Thursday 29 December 2016

Back to Basics

Hi everyone,

I haven't anything new to show off, but it still is a bit of a special post, as me and a friend played our first 40k game in more than a decade.
For us as a group we held up and kept buying the books until 4th edition.
While I have rather fond memories of 4th edition, with the best Chaos codex to this date, we decided not to make the jump to 5th edition.
Personally I like skirmish games and with the start of 3th edition, 40k was getting more and more detached from the games I actually wanted to play (the same happened with Privateer Press afterwards as well though, despite their famous statement about using metal miniatures in the mk1 rulebook and the fact it started out as a skirmish game).

As a Chaos player I hated GW for their jump to 3th edition, leaving me without a usable army and having to tear off the arms of many of my figures.
These were different times, money was scarce and every investment made had to count.
Which was the reason I made some stupid purchases (like Abaddon or a Bloodthirster), just because they costed a lot of points.
Only to see them put out of use by a graviton gun or shot back to the warp on the turn he was summoned.
As much as I like the ruleset of the 2nd edition, the imbalance between the different lists was a big issue. Especially as my regular opponents were Space Marines, who were GW's sweet spot at the time.
The Chaos codex, while pretty, was also a mismatch of different kinds of units. More suited for a Black crusade than a themed legion army.
It's like they thought a mix of the Warhammer Chaos Warriors army book and the space marines codex was the way to go. 
True, there are some strong individual characters, but they cost a lot of points and are far too easily dispatched.
My biggest issue is that they don't feel like Chaos marines should, they don't fit in with the stories and look more comical than the biggest threat the Imperium is facing.
It wasn't until 4th edition until they got this right, with usable daemon princes you could create yourself, raptors, veteran skills, daemon weapons, the first daemon engine, ... It was also the codex which showed how the Chaos Marines were masters of their domains and enslaved the lesser daemons within.
In 2nd edition there isn't even a good way to get into Hand to Hand, something they should excel  at, without clinging to cover, picking a Nurgle or Khorne force or loosing half of your army.
And why do Imperial Guard veterans get all these skills, but not the far older and far more experienced veterans of both Space and Chaos Space Marines?
Anyway, I'm rambling. The point is that I actually prefer the 2nd edition ruleset, but like the later edition codexes that much better.

Earlier this year we discussed the idea to get back into 2nd edition.
When Modhail jumped on the wagon he expressed the fact he likes the Badab War very much and as I think this is an interesting part of the 40k history as well we are currently working on a campaign.

Yesterday, me and Bram wanted to test out the rules again and the game went exactly as I remember them from games all those years ago.
It's was a small game with only 500pts a side on a 2' x 2' surface, Wordbearers vs Carcharodons.

Turn 1, naturally I lost the roll for deployment (Strategy rating 3 vs 5).
Carcharodons took first turn, moved their units and shot at my rhino with my whole force on board.
The multimelta ripped through the hull, destroying all except my champion, a Chaos space marine and the crew. But as it is a template weapon, two more hits on the tracks needed to be worked out, throwing the rhino from left to right on the battlefield, leaving only a single crew-member standing.
....
The first shot of the game, ...
True, I could have put my rhino into cover (or not have taken a rhino at all), but I needed to get into combat as my force was mostly equiped with assault weapons. Also, in 2nd edition you need to pick up pace with your vehicles and turning with them also isn't that easy. I could have picked a force with more firepower, but most of the time this doesn't work well with Chaos Marines as they don't have that many options and with a large template I doubt they would have lasted much longer against the multimelta. The survivors could have gone on overwatch though, ... if they didn't break.


 After this blow I decided to make the best of it. At first my sole survivor fled into cover, but rallied over there. Meanwhile the Cacharadons marched across the field.
My first idea was to make it into the buidling at the left, but I had already run out of time.
In the end I decided to snapshot the techmarine, but got charged in return and butchered with the rest of the small Carchardons force watching.
Sigh
 
I'll try to get my Astral Claws ready for the next battle.
 
This was actually my first game on my recently bought foldable 6' x 4' table from Gamemat.eu (http://www.gamemat.eu/sk/)
While I'm not one to promote things on my blog I'm very satisfied by it, as it is quite easy to use and can withstand quite some force. We used it for RPG's in the past and it has been pushed, leaned on and loaded with books without problem.  The table is a great solution to safe space compared to my three battleboards.




 Thanks for reading!
Until next time, hopefully with some painted marines.

Enjoy New Years eve everyone and a HAPPY NEW YEAR!




 

13 comments:

  1. Excellent stuff and the happy new year too!

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  2. Well, what can I say, you certainly came back in style, with no less than a 2nd Ed game. Still my ruleset of preference too, good to know there's still people using it!

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    1. And with almost all of us using Space Marines we are all equal 😉.
      With a little bit of luck I van perhaps finish my first tactical squad next week.

      I must admit though, my first impulse when we talked about a 2nd edition revival was to start a Genestealer Cult army. The itch is still there, so I might start a sideproject.

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  3. Now, that's some serious old school :) Really a great read :) Happy New Year btw.

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    1. Happy New Year to you too.
      It's such a long time since we last played the game it even feels like starting a new one 😊.

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  4. It's nice to get an old school game on the table from time to time, nothing like a walk down memory lane :).

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    1. True, and it is very fun to notice how some rules of these older games just seem to be engraved in your mind, as they spring back up like old memories while playing.

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  5. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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