One of 2014's most frequent sources of early GW pictures has been closed down.
Throughout the year "Grot Orderley" has been the most frequent source of good quality pictures of upcoming releases. These are usually been lifted from the next weekend's White Dwarf.
Well it appears GW have had enough. Apparently he recently received correspondence from GW indicating that they would prefer that he no longer post their material.
Another finger in the dyke, albeit a particularly big hole.
Over the weekend the inaugural Crack's Call was held in Masterton.
The event was won by Sam Whitt using his Dark Elves. Strangely, his opponents didn't realise you could get 350 free points by shooting the Hydra and Shrine.
The results are now in the rankings and Sam has jumped up to 4th. McCrae Lounden, who finished 2nd, is the other big mover. He is now up to 3rd in the rankings.
Greg Greenfield has leapt to 15th and picked up the Dark Elf icon while Neil Williamson is now the proud owner of the Bretonnian icon.
Last weekend I got my Tomb Kings back from Sam who had used them earlier in the year. The last couple of days have seen a cold southerly blast Wellington so I took the opportunity to get the army out and make some repairs for minor breakages that it has suffered over the years.
So here it is spread over the floor in our front lounge. The tray in the middle has two blocks of 25 Sword & Board Skeletons and three blocks of 20 Skeleton Archers. Behind it are 40 Tomb Guard and two Catapults.
Earlier this year I painted 15 Skeleton Light Horse and they are in the bottom left. On the far left is my Casket - the Priest is missing but I have hiss two arms ..... Bizarre. On the table are 8 Necropolis Knights - I have another four unpainted but I think I'll flick those.
Looking to finish the army off this morning I ordered sufficient Sarissa trays to cover those that haven't got them. That will be a project at some time in the next month.
There are a few characters to paint - including the Limited Edition BSB who came with the TK box set over a decade ago.
All up there is well over 4000 points once I add in the Warsphinx and Necrosphinx I have downstairs.
Since I've come back from the ETC I have taken the opportunity to paint some units from a variety of armies that have been sitting as bare metal or grey plastic nakedness on my shelf.
Over the last week it has been the turn of five Hexwraiths.
There are two WHFB events on this weekend both outside the main centres.
The Tauranga Open is on in, not surprising, Tauranga and Crack's Call in Masterton.
Good luck to all those attending and safe travels.
When the Ogre Kingdoms book was release there was great fear and loathing at the inclusion of the Hellheart amongst the magic items.
This item was grossly overpowered and blatantly a "sports/comp hit".
Let's refresh ourselves with its rules. Once per game at the start of an opponent's magic phase - after rolling for Winds of Magic, channelling etc - the Ogre player can activate the Hellheart. At this point he rolls a die and any opposing Mage within 5x that roll in inches suffers a Miscast.
Cue wailing and gnashing of teeth.
I have been playing the Hellheart in my 2000 point Ogres and have wracked up 6-8 games. In those games the actual experience has been underwhelming to say the least.
Firstly the mechanics of it are very random. If the range was 5D6 inches you would have a normal distribution curve centred around 17.5". This would provide far more certainty for its use. The actual mechanic is totally random giving you 6 possible outcomes equally as likely as the other. This impacts its tactical use.
Secondly the Miscast table itself. There are five possible outcomes on this table. Two (Str 6 hit on friendly mages, small template Str 10 hit) outcomes have a 25% chance. The other three outcomes have a 16% chance. This means that will you may wound a Wizard you are unlikely - due to Hellheart alone - to kill a Mage.
Where the true value of the Hellheart is - and still highly dependent on luck - is in closing down an opposing magic phase. You have an 83% chance for each affected Mage that they will lose D6 Power Dice. As noted previously this is pure random as the range is determined by a single D6 roll.
So what does this mean for tactical play? Well the Ogre player has to make a calculated choice on activating the heart. Now generally he is happy to be in combat so closing the gap with enemy mages is not an issue. This means you are generally holding it for a Turn 3/4 earliest activation to ensure you get best use. Therefore early in the game you are susceptible to offensive magic unless you take a second Mage. This is becoming more common in Ogre armies as the prime Mage takes a lore other than Maw and you therefore are required to pay the "Butcher Tax". One of your two mages carries the Hellheart while the other takes a scroll.
