Old vs. New: Looking for Out of Print Minis

Lexington had an idea for Gretchin crew on a stompa, but needed some Out of Print plastic Night Goblins.  He showed me the pics.  Here is a comparison between those old plastic Night Goblins and the current ones.  Old ones on top, new ones on bottom.

Check out those old minis.  Big noses.  Varied expressions.  And that’s only five of the minis from the old box!  The new ones are more same-y.  Their faces are less fun, more “ooga-booga we’re scary.”  They’re not BAD, but they’re not as good as the old ones.  Same thing with the new plastic Horrors of Tzeentch as opposed to the old 3rd edition pewter horrors.  Again, old on top.

See how the old horrors seem to be in the very process of changing?  Like they are actively mutating, and they were frozen in time and cast in pewter.  The new ones look OK, and are actually closer to the old Horrors from 2nd ed.  Plus they are plastic, which is lighter.  But those old Horrors are so BIZZARE.

Now let me say that THESE ARE EXCEPTIONS.  Usually new kits are better than old kits.  For the Space Ork Boyz box, the bitz hardly changed but they got a lot of extra little things to add, like piles of shells and an Ork skull.  New Space Marine Devastator box has awesome heavy weapons that are more detailed than the old pewter counterparts.  New models usually mean better models.

But not always.  This is part of the First Strand: Choosing your minis.  Sure Lexington could use the new Night Goblins.  But he wants a specific look.  That’s why sometimes you have to look back to go forward.

Da Grand Baron Skippy Von Peanut Butta and his Flash Gitz Mob

Modeling

Da Grand Baron Skippy Von Peanut Butta is the one in the first two pics.  He is the body of an old pewter Bad Moons Nob in Mega Armor (2nd ed) with Snikrot’s head.  His arms are taken from the new Plastic Nobz box, and the shoulder pads are extra armor from the Boyz box.  The gun is a plasma gun from the old 2nd ed nob with a Space Marine Godhammer pattern Lascannon from the Land Raider.  The banner pole is brass rod pinned to the Bad Moons symbol from the 2nd ed Nob.  The Belly is sculpted out of putty.  A diet rich in peanut butter packs on the pounds!

The other Flash Gitz are plastic Nobz from the box set.  The one with two pistols was my first Flash Git, he has two of the Nob pistol from the Boyz box set, and putty sculpted mirrorshades.  His name is Nee-yo.

The next one has a combi-rokkit launcha with two electrodes cut from the head of the Mek from the Loota/Burna box set and a coiled paperclip to make a bullet electrifier.  He’s TeslaDakka.

The one with the bow has a bow made of brass rod and paperclip, with putty feathers and rokkits from the Deffkopta.  That’s what I think a Snakebite Flash Git would look like.  He’s Blam-bo.

The one that has a lot of Tau bitz uses a lot os stuff from the Tau Suit box.  Front plate, drone up top on the bosspole, burst cannon and carbines on the gun.  The club is a Tau Suit leg with a spiky shoulder pad.  He’s Runtsmasha.

The next one is Rokkit Rokkit Rokkit.  He uses every rocket from the Space Marines, Orks, and Imperial Guard that I could find.

The one with the long barreled double big shoota has the shoota taken from the Assault on Black Reach Warboss with two Autocannon barrels glued on,  He’s Dubba-tap.

The one with the pewter backpack has combi weapons made from Tau plasma and melta with a Space Marine Melta and an Ork Slugga.  The shoulder straps were putty sculpted and the backpack is Snikrot’s.  He’s Nooka.

The last one is sighting down a Space Marine Godhammer Lascannon and has a Guard Heavy Bolter too, with the Gretchin Backpack from the Loota/Burna box.  I really like the pose, as it looks like he’s trying to aim.  He’s Dedeye.

That’s 8 Flash Gitz and a Character for 9, plus a Dok is a full unit of 10.

Background

Baron Peanut Butta: a tale of addiction in the 41st Millenium

Grutz was a shoota boy, nothing special about him. While looting a Human encampment, he came across a pantry, and in the pantry was a can of light brown goo. Its smell was like nothing Grutz had experienced, and he tasted it.

