Writing the narrative

I have talked alot lately about playing narrative games and building the world around you but how do you build a narrative what is a narrative I guess its subjective in nature so we have to think what dose it facilitate what is its aim and ultimately who is the target I ponder this while life coincides with such notions and wonders but for now will keep it inside the hobbie.

So what is a story in suppose if we look at it something simple like the success found in space hulk your at a hulk from space infested with aliens your the best of the best and you seek glory and revenge for those fallen and relics lost trying to recover your past and your chapters honer you delve deep into the pits of hell to recover what it's yours you and your team must stand firm in the face of such darkness and prevail this narrative is so simple but gives you meaning and the game a sense of urgency and grim determination this I hope is the least we can add to are games if its not a tournament add objectives make things interesting give your chapter a reason to brake gillamans rules discard the codex heracy and glory for your brothers and honer for your chapter give meaning to the salamander trying to save his fellow men take those few gardesmen and make them a objective to protect this makes the games more exsighting and a little more unique many make something that needs to be repaired or destoryed give those tec marines more meaning and use add a little infinity to the mix Friz 40k says play to systems I'd say look at 2 lucky for us infinity's rules are free and their rich with new ideas play your games with a little more flair and put more on the line have a child trying to escape the tyrinids and have your men lay down their lives for the emperor give it rules that !ake it possible to save and make the points big so they mean something.

Maby you have lost a squad and their low on ammo and surrounded and have a sacred relic and your brothers need you throw yourseloh at the enemy to save them or die trying for the emperor !!!!!

Anyway let me know how you have added the narrative and what modifications have you made to make it feel more real!

Happy wargameing!

Letting things get in the way of the hobbie

Like anything in life we cannot always be committed to are little goals in life but I have to wonder what goals can we set and monitor to make sure we don't let little things stop us being committed to what we want to do and hat we want to grow how can we become the next Fritz or gamza or mini wargameing or something a little smaller its hard to see so far ahead and know what to do and whether it will work the way we want but you can't find that out if we don't commit the time we need to make it grow I guess these goals also alow us to let those committing time in following us when to look and when to expect content even if its short due to are commitments theirs still something their to share  and grow around even if its a question for the community people I feel who follow you would relish the chance to have the boot on the other foot letting them grow much like you.

So what's a good goal what will be enough for me I'd say at least once a week writing every day is never easy but one hour a week surely is something we can all find to write or vlog this means people can look regularly for content its what I do at least and I think it's usefull to see your audience as people who look for you to entertain them give them a slice of information about something they are invested in.

So if its one hour one day minimum what's to much every day I think maby I'm wrong but better to write like I've side for a year than every day for 3 months you will burn out I amagin some God amougst you will not but those of you who can well done but please breath when you get a chance! So I feel at best maby 3 or 4 articals a week if you have the time make them longer more in depth explore the tangents and give people something diffrent tot think about enrich their wargameing lives.

So what are you doing how do you manage your time and what do you think of what I've said their just my thoughts and I'm alwase happy to debate things.

Anyway happy Monday and happy wargameing.

40k gaming mats and terrain

I suppose this is for everyone the hardest area to access minitures are pricy and scenery is pricy too and what would you want to buy first minitures all the way for me so that leaves the boards empty and wanting.

So what can we do to solve those empty boards and make are games richer more alive and most importantly retain a narrative like the boards we see from mini wargameing sadly we don't have that kind of budget so what can we do their are a few in the hobby doing great things
Firstly I must mention commissar gamza his channel shows you how to turn every day items into terrain Friz 40k on YouTube have done this too if you can find his vedios on this but gamza is leading the charge on this and I congratulate him on this bring are game to life fill the board. What I have also seen while not so 40k ish in tone is the terain made of paper from from infinity and this is amazing for your casual gamer it gives you flexablity and the kind of use that for those of use with less monie is just not achievable what's even better is what people have managed to do with this!

http://r3ds-corps.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/500pt-tyranids-in-combat-patrol-and.html?m=1

This such a great use of the terain cheep and dense the dreams of orks and tyrinids fear them because when things get close your doomed.

