uplink issue 4

You may have noticed that, in the third issue of the magazine, TheUplink boasted a sporty little redesign which we (yes, that is theroyal ‘we’) rather liked. For this issue, the editorial team at theUplink could take their time to plan a magazine loaded with well-thought-out and extensively edited features, and beautiful photography. But we didn’t. In the spirit of The Uplink, this issue hasbeen made to the soundtrack of deadlines whizzing by and tempertantrums as a venerable computer crashes for what seems like theumpteenth time.Nevertheless, there are a few tasty bits in this installment of yourfavourite wargaming E-Zine. For starters, we’ve a feature looking ata very successful year of Irish Warhammer tournaments, naming andshaming the heroes and rogues of the competitive scene. Speaking ofheroes, we’ve convinved Eoghan Errity to offer us an insight intohow he created his eye-catching Beasts of Chaos army - it involves alot of brown.For more sci-fir orientated gamers, though, this issue should be areal treat. Lorcan Nagle weighs in with an introduction to the daunting-but-rewarding game of Battletech, while we also have a veritable ode tothe joys of Necromunda. It gives us rather less joy to look at the recent troubles experienced by Battletech publisher , though Lorcan’s in-deptharticle does provide plenty of juicy gossip. For indulging our creative side, Brian Dryer presents a guide to creating your own Space MarineChapter, using his own well-developed Hidden Brotherhood as an example.We’ve also got a battle report, with Owen Conlan following up on hisexcellent 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.

From the Editor’s DeskDerek Owens introduces the fourth issue.

Our esteemed editor. (just kidding - he’s not that esteemed)

The UplinkEditorial

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Editor & DesignDerek OwensFantasy EditorNigel KavanaghSci-fi EditorJimmy MurphyContributorsOwen Conlon, Dave Leahy, Lorcan Nagle, The Heff, Eoghan Errity, Brian Leonard,Drian Dyer.

ArtworkDave LeahyAdditional thanks toBattlecry Miniatures, Gamers World Dublin

The Uplink Issue 3 was produced by

The UplinkContentsContents

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4 - EventsWhat’s happening in Irish wargaming.

6 - 2009/2010 - A Season in ReviewBrian Leonard rounds up a successful year of tournaments.

9 - Signal to NoiseJimmy Murphy writes your guide to what’s cool online.

10 - Unleash the Beast!Eoghan Errity's Beasts of Chaos army.

13 - Worlds of PossibilitiesLorcan Nagle introduces Battletech, an extraordinarily detailed andbroad-based game.

18 - Underhive ActionDerek Owens on the joys of Necromunda.

21 - Eating popcorn as a publisher burns?Lorcan Nagle charts the rise - and possible fall - of popular publisherCatalyst Games.

25 - A New BreedBrian Dyer presents a guide to creating your own space marine chap-ter.

31 - The MagehuntOwen Conlon presents a warmachine battle report

36 - Fun stuffGamer humour - you have been warned.

38 - Club listingsFind a game here!

Events DiaryYour guide to what’s on in the next two months.Astronomicon 2010The 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 willbe €10.This year the event will be a Campaign Weekend open to all armies, and does not count for ETC ranking purposes.The organisers simplyneed 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: [email protected].

Brocon 2010 - University of Limerick, July 17-18A weekend of gaming in Limerick, featuring a 1500 point, four-round Warhammer Fantasy Battle tournament on Saturday and a three round, 1750point Warhammer 40,000 tournament on Sunday. Spaces are almost full for Warhammer 40,000, but there are still some slots left in the Fantasyevent. This event ranks for both Fantasy and 40k, and is a great opportunity to push up the rankings.

ETC 2010 - Münster, Germany, August 7-8An international Warhammer Fantasy Battle and Warhammer 40,000 tournament featuring 32 countries competing for Fantasy and 26 for 40k. Eachcountry 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 theteam consists of Mal Cooney,Alan Woods-Conway, Brian Leonard, Ciarán Dunne, Ken Chambers, Dave Leahy, Halaigh Whelan-McManus and teamcaptain Nigel Kavanagh. The Warhammer 40,000 team are making their debut but, after winning the recent Home Nations event, hopes are highthat the team will compete at the top end of this tournament. This year’s team is Jimmy Murphy, Joe Cullen, Darragh Cullen, Richard Flood, ParaicO’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 9-10The NWG event is set toinclude a Warhammer Fantasy Battle (Eighth Edition) and a Warhammer 40k tournament. Both will be two-day eventsrun 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)A team-based Warhammer 40,000 campaign with rules are based on battlefront's market garden campaign. For this event, the Germans have beenreplaced with orks and the allies have been replaced with imperia forces.The event kicks off on August 29 - there are still some slots available onthe Ork side, and a waiting list for the Imperial side.The buy-in is €10, for which you get to play three linked games.

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2009/2010 - A Season in ReviewBrian Leonard rounds up a successful year or Irish tournament wargaming.

September 26, 2009, marked a new beginning for the IrishWarhammer Community. On that date, the new Irish Rankings sys-tem came into play, linking Irish Warhammer tournaments in a waynever done before. While there was decent tournament support inprevious years, tournament Warhammer in Ireland had mostly driedup by 2008, with events restricted to either the GW-run Irish GrandTournament (with dodgy rulespacks, controversial refereeing andeven worse army builds) or scattered university conventions, whichwere usually poorly attended. Independently run tournaments werefew and far between.However, in early 2009, some brave souls were convinced to competewith many of the best players in Europe at the 2009 WarhammerEuropean Team Championship. While the team were soundly beatenin all six rounds, they managed to make an impact on the eventthrough a combination of Irish charm, alcohol consumption and thenational flag being worn as a toga. “But how to make ourselves morecompetitive next year” asked these brave and noble warriors.Emperor Nigel then rose to his feet and announced he had the solu-tion - a national ranking system to link tournaments, encourageevents and attendance and bring the gaming community closertogether.And so it began.....

Saturday, September 26, 2009 - North Wexford Gamers tour-nament, GoreyOrganised by the North Wexford Gamers, this tournament was athree game, 2000 point event. No special characters were allowed,and players also could not include the same Special choice more thantwice, or the same Rare choice more than once.The event was held in the Loch Garman Arms Hotel in Gorey, and 32players squeezed into the room where the event was held. It The eventwas very well run, and the organisers had arranged for several verynice extras. Each player received a goody bag containing a t-shirt andcustom dice among other treats. It all went very smoothly, apart fromthe unfortunate souls exposed to the shorts wearing antics of a cer-tain Mr Finch. All said and done, an excellent event which wasenjoyed by all. Credit is due to Nigel and his assistants with the organ-isation.

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), GarethLombard (Lizardmen), Patrick O’Sullivan (Empire).

Sunday, November 29, 2009 - Northern Wasters Resurgence,BallymenaResurgence was a tournament held by the Northern Wasters club atthe Michelin Athletic Club in Ballymena.The rulespack for the eventwas based on the 2009 ETC rulespack, with an interesting twist -armies were graded on general cheeiness and the players who broughtharder armies had to fight each other in the first round. Spot prizeswere awarded in each round for the first player to achieve a certainevent (miscasting a spell or failing a panic test, for example).The play-er judged to have the hardest army had to wear the beard of doom orlose Victory Points. However Ivan chose to forgo the Victory Points inlater rounds after discovering his beard had been stored in a quiteunsanitary place (Bad Woody! Bad!)31 players attended Resurgence (plus a bye-buster, who realised whyhe preferred 40K). The venue for the event was fantastic, a big, spa-cious room with plenty of tables available.The event only cost £10 toenter, the bar prices were very good and hot lunches were available –the mixed grill was an enormous plate and great value, a recurringtrend at Northern Wasters events. Organisation was also excellent, alarge screen projector kept everyone informed of goings on, the tro-phies were excellent and Jonny Fisher did a fantastic job organising onthe day.

Saturday-Sunday, January 23-24 2010 - Northern WastersBloodstorm, BallymenaAfter 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 specialcharacters allowed. An opportunity to cheese things up, you mightthink. And, yes, bringing a cheesy army was possible, but as the sys-tem used involved army swapping, it wasn’t the wisest thing a playercould do. In each round, two games were played. First the opponentswould swap armies for game one, and then use their own armies ingame two.20 players attended Bloodstorm and, as with Resurgence, the price,venue, food and organisation (well done Jonny, Matt and Ivan) wereagain top notch.The event was quite draining for the players, with tengames in two days, while conspicuous beer consumption didn’t helpmatters.The event was notable for the rise and fall of Mr.Alan Woods-Conway, who raced into the lead on day one only to find himself play-ing Jonny Fisher twice on Sunday while in a rather delicate condition.Another wonderful event from the Northern Wasters.

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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)

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, CorkWarpcon was also a two day event, with the Warhammer tournamentonly a small part of the wider convention.The system was 2000 pointgames, with no special characters allowed. As there were no compo-sition restrictions in place, most people expected to face hardcorearmy builds and several decided to fight fire with fire. Although sev-eral nasty armies were present, the standard of sportsmanship wasstill extremely high. Rounds two and four involved a table quarterbased scenario, which was more difficult for some armies than others.Advance warning was provided of this, though, so there were no com-plaints.Attendance at Warpcon was 24 players. Running a 24 playerWarhammer tournament and a 60 player Warhammer 40,000 event intwo different locations at the same time was, perhaps inevitably, achallenge, but the tournament organisers pulled through.

