I got my hands on the new Codex Orks earlier in the week (review coming very soon) and I’ve been reading it every chance I get and I’ve been thoroughly enjoying it. So much so I’m considering collecting an army of them. I don’t have much luck collecting enemies of the Imperium but the Orks I’m feeling particularly jazzed about.

The issue I have is that I’m also planning a Lizardmen army once I (finally) finish my Warriors of Chaos army which has stalled somewhat of late. 

The reality is that I’ll probably end up doing both. Much to my wife’s dismay. Because there’s something fundamentally magic about finding an army that you really like to the extent that you want to part with hard earned cash to collect it. It’s a bit like a new relationship. Lots of excitement and trying to learn as much about them as possible. Occasionally a friend might advise caution or tell you all the bad bits that you don’t want to hear like they’re high maintenance.

But ultimately you don’t care because they’re so shiny and new and they’ll let you do stuff that your other armies won’t let you do. And if you’re really lucky you can field them at the same time…

Okay enough of that metaphor.

But the point remains, there’s nothing quite like that new army feel. The excitement of reading the army book, learning their place within the world and the first tentative thoughts around army formations.

Pouring over the model range, the eternal struggle between what’s shiny or characterful verses what will actually win you games. The latter rarely wins for me. And of course the ultimate question – once you’ve settled on your first purchases – what colour are you going to paint them? I never worry about the last one because I get too carried away with the collecting bit to actually apply brush to model. But I always have very high minded ideas and that has to count for something.

There’s obviously the trap of new army syndrome. The waves of shiny models, the new or updated rules and the hype is hard to ignore. I’ve fallen into the trap a couple of times. The Grey Knights stick in my mind the most. I bought the codex, worked out a 3,000 point army list then I realised I found them utterly boring. Just my opinion mind, please don’t fan rage me. I guess the moral of the story is: buy the book, read the book. If you’re agonising over what to take rather than struggling to find inspiration for your army list then they’re probably a keeper.

The hardest part of starting a new army is not going crazy. Resisting the urge to buy stuff before you’ve written an army list, or buying loads of stuff at once so you can get that first game in. I do it every time. 500 points isn’t manly enough so I collect the first 1,000 points. Which is just too many models to be a manageable new painting project so then it becomes a mountain to climb. Unless it was like my Covenant fleet which was black with a bit of copper and wood…

The point is this – be sensible. Don’t be envious of other people’s armies or feel like you need to race to get to 3,000 points because you want to play a proper sized game. Basically don’t do what I’ve been doing for 25 years. I’ve only ever completed one 40k army. And that was my Ultramarines when they were 2,000 points. The models to take them to 3,000 were partially painted. My Ultramarines are now 9,500 points… So…yeah…

Starter sets, battle force and battalion boxes are a good jumping off point. They’re not as crammed as they use to be and you don’t always get everything you want but with a thriving second hand market there’s always a buyer for the units you don’t want. And chances are it’ll still work out cheaper anyway.

So to return to my earlier metaphor, starting a new army is a lot like starting a new relationship. There’s lots of temptation to go too fast too quickly. Too get too invested only to discover that there’s just no love there. And there’s always that one friend who can’t resist saying ‘I told you so’. But get it right and it’s a joy. It’s effortless and everything evolves naturally. 

Now, how many Stegadons can I take again…

It’s that time of year again when the Games Workshop releases their financials and the community explodes with rumours that they’re going under, that Hasbro will buy them out, that they’re woefully out of touch and they can basically go fuck themselves.

I freely admit to being guilty of this to some degree in the past. I’m the first to admit that I gripe about the pricing model either on The Shell Case or on Of Dice & Men (I promise there’ll be another episode up soon!) with some regularity. And I stand by those comments. The models are expensive. But you know what? I still play their games and I still pay their prices so who’s the bigger mug?

Reading Twitter today I was quite shocked by some of the comments that wargamers were making. Whilst I’m sure similar comments were made 6 months ago and the 6 months before that and so on, I’ve just never noticed until now.

For a hobby that is as inclusive as ours I’m bummed out to see so many people are willing the company to fail. People that moved to Warmachine or other game systems as an act of protest or to spite the Games Workshop – as if the Games Workshop knows each and every one of us and gives a shit what we do, say or think – berate for playing Games Workshop games and celebrate every penny lost in profit as a personal victory. And before I get pelted with angry comments I have to point out that no company genuinely gives a shit what we do, say or think. Not truly. If they did the XBox One would be free and delivered on a velvet pillow by the glamour model of my choice (don’t pretend I’m the only one who made the suggestion on the forums).

I play Games Workshop games. I play the games they discontinued too and whilst I really wish they hadn’t canned Battlefleet Gothic and Mordheim, I understand why they did. But as I say, my understanding, my compliance or even consent is not required. Just my acceptance because there’s sod all I can do about it. Because I’ll live a longer happier life if I do. And not because they’ll send the Black Ships for me otherwise.

But I also play other games. I love Mantic’s Dreadball. Although they’ve been in a case for a while , I really enjoy Dystopian Wars and Firestorm Armada. I love X-Wing. And Studio McVey’s Sedition Wars, and lots more games beside. Whilst I’m not a fan of the Warmachine fluff or the sculpting style I can appreciate the quality of the game. And I know I ‘bash on it’ during episodes of Of Dice & Men, but it is all in jest. I honestly don’t give a monkeys what games people play. All I care about is everyone having fun.

Games nights with The Chaps – good and dear friends all – are a bevy of game systems and that’s cool because the key ingredient is we’re having a giggle. Good games, good models, good mates and good banter. What more could you possibly want. Apart from maybe the aforementioned glamour model to serve light refreshments. But you can’t win them all.

The point is this, before arguments break out – and I’ve seen it happen – just let it go. I urge all to stop sabre rattling. To stop clamouring for a company’s demise when that company not only represents a lot of enjoyment but people’s livelihoods as well. It is callous to forget that there are folk, just like you and I, doing a job there. A select few make the decisions that impact on us and whether or not we agree with those decisions, the majority shouldn’t be punished. Yes people are entitled to and should have opinions and yes they should be discussed but let’s remember the object of the exercise is not to win at all costs, or to be nasty or snide or bitter or resentful for some imagined slight. We have zero rights. Zero say. You’re a director or a board member you have as much entitlement to piss and moan as you have to tell me what colour socks to wear.

Yes it’s frustrating that prices go up. Yes Games Workshop have us over a barrel and yes they know it. But the reality is this: play their games or don’t. Pay their prices or don’t. Just don’t be a dick about it.

The first Codex of 7th Edition and one so sorely deserved, the Orks having been passed over during the 5th & 6th edition iterations. I have no idea why it took so long for the Games Workshop to give the Orks an updating although I must confess the likes of the Dark Eldar did need it more. Because they were shit.

So the warbosses of the world can rest a little easier on their piles of teef and loot, safe in the knowledge that they’ve finally got a new Codex. And it’s really quite good…

First up the background is a cracking read. It’s the first time in ages I’ve felt really engaged by the background. Perhaps waiting so long between the iterations has given the design studio plenty of time to mull things over. Whatever the reason the Codex feels more coherent and more complete than it ever has before. Whilst not every page is original content everything has been tidied up and the expansion of the background around Ork society is incredibly interesting to the point that I went from having no interest in collecting an Ork army to really wanting to collect an Ork army. And I hadn’t read the army list yet.

An awful lot of effort has gone into making the Orks feel like a civilisation rather than a vague, mindless conglomeration of tribes that sort of maybe invade places and are sort of maybe a problem. The downside of this big zero gravity moon step forward in the background is that it goes too far the other way. Much like the rule book it beats you over the head with the utter hopelessness of humanity’s situation which is irritating but the writing around it is strong enough that you push it to one side. What isn’t awesome about the writing is the…you guessed it…typos! It ran great guns for the first half of the background but then mistakes started to creep in and one sentence just made no sense. Literally none. And that’s pretty shonky editing.

That aside, the background is fantastic and really well presented along with the rest of the book with some ace new artwork and klan descriptions that really help you to understand who you could be collecting rather than just the cool shit you can justify taking. It still justifies it of course but in a far more interesting way. But best of all the background reintroduced Freebooterz in a such a manner that I can see players actually taking an army of them now. They’re no longer a 30-year-old foot note, but a viable army thanks to having something concrete written about them.

No Codex would be complete without the photo section which, like the Galaxy at War book is a little thick but beautifully shot. As I flicked through the pages I did feel slightly taken for a ride (a) because there was lots of photos and (b) they were only of one klan. Which means supplementary codices, which is a bit of a con if you don’t want to paint you Orks yellow.

The army list has a streamlined layout which personally I’m not wild about. In previous Codices the book would describe each unit in turn, detailing special rules etc then provide you with a handy-dandy army list at the back with all the points values so it was all tidy. With the new Codex Orks all the information is on the single page. This makes for a lot of page flicking made worse by the fact that the weapons and upgrades are all at the back in the traditional format. Whilst it’s not the end of the world and leaves space for more fluff, more units and more upgrades, it’s a less efficient way of working an army list as units in the same part of the organisation chart were all on the same page, or as much as possible.

The main changes to the army list revolve around the special rules. Ere We Go makes up for the changes to Furious Charge, making it far more likely Orks will make it into combat thanks to a re-roll. The Mob Rule has also changed much to non-Ork players’ delight. It was far too powerful and was massively open to abuse. Now it feels more like the Animosity roll from Warhammer but instead of your mobs doing feck all they count as rallied but it may result in a few Orks being stomped into the dirt. So very much a two-edged sword. I suspect this’ll be toned down in the next edition because it does seem a tad heavy-handed.

Obviously the big and exciting new entry to the Codex is the mandatory walker model. Although the Orks get two. Because…well because fuck you basically. The Gorkanaut and Morkanaut are big, nasty and expensive. But the bigness comes with big shooty weapons and armour 13 to the front and sides. And as one would expect from a new Ork unit, it has weapons of one stripe or another bolted to every surface. Throw in the fact that they have a transport capacity and the Morkanaut can take a kustom force field and it makes for Orky levels of lethality. Flashgitz too have had a tweak to make them worth taking with a reduction of points and some shiny new models and further allows gamers to take a themed Freebooterz army.

Indeed the book is full of dakka related lethality and whilst the naming convention behind Da Dead Shiny Shooter or Da Finkin Cap may not be everyone’s cup of tea there’s no denying the new and exciting ways in which to inflict misery on your opponent. The Orks as an army seems to channel the most fundamental rule of wargaming: rolling lots of dice is fun. Things like the Deffstorm mega cannon which allows you to roll 3D6 Strength 6 shots a turn.

