First Strike Review (and a look at the Primaris release)

First Strike is a new starter set available for Warhammer 40,000 eighth edition. It is something of a first as there has never been such a small or cheap starter set available for 40k before. Usually you get the option of the main box set containing two good size forces and all the accouterments you need to play as well as a rule book or just the rulebook on its own. With the release of eighth we have been spoilt with four choices.

First is Dark Imperium the main two player starter set which contains the new Primaris Marines and the Death Guard, the second time that the starter has contained two power armoured forces, the first being the previous edition's (sixth and seventh) Dark Vengeance. To accompany that you have a hard back rule book. Released alongside First Strike is Know No Fear, a paired down version of Dark Imperium that contains a soft backed rule book containing the main and advanced rules of the game and most but not all of the miniatures included in Dark Imperium. First Strike is the final option for getting started.

First Strike comes packed in a rather neat little box. It is about the same size as a standard infantry box but twice as deep. This is very compact for a starter set and has been designed this way to fit into the FSDUs that are being rolled out to independent retailers to go in bricks and mortar stores. Each unit is able to comfortably hold the full range of eighth edition starter products.

Games Workshop has been getting fancy with their boxes of late. If you have purchased one of the Triumvirate boxes you will have seen how fancy they are with artwork printed all over the inner tray. Here this takes on a practical purpose as the tray for First Strike's box has been printed to look like Imperial Containers, making the tray a ready made piece of terrain. This method has been repeated with Know No Fear as well as the Age of Sigmar mini starter set.

I was impressed with how neatly everything fit in the box. There is a lot in there too. Four sprues of miniatures, bases, a measuring stick, dice, books, unit cards and a game mat.

Once its all out you can really see how impressive this set is. As a product it is a complete starter, providing a gaming area and terrain to play on as well as the miniatures. All of which (bar the minis once you've painted them) can go straight back in the box for storage which you will want to do to keep the mat and scenery nice.

As a veteran gamer you might not get much use out of First Strike as it was intended. Indeed, I bought the box mainly for the miniatures which individually would have cost £40.00 whereas this box costs £25.00! I get that its only a saving relative to the prices GW has set themselves but when you take in everything here, It's still a good deal.

Do you remember what it was like being a noob? There was nothing like this. If you wanted to get into the game it was expensive, as it still is, but when we were younger cash was even harder to come by that it is now, even with bills and such. £25.00 is a really good price to introduce new players to the game. 

That is actually all it is, an introduction. The rules in this box are only the core rules, with the more advanced rules that do appear being specific to the models and missions in the box. If you want the full rules you will need to pick one of the other three options that accompany this kit.

But that's not a bad thing. If you tried it and didn't like it, then you haven't sunk £95.00 into a large box of miniatures you are never going to use again. If you do want to go further then either Dark Imperium or Know No Fear is a great upgrade as the units in the box, especially the Death Guard units can integrate into the forces present in the larger box. In fact the Death Guard Plague Marines in First Strike will upgrade the Death Guard in the larger boxes to a full ten man squad with most of its options, only really missing an icon. That's why this is probably going to be the top seller out of the four beginner products.

A word on the Death Guard (Allen will review the Primaris). Even though they are push fit models, they are the best GW has ever done. Usually you can tell straight away that a model is push fit as it has an awkward pose and appears to be less detailed than the true plastic versions of the same troops. These are indistinguishable in quality from the miniatures in Dark Imperium. A real step forward in GW's production quality.

Another thing to note is that they are all slotta models! I've not seen new slotta models since the Assault on Black Reach starter set for fifth edition.

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Yep slotta bases! man that takes me back... very cool and essential to the no-glue Easy build concept being presented here!

Like Lee says, First Strike serves as a brilliant intro to 40K. Compact, yet still containing everything you need to dip your toes in to the game. Lee has adroitly covered most of the box so I’ll talk about the rest.

The Primaris marines come on blue plastic sprues, I presume that they are of the same quality as the normal grey plastic but they are a bit shinier so it is hard to see if the sharpness of the detail is the same. I couldn’t discern any major differences. You can easily cut off the ‘easybuild’ pegs to get more variety out of the poses but in all honesty it ends up looking a bit awkward. They have been designed a certain way, messing with that with the parts you have doesn’t go as well as you would think it would. Certainly if you were to use other parts, say from the multipart plastic kits that are coming out I think you would garner better results. I’ll be filling in those leg greaves with Greenstuff though, the below picture has ensured that.....

The Reivers are actually the poorer models in the set in my opinion, the Primaris Intercessors come off quite a bit better, this is probably largely due to the fact that they are markedly different to those that have come in the Dark Imperium box set, well two are at least. One is holding an Auspex which is pretty cool and the sergeant is also a nice dynamically posed figure. I swapped out my Nurgle with a pal for more Primaris and will likely convert the second sergeant into a lieutenant as I hate having identical figures and it would be a little hard to convert up. With an irremovable helmet clipped to his belt you can’t even do an easy head swap. Oh well i’m sure the MPPK will come with a multitude of parts for conversions. (edit - it does! 24 heads in fact!)

In addition to the models you get two snazzy books, I’ll get to those in just a sec but you do also get a couple of other bits not mentioned yet, one is a range ruler, a cut down version of the ruler you get in Dark Imperium and rendering the measuring tool made available for purchase utterly redundant (honestly who makes a measuring tool out of bendy soft rubber ?) There are of course dice, kind of necessary for playing the game, sadly these are not the really nice ones from Dark Imperium and are instead bog standard game dice. You also get cards with the contained models rules but these are MASSIVELY stripped down and in the scheme of things of no use outside the First Strike scenarios. 

Speaking of which,

First Strike comes with two books, one is basically the core rules so no need to explore that here. It is JUST the core rules though, no army building rules advanced rules or deployment maps/missions. Great for carrying round to games though.

the other book, titled 'read this first' really does serve as an intro the the world of Warhammer 40,000
with 9 pages of fluff. a half dozen pages of hobby material, including a painting guide so basic i'm not sure it deserves the name and then the 4 scenarios that make up the game, each one introducing more rules and models till you use the lot in the final battle. It's a really great way to get someone to learn the game, it's hard to imagine being a TOTAL novice but it seems really accessible. There are also more than a few adverts for other GW products. Strangely enough!

So that is First Strike, a pretty decent and affordable starter, scaling up you get Know no Fear which is a stripped down version of Dark Imperium at 50 notes.  This new idea of multiple entry point starters is a really good one from GW. Top marks there. First Strike really feels like a starter taste though and you are not getting the full experience by any means. 

Time to look at the other Primaris releases (this has delayed the article a few times, sorry about that)

So along side all this we got a couple of clampack characters, coming in at almost the cost of a full squad  (at present) they are certainly quite expensive and in my opinion the Captain is rendered redundant by the far superior ‘birthday’ limited edition available from GW stores on their anniversary. Still, the Librarian looked really nice so I grabbed that.

And you know what? It is a phenomenally well designed and engineered model. GW really are absolutely at the top of the pile here and it was a dream to assemble, of course the trade off is convertibility and I would say that you would find it very difficult to make a second model look distinct. then again at the the price GW are asking for these who could AFFORD more than one?!

Reivers, £35 quid for 10 might seem like a lot but if you are paying £10 for three Easy-build versions then the price doesn't seem that bad! Add in the discount for a third party retailer such as Wayland Games and it will drop below 30 quid and start to look a bit more reasonable. There are also a BUCKET load of parts to this kit and in the end despite being a price you would balk at for a squad it actually works out better value than the 'value' sets people are raving about. Odd how that works eh?

Aggressors: Now these at £30 for three models I am having a LOT more trouble justifying. A tenner a model, minimal options and spare parts, and just not that great looking in the first place, (imo) they are a hard sell. Given the option i'd pay the extra fiver and go for the ten Reivers every time. The Aggressors seem to have been priced purely to be cheaper than the reviled Centurions which they are clearly meant to replace. 

On top of that we also have the Redemptor Dreadnought, at £40 it seems much better priced to me. Now I have seen better pictures I feel that I understand the model much better and to be honest... I'm really digging it. I think the price is good (Twice the size of a normal dread and only 25% more) and I'll definitely be picking one up. Huge and stompy, I want to compare one to an Imperial Knight!

this keeps getting delayed as more stuff is reviewed. this is the last of it thankfully!

Ok so the last couple of Primaris releases.

Apothecary, quite nice, not sure he should be standing on his brothers corpse but the little details are really nice. The flasks round his neck containing the progenoid glands, the lenses in front of his face, it’s a nice job, lots of character. I’ll probably grab one of these.

The chaplain is also quite nice, a lot more dynamic if perhaps a little too interrogator like for me, his Crozius has also been downgraded to a mere stick, not so keen on that. Looks a bit like a baton. He’s half the sprues of the apothecary for the same price too, not cool.

And lets not forget that the four released characters are collectively  practically the same price as the ENTIRE of the Dark Imperium box. Insanity.

Something else that is insanity?  £30 quid for 3 Inceptors. Utter madness, they aren’t nice models in the first place  (IMO) and they don’t even come with that many parts. Those new flying bases are rubbish too. Might just be worth mixing with a cheap squad from DI to get the most out of it and end up with two squads for about £40.00. 

Better is 35 for 10 Intercessors, (the hell blasters are the same price), Ok it’s a lot of money for a ten man squad but the models are undeniably bigger and better and you get 3 variants of weapon which can be used throughout the entire squad and 24 heads! 12 bare and 12 helmeted, and who doesn’t like more head?(snigger). I think the concerning thing is that I just said £35.00, a 40% (ish) markup is perfectly justified. I feel dirty now.

50 quid for your Repulsor grav tank. Doesn’t seem too bad, there is quite a lot to it. Lots of guns certainly. Given that the LR is roughly the same price and similarly sized models from AOS cost a LOT more I don’t think it’s too bad.

And that’s the Primaris release. (at least the first wave) Total cost to get one of each box? A Staggering  £345. I mean that really is a LOT of money for 42 infantry models a tank and a dreadnought. This is the price of the new Scale. Some armies are about to get HORRIFICALLY expensive.

In general I think the Aggressors, Inceptors and Characters are probably the raw deals here. The Dread and 10 man squads seem OK for the amount of bits you get, the Tank is so, so.  I’m not surprised by any of the prices overall, they are much in line with AOS.  

Next up, (presumably) will  be the Deathguard. I’d expect a similar release there, we already know a tank is coming, Typhus, a terminator box, a Plague Marine box, I imagine a multipart pox walker kit, and a clam pack for each of the existing characters in Dark Imperium too (Sorcerer, Noxious Blightbringer and Lord of Contagion) Oh and a great big flying bloke called Mortarion.

Of course, we’ll review those when they arrive....

Conclave game report: Kill Team

It's hard enough to find time to paint these days let alone game, Schedules rarely match up and we all have various commitments to fulfill meaning that any time that we can fit in for a game is at a premium. Being an adult sucks sometimes.

