Well, because I'm sort of in the business, I got mine a whole day early. Ooooh, get her! Yes, I know nothing to boast about. So what can I say? Well seeing as how everyone else is saying something...here goes. First impressions -
First of all I have to confess my gaming 'status'. That's to say I'm basically a hobbyist. If you've seen my posts, they're not about the game, or the strategies, or the army selection. The models. So far that is...
I thought that with this edition I'd try to get a better handle on the game than the rudimentary basics I'd picked up from owning previous editions. Editions which I had read for fluff and painting source material only basically.
So here I am with 6th Edition and it's time to plunge in a bit more properly. This post is for you if you too have been dabbling...
The art work is fantastic, full colour and detailed. There are some great pull out panels which are atmospheric and add to the feel of a book (some say tome at over 450 pages) with a strong sense of artistic coherency. There's decay, corruption, death, destruction and chaos seeping in at the edge of each and every page.
There are a fair number of different sections too. The rules at first, followed by hobby advice, background histories, pas battles, photo galleries, game expansion ideas, mission types and a number of appendices with summaries of the most important information. So there really is a whole lot here. For £45 (or less, if you search the net), I think it's good value for money, though I'm not a teenager with limited funds.
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| Nice. |
Next:The rules. I've always considered 40k to be a complicated game. There are a vast number of rules since you need a codex for your army too, to be fully rules equipped. And there's still a lot to plough through. In a way, I'm glad that I never knew the previous rules very well - since I don't have to do any re-learning. The first 30 pages or so are the basics then the rest gets added. The new Psychic Powers, for instance, come much later.
Those first 30 pages are quite manageable. There's a lot to remember but the new pre-measuring rule will help players like me and I think the feel of the basics has an appropriate battle 'flow'. For example, I'm happy enough that the close combatants have to work in initiative order. I think I get 'Pile In' and Morale checks and I'm reasonably juggling the AP knowledge for each weapon (if I have the stats close by!)
The Special rules and vehicles and terrain and character models are next. I guess I'll let you know how that goes. I'm hoping that a few blogs/vlogs will turn up (as on Beastsofwar perhaps), that will guide novices like me.
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| Look, lots of sharp stuff to kill stuff with. |
Things I think I like so far-
Allies -why not? As a hobbyist I've got Space Wolves and Ultramaries and Dark Angels and IG all sitting around in various places. I don't think it will cause me to spend more money, as many have argued. I might just spread it out in different directions. Good! I can get that cool model from a different army.
Pre-measuring - who wants to argue how far one thing is from another thing? Who wants to try and work out if someone is sneakily trying to pre-measure anyway.
Snap-shots and overwatch - seems sensible to me. Shooting in battles is incessant. Make it so on the table.
Explosive barrels - of course they are.
One thing I wish was in the new book -
A quick start guide. Noobs like me need to get going and have a reference guide that will help. There is a summary but it's six pages long. I think GW have missed a trick here. Other quick start guides I have seen are miles shorter (Warmahordes anyone?) There may well be one. Wait n see.
So there you go. I'm not sure I'm sold on random Psychic Powers and I know that Warlord Challenges will take ages to get my head around to any effective extent. But you know what, it's injected enthusiasm in all of the right places. Here goes...
Why all this preamble? Well, I guess because No Quarter has a bit of that feel about it. There is ample background 'fluff'. Indeed it seems clear that No Quarter is continually helping to build the Warma/Hordes universes as it goes along. The pages often feel like extracts from a 'codex' of sorts. The layout supports this design style too. Pages seem like they have been torn from journals, or from ancient reports and there are a variety of colours and font styles used, which go hand-in-hand with the type of faction being discussed. There is also a great deal of fantastic artwork and and page-edge design that really gives the magazine a sense of coherency across the various different sections of the magazine itself. There are RPG backgrounds, short stories, reviews and articles about other products from Privateer Press. The readers are also represented with examples of their painting and often the opening editorial-style articles show that the staff actually do go out into the wide world.
In Issue 44 of No Quarter, you've got detailed conversion articles, the obligatory catalogue pages (only a few though), tournament and painting sections, background, army building, a section on playing scenarios in another game (Level 7), RPG info, battle reports, and readers' models. I do feel that the photographing isn't up to scratch - this sometimes helps blur the fact that some of the models used in the articles aren't quite up to the painting level of WD. There's a lot here, though I would say that compared to White Dwarf, there's a little more of a sense of randomness about the content. I never know quite what I'm going to get! Until recently, with White Dwarf, I knew exactly. It had come to feel too much like a catalogue for the products and if you weren't into this month's catalogue items, you were left a bit miffed at not having a great deal to delve into. I feel that if WD could learn anything, it would be about page design and the use of stories and background to help the universe 'live' in the pages.
1) Fonts and colours of pages. I like the worn appearance of the pages - but really the same font for all armies, all sections - and exactly the same colours? Surely there is some way to differentiate between sections in the magazine that lends clarity to the divisions between the sections. Just flicking thorough, you can't really tell what is where. The font at he moment is a kind of modern-machine-block, like the type on the front. But is this really any good for Elves, Orcs, LOTR etc. It'll seem a bit odd to me. Pedantry perhaps?
This was taken in daylight, which is quite a flattering way of taking a picture. I added some flock, for deepish snow. Gave the face a thin GW Ogryn flesh wash to reduce some of the elf flesh pale qualities. Put the back pack on (see later pic). Added rune to knee and wolf head transfer to shoulder. Runes on other shoulder pad painted in same colours as power weapon.
Last thing to add, I made an impulse purchase last week - look an Iron Kingdoms figure! Bought for trying out painting techniques - also to see what Privateer Press models were like. This was only £3.18 or something silly. Must say though, that the quality is excellent - I am impressed !
First off the Blood Claw model has had a little work done - Some armour plate highlighting (basically Space Wolves Grey) , ammo pouch, and a gem on each knee. Close up on these images it looks a bit rough, but from a little way off (!) it looks OK. I tried to sort the left eye out but the model was having none of it so I left it as is - fearing I'd spoil it completely if I messed about too much.
hiny golden yellow. Added thin red triangle as unit emblem and I faffed around with the wolf decal for ages, of course it doesn't go around the pad very well. The armour plating I left after the washing shadow into the armour plate recesses, I didn't want the blue to be too light. I added some scratch and damage effects but haven't quite done with it yet.
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Monkeyreado
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