Templates and Scatters: Why 8th Ed 40k didn't "fix" the problems they caused

A common consensus seems to be that 8th Edition has "solved" the problem of Templates and Scatters by getting rid of them. Really though, it only treated the symptom of the real problem.

"But they caused so many arguments" you may say. And therein lies the issue.

The issue was never in the rules of blast and scatters. Those were unambiguous and the RAW met the RAI. If played by the book there should have never EVER have been an issue.

The issue was in how players acted about them and the level of sportsmanship one or both of the players had and their ability to reasonably play the game and settle disagreements.

Basically, people can be jerks.

"But the scatter dice and template could be so subjective!" you may say. Well let me tell you there are MANY more subjective games out there that people have no problems with (just go look at historical wargames in general and how open and loose they can be). Beyond that pretty much EVERYTHING is subjective in this game. LoS, measuring distances, what is "cocked" and what is not, etc. etc.

So what is the solution then? Stop being dicks. And an edition change can do nothing about that, only eliminate the rules that are exploited by unsporting conduct.

In 7th, I almost NEVER had a problem with scatters or blasts. Why?
-I rolled the dice as close as possible to the location of the scatter
-Because I tried to never debate where the dice pointed or how many guys the template covered
-If there was doubt or debatable in my own, I would ask my opponent for a judgement call
-If there was a unresolved issue, a simple roll off would decide it.

See how that works? It was sporting, and it was in accordance with the rules by the time we got to the Roll Off. And generally, my opponent would follow my example and the game would go smoother, faster and be generally more pleasant.

Because no one was a jerk.

There may not be the issue with Templates and Scatters anymore, but people can and will still be jerks and poor sportsman to each other. There will be something new that will be exploitable by these players that will become the ire of all. It will be the new Template/Scatter. The underlying problem still exists.

If you found yourself having continuous problems with scatters and templates in 7th and start to find that there is some mechanic you keep fighting over in 8th... take a look at the people you play with AND at yourself.

Are you making every effort to be as sporting as possible OR are you being jerks?

Answer that and you may just find that the "Issues" or "Problems" in game may just disappear.

Recent and Weekend WIPS

Just some quick photos of stuff I have been and I am working on! See the finished Typhon here!

AHH RESIN!!!!!!

And 2 games!

BAO 2016 Recap Part 2

Time to finish up my recap of BAO. Been long enough, right? Here is my day 1 recap with my list as well.

DAY 2!

GAME 4 vs IMPERIAL FISTS: WIN 10-1 pts
My opponent was Jeremy with team Mercy Killers from the Sacramento area. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of our game.

GLADIUS STRIKE FORCE
CORE- Battle Demi Company (1135)
-Captain- 120: Terminator Armour, Power Sword
-Tactical Squad(10)- 230: Lascannon, Plasma Gun, Vet Sarge, Rhino w/ Extra Armour
-Tactical Squad(10)- 240: Multi-Melta, Meltagun, Vet Sarge w/ Combi-melta & Powerfist, Rhino
-Tactical Squad(10)- 205: Missile Launcher, Flamer, Vet Sarge Rhino
-Attack Bike Squad- 50: Multi-melta
-Centurion Devastator Squad(3)- 290: 3 x Grav-Cannon & Grav-Amp, 3 x Missile Launcher, Omniscope

AUXILIARY- 1st Company Task Force (715)
-Sternguard(10)- 260: Meltabombs, Drop Pod
-Sternguard(10)- 255: Drop Pod
-Terminator Squad(5)- 200: Cyclone Missile Launcher

This was probably my best game performance wise, and my opponent was a great great sportsman. Basically I was able to advance across the table with my Knight and Sicaran, destroying him as I went, and dropped my Hammerstar right into his deployment zone and ate up 2 Rhinos and 2 Tactical Squads with them. He attempted to drop his Sterngaurd and Termies back in my zone, but my Knight and Command Squad either ate them up or bogged them down for the rest of the game. The only point I didn't take was Slay The Warlord, as his Captain was tied up in combat with 1 wound left end of turn 5. SO CLOSE! Oh well. But over all GREAT GAME and I hope to head to Sacramento in the fall for some tournaments and maybe play Jeremy again!

GAME 5 vs AdMech War Con: Loss 1-10

WAR CONVOCATION
CULT MECH (435)
-Tech-Priest Dominus- 105: Digital Weapons, Infoslave Skull, Phosphor Serpenta, Stasis Field, Scryerskull, Volkite Blaster
-Kataphron Destroyers(3)- 165: 3 x Heavy Grav-Cannon, 3 x Phosphor Blaster
-Kataphron Destroyers(3)- 165: 3 x Heavy Grav-Cannon, 3 x Phosphor Blaster

IMP KNIGHT(425)
-Knight Crusader- Rapid Fire Battle Cannon w/ Heavy Stubber, Melta-gun, Stormspear Rocket Pod

