July 2008 – Issue #7
Art by Tim Divar
Editorial
“That’s the end of that one. Atmospheric conditions in outer space often interfere with transmitting.” - General Roberts, ‘Plan 9 From Outer Space’ Time for release already?! It’s already been three months since I wrote my last editorial?! It hasn’t been an easy three months for many of us, and I must admit how proud of the staff and myself I am this issue. Despite many of us being full time students, having a career, raising children and having to deal with the variety of life we’ve still managed to put together yet another astounding issue. I sincerely hope you will agree. This issue we’ve been working on making a great magazine better. I’ve been very fortunate in my
search for devoted staff to help with Firebase - okay, so some did approach me themselves, but I’m glad they did! In this issue you’ll find we have some talented new artists and writers who will become regular contributors to Firebase. We’ve got a fan-made codex that is nothing short of excellent, complete with instructions on making your own terrain and a battle report. Comprehensive event coverage from both sides of the world is included, and even a peek into what our staff are working on themselves; I hope, faithful readers, that you will be pleased with our efforts. We’re already working on Issue 8, amongst other fun stuff for you, and I think you’re going to be in for a treat. I’ve got one more bit to say, summer is here! Have a safe and fun one! -Gabriel “Gabe” Schrock, Editor
FIREBASE STAFF Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Gabriel Schrock Gaming Sub-Editor . . . . Michael Glaeser Modelling Sub-Editor. . . . . . Stephen Gair Advisor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Adam Smith Design & Layout . . . . . . . . . . Jon Mattison Proofreaders . . . . . . . . . . . Greg Alexander Huw Davies James Maliska Matthew Phelps
STAFF Cover Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tim Divar Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Travis Andrews Nacho Fernandez Tim Solosy Comics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Brian Solomon Paul Wantland Writers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Timo Lorenz David McGuire Geoffrey Snider
FIREBASE is published every three months in association with Warseer.com. All text and layout remains the copyright of FIREBASE. FIREBASE is a fully independent publication and its views are not the views of any company mentioned herein. All characters and artwork shown in this magazine remain the © and trademark of their respective owners. No part of this magazine may be reproduced without the express permission of the Editor or Deputy Editor. FIREBASE can accept no responsibility for inaccuracies or complaints arising from editorial or advertising within this magazine. All letters and emails received will be considered for publication, but we cannot always provide personal replies. This fanzine is completely unofficial and in no way endorsed by Games Workshop Limited. FIREBASE is a nonprofit making fanzine with the aim of promoting Games Workshop games, products and hobby. Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
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Table of Contents
IN THIS ISSUE
18
51
30
89
Staff Work-in-Progress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 News from the Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Adepticon Travelogue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Open Bash Coverage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 APOC Datasheet: Stormhammer . . . . . . . 30 The Imperial Register . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 What’s Wrong with my Bolter? . . . . . . . . . 34 Tips & Tactics: Army List Efficiency . . . . . . 36 Ruleset: Jungles of Death battlezone. . . . 43 Battle Report: Jungles of Death . . . . . . . . 51 Modeling: Jungles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Modeling: Advanced CoD Ruins. . . . . . . . 77 Scratchbuilding: Tau Orca . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 APOC Datasheet: Tau Orca . . . . . . . . . . . 103 Scratchbuilding: Tyranid Meiotic Spore . 106 Stripping Forgeworld Tanks. . . . . . . . . . . 110 Comics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 Fiction: Four Horsemen Amateur Night. 115 Fiction: Titans Anamnesis . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 BoLS: 5th Edition First Impressions. . . . . 129 Interview: Ross Watson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 Dark Heresy: Daemonhosts . . . . . . . . . . . 133 Specialist Games Section . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
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Staff Work-in-Progress
STAFF WORK-IN-PROGRESS
BEN SKINNER Top Left: I’m putting together a new 40k Marine Army for 5th edition; each squad is going to be painted as if they’re fighting at night with a light shining on it. Top Right: An example of the light effect as used on the Terminator Squad. Right: I’m also working on some Epic Chaos Space Marines. The Daemon Prince is scratchbuilt.
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Staff Work-in-Progress HUW DAVIES Wolfie I had a crazy idea to make a really distinctive Spawn based on the ‘Loper’ creatures from the ‘Return To Castle Wolfenstein’ game, and after some brainstorming this... thing was the result. The basis for the torso is the top half of an Ogre body, with sprue forming the ‘skeleton’ of the arms; I wanted to use the same technique CGI artists use to get realistic body proportions, building muscles over skeleton and adding skin last of all. In the second shot you can see how far I’ve gotten with this, just needing now to blend in the claws and add horrible Nurgly skin...
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Staff Work-in-Progress Possessed 2 This one is a weird mish-mash of Ogre, Spawn and Possessed bits, with a Terminator helm added for good measure; as much as anything else, I wanted to see how smoothly I could get such disparate body parts to match up. Ideally I think any conversion should look homogenous, with no obviously alien parts or a neon sign pointing to a certain part of the miniature saying “Here Is The Green-Stuffed Bit” - I spend a lot of time trying to match up contours and surface textures on things for this very reason. So far I’m pretty pleased with this guy, I think his posture looks pretty businesslike for such a smorgasbord of components...
Huw Davies’ Possessed 2 Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
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Staff Work-in-Progress Jaws Inspired in roughly equal quantites by the Possessed torso with the teeth embedded in it and the ‘Butterball’ Cenobite from the ‘Hellraiser’ movies, Jaws is as much an exercise in stretching my sculpting abilities as anything else. Again I used an Ogre torso as the basis, this time filling the centre-body cavity with green-stuffed flesh then painting it with Chaos Black, Blood Red and Chestnut ink to give a shiny dark meat colour to the whole thing which is just visible enough behind the teeth to look suitably disturbing and gross. So far I’m very pleased with how the mouth and the various flesh textures have come out...he should end up being a very distinctive-looking miniature on the table.
Huw Davies’ Jaws Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
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Staff Work-in-Progress
GABRIEL SCHROCK UNSC M12 Warthog LRV So I recently discovered these beauties. As it turns out, McFarlane Toys has made a Halo 3 vehicle series. In the first series we have the Ghost, Brute Chopper and the Warthog. I couldn’t help picking up three of these. Their scale is perfect for 28mm uses. They cost me only $10 each and I’ve had to stop myself from buying the Brute Choppers, as I feel they would make excellent bikes for Space Marines or Orks. I replaced the antennae with a bit of brass wire because the original one is a bit too thick for my tastes. The original M41 Light Anti-Aircraft gun barrels were replaced by plastic rod and greenstuff binding. The bigger barrels look a lot more imposing. Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
Here you can see my triplets lined up. Once completed they will receive a data sheet. 8
Staff Work-in-Progress JON MATTISON My whole hobby life is a work in progress, but really, here’s what I’ve actually touched in the last few weeks. I’ve loved the Bretonnian’s as Imperial Guard ever since Dave Taylor got published several years ago. So a few months ago I began hunting for bitz on eBay and the Warstore. I’d originally intended to only do a squad for use with Dark Heresy but then I kept winning auctions... uh, yeah. Once I counted them all up it totalled 50 models. Oops. This actually works out just fine since I’d been working on a Traitor Guard datasheet for Apocalypse which was a mix between Lost and the Damned (EoT) traitors and the Imperial Guard codex. My datasheet has you taking a Traitor Command squad and 2-5 squads of up to 15 traitors. As you see above, all flamer operators must be crazy and have to wear the silly clown hat. Next up, all pewter Deathwing.
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Staff Work-in-Progress
I grabbed every available Deathwing model when my local game store went out of business a couple of years ago. When the new Dark Angel’s codex came out I headed to eBay to fill out the roster. I ended up with 7 squads with Assault Cannons and a Chain Fist, 1 Lightning Claw squad and 4 each of Cyclones and Heavy Flamers to swap in as alternate heavy weapons. Belial “Wolverine” (magnatized arms) and a Chaplain round out the figures. I’m two storm shields short of completing a Hammer squad. I will probably resort to using plastic shields from the new kit. Currently basecoated bleached bone, I am now undecided which of the new washes to use on them (Mud or Sepia). Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
Left: Jon’s Belial “Wolverine” with magnetized arms Above: Two shields short of a Hammer squad 10
Book Reviews
NEWS FROM THE LIBRARY Dear Brothers, dear Enemies: Before we get to the reviews, I would like to recommend the following ritual to get into the spirit of things: go three days without shaving and watch the movie ‘Conan The Barbarian’, at least once. Things get barbaric in this issue! We’ve got a new Space Wolves novel, the third Grey Knights novel (in which Justicar Alaric mutates into a type of Conan) and a Firebase premiere. For the first - and probably only - time we are presenting a piece of Warhammer Fantasy; when a book about Sigmar is published, especially bearing a grandiose title like ‘Heldenhammer’, even us 40K fanatics can’t just ignore it. We’ve got several other interesting topics for you as well, of course... On to the reviews! Timo Lorenz (Brother Marine; Book Worm Chapter) ‘HAMMER OF DAEMONS’ - BEN COUNTER When you pick up a C.S. Goto book you can be pretty sure that there will be a couple of Eldar in it. Ben Counter’s books are kind of like that, except that his forte is the forces of Chaos. When the planet Sarthis Majoris is attacked by Chaos, the Inquisition sends Justicar Alaric along with four other Grey Knights. The outcome is devastating; not only do the forces of the Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
Imperium suffer a crushing loss, but Alaric is captured alive and carried off to the Daemon world Drakaasi in the Eye Of Terror. Upon arriving, he realizes what his tormentors expect of him: he becomes a gladiator, fighting for his master’s reputation as well as that of his master’s god Khorne in the planet’s arenas. A legend about the ‘Hammer of Daemons’ circulates on Drakaasi. Will Alaric find it before he is killed in one of the fights or, worse yet, before his soul is corrupted by Khorne? What is the Hammer of Daemons anyway? Ben Counter does what he does best - he write about Chaos and its followers, with convoluted schemes and power struggles nestling amidst bloody battles and obscure daemons. The book
also offers a few surprises; ever since ‘Daemon World’, I stick to Ben Counter when wanting to read about a planet in the Eye of Terror. If you liked Conan, you’ll love the new Alaric! ‘RELENTLESS’ - RICHARD WILLIAMS With his first novel, Richard W illiams delivers a story of the Imperial Navy. When the captain of the Relentless dies, it takes a few years before a decision concerning his replacement his made; in the meantime, First Officer Ward is in command. He is not exactly delighted to find out that it’s not him but hardliner Captain Becket who will be promoted to Captain of the Relentless. There’s only one way to cover up his corruption: Becket must die in order for the status quo to be upheld. With help from his squad of officers Ward devises a diabolical plan, bumping off the disagreeable novice during a visit to the planet. After being declared dead, Becket returns to the ship as a work slave; seeking revenge, he makes his way up to the commando deck. ‘Relentless’ is exciting and new. The plot is a refreshment within the 40k universe, and First Officer Ward’s schemes are diabolical, yet the ending seems rushed, as if the author ran out of ideas towards the last third of this book.
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Book Reviews The elements that make this book so unique within the first 200 pages are somewhat lost towards the end. Had Williams managed to retain this style through the last page, this book would have been my top recommendation for this issue.
progress, losing everything he holds dear on the way. Graham McNeill is a good choice for an author because he brought us many novels including the great ‘Fulgrim’ whose protagonist is an enigmatic and tragic hero, much like Sigmar.
‘HELDENHAMMER, THE LEGEND OF SIGMAR’ - GRAHAM MCNEILL
He skillfully shows us the facets of a man with big dreams and goals, and it never gets boring; this book is a must for all Warhammer fans, not just because of its magnificent title.
Finally someone provides us with a novel about the primary hero of the Warhammer universe. The Fantasy series ‘Time of Legends’ is the equivalent of 40K’s cornerstone literature series, the Horus Heresy. But, enough digression… on to Sigmar! The book describes the time in Sigmar’s life between the Battle of Astofen and the Battle at Black Fire Pass. If you’re expecting a myth like the Iliad or the Nibelungen I have to say you will be disappointed because this book focuses more on Sigmar as a person, his dreams, feelings, and goals in creating his empire than on the epic story line and the complete life of Sigmar. If that’s what you’re after I would recommend reading the ‘Artefact’ book ‘The Life of Sigmar’ by Matt Ralphs. He combines the most disparate human tribes into a unit by means of war, diplomacy and Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
‘PLANETKILL’ - SHORT STORIES It’s fun to get my hands on a book of short stories every now and then, despite my love for long, epic stories. It’s always possible to find little gems within these collections of stories, even if they are only 50 pages long. ‘Planetkill’ offers a few of these gems, so let’s have a look. The book doesn’t start off all that glamorously; ‘Voidsong’ by Henry Zou is an average 40k story, easy enough to see through for old-timers. In the treasure-chest of short stories, this is more of a copper piece than anything else. ‘Mortal Fuel’ by Richard Williams and ‘The Heraclitus Effect’ by Graham McNeill raise the bar. However, they don’t diverge from the characters covered in each authors’ novels, so Williams writes about the Relentless and McNeill about Uriel Ventris.
Obviously, this is a matter of taste - but when reading a short story, I’m looking to discover something new instead of obtaining some extra information for already existing stories. Alas, every hoard of treasure contains a few silver coins as well. The last four stories are the reason I will keep reading short stories, since they’re the gems I was referring to. Both Simon Dyton’s ‘The Emperor Wept’ and ‘Phobos Worked in Adamant’ by Robey Jenkins both shed some light on the Adeptus Mechanicus. They are suspenseful, intelligent stories regarding this often-bypassed part of the 40k universe. With his story ‘Seven Views of Ulguth’s Passing’ Matthew Farrer delivers the obscure tale of a warp entity looking for its master. In the course of 39 confusing and refreshingly different pages, this entity is being described from the viewpoint of seven different beings/existences. This story alone makes ‘Planetkill’ worth reading. The last story is ‘Mercy Run’ by Steve Parker, author of the Imperial guard novel ‘Rebel Winter’; here Parker again focuses on Imperial soldiers. Three tanks are sent on a special mission just hours before the destruction of a planet; a race against time and against their own morals ensues. A perfect Imperial Guard story! All in all, ‘Planetkill’ is actually a pretty good compilation. After all, as we all know, a treasurechest is never filled solely with diamonds…
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Book Reviews ‘BATTLE FOR THE ABYSS’ - BEN COUNTER Volume 8 of the Horus Heresy saga is presented by Ben Counter, who also penned the third volume, ’Galaxy in Flames’. Horus’ allies among the Mechanicum of Mars are secretly building a battleship of massive proportions, the Furious Abyss, which they bestow upon the fanatic, scheming World Bearers. A race within the warp ensues after testing the new super-ship against a smaller fleet; will the survivors of the attack be able to warn the Ultramarines’ home planet of the approaching destruction on time? And how do you handle your brother turning into the enemy? I prefer not to go into the content of the Horus Heresy books because they need to be explored by the reader. I would hate to give away too much, but ‘Battle for the Abyss’ is a gripping novel and can hold its own in the range of Horus Heresy books. A big plus here is the fact that Ultramarines are fighting on the same side as Space Wolves, Thousand Sons, and World Eaters, and we all know that this is a highly volatile mixture. Ben Counter really allows the reader to become part of the book and its moods,
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and he perfectly displays the individual traits of the different Astartes Legions. If the series remains this exciting, and if the likes of Dan Abnett, Ben Counter, and Graham McNeill can keep bouncing the story back and forth so perfectly, there’s hope for many more instalments here. I look forward to the 9th volume with great anticipation: the war reaches Mars in this one. ‘Battle for the Abyss’ and the Horus Heresy series are a must for all fans of Sci-Fi, and furthermore basic literature for all 40k fans. This is my recommendation for this issue! ‘WOLF´S HONOUR’ - LEE LIGHTNER Lee Lightner’s attempt to continue the Space Wolf saga turns out to be a difficult task. What Nathan Long’s ‘Gotrek and Felix’ accomplished with grandeur (the continuation of a William King series) is not a successful undertaking for L i g h t n e r. The protagonist is lacking some new substance in the sixth novel of this series.
enemy ship, and being chased by Ragnar, an old Space Marine remembers how he came this close to the abyss. The old nemesis, Madox, makes an appearance in order to perform a dark ritual with the lost Spear Of Russ. The Space Wolves’ territory is attacked by followers of Chaos on all sides; Ragnar is sent on a special mission to stop the hated Thousand Sons and also to return the Spear of Russ and thus find salvation. Upon entering a “mirror world” of the planet within the Warp, a long kept secret of the Space Wolves is revealed. Wolf’s Honour is a not a bad book, but Lee Lightner does not manage to fully capture the Space Wolves’ esprit and charm as William King did. After all, who could ever forget the farting Space Marine? Of course, this story is absolutely necessary for the closure of the saga but I find it a bit too predictable. Compared to other Black Library releases, this book doesn’t really have what it takes to enthrall me. It’s neither magnificent nor terrible, it’s just plain average.
As usual, this Space Wolf novel begins and ends on a scene set in the present which sparks the memory of the main story around which the novel revolves. Upon succumbing to the beast within himself while boarding an
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Special Report: My First Adepticon
MY FIRST ADEPTICON By Brian “Lexington” Solomon AdeptiCon is a cultural event that’s entirely unparalleled in its scope, scale and prestige within the world of the Warhammer 40K community. In past years it has equalled or even replaced Games Day as the première 40K hobby event in North America. It is here that the armies which go on to terrorise the tournament scene for the next year are previewed and perfected. It was at AdeptiCon in 2007 that Jervis Johnson gave his nowfamous talk on the ‘future of 40K,’ laying out what we would eventually come to know as the design philosophy behind 5th Edition. Teams of players prepare year-round to take part in the much-hyped Team Tournaments. For anyone who thinks their game of 40K is a competitive one, it’s as near as one gets to the National Championships.
I’m not such a person; as a somewhat recent ‘re-convert’ to 40K, and never the most spectacular tabletop general, the idea of attending the largest and most prestigious of tournaments seemed like a self-defeating endeavour. But I like people. I like 40K. What’s more, I’m constantly impressed by the amount of dedication and hard work that so many people put into this hobby. Thus it was with that in mind, along with the prodding of a few friends online, that I packed up my camera and some notepads and started the trip out to Chicago to take in three days of observing the biggest 40K event around. THE TOURNAMENTS Beneath all the fanfare and brouhaha, AdeptiCon is a tournament. The tournament, actually, if you happen to reside within the greater continental area. My own experience with tournaments was, and continues to be, fairly minimal; but there’s a certain magic to seeing so many Games Workshop gamers together under one roof, playing to win.
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It is apparently something of a running controversy within the community as to the viability of tournaments which demand that players bring armies with paint tastefully applied to their models, but the effect it has to the casual observer is definitely positive – never before have I been witness to so many brilliant conversions and stunning paint jobs all in one place. The Gladiator tournament in particular, which allows Forgeworld and Apocalypse units, was far and away the most visually spectacular. I don’t believe it would have been physically
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Special Report: My First Adepticon possible to safely store more Gargants in a single room. The tournament scene, however, is unfortunately much less than the sum of its more delicious parts. My observations, confirmed by independent (often ranting and inebriated) analysis, put the number of Tyranid and Eldar forces at roughly a combined 80% of the population, the rest peppered with Orks and Space Marines. The contents of these lists need no extrapolation here – suffice to say that they were exactly what one would expect from such a set-up. It’s a grim premise, and makes the introduction of a fresh set of rules seem that much more enticing.
From the Team Tournament; top to bottom: Eldar display, team Flying Hellfish, and the Four Horsemen banner Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
THE SEMINARS One of the highlights of AdeptiCon is the set of sessions that are set up every year, led by dedicated hobbyists and even some GW Studio members. My first seminar was Friday’s chat with Phil Kelly, Dark Xenos Overfiend of the 40K Design Studio and the man responsible for the Eldar and Ork Codexes; which are, in my opinion, some of the most delightful additions to the game in some time. Phil’s a treat to talk with, and he answered our small group’s questions with an enthusiasm that drove home his dedication to the game as a hobby and a fun-generating device. “If you write up an army list to use your toy dinosaurs, it’s not something you want to bring to a tournament,” he said. “But if you’re playing in your mate’s garage...well, by God, bring those dinosaurs, man!”
At the seminar, Phil explained that the processes in the design studio have changed a bit recently, becoming more formalised and less random than previously. The Codexes, especially, will now be less of the formatting and typeset pipe-bomb that previous releases have been. Indeed, we’ve seen this since the release of the Eldar Codex, but he explained in more detail that there is now a “Codex: Codex” that lays down the rules for formatting and that the Studio intends to follow this from here on out.
Dave Taylor, of GW’s US Community Team The other seminar I attended was with Dave Taylor, the head of GW’s US Community Team, who explained GW’s new direction for community development - which is to say that they now actually have one. Dave’s a trooper and carried on with the session long after its allotted running time, even though his poor British body had been wracked by one of our foul American diseases. As Dave explained, GW
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Special Report: My First Adepticon is now focused on supplementing and assisting existing clubs, tournaments and conventions, rather than creating their own official structures. Their past efforts at trying to expand their official reach have not done well, and they’ve found that for the cost of one tournament run by themselves they can simply support three or four community-run tournaments. In addition, they’ve set up the new Kommando program, which will be something of a storebased (rather than area-based) version of the old Outrider program. All in all, one gets the idea that GW is serious about supporting its player base without putting such a dividing line between ‘official’ and ‘unofficial’ anymore. THE TEAM DISPLAY GALLERY The Team Tournament is a tradition at AdeptiCon, and teams from across the country come to show their colours – and their efforts. Several teams brought displays this year,
More Team Tournament; team Space Wolf including a massive, show-stopping diorama piece from the 300+ that sat in the middle of the showroom. Enjoy!
From the Team Tournament; top to bottom: team Howling Griffons, team Threes Krumpany and team Ulthwe. Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
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Special Report: My First Adepticon
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Open Bash at the Ammo Bunker
ONE HALL, TWO DAYS, 113,000 POINTS – ONE MAN’S TALE OF TRAGEDY AND DESPAIR1 FORUM ALIASES HAVE BEEN USED TO PROTECT THE INNOCENT
“If no one else turns up we are going to look like the fat kid that no one wants to pick for the sports team…” I had uttered those words on several occasions in the run-up to this day, most of the time keeping the thought to myself although in moments of weakness I had shared this concern with others whose general demeanour gave off the same mixture of excitement and utter dread. To explain, I will take you back a few months… I’m a member of a forum called Ammobunker. A moderator, in fact, though the reason behind this often eludes me but that’s life in my world - I just go where the tide takes me and hope I don’t drown on the journey. Those of us who are, for want of a better phrase, ‘in charge’ decided to have a gathering of members where we can all get to meet each other in person and introduce ourselves to those who have not yet seen the light that is Ammobunker.
Without knowing how it was going to work, or who was going to turn up, or in fact any other detail whatsoever Warhammer World was booked. We were now committed to the endeavour. Were we mad, and taking our first step on the road to infamy and damnation? We hadn’t a clue; we just knew we had the possibility of something great on our hands… or to end up like the aforementioned sports outcast. The event was called ‘The Open Bash’ as it was to be open to anyone who wanted to come, member or not. The call was put out and the response was good; even though we knew that half to two thirds of the ‘definitely be there’ replies would have become a ‘sorry, can’t make it’ by the day itself we could see we’d still be left with a decent turnout. As the day grew closer, the worries increased. Not just the obvious worry about people turning up but also will those who do turn up have an enjoyable day… or would they be disappointed as the day descends into pandemonium or boredom? Most of us began building more models in earnest to make the centrepiece of the day – a bloody huge game of Apocalypse – as spectacular as possible.
1 Ok, I admit half of the title is pretty meaningless, but I liked the sound of it. Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
My role on the day would be threefold refereeing, taking pictures and covering a WIP area to show some projects being undertaken by people from Ammobunker. However, I also wanted to contribute to the Apocalypse battle by providing some models. The final week had me building tanks – two tank squadrons (one of Vanquishers and one of Demolishers), a single Destroyer Tank Hunter and to round my contribution off there was my Decimator (a
The sign that greeted us at Warhammer World 18
Open Bash at the Ammo Bunker Shadowsword look-a-like). “As long as they’re undercoated they can get in on the game” was my mantra in those couple of weeks. As well as tanks for the Apocalypse game I was trying to get as many interesting projects together for the WIP table as possible but I was running short of time. The thought of calling in sick surfaced, but that wouldn’t look good right before time I’d already booked off as holiday… THE FRIDAY BEFORE It’s the Friday before the Bash arrives; I’ve booked the day off work so I can pack everything in the morning, drive to Nottingham and be at Warhammer World for early afternoon. I find myself packing tanks that still smell of paint from the undercoat I gave them the night before. If I wasn’t annoyed enough that I didn’t get them 100% finished, I had three things break as I pack them. My Nurgle Dreadnought is carefully packed away along with as many finished and WIP projects I can muster, including my Earthshaker emplacement and its WIP sibling. To round off the packing I grab
The Skeleton Guard of Digits a selection of glue and knives for those last minute repairs. It’s not long before I am pulling into the Mecca of all that is Warhammer. I’ve always liked Warhammer World; it certainly beats the usual corporate headquarters. And how many gaming venues have a bar?
Everything I took with me bar a bag of figures, it was enough… Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
The main thought behind today was a quick refresher in Apocalypse and giving us the opportunity to sort out a few details with WHW itself. I met up with fellow
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Open Bash at the Ammo Bunker really something to see in the flesh (although for Digits’ Skeleton Guard army that may not be the most appropriate way to put it). Jase had spent many hours slaving away in the run up to this day building a Stormhammer; it was his pride and joy, the pinnacle of his tank-building skill. Unfortunately I was on the opposing team and my Decimator tore apart his precious tank like a mid life crisis on a man nearing forty3. 3
Ammobunker moderators Digits and Jasevx, whose bright idea this was in the first place (do I thank him or kill him? That was yet to be decided) as well as a gentleman known simply as “Big Bad” Col who - due to the pathetic excuse of ‘working’ - could not make it to the Open Bash itself. After lunch in Bugmans2, we got down to a little bit of Apocalypse.
The Imperial Cathedral
The Tau Outpost
Which, in fact, Jase is.
Turn three soon rolled around and as Digits proceeded to mop up what was left of Jase and Col’s forces I had a look round the hall. The tables for our Apocalypse games were set up ready for tomorrow. Set out was terrain we had seen countless times in White Dwarf and on the GW website, such as the huge
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Including a small mix up involving Col’s wife and some mushrooms - “The amount of money I’ve given them over the years and they forget the mushrooms… I should get mushrooms with everything as a thank you… Rhino and mushrooms, Land Raider and mushrooms. Those mushrooms probably cost me five grand…”
The Imperial Guard armies of Jase and Digits will be the backbone of the Open Bash Apocalypse game and the two armies are Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
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Open Bash at the Ammo Bunker ruined cathedral4 and the Tau Outpost5. Also reserved were some more regular generic tables plus some Mordheim and Necromunda tables. 4
“I think I can fit that in my car. I’m sure I could fit that in my car,” Digits was overheard muttering under his breath more than once.
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Which doesn’t appear to have any doors.
Arriving amongst us was another ‘Bunkerian’ in the shape of Asmodai Dark, a fellow Moderator who for the Open Bash had fiendish plans involving zombies and a monkey called Sunshine6. 6
It has never been made clear just how much influence the monkey has had in the direction of Asmodai’s life; all we know is at times AD can be heard muttering “the organ grinder, the organ grinder…”
The day had gone well, the hall was looking good and we had managed a small 4K-a-side game of Apocalypse without coming to the Zombies!
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Open Bash at the Ammo Bunker wasn’t celebrating a birthday, a monkey being accused of molesting itself, arguments over a smoked sausage and all of us wondering if we would hear on the news the following day why one of the group hadn’t turned up at the railway station or let any of us know where the hell he was… THE BIG DAY. After a slight detour through the middle of Nottingham City Centre7 I arrived at Warhammer World at the ungodly hour of nine in the morning. I turned up just as the other Mods and their various hangers-on (you know who you are…) arrived. We now had six Ammobunker Moderators together in a room; I was starting to worry that we were approaching an ‘all your eggs in one basket’ scenario, I mean one airstrike and AB would be crippled… I have these odd thoughts sometimes, not sure why. 7
Guys looking worried as they see what has just appeared before them…
We got down to the business of setting up. It was decided that two Apocalypse boards just weren’t right so we joined the two up for one huge game instead. We now had a gaming table forty-eight feet long by six feet wide giving us two hundred and eighty-eight square feet of gaming area.
conclusion that the larger Open Bash game was going to be a disaster. Throughout the day we’d had people approaching us and showing an interest, not only in the armies we were playing with but - crucially - in what we had planned for the next day. Things were looking good. After packing our models away to be stored overnight in the GW storeroom we left Warhammer World aiming to meet up later… While I shall skip the events of the Friday night I will mention it involved people turning up from ‘Up North’, a birthday cake for someone who Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
Stupid bloody directions.
…a Bug that needs more than a big glass and a bit of card to get rid of.
Asmodai quickly claimed a table for his Necromunda style game ‘Something Something Something Zombies (‘SSSZ’)’, and while he and Deserter got down to working out what they were doing the rest of us began setting up the Apocalypse game. Start time was meant to be about half ten with those 22
Open Bash at the Ammo Bunker already present deploying on the board for the first turn while later arrivals would then join in as reserves. Games Workshop leant us three Baneblades from their cabinets increasing even further the number of super-heavies we had, also loaned to us was the stunning Forge World Hierophant which was put to use bolstering the Tyranid ranks at the centre of the board. GW also provided us with a Stompa but as no one turned up with any Orks it had to sit by the side, looking forlornly at the mayhem it couldn’t join in with. It was around this time that a man by the name of Brian introduced himself, head honcho of Warhammer World (and Games Day organiser no less) and here to oversee the event. A brief speech welcoming us and giving us the
low down on health and safety etc. followed; my attention began to drift off at this point, though finding out there was a fire escape hidden behind the façade tower door got my attention. You never know when you may need one. I’m not sure if being Warhammer World Number One really constitutes a proper job, but I have to give it to him he made us all welcome and was generous beyond the call of duty… especially when you consider the bunch of reprobates he had to deal with. “Darn, blast and damnation” aren’t the exact words I used when I realised I had left the Nurgle Dreadnought I had spent so long working on specially for the day at the hotel, but our esteemed editor8 won’t let me print what I actually said. Getting over that
WiP: Guardsman by Schoolcormorant annoyance I set about getting the WIP table set up and unpacking the tanks I had brought to be used in the Apocalypse battle. More expletives followed upon the realisation that I’d also left the glue, the knives and the Decimator Datasheet at the hotel. Not a good start. 8
Who used the lame excuse of living in a different country for his non-attendance.
First turn action Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
Taking advantage of a wi-fi internet connection and a great big flat screen TV that GW 23
Open Bash at the Ammo Bunker wheeled out, the being known only as ‘Schoolcormorant’ set up his laptop so we could have images from the forum in the background. People would also be able to sign up there and then if they felt the inclination. In a brilliant show of timing the most inappropriate advert then appeared at the top of the forum page – ‘sexy sounds for your mobile…’ – damn Google ads and its keyword-based advertising system! For the rest of the day we took turns making sure the page was always scrolled down enough to hide it… oh well, it’s the little things in life that make it interesting. Just ask Snow White. More people arrived. Hallelujah! We were all thanking whatever deity we believed in that people were actually arriving. So we had the boards, we had the terrain set up and we had the players and their armies in place…after a briefing by Jase regarding objectives and other game related details during which I really did drift off - I have no idea what he was saying - I left them all to it and wandered off to look at the Vampire Counts artwork on display. The game began… The first turn kicked off and not long after I was called upon to fulfil my duty as a referee. I made the life of TheGrizz happy by confirming that a Gargantuan Creature can fire its two guns at separate targets and then assault a third. The joy that can be brought to someone by one little sentence should not be overestimated9.
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Skelly Armour 24
Open Bash at the Ammo Bunker 9
More short sentences that bring joy…”It’s negative”, “I’m not pregnant”, “No charges are being pressed” and “Yes, we have it in stock” disappointingly that one wasn’t heard much over the weekend due to low FW stock levels.
While everyone else got down to butchering each other like they were in a Rwandan refugee camp, I decided to take a wander. I’ve been to Warhammer World a fair number of times, but it’s always worth looking in the Museum to see if anything interesting has appeared since the last time. So, dragging a reluctant SC like a parent taking their five year old to school for the first day,
we went upstairs to have a butchers10.
My WIP Nurgle Dreadnought
10
Translation for our non-British readers: ‘A butchers’ = ‘a butchers hook’ = ‘a look’.
In the museum you not only get to see the whole range of Studio produced armies but also a selection of classic dioramas such as Mike McVey’s ‘Horus versus The Emperor’, the Space Hulk Corridor section I remember from many, many years ago11 and a selection of models from the personal collections of ‘Eavy Metal painters and other Games Workshop staff. 11
Long live Space Hulk!
Meanwhile downstairs the games continued; miniatures were dispatched in huge numbers, and tank formations took what seemed an age to move. Several turns later… Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
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Open Bash at the Ammo Bunker
WiP: Guardsman by Schoolcormorant
Several turns later… In our absence a Warhammer Fantasy game had begun not far from a Lord of the Rings game, both quite a rarity in our circles. Midday the restaurant opened; with a silent ‘huzzah!’ (for I had missed breakfast at the hotel12) I quickly took the opportunity to eat before the rush. As the first turn came to a close the players emptied out of the hall as their own hunger pangs took priority over the carnage; while they sated their appetite, reinforcements arrived in the shape of another Eldar force. The best part of the day - and our main objective for the event - was meeting the other members of Ammobunker. So I thought it was fitting for me to take the opportunity to say hello; I don’t Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
think I scared anyone off, so no harm done. 12
Even though I had pre-paid for one. Stupid bloody early time to start.
As the players returned from lunch I drifted back to the WIP table. I spent most of the afternoon talking about styrene and tank conversions; giving the same spiel about four times but enjoying it nonetheless. A couple of Dutch gentlemen on a visit to Warhammer World arrived at the table interested to hear what was going on. Two more potential recruits, I thought; as they left it occurred to me we really should have had flyers printed out to hand to people, as those two will never have remembered the website address by the time
they get home. Something added to the list for future events. The Apocalypse game continued, tanks seeming to dominate the board. Only two aircraft made an appearance (both from an Eldar force) which was a bit disappointing as I was hoping for a Thunderbolt squadron or two. To my surprise the Hierophant appeared on my table as a casualty; it had absorbed the combined firepower from more than 5000 points of Guard and Marines and two Baneblades before it was brought down. Poor bugger. The day proceeded along these lines: talking, laughing, taking breaks in Bugmans, meeting people new to me and those to whom I have 26
Open Bash at the Ammo Bunker spoken plenty of times but never actually met, trying to find out if GW had any Forge World items in stock I wanted while hoping I didn’t get carried away by pre-ordering a damn Reaver Titan, checking the football scores with ‘Warhammer World’s Brian’ and taking a time out to have a look at his Dark Angel army. For a Liverpool FC supporter he had a surprisingly good choice in Marines. It didn’t seem long before the day was drawing to a close. The Apocalypse game lasted its three turns with the Imperial Force taking the win by claiming two of the four Objectives and contesting a third; for the first time that any of us had taken part in a huge multiplayer game like this, it went surprisingly well. With plenty of lessons learned, the models began to be packed away followed by goodbyes and promises for next years Bash and various meetups beforehand.
