Tuesday, July 28, 2020

Summer of GW?

Hi all,

You've got to love Halifax weather.  The Cub and I set up a game outside a few days back, and a fairly big one too.  Weather was perfect, forecast good.  Then the clouds rolled in ;)  We were doing fine, until a massive gust of wind blew in out of nowhere, and took out the terrain, and both our army boxes, scattering Khorne Daemons and Salamanders all over the yard.

*sigh*

After a few days to recover from the trauma ( ;) ), we relocated indoors, for our first official game of 9th edition 40k.  We played 75 Power Level, which probably translates to about 1500ish points, and it felt about right for an afternoon or evening game.  I got the Beloved to take some pictures, but they're all from the start of the game.  Enough to get the flavour, anyways.

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Most of the Daemons (some still lurking in the Warp).  I'm enjoying the Soul Grinder, he's due a paint job.


I took a pure Khorne Daemons list.  It's not going to be setting the competitive scene on fire, but it does fine for a casual game at home.  Cub took his Salamanders, and it was a good match up - he had the edge in shooting, I had it in close combat, but neither of us was completely skewed.

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Daemon prince lending his re-roll aura to the Soul Grinder and a Skull Cannon.  

In the new edition, scenarios are tied to game size.  We played "No Man's Land", which is one of several progressive objective-holding games (you get more points the more of an advantage you have in controlled objectives), and which has the option to take a secondary objective giving bonus points for holding the centre.

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Tried deepstriking Bloodcrushers for the first time.  It worked pretty well - there used to be a unit of Hellblasters there ;)


Secondary objectives are now a big part of the game.  I took ones that encouraged me to control the board and get into Cub's deployment zone, while he took the scenario one (control the table centre) and one which gave him points for taking out my Warlord (my Daemon prince).  It meant that in addition to the normal fencing over objectives, he spent a bunch of the game trying to zone me out and chasing units around his backfield, while I had to be very cagey with how I used my DP (which is one of the hardest hitting units in my force).  It made the game much more "thinky", but not in an oppressive way.

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A good chunk of Cub's backfield, and at the bottom, his Warlord, a Salamaders character, "Vulcan He'stan"

We started fairly late in the day, so had to call it at the end of turn 3 for time.  I was winning on points, but Cub was due to pull ahead the next turn, and the game was going to come down to a couple of clutch fights on Cub's side of the table.  Could have gone either way, but things were tipping in his direction.

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Gratuitous shot of bloodletters.  Slowly working through the latest batch I picked up.


It turned out to be a really fun game, and I wish we could have played it out.  There's been quite a few small, but cumulatively significant changes to game play, many of which seem to have been designed to counter "gamey" rules exploits.  I have no doubt new ones will be found, but for now, we're still working through what we don't know we don't know about the new rules, and exploring new missions etc.

Things have been a little slow on the historicals front.  My painting mojo has slumped in the last month or so, particularly for historicals (I've had a unit of 6mm Austrian dragoons staring at me accusingly from the desk for some time).  Although I've been picking away at GW stuff, that's slowed a bit as well.  Not sure if just busy with work, the weather, or one of those occasional slow patches, but I've long since learned not to try and force things.

On the plus side, things are looking up for the local historical scene in general.  I may be getting in some "virtual" gaming on Tabletop Simulator in the next little while, and I've been chatting with one of the local players about working towards a post-Covid project.  I could use a spur - the Victrix Carthaginians I picked up a while back are mostly still sitting in their box, mainly due to analysis paralysis over basing and rules.  With a clear objective / plan in mind, either they, or one of the half-finished 15mm projects, might get a spur.  Further info as things develop.

Hope everyone is doing okay out there.

FMB

11 comments:

  1. Good to see you managed to dodge the showers and get a game in nonetheless.

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    1. Yep. Trying to get games in while he still wants to play with me ;)

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  2. (I got an error message when I tried to comment so sorry if this is a double post)

    Oh no the trauma! No playing outside, it’s just too dangerous!
    Good luck with the new edition of 40k. Wahammer 40k was my first miniature war game so it always has a little corner of my heart. The table and figures look fantastic! 😀

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    1. Cheers, Stew. Both are still a work in progress, but we do make progress.

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  3. Yup, that's Nova Scotia, if the weather's what you want, it's probably about to change so seize the moment, if its not want you want, relax, it'll be here here for a while.

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    1. Tell me about it. Could be worse, though, could be Newfoundland weather.

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  4. Great to get a game and always nice when someone in the family wants a game! I can't remember when I walked away from GW but it all looks good! I haven't painted much in a while, prepping and gaming, so still hobby time but I figure I'll start painting when I do!
    Best Iain

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    1. Prep can be enormously fun in itself, and gaming is always good - especially when you can get in a game these days.

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    2. I LOVE prepping and planning and painting - I have to admit I sometimes feel like games are a bit of a let down! All the while planning and prepping and painting I'm dreaming up stories and narratives for the miniatures and characters and have a LOT of fun just doing that - and then when they get on the table and my dice happen... well... I alway end up thinking "well that isn't how I imagined things would turn out..." You'd think by now I'd know better! Ha!

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  5. How are the Daemons in 9th compared to 8th? I started working on a Daemon army (and a Chaos Space Marine army) this year, but never got either of them on the table until 9th was released. I was always worried with daemons not really having much ability to shoot that they would be utterly destroyed before they even got into contact - but with limited overwatch, 9th might be their time to shine!

    The tide of red does look cool!

    I haven't been doing much historical at all for the last year or so... I think about it constantly - even planning an English Civil War CAMPAIGN - in my head - but haven't gotten any on the painting desk or game table for ever... I'll get back to at SOME point!

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    1. It's hard for me to speak to how effective they'd be in a real competitive environment, because I don't really play in that environment - almost all my games are casual / kitchen table. I suspect 9th will be a better environment for daemons, including Khorne, though. Overwatch is part of it, but strategic reserves also are a factor. The enhanced terrain plays a role, and the combination of the objective-focus of the new version, and our inherent capacity for deep strike. That said, I'd have the most success with a combination of Daemons and marines.

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