SKITARII BATTLE MANIPLE (610)
-Ironstrider Ballistarii: TL Cognis Autocannon
-Onager Dunecrawler: Cognis Heavy Stubber, Cognis Manipulator, Mindscanner, Nuetron Laser & Cognis Heavy Stubber, Smoke Launchers
-Sicarian Infiltrators (5)- Stubcarbines & Powerswords, Princeps w/ Digital Weapons, Infoslave Skull, Refractor Field, Phase Taser
-Sicarian Ruststalkers(5)- Transonic razors, Chordclaws & Mindscrambler Grenades, Princeps w/ Digital Weapons, Prehensile Dataspike, Refractor Field, Omniscient Mask
-Skitarii Rangers(5)- Omnispex, 2 x Plasma Caliver, Alpha w/ Arkhan's Divinator, Conversion Field, Digital Weapons, Galvanic Rifle, Power Sword,
-Skitarii Vanguard(5)- Omnispex, 2 x Plasma Caliver, Alpha w/ Arc Pistol, Conversion Field, Digital Weapons, Pater Radium, Power Sword

INQUISITION DET (100)
-Inquisitor Coteaz

SPACE MARINES CAD, Sentinels of Terra (280)
HQ- Space Marine Librarian (65)- ML1, Force Sword & BP
Troops- Scouts(5)- 55: BP & Bolter
Fast Attack- Drop Pod- 35
Fast Attack- Drop Pod- 35
Fast Attack- Drop Pod- 35

The moment of my greatest failure this game.

This game was against an individual named Adrian and should've (or rather could've I guess) than it was IMO. First of all we started 40 minutes late, as they were late coming back from lunch, so I was kinda pissed and in a rush. As a result, my turn 1 I made a few mistakes, particularly forgetting to run 2 Assault Squads into  cover, so they got blasted off pretty quickly. Next, I had a CRITICAL Charge fail. He had DS Kataphron into my zone on an objective and I had tied them up with my scouts, then got ready to charge with my command squad and a librarian. Rolled 3 inches and got shot to hell next turn stuck in the open... ugh. Just bad luck there. I then paranoid of his Knight and Heavy Supports poorly deployed my Terminators who really did nothing. The only unit that managed to perform was my Cerastus knight. Unfortunately, we ended on Turn 3, and he didn't manage to finish off his warlord (last model he was locked against in Assault). I also only had 1 HP left and probably would've titanically exploded all over him. The only point I got was line breaker with my Knight. I am not saying I should've won, or that he wasn't a good player, but I know I could have done better and with some luck and patience on my part (I was tilted turn 1 for sure), I maybe could've done something... but alas, such is life.

GAME 6 vs Eldar: Loss 0-11

I LOST THE EXACT LIST! OH NO! SORRY!

However, I know roughly what it was and can kinda rebuild it off of pictures. I believe my opponent's name was William, but I also lost his name (it was on the list!) My most gracious opponent was Clayton!

Farseer on Jetbike
5 x 3 Man Scatbikes
3 x Warp Spider Squads (5 each)
3 Hornets
2 Warp Hunters
Skathach WK w/ Deathshroud Cannons
Void Shield Generator w/ 2 Shields

SO this was another GREAT SPORTSMAN. And he almost tabled me! That speaks alot to his character IMO that I wasn't even angry and still had fun even though it was a super one-sided match. I wish I had played anyone on the tables to my left or right, as I could've put up a fight. But this army was the Rock to my Scissors for sure. I couldn't catch him, and I failed to destroy a single unit (I took multiple down to 1 hull point or 1 model, but just couldn't manage to get a kill point). Over all it was a completely 1 sided match though, and my dice did me NO FAVOURS for sure.
-Deep Struck Scattered into terrain and took meltas out of melta range on my assault squad
-Deep Struck Scattered behind LOS blocking terrain with my veterans and right in front of his WK
-Deep Struck Mishapped my Terminatos (EVEN WITH THE ANGELS WING) and got placed in the FAR CORNER
-Couldn't make covers saves or armour saves for the life of me

I would have lost. No doubt in my mind. But for sure, had A LOT of misfortune. Once again, such is life. It is at the end of the day, a dice game.

My only surviving 2 models at the end of the game. Yes, I even managed to loose all my Invisibility buffed FNP TH&SS terminators...

Over all, a ton of fun and I hope I get a chance to do it again

BAO 2016 Recap Part 1

So BAO was a week ago and I am all finally caught up with the real world to write about it.

It was a good time and I got in a bunch of games and I am really glad I went. There were four Blood Angels players there (though I think I was the only one with them actually painted as such, but that is a discussion for another time). I went 2 and 4, so short of my goal of 3-3 and short of being in the top 1/2. Game 5 and 6 really put the nail in that and you will see why when I discuss that in the next post.

First of all, the store was pretty big and good (Game Kastle in Mountain View, CA). I mean, over 90 tables and a shopping area with pretty much anything you could want. However, there are a few things they need
-More restrooms (porta-johns outside) for events like this. Day 1 the restroom they did have was not kept that clean or good smelling. Fortunately they fixed this and opened up the employee restroom to us day 2 as well.
-Better ventilation. Day 1 was SUPER HOT! Even with like 20 foot ceilings. Day 2 was better with alot of fans spread out, but it was still pretty hot.
-A sound system- Reece has no voice, lets be honest, and even the booming voice of the store owner was hard to hear at times. A simple PA or megaphone would help A LOT with this
-15 more minutes for Lunch. Basically there was no time to get you game done, scores in, and get to someplace with food in time. They should also look at trying to get a food truck there for future events.

