INTO the EYE  An investigation into the deepest and darkest nooks of the GW Universe By Mike Brandon [June 2006] Welcome to the second volume of ‘Into the Eye’, a look into the finer parts of the GW hobby.   What’s the Rush? A look back into tactical articles in past White Dwarves see’s constant mention of ‘taking your time’, and the classic sign of being a good player is to walk around the table and view the battlefield action from the opponents side. Yep, take it nice and slow and make no mistakes….. Well, this here piece is going to tell you why that attitude isn’t a winner. First and foremost, the best way to play is to keep any plan you have as loose as possible, that way your reacting to the board, and not some notes on paper that have little to no bearing on the way things pan out by the start of the second turn. The second part to being a good player is instinct, understand and love your troops and you’ll know when to hit cover and when to hit the enemy. Master these two parts and then you can utilise the real killer…time. If you understand your army and the table layout – ‘clock’ this when deploying, you can begin to use the tactics that really mark out a good player. During your turn you should be as fast as possible, drop your troops here you want them immediately, don’t get harassed checking enemy positions, your just showing your opponent what your intentions are. If you can throw out a turn fast, and with good instinct you should be able to do it without mistakes, your opponent will have no time in which to respond to you and make plans. Don’t worry about having a big army and taking longer than a smaller one, its all relative, the more troops you have the more plans your opponent will have to make so it evens out. If you achieve this, during your opponents turn you can throw off weaker players, harass them, complain about the time it takes – you’ll have the right to. In general a player can only take about 50% longer than their opponent, and this can completely throw off less skilled players. Next, learn to plan all your next moves during your opponents turn, instinct will tell you what you need to hit and then you can throw out your turn even quicker and really put your opponent on the ropes. Like football, pace can really win out as long as you have the ability to utilise it. So that’s it in brief, conclusion being that there is a physical factor in 40k, and that’s pace. Your own ability to move stuff fast, and use your brain fast  can give you the games momentum and can put players really on the run. And even if it all falls apart, you’ll probably have made time for another game or an extra 30 min in the pub!     Strange Visions New creatures for the battlefields of the 41st Millennium Solid Snake  This month, the master of Stealth and the perfect soldier, of Metal Gear fame… Solid Snake can feature in a 40k army using the same guidelines for choosing a standard Assassin. Troop Type M WS BS S T W  I  A LD Save Points Solid Snake 4 8 8 4 4 4 8 3 10 6+/5+ 300 Weapons – Socom (Bolt Pistol w/ Silencer & Red-Dot Laser), FAMAS (Move & Fire Heavy Stubber) , Missile Launcher w/ Nikita missiles – Frag missiles that can target any model within 18” even if it cannot be seen & Stinger Missiles (Krak Missiles), PSG-1 (Needle Rifle) & Frag and Smoke grenades Armour – Flak Armour Wargear – Solid Snake carries a Soliton Radar (Bio-Scanner), a Grapnel, Infra-Red   Goggles, Rations (auto. has effects of a Medi-Pack in each rally phase), and a Concealed Blade    Special – Infiltrate & Immune to Psychology.  Solid Snake also has the following repertoire of skills – Catfall, Quickdraw, Combat master, Ambush, Dive, Escape Artist, Infiltration, Sneak Up, Hurl Opponent, Crack Shot, Hip Shooting, Marksman For special equipment and skills, see the Necromunda rulebook If I were a Space Marine…. Over the years many people have asked me, ‘what would I take in a Space Marine army?’ Here for you is the army list I’d use, but what would I do with it? Well, maybe one day I’ll make it and you can find out :-p   Commander –  Chaplain Hero w/ Jump Pack 94 points Hero’s –  Company Standard w/ Plasma Gun 63 points Techmarine w/ Jump Pack & Power Axe 50 points Squads -  Tactical Squad w/ Heavy Bolter 315 points Veteran Tactical Squad w/ Heavy Bolter 345 points Tactical Combat Squad w/ Plasma Gun 158 points Assault Combat Squad w/ Jump Packs & 20 points wargear 195 points Devastator Combat Squad w/ Heavy Plasma & Lascannon 235 points Support -  Predator w/ Twin Lascannon and sponson Heavy Bolters 150 points Dreadnought w/ Assault Cannon & Power Fist 175 points Attack Bikes X 2 w/ Multi-Melta’s 230 points Total 2,000 points Scry the Stars…. This I hope will kick off a Q & A section on 40k which I will answer in subsequent ‘Into the Eye’s’, so if you have a Question on anything from background to points values in 40k 2nd edition email me at brandon@ogc.org.uk Finally…..2 former 40k Champions go Anglo Saxon….