It tastes just like I dreamt it would.

Hello out there in internet land. Not that I think that we really have any dedicated readers who tune in with any sense of regularity, but incase I am wrong I thought it'd be nice to let you all know what we here at JaR have been doing while we neglect this blog.

Frank and I got engaged, that's all you get on that one. Norm moved. That's also all you get on that one. I'm in school full time going crazy.

The news? Why did we stop writing? Because we all basically stopped playing 40k. Things happened, people stopped having fun, more important and time consuming things came along. However, the lack of 40k does not mean we've stopped gaming.

The new game of choice? Heroclix. Honestly I'm surprised that Frank hasn't been raving about it, he has been writing for shortbox podcast instead if you want a dose of Frank that you've haven't read already. I'm not going to make empty promises and say that we will be writing more often because I know that my life is lacking in the free time department. Maybe Frank will post some pictures of the heroclix customs he has been making, maybe even some of his clix teams choices.

After the new year it is possible that we'll be making a journey to visit Norm in his new habitat which may mean a grudge match is on the horizon. Stay tuned... but not too tuned.

Sisters in 6th Edition: Part 1

Well hello again JaRalloes and JaRettes it's time to mount up in our rhinos and explore the changes to the rules in 6th edition and how they affect Sisters of Battle. This is going to be an in-depth look at the changes to the 40k rules, that help or hinder our little sisters.

This first post will focus on things that apply to more than just 1 aspect of the SoBs army and can either be helpful or an interference.

General:

Power Axes: One of the issues before was sisters inability to get powerfists with their troops superiors...

...or really any superiors at all. 

It was a problem, since once charged sisters are stuck there with their good leadership and good armor saves not getting to shoot and eventually losing. You really are just hoping to break at the right time to allow a quick regroup and a good round of shooting whomever you were fighting. 

Now you can pay 10 points for what is essentially a powerfist for sisters with a power axe. 5 strength isn't 6 strength, but it's AP 2, and it's going to do some damage if you're getting charged...which is likely considering how fast everyone seems to be in this edition. And you might get lucky and make a good round of attacks and saves and win a round of combat.

Regrouping: Wow! People who aren't Space Mareens aren't babies anymore? Sweet! And everyone can rally at down to 25% and can do it at any distance to the enemy? And they can shoot? Wooooow! This really makes SoBs auto-rally ability and high leadership much better for them. Still losing combat and getting caught because of Initiative 3 is going to explode you but you at least have a quick solution to any kind of running sisters unit.

Wall of Death: Overwatch in general is great for sisters, more shooting for sisters is never a bad thing and flamers have always been pleantiful and cheap. Now sisters have got an even better reason to take flamers. d3 autohits is the only reliable way to hit someone with overwatch. And overwatch itself is a valuable asset, if not a bit unreliable. I've played about 10 games of 6th and only seen snap fire take away 2 charges. Both were against my squads with flamers and my opponent was charging into difficult terrain. Combi-Flamers might even be a good buy now, yeah they're 10 pts, but saving them for a good wall of death, or a really opportune 3 flamer attack is pretty useful. My new sisters superiors are getting Power Axes and Combi-Flamers, it's 20 points but if you put her in the right place you're probably going to get a shot off once a game (all you need) it's even more usefull to SoB squads that are going to be getting out of rhinos close to the enemy.

Rhinos: Whoooo boy. This isn't as good a buy anymore....you can't stop and assault out, you can only go up to 6 and shoot out the hatch and hull points make them vulnerable to fussilades of fire. But, for sisters the rhino is still a formidable thing to sit in. It can go up to 18" in one turn, and it's not going to matter to regular sisters that you can't assault. 

Oh! and now they're cheaper since you're not going to need Extra Armor anymore, just the basic box with sisters inside pointed twords the bad guys, nothing fancy.

Immolators: Before immolators were suicidal tanks that had suicidal squads of sisters with special weapons...This hasn't changed, the Immolators and Dominions lust for selfdestruction hasn't changed. However scouting still works the same and getting a melta laiden pile of stuff right into the opponents grille on turn one is pretty good still. And it seems like the new chart and damage table basically give your 3 melta shots (2 regular and 1 combi) a very good chance of putting down a vehicle in one volley. Penning a tank 3 times will usually destroy it, and each penetrating damage result is a 50% chance to put down the enemy tank in one-shot. However this tank is still 80+ points and has just as much chance to get glanced to death as a rhino.

