Rules from the Man-cave

Here are two house rules from the Galaxy in Flames Man-cave, that we use all the time. They add a lot of tactical depth to our Warhammer 40k games.

Think about it, who in their right mind would sit there not shooting their guns at an opponent charging into them? Or how hard it would be to launch an all out assault on the enemy if there is a withering hail of lead bearing down on you?

To us these rules make sense. They may not be for you, but hey I thought I’d put ‘em out here.

The Unit Suppression rule does not affect units that are Fearless. As they don’t care about being shot at, and can never be suppressed.

Unit Suppression in Warhammer 40k; we have added a suppression mechanic to our 40k games. It was shamelessly pilfered and tweaked from our experience with Flames of War. Suppression is used to affect a units ability to function properly in the Assault phase.

In the shooting phase keep track of how many hits each non-vehicle unit takes. At the end of the phase any unit that has taken five or more hits from shooting than it has models in the unit, must pass a leadership test or they become suppressed. Suppression lasts until the end of the suppressed units next player turn.

A suppressed unit must pass a leadership test to be capable of launching an assault. If the test is passed the assault is launched as normal; if the test is failed the unit falls back and automatically regroups at the end of the move, even if they normally would ‘not’ be able to do so. (For example, even a unit that has been reduced to less than half strength would be able to regroup in this type of fallback move)

If a suppressed unit is assaulted, they do not get their Defenders React move, but may pile in after the initial Assault is done.


Defensive Fire in Warhammer 40k; this was also shamelessly pilfered and tweaked from Flames of War. Defensive Fire makes assaulting more dangerous and tactical.

This is not a normal shooting phase and supercedes the normal infantry shooting rules; facing does matter. Any unit that receives an assault may fire all it’s weapons at the assaulting unit as they move into contact, as long as the assaulting unit starts off in the 180-degree models eye view of the defensive firing unit; 90-degrees to either side of the models head.

Vehicles may also defensive fire, but only at targets that start off in direction the weapons are facing; in defensive fire sponsons, pintle mounts and turrets do not move.

During Defensive Fire shooting each model in the unit fires their weapon at full effect as listed in the weapons summary in their codex, as long as the unit is not suppressed. If the unit is suppressed all weapons in the unit get one shot regardless of their normal game statistics.

If the assaulting unit becomes suppressed during the assault move it loses its +1 attack for launching the assault.

Edit: I may make this a regular bi-weekly set of articles if there is enough interest.

It's ok, Little Timmy, the House Rules won't bite.

Ok guys, it’s story time with Big Jim!

Why the heck are gamers so unimaginative nowadays?

So I am over at my friends house last night to get another playtest for my Soul Reapers dex in; my buddy had recently found out that a co-worker plays 40k and invited him to swing by. He had been warned that we are completely casual and have an extreme habit of using house rules and homebrew lists.

This poor guy shows up about halfway through our second game, and the first thing he does is to throw a fit about my buds converted 1/35 scale WWII Stuart tanks that he uses as Leman Russ tanks. His, those models are illegal rant, because they aren’t official GW models was honestly rather amusing to me. My buddy just calmly explained why he had used them and paid the rant little mind.

Then he noticed that my bud was using a Baneblade; he proceeded to ask how many points our armies were? The look on his face when I said “2000 points” was Priceless! The Apocalypse units breaking the game at low points levels rant actually made me laugh out loud. I feel a little bad about it, but in my defense his rant was really ridiculous.

At this point knowing that were both using homebrew-tweaked lists, we decided to take a break from the game to sit down and talk about our goals for gaming. We came to find out that he has no desire to participate in tournaments, but has only played at his local GW hobbycenter. This was a large part of his problem, as it tends to force you to play within the realm of ‘Officialdom’. After about an hour of good conversation, we got back to playing.

He seemed to enjoy the rest of the evening, reading through our notebook of House Rules and my Soul Reapers notes. He has a Chaos army himself and really seemed to like what I am trying to accomplish. He said that he’d bring his army next week, and I look forward to it.

In the end I think it was a good night, and it is always fun to release a mind from the GW Matrix.

We as gamers need to remember this is our hobby and that the rules and armylists are guidelines especially when you have no desire to play in tournaments. Now this isn’t a bash on tournament players, it’s just a reminder that when not participating in one, use your imagination.

So next time you are gaming with your closest friends try thinking outside of the box, or throw the box away completely and let the fun of anarchy rule the tabletop.

Cheers till next time,
Big Jim

Mercenaries in 40k

Have you ever just picked up a random box of miniatures for an army you don’t have, on a whim because you thought they were groovy only to have the box years later collecting dust on your gaming shelf?

