The Sons of Gork

For the upcoming Necromunda campaign, I'll run a Goliath gang for the first time. I've always played Orlocks in the past, and I want to try something new.

I'm planning on building it from scratch, using only current plastic kits from GW. The theme will be Ork Kultists. That's right, think Diggas from GorkaMorka, but on steroids.

These guys admire brute strength, and there are few brutes out there that are tougher than Orks, right? So they want to be just like 'em. Steel jaws, huge choppas and noisy shootas. Probably some green facepaint.

To keep with the theme, I'm planning on using no las or melta weapons at all. Only things that go boom and preferably leaves a big mess.

So, without further ado, let me introduce the Gang Leader and Heavies 1 and 2 of the Sons of Gork:

Gang Leader
Bolt Pistol, Chainsword & Frag Grenades









Heavy 1
Flamer & Autogun









Heavy 2
Boltgun









There you have them, the first three members of the gang.

See ya!

/S

Necromunda: Plastic Gangs

I can't believe it's over a year since I posted on the Other Talon! Shame on me!

Anyway, I'm going to see if I can use my necromantic powers to bring this blog back to life again, beginning with a post on plastic gangs for Necromunda.

A couple of days ago, me and a friend started talking about Necromunda, and I'm now trying to talk him into game mastering a campaign. I got to thinking about what gangs to use, and what miniatures to use. I don't want to use the original minis, firstly because I don't want to have to special order them, and secondly because they are generally not very flexible, being 100% metal.

With all the plastic kits available, there must be hundreds of ways to build a cool looking gang, so I started brainstorming and came up with a bunch of ideas. Since I know I won't be able to use them all myself, I thought I'd share them here. I hope someone finds them inspiring and if you use one of them, please remember to post some pictures!!!

Ork Kultists
House: Goliath, maybe Cawdor?
Theme: Humans wishing they were as hard as the Orks. Chunky ork weapons, iron gobs, glyphs, green facepaint.
Components: Mainly Catachan and Chaos Marauders, with a liberal dose of Orc / Ork bits. Maybe even use ork heads for some gangers, to represent crude cosmetic surgery to make them look like orks.
Painting: I would base the colour scheme on an Ork klan. Did I mention the green facepaint?

Khorne Cultists
House: Goliath
Theme: Blood cult. Led by a crazed berzerker. Lots of chaos stars, Khorne symbols, axes. Not a lot of shooty weapons.
Components: Mainly Catachan and Chaos Marauder bits, with extra of whatever fits the them.
Painting: Gore. Lots and lots of gore.

Space Marine Wannabes
House: Van Saar? Goliath?
Theme: A gang of people who wish they were mighty Space Marines. They've made their own armour of cardboard and plastic junk, and converted their equipment to look like Space Marine stuff. That bolter is actually a lasgun, etc.
Components: Space Marine bits for gangers. Scout bits for juves.
Painting & Modelling: The gang colours would obviously be based on a Space Marine Chapter. The armour would have lots and lots of cuts, holes and dents, to represent the fact that it's not actual armour at all.

That's it for this time. I've got lots of other ideas, but I'll save them for another day, so I have an incentive to come back and post again. I don't want it to be another year until the next post....

/S

Assembling the new Tyranid Trygon

Just the other day, our Tyranid prereleases arrived at the shop. No, sorry, no Codex.... But two of the new plastic boxed sets: the Trygon and the Ravener Brood!



The Trygon is a really nice plastic kit, and putting it together is fairly straight forward. I found the hardest bit was actually the talons, as they tended to get in each other's way.

The torso:


Most of the tail:


The finished tail:


Notice the peg on top of the hip joint. I wanted to be able to show off the model in the store cabinet before it was painted, so I made that peg out of a couple of pieces of sprue, to hold the torso in place without glue.


Finished model:


Size comparison: (It's pretty big!)


Be careful when assembling this model, as it's covered in spiky bits! And in case 17,000 spikes is not enough for you, an extra 23,000 spikes are included on the sprue! (Actual numbers may differ...but still, loads of spikes...) These are all the extra bits I didn't need for this basic Trygon.

In short, this kit is an awesome addition to the Tyranid range!
Hopefully, I'll be back soon with some more pics of the Raveners. Until then, here's a 360 view of the Trygon. Bye, bye!
(And if you want to see some more, and bigger, pictures, please feel free to visit my photobucket: Photobucket.com - AngelsTalon)

Space Hulk 3rd Edition

Yesterday, I opened the new Space Hulk box and I almost jizzed in my pants! I've seen lots of pictures of the contents, but none do it proper justice. If you're one of those people who've been whining about the price tag, I'm gonna come to your house and give you a slap across the face and a kick in the ass! This game is so worth every penny! Games Workshop could easily have charged more and it would still be worth it.

