Fantasy Battles: Fantasy Battles

Well, here is the rule PDF:
 Rulebook.pdf (1020.79K)
Number of downloads: 0

And the codex update:
 Codex Updates.pdf (197.42K)
Number of downloads: 0


I know this is a pre-finished copy, but mistakes like:

Quote

Really? He waves at his toe? Which toe?

Quote

Um, you thunderwolf cavalry better watch out.. the baron is coming with a flock of Herons to wipe you out! I mean it is not even close... Hellion, heron...

of course, some herons are more evil than the worst hellions!

Quote

Units (plural) of grey knight( singular)... I mean these are typos a 12 year old could find... because it seems an 11 year old pulled all these out of his a$$.

I am not sure if both PDF's are fake, but i am pretty certain that the Codex Update is.

Here is some info from BOK

This is a new statline that works with BS to determine if hit a unit

Evasion (EV)
The Evasion Value indicates how hard it is to hit
the model. The smaller and faster, the better the
Evasion Value of a warrior. This characteristic is
not part of the model’s profile as it depends on
the speed of the model. A moving Tau Fire
Warrior has an Evasion of 3, a stationary Land
Raider tank only an Evasion of 1. This
characteristic is described on page 70.

Cover Save are now 5+ looks like for many things

The following is from duel live blogging courtesy of Reece from FrontlineGaming

•Wound allocation: Back to 4th ed we go! All wounds are distributed by armor type, multi-wound models count for as many models as they have remaining wounds. Sarge and his special weapon buddies are last to die.
•Running in the movement phase….most of us do this already!
•Instant Death, this is awesome! Instant death is totally changed, if your toughness is exceeded by 4 points of strength you take 2 wounds. By 5, 3 wounds, etc. Tyranids, rejoice!
•If you double your opponent’s WS, you hit on 2′s in combat!
•If you double your opponent’s WS, you hit on 2′s in combat! If their WS is double yours, you hit on a 5, triple, you hit on a 6!
•Rigid saves: sounds like FnP, but is ignored by AP 1,2,3 or instant death attacks. FnP is Rigid 4+
•Removed from play now just means removed as a casualty. Necrons get a break from JotWW!
•Preferred enemy: Shooting and HtH! But like 4th ed, always hit on a 3+, if normally hitting on a 3+, now hits on a 2+. If you choose to shoot at a unit that you have PE against, but don’t, you lost the rule for the rest of the game! Now Destroyers with preferred enemy: Everything! makes sense!
•iers of Eternal Warrior, still reading it, but if you have EW 1, you ignore ID 1, etc. level 3 ignores all ID
•If a unit can be singled out by an attack (JotWW) it becomes it’s own unit. Shielded (USR) ignores that rule.
•Falling back is now your movement + D6″
•some units can cause Terror which triggers a morale check
•Shaken applies to all units now, like pinning for infantry and shaken as now for vehicles
•Broken units automatically fail their morale if they lose a combat.
•Surrounded: if broken and falling back, if you end your move within 12″ of an unengaged enemy model, the unit is destroyed! Wow!
•Tactical Retreat: If a unit falls off the board, they are removed from play but does not count as destroyed. You can choose to leave the game and not give up a KP or VPs.
•Immobilized counts for all unit types. Immobile units EV value (evasion) is decreased, usually +1 to hit them.
•Tiered fearlessness: can be pinned or shaken. Nice! Fearless units are subject to rules but are better against them. Level 3 fearless ignores everything, though. Stubborn the same. Cold Blooded new rule allows you to choose to pass or fail. ATSKNF largely remains the same.
•Critical hits: this is a blanket rule that automatically wounds and ignores all saves but invulnerable, vehicles take a penetrating hit. Triggered by certain attacks and difficult terrain roles, which now are on a 6, not a 1.
•new Dense terrain type: can’t see through it at all. If a unit is in it, you ignore this unit for shooting.
•Cover saves now 5+ for all but fortified ruins.
•Skilled Rider now IGNORES difficult terrain checks.
•Airborne rule: units with this rule ignore difficult and dangerous terrain, but still gain a cover save form it.
•Move through cover: run/cruise through difficult terrain.
•Turn phases: Move, Assault, Shoot, Consolidate
•BIG! In order to control a mission objective, you must have it for an ENTIRE turn.
•Turns are defined, things that occur :at the beginning of the turn” are clearly defined.
•Cruise and Combat speed are for all units now, cruising or running for infantry, is a straight double movement, no more random roll.
•You cannot shoot before charging anymore. A Charge is a double move.
•Engage action: charge normal movement distance (not double), but can shoot in the following shooting phase
•Flat Out: Triple movement
•Fleet adds 2″ to your movement value!
•Fast rule: shoot twice if stationary, shoot normally after moving or charging
•Rage: can’t remain stationary, must take -1 morale check to not charge enemy unit within 12″
•Alpha Strike: charging into terrain makes defenders I10, charging already engaged unit makes attacker I10
•In HTH, if a template deviates onto combat, each unit under it only takes 1 hit. Can’t target into HtH.
•BIG RULE: No Retreat is now a critical hit for every wound you lost combat by (ignores armor) but you can pass a morale check with a -1 for every wound you lost combat by. Wow, that levels the playing field, a LOT!
