Plasma Dawn!

Well, despite my expectations in this article that I posted up earlier, it would seem that the whispers of the warp had a certain, almost eerie ring of truth to them.

It has to be said, and indeed, I did say it, that when I heard the rumors that the 6th Edition Starter Box would contain such a high-volume of plasma weapons, I didn't think for a moment that the rumors could be true.

It was just so "Un Games Workshop".

Here they were, proposing to peddle a product to new players that in my opinion had great potential to deter them from wanting to take the hobby any further and, that does little to sell the new rules to those players.

Frankly, I am still left asking myself, what the hell are they thinking!?

The tactical squad of Dark Angels is clearly sporting a Plasma Cannon, and if the write up here is at all accurate, there are at least another two plasma weapons in that squad. That's three opportunities every time that squad fires to blow itself clean appart!

So, "tactical" isn't the word I would use given that plasma weapons only get moderately better stats than bolters and, bolters don't explode. Bolters are also cheaper as a buy in when it comes to reckoning the points cost of your forcelist, so I can see no real reason for including them.. They kinda suck to be honest.

That aside however, I must concede that by and large, the sculpts for the new miniatures look pretty amazing, with a good mix of models in there for you to bring to the table. Certainly far more imaginative than Black Reach. So in that respect, Games Workshop should certainly have no trouble selling this box set to the masses.

It is just a shame that when people actually do get some of the models to the table, that they will find them self-destructing before they've made a dent in the enemy.

This should make demo games in-store interesting to say the least!

Whispers Of The Warp

A leak...

One of the most interesting blips on my scanner of late has to be the supposed leak of the contents of the Warhammer: 40,000, 6th edition starter box here.

Looking over the information though, I strongly suspect that what we have here is either false readings or a hoax... Sadly.

I say sadly only because the line-up looks so interesting. Which is a pretty big give away that this is not what you're going to get!

Games Workshop love to play it safe when it comes to introducing new players to the hobby and, a battlefield full of plasma weapons is anything but. Roll a '1' when firing and there's a good chance that you're going to blow your whole squad to hell. Which is both entertaining and amusing but, really not in the Games Workshop mind set.

Some aspects of the information presented in the post certainly have an aura of truth about them though.

... Or yet another hoax?

The most prevalent rumors about the release from all over the web suggest that the box will be a Dark Angels / Chaos smackdown and, there has indeed been a fair amount of hype surrounding a plastic Chaos Dreadnought that is expected to be included.

The load out also seems reasonable (besides the weaponry in general), with the Dark Angels almost mirroring the marine forces in Black Reach in numbers and composition. Some might say that they're suspiciously similar and, it's these nagging doubts that lead me to believe that what you see here and, what you'll actually get may be two VERY different things.

Why Pay More?

When it comes to building an Ork force for Warhammer: 40,000 cost can quickly become a problem.

Outside of what you can currently pick up inside of a Black Reach starter box set, you are going to need grunts and lots of them. Boyz form the core of most Ork forces and given that a 10 man squad currently sets you back £18 and, you realistically need somewhere between 6 of these before you throw in all the bells and whistles (Nobz, Trukks etc) setting up a warband, even a basic one, can easily set you back hundreds. Ouch!

But what if you could pull off pretty much the same effect for a fraction of the price? Allow me to introduce you to Mantic.

Mantic are not a new name when it comes to miniature gaming in the UK but their Ork range has been a long time coming. It has to be said though, well worth the wait. Whilst the plastic could use a little work the overall product really does give you a lot of bang for your buck, working out at about a pound a model with a couple of vehicles thrown in for free in this box set.

All-in-all you can get 40 Slugga Boyz and 10 Mek Boyz with Kustom Mega-Blastas out of this box (or 50 Slugga Boyz if you prefer) and the trikes included could easily be considered to be Wartrakks, worth £16.50 each with Games Workshops current prices.

So that's £141 from Games Workshop or, £49.99 from Mantic

Now whilst i can never honestly see Games Workshop allowing you to use these models in any of their stores (no surprise really) for your friendly games and local gaming groups there shouldn't really be any problems. The idea of Orks is "Kustomization" after all.

Orks Don't Get to Have Nice Things

After months of ownership last night marked my first game of Warhammer: 40,000 with the Black Reach box set outside of Games Workshop and, boy did they ever make an epic fail in putting together that army list.

The Warband as it Stands

Out of the box the Ork player receives 20 Boyz, 5 Nobz, an Ork Warboss and, 3 Deff Koptas. From the word go this a poor selection for an Ork player with only 500ish points to spend on their force. It is perfectly understandable that Games Workshop would want to throw a wide variety of models into the box to attract new players but this really shouldn't come at the price of playability.

One Simple Tweak

Orks are by nature a 'horde' army and, those Deff Koptas whilst looking cool (and being limited edition) really have no place in such a small warband. In my personal opinion those 135 point would be much better spent on an additional 20 Boyz (coming in at only 130 points).

In gaming terms those 3 dice from the Deff Koptas (admittedly with re-rolls on misses). just became 20 dice. An amazing 60 for the first round of assault if you charge in (with Slugga Boyz)! Easily enough to bring some hurt to even the most hardened marines when you get up close and personal. Which is the point of playing Orks. Hit them hard, hit them fast and, shouting WAGGGGGHH!! a lot.