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Made in gb
Ridin' on a Snotling Pump Wagon






I’ve had the book for around 8 years, so I deserve the Spoilers!

Actually found it at work’s book exchange, so got it for free.

Reckon I’ll give it a read soon though, then look to pass it on. Feel free to call dibs!

   
Made in gb
Mad Gyrocopter Pilot





Northumberland

The last time I really regularly played 40k was 4th edition, I played a couple of games of 5th edition but that was it. So I have zero frames of reference and I've jumped back into 9th with the crusade thing.
I really enjoyed Fall of Medusa, I wish they would consider doing something like that alongside the new edition. Seems like a smart way to rocket out of covid.

I think what I liked so much with 3rd was you only needed the codex and the rules. I feel like now there's a lot going on with various supplements and gork knows what else.
And with that whole global pandemic thing I've yet to play a game of 9th.


One and a half feet in the hobby


My Painting Log of various minis:
# Olthannon's Oscillating Orchard of Opportunity #

 
   
Made in gb
Fixture of Dakka






Ian Watson's a better writer than that - the book's still great the second time round. Also, that sequence (which begins with Biff exulting that "We're going in through its anus!"; Ian Watson loves his bodily functions imagery, and who doesn't like the idea of an Imperial Fists suppository) is basically what happens in a game of Advanced Space Crusade.

I was going to argue that it was 2nd edition Codex Tyranids that introduced all the other subspecies (Termagants, Hormagaunts, Gargoyles, Lictors), but that came out five months after the Epic Hive War supplement. Obviously the development would have been in parallel, so worrying which one came first is a bit pointless.
   
Made in gb
[DCM]
Lone Wolf Sentinel Pilot





Leicester, UK

 Pacific wrote:
bolter porn


where can i get some of this please?

My painting and modeling blog:

PaddyMick's Chopshop: Converted 40K Vehicles

 
   
Made in fi
Longtime Dakkanaut






 PaddyMick wrote:
 Pacific wrote:
bolter porn


where can i get some of this please?


4chan naturally has a multitude of threads on the subject, both literal and figurative, depending on your needs and willingness to suffer

#ConvertEverything blog with loyalist Death Guard in true and Epic scales. Also Titans and killer robots! C&C welcome.
https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/717557.page

Do you like narrative gaming? Ongoing Imp vs. PDF rebellion campaign reports here:
https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/786958.page

 
   
Made in au
Axis & Allies Player




 AndrewGPaul wrote:
Ian Watson's a better writer than that - the book's still great the second time round. Also, that sequence (which begins with Biff exulting that "We're going in through its anus!"; Ian Watson loves his bodily functions imagery, and who doesn't like the idea of an Imperial Fists suppository) is basically what happens in a game of Advanced Space Crusade.


Despite the fluff not always fitting with later editions, some of those early GW stories hold up much better as stories than later Black Library efforts... probably because in those days the fiction was contracted out to established sf/fantasy writers who had already made a name elsewhere. They didn't always 'get' the 40K universe (although Watson generally did), but they knew how to tell a good yarn.

(Did you know they almost had Tanith Lee writing Warhammer fiction? Imagine the Slaanesh we could have had!)

 AndrewGPaul wrote:
I was going to argue that it was 2nd edition Codex Tyranids that introduced all the other subspecies (Termagants, Hormagaunts, Gargoyles, Lictors), but that came out five months after the Epic Hive War supplement. Obviously the development would have been in parallel, so worrying which one came first is a bit pointless.


Yes, IIRC Andy Chambers was the head honcho for both Epic Hive War and the 2nd ed Codex. It was effectively all one big project to give the Nids a kick in the nads and properly flesh them out. (Something the Squats never got.)

Interesting tidbit from that release period: The Studio's painted Epic and 40K Tyranids were painted in a red colour scheme--a revised version of the RT era scheme (without the funky blue and yellow head crests on the Warriors). At least one 'Eavy Metal page showing off the painted models claimed that the red skin tones of the creatures indicated that Tyranids may have originated on a planet with a dimmer, redder sun than Earth's.

Of course, that bit of background soon fell by the wayside once other colour schemes were introduced. But it's another interesting hint of influence from Gerrold's Chtorr series that I hadn't noticed until now. In those books the invading alien fauna and flora has a pinkish-red hue. Earth scientists speculate that they come from a planet orbiting a red dwarf star. Because such stars last much longer than Sun-type yellow dwarfs, the scientists propose that the invading ecosystem is hundreds of millions of years older than Earth's, giving it an evolutionary advantage. (Whether that last bit makes any sense I'll leave to the actual evolutionary biologists.)
   
