Grey Knights Codex

Well...I'll start by saying that I'm highly disappointed that it wasn't Codex: Daemonhunters.  Or, even better, Codex: Inquisition.  I mean, one codex, inducted stormtroopers as troops, with a commander upgrade that would let you take Sisters or Grey Knights as troops.  It could work easily.  But that's not the point here.

Rules-wise, I don't see anything -too- obscene.  There's some scary stuff here, don't get me wrong.  An army of two wound, Feel No Pain terminators?  Yeah, that's intimidating, regardless of the cost.  Marines that teleport across the field of battle?  Definitely fun times.  But nothing truly game-obliterating.

My problem is that it's just so -silly-.  Yes, Jokero have been around forever.  But did we want super-technologically powered monkeys?  That fire las-cannons, plasma cannons, or mulimeltas?  And where do these weapons come from?  Please don't answer that.  Dreadknight?  Something to go toe-to-toe with a greater daemon!  Except that it's obvious that Grey Knights -can- do that with relative ease.  I mean, there's a special character who seems to smack daemon-primarchs down, and toys with the Chaos Gods themselves just because he can.

Don't even get me started on the massacre of the Sisters of Battle.

Hate me if you want.  I make fun of the grimdark, but I like it.  And space-monkeys that chill with guys who kill battle-nuns for no real reason, especially paired with warmachines that look like they came from The Matrix, just don't do it for me.

The Deathwing.

First, I admit I'm not too fond of Dark Angels.  They just don't really do it for me.  Some of their models are cool, but the fluff and dresses...just leave me dry.  But what I've always wanted to field?  A Deathwing army.  Now this may be because I like the idea of 20 guys going against an army and having a chance at winning, or because having a 20 strong army is the only way I'll have a fully painted one.  Either way, the Deathwing is an awesome idea.

Now, however, I have a quandary.  I love the rules for Logan Grimnar, and have no issues with fielding a Wolfwing.  Grey Knights can also run all terminators if they want.  Either way I'd be using a DIY chapter, but these would play very differently. 

I think what I'll do is hack up a list for each one, and then put the models together to do both, sharing the ones I can.  I -think- that would work.

Medieval Faire, FTW!

Yes, yes, we're more all purpose than just a bunch of gamers.  Medieval Faires are another thing we do here at Dice and Dragons, and we do them the only right way!  Kilts, pirates, and Vikings!

This weekend is the Medieval Faire in Norman, OK.  Right near the OU campus.  It's a great deal of fun, with multiple groups doing live combat demonstrations, staged fighting, fencing, jousting, and even showing some top notch hawk training.  I'm fairly sure that the bird was eyeing my fiancée's Chihuahua for lunch.  I don't blame it, I think the dog would be delicious.  But it was amazingly well behaved, despite being barked at by a number of dogs.

Unlike the Faire in Las Vegas, there's actually places that sell combat ready blades, though they are fairly expensive.  Good looking armour is hard to find, but there's lots of places selling cool clothes.

My current outfit is a kilt, Blackwatch tartan, a light green tunic, and my old combat boots from the military.  The only part I don't like is the boots.  Or rather, I like them, but they don't fit with the rest.  Nowhere near period.

I also have a slight issue with my lady's outfit.  Mine is heavy on the green, her's is heavy on the red.  Together, we look like Christmas ornaments.  But I love her.  So it's okay.

What do Orks really need?

I read about what people say about Orks, and I've heard everything from "Orks are fine the way they are," to "We should have a Monstrous Creature!"  Not sure why on that second one.  It does kinda fit with they way they grow, but I really don't see it as a "MUST BE MINE!" sort of thing.

The way I see it, the biggest problem is Flash Gitz.  These are Nobz that like shooting more than close combat.  But regular Nobz are better at close combat than their lesser brethren, the Boyz.  Flash Gitz are no better at shooting than your average Boy.  In fact, despite their increased focus on shooting, it seems their close combat statistics have improved.  Even if it were an upgrade for a few points per model, I could see a BS of 3 going a long way to making the Flash Gitz usable.

Also, my biggest problem as of late has been Land Raider spam.  Most anything else I've been able to find something to counter with relative ease.  But it's hard for us Orks to pop AV 14.  Very hard to reliably pop it.  And I've never been able to pop it at a range.  Up close, the wonderful squad inside gets a nice round of shooting before they assault into the Nobz, Bikerz, what have you.  Not a nice setup.

Oddly, I can see Flash Gitz solving this problem too.  The Blasta upgrade could easily give the unit Melta and Gets Hot!  As it is, I don't bother buying the Blasta upgrade.  Even at BS 2, I think I'd give it a couple moments thought instead of simply passing it by.

Then again, I don't design the game.  So I could be totally off.

Commissar Reginald Lamont

So I did some thinking as to what sort of character I would be in 40K.  Who doesn't, at least once in a while?  So I thought.

Xenos?  Nah...they leave me pretty dry.

Space Marines?  Maybe.  Might do a Space Marine version of myself eventually.

Chaos?  Now -this- is an interesting option, but that's more likely what I'd be in WHFB.

Inquisition?  I could see that.

But no.  I choose Imperial Guard.  Commissar.  So here's his basic information.

Commissar Reginald Lamont

Physical Characteristics-----

Height: 6'4"

Weight: 240 lbs.

Hair: Brown

Eyes: Hazel

Notable Features: Tall, broad shoulders, and well built. He tends to stand head and shoulders above common troopers.

History-----

Homeworld: Reginald Lamont was raised in the Schola Progenium of Orvana Primus after the disappearance of his parents during nearby Imperial Guard actions.

Early Life: Reginald was less than attentive during classes, often failing to turn projects in on time. But he scored high enough on tests to keep his marks acceptable. Considered antisocial, he had a score of fights with other classmates, often due to his odd sense of humor being taken wrongly. It wasn't until beginning training in combat and tactics that the young man began to shine. With an uncanny ability to pick up and quickly learn any weapon, he began to out-pace the rest of his age group. Coupled with a hatred for weakness, in himself as well as others, he was picked out as a candidate for Commissar training.

Current Status: Still young, Commissar Reginald has lost none of his 'antisocial tendencies' since his days in the Schola. But he has learned to control his anger, and rarely makes jokes when not around those he is most comfortable around. He leads from the front, and has proven to inspire Guardsmen to acts of bravery in the face of all manner of horrors. But his success is due to more than just fiery rhetoric and intimidation, having pulled wounded guardsmen from the jaws of death. Very few that he accompanies to battle don't come back, even if they don't return alive.

Against the Tau...

Okay, so...the Tau.  I'll admit that I never liked them.  They're just so...girlish?  I don't know how else to say it.  Run away, shoot, run away, shoot some more.  They just can't stand and fight right and proper.  No glorious charges.  No beating people with giant swords/axes/maces/fists/books/furniture/etc.  Just...not as much fun as armies that can actually fight.

I had a game the other night against a Tau army.  It was supposed to be IG, but my friend ditched out on it and I got a random pick up game.

At the end of the third turn the poor Tau had two Crisis Suits left.  Well, two Crisis Suits and a pair of Shield Drones.  And how many wounded were suffered by the foolish Orks who charged into the guns of the mighty Tau?

I lost a Killa Kan.  And a Deffkopta.  Oh, and a Trukk.  But really, it's a Trukk.  Who doesn't expect that?

Something tells me that either this commander sucked, or the Tau desperately need a new codex.  Or they just need to be phased out to make room for a real army. (Squats, anyone?)

Oh, and I think I lost a handful of regular boyz.

The Rift Sea

In ages long past, even as elves see things, there was but one elven kingdom.  Valesti.  Things were peaceful, even if the politics between noble houses were intricate and occasionally bloody.  This changed when in the dark of night an unknown force robbed the entire House Royal of their lives.  Each noble house claimed to have the right of succession.  House Mystic claimed they alone could find the killers.  House Militant argued for stronger patrols, to keep citizens in line when word spread.  House Justice said that only they could see the balance well enough to lead.  House Verdant had the support of the common elf.  Due to intermarriage between the houses, each even had the blood tie to the royal family.  The daily life in the noble courts became hectic, as new elves would step forward to try to claim the throne.  Through right, or might, almost all methods were seen as acceptable.  The chaos lasted nearly a hundred years, threatening the kingdom before it was over.

In the end, a young sorcerer of House Mystic would step forward.  His powers were advanced for one so young, and his impassioned speeches of unity drew many supporters.  As his political support grew, people would enact his will.  Usually, the plans he laid down were successful.  Valesti was again growing in power, with government directing agriculture, mining, trade, and education.  Before long this young elf, Sinoth Loren, would be made the first Dragon King, carried by popular support of the noble houses.

But the common elf had a different problem.  The actions taken by the nobles were often labor intensive, and the newly crowned King often failed to take into account the failings of those without powers such as his own.  Many of those who failed to meet his demands found themselves arrested or without jobs.  The dissent grew, and with the separation between nobles and commoners, very few of those who could have spoken to the King failed to notice it.  Of the few that did, only the Patriarch of House Verdant, an elderly elf named Paron Vor voiced concern.

When he came to the Senate Court and gave a voice to the distress of the common man, the King waved it off.  "These projects must get done, for the good of the Kingdom.  Put more men to work, or punish those who do not hold their own," was all that was said.  The rift began to open wider between the workers and the nobles, with House Verdant doing all they could to support the workers.  On several occasions, violence threatened to erupt in the streets and bring chaos once more.  It came to a head in the center of the city.  The workers had gathered into a mob, and were facing the ordered ranks of House Militant's elite Castle Guard.  Sinoth came to the front to speak to the mob, but they wouldn't have any more words.  Paron came forth, but only shook his head as if to say 'I told you so.'

The Dragon King raised his staff of office, summoning magics to destroy the Patriarch and the rebels.  But there were spellcasters among the common folk too, for House Verdant had a number of powerful druids in scattered about in the crowd.  Their magic came up to defend their leader, and the forces raged against each other.  The ground cracked and split, the rift that had formed between the common folk and the nobles being echoed by one that split apart the city and the land beyond the walls.  The two sides pressed further and further apart.  Eventually the sea pushed into the gap, forming a new sea between the two halves of what was once a single kingdom.  Elves fled the now ruined city that had once been their capital, and two nations formed.

In the North, Drachne, ruled by the winner of a magical duel who holds the title of Dragon King to this day.

In the South, Sylva, led by a council of 13 druids who hold power by popular elections.

Now, several thousand years later (by the start of the campaign), the two nations have warred and been at peace.  Finding that the latter was better for both of them, several treaties were signed, and political intermarriages have been arranged, furthering the cause of mutual understanding, even if it is something that leaves most elves ill at ease.

The Lich Itch

Okay, so what's the big, bad, undead, spellcasting, imortal (yadayada) bad mammajamma?  The Lich.  An old favorite of mine, the Lich can be hard as all get out to get rid of, especially by newer players who don't understand the way it works.  I've always kept away from using them in my D&D games, for my players usually aren't going to try and find out what they're killing before trying to kill it.  A bit hack and slash, but I like it.

Now there's a Magic card, Phylacetry Lich.  Can't get rid of it until you get rid of its phylacetry.  I like this.  And it's cheeeeeeaaaaap, too.  Only three black mana.  For some reason I can see a very possible first turn going something like this:

Swamp

Lotus Petal (or other 0 cost artifact)

Dark Ritual

Lich.

First turn, and you have a 5/5 on the board.  Drop a Darksteel Forge a few turns later, and now it (and any other Lich you have) are pretty well indestructible.

I don't think I can state this any more obviously.  I love that card.  Now I'm thinking about putting a lich in for the players to fight against.

Destroying a World in Progress

So I decided that I wanted society fractured in the world I'm making.  No kings or emperors.  Or rather, a few, but far away.  The way I see it, the one 'kingdom' left is held together by allied groups of Knights, though the ruler would be a 'grand master' instead of a king.  Merit based instead of hereditary.  But I don't see them as taking center stage for the adventures.

But why would I want to destroy the game world?

Without huge, globe spanning organizations, it'll be easier for the PCs to feel like they make a huge difference.  Those goblins they fight at low levels aren't just easy xp anymore.  They're a legitimate threat to the people in the area.  Also, it gives a rather easy reason as to why there's so much unexplored wilderness relatively close to civilization.  And it gives the PCs a chance to carve out their own kingdom if they want to, without stepping on anybodies toes.  Just take the small city that you've been working out of forever, add a keep and a wall, begin with the running of the kingdom.

In fact, I think the city they'll be doing most of their adventuring in will be upon a site formerly occupied by a kingdom's royalty.  In the center is the castle that's mostly fallen apart, disused and overgrown, probably haunted.  The city radiates around it, using the pre-existing walls of the older city to base their own off of.

New Pathfinder Game

So my group and I are starting a new Pathfinder Campaign.  The world is being made from scratch with a fairly abstract take on it.  The PCs will start in a small-ish city, and depending on which way they go from there, I'll know where to expand.  I know there's two elven kingdoms who are very cold to each other, a feudal empire run by knightly orders, a viking-esque conglomeration of tribes, and halflings from the desert.  Dwarfs are going to be pretty standard dwarf fare, what with the underground and the fortresses and the beer.  I'm thinking some vaguely Asian culture in the mountains, and a Gypsy-like group of outcast humans, elves, halflings, and other assorted oddities wandering around.

The history of the world, I think is going to be less than normal.  I've always enjoyed settings where some event took place, and society suffered a setback from it.  Not a backslide into living in caves, but something that causes the big kingdoms to collapse.  Instead of having huge feudal kingdoms for different groups of humans, most of the campaign is going to take place in and around city-states.  They'll have trade and interlocking alliances of course, but there's not going to be Kings and such to worry about.  The military forces are going to be town guards more worried about their city than others.

Of course, this means that there aren't any huge Orc tribes to invade, but that's because no suitable leader has managed to unite the smaller warring factions.  And bandits don't stray too far away from the cities, so they get caught if they start becoming too big.  Rather simple explanations, I know, but they should work fine for my group.  They aren't the type to question stuff, and usually accept that it's just "the way the world is."  Unless it's really out there.

I also want to downplay organized religion.  Not that there isn't any organized religions, but they're kept on a small scale.  And rather than having a pantheon for each race, I think I'm going to have one group of gods, but each race, and different culture, revere different ones to differing degrees and would know them by different names.  This one small pantheon would be supported by a number of 'local' gods.  Hero-cults, worship of sacred locations, or animal spirits that are powerful enough (and have a portfolio that they can be identified with.)

Obviously this is likely to be a fairly low powered campaign, at least until I get back into the swing of being a DM.  The world creation is feeling familiar already, so I have faith that it's going to be good.

Why I don't play D&D 4e

I liked AD&D.  I found it fun, but restrictive.  Something about what seemed like random class/level restrictions.

When 3rd edition came out, I thought the game was going to be ruined.  It had been simplified to an absurd level.  Only three types of saving throws?!  Insane!  No more THAC0?  How arrogant!  Challenge ratings instead of XP progressions?  No way!

And then I played it.  The game was smoother for us.  It ran better.  I could play a halfling paladin if I wanted to.  Prestige classes were pretty cool, too.  In the end my only problem was the way the game handled making magic items.  When I ran the game, I still used the old method laid out in the Spells and Magic supplement for AD&D.  Get special/unique items for a magic item, the difficulty getting them based on the power of the item.  Not only does it keep the mage from burning experience points, it adds flavor to the items they make.

Now for Fourth Edition, after having made the transition from AD&D to 3.0 and then 3.5, I was curious.  I didn't rant and rave about how the game was going to be ruined.  I had a bit of faith in the people making it.  I'd seen what they did with the game I'd played before and how much I hated them for it, but then I liked the game they put out, so I figured it would happen again.