Exploding Vehicles: Oh my god. This sucks. If there's one thing thats never been very forgiving for sisters is being inside a speeding  bomb. 

And now it's even worse!

The only result on the vehicle damage table that destroys a tank causes an explosion. It's 'just as likely' to destroy a tank as it was in 6th 1/6, but with AP1 2/6 and AP2 it's 3/6. But that's always an explosion.

That's really going to hurt your toughness 3 girls when they're ride blows up more often than not. This is a problem that also extends to destroying tanks...

What's the thing you're most likely to blow up a tank with in sisters? 

If you said melta guns... 

With premeasuring it's probably in your best interest (if possible) to position your girls at a safe distance before demolishing your targets.

Rapid Fire: Is better now that you can move and shoot up to 24" but most of your sisters aren't going to be far from their targets, and if they are they're usually not moving much. But any buff to Rapid Fire is good for SoBs.

Going to Ground: Oh my! This is a good one. You can only snap fire when you go to ground, which isnt' good...

..but you can still overwatch, and you can still fight normally in combat. So it might be in sisters best interest sometimes to hit the dirt to get a 3+ cover save (in ruins) if you're going to take some heavy fire before an assault. Especially if that assault's going to last a few rounds. It makes sisters in ruins with an objective quite hardballz, just hope they don't get sabatoged objectives lol.

FUCKING ALLIES: OMFG! OAFUHGA! Yes! Hi-Fives all around! 

Sisters are only BFFS with Guard...

...but do you need anymore than that? Guard have a lot of things Sisters really really need, like Long Range Anti-Tank Firepower, Flyers, Reserves Gimmicks, Big Hands to open Mayonaise Jars, and of course AV 14. They want to help you. 

Next time we'll be looking at individual units and perhaps even some army lists.

This weekend is our LGS's first official 6th edition Tournament I'll be taking...

...Kroot Mercs!* 

Wait! NO! 

Sisters, and guard as allies!

*If this army list was still legal I'd still be playing it :D

And So We Wait...

Well my 6th Edition Rulebook will be here tomorrow and I played in my last games of 5th edition 40k ever again and now what do I do?
I've had the last 5 days to go BAT!@#!@# INSANE!

Eat flag heathens! 

I want so badly to play 40k, but I can't because 6th is going to be out and I'm so done with 5th right now. (I have been painting sisters like a mad-man, I've almost painted 22 now! :D)
And I'm terribly impatient, I can already see tomorrow being very very long.
But In the meantime to stave off my own insanity I will regale you with my LAST GAMES OF 5TH EDITION!
Well first of all let me tell you I played Sisters, for the first time in a long time. 
I put them down and felt confident in them, like they weren't going to crash and burn in the second turn. 
For the tournament the special rules were that Forgeworld kits were legal in your list, but no structure points or buildings or flyers.
Since I was playing Sisters I forwent taking the Repressor...and that's all they have so no Forgeworld for me.
The lists were capped at 2500 pts so I took:




Celestine:115pts
Jacob: 90pts


Battle Conclave:  150pts
6 DCA, 3 Cruez


Fast Attack
Dominons: 6 Doms, Superior w/Combi-Melta, 2 Melters, Simulacrum. 132pts
 Immolator: Multi-Melta, Ex Armor, Search Light  81pts
Dominons: 6 Doms, Superior w/Combi-Melta, 2 Melters, Simulacrum. 132pts
 Immolator: Multi-Melta, Ex Armor, Search Light  81pts


Seraphim: 10 Sarahs, Melta Pistols  185pts
Troops:


Sisters of Battle: 10 Sisters, x2 Flamer. 135pts
 Rhino: hunterkiller 45pts
Sisters of Battle: 10 Sisters, x2 Flamer. 135pts
 Rhino: hunterkiller 45pts
Sisters of Battle: 10 Sisters, x2 Meltaguns.145pts
 Rhino: hunterkiller 45pts
Sisters of Battle: 10 Sisters, x2 Meltaguns.145pts
 Rhino: hunterkiller 45pts
Sisters of Battle: 10 Sisters, x1 HeavyBolter.130pts
 Rhino: hunterkiller 45pts
Sisters of Battle: 10 Sisters, x1 HeavyBolter.130pts
 Rhino: hunterkiller 45pts


Heavy Support:
Retributors: 10 Rets, 4 Heavy Bolters, Simulacrum 140pts
 Rhino: Hunterkiller 45pts


Exorcist: 145pts
  Hunterkiller
Exorcist: 145pts
  Hunterkiller


2509pts.


