An Epic Endeavour - Part 2

Work continues on the 6mm front; I've assembled and painted nearly 2000 points of Sisters of Battle (Adeptus Ministorum if you want to get fancy). I say nearly because I've yet to purchase some Whirlwinds to stand in for Exorcist tanks. I've yet to learn the game yet, so it's likely I'd jump in at 1500 points to start with anyway. Here's the 2000 list, assembled from the Epic Hive - Adeptus Ministorum army list:

(Almost) 2000 Points

Adepta Sororitas Detachments:

Battle Sisters - Onslaught Miniatures

Mission - 8 Sisters of Battle Units
    - Rhinos (4)
    - Exorcists (2)
    - Palatine 
  

Rhinos - Games Workshop (eBay)

  Mission - 8 Sisters of Battle Units     

    - Rhinos (4)
    - Exorcists (2) 

Repentia - Onslaught Miniatures

 Repentance - 6 Repentia Units 

Seraphim - Onslaught Miniatures

Choir - 6 Seraphim Units
 Choir - 6 Seraphim Units 

Ecclesiastic Detachments:

Fraternis Milita (Imperial Guard) - Defeat in Detail

Militia - 12 Fraternis Militia Units 

Sentinel Squadron - Defeat in Detail

Scout - 4 Militia Sentinel Units 

Imperial Navy Allies:

Avenger Strike Fighters - Defeat in Detail

Avengers - 2 Avenger Strike Fighter Unit

Assembling an army for Epic is a lot like assembling a classic car or other antique contraption; you either have to trawl the second-hand market or find someone who makes compatible components. This translates to spending an inordinate quantity of time browsing eBay (in the hope that those Space Marine Whirlwind tanks will show up, both fairly priced and in reasonable condition) or searching for unofficial 'counts as' proxies from among the manufacturers of 6mm miniatures (sources of which I've used can be found in the picture captions).

Frankly there is nothing 'official' when it comes to playing Epic anymore, either with respect to rules or miniatures, barring the 8mm Adeptus Titanicus reboot from Forge World on the horizon. Intrepid Epic players such as myself must decide from amongst the plethora of variations of the rules which one to play. Do you play Adeptus Titanicus (1st edition, 1988), Space Marine (2nd edition, 1989), Epic 40,000 (3rd edition, 1997) or Epic Armageddon (4th edition, 2003)?*

Thankfully the chaps over at http://www.net-armageddon.org/ have provided the answer: NetEpic Armageddon (NetEA). NetEA is a fan-made update to the Epic Armageddon rules, play tested to tournament worthy levels with all sorts of lovely army lists. Regular updates are still occurring and, best of all, all the documentation is absolutely free.

So what's next on the Epic front? One of two things: Richard gets an army built and painted first, or I get a second army built and painted first. Either way the idea is to eventually play a game of NetEA and ideally produce a battle report.

My choice for a second army? A horde of Lost and The Damned sounds fun.

*Richard is quite capable of breaking out into extended oratory regarding the merits, faults and history of each edition. The phrase 'When I we're a lad...' often precedes these lectures.

First Impressions - Warmachine Mk.3

After spending far too long discussing different types of resin and automobile based anecdotes at our weekly meeting, we decided it was probably a good idea to actually do something. That something turned out to be our first game of Warmachine under the new Mk3 rules.

I cautiously climbed onto the shiny new bicycle; it looked a lot like the old bicycle, sure the handlebars were spaced differently and the wheels we're slightly bigger, but my feet sat on the peddles much more comfortably and some of the scary metallic clunking sounds we're no longer present. Still, you turn the pedals and the bicycle goes just the same as before. Oh, and this one has a shiny new bell that makes the most wonderful sounds.

This is what a new bicycle looks like, right?

OK, enough stupid metaphors.