This is what I want to see more off the veriaty space saving and weight saving not to mention cost something I hope with a pc to look at the printing is obviously the big issue something so large is cumbersome but I wonder if it can be done such as to give you snow plains city and desert moonscape and Mars scape such that you have all the types of terain you could want to play any narrative style game you want its the big limiting factor to the game as I see it.

So have I missed some amazing value terrain or do you feel paper and card are the way to go is the the future for that narrative play we all want.

Anyway that enough rambling from me I hope this gives you ideas like it has for me best wishes and happy wargameing.

D and D 40k style

This is a though on my mind a 40k world designed for D and D I believe. A idea of this exists brought out by fantasy flight and that's great but I've been thinking about this a lot  and how can such a thing work for 40k and what is the issue for us and are very much more visual presentation built world of 40k. How can we translate into this new world where a marine is worth a 1000 men and is a living tank a inquisitor is not just a squishy man but a God able to rule over everything to the captain of a skyscraper in space able to obliterate a planet in one hit all this and more exists but how are we to interact and work this this universe with are miniatures and do it justice while having freedom?

It's a area I often ponder and imagine the expanse and excitement of a 40k universe it is this universe that keeps me coming back and spending money on the game because I've fallen in love with the grim dark I want to live gaunts ghosts or as a space marine but in their almost immortal nature in 40k models get blasted off the table so quickly and with such ferocity that some of the character of the grim dark can get lost and while that's fine its a element I want to see more of in the game more heroics more defining all odds and I want to be the one doing at least in my head.

So how can we go about making that a reality well the one idea of currently have is making the marines you play with more powerful just ramp up their stats till they can play this way so one marine in the game is the equivalent of 10 and see if simply ramping up wounds would be enough or weather more needs to be done to make these hero's embodied on the field of battle its a idea I'm toying around with and I hope to  flesh it out more as I develop this blog the more I wrote about this area the more I feel like writing custom rules is something I'd like to do to give more back to the hobbie I'm no writer or painter but maby I can give you more to work with when playing your grim dark.

What I also like about this focus is theirs more time to paint a single mini and more time to focus on making said mini unique something I like to see I love those budget snap fits but I love some crazzy missed unique poses more because they make a army your own.

My finial issue is maps and boards and terain I love the terain from infinity namely the paper terain and I hope also I'm the future to work on using such a set up to facilitate the story telling and importantly retain the visual that we so enjoy sadly like many things such a set up is pricy but I wonder if we can make it work if I figure out anything you guys will be the first to know I think theirs a market for paper terain or printed terain its something I'm looking for and at.

Anyway let me know what you think and happy wargaming!

Sorry for slow posts

I had intended a rapid day by day posting schedule but due to firstly to a lack of a PC which I hope to fix and a lack of time as I'm just back at Uni I have been much slower than I !might have liked to have been in this case I hope to speed this up over the coming weeks because my misses will be away and this should alow me to spend more time on my hobbie and my set up for this blog which I hope to make a daily success thank you for reading and I look forward to your comments in the future.

I plan to go through all the kill team content and then hopefully into codex reviews and the like as time goes on I will like to develop YouTube to stand along side this and also show off battle reports and develop my online hobby further thank you for joining me on this journey and I hope you enjoy reading about my adventures involved in this all comeing about.

Best wishes guys let's make this a great year for the hobbie and happy wargaming!!! 

Kill team tactica - Team Leaders - Boss nob

This is are genral all round beat stick. He's a great utility able to build him in a veriaty of ways and unlock in kill team the mod from

http://heralds-of-ruin.blogspot.co.uk/p/kill-team-rules.html?m=1

So what are the options and why would you take them so first up theirs the boss nob as is slugga choppa and stickbomb and standard for a non in every way exsept that he has a exstra wound makeing him one of the tuffer wound tanks in kill team unfortunately that set up leaves you vunrable haveing no invunrable save and
Only a 6+ save makes the upgrade to evy armor a must but at only 4 points its a no brainer for a cheep effective beat stick this I see as a solid choice if your looking to go cheep and go hord in the kill team game which is a good choice because the orks realy have great access to lots of boys and special boys and then add a few coptas and killa cans and you able to take on just about anything.