It was the best thing. EVER.

He couldn’t get enough! He wolfed down the whole can in minutes; despite its annoying but pleasant sticky texture. He smashed apart the pantry looking for more, then inquired around. The only other intact can in the entire encampment (a BIG can, from the Mess Hall) was in the loot pile of the biggest Nob in the whole warband.

So Grutz beat him to death with a shoe.  Why? What would YOU have done?

Well, ol’ Grutz made that big can last, because he realized you don’t get to raid Humie camps every day. When he ran out, he went to see Boss Smartyskull, and showed him the can. Da Boss could read Humie somehow, and he said that it was called “Peanut Butta.”

Grutz said that HE was called Peanut Butta too, and asked how he could get more. Smartyskull grinned. He said that stuff was real expensive, and Peanut Butta was gonna have to have a lot of teeth to get it. Peanut Butta put every ounce of his brainpower into becoming a shrewd and kunnin businessman. He tried everything from helping out Mad Mek Upzindownz, to outright theft from other Boyz, to selling Squig-aid. Needless to say, all of these activities were highly profitable and suicidally dangerous, especially the Squig-aid.

But Peanut Butta came through mostly intact and filthy stinking rich. He had enough to buy a can or two from The Boss (who stockpiled Humie stuff for some reason) and had enough left over to buy the shootiest gun the Mek could make and some wicked snazzy armour. His brutality and economical prowess caused him to grow to Nob like stature, though he insists on being calld “Da Grand Baron Skippy von Peanut Butta.”

With his fancy shoota he put together a mob of da best Flash Gitz around, whose services he rents out to Smartyskull for more cans of Peanut Butta. If it weren’t for his crippling addiction to that wonderful delicious rich creamy brown nutty stuff, he’d be the boss around here.

Incidentally, whenever Smartyskull finds a human civilization willing to trade, he always purchases as much Peanut Butter as he can. Insurance is expensive, but Peanut Butta’s Flash Gitz are worth every can of loyalty he can buy.

The Martyr Lady Kylen, savior of Saratoga.

Governor Soole of Saratoga fell afoul of the dark powers of Chaos in 326M37. Keeping the secret with his trusted lieutennants, he spread the corruption slowly. His wife, the lady Kylen, was a vision of loveliness, and an idol to the people. When she discovered her husband’s heresy, she refused to join him. He had her imprisoned within the Governor’s estate. Lady Kylen escaped through an air duct, and snuck around the estate, listening in on her husband’s plans. When the time was right, she snuck out, killed two guards, and forced her way into Governor Soole’s broadcast studio during one of his addresses. She exposed his heresy on live electronic broadcast to the entire planet, and beheaded him on the spot. She then said the words which are still etched into the mind of every Saratogan recruit today:

“Fear not the powers of the archenemy, for if your faith is strong, you can overcome them. Rise up, for the Emperor, and take back your world from those who would corrupt it. Look into your hearts and find the strength to win back your freedom. I believe in you…”

Her crude barricade on the door failed, and at that instant, she was cut down in a hail of las-fire in full view of everyone on the planet. Riots ensued, supported by the local Arbites in places. Thus began the resistance. Women took up arms alongside men, and fought the PDF forces loyal to the former governor. Pendants that played an audio recording of Lady Kylen’s last words became popular. Men and Women torn by the grief of war found comfort in those four words “I believe in you”, giving them the strength and faith to purge the Chaos taint. by 351M37, on the very anniversary of Lady Kylen’s martyrdom, the last pockets of Chaos on the planet were eradicated. Thanks to the words of one woman, a planet wrested free of the corruption of the Dark Gods and once again turned to the Emperor’s light.

On my plate: 2-28-11

-Blood Bowl Status: FINISHED

-Battlefleet Gothic: Two Imperial Cruisers and six escorts, 11 Chaos escorts, 8 Transports, Orbital Dock, 3 Satellites and 20 small ground defences.

-Warmachine: Upgraded priorities.  Next project after Gothic is Kreoss, 2 light jacks and heavy from Box Set.  Then I can Demo Warmachine.  Cygnar on hold.

