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Our writers are currently out attempting to reign in the new year via copious amounts of liquor and regret. See you in the new year!

HAPPY NEW YEARS!

Infinity Battle Report 1: Ariadna vs YuJing

Bat Rep

Fight Is BEGIN!

Just yesterday I had the chance to play a game of Infinity against my buddy Harry who ha just added a whole bunch to his YuJing Vanilla force for Infinity. He has been using the YuJing starter for over a year now and, due to one reason or another never had much of a chance to play (despite me always badgering him for a game!). Well! A little while ago I finally managed to convince him to add to his forces and he picked up some support in the form of the YuJing Support Pack, the Gūijiă, and the Kuang-Shi! Now we're talking!
Today he threw down with a 300 point battle amidst my (in-progess...) terrain and we had a hell of a game. Here's the report!

Warning: Picture HEAVY!

Questing for Heroes

Awesome Things

All is right in this world

Something Amazing has come up in this world. Something I hadn't thought would ever happen. Allow me to unveil this something, all in thanks to a company called GameZone:

Some of you (those who haven't read this blog from the beginning... tsk tsk!) will ask what this is and why it's important. Simply put, This game is what started me and my brother upon the road of miniature gaming. Our gateway drug, if you will. Once upon a time, a then small company met with Milton Bradley games (owners of Monopoly and about a billion other boardgames) and created a simple, fast paced RPG-styled board game that utilized simple plastic figures, styled after typical D&D archetypes (Barbarian, Dwarf, Elf, Wizard) that would combat their way through various locals set up by the evil Mentor/GM to save a fledgling Empire from destruction. But this starting company was not TSR (then makers of Dungeons and Dragons). No no! this company was a brilliant company that, having taken advantage of these typical fantasy Archetypes had created their own world and set this game within it. This little company was called Citadel games.

You may recognize that company as GAMES WORKSHOP.

Die Waffenkammer PZ.III Ausf.M mit Shurtzen Review

Unboxing and Review

 So I've read a few reviews of Die Waffenkammer tanks and figured I could use one for my tiny German force. I had figured I'd need to order from them online but lo-and-behold my FLGS actually carries a few of their product! And better yet, they had the tank I was looking for (as, alas, they didn't have the Pz.III or Pz.Iv in amongst their Bolt Action stock). It seems serendipitous so I threw down and picked one up!

Time to get off the beaches

Unboxing

I went down to  check the mail the other day when I had one of those oh-so-lovely Postal Notices awaiting me. After a quick jaunt down to the post office I was given a wonderful package which I sped home to open:

What could it be???!!!

I went Tournamental

Warmachine

The Warmachine tourney I was talking about previously happened last night (I'm writing this on the 17th.... which is a sunday).  The tournament was Steamroller 2013 based (I believe, Aaron, can you answer that one for me?) using the Deathclock system. For those unfamiliar with it, the Deathclock system means each player has 45 minutes total for their game, like a chess match, for a total of 1.5 hours. During the players turn they make their moves under their own timer (counting down from their 45minutes). When they finish their turn, they hit the clock and it switches to their opponents clock. IF you run out of time on your clock, you automatically loose.
Cool system, I like it.
So how did it go?  Short story: I lost.

 Long story: The breakdown

My list as a Recap: 

E-Nemo (+6)

Centurion (9)

Centurion (9)

Storm Guard (6)

Storm Caller Solos x 3 (3 @ 1 each)

The Black 13th (4)

RISE FROM YOUR GRAVE!!

Back in Service

Wow... 2 months (or thereabouts....). Damn.
Time got away from me and, by way of excuses, I've been hella busy. Between my brother wedding, Vacations and travel, physiotherapy, pure laziness and being swamped by projects, I completely lost the will to blog. Hopefully this will be my return.

As the astute amongst you will have noticed I stated I've been quite busy with various projects and once upon a time I vaguely mentioned some upcoming events that I was working up to. Well, those plans have come to fruition and I can now discuss them.

We interrupt your regularily scheduled Program for something less... well.. programmed...

Crowd Control

As you may have noticed, there have been no posts last week nor, do I suspect, through the powers of Clairvoyance, any this week. There is a reason, and it's not just "Derp I done did forgotted!"

