The second instalment of the epic Horus Heresy legend sees the beginnings of rebellion. A betrayal by the commanding officer on Davin brings Horus and the Mournival (his elite champions and advisors) to the moon of Davin on a quest for revenge and justice. But they all get more than they bargained for, the moon of Davin, the betrayer, it is all a part of an intricate plot. A plot to kill Horus.

When Horus is injured and on his death-bed, desperate measures must be taken to save the most important soldier in the Universe. Unfortunately they are left with only one choice: to take Horus to Davin’s surface and leave him in the Snake Temple to be administered to by its priests. Despite the entire idea being completely against the Emperor’s teachings, the desperation of those left to make the decision means that any measures will be taken to save Horus’ life.

Up to this point we have the traditional war-torn savagery of the Warhammer 40K universe. But as Horus is on his death-bed, we have a kind of A Christmas Carol scene where Horus is visited by a ghost to be shown the future of the universe to try to convert him over to the dark side. As this is the turning point of the entire Warhammer universe it just feels weak, insubstantial and not entirely convincing. After this halfway point not much happens, the intrigues continue to build, but most of the plot of this novel has already been told. The thing is, it’s still gripping. The petty intrigues, and lies and schemes keep your attention. This is not the blockbuster of the first book, but a good solid second instalment (similar to The Empire Strikes Back), which can’t help but fail in its turnabout of the Warmaster, but other than that continues to entertain.

Can’t wait for the third instalment.

Hy en estadística me ha dado por preguntarle a la profesora por la fórmula para obtener la probabilidad de que salga un determinado resultado, así que para ayudaros un poquito a hacer vuestras predicciones de cara a una tarde frente a un mapa o talero, y teniendo en cuenta que hace falta un poco de tiempo para sacarlo por cuenta de la vieja (o yo no me cosqué), lo pongo por aquí. En este caso, es para sacar fuerza irresistible en whf con 3D6, es decir, al menos dos 6.

P(66NU6N6UN66) = 1/6 · 1/6 · 5/6 + 1/6 · 5/6 · 1/6 + 5/6 · 1/6 · 1/6 + 1/6 · 1/6 · 1/6 = 16/216 = 2/27

Es decir, de cada 27 tiradas de 3D6 que hagamos, en 2 saldrá un doble  un triple 6.

Todo este párrafo esá aplicado al 3D6. La probabilidad, obviamente, es la misma para todos los demás resultados. Para hallar la probabilidad de que salgan otros resultados, sólo hay que multiplicar lo que nos ha dado antes (2/27) por el número de resultados favorables de entre 6. Por ejemplo, la probabilidad de que nos salga un doble cualquiera con 3D6 e de 12/27.

Para tiradas que no sean de 3D6, hay que hacer lo mismo siguiendo esta fórmula para hallar la probabilidad de, al menos un doble, en la tirada, pero añadiéndole un ·5/6 más a cada uno de las multiplicaciones (excepto la última, a la que se añaden ·1/6) y añadiendo tambén otra multiplicación más igual que las anteriores por cada dado que añadamos a a tirada. Una vez obtenida la probabilidad de cualquier doble.

Paratriples o cuáduples, sólo hay que poner en cada términ de la suma (cada multiplicación) un 1/6 en vez de 5/6.

Espero haberos echado una mano a la hora de planificar rol y wargames.

By: J-Fénix

Warhammer Fantasy

Warhammer Fantasy es uno de los juegos mas difundido en Argentina, casi en cualquier lugar que haya jugadores de wargames de seguro hay jugadores de este juego.

El juego capta tanto a amantes de la literatura y la fantasía gracias a sus hermosos relatos e historias de las razas que componen el mundo, al modelista y coleccionista por la calidad y variedad  de modelos que hay, y al estratega por las opciones tácticas y variantes que el juego ofrece.

Warhammer Fantasy es un juego de una antiguedad de 25 años y esa experiencia se ve reflejada en un reglamento firme con amplias posibilidades tácticas asi como  un finalmente muy buen logrado balance de juego. El juego esta ambientado en un mundo Fantástico medieval donde diferentes razas de humanoides se disputan el control del mundo al mejor estilo de la tierra media, las razas que pueblan este mundo van desde los elfos silvanos ágiles, letales aunque con nula armadura , pasando por los feroces orcos, los testarudos enanos, el omnipresente imperio de la humanidad, pasando por los antiguos hombres lagartos o las huestes de no-muertos de los reyes funerarios por solo nombrar a algunos.

Las partidas suelen jugarse a 1500, 2000, o 2500 puntos por nombrar algunas: mientras mayor este numero mas grande son los ejércitos (mas miniaturas) y mas larga es la batalla. Las batallas parejas son aquellas en que ambos jugadores usan la misma cantidad de puntos (casi siempre es asi, salvo que se quiera hacer una batalla mas rara)

Dinámica del Juego

Acordada la batalla, esta suele jugarse en un mesa de 120 x 180 cm, ambos jugadores tiran dados para determinar quien empezara primero y en cual de los dos bordes desplegara su ejercito (su oponente lo hará en el borde opuesto) Como en algunos casos es importante empezar primero y en otros también es importante la disposición del terreno de juego (si hay colinas, murallas o bosques que pueden utilizarse tácticamente) el cual puede variar de forma importante de partida en partida.

