The World of Warhammer Fantasy – episode 1

By

James Pottinger

In this issue: In the Spot Light: We take a closer look at the one of the clubs oldest members and find out more about the man they call Jay

Army Focus : Scythes of the Emperor Nearly wiped out by hive fleet Kraken, we take a closer look at this dying chapter

It is my pleasure to welcome you to the first Canterbury Crusaders Magazine.

Now that the welcomes are taken care I suppose I should outline what this magazines is and what we hope it will become.

The magazine is just a small idea of mine and few other members of the Canterbury Crusaders Gaming club to spread the word of the club while at the same time providing some entertainment for the readers as well as getting to know a little bit more about each other as well.

We will cover topics on all aspects of war gaming and modelling with in-depth looks in to what is coming out in the near future with a rumour round up page, new kits and models from various companies with our what’s in the box sections as well as book reviews, battle reports and interviews with the people that make the club and the hobby what it is.

Editorial Canterbury Crusaders Team

Editor: Lawrence Arnold

Designer Lawrence Arnold

Staff Writers: Lawrence Arnold, Stephen Reynolds, Jay Newell, Nick Jones and James Pottinger

The Web magazine is completely unofficial and in no way endorsed by games workshop limited or fantasy flight

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Jay

In the Spot Light

Who are you ?

Hi my name is Jay and I am the newest member of the committee, I have just taken over from Phil as club sectary .

When did you start gaming ?

I was just 13 when I first got in to the hobby, and all these years later I am still enjoying it

What is your favourite system and why?

I have to say that 40k is my favourite due to the fact that it has such a diverse range of models and armies to choose from, not to mention the vast range that forge world has on offer as well and most important of all it’s a good system to play.

What models interest you as a collector?

Any models that a different from the norm really and that show good animation and realism in their modelling, I have just gotten some nice model from avatars of war for my chaos fantasy army.

What do you like to listen to while painting?

I normally like to listen to / watch something to do with guns or anything like that , I have been watching a show called son of guns which is really interesting.

What are you currently working on?

At the mo as I mentioned earlier I have just gotten some new bits for my Warriors of Chaos so they are my current project but I am planning a new marine army .

When you’re not gaming or painting what do you like to do ?

When I am not doing either of those I like to spend my time playing hockey and ice skating.

Thanks for the interview Jay and if you would lie to appear in the spot light for the next issue please just let us know for your 15 mins of fame .

Scythes of the Emperor

The Scythes of the Emperor (sometimes referred to as the Emperor's Scythes) was designated Space Marine Chapter 874, and was Founded approximately in the years 500 - 600.M41, making them one of the Imperium's relatively newest brotherhoods of Space Marines. Their gene-seed is speculated to have been drawn from the Ultramarines. The Scythes established a Fortress-Monastery upon their homeworld of Sotha. From this base of operations, near the region of space known as the Damocles Gulf in the Segmentum Ultima, the Chapter took upon themselves the duty of policing and safeguarding many of the nearby mining and manufactorum settlements.

The Scythes' first Chapter Master was Thorcyra, an excellent strategic leader. He led the Scythes for several centuries until his death during the desperate flight of his Chapter from the jaws of Hive Fleet Kraken on their homeworld of Sotha. As the Chapter grew in strength, they expanded their policing actions around their homeworld of Sotha in the Eastern Fringes of the galaxy. After eradicating human and alien pirates from the nearby Imperial mining colonies, the Scythes moved on to counter several Ork migrations in the lower Segmentums of the Imperium.

The Scythes served during the Damocles Gulf Crusade, and played a vital role in the capture of the world of Sy'l'kell from the Tau Empire. However, the Crusade ultimately stalled and withdrew when it was learned that the newly encountered Tyranids were heading for the Realm of Ultramar, the home of the Ultramarines.

The Scythes of the Emperor are a Codex Astartes-compliant, Loyalist Chapter of Space Marines who are allegedly a Successor Chapter of the Ultramarines of the 25th Founding. The Scythes of the Emperor, along with their allies, the Lamenters Chapter, were virtually destroyed during the invasion of the Imperium of Man by the Tyranids' Hive Fleet Kraken.

The Scythes served during the Damocles Gulf Crusade, and played a vital role in the capture of the world of Sy'l'kell from the Tau Empire. However, the Crusade ultimately stalled and withdrew when it was learned that the newly encountered Tyranids were heading for the Realm of Ultramar, the home of the Ultramarines.

