Surviving Horror

This is not meant as a serious post but it does not mean the contents are without application to real life. . In my household we have been on a horror movie bent of late. The perpetrators have been monsters and humans, supernatural and too natural. I have thus decided (like the book on preparing for the Zombie apocalypse) have decided to generate a survival directive for surviving horror (movies).

1. Do not deviate from the original travel plan. This is typically how you are placed within a horror situation to begin with. As a corollary to this directive is that you must travel well armed. No, bullets may not slow spirits, but there are plenty of flesh causing horrors out there that will indeed bleed.

2. Once in horror situations, be prepared to use deadly force. I am not advocating first strike/pre-emption. But if you find the body (or blood stained suggestions of one) of a travel buddy, then all restraint against the use of deadly force should be suspended immediately. Naturally, if you are armed and are at risk of becoming the first victim of the group, by all means pre-empt.

3. Stick together. United you stand, divided you will die. Stragglers will be picked off. Do not investigate anything or anywhere on your own. Do not even go to the bathroom on your own. I recommend a minimum of 3 persons per activity. Say you are going to the bathroom. One person does the business, one keep an eye out in the room, one in the doorway (leave it open) and keep an eye out in the hall/outside. You should also keep 3 for each watch sleep. Teamwork is essential for survival. This would suggest that the size of your over all team should be six, grouped into threes.

4. Believe your friends. When your friend reports seeing something too crazy to be true, take it on face value as being true. No potential threat should be dismissed, every potential intel should be considered. Your enemy cannot be underestimated. Never assume your enemy follows the same code of behaviour as you do, adhere to the same moral code as most might. A corollary of this is that if you yourself saw something too crazy to believe you must tell others of it without fear of dismissal or ridicule. Distrust breaks down the team effectiveness and cohesiveness.

5. Have a plan for actions. Do not wait to be victims. Your plan of actions should be firstly security and ensure survival of the team. Your plan of actions should be secondly about escaping from the current horror situation. This has to be the order rather than the reverse. You will die without the team, there can be no escape alone. Note that all good plans require knowing what the sequence of actions will be (stepwise progression works best) as well as alternative options. No plans, regardless of how good, will be effective without buy-ins from the team. And the combination of action plans + team require defined role for each team members.

6. Have faith. Believing in a higher power/purpose may not save you from a lunatic, but it may against un-natural forces. Even against the mundane, having faith that you will survive provides a positive goal to enact and accomplish your plan of actions. Faith cannot be under-estimated. If you don't already believe, consider starting to believe (there are no atheist in foxholes). A corollary to this is that if you do not already believe, while others do, do not dismiss their faith, instead trust them, trust their faith (see #4 above).

7. Do not believe there is a traitor among you. Doing so will tear the team apart and doom you. If there is a traitor among you then you are doomed already, but no point speeding things up by breaking up your most important resource, your fellow team members. If the evidence become incontroversial that a person is a traitor, and some team members have already died from betrayal, eliminate the traitor. Use deadly force if necessary. Under no circumstances should you continue travel with the traitor as a captive. He/she will certainly seek to escape bondage while with you and cause harm to your team. While not the best of options, leaving the traitor behind bound and silenced may be an alternative. Know though that if found by your enemy, the traitor will certainly act against you. Why is having a traitor means you are likely doomed? Because the team has already been weakened and fractured by the traitor as well as the process of rooting out the traitor. However, you can at least take solace in the fact that nobody likes a traitor, and that in all likelihood the enemy will eliminate the traitor themselves once his/her usefulness has expired.

LotR: Gondor & Rohan

My current thoughts on colors for Amon Barad (Gondor led by Cirion & Madril) & Westfold (Rohan led by Erkenbrand)

Gondor:
primer: boltgun metal
armor & shield: boltgun metal
weapon: chainmail
clothe: charadon granite
cloak: knarloc green
wood & arrows: calthan brown
arrow feathers: white
leather: black
horse: brown
wash: thraka green

Rohan:
primer: black
armor & shield: boltgun metal
weapon: chainmail
clothe: deneb stone
cloak: knarloc green
wood & arrows: calthan brown
arrow feathers: white
leather: black
horse: brown
wash: devlan mud

LotR: Shadow in the East Colors

Khamul & Shadowlord:
primer: black
armor and weapon: dry brushed bolt metal
clothe: necron abyss
cloak: black
leather: charadon granite
horse: black
wash: black