-Necromunda: Need to finish my Orlock gang, and start painting Delaques.  I also need to get more tabs from Jen so that I can use the Necromunda board she made for me.  Status: In progress. Orlocks are 1/2 painted.

-Azure Flames: Need to convert a stand in for Kor’Sarro Khan, and mod up a Chaplain on Bike.  I also need to conceptualize an Honor Guard unit for Perseus.  Status: ON HOLD. The Flames are complete enough for now.

-Orks: Need to complete painting all minis, possibly buy one more box of Boys but no more. Status: ON HOLD pending spring.  I need warm temperatures outside to do dipping, as I cannot do it indoors due to cares.

-The Saratogan 58th: Need to build most of the minis and paint up at least 1500 points to start learning how to play Guard.  Status: ON HOLD.  Way too much on my plate to start an army from almost scratch.

-Epic 40,000: Have to get more Space Marine Rhinos, and paint both a huge Space Marine army and Ork army.  Status: ON HOLD.  Once again, too much on my plate.

Making progress…

Blood Bowl Tactica: Team Types

There are a huge variety of teams that all have different tactics in Blood Bowl.  However, it usually comes down to three general categories: Beaty Teams, Balanced Teams, and Finesse Teams.

Beaty Teams (Chaos, Lizardmen, etc.) Have high armor values and strength on their main linemen.  They tend not to have many skills standard.  Their journeymen have a gimmick that makes the team more than a bunch of walking beat sticks.  For example, Chaos Beastmen have Horns, making them great on a Blitz.  Beaty Teams need to hit the enemy hard and team up to get two or three die blocks.  Keep pressure on until you break armor.  Open up avenues for journeymen to score touchdowns.

Balanced teams tend to have average stats an armor, backed up with one major skill per player, such as the human lineman who has Block.  Balanced teams need to work together to set up passes and protect the ball carrier.  Occasionally they can team up and hit an enemy hard, but they usually can’t go toe-to-toe with a Beaty team.

Finesse teams have great Agility but low Armor and Strength.  They also tend to have specialists that fulfill roles.  Finesse teams need to end up at least one square away from the enemy so that they can only hit one of them a turn.  They also excel at running and passing, so they need to score points.   Don’t underestimate them; they can move fast and team up to smash an unwary opponent.

Essentially, each team has to play to its strengths.  My Konquata Monitors need to go to the pitch and beat up the enemy, while they make avenues for the skinks to run the ball.  They are fast for a beaty team, but lack of skills makes me rely on re-rolls to do anything more complex than smacking the enemy.

Imperial Navy Dauntless Light Cruisers

Three Dauntless Light Cruisers, Lance armament.  I don’t think I need torpedoes, as I have a bunch of ships that do that.

The Surprise is named after the ship in the made for T.V. scifi movie Star Command.  The plot was that Earth is fighting a group of seceding space colonies.  An enemy fleet of 5 battleships is on the way to Earth to destroy it, and only the D.R.E Surprise, a destroyer manned by cadets, can stop them.  It was a great little movie, though low budget.

The Roanoke is named after both the American colony and the colony in John Scalzi’s The Last Colony.

The Kestrel is named after the best non-military ship from Escape Velocity by Ambrosia Software.

Next: More cruisers and escorts, then Chaos, then Defences, then Done With Gothic!

Grey Knights: Final Thoughts and review

So, we come down to it: is the latest codex good?  Bad?  Broken?

Well, my impressions are that it’s not really BROKEN, but it’s not really good.  Let me define the two.

If the codex was BROKEN, I’d expect Grey Knights armies to dominate the tournament scene and be as widely touted as the Guard leafblower.  As it is, the Grey Knights look like they have a punch of powerful but expensive units.  Grey Knights armies will be smaller than comparable Space Marine armies, but have more neat tricks.  About 1 in 12 times their buffs won’t go off, and this increases if the enemy has a Farseer, Librarian, or Hive Tyrant nearby.  All in all they’re very competitive, even with thier own Deathstar: the Paladins.  But broken?  No.