Army Focus

When the Scythes of the Emperor first came upon Hive Fleet Kraken, they had little idea of the horror that was approaching them, and so when the first Hive Ship appeared in their system, they attacked almost blind to the risks they were facing. They conducted desperate boarding actions to destroy as many of the ships as they could. This tactic proved ineffective and after suffering heavy losses the scythes fleet was forced to pull back and the hive fleet swarmed in to the system.

Among the planets overwhelmed by the locust-tide of the Tyranid Hive Fleet Kraken was the Chapter's homeworld of Sotha. Even for a well-defended Chapter planet, there was little hope against such vast numbers of xenos and their remorseless hunger. With devastating losses to the Chapter fleet, the Scythes were driven back to their fortress-monastery on their homeworld of Sotha, which quickly came under siege by the Tyranids.

Thousands of Tyranid creatures landed on the planet, and the Scythes, led by Chapter Master Thorcyra, prepared to make their stand at their fortress-monastery in order to give as much time as possible for the population of Sotha to evacuate. Before the planet and fortress-monastery were completely overrun, the Scythes managed a breakout from the doomed world, falling back to regroup in the nearby Miral System. Sotha, along with so many other planets in the path of the inexorable advance of Hive Fleet Kraken, was reduced to the barren state of an asteroid by the Tyranid swarms.

Two hundred Space Marines from the Chapter broke through the Tyranid assault. With much of the region overwhelmed by the Tyranids, there was nowhere for these brave Astartes to go beyond the claws of the Kraken.

The last of the Scythes eventually landed on the Death World of Miral. Somewhere on the surface of this planet, a huge rocky outcrop called the Giant's Coffin rose from the jungle. The pursuing Tyranid fleet caught up and encircled them, leaving the Scythes trapped and surrounded on the jungle planet. The surviving forces of the Scythes prepared to make this their final stronghold. The Giant's Coffin was a tremendous natural citadel whose steep cliffs would slow the invaders and the rocky promontories would provide excellent firing positions for heavy weapons.

As the Tyranids mounted their forces for a final push to wipe out the remaining Scythes, Chapter Master Thorcyra ordered all of the remaining Battle-Brothers to withdraw from the world so as to avoid the complete extinction of their Chapter. In his last official act, Master Thorcyra passed the artefact known as the Emperor's Scythe (the Chapter Master's symbol of office) to Captain Thrasius of the 3rd Company, the only Captain of the Chapter still alive. As the rest of the surviving Scythes escaped the doomed planet in Thunderhawk gunships, Thorcyra and the remains of the Veteran 1st Company took up the position as the last line of defence.

Leadership of the nearly destroyed Chapter passed to the new Chapter Master Thrasius. The solemn ceremony of investiture was conducted on the bridge of the Honour's Might (the Chapter's only remaining starship, an almost-crippled Battle-Barge with severely depleted resources). Thrasius then ordered the starship renamed The Heart of Sotha in memory of the Scythes of the Emperor's homeworld and the terrible sacrifices made there.

The fate of the planet is unknown, although at the end of the Tyranid onslaught, little more than a company of the Scythes of the Emperor remained. The remnants of the Chapter now seek out and annihilate the remaining Tyranid splinter forces within the Ultima Segmentum and beyond even as they seek new recruits to replenish the Chapter's ranks.

For more information on the Scythes of the Emperor please see the great site

http://the-scythes.com/

This has great paint jobs by the owner who in 2011 won silver at gamesday with some of his scythes models and which also feature in the 40k rule book.

Follow the adventures of 1st Squad, 2ND Company of The Vallan 121st Reconnaissance

Regiment

Stephen – Sergeant Karl Varren

Jay – Weapon Specialist Hawk

Wes – Tech Seer Osiron

Ethan – Storm Trooper Eli

Nick – Ogryn Ug

Joe – Ratling Sniper Drake ‘dead eye’ Duck

David – Medic Temperance

Angel of Fire – Part 1 of The Macharian Crusade Trilogy by William King

A Review by Nick Jones

This book marks the return of the celebrated Black Library author William King to the Warhammer 40,000 universe. For those who’ve not come across King before, he was one of the original group of Black Library authors from when this GW division launched way back in 1999. He is also responsible for creating two of the biggest series of books in Black Library history; the Gotrek and Felix series and the Ragnar Blackmane – Space Wolf series. He also wrote a lesser known book called Farseer, which had great potential for starting an Eldar series. Unfortunately, in 2003 William King disappeared in mysterious circumstances, and I do mean that quite literally. GW even took out an advert in White Dwarf asking for leads on his whereabouts. Understandable, as he was one of their most popular authors and he’d left his series unfinished, resulting in Lee Lightner getting the task of finishing off the Space Wolf books and Nathan Long taking on the Gotrek and Felix books.