My Brother is getting Married this week (on Friday the 13th, because why not?) and all of last week, this week, and probably next week, I have/am/will be dealing with the various pitfalls of helping to coordinate the final bits and bobs of said event that they are having issues with (What do you mean you don't have a DJ yet? It's in 4 DAYS!.... at least you have the cake right? OH GOD...). Additionally, I just started Physio 3+ times a week and it's KICKING MY ASS, leaving me with little energy to do anything throughout the week.
On top of ALL OF THAT, Aarons' got some stuff he's dealing with as well.
Lastly, long lost bretheren, Maqy and Richard, are busy as well (Richard having been recently married himself and organizing to come to a shindig I've organized tonight on my Brothers behalf, and Maqy flying across the pacific ocean from Hong Kong to come to the wedding (only to then uproot afterwords and head to England and then Paris (your life is sooooo tough Den~) makes for one hell of a busy schedule.
Thusly, as you can all appreciate, there's been little time for the ol' blog-o-sphere lately. Hopefully next week or, worst case, the following week, we'll get things back up and running.

Until then,
Torque machines suck, but Electro-machines are lots of fun.
Bean out~

She ain't pretty, but she's mine

Awesome Things

Hulk smash puny prison!

A little while back I showed you all how to make some quick and easy foamcore buildings. Well, with another few hours (8 total, between the first session and second), here is what I have so far.

Note: These pictures were taken in the final turn of a recent Infinity game I played with a friend, Pan-Oceania vs. Ariadna.

Going to the next level…

Ever since the top players in my Tuesday night war machine\hordes group got back from LnL, two things have been going thru my head 1) I really need to go next year and 2) How do I improve my game from a 0-4 to a 2-2…

 

Unboxing the Sherman

Review

my Preciousssssss

 BAM!
Welcome to another unboxing for Warlord Games BOLT-Action products. This time I'm going with the tried and true method of a whole bunch of pictures to show whats up and see how everyone likes it. As always, comments and criticisms in the comments section below, so I can have some idea of how everyone prefers these reviews to be done (video or pictorials).
On to the review!

Quonset Huts Unboxing

Product Review

I'm pretty sure the above video says it all. Great products for a Great price.

Until next time,
When you hear those air-raid sirens sing, You better run!
Bean out.

Family

I recently got in a discussion with some of my friends at my weekly war machine night on the social aspect of our hobby. I’m not talking about the playing of the game but rather the interactions between people. There is the obvious conversation about “that does that?!?” or “how did you do that again”, but there is the other parts such as “how’s life” or “how did your road trip go?” and recently “I’m sorry to hear about your lose”.

The New Contender: Bolt Action

Wargaming

I have found, what I believe, to be the holy-grail of miniature gaming systems. It's simple, fast, and most importantly, FUN to play. It is everything I love about wargaming in a hardbound tome of WWII awesomesauce. This game is the sweet sweet love-child of Warlord games and Osprey publishing, aka the company that employs most of the old crew from GW (Rick Priestly, Alessio Calvatore, Warwick Kinrade, Paul Sawyer, the Perry Twins, and more)  AND the company that has written more reference books for historical wargaming than any 5 others PUT TOGETHER.
Allow me to introduce my new gaming love:

Bolt action.

*Insert God rays*

The system itself is very intuitive and simple, revolving around 5 core mechanics:

1. D6 system 
2. The Order Dice System
3. Veterancy System
4. Pinning 
5. Standard Weapons Array

Unleash the hounds….

Tactica

I was recently at one of my LGS playing war machine/ hordes and I was asked why I was playing there and not at my other league? My answer was simple: I wanted to play against people of my level. My Tuesday night league is very competitive and the majority of the players are REALLY good. I’m not an overly competitive player and I need to get my bearings before I go to the next level.

Some more models

on the workbench

The samurai commission comes to an end:

finally.

Until next time,
DIP DIP DIP
Bean out~

On the Workbench 07/23/13

On the Workbench

Just a quick update today with what I'm working on:

A Cavalier model for use in an AD&D game I've been running.

Until next time,
Bean out~

So What Happened...?

 

Everything was going great with the 90 day challenges. As the title said what the deuce happened?

 

On the Workbench: July 2013

On the Workbench

Here's What ol' Bean is working on right now:

 For the eagle-eyed amongst you, you'll notice I have a few things going at the moment. Another commission and some personal junk.

Society of Accruement

Challenge

Bring me MOAR MODELS!!!