Saturday March 6, 2010 - BattleCry, DublinAfter a break of several years, BattleCry returned in March at the ClarionHotel at Liffey Valley.The rulespack called for 2000 point armies, to beconstructed according to a quite strict formula including maximum pointspends on characters, Special and Rare choices, limited magic, shooting,war machines and other restrictions (largely intended to promote Coreand prevent players from creating one dimensional builds).Of course, spe-cial 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 gamewhile wearing a chicken suit! All three selected players were good sportsand wore the suitBattleCry managed to attract a field of 46 players, the best attendance ofthe season. While not cheap, the venue for the event was a large roomequipped with a bar (which went down well with the players) and an eas-ily accessible balcony for the smokers. Unfortunately the event wasdelayed by the late arrival of the so-called Waster Wagon – despite theirusing a satnav and having attended events there before, the occupants stillmanaged 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 ofcourse for buying us all a pint (I like pint). The awards ceremony wasslightly delayed as Woody struggled with the computer (it’s harder whenyou’re drunk), forcing Mal to stall for time.

Overall, the 2009/10 event season was a tremendous success. Over80 different players had been to at least one event, and several hardiersouls having attended most or all. So a big thanks are due to all thosewho made the season a success, especially all those whose effortsresulted in the events above.

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)

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 pat-tern?) & 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 ofChaos)

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Signal to NoiseJimmy Murphy writes your guide to what’s cool online.

Transport bagsI saw the new Battlefoam Hordes WarMachine transport bags. From theadepticon coverage, they’re coming out with Malifaux cases.They alllook great.http://battlefoam.com/catalog.php?category=23

SgruntsDwarves in space for all those lonely Squat players I can understand butTexan 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/shrinky-dinks.html

I am the OVERLORD!RHQ have bought and upgraded Overlord the tournament managementsoftware.The functionality seems to be much improved from the previ-ous version. It’s free to use for tournaments up to 12 players and it’s fullyconfigurable for scoring. Expect a detailed review in a future issue.www.rhqnews.com

Transporting Firestorm Armada shipsAn interesting blog showing foam trays designed to transport a fleet insafety.http://buckaroo13.blogspot.com/2010/05/firestorm-armada-trans-porting-fleet.html

Space hulk from Fantasy flightYea. Space Hulk. Made by someone other than GW.What’s happening inthe world? Well it’s not a reissue of the GW box set, it’s a new game - acard game, no less. Shock horror.http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_minisite_sec.asp?eidm=118&esem=1

Pimp My hulkIf 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 theHirst arts floortiles.http://www.nalsworkshop.com/space-hulk-3d-complete-board-p-217.html?osCsid=pb4dpgmppgdhtmdlui94qidbn2

Nostalgia tripThis guy got PDF’s of white Dwarf from issue one and decided to do athread on reading through them. This little flash of the world beforepoliticaly correct behaviour made me laugh. “Finally, a new characterclass..... I kid you not, “The Pervert”. Presumably tongue in cheek (Ihope!). Some folk will remember when D&D classes had names associ-ated with levels (eg enchanter, adept, conjurer etc).The level names forthis 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

Eoghan, you have a collection here of older and newer mod-els. How long have you been collecting Beasts ofChaos/Beastmen for?I’ve been collecting them for about seven or eight years. My firstBeastmen buy was the army box that came out with the launch of theirarmy book a few years after sixth edition was released.

When you decided to paint this army, did you take inspira-tion 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 myliking. I wanted a matt-ish looking skin for my Beastmen using earthytones. About two months before the release of the Beastmen armybox, Games Workshop launched about six new paints that were veryearthy in tone, some of which are still around today.They wereGraveyard Earth, Kommando Khaki,Terracotta and Tanned Flesh. Itwas a lovely change from a paint range that would look at home on aclown’s face and they really gave miniatures a grounded and realisticlook.

The entire army looks fantastically cohesive and tied togeth-er. How did you achieve this?Some of them were painted seven or eight years ago, and the new stuffhad to match, or be close. I made a custom colour using the GWpaints 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

using the new brand which looked pretty similar to my original. Ithink, on all my new miniatures, they look similar, but have differ-ences, but this is due to me refining my process and getting the closerto what I wanted at the time. It’s a good difference, while still lookinglike they belong.As well as using the same process, but refined, choosing the palettecorrectly can really unify the most opposing of models. For example,all my red clothes are highlighted with Hammerfall Khaki and I usedthat colour in many components of my miniatures. It’s the final high-light of the skin, a key ingredient in the custom skin base, a mid tonefor the horns and hooves, and as the occasional highlight for leatheryfabrics. Using a colour like this can unify while looking different.

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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 lookdecent! Here, he talks about the techniques he uses with Nigel Kavanagh.

Eoghan’s impressive Khornegors.

You clearly use more than standard Games Workshop mod-els. What can you tell us about the Cygor?If I wanted to use a GW model for my cygor, it would have had toborder on the metaphysical. So I looked around for a goat/cow-likemodel to use for my Cygor/Ghorgon. It’s one of two Satyrs made byPrivateer Press. I choose the wirier of the two as the Cygor isn’t asmuch of a combat monster. I’m not super into converting – theharpies are an anomaly for me – so I didn’t change anything about themodel except putting a few large stones on its base.The fluff says thatmost Cygors have one eye, so I’m fine with mine having two eyes.

When the Minotaurs came out, they were more hated thanloved. What do you make of the models themselves?

I avoided the previous versions of the Minotaurs for all these years, so I was dis-appointed to say the least at the new ones after waiting all that time.That beingsaid, I still find them better, even if they do have fooves instead of hooves. I thinkthe 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 conversionelement 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 tomatch 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 ofthe 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 theungor (Image 3) and I used superglue instead of plastic glue.

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ridiculous.The Minotaur muscles have far too much depth and wouldn’t lookout 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’seasy to tell which parts should catch more light than others.When Ipaint them, I’m painting in layers, getting brighter as I go towardswhere each muscle section is going to catch the most light. Imaginegetting a square and painting a gradient inside it, from dark to light,bottom to top.Then getting three identical looking squares, and mak-ing a square out of all four. Even though you painted each one exactlythe 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 imagi-nary light source. I hope that explanation in combination with the pho-tos of my miniatures shows how I’m painting them.

Your bases are superb - how do you build up the vibrancy ofthe colours here?When using earthy colours it’s hard to make things look vibrant. So toachieve it, you have to combine contrast and neatness. On the scenicbases, I use grounded olive tones on the green bits, pale oranges,browns and off-whites for the wood, and more or less the Beastmenskin colours for the mud. I find the composition of the Battlecrywoodland bases to be perfect.They almost all have three elements each(wood, foliage, mud), which are perfect for painting contrast into yourbases to make them really pop.

Do you have any tips for aspiring painters?Someday, I hope to be a good painter myself. I get my models up totheir current standard because I stack the deck in my favour. I learneda few basic techniques and practiced them for years. I take my time, Iuse 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, prac-tice, keep your tools well maintained and more practice.

Do you enjoy playing with the Beastmen list, and whatattracted 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. Everynow and then, but not often enough, I get a nice combo charge going.Whateverit may be, minotaur freight trains, single razorgors or chariots combining withanything and everything, those are the moments that keep me playing – that andthe fact that Beastmen can be so unpredictable. Sometimes you can roll brilliantlyon 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. Despitehis protestations, we think his work is pretty awesome and we’redelighted to showcase it here.

I get my models up to their currentstandard because I stack the deck inmy favour.

“”

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Eoghan’s Cygor pictured beside a unit of Gor.

The UplinkGame Profile

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A world (Actually, Several Worlds) of PossibilitiesLorcan Nagle introduces Battletech, an extraordinarily detailed and broad-based game.

BattleTech has been around for so long, it’s an institution. Originallypublished by FASA corporation as a one-off game under the nameBattleDroids in 1984, the unexpected popularity lead to a revised sec-ond edition under the name of BattleTech (thanks to the threat of a law-suit from George Lucas), and with that, a legend was born...The game is set in the 31st century, where humanity has colonised a largeregion of space centred on Earth called the Inner Sphere (with a wildfrontier surrounding it called The Periphery) under the banner of theStar League. 300 years prior, though, a vicious civil war shattered theStar League, and after the surviving members of the Star League Armydecided to exile themselves, the five Great Houses decided to go to warwith one another over the League’s remains. In short order the housesbegan targeting each other’s scientists and advanced factories, and with-in a few decades most advanced technology was rare and hard to main-tain - leading to almost ritualised warfare were each side was able toretreat and repair, often conceding battles when they were outmanoeu-vred or heavily damaged. Oh, and did I mention that the primaryweapons of war are 12 metre tall robot tanks called BattleMechs?Betraying its origin as an 80s game that’s less a wargame and more anodd hybrid of RPG, board game and wargame, BattleTech is much moredetailed than contemporary games. Its nature as a game of armouredcombat means that you’re tracking more detail and spending more timewith a small force. It’s also played on a mapsheet with a hexagonal gridon it rather than model terrain – though the option for model terraindoes exist. Each unit in BattleTech has a record sheet that details its capa-bilities - and note that in BattleTech’s terminology, a unit is a mech, vehi-cle, aircraft, squad of 4-6 infantry in power armour, or a platoon of 21-28 conventional infantry.

Taking the example of a mech sheet, you have a box detailing the mech’smovement capabilities, its weaponry, its pilot’s piloting and gunneryskills and damage, a diagram showing the different locations on the mechand how much damage each can take, a second diagram showing themech’s internal structure and how much damage it can take there, andfinally a table showing what equipment is in each location. It’s a lot ofinformation, but it’s laid out logically and in an easy to follow way.

Assault mechs in close formation on a hex map.

