Exciting news

Once again my apologies for not regularly updating the blog. Insert excuse here.

What I am excited to be able to help announce is that I have been working on a super secret project over the last few weeks with The Sound of Machines http://www.facebook.com/thesoundofmachinescommissionpainting

This is the big thing we've been working on in secret for weeks now 

http://www.indiegogo.com/thesoundofmachines

Please check it out and contribute!!!

Hi all!

I've been wanting to write an article on the concept and tactics of staying in combat for some time, and numerous night shifts have given me the time to do so..

I play a number of 40k armies - marines of many colours, tau, eldar, necrons etc... But by far I enjoy playing my guard the most. I run a mech-hybrid psyker list (you'll see two of my recent games vs Kirby's blood angels on here) and vs assault armies, it can be pretty devastating. At Cancon this year I was in first place for battle points right up until the last game, where I played a space wolf Logan/longfang/pod support list.

Having a little chuckle, my chimeras advanced up the field, blasted half his force away, killed his priest, and dropped the leadership of his wolf guard to ld 4.

Logan then single handedly won the kill point mission.

His wolf guard passed their leadership, with a reroll from Logan being close by, and then proceeded to stay locked in combat with my infantry/tanks for the remainder of the game...

So how does this happen? I know many people understand if I am in combat I can't get shot at - but I don't generally see people applying this as well as they could.

Firstly, the concept. Damage results vs a vehicle do not count for combat resolution, with the exception for walkers. Using the Logan example, my opponent after attaching Logan, put his highness as far back as he could, brought his fists/hammers into combat with my chimera, and his standard/non power weapon guy into combat with my command squad.

Importantly, anyone that my squad could reach in combat with counter-charging was also in combat with my chimera. My guardsmen punched them, he punched my chimera, and we drew combat. Consolidate, then kills my veterans in the following turn, netting another consolidate move, and a further move/assault/rinse/repeat. Note the meltagun in the wolves squad would not shoot at the chimera, since the point is to assault the vehicle.

This is the basics. Squad can't be shot, since locked in combat. But how else can this be achieved?
A second example from a friendly game, where an opponent did the following using an independent character to pull his punches.

The inquisiton squad is just in range of the veteran guardsmen – note the position of the independent character (coteaz in this case). The inquisition assault, the guardsmen cannot reach the character, and though the inquisition unit maintains coherency, without counting coteaz the inquisition models are not within 2 inches of a model in combat. Alternatively, if you used an independent character that wouldn't win combat by himself, it would not matter if the guard could reach him – as the crusader and death cults could not fight either way (they need to be within 2 inches of a member of their unit who is in base to base). This is a very simple method for pulling your punches – as the unit can draw the combat, and wrap in to wipe out the guard in the guard turn.

This may be basic for many veteran players... But I still don't see it happening even in fairly competitive levels of play. Consider the many other ways you can do this - whenever possible, hit vehicle and infantry, pulling your punches. Consider jump infantry, with the ability to do this 18 inches from the centre. Focus on stunning/immobilising your opponents vehicles so you can access areas in your opponents deployment where you can not be targeted. Consider your opponents ability to counter attack.

Pulling punches correctly, particularly versing armies like my pride and joy guard with little counter attack ability, will win you games - you just have to work out the best method of doing so!

CoA List building

Building a tournament legal 1000 point Covenant of Antarctica Naval List

Large

In my opinion this is where the majority of our damage output lives. The combination of high strength broadsides and turret (guns) combined with Sterginium rounds  means Large CoA vessels put out some of the best, difficult to mitigate, damage output compared to anyone else.

The weapons on the large ships are also effective against all different enemy vessels with the only possible exception being enemy corvettes.

So that brings me to the first major decision. What large vessels do you take. The dreadnought is awesome and I can not fault it (despite being the most expensive squadron I have seen in the game but i think that is justifiable). In 1000 points though I am going to have to pass on it in order to take two Battleships instead.

The damage output on the Battleship is very comparable to the dreadnought. Its main advantage though is that a pair of them outputs significantly more firepower (I know they cost more). I cannot justify spending 460 points on 1 of each in 1000 points. However I can easily take 370 points in two battleships.

With the battleships the utility value of wave lurker and the extra 2" move it gains from that are very handy for avoiding damage and closing into range.

