Sunday, January 29, 2012

The Six Horsemen

And lo, the gates of Hell were torn asunder and the chosen of Darkness came forth...

The Red Angel, The Eater of Worlds, The Covenant of Destruction...
Angron, Demon Primarch of the World Eaters Legion

The Incandescent Eye, The Prince of Change, The Primatus Arcanus...
Magnus, Demon Primarch of the Thousand Sons Legion

The Putrescent Paladin, The Reaper of Despair, The Touch of Death...
Mortarion, Demon Primarch of the Death Guard Legion

The Glorious Defiler, The Avatar of Excess, The Caress of the Dark Prince...
Fulgrim, Demon Primarch of the Emperor's Children Legion

The Ruinous Preacher, The Unholy Demagogue, The Bearer of the Word...
Lorgar, Demon Primarch of the Word Bearers Legion

The Iron Demon, The Bastion Breaker, The Shield of Chaos...
Perturabo, Primarch of the Iron Warriors Legion

Thursday, January 26, 2012

The Red Angel

The Eater of Worlds hath come...

Angron, Demon Primarch of the World Eaters

Codex Imperial Guard Design Philosophy


MAJOR PLANNED CHANGES
Abandoning the order system.
I have never been a fan of implementing special rules for their own sake, nor have I been a fan of granting one army unique special rules that every other army can logically justify.  There is no reason why a Space Marine Squad, a Chaos Space Marine Squad, an Aspect Warrior Squad, a Kabalite Warrior Squad, a Fire Warrior Squad, or even an Ork Mob can’t use the orders that Guardsmen get.  While I have to give the order system its due for being effective, my rules design is as much about background as it is battlefield effectiveness.  In place of the order system, Commanders will get to pass around Leadership bonuses.

Abandoning tank squadrons.
I can fully understand the focus on Imperial Guard armored vehicles as a major thematic element, but frankly there are more balanced ways to do it than granting a 2000 point army the ability to drop nine pie plates on turn 1.  Leman Russ and Ordnance tanks will be 1 for 1, but there will be ways to swap Fast Attack choices or Elites choices for Heavy Support, most likely from a tank platoon commander.

Variation in unit entry instead of separate choices.
Where possible and convenient, I am going to incorporate minute changes such as turret swaps to into single unit entries.  All Leman Russ tanks will be incorporated into a single, smoother entry with the battle tank serving as the template.  The same will apply to Ordnance tanks, with the Griffon being the base and all sorts of siege weapon options.  This will be a common occurrence through many armies, with examples being Land Raider and Predator variants.   

Rough Rider platoons. 
Simple but huge shift in my opinion.  There might be a slight point increase, but the purpose here is to allow a player to create a massive cavalry hammer for his/her army. 

Return of doctrines.
The original document will be a barebones army list with rules and wargear, but eventually doctrines will follow so that the army can be altered to make Catachans, Valhallans, Vostroyans, etc.  The background demands!

Lower costs and Leadership.
Many infantry units will receive small price and Leadership reductions, mostly to fit the image of the Guard as a horde army.  Before you panic about the Leadership, remember my comments above concerning officers.  Vox-casters and commander special rules, reinforced by priests and commissars, will make an Infantry force quite stable and viable. 

MINOR PLANNED CHANGES
Commissars shift to function as Priests and Enginseers.
You will be able to take 0-5 Commissars, each with 2 wounds and a 6” stubborn bubble.

Autocannons gain AP 3.
Autocannons fire huge caliber shells more than capable of obliterating standard power armor.  This is a buff to give the unit a flexible heavy weapon that can tackle light vehicles and MEQ units, as the autocannon should be.  This change will be consistent throughout the new codices.

Expansion of psychic powers.
I don’t intend for the Guard to be a top tier psychic army, but Primaris Psykers and Battle squads will get some variation and a method of defense.  Battle squads will also be toned down slightly, as I have read that they are overpowered.



Let me know what you think.  More ideas will come as they occur to me.




The First Phoenix King

For those of you who like Herohammer, here's a 1000 point deathstar juggernaut for WHFB.

Aenarion, The First Phoenix King

The Supreme Grand Master

Sons of the Lion, I present your Father.

Lion El'Jonson, Primarch of the Dark Angels Legion

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Still chewing...

Having the ridiculous notions of putting together 40k codices of my own making has me in the mood to do the exact same thing for the army books of Warhammer Fantasy Battles.  Where the major difference is that, unlike the 40k codices, which will more or less attempt to fill combat style niches (Dark Eldar with hyper-fast deathblow, Imperial Guard with overwhelming firepower, Orks with overwhelming melee attacks, etc), the army lists I'm going to write for WHFB will be more flexible.  Almost every army should be able to put together hordes, barrages, shock troops, monsters, etc., with obvious exceptions (hordes of Ogres is just ridiculous, on many levels).  Note that the following list is in no particular order.

The Empire
- Standard state troopers, through the employment of detachments and reasonably priced options, will become useful again.
- Gunlines will be an option, not the option.

High Elves
- No reliance on unjustifiable ASF on all units.  Infantry will become mobile and disciplined.

Dwarves
- Gunlines will be an option, not the option.

Bretonnia
- Armies of knights and armies of men-at-arms will both be usable, though with obvious risks.

