for a smoke break around 8AM only to find 6 smashed windows, including the rear window of my van. My heart sunk as I stood there in the rain dreading the inevitable result.

I lost 3 just built unpainted Rhinos, 2 converted Chaos Drop Pods, 35 Basic CSM, 10 Terminators, 6 bikes, two converted Oblits and two Dreads including my FW one. The one model lost that really kills me is the finalized conversion of Warlord Krüg from the FW lord Zufor mini. Dear lord that was a lot of hours lost for a mini I will never get to paint.

I am just at a total loss, I feel sick to my stomach. I certainly did not want to start the Soul Reapers from the ground floor again. I will rebuild it, it just won't have the same feel to the army. I already have about half of the models to replace what was lost, but it will take me a while to repurchase the rest, I just don't have the disposable income I used too.

I may take a few days off from the internet, so if you don't here from me after today for a bit don't worry I will be back.

Thanks for your time,
Jim

Full frontal Space Shark: the redo

I redid Sgt Quints eyes and created a bottom row of teeth. He is still not perfect, but it is much better than the crazy eyes from the original pics.

You can see the 360 shots in the proceeding post!

Space Sharks Spec Ops Team Megalodon: Veteran Brother Sgt Quint

Just when you thought is was safe to go back into space! Sgt Quint shows up to exact the Emperors will, here he is in all his finished glory!

Overall I am quite happy with the mini, there are a few things that could have been done better. Like his eyes and the iron cross on his right shoulder pauldron. I will revisit both at a later date.

I went old school on the power sword going with colored metallics for the blade; it is the way I did them up until the mid ninety's. I think it turned out nifty, although this is the one thing I figured might get grief over.

I am very pleased with his skin tone, I had over highlighted it and thought I was done-fore. As a gamble I gave it a watered down sepia wash, then Bam, success!

I went with red for the stamps on the purity seals to give the rather drab scheme a splash of color. I left the red stripe off of the helmet, I thought it might be a bit much and detract from the camo's effect.

Team Megalodon Camo sneak peek

I decided to change main color a bit and the bramble camo from black to green. I think it has turned out pretty nice.



Here is the original from the Badab War article back in Rogue Trader days.

2nd Killzone Blitz update

This comment by Syko really hit home for me, as I have friends deployed in Afghanistan.

Syko said...

Just so you know, KillZone has been getting a ton of play here at Camp Phoenix in Kabul, Afghanistan. On Saturday we had 4 tables going with games in the campaign I'm running. Great times with a great game.

I am truly honored and happy that you guys are enjoying Killzone! It is awesome to give you guys a game that you can enjoy in your down time. I pray that you all make it home safe.

Ron is giving Killzone a permanent link on From the Warp under FTW Member projects

JabberJabber posted a fun little battle report on Warpstone Flux

Counterfett posted his Chaos Marine team on All things Fett

Papa JJ shows off his outstanding Rogue Trader themed team on Dice Rolla

Elburn talks about making a Death Watch Killteam for Killzone over on the Painting Sanctuary

Finally, my buddies over on Dice Like Thunder mention the Blitz on Episode 104

Killzone Special Operations Group: Red Water

I've decided to combine Killzone with the Badab War stroyline.

Here is the list and ideas behind the Space Sharks SOG Red Water: Team Megalodon.



This whole group will be decked out in Badab War Camo, with a slight revision to the scheme.

Here is the 250 point list for team Megalodon:

Team Leader
Sternguard Vet Sgt Brother Quint
Bolter, Power Weapon, close combat accessory, Refractor field.

Sternguard Vet Brother Hooper
close combat accessory, Medipack

Sternguard Vet Brother Taylor
close combat accessory

Tactical Marine Sgt Brother Brody
Bolt pistol, Power Weapon,

Tactical Marine Brother Vaughn
Heavy Bolter, suspensors, shooting Rending

Tactical Marine Brother Riley
Plasma Gun, master crafted

Tactical Marine Brother Blane
Bolter, close combat accessory


Here is the model for Vet Brother Sgt Quint.

The first Blitz update!

Killzone around the interwebs:

A Gentleman's Ones introduces his Ork Special Operations Group.