The only thing that counts against the army is the sheer volume of unit options. There’s tonnes of them and you’ll never be able to take everything you want within the usual force organisation structure which is a bit of a downer but with some careful planning you can take most of it. But I suppose the point of the Orks is that they have a solution for every enemy. By having a strong core to your army and a few options in the Elite, Fast Attack and Heavy Support slots you can simply swap one unit for another depending on who you’re going up against. Granted this is good news for the Games Workshop but as you’ll need hundreds of models for your army anyway, what difference does another 20 or 30 make? And the fact is they’re all useful. There’s nothing in the Codex I wouldn’t take. Sure there’s stuff I’d take over the others out of preference but there’s nothing in there that makes me question its place in the army.

Codex Orks is immensely fun to read. The background is engaging and genuinely a huge leap forward from where the Orks were. The army list is varied and whilst some of the rules have been changed or toned down a bit the green menace is still exactly that. The book has found the perfect balance between presenting the Orks as being the ‘fun’ army and being a force that will simply smash you to bleeding bloody chunks. All this adds up to a great book and an army that I’m so sold on I’m going to start collecting them.

Codex Orks is available from Firestorm Games priced £27.00

Recently I read and reviewed Codex Orks and something rather strange happened. I liked it. I’ve read Codices and Army Books before and liked them but I’ve liked them in the sense that it’s a good book that contributes something to the canon and offers the player an enjoyable army to use. I liked Codex Ork in the sense that I have put my hand in my pocket and dropped some cash on an army. Nearly 1,000 points worth if I’m honest.

So what’s made a life long Imperium player suddenly start collecting the green menace? Well a few things but let’s address the most important issue first – I am not abandoning my Ultramarines. Ultramar’s fighting 1st and 5th aren’t going anywhere. Which actually brings me on to one of the main reasons for my decision to collect a new army. I’ve had my Ultramarine army in one form or another since 2004. It went from a small hobby project to pass the time to a 1k army, to a 2k army and then 3k. And then something peculiar happened and I accumulated a further 6,500 points and that was that. But the point is that The Chaps only ever play my Ultramarines. And as 3 of them also play Marines it can get a bit boring. Games are a lot of threes, then fours and then threes. Repeat.

Amusingly the thought to collect a Xenos army to make things a bit more interesting has coincided with Lee and Mat doing the same. Mat has flittered between a few army choices over the last 6 months including a Space Wolves successor, Death Guard and Tau but has settled on the Necrons. So far he’s really enjoying collecting them which is awesome.

Lee has hit on the idea of doing an Eldar Ghost Warriors army. Aside from looking incredibly cool – especially the way Lee’s planning to paint them – it will offer the entire group an interesting tactical challenge. A super elite super durable army that’s very good at killing Space Marines. Yuk. Equally facing an Ork army will cause Lee some headaches so it should be fun and japery all round.

The other reason for collecting Orks is that it’s something a bit different. Not just tactically, which is pretty obvious, but from a hobby stand points as well. Don’t get my wrong, I love the Space Marine models. The tactical squad box is probably my favourite set of models ever. But I’ve always enjoyed their cobbled together approach to war that somehow makes Orks utterly devastating. Some of the best fun I’ve had in the hobby has been helping Neil work on looted wagons. His now illegal Burna Wagon is a personal favourite with its gravity fed burna turret. You just don’t get hobby opportunities like that with the Emperor’s Finest. Not without raising a few eyebrows anyway.

The variety within the army is pretty sweet too. Aside from the piles of units available, Ork kultur allows for some amazingly varied armies. Whilst klan rivalries would be a concern fluff-wise, on the board it doesn’t matter which gives hobbyists the luxury of creating a tribe that really feels like its part of a great Waaagh. And that’s incredibly cool.

I’m opting for a Freebooterz army. This has a lot to do with the Kaptin Badruk model being awesome and my long-term affection with Flash Gitz. And not just because I get to use the word git a lot. Git. I also like the idea that they’re ostentatious and quite commercially minded. They sell their services and ships to the highest bidder and then get first dibs on the spoils. I like that some of them are organised and regimented and it’s only their selfishness that stops them from being a galactic threat. This is also suits my painting style. I don’t really like messy painting. I’m no good at it. Chipped paint work is my limit. I suspect it may be the result of painting two 3,000 point Ogre Kingdoms armies back to back for other people. That’s enough rust to last a life time. Git.

Best of all it allows me to take all the models I really like completely guilt free. Flash Gitz are mandatory, Gorkanauts and/or Morkanauts are a must and then lots of Battlewagons and the odd Dakka Jet or two. Basically an army that announces its presence from the horizon not just from the noise of its engines but from the size of its constructs.

If it’s possible a Freebooter army lacks even more subtlety that the standard Ork army as ego is allied with wealth so not only does the Kaptin in question have the biggest and best toys but wants to make damn sure that everyone knows it, especially the enemy. This does, of course mean, fairly un-Orky colour schemes. Bright colours with a fairly human approach. My plan is to draw on RPG art work of Rogue Traders and base my colour scheme on them on the basis that Freebooterz will come into contact with them on a regular basis either to trade with or attack. And they’re bound to have fancy clothing and shiny baubles. The image above rather nicely reflects my plan for the Orks, right down to the rather shiny shoes. The only challenge I have is keeping the colour scheme simple for the units as my 1k army has 61 models in it at the moment. Which is the same as Mat’s 3k list. So…yeah. And with a little points jiggery I can either fit in another character or 10 more Boyz.

The most important thing however is that I’m really excited about getting this project underway. The first units have started to arrive and that means I’ll be picking up a paint brush for the first time in far too long…and discovering all my paint has dried up most likely.

However, we’ve all agreed that we’re not allowed to go above 1,000 points until we’ve painted everything…so there’s every chance my army won’t be any bigger than 1,000 points.

More over I’m looking forward to playing some games with a completely new army. New tactical challenges and a different mindset. I’m so use to the precision violence of Space Marines I’m not sure how I’ll handle the brute, bludgeoning, violence of the Orks. I can only hope playing Neil’s army would have taught me a few things. And I’m especially looking forward to playing against his Orks as well.

We’ll be writing articles all through our journey into the realms of the Xenos about our army choices, how we’re painting them and hopefully a couple of battle reports as well.

The Ork range is available from Firestorm Games prices starting from £5.60

- Phil

I know, I know I wrote a piece about being gone but not forgotten last week that sort of announced my return to the fold but if you read it, it’s more about what I’d been up to in my absence and as it is now August my return is official.

And in true TSC form Phil, Lee and I are all starting new 40k armies. But these are no ordinary armies we are going Xenos… Heresy I hear you cry and my response would be “yeah and?”.

I mentioned last week I was turned by the Necrons who are replacing my Tau. I know I was hot and hard for the Tau but when I really got down to it they bored the shit out of me, I don’t like Kroot, I hate the Vespid and I wasn’t a fan of the Vehicles. Which left Fire Warriors and Pathfinders. And that’s hardly game winning. The Necrons however: BOOOM!

Phil has had his head turned by the green tide is constantly texting the word “WAAAGH” to Lee and I. I’m not sure if he’s threatening war or practising his crying for when he gets a beat down. [Can't it be both? -Ed.] And in true Lee fashion, because frankly he never does anything simple or straight forward [Or cheap! -Ed.] he’s going with a Ghost Army. Yep an entire army made up of Eldar Wraith units, which is going to make it interesting for him as we reach the 2,000 and 3000 point mark, but its Lee and it wouldn’t be the same if he took the easy option.

I on the other hand have gone the easy route and frankly the Necrons give me access to all sorts of nasty shit, the hard bit is actually deciding what I don’t want to take.

So the point of this is for us to gradually build up to a Man sized 3,000 point army with the first marker at 1,000 points. There are some ground rules mind one of which is NO specials, this is mainly due to the fact that the Necron specials are well for want of a better word fucking stupid. It comes to something when you get a little embarrassed yourself about the army you take and some of the completely bat shit crazy rules you can throw about, I’m looking at you Imotekh Stormlord.

We’re also not allowed to progress past each 1,000 point marker until everything is painted. This is good news for me as 1,000 points is not many models at all. Sucky news for Phil for 3,000 points.

So far my 1000 points is pretty much there basics are 1 Overlord with a few extras, 5 Deathmarks, 10 immortals, 2 Squads of 15 Warriors and a bit of heavy support from an Annihilation Barge.
I think I finally found an army I can actually get on with and as Phil said to me the other day “you’ve bought shit and not got bored yet so that’s a good sign”. [It's true, I did say that. -Ed]

Anyway this post marks my official return to not only writing on a regular basis but also full-time collecting and painting an army…now where’s that postman with my delivery.

- Mat

I’ve concluded I’m a bad man. I’m a bad man because I promised that I wouldn’t collect any more Games Workshop armies because one uber Ultramarines army was enough. Then I decided I wanted a Warriors of Chaos army for Warhammer Fantasy. So I made a new promise that I’d only collect one army for each game. Then the Lizardmen came out and I started lusting after those. I have the book so it’s really only a matter of time before the first purchases are made. And then I reviewed Codex Orks and it all went a bit wrong.

In the same way that I said I’d only get a couple of bits for X-Wing I have told big fat stinking lies and now I have a little under 1,000 points worth of Orks, kicking off with the gaggle of green skins available called Badrukk’s Flash Gitz. A handy-dandy box with Kaptin Badrukk, 10 Flash Gitz and 6 Ammo Runts. This box is interesting for two reasons – 1. It’s the first time Games Workshop have done a mixed plastic and resin box which gives me hope for more boxes like this cropping up. And 2. You actually save a decent amount of money. Granted it’s on the Ammo Runts as they’re basically free but as they’re quite useful to Flash Gitz I’ll take it.

As soon as Freebooterz cropped up in the fluff of the new book I’d already decided I was going to collect those should I be damn fool enough to give in to my baser hobby urges (I know, I know!). I’ve always loved Freebooterz I love the fact that they are basically dimwitted pirates, albeit dimwitted pirates with large ships, large guns and no sense of self-preservation. It also tickles me that the Freebooterz feel no bond or comradery with other Orks and would happily bankrupt a Warboss in exchange for the use of their ships. They are the Ork equivalent of scoundrels. And I can think of two scoundrels that the geek community are extremely fond of.

So it was inevitable really that I would take Kaptin Badrukk as my army’s warboss (although Lee, Mat and I have agreed to no special characters for our new armies) as I want my army to be as brash and as ostentatious as it’s possible for an Ork army to be. I don’t even care if I win games, I just want to look bat shit crazy whilst I’m doing it. Kaptin Badrukk as a model – regardless of the character’s rules, does that exceptionally well. He’s an Ork pirate. In space. Give him a massive gun and he’s perfect. Oh wait…

The model is awesome. Hands down my favourite Ork infantry model and one of my favourite models in recent years. Whilst he’s not dynamically posed like a lot of the new generation Games Workshop models it’s reminiscent of the old John Blanche and Mark Gibbons artwork from when I was young in the hobby. And for that reason alone I love it. Whilst Finecast is still wildly unpopular amongst hobbyists, and even I admit to having some bad experiences, Badrukk is perfectly cast. Although the Games Workshop certainly embraced the first part of the Flash Gitz moniker because there’s a lot of it. But at least it’s nowhere stupid that will ruin the model with the exception of the sword tip but as that’s pointing downwards it shouldn’t make much difference when it’s on a base and painted. Yes I said it!