The TurnLike many modern games, each turn is divided into phases, but unlike Igo- you go games like Warhammer, each player has actions in each phaserather than moving all units, attacking and so on, and then passing to theother player; furthermore, the events in a phase in BattleTech are simul-taneous, so you always get one last chance to hit back.The phases are asfollows: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 alloca-tion of movement points(MP) for the turn. It costs 1 MP to move for-ward or back a hex, or to turn one hexside. Changing elevation or enter-ing difficult terrain has additional MP penalties. Some units can alsojump, bypassing terrain altogether. Lighter mechs have more efficientengines, 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. Eachweapon a unit mounts is fired separately, needing to reach a target num-ber on 2D6.The basic target number is the pilot’s gunnery skill, modi-fied for range, whether it walked, ran or jumped, the distance the targetmoved, and intervening terrain.These numbers can mount up fast, meaning it can be very hard to hiteven a close target if it moved fast and has some cover.Weapons that dohit 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, whilemissile weapons (firing large numbers of smaller missiles rather than onebig one) scatter their damage across a target. If a mech takes 20 or morepoints of damage, it has to make a piloting skill roll or fall down, takingmore 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-


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nal structure, with a chance of dealing critical damage to the equipmentwithin. A weapon hit disables it, an ammo bay hit explodes the remain-ing shots it carries; hits to a mech’s actuators slow it down or make itharder to use weapons, engine hits generate waste heat, gyroscope hitsmake it harder to stay up, life support hits increase the chance of thepilot taking damage from waste heat, sensor hits make it harder to tar-get enemies, while a cockpit hit kills the pilot outright. Mechs aredestroyed by three engine critical hits, a cockpit hit, or the destructionof the mech’s head or centre torso through structure damage. Also, amech’s pilot can only take six points of damage, and gains a point eachtime the head is hit, two points if an ammo bin explodes, and has achance of taking damage when the mech falls over too - and each timehe takes damage, there’s a chance he’ll black out too.Physical attack phase: Any mech can punch or kick another mech inan adjacent hex, and if they decide to forgo weapon attacks they cancharge or jump on a target (the infamous ‘Death from Above’ attack).Some mechs carry melee weapons like hatchets or swords as well. Thedamage dealt here is proportional to the mech’s weight, so heaviermechs often position themselves to perform physical and weapon attacksin the same turn.Heat Phase: Everything a mech does generates heat - running gener-ates more heat than walking, and jumping generates a lot more heat thanrunning. Weapon fire, especially energy weapons generates heat, and amech has a limited number of heat sinks to vent that waste heat. At theend of each turn, you total up the heat generated by a ‘mech’s actions inthe turn, deduct the number of heat sinks, and apply that as a change tothe heat scale.As a mech overheats it gets slower, has more difficulty tar-getting enemies, and can even shut down or risk ammunition cookingoff. If a mech generates less heat than it has sinks, its heat level dropsback down.End Phase: Any bookkeeping needed is performed in this phase, alongwith attempts to wake up unconscious pilots.So from all that, you can see that the game is pretty complicated - and

that’s not taking into account vehicles, infantry, air (or space) craft, pro-tomechs, or more advanced technology! It’s worth noting that an aver-age game of BattleTech to be played in a night will have less than 12mechs on a side, and if you want to play larger games you’d better havea 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 thanHarpoon,Advanced Squad Leader and the like – but, due to BattleTech’slongevity, it’s become the uber-complicated game in a field of more sim-ple systems. That said, the game’s appeal largely comes from the detaillevel involved - you can track exactly how much damage your unit is tak-ing, and where.The length of time it takes to kill a mech means you cankeep on fighting as less critical systems are destroyed - it’s often that onecrippled mech that the enemy’s left for dead who will get in a lucky shotthat takes out a pristine heavy mech’s cockpit!

Clan Aerospace fighters offer support to mechs on the ground.

The SettingOutside of the tabletop game itself, BattleTech is home to a rich andwell-developed universe, which is another major advantage. From thevery beginning, the game was intended to have a dynamic and ever-changing setting; and the fiction (originally a line of published novels,but more recently a subscription-based website) pushes that story alongand drives the content of new sourcebooks - when a character found anold memory core in one novel, the next rulebook featured advancedweapons and Star League-era mechs. Similarly, after a major war in thefiction, books will come out detailing the changes to factions, overviewsof the fighting, and tons of material to drive your own games.The great-est example of this would be the arrival of the Clans – the descendantsof the self-exiled Star League army, who returned after 300 years andinvaded the Inner Sphere with advanced weapons and mechs.This eventin the fiction reverberated through the rulebooks and sourcebooks foryears.

Zooming In and OutThis is one of the game’s big advantages and, in a way, disadvantages:Because of its weird nature as part board game, part miniatures gameand part RPG, the game is left wide open for players to play how theywant.All army creation rules provided are optional, as is the point valuesystem.The game is provided as more of a toolbox than other wargames,with nothing stopping players from mixing and matching their favourite

designs regardless of who uses them in the fiction, or even using units oftheir own design – there are rules for creating any kind of fighting unit

in the game, from foot infantry platoons up to multi-million ton combatstarships! That open nature means that some gaming groups will followthe canon fiction, creating armies based on the optional rules, while oth-ers will make a small force that could be in the canon fiction, but aren’tpart of the focus – the ever popular mercenary campaign is an exampleof this – while other players will discard the background and officialdesigns in favour of their own work.The game has also been designed to link in with supplemental rulebooksthat allow players to ‘zoom’ in and out to different detail levels.You canuse the RPG (A Time of War) to determine the characters’ operationsout of the cockpit, even to the level of a 28mm skirmish game.Meanwhile, the QuickStrike rules keep BattleTech’s scale but reduce thedetail level to allow for larger armies, BattleForce ups the scale so a play-ing piece represents a lance of four mechs or tanks or a full company ofinfantry, and the upcoming planetary invasion and grand strategic gameswill provide frameworks to control the destiny of a planet, region, oreven the entire Inner Sphere!

ProductsIf you’re looking to get started, the best thing to pick up is theIntroductory Box Set. This contains a rulebook covering mech combatand construction and basic rules for vehicles and infantry, a backgroundbook detailing the history and factions of the BattleTech universe, twodouble-sided map sheets, and record sheets and plastic miniatures for 24mechs. Unfortunately it’s currently out of print pending the release ofthe increasingly inappropriately titled 25th Anniversary box set, whichadds two more mech miniatures of much higher quality, upgrades themaps from paper to board game quality cardboard, and will possibly adda few more extra bits.Moving on from the introductory box, the core rulebooks are a goodplace to go – Total Warfare is the “tournament legal” rulebook, covering

The game is left wide open forplayers to be creative. All armygeneration rules are optional.

“”


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mechs, combat and support vehicles, protomechs, conventional andBattleArmoured infantry, and air and space craft, as well as the advancedweapons in common use later in the BattleTech timeline.This is followedby the TechManual, which covers constructing all the unit types in TotalWarfare,Tactical Operations (often nicknamed the “yeah, we got a rulefor that” book ) with a dizzying array of optional rules and additionalweapons, Strategic Operations, which contains campaign rules,advanced Aerospace combat – including rules for JumpShips andWarShips – miniature rules, and the aforementioned QuickStrike andBattleForce games, and A Time of War, the Role-playing Game (which isonly 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) andBattleTech Universe (a one-stop shop for universe information).Beyond rulebooks, there’s an array of books which more closely resem-ble RPG sourcebooks, detailing a faction, theme or event in theBattleTech universe in detail, and providing rules to cover their use ingames.The most popular books are the Technical Readouts, which pro-vide 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 UKin Europe.Of course, all this stuff costs money, and you might not want to throwdown 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.bat-tletech.com (a core site that covers the BT franchise between tabletopand computer games, fiction and other potential properties) you candownload free Quick Start rules for BattleTech, BattleForce and A Timeof War, as well as the miniatures rules from Strategic Operations and theBattleTech Universe book from the introductory box set. If that’s notenough, www.classicbattletech.com (the site for the tabletop gameitself) also has the rulebook, record sheets and counters from the previ-ous 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 beyondwhat most modern wargamers are used to, the open framework can bedaunting if you’re used to structured army lists, and it’s often not as easyto pick up due to the sporadic nature its stocking in shops. Still, for thoseit does appeal to it offers a myriad of options for play, with a detail levelthat does a very good job of portraying a mech battle as a knock down,drag-out fight.

Underhive Action

Gang warfare in a near-apocalyptic environment is tasty material forboth fiction and gaming, so it’s little wonder that many publishers haveembraced it. Indeed, one of today’s hottest games, Malifaux, can be fair-ly lumped into that category. Loath as many season Games Workshophaters may be to admit it, though, the lumbering giant of wargamingmay have cracked the formula in 1995 with Necromunda, creating agame that’s easy to pick up but loaded with tactical choices for veterans,and contains a deep-but-robust ‘advancement’ system that gets playersincreasingly emotionally invested in their little toy soldiers.

BackgroundThe action in Necromunda takes place on the hive world of, well,Necromunda in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. More precisely, it’s setin the dregs of the planets largest hive, Primus. In this ‘underhive’ area,gangs of renegades from higher in the hive and underhive natives clashbrutally amongst themselves – that is, of course, when they’re not bat-tling for survival against the more sinister beasts and creatures in thenightmarish wasteland.The most obvious influence on Necromunda’s feel is, of course, theWarhammer 40,000 background, and the bleak picture it paints of thetypical human life. However, there’s also a heavy hint of the wild westevident in the underhive setting, and lovers of steampunk will enjoy thepresence of weird technology. As you delve even deeper into the gameand create scenarios, many ‘b-movie’ plots also present themselves.

The GameFirst, 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 advanc-ing and arming your gang members, so each gang starts with essentiallythe same characteristics.‘Gangers’ are the mainstay of the gang, and havethe standard Games Workshop ‘human’ profile – ‘heavies’ are the same,but have access to better weaponry. ‘Juves’, the young ‘uns, are not asgood in combat or at shooting, while leaders (aside from a few extrabonuses) are marginally better than gangers.There are ‘hired guns’ youcan draw on, but the gang will primarily have a mix of these four fight-

Derek Owens writes about the joys of Necromunda.