Have you ever looked at your collection and thought "Sweet unholy FUCK I have a lot of stuff"?
It struck me the other day just how much stuff I have, sitting about, not being used any more. Old projects started and forgotten, items I meant to 'come back to'. Finished projects I'm no longer happy with. I have so many old singular painted models that just sit in their cases, un-used, un-loved and un-given-a-shit-about. And it occurs to me, many people probably have this same problem. Models just sitting about collecting dust, basking in their fading glory lights, placidly awaiting their next trip to the table which, in all honestly, will never happen in their current incarnation.
Thusly I have resolved to do something about this.
Each month I plan on going through 1 box/case/pile of old models, select 10 models and either strip and (re)paint them or donate them to someone deserving (most likely my old gaming club/FLGS). I'm doing this in an effort to reduce the vast amount of individual and single miniatures I have floating about between my apartment and my mum's place. As I have sold most of my armies via the Ebays to make some quick cash, I have little in the way of cohesive units any more, and it's too much of a hassle to get rid of individual models that way (usually because the rose-tinted goggles will get in the way of pricing and I'll have an issue parting with them for anything less than a greatly inflated sense of worth and therefor be "that guy" on E-bay... which will ruin my rating).
If done correctly I should be able to cut the chaff of my hoard and bring it down to a nice lean, and more importantly, PAINTED collection.
 Let's see if I can do this.

Until next time,
scrub scrub scrub
Bean out~

Brick by Brick

Tuesday Tutorials

This is How I build things... WITH EYE LASERS!

I was puttering about other day when, with sudden terror, I realized something shocking: Other than my trusty green flocked mat, I have absolutely NO terrain to play wargames on. NONE. Zip. Zero. Ziltch.
My gorge rose into my throat.
My stomach fell out.
I broke into a cold sweat.
I'll even admit... there were tears... teeny tiny bitter tears of a sad sad man.

What caused this sudden realization?
A clutch of my friends were coming out to play said wargames at my apartment THE NEXT DAY.
There was only one answer:
Cancel games night  Oh NAY NAY!
TO THE DIY STORE! (Staples, natch~)

Warning! Warning! Warning! Warning! Warning!

What follows is but one mans ill-conceived and fevered attempts to build a 4'x4' tables worth of terrain in 6 hours! MADNESS WILL ENSUE! (also backpain)

Tripping the Rift(s)

Roleplaying

I've recently had a revelation of sorts in regards to roleplaying games. Many games out there are, simply put, not Newbie friendly. Too many older games are not designed for an easy introduction into it's fat, bloated awesomeness and, due to this, have garnered a rather awful opinion from the hobby player-base. I aim to fix this with a few of my favored RPG systems starting with Numero Uno on the Internet Hate List: Palladium games' Rifts.

This game has been around since August 1990 and has been added to, quarterly, since then. That is 23 years of material NOT including the various other Palladium Games systems THAT ALL TIE INTO THE RIFTS SETTING. After the Bomb, Beyond the Supernatural, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and other Strangeness, Nightbane, Palladium Fantasy, Heroes Unlimited, Dead Reign, Robotech, Chaos Earth, The Mechanoids AND MORE all create the MEGAVERSE, a realm of infinite possiblities.... and infinite BLOAT. This game is FAT as hell. There is over 60 books just for Rifts let alone the other systems and the Rifter Magazine (Palladium Games' quarterly magazine) which all add more material for the players and GM's to use. HOLY HELL that is a lot of material to sift through.

Which is an impossible task for the starting player.

*I have a special relationship with Palladium Games. They were the makers of the first roleplaying game I ever played (Robotech)... back when I was 7. I've been a fan ever since. I also have many varied opinions about the palladium system, some bad, some good, and am always willing to discuss them. Suffice to say I'm a fan, but not a fan-boi and if anyone wants my opinions, please ask... I love a discussion.

Who loves you and who do you love??

Behind the Screen

KILLIAN!!!