The Badrukk model is that perfect blend of Orkiness smashed together with human clothing and technology. The heavily modified Ripper Gun, the stolen naval medals hanging from the very human looking hat. And course the well-tailored, if heavily augmented, naval coat. And I love the overturned chest of teef. And only when you scrutinise the model you start to notice all the other teef. The teef lining the choppa. The teef hemming the collar of the coat. Badrukk is a rich bitch.

And he has the toys to prove it. Armed with Da Rippa, it’s a basically an Assault 3 plasma gun. Which is hideous. Fortunately he also comes with a Gitfinda so between that and that number of shots its chucking out, you should kill some folk. The Goldtoof armour will help keep Badrukk alive whilst you do it with a 3+ save and a 5+ invulnerable. For an Ork that’s a tasty load out.

The rub is that for 110 points he’s bot as beefy as a Warboss. He gets a point less strength, toughness, wound and initiative which is quite a hit considering you can buff up a Warboss for fewer points and only really lose out on a point of save and the invulnerable. Da Rippa though is a meaty weapon and he’ll make his points back providing you play aggressively enough with him.

By putting him with some Flash Gitz for example…

These models are awesome. I mean really really cool. I haven’t had this much fun building models in ages. The kit is as Orky as it can get. The Snazzguns have 8 components to them and there’s so many options that no two guns will look the same and that’s pretty cool. Throw in the variety of heads and the 5 components to make the boss poles and it makes for some fantastically individual (and flashy) models. They do take bloody ages to build though. It’s not time wasted however because the end result is a centre piece unit that rivals even the big stuff in the Ork army. The size, detail, customisation and sheer bat shit craziness of them is incredibly impressive. And I love the little homages to the original models from way back when.

It’s just all the little touches that really set the Flash Gitz off. Built a twin drum mag rotary cannon? Well that’s not enough dakka, so why not stick a big shoota on the underside just to make sure? Your Snazzgun not loud enough? No problem, fit it with a sound deck. No gag. It’s in there just look on the sprues. One of the coolest bits are the strings of casings you can have coming out of the ejection ports, just to really sell the action. The downside of those is they’ll like snap off at some point and it only makes storing large models even harder. They’re already terminator size models without the boss poles or anything else.

The Gitfindas are a little clumsy even by Ork standards. They don’t feel Orky they just feel like an after thought. Everything else just works beautifully on the kit. I don’t hate them by any means I just don’t think they’re as strong as the rest of the bits on the sprue. The nice thing is that they’re optional so you can leave them off. I’ve done a mix in my squad of 10 as some are cooler than others. But that just adds to the Orky ramshackle look.

The Ammo Runts are a cool addition to the box and add not only an air of pomposity to the Flash Gitz in so much as they have minions following them around but their weapons are so powerful that they need said minions to follow them around with heavily laden with boxes of ammo, which is a nice touch. The models are pretty cool and well cast. My only thought is, whilst awesome and basically for free I’d have happily had them left out and the box be cheaper by a tenner. This said, Ammo Runts to a unit that really needs to hit with their shooting to get the most of out of them, they go a long way to boosting the combat effectiveness of the Flash Gitz. Although that’s true of all Orks, ramshackle guns or no.

And of course no Ork unit would be complete without the ramshackle rules to go with it (see what I did there?). The Snazzguns for all their ostentatious glory are a tad unpredictable. They chuck out an impressive Assault 3 at Strength 5 at a 24 inch range giving the Orks a tasty base of fire, supported immeasurably by the Gitfindas and the option to take Ammo Runts so shots will hit and have enough wallop to wound. Where it gets iffy is the AP is a D6 roll. The average roll is a 4 which means you’ll be dropping everything except Marines and Necrons which isn’t bad but the unpredictability does mean you’re always taking a risk when hurling shots at heavier targets.

The other problem they have is that they can’t upgrade their armour like Ork Boyz so they’re very vulnerable to return fire. Only their two wounds stops them from being mown down and at 220 points for 10 without upgrades, they’re a weighty investment in an Ork army. As with much of the meatier Ork units the answer usually revolves around mounting them in a vehicle of some sort and or putting them near a kustom force field.

But despite the question marks against them, it doesn’t take much for Flash Gitz to make back their points and more if you’re sensible with them and choose targets wisely. And the fact of the matter is that they have the stat-line of a Nob getting 4 attacks on the assault. So they’re just as capable at smashing skulls with the blunt end of their Snazzguns as they are blasting skulls to cinders with the business end.

Whilst Flash Gitz aren’t for everyone or for every army – the points value alone making some think twice – I think they’re awesome and will be a staple of my Freebooterz army…once I’ve thought of a cool name for Badrukk.

Kaptin Badrukk’s Flash Gitz are available from Firestorm Games priced £72.00.

Boxes of 5 Flash Gitz are also available from Firestorm Games priced £28.80.

I’ve been immersed in the Warhammer 40,000 Universe for a long time. First Space Crusade, then Epic, then Warhammer 40,000 itself. And although I’ve always been a staunch and loyal defender of the Imperium my eye has always wandered towards the Orks, the way teenager’s strays towards the part of the news stand that has all the boobies in it. Even when the Orks were square jawed green apes who couldn’t figure out how a trigger worked, I was oddly fascinated.

Never enough to collect them though. I didn’t own any Orks until Gorkamorka made its brief appearance and I bought what is, to this day, one of my favourite models ever – a metal Ork Nob.

I did enjoy this brief foray into Orkishness and if I had more people to play than my brother, I probably would have properly got into Gorkamorka and eventually got an Ork army. But it wasn’t to be.

And so time wore on and with each iteration of 40k, so too were the Orks tweaked and improved. And whilst it’s the current Codex Orks that has swayed into collecting them (1,000 points and counting), it’s the models from 1998 that really began to fire my imagination.

And so I find myself in possession of some along with the Ork Trukk, the kit that hailed a huge design shift for Orks, away from the truly woeful Trukks and general square, blocky and characterless constructs of old.

It was the release of the Trukk that almost swayed me last time. Especially when Neil got one for his – then – fledging Ork army. Compared to the its older brother it was a real coup. Aside from being bigger, it actually felt like an Ork vehicle.

The Trukk is a superb kit. It’s a huge amount of fun to build – for the most part. And manages to feel Orky without being comical or like it’d never actually work in the ‘real world’. I love the fact that engine has a fan and belts (albeit they’ll be a sod to paint). There are drive shafts and a transfer box and everything which is way cool. And the dirty exhausts are probably my favourite but of the who engine. Can’t tell you why, they just look perfect on the model.

In some ways it reminds me of the Airfix kits I used to build before I plunged into fantasy and sci-fi realms and was never seen again. Just the way the kit builds up and gradually takes shape over time. My only gripe with the Trukk is that the cab is too small to fit the Orks in easily. It’s a huge pain to fit the driver in, even though it’s a nice touch that you can decide to make the Trukk a left or right hand drive. But I had to cut bits down and leave the awesome gear stick out to fit everything in. Now I’m a pretty bright guy, but even I couldn’t figure out how to make it all fit in with out brute force and prying pegs into position. And the gunner sits higher than the weapons mount that you’re supposed to glue him to. Which is pretty damn annoying. It forces you to have the gunner at a daft angle much like the image above.

Aside from that, the kit goes together beautifully and, excluding clipping and cleaning, went together in a bout half an hour. And I was actually a little bummed when I finished it because it was so much fun. It’s kinda nice to be starting a new army – especially one that needs as many models as Orks – and to enjoy building the basic transport as much as I did.

In game terms it’s just awesome. For 30 points you get a hefty weapon included with the option of upgrading to an even heftier weapon – a rokkit launcher – for free. And being open-topped, the Trukk makes for a very cheap Ork delivery system. With the speed vehicles can now move at it makes up for just being able to cram 12 Boyz in. And now that insufferable damage table has been removed I can take them guilt free. The new rule of being able to roll to offset penetrating damage is pretty handy and whilst does nothing to keep the vehicle alive for longer, it does prevent it from being immobilized or destroyed. Because those are the only two results that matter to an Ork player.

As I say, I’ve always liked the Ork Boyz models. And considering their age they look pretty sweet. And whilst the poses are a little stale compared to the newer models, considering you need bloody tonnes of them that’s not the end of the world. And the better news is that they go together quick. Forty-five minutes from clipping to built isn’t to be sniffed at. Again because you need tonnes of them that’s a huge labour savour.

The nice thing is that the decisions are limited to: Shoota Boyz or Slugga. Big Shoota or Rokkit Launcher. Power Klaw or Big Choppa. And that’s pretty much it. Poses are all but irrelevant as they’ll be one of two hundred on the Boyz by the time your army reaches the manly heights of 3,000 points. Space Marines it’s all about cool poses and injecting subtle but important nuisances of personality into the build. With Orks it’s all about conveying the level of krump someone will experience when the horde makes contact.

And they just go together so easily. Very little cleaning or trimming. You’ve got enough variety of heads and torsos that you can build 10 without them look too samey, but on the board they all look the same anyway, so don’t sweat. it.

Sixty points earn you a butt tonne of rampaging unpleasantness. As a life long Space Marine player I’ve always been pretty dismissive of Ork Boyz. Mainly because I know my army well and always try to be disciplined with fire patterns so when Orks do make contact they’ve been so badly whittled down that a Tactical Squad can break the back of the assault and send them packing. However, having played a game with the Orks – quite rare for me in early unit reviews – I can say that if you use Ork Boyz wisely, much like the Tactical Marine, you’ll never need go any place else for your stable source of misery.

The armour upgrade is pretty much essential which does make them a lot more expensive but the trade-off is survival. Marines will have to pour twice as many shots into the Orks to kill the same number they would normally and that just isn’t enough if the whole army is kitted out that way. It guarantees a healthy percentage of your Orks will make it into combat and krump things. And when you consider the Marines will be outnumbered 4:1 that’s pretty grim. There’s a case for just doubling up on the number of boyz you’ve got but that isn’t tenable in larger games and there’s also a financial element that can’t be ignored. The Boyz are a lot more expensive now than they were on release. Twice as expensive to be exact.

Whilst I was originally distracted by the oh-so-awesome Flash Gitz, Dakka Jet (review coming very soon) and the Gorka/Morkanaut in the Codex, I’ve found myself really surprised at the fighting effectiveness of these incredibly cheap basic troops. Four attacks each for Slugga Boyz is not to be sniffed at, for 6 points. Should a mob of 20 make contact that’s fist fulls of dice, which, let’s be honest, is one of the biggest appeals about fielding horde armies in the first place.

