Another Thought on the Malantai Debate

One of the hottest debates right now in the 40k online community is whether or not the Doom of Malantai's aura effect affects units inside transports. I'm on the side that it doesn't, and I don't really want to get in on the debate but a thought occurred to me that I have not seen elsewhere, and figured I should point it out.

One point of contention for the whole debate is that there are no rules for if a unit in a transport has to take a morale check. What I'd like to bring up, and this is a case of neglectful rules writing on GW's part, is that the 40k rules allow models inside an AV to take casualties.

If your group uses the Buildings rules towards the end of the rulebook (they're not optional, your group should be using them) you'll know that flame template weapons can affect the guys inside. Yet there are absolutely no rules for what happens if they take enough casualties to take a morale check. This is a big problem in Planetstrike.

My gaming group simply assumes units inside a building are Fearless to avoid this problem. We usually have two to three buildings per game, so this situation has come up plenty of times before.

As for the DooM himself, I don't think he can affect units in transports. However, this does go to show that there are certain effects that can harm a unit inside, lending some credence to that argument.

Tervigon Build Complete

3/4 of a tube of Green Stuff later, it is finished! I am certainly no Green stuff pro and it shows. That said, I still think I did okay for my first real green stuff project (the Master of the Ravenwing had some green stuff robes but that was hardly anything).






The termagants on the base are magnetic. They serve as wound counters. I am planning on having all my nids have magnetic wound counters on their bases. I have found that I have trouble keeping track of the many wounds, especially in multi-wound units.

I have begun painting it now. I wanted to turn it in for BOLS's contest, but my carnifex shipped a week later than it was supposed to so I couldn't finish on time.

Let's Talk Boardgames: Dominion: Intrigue

Enough colons in the title? Last edition of this feature talked about Dominion, so this time we'll discuss its stand-alone expansion, Dominion: Intrigue.



The basic gameplay remains the same for Intrigue, so if you missed it, check out my first review. Assuming you've read that, let's proceed with the expansion.

The cards are all fully compatible. You can mix and match the sets as you please. I have yet to try mixing the two sets, but should you get tired of either one mixing them up would bring new life to the game as it opens up new combos.

Where Intrigue stands better than its predecessor is in the interactivity. As I mentioned before, the biggest problem with the first game is that most games end up running down the same route, and it ends when someone purchases the last province card. In Intrigue, I haven't had that happen yet. Mostly, we run out of other cards first because the strategies are so radically different.

In addition, the cards are much more interactive. This helps more than anything in getting non-gamers to play and enjoy the game. Some of the attack cards are downright nasty, and provide that "screw you" factor that some people enjoy. Since none of the attacks are targeted, you can still screw over your friends without anyone feeling picked on. While many hardcore fans saw this as a drawback, I see it as an advantage. This forces you to change your game and adopt new strategies instead of the same old boring Province decks.

One other area that stands out is the dual-purpose cards. In standard Dominion, money and other cards do nothing for you at the end of the game, while during the game your hand can become clogged with victory cards which do nothing until the end of the game. In Intrigue, several cards have uses beyond victory. For example, one card is both and action and victory card. Another is money and victory. Yet others enhance the value of other victory cards. These cards vary the strategy as they can be more valuable than the Province (though the Province is still worth the most victory points).

This is a stand-alone expansion, unlike Sesaside and the upcoming Alchemy, so you can start with this set. I would recommend doing so, as I have had much more fun with this version than the first, and that's saying something. It is easy to learn (I taught my 9-year-old nephew) but difficult to master. No two play-throughs will be the same as there's the same wide selection of cards as in the first game.

Next time I write this, I'll be looking at some other favorite games of mine. Stay tuned!

Image taken from www.amazon.com

Axe Cop

If you'll forgive me for a non-40k post, I'd like to recommend you to read Axe Cop. This hilarious comic is written by a 5 year old and illustrated by his 29 year old brother. It reminds me of the stories I wrote when I was that age. It has a child's innocence, and the grown-up drawings add a layer of awesome that's hard to describe. Seriously, check it out.

The website frequently goes down because the makers didn't realize how popular it was going to be. If it is down when you go, you can see the first 6 episodes here.

Master of the Ravenwing Landspeeder Complete

Here he is! I entered him in the Golden Bolters competition. I don't expect to win but I think I really pushed myself on this one, so I'm a winner no matter what :)







I figured this is a rarely seen model, doing a Google Image search for it yields very few results. I made it out of many bits, but especially the Ravenwing upgrade sprue. The Landspeeder kit itself is somewhat of a pain as certain parts don't want to align properly. Now that I look at it, I think I should have weathered the bumper area.

Building a Tervigon: Sketchbook Edition

My Tervigon is nearing completion, and here's the sketches I worked with. I wanted this one to look like the one in the book. My next one will be a radical departure. Anyway, having a rough sketch to work with is helpful. I didn't copy it exactly, some details turned out to look fine on paper, but not work out at all in green stuff. I should have the guy completed by Monday, then hopefully painted up by Friday.

Why Are There No Shooty Characters?

I suppose I had better rephrase this. Why are there hardly any shooty characters? I was pondering this as I thought about the state of my Eldar. 13 years ago, I saw a picture of Maugan Ra in a GW catalog and knew from that moment I would play Eldar. While in his current incarnation he can put out more shots than almost any other model, it's still not a lot of shots. Furthermore, he can't pick out single models, like Telion (one of the few shooty characters).

Image copyright Games Workshop

Most characters are fit for close combat. What's more heroic, a character who sits back and shoots or one who boldly charges the enemy? Also, close combat has the advantage of being able to attack during both yours and the enemy's turn. Shooting is only done on your turn. Maugan Ra shooting (provided you rolled perfectly) could potentially kill 5 models in one game turn, while in one game turn of close combat he could potentially kill 8, 9 if you charged. Plus if he broke the unit he could potentially wipe them out entirely.

In order to make a proper shooty character they need to be able to do one of two things: either be able to ignore cover and armor saves and remove whichever casualties you want with reliable wounding rolls, or put out an insane amount of shots. The Vindicare Assassin can pick his target, but he's still rolling on a 4+ to wound.

Now that I look at the new codices and the coolness of the characters, it makes the Phoenix Lords look even more underwhelming. I'd like there to be characters who are just as deadly in the shooting phase as others are in the close combat phase. Let's hope that when the Eldar are redone, the Phoenix Lords, especially the shooty ones get their proper due.

What do you guys think?