I'm continuing under the caveat that you the reader has at least some knowledge of Warmachine Mk.2. If not, then please remain in your seat, you've walked into the wrong lecture -  It's too embarrassing to leave half way through and you never know, you might learn something.

Elliot and I put together lists using Privateer Press' War Room app that we're essentially the old Mk.2 Protectorate of Menoth and Convergence of Cyriss starter battlegroups. In old money they would have totalled around 11 points, but under Mk.3 coinage they came to 0 and 1 points respectively.

This not insignificant change in points is due to two factors: an overall percentage increase in models across the game, accompanied by a large increase in each Warcaster's Warjack points pool. My chosen Warcaster Forge Master Syntherion jumped from (+6) Warjack points to (+27)!

I shan't go into too many details of how the game progressed, rather comment on some of the new rules / changes.

'Power Up'. This is a small change with a huge impact. Any Warjack with an active cortex now generates a single point of focus for itself at the start of the turn if within the Warcaster's control area. This frees up a Warcaster's focus pool, especially in the first and second turns. By generating their own focus, Warjacks are able to run by themselves, allowing the Warcaster to cast many more spells (especially upkeeps). In later turns Warjacks suddenly become much more dangerous, that free focus point can translate into boosted / extra / power attacks. This change is excellent. Warjacks are a much scarier opposition than they we're in Mk.2.

I myself was unable to benefit from this change; Convergence Warjacks use their own particular unique method of sharing focus between other Warjacks so they remained almost unchanged since Mk.2 in this respect, except for the removal of the limit on the number of focus that can be shared per activation.

'Pre-Measuring'. Truly the Marmite or wargaming; you either love it or hate it. Warmachine Mk.2 always had a dirty affair with pre-measuring; you could measure your Warcaster's control area at 'any time'. The 'any time' wording would lead to some strange goings on with the tape measure, this change clears any of that up. No more wasted shots because you were 3mm out of range, no more guessing how wide that gap is, no more trigonometry. OK, I don't think anyone actually did that last one but you get the point. Some would argue this change lowers the skill barrier, and maybe it does, but then I never played at the level where such a thing mattered.

'Power Field'. In Mk.2 a Warcaster could 'camp' on their focus pool, any unspent focus points would translate into one point of additional armour. This meant that even a modest (6) focus Warcaster could sit on all six points and gain an additional 6 armour, effectively reducing all incoming attacks by 6 damage. Damage prevented in this way could easily reach upwards of twenty points in one turn.

Mk.3 changes the way the Power Field works. A Warcaster must now spend a focus point to reduce the damage of in incoming attack by 5. The player is now presented with a dichotomy; do I prevent that 4 damage attack, or take 4 damage assuming the next attack will deal more damage? An inherent risk is involved; that next attack might not even hit you! Any change that leads to more interesting choices is a good change.

A number of other little changes were encountered during our game:

Melee weapons now possess their own range stat, with Warjacks generally having a 1" range on their melee attacks (double the 0.5" range in Mk.2). This removes the need for the 'Reach' special rule.

Wreck markers are no longer a thing, bringing Warmachine in line with the behaviour of Hordes' Warbeasts in this respect. While cinematic, I found wrecks would often become an annoyance.

'Rate of Fire' now actually means rate of fire. Your gun says two shots; you get to fire two shots. No need to buy more shots by spending focus. The old Mk.2 rate of fire rules are now included as it's own special rule on certain weapons, called 'Reload'.

Just from dipping my toes in the proverbial Mk.3 pool it looks to be a vast improvement over Mk.2.

Elliot had this to say after the game:

"My summary would be that they have improved on an already rock solid rules set allowing for more fluid learning and smoother running games. I would need more time and games to give a more in depth comment. Also, I want my bloody Trolls and Nelly the Elephants."

I'd say I share this view; we need to play some more (bigger) games to cement our opinions. I however don't want Nelly the Elephants; I want more clockwork robots. Differing tastes you see.

Thanks to Elliot for taking some of the pictures for this post.

