3:10 Tau Yuma

July 6, 2017, 11:30 pm

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Hi! Kraken is away on holiday, but that doesn't mean we, his paintbrushes, are.

Writing's not really our strong point, so we won't say much about this set of Forge World Tauroplanes. And drones, because you don't get Tau, sorry, T'auTM without them. The smallest ones are Darklight drones, the next ones up are shielded missile drones, then you've got a pair of Remora Stealth Drones. And the big one with the magnetised guns is a Barracuda, like the one that ate Nemo's mother.

Photography, we can at least manage as well as Kraken can. Enjoy!

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Lucy's on a Skyweaver

July 23, 2017, 1:39 pm

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Diamond Geezer, Get Serious.

With diamonds, being the obvious implication. Because Harlequins? And they have diamonds? Is this getting through at all?


I enjoyed my holiday, thanks very much. Now back to the grind.

Jetbikes are a big draw in Eldar armies, packing speed and firepower in an attractive combo. Harlequins take this to extremes, as they're even harder hitting, although terribly frail at the same time. Leofa went and got some, at any rate, so his somewhat Ynnari-looking army can throw a few into the mix.

Took a fair bit of painting, but I'm still mostly on holiday at the moment, so I squeezed them out by the end of the week. I don't know which was worse, the diamonds or the ridiculous amount of gemstones on them. Probably the latter, actually, because I left them all until last and then blitzed it. Bleh.

Skyweavers are the smaller bikes, each with a rider wielding some kind of future bolas. Nice idea but pretty impractical for the models, the chains are very thin. So the riders are travelling home unglued to reduce their chances of shattering in transit.

Back to trying to get reflective chrome right. Better! The sky looks decent, anyway, although the ground probably needed a bit more pop and detail in the foreground. Meh, I'll fix it in post.

All the guns are still loose too, so that Leofa can magnetise or slot them as needed. I don't think the larger skimmer will manage much swapping without magnets, the guns are a very tight fit in a very narrow slot, and it wouldn't take much for the pins to snap, so I didn't play around with them much for photos.

Lots of plain space for freehand, a mixed blessing as ever. Chicken out, and you find painting a nice smooth surface that size is actually quite hard to pull off neatly. Don't chicken out, and everyone can see your freehand. As ever, I've fallen somewhere between the two stools.

This is about the size of a fifty pence piece, and very clearly not meant to be examined from this distance. Looks much better from several metres away. In another room, say.

The bigger bike can be a gunship (Voidweaver) or a transport (Starweaver), depending on what's required. It's missing its transparent cockpit canopy, which I hope is because Leofa didn't trust me not to varnish it by accident like I did last time I did one, rather than because I lost it somewhere. Nice looking thing, either way. There's about four hundred hidden gems on the underside, which I'm really glad I bothered doing. Same with the rainbow flooring in the back seats, really worth spending the time on something I can't get in a photo. Hey ho! Grist to the mill.

"Call that a hovertrain? Pfffff."

Finally, a shaman for the frogmen from the other week. He fits into this week's theme because I painted a Starweaver, and he's got a starfish on his stick.

Electric Duel-a-Ghoul: Flesh-Eater Courts vs Disciples of Tzeentch

August 5, 2017, 2:23 am

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Sir Loin ate heartily from his venison stew, scooping the generous cuts of meat from their thick, warm gravy before sinking his teeth into the trencher with a satisfying crunch.

"Lord Gnaw," he acknowledged the king's emissary and proffered him a goblet of ruby-dark wine. "I hear of dark rumblings upon our northern frontier."

"Indeed," the courtier took the offering and drank deep. Lord Gnaw was a vast man, almost bent under the great weight of his shoulders, with his leathery cloak wrapped about him like wings. "The followers of the false gods are attempting to blot out the sky with their magics."

"Barbarians," Sir Loin opined, picking through his platter of sweetbreads and choosing the freshest pancreas.

"The King wishes us to ride forth without delay. There is no time to summon the yeomanry; take only your knights."

Sir Loin rose from his meal. "I have a dozen of my finest warriors at hand. Let us fetch them from their supper table and thence to battle. The quest will sharpen their appetite."

A quest for the cannibal knight?
It's All-Skype Fight Night!

Holster those boltguns, we're back to fighting with teeth and pointy sticks. The Tzeentchian saga continues as they face their first opponents from the Death Allegiance - the Flesh-Eater Courts!

At last! A return to the battlefield after a rather long pause. Our narrative AoS campaign hasn't stalled exactly, but it's been a while since the last instalment. We would have played this about a month ago, but holidays, house moving, and the general laziness of summer took hold. 

We're trying out a new battleplan - one from the Narrative section of General's Handbook, rather than Matched Play. 'War of Storms' plays along the length of the table with a storm front starting off down the middle. At the start of each turn, the storm edges towards your opponent's table edge if you win a roll-off, increasing the surface area of his 'storm'. It also moves a little more if you wound the enemy general, and a lot more if you kill him (it also moves back if the general recovers a wound).

There are advantages to fighting in your own storm front, so the more your storm advances, the better you'll do. The game ends in major victory once the storm reaches the edge of the table, and a minor victory if you have the majority of the territory covered.

The Shaggoth here isn't taking part of the battle, he's just being the marker for the stormfront.

The other main mission for this fight would be to remember which game rules are AoS and which are 40K. Both of us have been caught up in the excitement of the new edition, and were going to be trying quite hard to fire Overwatch at any opportunity.