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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 actualchoices (in terms of both personnel and weaponry) more significant.When it comes to the fighting, veteran Warhammer 40,000 players arein their element. The rules closely correspond to ‘second edition’Warhammer 40,000, treating model effectively as a separate unit andadding a few wrinkles to reflect the amateur nature of the combatants,including rules for ‘pinning’, running out of ammo, recovering afterbeing wounded, and your entire gang potentially running away. Thosewho’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 ashooter’s ‘to hit’ roll rather than adding an armour save. Crucially, hand-to-hand combat is reflected in a one-to-one ‘roll off’, with each fighter’sweapon skill characteristic and a few other modifiers added to the rolls– the winner inflicts a number of hits on the loser. Necromunda also lit-erally adds another dimension to proceedings, as multi-level terrain andcover makes movement even more interesting, while the addition of sce-

narios to reflect the many different ways gangs can end up in a scrap alsoadds to the variety. Even for those who haven’t gone near Warhammer40,000, the rules are simple enough to understand quickly, pretty logi-cal and, so long as people play nice, shouldn’t result in too many rows!

DevelopingNecromunda offers an exceptional level of detail on the tabletop but it really shinesafter the initial encounter, when individual fighters develop and gangs as a wholestart earning and spending money. Fighters that were taken ‘out of action’ in thelast game roll to see what injury occurred – the possibilities range from outrightdeath to injuries that are actually beneficial,such as impressive scars.Depending onhow 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 rangeof areas, from technological expertise to ‘muscle’skills.Much of this developmentis randomised,meaning that you’ll have to how you use and equip your gang to thechanging circumstances – a few rolls of the dice could provide you with that mas-ter marksman you always wanted, but a few more could just as easily leave him

Orlocks are all-rounders

who prefer shooting but

can get up-close in com-

bat if needed.

House Orlock


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The muscular Goliath are

close-combat specialists

and rely on brute force to

win fights.

House GoliathThe all-female escher

gangs are ok in a shoot-

out, but depend on agility

and combat skills.

House Escher

The zealouts of the

imperium have an edge

when it comes to ferocity

and close combat.

House CawdorThe technologically-

advanced Van Saar prefer

shooting from a distance

wherever possible.

House Van SaarThe sinister Delaque

depend on their

unmatched stealth to

overcome opponents.

House Delaque

House PartyThe principle factions of Necromunda

blind in one eye and barely able to shoot. If any aspect of the game can be fairlydescribed as ‘broken’ or unbalanced, it’s the skills that a fighter can pick up: forexample, many feel that ‘techno’ skills, which offer advantages for developing andarming your gang, are far better than ‘muscle’ skills, which only come into playduring hand-to-hand combat. However, a skilled leader can overcome any real orimagined 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 random-ly generated – although you can steal another gang’s turf after a partic-ularly crushing victory.The territories differ in terms of usefulness, anda gang leader assigns any gangers that weren’t injured in the last

encounter to ‘work’ each territory and bring in ‘credits’. After deduct-ing expenses, which very depending on the gang’s size, a leader can usethis money to pay for hired guns, recruit new members, and buy coolstuff.The game’s basic template is pretty robust, and is easy to adapt to othersettings – Games Workshop effectively replaced humans with orks andadded vehicles for the oft-neglected ‘GorkaMorka’, and there’s even amodified ruleset for World Ware II squad-level combat on the internetin ‘Nazimunda’. It’s also fairly easy to add extra elements, such as vehi-cles (for which semi-official fan rules exist), other hired guns or evenaliens.

The ProductsHowever, all this comes after playing the game itself for a bit – and thebasic rulebook should be your first investment.This can either be down-loaded free from the Games Workshop site or you can order the hard-back book - this includes the content of ‘Outlanders’, a supplement that

introduced rules for turning outlaw, several unusual gang types, a fewmore scenarios and more hired guns. Unfortunately, the excellentstarter kit is not available from Games Workshop and will cost a prettypenny online due to the highly-coveted multi-level scenery within.Models are available from Games Workshop but, since this gameinvolved 8-10 models a side, you’ll pay premium prices. For a discount,several models in the Warhammer 40,000 Imperial Guard range aremore than adequate – Catachan Jungle Fighters make great muscly‘Goliaths’ and Cadian shock troops can double up as ‘Orlocks’ if need-ed.You’ll also find reasonably-priced miniatures on Ebay if you’re pre-pared to look around – ‘clearing out’ sales of veteran gamers are a god-send. 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 isa very useful tool for this, or you can drop in to Gamer’s World onDublin’s Jervis street on a Sunday afternoon. Fortunately, the develop-ment rules for Necromunda make each gang highly portable, and friend-ly games can be easily between advanced gangs. So what are you waitingfor? Get stuck in!

Getting set up with a good gangshould cost €30 or less.“ ”


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Ratskin Renegades, one of several outlaw gangs introduced in ‘Outlanders’.

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Eating popcorn as a publisher burns?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 gam-ing moves from being a weird hobby to an actual industry. A bunch offriends form a company called FASA Corporation so they can publishtheir home-grown Traveller adventures and sourcebooks, and get prettysuccessful. Banking on this reputation, they decide to expand and pur-chase the RPG rights for Star Trek and Doctor Who. They try and getthe rights for Star Wars, but lose out to West End Games. However, hav-ing put a lot of effort into their pitch for Star Wars, they don’t want tosee it wasted – so they take the plunge into creating an original gameuniverse called Renegade Legion and publish a bunch of games andsourcebooks for it. Renegade Legion is a big hit, so they decide to makesome more games on the same lines.The first one they release is a robotfighting game called BattleDroids, and it’s an even bigger hit. One quickletter 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, whileDoctor Who, Star Trek and even Renegade Legion have fallen to the way-side. FASA decides to slow the older lines down, and make a new RPGsetting. They decide on a strange mix of Cyberpunk and fantasy, calledShadowrun - and it’s another big hit. Within five years FASA are onlypublishing BattleTech and Shadowrun products, with sub-licenses fornovels, computer games and other merchandise. In 1994 a deal is struckfor a BattleTech cartoon series, and FASA decide a toy range will help pushthe franchise further.Two manufacturers bid on the toy contract – Tyco andPlaymates.They’re given access to a wide range of archive material to helptheir pitches, and eventually Tyco wins out. Playmates see the potential in arange of toy robots and decide to make their own, titled ExoSquad. They alsopump a bunch of money into making a companion cartoon.

So, BattleTech and ExoSquad go head-to head on TV and in the toyshops, whenFASA see a trade ad for an upcoming ExoSquad figure, and it looks uncannily likethe MadCat – one of BattleTech’s most iconic designs.Cue BattleTech-related law-suit number two. Around the same time, Playmates enter into a deal withHarmony Gold,the producers of the iconic anime adaptation Robotech to add var-ious 80’s Robotech toys to the Exosquad line.And Harmony Gold’s lawyers noticethat a number of BattleTech’s designs are from Macross – one of the three animethat 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, HarmonyGold’s one took precedence; FASA and Playmates settle out of court, and everydesign in BattleTech that was done “out of house” is either removed from the gameor redrawn.

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This legal battle took a major toll on FASA’s cash flow, and so problemsbegin to creep in. Production quality drops, people don’t get payed ontime, and the page count on the novels goes down. In order to makesome quick cash they sell the rights to computer games based onBattleTech and Shadowrun, and their internal programming team (whohad the rights to the then-recently published Crimson Skies) toMicrosoft, but by 2001 FASA decides to shut down active operations.

The WizkidsEnter Jordan Wiseman, a founding member of FASA who left in the 90sand had recently founded WizKids, who were pioneering the collectibleminiatures games market with MageKnight and HeroClix.Wizkids pickup the rights to BattleTech and Shadowrun, with the intention of turn-ing them into Collectible games.While fans of the old games waited fornews with baited breath, BattleTech begat MechWarrior: Dark Age,which was very successful in terms of sales but controversial forBattleTech Fans. Shadowrun begat Shadowrun Duels, a novel systemwhere you bought action figures with a set of statistics on their basesand accessories, which didn’t go down as well and was cancelled after ayear. At the same time as these games launched Wizkids licensed therights to new BattleTech and Shadowrun products to a German compa-ny called FanPro. FanPro were long-term licensees for both games, pro-ducing German translations and some original material for both. Theyquickly hired the old FASA development teams and things more or lessreturned 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, draggingtheir parent company down with them. Unlike FASA, FanPro left a lotof unpaid debts behind them. The rights to BattleTech and Shadowrunwere picked up by In Media Res, a company founded by a number ofveteran BattleTech developers to make new fiction for the game andpublish it online.They founded an imprint called Catalyst Games Labs,

and promised that payment and communication problems were a thingof the past. Fast forward a few years and Catalyst are doing really well,and decide to expand. A group of Shadowrun’s core developers formPosthuman games, and licence their new RPG Eclipse Phase to Catalyst.They also bring Wildfire games into the fold.Wildfire are the develop-ment team responsible for the CthuluTech RPG, and they moved fromMongoose to Catalyst on the promise of faster payment and better pro-duction values.

The Catalyst EraThings are looking up. Jordan Wiseman sells Wizkids to Topps, whoeventually decide to shut the company down. Catalyst make a bid toown the rights to BattleTech and Shadowrun outright, but Topps decideto hold onto them in the end. Still, BattleTech and Shadowrun are win-ning awards and selling better than they have in years; Eclipse Phase isgetting great reviews; and plans are drawn up to expand into cardgames, board games, and a new tabletop game called Leviathans gets aseries of PDF preview releases under a creative commons license andgenerate a lot of buzz. Of course, this can’t last…22

Loren Coleman brooding (left) and Randall Bills (right).

Shadowrun never had an official message board in the same wayBattleTech has, mainly because a large online presence for the game grewup around the fan site DumpShock, and it was frequented by a significantnumber of the game’s development team. By the time a significant offi-cial web presence was necessary for Shadowrun, Dumpshock had alreadyestablished itself as the game’s premiere forum.This meant that the writ-ers had a bit more leeway in terms of what they could say when com-pared to the BattleTech forum. This also meant word that Catalyst hadfallen into the payment problems that plagued FASA and Fanpro spreadthere fast.The problems got so bad that a number of writers decided toquit writing for the game altogether.

The RevelationsThen Frank Trollman, a former Shadowrun writer who quit during thedevelopment of fourth edition returned to Dumpshock in March withallegations that Loren Coleman - one of Catalyst’s owners - had embez-zled at least $850,000 from the company, that they were just about bank-rupt, and that there was no way they’d be able to retain the licenses forBattleTech and Shadowrun from Topps. Naturally, this caused a lot ofangry posts back and forth.Catalyst have confirmed some of this as true – they say one of the own-ers has “co-mingled” funds between his bank account and the companyone, and that he’s agreed to pay it back. Their statement presented theissue as having been uncovered during an internal audit, and that someemployees and freelancers had decided they didn’t feel comfortableworking with catalyst in the aftermath of this revelation.While Catalyst’sstatement didn’t name names, Adam Jury (lead designer and EclipsePhase Developer), David Stansel-Garner (operations manager), andJennifer Harding (Account manager and Shadowrun writer) all revealedthemselves to be employees who left. Furthermore, Robert Deire(Shadowrun writer) and Rob Boyle (Eclipse Phase developer) revealedthemselves to be freelancers who had left the company. At the sametime, a number of Shadowrun writers withheld the copyright on forth-

coming books, or ones that had been published but they had yet to bepaid for – preventing Catalyst from selling those books until the pay-ments were resolved.Following this, Trollman released more confidential information in theshape of an open letter sent by Catalyst co-owner and lead game devel-oper Randall Bills, wherein he explained that Loren Coleman had indeedtaken the money, but that he felt that Coleman was a bigger asset thanliability to the company, and had decided not to remove him fromCatalyst so long as the money was repaid. He cited their friendship andhis own strong religious faith as part of the reasons he chose to forgiveColeman.This caused much consternation amongst fans, many of whomtook Bills’ religious comments out of context and portrayed him as azealot forgiving his friend because “God told him to”. A steady trickle ofconfidential information continued to be leaked out until Catalyst shutdown their freelancer forums to plug the leak.

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Following this, Trollmanreleased more confidentialinformation in the shape of anopen letter sent by Catalyst co-owner and lead game developerRandall Bills, wherein heexplained that Loren Colemanhad indeed taken the money,but that he felt that Colemanwas a bigger asset than liabilityto the company, and had decid-ed not to remove him. ”

“

In The CourtsFollowing all this, Wildfire games and Posthuman Labs decided to ter-minate their relationships with Catalyst.Wildfire cited problems gettingroyalty payments as their reason, and Catalyst said they wanted to con-centrate on their core lines of BattleTech and Shadowrun and their self-owned games like Leviathans. At the same time, Catalyst gave Wildfireall their stock of CthuluTech books as part-payment for the owed royal-ties. However, since then Wildfire have filed a chapter 7 bankruptcy law-suit along with a number of other Catalyst creditors. Catalyst maintainthat this is unfounded, that they are paying their debts in a timely man-ner, 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, whichwas denied. Similarly, Catalyst’s request for a summary dismissal wasalso denied. At this stage, the case is going to court and could turn intoa protracted legal battle that could easily gut one or both of the publish-ers. A number of the people who left Catalyst have formed a new com-pany called Sandstorm to act as a logistical base for games writers –much like how Catalyst acted for Posthuman and Wildfire. And amongtheir first licensees are Posthuman and Wildfire.Throughout the entire debacle, Catalyst have kept their cards close totheir chest. Press releases have had minimal details, leading to accusa-tions of spinning the story from their detractors. This has also led tosome interesting discussion on the subject of openness. It’s natural forpeople who are emotionally invested in a game to want more informa-tion, 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 thatCatalyst doesn’t want in the public domain for some reason spreadingbeyond the realms they would like? Of course, given their problemswith leaks, a lot of confidential information is already out there.Variousmembers of Posthuman games have stated that they intend to be astransparent as possible, to the level of releasing financial informationpublicly. Whether they go through with that or not remains to be seenthough.

At this stage, the affair has settled down somewhat as we await the nextnews - Catalyst's license for BattleTech and Shadowrun (originally dueto expire in May) has been extended for six months, a short timeframeapparently of Catalyst's choice in order to prove to Topps that theirhouse is in order and they will be able to move forward progressively;and the next court date in the Catalyst/Wildfire lawsuit is early inAugust.While Catalyst are confident that they will negotiate a new con-tract for BattleTech and Shadowrun, the lawsuit could still break thecompany apart, and it's left many fans wondering if BattleTech and shad-owrun will soon find themselves at a fourth publisher or not.

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Since then, Wildfire have filed achapter 7 bankruptcy lawsuitalong with a number of otherCatalyst creditors. Catalyst main-tain that this is unfounded, thatthey are paying their debts in atimely manner, and that this is atactic to try and scare them intopaying up.

“

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A New BreedBrian Dyer presents a guide to creating your own space marine chapter.

Everyone has a reason for being drawn into the wargaming hobby. Themodels, the games, your mates all play. For me, one of the biggest drawswas the background. The story. Or, more accurately, the history of theworlds that these games spoke of. I, like many, first played Warhammer40k, and for the better part of a decade and a half, it is this game that Ihave come back to time and time again. What fascinated me, and stilldoes, is the Space Marines, the Legions Astartes.The mightiest warriorsever, each one worth a hundred or more regular men.These knights ofthe future have held my imagination ever since I read my first piece ofbackground on them (the Codex Imperialis book that came with thegame’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’sown hearldry, icons and history. Each with its own way of fighting, it’sown special formations and customs.The history of the Space Marines is dominated by the Legions, the fore-runners of the current Chapters. Each Legion was massive, with norestriction on numbers at arms, formed for one purpose, to aid theEmperor in his conquest of the galaxy. The Legions were organisedaccording to the whims of the Primarchs, the generals of the Legionsand genetic fathers of the Marines under their command. Despite this,some common formations persisted from the earliest days when thePrimarchs where lost.The most basic of these are the company and thechapter. 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 wherebroken down into the smaller Chapters. Each of the parent Legions hada chapter retain the Legion’s name, hearldry and symbols whilst theother Chapters became Successors, with a new name, new heardry andiconography. In the ten thousand years since there have been manyFoundings and many more chapters added to the honour rolls of theImperium.

One of the most often mentioned, but seldom seen, aspects of the hobbyis that there are said to be over 1,000 chapters in existence. There hasalways been in the various codices a notation that you can invent yourown chapter and use the rules to represent them. So why is it that wedon’t see more home grown chapters? Why is it that we usually only seethe ‘big five’ of Ultramarines, Blood Angels, Dark Angels, Space Wolvesand Black Templars? When the latest Codex Space Marines was releasedI resolved to pick up an idea I’d toyed with for years for my own Chapterand to put together an army.

What makes a Chapter?The Space Marines are basically knightly orders. They have their ownhearldry and iconography.Their own identity. So these are the three keyelements of creating your own Chapter, a colour scheme, a Chapter iconand a Chapter name. Another key element which will influence all of

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 isbright with heraldry that proclaims his devotion to his Chapter and the beloved Emperor of Mankind. Our principle is that what theenemy can see, he will soon learn to fear…+++ Chaplain Aston, 10th Company, Fire Hawks Chapter+++


26

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 decisionsin how your Chapter looks and plays on the tabletop.

Primogenitor (First Principles)

The starting point for many chapters is its theme. Having a good themewill decide many of the choices for you.The first thing to settle on, andthe first that I did, is whether or not your chapter is a direct Successorof one of the original Legions.This is a great way to utilise the rules forone of the main Codex books and still put your own mark on the lookof the army on the table. For example, you could have your Chapter bethe Scions of Baal, a Successor of the Blood Angels letting you field theDeath Comapny and Sanguinary Guard in your army. Or you could havethe Knights of the Order, a member of the Unforgiven, the collectiveSuccessors of the Dark Angels, allowing you to field your ownDeathwing.If you’re not chosing one of the main Legions as your founding, thenCodex Space Marines allows you to field either a Successor of the

Ultramarines, who provided the bulk of the 2nd Founding, or a Codexchapter of another linage. For my own Chapter, I decided that I wantedto have a slightly different parentage then that of the Ultramarines, so Ichose the Raven Guard as the Primogenitor of my Chapter. I chose thisas I liked the primary philosophy of the Raven Guard of striking first andwinning before the enemy knows they are fighting. I wanted an army thatused Drop Pods and a swift assault to decapitate the enemy, which theRaven 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 Eygpitainthemed chapter that uses imagery from Ancient Eygpt or a Greeco-Roman themed Chapter that has elements of the phalanx or Romanlegions in it.These themes can be dervied from the name, icon or colourscheme you chose or can be tied into them later on.The important thingto note about the theme is that you shouldn’t over reach yourself. Thesimplest theme is not the worst, and the most complex theme is notalways the best.So, knowing that my Chapter would be a Raven Guard Successor anddescended from the mighty Primarch Corax, I now needed a name toallude to this history.

The Roll of Honour (What’s in a Name?)

