Terminally Incoherent

Wohoo! I just got the brand new Eldar Codex in the mail:

Please be warned that a rant about how GW nerfed the shit out of x, y and z and how they awesomized q is in the making.

I didn’t have a chance to really read through the rules yet or check out the fluff section, but the book looks great.

Reading about a guy who buried a set of allegedly cursed 10 sided dice in his back yard reminded me of our own set of dice related superstitions. You may think this guy is silly, but I can totally relate to that. I’m the least superstitious guy around. I usually laugh when people talk about black cats, broken mirrors and all the things that. But when it comes to dice - that’s a whole different story. Sadly, you have never played RPG or tabletop games you most likely will not understand this.

Here are some of the dice superstition from my gaming years:

• There are lucky dice, unlucky dice and neutral dice. You should never ever mix them.
• If you store lucky dice with neutrals dice, they will loose their power.
• If you store unlucky dice with any other dice, they will infect the whole set.
• Dice use up their luck when rolled repeatedly. Each time you get one or two desirable rolls you should retire the dice for a turn, and allow it to recharge before rolling it again. Otherwise you may tap out all the luck out of it for the rest of the game
• If you treat your dice well, the dice gods will favor you. Never call your dice stupid, or curse at them. It guarantees bad luck.
• Even the best dice will roll low once in a while. However, lucky dice usually yearn to redeem themselves after a particularly bad roll or series of rolls. A dice that just rolled 1 is likely to roll high the next time. This only applies to lucky dice though.
• Dice gods hate to be taunted. You should refrain from saying things like “Anything but 1″
• It is lucky to invoke the name of a relevant in-game deity before your roll. If you play in Star Wars universe, you may invoke the Force.
• Sharing dice is very unlucky. If your dice get mixed with your opponent’s dice, they may turn against you.
• You should have a pre-roll ritual - such as shaking the dice certain number of times, huffing on them, whispering to them and etc… It does help.

Statistically speaking, all of those things are bullshit. I personally do not believe in any of these things. But I do half-jokingly conduct my little pre-roll rituals, watch not to tap out my lucky dice, and segregate the good and bad dice.

As a side note, there are high and low rolling dice. It is virtually impossible to manufacture a perfectly random die. The cut, wear and tear on the corners, distribution of weight and etc are all important factors. Sometimes you get dice that are cut in a way that gives them minimal preference on certain rolls. Sometimes you get ones that have air bubbles trapped in them, or where the plastic is denser in one area. These effectively act as “loaded” dice even thought they are perfectly untampered with.

The superstitions, and rituals do help you keep track of those odd dice, whether you are doing it consciously on not.

Stone Golem Costume

Holy poop on a stick! This stone golem costume is freakin awesome! Apparently this was made using only foam mattresses, hot glue and black paint. Wow! I have to say that these guys have a future as holywood creature makers. Check out the video of this thing in motion at youtube.

I never participated in a LARP but hell, I want to belong to a group that makes shit like that! Seems like allot of fun.

I do not keep up with the Games Workshop rumor mill that closely but I knew that Codex Eldar was in the making for months now. It was only natural to expect new miniatures to come with it. But since I stayed clear of rumor websites for the most part, I haven’t seen any pics up until today.

I just got the newest White Dwarf in the mail, and they have one of those 2 page teasers featuring the new releases. The spread shows new Dire Avenger, Howling Banshee and Fire Dragon models, and the new Walkers. Avengers look awesome. It seems that they get a new set of spures and whatnot. Let’s hope they actually get an upgrade in the new codex. With the current rules, I fail to see any good uses for an avenger squad on the battlefield (unless you are playing Biel-Tan and you need to feel the quota with some Aspect Warrior cannon fodder).

Dragons and Banshees look roughly the same. Models are more polished, and have better detail work. I think banshees got new, cool looking blades and dragons got cooler helmets. But for the most part, these models are canonical so there could be no big changes here.

Walkers on the other hand look incredible. Think IG Sentinel but way cooler, and eldarish! Finally, the Walker pilot got some kind of front armor protection in the front and a nice windshield. I was getting tired of the stupid jokes about the pilot just hanging from the machine all exposed and unprotected. Now I have excuse to put some walkers in my army!

The best piece of news however was the little blurb on that page. Apparently we are going to get a new HQ class called Autarch. These guys are supposed to represent the culmination of the warrior path - a super Exarch if you will. I’m guessing they will sport lord level stat-line, and will be able to pick wargear and abilities from all aspect shrines. This really sounds like a throwback to the good old days when an Exarch was a killing machine, instead of squad leader upgrade.

I have no clue how am I going to justify fielding an Autarch in an Ulthwe army, but I want one!

We are also supposed to get new Wraithlord and Avatar models. I’m however not clear if we will get a Wave Serpent. There is a Forge World model for it already so I’m not sure if GW is going to bother…