Whilst I accept they were only squishy Guard in the game I played, a unit of 10 Shoota boyz (so 1 less attack remember) tore a squad to pieces with attacks to spare. The squad then got hammered by shooting from a unit of Stormtroopers, a command HQ, and a Guard squad until only the Nob remained. Who then went about tearing apart the Guard squad on his own. Using an army gives you whole new respect for their potential as a fighting force over just playing against them. And whilst Orks and Ork Boyz have clear weaknesses – shonky BS and Initiative to name just two – it’s made up for in other ways. The cheapness and brute force being the obvious ones. Plus it’s quite liberating taking an army where you can be a bit more cavalier with casualties, but I found it made me play more aggressively which was to my benefit.

As a jumping off point into the weird and whacky world of Orks, the Trukk Boyz box is pretty much a must buy if for no other reason than you save a fiver. It gives the army some badly needed manoeuvrability either for the Boyz or another element of the force, and gives you the beginnings of that all important – and very potent – fighting core to your army. And whilst the two kits that make up the box aren’t the newest models in the range they are still as wonderfully Orky as anything else and no one should feel bad that the Ork Boyz weren’t updated in the latest round of releases.

The Trukk Boyz box is available from Firestorm Games priced £31.50
Ork Boyz are available from Firestorm Games priced £16.20 and the Trukk £20.25

The Codex was largely responsible for me finally starting an Ork army but as I’ve always said time and again, you have to love the models you’re collecting or the project will simply never get finished. This is true or all armies in every game ever written. And it was true all those years ago when the Ork Bommer made its first appearance in Epic 40,000 16(ish) years ago. It was those models, along with the Thunderhawk gunship that sold me on that game. I loved the design, the haphazard nature of the construction and the ludicrously big bombs under the wings.

So when the Ork Bommer kit was released for Warhammer 40,000 I was delighted for Ork players the world over because they would know the same joy I did. Little did I realise that I would be in possession of one a year or two later.

When I decided to collect a Freebooter army I made the decision along with it that they needed to be the flashiest, wealthiest, gitiest Orks around and that meant more toys than anyone else and that means jets. It’s entirely possible I’m collecting a near useless army but it’ll look cool as it gets torn to pieces.

But on to the Bommer, or specifically the Dakkajet. I opted for the fighter over the bommer options because I like the idea of the Orks being flyboyz rather than psychopaths. They want to dominate the air and sow fear on the ground rather than fling themselves at it with far more ordnance than is sensible. It fits with my army theme that the pilots are Aces by Ork standards – aloof and skilled rather than kill junkies.

The kit is awesome. Providing you follow the instructions it goes together very easily. If you don’t then it’s a sodding pain as it goes together much like an Airfix kit so the fuselage is in two halves. This means if you don’t stick things in the right order you’ll be prising things apart. And much like an Airfix kit (other scale models are available) the fuselage will need to be to make sure all the joins take. Some parts a little thin so a prone to warping. It’s not a criticism as it’s a common enough problem with thin plastic, it’s just a word of warning when building the thing. Take the extra couple of minutes and make sure the joins have all taken.

Other than that it’s a pretty straight forward build with enough bits and bobs on the sprues that allow you to make some pretty distinctive planes should you choose to have more than one. Which of course you would. There’s a little bit of flexibility in the weapon load outs so you can move things around a bit but truth be told, without some snipping and clipping one Dakkajet will look much like any other which is kind of a shame, but something has to give considering the variety within the kit as a whole. And there’s nothing stopping you mixing it up with the parts available for a bit of variety. It’s more that the guns will be pretty much in the same place whether you like it or not.

What’s really awesome about the Bommer kit is that it speaks volumes about the Orks. Or specifically the knowledge hard-coded into the minds of Meks and the pilots. Its design is a lot like the MiG 19 with the intake in the nose and the swept back wings. It’s aerodynamic and features all the various bits and bobs a plane needs to fly. Granted the sophistication stops there as the intakes have spiky bits on them and the landing gear consists of a ski and a hook to bury in the ground. But hey, if it works… But it’s more like the Meks get bored or make do rather than don’t care about what they’re doing.

Basically it just builds and looks awesome.

In game terms there’s always going to be a divide when it comes to flyers. There are many who feel the rules are either vague or overpowered. Others – mainly the people who own flyers – like them just fine. Whilst I do think flyers can potentially dominate a game I have given the rules enough consideration because I never thought I’d take flyers so until I give the Dakkajet a shakedown I’m reserving judgement.

But there’s no getting round the fact that the between the special rules, armament and upgrades the Dakkajet – all the variants in fact – is a bit of a monster. You don’t get loads for you basic 110 points but the 3 upgrades – bringing to a still fair reasonable 150 points – gives you a base Ballistic Skill 3, an extra set of twin-linked super-shootas (making it 6, strength 6, AP 4 shots, re-rolling misses) and an extra roll to movement. Add in the Strafing Run special rule and you have a fast-moving Space Marine firing an assault cannon, minus the rending. That’s not bad. And if a Waaagh gets called that 6 shots goes up to 8 just to add insult to injury.

But for all that they’re still only armour 10 all round and Strength 6 isn’t going to do much against the majority of vehicles. That all changes with the other flyer variants equipped, as they are, with very large bombs. The Blitz Bommer is arguable better value being armed with two boom bombs. Whilst Strength 7 isn’t going to be blowing holes in Land Raiders, the AP 2 (and the large blast) will help to blow holes in terminators.

Although the fact that the pilot could be enjoying the diving part of his attack run so much that he’ll forget to do everything else (including pull up) is slightly off-putting. 135 points basic is a lot for what potentially could be a one use weapon. It’s very Orky and everything but I like my army to krump things rather than krump themselves.

The Burna Bommer is, of course, the middle ground for points but as you only get two missiles you’ll be buying another 4 jacking the price up massively. And they’re essentially heavy flamers you have to scatter. And as both bommer variants lose the strafing run rule their shooting will be far less effective as well. And overall the Dakkajet comes in about 10 points cheaper. And you’re probably better off taking a unit of burna boyz in a trukk for the good it’ll do you.

The point is this – the Dakkajet is weirdly the safe bet because it fires the most shots, for the least points and risk, with the greatest accuracy. Whilst it lacks the pyrotechnics of the other two it also doesn’t have the unpredictability of crashing into the ground or the bombs missing the targets altogether which would be the real kicker. It’s a great interference unit and will draw focus. If it eventually gets shot down it represents a fairly low outlay and will in most cases make its points back. Although if you’re using them right, the other two planes will as well.

Which ever your preference, it Ork flyers are unsubtle, relatively cheap, terrors of the sky and earth. And they look bloody cool whilst they do it. The kit is excellent fun and not overly complicated so it can be built within a couple of hours. Even if you don’t field it, it’s a kit worth owning just to wave it around and make ‘neow’ and ‘dakka dakka dakka’ noises.

The Ork Bommer is available from Firestorm Games priced £24.75 (and worth every zogging toof!)

Guess who’s started a new army for 40k? It’s not my fault.  Honestly, blame Mat and Phil, they’re the ones who got me feeling all jealous and left out and stuff.  Once Phil followed Mat down the Xenos path it was only a matter of time before I caved and followed suit, which I duly did once I finally settled on an army to collect. In our gaming group Marine players feature heavily, 4 out of 7 to be exact, so when Mat decided to actually get a 40k army to play with (after selling his Tau) he figured collecting another Xenos force would be a good idea to help break up the monopoly – such a good idea in fact, that Phil and then I decided we would start new armies also of the non-good guy persuasion to add a bit of variety and eliminate those sometimes drab Blue on Blue games. Phil has now succumbed to the Green Menace to go alongside his near 10,000 points of Ultramarines, whereas I needed something to offer an alternative to the 3000+ point Marines, Guard and Grey Knights armies I already have – but I wasn’t sure what…

The new army feeling was building as I started to consider all the various races, but I found my choice somewhat more limited than I expected.  There are some I just won’t entertain – like Chaos for example. I know the whole Xenos army idea is supposed to move me out of my comfort zone but Marines with spikes stuck on them has never, ever, worked for me. Daemons lacked the things I like most in 40k – guns and vehicles, which also largely eliminates Tyranids for the same reasons.  Orks didn’t appeal to me and although Necrons may have, both were already taken.  The Tau were still good guys really and I’d already had an army of them in the past before selling them on, so I passed on taking them a second time.  The Dark Eldar were a strong option as there were a number of units/models I really liked but in the end not enough to build an army around, so that left just one non Imperial army to choose from – the Eldar. I’ve thought about collecting an Eldar army in the past, a few times in fact, as they suit my style of play and have some fantastic models, but their unit focus and squishiness always did enough to put me off.  However, the Iyanden Codex has offered me a way around this: a Ghost Warrior army! The new army feeling was well and truly buzzing now.

An all Wraith Ghost Warrior army – 2000 points in 27 models!

‘Wraith’ type units really do have some cool looking models and nothing’s better than an army that can smash faces and look good whilst doing it. To go with that, one thing a Ghost Warrior army can never be accused of being is squishy, seeing as your standard Wraithguard troops have an impressive Toughness of 6! Add in your Wraithlords and Wraithknights with their Toughness 8 and things are looking pretty solid. However, with the sheer abundance of high strength and low AP weaponry floating around nowadays, Toughness 6 is not what it used to be and a 3+ Armour Save only takes you so far.  It was clear this army was not going to be a simple point and kill type outfit despite the tasty stat lines. Support would be essential but with the point costs being so very high it would be a hard balance to strike. Wraithguard are a costly 32 points each for something that’s still only 1 wound – plus another 10 if you want to give it a D-Scythe, meaning the army is going to be tiny. Like crazy tiny.  Like less than 20 models in a 1k army tiny. This is great news on the painting front as even I could get a whole army finished with that few models to paint in it, but it does concern me on the tactical side of things.  Phil recently stuffed almost 70 Orks into a 1k list and against a few handfuls of Wraithguard packing single shot (albeit mega powerful) guns with only a 12” range, getting overwhelmed is not only a possibility, it’s almost a certainty. They are going to need some serious rapid-firing back up, which is achievable, but breaks away a little from the pure Wraith army ideal.