Thankfully the opportunity presented itself recently for not just a game but a DAY of gaming, such a rare chance had to be exploited to the maximum. We arranged to squeeze in three games total. One Kill Team, one Second edition and one Seventh, A day of 40K.

I'd never played Kill Team before. I had no idea what to take, I knew Lee was taking Orks so I was likely to be outnumbered no matter what. I toyed with taking Genestealer Cult so that I would at least have a chance of  matching his numbers, but they are TOTALLY unpainted and I really had no idea how to go about putting a force together. Besides I was planning to use them for the Second Edition game. I knew I wanted to take something other than Space Marines, which I thought might be a bit dull,

Next up on my assembled but painted list was Necrons. Four Canoptex Wraiths might prove interesting, 3++ and phase shifting.  Problem is I moved not all that long ago and couldn't find them to save my life (they have since been located). Damn, there went my Seventh Edition list as well.

I still, didn't want to use Space Marines, they were fully painted but no, just no, i'm sick of using Space Marines for everything. I think it was Gangs of Commoragh that gave me the idea to use Dark Eldar, When they were first released I bought a massive army, but since they were treated so poorly in 7th they have languished in a box doing, well, not very much at all. They were also unpainted but I was very much running out of options here, I'm not a very prolific painter even if it is my favourite part of the hobby.

In the end I settled on ten Reaver Jetbikes. An Arena Champion and Three Blasters, (one for each of my specialists) took me to the 200pt limit. I had considered taking less Reavers and giving a few of them Cluster Clatrops to increase the amount of Hammer of Wrath hits but in Kill Team each model is an Individual and none would have more than 2 wounds so it would have been pointless. Besides, I was going to still be outnumbered. The advantage of the Jetbikes though is I could hopefully zip around and stay out of the Ork's range, picking them off to try to get them to break.  I certainly wasn't planning to get into combat.

I like little games of 40k and Killteam offers just that. On top of that as every model is a unit all on its own every dice roll would count, as Allen would later learn. This evokes games of second edition where every roll had significance.

I chose to play Orks as I have so many but have had few chances to try them out in seventh. As well as my own collection since last we played I have obtained a mountain of Ork models from a work colleague which has boosted the amount and type of units I have available. With this in mind I was ready to try out all manner of force compositions.

My first idea was to go pure Kommando led by Boss Snikrot who with two wounds and a modest amount of points would have fitted nicely in a Killteam. Unfortunately I could not find the model so that idea was out (till next time). Next I considered Boss Zagstruk and Da Vultur Skwadron but I couldn't find him either which was a shame as I wanted those Str10 hammer of wrath attacks in case Allen brought a vehicle along.

After considering a Killa Kan or two I decided to take a varied force and try to outnumber whatever Allen brought along. Having visions of glory with Kommandos and Stormboys dashed I decided to take a unit each. THe high speed of the Stormboys meant that I could get stuck in with the 3 attacks (4 on the charge) these boys had as well as their hammer of wrath attacks. On the charge they could be devestating. As I needed a leader and because only a big tough Ork would do I added a Nob with a power klaw to the unit. If Allen did bring any vehicles I wanted to be able to take them out sharpish.

With my Kommandos I had a unit with the option to infiltrate and get in close to any objectives. I took a rokkit launcher and gave that Ork Eagle Eye so he would stand a chance of hitting something. I rounded the force off with a unit of ten Gretchin and a Runtherd to give me numbers. They may only have grotblasters but every shot counts in Killteam so I was hoping to surprise Allen. My full list can be found at the end of this post.



We were using the Necromunda card terrain for a classic feel and Lee went first, he moved all his Orks forward apart from his Rokkit Launcher which was perched up atop of a building. That could be a problem, especially as he would be re-rolling to hit (weapon specialist). Lee was clearly going for the objectives. He could have them as far as I was concerned, my plan was to thin his numbers and swoop on the objectives later, preferably once he had broken. After all I would have to kill 12 of his models to reduce him to half strength. He only had to kill five.

His Rokkit launcher missed but the reroll paid dividends and he blew one of my Reavers out of the sky as I failed my cover save. First Blood went to Lee! Thankfully his Stormboyz acted more like Orks and rolled a triple one with their sluggas.

I had the numbers and was going to use them. Objectives were a priority but my plan was to make it look like the Stormboys were going for them but then keep going and charge the Reavers. While that was going on the Kommandos and Gretchin would follow up and consolidate my positions.

Night fighting could have done for my shooting which was a bugger as my rokkit Kommando managed to hit but out in the open as it was that Reaver stood no chance. Most of my boys were out of range only having sluggas and those that did missed. Ho hum, it is to be expected with Orks.

Right, time for revenge! I had planned to target Gretchin for an easy kill to get myself First Blood but that had gone, except... we were meant to be using Night Fighting! We hadn't taken that into consideration at the time and neither of us could remember the roll, so I rerolled the save and the Reaver came back. First Blood was mine to take.

But the trio of Reavers on the left all missed or failed to wound, and it was left to the four in the middle to blow away a Stormboy on the gantry getting me that Victory Point. My specialist with Fearless (at least he wouldn't be running away) managed to nail the Rokkit Launcher with his Blaster, that was a relief, threat eliminated. Only ten more kills needed to get Lee taking Break Tests!

The three Reavers on the right managed to take out the Gretchin's Runtherd as a bonus, every little helps after all. Nonetheless, killing three a turn just wasn't going to cut it... I used my Jetbike move to get back into cover as much as possible.

