The Uplink Editorial
From the Editor’s Desk Derek Owens introduces the fourth issue.
You may have noticed that, in the third issue of the magazine, The Uplink boasted a sporty little redesign which we (yes, that is the royal ‘we’) rather liked. For this issue, the editorial team at the Uplink could take their time to plan a magazine loaded with wellthought-out and extensively edited features, and beautiful photography. But we didn’t. In the spirit of The Uplink, this issue has been made to the soundtrack of deadlines whizzing by and temper tantrums as a venerable computer crashes for what seems like the umpteenth time. Nevertheless, there are a few tasty bits in this installment of your favourite wargaming E-Zine. For starters, we’ve a feature looking at a very successful year of Irish Warhammer tournaments, naming and shaming the heroes and rogues of the competitive scene. Speaking of heroes, we’ve convinved Eoghan Errity to offer us an insight into how he created his eye-catching Beasts of Chaos army - it involves a Our esteemed editor. lot of brown. (just kidding - he’s not that esteemed) For more sci-fir orientated gamers, though, this issue should be a real treat. Lorcan Nagle weighs in with an introduction to the daunting-but-rewarding game of Battletech, while we also have a veritable ode to the joys of Necromunda. It gives us rather less joy to look at the recent troubles experienced by Battletech publisher , though Lorcan’s in-depth article does provide plenty of juicy gossip. For indulging our creative side, Brian Dryer presents a guide to creating your own Space Marine Chapter, using his own well-developed Hidden Brotherhood as an example.We’ve also got a battle report, with Owen Conlan following up on his excellent introduction to Warmachine by showing this fast-paced, hard-hitting game in practice.With all that, plus the regular event and club listings, plus some fun stuff (yes, that includes The Heff’s sage advice) we reckon there’s a lot to enjoy in this magazine. And if you don’t agree, well, we’ll send the Heff. DO.
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Contents 4 - Events
21 - Eating popcorn as a publisher burns?
What’s happening in Irish wargaming.
Lorcan Nagle charts the rise - and possible fall - of popular publisher Catalyst Games.
6 - 2009/2010 - A Season in Review Brian Leonard rounds up a successful year of tournaments.
25 - A New Breed
9 - Signal to Noise
Brian Dyer presents a guide to creating your own space marine chapter.
Jimmy Murphy writes your guide to what’s cool online.
The Uplink Contents
31 - The Magehunt Owen Conlon presents a warmachine battle report
10 - Unleash the Beast! Eoghan Errity's Beasts of Chaos army.
36 - Fun stuff
13 - Worlds of Possibilities
Gamer humour - you have been warned.
Lorcan Nagle introduces Battletech, an extraordinarily detailed and broad-based game.
38 - Club listings Find a game here!
18 - Underhive Action Derek Owens on the joys of Necromunda.
The Uplink Issue 3 was produced by Editor & Design Derek Owens Fantasy Editor Nigel Kavanagh Sci-fi Editor Jimmy Murphy Contributors Owen Conlon, Dave Leahy, Lorcan Nagle, The Heff, Eoghan Errity, Brian Leonard, Drian Dyer.
Artwork Dave Leahy Additional thanks to Battlecry Miniatures, Gamers World Dublin
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Events Diary Your guide to what’s on in the next two months. Astronomicon 2010 The Wargamers Association of Cork’s (WAC’s) Annual mini-event will take place this year on the weekend of the July 24 and 25 in UCC. Entry will be €10.This year the event will be a Campaign Weekend open to all armies, and does not count for ETC ranking purposes.The organisers simply need players to bring along two lists for the event: one 1750 points list and one 750 points list.WAC have an email address for pre-submitting lists, and getting more information: astronomicon2010@me.com.
Brocon 2010 - University of Limerick, July 17-18 A weekend of gaming in Limerick, featuring a 1500 point, four-round Warhammer Fantasy Battle tournament on Saturday and a three round, 1750 point Warhammer 40,000 tournament on Sunday. Spaces are almost full for Warhammer 40,000, but there are still some slots left in the Fantasy event. This event ranks for both Fantasy and 40k, and is a great opportunity to push up the rankings.
ETC 2010 - Münster, Germany, August 7-8 An international Warhammer Fantasy Battle and Warhammer 40,000 tournament featuring 32 countries competing for Fantasy and 26 for 40k. Each country is represented by eight of their best players who compete as a team. This is the Irish Fantasy’s team second foray into this event, and the team consists of Mal Cooney, Alan Woods-Conway, Brian Leonard, Ciarán Dunne, Ken Chambers, Dave Leahy, Halaigh Whelan-McManus and team captain Nigel Kavanagh. The Warhammer 40,000 team are making their debut but, after winning the recent Home Nations event, hopes are high that the team will compete at the top end of this tournament. This year’s team is Jimmy Murphy, Joe Cullen, Darragh Cullen, Richard Flood, Paraic O’Confhaola, Cian O’Dowd, Barra Macniocaill and team captain Paul Quigley.We wish both teams every success in this event.
North Wexford Gamers Tournament – Gorey, October 9-10 The NWG event is set toinclude a Warhammer Fantasy Battle (Eighth Edition) and a Warhammer 40k tournament. Both will be two-day events run concurrently and there will be spaces reserved for a separate, non-competitive event for those who would prefer friendly games.
Operation Lightfoot (Gork and Mork’s second big day out)
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A team-based Warhammer 40,000 campaign with rules are based on battlefront's market garden campaign. For this event, the Germans have been replaced with orks and the allies have been replaced with imperia forces. The event kicks off on August 29 - there are still some slots available on the Ork side, and a waiting list for the Imperial side.The buy-in is €10, for which you get to play three linked games.
2009/2010 - A Season in Review
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Brian Leonard rounds up a successful year or Irish tournament wargaming. September 26, 2009, marked a new beginning for the Irish Warhammer Community. On that date, the new Irish Rankings system came into play, linking Irish Warhammer tournaments in a way never done before. While there was decent tournament support in previous years, tournament Warhammer in Ireland had mostly dried up by 2008, with events restricted to either the GW-run Irish Grand Tournament (with dodgy rulespacks, controversial refereeing and even worse army builds) or scattered university conventions, which were usually poorly attended. Independently run tournaments were few and far between. However, in early 2009, some brave souls were convinced to compete with many of the best players in Europe at the 2009 Warhammer European Team Championship. While the team were soundly beaten in all six rounds, they managed to make an impact on the event through a combination of Irish charm, alcohol consumption and the national flag being worn as a toga. “But how to make ourselves more competitive next year” asked these brave and noble warriors. Emperor Nigel then rose to his feet and announced he had the solution - a national ranking system to link tournaments, encourage events and attendance and bring the gaming community closer together. And so it began.....
Saturday, September 26, 2009 - North Wexford Gamers tournament, Gorey Organised by the North Wexford Gamers, this tournament was a three game, 2000 point event. No special characters were allowed, and players also could not include the same Special choice more than twice, or the same Rare choice more than once. The event was held in the Loch Garman Arms Hotel in Gorey, and 32 players squeezed into the room where the event was held. It The event was very well run, and the organisers had arranged for several very nice extras. Each player received a goody bag containing a t-shirt and custom dice among other treats. It all went very smoothly, apart from the unfortunate souls exposed to the shorts wearing antics of a certain Mr Finch. All said and done, an excellent event which was enjoyed by all. Credit is due to Nigel and his assistants with the organisation.
1st Place - Alan Heffernan (Dark Elves) 2nd Place - Jonny Fisher (Vampire Counts) 3rd Place - Ciaran Dunne (Skaven) Best General - Ciaran Dunne (Skaven) Most Vicious - Dave Leahy (Lizardmen) Nicest Opponent - Declan O’Reilly (Dark Elves) Best Painted - Ugo Greevy (Bretonnia), Gareth Lombard (Lizardmen), Patrick O’Sullivan (Empire).
