Wednesday, December 9, 2009

A look at 2009 and forward to 2010 on Galaxy in Flames



Looking back at my wargaming experiences in 2009 it has been a pretty good year. I am back full swing into the 40K gaming scene. Although I wish I had made it to a few more tournaments.

I got three long time friend back into 40k and we are reveling in the memories of old, while creating new ones every week. I’m not saying that the other guys in my gaming group aren’t great, but it is really is awesome to be able to game with these guys again.

I’d like to thank the respective owners from each of the following blogs, as you guys are my top referring sites. Sending me plenty of new blood to check out my insanity!

1. belloflostsouls.net

2. fromthewarp.blogspot.com

3. space-wolves-grey.blogspot.com

4. warhammer40kbloodangels.blogspot.com

5. artof40kwar.blogspot.com

6. darkfuturegaming.blogspot.com

7. elazartheglorified.blogspot.com

8. heresy-legions.blogspot.com

9. strictlyaverage.blogspot.com

10. bayhammer.blogspot.com

I’d like to give hearty thanks to all the guys that have helped out with the Soul Reapers Mini-dex. From the feedback to the play testing that has been done and will be in the upcoming open play test. I’d also like to give some big time “Props” to Menzies for all his hard work on the Artwork for the project.



Looking forward to 2010, I plan to attend all the major local tournaments. I really want to get out of the Man-cave a little more in hopes to broaden the gaming group. Casual gaming is great but sometimes I really wanna “Throw Down” although I’ll miss the beer while playing.

I plan to have the Soul Reapers Mini-dex finalized and in the can by March. So I can focus on getting my 2000 point Space Wolves up and running by June, then move on to the Hive mind, cause the new Nid dex is looking yummy!

I’ll also be delving into the realm of video battle reports in the New Year. As all the ones out there have inspired me, I thought I’d give some to the community myself.

I would also like to follow up the Mini-dex with a campaign book and maybe attempt to run an online campaign late in 2010.

So again thanks to all of you that follow the insanity that is Galaxy in Flames. I promise more good stuff and randomness in the New Year!


Thanks again,
Big Jim

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Rules from the Man-cave: Rules that make you go Hrmm?



Two more rules we use here in the man-cave.

Imagine this:


You are an eight-foot tall, genetically enhanced, Power Armor augmented Space Marine, The Emperors finest soldier, but you can’t seem to manage moving and firing a Heavy Bolter. Hrmm… really?

Or


You are a Tank commander in a tank with 4 different weapons and a crew of 5 including yourself, but as soon as you move your gunners forget how to shoot. Hrmm…what the heck?

Both of the circumstances are silly and make no sense in our opinion. Here are our solutions to these circumstances.

Moving and Shooting Heavy Weapons


Any man portable infantry heavy weapons may move and shoot at half range with a –1 to the models BS.

Heavy weapons that require a crew because they are mounted on a tripod may fire at half their rate of fire rounding down in addition to the previous changes.

Moving and Shooting Vehicles


Any Vehicle that moves at combat speed can fire one weapon as listed in the vehicle rules in the WH 40K rulebook or may choose to fire all of its weapons up to their full range with a –1 to the vehicles BS.

A vehicle that moves at cruising speed may fire one weapon at half range with a –1 to the vehicles BS.

They are both simple solutions that work for us and add more tactical depth to our games. So if you and your opponent are up for a challenge give them a spin.

Monday, December 7, 2009

Unit of the Week 2 for 1: Space Wolves Wolf Priest and Chaos Obliterator


Here is the Starting pic of Edgtho the Ancient, my Space Wolves Wolf Priest, that I am going to paint this week. Although I am showing the in progress work here the finalized pics will go on the Space Wolves Blog. I've decided to buck the current trend of black armored Wolf Priests and put him in the same grey as the rest of my Wolves.



I will also be finally painting the Second converted Obilterator this week too.

Well I finally got my new camera, but now I need to learn how to use it. So some time later this week I'll get the finished pics of the Chaos Squad Hades from last time.

