Issue 09

Transcription

Issue 09

The Southlander
Issue 09
June 2009
Apocalypse - Way of the Warrior - Warcon - Take a look inside.
The South African Fanzine for
Games
The Southlander - Issue.09 - Jun.2009
In this issue
The Content
Editorials - Page.02
News and Releases - Page.03
The Fractured Archives
Kronikalz Part 4 - Page.04
Primarch Chibi - Page.06
Warhammer Fantasy
Warhamer 101 Episode 4 - Page.07
Warhammer 40k
Way of the Water Warrior Part 2 - Page.10
Army Profile - Necrons - Page.14
Clubs and Stores in the Southlands
Apocalypse - Page.17
Warcon - Page.20
Club Listing - Page.22
The Team
Nic “The Emperor of Chaos” Kirsten
Grand Master (Editor)
Simon “sie42” Strehler
Engineer (Layout and Design)
Jan “The Penitent Crusader” Slazus
Warrior Priest (Lead Contributor)
Jo "elitist" Kirsten
Battle Wizard (Sub Editor)
Nuhan “twak” Yssel
Marksman (Cover Artist)
Jaap “Java Knight” van Beest
Prophet of Doom (Cartoonist)
Primarch Chibi
Mascot
Futures - Page.23
Links
Special Thanks
Download the Southlander at
http://the-southlander.deviantart.com
Richard Tyrer
Thys van Zyl
Evan Hurwitz
Andrew Christianson
Official GW and Supporting Companies
http://www.games-workshop.com
http://www.forgeworld.co.uk
http://www.blacklibrary.com
http://www.specialist-games.com
http://www.warhammer-historical.com
http://www.fantasyflightgames.com
Support and Contributors
http://www.warhammergenerals.co.za
Submissions
To submit photos, articles, letters and advertisements, mail them to [email protected]
All photos must be in .jpeg format.
All text submissions should be in either .txt or .doc format.
Clearly state the game system covered in your article (i.e. Warhammer, Warhammer 40k, Mordheim etc.).
Clearly state the title of your article.
Clearly state the category of your article (i.e. Battle Report, Army List, Rules etc).
Page.01
Editorials
The Dirge Caster
From my own side, I’m still working on my display piece, a little
more info on that - it’s a Space Marine sniper in power armour.
Think about it. It’s in painting stages, and I hope to have it ready
for ICON, but we’ll see.
A seemingly fruitless month turned out
to be very fruitful in the end. Exams and
other projects kept me busy enough to
nearly miss my own deadline!
Enjoy this one, as ever.
- Simon
As some of you may know by now, I
have called together a national planning
committee to organise events other than
tournaments. In the end, we hope to
expand the hobby and draw new people
in to join our ranks of gamers.
Sister Dialogus
South Africa may have a small gaming community, but we can sure
show the rest of the world a thing or two about dedication towards
the hobby!
And so I give to you, Issue 09. Enjoy!
- Nic
And to help you sleep...
So the hobby takes steps forward. I
must say it is interesting following forum
discussions and the like, particularly
discussions on South Africa’s own
Games Day.
Oh, the joy of putting together the first
units of your first army... So now I can
borrow fewer models from big brother.
And, on top of that: I had my first win! I
have to give big brother's advice and the
favouring terrain most of the credit, but I
can't help but feel good about it all the
same, muhahaha!
But, and I have to share this with you, I
tried to explain to the "normal" women at
work what Warhammer is and why I love
it. The only result I got was a lot of laughing and mocking, and
getting me labelled as the official office geek/freak.
The ignorance...
- Jo
As crazy as these things seem, they
well... are crazy. But all good things
come from crazy dreams, or something
like that. This very magazine started
like that, with a forum discussion.
++ SIGNAL:...RETRIEVED...+
++TEXT ONLY:++
Greetings fellow readers and gamers.
+(SUCCESSFUL)+
Half way through the year and nobody got
killed on the Southlander team... yet.
Just a few more weeks till the holiday, for
those who would be fortunate enough to
enjoy it, unlike myself and the select few
of society. Here I present to you Part 4 of
Kronikals and a rarely seen picture of
Chibi during his adventures.
Enjoy and take care.
++ SIGNAL:...SECEDE... ++
++ ORELLA CLOSED COMMINICATION ++
Page.02
News and Releases
New Releases
Games Workshop
June 6
Forge World
June 22
Empire Steam Tank
Empire Greatswords
Empire Archers
Empire Elector Count Marius Leitdorf
Uniforms & Heraldry Of The Empire
Empire Captain with Hammer and Pistol
Empire Captain with Sword and Shield
Vulture Gunship
Valkyrie Vendetta Conversion Kit
Aircraft Flying Base
Aircraft Multilasers
Fuel Tanks
Aircraft Missile Launchers
Aircraft Multiple Rocket Pods
Aircraft Heavy Bombs
Aircraft Hunter Killer Missile
Aircraft Autocannons
Aircraft Punisher Cannons
Aircraft Lascannons
June 16
Lizardmen Scar Veteran with Army Standard
June 20
Warhammer Temple of Skulls
The Black Library
June
Courage and Honour
Reiksguard
The Killing Ground
Courage & Honour Dog Tags
Courage & Honour Pendant
Courage & Honour Key ring
Too see more information on new releases,
head over to www.games-workshop.com
Tournament Calendar
Upcoming Fantasy Tournaments:
2nd Cape Regional - CT - 27-28 Jun ’09 *
ICON - JHB 10 -12 Jul ’09 *
JHB Nationals - 12-13 Sept 09 *
Upcoming 40k Tournaments:
3rd Cape Regional - CT - 18-19 Jul ’09 *
ICON - JHB 10 -12 Jul ’09 *
Dragonfire Bigun - CT - 8-10 August 2009
* means it counts towards national ranking.
See www.warhammergenerals.co.za for more
information.
Page.03
The Fractured Archives
Kronikalz at da Weedy Grot Part 4
- Jan "The Penitent Crusader" Slazus
The Southlands. Some say it is the furthest one can be from whilst still
being in civilisation, whilst others say you already long passed the
border into the wilderness. A land full of wonder and potential, yet
unknown and dangerous for the unwary. This is the kind of place where
myth and legend still lives, yet the modern age does have a foothold in
this primitive-like world. A world where both stone and technology coexists.
The story thus far:
With the formal introduction of the Space Marine
known as “the Emperor of Chaos” things started to
settle down in Da Weedy Grot. Unlike the Penitent
Crusader, Emperor was more than willing to tell a bit
more about the establishment and its origins, over a
pint of Fungus Beer of course. Also, some light was
shed on the subject of the elusive Crusader, as
Emperor told the traveller on how they first met and
how he was introduced into the “World of War” as
his apprentice. Clearly there were much more to
them than previously perceived. However, several
questions still raced through the traveller’s mind.
Before he was able to ask, their conversation was
abruptly interrupted.
This is where our story continues.
Part 4 – Beginnings
By pure instinct, the traveller drew his concealed golden hilted dagger
from his left sleeve and brought it down onto the silhouette, only to hear
the blade snap. As the broken tip of the dagger fell onto the floor with a
metallic chime, he realised that he stabbed the right forearm of
Crusader, tankard still firmly in hand and an expressionless stare on his
face. As the initial shock started to set, the traveller fell over backwards
from his chair and scurried backwards into the corner close by, fearing
how the robed figure would react on such an action.
“Talk about biting the hand that feeds you,” was the only response from
Crusader as he placed the two brought tankards down upon the table,
drew back the robe’s long sleeve and inspected the damage upon his
upper forearm. Luckily, as the traveller noticed, the right arm was also
armoured, but unlike the left vambrace, there where no golden
decorations upon it. As Crusader lifted his arm to get better light upon
the struck area, the traveller also noticed that, although there are some
similarities to the Astartes power armour like the type Emperor was
wearing, Crusader’s armour appeared to be less dense and had a more
organic appearance to it as the industrial/Gothic style of the Imperium’s
Adeptus Mechanicus. Pulling down his sleeve, Crusader took the
golden tankard, went around and placed it down at Emperor’s right side.
He then went back to the counter and quickly retuned with the same
silver goblet from earlier, again misty smoke drifting in his wake as he
took up his seat.
“So,” Emperor broke the silence, “what do you want to do to him?”, he
asked, giving a sinister glance at the traveller. It was only then that the
traveller realised that he was still holding the dagger in his hand. It fell
with a clank onto the stone floor. What is going to happen to him now?
In silence, Crusader brought up his goblet and made a gentle swirl
before his nose, savouring the smoky contains’ bouquet, closing his
eyes as to increase his sense of smell. “Let him be”, he said, eyes still
closed whilst bringing the goblet up to his mouth, “it was not like he
intended to do real harm.” and he took a gentle sip.
“I,… I think it’ll be better that I leave now,” the traveller spoke, quickly,
but cautiously coming to his feet. Reaping up his dagger, he started to
make his way to the exit.
“I would appreciate it”, Crusader spoke, stopping him dead in his tracks,
“that you would at least finish your drink I brought for you.”
The traveller was unsure what to do next.
Noticing the traveller’s discomfort, Crusader continued, “You are free to
leave at any time. Of course, it is your choice.”