I figured I'd be able launch off all those Hunter Killer Missiles for some kind of devastating alpha-strike. Honestly I never had good opportunities to fire them, since I could only move 6" and shoot them I fired off a few but a lot of my other tanks got pulped too quickly to get their rockets off, but It was the last 5th tourney so I wasn't too keen on "giving a shit."


The first scenario was random night fight each turn on a roll of 5+.
I played against a formidable Grey Knights list including 3 dredds a bunch of Razorspammers and a Grandmaster in a Purifier Squad.
I killed 5 Interceptors...
 THE WHOLE GAME.
 Because I had to fight in night fighting every turn while my opponent did not. So it was obviously one of the silliest games I've played. But I couldn't do much with no shooting.


My 2nd game was against one of the newer players at the store he took Guard with a handful of Chimeroes and a few Leman Rusties and a DEVUL DAWG and a Manticore. The mission was standard NOVA setup but with the central objective was worth 4 objectives. 
I stole the initiatives and started to round the giant Skyshield Landing Pad in the center of the board, every turn blasting or stunning a few enemy vehicles each turn. My deathcult and Jacob held back until my opponent broke for the center objective, then the deathcult made short work of that stormtrooper squad. I won the game 4 Objectives to 2 and 2 -2 on secondary table quarters.
The final game was a "Just Kill Each Other Scenario" primary objective was KP secondary was VP.
 I set up my girls in a standard wide field 2-3-19 formation*. The Opponent's army was...silly.
 No offense but he was another beginner who hadn't had many games not against his close friends so his list was: 
1 Captain, 1 Landraider Helios, 1 Dred, 1 Rhino, 1 Assualt Squad, 2 Tactical squads, and 2 Devastator Squads.
It was weird. My sisters foundered a bit when their vehicles got blowed up turn 1, and the dominoes were stopped cold and forced to huddle in their blown-out immolator for the rest of the game. I also lost one of my Exorcizors to one of those !@$##KED Drop Pods that lets dredds assault out of them. I spent a lot of turns holding back my units waiting for someone to land and tie up his devos so I could cross and cut down the tactical squads with bolters and flamers. It took 4 turns for The Saint to arrive, after that close range fire and DCA finished off a full 4 squads before time was called. I won 12 to 8 KP.


I got 6th in a very large turnout for our store of almost 20 players...
And as a final go of 5th it was basically more of the same...
I hate GKs!
Sisters Rule! (when you roll good, which I didn't)
I hate when it's dark! 


I'm just praying to the Mail Gods that my rulebook will arrive tomorrow or I might gnaw my own leg off in anticipation....


...Actually if I don't get my BRB tomorrow I'll probably pull my Dreamcast outta my car and make a Let's play of one of my favorite games "Typing of the Dead!"

Ray You a busta'!

See you on the other side...for 6th.


*That means 12" from the Table Edge.

I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride it where I like.

Hello there! It has been a while! As Frank stated, summer trips and all that. This is actually concerning my particular journey across the pond to jolly ol' England. While I wouldn't admit it before, I was having a pretty bad losing streak with 40k before my trip. So bad in fact, that I vowed not to play again until 6th edition came out. So during my hiatus I left the country and went on a Spirit Journey to England to visit Warhammer World/GW HQ. I wanted to get inspired to play again and hopefully get some insider tips and tricks to get me revved up to play again. My first warhammer related visit was to this place:

 My first REAL Games Workshop store (Wakefield). Unfortunately it was closed by the time I got there so I snapped a quick picture before an employee came out from the back room. I quickly ran back to my friend's car and hid because I felt like a giant creeper taking a picture of a storefront after they were closed. The next day I went to the one in Leeds and proceeded to be followed around by the employees which was sort of odd because I just wanted to look around, not to have my ear talked off. Compared to our gaming store, the space was pretty small and only had three half size tables, the stock however was greater in number and much more varied than in our non-GW run store. In our store people also don't follow me around, they treat me like one of the guys (with more storage space... cleavage) which I like. I bought a model (Astorath the Grim if you're wondering) and the White Dwarf that came out that day (new fliers edition, it gave me something to read for the next couple days but this isn't a post about that...)

A couple of days later I went to the main event (well the main warhammer based event in this trip, I did a lot of other stuff in my two weeks): WARHAMMER WORLD! Frank asked if I went to business reception but I skipped that part...