Wood Elves
- Highly mobile with great infantry ranged fire

Lizardmen
- More dinosaurs, reworking of Slann to be streamlined and very powerful, if expensive.

Ogre Kingdoms
- Reworking of costs, mostly.

Tomb Kings
- Major reworking of costs, function of hierophants, and lore of nehekhara.

Demons of Chaos
- Balancing of units to make all usable some not mandatory

Beastmen
- Price adjustments, re-working of Primal Fury

Vampire Counts
- Slight pricing adjustments, emphasis on making undead horde or undead monsters viable.

Skaven
- Not sure yet.

Dark Elves
- Price drops and loss of eternal hatred

Warriors of Chaos
- Reworking of eye of the gods, price adjustments, expansion of units

Orcs and Goblins
- Major rework of animosity and pricing

"You've heard the phrase 'Mankind's reach exceeds his grasp'.  This is not true.  Mankind's reach exceeds his nerve."

Iconic, no?

Here are rules for two of the most iconic war heroes in all of Warhammer Fantasy Battles.

Archaon, The Everchosen of Chaos

Prince Tyrion, Defender of Ulthuan

Monday, January 16, 2012

A couple pointy eared bastards...

For my first two characters, I present two legendary Eldar figures.

Asurmen, The Hand of Asuryan

Eldrad Ulthran, Farseer of Ulthwe


More than I can chew?

My first project since the beginning of this blog is the redesign of the Warhammer 40,000 codexes, or codices, depending on your preference.

I mean all of them.

What I aim to do is to create a set of codexes that can be used for balanced, competitive play between their individual parts.  As a secondary objective, I want the fan codexes to be usable against the existing and official codexes, as they will be based off of the same ruleset.

Daunting task as far as I'm concerned, but I believe my passion is equal to it.

To describe what I have in mind, here is a basic starting list of the codexes I plan on working on.

Codex: Imperial Guard
- This will be the first book and the new codex against which all followers will be judged.  Humanity is the central focus of the Warhammer 40k universe (even if the abundance of power armor indicates otherwise) and I wish to keep with that theme.

Codex: Space Marines
- As more players are running around with Adeptus Astartes than with any other faction, Space Marines must be next.  Also, note that this is Codex: Space Marines, not Codex: Ultramarines and Their Most Flattering Imitators, not Codex: Jaws of the Wolfishly Wolfy World Wolf, and not Codex: Blood Blood.  Codex: Space Marines will be an all inclusive codex that will have both a simple (but effective) ruleset and an expansion for those of a more separatist nature.

The codexes that follow are in no particular order and will be worked upon simultaneously, with emphasis placed on whatever popular demand requests.

Codex: Chaos Space Marines
- The setting's most common (literature-wise) villain.  This codex will see the flexibility to field renegades and legionnaires of all types, with marks and gifts and entire separate rulesets for the most outlandish CSM armies.

Codex: Orks
- Eeeere We Go! Warbands are neither gone nor forgotten.

Codex: Eldar
- Craftworlds of legend are returning and will compliment a list that will focus on the game's most synergetic (is that even a word?) army.

Codex: Tyranids
- Whether hordes, swarms, or nidzilla is your cup of tea, you will find a multitude of bioweapons to use.

Codex: Dark Eldar
- One of my personal favorites, Dark Eldar will be getting a re-tuning as much as a full redo.  Those Mandrakes will make sense once again.

Codex: Tau Empire
- This army will return to the forefront of shooty forces in 40k, but Kroot and other xenos auxiliaries will not be left wanting.

Codex: Necrons
- Like in the case of the Dark Eldar, I intend that the Necrons get a thorough rebalancing for this edition, as well as the flexibility to go with a horde army or an elite army.

Codex: Inquisiton
- This is one of my own personal projects.  It is meant to be a far-reaching codex, just like an Inquisitorial endeavor should be.  It is meant to encompass the three major ordos without sacrificing paradigm defining features of forces like the Grey Knights or the Sisters of Battle.  It will also come with detailed rules that will allow for the Inquisition to import or export units between it's forces and those of other Imperial servants.

Codex: Lost and the Damned
- The fraternal twin to Codex: Inquisition, LatD will feature a huge range of traitors, heretics, mutants, xenos, demons, astartes, guardsmen, psykers and much more.  It will be extensive in the ground it covers and its focus will be on representing the dissidents and detractors who would like nothing more than to see the Imperium fall.  Like its opposite, Codex: Lost and the Damned will feature rules to share and include units with and from generally allied armies.

So there you have it.  As you may have detected, my common goal with all of the books is to create a centralized army list that can adequately represent the ethos of any faction while remaining competitive, and then branch off with further rules that allow those of us who are a little or very obsessed with the background to bring forth our demented and entertaining visions.  If I want to play my World Eaters against my friend's Goff Clan, then we should be able to.  But if there is a prevailing desire for balance and simplicity, then Chaos Space Marines and Orks it is.

You may go ahead and tell me I'm crazy now, though you'd be preaching to the choir. :)

New Beginnings

Welcome.

As a fan and participator in the Warhammer Fantasy Battle and Warhammer 40,000 universes, I find my gaming greatest passions lie the background and design of rules to suit that background.  With that in mind, I have started this blog to be a catch all for my rules development output, in the hopes that those of you who read this will find something to get your creative gears in motion and enjoy a richer gaming experience.

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy.