Tabletop Teacher

On the first day of Christmas, Games Workshop gave to me; Ahriman on a Disc of Tzeentch. On the second day of Christmas, Games Workshop gave to me; Two Primaris Lieutenants,  and Ahriman on a Disc of Tzeentch. On the third day of Christmas, Games Workshop gave to me; Three Inceptors, Two Lieutenants, and Ahriman on a Disc of Tzeentch. On the fourth day of Christmas, Games Workshop gave to me; Four Command Squad Vets, Three Inceptors, Two Lieutenants, and Ahriman on a Disc of Tzeentch. On the fifth day of Christmas, Games Workshop gave to me; Fiiiive Space Marines! Four Command Squad Vets, Three Inceptors, Two Lieutenants, and Ahriman on a Disc of Tzeentch. On the sixth day of Christmas, Games Workshop gave to me; Six Crisis Suits, Fiiiive Spaace Marines! Four Command Squad Vets, Three Inceptors, Two Lieutenants, and Ahriman on a Disc of Tzeentch. On the seventh day of Christmas, Games Workshop gave to

Did you ever have an idea you couldn't let go of? I wonder if you could help me put a name to it. A few weeks ago, I wrote about how the new Escher Gang kit can be used to make an all female Imperial Guard Army . And I just can't let go of the idea. The army satisfies a number of table top cravings I have, ones that used to be filled by the Space Marines and T'au, but have been more absent in 8th Edition. What I liked about those two factions was the easy access to Deep Strike, and the tactical flexibility offered. Putting Space Marines in a drop pod was a great core to an aggressive force, and I could write a book on Deep Striking small units of Crisis Suits taken from the Farsight Enclave lists. That hasn't transitioned well into 8th Edition, where drop pods and Crisis suits are now point-expensive to near useless. That may well change, but another faction has popped up, fulfilling that exact role... and with an incredibly expanded tactical flexibility to

I don't really like delving into drama, unless it's my own, and digging deep into the hot air produced to see if there's anything valuable is never worth the time I've spent doing it. However, I would like to point out some bits and pieces I've noticed in calming my own rampant emotions on the topic. As ever, the caveat to this is that everyone on the internet is wrong, particularly blogging teachers who really should be getting more than 3 hours sleep a night. And who should really be writing their Christmas reports, rather than adding to internet drama. For the uninformed, well done for avoiding a waste of time that's better spent painting toy soldiers. But if you must know what happened, Spikey Bits published an article about bullying in 40K. Arch Warhammer responded to this. Both sides made some fairly outlandish claims, that perhaps make sense in the context of the drama. To an outsider, it's very much a storm in a tea cup... on both sid

By the Golden Throne... did the Dark Angels ever come back stronger?! The codex teasers have been revealed over on Warhammer Community, and it's time to see how the 1st Legion have fared in the shift to 8th Edition. They've done quite well... I'm going to break this into three shorter posts, as there is a great deal to get through. The Chapter Tactic alone is going to be a huge game changer for most Space Marine players, and needs a lot more in-depth analysis. Chapter Tactic Wow. Not only is this an incredibly strong offensive tactic, it's also a very strong defensive one. It's even a strong leadership tactic, making it so much more useful than the Blood Angels and equivalent Codex Marine tactics it's not even funny. I'll start with the down side, which is not even that much of an issue. You'll need to be stationary to enact this tactic fully. Note the wording; "so long as it did not move in its prior Movement phase"

A promised, Warhammer community have released the new units available to the Blood Angels in their next codex. The advice they give is somewhat lacking, so I'll give you my opinion on how best to use them.   The confirmed units available are:   All Primaris marines Cataphractii and Tartaros Terminators Stormhawk Interceptor and Stormtalon Gunship Hunter and Staler Anti-aircraft tanks Cataphractii captain   So let's look at each part, in the context of the released Stratagems and relics :   I've done numerous reviews on Primaris Units, and I'll be updating those with the Blood Angels Tactics. I'll summarise them here first though.   Intercessors   Blood Angel Intercessors hit harder in combat thanks to the Blood Angel chapter tactic. They're still not a fully melee force, but can perform objective assaults far more effectively than other Space Marines. They still won't annihilate anything in the first round of combat, but they m

"Wow, I was expecting a diatribe about Sisters of Battle or all male Space Marines but this really made me think. Thanks." - First response to previous post. This is progress! I'm still holding fire on talking about the human element of 40K, and meandering through the xenos races. I think talking about Space Marines and Guard is simply a surface level analysis of the diversity and social politics present in the Grim Dark future. Today the Orks are up for review, being the most universally loved faction in 40K, and perhaps the only alien race created to have 100% support and respect from a fan base. Okay, the table top rules for them fall in and out of favour like a yo-yo, but simply mentioning the green skins has people going WAAAGGHHH!!! To put it in perspective, consider the Tolkein orcs and orcoids from Lord of the Rings. Whilst people generally respect the story of the franchise, no one has waxed lyrical on the orcs, despite them being the main antagonists i

The Blood Angels Chapter tactics, stratagems and relics dropped yesterday, and I'm really pleased with what's been added! Chapter tactic Wow... that's huge. Let's talk about the good, the complication and the not so good. The excellent is the straight melee damage buff to the Blood Angels. With this even your tacticals will be hitting as hard as T'au Pulse Rifles, and will be effectively wounding elder and Guard on 2s. They level the playing field somewhat against Plague Marines, making this a really solid tactic. It also means they have a 1-in-3 chance of wounding big monsters, Imperial Knights and Land Raiders. That doesn't sound like much, but it's double the wounds coming from other Space Marines in melee... and these will be your regular dudes. Not only that, but they have a really strong possibility of punching Dreadnoughts to death! They wound those half the time! The Death Company, with this rule, have suddenly catapulted ahead