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Sunday, November 29, 2009 - Northern Wasters Resurgence, Ballymena Resurgence was a tournament held by the Northern Wasters club at the Michelin Athletic Club in Ballymena.The rulespack for the event was based on the 2009 ETC rulespack, with an interesting twist armies were graded on general cheeiness and the players who brought harder armies had to fight each other in the first round. Spot prizes were awarded in each round for the first player to achieve a certain event (miscasting a spell or failing a panic test, for example).The player judged to have the hardest army had to wear the beard of doom or lose Victory Points. However Ivan chose to forgo the Victory Points in later rounds after discovering his beard had been stored in a quite unsanitary place (Bad Woody! Bad!) 31 players attended Resurgence (plus a bye-buster, who realised why he preferred 40K). The venue for the event was fantastic, a big, spacious room with plenty of tables available.The event only cost £10 to enter, the bar prices were very good and hot lunches were available – the mixed grill was an enormous plate and great value, a recurring trend at Northern Wasters events. Organisation was also excellent, a large screen projector kept everyone informed of goings on, the trophies were excellent and Jonny Fisher did a fantastic job organising on the day. 1st Place - Owen Conlan (Wood Elves) 2nd Place - Barry Lynch (High Elves) 3rd Place - Malcolm Cooney (Dark Elves) Best General - Alan Woods-Conway (Beasts of Chaos) Best Painted - Ugo Greevy (Vampire Counts) Fastest Player - Dave Wade (High Elves) Slowest Player - Ciaran Dunne (Skaven) Bloodiest Battle - Ivan Magowan (Dark Elves) vs. Dave Leahy (Bretonnia) Cheesiest Army - Ivan Magowan (Dark Elves) The Bunny - Darrell Dobbin (Ogre Kingdoms)
Saturday-Sunday, January 23-24 2010 - Northern Wasters Bloodstorm, Ballymena After the great success the Northern Wasters had with Resurgence, the next announced tournament by the club was to be Bloodstorm. Bloodstorm took place over two days, with a total of five rounds. Players were required to bring a 1500 point army, with no special characters allowed. An opportunity to cheese things up, you might think. And, yes, bringing a cheesy army was possible, but as the system used involved army swapping, it wasn’t the wisest thing a player could do. In each round, two games were played. First the opponents would swap armies for game one, and then use their own armies in game two. 20 players attended Bloodstorm and, as with Resurgence, the price, venue, food and organisation (well done Jonny, Matt and Ivan) were again top notch.The event was quite draining for the players, with ten games in two days, while conspicuous beer consumption didn’t help matters.The event was notable for the rise and fall of Mr.Alan WoodsConway, who raced into the lead on day one only to find himself playing Jonny Fisher twice on Sunday while in a rather delicate condition. Another wonderful event from the Northern Wasters. 1st Place - Jonny Fisher (Daemons of Chaos) 2nd Place - Chris Cousens (Dark Elves) 3rd Place - Ross McCarroll (Orcs & Goblins) Best Army - Dave Leahy (Orcs & Goblins) Best Wee Lad - Dale Fisher (Lizardmen) I Hate Myself And I Want To Die - Ross McCarroll (Orcs & Goblins) Beardiest Army - Jonny Fisher (Daemons of Chaos) Most Vicious Army - Fergus Finch (High Elves) Toughest Army - Malcolm Cooney (Daemons of Chaos) Whipping Boy - Connor McKeever (Orcs & Goblins) Bloodiest Battle - Dave Wade (High Elves) vs. Connor McKeever (Orcs & Goblins)
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Saturday-Sunday January 30-31 2010 - Warpcon, Cork Warpcon was also a two day event, with the Warhammer tournament only a small part of the wider convention.The system was 2000 point games, with no special characters allowed. As there were no composition restrictions in place, most people expected to face hardcore army builds and several decided to fight fire with fire. Although several nasty armies were present, the standard of sportsmanship was still extremely high. Rounds two and four involved a table quarter based scenario, which was more difficult for some armies than others. Advance warning was provided of this, though, so there were no complaints. Attendance at Warpcon was 24 players. Running a 24 player Warhammer tournament and a 60 player Warhammer 40,000 event in two different locations at the same time was, perhaps inevitably, a challenge, but the tournament organisers pulled through. 1st Place - Rob Gleasure (Warriors of Chaos) 2nd Place - Jay McKeown (Warriors of Chaos) 3rd Place - Nigel Kavanagh (Dark Elves) Best Army - Ugo Greevy (Vampire Counts) Emperor’s Scribe - Brian Leonard (Dark Elves) Most Sporting Opponent - Sofian Tilli (Wood Elves) & Kevin Wren (High Elves)
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Saturday March 6, 2010 - BattleCry, Dublin After a break of several years, BattleCry returned in March at the Clarion Hotel at Liffey Valley. The rulespack called for 2000 point armies, to be constructed according to a quite strict formula including maximum point spends on characters, Special and Rare choices, limited magic, shooting, war machines and other restrictions (largely intended to promote Core and prevent players from creating one dimensional builds). Of course, special characters were banned. Players were encouraged to wear costumes if
they wished, and the event included the now-infamous ‘Chicken Ball’, where a randomly determined player each round had to play their game while wearing a chicken suit! All three selected players were good sports and wore the suit BattleCry managed to attract a field of 46 players, the best attendance of the season. While not cheap, the venue for the event was a large room equipped with a bar (which went down well with the players) and an easily accessible balcony for the smokers. Unfortunately the event was delayed by the late arrival of the so-called Waster Wagon – despite their using a satnav and having attended events there before, the occupants still managed to arrive at the wrong Clarion Hotel.The event was great fun, thanks to organisers Mal and Woody for putting on a fantastic show, and of course for buying us all a pint (I like pint). The awards ceremony was slightly delayed as Woody struggled with the computer (it’s harder when you’re drunk), forcing Mal to stall for time. 1st Place - Ivan Magowan (Dark Elves) 2nd Place - Brian Leonard (Dark Elves) 3rd Place - Dave Leahy (Bretonnia) Best General - Dave Leahy (Bretonnia) Best Army - Ugo Greevy (Vampire Counts, noticing a pattern?) & Eoghan Errity (Beastmen) Best Costume - Paul Maher (Wood Elves) Most Sporting Opponent - Dermot Maguire (Dark Elves) Spirit of Warhammer - Eoghan Errity (Beastmen) Most Drunken Opponent - Chris Ward (Warriors of Chaos) Overall, the 2009/10 event season was a tremendous success. Over 80 different players had been to at least one event, and several hardier souls having attended most or all. So a big thanks are due to all those who made the season a success, especially all those whose efforts resulted in the events above.
Signal to Noise
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Jimmy Murphy writes your guide to what’s cool online. Transport bags
Space hulk from Fantasy flight
I saw the new Battlefoam Hordes WarMachine transport bags. From the adepticon coverage, they’re coming out with Malifaux cases.They all look great. http://battlefoam.com/catalog.php?category=23
Yea. Space Hulk. Made by someone other than GW.What’s happening in the world? Well it’s not a reissue of the GW box set, it’s a new game - a card game, no less. Shock horror. http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_minisite_sec.asp?eidm=11 8&esem=1
Sgrunts Dwarves in space for all those lonely Squat players I can understand but Texan dwarves? Seriously? WTF? http://www.olleysarmies.co.uk/gallerytexanscrunts.html
Shrinky dinks Shrinky dinks and their use for markers in games. http://www.twilightemporium.net/journal/2009/9/17/shrinkydinks.html
I am the OVERLORD! RHQ have bought and upgraded Overlord the tournament management software.The functionality seems to be much improved from the previous version. It’s free to use for tournaments up to 12 players and it’s fully configurable for scoring. Expect a detailed review in a future issue. www.rhqnews.com
Transporting Firestorm Armada ships An interesting blog showing foam trays designed to transport a fleet in safety. http://buckaroo13.blogspot.com/2010/05/firestorm-armada-transporting-fleet.html
Pimp My hulk If you thought the third edition box was a bit pricey, check this out $200 for a complete 3D board. The board looks similar to some of the Hirst arts floortiles. http://www.nalsworkshop.com/space-hulk-3d-complete-board-p217.html?osCsid=pb4dpgmppgdhtmdlui94qidbn2
Nostalgia trip This guy got PDF’s of white Dwarf from issue one and decided to do a thread on reading through them. This little flash of the world before politicaly correct behaviour made me laugh. “Finally, a new character class..... I kid you not, “The Pervert”. Presumably tongue in cheek (I hope!). Some folk will remember when D&D classes had names associated with levels (eg enchanter, adept, conjurer etc).The level names for this class are: Peeping Tom, Voyeur, Graffiti Artist, Obscene Caller, Flasher, Streaker, Groper, Pornographer, Rapist!! and Pervert.Yuk.” http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=405199
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The Uplink Hobby
Unleash the Beast! Eoghan Errity’s Beasts of Chaos army has long been highly-regarded in the gaming community, from its impressive coherency to his almost unique ability to make the new minotaur models look decent! Here, he talks about the techniques he uses with Nigel Kavanagh. Eoghan, you have a collection here of older and newer models. How long have you been collecting Beasts of Chaos/Beastmen for? I’ve been collecting them for about seven or eight years. My first Beastmen buy was the army box that came out with the launch of their army book a few years after sixth edition was released. When you decided to paint this army, did you take inspiration from elsewhere? I know I felt I didn’t want to emulate the schemes in the army book. They were too saturated, were using too many primary colours for my liking. I wanted a matt-ish looking skin for my Beastmen using earthy tones. About two months before the release of the Beastmen army box, Games Workshop launched about six new paints that were very earthy in tone, some of which are still around today.They were Graveyard Earth, Kommando Khaki,Terracotta and Tanned Flesh. It was a lovely change from a paint range that would look at home on a clown’s face and they really gave miniatures a grounded and realistic look.
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The entire army looks fantastically cohesive and tied together. How did you achieve this? Some of them were painted seven or eight years ago, and the new stuff had to match, or be close. I made a custom colour using the GW paints I mentioned, but I had since switched over to a different brand, mainly for the choice of colours. I made up a similar custom colour
Eoghan’s impressive Khornegors.
using the new brand which looked pretty similar to my original. I think, on all my new miniatures, they look similar, but have differences, but this is due to me refining my process and getting the closer to what I wanted at the time. It’s a good difference, while still looking like they belong. As well as using the same process, but refined, choosing the palette correctly can really unify the most opposing of models. For example, all my red clothes are highlighted with Hammerfall Khaki and I used that colour in many components of my miniatures. It’s the final highlight of the skin, a key ingredient in the custom skin base, a mid tone for the horns and hooves, and as the occasional highlight for leathery fabrics. Using a colour like this can unify while looking different.
You clearly use more than standard Games Workshop models. What can you tell us about the Cygor? If I wanted to use a GW model for my cygor, it would have had to border on the metaphysical. So I looked around for a goat/cow-like model to use for my Cygor/Ghorgon. It’s one of two Satyrs made by Privateer Press. I choose the wirier of the two as the Cygor isn’t as much of a combat monster. I’m not super into converting – the harpies are an anomaly for me – so I didn’t change anything about the model except putting a few large stones on its base.The fluff says that most Cygors have one eye, so I’m fine with mine having two eyes. When the Minotaurs came out, they were more hated than loved. What do you make of the models themselves?
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I avoided the previous versions of the Minotaurs for all these years, so I was disappointed to say the least at the new ones after waiting all that time.That being said, I still find them better, even if they do have fooves instead of hooves. I think the gor are a good example of how to do muscled beasts without it looking
Harpies Everywhere! Your Harpies are always commented on as being really super conversions. Can you talk us through the conversion element of these? I used the plastic wings from the Tyranid Gargoyles box and some plastic older plastic ungor that I had spare.The wing had a long join to match the long gargoyle body so I just cut it down to fit an ungor better (Image 1).You can change how the wing is angled on the back of the ungor by the angle of the cut where you are going to join it to the ungor (Image 2). I then pinned the wings into the back of the ungor (Image 3) and I used superglue instead of plastic glue.
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The Uplink Hobby
ridiculous.The Minotaur muscles have far too much depth and wouldn’t look out of place in an episode of Jayce and the wheeled warriors. You use layering to build up the colours and the definition. Can you run through your technique here? I find Beastmen incredibly easy to paint.They are very defined and it’s easy to tell which parts should catch more light than others.When I paint them, I’m painting in layers, getting brighter as I go towards where each muscle section is going to catch the most light. Imagine getting a square and painting a gradient inside it, from dark to light, bottom to top.Then getting three identical looking squares, and making a square out of all four. Even though you painted each one exactly the same, each square or ‘muscle’ can easily form a defined stomach. So, I treat every segment as a panel which I layer up towards the imaginary light source. I hope that explanation in combination with the photos of my miniatures shows how I’m painting them.
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I get my models up to their current standard because I stack the deck in my favour.
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Your bases are superb - how do you build up the vibrancy of the colours here? When using earthy colours it’s hard to make things look vibrant. So to achieve it, you have to combine contrast and neatness. On the scenic bases, I use grounded olive tones on the green bits, pale oranges, browns and off-whites for the wood, and more or less the Beastmen skin colours for the mud. I find the composition of the Battlecry woodland bases to be perfect.They almost all have three elements each (wood, foliage, mud), which are perfect for painting contrast into your bases to make them really pop.
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Eoghan’s Cygor pictured beside a unit of Gor.
Do you have any tips for aspiring painters? Someday, I hope to be a good painter myself. I get my models up to their current standard because I stack the deck in my favour. I learned a few basic techniques and practiced them for years. I take my time, I use a colour wheel, I take care of my brushes and I use a wet palette. It’s kind of like legal cheating. So my advice, I guess, would be, practice, keep your tools well maintained and more practice. Do you enjoy playing with the Beastmen list, and what attracted you to them in the first place? I probably had the most fun with the old giant 360 degree charging cow blocks. Enough fun things were added into the list to make me keep playing them. Every now and then, but not often enough, I get a nice combo charge going.Whatever it may be, minotaur freight trains, single razorgors or chariots combining with anything and everything, those are the moments that keep me playing – that and the fact that Beastmen can be so unpredictable. Sometimes you can roll brilliantly on ambushes, pass a lot of primal fury rolls and get lucky frenzied bait pursuits. There are enough of those moments to make them a fun army to play. Many thanks to Eoghan for taking the time to chat with us. Despite his protestations, we think his work is pretty awesome and we’re delighted to showcase it here.
