A good Warhammer quest guide is a great resource to have for finding your way around in the massive world of Warhammer Online. Warhammer Elite, created by Steve Ferris, who calls himself a "no life gamer", is a perfect fit for that role. Steve has been playing MMORPGs for many years and has been involved with Warhammer Online since closed beta. He really knows his stuff and shares it all with you in his guide.
Unlike many other games, WAR has plenty of options when it comes to leveling. This is great, as it adds variety to the game so you never have to resort to grinding your way through levels. However, if you are trying to speed level in Warhammer Online, this could be a problem if you don't know what you are doing. With so many options, it's easy to get distracted and slow down your pace of leveling. This is where Warhammer Elite can help.
Warhammer Elite clearly lays out a path to get you to level 40 without wasting a lot of time, and without missing half the content. The in-game screenshots and fully annotated maps, along with the detailed instructions and tips for completing quests, are designed to help guide you through the game as fast as possible. He even gives you pointers on how to engage the various mobs you will encounter in your questing adventures.
For anyone looking for a well written Warhammer quest guide to help you level fast in Warhammer Online, Warhammer Elite would be a great guide to consider. This guide works well for leveling in PvE quests, public quests, and RvR scenarios.
After reading this post over at Fritz 40k, I had been waiting for my chance to play a small-scale game with my Tau. This weekend, I had a couple hours out of the house to throw some dice with some friends. This post is one of the two games we played this weekend. The second installment will come later in the week. This first game pitted my small Tau Cadre against my friend, Pete, and his loyal Space Marines. We played on a 4x4 board as there was a magic tournament at Dream Wizards that day and we were relegated to the corner of the store. I was happy to oblige as I feel these small games are just fine a smaller board and also because we were by the windows and sunlight which is great for photos.
Tau Army List 750 Points
When I was pointing up units for this game, I wanted to make a micro version of my 2,000 point army. I knew I wanted a good amount of missile pods, at least one railgun and one or two piranhas. Kroot were going to be a necessity at this points level, as their cheap points cost means you can fill up the board with models and get more dakka as well. I also wanted a good sized unit of Fire Warriors as I've found their Pulse Rifles really come into their own in small games as well. Here's what I came up with.
Commander Shas'El with Twin-Linked Missile Pods, Flamer and HW-Target Lock
3x Shas'ui Crisis Battlesuits with Missile Pods, Burst Cannons and Multitrackers (more dakka! haha!)
10 Kroot
10 Kroot
10 Fire Warriors
Piranha with Fusion Blaster, Disruption Pod
4 Pathfinders, Devilfish with Disruption Pod
Shas'UI Broadside Battlesuit with Targeting Array (let's make those shots count!)
Space Marine Army List 750 Points by Pete.
Facing off against Old Shatter Hands at 750 I knew that I would be outnumbered as the Tau can really put out a decent model count for low points (plus I'd seen his list). I considered running 2 squads of tactical marines but the points investment along with an obligatory 100+pt HQ choice was bugging me. I wanted to use my recently painted Calgar model and so I started pointing up a captain with two power fists. Partway through this I realised it wasn't ideal as he would be facing a railgun and fusion blaster that could ID him and he wouldn't hit hard enough to justify the points. Then inspiration struck and I decided that I would use those oft-abused (IMHO) counts-as rules to bring Marneus Calgar himself. Eternal warrior (hah, railgun-schmailgun), God of war (morale? Not here), Titanic might (rerolled wounds) twin power fists, a power sword, AP2 bolters and an orbital bombardment...nice. I decided to fork out the points to add his terminator armour just to make it harder for OSH to torrent him to death. For the rest of the army I kept it simple. Tactical marines and scouts gave me scoring, the sternguard are just fun and I haven't played them in a while, and the dreadnought was there to crack open tanks and cause trouble for OSH.
Marneus Calgar (250) with terminator armour (15)
Dreadnought w/ Multi-melta (105)
5 Sternguard (125)10 Tactical Marines w/ML and flamer (170)
5 scouts w/ Heavy bolter (85
Mission: Seize Ground, 3 Objectives
Deployment Pitched Battle
Winning the roll to go first and facing a small squad of scouts 12 inches from my lines, I decided to take first turn. I deployed a firebase with a skirmish line of kroot out in the front. Everything was set up for Pete's foot-slogging marines to come to me.
First things first, I dropped the drones from both the Devilfish and the Piranha and moved them to screen the Kroot line. I then unleashed all the fire power I had at the scouts. The Drones took some shots, the Battlesuits moved into line of sight and my Kroot also opened fire on the scouts. The scouts hit the dust but were slain by the concentrated fire. They'll never earn their powerarmor dead now will they? The Warriors positioned on the hill moved up sightly to take advantage of cover
The Space Marines let out a bellowing battlecry and surged forward. Marneus Calgar, seeing his oppportunity, called to the great warships in orbit to unleash a precision bombardment on the Tau Battlesuits. Direct hit! The Battlesuits leaped for cover but two were blown to pieces by the blast. Inspired by the spectacle, the Dread nought moved up to take fire on the Piranha, missing his target complete but burning a firey hole through the vegetation.
With the Space Marines marching into a withering ail of fire, the piranha made it's move. It zoomed forward and let loose it's fusion blaster, wrecking the mobility systems of the Space Marine Dreadnought. The drones hovered up to take more shots on the Space Marines, which simply bounced off their armor.
A combat squad took cover behind a low hill by the centrally located objective, ready to seize it when the moment is ripe. Calgar pressed on following up where the Dreadnoughts advance had been halted. Sternguard too took positions of attack on the Tau left flank. To the right, a small team of marines fired rockets at the Tau warriors, but failed to cause any casualties.
Bird's Eye View Turn 2
Piranha immobilizes the Dread!
With the marines closing to secure the mid-field, the Kroot skirmish line pressed forward as well, ready to meet the Gue'la in the open. Fire Warriors reacted to the closing marines by embarking in the Devilfish and the Crisis Team positioned themselves for better lanes of fire. Flickering fire the Tau lines, killed a number of marines this turn, in an on-going effort to whittle them down to nothing.
That's when Calgar began his rampage. He ripped through my Kroot and consolodated towards my Pathfinders and Broadside. This was actually a relief for me, as it kept him away from my main plan. At this point I need to kill all of Pete's troops or contest the objectives. He had one squad of troops by the central objective marker and a single Tactical Marine by the left objective marker.
Calgar approaches, Old Shatter gets ready for a fish of fury.
Calgar mauls my Broadside.
Fish of Fury!
For the first time in a long while, I got execute a "Fish of Fury"attack. My Devilfish scooted up and Fire Warriors lept out. My Piranha turbo boosted to complete a nice skimmer wall and my Crisis Suits joined in a gunfight. 20 Pulse Rifle rounds and 4 Missiles resulted in not a single Marine death. Fish of complete failure more like. The good thing is it didn't matter, my troops were still save behind their skimmer wall. To try and finish the job, my Crisis Suits assaulted the marines to keep them from claiming an objective.
At the end of the game, Pete had one objective and I had one, DRAW!
This game was loads of fun. Playing at 750 points you still get plenty of toys and the turns are quick. It's more casual, as you can just chill and throw dice. You'll notice that we filled this little 4x4 board with tons of terrain. We did that to add more tactical depth and I think it worked. Pete was able to get into position and I had to maneuver to get shots off at him. In the end it came down final last minute grabs and tactics to pull out a draw.
"Where the daemon treads, there treads the weakling after. Where stalks the dark hunter of the night, creeps behind the craven fool. I say you can find out the servants of darkness and tell them by their mark. For believe me, each bears a Mark, each bears an outward scar of the devilry within. No man is born so unnatural that his body does not revolt at the foul pollution spawned inside.
And by these Marks can you tell them. By the horns of the beast - for they have turned themselves from the light and should be slaughtered like the kine in the fields. By the scales of the snake, - for they slither in dark places and should be beaten with a rod. By the feathers of the eagle - for they have vexed the gods with vain flight and should be brought down with a stone..."
From Realms of Chaos Slaves to Darkness
Games Workshop Copyright 1988
Lucius the Eternal is the 4th commission I've done to date. At first I wasn't interested in the figure because Games Workshop's paint job make him look clownish and silly. After painting him though, I think he's a pretty sweet model. This commission took about a week to do and there was some discussion with the client about the color-choices. I had originally painted him with less color, just black, white and red. The client's feedback in really bringing out more potential on the model and in the end produced a more pleasing figure.
This type of armour is usually only worn by Scout Marines. Given that their Black Carapace has yet to mature, they are still unable to interface with Space Marine power armour, so are instead allowed to wear a suit consisting of carbon-titanium composite plates. This is still capable of stopping the majority of small-arms fire. In times of relative peace, full Battle Brothers of certain Chapters may take to wearing Scout Armour during periods outside of battle. In games of Warhammer 40,000, scout armour confers a saving throw of 4+, making scouts a fairly resilient unit. Scout armour is a carapace-built heavy armour that is also worn by Kaskrin Stormtroopers and Vostroyans.
Power Armour
A Space Marine of the Black Templars Chapter, defending the crusade banner.
Brother-Captain WilliamsAdded by Brother-Captain Williams
Possibly the most prominent feature of the Space Marines is their power armour which is a synthesis of many technologies that pre-date even the Age of Strife, stretching back into the Dark Age of Technology. The suit is comprised of multiple custom-crafted ceramite plates with armored fiber bundles and servos that replicate the wearer's movements and enhances a Space Marine's already superhuman strength, as well as allowing them to easily withstand brutal attacks that would rip a normal human apart. The armor itself can also act as a self-containing environment for the suit's owner, protecting the Space Marine from anything in the environment, including the dark vacuum of deep space and the most toxic planetary environments that the universe can provide. The armor interacts with the Space Marine through the Black Carapace, a subcutaneous membrane grown from the gene-seed that allows the Marine's internal organs and nervous system to interface directly with the suit of power armor, making the armor in essence an extension of the wearer's body. The most current Space Marine power armor model is the Mark VII or Aquila pattern and remains the most mainstream suit of power armor in use by the Space Marine Chapters. However, it is not uncommon for parts of older armor models to be used to replace damaged areas of a Mark VII suit as this saves precious resources. An example of this type of retrofitting is that some Marines are known to have rivets on certain parts of their power armor. These pieces are from the Crusade pattern armor that dates back to the time of the Great Crusade ten millenia ago. These patched suits of power armor protect their wearers just as well as their updated counterparts since the only real change in power armor models are the auxiliary systems. What few know is that each Space Marine's suit of power armor is so specific to its wearer that it cannot be worn by 2 different Marines. So precious is his armor that each Space Marine swears solemn oaths to honor and maintain its individual machine spirit. Terminator Armour
Tactical Dreadnought ("Terminator") Armour is one of the strongest forms of personal power armor in existence and it is the heaviest and most resilient model the Imperium has to offer. It was developed for a mid-range of uses between dreadnought armor and standard power armor. It is composed of a ceramite plasteel alloy as an exoskeleton with servo-assisted interfaces with the user's own neurological and muscular systems to enhance movement. It is able to withstand tremendous punishment, and serves as a solid heavy-weapons platform in open-field combat. Due to its size, it is best deployed in close quarters such as the corridors of a starship, where the standard-issue storm bolter can be most effective. The First Company of each Space Marine Chapter uses Terminator Armor, and only those Marines who earn the "Crux Terminatus" are permitted to wear this precious and rare model of power armor. In games of Warhammer 40,000, Terminator Armor confers a 2+ armor save and a 5+ invulnerable save.
Artificer Armour
Artificer Armour is the name given to individualized and heavily modified suits of power armor provided only to Space Marines who have proven themselves worthy of the honor. Artificer Armor is a masterpiece of craftsmanship, offering its wearer nearly as much protection as Terminator Armor. In game terms, it gives its wearer 2+ save, but a model in Artificer Armor cannot use weapons as powerful as a model in Terminator Armor.
Vehicles
The Adeptus Astartes have access to some of the most powerful and rarest vehicles in the Imperium. They are all treated as holy relics, and lovingly maintained by the Chapter's Techpriests. Many vehicles are ancient STC designs, barely understood by the current Adeptus Mechanicus.