I've been thinking about games recently (Duh!) and came up with this interesting little time waster while sitting about wasting time. The idea is a quick to begin, simple to play, roleplaying game to play 'off the cuff' if something happens on a regularly scheduled gaming night (Such as the GM running late, multiple people forgot their characters, etc. etc.). The concept is based (torn savagely/plagiarized/stolen, borrowed heavily) from THE RUNNING MAN, a most excellent and awesome Arnold Swartzeneggar movie from the 80's written by Stephen King(!). The story is as follows (From ImDB): 
 The year is 2017. The world economy has collapsed. The United States has sealed off it's borders and has become a military controlled police state which controls TV, movies, art, books, communication and censorship. In the police state America has become, criminals have a choice. They can serve their sentences in prison or they can take part in "The Running Man" a government owned violent game-show where contestants running for freedom are pursued by "Stalkers" wrestler-like bounty hunters. "The Running Man" is the top rating show on network TV and Damon Killian, the creator and host is the most popular entertainer in the US. But one man has yet to play... Former L.A. police officer Ben Richards, framed for the massacre of innocent people, when disobeyed orders is recaptured, after escaping from prison. Ben is forced to appear on "The Running Man", joined by resistance fighters William Laughlin and Harold Weiss and Amber Mendez, (a network employee who Richards took hostage and she turned Richards into the authorities) are chased by The Stalkers, as they search for the secret base of the resistance, as they bid to broadcast the truth about the government and prove Ben's innocence.

Thaco is Wacko (If you're a teen)

Dungeons with a small order of Dragons

Over the last 3 months I've been playing a large number of RPG's with ye olde gaming group. Dark Ages Vampire, AD&D (2ed), Rifts, Pathfinder, Deathwatch and more... And I 've noticed something... peculiar. Published modules, barring those from an earlier age of D&D (namely AD&D and many OD&D/1st edition), are not roleplay friendly. Don't get me wrong, they are fun (mostly...), but they are NOT built for players who want to decide their fate.
With a few rare exceptions, modules published within the last 15-odd years tend to be closed-ended and written with specific player interactions in mind. The games have a story that the players follow, step-by-step, like an animal following a carrot on a stick.

336 hours in...

It’s week two of my 90 day challenge and I can’t believe of the changes and challenges that have happened in just a 14 day period.  So far I’m really enjoying the majority of them but others not so much. I intend to follow the course and see where this ship leads….

Sedition Wars!!

Unboxing

AWWW YEAH!! HAPPY DANCE.

  Today has been a very good day. Today, the start of my Sedition Wars Kickstarter items arrived (better late than never!). I also had an awesome steak for dinner, but that's beside the point. This has taken a bit to get to me, and I have been waiting with baited breath ever since the kickstarter ended. Alas none of the additions have made their way out yet, so I must make due without all of the awesome extras I paid for (Exo-suit, Carapace Armour Kara, The FIREFLY CREW, Riddick, that dude from Dead space, Ripley & Newt & Vasquez, That chick from Battlestar Galactica, et all~). Thus I shall show you all the magic that is the main boxed set along with a few of the initial shipment extras I recieved and let you all see what an impressive product this is.

 Note: This is going to be a long post.

Droooooool.

AAAAAAnnyways, Join me now as I unbox this awesome new game!

Warning! PICTURE and WORD HEAVY!!

Week one

Week One...

It’s time for my first week with my weekly goals, so how did I do?  For the most part not too badly, minor injuries and a sick girlfriend (the things we do for love) slowed things slightly.  Let’s get down the brass tacks shall we?

Zzap! Zzap!

(re)Lock and (re)Load

 

CYGNAR!

Yep, I've weighed and measured my many options since I moved on from this game, and have decided, once again, to take up the mantle of the bird-men! This time though, I'm going the voltaic way of lightning instead of the muddy entrenched ways of the soldier. Not for me, any more, the way of mud and blood, but the ways of SCIENCE!!! Also I really like yelling out LIGHTNING BOLT! and GOD LAZERS!!  NEEM! NEEEeeeeMMMM!!! while I play the game... but I digress...

Thusly I have decided to saddle up alongside Nemo and his cohorts to bring the lightning (and the rain?). Which brings me to the reasons for this (and the many, many, many, follow-up) articles. I'm going to document my progress and I slowly tippy-toe back into the world of WarmaHordes. But unlike the dozens and hundreds of other "watch me do this thing" blogs out there, I plan on taking my first man-steps with some help from you, the audience.

A New Challenger has entered the Arena!

90-day Challenge

G’day all,

My name is Aaron (but most call me Webbie), and I'm joining the roll of the dice community. I started off in the hobby back in the early 90’s back when a friend and I went to the local game club meeting and I rolled my first dice playing a certain “space corridor” game and I have been hooked ever since.  More than a decade later it’s turned into an addiction, with product still sitting in wrapped boxes and collecting dust.

