Powergaming: You, Tau, and Everything In-Between

Hey all!

After a long-ish break, I'd figure I'd come back to the blog swingin' with an article Hazon and I discussed awhile back regarding the different mentalities people bring in when they play these sorts of games.

This idea started when I went into our local GW one day where quite the frustrating mismatch had occurred. One player (the Tau Player) was clobbering the other guy, who was running Blood Angels. I know, I know, Tau are seen by many as the unstoppable-blue-bomber-juggernauts of this current edition that crush your spirits and ruin your hobbies! Don't get me wrong, Tau naturally are very good, and they can be pure cheese when the rubber meets the road, but they are by no means unbeatable. In this instance, it wasn't even a particularly nasty Tau list; one Riptide, one unit of XV8s, Longstrike, a few Firewarriors, Pathfinders, a Bomber, and an assortment of XV88s with both loadouts. Yeah, its shooty, but its also Tau: what'd you expect?

An Open Letter to Games Workshop: 10 reasons Specialist Games need to come back.

Been thinking about this for quite some time. Ever since GW decided to give them the axe really. I think GW has already made some great strides in trying to have more open interaction with their community, especially on the digital release front. But i also know there is a large part of the community - those who were very dedicated to the specialist systems - who have been completely shut out in the dark regarding a big part of their hobby. Now obviously specialist games were smaller than the majority in the gaming community, but that is not to say they were unpopular. Take a look around the net and you will see that a lot of people do still play the systems. Not so much the Warmaster line for fantasy, but definitely Mordheim, 40k Epic, Blood Bowl, and the largest, Battlefleet Gothic. For GW - Here is 10 reasons why you have to bring these back. Letter follows below.

40k Expansions confirmed for December

Some pictures of the December White Dwarf are finally hitting the net. Images have confirmed the two new expansions - Escalation and Stronghold Assault - for release next month, but, at least for now, it doesn't look like we will see any new superheavies being added as plastics. For links to the image, follow this to Natfka's blog for more info - http://natfka.blogspot.com/2013/11/pictures-from-december-white-dwarf-are.html#more.

Escalation and Stronghold Assault Teased?

Hey guys, sorry i havent posted much since last week. not much news to report as of late other than a bit of mixed opinions on whether or not Tyranids would actually be coming in December as had previously been mentioned by multiple sources. Well, today we get some nice news from GW in the release of a somewhat cryptic teaser video which can be seen here: http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/wnt/blog.jsp?pid=12000002. The video shows a lot of fortifications and a few super heavies, which has most of the community assuming that this is likely finally the release of the recently mentioned Escalation and/or Stronghold Assault 40k expansions.

Eternal Crusade Gameplay Video Teased

Hey guys, if you haven't seen this already or are not signed up for the Eternal Crusade Newsletter, IGN has posted the video for anyone who wants to see the first actual game play of Eternal Crusade. Its clearly based on the Space Marine combat system and, even though this is a very basic look at how the game will be i am very excited for this. A lot of the Development team are active in the 40k hobby also, and seem to care about getting it right a lot more than some other studios would bother to do (looking at you EA).  Here is a link to the video - http://www.ign.com/videos/2013/11/18/warhammer-40k-the-eternal-crusade-meet-the-team-dev-diary The first few minutes are mostly dev diary type stuff, but at 3:17 the game play tease is shown between a chaos squad and a Dark Angels squad.

New Citadel Paints Released

Hey guys, I hope everyone had a great weekend. Not too much to report over the weekend, but Games Workshop did release some great new holiday bundles and the new effect paints also, which i might add, flew off the shelves of my local store, and left my with only Nihilakh Oxide and Agrellan Earth in my pocket by the end of the day, but ah well. The bundles are a great deal for savings for anyone looking to start a new army or add more theme to their existing one. For a link to the new paints check this out; http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?prodId=prod2290012a

Army Personality Projects

Hey guys, i was perusing the pages of BoLS the other day and came across a great article regarding personalization within your army and adding some more character to individual models, etc. Aside from the really nice paint job on the models on the article, i really liked the points that were brought out. Here is the original article for any of those interested - it showcases a beautiful Astral Claws army. ( http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2013/11/40k-showcase-bringing-little-character.html )

Eternal Crusade Leaks

Hey guys, i hope eveyone had a nice weekend and enjoyed Veterans/rememberance day. :) I'd like to say a quick thankyou to all servicemen and women out there also. Your job is definitely not an easy one and without you all, we would not have the relative safety and freedom in life that we do. Onto some interesting news, for anyone who has heard of the Warhammer 40k MMO being worked on over at Behavior Interactive, some pictures of the basic combat simulation and early develpoment have hit the internet. It looks like they have leaned heavily on the Space Marine video game feel for the development process, and, considering how early these pictures are in the dev cycle, it is definitely shaping into something very exciting. Bare in mind that this is an extremely early glimpse of what is to come, and sometime later this month, it is expected that we will get to be shown actual footage of the simulation running and see how the combat actually plays in-game. The simulation is between Dark Angels and Chaos Space Marines for the demo session. Pics are below. (Picture source originally from paranerds.com and Vigilia Mortis)

A little bit of late breaking news regarding Tyranids. Still, for anyone who may not know, a picture of a box of some of the new Tyranid minis has leaked and is making its rounds on the internet. pretty sweet looking unit i think. The picture can be viewed over at the following blog, along with a few more Tyranid related rumors. Ideally i would post the other things too but i dont have the time right now to do so, but for those interested here is a link to the picture - http://40kwarzone.blogspot.com.au/2013/11/news-tyranid-pictures-emerge.html There is also a large amount of rumors found on BoLS at the following link too - http://www.lounge.belloflostsouls.net/showthread.php?33545-Tyranids-Rumor-Roundup
I hope these are useful to those of you  out there who like to run the bugs :)

Stronghold Assault Expansion rumors

Some new rumors regarding the supposed up and coming expansions for 40k. This particular bit is tied to the Stronghold Assault expansion, which is meant to bring a lot of new rules for existing Imperial defence structures, etc and some new scenarios and datasheets for them also. Curious to know how true this one is but seems like it may be fairly relevant. Itd be nice to finally have some rules for the wall of martyrs, and the smaller bunker and firepoints that can be added to it.

Rumor as follows:

Tyranid Mega-bug rumors

Hey guys, some interesting rumors surfacing regarding a new large creature kit for the Tyranids release. As with all rumors, take it with a pinch of salt, as we have nothing hard or confirmed on it yet - Even Natfka seemed unsure of how true this one may be. If so it sounds like everyones favorite intergalactic bugs may be getting some serious reinforcements, and finally a way to transport some valuable hard hitters into battle safely without them being shot from the table all the time.

Rumor follows:

40k Escalation Expansions

Hey everyone, I hope all had a fun Halloween and a nice weekend. Its been a while since my last post, i apologize i have had a busy week. Thought i would post some recent news regarding rumors with upcoming 40k Expansions, which would supposedly blur the line between apocalypse games and standard 40k games by using expanded fortifications rules and also adding a Lords Of War slot to the FOC (This has been in Forge World IA books for a while now so it should be familiar to some of you.) Interesting news to say the least. I am really curious to see if we will finally see some of the Classic Forge World super heavies ported over to a plastic kit by GW now for this release. Plastic Thunderhawks anyone? :)

Here is the latest rumors on the subject. (Source from Natfka's blog)