Made in ie
Regular Dakkanaut





Ireland

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
You must be fun at parties.

I am. I don’t ruin books and movies on people who haven’t read or seen them. It’s a good way of not killing conversations like you just have.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Zenithfleet wrote:
(Did you know they almost had Tanith Lee writing Warhammer fiction? Imagine the Slaanesh we could have had!)

That would have been amazing, and you’d wonder what it would have done for spreading interest in Warhammer in the early days.

I remember that fact about the red star/skin but the changes in skin colour were always easily explained by the fact that Tyranids were meant to be hyper-fast (and directed!) in how they mutated. If they needed venom sacs, they evolved venom sacs. If blue skin was more advantageous, they turned blue. And I think some of the colour schemes in the Eavy Metal section in 2nd Ed showed some alternative colour schemes?

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/04/18 07:41:00


 
   
Made in au
Axis & Allies Player




 Horla wrote:

Zenithfleet wrote:
(Did you know they almost had Tanith Lee writing Warhammer fiction? Imagine the Slaanesh we could have had!)

That would have been amazing, and you’d wonder what it would have done for spreading interest in Warhammer in the early days.


I had a 'citation needed' moment after my earlier post, and had to go find the article by Stephen Baxter talking about the various writers contacted for early GW fiction. (Terry Pratchett was another near-miss.) It's preserved here:
https://pariedolia.weebly.com/nimh/oldhammer-lit-101

Ironically, given what I said before about established writers, some authors (e.g. Nicola Griffith) said the work-for-hire experience helped them develop their skills.

Now I want to see Nicola Griffith write an Adeptus Titanicus novel about Legio Solaria.


 Horla wrote:
I remember that fact about the red star/skin but the changes in skin colour were always easily explained by the fact that Tyranids were meant to be hyper-fast (and directed!) in how they mutated. If they needed venom sacs, they evolved venom sacs. If blue skin was more advantageous, they turned blue. And I think some of the colour schemes in the Eavy Metal section in 2nd Ed showed some alternative colour schemes?


Yep, I think it was a good thing they dropped the 'officially red' idea quick smart, for the reasons you give. It's just an interesting hint about where some of GW's inspiration for the Tyranids came from. Everyone talks about Aliens and The Thing and so on, but the poor old Chtorrans always get ignored. (Most likely because those books have been out of print for decades AFAIK.)

 Horla wrote:
And I think some of the colour schemes in the Eavy Metal section in 2nd Ed showed some alternative colour schemes?


I just had a look through the 2nd ed Codex and couldn't find any suggested alternative paint schemes. I'm pretty sure Tyranids were presented as red throughout 2nd edition, apart from the purple Hormagaunts and Genestealers and some multicoloured experimentation on a few things like the Hive Tyrant. To be more accurate, the Studio army was about half red--creatures derived from the older RT-era ones like Termagants and Carnifexes--and half purple ('stealers, Hormagaunts, Lictor, Biovore). The two schemes were combined on the Tyrant.

In those days the armies showcased in Codexes and in White Dwarf were usually the Studio ones, barring the occasional 'my tournament army' or 'GW staffer interview' article. I don't remember much about the Nids in the 'how to paint Warhammer armies' book either, apart from a suggestion that you use lots of bright colours.

The Studio did a new purple-and-black army for early 3rd ed. Then their army for the 3rd ed Codex had a tan-with-red-plates scheme (but plenty of alternative suggestions in the Codex). 4th ed had them pale purple/white with dark purple plates. But by then it was very much a case of "paint 'em however you like--all the hive fleets are different".

Oddly, the skin colour thing went in the opposite direction to the WFB Lizardmen, who had no particular scheme in 5th ed, but were later officially made 'the blue guys'.

I liked how later fluff preserved the various older Studio colour schemes as linked to specific hive fleets. So Behemoth was later established as the red ones, and so on. In the same way, they canonised older model sculpts (clumsily wielding bio-swords and whatnot) as earlier stages in the Tyranids' evolution that were being refined as the fleets got to grips with the local galaxy. It was a nice touch.

Someone in the Studio during the Epic 40,000 launch--Warwick Kinrade?--came up with the idea of painting an occasional albino gaunt among the swarms of reddish 6mm critters, which looked pretty cool.