The silent seconds that followed felt like hours to the traveller, thoughts
racing through his mind. Despite his inner voice telling him to run, he
returned to the table and picked up the brought tankard.
“No need to rush”, Crusader spoke as he brought up the tankard to his
mouth.
“Take a seat. It is not like we are not going to bite you.”
Turning his gaze to Emperor, “That includes you Furry-One.”
A playful hurt look appeared on the marine’s face as if disappointed by
the statement, followed by a muffled, ”Awww, man.”
Hesitating for a moment, he picked up the upturned chair and again
took his original seat.
Taking a cautious first sip from his tankard, the traveller realised that it
was just normal beer this time. Most defiantly a little less green than the
Fungus Beer, which is clearly the favourite of Emperor, as he noticed
the crisp green foam sliding off the side of the golden tankard.
“So,” Crusader began, “where were you before my return, Furry-One?”
“I just told him on how we met and how we started the Southlander.”
“I hope you have not told him any too scary aspects about ourselves?”
“No, nothing out of the usual”, Emperor replied, stroking his short beard
as in deep thought.
“Hmmm, then why is the poor newcomer so nervous?”
“You do have the tendency to sneak up to people from behind.
However, I do believe it must be the heart eating part that really got him
a bit tense.”
“As if you would not do the same.”
“True, but you are the one most likely to do it.”
“Can’t argue with you there, but you’re no angel either.”
With a chuckle, Emperor lifted his tankard, “Cheers!”
In acknowledgement, Crusader also gracefully lifted his goblet.
“To new faces”, he said and also lifted his goblet towards the traveller.
The traveller responded in kind with a nervous nod, raised his tankard
and took a long, slow drought.
“Always the diplomat, aren’t you”, Crusader remarked with the hint of a
faint smile in the corner of his mouth as he put his goblet down.
“Well, you know me.”
“Indeed. You were always able to utilise individuals more efficiently than
I could. However, you are like a Leviathan as well. You state your
position with no conditions, only once, and if someone even dares to
upset the calm waters, you strike from underneath and pull them down
with you into the deep. Then again, you do prefer the more…
aggressive negotiations.”
“Whaaaaagh!”, came the cry from the back, followed by a large green
rugged bulk flying from behind the serving counter, hitting a table with a
loud crash. Surprisingly, the thick wooden table withstood the impact,
but the same could not be said for some of the chairs placed around it
as the green bulk rolled off the tabletop and crushed it underneath.
Even the small gretchin all the sudden disappeared again as if sensing
that the threat was not over.
“What the…”, Emperor spoke as both he and Crusader rose from their
seats simultaneously to see what was going on.
Page.04
“Claw?”
“Ow”, the bulky ork muttered.
“Why I oughtta..”, he continued as he slowly brought himself to his feet,
blade fingers on his mechanical hand clanking angrily. Once he
steadied himself, he turned his gaze towards the table.
“Oi, Long Toof!”, he shouted, pointing an accusing finger to Emperor.
“One of dose coin thingings you gave from dose spikey boyz turned into
a red boy. Ye bring it ‘ere, so ye get rid of it!”
Strange noises still kept coming from the store room behind the serving
counter that sounded like some kind of large predatory creature,
followed by the occasional sound of something fragile breaking or the
last desperate shriek of an unfortunate gretchin who was unable to
escape from the unknown threat.
“Might as well go have a look at what has got Claw so up-and-about.”
Emperor pulled the chair to one side and casually made his way to the
back.
The traveller still kept his head low, fearing the worst. Could this night
get any worse?
Crusader still stood where he had risen, eyes fixed on the doorway as
Emperor’s large armoured bulk disappeared through it.
It went silent all the sudden.
“Man, you are an ugly one!”, was the only warning that came from
Emperor.
A blood-chilling howl filled the entire building, the traveller clasping his
ears in a vain effort to muffle the sound. Crusader stood unmoved, still
keeping vigilant watch.
Again, a large bulk flew through the back store doorway, over the
counter, nearly hitting Claw and struck the opposite wall, just a little too
left from falling into the blazing roast pit, with a bone-cracking crash,
and fell into a lifeless pile on the floor.
It did not stir.
Emperor reappeared at the doorway, fresh red-blackish blood dripping
from his grey breastplate.
“Damm, I missed.”
“Missed?”, was the only word the traveller was able to mutter before
another howl came from the creature. It twisted and turned violently as
it came to its feet, spilling blood all around it. Time seemed to slow
Page.05
down as the creature stretched to it full stature, making it impossible to
misidentify the fiend, no matter if you where from the world of magic and
or even science.
A Bloodletter daemon.
Although more or less the size of the average human, one should never
underestimate the red skinned, long, thin limbed creature, armed with
long finger claws as well as a sharp tooth filled mouth with a long
leathery tongue. These creatures live for combat, or, to be more
precise, the slaughter. Blood was dripping from its head where one of
its two antler-like growths was broken off, most possibly due to the first
encounter with Emperor.
This is bad.
The smell of blood only fuels it's bloodlust rage, making it even more
dangerous.
Even though the fiend was deprived from its demonic sword, it is still a
natural spawned killer of the Blood god, Khorne, one of the four Chaos
gods.
Claw, who was also an old Kommando veteran, did the “Sneaky move”
by diving underneath the nearest table and leopard-crawling to a
more… strategic position until the situation improved a bit, keeping
anything between him and the abomination at all times. Even if the
daemon did notice the potential prey close by, it did not show any
interest in the escaping ork. Its fiery glowing yellow eyes slowly
surveyed the room, its tongue swaying from its mouth, tasting the air.
When it saw Crusader and the traveller isolated in the one corner, it
gave a mind-shattering howl, the likes that would drive a lesser man to
madness, and charged like a rabid beast towards them. Either jumping
over or going through furniture, ripping them to splinters, nothing slowed
its approach. The traveller did not hesitate. He stood up, drew his
laspistol and let loose a volley of red energy bolts unto the creature.
Despite every shot hit, it seemed that the energy bolts where absorbed
by the creature’s skin, not even wounding it. A sense of dread started to
manifest in the traveller, but he stood firm, still firing his weapon as he
gazed into the gaping maw of his death leaping towards him, claws
posed ready to strike.
…to be continued.
The Adventures of Primarch Chibi
The other day I met this Empire Knight fellow with the name of
Gunther. Now Gunther is a knight, so he isn’t afraid of anything,
much like us Space Marines, but, as we all found out, he is
terrified of women!
So one day at Da Weedy Grot, we were sitting there, kuiering as
always, when this hot Bretonnian damsel strolled in. As you all
know, Bretonnian women are some of the hottest women you
can get, and as one man everyone was trying to buy her drinks
and stuff.
What they didn’t know, is that Bretonnian damsels are classy
women with taste, so nobody managed to chat her up or
anything. I thought to myself that this was the perfect time for
Gunther to get over his fears and get himself a nice girlfriend!
So I tuned him to go over to her and ask her out, but he nearly
choked on his beer and I had to slap him on the back a little.
This little thing of one friend helping another in distress caught
the damsel’s eye and she was looking at us with those nice
eyes of hers. Poor Gunther nearly dived in behind the counter
when he saw her smiling at us.
Now as everybody knows, us Space Marines aren’t afraid of
anything and neither are Empire Knights, so I told Gunther to
get a grip and ask her out. I managed to push him to stand right
next to her and gave him a kick to start him up.
Poor Gunther stuttered so hard that he nearly dislocated his jaw
and pulled his tongue muscle and eventually his fear got the
best of him and he ran back to where we sat. As everybody
knows, I can chat up just about any chick, so I tuned him to
watch how easy it is when I do it.
After taking a few gulps of fungus beer to get my mouth wet
enough so my tongue doesn’t stick to the roof of my mouth, I
missioned over to her.
I pulled on her dress to get her attention and when I got it, I
started chatting her up like a pro. She asked me a few
questions about Gunther and I asked her name. Apparently her
name is Rosie or something like that. Not that a woman’s name
matters, I just ask because they think it’s good manners.
So after about two hours of chatting, she told me that she really
had to go home now, so I offered to take her in my super cool
Land Speeder, but she tuned me she already had a lift. Before I
could ask who it was, she jumped up and klapped me with her
fancy handbag! By the time I got up again she and Gunther was
gone. Claw told me that she grabbed poor Gunther and ran for
it. I just don’t get women you know?
The next night Gunther was already there by the time I got to
Da Weedy Grot. He looked like he had seen a ghost or
something. He tuned me that that Rosie chick didn’t have all her
squigs in the pen. When I offered to help catch them, as I have
experience with catching squigs, he tuned me that she didn’t
have squigs, she was just a little crazy.
I must agree with him… Anyone who klaps a Space Marine
must either be brave or crazy! So then I asked him how he got
away. He then told me that he got so scared that he fainted.
When he woke up she was gone. He couldn’t find his purse by
the time he got his senses back. Poor Gunther probably lost it
when she dragged him out of the bar.
At least we both got away from that crazy chick! Gunther is
even more afraid of women after that, and even I am cautious
about new chicks that come into bars! So let's drink to freedom!
Page.06
Warhammer 101 - Episode 4 - Evan “Und_ed”Hurwitz
Greetings again
4) Magical attacks
I promised last episode to go into further strategies in this
edition. Evidently, I lied. My mother would be ashamed.