Any way, onto event coverage...

Here was my list:
Primary Detachment- Baal Strike Force (1560)
HQ- Sanguinary Priest: CCW, Angel's Wing, Warlord
Elites- Terminator Assault Squad (5): TH&SS
Elites- Command Squad (5): Champion, Sanguinary Novitiate, Vet w/ Pfist, Vet w/ Paxe, Vet w/ Meltagun, Jump Packs
Troops- Scouts (5): BP&CCW
Troops- Tactical Squad (5): Grav-gun, Sarge w/ Paxe, Rhino
Fast Attack- Assault Squad (10): Sarge w/ Pfist & Inferno Pistol, 2 x Melta-guns, Jump Packs
Heavy Support- Relic Sicaran Tank: Lascannons, Legacy of Glory-Schism of Mars.
LoW- Ceratus Knight Atrapos: Occular Augmetics

Formation Detachment- Librarius Conclave (290, White Scars)
Librarian 1- ML2, Force Staff, Jump Pack
Librarian 2- ML2, Force Sword, Jump Pack
Librarian 3- ML1, Force Axe, Jump Pack

GAME 1 vs TAU- LOSS 0-11 pts
Probably the worst possible start for me and best possible for my opponent. Great opponent, team nWo, guy named Lang. Here was his list

Drone Net VX1-0 (280)
-Drone Squad- 4 x Marker Drones, 1 Gun Drone
-Drone Squad- 4 x Marker Drones, 1 Gun Drone

-Drone Squad- 4 x Marker Drones, 1 Gun Drone

-Drone Squad- 4 x Marker Drones, 1 Gun Drone

Optimized Stealth Cadre (635)
-Stealth Suits(3)- 2 x Burst Cannon, Shas'vre w/ Fusion Blaster
-Stealth Suits(3)- 2 x Burst Cannon, Shas'ui w/ Fusion Blaster (Warlord)
-3 x Ghost Keels- Each w/ Cyclic Ion Raker, EWO, TL-Fusion Blaster

Riptide Wing (935)
-2 x Shas'vre- EWO, Heavy Burst Cannon, TL Smart Missiles

-2 x Shas'vre- EWO, Heavy Ion Accelerator, TL Smart Missiles

-Shas'vre- EWO, Heavy Ion Accelerator, TL Smart Missiles

So I think you can see how the match went. Only one where I was tabled at least. Failed to roll for Invisibility and Veil of Time on my psykers. What really killed the game though was my Knight Atrapos weathered a round of shooting, weathered overwatch, and then rolled a 3" charge against the Ghost Keels. However, I feel okay, because Lang went on to win a Renaissance Man award (paint score + mission points) and of all my opponents, finished the highest. I knew I would face things like this probably, but a bitter way to start the tournament. Thankyou Lang for being a good winner though.  

GAME 2 vs IRON HANDS- WIN 10-1

This was vs Arun. Good opponent, fun game. His list:

Fist of Medusa

Strike Force Command: Chapter Master+Command Squad

-CM: Bike, Gorgon's Chain, Aticifer Armour, Digital Weapons, Thunder Hammer, LC

-Command Squad: 4 x Grav Guns & Storm Shield, Apothecary w/ Storm Shield, Bikes

Armoured Task Force

-Techmarine: Bike, Power Axe, Bolt Pistol, Melta Bombs

-3x Vindicators

Honoured Ancients

-Dreadnought: Assault Cannon, Power Fist w/ Storm Bolter

Librarius Conclave

-Librarian: ML2, Bike, Force Sword, Auspex, Bolt Pistol

-Librarian: ML2, Bike, Force Staff, Bolt Pistol

-Librarian: ML2, Bike, Mindforge Stave, Bolt Pistol

LoW

Imperial Knight Warden: Aveger Gatling Gun, Heavy Flamer, Reaper Chainsword, Melta-gun, Storm Spear Rocket Pod

So this was the Relic game. I think my opponents first and biggest mistake was not playing to the mission. Had his chapter master grabbed the Relic, I would have never got it off of him. However he didn't. My Sicaran made short work of 1 vindicators, and all my meltaguns did the rest. The Knights met in the middle and duked it out, killing each other, though mine took  a few bikes with it as well. The game ended with him having only 3 models in a war of attrition versus my Terminators, which was a conflict he was slowly loosing anyway. I think his biggest regret was just having so few models (which was something I regretted most of the tournament as well TBH).

GAME 3 vs GK, SM, DA- LOSS 1-10

Last game I am going to talk about this post. 4-6 will be in the next post. This was against Shaylynn down from Oregon. This game was probably my worst first turn I have ever had in 40k, followed by 4 of my best. Anyway here is her list

Nemesis Strike Force- 740 (she acutally miscalculated this and had 750, so short 10 points, and I pointed it out to here day 2. She said she woud've taken a psycannon in the terminators instead of the incinerator)

HQ- Librarian- 110: ML2, Warding Stave

Troops- Terminator Squad (5)- 185: Daemonhammer, Incinerator

Heavy Support- Dreadknight- 220: Great Daemonhammer, Heavy Incinerator, Heavy Psycannon, Teleportation Pack.