•Sweeping advance: if you lose combat and fail a morale, you roll 5+ and break out of combat or are destroyed. If your In is higher than the pursuing unit’s In, you break off on a 4+
•3″ consolidation
•Hit and Run now only 3″, but can now shoot in the following shooting phase
•Hulk rule: can not attack in HtH
•Intractable rule: cannot be bound in HtH
•All models with a base (infantry, walkers, MCs) do NOT block LOS. They grant a 5+ cover unless the squad leader of the firing unit can not see the target unit, in which case the save is a 4+
•Look out sarge: a unit can force a cover save to a unit behind it, even if normally the target unit would not get a save, but the intervening unit takes a critical wound for every save that is passed
•Evasion: 3 base for all units. Massive: Tanks, MCs, GCs, bastions, walkers, super-heavies -1 Ev. Stationary -1. Jink +1, Swarm +1, Flyer always a 6, point blank (squad leader is within 12″) EV always 3
•Divide fire: if you have the divide fire rule, you can give up a shot to shoot all remaining weapons at different targets! A vehicle that holds still can do some serious work, but is easier to hit.
•Night Vision now lets you reroll your check unless their stealth is higher than their Night Vision.
•Multi-Targeting: if you have this rule, you can double your shots if you hold still!! Wowzers. If you have multi-targeting(3) you can shoot three times. If you hold still, you shoot 6 times!
•Overwatch! If an enemy unit ends its move within 12″ of a unit with this ability, they can perform a defensive shooting action at them out of sequence
•Relentless: can fire as if they held still, rapid fire to 18″ as opposed to 24″
•Tiered stealth: +1. 2. 3 etc.
•Swarms: eternal warrior (1), +1 evade, vulnerable to blasts
•veiled: tiered level 1, 2d6x3 to spot, level 2 2d6x2, level 3 2d6x1.5 to spot.
•Draw Back rule: performed in the consolidation phase, 2d6″ move after shooting: eldar jetbikes
•In the consolidation phase (after shooting) you can join or leave a unit, embark in a vehicle(!), move or regroup.
•You can oly regroup if you are not within 12″ of an enemy unit, but if you embark into a vehicle, you automatically regroup.
•Patch up: bye bye wound allocation tricks! If you have more than one multi-wound model with a wound, take a wound from one and give it to another until only one model remains with less than full wounds! Peace out, Draigowing!
•Defensive fire: you can shoot a unit that comes within 12″ out of sequence with this rule. Nice! shoot units as they assault you.
•Charge by CHance: sounds like over-watch but for assault. If a unit appears within 6″ of the unit with this rule, it can assault that unit. Sounds like shooting a transport, blowing up it up, then assaulting the unit inside.
•Rapid Fire: tiered rapid fire, if within 12″ you get one extra shot. rapid fire (2) gives 3 shots at 12″, 2 at 18″
•assault weapons count as a secondary close combat weapon in HtH
•Ordnance weapons take 2 fire actions to fire, ordnance barrage take 4 fire actions
•“bomb” type weapons are fired in the movement phase
•grenades can be used as weapons against massive type models (MCs!) or vehicles but your WS is 1
•Directed Hits: attacker chooses what models take the wounds. Stopped by shielding units, or the shielded rule.
•Grenade launchers halve the WS of the defending unit when attacking them with grenades
•ID causes an additional wound even if the str value of the attack isn’t high enough to normally cause ID. Eternal warrior block ID if the tier is higher.
•master crafted rerolls a miss, multiple master crafted weapons of the same type in the same unit reroll one miss per model with the rule (speeds things up a lot)
•coarse weapon: only another coarse weapon may grant an additional attack and can’t be directed.
•Blast weapons. Wow! Hit with BS as normal, if you miss, scatter the number x 2 (always scatters). So if you hit on a 4, you can only ever scatter 4″ max!
•Template weapons: can shoot out 3″ from the firing model unless otherwise greater, if it hits the firing point of a vehicle or bastion, D3 models inside are hit! Can be fired in the turn you assault, hitting D6 times on the target unit at the weapons str and ap.
•blast weapons hit as described above. Any model partially under the template gets hit at full strength (even vehicles). If the blast hits a vehicle, full strength to armor in firer’s facing. If not on vehicle, full strength to armor facing the center of the blast but -3 on the damage table.
•Multiple blasts: fire one weapon as “lead.” Resolve where it lands, all secondary shots must touch the preceding template and hit as many enemy models as possible, moving towards the enemy unit if the shot missed. Wow. Faster, and much deadlier.
•Rail Weapons: awesome! Target a model within range, even if not in LOS. Roll to hit as with a blast weapon. After final point is determined, draw a line between point and firing unit. All units under the line take as many hits as models under the line. Holy crap, this can rape tanks! A Hammerhead could theoretically hit as many tanks as are in a straight line and in range! Models out of LOS get a 4+. Multiple rail weapons resolve simultaneously, indirect rail weapons only grant a cover save if the unit is in area terrain.