THE FINAL RECKONING. The day proved to be everything we hoped for. The first objective was simply to meet up in the first place and have a laugh; I think we can tick that objective off as met. The second was to introduce more people to Ammobunker, and throughout the day we had people coming up to us with questions and the Apocalypse players were not just forum members but also people who had come along after hearing about the day. The third objective was to set a great big points value for the Apocalypse game, the final tally Old Guard’s squaddies
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Open Bash at the Ammo Bunker
ran at 113,330 points, which you have to admit is pretty damn big. On a personal note I was happy that the WIP table had garnered some interest, as it would
have been depressing if no one had come over. As I left the First Annual Ammobunker Open Bash my thoughts had already turned to what I could do for the next one…including, first and foremost, not to leave stuff at the bloody hotel!
Thanks go to Greg ‘TheGrizz’ Alexander and Chris ‘Deserter’ Hird for kindly providing some of the pictures from the day —Rictus
For more pictures of the Open Bash Apocalypse battle, visit http://z3.invisionfree.com/The_Ammobunker/index.php?showtopic=2317 For more pictures of ‘Something Something Something Zombies’ game, visit: http://z3.invisionfree.com/The_Ammobunker/index.php?showtopic=2327 Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
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Open Bash at the Ammo Bunker - Spotlight
HAMMER TIME By way of a dessert to the banquet of Open Bash coverage, I thought you might like to see a few shots of the Stormhammer that Jasevx knocked up for the day as well as the Datasheet I wrote for it which was used on the day. Jase based the conversion on a widened and lengthened Baneblade hull. The sponsons are mounted so that two sets of heavy bolters have their arcs of fire pointing backwards, while the main turrets are positioned so that each one has a wide arc of fire. Larger Baneblade barrels were used to represent Vanquisher cannon, as Jase wanted the tank to have more anti-tank potential. The Datasheet I wrote reflects the model; the two Stormhammer turrets are based on the Macharius and are upgradeable to Vanquisher cannon. Two sets of sponsons come as standard and the tank can be upgraded to be a command vehicle (reflecting the status of the model and the background material I put together). The additional structure point is due to the increased bulk of the tank; of course, none of this made any difference at all when the Decimator found her within its gun sights…
Many more pictures of the Stormhammer - both WIP and finished - can be found here http://z3.invisionfree.com/The_Ammobunker/index.php?showtopic=743
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STORMHAMMER
POINTS: 600
The Stormhammer is rare even when compared to its sister warmachines. Like its kin it is an ancient design dating back to the earliest days of the ImperialArmy and the Great Crusade. Based upon a modified Baneblade chassis the Stormhammer forgoes a main weapon and instead mounts a huge array of offensive weaponry. While other warmachines take on a specialist role the Stormhammer was created purely to wreak havoc amongst the enemy forces. Ideally suited to destroying en masse infantry and vehicles its mere presence has been known to cause the enemy to retreat for fear of losing too many warriors in the opening salvo of a battle. The weaknesses of the Stormhammer are two fold. The first is enemy anti-tank formations. Lacking the long range armour piercing potential of some super heavy vehicles it runs the risk of being destroyed or immobilised before the full force of it’s guns can be brought to bear. To help solve this issue a handful were fitted with turrets mountingVanquisher cannon; giving it a much increased anti-armour effectiveness. The second weakness is, as with all similarly sized vehicles, its vulnerability to being outmanoeuvred and being assaulted by infantry.
Thus no commander would ever commit his vehicle to battle independent of supporting infantry and tank formations. Never a common sight as the millenniums have passed its presence has become even rarer. While remaining a highly destructive warmachine the difficulty of constructing its modified hull and maintaining the overworked engine during a campaign has meant more easily constructed and maintained vehicles becoming more favoured. Both Baneblades and the newer Macharius tanks tend to be more popular amongst Imperial Guard Commanders and tank crews alike. The Baneblade has an almost equal level of offensive potential; while formations of Macharius tanks have proved more survivable and flexible on the battlefield. Its distinctive silhouette on the horizon can still instill fear in the enemy and inspire hope in its comrades. While some worry of the effect to morale if it was lost, every commander hopes for the opportunity to have a Stormhammer form the tip of an offensive push. Leading from the front it can sweep aside the enemy clearing a path for its brothers in arms to exploit.
UNIT: 1 Stormhammer ARMOUR BS FRONT SIDE REAR
TYPE: Super Heavy Tank STRUCTURE POINTS: 4
3
14
13
12
WEAPONS AND EQUIPMENT: – Two Stormhammer turrets mounting two synchronised Battle Cannon. – Four sponsons; each mount Twin-linked Heavy Bolters and a Lascannon.
WEAPON Stormhammer Turret (High Explosive) Lascannon Heavy Bolters
RANGE STR
AP
72”
8
3
48” 36”
9 5
2 4
SPECIAL Ordanance 1, 7” Blast, Primary Weapon Heavy 1 Heavy 3, Twin-linked
OPTIONS: The Stormhammer may purchase the following upgrades from Codex: Imperial Guard: Hunter-killer missile, improved comms, minesweeper, pintle-mounted heavy stubber, searchlight, smoke launchers.
ADDITIONAL OPTIONS: For +100 points the Stormhammer Turrets may be upgraded to mount Twin Linked Vanquisher Cannon. These may fire High Explosive shells or Armour Piercing shells. When firing AP rounds the to-hit die may be re-rolled and when rolling for Armour Penetration roll 2D6+8, adding the two dice together. For +25 points the Stormhammer may have the following upgrade: Command Tank: A high ranking officer is using the Stormhammer as a mobile HQ. All friendly units within 24” of the command tank may re-roll failed Morale checks.
Datasheet for use in Apocalypse games. Derived from IP owned by Games Workshop
by Rictus and Jasevx
Imperial Register HEAVY SUPPORT Scout Stalk Tank v1.0 Points WS BS S 130 4 3 5 Type: Walker, Agile
THE IMPERIAL REGISTER Greetings citizen and welcome to the second installment of the Imperial Register. Based on reader feedback, it seems that many of you liked this addition to the magazine. Thus, I am happy to report that this article shall become a continuous feature! The goal remains the same: to introduce new units, weapons and wargear to the armies of the 41st millennium in order to increase diversity, creativity and fun. We need submissions from readers like you to keep this project afloat. If you have ideas, let us know!
[email protected] In this edition we see the return of ogryn bodyguards, the stealthy Alpha Legion operatives and trundling stalk tanks! -Scrivener Glaeser
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I 3
A 3
F 12
S 11
R 9
Crew: 1 Chaos Servitor
Weapons: Scout Stalk Tanks are armed with double pulse-lasers (counts as twin-linked multilasers) in mini-turrets. Because of its monstrous nature a Stalk Tank ignores opponents armour saves in close combat. Options: The Stalk Tank may replace its pulselasers with twin-linked autocannons for free or twin-linked lascannons for +10 points. It may be given any of the following upgrades from Codex: Chaos Space Marines at the points cost listed; Blasphemous Rune, Demonic Possession, Dirge Caster, Extra Armour, Pintle Mounted Combi-weapon, Searchlight, Smoke Launcher.
Special Rule: Agile: A Scout Stalk Tank scuttles across the battlefield at a disconcerting pace. They may move up to 6” and fire all their weapons, or up to 12” and fire one weapon. They are slowed by difficult terrain as other walkers but double the highest die result. Stalk Tanks may assault up to 6” and follow all the rules for walkers in an assault. OGRYN BODYGUARD By Eric Farrington Ogryns are a stable abhuman strain that can be found throughout Imperial domains. What they lack in brainpower they make up for in sheer brawn. They have a prodigious strength and resilience that tops even that of a Space Marine. In addition to their strong backs and simple minds they are extremely loyal to the Imperial creed. It is these qualities that make them ideal soldiers and shock troops for the Imperial Guard. 31
Imperial Register An army made entirely of Ogryns would potentially be a devastating force, but their inability to grasp such concepts as logistics and strategy makes such a force untenable. Instead, they are split into small units and spread throughout the regiments and companies of the Imperial Guard to help bolster their combat efficiency. It is common for Ogryns to form an emotional attachment to their commanding officers and commissars. Their simple grasp of the Imperial Creed easily confuses them and they genuinely believe the unit’s commanding officer is someone sent personally by the Emperor himself to lead them into battle. As a result it is common for officers whose command includes attached Ogryn units to be accompanied by an Ogryn acting as a bodyguard. After he has pledged his life to protect his officer from harm the other Ogryns look to him as a role model and something of an inspirational figure. Occasionally an Ogryn will show a greater degree of initiative marking him out as a prime candidate for augmetic surgery; this surgery will aim to boost his brainpower allowing the subject to absorb more advanced training such as rudimentary tactics and military structures. While officially given the rank of Sergeant, amongst the rank and file they are affectionately known as ‘Boneheads’. A clever commanding officer will often see to it that an Ogryn protecting him goes through this augmentation as soon as possible. Profile: As Codex: Imperial Guard
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Special Rules: Advisor - As Codex: Imperial Guard Ogryn Proof - As Codex: Imperial Guard Bulky - As Codex: Imperial Guard. Bodyguard - If within 4” of each other the bodyguard may exchange places with the unit’s officer at the beginning of any player’s assault phase. He will fight the officer’s opponents while the officer will now fight those originally fighting his bodyguard. ALPHA LEGION OPERATIVES By Pete Mason
Doctrines: In order to take Ogryn bodyguards in your Imperial Guard force your regiment must use the Restricted Troops Doctrine that allows you to take Ogryn squads. Numbers: You may include 1 Ogryn bodyguard per command squad in your army up to a maximum of 5. These do not count as one of your HQ choices and may be taken in addition to your usual allocation of HQ units in a mission. Each Bodyguard must join a different command squad. Weapons: Ripper Gun (+1 Strength) and Frag grenades. These may be exchanged for two close combat weapons (+1 Attack) or 1 double handed weapon (+2 Strength) for free. Options: A bodyguard maybe upgraded to a Bonehead for +10 pts. A Bonehead has access to the Imperial Guard armoury, although he is not classed as an officer.
Of all the traitor legions the Alpha Legion is the most insidious, the most likely to make use of human infiltrators and spies in its efforts to undermine the Imperium. The legion frequently works through hidden cults and terrorist cells to achieve its covert aims. However its most valuable and effective agents are the mysterious Operatives. Highly trained and motivated they are frequently enhanced with concealed implants related to those the Astartes themselves receive. These chameleonic figures are able to infiltrate the Imperium at almost any level of society and play almost any role. Sometimes hidden in this role for many years Administratum officials, Imperial Guard commanders and even Inquisitors have all been discovered as Operatives. Only the concealed hydra tattoo they all bear can give them away. While mostly operating in an intelligence gathering role, when the Alpha Legion goes to war these hidden agents often support their masters by carrying out daring assassination and sabotage missions, 32
Imperial Register providing precise coordinates for teleport assaults, spreading disinformation and sowing confusion within the enemy forces. Operative Pts WS BS 50 4 4
S 3
T 3
W 1
I 4
A 2
Ld Sv 8 5+
Unit Type: Infantry Number/Squad: 1-3 Operatives may be taken as a single Elites choice for a Chaos Space Marine, Chaos Renegade Militia, Witch Hunter Adversaries or a Lost and the Damned army. They are purchased and deployed as a single Elites choice, but operate as independent
characters in all respects during the game and do not have to be deployed in coherency or act as a unit during the game. Each Operative may be equipped differently. Wargear: Close combat weapon, Frag grenades Stalker pistol – Uses the same profile as a bolt pistol. In missions where sentries are used firing the stalker pistol will not raise the alarm unless the target survives.
OI! MONKEY! FIREASE does not have a staff made entirely of selectively bred, genetically enhanced Gorilla Warriors. We accept submissions from the average monkey like you. For the monkeys, by the monkeys. So grab a gun, shoot alien scum and help to defend the FIREBASE!
Special Rules: Infiltrate, Stealth (The Operative receives +1 to any cover saves.) Secrets and Lies – By spreading disinformation and disrupting enemy communications the Operative is able to interfere with the enemy’s plans. While there are operatives in play the enemy’s receives a -1 modifier to his reserves rolls. The modifier is not cumulative if more than one Operative is in play. Options: Any Operative: • may exchange their close combat weapon for a power weapon for 15 points. • may be given a sniper rifle for 5 points. • may be given melta bombs for 5 points. • may be given a personal icon for 5 points
Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
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Opinion: Rapid Fire
THERE’S SOMETHING WRONG WITH MY BOLTER! A LOOK AT THE RAPID FIRE RULES. By Corax (
[email protected]) Rapid Fire has been one of the staple mechanics of Warhammer 40k for a long time, and has endured over the course of numerous iterations of the system. Although there have been modifications from time to time, the basic premise of the mechanic has remained constant – representing the shooting of assault rifle class weapons carried by infantry. This has been reflected in the profile given in the rules, which assume that a warrior can fire the weapon for longer and more accurately if he stands still than if he moves. The way this has been represented has been by allowing a unit equipped with Rapid Fire weapons to shoot twice up to twelve inches, and once up to twentyfour inches, if it stands still. Or, to move up to its maximum base movement, and then shoot twice to twelve inches. Over the course of various editions, different restrictions and limitations have been placed on the actions of the shooter, both before and after the act of shooting, further complicating the decision to move and shoot or stand and shoot. THE SHOOTING/ASSAULT IMBALANCE It is an indisputable fact that the mechanics of 40k have been slanted in favour of hand-to-hand combat, primarily based on the premise that it is more ‘fun’. This fact is clearly supported by the fact that hand-to-hand is fought in both players’ turns, while shooting only occurs during the ‘active’ player’s turn. This means that the effectiveness of Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
shooting must be maximised during the stages of the game where it is possible. The problem is that the shooting mechanics, and the Rapid Fire rule in particular do not support effective shooting to anywhere near the extent that the hand-tohand rules support effective combat. In the past, this was offset to some extent by ‘Overwatch’, but since Third Edition, shooting has been very much secondary to close combat. This serves to create a mechanical bias against armies that are primarily shooting oriented, which is hardly fun for an Imperial Guard player… WHAT’S WRONG WITH MY BOLTER? The essential problem with Rapid Fire is twofold. First, that shooting any distance, or shooting at any significant rate, requires you to forgo your Movement phase. In a game based on taking ground and seizing objectives, giving up a turn’s movement is a hefty price for any unit that isn’t equipped with multiple heavy weapons. If you’re going to give up your movement, you want to get a lot of bang for your buck! Even when a unit does stand to shoot, they will (assuming for arguments sake a 10 man Space Marine Tactical Squad) get eight or nine shots off against a target more than twelve inches away, of which about six will hit, roughly three will wound (against T4) and one save will be failed (against a 3+ save). This means that the unit has sacrificed its entire movement phase to kill (on average) ONE enemy model. The other alternative is for them to
move forwards and try to get into range to shoot twice in the hope of causing more casualties through weight of fire. This, however, raises the other problem of Rapid Fire… …which is the interaction of Shooting ranges with Assault ranges and the Assault limitations of Rapid Fire. If a unit moves to within twelve inches and shoots it places itself in a situation with one of two outcomes: 1) The shooting will cause enough casualties among the enemy to cause them to break and fall back, or 2) The shooting with not cause enough casualties, and the squad will be assaulted by the enemy in their turn. The real problem here is that the unit that moves in to shoot does so at the risk of being left swinging in the breeze if the shooting fails to see the enemy off (as the Rapid Fire rules state that a unit that uses Rapid Fire weapons cannot assault afterwards). Given the large number of units in the game that are either Fearless, or have rerollable Leadership values, the odds of breaking the enemy with shooting are relatively slim. In most cases, the unit being shot at will shrug it off and them move in during their movement phase, shoot pistols (if equipped), and then assault the unit that moved in to shoot them in the first place. The consequence of this is a choice for the shooting unit between closing in to maximise shooting and then being assaulted, or standing back and shooting less effectively, but delaying the assault for a turn.
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Opinion: Rapid Fire An additional side effect of this is that it forces the shooting player onto the back foot, as he is not able to move proactively, and must instead try to stay away in the classic (not to mention boring) gun-line mould so beloved of the Imperial Guard. This in turn, brings up the Guard’s, and to a lesser extent all other shooting armies, curse – the inability to move and seize objectives without getting assaulted, because shooting alone is never effective enough to drive the enemy off or wipe them out. An example that is quite instructive of the problems with Rapid Fire is that of the Thousand Sons – the only unit in the game that can always move and shoot at full effectiveness. Putting aside for a moment the effect of the AP3 Bolters, simply consider the flexibility that always being able to shoot at least once to twenty-four inches gives. They are able to advance (albeit slowly) towards the enemy while shooting, allowing them to bring their strength to bear without having to sacrifice their mobility to do so. By the time they get to within twelve inches of the enemy, they have already subjected the foe to several turns of sustained shooting, and may have whittled their numbers down sufficiently to make the ensuing close combat a more even affair. It is because they ignore the normal limitations of Rapid Fire that they are able to function as a true all-rounder unit. 6” INCREMENTS At the heart of the Rapid Fire problem is one basic issue, which is that virtually everything in 40k is done in 6” increments. Everyone (almost) moves, shoots, assaults, falls back in units of 6” Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
or D6”. This is particularly problematic when the key distance for both shooting and assaulting is twelves inches. Back in the old days, when different races had different movement rates, it was fine to have relatively standardised gun ranges, as the movement rates created a diversity of situations where unit A would be in assault range, but not unit B, or where A could move in and shoot, and still be out of assault range of B. By standardising the movement phase, the rules have created a situation where if A moves to shoot B, B will be able to assault A, or vice versa.
the standardisation of movement rates, and rules on assaults. This has resulted in a ‘chessboard’ like situation, where movement is highly constrained by the 6” increments that everything is measured in, and the need to be the one who gets the assault trumps all others. Combined with the range limitations imposed by Rapid Fire, it is quite possible for units equipped with Rapid Fire weapons to never actually shoot them during a game – if they move each turn, then assault (or are assaulted) once they are within twelve inches of the enemy.
As everyone knows, it is almost always better to assault an enemy unit than to allow it to assault you, if only to prevent the enemy from gaining extra attacks by charging. This means that as soon as a unit moves close enough to assault, they will almost always do so. Unless the shooting unit is a particularly combat ineffective one like Tau Fire Warriors, there are very few situations where the unit is better off shooting rather than assaulting. This effectively means that once a shooting unit is within twelve inches of the enemy, they can shoot and forgo the assault, or skip shooting (their strength) and pile in, if only to blunt the enemy from doing the same, resulting in the effectiveness of shooting units being compromised even before they are actually engaged in combat.
While it could be argued that the choices Rapid Fire imposes force the player to make a decision between moving and shooting, and shooting and assaulting, the reality is that there is not much choice at all, as the game requires units to move in order to meet mission objectives and the mechanics of combat necessitate pro-active assaulting. The current balance seems to be based on the assumption that the effectiveness of shooting and assaulting is relatively similar. As was noted earlier, this is simply not the case. There are far more limitations on shooting, and Rapid Fire in particular, than on assaulting, in spite of the fact that it is already demonstrably less potent than assaulting.
CONCLUSIONS Rapid Fire is a mechanic that has evolved over the course of a number of editions of 40k, with different versions being applied at different times. The result of this has been a lack of consistency in the interaction of this mechanic with other mechanics of the game, specifically,
The purpose of this discussion is not to provide a solution to the problems of the Rapid Fire mechanic, but to raise it as an issue among players who are interested in improving the game, and to draw some attention to how Rapid Fire might be improved in the future.
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Tips & Tactics: Streamlining your Army List
TIPS & TACTICS Hello readers! I’ve been an avid fan of Firebase for a while, just like all of you. I’m happy to have the opportunity to be the one sharing my own ramblings with the Warhammer 40,000 online community! I hope I can put my writing (and playing) experience to good use as one of Firebase’s contributing writers. I’m offering you the ideas and perspective of someone who’s been into almost every aspect of gaming. From retail to competitive play, from design and development to coverage and commentary, I’ve seen it all. Years back I managed Cyberia, The Gamer’s Haven in Normal, IL (home of the original Adeptus Flatlandicus and FlatCon). I’ve worked for Decipher Inc. doing design and development for multiple CCG products. I’ve traveled to compete in both CCG and miniature gaming events, recording my own podcast radio program to showcase them. Finally, I’ve been contributing articles to Scrye magazine on and off for almost ten years. So I’m into gaming; so what? What about GW stuff? STREAMLINING: MINIMIZING YOUR 40K GROWING PAINS The nature of Warhammer 40,000 differs greatly from your typical game because not only is it a game, but also a hobby. Players become interested in it because of its stunning models, as well as a fascinating background story upon which the individual histories of its factions are built. One of the most interesting things Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
I began buying Games Workshop products in late 1996 when a friend and roommate of mine showed me a game called Necromunda. Before that I’d played CCGs exclusively, but Necromunda’s three-dimensional quality caught my eye. Before long I had two gangs, and I’d begun looking into another game called Warhammer 40,000. My first army, Chaos, was assembled and primed just a couple months later, and life never been the same! I’ve played so many other GW games over the years as well, including Talisman, Warhammer Fantasy Battles, Mordheim and of course Battlefleet Gothic. Looking back, it’s hard to believe I’ve spent so much time at the gaming table, but I think I’ve spent an equal amount of time reading Black Library novels. Needless to say, I’m a complete 40K geek. Thanks for reading, and I hope you’re able to put some of my tips to good use! Geoffrey Snider about this hobby-game is that the specific way a model is built can have effects on how the game is played – this is perhaps its greatest strength, as well as its greatest foible! Part of the nature of this hobby-game is its ability to suck people into a black hole of story and modeling. Many newer players spend months building and painting their
armies before actually playing a game. They concentrate on customizing their models and creating their own vision of what an army of the Dark Millennium would look like. And finally, when the time comes for them to actually test out their newly finished army, they are faced with two problems: 1) they don’t know the rules very well, and so they inevitably lose, and 2) they find that all the awesome accessories, wargear, and extraneous modeling configurations that they’ve put so much time into aren’t actually worth using. We’ve all seen it happen a hundred times – even my first Chaos army was populated by models wielding a pistol in each hand, as well as back-slung Plasma Guns; the occasional Plague Marine wore a Jump Pack. Many times I’ll see a new player’s Space Marine army list that includes over three hundred points of wargear on its Veteran Sergeants alone. While it’s always amusing to see a Devastator Squad Sergeant with an Adamantine Mantle, it makes me wonder if we veterans should be trying just a little harder to coach the newbies. TIP #1 – If you’re just getting into 40K, read the rules and watch people play the game. You will minimize the possibility of a major headache later on. Your models won’t have extra guns sticking out of their foreheads, and your bikers won’t be wielding Lascannons. Before going any further, I must clarify that this article is for the 40K player who is moving into the main phase of army building. You’ve bought your models. You’ve begun assembling them (or you might have even finished putting all of them together). You have a tentative 36
40k Tips & Tactics army list written up, and you’re going to play a few games before you begin painting. This is the time when you’re going to be doing a lot of experimentation. Additionally, this article is for anyone who doesn’t mind completely revamping their army at any given time – you don’t mind re-configuring models after they’ve been painted, and you don’t mind buying and painting new models to replace existing ones. I borrowed a Tau army list to use as my guinea pig – to demonstrate some of the pitfalls of army building, as well as how to minimize them. This Tau army list’s owner has been playing 4th Edition 40K for about two years. He wins sometimes, but wants to have a better win-loss ratio in the future. One of the first things you’ll notice while looking over this list is the astounding amount of unit upgrades it uses. Some armies are great for this sort of thing; Space Marines, for example, have a huge armory of powerful wargear, and many units can purchase at least some upgrade options. Many players go overboard with an exorbitant amount of this stuff. This is okay if the wargear is useful. However, sinking a ton of points into a small number of models is inefficient. Yeah, you may be able to play a game of 1850 points, but if you’re playing it with 1450 points worth of models and 400 points worth of wargear, you’re going to get squashed. TIP #2 – Don’t take more wargear instead of taking more models. If eight models in your army have Artificer Armor, that’s 160 points that
Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
BEFORE – TAU – 1850 POINTS HQ Commander Shas’O - 118 (Airbursting Fragmentation Projector, Cyclic Ion Blaster, Multi-tracker, Hard-wired Blacksun Filter) Ethereal – 50 (2 Close Combat Weapons) ELITE Stealth Suit Team (6) – 322 (Team Leader, Shas’vre, Burst Cannon, Markerlight, Bonding Knife, Hard-wired Blacksun Filter, Hard-wired Drone Controller, Hard-wired Multi-tracker, Hard-wired Target Lock, Targeting Array, 2 Gun Drones), (3 Stealth Suits, 3 Burst Cannons, 3 Drone Controllers, 6 Gun Drones), (2 Stealth Suits, 2 Fusion Blasters, 2 Target Locks), (8 Gun Drones) Crisis Battlesuit Team (3) – 175 (Crisis Suit, Twin-linked Plasma Rifle, Targeting Array), (Crisis Suit, Burst Cannon, Flamer, Missile Pod), (Crisis Suit, Flamer, Fusion Blaster, Plasma Rifle) TROOPS Fire Warrior Squad (6) – 104 (Photon Grenades, EMP Grenades, Shas’ui Upgrade, Markerlight) could be put towards an additional unit; you could have a Predator with three Lascannons smashing up your opponent’s tanks instead of a bunch of Veteran Sergeants with 2+ saves. This tip’s importance will change from army to
Fire Warrior Squad (6) – 104 (Photon Grenades, EMP Grenades, Shas’ui Upgrade, Markerlight) Kroot Carnivore Squad (17) – 140 (Shaper) FAST ATTACK Piranha Light Skimmer (1) – 95 (Fusion Blaster, Blacksun Filter, Decoy Launcher, Disruption Field, Sensor Spines, Targeting Array) Gun Drone Squadron (8) – 96 Gun Drone Squadron (8) – 96 HEAVY SUPPORT Broadside Battlesuit Squad (3) – 225 (3 Broadside Suits, 3 Smart Missile Systems, 3 Target Locks) Hammerhead Gunship – 160 (Ion Cannon, 2 Burst Cannons, 2 Seeker Missiles, Blacksun Filter, Decoy Launchers, Disruption Pod, Sensor Spines) Skyray Missile Defence Gunship – 165 (2 Burst Cannons, Blacksun Filter, Decoy Launchers, Disruption Pod, Sensor Spines, Targeting Array) army. While a Necron army is not going to have very many upgrade options (most of which are useful a fair amount of the time), an Imperial Guard army can very easily be hamstrung by over-spending on tank equipment.
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40k Tips & Tactics Now let’s look at the individual unit configurations in the BEFORE list. The first thing to notice is the weapon configuration on the Shas’O. Tau Crisis Suit Commanders have the best ballistic skill in the entire army. Equipping one with barrage weaponry like the Airbursting Fragmentation Projector doesn’t take advantage of such a high ballistic skill (or BS for short); it should probably be replaced with something that requires a traditional to-hit roll. Paired with the potential AP1 that a Cyclic Ion Blaster offers, a Plasma Rifle would be a great choice for a replacement. Next is the Ethereal. Here’s a model that a Tau army can really benefit from – he’s fearless, and he allows some of your Tau to use his high leadership. Used in this capacity he has great merit, but it’s important to exploit his offensive strengths as well, otherwise he’s just a fifty point piece of terrain. Give him a bodyguard of Firewarriors! In the same way that the Crisis Commander’s BS is important, a Firewarrior unit with a higher BS than normal is just as good. Not only does the squad have the ability to hit 17% more often, but it also gives the Ethereal a greater degree of protection from enemy fire. No one wants to lose their Ethereal! TIP #3 – Utilize the abilities and stats of your units as much as you can. Get the biggest bang for your buck. If a model has an initiative value of 6, don’t give it a Power Fist that makes its initiative useless. If a unit has Furious Charge, make sure that it is going to be able to charge. Don’t hamper your models’ strengths by giving them wargear that’s inefficient. Add Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
to their effectiveness by increasing their capacity for using their abilities. Crisis Suit teams are excellent at gunning down infantry or cracking armor, and they can be tailored to suit either role. The Crisis Suits in the BEFORE list are extremely versatile, but in actuality this is a drawback. Two of the suits each have three weapons, only one of which they can fire each turn. They can fill any fire support role needed, but too many points are wasted on weapons that will rarely see use. It’s a much better idea to focus what Crisis Suits do by equipping them with two weapons each and allowing them the use of a multi-tracker. It’s also important that the two weapons they possess have similar strengths and possibly similar AP values. This way all the suits in a unit can fire all of their weapons on a single target, allowing you to rely on a much more predictable outcome. One of the most common Crisis Suit weapon configurations that players use has a Plasma Rifle, a Missile Pod and a Multi-tracker. Additionally, if you want to add in just a little versatility, upgrading the Team Leader to carry a third weapon is always an option. His ability to take hard-wired equipment allows him three weapons and a Multi-tracker, as well as a Target Lock.