Summer Garden Safari - World Photography Day

Today (19/8/16) is World Photography Day, so I reasoned that today would be the appropriate day to compile together the best shots from my little summer project.

The following shots were all taken within the confines of my home garden. Restricting myself to the confines of a single space challenged me to look out for things that we might perhaps otherwise miss.

Take a look and let me know what you think.

First Impressions - Marvel Universe Miniatures Game

Way back in April I along with my fellow gamer Aaron were attending Salute. We made a point of each buying a starter set for the Marvel Universe Miniatures Game; I picked up the Guardians of the Galaxy set, while he grabbed the Avengers set. Recently I finally managed to get both sets painted up.

This week we played a small test game using two characters each (Captain America & Iron Man against Star Lord & Rocket Raccoon) so that we could start to learn the basics of the rules.

 

Elliot was good enough to bring his newly purchased Battle Systems Sci Fi Modular Card Stock terrain for us to play on. This terrain is fantastic for the price and perfect for these sorts of skirmish games. It certainly looks better than any plastic or resin terrain that I'd have to paint for myself; it all slots neatly together once it's been punched out of the sheets. 

Scatter terrain plays an actual role in the Marvel Universe miniatures game (it can be thrown around!) so having access to a variety of chairs, crates, tables and consoles is fantastic.  

 

The game uses a d8 based system (a criminally underused dice!) to work out attacks and statistic tests; two d8s are rolled and compared to the relevant target numbers. For an attack to succeed a model rolls two d8s and adds their 'Attack' stat and compares it to the target models appropriate defence stat (of which there are 4 - Physical, Energy, Mental and Supernatural). If the total is higher than the defence value, the attack is successful. Statistics tests (e.g. agility, willpower, stamina) require the model to roll equal to or under the statistic on the total on two d8s.

The fundamental mechanic is the 'Power Point' system. This is very similar to many other games' action points systems; each model has a Power statistic that dictates how many things they can do in a turn. A model must spend these Power Points to move, perform attacks and activate special abilities. Every model has a range of attacks and abilities unique to them, along with a number of 'skill' keywords that are of a more generic nature (for example. fly) that can be found shared amongst different characters.

The Power Point system offers a number of tactical choices for the player: Movement is split into different distances dependent on how many points are spent (which differ between characters, some move faster or slower than others), Attacks and special abilities cost varying amounts of Power Points (more powerful attacks and abilities costing more) and are assigned a colour which informs the player how many times they can be used in a turn: green = repeatable blue = once per turn, red = once per game. Deciding when to use specific attacks and abilities can heavily influence the outcome of a turn, especially the one use per game red abilities!

 

The turn sequence is broken down into alternate activations (I activate a model, you activate a model and so forth), the initial activation in each turn determined by drawing counters from a bag. This blind drawing system is reminiscent of the method Bolt Action (Warlord Games) uses to activate individual units; it is mathematically more fair than rolling dice since the likelihood of going first in multiple consecutive turns is decreased as counters are removed from the bag (conditional probability). In contrast to Bolt Action, this system only determines the initiating player each turn, as opposed to the order unis are activated.

In addition to these basic rules the rulebook goes on to cover throwing objects, rules for destructible terrain, how to put together a team of models and details of three scenarios.

Currently there are three factions - Superhuman, Mutant and Cosmic. The rulebook mentions the Inhuman factions, but at the time of writing this has yet to receive any miniatures. These factions are further split into three alignments; Hero, Villain and Neutral. Each model is also given a 'Level', the equivalent of a points value in other games.

Sculpt wise, of the two sets I put together and painted, he detailing and quality varies somewhat. The Avengers set was very easy to put together, whilst the Guardians of the Galaxy set required a bit more work. Both Gamora and Drax needed some green stuff work (on the shoulder and hands respectively) to create a neat fit.