Heavy Support- Dreadknight- 225: Great Sword, Heavy Incinerator, Heavy Psycannon, Teleportation pack.

Skyhammer Annihilation Force- 650

-Assault Squad (5)- 85: Jump Packs

-Assault Squad (5)- 85: Jump Packs

-Dev Squad (10)- 265: Drop Pod, 2 x Multi-Melta, 2 x Gravcannon

-Dev Squad (10)-215: Drop Pod, 4 x Multi-Melta

Ravenwing Strike Force- 450

-Ravenwing Black Knights (3)- 120: Ravenwing Grenade Launcher

-Ravenwing Black Knights (3)- 120: Ravenwing Grenade Launcher

-Ravenwing Command Squad (3)- 125: Ravenwing Grenade Launcher, Ravenwing Champion

-Librarian- 85: ML1, Bolt Pistol, Force Sword

So to being with she rolled the Warlord trait for Infiltrators. And I knew she had a Skyhammer coming in. Since my Knight had weathered the 1st round vs Tau so well, I had alot of faith in him (this was only his 4th game). I ended up keeping my terminators, priest and 2 ML2 librarians in reserve and then castled everything else up. She took 1st turn and I failed to seize (may I wish I has seized).

She drops in and brings everything right up in my face. Focuses 100% of her effort on the Knight. her very last shot of turn 1 kills him with an EXPLODES result (Mult-melta on side facing, no invuln) and my night goes TITANTIC EXPLOSION and kills almost everything I have. I think my Rhino, Sicaran and 3 Marines was all that was left. I manage to stay alive in my turn, even killing off a Devastator combat squad with a desperate charge. But none of these things would survive turn 2. I needed something to be my new goal...

...and then my Terminators came in full of piss and vinegar dying for vengeance, and boy did they take it. The rest of the game I only lost 2! YES 2 MODELS! There was a secondary called king of the hill and I took and held onto that hill, killing off or chasing away anything that charge me (Invisibility + Veil of Time + FNP + 2+/3++ saves will do that I guess). Unfortunately last turn of the game she has a Bike Squad charge and hold (while I killed everything else) and we tied King of the Hill. However, I like to think fluff wise that my Terminators would have stood their ground ENDLESSLY and in my mind there is no way they would've been moved or beaten off there by what was remaining in my opponents army.

This is turn 4 Pre-Assault. Post Assault saw everything of hers running away or dead and all those Marines still standing.

Well that ended day 1, with me being down 1-2 with only 11 mission points. I had hopes for the next day but wouldn't hold my breath.

Dark Heresy RPG- thoughts on character creation and the game as a whole.

So my college buddies and I played a campaign  of Dark Heresy recently We are not playing as marines, but rather a group of human heretics. To make sure we could kick off, we got together online one weekend and started making our characters.

I went with a Chaos Heretek. It is a heretical Tech Adept. Get it? Not sure it was obvious enough.

So aside from the typically "Khorney" names that GW tends to have in their fluff, here are my thoughts on the game as gleaned from character creation

PROS-
1- The game is very rich. There are alot of skills and talents and items of wargear. I as a Tech guy have a Servo-arm, utility mechadendrite, ballistic mechadendrite, internal grav coils, and some other cool Machine tech. I was able to upgrade my weapons in various ways, had a vast array of weapons to choose from. But all my friends were very easily able to define their characters in their particular path from the get go. There is really no awkward start up phase.
2- It is very accurate to the lore. Everything is based on or entirely conceivable in the 40k universe. Alot of research and dedications was put into this book, and all the "Tomes" that support it. I think these guys at FFG may be more knowledgeable than some Black Library authors now.
3- It feels chaotic. The blessing of the gods tables are just as likely to ruin you as bless you, and the infamy and corruption mechanics that go into determining these are pretty neat, but require a good GM to run properly IMO.

CONS
1- Poor layout. You have to flip (or scroll if digital) back and forth a million times during character creation to reference different things. Certain things aren't even in the character creation chapter, like movement and weight capacity. We spent a whole 3+ hour session on just character creation. I had 4 copies of the pdf open at one point so I could easier switch between pages to reference what I needed to.
2- The character sheets are missing vital skills/talents. Things like survival just aren't on there.
3- Difference in language between the character sheet and book. So when you look in the book for skills/talents it defines them as Known, Trained (+10), Experienced (+20), and Veteran (+30) where as on the character sheet it goes Trained, +10, +20, +30. Easily able to realize what it means, but it just a very annoying inconsistency IMO.
4- Initial equipment procurement is BROKEN. This is easily abused. I was able to get a servo arm added to my Heretek, which proved invaluable in the long run and was our MVP. That is right, a mechanical arm was the MVP.

Now, the game as a whole can be really fun, but it is really easy to break. If you avoid using the tomes, I don't think it would be as easy, but once you dabble in those, your GM will have to keep a tight leash on the game to run it smoothly. That said, it is still highly possible to make a WAY OP party.

