GW Online Blood Bowl Mini's

I was recently going through the GW specialist game site and found that they have essentially made the players you need to take the 12 man starter team up to 16 man again. I will note that the cost of the individuals is high way robbery but the booster packs appear better aligned with what you actually need. I also noticed that they fixed a Nurgle Team so you get a playable team under the current rules unlike the unopened team box I have in my basement that GW sent me for subscribing to WD back in 05/06.

Money Saving Tip: Converting SM Special Characters

This model GW is introducing for Vulkan sure is impressive. It will also probably 18 dollars for a single miniature of a space marine. That is pretty pricey. Also he does not look anything like the picture.

The new space marine codex has some great unique characters in it. I personally have yet to play a non combat patrol game without my buddy Pedro. Unfortunately the excellent metal models that GW makes to represent them are generally about 15 dollars each. Since a standard marine plastic is between 3-5 dollars depending on source and a metal veteran is 6-7 dollars you can save 50% or more by building your own versions of the characters. Not only do you get to save money but you get some hobby fun as you explore what you can make out of that bit box. I pay attention to getting things WYSIWYG so if you run into someone very specific about that you are pretty much covered. Here is a list of the ones and the links that I have done.

Belial-No official Metal Model but even a plastic Terminator save 33% over the metal Captain.

Telion-Based on Plastic Scout savings of better than 60%.

Shrike-Plastic Assault Marine with Veterans lightening claws.

Cassius-Made from Old Metal Chaplain with converted Combiflamer.

Pedro-Plastic with leftover bits from Commander Box.

Sicarius-Recycled Metal veteran since I do not need so many with power weapons and plasma pistols.

In the works are Tigurius plastic with tabard, Lysander from plastic assault marines, Khan from dark angels ravenwing with semi functional jetbike, and Vulkan in Mk IV Power armor.

Honor Guard Tutorial

The 5^th edition codex opened up the formally Ultramarine only Honor Guard unit to all space marines. It is an interesting unit somewhere between close combat veterans and terminators. They cost the same as a vanguard veteran with a power weapon but come with artificer armor and a bolter in addition to the power weapon and bolt pistol. They are slightly cheaper than normal terminators but are not as survivable without the Inv saves, but they can ride in a Rhino.

If you are like me and want to be able to field every unit in the codex so you have options for your list, you will need to build an Honor Guard unit. While the current metal kit is really nice and not horrible in cost, the minis are covered in Ultramarine U’s. Another problem is that they are so ornate if you want a cohesive look to your unit you will need to buy more of them from bit traders to get a good size unit but do you want 8 guys with the same 2 poses. This leaves plastic parts as the best bet to make your own unit. Luckily space marine players are just loaded with great plastic parts. There are so many plastic parts that you might not be able to visualize them all to decide how to start the project.

The first question before starting the unit is what the look you are going for is. Does your army have a very cohesive and regimented look? Are your veterans distinguished strongly from normal marines with banners, shoulder badges, etc? You will want to continue these themes with your honor guard. My personal army neither of these things are true. Veterans are mainly distinguished by a change in edge color on the shoulder pads. My look is essentially very random with a few old metal bodied marines, mixed in with beakies, helmets, no helmets, even some scattered repainted chaos components salvaged from slain enemies. This allowed me a great deal of freedom in modeling my honor guard which I really enjoyed. Every model is unique and interesting and could probably be built on as a theme if you wanted a whole honor guard of a similar look.

What are the options for overall look? I can think of a few basic choices. Dark Angels veterans are a nice starting point. They have the robes to set them apart from the rest of the army. They are also a complete kit which comes with some power weapons and the cost would not be horrible.


Another option is the crusaders of the Black Templars. The upgrade kit has great bits and the unit could be very cohesive but might look to out of place in a normal army. Watch out since this kit has no legs, torso backs, and only 2 backpacks.


Using metal veterans as a base is also possible since they often have nice tabards if you are willing to work at removing hands and arms. These tabards also mesh nicely with those available from the black templars box. You can also use normal marine torsos and legs then try to set them apart with additional components like helmets, shoulder guards, purity seals, etc.