The codex is BAD because there are a lot of design ideas that, to me, make this not an update to make Daemonhunters more playable but a book to sell Stormravens.  This book is geared toward the old Warmachine 1.0 style of thinking: it’s not overpowered if everyone has something overpowered.  I really dislike the fact that the Grey Knights NEED the Paladins to balance TH/SS Termies, Nob bikers, and all the other “deathstars” out there.  I mentioned in my previous post why I dislike the Stormraven as the ONLY Fast Attack choice, but I want to bring it up again because it’s still crap.

I’d also like to talk about the old book.  In the old Daemonhunters (and the Witch Hunters) codex, there were two “ideals.”  Puritan Inquisitors used Grey Knights because they needed muscle to fight daemons specifically.  Radicals used Daemonhosts and couldn’t use Grey Knights.  I always thought Radicals got the short straw, as Grey Knights were MUCH better than Daemonhosts, and the ‘hosts were random and didn’t do what you wanted.  What I would have liked to see is instead of the 3 inquisitors in the HQ choices would be two: Radical Inquisitors and Puritans.  Puritans would be able to take Nemesis weapons, certain psychic powers, and be able to be in the same army as Grey Knights.  Radicals would have access to Daemon Weapons, a much wider variety of psychic powers including the old MINOR psychic powers, and be in the same list as Daemonhosts.

Further, from the Eisenhorn novels, I’d like to see different LEVELS of Daemonhost.  Lower level Daemonhosts would be some kind of combat nightmare, the equivalent of an Assassin.  Medium level ‘hosts would be like powerful characters, with psychic powers.  High level ‘hosts would be horrifyingly powerful, BUT run the risk of breaking their wards!  There would be a constant struggle between the Inquisitor and the ‘host, possibly leading to the ‘host model switching sides!  Such is the price of gambling with power.

Now, let me say that I do like the 3 Inquisitor entries.  Each has a “flavor” that makes them whatever you want to be.  Plus, the addition of Ordo Xenos gives not only customization but storytelling options.  None of the generic Inquisitors are ultra powerful.

In the end, the Grey Knights codex keeps walking down the road that 5th ed has been going down: becoming even more and more broken.  Back in the day when the Dark Angels codex came out, I was JAZZED.  It looked like they had a codex design philosophy geared toward balance, ease, and matching the fluff.  The current Space Marine codex was similar, but started to diverge from that path.  Now with so many codexes with such design in mind, each army has become all about finding combos and exploits instead of making a fun list.  I guess I’d better get used to it as it’s not going to change any time soon.

…and the Dreadknight is still a stupid name.

Review of Grey Knight “rumors” part 3.

This will cover the rest of the units.  For those who have been wanting a more in-depth analysis, that comes after I finish the units in the book.

Troops

-Grey Knight Terminators: Not as bad as the paladins because they have only 1 wound and no FNP.  However, you can make each model equipped differently so there can be creative allocation.  Same price as normal Space Marine terminators but with more options.  One of these can get the upgrade character Thawn.  Thawn essentially has “We’ll be back” from the Necrons.  When he dies, you put a Dead Thawn counter on the board.  Next turn on a 4+ he may be placed back in play within 1″ of the counter with 1 wound as a separate unit.  I can see this being HELL of annoying, but he’s not that ridiculous.

-Grey Knight Strike Squad: Regular Grey Knights.  Two new things.  One: personal teleporters.  Once per game the unit can move 30″ ignoring terrain.  They cannot assault and count as moving, but can still shoot.  They can’t take these if they take a dedicated transport.  Two: the same new weapons the terminators can take, such as a Nemesis Hammer and a pair of Nemesis Falchions, and a Nemesis Stave.  What do these do?  I have no idea.  My “rumors” don’t have the wargear section.

Dedicated Transports

-Rhino: It’s a Rhino.  It can take some special upgrades and even some psychic powers.  Fortitude shakes off Shaken and Stunned results.

-Razorback: It’s a Razorback.  See above.

-Inquisitorial Chimera: It’s a chimera for the Henchmen.  A couple extra upgrades compared to the Guard one.

