Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Summer Holidays

Well, the Summer is finally here (if you're in the Southern Hemisphere that is) and holidays beckon.  So I'm taking my annual break from blogging until the New Year; just like I have in previous years.  Don't worry -- I will return with new postings in the New Year.  I'd just like to say a heartfelt "Thanks" to all the good folks who have commented on my blog this year -- your input makes a world of difference.

Best wishes for the festive season from Warpstone Flux.

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Winner of the December 2010 Army List Challenge

The winner of the December 2010 Army List Challenge is ... DimmyK!

Congratulations mate -- the Tau Empire hunter cadre army list was excellent.

Although, it has to be said that the voting was incredibly close.  Thanks to all the entrants -- there were plenty of cool lists in there.  I was personally torn how to cast my vote.

Until next time, good hunting!

Monday, December 20, 2010

1000 points of Daemons


So, I'm considering entering a 1000 point tournament just after New Year and was weighing up whether to take my Death Guard forces, or my Mixed Daemon forces.  I eventually thought that Mixed Daemons would be plenty of fun to play with on the basis that I suspect not many local folks have faced such a force before.  The tournament is not a pure win/lose affair -- there are "soft" points to be earned for force construction, being a good competitor, and painting (etc).  So, does anyone have any suggestions what a 1000 points daemon army should contain?  There are some restrictions though: only 1 HQ and must have more troops than other force organization slots (total) and less than 300 points in FA, HS or Elites (each).  Here's my initial list:

Herald of Tzeentch, Chariot, Bolt (95 points)
Herald of Khorne, Jugger, Might (120 points)
Daemon Prince, Mark of Tzeentch, Bolt (140 points)
10 Bloodletters (160 points)
7 Plaguebearers, instrument (110 points)

...from there, maybe the soul grinder (yeah, I know, its the only armoured thing) and some horrors for extra fire support.  Perhaps some fiends or bloodcrushers (perhaps even dropping the Khorne Herald?) for extra combat support.  Opinions anyone?

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Hot Orange Horror

Another day, another horror of Tzeentch in a variant colour scheme.  This chap is a bright combination of reds, oranges and slightly yellow highlights, with some blue eyes and accessories to match. 

He was largely painted in a dry brush method.  The only novel thing I decided to do was combine some dheneb stone colour to the yellow and orange to help with the better coating him and to subdue the sunburst yellow somewhat.  This has largely worked well I think.

The base is one of my pre-prepared and painted resin bases. Not quite sure what colour the next horror will be painted in.  I'm leaning towards purple!

Friday, December 17, 2010

Tertiary Missions and Sub-Plots

Whether they're used as bonus points, or neat additions to the narrative campaign, tertiary mission objectives can be used to add flavour to a battle.

Below is a selection of some of the Flux Battle Tertiary Objectives that I'm in the middle of writing up.  Comments welcome.


Capture the flag.
Imagine what glory you will receive if you take the enemy standard.  Imagine how humiliated the enemy will be at their standard being captured!

Set-up: After viewing the opponent’s miniatures, secretly note down which miniature has the most impressive looking flag, icon or standard.  If no enemy miniatures are holding a flag, discard this objective.

Success: If you kill (not rout!) the miniature holding the designated standard, you succeed.


Close combat promotion.
In order to get promoted, Private Xenon must prove her close combat ability on the field of battle. 

Set-up: Choose one miniature armed with a close combat weapon that isn’t special (i.e. is not a squad sergeant, just a regular troops) and secretly note down which miniature this is.  The miniature should preferably have some distinguishing feature from her companions. Keep a tally of what kills this miniature has made in close combat over the course of the game.

Success: To succeed, this miniature must kill in close combat more points value worth of enemy than they cost.  Shooting doesn’t count: it must be in melee!

Marksmanship promotion.
In order to get promoted, Private Wednesday must prove his marksmanship on the field of battle. 

Set-up: Choose one miniature in your army armed with a ranged weapon that isn’t special (i.e. is not a squad sergeant, just a regular troops) and secretly note down which miniature this is.  The miniature should preferably have some distinguishing feature from her companions. Keep a tally of what kills this miniature has made over the course of the game.

Success: To succeed, this miniature must shoot more points value worth of enemy than they cost.  Close combat doesn’t count: it must be by ranged shooting!

Quarantine.
Squad Gamma hasn’t been feeling well of late.  Your medical advisor has told you that they should be kept quarantined for at least 2 weeks to avoid spreading germs.  But you need them on the battlefield today, even if they are contagious.

