Journal of a Sentient Grot: Don't Get Cocky, Kid...

Curses!

The revolution is postponed!

I had developed a super weapon, a fortress hidden beneath the wastes of this planet that when finished, would fly across the galaxy and unleash awesome destructive power. With it I would free my cousins from the yoke of Orkish oppression, and maybe blow up a planet or two just for shits and giggles...

But now it's all ruined, the whole thing destroyed, because of some random dirt eating flyboy Ork...

I suppose my overconfidence was my weakness...

Who'd have thought someone would drop explosives down a small thermal exhaust port. Knew I should have put a gate on that thing...

Now at the top of Ereyous deathlist... when the revolution comes my friend...

 

Ereyou: Experiments with Gravitational Fields, Weaponised.

 



 

Or, to put things more simply, the pictures of my finished Traktor Kannons I mentioned in my last blog post.

 



A Tale of Trukin

So I recently started a Tale of Some Gamers, and have started work on my army. I've completed a squad of boyz, a mek, a runtherd... but I've painted plenty of Orks before, the only real difference is this time there is a splash of yellow instead of red for this tribe. The one I was more concerned with was my first vehicle.

One, it's my first time painting yellow. Tricky on the little patches on the infantry, but on a vehicle, with large blocks of colour, more of a challenge.
Two, I wanted to try my hand at that salt weathering technique. So, a new colour scheme AND a completely new method of painting. I think I may have a masochistic streak... should be painting Dark Eldar.
Three, I also wanted to try out a couple of the new technical paints, and some weathering dusts. Just because.

Anyway, the first truk is done. Overall I am happy with the result. The yellow took a lot longer than I anticipated, but it wasn't as bone achingly long as the line highlights on my Necron vehicles (a method that I liked the effect of, but have never bought another vehicle for that army since doing two annihilation barges and one Doomsday ark - and if I'd painted the annihilation barges first I wouldn't have painted the Doomsday Ark, cos I never use the bloody thing!)

This leaves me with a dakkajet, 3 mek guns, and about 30 gretchin/ammo runts/ grot oilers etc to do before the last Tuesday in September. That sounds achievable. Pics of the finished truk are below.

A Tale of Some Gamers

Just writing the rules down in a convenient place for future reference.

Tale of X Gamers (X - To Be Determined)

Starts Tuesday 29th July
Phase 1 lasts till last Tuesday of September
Phase 2 lasts till last Tuesday of November
Phase 3 lasts till last Tuesday of January 2015
Phase 4 lasts till last Tuesday of March 2015
Phase 5 will last an as yet undetermined time...

Expanding an Army

The rules were originally designed for painting an army fresh, however some people would prefer to expand existing armies, so to allow for that...

At the start of each period each person must submit a list of what they wish to paint, coming to 500 points. This is what they will paint, in order to score that month. If they then wish to substitute out that model for other models in order to play a game for the bonus points (no super heavies in combat patrol Rich!) they are allowed to do so. Anything that is dropped out is held in reserve for the apoc game at the end. Thus if you already have a 2k painted army and wish to just add more stuff to it, you can paint whatever you want, just swap it to the apoc reserve and bring in your already painted troopers for any games we play.

Once swapped in the models you bring in stay in your army - thus whatever you bring for the combat patrol game will be part of the 1000 point game and the 1500 point tournament. This is to try to keep a level playing field between those who have a large already painted army behind them and those who are starting fresh.

The phases are detailed below.

Phase 1 - 500 points. 5 points for on time, 3 for late (painted by first Tuesday of October) , 0 for unpainted. Bonus 1 point available for getting a combat patrol game in. (not necessarily a ToXG competitor, anyone will do.)

Phase 2 - 500 points. 5 points for on time, 3 for late (painted by first Tuesday of December), 0 for unpainted. Bonus 3 points available for getting a test game against someone (not necessarily a ToFG competitor, anyone will do.)