I painted my own 2nd ed Nids red. Then I over-painted them purple but gave up halfway. (I was 14 and knew nothing of strippi... er... removing paint). Then I decided I didn't like either of those schemes and tried to redo them dark brown with bone plates, but ran out of Chestnut Ink wash and couldn't get more (not knowing Coat d'Arms existed). By that point the Genestealers had so many layers of paint on them they looked cocooned. And so on in that fashion until I made such a mess of my beloved first army that I've never managed to go back and sort it out properly.

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2021/04/18 12:38:25


 
   
Made in us
Blood-Raging Khorne Berserker





I don't even KNOW anymore.

Loved 2nd Ed. 40k. Probably played it the most out of all editions, including Rogue Trader - and we played the HELL out of RT. Guess I love the "crunchier" systems.
Having said that, 3rd Ed. WHFB was not my favorite. I like it fine, but for some reason 6th held my heart (probably because I had a rather successful O&G army during it's run).
   
Made in au
Owns Whole Set of Skullz Techpriests






Versteckt in den Schatten deines Geistes.

 Horla wrote:
I am. I don’t ruin books and movies on people who haven’t read or seen them. It’s a good way of not killing conversations like you just have.
Wow. You really didn't get that we were kidding around, did you?

Industrial Insanity - My Terrain Blog
"GW really needs to understand 'Less is more' when it comes to AoS." - Wha-Mu-077

 
   
Made in us
Stealthy Warhound Titan Princeps






 H.B.M.C. wrote:
 Horla wrote:
I am. I don’t ruin books and movies on people who haven’t read or seen them. It’s a good way of not killing conversations like you just have.
Wow. You really didn't get that we were kidding around, did you?


TBF, it's an internet forum, where tone is already hard to pick up on, and according to their country flag they may be English as a Second Language. Their earnest may be forgivable, here

I'm on a podcast about (video) game design:
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And I also stream tabletop painting/playing Mon&Thurs 8PM EST
https://twitch.tv/tableitgaming
And make YouTube videos for that sometimes!
https://www.youtube.com/@tableitgaming 
   
Made in us
Keeper of the Flame





Monticello, IN

 Gitkikka wrote:
Loved 2nd Ed. 40k. Probably played it the most out of all editions, including Rogue Trader - and we played the HELL out of RT. Guess I love the "crunchier" systems.
Having said that, 3rd Ed. WHFB was not my favorite. I like it fine, but for some reason 6th held my heart (probably because I had a rather successful O&G army during it's run).


I still play 6th WFB, my last game was actually today with a random person I met through reddit. Too bad you aren't near Indiana...

www.classichammer.com

For 4-6th WFB, 2-5th 40k, and similar timeframe gaming

Looking for dice from the new AOS boxed set and Dark Imperium on the cheap. Let me know if you can help.
 CthuluIsSpy wrote:
Its AoS, it doesn't have to make sense.
 
   
Made in gb
Joined the Military for Authentic Experience





On an Express Elevator to Hell!!

Yes it was just a bit of fun but is hard to pick up tone on a forum

MDG - just need a small mind-scrub/few pints of something to remove the spoiler on the last page

Zenithfleet - some great little titbits there.

Yes with the colouring was looking through some old WDs (around the release of Adv Space Crusade, when the Tyranid Warrior plastic kit was released) and there were some really weird colour schemes; yellows, whites, greens. Also what definitely looked to be Tyranid squigs, I'm not sure if there was ever cross-over with Orks there or they just looked similar? (Basically a monster base covered in small gribblies)

 AndrewGPaul wrote:
Ian Watson's a better writer than that - the book's still great the second time round. Also, that sequence (which begins with Biff exulting that "We're going in through its anus!"; Ian Watson loves his bodily functions imagery, and who doesn't like the idea of an Imperial Fists suppository) is basically what happens in a game of Advanced Space Crusade.


I had read that the...

MDG look away now!

.. buttock tattoo scene apparently got filtered by the editors who asked that Watson remove it, but then apparently ignored it at a subsequent pass so it ended up being printed in the final version. I can't remember that being particularly inappropriate so not sure why it would have been removed!

Epic 30K&40K! A new players guide, contributors welcome https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/751316.page
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Made in au
Axis & Allies Player




 Pacific wrote:

Zenithfleet - some great little titbits there.

