[Studio Gumption Super Models Final BETTER
Addison Mauldin
In melee, both players roll their attacks simultaneously, andstarting with the attacking player, they choose a single die roll that is a Hitor Critical, and either apply it as a successful Hit against the target or as aParry, negating an enemy hit. Thedefending player then chooses one of their die, and back and forth until thereare no dice left to use on either side. What this really boils down to is that models with a lot of meleeattacks are more likely to survive melee in a meaningful way as between abetter WS that allows for more successful rolls and more attacks to be able to bothnegate hits against themselves and do damage to the target, they can actuallykill the target without dying in the process. This also means though that a lower value model can kill a higher valueone by choosing to put everything into Hits and accepting that it will not beable to defend itself. I like thischange quite a bit, and if you have access to fighty models that areexpendable, you can make melee punishing for more elite forces.
Moving around the board is essential for the missions butalso to navigate terrain. Seeing as terrainis essential to a good game of Kill Team, there are some relatively robustterrain rules, but again, with the way range is measured by symbols, it cantake a bit getting used to. The maincrux is that if you are more than 2 inches (Circle) away from an ObscuringTerrain feature, you cannot be seen from the other side of it unless theshooter is within 1 inch (Triangle) of that Obscuring Terrain feature. This means that if you are trying to hide, youwant to actually be a bit away from the terrain features, but if you are attacking,you want to get right up on the terrain to be able to see through it. Of course, being really close to the terraindoes give you cover, which now just negates a ranged attack hit against you,which can be pretty clutch.
The last big standout, rules wise for me, is that Models nowhave 1 of 2 Orders that they are given at the start of their Activation (orwhen first set up). A model has eitherthe Conceal or Engage order, and which models in your team are going to Engageor Conceal changes a lot what they can do. For instance, a model that has the Conceal order cannot Shoot, but it isalso much harder to target. As long as a model has the Conceal order and is inCover, it cannot be shot at unless the attacker is within 2 inches of it. A model with Engage has no real restrictionson what Actions they can take, but they are far easier to see through terrainand such. This creates a lot more tactical depth as itis much easier to traverse the board free of ranged attacks, but you also cannotactively engage much at all. It alsomakes Terrain a bit more important as there is a special designation calledVantage Point where a model on a higher level can target models with theConceal order whereas another model on lower ground could not. This means that getting snipers into the highground is not just cinematically awesome, it is actually essential. While a Concealed model cannot attack, it canstill perform certain mission critical actions, so if you want to stop thatmodel carrying away a piece of intel, you need to either get close or have asniper or two in a good position.
I really like the change to melee. It is bloody, high risk, high reward, and in general, it feels very cinematic. It also means that even the scariest Custode can be felled by an Ork with gumption (and a death wish).
I like the restrictions on Actions a lot. You cannot Move and Charge in the same turn,so for models with a lot of Action Points, it cuts down on the number of actioncombinations like a Custode shooting, moving, charging, and fighting.
The Tac-ops seem unbalanced. Some are relatively easy to do like Execution, which is just getting more kills than your opponent, which for certain factions is not that hard, especially with the Conceal/Engage mechanic. Others, like Challenge, are really easy to counter and will likely not get much use. This will take playing and sending feedback much in the same way that the Secondaries in 40K needed some adjustment (and still do in some ways).
The new edition of Kill Team is certainly that, new. It is a big engine change, but the actual machine of it seems pretty workable. I am excited to get some games in with my usual crew, but then, I am also a little anxious because teaching the game will take a bit more time than before. I am already starting to think of what questions about ranges and such that I will need to answer. I do think the actual game system here is sound with a real difference in how shooting and melee work and pretty decent terrain rules that make tactically traversing the board far more important than anything else.
In art we have this amazing abstract thing: the line. It is the most basic way of making a shape. Yet that shape, lacking value (lightness/darkness) and color, is not real. Why do we perceive a four sided figure (e.g. a rectangle) as a shape? What even is a shape? Shape is just a human concept. Why does this matter?
Because it demonstrates that 2d representational art is an abstraction. Masterful line art proves that you can create the illusion of a three-dimensional reality without using anything that belongs to that reality. That should tell you what drawing is.
Even if you spend time figuring out how to say what you want to say with words, using a thesaurus, etc., you are NOT struggling or even thinking about the fundamentals of your language. That is fluency.
Yet, art education combines the two in foundation life drawing class, where you are to employ your (nonexistent) drawing skills to understand the human form, and, conversely, the human form is supposed to teach you how to draw!
Learning how to draw is simply learning how to look at your drawing and see what it is telling you. This requires brutal honesty. Courage, even. You must avoid that wide and hazardous middle ground where you get what the drawing is supposed to be doing, form-wise, so you become insensitive to whether it is really truly unquestionably achieving that.
When you understand that form does not come from accuracy, you will have access to the bottomless source of art and imagination: inspiration. You can look at one human nose, for example, and draw a million very different noses that all have that basic form in common but reflect your style.
When you look at a model or photo reference you will now be striving to understand its form, rather than trying draw everything. You will look at life like a drawing, vs. looking at your drawing like an inadequate version of life.
You need to understand this because these principles are operating in your 2d art whether you realize it or not. Even if your work is non-representational, these principles are at work because humans compulsively deduce form from everything we see, even those nonexistent things we call lines.
Here is an easy way to see this: what makes it look like one shape is overlapping another? What makes you know you are seeing one shape on top of another, when in fact there are really just two or three separate shapes on a two-dimensional surface? This is the beginning of seeing for yourself that there is a grammar to the language of drawing.
Whoooa, a mind opener. I am not sure I fully understand your awesome post, Chris, so I will reread it *several times* to get that embedded into my brain. I have admired your way of working since I read your blog about training for anatomy one week at a time for each part. I have never been able to complete the whole tour, but I am quite good drawing skulls ?
I really like the fact that you were very blunt about drawing. As a beginner I really put drawing in a very different perspective for me. I see things very different now more in the form of shapes. My wife asked me to draw something yesterday and I did it without using any reference. Thank you for taking the time to write and share this, I will definitely share with others to help them find their own inspiration for their own art.
I feel like I was learning all the dictionary, tried a lot to make sentences with shapes, sometimes it worked (fail and retry again) And now, I have the grammar basic and I can really learn and improve !
Either one is great. You can think of a form, say, a wormy type of thing. Or you can draw an organic shape, then see how you can make slight adjustments or additions to turn it into a form. If it already kind of reads as a form to you, see why, and do more of that. You can do this with a very small number of shapes.
As far as measuring progress, that is hard. If I were looking at your actual drawings I could tell you a lot more. One test is like I mentioned in the piece: can you draw an organic form that someone else can understand fully as a form? For example they could model it in Zbrush or Sculpey, or make a drawing of it from a different angle? The fact that this is so hard to test exactly indicates how much we artists normally get away with, in terms of not really depicting form well. As soon as the thing is recognizable, everyone becomes unconcerned with how well the illusion of form is being delivered. Put another way, they fill in the blanks themselves.
I feel only more confused after reading this article to be honest . But maybe it takes time and practice to absorb it . I always felt like shape design is the most important this but then how can it exist without perspective and light as it defines shape .
If we throw a light directly above it, what happens? The lower half is shadow, and the upper is lit. But the edge of the shadow is a horizontal line, no different from if you painted the top half white and the bottom half black.
If you want this circle to read as a form, as a sphere, what do you do? I say, try tipping it forward (in the case of the black and white painted sphere), OR move the light forward, so the shadow edge is half of an ellipse. Then you will have two shapes (a circle divided by an elliptical curve), and you will start to have form.
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