Sons of Taurus talks team ideas

All things Fett talks Killzone and promises more updates!

Warpstoneflux is going to do a battle report.

World of Wonder says Everyone needs to start somewhere!

Brent on Strictly Average shows us his Chaos Marine Spec ops Group.

Blood of Kittens interviews me about Killzone.

Bell of Lost Souls Killzone coverage.

I'll be back around 3PM PST with the plans for Spec Ops Group: Red Water; Team Megalodon. So check back then!

Welcome to the beginning of the Killzone Blitz!

I decided to make today 10/10/10 the beginning of a Revolution. It has already begun, it will happen in small increments. The goal is to slowly shift the paradigm and create a golden age for homebrew rules and content on the 40k gaming tables around the globe.

The creative gamers in the 40k community deserve representation at the major events just as much as the competitive guys do. Thankfully Adepticon is all about the community at large and have given Killzone a platform to preform at. We will have Three events over the weekend, which is pretty stellar!

It is time for us to have a voice. I wish that someday we have the similar problems as the competitive guys do; like the whole Comp, no Comp debate. These mainstream players have no idea how nice they have it.

I want to thank the Guys at Dice like Thunder and Bell of Lost Souls for keeping the homebrew mindset alive.

So today is the Beginning of Killzone Week here on Galaxy in Flames. I will be posting lots of kool stuff in the coming hours and days, so keep an eye out!

I'll be back in a couple of hours to post some more Killzone content!

Ultramarines trailer 2

We finally know who they are fighting, Chaos Marines FTW! I shall rejoice with every blue armored death!

I don't care what the naysayers are griping about, I think the movie looks fantastic! I cannot wait until November!

Soul Reapers new basing theme

I have been debating what theme I have wanted to have for the bases of the Soul Reapers. I new I wanted some ancient ruins in the theme, but I also like the idea of a rocky mountainous theme too. So it has been a struggle. I did order a smattering of Dragonforge bases, and they are fantastic. I just took a major hit to my disposable income with my new job and it will just cost more than I am willing to spend on bases to outfit 2/3rds of the force with them.

So I have decided to make my own custom bases combining both themes, using plasticard and cork for rocks. (I was already using some cork on my bases.)

The over arcing theme of the bases will be fighting over some lost city hidden in a forgotten mountain rage somewhere on the Eastern Fringe. Which fits the search for the Artifacts of Salmora background of the Warband.

Here are the unpainted Gore Daemons on the first examples of the new basing. I think they will work great, they are just a little labor intensive to build.




One of the Gore Daemons carries the Icon of Salmora a powerful artifact that will be added to the next update of the mini-dex.

Only two more days until the Killzone Revolution 10/10/10 is almost here!

We cannot resist the rare opportunity that comes along once a century with out doing something special. We will be spreading the word about Killzone.

We invite you to celebrate Spec Ops Killzone with us on

10/10/2010

We will be Blitzing the Internet with Killzone Content. From Blogs to forums the fans of Killzone will be there sharing their experiences from everything involved with Killzone.

Covering list building, modeling, painting, battle reports and maybe even a few videos.

Feel free to join in yourself, email me you posts and I will highlight them in bi-hourly updates all day on the 10th. I will actually be starting coverage on Saturday here in the US as plenty of our friends around the world beat us to the 10th!

So if you put up Killzone content on Sunday please Email me through my profile and I will add your content to the updates throughout the day!

Also don't forget to mention that Killzone is now up to 3 events being run at Adepticon 2011! This is huge and definitely worth mentioning in everyone's posts.

See y'all on Sunday!

Talking Killzone on the Seanhammer podcast and other GiF news

I had a great time recording the latest episode of Seanhammer yesterday. This podcast is a one man show featuring Sean and his adventures in the Wargaming hobby. I've really grown to enjoy his show after AJ from the Imperial Truth introduced it to me.

We discussed my time spent in 40k over the years, lots of Killzone including the 10/10/10 Blitz on Sunday. There is even talk about upcoming projects for 40k and WFB.

Please check it out and let us know what you think.