I'm too honest by far, letting Allen save his Reaver but we're playing for fun not for victory at all costs. Allen managed a few kills, Orks have paltry armour, but I could afford a few losses.

It was as Lee undertook his second turn that I realised I had completely forgotten to Rapid fire. Balls.

I'm honest but it's not my job to point out things like rolling all the dice you're entitled to, it's your job to remember that ;)

Lee's second turn consisted of charging his Stormboyz into as many Reavers as he could, after consolidating his hold on the objectives, I completely forgot to Overwatch (you can tell which of us re-read the rules the night before) and Lee was the one now using Hammer of Wrath attacks, taking out my Weapon Specialist that had Eagle Eye. I had a feeling this was going to hurt.

However, two of my Reavers actually managed to kill their opponents, the other died, pulled from his mount and another was crushed to bloody gibbets by the Nob with the Power
Claw. That was me with a Third of my force down. Still at least no one was stuck in combat so there was no need for me to Hit and Run.

I was looking forward to getting stuck in. I knew I would be hitting second once the Hammer of Wrath attacks were out of the way but those Dark Eldar hit surprisingly hard. As I said, every dice roll counts and I had not much in the way of saves to protect myself. Thank Gork (or possibly Mork) for my Nob (tee hee). Of course all that drama distracted Allen to what the Kommandos and Gretchin were doing.

Revenge! Again! I HAD to take out those Storm Boys or this was game over on turn 2. The two blaster toting specialists downed the Nob, That's Slay the Warlord for me! Elsewhere my reduced Kill Team managed to Kill all the Storm Boyz before getting back into cover.

Bit painful that, I had hoped my Nob would have survived but he was no better armoured than his boyz. If anything this shows how much Orks rely on mobs to see them through, they are an attrition army. One day we'll play a full sized game of Druchari versus Veridi Gigantus and that will have an entirely different outcome.

Turn 3 had Lee once again keep the objectives as his priority, with his fast hitting assault team gone, he was happy to take a pot shot with one of his Boyz, it was good enough though as another Reaver came crashing down.

Every. Dice. Roll. Counts. Bye bye Reaver. One more and Allen would need to start taking bottle checks.



I only had six Reavers left but this was my turn I was sure of it. I only needed to kill another couple of models to make Lee take break tests and with his remaining force consisting mostly of Grots I couldn't see them sticking around. It was time to be bold, decisive and stop skulking in the shadows. I moved into prime shooting positions and prepared to deliver the kill.

Except that I failed to kill ANYTHING, I either missed or didn't wound with the whole Kill Team and despite my jetbike moves back into cover I was horribly exposed. Bollocks. That was some truly horrific dice rolling, the Greenskins had obviously adapted to the poisons I was using.

Well that was lucky and certainly made up for me losing all my Stormboyz. You'd have thought these boys were painted blue. Had Allen's luck been in this could have been the end of the game pretty much but fortune is fickle and the match continued.

Lee's 4th turn saw his reduced force thankfully fail to punish me too much. The Grots failed to achieve anything and only another Marksman Ork Boy managed to take down another Reaver. I was now taking break tests.


Success, another casualty and in Allen's force every death counts as he has half the models he started with.

Which thankfully I passed, all being clustered round my Leader and using his LD of 9 to cover my whole Kill Team. Fortunate.

Elsewhere I finally managed to kill enough Orks to get Lee taking break tests, if the game went on... and just in case it didn't I moved my Jetbikes to contest every objective. Being bold hadn't worked for me last time but if I left Lee the objectives and the game ended it he would win 3-2.

As an Aeldari player I am well versed in the quandry of moving my jetbikes over to contest/claim objectives, not knowing if another turn was coming which would see your fragile units blasted away. Still, break tests would now kick in for my force and with no leader and most of my remaining troops with a measly leadership of 5 I could well see my force melt away fairly quick.

The game continued though, and Lee had to take break tests. Predictably three Grots and two Ork Boyz decided the fight wasn't for them anymore and legged it. His shooting was ineffective so he charged in. I Overwatched one Ork to death and he failed to do any damage so I used Hit and run to move away.

In small games like this my advice is to be bold. This is what I did, going for victory through decisive Orkish action. It didn't work out exactly how I would have liked and some of the Orks that ran were holding objectives, one which was too far away for me to do anything about so it at least focused my tactics.

My turn 5 break tests were just about all passed (I was too far spread to utilise my Arena Champions stats) and I gunned down another three Grots, Lee only had two models left to my four, it was looking good for me.

However, the last two Gretchin, were too brave (or maybe stupid) to run away. To make matters worse one of them even killed my Leader in combat! Super Gretchin. That wasn't supposed to happen. Another point for the Orks.

Hahahahahaaa. Millennia old gladitorial champion ended by a Gretchin. If he has a contract with the Haemonculi to be ressurected I'm not sure how he'd live this one down. Kill all the witnesses I expect. It was getting very close but I could still win.



My turn 6 had me still in a very good position, winning the game comfortably. However, the sight of my Arena Champion being pulled from his saddle by the diminutive Greenskin clearly unnerved my Kill team as the first two reavers ran away, including the one that had the objective all to themself. My victory was slipping away. Thankfully the last Jetbike stayed so Lee didn't win by default.

It was the Endgame and this was the position: Lee controlled one Objective with one Gretchin and the other was Contested. I had First Blood and Slay the Warlord and Lee also had Slay the Warlord. Currently it was a draw. 2-2.