Stealth Suit teams are similarly versatile. They can crack open a stray tank or harass enemy troops. Sadly, it is this writer’s opinion that giving the unit any upgrades beyond the extremely cheap Fusion Guns (two points each!) will make the unit extremely over-priced. With a starting price of thirty points per suit, they’re just slightly more expensive than a Crisis Suit, but have less potential for dishing out firepower. Their true strength lies in their ability to infiltrate. TIP #4 – It’s better to do one thing well than to do many things badly. Every unit in the game has a point cost, and every unit has a specific window of opportunity during which it can have its greatest affect on a game. If a unit isn’t using its abilities to their fullest, it’s a waste of points and you may as well not play with it (if it’s having no affect on the game, then you’re playing with an army that is essentially smaller than your opponent’s). The force organization chart (FOC) is full of slots for your units to occupy. Try sub-dividing your units so that there are more of them, subsequently taking up more slots on the FOC. For instance, if there are three slots open, and you have two squads occupying those slots, why not divide one of the squads in half (if possible) and take up an extra slot? There are some drawbacks to this, as well as 38
40k Tips & Tactics some advantages. The sub-division of units gives their controller greater tactical flexibility. You get more units at the same cost, with very different applications and possibilities. TIP #5 – Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Many types of units fall into this category: Eldar Viper Jetbikes, Imperial Guard Sentinels, Tau Crisis Suits (although it’s rare to sub-divide them), and any other vehicle squadron. Why suffer the drawback of grouping all your Landspeeders into one squadron that can be affected by a single enemy unit’s fire? Break them up into separate squadrons of one. More targets for your opponent means that he’ll have to dedicate more units to killing them. Tau Troop units are a mixed bag. There are so many different ways to
Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
use them, and so many different configurations transport, a veteran and his wargear? If that’s what you’re going for, that’s fine, but for all that are effective. However, it’s not normally those extra points you could have another unit a good idea to give a shooting unit like Firewarriors any kind of extra equipment. of five Marines with a Lascannon. They’re good at firing their Fast Attack selections for this Pulse Rifles, and not much else. force are extremely fragile, Equipping the squad leader 1 Watch people play. and in my experience have a with a heavy weapon while the 2 Don’t take more wargear very low incidence of success. instead of more models. rest of the unit has some great However, the Tau excel at move-and-fire capability is a 3 Utilize the abilities and allowing their units to cooperate risky maneuver. Many times, stats of your units. with each other to achieve targets will present themselves great results. I recommended at just over 12” from your unit, 4 Do one thing well than removing a squadron of Gun many things badly. and a quick move forward into Drones to make room for an rapid fire range will double 5 Don’t put all your eggs in entire unit of Pathfinders and one basket. your firepower; this leaves your their accompanying Devilfish. squad leader’s heavy weapon 6 Keep it simple, stupid! Pathfinders can really bring a out of the fight. Again, this is Tau army together because another case of valuable points 7 Coordinate your units. they have so many different 8 Investigate the lists of going to waste. attributes that augment other experienced players. units. Markerlights are their TIP #6 – Keep it simple, stupid! number one asset, allowing Wiser words I’ve never heard 9 Stay on your toes. other units to ignore cover (thanks Dad). Don’t be afraid 10 Learn to Read. saves, modify pinning tests, to utilize a unit for its basic 11 Troops, troops troops. hit more often, and fire Seeker strengths. Sometimes players Missiles. Not only do the get too caught up in giving 12 Survival of the Fittest. Pathfinders themselves help their units a plethora of extra 13 Steal home. coordinate things, but their weaponry, veteran upgrades, Devilfish has wargear that allows transport vehicles, etc. There is absolutely nothing wrong with taking a squad of a deep-striking unit to re-roll its scatter dice when it arrives. If you need a strong anti-tank ten Space Marines with Boltguns and a Plasma Gun (160 points). They still have a great deal presence on turn two or three, simply drop a single Fusion Blaster-equipped Crisis Suit onto of firepower, a good armor save, and can tie up an opponent in hand-to-hand if necessary. the table with the Crisis Suit Commander’s Positional Relay. Is it necessary to give them a heavy weapon, a
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40k Tips & Tactics TIP #7 – Coordinate your units. If your individual units seem weak or inadequate, make sure there are several different units in your army that can work together for more effective results. For instance, Eldar armies tend to use the Avatar of Khaine in combination with lots of Guardians, ensuring that the Guardians are fearless and will hold their ground. A Farseer gives the Avatar re-rolls to his armor and invulnerable saves. The Guardians, in turn, provide a living shield for the Farseer. Tau Heavy Support selections are often fraught with the same problems I’ve already mentioned; the only difference is that their tanks take the issue one step further. Many items of Tau vehicle wargear seem very appealing to a newer player, but in actuality are almost completely useless when subjected to the scrutiny of an experienced eye. Since Hammerheads and their sister models have the ability to move 12,” suffer only glancing hits, and fire all their weaponry (due to the vehiclemounted Multi-tracker), there’s no use for such wargear as the Blacksun Filter, Disruption Pod, Sensor Spines or Flechette Discharger. TIP #8 – Investigate the army lists of more experienced players. Veteran players of 40K usually have many years of experience under their belts. They often know exactly how useful specific types of wargear can or can’t be, and what units use that wargear better than others. For instance, any seasoned Tyranid player will tell you that Implant Attack is a staple biomorph for a Hive Tyrant since it doubles the number of wounds it inflicts against multi-wound models Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
AFTER – TAU – 1849 POINTS HQ Commander Shas’O - 130 (Plasma Rifle, Cyclic Ion Blaster, Hard-wired Multi-tracker, Positional Relay)
Kroot Carnivore Squad (17) – 140 (Shaper) FAST ATTACK Piranha Light Skimmer (1) – 70 (Fusion Blaster, Targeting Array)
Ethereal – 70 (2 Close Combat Weapons, Hard-wired Drone Controller, 2 Gun Drones)
Gun Drone Squadron (8) – 96
Ethereal Bodyguard (12) - 144
Pathfinder Team (8) – 206 (Devilfish, 2 Seeker Missiles, Multi-tracker)
ELITE Stealth Suit Team (6) –184 (2 Fusion Blasters) Crisis Battlesuit Team (2) – 146 (Crisis Suit, Team Leader, Fusion Blaster, Missile Pod, Plasma Rifle, Hard-wired Multi-tracker, Hardwired Target Lock), (Crisis Suit, Plasma Rifle, Missile Pod, Multi-tracker)
HEAVY SUPPORT Broadside Battlesuit Squad (3) – 275 (1 Broadside Suit, Team Leader, Smart Missile System, Advanced Stabilization System, Hard-wired Drone Controller, 2 Shield Drones), (2 Broadside Suits, 2 Smart Missile Systems, 2 Advanced Stabilization Systems)
Crisis Battlesuit Team (1) – 53 (Twin-linked Fusion Blaster, Targeting Array)
Hammerhead Gunship – 125 (Ion Cannon, 2 Burst Cannons, Multi-tracker)
TROOPS Fire Warrior Squad (6) – 60
Skyray Missile Defence Gunship – 150 (2 Burst Cannons, Multi-tracker, Targeting Array)
in close combat. No Tyranid player wants to risk the chance of a Space Marine Librarian surviving long enough to cause a wound with a Force Weapon! Likewise, a Sisters of Battle army fielded by a veteran player will never be without a Book of St. Lucius, and an Imperial Guard army’s Basilisk will almost always be upgraded to fire indirectly. Finally, there is one mistake that I see made very, very often with units of Battlesuits, and
that mistake is being repeated here with the Broadside unit. Not every Battlesuit in a unit must be equipped in the exact same way (except in the case of Advanced Stabilization Systems which clearly state they must be a uniform upgrade). This is why the Team Leader upgrade is so important, and why it’s not necessary to give all Battlesuits in a unit the Target Lock wargear. There is one initial target for a firing unit, and any other targets are determined by individual Target Locks. This 40
40k Tips & Tactics means that one model can fire at any unit it wants, and the other two (with Target Locks) can split their fire at one or two other units. I also recommended the inclusion of a pair of Shield Drones to augment the unit’s defense. With the ability to allocate shots to the Shield Drones before taking saves on the rest of the unit, their 2+ armor and 4+ invulnerable saves can shield these expensive Broadsides from Lascannon, Brightlance and Exorcist fire quite easily. The finished product doesn’t look so extremely different from its initial version. It would require the purchase of six Firewarriors, a Devilfish and eight Pathfinders, as well as the modification of several models. However, the AFTER version is much, much more effective on the battlefield, and still has enough variety to maintain a desirable level of tactical flexibility, as well as the ability to keep its owner interested and involved in the game. Of course there’s one more tip: TIP #9 – Stay on your toes. Games Workshop often revises their rules, releasing new army books and rules editions every few years. In fact, there’s a brand new edition of 40K just around the corner! Be careful what you do with your army modifications between now and then, because what is now considered cannon may just disappear from the rulebook in a couple months. 5TH EDITION WARHAMMER 40,000 IS HERE! Warhammer 40,000 just became an entirely
Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
AFTER – TAU – 1850 POINTS – 5TH EDITION REVISION HQ Commander Shas’O - 145 (Plasma Rifle, Cyclic Ion Blaster, Hard-wired Multi-tracker, Positional Relay, Failsafe Detonator) Ethereal – 80 (2 Close Combat Weapons, Hard-wired Drone Controller, 2 Shield Drones) ELITE Crisis Battlesuit Team (1) – 53 (Twin-linked Fusion Blaster, Targeting Array) Crisis Battlesuit Team (1) – 53 (Twin-linked Fusion Blaster, Targeting Array) Crisis Battlesuit Team (1) – 53 (Twin-linked Fusion Blaster, Targeting Array) TROOPS Fire Warrior Squad (10) – 100 Fire Warrior Squad (10) – 100 Fire Warrior Squad (10) – 100 Kroot Carnivore Squad (17) – 140 (Shaper)
new ballgame, and coincidentally, it happened in the midst of the writing of this article! Thankfully, all my previously stated rules still apply. However, there are a few new ones to take into consideration. Due to the drastic new ways the game has changed, army construction just became much, much more interesting. It’s no longer a game that simply rewards the
Kroot Carnivore Squad (17) – 140 (Shaper) FAST ATTACK Piranha Light Skimmer (1) – 70 (Fusion Blaster, Targeting Array, Decoy Launchers, Disruption Pod) Pathfinder Team (8) – 206 (Devilfish, 2 Seeker Missiles, Decoy Launchers, Disruption Pod) HEAVY SUPPORT Broadside Battlesuit Squad (3) – 280 (1 Broadside Suit, Team Leader, Smart Missile System, Advanced Stabilization System, Hard-wired Target Lock, Hard-wired Drone Controller, 2 Shield Drones), (2 Broadside Suits, 2 Smart Missile Systems, 2 Advanced Stabilization Systems) Hammerhead Gunship – 170 (Railgun, 2 Burst Cannons, Multi-tracker, Decoy Launchers, Disruption Pod) Skyray Missile Defense Gunship – 160 (2 Burst Cannons, Multi-tracker, Targeting Array, Decoy Launchers, Disruption Pod) greatest tally of victory points. Controlling objectives, coordinating your forces, and completely eliminating enemy units are now the most direct paths to victory. TIP #10 – Learn to read. If you haven’t already mastered the English language (whether it be American or British in nature), then you better
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40k Tips & Tactics get with the program. There’s a whole new rulebook. Throw away your 4th Edition rules and buy a shiny, new hardcover 5th Edition rulebook (or the upcoming Black Reach box set). Keep it on your bedside table. Keep it on the shelf by the toilet. Knowing the new rules is paramount to understanding army construction. It’s hard for a Tau player to adjust to the new rules… or is it? I think it’s pretty simple, really, since all that’s required is a couple more boxes of Firewarriors, and possibly another unit of Kroot. One of the largest adjustments that Tau players will have to make for the new rules edition deals with the shift of scoring unit status. Troops selections are now the only scoring units. Yes, Tau players, you must now include even more models with guns in your army. I think you can handle it. TIP#11 – Troops, Troops, Troops. Since units that are chosen from the Troops section of any codex are now the only available scoring units, and two thirds of all rulebook missions are based on controlling objectives, Troops selections have suddenly become invaluable. Coincidentally, Firewarriors are some of the Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
most heavily armed, cost efficient Troops in all of 40K. Take more. Take even more than that. Even the previous dark horse of Codex: Tau Empire, Kroot Carnivores, have become an almost unavoidable staple. They have the ability to ‘Outflank,’ giving them monstrous tactical flexibility. There is nothing like seeing an opponent’s jaw drop when a swarm of Kroot walks onto his flank, swamping an unassuming unit with a ton of strength 4 attacks, or opening up with a barrage of Kroot Rifle shots. As previously stated, it’s very easy to go overboard with wargear. There are times when it’s okay to break this rule, though, and according to the 5th Edition rules, now is one of those times. Tau vehicle wargear gets a rather large boost, making it highly desirable. Equipping any vehicle with Decoy Launchers and a Disruption pod is now a great idea. Most vehicles in 5th need to work hard to gain a cover save of 4+, but Tau vehicles must simply pay 5 points. With the added ability to re-roll glancing hits with a Decoy Launcher, it becomes six times harder to knock one of these formidable hovertanks to the ground. This is especially important because, for instance, the high armor value (AV) on a Hammerhead will tend to result in many glancing hits over the course of a game.
TIP#12 – Survival of the Fittest. Keep your tanks alive with vehicle wargear. If it looks a little like a Falcon, kills stuff like a Falcon, and you can keep it alive like you can keep a Falcon alive, then it must be a 180-point Hammerhead! Everyone hates to face off against Eldar Holofield-enhanced tanks, but it might just be harder to kill a Tau vehicle in 5th. Remember that if your tanks are alive at the end of the game, they can move forward and contest an enemy objective. Contesting objectives is an especially viable tactic now. Since any unit (not just Troops) can contest an objective, a tactically sound Tau force can achieve a sneaky victory of annoying proportions. Using the Positional Relay, it’s easy to delay the deployment of your reserve units until it’s too late for the opponent to deal with them. However, if you need to use them all at once, that’s entirely possible to do as well. TIP#13 – Steal home. With the ability of the Shas’O to delay some of your reserves, and the ability of Tau hover tanks to withstand an amazing amount of punishment, it becomes entirely possible to contest every enemycontrolled objective on the final turn of the game. I’m sorry… did I say that there were twenty Kroot outflanking you? I meant forty. After several much-needed revisions to the 4th Edition Tau army list, I’ve gone through and modified it once again for 5th Edition. Happy hunting with your Tau cadre!
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Jungles of Death
JUNGLES OF DEATH BATTLEZONE RULESET By Eric Farrington
4. Roll for Set up and Deployment as normal.
INTRODUCTION
5. Choose and declare Stratagems. Stratagems allow you to make use of special rules not normally found in Warhammer 40k. These stratagems are unique to Junglefights. You can choose to model these upgrades, make paper tokens, or simply use notes to represent these upgrades during game play.
PLAYING A JUNGLEFIGHT If you are familiar with the rules for Warhammer 40,000 playing a Junglefight is easy. Simply follow the steps outlined below. Each step is detailed fully in the pages that follow. 1. Choose forces. Choose forces as normal for a game of 40K. 2. Agree on Mission Level and set up Terrain. Decide which level of mission you want to play- Alpha, Gamma, or Omega. This will be dictated on the amount of terrain you have available and the number of stratagems you wish to use. Prepare the Battlefield per the instructions for setting up a Junglefight. 3. Select a mission. Any mission found in the main 40K rulebook or the Rules of Engagement (http://uk.gamesworkshop.com/warhammer40000/rulesof-engagement/1/) can be used with the Junglefight rules. I have also found that the Cities of Death missions work well with the Junglefight rules. Simply replace the word Building, with Clearing in the Objective descriptions. The Jungles of Death rules will NOT detail any additional special missions. If you are playing a Junglefight, all missions will use the Junglefight stratagems. Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
6. Deploy your forces. Place your units on the board per the instructions for the mission. Junglefight does not require you to place units in a different order than normal. Keep in mind, mission special rules like Deep Strike and Infiltration must be purchased as stratagems in Junglefights. 7. Rumble in the Jungle! DEFINING TERRAIN With a Junglefight; players will encounter terrain different than they would in normal games of Warhammer 40K. Use the guide below to help you determine which terrain has what effect on your board. As always, it is a good idea to go over the different terrain types with your opponent before you begin play. This will avoid confusion and potential conflict later during play. Thankfully, there are only 4 types of terrain in Junglefight. Jungle — The entire board is covered by jungle, unless players specify it is one of the other three types before the game begins.
Jungles are a thick tangle of trees, brush, vines and other bizarre alien flora. Clearing — A clearing is an area free from jungle growth. Clearings play a significant part in Junglefights as areas of control, landing zones and strong points. Trails — A trail is a path that connects clearings. Usually they are little more than dirt tracks made by the passing of larger animals. The undergrowth and foliage have been beaten back to allow easier travel through the dense jungles. Hills — Often times, the tops of hills are relatively clear from the surrounding vegetation. They form small islands of rock and shrubs amongst a deadly green canopy. Standing a top a hill gives relatively clear vantage points to the surrounding landscape. TERRAIN RULES Jungle • Jungle Terrain is Difficult Terrain for infantry. • Jungle Terrain is Dangerous Terrain for vehicles, bikes, jump infantry (who use the extra jump movement), and cavalry. • Models must make a difficult (or dangerous depending on the type of model) terrain test for every 6” (or fraction of 6”) that they move in the movement phase. So a vehicle that moves 7 inches would need to make 2 tests. One for 6” and one for the 7-12” bracket.
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Jungles of Death • Jungle Terrain limits LOS to 6”. If you draw line of sight across a Trail, the width of the trail does not count as Jungle, and therefore does not add to the 6” of jungle. However, if you draw LOS through 4” of jungle, 2” of Trail, and then another 2” of jungle, you have reached the end of LOS. • Models in Jungle Terrain have a 5+ cover save. Models shot at through jungle terrain have a 5+ cover save. • Skimmers must choose to begin the game either above the canopy or below it. If they are below the canopy normal Difficult Terrain tests apply. If they are above, they follow the same rules as being on a hill. If a skimmer chooses to switch heights they must pass a difficult terrain test. • Units in the jungle who roll more than a single 1 on their difficult terrain test are considered spooked. They can not move, shoot, or assault this turn. Instead, they are spending their time hacking through brush, shooting at nothing, or just getting their bearings. Clearings • Clearings are treated as open terrain. Trails • Trails are treated as open terrain. • Trails are 2-4 inches wide. Hills • Climbing onto a hill is considered difficult terrain. It requires 3 inches of movement to go up a single level. If a model does not
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have enough movement to move up a hill, it is placed at the base of the bottom of the hill. A unit can have models at the top and at the base of a hill without losing Squad Coherency. • The top of a hill is treated as open terrain. • Models on top of a hill have clear LOS to models on a hill of equal or lesser height. • Models on top of a hill have clear LOS to all models in open terrain within an 18” circle. • Measurements from the top of a hill to models on the ground are measured straight across horizontal from the model on the hill. Do not measure distances at an angle. Custom Terrain Many players will have pieces of terrain in their collections that do not fall easily into one of these basic categories. These might include overgrown ruins, a temple building, a rock cave, etc. Sadly, rules can not be made to cover all the possibilities. Be sure to discuss how these terrain pieces will affect the game before you begin to play a Junglefight game. ORGANIZING A JUNGLEFIGHT 1. Choose Forces Choose your forces exactly like you would for normal games of Warhammer 40k. Most Junglefights make use of the standard Force Org. Chart, unless you have chosen to play a mission that uses an alternative Force Org. Chart. Keep in mind, that you may want to tailor your force for this particular type of battle. Tactics and units that work well in standard
games and Cityfight games may not perform the same way in a Junglefight. 2. Select Mission Level and Place Terrain • Mission Levels Warhammer 40,000 uses three different mission levels- Alpha, Gamma, and Omega. These mission levels help determine special rules. In Junglefights, these mission levels also provide guidelines for setting up the terrain, size of the table, and the number of stratagems that can be used. The level you choose will therefore depend upon personal preference, the table you have access to, and the amount of terrain you have assembled. Alpha — Alpha level missions are played on 4x4 tables. They use 1d3 clearings. Gamma — This level of mission is played on a 4x4 or larger table. In addition to 1d3 clearings, each clearing may also have up to three trails connecting them with each other and the table edges. Omega — An Omega game is played on a 6x4 or larger table. It has 1d6 clearings, and each clearing may also have 1d3 trails just like a Gamma level mission. • Place Terrain Alpha — Both players roll a 1d6. The player that rolls the highest places the first clearing on the board. The first player to set up terrain rolls a 1d3. The number rolled is the number of clearings to be placed. Keep in mind, that the entire table is considered to be jungle. 44
Jungles of Death To place the first clearing on the board, begin by placing a marker at the center of the table. The first clearing will have the center of the board as the center of the clearing. Roll 3d6 to determine the width of the clearing. The number rolled is the total width of the clearing. Measure from the center of the board so the center marker is also the center of the clearing. Use yarn, moss, flock, or some other method to mark the edges of the first clearing. After the first clearing is placed, the second player may place the second clearing. To do this, roll the scatter dice and 2d6. The Scatter dice is used to determine the direction the second clearing will be placed from the first clearing. The center of the second clearing will always be 12 inches away from the closest edge of the first clearing. Mark the center of the second clearing with a dice. The results of the 2d6 are the width across of the second clearing. Use the center marker and measure out the edge of the second clearing and mark it with your preferred method. If another clearing is needed, the first player then sets it up using the same method used to set up the second clearing. If at any point during set up, two clearings come in contact, the two separate clearings join edges to become one large clearing. Once all clearings are placed both players are encouraged to fill in the remainder of the board with appropriate jungle terrain. This filling terrain can be as dense or as light as the players wish and will have little bearing on actual game play.
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Gamma — This mission level sets up using the same method as an Alpha level mission. Once all clearings have been placed, the players will then set up trails using the following method. The player that set up the initial clearing rolls a 1d3. The result is the number of trails that will radiate from the clearing. Trails are 2-4 inches wide and the player who is setting up it up will determine the width of the trail. In addition, the player who is setting up may place twists and turns in the trail as long as no turn is greater than a 45-degree course change. Yarn, marker, flock, moss, felt, or any method that you prefer can mark the edges for a trail. However, the edges of any trails must be clear to both players. Trails must be set up with the following rules. A trail must be used to link one clearing to another clearing at their closest possible points first. If a trail is all ready connecting to closest possible clearing, then the subsequent trail is placed linking the clearing to the closest board edge from the closest point of the clearing. Any subsequent trails must be placed connecting to a different board edge from the closest possible edge of the clearing. Once all trails have been placed for the first clearing, the second player then places trails for the second clearing. He must follow the same rules for trail placement as the first player. If any trails intersect, they simply form a crossroads and continue on their original path. The process of placing trails continues until all clearings have had trails placed.
During their terrain placement turn, either player can choose to swap a clearing for a level 1 hill of equivalent size. Trails are still placed as normal, except the edge of the hill is used rather than the clearing. Omega — Omega level missions are set up just like Gamma level missions with a few notable exceptions. Instead of rolling 1d3 for clearings, a 1d6 is rolled. In addition, once the first three clearings are placed, subsequent clearings can be measured from the center of any clearing instead of the initial clearing. Trails are set up using the same method as a Gamma mission. Keep in mind intersecting trails simply form a crossroads before continuing on their original course. Just like in Gamma missions, a player may choose to swap a clearing for a level 1 hill of equivalent size instead of placing a clearing when setting up an Omega mission. In addition, subsequent terrain set up may opt to add additional levels to a hill instead of placing a new clearing. The effect of this terrain set up system, is that Junglefights will always occur around vital clearings. Players are always welcome to set up terrain in a manner more suited to their terrain situation or style of play. 3. Choose Mission Choose a mission as-per the mission generation system in the Warhammer 40K rulebook. Alternatively, you can make up your own missions, use the Cities of Death missions by changing the focus of the objectives to 45
Jungles of Death clearings instead of buildings, the Rules of Engagment found on the GW website, or any other mutually agreed upon method. 4. Roll for Set-up and Deployment as normal Use the rules found in the mission to properly set up and deploy for your game. Junglefight does not change the rules found in the mission description or the Warhammer 40K rulebook with one exception. Infiltration and Deep Strike must be bought as Stratagems. 5. Declare Stratagems After determining set up and deployment order choose and declare any Junglefight stratagems that will be used. Junglefight allows you to choose stratagems to enhance the feel of fighting in a dangerous jungle environment. You may equip your units with special equipment, have some dirty tricks up your sleeve, of be able to deploy your forces in a unique way. The number of Stratagems that can be used varies by the mission level.
6. Deploy your forces Deploy your forces per the mission instructions. Junglefight does not require you to deploy your forces any differently than normal. Again, the only exceptions are Deep Striking and Infiltration must be purchased as Stratagems.
The number of stratagems each player can use is determined by the mission level. Stratagems are chosen before deployment begins and take effect either before or during the game as appropriate for the stratagem. Refer to table 1-1 below.
7. Rumble in the Jungle Begin playing using the rules found here and in the main Warhammer 40k Rulebook.
KEY CLEARING STRATAGEMS Clearings are very strategic locations in a jungle. They are the few areas where more elaborate structures and facilities can be placed. The key clearing upgrade allows the player to upgrade a clearing with special rules which will benefit nearby friendly troops.
JUNGLEFIGHT STRATAGEMS Junglefight stratagems represent things like special deployment options, unique terrain pieces, items of wargear or mission special rules. These tactics and tricks add special flavor to games of Junglefight and add a new aspect to your games of Warhammer 40K. These stratagems may be represented by scraps of paper, tokens, special models, or anything else you and your opponent desire. Stratagems do not cost any points, but they may only be used once in any game of Junglefight.
Alpha — 1 per player Gamma — 2 per player Omega — 3 per player. The person who is setting up first may declare his first Stratagem. The second player then chooses his first stratagem. This continues until the correct number of stratagems has been chosen for the mission level. A stratagem may only be chosen once by any player. As a stratagem is declared, appropriate markers are placed on the board or the units which are affected are indicated. Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
The following rules apply to all Key Clearing Stratagems: • The Key Clearing stratagem can be played on any clearing on the Junglefight board. • One Key Clearing stratagem per player, per clearing. • A Key Clearing can only be used once per turn.
1-1. JUNGLEFIGHT STRATAGEMS Key Clearings Ammo Dump Command Post Maintenance Post Observation Point Power Center Medical Post Sacred Ground
Dirty Tricks Master Snipers Bombardment Booby Traps Spooks Climbing Tanglefoot
Armory Rappelling Lines Brush Clearer Anti-Plant Shells Scanners Jungle Gear Spotters Jungle Weaponry Camo
Deployment Deep Strike Infiltrate Ambushers Tunnels
Obstacles Stockade Bunker Animal Lair Killer Flora Swamps
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Jungles of Death • The effects of the Key Clearing only affect one unit within the clearing or within a set distance of the clearing as stated in the rules. • A unit may only benefit from one Key Clearing benefit per turn. • Key Clearings only benefit the owning armycapturing a Key Clearing confers no benefit. 1. Ammo Dump Crates of ammo and energy packs are stacked and ready to be distributed to waiting troops. A unit with ready access to such a stockpile can blaze away with abandon and releasing a withering storm of fire.
• A vehicle within 12” may re-roll a failed difficult terrain test.
• A unit within the clearing may benefit from the Stubborn universal special rule.
4. Medical Post This clearing houses a host of medical supplies, anti-toxins, healing balms, and other advanced techniques to keep soldiers alive and fighting in harsh jungle environments.
DIRTY TRICKS 1. Master Snipers The dense terrain of a jungle is the natural hunting grounds for snipers. The most skilled marksmen are highly valued for their ability to take out troopers in dense terrain.
• A unit within the clearing may benefit from the Feel No Pain universal special rule.
• The Ammo Dump is used in the owning player’s shooting phase.
5. Observation Point This point allows an armies troopers access to important battlefield intelligence gathered from aerial surveillance, battlefield imagery, spies, and cunning scouts. Line troopers can use this information to better follow the progress of the battle.
• A unit within the clearing may re-roll any failed to hit rolls.
• A unit within the clearing gains a spotting distance of 12” for determining LOS.
2. Command Post (Pick One) This might be a communication point, relay station, or command hut hacked out of the undergrowth and constructed to be a forward base to help coordinate friendly troops.
6. Power Center Often times, units will be equipped with semi-portable recharging stations and power supplies. This allows a soldier to overcharge lasers, and speed up auto-loader systems to maximum capacity.
• The command center grants a unit within 12” the counter-attack special rule OR
• The Power Center is used in the owning player’s shooting phase.
• The command center allows a unit within 24” to re-roll a failed pinning test.
• A single unit within the clearing may re-roll any failed to wound rolls.
3. Maintenance Post The clearing is stacked with barrels of fuel, vehicle parts, and tools. These can be used to help get vehicles unstuck and working again in the difficult terrain of a jungle.
7. Sacred Ground This ground is especially significant for the soldiers. They are willing to stand there ground and fight to the last man.
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This stratagem is applied to all units that are equipped with one or more weapons that have the Sniper Weapons special rules. • Troopers with a sniper weapon may see 12” to determine LOS. • No cover saves are possible from shots from these weapons. 2. Bombardment Indirect fire artillery and strike aircraft are used to mercilessly pound suspected enemy positions. Details for a preliminary bombardment can be found in the main Warhammer 40,000 rulebook. 3. Spooks Troops will seed the area of a suspected advance with small electronic or organic devices that make the jungle seem to come alive. The troops using Spooks have become accustomed to their odd noises, but it is unsettling to approaching enemies. • Enemy units will become spooked on a difficult terrain roll with one or more 1s rolled as opposed to the normal two or more 1s that must be rolled. 47
Jungles of Death 4. Booby Traps Booby Traps are a staple of jungle fighting. The close confines and dense undergrowth makes the detection of such devices incredibly difficult. Often, they are not recognized until it is too late. • Place an Ordinance Template anywhere in the jungle section of the board. This is the area that has been seeded with Booby Traps. The template may not be in the enemies’ deployment zone. Place d3+3 Booby Trap markers in this area roughly outlining the perimeter. • Should this section of jungle be destroyed or removed for any reason (Example: Anti-Plant shells) then the booby traps are also lost. • Whenever a unit moves through the booby trapped area roll a d6. On a 4+ the booby trap is triggered. Anything other than a 4+ remove one Booby Trap marker as a dud. The owner of the unit chooses one model to take a strength 8 hit at AP 2 with no cover save. Once a booby trap has been triggered remove 1 marker. Once all markers have been removed, the area is no longer booby trapped. Vehicles take any booby trap hits on their front armor. 5. Climbing Jungles are full of tall trees that create a dense overhanging canopy that can be difficult to see through. Often time troops will take cover up trees to get a better shot at their approaching enemies, and to cover exposed terrain, while staying concealed. Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
• A unit can choose to climb into the foliage above instead of taking their normal movement. This can only be done in a Jungle terrain type. The unit counts as moving for the purposes of firing heavy weapons. • If they are in the trees, the unit can fire as if they are on a level 1 Hill terrain type. • The subsequent turn, the unit may choose to move normally or stay in the trees. 6. Tanglefoot Tanglefoot is a generic name for plant growth accelerants. They are often dropped from aircraft, delivered by artillery, or dispersed using some other method over an areas intended route of advance. It makes the jungle grow even denser and less navigable. • All jungle terrain goes from Difficult to Dangerous terrain. ARMORY Each armory stratagem only affects one unit in your army. Please note it down on your army list and make your opponent aware of the unit affected by the stratagem. 1. Rappelling Lines Vehicles that are skimmers are excellent for deploying troops straight into the dense jungle below without risking the vehicle to dangerous terrain. The skimmers can all be equipped with rappelling lines to allow their troops to rappel to the ground, while the skimmer stays safely above the canopy. • Skimmers may deploy troops as normal and not choose to go below the tree canopy.
2. Brush Clearer Some vehicles are fitted with large chain saws or other equipment to quickly move through jungle terrain and allow follow on forces to follow. • All monstrous creatures, vehicles with Dreadnaught close combat weapons, and Sentinels are armed with Brush Clearers. • Units equipped with Brush Clearers may create a trail behind it as it moves. The trail will be the width of the vehicle/creatures base and must be marked accordingly with yarn, moss, flock, etc. 3. Anti-Plant Shells Defoliants are often used to help cut a path through difficult and hard to navigate jungles. Very potent herbicides and toxins can be launched in special canisters to rapidly wither and kill vegetation to ease an armies passing. • Every weapon with a blast marker can be modified to fire Anti-plant shells. In the shooting phase, these weapons can be used instead of a normal blast. No to hit roll is needed. Simply place the blast marker within LOS, and mark the radius of the blast marker as a clearing. 4. Scanners Sophisticated electronics, acute senses, or sensitive psychic abilities can help soldiers avoid the worst ambushes and violent attacks by their foes. Often times, such attacks can happen at any time and from any direction. • One unit’s LOS is increased to 18” for detecting and revealing Ambushers. 48
Jungles of Death 5. Jungle Gear Soldiers that have been fighting in jungles for a long time will naturally adapt to the unusual conditions presented by the environment. They will strip down to lighter armor, get rid of needless gear, and know how to avoid local dangers. As a result, they seem to move through the dense terrain of a jungle much quicker. • One unit is allowed the Move Through Cover special rules. 6. Spotters A unit can be equipped with a man portable communications device linked up to the support units in the rear. As a result, the unit can call in support fire much more accurately. • One unit may act as a spotter for an indirect fire unit somewhere else in the jungle. Any targets within LOS of the spotter unit can be fired on using direct fire by any indirect fire unit in the controlling players shooting phase. 7. Jungle Weaponry Veterans of jungle fighting quickly realize that it is best to kill the enemy before they have a chance to see you. As a result, they will go past the recommended safety settings for their flamers, and spray recklessly ahead. • One unit may supercharge their flamer templates. Any weapons that use the flamer template can be placed as normal and then move the template forward an additional 1d6 inches. All models hit, friend or foe, are hit as normal. 8. Camo Camo is particularly valuable in such dense and lush terrain as a jungle. Veteran and Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
experienced jungle fighters will tie branches, leaves and other foliage into their combat webbing to help improve their ability to hide.
• Any unit that does not have a transport vehicle maybe kept in reserve and instead deploy via tunnels.
• The unit with Camo may choose to not move in the movement phase. In exchange, the unit’s cover save is increased by 1.
• 1d3+3 tunnels entrances are placed anywhere on the board. These are the trapdoors and secret passages that lead out of the tunnels.
DEPLOYMENT 1. Deep Strike It is a brave, desperate, or foolish commander who will risk deep striking his units in a Jungle. The risks of catastrophic failure are high.
• When a unit becomes available from reserves they may be deployed from any tunnel exit the controlling player wishes as if it were a table edge.
• This stratagem allows units to deep strike as normal per the rules found in the Warhammer 40,000 rulebook. Deep striking units always start in reserve. 2. Infiltrate Infiltration is a tried and true tactic for Jungle fighting. Often, an army will keep a core of highly trained and motivated troops to sneak forward through the brush to get into an advantageous position before the battle. • By choosing this stratagem you are allowed to use the Infiltrate special rules as found in the Warhammer 40,000 rulebook. Only units with the infiltrate special rule will be able to take advantage of this stratagem. 3. Tunnels Often times, an army will honeycomb a jungle area with tunnels. This facilitates the movement of troops through difficult terrain, and to appear behind enemy troops. In addition, when traveling the tunnels, troops are relatively safe from barrages and aerial attack. These soldiers squeeze through tight crawlways, and claustrophobia inducing passageways.
• Only one unit may deploy from a tunnel exit per turn. If more units become available then there are exits, then the remainders must stay in reserve. • If an enemy model is within 1 inch of the tunnel entrance then the entrance is effectively blocked. 4. Ambushers Some units work ahead of the main lines of advance and set up deadly cross fires and ambushes. These troops are generally veterans of jungle fighting and are willing to wait hours if not days to trap an unsuspecting foe. • One unit that does not have a transport vehicle maybe allowed to ambush. • Place 1d3+3 Ambusher counters on the table. These markers should be labeled blank, except for one. This one should have a distinguishing mark on its underside. This mark should be blocked from opponents view. • In the controlling players movement phase, he may move the Ambusher markers as normal. If he so chooses, he can decide to reveal the
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Jungles of Death ambushers at the end of a movement face. All counters are placed face up, and the marked one is replaced with the ambushing squad. One squad member is placed on the marker, and the rest of the squad is placed within squad coherency. No model in the squad maybe closer to the enemy than the initially placed figure. • Ambushers can be revealed by any enemy unit being able to draw LOS to the counter. If LOS is established, flip over the counter. If it is blank, the counter is removed. If it is marked, then the marker is replaced by a model, and the rest of the unit is placed within squad coherency with no model closer to the enemy than the initial model. • Once revealed, ambushers move and fight as normal for a Junglefight. OBSTACLES All obstacles can be placed anywhere on the board before deployment. 1. Stockade A stockade is essentially a small wall or barrier made of tree trunks, rocks, and other native flora. The stockades provide a covered firing point to block trails and fortify clearings. This stratagem provides 1d3+3 stockades. Each stockade is up to 6” long. • Stockades provide a 4+ cover save • Stockades are difficult ground to cross • Stockades are removed if passed through by a non-skimmer vehicle.
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2. Bunkers Bunkers provide a covered location to site heavy weapons and to shelter from enemy fire. Bunkers are often used to fortify and protect vital clearings and crossroads. This stratagem provides for 1d3 Bunkers. Each bunker is large enough for a 10 man squad and is totally enclosed. They have a rear entry point and allow all models inside to fire out. • Bunkers provide a 3+ cover save. • They are impassable to troops and vehicles outside of the bunker. 3. Animal Lair Animal Lairs are the homes of fierce and savage xeno creatures that live in the dense jungles. Some famous examples are Chud Bears and the fearsome Catachan Devil. These creatures will attack unwary soldiers to protect their lairs and their young. Allows you to place 1d3+3 animal lairs. • Any unit that comes within 6” of an animal lair will require the closest model to suffer from a single strength 5, AP4 hit. A cover save is allowed.
Venus Man-Trap. The sentience of such plants is up for debate, but their threat to passing troops is unmistakable. This stratagem allows the placement of 1d3+3 Killer Flora. • Any unit that comes within 6” of killer flora will be suffer from 1d6 attacks at strength 3, AP -. Cover Saves are allowed. 5. Swamps Often times Jungles are filled with swampy dangerous terrain. This can be due to excessive rainwater, decomposing sludge, quicksand, or any number of alien ecology. However, it is dangerous and difficult to move across such swampy area. This stratagem allows the player to place 1d3+3 swamp pits. Place the small blast marker, and mark the edges of the area with yarn, felt, different colored flock, terrain piece, etc to distinguish the swampy nature of the terrain. • Swamp pits are Dangerous terrain for infantry, jump infantry, and cavalry and impassable terrain for vehicles and bikes.
• Any unit that is attacked by an animal must take a pinning test. If a model was killed the test has a -1 modifier. • Once an attack takes place remove the marker. As the animal was either killed, captures, or satisfied that its territory is secure. 4. Killer Flora Alien jungles are often the home of bizarre plants. The most famous being the famous
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Battle Report: The Mostaza Subterfuge
BAT REP: THE MOSTAZA SUBTERFUGE Stuck between a rock and hard place, thought Lieutenant Apone. The rock in question was standing off to one side: Commissar Schmash, his belligerent scowl hidden from the glaring sun under his peaked cap. Dressed in regulation red and black, it was not possible for anyone to stand out more in a jungle than Commissar Schmash, although Apone conceded that might be the very point. In his best dress uniform, waiting by a landing pad for a bad situation to get even worse, Lieutenant Apone was amazed at the way his brain would fix on the most
pointless details to stop him from thinking about his impending doom. For example, unsightly pools of perspiration were quickly spreading across the khaki cloth of his 317th Helsreach Grenadiers’ uniform, but somehow the Commissar was managing to stand at full attention in tyre-melting heat wearing a fulllength leather cape without breaking sweat. For a moment, Apone’s feverishly-spinning mind wondered if the capes came with airconditioning, or if it was just that Commissars had no blood for the sun to boil. Of course, there was another reason Apone was sweating while Schmash was not. The hard place. It – or rather, he – was approaching from orbit, and the Commissar had made damn sure Apone was standing in his path. The him in question was Inquisitor Masamune. Inquisitor. Apone rolled the word around, mouthing it silently, letting the sheer fear it induced send a welcome shiver down his spine. Apone was now the commanding officer, as Schmash had pointed out in his usual, blunt fashion. As CO, Apone ought to be the one to explain to His Most Holy Inquisition just how things had gotten so fecked up. And they were really fecked up this time.
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Apone swallowed hard. Explaining anything to the Inquisition was, traditionally, something you only lived to do once. Stuck between a rock and a hard place, thought Lieutenant Apone as the Inquisitorial lander appeared in the skies above, and then smiled wryly to himself. In the Guard, you could almost call that being at home. # “We should have killed them all, Brother Captain. Back there in this Emperor-forsaken jungle, heresy festers unchecked.” “Your zeal does you credit, Brother Sergeant,” replied Captain Blackburn, “but misplaced it will tarnish even the most gilded plan. We had Dorn, Him-on-Terra and surprise on our side, but a pitched battle would have served us poorly.” One massive gauntlet indicated the manacled and unconscious prisoner inside the stasis cage that stood between the vinedraped buttresses of a towering redwood. “We took what we needed.” Blackburn felt a curious sense of disappointment – he had expected something more impressively foul and corrupt than the sturdy but dull-looking man pinned in his cell like a fly in amber. Even the bionics on the man’s face looked resolutely field-issue and unadorned. He had a feeling of being on the edges of events, and he did not like that at all.
