Soul Reapers: State of the Rebuild

Hey guys, I wanted to share with y’all the current state of the Soul Reapers and the rebuilding of the army. This has been an extremely tough year for me, in terms of real life and an extremely busy year on the hobby side.

I must admit that I have been extremely deflated in spirit when it comes to rebuilding the army; even thought the fantastic members of the 40k community rallied and replaced my stolen models. I actually feel a bit bad about this.

With that said, I have finally gotten the mojo toward getting the Reapers back on the tabletop. I have spent the last week getting an 1100 point force almost completely painted. I should have some nice looking eye candy just after the New Year.

I have been reintroducing my buddy Kev to rulebook style 5^th ed 40k, cause when we play our version of 40k is nothing like 5^th. I need him a 5^th ed mindset as he is helping me with the Narrative event at the bay open.

I guess he has gotten tired of my stealing his IG shtick using my steel legion guard, although he has been using his orks. He is one of the biggest supporters of the Soul Reapers and has decided not to play another game until I run the Reapers.

Here is the list I am finishing up.

Soul Reapers 1100 pts

Exalted Centurion 110 pts

Plasma Pistol, Chaos rune weapon

Elite

Cataphracts 193

3 X Warp Ammo, Chainfist, Heavy Flamer

Troops (632pts)

8 Legionary squad 198 pts

2 x Melta gun, Power weapon, Personal Icon

Centurion Pfist

Rhino

8 legionary squad 188 pts

Plasma gun, Autocannon, Power weapon, Personal Icon

Centurion Power weapon

8 Reavers 206 pts

Flamer, Heavy Flamer

Centurion Pfist

Heavy Support (265pts)

Dakka Pred dozer 105 pts

Defiler 150 pts

Soul Reapers Dread 130

TLLC

Killzone embraces social media

Facebook now has 100% more Killzone!

Just one more way to keep track and share Killzone with your friends.

I have been putting this off, but it is now time to embrace the social media with Killzone, to aid in spreading our Glorious little project!

Merry Christmas From GiF

I hope y'all have a great day! I am looking forward to spending the holiday with my family and closest friends, I say bring on the Ham and Turkey!

We are also going to have the first annual Christmas night 40k bash, looks to be a fun time!

Cheers,
Big Jim

TCP podcast Launched

Hello loyal disciples of fire, I wanted to make you aware of an exciting new project that I am helping with in conjunction with TCP. We have decided to create a podcast that will post occasionally through the Codex Project website. It will cover game and codex design, with interviews from the members of the project to talk about the great codices that they are working on.  

Well as we all know the studio in Nottingham is hard at work on the 6th Edition of Warhammer 40,000. Every once in a while a rumor seeps out from behind the closed doors. We all quickly gobble them up and talk endlessly on forums like BoLS, Dakka or Warseer about their value and contribution or even if it is a mistake that will ruin the game.

What we never get to do is talk as a community about what we think should be done in 6th Edition. Possibly more profoundly what 40K could be if all caution were thrown to the wind and a complete re-write were executed on the rules. Generally speaking we know that the guys at the GW Studio do not put lots of weight in the goings on of generally wild and often negative blogs and forums.

In the grand spirit of TCP right out the gate we have a series of episodes in the works talking about 6th edition. We discuss the current 5th ed rules define any weak points we may see, talk about possible fixes for those rules and then delve into the current 6th ed rumors which may or may not be accurate.  We then discuss whether the rumored changes would be good or bad for the game, in our opinion.

Each episode will have guest hosts from around the 40k internet community.

We do understand that many may not agree with our opinions and that is fine. We figure that since nobody else is covering 6th ed especially from a game design perspective we would. Since Jeff and I have both been active wargamers since the 1970's we have well over 60 years of gaming experience. On top of that we have both written an published wargames rule sets, Jeff's last one was Battlestandard Ancients and mine was and is Killzone. (while not a stand alone game it has been well received) Most of my published rules were in the 80's and early 90's including 15mm Ancients, I Corps Vietnam 1967-68 (which is in a reboot phase currently) and the short lived Federation and Empire hard sci-fi.

Please keep in mind that both Jeff and I love the 40k universe and are very passionate about it. So what may sound negative or like we are coming down hard on GW, is really our passion for the universe showing through. We really do want 6th ed 40k to be the best game it can be.

Here are the first two episodes

Introduction episode

Episode 1 6th ed rules series: Movement Phase, Vehicles and the Force Org Chart

The first show is a bit rough around the edges, but we are working on the format so will improve.

BAO 2012 Narrative Event

I am proud to announce that I have teamed up with the Bay Area Open to present a narrative gaming event for those gamers who enjoy a more laid back story driven day of gaming.

Participants will help decided the fate of a small star system on the eastern fringe of the galaxy. Will the forces of the Imperium and the allies save the system or will the system be subjugated or destroyed by the forces of Chaos and their nefarious allies.