So I had to take out one of the Gretchin, either would do. I chose the one controlling an objective. This was the last roll of the dice, literally. Thankfully my rolling didn't let me down and poisioned shards riddled the Gretchin killing him. Victory for the Dark Eldar!

See, every dice counts. Allen's Reavers scarpered despite having good leadership while my Gretchin remained. It really came down to the wire and there were lots of notable moments, great fun. I can see us playing more Killteam.

Damn right that was a lot of fun. Full of events and the unexpected just like a game should be. It's like a mix of Necromunda and 40K and is definitely something I could get into a little more. It also cries out for some aftergame phase, for leveling and the like. Maybe I'll work on that at some point.

As far as tactics go, I think it was fairly solid. A few awful dice rolls aside I did an awful lot better than I expected. The jetbike move was invaluable and allowed me to get back into cover in most instances. Had I remembered to rapid fire (and my Combat Drugs which I COMPLETELY forgot about as well) I might have secured a more comfortable victory.

I think Lee's Kill Team worked fairly well, I would have been tempted to take less Gretchin and more hard hitters though, A lot of his force just  sat on objectives and I think in a game like Kill Team you really need more of your force active. A few more Stormboyz would have seen me in all sorts of trouble. Then again, Lee's numerical superiority was quite telling and it took me a long time to break him down.

You see, large numbered Kill Teams are always going to do really well as each model is an individual unit meaning that apart from templates only one can be killed at a time. I have had it suggested to me that a Kill Team of 22 Pink Horrors would be good and in all honesty they would be pretty much unbeatable given the amount of wounds you would have to inflict to wipe them out (they are Fearless so you wouldn't be able to break them) Flamers or some other template weapon would really be your only hope. In addition grenades would be king in Kill Team one grenade throw per unit per turn doesn't matter when every one of your models is a separate unit!

So overall we like Kill Team a lot. In today's bloated 40K ruleset it was refreshing to play something that was quick easy and endlessly entertaining. Only needing a handful of models and much  more personal Kill Team gets two thumbs up from us and has a lot of potential.

Warhammer Quest: Silver Tower - Contents and Rules overview.

Out of all the games that GW have produced over the years few are revered such as Warhammer Quest, the archetypical dungeon crawler set in the Old Warhammer World. I myself have spent many an hour battling spiders and giant rats in the depths of the dankest dungeon, surviving ambushes and random encounters. When GW re-released Space Hulk, authentic and complete I always wondered why they didn't do the same with WHQ, a template that seemed ripe for an update. But it never happened.

The original. Love this game...

Of course GW ended up killing off the Old World and unleashing the Age of Sigmar upon us, which love it or hate it seems to be here to stay. Personally I thought this killed off any chance of us getting the remake that so many wanted. Then all of a sudden the much rumoured Silver Tower game was revealed. And lo and behold, The Warhammer Quest name was attached to it, quite unexpected and ramped my interest in the game right up. 

As more and more pictures got released the hype grew. The new miniatures looked amazing and even the AoS setting wasn't really putting me off. Of course the rules were the one thing we weren't hearing about and this would be the real test of whether the game was worthy of the Warhammer Quest name. 

Well,, now i have played it and i can safely say.... sort of. 

The heroes themselves have AoS rules. The to hit rolls all depend on the weapon (or spell) you are using and there are no stats lines to speak of. However, there are a number of intriguing game mechanics that make for a lot of fun and we'll be covering those in a sec.

One of the first things you do after choosing your scenaario is tailor your deck. Each trial (of which there are 9 in total) refers to a different wind of magic, you then choose these matching cards from the dungeon deck. Some will be removed from the deck even after this dependent on which trial you are doing (we were only doing the first so a couple of the harder rooms were removed) the rest are set up in a series of mini decks stacked and shuffled so that the rooms will end up more or less where they need to be, but are a little randomized so you do not know exactly what is coming, There were only seven cards in this first dungeon.

There were only two of us playing, Kieron, manager of GW Southend took the Fireslayer whilst i opted for the Mistweaver, eager to see how magic worked in this version of quest. Silver Tower is a fully co-operative game, there is no need for a dungeon master. This is the first large departure from the Warhammer quest of old but is not entirely unwelcome, it just means that the AI has to be up to scratch. 

So the way the game works is there is an initiative token that passes round the players and the player with the token goes first that turn. Kieron took the first turn to illustrate how the game worked. We started on an 'ingress point' (replacing he stairwell from the classic) and the game began. 

The first thing that you do is roll your 'destiny dice' these are five dice that represent a pool of dice that the warriors can use to supplement their own action dice. Only unique dice rolls are used (so doubles triples etc are removed and cant be used) and Kieron showed me that in later games the dice rolls could trigger familiars who would have additional effects on the trial in question. 

We only got one double so that was removed and the remaining dice put on the card piece with our renown counters. The results of the dice are very important and must be preserved for reasons we'll get to in a sec. The renown counters are on a wheel and once they have completed a circuit we would level and collect a skill. 

With the destiny dice sorted, Kieron as the Rune Marked (holder of the initiative token) rolled his action dice. Four dice per character, you roll them and the results will dictate what actions you can take. For example, moving uses a dice roll of one but some powerful attacks can need a dice of five or six so you can be very limited in what you can do, especially if your rolls are as bad as mine!

Not the ideal start....

So the first action that Kieron chose was explore (1+) and he turned over the first card revealing the Whirligig Passage. After placing the card and reading the appropriate passage in the book for any special rules or anything we rolled for the monsters. A couple of Cultists and Horrors filled the passageway, ready to be cut down like chaff, after all that's how it always worked in the old version.... 

