Saturday 16 June 2007

Commander Dante

Commander Dante is one of the most experienced and able Space Marine Chapter Masters, and has ruled over the Blood Angels for over a thousand years.
Dante is renowned for personally leading formations of Blood Angels Assault Marines in unstoppable assaults. His presence inspires these troops to acts of valour that are extraordinary even for Space Marines. To represent this, if Dante is included in a Blood Angels army then any friendly unit of Blood Angels within 12" of him counts its opponents as a preferred enemy.

Chief Librarian Mephiston

Brother Calistarius is the only warrior ever to overcome the Red Thirst. After an agonising ordeal, he was reborn as Mephiston, Lord of Death.
When Mephiston overcame the Red Thirst he released his full psychic potential. Because of this, Mephiston has all three Blood Angels Psychic Powers. He can use each one of them and his Force Weapon once each player turn, rather than being limited as are other Librarians. He may not use the same power more than once per turn.

The Nemesis Crown

War approaches once more. In the depths of the Great Forest, at the very heart of the Empire, armies from all over the world are engaged in a desperate search for one of the greatest magical artefacts ever created: The Nemesis Crown.
The Nemesis Crown is Games Workshop's latest worldwide campaign. These international happenings are your chance to throw yourself completely into the gaming universe and immerse yourself in the experience of tabletop war.
This campaign has a specially written storyline, the outcome of which your games help to decide. The hub of the Nemesis Crown campaign is this very web site, where you can post the results of your own battles and edge your faction closer to victory...or defeat. Campaigns like the Nemesis Crown make for great periods of hobby activity, where everyone is playing games to help tell a story set in one of our gaming worlds.
You can get all of the details at:-
http://nemesis.games-workshop.com/



War is everywhere in Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, the new MMORPG from the creators of Dark Age of Camelot®. Based on Games Workshop's extremely popular Warhammer® fantasy wargames, WAR features a next generation Realm vs. Realm™ (RvR) game play that will immerse players in a world of perpetual conflict. Upon entering WAR, players must determine their allegiance and join an Army. Those taking the side of good may fight for the Armies of Order as a Dwarf, noble High Elf, or loyal human soldier of the Empire. Those inclined towards evil may side with the sinister Armies of Destruction as a savage Greenskin (Orc or Goblin), corrupt Dark Elf, or be a human worshipper of chaos.


Key Features
Based on Games Workshop's popular Warhammer fantasy world. Dominated by force of arms and magic, this world provides a great setting for thousands of players to experience the epic nature of war and the glory of battle.
Join one of six Armies and fight for the Armies of Order (Dwarf, High Elf and Empire) or the Armies of Destruction (Greenskin, Dark Elf, or Chaos). Wage war across three unique battlefronts.
The next generation Realm vs. Realm game system integrates both PvP combat and PvE quests on the same map in support of the greater war.
Engage in four levels of RvR combat:

- Skirmishes: Incidental PvP combat

- Battlefields: Objective-based battles in the game world

- Scenarios: Instanced, point-based battles balanced with NPC Dogs of War

- Campaigns: The invasion of enemy lands culminating in the assault on their capital city

If you want more information on this subject then go to www.warhammeronline.com.

Friday 15 June 2007

The Armies

There are a number of playable armies for Warhammer, which are representative of one or other of the factions or races that are present in the Warhammer world setting. Over the various editions of the game the armies have been presented in collective books like Warhammer Armies for the 3rd edition or from the 5th edition onwards in individual books each one covering a separate army.
The current edition of the game has (of 2006) the following:
Beasts of Chaos
Bretonnia
Dark Elves
Dogs of War
Dwarfs
The Empire
High Elves
Hordes of Chaos
Lizardmen
Ogre Kingdoms
Orcs & Goblins
Skaven
Tomb Kings
Vampire Counts
Wood Elves
Warhammer: The Game of Fantasy Battles, formerly Warhammer Fantasy Battle and often abbreviated to Warhammer, is a tabletop wargame created by Games Workshop and the origin of the Warhammer Fantasy setting.
The game is played with 'regiments' of fantasy miniatures. It uses stock fantasy races such as humans, elves, dwarfs, undead, orcs, goblins, vampires, as well as some more unusual types such as lizardmen and skaven etc. Each race has its own unique strengths and flaws; Wood Elves, for example, have some of the most powerful archers in the game but have poor overall defense.
Since first appearing in 1983, Warhammer has been periodically updated and re-released with changes to the gaming system and army lists. The current official version is the seventh edition, released on 9th September 2006.

The Tau

the Tau are an alien race, inhabiting a small but dense region of space on the eastern edge of the Milky Way Galaxy, roughly 300 light years in diameter. The Tau were first introduced to Warhammer 40,000 in late 2001, the result of Games Workshop's plan to introduce a new race to the game.
The Tau have evolved and advanced rapidly since their first encounter with the Imperium of Man in the 35th millennium, rising from a hunter-gatherer level of technology to a starfaring race in less than six thousand years. Tau society has also advanced rapidly, from warring tribes to a unified caste system working towards common goals, known by the Tau as Tau'va, The Greater Good.
As well as the five castes of the Tau, multiple alien species are incorporated into the Tau Empire; the most significant of these being the Kroot and the Vespid.

The Kroot, while humanoid in appearance, are believed to have evolved from a carrion-eating avian form, as they possess vestigial beaks and a light bone structure. They have four digits on their hands and feet. While tall and wiry, they have an extremely strong musculature, coupled with quick reflexes, and are stronger than humans of equal size and weight. Their heads are crowned with tough quills that form part of their sensory apparatus; these connect to the brain via ganglia. Kroot eyes have no pupil, are generally milky white in colouration, and can see into the infrared spectrum, allowing Kroot to track their prey by body heat.

The Vespid are a highly evolved insectoid species from the planet Vespid, a gas giant three light years to the galactic south of the D'yanoi sept. The violet hued, storm wracked stratosphere of the world provides a shallow layer within which life, against all odds has evolved. They live on floating mountains held aloft by the lighter-than-air gases trapped within air pockets. They possess reasonably advanced technology but no interstellar travel.
They use a 'neutron blaster' which is designed to be a Space Marine killer. The blaster uses Tau technology combined with a type of crystal that only the vespid females can venture down to the planets surface to collect, that are unique to the planet Vespid.

The Necrons

the Necrons are a mysterious robot-like race that have lay dormant and largely unknown by the other races of the universe for 60 million years, and are reemerging in the distant future of the Warhammer 40k universe. The Necrons have become known and feared for their ability to absorb large amounts of physical punishment, as well as their enigmatic, yet powerful, weapons and technology. Necrons are the most advanced race in the Warhammer 40k universe.

Necron Units
In the game, Necrons are powerful due to their devastating Gauss weapons and other powerful Wargear, Such as Warscythes, The Staff of Light, and other weapons as well as their ability to self-repair. Their biggest weaknesses are their low number of unit types and high points cost, not to mention the fact that they vanish if three quarters of their force are defeated.

Necron Destroyers
Destroyers are Immortals fused to fast and agile hovercraft platforms. Equipped with Gauss Cannons and sophisticated targeting systems which enable them to fire while moving, Destroyers are ideal for hit-and-run attacks or disrupting enemy flanks. They also come in a Heavy Destroyer variant, which is armed with the more powerful Heavy Gauss Cannon, useful for destroying foes with the heaviest armour.

Necron Flayed Ones
Flayed Ones are Necrons who retain some of their original consciousness and have been driven mad by their ageless imprisonment. They are quite capable melee fighters, with claws and blades that can flay a man alive in seconds. They usually adorn themselves with still wet pieces of skin and hide from their latest victims. In such a state, they are a terrifying sight to behold, so much that sometimes enemy fighters lose their nerve by just looking at them. Flayed Ones also frequently act in a manner similar to scouts, sneaking ahead of the main Necron force or even burying themselves in the ground, and use either method to gain the element of surprise during a battle.

Necron Immortals
Those favored Necrontyr who were among the first to give up their flesh and embrace the metal were rewarded by being Immortals. They are more durable, heavy variants of the Warrior and they wield Gauss Blasters, calibrated for maximum effectiveness against infantry. However, being armed with gauss weapons, Immortals are fully capable of taking down vehicles. One exception is that on the game "Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War: Dark Crusade" they are described as being best against vehicles.

Necron Lord
Necron Lords are the commanders of Necron forces, chosen due to being one of the few Necrons to retain sentience. They are formidable foes on the battlefield, being quite adept with both ranged and close combat weaponry. Due to their special position as "leaders" in the Necron forces, they are often equipped with special gear. This gear often increases the effectiveness of other Necrons around the Lord, such as augmenting their healing factor, or allowing them to teleport to crucial points in a battle; other gear carried can increase the Lord's survivability or his prowess in battle. Necron Lords are also some of the few Necrons who keep pieces of memory remaining from their previous lives.
The Necron Destroyer Lord is the upgraded version of the Necron Lord, the Lord's torso is attached to the body of a necron destroyer.

Necron Warriors
Necron Warriors are the backbone of the Necron army. They are numerous and provide strong fire support with their Gauss Flayers. Their "living metal" bodies allow them to sustain massive damage and continue functioning.

Necron Wraiths
Wraiths are one of the more sophisticated Necron units. They lack legs or a body (except for the spinal cord) and hover over the battlefield, moving at supernatural speeds. They are fearsome close combat warriors, and they can phase in and out during their flight, becoming ghostly figures (hence the name wraith). This phase shift ability allows them to move through solid objects or even to avoid damage. It has been suggested that Wraiths were murderers or psychopaths before their steel imprisonment.

Pariahs
Pariahs represent the true horror of a Necron-ruled galaxy. They are created by fusing Necron technology with human victims who bear the "Pariah gene" (a rare and unusual genetic defect which causes the bearer to be soulless). Each Pariah is a formidable warrior, and wields a deadly warscythe. They radiate an unnatural aura that severely unnerves their enemies, especially psykers. Interestingly, since Pariahs are partly human, they are unable to self-repair, as do other Necrons.
Within the Imperium, Humans bearing the Pariah gene are also known as "Pariahs", but are also referred to as "Untouchables". Some become Culexus Assassins, who are used by the Imperium to combat enemy psykers. It is unknown whether the C'tan somehow control this temple or intend to do so in the future, for all its members are a product of their plans. It was the C'tan who originally put the Pariah gene in humanity, waiting for it to evolve to the point where they could use it to make Pariahs.

Scarab Swarms
Countless small, beetle-like robots called Scarabs often appear on the battlefield; these clouds of Scarabs are termed Scarab Swarms by their opponents. These swarms rely on sheer numbers to make themselves difficult to destroy, and are useful for disrupting enemies who are caught unaware. They can be upgraded with "disruption fields" which warp reality around their numerous claws. Large numbers of Scarab Swarms upgraded with "disruption fields" can tear apart even the most heavily armoured vehicles under a hailstorm of attacks.

Tomb Spyders
Tomb Spyders are large, spider-like robots which are normally tasked with maintaining the Necron tomb complexes. They sometimes appear on the battlefield, where they make resilient fighters who have limited ability to augment the healing factor of the "living metal" on nearby Necrons. They also can use their internal systems to manufacture Scarabs in the midst of a battleanced race in the Warhammer 40k universe.

Space Marine Legions

The First Space Marines were produced using genetic material of the God-Emperor's twenty Primarchs. These were exceptional individuals, with great and varied powers. There were twenty Legions, each under the command of a Primarch. The Legions were incredible fighting forces, composed of Mankind's greatest warriors and armed with its most advanced weaponry and equipment. Each legion contained thousands of Marines, the only limit being the amount of Gene-seed the legion had for transforming humans.
During the Horus Heresy, in the 31st millennium, nine of the Legions were corrupted by the forces of Chaos, and rebelled against the Imperium. The traitors were eventually defeated but it was decided to divide the nine loyal Legions into smaller groups called Chapters, each consisting of approximately a thousand marines, to prevent any individual from ever again wielding enough power to pose a serious threat of rebellion. Each Chapter has some history back to one of the original loyal Legions.

Dark Angels
The first Legion to be created by the Emperor. The Dark Angels and their successors refer to themselves as the Unforgiven. Highly secretive, they hunt the "Fallen" Angels who sided with Chaos during the Horus Heresy.

White Scars
The White Scars have a Mongolian-inspired culture and fast-attack doctrines. The Chapter makes extensive use of bikes and Blitzkrieg-like tactics.

Space Wolves
The Space Wolves are fierce warriors with an organization that differs strongly to other chapters. Though their loyalty is unquestioned, they are known for their fiercely anti-authority attitudes.

Imperial Fists
The Imperial Fists were charged with defending Terra itself during the siege of the Emperor's Palace, thus being bestowed with one of the greatest titles ever.

Blood Angels
The Blood Angels and their successor Chapters have suffered from various gene-seed flaws, primarily the "Red Thirst" or "Black Rage" since the death of their Primarch. The Blood Angels excel at close combat and assault tactics.

Iron Hands
The Chapter's warriors display a high incidence of cybernetic modifications to their bodies and all recruits have the left hand removed and replaced with a cybernetic replacement.

The Ultramarines
The Ultramarines are rigid adherents to the Codex Astartes, and are the canonical Space Marine chapter from whose genetic material most new foundings are drawn.

Salamanders
Technically-adept warriors with a preference for short-ranged combat, the Salamanders favour heat-based weaponry.

The Raven Guard
The Raven Guard specialise in hit-and-run assaults using jump packs and extensive use of scout marines.