In other news, Mags got the video battle report of our challenge game up on his blog Tabletop War. Go check it out!

Tweaks to the Soul Reapers mini-dex have begun with preliminary changes being sent off to a chosen few supporters. Expect a blog update very soon detailing these changes. There is nothing too over the top in the way of changes, I promise.

Until the next,
-Jim

Soul Reapers Challenge game results

Mags and I threw down on Friday night, it was a total slobber knocker! The game was Dawn of War Annihilation. I had changed up my list to include Eris the Seeker, to allow me to Outflank with my transports in an attempt to survive the Alpha Strike of Mags' Razor-Angels. I appologize in advance for the unpainted minis, I am in the process of remounting 90% of my army on custom bases, plus my airbrush died and I started a new job this week. I do champion fully painted gaming, but did not want to proxy for this challenge game. (if I had sure they would have been painted but they would have also been a mishmash of cult troops) BTW, the crow tastes ok with a little salt. ;)


Table and Deployment, I chose to outflank with the Troops in the Rhinos.


Bottom of turn one. We both jockey for position.


Top of turn two, I got both the troops squads in on outflank and the Terminators made a good Deepstike. The bikers nuked the Baal Pred, Terminators killed a Razorback, both the Landspeeder and regular Reaper squad wiffed their shooting. The six turn Predator Duel begins on the right flank.


Bottom of two, I lost both Rhinos to shooting and lost the MM on the Speeder. During the Assault phase I lost the Terminators and the Reavers were almost annihilated too. Those damn Assault Terms are brutal.


Top of three, the dakka Pred kills the Baal Pred on the right flank. The Bikers kill the normal Pred on the left flank. Xusia Rocks two of the Razorbacks with Chain Lightning, Immobilizing one and dual weapon destroyed on the second causing it to also be immobilized. The Defiler Kills a Razorback and finally the Speeder flames some Marines for no effect. The Reaver champ goes down in the assault phase.


Bottom of three, Mags fires a crapton of shots at the speeder but fails to kill the darned thing. (he must of gotten at least 20 hits and almost that many ones.) He shoots at the Defiler and fails to harm it. The Speeder finally goes down. The Pred dual continues, but I cannot shoot next turn. The Assault Terminators annihilate the Bike squad and Eris.



Top of four, I finally get the Oblits and Lesser Daemons from reserve. The Oblits mishap and Mags decides to put them in terrain almost out of the battle. They both survive the landing. The Oblits shoot and wiff against the last Angels Pred. The Defiler shoots the battlecannon at the last gun toting Razorback doing nothing. The last Soul Reaper marines squad, Xusia and the lesser daemons assault the Terminators; the combat is a draw.


The bottom of four, has uneventful shooting, but sees the end of the Assault terminators, the Angles do win the combat due to the assault squad the charged in with furious charge who killed 5 of the Daemons. Xusia and the Soul Reapers squad lose combat and are forced to fall back on a result of boxcars on the dice.


Top of five, Xusia and crew fall back 4 inches, dang! During shooting they kill 3 of the assault marines that are escorting them off the table. The defiler kills 4 Marines with the battle cannon. The Pred dual continues. The Oblits move forward and take ineffective shots at the Land Raider.

Bottom of five sees the Land Raider move to keep Xusia and co. falling back.

Game goes to turn six and it sees the end of the deifiler on the bottom of the turn.

I must admit I got totally mauled by the Assault Terminators. They are ridiculously brutal with the attached Libby and Sang Priest. They ate three of my squads and if it weren't for Xusia they would have eaten a 4th.

The game was very close right up to the very end; we went 6 turns. In the end I lost by 2 kill points.

Congrats on the win Mags, well played!

Thanks for the great game!

Mags and I sat down and discussed the power level of the Soul Reapers after the game. Being as this was the first time I have taken the Reapers against a really competitive list, there is definitely a lack of competitive power.

While almost nobody fairs well against Assault Terminators, we both feel that in the assault the Reapers need some better force multipliers added by the Apostles and Harbingers. I had already been looking at revamping the Harbingers now that the BA's have been out for a few months.

So you can expect to see some tweaks to the Soul Reapers Mini-dex in the near future.