•Barrage: roll to hit as with blast weapon. If target is out of LOS you hit with BS, roll the scatter, on a “Hit” you hit. On an arrow you scatter double the die roll. On a BS miss, you scatter as normal.
•Bombing is a free action done in the movement phase
•AA weapons always hit target as if it were evade 3
•Entangling weapons cause target to be in difficult and dangerous
•pinning weapons cause cumulative morale checks to be pinned. -1 for each unsaved wound.
•
•Snipers are finally legit! All sniper weapons are pinning, rending, directed hits! Wow, they can choose who they can hit! Finally.
•Targeter: shooting unit makes target count as stationary for EV purposes.
•Twin-linked template weapons increase their range to 6?. Wow, twin flamers now shoot farther instead of rerolling to wound.
•Rapid fire weapons fire like assault weapons now, meaning they can always fire once out to max range, and an additional shot if within 12?. Nice!
•Force weapons cause ID(2) so they don’t own monstrous creatures anymore. Thank goodness.
•Power weapons now have the parry rule, which grants a 5++ in HtH! Awesome! A reason to take them.
•Monstrous creatures now hit with a weapon that is 2xS, ap 2
•All CCWs are ap6, which means Orks and Gaunts and such get no save from most HtH attacks.
•whitcblades are str7, and can be “chanelled” activated with a ld test, to allow the wielder to reroll any failed invul saves.
•Melta bombs finally have the melta rule and ap!
•Psychic Hood: roll a D6 if within 24?, add mastery level, blocker needs to beat defender to stop power. Can’t be used inside a transport.
•Unit Types:
•Infantry: 6? move, 12? run or charge
•Beasts or Calvary: move 7?, charge 21?, run 14?
•Jump Infantry: move 9?, charge or run 18?, deep strike
•Flying Infantry: airborne, move 9?, run or charge 18?, deep strike
•Jet Pack: move 6?, airborne, draw back, deep strike, 12? charge or run
•Bikes: move 8?, charge or run 16?, fast, multi-targeting (1), jink, +1 toughness against shooting attacks only, more resistant to ID
•Jetbikes: move like bikes, plus airborne, and draw back for Eldar
•MC’s: massive, monstrous, multi-targeting (2), relentless
•Gargantuan Creatures: 9? move, fearless (3) and a host of other rules
•Ground Vehicle: any vehicle not specified is a ground vehicle, move 6?, fearless (2), hulk, intractable, multi-targeting(1), relentless
•Skimmer: move 8?, same rules as ground vehicle but also airborne
•Fast Skimmer: same as skimmer but also: jink, fast
•walkers: vehicle, fearless (2), massive, multi-targeting(1), relentless
•artillery: same as above but also crew, crew members are markers that represent firing models. take one away every time the vehicle suffers an unsaved glancing or penetrating hit.
•Fortifications: same as above bu also hulk and immobile
•Characters
•special rule: covering fire: Character forgoes shooting to allow unit to have one directed shot if the unit rolls at least 3, 6?s to hit.
•Characters allow their unit to regroup in the consolidation phase. No mention to minimum unit sizes.
•Characters have directed hit rule in HtH and shooting!
•Characters can either be a squad leader or an IC.
•Squad leaders are really important. They determine characteristic tests, facing for shooting at vehicles, seeing if the enemy unit is in cover, point blank range, etc.
•If squad leader dies, another model takes his/her place.
•IC’s can not join vehicles or MCs/GCs unless they are of the same unit type.
•Psykers
•Psykers can perform one “power” type action per level of mastery. Mastery goes from one to 6. Humans rarely exceed 3, Eldar or Daemons rarely exceed 5.
•All psykers level 1 unless specified otherwise. 1 power per level, can’t be duplicate power unless otherwise specified.
•Perils on 2 or 12, critical hit. No mention of rerolling successful invul saves.
•Psyker squads are cleared up. One model counts as using the power.
•Any psyker can attempt to stop a power, works on a 5+ so long as the defender is not in a vehicle and within 24?
•Vehicles
•No vehicles can go up levels in a building anymore, even walkers.
•Terrain checks for every piece of terrain moved through.
•Hitting a Vehicle in HtH is different. If vehicle moves, they are WS10, if they hold still, WS0.
•“Tank” type vehicles get -1 to the damage table. Leman Russ, hoooo!
•Super heavies: -3 on the damage table.
•weapon destroyed is -1 to multi-targeting. Reduced to 0 can only fire one weapon. reuced to -1, can’t shoot.
•Immobilized 2 times = dead.
•Explodes is now d6? radius. All units in range, or that were embarked roll a d6 for as many models as were hit. On a 6, the unit takes a critical hit. Exploded vehicles leave no debris behind.
•wrecks are a 5+, difficult, dangerous
•hull breach: for every additional stunned or immobilized result in the same phase, the damage is 1 higher. Ouch.
•skimmers that are immobilized hit the ground off their base, and models underneath move out of the way.
•Sqaudrons: any stunned, shaken, immobilized result ignored on a 5+ with +1 for each vehicle in the squadron. If test is failed, each vehicle in the squadron suffers the result.
•smoke=5+ cover
•dangerous terrain=roll d6, on a 6, vehicle suffers penetrating hit. only invul save to stop
•repair rules got WAY better: on a 5+, repairing model removes a shaken, stunned, immobile or weapon destroyed result. Or, can boost the vehicle with the same role to add a level of multi-targeting! Techmairnes and Techpriests just got waaaaay cooler.