Atributos de las miniaturas

Cuando juguemos una partida o veamos unas varias veremos que aunque se jueguen a 2000 puntos ambos contendientes la cantidad de miniaturas puede variar enormemente entre 60 y 200 miniaturas, se preguntaran ¿es parejo una batalla entre un ejercito de 60 miniaturas y otro de 200? la respuesta es si ya que no todas las miniaturas son igual de efectivas, por ejemplo un goblin o un zombi es infinitamente menos capaz que un caballero del caos pero es también mucho mas barato ya que un el zombi o goblin cuesta solo 4 o 5 puntos a comparación de los 35 puntos que cuesta el caballero del caos, a pesar de las diferencias ambos tipos de unidades son útiles pero cada una a su modo (calidad o cantidad?) aparte los cañones o catapultas suelen pegar tan duro que matan a un caballero con la misma facilidad que a un goblin. El costo de cada miniatura es fundamental para elegir y saber que cantidad de miniaturas y de que tipo estará formado nuestro ejercito, por ejemplo si jugamos a 2000 puntos de un ejercito de elfos oscuros deberemos ir eligiendo las miniaturas y su equipo del libro de ejercito e ir sumando su costo hasta llegar o aproximarnos a los 2000 puntos (por ejemplo: 40 lanceros elfos oscuros 8ptsx40=320pts, una hidra y dos guías 220pts, una hechicera lvl2=180pts, 20 guardias negros (16ptsx20=320 puntos————->esto nos da un ejercito de 1040pts). De esta forma podremos seleccionar que unidades seleccionaremos y en que cantidad enlistaremos y cuales dejaremos afuera respetando las opciones que nos brinda nuestro libro de ejercito.

Los Atributos de las miniaturas son los que se utilizan para determinar la eficacia de la unidad o miniatura, a valores mas altos mas eficaz será pero mas costosa será su valor en puntos, por otro lado su eficacia en muchos casos solo lo será en un area (por ejemplo los arqueros elfos silvanos son excelentes disparando pero bastante vulnerables en el combate cuerpo a cuerpo) todas las miniaturas son buenas y malas en algo a la vez sin importar su coste, y es en la tabla de atributos y en el equipo que llevan donde podremos comparar sus valores y de esta forma elegir:

Los atributos son:

Movimiento (M): Es la cantidad de centímetros que la miniatura puede mover por turno, el valor medio es 10 cm para las tropas a pie y 20 cm para las caballerías.

Habilidad de Armas (HA): Es el atributo que se utiliza para realizar las tiradas para impactar en el combate cuerpo a cuerpo y para que el rival las falle cuando las dirige a nosotros, si tiene éxito la tirada deberá tirarse a continuación para herir. El valor medio es 3

Habilidad de Proyectiles (HP): Similar al anterior, pero se utiliza con las armas de proyectiles en la fase de disparo. El valor promedio es 3.

Fuerza (F): La fuerza modifica el daño (y con el daño disminuye la tirada de salvación por armadura), mientras mas fuerte sea la miniatura con mayor probabilidad la herirá y atravesara su armadura. Algunas armas como las espadas a dos manos o las alabardas agregan fuerza al ataque. El valor medio es 3.

Resistencia (R): Determine lo dura o resistente que es una miniatura y de esta forma tener una mayor probabilidad de no ser herido en combate. La resistencia es un valor que siempre se compara con la fuerza. El valor promedio es 3

Heridas (H): Es la cantidad de heridas que una miniatura soporta antes de morir y ser retirada de la mesa, casi todos los soldados tiene 1 herida, pero los moustros o héroes poderosos suelen tener mas.

Iniciativa (I): La iniciativa representa la velocidad y los reflejos de una miniatura, en un combate cuerpo a cuerpo las miniaturas con mayor iniciativa golpearan primero, el valor medio es 3.

Ataques (A): Es la cantidad de ataques que la miniatura puede realizar en la fase de combate cuerpo a cuerpo, llevar un arma en cada mano proporciona un 2do ataque a la miniatura. El valor medio es 1

Liderazgo (L): Es el valor que se utiliza para determinar si las miniaturas huyen o siguen combatiendo o avanzando, si superan el miedo o no, y para la mayoría de las reglas de psicología. A diferencia de los otros atributos el chequeo de liderazgo se efectúa con dos dados (2d6) y para ser exitoso debe igualar o ser menor que el atributo. El valor medio es 7 para las tropas ya que los héroes y comandantes suelen tener valores mayores.

Algunos ejemplos de atributos del mundo de Warhammer:

 Secuencia del turno

La partida suele jugarse a 6 turnos, donde el jugador A juega el turno 1 luego su oponente juega su turno 1, luego el jugador A juega el turno 2 y le sigue su oponente con su turno 2 y asi sucesivamente. El turno se divide en:

- FASE DE MOVIMIENTO: Aquí es donde se mueven las unidades o regimientos de miniaturas, tanto los movimientos que queremos realizar como aquellos movimientos compulsorios que estamos obligados a realizar tales como determinar el movimiento de unidades en fuga o huida. De forma general podemos decir que los movimientos que deseamos hacer lo hacemos midiendo con una cinta métrica y moviendo las unidades la cantidad de cm que deseamos hasta el máximo permitido en el perfil de atributos de la unidad (por ejemplo: el perfil de atributos de movimiento (M) de un humano es 10cm, el de un elfo 12cm, y el de un enano 8cm, una caballería pesada suele tener 20cm, etc.). Para los movimientos compulsorios tales como las huidas las unidades huyen de la unidad que le causo que se pusiera en fuga y su movimiento en cm se determina aleatoriamente con una tirada de dados, de esta forma este tipo de movimientos son mas aleatorios e impredecibles que los del otro tipo.

- FASE DE MAGIA: Aquí es donde los magos o hechiceros intentan lanzar sus hechizos y/o utilizar sus objetos mágicos, La magia puede ser destructiva en forma de proyectiles mágicos o rayos, en forma de protección que mejora la armadura o protección de las miniaturas o puede tener diferentes funciones como hacer que una unidad se mueva mas o hacer que una unidad enemiga no se mueva, aumentar las estadísticas de una de nuestras unidades, etc., las opciones son muchas y las sorpresas que pueden utilizar las encontraran en la descripción de cada hechizo que cada mago puede utilizar.