Instead of my promised further generic strategic article, I
felt I’d rather go down the road of looking at specific
armies, and naturally my favourite (and many people’s
most hated) army leapt to mind. So without further ado,
we’re gonna dive into the wonder/horror that are the
Daemonic Legions of Chaos.
While in most cases meaningless, all daemons have
magical attacks, making Forest Spirits and ethereal
creatures feel rather naked. Daemonettes have that effect
on people.
Strengths
Daemons play with an obscene number of special rules,
and whether you’re learning to use them, or trying to
defeat them, understanding of these rules is critical. The
general rules to take note of are the following:
Daemons are known to be strong, but many players have
very little idea of what it is about the foe butchering him
that is actually tipping the scales. Daemons have many
unique strengths that make specific tactics and strategies
less effective against them, and of course that lend
themselves to specific tactics and strategies for the
Daemon player. Here follows a list of the more pressing
strengths Daemons posses.
1) Instability
1) Big Characters
Halfway between undead and a normal Warhammer
trooper, instability is the rule that confounds so many
facing Daemons. A Daemon unit losing combat will take
an effective break test, taking a casualty for every point
by which they fail the test. This means a Daemon unit is
incredibly difficult to crack on the charge, while Daemon
players need to be aware that it effectively dooms any
unit stuck in a bad combat, as fleeing and rallying are not
options.
Daemons can bring arguably some of the most vicious
characters in the game. Greater Daemons are terrifying
creatures on the battlefield, and not to be trifled with.
Heralds of Nurgle are well-nigh unkillable, and a Khornate
Herald on a Juggernaut is usually just as hard to kill, plus
is a match for most lord-level characters. They’re big on
points, but fighter daemon characters should not be taken
lightly. (Exception for the Slaaneshi Herald – she is just
as fragile as she looks, and Daemon players need to
either treat her a little tenderly, or be resigned to her
inevitable death.) The Palanquin of Nurgle deserves a
special mention for ludicrous power when combined with
Noxious Vapours and the Standard of Seeping Decay.
Characteristics
2) Daemonic Saves
Daemons have (with one or two rare exceptions) no
access to armour, but instead have an across-the-board
5+ Ward save. Once again, this changes the goalposts a
bit for players, since while the 5+ save is certainly not
enough for the Daemon player to feel safe, Daemon
opponents need to re-evaluate the traditionally
paramount importance of the strength characteristic
against Daemons.
3) Daemonic Gifts
Daemons have no mundane upgrades, so no armour,
crossbows, great weapons etc. in place, their equivalent
of magic items (daemonic gifts) are protected from harm.
This means usual protection against tooled-up characters
is often less effective.
2) Character-slot Efficiency
Daemons get a lot of bang for their character slots’ buck.
The greater daemons only take up a single Lord slot,
usually bringing magic levels with them. Fighter
characters from Slaanesh and Nurgle can also bring a
magic level, easing up the need for wizards (Tzeentch
Heralds) to add magic protection. Lastly, and possibly the
biggest advantage brought by Daemons, they can use
their core slots to bolster their magical prowess and
defense by means of Horrors.
3) Charge Absorption
Daemonic instability provides a very similar bonus to
undead crumbling, in that it is incredibly difficult to kill a
ranked-up unit on the charge, even with a big Hammer
unit. That’s not to say a big charge gets shrugged off – it
Page.07
hurts something fierce, but the odds are very high that a
couple of troops will still be alive, almost guaranteed if the
BSB is within range. Here’s a handy table of expected
instability casualties from instability:
Effective Ld
Average Casualties
8
0.55
7
0.97
6
5
4
3
2
1.55
2.28
3.11
4.03
5
This requires planning from both players. A Daemon
player needs to realise he’s living on borrowed time when
in a losing combat, as his wounds cannot last forever,
and in fact get harsher after every roll. The Daemon
opponent needs to realise he cannot expect to crunch
straight through a daemonic unit in one round without a
massive amount of casualties.
4) Magic Supremacy.
A Daemonic force that desires to go magic heavy can do
so with appalling ease. The daemonic magic lores are all
nasty, and the light show can be devastating.
5) Multi-wound Flankers and Skirmishers
Flesh Hounds and Flamers both have two wounds and a
toughness of four. While this isn’t a massive advantage
when compared to their points (they come in at the
equivalent of a full infantry block of twenty with full
command for a paltry five of either), their value lies in
their perceived weakness. Few players treat them as
respectively more than a bigger version of dogs or
shades, while in fact their points and wounds demand a
more serious treatment. While many complain bitterly
about these two units, they are still habitually treated on
the field as minor harassment units. Daemon players
should capitalise on opponents making this mistake,
while opponents need to treat these as full units in their
own right, not as support units.
6) Fear and itp
Fear is less impressive than with undead here, as it’s
incredibly unlikely that the daemons will outnumber their
foes. Still, there's nothing like a failed Ld-test or two to
really ruin an enemy battle-plan. In addition, Daemons
never have to make such tests, adding a nice amount of
reliability to the daemonic plans.
Weaknesses
1) Charge Reactions
Daemons can only hold, or in one rare case stand-andshoot, as a charge reaction. This opens up a number of
vulnerabilities, while removing many tactical options from
the Daemonic player.
2) Expense
Nothing in the Daemon army is cheap. The very cheapest
troops will still run you 12 points apiece, and there are
absolutely no cheap units to bulk up the model count
with. The characters are heavily priced, and hence also
chow up a goodly portion of the availably points. As a
result, very few units can be cheaply sacrificed. In
addition, Daemons are almost guaranteed to find
themselves badly outnumbered.
3) Fragility
With one or two minor exceptions (Nurgle’s pretties, I’m
looking at you), Daemons are very fragile for their points.
Their 5+ save may be untouchable, but it’s still only a 5+
save, meaning two out of every three wounds are going
to stick. In addition, their low toughness on infantry (once
again, cast a dubious eye back to Father Nurgle’s
minions) means they will have more wounds to save,
again not a pretty prospect. Daemon players, do not let
your ward save go to your head – an axe reaches that
head more reliably than the Ward.
4) Unimpressive Fighters
While Daemonic stats may look pretty, they don’t have
much in the way of hitting power for their pointage. With
only characters to pull them out of the fire, this usually
leaves daemonic troops on the short end of the stick in
prolonged combats. It also means any sizable unit of
daemonic troops needs a character to baby-sit it. Even
servitors of Khorne himself find themselves jealous of an
Elf’s ability to swing a pointy stick.
Strategies with Daemons
Daemons are incredibly varied, and can be built to utilise
a large variety of strategies and tactics. On the strategic
side, a fast daemon army can get away with a refused
flank, but in this case the slower elements (read:
“infantry”) are likely to get left behind. Multiple heavy
chargers can effectively play a hole-in-the-wall game,
especially if this includes any of the non-Nurgle greater
daemons. An infantry-heavy army can, provided terrain
provides some flanking cover, play a solid hold-the-line
game, and in such cases will usually have a strong
support phase through magic, Flamers and possibly
screamers. Lastly, remembering the value of the multiwound hounds, Daemons can play a very effective linedisruption game, especially if using Furies for sacrificial
distracters and redirectors.
Daemonic Tactics
Daemons can make some great anvil units, keeping in
mind their limited shelf life as indicated above. The
addition of Siren Song into their bag of tricks only
enhances this. This makes a two-man pincer a highly
valuable and powerful tool in their arsenal, only enhanced
Page.08
by the presence of flying monsters. While very few true
hammers exist in the daemon army (Khornate Heralds in
Flesh Hound units and Blood Crushers are actually the
only hammers I can think of), Daemons can easily and
effectively utilise the impromptu hammer tactic to great
effect. Character assassination is viable, but not likely,
considering that the units hunting the character are likely
to be more expensive than the hunted character itself.
Lastly, charger interference is alive and well with
Daemons, with all of the auxiliary troops being perfect
diverters, often good for many rounds in the case of multiwound troops.
Anti-Daemon Strategies
While strategy should usually adapt to the strategy of
your opponent, a crowding strategy is almost never a bad
idea against Daemons. Their inevitable numbers
disadvantage combined with their lacklustre troops
means that a well-crowded daemon army is forced to
watch in horror as his troops slip away from him combatby-combat. Important is to recognise threats in the
daemon army here – a Nurgle block can be considered a
hammer against a lightly-armoured unit, especially if
including a palanquin-riding, Noxious-vapour-emitting
Herald. This selfsame unit will struggle to dent a heavilyarmoured Anvil block, and will crumble away as with
everything else. Hold-the-Line armies should almost
always adapt to a crowding strategy, since merely holding
will allow the Daemon player to create those inevitable
impromptu hammers, and crack holes in your well-formed
wall. A Line disruption can also work wonders, especially
if keeping the BSB away from the rest of the Daemon
army. A disrupted daemon army will not be able to flank,
and once again falls down to inevitable lost combats. Of
special note is the Hole-in-the-Wall strategy. It does not
work against Daemons! Without divine intervention, a
daemon block will not crack to a charge in one round, so
do not count of going through that unit! Ignore at your
own peril.
