Wednesday Warriors at Good Games Melbourne

Name: Wednesday Warriors
Location: Good Games Melbourne (365 Lonsdale St, Melbourne)
Time: 12pm-1:30pm every Wednesday
Cost: Free
Army Size: 750 points

Let me introduce to you Wednesday Warriors, a lunchtime 40k meetup in Melbourne CBD. For all of you who aren't getting enough 40k in your week, this is an opportunity to squeeze in an extra game without impacting on your busy schedule.

Get Ready For Some Blogging Action!

Hello loyal readers... well those I still have :) After writing a post a week pretty consistently over the last two years, I have been on a bit of a blogging holiday over the last few months. Its pretty standard as a gamer to hit a lull in one part of the hobby, and I've gone from checking my blog hits daily to not even logging on to blogger in the last four weeks. Of course you can't keep a good gamer down, and I have been busy playing a bunch of great board games and obsessing over the Netrunner LCG.

Do not panic however, because I write to you now reinvigorated with blogging energy. As discussed I am looking into starting a new 40k meet in the city of Melbourne. This is ready to kick off, and I will dedicate a post to it very shortly. I also need to continue my articles on Tau in 6th edition, as delayed as they are. And expect further 40k podcast reviews as required.

Silent Blog, Not Wholly 40k

 Pardon the weak pun in the title

Sigh. I hate starting my posts by apologising, but its been over a month since my last post so I guess I am a little bit sorry :) So why haven't I been posting? Well I haven't played a game of 40k in months with no sign of the drought ending any time soon. And after working hard painting my Russian Imperial Guard I lost traction on that project. Haven't painted a Space Marine in a couple of months. Hey at least I have picked up the 6th edition rulebook.

So what I have been doing? Playing Android:Netrunner, deckbuilding Netrunner, browsing Netrunner forums and resisting starting a Netrunner blog. I absolutely love this game, the latest LCG from Fantasy Flight. But I've in general avoided posting about it here as this has always been primarily a wargaming blog, and I don't want to spam you all with off topic card game crap :)

That said, I am getting the 40k itch again. I want to play 6th edition games with my Crimson Fists! As a father of two I struggle to find the energy to organise a new playgroup and get out there. I guess  I am going to have to make time for it.

One thing I've been considering is starting a 750 point league at Good Games Melbourne on Wednesdays. I actually love playing at this points level because you have to think on your feet and cool stuff happens. Perhaps I'll get that off the ground in the new year.

Otherwise I have recently bought a couple of good board games so I could post reviews of those. I'll also post a toolbox Space Marine list I have been working on recently. Perhaps I'll get some painting done over the summer holidays and have some pretty pics to post!

Anyway, Merry Christmas to all my loyal readers and I hope you have a happy year of gaming to come in 2013.

Resurrecting my Plague Marines III: Army Lists

I'll tell you what; building armies with this new codex is a refreshing change - there are plenty of options! Here is something I am confident I would love to play.

Resurrecting my Plague Marines II: The Unpainted

Following on from my previous post, here I am going to go through my unpainted / unassembled Chaos Space Marine models. These forces have been gathered from bargain purchases off Wargamer AU in the four years since I built the original army. These reserves have been patiently awaiting their chance to be unleashed on unsuspecting enemies and spread a little pestilence.

In general I love the assembly and modelling part of the hobby, but the level of detail I have gone to in this army makes some of the tasks a little onerous. Still with a new codex (well I don't actually have the codex but its starting to look like I'll have to pick it up) one can find the patience and energy to do what has to be done :)

Resurrecting my Plague Marines I: The Painted

Well, well, well. A new Chaos Space Marines codex sees the light of days. Four years ago (or something to that effect) I was just getting back into 40k. I had harboured a fondness for the followers of Nurgle for a long time, and made the commitment to start a Nurgle army. My idea was to theme the force around a Chaos Sorcerer and his immediate retinue, supported by a horde of plague animate zombies brought back to life by the Sorcerer's will.

By the time I had got my shit together and bought a couple of CSM boxes, the new simplified codex wa released and my plans were in tatters. The best they could do was vary my zombies as Lesser Daemons, which didn't really work thematically. They (and my chaos lord) didn't have Feel No Pain damn it! I love my FNP. I built that force up to around 1200 points, before my "el cheapo" Crimson Fists force started to dominate my hobby time.

Android: Netrunner Initial Thoughts

It finally arrived! I walked into Good Games Melbourne during lunchtime on Tuesday. Looking around and lo and behold - a bunch of large brown boxes labelled Fantasy Flight Games. The first had something about Star Wars minis, so I threw it aside. But there underneath was what I have been waiting for all these weeks, "Android: Netrunner" in bold print.

From there it was easy. I grabbed the guy from behind the counter and forced him to open the boxes. I then waited patiently whilst he called his boss for a retail price. $55 later, and the box was mine. I think I was probably the first person in Melbourne to own a box.

Android: Netrunner: The Eternal Wait

You know that unhealthy feeling when you start to get obsessed with a game? Spending all your waking hours:

• writing army lists / deck lists
• cycling repeatedly through every related web forum, waiting for new posts
• studying spoilers to memorise stats
• talking about it to people who don't care...

Well I got it bad for Android:Netrunner -  and I don't even have the game yet! I have been walking to my FLGS each day at lunch, and asking the same question - "Netrunner?". The answer is invariably no, but the exercise is good for me. Just recently the answer changed to something like "We expect the ship in Sydney any day now", then "The boxes are in customs", all the way to "In a trunk on the way to our warehouse and should be in tomorrow" (that was today). I wrote a haiku to capture my frustration:

Tau in 6th Ed: Crisis Suits (POST FAQ!)

I dropped an article one week ago going through the Tau crisis suit armoury options and unit configuration options in detail. Then, after all this hard work, Games Workshop release their now famous Warhammer 40k 6.1 Ed FAQs, screwing up several of my analyses and ruining a couple of tactical options that I was looking forward to trying out on the table.

However I can't complain because (A) they at least reinstated target locks to their former glory, and (B) these FAQs are fair, balanced, and the best thing to happen to 40k since, um ... OK I dunno. Maybe the Ork codex. Whatever, choose something that you liked. So instead here is the revised version, with original text scored out when no longer applicable, and new coolness added.

Oh yeah, not relevant to this article but disruption pods now give shrouding! Thats a 3+ cover save for all Tau vehicles which have 25% cover. Just saying :)

40k Rulebook and Codex FAQs Summarised

This is just me copying and pasting the interesting looking entries from each FAQ, without large amounts of thought. It the ruling was obvious to me I didn't bother. Take it for what it is.

My general impression is "well done', this is a positive and well thought out update, something that we all wished for I'm sure. Some of the cheesiness of 6th edition has been toned down - Fateweaver, Tau drone characters - leaving Flyers at the top of the cheese mountain.

You can find all the FAQs on the Games Workshop site.