The reasoning behind fielding a Wraith army in the first place is lack of manpower, so using vehicles which are piloted by just one or two Eldar to act as force multipliers makes perfect sense and opens up the tactical potential of the army – whilst still retaining its character. Including Wave Serpents is unavoidable as they’re the only transports Wraithguard can take and Warwalkers suit the aesthetic of the army as well providing the extra firepower so sorely needed – but with the Heavy Support section already looking crowded with the Wraithlords and Wraithknights taking up the slots there’s a strong possibility I’ll have to go unbound to make it work.  It’s disappointing they didn’t do a bit more for the Iyanden Codex, and something as simple as bumping Wraithlords into Elites would have made a true Wraith army more achievable with a choice in each force organisation slot (If you include Forgeworlds Wraithseer HQ – want!) – Marines get to do it with Dread’s so why not Eldar?  I’ll steer clear of everything else in the codex aside from the compulsory Seers – but there are a few things from Forgeworld which are really catching my eye. Wasps and Hornets look like they can provide all the extra firepower I need and both come under Fast Attack which would solve the overcrowded Heavy Support problem – letting me stay bound and qualifying for the all-important ‘Objective Secured’ rule.  The trade of a 5+ invulnerable for jump packs makes the Wasps even more fragile than the Warwalkers, but it’ll be fun bouncing them around the table shooting shit up while they last – especially if there’s a Wraithknight or two doing the same. I’m still worried about get swamped by horde armies, as is always the case with small elite armies, but it’ll be interesting getting the balance of the army right between guns and bodies.

Wasp Assault Walker from Forgeworld

Painting wise, I’m undecided about whether to do the army in the yellow and blue of Iyanden as a few other colour schemes have also caught my eye. I was initially quite taken with the grey and orange of Yme Loc and as they have a rep for building titans, I thought this could translate onto my Adeptus Titanicus Eldar force.  But I have since realised the colours look far better on vehicles than they do on infantry, so I’m unsure how it will look on the abundance of long limbed walking units in the army. I could always do my own thing but that might slow things down and I’m promising to get the first 1000 points painted before I go any further.  Aaaahhh decisions. We moan, we wrangle, but we love ‘em really, it’s all part of that new army feeling.  Expect to hear of mighty Wraith constructs stomping on stuff real soon.

-Lee

It’s no secret that I’ve riding the green tide. It’s equally common knowledge that I’ve managed to cobble together 1,000 points already. None of it’s painted yet but that’s fine as the deal between myself, Mat & Lee is that we can’t progress past 1,000 points until it’s all painted. There’s an advantage to that though as it gives me time to get use to the army before it gets too big.

And one of my favourite parts of my budding Waaagh is the Stormboyz. What’s kinda fun for me, being part of the Old Guard, is I’ve had the luxury of watching these models change over the years and each time I thought ‘those are really cool’. They’ve just got better and better. And less fascist as well which is a good thing.

The thing that impresses me the most is the versatility of the kit. There are options enough that you can build 10 Stormboyz that all look different. Individuality in a horde army is rare so the luxury of coming up with different combinations is a bit of a treat. From the 10 I built my favourite is the Stormboy clutching stikbombz in both hands and one between his teeth. He looks completely mental.

I think what’s cool about the models is while the background points towards Stormboyz being disciplined and well-drilled, it’s still by Ork standards so they still have that shit kicker look that makes the Orks, as an army, look so cool. Instead of like the aforementioned fascists in grey jump suits ala the 2nd edition version. And they’re still Orks so they’re still giddy at the thought of unbridled death and destruction from above. And all that comes through on the models very well. Equally the rokkit packs are crude but have an elegant simplicity that – like the Dakkajet – points towards a barely understood higher knowledge of aerodynamics and the principles of sustained flight. The 3rd edition models had nothing more than an Acme rocket strapped to their back which would have achieved nothing more than firing its wearer high into the air only to plunge to their doom shortly after. Which, whilst funny, isn’t very believable even by 40k’s over stretched concept of the possible.

It also goes together very well. The legs and torso are attached so they’re far stronger than the older models, witch just the chest to attach. There’s also plenty of heads to choose from so you can mix and match between typical Ork heads of the zanier options like the ones shown above. Where possible opt for the zany ones. They’re just better. The only considerations when building the Stormboyz are:

Position the model towards the back of the base. Because the model is leaning forwards to simulate takeoff they’re very front heavy. Whilst this isn’t such a big problem as the old metal/plastic kits of yore they’ll still fall over and it’ll still be annoying.

The other is check all the rokkit pack parts fit together before you glue them. Whilst the vast majority are interchangeable, one or two aren’t and if it’s the last model you build in the squad you’ll be kicking yourself. Plus one or two of the nose cones will get in the way of one or two of the heads so glue that on last where possible.

Now there’s a few naysayers surrounding the use of Stormboyz primarily around their woeful armour save with no option to upgrade it. But I say this is a good thing because it encourages you to use them the way they were intended which is either with maximum aggression so you close the gap between your line and the enemy’s as quickly as possible, or you hold them back to act as a rapid response unit. Coupled with the fact that they’re relatively cheap compared to other jump infantry and they’re actually a pretty useful squad to have in the army.

Their high toughness will keep the Stormboyz safe from squishy targets like Imperial Guard when they make it in to contact, so the Ork’s low initiative isn’t so much of a problem. Against Space Marines it’s an entirely different matter but the sheer weight of attacks – and the aforementioned low-cost – will mean win or lose the Orks will always come out on top. In the game I played against Guard they made absolute mincemeat of everything they came into contact with and the addition of a Nob is brutal.

Of course that’s an ideal scenario. They were able to close rapidly and managed to avoid shooting or made it into cover when they couldn’t. The bottom line is they are very very vulnerable so there will be some games where they’ll be cut to ribbons before they do anything. How you use them so incredibly important. It’s kinda sucky from an investment point of view as a unit of 10 is the best part of £30.

If you can find ways to mitigate that all but pointless armour save then you have a very hard-hitting unit for naff all points. Time you attacks so they make contact with other elements of the army and Stormboyz have the potential to run roughshod thanks to the speed they have over their ground pounding counterparts. More so if you take a couple of units of 10.

Personally, I love the Stormboyz. The models are awesome and the best fun to build, just like the rest of the Ork models I’ve come across thus far. The level of customisation is pretty good and they just look the best when they’re built and all grouped together. They’re chunky though so be prepared for them to occupy a lot of space on the board – a bit of an issue for a horde army – and a lot of space in your figure case. But the bottom line is they’re great fun to use on the board.

Ork Stormboyz are available from Firestorm Games priced £13.95.

One in a million. That’s how many recruits survive Grey Knight boot camp.  And if you consider that those recruits are the top percentage of those already chosen from their home worlds as being the top specimens on their respective planets, the numbers start to get a little crazy. The entire population of Earth would probably yield barely a single Grey Knight – rounding up. That’s a whole lot of sacrifice for a single marine in silver armour, but then who else is going to remember the ever-changing names of every Daemon in the Warp and throw it in their faces?

The new Grey Knights Codex describes such details to give you a better understanding than ever before of lengths the Imperium has had to go to in the endless war for its soul.  On reading through the background of the frankly beautiful book, I was surprised at the number of excellent additions to their background – a stellar map showing the locations of the known daemonic  incursions and Warp storms throughout the galaxy, a detailed breakdown of the Chapter’s fighting strength, descriptions of all the Brotherhoods,  plus the names and duties of each Grandmaster and their second in command Brother Captains, a double page spread on understanding their Heraldry with examples and ideas on creating your own. It goes on and on and all works to impress upon you just how few and individual they are, and the magnitude of the task they face.

Their Chapter breakdown reads with some very specific numbers, such as 44 Purifiers and 98 Paladins – in the entire galaxy. Even when reading the same lists for marines you’re still somewhat safe in the knowledge that there are at least another thousand or so other Chapters out there to lend a hand if someone screws up. It’s all wonderfully compelling  knowing just how close humanity teeters on the edge of its doom, and the individuality the book enables you to impart on your small army of ‘man’s greatest, and fewest, heroes’ creates a firm link to the consequences should you fail.

The fantastic new artwork does a much better job of portraying their supreme fighting ability (the first double page piece is particularly impressive) and lends itself well to the idea that they are extremely proficient at killing daemons – but constantly under threat of being overwhelmed by the never-ending hordes they struggle to hold back. Usually only barely a handful of Grey Knights will be sent to deal with a potential incursion which their prognosticators can foresee (kind of like ‘Minority Report’) which enables them to show up at the right time with the minimum of force to get the job – so precious is each and every Knight – and only the greatest and most threatening of incursions warrants the mustering of a full brotherhood.

If I’m honest, I was disappointed with the photography.  Someone got a little carried away with the lighting effects and there was no showcase of individual models which is always one of my favourite sections of an army book – I’m unsure if this is consistent across the new format Codicies but it’s not a change I’m happy with as I get a lot of inspiration from the individual efforts of the ‘Eavy Metal team.  There‘s also what look to be not one, but two non ‘Eavy Metal, and I guess ‘reader/staff submitted’, armies used in the photography and the quality just isn’t there.  They are great armies that anyone would be proud to own (although I’m not sure about the one with all the trophy racks, seems very Chaos) but in a premium book I expect premium quality throughout.

Onto the army list and there’s quite a bit of change, and you can expect a mixed reaction from existing Grey Knight players. They had a reputation as one of the stronger armies in 40k and everyone was expecting them to be toned down – and this has indeed happened.  All the Inquisitor stuff has gone completely – even down to the fluff, with only a slight link to the Inquisition being maintained. Most of the equipment and upgrades has been wiped away, no more Psycannon Bolts, or Rad grenades, or Brain Mines, it’s all gone along with all the Grey Knight specific Vehicle upgrades. It’s a bit of a shame as not only is there  still a mention of the more exotic pieces they use in the background, but it seems a lot of the army identity has now gone into the Psychic phase removing most of the choice you had in how you played with them.

Non Grey Knight players will be happy to hear the (now) Lord of War choice, Kaldor Draigo has had his wings clipped. He’s still a beast but no longer strength or toughness 5 – again, as much as this was perhaps needed, it’s still a shame to see perhaps the greatest Marine in the Galaxy reduced to a majority stat line of 4’s [I think most Space Marine players would argue that point by go on... - Ed].

You’ll be kept busy re-learning the points costs of the basic elements of the army as there’s ups and downs all over the place.  Some changes of note are Grand Masters have gone up slightly and trade-off their Grand Strategy for psychic level 2, whereas Librarians have gone down by a whopping 40 points – and a further 25 less for a level 3!  Strike squads have gone up but their equipment options have gone down so you’re still better off, and Terminators have gone down significantly but lose out on the changes to the Nemesis weapons – which is swords now have no benefit beyond being a Nemesis Force weapon and Halberds are +1 Strength instead of +2 Initiative – so the Terminators are now either less durable in combat or a lot slower. Purifiers went up slightly and the Apothecary for the Paladins is now a massive 55 points less – which equates to a free Paladin! Other highlights include special weapons now being consistently priced, which actually makes equipping one on your HQ a feasible option, and the Dreadknight has been given the sales boost treatment as you can now take a tooled up teleporting monstrosity for, on average, 70 points less!  The Vehicles are largely unchanged.