Fast Attack

-Stormraven Gunship: I have a problem with this.  Not the Stormraven, it’s the same as the Blood Angel one but with Grey Knight rules and upgrades.  My problem is IT’S THE ONLY FAST ATTACK SELECTION.  Play Grey Knights?  BUY THREE.  This seemed to be designed to sell Stormravens.  I would have made a 2nd Fast attack choice Grey Knights with the Personal Teleporters, and taken the option away from the Troops choice.  But now they will sell more Stormraven kits.  Boo-urns.

Heavy Support

-Purgation Squad: Grey Knights that can take 4 special/heavy weapons.  Other than the new options, the same as before.

-Dreadnought: As the Ven Dread, but without the Ven.  Basically a Space Marine Dread with Grey Knight rules and upgrades.  I would have liked to see the Psycannon and Incinerator as weapons for all Grey Knight Dreads, as I thing Forge World makes a Dread Psycannon bit.

-Nemesis Dreadknight: Dumb name.  It’s a Carnifex with better stats.  Worse, it can take a Personal Teleporter, so it can zoom 30″ and dare the enemy to kill it.  It’s toughness 7 so Meltaguns wound on a 3.  I think this is dumb.  If a Space Marine is injured, they can put it in a big armored case and it’s a vehicle.  If a Grey Knight (already in a suit of armor) steps into a BIGGER suit of armor, he’s a monstrous creature.  Come on.  The guy is right there.  It should have the special rule “Headshot” where models with the Sniper ability that roll a 6 to hit and successfully wound kill the Dreadknight outright.  From the blurry pictures on the internet, it’s 5-7″ tall, so it’s a bit shorter than the Defiler, and the Defiler is a vehicle!  Plus it has a 2+/4+ invul so on average you’d need 24 shots with Plasma Guns at BS 4 to kill it.  Grey Knights did not need this.

-Land Raider Variants: Same as SM Land Raiders, but with Grey Knight options and Fortitude Psychic Power.

Retribution Class Battleship: Nieman Lion

I’ve decided to take an “Imperials First” strategy to painting the rest of my Gothic forces.  After this Chaos and then Defences.

When Fluff and Reality collide: Retcons

New gamers find the worlds they explore full of stories.  Some are wonderful.  Some aren’t.  But there’s so much to read and enjoy that it all averages out to a good time.

However, the older gamers have a more intimate relationship with the fluff.  The problem with this is that these stories keep getting added to, and the new authors have their own ideas, some of which don’t mesh with the older established canon.

I ran into this in Warhammer 40K around the time the 4th edition Space Marine codex came out.  Some authors were writing about what no man should write about: The Horus Heresy.  In this fluff, the Salamanders Space Marine Chapter was changed.  They used to be the “space black people.”  While this was pretty racist, at least there WERE some black people in 40K.  Everyone else seemed like they were direct descendants of europeans.

The Horus Heresy novels and the 4th edition Space Marine codex changed that.  Now they weren’t african black, they were BLACK black.  Like Chaos black.  Like the darkest night that crushes your dreams.  Plus they had glowing red eyes.  Not only did this invalidate all the fluff previously written by GW or by fans, it also made people’s paint jobs not reflect the background anymore.  Plus black skin and red eyes looks stupid.

My Space Marine chapter, the Azure Flames, was a Vulkan successor.  So, I retconned my OWN fluff and altered the background so that they were mysteriously not jet black with red eyes.

Gene-Seed

The Azure Flames have the distinction of being the first official successor chapter to inherit Vulkan’s Gene-Seed.  This has led to some uncomfortable questions.  It is rumored that the Salamanders have jet black skin and glowing red eyes.  It is quite obvious that this is not the case with the Azure Flames, as they exhibit a remarkable range of skin, hair, and eye colors.  Perhaps the Azure Flames have a mutated Gene Seed which reacts to radiation differently, or perhaps the seeds for the appropriate organelles were taken from a different Primarch.  Whatever the reason, the Techpriests of Mars and the Apothecaries of the Azure Flames do not speak of it.

This is not limited to GW.  Privateer Press retconned several facts about the Cygnar character Allister Caine.  Sadly, no matter what you think, canon is canon.  You can’t make GW NOT have changed the official fluff.  So you either adapt to it, or you become a cranky old man who wakes up screaming at night that Ork blood is green.