The Fireslayer used another low value dice to move up to the cultist, another dice was used for the first attack doing D3 damage but not quite felling his opponent. He then used a Destiny Dice to follow up with another normal attack. hewing the cultist where it stood. One thing to note is that when you use one of the Destiny Dice you lock the next highest number, this stops one player from using all the dice before the other players as the Destiny Dice have to last the whole round. The dice unlock on the next players turn,

Using it's last dice which missed, the Fyreslayers turn ended. Most of his powers were short ranged so he had had to close with the enemy, I intended to engage from further away, like you would expect a mage to do. Sadly my dice rolls were all rather low so I had to close in to hit with my knife. Of course even at point blank range I couldn't hit to save my life despite needing only a 4+. I regained a bit of pride using the remaining Destiny Dice to blast my foe with magic missiles (Illusory Assault - 3+ to hit, D3 damage but needing a minimum action dice of 3+ too) clearing a few of the foe but merely splitting the Blue Horrors into a pair of Brimstone Horrors! Hang on that's new!

One thing to note is that there are no rolls to wound. You roll to hit, you roll for damage (if required) that's it, This is AoS after all. Some might not like this, but personally it sped things up a little and I don't mind it too much. Might be a bit weird when you are hitting mighty foes on the same number, that's what I never liked about Age of Sigmar. Another thing is that monster models have no save at all, they generally have multiple wounds to compensate for this though. 

So it was the adversary turn and we rolled for the monster actions. A predetermined table dictates the way the monsters respond as you work though all the monsters on the tile. Groups of the same monster type act as one. By the end of the adversary turn we had each taken a wound or two. Wounds are interesting. As they are placed on the spaces where your action dice are normally placed each wound effectively denies you an action. you can heal but each time you do so throughout the game the dice value that is required to be used rises by one.  Of course then there was a random event (I cant remember how it was triggered) and a pink horror appeared which in combination with the self immolating suicidal Brimstones caused a further three wounds on my mistweaver. NO action points for her next turn  and one more hoot and she was down. Kieron was doing a bit better and cut down a few more foes. With no action dice i had to use a destiny dice to heal and then another to blast the Pink Horror which promptly split into two Blues. I had a special rule where if I rolled a six to hit with my Illusory Blast then I picked up renown on top of that for killing my foe and my counter was rapidly advancing round the wheel.

With only a 6+ armour save my character was taking a battering....

We each took a couple more hits before we cleared the tile and rather than using the respite to heal my extra wounds I took I searched for treasure, picking  up a card that would allow me to examine the adventure deck later to see what perils awaited us. I'm sure this would come in handy. 

The next room was much easier, only a couple of cultists and blue horrors stood in our way and I was getting to grips with the rules. (Ie I hid behind the dwarf)  I did however manage to throw a couple of quadruples with the destiny dice leaving us with only one so it was fortunate there were not more enemy models to fight.

As this was a T junction i used my treasure card to look at one of the split decks to see in which direction our goal lay as my time sadly was not unlimited. After checking the deck we chose to go the other way. Of course we could have gone that way anyway to pick up extra treasure and renown. The next room was a feature room and an especially hard Pink Horror challenged us. It took a while but we took him down and the two Blue Horrors he turned into and then the Brimstone too. We were in pretty good shape and I leveled up at this point picking up a handy skill card that was especially useful to my character. If I got a six to hit then i would ad an action dice to my card, For any other adventure it would be a value of one but as a mage I could roll it and take the result. Nice.

Hiding behind the Dwarf again like any self respecting Elf....

We then progressed into the last room where our destiny awaited....

The room contained two statutes and two rotating light beams. we could rotate the beams 90 degrees using an action dice of 4+ and it was plain that the aim was to shine the light on the statues. The room was full of  the enemy and the light rays were deadly so we used our action points to rotate the light beams and thin the herd. The Mistweaver went second so ended up reaping most of the kills and my renown counter was well over half the way round the wheel again and nearly lapped the Fyreslayers. If i'm honest this little bit was too easy and I would have preferred more of a fight but as I say I didn't have all day.

Our foe were many...

But the light beams soon sorted them out!

Once we had shone the lights back on the statue our final task was revealed....

We finished off the last few enemies and rotated the lights to the statues. Where upon a shade of the Gaunt Summoner appeared. After taunting us he tried to kill us, stealing all our destiny dice at one point and with a rather nasty rule where if you wounded him with an action dice you lost the next highest dice, but in all honesty we polished him off without too many problems. The Fyreslayer got the killing blow as i was still proving useless with my knife. As I was Rune Marked at the time I took the section of amulet and our first trial was complete. 

The heroes do battle with the Gaunt Summoners shade...

Now, the skills and treasure we had collected, would we get to keep them? After all character progression was key to the original Warhammer quest. Well the treasure was a simple matter or a dice roll for each piece and mine was lost. The way the skills work is interesting. Basically you only get to hang on to an amount of skills related to the amount of amulet fragments you have. One fragment is one skill. Two or three is two skills four plus is three skills and all eight fragments means you can have four. An intriguing system that prevents you from grinding and gaining super powered heroes and making the game too easy. 

Now, The killer. There is NO after game phase. You fight, you level and then you choose your next mission. I'm not going to lie, this is a bit of a bummer. I really enjoyed this element of Warhammer Quest. It made everything seem more real and cemented you in the world, it also made the character YOURS. Did you have a gambling problem? what kind of weapon would you buy? The randomness was a massive part of the game and that is sadly gone. In fact it may well be a deal breaker for some people. It makes sense given AoS setting but that makes me bemoan its loss no less.

you will be missed, oh you will be missed.....