The Time orb is also an essential large squadron in most CoA lists. The threat of teleportation alone is worth the 70 points even if you dont use it. More importantly though the Time Dilation Field that reduces the incoming AD from your opponents is indispensable. Especially in games where you want to close with the enemy.

Medium

Given that points for points none of the medium ships (or fliers) output the same order of magnitude of firepower as our large and massive squadrons, I have abandoned the idea of selecting mediums primarily on firepower. If you find yourself taking mediums for damage output then I would recommend dropping them and trying to fit something larger.

Based on the fact that most of the core missions involve victory points I take the Zeno Armored Cruisers (usually a pair). For 25 points more than a Plato Cruiser you get inventive scientists, 2 extra CR and HP.

These stats bonuses equate to your enemy having to get TWICE as many (24) successful AD against the Zeno compared to the Plato (12).

The higher CR means they tend to take damage more slowly meaning their firepower drops off less during the game. The two extra HP also give you more opportunity to play a repair card on the squadron if using them.

For these reasons I take a pair of Zeno cruisers. The broadsides are really nice for providing versatile damage output. The particle accelerator can nicely damage a medium ship and then follow through on a small one behind it, or alternatvily with reasonable alignment, (which I admit is tricky against a good opponent) two small ships. The points denial value is where these models shine though.

Small

My advice is to go with Frigates. They are fast, cheap and have reasonable damage that is easy to use.


The real advantage of Frigates though is 2 AP. CoA is not a boarding army. AP though is a critical resource and frigates are the most cost effective way to boost it.

You are unlikely to actually capture enemy vessels unless you get lucky but you can preemptively board to reduce their AP and get in the way.

Frigates are disposable. Use a screen of frigates to prevent your opponent getting close enough to board you. Throw one right in front of their big stuff to lock down their movement.

Destroyers are good (I have revised my 'do not take' status I assigned to them in my post on CoA small), however, they have no real advantages in my list over Frigates.

The Fore Guns on the Destroyer are easier to use and Pack Hunter means that they can lay down some serious damage. The problem is that unless you are attacking large things the extra firepower is largely overkill. My big vessels take out large enemy vessels fine, I dont feel the need to invest more points into fufilling this role.

Frigates on the other hand are just as effective at taking out small enemy vessels and cost 10 points less.

My main problem with corvettes is that they are less durable than the other smalls with the CR 4 and the fixed channel guns are more fiddly to use while outputting less firepower (broadsides get to shoot out both sides). Yes they are faster but I have not yet encountered a need to be faster than the Frigates already are.


The message is:

• Damage comes from big things
• Everything else provides utility or tactical/strategic options...any damage you get from them is a bonus

Sample list

2x Battleships
1x Time Orb
2x Armored Cruisers
3x escorts
3x escorts
4x frigates
3x frigates
2x frigates

Total 995 points

That is 9 activations per turn (including your two from tiny fliers) which seems to be enough to not get too badly out maneuvered  in 1000 points. I have yet to have significant difficulty destroying anything that I focus on and can avoid losing models that I need.

Recent CoA experience

Apologies for the lack of recent posts. Unfortunately life gets in the way of Hobby sometimes.

Aside from recently finishing off my 6 destroyers and another batch of frigates I have been playing some games using the new 1.1 Dystopian Wars rulebook.

I love the new rulebook...but I'm going to save that for another post. For now I want to talk about some game experiences.

I have been running in a 1000 points a core of:

2x Aristotle Battleships
2x Zeno Armored Cruisers
2x 3 Galen Escorts
1x Callimachus Time Orb

and been fiddling around with frigates, destroyers and corvettes (and more escorts for the orb).

So far it has been working really well. One of the real advantages is the compression of applicable force. Each of my major activations (medium and up) lets me unleash very large amounts of firepower in a single activation. Another time I will post some thoughts on how to build a list to take advantage of this and balance it with volume of activations.

Against armies that you want to get in close against:

1. The Callimachus Time Orb activates first and uses the Time Dilation Template to protect the Battleships which are submerged
2. Tiny fliers and small vessels activate
3. Last 2 activations are the Battleships moving forward 10 (8" submerged + 2" for the Time Dilation)

Next turn the orb moves forward and provides the same trick to the Battleships. This time when the battle ships activate though they tend to surface and begin merrily blasting away at my target priorities.

That is just the general game plan against armies where I want to get closer. The advantage being that the only things that get full shots against the Battleships is any number of squadrons my opponent has more than me plus up to two extra (one if he goes first and another if he goes first in the second turn before the orb rinses and repeats.

You also have the opportunity for opportunistic teleportation but beware as this more often than not leaves you very vulnerable. 

I find that the Zeno Armored Cruisers soak up a massive amount of damage. That higher Critical Rating and starting Hull Points mean that it takes very considerable firepower to destroy them.

I find that the Plato Cruiser doesn't put out significant firepower. Given this I would rather for the extra points be hard to kill. The particle accelerator tends to KO little ships and the broadsides are nice and beefy on the Zeno.

As far as little ships go I have not made up my mind 100%
I have reassessed my previous position about Plutarch Destroyers not being worth considering. I have used them very effectively in two games. I just am not yet convinced that they output the correct amount of fire for their points when compared to Frigates.

At present I am leaning towards using the Diogenes Frigate as my main small ship. Being cheaper and therefore more numerous than Destroyers in my list I find they put out good firepower at short range.

Being disposable I use them to block enemy assaults. By placing a screen of Frigates more than 4" out from your larger vessels you can prevent larger (therefore less maneuverable) enemy vessels from closing into boarding range. They usually also end up targeting small enemy vessels leaving my big ships to focus on theirs. As such I tend to run them in small squadrons to increase my number of activations per turn.

Since the Diogenes Frigate has broadsides this means they can zip out from behind your battleship, form a screen and then give a nasty broadside to anything trying to close with you.

Galan Escorts have been amazing. They neutralize the effect of rockets and torpedoes on my big ships and can double in to the role of screening that frigates do in a pinch. The extra AA against boarders also can mean the difference between a win and a lose. They really force you opponent to dedicate significant resources to eliminating them in order to attack your Battleships.
 

Ptolemy Class Bombers Completed

Finished off the bombers today. I was really glad to get some dull coat on them as they chip really easily without it.

Also there is now a facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/HobbyOrDie

Painting guide:

CoA Small Class Naval Unit Analysis and Tactics

So in my opinion this is definitely our weakest class with relatively difficult to use options. The main reason I say this is due to their limited range and firing arcs. I will try to keep this article up to date with my views and any rule changes.

Overall I think minimizing the number of small squadrons is a mistake. There are a few common reasons to take several squadrons such as:

• Increased number of activations per turn. This reduces the extent to which your opponent gets multiple activations after you have activated all of your Squadrons. Additionally this lets you make 'inconsequential' moves while waiting for your opponent to commit or come into range.
• Protection for larger ships from small/medium class models by obstructing line of sight

Compared to their cost other factions small ships generally do everything better than ours except for movement. Our movement is faster but this means that either you waste this advantage by holding back to provide support for slower larger vessels or you run up, do a suicide run and get blasted apart next turn.

Cancon - Day 2!

Hi all - 3 more games and still doing well.

Game 1 - Multiple objectives and Hold the centre for the secondary, Pitched Battle. Honoured to verse Crynn from Melbourne!

Crynn was using Grey Knights - roughly had a Grand Master, Coteaz, 10x tooled up paladins, 10x strike knights, landraider godhammer with psyammo, venerable psyflemen, deathcults with a mystic and acolyte or so, thats the gist of it. He rolled high on scoring, so every unit ended up being scoring that could be.

He had first turn, and moved his landraider to shoot down my vendetta - that had been carefully pinned in place to avoid flat out moves in the scout phase. Unfortunately for Crynn, he failed to penetrate, which would cost him a lot. His psyflemen shot at my manticore in cover, doing a glance and a pen, both being saved. I think he ran forward with all his paladins etc, but had pretty shocking movements/runs on the whole.

My first turn I think blew off one lascannon from the landraider, via the manticore. Both my hydras shot his Venerable Dread, and blew off an autocannon arm. I think the vendetta killed one paladin with lascannon fire.

Cancon – List Comments and Day 1 Double Post

Hi all!

I’ve been crook, so apologies with not getting my list up earlier – I’ll post it here with some comments, and then briefly run through the first three games. The army list is off my head lol, so apologies if its slightly incorrect (it adds up on paper!!)

Imperial Guard – 1,750 points, Cancon 2012

Cancon 2012 and considering competitive play

Cancon commentary

So Canon is only 2 days away! In brief, cancon is a 1750pt 40k tournament, approx 130 players, 3 days and 8 games. Battle is a whopping 58%, comp only about 14%, painting 17% and sports 11% (this is all rough rounded, all scores are out of a total 350 possible points).