This will be a large team run event (teams determined on the day of the event) fought over three different battle zones, utilizing what we like to call an Apocalypse lite format. This means that you will be able to use Apoc formations and some Apoc units, but must follow the restrictions listed below.  

Allowed Armies:
Armies can be built from all current 40k codices including the White Dwarf codex for the Sisters of Battle, and may also include or be built to include units or completely using the army lists in the Imperial Armor books. Units and list may only be draw for Imperial Armor books 5-10 and the IA Apoc books. Players may choose Apocalypse formations if they wish; either from the Apoc books or the GW website.

With that said all IA units and lists must use the most current listing for the unit, which includes the Errata listed on the Forgeworld site. So for example the Renegades and Heretics list from the Siege of Vraks uses the update on the forgeworld site.  

All armies are built using the following requirements:
1250 points and must include an HQ and one troops choice and may include one superheavy vehicle with no more than 3 structure points. Each army may also include one Spearhead formation as listed in the spearhead rules on the games workshop site. I would also appreciate if all players bring a 625 point sideboard list incase the sides end up being lopsided.

Players may not purchase stratagems individually, however if the player is taking an Apoc formation that comes with stratagems they still benefit from them. At the beginning of the game each player will draw a strategy card from the decks that I will provide.

At the beginning of the game each player will draw a Fate card from from decks that will be provided. The Fate cards will add to the narrative of the game allowing each commander some special bonus during the game.

At the beginning of the game each player will draw a Mission card from decks that will be provided. These will provide each player with a secret agenda that will benefit their team upon completion.

Each table will have a special character for each side created and provided by me. They will represent the army commanders of that theater for narrative purposes.  

WYSIWYG:
 All models are expected to be WYSIWYG as much as is reasonable. Proxies are not permitted. However, counts as armies are acceptable and encouraged. What’s the difference? That can be a tough call to make in some cases. Judges will determine what is acceptable or not and all judgments are final. If you feel your army is questionable, contact a TO in advance to clear any confusion.

Proxies: Using Necron Warriors as Lootas in an Ork army, etc.

Counts As: Using Ultra Marines colored models with Blood Angels rules. Using custom Adeptus Mechanicus converted models with Daemon rules. The key is that everything is easily identifiable and appropriately equipped.  

Painting:
Every army must be painted to a three color minimum and be based. (basing can be as simple as painting your models bases an appropriate color.) We want a great looking event filled with painted models fighting over nice looking terrain.  

Scoring:
 Objectives will be scored at the bottom of every game turn. Objectives held by a troops choice are worth 2 points, any other unit may score objectives with a worth a value of 1 point gained.

Killzone True Skirmish

So I have been chatting with the guys about finally getting to the advanced “True Skirmish” version of Killzone. We have been batting around some mechanics, the one thing that the “TS” version of Killzone will have is a “phased” turn sequence. Where one player will activate a model/unit do its turn then the 2^nd player will activate a model/unit. Alternating activations until every model/unit on the table have a turn.

When activated a model will be able to perform 3 actions from a list included in the rulebook; these include things like moving, shooting, fight in melee and overwatch.

Things we are heavily considering: (none of them are a sure thing.)

We are pretty sure the “TS” version will do away with the codex errata system; it will be replaced with an actual book or Codex of armies that represent the forces of 40k.

With the new army book we are debating creating a new stat line and realigning the points values with an entirely new system. The points realignment will probably happen, since the points system of 40k is jacked up and arbitrary anyhow.

The D10 will more than likely make an appearance alongside the trusty D6 in the new version.

You will be able to group models together into adhoc squads.

Ditching the clunky cover save system for hit modifiers for shooting.

Until next time…

Angels Encarmine Commission Part 2

Here is the second part of Snake's AE commission. Magnetized dozer blade for a Rhino and a Las/plas turret for the back.

Magnetized Sang Priest

Rounded out by Mephiston!

Angels Encarmine Sternguard

Hey guys here is an AE Sternguard squad that I have painted for Snake Eyes over at Tabletop War.




I tried my best to mach the color of the original models. I used the same colors as the original but still ended up slightly redder and brighter: even after 3 washes of red over the top!



Five of these guys have Chapterhouse Studios magnetized combi-bolters, I think they look pretty good! Be warned though you have to drill out all the holes for the magnets in the gun part of the weapon and it is a pain.

One final note, this darned cold weather is killing me, I had to brush seal these models because of it, and that takes close to 24 hours to fully cure.

Tomorrow I will post up the rest of this commission.

Check out the Killzone playtest give away

Brian is running a give away for Killzone on A Gentleman's Ones. It's really easy to enter play a game of killzone, use the form provided in his post to report you game and bam, you are entered in the give away. First prize on the table is a NIB Stormraven!

So Check it out!

Killzone: Giveaway