-FASE DE DISPARO: Aqui las unidades armadas con arcos, arcabuces, ballestas o maquinas de proyectil tales como catapultas, cañones o lanzavirotes disparan al enemigo. Todas estas armas requieren una línea de visión generalmente el arco frontal de 90° de las miniaturas para poder disparar y un cierto alcance determinado por el tipo de arma que lleva (ej: un arco corto tiene un alcance de 45cm mientras que un arco largo 75cm), la eficacia del disparo viene determinada en primer lugar por la habilidad de proyectiles de la unidad (HP) y por las reglas o potencia de cada arma en segundo lugar (ejemplo: un elfo armado con un arco largo tiene una HP de 4, un alcance de 75cm y una Fuerza de 3 mientras que un arcabucero humano tiene una HP de 3, un alcance de 60cm y una fuerza de 4). Las maquinas como las catapultas o cañones tienen un mayor alcance y poder destructivo pero suele ser mas difícil controlar su trayectoria.  El procedimiento es el siguiente cada miniatura  de la unidad tira un dado para impactar (utiliza la hp), luego las tiradas que hayan sido exitosas se realizaran tiradas para herir (comparando el atributo de Fuerza del arma con la Resistencia del objetivo), las tiradas exitosas habrán herido a la miniatura enemiga y la mataran si esta no supera la tirada de salvación por armadura (la que tenga puesta). Este procedimiento lo realizaremos sin pensar con solo unas partidas de practica

-FASE DE COMBATE: es Similar a la fase de disparo, salvo que el combate es con las unidades que están trabadas en combate cuerpo a cuerpo, salvo que se utiliza la HA (habilidad de armas) en vez de la HP (hab, de proyectiles). El combate cuerpo a cuerpo no es tan seguro como dispararle a un enemigo pero puede ser mas definitorio ya que aparte de las bajas que muestran armas causen la huida y persecución pueden teminar de rematar al enemigo.

Bien, eso es lo básico y resumiendo podríamos decir que el movimiento de las unidades es a nuestro deseo mediante el uso de una cinta métrica respetando el máximo permitido de movimiento según el atributo de movimiento de la miniatura, y para los movimientos de huida y/o similares suelen tirarse dados. El combate (el disparo) suele resolverse por dados donde las tiradas se determinaran según los atributos de los combatientes (HA, HP, F, R, I) y las reglas de las armas o unidades especiales. ¿Como empiezo? El siguiente paso es seleccionar cual será el ejercito que comenzaras a coleccionar y con el que jugaras tus batallas de aqui en mas, un buen lugar para comenzar a leer, informarte de las características y formas en que cada raza hace la guerra, el rango de miniaturas (tienen que gustarte!) es la pagina oficial en este link , por otro lado también puedes usar nuestro foro para preguntarle o pedirle consejos a otros jugadores y una vez echo eso ya puedes dar con el libro de ejercito que tiene toda la información necesaria para jugar con ese ejercito.

El reglamento de Warhammer Fantasy

Los libros de los 13 Ejércitos disponibles de Warhammer Fantasy

Heute gibt es bei Steam ein unschlagbares Angebot, so könnt ihr mehr als 10 Spiele, darunter Vollpreistitel für nur 50€ erwerben. Eine Liste findet ihr weiter unten. Zusätzlich, gibt es noch 3 weitere Spiele, welche, aber nicht in der Liste auftauchen, da sie indiziert sind. Nach einem Kauf sind diese, jedoch trotzdem unter meine Spiele zu finden.

• Company of Heroes
• Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts
• Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor
• Frontlines: Fuel of War
• Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights
• Red Faction Guerrill<
• Saints Row 2
• Titan Quest
• Titan Quest: Immortal Throne
• Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War Gold
• Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War Dark Crusade
• Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War Soulstorm
• Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War 2

Naja ich bin eigentlich immernoch net zufrieden… aber bevor ich mir weiter den Kopp zerbrech und irgendwann es aufgab, veröffentliche ich es einfach mal nun

Mein Name ist (Name nicht übersetzbar), ich bin ein Eisenbrecher und hier werde ich meine Geschichte erzählen.

(Hier endet der erste Eintrag, weitere Übersetzung folgt)

– Übersetzung eines zwergischen Tagebuchs, gefunden in den Schlachtfeldern im Kadrintal, Universität Altdorf

Rather than being a discussion of one of the best chocolate products invented by the hand of man today’s topic is going to be about how you plan and build your armies. There are a number of different ways in which this can be accomplished and I’ve actually been through a couple of ways myself, although I have one method that, while not the best perhaps, seems to always come out on top when I get that buzz of “ZOMG, new models, must have!!!!11!!!!!!one!!!!!”

I’ll split the various ways out and then expound on them, please feel free to comment on which is your preferred method or add something totally different.

The Core Method

This method revolves around the fact that most games have a set amount of stuff that must be included to field a minimum sized force. Games like 40k make this easy as you can pick an HQ unit and two Troops choices for a viable army, to play with though you’ll need an agreed points value, this is where I like Privateer Press’ products as you can get starter boxes which give forces balanced to play each other in order for people to learn the rules. Uncharted Seas and the new Firestorm Armada also work off this premise with their starter boxes.

We kind of hybridised this method when starting 5th edition 40k. We knew we wanted to play 1000pts games, I’d sold all my 40k stuff to get something a bit different and therefore started my Orks at that points level, I could then see what I lacked and adapt accordingly (more boyz!). This is in fact one of the core benefits of doing things like this. You can play your force and see what is lacking which can guide future purchases when you expand your army,  my 1500pts force therefore fills practically every troops slot available and after playing it I’ve further modified the list to make the Boyz squads fewer but bigger. They butcher stuff in close combat even with only a few of them but they tend to take horrific casualties as they cross the plains to reach their foes. Bumping them up in size means there are more ablative wounds hopefully meaning that more boyz can get stuck in later on. I do realise though that with making the squads larger that there are therefore less squads which means less targets for the enemy to worry about. Hopefully the covering fire of the Lootas still provides a distraction as well as Big Mek “Mr Suicide” who has yet to build a Shokk Attack Gun that lasts more than one shot.

Starting small also means that you aren’t laying down a lot of cash straight away. Obviously if you are starting out with something for the first time you’re going to be guided by what you like the look of, not necessarily knowing how it will play. You may like it, you may not so spending as little as possible is a potential benefit.