Forces

Rise of the Cult - Disciples of Tzeentch

• Zonaranoz,Magister, General, Arcane Sacrifice, Lore of Fate: Treacherous Bond, Souldraft
• Catalepto, Exalted Hero with Battle Standard
• 5 x Chaos Chosen, Mark of Tzeentch
• 10 x Chaos Warriors, Axes and Shields, Mark of Tzeentch
• 5 x Chaos Knights, Ensorcelled Weapons, Mark of Tzeentch
• 1 x Gorebeast Chariot, Mark of Tzeentch
• 3 x Tzaangor Skyfires

Well, now. Tzeentch for me, with the intent of trying out some of those shiny new Tzaangor Skyfires. Not that I have the models (and I'm not going to get them either, I don't really collect AoS any more and have plenty of stuff that can proxy it), but I hear they're fairly powerful and wanted to see how they hold up. 

The Magister is a bit of a puny leader, for my money, but he's in for narrative purposes. A bannerman to help him raise the effectiveness of the troops, then a fairly unimaginative selection of solid Chaos battleline stuff. Knights for speed and tankiness, Warriors for slowness and tankiness, Chosen as a bodyguard for my important leader and a Gorebeast Chariot to help the Knights actually punch through anything. 

The gear the Magister was carrying was there to help him cast his powerful but unreliable Bolt of Change (that's his usual spell, not the more powerful one from the Lore of Fate). Souldraft is a one-shot potion that lets you roll an extra casting or unbinding dice for one phase, and Sacrifice lets him stick mortal wounds on a nearby unit in order to get a range bonus and a casting reroll. On top of that, I gave him the extra spell Bond of Treachery so he could spill wounds on to his bodyguards. 

The Abattoir of Bath & Wells - Flesh-Eater Courts

• Sir Loin of Steak, Crypt Haunter Courtier, General, Master of the Black Arts, Cursed Book
• Lord Gnaw-Gnaw, Vargulf Courtier, Black Amulet
• 6 x Crypt Horrors, Clubs and Septic Talons
• 6 x Crypt Horrors, Clubs and Septic Talons
• 10 x Crypt Ghouls, Sharpened Teeth & Filthy Claws
• [Battalion: Abattoir]

Flesh-Eater Courts! For when playing Ironjawz just seems too subtle and nuanced.

This merry pack of mad cannibals is the Death faction for me (or it will be once the leadpile gets small enough for me to justify adding to it again) so I thought I'd give them a whirl and test the limits of Kraken's monstrous infantry collection.

Eschewing hoards of ghouls, I've gone for big guys: two six-packs of Crypt Horrors with a cheap mob of Crypt Ghouls for objective grabbing.

To keep these guys trucking, a Crypt Haunter (a Lord-level Crypt Horror that lets me play them as battleline) and a Vargulf, who just seems awesome. The Haunter gets Master of the Black Arts, so I can have some magic in the army (which also boosts the Vargulf) and the Cursed Book to keep him survivable. The Vargulf has the Black Amulet, as the only long-range attack in the army.

Both these guys can bring back Crypt Horrors on 5+, as well as healing their own wounds, and I'm thinking that whatever shortcomings the Flesh-Eater Courts have, the psychological effect of an army that just keeps bouncing back up again is worth a lot.

Tying it all together is the Abattoir battalion. It gives me a boost against monsters, as Kraken usually brings at least one (of course, this time, he didn't) and forces every nearby model (not unit) to take mortal wounds on 6+. It could be handy, and should I be facing another swarm of Marauders, it could be deadly.

Terrain and Deployment

The ruined city streets were once more the scene for our clash. Two ruined arches got picked to have extra terrain rules. We ended up with an Inspiring archway in the Northwest and a Sinister ruined tower in the Southeast. Apart from the graveyard fences and mausoleums in the centre, the only other notable locations were the pair of Baleful Realmgates, each in the centre of our deployment zones. 

With the Flesh-Eaters all deployed, I decided on a risky but plausible plan. Mob my realmgate with footsoldiers, then try and fling them through for an ambush. Because I'd surrounded my end of the portals, the undead would struggle to get through to me. His end was relatively unguarded, however, so popping out and scragging the general seemed like a reasonable option. I would have to hope that the unreliable gates wouldn't fail me!

To buy time for this plan, the Knights and Gorebeast would charge in and try and hold up the enemy for as long as possible, while the Skyfires would jump about sniping at the enemy and try not to get bogged down. I had no hope of taking out all the regenerating Horrors, so I'd have to rely on precision shooting instead.

My plan required far less thought: I had two packs of Crypt Horrors and I was going to bulldoze them downfield. The right-flank Horrors would engage the lead elements while the left-flank Horrors would hook around to the backline. Everyone else would follow in reserve, I would have no truck with Realmgates.

As the stormclouds gathered, I won the roll-off for initiative and forced Stylus to go first. Come and get me, you undying monstrosities!

Turn 1 - Flesh-Eater Courts  

"Good show!" Sir Loin gently applauded as the Baleful Realmgate on the far side of the battlefield burst into flame, showing the enemy commanders with eldritch energy. "First touch to us, I fancy."

As one, the Court swept forward. Two great companies of knights charging down the snow-covered cobbles. At their heel, a small pack of yeoman retainers who abandoned their own Realmgate to join the fun.

Lord Gnaw leaped from his vantage point, moving as smoothly as though he could fly, and took a new position behind a ruined mausoleum.

Above their heads, the storm rumbled forwards, but Sir Loin paid no heed. Let the foes come to them.

Turn 1 - Disciples of Tzeentch  

Zonaranoz staggered back from the Realmgate, which was still crackling with weird energy. Was nothing to follow the great plan? 

Despair clutched at him. The temple was lost, retaken by the crude greenskins. And with it, the Ark of Alternatives, which must also be the source of the frightening clouds of purple matter that were spreading across the sky behind them. Unless he could regain that ground and repair whatever had been broken when the Orruks spoiled the ritual, all his toil would have been for naught. 

They were in the outskirts of the ruined city now, in some deserted and desecrated graveyard. As soon as they'd arrived, they'd heard the hoots and howls of the rotting denizens of this blighted spot - the undead, tattered monstrosities eager to chew on fresher bones than the frozen muck they'd been eking out their existence with. 

