Necromunda

It's been a while since I last played this classic old GW game, and with a campaign looming on the horizon I'm really getting in the mood for some gang-on-gang action. It will certainly make a nice change of pace from the 2k 40k games I've played a lot of lately, especially as my gang will likely be no larger than one of the standard 40k units!

Last night saw me rooting around the house trying to dig out all the old Necromunda stuff I could find, and the result was a mixture of some disappointment and some joy. I was a bit let down that I couldn't find my old box of Necromunda bits anywhere. There's no doubt it still exits, but it's likely buried away under god only knows what! I was pretty chuffed that I found a few other bits though, including some old weapon sprues, and a Delaque Lascannon Heavy (Especially good seeing as I don't think he's particularly easy to get hold of these days).

Some more rooting around resulted in me digging out the first two issues of Necromunda Magazine too, so I've got the rules of Treacherous Conditions and a few other gems to hand, as well as the original two Necromunda rulebooks, the card rules summaries (Useful with the newbies we'll be teaching) and of course my box of old terrain!

So, looks like there will be some fun had round mine this weekend! With any luck, thanks to the relative speed of Necromunda games, we may even squeeze several into a single day.

Awesome

Bish, Bash, Bosh

Well, what a night! Backsword practice was short tonight, but for good reason. The lesson was cut into by quite a bit as filming was being done. I did get some quality sparing in though, the most enjoyable of which was with my instructor. A lot of fun, and it finished with some enjoyable grappling. I nearly managed to land a close-range thrust to his face, but I foolishly paused, and was rightly floored!

...my mortuary has a few nasty dents in it though as a result, and the knuckle bar has a distinct kink in it! Still, at least it wasn't my fingers!

Local Zombies for Local People

Local Zombies for Local People

I love zombie movies. My brother loves zombie movies. My friends love zombie movies. So watching the Zombie Diaries, which is set in and around very near to where I live was quite an intriguing proposition. The idea is pretty sound, take your standard zombie stuff and have it filmed in a Blair Witch fashion so that you feel more in the action. It didn't quite work for me though. Credit goes to the folks who did a lot of good with what I can only guess was a small budget, but the film just falls a bit flat. The acting in some places is good, but is really forced and unnatural in others. The zombie also never really feel like a threat in this film, which is wierd seeing as some of the cast are killed by them. Anyone who dies to a zombie in this film just seems like so much more of an idiot than in other zombie films I've seen. Another problem is the characters, I didn't really give a monkeys about any of them. None of them apealed to me on any level, which didn't really help me bond with the film sadly.

The really offputting though has to be the setting. At first glance having the zombie film set locally opens it up to the posibility of exploring all the "what if" scenarios zombie movie fans run through their heads. Sadly though, this didn't work for me thanks to them ignoring what I KNEW was local. At one point the cast stop off at a picnic site (Windmill Hill) so that they can overlook a nearby town before heading into it. Problem is that I know for a fact that there is another town mere metres behind them (It's the town they film in later on), and a pub only just out of shot. It's annoying as it had me yelling at the screen for them to be sensible. The same can be said for the small food store they go to, just down the road is are a Morrisons, an Iceland, Argos, all sorts of useful places! And just out of town a little way you've got a Halfords, a Sainsburys and a little further a Tesco!

It's a shame, as the idea of a local zombie film is a pretty interesting one, and could be a lot of fun for local zombie fans to watch, but the way the film ignors the local layout just ruined things for me.

More Downright Blows

After a bit more research, I've found some easily referenced text for Silver's works, and I've done a search for "down right" and "downright". Here they are:

Paradoxes of Defence:
"Surely, I think a down right fellow, that never came in school, using such skill as nature yielded out of his courage, strength, and agility, with good downright blows and thrust among, as shall best frame in his hands, should put one of these imperfect scholars greatly to his shifts."

"Whereby it grew to a common speech among the countrymen "Bring me to a fencer, I will bring him out of his fence tricks with down right blows. I will make him forget his fence tricks, I will warrant him."

Brief Instructions:
"In this forehand ward keep your distance, & take heed that he deceives you not with the downright blow at your head out of his open fight, for being within distance the swift motion of the hand may deceive your eye, because you know not by which side of your sword his blow will come."

Now, obviously that stuffs my theory of the editor changing the text as there is only one mention of a "downright" blow in Brief Instructions, and no mention of a "down right blow", whilst Paradoxes has both and in rather strange places.

I think the best evidence for the two versions of downright being the same though is the one my instructor gave to me: the first mention of "down right" that Silver makes.

"a down right fellow"

Now presumably Silver wasn't talking about a man that is down and from the right.....unless he meant someone who is depressed and right-wing?

Thank you, and goodnight.

New Mortuary Hilt

Maker: Armour Class
Price: £150
Blade Length: 34"
Total Length: 41"
BOP: 4"

This is my lovely new Mortuary hilted backsword. It's a semi-custom piece from Armour Class in Scotland. So far it's only seen some light use with some very casual loose play, but has held up well with only the smallest amount of damage to the blade, especially when it's compared to the initial damage my cheaper Kasto bastard sword took on it's first use. The weight is just about perfect, although the balance I'm not sure on. It's further up the blade than my other swords, and you can feel the extra weight in the tip, this feels quite nice when swinging the sword though as it aids the swords momentum when swinging. The blueing on the basket, although not constant still has a very nice look to it.

All things considered I'm very happy with the sword, and look forward to really putting it through it's paces in the near future, especially through loose play, but also some drilling for some real impact to see how the blade stands up to it.

Downright Blows

As part of my learning backsword, I've been reading George Silver's work for myself, which is a bit tricky seeing as it's written in what looks like very old English shorthand at a time before the dictionary was invented! It's interesting though, and it's given me a great new respect for my backsword teacher, and helped me understand his reasons for teaching things the way he does.

Something I've seen interpreted differently by other people who have studied Silver's works has been the "down right blow". Some people interpret this as a blow from Open Fight that comes down and from the right. I've even seen evedence for it presented in the form of another source that was translated from another language. In this source a description for a blow coming down and from the right was translated into English as "down right blow". Now my teacher interprets a down right blow, to be a "downright blow", so soemthing that is strong and forcefull. I've agreed with him because it makes sense to me, but I personally always attach a level of doubt to something until I've prooved it for myself.

Well last night I did. I was reading through Silver's Brief Instructions, and came across a section where he mentions facing Open Fight with Variable Fight. In that section he says to be wary when facing Open Fight as you don't know which side of your sword his blows will come from. Pretty definitive to me.

For me thats proof enough, but I do wonder why Silver says both "down right blow" and "downright blow". I've a theory for why this is, but I need to read more to see if it could be true or not.

The thing is, that all through Paradoxes of Defence I think Silver says "down right", and so far in Brief Instructions, the only mention I've found is "downright". I've a feeling that Silver meant "downright" to be the case in both, but that Paradoxes was edited and as this was a time before dictionaries the word "downright" was changed to be printed as "down right". Thats my theory at least, and I've no idea if people at the time would have actually seen a difference between the two. I'd find it odd if he was using two different terms that sound identical when said allowed though, would just cause confusion if it was the case.

I'll be more firm in my resoning if Silver never uses "down right" in his Brief Instructions, and only ever uses "downright". We shall see!

It does make me feel great noticing these things though!


P.S. Got a lovely new sword just after Christmas! I'll be sure to pop a nice review up as soon as I've taken a few pretty pictures.

Cities of DEATH

Alwawys an interesting game type to play under and talk about, Cities of Death is sometimes like playing mini-apocalypse thanks to the strategic assets. The increased amount of terrain, and lower chance of being able to draw LOS accross the entire table means that long-range shooting, and large units become less viable, whilst short-range and assault focused units become stronger choices. With 5th Editions mission changes, the victory conditions are now quite different to standard games also, with many old units able to grab objectives once more.

Ever since I first played Cities of Death I've loved it. It certainly makes you aproach the game differently, and the strategic assets allow you to be alot more sneaky than normal, as well as enableing you to alter your attack plan slightly to match your opponent or the mission.

So, why am I talking about Cities of Death? Well I've been considering just how the new rules effect it, and I thought I'd bring some of my thoughts and observations to your attention in the hopes that they might help you adapt to this great 40k supplement.

Infantry
Always a good choice in Cities of Death, they're now even better when compared to other unit types. The ability to "Go to Ground" means they're tougher than ever to shift from a building, whilst the fact they can now run means that slow movement through Difficult Terrain is reduced alot.
One important thing to note here is vertical movement. Most other unit types are unlikely to have to deal with this, but the rules for vertical movement have changed. You can no longer move 6" forwards, and 2 floors up in the same time. You now have to split your movement between the two, so you'll have to consider more carefully how you want to traverse large multi-level ruins and buildings.

Jump Infantry and Bikes
These folks have much the same issues as before, they're able to mitigate the large amounts of Difficult Terrain by driving round it, or jumping over it at high speeds. These units are also usually optimised for either assault or short-ranged firefights making pretty well suited to the Cities of Death environment.
Quite a nasty change that's been added in 5th Edition though is the alteration to how Difficult Terrain effects them. You now take Dangerous Terrain tests alot more often, so actually using them to get into terrain itself is significantly more dangerous.

Vehicles
This is a mixed bag. Most have got worse when it comes to actually fighting, although a few have become better choices when compared to others. Survivability though has got alot better.
As far as I can tell dangerous terrain rolls can no longer destroy a vehicle, so moving through ruins is less dangerous. This is fortunate, as many vehicles can only fire a single weapon when moving now, because of this you should feel more comfortable risking a move at full speed through a building to set yourself up for firing at full effect in the following turns, rather than creeping forward firing just one.
The increase in survivability comes from the change to how cover effects vehicles. Instead of the old 4+ and reduce a penetrating hit to glancing, you can now ignore the shot entirely! You'll have to be more vigilant though, as with the changes to area terrain, you now actually have to be physically obscured rather than just parked in some area terrain.

Walkers/Monstrous Creatures
An amalgamation of the benefits and negatives of vehicles and infantry here. The run rule being very important, as well as the need to actually be obscured to claim cover. Important stuff to consider when taking these big fellas.

Skimmers/Jetbikes
Very important change here is that you can no longer sit on top of terrain instead of inside it. This makes moving a little more risky, and removes the ease of gaining LOS on another unit from the top of a building. An important thing to consider here is if you ever used the strategic asset that allowed you to drop infantry onto the top floors of building/ruins. To do this you'll actually have to risk a dangerous terrain roll for your transports. So this choice is a little harder to make now.

Infiltrate
These units are something I've not really seen addressed in Cities of Death. In regular games you can now opt to Outflank with them if you wish, and I'm not entirely sure if this would carry over into Cities of Death. If it can, then would you need to take the Infiltrators strategic asset to allow them to do so? And if thats the case, can units with Scout outflank?
If you are planning on using Infiltrators or Scouts, and intend to make use of Outflank, I'd discuss this with your opponent ahead of time. Deciding if you need to have the Infiltrators stratagem to allow Outflank, and if you are going to allow Outflank at all in Cities of Death.

Deep Strike
A pretty nasty change exists here. Deep Striking into difficult terrain now prompts a dangerous terrain test. Combined with the fact that Deep Strike is already fairly risky, and the fact that Cities of Death has lots of difficult terrain for you to scatter into, these units might be a little too risky to use in my opinion.
Deep Strike is, as ever, a useful tool to have in your arsenal though. Maybe not something to rely upon in Cities of Death though. Sewer Rats might be a good alternative if you intend upon using "suprise" units. There are risks involved here too though of course, and I'd make sure you have enough drain covers pin safe areas, just in case the enemy blocks the ones where you would really like to appear.

Preliminary Bombardment
Some notable changes to this one. The old version used the standard rule that existed in the main rulebook, the new one does the same, but you have to dig a little harder to find it. The biggest changes to take place are that the shots now have a Strength and AP value. This makes them more dangerous against some targets, but worse against others of course. The other major change comes in the form of protection offered by some terrain. Now, if you are in these terrain types you are completely immune to the bombardments effects! I'm not quite sure how this interacts with the old rule that caused any hits against units in ruins/buildings to cause dammage to the ruin/building they were in also. So this is one to remember, and discuss with your opponent before the games starts.

Command Centre (I think that's what it's called at least!)
If I remember rightly this is the Key Building that gives units Stubborn, and Counter-Attack. This is now quite a nice combo if you want to play defensivly, and it's bonuses can be applied over a relatively long range which is another nice bonus. COunter-Attack has been buffed somewhat as it now gives you +1 attack when someone charges you, if you can pass a leadership test. Quite a good deterent to anyone planning on trying to get you out of a building. Combine this with the fact that your unit may be stubborn too, allowing them to ignore leadership modifiers, thats a good combo for defensive assault units.


Those are some things that leap to mind at any rate, hope they're usefull in helping you have a good game using the Cities of Death rules in 5th Edition.

So, what works best in Cities of Death in this Edition? Well in my opinion, the same as before: A good mix of everything! Thanks to 40k in general favouring multiple shot weapons, blasts and templates, due to the large amount of cover saves generally available now, a standard 40k army, will generally have all the tools it needs for Cities of Death. You might want to tailor things slightly in some armies, but for the most part you should be fine.