Detailing on some of the miniatures is very shallow. A heavy or dark undercoat could easily make some of the details hard to identify or simply disappear altogether. This was especially the case with Drax's tattoos and Captain America's shield (the painting of the which drove me quite mad).

These models would probably be quite daunting for a novice modeller or painter. I myself am unhappy with how I painted Drax, but Thor and Rocket Raccoon came out brilliantly.

Overall I'd say that I'm looking forward to playing more games of the Marvel Universe miniatures game. Any wargamers who happen to also be comic book fans should definitely consider having a look at it.

Oh, perhaps you're wondering who won our little game?

Aaron thoroughly destroyed me.

I think I need to get myself a Groot.

Comic Book Comments - June & July 2016

A couple of months ago I made the mistake of being persuaded by my friends Aaron and Tallow to visit the local comic book shop, Comics and Fantasy.

I've always had an interest in comic book characters in other media (films, video games etc.), but never actually bothered to read any of the source material. So it was decided that I would drill another hole in the bucket that is my wallet and add another hobby to my repertoire. At least this one doesn't require any additional work, right?

I made the choice of sticking to purchasing only collected volumes, known as trade paperbacks. These collections generally compile a specific story arc together (especially relevant for older comics), sit much nicer on the book shelf, are absent of adverts and are a lot easier to lend out to people. That's my train of logic anyway.

Here's a look at what I've been reading during June and July:


Mad Max - Fury Road (Vertigo)

Mad Max: Fury Road, as perhaps indicated in previous posts, was my favourite film of 2015. This collection of four stories, written by George Miller himself (director on all four Mad Max films), acts as a prequel to the namesake film. Given to the respective character's actors during production to add depth and history to their roles, these tales tell of the origins of the film's protagonists and main antagonist.

The first follows the rise to power of the despotic tyrant Immortan Joe; following Colonel Joe Moore's initial actions during the fall of the world to his subsequent discovery and takeover of what would come to be known as the Citadel. Included alongside this is a short story concerning the entry of the Warboy Nux into Immortan Joe's army.

The second story deals with the abhorrent actions of Immortan Joe and his 'family' that led to Imperator Furiosa's betrayal and subsequent breakout of the five wives. Some very mature themes are explored here; rape, misogyny, abortion and slavery to name a few. These themes could perhaps have been dealt with better, but I'm glad they are dealt with at all. The implied plight of the wives' in the movie is fully explained here; their actions given much more motivation.

The last two stories centre on Max Rockatansky himself, filling some of the gap between Beyond Thunderdome and Fury Road. Places and people featured in Fury Road, namely Gastown and the Buzzard clan are fleshed out here. Max's V8 Interceptor almost serves as it's own character; their reunification his main goal. This contrasts with Max's ultimate inability to save any of the people he cares about, a theme touched upon in all the films.

A must read for any fan of the films.


Red Skull Incarnate (Marvel)

Red Skull, Johann Schmidt, is probably my favourite Marvel Villain. He is never portrayed as a particularly complex character. His plans and schemes are certainly complex, but his goals are generally pretty one dimensional; global domination, kill Captain America, global destruction. Megalomania, if you will.

Red Skull Incarnate takes us back to 1920s Germany. Schmidt is in an orphanage, Nazi Brownshirts are marching in the streets. A bag of salt costs 16 billion Reichsmarks. We follow Schmidt as he grows up, bearing witness to hyperinflation, the Bierhalle Putsch, the Great Depression, the Reichstag Fire, the rivalry between the SA and SS, the Night of Long Knives and finally the assassination of Ernst Rohm. The would be Red Skull is cleverly woven into these events (sometimes slightly bending the true version) whilst developing the character's own narrative.

The cleverest aspect of this comic is its ability to teach history to the reader without even realising they are being taught. A lot of the major events that led to the rise of the Nazi party are covered here.
A series of end notes helps to explain the real world historical events and atmosphere as they occur chronologically in the story, even providing citations for further reading (which I am sure to take a look at).