Tyranids on the horizon



I have been so busy working on the Soul Reapers that I have totally ignored the Rumors for the new Nid Codex. Since the imminent release of the new Nid codex is so close, GW have shifted units around on the website to their new location in the Force Org. It looks like this:

Updated Product List

HQ
Hive Tyrant
Tyrant Guard

Elites
Pyrovore
Hive Guard
Lictor
Death Leaper
Zoanthrope
Venomthrope

Troops
Tyranid Warriors
Genestealers/Broodlord
Termigants
Hormagaunts
Ripper Swarm

Fast Attack
Gargoyles
Raveners
The Red Terror


Heavy Support
Trygon
Carnifex
Biovore

I’m not going to speculate on the current rumors, but I must say that Nid Warriors as a Troops choice makes me giddy! I have 15 of them waiting for me to build when I tackle my Nid Army in Mid 2010.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Thoughts on Thunder from Fenris


I just finished listening to Thunder from Fenris the latest Black Library Audio book, written by Nick Kyme. It is a Space Wolf story that follows a group of Thunder Wolf cavalry and their quest to save their Wolfen brother while they contend with a zombie Plague. I just had to get this one as it covers three of my favorite gaming subjects, Space Wolves, Chaos and Zombies!

I must say that I am very impressed! The story is well written and the sound effects were great. As a twenty year Space Wolves fan and gamer, I loved it. The end of the story sent a warm thrill through my body, very epic! Well done Mr. Kyme, you have done justice to the Sons of Russ.

So if you are a fanatical Space Wolves fan or just like audio books, be sure to check out Thunder from Fenris.

Here is the description on the back of the case:

A zombie plague blights the ice world of Skorbad, a planet that is ravaged by war. A heroic band of Space Wolves are sent in to break the deadlock, but these are not just any sons of Leman Russ - they are Thunderwolf riders, an ancient brotherhood, warriors of myth and legend.

During the hunt for the corrupted propagators of the plague, one of the Space Wolves succumbs to the Wulfen curse. Suddenly it isn't just zombies that these feral heroes face in the darkness. Amid the ruins of Skorbad, the Space Wolves must save their fallen brother before a much more horrifying truth is revealed.

Cheers,
-Big Jim

The Characters are going into the play test list


Tomorrow night we are finalizing the Special Characters that have been presented here on the blog and adding them to the document for the play test mini-dex. So If you have any final input please feel free to throw it up, because once they go into the final document they stay until the end of the open play test phase.

SC 1 Titus the Butcher
SC 2 Krüg the Beheader
SC 3 Xusia Sorcerer if Chaos
SC 4 Eris the Seeker
SC 5 Vorenous the Raptor

Those are the links for the Characters, please post any additional feedback here.


Thanks
-Jim

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Thank you GW Empire Hobby Center


I attended the "Invasion!" event at my local GW to play Planet Strike and enter a raffle to win a Realm of Battle game board. A product that I have always thought was fantastic looking but out of my price range as I can build a table from scratch much cheaper. Well as you can probably guess from the pic for the post, that I, much to my surprise won myself a 300 dollar Realm of Battle board!

So thank you Games Workshop for the fantastic terrain board! Very Kool!

I will be chronicling the painting a finishing of the board here on the Blog.

Friday, December 4, 2009

Soul Reapers SC 5: DP Vorenous the Raptor


Vorenous the Raptor


Once a powerful Lord in the Raptors cult Vorenous ascended to Daemonhood on the planet Stalerak. They were fighting the Ultramarines for possession of the planets main Spaceport. Vorenous and his raptors were just finishing off the last of the defenders when he suddenly felt the electrical charge and heard the familiar crackle of a teleporter beam. The Raptors were trapped with no chance to evade their new foe, as they were inside the main building. The only thing the Raptors had in the favor was numbers as they outweighed the Terminators two to one.

The fighting was brutal and unforgiving with the upper hand going quickly to the heavily armored loyalists. Vorenous ordered his Raptors to evade and escape if they could and he would cover their escape. There were three Terminators left facing Vorenous, he leapt forward and skewered the exposed head of the Sergeant with his power sword. When all of a sudden he felt a large jerk and flew end over end as one of the terminators struck him with a Thunder hammer and smashed his jump pack hurling him to the ground. He sprang to his feet and charged the nearest terminator only to be knocked through a wall. As he lay there buried beneath the rubble dazed he heard the whispers of the Dark Gods. He offered up his soul as payment if they would grant him the power to slay his foes in their name.

Thinking that Vorenous was dead the Ultramarines turned to leave the room to complete their mission of retaking the Spaceport. Just then they heard a bone chilling unearthly shriek and crumbling masonry as Vorenous ascended to Daemonhood. It would be the last thing they would ever hear as the Daemon Price tore them asunder.