The Board Sections and other Cardboard Components
The cardboard components are the best I've ever seen, and felt! Everything about the game is oozing quality. Games Workshop may be a$$es sometimes (and I'm a retailer, so I know!) but they generally make awesome products, and for this they've pulled out all the stops. All the board sections and counters and stuff easily came out of their frames without any tearing. Time will tell, but I don't expect much wear and tear if the stuff is handled with care. The board sections connect nicely, without much effort. The Mission Status Display is a great addition!

The Miniatures
The miniatures are some of the best GW have ever done. Period. Ok, so I'm not overly positive about every single Genestealer, but the Space Marine Terminators are better than anything I've seen in plastic previously. It's basically a box of 12 special characters. They are all individual and shock full of details.

The Books
Nothing much to say here. The books look great, with full color photos. Almost all artwork is b/w, but all the examples and maps are color. I can't really comment on typos, as I haven't read everything yet, but I haven't found any so far, at least.

The Rules
Now here is where it gets really interesting for those of us that have played this fantastic game before. All the above is awesome, but it's just aesthetics, after all. If the rules suck, the game sucks, no matter how good it looks.

As I'm sure most of you know already, the rules in this edition are heavily based on the 1st Edition rules. There are actually a whole heap of changes, though. Most of them are small, but changes the game dynamics a lot. Basically, small changes but sometimes with large consequences. I'll list some of them below. I won't say all, because I'm bound to miss some, but I'll try to cover most of them. If you're not familiar with the 1st Ed. rules, this information may be completely worthless to you, but if you are, I hope you'll find it interesting.

• The Timer
  A sand timer is included in the box. I must confess, I haven't timed it, but it should be three minutes. The marine player always have this time. You don't loose any time when loosing Sergeants. But...


• Command Points
  When you draw Command Points, as long as you have at least one Sergeant on the board, you may throw your CP counter back in the bowl and try again.


• Genestealers Turn 90° for Free
  Genestealers still get to turn 90° for free, but only before or after a move action. Not a huge difference (although I can think of at least one situation where it makes all the difference), but makes a big difference in wording, so the 3rd Ed. rules feels shorter and clearer.


• Line of Sight
  Here are a couple of changes with huge consequences! The LOS and Fire Arc are now one and the same, and it's tighter than before. The LOS is now the same as the Fire Arc in 1st Ed. i.e. no LOS to the sides, only forwards in an expanding wedge. You can now only see the side walls of a room if you're stood in the doorway of the room. If you stand one or more squares back in the corridor, you only see a straight line through the room.


• Sustained Fire
  Sustained fire now only goes down to 5+, except for the Assault Cannon, that goes down to 4+, starting at 5+. But...


• Overwatch
  You now get the sustained fire bonus while in overwatch!


• Clearing Jams
  You now stay on overwatch if you use a CP to clear a jammed storm bolter in the Genestealer's action phase! In addition to this, if there is a Jammed counter on the board at the end of a turn, it is removed, so there is no need to begin your next action phase with spending an AP to clear the jam.


• Guard
  Basically, a sort of overwatch for close combat. When on guard, a marine gets to re-roll one dice after he have seen the Genestealer's dice.


• Involuntary Blip Conversion
  The marine player now places the models, and the 'stealer player chooses facing.


• The Heavy Flamer
  No more self detonating the heavy flamer...


• The Assault Cannon
  No more full auto... :( It can still malfunction and blow up, killing everything on the same board section on 4+, if you roll a triple, but only after it has been reloaded. The first 10 shots are safe.


• Storm Shield
  Now makes your opponent roll one less dice.


• Lightning Claws
  2d6 + 1


• Force Axe
  Psi points may now be used to boost a dice roll after the dice have been rolled and re-rolled.


• Librarian Psychic Powers
  The Librarian has three psychic powers. One restores CP's. One blocks a square within range 12. One kills 'stealers and blips.


• The Broodlord
  Danger! Avoid at all costs! Requires TWO hits to kill. Not one after the other, no, no... Two together. That means it's immune to flamer hits. Also deadly in close combat. Adds its highest and lowest dice together. I.e. a roll of 5,3,2 gives it 7!