Phase 3 - 500 points. 5 points for on time, 3 for late (painted by first Tuesday of February), 0 for unpainted. Also, will play a mini-league with each competitor playing each other competitor. League rankings will determine bonus points. This will take place early February (date TBD) I have yet to determine if we will do it over one Sunday or perhaps over a couple of Tuesdays.

Phase 4 - 500 points. 5 points for on time, 3 points for late (painted by first Tuesday of April), 0 for unpainted. Bonus 2 points for modelling an objective marker. Further bonus 1 point for a further objective marker.

Phase 5 - As much extra as you wish for Apoc. Legendary Units, Super Heavies, whatever you like. Deadline is the day of the apoc game, probably late April or early May(date TBD). There will be no points available for painting, but simply put if it isn't painted you can't use it. Any units dropped from earlier 500 point blocks can be put back in here. All forces will join our standing 2000 point armies. The sides will be determined by the challenge organiser along the best lines he sees fit. Hopefully we’ll have some clear “goodies” and “baddies” that can team up, neutrals being assigned as needed... however if there are no clear easy sides to draw we will find another method, at random if necessary. Any difference in points will be covered by additional strategic assets for the poorer party. Scoring for this month will be 5 points for each person on the winning team. There will be an additional 5 points for the "Champion" of each team. This will be decided by completing a secret personal objective (so secret even their team mates aren't allowed to know!)

Additional Rules and Clarifications

The 500 points is the target. Give or take a few points that can be made up or dropped with wargear this is fine. Of course, in your test games you must have a legal army and the correct army value so bear that in mind when planning your forces. Your 1500 point army for the mini tournament will be made up of what you have painted thus far. *With Unbound now a thing, this is less of an issue*

If anyone chooses to paint extra throughout the challenge that is their prerogative. However you can’t hold it off against next month. If you present 650 points in phase 1 you still have to present 500 in phase 2. The advantages for doing extra are more tactical flexibility when planning for the phase 3 tournament and more forces ready for the final apocalypse game.

Imperial armour books are acceptable sources for miniatures, unit entries and army lists. Anything found within those pages shall be allowed to be entered as part of the contest and used in games therein (though obviously apoc only formations can’t be used till the apoc game) The person wishing to do this however MUST possess (or have access to) the Imperial Armour books required.

When it comes to games, weapons on models and anything that would normally be represented needs to be. Wargear that doesn't need to be represented can be varied.

If you go to the effort of making your weapons alterable, through magnets or whatever, you can make use of this flexibility. The conversion work and painting the extra guns is the price you pay. Note though that in the mini tournament you must stick to one weapon loadout throughout.

Finally, while wargear can be changed, when it comes to the mini tournament we will each submit a list. That is what we play to for ALL games.

Apocalyptic Finale

To finish our Tale of X Gamers we're having an apocalyptic showdown, and I thought I'd give fair warning ofsome rules we are using for this one.

For starters, all models MUST be painted. It is a painting challenge we've just finished after all. It doesn't matter when you painted them, or whether you're missing something you should have finished earlier, if it's painted you can use it, if it isn't then it doesn't exist as far as we're concerned.

The basic rules will be for a standard apoc game, though we will have personal missions. These will be written in advance and will be secret (even from our teammates) Revealing the mission before the end of the game means your mission is void. You will have the choice of three.

Claim most objectives in the enemy deployment zone.
Kill the highest value enemy independant character.
Destroy the highest value enemy legendary formation.

In the kill/destroy ones, the person who takes the last wound takes the prize, as keeping track of who did what damage is far too much work. If both players on a team complete their mission, whoever did the harder mission is named that sides champion.

The winning team will get 5 points each. The champion of each team will get 5 points each. Thus each player can score 0, 5, or 10. Only one player will score 10.

My target army for this challenge.

