Sunday, September 16, 2012

Starsmash 2012 - Done!!

Thanks to everyone who attended, I hope you all had a great time. From my side it was a really good weekend, and thanks to a great group of players, ran smoothly. It was great to see everyone getting to grips with 6th edition, and taking the time and opportunity to really enjoy the games... I know I certianly learnt loads about the new edition!

The winners photos are below, and also a link to the final scores spreadsheet. Congratulations to all the winners.

Hope to see you all next year!

Link to the Final Scoring Spreadsheet


Best Single Model - Runner-Up - Graig Ivey

Best Single Model - Runner Up - Peter Vivian

Best Single Model - Winner - Darren Ivey

Best Army - Darren Ivey

Last Place - Moz Peachey
 3rd Place - John Jasinski

2nd Place -  Lee Hall

1st Place - Matthew Muscutt

Friday, September 7, 2012

New GW FAQ's are out

Please see the official GW site

New GW 40K FAQ's

Just to confirm, these will take predecence over any of my previous rulings!

Food Orders going out

I shall be emailing out to all entrants today to request what lunch they'd like. We use a local company called Pierres Baguettes, which offer a great selection.

The deadline for ordering is Tuesday 11th September at 9pm...please could all entrants email me before then with their choice of lunch both days...these will be delivered to the venue in time for the lunch break (which fortunately co-incides with the bar opening!)

The full list is;
  • Chicken Mayonnaise
  • Chicken Mayonnaise & Bacon
  • Chicken Mayonnaise & Sweet corn
  • Chicken Tikka with yoghurt & mint dressing
  • Chicken Curry with mango chutney
  • Chinese Chicken with lemon & pepper mayonnaise
  • Plain Chicken
  • BBQ Chicken with lettuce
  • Minted Chicken with yoghurt & mint dressing
  • Southern Fried Chicken
  • Honey Roast Ham & salad
  • Honey Roast Ham & Cheese
  • Honey Roast Ham & Coleslaw
  • Pastrami salad
  • Beef & horseradish with salad
  • Turkey with cranberry or salad
  • Emmental Cheese and Smokey Bacon with mayonnaise
  • Hawaiian Ham
  • Brussels Pate with salad
  • BLT with mayonnaise
  • Cumberland Sausage with mustard
  • Sausage & Free Range Egg
  • Cheese salad
  • Cheese & Coleslaw
  • Mixed Cheese & spring onion
  • Mushrooms in a blue cheese dressing
  • Feta Vinaigrette with lettuce
  • Cottage Cheese & Pineapple
  • Salad, coleslaw, sweet corn and cress
  • Brie & apple
  • Brie salad with mayonnaise or cranberry sauce
  • Houmous & salad
  • Free Range Egg with tomato
  • Free Range Egg with cress
  • Smoked Salmon & Cream Cheese, lemon juice & black pepper
  • Smoked Salmon with Avocado & lemon pepper mayonnaise
  • Dressed Crab Sticks with salad
  • Spicy Crab Sticks with salad
  • Plain Tuna salad
  • Tuna Mayonnaise salad
  • Tuna Mayonnaise with sweet corn or cucumber
  • Mexican Tuna with lettuce
  • Prawn Mayonnaise with lettuce
  • Plain Prawn salad
  • Prawn Thousand Island  with lettuce
  • Tuna Mayonnaise, Peppers & Cheese
  • Cray Fish Tails with lemon & pepper mayonnaise with lettuce
  • BLT with mayonnaise
  • Cumberland Sausage with mustard
  • Sausage & Free Range Egg

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Objective Markers have arrived

This morning I took delivery of the objective markers for Starsmash...every entrant will get a set of 6 to keep. On one side they have the numbers 1,2,2,3,3,4 (for "The Scouring" mission), and the other side has the Spiky Club logo.

They have come out really well... huge thanks to Rob Lang for the graphic design work.

Poker chips make great objective markers...they have a good weight to them, and are robust enough to live in a dice bag, as well as being the perfect size (the same as a 25mm base).

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

FAQ updated

Apologies for the lack of communication... I've been away for a few days, and come back to a pile of emails!!

The FAQ has been updated with all your questions... I hope I've caught them all...if you have any others please post in the comments here, or email be directly and I'll get back to you ASAP!

Don't forget the deadline for army list submission is this Friday 9pm. I hope to email everyone with a reminder tomorrow as well...

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Monday, August 13, 2012

StarSmash FAQ

 Updated 7/9/2012
All these ruling may be over-ridden by a GW FAQ released upto the 14th September. Thak you all for your questions so far, and your understanding on what is a tricky process...I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to some updated GW FAQ's !!

