On the art of rolling 1s

[roland murat]

Having wasted the time of the handful of people who read my musings enough, I have decided to combine it all into a single place from now on. With 6th ed. 40k having just been released it seems a good time.

[roland murat]

The Setting Dawn

With the coming of the new 40k I had a quick solo game to briefly run through some of the basic rules and see what happens.

The forces

Space Marines -
Librarian
10 Man Tactical squad - ML, Fl and PF
10 Man Tactical squad - ML, Fl and PF
Dreadnough - Lascannon
Vindicator - storm shield

Orks
Warboss - PK, EA, Squig
7 Nobz - banner 2 x PK, , eavy armour on all
Trukk - red
5 Nobz -Bikez, 1x PK, banner, painboy
Killer Kann - Rl

Mission: 3 objectives with Kill the warlord as secondary mission

Turn 1 - Orks advance as do most Marines - 1 Nob Biker killed.
Turn 2 - General shift to the left of the table and the Nobz bail out of the truck to secure an objective. The Nobz on Bikes gunned down a couple of marines.
Marine combat squads with flamers push forward shooting was ineffective.
Turn 3 - The bikes strike again wiping out a combat squad for the loss on a single man, the KK immobilises the dread.
Marine vindicator blows the bikerz apart and the libby fails a perils of the warp - wuth 1 wound left I guess I won't see what the new spells/powers do yet. KK destroyed
Turn 4 - Ork Nobz spread to secure another objective.
Marines rush forward but shooting ineffective.
Turn 5 - The warboss leaves his unit and rushes towards the advancing marines. The SM have secured 1 objective and his tries to stop them contesting one of the others. Double 2 for the assault leaves him stranded.
Vindi fires its storm bolter into the injured warboss 2 hits, 2 wounds, no saves. Im ace with dice. Warboss dies and the marines contest the objective.

Final score marines win 2-1

Lessons -
The rules have enough small differences to slow down initial games quite a lot.
I still can't roll dice.
Nob bikerz are good but need support
vindicators are still a threat

Given the game was done quickly and I rolled all the dice not much got tested due to all the misses. Hopefully next time I'll learn more.

[roland murat]

The Setting Dawn

A bit of background for the Space Marine army I'm (very) slowly building.

The Order of the Sacred Book dates back to ancient Terra. Originally an order of Warrior Monks with a passion for witch burning, it is believed to have been dissolved at some point in M2. How a chapter of the Imperium's finest came to take the name of this mysterious and bloodthirsty order is not known.

Like many marines, those of the Order are fanatical in battle and, much like the monks of old, make widespread use of fire in its many forms. Unlike other chapters, they also have a dark secret. Knowledge and artifacts of bygone eras hold the fasination of many warriors of the Order. Rather than fight as a Chapter it is more common for small taskforces, drawn from across the different companies, to be sent to remote sectors seeking a book or strange device. Such investigations have led to a number of marines learning things best left unknown and a signiicant number of expeditions lead to battle brothers falling into worship of the dark gods. This is something the Order keeps very quiet.

One day the Order will be forced to confront this truth and choose which side of the line it falls. Until that day they will continue to smite the enemies of man, as long as it suits them.

[Toast]

Rolling 1's is your skill..  I don't know how you fail a break test, actually.     Nice to see some original ideas and someone doing a marine army that isn't one of the books.  Setting dawn has me confused, but hey

[fatolaf]

Also me, Stevo and Mike W are all doing vanilla marines as well....

[roland murat]

The setting dawn things comes from the dawn of a new era (6th ed) combined with the slow decline of man.

[roland murat]

The setting dawn

So I had my first proper 6th ed game last night. 1,500 points

Libby, 3 x tac squad, 2 x terminator assault squad, vindi, redeemer, land speeder

against

Orc warlord with megaarmour mates in trukk, nob bikes, 2 x 30 boyz, 10 flamers in trukk and dakkajet

Mission - the relic, vangaurd deployment

A great start saw the orcs dying in droves as the advanced. Terrify is a great power stripping them of fearlessness and forcing morale test. The vindi also did a good job of bashing bikerz, although they got a tac squad.

Sadly it wasnt too be. Lots of 1s by the termies (what else would I roll) saw them cut down by the survivng boyz.  Then it was just a matter of time...

Lessons

Lightning claws were more effective the thunder hammers. The maths says they should be a worse option but re-rolls are cool. I'm not convinced this is a long term solution.
One squad of assault termies may be enough - the points are needed elsewhere
vindi are still great. Necrons could be a problem but a pair of them sounds useful.
Krap MISSiles are just that.
CAPs are needed. The Dakkajet had free reign and although not a game winner I know they can be really nasty.
Speeders are pointless by themselves

[roland murat]

50 shades of pink

A bit of fluff to kick of the tester campaign G and Tom H are running.

We are pleased to announce that our loyal servant, Earl Bodmin, shalt repair to Portsmouth and there take command of an expeditionary force. It is commanded that the servants of Sigmar and our own magical college shall also make ready a goodly force and aid this endeavour for the glory of all Albion.

Furthermore, it is with glorious heart that we announce Earl Bodmin shalt be named Overlord of an alliance of our friends; the stout dwarves and the fairey folke of the Athen Forest. May he win great glory for our kingdom and we wish him fair wind and much fortune in this most noble endeavour.

[lagar312]

Furthermore, it is with glorious heart that we announce Earl Bodmin shalt be named Overlord of an alliance of our friends; the stout dwarves and the fairey folke of the Athen Forest. May he win great glory for our kingdom and we wish him fair wind and much fortune in this most noble endeavour.

What no arena of death to decide...... disappointing 

[roland murat]

That may come if/when the alliance breaks down and open war erupts between team evil and each of the team good alliance fighting as individuals.