What has been my return on the Hellheart? Offensively, virtually nil. As indicated it is too random in effect regards damage output. I suspect that the results I have had are generally indicative but it is a statistically small sample. Defensively, it can be very good. Held and then unleashed it can close down a critical magic phase - however this relies on your opponent generally allowing you within 10.1" of his mages. Smart opponents will react.
Overall I think it is a well priced item. It has a big negative in its range mechanic that push it more towards the quirky than the must have. Every time I take it I wonder whether I wouldn't be better having an extra Maneater so I suspect that is a good thing.
All that said I'm looking forward to the day when a Vampire Lord, Grey Seer, hierophant disappear down a hole!
On Saturday Sam came down for a game. He was running his Crack's Call Dark Elves - so 2000 points. We played Dawn Attack and neither of us was greatly affected by "random" deployment.
My big concern was Sam's Cauldron WEs ripping me a new one so I was determined not to let them hit anything meaningful. However my main re directors were very vulnerable to Sam's shooting and Magic.
Sam decided to charge the Sabrecat with his Hydra and the Bulls with his DR dart. The hydra made quick work of the cat but did take one wound in return. The Bulls survived the charge and killed three DRs in return.
I know that people continually bitch about how expensive Games Workshop's models are - and yes they are expensive- but I don't think that they give credit for just how good they are.
Games Workshop players are as a group a hypocritical bunch always looking for fault in the machinations of the Evil Overlord [as an aside contrast this with other gamers who seem to sup the Koolaid with all the critical analysis of a Moonie Cult member].
IMO one thing that is not up for discussion is the quality of the miniatures that GW produce. Every now and then they may deliver a shocker - and don't we let them know - but 95% (at least) of what they produce is light years ahead of their competitors. This especially holds true as they have moved into plastic and left both metal and Finecast behind.
You have a look at some of the dross other companies turn out in plastic (more a resin hybrid). At Adepticon one company gave out a box set of their plastic figures and having the chance to look at the figures I saw just how inferior they were to GW. Putting aside the aesthetics - which I personally find fugly - the material was so inferior to GW's hard plastic.
I know it's cool for all you Gen Y kids to "hate the man", "rage against the machine" etc but GW seriously deserves kudos for the quality of its product. Take a look at the new Morghasts, Nagash - in fact anything from the End Times - and it really is light years ahead. The 40k Ork release similarly is packed with great models. Sure you get the odd design clanger - I'm looking at the SW Santa Sleigh - but you can never fault the production quality. The scale and grandeur of the models is staggering.
And it's not just the models. If you haven't had the chance check out the new End Times: Nagash rule book. Great production quality, lots of new art etc.
Kudos to GW...you may be the Establishment but not everything you do is evil.
Earlier this week I polled the captains of teams signed up to NZTC as to their preference as to composition to be used. The results of that was a clear preference for FOB Lite excluding Special Characters. This received the most votes of any choice and importantly over 50% of total votes.
As a result I am going to amend the Composition System to be used to reflect that preference.
Given this is a change to advertised conditions, I am happy to offer any team that wishes to reconsider participation a refund.
An updated Players Pack will be uploaded tonight.
So looking around the net things seem to be coalescing around the second End Times release.
The most common date for the Chaos influx is 4th October announcement (personally I see this as a little early and wonder whether this will be the date of the dual 40k/WHFB release of plastic Greater Daemons.
Assuming this is the case it looks like we will have a multi month release - up to six weeks of Chaos tools. The first four weeks will have one of each of the four Chaos Gods have a Greater Daemon released in plastic. This is in line with previous model rumours. It also fills October.
Then in November we see the release of the second End Times book.
The book includes two new lists. Firstly there is rumoured to be a Cult of Slaanesh for Dark Elves with a new Unit and Chaos Demons. Secondly, a Chaos Mono-List for Nurgle with Warriors and Demons united. There is also a new profile for Archaon - presumably with a new plastic model - and the return of some of the older Chaos characters ( not sure if we get models). There is however rumoured to be a new named Nurgle Chaos Champion model.
These are truly exciting times.
The rankings have been updated for last weekend's Guardcon held in Auckland.
This has seen some small changes in the Top 10 - Kelly Gragg has entered the Top 10 for the first time. Rory Finnemore jumps to 13th.