Mouth of Sauron:
primer: black
armor and weapon: dry brushed bolt metal
clothe: red
cloak: black
leather: charadon granite
horse: black
wash: black

Easterling:
primer: black
armor, shield, and weapon: dry brushed bolt metal
clothe: mordian blue
cloak: orkhide
wood: calthan brown
arrow feathers: deneb stone
arrow: knarloc green
leather: charadon granite
horse: grey
wash: blue

Khand:
primer: white
armor, shield, and weapon: dry brushed bolt metal
clothe: Iyanden darksun
cloak: orkhide
wood: black
arrow feathers: deneb stone
arrow: knarloc green
leather: charadon granite
horse: grey
wash: yellow ink

LotR Tactics 1

For the past 6 months I have been playing LotR Easterlings, mostly at 700 points in the local store. What I have learned is the following.

1. Force Composition. I believe a balanced force should consist of three parts. A mobile reactive part, typically cavalry. A battleline part consisting of warriors. Both the mobile and the battleline should be led by a hero (for heroic actions) and a standard bearer. The third force should be a relatively immobile force of archers (or war machines). A hero might be helpful to conduct heroic shooting, but a standard bearer is not necessary.

2. Battleline. The battle infantry should be lined up in three lines. The first line should consist of high armored fighters with shield. The models in the first line should be spaced out a bit in order to stretch the flanks further out, but not so far apart that it makes it easy to be ganged up and charged by two models. The second line should be their supporter, which would be spearmen. The third line should consist of the hero, the standard bearer, and a few additional warriors. Cavalry should be lined up in two lines. The first line should be the main, the second should be the hero and the standard bearer.

3. Movement. Frequently it is better for the battle infantry to get charged than to charge, especially if there are sufficient warriors in the third line to react and counter charge. The second line of supporters should be directed to where it is important to win the fight, the unsupported models should shield if outnumbered. Cavalry forces should always consider heroic move to avoid being charged.

4. Heroic Action. The best use of Might point is for heroic action. For Cavalry hero should reserve Might pts for heroic move to avoid being charged. Infantry hero should use Might pts for heroic move to charge and pin down enemy models, usually as support for Cavalry. Missile hero should use Might pts for heroic shooting. Heroic fight should only be used selectively to attempt "sacking the quarterback." By quarterback I mean either the standard bearer, a weak combat hero, or to act against an objective.

5. Magic. Still haven't figure this one out.

LotR Colors

Just a note regarding my LotR color scheme.
Unless otherwise stated, all are using GW foundation paint.

Easterling:
armor, shield, and weapon: dry brushed bolt metal
clothe: mordian blue
cloak: orkhide
wood: calthan brown
arrow feathers: deneb stone
arrow: knarloc green
leather: granite?
horse:

Khamul:
armor and weapon: dry brushed bolt metal
clothe: necron abyss
cloak: black
leather:granite
horse: black

Mouth of Sauron;
armor and weapon: dry brushed bolt metal
clothe: red
cloak: black
leather: granite
horse: black


Khand:
armor, shield, and weapon: dry brushed bolt metal
clothe: red?
cloak: orange?
wood: calthan brown
leather: granite?
horse:


Rohan:
armor, shield, and weapon: dry brushed bolt metal
clothe: iyanden yellow
cloak: deneb stone?
wood: calthan brown
leather: granite?
horse: tallarn flesh?

New Game

Despite my intent of just sticking with the armies i already have and concentrate on terrain, i have started LotR.
But i don't regret it for two main reasons.
Firstly, it allows me an opportunity of getting some friends into gaming. Having friends to play with can never be diregarded.
Secondly, after skimming the rules, i think it is a better game system than Fantasy Battle. For battles, i think Warmaster does a much better job of representing epic battles.
And thirdly (yes, i said "two main reasons" but this is just a minor reason) is that the human armies i have chosen will allow me to use my human warhammer houses. So in a way, it is still about terrain?

The armies i have chosen are as follow. Each will be built to 500-600 pts.
1. Easterling
2. Rohan (Theoden's Host, but led by Erkenbrand)
3? Khand or Lorien
4? Lorien or Khand.

Book Review: Legion

I read it all in one day, yesterday. It was a great departure from the other Horus Heresy books because though it is about the Alpha Legion, it was a view of the Alpha Legion from the outside. From this outside perspective, the mysteries of the Alpha Legion remains. Even though a significant fluff/plot twist was introduced, it only increase their mysteries.

Overall, well written and better than any of the other Horus Heresy novels. I give it 8 of 10.