Now, some 9 years later, William King has resurfaced in Prague and Black Library has welcomed him back into the fold with a Tyrion and Teclis trilogy for Warhammer Fantasy and a Macharian Crusade trilogy for Warhammer 40,000. This book will be followed by the Fist of Demetrius and the Fall of Macharius in July 2013 and 2014 respectively. Due to a mix up on Amazon, where the book was listed as a paperback initially, and priced accordingly, I was lucky enough to get my hands on a hardback copy of this new book at a reasonable price. Paperback copies are set to go on sale a year after their hardback editions.

For those familiar with William King’s Space Wolf series, his writing style in this book is instantly recognisable, using the same construction of commencing with a character in their later life and then looking back to an earlier time through the character telling a story. For those expecting the character doing the telling the story to be Macharius, I’m sorry you’ll be disappointed. These books will not be exploring the thoughts and motivations of Lord Commander Solar Macharius, hero of the imperium, military genius and Alexander of the stars. They are instead tales observing the campaigns of Macharius, his personal exploits and interactions with High Inquisitor Hyronimus Drake, as seen through the eyes, often from afar, of one Private Leo Lemuel, Baneblade driver in the 7th Belial regiment.

Enter the Black Library

Angel of Fire revolves around Leo, his friends Anton and Ivan and their crew mates, including Hesse, New Boy and The Understudy. It tells the tale of Macharius’s first proper campaign of the Crusade, in the Karsk system, specifically on Karsk IV. This is a world that has seceded from the Imperium during the Age of Apostasy and now needs to be brought back into the Imperium by force, so that the crusade can tap into the system’s valuable resources and to provide a base from which to launch the Crusade proper. Irongrad, seat of the system governor is the key to subduing the planet and the wider system. Standing between the Imperial Guard and success are well equipped local army forces and the priests of the Angel of Fire, believed by the local populace to be a saint and right hand to the Emperor in protecting the Karsk system and delivering it from oppression. Cue massed tank battles (including plenty of super-heavies), close city fighting, intrigue, betrayal, heroic intervention, escape and a massive climactic battle. Fans of the Death Spectres space marine chapter will also be pleased to see them make a couple of brief appearances.

King weaves an interesting tale that is fast paced, engaging and easy to read. As an Imperial Guard tale it is a pretty decent offering and King obviously hasn’t lost his ability to write a good yarn. It also explores an area of Imperial history that has only been briefly touched upon in previous Imperial Guard codicies and is therefore something that I found interesting. However, I have to admit that my view of the book was shaded by an element of disappointment over the lack of any real exploration of the character of Macharius, which was a great part of the appeal of the Ragnar Blackmane Space Wolf sagas. Macharius remains largely one dimensional in this first book of the series. I suppose this is a factor of the story construction. King has worked hard to portray the world through the eyes of a Guard grunt looking back down the years. His “memories” are clearly coloured by time. He “remembers” Space Marines as being so fast that their movements are difficult for the eye to follow. Hence Macharius is portrayed through the eyes of a person who shows an element of hero worship, displaying superhuman and omnipotent traits.

I have to say that the storyline is also at times rather predictable, which occasionally detracts from enjoyment. King is definitely one of the best authors that Black Library has ever had in service and he clearly has a much stronger grasp of the 40k universe than some authors they’ve employed in the past (I’m looking at you C. S. Goto!!), which is a huge plus. Overall, it’s probably not worth rushing out to buy the hardback, but it’s well worth picking up in paperback format next summer. I’m certainly looking forward to the next book in the series to see where King takes the central characters and to see if he will add more depth to Macharius’s character. Hopefully he won’t disappoint.

We are now several months into a new edition of 40K people have had a chance to try out the new stuff, re-invent their lists and try out all the new shiny stuff from the rulebook. In this article I will briefly discuss the changes from 5th to 6th and what impact (if any) they are having on our tables.

5th Edition we hardly knew thee

A Review of the change from

5th to 6th

By

Stephen Reynolds

So has there been much real change? In terms of rules there have been a whole host of new special rules added some of which are yet be on any actual units. Most of the core rules have been tweaked but a lot of the basics are still there from 5th if slightly modified. GW have now gone on record as stating that they wanted to make this edition more cinematic and fun seemingly actively discouraging the competitive aspects of tournament play.

They have cut down heavily on prize support for any major tournaments and the rules themselves seem to work towards casual play rather than any sort of imposed time limit be it tournament or otherwise. Whilst some people will like this there are many who don’t.