With the end of October signalling the cutoff for the year, the Masters Mode function indicates that you currently need 210 points to be certain of qualification. That is likely to jump to 215 points in coming weeks.
Greg Greenfield has only two events in rankings but is attending two upcoming events. A podium finish at either will put him in the Top 10. Sam Whitt and Peter Williamson also need podium finishes at the same events to force themselves into the reckoning.
Guess we can expect a lot of Elves at upcoming events then.
In related news, Dark Elves have replaced Warriors of Chaos as New Zealand's most effective army. It completes the Cinderella story for the Dark Elves as they have risen from obscurity (9th in June) to their current position as all the power hobby gamers pile into them. Won't somebody please think of the Warriors, Lizards and Brets left behind!
On Monday I made a post "Tournament Turnout" highlighting what I saw as declining numbers locally. Re-reading it yesterday I thought it was a bit disjointed and lacking in detail so I removed it.
Here is a second take, this time backed up by some analysis. Below is a table looking at WHFB events in the Southern North Island over the past three years.
Included in the table is the event, month, number attended, points value and the comp system used.
Generally 2014 has seen less people attend events. This is partly due to attendance at Ruination (expected) and Runefang VII. The rest are in line with previous years.
The area has a limited player pool - population-based, to a certain extent - and that acts as prime determinant.
However I think the numbers also show some other points. In 2012 the Fields of Blood events moved to a standard model - permissive comp, standardised (read default sports) and accommodative painting. Since then there have been two main changes.
The first of these was the introduction in Comp system used. There were a vocal number of local gamers - and yes I remember who you were :-) - that said events were stale and that we needed to explore different comp systems. Now I appreciate that for regulars familiarity can breed contempt - and of course the grass is always greener. However I'd say in retrospect that that was an error.
Why?
Firstly, while there are a number of attendees who like to pore over all types of comp system trying to build the ultimate list, there are at least and equal number of gamers who aren't interested in that level of complexity.
Secondly, people like to bring their toys. They therefore want a permissive system. A basic tenet of comp is that "Everybody else's army is broken whereas yours is a model of innocence". People want to be able to bring what they want. The counter is to have a level of comp that allows that but knocks the worst excesses off "everybody else".
Finally, a lot of people like certainty. GW armies aren't cheap. Nor is the time investment small. Not everyone wants to buy and paint 3000+ points of an army to accommodate the vagaries of different comp systems.
I used FOB Lite in 2012 and 2013. This last year I have introduced variety into the events I organise (partly as a result of requests). That has been a failed experiment in my eyes as TO.
I'm sure people will point to the recent Guardcon and say how wonderful Swedish was. That's great and I'm glad people enjoyed it. However it is worth noting that Auckland is a city of 1.5 million.
The other change I made towards the end of 2013 was the introduction of the FOB Painting Checklist. To say this caused some people some angst is an understatement. However I stand behind the decision 100%.
Why?
Well firstly because this is a hobby. It is visual. There is nothing better in a tournament than seeing two nicely painted armies battle it out over nice terrain.
The previously permissive army presentation system had been introduced when the local community was growing and people were building their first army. Unfortunately there was no carrot or stick and as such progression stagnated.
The checklist system was designed to give that incentive for people to work on that hobby aspect - it also incidently slowed people bringing the latest net list. I totally stand behind the system and the contention that anybody can achieve the maximum 35 points with a little effort. The system has potential 45 points so you can direct efforts where you feel your time is best spent.
I would point to the efforts a number of people have put into their armies as a result of the system because they don't want to disadvantage themselves. I could also point to people who have made no effort. In the end my goal is to present attractive events. If I spend time (multiple weekends) to build nice terrain for events I don't think it is too much for people to spend a few nights working on their army if they want to maximise their points.
So the FOB checklist is here for keeps.
The final area I'd like to touch on is one or two day events. Now I appreciate that people have different priorities and calls on their time. For a lot of people one day events would be more attractive and convenient. I understand that.
However from a TO point of view they take just as much time and effort to organise as a two day event. They also have most of the financial outlay that a two dayer has. As such they would need to attract significantly more people to make them "worthwhile". I don't see that happening to be honest.
So that my warts and all precise of tournament turnout. If people do have ideas to increase turnout I am very keen to hear them. Yes, I'll likely be cynical - OMG You should run Panel Comp, it Roxxor - but I will at least listen.
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