Here is an except from an article I wrote a few weeks ago on Rules As Intended vs Rules as Written that covers this pretty well
"Let me give and example. I just finished a Black Crusade game that only lasted 5 sessions. We had already made our characters WAY more powerful than they should have been via clever use of equipment procurement and talents (we had +8 to our initiative and I myself was +10. To a d10 roll. I was ALWAYS faster than the maximum the dice could give). We had a nurgle psyker in the group and a slaaneshi flesh moulder. One of the things the flesh molder could do was boost a characteristic. SO the psyker had him boost his willpower, already a considerable 60/100. Because of the talents between them, and the bonuses to the ritual they performed, and the flesh shapers already considerable skill in his art, they were able to pass the check required to improve his willpower by 5 degrees of success, giving the nurgle psyker a 110 willpower, which meant AUTO SUCCEED ALL TESTS. When the GM decided that this was to broken of a way to do that, the psyker's player INSTANTLY had a plan be which involved possession of himself and then using his already considerable willpower and bonus to force the daemon into submission, the end result being he had a will power of 110. So at the end of the session, we all concluded the game was broken and to move on. It just killed all the fun. And while it may have been fun for the nurgle psyker's player, it wouldn't have been for the rest of us."

So that may paint it a little doom and gloom of a scenario, but you get the point.

With the right group of dedicated people, you could most likely have a super fun and indepth campaign. But these people needed to be dedicated to living out the lore IMO. If they aren't I recommend something else.
Rouge Trader Apocalypse perhaps?

Forgeworld Army Lists in main stream gaming

So I will first admit I have not really been a part of main stream gaming for over 2 years now. I have been in Japan and have traveled and seen many cool things while over here, but really my extent of the hobby has been online discussions, the little amounts of inport time I have to build and paint and the handfull of times I have played with a friend that picked up the game (and is eagerly awaiting a 6th ed Eldar release).

A Blanche original cover.

BUT in a way, with online being my primary exposure, I see ONLY main stream war gaming. And since my biggest goal/hope/plan once I get back stateside (I will be settled in and storming away on the hobby by late August) is to attend Adepticon, I am always keen to see what is brought too, playing at and winning big tournaments. And there is something I have always noticed with this. While Forgeworld units seem to be becoming more and more accepted, even on the tournament scene, no one seems to care for or endorse the use of Forge World army lists.

I for one stand for them. I had advocated for their allowance in 'Ard Boyz tournaments, as what is the point in proving you are the best if you are going to tell people what they can and cannot bring. There may be a better, completely legal, GW army that would confound and beat the winning 'Ard Boyz list. But alas we shall not know.

Why would you even buy a Sky Talon? Tauros have Scout! Lets just have Creed use Tactical Genius on some infiltrators while we are at it!

I don't think these lists are in any way overpowered. In fact they tend to be stuck behind the codex creep, so end up overpriced and/or underpowered. Plus, looking at the picture above, they often have some useless choices put in for the sake of a cool display/diorama model and/or fluff. But what the lists do create is the opportunity for incredibly fluffy and characterful armies that fill niche roles in the fluff or are representative of an iconic 41st millenium army. Many of them can also be applied to forces not neccessarily of what they were written for. I will give some examples:

1- My own Genswick. I use not only the standard IG codex, but I use the DKK Siege Regiment list as well (available for DL from FW)
2- The Tyrant's Legion from the Badab War- Perfect IMO to do an Alpha legion army. Units of marines and mortal desciplined troops.
3- Elysian Drop Troops from the Raid on Kastorel Novem- turn them into a Stormtrooper company/inquistorial raid force or even just oBlogger is a free blog publishing tool from Google for easily sharing your thoughts with the world. Blogger makes it simple to post text, photos and video onto your personal or team blog.ther regiments, such as Harkoni Warhawks.

If people are going to be allowing units into standard codices, why not just allow the lists into standard play. That would allow players to use more thematic characters/units and possibly avoid unfluffy choices for their armies, vice just cherry picking what they need to fill that Contemptor sized hole in their list.

175 pts of Heavy 6, S 6 rending Skyfire+Interceptor shots right there, all wrapped up in a nice AV 13/12/10, 3 Hull Point, 5++/6++, "I can fight back in assault" package

GW seems to be all about "Forging the narrative" these days. The FW lists all are built of an incedible amount of background presented in high quality story driven campaign books. They often are onne dimensional and are intended for use in the campaign system accompanying their associated book. This is actually a REALLY good argument for allowing them in standard play. Since they are so story/campaign driven, they typically have a number of inherent flaws that prevent them from being the uber list every one fears FW would put out and the list struggles to deal with some basic scenarios and some common armies that it was conceived of to face. The Tyrant's Legion was written with SM opponents in mind for example. This makes them a greater tactical challenge to employ in a standard 40k setting/tournament, as well as makes it more varied and a greater test of skill for the opponent, as they may be facing new challenges and unfamilar force compositions. If you are going to a tournament and know you are likely to face x, y and z you will prep for them. Now with more options out there, you may have to consider in more general terms. This really spices things up while inherently balances the game more. The "Super Power" of Forgeworld most people fear boils down to 3 reasons:

He even exists in the game already!

