Hobby Update: Cultists, D&D, KR Cases, BFG, Kill Team

If you haven't noticed already, It's starting to become a long period between posts. I expect this to continue for the next few months while we move into our new house and plan wedding, but after all that hullabaloo service should be back to normal :-D. Until then I'll probably do a few Hobby Update posts like this one.

Cultists

I managed to grab a few hours last weekend to finish off one of my two squads of chaos cultists. Pics below:

Sect Momus - Chaos Cultists

Xenophon Momus - Chaos Cultist Champion

As you can see its not the usual quality of both painting and photography! After all, they're only cultists, and I have 30 of them to paint. Eventually I may go back over them and highlight but at the moment gaming standard will suffice. To be honest, I was still quite impressed what a simple layer and wash (well more like a dip really, as its all one shade) can accomplish in almost no time. It also means more time to paint more important models! Next on the desk will be one of the Chaos Space Marine squads I think.

Dungeons & Dragons

We've started a new D&D campaign using the playtest rules and I'm painting up a new model. My character is the mighty Thrulk the Barbarian.The model is from Avatars of War found here. I'm taking my time with him, especially the flesh (there is lots of it!)

We've had one D&D session so far and the new rules are pretty awesome. Much, much simpler than 4th edition, and focussed more on the 'what do you want to do?' aspect of RPGs rather than just a constricting narrative miniatures game that I found 4e to be. Although I don't think the difficulty is quite balanced yet, we struggled to survive a couple of Orcs but the Cleric managed to one-shot an Ogre...

KR Cases

I've decided to fully convert my old GW cases to new shiny KR ones. This, astonishingly, has been put forward by my fiancée who wants my armies out of the way in the new house! The card cases fit snuggly in an Ikea Billy bookcase if anyone wants to know.

I won't post a review (I did that previously), but I will say again that these cases are simply awesome. The custom cut ones are worth the extra few pounds, especially for vehicles. You can fit so much in! Check it out, 3000 points of vehicle heavy Blood Angels in 2 cases (plus an extra one for my Stormraven that I've had for a while):

KR Cases - Left has custom foam, right has core

Battlefleet Gothic

I won't lie, I'm disappointed in Games Workshop for suspending their Specialist Games line. I totally understand it from a business perspective, but they must still be making a little bit from the models - enough to keep the line selling and the fan boys happy perhaps. Of course this started a panic buy from the community and now hardly anything is available. Luckily I managed to place my order for a few bits before the rush! A few bits for BFG, mainly a Battle Barge and some Cobras to add to my fledgling Imperial Fleet that I still haven't got round to finishing. I'm going to have to try and have a few more games of BFG soon.

Kill Team

The new update for Kill Team (v1.7) was released a while ago, but I'll post the update log here for anyone doesn't check the forums or the Facebook group (which you can join here by the way, and is the easiest place to post your questions or comments - or just share your tactics and teams).

Kill Team v1.7 Update:

• Added Blasts and Real Terrain rules
• Added 'purchasing grenades' rules
• Clarified mission VP/EXP with Squads
• Clarified optional Injury rule with Squads
• Replaced Hostage mission with Breakthrough
• Replaced Grab & Run mission with Seize Ground
• Adjusted bonus EXP rewards for missions
• Only Special models may now become the banner bearer in Last Stand
• A load of rewording for clarification

A few updates have been released for the Kill Team lists, so check them out and see if your army has been updated  Of special note is the update for Tau (new codex) and new Black Templars and Deathwatch lists.

You can find all of the unofficial Kill Team rules here.

Thanks for reading, and happy hobbying!

- Darth Meer

Something Different: Battlefleet Gothic

I've started a regular blog series on 40kUK, here's the first article!:

Hi guys, Something Different will be a limited monthly series giving you a quick summary of the ‘other’ miniature games created by GW… yes you heard correctly, there are OTHER games out there, not just 40k. Although 40k is my one true love (don’t tell the missus), I regularly play many Specialist Games to break up the 40k addiction into something less all-encompassing.