The Proxy Method

This has happened with a number of the lists I have produced for my Daemons in Fantasy. If you already have some models then this can work out but you’ll want to have your opponents consent and make sure he knows what is what. Proxying (for the uninitiated) is the process whereby you use a model you have to represent something else. I’ve not done this for an entire army as I believe that would get very difficult for your opponent to deal with, but I have expanded units beyond the model count I own or used single stand in models before spending money on proper representations. This has the advantage that you don’t go out and spend money on something before you know if it does what you want or work in the way you expect.

The ZombiePirate Method

Here we go, the method by which I generally do things. With most people when they first look at getting anything the first place that is started is with the ruleset for that particular army. This works across all systems as if you get a rulebook with all the forces in them or you have to pick up individual army books you’re going to be looking through them working out what you like the look of. The start of this method can work with other methods already described, what I do is have a nice read through the book, I looks at the units and their physical stats as well as stuff that I like the look of models wise. I will choose not to collect an army if their models luck bad, no matter how awesome the rules might be and so I take my picks and write-up a list for the normal game size, 1500pts 40k, 2000pts Warhammer Fantasy, 25ss Malifaux, 35 or 50pts Warmachine/Hordes etc… For the majority of these times what I will then do is make a purchase of the entire army, maybe in stages but sometimes in one huge bank busting blaze of debit card. Now, obviously depending on the army you’ve chosen this particular method can do more or less damage to your wallet. This also means you are laying down a whole wad of greenbacks on a force that has not yet seen action so you’re not sure about how it is going to perform, this is the chief downside of doing things this way, however, there is also another drawback that is almost at the same scale.

When you’ve bought everything you need in one batch you have an entire army arrayed before you, this can cause morale issues as you are presented with just how much stuff you’re going to need to build/paint. In days of yore I’ve assembled whole armies and left them on my painting table showing me in no uncertain terms just how much work I have left if I want to do it all. This is perhaps one of the greatest reasons why I never get stuff done, after seeing it all I chop and change from one thing to another. My current project is not done in this manner, I am doing things one at a time and leaving my table clear in order to do so, nothing else is cluttering it up (bar a Lord of Change and the aforementioned Big Mek “Orky McSuicide”). I am hoping that by having a more structured approach to things I stand a better chance of getting things finished. I’m looking forward to this weekend and setting myself the challenge of getting some figures actually done, I am away in London on Saturday so this may not be achievable but I’m going to give it a shot to push myself.

Time and time again I’ve fallen back on this method, written out an army list and then gone out and bought more and more stuff so that I have it all. I don’t know why I do this but I know that getting things piecemeal can actually be more beneficial (method 1 in the list here).My preferred method is probably the worst one but I’m sure each gamer has their own style and works in their own way, so don’t let anything here prevent you from doing what you want.

So then Intarwebz, when creating your ideal army, how do you eat yours?

So then, the first illiterates from Dark Crag server managed to find the Gorfang server section, to my surprise I must add as it seems to have been more of a random shot considering their spelling, mindset and comprehension abilities.

As expected it was a wave of retards who basically couldn’t have much more of a self-centered (e-)view of themselves and their great own being in a game playing a fotm class. To everyones entertainment they aren’t even holding back in any way and start shit all over the place making themselves hated by both sides before the actual merge, which will take place next week. On the other hand you can see Gorfangs fairly mature (in comparison anyway) community being one and fighting the evil source of illiteracy together sourcing out what does not need to to be paid attention to beforehand.

It shall be fun to see Dark Crags bad awakening noticing they will no longer be able to roll players 20 Ranks below their own on just any spot of the world map. It will also be fun when their brags will be shoved down their throat in such a brutal manner it causes them gag reflexes in real life. Since I’m a good natured however I would not do such things but only observe and enjoy what can and will be seen.

Of course, so I hope anyway, Dark Crag too had individuals on it that can be dealt with without having ones own brain decaying in a flash of having ‘conversation’. Region chat right after the merge can expected to be a blast though. On that note, how many titles are there for putting people on ignore? For those that feel treated unfairly and/or offended by this message, you must be the exceptions I been referring to in the first sentence of this paragraph, but as a fact of life the only things you see are the obvious, outstanding ones, which normal people in this case would not be, at all.

On this note I wish destro as well as order mergers a warm welcome and hope you bring some nice stacks of crests with you I can roll on, as I’m still in need of plenty Warlord crests.

Shrapnel war meines Wissens der erste Knaller aus dem jungen Radical Publishing Verlagshaus und hat mit seinem Artwork wie auch mit seiner Erscheinungsform viel Aufmerksamkeit erregt. Mit dem Begriff der Aristie im Titel (ein Verweis auf die Ilias) und “Jeanne D’Arc im Weltraum” als Story-Umschreibung haben Sherman, Long und Sagan mit literarisch-historischen Vorbildern nicht gegeizt und so war ich schon richtig gespannt als ich den ersten Teil der Shrapnel Reihe endlich in meinen Händen hielt…

DER INHALT

Im Jahre 2250 wurden die Menschen durch den gentechnischen Fortschritt in 2 Klassen eingeteilt. Einerseits gibt es die Splicer, vermögende Leute die es sich leisten konnten sich mittels Genmanipulation „aufzupimpen“ Andererseits ist da die normal gebliebenen Minderheit der Heloten die von den überlegenen Splicern als Menschen zweiter Klasse behandelt werden und sich permanenten Rassismus ausgesetzt sehen.

Doch nicht nur die gesellschaftliche Lage bringt explosive Stimmung mit sich. Über die Jahrzehnte formierten sich einige Planeten zu einer Solar-Allianz die ihr Imperium laufen auf andere Planeten ausdehnt. Notfalls auch mit Gewalt, wodurch das Shrapnel Universum in einem andauernden Kriegszustand zu liegen scheint…

Aristeia Rising ist der erste Teil einer Trilogie um die Protagonistin Samantha „Sam“ Vijaya die aber schon VOR diesem Abenteuer so einiges erlebt hat (ich rieche ein Prequel kommen) Sam schrieb sich trotz ihres scheinbar minderwertigen Heloten Statuses bei den Marines der Solar-Alliance ein, wo sie unerwartetes Talent bewies und schnell die Karriere Leiter schnell kletterte. Nach einem Massaker an Heloten an dem auch sie beteiligt gewesen war, verlor sie aber den Glauben an die Allianz und quittierte ihren Dienst bei den Marines.

