Introducing the League of Underwhelming Miniature Painters (LUMP)

While I am not a lump and I do not imply my gamer or painter friends are either, many of us who enjoy sedentary hobbies do tend to fall into that category.  I thought the name was funny, but conveyed the concept of what we’re doing here.  The League of Underwhelming Miniature Painters is a community organization that my friend Stephen and I just formed with a few goals:

  1. Encourage miniature gamers to paint what they play
  2. Help people learn to paint (better)
  3. Give painters a forum for showing others their models and exchanging knowledge/ideas on how to achieve their results

In order to achieve these goals, LUMP:

  1. Encourages people to participate in game tournaments and other events that include painting as part of the overall experience.
  2. Hosts painting and modeling classes at local game shops.
  3. Provides people with a place to get daily painting news and share pictures of their work.

You can visit our Facebook page at:

https://www.facebook.com/Leagueofpainters

Helldrake does as Helldrake pleases

Q:  Can Heldrake really do as Heldrake pleases? 
A:  Yes, Heldrake is now an Assault Vehicle.

“The Legions of the Chaos Space Marines have learned to climb onto the back of the Heldrake and ride it into battle. They launch assaults by swooping up high and then leaping down off the back of the Heldrake… DEATH (the the false emperor) FROM ABOVE!!!!!

Models “on board” a Heldrake can launch an assault after disembarking from a Heldrake. Measure from the Heldrakes base (naturally) in any direction (of course), however add 5d6 to their assault range to represent the boost they get from diving off a super-sonic Heldrake’s back. Furthermore, models on board can draw LoS from any point on the board to launch their assault.

Also, all models launching an assault will ignore cover saves, gain the Crusader special rule, have Missile Lock (to be redacted later), have Preferred Enemy (Tau), and naturally, gain Furious Charge.  Models equipped with Plasma Pistols gain the Salvo 4/8 rule.

Finally, the Heldrake himself can participate in the assault to support his passengers. The Heldrake fights in combat as a Walker. However, at the end of a round of combat, the Heldrake is not locked and instead returns to a Swooping/Gliding (player’s choice) state in the same position he was in. The Heldrake does not need to pile-in nor make a charge move nor has to be anywhere near the actual combat to participate. 

Furthermore, in subsequent turns, the Heldrake can continue to fight in any combat he was in that is still ongoing no matter where he is at on the board. 

Lastly, the Heldrake now has the Skilled Rider special rule and can be mounted on a Palanquin for 35 points.”

-Neil Gilstrap, host 11th Company
Neil’s original blog post can be found here.  I stole the whole thing in its entirety, QFT.

11th Company

I’m a fan of the 11th Company, a long running (maybe longest running) Warhammer 40K podcast.  Neil, Pat and the rest of the crew are fun guys to listen to.  Neil is the tactical genius and Pat is the face man.  By that I mean that Neil is a bigger blowhard than I am on most subjects while offering great insight into the tactical value of units and their codices while Pat arranges great interviews with interesting and exciting guests.  See what I did there?  You will…

Anyway, last week I had a bit of a geek out moment.  I was playing in a local team tournament; the last of my old daemon codex, when I got an email from Pat asking if he could interview me for their podcast.  If you have ever seen a 34 year old grown man giddy about anything then you can imagine what an idiot I looked like while telling my opponents that I was a minor internet celebrity (okay so I’m a bigger blowhard than Neil).

Well, today was a cool 40K day, my limited edition Tzeentch codex (damaged) arrived and I got a call from Pat.  Aside from what you hear on the interview I got to chat with Pat a bit about all manner of things.  He is every bit a nice over the phone as he sounds on the podcast.

The reason he originally reached out to me is that I’m in the top 40 on Rankings HQ (or at least I was at the time of writing this).  However, since the last codex is now obsolete he let me talk about my thoughts on the new codex.

So, if you haven’t heard these guys and like 40K, they are a must listen to.  I have 3 pod casts that I regularly listen to:

11th Company – focus on playing games and the tournament scene with interview and the occasional other topic
The Independent Characters – great fluff and hobby talk
Signals from the Frontline – twice weekly rumors and misc (I wish Reece would fix his audio issues)

Questions about the new codex for a GW FAQ

Dakka is compiling a good thread on all of the questions that are being asked on the interwebs.  Here or some of my favorites.  I also go on record on how I think they should be ruled and how I think GW will rule.