So what's the next option will continuing the lines of upgrading the nob. rocket pack and warbike are both great options what's better is if you take either like the old ork codex you can unlock the limitations Imposed on bikes and storm boys and mega nobs in kill teams which can make for a more elite force should you want to go that way but what is better bike or rocket pack well given the bike gives you t5 and 4 plus save I have to say I can't see why youed go any other way the only thought I'd have is kill team is small and bikes are big so hideing will be alot more difficult this can mean your boss may get more heat than you want the rocket pack for 1 less point will give you 4 plus and the better charge range but no t5 I feel is a big issue however if your gunna build a all storm boys armie you should totaly go for it the aim is to get in hard and fast and do exsactly that. Bike I feel is the all rounder you can zoom ahead or utilise the firepower and zone threat and duriblity for more advantages a few bikes as a back up and you have a force that can zoom around and provide fire support while still giveing you room for support and that's the way I'd go. However naritive is everything so take the boss that embodies you.

Moveing on as mentioned mega nobs well I must say 2+ at this point is very powerful their won't be much in the way of ap2 but volume of fire may hurt you speed and manovarablity may also be a issue its all on foot so lucky dice is what you have to hope for. Id keep the the basic gun and if you wanna go full elite do it but you'll have a very elite modle count armie that will rely on your manovering and planing anyway the mega nob himselph is pricy but packs everything you want he's strong durable and can kill just about anything its great but at the points being 5th of your force ruffly is a big points sink but the orks can handle that and still have plenty to spare this is the option to compear with the warbike in raw effectiveness I love both modles and and I'd be hard pressed to pick between that dakka goodness. I only worry about how fast he can move but a few other upgrades available in kill team may well help.

Finaly for the sneeky amongst you is boss komando all those special rules on a small bord and infiltrating such a devastating combat unit is both potent and risky get in the right place with the right support and you enimies will suffer over commit and your boss is gone youll need that evy amor but for the points its cheep and provides alot this with the right support as I see it is a nightmear for most to deal with but be cearfull. This as I see it is a dark horse and great for the team of the sneky in you.

As for builds I have to say all need power claws because that claw will eat everything but a huge chopa may be a good choice if you want to go at indicative but at 3 why bother claw the way to victory.

What I think is important is to rember that Guns are important in this because you don't have tanks so getting rid of shots for combat will hurt you in kill team you need effishency at all times and orks might not have effishent shooting but that can take alot of it!!!! Anyone for dakka tea.

Look out for more looks at the ork kill team force. I will try to consider some builds that will work well and post those when I can keep you kunning eyes open for more orks.

Happy wargameing claim those teath buy those goods and waaarg your way to victory!!!!

Ork kill team first look

Note I mentioned to write thus before the nob boss post but nm enjoy.

Well as I said I've been looking at Orks and their conversion potential. So how about a look at kill teams in such a context. First things first let's look at kill team in general its based on 250 points all models are individuals save a few who operate in 5s the physic phase is simplified so not to be to game braking  and modified to work in a individualistic format missions for a smaller scale and a few added elements that makes the games mean  something.

This is because theirs a injury chart so your chooses victories modify the force a campaign built in with no effort the story will tell itself so maybe you'll be a ork warboss on the rise beating heads to bring clans on board.

All they need is a naming system and bam your narrative is good to go the game is played on a 4 foot by 4 foot square and if you can do it is advise filling that with terrain! It will make a big difference so what is they to take to battle in a game like this no wraith knights here or crazy wave serpents its just good old foot sloggers for the most part.

So first things first a list of ork units should help you get a feel for the lay out of the game

First you need a team leader 1 only

Boss nob unlocks limits on the following listed if equips the same so a bike unlocks bikes and so on.
Boss mek
Weirdboy
Kaptin

Core 1 to 30 core models

Boys mob
Gretchen mob
Runtherd - limit by number of gretchin mobs
Burna boy - 5 limit
Tank busta - 5 limit
Kommando - 5 limit boss unlocks this
Storm boy - 5 limit boss unlocks this
Warbiker - 3 - limit boss on bike unlocks this
Mec gun - 2 - limit
Loota - 3 - limit

Special 5 Max
Nob
Mega nob - this is can be taken as core
Deffcopta
Flash git
Mek
Killia kan - limit 2
Dok - limit to 1

As you can see lots of flexibility but the game focuses mainly on foot sloggers

Anyway check out the documents and see what you think at

http://heralds-of-ruin.blogspot.co.uk/p/kill-team-rules.html

Anyway enjoy and look for more articles on the ork kill team.