LOW - Ghaz - 225
HQ - Big Mek, Mega Armour, Kustom Mega Blasta, Power Klaw, Kustom Force Field, Da Lucky Stix, 1 Grot Oiler 1 Ammo Runt - 158
HQ - Painboy, grot orderly - 55
bonus HQ - Mek - 15
T - 20 Boyz, shootas, Nob PK Bosspole -180
ded tran truk, ram -35
T - 20 Boyz, shootas, Nob PK Bosspole -180
ded tran truk, ram -35
T - 20 Boyz shootas, Nob Bosspole - 155
T - 10 grots, runtherd - 35
E - 7 Meganobz, 3 Killsaws, 3 Kombi skorchas, 1 Bosspole - 330
ded tran - Battlewagon, ram, grot riggers, 4 big shootas, extra armour, boarding planks - 170
HS - Battlewagon, Deffrolla, 2 big shootas, grot riggers, boarding planks - 155
HS - Battlewagon, Deffrolla, 2 big shootas, grot riggers, boarding planks - 155
HS - 3 Mek guns, Traktor Kannons, each with +2 gretchin crew and an ammo runt -117

Now despite the Meganobz and their Battlewagon looking like a perfect 500 point period, I want to paint all my megaarmoured models at once... so that includes the Big Mek, Ghaz, and the spare Big Mek in Mega Armour with Tellyport Blasta I will build just in case I ever want to change thing up. Which is more than 500, which means other months will fall short. Luckily, I have some other models I can bolster my forces with, I just have to accept I shall paint more than 2000 points over the course of the challenge... oh well, at least I can use them in the finale!

So, my first months allotment is...

T - 20 Boyz, shootas, Nob PK Bosspole -180
ded tran truk, ram -35
T - 10 grots, runtherd - 35
HS - 3 Mek guns, Traktor Kannons, each with +2 gretchin crew and an ammo runt -117
HQ - Mek - 15
FA Dakkajet extra super shoota - 130

All of which takes me just over 500 points. Not sure if the Mek will be allowed in combat patrol, if not I'll stick the flyboss upgrade on the dakkajet and roll it out instead.

In other news, everything I want for this army is bought. Some of it is still to be delivered (thank you Waitlong Games, speedy service as always, even Forge World have overtaken you with this project!) but hopefully that won't crimp my project too much. I also plan to paint the grots and ammo runts and things for the rest of the army during this period, as I intend to do all the grotskins in one batch for consistency.

Da Plan

So I'm sure many of you have done this before but is kind of a first for me... I have planned an army that I want to build. Yeah, I know, to most gamers not exactly newsworthy, but I've always been a sort of absorbing hobbyist - I'll absorb any new releases into my burgeoning collection and figure out what to do with them months down the line. This can lead to some boxes I still have sat on my shelf, unloved, unused, but if I ever fancy painting something a bit different, it's there ready to go, even if I'm broke when the mood does strike me.

Anyway, as I mentioned in my last post, I am thinking of doing a Bad Moons ork army to enable me to get all the new ork toys I want that just don't fit with my Speed Freaks army (such as artillery and meganobz - and yes I know meganobz can have a transport but it's just the idea of putting a unit with the "SLOW and purposeful" rule into a SPEED freaks army has always felt wrong to me)

So, I am going to put the list, then make a few points as to what my thinking is, then note down what I have and what I need to get, and finally some notes on future development.

LOW - Ghaz - 225
HQ - Big Mek, Mega Armour, Kustom Mega Blasta, Power Klaw, Kustom Force Field, Da Lucky Stix, 3 Grot Oilers 1 Ammo Runt - 168
HQ - Painboy, cybork body, grot orderly - 60
bonus HQ - Mek - 15
T - 20 Boyz, shootas, Nob PK Bosspole -180
ded tran truk, ram -35
T - 20 Boyz, shootas, Nob PK Bosspole -180
ded tran truk, ram -35
T - 20 Boyz shootas - 140
T - 10 grots, runtherd - 35
E - 7 Meganobz, 3 Killsaws, 3 Kombi skorchas, 1 Bosspole - 330
ded tran - Battlewagon, ram, grot riggers, 4 big shootas, extra armour, boarding planks - 170
HS - Battlewagon, Deffrolla, 2 big shootas, grot riggers, boarding planks - 155
HS - Battlewagon, Deffrolla, 2 big shootas, grot riggers, boarding planks - 155
HS - 3 Mek guns, Traktor Kannons, each with +2 gretchin crew and an ammo runt -117