Anti-Daemon Tactics
Again, the tactics one uses are obviously limited to the
tools your own army is suited to. Nonetheless, there are
some general tactics that work very well against
Daemons. The first is the bait-and-switch. Daemons
cannot flee from the countercharge, and so get caught
out in the flank with revolting ease. The outnumbering
issue also leads to an easy game in which to practice
creating two-man-pincers, again leaving Daemons in a
fair amount of trouble. Special note for both of these
needs to be taken of Slaaneshi units – Slaaneshi
characters can draw in your prized units with Siren song,
while Slaaneshi units can take the Siren standard, which
forces your unit to hold as a charge reaction. Plan for
these and adapt. Character Assassination is an incredibly
valuable tactic, but be sure you actually have the tools. It
Page.09
takes hard work and a violent character to assassinate
either a Khornate or Nurgle Herald, and if you don’t have
the tools then it’s better to find another way. Combat Res
is often a much easier way to kill these characters than
trying to ding them. Running charger interference is an
incredibly useful trick against daemons, performing two
important potential tasks. The first is to prevent an
impromptu hammer from forming, protecting your anvil
blocks. The other would be to protect your flanks if the
enemy is attempting a pincer-like trap, again protecting
your important blocks.
Special Notes
As with every army, Daemons have special tricks to look
for and beware of. First up is the Nurgle Herald, almost
always the army BSB if he’s around. On his palanquin, he
gets a bonus six WS3, S3 attacks, with poinson, and rerolls to hit from his unit standard. Enemies will strike last,
so he really is vicious. Anything lightly-armoured will be
butchered by him – don’t try it unless you’re looking to
punish that unit for insubordination. Another scary
character is the Khornate Herald, riding on a Juggernaut.
Internationally, he almost always comes with S7 attacks
and Flaming, while in SA he’s more commonly
encountered wearing Obsidian armour, negating enemy
magic weapons. Regardless, he has hatred, Killing Blow,
a 0+ (Yes, that’s right, 0+!!!) armour save and a 5+ Ward,
minimum strength 6. Without killing blow, this guy is wellnigh unkillable. Even strength 7 wounds leave him with a
4+ armour save. Lastly, big flying monsters (or movement
ten ground monsters) are a common sight in Daemon
armies. These typically eat up a quarter of the army’s
points or more, and are terrifying. What is worth noting,
though, is that they are much more shootable for their
points than the usual equivalents (ie dragons). They have
fewer wounds, worse saves, and once the rider is
included don’t hit as hard. Even the Bloodthirster, scary
as he is, doesn’t have the hitting power of a Dreadlord on
a black Dragon, or even a Highborn on a star Dragon.
They can be combat res’d to death, but don’t let them into
flanks/rears. One round of focused small-arms fire will
usually be enough to scare these monstrosities into
hiding due to their unimpressive saves and Large Target
penalties.
Final Notes
Hopefully this episode has opened many eyes to the
wonders of the Legion. Who knows – maybe a couple of
opponents will even kick some daemon in the squelchies
a little more often. I’d like to pretend that’s what I’m
hoping for, but who am I kidding? My loyalties are firmly
Daemonic, and I hope the Daemon players reading this
are inspired to try something new and corrupt some
Sigmarites. For Slaanesh, our Dark Prince!
Your cross-dressing bard
- Und_ed
The Way of the Water Warrior - Part 2
- Silent Requiem edited by Severian
This is a follow-up on the previous article, dealing
with a tactica, as written by Silent Requiem (aka
Taurean Drayak) and posted on The Bolter and
Chainsword forums. While the tactica is meant to
deal primarily with the Grey Knights, the
philosophy and thinking behind the ideas are
universally applicable. The tactica was written
during the 4th ed rules, but has been updated
where possible by the author. I’ve attempted to
edit the tactica into a proper form for publication,
and if this in any way detracts from the original, I
tender my apologies to both the readers as well
as the author. The original post may be viewed at
Way of the Water Warrior.
On to part 2 then
- Severian (Thys van Zyl)
Alright. Let’s actually look at an army list now. As a disclaimer,
I'll say that this is not the only list for playing reactively, it is
simply MY list.
- Silent Requiem
1000 point List
Brother Captain
Psycannon
Sacred Incense
Justicar
Melta Bombs
5 Grey Knights
Incinerator
Justicar
Melta Bombs
5 Grey Knights
Incinerator
Land Raider
Extra Armour
Smoke Launchers
Land Raider
Extra Armour
Smoke Launchers
This is my basic 1000pt template. As I refined the list, I started
switching the incinerators out for psycannon bolts, and I moved
the sacred incense to a justicar. I toyed briefly with dropping the
GK squad sizes and heavy weapons to upgrade the BC to a
GM, but I didn't like it as much. As the points move up, I add
another Raider and some GKTs. Then I upgrade the HQ. Some
explanation for my choices and particular play style will follow in
this section.
Evolution of the list
I have always liked mechanised lists, but like most people, I
thought the Raiders were a bit much. Not having other options, I
went with a foot slogging army. It didn't take me long to realise
that against shooting (Earth) armies, most of my casualties
were sustained getting to the foe. A little maths told me that if
ten more guys made it to assault than otherwise would have, a
Land Raider would have justified its existence. So I tried one.
And I was hooked.
I found, though, that the added mobility was better spent not
rushing my shooty foes, but out manoeuvring their heavy
weapons. I also found (courtesy of the mech Tau) that one lucky
shot was enough to deny me my mobility and leave me
stranded. So I added another.
Now my entire army was mounted, and my Water style tactics
began to develop. The predominant metaphor in my mind at that
time was of a gun carrier fleet. The Raiders were my gun heavy
aircraft carriers, and the PAGK (Power Armoured Grey
Knights) were my defensive fighter screen. I used my Raiders
to snipe high value units, and then fall back as the enemy is
forced to come to me, wearing them down with firepower, before
an eventual assault.
This is the basic idea of a Water army: retreat before them,
allowing them to take whatever ground they wish, but wear
them down as they do so. When they can no longer hold what
they have taken, the tide comes in, washing them away.
Although this sounds simple, it is actually VERY difficult and
intense concentration and careful consideration of every move
is required. In about 20% of my games I did not take a single
casualty, but I never had a single easy game (except one
against a Khorne player with no S8 or higher weapons).
I will write up a detailed sample of this plan in action against
each type of player in a later post, but right now, I want to say a
word about Massaen, whom I met on another forum. In fact, I
joined that forum with the sole aim of speaking to him.
I am not the first person to successfully use a GK list like this.
Massaen, who is primarily an Eldar player, used a similar list at
1850 points to win the Australian GT in about 2004. While his
tactical philosophies may be different from mine, it was his
encouragement that lead me to pursue this list (Raiders are
expensive cash-wise, and my play group was very negative
about them). It is only fair, therefore, that I credit the list to him.
Page.10
5th Edition
With 5th edition, I have dropped sacred incense and melta
bombs to get dozer blades on the GHLR (godhammer
Landraider). Without our old LOS games, you sometimes have
to park in cover and hope you roll well. With random game
length, being able to take 'short cuts' through cover is also very
valuable.
Fighting the Four Elements
Alright. So you have picked your army and are keen to try it out.
But what now? Here is an overview of what it is like to fight each
of the elemental players you will meet.
The Fire Warrior
(aka the aggressive opponent)
This guy wants to get up close and personal. What shooting
units he has will likely remain static to take advantage of long
range heavy weapons, and are often deployed centrally, or
spread out, trying to get them to cover as much ground as
possible. Neutralise them by denying LOS, something your low
numbers help with, and maintaining distance, so that you
maximise your shrouding. Otherwise, ignore them in the early
game.
The bulk of his army will probably be assault forces, lead by
some CC HQ monster. Again, they will probably be deployed
centrally, to reach you quickly. You will need to make sure your
forces are close enough to support each other in the inevitable
assault. Otherwise, your priority is maximising your SB (Storm
Bolter) love time. This means falling back (to the flank, as well
as the rear) as long as you can (incidentally, making his
shooting elements more useless), while keeping him in SB
range. Some armies, like foot orks, can be totally destroyed at
this stage.
If at all possible, retreat into cover and receive his charge (there
is no direct benefit to GK charging). While it can be tempting to
deny him the charge, his forces are probably pretty strung out at
this point, and so denying the charge to one group may just
mean giving it to another, a group that may not have reached
you that turn if you had fallen back instead.
If you have managed your forces carefully, you should be
engaging no more than half his army with all of yours, and the
outcome should be heavily in your favour. Ironically, he will
probably have started moving his shooting forces forward to
support the assault once he saw how things were going. They
should arrive just in time to save you a long walk back to them.
The Earth Warrior
(aka the cautious player)
This is the guy with a wall of tactical marines and a mean
assault squad sitting right behind them, led by an ugly CC HQ.
The message is clear: assault him and get beaten down by
hidden powerfists and assault squads, try to out shoot and you
eat las and plasma till you die.
The trick here is to nibble at his edges until he makes a mistake.
Use terrain to block as much line of sight as possible, while
taking shots at his exposed flanks. Terminators, Raiders and
Dreads allow you to reposition heavy weapons each turn, and
SB's prove their worth too. Killing even a marine or two each
turn while denying his return fire will make him FEEL defeated,
even though the damage is minimal.
