An overdue return to the table.

[Mr Mystery]

How do?

So over the past few years, I've not been able to game anywhere near as much as I'd like. Between a three hour commute home, and a penchant for doing Saturday Overtime (double pay), I've just been either too rushed, or too shagged out to get my game on.

But this week? This week we christen Bloody Enormous Si's new gaming board.

It's 40k, and I know I'm using my Mechanicus, but I dunno (and don't care) what he'll be using. It may be a Legiones Astartes list. Lord knows he's got plenty enough to choose from!

And as you might expect, I'm really quite excite. I think I've played just the one game of 40k since I put together my Mechanicus, so I'm quite expecting to have my arse handed to me.

My force is probably going to be fielded as Unbound, as I've not got my head round allies yet - but given I'm likely facing a Heresy era army, I can't say it's a big worry. He's also ok for me to field one of four Knights that've never actually taken to the field...

Ah, the joys of no longer being store dependant for gaming!

[Alaric]

Grats dude. Be sure to beat him on his own board. The only thing I've seen that can shut the mechanicum army down completely is a void shield generator.

[Denzark]

Put some piccys up will you old horse, would be nice to see.

[Mr Mystery]

But.....nothing is painted!

Another downside of a) not being a natural painter b) working/commuting stupid hours.

But yes. I'll do my best to provide some pics. I'm hoping a Knight Crusader will punch some early holes in his line, allowing the Skitarii a little breathing space. Our guns might be hilariously psychotic, but they still need decent rolls!

[Chris*ta]

Another downside of a) not being a natural painter b) working/commuting stupid hours.

I remember an article in WD, maybe issue 30x, about a guy who was a rep promoting GW products at game stores throughout Norway, (??) and one of his forces was the complete Blood Angels chapter. I think his name was Artur Szindler (?sp

And he did a lot of his painting on trains. So, I guess what I'm saying is you need to get better excuses :p

[Mr Mystery]

Nah. I just need to pull me finger out!

Difference this year of course is a much bigger Mystery Towers, replete with Hobby Room and a table right by t'window, letting in plenty of natural light. And as I can stream to my iPad, I now stand a much greater chance of getting on with it!

[Erik Setzer]

And he did a lot of his painting on trains. So, I guess what I'm saying is you need to get better excuses :p

I take the bus to/from work (very valid reasons not to drive). There is barely room to read, definitely no room to paint. Heck, I often have to sit somewhat sideways just to have room for my legs.

If you guys have that much room on the trains, you are lucky buggers! (Though I think, during my trip to Washington, D.C., the trains there had a good bit of space.)

[Psychosplodge]

ewww natural light

[Mr Mystery]

Shutupgoff

[Psychosplodge]

:p

[Mr Mystery]

Just nice to have some proper hobby space.

As for trashing him on his own board....it was once my board...bought before I realised previously flat was far too laughably tiny.

New board will be procured in the coming months. First, I need shelves to keep the terrain on.

[Asymmetrical Xeno]

Shutupgoff

But I didn't...oh you didn't mean me :P

[Mr Mystery]

Shutupovvergoff.

Better? :p

Oh lordy....just thinking of the rules I need to re-familiarise with......

Charges and Running I know. That's easy.

Overwatch, can and can'ts.

Superheavies.

Vehicles in general (even though I'm only fielding the one)

Different USRs...

Blimey. I best get reading tonight.

[Erik Setzer]

Yeah, just the change from 6th to 7th had a lot of minor tweaks that people didn't immediately catch, or didn't realize were kind of notable (i.e. vehicles count as WS1 unless immobilized, in which case they count as WS0, so no auto-hitting unless it's immobilized). Or how if you shot a transport with a unit and blew it up, that same unit can charge any survivors who were in the destroyed transport (fun with Knights).

Plus the new psychic phase. But if you're AdMech, you don't really have to worry with that too much.

- - - Updated - - -

Oh! Oh! And speaking of USRs... Check the wording carefully. Like Relentless only applies to models with it, but Slow and Purposeful applies to any unit that has at least one model with it, which can lead to hilarious situations like a Mega-Armor Big Mek joining a unit of Lootas or even Mek Gunz and walking the unit across the battlefield firing at anything in their path with full BS (which, for Orks, is a whopping 2... or 3 for Grots). There's all kinds like that, where you might think similar rules work the same way for who they apply to, but don't.