So, Ghaz, the meganobz, the big mek and the painboy all ride in the meganobz (well, Ghaz really) Battlewagon with a 5++ save, It Will Not Die, and a chance of fixing parts that fall off, looking to get stuck in and beat face. The unit has FNP and is a little bit hard. The Lucky Stix grant the unit +1WS as well as giving the Big Mek some rerolls (that with the downside being fail too many and he's dead, I shall only use sparingly) The two units of Boyz led by a nob will ride in support in the other Battlewagons.

The spare Mek I plan to join with the artillery to give those grots a bit of a Leadership boost. There's also a unit of Grots and a mob of boyz for looking after objectives in the backfield area.

 The traktor Kannons are the anti air for this list, though if there aren't any enemy flyers then I'll take pop-shots at ground targets too - hitting on a 6 isn't anything an ork player is generally going to cry about.

The only thing that might not be immediately obvious is the truks. Well I'll be honest, it was the local store manager that clued me in to this little trick, and as I had some points spare I decided to give it a try. Now sure, those truks won't be carrying those boyz mobs any time soon (though they could rescue the survivors if they ever take too much of a kicking!) but as they are bought for a troop that makes them also a troop, and as this army is built using the standard force org chart, this gives it objective secured. So I can tank shock an enemy off an objective and, if he doesn't have objective secured, steal it right from under his very nose. On a fast vehicle that's fairly handy!

So, what is the state of the army right now?

Well, I've got Ghaz. I've just finished converting his Battlewagon. I also have a couple deffrolla battlewagons sat around, need to do a couple bitz on them (mainly the wargear options) and they'll be good to go too. I also have all the boyz I will need for this. I've picked up one Mek Gun so far (I wanted to have a look at the kit, see how easy it is to magnetise... that aint gonna happen, though I have heard that with the spares and a truk kit you can jerry rig the other three guns in a suitably orky fashion, which I may try at some point.) I also *might* have a box of grots somewhere, but I may have used them on a conversion, so maybe not.

Needed? Well, the big mek and meganobz are required, so 3 boxes of meganobz. I also want the new painboy. I could use one I already have, but the new one is nicer. I also need a mek, I may look at the new one or just convert something. I need 2 more Mek guns. I also need two truks. Possibly one, I definitely have one spare that I got off a friend, but it's part assembled, and not very well done, so I may save that for the mek gun project and get fresh truks. I was also eyeing up the enclosed cab truk on forgeworld and thinking something snazzy like that would suit Bad Moons down to the ground.

I don't really NEED it for the above army, but I do WANT to get the new Shok Attack Gun at some point. Consider that on my shopping list for future development, when I wish to expand beyond my planned 2k list.

As for other future developments, well I still have tucked away 2 looted wagons, a dakkajet, lots of deffkoptas, lots of Nobz (including many with cybork bodies if I wanted to do a unit that looked like it had received the attentions of mad dok grotsnik) a crapton of Lootas, some stormboyz, 3 kans, 1 deffdred, 1 mega dred and 2 stompas. So plenty of room for expansion there...

Oh, and in case anyone is wondering how I have amassed such an unpainted collection of Orks, it's because when friends quit the hobby, I have a massive urge to offer their armies homes. When it's armies I have no interest in< I can usually fight the urges and let them go to a better place... when it came to pretty much doubling the size of my ork army... yeah, I caved.

Waagghhheeeeerrree do we go from here?