His warband was so depleted! Barely a few of his Lifeguard warriors, a few knights with a chariot and the remants of the guardians of the temple, mutant Skyfires with their greatbows. 

He needed time - time to get the portal functioning so he could escape and regroup. But the undead were too near, too fast and too hungry to ignore. 

With a cry, he sent the knights and their chariot hurtling forward, where they crashed into the ghastly ranks of the undead. A pair of crypt horrors were crushed under the Gorebeast's bulk, and the knights hacked another two down with their blades. One of the remaining horrors launched itself bodily into the chariot and started grappling with the driver, while the other bit the head off an armoured steed with a crunch clearly audible from where Zonaranoz stood. 

Vile creatures, so unable to accept the loss of their lives they clung to such a pitiful existence! But would I embrace death any more willingly? he wondered. He glanced at the sky, where the violet clouds billowed. Perhaps he would soon have the chance to find out. 

Turn 2 - Flesh-Eater Courts  

The stormclouds increased their intensity, rolling even further into Sir Loin's territory. Clearly this maelstrom could not be resolved by force of will, only the spilling of the enemy's blood. He licked his dry lips. Odd how that thought could bring on such a thirst.

Calling upon the King's summons, Lord Gnaw brought two of the right-flank knights back to the royal service. Sir Loin cast a protective shield over those knights, to aid them in the coming struggle.

Fortified by such magical selflessness, Lord Gnaw threw himself into the fray, joining the left-flank knights that had completed the encirclement of the chaos vanguard. Sir Loin wiped away a tear to see that even the faithful yeomen were trying to find space to join the attack.

Lord Gnaw lead the assault, striking down the monstrous chariot with relentless fury, and yet the beast remained on its cloven hooves. Two more of the enemy knights were torn down, for the loss of only one of their own.

The unrighteous warriors were putting up a desperate defence, but their centre must surely fall to this onslaught.

Turn 2 - Disciples of Tzeentch  

Beleagured, the last knights fought in the centre of a knot of screeching horrors. A batwinged terror howled as it seized the champion on the back of the chariot, lifted him aloft and then clamped its jaws over his head, eyes bulging as it drank deep. They couldn't stand against such odds. No man could. 

Finally, the portal stabilized. Zonaranoz sent his loyal warriors through, although he was only able to keep it functioning for half a minute or so. The last two to enter were too slow, and vapourised as the crackling interface at the portal's mouth collapsed again. 

But they were through! Not far, not enough to escape. But Zonaranoz had a new plan. 

The undead always had the same weakness - kill their leaders, and the rest would fall. He'd spotted a larger horror lurking at the back of its disgusting brood, and it was close enough to another fallen Realmgate to risk an attack. Tzeentch's warriors dashed out of the portal and closed on the beast, catching it unawares. 

It fell back from their onslaught, sporting a number of new rents in its hide, and ran whimpering towards its offspring, trying to hide. Straight towards the deadly bows of the Skyfires, one of whom sent a long arrow spinning through the air to lodge in the undead monster's shoulder. They would easily finish it given time, but there was so little. If they were to attempt a killing strike, they would have to do it soon. The last Knight had been pulled from his horse and now fought on foot, standing on his dead mount and still somehow hacking at the foe. Once he fell, the Skyfires would surely be the ghouls next meal.

Overhead, the purple stormclouds muttered and whirled, leaping forwards across the sky in unnatural bursts of speed. Almost the entire graveyard was under their eerie shadow now. Zonaranoz felt elated, almost lightheaded. There was power in this storm. If only he could harness it!

Turn 3 - Flesh-Eater Courts  

"The rotten cads!" Sir Loin tore out the javelin-size arrow from his armour and flung it to the ground in disgust. Spinning on his heel, he turned his back on the handful of chaos warriors who had sneakily attacked him from behind. Before they could pursue, Lord Gnaw had crashed into them, ripping down two of their number and wounding a third.

Redeploying to the centre of their lines, Sir Loin witnessed that last troublesome chaos knight being torn down by his own trusty retainers - fully assembled once again - while the second group set their lances at the trio of avian beastmen who had stung him so unjustly.

Sadly, his knights misjudged the low wall they had to clear and their charge petered out, leaving the avians to cackle wildly and put fresh arrows to their bows.

At least the Storm was edging back, Sir Loin thought. He touched the rent in his armour and it seemed to be getting better already. One more push should see them through.

Turn 3 - Disciples of Tzeentch  

The huge pack of damned flesh-eaters seethed forwards. There was nothing between them and the Realmgate now, and Zonaranoz knew he didn't have the time to open it again. "Fall back!" he commanded. 

As his Lifeguard turned to obey, he grabbed the nearest one and thrust a sacrificial knife into his neck. "Forgive me, my boy," he said, then murmered an incantation to harness the hidden blood power of the cultist. To further enhance it, he yanked the bottle of souldraught from his belt and drank it down.

Eldritch power blazed from his eyes and fingers. The opening lines of a dozen potent spells ran through his mind. His hands span through the gestures, and a glittering Bolt of Tzeentch shimmered through the air at the incoming horrors. 

And failed, arcing upwards instead to the skies, where it joined the storm. 

Arcane energy spat back down from the clouds. Still drunk on power, Zonaranoz reached out with his mind and harnessed it, forming it into a shield for his Lifeguard. They would soon have to sacrifice themselves to protect him, they would need it. 

Spurred on by his magical prowess, the warriors launched a brutal counterattack against the hulking bat creature that assailed them. It had clearly mistaken them for easy prey, but the finest warriors of Tzeentch were not so easily felled. It found itself surrounded and outmatched, hacked at by axe and sword, and began scrabbling away, trying to escape. 

Not long before they reach me, Zonaranoz thought. The Skyfires would have to strike now, kill the leader of the ghoul pack and then escape. 