Q : Can bomb squigs hit a flyer?
A : No. Bombs Squigs attacks are to be resolved as Shooting Attacks which do not use Ballistic Skill, and do not require Line of Sight (so cannot Snap Fire - P-13 in Rulebook). Flyers are ignored for the purposes of target selection.

Q : Can  Imotekhs Lord of the Storm ability hit Flyers?
Yes, it has the chance to hit all opposing units (not fortifications)

Q : What is the Chinork's FOC slot and unit construction?
A : It is a 1-3 Fast Attack choice

A : other units missing their types in Imperial Armour Apocalypse 2nd Ed are;
Lifta Wagon - Heavy Support
Grot Bomm Launcha - Fast Attack
Chaos Comtemptor - Elite

Q : Can Burna Boys use their flamers for Overwatch, and then as Power Weapons in the Assault phase?
A : No. in each player turn they may either use their flamers as Flamers, or Power Weapons.

Q : What type of Power Weapon does a Burna count as?
A : It is an Unusual Power Weapon (in every sense!)

Q : Can Line-type attacks (e.g. Necron Death Beam) hit flyers?
A : All line-type attacks will be considered to be of type "Blast" (only with a blast marker 1mm wide, and as long as the line). As such No, as Blast weapons may not hit Flyers.

Q : How do I assign Wolf Guard/Royal Court to units? 
A : Assign them at the start of each game. Their individual cost will count for the squad for any VP and missions.

Q : Can Bjorn the Fell-Handed be my Warlord?
A : Yes, if he is your only HQ he can be your Warlord. He has, however, no assumed leadership, and you cannot re-roll for Leadership-based results (in the same way that armies with no outflanking units etc cannot reroll for irrelevant results). The result "Inspiring Presence" would effectively be useless for you...

 Q : Can Psychic Powers be used in Overwatch?
A : No.The only power eligible for Snap Shot is Witchfire, and that clearly says (page 69 of hte rulebook) that they may only be activated in the Psykers shooting phase.

Q : Do Fortifications count for First Blood?
No...they count as terrain, not as units.

Q : Is a Trygon Prime a Character type model?
A : No...Trygon Prime stays as Monstrous Creature (Mc) type
A : Yes they are (see GW FAQ)

Q : Can Flying monstrous Creatures Deep-Strike in Swooping Mode?
 A : Yes they can, however the act of Deep Striking counts as a movement of 12-24" for that turn (i.e. not further movement once they are placed after Dep Strike). Glide/Swoop must be declared before placing the model and rolling for scatter.

More generally...any model with the deep-strike rule (Zooming Flyers etc) is assumed to have met the minimum requirements for movement as part of the action of deep-striking. No additional movement is allowed in the movement phase.

Q : Does a Grounded Flying Monstrous Creature still count as Swooping for purposes of rolling to hit?
A : They are still 6's to hit. They only lose Jink and Immunity from assault after a Grounded effect.
A : Once Grounded they revert to Glide Mode (see GW FAQ)

Q : What powers do Daemons have (codex rule or rulebook rule)?
A : Both...they are not mutually exclusive. All Daemons from the codex have Fearless, Invulnerable, Daemonic Assault and Daemonic Rivalry as per the codex/FAQ amends (and these state that they are for all models in the army). If they have no save listed (such as the new White Dwarf models) they gain the 5++ save from the codex Daemon rule and Fear.

Q : can Chaos Daemon allies use Icons to assist in Deep-Striking?
A : No...Icons only apply to Daemons summoned from the Chaos Space Marines codex
A : If the wording of the Icon says "all friendly units" then yes, otherwise no (see GW FAQ)

Q : What is the unit type of a Winged Daemon Prince? Is it Jump Monstrous Creature or Flying Monstrous Creature?
A : Although there are rumours (via Throne of Skulls) that this will be changed in an upcoming FAQ, they are Jump Mounstrous Creatures.
A : They have the "Flying" type (see GW FAQ)

Q : Can infiltrators charge/assault in their first turn if going second?
A : Yes...as per the rulebook whenever it refers to a turn this is a player turn unless specifically stated elsewhere

Q : Do you get cover saves for Malediction Powers?
A : No...cover saves are for wounds caused by shooting attacks (you could claim cover for WitchFire attacks though...as these are a form of Shooting Attack)


Q : Can Psykers with a Ballistic Skill of Zero use Beam and Nova psychic powers?
A : Yes...these powers require no ability level in Ballistic Skill.

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Objective Markers

The design of the new Objective Markers has come back from the designer!

In 6th Edition you can have upto 6 objectives (specifically in the Mission "The Scouring"), and these objectives also have a random value, not deteremined until you've deployed. We've designed the new objective markers to support this... Each player will recieve a set of 6. One side of each will be identical (featuring the iconic Spiky Club!), while on the other side there will be a number between 1 and 4 (with the distribution 1,2,2,3,3,4). This means that it will be simple to set up for this mission...simply place the objective markers number-down and shuffle them, and then players can take turns choosing and placing them... once you are deployed flip them over, and let battle commence!