This month I’ll talk about Battlefleet Gothic (from now on called affectionately BFG), a wonderfully sweeping space combat game set in the 40k universe.


Similarities To 40k

To be honest, not much. BFG is probably the Specialist Game that is most far apart from 40k in rules terms, and is more similar to the way Epic plays than anything else. The game is played using a turn system with phases like 40k, but that’s where the similarities end. Which makes it a perfect game to totally get away from 40k for a while!

Differences To 40k

To quote Douglas Adams “Space is big. Really big. You just won’t believe how vastly, hugely, mindbogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it’s a long way down the road to the chemist’s, but that’s just peanuts to space.” BFG scale is astronomical – literally. You may think that all those cool looking space ships represent their size and distance relative to each other on the tabletop, just like 40k. No, everything is measured from the stem of the flying base. This represents how massively far apart everything is in space. Coincidently, the models are just there to look pretty and you can, in fact, play with just a load of numbered flying bases… although that would look funny.

The void doesn’t have that much terrain surprisingly (the clue is in the name), so you really only need a piece of black card or a cloth to place on your table and you’re off. The rulebook does have rules for planets, asteroids, etc. But these are just fun optional additions that you can try out once you’ve got the hang of the game.

The number of models also differs from 40k quite a bit: whereas you may have anywhere from 30 to above 100 models in a game of 40k, you play BFG with only a handful of ships – anywhere from 4 (a cruiser clash) to about 15 including small escort ships.

Rules

The rules of BFG are pretty simple, and easy to learn with a few games of cruiser-only clashes. The rules get more advanced as you add in rules for squadrons, terrain and defence platforms/space stations – but these can be used or not used at your discretion.

The ships in the 40k universe are gargantuan space-boats, so conservation of momentum plays a major part in movement. All ships must move at least half their maximum movement (unless they use a Special Order – more on that later), and the larger ships must move a certain distance before they can even turn. Those expecting flashy Battlestar Galactica zero-g manoeuvres are in for a shock.

If you’ve played Epic, the shooting mechanic works similar in BFG. You check the angle your ship is to the enemy, and the angle the enemy is to your ship, and use a table to cross-reference this to find how many dice you can throw. Positioning is everything in BFG. Any result that rolls higher than the enemy ship’s armour value hits. Most ships have ‘shields’ that can absorb a couple of hits per turn, but once the shields are down the ship takes hit point damage – inevitably leading to it exploding in a spectacular fashion. There are other rules for different weapons, but I won’t bore you with them.

‘Special Orders’ are commands you can give a ship to use certain actions. These include ‘Lock On’, ‘All Ahead Full’, and my personal favourite ‘Brace for Impact!’. You have to be careful what order you use these, as once you fail a command check (a leadership test), you cannot make any more Special Orders that turn.

Finally, there is Ordnance. Probably the most complicated aspect of the game, Ordnance can include torpedoes, fighter, bombers, assault boats, and any special stuff your ship can throw out of its holds at the enemy. Each type of Ordnance has its own rules. Although the latest FAQ changes how Ordnance works, the game can still get bogged down with moving tiny counters across the table. So I suggest leaving these out for your first game.

Miniatures

Ah here we go; the miniatures for BFG are AMAZING. Seriously, just look at them. Who’s into Sci-Fi and doesn’t love space ships? The models are usually much bigger than standard infantry models in 40k, and the low model count and ease of painting (spray black, drybrush, done) your fleet also adds to the appeal. True, the bigger metal ships are a complete arse to put together, but once they are on the tabletop you’ll forget the weeks you had your hands glued to bits of greenstuff because of them.

Conclusion

To sum up, BFG is an amazing game with *FREE* rules (found on the GW site), great looking models, and a cinematic looking tabletop. The small number of models and lack of terrain lowers the start-up cost considerably, as well as making the game quicker to play.

Download the rules, whip out some flying stands, and try it. You won’t regret it.