Whither the Warlord Traits

When going through the steps leading to turn one of a game, I'm seeing in our group the most derided and unenthusiastic step to be the roll for Warlord Traits. There hasn't yet been a documented case of a Warlord Trait being used for advantage in my group. While this is only anecdotal and people are probably using their warlord skills to great effect somewhere out there, it is consistent with other similar rules I have tried using.

In writing up the original Rules of Engagement update for 5th Edition I did with a co-worker, I added unique conditions, a set of wholly optional rules to theoretically spice up a generic game. Rules would modify run/charge distances for example. The problem quickly became the additional scenario rules felt more a nuisance than a benefit. They were left in the rule set, but abandoned in play, never used again.

I ignored this lesson as I wrote up an expansion of the Rules of Engagement concept to give games more of a campaign feel without the campaign extension. Each player's objective came with a USR or special rule benefit that narratively supported the goal. Again, in play these benefits often were ignored or forgotten.

The problem comes from the necessity of not overpowering these benefits. They need to be useful in some way, but not in a way they confer a distinct advantage to one player over another. But since they confer no distinct advantage their usefulness is suspect. This is exacerbated by the random roll to determine your benefit. So even if one or two of the Warlord Traits is useful, the odds do not favor you getting them.

How could this be fixed?

The random roll of the Trait is in line with the 6th Edition philosophy which seems to favor the uncertainty of the dice roll. So hiding a useful Trait among the 6 you can roll fits the edition, but does it add to the game or subtract from it? I'd suggest neither which is why my group still makes the roll but inevitably ignores the result. Removing the die roll and allowing a trait to be chosen addresses this problem, but creates a new one in the fact the USRs handed down by these Traits don't affect each army equally and can be cherry picked to suit who you are fighting that game. It changes from a trait of your HQ model to a "how can I best beat opponent X?"

Could we modify the dice roll to favor generic traits and make more unusual traits harder to roll? Change the table to a 2d6 roll and the the distribution of results becomes more predictable. This doesn't make traits more consistently useful.

Ultimately, given the power to change the rulebook, I think I would move the Warlord Traits into fluff/optional rules. Maybe tailor them to each race. More likely though, I'd wash my hands of it as a bad idea and cut it from the game.

IPad Codex Mini-Review

I have had the Necron codex on my IPad for a short time and used it during a game or two to look things up. So here are my thoughts on them.

I still like the concept and expect all future codices to get this treatment. The art is good and the built in photo rotations and other bells and whistles work great.

The downside of that is they are slow on my IPad. Granted, my device is a first gen IPad and current machines may work better but it can take a long time to load up pages which can be frustrating when you're hunting a rule down.

Value to me is subjective, but in this hobby of ours I think that one you're in it it's too late to start crying about prices. You bought your bed, you need to lay in it. Was it worth the money I spent on it to me? I'd say on the lower side of yes, leaning towards no. My enjoyment of the accessibility and the quality just outweighs the frustration of load times.

So for what it's worth, that's my view on at least one of the new ibooks for 40k.

GW updates digital edition of Codex Space Marines

While the instructions aren't ideal the concept was a no-brainer. When new FAQs come out, you update the digital editions to be current. And in this case they did and I applaud that.

They also just released Codex Necrons, I haven't looked to see if it is already up to date or not.

Now guys, just follow through on my included army builder app and everything will be awesome.

Death Guard Daemon Prince WIP

Nearly, done, needs some touch ups but here he is.

6th Edition Fliers and Allies Video from GW

Looks like GW is releasing videos highlighting new features of the upcoming rulebook. Today this was posted discussing superficially the addition of allies and fliers. Very little new information is mentioned but fliers crashing to the ground sounds amusing.

Death Guard WIP

My test model for a Death Guard Terminator. I originally wanted to do a marble white like the pre-heresy Death Guard. I am not a fan of the green color scheme. But the marble white was not looking good to me and I ended up reworking this guy and a couple others like him several times before settling on a rotting flesh color for the armor with green starting to crack through.

Coming June 23d

More Thought on E-Codices

I've seen a lot of complaints about the price of the e-book versions of book, specifically the Space Marine Codex.  This strikes me as typical internet outrage and not to be taken seriously but after a bit of thought I came up with an addition to make it more worthwhile.

Games Workshop has already added a bit of content to these books for the ap store version.  They have successfully turned the paper book into an interactive application.  But there is a function this ap can add that would knock it out of the ballpark in my mind.

That would be to add an Army-Builder style tool to the ap.  Something that would allow me as I flip through the codex to build my army.  It would become everything I need in one ap, provided it also saved as a nice .pdf style sheet.  They'd basically have to life most all of Army-Builder's functionality, but I don't think taking ideas from other people has ever stopped GW.

What do you think, would that make the price more palatable for you?

GW finally releasing E-Book Rules and Supplements

Games Workshop announced today (http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/wnt/blog.jsp?pid=2600122-gws) they were going to take the great leap forward into the mid 2000's of technology and release rules and supplements as E-Books readable on iBooks.  

Despite the sarcastic nature of the above paragraph this is actually something exciting and good GW is doing for itself.  Digital versions of their rules and supplements I think make a good addition for its technology savvy users.  A number of people, myself included, have used PDF versions of army lists made from Army Builder on mobile devices.

I don't see it as a permanent replacement of paper codices and books but it does make it possible to keep a lot of reference material in one small reference.  As long as the batteries last.

A Dice Roll in a Game of Dice Rolls

While reading the recent rumors (40k Rumors 6th Edition Allies and More) going around about 6^th Edition Warhammer 40k I noticed something that is a bit of a head-scratcher for me.  One of the rumored changes gives us this:

Random Charge Lengths are in

This change removes a genuine skill or feel for the game and replaces it with random chance.  Since (it is assumed) pre-measuring is allowed in 6^th Edition, you now know the distance to the charge target, you’re only decision is whether or not to roll.  But is that really a decision?  Why would you ever not choose to try the assault and roll?  There’s no penalty for failing the roll.  This mechanic already exists for units charging across difficult terrain, and I don’t recall an instance of someone not trying a charge to see if the roll goes their way.

But there is the other problem, in a game that relies on comically massive numbers of dice rolls to balance out luck; a single dice roll is as random as the game gets.  So whether you have the most bloodthirsty Khorne Berzerkers or timid Tau Fire Warriors, the chance of them bringing a charge home is identical and completely random.

As the game stands now, there is a known quantity – the six inch charge distance.  When you look at the table and see how far your unit is from the target you can gauge the distance by eye.  This takes a simple skill you as a player have probably grown to use, judging distance by eye.  

So what's different?  Both cases players will make or not make a charge if they're in range, so no harm right?  Wrong, because your move on the movement turn is based on the distance you have judged on the table.  If I move my Assault Marines, will they end up in charge distance after that move?  If the charge distance is a known quantity, the skill of judging distance comes in to play.  If the charge distance is random, the skill is removed and the player is at the mercy of a dice roll.

The distinction is subtle, there are other parts of 40k governed by a single roll of the dice, but my contention is those need to be minimized.  And they most certainly should not be used to replace a skill based decision.