1- They were the producers of Apocalypse Units BEFORE Apocalypse even existed. Titans and Superheavies are incredibly powerful BUT these are not intended for normal play NOR do they exist in the lists I am advocating.
2- They were the producers of Flyers BEFORE they were incorporated into the main rule set/Apocalypse. Everyone knows that air power is super awesome now because it is super hard to counter BUT now everyone has access to airpower or at least a way to fight it. In the past though, no one had either, so if having FW meant you had air power this was a bad thing.
3- People fear the unknown. And that is what Forgeworld is. There are units and characters some players have never heard of, often because FW is slightly cost restrictive, but then again so it the whole game. FW is coming out of the shadows more and more every day, and it is time it becomes fully accepted.

I for one advocate the usage of FW army lists in major tournaments and throughout clubs and games store. List equality! Take up the call with me!

Bonus- It has the added benefit of being untouched by Matt Ward!

The problem with The Hobbit

I for one am a huge Lord of the Rings fan. Tolkien is a literary god and Peter Jackson has made movie classics with Tolkien's work. I first fell in love with the LotR world when I read The Hobbit back in third grade. I loved the Rankin Bass animated films from the 70's, and still have copies of them today that I plan to share with my son (Down Down to Goblin Town, Down Down to Goblin Town! You go my lad! Ho-Ho my lad!)

When the movies came out years ago I was STOKED. They were amazing. Simply amazing. Sure there are plenty of differences from the book, but they do a good job of telling the tale and capturing the epic struggle between good and evil. The problem is though that the epic struggle depicted in the books and movies is very much a narrow and personal one, influenced greatly by a select few individuals at every decisive point. While making for a great movie, book or RPG, this translates poorly into a table top wargame.

Yes, it is this argument again, but bear with me for a while if you would.

So Games Workshop has 3 core systems. First and foremost is their flagship. Their BRAND. Warhammer 40k. It has inspired an entire genre of Sci-fi, Grim Dark, with its own line of novels at the core. In addition there are all sorts of video games and specialists games (which we will revist here shortly). All of this spawns from vast ammounts of proprietary intellectual property and a highly unique view of Science Fiction and the future as a whole.
 Next comes Warhammer Fantasy Battles. Considered the slightly more advanced game, it has a smaller player base but shares much of the same unique IP as its futuristic cousin, especially CHAOS. And it too has specialist games, some of them with very fanatical fan bases (Blood Bowl!)

You have to play to understand that this truly is the greatest GW game ever made

The greatest thing about these systems is the fact that GW can do what ever it wants with the models and it defines its own look and story. And it is ever expanding. There are always new characters, new stories, and new possibilities.

Furthermore, both translate really really well into a table top wargame system. Niether of them are particularly character driven. They are faction driven. What is more important, the tale of Commissar Cain or the feel you get in his novels about the Imperial Guard. In the long run, the Cain doesn't really matter. He is an interesting character, but the Imperium marches on with or without him. This translates well into the table top, where characters can die and the bad guys can win. GW makes their bad guys cool and detailed and strangely empathetic (IE Malus Darkblade). So it is okay when they win a game. And the good guys are slowing loosing anyway, so it is to be expected even. Read any BL book and a main character WILL DIE. It is a given fact and another factor to the faction versus character driven story.

This is where Lord of the Rings games differ. It is a set story with a beggining, middle and end and if any of the characters deviates from the set story, it is unbelievable. And the world is set up to be more character intensive any ways. There is never suppossed to be appeal to the bad guy and empathy with orks or wild men. And the good guys are all suppossed to be outnumbered epic heroes of lore. Not a faceless mass of infantry. So playing a table top wargame where the bad guys are suppossed to win 50% of the time if the game is balanced properly just makes it unbelievable, where as an RPG where you are the good guys and the DM is the bad guys, you should ultimately overcome the challenges set before you, like they do in the book, movie and video games.

This makes me want to watch a movie and read a book, not play a game

So how does this come back to the Hobbit. Well, GW now has tons of new minis and source books to release, that will be drawn out over YEARS as the Hobbit is a multi-part movie. But it will not revolutionize the LotR game in any major way, not like APOC and Flyers has for 40k for instance. They can't even really spin specialist games off of it. The game is already suppossed to be a more skirmish style, and they did a massive battles expansion already, which still doesn't fit in well with LotR for all the reasons stated above. They tried a scale game, Battle of Five Armies, but that is lack luster and based on a single event and very inflexible as a result. Sure they could try with Pelinor Fields, but that would suffer the same. And besides, Battle of Five Armies is the Hobbit, so this ship has already sailed.

But the ship that has sailed the furthest is IP. The books are already all written, the movies all filmed. There is viturally nothing except a game system that GW can add to it, and while the game system is important, it is not what attracted you to the hobby, otherwise we would all just do this game on computers or with proxies. But GW proprietary property does not suffer this limitation. It has so many opportunities for expansion. All of which are being squandered on support of the Hobbit and LotR franchise in my opinion.

This is where specialist games can come back in for GW. If they were treated as a whole like a 3rd Core system instead of a 3rd wheel I think they could be a boon to the GW franchise. Why just collect Blood Angels when you can have the entire chapter for Epic and the Fleet for BFG. Only 1 hour left at your club, why nto wrap up the night with a game of Necromunda or Bloodbowl. A slow and steady release and update schedule for these games could keep people interested, garner attention from new comers and please and hold the interest of veterans. And they fit in with the image and methodology of GW. They can grow and change and their image is GW's to determine.