Happy wargaming

40k YouTube

I've been wondering how hard it is to make videos unedited for warhammer I see alot of great stuff from Fritz and co their stuff is great but maybe theirs a gap for someone focusing on looking at a way to play the small narrative with the release of the new box sets for 40k and their small modle count I think now it is better than ever to see a game that tries to emulate its big brother but dose so for value.

I'm instantly draw to the new space marine box set a dread and 10 tacs and a commander could be a great add in for kill team given a slight  amendment to let the dread come into the game it's small portable and easy to paint not to mention you get great variety in the chapter tactics. Name them all and emerse yourself in the the 40k world for a great price also their simple to use and great for beginners what I like most about this is every box of units you buy you can use right away a strange comment to make but some thinks like bikes you only get three in regular 40k this isent a optimal number without alot more purchased however kill team their all the speed you need and at 500 points great utility. What's better is a nice chunk of grav and you can take on just about anything.

What do you think of the new box sets in sad to see the value reduced but I'm glad to see a price point that more can afford to get into the game.

Sorry about the tangent.

Happy wargaming!!!! 

Aim for the future

Well 2 veiws in and I'm already exsighted haha little too optimistic maybe but what I want to tell you today or at least in my second post is that I'm hoping to do YouTube and other forms of media where available. What I want to know is what wargamers like and want I guess my blog will target the more casual amougst you unless I'm wrong and 500 points has some crazzy meta I just don't see enough about the small games and their value not just as a game ecosystem but as a cheep way to get into the game what I'm hoping to do first is look not just at 40 k codex but the home brew mod to the game of kill team found here

http://heralds-of-ruin.blogspot.co.uk/p/kill-team-rules.html

If you haven't already cut a few trees down check this out youlll still need a codex to use them well you really just need a rule book the small hand addition would be great for this. Athough youed be missing in codex rules if they have unique rules but for  the most part when you start out I'm sure youed be able to get by anyway I digress.

What I'm hoping to encourage is a diffrent collection ethos one bsed on getting in cheep and expanding by armies rather than size have 3 or 4 small kill teams get friend and family to play make your own hobbie if you can't get to a store or just don't have time. It's still a large investment but kill team as you'll see operates on a singular modle system so you don't need alot to get started 250 points a codex and rule book and mat to play on with some terrain and your good to go. Some how that list still seems daunting and exspesove but not quite as bad I will be looking at ways to solve this problem so keep a eye out for that one.

I'd love to hear what you want I mean I can guess but you never know also tell me your experiences too and will see if we can make this a one stop blog for starters gamers and those of you with to little time for a 7 hour game.

Anyway that's enough of me woffling on about nothing important have a great day and happy wargameing!!!!!

New beginnings

hello welcome to my blog about 500 Point games. I love the look of kill team the fan made game and I want to look at 40k in a diffrent light I know the meta in big games favors some armies over other and for sure if you bring the big toys to a 500 point game your sure to win unless you meet a hard counter. What make 500 points so good is that it makes you realy think about the game your armies and the units you pick you can't have it all so youll have to take a guess and make it work, sadly sometimes this will result in brutal and painfull games but theirs space for narrative and more games given how much shorter and how much cheeper playing games in this format is as well as a space saver that I feel its worth a good look.

As a note for all you reading I am dyslexsic so I apolagise for any crazzy mistakes or strange sentences but please let me know what you think and where I go wrong.

Finaly I'm looking at a ork armie at the moment I don't get mucb time to play so conversions the game and been wondering what mad things can be made in the world of orks. Bear in mind I've never played them so comments help. I wonder what's good at 500 points orks are cheep so you can realy pack then in.

I play imperial guard and space marines currently for all those of you who are wondering and have quit a bit of both so I hope to drag a friend every now and then to play a small game and I'll try to let you guys know how it goes a commitment to play a few more games this year.

Well that's all said and done hope you enjoy my blog in the future and happy wargameing!!!