But when I picked up the Player's Handbook for 4th edition...I wish I never opened it.  We tried playing it for a while, and it just never felt right.  The game felt more like a pen and paper version of a video game than a real tabletop RPG.  Almost all of my customization options were gone, as were some of my prefered characters.  Sure, they had playable dragon-people, but elves could overpower anyone of the same level.

Now, I still have a D&D night, but it really just refers to my 'random game night.'  It's easier to tell people that aren't in the group 'we play D&D' than say "Well, we get together and figure out a game to play from the selection that we each carry.  Sometimes it's Warhammer, other times we throw down on a single session adventure from 3.5, or we just go crazy with Munchkin, Kung Fu, or any number card games."

Yet another defense of Flash Gitz...

Okay, so I admit it.  I love the Flash Gitz.  I know they're overpriced.  I understand that anything they can do, another unit can do better.  At less risk.  At a lower cost.  I'm digging myself into a hole here...

But I still like them.  It's hard for me to not like them.  They're pirates.  And Orks.  I think that's pretty much my point.

I don't think I'd ever take them in something I expect to be a competitive list, but my next modeling project is going to be a group of them.  I intend to take a full group, that's 9 + da Kaptin'.  Put them in a very shooty battlewagon.  Then work out the points for a friendly game.  I figure that with all that, I can afford a couple blocks of boyz.  Probably not much else...

But I bet it'll be lotsa fun!

Magic: Why I Play

Magic was the first 'nerdy' thing I started playing (waaaayyyyy back in the day), so I figured it would be a fitting starting point.  I remember when I first started, my deck would be mono-green with twenty creatures, twenty buffs (enchantments, Giant Growths, etc.), and twenty lands.  And I lost.  And I lost.  And I lost some more.

And I couldn't figure out why I just couldn't win.

Nobody had taught me about the strategy of the game.  All I did was pick up a starter deck and learn the rules.  I didn't understand that I needed to be able to get around defences.  I didn't understand that I needed to ramp up my mana faster.  I didn't understand the meta-game.  I hadn't even heard of that term yet.

I just didn't understand...

But I was enjoying myself all the same!

Now, however, I understand most all of the above.  I may never be a pro-tour player, but I feel fairly confident in my abilities.  I know that the older cards I use give me a slight advantage in play against people who haven't played as long, but I also don't go and buy everything from the new set that just came out.  The game has changed in many ways since I started playing.  Planeswalkers, equipment, colored artifacts...I greeted them all with suspicion when I first saw them.  Now I find some of them almost indispensable.  But none of them really changed the way I play.  What changed the way I play was understanding the basics.

Did I use mana-Elves before?  Nope.  Tranquility style enchantment-B-gone?  Not a chance.  Anything to disrupt my opponents plan?  Nah.

Now?  I have four Dark Rituals in my favorite deck.  Counterspells and Terminates.  Cards to force discards and milling cards as well.  Add in some search like Liliana and Diabolic Rituals, throw in a self-sustaining zombie horde, and mix well.

Though I still have a soft spot for green, I guess I've gone to the darker side of Magic.  It's amazing how much a little bit of the basics change the game.

First Post!

Alrighty then!  Welcome to Don't Deal in Dice with Dragons, your friendly neighborhood all purpose nerdy gaming blog.

While it's true that nerds tend to have nerdy friends, not all of them focus on the same area of 'nerd expertise.'  Some play CCGs, others Wargames, video games, MMOs, read comic books (and can tell you how and why each movie was wrong), and some even play D&D...still.

This blog is a collection of thoughts from a group out here in Oklahoma.  Between us, every group is represented to some extent or another.  Casual Magic players to those that aspire to be Pro Tour, 'Ard Boyz qualifiers to some (okay, one) who swear Flash Gitz are awesome. (Okay, seriously, they're not just Orks.  They're Pirates.  And Orks.  I rest my case.)  Some of us catch every comic book turned movie the day it comes out, others smack them and shout "Read the book!"

There are going to be reviews of video games, regular articles on Magic, various posts detailing a D&D world in midst of creation (and possibly catalouges of the adventures afterwards), and hopefully the painting of many orks and eldar.  Also expect random reviews of books, movies, and painting products.

'till next time.