Durch den Rassismus gegen die Heloten und ihrer Vergangenheit als Marine blieb ihr nur die Venus als Zuflucht, die 2250 als einzig neutraler Planet verblieben ist, auf dem auch die Splicer und Heloten (so gut wie) in Frieden zusammenleben können. Seelisch unterstützt von einem „Psychiater-Hologramm“ will sie sich hier nun inkognito als Minenarbeiterin niederlassen.

Es wird wohl niemanden überraschen dass Sam auf der Venus nicht den erwarteten Frieden findet, den schon kurze Zeit nach ihrer Ankunft entdeckt die Solar Allianz die Venus als strategisches Ziel und will den Planeten mit aller Macht in ihr System intigrieren. Der mehrheitlich von Heloten bewohnte Planet weiß aber, dass ihnen innerhalb der Allianz Sklaverei ähnliche Zustände drohen würde und entscheidet sich für den aussichtslosen Widerstand gegen die Marines. Auch wenn sie dem Krieg den Rücken kehren wollte, kann auch Sam nicht lange vor der drohenden Gefahr fliehen und wird in den Widerstand eingegliedert. Selbstverständlich fallen ihre taktischen Fähigkeiten auch schnell auf und so findet ihr Leben als Minenarbeiterin ein jähes Ende, während ihre neue Karriere als Widerstandskämpferin ihren Start nimmt.

DIE REVIEW

Das erste was einem ins Auge sticht, ist natürlich das fabelhafte Artwork! Die Mechs, Raumschiffe wie auch die Kampfrüstungen sehen einfach wahnsinnig toll aus und wer z.b. die Ästhetik von Warhammer 40k mag, wird auch die Atmosphäre in Shrapnel lieben.

Das Problem ist allerdings, dass man hier beinahe zu viel des Guten geleistet hat und das Artwork meiner Meinung nach ruhig ein paar Nuancen mehr Helligkeit vertragen hätte können. In diesem stockdunklem Setting fällt es einem wirklich schwer etwas zu erkennen. Besonders da Allianz wie auch die Venus praktisch die selbe Ausrüstung benutzen und die wenigen Details an denen man sie unterscheiden könnte im dunklen Design völlig untergehen, weiß man nie genau wer hier nun auf wen ballert. Da kann man von Glück sprechen dass es sich in Shrapnel um einen reinen 2-Parteien Krieg handelt.

Hinzu kommt noch, dass ich das Trade wie einen Michael Bay Film empfunden habe. Es gibt viele Zooms auf die Maschinen und mehrere Sprünge zwischen den einzelnen Sequenzen die die Orientierung für den Leser zur Hölle machen. Es ist schon gerechtfertigt wenn ein Artist das Chaos des Schlachtfeldes auf den Leser überspringen lassen will, aber man sollte wenigstens mitbekommen was jetzt genau passiert und wer zu welchem Team gehört.

Obwohl also jedes Panel für sich genommen einfach atemberaubend aussieht, kann man der Handlung als Ganzes (besonders während eines Kampfes) nur sehr schwer folgen.

Das liegt auch daran, dass viel zu wenig gesprochen wird. Die Dialoge reduzieren sich auf kurze militärische Anweisungen oder – wenn’s mal länger wird – herzhafte Ansprachen die zur Schlacht animieren sollen.

Das ist besonders Schade, da man so praktisch nichts über die Figuren erfährt. Was ich bei all den Nebenfiguren (und sie sind wirklich alle nur Nebensache) noch verzeihlich finde, geht bei Sam gar nicht. Zu anfangs probiert man ihr noch mittels ihrer Dialoge mit dem Hologramm etwas Tiefe mit zu geben, da sie sich aber hier nur ziert in den Krieg zu ziehen (u. es absehbar ist dass sie es doch tun wird) funktioniert auch das nur bedingt.

Alle Figuren verhalten sich haargenau so wie man es sich erwarten würde und es gibt leider keinerlei Twists in der Story. Die, die man als „böse“ einschätzt, sind auch böse und die Guten sind hingegen wirklich gut und edel. Wer Überraschungen oder charakterliche Tiefe sucht, sucht sie hier vergebens.

Das ist bemerkenswert da sich dies eigentlich völlig mit dem titelgebenden Begriff der Aristie schlägt. In einem Vorwort sprechen die Macher zwar davon, dass sie sich nur auf die Schlacht in der Ilias beziehen, doch…

formal dient die Aristie dazu, zentralen und weniger zentralen Figuren einprägsames Profil zu verleihen

und genau das schafft dieser Trade überhaupt nicht! In diesem Punkt zieht Shrapnel auch im Vergleich mit dem thematisch sehr nahe liegenden Meisterwerk 300 den kürzeren. Eigentlich triffts “300 im Weltraum” auch eher als der Jeanne D’Arc Vergleich.

Da viele taktische Dinge nur ungenau oder gar nicht ausgeführt werden, kann man auch nicht richtig mitfiebern ob der “Plan” nun aufgehen wird oder nicht (hier spielt natürlich auch das Artwork ne wesentliche Rolle)

Da viel geschwiegen wird bzw. wenig erklärt, wirft der Trade einige Fragen auf. Ein großes Rätsel stellt für mich die Allianz dar. Es gibt keine Erklärung wie und warum sie sich formiert hat und warum sie die Venus unbedingt haben muss. Es wird zwar eine „strategisch wichtige Position zum Merkur“ erwähnt, aber das war’s dann auch schon.

Gibt es einen externen Feind? Gibt es auf dem Merkur Energiequellen oder Rohstoffe die wichtig für die Allianz ist? Welche Vorteile hat man wenn man sich der Allianz anschließt?