I play for fun rather than for wins (my win/draw/loss record attests to that) but there’s a limit to even my patience with the amount of admin I have to do to be able to start playing. Warlord traits, mysterious objectives and random scenery all seem to clog up the start of a game for me and whilst I appreciate how cinematic some of them are others are downright game changing. No-one likes losing a game because your opponent scored a lucky roll with his Warlord Trait or because the forest your objective is hiding in decides to eat your scoring unit.

So has there been a meta shift in list building? Locally I would say a little bit, there is a slight shift now towards infantry but nothing wholesale. Vehicles are still a big part of 40K; especially transports allowing you to swiftly get a scoring unit to an objective.

I follow quite a few online blogs and have found lots of people are shifting away from vehicles to more infantry based lists. Obviously an infantry list will vary by codex with some armies able to field very efficient infantry (Imperial Guard, Grey Knights and Space Wolves spring to mind) whilst others struggle to fill their basic requirements (I’m looking at you Eldar!).

Plasma seems to be making a comeback this edition also. In vehicle heavy 5th melta was the go to special of choice but the rise of more bodies on the table means flamers are seeing more use. The ability to glance a vehicle to death means plasma with its high strength, good range, excellent AP (take that Terminators) and the ability rapid fire is finding its way out of the hands of Imperial Guard Vets and into other units.

The major changes in 6th come in the form of fortifications, allies and flyers. Fortifications…Now I can see their use in themed missions but the idea that troops in 40K have the time to march/fly/skim to a battle and set up a Fortress of Redemption whilst their opponent sets up a Landing Pad baffles me somewhat. Fortifications present new tactical opportunities and do add to the pool of anti-flyer weaponry (more on that later) which to me is good but in an edition where GW have said fluff trumps competitive its odd to see Imperial defence lines providing cover for Eldar and Daemons. Yes you can scratch build your own or convert what’s already there but should you have to? I’m all for anything that increases the scope, tactical options and adds more diversity to the 40K universe but can’t help wonder why only imperial fortifications.

Allies, again a great idea allows some great, characterful options. But then someone went all Wardian and allowed Necrons to bro-fist Blood Angels and other strangely odd combos in there. Again great when used well but there have been times (and even I’m guilty) that someone realises they have 200pts left over so what’s the harm in a Farseer with Runes of Warding and Doom brining 3 Guardian Jetbikes along for the ride. Allies are wonderful and add to the diversity of lists we are seeing; they allow you to collect a smaller force from a codex without having to splash out for a full 1500pt list but I feel some of the allowable combinations weren’t really looked into. Not to mention grey areas involving the overlapping of Marine/Guard special rules but not Eldar/Dark Eldar ones.

Flyers you either love them or hate them. Usually this depends on whether you can even take any yourself or your regular opponent fields in excessive of 5 or not. I haven’t come across a Necron Airforce list (yet) nor have I seen more than 2 Valk/Vendettas on the table at any one time so I can’t really comment other than beyond the obvious. The lack of anti-flyer (which could’ve been addressed in FAQ’s) seems to seriously hurt the game at times. Ok so Forgeworld and their Aeronautica book somewhat addressed that but if you’re unlucky enough to play in an environment with an aversion to Forgeworld (and if you do I pity you) then flyers may be the bane of your existence.

So Codex: Chaos Space Marines is the first full codex released for 6th edition. From this book what insights can we draw into the future of Codex writing for 6th? Well at first glance it seems to be very similar to the Dark Eldar book in 5th. Internally and externally balanced to a reasonable degree. However, lack of skyfire and interceptor seems quite obvious throughout the codex. 1 Flyer and only 1 unit able to purchase the Skyfire ability at a ludicrous price in points seems that GW have decided flyers will sell well so why make something that can kill them? It’s my only real quibble with the Chaos codex. Others will scream it has no character and everything has been removed that made Chaos fun but I believe the book is a step in the right direction for Codex development as a whole and hope they all have similar balance running through them. However, it must be said that the Daemon update for Screamers and Flamers has made both of them VERY strong. Strong enough to compensate for the rest of the book? Well that depends on the sort of list you run and how good a player you are. I think we will have to wait at least another 6 months before we can fully appreciate whether the Codex balance issue has been resolved. According to rumours we should be seeing between 2 and 4 Codices over the coming months and only then will we be able to tell.

Dark Angels has now come out, again another sign of a step in the right direction? There is certainly a disparity between the fluff and the rules for certain units.

Anti-flyer fliers with only strength 6 weapons? Not to mention the shoddy editing of the entire book. Those somewhat crippling errors aside the codex itself seems very balanced giving options of building an alternate marine army (bikes and terminators) as opposed to tweaked Vanilla.