Another issue is the power weapons. Almost every member of the unit needs a power weapon. Given that at most you get 2 power weapons in any kit you will need either to stock up or go to the bit traders. Again you have to make a choice about the look. Do you want everyone to have the same power weapon (sword, axe, mace)? Do you want to go beyond that with not just swords but very similar hilts and guards? Next consider how the arms will be holding the swords will be posed. The power weapons are almost always either pointing the weapon out or carrying it in a bent arm. If you want 6 identical power weapons you will need to look at hand swapping them onto other arms to open up more options.

The last issue is accessories. This is where you can again work to create cohesion from varied members if desire. Subtle things here might work best. Every member has purity seals on the weapon. All the backpacks are exactly the same. Helmets, shoulder pads, scrolls, etc. You can also go another way and pick accessories to pick out small thing on each model. For example some backpack parts can match certain shoulder pads. Tons of options are available to bring you unit to the forefront of your army.

Now I will show the different Honor guard members generate from these different sources as examples of what is possible. My armies theme for its Honor Guard is that the members do not just get a new set a fancy armor when they move into the guard. They were what they have with minor improvements from their many years with the chapter. The look is very random but that is how my army is. Now I am not claiming that these items are the end all be all of model for space marines on their way toward slayer swords once painted. These are all simple things which can be made without green stuff or substantial scratch building. The most challenging thing is usually removing chapter specific items from the plastic bits with a hobby knife.

Metal Veteran Bannerman
Metal Veteran Relic Blade
Metal Master of the Chapter Honor Guard
Dark Angel Robes
Black Templar Tabard
Black Templar Mk IV
SM Commander/Command Squad Grenade Launcher
Composite Plastics (Commander, Space Wolves, Dark Angels)
Mk VI Plastic Beakie
Plastic Chapter Champion

Relic Blade Honor Guard

This mini makes a great relic blade honor guard. That is one big axe with a significant length of handle to represent the relic blade. The metal mini is from the older veteran set. Simply replace the bolt pistol with a bolter. I then added a commander bolt pistol on the back.


This is pretty all very easy with no real work.

Assault Marines and Vanguard Marines: Options Galore

A recent comment on one of my vanguard mini posts got me thinking more about how I use my assault and vanguard marines. Currently I have 2 10 man squads of jump pack assault marines. These units each have a sergeant with a weapon upgrade and 2 special weapons with a power weapon sergeant with 2 flamers for horde control and a powerfist sergeant with 2 plasma pistols for MEQ-MC duty. These units usually only are fielded together as part of my battle company in Apoc games. I also have 2 10 man squads to Vanguard marines which ride to battle in Rhinos. These units have a whole range of upgrades available but I generally only upgrade 3-4 of the marines each differently. My minimum upgrades are Relic Blade Sergeant, Powerfist, Lightening Claw. I then add a meltabomb followed by a power weapon if points are available.

You can think about flipping this though. Assault marines can exchange their packs for a free rhino while Vanguard can buy packs and get the nifty heroic intervention rule. So first we will discuss jump pack marines. Consider a 10 man squad of both types with jumppacks each with a powerfist. The vanguard cost 56% more. Charging into assault they are 21% and 27% more effective against MEQs and and Orks respectively. So you get 50% less wounds to take but only do 30% more damage. Not a good trade off. Adding more weapon upgrades will increase your effectiveness but also your cost. Once you get up to about 375 points (70% cost increase) for the total unit your combat effectiveness against MEQ is approximately increased to the same level as the points difference but against Orks with their already poor armor saves the gains are significantly lower.

Does Heroic Intervention make up for this gap? They did a nice job making a very ironclad special rule covering almost every exploit possible. You have to declare you are trying it before rolling scatter dice, you cannot have a character(so no gate of infinite Librarians moving you around), if you declare you cannot run(no fleeting from Shrike) or shoot even if you end up outside assault range. This will leave you as blast bait if you miss distance for the assault. Since you have to end up within 6 inches of the opponent(hopefully a high value target), you are having to deepstrike close probably into a densely occupied region. This means you probably need to get a hit on the scatter die to get the assault off or avoid the mishap table. Assuming you are not cheating with your dice rolling this makes this process very risky. You can diminish the risk by using locator beacons on drop pods or scout bikes to guide the unit in. The problem here is that you opponent will always get at least a turn to respond to your placement of these before the vanguard arrive. They can either destroy the beacon unit or simply back up a few inches to be more than 13-14 inches from the beacon. Another problem is that drop pods are fixed in their location so if you vanguard are a little late they might not have anyone nearby anyway. With Bikes, if you turboboost them close to the target and the vanguard are late you have essentially wasted a turn of action for the bikes and placed them right into the opponents sights.

