Tabletop Nation 'Eastern Edge II' Tournament

Thanks to deciding to skip Black Library's Weekender (more on how money-grabbing and unfriendly BL have been in a later post) I was able to instead go to the Eastern Edge II tournament at Tabletop Nation today.

This was a one day, 1200 points, 40k tourney. The aim was for four games to be played, hence the low points limit. It turns out however that there is some kind of hard limit of points in 40k, whereby any points cost over said limit does not really reduce playing time. Thus, even with small armies, we still only managed three games each in the time allotted.

Lets get the good news out of the way first - I came second :) I got a nice little voucher to spend in the store and a certificate to add to the trophy shelf (there isn't really a trophy shelf, I just put it on a bookshelf for now). I was actually genuinely surprised to do so well. I had thought I was in with a good chance at best painted army, to be honest. But still, a prize is a prize :)

There was a fairly good selection of armies at play. Alongside three Blood Angels armies were Orks, Daemons, Space Wolves, and Necrons. Daemons placed first with three wins out of three while the Orks came in just behind me.

A brief summary of my list and three games then.

I took a Librarian with psychic powers from the BRB, going with Prescience every time and a random TK power too that never got used. I had a Furioso with Frag Cannon and two Sanguinary Priests as Elites. Two tactical squads for troops, one with a las-cannon, one with a plasma cannon, and, finally, two Stormravens, each with plasma cannons and Typhoons, one with sponsons.

Top: difficult to budge Tactical Squad and Bottom: fleeing Grey Hunters!

First game was against Space Wolves. It was Kill Points. My opponent had Grey Hunters in Rhinos and Long Fangs with rockets and Long Fangs with plasma, which might have been problematic had we not got a) deployment at the short edges, and b) night-fighting on the first turn. So his Long Fangs were neutered on turn one, and unable to hit my flyers on turn two ( a combo of templates-can't-hit-flyers and poor dice rolling there ). My flyers and long range shooters, by contrast, were able to take out two Rhinos and suppress the third. We did end up with a couple of combats but, surprisingly, his GH packs, even when, on one occasion, being backed up by charging Thunderwolf cavalry, could not shift my tactical squads. I even got one squad to run away! Cut to Turn 5 then, and my Furioso dismounts and frags a Long Fang squad to death. The two Stormravens nuke another couple of Rhinos for more easy kill points and its a win for the boys in red.

Second game was the saddest of all things - red on red violence. My opponent this time also had Blood Angels but in a list I wish I had had. For one thing he took and Aegis. At 1200 points I didn't think anyone would want to fit that into a list, but then he also had five man assault squads taking las-preds with 35-point discounts so it all fit. Two Librarians too, one on a bike, also spelled doom for my boys, with both of them taking Divination powers to make their shooting infallible. We were playing the Relic and I combat-squadded my troops to have a better chance of grabbing the relic. But it was not to be - giving his quad-gun Ignores Cover and his assault bikes rerolls to hit made short work of my army. A Stormraven was predicatably cut to pieces by the quad on arrival and it all went downhill from there really.

Third game was a bit more fun. Fun for me, that is, because it generally went all my way. I had chosen to take BA's over my usual favourite for competitive play, Space Wolves, because the last tournament winner at TTN had taken 'Cron Air. Five flyers had apparently made easy work out all comers so I wanted some built-in Skyfire. Today's 'cron player only had one flyer though, and no other competent anti-air. Playing Big Guns Never Tire, with five objectives on the table, I started claiming two, one of which, in ruins already, improved my cover save by one. One of his was sabotaged so he had to shift off it pretty sharpish. My Stormravens were able to polish off one of his Heavy Support tank-things (sorry, I really can't remember all the silly names GW gives their toys) for First Blood and a bonus victory point. And, for me at least, it was all uphill from there. The 'crons just couldn't stand up to marine shooting or the Stormravens - Power of the Machine Spirit is the only thing GW failed to nerf on these machines. I even hit the 'cron flyer with my las-cannon in the last turn causing it to fly off the board and onto the post-game kill points column. A good win.

Salamanders vs. Space Wolves. Not everyone brought Space Marines though, honest.

Just time for a couple of quick observations and thoughts on the armies I saw and played today then.

As I suspected, the Stormraven does now largely suck as a transport for anything without jump packs. In 5th you could roll halfway across the table and then charge out of its belly to assault your enemy. In 6th you can only do this if it moves 6" or less. It excels as a gunship though. The rules for flyers work really well for the Stormraven - it has so many guns, plus PotMS, and can put out massive amounts of firepower, lots of which can be twin-linked. Lots of talk has been made of melta being redundant as noone takes Armour 14 any more. the necrons have great access to Arm 13 though and, sometimes, I wish I had had las-cannons on the flyers. But even without them, the SR has loads of rockets built in, the option for more, is hard to hit when flying and can Evade, is easier to hit when hovering but can Jink. Its got everything you want from something with 'Gunship' in its name.

The Aegis line with quad-gun is just great. I highly expect to be buying one soon for use at 1750 and above. There is no reason not to take one and, particularly if you twin-link it with a psyker, has the power to ruin an enemy's day and list.