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Battle Report: The Mostaza Subterfuge Events were best placed right out in the open. If nothing else, it was much easier to kill what was in the open. “Patience. Once we have extracted what we need from this traitor, we will return and lance the boil that has infested this world. No loose ends.” He turned to face Scout Caradoc as the lightly-armoured Imperial Fist approached through the dense undergrowth of the sundappled clearing. As usual, Caradoc left not a single broken branch or bruised leaf in his wake. “Report.” The scout’s voice was a hoarse whisper. “The heretics have picked up our trail.” Blackburn frowned, but there had been no time to cover their tracks properly. “Have they mobilised?” “Almost. They will be here before sunset.” At the same time as their Thunderhawk would reach them for evac, Blackburn realised, and knew his sergeants had come to the same conclusion. They were going to get their pitched battle, after all. “So Dorn wills. We will hold this position until our Brothers can come for us. We are the rock, and they the waves. They can crash against us all they like, but the Sons of Dorn cannot be overcome.”
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# “They took him.” Apone nodded, even though it had not been a question. In fact, Inquisitor Masamune had a disconcerting habit of re p e a t i n g everything Lieutenant Apone was saying, but making
each word sound like a death-knell accusation. To make matters even worse, although that was frankly redundant at this stage, he happened to know that Inquisitor Masamune had been close friends with the missing officer. Apone decided if his fate was sealed, he might as well go down all guns firing. “They took Colonel Mostaza, my lord. Alive, I believe, as there was no blood. None of his blood, anyway. It was a precision operation. Very fast, with solid intel on our base, our lines of defence and points of alarm. Someone sold the colours, Inquisitor.” Inquisitor Masamune looked at Apone, and the Lieutenant realised that in their brisk walk through the shattered portions of the forward base this was the first time the Inquisitor had actually looked at him since he had landed. It was a gaze that struck the heat of the afternoon right out of him, but Apone had never backed down before any man before, and was not about to start. Masamune sniffed. “Mostaza told me about you.” His polished steel power armour whined like a cloud of mosquitoes as he faced Apone. “He’s never been one to choose the company of fools, although I told him he might have skewed his average when he promoted you.” He leaned in, “Prove me wrong. Who are we looking for?” “Astartes.”
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Battle Report: The Mostaza Subterfuge Masamune looked over the smoking ruin of the command tents one more time, his granite face unreadable. The familiar signs of bolter-fire scarred the structures, the shots clean and precise. “Obviously,” he drawled. “Even Commissar Schmash’s pet lizard would have spotted that, but which Traitor Legion are we dealing with, hmm?” Apone swallowed. Rock and a hard place. Commissar Schmash had told him his next words would get him killed, one way or another. Schmash himself and the regiment’s other Commissar, Kane, were both pretending to be fascinated by wreckage they had already seen, and were standing just a few paces away. Not far enough away to show disrespect to the Inquisitor, but not close
enough to risk sharing the firestorm coming Apone’s way. The heat-exchangers on Kane’s powerfist whirred in the silence. Then Apone saw it, a single bead of sweat of Schmash’s brow. So he was human after all. Somehow, that thought took the tremor out of his voice as he spoke. “Not traitors. Loyal Astartes. Imperial Fists, Inquisitor. The Sons of Dorn.” Masamune spun round, sunlight flashing off his armour like exploding glowglobes. There was a fury in his pinprick eyes, but their anger was not aimed at Apone. He did not know who it was aimed at, but Apone was very glad, and very surprised, that it was not him. “You have proof?”
BATTLE REPORT: THE MOSTAZA SUBTERFUGE By Gabriel Schrock and Jon Mattison INTRODUCTION Gabe: First and foremost, I chose to do this battle report because I wanted a chance to try out the Jungles of Death rules we’ve published in this issue. The JoD rules have proven to be a real treat and I highly recommend you try them out for yourself. Secondly, I don’t often get a chance to play any games of Warhammer 40,000. I have various excuses but I am ultimately to blame for my failure in the gaming aspect of this fine hobby. This battle report gave me the necessity to get out there and actually play a game of 40k, nothing bad Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
about that at all! The experimental nature of this battle report meant I could try out some unit choices I normally would not consider; namely my megasaur and Inquisitor Lord. Lastly, my guard are not traitor guard! Don’t you ever accuse them of such foul heresy! The 317th are hardcore loyalists. “But why are they fighting Imperial Fists?” you ask. This opportunity allows me to once again bring up my favourite aspect of 40k; the background. With a little forethought you can justify the use of distinctive units and out of the ordinary clashes.
“No, but I saw them. As they were leaving, I saw the symbol of the fist. I swear it, on my life.” “On your life.” Masamune nodded. “Good boy. Maybe Mostaza was right about you, Lieutenant.” He shot a glance at Schmash. “There’s not many would accuse the Astartes out of their own mouths, especially to me, but you happen to be right, Lieutenant Apone. Keep being right, and you might just live through this. You have their trail?” Apone stood to attention. “Yes, sir. We are already mobilised.” “Then what are you waiting for? Colonel Mostaza isn’t going to rescue himself. Not this time.”
In this unique case Jon’s Imperial Fists have been mislead by a rival inquisitor for his own selfish gains. The 317th has recently been requisitioned by Inquisitor Masamune to assist in the search of a holy relic, but their Colonel has been taken hostage in an effort by the rival inquisitor to gain leverage. As the Imperial Fists await Thunderhawk retrieval the 317th must mount a rescue mission or risk losing their adored commander! THE SCENARIO The Jungles of Death rules mesh very well with Cities of Death missions. For this game we chose to play the gamma level Relief Force advanced mission from Cities of Death, simulating the desperate nature of the rescue and holdout of 53
Battle Report: The Mostaza Subterfuge the Imperial Fists. We set up the terrain in a mutually agreeable manner. When games are played in a strictly non-competitive manner I prefer to set up terrain for aesthetic reasons, regardless of ramifications. The Imperial Fists goal is to hold the ruin in the centre with the captured colonel and the Imperial Guard need to capture aforementioned ruin. Due to the Imperial Fists being the defenders they get an extra stratagem, giving them a total of three. ARMY SELECTION Gabe: My goal is to cleanse the centre clearing of any enemy presence and have at least one scoring unit remaining in the centre by the end of the turn. As Imperial Guard are inherently weaker in close combat against Space Marines, and I imagine my opponent will be dug in like a tick, it would benefit me to have some dedicated assault units to help clear out and hold the ruin with the abducted colonel. Fortunately, I have already decided that I will be using my megasaur and Masamune and his retinue are designed for close combat. It is at this point that the Brush Clearer stratagem caught my attention and I formed the core of my strategy. I will use my megasaur in conjunction with the Brush Clearer stratagem to clear a path for the bulk of my forces. With my monstrous creature backed up by a Demolisher, Leman Russ and Masamune in his Chimera, theoretically, I can deliver a potent force directly into the objective while benefiting from the jungle’s line of sight obstruction. Likewise, I will also deploy my Grenadier squads
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in the thick of the jungle so I can better attack on my terms. Hopefully I can hide them 6” in the jungle and jump out when I’m ready for a combined attack. My final stratagem choice is Master Snipers for my counts-as Ratling squad. With some luck I will be able to pick a deployment zone with a hill so their precision fire can be used to greater effect and help support the rest of the force’s advance toward the objective. Jon: The Imperial Fist army and accompanying army list were provided as-is, borrowed from another club member named Jeremy. It is safe to assume that this list is designed for the traditional missions provided in the 40k rulebook and therefore isn’t as tuned to the special scenario we were playing. As the saying goes, deal with it and move on. So a week back, knowing what my army list was and reading through the Jungles of Death ruleset I got a refresher on the history and fluff of the Imperial Fists and was happy to find that their specialty was attacking and defending fortifications. I also read, “The Imperial Fists believe in purity and the ‘warrior spirit within’ above all else and will not retreat even when it may be beneficial.” I decided I would let this direct my tactical decisions in the game.
For my standard 2 stratagems there were a lot of great options. Despite being able to castle up and adopt a defensive position from the beginning I was feeling a little under-manned and under-gunned. I realize that this is usually the case with Marine armies, but I felt it even more since so many points had been spent on vehicles. For my first stratagem I chose Tunnels. If you haven’t read the JoD ruleset yet, Tunnels is more-or-less the equivalent of Sewer Rats from Cities of Death. Since my two large tactical squads each had a lascannon, a plasma gun and Tank Hunters, I liked the idea of placing multiple tunnel entrances around the board in such a way that Gabe would have an extra variable to deal with. Any of his units covering or blocking Tunnel entrance points would be less coming to shoot me; and if he ignored them? Surprise! Bang, bang, kaboom! For my second stratagem I chose Tanglefoot. I figured that something that changed all Difficult Terrain to Dangerous Terrain was a good thing. Here again, force Gabe to make decisions; stick to the paths? or run the risk of the dangers of the jungle?
To begin with, the Relief Force scenario gave me a free stratagem which had to be chosen from the Key Clearings list. I chose Sacred Ground. While several of the others were tempting I felt that having a Stubborn unit guarding the prisoner was well in line with the fluff I discussed earlier.
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Battle Report: The Mostaza Subterfuge
317TH HELSREACH GRENADIERS - 1498 PTS
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317TH HELSREACH GRENADIERS - 1498 PTS
317TH HELSREACH GRENADIERS Stratagems: Master Snipers, Brush Clearer HQ 317th Command Squad (Junior Officer with shotgun, Commissar with powerfist, three guardsmen with flamers, one guardsman with meltagun, frag grenades and carapace armour.) Inquisitor Masamune and Henchmen (Inquisitor Lord with master-crafted force weapon, bolt pistol, artificer armour and frag grenades. Two Acolytes with bolters and storm shields. One Acolyte with bolter and power armour. Three Combat-Servitors
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with powerfists.) Chimera transport with turret multilaser, hull heavy bolter, pintlemounted heavy stubber and extra armour. ELITES Raymundo’s Ratlings (Ratling squad with five sniper rifles.) TROOPS Grenadier Squad Alpha (Veteran Sergeant with power weapon and nine Storm Troopers, two with plasma guns) Grenadier Squad Beta (Veteran Sergeant with power weapon and nine Storm Troopers, two with plasma guns)
Grenadier Squad Ceta (Five Storm Troopers, two with meltaguns) Grenadier Squad Delta (Five Storm Troopers, two with meltaguns) HEAVY SUPPORT Commissar Schmash and Megasaur Leman Russ (hull lascannon, sponson heavy bolters, extra armour and rough terrain modification) Leman Russ Demolisher (hull heavy bolter, sponson heavy bolters and extra armour)
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IMPERIAL FISTS STRIKE FORCE - 1500 PTS
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Battle Report: The Mostaza Subterfuge
IMPERIAL FISTS STRIKE FORCE - 1500 PTS IMPERIAL FISTS - 1500 PTS Strategems: Sacred Ground, Tanglefoot, Tunnels HQ Master (terminator armor, power weapon, storm bolter, terminator command squad) Terminator Command Squad 4 Terminators (4 power fists, 2 storm bolters, 2 assault cannons), 1 Terminator Sergeant (power weapon, storm bolter) TROOPS Tactical A - 5 marines (4 bolters, 1 meltagun) 1 Vet. Sergeant (plasma pistol, power fist) 1 Razorback transport (twin-linked lascannon) Tactical B - 5 marines (4 bolters, 1 meltagun) 1 Vet. Sergeant (plasma pistol, power fist) 1 Razorback transport (twin-linked lascannon) Tactical C - 9 marines (7 bolters, 1 plasma, 1 lascannon), 1 Sergeant (bolter) Tank Hunters Tactical D - 9 marines (7 bolters, 1 plasma, 1 lascannon), 1 Sergeant (bolter) Tank Hunters HEAVY SUPPORT Vindicator 1 (demolisher cannon, storm bolter, dozer blade, extra armor) Vindicator 2 (demolisher cannon, storm bolter, dozer blade, extra armor)
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Battle Report: The Mostaza Subterfuge
SETUP Using the Jungles of Death ruleset, the entire table was considered to be jungle and therefore difficult terrain. As you can see in the photo above, the temple ruins are placed in a large clearing at the center of the table. Pathways lead from the center clearing to other clearings around the table and off the board. We spread Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
out the available trees from our collections best we could and sprinkled some other terrain pieces for variety. DEPLOYMENT As the defender Jon deployed first. We decided to allow deployment of his Terminators in the centre of the objective clearing, as we
considered it justifiable that Blackburn and his retinue would be in the ruin from the get-go. Two tactical squads with their accompanying Razorbacks cover the trails leading east and west into the ruin, the rest of his force is in reserves as per the mission rules. The Imperial Guard are deployed in a half circle, surrounding the objective, in the south-west corner of the 59
Battle Report: The Mostaza Subterfuge
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Beginning of Turn 1, Inset: End of Turn 1 board. Gabe won the roll for first turn and chose to go first. GABE: TURN ONE Unfortunately my deployment didn’t go quite as I planned. I was unable to hide all of my armour in the jungle so I opted to leave the Leman Russ covering a trail with a clear shot into the ruin. Jon decides to reveal that he is using the Tanglefoot stratagem at this point. Now all of my poor Grenadiers are running through dangerous terrain! Apparently this is some wicked bush, as it manages to claim Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
one or two casualties from every infantry unit! At this rate I’m bound to lose nearly all of my Grenadiers before they even reach the genetically altered hulks in front of them so I decide to move them to the nearest clearings and trails. The Megasaur marches forward with Demolisher and Chimera in tow. Fortunately, my snipers on the hill have a beautiful view over the canopy to one of Jon’s Tactical squads. Their fire takes down one Marine and pins the squad, that’s promising! The Leman Russ on the trail is my only other
unit able to fire, I target the Terminators in the ruin with the battle cannon causing three wounds, all of which are saved by cover! At least I can relax knowing Jon can’t target most of my army next turn. JON: TURN ONE In my own defense let me say that we were so focused on putting together a good battle report that we did get ahead of ourselves and had to take a pause so I could declare my stratagems, Tanglefoot and Tunnels. Naturally, Tanglefoot had an immediate effect on Gabe’s 60
Battle Report: The Mostaza Subterfuge Tactical squads C and D are held in reserve to make use of the Tunnels stratagem. GABE: TURN TWO Grenadier squad Beta breaks and runs before the imposing Astartes! Cowards. The remaining Grenadier squads continue their struggle to get onto safer ground. Of course, I lost two more in the process from squad Alpha and Ceta. My Leman Russ is ignored by Jon so I keep it where it is hoping for another chance to crack open some Terminators. Gleefully I move my Megasaur another six inches through the jungle towards one of Jon’s Razorbacks. I can’t wait to trash that thing. The Demolisher, Chimera and Command squad follow the trail in the monstrous creature’s wake. troops. The black counters you see in the photos represent my entrance points for the Tunnels stratagem. Now that Gabe had shown himself by deploying in the south-west corner I am able to react and move Tactical B into the cover of the ruins with Commander Blackburn and his retinue and rapid fires on the advancing storm troopers killing 3. Their Razorback transport shifts to get a bead on Gabe’s Leman Russ coming up the southern trail. Though Tactical A has been pinned their Razorback transport takes a shot at the Megasaur but misses. Commander Blackburn and his retinue also fire at the approaching storm troopers on the southern trail and kill 3. Top: End of turn IG movement phase Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
Bottom: Ratling Sniper view 61
Battle Report: The Mostaza Subterfuge Delta squad is within Melta distance of Jon’s second Tactical squad now, but that accursed ruin affords two very lucky Marines some respite from their scorching heat! The Ratling squad manages to score two casualties on the same Tactical squad from last turn, keeping them pinned. The Razorback didn’t move so I charge with the Megasaur ready to unleash some real hurt on Jon and his Marines before his reserves start to come in. The Megasaur only manages to stun and immobilize the Razorback. Talk about anti-climatic. I hope the Megasaur can cause some more serious damage next turn.
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Left: The prisoner is going nowhere. JON: TURN TWO Turn two quickly finds me double checking my inventory and what I have that can defeat this Megasaur. Call me pessamistic (ask my gaming club) but I’m having Warhammer Fantasy flashbacks of Giants and Treemen with Tough 6, Strength 10, Six wounds, Invincible etc. Gabe snaps his fingers and returns me to the here-and-now. I roll for reserves and both my Vindicators are able to enter the board from my “deployment zone” which is opposite Gabe’s. The last thing I need is to get the Vindicators stuck and Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
Top: Nom nom nom, tasty Razorback. therefore useless by trying to power their way through dangerous terrain so they start their own rally race of speeding along the jungle trails hoping to arrive in time to matter. Commander Blackburn and Retinue seize the initiave and exit the ruins to confront the Megasaur; let off a host of shots and get a single wound on the Megasaur. In the resulting assault, Blackburn puts on a sword demonstration but never makes contact while his Vet. Sgt. rolls his eyes, steps in and cuts down the Megasaur. The rest of the powerfisted retinue surpress their snickering. 62
Battle Report: The Mostaza Subterfuge behind. The Command squad moves towards the Terminators. Hopefully they can soften the enemy for Masamune a little. I need some excellent shooting this round if I plan on pulling out of this mess. The Flamers in the Command squad start by unleashing a gout of flame on the Terminators causing two wounds, both of which are saved. Not a good
start on my miraculous come back. My snipers are bound to have better luck with those blasted Terminators and set them in their sites. Three wounds and three frickin’ saves again! Fine, fine. Whatever I cannot set ablaze and snipe I will blow apart with the tanks of the Imperial Guard! My Demolisher targets the Terminators only to score two wounds and one kill. Weak.
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Tactical A spends the turn Pinned and looking pretty in yellow. Tactical B stays in the ruins and unloads on the approaching storm troopers some more. They survive a plasma overheat but accomplish nothing else. Their Razorback however gets a bead on the Leman Russ and destroys his big cannon. Tacticals C and D are still tunnelling around somewhere. GABE: TURN THREE My pet! The situation is dire for me right now. I decide to unload Inquisitor Masamune and his retinue from the Chimera, they need to pick up the mess that Commissar Schmash left Left: Flamers & Demolisher vs. Terminators Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
Right: Inquisitor and Retinue disembark. 63
Battle Report: The Mostaza Subterfuge get a shot off. I still consider the Leman Russ a danger with its hull and sponson weapons. Gabe didn’t mention it but I believe that his Leman Russ had just destroyed my Razorback. My Vindicators keep coming along. GABE: TURN FOUR Wow, my plans have completely fallen apart. Jon’s last turn has completely sealed my fate. I am thoroughly impressed how crazy my Commissar is. With this being my last turn I have but one last goal to complete. Masamune must kill Blackburn. I move the Inquisitor and his retinue towards the Terminators, I turn the
3 Above: Tunnelling reserves find their map. Right: Surviving Commissar says “That all you got?” JON: TURN THREE After weathering an alpha strike from his flamers and Demolisher, Commander Blackburn and Retinue advance to take on the Command Squad. After shooting and assualt, only the Commissar stands to stare down the Terminators with a look of, “that all you got?” Tactical A recovers from being pinned and tries to act like they’d planned it all along while Tactical B remains in the ruins and causes Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
enough wounds on the storm troopers guarding the turret-less Leman Russ to force a morale check. The storm troopers decide to cut their losses and run away. Tactical’s C and D finally find their map and arrive by tunnel entrances. Tactical C pops up East of the ruins and destroys the remaining storm troopers in front of them. Tactical D pops out in front of the turret-less Leman Russ hoping to survive a turn before they can 64
Battle Report: The Mostaza Subterfuge melee. The Inquisitor inflicts one wound with his force weapon on the Captain, passes his psychic test and unleashes a massive blow with his sword that annihilates his opponent where he stands! Jon is not thrilled, but I am! JON: TURN FOUR Commander Blackburn is cut down but his fearless Retinue stays the course. All my Tacticals hold their ground. Tactical D wasn’t surprised at all by the Demolisher bursting through the undergrowth, smoothly
take aim and destroy it with lascannon and plasma. Tactical C opens up on the Ratlings to no effect. It is at this point that we realize that we need to wind things down as Gabe has afternoon obligations. A quick look at the board shows that the Imperial Fists have the upper hand and should easily be able to hold out until pick up. As a formality we roll for Variable Game Length and the game ends. Inquisitor Masamune and his remaining Snipers retreat into the jungles.
4 Chimera around to bring its weapons to bear even though it won’t be shooting at anything. The Leman Russ is stunned and useless, the Ratlings stay where they are to get off a couple more precious shots and the Demolisher charges through the dangerous terrain to make way for the Inquisitor’s assault and attack one of Jon’s reserve Tactical squads. The snipers fire on the two-man Tactical squad, causing one wound that is saved; figures. The Demolisher fires its cannon from the jungle and the shell simply whizzes over the fortunate Space Marines. How aggravating! But none of that really matters. It’s the assault I really care about right now. Masamune and his henchmen charge into the stubborn Terminators. One Combat-Servitor manages to crush a Terminator with it’s massive industrial cutter. Inquisitor Masamune singles out Blackburn in the whirling Left: Blackburn’s last moments. Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
Right: Demolisher gets, uh, demolished. 65
Battle Report: The Mostaza Subterfuge JON: CONCLUSION I suppose I just don’t have enough experience with force weapons, it just really caught me off guard for Commander Blackburn to be cut down with such ease.
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There really was a swing of power in turn 3 as all four of Gabe’s storm trooper squads were gone and his Leman Russ was losing weapons left and right. Initially I was very worried about the points trade off. Historically I favor infantry-heavy armies with little to no vehicles. Then, because of the scenario and terrain I was really worried that I was “wasting” nearly 300 points on Vindicators that might never arrive in time to matter. Thanks for reading!
Above: Thunderhawk view on final approach. GABE: CONCLUSION I am not particularly disheartened about my loss though I do feel the dice of destiny were not on my side as well. I’ve learned a lot from this game, smacked down the opposing HQ and had a fun time with the Jungles of Death rules. I am particularly proud of my snipers and the Master Snipers stratagem. They had an entire Tactical squad pinned down for most of the game. They deserve a few new recruits added to their ranks. I am also pleased with my Inquisitor Lord and his retinue. That force weapon is deadly, and with three Acolytes taking wounds for him, he has some excellent Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
Right: “Hey guys, here we are!” staying power. I am disappointed that my Megasaur did not get a chance to rampage thru the enemy. His untimely demise has taught me I need to be more aware of my opponents own assault units, particular power weapons. My overall strategy was fairly sound, but I probably should have picked another table quarter, as my advance was slower and far more painful than I had anticipated. That Tanglefoot stratagem was obnoxious! I am eager to paint up some more Grenadiers and snipers for my army after playing a game this enjoyable. 66
Battle Report: The Mostaza Subterfuge
Lieutenant Apone heard the scream of the assault cannon…
He was rising, buoyed up from the darkness by the white lightning in his blood.
…and a yellow-armoured giant hacked Commissar Schmash off his mount and crushed the skull of the reptile in one huge, angular powerfist, brain-matter sizzling on the flaring electrodes while…
“Again. Hit him again,” said the aquila on the shadow’s chest.
A shadow stood over Apone, dark and fearful. He called out its name, and its name was Death. “We’re losing him,” another shadow said as his heart beat a final, fitful march. …the assault cannon screamed… …and a knight in shining armour slid through the carnage, sword poised for the killing blow, stalking his power-armoured prey, but then… Lightning. White fire in his mind. The march was thunder in his chest. The shadow loomed closer. “Hit him again.” …the assault cannon screamed… …the tank, turret a mangled mess of iron, blazing backdrop to an insane melee: lumbering terminators gathered around a swirling cape of amethyst. Apone dragging himself through broken bodies, death at his heels, trying to reach… The shadow, with a symbol on its chest. An aquila. He called out its name.
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…the assault cannon screamed… …the leader of the space marines was cut in half (No! Yes! Are they the enemy now?) by the shining knight. He knew his name. Hands grabbed Apone, pulled him across the bloodstrewn ground, towards… …a roar that shook the jungle. A ship lifting off, engines screaming. Mostaza was gone, borne aloft on thunder. Lifting. Rising. Nearly out… Lieutenant Apone blinked as the shadow grew a face. Inquisitor Masamune. He gasped, and nearly choked on the tube down his throat. It pulled free with a sucking sound and a splash of his own blood. Field medics gathered up their paddles and needles and left, to work another miracle in His name.
Then Inquisitor Masamune was gone. When Apone was sure he was alone, he extracted the crypt-com from his belt buckle, placing it against his ear. The voice that came over the link demanded a response three times before Apone finally forced speech from his agonised throat. “Masamune. Coming after. You,” he gasped. “In force.” “I would be disappointed if he just gave up now,” said the voice. “Very well. Carry on.” Apone gritted his teeth. “I have done. What you ordered. Now end this. Before more of my men. Die.” “End it? When I am this close to the reliquary? You lack the ambition to see what is at stake here, Lieutenant. This is just the beginning.” The static made the laugh sound chillingly hollow. “Inquisitor Jiro out.” ### END ###
“I said you’d live through this,” said the Inquisitor. “You nearly made a liar of me.” Apone tried to sit up, but an iron gauntlet on his shoulder stopped him. “We failed. We’re getting ready to follow them in my ship, and we will not fail again. Gather your strength, Lieutenant. You’ll need it. This is just the beginning.”
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LET THE INTERROGATION BEGIN!
SHOUT OUT! Gabe: I need to make special mention of the Imperial Fist’s owner and the gaming club where Jon and I did this battle report. Thanks for being such a sport about lending your army Jeremy, we really appreciate how flexible you and Dennis were. Thanks also to Powers of the North. You manage a fantastic gaming group, and though I never make it out there often, every time I have has been a pleasure. Fortunately for
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you, I know I don’t need the flash on my camera anymore to get good pictures for a battle report! Jon: Thanks to the Napa Valley Warhammer Society for the use of their club’s terrain collection. Also thanks to Powers of the North for letting us drop in on your open gaming weekend and put together this battle report.
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Modeling: Jungle Terrain by Christopher Hird
MODELING JUNGLE TERRAIN by Chris Hird aka Deserter STOCKADE A stockade is a makeshift barrier in this case using local resources in order to provide cover for infantry forces. Using some readily available materials you can construct a number of barriers for use with either the jungle fighting rules or for regular games of Warhammer 40,000. Materials Branches and Twigs – I got these from a local wood where they are scattered on the paths and in clearings. These are best collected when the weather is dry, but they can be collected and dried out for a few days in the house. MDF – This was used as the base for the stockade. I used a thin MDF which I could quite easily carve with a craft knife.
gives up to 6 stockades, each being up to 6 inches (15cm) in length. Be sure to keep this in mind when marking the base, you will need to leave a little extra space on each side.
Tools Craft Knife, Hot Glue Gun, PVA Glue, Pin Vice, Clippers, Ruler, Pencil and Permanent Marker
Craft Knife – I use some cheap large snap knives. A good source of these is Pound shops or Dollar stores. Hot Glue Gun – A must have for any terrain maker. They’re cheap and you don’t have to wait around the way you do with PVA glue. These get extremely hot (the clue is in the name) so younger readers will need supervision. PVA Glue – I use wood glue (my father is a joiner meaning I can siphon this off into a smaller PVA bottle...) which seems to dry quicker than regular PVA. Pin Vice – This is optional (see later).
2 Cut this out using a craft knife, use either a steel ruler or by trusting your own judgement.
Barbecue Skewers – These are wooden skewers for making kebabs and the like. Sold in most supermarkets these are cheap and perfect for use in jungle terrain. Sand and Gravel Mix – This is used to add texture to the base of the stockade.
Notes on Tools
4 Go to your collection of branches and twigs and select a number of medium sized examples that will stack nicely and form the barricade.
3 Trim the base edges – the idea is to level out the base by chamfering the edge so it looks like it is a part of the board rather than just randomly placed down.
Method 1 Begin by marking out the base size on the wood you have chosen to use. The stratagem Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
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Modeling: Jungle Terrain by Christopher Hird 5 Arrange the branches on the base and glue the bottom ones onto the base using the hot glue gun.
6 Mark a number of points around the branches to show where you will need supports – these are basically stakes that would be driven into the ground in order to keep the stockade in place.
fire. For this I simply drilled into the wooden stockade in a number of places to show the bullet holes.
11 Now take some PVA glue mixed with a small amount of water and add texture to the base using the sand/gravel mix. You’re finished, congratulations. Repeat this process and you’ll have yourself a set of Stockades for use in a variety of tabletop wargames. You could also raid your bits box to add detail, e.g. skeletons, weapons, discarded equipment etc to give it that lived in feel.
7 Place the top branches or twigs on top of the base branches; mark on a skewer the height of the stockade. Cut the required number of stakes using the clippers before trimming them with the craft knife.
ANIMAL LAIR The jungles of the universe are inhabited by many creatures – some big, some small. Many of the larger creatures choose to build nests or burrows. This guide will help you build one... Materials Branch – The branch used was a rather rotten piece of wood; but still solid enough to stay in one piece. Plastic Foliage – The leaves I used here are taken from a section of plastic foliage which is normally used to add greenery to a bunch of false flowers. The foliage was £1 from a department store for a rather large piece (I use them in the aquarium of my pet turtles) and if you shop around you should quite easily be able to find something similar. Twigs Photo leaves
12 Undercoat and paint the stockade.
MDF Skeleton Pieces
8 Glue stakes into place using hot glue gun. 9 Glue the top branches or twigs in place using the hot glue gun. 10 I then used the pin vice in order to make the barricade look like it had taken some Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
Sand and Gravel Mix Tools Craft Knife, Clippers, Hot Glue Gun, PVA Glue, Superglue
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Modeling: Jungle Terrain by Christopher Hird Method 1 Take your chosen Branch and mark out a base. For this stratagem you will require up to 6 markers so smaller may be better. 2 Cut out the chosen base using a craft knife.
6 Add a few twigs to the base as you see fit. 7 Drill a number of holes in the branch.
make some using green stuff, and have them snaking out of the hole of the lair to snatch an unsuspecting jungle combatant.
8 Insert the foliage into the holes and glue in place using some superglue.
3 Trim the sides of the base to give it a slight slope, as per the ‘Stockade Step 3’ above. 4 Decide how you will arrange the branch on the base. Make sure that it is at a slight tilt leaving a gap that becomes the entrance to the creature’s lair. Glue the branch down using the hot glue gun.
9 Mix PVA glue with a little water and add texture to the base using the sand and gravel mix, but leave a blank spot around the base of the branch – this will be painted black to imitate a hole under the branch.
5 Arrange the skeleton pieces around the entrance to the lair; these are the discarded leftovers from the animal’s snacks.
JUNGLE OUTCROP One of the most important terrain features on a jungle board is obviously the jungle itself. There are a number of ways of creating jungle and I would suggest taking a good look around your local pet shops and department stores for cheap plastic plants. This tutorial uses a plastic foliage ‘spray’ in rather an unusual way. Materials Plastic Foliage MDF Twigs Sand and Gravel Mix Tools Craft Knife, Clippers, Hot Glue Gun, PVA Glue
10 Undercoat and paint. The Animal Lair is now complete. For variation you could use tentacles from the Chaos Spawn sprue, or Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
Method 1 Begin by marking the base that you require on the MDF. For this medium sized piece of terrain I chose a base of around 6 inches by 4 inches. 71
Modeling: Jungle Terrain by Christopher Hird 2 Cut out the base using a craft knife. Again use your own judgement or use a steel ruler. 3 Trim down the base edges so that they are on a little more natural slope. This will help them blend into the board better.
7 Some pieces of wire may be too thick to bend and glue, for these pieces I took half a twig which I drilled into before gluing the wire piece into the hole. It now looks like the branch is actually growing through the fallen and rotten tree.
4 Take the plastic foliage and begin to remove the leaves – on my foliage they come off quite easily and can be replaced afterwards.
9 Add texture to the base using PVA mixed with a little water and the sand and gravel mix. You could give more variety to this by using different types of foliage, adding extra twigs as fallen logs, adding rocks or anything else that strikes your fancy. 10 The piece of terrain can now be undercoated and painted.
5 You will be left with an armature of thick wire covered in plastic, with parts that the leaves fit onto. Begin to cut lengths of this wire – the tip of the branch is the best part to take.
6 When you have a handful of pieces cut you can begin to glue them to the base. Bend them at a right angle and glue onto the base using the hot glue gun as shown.
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8 When all the wires are attached to the base you can begin to put the foliage on. A number of these were glued onto the base itself, whilst the majority are just slotted back onto the nubs on the wire.
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Modeling: Jungle Terrain by Christopher Hird KILLER FLORA Jungles throughout the universe are filled with hidden dangers – many of these come in the form of carnivorous plant life. This is my attempt at making markers to represent the Killer Flora Stratagem, based on a plant that was mentioned in the back of the Catachan Codex – the ‘Spiker’. The idea behind this plant is that it fires out spines coated in poison that contain the plants seed. The seeds then use the corpse of impaled on the spike as fertiliser, growing into another Spiker. Materials Pine Cones – I picked these up on a walk through my local wood. I thought that they’d work well and found some which fit on a standard 40k base comfortably. Cocktail Sticks Bases – I used normal 40k slotta bases. Sand and Gravel Mix Tools Clippers, hot glue gun, PVA glue, super glue
2 Glue the cone to a base using the hot glue gun, as shown.
4 Cut spines from cocktail sticks to desired length.
5 Super glue the spines into the openings of the cone. It is best to dry fit these before choosing where to glue them in.
3 Add the sand and gravel mix to the base using PVA glue thinned with water.
Method 1 Begin by removing the stalks from the pine cones and cleaning them up – there may be some seeds to remove.
6 Undercoat and paint as you see fit! I made six of these, they were simple and cheap, using found materials, spare bases and other materials I already had. See the next page for finished projects.
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Modeling: Jungle Terrain by Christopher Hird
Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
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Modeling: Jungle Trees
JUNGLE TREES By Tepok I got this idea when I remembered an old White Dwarf article where they made trees using masking tape wrapped around a wire frame. I decided to use that as my base idea, but replacing the masking tape with dressing (bandages) and adding pencils to the wire frame (more on pencils later). What I used: • Dressing • Aquarium leaves / plants • Thin garden wire • Pencils • Flock • Some sort of base • PVA • Super glue
1: Wrap wire on piece of pencil. Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
I started by cutting a pencil in half, and wrapping the wire around it. This needs to be quite rough, if the wire was even it would have looked unnatural (I just tried to keep an average thickness).
Once you’re happy with the length and width get some super glue and attach the dressing to the tree. Start wrapping the dressing around ensuring that you’ve got a tight fit.
4: Wrap tightly but leave enough to glue.
2: Wrapped pencil. The next step is sorting out the ‘bark’ for the tree. I cut a piece of dressing that is the same length as the pencil and long enough so that it could wrap around at least twice.
5: Add super glue along this line. Wrap up that end as well. Make sure that the end of the dressing isn’t straight, as otherwise the tree will look too unnatural. Add super glue around both ends of the pencil.
3: Cut dressing to size.
6: Glue both ends of the pencil. 75
Modeling: Jungle Trees After that it should look something like this:
7: Dressing glued shut on pencil. Once the super glue is dry, you need to cover the dressing in PVA glue, I did this by rolling it in some PVA I had put on a CD:
10: Cover exposed top with leaves.
11: Three finished trees added to an old CD for a base, flock added.