But instead, they merely hovered near to it, leaving the potential speed of their disc mounts unused. What were they planning? They could finish it now with their bows! Why didn't they strike? They seemed to be waiting for something, Zonaranoz could see. 

The sky loured above. The hour looked dark. 

The ghouls swarmed closer. 

Turn 4 - Flesh-Eater Courts  

"Come on, chaps, give it some elbow!" Sir Loin's exhortations were in vain as his mighty warriors flailed helplessly against the avian discriders, unable to unseat even one.

The rest of his army pressed downfield, even Lord Gnaw broke away from the chaos warriors to join the surge. The enemy commander, his wounded bannerman and their pitiful bodyguard were in their sights. One more charge would end this.

"Tally ho!"

Turn 4 - Disciples of Tzeentch  

Now they came, their hungry cries dire across the deserted graveyard. Zonaranoz forgot any pretence of stoic heroism, turned and fled from the charge with his few remaining bodyguards. 

The Skyfires fired a last volley, wounding the sire of these monsters, but then were overrun by a trampling pack of its offspring. Two were dragged down out of the sky, the last turned and sped off into the stormy sky. 

Zonaranoz thought all was lost. Until he realised what their last volley had done. 

A metre-long arrow stood right through the thigh of the horror patriarch and into the frozen ground beneath, leaving it pinned. Pinned, alone, and behind the seething ranks of its vile children. And within the range of the Warriors, after they'd driven off the huge bat-thing. Even as that monster heard the panicked cries of its master and turned, trying desperately to fend off the Warriors, they struck home, and struck the head of the Crypt Haunter clean off. 

As it slumped to the ground, the promised storm finally broke. Blue and pink lightning crackled across the sky, and a technicolour rain began to fall.

Major victory to the Disciples of Tzeentch!

Where the rain hit the Realmgates, they sputtered to life. Spinning violet tunnels to another realm twisted like whirlpools. In the depths of those tunnels, specks could be seen, swimming towards the light of this realm, and their laughter echoed from untold depths. 

What had the Ark unleashed? Had the Ritual of Opening in fact suceeded? Surely the Orruks had wrecked the temple and demolished the carefully arranged rites inside? Or had they been too superstitious to touch such arcane properties?

There was a demon horde arriving through the gates. Screamers and Skysharks, Enlightened Flamers on their chariots of fire, the great Lords of Change looming over them like whales in a shoal of fish. 

Zonaranoz stared upwards, awestruck. Was this the Day of Change?

Locker Room

Quick - someone take my credit card and bury it in the back garden. These Flesh-Eater Courts guys are a lot of fun to play and I need to exude some serious willpower to stop myself from adding a Death Allegiance to my collection (I mean, I have the other three - it's almost unfair not to...)

In hindsight, twelve Crypt Horrors was excessive for a 1,000pt game. They bulldozed everything, and kept getting resurrected by the Vargulf and Crypt Haunter - the Vargulf in particular impressed me. He's going to have to be first on the list (... of the army I'm not going to collect).

I only took two Crypt Horror mobs so I could use the Abattoir battalion (and of course, forgot to use any of its abilities during the game - a shame, as there were a couple of times my advance stalled because of a model on a single wound held me up - it would have been very easy to zap them out of the way). Maybe switching one of them for Crypt Flayers (the flying, screeching ones) would have served me better - I did feel like I was missing some ranged power, not to mention a bit of extra mobility (damn those Skyfires!).

Fun though it was, it was a classic case of me not paying attention to the scenario rules: winning my fights, but losing the battle. My small pack of Crypt Ghouls were purchased for backline security - they should at the very least have surrounded the Realmgate to prevent me getting jumped in the way I did. Instead I got all carried away with how I was destroying Kraken's army piece by piece and hit everything with overwhelming force. In fact, I should probably have been brave enough to send a unit of Crypt Horrors through the Realmgate for a raid of their own since, unlike chaos warriors, I can bring back my casualties.

An interesting scenario - probably one that requires big monstrous generals, since killing one pretty much guarantees the win. Some more options to affect the path of the storm might be nice (killing enemy heroes, making a blood sacrifice of your own etc), but it was good to try something different.

Yes! My first win in months! The Woffboot's curse is finally broken. Not going to lie, it felt good. There was even some cold pizza left in the fridge that I celebrated with as I tidied up. The joy of a geeky victory - how I'd missed it. 

Almost everything had been going against me. Looking at the lists, I sincerely doubted my army's ability to dent the Crypt Horror tide for long. Then I'd rolled relatively poorly for my destiny dice (lots of twos and threes), the portal malfunction in the first turn really stung, and none of the damage I was cranking out on the undead seemed to be sticking. 

Even after I'd engaged the enemy general, causing him to panic and run off, he looked like a shoe-in to escape. When the Skyfires fluffed their shooting and failed their charge from 3" away in my third turn, I really thought I'd lost my advantage for good. A grisly death under a heap of Crypt Horrors was surely inevitable. 

There were two saving graces I had. First, I'd been very lucky with the roll-off for the stormfront, and that gave me a small but vital edge in combat, especially after my early charge meant that the bulk of the fighting was within my side of the storm.

Second, Stylus's luck was even worse.

I'm not sure about that - you won the storm rolls, but I was winning all the priority rolls. And I'd overcommitted myself each turn, so if I did get double-turned at any point, it would have been curtains for me. For all that, there was quite a few rounds of whiffed attacks on both sides.

Maybe that's true, although I think your Vargulf was robbed of his prey twice, and your general similarly failed to kill his attackers. If either of them had rolled even average on those fights, I don't think I'd have had the Warriors left to finish you at the end there. 

Either way, if it wasn't for the mission, I'd certainly have lost. My army was a pitiful fragment of what I'd started with, and other than that all-important VIP, I'd made no impact on the Flesheaters at all. 

