Hordes Day

Well, Saturday saw Ben host a Hordes day as our Women folk had decided to meet up for shopping and we didn't fancy that, and so Ben, Sam, Luke and I faced off with each of the main Hordes forces represented.

The humble Chainsword.

The humble Chainsword. This, ladies and gentleman is the preserve of those of the 41st Millennium, and for that matter, at least the preceeding ten thousand years, that have progressed within the Imperium at least to being a Sergeant.

It is a weapon, that the Black Library would have you believe is favoured by Captains over Power Swords and Power Axes, and yet in game terms it has the same killing power as a bit of snapped twig.

Almost all Imperial kits come with at least one Chainsword, it is a free weapon for most squad leaders and yet how many people take them? I can't think of the last time I even considered not trying to find points to upgrade a Tactical or Assault squad Sergeant to a better option. I think that the only Sergeant that I don't upgrade is my Devastator Sergeant, and by the same token my Retributor Sister Superior.

Sadly, for some reason Games Workshop has not given this weapon any form of boost. And yet, make the handle a bit longer and you increase the strength by 2, if you then increase the size of the blade you double the strength and somehow manage to cut through a Tank which is the same if you strap a small Chainsword to a giant fist and run an electrical current through it.

Why then is the Chainsword so poor? And why am I asking this in the first place?

I shall explain:

Aren't these nice models? The sculptor has taken a lot of care to ensure that these are strong, dynamic miniatures befitting of being Sergeants, and yet, as soon as I possibly can, I already intend to swap those Chainswords out which is a real shame.

Now, if they had perhaps even the tiniest chance of being good, then I would consider keeping them. Perhaps a rule such as this:

Biting point - Any to hit rolls of 6 have potentially found a weak point in the armour or hull of the model they are attacking. Roll any 6s separately as any further 6s result in the attack gaining the Rending special rule.

Now to me, that's still a long shot, but at least gives a bit of hope and a reason to use the weapon except where there is no choice to upgrade.

I'd appreciate your thoughts on this.

Dark Vengeance Release Day games

Well, my copy didn't arrive, not that I really expected it to as it was only shipped on Thursday, so I was lucky enough to go to the club with Matt and have a good look at his copy.

The models are beautiful, albeit some of the joins on the chosen are a little strange, so I am looking forward to assembling mine. There will be a multitude of detailed pictures accross the web of these models which will be far better than I took, so I shall leave that to them.

One of the great things about the box set that I think Games Worksop dropped the ball on with Island of Blood is the inclusion of missions. There are six within the book, at least two of which could be played by just one person.

We played Mission 5, Firefight which is basically kill points, but different points for each unit. We played ths twice so both of us managed to use each force, and I have to say that the Chaos force is up against it. Perhaps the different missions balance up so it is a fluff decision, but unless you are very tactically adept and there is literally a table full of scenery then I suspect most people will find it a tough call killing more Dark Angels than they lose from there own forces. I suspect that the Multi Melta on the Hellbrute doesn't help. If it was a TL Reaper, then maybe it would be worth shooting, but a one shot weapon means that you'd just want to run it possibly leaving him exposed and isolated.

Nonetheless, Dark Vengeance has breathed new life into my enthusiasm for 40k and I've brought down my Codexs again!

...Now to find some more time.