8: Coat entire dressing in PVA glue. For the next step you need to make sure that all the PVA is dry, so leaving it overnight is probably best. Next, get some aquarium plants and cut their leaves off. Arrange them in circles around the top of the trees, I made one circle around the top of the stem first:
9: Glue aquarium plants to dried stem. Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
12: Painted in a simple method to your tastes. Inset: Detail of bark and Barry the Squig. 76
Modeling: Advanced Ruins
ADVANCED RUINS FOR CITIES OF DEATH RUMBLE IN THE RUBBLE – PART ONE by Matthew Phelps Cityfight….ahh, you’ve got to love it. Done properly, no gaming board can match its visual impact and its many challenges; although it can be a bit pricy. In the last issue of Firebase we had an article introducing a quick and simple method of using foamboard to make cityfight ruins. In this two-part article I hope to build on that article and show how foamboard ruins can be taken up a notch. It takes a lot more time and work but visually it is more pleasing and can add a lot gaming-wise. When I set out to do some ruins I followed some basic ground rules dealing with the construction and appearance of the ruins, as well as gaming factors that must be met: • A ruined building is not a corner – it has walls on all sides. • A building requires doorways to get inside, as well as access to other floors. • Ground levels will vary between buildings. • People will have lived in the buildings before they were ruined. • Walls are rarely plain, flat surfaces. • Walls are thick, floors are thin. • Buildings will have a pavement-like area around them. • Lots of rubble and variety within are needed.
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• The buildings MUST be playable…this leads to the following requirements: — Models (infantry & tanks) must fit under floors and be easily accessible. — Rubble, while plentiful, must not prevent models standing up or create areas that cannot be accessed by models. — Floors must be strong enough to hold a large number of metal figures. — No internal walls; while they look good, they tend to impede game play and limit the space available.
The basic building model.
From these guidelines, I designed a basic framework that all of my buildings will employ. This can be changed to suit certain buildings better, e.g. the height between ground floor and the first floor can be changed to give a more impressive entrance hall in a higher status building. The following illustrations show these principles given form.
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Modeling: Advanced Ruins The walls are made from two layers of foamboard, giving a very solid looking structure. The ground floor is raised so models have to ‘step up’ into the building. We have 75mm between each floor giving room for models (even with banners) and allowing easy access for hands. Windows are positioned centrally between the floor and ceiling, 20mm from each. Width will be set to suit each building. The base will be larger by 40mm all round. To make it easier to line up the walls, and to give a little more strength, the corners of the building will be like this:
The final design was 290x220mm in plan and around 300mm in height with three floors in addition to the ground floor. The base size will be 370x300mm. STEP ONE – CUTTING OUT THE WALLS. Transfer the design onto the foamboard. You can either draw directly onto the board or create templates, e.g. with a computer, or using squared paper, any method that results in an accurate set of templates to work from. You’ll end up with eight templates that look something like this:
MATERIALS 5mm foamboard - available at craft store 6mm MDF - for basing Card - I’m using card taken from the back of notepads approximately 1mm thick Balsa Wood Strip - 5mm square & 5x10mm rectangular strip Balsa Wood Sheet - I used 3mm thick PVA/wood glue Spray Mount - glue in a can Pins Plaster Filler - used to fill in cracks in walls Cat Litter - (clean) Sprue – I used round sprue but any scrap bits will do, or you can use styrene/balsa rod as an alternative. TOOLS Sharp knife - with spare blades Steel rule - preferably more than one Saw Clamps
Corner detail Using the basic design I had sketched out, I moved onto designing the actual building. For this tutorial I decided on a simple design - nothing too large in either plan or height, but enough to make it interesting. At this stage I decided where the damage line on the walls would be, saving a lot of time later as you don’t have to cut out full walls only to then break them up.
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The templates trimmed down close to where the ruined line is. REMEMBER when creating the templates how the corners fit together. The two END walls have an inner piece cut back 10mm each side where the side walls fit. I used spray mount to fix the templates in place. It holds well but allows you to peel it off and reapply it somewhere else in case of a mistake.
Heavy books - for use as weights Stationary - pencils, set square etc. TIP: If the foamboard bows or curves slightly, apply the templates so that for each wall one piece bows in while the other bows out - when you glue them together they will cancel each other out, resulting in a flat finished piece. Using the steel rule and a very sharp knife 78
Modeling: Advanced Ruins cut the pieces out. Foamboard blunts knives quickly and if the blade isn’t sharp enough you will find the material tearing rather than cutting smoothly; it’s best to start with a new blade and have spares close. Don’t worry about making some mistakes, as these can be incorporated into areas of damage later on.
STEP THREE – MARKING ON THE FLOOR LEVELS. Mark the floor levels onto each wall; these will be used to line up the balsa wood supports.
The walls drying in the makeshift ‘press’. Once dry have a test run to make sure all the walls fit together. If they don’t, go back to step one…
The floor levels marked onto a wall. STEP FOUR – FIRST ROUND OF DAMAGE TO THE WALLS. Now is a good opportunity to start carving in the battle damage. Using your knife, rough up and carve out the edges like below: The walls cut out from the foamboard. STEP TWO – GLUING THE WALLS TOGETHER. Before gluing, prepare the area with a sheet of newspaper and have the books ready. Taking a pair of foamboard pieces, spread PVA glue over one face taking into account with the END walls the orientation of the two pieces. Bring the pieces together firmly using windows and edges to line up, place on the newspaper and cover with another sheet. Place the books on top, making sure the weight is evenly distributed. Due to the shape, you may need to pack some areas under the books with off-cuts to ensure even distribution of the weight. Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
Dry run assembly of the walls. Note the figure for scale.
With damage added; note the corner where two walls have been brought together to get the two pieces to roughly match. 79
Modeling: Advanced Ruins Lining up the walls allows you to roughly match up the damage from one wall to the other. There is no need for great accuracy. At this point you get to see how practical the design is. You may decide that a wall needs to be more ruined to allow better access. In this case I removed more of the wall in the highlighted area; originally the first floor would have come forward too far, limiting access to the ground floor area.
Draw centrally on the MDF the same dimensions. These are the internal lines of the building (i.e. where the inside face of each wall will line up). Take care to ensure the corners are square. As the ground floor is raised the area below needs to be packed out, in this case 10mm needs to be filled in. Using a ruler and some small clamps I created a guide, allowing offcuts of foamboard to be glued into position; here the first wall will be butted up against the foamboard. Do this where the biggest wall will go and remember that the foamboard needs to be positioned accurately, so that the building doesn’t end up angled or offset. The other walls will be positioned from this wall. Place on some books, and leave to dry.
The ‘dimples’ for securing pins.
The walls temporary assembled again, extra damage added. STEP FIVE – BASING & ASSEMBLING THE WALLS. Cut the MDF so that it is 80mm bigger in plan than the building (that’s 40mm per side). Reassemble the walls and measure the internal dimension. Cut out a piece of foamboard to these dimensions (this will be the ground floor). Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
Down each side and base edge use a pencil to pierce the top layer of card so that you get a ‘dimple’. Position these so that they will line up with the adjoining wall, or the foamboard at the base. Pins will be pushed in at these points to secure the walls while the glue dries.
The off-cuts glued in position up against the guide and left to dry in a press.
Now take the biggest wall where you have floors running fully along its length and onto the adjacent walls, cut some 5x10 balsa strip to length; remember if this is a SIDE wall you will need to cut the balsa 5mm short at each end - as in the picture below - due to the corner arrangement. Glue the strips into position and leave to dry.
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Modeling: Advanced Ruins STEP SIX – ADDING THE FLOORS, STAIRS & STEPS. Take more 5x10 balsa strip and continue the floor supports onto the other walls, it may be of use to clamp them into position. Once these have dried, cut some floors out of foamboard so they fit snugly between the walls. Mark out roughly the line that damage will be carved up to.
Carve along the damage line. Take the first floor and glue in place, dimple the outside wall and pin. Cut some 5mm card strips long enough to run along each of the sides of the floor and glue into position. Repeat for the other floors working upwards. You should end up with something like this:
The balsa wood in position – note that it is cut short at each end. Now it’s time to glue the walls into position. Starting with the wall to be fitted to the guided edge of foamboard apply glue to its base, take an adjoining wall and put glue along its base edge and where it will meet the first wall. Bring the two together and glue down on to the base butting up to the foamboard and lining up with the lines. Push pins into the dimples. Carry on till all four walls are in position, using pins to secure them and checking everything is square and adjusting to suit. Finally take the ground floor piece and glue into position, then leave for the glue to dry.
The walls and ground floor is glued in place. Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
Floors glued in and skirting board added.
The remaining floors’ supports are added.
The floors placed in for the damage line to be marked on.
Add some supporting beams under each floor. These are made from 5mm square balsa. I used a large ruler (about 40mm wide) to position beams in from the side; the ruler was simply held in place under the floor, and the balsa butted up to it. The centre point of the floor was marked out before using the ruler to position the two centre beams. Carve damage to match the floors once the glue has fully dried.
The beam pieces glued under the floors. 81
Modeling: Advanced Ruins STEPS: Here I used foamboard, though you could also use balsa strip. In the picture below you can see the three pieces that make up the steps, each 5mm wider than the entrance. The top step has notches cut out so it will slot into the doorway. To finish off the steps, side pieces were cut from balsa sheet; damage was carved in to suit before all of the step pieces were glued into position: The pieces that make up the steps.
The steps glued into position.
STAIRS: This time I used 5mm thick balsa strip. To make life easier I decided to position the stairs against the most damaged wall, which means that only a small height of stairs needs to be built; against other walls multiple flights and openings in floors would have had to be done.
The balsa stairs. Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
To finish off the stairs, cut a piece of foamboard to act as the internal wall of the staircase. The full wall would be as the diagram below but in this case only a small off-cut of foamboard is required due to the amount of damage it will have.
STEP SEVEN – ADDING DETAIL TO THE WALLS.
The stairs and internal wall shape and dimensions. Decide on a point along the wall where the stairs will go and run card along the ground floor, as done previously, up to this point. Glue in the staircase then add the remainder of the card strip. Add damage to the stairs to match the external and internal walls:
Stairs glued into position and inset the damage carved in.
The current state of play. The external walls are lacking any depth; to resolve this, cut balsa sheet into strips - I chose 25mm wide as it is the width of my steel ruler, making it much easier to cut accurately. The sheet and ruler are butted up against a straight surface so that the balsa can then be cut. Mark onto each piece a line that is the thickness of the sheet material – again, easily done by butting one piece up against a straight edge then using another piece as a guide. 82
Modeling: Advanced Ruins Glue these into position, pinning if necessary. Carve to match damage in the walls and to cover any mistakes. Card was then used to add more layers to the walls. Cut strips and glue into position along the base of each wall and horizontally between the windows. Cut a second strip 10mm smaller and glue centrally on to the first. The pieces along the base have an identical step but differ by running down to the base; once the glue has fully dried, the battle damage can then be carved in.
The final doorway detail can now be added. In the pictures above you can see a lintel above each door; this is simply balsa strip, cut to length and then glued into position above each door. Angled pieces are cut and glued above them and damage carved in to match. It’s best to wait till now to do this, as the wall detail determines how much room you have.
Cutting and marking the Balsa pieces. Carefully cut at a 45 degree angle along this line. You should end up with two pieces that will fit together at a 90 degree angle. Do not be overly worried about accuracy as damage can be added to resolve any problems. For the side walls I also cut a piece of balsa to run vertically up the centre.
The balsa strips glued in and the damage carved into them. Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
Battle damage carved into the card.
Cardboard strips glued to the walls.
The final door detail in place. 83
Modeling: Advanced Ruins The final detail (for now…) for the walls is some rebar. Rebar are cast-in reinforcing bars, used to give additional strength; the aim is not to recreate lifelike rebar but simply to give the suggestion of something in the concrete – basically it’s just there to add more depth to the piece.
STEP EIGHT – FILLING AND ADDING RUBBLE. Mix up some plaster filler. Go over the entire model, filling gaps and sealing the foamboard, and give the damaged areas a rough texture.
Cut some round sprue into small pieces approximately 15mm long and distress one end. At each position where a piece is to go cut a small hole at the centre of the wall, squirt some PVA in before pushing the ‘clean’ end of the sprue in. For positioning I decided upon two pieces at each corner, centrally between the windows and centrally along the side walls. Not all of these positions are used, some are left as though the rebar was either missing or had been sheared off.
The DIY Rebar. Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
Once completely dry, go over with a knife and some sandpaper to remove any excess and to rough up anything that looks unnatural – especially where you find ‘blobs’ of plaster. Repeat the process to get anything that was previously missed and to repair areas where excess has been broken off. I use cat litter for rubble, because it’s cheap, easily obtainable and easy to use. We want plenty of rubble in the building, but we also want models to be able to stand; for this reason we’ll have quite a thick layer but one that will gradually change in level, minimising any awkward areas that might unbalance a miniature. Bits of foamboard can be mixed in with the cat litter to give variety of texture and colour.
The walls will look something like this:
To cut down on the amount of work the ground floor is packed out with foamboard off-cuts. This should be built up most in the areas where we want the rubble to be thickest, and angled gently down. Filler can be used to smooth it further – it’s not really necessary but you’ll probably have plenty left from doing the walls.
The first filler run.
The ground floor blocked in. 84
Modeling: Advanced Ruins TIP: The next step involves using thinned PVA (and lots of it) so you may want to clamp the building down to a solid surface to avoid any risk of warping. Thin PVA glue slightly with water and, with a brush, paint in the areas where the first layer of cat litter will go. Liberally throw cat litter over the glue.
filler applied to the edges. The trick is to make sure these pieces look part of the rubble, and not simply stuck on top. I added one large piece with a small amount of floor attached, placed so that it came up over the staircase. Rubble behind the stairs was then kept to a minimum – this piece of fallen wall helped protect that area from falling debris. Now repeat, adding layers of rubble to fill in any areas that look thin or too patchy. The next step of adding rubble is even more messy, and dusty as well so it’s best to do it somewhere outside or at least in a shed or garage.
The first layer of cat litter. Leave to fully dry. Once dry, turn the building upside down over a box lid to let all the excess litter fall off. You’ll find it now looks very patchy and thin in areas. Mix up more PVA & water and repeat the first step, but adding some large rubble pieces; these are chunks of carved-up foamboard with Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
Take some cat litter and crush it. Don’t worry about consistency as you want it to be a mix of small pieces and dust. Brush on watered-down PVA, and add the dust/grit mix so you get a more natural gradient of rubble. Don’t worry about obscuring any detail, as it gives a more natural look to have some show through than if you deliberately leave areas clear to show work you have done. It will require a couple of applications of the dust and grit mix.
The rubble completed.
Mix up some more watered-down PVA and paint it over all of the rubble to make sure it’s all glued firmly in place.
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Modeling: Advanced Ruins
Once you’re happy with the look of the rubble, give the whole thing a coat or two of Roughcoat or textured paint to give it a nice surface texture. At this point the building could be painted black and
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drybrushed to hell…but this one still has some final details to be added. It will get a much more colourful and varied scheme than grey; but to see that, you’ll have to wait till Part Two…
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Modeling: Advanced Ruins CAD drawings repeated for better legibility.
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Modeling: Advanced Ruins CAD drawings repeated for better legibility.
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How To: Scratchbuilt Tau Orca
HOW TO: SCRATCHBUILT TAU ORCA INTRODUCTION What I was trying to do and not trying to do… • I am creating an Orca based on the FW design but I am not trying to reproduce the FW design. • I am shooting for Level 2/3 quality. Level 1 looks good at 36” (battlefield quality), Level 2 looks good at 24”, Level 3 looks good at 12”, Level 4 looks good at 6” while Level 5 looks good in extreme detail (Golden Demon). • To minimize complexity and decrease construction time I am not modelling areas that are rarely visible e.g. the bottom of the Orca. • I am not modelling the inside to avoid having to make the model structurally sound. • I am not including steps like plaster and sand, etc. MATERIALS • Two pieces of insulation foam; 15” x 10” x 1.5” (i.e. about 3 sq. ft. of material. A 24” x 96” (8’) x 1.5“ piece costs about $10) • A square foot of insulation foam ; ½” thick. (A 36” x 96” x ½” panel costs about $7) • Wall patching compound (plaster) (I use the quick dry pink-when-wet brand because I know when it is dry, it dries fast, is light weight and bonds well to blue foam)
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• Lots of X-acto knife blades. About $20 worth. (i.e. 10-20 blades)
• Green Stuff (maybe an eighth of a roll)
• One plastic pipe cap; 3” (about $2)
• Plastic missiles for VML (I bought some used GI Joe missiles from eBay.)
• One plastic pipe cap; 2” (about $1.50)
• Wooden dowel; 6” long, ½” diameter
• One sheet of styrene (plasticard); (a 12” x 6” x 1/8” piece costs about $4. You will use about a quarter of the sheet.)
• Plastic rod (to act as pin for dowel
• Three wooden drawer knobs; 1” (I had to buy a bag of 20 for $5.)
• Burst Cannons from Crisis Suit model (2-3). • One Ion Cannon.
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How To: Scratchbuilt Tau Orca PART 1: BODY, ENGINES, AND ENGINE MOUNTS BODY:
I used 2” thick insulation foam. You will need a 15” by 10” by 3” piece (1 piece and another piece cut in half) to make the Orca. Draw the basic shape of the model. Then cut out the sections. The main body will be a 15” by 5” by 3”.
After cutting the main body piece, draw on the Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
details on all sides. Then cut the dimensional shape…curve nose and a 30-60-90 degree triangle for stern. Re-draw the details you cut away.
Curve the edges. Cut the nose curve and shape the foam. Do not worry about being perfect as damage to the surface can be repaired with plaster later. The idea is to get the shape you like rather than finishing the surface at this stage. Re-draw any details cut away.
Cut out the recessed area on the back. Foam is difficult to cut and has little strength in thicknesses less than a quarter inch. So try to make any thickness at least ¼”. For details smaller than that I recommend cutting and using plasticard (sheet styrene). Also if you try and break the foam instead of cutting it, it will rip instead of breaking cleanly. Ripping is bad because it is uncontrolled. Measure and cut central armour plates…these are a ¼” thick. Cut out the basic shape, test out and then refine. It is always easier to make a piece too big or thick and then cut away excess 90
How To: Scratchbuilt Tau Orca Cut the turret cavity and test height.
Determine size of the ventral turret. I used a plastic 3” end cap. You can see armour ridge and turret placed for sizing.
material rather than making it too small and trying to add material.
Glue on the armour ridge. Use pins to hold down the curved surfaces. Glue the flat part of the ridge first, leave to dry then glue the curved surface and pin.
Glue tail mount in place
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How To: Scratchbuilt Tau Orca Add target array mounts. Cut and add cockpit.
Cut out the turret. Re-draw ALL details onto the body. ENGINES:
Cut out the turret ring.
NOTE – I lost the images of the construction process for the actual engines. These are a demonstration of what I did. I used an old blade; notice how damaged the material gets from my cuts. Foam will rip from a dull or old blade so it is critical that you use new, sharp blades. If not you will have a lot of repair work to do later. I also chose to reproduce the Hammerhead engines rather than the Forge World Orca engines. These engines will NOT rotate. The engines are 4.5” by 2” by 1.5” to 1.75”.
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How To: Scratchbuilt Tau Orca When cutting dimensions, I recommend drawing lines onto the foam to guide you how and where to cut.
Draw out the basic shape and cut. Cut the rear engine angle. Re-draw the details that were cut away.
Draw the centre line.
Cut the outside angle for engine Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
Cut the engine exhaust. The method to cut a cavity into foam is to grid the area. Always cut the outside shape and then cut in a grid pattern with each piece no more than 1/8” by 1/8”. This 93
How To: Scratchbuilt Tau Orca will prevent the material from ripping.
Cut out the vents using the same technique.
Now use plaster (drywall repair material) to smooth out the engine surfaces. Then sand plaster to make smoother. Re-cut any cavities, panel indents, etc which have been filled by the plaster. Add more detail…engine exhaust ports on side. ENGINE MOUNTS:
The grid is cut. Starting with the outside of the grid pop each piece out. It is best to experiment on a waste piece first to get comfortable with the technique. If you want a deeper cavity repeat the process. Do not try to cut too deep and pop thick pieces; if you do this the foam may rip.
Cut the panel indents at a 45 degree angle.
Note there are mounts for stern engines. These are 3.5” by 2” by ¼” to ½” mount. I did not show these in the guide.
Draw the engine intake before cutting at 45degree angles to create the fan design. Bow engine mounts are 5.5” by 2” by 1.5”. Cut out engine exhaust. Grid the area, cut, pop out and repeat for the next layer.
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How To: Scratchbuilt Tau Orca Final shape you’ll get.
Notice how damaged the material gets from using an old blade. Again it is critical you use new and sharp blades or you will have a lot of repair work later. Using the same method as earlier grid the area, cut, re-grid, cut again etc.
Test look during shaping process. NOTE - What you see above is the actual engine mounts. From this point on the images are NOT from the ones on the Orca I made, but a demonstration piece as I lost the original images.
Appearance when positioned next to the engine. See how badly the material was ripped by dull or old blades.
Cut out a circle for the coupling ring. After you have the desired amount of turret showing angle/bevel the inner side of the ring. This allows the turret to fit snugly against the ring (the difference is shown in the first and third pictures above).
PART 2: SMALL, DORSAL AND VENTRAL TURRETS. STERN AND TAIL. SMALL TURRETS:
I used a 1” wooden drawer knob as the turret. I used green stuff in the hole before placing a magnet in it to allow weapon switches. Make the diameter of the hole larger than the knob. Grid and cut to a level that is a little more Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
than half the depth of the knob (or whatever you plan to use as the turret). Do not worry about cutting a concave hole. Once the hole has been cut deep enough make it concave; if it is too deep fill it with plaster (quick dry wall repair materials).
Paint the inside of the turret housing, basecoat the turret, etc. Then carefully glue the coupling ring to the main body while avoiding getting any glue on the turret itself. You want the turret to be free rotating. Add magnetic weapon or extension as desired.
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How To: Scratchbuilt Tau Orca VENTRAL TURRET:
internally before cutting the foam to the chosen design. As you can see I created two compartments and added missiles. Now cut a dowel (I used a ½” diameter wooden dowel) to a length that is an inch longer than the depth of your main model body. Cut a hole into the foam inside the turret and glue the dowel in position.
I used a 3” plastic plumbing end cap for the ventral turret. Draw the openings, back vents and any other details you want and then cut them out. The end cap I used was about a ¼” thick and I ended up using a Dremel with a rotating blade to cut it. I ignored the writing on the top face of the end cap as I planned to cover it with plaster.
Place the turret into the model with the dowel going through. Mark the dowel where the closed position is (where the turret is level with the top of the model). Lift the turret up to an open position and again mark the dowel. Measure the depth of the turret cavity within the model and measure that on the dowel. Drill a hole into the dowel and place a piece of ‘something’ to hold the dowel in place. See previous pictures for what I mean. Determine how much dowel you want sticking out of the bottom of the model (I choose ½”) and cut the dowel to shorten it. Now you can lift the turret up and hold it in a closed position.
Cut a hole the same diameter of the dowel in the centre of the ventral cavity and ensure it matches the dowel glued into the ventral turret. You want it done so the turret can fit into the cavity with the dowel going through the model.
Repeat process for the open position. Note the shorter dowel will not stick out the bottom when the turret is in an ‘up’ position.
To allow your turret to change position, vertically glue a piece of foam into the turret. First decide how you want the turret to look Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
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How To: Scratchbuilt Tau Orca Draw the location on the underside. I decided on a position just in front of where the ventral turret’s dowel is located.
Cut, grid etc until the hole is deep enough.
To get a convex top surface on the ventral turret I covered it with plaster it before sanding it down. I then drew the detail onto the plaster and then cut it out. The turret is now complete. DORSAL TURRET:
Place the turret into the body. I used a 2” plastic plumbing end cap for the dorsal turret. I chose not to make it retractable because of its location. If you wanted it to be retractable you can use the same method as the ventral turret but with the following EXCEPTIONS… Ensure the dorsal dowel comes through the ventral turret’s opening (do not cut a hole through to the top of the model). The perpendicular piece will be holding the turret up rather than preventing it from going down.
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How To: Scratchbuilt Tau Orca STERN:
Not much here. I designed something simple. Cut foam or plasticard pieces as appropriate to get the look of the bumpers, ramp, etc. TAIL:
Detail the electronics areas as you see fit. All of this was made from scrap pieces of foam or plasticard at different thickness. I used a piece of foam board for the Targeting Arrays and detailed…panels were cut, plasticard pieces added etc. PART 3:FUSELAGE ASSEMBLED. PRIMED AND PAINTED IMAGES. BODY ASSEMBLED:
The tail was cut from a 3.5” by 2” by ½” piece of foam. See detail above for the angles and panel cut outs.
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How To: Scratchbuilt Tau Orca PRIMED:
Notice the white on the blue…that is plaster repair areas. My advice is to plaster and smooth (sand) the parts separately i.e. each engine, each engine mount, the body etc. Once they are done glue them all together. Redraw the panel lines onto the model before cutting into the model carefully at a 45 degree angle about 1/8” to ¼” deep. Fill in any gaps at the joints with plaster and sand smooth.
This is the model after priming. IMPORTANT REMINDER – do not spray paint the model as the foam will melt. If you are planning on spray-painting at all hand prime the model first. You can see that I pre-painted the turrets.
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How To: Scratchbuilt Tau Orca PAINTED:
DRAGONFISH View with the ventral turret removed. You can see the ventral turret cavity, dowel hole and the edge of the dorsal turret fitted from below.
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How To: Scratchbuilt Tau Orca
TOADFISH
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How To: Scratchbuilt Tau Orca
SCALE COMPARISON: A pair of Hammerheads next to an Orca Mark II and a Hammerhead placed on top of an Orca Mark II…can you see the Hammerhead?
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ORCA MARK II
POINTS: 450
The recent expansion campaigns had an unacceptable rate of Orca losses. The reaction was an upgraded version to improve its survivability with an increase in defensive capability.
This variant is the Orca Mark II. It has the addition of three smaller turrets and stronger front armour.
Size Comparison
UNIT: 1 Orca TYPE: Super Heavy Flyer STRUCTURE POINTS: 3
ARMOUR BS FRONT SIDE REAR 3
12
11
WEAPONS AND EQUIPMENT:
10
WEAPON Missile Pod LB Burst Cannon Seeker Missile
RANGE STR 36” 36” 72”
7 5 8
AP
SPECIAL
4 5 3
Assault 2 Assault 3 Heavy 1
– Ventral turret: one (1) missile pod and long barreled twin-linked burst cannons. – Bow, Port, and Starboard turrets: AA mounted long barreled burst cannon with a 180 degree firing arc. – Landing gear.
OPTIONS: Blacksun filter, disruption pod, decoy launcher, targeting array, up to four (4) seeker missiles. TRANSPORT: The Mark II has a transport capacity of 55 Tau warriors (FWs, pathfinders, and Kroot). It may carry a maximum of six (6) battlesuits. It may not carry any vehicles. SPECIAL RULES: Hover Mode. Transport Ramp: Up to four (4) units may exit per turn. Datasheet for use in Apocalypse games. Derived from IP owned by Games Workshop
by Stefan Sheckellsa
SCORPIONFISH
POINTS: 680
After facing Imperial super-heavy tanks in the Damocles crusade and later conflicts, the Tau required greater superheavy support for Cadres. The Manta, although an excellent weapons platform, was too rare, large, and valuable. The perfect choice for modification was the Orca Mark II because of its availability and flexible design.
This variant is the Scorpionfish Missile Gunship and it carries a missile loadout of Seeker, Tracer, and SubMunitions missiles. Its main weapon is the Variable Missile Launcher (VML), which is capable of firing any of its three missile types.
Size Comparison
UNIT: 1 Scorpionfish TYPE: Super Heavy Flyer STRUCTURE POINTS: 3
ARMOUR BS FRONT SIDE REAR 4
10
10
10
WEAPONS AND EQUIPMENT: – Ventral turret: two (2) twin-linked missile pods. – Dorsal turret: Variable Missile Launcher.
WEAPON
RANGE STR
Missile Pod Seeker Missile SM Missile – Conc. SM Missile – Dispersed Markerlight (LR) Tracer Missile
36” 72” 96” 96” 72” 120”
7 8 6 4 n/a D
– Landing gear.
AP
SPECIAL
4 3 4 5 n/a 2
Assault 2 Heavy 1 Heavy 1, 5” Blast Heavy 1, 7” Blast Heavy 1 Ord. 1, destroyer, 5” blast
– Targeting Array (BS already included). – Bow, Port, and Starboard turrets: one (1) long-range (LR) networked Markerlight with 180 degree arc.
OPTIONS: Blacksun filter, disruption pod, decoy launcher. SPECIAL RULES: Orbital Skimmer: The Scorpionfish operates as a skimmer, but can lift off into orbit. If it lifts off, it cannot return to the battle. Variable Missile Launcher (VML): The VML is a partitioned turret with two sides. Each side is an independent weapon capable of firing at different targets. It can fire either two (2) seeker or one (1) Tracer or one (1) Sub-munitions missile per side per turn. The VML is a primary weapon. Munitions stockpile: The Scorpionfish sacrifices its transport capability to carry missiles. It can hold a maximum of twenty-four (24) seeker, six (6) Tracer, or six (6) Sub-Munitions (SM) missiles. Each Tracer or SM missile is the equivalent of two (2) seeker missiles for loadout purposes. Prior to the start of the game, the player determines the missile loadout (number and type). If the Scorpionfish is destroyed with 50%+ of its missiles unfired, than add two (+2) to the DR on the catastrophic damage table. Dedicated Missileship: The Scorpionfish has enough crew to direct missiles. All missile types fired from the VML can be fired either as guided missile (requiring a markerlight) or as an unguided missile where all normal shooting rules apply. Tracer Missile: The Tracer Missile is a large missile and carries a devastating warhead specifically designed to inflict crippling damage to war engines and titans. Sub-Munitions (SM) Missile: The SM Missile is a large cluster munitions missile designed to maximize destructive area. The SM missile has two settings: Concentrated - a 5” blast template or Dispersed - a 7” blast template. The player decides the setting prior to rolling to hit. Datasheet for use in Apocalypse games. Derived from IP owned by Games Workshop
by Stefan Sheckellsa
TOADFISH
POINTS: 700
After facing Imperial super-heavy tanks in the Damocles crusade and later conflicts, the Tau required greater superheavy support for Cadres. The Manta, although an excellent weapons platform, was too rare, large, and valuable. The perfect choice for modification was the Orca Mark II because of its availability and its flexible design.
This variant is the Toadfish Assault Lander. It is designed to insert a shock force into an enemy held area and provide close fire support until the insertion team needs extraction.
Size Comparison
UNIT: 1 Toadfish TYPE: Super Heavy Flyer STRUCTURE POINTS: 3 OPTIONS: Blacksun Filter
ARMOUR BS FRONT SIDE REAR 4
14
12
12
WEAPON
RANGE STR
Missile Pod LB Burst Cannon SB Heavy Ion Cannon
36” 36” 36”
7 5 8
AP 4 5 2
SPECIAL Assault 2 Assault 3 Heavy 3, 3” Blast, primary weapon
WEAPONS AND EQUIPMENT: – Bow turret: short-barreled heavy ion cannon with a 180 degree firing arc. – Port and Starboard turrets: AA mounted long barreled burst cannon with a 180 degree firing arc. – Ventral turret: left side – twin-linked long barreled burst cannons; right side – missile pod – Energy Field. – Decoy Launcher, Disruption pod, Flechette discharger, Landing gear, and Targeting Array (BS already included).
TRANSPORT: The removal of the interstellar sensor arrays and equipment created greater transport space. The Toadfish has a transport capacity of thirty-five (35) Tau warriors (FWs, stealthsuits, Pathfinders), or eight (8) battlesuits, or eight (8) heavy gun drones. It can neither carry vehicles nor carry a mixed group of passengers. The Toadfish can disembark jump infantry as a flying transport. The access point is the rear ramp, which may exit up to four (4) units per turn. SPECIAL RULES: Hover Mode. Energy Shield: Using a smaller version of the Manta’s energy field generator, the Toadfish’s energy field gives it a 5+ invulnerable save against any hits it receives. Datasheet for use in Apocalypse games. Derived from IP owned by Games Workshop
by Stefan Sheckellsa
How To: Scratchbuilt Tyranid Meiotic Spore
SCRATCH-BUILDING A MEIOTIC SPORE By Stefan Sheckells
stuff. And, most importantly, it cures hard in five minutes! Hence, no waiting to continue on to the next steps to build the model. Caution: the material cures FAST. Make a small blob and shape it as desired. Add in some basic detail, then glue on the strut; I think an angled strut looks better than one just going straight up and down (see photos of different variants at the end of this article).
Using grey stuff, make very small blobs – maybe three to five per spore body - then glue these onto the cured body as shown. I placed them all on one side located to represent a ‘rear’ end of the spore body. Make small holes in the centre and round out the blobs to appear as sphincters.
BODY AND SPHINCTERS: I used five minute epoxy because it’s fast and cheap, about 50% less costly than green or grey Materials required per spore: • One 40mm base – note I had a lot of spare large square fantasy bases, so I used those. Square bases would mean you couldn’t use these in an official tournament, but these are Apocalypse units anyway • Sculpting material. I used several types to make the spore – an ounce of five-minute epoxy and about an ounce of grey stuff from ProCreate • A two inch to three inch piece of round styrene or something to provide the internal strut for the tentacles • Superglue
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About grey stuff - I have abandoned using green stuff in favor of grey stuff. I have found it to be a lot less sticky than green stuff meaning
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How To: Scratchbuilt Tyranid Meiotic Spore that tools, fingers, etc. do not stick to the material, making sculpting easier. This does not decrease its adhesion to other materials, but you only have to get the tool wet when working with grey stuff instead of the virtual immersion in water I found I had to use when working with green stuff so as to ensure it didn’t stick to my tools. Additionally, it holds a better edge than green stuff and is less expensive. I use ProCreate’s material. The five-minute epoxy is the white material. The grey stuff is the grey material. TENTACLES: Pull out a piece of grey stuff. Each tentacle should be about 2.5 inches long and about quarter inch in diameter (thickness). Then gently twist the material creating a tentacle; I made eight to ten per spore with three to four per side, and two each for the front and back. The tentacles look more organic if they are not exactly the same as each other, so vary their thickness and length. Glue them onto the model. Don’t worry if you can still see the strut, as it will disappear once you paint the model; you could even paint it like a tentacle to hide it inside.
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OUTER BODY COVERING: Mix enough grey stuff to create a flat sheet 1/16th of an inch thick to cover the spore’s body. Place the covering over the spore and detail as desired; I cut out sections to reveal 107
How To: Scratchbuilt Tyranid Meiotic Spore detail on the body and create dimensionality. The detail can be elaborate as Forge World’s or fairly simple; after all, these are gas bags full of highly corrosive material designed to explode, so they are not pretty things.
PAINTING: Base the model…then prime it, and finally paint as desired. Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
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How To: Scratchbuilt Tyranid Meiotic Spore
The detail can be as elaborate as Forge World’s or fairly simple; after all, these are gas bags full of highly corrosive material designed to explode, so they are not pretty things. Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
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Stripping: Forgeworld Tanks
STRIPPING: FORGEWORLD TANKS By Brandon Palmer (www.gmmstudios.com) With Forgeworld’s recent delays, often up to three months, many gamers have turned to Ebay to find those large additions to their armies. An average of one weeks wait is, of course, much better than a month or three… However, sometimes the costs are higher, even if things are painted because of this. The larger varieties of Forgeworld items, mainly anything that is a model itself except Krieg, is pretty scarce on Ebay, and most of the times those items are also painted. However in this article I am going to show you how you can take a painted tank or critter and turn it into something brand new.