Tainted Spam led his Orks against Anglacon's Demons in a clash that was two years in the making. These exact 2 lists were last seen at the NECRONOMICON tournament in Orlando, FL, but never played against each other. Both armies finished top 10, and after much smack talking about who would beat who, the game was on!

Spam's orks:

Warboss on bike, cybork body, powerclaw, attack squid and bosspole
5 meganobz with 3 skorchas
10 kommandos with Snikrot, 2 burnas
14 lootas
5 nob bikers with stickbomz, a painboy, 1 klaw, and the Waaagh! Banner.
20 shoota boyz, 2x big shootas and a nob w/klaw and bosspole
12 slugga boyz w/nob, klaw, and bosspole in a trukk w/ram
14 stormboyz w/nob, klaw and bosspole
2 battlewagons, 1 with a kannon, both with rams


Versus

Anglacon's Demons



Skarbrand
Bloodthirster with ironhide/might/blessing of the blood god
2 x 16 bloodletters/ icon/ fury of khorne
2x 8 bloodletters/ fury of Khorne
2 Demon princes of Khorne/ flight/ might/ iron hide

Demons won the roll to go first, and deffered to the Orks.

the mission was Seize ground with three objectives, and a spearhead deployment.

Orks set up thusly:


Spam's Pre-Game plans:
Well, I felt pretty good, as my list matched well against his... I needed to take out his big threats early, and then use my greater movement to take the rest of his army down.

Anglacon's pre-game plans:
I held Skarbrand back for the second wave, knowing how powerful the re-rolls to hit were. i am planning on getting some bloodletters in position for a solid second round charge to take out those lootas. They scare me! I also decided to concentrate on 1 table quarter at a time, where my better hand to hand abilities will help counter his shooting and movement.
(Players thoughts will be in Blue for Spam, red for Anglacon)
Ork turn 1:
Spam sat there and just said, i'm done, your turn!
Movement was irrelevant here.. my only plan is to make him commit, but not in my table quarter.

Demons Turn 1-
The preffered wave of the Bloodthirster, 16 letters, 8 letters and a prince came in. The prince took position by some ruins at the bottom of the table, and ran in. The thirster went forward to threaten the battlewagons. The 16 man squad went dead center, right on an objective then ran into cover, keeping the banner as far forward as possible. The 8 man letter squad went for some trees by the wagons, but scattered into the middle of an open field right in front of them, the bike squad and the lootas.
Aaarghh.. 2 bad scatters- the thirster and the small bloodletter squad. I wanted the thirster between the building and woods, and I sure as hell did not want my 8 man bloodletter squad sitting in the open waiting for a ton of shots to wipe them from the board! I am gonna get smacked down on his turn to be sure!
Demon Deployment at end of turn 1:
(red circles are where the objectives are...)


Ork Turn 2:
Well, I need to kill at least one demon prince this turn. Probrably the one in the ruins in the back. I will also try to bait the Bloodthirster on my left with a tasty 7" moving battlewagon. I am not going to commit the stormboyz yet, because I just know i will need them to counter what he is going to do next.

The Ork movement saw a wagon go over to threaten the bloodthirster, the trukk boyz zoom up and deploy right by the demon prince, and the bikers and other battlewagon go to threaten the 8 man bloodletter unit.
After movement, the Ork beatdown was about to begin....