If I managed to keep your attention thus far then I’ll let you know why I’m writing this article. Recently my gf and I had a conversation about the amount of “stuff” I have sitting in boxes and not being used, she got me thinking about other things. Things like the collections of unopened minis, the hundreds of paints that haven’t been used, the games still in boxes that aren’t being played and so on. This has lead me to come to a realization that I’m hoping being a writer to this awesome little blog might accomplish and settle a point with my better half. So over the next 90 days I’m going to set a goal in three different categories: 

1. painting
2. gaming
3. health.

Resurgence

Looking back

First and foremost. An apology.
For those of you who check in diligently each week, two to three times a week to check for updates: I'm sorry there have been no updates. There are a myriad of reasons why, but, if I'm trying to be professional about all this, none of them really count. Therefor, again, I apologize.

Secondly, I shall impart the reasons for my absence, though they are myriad:
A: Health- I've been sick, which in addition to past injuries (The reason I lived so far from humanity for the past year and a bit), meant I was spending a surprising amount of time in and out of doctors offices and hospitals.
B: I found I was slipping into something I greatly hate: A pedantic complainer about something I love, the hobby, due to the actions of a certain games company. I was embittered by what they had done and that was leaking into how I was writing. Why does that mean? It means I was not writing about the hobby so much and writing around the hobby. Honestly I was pulling a Stelek, which, while I find it's very useful and contributes to the hobby, it's not how I want to contribute to the hobby.
C: A lack of Audience participation- Honestly, This Blog has never had much of a comments section. Every once in a while someone would drop into the comments section to complain about how something I or Richard had typed was wrong, and blah blah BLAH, but, other than the trolls who can't help themselves (sad...sad...sad...) there was never any participation from the greater world despite hitting over 100,000 views.  I crave interaction. That's why I started this blog. Not to add another voice to the internet (there are already far too many), but to add to, and hopefully partake in, the amazing discussion and interactions that the internet has shown me it's capable of. The back and forth, the intelligent conversations about the hobby that one can only find online. By not getting that, I found my interest waning in the blog... And with the incredible surge of NOTHING I received for the contest, That kind of sealed my opinion and disinterest.
D: A general Malaise about the hobby- This was most definitely the most contributing factor to the lack of posts. I was focusing on what pissed me off (Games Workshops continued decent into madness and bullshittery) instead of what made me happy (Everything else!). And this really stemmed from something that, I admit, took my girlfriends opinions to bring to light.

I felt betrayed.

I forgot to forget

Aka: life happened and nothing got done for the blog. This may happen a lot in the next little while. Regular posting to resume eventually.

bean out~

ch-ch-ch-Changes

CONTEST!

Wow. What can I say, As of tomorrow, this blog is one whole year old. I'm actually kind of impressed. I started it as a little side project to see if I could do it and because a large number of people I know asked me to do something like this. Here we are, a year later and I'm still writing (intermittently admittedly, but I am!). In the last year I've learned quit a few things, amongst them how surprisingly difficult it can be to write posts regularly! But I'm still keeping at it.
But seeing as we're a whole year into this project and my life has changed drastically, Two massive changes are in order:

Back once more!

Long time no see

 

And we're back! Took a little longer than I had expected but it is what it is: the results of moving houses (and land mass... from a teeny tiny little island to a significantly larger island... which is still considered part of the mainland?), Painting the new apartment (mostly.. still a few walls to do), getting settled in, eating delicious food (Omg I can get pizza delivery again!!!), and figuring out the area.
I now have access to 2 FLGStores (much better than the none within a 7 hour sojourn)! Technically I have 3 gaming stores within easy access of my new place... Though I wouldn't say GW, as a business, is friendly, though the employees are nice. I may, or may not (I did), have hired 2 of the 4 while I was still a Manager for GW, and of the remaining 2, One is a guy I worked with when he took over on of the stores I managed and is a pretty great dude. In between all of that I still found time to bring the samurai commission I've been working on up to about 80% completion, build, base coat and wash 10 marines for an upcoming army for 40k (The Vorpal Swords! look them up. they are pretty ace) AND throw down with a large pledge in the form of WARZONE!

That's right kiddies, I threw down at 'The Five" level with my bro AND managed to get a few others to throw in for their own as well, so expect a fairly large number of posts to come in June regarding that topic.

Mo0-moo-Mooooving on up!