Ich kann mir schwer vorstellen, dass sich die Allianz nur zum reinen Selbstzweck gegründet hat und seitdem wild expandiert/kolonialisiert/okkupiert und ich würde auch gerne wissen wie die anderen Planeten reagiert haben, als die Allianz auf deren Türmatte stand…

Um noch mal auf den Warhammer 40k Vergleich (drängt sich schon wegen den Rüstungen auf) zurückzukommen muss ich leider sagen, dass ich beim Lesen des Regelbuches zu diesem Table-Top mehr Spannung und Tiefe fand, als bei Shrapnel. Und das soll was heißen…

Wirklich schade. Das Artwork ist fantastisch und die heldenhafte Sam mit ihrem Widerstand, die Solar Allianz mit ihrem ständige Krieg und der Helots/Splicer Konflikt hätten viele Möglichkeiten für ein hervorragendes Shrapnel-Universum parat, doch die Autoren haben praktisch alles links liegen lassen und verschenkt…

Ich hoffe es wird mal einen Autoren geben der die gute Hintergrundstory aufgreift, mehr in die Handlung miteinbezieht und Sam auch noch ein paar starke Kumpanen zur Seite stellt. Dann kauf ich mir auch wieder ein Shrapnel Comic…

2/5

Shrapnel: Aristeia Rising (TPB, Softcover)

Radical Publishing, August 2009

beinhaltet Shrapnel: Aristeia Rising #1-5

As mentioned at the start of the month, new projects are afoot and in the form of plague and disease! Project Death Guard is in full swing this month, with new models assembled and a new sculpt in the works.

March of Death

Using the Doghouse Space Marine builds I have tried to create a marching death theme for my army. To add a little flavouring to the mix, they will also be Pre Heresy.  Right now I have 7 Death guard, 4 Cataphract Terminators and a sculpt of Mortarion. I have also purchased random figures for various companies to make up the small Nurgling swarms that will naturally accompany the tide of filth.

Mortarion is a massive undertaking, using the main components of Brother Artemis from the Inquisitor range. The size of the model is actually pretty good for the Daemon prince incarnation of this model. and has had the details trimmed off and replaced with various bits of green stuff. One option I made early on was to remove the arms and sculpt bones in their place. These which naturally have sufficient rotting bandages as details.

Mortarion Stage 1

As of this week, I have a deadline for the project…May 2010 in time for a Pre-Heresy campaign known as “Age of the Emperor” Hopefully between then I can get 3000pts of Death Guard built and painted to the standard I envision AND get enough games in so I don’t make a complete fool of myself at Warhammer World haha…So much time spent playing Warmachine has left my Warhammer 40k node un-tapped for quite some years!

"Something look different about the boss these days?..."

With only 1 more month until Warmachine MKII is released, I am starting to stare at a very busy start to 2010, add on-top of this the amazing Sodapop Miniatures I have been drooling over, I ‘ll be surprised if I don’t OD on figure goodness well before May!

Thanks for reading

DiStudios

Ich lebe noch jaahaa

Naja derzeit level ich meine beiden letzten Zwerge Richtung 40, der Slayer ist gestern 35 geworden und der Runi nun kurz vor 38. An sich gibs dazu nicht viel zu sagen derzeit, allerdings da ich mir quasi selbst ne Pause zugelegt habe, spiele ich derzeit einen frischen Eisenbrecher ein wenig und versuche das ganze n wenig mit Hintergrund auszugleichen.

Allerdings bin ich damit n wenig unzufrieden noch, deswegen müsst ihr da noch warten hrhr

Good morning Intarwebz, how are you doing?

I am sure that you, like me, are aware of just how awesome a resource the Internet can be. Not just a repository for media of the female of the species in various states of undress doing unusual things with various food groups, but a fount of information and communities of like-minded individuals. Normally a hobby that is stereotypical filled with either pre-pubescent youths or sweaty, bearded old men locked away in their parents dungeon comes into the (normally shunned) bright lights of socialism and we find many places where we can engage with others, finding (shockingly) that the majority of gamers are just normal folks with a liking for half-naked elves, or whatever.

However, there is also a feature of Internet communities that are not so positive. While this medium has, in a way, brought the hobby to a more mainstream audience there has been an effect born of forums that does not just take place within our favoured pastime. This follows on from my post earlier in the week regarding the eagerness and excitement you can feel when a project clicks for you and I feel that this behaviour is increasingly prevalent. I’m willing to admit that we see perhaps a subset of the community who are active participants online and this may skew the results but we can deal with that.

What I am talking about is the negativity that seems pervasive sometimes when discussions of armies come up. Taking for an example the newest Fantasy army, the Skaven, I have read discussions that on some occasions are downright damning of various units and their abilities. I’ll also admit that these discussions seem to revolve purely around what will be viable for a tournaments and while I commend the fact that tournaments are more frequent and better established these days I would hazard that this is not the preferred way of gaming for the vast majority of gamers. I have read threads posted that could completely crush enthusiasm if you were planning something that is being discussed and these discussions rarely touch on those things that are positive. This isn’t purely the case with the latest armies, this can be anything at all, it really does seem that the more negative the person the more vocal they are when the Internet beckons.

Luckily for most of this I can try to ignore what is being said. I’m not a tourney player, I enjoy the quiet competition between friends gathered around a suitably transformed dining table. I’d also like to point out that this isn’t something only linked to Games Workshop’s games but is present among other companies as well. Any game involving an army list obviously will have some units that are seen as sub-par and others perform way beyond their points cost, however, I’m a keen believer that the game is what you make of it and all this negativity is unnecessary. We should enjoy trying things out and experimenting, not merely talking about which unit are auto-includes or that you should never take unit X because player Y reckons it sucks donkey wang without having ever actually used it.

Well, isn’t that unexpected?