The Orks opened up with the lootas saying "hello" to the demon prince in the ruins... They wounded the big guy 10 times, but some great 3+ saves saw only 2 wounds actually taken! The sluggas from the trukk boys claimed another wound, and they got ready to charge.
The 8 man bloodletter unit took a crap-ton of twin linked shots from the bikes, but only lost 2 models! The Boyz in the tank unloaded with their shootas and killed all but two. Some amazing saves for the demons!

the orks charged the demon prince, and the bikers charged the two bloodletters. Before dying, the Demon prince took two trukk boyz, and the bloodletters did a wound. The trukk boyz consolidated into the ruin, and the bikers tried to consolidate away from the bloodthirster.

End of the Ork round: (red X's) are where a prince and letter squad USED to be!


Demon turn 2:
NOTHING CAME IN!

The Bloodthirster jumps over to the bikes, and is within 6"... the 16 man squad spreads out to threaten either the lootas or the trukk boys next turn.

Comabt saw the thirster chew through the bike squad, and they fled and were run down. Just like that, the Demons were back in the game!

wow. I weathered the Ork shooting ok this round, but not getting in ANY reinforcements hurt pretty bad! I now had to concentrate on keeping the letters on the table alive.. i knew the thirster is as good as dead, but I need that icon to hang around a bit! The thirster combat went great! I killed 3 nobs (6 combat res) to no wounds in return!

Ork turn 3:
(My camera started to crap out on me here.. sorry...)
Whoops- forgot last turn to roll for Snikrot.. wont make that mistake again! This turn, i NEED to kill that bloodthirster before it runs rampant across my lines.. He may have fallen for the bait unit of my batlewagon, but i fell for his 8 man bait unit as well! The consolidate was not enough for me to avoid the bloodthirster!
Snikrot came in, and deployed in the ork zone to threaten the Thirster. the StormBoyz finally commited, and flew at the thirster as well, as did the Meganobz who deployed from their wagon. Everything was taking aim at that Bloodthirster!
Shooting saw the lootas open up and do 28 shots! They wounded 5 times, but the Iron Hide of the thirster saved 4 of them! All of the Nobs opened up as well, but were unable to even wound the demon. The battlewagon shot and did only 1 wound! The thirster seemed indestructable! Battlewagon 2 missed the shots, all the sluggas shot- no wounds! The sluggas all shot- 5 hits, no wounds! 36 shots from the shoota boyz however took a wound from the beast, leaving it with just 1. Snikrot and the Nobz both charged the thirster, who lashed out killing 3 nobz before dying himself!

Demons turn 3-
All but the 8 man squad come in!
Well, the thirster sure put up a valiant fight, and now the orks, already on their heels have to face another 16 man bloodletter squad, a demon prince and the big baddy Skarbrand himself! His lootas can still wipe the prince or Skarbrand from the table in 1 turn, but unless i get a good terrain roll for my letters, I cannot reach them this turn! I need to "distract" them with Skarbrand AND the demon prince right in their grill!

Skarbrand used the Icon to come in right in front of the lootas! The demon prince did as well. the other squad of 16 bloodletters came in to threaten the Trukk boyz who were sitting pretty on an objective! The Bloodletters who were able to move rolled for terrain and got a "4". Not enough to reach the lootas, but might be enough to assault a battlewagon that crept to close to kill the Bloodthirster.

Running saw the 16 man bloodletters that just came in run up to the ruins that housed the trukk boyz, while skarbrand and the demon prince ran up to 1" away from the lootas.
Assault saw the letters make it, and in hand to hand, needing 6's to hit, they managed to immobolize, stun and rip a wepon off the wagon.

Ork turn 4:
Well, Anglacon is committed. I now have to move for the objectives. Both his remaining scoring units are in the open. I know Skarbrand and the demon prince are in my grill, but they mean nothing! If I destroy his troops- he cannot win!

The Orks moved across the table to kil the Bloodletters. he moved Snikrots group up to threaten the letters attacking his wagon, and the rokkit boyz at the other 16 man squad.
the lootas opened up on the squad by the rokit boyz, and killed 2. The boys shot a few more down. Snikrot flamed the unit in front of him, and with some help from the embarked shoota boys, wiped all but 2 bloodletters from the field!
Charges saw the Rokkit boyz on the 14 strong bloodletters, and snikrot on the 2 remaining ones.
Snikrot killed both, taking 3 wounds on his unit in return. they consolidated to the middle objective.
the Rokkit Boyz were the painful recipiant of Anglacon finally remembering he gets to reroll misses! They were wiped out to all but the fist, who did a wound. he was then run down, and the letters consolidated into the ruins with the trukk boyz.

demons turn 4:
So much for making him shoot at skarbrand! he went right for the troops, which was the smart thing to do! I stupidly forgot Skarbrands rerolls in snikrots figh, but remembered just in time to wipe the rokkit boyz off the board! i am in good position to kill the trukk boyz, but being in cover they go first, and get rerolls from skarbrand, because i need him to take out snikrot and they are within the 24" reroll bubble!

