40K in 40 minutes t1, W40K Inne

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WD274 Clubs 11/5/03 12:35 PM Page 2
40K IN 40 MINUTES
By Tim ‘AHOY!’ Eagling
Running a club
in school
presents its
own set of
unique
problems, the
biggest one
being finding
enough time!
Most school
clubs operate
in a lunch time or after hours and it is
extremely unusual for these sessions to
last more than an hour – in most cases
they probably get no more than fifty
minutes.
Setting up something different
After some thought, I decided that what
was required was a set of guidelines for
playing in school. Time was my overriding
concern. Even if you are extremely well
prepared – having exactly the figures you
require, a fully detailed roster including any
special rules, and a prepared table – it is
extremely difficult to play in such a
restricted time as 40 minutes. Considering
the relative inexperience of the players and
the fact that I also wanted to play every
now and then, not just be a walking, talking
rulebook, meant that the guidelines had to
keep it all small, but not so small as to lose
the character of the different armies.
• Patrols are no more than
400 points.
• You must have one Troop choice.
• You may have one HQ choice,
but no more than one.
• You may spend remaining points on
anything in the Codex.
• No character can have more than
2 Wounds.
• No special characters.
• No 2+ saves.
• No vehicles with a total Armour value
greater than 33.
• You must have a completed,
detailed roster and access to the
relevant Codex.
• Painted models only.
These rules do not necessarily cover every
army – some exceptions need to be made.
In the club, rules exceptions are okayed by
me after some deliberation, always sticking
to the spirit of the game.
I began to run a ‘painting only’ club at my
school a couple of years ago as I thought
that playing would be impractical. As soon
as the kids in my painting club started
asking about playing some games as well
I realised I would have a big challenge on
my hands.
The nature of the Warhammer 40,000
game allows for small forces whilst still
using the main rules. To begin with, we just
put a limit on points and troop selection but
this didn’t work very well. I had in mind the
kind of forces I wanted to see in use and
realised that they made pretty good patrols,
a small scouting force sent
ahead of a main army,
which was most likely to
run into the enemy first.
The short nature of the
games also suited two
patrols coming together
as I felt that this kind of
force would not often
get involved in a
protracted fire fight,
but be more likely to
get in and out fast.
We started by running some introductory
games with my miniatures and terrain.
These were very successful, but the kids
naturally wanted to use their own figures. I
suggested they brought in everything they
had for their respective
armies so I could have a
look at what they had, and
if any of them had what
could be considered to
be an army then I
was pleased to
promise them a
game. In short,
they didn’t have
coherent
armies.
Example:
In the Imperial Guard codex,
an Armoured Fist squad is a
Troop choice, but it must
be attached to an
infantry platoon.
Short-form
Warhammer
40,000
The guidelines for
force selection we
have settled on
are as follows:
Being able to play a game of Warhammer 40,000 in under an hour isn’t the easiest thing to do and doesn’t allow
for the huge games that most of us are used to. Sometimes though, gamers have specific needs and have to find
ways to cater for them. Tim Eagling tells us all about the set of guidelines he developed to allow members of his
school gaming club to play Warhammer 40,000 in their lunch breaks.
Tim Eagling
WD274 Clubs 11/5/03 12:35 PM Page 3
It seems perfectly reasonable that a mobile
unit such as this would carry out patrols,
so I allow them to be selected as a
separate unit.
EXAMPLE ARMIES
Here at Games Workshop people have been trying out these great rules. Below are a
few example of 400 points armies chosen specifically for playing a game of 40 minute
Warhammer 40,000. We asked their commanders to tell us a little bit about them.
As you might not pick an HQ choice,
the patrol should still have a commander,
who gives the orders and against which
Leadership tests are made. This, of course,
would be the most senior ranking figure.
In the case of two figures being of an
equal rank then the player may choose
which is the patrol’s leader, and only that
figure may confer its Leadership bonus to
friendly squads.
These rules are fairly logical and lend
themselves to simple scenarios. We
considered that beefy characters and
famous personalities are unlikely to be
involved in forward reconnaissance, nor
would troops in huge suits of Terminator
or mega-armour get out on a limb in these
small actions. We also feel that only light
vehicles, not main battle tanks, would be
on patrol.
Che Webster, UK Events:
The force was an easy one to get painted in about a week – something
that was very pleasing to achieve. The Fire Warriors were fun to model, the Devilfish was the
heaviest tank the system allowed, and the battlesuited Shas’vre stood in as a solid commander.
All in all, after six games, they are still a pretty hot choice!
Terrain
Battles are fought on a number of different
sized tables, the most common being a
3 by 4 table, which is conveniently half a
battle mat. Forces are set up with an
18" - 24" gap between them. Most scenario
rules are ignored, as we feel that nobody
should be deep striking and the like, but you
could use infiltrators.
The battle is a straightforward firefight.
Deploy as per the standard order. Roll to
see who goes first then let forth the dogs of
war! All usual rules apply for the armies.
Gareth Harvey, GW Events:
‘Sabre Squadron’ represents the reconniassance element of a much
larger Imperial Guard force, consisting of an Armoured Fist squad and a Command section in a
heavily converted command Chimera – I call this a ‘Centurion’ but in game terms it’s simply a
Chimera with a single heavy bolter. This force can seem quite daunting to face as until the troops
dismount, it’s immune to most armies’ small arms fire. Larger monsters and enemy armour can be
handled with the Chimera’s multilaser and, in dire need, each squad comes with a meltagun for
close range tank stalking! The greatest weakness of the Guard is their comparative lack of
hand-to-hand punch (no pun intended) but the Lieutenant’s squad is quite tooled up with a power
fist and a Veteran Sergeant. upgrade. The final element in the force is a Deathworld Sniper, in small
games such as these his ability to pin entire units is particularly useful and besides he looks great!
When a patrol has taken 50% casualties it
must start to take Leadership tests based
on the commander's ability at the start of its
turn or break from combat and
subsequently lose the battle. If neither force
breaks then at the end of the session the
patrol inflicting the most damage in points
wins.
It works!
Since introducing these rules my club has
expanded to three lunch times to paint and
make scenery, and after school one day a
week to play games. The Patrol rules have
led to some very competitive games. They
have provided my club members with the
opportunity to start to really learn the rules,
and collect a proper army.
Fighting battles this way has proved to me
that with a bit of determination and a fair
amount of preparation, it is possible to
overcome the great time difficulty of running
clubs in schools. With these rules, it is a
real possibility and great fun to boot!
Mark Wells, GW UK General Manager:
A Space Wolves patrol would be adaptable and hard
hitting, so I went for a Rhino with smoke launchers to get my ferocious Blood Claws into combat
fast and Grey Hunters to provide flexible support. To cope with enemy armour, both units have
a meltagun and power fist. The Wolf Guard leader can be assigned to whichever unit needs
him most.
JOIN THE CLUB NETWORK
If you’re already running a gaming club, but
haven’t got around to registering it yet, here’s
how. Either log on to the Gaming Club
website and fill in the on-line form at
www.gamingclub.org.uk, or drop into your
local Games Workshop store and ask for a
registration form.
e-mail us at: clubguy@games-workshop.co.uk
or write to: UK Gaming Clubs, Games
Workshop HQ, Willow Road, Lenton,
Nottingham NG7 2WS.
If you would like to send us news and photos,
ask a question, or drop us a line, you can
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