I'm going to look at the contents quickly with a further comparison to the original so feel free to skip tot the end if you want my final thoughts about the game play....

First up the models. Yes there are far less in this version but it is impossible to argue that they are all of far superior quality. In fact these models are superb. The cultists in particular are something that people have been crying out for and I am happy to say that the OTT AoS aesthetic of which I really am not a fan seems to be at a minimum here. The heroes are all sublime and I really like the look of the Aelf models, the Dark elf assasin is just that but the mist weaver is an intriguing blend of styles and I look forward to seeing what the rest of the range looks like, The Chaos chieftain is also a highlight and each of the models is a delight in their own right, with the Excelsior Priest being another favourite and not just because GW have finally produced an obviously non caucasian model.

The monsters are also very nice with the aforementioned tzeentchian cultists being my favourite, Its all as nice as the stuff in overkill and I cant wait to get my set. So yes you might get less models but when you consider that most of the model count in WHQ was spiders and rats and bats it doesn't seem so bad, certainly 51 models for 95 quid strikes me as reasonable.

You got a lot more tiles in WHQ but Silver Towers are double sided so the actual amount of rooms is similar. It is worth noting however that at least in the game i played there is less of a sprawling dungeon feel with a distinct lack of corridors and corners and the like. Rather it really does feel like sections of a boardgame rather than elements of a dungeon. The art on them is stunning however, very bright and colourful as befitting the Chaos God featured.

There are also substantially fewer cards in the box, with things like alternate weapons cards no longer being required and the spells being on the character cards. Its not a massive thing but I did miss the myriad of decks with the only non room cards being present the small skills and treasure cards on the centre destiny card ready to be claimed.

There are also no doors with all inter tile movement being done by means of magic portals. The rules are more or less non existent. The AoS sensibility reigns supreme here and there are no passages of rules to learn at all. Another departure and one that this crusty old gronkard misses greatly. The book with all the read aloud passages is fine and the monster rules are covered on war scrolls and often summarized on the back of the books. No roleplaying book. It doesn't exist. 

So comparatively there is certainly less to this game contents wise. I'm not sure it has the replayability of the original with its singular tight narrative as you test yourself against the summoners trials. It seems like a lean stripped down version of the classic dungeon crawling game although the quality of the components is vastly superior. 

So, how did I feel about the way it played? Well I really enjoyed my game as it was. I felt it had some excellent mechanics, I really like the destiny dice idea and the way actions work. It does feel a little simple in places as it uses the AoS rules but there is still some strategy required in order to negotiate the dungeons. At one stage it didn't look like we were going to get out of the first tile! 

The game scales with the amount of players you have and although it was a bit of a shame not to have a DM the game works fine without for the most part. It's nice to be able to play the game with a mate and not need a group. It's pretty fast and furious and I liked some of the special rules that cropped up within the different rules. Kieron showed me one from a later mission where you had to do dice challenges against the clock which was pretty cool, though hopefully the dancing round the table nonsense has been left where it belongs.

The lack of inbetween games roleplaying is a crippling blow to those looking to pick this up expecting it to be a faithful remake of WHQ, I can understand how the new setting doesn't lend itself to the idea but it was easily one of the very best bits about the original and gave you a chance to develop and get to know your character. As it is it feels like you are playing with something that is never really your own and its not the same. You can't even die, not properly. With no stats to speak of im not sure how you would feel you are advancing either, though some skills will boost rolls. 

So in summary, it is another well put together board game from GW, It's a bit light on depth and gameplay and the loss of the roleplaying aspect is a big blow. But the components are lovely and the game itself is a lot of fun with some intriguing mechanics. The AoS system seems to be a good fit here and certainly it works better than I think it does for a large tabletop game. I'll be picking it up, and I think it is a rather well designed game, But don't expect it to fill that WHQ shaped hole in your heart because it wont. 

Boxed Game Review - Imperial Knights:Renegade

After nary a boxed game in YEARS from GW we have suddenly had four in just over a year. If that isn’t a change of strategy I don’t know what is. Of course it’s stretching it to say that Renegade is a proper boxed game but nonetheless I have magpied once again, after all a free knight is nothing to be scoffed at.

I’ll apologise in advance because there really isn’t a great deal here to review. As I said, it’s barely a boxed game at all. More a bundled deal with some rules thrown in. So, forgive me as this review will inevitably turn into a treatise on GWS current strategy, why it’s a good thing and maybe even get into the philosophy of what makes a game a game at all. Before we get to that lets have a look at Renegade though.

The first thing you will notice about Renegade is the box is HUGE. After my comments about the rather compact nature of the previous games we have had recently this is quite a pleasant supervise. Especially given the hefty price tag. The box is not any larger in horizontal space than the others so it will stack nicely but it is DOUBLE the depth. Chunky. Other than that it’s not much to look at all, pretty spartan in design and it doesn’t exactly jump off the shelf although the lighter tones used in the cover means it stands out a little more than its predecessors.

There is also, I am sad to report, again a lack of that new box smell. I fear that the heady aromas experienced when opening Necromunda, Space Hulk and even Dreadfleet are gone forever, still things change and let’s face it we don’t buy these things for the smell. Instead the first thing you will see, is as with previous games a LOT of plastic. With the absence of card floor sections there is a veritable sea of plastic sprues facing you as you first open the box. 3 for the knight 4 for the warden and 3 for the scenery. That’s a lot of crack. It’s all big and chunky too but the weight is negated by the lack of card sections so it doesn’t feel especially heavy. No range rulers is a little odd given the nature of the game and only two dice (though that really is all you need) which are plain red and blue. It would have been nice if they could have done something with the dice, an embossed symbol or something would have been a really nice touch. Oh well.