Generally the list seems to be pushing you to take more from the troops choices which is a good thing as there were some big errors in the last codex which made taking Purifiers over Strike Squads a no brainer. And with Terminators getting worse but cheaper, it’s now a harder decision to choose between the two troops choices.  However, the adjusted force organisation means you only need one as a compulsory choice and gives you an extra Elite slot at a cost of one less Heavy and Fast Attack – go figure.  I said before, it’s a shame to lose all the toys and although the Relics are some consolation, it’s taken away some of the individuality from the HQ’s that the background did such a job of adding to them.

With less being spent on your HQ and generally cheaper units overall you’re army should be larger but will rely even more on the Psychic phase to assert itself with a number of units now having access to multiple powers – and a Librarian should still be the first name on the team sheet.  Beyond him and perhaps the Dreadknight, the army balance is a lot better with more of the choices being just that, rather than easy hits and misses, and I’m looking forward to getting some more models on the table – but man am I going to miss those Rad Grenades.

-Lee

I was surprised to learn today that it’s been 10 years since the release of the original Dawn of War game. This auspicious occasion couldn’t be marked without a few words about a game that I not only invested hours of my life in but helped redefine the RTS genre.

When I first heard about the game I don’t mind saying that I was not optimistic. Up to then all the Games Workshop video games had been pretty shit. With the possible exception of the Space Hulk game on the Amiga and Commodore 64. Yes, I’m that old. Sod off. However as details began to emerge about gameplay – such as making use of hard and soft cover, as well as some semblance of a force organisation chart – I started to grow more positive.

Then I saw the graphics. Whilst it looks a little dated now, at the time they looked pretty sweet. The environment felt like the 41st Millennium. The Space Marines were a loyal representation. The animation was believable. And the finishing moves for each of the commanders was awesome. And best of all you could zoom right down into the action. Granted you needed a pretty meaty machine (10 years ago) to do that and it not crash but that was and is the joy of PC gaming.

When my copy arrived and I went through the lengthy install process then hit play. And I’m so very glad I did. The opening cut scene even now looks awesome. It bugs the living hell out of me because those few Orks could never take down a squad of Space Marines. And no sane Space Marine squad sergeant would allow his unit to meet a mob of Orks in open combat, but as I say, it looks awesome.

Actually it was awe inspiring. Those kinds of animations were rarely seen let alone in a Games Workshop computer game. Moreover it declared to the world that an animated Space Marine movie was possible. We’ve had one stab at it already and the fan made Lord Inquisitor on its way. One day… But the point is that it set imaginations on fire.

The campaign was a little ropey in terms of plot and voice acting. It was caught in that classic trap of a publisher wanting it to be accessible to non-fans and a team of writers who knew the lore but couldn’t write very well. But well enough that the campaign trundled along quite happily albeit laboriously at times. I do confess to being quite glad it was over when I finished the final mission.

What it did do very well was encourage different styles of play and tactical decisions rather than the classic ‘build a base, build loads of blokes’ approach. Which whilst fun is never gonna win you the big scores in the press.

The game also introduced us to the Blood Ravens. A most intriguing bunch who I guessed from the get-go their true origins. A chapter that likes psykers and wears red and bone armour. Remind you of anyone? That aside, they’ve become a part of the 40k lore and I’ve seen many an army take to the table. Which I think is a benchmark of the game’s success. That it’s influencing hobby as well as the hobby influencing it.

That said, it was never the plot that made Dawn of War the game we know and love today. It was how faithfully the models had been lifted from the table and put into a PC game. No one had tried to be clever with the styling or reinvent the wheel. They looked like rendered models kicking the living shit out of each other and that was and is awesome. It was incredibly satisfying watching a tactical squad take apart a unit of Ork Boyz. And the first time a Land Raider rolled off the production line and opened up with its lascannons was a very special moment.

However, where the game got really fun was the skirmish mode. 4 players, either online or AI or both, racing to build a base and kick the living daylights out of each other. My online experiences were tarnished by people running a force commander into my base, calling down a lance strike to cripple my capacity to do, well, anything and then suffer the indignity of sitting and watching a single tactical squad slowly shoot the few buildings that survived to pieces. However, if you went up against an opponent that wasn’t a total bell end it was the best fun. And you could spend hours with the delicate dance of war.

One of my favourite memories was a game against a vastly superior player to me. He was out foxing me at every turn and it was only through sheer tenacity I was able to hold him back long enough to force a withdrawal. Up to this point I’d been putting my efforts into building a strike force so instead I put everything I had into building an overlapping defence network with a few Dreadnoughts in amongst there as well. By the time the inevitable attack came there were so many heavy bolter turrets opening up that entire secitons of the map weren’t visible. And by this point I had a few squads in reserve so once committed what was a holding action became a route and I was able to roll up his force and destroy his base. It truly was a superb game.

And that’s really the point. Dawn of War is a superb game. The supplements kept the game fresh and kept fans of the armies happy. Although I never completed the Winter Assault campaign. I just found using the Imperial Guard tedious. Which is exactly how I feel about using them on the board so they clearly got the feel for the army dead on.

It’s times like this that you realise how much you enjoyed something and the only reason you stopped playing was because you forgot you had it. It’s easy to blame time but the reality is that we all filled our days with new games like Dawn of War II – which I just couldn’t get on with – and left it on a shelf to collect dust and ultimately get sold on.

But for those that did sell on your copies – you fools! – you’re in luck. The lovely people over at Relic are doing a competition to celebrate Dawn of War’s anniversary by giving away a big pile of cool shit including the games. Head over to their site to find out how you could win.

And remember, only in death does duty end… Ugh.

-Phil

Okay, it’s not much but this gribbly sod makes it pretty clear that the Tyranids are about to have another reboot. Most Tyranid players will be delighted after the last two codices were pretty sucky. Let’s hope this edition bucks the trend. Having had a couple of Tyranid armies over the years I, for one, would like them to return to their place as the horror movie close combat nightmares rather than an obviously commercially written army list.

Anyway, I’ll post more pictures as I find them.

It wouldn’t be a Tyranid release without a deluge of mental looking new kits and it looks this one is no exception…

So another Warhammer 40,000 game is in production. This time it’s 40k Chess. To be honest I have no feelings one way or the other on how good or not it will be. Or even how advisable it is to make a 40k version of the original strategy game when Games Workshop spend a lot of energy telling everyone theirs is the best. However the teaser and the animations look epic so for now I don’t really care.

And pay special attention to the bolters and heavy bolters when they fire. Because you can actually see the contrail of the bolt round’s rocket igniting. Which is pretty badass.

Last Thursday I got a game of 40k in using my new Ork army. As it was their second outing I thought I’d mix it up a bit and give the Dakkajet a try because, well it’s freaking cool. For reasons passing my understanding, I told Lee I’d be taking a flyer which prompted him to tweak his army list to cram in a Strom Raven. I can’t blame him, I just wanted to be a sod and spend all game strafing him with impunity.

I was my usual jammy self and managed to get my Dakkajet on the board at the start of turn 2 and immediately set about hosing down an Imperial Guard squad. The Storm Raven came on the following turn and turned the sky around my Dakkajet into a swirling storm of explosions and hot lead in an attempt to turn the Howlin Git into a big cloud of tin foil and fire. But as I mentioned, I was jammy. Passing 6 out of the 7 Jink saves forced upon me resulted in me breaking off and attacking a second Guard section with the Raven in hot pursuit. The Dakkajet’s number as inevitably up but it struck me how (a) cinematic it all looked (b) how flyers didn’t break the game as I feared and (c) how introducing flyers is a natural evolution in army selection and encourages gamers to take ‘all comers’ lists rather than tailoring them to suit a specific force or army composition.

Lee had a tactical advantage in so much as I’d told him I was taking a flyer. However ‘best practice’ as it were suggests that he should allow for that likelihood anyway. With pretty much every army having a flyer of some sort it’s reasonable for us as gamers to have a contingency to deal with them should we find the sky filling up with fast movers. Units with skyfire rules or an upgrade or ammo type. A flyer of your own is not unreasonable and if it turns out your opponent hasn’t taken one then you get to dominate the skies. It’s not exactly a lose lose situation other than the often heavy point investment required. Or you make the decision to ignore it and hope for the best. Having witnessed what my piddly Ork flyer can do I don’t necessarily recommend that option. A flyer will rarely win you the game, but it will give your opponent a headache whilst the rest of your army does the business.

But the point is this: Flyers were an important missing piece of the 40k puzzle. I was quite possibly the biggest sceptic (well joint first with Lee) when they first started to appear in 40k. It was a combination of things as to why. Firstly it was how simply flyers worked in Space Marine – that was never going to translate well in the creaking behemoth that is the 40k rule book. Secondly, the rules seemed reminiscent of Epic 40k. Which was such a wallowing turd of a game I was immediately concerned. And finally my feeling was that they would unbalance the game and give Space Marines, Chaos Space Marines and Necrons an insurmountable edge.

Whilst the latter is partially true it re-emphasises the point that 40k is at its best when armies are interesting. Built around combined arms rather than designing a power list to spank the living shit out of your opponent in three turns or less. And then hit on their momma. Solid cores of troops, elite units, assault elements, armour, artillery. All working together to the greatest effect. Add in aircraft and it all suddenly makes sense. It adds an extra layer to the combat, adds a new threat to the previously tame skies. It forces gamers to think in three dimensions beyond vantage points in buildings.

Plus it’s outrageous amounts of fun. Building the kits is awesome. It takes those early days of building Airfix F14 super Tomcats to a whole new (and way cooler) level. And using them is ace. They look great on the board, the rules make for new and interesting tactical decisions for both players. And board set up too has never been more important. Playing hideously open boards that have no place being anywhere other than Warhammer Fantasy or Lord of the Rings will spell doom and misery for any units that fall under the guns of a flyer. But I suppose that could make for interesting scenarios too and allow you to recreate the odd scene from the Gaunt’s Ghosts series. No bad thing there.

In short – flyers have changed the game of 40k far more than I ever realised, and for the better. The potential for aerial shenanigans encourages gamers to write more flexible army lists. Tactics have to be rethought and adapted. The space has never been more three-dimensional and board layout is vital to affording your troops the protection they’ll need. It doesn’t mean flyers are overpowered because they’re not. They’ll still get shot to bits by one another and even without skyfire, it’s not as hard as you’d think to shoot something down, because I’ve done it. Of course there’s a commercial argument. If you have a flyer I have to buy one too. Little bit of yes, little bit of no. No one forces you to do anything and there are alternatives. But I struggle to entertain the financial point of view because chances are we’ve already spent a couple of hundred pounds on our armies already. What’s another thirty? Flyers represent an opportunity to bring some of the excitement, dynamism and scale from the artwork to the board. And that cannot be a bad thing.