The book is clearly better than the Chaos book (Helldrake aside) which in itself is a shame as the big adversary encompassing multiple legions and traitor warbands got a single book whilst individual loyalist legions get theirs.

Overall the I like the book for its balance of different styles of play, even if it is just another power armour with extras book. It does give insights into the possible points swing we may see in the next vanilla codex which shows GW’s continuing trend of cheaper armies for more models on the table. Once again it’s a step in the right direction so as long as an editor reads the next 6th edition book I think we can score this one as a successful codex release.

However I think we will have to wait at least another 6 months before we can fully appreciate whether the Codex balance issue has been resolved when we get a couple of non power armour codicies on the shelves.

All in all I believe 6th ranks quite highly amongst the last editions. It may have some teething problems but like any ruleset these will hopefully be ironed out in time. It has some downright frustrating rules and some downright annoying randomisation but as with any game you can use what you want to make it fun in your area. Personally I prefer to play 40K warts and all…I may begrudge all the admin faff at the beginning of each game but once I’m playing it’s about having fun. After all it’s just a game…We can’t take it too seriously…Right?

Do you have a subject you want to talk about?

A painting technique you want to share?

Then join the writing team and have your article in the next issue.

Club T Shirts and Jumpers

As some of you are aware some time ago we placed an order of polo, T shirt and hoodies printed up with the clubs goblin logo on and people’s name, since this date we have not put in another order.

With so many new people joining the club and with so many of us attending tournaments locally and at Warhammer world it would be good to have everyone in a club top to promote the club and continue to build the clubs reputation. I have been in contact with a local company in Folkestone called Frizbee myself and Stephen have had a few items produced by them and we can confirm that it is very good quality.

From the Frizbee web site, to see more got to http://www.frizbee.co.uk/

The hoodie to the left is one example of the products that they can order in , black and gold is but one colour choice that is available.

To have this item embroidered with the club logo and your name will cost just over £15, this price will come down the more orders that we place at one time.

A polo shot will with the logo and name will be just over £10 , if you wish to have one of your own items of clothing embroidered the cost will be less which I will have to confirm but for less than £20 to get a good quality polo shirt and hoodie all embroidered is a good price .

To order any items please speak to myself Lawrence or any member of the committee.

The World of Warhammer Fantasy – episode 1

By

James Pottinger

When starting out in this so called world of fantasy battles, there are many things to consider, the main choice being which army to you wish to play and more importantly which do you wish to paint.

Also to consider is how much time and effort do you want to put into your army of choice and how much money do you wish to spend. As this can be an expensive game to play for example the Chaos Dwarf army made by Forgeworld could cost a player over £500 depending on what you wish to play.

The armies of choice number 15 Warhammer and of course 1 Forgeworld army, between them there are 6 “good” armies and 8 “Evil” armies plus 2 “undecided” armies. So there is a wide range of armies to choose from but some are more powerful than others and of course some of these armies are updated more quickly than others. That being said I personally find if fun using the armies that are considered weaker than others like Wood Elves, Beastmen and Tomb Kings but of course that’s my choice.

After your decision on which way you wish to go, I personally have fallen on either the good or undecided side. You can then get to choose what you want in your army and more importantly how you wish to play your army. I am not a power gamer I prefer to create lists that are themed, fun to play and for me fun to paint, I may not win but I will enjoy using those models I have in my list. This usually means my lists aren’t the most competitive list’s but I like to think that I play for fun and not just to win all the time.

But how you create your list is your choice, most of the armies in Warhammer fantasy have access to good core troops, good shooting, small monsters and with the new books for 8th edition bigger monsters. Plus with the edition of monstrous cavalry units with the 8th edition armies you can certainly make some destructive lists.

But then that is the choice of the player, the game in general has become a far more balanced game with the introduction of 8th. Rather than seeing small special or rare “hard units” in previous editions it has moved to the bigger block core units, which I feel represents the feel of this edition’s Warhammer fantasy and its better for it.

So there it is a small introduction to the game of Warhammer fantasy, in this new edition of the game the player has access to a wider range of units and therefore creates much more fun list’s especially with the newer books. And as someone once said “The Game has Changed!” so for many players you must move with the times.

Episode 2 Next Issue

The World of Warhammer Fantasy – episode 2

Infinity Review Warmachine Review

Your Armies in the spot light Club member in the spot light

Tales of Only War Book Review

Do you have a subject you want to talk about?

A painting technique you want to share?

Then join the writing team and have your article in the next issue.