Vorenous was not gifted with wings when he ascended and being a great champion of the Raptors Cult this vexed him greatly. He was enraged, as he felt betrayed by the fickle Gods. During the rest of the campaign he was in an uncontrollable rage slaughtering more Ultramarines than anyone else in the Soul Reapers warhost.

After the campaign was over, the most loyal amongst his cult sought out to fulfill the desires of their leader. They turned on and slaughtered two of their own as a sacrifice of fealty, offering up the Raptors packs to Vorenous so he could fly once more upon Wings of Fire.

Vorenous the Raptor

WS 7
BS 5
S 6
T 5
W 4
I 6
A 4
LD 10
Points 155

War Gear:
Jump Pack
Personal Icon
Daemonic Handcannon: Vorenous still carries his bolt pistol, although it is hardly a pistol anymore as it was morphed with him upon his ascension to Daemonhood. Known as the Daemonic Handcannon, a very powerful weapon its ammunition is charged with pure warp energy. It has the following profile.

Range: 18
Strength: 6
AP: 3
Type: Assault 3
Special: Rending

Special Rules:
Fearless
Eternal Warrior
5+ invulnerable save
Outta Fuel: Vorenous was not gifted with wings when he ascended. Instead he has two Raptor packs linked and strapped to his armor. The problem is even with two packs he burns through fuel rapidly due to the Daemon Princes immense weight. Every turn that he makes a jump move roll a D6 after the move is completed on a roll of a 1 he is out of fuel and may no longer make jump moves.

Wings of Fire: Vorenuos is the leader of the Raptors cult within the Soul Reapers. Any force that contains Vorenous must contain at least one squad of Raptors, in addition one unit of Raptors may be selected as a troops choice.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Soul Reapers SC 4: Eris the Seeker

Eris the Seeker
Harbinger of Chaos


Eris the Seeker has been tasked with scouting locations looking for signs of possible resting-places for the Artifacts of Salmora. In addition to this he will usually be the spearhead of any planetary assault that the Soul Reapers launch. He will seek out enemy formations and possible landing sites then transmit them to the fleet. Once his task is done he’ll lay in wait until the battle is enemy is fully committed to the encounter, only then does he rush in on some weak point in the enemy battle line.


Eris the Seeker
Points 175

Wargear:
Power Armor
Bolt Pistol
Frag grenades
Krak grenades
Chaos Bike
Combi-Melta
Personal Icon
Power Weapon

Special Rules
Fearless
5+ Invulnerable save
Outflank: Eris grants any unit of bikes that he joins the ability to Outflank.

Spiky death: When charging the bike generates +1D6 attacks at S4 in addition to the attacks of the rider. These additional attacks are due to the spikes and blades on the bike slamming into the target unit and do not benefit from any enhancements the rider may have.

Seeker: Eris is responsible for scouting out the possible resting places of the Artifacts of Salmora. To aid in this task he makes great use of Chaos bikers. One unit of Chaos bikers may be taken as a Troops choice if the Soul Reapers force includes Eris the Seeker

Soul Reapers SC feedback and changes


First off I'd like to thank everyone for their honest feedback on everything that I have posted for the Soul Reapers mini-dex. I even appreciate the harsh criticisms of the whole project that a few have expressed. Because I think it's great to see so many people passionate about Warhammer 40,000!

Ok, on to the changes.

We have lowered the point value of the DP Titus the Butcher to 165pts. He was over pointed by a fair bit in the original post.

This is how we determined the points for Titus:

110 base DP
25 for FNP (Was 45)
15 for Fleet (Was 20)
10 for the Butchers Blade (Was 35)
5 for the Personal Icon

We have also changed the way that the Runes of Chaos work, due to a great suggestion from Max. Here is the new text for the rule.

Runes of Chaos grant the bearer a 4+ invulnerable save in addition to his armor save. Furthermore if the bearer of Runes of Chaos or the unit he is with is affected by an enemy psychic power, the power is nullified on a 5+ dice roll.

The Usurper Bodyguard unit size has been changes to a max unit of 8 models and the heavy weapons upgrade is now listed as one in every four models may take one.

After a great suggestion by Magilla Gurilla and a lot of debate with the guys last night we are going to change the Chains of Torment psychic power to the following.

Chains of torment is a shooting attack that may target any non-vehicle unit within 18 inches. The target unit will suffer D6 +1 attacks at Str5 AP-. Any unit that is hit must take a leadership test or become pinned in place by the chains.

I will be going back and amending the original posts to reflect the changes.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Soul Reapers SC 3: Xusia Sorcerer of Chaos

Chaos Sorcerer art courtesy of Menzies!