I have a box of Kroot and three blisters of Kroot hounds that I picked up upon the initial Tau release. I absolutely love the alien look of them, I had even debated building a Kroot Mercenary army when the article first appeared in WD.

I have been working on more background material for the Soul Reapers. I have made mention that the Reapers use Stygian Mercenaries to scout planets prior to an attack or raid. I think I have finally found a use for my Kroot.

Does anyone else think that Mercenaries are sorely missing from 40k? I think it could be a fantastic stand alone army or allies list that would add a lot of flavor to some of the existing armies. Hell they would be great for scenario and campaign games. The only armies I see that would not use for mercenaries are Imperial Marines, Tyranids, and Necrons.

Think of all the groovy conversions that could be done! Mercenaries would be a modelers dream army, the combination's of WFB and 40k bits would be almost limitless.

So, what if I add a 0-1 choice of Stygian Mercenaries to the Soul Reapers Min-dex as a fast attack selection? Using the Kroot stats and entry right out of the Tau Empire book minus the Krootox riders; then add the option for them to take a teleport homer for 40 points.

I'm really thinking that a Mercenary army list will be my next major side project for 40k once my Soul Reapers mini-dex is completed.

Thoughts or comments welcome.

Jim

Soul Reapers SC 1: Titus the Butcher

Updated 12/03/09

The Daemon Prince Titus the Butcher started out as the second in command of the World Eaters seventeenth Grand Company. He was and is still the armored fist of Lord Krüg, when there is something impossible to do Titus is unleashed to resolve the problem.

Titus earned the title the Butcher and ascended to Princedom on the planet Lambosia on the far Eastern Fringe. It was during a campaign to reclaim one of the Salmora artifacts, that Titus was tasked with holding the Star Phantom Space Marines back while the Sorcerer Xusia preformed the rituals to locate the artifact. Titus lead an elite unit of Reavers from Lord Krügs handpicked Terminator bodyguard into a mountain pass to bock the path of the Star Phantoms. During the fight the Reavers were whipped out and Titus was left surrounded by the lackeys of the Emperor. He had already been mortally wounded, but refused to succumb to his wounds and fail Lord Krüg. Titus grabbed a second power sword from one of his fallen comrades and proceeded to charge headlong into the remaining Star Phantoms. When the dust settled the Star Phantoms were either dead or routing from the field, Titus collapsed knowing that his task was complete.

As he lay there dying he heard the whispers of the Dark Gods. They were pleased with his dedication and the carnage he had done to his foes. They offered him untold power and a chance to fight again exacting his revenge on the Imperium for the greater glory of Chaos. He accepted the offer and rose up as a mighty Daemon Prince of Chaos.


Titus the Butcher
Daemon Prince of Chaos 165 points

He has the same stat line as a Daemon prince in the Codex Chaos Space Marines

War Gear:
Personal Icon
The Butchers Blade

Special Rules:
Fearless
Eternal Warrior
5+ invulnerable save
Feel no Pain
Fleet

The Butchers Blade is the massive sword carried by the Daemon Prince Titus. His brutality is know and feared throughout the Eastern Fringe. Titus can usually be found standing on a pile of corpses in the middle of the enemy lines. He is very good at cutting large groups of his foes down with one mighty swing of the Butchers Blade.

To represent this in the game Titus may give up his normal attacks to make single strength 5 attack against all enemy non-vehicle models in base contact. This is an all or nothing attack with a single die roll to hit; if there are multiple WS’s involved the roll to hit is against the highest WS. If successful roll to wound; with the wounds allocated among those models in base contact with Titus.



Feedback is appreciated.

Thanks,
Jim

Looking for an Artist: Soul Reapers Update III

I’m looking for an artist who’d be willing to donate their time to make me a gritty cover for my Soul Reapers Mini-dex. I don’t have the funds to pay for the artwork, but I’d be willing to paint an HQ model to my top standards as compensation.

What I’d really like is Lord Krüg on the cover (WIP pic above) with a couple of Chaos Terminators on either side of him.

If you are interested feel free to contact me through my Blogger profile.

Mini-dex update:

I have run a few Playtest games with the proposed rules changes for the Soul Reapers and things are going pretty smoothly. I’m going to drop the stubborn rule for something else it’s just too powerful when combined with the Icon of Chaos Glory; plus I don’t want to rewrite the rules for the Icon of Chaos Glory.

The thing that is giving me the most trouble is the points costs for the Soul Reapers Special Characters. What I think I am going to do is find an existing 40k SC and modify him to fit the Character in the background then use the points from the SC as a baseline and tweak them as necessary. Do you guys think this is the best way to build a custom SC?