Now we will consider Rhino based units ignoring drop pods since I do not see the point of putting an assault squad into a pod. I see giving up the jump pack movement for the drop pod assault and inertial guidence only as not worth it. Maybe on a crowded Apoc or cityfight board. If we again start with 10 marines and fist in a rhino, the veterans are about 26% more expensive but have almost the same gain in hitting power (21% MEQ, 27% Ork). So the unit is essentially starting in the money without the extra upgrades. You might say you would like higher effectiveness difference than cost difference to account for the fewer overall wounds the army has to give. This loss is probably balanced by the fact the combat effectiveness difference is higher when the vanguard recieve the charge or the combat lasts beyond the initial assault.

FtW: Letter to the Editor

Did you leave a Comment?


All of the major blogging sites have areas for people to leave comments but I have noticed a pretty weak showing in this area from the reader community in general. Unless it is the Bell of Lost Souls site whose comments area for every post grows to a rapidly unreadable length, most posts people put up generate very few comments.

Even a major site like From the Warp can write a excellent tutorial with tons of pictures and great ideas and end up with 2 comments. Did only two people read the post? Are only 1 in 100 readers commenting.

I recently did a short series of long posts about Apocalypse battles. While I understand they were very text heavy and most people would probably not read the whole things, I got one comment on them. Did anyone read them? I assume someone must have since I added a few followers during the time they were up. Did people find them worthwhile or could you learn that info directly from the Apocalypse book? I guess the posts were so great they were the final word on organizing and laying out Apocalypse battles.

From the Warp recently had an editorial about why it exists. The main point was about a community of blogging sites. That editorial was spawned by a comment. Communities certainly involve communication but currently it seems like most of it is one sided. Should we be 100 people each on a soap box yelling out our ideas only to hear our own voice echo back. Should we be 100 people who can each say something and expect 10 others to respond.

Given that people often post completed projects you might say that my comments will not do anything to the effort, but remember that others might look at that project read your comment on how it could be improved or changed in someway and follow that. The readers then got more than just one persons take on something. They get the communities.

While I personally cannot say that I comment on all the blog posts I read, I try to do it with most if I have anything related to say. I also try to put a response up for any comments I see here.

So have you left any comments today?

Plastic Sternguard

Here are some examples of the plastic sternguard I have built up. This first group use the bionic eye components to unify them. Most of the heads come from the vehicle accessories but the first one is from the plastic devastator set. Two of the models have veteran shoulder pads.

This next set all have scopes which ties them in with most of the models from the previous set. I also tried a couple of different armor styles with a beakie and a crusader helm here.

This is the combi weapon group and for some reason these guys are all in Mk VIII armor. These guys were mainly built before the new codex as veteran sergeants.

Vanguard Marine

Here is a quick shot of a newly assembled Vanguard Marine. For the recent apoc game, I needed another vangaurd with lightening claw so I made this guy. Pretty standard combining of running legs from the assault marines with the claw from the SM commander box. I did do some cutting of the claw arm at the shoulder joint to change the angle. While the claw up is ok, this gave a much better pose. This vet could be running hard or he could have just sent a slashing blow down across some Orks face. Overal a pretty nice pose for addition to my secondary vanguard squad.

40,000 Points of Apocalypse: Side Tables

If you cannot come up with a single table layout which can accommodated all of the players interested in your Apocalypse game you essential have two options. One is Split Table were you essentially have 2 games of apocalypse on 2 different large tables sharing an overall objective count and perhaps some way to transfer between the tables(webway, warp rift, bridge, etc.). This idea is relatively simple with the main question of how many total objectives and how to distribute them between the tables. The other is Side Tables. A side table is going to be smaller than the main table. It may have an objective for the main total or it may influence the main table through some other mechanism.

An example of a side table can be found in Apocalypse Reloaded where space marines assault an Ork Space Kill Kruzer which is dropping bombardments on the main table.

In our recent 40K point game we had two side tables. The side tables were 4*6 with 1 player from each team with 3000 points. Like our main table these were pretty densely occupied with 6000 points on a 4*6. The side tables influenced the main game by allowing whoever controlled a centrally located objective using 5th ed scoring rules at the end of a game turn to give a orbital bombardment to their main table teammates to place. The deployment was done using standard Apocalypse rules with the scatter die determining how the table was divided and 12 inch no mans land separating the deployment zones.