Assault marines and more Predators are pretty nifty too. They make a staple of 5th, one which is still very valid in 6th, very cost-effective. Thinking about the great value they are and how deadly my las-Pred Space Wolves are makes me drool a little.

Finally 'crons. I was not super-impressed by these guys. The units that came into range of my tactical marines were really easy to kill. Even the big hard ones with shields went down to plasma bursts and a Frag Cannon  quite quickly. The Deathmarks were probably the scariest, hitting marines very reliably and with some silly rule that allowed them to wound me on twos. But ten marines in cover, with a Priest, turn out to be very hard to shoot to death. In return they obliterated the 'marks in two turns of shooting. The flyer was a bit more worrying, largely because it is very manouverable. It also has that silly beam-down ability which could be a problem if it is filled with the right unit. I think it managed, over three turns, to take out a Stormraven, and nearly did some major damage to a tactical squad before being las-cannoned off the board. Again, Aegis line....

Overall then, a good day out. For what was billed as a 'casual' tourney, some players played remarkably aggressively and not everyone took losing in, shall we say, and 'admirable' fashion. Some were out the door as soon as the last dice settled when they had lost a game, i.e. they didn't think they could 'win' the tournament so there was no point in sticking around. But most people had a fun few games, drank a lot of coffee and rolled a lot of dice. Many many plastic men gave up their lives, often repeatedly, for our pleasure and enjoyment, and that, after all, is what its all about.

Whats the Difference: 40k/Warmachine/Hordes?

Tabletop Nation have been running a journeyman league for Warmahordes recently, which has given me the impetus to get painted and the opportunity to play with my Cryx army. I have still only had half a dozen games with them so bear that in mind. This isn't an exhaustive guide to playing either game, just a few observations on the differences between them - things you might like to know if you want to switch from 40k to Warmahordes.

Tabletop Nation's Journeyman League

Firstly, size. Warmahordes uses much smaller model counts to play with. The starter sets come to around 15 points and that may only mean four models. But this is still a very playable force, compared to say half a 40k starter box which can feel like only half a proper army. Even when you go up a level to 25 points, you many only add two or three more units to your list which could again be as few as one, two, or three models. My 25 point list, for example, added four new units to the starter set, for a total of 16 new models. But my 35 point list is only two additional units and two new models.

You can have many more models, of course. I chose two one-model units specifically to save on money and time  but I could have gone for lots of cheap light jacks. Painting earns you points in the league though, so I didn't want to get bogged down with two many jacks and solo's to paint.

Second, Warmahorde units feel less flexible than 40k units do. For starters your force will be led by a Warcaster, at least if you have a Warmachine army, I forget what the Hordes leaders are called. Your choice of caster will heavily influence how you fight and what you choose to play with, partly because each caster has a once-a-game feat to use - a special irresistible effect, unique to each caster - and partly because each caster has a list of themed armies they can take which, if you meet the force organisation requirements, give bonuses to your army.

Units appear very clearly defined in what they are meant to do too. If it is a close-combat jack you will know it. If a unit is meant to shoot at stuff, it will be clear. Actual gameplay might of course change what units have to do - but they start with very clear purposes.

Guess what that dude does...

A criticism of Warmachine is that each fight can feel very similar to the last one then, as your tactics aren't likely to change too much from engagement to engagement. I think this is possibly deliberate on the part of the designers though. This inflexibility pretty much forces you to buy new toys when you want to fight in a different way, but what might at first seem a weakness  becomes a strength when you see how cheap the models are.

Whereas with a 40k army you might have to plan a list for every eventuality, then buy and build every model in that list, with Warmachine it feels more like you focus on one small area of the army book, build and play with that, then expand your collection to allow more tactical flexibility and options. The end result is the same - a large collection of miniatures with all sorts of options. But its much easier to start a Warmachine force and cheaper to expand it.

Warcaster Denegrha's job is to hide behind the big guy.

 
The next big difference is the turn sequence and importance of individual models. In 40k, every model gets to move, then every model shoots, then every model fights. In Warmahordes, every unit does all those things, one at a time. So model or unit A moves, shoots, and fights. Then model B moves shoots, then fights. And so on. The challenges of each system are similar - you have to plan what is going to move where, and shoot what and fight what before committing. But, as a long time 40k player, one has to take care not to shoot and not to assault a target to death I had also planned to assault with another model, leaving that second model stranded far from the enemy.

Finally the big big difference between the two systems - Focus and Fury.

Warmachine uses Focus. This is mana for your casters and is used to empower your jacks to charge and do more damage as well as casting spells. It is a precious commodity and adds another layer of complexity to planning each turn.

Hordes uses Fury. This kind of works in reverse to Focus, in that monsters gain Fury when given commnds to do stuff and, if not dispersed properly, has the potential to overload your beasts, causing the, to go berserk. I actually quite like this system, it feels a lot less limited than Focus. It has the potential to cripple your force if you're unlucky, but as far as I can see the benefits outweigh the risk.

