A + X by Keith Gammage

As the judge of Avengers vs X-Men (current Heroclix organised play events - Editor) I am supposed to be neutral. But it’s hard to be neutral. I’ve always been an X-Men fan. And yet...perhaps there is a way. Perhaps I just need to follow in the footsteps of one of my favourite characters, the Beast.

It’s hard to believe in these days of movie success, but there was a time when the Avengers were unpopular. Don’t believe me? Then ask yourself, why does Marvel still have movie rights to the Avengers? When they went bankrupt after the comic bubble burst, Marvel sold off movie rights to all their characters, except the Avengers. No one wanted the Avengers. The book was one of Marvels lowest selling titles, full of characters nobody had ever heard of.

So what changed between then and now? What happened was this: Marvel gave the Avengers to a writer named Brian Bendis. Whilst I am not a fan of Bendis, he is one of Marvel’s most popular writers, and I can’t deny that his name sells a lot of comics. His job was to turn the Avengers around, and make them as popular as the X-Men were at the time. Bendis accepted the task on one condition - in order for Avengers to become Marvels top superheroes team, it had to have the top heroes on it. He wanted the best there is. Wolverine. Spider-Man. Daredevil. Thor.

The first thing Bendis did was kill off all the ‘second-stringers.’ Jack-of-Hearts. Ant-Man. Vision. Hawkeye. All dead, courtesy of a now-insane Scarlet Witch. Avengers disassembled. This was followed by cancelling the Avengers comic.

Bendis started a new comic named, aptly, The New Avengers. He didn’t get Daredevil or Thor (the latter was dead at the time), but he did get Cap, Wolverine, Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, Iron Man, Luke Cage and the Sentry. (Sentry was Marvel’s latest attempt at creating a Superman-like character. It failed as usual.) Wolverine’s been an Avenger for close to a decade now, but he never stopped being an X-Man. He has become so well-known for his dual-membership in both teams, that characters inside the comics started to make jokes about it.

 

I don’t like Wolverine. Fortunately for me, he is not the first of the X-Men to become an Avenger. The Beast joined their ranks way back in 1975, and even to this day the Avengers regard him as an elder statesman of sorts. Beast is very accepting of people. Avengers, X-Men, it doesn’t matter. He even invited Doctor Nemesis to join the X-Club, and everyone knows the Doc was on the wrong side of World War II. Like Wolverine, when Avengers vs X-Men erupted, the Beast was to be found on the side of the Avengers - but unlike Logan, Beast refused to fight any of the X-Men directly. He is, after all, one of the original five X-Men. Though no one knew it at the time, he was also dying, which is why he volunteered instead for Thor’s suicide mission to confront and stop the Phoenix before it reached Earth...a mission that was not quite as suicidal as the Avengers thought. The Phoenix pretty much ignored them, shrugged off all their attacks and headed for the Moon, where the X-Men and Avengers were squaring off over Hope Summers.

 

 

People have been asking - what about the Scarlet Witch? Why is she an Avenger? She’s a mutant, the daughter of Magneto. But, she’s a bit different than your usual mutant. Way back in Avengers #16, Thor, Iron Man and Giant-Man all left the Avengers, and Captain America made the dubious decision of replacing them with three former super-villains - Hawkeye, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch. Whilst Quicksilver did later join the X-Men, the Witch never has. The X-Men wouldn’t want her anyway. She is an Avenger through and through. No-one is entirely sure what her mutant power is - the abilities she uses are magical in nature, stemming from the fact that she was born on Mount Wundagore, prison of the creature known as Cthun.

And so then...do I choose Avengers or X-Men? Why not both? It may not be easy, but it’s possible. Beast has done it, Wolverine has done it. You just have to hang in through the bad patches. What's a few wars between heroes?

Shiny New Toys: A newbies guide to getting started in Warhammer 40k (part 1)

The first ever tabletop game system I got heavily involved in was Games Workshops Warhammer: 40k. The beauty of two fully painted armies starring down on each other across a 6 x 4 foot gaming board really hit home for me. Recently, I have been convinced to restart playing from scratch (I sold all my models several years ago, word to the wise...never sell your models unless you really have to. You regret it eventually). I thought this would be a great chance to let people know exactly what is involved in getting up and running in this great game.

Money, money, money...

Firstly, lets deal with the elephant in the room. Warhammer: 40k is an expensive hobby. There is no denying this. A full setup (rule book, codex, models, paint etc) will set you back a good few thousand rand if you want to play larger games. The good news is that you don’t need to go all in and there are a few tips to keeping costs down to start.

1.       Start with a friend: Having a friend start at the same time is a great way to reduce costs. Share paints and rule books. Play smaller games together before you have larger forces. Plus, playing with a good mate is a great way to stay motivated.

2.       Dark Vengeance: Games Workshop has a starter box set called Dark Vengeance which oozes value. It includes a mini rule book (the full rules, just without all the cool stories and pictures), templates, dice, and two small armies (Dark Angels and Chaos) for a few hundred rand more than just the regular rule book. If you are not interested in playing one of the included armies, try to find someone who wants the models and split the costs. This is, in my opinion, the cheapest and best way to get started.

3.       Join your local club: I have never been to a club that has not had people willing to assist with new players. Getting games in with someone else’s army is free and a great way to figure out what style of army you want to play (just remember to be grateful and careful with goodies that arnt your own).

Chaos Dreadnought from Dark Vengeance box set.

 

So many choices...

Now that you are ready to give it a go, the next step is choosing which army you want to collect. Every army in W40k has its own unique and distinct characteristics. Whether you prefer getting up close and beating heads with chain axes, using terrain to hide your forces and shoot from afar, or just rushing in with hoards and rolling buckets of dice, W40k has an army that will fit your choice. If you want a detailed description of each army, you can check Games Workshops website or one of a million forums dedicated to the game (a simple google search will pick up loads).