Thanks,
Jim

Soul Reapers Special rules Mk II

This is a revised list of Soul Reapers special rules. The original version of Fear is for the Weak just wasn't sitting right with me. So I revised it and added the poor mans Fearless with the addition of the Stubborn USR. These three rules really feel like the right fit for the Soul Reapers.

The following special rules apply to all Soul Reaper units chosen from the following entries in the Codex Chaos Space Marines.

Chaos Sorcerers
Chaos Chosen Space Marines
Chaos Terminators
Chaos Space Marine
Chaos Raptors
Chaos Bikes
Chaos Havocs

Fear is for the weak: Soul Reapers automatically pass all tests to regroup, they can make such tests even if the squad has been reduced less than half strength through casualties. Usually squads that regroup cannot move and count as moving, but these restrictions do not apply to units with this rule.

Stubborn: Soul Reapers have been serving the Dark Gods of Chaos for ten millennia and know that they frown upon weakness. Because of this the Soul Reapers have the stubborn special rule found on page 76 of the MRB.


Predictable: The Soul Reapers have been fighting their loyalist brothers for ten thousand years and have become accustomed to their combat doctrines. Because of this all Soul Reapers are subject to the Predictable rule, when fighting any Space Marines loyal to the Emperor. In the assault phase the Soul Reapers may re-roll any to hit dice that have a one as a result.

Edit
I have changed out the preferred enemy USR for the Predictable special rule to tone down the effects on in game balance.

Not Enough Terrain Syndrome or NETS

Disclaimer: the table pictured above as an example has about 30% terrain on it, if you remove two of the forest sections then it would be close to 25%.

I’ve been planing to do this article for a while now, I’d like to thank Magilla over at The Art of 40K War for re-igniting the fire with his excellent post on terrain.

Do you feel that if you lose the first turn you are at a disadvantage?

Are you constantly fielding transports that you never deploy from, because the troops inside will just disappear if they don’t have the armored shell?

Do those Assault troops ever make it into combat or are they shot to pieces before they get to turn two?

Are those long ranged support units shooting you with clear shots to most of your deployment zone, while sitting at the back edge of theirs?


If you answered yes to more than one of these questions then your gaming group may be suffering from a severe case of Not Enough Terrain Syndrome or NETS?

Are you sure that you are using the amount of terrain suggested on page 88 of the MRB? The MRB suggest that roughly twenty five percent of the table should be covered in terrain.

Next time you go for a game try filling a quarter of the playing surface with varied terrain pieces. Then spread them out one at a time with your opponent. Then if the table looks like it does any other game you play congratulations you have been adhering to the rules suggested in the MRB.

If it feels like too much terrain then you my friend have a severe case of NETS. Don’t feel bad though because you are not alone. I’d venture to say that 85 percent of tournaments and gaming stores get it wrong all the time. I don’t completely begrudge them for creating this problem, as terrain is expensive to by and time consuming to build.

It still doesn’t change the fact that they are skewing how the game is played. My suggestion is to do what I am doing locally, ask for more terrain on the tables. There are a few ways to accomplish this, first offer to help organize a terrain building day to get more available. Second get the local guys to help out by bringing in a single tables worth of terrain to be used in the events of the day.

Trust me it is worth the effort to get the proper amount of terrain on the table. It helps bring better tactics into the game and it might just convince you to change up your list a little.

Soul Reapers Mini-Dex Project Part One

This is a follow up post to my post on the Problems with Chaos space marines. This will be the first post of many on this subject.

I have set myself in motion to make a Soul Reapers min-dex as a companion to use with the Codex Chaos Space Marines. I am not trying to reinvent the “Wheel” here, what I am attempting to do is make Chaos Space Marines viable at their current points values.

The only thing that I will be creating from scratch are two new units to be mentioned later, and the Soul Reapers Special Characters. For the Special Characters I will be tweaking existing ones to make them fit my background and to ease balancing them.

So now onto the meat of this post:

The following special rules apply to all Soul Reaper units chosen from the following entries in the Codex Chaos Space Marines.

Chaos Sorcerers
Chaos Chosen Space Marines
Chaos Terminators
Chaos Space Marine
Chaos Raptors
Chaos Bikes
Chaos Havocs

Fear is for the weak: Soul Reapers automatically pass all tests to regroup, they can make such tests even if the squad has been reduced less than half strength through casualties. 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 Soul Reapers unit they take an immediate leadership test. If they pass the leadership test they are not destroyed, and will continue to fight as normal. If this happens the unit is subject to the No Retreat rule for the rest of the combat.


Preferred Enemy: The Soul Reapers have been fighting their loyalist brothers for ten thousand years and have become accustomed to their combat doctrines. Because of this all Soul Reapers are subject to the Preferred enemy rules when fighting any Space Marines loyal to the Emperor.