I’ll keep updating this thread for a few days with my thoughts.  As someone reminded me, we should have an FAQ within 9 days.  Everyone knows Tzeentch’s number is best and since Phil and I share the same first initial and last name we must have some connection.  So, on the 9th day (which will be this coming Sunday) give or take a day we’ll have a C:CD FAQ.  Anyone want to wager on the over/under?

So, without further adieu here are some questions and two answers; the right answer/GW’s answer.  In the case where I feel the answer will be different I’ll be happy to eat my hat if GW does the right thing; however, I’m guessing they have an intern answering questions at the direction of the marketing department and/or the senior VP of sales (ala Helldrake farting out its butt).

Army Special Rules

  1. Can Feel No Pain be used against wounds caused by Daemonic Instability? yes/yes
  2. Is a Chaos Space Marine unit with the Daemon special rule and the suitable Mark of one of the 4 gods considered “Daemons of the same alignment” for the purpose of attaching Chaos Daemon Independent Characters? e.g, could a Herald of Slaanesh join a unit of Warp Talons with the Mark of Slaanesh? yes/no
  3. If ‘Punished by the Gods’ manages to kill a character that is riding on a Burning Chariot of Tzeentch or Seeker/Exalted Seeker Chariot of Slaanesh is the Chariot also removed? If not, can another Herald (with the appropriate dedication) now embark onto the rider-less chariot? no and yes/no and yes
  4. Do you decide which type of unit is arriving via ‘Summoned From the Warp’ before or after rolling to see how many models are in the unit? yes/yes
  5. Can any of the Warp Storm results that inflict hits (Rot, Glorious Rot, etc) cause damage to a zooming flyer? no/no because flyers are expensive and GW needs to sell more

Weapons

  1. If a model that has a Mutating Warpblade kills an enemy Character or Monstrous Creature with a ranged attack, does the ‘Warp Mutation’ rule still apply? Or is it only from combat attacks made using the Warpblade (like the Staff of Change)? only combat/only combat
  2. For weapons that trigger an ability when the bearer kills a specific model (such as a Staff of Change or Mutating Warpblade), how do you determine who actually killed the enemy model if several different models are all striking at the same Initiative step when the enemy model is killed? this is a stupid mechanic of wound pool/roll separate wound pools
  3. If Necron Mindshackle Scarabs force a character a model with a Mutating Warpblade or Staff of Change to kill himself does the Warp Mutation/Warpdoom special rule trigger as normal? yes/yes
  4. If a weapon inflicts Instant Death on a ‘to wound’ roll of 6 (like the Axe of Khorne, for example), does the attacking model still need to have the possibility of wounding the target in order to benefit from this ability? For example, say a S4 model is attacking a T8 opponent, does he still inflict Instant Death on rolls of ‘6’? yes/yes
  5. What happens if the Doomstone lowers St. Celestine’s Ld down to ‘0’? If she resurrects does she immediately die again because she still has a Ld of ‘0’, or does she ignore the effects of the Doomstone when she returns? dead/dead – this will never get FAQ’d
  6. Can an Icon of Chaos be used to reduce (or eliminate) scatter on the same turn the unit arrives from reserve? In other words, if unit A Deep Strikes onto the table and in the same turn unit B Deep Strikes within 6″ of unit A (and meets all the necessary criteria) does unit B benefit from unit A’s Icon to reduce or eliminate their scatter? yes/no I’ll be happy to eat my hat if I’m wrong about GW’s ruling on this one
  7. Do you roll to see if a Portalglyph creates a new unit at the end of the same Movement phase that it is placed? yes/yes More importantly, will GW sell a limited edition portal glyph like the DE webway portal?
  8. Does the Blade of Blood still grant the bearer ‘Rampage’ even if a different weapon is used to attack in that round of combat? no/no

Psychic Powers

  1. Is the Feel No Pain +1 bonus provided by Warpflame cumulative throughout the course of a game? For example, can a unit that starts the game with Feel No Pain (5+) have it improved up to (3+) after passing its Toughness test against Warpflame wounds in two separate shooting phases? If so, can a unit have its Feel No Pain improved to a (1+) and does this mean it automatically passes its Feel No Pain rolls? yes and max FNP 2+/yes and max FNP 2+ however, if this ever happens you need to give back your daemon card and get a new army.
  2. Does the +1 Strength bonus from the Exalted Locus of Conjuration apply to ancillary hits caused by their psychic powers, such as the bonus Soul Blaze hits or hits caused by a vehicle they manage to explode? no, but it does apply to hits from the blasted standard/what I said

