Warhammer 40k: Assault on Black Reach

[MythicalMino]

So, I finally made the plunge into Warhammer 40k. I have been checking out a couple of the books (for the miniatures game) from a friend from work, and the more I read about it, the more I found it interesting. I found a store that both sells and plays the games, so I purchased the box starter set, Assault on Black Reach.

Wow.

There are two armies included, a Space Marines army and an Orks army. Both are pretty small, but they are both a good start. Some very cool  miniatures, and from what I have been told, the Deffkopters (the Orkish helicopters) can only be found in the box set).

I have been reading the rules, and it is kinda difficult reading in some places. Today, I will be going back to that store, to maybe have someone walk me through a battle.

Looking forward to getting more into the game, though.

Chris

[ROTC1983]

Welcome aboard

[Azhag]

I used to play Fantasy Battles, Bloodbowl, Necromunda, and a bit of 40k. Loved it. Hopefully I'll get some of my friends now to start...

[MythicalMino]

Ok....gameplay question.

Orks vs. Space Marines.

7 Space Marines let loose with a volley of boltgun fire, landing 5 hits. Out of those 5 hits, 3 rolls to wound. Now what do I do? This is where I get stuck. Armor Piercing confuses me quite a bit for some reason. The Ork Boyz have a sv of 6+, the bolt gun has an AP of 5. From how I am reading it, I automatically take away 3 Orc Boyz due to them not getting a saving throw because of the Marines' AP rating for their weapons. Am I correct? Or does Armor Piercing play a different role? Not sure....

Chris

[Semaj]

armor piercing means any armor save with a higher number than the AP (in this case the ap is 5 and the save is 6) negates any chance of a save.  There are exceptions, like some armor will ALWAYS get a save no matter the AP.

But in this example 3 orcs are removed, and the orc commander goes: I think I just lost 12 points, time to kill a marine and remain even

[CrayolaSmoker]

Ok....gameplay question.

Orks vs. Space Marines.

7 Space Marines let loose with a volley of boltgun fire, landing 5 hits. Out of those 5 hits, 3 rolls to wound. Now what do I do? This is where I get stuck. Armor Piercing confuses me quite a bit for some reason. The Ork Boyz have a sv of 6+, the bolt gun has an AP of 5. From how I am reading it, I automatically take away 3 Orc Boyz due to them not getting a saving throw because of the Marines' AP rating for their weapons. Am I correct? Or does Armor Piercing play a different role? Not sure....

You've got the right of it. That's why AP3 is the "holy grail" of shooting. It's enough to erase a Space Marine's armour save. It's also why cover saves are so much better for Orks, Imperial Guard and other light-armour troops in 5th edition.

Being shot with AP- weapons:
Ork: "I'm in rubble. I'll forgo my 6+ armour save for the 4+ cover. Awesome!"
SM: "I'm in rubble, but I'll keep my 3+ armour save, thank you."

Being shot with AP3 weapons:
Ork: "I'm in rubble. I'll still take my 4+ cover save. Thanks!"
SM: "Well, you've negated my 3+ armour save, guess I'll finally benefit from cover. *grumble, grumble*"

Orks and Space Marines have the two most recent codices out, so they're both fun armies to play with all the latest bells and whistles. Once you've figured out which one suits your play style the best, you'll have a blast expanding that Black Reach force to a 3000 point Apocalypse ready behemoth. Be warned, though. It's addictive. I've got more plastic crack staring at me from across the room than I know what to do with.

[MythicalMino]

so, what do you use for terrain when you don't have any "official" terrain?

I have a friend coming over thursday evening to start playing Warhammer 40k, but I really don't have any terrain. Not to mention all I have is what came with the Assault on Black Reach set.

How many different types of fights can you have using that box set?

Chris

[CrayolaSmoker]

so, what do you use for terrain when you don't have any "official" terrain?