So, the new Ork codex is out and I've had a quick look through it, plus had plenty of time to appreciate the look of the new models that have been dribbling out over the last few weeks (whilst having no idea how they'd play and if I wanted them, so instead I spent my money on X-Wing this month, your loss GW)

Having looked at all they have on offer, I feel that my current Ork army has been mistreated somewhat. My usual warlord, Wazzdakka, gone. My using of Wazzdakka to make Bikers Troops, gone with him. The bikes being out of Fast attack to free up plenty of spots for Stormboyz, deffkoptas, dakkajets etc, gone. And the small units of boyz in truks barrelling towards the enemy, well it seems the new mob rules will encourage Ork players to take large units of orks... which won't fit in truks. Truks are now the specialists ride, Boyz are either Battlewagons or on foot. It leaves the look and feel of my entire Ork army a bit battered, and hoping for a Speed Freaks supplementary codex at some point in the future to bring them back to their glory... that is in my wishlist with a Catachan codex, so who knows when these will arrive.

In the meantime, I'll still want to play Orks. And they've got all sorts of shiny new toys that I DO like... but just don't fit into a speed freaks army. I love the new Meks guns, but we don't need Artillery pieces holding us back. I like the new Meganobz kits, but a unit with the "slow and purposeful" rule does not make an ideal bedfellow with a speed freaks army. Sure you can give them a transport, but it just doesn't feel like the big buggers would fit the theme...

So I have been thinking of taking a new direction with any future Orks I paint. I still have a job lot to do that I picked up cheaply from a friend who was quitting 40k (again, already looking to get back into it less than a year later) so perhaps they can be the core of a new, second force. From a different tribe.

The two other tribes I have looked at and liked have been the Deffskulls and the Bad Moons. I played around with some lists tonight, and with the deffskulls I picked what I wanted and got to roughly 1700 points. I normally aim for 2k. By this time I'd filled my HS and my HQ, had more than the minimum troop requirement, and had at least one of anything associated with Deffskulls... Lootas, Looted Wagon, Tankbustas, Meks. The problems? Well, for one, not enough points. Two, that looted wagon is the only vehicle in it apart from a flyer, so will be dead turn 1 guaranteed. And Three, there was an awful lot of shooting in the list. Sure, it can work for the Orks, don't get me wrong... but it didn't feel like why I wanted to play Orks. I got Speed Freaks to go rushing towards the enemy and headbutt them. If I want to sit back and shoot, well I've got my guard for that. Now admittedly half the time I send my guard rushing across the field to headbutt someone, but just because they attempt something out of their comfort zone doesn't mean these guys have to as well.

Which brings us to the Bad Moons. The list came to around the 2k mark. It's based around Ghazkull (or a Bad Moon counts as) and a big unit of MegaNobz plus meks in a pimped out Battlewagon, flanked by Battlewagons of Boyz. I've got some of the new traktor kannons in the list, as well as a dakkajet, some deffkoptas, and some boys and grots on foot to mind home side objectives.

There are some downsides to Bad Moons. For one, all that YELLOW. That is intimidating to paint. But with the new paints from Games Workshop I've heard it is easier now... I may have to do some test models to see just how easy it has become to see if this is something I could feasibly do. The other downside is that I was considering basing the second ork army in the same way as the first, so that both tribes could be part of a greater waaaaagh on the same iceworld if I wanted to. But I think the bright yellow bad moons would look better against a darker base colour, and the snow splatter effect that looks good up my bright red truks wouldn't look quite as effective on a yellow battlewagon. Dark mud sprayed up the side of a bright yellow vehicle, different story. So perhaps it may be time to give the poor Vahallens some rest, and to take my Waaagghing elsewhere for a while. Of course, only time (and a test model or two) will tell. If I can't do Bad Moons, I'm likely to return to the Deffskulls... and Blue works just fine on an ice world...

*Pictures of Deffskulls and Bad Moons borrowed from ebay, apologies if I've picked up someone elses models, as explained in the post above I haven't painted any of my own in these colours yet and wanted something illustrative.

The Four Stompas of the Apocalypse

The tactical situation - apoc game at the local Games Workshop. Two Ork players and a small Guard contingent line up against the varied forces of the Imperium, with Guard, Grey Knights, Space Wolves, Blood Angels and Dark Angels stood before them. Time for Waaaaaaaggghhhh!