HQ

  1. Are the Masque and the Blue Scribes really not supposed to be considered Heralds (for the purpose of taking up to 4 Heralds as a single HQ choice)? not Heralds/not Heralds (I had to think about this one because making them Heralds will sell more models, but since the Masque is old and the Blue Scribes already sold a ton, the best answer – from a sales perspective that screws players by forcing you to buy cool new models – not Heralds.
  2. Does Fateweaver’s Staff of Tomorrow allow him to re-roll a D6 that an opponent originally rolled? yes/no Come on, Fateweaver lost his bubble and needs to be the coolest model in the game so of course it should work, but it won’t.
  3. When the Masque performs the Dance of Caging, should you roll a single D3 and apply that to all moves the target unit tries to make, or roll a separate D3 each time the unit tries to move? separate D3 for each phase/separate
  4. Should the Masque’s Dance of Caging movement limitation apply to a Bike/Jetbike unit’s Turbo-boost movement and/or the Thrust Move for a Jet Pak unit? yes/no answering yes would admit that the rule was poorly written; however, they will FAQ in that the Masque (if played with a counts as Herald of Slaanesh model) gets to use an AP3 torrent weapon instead.

Elites

  1. Is the -1 Ld penalty for a Fiend’s ‘Disruptive Song’ cumulative? If so, is this calculated per Fiend model or per unit? For example, if a psyker is within 12″ of 4 Fiend models (all part of the same unit) would he have a -4 Ld penalty? Or if the psyker was within 12″ of two Fiend units, would he have a -2 Ld penalty (regardless of how many Fiend models from each unit were within 12″)? yes, cumulative per unit/no only -1 regardless  But seriously, for how expensive a Fiend model is, it should be per model.  Further more, once GW realizes that changing the answer to yes, for each model, will increase sales we will never see plastic Fiends.
Fast Attack
  1. Does a Screamer’s Lamprey Bite replace all bonus attacks the model has as (such as the +1 attack for charging, for example), or just its base attacks? They should get the +1 bonus from charging/GW will say no
  2. Are cover saves allowed from a Screamer’s Slashing Attack and if so, is the determination of whether or not a model is in cover calculated from the final position of the Screamers similar to a shooting attack? no, wasn’t this already covered in the daemon FAQ?/no
Heavy Support
  1. Does the Burning Chariot of Tzeentch really need to remain stationary to fire the Blue or Pink Fire of Tzeentch as non-snap shots (as they are a Heavy weapon and the Exalted Flamer is an embarked Infantry model)? no/no What a bone head maneouver.  Need to sell models, fix quickly.  This will be the answer that gets the FAQ out the door in 9 days.  I’d imagine the answer will be treat as if the weapon is mounted on the vehicle but use the Ex. Flamer’s BS.

Misc

  1. (basic rulebook question) What happens in close combat if a model has an Initiative of 0 (as can happen due to a Fiend’s ‘Soporific Musk’, for example)? Do they not make an Initiative Step Pile-in and not attack? They do nothing/your head implodes from the recursive rules conundrum.  Seriously though, who cares, Fiends are so 5th edition  😉

Final Game Thoughts

Necrons and Daemons are ever so slightly less cheesy.

Yesterday was the final outing for my old daemons.  I say final because I don’t think I’ll be playing in any tournaments in the next 28 days or so, and I think that the local tournament scene generally has a 30 day window on codex releases.  Anyway, my friend Andy and I teamed up for a local team tournament at Olde World Gaming in Elk Grove, CA.  Andy plays Necrons and Dark Angels, and neither very often.  We went into the day with the thought of finishing in the mid/upper tier but I wasn’t expecting 3 wins.

The first game was against a newer player, and while he put up a good showing it wasn’t really a fair match.  He was the ringer playing a single 2k point list against our Necron/Daemon list.

The second game was against a local favorite and his brother.  It was Space Marine bikes and Tau against us in Vanguard.  This was a much harder fought win, but still a win.  There are games like that one where everything goes my way and I see that my flamers are just awesome.

The last game was a knock down drag out “mirror” match where we fought Necrons and Tyranids.  It was Dawn of War and every turn ebbed and flowed.  At any given point the game could have gone either way.  We ended up pulling out a narrow victory, unlike the first two games.  The win earned me a Burning Chariot model, which presents its own set of issues (embarked passenger firing heavy weaponry, d’oh!).

So, when I look back at my experience this last year with my daemons I see a mixed bag.  I did well with them in 5th edition, but not awesome.  That said, I only started playing 40k again a little over 2 years ago, so I consider myself still learning.  The changes to the flamers and screamers made my army better, no doubt, but did it make me a winner?  I can’t say for sure, but it didn’t hurt my odds.

