I'm hooked.

Hi there.

One of you picked me up on one of the 40k forums and now I'm hooked on Death Squads! (Partly because it's cheaper, but mainly I like the look of skirmish games.) I would thank you but I am in the sad situation that I don't have anyone to play with.

So until I do, I want to ask some questions about the rules.

I am slightly confused over recruits and officers. I play IG and I understand that officers are not what I think they are. You can have around a third of your squad as officers. But does this mean that officers are meant to be the 'showcase models' or the main part of your squad that has all the snipers, flamers e.t.c. and not really all about leadership.

Also with recruits, and I've probably missed this in the rules, but are recruit groups like squads in 40k? i.e. not just for advancements, equipment e.t.c. Do recruit groups have to stay in unit coherency? Are they named individuals? Basically, what is a recruit/recruit group? I'm having some trouble getting my mind around them.

Thanks!

Happyorange wrote:

Hi there.

One of you picked me up on one of the 40k forums and now I'm hooked on Death Squads! (Partly because it's cheaper, but mainly I like the look of skirmish games.) I would thank you but I am in the sad situation that I don't have anyone to play with.

So until I do, I want to ask some questions about the rules.

Welcome to your new addiction. I am in the same boat as you I only get a chance to play every so often... certainly not as much as I like... i got one of my work mates coming over tomorrow night for a game first game in a while REALLY looking forward to it. [IG Vs Ork] got to play the classic match up being its his first game.

I have about 6 or 7 squads so far:
Imperial Guard [Urban fighters]
Eldar [dire Avenger Exarch, Aspect, Striking Scorpion & Howling Banshee Aspirants]
Orks [B'Ork squad, my Cyborg squad... been fun converting them up]
Kroot [work in progress. we are currently working on this list]
Adeptus Arbites [ early stage of design. the squad was made to help with the concept]
Slaanesh Chaos Cultist [still in development ]

I can also make up an Imperial Renegade squad as well... [not sure if I want to LOL]

What squads are you planning on building?
please tell us about your battles [when you do get a game] and also POST PICS!!! of your squads... you can see some of the great squads/conversions and scratch builds some of the guys have done on here they are amazing...

Happyorange wrote:

I am slightly confused over recruits and officers. I play IG and I understand that officers are not what I think they are. You can have around a third of your squad as officers. But does this mean that officers are meant to be the 'showcase models' or the main part of your squad that has all the snipers, flamers e.t.c. and not really all about leadership.

ok the officer/recruit can be confusing for the first time looker. if you can understand that the difference between a Sergeant and a recruit is the sergeant has rolled that lads got talent....whilst the lieutenant is a recruit who has rolled TLGT and has XX amount of experience. the captain is the same but with more experience.

the generic IG recruit can when the roll up TLGT be either a Heavy weapon specialist or an officer.

The Officers are great and yes you can individualize them alot. hell even the grunts can as well..

In WH40k your dealing with a sea of humanity and "Bob" the IG infantry man armed with a lasgun [[as is the other 50 IG infantrymen] is lost he does not stand out. but if "Bob" was in:DS: he would not be some rank n file. but an intricate member of a squad. he can progress through the ranks as your squad grows in strength, power and credits [eg $$]. you will get better equipment, weapons and armour. Bob may end up being the Squad commander [that's if your very unlucky and loose all of your officers.] so having a good mix of officers vs recruits is good. but one thing max out your officers.. as long as they are not OOA [out of action] at the end of the battle you get a dice to roll for the exploration phase.[eg more chance to earn more credit so you can buy those big guns and armour you so want/need]

Happyorange wrote:

Also with recruits, and I've probably missed this in the rules, but are recruit groups like squads in 40k? i.e. not just for advancements, equipment e.t.c. Do recruit groups have to stay in unit coherency? Are they named individuals? Basically, what is a recruit/recruit group? I'm having some trouble getting my mind around them.

Thanks!

ok what they mean by recruit groups is this:

say you have 5 IG infantrymen. 3 are armed with lasguns whilst the other 2 have shotguns. the three lasgun guys can be "grouped" together and the two shotgun guys can be made into another "group".

why do this? well it makes it easier to keep track of these units. As these groups will earn exp together and roll together on the advancement chart. the exp is shared in that group so they will level at the same time. if you arm your units [the term unit = one miniature, either recruit, officer, HWS etc] with different weapons etc then they will go it alone and level by themselves.

hope this helps.... I am sure Mord or Styrofoamking will/can explain it better....

again welcome to the forum hope you enjoy yourself. please feel free to ask any questions. if you have any suggestions for the staff to look at then pop into the Suggestion box and make a thread there.