Those Crypt Horrors are very vicious! Good to see that they perform similarly on the tabletop to the way they play in Total War: Warhammer, where they're an extremely effective melee unit in the Vampire Counts line-up.

Blood! So refreshing! I must shower!

We've decided that this campaign, being Tzeentchian, will be nine battles long, so there's more to come. But the craving for some 40K is pretty intense right now...

X-Wing: Twofer

August 7, 2017, 12:00 am

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Cancellations! Of normal social events, anyway. Which meant Kas and I squeezed an extra game of X-wing into our week. 

With a very delayed write up!

And then, some weeks later, a second outing, replete with the new Wave 11 ships.

New toys!

Two reports for the price of one, then!

Rabble vs Numb

Oh look, I took scum again. Will I never learn?

View this squadron at: http://xwing-builder.co.uk/view/723065/random-rabble

Can't quite recall what I was thinking with this lot, this is a late writeup. Not much synergy with them, but all pretty reasonable scrappers in their own rights, so I guess they could all try to focus fire on the rebel enemies or dogfight about independently as required.

As for me, I misread the surnames and and thought I would play a list of fishy-family members. But I only found two, and even then they weren't the same. 

Nien Nunb looked like a great candidate for the stressbot. Shoot we both get stress, which I discard. Nice Nunb.

Then Numb was all about uncancelled hits. Normal hits can't be cancelled by defense dice and one crit can't be cancelled at all. 

Roark was just there to make up the numbers and try something different.

View this squadron at: http://xwing-builder.co.uk/view/628858/numb

Turn 1-3

Off we set, with my guys sticking together in a little blob in the top left quadrant and the rebels rather more spread out on the other side.

My attempt to pull him with the HWK did not work, so started flying back in to join the squad, whilst the other two meandered forward.

As we streaked towards each other, I let the Mist Hunter tail behind a bit, with a rough idea that the others would weaken targets with shots and mines, then it could snipe off anyone who made it through. Kas probably had a similar idea with his HWK, which would also be trying to support the frontline with its focus abilities.

I decide to split up and spread arcs (I think).

Sure enough, both our first waves gleefully engaged targets and began chipping each other's shields. I'd decided I'd punch straight through and try and take out the HWK with my lead ships - it had a lot of abilities on it, but it's not a great dogfighter. The Mist Hunter kept hanging back, ready to use its tractor beam to throw the incoming X-wing into some asteroids.

Errr... it didn't really have any good abilities on it. But that's cool: go the HWK.

Turn 4-6

Funnily enough, Kas seemed to have a similar plan to me, and his more nimble ships convened on my back line even as mine opened up on his. Zuvio dropped his bomb to hurt the B-wing as it roared past, which felt as good as ever. I like bombs.

I hate bombs.... although I do seem quite attracted to them!

It all came out as a bit inconclusive, though. The HWK shrugged off the weight of my fire, and although the Mist Hunter took a bit of a beating, it tractored the nearest enemy into asteroids, where it struggled to shoot or maneuver.

Gah!

Now trailing smoke, the Mist Hunter sped off with an X-wing K-turning in hot pursuit. Meanwhile, the HWK ploughed glibly forward as my guys wheeled round it, but I'd misjudged my distances a bit and the Starfighter couldn't quite connect.

As my lot struggled to get back into position, things started coming unglued. Constable Zuvio managed to block that pursuing X-wing, but it didn't stop it shooting up Zuckuss even more. And although I'd knocked shields off all the Rebels, none of them was really struggling, whereas my guys were all looking a bit ropey as Kas's frontline swooped back to reengage in much better firing positions that I had.

Turn 7-8

Sure enough, our days were numbered. Zuckuss exploded first, caught off guard by his pursuer when I tried to turn. And then Old Teroch got shot up from two directions at once, although at least his death allowed Zuvio to replenish his bomb stock with the scavenger crane.

Nice card.

Not that I got a chance to use it. Previous turns had left me stressed, and I needed an action to drop the space mine. I tried to fly fast enough away to buy some time, but the piggish Quadjumper couldn't quite make the distance. Fire from all three Rebels finished me off.

Bomb Voyage vs The Bad List

Some few weeks later, it was time for revenge! I took a two-ship list, two heavily-armed bombers with an unending supply of ordnance.

And one where memory is not going to be so much of a problem.

View this squadron at: http://xwing-builder.co.uk/view/739441/bomb-voyage

The all-new Scurrg Bomber looked like a smashing option, and paired with the bomb-heavy Andraste variant of the Slave-1, I'd be coating all of space with explosives. To top this off, I went with Ion cannons and turrets, thinking that it would be much easier to drop bombs on people's heads if I knew where they'd be in advance.

Kas took Empire.

Well it was Rebel last time. I like to mix it up, and there were some new ships to try as the Empire get a turret.

View this squadron at: http://xwing-builder.co.uk/view/742156/bad-list

I am keen to get Rhymer to work. I have tried him before, but like the Striker and my several fail attempts before getting that to work, I am not giving up yet. He never seems to live up to the potential I expect/intend... My flying strategy needs work when using him.

With two named pilots on the Aggressor, and not immediately liking/seeing the potential on the more expensive one, I took Double Edge with his in built Gunner-lite. Lightweight frame to give a bit of a defensive boost. Deadeye to allow synced turret to fire as long as I was focussed; and unguided rockets I could also use focus for. The turret would be the weapon of choice, but with a focus and if missing then the rockets could then fire.

Finally closing out the list, is one of my favourite ships: Ryad in her Defender. Who does not love a green K-turn... She has a white normally.... But green I tell you. With Mk II engines that's 14 potential green maneuvers to shed any stress may get from PtL. So any 3+ move could give three actions + stress, which can be easily cleared. Love it.