The Dark Angels. Ultramarines. Imperial Fists. Names that resonatethroughout the history of the Imperium. The name of a Chapter is animportant part of its identity. But what name should you choose? Andwhat makes a good name for your chapter? The Marines have many col-lective names, such as the Adeptus Astartes, the Legions Astartes and theAngels of Death. Individual chapters will refer to these in some way intheir names, such as the Dark Angels. Other common elements in chap-ter names reference knights in some fashion, such as the Black Templars,or the Marines Errant, and also mythology and mythological creaturessuch as the Salamanders.But what makes a good name? How do you choose what to call a chap-ter? Well there are a couple of ways to name a chapter and a few tools tohelp you do so. One of them is the Chapter Name Generator onbolterandchainsword.com., though this throws out some weird combi-nations such as the Striking Gorillas!

Camouflage is the colour of fear... I have no need to hide from myfoes... I have no fear of death. My colours I wear openly, they pro-claim louder than any words,“I am proud to live - I am proud todie”.+++ Commander Carab Culln, Red Scorpions +++

Show me a fortress and I’ll show you a ruin.+++ Captain Eddan Bourne, No. 2 Assault Company, Silver Skulls+++


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Most chapter names consist of two elements, usually a colour or shadeindicator and a second, heoric element. Examples are the Dark Angels,the Black Templars and the White Consuls. Other elements as discussedabove are mythic creatures such as the Salamanders or Red Drakes. Iwanted something that would tie into the Raven Guard and their lineageas masters of unseen combat.After looking through the Chapter name generator I found one thatsounded right, the Hidden Brotherhood. It tied into my ideas for thebackground of the Chapter (more later on this) and also evoked theRaven Guard’s preferred methods of combat, striking from the unseenplaces at the heart of the enemy.This is an important point to note, thesound of the name you choose should sit right with you. It should tieinto the basic idea you have for the chapter, evoking in some way thecharacter of the chapter itself.

Hearldry of the 41st Millenium

Colour schemes for the Marines have since the earliest days of 40kranged from the basic to the bizarre (tiger stripes and rainbow colourschemes!).The best colour schemes of the marines are those that followsome of the basic rules of hearldry. In essence, you take only one to twoprimary colours to block out the armour.A second or third (depending)trim colour is then used to accent the basic colours. So which colours gotogether and which don’t? Well, that’s more trial and error then any-thing, though generally speaking if you are using a dark tone on the mainbody of the armour a bright contrast should be used as the secondcolour/trim and vice versa for a bright main colour scheme. Examplesof these can be found throughout the various Codices published. Buthow do you make your colour scheme different? Another helpful tool isthe 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 orgarish. Another option is to use a halved or quartered scheme, whereyou take two complimentary colours and split the armour in a pattern.For the Hidden Brotherhood, I chose to use a half and half scheme, usingblood red and bone white to contrast each other. For the trim colour Ichose black, which would contrast with the two primary colours and is

also the codex colour of the 5th company.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 chap-ter I wanted to maintain the colours of the company as set out by thecodex. I also wanted the trim colour to contrast with the primaryarmour 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’tsuit, as you can always change it and adapt the colour scheme. I had ini-

tally wanted to use the 2nd company in my own army, however the yel-

low trim didn’t sit ‘right’ to me so I changed it to the black of the 5th.

Icons of the Astartes

The Chapter icon is almost as recognisable to the majority of theImperium’s citizens as the name of the chapter. It is a symbol to rally toin battle for the brothers of the Chapter. But again, choosing the rightsymbol seems a daunting task.There are no hard and fast rules on chap-ter icons. Some will make reference to the Chaper name, such as thewolf head icon on the Space Wolves or the templar cross of the Black

Victorus aut Mortis+++ Chapter Motto of the Raven Guard +++

The enemies of the Emperor fear many things. Theyfear discovery, defeat, despair and death.Yet there is only onething they fear above all others. They fear the wrath of theSpace Marines+++ Anon +++

Templars. Others reference the Chapter primogenitor legion in somefashion, such as the Praetors of Orpheus who have a star burst with asmall shield device bearing the Ultramarines icon inset in the starburst.So, how do you choose a symbol for your chapter? There are two waysto go with this. One, and the easiest in many ways, is to adapt one ofthe many pre-printed transfers that are available. If you have, or have afriend who has, a Warhammer Bretonnian or Empire army, many of thetransfers from these armies make great Marine Chapter symbols (in

fact, the Howling Griffons icon can be found on the Warhammer trans-fer sheets). If you’re feeling adventurous you can paint over the trans-fers 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 youhave 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 needsomething that can be done easily. Thankfully history has provided anumber 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 discov-ered knowledge, and lead to the word psionics being used to describe

various mental powers such as ESP and telepathy.This was perfect, andas it’s basically a U with a line through the middle it’s also easy to paintfree hand!So, I had the three main components in place, a name, an icon and acolour scheme. Now, all I needed was a background.

The Hidden Brotherhood

I decided that my Chapter would have an overriding philosophy, a goalthey were trying to achieve. This has nothing to do with how the armyplays 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 greatupheaval for the Imperium that almost saw it torn asunder. This darktime was only overcome by the coming of Sebastian Thor, a man manybelieved to have been Blessed of the Emperor, and one of the few mor-tals to have been given direct audience with the Master of Mankind sinceHe ascended to the Golden Throne.Many Marine Chapters withdrew during the Apostay and held onto localsystems instead of answering the conflicting orders and edicts fromTerra.The Raven Guard was one such chapter, who were ideally placedto provide gene seed stocks for the Founding called after Gorge Vandire,the corrupt High Lord of Terra who was responsible for the Age ofApostay, was deposed.The Raven Guard Founded two Successors at thistime, who went on to join the Crusade to reclaim the Imperium. Of

As they were hunters of psykersand kept this hidden from theImperium, I wanted to allude tothis in the symbol of the chapter.

“

”


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Though it seems we have lost our connection with our belovedPrimarch and Chapter, to our history,our very souls, I say to you nowit is not so! We have been given a tasking by the Emperor, a solmenduty, a charge to quest through this galaxy for the answer to themost important question ever asked of man.We must be steadfast.Wemust be dedicated. But, above all else, we must keep our work hiddenfrom the eyes of our enemies, both foreign and domestic+++ Da’Torval, First Chapter Master of the Hidden BrotherhoodChapter, speech to the Conclave of the Chapter after the Founding+++


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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, thatSebastian Thor was a vessel of the Emperor’s Soul.The Chapter’s first master was Torval, Captain of the Raven GuardSeventh Company at the time. Torval was a devote man, who believedthat Corax, Primarch of the Legion was a supreme being and that theEmperor was the pinnacle of human evolution.Torval believed that theAge of Apostay was a test, a time that the Emperor had foreseen to weedout the weak and corrupt in the Imperium. He constantly pushed for theChapter to engage actively in the wider Imperium at Chapter counsels.However, Torval was censured for his more over zealous beliefs. Onesuch was that the Emperor would return to lead mankind, and theAstartes to glory in a Second Great Crusade. The Reclusiarch of theChapter believed this to be as close to blasphemy as the Chapter Cultallowed. Torval served penance, and after several years returned, moreintrospective 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 ofthe Emperor, but was a mortal vessel for Him to act through. Torvalmaintain his silence on this, since the previous years had shown him thatthe Chapter council didn’t agree with his own philosophies. None weremore surprised then he when he was chosen as Chapter Master for oneof 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 geneseed to found the basis of the new Chapter.Torval chose the planet Quillax, in the Southern Galactic spiral arm toserve as the Chapter homeworld. During the hard years of the Founding,Torval studied the Quillaxian traditions and assimilated some of theminto the Chapter structure.The most notable being the taking of the ‘Da’prefix, which in Quillaxian culture signified a noble or lord, similar to abaron.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’swill.Torval became more and more sure of this, to the point that he bentthe entire Chapter’s purpose to finding more individuals like Thor.

Eventually, Torval became convinced that the Emperor had funnelled apart of His will into Thor. If that were so, then the Emperor could bereborn into a mortal shell. However, the Emperor was the pinnacle ofhuman evolution. A regualr mortal body, even one with the will ofSebastian Thor, could only hold the smallest portion of the Emperor’smind. Torval realised that the Astartes were the key. An Astartes, suffi-cently trained and conditioned, could act as the vessel needed. However,it would require a powerful mind in this body to contain the Emperor’swill. And so it was that Torval bent his Chapter to hunting down themost powerful psykers in the galaxy, but with aims radically different tothe Inquisiton’s. The chapter sought not to harm them, but instead totransform them into Astartes in a never ending quest to find the perfectpsychic vessel for the Emperor.

StructureFunctionally, the Hidden Brotherhood are a Codex compliantchapter.They have ten companies (referred to as Maniples by theChapter). Each Maniple is lead by a Captain, each of which bears thetitle prefix Da’ before their given name. Each Maniple bears the samecommand structure of the basic Codex Company, with a Chaplain,Apothecary and Standard Bearer. One major divergence is the assigmentof multiple members of the Chapter’s Librarius to each Maniple. Due tothe Brotherhood’s search for the Perfect Man, the number of psychical-ly gifted brethern in the Chapter is higher then most other chapters.The Librarians do not command the brothers in battle and maintain asupportive role within the Chapter’s structure. Each Maniple has at leastone Epistolary who has a number of lower ranked Librarians who serveas apprentices and aid in capturing and containing the psykers who theChapter hunt.Another important diversion from the Codex standard is that theChapter maintains no Company or Chapter Champions, and isolatethemselves from the contests that other Chapters who do follow this tra-dition participate in.

HeraldryThe Hidden Brotherhood uses a half and half scheme of blood red andbone white.The scheme is symbolic to the Chapter, as the red signifiesthe blood sacrifice the Marines are ready to give in pursuit of theirsearch for the Perfect Man. The bone of the armour represents thecolour of death, signifing the fact that a Marine’s service to the Emperoronly ends in death.All these guidelines helped me to create my own chapter, which is nowgrowing towards a full battle company.Whether as a hobbby project, orfor a new army for a tournamnet, hopefully this has inspired you to cre-ate your own Chapter. May the Emperor guide!