 "Hand out those camo sticks!" yelled Platoon Sergeant Crick "Cover every exposed part of skin in green. You two, start a small brawl among that squad! Don't stand up straight, hunch over more! We're gonna have to really pull off one hell of a show if we're gonna make it back to Imperial lines alive..."

Bugrit surveyed the field in front of him. This was a Meks dream, the fruits of his labours given life on the field of battle. Naturally he didn't see things this way. Bugrit saw a good chance to crump stuff and get more loot. But despite his lack of elocution, it's fair to say that the description of his feelings was probably accurate.

Wazzdakka and a horde of bikes were over to the right flank. A Stompa and a Skullhamma were surrounded by all the wagons, truks and buggies of the clan, with a swarm of Stormboyz clustered behind the mass of the Stompa. Bugrit stood in a nest of Snotlings, plenty of ammo for his Shok Attack Gun. Over to the left, a rival clan had brought three Stompas to the party. They may think they had the best position in the centre of the field, but they aren't as fast as Bugrits lads. We'll beat em to the enemy, hell we can probably reach THEIR enemy before they do. On the far left there were what appeared to be some looted wagons crewed by Grots. Presumably they were allied with the other clan as they seemed to be in the midst of their lines. But grots are unimportant anyway...

The Stompas strode forwards, thier super gatlers tearing vast chunks out of the opposition. The entire speed freaks clan surged forward... well, not quite as one. They were bumping and shoving and trying to make sure they got to the enemy first. One truk exploded as a paniced shot from a krak missile struck home. As the vehicle fell to pieces around them, the lads emerged and vowed revenge upon the lowly marine that had committed them to walking. Their temper was not helped by their erstwhile allies driving past at speed, throwing insults and quite a bit of faeces at them. Most of the enemy fire was bouncing off the super heavy vehicles though. The occassional ripple of a kustom force field betraying the shots that could have potentially done more than scratch the paint job. Meanwhile, the bikers slaughtered the Ravenwing bikers who had been foolish enough to try to slow down the Stompa by getting in it's path. As they died, the air rippled and a squad of Terminators appeared behind the Stompa. The bikers roared into the assault, as did the Nob bikers lead by Wazzdakka. They slaughtered them in a brutal close combat, though several of the bikers were cut down in return. 

As the Orks broke in a wave upon the Imperial lines, more and more troops started to arrive behind the Ork forces. Blood Angels, Ultramarines, Space Wolves, Dark Angels. A couple of Dakkajets swooped low and annihalated the Blood Angels with supreme weight of fire. A jingling sounded as Santa came flying across the battlefield, firing missiles at... well, anyone happy really. You never know, it may even have hit the enemy. Bugrit decided that devastator squad in a bunker had been troublesome enough, and targetted his shok attack gun at them. There was a brief "Zogging eck!" followed by a bright flash... Bugrit, his grots, and the two low flying dakkajets had all vanished! Lost in the warp somewhere...
A double 1 roll on a Shok Attack Gun probably wouldn't effect flyers, but as the Orky side was winning so easily by this point that most of the reinforcements were troops that had already been killed in the battle being given a second chance we didn't see the harm in losing the flyers to such a funny result

The bikers and wazzdakka charged into the second Deathwing squad, and Santa joined them. ore than half the squad were wiped out. However when the Dread countered into Santa and managed to instant death him, the combat tipped in the Dark Angels favour. Wazzdakka tried to make a hasty escape, but he was captured by the Dark Angels. They seemed to think he had some intelligence on the whereabouts of some people who must have tripped. I don't see why they're so concerned, but have to admit that the idea of asking an Ork for intelligence shows the supreme naivety of the first legion...

By this point the left flank had started to turn upon itself. Smelling the umiez for what they really were, the Orks had turned upon them. They had then promptly switched sides and fired back. The speed freaks spotted a glint in the eye of a Stompa as they roared towards the nearest Baneblades... including a red one. Seeing the challenge, a speed freaks battlewagon instantly rammed the rogue Stompa with a deffrolla, as a looted wagon, dive bomber and Skullhamma all started firing at it. After quite a bruising the Ork player retired from the field of battle, with one Stompa dead and 2 limping (one of which had lost half it's mass, yet none of it from enemy fire!)