This is the view from the front:

 A pretty epic way to start if you ask me. Anywho these fellas greet you as you walk in the front door.

 I felt it was necessary to sign the guestbook, I really should have mention JaR but I was too excited so I just put down the name of our gaming store instead.

 Then it was onto the hall of miniatures! Taking pictures in here was really hard due to clear shelving and lots of glass and lights and reflections so most of the pictures didn't really turn out. I must say this whole room was pretty impressive. I spent a good two or so hours wandering about and looking at everything. I must admit that I know there are a lot of space marine chapters, but I never realized just HOW MANY there really were until I saw half a wall just covered in different space marines... compared to basically half a wall for all the other 40k armies...

 Unsurprising for most of you is the fact that I'm only including pictures of the Blood Angels. This was after all MY spirit journey. I have other pictures of the other models as well, but since my army is Blood Angels it is what I've chosen to include. Seeing what their blood angels looked like reminded me why I chose a different color scheme. While they were well painted and looked nice and all that stuff, it just gets boring after a while. Seeing all the different armies gave me some ideas of what I wanted (or didn't want) to do with my guys aesthetically.

 After the hall of miniatures I continued on toward the gaming hall. But first I wanted to stare down the barrel of a space marine's bolter and see what I could see. I was told that if you did this then you'd see your life flash before your eyes, all I saw was black plaster... *shrug*

 I checked out the gaming hall (which was huge and pretty awesome) and got some ideas for table building and themes. My favorite table was an Egyptian inspired table (unfortunately after a couple pints you forget to take certain pictures... more on that soon). I was sad that I hadn't brought my army to play, but I didn't exactly have room to pack it in my carry-on.

 After a stroll around and a bit of observing it was time for Bugman's Pub and subsequently... DRINKING!

 I only had two pints (only one of the above was mine, the other was my friend Nate's, my second is below). I had some Troll Brew which was hoppy and yummy. I mostly just sat and took in the fact that I was in a different country at GW HQ and how awesome it would be to bring everyone from my local gaming store to come here. After my first pint I decided it would probably be wise to eat some chips (fries) with my second pint since Nate and I were going to walk to Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem afterward for more beer.

 Before leaving I spent way too much money on gifts for Frank and took a couple pictures of the interior of Bugman's.

 Outside was another random space marine so I decided to help him hold up his gun since it looked heavy.

So the trip was pretty amazing all in all and as far as 6th edition is concerned, very well timed. I'm properly excited to start playing again and hopefully in the coming days you'll see an updated list for my Blood Angels and my thoughts and feelings on the rules! Frank pre-ordered the gamers edition and we're crossing our fingers that it may show up on our door early!

If you're wondering what took me so long to write this post (I got back about 3 weeks ago...) here is a hint of what I've been doing:

6th Rumors and The Time of Ending

Hello out there JaRonaughts. It's a warm and wonderful day, excitement is just outside and it's only a door away! I'm ready if you are!

First off let me make a point about the infrequency with which we've been updating this blog lately.

Sorry! Sorry everybody. In the last 3 weeks all 3 of our contributors have been on summer trips, moving to a different state or graduating from college, so we've been a bit busy. Somehow though we found time to play a new Grudge Match which will be posted later this week, which is a Menage a Trois.

Now that I've got the SITREP down it's time to talk about the future of our favorite space-based miniatures game. Recently we've been bombarded with rumors about all the cool new things that will be put into the new edition of Warhammer 40,000. And I can say confidently that I'm EXCITED! Like 'peeing the bed and keeping your parents all night yelling lines from Power Rangers' excited. In addition to the dire need of 40k's rules for an updating (spring cleaning or clear-cutting hopefully) there's another reason I think I'm so excited and just can't hide it. I think it's because the last edition came without much fanfare and rancorous adulation, it slid in, changed a few things and then took it's place as the new rules, because it was sooo similar to the previous versions. Here's what I mean: 

I can't remember what exactly different between 3-4-5 edition. I think there was sweeping advances in 3rd edition... that's about it.

However even though I haven't played 2nd edition in YEARS I can still remember all the different aspects of the game because it's like my brain remembers it as something all together different. And that's the same kind of effect I'm hoping for in 6th. 

Although 5th needs to be dead and gone as fast as possible it wasn't the worst 40k edition, I think it had the most obnoxious codices for sure, but the rules were solid, maybe except for unkillable vehicles. 