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The UplinkBattle Report

31

The MagehuntFollowing 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 bymankind is killing their remaining gods.The Retribution of Scyrah – once asmall and outlawed rebellious sect, but now a popular movement amongstIosans – aren’t willing to sit back and watch their gods die. Every nation ofman that supports and promotes the use of magic is a legitimate target, par-ticularly those who use magic to wage war.The nation of Khador has been expanding their borders aggressively, hav-ing consumed the country of Llael and encroached into northernCygnar.Their warcasters have been at the forefront of this empire build-ing, leading massive armies to conquer their former neighbours. Thisactivity has not gone unnoticed by the stealthy Iosans and their rapidarmies have moved to intercept and assassinate these human warcasters.The Retribution of Scyrah cares little about the wars of other nations. Itis the scalps of those mages they seek.This battle report is an attempt to give an overview of how the mechan-ics of Warmachine combine to make a compelling, tactical and excitingwargame. Steve Coleman and I lined up two 25 point armies with a verysimple mission – assassinate the opposing player’s warcaster. 25 points isa smallish encounter, but large enough to show the main aspects of thegame. I had my beloved Khadorans led by the walking beatstick that isthe Butcher of Khardov.This warcaster lives for the sound of battle andthe smell of blood. He is an unstoppable monster that can support histroops 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 aDevastator, a couple of small units and a couple of ‘solos’.The ‘jacks ofKhador 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.Theyare typically slower than the ‘jacks of other nations, but what do youexpect from constructs that are over 10 tons in weight?

Facing the might of Khador would be Adeptis Rahn, an arcanist beyondcompare. His ability to manipulate magic and support other mages in hisforce is stunning. He has amazing spells to support every element of hisarmy and blast his enemy with arcane blasts while doing so. He has oneof the highest ‘focus’ levels in the game, so he can put out a lot of sup-port and/or pain every turn. Making up the rest of Steve’s army weretwo myrmidons (warjacks to you and me), the much feared MageHunter Strike Force with a Commander, a unit of Battle Mages and acouple of solos.The warjacks of the Retribution tend to be more special-ist and nimble than those of Khador. They also sport an Arcantrik Fieldthat can absorb damage before the ‘jack itself is damaged. Nifty! One ofSteve’s warjacks was a light ‘jack named a Chimera.This ‘jack has a cou-ple of nice tricks, including a feature known as an ‘arc node’.All factions(apart from Khador, doh!) have access to arc nodes that allow warcastersto bounce their spells through the ‘jack. This is very useful for keepingyour ‘caster out of harms way. Remember, the mission in this game is toassassinate the opposing ‘caster!

Setting upWarmachine is usually played on a 4’ x 4’ battlefield with deployment in10” wide zones on opposing sides. Steve’s Retribution force deployed

FocusFocus represents magical ability in Warmachine. Every warcasterhas a focus statistic and this finite resource is what they use tocast spells, boost attacks and support their warjacks. It is replen-ished every turn, but there is never quite enough to go around!

The Uplink

Battle Reportbetween a wood and hill with the large Manticore myrmidon in the cen-tre of his army. It was surrounded by Battle Mages, who had Rahn intheir midst, and a Soulless Escort capable of absorbing enemy magicattacks attached. (The Iosans view the phenomena of Soulless beingborn as a true sign that Scyrah is dying.) To the left of this unit was theChimera and beyond it a Magister, a veteran Battle Mage. deployed.TheMage Hunters and Commander were ‘advance deployed’ (up to 6”beyond the standard deployment zone) to the front and right of the restof the force. Finally, an Archanist, a Retribution mechanic deployedbeside the Manticore.Across the table, my red Khadorans deployed beside a hill with the war-jacks up front. Just behind them was a unit of Mechaniks, the Butcherand a War Dog. The Mechaniks, as their name suggests, are adept atrepairing ‘jacks in the heat of battle.The War Dog offers protection to a‘caster through counter-charging the enemy if he gets too close andincreasing the ‘casters ‘Defense’ ability in a melee. (In my previous arti-cle I mentioned the stats briefly, but I’ll go through the basics of com-bat when the action kicks in.) On the far right flank, a mountedDrakhun was ready to chase down whatever came near it. On the leftflank stood the formidable Great Bears of Gallowswood, a trio of battlehardened veterans with the capacity to utterly destroy both ‘jacks andunits.

Round 1Steve won the rolloff, so the first turn would go to him. He allocatedone focus, from Rahn’s eight, to the Chimera to allow it to run on itsactivation. Warjacks function like any other unit, but they can be allo-cated up to three focus to allow them to run, charge, boost attacks andperform power attacks, such as slams, throws and headbutts. Rahn cast Force Field (three focus), which allows him to control the direction ofmissed blast shots. He also cast Polarity Shield (two focus) on the BattleMages, which would prevent them from being charged.The remainingtwo focus were left on Rahn and they boosted his armour. He thenadvanced forward. The rest of his force moved rapidly up and theArcanist 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 mostof the army forward.The Butcher walked up behind them and cast IronFlesh (two focus, from his total of six) onto the Great Bears, whichadded three points to their Defence statistic (DEF). I was afraid of theMage Hunters firing their crossbows through the wood at my precious(and expensive) unit.The Commander with the Mage Hunters grantedthem the Phantom Seeker ability, allowing them to ignore line of sightwhen targeting. Of course I forgot that they have an ability to alsoignore the focus boost to armour and spells that add to DEF and armour(ARM).They are Mage Hunters after all. Doh!

Round 2On his next turn Steve had Rahn upkeep both spells. (Some spells canlast from one turn to another.A ‘caster must spend one focus at the startof the turn to keep a spell of this type in play.) Again, his army advancedup.Thankfully, he wasn’t in range of the Great Bears. On his left flankhe moved the Chimera up to arc spells at the Drakhun. Rahn first castChain Blast, an offensive spell, through the arc node. He hit theDrakhun with ease.This spell has a power (POW) of 12, so Steve wouldnormally roll 2D6, add it to the 12 and compare that to my ARM. If the32

Casting SpellsEvery spell has a focus cost and this is deducted from the was-caster’s total when cast. If the spell is cast on a friendly unit thenonly the range needs to be checked. If it is in range, it’s cast. Ifa spell targets an enemy ‘caster, you check the range and thenmust 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.

total exceeded my Drakhun’s ARM, it does the amount of damage itexceeds by. The Drakhun’s ARM is 19, so Steve decided to boost thedamage roll, thereby giving him an extra D6.Thankfully he only rollednine on the 3D6, doing two points of damage.The Drakhun has ten boxesof damage. Since that wasn’t enough Steve used the Telekinesis spell tomove the Drakhun 2” and spin him around.This is important as modelsneed line of sight (LoS) to charge. They can still walk into combat, butthey don’t get a movement advantage or cause more damage on their ini-tial attack. The Magister charged the Drakhun, but failed to cause anydamage. He missed with his first attack and the second just bounced offof its armour.The Drakhun got his revenge on my turn; he spun around and smashedthe Magister, but the Chimera was still lurking nearby, so his vengeancewas going to be short-lived.Again the Khadorans advanced forward.TheDevastator is the most heavily armoured warjack in the game so it ranright up close to the Battle Mages. It couldn’t charge them due toPolarity Shield spell.The Butcher decided to send his Obliteration spelltowards the Mage Hunters. I knew it would miss as they have the Stealth

ability (all ranged attacks originating from more that 5” away automati-cally miss), but attacks with a blast template scatter when they miss, justlike in Warhammer, and I was hoping for a lucky deviation. However, Iforgot that ‘Force Field’ allowed Rahn to decide the direction of devia-tions in his Control Area, so he sent it harmlessly away from the MageHunters.

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Battle Report

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The Manticore advances.The Devastator pushes forward aggressively.

Control Area and FeatsAll warcasters have a control area which is a circle that radiates 2x 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 youneed to move your ‘caster if your ‘jacks are advancing. Manyspells and feats (a unique, once-per-game, mega-spell) affect thiscontrol area. A player may measure from his warcaster to anypoint in his control area at any stage.

The Uplink

Battle Report

Round 3Not a lot of damage done to either side so far, but Steve’s next turnwould change all that. He allocated focus to the Chimera and Manticoreand set about causing some mayhem.The Chimera charged the Drakhunand destroyed the horse. This left just the rider. The Mage Hunterszeroed in on the Juggernaut ‘jack and caused 15 points of damage withtheir crossbows (they get boosted damage rolls against warjacks), dis-abling its left arm. Rahn activated next and ‘feated’. His feat is calledArcane Alignment and gives friendly spell casters +2” range on theirspells and boosted attack and damage rolls for the turn. He then castTelekinesis on the Devastator to spin it around so its back was facing theBattle Mages. The Battle Mages focused their attention on the GreatBears and the Manhunter (my assassination solo) and destroyed them all.That’s the power of the feat. Ouch! The Manticore activated and put fourmore points of damage on the Juggernaut with his Cyclone Cannon, tak-ing out its movement.

I really needed to respond before my whole army was gone.The Butcherloaded up the Devastator with three focus and then he activates. He castFull Throttle (three focus) allowing all of his ‘jacks to run, charge, slamor trample without spending focus, and also giving them boosted meleeattack rolls. The Butcher shot a Battle Mage for good measure. TheDevastator activated and trampled towards Rahn. (The ‘trample’ is freebecause of Full Throttle, but uses the warjack’s initial attacks, meaning itcounts as having attacked.) Focus can be used to gain more attacks, so theDevastator made three attacks at Rahn. Despite them being boosted(again because of the spell), he only connected with one, causing eightdamage points. Rahn had 16 damage starting the game, so I was onlyhalfway there. My Mechaniks ran to engage the Battle Mages in order to

prevent them retaliating on their turn. Meanwhile, the dismountedDrakhun did 13 points of damage to the Chimera tearing off its arm.