Demons saw the last 8 man unit fail to come on the board. Skarbrand ran over to threaten snikrots unit, who had 1 model out of terrain, so Skarbrand would go first. the demon prince went for the lootas, and the bloodletters in the bottom ruins got ready to charge the Trukk boyz.

Combat saw the lootas wiped, and the prince consolidate twards the immobile tank. Skarbrand killed all but snikrot and a friend, but with a great leadership roll, they stayed put! the letters had to wait while the trukk boyz struck first, rerolling to hit, but the needing "5's" to wound made it so only 4 died. When the letters struck back, they wiped the Boyz, and consolidated as far forward to the middle objecitve as possible, while holding the bottom one.

Ork turn 5:
Bad turn for me. I now need to keep Anglacon focused on the two objectives on his side, while I take the one by me and contest the other with my trukk. My shooting is pretty much gone, and there is not much left i can easily kill.
The Ork turn began with the battlewagon moving 13" to claim the uppermost objective. the ork trukk zoomed up to contest the lower objective by the ruins, and the two remaining nobz jumped in the immobile battlewagon. Shooting from the nobs and wagon was ineffective.
Combat saw Skarbrand kill Snikrot and his pal, and consolidate twards the trukk that was contesting the lower objective.

Demon turn 5:
Well, This is going pretty well. I should be able to get Skarbrand AND the letter squad into base with the trukk, and control that bottom objective. My last squad is coming in without a roll this turn, and my Icon is pretty far forward.. i might be close enough with the 6" range to be in control of that middle objective... it is a close one!

the demon turn started with the last Bloodletter unit hitting the table as close as possible to the middle objective while still being within 6" of the icon. The Bloodletters went for the trukk, but blocked Skarbrand in the process. The middle bloodletter squad ran, and a "" came up.. they were JUST out of control range!
The Trukk combat went as you would think it would, with a blown up trukk!
the demon prince destroyed the wagon, pinning the 2 nobz inside.

So the roll to see if the game continued was made.. and a "2" came up!
Game Over!

The orks held the top objective, the Demons the bottom and were 1" out of range of the middle!

DRAW

Consider this article a basic "Primer" if you will. the truths will be simple, and seem to be comon sense, but the truth is, most 40K players do not follow these guidelines, and rarely, if ever, reach the top of the podium at tournaments consistintly. They may luck out once or twice, but to win on a constant basis, well, that is where these "rules" or "guidelines" come in.

Rule #1: Know your army!
Every few months or so, GW will throw a new, shiny army book out with a lot of neat toys you just HAVE to have! The problem with grabbing every new army is that you never truly master using any of them... you just become a sub-par player chasing his own tail.
PICK AN ARMY! find one that suits your playing style, and go with it! After playing the same army over and over again, you will pick up small intricacies on the army without even knowing it. You will be able to judge how your units will do in most any situation, so you will just know when it is time to charge in, or when it is time to back away.

Rule #2- Make a list to be feared!

Now, I am not saying "make a list people wont want to play", but i am saying dont bring a knife to a gunfight. If you are going into a tournament setting, running an all on foot necron army is a sure way to be paired with the players that had to pin their mittens to their sweaters when they were younger! If necrons are your army, bring a tournament list! (or switch armies, but that is a different discussion!)

Rule #3- For the love of god, READ THE MISSION!!
So you have your army, and you have been playing it regularly. You made a list that is competative, and took it to a tournament! You play your first game, and wipe almost every unit of your opponents off the table! He has smoking wrecks all over the place, with only a few, straggly looking units scattered across the desolate landscape! YOU ROCK! You go to tally up the points, and you find out you got MASSACRED! How? How did this travesty happen?
You didnt read the mission you putz!
the mission said "player with most scoring units within 6" of three objective markers wins!". true, your opponent has only 3 models left, but they are all scoring, and all within 6" of an objective! Yours? Well, they are across the board in his deployment zone taking out his tanks!
Congrats! You wiped the board with him, and still lost, and your next game is against the all foot necron player!


One of the hardest lessons to learn in 40K is that sometimes, if you want to win, YOU DONT FIGHT! That may seem counter productive, but it is true. There are times a nice, meaty target is sitting right...there... just waiting for your terminators to crush to a pulp! And what is this? It is the opposing players HQ unit? Asdrubael, who failed his shadow field save just seconds ago? 240 points for the taking! What a great opportunity!
OR... you could run your terminators over to contest an objective...
Though every fibre of your being is screaming "BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!", the smart thing to do is turn tail and run to contest. Sure, it is not as fun or satisfying, but at the tournaments end, when you win first place, you will forget all about not charging that lone model, but you will remember winning the game!