Listed below are the Units from Codex Chaos Space Marines with changes to their entry in the codex listed. Anything not listed below is used as is out of the Codex.

HQ

Chaos Lord: Gains Preferred Enemy

Chaos Sorcerer: Gains Fear is for the Weak and Preferred Enemy

Elite

Chaos Chosen Space Marines: Gain Fear is for the Weak and Preferred Enemy, they are otherwise unchanged.

Chaos Terminators: Gain Fear is for the Weak and Preferred Enemy, they are otherwise unchanged.

Possessed Chaos Space Marines: Roll for their Daemonkin abilities at the beginning of the game before deployment.

Troops

Chaos Space Marines: Gain Fear is for the Weak and Preferred Enemy, they are otherwise unchanged.

Fast Attack

Chaos Raptors: Gain Fear is for the Weak and Preferred Enemy, they are otherwise unchanged.

Chaos Bikes: Gain Fear is for the Weak and Preferred Enemy, and the point value drops from 35 to 28 points per model.

Chaos Spawn: Gain the Feel no Pain special rule for no additional cost.

Heavy Support

Chaos Havocs: Gain Fear is for the Weak and Preferred Enemy, they are otherwise unchanged.


Now you may be saying to yourself that the “Fear is for the Weak” special rule is just a tweaked version of “And they shall know no Fear”; you’d be right. Chaos Marines have just changed their faith from the Emperor to the Dark Gods of Chaos, so I see no reason for Chaos Marines to be weaker than Imperial Marines. Should they be different, yes, but weaker absolutely not. So to be different they must pass a leadership test to avoid being destroyed in a sweeping advance, but if they pass they basically become fearless. I think this adds character to the forces of Chaos.

Preferred Enemy is added because it makes sense. Chaos Space Marines detest the blind faith of their loyal brothers. With the ultimate goal for the Chaos Space Marines being the destruction of the Imperium, the loyalist Space Marines are their main obstacles in achieving those goals. Combine this with the fact that the have been fighting loyalist Space Marines for ten thousand years, it again makes sense.

I am looking for feedback on these ideas. I don’t mind criticisms, but please keep it constructive.

Sorcerers verses Rune Priests

Okay guys, Space Wolves are almost here and their Rune Priest Psychers are pretty nasty.

With the ability to shut down any psychic power successfully cast within 24 inches of the Rune Priest on a 4+, it looks like a rough time for Chaos Sorcerers and Daemon Princes with powers. Plus their Runic Force weapons wound any Daemon on a 2+ combine this with the Saga of the Beastslayer and they will be re-rolling their to hit and wound rolls against the Daemon Prince.

The Rune Priest also has some good psychic powers to go along with their ant-psycher/daemon abilities.

Oh, and I don’t wanna forget the SW Special Character Njal Stormcaller. He’s an absolute beast, as his Rune staff shuts down powers on a 3+ and he has all 7 SW psychic powers he can cast two of them a turn, plus a nifty passive power that is it goes off gives him access to a third power each turn.

So my question to you guys is how are the Space Wolves going to affect your lists and how are you going to deal with the Rune Priests?

Personally I'll be using Kharn and a squad of Zerkers in a Landraider to go strait for the Rune Priest throat. Then use my Lash Sorcerer in the late game to set up charges and move their troops off objectives.

Soul Reapers Tourney List

After a bunch of playtests I've settled on the list I'll be taking to Da Grand Waaagh Indy GT, if I can get off work to go.

HQ 280
Sorcerer
MoS, Lash O’ Submission
125

Daemon Prince
Wings, Warp time
155

Troops 1053
10 Chaos Space Marines with 2 meltaguns and icon of chaos glory
Aspiring Champion with power fist
Rhino havoc launcher
270

10 Chaos Space Marines with 2 meltaguns and icon of chaos glory
Aspiring Champion with power fist
Rhino havoc launcher
270

10 Chaos Space Marines with 1 Plasma gun, 1 Lascannon and icon of chaos glory
Aspiring Champion with power weapon and combi-plasma
Rhino
270

8 Khorne Berzerkers
Aspiring Champion with power fist
Rhino
243

Heavy Support 515
2 Obliterators
150

Predator
Lascannon sponsons
130

Landraider
Extra armor
235


Total points 1848

The Sorcerer rides in the Zerkers Rhino, while the Zerkers ride in the Landraider.

Aspiring Champion

Here is my only Aspiring Champion with a power weapon. I like the way the blade turned out, but I’m not quite sure if the red color is too much. I’m not sure if a glowing green blade would work either, which was my second choice. Blue is over used so I’d like to avoid it as a choice, I’ve chosen purple as the color for my Force weapons, so that’s probably out too.






So what are your thoughts?

Big Jim