Turns 1-3

My guys would start together. Then I'd send the larger Andraste ahead, while the Havoc lurked behind. Together, they'd ionise incomers and then bomb them to bits as they struggled to move. The Imperials zoomed at us in a loose cloud, likely wanting to whip past and then use their greater manouverability to stay out of trouble. Problem being, who wants to be behind a bomber in this game?

I am experimenting with more spread out, and often angled starting positions. So the Bomberand the Defender start flying towards each other and the Aggressor is going to swing down the edge of the board. I am hoping that I get some Tactician fueled Snapshots out of Rhymer.

Sixxa and the Ryad started trading shots, but nobody connected at this long range. At the same time, Sol Sixxa used his long-range scanners to get an early target lock on Rhymer. While Double Edge winged the Andraste with rockets.

I should have used the turret; would have been better and allowed a reroll given you were in the front. For some reason I misremembered the pilot ability and thought I could ALWAYS fire both... not only if the first missed. Oops.

Next turn, Sol sped towards the Major to give his Cruise Missiles a good speed boost. The Major was pounded from two sides as his escort collided with the Andraste, and then the Ryad found herself just out of arc to return fire on Sol.

Nice barrel roll and defensive play from Sol. 

Not only was the Major left ionised, so he wasn't going to be going anywhere in a hurry, he'd also taken a pair of critical results that left him really struggling to do very much without heaping up stress.

Yes all whites and stressful and all hits are crits. Both have an action to turn off. So I plan on moving hard to where I might get a snapshot off (who cares if I get stress from the move?!) and shutting off the crit crit, and then deal with the stress crit next turn... did you spot my mistake? Yes: I care about getting stress from a move... I now can't turn off the card. oops. Additionally my flying is all too close, so tactician isn't going to kick in anyway! Looks like I am going to have take this one out again as he is not shining in this game...

Turns 4-6

The Imperials took a hefty beating over the next few turns. The Major took heavy fire as Emon first K-turned, then closed up again to pound away from behind, and he didn't last long, getting first ionised again and then powdered in the next turn as he limped off.

He got what he deserved.

And although the nippy Imperials did what you'd expect and started keeping well out of my front arcs to hit from behind, it did them very little good. Sixxa started strewing bomblets behind him with gay abandon. So much abandon, I actually started hurting myself, in fact, as I could use my crazed astromech to drop them after I'd moved instead of before. Kas still took the worse of this, but Ryad also managed to scorch the bomber's hull fairly badly at the same time.

First exchange I think we both took the same damage, totalling up the three times you did it.. I came of worse.

As Ryad turned back for the kill, though, she fell foul of a proton bomb dropped at long range by Emon's ship. And I used the Scurrg's ion turret to hold Double Edge in place for a final round of bomblets that did for him, but I'd screwed up a bit here.

First of all, Ryad's shooting left me with a fire on board, and I forgot to use an action to try and get rid of it in my next movement. Instead, I barrel-rolled to get out of Ryad's arc, which rather stupidly left me too close to the bomblet I'd just dropped. Even as Double Edge blew up, the fire on board got out of control and combined with the damage I took from my own bomb, that was enough to spell curtains for me. At least I died doing what I loved.

It seems fitting. I like the tactical choice of Genius, but I think you want Engine Upgrade to get out of range if dropping after your move... I make a mental note for upcoming battle.

Ok one ship each. Whilst I am nicely on your tail, there are better ships that one can follow.

Turns 7-10

After this, we had a one-on-one duel with injured ships to resolve. Ryad flew in for the kill - straight into a seismic charge, much to my amusement.

This amusement was short lived, though, as I misjudged my next turn and flew off the board edge! Kas very sportingly nudged me back on for a spot of stress instead, but I was now out of bombing options as I couldn't spend an action to drop the prox mines.

Seemed fair, not a nice way to win; especially when can't see properly. Keeping on the board and losing action as you do a last minute course correct seems a reasonable option. (I think that's what we did before when happened too).

Instead, Ryad started picking off the rest of my hull. Two critical hits for four damage! I wasn't in good shape.

Unlucky draw there.

And sure enough, despite being able to shoot backwards as I fled, the nimble interceptor was just too quick to hit, whereas I was taking flak all the way. As I attempted to curve round the last corner, I ended up with my flank exposed, and blew up shortly afterwards.

I keep up the high speed to ensure I have an evade if need, but with so much green I can push the limit to heart's content to keep the offensive up.

Airlocker Room

Two good games.

Indeed, thank you.

And boy, do I like the new bomber. I may well combine it with a Quadjumper at some point, or see if I can pack in a third (bomb-equipped) ship to cover the entire board with a minefield in advance of the game. Kas also fancies taking it with Nym in a Rebel list, which has some great options available.

You and your Quadjumpers ;)

Yep, next game I am stealing the Scurrg and see what I can do with it. I like the look of it. Although I have never been great with bombs... at least with the bomblet generator I can throw them out without thinking I may be wasting a precious token.

X-Wing is the world's best selling miniature game at the moment, I hear. I can completely see why, it's a cracker of a game. Here's to more in the near future!

Maybe sooner than you think...

X-Wing: Bombing Run

August 8, 2017, 12:00 am

≫ Next: Short Controlled Bursts: Space Marines vs Genestealer Cults

≪ Previous: X-Wing: Twofer

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Back almost instantly with a second outing for the new bomber!

REAR ACTION vs BOMBS BOMBS BOMBS

SCUM: Kraken

View this squadron at: http://xwing-builder.co.uk/view/742478/rear-action

Kraken is optimistic again over my collection, and adds an unreleased pilot; but given he plays electronically and I have the ship model (unlike the early arrival of the Quadjumper) and so Victor Hel was allowed to fly.

Yeah, I need to get better at that. Using the Squadron Builder website is all well and good, and in fact it usually tells you if something is unreleased. Not this time, though, and I'm not following the meta well enough to know what currently exists and what doesn't!