Yes with the colouring was looking through some old WDs (around the release of Adv Space Crusade, when the Tyranid Warrior plastic kit was released) and there were some really weird colour schemes; yellows, whites, greens. Also what definitely looked to be Tyranid squigs, I'm not sure if there was ever cross-over with Orks there or they just looked similar? (Basically a monster base covered in small gribblies)


Ah, that explains it. Rogue Trader era Tyranid colour schemes are a bit of a mystery to me. In fact a lot of RT-era stuff is a mystery to me. Shrouded in mist and legend like the Horus Heresy. Or at least how the HH used to be...

OTOH I did get my first intro to the Tyranids via whatever that White Dwarf issue was with Heroquest and Space Crusade in it. (Someone at school lent it to me after I found out that the Genestealers in Space Crusade, which I thought were the absolute coolest aliens ever, had a whole alien army to go with them.) That was published in 1st ed, so I do still sometimes think of Carnifexes as Screamer-Killers with the weird little chevrons painted on their heads and love the original plastic Warrior kit, buck teeth and all.

The Tyranids did have Squig Swarms back then. I think they were actually supposed to be the origin of the Orks' Squigs--derived from boyz who were captured by Tyranids and evolvified. (The first I ever heard of Squigs was from that army list entry!) However, the idea obviously didn't make much sense if the Tyranids had only recently arrived in the galaxy, so I don't think it lasted too long.


 Pacific wrote:
I had read that the...

MDG look away now!

.. buttock tattoo scene apparently got filtered by the editors who asked that Watson remove it, but then apparently ignored it at a subsequent pass so it ended up being printed in the final version. I can't remember that being particularly inappropriate so not sure why it would have been removed!


From what I've read of Ian Watson's stories, if you edited out everything that was inappropriate you'd be left with about nine words. I still can't get some of the imagery from Warped Stars out of my head, however hard I try.

EDIT:
 Pacific wrote:
Yes it was just a bit of fun but is hard to pick up tone on a forum

MDG - just need a small mind-scrub/few pints of something to remove the spoiler on the last page


Is this a good time to mention that almost two decades ago I stumbled onto a massive spoiler for the unfinished Chtorr series, and have had to keep quiet about it ever since because the fifth book is over a quarter of a century overdue? (And you think George RR Martin fans have it bad.)

... no, didn't think anyone cared. (And it would go off-topic anyway.)

This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at 2021/04/19 08:35:37


 
   
Made in gb
Ridin' on a Snotling Pump Wagon






Hmmmmmmmm.

Unexpected £500 bonus from work this month.

Maybe I will pick up a copy of Titan Legions after all?

   
Made in gb
Fixture of Dakka






Zenithfleet wrote:
 AndrewGPaul wrote:
Ian Watson's a better writer than that - the book's still great the second time round. Also, that sequence (which begins with Biff exulting that "We're going in through its anus!"; Ian Watson loves his bodily functions imagery, and who doesn't like the idea of an Imperial Fists suppository) is basically what happens in a game of Advanced Space Crusade.


Despite the fluff not always fitting with later editions, some of those early GW stories hold up much better as stories than later Black Library efforts... probably because in those days the fiction was contracted out to established sf/fantasy writers who had already made a name elsewhere. They didn't always 'get' the 40K universe (although Watson generally did), but they knew how to tell a good yarn.

(Did you know they almost had Tanith Lee writing Warhammer fiction? Imagine the Slaanesh we could have had!)


We did get Storm Constantine and Charles Stross contributing to the Deathwing anthology.

A lot of those authors - Ian Watson, Kim Newman, Bill King - did 'get' the Warhammer settings because they were making it up as they wrote their novels. Almost everything we know about Imperial Fists other than them being yellow comes from Space Marine, as is obvious in the 3rd edition Index Astartes article which still has the senior officers from the novel. There's an interview with Kim Newman somewhere out there that says that Brian Ansell basically gave him and the other authors all the game rulebooks as reference, but then said "if you make up something better, we'll just change the game to match".