Page.11
With luck, he'll advance to flush you out, at which point you can
treat him like an aggressive opponent (but weaker). If he turtles,
keep nibbling, and position yourself for a last minute objective
grab. You won't win big, but you should still win.
The Air Warrior
Less common that the last two elements, Air is one of the few
armies guaranteed to take the initiative from you. To the Air
player, everyone (except another Air player) looks very much
like an Earth player, as the disparity in movement makes
everyone else look like they are standing still. He will try to treat
you like one, and that's fine. Don't read too much into his initial
deployment as a turn of manoeuvring can make it irrelevant.
Air players habitually go for the flanks, as the points they spend
on mobility mean that they have less actual fighting power, so
they want to take on small chunks of the opponent, rather than
all at once. Keep your small army together to remove the benefit
of a flanking move.
The key here is to attack the source of his movement. This will
mean taking out transports if he is assaulty, or stunning his
vehicles if he is shooty. Fall back as ever to gain time, but keep
in mind that with no defined front line, "falling back" can mean
any direction. Remember that turbo boosting changes an
armour save INTO an invulnerable save, so your incinerators
and psycannons will make short work of bikes that try to
outflank you.
Ultimately, you will want to assault him if he is shooty, and keep
him out of assault if that's where he is trying to get. With my list,
assaulting Air armies are not too great a threat, as my GK's can
hop into a Raider if they get too close, and transports tend to be
flimsy enough that even storm bolters can take them out.
Vehicle heavy shooting lists are far more dangerous, but with
my mobility, each time one lines up a firing solution my entire
army can move and counter attack. This tends to make them
cautious once you down the first light unit or two (speeders/
vipers/etc).
As his units tend to be (almost) as expensive as yours, you
should not be outnumbered too badly, and a few casualties will
force him to take risks to win the victory point race. Make him
pay for those risks.
The Water Warrior
The least common of all the elements, in my experience. Do not
to expect to have an edge in movement, shooting, or assault.
This is a game where the first person to crack, loses.
The goal here is to manoeuvre around each other, inflicting
casualties while limiting your own. Do NOT commit too early, as
you will just be turning yourself into a weak Earth or Fire army,
and we know how those battles end.
Once you gain a clear advantage, fall back, as he will have to
chase you and start taking risks to catch up in victory points.
Again, make him pay for those risks.
7 Habits of Highly Effective Gamers
Despite the title, I don’t actually see a lot of people doing the
things on the list, but as they have helped me, I shall pass them
on. I’m leaving out things that you commonly hear about (know
your codex, etc.), and focusing on the more obscure.
I have personally used these habits and found it a great benefit.
At the very least you’ll have less of those instances when during
the close combat phase, you realize you never shot with your
Devastators.
– Thys
1) The Pause
As in chess, a game of 40k starts off with infinite possibility
(actually, chess is only near infinite, whereas 40k achieves
infinity). However, as with chess, permutations decrease sharply
as pieces are removed, and certain possibilities are discarded
as obvious poor choices. This is why people become better
players as the game progresses; their finite processing power is
applied to progressively simpler problems, with greater chance
of arriving at a successful conclusion. This accounts for many of
the amazing comeback games that we have all seen (freakish
dice rolling accounts for the rest).
As Grey Knight players, we are in the unusual position of
starting the game with relatively few models on the table, so it
behoves us to turn that perceived weakness into an advantage.
Spend a while in silence at the beginning of each of your turns,
while you figure out what you want each unit to do, and how you
want to set about doing it. Move around if you need to; check
LOS, gauge distances, that sort of thing, but don’t start making
moves until you know what all your moves are going to be. And
don’t chat... it can all too easily distract you.
We are not playing orks or guard here. We don’t have 100
models on the table. I have less than 20. So there is no good
reason why I shouldn’t know EXACTLY what I’m doing before I
start doing it.
2) The Monologue
Once I know what I’m going to do, I don’t shut up. I narrate
EVERYTHING. Here is a sample of one unit at the start of the
shooting phase:
"All right, that’s it for my movement, I’ll start my shooting phase
now. I’m starting with squad Eddard here, and I’m going to roll
to see if I can target that marine squad instead of the nearest
target. I need 9 or less. I rolled a 7, so I’m shooting at the
marines.
"I have 6 men in the squad, with no specials, so I get 12 dice,
needing 3’s to hit. 8 hits. Now I need 4’s to wound. 4 Wounds.
You save on 3+. OK, that’s it for this squad.”
The reason I do this is twofold. First off, it helps me know where
I am and what I’m doing (game-wise). I’m not likely to forget
much. Second, though, is that it allows my opponent to correct
me BEFORE we have a problem (Uh, actually, you need 5’s to
wound, they have Mark of Nurgle?) This makes my turns run
very smoothly, with the added bonus that I get a reputation for
being an honest and forthright player. We all know how hard it
can be to distinguish between honest mistakes and attempted
cheating.
Example: Do you agree that this is the LOS for your marine with
the lascannon and that he cannot see anything to the left of this
line?
I’ll do this with all relevant enemy lines of sight, and then I’ll do
the same for LOS that I DO want.
Example: Do you agree that this is the LOS to your lead two
tactical marines, including the vet sergeant, and that anything to
the right of this line can see them?
I can now move my Land Raider out from behind the trees, to
the left of the first line, but to the right of the second line, secure
in the knowledge that he can kill the lead marines without
worrying about return fire from the lascannon. I may even
confirm this with my opponent, depending on the quality of the
player (poor ones can sometimes really need you to spell it out
for them).
The huge benefit of working this way, is that it avoids those
heated LOS arguments that we’ve all had at one time or
another. This makes the game more enjoyable and helps it run
smoothly.
4) The Walk
Periodically, you should walk a full circle around the table,
stopping at various points to get a good look at the table from
different vantages. Like Ender Wiggin, we must learn to shed
our traditional "up-down" view of the table, and see what our
enemy sees. Stand in his spot and ask yourself what you would
try to have each of his units do. In this way you anticipate him,
while perhaps seeing some LOS's that you would otherwise
have missed.
I know some gamers who go so far as to play recon games
entirely on what would normally be their opponent's side, with
their troops advancing to meet them as the game progresses.
5) Always Measure
Always measure the distance to your target, even if you know
that it is within (or out of) range. Distance measuring is a limited
commodity; you get to do it once per firing unit. Don't waste it.
Imagine an assault squad bearing down on your PAGK. You
know it is within range, but measure anyway. It is 19" away. Now
you know it cannot assault you next turn, allowing your other
units to fire on more immediate threats.
Imagine a devastator squad in the far corner. You declare you
are firing at it, although it is clearly out of range. You measure
anyway, and learn that it is 42" away. Now you know you can
safely leave cover, as the plasma cannons cannot reach you.
I try and follow this religiously – makes it so much easier. Avoid
the pain and embarrassment of missing a charge by an inch
and getting shot. A lot.
– Severian (Thys)
3) Agree LOS
With a Water army, denying the enemy LOS is often critical. I
determine LOS by using my tape measure, but with the blank
side up, so no distances are being measured. I’ll then mark that
line with a couple of dice and ask my opponent whether they
agree that I have marked the line of sight correctly.
6) Victory Point Denial
In 2/3 of all standard games (Gamma and Omega), the winner
is determined by victory points. While these will be examined in
more detail later, there are two ways of getting VPs: you can
take objectives, and you can kill the other guy.
Page.12
QUOTE
If I can make one suggestion, you may want to mention that
both Air and Water style combat usually has an emphasis on
VP denial tactics while Earth and Fire typically do not. VP denial
is a critical aspect of the 4th edition game, and deserves definite
mention in just about any strategy article, in my opinion.
Ezzeran
Brother Ezzeran is quite right. In any given game, the Control
player (usually us) has to go to great lengths to deny their
opponent the VPs that their superior raw killing power will give
them. This is especially true for Grey Knight players, as our
units are so expensive. A GK squad reduced to below half
strength will often give the opponent more VPs than the entire
value of the unit we are targeting. We must always weigh the
VPs we are risking against the VPs we hope to gain, and use
our greater mobility and conservative tactics to minimise what
risk we must take.
Thanks to Brother Ezzeran for raising the point.
I believe this to still be valid in 5thed, if not more so than in 4ed.
Killing units may not be as important as in 4thed, but victory
point denial is essential under the 5thed rules.
– Thys (Severian)
Page.13
7) Agree Terrain
At the beginning of each game, before sides are chosen, point
to each piece of terrain and agree the following points with your
opponent:
- area terrain or WYSIWYG?
- if area, what height?
- what is the cover save?
- what defines the limits of the terrain (important where terrain is
mounted on a base)?
- is it difficult/dangerous/impassable?
- are any special rules being used (CoD, swamps, etc)?
It may seem tedious to do this before each game, but it avoids
conflict later in the game when your Deepstrike scatters into
terrain you think is merely dangerous (which is why you were
deepstriking near it), but your opponent swears is impassable
(thus killing your HQ unit).
I believe that this constitutes enough information for purposes of
section 2 of The Way of the Water Warrior. Catch the last
instalment next time.