Changes that would have lessened the sting from the nerf bat

I’m going to focus on Tzeentch and things that would have lessened the sting of the change IMHO.

  • Give all units that start on the board scout.  Seriously, we’re daemons that errupt from the warp.  Placement should be scary for the opponent.  This compromises between normal deployment and complete deepstrike.  Most units would get a 6″ move.
  • Allow Ld tests for pshycic powers to be taken on the modified Ld even if it takes it higher than 10.  Fateweaver is the boss.  He lost his reroll bubble, don’t make him fail psychic tests 3/36 times.  He should auto pass, but still take perils.
  • -1 to opponents DTW.  Seriously, the average marine unit should not get a 1/6 chance to shut down psychic shooting from a daemon (made of the warp).
  • Daemons should be able to manifest witchfire for overwatch.

I can pretty much live with everything else.  Yeah, there is stuff I don’t like, but these few changes would make the stuff that isn’t supposed to be wonky and unreliable a little more paletable.

What do you think?

Pink Horrors Point Efficiency (part 2)

In the early day of 6th edition screamers and flamers were the damage dealers in an all Tzeentch army, but you were forced to take Pink Horrors to round out the army and score objectives.  Most daemon players would take other troops choices, but I remained true to my devotion to the changing tides of the aether.  I liked taking them in squads of 10-20 to keep them alive and deal some damage. I routinely ran a large blob squad of 19 horrors and the Changeling plus a Herald.  This was a mixed bag.

Pros:
Survivable 4++ save (rerolled near Fateweaver)
Massed fire (60+ shots at 18″)
Great overwatch potential (often poor actual results)

Cons:
Large deepstrike footprint
360-455 points that can mishap
Low BS shooting

Now that I have a copy of the rulebook I can confirm the rules that have been leaked before.  Namely that they are now 9 points, minimum squads of 10 and gain ward charges as the squad size increases.

One big drawback is the loss of overwatch, but this is countered with the increased 6″ range on the shooting attack.

I’ll compare their efficiency against terminators, marines and guard.  Given that flamers and screamers were majorly hurt by the new codex the horrors will have to stand up to various threats if a Tzeentch mono-build is to remain viable.

Some complained that my comparison before factored in disproportionate squad sizes, and while this was true the point per kill levelled the playing field.  This time I will compare squads of the same point cost to please the nay-sayers.  It just so happens that you can get 17 new horrors for the same cost as 9 old horrors.  Since 9 is the number of Tzeentch there must be something to this…

So, on the numbers, the unit is less efficient than it was before, but arguably has “maybe” some more flexibility depending on which phychic power you roll for.  The problem here is that before you could take a single bolt in a 5 horrors squad and camp an objective and provide some minimal anti-tank/air.  Now you take a large footprint unit that has a single power.
 
As you’ll see below adding a Herald becomes a must have if you want similar results as before (which wasn’t awesome to begin with).
 
 
Now, if you add a Herald into a squad you can slightly outperform the old horrors on MEQ killing, but TEQ and GEQ remain poor by comparison.  The way this comparison works if with the Presence of Conjuration (+1 strength) and using Presience to re-roll your hits.  On avergae you will kill just about 3.5 MEQ in your first turn of shooting.  Then you had better charge your screamers in to finish up the squad, because as soon as 3 of your horrors die your shooting falls of the cliff (- 25% effectiveness).
 
Now, all of that being said all it takes is a D6 deny the witch to shut you down entirely.
 
I asked for random, but never in my wildest imagination did I see the much needless random.
 

Pink Horrors Point Efficiency (part 1)

While screamers and flamers are the damage dealer in an all Tzeentch army, you have to take Pink Horrors to round out the army.  I like taking them in squads of 10-20 to keep them alive and deal some damage.  I routinely run squads of 20 horrors, which is a mixed bag.

Pros:
Survivable
Massed fire (60 shots at 18″)

Cons:
Large deepstrike footprint
360 points that can mishap

The most recent rumors suggest:

Pink Horrors – 9pts each (minimum 10)
ws 3 bs 3 s 3 t 3 w 1 i 3 a 1 ld 7
Psychic tests on a 10
Brootherhood of sorcerers
Blue horrors: if a pink horror is slain place a blue horror marker.. at initiative 1 the blue horror attacks causing the enemy unit to suffer one s2 hit with ap –

horrors can only cast change dicipline, not divination.
horrors get 1 warppoint, 2 at unit strength 11-15 and 3 at 16-20. they generate psychic powers at the start of the game like normal psykers but can only roll on tzeentch lore.

primaris: 24″ s 5 ap 4 assault 2d6, warpflames, soulfire. 1 warpcharge.
for each additional warpcharge you gain a additional d6
So I wanted to see how the “new” units stacks up to the old as an MEQ killer.