I still think Ian Watson's writing conveys the tone of the setting better than any other author since - its organic and human, a world of people and life and corruption, not of machinery and science.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
 Pacific wrote:

Yes with the colouring was looking through some old WDs (around the release of Adv Space Crusade, when the Tyranid Warrior plastic kit was released) and there were some really weird colour schemes; yellows, whites, greens. Also what definitely looked to be Tyranid squigs, I'm not sure if there was ever cross-over with Orks there or they just looked similar? (Basically a monster base covered in small gribblies)


It's detailed on the side of the ASC box, and also in WD . IIRC, young adult Tyranids start out orangey red with yellow chitin, then darken to bright red with white chitin as they age through to dark red and blue chitin as older adults. Really old Tyranids fade to an all-over white, and presumably grumble that this galaxy isn't a patch on the last one. The markings on the forehead and armour (blue, then green, then yellow as they age) indicate which norn-queen spawned them (something retconned onto purestrain and hybrid genestealers). dark blue and purple was apparently the colour of infiltrators as that's the colours used for genestealers and hormagaunts until 3rd edition made them all the same colours.

As for the squigs, originally they were just an ork thing. Then in the 1st edition Tyranid army list in WD 145, they were added to the Tyranid army list (to bulk out the number of available units), although the grabber-slasher was sadly downgraded to just being a big squig, along with the facehugger-looking one. The smaller miniatures were the very same ones from the orks range. They were described as being made from ork DNA, and when orks first boarded a hiveship they recognised them as orkish and took them back with them, to spread throughout ork society as squigs. Doesn't really fit with the background in Waaargh! The Orks!, but never mind.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
The red colouring indicating evolving on a planet round a red sun ... well, if it's a very bright sun, which it might be if the sun is a red giant, then the red colouring might help to reflect red light. Plants wouldn't be red, as then they wouldn't absorb much light. But then, plants on earth are green because the clorophyll absorbs blue and green light. They'd be more efficient if they were actually purple and absorbed yellow and green light, but then the first plants to photosynthesise came up with clorophyll, which is horribly inefficient, but they're all stuck with it now. so perhaps plants under a red sun will be red and just suck.

This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at 2021/04/19 23:42:33


 
   
Made in au
Owns Whole Set of Skullz Techpriests






Versteckt in den Schatten deines Geistes.

 Pacific wrote:
... buttock tattoo scene apparently got filtered by the editors who asked that Watson remove it, but then apparently ignored it at a subsequent pass so it ended up being printed in the final version. I can't remember that being particularly inappropriate so not sure why it would have been removed!
I seem to recall a scene where Lexandro and his Scout Squad had to climb up a pipe and in the exertion ended up farting constantly.

I was 11 or 12 when I read this book, but I'm pretty sure that happened.

Industrial Insanity - My Terrain Blog
"GW really needs to understand 'Less is more' when it comes to AoS." - Wha-Mu-077

 
   
Made in gb
Fixture of Dakka






Zenithfleet wrote:

From what I've read of Ian Watson's stories, if you edited out everything that was inappropriate you'd be left with about nine words. I still can't get some of the imagery from Warped Stars out of my head, however hard I try.


I can't help thinking that Space Marine should be illustrated by Tom of Finland.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
 H.B.M.C. wrote:
I seem to recall a scene where Lexandro and his Scout Squad had to climb up a pipe and in the exertion ended up farting constantly.

I was 11 or 12 when I read this book, but I'm pretty sure that happened.


Yep. That's there. Used as a metaphor for the social heirarchy in a hive world, as represented by the three characters.

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2021/04/19 23:13:27


 
   
Made in ie
Regular Dakkanaut





Ireland

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
 Horla wrote:
I am. I don’t ruin books and movies on people who haven’t read or seen them. It’s a good way of not killing conversations like you just have.
Wow. You really didn't get that we were kidding around, did you?

Nope. Have I been going rasher at you because I missed a joke?

Sorry! I haven't read the book and seriously thought you dropped a massive spoiler and then were being an arse about it.
   
Made in au
Axis & Allies Player




 AndrewGPaul wrote:

The red colouring indicating evolving on a planet round a red sun ... well, if it's a very bright sun, which it might be if the sun is a red giant, then the red colouring might help to reflect red light. Plants wouldn't be red, as then they wouldn't absorb much light. But then, plants on earth are green because the clorophyll absorbs blue and green light. They'd be more efficient if they were actually purple and absorbed yellow and green light, but then the first plants to photosynthesise came up with clorophyll, which is horribly inefficient, but they're all stuck with it now. so perhaps plants under a red sun will be red and just suck.


Hang on a sec, aren't Earth plants green because they reflect green light, rather than absorb it?

I'm also pretty sure that the first photosynthesising organisms were pink or purple, and that green chlorophyll was a later improvement.