-Phil

This review is later than planned because my daughter selfishly got sick and meant all my evenings were spent caring for her instead of building the Gorkanaut. I’ve still not finished it but I’m far enough along that I can confidently review it.

It’s awesome.

Review over.

As if! My opinions can never be confined to two words.

Just for the benefit of those that have been living in an Ork free cave for the last few months, the Gorkanaut/Morkanaut is the latest big kit to roll off the production line bring the Green Menace up to snuff with the Imperium, Tau and Eldar. And like the Imperial Knight there are options to build one of two types of big clanky architects of destruction.

Whilst I plan on having both variants in my Freebooter’s army I kicked things off with the Gorkanaut because it’s my favourite of the two. The only real difference is the primary weapon and the absence of the Kustom Forcefield. And a less mekky head.

The kit has needed instructions. There’s a lot of parts and some of them need to keep moving after the gluing and it wouldn’t take much to get that wrong without the guidance from the below par diagrams. And between the below par diagrams and the sheer volume of cool bits and bobs to add it takes a good long while to build the kit. If you’re planning on using it the day you buy it, start early.

It’s brilliant fun to build though. The kit strikes the balance between strength and posibility perfectly aside from the legs being a little static, but it’s forgivable considering the design of the model and the inevitable limitations. But there are options enough you can mix it up a bit. Plus if you’ve bought any other Ork vehicles there’s no shortage of odds and sods to really make it feel individual. Which is just as well if you’re planning on having more than one of these bad boys in your army. And why wouldn’t you?

The detail on the kit is awesome. The bulkheads have that rough and uneven feel of something that’s been hand-made which, of course, they would be. And the areas around the legs and feet have wearing from the legs being poorly designed and made which, of course, they would be.

The hard points and the weapons design means you can build either configuration without the need of lots of spare and wasteful plastic. It also affords some subtle variation as well as conversion opportunities. The big shootas would also look awesome slapped across the wings of Dakkajets for anyone wanting to really tool up their flyers.

There are lots of little touches to the kit that imply real thought on behalf of the Meks albeit none of it terribly clever. Like the mud guards by the leg and the fact it kinda looks like a Mek got carried away trying to build a suit of Terminator armour. It is a poor man’s Stompa in many ways though, in the same way that a Killa Kan is a poor man’s Deff Dred. It’s not a gripe as such but it does lack the same gravitas or the same degree of crudity to its construction. But it will still look badass on the board. Until you buy a Stompa. And for the difference in money you kinda have to ask yourself why you’d opt for the Gorkanaut.

But truth be told it’s an excellent kit in its own right and whilst the Gorkanaut’s big brother is the cooler and better value option it’s also the less practical one. And you can field two Gorkanauts for the points.

In game terms it’s typically Orky in its application. Volumes of dice from a big shooty weapon, in the case of the Gorkanaut, that will miss more than it hits, and a claw to tear open…well, everything. And it’s needed. The fact that it’s armour is 13 to the front and side is pretty amazing for Orks but it’ll still be vulnerable through sheer weight of fire and most armies having vastly superior anti-tank. So for the points it’s a gamble as you’ll be forced to send it stomping across the board in the hope of it making its points back.

The Morkanaut more so for me. Whilst it’s Kustom Forcefield affords it durability – which is handy considering the small transport capacity – but it’s single shot weapon will be useless 4 times out of 6. And even then the kustom mega-blasta lacks the punch to be major threat to heavily armoured vehicles like Leman Russ or Land Raiders. Instead it’s far better put to use crippling APCs and support vehicles forcing the enemy out into the open where the rest of the Ork army can wade in. The claw is for the big meaty stuff. But even then don’t hinge your game plan on it.

Annoyingly the support weapons will probably be more use considering how likely either ‘Naut is to get mobbed by nasty choppy units.. Especially on the Morkanaut as it lacks the anti-personnel potency of the Gorkanaut to thin the herd.

But it’s an Ork vehicle and Ork players have come to expect very little from their army so anything that does come off is a bonus. And in the mean time they have a very cool model on the board that looks scary and might draw some fire for a couple of turns. And maybe, just maybe, it may take something down with it. If it doesn’t just console yourself with the fact that it was immense fun to build and looks awesome.

The Gorkanaut kit is available from Firestorm Games priced £55.25

6 months ago I took a leave of absence. My life was getting very complicated and things were reaching a critical mass that would have seen, amongst other things, myself explode like a poodle in a microwave.

Things are much better. Still complicated but I am happier. It’s taken a lot of reflection and a lot of changes many of which are personal and those closest to me will know what those are and the rest of you…well tough shit.

This site and my hobby – and the future of both – hung in the balance for quite some time. This website, once a source of great joy for me, had become something negative with the resounding screwing over I and it got last year. Equally my fixation on making it a success and its ultimate downfall cost me a lot. It cost me my health, it strained relationships, it impacted on my work performance – particularly during the aforementioned screwing over – and my hobby suffered too. It took a lot to reconcile all that and decide if I wanted the site as part of my life. The fact that I’m here typing suggests I do but I’m yet to full decide in what form that will take.

As for my hobby…like a fat chick fresh out of an LA cosmetic surgeons office, it’s looking pretty unrecognisable. Most of it has gone including items with obligations attached. I apologise sincerely to all those concerned, but promised content won’t be forthcoming. They were assignments taken on at a pretty difficult time in my life and I needed a cleansing of all the negative shit that had built up around the site. Which is why, beyond esteemed guest writers like the immense Gav Thorpe, you won’t see contributors on this site whilst it exists in its current form. Again, certain contributors had made promises, none of which were kept and rather than continually setting myself up for disappointment, I’m putting a stop to it all together. This does mean various series will not be concluded and, again I apologise for that also.

But back to my hobby. As I say, it’s all pretty much gone. I’ve kept my Games Workshop stuff, my X-Wing fleet, and the Terran contents from the Firestorm Armada box and that’s it. The rest was sold or given away. The reason why isn’t because my hobby had become my job. I’d love my hobby to be my job. It was because I had too much content to produce and not enough time or willing hands to achieve it. Whether it was ambition or ego (or both) I overestimated a great many things last year and it cost me.

So where does it leave this site? Well, I was amazed to find that despite being untouched since Christmas people were still visiting the site. That’s a very humbling thing. As for content, it won’t be every day. Hell, it may not be every week but I’ll be writing again. I’m also going to be writing about what I’m up to in the hobby with a smattering of whatever takes my interest thrown in. Essentially I’m taking the site back to what I created it for. To talk about my hobby.

I hope to still do the odd product review because I really enjoy them. Firestorm Games being the amazing people they are, stuck by me when they had every right to cut me loose so I’m looking forward to renewing our friendship. Equally there are a great many companies I’ve gotten to know over the years that I hope I can still support in some small way.

I also owe an apology to fellow #warmongers who expected to see me at Salute 2015. I had a ticket but the reality was it was better for me to stay away. Granted I had the worst cold I’ve had in years over the weekend, but to represent this site wouldn’t have done me any favours. I wouldn’t have been there to network like previous years – Mr McVey I still owe you that beer! – and I’d done no hobby to speak of. Plus I’d just got back from Houston, Texas (big up to the guys at Fat Ogre) so it’s not like I could dropped a wad of notes at Forge World like I normally do.

But the fact that all the Horus Heresy armour variants I bought at Salute 2014 – intended to get me painting my Ultramarines again – remain distinctly resin grey means that buying more shit I don’t use is a great way of putting myself into a flat spin again.

So. I’ll conclude with this: I’m back, at least in part. Thank you to everyone for the outpouring of support when I went on hiatus and after.

I’m working on a couple of Mordheim warbands at the moment so I shall be kicking things off with some stuff about them.

Until next time…

I must admit, when I saw a new Codex Space Marines had been released I had to check the date of my last review to make sure I wasn’t going mad. The previous edition was just 2 years old. Now I’ve never been one to stand in the way of progress (stop laughing) but that does seem a little soon and understandably makes people nervous about committing to a £35 book if it’s going to be replaced just 24 months later. It’s little wonder the illegal download underground is getting bigger all the time.

As with other, more recent, Games Workshop publications, the by line is absent. Presumably to stop the bilious tirade directed at any one person that ensues when a new codex comes out. Bringing a new book so soon is bound to cause a certain degree of justified gnashing of teeth.

As with the previous book it’s just lovely to look at. From the cover art to every picture on every page is glorious and much of it, if I’m not mistaken, is new. Which for us old buggers is a bit of a treat. But there’s also a couple of images realised in colour that I’ve only seen in black and white, which is nice.

The quality of production has been increased. The lining paper is a better fit and feels less luck it was stuck down by PVA. The hateful fold-in reference sheet is gone and with it the embarrassingly shonky folds.

Sadly the increase in quality doesn’t extend to the writing. There are fewer typos than the last book and they weren’t on the first page but they are still there. There’s also some stellar mixed metaphors, the worst of which is in the opening gambit. The background of Codex Adeptus Astartes feels, if I’m honest, nearly as lacklustre as the previous version. There have been some improvements for but the overarching theme doesn’t have any of the sense of urgency, drama or presence that previous books sweated from every surface. This book kinda feels like the Codex equivalent of the Amazing Spider-man 2: it’s drips with obligation rather than inspiration. It’s fulfilling of an intellectual property requirement rather than a promise of excitement, heroism and valour.

So Codex Adpetus Astartes isn’t worse than the 2013 Codex Space Marines. Hooray! Although I’m fairly certain there’s a smaller word count despite it being a thicker book (200 pages to 180). The artwork, splendid as it is, occupies a half page apiece on average. Sometimes more. The timelines in the previous edition were not only far prettier to look at, but more substantial. Each of the first founding chapters got fluff and timelines, that’s all been replaced by three of four paragraphs. It’s shame because the Ultramarines end up dominating the book more than they did before which does nothing to smooth over the – by this point – fairly mean-spirited bitching and belly-aching that is abound within the 40k community towards them. It would be good news for Ultramarines if the their background was written with any personality what-so-ever.

That said there’s some interesting tweaks to the background, one of which actually makes the Iron Hands interesting. Like: Horus Heresy books interesting. Like they’re all a bunch of repressed, self mutilating, sociopaths that are all one tin-man joke away from losing their shit and killing everyone. It’s brilliant. The best bits about the Heresy Salamanders is also evident, emphasising their compassion and their place as leaders of humanity rather than rulers. So whilst Codex Adeptus Astartes does condense, it does work harder to draw gamers towards the more exotic adherents of the Codex Astartes.

Overall though the layout of Codex Adeptus Astartes is strong and brings it in line with Codex Orks, which is a fantastic book. The army list is long but clear. The variety of Space Marine units available means there’s going to be a fair bit of flicking backwards and forwards for the purposes of army list writing but the upside it that you shouldn’t miss any notes or special rules with everything right there in front of you.

