INTO the EYE  An investigation into the deepest and darkest nooks of the 41st Millennium By Mike Brandon [May 2006] Welcome to ‘Into the Eye’, a new 40k regular feature, looking at the finer points of Warhammer 40,000. The point of these articles will be to address certain gaming issues, and also expand a bit on different aspects of background and rules. To kick this ‘pilot’ we’ll take a look at, well luck! It’s all in the dice Luck, it’s a common excuse for battlefield bloopers, “I lost because I rolled a one for an important shot” or the classic “It’s all down to luck”. Luck itself is an easily overstated factor of 40k, yet reliance on luck is in itself a key strategic error. Lets take things simply, the ‘luck factor’ is reduced immensely by the more dice you roll, its simple, so by default armies that roll more dice are more reliable? Well, not necessarily, BS, WS etc all plays a big part, so for example a Space Marine player would need less models shooting than say, an Ork player to score some hits. The trouble is, so many players play 40k with the mindset of, this is a nasty weapon and thus it can blow its target up….big mistake, that is relying on a high luck factor. Instead, overcompensation is key to victory, in my Chaos army I’ll launch 5 lascannon shots at a target where other players would only fire one. The point is, you must figure what it will take to destroy a target, double the shot to compensate the risk of rolling low, and then add extra shots to ‘overcompensate’, thus eliminating the chances of being unlucky.  To take an example from last years Fantasy Tournament, in my Semi-final game against Simon, I was holding a Solid Victory against Simon at the end of Turn 4, however it all soon collapsed, why? Because I was relying on holding a unit in combat who had to face a LD test every turn to not flee. Consequently I eventually saw my unit flee and I received a pummelling, unlucky? No, this was my own fault, had I compensated with more units, and consequently more dependant dice rolls, it would not have gone that way. ‘Shots of faith’ as they are called are not reliable and factoring them in as part of a plan is a massive tactical error. Skilful players can pretty much eliminate the luck factor from their games, sure you can have a bad day, but with overcompensation, and of course a good overall plan, you can still pull a very tight game from it. Gambling is not a strategy, it’s a reaction to a tactical situation, but it is not a strategy. Blasting one or even two weapons off and then complaining that you lost because you rolled a snake eyes a couple of times is no excuse. Chances are a third one would have hit. The truth is, luck is most sense has little to do with 40k. You control so many aspects of what you roll, be they BS, armour, to hit modifiers etc, that you can manipulate heavily what needs to come out on the dice, and a good general can get the modifiers they want. Even Space Marines can field large numbers, if your losing because of luck, its bad army selection and bad generalship. I lost that Fantasy Semi last year due to overloading certain units, bad army selection in other words.  Unlucky is when a plan messes up a bit, rolling a single one in a turn and then collapsing because of it is bad strategy. Luck is a far overrated factor in 40k, and one that the best players can combat. Don’t be left with the same old excuse, it just isn’t bought anymore! Strange Visions New creatures for the battlefields of the 41st Millennium Pyramid Head The Monster of Punishment from Silent Hill 2…. Pyramid Head can be used in Necromunda and Mordheim. If a ganger battles the leader for control and wins, and the leader is injured and rolls death on the serious injuries chart, the ganger in question must face his own conscience and do battle with a vision from his own nightmares….Pyramid Head. Troop Type M WS BS S T W  I  A LD Save Pyramid Head 3 1 0 8 4 5 1 1 10 - Weapons – Great Knife (Causes D3 wounds) Armour – None Special – Causes Terror. Toughness doubled against hits to front 90 degree arc. Walk through walls. Victimised Apparition: Can only be targeted fought, or cause terror to its intended victim, in effect it does not exist to anyone else!