So why do so many people call cancon a soft tournament? This sort of analysis should really be a big part your list writing process, to put you in the beat position for a podium finish.

Most podium contenders should get an easy 80%++ for painting, given its a checklist system. That really only gives a 3.5% overall score between the worst contender and the best (and last year, no one got 100%).

Comp last year had the highest score somewhere around 40/75, and the lowest about 20/75. Comp is marked beforehand by a panel of 7 people not playing, who go through all 130 lists or so, with the average competitive list being about 2/5 equivalent. The top and bottom scores are discarded, giving you the average of the 5 middle scores.

So a comp of 40/75 compared to 20/75 gives a 26% variation between the very best and very worst scores, which in the grand scheme is only about 3.7% of the overall score. If we assume you take a moderately hard list, say 15/50, and compared it to the softest army capable of keeping in battlepoints, say 25/50, the variance becomes about 20% difference, or 2.8% overall.

Sports is 40/350, which a checkbox (tick 5 different boxes, did your opponent play slow, etc, and the TO checks where you get comp canned by your opponent. So for arguments sake, say the worst average score would be 3.5/5 compared to 5, losing 3.3% of your overall score.

Thus, realistically, if you have a chance of podium placing un battle, brought a solid list, don't play like a chump and paint your army - worst you can suffer is about 10% compared to your softest competitor, and more realistically about 7.5% (you played pretty well, average hard army, better than average painting score)

Now - the games.

With a 58% battle score, every single game comes in at abit over 7%. That's right - a single game nets you virtually all the soft score penalties. But its more than that - some of the bonus points are really hard to pull off from experience - most soft lists are going to leak bonus points everywhere, just trying to stick to the mission. Tabelling your opponent tends to fix these issues!

Cancon is a lot of fun - again with 8 games, 130+ players, a good dispersal of armies (everything bar templars atm), it should be something to look forward to. With the setup for points, a competitive army and player can really aim to do well.

Next I will run over my cancon list (imperial guard), a quick overview of how it works and how well it could expect to do!

Painting the Covenant of Antarctica

This morning I painted up a few test models for my CoA. Other than picking out a few details they are complete and I am happy with the results, especially given the time taken. Still drying a little bit but here are some pics

I Started out by undercoating the models over a few days. I have also been undercoating my Necrons (pics soon) and for the first time in years nearly ran out of spray.

Undercoat completed I used the airbrush to give them a basecoat of Mordian Blue. Once that dried I gave them a Badab Black wash.
The wooden decking was then painted Khemri Brown followed by a devlan mud wash.
The guns and chimney stacks were painted Dwarf Bronze with a Leviathan Purple wash
The Propulsion System got a Chainmail coat then a Thraka Green wash
Finally the remaining metal parts were painted Chainmail and finished off with a Badab Black wash.

Also other than the airbrushed Mordian Blue the entire model was painted using my favorite Citadel Wash Brush.

On the next batch to save time I intend to try and paint the metal bits after the basecoat then wash the whole thing black or alternatively see if doing the purple wash over the Mordian blue basecoat and painted guns gives a good effect. Either of these changes should further cut down the painting time.

More FAQ thoughts

Hi all,

The new FAQ's have had a significant impact on a number of armies; not only have GW released the expected Necron faq, but a number of other issues have been clarified as well (and in interesting ways).

For those who don't want to read the detail - here is a brief summary/list of the major changes (though I would carefully read the faq's as to how they effect your individual army).

Daemons;
- Need to roll to hit with lash (not huge, being bs 5, but still a nerf...)
- If rerolling to hit/wound with warptime, you need to reroll all dice, not just misses...

Nids;
- Hive guard now ignore *all* cover unless it is intervening, that you are either in or touching. No more smoke for you!
- Lash whips (and coils for necrons) are now overridden by anything that further modifies initiative (halberds, furious charge, etc).

4 Biggies - Necrons, Deployment, Rerolls, and Firepoints.

Necrons!

I would say the biggest clarification to the Necron rules is that a necron court member can join a squad that already has a member from a seperate necron court.

Ie - Necron court A sends cryptek with eldritch lance to Unit C, and Necron court B does the same.

