First go at Second Edition!!

[Legiocustodes]

Well today I played my first game of 2nd ed with my new pristine boxed set. My long suffering fiance was roped in to being my playing partner. I worked out 2 identical opposing armies of space marines at just over a thousand points of infantry each (worked out as 1 basic captain, 2 tactical squads and 1 terminator squad each) and set up the games table.

Then we drew our mission cards, her mission was simply to destroy me whilst I drew Dawn Attack and had to get models inside her deployment area. She did some pretty impressive dice work in the roll off and forced me to set up first whilst getting to both choose her table edge and then getting to go first.

The first turn was initially slow going as I referred to the rules, but things sped up very quickly. Her forces all moved towards me at running pace bar a combat squad with a missile launcher in a ruined cahtedral on the left flank who let rip wounding 4 of my marines but failing to kill any. My army then advanced at normal pace opening fire with boltguns, but failing to kill any of her troops.

In the second turn most of her squads moved forward warily at walking pace whilst a couple in good vantage points remained stationary. Then her force opened up as one and felled six of my marines. My forces edged forwards too, before answering with a volley of their own, however only one of her hardy troops was cut down in the volley of bolts.

In the third turn she had her forces in good fire positons and most stayed in position so they could make the most of rapid fire...which they did slaying a bucket load of my poor Salamanders!!

I returned fire, but yet again my shototing was failry ineffective and only one of her marines fell to a burst from my terminators heay flamer.

Soon things tuned to close combat and whilst more of my loyal astartes were felled in shooting (including my poor Captain) it was in close combat that they initially fared a little better with my combat squad on the left eliminating her opposing combat squad! (2nd Ed close combat rules are so much better than later editions...I love the way its like watching each model actually fight!). However in the centre of the battleline the two terminator squads duked it out, I killed two of hers but in return she wiped out my tactical dreadnought armoured warriors!

When the battle was over we toted up the points - 10-2 in her faour, I was well and truly whooped!! But what an awesome game it had been!! I can honestly say that it was one of the best games of 40k I have played in years!! Second edition is now most definitely my vintage of choice, and my girlfriend admitted she too enjoyed it and would be more than willing to play me again...next weekend looks promising!!

[BobbieTheDamned]

Sounds like a fun battle. I've always favoured 2nd Edition myself, it just has a lot more character than 3rd-5th. The only thing I'd say to be wary of is special characters who are all rather badass and are generally limited to higher point value matches for very good reasons.

[Marchomer]

I took a look to the rules, so I have an idea about the way the 2nd edition works, but as you know, I never played it.
So, what about the game mechanics, guys? Are them fast enough?

[Legiocustodes]

I hear you about the special characters, I had a look at some of their stats and then made a command decision not to use them! I can see them dominating the whole game!

As to the mechanics question I'm not sure if I'm the best person to answer as this was my first go! Usually I play fifth edition for big battles or rogue trader for smaller 'warband' style games!! Second edition seems to play like the beautiful bastard child of both, using the best bits of each and still adding a little something extra! Now don't get me wrong I like fifth edition for what it is (basically epic in 28mm), but sometimes it a little bit hollow and bland, and like it was created to merely sell loads of toys! In fact with a 1,500 point battle it's easy to flood the board with troops and really theres no need for tactics as wherever your men go they'll be within range of shooting something! On the other hand I love rogue trader, the random goodness of the battles and minute details make it a joy when playing very small skirmishes, but if you start trying to use bigger armies beware, the huge array of sometimes complex and whacky rules can become too much and pretty soon you'll be sitting in the corner of the room rocking back and forth with blood leaking out of your eyes!

Second edition on the other hand allows for mid level skirmishing and does so well! It has taken the best bits of RT (final version) and streamed lined it so that it plays better and does not require you to have 7 publications and numerous out of print White Dwarf magazines to play! However it has also managed to retain it's character and every model still feels like an individual warrior as opposed to a generic wound marker as per later editions!! It seems you can still have cinematic combats in each battle, and I really like the fact that close combat is done on a model to model basis as opposed to the rather dull squad-to-squad rolls that came later!!!

[BobbieTheDamned]

Legiocustodes wrote

I hear you about the special characters, I had a look at some of their stats and then made a command decision not to use them! I can see them dominating the whole game!

Yeah guys like Marneus Calgar and Abbadon will totally dominate unless there's another character to battle against them, hence this edition's nickname of 'herohammer'. It does give some amazing duels amidst battles and really makes them live up to their reputations a lot more than later editions.