(I also read somewhere that reflecting green light, while it may seem counterproductive, is actually a good protective measure because the Sun puts out too much energy, and if leaves absorbed all of it they'd probably a) crinkle up, b) dry out and c) catch fire. I have no idea where I read that, though.)

Regardless, I think 'red plants and animals because red sun' probably makes no real sense, and is one of those attempts by history majors to sound sciencey that GW was and remains famous for.

In some actual SETI speculation on planets orbiting red dwarf stars, I once saw an interesting idea: Apparently infrared light can penetrate a few millimetres into a solid surface (? - going from memory here). Therefore, plants using infrared light could keep their 'leaves', i.e. photosynthesising cells, inside their branches beneath a thin protective covering where herbivores would have trouble getting to them. So you could have a lot of creepy, leafless forests...
   
Made in gb
Fixture of Dakka






Yes, my typo. Meant to say plants reflect blue and red light.

I think I’ve heard that theory about being “deliberately” ineffecient, but it’d be just as easy for them to simply have fewer chloroplasts. Ive also read that since photosynthesis evolved first in the seas, absorbing blue light was advantageous, and when plants moved on land they were stuck with it.

To be fair to GW, everyone makes up crappy science to justify their cool-looking stuff. There’s lots of nonsense to “explain” why the USS Enterprise is he shape it is, for instance. Ultimately those tyranid warriors were red because it was the ‘90s.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/04/20 10:27:49


 
   
Made in gb
Joined the Military for Authentic Experience





On an Express Elevator to Hell!!

 AndrewGPaul wrote:
Ultimately those tyranid warriors were red because it was the ‘90s.


Brilliant line..

Epic 30K&40K! A new players guide, contributors welcome https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/751316.page
Small but perfectly formed! A Great Crusade Epic 6mm project: https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/694411.page

 
   
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San Jose, CA

Zenithfleet wrote:
Spoiler:
 AndrewGPaul wrote:

The red colouring indicating evolving on a planet round a red sun ... well, if it's a very bright sun, which it might be if the sun is a red giant, then the red colouring might help to reflect red light. Plants wouldn't be red, as then they wouldn't absorb much light. But then, plants on earth are green because the clorophyll absorbs blue and green light. They'd be more efficient if they were actually purple and absorbed yellow and green light, but then the first plants to photosynthesise came up with clorophyll, which is horribly inefficient, but they're all stuck with it now. so perhaps plants under a red sun will be red and just suck.


Hang on a sec, aren't Earth plants green because they reflect green light, rather than absorb it?

I'm also pretty sure that the first photosynthesising organisms were pink or purple, and that green chlorophyll was a later improvement.

(I also read somewhere that reflecting green light, while it may seem counterproductive, is actually a good protective measure because the Sun puts out too much energy, and if leaves absorbed all of it they'd probably a) crinkle up, b) dry out and c) catch fire. I have no idea where I read that, though.)

Regardless, I think 'red plants and animals because red sun' probably makes no real sense, and is one of those attempts by history majors to sound sciencey that GW was and remains famous for.

In some actual SETI speculation on planets orbiting red dwarf stars, I once saw an interesting idea: Apparently infrared light can penetrate a few millimetres into a solid surface (? - going from memory here). Therefore, plants using infrared light could keep their 'leaves', i.e. photosynthesising cells, inside their branches beneath a thin protective covering where herbivores would have trouble getting to them.
So you could have a lot of creepy, leafless forests...

Sounds like the perfect Sci-Fi planet setting to me....
   
Made in gb
Ridin' on a Snotling Pump Wagon






Oh god dammit.

Got involved in a Mordheim thread, did a Rowley Birkin QC reminisce of my glory days. And now I want to play it again.

This time, I’m fairly sure I’ve still got the core rule book somewhere. So it would just be sourcing buildings and that.

   
Made in gb
[DCM]
Lone Wolf Sentinel Pilot





Leicester, UK

Mordhiem came out during my hiatus from tabletop games and I always regret not getting into it, 'cos it looked great, like an old world necromunda, or warhammer quest with terrain. Is it similar to what Frostgrave is now?

Real reason for posting tonight: i've just taken delivery of white dwarfs 180 - 230.
Borrowed from my brother in law who left them at his parent's house 20 years ago.

Jervis Johnson in John Lennon shades.
Adrian Wood's orky face.
Battle reports with actual maps.
Best of all, so far, the original Guard regiment releases, sculpted by the Perry twins, introduced by the Man Himself.