Interruption of Service

So I'm moving house in less than a week so I'm going to be muay muay busy in the next little while. Alas this leaves me little time to blog. Thusly, I'm putting the Blog on hold for a few weeks while I get everything moved over, moved in and... uh.... moved up? Does that make sense?
Anyways, Off to pack more boxes...

Until I return,
Where did I put the packing tape?
Bean out~

Thwack Thwack Thwack

They've done it AGAIN. GW you magnificent bastards, you give the blogging community nothing but hilarity in your persuit of mutual self destruction. I'm now convinced that there is some kind of suicide pact amongst the upper echelons of GW HQ. Perhaps Kirby and Merrit were all
Kirby - "You know... we've made some money, had some laughs at our clientele's expense... LITERALLY! BAZING! AND driven a beloved company and IP into the ground... What do we do next?"
 Merrit - "I dunno... write a note onto one thousand one hundred pound notes saying :HA HA HA: and Kill ourselves to avoid the pogrom evident on the horizon from our once loyal fans?"
Kirby - "RACE YOU!!! HEEHEEEHEEE!!!"

Oh... what's that? you're not sure what I'm talking about? Observe and be enlightened:

 Read it here

courtesy of HiveStar on the BoLS lounge.

When is a +1 sword not a +1 sword?

Behind the Screen

Strike me down....

First thing's first: Sorry about the missed post on Saturday. I would like to blame it on prepping to move house in just over a weeks time (truth). I'd love to blame it on finally getting my MRI and was in the hospital (didn't happen). But alas it was all down to playing Mass Effect 3 multiplayer with my brother. Ahhhh good times. Damn that Talon Merc is awesome.....

ANYWAYS, Sorry about that. To be fair I wrote a post and forgot to schedule it because I'm a knucklehead. I'd post it in the future but it effectively boiled down to:

ERMAGERD TAU BE COMING! WOOHOO!

and therefor is now out of date so.... <content deleted>.

Once upon a time, I had a small Space-fish-with-hooves army, painted up like the RDF from robotech (because f*** Macross!) that I spent months trying to turn into a pope-bomb melee army for shiggles. Alas it was not viable and I sold it. Mayhaps I'll get a small 500-1000point detachment to use as allies as I'm a sucker for giant robots with giant guns and that Riptide Mech tweeks my brainy meats in  just the rightway. Maybe I'll convinve my buddy who bought the army to let me take pics of it and throw it up on here sometime...

Moving on, The subject of this post is a slightly more personal rant than anything. You see, I've been playing D&D for many ages, in many iterations. I started with AD&D (Black bordered 2nd edition) when I was of the tender age of 12 and have since gone on to play every single version of the game (OD&D, Moldvay's boxed set, AD&D 1st edition, 3.0, 3.5, 4e and have even dipped my toes in D&D Next) so I'd like to think I have some experience with the game.  And included in all of that experience is a few biases that I've developed over time, specifically what edition I like the most (AD&D 2e/Black Border), which one I hate the most (3.5, because I am not a fan of book-keeping and easily abused systems... *cough cough* d20 *cough cough*), and what simple things drive me up the wall. Included amongst the latter-most of those grumps I have is something I find incredibly irksome: The subject of magical items, or rather the mechanics vs. the roleplay aspects.

You see, I firmly believe a magical item is only magical if it has a backstory, something which, for the majority of categories, is covered for every item type barring the two most important: WEAPONS and ARMOUR. 

Kicking that ailing horse...

Rants

I lack a picture of a horse being kicked...

I know I know, I said I wouldn't say anything more in criticism of GW for a while... But after reading this I couldn't help but share it. This comes courtesy of Classic 40,000 (A wonderful blog from a fellow lover of models older than many of you).
Anyways, here we are. Be prepared: It's long and all transcribed [sic] including Ork of Legend's comment..

Here is something from deep in my archives. From what I can see this is not currently posted anywhere else on the internet, so I will post it here to stop it being lost to the community. It is a reply that Jervis Johnson made on a mailing list some time in 1995. He was replying to the accusations that Warhammer 40,000 had been dumbed down in the change from 1st to 2nd edition.

I have left the spelling and grammar alone in the posts and reproduced them unchanged. Note: the second section of Jervis’ post is about using house rules, only the first and third sections are to do with the edition change.

Firstly, here is the original post that prompted Jervis to reply:

------------------------------------------------------------------

 I recently got my hands on (albeit temporarily) on the Rogue Trader and the Compilation 40K first edition books. I was amazed at their quality and level of detail.