No one at the side tables used any Apocalypse formations by chance at one table and by gentleman's agreement for the other. One table used their assets while the other transfered them to the main table. There were also no superheavies, flyers, or gargantuan creatures on the side tables. Given that their was only a single objective at the center of the table any super heavy could have just rolled up on top of it and been very hard to remove. Also people wanted the superheavies on the main table where the game was going to won or lost since their were only 3 superheavies in the 40K of points. While this makes the games less Apocalypse like, it makes them a little more balanced.

The Problem

The problem that was encountered on the Side-Main interaction scheme was the major advantage it gave to the player going second in the turns. In a normal game, the second player can try to grab objectives or contest at the very end of the game, but the player going first has 5 turns to remove those fast units and establish clear zones, etc. In the normal game it is an advantage that shows up only at the final ending moment. In this setup, the advantage appears every single turn. Even if you table your opponent on turn 5, if he controlled the objective for more than 1 turn earlier in the game he has essentially won the table for his main table comrades. With 3000 points fighting over 1 centrally located objective, pretty much anything the player going first places on the objective will be targeted and eliminated by the opponent or at least contested. This is especially true since the objective is only 6 inches off the deployment line. If the first player wants to hold the objective for the turn, he will have to probably completely cover it with models and build a wall of units around it into the opponents deployment zone.


This pretty much forces the player going first to essential go all in every turn. Certain armies will do better with this than others. One of the tables was Codex SM going first with Tyranids going second. It does not take much to surmise that the tyrnaids with there many assault and close range specialists had a distinct advantage in this setup. If the space marines want to hold that objective 6 inches from the Nid deployment line they will need some serious hitting force. This was compounded by the bid system carried over from the main table. The main table bids were 2 minutes and 30 minutes so the player going first on the side tables which is a disadvantage in this case only had 2 minutes to place his units.

The other side table was Codex Space Marines(me) vs Necrons. The Necrons were going second but were hindered by having very poor in assault warriors as their objective holders. I made the mistake of deploying my scoring units to far on the flanks. I forgot to play the specific mission in my rushed deployment again 2 minutes. The necron warriors did not stand up to my Pedro led rhino mounted Vanguard assault unit who managed in one turn sweeping advance away 2 units of warriors with a Orb Lord through a multiple assault. This was certainly a case of all in where my Pedro + 8 Vanguard charged 2 units each with about 15 warriors each plus the Lord. We both very quickly lost all our scoring units so the fighting was abandoned by agreement after the 3rd turn. The Necrons were able to generate 1 bombardment after destroying 2 vehicles contesting the objective at the end of the second turn.

Future Plan: Side Tables Rules

I think a better plan is needed for side tables in the future. Since we had 2 side tables, it might have made sense to look at asymmetric objective type missions similar to the old nonstandard Battle Missions. Each side could have a table with an attacker and a table with a defender. You could use could use either 1 objective placed by defender or something like 3 bunkers which each give a 2 blasts on the orbital bombardment for the main table when held by defender. These would probably work best with no Apoc datasheets or formations. It should be looked at as a good chance to get some nonstandard mission played. Here you would not use the main table turn order but let the attacker go first like in these battles normally.

If you are only running 1 side table, you can play one of these nonstandard asymmetric missions with the attacking side getting a few extra assets of. You could also do a dawn of war or pitched battle for deployment with the two objective standard mission. Each objective controlled gives the Apoc bombardment (3). This would also be without Apoc datasheets. The player going second still has a distinct advantage but the player going first has a better chance of holding their home objective than controlling a centrally located one. Also if the deployment time is not limited by the main table bids the playing going first is helped some.

40,000 Points of Apocalypse: Table Layouts

The three big Apocalypse games I have played in (24K, 36K, and 41K) organized by our GW Club, League Subterranea , have all tried different table layouts. Our table layouts are complicated by the fact that our FLGS, Labyrinth Comics and Games, is located in a high rent region of Ann Arbor, MI(literally across the street from U of Michigan main campus). To make the business viable, the owners located it in a basement that is long and narrow. In the widest area where you would put a giant Apocalypse table there are support posts for the building above.