Your IP is what makes you Genuine GW, not the IP of Tolkien and New Line Cinema

LotR and the Hobbit will never again grow after the Hobbit is done. LotR has been diminishing for years now and it will bounce back and then linger even longer untill it has been milked for every penny it is worth. The truly unfortunate thing is that in this time, the GW IP assets in the SG range will do what they have been doing, they will become further irrelevant and decrepit, rather than being used as tools to enhance the true assets of the GW brand. SG can only add to 40k and WHFB, while the Hobbit can only prolong the inevitable demise of the LotR franchise.

Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game was made by the dead and the dead keep it!

Allies- How they benefit fluffy army building

So Allies seem to be a pretty contentious point of discussion for many people. I for one fully embrace the idea however, and I will tell you why (I have a soapbox of a blog and I am going to use it).

Hey, you aren't Cadians...

As I have stated MANY times in the past, I hate that characters are the one way to make variants of armies, and I think chapter traits and doctrines did and would do a much better job. Furthermore, I have had some posts about counts as style armies (and proxying) and really felt that designing an army to be themed and fluffy was much more justifiable than playing the flavour of the week with whatever models you have.

SO Allies really opens up A WHOLE HEAP TON of opportunity for the player to create fluffy, effective, and characterful armies. I will give you a BUNCH of examples (as you will see IG is a critical factor for alot of these). The only thing I wish there was was a FW allies chart as well so we could see the level of alliance their army lists have.

1- Iron Warriors- These guys need siege equipment to play. Otherwise they aren't true IW. SO utilize IG to access siege equipment like Basilisks and Medusas. You can take 3 in a squadron. Model the mandatory troop guardsmen as slaves for the army.

2- Space Wolves- remember the days of old when they could take Leman Russ Battle Tanks, a tank named after their very primarch? Well those days have returned. By simply including a squad of vets and a IG HQ (Lord Commissar or Primaris Psyker) you can get up to 3 LR in a single choice. And if you model the guard effectively, you could make them like wolf scouts, or even use wolf scouts as the base and equip them with Lasguns, so you wouldn't even be using IG fluff wise and could claim it is a pure SW force, just utilizing 2 codicies.

www.eastern-empire.com

3- Tau Gue'la- Literally a million possibilities both ways. And IG platoons can be so large you can fit ALOT of humans into a Tau list. OR you can even flip it and take a little bit of Tau in an IG army to get a Gue'la force with advisors. Really perfect combo here.

4- Ork Looted and Slave Army- Use IG for access to vehicles. Turn the infantry choices into haggard looking slaves. Really opens up vehicle selection, and can give some non-open topped transports to Orks. I'd like to see a sentinel built with an ork pilot now.

5- Exorcist SM- So exorcist SM are suppossed to be a new type of Daemon Hunter, created though ritual possession of the novitiate and exorcism of the daemon through their will alone. Of course they guys would work with GK and Ordo Malleus elements (and are actually monitored closely by them). Through in an inquisitor and some GK forces to an SM and you really have the feel of the force.

6- Chaos Renegades/Cultists- IG + CSM or Chaos Daemons and some chaos modelling really makes the force as chaotic as can be whilst demonstrating that Chaos is more than just the elite forces playable in the game as of now. You could even claim the CSM HQ to be the warband's warlord. Perfect way to play Alpha Legion as well.

Chapter Master Leonidas with the Banner

7- Angry Marines- A joke army, but one still made possible more so by a combination of Blood Angels and Black Templars. No better way to be angry all the time in my opinion. Download Fandex

8- Exodite Eldar- Dark Eldar and Eldar make the perfect combination to create exodites. Really comes down to modelling and unit selection, but a very potent and fluffy combination

9- Harlequin Force- Really DE with some Eldar in it, probably rangers and some jump infantry or vehicle or bike support, and I think you could craft a seemingly perfect harlequin force.

10- Mechanicum Army- Necrons and IG combined for this once. Most likely an IG base with necron elements added, though thinking about it, you could just use alot of Necrons and then IG for their vehicles. But this is the only obvious way to me to make the Cyborg army.

11- Rogue Trader- IG and GK. IG for the bulk of your troops and GK codex for inquisitorial purposes. The inquisitior and his forces could be your Rogue Trader and his household body guard while the IG are the crew of the ship.

12- Chaos Legions- You can do any of the Chaos legions with the application of the correct daemons from their codex. Really nice because of the ability to unlock and take the greater daemons as an ally HQ or even 2 lesser ones as one Force Org slot. And then you just take the appropriate troops and elites, troops or fast attack. OR you can take a Daemon Prince from CD that feels more like a DP dedicated to his god than the CSM one does.

13- Kroot Mercenaries- Well really any codex that can take Tau as an ally can just buy a bunch of kroot for their list and BAM there are your mercs.

14- Army of Ultramar- Ultramarines with a bunch of IG allies or vice versa. Either way, the perfect way to show the most integrated defence force in the Galaxy.

15- Cadian Interior Guard- These are the guys that defend Cadia from the corruption from within that inevitable occurs in the eye. IG with SoB or GK forces, particularly inquisitorial forces, is the best way to represent this crack Witch Hunting force.