As some of the Orks withdrew, the umiez on the left realised that the Imperials weren't so forgiving of their earlier "play-acting" as some of their shots had been a little too convincing... terminally convincing in fact. They meant to get their revenge on the traitors, so the guard switched back to the Ork side as they fought for their very lives. The Dark Angels swiftly retreated with Wazzdakka, who having been unseated from his bike for the first time in months was finding walking a little difficult. He'd have to escape when he had feelings back in his legs. The guard were slaughtered as the first lads out ran riot, though most of the boyz were still in their transports, having not reached the enemy yet. It was decided that it was a solid Ork victory and the imperials withdrew to lick their wounds, as the lads celebrated a glorious victory, and a bloody good fight. One or two even wondered where Bugrit and Wazzdakka had got to, and why were they missing all the fun..?

Santa Klaws Rulez...

As promised, the rules I came up with (and by now should be using in an apoc game) for Santa Klaws and his Sleigh...

UNIT OR FORMATION NAME: Santa Klaws POINTS: 250

DESCRIPTION:

Oi get your choppas out,

'ear the umiez cry,

Giv em all a clout,

and watch em all die...

Santa Klaws is coming, to WAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

SANTA KLAWS:

	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld	Sv
Santa	5	2	5	5	3	4	4	9	6

Santa is equipped with Power Klaw, Eavy Armour, Cybork Body, and Santas Sack of Prezzies, Santas Sleigh.

Santas Sack of Prezzies.

At the start of the shooting phase, choose one Ork unit within 12” of Santa, and roll on the following table.

D6	Result
1	Lumps of Coal. The boyz have been bad. The unit cannot do anything this turn except cry.
2	The unit gets shiny new choppas and sluggas but no tactical change
3	As above, but these ones are snazzier, so the orks feel even better. No tactical difference, but they're happy.
4	Lotsa Ammo – Santa has given out extra bullets, all guns get +1 shot this turn
5	Wooly jumpers – The extra thick layers give +1 to the armour save this turn
6	Med Packs – The unit has FNP this turn!

The effect of Santas Sack lasts for one turn only. No unit can receive a second gift from the sack. That wouldn't be fair.

SANTAS SLEIGH:

	BS	Front Armour	Side Armour	Rear Armour
Santas Sleigh	2	11	11	10

Fast, Chariot, Open Topped, Red Paint Job, 2 twin linked dakkaguns, Exhaust Cloud, 4 Joy Seeking Missiles, A very Special Task. The sleigh has 4 hull points.

Joy Seeking Missiles.

Read out the name of the missile. Whoever has the biggest smile (friend or foe) is the target. That players most expensive unit is targeted.

Range unlimited, no LOS required. AP2 One shot heavy 1 hits on 2+. All are fired at once. Str variable*

*If the person is upset at this turn of events, the missiles are Str 6. If they are ok with things, they are Str 8. If they find the whole episode hilarious, Str 10.

A very Special Mission

If this unit is being used in December, it can choose to be a flyer during any turn. It must be a flyer for the complete turn. As a flyer the rider can vector strike instead of doing his sweep attack.

If the flyer is shot down, the unit that shot it down is immediately targeted by the nearest unit (friend or foe) and an out of sequence shooting attack is directed against it, as everyone is mad at them for spoiling Christmas. Furthermore, all units on the board (including the “friendly” ones) have preferred enemy against THAT unit for the remainder of the game. Whichever player ordered the unit to shoot down Santa can expect to receive abuse from all other players for doing the most callous thing since Alan Rickman called off Christmas...

Santa Klaws is coming to Waaaaaaaaagh!

'E sees you when youz sleepin,
'E knows when youz awake,
Cos 'E's peering through your window,
So stoppit fore you go blind mate!