All the rumors for 6th sound pretty cool, however now that there's so many and they're all conflicting between a set that's coming to light now and ones based on the leaked rules (which I like) it looks like we'll all have to wait for GW to put the damn thing in our hands to see what's exactly there. However on her recent journey to Games Workshop World HQ in Overcast Olde England one of our contributors was given a few snipets of inside info about 6th edition one of which was a cryptic: 

"wound allocation was based on percentages." 

Hmm what could it mean? I'm not sure, but I'm sure in time GW will either put out the new rules or be destroyed by our hands.

Necromorial Day Weekend

    Howdy out there folks of the nightmare-o-net. It's Frank from Just a Rhino again. Now recently we celebrated Memorial Day Weekend, and if your Memorial Day was anything like mine it was FRAKING HOT! And instead of standing in the hot evil sun next to a hot grill me and the LGS crew decided to beat the heat with some INTERIOR GAMING!
    Yeah inside is the good side. And for the special holiday weekend we started off our Necromunda Campaign! Necromunda as you may or may not know is the fast paced game of English ladies! 
No wait that's soccer....or lacrosse...




Quiditch?


    I don't know, anyway Necromunda is a 'gang' based skirmish game, pitting your crew of criminals against everyone else's, in a mad fight for creds, territory and YOUR LIVES! (OMFG!)Your gang is comprised of your gangboss a few 'Gangers' and the ubiquitous redshirts called 'jeuves' who are the 'pledges' of your gang, doing a lot of the dirty work to eventually become a full fledged gang member. After each battle wounded gangers recover (or die, or lose fingers, or legs, or eyes, or other crazy stuff) and your gang leans on some squares for enough food to refit their weapons and feed themselves. Any left over cash can be spent by the gangboss on new gang members, weapons, or special RARE items which cover everything from A Power Sword to a FRAKIN' PARACHUTE! Also each member of your gang levels up over time gaining new skills and stats which sometimes can get out of hand. 
    But the game is always a total blast. The learning time for the game is anywhere between 30 secs for avid 40k players to 30 mins for a lot of others. The game moves quickly with each side running, diving, shooting and hiding in the deteriorating bowels of the giant hive-spire. Sometimes games end prematurely when some cowardly (or smart) gangs hoof it after loosing a few of their boys. This mechanic is actually one of the saving graces of the game.

Your Gang Can Be Grrls Like This.

    After you 'lose' 25% or more of your gang your leader (if standing) must take a Leadership test or you automatically book it back to your own turf. This seems silly when games can end literally before they start (See Shootout followed by one side auto-running due to having no standing fighters) but most of the time it cuts the games down to just enough turns to be interesting and frantic, but not so long that you're looking at your watch. The book keeping for the game sometimes takes longer than the game, but I'd say half the game is leveling up your dudes and collecting extortion money and buying better gear for your boss. 


    Although I'm saving the best for last one of my other favorite bits about NecroFUNda is that theres' a lot of very cool missions included in the rule book, it really keeps things interesting after a few 'gang fights' in a row, there's even a special scenario for rescuing your captured gang members. But my favorite has got to be Shootout: a Wild West gunfight complete with walking straight at your enemy and seeing who goes for their guns first, and then all hell breaks loose. 
     I said I'd save the best for last, and I did: It's Free! The whole game book and Extra rules and junk are all on GW's website ready for your to download.  And if you're an avid 40k player or member of a local gaming club or store you've probably got enough terrain to mash together the tallest buildings you have into a pretty clustered and fun table. Obviously this game and all the other 'skirmish' based specialist games (Mordhiem, Gorkamorka, Blood Bowl) is best played using the Campaign rules and running your crew against at least 4 other players gangs. 



Bottom Line, Give it a Try. Grab some guardsmen and some cardboard buildings and Get Rich...

...Or Die Trying.

Northern Wastes League!

Ever since I creamed Frank in the JAR Grudge Match Match-tacular, I've been playing a lot of Blood Bowl on Fumbbl.  Mostly because I like being better at things than Frank, but also because I actually like the game.  The endless nature of the Fumbbl divisions was starting to irk me, however.  Basically, there's two leagues that never play each other, each  consisting of hundreds (thousands?  Probably thousands) of coaches and unlimited teams per coach.  Every 3-4 months, there's a MAJOR TOURNAMENT, which you can enter and immediately lose, if you like.  I did.  It was fun, but it also put a harsh spotlight on how Fumbbl's divisions are nothing like real sports leagues.  If only there was some way to play Blood Bowl online in a reasonably-sized, structured league with seasons and championships...