As a war gamer, and one time member of a gaming club, I have come into contact with Magic the Gathering on a number of occasions. I have mostly watched it from afar and have only once or twice played it in the very dim and distant past of the late 90s.
This changed towards the end of July this year. One of my friends convinced my gaming group to give this a try. We played Magic 2015 on the xbox first to get the general feel of the game. It was enough to get me interested.
After this taster, I did what I always seem to do, which is jump in with feet and wallet first into buying up a bunch of cards, sleeves, a gaming mat and some deck boxes. No real thought at this stage but to develop a collection.
I played my first few games and I had already a preconceived idea that I wanted to play mono red. It was the colour that I had dabbled with in the past and for some reason I don't really remember it was the one I had the most interest in.
I am sure anyone reading this with a basic grasp of magic will already know this, but each colour does different things. I am fairly new still, only having being playing for two months, but my understanding of the colours is roughly this.
White: Good small creatures, big flying angels, lots of removal spells.
Red: Good small creatures, powerful direct damage spells, dragons.
Green: Good creatures across the board, lots of means of boosting your own creatures (ramp)
Blue: Counter magic so you play more in the opponents turn, lots of flyer's, weaker ground creatures than red, green and white on average IMO.
Black: Can resurrect dead creatures, creatures usually poor quality but have strong synergy.
Initially I considered Green fairly basic and boring, and was interested in Blue. Having played a lot of games in the last couple of months, I really struggle with blue. You have to remember to keep mana back, remember to counter at the right time and generally you are playing to spoil the other persons fun. On the computer, playing as blue is relatively easy as you get prompts to cast counters. In real life however, I tend to forget!
Tuesday, 20 September 2016
Thursday, 14 April 2016
Tzeench psychic powers
One of the things that keeps cropping up in my group is how under powered chaos are. In particular, how under powered Tzeench magic is. The so called god of magic has one of the weakest spell lores out there.
I have attempted to remedy this with my own list. See what you think.
Flickering fire of Tzeench. WC 1+ Primaris Power
This is a witch fire with a range of 24 inches. Declare how many warp charge points you want to attempt to cast this at. This spell does a number of d6 s4 ap5 hits equal to the amount of warp charge declared. Eg a WC3 cast would shoot 3d6 shots. Any unit taking at least one unsaved wound will be affected by soul blaze.
Blessing of Tzeench WC 1 Spell number 1
Malediction. On a successful cast of this spell transfer d3 warp charge points from your opponent’s pool to your own.
Bolt of Change WC 1 Spell number 2
This is a beam with a range of 24 inches. Any target lying under the beam takes a strength 8 ap2 hit.
Future sight. WC 1 Spell number 3
This is a Blessing affecting the caster and his unit. The unit gains d3 rerolls which last through this turn, and the opponents next turn. These may be used to reroll any single dice for to hit, to wound or save, or cast or deny spells.
Breath of Chaos. WC 2 Spell number 4
This is a witch fire. This has a range of template. Any model hit by this template must take a toughness test or take a wound with no armour or cover saves allowed. Invulnerable saves may be taken, but successful saves must be rerolled. Any unit taking at least one unsaved wound will be affected by soul blaze.
Transformation of Tzeench WC 3 Spell number 5
This is a witch fire with a range of 24 inches. The target unit takes 2d6 s6 ap 4 hits. If at least one model is removed as a casualty you may add a chaos spawn model to the table, one inch from the target unit. It has a number of wounds equal to the amount of wounds inflicted by the spell.
Firestorm of Tzeench WC 4 Spell number 6
This is a witch fire. Center the apocalyptic blast over the sorcerer casting this spell. Every unit covered by the template take a number of hits equal to the amount of models under the template. These hits are resolved at s5 ap4 with ignores cover. Models with the mark of Tzeench, or Daemons of Tzeench are immune to this power, but models with the Mark of Nurgle or Daemons of Nurgle take two hits. Any units taking at least one unsaved wound will be affected by soul blaze.
I have attempted to remedy this with my own list. See what you think.
Flickering fire of Tzeench. WC 1+ Primaris Power
This is a witch fire with a range of 24 inches. Declare how many warp charge points you want to attempt to cast this at. This spell does a number of d6 s4 ap5 hits equal to the amount of warp charge declared. Eg a WC3 cast would shoot 3d6 shots. Any unit taking at least one unsaved wound will be affected by soul blaze.
Blessing of Tzeench WC 1 Spell number 1
Malediction. On a successful cast of this spell transfer d3 warp charge points from your opponent’s pool to your own.
Bolt of Change WC 1 Spell number 2
This is a beam with a range of 24 inches. Any target lying under the beam takes a strength 8 ap2 hit.