Dreadnought
The greatest of Marines who fall in battle with grievous and often life-threatening wounds are placed into a cybernetic Dreadnought that allows the pilot to live through a sophisticated array of life support machines. The pilot of the Dreadnought is hooked straight into the Dreadnought's systems to preserve him and allows the Marine to control the Dreadnought as if it were his own body. It is a great honor to be deemed worthy enough to enter a Dreadnought and keep fighting in the Emperor's name for many more millenia, as the knowledge to create new Dreadnoughts has been lost over the long centuries. Some Marines that have been placed in the great Dreadnoughts have been around since the Emperor himself still walked among his people during the Great Crusade. When the Dreadnoughts are not needed by the Chapter, they are placed back into the Chapter's chapel to sleep away the centuries until they are needed once more.
Rhino
A fast troop transport, a Rhino APC (Armored Personnel Carrier) can hold up to ten Space Marines, not including the two crew members who drive and operate it. The chassis of the Rhino is very versatile, and serves as the basis for some of the other Space Marine vehicles. The Rhino can have pintle-mounted weapons.
Razorback
A Razorback is a variant of the Rhino chassis that sacrifices some troop capacity for additional firepower. Razorbacks are commonly mounted with twin-linked heavy bolters or twin-linked lascannons on a single turret on the chassis, and are excellent for firepower to smaller squads. They can, however, also utilize Assault Cannons, or Multi-Meltas. With the addition of the turret, troop capacity is limited to six Marines.
Predator
The Predator is a heavily-armored Rhino variant that is used as a light tank by Space Marine Chapters. With the added weapons it offers there is no space remaining for troop transport. Armed with either an autocannon or twin-linked lascannons on its main turret, it can also have heavy bolters or lascannons mounted on sponsoons to either side as well. The Blood Angels Company is one exception in that they have been known to field a 'Baal' variant of the Predator. The Baal Predator is equipped with a twin-linked Assault Cannon on its main turret and single Heavy Flamers or Heavy Bolter mounted to either side on sponsoons as well.
Whirlwind
Being a mobile force, the Space Marines have little need for artillery. However, when it is called for, they can utilize the Whirlwind, which is another Rhino variant armed with a long-range missile pod, and can bombard enemy positions in preparation for attack. Whirlwinds offer two types of ammunition in the forms of Frag and Krak missiles, depending on the threat they will engage. As with the Predator, there is no room left inside these tanks for troop transportation, after they are outfitted.
Vindicator
When attacking fortified positions, Space Marines use a Vindicator, another Rhino variant, which fills nearly the entire Rhino chassis with the massive, snub-nosed "Demolisher Cannon", capable of blasting through the thickest walls. This weapon has proven so effective that the Iron Warriors Traitor Legion makes it a point to scavenge these for their own use whenever possible.
Land Speeder
Incredibly fast, the double-seated Land Speeder ground-effect vehicle is used to attack enemy fortifications and heavy weapons from the air. Although it is well-armed, it has little armor and relies on speed and rapid strikes for protection.
Its other variants include:
* The Tornado: The Tornado pattern Land Speeder mounts twice as many heavy weapons as the basic Land Speeder and can also choose from a wider variety of weapons, able to mount an assault cannon or a heavy flamer.
* The Typhoon:The Land Speeder Typhoon, is extraordinary at anti-personnel actions on the battlefield. The Typhoon mounts a twin-linked Typhoon Missile Launcher. The Typhoon missile inflicts a hard hit with the Blast template at long range and rarely misses since it is twin-linked. The Typhoon variant's only real drawback is its lack of versatility - the Typhoon missile launcher is excellent at destroying infantry or light vehicles, but almost useless against even medium armour such as the Eldar Falcon or Tau Devilfish.
* The Tempest: Sporting better armour, an assault cannon, and a twin-linked missile launcher, the Tempest is among the most feared versions of the Land Speeder. The Tempest has a difficult combination of weapons - the assault cannon has a medium range while the missile launcher fires out to a decently long range in comparison. Better frontal armour means that the Tempest can usually get in close to enemy troops without much worry. Also, Tempests are not upgrade variants like the Tornado and Typhoon. Instead, the Tempest is a separate Fast Attack vehicle option, and normally are only fielded in squadrons of one model. This means a maximum of only three Tempests are fielded in a standard Space Marine army. However, the twin-linked firepower of the Tempest's missile launcher and its increased armour make the Tempest a force to be reckoned with, used regularly for an open Fast Attack choice. The Tempest is no longer available as an option in the most recent Space Marine Codex.
