Grimdark Future

Yesterday we played our first game of Grimdark Future rules from One Page Rules.  These are a slimmed down and cleaner Warhammer 40k alternative and got our old armies out of the boxes.

As this was our first game we played using only the basic rules and a 'standard' 2000 point game.  2000 GDF points is a somewhat smaller game than 2000 40k points.

The armies we used were my 40k Steel Legion Imperial Guards, using the Human Defence Force GDF list, and my club-mate Matt's Black Legion Chaos Marines, using the Havoc Brothers GDF list. 

The lack of 'to wound' rolls seemed to speed things up quite a bit but things weren't quite as brutal as expected.  

Combat seemed a little more attritional than 40k, with fewer immediate deaths.  I liked this as my guardsmen got to stay on the table for more than a turn after getting out of the trucks. 

Vehicles have morale too, which means they can rout rather than having to be destroyed.  This lead to an odd situation where a full transport vehicle was routed but left it's passengers behind.  We weren't sure if we played that right.  Maybe they should have come back on as reserves.

The HDF were victorious this time, mainly due to some amazingly bad dice rolls by the Chuckle Havoc Brothers.  We had a fun game and will try another one before long. 

40k Game Day

As I previously mentioned, the chaps were running a 40k game day at the club today. Sadly, I couldn't make it down to play but I did manage to pop in and take a few photos.

Here are a few as a taster.














Check out my photo bucket album for the rest.

My 40k Revival

Since my last post, I've mostly been working on my Warhammer 40k project. My ambitious aim is to actually paint a full 1500 point force and maybe even play some games. The lads at the club are running a big 40k event this weekend, and while I can't make it to play, it has revived my enthusiasm to get these finished. I used to play 40k, back in the mists of time when 40k and I were both young, but I abandoned such frivolity in favour of more serious historical wargaming. I grew a beard and everything.

However, a while back some of my club mates started to whisper of such dark pleasures again, and even though I not been in a GW shop for the best part of twenty years, I succumbed to their temptations. Such is the power of the evil empire.

So, for my 40k renaissance, I have chosen to build an Imperial Guard army and after much internet browsing I decided upon the Armageddon Steel Legion as my regiment of choice. In days of yore I liked the gas mask wearing Imperial army troopers that graced the pages of White dwarf but sadly never bought any at the time. Now though, with a steady job and ebay as my friend, such past crimes could be forgotten and my service to the emperor made good.

Many months later, I am finally approaching having an army I can play with. As the Steel Legion are a mechanised force in the fluff, I have gone for lots of vehicles, and I've tried my hand at some simple conversions to add variety to the excellent, but limited, set of metal figures available. Fortunately for me, the new rules edition and IG codex have made mechanised armies considerably better than they were too. So I may even win some games with them. Although, my min-maxing fu is very weak, so I wouldn't count on it.

Here are a few shots of progress so far. More to come soon.



I have converted one of my Russes to be a Punisher, which looked like fun when just a rumour but is, I understand, actually quite rubbish. Never mind, I'm pretty happy with the model anyway.



I have got six Chimeras built so far and I've added Steel legion crew to several of them. I've gone for a simple grey scheme, for fighting in ash wastes or urban ruins, rather than a more colourful camouflage pattern.





Here is a close up of one of my Russes with the tanker shown.



These plasma gunners will hopefully give me something to stop the more heavily armoured enemies I'll be facing.



In the end though, the stalwart infantry will have to take the objectives.



Here are some simple conversions I've done to add variety to the officer models.



I've also got these very old style sentinels and have added Steel Legion crew. They will be my scouts.



There are no Steel Legion Melta gunners available but I have easily converted these using parts from the Apocalypse Comms sprue.



Likewise, these flamers were easy to do and give me some pyrotechnical options.