Round 4It was down to a slugfest at this stage and, unfortunately for Steve, hisluck abandoned him. The Mage Hunters only managed another fivepoints of damage to the Juggernaut, while the Battle Mages killed two ofthe four Mechaniks. As this was 50 per cent casualties in a single turnthey needed to make a command check, which they passed. TheManticore managed to kill the War Dog. Rahn, though loaded with focus,only managed 14 points of damage on the 16-ton Devastator. He lookedlike he could be in trouble next turn.Time to finish this. On my turn, I put three focus on the Devastator andactivated 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 areaan additional die on damage rolls. The Devastator activated and made aspecial 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! That34

I really needed to respond beforemy whole army was gone.“ ”

Telekinesis spins the Devastator around.

would have finished Rahn except that the Force Field spell made him immuneto blast damage. Damn! I used a focus on the Devastator to buy an additionalattack. It was boosted to hit because of Full Throttle and inflicted boosted dam-age because of the feat. Rahn was squished by the towering ‘jack.

The AftermathThis was a pretty small game, but I hope it highlights some of the cooler aspects ofWarmachine.It is a game of brutal damage and devastating effects,but it is pretty well bal-anced and no faction is considered vastly superior to any other.Steve played like a true gen-tleman in this game. He had a chance to finish things early on by hitting the Butcher withall of those Mage Hunter attacks instead of the Juggernaut. It would have been a muchshorter battle report had he taken the easy kill so, if you suffered through the report thislong, you have him to thank!Hordes is the feral cousin of Warmachine that features fantastic warbeasts and their war-lock handlers. It has a completely different magic mechanic, but is fully compatible withWarmachine. 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 avid Warhammer and Warmachine player.He’s also a big geek who blogs aboutall of his wargaming exploits at www.farfaraway.org

The UplinkBattle Report

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Write for the Uplink!

The Uplink is looking to hear fromother passionate wargamers withsomething to say or show abouttheir hobby. Submissions should besent [email protected] kind of submission is wel-come, including stories, art pieces,pictures of your army, opinionpieces or tactica articles.There isno guarantee of inclusion in themagazine, and any articles may beedited to suit the format of theUplink. Feel free to contact theeditorial team with more informalqueries or ideas for articles.

The Devastator, supported by a spell and feat, smashes Rahn.

The Uplink

Fun Stuff

36

Dear Heff,

What happens when an irresistable force meets an immovable object? We all know that I’mthe most awesome Warhammer player ever,but I’m yet to play you. What happens when suchworlds collide?

J,Ballymena

Dear J,Its nice you call me irresistable. I’m flattered, maybe a little curious even, but atthe end of the day, I just don’t swing that way.You see, me and you are like theRoss and Rachel of Warhammer here on these shores or,more appropriately,likethe Woody and Mal of our little community with our ‘will they/wont they?’rela-tionship. In their case, they probably already have. But at the end of the day, youknow, you’re the tito to my Michael Jackson. But don’t worry – being the sec-ond best player in Ireland is nothing to be sneezed at and, who knows maybesome 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

Dear P,Thats an intriguing question and my answer is manifold.When I was younger wewould often traverse the fields of Laois engaged in the age old tradition of cowtipping.One day one of my friends,let’s call him Phil C (no wait,that’s too obvi-ous – 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 Philwas never the same.One day,coming home from the gym after working on myrock 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 wassitting there drawing smiley faces on his genitalia with a permanent marker. Iinformed his mother about this and she said that, as long as he was happy, she’dlet him be – and anyway, keeping him tied outside in the yard was cheaper thanchildcare.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 theproduct of incestuous relationship or a mother who took too many shots of vodkaor lived next door to a telephone pole while she was pregnant. But instead offeeling sorry for them,we should be glad that something like 40K exists and thatthey 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 fromhanging round school playgrounds at lunch and would have to sign a certain reg-ister each week in their local Garda station.

The Heff

Ask HeffThe Uplink’s friendly gaming agony uncle.

The Uplink

Fun Stuff

37

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Gaming clubs Around the Clubs

Lisburn Gaming ClubLisburn Gaming Club (LGC) is a new tabletop gaming club located in theheart of Lisburn, five to ten minutes walk from the centre of the City. Theclub hosts all tabletop games that members wish to play. All the ususal GWgames plus some of their specialist games are always welcome and usually onhand to play. The club also encourages and actively plays Roleplaying gamesand certain card games too. There is hope for a regular LAN setup in thefuture, but the club will remain mainly focused on the tabletop. For moreinformation, visit www.lisburn-gaming.co.uk.

NUI Maynooth Games SocietyThe NUI Maynooth Games Society base most of their games during the weekfor the majority of the college year in the John Hume building on campus.They host an annual games convention around November every year calledDominicon and play a variety of games within the society such as wargaming,roleplaying, card games etc.You can reach the club via email ([email protected]) or online at minds.nuim.ie/~gamessoc

The Drogs of WarThe Drogs of War have been around for about nine years now. Initially, it wasstarted as an alternative youth club for people living in the Drogheda area buthas developed since then into an established gaming club with a core of aboutforty gamers in two main groups - juniors (up to sixteen years old) and sen-iors.The club have a policy of developing younger players and tend to avoid overlycompetitive play with these gamers. Instead, the Drogs of War try to encour-age 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,Warmachineand Hordes, Battle Fleet Gothic, Blood Bowl, GorkaMorka, RPGs and manyboard games.The atmosphere is very friendly and you will usually be able to arrange anytype of game with members.The general attitude to gaming is quite easygoing, most members are casual gamers who enjoy friendly and non-competi-tive games.The club uses the modern church hall of the local Church ofIreland, which is a wonderful facility with all the modern conveniences, andcan comfortably set up 14 tables if needs be.The junior section plays from14:00 to 18:00 and the seniors from 18:00 to 22:00.The club can be contact-ed at www.droghedagamers.com.

The East Side FattiesThe East Side Fatties club are are based out of galway, with the modelworldstore as a HQ.There are about 15 club members worldwide, including mem-bers in England, Scotland, Hong Kong and America. Modelworld is based inthe Loisbhaun business park, on the Tuam Road in Galway, and Fatties meet upevery Friday at 17:00 untill 22:00. Information on the fattie events etc will beon the store website: www.kpartsonline.com/wargaming/east-side-fatties.html. Alternatively, you can email [email protected], or call0861271912.

The Irish Gaming AssociationThe Irish Gaming Association (IGA) runs a regular games night in The Ploughpub on Lower Abbey Street, across the street from the Abbey Theatre.Meetings begin at 19:00. Games played include everything from Warhammerto Legends of the Old West. Admission is free, though money spent at the baris always welcomed!

Listed here are some of the clubs in Ireland that wargame. If your club is not listed here pleaseemail the editor ([email protected]) with your club's contact details and a brief description of the club's activities.

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The Northern WastersThe Northern Wasters club has been running for 10 years.The club is mainlyInternet-based with the players meeting up to attend and run tournaments. Many ofthe players are based in Northern Ireland, but there are also Wasters in the rest of theUK, Ireland and The Netherlands. Ballymena is the Wasters’ spiritual home, and agroup of around 25 players meet up there every second Sunday.Warhammer FantasyBattle is the most popular system currently, but you can also usually find games ofWarhammer 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 cancontact the Wasters on their forum (forum.northernwasters.com) or by [email protected]

The North Wexford GamersThe North Wexford Gamers are a group of gamers with a passion for WarhammerFantasy Battle and Warhammer 40k. They're a social bunch who can often be foundplaying at other clubs and focus more on the fun element of the game than winning atall costs.The NWG wish to congratulate Fergus Byrne on his recent marraige to Niamh andwish them all the very best for the future. Most of the NWG attended the weddingwhich 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 thelatest news and views from the Irish gaming scene.The North Wexford Gamers can be contacted via e-mail on [email protected].

The Underground GamersThe Underground Gamers is a war games club based in Gamers World onJervis Street in Dublin’s city centre.The club formed in 2004 and is dedicatedto offering players a relaxed environment where they can play a large varietyof war games, board games and roleplay games.Warhammer Fantasy Battle is a staple of the club with practically every mem-ber playing at least one army, but other systems are well represented.Warmachine, Hordes, Blood Bowl,Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay and Flamesof War are all frequently played. In fact, there are very few games they don’tplay!The club prides itself on being both competitive and friendly. Members per-

form well in both the gaming and painting competitions in the Irish andInternational tournament scenes: recent highlights include club members win-ning the first two Irish ranking Warhammer Fantasy Battle tournaments in2009 and scooping painting awards at each.The Underground Gamers We arelooking forward to hosting their own club tournament in 2010 which willinvolve an ETC-style team event.You can contact the Underground Gamers byjoining the email list at groups.google.com/group/undergroundgamers or byenquiring in Gamers World.

The WarheadsThe Warheads are a club dedicated to tournament gaming in Ireland and fre-quently play Warhammer 40,000,Warhammer Fantasy Battles, Blood Bowl andNecromunda in Gamer’s World in Dublin City Centre.You can reach the club via email([email protected]) or visitsites.google.com/site/thewarheads/home

WAC- Wargames Association CorkWAC 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 fewpeople interested in playing Warmachine.The groups are currently co-located(i.e. sponging space off the UCC WARPS club) so there are role players, cargamers and board gamers closely associated with the club.WAC meet at theElec eng building in U.C.C on Thursdays from 18:30 to 22:30.To contact theclub, email [email protected] or visit the Yahoo group:groups.yahoo.com/group/WACork/?yguid=11890703.

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