You use boxes and paper cut-outs! Seriously, my little brother and I have used cut out construction paper to represent forests and mountains and whatnot when playing Flames of War. No reason it can't work for 40K as well.

How many different types of fights can you have using that box set?

As far as kinds of fights with the Black Reach box set... depends on you, your opponent, tactics and terrain. Eventually, as you figure out the strengths and weaknesses of each unit in the set, you'll want to branch out and try some of the other units available via the codices. IMO, either of the faction's Battleforce boxes would be nice additions to what you've already got. Both would bolster your troop choices, supply a dedicated transport to play with, and let you try out more specialty troops. Don't be afraid to proxy and/or borrow models before you purchase them. It's a great way to see if a unit that looks great on paper works with your play style.

That being said, I'm building a DIY Space Marine chapter right now with virtually no experience playing them. Four SM Battleforce boxes at it's core, it's pretty much the Chapter's 1st and 5th Companies combined. But... I'm a bit mental.

[Turtle]

http://www.worldworksgames.com/store/

World works games is a company that produces some pretty good quality PDFs that you can print on cardstock, cut out and glue together for some good looking terrain quickly.  They have sets with a gothic style that's perfect for 40k.

Also, try and find the Kill Team rules for 40k.  There were rules for playing squad sized engagements instead of giant battles, these could be resolved quickly but still with a lot of tactics.  It wasn't updated for 5th edition, but it's likely there's a community version.

[hellwolf78]

I just got into the game as well and finally both together the orks and space marines.I am taking classes to learn to play and the rules and how to paint.Alot of my friends play at my local comic book store so i am excited to be taking the classes and starting to get more troops..

[GGMark]

Coffee Cans primered. and painted, look like old Water towers...Pringles cans.

Cake decortions, like the pillars fr the cake paint nicely.  Its not to hard really to come up with some cheap scenery.

[Turtle]

*sigh*

I've been looking to get back into miniatures games and the hobby.  I was already planning to grab a few GW miniatures just to paint up, but now a friend and his cousin have already gotten into 40k so I'm going to have to pickup and army.  Normally I would buy from local stores but GW prices are so ridiculous I'll end up buying online from a discounter.

I'm torn between Orks, Eldar, Space Marines, and maybe even Imperial guard, in that order.  One friend is playing Eldar, another is playing Tau.

Anyone know if the Kill team rules are still supported?

[Kurt Stevens]

*sigh*

I've been looking to get back into miniatures games and the hobby.  I was already planning to grab a few GW miniatures just to paint up, but now a friend and his cousin have already gotten into 40k so I'm going to have to pickup and army.  Normally I would buy from local stores but GW prices are so ridiculous I'll end up buying online from a discounter.

I'm torn between Orks, Eldar, Space Marines, and maybe even Imperial guard, in that order.  One friend is playing Eldar, another is playing Tau.

Anyone know if the Kill team rules are still supported?

Don't know about the kill team rules. They were in the 4th edition. I havent seen the new 5th edition yet.  I would say if your looking at Orks or Space Marines, the Assault on Black Reach box would be a good start for you. I think it is about 400-500 points of both, a mini rulebook and some templates. It looks like an awesome deal for $60.  You can get it from the warestore.com for 20% off as well.

[Tebunker]

My little brother fell hard into 40k this past winter and has been building up. He had a pretty rockin SM army that he traded in to a local shop for a boatload of credit and started building a massive Imperial Guard/Daemon Hunter army. I myself am finding it hard to resist. If I play, I want to play the Witch Hunters, which from reading the codex would not be an easy task.

We may also start up a fantasy game too. He gets a sweet discount from the local guy, and I'd be up for it.

[Turtle]

I'm actually getting into 2 games right now.  40k as an Ork Kommando centric army and a Deathwing Terminator army.  However, these 40k armies aren't serious armies, I'm mainly making them to have something to play with local groups, and to improve my artistic abilities.  It turns out that painting miniatures in real life, including the kind of artistic decisions you make in their color schemes and the way you shade them make for good practice for doing game models for videogames.