- Thys
ARMY PROFILE NECRONS: +The 3rd
Undying Legion+ - Andrew Christianson
Introduction
At first glance it is not a particularly easy task profiling a Necron
Army, as there is apparently little background material on which
to base a force around. Imperials have a massive amount of
information; the black library abounds with stories of
innumerable IG and marine information. It is characteristically
the xenos who are 'short changed' as it were by an apparent
lack of guiding information. There are not many stories that are
told from an alien perspective – the Eldar have some, but
usually the information is provided to us from an imperial
viewpoint. This is almost a necessity to enhance the very
alienness of the xenos and the threat they pose to us. "Us" in
this case is obviously the Imperium. We are human, they are
human – the Imperium, although strange to us in its dark Gothic
setting, is still understandable and accessible to us.
Collecting Necrons
So how does one go about collecting a xenos force and yet
create some kind of underpinning story or theme to ones army?
It is in fact the very lack of material around the aliens in the 40k
universe that inspires many collectors to choose these armies.
Necrons in particular have possibly the least supporting material
to go on – most information exists only as assumption based on
2nd hand stories and confused first hand observation which is
all too often discounted as rumour. This obscurity and lack of
information on the Necrons only serves to enhance their
mystique and dark brooding threat, and one can only get the
sense that only a fraction of the full power of the Necrontyr and
their masters the C'tan have yet to be unleashed. Certainly
there is quite a lot of influence from other sources: Mayan
imagery, Stargate the TV series
[obviously Egyptian] and the like. The pervasive image of death
undying, the very word Necron, all serve to create a powerfully
chilling mythos around which the necrons are formed.
inspiration that first got you to buy the miniatures in the first
place, begin to flower.
Painting and Converting the Army
Of course this army started off not very differently from any
other. Following GW's advice of building your compulsory
selections first [which is better advice now in 5th edition than
ever before], I built up the 2 warrior troop choices and the
Necron Lord.
Performing this operation set the colour scheme for the army – I
wanted to achieve an ancient and tattered theme to these
implacable monstrosities, the first of the Undying Legion to
awake and walk the surface of their ancient, dead and derelict
tomb world in millennia. I wanted the cloth [what little of it there
is] to reflect the crypt shrouds of dead, the metal must look
ancient, though not rusted as rust would indicate decay rather
than just a patina of extreme age, the theme of these Necrons is
one of ancient agelessness touched but unaffected by the
passage of time.
Personal Motivation
So how did I start my collection? I was working in the UK in
2002 and saw the new monolith model that had just been
released. I had always been attracted to the Necrons, even in
3rd edition, where their powerful imagery caught my
imagination. Who plays sci-fi games and would not be attracted
to Ancient Egyptian mythology mixed in with star gods and
powerfully arcane technologies beyond our wildest
imaginations? I bought the monolith, and the special edition
army box that accompanies most GW launches of updated
armies. I was very impressed with the quality of the miniatures.
The obvious
Egyptian imagery was gone but the subtleties remained. The
army was coherent and the various units looked good together
out of the box.
The artwork in the codex was a powerful driver to the design
and execution of the army, but this was to come through only
later. When one sits down with ones miniatures and begins to
remove them from the sprue, remove excess flash and
assemble, undercoat, paint and base, so too does the germ of
inspiration grow. As you assemble the models, conversion
opportunities present themselves as you see how the parts of
the models fit together. You return to the codex, re-read the
material and view the artwork again and again and the seeds of
HQ, Troops and Monolith
After doing the troops and Lord, I was free to add any model I
wanted. Of course I wanted to do the Monolith! This model
continued the theme reflected in its colours, but I began to
modify the model. I am a fanatical converter but a mediocre at
best painter. I felt that the monolith weaponry could do with
being more exposed as per the artwork in the book, I felt that
the flux arc tubes concealed too much of the plastic gauss rods
so I exposed these on the model. Of course this made them
astoundingly fragile and I have often cursed the fact that we'll be
back and living metal doesn’t self repair models!
After the obligatory Force selection and Monolith came the
flayed ones. I was particularly impressed by some art I had
seen of a very spiky flayed one. Additionally, I felt that newly
awakened flayed ones would not have had time to 'harvest' skin
and thus the Spiky ones arose from the featureless sands of
their desiccated tomb world. Led by a converted immortal flayed
one with almost zombie like mechanical entrails, this unit has
drawn more than its fair share of first blood. [Those are real
pins, and you would think that me telling people that would
result in fewer flung miniatures and perforated fingers.]
Page.14
APOCALYPSE – THE BIG ONE - asdasdasdasd
Flayed ones
We seem now to be settling into a steady theme here. Newly
awakened tomb world and primarily artwork inspired
conversions. The scarabs are no different. In the codex they are
described as flying bugs with legs and pincers, the artworks
shows much the same thing. I was most excited at how far the
actual models fell short of this description. Another conversion
opportunity! This unit is perhaps a little over the top. I have only
realised in retrospect that there were over 1300 knife cuts
employed in the creation of all those legs and mandibles.
GO Scarabs!
The rest of the Undying Legion, destroyers, heavy destroyers,
Immortals and Pariahs followed suit. The Destroyer types were
unmodified, the Immortals had two of their number 'upgraded'
and the Pariahs and lord that led them had weapon upgrades.
The destroyer Lord [every army has one] had his war scythe
modified to be a war mace. The Pariahs, as the newest creation
of the C’tan, still look shiny and fairly new.
The Harbinger of Minor Inconveniences, Paraihs and a friend.
“Hey who swapped our res orbs for tennis balls?”
Page.15
The Deceiver and his wraith support. He only wants you to
THINK he’s the Nightbringer.
As you can see there are tremendous conversion opportunities
in an army that many believe to be a rather static and
uninspiring army. [They would be wrong.] Necrons, from a
modelling perspective, are only as limited as the constraints of
one's imagination. The lack of supporting material that is the
Necrons lot is in fact freedom to exercise ones imagination, not
a constraint. I am currently busy with scratch building a
doomsday monolith as well as a Necron Aerospace fighter
precisely because these models don't exist. Everyone knows
what a Marauder bomber looks like a Thunderhawk gunship,
and there are some very good scratch built examples in their
own right out there, but no one knows what these Necron units
look like, so one is free to exercise one's imagination to the limit!
Precisely the challenge I enjoy.
The works in progress may be seen here:
Doomsday Monolith - http://www.thecsg.co.uk/csg/index.php?
topic=6464.0
Necron Fighter - http://www.thecsg.co.uk/csg/index.php?
topic=5679.30
And yes, this is a plug for the C'tan support group, and Necron
players out there are encouraged to join!
Playing with Necrons
So how does this army do on the battlefield? Well, that’s the 3
Zimbabwean cent question, isn’t it. Necrons have never been
top dogs by any stretch of the imagination – I stand to be
corrected, but to the best of my knowledge Necrons have never
been placed, let alone won, a Grand Tournament. On the odd
occasion they have been fairly highly placed. So how
competitive are they really? This is a good question, and one
that has been hotly debated over the years. It is generally
believed that Necrons have been badly compromised by the
advent of the 5th edition of the 40K ruleset. Personally I also
believed that this was the case, but Warzone as a club rose to
the challenge and set out to disprove this theory. There were
quite a few battles fought by top notch players and they proved
that Necrons are still competitive. In fact, they probably still
occupy the place of celebrated mediocrity that they did in 4th
edition. That is, it is difficult to do overwhelmingly and
consistently well with them, but they most definitely do not
deserve the bottom of the log army rating that they were given
in an article on BoLs a while ago. http://www.belloflostsouls.net/
2009/03/40k-editorial-also-ran-armies.html
As part of my ongoing passion for the 3rd Undying Legion [yes,
for those who wish to know, the 1st two did die], I took a Necron
army to Warcon, the premier 40K war gaming event bar
Regionals and Nationals in SA. There were 36 40K players, and
the 3rd Undying Legion Led by the Lord, the Harbinger of Minor
Inconveniences managed an entirely average tournament. 2
wins, 2 losses and 2 draws. They managed to get themselves
placed a reasonable 14th overall. This was a pretty good test of
the army, it is highly likely that more ably led [I have had only
played 6 5th ed. games prior to the tournament], they would
have faired even better.
the troops at all costs+ i.e.: go for the draw and if you can pull of
a win, so much the better!
Army Selection
The Scarabs also performed admirably. Quite frankly the little
beggars are invaluable. 2+ cover save when turbo boosting, +2
to cover when not. These little guys move up to 24", can assault
up to 18", and can threaten just about anything. 3 wounds a
base, 3 attacks too, 4 on the charge. A unit of 10 of them
generates 40 attacks on the charge. That will make anything
quail – in 40K the old adage of 'He who rolls the most dice wins'
is never truer. Put a Lord on a Destroyer body into the mix, give
him a lightning field, and watch the fun! Next time there just may
be another unit of them coming to play.
The section of the 3rd Undying Legion that went to War
consisted of the following:
The Harbinger of Minor Inconveniences. Necron Lord
with Staff of light, Veil of Darkness and Resurrection
Orb.
The Deciever. Not the actual deciever of course,
merely a manifestation of a fraction of his essence. [It
is highly unlikely that a star God, destroyer of worlds,
subjugator of billions etc, can only tool about at
mediocre walking pace and explode violently in the
presence of a couple of sniper rifles.]
10 Immortals.
4 Pariahs.
2 units of 10 Warriors.
