Hi all

With the Ardboyz semis just around the corner, I have to make decisions regarding just what army to take and then what would that army be composed of.

Tau, Necrons, or Orks?

I am fortunate enough to be able to choose between three different armies that I have played extensively and have a fairly large collection of each to choose from.

The Tau were what got me to the party, winning the preliminary round quite handily, including crushing the K-W champion from the previous Ardboyz. I have a decent track record with them, and I have come to enjoy playing them because they require patience and precision to win with consistently. On the negative side, they are quite fragile, and I can foresee some armies that would give them fits at times.

The Necrons are an interesting challenge and opportunity. At 2500 points, you can actually have a solid phase out and still include the big game-changing pieces like the Nightbringer and multiple monoliths. However, the age of the codex really shows at times, especially in the area of Troop selections, where warriors just don’t stack up anymore.

The Orks are really compelling choice. I took them to the prelims in 2009 with a fairly limited selection of forces available (only 30 Shoota Boyz, no battle wagons). It was good enough to be on table one against other orks in the final round, resulting in a perfect draw. It is a year later and I now have much more at my disposal for possibilities. I now have access to 180 shoota boyz, 45 lootas, and 3 battle wagons, which opens up a lot of possibilities. There troops are excellent and plentiful. How can I not take the army with all the new possibilities???

And the winner is?

Orks are my selection. My oldest and favourite army will get the chance to go for gold tomorrow.

I'll let everyone know how it goes next week.

Cheers,
Nate

Warmaster’s Presents Thunderhawk Down 40K Skirmish

One of my recent sideline projects has been the development of 40K skirmish rules reminiscent of Mordheim and Necromunda. My colleague Adam Laforet and I have been working hard on developing a ruleset that brings out the elements we all loved from Mordheim using the 5th edition ruleset for Warhammer 40,000.

Why in the world would I want to do this?
Well, for those who know me, I did two tours of duty as the Nexus Games Employee while going to university, and an eight-month tour for Phoenix when Bill was getting things under way. Well, three years have passed and Bill still hadn’t taken a vacation... so I decided that I would use a week of my vacation to give him a needed week away from the store to recharge his batteries.

About three weeks before “Nate Week” occurred, a few of the regulars were out, enjoying a few beverages, and I made the statement that I wanted to do something really cool for Nate Week. We tossed around various ideas, including revisiting old campaigns, leagues, and specialist games opportunities. And then it hit us - a skirmish scale 40k game, complete with experience, levelling, injuries and interesting scenarios would be fantastic.

Adam and I waded into this project with a gusto, producing three drafts in three weeks. Nate week was a week of gaming madness, culminating in a late night Saturday of Thunderhawk Down that required us to triple up the players on the tables. We received fantastic feedback from the community, cool scenario ideas, and rocking Wargear options (thanks to all those folks, you know who you are).

Our next step.
We want this game to be played by the wider community, and used Games Day Toronto as the perfect opportunity to unveil the system. But simply lugging some terrain down to the event wasn’t enough for us. We built a custom table, designed a custom Tyranid Infestation Treasure hunt scenario, and updated the rules.

What Next?
Moving forward, we are looking for more feedback. We will be doing periodic released of additional material. We are looking to expand the wargear options, develop a full scenario section, and we are toying with black opts rules.

If you have any further suggestions, cool ideas, or lists you want done, post them in the Thunderhawk Down section of the forums.

Cheers,
Nate