A world (Actually, Several Worlds) of Possibilities
The Uplink Game Profile
Lorcan Nagle introduces Battletech, an extraordinarily detailed and broad-based game. BattleTech has been around for so long, it’s an institution. Originally published by FASA corporation as a one-off game under the name BattleDroids in 1984, the unexpected popularity lead to a revised second edition under the name of BattleTech (thanks to the threat of a lawsuit from George Lucas), and with that, a legend was born... The game is set in the 31st century, where humanity has colonised a large region of space centred on Earth called the Inner Sphere (with a wild frontier surrounding it called The Periphery) under the banner of the Star League. 300 years prior, though, a vicious civil war shattered the Star League, and after the surviving members of the Star League Army decided to exile themselves, the five Great Houses decided to go to war with one another over the League’s remains. In short order the houses began targeting each other’s scientists and advanced factories, and within a few decades most advanced technology was rare and hard to maintain - leading to almost ritualised warfare were each side was able to retreat and repair, often conceding battles when they were outmanoeuvred or heavily damaged. Oh, and did I mention that the primary weapons of war are 12 metre tall robot tanks called BattleMechs? Betraying its origin as an 80s game that’s less a wargame and more an odd hybrid of RPG, board game and wargame, BattleTech is much more detailed than contemporary games. Its nature as a game of armoured combat means that you’re tracking more detail and spending more time with a small force. It’s also played on a mapsheet with a hexagonal grid on it rather than model terrain – though the option for model terrain does exist. Each unit in BattleTech has a record sheet that details its capabilities - and note that in BattleTech’s terminology, a unit is a mech, vehicle, aircraft, squad of 4-6 infantry in power armour, or a platoon of 2128 conventional infantry.
Assault mechs in close formation on a hex map.
Taking the example of a mech sheet, you have a box detailing the mech’s movement capabilities, its weaponry, its pilot’s piloting and gunnery skills and damage, a diagram showing the different locations on the mech and how much damage each can take, a second diagram showing the mech’s internal structure and how much damage it can take there, and finally a table showing what equipment is in each location. It’s a lot of information, but it’s laid out logically and in an easy to follow way.
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The Uplink Game Profile
The Turn
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Like many modern games, each turn is divided into phases, but unlike I go- you go games like Warhammer, each player has actions in each phase rather than moving all units, attacking and so on, and then passing to the other player; furthermore, the events in a phase in BattleTech are simultaneous, so you always get one last chance to hit back.The phases are as follows: Initiative Phase: At the start of each turn, each side rolls 2D6. Whoever rolls highest wins initiative, whoever rolls lowest loses. Movement Phase: The side that lost initiative moves a unit. Depending on whether a mech decides to walk or run, it gets an allocation of movement points(MP) for the turn. It costs 1 MP to move forward or back a hex, or to turn one hexside. Changing elevation or entering difficult terrain has additional MP penalties. Some units can also jump, bypassing terrain altogether. Lighter mechs have more efficient engines, allowing for higher top speeds or the ability to mount more
jump jets, while heavier mechs are slower and less manoeuvrable. Weapon Attack phase: Each unit can now fire on an enemy. Each weapon a unit mounts is fired separately, needing to reach a target number on 2D6. The basic target number is the pilot’s gunnery skill, modified for range, whether it walked, ran or jumped, the distance the target moved, and intervening terrain. These numbers can mount up fast, meaning it can be very hard to hit even a close target if it moved fast and has some cover.Weapons that do hit then roll on a chart to see which locations are hit on the target. Ballistic and energy weapons do all their damage to one location, while missile weapons (firing large numbers of smaller missiles rather than one big one) scatter their damage across a target. If a mech takes 20 or more points of damage, it has to make a piloting skill roll or fall down, taking more damage (and possibly hurting the pilot as well) in the fall. If a location with no more armour is hit, damage transfers to the inter-
nal structure, with a chance of dealing critical damage to the equipment within. A weapon hit disables it, an ammo bay hit explodes the remaining shots it carries; hits to a mech’s actuators slow it down or make it harder to use weapons, engine hits generate waste heat, gyroscope hits make it harder to stay up, life support hits increase the chance of the pilot taking damage from waste heat, sensor hits make it harder to target enemies, while a cockpit hit kills the pilot outright. Mechs are destroyed by three engine critical hits, a cockpit hit, or the destruction of the mech’s head or centre torso through structure damage. Also, a mech’s pilot can only take six points of damage, and gains a point each time the head is hit, two points if an ammo bin explodes, and has a chance of taking damage when the mech falls over too - and each time he takes damage, there’s a chance he’ll black out too. Physical attack phase: Any mech can punch or kick another mech in an adjacent hex, and if they decide to forgo weapon attacks they can charge or jump on a target (the infamous ‘Death from Above’ attack). Some mechs carry melee weapons like hatchets or swords as well. The damage dealt here is proportional to the mech’s weight, so heavier mechs often position themselves to perform physical and weapon attacks in the same turn. Heat Phase: Everything a mech does generates heat - running generates more heat than walking, and jumping generates a lot more heat than running. Weapon fire, especially energy weapons generates heat, and a mech has a limited number of heat sinks to vent that waste heat. At the end of each turn, you total up the heat generated by a ‘mech’s actions in the turn, deduct the number of heat sinks, and apply that as a change to the heat scale.As a mech overheats it gets slower, has more difficulty targetting enemies, and can even shut down or risk ammunition cooking off. If a mech generates less heat than it has sinks, its heat level drops back down. End Phase: Any bookkeeping needed is performed in this phase, along with attempts to wake up unconscious pilots. So from all that, you can see that the game is pretty complicated - and
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Clan Aerospace fighters offer support to mechs on the ground.
that’s not taking into account vehicles, infantry, air (or space) craft, protomechs, or more advanced technology! It’s worth noting that an average game of BattleTech to be played in a night will have less than 12 mechs on a side, and if you want to play larger games you’d better have a few days free or a place you can leave a game set up for a long time. Ironically, it was initially designed to be more of a pickup game than Harpoon,Advanced Squad Leader and the like – but, due to BattleTech’s longevity, it’s become the uber-complicated game in a field of more simple systems. That said, the game’s appeal largely comes from the detail level involved - you can track exactly how much damage your unit is taking, and where.The length of time it takes to kill a mech means you can keep on fighting as less critical systems are destroyed - it’s often that one crippled mech that the enemy’s left for dead who will get in a lucky shot that takes out a pristine heavy mech’s cockpit!
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The Uplink Game Profile
The Setting Outside of the tabletop game itself, BattleTech is home to a rich and well-developed universe, which is another major advantage. From the very beginning, the game was intended to have a dynamic and everchanging setting; and the fiction (originally a line of published novels, but more recently a subscription-based website) pushes that story along and drives the content of new sourcebooks - when a character found an old memory core in one novel, the next rulebook featured advanced weapons and Star League-era mechs. Similarly, after a major war in the fiction, books will come out detailing the changes to factions, overviews of the fighting, and tons of material to drive your own games.The greatest example of this would be the arrival of the Clans – the descendants of the self-exiled Star League army, who returned after 300 years and invaded the Inner Sphere with advanced weapons and mechs.This event in the fiction reverberated through the rulebooks and sourcebooks for years.
Zooming In and Out This is one of the game’s big advantages and, in a way, disadvantages: Because of its weird nature as part board game, part miniatures game and part RPG, the game is left wide open for players to play how they want. All army creation rules provided are optional, as is the point value system.The game is provided as more of a toolbox than other wargames, with nothing stopping players from mixing and matching their favourite
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The game is left wide open for players to be creative. All army generation rules are optional.
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designs regardless of who uses them in the fiction, or even using units of their own design – there are rules for creating any kind of fighting unit
in the game, from foot infantry platoons up to multi-million ton combat starships! That open nature means that some gaming groups will follow the canon fiction, creating armies based on the optional rules, while others will make a small force that could be in the canon fiction, but aren’t part of the focus – the ever popular mercenary campaign is an example of this – while other players will discard the background and official designs in favour of their own work. The game has also been designed to link in with supplemental rulebooks that allow players to ‘zoom’ in and out to different detail levels.You can use the RPG (A Time of War) to determine the characters’ operations out of the cockpit, even to the level of a 28mm skirmish game. Meanwhile, the QuickStrike rules keep BattleTech’s scale but reduce the detail level to allow for larger armies, BattleForce ups the scale so a playing piece represents a lance of four mechs or tanks or a full company of infantry, and the upcoming planetary invasion and grand strategic games will provide frameworks to control the destiny of a planet, region, or even the entire Inner Sphere!
Products If you’re looking to get started, the best thing to pick up is the Introductory Box Set. This contains a rulebook covering mech combat and construction and basic rules for vehicles and infantry, a background book detailing the history and factions of the BattleTech universe, two double-sided map sheets, and record sheets and plastic miniatures for 24 mechs. Unfortunately it’s currently out of print pending the release of the increasingly inappropriately titled 25th Anniversary box set, which adds two more mech miniatures of much higher quality, upgrades the maps from paper to board game quality cardboard, and will possibly add a few more extra bits. Moving on from the introductory box, the core rulebooks are a good place to go – Total Warfare is the “tournament legal” rulebook, covering
mechs, combat and support vehicles, protomechs, conventional and BattleArmoured infantry, and air and space craft, as well as the advanced weapons in common use later in the BattleTech timeline.This is followed by the TechManual, which covers constructing all the unit types in Total Warfare, Tactical Operations (often nicknamed the “yeah, we got a rule for that” book ) with a dizzying array of optional rules and additional weapons, Strategic Operations, which contains campaign rules, advanced Aerospace combat – including rules for JumpShips and WarShips – miniature rules, and the aforementioned QuickStrike and BattleForce games, and A Time of War, the Role-playing Game (which is only available as a PDF so far). Two more core rulebooks are planned: Interstellar operations (for long-term campaigns, planetary assaults, grand strategic games, and rules specific to certain timeframes) and BattleTech Universe (a one-stop shop for universe information). Beyond rulebooks, there’s an array of books which more closely resemble RPG sourcebooks, detailing a faction, theme or event in the BattleTech universe in detail, and providing rules to cover their use in games.The most popular books are the Technical Readouts, which provide game stats for new mechs, vehicles and other combat units. Miniatures for most ‘mechs and a large array of vehicles, infantry and
aircraft are produced by Iron Wind Metals in the US and Ral Partha UK in Europe. Of course, all this stuff costs money, and you might not want to throw down a bunch of cash for a game you might not even want to play. Fortunately, even the cautious can pick it up – if you go to www.battletech.com (a core site that covers the BT franchise between tabletop and computer games, fiction and other potential properties) you can download free Quick Start rules for BattleTech, BattleForce and A Time of War, as well as the miniatures rules from Strategic Operations and the BattleTech Universe book from the introductory box set. If that’s not enough, www.classicbattletech.com (the site for the tabletop game itself) also has the rulebook, record sheets and counters from the previous edition of the box set, and a selection of map sheets to boot! Battletech won’t appeal to everyone. The detail level is a step beyond what most modern wargamers are used to, the open framework can be daunting if you’re used to structured army lists, and it’s often not as easy to pick up due to the sporadic nature its stocking in shops. Still, for those it does appeal to it offers a myriad of options for play, with a detail level that does a very good job of portraying a mech battle as a knock down, drag-out fight.
The Uplink Game Profile
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The Uplink Game Profile
Underhive Action Derek Owens writes about the joys of Necromunda. Gang warfare in a near-apocalyptic environment is tasty material for both fiction and gaming, so it’s little wonder that many publishers have embraced it. Indeed, one of today’s hottest games, Malifaux, can be fairly lumped into that category. Loath as many season Games Workshop haters may be to admit it, though, the lumbering giant of wargaming may have cracked the formula in 1995 with Necromunda, creating a game that’s easy to pick up but loaded with tactical choices for veterans, and contains a deep-but-robust ‘advancement’ system that gets players increasingly emotionally invested in their little toy soldiers.
Background The action in Necromunda takes place on the hive world of, well, Necromunda in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. More precisely, it’s set in the dregs of the planets largest hive, Primus. In this ‘underhive’ area, gangs of renegades from higher in the hive and underhive natives clash brutally amongst themselves – that is, of course, when they’re not battling for survival against the more sinister beasts and creatures in the nightmarish wasteland. The most obvious influence on Necromunda’s feel is, of course, the Warhammer 40,000 background, and the bleak picture it paints of the typical human life. However, there’s also a heavy hint of the wild west evident in the underhive setting, and lovers of steampunk will enjoy the presence of weird technology. As you delve even deeper into the game and create scenarios, many ‘b-movie’ plots also present themselves.
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The Game First, though, you’ve got to create your gang. Most players will start
with one of six factions or ‘houses’ that appear in the original game (other factions have since been introduced, but this will come up later). The main differences between factions crop up when it comes to advancing and arming your gang members, so each gang starts with essentially the same characteristics.‘Gangers’ are the mainstay of the gang, and have the standard Games Workshop ‘human’ profile – ‘heavies’ are the same, but have access to better weaponry. ‘Juves’, the young ‘uns, are not as good in combat or at shooting, while leaders (aside from a few extra bonuses) are marginally better than gangers. There are ‘hired guns’ you can draw on, but the gang will primarily have a mix of these four fight-
ers. On the face of it, this seems to make picking a game very restricted – however, it helps to keep the game balanced and makes your actual choices (in terms of both personnel and weaponry) more significant. When it comes to the fighting, veteran Warhammer 40,000 players are in their element. The rules closely correspond to ‘second edition’ Warhammer 40,000, treating model effectively as a separate unit and adding a few wrinkles to reflect the amateur nature of the combatants, including rules for ‘pinning’, running out of ammo, recovering after being wounded, and your entire gang potentially running away. Those who’ve only played third edition or later will find a few differences: movement is 4” or up to 8” if you decide to run, and cover affects a shooter’s ‘to hit’ roll rather than adding an armour save. Crucially, handto-hand combat is reflected in a one-to-one ‘roll off’, with each fighter’s weapon skill characteristic and a few other modifiers added to the rolls – the winner inflicts a number of hits on the loser. Necromunda also literally adds another dimension to proceedings, as multi-level terrain and cover makes movement even more interesting, while the addition of sce-
narios to reflect the many different ways gangs can end up in a scrap also adds to the variety. Even for those who haven’t gone near Warhammer 40,000, the rules are simple enough to understand quickly, pretty logical and, so long as people play nice, shouldn’t result in too many rows!
The Uplink Game Profile
Developing Necromunda offers an exceptional level of detail on the tabletop but it really shines after the initial encounter, when individual fighters develop and gangs as a whole start earning and spending money. Fighters that were taken ‘out of action’ in the last game roll to see what injury occurred – the possibilities range from outright death to injuries that are actually beneficial,such as impressive scars.Depending on how they performed in the last encounter, they’ll also have more experience – with this,they can gain boosts to their statistics or develop specialist skills in a range of areas,from technological expertise to ‘muscle’skills.Much of this development is randomised,meaning that you’ll have to how you use and equip your gang to the changing circumstances – a few rolls of the dice could provide you with that master marksman you always wanted, but a few more could just as easily leave him
House Party The principle factions of Necromunda
House Orlock
House Goliath
House Escher
Orlocks are all-rounders who prefer shooting but can get up-close in combat if needed.
The muscular Goliath are close-combat specialists and rely on brute force to win fights.
The all-female escher gangs are ok in a shootout, but depend on agility and combat skills.
House Cawdor
House Van Saar
House Delaque
The zealouts of the imperium have an edge when it comes to ferocity and close combat.
The technologicallyadvanced Van Saar prefer shooting from a distance wherever possible.
The sinister Delaque depend on their unmatched stealth to overcome opponents.
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The Uplink Game Profile
blind in one eye and barely able to shoot. If any aspect of the game can be fairly described as ‘broken’ or unbalanced, it’s the skills that a fighter can pick up: for example, many feel that ‘techno’ skills, which offer advantages for developing and arming your gang, are far better than ‘muscle’ skills, which only come into play during hand-to-hand combat. However, a skilled leader can overcome any real or imagined disadvantaged this creates. The best way to do this is by raising and spending money effectively. Each gang generates income from a set of territories, which are randomly generated – although you can steal another gang’s turf after a particularly crushing victory.The territories differ in terms of usefulness, and a gang leader assigns any gangers that weren’t injured in the last
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Getting set up with a good gang should cost €30 or less.
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encounter to ‘work’ each territory and bring in ‘credits’. After deducting expenses, which very depending on the gang’s size, a leader can use this money to pay for hired guns, recruit new members, and buy cool stuff. The game’s basic template is pretty robust, and is easy to adapt to other settings – Games Workshop effectively replaced humans with orks and added vehicles for the oft-neglected ‘GorkaMorka’, and there’s even a modified ruleset for World Ware II squad-level combat on the internet in ‘Nazimunda’. It’s also fairly easy to add extra elements, such as vehicles (for which semi-official fan rules exist), other hired guns or even aliens.
The Products
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However, all this comes after playing the game itself for a bit – and the basic rulebook should be your first investment.This can either be downloaded free from the Games Workshop site or you can order the hardback book - this includes the content of ‘Outlanders’, a supplement that
Ratskin Renegades, one of several outlaw gangs introduced in ‘Outlanders’.
introduced rules for turning outlaw, several unusual gang types, a few more scenarios and more hired guns. Unfortunately, the excellent starter kit is not available from Games Workshop and will cost a pretty penny online due to the highly-coveted multi-level scenery within. Models are available from Games Workshop but, since this game involved 8-10 models a side, you’ll pay premium prices. For a discount, several models in the Warhammer 40,000 Imperial Guard range are more than adequate – Catachan Jungle Fighters make great muscly ‘Goliaths’ and Cadian shock troops can double up as ‘Orlocks’ if needed.You’ll also find reasonably-priced miniatures on Ebay if you’re prepared to look around – ‘clearing out’ sales of veteran gamers are a godsend. All in all, getting set up with a good gang should cost €30 or less. Of course, you’ll then want to organise games! The forum at is a very useful tool for this, or you can drop in to Gamer’s World on Dublin’s Jervis street on a Sunday afternoon. Fortunately, the development rules for Necromunda make each gang highly portable, and friendly games can be easily between advanced gangs. So what are you waiting for? Get stuck in!
Eating popcorn as a publisher burns?
The Uplink Industry
Lorcan Nagle charts the rise - and possible fall - of popular publisher Catalyst Games. The Catalyst Games story seems to begin well, in the early 80s, as gaming moves from being a weird hobby to an actual industry. A bunch of friends form a company called FASA Corporation so they can publish their home-grown Traveller adventures and sourcebooks, and get pretty successful. Banking on this reputation, they decide to expand and purchase the RPG rights for Star Trek and Doctor Who. They try and get the rights for Star Wars, but lose out to West End Games. However, having put a lot of effort into their pitch for Star Wars, they don’t want to see it wasted – so they take the plunge into creating an original game universe called Renegade Legion and publish a bunch of games and sourcebooks for it. Renegade Legion is a big hit, so they decide to make some more games on the same lines.The first one they release is a robot fighting game called BattleDroids, and it’s an even bigger hit. One quick letter from George Lucas and the game gets a hasty second edition, renamed BattleTech – thus, it seems, a legend is born. By the late 80s, BattleTech is one of the biggest names in gaming, while Doctor Who, Star Trek and even Renegade Legion have fallen to the wayside. FASA decides to slow the older lines down, and make a new RPG setting. They decide on a strange mix of Cyberpunk and fantasy, called Shadowrun - and it’s another big hit. Within five years FASA are only publishing BattleTech and Shadowrun products, with sub-licenses for novels, computer games and other merchandise. In 1994 a deal is struck for a BattleTech cartoon series, and FASA decide a toy range will help push the franchise further.Two manufacturers bid on the toy contract – Tyco and Playmates.They’re given access to a wide range of archive material to help their pitches, and eventually Tyco wins out. Playmates see the potential in a range of toy robots and decide to make their own, titled ExoSquad. They also pump a bunch of money into making a companion cartoon.
So, BattleTech and ExoSquad go head-to head on TV and in the toyshops, when FASA see a trade ad for an upcoming ExoSquad figure, and it looks uncannily like the MadCat – one of BattleTech’s most iconic designs. Cue BattleTech-related lawsuit number two. Around the same time, Playmates enter into a deal with Harmony Gold,the producers of the iconic anime adaptation Robotech to add various 80’s Robotech toys to the Exosquad line.And Harmony Gold’s lawyers notice that a number of BattleTech’s designs are from Macross – one of the three anime that lent its’ footage to Robotech. Cue BattleTech-related Lawsuit number 3! While FASA had a license for the use of a number of anime designs, Harmony Gold’s one took precedence; FASA and Playmates settle out of court, and every design in BattleTech that was done “out of house”is either removed from the game or redrawn.
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The Uplink Industry
This legal battle took a major toll on FASA’s cash flow, and so problems begin to creep in. Production quality drops, people don’t get payed on time, and the page count on the novels goes down. In order to make some quick cash they sell the rights to computer games based on BattleTech and Shadowrun, and their internal programming team (who had the rights to the then-recently published Crimson Skies) to Microsoft, but by 2001 FASA decides to shut down active operations.