Aside from the range difference (now 24″) and the fact that the new horrors will have more random results (pschic test, deny the witch, and random number of shots) what I found is that point for point the new (when taken in a squad of 20) has about a 20% worse first turn killing efficiency vs MEQ than the old Pink Horrors.  This does not factor in taking a Herald with divination.

The unit is almost 40% worse at killing Guard Equivalent in a 5+ cover.

 
 

So, on the numbers the unit is cheaper, giving you more flexibility, but not quite as good at these tasks.  You can buff with a Herald if you want (see above right).  As soon as you take a wound you shooting drops of by 75% immediately, rather than in a linear fashion (model by model) but you have access to other powers as well beyond the normal Bolt of Tzeentch and you range is extended by 6″ giving you some more holding power and reducing the risk of deepstrike mishaps.

 

Warp Storm Table Odds

I figured I’d take a look at the potential for each result on the Warpstorm table to occur.  The percentage chance of a result occuring at least once doesn’t change with more rounds.  I started down that path initially but had to remind myself of come basic college math.  Now, the odds of a result occuring a specific number of times (greater than once) during a game of varying length does change.  I’ll leave that for another day.

2.78% – All units take a Daemonic Instability test
5.56% – One daemon Character tests on Leadership with 3D6 and takes wounds like Daemonic Instability
8.33% – All daemons -1 invulnerable save
11.11% – Roll D6 for all enemies and nurgle units, on a 6 hit by a 5″ template S4, AP5 barrage
13.89% – Roll D6 for all enemies and tzeentch units, on 6 D6 hits with S4 Ap3, poison, ignore cover
16.67% – Nothing
13.89% – Roll d6 for all enemies and khorne units, on 6 D6 hits with S6, Ap-, ignore cover, rending
11.11% – Roll d6 for all enemies and slaanesh units on 6 hit by a 3″ template S8, ap3
8.33% – +1 invulnerable save for daemons
5.56% – one enemy psyker test on Leadership with 3D6, if failed he explodes and you get a new herald in his place (Perils of Warp, we are here!!!)
2.78% – a new troop unit of your choice (bloodletter, plaguebearer, horror, daemonette) is summoned, 2D6+3 models

So in any game, the odds of getting a 2 or 12 at least once is less than 3% each.  While this will happen, it will be rare.

Now, assuming that your enemy has at least 6 units on the board (on average throughout a game – for giggles) you’ll have an 8.33% chance that an enemy unit will take a hit at least once during a game.  Granted it will be a random unit and a random hit type from the 4 types above, but that’s still something.

New Greater Daemon Models (and Chaos Furies)

 
 
 

Based upon what Stickmonkey writes below, and what we’ve already heard before we should be seeing new Daemon models within the next 3-4 months.  Who knows if this will part of a new codex or just another WD update.  The only thing that needs fixing to justify the purchase are the furies.

Also, based upon the Flyrant model I would expect to see GDs get bigger, but remain on 60mm round bases.  Looking forward to a complete redesign on the Keeper of Secrets.


via Stickmonkey on Warseer

Furies. They have been redone, they are coming for Daemons, they look so much better than the current models. The question will be if their rules make them worth it. They are about Nid Gargoyle sized, maybe a bit larger. Bat wings. Much more daemonic heads with toothy maws in 2 parts like the horrors and bloodletters. Not the bat men of old. Dual kit with a new ground based daemon, much like the vargheist/crypt horrors (which I’ve mentioned before).

There are a lot of questions winging my way about the GD. So to try to address those:

  1. I don’t know for sure all 4 will be released at once or if they will be in waves.
  2. I have conflicting rumors they are moved to the oval base and are roughly the size of the beastmen gorghon, vs staying on the 60mm round bases. Based on my personal eyes on on WIP before, they are bigger. The Greater Unclean One was not as big as the FW model, but its bigger than a dreadnought. My source says the Greast Unclean One is the best looking of the new models, that it is “absolutely rot, in a good way”.
  3. The Blood Thirster should be slightly shorter than the dreadknight. stylewise it hasnt changed much.
  4. The Keeper of Secrets is the most changed style wise. Does not go towards the FW model or retain the style of the current GW model. Still very slaaneshi
  5. The Lord of Change AFAIK is the tallest of the models, not just due to the wings. Did not appear as hunched as before. Head options include a more fishy looking option.