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The tank I bought on Ebay is a Macharius Vulcan, but I’m talking too much, let’s get to it!
Now I have this sweet tank, but how am I going to strip this massive thing? I have an idea… First we need lots of Simple Green. You can get this at Wal Mart for less than ten dollars, and it is reusable, non toxic, and biodegradable.
Next we need a fish filter. You’ll see why in a minute! Time to find something to put all this in…
First, put all the parts into the bin. I was lucky and the guy had just used globs of putty to put it together. Space them out a bit, too. Do like I
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Stripping: Forgeworld Tanks did and put this on a level surface, where a mess already exists so it doesn’t look like you made it that much worse by the time you are done.
Now pour in the Simple Green, and be sure to make a bigger mess.
This is why you plan ahead. Even adding a bit of water, it’s too shallow for the filter, so I had to prop it up with a roll of tape. Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
with this, I set it up at noon, and had the tank stripped by 6. Here are the tools I used. I start with the large pad to get rid of most of the paint, and the toothbrush is there to get at tight corners and stuck on bits. I bust out the dental tool for tiny cracks and that sort of thing.
And here it is with the filter attached. I finally got some use out of that old codex and phone book. Note that under all that foam the filter is empty other than the simple green. Don’t put in any of those pad thingies you normally put in them. The only reason the filter is here is to move the water around, so that the same simple green isn’t always touching the same spot on the tank, and the current helps rub against the parts as well. By doing this, I figured the time waiting was cut down to a quarter than if you didn’t have the filter. Normally I would wait at least 24 hours before starting to scrub, but
And here it is stripped and reassembled. Not bad for three days wait eh? As a bonus it still smells fresh and clean the day of writing this article. Note that while I like the smell of Simple Green (it smells to me like root beer) you may not and I wouldn’t do this in a room that you don’t want to smell of it for a good while. Also either do it outside or on tile like I did, as this is not what the filter is made for and it might clog up and spill over. Also, as far as I know this only works with this cleaner. I do not know if other chemicals would damage the filter. Also, if you use anything but simple green, do not borrow your fishes filter! 111
Comics…
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Comics…
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KR Multicase
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Fiction: Four Horsemen Amateur Night
THE FOUR HORSEMEN: AMATEUR NIGHT* In a Firebase exclusive, the Four Horsemen ride forth once more to take petty bickering, scathing insults and immature point-scoring to new heights in this latest installment of their exciting adventures! By Graeme Stevenson Carnage stretched as far as the eye could see. Armoured shapes lay in piles where they had fallen, their bodies and the rocky terrain surrounding them splattered crimson. Sleek alien vehicles moved through the heaped corpses; efficient killing machines slowly drawing a steel noose around the throats of a half-dozen defiant survivors. Undaunted, the knot of Chaos berserkers stood their ground as the Eldar foe drew closer. They were hopelessly outnumbered, but fear was as foreign a concept as mercy to such daemonic fanatics. With a nod from their massive brooding warlord, they charged the wall of Eldar guns, baying like hounds. The Eldar commander watched this ragged charge with cool detachment. There was no way the berserkers could reach his lines in time – such an array of firepower would atomise them long before they could close. It was an act of futility. ‘You can surrender any time, you know,’ he offered his opponent graciously. ‘There’s no shame in knowing when you’re beaten.’ The monstrous Chaos warlord snorted with contempt. ‘On the contrary,’ he said. ‘My feint
has worked. Weep for your frail troupe, shewitch. They will soon be crushed beneath the iron boot of Chaos.’ Azaena chuckled at the notion. ‘I think you overestimate your chances, Morg,’ he said. ‘For example…’ The Eldar forces opened up with a devastating broadside of fire. Morg’s berserkers were cut to pieces in mid-stride – their numbers whittled down to almost nothing in a single catastrophic blaze of energy. Thick, gelatinous blood sprayed across the battlefield. ‘I really wish you wouldn’t do that,’ Azaena complained as Morg enthusiastically squirted ketchup over his fallen models for the umpteenth time. ‘There’s such a thing as too much realism, you know.’ ‘Blood for the Blood God,’ said the Chaos Warrior, spurting the red sauce over his scattered infantry with gusto. ‘My Gods must be honoured.’
trap on your overactive windpipe.’ ‘What trap?’ scoffed the Warlock. ‘You are beaten. As you can see, my tactical superiority has won the day.’ Preening, he turned to receive congratulations and adulation from his spectators. Hink the Guardsman was looking pale and flighty, which rather dulled his moment of triumph. Beside him, Gusha the Ork was rummaging in the massive cardboard box that served as transport for his miniatures. No appreciation of his genius there, then. Azaena’s smugness further dissolved when Gusha began putting handfuls of Ork boyz on the table behind the Eldar forces. ‘Gusha, what are you doing?’ he asked. The Nob didn’t look up from his task, tongue protruding while he set down Killa Kans. ‘I’s bin ‘ired.’ ‘You’ve been what?’
‘But you’re getting it over the dice and everything,’ grumbled the Eldar. ‘And it’s not like we can wash the scenery.’
‘I’s bin ‘ired. I’s freelancin’.’
‘Whine while you can, effeminate one,’ Morg said. ‘You will soon feel the iron jaws of my
‘I’s agreed ter ‘elp in exchange fur…fur…’ Gusha paused in placing down gangs of bikes
‘Hired?’ Azaena sounded confused. ‘What are you talking about?’
*You will find previous installments of the Four Horsemen series online at http://forum.blacklibrary.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=9105 Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
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Fiction: Four Horsemen Amateur Night to furrow his green brow over a crinkled note. ‘Fur “an equal share in all assets sequestered from the weak-gened Eldar”,’ he read carefully.
‘You can’t do this!’ Azaena continued. ‘It’s totally against the rules!’
‘Hink!’ Azaena cried in desperation. ‘Tell him! Tell him you can’t...Hink?’
‘Pah – rules are for the weak! I am the embodiment of Chaos!’
‘Employed? What?’ Azaena was getting increasingly agitated. ‘By whom?’
‘And what do you mean by “an equal share of all assets”? What assets?’ he demanded of the Nob.
The Guardsman was sheepishly putting down a line of basilisks behind Gusha’s cluttered hordes. ‘Sorry, Azaena,’ he said, his face crimson.
The Nob hooked a thumb over his shoulder at Morg. ‘’Im.’ ‘But…you can’t!’ Azaena protested to the Chaos Warrior. Morg gurgled with satisfaction. ‘Now you feel the cold chill of defeat creeping up your flimsy spine,’ he said. ‘The treachery of Chaos knows no bounds.’
‘Treshur an ‘at,’ said Gusha vaguely. ‘Treasure? What treasure?’ ‘Alla preshus metals an’ stuff them tanks is made outta,’ the Nob clarified, busy with a Squiggoth in each hand. ‘Precious…what? What are you talking about, you green fool?’ Azaena’s voice was climbing to a hysterical pitch. ‘What treasure? This is a toy army!’ Gusha was unmoved. ‘I reckons ‘em shiny bits is gold or summink,’ he stated with some authority. ‘Gusha, these are plastic models – there is no treasure!’ Morg was giggling maliciously. ‘There is no escaping the jaws of my trap, bleating he-she,’ he said. ‘Prepare to meet an ignoble end.’
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The Warlock gasped dramatically and clutched his heart through his tunic. ‘Et tu, Brutus,’ he hissed. ‘I gave the human a fair choice,’ Morg said by way of explanation. ‘He could relinquish either the use of his army…or his legs.’ ‘You monster!’ Azaena spat at the gloating Warrior. ‘Flattery will not save you,’ Morg chastised. ‘My victory is mere moments away. I only lament that my genetic superiority forces me to discern the irritating pitch to which your voice has climbed.’ ‘You’re cheating! I won’t play!’ declared the Warlock, crossing his arms defiantly. ‘Then I win!’ roared Morg. ‘Chaos is triumphant!’ ‘You don’t win, you armoured clod – I’ve abandoned the game!’ Morg raised his fists in victory. ‘Another tribute for the skull throne!’ he boomed. ‘Does that bucket on your head interfere with your hearing?’ the Warlock snapped. ‘I just said…’ ‘Enough woman’s shrieking,’ interrupted Morg. ‘You have fled the battlefield in disgrace, 116
Fiction: Four Horsemen Amateur Night leaving only the stench of your fear. Incidentally, I find that more palatable than your effeminate perfume.’ ‘’As we won, then?’ Gusha wanted to know, having lost the thread of the conversation immediately after the word lament. ‘The transvestites have been vanquished,’ confirmed Morg, resting a heavy gauntlet on the Ork’s shoulder. ‘You may claim your prize, faithful dog.’ ‘Magic,’ said Gusha. He surveyed the Eldar forces with wiggling fingers, not unlike a glutton selecting from a box of chocolates. At length, he plucked up a model from the table and popped it in his mouth, crunching noisily. ‘Hey, that’s my Farseer,’ objected Azaena. ‘It took me ages to paint that!’
At that moment, a grinning umpire in a Games Workshop t-shirt appeared. ‘Wow – there’s a lot happening here, guys,’ he said, surveying the cluttered table. ‘Love the costumes, by the way.’ ‘Oh, thank Kaine – an official,’ Azaena gushed, clasping the man’s arm. ‘Morg here is cheating. He has enlisted another two armies to get him out of the hole he dug with his clumsy leadership.’ ‘Okay,’ said the umpire. ‘It is kind of unusual to have four different armies on the table at the same time.’ He frowned. ‘Is…is that tomato ketchup?’ ‘Tell him,’ urged Azaena, pushing the confused employee towards Morg. ‘Tell him he isn’t allowed to do that.’ The umpire looked up at the hulking Warrior and swallowed. ‘Well, it isn’t so much that he’s not allowed,’ he said, beginning to sweat. ‘Just that it’s…erm…unusual. 40K was originally designed for two opposing players, after all.’
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‘Your tiny squeaking words have no power over Chaos,’ growled Morg, rudely shoving the official aside. ‘Attempt to foil me and I shall smash your stupid bearded face.’ The umpire laughed in a slightly desperate manner, slick with sweat. ‘Ha ha - that’s great, guys. I love how you stay in character. I just have to, uh, go over here.’ Hink watched him hurry away with trepidation. ‘This is going to get ugly,’ he said, reaching for his flak helmet. 117
Fiction: Four Horsemen Amateur Night ‘Trust Morg to ruin everything,’ snapped Azaena, hands on his hips. ‘I just knew this would be trouble, Hink – I told you inviting him would end in disaster. It’s always the same.’
‘They’re Riders of Rohan,’ the kid pointed out. ‘They’ll run right over me if I attack.’
‘I just thought it would be a good way to meet new people,’ Hink said forlornly. ‘Some new players, you know? Amateur night sounded perfect.’
‘I can’t have a tank,’ the kid said. ‘We’re playing Lord of the Rings.’
‘I suppose you’re right,’ Azaena sighed. ‘Between Morg’s condiment fetish and having to explain the rules to Gusha again every round, I’m surprised we’ve stuck it this long. Where is Morg, by the way?’ The youngster with the Chaos Undivided symbol on his t-shirt was busy filtering out any dice below a four when a vast armoured shadow fell over his table.
‘They are dung-stained farmers,’ scoffed Morg. ‘A single tank would crush them to jelly.’
‘It matters not,’ the Chaos Warrior blustered, slamming down two Land Raiders on the table directly in front of the horsemen. ‘You are a disciple of Chaos! Rules are there to be exploited, not obeyed.’ ‘Okay,’ the kid said, brightening while his ginger opponent continued to pale. ‘I’ll fire my lascannons at your Riders.’
‘Yeah, that should wipe out all these guys at the front,’ the acolyte continued.
‘Marines?’ the kid echoed. ‘These are Mordor Orcs, mister.’
‘Allow me,’ M o rg interjected. A thick mass of tomato ketchup sprayed over the ginger kid’s army.
He scanned the other side of the table, where a pallid ginger-headed boy was nervously eyeing the gigantic marine, then leaned low over his adopted charge to exclude the other from their conversation. ‘Tiny acolyte,’ he muttered, ‘have you not noticed that your foes are all weak humans riding flesh mounts? You should be lathered in the gore of victory by now!’ Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
Hink and Azaena fought their way through the anarchy while shell-shocked, ketchup smeared Games Workshop staff staggered from table to table, trying to establish why Gandalf was being stomped on by a Defiler and just exactly where all this sauce was coming from. The Warlock ducked a tartar sachet and gripped the Guardsman. ‘They’ll be lynching the staff in a minute – we’d better get out of here!’
‘Lascannons?’ whispered the other kid.
‘What folly is this?’ grunted Morg, staring down at the tiny boy. ‘Your army seems to consist only of peons with sticks. Where are your marines?’
‘Orcs.’ Morg pondered this. ‘A mercenary force, then. Good. I approve of your annexation.’
quickly. Within minutes, kids were shouting and bickering as the careful order of tabletop gaming unravelled like a smashed audio cassette.
‘Oh, and I’ve got these twin-linked heavy bolters, too…’ More red sauce splattered the table, completely engulfing the Riders of Rohan. The ginger kid began to cry. The
mayhem
spread 118
Fiction: Four Horsemen Amateur Night Hink flinched as a Grey Knight terminator bounced off his flak helmet. ‘What about the others?’ They looked at Gusha. The Nob was sitting on the floor and dipping plastic Catachans into something that might have been salsa. ‘Okay, forget Gusha,’ Hink corrected. ‘But let’s at least get Morg out of this.’
What are you wearing to the GT? Actual Text: THEORY HAMMER rarely survives contact with the enemy
‘Morg?’ snorted the Warlock. ‘He’s probably the reason things are in this state.’ Sure enough, as they struggled past a knot of kids arguing over whether or not ordinance blast templates were applicable to fantasy rank formations, they spotted the Chaos Warrior. He was standing in the eye of the child hurricane, roaring with laughter while broken miniatures, condiments and scenery were thrown every which way. ‘Morg!’ Azaena shouted. ‘I might have known you’d be to blame for this! Not only have you trashed the entire store and traumatised the staff, but you’ve corrupted every child here with your twisted chaotic theories! You’ve completely ruined everything!’ He stomped his foot. ‘Then my work here is done,’ the armoured titan intoned sagely.
• 11 different designs • more designs to be added • Shirts and Sweatshirts available • Variety of colors and styles • White print on Dark shirts
Actual Text: MATH HAMMER don’t make a move without knowing the odds
• Black print on Light shirts Remember, you will find previous installments of the Four Horsemen series online at http://forum.blacklibrary. com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=9105
Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
www.mathhammer.net Have a design request? Submit it at
[email protected]
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Fiction: Anamnesis
ANAMNESIS TRAGEDY HAUNTS A TITAN LEGION IN THE AFTERMATH OF A WAR AGAINST THE ORKS By Mark Erlight Home, thought Ophan, though it was an unhappy homecoming. The heavy lump in her hands - the heavy lump of Benhadad’s duelling pistol - was proof enough of that. The cylindrical citadel of Third Titan Silo rose out of a morass of trapezoid-roofed basilicas, matched in height only by gargoyle-mouthed smokestacks. The roof of the silo was a landing field of thick ceramite scarred by millennia of erosion and the scorching engines of bulk lifters. Titan elevators, square platforms supported by massive struts, clung to the sides of the cylinder. Two of these were occupied by the towering forms of the Cyberwolf and the Canis Indomita. The titans were Warhounds, giant bipedal gun platforms. Massive cannons hung under their armoured pauldrons. Canine-featured heads protruded from their bows. They stood statue still, glowering at each other like scarred old warriors. Ophan waited beside Hashmallim the Skitarii and a small knot of dignitaries - forgechiefs and technoshamans. Benhadad stood apart, at the edge, looking out over the urban landscape. The wind gusted. Ophan saw Benhadad draw his greatcoat closer and she resisted the urge to lunge for him in case he was blown over Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
the precipice. But, like a statue, Benhadad stood with a quiet stillness as he watched the smog-smudged sphere of Accatran’s sun rise between the smokestacks. Ophan glanced across the city and noted the sun’s rays reflecting off the copper-clad structures in warning light amber. How apt, she thought. Ophan’s internal chronometer, mere battleconditioned biology, told her that the time had come. She walked to Benhadad who silently held out his hand. She placed the handle of the weapon in his grip and he drew it from its holster. ‘Thank you, Ophan. For everything.’ ‘Nex magna, princeps.’ ‘Not today, I hope. Not today.’ Ophan felt a lump in her throat as she walked back to the small group of observers. Hashmallim bowed his head in sympathy as she returned, his ancient form lending the movement added gravitas. She wanted to rebuke them - Benhadad for doing this, Hashmallim for allowing it. But she caught the Cyberwolf in her peripheral vision and held her tongue. Ophan saw a lithe figure step into position, countenance hidden by black robes. The heraldry of the Cyberwolf was clearly visible on the gorget round the princep’s neck.
The duellists raised their weapons in salute. Hashmallim nodded. A pistol shot rang out. A momentary mist of red puffed from Benhadad’s coat and he began to fall. Ophan began running before the sound had even died in her ears. Benhadad lay spread-eagled on the ground. Blood was welling from a wound near his shoulder blade. Ophan knelt and cupped his head. ‘Benhadad!’ It came out as an anguished cry. It was the first time she had addressed him as anything other than princeps. Benhadad’s breathing was quick and shallow. He was trying to speak. Ophan put her ear to his mouth. She made out one word, very faint. ‘Seraphine.’ ### Benhadad watched Seraphine sweep into the room, her titan crew trailing her like ensorcelled suitors. The briefing room was a circular chamber haphazardly lit by floor lights. The ship’s astropath was ensconced in the centre, his skeletal form pierced by the needle spikes of neural enhancers and cognitive 120
Fiction: Anamnesis amphetamechs. Hashmallim was already at his post, attended by a coterie of neo-cybernetic officers. Benhadad and his retinue, the bridge crew of the Canis Indomita, took up their ritual positions. Benhadad was tempted to smile as he greeted Seraphine, but his innate sense of decorum kept his face neutral. She had few such inhibitions and grinned broadly as she approached. The Cyberwolf’s heraldry was clearly visible on the gorget round Seraphine’s neck. She wore her machine-link wiring like silver dreadlocks and was garbed in the shapeless black robes she had favoured since becoming princeps of the Cyberwolf. It did little to hide her lithe grace. ‘So glum, Ben,’ said Seraphine. ‘You weren’t always so.’ She ran a hand over his head and he felt the tingle of electroneural contact as her fingers brushed his skull ports. It was an oddly intimate gesture. Benhadad felt his crew bristling at the act, particularly Ophan. He knew Seraphine did it deliberately, just to rile them, just for the hell of it. ‘We have kept you too long from battle,’ said Benhadad. ‘You yearn for the machine. I can tell.’ Seraphine’s grin deepened and Benhadad saw something feral in her expression. ‘We’re not meant for space, Ben. We were built for striding the battlefield, sowing fire and terror. Damn right I can’t wait for landfall.’
Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
‘Then perhaps we can get on,’ interrupted the astropath from his comms pit. Benhadad saw annoyance written on the psyker’s face. If the honoured princeps were going to break with protocol, then so was he. The assembly took their positions.
forces in extirpation of ork presence. Ensure destruction of stockpiled munitions and exorcism of xenotech. Glory to the Omnissiah, etcetera, etcetera. Send acknowledgement. Nex magna!’ #
‘Princeps commanding,’ said Benhadad, ‘decode ident eight oh eight six, interrupt five.’ The astropath’s body went limp, as if he had been switched off. Benhadad became alert as the astropath started his telepath-trance. ‘Transmit Ringfire adeptus alpha alpha, conduit choir Accatran, receptor Thirteenth Titan Carrier, vocal input Grandmaster, T, W, Legio Destructor, decode on receipt, princeps, Canis Indomita, Legio Destructor, princeps, Cyberwolf, Legio Destructor, fidelity ninetyfive percent, received segment three three nought ano four nought millennium fortyfirst, class three temporal indicator, duration twenty-five seconds.’ The astropath’s voice switched timbre, as if he were performing a poor impersonation of the legio’s grandmaster. ‘Is this man on...? Ahem. Princeps Benhadad. Princeps Seraphine. Proceed thirty light-years from station to planet Bromos. Planet is infested and Ocanan Phalanx Troops report destruction of their orbital support. Assist extant Imperial Guard
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Fiction: Anamnesis Benhadad felt the titan interlink surge through his mind - a mass of energy jabs and electrochemical impulses. He was sinking deep into an ocean of millennia-old memories, numbed by data ice. He detected the ghost of a presence, transient wisps of thought, down in the dark, fragmented cortices of the stack. Complete dislocation abated as Benhadad felt other minds join his own. Energy spikes levelled off as Ophan inserted as weapons moderatus. Sensory flood receded as Baalist inserted as tactical officer. Benhadad regained some semblance of control as their minds began to work in concert, taming and controlling the steel beast that was the Canis Indomita. ‘Disengage motor suppression interlocks,’ commanded Benhadad. His voice sounded tinny and distant to his own ears. ‘Too soon,’ countered Ophan. ‘You feel a little groggy, princeps.’ ‘I’m getting synaptic feedback static,’ said Baalist. Benhadad could see the control cabin again, lit by the intermittent blink of control runes. He could feel its tight confines, and the close proximity of his crew. He heard the dull clanks of the bulk lifter disengaging its mooring arms. ‘Negative on enemy presence, princeps,’ said Baalist. ‘Bringing up full occipital sensor feed.’ Benhadad felt a bracing flurry of information gust into his mind. He saw beyond the machine, into the billowing, earth-hued gases of Bromos’ atmosphere. Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
‘Disengaging motor suppression interlocks,’ said Ophan. Something felt wrong... off. Benhadad took a step forward. He felt unsteady, and the titan swayed slightly. Baalist was the new cog in the machine, a replacement after the death of their last tactical officer. Benhadad experienced data flashback, memory silt dredged up from the titan’s ancient storage stacks. A leviathan data-spirit stirred within the machine, a cascade of mechaneurons that threatened to subvert the tactical systems. Benhadad suppressed it, forcing his own will, his own mind, onto the cognitive imprinters. The Canis was in testy mood. Generations of crew had etched their personalities onto the Canis Indomita, writing their lives randomly over the animal-like core that sustained the titan. The machine hadn’t made its mind up about the new crewman, yet. Baalist had been tested and trial runs had indicated compatibility, but there was something about the battlefield that changed the thought processes of the Canis. Benhadad believed it would work out, given time.
‘Cerebral rebalance,’ commanded Benhadad. He felt Ophan’s mind take up the strain, their minds linking closer than they’d ever done before. Benhadad felt Baalist’s frustration and shame, but there was little that could be done. His bridge officers were control conduits, but as princeps Benhadad sat at the apex of the mind link. For all intents and purposes, he was the titan, and he needed to keep a clear head. The Canis Indomita stepped out from under the shadow of the bulk lifter. Swirling fogs of brown gas washed over them, lit by lightning flashes. Words were largely superfluous, thought passing between them unbidden. They said them anyway. It was just part of the Canis’ ritual of operation. Benhadad liked it. It asserted their humanity. ‘Increase external auspex gain,’ said Benhadad. ‘We’re at maximum passive,’ reported Baalist. ‘Communications?’ ‘We’re getting atmospheric discharge interference, princeps. Range will be low.’
‘You look a little drunk, Ben,’ said Seraphine.
‘Seismic augurs?’
The voxsignal was coming in from the Cyberwolf. Benhadad could feel the tremors of his packmate’s footsteps as it moved off at speed. Seraphine was in her element, off the leash. He wondered if she had heard the rumours that the technoshamans were watching her. He wondered if she would care.
‘Residual input from multiple subduction zones.’ ‘How about weapons, Ophan?’ ‘Power plant nominal. Turbolasers online. Promethium magazine at one hundred percent capacity. Void shields will be charged in one minute thirty.’ 122
Fiction: Anamnesis Benhadad set the Canis loping forward and even the bulk of the giant lifter faded from sensors at a depressingly low range.
‘Ha! The planetologists inform me that this is the temperate season. Has contact been made with the Imperial Guard?’
lightning strike hit the ground, flinging rock into the air and making the Canis reverberate with the sonic shockwave.
‘Where’s the damn muster point?’ said Benhadad.
‘Hazterrain Sentinels were dispatched to the Imperial Guard Ocanan 1st’s last recorded command post, but they have not returned. Xi Company have located a downed tank carrier to the East of our location. The site has been heavily looted.’
‘Ground’s getting softer,’ said Baalist.
‘Forty degrees to port, three hundred metres,’ said Baalist. ‘Multiple contacts,’ said Ophan, ‘Chimera class personnel carriers. At least we’ve found our support infantry.’ Benhadad slowed the titan, sweeping the ground ahead with sensors to avoid treading on anything important. The squawk of a voxsignal sounded in Benhadad’s consciousness with the carrier marker of Accatran Skitarii - Hashmallim, the patient Skitarii commander who had been walking in the titan pair’s shadow for nearly a hundred years. ‘Where’s the Cyberwolf?’ asked Benhadad. ‘Can’t get a vox ping,’ replied Ophan. Benhadad could feel the other titan padding around through the Canis’ seismic sensors. He lifted a giant foot and stamped the ground, no doubt setting the Chimeras rocking on their tracks. The Cyberwolf turned and moved into vox range, but only to the very edge. Seraphine, always pushing the limit. ‘Hasmallim, report,’ commanded Benhadad. ‘We are assembled, princeps,’ said Hashmallim. ‘My Skitarii will be confined to the Chimeras whenever possible. As if this poisonous miasma wasn’t enough, an acid storm is moving in.’ Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
‘How long has it been since we last had contact with the Ocanan’s?’ ‘It has been eight months and three days sidereal time since last contact.’ ‘The Warhounds will advance to the command post. Follow at a discrete distance, commander. I don’t want to find myself tripping over anyone.’ ‘As you command, princeps.’ Benhadad disconnected and switched to the titan-encrypted channel. ‘Cyberwolf, assume drogue, echelon left.’ ‘My weapon load would be better on point, Ben,’ replied Seraphine. ‘No. I will set the pace. Keep formation - I can’t see beyond a hundred metres in this muck.’ Benhadad led the titans forward at moderate speed. They moved over a lightning-scorched plain, kicking up a tonne of dusty rock with each step. Electricity discharged through air heavy with poisonous metals, throwing fog shapes into existence and creating sensor ghosts. A
‘Raise suspensor yield ten percent,’ said Benhadad. ‘And keep an eye on it. If we trip or sink, the nearest titan recovery team is a lightyear behind us.’ ‘Raising suspensor yield. Reassigning delta auspex array to geological interpolation.’ On a whim, Benhadad checked the target auspex by sight and found Seraphine within a quarter metre of doctrine position. Showing off. There were whispers about her command of the Cyberwolf. Princeps were supposed to command the titans, not let the titans command them. The legion’s relationship with the machine spirits was fraught with hidden dangers. He was thankful that he had yet to hear darker whispers, of machine possession, of dreaded Abominable Intelligence. He had tried to warn her. She had laughed it off and chided him. Benhadad saw the ground ahead darken noticeably through the brown brume of the atmosphere, felt the timbre of the seismic feedback become more dissonant. He slowed the Canis as the rocky terrain splayed out before them. ‘Cyberwolf, all stop, but hold formation. Sending sensor feed.’
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Fiction: Anamnesis Seraphine would see the data feed and interpret it as he had. They waited a few moments in silence for the Chimeras to get into comm range. ‘Commander, Skitarii.’
jumble had been swifter than he had hoped, a testament to the experience of their princeps. He felt something from Ophan, a premonition that preceded the formal feed from her targeting augurs.
Benhadad was caught off guard when the Canis growled. But it was just a figment of his imagination - gas rattling from exhaust vents. ‘Hashmallim’s Sentinels found ork,’ muttered Benhadad.
‘Hashmallim here, princeps.’
‘Anomaly, forward, port 15 degrees, 28 degrees declination,’ she reported.
‘Or ork found them,’ said Ophan.
‘We have a large boulder field ahead, impassable to tracked vehicles. It isn’t on the map.’
‘Signal stop.’
The sky rumbled with earthquake intensity and acid sleet began to drop from the heavens.
‘Official planetary charts predate the Great Crusade, princeps.’ ‘There are mountains to the East, so follow the field counter-clockwise. The Warhounds will advance through it directly to target and scout the Guard position, before circling back to rendezvous with you.’ ‘Understood, princeps. If you see an ork, stick the Omnissiah up its fundament.’ Benhadad smirked at the old aphorism, a traditional and sacrilegious saying of Accatran’s eccentric military. The smirk was out of character and he shook his head free of it. The response was not his. He felt a hint of Ophan in it. By will alone, Benhadad moved the Canis Indomita into the boulder field. # Benhadad dug the Canis’ foot claws into rock as the titan threatened to topple. He guided the warmachine over the uneven ground, using giant boulders as steppingstones. The progress of the titans across the rock
Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
Benhadad zoomed in on an optical, picking out a slab-sided rock with a chunk blown out of it. ‘Lightning strike?’ ‘Artillery,’ said his weapons moderatus and he felt as well as heard her certainty. ‘You should take a look at this, Ben,’ said Seraphine. The Cyberwolf transmitted images of a crevice between two rocks. They showed a downed, one-man hazardous terrain walker. The Sentinel had been smashed to the ground, its internals, lifesupport and pilot strewn out in a bugsplat smear. Benhadad felt data movement down in the depths of the Canis’ stacks. Something brushed his mind like a shark bumping the underside of a boat. He purged the feed lines with a light cerebral flash and it was gone. ‘Resume advance, weapons free.’ As they neared the edge of the boulder field, Ophan spotted another Sentinel, its cab laid open like a burst can.
# ‘Senses sharp,’ commanded Benhadad. ‘We’re approaching the command post. Cyberwolf, tighten formation.’ The falling sleet had done nothing for the range of their sensors. ‘Ground underfoot looks like impact ejecta,’ said Ophan. ‘Confirmed,’ said Baalist. ‘We’re approaching a crater lip.’ Benhadad guided the Canis down the ridge, causing a minor landslide of steaming, sodden earth. The ground in the crater was spongy, a result of impact liquefaction. Benhadad felt confusing seismic echoes as the Cyberwolf stumbled into the crater after them. ‘I’m reading a massive energy signature,’ said Baalist. ‘We’ll do a visual pass, keeping it to starboard. Weapons, stay ready. Tactical, I want a full auspex sweep. Cyberwolf, form column, take drogue.’
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Fiction: Anamnesis Benhadad urged the Canis Indomita into a trot, ploughing through the fog of atmosphere and tainted water. ‘Dump fort!’ reported Baalist, and Benhadad’s vision was flooded with image scans of orks in shapeless environment suits scrambling to their gunnery positions. Dump forts were typical ork contraptions, combining two functions with brutal simplicity. Dropped from orbit as gravity-fed projectiles, their spent forms retained enough integrity to function as crude firebases. Light-flashes freckled over the fort as the Cyberwolf rotated its torso to a lateral position and fired its megabolter. A dangerous tactic when moving at speed and something only a master Warhound helmsman could pull off. ‘Cease fire, Cyberwolf,’ Benhadad snapped. ‘Just poking the nest, Ben.’ ‘Measuring heavy energy shielding,’ said Baalist, ‘Double digit void-levels.’ ‘Targets recorded and locked,’ said Ophan. In a few moments they were out of sensor range and lost again within the swirling miasma. ‘Time to use this muck to our advantage,’ said Benhadad. ‘Cyberwolf, echelon left. Watch my back, Seraphine.’ Benhadad rotated the titan’s torso and began a circling course round the fixed target. Return fire was desultory, the environment masking even the bulk of the titans.
Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
‘When you’re ready, weapons moderatus.’
‘Secondary cogitators estimate twelve shots to overload the shield,’ said Baalist.
began blasting out the words in unison with the Cyberwolf. Nex magna. A High Gothic translation of a phrase the legion had stolen from the orks. It was the battle cry of the Legio Destructor and they blasted it at the orks like it was any other weapon: big death, Big Death, BIG DEATH!
‘Then one more for luck,’ said Ophan. The turbolasers discharged at her command, just another flash on a world lit by lightning. They counted down the rounds in perfect mental harmony.
The two titans picked up speed. Benhadad watched as Seraphine attacked. Her megabolter chewed up infantry and outriders while her plasma blastgun turned gun mounts into glowing slag.
‘Reactor core temperature rising,’ said Baalist distantly. ‘Heatsinks saturated. Recommend ceasefire.’
The Canis’ void shield flashed as something big brushed it with a grazing miss.
Benhadad felt Ophan’s mind slip into engagement mode as she angled the turbolasers at the fort.
Ophan let off one more blast. ‘Bombardment complete,’ reported Ophan. ‘Lets do another recon pass-,’ began Benhadad as the proximity alarm sounded. The Cyberwolf passed within a whisper of their flank, loping toward the orks, already emitting the Chant. ‘No more dancing, Ben,’ said Seraphine, ‘time to take the fight into their faces.’ Benhadad began to rebuke her, but his tongue was stayed by an electro-adrenaline rush. His crew’s thoughts echoed Seraphine’s, and more, so did the ancient instincts of the Canis Indomita. ‘Bring us about, flank her and prepare to give covering fire. And begin the Chant.’ External loudspeakers fitted to the titan’s hull
‘Report,’ commanded Benhadad. ‘Artillery round,’ said Baalist uncertainly. ‘Trace back trajectory. Ophan, can you give me something to punch open that firebase?’ ‘Hopsplat round,’ said Baalist, ‘Can’t pinpoint the launch platform.’ ‘Primary heatsink is saturated,’ said Ophan, ‘but we can pump supercoolant through the promethium tank heat exchangers as long as we don’t hold onto it too long.’ ‘Cyberwolf, stand back to overwatch position,’ said Benhadad, and their packmate peeled off to give them a clear shot. Ophan fired the turbolasers. A rapid volley of energy beams punched through the fort’s armoured hide. At Ophan’s unspoken word, Benhadad guided the Canis into range of
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Fiction: Anamnesis their secondary weapon and Ophan began unloading great gouts of burning promethium into the structure. ‘Magazine depletion at forty-five percent... sixty...seventy-five...ceasing fire.’ Gelatinous fire poured down through the dump fort, consuming anything it came into contact with. Ork munitions began to touch off, blowing chunks of metal into the air. Benhadad felt feint tremor on the seismic sensors. On the insubstantial ground of the crater, it was a feather-light impact signature that a less experienced princeps would not have been able to place. Ork gargant. Ophan had already raised the turbolasers. ‘Contact, firing!’ Less than a second passed between detection and the weapon discharge. The target was an invisible mass hidden by fog, but Benhadad felt an icy dread lance through the neural array from Ophan. ‘Where’s the Cyberwolf?’ he demanded. ‘We hit them,’ said Ophan, her voice dry. But there was conviction in it, reinforced by certainty in her mind. ‘They’re on overwatch station,’ stated Benhadad. ‘We’re out of comm range. Move us towards the overwatch point.’ Ophan turned in her seat and looked at him, a mix of emotions contorting on her face. Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
‘Princeps, we hit the Cyberwolf! We should move forward to support her.’ Uncertainty paralysed the titan, its controllers unable to reconcile their interpretation of events. Benhadad’s mind rejected the idea. Impossible. The Cyberwolf was on station. ‘Crazy-art, crazy-art!’ exclaimed Baalist. An ork projectile flared from the direction of seismic source. A big, powered hopsplat round, it veered haphazardly through the air, its payload mass of shaped uranium whipping randomly about behind it on a chain. The unpredictable weapon appealed to the warrior-gambler mind of the ork. It would hit or it would not, but there was no effective way to game the odds. The ork gods favoured the missile. It struck the Canis Indomita. The void shield shorted. The payload clanged against the titan’s frame, buckling armour. The mass imparted its momentum as it rebounded, and the Canis began to topple onto its back. # The Canis was outwardly still, but its central cognitive system was a hive of activity. The shield overload had burnt out neural nodes and shut down systems. Data was being rerouted through long disused paths, shifting the balances of control within the stack. Protective constructs put in place by generations of princeps dropped out of the loop. The crew’s minds drew closer than ever to the raw metal of the Canis’ core.