Uber - Volume One (Avatar)

I have a soft spot for Weird World War Two dieselpunk supernatural super-science, and Uber certainly ticks those boxes. All weird war fiction has a divergence point; some time, place or event where the time line splits from our own. Uber's version of World War Two remains concurrent with our own right up until the 30th April 1945. The Battle of Berlin rages outside the Fuhrerbunker. Hitler points the gun to his head. He does not pull the trigger. News has reached him just in time:

The Wunderwaffen have arrived.

Panzermensch. Human tanks. Formed by exposure to the crystalline compound 'Woden's Blood', they are are nigh indestructible, able to manifest arcs of energy capable of annihilating both flesh and metal. These Panzermensch are lead by three 'Battleship' class individuals, who have the ability to decimate entire armies by themselves.

With Berlin saved, Hitler is quick to retake the offensive. The Panzermensch lead the attack, routing the allied armies on all fronts. The allies' only hope lies with an undercover biologist, Freya Bergen, who must escape back to England with information on how the allies can fight these Tank Men, and potentially create their own.

Incredibly violent and graphic, Uber fills a somewhat unique little niche within the Nazi super-science genre. I look forward to reading the rest of the series.


Chrononauts - Book One (Image)

Danny Reilly and Corbin Quinn are the world's first chrononauts, explorers in time.On their maiden time jump, Quinn is knocked off course missing his intended destination (the landing of Christopher Columbus on the American continent). Danny goes in after him, ending up in the city of Samarkand (located in modern day Uzbekistan) in the year 1504. What follows in a rather fun, if somewhat stupid and unbelievable, romp throughout time.

There isn't really much I can explain about the story without spoiling it, but if you want to see Romans with M16s fighting alongside Samurais in sports cars attacking a medieval castle, this is a comic you want to read!


Monstress - Volume One: Awakening (Image)

Five years ago, Humans and Arcanics were at war. An uneasy peace now exists between the two races; a great wall now separates the Humans in the west from the Arcanics in the east. Arcanics, hybrids of Humans and Ancients, share characteristics of both their progeny; appearing as humans with animalesque characteristics. Many posses the tails, wings or ears of animals, clearly marking them as Arcanics. Others, including our protagonist Maika Halfwolf, appear outwardly human.

We find Maika, alongside other younger Arcanic children interred within a research facility, run by the Cumaean Order (a human religious organisation). Arcanics are experimented upon and killed to facilitate the harvest of Lilium from their bodies, a substance with extraordinary healing properties (capable of even raising the dead).Maika manages to engineer her escape from the facility; we follow her on her subsequent journey, both to safety and process of self discovery. She soon discovers that she knows less about her past than she thought, and knows even less about the monster stirring within her...

Monstress does an excellent job of building a fantasy world unlike any other; the world combines both western and Asian influences, technology is combined with fantastical elements, all framed by a beautiful art deco, vaguely steam punk aesthetic. Both Human and Arcanic societies are matriarchies; positions that would generally be held my men in our society are held instead by women. Women make up the bulk of the soldiers in the army and hold positions of power within political, religious and educational spheres.

Humanities' treatment of the Arcanics (perhaps deliberately) echoes the treatment of Jews and other minorites by the Nazis during the holocaust. Arcanic children stand behind barbed wire fences while Human overseers look on. The experimentation on Arcanics definitely mirrors Jospeh Menglele's human experimentation at Auschwitz. The parallels are clear to see and are certainly chilling.

I would like to praise Monstress most for its portrayal of an amputee protagonist; Maika's left arm is missing at the elbow. It is fantastic to see a handicapped character portrayed in such a positive light; she is quite capable of fighting as effectiively as any 'normal'able bodied hero. Hopefully her missing arm isn't reduced to some horrendous plot device in future volumes.

Oh, this comic also has talking Cats. With eyepatches. And swords.