Warhammer will yet have another server merge! Good side of it however is that with that decision the open pvp servers have finally died out. I’ve hardly been more impressed by a more ridiculous rule set allowing overpowered high levels killing player 20 levels beneath them while being rewarded for it. Talk about lack of self esteem. Playing on Gorfang and Dark Crag having the possibility by December 2nd to move there will definitely cause a few changes, hopefully for the better – Ha, I should know better. Good things do not happen. Oh well, aside from that however it’ll be interesting to see the outcome. My personal overall view of the elitist brats and bodily over aged yet mentally under aged players isn’t exactly high, why would it be? Of course there’s exceptions to the rule.

Currently being rolled by Destro day in day out isn’t exactly frustrating me, as I get my fair share of renown and kills everyday I decide to let my wet tampon go lose on them. It wouldn’t be too shabby if balance would be obtained but since I don’t like fooling myself I foresee a shift. A shift not necessarily causing more balance, or less for that matter, but nerdragings all over the place due to elitism being thrown around, makes one question how easy it is these days to obtain school certificates and how they still hold any value in any society on this planet. I shall welcome them warmly, assuming they’re cool guys – if not, my ignore list will welcome them warmly. Matter of fact however is that there will be more destro and hence more kills, how could that ever be bad in War?

Oh well, we shall see how it goes – I at least hope for a short term blast before one of the sides decides to yet again ragequit or roll with the winning side.

I’ve been playing Warhammer for quite a while now, ~4-5 months to be precisely I’d say. After having played countless of MMO’s ever since I started in ~2002 I must say that Warhammer might ranks the worst ‘professional’ MMO out there. I like crappy games however, hence the reason I’ve spent my youth grinding to level 95 in PristonTale and do not regret it.

Now, don’t get this wrong, Warhammer is an actual awesome game, very casual too but the lack of effort put into by the developers drives people with working braincells nuts, eventually anyway. You ever played a MMORPG where you could remove debuffs on yourself by right clicking them? No?! Well, then Warhammer might be your game. I’m sure that bug will be around sometime soon again, just give you guys an idea of how trivial and sloppy programming work can be done. Still, I much rather blame EA, as they’re fairly well known to produce crap after crap and ultimately sitting on a large pile of crap no one wants.

Well, nothing the user can do about that really but simply keep on enjoying ones time while paying 15$ a month for it. Definitely been worth it thus far, lastly due to the awesome people playing this game and trollable forums. I like trolling.

So then, to my own disappointment I got sucked into rolling a Shadow Warrior (it’s a trap, in fact even a worse trap 4-chan refers to as ‘trap’) but hey, I like it challenging. Roll one too if you like a challenge! Warhammer generally suffered a lot from balancing issues, call it developers bias or simply claim developers don’t play the game themselves – both sound like very acceptable and reasonable conclusions after having spent some time in the game. Well, I don’t want to go too deep into detail (yet) as my nerdrage is currently well managed and shall remain inside of me (SCREW YOU PULLING MARAUDERS THOUGH). I don’t think I know of any other MMO’s where classes as gimped (in comparison to others) as the Shadow Warrior existed. Also, I don’t know any other MMO’s were classes as overpowered Chosens and general tanks were. Warhammer handles itself quite awesome. Tanks hit like trucks, Damage classes hit like planes and if a magical class attacks you an atomic bomb is being set off on you. Ranged damage classes however will only remind you to wet tampons being thrown against a brick wall, or be said trucks, planes and/or atomic bombs. Now, that’s quite an insight there as well as my current e-life experience which I do not regret to have made, lastly because it proves that wet tampons are occasionally capable of beating trucks and planes.

If you ever consider playing this awesome game stay away from gimp classes, unless you’re a masochist – the flavor of the month classes come and go, overall however the chance is high by always being on top by not picking a ranged damage class, that’s if you’re somewhat capable of generally performing at least at ‘meh level’ in MMO’s you touch.

I’ll keep on posting about the game’s development as well as my own personal experience in it, may it be good or bad ones. That post perhaps gave you a slight inside of what future content may look like, so I’d hope you enjoy reading random rants. Don’t be fooled however, despite speaking utmost truth 90% of the time things aren’t quite as horrible as I put them, but I simply love doing it.

Oh yes, for those having read the ‘About Me’ and hence noticed I’m German I must add that I’m playing the actual US version of this game. If you do too and / or want after reading this don’t hesitate to catch up with if you’d like – I shall be found trolling on the US Gorfang server forum section or ingame (Gorfang) occasionally listening to the name of Cirashar (DAMN YOU RANDOM NAME GENERATOR).

Have an awesome day / night everyone

The images below best represent what I think of the SW and WL classes in tiers 1 through 3.

Warhammer has announced that they will begin allowing players to transfer off of two servers starting on the second. Not unsurprising at first glance, but when you look at the origination servers you might find a bit of a surprise. Dark Crag and Phoenix throne. These two are the PvP and RP servers, respectively. So, they will be transferring off of one ruleset to that of another. Admittedly, I don’t think the impact would be as drastic for any other game, as it’s already based around PvP, and the only real PR restriction on Phoenix Throne is a naming policy, and other players encouraging role-play. As always, it’s a mixed bag of emotions for me, I’m sad to see servers consolidating, which leads to closing, but happy to have more bodies around to fight. It’s necessary, but not where we wanted to be a year and change after launch.

hello,

This is an intro into my warhammer 40k. I will be posting updates and if popular I will give it its own page. For those who do not know warhammer this should suffice http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/article.jsp?categoryId=cat1290027&aId=9300005 have a look through this article and if this is not enough have a look the website itself and if even that is not enough search on the internet for warhammer 40k. For those actual gamers I collect space marines and have named my chapter desolation sons. My force  comprises of a battleforce and a 200 point chapter master named all father malicus great grandson of the primarch avroc malicus.  I am asking for assault on black reach for Christmas and tomorrow I am ordering a terminator librarian.

One of the commissions i have done for Kharak its a vampire count army set in bretonia, for that commission i have used bretonian bits to give them the right look, the custormer also gave me some Gamezone miniature to give his army a more unique look.

All the army was painted in the advanced mode that its quite cheap in the services offered by Kharak and give the miniatures a professional look, sometimes even better that the one we can see in the games workshop web, its the most demanded paint mode. I can paint at the Masterclass level, but i will talk about that in the future, now its time for the vampire counts.