It does get a bit woolly in places and the Imperial Fists and their successor chapters are relegated to tertiary chapters whose histories focus around Lysander, Helbrecht and Grimaldus. But the good news for Black Templar players is they get an apology by way of really good Chapter Tactics. The Black Templars used to piss me off royally with their bullshit list of special rules. Whilst this list is thankfully a thing of the past, they still fare far better than most benefiting from bonuses to running, bonuses to Deny the Witch rolls, they get Counter Attack and Rage and all its cost them is the use of Librarians.

The rest of the rules are largely unchanged with a few points changes here and there. There’s been a subtle push towards flyers and anti-flyer units as the Stormtalon’s weapons systems have been halved in points and they get +1 to their jink save when hovering which makes them a massively more appealing option albeit at the cost of the Escort Craft special rule (this has been thrown into a formation instead). Equally the Stalker’s gun has lost a shot but can now split fire with its remaining three shots at Ballistic Skill 4 or, if it shoots at a single target it’s twin-linked. That’s nasty.

One of the changes that’s tickled me and is up there with equipping Havoc squads with plasma guns and a rhino as something to try is you can turn Tactical Squads into Wraightknight hunters. All you need to do is equip the squad with a grav-cannon, grav-gun and a grav-combi bolter. Although you could do similar with Devastator squads in a Rhino. You’d need to pick your moments wisely but it’d certainly make a real mess.

Master of the Forge appears to have gone the way of the Dodo and instead the humble Techmarine has had a 15 points increase but got an extra wound for their trouble with the option of all the cool and groovy upgrades. This is by no means the end of the world as you can still have a Techmarine leading your army but you’ve saved 25 points and it’s cost 1 point of Ballistic Skill.

The formations are no doubt what will get many hot and hard as it affords lots of big delicious bonuses for taking certain combinations of models. I deliberately missed out the word ‘expensive’ because it was obvious. Unfortunately it’s those with the deepest pockets or the biggest collections (they’re not necessarily the same thing) that will really benefit from these formations and they’re bonkers special rules.

Regular readers will know that I have two full companies of Ultramarines – 1st and 5th. This means I can, and often do, field a full battle company. This means I get all my transports for free. Hurrah! I can also field a Land Raider Spearhead the bonuses of which means I get to ignore everything but immobilised and vehicle destroyed results on the damage table as long as they stay in formation. Oh, and re-roll failed rolls to wound or for armour penetration. I mean really? I would actually feel embarrassed fielding that. I mean I’m gonna, but I’ll blush slightly as I kick the shit out of whoever I’m playing against.

Although there’s still no way to take a legal 1st Company army list which is such a shame, especially as the 1st Company formation feels more like they’re trying to push expensive models than because it’s accurate. It’s not the end of the world as gamers can just use an unbound list, it just would have been nice to give the option.

The hobby/showcase section in this Codex is huge. A fairly indulgent 43 pages compared to the previous 28 pages. So 15 of the extra pages in this version have been given over to pictures basically. Although I shouldn’t be surprised as most of the pages in the book have been given over to pictures. That said, because of the way the images are presented it’s going to make painting and marking Space Marine chapters are less painful experience now which is an extremely good thing. Thinking back to my staff days, one of the hardest things younger gamers had to deal with was getting that stuff right and it’s nice to see the book written inclusively rather than targeted at one audience or the other. I just wish it wasn’t quite so much of the book.

The reality of Codex Adeptus Astartes is that it’s essentially the second edition of the previous one. The background is blah rather than bad. The rules have had a review and there’s been a few interesting changes. Some subtle, some not so much. The presentation of the army list is clear and concise. The irritating things about the old book, like the folded reference sheet, are gone. It’s a nicer, better put together book.

I do still yearn for the days of Chapter traits because they made them all far more interesting. The tactics are fine and being an Ultramarine player I certainly can’t grumble but it still doesn’t quite grab me by the hobby spot. This said, there is still some improvements in there that’ll please one or two of the wargaming community. Unfortunately this book is, again, very much aimed at gamers that use Codex chapters. It doesn’t mean there’s nothing in there for Salamander players etc but there’s just not as much. Actually I’m pretty sure there’s less than before but I suspect that’ll be remedied with supplement books.

Overall Codex Adeptus Astartes is an average offering fixing many of the bugs in the previous books whilst introducing some interesting – albeit Easter egg sized – changes that will have far more impact than some appreciate. The formations are interesting enough that people will want to take them and broken enough that they’ll feel guilty doing it. But with some of the combinations out there, they won’t be alone. The background is a little stale but it is better but there’s still huge room for improvement. It is, end to end, beautiful. It’s also a big book about Space Marines.

Codex Adeptus Astartes is available from Firestorm Games priced £31.50.

Another year another Eldar Codex.

At least it seems that way. Eldar have been a headache for the design team ever since the first Codex that came out for second edition 40k. They’re a fascinating army in terms of background, army composition and game play. Not even the Tau can match the Eldar for how well all the various units work in concert. Granted it’s very much the case of easy to learn, difficult to master but that’s true of armies like Space Marines. No really. No really. Shut up.

I’ve been frustrated with Eldar for a long time because the books are always brilliant until you get to the army organisation and then it all comes unstuck for one reason or another so I wasn’t surprised that another Codex was released so soon after the previous one despite the fact that the previous version was actually pretty strong.

But onto the current version. Which could have been superseded in to the time it took me to read it and write this review for al I know…

Like the previous version the cover art is splendid. Not quite as dynamic but has veiled menace which I dig. It’s interesting that the Space Marine and Craftworlds codices both have junior officers on the covers rather than cool and groovy leader types. Not that they’re any less cool of course.

The production value has increased just as it did with the latest Codex Space Marines and there is lots of splendid new artwork. Not as much as I expected in light of Codex Space Marines but still plenty to make you boy parts and your girl parts (delete where appropriate) feel all warm and tingly. But like Codex Space Marines the artwork dominates double page spreads making the book incredibly thin in terms of actual content. Throw in 36 pages of photos and hobby section and the 160 page Codex Craftworlds doesn’t feel like…well a book. The artwork is beautiful, especially the newer stuff, but there’s just so much of it.

What content there is, however, is broadly well written. There’s still typos of course, but I’ve all but given up pointing those out because all it’s going to result in is an ulcer. There’s been a very well paced step forward in terms of the background for Codex Craftworlds. As with the previous version, this version seems to understand further still what it means to be an Eldar be it the path of the warrior, the outcast or balloon animal maker. Wait, what?

However some areas have been neglected either through space or the assumption that they won’t hold people’s attention. The biggest victim being the timeline. There’s fewer events and they just don’t feel as tightly written. The nice thing though is, overall, Codex Craftworlds does feel quite well written. I still feel at risk from hyperbolic overdose but nothing to the extent of Codex Space Marines. Although that was just poorly written rather than repetitive. Although it was that too.

There are some parts of the book that do feel rehashed and slightly lack lustre but overall all the Craftworlds have been given a vibrant lick of paint. Even Ulthwe has more going for it now than being stuck at the very edge of the Eye of Terror. Which is nice. I guess, more than anything, there feels like there’s a point to it all. The previous Codex did an awful lot in making the Eldar feel more tangible but this Codex builds on it and makes the Eldar feel like a people. More to the point a people that does actually interact with one another.

Weirdly that was always the thing with the Eldar: you never really got the impression that the various Craftworlds would have much to do with one another seeing as they have pretty different outlooks, ideologies, fighting styles and even agendas. This book does a lot to clarify that and to its very great credit. The Craftworlds feel more like nations now. Similar but yet different. Working towards common goals in very different ways that can cause friction, resentment and mistrust.

There’s also a general easing off the gas on the matter of the species dying out. Yes the race is the cusp but the emphasis is on that fact, not that they’re beyond saving. It’s an important distinction as one of the common grumbles was the point of playing as a species that was already doomed. Although if you really read into the background that can very much be argued for the Imperium. But I digress.

Broadly speaking the background in the Codex is great to read. Maybe it’s just me not remembering it much from the previous book but there seems to have been a lot of work done around the Wraith constructs and how Wraithguard, Wraithlords and Wraithknights fit into the grand scheme. I particularly like how unsavoury, yet necessary the entire situation is and that Spiritseers are treated with the same disgust as necrophiliacs.

The rules don’t seem to have changed…at all. A few things have gotten cheaper – like Howling Banshees. Presumably because everyone moaned that they were expensive die all the time. Now they’re less expensive and die all the time. So yay… That said the way Howling Banshees perform in this and the previous edition is a huge improvement on how they use to be.

The other tweak is that Dark Reapers get skyfire now which was badly needed.

The big deal in this Codex is, as with some of the others, the formations. Which are fucking mad. If it’s not free weapons platforms, it’s special rules or adding +1 to ballistic skill or weapons skill. Fire Dragons and Dark Reapers with a BS of 5 is just horrid. And wraith hosts make me want to vomit in terror. They get to re-roll failed hits against any enemy within 18 inches of the Spiritseer. I mean really?

Broadly speaking there wasn’t huge cause to redo the Codex. The points changes are convenient but I very much doubt they kept many Eldar players up at night. They will however be kept up masturbating furiously over the formations. There’s literally not a one I wouldn’t take. They’re all amazing. Dire Avengers get 3 shots. What the hell?

Of course the cynic in me would argue this entirely to sell all the models. But you know what? Who cares? Eldar range is gorgeous. Even the Eldar Guardians which must be around 17 years old now, are still awesome. And the bottom line is this:

The Eldar army has had significant weaknesses since 3rd Edition. Weaknesses that made the Eldar a real challenge to use. I’d go so far as to say that they’re one of the hardest armies to use. I’m certainly not the best gamer in the world but I’m certainly not the worst and I found them a challenge. I good challenge but I found strategy and tactics were tempered with faith far more than with other armies. And I’ve played with them all.

The formations in Codex Craftworlds give all the various units a buff that dramatically improves their combat effectiveness. It broadly doesn’t tackle their biggest issues – poor toughness and poor armour – but by increasing the odds of hitting or beefing up the fire power it goes some way to mitegating those weaknesses. Because, if you’re doing your job right, there will be fewer things alive to shoot back. The big revelation is this – it’s going to make the Eldar a challenge to play against.

You’re not going to save killer levels of points with the free support weapons and free upgrades but free guns are free guns. But it’s the special rules and stat buffs that you’re after anyway.

Is Codex Craftworlds going to set your world ablaze? Actually it might just. The formations are so good that no self respecting Eldar player should be without…any of them. The minor rule tweaks and points reductions are an added bonus. The flyers and wraith constructs are still sick and be crammed into your armies wherever possible.

Codex Craftworlds is available from Firestorm Games priced £31.50.