Updated 12/03/09

Here is the third Special Character for the Soul Reapers. Don’t forget to check out and post feedback on the other two.
Titus the Butcher
Krüg the Beheader

Xusia of Delis
Sorcerer of Chaos
and
Master of Malevolence



Xusia of Delis is the leader of the Apostles if Malevolence cabal in the Soul Reapers. He is a very powerful Sorcerer and is Warlord Krügs right hand. His origins stretch back to the great crusade when he was part of the Word Bearers Space marine legion.

He was abandoned and left for dead on the Planet Delis at the end of the Great Crusade, so his corruption took a different path from his former brothers. A sorceress cabal of psychers known as the Deceivers inhabited the planet Delis. During the campaign on Delis the forces of the Emperor unknowingly caused a warp rift to form. Shortly after the planet was left by the Space Marines the repatriated population began to experience mass possessions of its citizens.

Only 6 of the original cabal sorcerers survived the culling of Delis. It was they that found Xusia and healed his wounds. They taught him their dark arts and it was not long before his power was too great for them to control, as he was already a powerful psycher. The Cabal pledged their allegiance to Xusia, they presented him a powerful gift; the staff of Dulgur. Dulgur was the mystical warrior mage and advisor of the Daemon Prince Salmora. Upon the threshold of death Dulgur had bound his soul into his staff so that he could live on to serve his lord even in death. All in the presence of the staff can hear its daemonic whispers of the Dulgur.

For decades Xusia controlled Delis from the shadows, knowing that if he were found the planet would be eradicated. Over this time Xusia became bound to the staff, but he was a willing servant. The Dulgur spoke to him often of the great artifacts of the Salmora. It claimed that a powerful warrior would be drawn to Delis in search of the Salomra’s great warscythe the Golornagoth. This warrior will never claim the weapon without the aid of the staff of Dulgur. So it was Xusias task to determine if the warrior was worthy to possess the Golornagoth.

Xusia had visions of a great warrior on a quest to find the artifacts of Salmora. He was not surprised that the warrior was a fellow Astartes, as they posses the strength and will needed to master the artifacts.

Since joining the Soul Reapers he has created the Apostles if Malevolence a Cabal of Sorcerers responsible for the forced recruitment of Space Marines Loyal to the Imperium into the ranks of the Soul Reapers. He has taken great pleasure in torturing and tormenting captured loyalist brothers until they break and renounce their allegiance to the Corpse God.

Xusia of Delis
Points 200
same stats as a Sorcerer of Chaos


Wargear:
Power Armor
Bolt Pistol
Frag grenades
Krak grenades
Personal Icon
Staff of Dulgur: Xusia staff contains the soul of Dulgur a very powerful Sorcerer that fuels his malice and hate. The staff will nullify any psychic power cast within 12 inches of Xusia on a 4+. It also counts as a Force Weapon.

Runes of Chaos: The inside of Xusias armor is encrusted with many Chaos runes to protect him from the enemies of Chaos. During the inscription ritual 4 psychers are sacrificed and their souls bound to the armor one dedicated to each of the Dark Gods. Runes of Chaos grant the bearer a 4+ invulnerable save in addition to his armor save. Furthermore if the bearer of Runes of Chaos or the unit he is with is affected by an enemy psychic power, the power is nullified on a 5+ dice roll.

Special Rules:
Fearless
Independent Character
Master Sorcerer: Xusia may use two psychic powers every turn.

Options:
Xusia may ride a Chaos Bike for 30 points.


Psychic powers

Doombolt as listed in the Codex Chaos Space Marines on page 88.

Chains of Torment:

Xusia creates small warp rifts under his foes, launching ethereal chains that rend flesh to the bone in an attempt to drag the targets into the warp.

Chains of torment is a shooting attack that may target any non-vehicle unit within 18 inches. The target unit will suffer D6 +1 attacks at Str5 AP-. Any unit that is hit must take a leadership test or become pinned in place by the chains.

Aura of Malevolence:

The presence of the Xusia evokes feelings of dread and terror in his enemies as he floods all of his bitter feelings of hatred, spite and malice at his foes causing even the most strong willed to cower in fear.

The Aura of Malevolence is cast at the beginning of the Chaos turn, with the effects lasting until the beginning of the following Chaos turn. All enemy units within 12 inches of Xusia reduce their leadership by 2 and must pass a Leadership test or fall back.