Guest Article: Dark Millennium

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Guest Article: Dark Millennium

Posted by Unknown

I'm running a bit ragged this weekend so I'm posting a little background post in relation to the 40k hobby and why a certain person might enjoy and play it. This was done by our lovely regular FeralJim. Enjoy!

It's the background fluff that I love about 40k. The beautiful, gothic imagery in the books. The riveting descriptions of alien life and planets. The dark, intricate atmosphere that Games Workshop's writers have worked to create.

It's all fantastic, brilliant stuff.

But you see, I’ve been slipping. The last couple months have seen me slow down almost all of my hobbying to a stop and I understand why.

So I sat down today and really tried to figure it all out. It was then that I (slowly) came to realize where I had been going wrong.

I don’t paint my soldiers anymore, I build them, undercoat them and call it a day. I’ve long since stopped giving them names and histories based on battlefield results(something I used to do as a child). I keep playing small 500-1000 point games and I just keep using the same 3 standard BRB missions over and over.

When you pick up a Codex and you read through it, when you see the battlefields they display on the inside covers, what do you see? What is it that makes those scenes so exciting?!

[Bigger armies] This means more chance to field specialist units and in larger quantities, want those Terminators AND that Veteran Squad? Why not take both! And a Venerable Dread!

[Themed-boards] Not just a random haphazard of the same terrain arranged in roughly the same spots as last game. Whether it be sweeping hillsides, broken cities, winding rivers or a creeping forest. Give your board a theme. This ties into my next point, which is…

[Story] Have a bit of background to the coming conflict. Do you know my favourite part of any White-Dwarf? The little blurb of character writing they include before each battle report. I want to hear about why the Word Bearers are invading Epsilon IV and just what the Imperium means to do about it. Maybe the leaders of each army are old enemies with large chips on their shoulders and grudges to bear.

These three, simple things can go a long long way to making your game better. Where else can you improve? Well, for one.

[Variety] Running missions from the Cities of Death or Battle Missions supplements (or writing your own!) make the game great. Dawn of War is fun, but so is fighting an entire match with night fighting and *not* having to walk that Carnifex onto the board…

Finally, the thing that I think really makes 40k special...

[Campaigns] There is nothing like a big, multi-day campaign where your game results influence future matches.

Did the Tau successfully defend the Plasma Reactor powering the Southern Continents Defense Lasers? no? Well then next game the Orks start getting free mobs of deep-striking boys from turn 4. All is not lost though, for the Tau have a line of em-placed bunkers defending their side of the board. Can they hold out till Turn 7 when Shadowsun arrives or will Warlord Yrrrmgral-Face find victory?

For me, this is where the action is. This is the sort of stuff that I like to live and breathe. But hey, what's so great about the whole affair is that what works for me doesn't have to be what works for you. In this great hobby of ours everyone gets a chance to find their own path.

Whether that's reading, writing, playing, building or painting. Is up to you.

Comments (24)

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Katie Drake · 699 weeks ago

This is exactly why I got more into the 40K RPG games, Deathwatch in particular.

It lets you really get immersed into the 40K universe at a level that tabletop 40K doesn't due to scale (you can't really have a full sized game of 40k with the same level of detail as you can have an encounter in Deathwatch - at least not in a reasonable amount of time).

Give it a spin!

10 replies · active 698 weeks ago

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artemi7 78p · 699 weeks ago

I know it was god-awful by most people's reckoning, but one of my favorite Black Library books is Crossfire, the first Shira Calpurnia novel. It focused entirely on the not-front-line, and just reveled in showing off just how familiar and at the same time utterly WEIRD the 40k universe is. It also reminded me that things like Storm Bolters are NOT to be f-ed with, and will gib a regular human good if they hit you.

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FeralJim 47p · 699 weeks ago

Hi Artemi,

I really enjoyed the 40k book "Fifteen Hours" by Mitchel Scanlon. It wasn't anything fantastic literately speaking, but I found it totally awesome anyway. It touched upon what the first day was like for a rookie Guardsmen making planet-fall on an Ork infested world.

There is just something about the 41st Millenium that is ... I don't know, fascinating?

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SageoftheTimes 77p · 699 weeks ago

Yeah, the RPGs really show how much the automatic weapons can do.

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FeralJim 47p · 698 weeks ago

28 shots a clip, 4 round bursts, at early levels twice the damage of a Chainsword PER bullet. Damn, the Bolter is mighty good.

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FeralJim 47p · 699 weeks ago

Hey Katie,

Earlier this year some friends and I went looking into the RPG series. Deathwatch and Rogue Trader were the front runners. We never did manage to get a Campaign off the ground though, too busy with what was on our then-current plates. Maybe now is the time to revisit the subject! How long have you been playing at the pen & paper 40k? I'm curious whether you play it as much as the actual tabletop.

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Kos · 699 weeks ago

G'day Feral
We have run two Dark Heresy Campaigns, both past "ascension, the 2nd one still on going. They have a mix of assassins, inquisitors, astropaths and a space marine (astral claws..)
Been playing since the first Dark heresy book came out. the RPG system is very quick and most recent "Black Crusade" has a very smooth ruleset.
I'm very much in favour of this system (Dark Heresy-Rogue Trader-Deathwatch-Ascension-Black Crusade), each book is styled to create different game play. Dark Heresy has a good dose of paranoia, Rogue trader gives you deep backgrounds, Black crusade is really flexible.
The only downside is the linear mechanics- in the sense that eventually the characters becomes VERY powerful.
But that is in keeping with the genre right? :)
Kostchtchei

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FeralJim 47p · 699 weeks ago

Hey Kos,

I've actually just shot an email over to my groups resident DM, inquiring about whether or not he would run us through a 40k campaign. The last time I checked Death Watch was the newest book, so I'll have to look into Black Crusade. I really like the idea of running a character from the backwater, more unknown parts of the Imperium. So an Inquisitor or Astropath sounds like a good go. I really loved the old classic Inquistor rules GW ran a couple years back. Was a shame people lost interest.