My painting and modeling blog:

PaddyMick's Chopshop: Converted 40K Vehicles

 
   
Made in gb
Joined the Military for Authentic Experience





On an Express Elevator to Hell!!

Ah awesome, some of my favourite WD memories from that time.
Only thing that was certain was Andy Chambers would beat Jervis Johnson in a battle report, then the latter would always point out that he had forgotten to do something or move a unit afterwards! I'm not sure if Jervis ever beat him in print (maybe a draw once?)

I love Mordheim, probably up there with Necromunda as my favourite GW campaign-type game. I think playing with a good group of mates you can't beat it.
Once think almost went full RPG with a campaign, using the Mordheim map and players moved around throughout it. Think we had Vampires, Ork & Goblin, Dwarves, Elves, Pirates (!) Mercs in one campaign. My sister's warband had these two Orc bounty hunters (that were twins) that had a full backstory. Very first game we played, first dice role one of the twins fired an arrow that hit a friend's merc army captain - straight in the eye, dead. Later on the vampire count took one of the twin's prisoner for a dark ritual, and the rest of the O&G warband had to rescue him.
I think one of the final games was the vampire count (who was an absolute monster by the end of the campaign), riddled with arrows, finally reaching the most annoying character in the campaign (a High Elf archer that had Baron Munchenhausen-like skills of hitting anyone on a 2+ and had knocked out so many characters) and throwing him from a tower to his death.

Damn writing this has really made me want to play again

Epic 30K&40K! A new players guide, contributors welcome https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/751316.page
Small but perfectly formed! A Great Crusade Epic 6mm project: https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/694411.page

 
   
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Fixture of Dakka






Zenithfleet wrote:


Pacific wrote:I remember that 2nd ed Nid codex being so nasty! Think I got flattened by them every time I played a game against them..


I only got in a few games of 2nd ed before 3rd arrived, so my main memory of 2nd ed Tyranids is the amazing talent of my Hive Tyrant at landing venom cannon scatter shots on the Warrior brood to his left instead of the Marines he was aiming at.

To this day I still think of the Thudd Gun template as an essential part of basic 2nd ed kit, as important as dice, range rulers and the cardboard Ork Dreadnaught that can't be hit if you turn it sideways.


It might not be able to be hit, but you absolutely can be if you try that sort of nonsense.

I spent all of 2nd edition losing to that Tyranid codex (well, that and the Eldar). It's the only time I had 2nd edition Marines actually break - and to add insult to injury it was my Ld 9 Long Fangs.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/04/30 16:05:55


 
   
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I do wonder what newer gamers might make of the older games and editions.

Because let’s be honest, for us 40 somethings (well, I’m nudging 41), a significant part of the reverence comes from happy memories of a safer, more innocent time.

I had a hard time in secondary school, and found comfort in my gaming circle. I’d usually host as we had a gaming board (two interior doors..) in the garage. So those games were all a chance for us to just be our nerdy selves.

If I had the resources and wherewithal, I’d love to run a Vintage Gaming event. A chance for people who missed a certain game’s time or edition to give them a try.

   
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There's already Bring Out Your Lead in August. While that's mostly populated by even older, crustier gamers playing 1st edition 40k and 3rd edition Warhammer, you might be able to interest some folk in some 2nd edition 40k.
   
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Lone Wolf Sentinel Pilot





Leicester, UK

 Pacific wrote:
Ah awesome, some of my favourite WD memories from that time.
Only thing that was certain was Andy Chambers would beat Jervis Johnson in a battle report, then the latter would always point out that he had forgotten to do something or move a unit afterwards! I'm not sure if Jervis ever beat him in print (maybe a draw once?)


Hehe
As a kid I remember thinking Andy Chambers, with his biker beard, was just the coolest dude that ever lived, and was even jealous of Gav Thorpe and his 'mustache', since he seemed like a young guy getting to have loads of fun.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
 AndrewGPaul wrote:
There's already Bring Out Your Lead in August. While that's mostly populated by even older, crustier gamers playing 1st edition 40k and 3rd edition Warhammer, you might be able to interest some folk in some 2nd edition 40k.


Tthanks for the link, looks great. If I don't make it this year I will definately try for next year. Reckon i'll take some Man o War stuff along and see if anyone fancies a game!

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/05/01 05:06:26


My painting and modeling blog:

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