Oh get your choppas out,
Raise 'em in the sky,
Giv your mate a clout,
We'z tellin you wy,
Santa Klaws is coming, to Waaaaaaaaaaaagggghhhhh!

Sixth Edition Initiation Game

About 4 months after the rest of the internets I have finally got round to playing my first game of sixth edition. Unfortunately it was at rather short notice. So I rocked up at Ginges house today and borrowed his Ork army for my first game of sixth against his necrons. Essentially playing Orks for the first time against an army I have never played against using a game system I haven't yet played.... so didn't expect to win, however I wasn't expecting things to go quite as badly as it did. So I'm going to use this more of a run down on my feelings of sixth rather then a battle report.

Mission and Deployment
We ended up playing Big guns never Tire with Vanguard deployment type. Not necessarily my ideal deployment type for this game but no matter. I won the roll for deployment and decided to go first. I was hoping to be able to hit Ginges' lines without having to take too many turns of shooting. Didn't quite work out that way though.

Charging:
I think that charging has become a far bigger risk now in 6th edition. With random charge length and overwatch shooting. Frankly, charging large squads in cover with a squad of Orks is more or less pointless. I lost so many models from overwatch fire, by the time I had struck last in combat, the orks were causing less casualties then the crons. Removal of the nearest models doesn't help this either, as trying to thin a squad out prior to charging with shooting just means you have to charge further, making reaching combat less likely, while still having to face a round of overwatch shooting (even if you don't roll high enough to reach combat!?!). This is made even worse in the case of necrons with the nearest models dying, then making their ressurection rolls and resurfacing further away from the assaulting squad, while still being close enough to provide rapid fire overwatch shots.

Challenges:
Frankly, probably the worst army to face challenges against, mind shackle scarabs vs a low leadership army are brutal. Meaning you have a choice between not participating in a combat with your hard as nails Ork, or killing yourself in the second round of combat. Though even if you challenge in the first round of combat (negating the MSS) chances are the lord will just stand back up and either kill you or get you to kill yourself the following combat. Not exactly the cinematic effect GW were aiming for in this case.

Hull Points:
Necrons strip hull points from tanks with grim efficiency, half a squad of shooting would have been slagging land raiders with Ginges rolling in this game. No vehicle survived past the first thing to shoot at it. Frankly it's pointless even talking about it.

Aircraft:
Proved to be entirely ineffective this game, with two dakka jets putting about 18 wounds on a squad of necrons (though Ginge had cleverly placed his lord with 2+ save closest to where they would enter play) meaning he lost about 2 necrons and a single wound on his lord (which the 2 crons just resurrected). When shot at by Ginges annihilation barges they just dropped out the sky. Although needing sixes to hit, with twin linked weapons that score 3 hits for every six rolled, and me failing all the jink saves, well they didn't last long. Against armies that don't have such efficient AA weapons, I can see flyers being hugely effective. Though my inexperience proved to be there downfall more then anything though.

Overall:
I quite enjoyed my first game of sixth, frankly given the circumstances of this game (and Ginges' insanely lucky rolling, I think he probably won't roll another 6 for a good few months) despite it being a complete whitewash I still had a fun time.

I think the game overall has shifted to more of a shooting game, even more then 5th. Which is going to be a pain for my Tyranids (though the loss of no retreat wounds, means they should last twice as long in combat).

I think I will have to try out my Tyranids and Tau next.

Arrogance is a Virtue

At least, it is when it's tank shaped, and the Orksies have one just as big!

Decided to get a couple of big jobs off my painting "To Do" list

The Fortress of Arrogance, Yarricks personal transport, is a minor conversion - a little plasticard and some pieces from the city buildings sprue created his pulpit, and the paint job was simplicity itself. Hard to tell here but there is a red line around the pulpit, the turret housing and the top of the guns.

The skullhammer took somewhat longer, with having SO much red to paint. Some extras from the Stompa kit and a spare cannon from one of the variants in the shadowsword box went into this, plus a few spare grots and a couple of bits from the Ork Truk sprue.

And finally, if an Ork is smiling at you, be worried....