Review: Flames of War British Parachute Company

Well it looks like Games Workshop's bad customer service is having an affect - I finally convinced myself to pick up some Flames of War. I've gone with British paratroopers, which are models I already own in 28mm, so I know their history and equipment well. As a cheapskate I needed to choose an army that was light on the wallet, so Fearless Veteran has its appeal.

So as this is my first Flames of War purchase, lets start with my impressions of the packaging. The logo and colours are distinctive and the overall look is very slick. I like the way that essential information is clearly displayed on the the packaging, usually with icons. We can quickly see that the models are British, this is a Company of 106 figures, and is for the Late War period. There is a suitably dramatic picture of the paratroopers assaulting a bridge as they did in Arnhem.  

Rifleman Dread Conversion Tutorial

Apologies if you have seen this before - I accidentally published it before it was ready, a few months ago now. Yes it has taken me that long to finish off the article! Hope you enjoy it...

Ah the Rifleman, the unlikely star of 5th edition. Taking the humble autocannon and turning it into a reliable transport wrecking blizzard of firepower. Here's a snapshot of one of my Rifleman Dreadnoughts. I'm very happy with the way that they turned out, and their performance on the tabletop. There don't seem to be tutorials with anyone building them my way on the web, so I felt duty bound to share the process with you lot.

Black Templars: Terminator Pod List

So now that you've seen all the toys that the Black Templar codex has available, how do they work together to build a competitive list? It's no surprise that I've built my list with as many of these unique units as possible :)

Shooty Poddy Templars (1750) 
Emperor's Champion - "Accept Any Challenge" (140)
Marshall - terminator armour, chainfist, storm shield, adamantine mantle (175)
5 Terminators Command Squad - 2 cyclones, chainfist, tank hunters (270)
5 Terminators - 2 cyclones, chainfist, tank hunters (270)
5 Assault Terminators - thunder hammer & storm shield, tank hunters (215)
Venerable Dreadnought - twin-linked lascannon, heavy flamer, smoke. searchlight (169)
Landspeeder - typhoon missile launcher (70)
Landspeeder - typhoon missile launcher (70)
5 Initiates - meltagun, multi-melta, frag grenades, drop pod (135)
5 Initiates - meltagun, multi-melta, frag grenades, drop pod (135)
5 Initiates - plasma gun, lascannon (101)

Three Simple Ways to Speed Up 40k

Over and over when playing 5th edition games, I find myself frustrated by the same three rules. They unnecessarily delay the game without adding commensurate value. *drum roll* The rules in question are ...

• Wound allocation rules. They suck.
• Running. Waste of time. Throw in Move Through Cover as a bonus.
• Rolling armor saves. Yup.

Blog Culling Time

I went through all of my Blog subscriptions in Google Reader tonight and unsubscribed from 8 blogs - I also added two more after following a few interesting links. I've found myself skipping through a few blogs consistently of late and its cramping my blog-reading style! Also between podcasts and blogs I am struggling to find time to write my own blog posts, so its time to cull the chaff.

I'm looking forward to a new streamlined blogging experience. One of the bigger decisions was to unsubscribe from Blood of Kittens. The content has changed a lot since I subscribed a year ago, and rarely held my interest. It was the post criticising NOVA that was the final straw...

Black Templars: Unique Competitive Units

Recently I have breathed new life into my Crimson Fists by running them with the Black Templars codex. I'm really enjoying the army, its both competitive and unique. My opponents are usually suprised by the nifty tricks that it packs. For those who might complain about this form of counts-as, did you know that the Crimson Fists are known to occasionally field Emperor's Champions? Both armies are founded off Imperial Fists geneseed :)

I'll take you through my Black Templars list in a subsequent post, but first I want to introduce you to the individual units that I have been playing with. The post-FAQ Templars codex is chock full of unique and powerful units that cannot be fielded from other marine codices.

More 40k Podcast Reviews

In a continuing mission to keep my readers up-to-date with all that's happening in the 40k podcast world, here's a new update. I'll introduce you to some new podcasts (well new new to me anyway) and update you on my opinions of some that I have mentioned before. Remember that these are rated according to what I look for in a podcast - your needs may vary!

If your favourite podcast is missing, that's because I have an earlier post that covered the podcasts available at that time. I have also made all my podcast review content available as a permanent page on my site. I hope that you get some value from my reviews!

Comp and Swiss

Like many of you I am a big fan of the idea of win/loss tournaments. The premise behind this scoring methodology is that players shouldn't be penalised for winning close games against highly skilled opponents. In a battle points tournament the luck of the draw is vital, as getting assigned a weak opponent allows you to race ahead in points 20 - 0 or similar.

The win/loss system cares only whether you won or lost - but hang on a sec, that's not entirely true is it? Some kind of points measure is still recorded, for the purpose of determining the next round's pairings using the Swiss system.

A Time of Reflection

    This fella above is my rough skeleton for the Squad Smackdown prize. Look out for further updates over the next few weeks as he gets assembled and painted. I'll be going for a sandy arena style base, with judicious application of blood, and green stuffed internal organs :)  
(Battle Bunker Aki suggested he should be wielding a knife, as part of the story of dismemberment being told; I can see his point...)

Things have been a little bit quiet over here on A Plague Spreads recently. I've suffered from a nasty case of blog burn-out after having made it through the grueling Squad Smackdown series of posts. With my precious little free time it was a lot to take on and I needed a break from the blog afterwards. Dont panic though, because here I am again, re-energized and with a tonne of ideas for new posts. Expect content on the following:

• Some innovative scoring ideas that could be incorporated into existing frameworks
• An in-depth look at Terminators across all the codices (this was inspired by The Independent Characters)
• Trying my bit to help change the Games Workshop corporate mindset
• Flames of War

In addition, I'm looking forward to writing a new series of posts subtitled "Crunching Fluff". The premise is to take a fluffy list and optimise it - without tarnishing the original theme. I can come up with themes on my own, but if you have a list that needs it's fluff crunched then please email me - I'll be happy to help!

Space "Knights" for Warpath

So I have read the Warpath rules several times and I like the simplicity of having two rolls for combat. Speeding up the game is great - it might even be possible to play an entire game with my wife before she looses interest! I still don't like the idea of having a counter for each units current Nerve. I'd prefer removing models as a mechanism to record the losses, but I guess I'll have to suck it and see...

This list covers most of the standard Space MarineKnight models. It is built as a heroic army and the prices are high, but in reality I haven't the slightest idea how to price Warpath units :) So any feedback on the pricing would be very valuable. Giving Elite to all the units might be over the top, or it might be a stroke of genius. Anyway please let me know what you think!

Space Knights (0.1)