The Wizkids
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Enter Jordan Wiseman, a founding member of FASA who left in the 90s and had recently founded WizKids, who were pioneering the collectible miniatures games market with MageKnight and HeroClix.Wizkids pick up the rights to BattleTech and Shadowrun, with the intention of turning them into Collectible games.While fans of the old games waited for news with baited breath, BattleTech begat MechWarrior: Dark Age, which was very successful in terms of sales but controversial for BattleTech Fans. Shadowrun begat Shadowrun Duels, a novel system where you bought action figures with a set of statistics on their bases and accessories, which didn’t go down as well and was cancelled after a year. At the same time as these games launched Wizkids licensed the rights to new BattleTech and Shadowrun products to a German company called FanPro. FanPro were long-term licensees for both games, producing German translations and some original material for both. They quickly hired the old FASA development teams and things more or less returned to normal. Unfortunately, normal included FASA’s bad history of late payments, while the profits from books were funnelled into other projects. Eventually a distribution company FanPro owned collapsed, dragging their parent company down with them. Unlike FASA, FanPro left a lot of unpaid debts behind them. The rights to BattleTech and Shadowrun were picked up by In Media Res, a company founded by a number of veteran BattleTech developers to make new fiction for the game and publish it online.They founded an imprint called Catalyst Games Labs,
Loren Coleman brooding (left) and Randall Bills (right).
and promised that payment and communication problems were a thing of the past. Fast forward a few years and Catalyst are doing really well, and decide to expand. A group of Shadowrun’s core developers form Posthuman games, and licence their new RPG Eclipse Phase to Catalyst. They also bring Wildfire games into the fold.Wildfire are the development team responsible for the CthuluTech RPG, and they moved from Mongoose to Catalyst on the promise of faster payment and better production values.
The Catalyst Era Things are looking up. Jordan Wiseman sells Wizkids to Topps, who eventually decide to shut the company down. Catalyst make a bid to own the rights to BattleTech and Shadowrun outright, but Topps decide to hold onto them in the end. Still, BattleTech and Shadowrun are winning awards and selling better than they have in years; Eclipse Phase is getting great reviews; and plans are drawn up to expand into card games, board games, and a new tabletop game called Leviathans gets a series of PDF preview releases under a creative commons license and generate a lot of buzz. Of course, this can’t last…
Shadowrun never had an official message board in the same way BattleTech has, mainly because a large online presence for the game grew up around the fan site DumpShock, and it was frequented by a significant number of the game’s development team. By the time a significant official web presence was necessary for Shadowrun, Dumpshock had already established itself as the game’s premiere forum.This meant that the writers had a bit more leeway in terms of what they could say when compared to the BattleTech forum. This also meant word that Catalyst had fallen into the payment problems that plagued FASA and Fanpro spread there fast.The problems got so bad that a number of writers decided to quit writing for the game altogether.
The Revelations Then Frank Trollman, a former Shadowrun writer who quit during the development of fourth edition returned to Dumpshock in March with allegations that Loren Coleman - one of Catalyst’s owners - had embezzled at least $850,000 from the company, that they were just about bankrupt, and that there was no way they’d be able to retain the licenses for BattleTech and Shadowrun from Topps. Naturally, this caused a lot of angry posts back and forth. Catalyst have confirmed some of this as true – they say one of the owners has “co-mingled” funds between his bank account and the company one, and that he’s agreed to pay it back. Their statement presented the issue as having been uncovered during an internal audit, and that some employees and freelancers had decided they didn’t feel comfortable working with catalyst in the aftermath of this revelation.While Catalyst’s statement didn’t name names, Adam Jury (lead designer and Eclipse Phase Developer), David Stansel-Garner (operations manager), and Jennifer Harding (Account manager and Shadowrun writer) all revealed themselves to be employees who left. Furthermore, Robert Deire (Shadowrun writer) and Rob Boyle (Eclipse Phase developer) revealed themselves to be freelancers who had left the company. At the same time, a number of Shadowrun writers withheld the copyright on forth-
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The Uplink
Following this, Trollman released more confidential information in the shape of an open letter sent by Catalyst coowner and lead game developer Randall Bills, wherein he explained that Loren Coleman had indeed taken the money, but that he felt that Coleman was a bigger asset than liability to the company, and had decided not to remove him.
Industry
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coming books, or ones that had been published but they had yet to be paid for – preventing Catalyst from selling those books until the payments were resolved. Following this, Trollman released more confidential information in the shape of an open letter sent by Catalyst co-owner and lead game developer Randall Bills, wherein he explained that Loren Coleman had indeed taken the money, but that he felt that Coleman was a bigger asset than liability to the company, and had decided not to remove him from Catalyst so long as the money was repaid. He cited their friendship and his own strong religious faith as part of the reasons he chose to forgive Coleman.This caused much consternation amongst fans, many of whom took Bills’ religious comments out of context and portrayed him as a zealot forgiving his friend because “God told him to”. A steady trickle of confidential information continued to be leaked out until Catalyst shut down their freelancer forums to plug the leak.
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The Uplink Industry
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In The Courts Following all this, Wildfire games and Posthuman Labs decided to terminate their relationships with Catalyst.Wildfire cited problems getting royalty payments as their reason, and Catalyst said they wanted to concentrate on their core lines of BattleTech and Shadowrun and their selfowned games like Leviathans. At the same time, Catalyst gave Wildfire all their stock of CthuluTech books as part-payment for the owed royalties. However, since then Wildfire have filed a chapter 7 bankruptcy lawsuit along with a number of other Catalyst creditors. Catalyst maintain that this is unfounded, that they are paying their debts in a timely manner, and that this is a tactic to try and scare them into paying up. As I write this,Wildfire had just filed for a summary judgement, which was denied. Similarly, Catalyst’s request for a summary dismissal was also denied. At this stage, the case is going to court and could turn into a protracted legal battle that could easily gut one or both of the publishers. A number of the people who left Catalyst have formed a new company called Sandstorm to act as a logistical base for games writers – much like how Catalyst acted for Posthuman and Wildfire. And among their first licensees are Posthuman and Wildfire. Throughout the entire debacle, Catalyst have kept their cards close to their chest. Press releases have had minimal details, leading to accusations of spinning the story from their detractors. This has also led to some interesting discussion on the subject of openness. It’s natural for people who are emotionally invested in a game to want more information, but how much of what they want to know are they entitled to know? If all their questions are answered, would it result in information that Catalyst doesn’t want in the public domain for some reason spreading beyond the realms they would like? Of course, given their problems with leaks, a lot of confidential information is already out there.Various members of Posthuman games have stated that they intend to be as transparent as possible, to the level of releasing financial information publicly. Whether they go through with that or not remains to be seen though.
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Since then, Wildfire have filed a chapter 7 bankruptcy lawsuit along with a number of other Catalyst creditors. Catalyst maintain that this is unfounded, that they are paying their debts in a timely manner, and that this is a tactic to try and scare them into paying up.
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At this stage, the affair has settled down somewhat as we await the next news - Catalyst's license for BattleTech and Shadowrun (originally due to expire in May) has been extended for six months, a short timeframe apparently of Catalyst's choice in order to prove to Topps that their house is in order and they will be able to move forward progressively; and the next court date in the Catalyst/Wildfire lawsuit is early in August.While Catalyst are confident that they will negotiate a new contract for BattleTech and Shadowrun, the lawsuit could still break the company apart, and it's left many fans wondering if BattleTech and shadowrun will soon find themselves at a fourth publisher or not.
A New Breed
The Uplink Background
Brian Dyer presents a guide to creating your own space marine chapter. The uniforms of the Imperial Guard are camouflaged in order to protect their wearers by hiding them from sight. The principle is that what the enemy cannot see he cannot kill.This is not the way of the Adeptus Astartes.A Space Marine’s armour is bright with heraldry that proclaims his devotion to his Chapter and the beloved Emperor of Mankind. Our principle is that what the enemy can see, he will soon learn to fear… +++ Chaplain Aston, 10th Company, Fire Hawks Chapter+++ Everyone has a reason for being drawn into the wargaming hobby. The models, the games, your mates all play. For me, one of the biggest draws was the background. The story. Or, more accurately, the history of the worlds that these games spoke of. I, like many, first played Warhammer 40k, and for the better part of a decade and a half, it is this game that I have come back to time and time again. What fascinated me, and still does, is the Space Marines, the Legions Astartes.The mightiest warriors ever, each one worth a hundred or more regular men. These knights of the future have held my imagination ever since I read my first piece of background on them (the Codex Imperialis book that came with the game’s second edition. The most intersesting facet to me of the background was the concept of ‘Chapters’, each one a self contained fighting force of Marines with it’s own hearldry, icons and history. Each with its own way of fighting, it’s own special formations and customs. The history of the Space Marines is dominated by the Legions, the forerunners of the current Chapters. Each Legion was massive, with no restriction on numbers at arms, formed for one purpose, to aid the Emperor in his conquest of the galaxy. The Legions were organised according to the whims of the Primarchs, the generals of the Legions and genetic fathers of the Marines under their command. Despite this, some common formations persisted from the earliest days when the Primarchs where lost.The most basic of these are the company and the chapter. When the Legions where split after the Heresy it was the
Chapter that Guilliman used as the basis of the future of the Marines. This was the Second Founding, where the once mighty Legions where broken down into the smaller Chapters. Each of the parent Legions had a chapter retain the Legion’s name, hearldry and symbols whilst the other Chapters became Successors, with a new name, new heardry and iconography. In the ten thousand years since there have been many Foundings and many more chapters added to the honour rolls of the Imperium. One of the most often mentioned, but seldom seen, aspects of the hobby is that there are said to be over 1,000 chapters in existence. There has always been in the various codices a notation that you can invent your own chapter and use the rules to represent them. So why is it that we don’t see more home grown chapters? Why is it that we usually only see the ‘big five’ of Ultramarines, Blood Angels, Dark Angels, Space Wolves and Black Templars? When the latest Codex Space Marines was released I resolved to pick up an idea I’d toyed with for years for my own Chapter and to put together an army.
What makes a Chapter? The Space Marines are basically knightly orders. They have their own hearldry and iconography.Their own identity. So these are the three key elements of creating your own Chapter, a colour scheme, a Chapter icon and a Chapter name. Another key element which will influence all of
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The Uplink Background
these is whether or not your Chapter is a Successor of the Ultramarines, or one of the other Legions.This will determine a lot of your decisions in how your Chapter looks and plays on the tabletop.
Primogenitor (First Principles)
Camouflage is the colour of fear... I have no need to hide from my foes... I have no fear of death. My colours I wear openly, they proclaim louder than any words,“I am proud to live - I am proud to die”. +++ Commander Carab Culln, Red Scorpions +++
The starting point for many chapters is its theme. Having a good theme will decide many of the choices for you.The first thing to settle on, and the first that I did, is whether or not your chapter is a direct Successor of one of the original Legions.This is a great way to utilise the rules for one of the main Codex books and still put your own mark on the look of the army on the table. For example, you could have your Chapter be the Scions of Baal, a Successor of the Blood Angels letting you field the Death Comapny and Sanguinary Guard in your army. Or you could have the Knights of the Order, a member of the Unforgiven, the collective Successors of the Dark Angels, allowing you to field your own Deathwing. If you’re not chosing one of the main Legions as your founding, then Codex Space Marines allows you to field either a Successor of the Ultramarines, who provided the bulk of the 2nd Founding, or a Codex
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chapter of another linage. For my own Chapter, I decided that I wanted to have a slightly different parentage then that of the Ultramarines, so I chose the Raven Guard as the Primogenitor of my Chapter. I chose this as I liked the primary philosophy of the Raven Guard of striking first and winning before the enemy knows they are fighting. I wanted an army that used Drop Pods and a swift assault to decapitate the enemy, which the Raven Guard and its Successors excel at. Another issue of theme is the look of the army, as a lot of players want
the Chapter to have a certain visual impact. This could be an Eygpitain themed chapter that uses imagery from Ancient Eygpt or a GreecoRoman themed Chapter that has elements of the phalanx or Roman legions in it.These themes can be dervied from the name, icon or colour scheme you chose or can be tied into them later on.The important thing to note about the theme is that you shouldn’t over reach yourself. The simplest theme is not the worst, and the most complex theme is not always the best. So, knowing that my Chapter would be a Raven Guard Successor and descended from the mighty Primarch Corax, I now needed a name to allude to this history.