Each army has strengths and weaknesses but all are playable and can be competitive to a point. Most people suggest starting with Space Marines as they are tougher than most and even basic troops have good stats and great armor. I agree with this, but would include Chaos Space Marines and Necrons as good starting armies as they both have really tough basic troups. Armies that are more challenging to begin with (expect a few losses on your way to learning to play them correctly) are Dark Eldar or Tau which both suffer from being glass cannons. An interesting choice if you want to also play Warhammer Fantasy is Chaos Deamons as the figures are the same for both game systems but use different bases (round for 40k and square for fantasy) Some simple conversions (I glued figures to round bases, which can be stuck onto the square bases using prestic with no overlapping) can give you two armies for the price of one. As much as reading about armies can give you info, the best way is to play games. Try get involved with your local club and see each army being played.

 

Wargames clubs are the best way to get assistance with new games.

 

I will post a follow up to this entry with a more detailed break down for what to start when buying your first figures as well as modeling supplies in the next day or two.

I have decided to get started with Tau. Think communist aliens using anime styled battlesuits and heavy firepower to “instill” their beliefs in other races...before being torn to shreds like wet tissue paper themselves in close combat. I will post updates on how the army progresses so people can get a sense of how to increase your forces as well as modelling/painting which is a topic destined for its own posts.

For more info, please check out the following:

/http://durban.wargamesclub.co.za/ - Durban wargames club, first stop for getting started in Durban.

www.gamesworkshop.com - Games Workshops official site.

http://www.belloflostsouls.net/ - Great place for news related to Warhammer in general.

 

Feel free to ask any questions or let me know if you are starting a new army.

Hope to see you all soon on a tabletop nearby!

 

Mordheim: Where tabletop wargame meets RPG.

Hi all

Towards the end of last year, one of our play groups started talking about starting a new campaign for one of my favorite games from way back, Mordheim.

Mordheim is a table top skirmish game created by Games Workshop based on their popular fantasy game Warhammer. Players take control of small warbands consisting of several heroes and henchmen and fight in the streets of Mordheim in search of the valuable Wyrdstone. Warbands can be made up of a number of Warhammers fantasy races (giant ninja rat men your thing? Skaven are the answer).  

The great thing about this game is that after each mission, your characters earn experience and can learn new skills or find/purchase new items (or on the flip side, sustain injuries) which means you can maintain your own personal war band and develop characters adding flavor to each of your games. The game uses warband ratings to allow for more experienced groups (who will have more members or better items) to compete with fledgling bands looking to blood themselves for the first time. You may womp on them, but the ratings ensure that experience is weighted based on the different power level between bands.

The main problem with Mordheim is that Games Workshop stopped supporting it several years ago and so does not produce new material or figures for it. Thankfully, it is still listed as one of their specialist games so you can download all the rule books directly from their website for free ( kinda odd considering Games Workshop isn't exactly known for being super charitable) and has a large following online of dedicated fans who maintain the game.

Most warbands can be made up of existing Warhammer figures (with some small conversions). Luckily for yours truly, I know someone who happened to have some classic official Mordheim figures hiding away in storage. After some tough negotiations (basically me clutching the figures to my chest wimpering like a child asking them to name a figure) I had the start of two new warbands!

Classic Witch Hunters and Sisters of Sigmar

Last night was spent cleaning models and gluing them to bases in time for a quick learning game to be played at the shoppe. I haven't painted the models yet (sacrilege, I know) but we managed to get in a quick game to brush up on my rules knowledge. Much fun was had with the Sisters of Sigmar taking down the Witch Hunters leader in the first few rounds with some finesse and subtle tactics (basically dual wielded warhammers to the face). A brutal counter attack from the Witch Hunters saw two Flagellants (crazy old men with flails and not much else...) return the favor and pull the game back in their favor. Both warbands were at their breaking point (after 25% of your warband is out of action through combat, you need to take a rout test to see if your warriors flee like whipped dogs) but it was the Sisters of Sigmar who broke first giving the Witch Hunters their maiden win.

You don't need paint or expensive terrain to have fun

I heartily recommend Mordheim to anyone interested in tabletop gaming or roleplaying as it mixes both elements remarkably well. We will be starting our own campaign in early March and anyone in the Durban area is more than welcome to join in (pop into the shoppe or drop me a message). Ill be posting updates as the campaign progresses for anyone interested in such things to give an idea on how the game progresses with time as that is truly the best way to play Mordheim.

If you are looking for more information regarding Mordheim, try checking the below links:

Games Workshop - Specialist games page for Mordheim (rule books found here)

Mordheimer - Fan made website with heaps of information and updates

Until next time, keep the dice rolling.

Enjoy!

Introduction

Hi...my name is Andrew...and Im addicted to games.

I assist in running a small store in Durban, South Africa where we game. I mean, obviously we sell some stuff to pay the rent, but mostly we just game.

I have always been a gamer at heart, from my first booster of Magic the Gathering cracked in 1994, to devouring Will Wheatons Tabletop videos on Youtube. Since we opened the store (The Unseen Shoppe for those interested in a shameless plug) I have really been overwhelmed in the depth of gaming around that even I, a die hard die roller, hadn't been a part of.

So what do you do when you get involved in aspects of gaming in a city known more for rugby than role playing? Share it!

Id like to use this space to share what gaming goodness I am up to. Its going to be varied, unfocused, and probably poorly written but if one person who reads this gives a game a try that they have not played before then Ill consider it worth it.

So, if youre into TCGs, boardgames, tabletop games, or whatever, and have a few minutes to kill, hopefully you will find my updates interesting.

May the dice gods smile on your next character generation!