[Mr Mystery]

Honestly? After over 20 years of GW, I'm well used to slightly shonky rules, and consider it an integral part of the game.

Perhaps some kind of Nerd Stockholm Syndrome?

[Charistoph]

Yeah, just the change from 6th to 7th had a lot of minor tweaks that people didn't immediately catch, or didn't realize were kind of notable (i.e. vehicles count as WS1 unless immobilized, in which case they count as WS0, so no auto-hitting unless it's immobilized). Or how if you shot a transport with a unit and blew it up, that same unit can charge any survivors who were in the destroyed transport (fun with Knights).

Plus the new psychic phase. But if you're AdMech, you don't really have to worry with that too much.

- - - Updated - - -

Oh! Oh! And speaking of USRs... Check the wording carefully. Like Relentless only applies to models with it, but Slow and Purposeful applies to any unit that has at least one model with it, which can lead to hilarious situations like a Mega-Armor Big Mek joining a unit of Lootas or even Mek Gunz and walking the unit across the battlefield firing at anything in their path with full BS (which, for Orks, is a whopping 2... or 3 for Grots). There's all kinds like that, where you might think similar rules work the same way for who they apply to, but don't.

Most of those you mentioned were around in 6th (charging surviving Embarked unit, Relentless vs SnP). Rage is a fun change since 5th. Instead of it having any deficit, it only improves the Charge Attack Bonus. Can't lead these units around any more.

The biggest changes over all from 7th Edition to previous Editions are the Psychic Phase and the Shooting Phase. 6th added AP to Melee Weapons and a huge assortment of tweaks and first saw Super-Heavies included via the Escalation Expansion.

Turn order goes: Start of Turn > Movement Phase > Psychic Phase > Shooting Phase > Assault Phase > End of Turn.

Psychic Phase is weird (damn witches) and anyone can try and stop it (those who could stop it before just got better at it) via Deny the Witch. The start of the Phase includes the collection of Warp Power which translates to dice you use to attempt to get a power off. Each power has a Warp Charge requirement which must be met. Exceeding it usually doesn't mean anything to the power itself (aside from Perils danger), but will make it harder to Deny. This means Witches can fire off a Psychic shooting power and shoot in the same turn now.

Shooting's big change is the separation by weapon groups. If you have Bolters, a Flamer, and a Heavy Flamer in a unit, each group resolves separately, so if you use Bolters first, your Flamer and Heavy Flamer may not be able to shoot anything. This makes things very weird when dealing with units that can shoot multiple targets (like Tau with Target Locks and Super-Heavies) since this multiple targeting part is not addressed at all in the Shooting Rules, and only Split Fire actually defines its process. Wound Allocation is normally done by closest to furthest in most cases, with Random Allocation and Barrage Attacks stating differences, and Precision Shots/Attacks being able to allow the Attacker to Choose.

[Erik Setzer]

I'll have to double check a couple of those when I get home, but there's some stuff I'm sure was new, but was a minor change easy to overlook. I remember I had to break down and re-read the entire rulebook to find any changes.

Also, highly recommend reading the super-heavy rules thoroughly. Escalation and the first Codex: Imperial Knights had different rules than the ones in the 7th edition rulebook (despite being printed within 5-6 months of its publication). Obviously Apocalypse is out of date by now. Also, if you want buildings, you need Stronghold Assault for the stats and points for said buildings, but ignore the general building rules in there and refer to the 7th edition rulebook instead. Same weird issue, and for some reason they haven't (to my knowledge) printed new editions of Escalation or Stronghold Assault with the new rules.

- - - Updated - - -


Honestly? After over 20 years of GW, I'm well used to slightly shonky rules, and consider it an integral part of the game.

Perhaps some kind of Nerd Stockholm Syndrome?

It's just a byproduct of any rules set with enough rules, and gamers being gamers and wanting to skim or make assumptions about how things work (guilty myself).

It does sometimes get weirder if you've played a while, and are trying to remember not to do something the way it worked in some prior edition. (Inserted 2nd edition rules into 7th edition can be amusing.)

[Path Walker]

I've played a few games now with my Mechanicus/Skitarii and I've found it really helpful to make up a cheat sheet, when certain things happen eg. Start of the turn, draw any objectives, choose a Canticle. Shooting Phase, Mago repairs. They have so many special things that happen at set times that it helps to note them down so you don't forget/do stuff out of sequence.