No real synergy here, as is fairly usual for both Scum and my list building in general. Kath is built to ionise people on the way in, then tear them to shreds with her rear gunner while they can't escape. Laetin will attempt to aid her in this, maybe keeping a target in the right place for a bit longer. Additionally, Kath is good in that I need to try and keep her in front of the enemy bombers for best results, and that's the best end of a bomber to be on!

Viktor is good at lurking at distance and behind obstacles, where you get stress if you shoot at him and he gets extra dice. To help him with this, Kath is packing some disposable barrels - the rigged cargo chute plonks an additional debris field out when you need it, which will hopefully catch Kas unawares at some point.

REBEL: Kasfunatu

View this squadron at: http://xwing-builder.co.uk/view/742462/bomb-bombs-bombs

So I was going to play with the Scurrg, but after/before Nym defects (apologies not sure of the lore on this one).

I think he's a dirty mercenary who'll work for whoever pays, but not sure either.

I saw the Bomblet Generator being used to good effect, and combined with the Havoc title taking Genius for post move dropping. As in write up from session where I played against it, I knew I wanted to add and Engine. Finally I tried a couple of new (or at least new to me) in Intensity.

Deployment

The asteroids are reasonably tightly packed and so I am going to throw some nets into the way; so Miranda is angled to fly through, drop one and then to meet up with Nym on the southern end of map.

Funnily enough, I have a similar plan - gum up the centre of the map with the cargo chute, then skirt round the outside at distance, sniping. 

Turn 1

With engine upgrades and SLAMs the two bombers move quickly across the board. Shooting is pitiful but nothing really expected at this range... besides these are bombers not gunboats.

I also put space pedal to the space metal. The line hurtles forwards, which just about brings Kath into range. She evades and manages to dodge the fire from the K-wing's turret, and then slaps an ion token back in return. Excellent! The other two are just taking position for later.

Turn 2

Hmm you got close fast; and not really where my bombs can touch you. However I brought nets to drop them and block routes, so even though you won't get it: I am still dropping one (of my three nets).

Nym could have dropped one too, but you're no near enough so he just makes his way through the field taking shots where he can.

Sticking to plan, Kath swoops across the middle of the board and throws out a huge collection of plastic netting, coke cans and old nappies. This also leaves her in a nice position to open up with the rear turrets on Nym, who bites down on a reasonable early strike. I follow this up with some enhanced shooting from Viktor, through the new debris field.

In exchange, both the big bombers chip away at Kath's shields, but it doesn't do a lot of damage.

Turn 3

Kath starts a long turn round to get back into position. Vic and the Scyk close in and open up, with Laetin slapping ion tokens on Nym.

Nice ioning of Nym; who disturbingly is now bashing his console as he facing the edge of the board and destined to go straight forward.

Miranda's fire power is being depleted as keeps redeploying some offensive power to repower shields. Again she is here to drop bombs and her guns are there to chip and give her health back; so I am okay with this.

Not entirely okay - Miranda opts to shoot Viktor through the debris field, and that gives her stress from his unique ability. Although it also strips his shields, so it's not all good news, especially when Nym then manages to ionise him as well!

Turn 4

Vik has no option but to drift helplessly into a debris cloud, which leaves him understandably stressed. At least he's in a good place to shoot Miranda, and he'll get cover from the cloud which will stress anybody who shoots him.

Laetin barrel rolls past the asteroids and lines up on Nym, aiming the Ion cannon again as Kath keeps on turning back in. If I can hit the big bomber, he's gone - not next turn, but the turn after, when he'll be too close to the edge to turn away!

I scrape a single hit, but that's all it will take. The lumbering bomber has but a single dice to roll in defence.

He rolls...

He evades. Bah!

A crucial save there... another ion token, whilst it would have taken me off, would have left me with no space to go next turn. I now have a chance to turn... phew!

Now Miranda is ioned; and stressed as she shoots Hel through the debris field; but at least that's that blighter removed.

Nym shoots back at Laetin, but I handily dodge. Viktor may be dead, but he's done some good work in the process, tying up the K-wing for a few turns.

Turn 5

Okay, at least ions now are not at risk of making me run away. The K-wing is turning in for the advance. It's almost bombing time. 

I can see this coming, and pull the only thing I can think of to keep the Scyk in a reasonable position whilst trying to avoid the bomb - fly right over it and K-turn by the edge of the board. I manage the second part of this, but those bombs have a big blast! As it goes off, I'm left with a single point of hull thanks to Sabine's extra-potent fuel cans.

Kath arcs in, but manages to clip the asteroids. No shooting for her, which is a disaster! She's also caught by the damn bomb, for a shield, but manages to evade the torrent of turret fire she's flown into.

Turn 6

Don't run away little Scyk! It is only a matter of time and concentrating fire the little blighter is out. 

Yup - they aren't built for attrition. At least it takes up all of Kas's shots to take it down.

It's down to the big ship.

So I can focus on just the important one! Hurrah. I've managed to block the K-wing, as I hoped, but Nym is sadly out of arc. And I eat another bomb, which isn't a great exchange of fire.

Nym is hurt, all shields and some hull gone. Miranda has managed to recharge all of her shields.

Turn 7-9

It takes a few more turns, but with Sabine's enhanced bombs on board the bomblet generator does a slow but reliable amount of damage. I am still not great at bombs I mistime when to use them. Although in some cases it doesn't matter. 

Yeah, I was constantly losing a point of hull here and there as I wiggle about, keeping the Scurrg in my rear sights pretty well. It's a tanky old bugger though, and I don't quite finish it off.

In the final turn I got excited as I managed to position myself and drop a bomb on top of the Firespray; only to be disappointed when I realised it was about to move; and finally relieved when a range 3 turn still left it in range. As Sabine looked out the viewport and pressed the detonator the bombers could go home.