Baalist suffered contorting spasms, his brain unable to accommodate the neural flood passing through it. The mental banks of his mind burst and electrons splashed through his brain. Like a defective pathway, the machine cut him off. Benhadad watched Baalist die with detachment. He had lost control of the Canis. His engram discipline was slipping away. The Canis’ ancient stacks were taking over, the possible reactions and counter-reactions to the situation bubbling up from the collective memories of his countless predecessors. He felt Ophan there too, fighting a losing battle to retain the integrity of her personality. She was bleeding out through a link bound too close to him. A childhood memory came back to him and he could not discern whose it was. A new gestalt began thinking, an amalgam of Benhadad, Ophan and millennia of dead experiences. The Canis Indomita focused its gaze on its enemy. # The gargant lumbered out of the mist like a giant metal ork clad in scrap armour. It moved on four limbs like an ape, unable to maintain balance on its short back legs. An artillery piece had been chained to its spine block, barrel swaying as the warmachine advanced. A pair of exhausts protruded from its shoulders, huffing out gouts of black smoke. Its forearms terminated in shearing claws which gouged the earth with each knuckle-dragging movement. Its blocky control cabin was fixed low, giving it 126
Fiction: Anamnesis a hunch backed demeanour. Red light spilled out from its twin vision slits, projecting the malevolent glare of its pilots. The Canis, still lying on its back, drew in its legs like an animal cowering in fear. Benhadad did not feel lost or powerless. The opposite - he had never felt more powerful. Crew and titan were literally of one mind. ‘Get ready,’ he said, and was unsurprised to hear Ophan speak the same words simultaneously, matching his in tone and timbre. As the gargant loomed over the stricken Warhound, it reared up, raising its forelimbs. As it did so, it opened a shearing claw to drive into the Canis. The gargant began to fall. Benhadad struck out with the Canis’ feet, striking a claw with a juddering crunch. He began to push laterally, shifting the gargant’s centre of gravity and pushing it off balance. The gargant threw out its other arm, trying to prevent itself from toppling over. The open claw closed over the Canis’ left foot. Force of the grip and the gargant’s momentum began to tip the Canis from its back onto its side. The howl of distressed metal reverberated through Benhadad’s bones. The gargant struck the ground with its free claw, driving it into the soft earth. The other tightened on the Canis’ foot. Alarm feedback shot up from the left foot as control lines began to sever. Benhadad instructed the foot claws to clutch as the gargant tore it off. They were damaged, but free of the gargant’s grip. Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
Benhadad drove the turbolaser into the ground, using it as a crutch with which to right the Canis. Ready signals flicked off as the strain and fouling disabled the weapon. The gargant was temporarily occupied as it tried to shake off the foot that clutched its claw. They moved off slowly as the gargant recovered like a slothful giant. The Canis limped into the broiling mist, driving the stump into the earth. The gargant was soon lost to sight and sensor, and the burning remnant of the dump fort dimmed to a candle of light. They adjusted course to elude their enemy in the fog. ‘We can’t run,’ said Benhadad and Ophan simultaneously. Somewhere out there was the Cyberwolf, crippled and vulnerable to the brutish ork. The Canis was panting like an animal, driving gusts of atmosphere over its reactor’s heat exchangers in a last ditch attempt to avoid meltdown. ‘Systems status,’ they said, and replied to themselves in turn. ‘Core temperature on critical boundary; critical damage to mobility; estimated loss of speed at point zero three percent per step; turbolaser inoperable; inferno magazine at twenty-five percent; armour penetration negligible. ‘We have a plan. Set timer.’ The Canis Indomita began to drop excess weight. The turbolaser’s power transformer fell to the earth. Benhadad popped the audio
array’s support chains and released the armour locks. The Canis shook like a dog, shedding metal to the sound of a collapsing building. The Canis began to move again, lighter, naked and still limping like a cripple. Most of the external sensors had gone, ripped away with the armour. Their vision became myopic, but their course was set. The audio blast came on schedule, and they heard the ork machine’s artillery cannon bellow in reply. Even with the foot-mounted seismic sensors reduced to half and the deadening effect of the crater surface, Benhadad could feel the lumbering ork warmachine. The orks’ blood was up and they were on the move. ‘Timing is critical,’ they said. ‘Inferno cannon ready.’ Their circular path drew them closer to the gargant and could hear the audio blast well enough to make out the words. ‘Nex magna!’ Big death. They came up behind the gargant as it smashed down on the dumped audio array. Ophan emptied the inferno cannon onto its back. Benhadad counted down the volume in the promethium reservoir until it was empty. They were effectively unarmed, and the Canis’ damaged leg was buckling. The gargant performed a lumbering turn, gobs of incendiary liquid dripping from its back. It raised a claw to strike the Canis Indomita. 127
Fiction: Anamnesis The exposed artillery piece on the gargant’s back exploded as its ammunition cooked off. The warmachine died with it, flames flickering out its control cabin. ‘Nex magna,’ spat Benhadad. The battle-rush subsided and Benhadad’s mind turned to the fallen Cyberwolf. ### ‘Seraphine.’ A last breath escaped Benhadad’s lungs. Ophan felt his blood congealing on her hands. A shadow fell over them and she looked up into the face of Benhadad’s killer. He was a young man, lithe and gaunt-faced. ‘He demanded this,’ said the man. ‘He would not back down. We... I could do nothing else.’ Already, Ophan could see more than a hint of the Cyberwolf behind his eyes, a hint of Seraphine. The background noise of Accatran’s ceaseless industries faded from her hearing. She lapsed into Benhadad’s memories, could remember them as clearly as her own - a well of experience shared during and after the campaign on Bromos. # Benhadad felt the acid sleet’s pelting despite the thick, rubberised hazard suit. Hashmallim’s
Skitarii watched from a discrete distance, guns ready for more stray orks. The Cyberwolf lay on its side, legs stretched out. There were no outward signs of damage. Almost like Benhadad.
she’s
sleeping,
thought
Benhadad climbed to the access hatch and manually cycled through the small airlock. Within the Cyberwolf’s main body, two integral servitors stared disinterestedly through him. They mouthed sentences from their report logs, mindlessly waiting for someone to acknowledge them.
The cabin heaters cut out and he felt the room chill as function sigils spun down to the blue glow of their standby states. Seraphine’s link cables were still securely fastened to the ancient lump of the Cyberwolf’s data stacks. An array of alarm lights, translucent teardrops, rotated through a series of melancholy alert sequences. Benhadad’s guilt was compounded. He felt like an intruder. He was trespassing in the domain of a wounded machine-spirit. He would atone.
The titan’s resting position made the floor a steep slope, and Benhadad made his way awkwardly to the control cabin. He yanked the door release and the poison gases of Bromos’ atmosphere spilled into the main body. He swallowed hard. The sorrow and guilt hit him harder than he had expected. Seraphine hung from her command chair, her emergency skinsuit holed by the molten-globule shrapnel of a turbolaser hit. Her mouth hung open in a rictus scream, the froth of her decomposing lungs sloughing slowly from it. The hole in the cockpit was barely the size of his fist, but it had been enough.
Mark Erlight is an imaginary person loosely based on a real one. He owes his continued existence to interest in his writing. You could kill him by not reading this story.
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Bell of Lost Souls: Macharian Crusade
The Fly Lords have rolled out some of our favorite toys and put the new rules through the ringer. I figured you all might want to hear some of our impressions after seeing and playing several games.
Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
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Interview: Ross Watson
INTERVIEW: ROSS WATSON DARK HERESY, SENIOR DEVELOPER First, would you tell us a little about yourself and why you got into gaming? Sure! I’ve been a gamer for over twenty years now, ever since my dad bought the “red box” of D&D for me. I love the way that gaming builds such a broad range of experiences and knowledge about subjects that range from feudal Europe to quantum physics and beyond.
Gamers also form a very unique community, building on such things as imagination and the ability to present larger-than-life roles, both villainous and heroic. What attracted you to Warhammer 40,000? Initially, it was the very evocative imagery of John Blanche and Ian Miller combined with some really nifty concepts like the Eldar Wraithguard and the Space Marines-aswarrior-monks. Over time, I became drawn into both the hobby side (I enjoy converting and painting miniatures, although I have slowed down with that stuff of late!) and the fiction. Ultimately I would say my favorite thing about the Warhammer 40,000 universe is the sheer immensity of scale. It’s sci-fi with the dial turned up to 11, over-the-top awesomeness to the tune of heavy metal. I got the chance to be part of the action first back in 2003 when I was part of the US White Dwarf Studio for a couple of years. A lot of what makes Firebase great reminds me of the best elements of White Dwarf, and it’s great to see you guys carrying on that tradition. Fans like those who make and read Firebase
Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
really make the Warhammer 40,000 universe come alive. I myself am greatly interested in a career in game design. What advice would you give to those wishing to become game designers? A broad range of gaming knowledge is crucial; I would recommend that first you get access to a large library of material. In-depth knowledge of one particular setting or system is great, but it’s important to know how games fit into the “big picture” of the industry. Secondly, there are a lot of great resources out there on the web. Places like ENWorld.org and RPG. net are some good starting points to find projects that are looking for freelance authors, artists, editors, and more. Thirdly, don’t be afraid to get out there and ask questions! If you can attend the big conventions like GenCon or Origins, that’s one place to start networking and building connections with gaming companies that you want to work for. You could, for example, begin by volunteering to help set up the booth and run some demo games. I would say that most people in the gaming industry remember what it was like to start out, so I would suggest 130
Interview: Ross Watson sending some polite e-mails asking for advice or inquiring about any open opportunities they may be aware of. My last piece of advice is this: If you really want to be a game designer, and gaming is something that you truly love, don’t be afraid to let that show. I don’t mean a marathon session of “Let me tell you about my character,” but one thing that can really “sell” is your enthusiasm and commitment. I’m sure some of our readers are curious about how games like Dark Heresy are made. What’s your average day as Senior Developer like, and how does it affect the project(s) you are working on? Game Development has a lot in common with running a roleplaying game as the Game Master, just on a slightly different level. I do a lot of research and preparation (the Warhammer 40,000 universe is a big, big place, and keeping true to the background is important). The Game Master organizes the supporting cast, manages the rules, and builds the story the player characters inhabit; they also work with the writers and artists to build the words and pictures that bring the game to life. Developers create new rules and clear up existing frameworks to make the game run smoothly, take a concept and sculpt it into bold, fresh products, and coordinate with Games Workshop to make sure that the game line upholds the best traditions of Warhammer Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
40,000. All this, plus some quality control, scheduled updates to the websites, keeping in touch with the fan community (for instance, this interview!), and much more. What are the greatest challenges you are presented with developing Dark Heresy? For me, it’s critically important for me to stay true to the FEEL of Warhammer 40,000. My top goal is for the game to put the player’s imagination into the grim darkness of the far future. Once you get that right, everything else follows along. What’s the creative process like when dealing with a universe that is already so defined? Do you find this a blessing, or a constraint? What sort of permissions do you have to “carve out” your own background material in the 40K universe? For the Dark Heresy game line, the Calixis Sector is pretty much fair game — almost anything is possible. That’s quite a blessing, indeed! When it comes to the creative process, I’d say it’s twofold; first, we want to make sure the game products are new and interesting. Next, the game experience must fit into the existing Warhammer 40,000 universe. There’s some brainstorming for new ideas and fresh angles, then we trim off the parts that don’t quite work. I’m simplifying quite a bit, but I think I’m getting the basic idea across.
Will the direction of Dark Heresy be changing now that FFG is at the reins? Will the game continue to focus on Inquisitorial henchmen, or will the scope be broadened to the whole 40K universe? The Dark Heresy game line is centred around the Inquisition. Nevertheless, there will be different roles to play in the Warhammer 40,000 universe coming soon. Keep an especially sharp eye out around GenCon! What can players expect to see in terms of new products in the Dark Heresy line? Well, the big question is, “Will there be more books coming down the line?” The answer is yes; we’re hard at work developing more books for Dark Heresy, and we’ll have some teasers available at GenCon this year. Disciples of the Dark Gods is a very solid addition to the game line, with lots of new rules and creatures and conspiracies to add into your game. Here are a couple of new, shiny bits of information for Firebase readers. First, the reprint of the GM’s Toolkit is going to include a higher-quality GM’s screen, fully wrapped with a linen finish. Best of all, the new GM’s Toolkit is the same price as the original. Second, I am very pleased to say that the next book after Disciples of the Dark Gods is titled Creatures Anathema, a tome describing Aliens, Beasts, and Daemons of the Calixis Sector... and how to extinguish them in the name of the Emperor.
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Interview: Ross Watson Will the initial plot be advanced in future supplements? I suppose that depends on which plot you mean, and I hate saying that, but dozens of different threads and stories for the Dark Heresy game exist. Some of those plots we are deliberately leaving alone for Dark Heresy gaming groups to explore on their own. Following in the footsteps of Rick Priestley, there are always some stories that should be left unfinished. However, there are certainly events in the Calixis Sector which will continue to develop as we move forward! Can we expect downloadable adventures in the future? I don’t have any plans for such things at this time, but who knows what might happen further on down the line… How do you see your game existing alongside Inquisitor? What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of each system? I’ll be honest — I’ve never played the Inquisitor miniature game. The book had some excellent background material and fiction in it, but when it comes to pushing toy soldiers around, I much prefer the 28mm scale! Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
I would say that the advantage of Dark Heresy is the ability to put yourself into a vast set of roles within the Warhammer 40,000 universe. For instance, every time I look at the expanded equipment lists in the Inquisitor’s Handbook, I get a thrill seeing that a particular bolt pistol is favored by Calixis Sector Commissars, for instance, and imagine myself in the flak greatcoat, exhorting Guardsmen for bravery in the Emperor’s name. You could make a
character for Dark Heresy and explore new worlds, hunt down Chaos cultists, or support your comrades in a shell-torn war zone. What is your favorite character to play in Dark Heresy? My strongest attachment is to the Arbitrator. I love their no-nonsense, “I am the Law” attitude. © Games Workshop. All Rights Reserved.
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Dark Heresy
DAEMONHOSTS Daemonhosts… I don’t know about you but they were pretty much the first thing I looked at when I got the book. After a quick perusal it struck me that if your psyker suddenly decides they’d prefer life as a creature of the warp, it might drag the game down slightly if you have to throw one together mid-session. All of the following were created randomly to be ready prepared Daemonhosts to be used as and when you need then. I have included a small amount of background material in case you wish to use them as antagonists. C’HAUGO, HERALD OF DESPAIR: UNBOUND DAEMONHOST This being has burnt worlds and made armies dance to its tune. However, the true sadness lies in its creation. A pious Cardinal by the name of Viktor Flintock discovered a plot within his congregation to overthrow the planet’s government. Upon confronting the conspirators they kidnapped him and bound a daemon of Nurgle into his flesh. In the struggle of wills that followed the bindings were broken and C’haugo emerged triumphant. Immensely cruel with a streak of morbid humour, C’haugo infiltrates Imperial society disguised as either a grossly fat high ranking member of the Ecclesiarchy, or a member of the nobility, and then manipulates the planet into tearing itself apart from the inside. Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
C’haugo, Herald of Despair WS BS S T Ag Int Per WP Fel W 33 32 1551 44 22 85 66 94 23 30 Psy Rating: 8 Unholy Changes: Elongated Limbs (grants 3m reach with claws), Horns, Wings, Bloated Form, Bleeding Mouth and Eyes, Cat’s Eyes. Daemonic Phenomena: In its presence paint peels as if burnt, metal rusts and wood rots. Once the Daemonhost has passed everything returns to normal. Lights dim, candles snuff out, a gloom spreads. A single high pitched note can be heard, as can the buzzing of flies, although no source can be seen. Psychic Powers: Regenerate, Shape Flesh, Seal Wounds, Blood Boil, Beastmaster, Telepathy, all Minor Psychic Powers. Skills: Awareness (Per) +10, Deceive (Fel) +20, Forbidden Lore (Daemonology, Heresy, Warp) (Int) +20, Psyniscience (Per) +20, Secret Tongue (Ecclesiarchy) +20, Speak Language (all) +20
PANARU: TWICE BOUND DAEMONHOST Created by Inquisitor Elias Tenir, Radical member of the Ordo Xenos, this is a minor daemon bound into a kroot originally captured from one of the many warzones in the Damocles Gulf. He uses it as a shock troop to scatter his enemies so that the rest of his warband can pick them off. Panaru WS BS 29 26
S T Ag Int Per WP Fel W 64 37 16 81 58 71 17 30
12
Psy Rating: 5 Unholy Changes: Glowing Eyes, Quills, Inner Fire Daemonic Phenomena: In its presence a single high pitched note can be heard and the air is hot, as though standing in front of a furnace. Psychic Powers: Holocaust, Incinerate, Regenerate, all Minor Psychic Powers Skills: Awareness (Per) +10, Deceive (Fel) +20, Forbidden Lore (Daemonology, Heresy, Warp) (Int) +20, Psyniscience (Per) +20, Secret Tongue (Military) +20, Speak Language (all) +20
Traits: Daemonic, Dark Sight, Fear 4, Flyer (ABx2), From Beyond, Natural Weapon (Horns, Claws) (1d10+15 R), Unnatural Strength (x3)
Traits: Daemonic, Dark Sight, Fear 4, Flyer (AB), From Beyond, Natural Armour (2), Natural Weapon (Beak) (1d10+12 E), Unnatural Strength (x2)
Threat Rating: Malleus Terminus
Threat Rating: Malleus Extremis
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Dark Heresy EPSILON-OMEGA-7: THRICE BOUND DAEMONHOST Created by the foulest of tech-heresies, Epsilon-Omega-7 was created by a sect of Malygrisian in an attempt to bind a daemon using technology. It worked perfectly, and the daemon now hunts at the whim of its masters. It appears to be a large wolf like creature, but standing upright on its hind legs as its forward legs end in three foot long talons. Thrice-anointed silver sigils of the Omnissiah are pinned to its flesh. Epsilon-Omega-7 WS BS S T Ag Int Per WP Fel W 37 33 847 57 21 88 60 58 14 30 Psy Rating: 4
Unholy Changes: Animalistic, Blades Daemonic Phenomena: In its presence muttering familiar voices can be heard dimly. Psychic Powers: Burning Fist, all Minor Psychic Powers
The Grey Lady WS BS S T Ag Int Per WP Fel W 33 26 1554 49 27 80 62 75 19 30 Psy Rating: 6 Unholy Changes: Seeming Normality
Skills: Awareness (Per) +10, Deceive (Fel) +20, Forbidden Lore (Daemonology, Heresy, Warp, Archeotech, Adeptus Mechanicus) (Int) +20, Psyniscience (Per) +20, Secret Tongue (Tech) +20, Speak Language (all) +20
Daemonic Phenomena: In its presence everyone tastes gritty ashes and shadows flicker and distort, seemingly to the shapes of strange figures. In addition, people perceive a sickly sweet smell.
Traits: Daemonic, Dark Sight, Fear 4, Flyer (AB), From Beyond, Natural Armour (2), Natural Weapon (Claws) (1d10+8 R), Unnatural Strength (x2), Warp Weapons
Psychic Powers: Personal Augury, Cellular Control, Shape Flesh, Glimpse, Precognitive Dodge, all Minor Psychic Powers
Threat Rating: Malleus Extremis THE GREY LADY: ONCEBOUND DAEMONHOST The origins of the Grey Lady are lost in the mists of time. While some say she was created after the Calixian Sector was founded others claim she was there long before humanity arrived. What is known is that she will show herself to those who lack direction, or are at a crossroads in life and offer a divination; a divination that will always come true. All that she asks for in payment is a single favour and a drop of the petitioner’s blood. In appearance she is plain and wears only grey, though her dress will change to fit the environment she is in.
Skills: Awareness (Per) +10, Deceive (Fel) +20, Forbidden Lore (Daemonology, Heresy, Warp, Ordos) (Int) +20, Psyniscience (Per) +20, Secret Tongue (Military, Administratum) +20, Speak Language (all) +20 Traits: Daemonic, Dark Sight, Fear 4, Flyer (AB), From Beyond, Natural Weapon (Claws) (1d10+15 R), Unnatural Strength (x3) Threat Rating: Malleus Terminus
As ever, feel free to leave feedback on Warseer or via email at
[email protected] Dragonlover
Illustration by Peter Laycock Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
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SPECIALIST GAMES SUPPLEMENT
Editorial
News from the Editor. Greetings Gamers, and welcome to the Specialist Games section!
First off, the news: We almost had two news items for this issue, but the second (And very big) item will now have to wait for the next issue, don’t worry, it’ll be worth the wait. The first and lesser piece of news however, is that the Specialist Games division of Games Workshop is going to be folded back into the main Games Workshop retail structure. Thus, instead of the Specialist Games website sitting separate from the rest of Games Workshop (And therefore going unnoticed by the majority of GW’s new customers), the main Specialist Games resources (Such as the Free Rulebooks, and how-to articles) will henceforth be available directly from the main GW website. The consequences of this are twofold: 1 - Less updates to the rules / less new Specialist Games-related articles by Games Workshop (As the SG website is being closed down, so too is ‘Fanatic Online’). 2 - Greater availability of Specialist Games models, and a higher profile for the Free Rulebooks and the Specialist Games range. Number 1 doesn’t overly concern me, as we have Fanzines like Firebase, Warp Rift, Dark Magenta, etc, which are willing and
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able to provide new rules supplements and hobby guides far more often than the erstwhile (And in recent years very overworked) Specialist Games department (Basically one man, Andy Hall). Number 2 is very good news for the Specialist Games range, in my opinion, and I’m looking forwards to the new blister packs that we’ll be seeing over the coming months that will return missing models to the Specialist Games range (For example, new Blister Packs have already brought back the missing Necron BFG ships to the Online Store).
as possible, and find out whether the Dark Eldar, the Necrons, or the Imperial Guard Minervan Tank Legion emerge victorious! More than fifty people contributed to Epic: Raiders... surely you’d be doing them a disservice by not at least looking at the art, even if the Epic rules fly over your head! In honour of this massive and exceptionally cool Epic supplement, we at FB-SG have decided to run an Epic-themed issue, with introductory articles, model galleries, and a painting guide, and a continuation of our ‘Tale of Specialist Gamers’ series with a focus on the Epic-playing participants.
So to all appearances, the future of Specialist Games is of a well-supported range of games, with a larger range of models available than are currently on sale.
And finally, submissions: Do you want your Specialist-Games articles to be read by more than 100,000 people?
Second up, this issue of Firebase: This issue of Firebase has some truly awesome company, in the form of our second Feature Presentation, Epic: Raiders.
If so, drop by the Specialist Games subsection of Warseer and check out our ‘Firebase submissions’ threads... we want you to help continue producing Specialist Games articles for this, the most popular Games Workshop Fanzine in the world.
This 130 page rulebook / hobby guide contains army lists, artworks, hobby guides, and a massive fan fiction story detailing the three armies that took part in the war for a planet known as Scarab. I won’t spoil the surprise as to which army wins in the end, but I do exhort you most sincerely to rush out and download Epic: Raiders as soon
Thanks for reading, and remember to check out the new edition of 40k, it is quite good. - Ben Skinner, Specialist Games Editor
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Issue 7 Specialist Games contents. Editor’s Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 An introduction to Epic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Gamer’s Tale: Feral Orks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Gamer’s Tale: Guard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Painting Guide: Epic Tyranids . . . . . . . . . . 17 Gamer’s Tale: Escher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Rogue’s Gallery: Focus Epic . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Magazine Credits:
Firebase is fueled by your submissions. Please contact Ben (Chaos And Evil) via Warseer to submit articles, photos and art.
Editor: Ben Skinner
We are always looking for new ideas and feedback, so get in touch.
Art: Sam Harvey, Jon Webb
Rogue’s Gallery is a chance to showcase the best of what you can do. Please send hi res .jpgs to dancingmonkey also via Warseer. Firebase is employer.
an
equal
opportunities
Design: Jon Webb
Contributors: Hena, Jonathan Brown, William Sturtevant Picture Credits (with many thanks from Jon): Jonathan Brown, Bob “Harkon Greywolf”, Mark Logue, Dave Thomas, Oliver Paun. (Apologies if I missed anyone).
Breaking News: +++data stream inbound+++ +++clearance level Gamma+++ +++positive ID made+++ Via our spybots, we have discovered that Forgeworld will be releasing an Epic scale Aquilla Lander in the not too distant future. Keep an eye on the magazine for more news and pics as we get it.
Our spy cameras managed to gain this shot before being destroyed.
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Specialist Game Focus : EPIC
Focus on epic.
With its roots in Games Workshop’s dim and distant past, Epic is a game that has stood the test of time. Ben Skinner investigates the history of this truly Epic game Let’s go forward Apocalypse - Two armies line up, fifteen feet Epic is my favorite Wargame. I’ll tell you that apart. One side charges the other, and guys now because this is an opinion piece and with Power Fists make things go BOOM. that means I can (And should!) be honest. Apocalypse is a mega-battle game... it’s I own an Imperial Guard force and a Tyranid not meant to be tactically challenging and force for Warhammer 40,000, I own two it’s not meant to be a ‘simulation’ style space fleets for Battle Fleet Gothic, some game... it’s meant to be wacky-fun and when Inquisitor figures, and several Necromunda Baneblades detonate it’s hilarious... but it’s gangs, but despite the charms of the other not Epic... Warhammer 40,000-set wargames, for me, Let’s start simple nothing captures the spirit of a battle in the • Epic is a tabletop wargame set in the 41st millennium like Epic. 41st millennium, in which vast armies do Apocalypse? That’s a bunch of fun, sure, but battle. Humble guardsmen clash with it’s literally a world away from the gameplay Chaos Marines, mighty Titans do battle, experience that Epic offers. and aircraft scream overhead.
its 28mm scale counterpart. Let’s have some history The world was first introduced to Epic in 1988 through the Adeptus Titanicus game system. This was a game featuring giant robots (Titans) that battled each other. There were two factions (Imperial & Chaos) and they were fighting something called the
Epic - Two armies line up, about quarter of a • Epic was designed mile apart, and start moving in towards each to be a tactically The first Epic Space Marines proved very other. Small skirmishes occur, leading to challenging wargame, popular. bigger firefights, or perhaps tailing off as the and by that I mean ‘Horus Heresy’. enemy slips away. Thunderhawk Gunships that it is designed with It was awesome. land and disgorge Space Marines into the the same ethos as a ‘historical’ wargame As well as the giant robots, Games Workshop teeth of the enemy, Titans stalk each other system like DBM. also produced some small space marine or vital targets in the enemy army, the armies • Epic is a ‘simulation’ style wargame, models in metal, for use as objective markers manoeuvre like skilled boxers, waiting for rather than a high-fantasy wargame like and the like. In an almost offhand manner, the enemy’s guard to slip so he can throw a Warhammer 40,000, indeed in many these 6mm tall Marines were given some surprise right hook and put his opponent’s respects it conforms more closely to the rules that allowed them to skirmish against forces into disarray. rules of the 41st millennium setting than each other whilst the Titans did the real Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
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Specialist Game Focus : EPIC The box art from the 2nd edition starter set, which placed Titans in the background (Literally) and placed emphasis on tanks and infantry.
And so, in 1997, Games Workshop released its third edition of Epic (This time known as Epic 40,000). Despite being the best looking Epic to date, it was not awesome.
Lets see What went wrong with Epic 40,000 Titan forces received reinforcements in the I’m going to be controversial here ; Honestly, form of the infamous Imperator configuration Games Workshop aimed too high, moved Emperor Class Titan, and the Ork Mega- too quick, and confused the hell out of a lot of Gargant. They were ridiculously awesome, gamers. Epic 40,000 was the most balanced even if they were invariably painted in and most tactically challenging wargame fighting overhead. However, gamers soon bright primary colours (Veteran Gamers will that Games Workshop had produced up started to collect whole armies of these tiny remember this time as ‘The Red Period’). until that date... but the majority of Games Marines and fight battles with only one or two Titans, and whole swathes of infantry. That was awesome. So awesome, in fact, that Games Workshop decided to make a complementary game system that was purpose-designed for infantry/tank battles. It was called Epic: Space Marine, and it was released in 1989. The second edition of Epic: Space Marine was released five years later in 1994, and officially transplanted the Epic setting from the Horus Heresy to the 41st millennium. The starter boxed set came with Marines, Eldar, Orks, tanks for all three races, and a Mars Pattern Warlord Titan. Again, awesome. Towards the end of the second edition, the The contents of the Epic 40,000 starter set blew previous editions of Epic out of the water, with cool terrain and a huge variety of models, but the rule system failed to catch the imagination of the gaming public.
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Specialist Game Focus : EPIC Workshop’s customers aren’t interested in a tactically challenging wargame, they want a game where their Space Marine commander runs up the field and punches Orkz in the face with a clenched fist the size of a microwave (There’s nothing wrong with that of course, such things are awesome!).
Sales tanked, the rules were widely derided as ‘too abstract’ by the fanbase, and within a year the entire game line was withdrawn from sale; Epic had gone from a Core Game System to a Nothing in under a year.
own table half. - Make sure there are no enemy formations in your table half. - Kill your opponent’s most expensive (Points, not pounds) formation.
And so (With a dramatic flourish) began the great Dark Age of Epic, and it wasn’t until So, 4 out of 5 of the victory conditions have Epic 40,000 threw out the thousands of 2004 that Epic was sold again, this time nothing to do with killing your opponent’s army... Epic is all about capturing and special rules and wacky game effects of 2nd under the name of Epic : Armageddon. defending territory, as represented by edition, and replaced it with a streamlined, objective markers (There are 3 in each table tactically challenging gaming experience. “Sales tanked...the entire game half, one of which must be placed on a Epic 40,000 had a stunning array of new line was withdrawn from sale” board edge). That’s awesome, in my opinion; miniatures produced to support it, both When I want some fun, I play Warhammer plastic and metals were amongst the 40,000, but when I want to come away from best models Games Workshop has ever The ruleset has been re-written from the the tabletop with a headache, I play Epic; produced. The MkII Land Raider was first ground up, and Epic: Armageddon turned Bearing in mind capturing all those different designed for Epic 40,000. The Lucius Pattern out to be a deft mix of Epic 40,000’s tactical types of objective combinations whilst Warlord Titan was first designed for Epic challenge, and Epic: Space Marine’s flavour fighting your opponent at the same time is 40,000. The modern design of Thunderhawk and complexity of detail. a real challenge! gunship... oh you get the idea!; Regardless So, with that dual heritage in mind, is Epic’s Hmmm, I could go on like this with an inof its failure to thrive, without Epic:40,000, 4th edition awesome, or a failure? depth analysis all day... how about I save you Warhammer 40,000 wouldn’t be the game and me some time and bullet-point some of Let’s look at the game that it is today. When you play a game of Epic, you’ll find Epic’s major features? Epic 40,000 was a simulation style wargame, that there are 5 victory points available. You Let’s see... marketed to a customer base who were (And need at least two points to claim a win (And - A Modern turn sequence still are) largely more interested in having a of course you need to be claiming more straightforward gaming experience (Heck, victory objectives than your enemy!): Players activate formations (Composed of most GW customers are only just discovering infantry squads, tanks or Titans, etc) in turn, the world of wargaming, and it’ll be quite - Capture an objective marker placed on the so the action flows back and forth between a few years before they branch out and try enemy’s board edge. the players in a manner more similar to Chess other, more challenging, gaming styles). - Capture two objective markers in the than Warhammer 40k’s I-Go-U-Go system; You’ll never be shooting for twenty minutes, Epic 40,000 was a real gamble on Games enemy’s table half. then taking armor saves for twenty minutes, Workshop’s part, and Epic 40,000 was, - Capture three objective markers in your because the initiative sequence flows back unfortunately, a dismal failure. Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
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Specialist Game Focus : EPIC and forth between the players.
• 1 Leman Russ Vanquisher Tank
different units (Although that does exist, Tactical Marines move at 15cm per move, whilst Land Raiders move 25cm and Rhinos move 30cm...), but also different types of movement style, so that you can move a formation once and shoot, or move it twice and shoot with a -1 modifier to-hit, or not move at all and receive a +1 modifier to-hit.
- Complex gameplay
• 1 Hydra Anti-Aircraft Flak Tank
- Overwatch
Many wargames are Complicated, but few are Complex.
• 2 Thunderbolt Fighter Aircraft
Overwatch is cool.
• 1 Warhound Titan
- A thriving Tournament Scene.
- Simple rules
• 3 Hellhound Tanks
Many wargames have complicated rules, few genuinely need them.
• 40 Storm Troopers
If you live in the UK, there are ~15 Epic Tournaments per year, most near Nottingham but some down South too, so if you’re into Tournaments you’ll find that the best of the best are more than willing to show you how to play the game.
- A unique and intuitive morale system Using ‘Blast Markers’ instead of ‘Leadership Tests’, the more Blast Markers a formation has, the more its Morale is shaken. Take too many blast markers too quickly and the formation becomes broken, easy eh?
Standard Guard 3000pt List • 1 Baneblade SHT • 1 Stormsword SHT • 9 Leman Russ Tanks
- Vast armies
• 130 Guardsmen (Including a few officers in there somewhere)
See the boxout for my typical standard-sized Imperial Guard army list:
• 4 Sentinels
Very roughly, that’s an army that would be eight or nine thousands points in Warhammer 40k.
• 14 Chimeras Guardsmen)
(To
carry
the
- The rulebook is free.
• 4 Valkyrie Transports (To carry the 40 Storm Troopers)
You can download the rulebook for free from the Specialist Games section of the Games Workshop website.
• 6 Commissars
- Tiny, tiny tanks.
To put it another way, a standard game of Epic is at 3000pts, and the entire Epic Deathwing (100 Terminators) is 1625pts. A Warlord Titan is 850pts, and a Chimera is 25pts. Yes you can fit the entire Deathwing into a game of Epic and take a Warlord Titan too, and still have 525pts left over to spend on other formations, or maybe add Librarians and Chaplains etc to your Terminators....
list in Epic... the game system 6mm tanks are not uncool. is so balanced that games are decided by the Tactics you and your opponent use (Modified somewhat by the dice!) not by the army list you bring to the table.
- Razor-sharp balance
- Varying movement speeds.