16- The Fallen- An IG army with some Dark Angels allied is the best way to represent a small force of Fallen and the forces they tend to manipulate. Equip a DA captain like the Cypher model and you can make one of the most wanted men in the galaxy come to being on the table, even without special rules for him

17- Silent Sisterhood- SoB with Grey Knight Inquisitorial elements seem to fit the bill for these Psyker hunting banes of Chaos. Anything to nullify psychic powers is a boon. You could also recreate the assault on Prospero as a Heresy Era army by utilizing SoB as Sisters and taken them as allies with Space Wolves.

As you can see there is ALOT of potential to exploit the allies matrix to further explore the fluff of 40k on the table top. And that is just limiting yourself to the fluff of 40k. Imagine making a Halo army using Imperial Guard as UNSC marines and Space Marines for spartans with some landspeeder tornados (converted on wheels) for warthogs or bikes as mongooses (mongoosi?). Or maybe you feel taking a wack at the convenant, using Orks for brutes and gretchin as grunts and then taking some form of space marine or eldar as Elites. Maybe you want a Star Wars clone army, using IG with eldar allied psykers to be Jedi. Maybe you want to birth something from your own imagination. It is all up to you as the player, and allies can be a great medium to work in. But please avoid awful fluff

Why Blood Angels are going to utterly DOMINATE early 6th ed

So this post is kinda tooting the horn of my own army. I personally believe BA are gaining some of the largest benefits of the edition change and I am here to tell you WHY.

1- FNP- Sure FNP goes down from a 4+ to a 5+, and I hope when Codex:CSM comes out that Plague Marines have some caveot to this to help them out (though T5 may still be enough of one), BUT that lowering isn't all that BAD for Blood Angels as they are still wearing Power Armour. Let DE and non power armoured players whine about this one. The sons of Sanguinius are to BA (get it) to let this drag them down.

2- Jump Infantry- As in my previous post, I believe Jump Infantry will be masters of the Battlefield in 6th edition. Able to move 12 inchs. Rumored to be able to roll 3d6 and choose the highest or 2d6 and reroll one, but even without this still an avg charge of 7 in and a possibility of a full 12. Able to move 2d6 in assault phase EVEN IF NOT CHARGING. Relentless (no heavy weapons, so no real benefit here). And these are just benefits for ALL Jump Infantry. OH I almost forgot. A free I10 hit at base S (4 for these guys) on the Charge. Take that Banshees.
Now lets see what tricks BA also have in the bag. So Red Thirst means I have a good chance of getting Fearless and Furious Charge (even better with Astorath). Now imagine the reach of a furious charging unit. Awesome. Now lets take a look at Death Company. These guys are about to become the most feared assault troops in the game.
Fearless
Furious Charge- +1 S.
FNP
RAGE- +2 A for charging. On top of 2 base and 2 CCW. This is the biggest benefit of all.
Able to reroll hits and wounds.
Able to buy special CCW on EVERYONE
When you slap jump packs and power weapons on these guys, you now have a unit that can eat 10 man Plague Marine squads in one go. I may drop vanguard to bring them back into my list.
Now top all of the above off with DoA. I can reach you anywhere at anytime (after 1st turn) and there is nothing you can do to stop me.

3- Fast Vehicles- So BA transports, Predators and Vidicators are fast, and under 6th vehicles can move and shoot MORE. This is great, especially for the Baal Predator with its squintillion weapons. And the Baal is an even better tank killer now with Hull Points allowing weaker weapons to glance a tank to death. And the Vidicator gets full S across the template, not just under the hole, so it is improved too. But back to the FAST part. Speed is going to be KEY in 6th ed. With one third of scenarios playing across the board long ways (short edge deployment zones) and the triangle set up creating large distances as well (I am assuming APOC set up with a larger No Man's Land), and then Jump Infantry, bikes and normal vehicles moving super fast, fast vehicles will be GREAT. Oh, and flyers will be zooming around every which way. Having a Baal Pred that can rev its engines to get in range and then pour on the fire (twin linked assault cannons baby) to bring that beast out of the sky will be nice.

4- Lots of Librarians- I am not sure how all the new psychic powers are going to be or what they are going to be, but I am sure everyone will want to mess around with them and since Blood Angels can bring extra psykers to the table, they will be a great test bed for this. FURTHERMORE since everyone else is going to be throwing around psyker powers like confetti at a parade, having psychic defence will be critical too. Librarians have hoods. Nuff said.

5- Allies- So BA can ally with a whole bunch of people. Not really sure if I am going to be taking Allies, as no one has better jump infantry really, though some GK may be nice. HOWEVER I think taking Blood Angels is one of the smartest things a player can do. I think alot of the following will be seen:
Chaplain, Death Company, Furioso Librarian.
Librarian, Assault Squad, Furioso Librarian.
Either of the Above with a Storm Raven instead of Furioso.
Either of the Above with Sanguinary Priest instead of Furioso.
The Sanguinary Priest will be super great for the most trusted category of Allies, as a unit can consist of up to 3 of these guys and an aegis of FNP and furious charge will be most welcome, especially on other assault armies like SW, GK and BT.