Cheers
LGW

Ah right, so if one recruit takes an enemy OOA, then the whole the recruit group gets one experience point extra. But otherwise they act as individuals?

Happyorange: WELCOME!!!!

I'm very happy that we can help you fill the plastic-crack void in your life. Thanks for the compliments on TLRB... always growing. While it saddens me that you do not have anyone to play with, do not despair... you will find someone soon. We are here to help. LWG did an excellent job (like always) explaining all this, but let me see if I can address some of your questions.

Since you play IG, let me give you a visual using them. An IG army is composed of several companies (1,000's of men), each of them sub-organized in platoons (100's), that are organized in squads (10's). In every squad, you have someone in charge... that responds to his platoon leader, who responds to his company leader, who responds to the army General. the game of Apocalypse is about an Army (several Companies)... 40k is about a platoon, and Death Squads is about... Squads.

In your Squad you have a boss... a leader. In your case, this will be the IG Captain. He also relies on other trusted men (Officers) to make sure things (like dying for The Emperor) get done properly by the meat bags. So, your Squad is composed of 'two groups'... Officers and Recruits. In 40k, each squad has to follow unit coherency (each model within 2"), but in each model can be trated as an 'individual' in the battlefield. Your opponent will tend to pick anyone who is isolated first, so don't go crazy!

The Officers are important, so you treat them as 'individuals'... they have names and you track each of their wounds, skills, equipment, etc. You also keep track of their actions (kills) and experience. The Officers are important because they can advance faster and learn Skills, which quickly individualizes them. They tend to start with skills that support Recruits (see the IG Mordians for an easy to follow example).

The Recruits compose the 'bulk' of your Squad (they are meat bags after all!) So you can clump them in little Recruit Groups (RG for short...). All members of an RG have to be of the same type, with the same XP, the same equipment, the same advancements... basically, they all HAVE to be identical clones. The purpose of this is to ease unit management. Lets say you have 8 IG Infantrymen. You could group then in 2 RG of 4 fighters each or 8 RG of 1 fighter each. They do NOT move in any cohesion... the RG is a game mechanics management tool. You can still name you individual Recruits, but it gets hard to play if you have an entry for every Recruit. When you roll for an Advancement, EVERY member of that RG gains the same Advancement... and if you want to upgrade a weapon, you must upgrade everyone (or split the RG!) A kill for a Recruit would mean a kill for the RG... although I do not beleive that we have any Scenario that awards any XP for Recruits taking an enemy OOA.

Hope this helps. Looking forward seeing your adventures!

Thanks guys, I understand that now. It's actually an advantage to be in a RG!

Quote :

A kill for a Recruit would mean a kill for the RG... although I do not beleive that we have any Scenario that awards any XP for Recruits taking an enemy OOA.

Scenario: Stake-out, Pg 75

Quote :

Die Leader... DIE!: Every Officer or Recruit Group that takes the Defending Leader Out of Action gains +1 Experience

Thanks again guys.

HA! I just got schooled by the newbie! Thank Da Amparor (look for him) that I maintain TLRB! HA! You are 100% correct... in this Scenario Specific condition, if you have 5 Recruits (remember... they HAVE to be identical fighters) in the same RG and one of them makes the kill, then the Group gain +! XP... time to hunt me some Leaders!!! Thanks.

I notice that you are young too... probably about finishing school and entering your summer vacation. It is a GREAT time for you to pick a battle-buddy. Since you need very little models (no more than 20... usually 15 will do), you could find someone that wants to learn, and give him 15 guardsmen... from your army. No need to give him anything fancy... as he learns how to play, he would gravitate to modify his guys and eventually want to modify his officers. Tell him to get an Officer box... they have GREAT bitz.

Your army won't miss 15 regular guys, but it would make a great difference. If you don't have a local store to buy (recommended), then you could hit the web.

Welcome to the board, go and recrute a friend, Mord's idea is a good one, just get familiar with the rules so you can drag someone into the hobby with you, he'll thank you for it years to come

I've made twenty Imperial Guardsment, for my Counts As Adetus Mechanicus squad, using the contents of the IG Cadian Command Box, a high elf spear regiment box, and a half-dozen weapons, arms, and heads from the bitz boxes of friends at the game shop.

may require less models, but for a conver-a-holic like me, I still seem to be buying as many boxes! I've got my eye on some Ork Boys and Skaven Stormvermin now...

Thanks for your suggestions,

Unfortunately, due to major exams this year and other fun things, I won't be free mainly until August/September. So is staying on hold for awhile, but until then I might still post a bit here.

Welcome Happy Orange!

Greetings and welcome!!!