8 Scarab bases with disruption fields [known as the
GO Scarabs! - at least that's what they seem to get
shouted at them all the time].
1 Monolith.
Tactics
The standard tactic for the Legion was for the Deceiver to
deploy behind the Monolith, flanked by the Pariahs. This group
would slowly advance [curse the slow and ponderous rule] until
the pariahs soulless ability could support the Deceivers abilities
and they could engage the worst the opponent could throw at
them. The "What do you mean I get no saves, not even
invulnerable ones?" echoed across the table fairly often! The
Harbinger would anchor the Necron [ability] component of the
army with the res orb around the home objective.
The Scarabs would generally make a huge nuisance of
themselves by zooming about with a 2+ turbo-boosted cover
save, and then throw themselves in to contest the enemy's
objective along with the veiled unit of Immortals and the Lord.
Of course, no plan survives contact with the enemy, but the
prime directive stood. Especially if things were going badly: +Kill
Man of the Match. The so called 'man of the tournament' would
have to be the Deceiver. He took down Eldrad and the Avatar of
Khaine in one game, waltzed through a unit of Blood Angels
Death Company in another, and destroyed a unit of close
combat terminators and their Land Raider in yet another. On the
whole, even when he didn’t get into combat, the mere threat he
posed was game changing. My advice? A C'tan. Don't leave
home without one.
Necrons may on the surface look simplistic, but the synergies
and tactical opportunities are myriad, and there are few
opponents that see most of them coming until its too late.
Conclusion
However, this is not an article on Necron Tactica. That brings us
to the end of this Army Profile and I hope that some of you out
there who are disappointed by your Necrons at the moment will
have your interest renewed, and that some others are inspired
to give this 'underdog' army a go. Remember, the real Necron
awakening is still to happen, and when it does, the galaxy will
tremble.
Heavy Destroyers. Heavy Support. Hea-vy!
- Andrew
Page.16
Clubs and Stores in the Southlands
APOCALYPSE – THE BIG ONE - Richard Tyrer
Adept Carsten was excited. After months of interstellar
travel and the sickening effects of the warp, he was about
to make his first planetary landing. As the Valkyrie
approached the space port, he was able to watch the
descent on the view screen mounted in the cabin for the
benefit of the passengers.
Initially, he did not see much as the craft burnt its way
through Petrolum’s upper atmosphere. The craft slowed
and the picture slowly emerged. At first, all he could see
was a brown swirling ‘nothingness’, until he realised that
what he was seeing was the rolling toxic cloud that was
Petrolum’s atmosphere – destroyed centuries ago as the
Imperium harvested the carbon and mineral riches from
the planet surface far below.
He then saw spikes emerging through the toxic waste
and realised that these were the famed mountain peaks
of Petrolum, once revered as the most beautiful
topography in the Imperium. All he could see were the
last few 100 metres of the spikes, their bases
disappearing 3km below to the surface through the brown
mess.
Klaxons sounded as they prepared for the final descent to
Sky City, capital and main processing facility on the
planet. Sky City projected from the largest peak in his
view screen, a massive complex of industrial plant, agri
facilities and the urban sprawl which accompanied such
an industrial enterprise. He watched as bright flares
burnt from stacks within the vast refinery complex into
what remained of the atmosphere, as candles on a
birthday cake. These flares gave Sky City’s whole
purpose, to refine and fuel the galactic fleet of the
Imperium for the whole Tyris sector.
The Valkyrie flared and settled at the great space port
lying on the outskirts of the main urban sector. Emerging
from the craft, the adept saw the great bridge which
spanned the sectors of Sky City and which in times of
strife was raised to keep the population away from the
critical industrial sectors. Carsten descended the steps
into the passenger arrival area, not aware of what
awaited him – not in the city, but light years away,
entering the warp from different sectors, fleets of chaos
and xenos. Fleets headed for Petrolum and Sky City in
Baneblades defend the South of the Bridge
Page.17
particular. Carsten would not see space travel again, in
fact, in a few days he would not see anything again.
This was the opening scene setting to our Warzone club
game of Apocalypse held on Saturday 18 April 2009. We
played on a single day, 4 turns, with about 76,000 points
spread across 4 factions (Xenos – Eldar, Tau; Chaos; and
2 Imperium forces) and some raiding Dark Eldar pirates.
The scene above describes how the tables were laid out.
We had a large table 6’ by 16’ in one room, another 6’ by
12’ in an adjacent room and both tables were joined by a
6’ long bridge built specifically for the game. Additional
terrain included a refinery, tank repair facility, space port
and defence fort. All built for the day, by Warzone
members.
The day began with the Imperium setting up its defences
around the bridge and the major installations such as the
space port and the refinery. Chaos then deployed on the
large table, right in the face of the Imperium, basically 12”
away. The Xenos were more circumspect, holding back
on their table. From then on it was all systems go.
To add interest and keep the players guessing, each
player was given a personal objective which would gain
him or her extra victory points if they achieved their
objectives. If they revealed it in any way, then they would
lose their side 2 VPs and lose the benefit of their own.
Fortunately no-one revealed their objectives, but it did
cause much laughter and confusion during the day.
Memorable objective moments included the Blood Angels
charging targets in first turn and doing so in the firing
phase just so they could claim first contact with the
enemy, as well as the Black Templars sneaking up the
one flank with Grimaldus so that they could claim to be
the Imperium unit further forward than any other by the
end of the game. They even managed to contest an
objective by doing this.
The game began with mighty explosions and long range
shots as the Imperium tried to halt the tide. Much
damage was done, but too little effect before the swarm
of chaos hit their lines. Turn one saw a Baneblade go up
in a mighty explosion – fortunately it was not nuclear.
Leman Russes died in droves and the Sisters hardly saw
turn 2 as they fell to the chaos guns. But the Guard held
the line, just.
Turn 2 saw the arrival of reserves, but disruptor beacons
caused most units to appear on other tables. Tau rail
guns appeared beneath the mighty Chaos Warlord Titan
and managed to destroy it by the end of turn 2, only to
have it reappear on a reinforcement strategic asset the
next turn. Morale really started dropping in the Imperium
lines when this happened. Most of the Blood Angels
arrived behind the Xenos, thus managing to wipe out the
Eldar Titan, much to the Xenos' dismay.
One of the sneakier moves was conducted by the Black
Templars. They commissioned 2 Leman Russ tanks and
disguised them as chaos renegade tanks, deploying them
in front of the Xenos lines. The intention was to prevent
any unholy alliances between Xenos and Chaos. The
tanks were seen as an interesting diversion by Xenos,
who plainly just ignored them. Of more interest was the
Chaos advance with refinery in foreground
Page.18
Doomsday device planted in their midst, but again they
did not do anything about it. The device was an additional
chaos look-a-like diversion which was in fact another
Black Templar dummy, planted to sew more confusion.
Nonetheless, no Xenos-Chaos-alliance materialised.
In-between the carnage, Dark Eldar pirates raided
indiscriminately, hunting slaves for their sex pits.
Although their presence was seen in all sectors, no
faction allowed the loss of any units to these foul traitors,
and by game end they were seen disappearing back into
their warp portals.
The main objective for all factions was to control the
bridge, and do so by being the sole holder. By turn 4, all
factions were on the bridge in some form. Other
objectives such as the Xenos landing site and the Space
Port had been destroyed to deny the enemy, so it all
came down to the bridge. Abaddon decided it was to be
Chaos’s day, so he ordered his elite terminators from one
of his minions to deep strike into the Imperium line, only
to see them vanish into the warp. He decided it was up
to him, and as his own terminator squad died around him
he approached the line of guard and inquisitor troopers,
who saw their doom approaching. Suddenly, Abaddon
saw his past flash before him as multiple pulses of pure
energy blasted him into oblivion. He was sure he saw
these shots coming from the Chaos Warlord Titan, but
surely not? This, in fact, was one of his minions claiming
his personal objective by killing Abaddon through friendly
fire.
At game end the worst happened. The only IG
commander on the board had to show his colleagues that
the guard could kill more units than any one else in the
faction. To do this, every guard unit in range opened up
on the Warhound Scout Titan, killing it on the last shot.
As the titan collapsed, the nuclear reactor went critical,
blowing up all around it, including the refinery. This went
up in a more spectacular fashion than even the titan.
Overall a 32” radius of table was cleared and the
Southern sector of Sky City collapsed and began a 3km
slide to the ground below. The commander gained his
VP, but lost 2 for the destruction of such a valuable asset.
And so the game ended.
Final result: Chaos 2 VPs, Imperium Southern sector and
Xenos 1 VP, and Imperium Northern sector and Dark
Eldar 0.
Total result: Imperium driven off the planet, but Xenos
and Chaos have to still fight out who has final control.
Given the level of destruction, there is not much left to
fight over.
All in all, a great time had by all, with some very tired
commanders going home at the end of it. Thanks must
go to the faction commanders Sarel (Chaos), Marco
(Xenos), Vic (Imp North), JP (Imp South) and Sian (Dark
Eldar); also to their sub-commanders Chaylin, Jonathan,
Luigi, Deidre, Bort, Giuseppe, Nicholas, Ryan, Sean,
Cecil and Johnray.
- Richard
Page.19
Warcon - Richard Tyrer
Warcon was full with 10 days to go. That equated to 62 places
or 31 tables...