The Roll of Honour (What’s in a Name?) Show me a fortress and I’ll show you a ruin. +++ Captain Eddan Bourne, No. 2 Assault Company, Silver Skulls +++ The Dark Angels. Ultramarines. Imperial Fists. Names that resonate throughout the history of the Imperium. The name of a Chapter is an important part of its identity. But what name should you choose? And what makes a good name for your chapter? The Marines have many collective names, such as the Adeptus Astartes, the Legions Astartes and the Angels of Death. Individual chapters will refer to these in some way in their names, such as the Dark Angels. Other common elements in chapter names reference knights in some fashion, such as the Black Templars, or the Marines Errant, and also mythology and mythological creatures such as the Salamanders. But what makes a good name? How do you choose what to call a chapter? Well there are a couple of ways to name a chapter and a few tools to help you do so. One of them is the Chapter Name Generator on bolterandchainsword.com., though this throws out some weird combinations such as the Striking Gorillas!
Most chapter names consist of two elements, usually a colour or shade indicator and a second, heoric element. Examples are the Dark Angels, the Black Templars and the White Consuls. Other elements as discussed above are mythic creatures such as the Salamanders or Red Drakes. I wanted something that would tie into the Raven Guard and their lineage as masters of unseen combat. After looking through the Chapter name generator I found one that sounded right, the Hidden Brotherhood. It tied into my ideas for the background of the Chapter (more later on this) and also evoked the Raven Guard’s preferred methods of combat, striking from the unseen places at the heart of the enemy.This is an important point to note, the sound of the name you choose should sit right with you. It should tie into the basic idea you have for the chapter, evoking in some way the character of the chapter itself.
Hearldry of the 41st Millenium Victorus aut Mortis +++ Chapter Motto of the Raven Guard +++ Colour schemes for the Marines have since the earliest days of 40k ranged from the basic to the bizarre (tiger stripes and rainbow colour schemes!).The best colour schemes of the marines are those that follow some of the basic rules of hearldry. In essence, you take only one to two primary colours to block out the armour.A second or third (depending) trim colour is then used to accent the basic colours. So which colours go together and which don’t? Well, that’s more trial and error then anything, though generally speaking if you are using a dark tone on the main body of the armour a bright contrast should be used as the second colour/trim and vice versa for a bright main colour scheme. Examples of these can be found throughout the various Codices published. But how do you make your colour scheme different? Another helpful tool is the Army Painter, again available on bolterandchainsword.com. One way is to use a colour not normally seen on marines, such as pur-
ple or orange.To do so means not making the shades used too bright or garish. Another option is to use a halved or quartered scheme, where you take two complimentary colours and split the armour in a pattern. For the Hidden Brotherhood, I chose to use a half and half scheme, using blood red and bone white to contrast each other. For the trim colour I chose black, which would contrast with the two primary colours and is also the codex colour of the 5th company.
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Codex chapters identify companies by the colour of their shoulder trim, white for the 1st, yellow for the 2nd, red for the 3rd, blue for the 4th, black for the 5th and so on. As the Hidden Brotherhood is a codex chapter I wanted to maintain the colours of the company as set out by the codex. I also wanted the trim colour to contrast with the primary armour and after a couple of test pieces I settled on black. Don’t get too frustrated if a colour you intially wanted to use doesn’t suit, as you can always change it and adapt the colour scheme. I had initally wanted to use the 2nd company in my own army, however the yellow trim didn’t sit ‘right’ to me so I changed it to the black of the 5th.
Icons of the Astartes The enemies of the Emperor fear many things. They fear discovery, defeat, despair and death.Yet there is only one thing they fear above all others. They fear the wrath of the Space Marines +++ Anon +++ The Chapter icon is almost as recognisable to the majority of the Imperium’s citizens as the name of the chapter. It is a symbol to rally to in battle for the brothers of the Chapter. But again, choosing the right symbol seems a daunting task.There are no hard and fast rules on chapter icons. Some will make reference to the Chaper name, such as the wolf head icon on the Space Wolves or the templar cross of the Black
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Templars. Others reference the Chapter primogenitor legion in some fashion, such as the Praetors of Orpheus who have a star burst with a small shield device bearing the Ultramarines icon inset in the star burst. So, how do you choose a symbol for your chapter? There are two ways to go with this. One, and the easiest in many ways, is to adapt one of the many pre-printed transfers that are available. If you have, or have a friend who has, a Warhammer Bretonnian or Empire army, many of the transfers from these armies make great Marine Chapter symbols (in
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As they were hunters of psykers and kept this hidden from the Imperium, I wanted to allude to this in the symbol of the chapter.
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fact, the Howling Griffons icon can be found on the Warhammer transfer sheets). If you’re feeling adventurous you can paint over the transfers after they dry to tie the colours into your own colour scheme. The second way to do a Chapter symbol is to free hand a symbol you have picked. This is a harder, and less conistent, way of doing an icon. You also need a steady hand! Again, the simpler the better in this case, as you need to reproduce multiple versions across the army you need something that can be done easily. Thankfully history has provided a number of easily drawn and adapted symbols. For example, the cross, which also ties neatly into the Marines crusading nature. For my own Chapter I wanted a symbol that was unique to my Marines. I also wanted something that would tie into the theme of the chapter. As they were hunters of psykers and kept this hidden from Imperium, I wanted to allude to this in the symbol of the Chapter. For centuries, the Greek letter Psi (?) was used to represent hidden or as yet discovered knowledge, and lead to the word psionics being used to describe
various mental powers such as ESP and telepathy. This was perfect, and as it’s basically a U with a line through the middle it’s also easy to paint free hand! So, I had the three main components in place, a name, an icon and a colour scheme. Now, all I needed was a background.
The Hidden Brotherhood Though it seems we have lost our connection with our beloved Primarch and Chapter, to our history, our very souls, I say to you now it is not so! We have been given a tasking by the Emperor, a solmen duty, a charge to quest through this galaxy for the answer to the most important question ever asked of man.We must be steadfast.We must be dedicated. But, above all else, we must keep our work hidden from the eyes of our enemies, both foreign and domestic +++ Da’Torval, First Chapter Master of the Hidden Brotherhood Chapter, speech to the Conclave of the Chapter after the Founding+++ I decided that my Chapter would have an overriding philosophy, a goal they were trying to achieve. This has nothing to do with how the army plays or looks, but is its background, which adds character to the army. My Chapter was founded just after the Age of Apostay, a period of great upheaval for the Imperium that almost saw it torn asunder. This dark time was only overcome by the coming of Sebastian Thor, a man many believed to have been Blessed of the Emperor, and one of the few mortals to have been given direct audience with the Master of Mankind since He ascended to the Golden Throne. Many Marine Chapters withdrew during the Apostay and held onto local systems instead of answering the conflicting orders and edicts from Terra.The Raven Guard was one such chapter, who were ideally placed to provide gene seed stocks for the Founding called after Gorge Vandire, the corrupt High Lord of Terra who was responsible for the Age of Apostay, was deposed.The Raven Guard Founded two Successors at this time, who went on to join the Crusade to reclaim the Imperium. Of
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these, one of the Chapters would take a view of what had happened, adherring to a new belief that was washing across the Imperium, that Sebastian Thor was a vessel of the Emperor’s Soul. The Chapter’s first master was Torval, Captain of the Raven Guard Seventh Company at the time. Torval was a devote man, who believed that Corax, Primarch of the Legion was a supreme being and that the Emperor was the pinnacle of human evolution. Torval believed that the Age of Apostay was a test, a time that the Emperor had foreseen to weed out the weak and corrupt in the Imperium. He constantly pushed for the Chapter to engage actively in the wider Imperium at Chapter counsels. However, Torval was censured for his more over zealous beliefs. One such was that the Emperor would return to lead mankind, and the Astartes to glory in a Second Great Crusade. The Reclusiarch of the Chapter believed this to be as close to blasphemy as the Chapter Cult allowed. Torval served penance, and after several years returned, more introspective in mien. When the Apostay was finally ended, Torval was given a new focus for
his ideas: Sebastian Thor, who many claimed was not simply Blessed of the Emperor, but was a mortal vessel for Him to act through. Torval maintain his silence on this, since the previous years had shown him that the Chapter council didn’t agree with his own philosophies. None were more surprised then he when he was chosen as Chapter Master for one of the two new Chapter’s due to be Founded from the Raven Guard. Torval was allowed to take his Company, and a stock of precious gene seed to found the basis of the new Chapter. Torval chose the planet Quillax, in the Southern Galactic spiral arm to serve as the Chapter homeworld. During the hard years of the Founding, Torval studied the Quillaxian traditions and assimilated some of them into the Chapter structure.The most notable being the taking of the ‘Da’ prefix, which in Quillaxian culture signified a noble or lord, similar to a baron.Torval also studied the life of the new Ecclesiarch, Sebastian Thor, trying to descern whether or not he truly was a vessel of the Emperor’s will.Torval became more and more sure of this, to the point that he bent the entire Chapter’s purpose to finding more individuals like Thor.
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Eventually, Torval became convinced that the Emperor had funnelled a part of His will into Thor. If that were so, then the Emperor could be reborn into a mortal shell. However, the Emperor was the pinnacle of human evolution. A regualr mortal body, even one with the will of Sebastian Thor, could only hold the smallest portion of the Emperor’s mind. Torval realised that the Astartes were the key. An Astartes, sufficently trained and conditioned, could act as the vessel needed. However, it would require a powerful mind in this body to contain the Emperor’s will. And so it was that Torval bent his Chapter to hunting down the most powerful psykers in the galaxy, but with aims radically different to the Inquisiton’s. The chapter sought not to harm them, but instead to transform them into Astartes in a never ending quest to find the perfect psychic vessel for the Emperor.
