Sin City Dispatch #11: Ork on Ork action!

Hey everyone, welcome to the latest issue of the Dispatch!

In this issue, we will finally have that Battle Report that I hinted at in Dispatch #10. Was it worth the wait? You'll have to read on to find out, so sit down and strap in because we are about to hit the ground running!

Battle Report: Hot and Heavy Ork on Ork Action
(Wrong in so many ways, but it had to be said!)

For this game, I decided to try something a little different. With my 'stealer cult still in the works, I decided to break out my growing Ork Waaagh to see how it would handle Matt's army. Another interesting twist was actually putting the right amount of terrain on the table! The 40k Rulebook recommends covering one quarter of the table which is exactly what we did.

Rolling for deployment, we managed to tie on the first two rolls before Matt finally won. It's always a good sign when you have that much trouble just figuring out who is going to be first. We deployed our troops and infiltrators, then I pulled out the Big Book o' Sneaky Gits to try to steal the initiative! And it would have worked if I didn't roll a one! Grrr... Ah well, on with the show!

Moving all of my forces forward, I tried to get as much into cover as possible. Not much else happened except that my shoota boyz with their trukk were able to get Matt's kommandos to turn tail and run!

On the other side of the board, my kommandos had moved out of the woods that they deployed in to open fire on the deth koptas.

The end result was lots of dakka and I was able to inflict a whole one wound. This left them kind of hanging in the wind but hopefully they would survive to the next turn so that they could shot at those pesky kopters again.

Matt went next, trudging his force forward. With the terrain in the middle of the table, there was little that Matt could do as far as firing. The two exceptions to this were his big mob of boyz who managed to take out one of my slugga boyz with their big shootas and of course the deth koptas. Moving around to one side of my kommandos, the koptas opened fire with their twin-linked big shootas. You would think that this would be the end of my kommandos but no!

When he moved, Matt actually positioned his koptas so that I was able to get a cover save from the rock spire. This was the only thing that kept my boyz from getting torn apart by those koptas, which I very much appreciated.

Going into the second turn, I moved the main core of the Waaagh further into cover while the big shootas took their pot shots to inflict another casualty or two. The big action happened on the right side of the board as the kommandos moved forward to shoot at the koptas again.

This time they managed to blast two of the koptas out of the air in the shooting phase and then charged forward to pull the last one down out of the air. I finally managed to get rid of those pesky koptas! Sweet!

For as successful as the kommandos were, the shoota boyz were the exact opposite. Moving forward and hopping out of their trukk, they openned fire on the last four boyz and failed to wound any of them. So much for shootas...

For Matt's turn, he continued the slow plod forward, moving his massive boyz mob closer to my troops, firing his big shootas as he plodded along.

Just under thirty boyz with a warboss in there to boot. Not looking forward to that one getting into assault range of my troops but hopefully I would be able to take down some more of those troops before they are able to close.

Rallying his kommandos, Matt moved them toward the shoota boyz and managed to gun down three of them in the process.

Frenzied by the sound of the dakka, the kommandos charged forward and managed to pull down two of my boyz while only losing one of their own in the process. Passing my morale test, the boyz held their ground as we moved into turn three.

Moving forward through the woods on the right, my kommandos opened fire on Matt's big mob 'o boyz, inflicting a few casualties before they charged forward into close combat.

Was this a suicide move? You betcha, but I had to do something to weaken that big mob. I managed to kill seven of his boyz while the kommandos were all cut down in return.

The closest of the two slugga mobz charged forward next, at which point thing ground to a halt as we checked the rulebook. Yep, that's right, I screwed this one up. D'oh! Instead of resolving each combat individually I should have moved the boyz up as well before Matt piled in against the kommandos. Oopsy! Still, Matt said that he was okay with fighting this one as a seperate combat and away we went!

Outnumbered two to one, my boyz smashed into Matt's and managed to pull down seven of his boyz before being slaughtered in return. This made that massive mob a much more managable size but I still had the nobz and meganobz to deal with, though my other boyz mob had taken down one of the four nobz with their big shoota.

On the left side of the board, the trukk moved away from the shoota boyz to attack the meganobz. A useless gesture but I had to try something, right? The boyz proved to be slightly more effective as they wiped out the kommandos and then chased after their trukk.