56 players did battle – (sadly we lost 6 entrants at last minute –
one due to a vehicle accident outside the venue), but the venue
was buzzing!
the amusement of some players and many spectators, many a
game was played in character and the roar of cannon fire, the
screams of the wounded and the crackle and spiff of close
combat weapons followed by battle cries washed
over the gaming areas.
Some of the initiatives implemented were: Players urged to
bring trays so that rather than repacking after each game and
unpacking from cases/containers the tray would hold their
models and make it easy between games – this saved much
time at the deployment phase of each game – next year I will
make a tray with folding legs...
"Hard" time keeping with regular "time remaining" updates from
the TO's.
"Swing" players were organised for both fantasy and 40K in
case there was an odd number of players on day one, but as
this was not the case they were given a cup of coffee and
dismissed...
Guess what I’m holding
R3 000,00 in prize support, one awesome venue, some of the
best (in all respects) opponents to test your mettle, make you
laugh, commiserate on your roll of 1's when all you wanted was
a 3, and to pour Jack down your throat when you looked
disheartened... Who could ask for more? We also solicited three
Sponsors among who were Stallion Security & Fabio Costa who
donated money to the event. Players came through from all
areas of Gauteng, Rustenberg, Potch, as well as one from
Durban.
No interference from the "gallery" of watchers and well wishers
– spectators could watch games but were not permitted to
comment on the game, the tactics or the rules in any way and
there were sufficient TO presence to ensure that this was
complied with. The two top 40K and two top Fantasy tables
were in fact cordoned-off so that spectators could not get too
close to them to interfere with the top players' concentration.
A good time was had by all... and then it was all over. The
winners back-slapped and congratulated, the losers
commisserated. Everyone else wondering if they could make
their army: faster, harder, shootier, assaultier (delete where
inapplicable)...
Next year we expect to have at least 4 female players (in this
most male of pursuits). We also hope to grow the entry number,
Both Fantasy and 40K had great scenario's which turned
Warcon into a "thinking" tournament.
Army size was 2250 for Fantasy and 1650 for 40K, and all
seemed to get through their turns quickly – certainly no-one
complained about time. Most finished with time to spare.
All tables had great quality terrain – especially with the new
WYSIWYG terrain rules for 40K.
Warcon really came down to who could hold his nerve in the
face of unrelenting pressure coupled to looming
exhaustion. Day one (4 games) went beyond marathon status
and moved into the rarefied atmosphere of an Ultra – something
like Two Oceans or Comrades. At lunch-time some players
grabbed a couch for some shut-eye. The real trick was to hang
in there and hope that your opponent made more mistakes than
you. Even the winners made mistakes over the 6 rounds.
Early games saw the "party animals" doing the hair-of-the-dog
trick and slugging Jack followed by hot coffee, whilst the late
games saw many of the senior players sucking on some golden
brew... But overall there was respect shown between players. To
Andrew impressing an Earth female
Page.20
Well, that round didn’t go too well
Marco on the Fantasy Helpline
so if you live far away, contact anyone at Warzone or NickTee,
and if you can get here, we will accommodate you thus reducing
your costs considerably.
- Richard
Fantasy Results:
1
2
3
Evan Hurwitz Warzone
Sean Martens Warzone
Eli Golovey
No Club
Daemons of Chaos 180
Empire
160
Warriors of Chaos 151
Best Painted Fantasy – John McTurk with Dwarves.
40K Results:
1
2
3
Mike Rosenburg Warzone
Orks
180
Gavin Du Plessis Durban Wargames ClubEldar
151
Ben Fouche
Warzone
Blood Angels 151
Best Painted 40k – Ben Fouche with Blood Angels.
The grot scribe himself
I think I’m going down
Page.21
Club Listings
3+ Wargaming Club – Rooseveldt Park
Durban War Games Club
The DWGC is arguably the oldest war gaming club in the
country. We play Warhammer 40K & Fantasy as well as
Historical games covering all periods from Ancients to
Modern. There are also regular board games and role
play.
Join us at the Westville Library every second Sunday and
every Thursday Evening.
Contact Colin for more details at [email protected],
Tel 082 563 4775
Attention all War Gamers in Centurion/Pretoria!!
We play Fantasy and 40K (Some Warmachine some
times) on Thursday evenings from 18:00 as well as every
second Saturday from 9:30 at my place.
7 Vlakvoëljie, Rooihuiskraal, Centurion.
You can contact Jaap on cell - 084 505 9941 or e-mail
[email protected] for more
information.
Playing 40k & Fantasy along with other sundry game
systems (mordheim, BFG and various boardgames)
Playing on Saturdays between 11h00 & 18h00 and
Wednesdays between 17h00 & 22h00
Located at the Rooseveldt Park Bowls Club, Milner
Avenue, Rooseveldt Park (Near Northcliff Corner
Shopping Centre)
Call Peter van Dyk on 082-555-9611, email:
[email protected] or Jan du Toit on 076-050-9010
Warzone at WARFAIR
WARFAIR is a dedicated gaming venue. There are
various clubs which call WARFAIR their home, including
Warzone (fantasy and 40K club, mainly, but also BFG
and blood bowl).
Warzone meets on Wednesday nights from 6 pm 'till late
and on Saturdays from 9 am 'till late.
WARFAIR also has a Junior 40K club that meets one
Sunday a month, ages from 7 years old, to 13 years old.
The other clubs at WARFAIR are on a Thursday night
playing Chess and Go, Friday night playing Magic the
Gathering and one Sunday a month playing Board
games.
WARFAIR is at no. 35 Langermann Drive, Kensington,
Johannesburg.
Contact Fabio on 082-431-2242 or e-mail him at
[email protected]
Dragons Den
East London Strategy Gaming
We are a non-profit gaming club that caters for
Warhammer Fantasy, 40k and Magic the Gathering
gamers in East London
We gather almost every Sunday at the Beacon Bay
Library from 1pm to 6pm. All are welcome.
Contact us at [email protected]
Wed-Sun 9:30 to 17:30
33 Voster Ave
Glenanda
Johannesburg (South)
Shop stocks a wide range of GW products as well as
various boxed board games.
Gaming Club that plays Fantasy, 40K, MtG and LoTR.
We also play many various boxed board games, when
they have been organized in advance.
Contact Hannes at 083 244 0530
Page.22
The Southlander - Issue.08 - May.2009
Futures
Coming in Issue 10
Kronikalz part 5
Way of the Water Warrior part 3
Book Review on Mark of Chaos
Page.23
Page.24
Page.21
Page.25
40k, Adeptus Astartes, Battlefleet Gothic, Black Flame, Black Library, the Black Library logo, BL Publishing, Blood Angels, Bloodquest, Blood Bowl,
the Blood Bowl logo, The Blood Bowl Spike Device, Cadian, Catachan, Chaos, the Chaos device, the Chaos logo, Citadel, Citadel Device, Cityfight,
City of the Damned, Codex, Daemonhunters, Dark Angels, Darkblade, Dark Eldar, Dark Future, Dawn of War, the Double-Headed/Imperial Eagle
device, ‘Eavy Metal, Eldar, Eldar symbol devices, Epic, Eye of Terror, Fanatic, the Fanatic logo, the Fanatic II logo, Fire Warrior, the Fire Warrior logo,
Forge World, Games Workshop, Games Workshop logo, Genestealer, Golden Demon, Gorkamorka, Great Unclean One, GW, GWI, the GWI logo,
the Hammer of Sigmar logo, Horned Rat logo, Inferno, Inquisitor, the Inquisitor logo, the Inquisitor device, Inquisitor: Conspiracies, Keeper of Secrets,
Khemri, Khorne, the Khorne logo, Kroot, Lord of Change, Marauder, Mordheim, the Mordheim logo, Necromunda, Necromunda stencil logo,
Necromunda Plate logo, Necron, Nurgle, the Nurgle logo, Ork, Ork skull devices, Sisters of Battle, Skaven, the Skaven symbol devices, Slaanesh,
the Slaanesh logo, Space Hulk, Space Marine, Space Marine chapters, Space Marine chapter logos, Talisman, Tau, the Tau caste designations,
Tomb Kings, Trio of Warriors, Twin Tailed Comet Logo, Tyranid, Tyrannid, Tzeentch, the Tzeentch logo, Ultramarines, Warhammer, Warhammer
Historical, Warhammer Online, Warhammer 40k Device, Warhammer World logo, Warmaster, White Dwarf, the White Dwarf logo, and all associated
marks, names, races, race insignia, characters, vehicles, locations, units, illustrations and images from the Blood Bowl game, the Warhammer world,
the Talisman world, and the Warhammer 40,000 universe are either ®, TM and/or © Copyright Games Workshop Ltd 2000-2008, variably registered
in the UK and other countries around the world. Used without permission. No challenge to their status intended. All Rights Reserved to their
respective owners.
All articles, photographs, and designs contained in this document remain the property and responsibility of their creators. The Southlander Magazine
takes no responsibility for misuse or illegal reproduction of materials, and will co-operate fully to resolve any issues. This fanzine is not for resale.
This fanzine is completely unofficial and in no way endorsed by Games Workshop Limited.
Page.26

Issue 09

Transcription

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