As i had said i used some bits to make the conversion, on the skeletons, the grave guards where done starting with the bodys of the bretonian men-at-arms to give them a tougher look, the heads where done mixing the heads from the vampire count skeletons and the helms from the bretonian bits, for the weaponts, two handed swords, the ones from the vampire count grave guards where used. I had to cut here and there and use some green stuff to fit all the parts and give them a good looking aspect.

For the ordinary skeletons, the main idea was that they are from the remains scattered on the battlefields, some remains from here an there, so i used most of the bits on the skeletons box set and modified them to fit the bretonian helmets and the shields from the men-at-arms.

Both on the grave guards and the skeleton warriros where painted to give them an aged look and the metals rusty by time.
The zombies didn’t got any conversion, but the customer wanted me to make the two last rows on each unit look like them were just getting out from their graves.
On the black knights, the customer wanted them to have a greenish ghostly look, like the shadows army on the lord of the rings. So they would have black armors weared by ghostly horses and knights.
For the blood knigths, we used gamezone miniatures like on the black knights, i have painted them red like the ones on games workshop.
About 120 minuatures is the vampire count army that I got asked to paint, and i must say its quite impresive as a whole.

I haven’t posted about kustom figures in a while, mostly because I was busy painting for my Ebay page. However, recently I found I had a little time on my hands, and so decided to get to work on my next project: The Boss Boyz and the Megatrukkers. This basically consists of two mega-bosses, Boss Klubrok and Boss Bigshoot. They both have Mega armor, (though it is more prominent on Boss Bigshoot,) They both have Cybork bodies, (though it is more prominent on Boss Klubrok,) and Bigshoot has a bosspole. They ride in a Megatrukk, (a battlewagon I converted from an ork trukk,) along with their Megatrukkers, Five Meganobz, all armed with twin linked shootas. Note that this group was converted from an assault on black reach Warboss, three assault on black reach nobs, three nobs from the ork boyz sprue, and an ork trukk. (Not to mention enough plasticard to build a small house, and enough modeling clay to make a foundation for it.)  Here is the verdict:

Left: Boss Klubrok. Middle: Boss Bigshoot. Left: A Megatrukker.

Below: The Megatrukkers

Below: the unfinished Megatrukk.

The Boss Boyz used to be veteran Nobz, on their way to becoming Warbosses, when one day, in the thick of battle, they were blown apart by a Tau railgun. Fortune smiled upon them that day, and they were revived by painboss Hurtpoke. They both had rebuilt craniums and extensive arm repair, but Klubrok, who had taken the brunt of the impact, survived with only one of his original limbs intact. Hurtpoke secretely injected them with a growth hormone he created by boiling Mushrooms in a large pot of fungus beer. The twins both had different effects, Klubrok’s head trebled in size, the rest fo his body merely being strengthened without any growth. on the other hand, Bigshoot had the reverse effect. His body doubled, and he had to eh… ‘Ask’ A mek to build him a new set of mega armor. His head, however, was now dwarfed by the immense body he had. They gathered together a band of the toughest nobs they could find, and with the help of their local mek, a legend was born.

Another idea I had was to use Klubrok as a single Warboss without mega-armor but still a cybork body and a power klaw, who is an ex-runtherd who was blown apart by the same railgun, and saved by the painboss, who went mad and gathered together dozens of snotlings, who I will play as attack squigs. It will cost a bundle, but if I put him in a group of 18 boys and a nob and throw it all in my megatrukk, He definitely make it to the front lines, and nineteen strength ten power attacks, not including the charge, is nothing to scoff at, even with the initiative disadvantage.

Off the beer bitches!

I’ll keep this short, as I don’t have much time.

This weekend I dabbled in games, I had to finish a drawing I was doing for my Art class, as well as paint the babies room, so free time was at a bit of a minimum.

WAR – Shadow Warrior: Played maybe 5 scenarios. I did get a piece of mail from the guild leader of a decent guild saying that if I wanted to come join up with them, I’m welcome to see if it would be a good fit. He’s aware of my situation as I’m pretty active on the boards. I’m probably going to give my guild another week, and then make a decision.

WAR – Disciple of Khaine: All city, all weekend. I kid you not. I think Saturday we were in there three times. It’s ridiculous. I played some SCs, did some city sieging. Farmed the palace a bit. The good news: got the purple bag from the invasion PQ and got a hot, HOT jewelry piece. I want to handcuff it and call it dirty names.

Champions Online – I “did” the Lemurian Crisis. Solo. I’m going to have to accept that I will never beat this crisis, and that no one ever does it. Once I got to the boss, I understood why. He’s a legendary villain, and he’s big and nasty, and looks like an overgrown Murlock. The real nasty part though, is that he’s surrounded by this purple-black fog. This fog, while innocuous at first glance, is actually the kryptonite of my character. Whenever anyone within the fog has full endurance, they start taking heavy damage. Yes, I am a END/REC character, built around having as much endurance at all times. I’m going to have to ride the bench on this one coach.

DAoC - Wha? What is this doing here? After my post last week asking about it, I gave it a whirl. It’s actually pretty neat. You can tell they’ve made crazy graphical improvements over the years. The interface is a tad lacking, but surprisingly decent for what it was. My biggest complaint is how the camera interfaces with the turning of my character. If I turned my character (not strafe) the camera is disconnected and remains in the direction as previously. I probably would never pay for it unless they offered some bundle deal with WAR.

Games Day miniature revealed

The 2010 Games Day miniature is a wonderful Warhammer Chaos Sorcerer sculpted by Dave Thomas. Resplendent with tentacles, skulls and a book of forbidden lore, it oozes character.The Games Workshop Newsletter

The Games Day miniature will only be available at your country’s Games Day. Tickets for Games Day France and Games Day US will be going on sale within the next few weeks. Make sure you check out your local Community and Events pages for the date and ticket release day for your local Games Day 2010. You’ll also find preview articles, event updates and everything else you’ll want to know in order to make the most of your Games Day experience.