 1st ed 40K seemed almost like a role-playing game with scenarios, monsters and rules for creating just about any vehicle in existance. I especially liked the robot and dreadnought creation rules. In addition, the modeling articles were quite excellent, in particular the ones which showed you how to construct vehicles from deodorant cases and ZOIDS toys.

 I am trying to figure out what happened to the 40K game universe since those memorable 1st ed games. If you were to try to bring in a custom vehicle or robot to the table these days most people (with the exception of your established group perhaps) wont play against you since its "unofficial."

 Did the spirit of player innovation die with the second edition? Maybe its just me having to play with "official" rules policemen, but do most people out there play with all the nifty fan-created custom vehicles, characters and races? Or do people read the Dark Library and posts here, say "thats nice!" and then go back to playing the fully "Chapter Approved" 40K game?

 I am just wondering why the designers (AC and JJ if you are out there) made the second edition so much more simplistic than the 1st edition. Why were all the cool rules for monsters and special terrais taken out? What about robots and custom vehicles?

Ed Etkin

------------------------------------------------------------------

 

And here is the (very long) reply that Jervis made:

------------------------------------------------------------------

 The following post is from me (Jervis) only, and therefore, even more so than most of the other things we post, it represents a personal view. It's been put together late at night at home, and so may get a bit incoherent at times, but hopefully the gist of what I'm saying will be clear.

1st & 2nd Edition WH40K

 Recently Ed Etkin commented on some of things he liked about 1st edition Warhammer 40,000 compared to the 'simplified' 2nd edition, especially with regard to 1st edition's greater emphasis on making up your own scenarios, scratch-building models, and a 'darker' tone to the background.

 Although it may surprise some people, we actually agree with almost all of the points Ed made, and in fact had identified the same problems ourselves some time ago. That's why we brought out the Citadel Journal, with its articles on scratch-building models, new scenarios and advanced rules, and also why we tried to use the battle reports in WD to illustrate alternative ways of playing. Now that the Codexs are almost finished we'll soon have time to concentrate on other projects of a similar nature. For example, we're planning to bring out a range of scenario packs in 1997 that will show different ways of playing other than strict 'head-to-head' competition, while the extra 40 pages in the new style WD have been added almost exclusively to allow us to address topics that will appeal to more experienced players, such as different painting techniques, scenarios and so on (oh, and Q&A of course!) Finally there's Necromunda, which we very much see as a Warhammer 40,000 variant that illustrates an alternative way of using the rules and background to create an entirely new game.

 As to the darker and more brooding aspects of the background, suffice to say I've done my best to make sure that Angels of Death lets people know that not all Space Marines are 'white than white goody two-shoes'. As to those players that want to write things like "die! die! die!" on their Space Marines helmets (which in our experience is what people are *really* talking about when they say the 1st edition background was 'darker'), don't despair, because if we get our way a lot of this style of iconography will be included in the Chaos Codex...

House Rules When GW Play

In digest 200 John Phelps raises a number of interesting points about us using house rules, if this is a problem, and more specifically about letting players know about them.

 The first point that I'd make is that it's our job to use house rules - we're rule writers after all and as such we're constantly trying out different ideas and rules. Some of the new rules stick, and when this happens we try to let people know about them, either through WD magazine in battle reports and (now) the Q&A page, or in the Citadel Journal, or (now) on the net. However we don't really want people to see these house rules as being anything other than highly recommended optional rules that should only be used in a game with both players consent. In the past we've been very wary of publishing house rules and even Q&A because we're worried about the confusion that might result, but we're starting to be a bit more free and easy about the whole process. In fact we hope to include a section on the Q&A page called something like "Jerv and Andy's House Rules" where we can deal with stuff like the unmodifiable save ruling we've tried out on the net, starting in WD193.

 Secondly, if you're worried about whether you're playing exactly the same game as us (since we may be using house rules you don't know about), especially in tournament conditions, please don't be! I know I've said it before, but it's difficult to understate the case when I say that what we present is a starting point. As long as you're happy with the version of the game you're playing that's fine by us! The same applies to tournaments, except that here it's up to the tournament organisers to decide if there are going to be any variations to the standard rules. Again, as long as the tournament organiser's happy, well it's the same for all the players taking part, and they don't have to play if they don't want to!