Rule #4- Read your opponents list!
Now, i know a lot of people say "let me see your list" and skim through it quickly. Do you know what they see or remember from the list? Nothing! I cannot stress to you enough how many times i have found an opponent who "forgot" he took a peice of wargear out in his final draft of his list.
"Oh, I guess the rhino does NOT have dozer blades" or "Geez, i thought I paid for that Melta Bomb".
Yeah, you may think so and try to use it, but you did not!
The BEST way to check a list is to see if he spammed the same units, and if he did, make sure the points are all EXACTLY the same! If one is different, check the list and see what is missing! 5 Rhinos with dozerblades and 1 without are on the table. If a rhino goes through terrain and rolls a "1", I bet you 1 million dollars it just "so happens" that that specific rhino had it!
Check them, and make sure he marks which are different.

There was one tournament where a "person" kept changing his army from plasma to meltas depending on who he was playing. the excuse "it costs the same anyway, so I choose each game" does not work in tournaments there doucheblogger!

Rule 5- "Think Ahead!"

When moving your army, just dont move it to where it will be good for you here and now, move it so that it is in position to go where it needs to NEXT turn as well, or even the turn after! Try to never block your shots, if on foot, hug close to terrain so you can dive into cover if need be, and always be thinking of your opponents potential moves, so you have a counter already planned out in your head.

Nothing unnerves an opponent as much as when he plots his moves slowly, and calculates everyhting out, then on your turn, you move quickly and decisivley, and whats worse, you moved well and countered him. yeah, that will get into his head, and he will begin second guessing himself!


So, to recap...
Plain and simple:
Know your army, bring a good list, Know your opponents army, Know the mission, and Know what you plan to do with the turns you have left.
pretty much, KNOWLEDGE IS POWER.

Well, to those who made the cut, lets look at the Ard Boyz Scenerios, and dissect them.
They can be found in their entierty here: Scenerios

So, lets see which way the powers that be are pushing the armies....


Scenerio 1:

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Ok... Lets start with the special "emmisary" rule.
It has to be a troop choice, and must start in your deployment zone even if they are demons.
Pretty straight forward, and the only questions arising would be if you have 1 unit of plaugue bearers, and choose that model, but do not get the preffered wave in, you have a single, lone plaugue bearer sitting on his own. So if you play demons, TAKE MULTIPLE TROOP UNITS OF THE SAME TYPE!!

The Deployment is DAWN OF WAR. So it seems to me, to get 500 extra victory points, you simply deploy your emmisary in a transport 24" up, then on your turn, move 1 inch. POOF! 500 points! the only downside is that other players will do the same, so you may as well throw those 500 points in the trash, as they are useless if you are playing anyone with a bit of skill or game knowledge.

The victory conditions are victory points, lending the mission to be good for multiple small units (MSU) rather than large, blocky ones. the bonus points are pretty straight forward.

So, for mission 1, you want Small, elite units with transports for protection, and if you go first, you have 500 victory points without a problem. if you go second, you still should get it, but it might be a bit harder.


Mission 2:

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You can name this one "The big SCRUM in the middle!"
ok, so you need to get to the middle of the board, survive, and keep the enemy away. You need at least 5 scoring units more than your opponent within 6" to win, so what do you need first?
TROOPS!
6 units of troops, all in transports. Since there are no kill points, another MSU army will shine here, especially if your troop choices are resiliant (aka Death Guard).

You also get bonus points for mobility, so longfangs hanging out in the back lines will cost you a point. And in a tournament like this, every point can count! In fact, a dirty trick here would be imobolising a transport in your enemies deployment zone, then ignore it! It is worth nothing, and you keep him from getting a point!


Mission 3:

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A lazy mission to be sure.. a mission designed to make you think, strategize and plan, but in reality, when combined with the other 2 missions, it simply screams "MSU FTW!"
2 out of 3 scenerios above favor msu armies- terrain and table quarters are for scoring units only (6 remember?) that are mobile (in transports). One mission is BAD for MSU, and that is kill points.
So lets see here... mission 1- good for MSU
Mission 2- good for MSU
Mission 3- 66% good for MSU.

So what army should you take? MSU!


So... lets design your army here...

You need 1-2 hq. If you are going shooting heavy, 1 is fine, hth, you need 2.
you NEED 6 troop choices, all of them in transports (Ork horde being the only possible exception... just due to the sheer numbers of the bastards!)
You need some ranged support to rain death on your enemies in missions 2-3. Think of 3 manticores or earthshakers pummeling the center objective in mission 2... Ouch!
You need elites to prevent opponents from getting free points in mission 1, heavys for mission 3 (mobile heavy are better than stationary due to free points in mission 2) and if your troops are resiliant, they are gold!

Armies that will shine:
I think Guard, Space marines (with combat squadding), Chaos Space marines (yes, really), All marine variants (wolves, angels, knights), Orks, Dark Eldar and Tyranids.