Set-up: Reveal this objective to your opponent and then choose one of your squads.  The squad must number 6 or more individuals in total.  Otherwise, choose a high-ranking army official (e.g. the most expensive character).

Success: If you manage to keep this squad at least 6 inches away from any other miniature in your army for the entire battle, you succeed.  Your opponent should check this fact every game turn.


Treasure trove.
Somewhere on the battlefield is buried treasure that only Corporal Kane knows the location of.  It wouldn’t hurt the war effort to be a bit richer would it?

Set-up: Secretly write down the location of the treasure.  It should be designated in an easy to locate fashion such as the centre of a particular terrain feature.  Then, secretly select a unit from your forces. 

Success: The chosen unit must spend an entire turn inactive (they’re occupied with digging and metal-detecting) at the specified location to succeed.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Secondary Missions


As part of my development of the Flux Battle Objectives, I wanted to create some mission objectives beyond the primary ones.  These can help determine the winner if the primary ones do not, or can be used as added points in a larger campaign or tournament, as tastes dictate.

Here's a small sampling of the secondary mission objectives that have been developed thus far.

Demolition job.
The holographic transmission centre is one of only two locations capable of broadcasting information and propaganda across the entire surface of the planet almost instantaneously.  Given you control the other location, taking it out will mean that you control the sole location on the planet capable of planet-wide broadcast.  Sadly, the centre is under enemy control.

Set-up: Reveal this objective to your opponent.  Place a building inside the enemies deployment zone – this is the holographic transmission centre.  The enemy may place the remainder of all terrain features.  They must be a minimum of 3 inches away from the centre.

Success: Treat the building as a vehicle for the duration of the game (AV=12).  If the building is wrecked, you gain half points.  A destroyed building results in full points. 

Head of the serpent.
A very high ranking commanding officer of the opposing army is taking to the field herself this time.  This is a golden opportunity.  Take the head of the serpent off and it should throw the enemy in to disarray for long enough to disrupt their war effort significantly.

Set-up: Note down which enemy model is the highest ranked officer (if there are two equally ranked officers, choose the model costing the highest points value, or the model wearing the most black, etc.).

Success: If this model is killed, the mission is a success (NB: routing this model off the board results in a mission failure – they must be slain).


King of the hill.
The highest point on this battlefield is also the highest point for kilometers around.  Capturing it will give you terrific lines of sight and make it incredibly tough for the enemy to launch attacks against your positions.

Set-up: Secretly note down which terrain feature is the highest.  If there is more than one tied for height, decide which one it is.

Success: You succeed if you manage to control this highest building (i.e. no enemy models within 3 inches of the building and one of your scoring units inside it).

Rout.
Some of them must live to tell the tale of how deadly brilliant we are.  Their stories will scare their other comrades in to submission without us even having to lift a finger.

Set-up: This objective can only be achieved if some of your opponent’s models are able to rout (i.e. they’re not fearless, or they’re not trees rooted to the ground).  If all of your opponent’s army is fearless (or firmly rooted trees), then this objective must be discarded.

Success: If you rout at least one enemy model off the board, the objective is met.

Suppress their fire support.
The relative success of the enemy is in large part due to their mechanized detachments.  The tanks and walkers have done incredible damage to our war effort.  If we have the chance, we should take down their main vehicles.

Set-up: After reviewing your opponent’s army list, choose the three most expensive vehicles and note them down secretly.  If your opponent features large monsters instead of vehicles, select the three most fearsome creatures.

Success: If the three designated vehicles are immobilized or better, you succeed.  In the case of monsters, they must be killed outright.


Technology transfer.
The engineering guild has sent a communication to your army: they’re highly interested in a particular weapon that intelligence has seen the enemy use.  Perhaps it is due to a subtle upgrade of a standard weapon, new software, or it is simply a brand new weapon of unknown origin.  Whatever it is, the engineers have made it clear that their future funding of your war effort depends on you returning the technology to their laboratories.

Set-up: After reviewing your opponent’s army list, secretly note down the heaviest, most unique (appearance wise and / or frequency wise) and most deadly looking weapon that your opponent has.  In Warhammer 40,000 games, this should be chosen from the Heavy Support section of the force organization chart (if possible). 

Success: This mission is successful if you remove the model carrying the heavy weapon.  If the weapon is mounted on a vehicle, then the vehicle must be immobilized or wrecked to achieve success.  Vaporizing the vehicle on which it is mounted results in failure, as the engineers want the technology intact!

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