From the front line

(Note : I'll be using this heading for all gaming stuff from now on, so those who aren't interested don't have to read it!)

First up, a couple of links. This one, to a series of WH40K-inspired comics, Turn Signals on a Land Raider. I've had a look last night, and there are some great ones in there. The other place worth a look is Battlewagon Bits. These were recommended - essentially you can by individual components through a US company instead of the entire sprue/kit. Useful for conversions, or for my troop modifications that are planned (more later).

My baptism of fire into the new edition of the rules for the game went relatively well. 500 points against a 15 year old munchkin, where I was able to prove that youth and enthusiasm are no match for age and treachery (plus some lucky dice rolls). A city fight which, after the commanders and retinues had duked it out in hand to hand, ended in a scene close to the Block War from Judge Dread. Luckily, my Lascannon was more accurate than Munchkin's missile launcher, and I was able to pick his troops off one at a time.

Next up was 1,000 points of my Dark Angels (but treated as Space Marines as I only have that Codex) against Eldar. I started off well, with the Tactical squads all in cover, allowing the assault squad and Deathwing to advance into the enemy territory. The two Falcons proved troublesome, first dropping off a squad of Banshees in front of my assault troops, then providing a scary amount of covering fire. Fortunately, the Deathwing, led by their Commander, were able to hold their own easily, and the remaining Banshees were mopped up by the assault marines. I was losing men to the fire from the Warp Spiders, who kept ducking back into cover after firing, making them impossible to kill.

The dreadnaught "Old Faithful" did manage to draw an awful lot of fire away from everyone else, mostly as it was the only thing I had that posed a threat to the Falcon tanks. He has been renamed "Fire Magnet".

The assault troops were wiped out in a salvo from the Falcon, caught out in the open after wiping out the Banshees. The Terminators decided that Honour and Valour were things for other people that day and ducked into the nearest cover to join the remaining troops. They were wiped out, at which point the commander coughbrokeandrancough and since the table edge was close, the bugger managed to rout from the field leaving the two remaining troops to attempt a last ditch break for the objective. "Butch" and "Sundance" will be honoured appropriately, whereas the commander has been summarily executed for being a pansy.

On the plus side, I did cause some embarrassing casualties to the Eldar and learnt some useful lessons:

(1) The game is much faster paced than 2nd Ed.

(2) Eldar are still evil little pointy-eared gits.

(3) Commanders are of limited use in the new rules. Better to go for a Chaplain as the HQ choice, put him with an assault squad and let them get on with it. He's got some useful traits that can help close combat troops.

(4) Terminators are not good at walking into combat. I already knew this, but don't have any transport for them and didn't like the sound of the Deep Strike rules on teleporting into combat (which was my usual tactic). A drop pod would solve this as the cheapest option, but a Land Raider Crusader is now on the Christmas list...

(5) The Marine option for carrying a heavy anti-tank weapon is even more pointless now than before. Far better to place them all in a single Devastator squad with a few standard marines to act as cannon fodder.

(6) Dreadnoughts still rock, but are not good when fielded with no other tank support (my Land Speeder was on the other side of the table)

(7) Land Speeders still rock, but are more vulnerable to incoming fire than I am used to. A second one to support it would help, as well as making better use of cover.

(8) Eldar are going to become even more evil pointy-eared gits when the new Codex is issued.

(9) Tank-Shock can be effective. More troops need Krak-grenades.

(10) Close combat is nasty. The weapon options on marines are limited now, so tactical troops do not carry bolt pistols etc. Also, power weapons and plasma pistols are not standard Assault Marine upgrades, so some modifications to my models will be needed.

(11) Marines need to be kept as squads of 10, not broken into smaller groups of 5. They need to be able to bring more bolters to bear on the enemy. This also applies to Assault squads, who I think need at least 8 men.

(12) Weapons have changed! Several weapons are no longer used, or have been modified. The Warp Spiders web spinner things are just a rapid fire weapon (although that is about to change) They will be lethal if they get the template weapon back! Imperial Guard can no longer have assault cannon (making my sentinels redundant). Assault cannons are just as effective as ever against light vehicles and troops. They seem to be less effective than I remember against vehicles.

(13) The mission options are pretty slick, adding a more interesting twist to the games. The second game was aiming to capture table quarters, for instance.

More later.