Going into the bottom of turn three, Matt moved his boyz and nobz toward the center of my force, taking out some of my boyz with their massed volley of slugga shots.

Moving into his assault phase, we moved to the left side of the board to deal with the ongoing fight between his kommandos and my shoota boyz. The fighting was fierce, but my shootas managed to drag down the kommandos once and for all. Now free to move, they consolidated by moving back toward their trukk up on the hill. Next Matt charged his boyz and nobz forward to attack what was left of the core of my army. Piling my troops in, the battle quick paired off to nobz vs. nobz and boyz vs. boyz. The cover worked in my favor as my nobz and Warboss Dakkagrub tore apart his Nobz, taking no casualties in return! The boyz did not fair quite so well as they were wiped out while they only managed to take out three of Matt's boyz.

While all of this was going on, the meganobz plodded forward to attack the trukk. Facing three Orks with power klaws, the trukk never stood a chance and was quickly reduced to a smoking wreck.

Heading into turn four, my nobz and Dakkagrub opened fire on Matt's boyz and managed to take one of them down as they charged headlong into close combat.

The fighting was vicious, but in the end Warboss Dakkagrub was left standing triumphant over the body of his counterpart.

This left Matt with nothing left on the board... except for those three meganobz. My shootas climbed onto the wreckage of their trukk to fire down on them but the armor was simply too strong to be able to do anything.

Moving into the bottom of the fourth turn, Matt moved the meganobz forward to engage the shoota boyz and quickly ripped them apart consolidating back toward the last two models that I had left on the board.

Charging forward, Dakkagrub and the nob slammed into the meganobz.

Trading blow and vicious blow, I managed to pull down two of the armored behemoths before the final blows were struck and Dakkagrub fell the ground, defeated.

The battle was over and Waaagh Black Primer had won... but only just. As the last meganob plodded off of the battlefield, the painboyz came and took away the broken body of Dakkagrub. He had been defeated today but he would be back for his revenge!

The Parting Shot...

And that's about it for this issue of the Dispatch. Shorter than I had originally planned but some new/old projects have cropped up that have been taking up my gaming time at the moment. What is it, you ask? Check back in the next issue to find out! Until then, may all of your dice come up Dragons!

Sin City Dispatch #10: Bring on the Sneaky Gitz!

Hey everyone, and welcome to issue #10 of the Dispatch!

In this issue, we are coming to check out the new releases that will be hitting the shelves for 40k in Incoming!!! Next, we will again go to the Workbench to take a look at my brand new Brood Lord. He might look like C'thulu to you, but it works for me! Then we will head out to BattleZone Comics for another Battle Report as I square off against Matt again, but this time I have a trick up my sleeve... Last but not least, we will wrap things up with a new segment called Feedback (creative, ain't it?). This is where we will take a look at comments from readers just like you! So without further ado, sit down and strap in because we are about to hit the ground running!

Incoming!!!
Upcoming releases for Warhammer 40,000

This will be a big month for the Ork as we hit Janu-Waaagh-ry moving flat out in a Go Fasta Red Trukk! First up is the long awaited Battlewagon.

Weighing in at a whooping 113 pieces, this kit lets you customize your battlewagon in almost any way imaginable. 'ard top, open top, big shootas, kannon, the list goes on and on. There have been some complaints that this model is not big enough but when you consider all of the bitz that come in the kit, it would be hard to pass up on this model. Even if you just use parts of it for conversions, this model is well worth the money.

Next up is the new Ork Nob plastic kit.

With almost as many pieces in it as the Battlewagon, this new Nob kit gives you a massive range of options so that you can kit these brutes out virtually any way that you want. Combine a ton of options with great looking minis and this one is another must buy for an Ork player.

Up next is another new and improved kit, the Ork Stormboyz.

It used to be that you had to buy seperate metal jet packs to mount on your plastic boyz to make a unit of Stormboyz, but not anymore! With their own boxed set hitting the shelves, these are another great set of minis. With lots of options and even more character, this is another set that I can see Ork players picking up because it is another really nice set. Tons of options, tons of bitz, and some nice looking minis to boot.

Isn't it fitting that one of the last releases in Janu-Waaagh-ry is the new Gretchin mob?