Overall then, Warmahordes, at least up to 35 points a side, feels like a lot more focussed and intense game than 40k does. It lacks a little of the 'narrative of battle' 40k has, owing largely to the smaller battlefields and forces. It is by no means weaker though, just very different.

It is quick, easy, simple and cheap to collect a strong army for with Warmachine or Hordes. The models are almost all attractive and well made and the game systems have complexities and mechanisms that make them, like all good games, easy to pick and difficult to master.

Freeloaders of the World, Unite!

There cannot be many industries in the world where the dominant manufacturer can call its principle customers 'freeloaders' and get away with it - toy soldiers is one though. Because that is how Games Workshop's CEO, Mark Wells, referred to internet retailers of GW products in May, this year. Well, here is the response of at least some of those freeloaders.

Yes, Tabletop Nation, an inclusive initiative, bringing together manufacturers, retailers, and, crucially, customers, all under one friendly banner designed to - well, thats the question, isn't it? What is Tabletop Nation for? What is supposed to do? Frankly, the blurb on the web page is not all that clear, but let me explain what I think Wayland and BoW are proposing.

In a nutshell, what I think we are looking at here is a sort of merger - in a strictly non-legally binding sense - to form a corporation with a size to rival Games Workshop. And I do believe it is intended to rival Games Workshop. Its a big assumption, I know, but I believe a fair one. Also, we are only talking about the UK - for now.

As things stand, every game system or manufacturer has their own little piece of the pie, their own little sub-niche within the tabletop gaming marketplace. Wayland has their customers, totalwargamer theirs. Privateer Press has its list of customers, as does Mantic. Each little group of customers is fairly isolated from the others due to the way this hobby is run - there are very few (if any) publications covering more than one war gaming system and not a lot brand-name websites covering them either (yeah, there are some, but compare how many sites deal with more than one tabletop gaming system with the number that cover, say sports or fashion - its a small field). And of course, no manufacturer puts links to their competitors on their site. New customers are usually found through word of mouth recommendations - someone you know says game X is cool because they know you like game Y. Even then you need a critical mass, in this case enough people to play against each other for it to be interesting, of new customers to really get established in any one place.

So, every product is trying to sell itself in isolation and cannot piggyback on related products to drive acquisition of new customers. Plus, you need to get several new customers all at the same time in order for any of them to keep buying your products and thus grow your foothold in an area.

Enter BoW and Wayland.

Beasts of War has expanded from being essentially a youtube channel to a well-established and regarded tabletop news and articles website with (presumably) high traffic rates. They run text news articles but are fairly unique in their range of video series. As well as painting guides, they also put out unboxing videos of wargaming products, tips and tactics videos, and reviews. They also put together series of videos to coincide with the release of new ranges or armies for established brands including Games Workshops. They have forums for all the major gaming systems and have been trying to position themselves as a social hub for tabletop gamers for some time. All of this makes them a recognised brand with access to a large number of registered users.

Wayland, similarly, has a large database of wargames customers and a lot of experience retailing to them.

Here is what in essence I reckon they are saying to prospective partners in Tabletop Nation: get on board with our new brand and get access to all our customers and all your competitors' customers. In other words, advertise with us, feed us with access to your products (news, behind the scenes, freebies for competitions, whatever) and be viewed by our massive numbers of loyal fans, who may currently only be playing other games, so they can discover your game as well. Sure, some of your customers might end up buying their products - but some of their customers will end up buying yours too. And after all, in a capitalist marketplace, we all believe our product has strengths above our competitors so what do you have to lose by being seen alongside them?

This is in contrast to, say, Games Workshop's current promotional strategy, which seems to run something along the lines of keep saying our stuff is the best in the world and pretend no other games system exists and it will be alright.

There is a slightly different proposition for customers and retailers.

One of GW's greatest strengths right now is its geographical reach. With around 150 stores worldwide and counting, I don't know how many of which are in the UK, each of which runs at least one club night per week, plus all the Games Club Network clubs that are advertised in White Dwarf every month, there are a lot of places you can easily find a game of Warhammer or 40k each week. There are many more clubs and stores running gaming nights than these though - but none have such ready access to national press advertising as GW. This could change with Tabletop Nation. So your store that runs a gaming night that, as before, struggles to find new members because they struggle to find you, can now be listed on the central hub site for UK gamers. And wherever you live you could search for clubs or players near you, or find new clubs or friends in places you are visiting.

Which brings me on to what, for me, is perhaps the most exciting part of the Tabletop Nation blurb - the gaming hall 'east of London'. I currently live in the same town Wayland operates from and I know the new hall is also going to be very close to me. I love everything about Warhammer World - except its location and the fact you can only play GW games there. Tabletop Nation's headquarters could be the answer to both those problems.

None of this is guaranteed, of course. Its all just my guess at what's going on and what is being offered. Some of it is perhaps wishful thinking too, or just what I would do if I were trying to build the Tabletop Nation brand.

I doubt we'll hear much more of this until the New Year but, hopefully, agreements are being drawn up and ink signed even over the Christmas holiday. Tabletop Nation could be a great step forward for all wargamers and is certainly full of potential to revolutionise how the hobby works. I look forward to learning more about it son.