Based on your descriptions, Dark Heresy actually sounds like the ruleset I'm most interested in. I know it's a bit older though, do you think will we run into any major problems because of that? any starting up tips?

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SageoftheTimes 77p · 699 weeks ago

If you're not into playing heretics, the book's worth picking up for GM ideas, the streamlining of the skills system (THANK THE EMRPAH), and the fluid class mechanics.

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FeralJim 47p · 698 weeks ago

Yeah it's looking like our GM is going to pick up Black Crusade for enemies, while running with a Deathwatch Kill-Team for the players. Should be fun. Will run a demo over the weekend, try out my Blood Angel Assault Marine. (Flesh Render!)

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Roland Durendal · 699 weeks ago

Agreed Katie. It's why my new Elysians who I'm working on I'm taking my time to paint and theme them....and then start a map campaign to use them in. I've found that competitive 40K, while fun in small doses, gets old real fast if that's all you focus on. Map/narrative campaigns have always ben what drew me to 40K and have always been my bread-and-butter game style

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yazchar 62p · 699 weeks ago

Yes! Great Article, this really echos how I feel about gaming...more campaigns! Just showing up all the time and playing a quick one on one...I like doing that every now and then but it gets old. Also, the Battle Missions books doesn't seem to be too popular, it's not that people claim to dislike it, they just often don't think about it. Usually when I ask someone if they want to play something from Battle Missions they are confused and seem to forget it exists, but usually agree to play one of the missions and end up liking it. Does anyone else feel Battle Missions seems to suffer from a degree of obscurity? Is this because so much list building assumes one of the three BRB missions will be used in every game they play?

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FeralJim 47p · 699 weeks ago

I think you've hit the nail on the head there Yazchar. Most people are all too happy to stay in their comfort zones. If you play at your local GW Store then your more than likely going to see BRB missions 90% of the time. It's the first thing you play, you get use to it and so it becomes easy. And when new players join in the hobby, they learn from the vets what's acceptable. Round and round she goes.

I really enjoyed the White Dwarf Battle Mission addon that came out a couple months ago, one of the missions ... "Firestorm" had you placing down small 40mm bases as markers every player turn, and at the end of each turn any model within D6" of each marker would take, I'm gonna say, a S4 hit. Then they would scatter 2D6 in a random direction. By the end of the game you had raging infernos all over the place. They also set buildings on fire. Sure made for a hectic match! :P

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Mikey87 · 699 weeks ago

What is it that makes those scenes so exciting?!

Painted soldiers....

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GWvsJohn 44p · 699 weeks ago

I haven't had a chance to play any of the new 40k RPGs but they all look good. Any creative minded 3++ers interested in running a play by post or play by email campaign in any of the systems? I'd be super up for that

5 replies · active 698 weeks ago

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artemi7 78p · 699 weeks ago

I too would be interested in this.

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GWvsJohn 44p · 699 weeks ago

are you a Gamemaster type?

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artemi7 78p · 699 weeks ago

I could try, though I'm not that great and have no experience with the system. Still, perhaps a rotating GM system might work.

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GWvsJohn 44p · 699 weeks ago

I'll write up a post asking if anyone is interested. I think dark heresy or rogue trader would work better than deathwatch since DW is more combat oriented and combat is the worst/hardest part of play by post roleplaying

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FeralJim 47p · 698 weeks ago

I agree with you John, I think if you were going to forum a game that Dark Heresy would be the way to go. You could then capitalize on the advantage of the written word, doing things that take too much time when said out loud. Environment details, keeping track of colourful characters and writing vast conspiracies. All gold.

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Nave Senrag · 699 weeks ago

Glad to see an article like this. To be honest, I've never used the scenarios that are included in the book. My group and I just make up a battle, play it, and come up with a story for it. I think it works fine, and as long as you aren't training for a tournament, it is much more interesting.

1 reply · active 698 weeks ago

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FeralJim 47p · 698 weeks ago

Hey Nave, I'm glad you liked it!

See, I reckon this is *exactly* what I did when I was younger. I'm talking back in 3rd Ed for 40k. All we ever did was make shit up because we didn't care that much about the competitive rules. In a big way, it made it more fun.

I'll be testing out your style of play in the coming weeks with my group. We are going to start with running this months WD Battle Missions. Then maybe start free-styling out from there.

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Pär Larsson · 699 weeks ago

Great article. Mis-matched terrain bugs me. Overly complicated model bases that stick out from the TT gaming surface bugs me.

It's a great game, but to me I'd rather have it be an immersive world. Or as close to it as you can get. While still blasting things away in a game.

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FeralJim 47p · 698 weeks ago

I'm really excited by the idea of actually using all my forest bases for once. Filling the entire board with a mix of area and non-area terrain forestry, with maybe a winding stream going through a quarter of the board. Would make for a great chance, and it's not hard to do.