Structure
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Functionally, the Hidden Brotherhood are a Codex compliant chapter.They have ten companies (referred to as Maniples by the Chapter). Each Maniple is lead by a Captain, each of which bears the title prefix Da’ before their given name. Each Maniple bears the same command structure of the basic Codex Company, with a Chaplain, Apothecary and Standard Bearer. One major divergence is the assigment of multiple members of the Chapter’s Librarius to each Maniple. Due to the Brotherhood’s search for the Perfect Man, the number of psychically gifted brethern in the Chapter is higher then most other chapters. The Librarians do not command the brothers in battle and maintain a supportive role within the Chapter’s structure. Each Maniple has at least one Epistolary who has a number of lower ranked Librarians who serve as apprentices and aid in capturing and containing the psykers who the Chapter hunt. Another important diversion from the Codex standard is that the Chapter maintains no Company or Chapter Champions, and isolate themselves from the contests that other Chapters who do follow this tradition participate in.
Heraldry The Hidden Brotherhood uses a half and half scheme of blood red and bone white. The scheme is symbolic to the Chapter, as the red signifies the blood sacrifice the Marines are ready to give in pursuit of their search for the Perfect Man. The bone of the armour represents the colour of death, signifing the fact that a Marine’s service to the Emperor only ends in death. All these guidelines helped me to create my own chapter, which is now growing towards a full battle company.Whether as a hobbby project, or for a new army for a tournamnet, hopefully this has inspired you to create your own Chapter. May the Emperor guide!
The Magehunt
The Uplink Battle Report
Following his introduction of Warmachine in issue three, Owen Conlan presents a battle report highlighting different aspects of the game in practice. The elves of Ios are angry, very angry.They believe that the magic wielded by mankind is killing their remaining gods.The Retribution of Scyrah – once a small and outlawed rebellious sect, but now a popular movement amongst Iosans – aren’t willing to sit back and watch their gods die. Every nation of man that supports and promotes the use of magic is a legitimate target, particularly those who use magic to wage war. The nation of Khador has been expanding their borders aggressively, having consumed the country of Llael and encroached into northern Cygnar.Their warcasters have been at the forefront of this empire building, leading massive armies to conquer their former neighbours. This activity has not gone unnoticed by the stealthy Iosans and their rapid armies have moved to intercept and assassinate these human warcasters. The Retribution of Scyrah cares little about the wars of other nations. It is the scalps of those mages they seek. This battle report is an attempt to give an overview of how the mechanics of Warmachine combine to make a compelling, tactical and exciting wargame. Steve Coleman and I lined up two 25 point armies with a very simple mission – assassinate the opposing player’s warcaster. 25 points is a smallish encounter, but large enough to show the main aspects of the game. I had my beloved Khadorans led by the walking beatstick that is the Butcher of Khardov. This warcaster lives for the sound of battle and the smell of blood. He is an unstoppable monster that can support his troops with his potent magic and push his warjacks to excel in combat. The rest of my force was comprised of two warjacks, a Juggernaut and a Devastator, a couple of small units and a couple of ‘solos’. The ‘jacks of Khador have the most formidable armour and weaponry in the game, giving them the ability to absorb as well as dish out a lot of damage.They are typically slower than the ‘jacks of other nations, but what do you expect from constructs that are over 10 tons in weight?
Facing the might of Khador would be Adeptis Rahn, an arcanist beyond compare. His ability to manipulate magic and support other mages in his force is stunning. He has amazing spells to support every element of his army and blast his enemy with arcane blasts while doing so. He has one of the highest ‘focus’ levels in the game, so he can put out a lot of support and/or pain every turn. Making up the rest of Steve’s army were two myrmidons (warjacks to you and me), the much feared Mage Hunter Strike Force with a Commander, a unit of Battle Mages and a couple of solos.The warjacks of the Retribution tend to be more specialist and nimble than those of Khador. They also sport an Arcantrik Field that can absorb damage before the ‘jack itself is damaged. Nifty! One of Steve’s warjacks was a light ‘jack named a Chimera.This ‘jack has a couple of nice tricks, including a feature known as an ‘arc node’. All factions (apart from Khador, doh!) have access to arc nodes that allow warcasters to bounce their spells through the ‘jack. This is very useful for keeping your ‘caster out of harms way. Remember, the mission in this game is to assassinate the opposing ‘caster!
Focus Focus represents magical ability in Warmachine. Every warcaster has a focus statistic and this finite resource is what they use to cast spells, boost attacks and support their warjacks. It is replenished every turn, but there is never quite enough to go around!
Setting up Warmachine is usually played on a 4’ x 4’ battlefield with deployment in 10” wide zones on opposing sides. Steve’s Retribution force deployed
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between a wood and hill with the large Manticore myrmidon in the centre of his army. It was surrounded by Battle Mages, who had Rahn in their midst, and a Soulless Escort capable of absorbing enemy magic attacks attached. (The Iosans view the phenomena of Soulless being born as a true sign that Scyrah is dying.) To the left of this unit was the Chimera and beyond it a Magister, a veteran Battle Mage. deployed.The Mage Hunters and Commander were ‘advance deployed’ (up to 6” beyond the standard deployment zone) to the front and right of the rest of the force. Finally, an Archanist, a Retribution mechanic deployed beside the Manticore. Across the table, my red Khadorans deployed beside a hill with the warjacks up front. Just behind them was a unit of Mechaniks, the Butcher and a War Dog. The Mechaniks, as their name suggests, are adept at repairing ‘jacks in the heat of battle.The War Dog offers protection to a ‘caster through counter-charging the enemy if he gets too close and increasing the ‘casters ‘Defense’ ability in a melee. (In my previous article I mentioned the stats briefly, but I’ll go through the basics of combat when the action kicks in.) On the far right flank, a mounted Drakhun was ready to chase down whatever came near it. On the left flank stood the formidable Great Bears of Gallowswood, a trio of battle hardened veterans with the capacity to utterly destroy both ‘jacks and units.
Casting Spells
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Every spell has a focus cost and this is deducted from the wascaster’s total when cast. If the spell is cast on a friendly unit then only the range needs to be checked. If it is in range, it’s cast. If a spell targets an enemy ‘caster, you check the range and then must roll to hit. The player rolls 2D6 and adds their focus (FOC). If this total equals or exceeds the enemy’s defense (DEF) it is a hit. Spell effects are then resolved.
Round 1 Steve won the rolloff, so the first turn would go to him. He allocated one focus, from Rahn’s eight, to the Chimera to allow it to run on its activation. Warjacks function like any other unit, but they can be allocated up to three focus to allow them to run, charge, boost attacks and perform power attacks, such as slams, throws and headbutts. Rahn cast Force Field (three focus), which allows him to control the direction of missed blast shots. He also cast Polarity Shield (two focus) on the Battle Mages, which would prevent them from being charged.The remaining two focus were left on Rahn and they boosted his armour. He then advanced forward. The rest of his force moved rapidly up and the Arcanist assigned one focus to the Manticore to allow it to run. On my first turn, I allocated one focus to each ‘jack and then ran most of the army forward.The Butcher walked up behind them and cast Iron Flesh (two focus, from his total of six) onto the Great Bears, which added three points to their Defence statistic (DEF). I was afraid of the Mage Hunters firing their crossbows through the wood at my precious (and expensive) unit.The Commander with the Mage Hunters granted them the Phantom Seeker ability, allowing them to ignore line of sight when targeting. Of course I forgot that they have an ability to also ignore the focus boost to armour and spells that add to DEF and armour (ARM).They are Mage Hunters after all. Doh!
Round 2 On his next turn Steve had Rahn upkeep both spells. (Some spells can last from one turn to another.A ‘caster must spend one focus at the start of the turn to keep a spell of this type in play.) Again, his army advanced up. Thankfully, he wasn’t in range of the Great Bears. On his left flank he moved the Chimera up to arc spells at the Drakhun. Rahn first cast Chain Blast, an offensive spell, through the arc node. He hit the Drakhun with ease.This spell has a power (POW) of 12, so Steve would normally roll 2D6, add it to the 12 and compare that to my ARM. If the
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The Manticore advances.
total exceeded my Drakhun’s ARM, it does the amount of damage it exceeds by. The Drakhun’s ARM is 19, so Steve decided to boost the damage roll, thereby giving him an extra D6.Thankfully he only rolled nine on the 3D6, doing two points of damage.The Drakhun has ten boxes of damage. Since that wasn’t enough Steve used the Telekinesis spell to move the Drakhun 2” and spin him around. This is important as models need line of sight (LoS) to charge. They can still walk into combat, but they don’t get a movement advantage or cause more damage on their initial attack. The Magister charged the Drakhun, but failed to cause any damage. He missed with his first attack and the second just bounced off of its armour. The Drakhun got his revenge on my turn; he spun around and smashed the Magister, but the Chimera was still lurking nearby, so his vengeance was going to be short-lived. Again the Khadorans advanced forward.The Devastator is the most heavily armoured warjack in the game so it ran right up close to the Battle Mages. It couldn’t charge them due to Polarity Shield spell. The Butcher decided to send his Obliteration spell towards the Mage Hunters. I knew it would miss as they have the Stealth
The Devastator pushes forward aggressively.
ability (all ranged attacks originating from more that 5” away automatically miss), but attacks with a blast template scatter when they miss, just like in Warhammer, and I was hoping for a lucky deviation. However, I forgot that ‘Force Field’ allowed Rahn to decide the direction of deviations in his Control Area, so he sent it harmlessly away from the Mage Hunters.
Control Area and Feats All warcasters have a control area which is a circle that radiates 2 x FOC” from their base. In Rahn’s case that’s a radius of 16”. Warcasters can only allocate focus to ‘jacks in this area, so you need to move your ‘caster if your ‘jacks are advancing. Many spells and feats (a unique, once-per-game, mega-spell) affect this control area. A player may measure from his warcaster to any point in his control area at any stage.
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Round 3 Not a lot of damage done to either side so far, but Steve’s next turn would change all that. He allocated focus to the Chimera and Manticore and set about causing some mayhem.The Chimera charged the Drakhun and destroyed the horse. This left just the rider. The Mage Hunters zeroed in on the Juggernaut ‘jack and caused 15 points of damage with their crossbows (they get boosted damage rolls against warjacks), disabling its left arm. Rahn activated next and ‘feated’. His feat is called Arcane Alignment and gives friendly spell casters +2” range on their spells and boosted attack and damage rolls for the turn. He then cast Telekinesis on the Devastator to spin it around so its back was facing the Battle Mages. The Battle Mages focused their attention on the Great Bears and the Manhunter (my assassination solo) and destroyed them all. That’s the power of the feat. Ouch! The Manticore activated and put four more points of damage on the Juggernaut with his Cyclone Cannon, taking out its movement.
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I really needed to respond before my whole army was gone.
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I really needed to respond before my whole army was gone.The Butcher loaded up the Devastator with three focus and then he activates. He cast Full Throttle (three focus) allowing all of his ‘jacks to run, charge, slam or trample without spending focus, and also giving them boosted melee attack rolls. The Butcher shot a Battle Mage for good measure. The Devastator activated and trampled towards Rahn. (The ‘trample’ is free because of Full Throttle, but uses the warjack’s initial attacks, meaning it counts as having attacked.) Focus can be used to gain more attacks, so the Devastator made three attacks at Rahn. Despite them being boosted (again because of the spell), he only connected with one, causing eight damage points. Rahn had 16 damage starting the game, so I was only halfway there. My Mechaniks ran to engage the Battle Mages in order to
Telekinesis spins the Devastator around.
prevent them retaliating on their turn. Meanwhile, the dismounted Drakhun did 13 points of damage to the Chimera tearing off its arm.