Table space is very important in Apoc games. The rulebook wants essential 1 square foot per 125 total points (3000 points total on standard 4*6 table) so for a 40K point game they are suggesting 14 4*6 tables or 320 square feet. Coming up this this much table space is hard and arranging it into something where you can get to the models is going to be also challenging. The Apoc book talks about floor wars but this would not be something I would recommend for a many player game. If you and a few close friends(2-3 more) want to try it, that is fine but for a general game with 14 people you do not play with often, the risk of damage to 150 dollar forge world flyers is too high. We have in general played on less than half the recommended table space. This makes direct surface movement harder since units are played close together giving more advantages to armies with skimmers and more usage of deepstriking and flank marching. It also makes things with Apoc templates and blasts even better.

Table layout is also important. Consider if all regions of the table can actually be reached to place the models. Assuming normal reach levels of about 3 ft every point needs to be within 3 ft of an edge. You could rig up a harness system to float players over the table but that is getting pretty extreme. Also consider depth issues. Are there places on the board where you can be a foot from no mans land and also 2 ft from any edges? Otherwise there is no where that shooty units can be deployed without needing a assault screen.

O Shaped Table

In the first game, we tried an O shaped table around one of the poles. We used 6 by 4 tables for the top and bottom and 4 by 4 for the sides. This game had 8 players with 3K each, Imperial(2 SM, 1 Sister, 1 Guard) vs Xenos (1 Eldar, 1 CSM, 1 Tau, 1 Nid). We called the space in the center a volcano/warp rift that was both impassable to all and LOS blocking. This table setup had the advantage that no point was more than 3 ft from the outer edge and you could go under the table to the center to move unit near the middle of the table. The problem we had was that the deployment zones ended up very close the table joints which happened to have narrow region of the table with about 2 feet across on both side. This created 2 bad choke points that were hard to get through. The game only lasted 3 turns due to time limitation but the only things which got through the line were a Heirophant which could just destroyed SM squads holding the line with its 16 Ap3 shots and assault attacks equal to or greater than the number of enemies in base contact and Flyers (Cloudstrike Squadron and Barricuda) which just flew over the battle line to Lance Pulsar the Armorcast Reaver to dust. The choke points were probably a bigger problem since the Imperial side did not have many units with special deployment rules allowing them to come in behind the enemy. This was an Apoc game back in early 2008 so no one had played a game this big to know that you must have Flank Marchers, and Deepstriking Drop Pod forces if you lack the skimmer transports of the Eldar and Tau.

Long Line Table

The second game was done on a single long table which was say 26 feet by 4 feet. This setup fit well in the long narrow space. This game was a drop in game published in white dwarf so the organizer really had a limited idea of who was coming. Everyone showed up and turned in their points, any super heavy or flyers and he did the best he could to make up even teams on the fly. With the narrow no mans land and very long table it made every point on a close range killing field. This layout also led to a more you verses who ever lined up across the table. We did not have anyone lining up in one spot then redeploying some or all their units way down the table since the time involved walking back and forth between different parts of the battle would have been excessive. The layout also caused me a problem when the opponents placed a disruption pod on my part of the table where my drop pod battle company was supposed to come in so they got scattered to the winds and picked apart one isolated squad at a time. I should have spent my first turn destroying the pod with my deployed units and held the drop pods and deepstrikers all to turn 2. A single long table is probably a standard for many Apocalypse games, but I would recommend making sure it is 6 feet across. You probably have to stretch but any point can probably still be reached.

+ Plus Sign Table

The most recent game had a main table that was like a plus sign with two 4*4 tables making the center with an additional 4*4 on each side. This is similar to the O arrangement but with the center closed off to eliminate the choke points. This table had 10 players on each with 3K points so if was incredibly densely populated. When a Tau players Tigershark came in from reserves he had to proxy its initial location since he had yet to build a flying base and there was no were to set it down due to its size. Both sides had considerable forces in reserves to fill up the space emptied due to the apocalypse sized destruction leaving the table very densely occupied past the 3rd turn of the game. I believe that the edges were called impassible terrain but you could fire over the gaps. I did not play on the main table so I am not sure what the exact rules were. There were also 2 4*6 side tables operating with 2 players each at 3K. These tables certainly allowed for more total points but they had there own problems which I will discuss in another post. Overall the layout seemed to work pretty well, their was enough depth that shooty units could be placed where they were likely free of assault danger for a turn or two. The models were close enough to the edge to position properly. I am not sure if any unit moved very far that were not flyers but there were enough flank marchers and deepstrikers such that nothing on the table was safe.