Future sight. WC 1 Spell number 3
This is a Blessing affecting the caster and his unit. The unit gains d3 rerolls which last through this turn, and the opponents next turn. These may be used to reroll any single dice for to hit, to wound or save, or cast or deny spells.
Breath of Chaos. WC 2 Spell number 4
This is a witch fire. This has a range of template. Any model hit by this template must take a toughness test or take a wound with no armour or cover saves allowed. Invulnerable saves may be taken, but successful saves must be rerolled. Any unit taking at least one unsaved wound will be affected by soul blaze.
Transformation of Tzeench WC 3 Spell number 5
This is a witch fire with a range of 24 inches. The target unit takes 2d6 s6 ap 4 hits. If at least one model is removed as a casualty you may add a chaos spawn model to the table, one inch from the target unit. It has a number of wounds equal to the amount of wounds inflicted by the spell.
Firestorm of Tzeench WC 4 Spell number 6
This is a witch fire. Center the apocalyptic blast over the sorcerer casting this spell. Every unit covered by the template take a number of hits equal to the amount of models under the template. These hits are resolved at s5 ap4 with ignores cover. Models with the mark of Tzeench, or Daemons of Tzeench are immune to this power, but models with the Mark of Nurgle or Daemons of Nurgle take two hits. Any units taking at least one unsaved wound will be affected by soul blaze.
Tuesday, 12 April 2016
Chaos space marines new codex 7th edition
Wow its been a long time since I last updated this page. I have been playing 40k but have been so busy with work that I have not felt like writing much in my evenings.
There have been a lot of arguments on the Internet of late about how badly done to Chaos space marines are. As someone who has had an army of them since 2nd edition, I personally have issues with how they play, vs the fluff that I want them to play like.
I don't doubt there are a handful of strong units in the book, probably enough to field an army capable of beating quite a few armies out there, but the majority of units are made redundant by better units in the same slots and/or over priced
The crux of the issue is that Chaos space marines really represent Naughty, Spikey loyalists rather than the Legions that many chaos players, especially those from the older editions, want to play as.
There is of course a very simple solution . Make a Chaos renegade codex representing what a regular warband of new renegades has access to and what they lose by becoming a traitor. I would do something like limit the amount of high tech gear they could have, but give them some of the easier to maintain stuff from the vaults. This could even be a supplement to the loyalist codex, complete with keeping your chapter trait. This would replace the existing codex.
Then make a true legion codex with all the cool stuff from the heresy. Make chaos marine scary. Basic ones should have stats of chosen. Price them as an elite hard hitting force. This would be a stand alone new codex.
I would even go so far as to say traitor guard should have their own codex. It could be very similar to the existing Astra Militatum book, but again swap out some of the tech for some of the older kit. Model wise they could use all the same models as the guard range. Make them battle brothers to the chaos faction.
There have been a lot of arguments on the Internet of late about how badly done to Chaos space marines are. As someone who has had an army of them since 2nd edition, I personally have issues with how they play, vs the fluff that I want them to play like.
I don't doubt there are a handful of strong units in the book, probably enough to field an army capable of beating quite a few armies out there, but the majority of units are made redundant by better units in the same slots and/or over priced
The crux of the issue is that Chaos space marines really represent Naughty, Spikey loyalists rather than the Legions that many chaos players, especially those from the older editions, want to play as.
There is of course a very simple solution . Make a Chaos renegade codex representing what a regular warband of new renegades has access to and what they lose by becoming a traitor. I would do something like limit the amount of high tech gear they could have, but give them some of the easier to maintain stuff from the vaults. This could even be a supplement to the loyalist codex, complete with keeping your chapter trait. This would replace the existing codex.
Then make a true legion codex with all the cool stuff from the heresy. Make chaos marine scary. Basic ones should have stats of chosen. Price them as an elite hard hitting force. This would be a stand alone new codex.
I would even go so far as to say traitor guard should have their own codex. It could be very similar to the existing Astra Militatum book, but again swap out some of the tech for some of the older kit. Model wise they could use all the same models as the guard range. Make them battle brothers to the chaos faction.
Friday, 22 May 2015
7th edition Eldar Mathshammer - Which multi shot heavy weapon to use and when?
So the new codex comes out and there have been very few changes to the heavy weapons in the Eldar codex. Or have there?
In the last edition, the Scatter Laser was king. With laser lock the others rarely got a look in. However times change, laser lock has been resigned to the bin of history and so everyone gets to have another chance. In this article I will compare the Scatter Laser (SL) with both the Shuriken Cannon (ShC) and the Starcannon (StC).
The reason for this article is that I read somewhere on a popular blog that there is no point in using starcannons because they are flat our inferior to scatter lasers still. I am not so sure that is the case, so lets run the numbers shall we? I will take several basic statlines and compare the damage each weapon does against them. We will use GEQ, MEQ and finally TEQs.