Last year was the first time we offered these souvenir objective markers, and they were terrifically popular, so it's great that we've been able to adapt them to support the changes in 6th. Poker Chips are perfect for objective markers...tough, a good weight, and ideal for keeping in your dice-bag.



Huge thanks to the designer, Rob Lang, who specialises in sci-fi graphics...it's a clean, vivid design that will work really well on the poker chips.

Friday, August 3, 2012

Rulespack Update Incoming

As we plough into August, it's time to start focusing! I've added the entry list to date in the first post.

Been having a great time with 6th Edition, and this weekend we should be issuing an update to the rulespack. As far as general guidelines go;
  • Yes to Fortifications
  • Yes to Flyers
  • Yes to Allies
  • Yes to Mysterious Objectives and Terrain
  • Yes to Forgeworld "40K Approved" items
There will be a "start of game" sequence in the rulespack to handle the fact that mission, setup and terrain are pre-determined. Any queries and questions can be dealt with at the Spiky Club forums, or in the comments here.

As far as the objective markers, I'm speaking to the manufacturer about trying to get 6 for each player, with identical images on one side, and the number sequence 1,2,2,3,3,4 on the other...watch this space!

Friday, July 6, 2012

6th Edition - First Thoughts

I'll be holding off any event announcements about 6th Edition until the end of July, to give the new rules time to get settled. Initial thoughts, however, are;

1) Allies allowed, with the limitation of no Special Characters (this is specifically to simplify potential special ability abuse)
2) Fortifications allowed. Scenery will be pre-set, and a fortification will replace one item of normal terrain in your deployment zone (for Fortress of Redemption, any other Scenery within 2" of it's final location will also be removed)
3) Event points to remain at 1500 (games will be slower, and this should also limit the amount of rules bending that can occur)
4) (possible) limitation on flyers. This will be dependant on if Skyfire weapons are introduced in an FAQ update. Currently there are very few counters for flyers outside of;
a) other flyers
b) Fortifications
The limitation will probably be in the form of a max number per army, if it happens. If Flakk is added to missile launchers, then this may go away. The other option is adding Flakk into the rules pack for missile launchers at x points per shot the missile launcher has.

5) (probably) no Relic mission. Of the 6 in the book, that one seems a little tough for some armies, and too easy for others.

Added 14/7/2012

6) The special abilities for objectives are easily forgotten. I think this may be worth omitting for this year at least.

7) There is some potential filth involving taking Independant Characters from  one codex and adding them to units from others (for Battle Brother partnerships), and them conferring certain special rules unit wide (Fearless etc). A simple fix for this is to say that for Ally IC's, USR's are not applied to joined units.

8) Going back to Fortifications, using the Fortress of Redemption you can seal away a section of the board in your deployment. Simple solution again...Fortifications may not be placed within 6" of the board edge.

9) As terrain will be fixed, and missions determined by round, the start of game will be;
1) Roll Sides
2) Place Fortifications (see (2) above for specifics and limitations
3) Roll for variable numbers of objectives (if required)
4) Place Objectives (rolling for first placement if required)
5) Roll Warlord Traits
6) Roll for Night Fighting
7) Deploy

10) List secrecy - there will be none. I consider this nothing less than good sportsmanship. Before, during and after the game your opponent will be able to ask about the equipment, abilities and rules for any model, and check your list. Everyone is going to be pretty new with the rules, and it sucks to lose simply because you were not made aware of some specifc rule.

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

StarSmash 2012 - The time and place

StarSmash 2012 will be held on the 15th and 16th September. We will once again be using Spiky HQ in Reading, Berkshire (a.k.a. the Post Office social club on Richmond Avenue...complete with bar!)

The full rulespack can be downloaded from here, however what you need to know!
  • Entry is £30, with early entrants getting a 10% discount
  • It will be 5 games at 1500 points
  • You may use Forgeworld "40K approved" units
  • We intend to be using 6th Edition rules
  • There are 2 painting competitions
As we get closer to the event there will be a full FAQ, and the missions will be announced as well.

Starsmash 2012 is open for entrants

Hello everyone!

Entry for Starsmash 2012 is now open. You can find the rulespack and entry details on the link  below. We plan to offer the same high-quality event Spiky Club always aims for...and looking forwards to the changes and challenges of 6th Edition!

Starsmash 2012 Rulespack

When you enter, please can you make sure you confirm the email address you can be contacted at, and also any food allergies. Closer to the date we will be sorting out food orders (our new catering supplier offers a range of specially prepared baguettes, including hot food), and we will also be issuing an update as and when 6th Edition lands!