Space Marines

The Space Marines are one of the major forces available in the table-top wargame Warhammer 40,000. They are also known as the Adeptus Astartes and by the sobriquet "Angels of Death". They are the supersoldiers of the Imperium of Man. The Space Marines can be seen as the scalpel of the Imperium, as compared to the sledgehammer of the Imperial Guard.
They are elite soldiers, specially chosen for natural ability, and have their innate superiority enhanced further by a combination of extensive training, mental conditioning and genetic alteration. Their dedication and steadfastness is a product of this superiority and indoctrination. Their structure and cultures are monastic in nature although often display features of other strict martial orders and warriors cultures throughout history.
As befits such an elite force they are given equipment to match their abilities. They wear power armour to give them all-over protection and the ability to survive in hostile environments, and are equipped with superior weaponry as well, in the form of Bolters. Space Maries are also much taller than a standard human being, somewhere between eight and ten feet high when clad in ther power armour.

Eldar

The Eldar are a race of elf-like humanoids. They are one of the most ancient and advanced races in the universe's history, though younger than the Necrons, C'tan and The Old Ones. Their armies usually have the advantages of speed and technology.
In the sense that Warhammer 40,000 races parallel the earlier Warhammer Fantasy game, the Eldar parallel the Elven race. In Warhammer 40,000 the Eldar are divided into three distinct groups with their own distinct armies: the Craftworld Eldar, who are similar to the High Elves, the Dark Eldar, who are similar to the Dark Elves and the Harlequins who would most closely resemble Wood Elf Wardancers from Warhammer Fantasy. The Exodites, who exist mainly in Warhammer 40,000 background material, are similar to the Wood Elves. The equivalences are only in very general thematic terms however, as the major details of the races' backgrounds differ greatly from their Fantasy counterparts.

Forces of the Chaos Space Marines

Chaos Space Marine Legions fights using a different style of warfare; also, four of the nine are dedicated to one of the four major Chaos Gods. Codex: Chaos Space Marines includes the current rules for fielding a Chaos Space Marine army in a game of Warhammer 40k ; it also includes rules for fielding any of the nine specific legions.
The nine Chaos Marine Legions are:
Black Legion
Night Lords
Word Bearers
Alpha Legion
Iron Warriors
World Eaters(dedicated to Khorne)
Death Guard (dedicated to Nurgle)
Emperor's Children (dedicated to Slaanesh)
Thousand Sons (dedicated to Tzeentch)

There are also many humans and mutants who serve Chaos, and they are often used by the Chaos Marines to bolster their ranks. These traitors, mutants and heretics are collectively labelled the Lost and the Damned. Rules and background for these forces can be found in Codex: Eye of Terror.
In addition, since the Horus Heresy, some Space Marine Chapters have been corrupted in one way or another by Chaos. Very little background information has been provided about these Chapters, and no specific rules exist for them, allowing players to adapt other rules to represent their forces. Examples include the Sons of Malice, the Damned Company of Lord Caustos, the Violators, the Thunder Barons, and the Astral Claws (known as the Red Corsairs since their rebellion).

Differences Between Chaos Space Marines and Space Marines

The Chaos Space Marines have the same origins as the Space Marines, so have the same physical power. Due to their allegiance to Chaos, veteran Chaos Marines can be mutated, making them physically stronger, faster or otherwise superior. Chaos Marines are also virtually immortal, which allows them to learn advanced battlefield skills and tactics that Space Marines may not know.
They are equipped with power armour and weapons they had when they initially betrayed the Imperium, which are broadly the same as those used by Space Marines (although differences now exist with jump packs etc). The current setting of the Warhammer 40,000 game is about 10,000 years after the Horus Heresy, and, while the Imperium has made little technological advancement, Chaos Marines have far more limited access to the handful of new inventions that have appeared on the galactic scene. In general, anything developed since the Heresy is unavailable to them unless it has been captured; for example, Iron Warriors are known for capturing and using Imperial tanks. While Chaos Space Marines have only older technology, they compensate for this by having access to daemons and daemonic technology.
The world of Warhammer as endless possibilties,whether you play the war games or you just like to collect and paint the amazing varieties of models ranging from elven archers to chaos predators tanks. You choose whether you want the world of elves and orcs, goblins and dwarves or if that doesn't take your fancy you can choose the wide variety of space marine chapters who fight a range of enemies such as Tau, Necron, Eldar and of course the nemesis, Chaos!!!!
I myself collect Warhammer 40k Chaos, because I like the amazing ways that the original Space Marine models and Vehicles have been twisted by the forces of Chaos. The detail in the models is amazing and it takes you hours and hours of practice to learn the skills needed to paint them. I have been interested in Warhammer for about 20 years now and new ideas are being added all of the time.
I will use this Blog to communicate with any Warhammer fans who are eager to share their experiences, whether it is playing the games or collecting the models. I will look forward to hearing from you..