Packed with a runtherd and ten gretchin, this is a great value and means that people will finally be able to field massive units of gretchin bullet shields without spending a ton of cash. When you add in the modeling possibilities (riggers, ammo runts, and orderlies...), this is another must buy for any serious Ork player. After all, even if you don't field them as a unit, just think how much better your Warboss will feel knowing that his grot is there for good swift kick when things aren't going his way.

From the Workbench
Build Your Own Brood Lord

As I mentioned in the last issue of the Dispatch, I decided to make my own Brood Lord instead of buying the one that is currently in production. Why would I do this? No real reason to be honest. The model that is in production is not a bad looking mini but since I had some Warriors on hand I figured I might as well try my hand at converting one of them into my Brood Lord. After all, practice makes perfect, right?

As I mentioned before, I decided to use one of the old metal Tyranid warrior heads for my Brood Lord but I still needed to add some tentacles since he has feeder tendrils. To make this stronger, I actually drilled a hole in the jaw of the head so that the putty could go straight through and wrap around the front to give it a stronger hold. Once this was done, it was easy enough to roll out some tentacles and add them to the front to complete the look. With this done, it was just a case of adding some rending claws and scything talons to the mini and voila! Instant Brood Lord!

As I said, it does look a little C'thulhu-esque and it is definitely not the same as the stock Brood Lord but I like it and that is what really matters, right? Well, that and the fact that it was basically free. What's not to like about that, right?

In the next Workbench, I'll be working on something. Haven't decided exactly what but I am thinking that it will be more for the Cult as I would like to finish that before I get off onto to much of a tangent. Either way, we'll find out soon!

Feedback...
It's Only Bad When You Don't Want It

In the past, I have just responded to comments on the blog right on the blog. This is all well and good, but I want to try something new to for a change so I am going to start responding to any comments right in the Dispatch. I always love to get any kind of Feedback and maybe this will encourage more people to leave it.

To get this rolling, I have this comment from Teneb.

"Just wanted to drop a quick comment - I'm a new AT-43 gamer and stumbled upon your blog. It's entertaining to read, and I find myself checking back often. Thanks for contributing to the community!

-Teneb"

Thank you very much for your kind words, Teneb. I have fun typing it up and it's great to know that there are people out there who are enjoying it too.

As for AT-43, I hope that you are also enjoying the game as much as I did. It is a very fast paced game compared to some of the others out there and I really like how it incorporates the command aspect into the game as well. Wanna cripple your opponent? Have those snipers start pegging his officers and heros, then we'll see just how effective his army really is!

That wraps up the Feedback for this issue, but if you have something you want to say feel free to drop me a line. Good, bad, or even just random comments are always welcome, so go ahead and start typing!

The Parting Shot...

Well, that about wraps it up for this issue of the Dispatch. What's that? The Battle Report? No, I didn't forget, I just decided to save that for the next issue. I did tell you that I had a trick up my sleeve, remember? : ) Be sure to come back to here about the game as it was a cliff hanger but until then, may all of your dice come up Dragons!

Breaking update...

Hey everyone,

No Dispatch this week unfortunately as I am still in the midst of my sixteen day work week (ten down, six to go...). Fear not though! I have already started working on the next issue, there is just no way that I am going to be able to finish it up until I finally get a day off next weekend.

I hope that everyone had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, and until next time, may all of your dice come up Dragons!

Sin City Dispatch #9

Hey everyone, welcome to issue number 9 of the Dispatch!

In this issue we are going to continue our look at my growing 'stealer cult army list. First up, we will had back to the Workbench to take a look at how to make your own Broodlord. It's amazing what you can do with plastics nowadays... Then, we are going to stay at the Bench to take a look at our growing rustic outpost. After all, you can't have a cult without some place for them to plot their devious little plans, right? Of course not! So sit down and strap in because we are about to hit the ground running!

From the Workbench
"Growing" Your Own Broodlord

In keeping with the 'stealer cult theme, I have decided to use a Broodlord for my HQ choice. Coming with his own retinue of 'stealers and looking like some kind of advanced evolution of the 'stealer, he is perfect for the role. As an added plus, there is already a model out there for him so I could just pick up the model, stick it together, and BAM! instant Broodlord. That's what I could do, but I decided to try to make my own instead.