It is nigh-impossible to write a ‘Beardy’ army Not just different movement speeds for Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
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Specialist Game Focus : EPIC Nothing is cooler than 6mm scale Land Raiders. Not even Tony Stark.
available, but more Septs will doubtless come online in time)
If you decide to dip your foot in the Epic ocean, I recommend you download the Epic rulebook... you’ll find that if you put • Adeptus Mechanicus Titan Legion & Let’s ask, ‘what armies are together a typical 3000pt army list, it’ll tend Skitarii Army available?’ to cost around £80 (It’s an oft-repeated fact Multiple army lists are available for each • Inquisitorial army (Including awesome that a company and a half of Epic Marines army type, so that a ‘Steel Legion’ army 6mm Grey Knight models from costs less £££ than a single tactical squad for list (Mechanized infantry in chimeras with Forgeworld) 40k... and in Epic they’re worth 1500pts!). many tank types as backup) will look very different to a Baran Siegemasters (Low-tech Let’s ask, ‘What’s missing?’ Anyways, I don’t recommend you buy a Siege army with trenchworks and static gun Sadly, there are still a couple of armies not whole army all at once. Probably the best platforms) army list, even though they’re readily available at Epic scale. way to check if you’re likely to enjoy playing ostensibly the same army type (Imperial Epic is to buy a £12 plastic infantry boxed • Dark Eldar Guard). This is an approach that GW has set. Either a Marine, Chaos/L&TD, Imperial flirted with Warhammer 40,000 over the • Tyranids Guard, Eldar or Ork boxed set will give you years, but has never been able to achieve. hundreds of models (The £12 Ork boxed • Necrons set contains 244 greenskins of various types Here’s a brief listing: Games Workshop doesn’t currently have the I believe, for example) and a good variety • Space Marines (Both Codex Marines and resources available to have a team dedicated of unit types to have a few playtest games a whole swathe of variant Chapter army to expanding the Epic range. with your mates at small points values, say lists) However, the Tyranids were available during “a determined Epic player can • Imperial Guard (Steel Legion, Cadians, Epic’s 2nd and 3rd editions and a determined source a Tyranid army from Ebay “ Death Korps of Krieg, Elysian Drop Epic player can source an army from Ebay Troopers, Baran Siegemasters, etc..) (Albeit at a premium). Likewise a few Necron around 1000pts (Equivalent to playing a models were released by GW in the ancient • Orks (Ork Waaghs, Feral Orks, Gargant 500pt game of 40k before jumping in and mists of time, and Ebay is again your friend. Bigmobs, etc...) buying a full 1500pt army). Both the Dark Eldar and the Necrons are • Chaos Space Marines (The Black Legion, featured in the Epic : Raiders supplement If you enjoy it, grab yourself a Thunderhawk Red Corsairs, World Eaters, Thousand book, which is available alongside this issue Gunship, or some Titans, or a whatever else Sons, Death Guard, etc...) of Firebase. I suggest you read it as it’s 130 takes your fancy, and discover the full tactical pages of awesome, and it’ll tell you in-depth complexity of Epic. • Chaos Lost & The Damned the easiest ways to proxy / obtain good Dark If you don’t enjoy it, flog the box on Ebay, • Eldar (Pretty much every craftworld you Eldar and Necron models. there are plenty of people out there who’ll can think of has an army list) Let’s ask, ‘So what’s the best want your 6mm warriors. • Tau (Currently only a ‘generic’ army list is way to get started Personally, I kickstarted Epic in my area two Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
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Specialist Game Focus : EPIC
“Epic- A version of the game with tiny models that is dominated by titans, May your dice always roll 6’s, although if which are robots the size of a large you’re rolling dice in Warhammer 40,000, building and have the ability to pwn... you’ll probably be rolling ten times as many everything... dice as an Epic player, because ultimately, Warhammer 40,000 and Epic are completely ...There is also infantry, whose only different games, offering completely function in Epic is to provide valuable Conclusion traction to Titans walking across snowy I hope this article has proved useful in different gameplay experiences. paths.” helping you understand what Epic is all Check it out, because Epic: Armageddon is about, and why it fully deserves to wear the awesome. years ago by buying a small Marine army and a small Imperial Guard Army, and simply offered games to my mates ; Two years after I started trying to find Epic opponents in my area I now have dozens of local opponents, and more are starting up Epic all the time.
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label ‘Warhammer 40,000’s big brother’.
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Tales of a Gamer: FERAL ORKS
Collecting a Waagh Part two Continuing his journey through the pitfalls of collecting an Epic army, Hena fills us in on the latest Last time the wrong version of my article was put into the Firebase. So some term explanations and painting guides are added to this article that should have been in last edition. First the term explanations. I mentioned popcorn armies. This is a term used to describe armies with a lot of activations. In Epic: Armageddon, each formation activated during turn. Activations are commands on what the formation can do (for example command ‘Advance’ means that formation may move and then fire). Activations are done in alternating order during turn (meaning that first one side activates one and then other side activates one and so on). So armies with lot of activations can get multiple actions in the end of turn as other side has run out. I also mentioned BTS. This means ‘Break Their Spirit’. Most Epic: Armageddon games use a Grand Tournament scenario. In that scenario there is five different victory conditions. To win you must score at least 2 of these and more than opponent at the end of turn 3 or later. ‘Break Their Spirit’ is one of the five conditions. Player can get it by destroying completely the most expensive formation of the opponent. So in this Feral Ork army my Warlord is in the formation that is BTS condition for Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
enemy. This is bad as Warlord is Supreme Commander. Supreme Commander allows re-rolling one failed activation and that is quite important. So the destruction of the formation gives two bonuses for the enemy.
“The reason I go for bigger mobs with Orks is the ‘Mob rule’. This special rule gives +1 or +2 to rally if the formation is large enough” Then there was garrisoning. In the GT scenario normal deployment area is 15cm from your table edge (regular table being 120cm by 180cm or 4’ by 6’). Before deployment though both players put three objective markers in the table with certain restrictions. Garrisoning means that you can deploy some formations (there are three rules which allow garrisoning and at least one the formation must fulfil) near one of those objectives. One restriction is that all but one unit must move 15cm or less and none of the units can be a War Machine. Both Normal Warbands with Squig Katapults fulfil this. Last was DC. This stands for Damage Capacity. Normal units are killed when
they take damage (eg. fail their save). War Engines have can withstand up to DC amount of damage. Also it means that one War Engine is counted as being DC amount of units when unit sizes are needed. This has several effects in game. Orkeosaur is 6DC War Engine while Steam Gargant has 4DC. For reference Baneblade has 3DC, Warhound titan has 3DC, Reaver titan has 6DC and Warlord titan 8DC. Titans of course have void shields so Reaver is tougher than Orkeosaur. The missing painting guide from last article is added in to the end. Then one more explanation of Orks special rules in Epic: Armageddon. The reason I go for bigger mobs with Orks is the ‘Mob rule’. This special rule gives +1 or +2 to rally roll if the formation is large enough (+1 for more than 5 units and +2 for more than 10 units). So most formations in my army qualify for +2, which would more likely be +1 when they are broken though. Without these bonuses, Orks rally quite badly. Now after a lot of looking at the models I ended with starting to paint Junka Trukks. So this lead me to look at the list and coming to terms with painting job of Big Junka Brigade. Out come 14 Trukks (12 for Big Brigade and 2 for the Nobz) and 14 143
Tales of a Gamer: FERAL ORKS • Walls same way as in wagon • Ork head was lightly painted with Dark Angel Green • Ork head was drybrushed with Goblin Green • Shoulder pads were lightly painted with Snakebite Leather • Shoulder pads were drybrushed with Sunburst Yellow
stands. So that total of 28 units. Nice. Just a bit more than twice the size of the Mob I last painted. I decided to use the metal Feral Orks for these with added heavy weapon for each unit. Nobz stands come from using plastic Nobs as well as metal Nobz. Both stands got their own Weirdboy as well as the formation was to have two. One warboss was put there as well (I intend to put these on each bigger mobs).
• 3. Optional, some brown walls were painted with red to resemble “Red goes fasta” mentality • 4. Wheels, tracks, carriage and wrench in drybrushed with Boltgun metal
Boar Boyz • Alternative schemes for boar fur a) lightly painted with Scorched Brown b) lightly painted with Vallejo Grey (darker one, colour marking worn off) • Alternative schemes continue
Boiler front
a) drybrush with Scorched Brown / Lighter Grey mix
• Drybrush with Boltgun Metal
b) drybrush with Vallejo Grey / Lighter
Junka Trukk Wagon: • Walls, several colour variations a) lightly painted with Snakebite Leather b) lightly painted with Scorched Brown • Walls, continue a) drybrush with Sunburst Yellow b) drybrush with Graveyard Earth
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Tales of a Gamer: FERAL ORKS Grey mix
bike units (that these are) two or three models per stand. This means that the And added another highlight layer which bases are tad too big to be used. I could was lighter mix again use old square bases (2cm x 2cm) but these • The handle had either wood (see wagon are very So I will cut bases for them from and Scorched Brown) or metal colours plasticard which will be 2.5cm x 2cm, that (see boiler front) painted extra half a cm is important (to me anyway). Ork boyz as earlier. Except with furs painted in similar fashion to boars above. I decided not to base the Junka Trukks even if they did have bases for them. However the boar pulled truck was quite hard to keep together without base. I fixed this by cutting a Trukk shaped piece from thin plasticard (0.35mm thick). Then I glued it in the bottom and painted it black. Next target was decided to be ‘Big Uge Boarboyz Horde. So that’s 15 stands of Boardboyz. The blisters come with bases for units with three Boarboyz. Since I need to have total of 25 bases for the entire army, I’m not going to base them three per stand. The rules state that I can base
Boars painted as in Boar Front on Junka Trukks. Only I started to do some variation on colours of the boars. Mainly by using different colours to drybrush grey or brown (mixed for example Dwarf Flesh or Blood Red with Scorched Brown and then added white for second layer of drybrushing). Boyz are painted the same as the Orks Boyz below with the top tuft painted red. Ork Boyz: • Skin was lightly painted with Dark Angel Green
• Clothing was drybrushed with Yellow • Weapon was drybrushed with Boltgun Metal • Boots were drybrushed with Scorched Earth Ork Nobz: • Skin was lightly painted with Dark Angel Green • Skin was drybrushed with Goblin Green • Clothing was lightly painted with Snakebite Leather • Clothing was drybrushed with Yellow • Power claw was painted with Blood Red • Power claw was drybrushed with Blazing Orange
• Skin was drybrushed with Goblin Green
• Weapon was drybrushed with Boltgun Metal
• Clothing was lightly painted with Snakebite Leather
• Boots were drybrushed with Scorched Earth Ork Weirdboy got partially painted with blue and purple as well. This is because Wyrdboyz are flashily dressed in order to everyone see where they go (or used to back in Rogue Trader and 2nd ed. times). I used Ultramarine blue with Vallejo Electric Blur drybrush. Purple was Liche Purple with drybrush of Warlock purple. Grots: • Skin was lightly painted (leaving crevasses black) with Dark Angel Green
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Tales of a Gamer: FERAL ORKS • Skin was drybrushed with Goblin Green • Skin was highlighted with Goblin Green / White mix (1/1 almost) • Clothing has couple of different colour variations a) Lightly painted with Snakebite Leather b) Lightly painted with Scorched Brown • The variations on clothing continue a) Drybrushed with Yellow b) Drybrushed with Graveyard Earth • Weapon was drybrushed with Boltgun Metal • Boots were drybrushed with Scorched Earth Squig Katapult Katapult:
• Walls were lightly painted with Scorched Earth • Walls were drybrushed with Scorched Earth / White mix (probably 2/1) • Stone Skull was lightly painted with Vallejo Grey (darker one, colour marking worn off)
Scorched Earth • Wheels were drybrushed with Scorched Earth / White mix • Wheels were highlighted with Graveyard Earth • Wall in front was lightly painted with Vallejo Grey (darker one)
• Stone Skull was drybrushed with Vallejo Grey (lighter one, colour marking worn off)
• Wall in front was drybrushed with Vallejo Grey (lighter one)
• Stone Skull was highlighted with White
• Sandbags were drybrushed with Graveyard Earth
• Frame was drybrushed with Boltgun Metal Base: • Wheels inner bits were drybrushed with Boltgun Metal • Wheels were lightly painted with
• Sandbags were highlighted with Dwarf Flesh • Ground was lightly painted with Dark Angel Green • Ground was drybrushed with Goblin Green Grots same manner as grot bases above. All bases have Woodland Scenics turf glued to it. I have two different shades, which are mixed in one container. The mix is then glued to bases with PVA glue.
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Tales of a Gamer: Imperial Guard
Duty and Honour Part two Jonathan Brown is back to bring us up to date with the latest developments with his Guard army for Epic. TO Arms Having selected and put together most of the army in the last article, it’s now time to splash some paint on… “Every For-mation a Parade..!” First up we have the infantry. These are made up of four formations 1 x Regimental HQ: 1 Supreme Commander, 12 IG infantry stands, and 7 Chimeras.
a simple but effective colour scheme. • Over a white undercoat, paint the base details (in my case, a green/ yellow/white mix drybrushed over Goblin Green base) and basecoat the infantrymen black.
1 x Mechanised Infantry Co.: 1 Commander, 12 IG infantry stands, and 7 Chimeras. 2 x Infantry Cos.: 1 Commander and 12 x IG infantry stands.
Aside from the Chimeras and Commanders, the contents of each company are identical. I decided I was not going to differentiate between regular infantry from each company – this tends to get fiddly as there are no clear spaces (like Space Marine shoulder pads) to make this clear. In any case, my infantry are brave but entirely expendable grunts. Doubtless my
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• Drybrush Codex Grey over the black. Colonel needs to recycle a lot of infantry, so it’s not terribly important which company they belong to, as long as they know. I wanted a fairly simple colour scheme as I have 48 identical stands to paint up. I always liked the original Imperial Guard colour scheme; vets will remember the plain grey of the Necromunda Regiment. There’s a reason it’s called “Codex grey”… So the following is a step-by-step guide to
• Lightly drybrush Space Wolf Grey over that. • Paint the faces and hands Snakebite Leather. • Highlight the faces and hands a 50:50 Snakebite Leather/Skull White mix. • Paint the lasguns Chaos Black. • Paint the lasgun tip Mithril Silver. Easy but effective. Tidy up each stage as 147
Tales of a Gamer: Imperial Guard you go along. I found it preferable to work in blocks of 12 stands; performing each stage on each block in turn before starting on the next stage.
The scrolls are picked out in Bestial Brown, highlighted with Snakebite Brown, Dwarf Flesh and finally Skull White. Purity Seals are Red Gore with highlights of Blood Red.
The command stands are similar, but as they are made up of unique character models they need rather more attention.
Standard bearers carry the flag which identifies the company. For the Regimental HQ and Mechanised Company this
Following stages 1-3 for the regular infantry, weapons and equipment are picked out in Chaos Black and either drybrushed or highlighted with Mithril Silver. Each stand has a Commissar attached to it, who is Chaos Black with Codex Grey highlights. Also included are red banding on his coat and cap. This is achieved with a base of Red Gore followed by a highlight of Blood Red. The face is done as per the IG infantry. Sanctioned Psykers carry staves draped with purity seals and scrolls. The staff tops, in the shape of Imperial Eagles, have Shining Gold painted over the silver, which is washed in Brown Ink. Once dry, Shining Gold was reapplied to the highlights.
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should match up with the markings on the Chimera transports. The flagpole itself is black with a golden decoration and purity seals as per the Psykers’ staffs.
The Techpriest Enginseer attached to the Supreme Commander’s stand was drybrushed silver over black for the power armor, with a light coating of brown ink to tone it down slightly. The greenstuff robe was given a Red Gore basecoat with Blood Red highlights. Any Colour, As Long As It’s Grey The vehicles are painted in a similar manner to the infantry, an easy-to-apply grey scheme that looks very effective. One particular advantage with Epic scale over 28mm is that you can usually get away with drybrushing techniques that wouldn’t look good at large scale. The other advantage is it is much, much quicker to paint a complete Epic tank company…. All the vehicles were given a black undercoat. Then the following steps were carried out: • Touch up any areas the spray missed with Chaos Black. • Drybrush Codex Grey over the black. • Lightly drybrush Space Wolf Grey over the Codex Grey Layer. • Paint tracks and weapons Chaos Black again. • Drybrush tracks and highlight weapon tips with Mithril Silver. • Paint the dark basecoat of details (company markings, searchlights, camo 148
Tales of a Gamer: Imperial Guard netting etc). For example, if I wanted green stripes in the company markings I’d start with Dark Angel Green • Highlight the details started in step 6 (e.g. paint Goblin Green over the dark green stripes).
“One particular advantage with Epic...is that you can get away with drybrushing techniques that wouldn’t look good at large scale” With this system I found that I could end up with a tank that was too bright, particularly if I overdid the Space Wolves Grey stage. This was easy to rectify with a wash of watered-down Chaos Black over the whole model. Again I found it easiest to perform each step across all the vehicles in the formation before starting on the next step. This makes the process more manageable and keeps the models consistent.
The company markings are placed as triple vertical stripes on the forward corner of the track sections, which is repeated on the turrets. The Chimeras for the HQ and Mechanised companies had white surrounded by red, and yellow surrounded Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
by blue. The first Leman Russ company has white surrounded by Green, with a black section on the command tank to denote this model includes a Commissar. Larger turrets such as on Chimeras, Leman Russ, Baneblades and Hydras have were left separate; these were superglued to the rest of the model via the pin joint once painting is complete. So far I have completed only two vehicle companies in addition to the Chimeras: 1 x Leman Russ tank company, consisting of 9 Leman Russ tanks and one Vanquisher with a long-range antitank gun.
though this costs more points. Putting It All Together This gives me 6 formations, consisting of 79 individual units and 2,550 points, a respectable core for a 3,000 point army: For the time being the army can “borrow” the services of the Imperial Navy aircraft attached to my Space Marine armies. Next up to be painted are the second Leman Russ company, Baneblade company, Hydras, and an Artillery company comprising 9 Basilisks. In the longer term I have Titans, Moles and the Capitol Imperialis to complete. Happy gaming!
1 x Super Heavy Tank company, consisting of three Shadowswords.
If I am short of activations (i.e. the army consists of a small number of large formations, which can easily be outmaneuvered by a more dispersed enemy) then I can deploy each Shadowsword as an individual formation,
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Top: Stage by stage infantry painting guide. Right: Leman Russ Company. Bottom: Shadowsword Super Heavy Company.
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Painting Workshop: tyranids
Painting the swarm One of the most common questions regarding Epic miniatures is: “are they hard to paint?” Jon Webb is here to show that, with a few basic techniques, anyone can get a decent looking force ready in no time INTRODUCTION One of the first things to consider when painting Epic is the scale. The average epic infantry piece is about 3mm high. At this size, people are not going to be looking at whether you have painted eyes and teeth (although you can if you wish).
trick with base coats is to keep them smooth and thin. Two or three thin layers are much better than one thick layer, especially at this scale where details are tiny. I based this colour scheme on a combination of the cover of the third edition Tyranid codex, and the traditional Genestealer one.
The trick to painting an Epic force is to find a good balance between tidy base coats and picking out a few details. Keep the Golden Demon jobs for your titans and super heavies; these are the models people will be looking at.
Colours used are: Deadly Nightshade (still using my pot from the Undead paint box, bought 13 years ago!), alternatively you could use Necron Abyss, Liche Purple, Graveyard Earth and Scab Red for the eyes (See, you can paint them if you want).
STEP THREE Here, I used a technique known by several names. Overbrushing, or wet brushing, is a great technique for speed painting. Basically, you load up on slightly thicker paint, and wipe it on some kitchen towel STEP ONE as if you were going to drybrush. However, The model is cleaned up fully, and don’t remove all the “wetness” from the undercoated black. I favour bases on my paint. This is one of those techniques that is Epic models, especially top-heavy ones easier to try than to explain. The idea is that such as the bulk of the Tyranid range. This is by brushing across the model, a solid layer down to personal taste. of highlight goes on, without the chalkiness STEP TWO that can result from drybrushing. The various colours are base coated. The Presented here then is a quick guide to getting Tyranids battle ready in short order. Using only the most basic of techniques I was able to churn out the contents of two sprues in a couple of hours.
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Painting Workshop: tyranids The best bet is to try it out on a few old models. You will know when its working, as the model will gain a pleasing highlighted look with minimal effort. Colours used: Mordian Blue, Warlock Purple, Desert Yellow, Red Gore, and Adeptus Battle Grey. STEP FOUR The final stage is pretty quick. A very light drybrush of the highlight colours is painted onto the models, before a glaze of chaos black is washed over the chitin plates to tone down the greys. Colours used: Ultramarine Blue, Warlock Purple/Bleached Bone mix, Kommando Khaki, Blood Red, Codex Grey. CONCLUSION So, there we go; A quick four-step guide to painting your swarm. Once you have done a decent sized batch, base them up to match your gaming table and get devouring. The techniques above can be applied to any epic models, large or small. Simply swap out the colours for a dark, medium and light tone of the required colour and get cracking. Till next time…
Imperial artillery find themselves overrun by the swarm
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Tales of a Gamer: Necromunda
Tales from the sump: Part two Welcome once again, brave wanderers to another ramble from the tired mind of your scribe, Jon Webb Last month I took you on a brief tour of my typical starter gang. Hopefully it will have given you newcomers some idea of how to go about picking a fairly balanced gang, and at least given you old hands something to contrast with your own ideas. When it comes to picking a gang, there are as many ways to go there are people who play the game. Everyone has their own idea about what is the best basic weapon, which heavy gun you can use to smear your foes across the nearest bulkhead, and just how
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many bodies you can effectively support on the meagre pickings of most sump dwellings. If you didn’t agree with my ideas, good for you. Every gang should be a unique creature, reflecting you own interests and biases.
One of the most useful skills you could hope to obtain in any gang is Inventor. At the end of each game, as long as your ganger isn’t dead, injured or off scoring dubious bits of tat from your territories you get a 1 in 6 chance of your ganger bodging together a So, this time I wanted to go through some new piece of kit. In my circle, there was always of my more unusual gangers, and explain debate as to whether you roll on the trade a little of the reasoning behind them, and chart or not, but we went with that option, maybe tell a few of their stories. rolling a d100, ignoring any duff results. First up I guess I should show what I have Now more often than not your enthusiastic been promising. My lascannon toting girly, but misguided ganger will end up figuring affectionately know as Jynx. How did my girls out that if you sharpen some scrap metal you end up scoring what is probably the most get a knife, or that the funny green mould dangerous (yet most useless) weapon in the growing on the underside of their bed/ underhive? It comes down to a Juve named table/clothes does more than just make the Babs, and my love of the Ghostbusters. room go fuzzy when you eat it. Once in a
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while though, something special happens. This is exactly what happened with my Lascannon. I rolled up a heavy weapon, and ended up with the cannon. (Incidental in this campaign several big guns were developed, including a missile launcher and another lascannon. I guess an undiscovered archeotech horde was nearby.) Once I got over the shock of such a massive piece of kit being created by a Britney Spears wannabe, I sat down and worked out how to build it. The thing to bear in mind is that this wouldn’t be some straight off the rack piece of kit. This wasn’t a guard or Marine weapon, it was an underhive special. After a chat with my boss, (and our GM) I decided that what happened was Babs decided to try plugging a lasgun into the mains power, and in doing so invented the lascannon. Obviously, it would be impossible to do this in a combat situation, so I had to find a way of creating portable power. This is where Ghostbusters came to my rescue. Lying in my bits box was a power pack from a sentinel I had built and sold a long time ago, glancing at it, my mind suddenly pinged. Portable power… The basic premise behind the gun now is that Babs mounted a las barrel she had customised onto a heavy stubber casing. (We went through stubbers like there was no tomorrow in the campaign, so most gangs probably had a burned out gun somewhere
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in their base.) This was then modified to hold the charge using some arcane gubbins she found, and the whole unwieldy thing was then connected to two power sources, the sentinel pack, and the extra charge pack (handily represented by the plasma bottle on the Escher heavy.
cannon will be very unlikely to survive, so it works well as a fear inducing area control piece. Ultimately, the lascannon is better suited to frying tanks, and lets face it, there are none of them in the hive… or are there.
One of the things we always try to do in a necromunda campaign is mix things up a bit. After everyone has played a few games, stories will start to emerge that can affect the game going forward. Every month, throw “Gangs were encouraged a random event that is a little unusual to to join in numerous keep things fresh. We played a novel “circus sideshow games, that comes to town” game, where gangs were were only slightly lethal” encouraged to join in numerous sideshow games, that were only slightly lethal. Gangs had to pay to enter from their stash, but In battle, the heavy wielding the monstrosity could win plenty of kit and creds. Gladiatorial would run (or stagger) to a good location, fights, duck hunts (with each gang offering throw down the power pack and fire away, up some poor juve as the duck), and such (all the while trying not to cross the beams!) things are a fun way of easing the pressure on a campaign and maybe helping to balance It’s one of those events that will only out a runaway gang. happen once or twice, so the model is a little redundant, but that’s the joy of The story line that developed pretty much Necromunda. Most vets will have one or two from game one in the “lascannon” campaign odd conversions, the ganger who was more involved my first mission to raid an Arbite bionic than man after a bad incident with a base and steal goodies from them. The grenade, or the improbable pistol expert game was a success and saw my girls steal a who carries numerous weapons and due to few crates and crawl their way off the board some odd skills choices can fire all of them to prevent the Arbite with grenade launcher from literally bringing the house down. (The every turn, you know the type. game was in an old sector that had unstable Ultimately a Lascannon adds a huge amount dome so gunfire was kept to a minimum.) of creds to your gang, for a weapon better suited to burning through bulkheads rather After this game, we chatted about the future than fragging gangers. Anyone hit by the of the campaign and decided the cases
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were full of lasguns destined for an on world guard regiment. This ended up leading to a string of events that ultimately resulted in a couple of guard squads, backed up by the Arbites and dare I say it a Leman Russ. Using 2nd ed rules we were more than able to represent the tank in Necromunda, but sadly I had my cannon by then, and luckily managed to rake it with heavy fire, killing all the crew except one who was cowering in a bolter sponson. Kitty then charged into combat and skewered the unfortunate chap with the power sword she had blagged.
consider so important I should really make a few more. The poor inexperienced juve with nothing to her name but a knife. One of the most vital territories you can role in the game
“a couple of guard squads, backed up by the Arbites and dare I say it, a Leman Russ”
is a settlement. Each game, as long as a hoary old vet goes to spin some yarns, there is a one in six chance some impressionable youth decides to Next up on the list of conversions is one I join up and seek The Doctor will see you now. glory. Great, more armor, this time for free. Once a campaign is underway, creds are tight, and a juve’s stat line counts for nothing. Let them go into battle with whatever family heirloom they managed to find, and see what happens. If the juve gets lucky and manages to survive the hail of bullets no doubt sent her way in lieu of a more vital member of the gang, then decisions can be made on equipment based on any skills and stat increases gained. If the inevitable happens and she ends her days screaming face down on the cold floor of the hive, no problems, she cost you nothing… As heartless as it sounds, free juves with no equipment are what keeps the gang going, and the vets from suffering. By the end of the campaign (all good things must come to an end, and a good GM will know when to Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
draw a close to preceding) I had 22 members of the gang, a small guard platoon! Many of these girls started out as just another body with a knife, but went on to great things. Next up, and fresh from my painting desk is 155
a simple little conversion and paint job that really grew for the look of the model.
As I was converting the model, I started to think about an alternative colour scheme. Something about the eye patch grabbed I picked up several multiples of the various my attention, and I suddenly realised this Escher gangers sculpted with the plan to ganger should become Elle, scary Nurse convert them into more veteran warriors as star of Kill Bill. campaigns went on. A quick google search for pictures, and a One of the best things about Escher (as I brief (ho ho), gander at the Ann Summers mentioned in part one), is that they can buy website for painting ideas (honestly it was swords. As such, I wanted another sword research), and I was underway. wielding lassie to join my growing gang. White PVC is very hard to paint, and I am not I had already used the ganger with two totally thrilled with the final product, but a swords, so decided to replace one of the coat of gloss varnish gave it a suitable shine, blades with an autopistol to make her a little and coupled with the iconic eye patch, she more rounded. does the job. The model is quite an easy representation of any medic skills I roll in a campaign. However, I’m thinking of changing her weapon to a needle pistol, based on my recent viewing of Planet Terror, the latest zombie gore fest from Robert Rodrieguez.
silence any rogue scouts or lonely heavies. This is a simple conversion, utilizing a power sword liberated from one of the newer weapon sprues. To represent a silencer, all I did was pin a thin plastic tube to the filed down auto pistol to represent a home made baffle. As you can see, I have started a new scheme for the girls. My colour scheme is still based around the same palette, but I wanted to bring out the “gothic” element of the gang, so decided to lose the punk hair, and focus on more crimsons and blacks. If I had the skill I would sculpt New Rock boots on them all, sadly my greenstuffing isn’t that advanced. So that’s it for now. Hopefully you can join me in the next, and final installment where I shall endeavour to talk about variant campaign rules, and why I dislike tall places. Until then, keep watching the shadows…
For my final model for this installment I present to you Binx. In most campaigns you get some unusual items, and I wanted to find a way to represent them, this is the kind of model you will start to need mid game. Once you have some good territory and spare creds you start to buy roles on the trade chart, just to see how they handle. Binx is my silent assassin. Armed with a power sword and a silenced auto pistol, she will stealth her way forward, (perhaps with Vents or Infiltration) and use her kit to
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Tournament report: GD BALTIMORE
Epic at Baltimore gamesday 2008. William Surtevant goes undercover at this years Baltimore Games Day, reporting back on all the fun and games, and a brief encounter of the Johnson kind June 14th, 2008 was the first Epic: Armageddon Tournament at Games Day Baltimore (in recent years) and was a great success. It was organized by Steve Rogers and me along with help from the event staff. The tournament was highlighted by a great conversation with Jervis Johnson (creator of this edition of Epic), excellent players, a mix of army lists, and a heck of a lot of Games-Workshop support. Tourney Armies and Participants: 10 Participants were involved and army lists of all sorts were represented there: • Codex Space Marines • Imperial Guard Steel Legion • Minervan Armored Legion • Daemonhunters • Chaos Black Legion • Dark Eldar • Biel-tan Eldar • Demiurg (Squats) • Orks • Necrons Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
There were long time players and guys who had only played a few games of Epic. Not one rule debate came up, not one complaint about over-powered armies, not one argument or bad attitude (Epic is a really well-written rules system! – Ed.). It was a real treat. We drew randomly for who played who and right off the bat we had some great match-ups including Eldar vs. Dark Eldar and Space Marines vs. Chaos Black Legion. Players came from several different States, all eager to play. Most came by word of mouth and Games Workshop’s Games Day website posting. Epic-playing folks in the U.K. will probably see this as a small tournament but the U.S. is geographically challenged with its players considerably more spread out. Getting to the tournaments can be quite costly in time and money here. Winners: Best Overall went to Steve Rogers with his Demiurg list (Squats) who took on a novice Minervan Tank Legion player and an experienced Necron player and pounded them both into submission. 10 objectives met in two games made him a force to be
reckoned with (That’s a maximum score of 5 out of 5 for both games! – Ed). 1st Prize was a $200 voucher and a trophy from Games Workshop. As a tournament organizer, Steve was gracious enough to slide the voucher to the 2nd place winner Eoin Whelen with his Daemonhunters. Best Appearance went to my converted Dark Eldar force and I must say I was quite honored. Once again there was a trophy and a voucher ($100). Following Steve’s steps, I declined mine and slid the voucher to the guy in 2nd place who was Corey Perez with his Necrons. A stunning army. The trophies were beautiful – certainly not cheap by anyone’s standards.
Games Workshop Support I must tell everyone that we were surprised 157
Tournament report: GD BALTIMORE (Indeed, shocked!) at the extraordinarily high level of support GW provided for us. • $300 in prizes • Trophies • Exclusive Handouts (Ultra-rare multi-part 6mm Space Marines from Forgeworld) for the tournament participants Our GW liaisons Dave Taylor, Allen Jorjorian, and Chris ‘Go-Go’ Gohlinghorst were wonderful. They came over several times before and during the tournament to make sure all were well. Feedback from the staff throughout the day (and into the night as things traveled to the Hard Rock Cafe) was positive. Everyone wanted the tournament to succeed and most staff were pleasantly surprised that there was the level of participation that we had. There were many invites to do the whole thing over again in Baltimore. There was even a half-joking request for us to run the Epic tournament in Chicago! Kommando Clubs One of the things dropped to us that I just don’t know much about yet. I’ll try to get the details in the future but support from GW may be coming to gaming clubs and that DEFINITELY includes Epic Clubs. Jervis Johnson While I was placing hills and sprucing trees, Steve walked up and introduced me to Jervis Johnson.
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Now I had never met anyone from GW, so it was a real treat to finally meet the man behind the game of Epic. He struck me as quite personable, easy going, and very tall. Most appreciated was that he listened intently to our concerns and our ideas. We talked for about 15 minutes or so which I understand is a pretty long time to get Jervis’ ear for (At a Games Day? You betcha- Ed), so I was stoked. One thing he wanted everyone to know was that the Epic model ranges are NOT going away. He did confirm what most of us already knew - there is nothing coming down the pipeline anytime soon. Steve and I asked him various questions, most of them relating to support, model ranges, etc. I had made the suggestion that they produce the models without making any supplements if that would be easier. My hope was that old ranges (such as the Tyranids, Chaos vehicles, etc.) could be spooled up while we were waiting for new ones. He couldn’t commit to doing
anything obviously but did say he wanted to do it. In his words, he had no doubt that Epic players would buy the models. What he didn’t say (but I inferred) was that there might not be enough of us to buy them. Jervis was presented with the first printed copy of Epic: Raiders as a gift. The fanmade supplement was well received and he
had an opportunity to handle some of the customized Epic scale Dark Eldar models, thumbing through the book for quite some time. During the tournament, not only was Epic: Raiders seen by lots of Epic players who were not participating (there were many,) but a lot of GW staff came by and browsed between its covers. Request from Games Workshop One thing that GW requested from the Epic community (and players in general) was feedback. ‘Go-Go’ and Dave both asked us that we get ideas from the Community and send it to them. Their
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Tournament report: GD BALTIMORE question was simple: “What do you want?”. It was an open ended question to bring in information for them so they could service us customers better. Obvious support would include production of new models and rules. But what else could GW do to make our gaming experience better? What kind of club support would we like? Would we like to be at the other Games Days? To give you an example, Lance from Specialist-Games Direct Sales offered to let people who were ordering Epic models know about the Games Day tournaments. The offer came a bit late for the Baltimore Tournament but with enough advanced warning that offer could be a huge help for bolstering future tournament turn-out. One of my suggestions was an email going out to former Epic customers letting them know about other types of Epic events too. All of this could easily be applied to other Specialist Games for sure.
ownership of their hobby, work with Games Workshop, and increase the visibility of the game. This will undoubtedly help recruit old and new players which means more money for GW and more opponents for the players – everybody wins. If you love your hobby half as much as I do then we could see big changes down the road. Thanks for reading all of this and taking an interest in our games. Just a regular fanatic; William Sturtevant a.k.a. Moscovian.
On a Final Note Before this event I had no close friends within Games-Workshop, I had no inside information; I had run exactly one tournament prior to Games Day Baltimore. Dave Taylor from Games-Workshop reached out to us and asked for somebody to get involved which I did… It was time consuming but worth the time. It was not easy but it certainly was not difficult either! Epic players everywhere have an excellent opportunity starting right now to take Firebase Issue #7 – July 2008
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Left: Tyranid Attack. Above Left: Full scale war breaks out. Above Right: Eldar Titan. Right: Corrupted Titans engage loyalist Marines and a Reaver.
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The Gallery needs you: Please send hi res jpgs to us of your Specialist Games.
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COMING THIS OCTOBER In space no one can hear you scream…
Artwork by: Pavel Zolotoko