* The Storm: The latest of the Landspeeder variants to be introduced into the game, the Storm is a transport vehicle for the exclusive use of the Space Marine Scouts. It sports a larger cargo compartment for the accommodation of five of the aforementioned Scouts, as well as a Jamming Beacon and a Cerberus Launcher. As a trade-off, it can only take one weapon, rather than the usual two, and has fewer choices as to which weapon it will take.
Land Raider
The Land Raider is one of the most powerful main battle tanks at the Imperium's disposal, and also one of the rarest. A Chapter is lucky to have more than five at its disposal. It can transport troops into battle, carries enough weapons to blast its way though nearly any defense, and has armor thick enough to withstand massive amounts of firepower.
The normal Land Raider pattern is called the Phobos. It carries a hull-mounted, twin-linked heavy bolter able to turn light infantry into sludge. It also carries two twin-linked "Godhammer" pattern Lascannons in its two side sponsoons, making the Land Raider an extremely formidable foe for armored vehicles, able to stand up for itself in any fight against another vehicle, and come out victorious almost all of the time.
Land Raiders are also equipped with a "Machine Spirit", an Artificial Intelligence crafted by the Adeptus Mechanicus. The Machine Spirit is smart enough to move the tank and fight even without a crew. It enables the tank to move even when the crew has been stunned, and is able to operate one weapon of the player's choice, to shoot at a target. However, the artificial intelligence of the machine spirit is nothing compared to the battle-hardened Space Marine crew of the Land Raider, and as a result, accuracy suffers considerably.
Land Raiders were once used by all branches of the Imperium's armed forces. During the Horus Heresy, the Emperor ordered that their use be restricted to the Space Marines, as they were at the forefront of that terrible civil war. The popularity of this mighty war engine was so great, that a whole Forge World, Anvilus 9, was entirely turned over to Land Raider production. But, at the beginning of the Horus Heresy, Anvilus 9 was overrun by Chaos-corrupted techpriests. Other Forge Worlds of the Imperium also ceased to function, either suffering the same fate as Anvilus 9, or became neutral, leaving only a small number of Loyalist Forge Worlds behind, and Land Raider production suddenly slowed to a trickle.
With Horus' forces threatening to overrun Terra, the very heart of the Imperium, the Emperor decreed that all Land Raiders still on the Loyalist side were to be for the exclusive use of the Space Marines, who were always at the forefront of the Imperium's cause. Once the Horus Heresy had been crushed with the sacrifice of the Emperor, the decree of exclusive use of the Land Raiders by the Adeptus Astartes remained in place, as none dared to revoke his most holy commandments. Thus, the decree has remained in place for the last ten thousand years.
Land Raider Crusader
The Land Raider Crusader is nearly identical to the standard Land Raider, but is armed to provide short-ranged, anti-infantry support. The Crusader was originally developed by the Black Templars Chapter, but was eventually authorized for use by other Chapters (who, it should be noted, had already been using them for some time beforehand.) All Chapters are now only allowed to have 1 in their army, except the Black Templars.
The Land Raider Crusader is armed with a hull-mounted twin-linked Assault Cannon turret, and sponsoon-mounted Hurricane Bolters (essentially six bolters linked together). It is also equipped with a Multi-Melta to burn through armored walls, and its front is studded with fragmentation launchers to assist the troops disembarking from its front ramp. The removal of the lascannon sponsoons allows for greater troop capacity. The Crusader may transport 8 Marines in Terminator Armor, or 15 Marines in standard Mark VII power armor.
Land Raider Redeemer
The Land Raider Redeemer is an evolution of the Crusader, created by the Salamanders Chapter. The Redeemer retains the assault cannon and frag launchers of the Crusader, but replaces the Hurricane Bolter sponsoons with flame projectors. These Flamestorm Cannons are able to purge even a well-defended bunker complex in seconds.
Land Raider Terminus Ultra
Released in the Apocalypse series, the Land Raider Terminus Ultra Pattern is one of the Imperium's best tanks. It is a Land Raider with 2 side-mounted twin-Linked lascannons, 2 side-mounted single-linked lascannons, and a twin-linked lascannon on the roof. The only downside to this vehicle is that it can't carry troops, yet its sheer fire power fully makes up for it.