For the most part, this is actually pretty easy to do. I am basing mine on a regular Warrior equipped with the rending claws and the smaller scything talons. While this makes most of the model a very simple build, it does leave him without a head. The regular warrior head just does not look right, so I had to start digging around for something a little different. I also want to give my Broodlord the feeder tendrils biomorph, so I had to make sure that it was something that I could add some tentacles to. I considered using one of the old Ravener heads, but it just didn't quite look right. In the end I decided to use a head from one of the old metal Warriors that I have lying around. This head was large enough so that it looked right on the body and adding tentacles should be an easy enough thing to do.

Unfortunately planning is as far as I managed to get with this model. Once I get past the holidays and the sixteen straight days that I am working, I plan to finish up this model so that I can get him on the table ASAP. That means that you can expect more on this critter soon, along with pictures of the WIP and the finished model as well.

From the Workbench
Home, Home on the Range...

One of the things that I am really excited about with this project is having the terrain follow the same theme as the army. Over the years I have found that a lot of my army concepts tend to be very story driven, which is kind of hard to do with the Tyranids. They come, overrun the planet, eat everything in sight, and then move on. How's that for a deep plot line? By doing a Genestealer cult, the whole story concept becomes much more accessible again as there is some kind of depth to the army. Instead of being about a massive feeding machine sweeping across the galaxy, this list can have some personalities in it. Sure they are all the same as far as stats, but at least now I can add a little somthing to their background.

This also figures into the terrain that I am building. Secrecy is vital for a new cult as it grows in strength. Their numbers start small, but gradually increase as they bring more people "into the fold". To really focus on this need for isolation, I am building something reminiscent of a small old Western town. Nothing more than a whistle stop for most travelers, this makes it the ideal location for the cult to "recruit" new members who then travel on and spread the "good word".

The first step was to decide what type of buildings I should concentrate on. To get some ideas, I took a look at the Whitewash City website. Creators of PDF Western scenery, they have several different sets available so that you can easily create a towns of various sizes. While I am not going to use any of their buildings (I have never been able to get those paper models to work for me...) it does give me a good idea what I should include in my town.

The first building was originally supposed to be part of my Ork settlement but it was easy enough to change gears halfway through.

This combination generator/mechanic shop is a vital part of any frontier community. While I imagine that most of the buildings would probably have their own power sources, a larger facility like this one is key to the long term survival of the town. As for the in game mechanics, it is considered impassable terrain since most of the building would be taken up by the generators.

The next piece of terrain just seems to fit in naturally with the concept of a Western town but then again I am from Nevada, the one state where prostitution is legal in most of the counties. Yes, that's right, this one is a brothel.

It only seems fitting to have this in a frontier town and it really fits in with the idea of the cult as well. What easier way to lure in travelers before introducing them to the darkest secrets of the cult and truly opening their eyes. Unlike the generator, I actually made this building so that it can be opened up as you can see here.

Though there are currently no interior features other than a staircase, I wanted to leave this piece so that I can add more details later. This also makes the piece much more versatile it can easily be used in a more detailed skirmish game such as Necromunda or Rezolution.

The next piece actually can have a few different uses in a game.

Affectionately known as "the water shed", this building represents the entrance to an underground water storage facility. We are talking dark corridors lined with pipes dripping condensation and large storage tanks, something which could add an interesting element to the game. As this is the most logical place for most of the 'stealers to be located most of the time, this opens up the possibility of a Space Hulk style game as the enemy goes through the underground maze hunting down the 'stealers and ultimately the patriarch (aka the Broodlord).

The last piece of terrain that I have in progress is actually from the latest version of Confrontation and is used as an objective in most of the scenarios from the new starter released earlier in the year.

I wanted to have someplace like this in the town to represent somewhere that small numbers of "converts" could be introduced into the cult during official ceremonies. No real effect on the game beyond blocking line of sight but still seems like a nice little addition to the scenery.

The Parting Shot...

That about wraps it up for this issue. As I mentioned earlier, I am currently working a lot of hours which is cutting into any time that I would normally have available. Still, I am going to try to squeeze in some hobby time when I can so hopefully I can get some more stuff done so that I will have something to talk about in the next Dispatch. With that, I am going to go pass out but until next time, may all of your dice come up Dragons!