• Ladders
  Simplified to the extreme. Ladder squares are considered to be adjacent. That's it. Stand on one and you can see, shoot and fight a model that is on the other. You can climb up and down, and may loose your footing and fall, killing any model standing below. Nothing else happens.

I'm sure I've missed some changes and additions, but it's now 2:30 in the morning and time for bed! :)

I've only played a couple of games with the new rules at the time of writing this, but so far I think I can live with the changes. If I decide I don't like the new rules, I'll just use the old rules.

On the whole, I love the new edition. I've not been this excited about a game since I bought the original at auction several years ago. I'd recommend it to anyone!

Hope you enjoyed reading this. I love comments, so please tell me what you think. Did I forget something important? Am I wrong about something? What do you think of the new edition?

Now, then... Time for bed...

See ya later!

/Stitch

White Dwarf #349 (UK)

The January 2009 issue of White Dwarf (UK) arrived at the shop today. Release date is December 26.



It's full of Orky 40k goodness! There's also a couple of pictures of the new Imperial Super-heavy, the Shadowsword, coming early next year! It'll be all plastic, with all the bits needed to build one of SIX different variants! (Even Vulcan Mega Bolters are included!)

Right, what about those Orks, eh? Well, this issue has tons of Ork fluff and pictures of the new plastic sets and metal characters. There's a feature on the fantastic new Battlewagon kit, with all the bits laid out for you to scrutinize. There's some info on the different Clans. Probably nothing new, but good stuff nontheless, with some great photos. Speaking of great photos, there are five pages of inspiring Orky vehicle conversions. Great stuff!

There's also a HUGE battle report, and I do mean HUUUGE! Four battles, all with Orks in 'em! In the first battle, the Orks face my favourite army, the Dark Angels. Their next opponent is Imperial Guard, followed by a cool looking Howling Griffons Space Marine army. The last battle is against a combined force of Blood Angels and Ultramarines Space Marines, with three Land Raiders, three Whirlwinds, and four Vindicators! It's also got an absolutely MASSIVE Ork Kannon, called Da Krater Maker, one of the coolest looking scratch-builds I've ever seen!

For Warhammer, there's a new part of the War in the North Campaign.

For The Lord of the Rings, there's Tactica: Sons of Gondor, and a preview look at War of the Ring. WotR will be a sort of Apocalypse for LotR.

Haven't had time to read it all yet, but #349 looks like a great issue. Check it out!

I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! See you in 2009!

/Stitch

Realm of Battle - The new Citadel Gameboard

Just the other day, our prerelease copy of the new gameboard from Games Workshop arrived at the store. Just looking at the price tag it may seem expensive, but the massive carrying bag is packed full of plastic awesomeness!



Opening the bag, you can see that there is not a wasted inch. Those six modular segments are indeed 2' x 2'.



There is a pouch on the inside of the lid, to store the clips that hold the segments together. Nice touch!



Some of the segments are covered in clear plastic. Of course you get the standard "This bag is not a toy"-sticker. Those always crack me up. It's both sad and hilarious, at the same time, that some people have to be told this...



Here, you can clearly see the lattice that cover the underside of every segment. It makes the whole thing incredibly stable. Good thing, indeed! I've got experience of other ready made plastic gameboards, and they are all wobbly because they are completely hollow. I know a lot of people fill these with expanding foam, to make them rigid. That won't be necessary with this board, though!



Here's the sprue with the clips you use to hold the segments together. You get 32 clips, a lot more than you actually need for the whole table, so you can afford to break or loose a few. Very good!



Here's a close-up of a clip holding two segments together. Putting them in place is very easy, and they work very well.



All in all, in my opinion this product is worth every penny! I'm well impressed with it, and I'm really looking forward to getting ours painted and flocked, and playing some games on it.

More pictures are available at Games Workshop's website.

Please let me know what you think of this article by leaving a comment, or you can email me at stitch [at] roll2dice [dot] com.

Also, if you're at all interested in Dark Angels Space Marines, please visit The Angel's Talon, my other blog.

Welcome to the Other Talon!

This blog, The Other Talon, is the sister site of my main blog, The Angel's Talon.

The scope of The Other Talon is the entire Warhammer 40,000 universe. Content will be added here whenever I create some that is not related to Dark Angels Space Marines. For instance, I have some ideas for articles about other Space Marine Chapters, Genestealer Cults and Space Hulk, to name but a few.

While the goal with the Angel's Talon is to publish at least a small update every month, the update frequency of the Other Talon will basically be "whenever I feel like it".

Right now, you can check out some pictures of the new Citadel Gameboard!

Please remember to check out The Angel's Talon as well!