Round 4 It was down to a slugfest at this stage and, unfortunately for Steve, his luck abandoned him. The Mage Hunters only managed another five points of damage to the Juggernaut, while the Battle Mages killed two of the four Mechaniks. As this was 50 per cent casualties in a single turn they needed to make a command check, which they passed. The Manticore managed to kill the War Dog. Rahn, though loaded with focus, only managed 14 points of damage on the 16-ton Devastator. He looked like he could be in trouble next turn. Time to finish this. On my turn, I put three focus on the Devastator and activated the Butcher. He cast Full Throttle again (it isn’t an upkeep spell) and used his feat, Blood Frenzy, which gives all models in his control area an additional die on damage rolls. The Devastator activated and made a special attack called Rain of Death where it lobs short ranged grenades. Everyone in base-to-base contact with it suffers a POW 18 blast hit! That
would have finished Rahn except that the Force Field spell made him immune to blast damage. Damn! I used a focus on the Devastator to buy an additional attack. It was boosted to hit because of Full Throttle and inflicted boosted damage because of the feat. Rahn was squished by the towering ‘jack.
The Devastator, supported by a spell and feat, smashes Rahn.
The Aftermath This was a pretty small game, but I hope it highlights some of the cooler aspects of Warmachine.It is a game of brutal damage and devastating effects,but it is pretty well balanced and no faction is considered vastly superior to any other.Steve played like a true gentleman in this game. He had a chance to finish things early on by hitting the Butcher with all of those Mage Hunter attacks instead of the Juggernaut. It would have been a much shorter battle report had he taken the easy kill so, if you suffered through the report this long, you have him to thank! Hordes is the feral cousin of Warmachine that features fantastic warbeasts and their warlock handlers. It has a completely different magic mechanic, but is fully compatible with Warmachine. Next time, I’ll write about this other cutthroat game from Privateer Press. Whatever you play, remember to “play like you’ve got a pair!” Owen is an avidWarhammer andWarmachine player. He’s also a big geek who blogs about all of his wargaming exploits at www.farfaraway.org
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Write for the Uplink!
Battle Report
The Uplink is looking to hear from other passionate wargamers with something to say or show about their hobby. Submissions should be sent to theuplinkeditor@gmail.com. Any kind of submission is welcome, including stories, art pieces, pictures of your army, opinion pieces or tactica articles.There is no guarantee of inclusion in the magazine, and any articles may be edited to suit the format of the Uplink. Feel free to contact the editorial team with more informal queries or ideas for articles.
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The Uplink Fun Stuff
Ask Heff The Uplink’s friendly gaming agony uncle. Dear Heff, What happens when an irresistable force meets an immovable object? We all know that I’m the most awesomeWarhammer player ever,but I’m yet to play you. What happens when such worlds collide? J,Ballymena Dear J, Its nice you call me irresistable. I’m flattered, maybe a little curious even, but at the end of the day, I just don’t swing that way.You see, me and you are like the Ross and Rachel ofWarhammer here on these shores or,more appropriately,like theWoody and Mal of our little community with our‘will they/wont they?’relationship. In their case, they probably already have. But at the end of the day, you know, you’re the tito to my Michael Jackson. But don’t worry – being the second best player in Ireland is nothing to be sneezed at and, who knows maybe some night over a bottle of wine our worlds could collide. The Heff Dear Heff, Why don’t you play 40k? Is it because you know you’d be rubbish? P,Dublin
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Dear P, Thats an intriguing question and my answer is manifold.When I was younger we would often traverse the fields of Laois engaged in the age old tradition of cow tipping.One day one of my friends,let’s call him Phil C (no wait,that’s too obvious – let’s call him P Culleton), got a bit too over eager and ended up receiv-
ing a nasty kick to the head from one of the cows. From that day onwards Phil was never the same. One day, coming home from the gym after working on my rock hard abs, I saw Phil sitting in his garden, pantless, giggling to himself. Intrigued I walked over to see the source of his amusment.To my horror he was sitting there drawing smiley faces on his genitalia with a permanent marker. I informed his mother about this and she said that, as long as he was happy, she’d let him be – and anyway, keeping him tied outside in the yard was cheaper than childcare. So you see, some people are born clever, like me. Some people are born gifted, again like me. But some people aren’t.These poor unfortunates are usually the product of incestuous relationship or a mother who took too many shots of vodka or lived next door to a telephone pole while she was pregnant. But instead of feeling sorry for them,we should be glad that something like 40K exists and that they can, like our friend Phil, find some joy in the simpler things in life.After all, if there wasn’t 40K to keep them occupied,they probably would be banned from hanging round school playgrounds at lunch and would have to sign a certain register each week in their local Garda station. The Heff
The Uplink Fun Stuff
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The Uplink Gaming clubs
Around the Clubs Listed here are some of the clubs in Ireland that wargame. If your club is not listed here please email the editor (theuplinkeditor@gmail.com) with your club's contact details and a brief description of the club's activities. Lisburn Gaming Club Lisburn Gaming Club (LGC) is a new tabletop gaming club located in the heart of Lisburn, five to ten minutes walk from the centre of the City. The club hosts all tabletop games that members wish to play. All the ususal GW games plus some of their specialist games are always welcome and usually on hand to play. The club also encourages and actively plays Roleplaying games and certain card games too. There is hope for a regular LAN setup in the future, but the club will remain mainly focused on the tabletop. For more information, visit www.lisburn-gaming.co.uk.
NUI Maynooth Games Society The NUI Maynooth Games Society base most of their games during the week for the majority of the college year in the John Hume building on campus. They host an annual games convention around November every year called Dominicon and play a variety of games within the society such as wargaming, roleplaying, card games etc.You can reach the club via email (games@nuimsu.com) or online at minds.nuim.ie/~gamessoc
The Drogs of War
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The Drogs of War have been around for about nine years now. Initially, it was started as an alternative youth club for people living in the Drogheda area but has developed since then into an established gaming club with a core of about forty gamers in two main groups - juniors (up to sixteen years old) and seniors. The club have a policy of developing younger players and tend to avoid overly competitive play with these gamers. Instead, the Drogs of War try to encourage important things like learning how to play the game correctly, painting, assembling and modeling, plus the social side of things.The club plays most
games, including Warhammer Fantasy Battle,Warhammer 40,000,Warmachine and Hordes, Battle Fleet Gothic, Blood Bowl, GorkaMorka, RPGs and many board games. The atmosphere is very friendly and you will usually be able to arrange any type of game with members.The general attitude to gaming is quite easy going, most members are casual gamers who enjoy friendly and non-competitive games.The club uses the modern church hall of the local Church of Ireland, which is a wonderful facility with all the modern conveniences, and can comfortably set up 14 tables if needs be.The junior section plays from 14:00 to 18:00 and the seniors from 18:00 to 22:00.The club can be contacted at www.droghedagamers.com.
The East Side Fatties The East Side Fatties club are are based out of galway, with the modelworld store as a HQ.There are about 15 club members worldwide, including members in England, Scotland, Hong Kong and America. Modelworld is based in the Loisbhaun business park, on the Tuam Road in Galway, and Fatties meet up every Friday at 17:00 untill 22:00. Information on the fattie events etc will be on the store website: www.kpartsonline.com/wargaming/east-sidefatties.html. Alternatively, you can email romurph@eircom.net, or call 0861271912.
The Irish Gaming Association The Irish Gaming Association (IGA) runs a regular games night in The Plough pub on Lower Abbey Street, across the street from the Abbey Theatre. Meetings begin at 19:00. Games played include everything from Warhammer to Legends of the Old West. Admission is free, though money spent at the bar is always welcomed!
The Northern Wasters The Northern Wasters club has been running for 10 years.The club is mainly Internet-based with the players meeting up to attend and run tournaments. Many of the players are based in Northern Ireland, but there are also Wasters in the rest of the UK, Ireland and The Netherlands. Ballymena is the Wasters’ spiritual home, and a group of around 25 players meet up there every second Sunday.Warhammer Fantasy Battle is the most popular system currently, but you can also usually find games of Warhammer 40K, Blood Bowl and Space Hulk being played. On the non-GW front, several Wasters are starting to play Flames of War and Hordes/War Machine.You can contact the Wasters on their forum (forum.northernwasters.com) or by emailing northernwasters@gmail.com39
The North Wexford Gamers The North Wexford Gamers are a group of gamers with a passion for Warhammer Fantasy Battle and Warhammer 40k. They're a social bunch who can often be found playing at other clubs and focus more on the fun element of the game than winning at all costs. The NWG wish to congratulate Fergus Byrne on his recent marraige to Niamh and wish them all the very best for the future. Most of the NWG attended the wedding which was a fantastic weekend for all concerned. Best of luck to them both! Watch out for their regular podcast which is available on w-ire.org/forum with all the latest news and views from the Irish gaming scene. The North Wexford Gamers can be contacted via e-mail on admin@northwexfordgamers.org.
The Underground Gamers The Underground Gamers is a war games club based in Gamers World on Jervis Street in Dublin’s city centre.The club formed in 2004 and is dedicated to offering players a relaxed environment where they can play a large variety of war games, board games and roleplay games. Warhammer Fantasy Battle is a staple of the club with practically every member playing at least one army, but other systems are well represented. Warmachine, Hordes, Blood Bowl,Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay and Flames of War are all frequently played. In fact, there are very few games they don’t play! The club prides itself on being both competitive and friendly. Members per-
The Uplink form well in both the gaming and painting competitions in the Irish and International tournament scenes: recent highlights include club members win- Gaming clubs ning the first two Irish ranking Warhammer Fantasy Battle tournaments in 2009 and scooping painting awards at each.The Underground Gamers We are looking forward to hosting their own club tournament in 2010 which will involve an ETC-style team event.You can contact the Underground Gamers by joining the email list at groups.google.com/group/undergroundgamers or by enquiring in Gamers World.
The Warheads The Warheads are a club dedicated to tournament gaming in Ireland and frequently play Warhammer 40,000,Warhammer Fantasy Battles, Blood Bowl and Necromunda in Gamer’s World in Dublin City Centre.You can reach the club via email (joseph.warmaster@gmail.com) or visit sites.google.com/site/thewarheads/home
WAC- Wargames Association Cork WAC are a group of wargamers who play just about anything put out by GW, with Wahammer 40,000 and Fantasy Battle most popular.There are also a few people interested in playing Warmachine.The groups are currently co-located (i.e. sponging space off the UCC WARPS club) so there are role players, car gamers and board gamers closely associated with the club.WAC meet at the Elec eng building in U.C.C on Thursdays from 18:30 to 22:30.To contact the club, email themurphyfella@gmail.com or visit the Yahoo group: groups.yahoo.com/group/WACork/?yguid=11890703.
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