Sin City Dispatch #8: the Birth of the 'Stealer Cult

Hey everyone, welcome to the eighth issue of the Dispatch!

For this issue we will be staying close to the Workbench as we look creating a themed army, from units all the way up to the scenery itself. In this case we will be taking a step away from Waaagh Dakagrub and instead focusing on an oldie but a goodie, the Genestealer cult army list. Since there is no official 'stealer cult list, this one took some creative thinking on my part but so far I am really liking how it is coming together, so sit down and strap in because we are about to hit the ground running!

From the Workbench
The Birth of a Genestealer Cult

After playing a few games with the 'nids, I couldn't help but start thinking about Genestealer cults of old. First introduced back in White Dwarf #114, the 'stealer cult combined 'stealers, hybrids, and their human minions into one army. I used to have a copy of this magazine floating around but I have unfortunately long since gotten rid of it. Even so, I remember how cool the list looked with its blend of human cultists fighting alongside their 'stealer lords. The question is how to create this using the current 'nid list. The 'stealers and the patriach are easy enough but how could I field the cultists that the list would need?

I decided to start by comparing the Imperial Guard list to the Tyranid list to see if there were any similarities. As I wasn't really interested in fielding most of the units on the Guard list, I was actually kind of glad nothing on there came close to the stats of the 'stealers. The 'nid list proved to be another story. Gaunts and Guardsmen have an almost identical stat line but what about their lasguns?

With a potential range of 24" the 'nids don't really have anything that compares to the lasgun. Most of the longer ranged 'nid weapons have a higher strength and blast templates which just would not work in this case. In the end, I decided to go with the spinefists to simulate the lasguns. Both of these weapons have the same strength while the reduced range of the spinefists will represent the lack of training the cultists have, and the twin-linked will represent them firing wildly as they close with their targets.

This gave me a good solid core of troops that I could use between the 'stealers and the cultists, but the list was still sorely lacking in the synapse department. At least I was until I took a look at the sanctioned psyker miniatures for the Guard. I decided that these would take the place of the Zoanthropes in my list, giving me access to more synapse creatures and really giving me some fitting leaders for the cultists. The stats notably different between these two units but I decided that the increases were the result of the psykers being direct conduits to the massive power of the hive mind. 'Thropes also have toxic miasma and greatly increased armor save which I decided would represent the intense psychic field that was surrounding them.

With the basic list picked out, it's time to start building my army from the ground up.

Just Who is What Exactly?

Some of the miniatures in the list could be very straight-forward. The Broodlord is a Broodlord while the 'stealers are just that as well. Using the Guard santioned psykers for my cult leaders meant that this portion of my list is also easy to complete, just leaving me with the cultists themselves.

There are several different options out there from other companies that would look pretty good to represent cultists (Pig Iron Productions Kolony range of minis comes to mind) but I really want to keep the minis plastic so that I can maybe do some conversions. In the end, I decided that my best bet is to get a set of Cadian Shock Troopers and a set of Catachan Jungle Fighters, mix them together, and see what I can come up with. This combination will help convey the impression that they have raided the local PDF armories and grabbed anything they could get their hands on, not to mention they will be a lot of fun to put together. There are still more minis that I will add to the army in the future as it grows from a 1000 point list to a full 1750 list, but for now this will be enough to keep me busy.

Their Own Private Idaho

In addition to the army, I am also building a new board and terrain themed to go with it. The board is not going to be anything too fancy for now, though the dimensions are slightly different than might be expected as it comes in at 3'x4'. I have a lot of experience playing on a board of this size thanks to AT-43 and I really like how it puts you right there in the action. It is also something that I can easily expand up to 6'x4' once the army has grown to its full size.

As for the terrain itself, I am going for a small rustic settlement, almost like something out of a sci-fi western. In my mind this fits with the cult theme perfectly; a small, backwater settlement that the cult has taken over and is using to slowly spread to the neighboring towns before rising up to take over the world.

The Parting Shot...

And so there you have it, at least for now anyway. In the next Dispatch, I will have pictures of the terrain that I have built along with some of the models that I will be fielding in the cult, including my scratch built Broodlord! So until next time, may all of your dice come up Dragons!