The plastic sprues are identical to those that are in existing kits so there is no point going over those here. The building is a nice touch I suppose but in the grand scheme of things it is actually pretty small, no more than a small ruin compared to the knights. Underneath all the plastic are the knight data cards and the books and transfers. The transfer sheet is really small. Enough to add a bit of decoration to your knights but only a bit. It really is the minimum they could have got away with including, no variant houses. The only new bit is the few renegade decals. The data cards are on VERY thin card, more thick paper to be honest. It’s not a massive problem though and I’ll be laminating mine anyway, for reasons i'll go into in a bit. One thing I will say is that i really wish they had put more effort into making the two Knights a little different as apart from the weapons they are virtually identical.

As far as the books go, well, its an insult to call them books. When I say the assembly manual is thicker than the rule book you get an idea of what I mean. While we are talking about the assembly manual, I must say it is EXCELLENT. Using colour for the first time I am aware of, it shows the different knight classes at the front and then detailed instructions for assembly covering all variants. Its shows you alternate assemblies, glue points, it really is comprehensive. I’m not sure if this is standard having never owned a knight kit but it is so good. Very much needed as the knight is not a simple kit. The rules for the game take up TWO pages. Yep, a double page rule set is all you get. Other than that there are three missions, a minimal amount of fluff (though i did like the fact that it carries on from the Knight codex) and rules for renegade knights in 40k.

So, the rules for the game, such as they are, are based off the WD game a year or so ago when the Stormsurge kit was released. Basically you have three action points a turn which you can use to declare actions, in secretly, before revealing your chosen actions at the same time as your opponent. Each action, walk, snap shot, aimed shot, rotate void shields et al. Each action takes a different amount of action points and each has a different priority, so a snap shot will go off before an aimed one but crucially also before your opponent has a chance to rotate its void shields, whereas an more accurate aimed shot takes time to prepare and therefore goes after shields are rotated. It’s an interesting system and one that promises some tense moments as you try to second guess your opponent.

Assuming you choose to shoot you then choose a location on the knight data card and roll the two dice, one is red one is blue and these represent horizontal and vertical axis. You are aiming for mid-rolls. 3’s and 4’s are good. A snapped shot will ALWAYS scatter, an aimed shot will only ever scatter a little and has a chance to be on target. Once the final location has been determined the knight hit makes a save of 5+ (4+ if you have rotated your shield) Melee weapons never scatter. If the save is passed all well and good, if the save is failed then you take damage according to the weapon profile. Each location has a number of hits points, if all hit points are gone then that location is crippled. Once six locations are crippled the knight is destroyed. It’s a pretty simple rule set. There are a couple of other minor rules like cover and such but on the whole that’s the game. I’ll be laminating my data cards so I can mark off the points with a pen rather than noting them anywhere else. I don’t imagine the game will take that long to play and despite a handful of different missions to play I don’t think this is a game that will be played on a regular basis.

And that is it, that is Renegade. I’m not really sure you can call this much of a game, its a White Dwarf rule set will all existing components bundled up to sell knights. There is next to no effort involved on GWs part, from the lack of range rulers to the very plain and uninteresting included dice. I would say if you already own a couple of knights there is no need to buy the game. It really is just a bundle deal with some rules thrown in to give it the impression of a game release. It reminds me of a superficial version of Adeptus Titanicus.

40K rules for Renegade Knights are included. 

If you want a couple of knights, it is absolutely the best way to do so, effectively you get the standard knight kit for free. It’s a bit cheeky calling it a boxed game and at £120.00 given the amount of ‘game’ there actually is even more so. This is a buy one get one free deal on a knight, nothing more.

AS mentioned this is GWs fourth boxed game release in just over a year. Execution Force, Betrayal at Calth, Overkill and now Renegade, and if rumours are to be believed a flyer based game in a few months. Certainly, i'd not bet against it given the new releases this week. There are also persistent rumours of an Age of Sigmar game So is this a big change of strategy from GW? After all, people are pretty much just buying these boxes for the models not the game itself. Certainly they do represent good value, these splash releases are also insanely popular and with Renegade in particular require next to no development cost. They seem to have somewhat taken over from the campaign boxes that were the in thing a little while back, could it be that these will be a semi regular thing going forward? GW have already resurrected Lost Patrol, a gem from the old GW days, at a very attractive price point. 

And let's not forget that we also have the return of Specialist Games, with Bloodbowl being first and then other fan favourites a bit later. A new Heresy boxed game is due in September too. It's GOOD to see the 'games' back in Games Workshop though as I have said in previous reviews the amount of people that play the games attached to these boxes is very much up for debate. Certainly the good ship seems to be being steered in a much better direction with the boxed games, start collecting boxed sets and even the recent revisions to AoS. This is an age of much promise for the big GW and I’m looking forward to seeing what is to come.

Freeblade:

• Basically buy one get one free for an Imperial Knight 
• Carries on the fluff from the codex 
• Reminds me of Adeptus Titanicus 
• Amazing instruction manual 
• Great value even at £120 

Renegade:

• A criminal lack of effort present with all aspects of the game 
• No variation between the two knights 
• No range rulers 
• Basic dice 
• Barely a game, modified White Dwarf rules.

Al