Second edition on the other hand allows for mid level skirmishing and does so well! It has taken the best bits of RT (final version) and streamed lined it so that it plays better and does not require you to have 7 publications and numerous out of print White Dwarf magazines to play! However it has also managed to retain it's character and every model still feels like an individual warrior as opposed to a generic wound marker as per later editions!! It seems you can still have cinematic combats in each battle, and I really like the fact that close combat is done on a model to model basis as opposed to the rather dull squad-to-squad rolls that came later!!!

Yeah that's how I view it, RT with all the expansions and new rules added. Its a little more streamlined though (no silly RPG stats!). I find it plays quite quickly once both players know the rules well and know their armies special rules, though I can still remember day long games in my youth once the armies got bigger. Its definitely more a skirmish game, in fact 2nd edition is essentially still going in the form of Necromunda with only a few extra mechanics to add some flavour and keep the gang members alive longer.

[Legiocustodes]

I think when I've had a few games and we're happy with the mechanics that I will introduce the odd special character, but I will limit it to occasional games. Also at the moment I'm not using vehicles or the psychic phase until I'm fully happy with the basic rules as I've heard the psychic phase can become quite ... Complex!!

[Legiocustodes]

Well the missus and I had our second game this weekend. We used the same army as last time, but with the addition of a small half squad of assault marines each to bolster our numbers! The battlefield was substantially different this time though as we were now fighting over the ruins of a village on a medieval world as opposed to a ruined city scape! Also the board was bisected horizontally by a large river (I was dying to use my new Pegasus clip together river!) with only a couple of fording points.
My missus mission was to take an hold an object I've in the middle of the board whilst inwas required to inflict as much damage as possible. She set up first and so I was able to tailor my deployment to challenge any plans she may have had, and  I also roles to go first which was also a bonus!
My first turn seemed to go well with my army moving towards her objective in order to deny it to her and also to gun down any of her troops that tried to claim it. I inflicted a good amount of casualties with shooting and settled myself into a strong position! In her first turn all that happened was every trooper ran forwards eight inches! The next turn was more eventful as my shooting was very poor, but at least my assault troops jumped into close combat with their opposite numbers on her side, thus preventing them usin their jump packs. This combat would continue for the rest of the game! The tactical squads were involved in various firefights throughout the game but in the end the final result game to the two terminator squads who faced each other over the objective! There was an intense exchange of storm bolted fire but the battle was decided when my missus heavy flamer toasted three of my terminators and set my captain ablaze! She then charged into close combat and wiped out the remaining terminators on my side! With them dead she had seized the objective and once again won the game (by a score of 12-8 this time!)
Yet another enjoyable game!
I might start thinking about using different forces next time, I was considering a genestealer cult army as I love the background!

[MortiS-the-Lost]

Nice to hear about a bit of good old Retro-gaming going on 40k 2nd is classic 40k to my mind, more people need to be encouraged to play

[Legiocustodes]

Well after much effort I have managed to groom one of my colleagues from work back into wargaming after a prolonged break! He's coming around mine tomorrow for a game of second edition! He has fallen in love with the new grey knights models and wants to field an army of these guys! Does anyone know a good fan made list for these new models in second edition... If not I'll probably get him to field the power armoured knights as veteran marines and the terminators as grey knights termi's from dark millennium!!

[Legiocustodes]

Well sadly my mate couldn't make it yesterday after a slight Moped accident...oh well, I can't help but feel the hand of Tzeentch involved!

Luckily my Missus took pity on me and played a couple of games of second Ed with me (I think sh'es starting to enjoy it!)

The first game was a good laugh, she drew assassins, needing to kill my leader, whilst my mission was to get into her deployemnt zone (I'm starting to realise that this is no mean feat in a four turn game!).

We both failed our primary objectives, she wisely deployed her forces as speed bumps which stopped me rolling across the table, whilst my commander cowered inside some well defended ruins in my deployment zone.  It game down to forces killed and I managed to scrape a victory by two points.

In the second game we both drew Assassins.  It was quit cinematic as almost our entire force descended onto the middle of the table to duke it out with close range firefights and some hardcore Melee action.  By the end of my fourth turn I thought I had grasped victory, although I hadn't killed her Captain I had wiped out a fair proportion of her army!! MY smirk turned to a grimace as I watched her terminator squad plough into my Captain and rip him apart with their glowing power fists! Again I had lost.... But at least it was a fun game!!