This in effect allows necrons to field very effective MSU units. Strength 8 ap2 at 36 inches is fantastic against many of the lighter vehicles that make up mech spam, and when you can fire 2 shots per unit of 7 models (5+2 crypteks) this isn't bad. The range provided by these lances is significant, particularly when considering a solar pulse to initiate night fight in your opponents turn. I mean, do you really want two waves of 10 str 8 shots hitting your army before you get a chance to hit back? Coupled with the str 7 multishots from annihilation barges, and I think we have a winner. Probably the most viable lists will now incorporate either warriors or immortals in 5 man squads with nightscythes (for the str 7 cannon) and annhilation barges (x3), giving you 8 vehicles or so + any command barges. Every unit can thus hurt mech and infantry alike.

Things like veil of darkness and mindschakle scarabs clarified to work how they do is a good thing - but with decked out courts, this army will get expensive very quickly. My suggestion would be focus on the core, and develop the tricks later. Other issues (such as whether or not a vehicle lost its +2 armour if it passed its cover save, and wether or not ) were also clarified, but were silly in the first place - no (australian) TO would have ruled otherwise. But again, good to have!

Moving on - Deployment! (and Dawn of War).

The FAQ has clarified (changed the rules) with deployment in that all marine armies that have combat tactics can split during dawn of war deployment, deploy both units, and count as a single unit! Thus you can now have up to four units of five marines deployed on the table at the start of dawn of war. This used to not be the case, as Dawn of War specifies two 'units' are able to deploy, not two 'force organisation choices'.

This is also significant with deepstriking, particularly with grey knights and blood angels that would use this tactic - split right before you deepstrike, and deploy both squads individually (after the single reserve roll). This also works with scouts/other units infiltrating the same way.

Now, the internet is in an uproar about how Imperial Guard platoons will now deploy - following the same reasoning, an entire platoon is considered one troop choice - giving you literally up to 70-80 models down per unit in the opening of dawn of war. The real argument begins with chimeras though.

With a normal dedicated transport, say marines getting a rhino, even with the new faq, the Dawn of War mission states a dedicated transport is considered a seperate unit from the troop (and thus takes up another troop selection). Chimeras are bought as dedicated transports for components of the platoon, but the faq says the whole platoon is deployed - and any units deploying 'in a non dedicated transport' will have to deploy seperately/roll seperately in reserves - say for example, a vendetta.

This would imply that if you are in a dedicated transport you can deploy with the platoon... but this doesn't meet the guidelines for the mission. I would suggest that chimeras 'dont' deploy with the platoon, following dawn of war specific rules, and that the exemption for non dedicated transports relates to other deployments (say outflanking, normal reserve rolls, etc). However, this issue seems to be very prickly, so I would check with your local TO to see their ruling before hand. Either way, this is a massive boost for guardsmen, and players who like their heavy weapons! At worst, you can deploy your HQ's chimera empty and a single troop chimera, for spotlighting everything for all those heavies...

Rerolling!

With the change in how Warptime works for chaos (when you reroll dice, you reroll all dice), many people are arguing that preferred enemy, and other instances of reroll dice that doesnt specify reroll misses, must all be rerolled or none at all. I expect most TO's will rule this way, though again it would need to be checked prior to. Note, things like Eldar's Doom psychic power specifies reroll failed to wounds, so you need to check in each instance.

Firepoints!

Any 'special rule' or 'wargear' that requires line of sight and is not a shooting attack can no longer use a firepoint. This again will need to be taken by a case by case basis - but note, psychic powers are not 'special rules' or 'wargear', and this is addressed by the first faq statement under 'psykers' on page 3 of the main faq (a psychic power that isn't a shooting attack may use line of sight from firepoints). However, certain abilities, such as the tempest storm from njal are not psychic abilities, and do require line of sight. You should check these on a case by case basis to see if your abilities are affected.

Many changes to think about!

Cheddar

Necron FAQ thoughts

Having been playing Necrons since they first got a codex and given that they are my primary army I am somewhat attached to them.

My thoughts on the FAQs:

As usual there are a a lot of 'duh moments' such as Entorpic strike vs vehicles or Dispersion shields against templates but it is good to have clarity and an FAQ to point to rather than have to try to debate it with someone.

A few of the cool stand outs were:
-Deathmarks targeting independent characters
-Mindshackle scarabs vs single models
-The ability to attach models from different royal courts to the same unit
-Quantum shielding not being removed if the penetrating hit is saved
-Veil of darkness

In terms of my strategy this means that ill be taking more mind-shackle scarabs as they can really save your bacon in CC.