GEQ - Toughness 3 5+ saves
SL 4 shots, hit on 3s, wound on 2s, saves on 5s. 1.49 kills
ShC 3 shots, hit on 3s, wound on 2s, no saves (bladestorm irrelevant here) 1.66 kills
StC 2 shots, hit on 2s, wound on 2s, no saves. 1.11 kills.
In a surprise to me at least, the Shuiken Cannon comes out on top here. Saving one in three wounds really hurts the Scatter lasers damage output. It will likely only get worse from here on out for the previous king.
MEQ - T4 3+ saves
SL 4 shots, hit on 3s, wound on 2s, saves on 3s. 0.73 kills
ShC 3 shots, hit on 3s, wound on 2s, saves on 3s (bladestorm kicks in) 0.64 kills
StC 2 shots, hit on 2s, wound on 2s, no saves. 1.11 kills
So unless my maths is wrong, the Starcannon is the best performer here. Against the most common, popular models in the game. Now obviously cover saves do matter, but that will only reduce the Starcannon to 0.74, still leaving it the strongest performer here.
TEQ - T4 2+/5++
SL 4 shots, hit on 3s, wound on 2s, saves on 2s. 0.37 kills
ShC 3 shots, hit on 3s, wound on 2s, saves on 2s (bladestorm kicks in) 0.46 kills
StC 2 shots, hit on 2s, wound on 2s, saves on 5++. 0.74 kills
As the armour improves, the Scatter laser really loses out. The only time the scatter laser may be the optimal weapon is against a target with an armour save of 6+ or worse. Outside of orks, I don't think there are a great many of those around.
In the last edition, the Scatter Laser was king. With laser lock the others rarely got a look in. However times change, laser lock has been resigned to the bin of history and so everyone gets to have another chance. In this article I will compare the Scatter Laser (SL) with both the Shuriken Cannon (ShC) and the Starcannon (StC).
The reason for this article is that I read somewhere on a popular blog that there is no point in using starcannons because they are flat our inferior to scatter lasers still. I am not so sure that is the case, so lets run the numbers shall we? I will take several basic statlines and compare the damage each weapon does against them. We will use GEQ, MEQ and finally TEQs.
GEQ - Toughness 3 5+ saves
SL 4 shots, hit on 3s, wound on 2s, saves on 5s. 1.49 kills
ShC 3 shots, hit on 3s, wound on 2s, no saves (bladestorm irrelevant here) 1.66 kills
StC 2 shots, hit on 2s, wound on 2s, no saves. 1.11 kills.
In a surprise to me at least, the Shuiken Cannon comes out on top here. Saving one in three wounds really hurts the Scatter lasers damage output. It will likely only get worse from here on out for the previous king.
MEQ - T4 3+ saves
SL 4 shots, hit on 3s, wound on 2s, saves on 3s. 0.73 kills
ShC 3 shots, hit on 3s, wound on 2s, saves on 3s (bladestorm kicks in) 0.64 kills
StC 2 shots, hit on 2s, wound on 2s, no saves. 1.11 kills
So unless my maths is wrong, the Starcannon is the best performer here. Against the most common, popular models in the game. Now obviously cover saves do matter, but that will only reduce the Starcannon to 0.74, still leaving it the strongest performer here.
TEQ - T4 2+/5++
SL 4 shots, hit on 3s, wound on 2s, saves on 2s. 0.37 kills
ShC 3 shots, hit on 3s, wound on 2s, saves on 2s (bladestorm kicks in) 0.46 kills
StC 2 shots, hit on 2s, wound on 2s, saves on 5++. 0.74 kills
As the armour improves, the Scatter laser really loses out. The only time the scatter laser may be the optimal weapon is against a target with an armour save of 6+ or worse. Outside of orks, I don't think there are a great many of those around.
Wednesday, 20 May 2015
7th Edition Eldar - Combining lethal formations
One particular combination I have found in the new Eldar codex is just plain lethal.
You take an Aspect host. This can be any three aspect warrior units and they all gain bonus ws or bs. This is really strong.
You can also take an Engines of Vaul formation, of three Falcons.
Combine these two together and you can create this;
6 Fire Dragons, inc exarch
6 Fire Dragons, inc exarch
6 Fire Dragons, inc exarch
3 Falcons
Put them together and you get a unit that deep strikes without scattering, delivering a massive amount of melta guns with pin point accuracy. Not many players would thank you for this.
You take an Aspect host. This can be any three aspect warrior units and they all gain bonus ws or bs. This is really strong.
You can also take an Engines of Vaul formation, of three Falcons.
