Please don't throw your dice at my models

[Bugmansfist]

I attended my first WHW tournament in November 18 and as a doubles tournament it was slick and great fun - proper bonding time with the younger and better looking Genestealer with a great balance of focus on the game and down time, in a world that has become too busy in so many ways.

 

I have posted the army lists (BA and Ultra) separately but I thought I'd share my experience, to see if there is a strain running through the gaming community of similar experience. I will not be talking about how people measure their movements, I promise!

 

Firstly, there were five games and each game was essentially a difference experience of Army tactics and personal foibles  (stand fast AdMech).

 

Game 1.  GreenSkinz. Great people. So retro, perhaps too retro.  What is it with treating your Orcs like cutlery? scooping them up and chucking them in boxes as they die. I witnessed a lot of this unLove of orcs models at the weekend.  And these dice - You already have gazillions to roll and I see the fun there but do they need to be so BIG? To be clear my models are not skittles to be bowled over with BIG cubes. And no, there is absolutely no reason to keep an old plastic bag full of more BIG dice on the table just in case - it is not thematic at all, even with the accompanying sheets of well thumbed army lists.

 

However, you were both lovely people and really sporting and if I had to do this all over again, I would - but these dice, they were BIG.

 

Game 2.  Raven Wing and Raven Guard.  We felt like we were fighting for our lives in this one - it was frenetic stuff, right down to the wire and the kind of battle where Legends are born, or would be if anyone survived. As it was their Relic Pred did survive amongst the smouldering remains of everything else and good on you guys for not dragging out your last turn to prevent us an opportunity to do our best against you. We both felt you deserved the win even after we discovered later that Shrike doesn't get 3 wounds per hit, it is D3 wounds. The lesson learnt - It pays to know your enemy, as the enemy sometimes don't know themselves. Nice dice too!

 

Game 3.  Dark Eldar and Necrons.  Another nail biter, well it was until the clock started running down then everything seemed to take so long to make a decision.  There were a lot of accidental kills in this game and it was towards the end of a long day so maybe I just imagined the sense of time slipping away. One thing for sure - another great couple of guys. As we put it at the time - That was a good game with good, relaxed (or very clever) players. Great dice!

 

Game 4. ADMECH.  This one was interesting as we both have dabbled with ADMECH in the past so knew a few things. Of course a few more things have changed, Infantry are a lot better these days. But those Protocols - bread and butter stuff when it comes to activating them and we took a lot of double takes as protocols were decided and implemented immediately and then forgotten about when convenient. It made for feisty gaming and I was left with the feeling we were playing against the guys who if they were cats would keep going back to the saucer expecting milk to be there. Heaven knows what they thought of us.  But all that aside I would love to play them again - just earlier in the day when my, "whatever, dude" protocol was still not activated.  I am now building an Inquisition force just for you next year because the emperor suspects.

 

Game 5. ADMECH and BANGLES.  We needed this final game to be against ADMECH like a church pianist needs haemorrhoids.  But after a few, "to be clear" discussions (cover, LOS and saves mostly) we enjoyed the challenge of playing against never ending CPs and a STORMRAVEN that was kitted out to carry a Primaris Redemptor Dreadnought (PRD) into battle. Yes, I got that the Codex hadn't yet dropped, that the SPACE MARINE CODEX is not relevant to BA and the Index is therefore still valid, but to use the PRD you need the SM CODEX and it is clear in there about what goes in that aircraft as transport. Had they just said that they wanted to fly-in the PRD because it never sees combat otherwise, we would have been like, "do it dude, it's the last game and your models are sooooo pretty (and they were)" but they were a generous pair and told us a thing or two about what we had done wrong all weekend (not using CPs on Sternguard when we should have for example, and playing combat squads wrong at deployment). In the end it was even stevens on the rules  for tools front and again a great pair of players. Proper dice too!

 

So, if you're still reading know this: We had a blast and for me, an old noob, it was worth the effort to get over there. we are never too old to play and when I am next asked why I bother to varnish my plastic crack I will tell them, because Orcs have massive dice and throw with the energy of a laser destroyer on permanent overcharge!

[Xenith]

Glad to see you had fun. What do you mean about the admech protocols? Are there downsides to them that they ignored?

Also, places like chessex only do custom dice in the 16mm. They're huge compared to the 12mm which is standard GW and i prefer, but so pretty.

[Bugmansfist]

It was a great weekend and reached way beyond our expectations in all areas.  The dice thing was just a thing - I am sure they grew bigger each turn, they definitely got closer! And at least they had dots on.

 

Regarding Protocols. It seemed to take an age for players to decide what to put on, 'choices choices' spring to mind but it was daft stuff like:  Protocols come into being the next turn, not the next time the model is used.  And when it is on double fire then there is a cost/compromise such as no movement and that kinda went by the wayside at times.

 

I just lost the will to question the opposition after a while. 

 

I cannot really complain as I can barely remember the basics of the rules book let alone the codex at times, but like the dice - it was a thing.

 

As time goes bye I will capture those things properly and have a list in my back pocket that reminds me to look out for players who tend to do XYZ per army, it will sit alongside the list that reminds me to do ABC.

Edited November 22, 2017 by Bugmansfist

[Blindhamster]

One thing. You absolutely do not need codex space marines to run a PRD

[Aothaine]

Happy to hear you had a good time! Something I could recommend is build a small box out of a really light-weight wood. Make sure the edges are about 3" high and use that to roll dice in and ask other to use it as well to protect your miniatures or asked them to roll away from the miniatures instead of toward them. 

 

Don't be shy to point out that you have spent a good deal of money and time on your miniatures and you would rather not see them beaten up by flying dice. 

 

Dice hitting my miniatures puts me on edge. It is disrespectful to do that to other people's miniatures.

Edited November 22, 2017 by Aothaine

[Bugmansfist]

No you don't need it but that is where the rules for it are found, like the flier.

[Blindhamster]

The rules are found in the set and the points costs for running it as a blood angels unit are in the official pdf. Edited November 22, 2017 by Blindhamster

[Jolemai]

The rules are found in the set and the points costs for running it as a blood angels unit are in the official pdf.

https://www.games-workshop.com/en-GB/Space-Marines-Primaris-Redemptor-Dreadnought

 

Follow the download tab for the PDF.

[Blindhamster]

Sorry, I should have made the effort to link it myself in fairness!

[Bugmansfist]

That makes it perfectly legal then to fly a PRD into battle with a stormraven for now. I know it is pretty much a moot point really and who knows perhaps we will have an adapted stormraven come the drop of codex but these sort of codex circumstances remain a thing to look out for in the future, as far as I am concerned anyway.

 

And for clarity, it made for a good situation or two with the model actually getting in amongst it against my lot, unlike the table behind where they had three of the PRDs just sat at the back looking too proud to walk.

[Quixus]

That makes it perfectly legal then to fly a PRD into battle with a stormraven for now. I know it is pretty much a moot point really and who knows perhaps we will have an adapted stormraven come the drop of codex but these sort of codex circumstances remain a thing to look out for in the future, as far as I am concerned anyway.

 

And for clarity, it made for a good situation or two with the model actually getting in amongst it against my lot, unlike the table behind where they had three of the PRDs just sat at the back looking too proud to walk.

You can do it at the moment, but expect it to change once our codex is released. The SM codex removes the ability to transport Redemptor Dreadnoughts.

[Charlo]

Were the Ork guys very loud... Did they have a Squiggoth....?

 

If so, they're from my local club