My favorite miniatures game right now is AE-WW2, aka Alternate Event WW2.  A retro scifi WW2 game with pulp scifi elements where the US has tesla energy weapons, rocket troops (Rocketeer), and primitive power armor.  Germans have weird genetic experiments and abominations, and Russians have psionic powers.  It's a skirmish scale game so the cost outset is much smaller than a full game like 40k.

[hepcat]

My favorite miniatures game right now is AE-WW2, aka Alternate Event WW2.  A retro scifi WW2 game with pulp scifi elements where the US has tesla energy weapons, rocket troops (Rocketeer), and primitive power armor.  Germans have weird genetic experiments and abominations, and Russians have psionic powers.  It's a skirmish scale game so the cost outset is much smaller than a full game like 40k.

dang it, that sounds like fun...now I'm interested.  my wallet may come to hate you.   

[Turtle]

Yeah, I know the feeling, I'm still getting that Ork army as I've said, but that's on hold.  I just got all my AE-WW2 miniatures assembled, although I need to pickup some generic 28mm German and American infantry to fill out the basic infantry, thankfully a basic infantry unit is only 2-3 models.  My current American Sci-Tech army also needs some robot troopers (these look awesome), and a bazooka weapon team since my only anti-tank weaponry are the tesla electrical guns on my two Buffalo power armor.  I'm going to need those to deal with my friend's Germany army and its giant, mechanically augmented, genetically altered, gorilla.

I'm going to start painting them this week so I'll post pictures as I go.

I also found a cool store with alternative heads for GW Orks that have WW1 German style spike top helmets and gasmasks.  Since I don't like the normal GW Ork heads, I'm probably going to pick up a bunch of these for the special units.  I'm going to build an Ork army centered on Kommandos, but since Kommandos are pricey, I'm just taking normal Orks, adding special heads and various bits to turn them into kommando units.  I've found all they really need is a backpack, various gear, and some kind of night vision goggles to look the part, which saves me a lot of money.

[Larraque]

I was tempted to get back into Warhammer 40k. I busted out my old Tyranid army, painted up some models that have been primed but not painted. Then I needed to get some replacement paints and discovered...... that the Games Workshop store here closed down. Dammit.

[Turtle]

Check for non-GW games stores, I'm sure they'd appreciate your business.  I tend to stay away from GW stores anyway, too corporate.

[Larraque]

Check for non-GW games stores, I'm sure they'd appreciate your business.  I tend to stay away from GW stores anyway, too corporate.

A part of the appeal of the GW store was the fact that you could meet other like-minded gamers there, and lots of them. Not knowing anyone who plays, I was going to use the store as a meeting ground.

The only other store in the part of Saint Louis that I know of to frequent for it is called Fantasy Shop. I'm not a huge fan of that store as they tend to have really high prices. They have games on Thursday nights. But not on weekends, which is when I really want to play. No organized gaming either - it was more of an open gaming mentality - and the people there that played it did not care to talk much with the Magic players when we happened to be there the same nights. No painting lessons. None of that passion for the game.  Also, I've been there a lot while playing Magic, and - lets just say the crowd for the game there was small. I don't know how much it's grown since GW closed or even when GW closed (no more than six months ago).

Although, maybe I was never there on thursdays. My work schedule does not really support weeknight gaming.

[Turtle]

Ouch, yeah I know how it is with some stores just not feeling welcoming.

Anyway, check meetup.com or other community oriented sites to try to find gaming clubs or groups in your area.

Most of these groups will play a variety of things, and the good groups are perfectly willing to try new things if you bring them.

[Vidiot]

Picking up Space Hulk and starting to pain some minis has got me interested in WH40K too.  I might need to check out some of the local places and see what they have going on.  To bad the local gaming shop closed down a year or two ago.