Combine these two together and you can create this;
6 Fire Dragons, inc exarch
6 Fire Dragons, inc exarch
6 Fire Dragons, inc exarch
3 Falcons
Put them together and you get a unit that deep strikes without scattering, delivering a massive amount of melta guns with pin point accuracy. Not many players would thank you for this.
Thursday, 30 April 2015
7th Edition Eldar - Howling Banshees
I am not going to write a full codex review, or even cover most of the units, it only seems like five minutes ago I was doing that for 6th edition.
Howling Banshees have had a significant boost.
They now move an additional 3 inches while running or charging. Now running is okay I guess, but the boost to charging is tremendous.
They also now also ignore penalties to initiative while charging into cover. The exarch also prevents any overwatch being fired.
They have gone from being the worst unit in the codex, to pretty good now. Still struggle to wound anything really tough though and will bounce off anything with a 2+ save.
Howling Banshees have had a significant boost.
They now move an additional 3 inches while running or charging. Now running is okay I guess, but the boost to charging is tremendous.
They also now also ignore penalties to initiative while charging into cover. The exarch also prevents any overwatch being fired.
They have gone from being the worst unit in the codex, to pretty good now. Still struggle to wound anything really tough though and will bounce off anything with a 2+ save.
Wednesday, 29 April 2015
7th Edition Eldar - First Impressions - The internet panics
7th Edition Eldar - First impressions
Before I start, I will admit I play eldar. I have for twenty years, so I have seen quite few codexes come and go.
I have seen a lot of panic on the internet about how broken things are in this new book. But this essentially boils down to two things. Spamming list entries and tourney play. I do neither, so I personally don't like to be tarred with that brush.
Games Workshop has said MANY times that their game is not designed with competitive play in mind. It is beer and pretzels type gaming. You may disagree with this all you like, but that is the fact.
There are, as far as I can tell only a small number of issues which people have with the eldar book.
Number 1. Scatter bikers. Every single jetbike can now take either a shuricannon or a scatter laser. I have to admit, this seems a no brainer. There is a lot of fear about people spamming these, but it is fairly expensive to do, with the specialised FOC chart in the new book. In casual play, taking a squad or two and limiting heavy weapons is more than fine. You probably want some ablative wounds anyway, as if ap3 ignore cover weapons come your way, then the squads going to lose a lot of models. New good rules for new models, has been a thing for quite a while now.
Number 2. Wraithknight. Hes now a jump gargantuan creature armed with two D guns. He is also pretty cheap in terms of points.
Number 3. Ranged D guns on pretty much all wraith units. I don't personally see the big deal here, most of these were s10 before, and never seemed all that great with them being a single shot, short ranged and no blast. The D-flamers got a buff, but they can't instant death and suffer a penalty on the D chart.
Apart from that, there have been debuffs. Serpents shields been nerfed quite heavily, although I think we all expected that. Exarchs lost a lot of customisation options, as did the Avatar.
I dont think the Autarch is any better. Certainly I wont be taking one.
Guardians are a bit naff still. And unless you spam scatter bikers, you are taking some.
Free flak missiles as well as two wounds on the exarchs are welcome.
Before I start, I will admit I play eldar. I have for twenty years, so I have seen quite few codexes come and go.
I have seen a lot of panic on the internet about how broken things are in this new book. But this essentially boils down to two things. Spamming list entries and tourney play. I do neither, so I personally don't like to be tarred with that brush.
Games Workshop has said MANY times that their game is not designed with competitive play in mind. It is beer and pretzels type gaming. You may disagree with this all you like, but that is the fact.
There are, as far as I can tell only a small number of issues which people have with the eldar book.
Number 1. Scatter bikers. Every single jetbike can now take either a shuricannon or a scatter laser. I have to admit, this seems a no brainer. There is a lot of fear about people spamming these, but it is fairly expensive to do, with the specialised FOC chart in the new book. In casual play, taking a squad or two and limiting heavy weapons is more than fine. You probably want some ablative wounds anyway, as if ap3 ignore cover weapons come your way, then the squads going to lose a lot of models. New good rules for new models, has been a thing for quite a while now.
Number 2. Wraithknight. Hes now a jump gargantuan creature armed with two D guns. He is also pretty cheap in terms of points.
Number 3. Ranged D guns on pretty much all wraith units. I don't personally see the big deal here, most of these were s10 before, and never seemed all that great with them being a single shot, short ranged and no blast. The D-flamers got a buff, but they can't instant death and suffer a penalty on the D chart.
Apart from that, there have been debuffs. Serpents shields been nerfed quite heavily, although I think we all expected that. Exarchs lost a lot of customisation options, as did the Avatar.
I dont think the Autarch is any better. Certainly I wont be taking one.
Guardians are a bit naff still. And unless you spam scatter bikers, you are taking some.
Free flak missiles as well as two wounds on the exarchs are welcome.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)