 On the same subject, in digest 204 Pat Marstall made a number of sensible comments in reply to John's original post, especially with regard to the fact that the house rules we use don't in any way invalidate the original rules in the game. In most cases it's pretty much a toss-up as to which version works best anyway, so you should simply go with the version you prefer. The same applies if you prefer the old 1st edition rules (use them, we won't mind), or Warzone for that matter (OK, we'll mind a bit in this case, but Bill King's our mate so we won't get to upset). Of course the the rules gives them a certain gravitas, and especially when playing against new opponents this means that you'll probably have to use a vanilla version of the rules (or a vanilla version with our recommended house rules). But what can we say, other than that life is very rarely perfect!

Simplified for Kiddies

 Finally, I would like to take issue with one thing Pat said, which is roughly that the published rules are deliberately simplified for 12 year olds and that we use complicated house rules because we're 'grown-ups'. Leaving aside the 'classic-car' syndrome of this argument (they don't make 'em like they used to you know!), what people need to understand is that we (the designers) change the rules for ourselves and nobody else (this ain't no democracy ya know!). In fact we're constantly fiddling and tweaking the rules and background in order to try and improve them, the we in question being mainly Rick, Andy C, Alan Merrit, John Blanche, Jez Goodwin and myself. Obviously others contribute to, but generally when stuff gets changed it's our fault!

 So you see, the stuff we publish is quite simply the way _we_ like to do things, it really is. The truth is that we've tended to simplify rules and stuff more with recent editions of our games because, as we get older and wiser, we find that in gaming, as in art, 'less is usually more'. Speaking for myself, as I have matured as a game designer I have come to believe more and more strongly that it is usually what is left out that's important, rather than what is put in - in other words sometimes rules and clever background stuff can simply get in the way of having good game, without adding anything in terms of flavour, tactics or fun!

 Therefore you should look on 1st edition Warhammer 40,000 rulebook as an evolution of the 1st (grey box) & 2nd (red box) edition _Warhammer_ rules. In their turn the 1st edition WH40K rules heavily influenced the way the 3rd edition (orange book) Warhammer Fantasy Battle rulebook was written. By the time we came to do the current editions of both Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 (4th and 2nd editions respectively) we had decided that we'd made the hardback books too wordy and over-complicated, and that we actually far preferred the way things had been done way back with the 1st and 2nd edition Warhammer rules. Therefore what you see now is a return to the way we originally did things, because we liked it better that way, rather than anything especially new.

 But evolution never stops, and now looking back we can see that although we're happy with the current level of complexity in the rules themselves (except that I'd like simplify the vehicle rules!), we miss the stuff in the hardback books talking about things like designing your own scenarios, or making terrain, and that kind of thing. That's why, as noted above, we agree with a lot of Ed's comments on 1st & 2nd edition WH40K.

 Which is where I started, so that's quite enough of my rambling thoughts and comments for the time bein at least. It's going to be interesting to see what you guys make of them. Have fun...

-Jervis

Anyways, It's definitely food for thought and sheds a tiny bit of light about the VAST changes between editions, especially 5th to 6th (despite being short 80% of the people listed by name). Lemme know you're thoughts in the comments (and over at Classic 40,000, He works hard and deserves some more views!).

Until next time,
Punch, kick, it's all in the mind.
Bean out~

And they shall know FEAR

Army Building

Not quite this awesome.. but close.

As many of you know, I (like many) am a big fan of Forge World. I like their rules, I like how "fluffy" their stuff is, I love their models (the gf has expressed some concern...). Alas as we all know Forge Worl just doesn't have the resources to make all of the lovely little models for all of the entires they put in their books. Take, as an example, THE BEST SPACE MARINE IN THE GAME.

Yes I said it. THE BEST.

And who, dare I presume, is the best?

Lias Issodon.

LIAS FUCKING ISSODON.

 I purport that in 6th Edition, this guy is all kinds of amazing. Here's Why:

Kickstarter update: Warzone

Kickstarter

As I've stated before (and as those who follow my blog know from my posts a ways back), I am a HUGE fan of everything Mutant Chronicles. Therefor I let out many little girly screams as the Kickstarter for Warzone took off like a jet plane and blitzed past its initial goals within 5 freaking days. Here we are, not even half way in (39 days let as of me writing this) and they've reached the 60,000 mark, added a load of additional ites, and, as of today, THE GRIZZLY TANK.

Sexy....