Armies to avaoid:
Daemons, Tau, Static grey knight or guard gunlines, necrons, eldar


Suprise pick:
DARK ANGELS

Think About it... tough as nails troops, lots of anti tank shots, stormshields and thunderhammers, MSU all over the place, and a couple of mobile, heavy whirlwinds for support/ clearing the path.

Yup, Dark Angels have a VERY good chance of winning this thing this year...


Hey Carlos, can I borrow your models? Seriously!

http://s1232.photobu...ent=sob0001.jpg

Not a sisters player myself.. what do you all think?

Here are the rumors for 6th edition, all compiled and presented nice and neat for your perusal. My comments and perspectives as well.

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This hurts a static gunline, but helps an "in your face" assault army. Parking lots will not be the norm anymore.

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Well, not sure if this is big yet. need to see the scoring before deciding. if a game is decided by hundreds of points, a few

here or there wont make a big difference at all.

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So if i dont go first because i am outbid by 12 strategems, I can get 12 rerolls during the game? can anyone here say "My

arcon will never fail a 2+ save, EVER?" I assume this is to counterbalance the "he who goes first wins" mentality there is

in 40K nowadays.

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So shooting is AFTER assault now? OUCH to armies that like to soften up targets before assaulting, like dark eldar, blood

angels, or space wolves! Um, correct me if i am wrong, but dosent this mean that you can no longer assault a unit after

shooting it out of a transport? You can either assault the transport, or hold back and shoot it. TRANSPORTS ARE BUFFED BY

THIS RULE!

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WOW... makes taking a plasma pistol better for IC's, but remember- if you are shooting, you are NOT ASSAULTING! good for IG,

Tau, and other armies that like shoting over assault. (haemy lead DE anyone? )

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rumor to ambiguous to reply too. What does "not going to do much" mean?

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Holy freaking crap! So 5 wounds = shooter gets to place the wound. Also, crew for artillery are just a counter? there goes

thunderfire cannons.... Expect to see a lot of ratling squads now... they just became golden! "i did 6 wounds? Lets see, i

place 3.. 1 on your squad leader, 1 on your banner, 1 on your powerfist!"

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Lets see here.. terrain is good.. the (1) (2) (3) thing is ok... deep striking not scattering is rough, and if within 6" it

is very iffy is bad news for blood angels... no more random game length is BRUTAl. Expect a lot of skimmer armies contesting

on the known last turn! Pinning weapons impairing movement.. WOW, this is a small tidbit overlooked i think. this is HUGE

for certain armies!

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Initiative 10 necrons! who would have thought?

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OUCH! that sucks big time. so never deploy within 24", make it 24.1" !

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No more attacking in opponents phase. So if you assault, you cannot shoot, and if you dont kill the vehicle, you consolodate

1" away. Seems shooting is the way to go here!

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What the heck? Not that my razorwing flock cares, but man, scarab swarms just got SUPER BUFFED!

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I wonder if you can reroll this with another strategem roll? I can see shrike and snikrot

crying like a baby when this is pulled on them!

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isnt this how it has always been?

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A little confused by all this, it seems though that pre measuring is going to be allowed, like in fantasy.

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I thought earlier they said "no more random moves? I guess they

lied!

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I am sorry, did i hear this correctly? no charge unless fleet? Um... so shrike and termies in a drop pod come in and assault?

WTF? the Dukes' ability has dark eldar wyches drop in, and assault? Incubi? Holy crap, this is hard to believe!

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Ignoring terrain. Sweet!

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Not sure what all the crap is.. a surge?

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Um, the assaulting unit can shoot a different unit than it assaulted? Only if it wiped them out I presume... that

will make combat squads and small IG squads think twice... not even a speedbump. Looks like they want HUGE units on the

tables (more money?)

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Not sure what suppressed, etc is. Taking 2 saves and ignoring weapon destroyed is pretty cool though.

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Goodby complex units! Thunderwolf cav, nob bikers, grotesques.. all now going to be armed the same!

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So let me get this straight. my unit of 10 incubi with an archon attatched can move 18" and then CHARGE? Wow. no hiding

troops and gunlines are a thing of the past!

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ok, my bad. let me look at it this way. If my Hellion unit 920 strong) wants to, tehy can move 24", then assault another 8"

for a total range of 32"? Oh, i forgot, they can deepstrike, then assault anyway! Good god! I predict tables are going to be

one big mess of models, strewn across the landscape with these rules!

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gah! talos and wraithlords hate this rule!

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Black templars will not like this rule!

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My head hurts...

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Pretty self explanitory

Very static...




Is there only 1 pose?

Ok, I really like this model!

The new TALOS... I LOVE this model!



The new VENOM. Looks a lot like my conversion!




The Cronos Pain Engine. I see this and the talos will be a multi kit box...lol




The Scourges.
Not bad, and now i know what a Haywire Grenade launcher looks like! These remind me a bit too much of swooping hawks in the poses, but I think they are much better sculpted!