Hunters from hyperspace applying to Royal court members attached to Deathmarks means that i can have a tremor staff that wounds on 2+...thats pretty mean for laying some hurt down. Also the way it now effects independent characters that are marked as the target increases their usefulness further.


Other than that most of the answers are how I read/played them anyway. The one slight nuisance is the ship coils now being applied before wargear that modifies initiative. I guess its just less reason to take wraiths. 

The Covenant grows larger

More stuff came in for my CoA fleet :D

In my games so far I have been struggling (against the British at least) to make effective use of the Frigates. Their short range shooting usually means that they are performing suicide runs which I think the Corvettes would be better for. Im planning to experiment more with the small class ships but I haven't been seeing as good a return on them for their points as the larger vessels.

Progress report:

All the large and medium stuff has been undercoated. Light and wind are preventing me from finishing off the undercoat on the smaller ships. Hopefully Ill be able to get it done tomorrow

40k - where to go with this?

Hi all,

Cliff is (brainwashed) allowing me to post here from time to time on some articles worthwhile - I'm mainly going to be talking about 40k, though I'll comment on some of the other games relevant to what we are doing.

With the new FAQs released the other day, and having followed closely a lot of the commentary from Stelek, Kirby, Warseer, Dakka, and Wargamerau, it is interesting how rules are now being interpreted - tomorrow I will put up a post outlining a lot of the new changes, and what they mean for the game, you may be surprised...

I would also really like to explore the necron codex a bit more, and see how viable they can be. It will be interesting seeing Aeon, for example, using them to smash face at Cancon. Likewise getting some more information on James Taylor's recent win with Necrons at the UK Masters tournament. Our own Masters is happening pretty soon as well, for that matter.

Anyway, on we go - many things to look forward to!

Cheddar

Starting Dystopian Wars

 Long story short I've been busy the last few months and havent made enough time or done enough hobby to hobby.

My progress on my Necrons has been really slow :( although I did get some metallics down on the destroyers and have nearly completed assembling a squad of Death Marks.

In other hobby related news, this year I have started a new game with some mates...Dystopian Wars.
So far Max and I have played a few games using his starter boxes to get our heads around the rules. He has been using the Kingdom of Bretonia (KoB) and I have been borrowing his Empire of the Blazing Sun (Japan/ EotBS).

First game using the entire Navel Battle Group box content

For myself I will be starting out with a Covenant of Antarctica fleet.

What I managed to snag from a local store

Aside from the rules which I think are absolutely amazing, the models are ridiculously cool. There is detail where it has no right to be, in overhangs and there are things like rivets in the sides of doors at the bottom of stairs that sink into the deck of the ships. Additionally on the resin models there are no mold lines or flash coming off the model except for at the base where it is very easily removed.

Covenant of Antarctica Naval Starter Box a few minutes after opening

The aircraft carrier had the most individual pieces (8 excluding turrets, most of the rest of the stuff is one piece)

Dystopian Wars certainly feels like the most tactical and strategic tabletop game that I have played to date.

Things I liked:

• Clear detailed rules
• Regular rule updates for the game (including great forum run by the creators with game designer->community interaction)
• Cool, distinctive models
• Minimal Assembly (can play using a fleet a few minutes after opening the box)
• Low cost (less than $200 AU to get started to a tournament size with models to spare)
• Stat cards for models (come supplied with the models)
• Inclusion of details on other factions and special rules in the core rulebook
• Land, Air and Navel combat all in the single unified system

The game works on a model by model (or squadron by squadron) activation system (I activate one when I'm finished my opponent does). this means that firstly you are active more often which makes the game more fun and involving (no sitting back and only responding by rolling the dice your opponent hands you. Secondly it adds an extra element of tactics for the order of squadron activation. Additionally it reduces the impact of alpha strike tactics. 


Another nice game play feature is the variable maneuverability of the various models, combined with the different weapon firing arcs and the ability to fire all your weapons regardless of movement. This means each model functions differently and is used to distinguish the play styles of the various factions.
I still haven't decided on my final colour scheme. I am leaning towards blue and brass. Being a steam punk setting I think everything looks better with brass.

I have some more goodies in the mail and hope to put some painting updates (and maybe even guides) up throughout the week.