Airlocker Room

Not sure I played it well. Miranda stayed alive and plinked. Sabine was awesome (and she had to go on the Kwing if I wanted the droid and sensors and title on Nym); but I overloaded Miranda with 3 conner nets, 3 missiles and 3 proton bombs... .she used one net ineffectually.

I think my main mistake was letting Kath pull that long slow turn. A swift K-turn in turn three would have clipped an asteroid, I think, but I'd have been back in the fray a bit faster. As it was, I spent almost half the match out of range, depriving me of quite a bit of firepower.

I've decided I really like Ion guns, though. Dictating your enemy's movement is quite a big bonus. That heavy Scyk quite impressed me - it's so fragile, I've never really been taken with the ship before. But allowing it to slap ion tokens on from surprise angles is great! Not quite so convinced about Viktor, but there's probably a better build that could make him more powerful.

I think I need to get better at flying and dropping bombs. I would hate to see what Kraken would do with this list, as I am always getting caught by his bombs (admittedly last game: so was he).

Another good game. One wave 11 ship left to fly, so I guess I am sticking with Rebels for the next game.

Short Controlled Bursts: Space Marines vs Genestealer Cults

August 11, 2017, 5:20 am

≫ Next: Deep Cleanse: Space Marines vs Chaos

≪ Previous: X-Wing: Bombing Run

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She doesn't have bad dreams because she's just a piece of plastic.

They mostly come at Skype Night.
Mostly. 

Future firefight time, and it's a notable occasion - Stylus's first game of 40K!

I am ready, man.  I am the ultimate badass.

Mission

Although I've painted quite a lot of 40K stuff in the last few years (about five armies' worth), none of it's actually mine. As it happens, though, I've got enough odds and ends of my own elderly stuff about to put together a small army. Especially when bolstered by Kas and Leofa's gear from recent painting. Turned out there was easily enough for 750 points a side of Genestealer Cults and Marines.

By way of kind introduction, we're playing the Ambush scenario from the narrative games. This plays quite strongly to the two armies in terms of narrative, I reckon, so Stylus is taking the Cults while I attempt to stay frosty. I start off surrounded, and have to escape off the far edge for a win.

We played almost as standard rules, but with two exceptions. First, we'll use points instead of power value for both army selection and working out whether I escape or not. Second, Stylus can opt to deploy his units in Cult Ambush (so we can use the excellent rule) but can still place a misleading blip counter for units in hiding, just to keep me guessing.

Armies

Marines

Chickenshit Outfit - Battalion Detachment

• Brother Captain Ripley - Relic Blade
• Lieutenant Burke - Power Axe 
• Tactical Squad Apone - Sergeant with Combi-flamer, Heavy Bolter
• Tactical Squad Hudson - Ditto
• Scout Squad Newt - Sergeant with Power Sword and Plasma Pistol
• Devastator Centurion Squad Vasquez - Sergeant with two Heavy Bolters and Centurion Missile Launcher, two Centurions with Hurricane Bolters and Grav Cannon/Amp

All my points in one basket, here, with the extremely expensive Centurions taking up over a third of my points. Helpfully, they can pour out so much firepower that the rest of the army feels slightly redundant. Given that we start the game in night conditions, and that Genestealers are quite likely to be assaulting me in the first turn, I reckon the weight of fire is going to be crucial.

Otherwise, I've got a small spattering of troops and HQ to fill the requirements for a Battalion. Plenty of bolter fire, and as long as I stay close, great rerolls of pretty much all 1s from the leadership. State of the badass art.

Genestealer Cult

Assholes and Elbows - Patrol Detachment

• The Bitch - 1 x Patriarch, monstrous rending claws
• Nostromo Brood - 10 x Purestrain Genestealers, rending claws
• Sulaco Brood - 10 x Purestrain Genestealers, rending claws
• Brotherhood Shusett - 5 x Acolyte Hybrids - Heavy Rock Drill, Heavy Rock Cutter, Icon, Bonesword and Lash Whip
• Brotherhood Giger - 12 x Neophyte Hybrids - Bolt Pistol, Icon, Hand Flamer, Mining Laser, Seismic Cannon

Wait a minute ... now I see them, I reckon the Aliens franchise have ripped off the look and behaviour of the Genestealers! How could they be so blatant with GW's intellectual property?

Notwithstanding, I'm looking forward to my outing with the Xenomorphs. My selection is limited by what is available - but when 20 Purestrains are available, it's hard to complain. So may elites means I miss out on three extra command points from not having a battalion, but them's your eggs (DON'T LOOK INTO THE EGGS, KANE!)

The hybrids have some nice toys to augment their flimsy autoguns and autopistols, and in addition to his combat prowess, the Patriarch can access some very tasty psychic powers.

Terrain and Deployment

A nice open space with but a pre-deployed drop pod (non-functional) for cover. Owing to the small size of the game, we'd initially planned to play on a 4x4 table, but I got carried away when I was setting out the industrial sector scenery, and cracked out some Space Hulk tiles to decorate the spare parts of the board. So that bit is an underground bunker complex, where anything that's not a tile blocks line of sight, and I strongly suspect it's going to be full of cowering xenos as a result.

Stylus deploys his blips first, then I stick my hapless grunts out in the open and wait for the worst.

So that's the Patriarch and one pack of Purestrains lurking around the nearest cover. The Acolytes are also hiding, ready to play backstop to any marines that reach the scoring zone. As my only ranged option (such as it is), the Neophytes hunker down on the elevated platform. I keep the other pack of Purestrains as a hidden ace.

Yep, that's pretty bad. We both immediately start throwing Command Points around. Stylus decides an extra turn of night fighting is called for, and I attempt to steal the first turn. And fail, and very nearly squander another CP on a reroll, then remember I have a long way to go to the exit signs. Luckily I know the drill - assholes and elbows. Let's go!

Genestealer Cult Turn 1

This seems simple enough - my goal is to get into combat as quickly as possible. The Patriarch begins well, with a big advance roll that takes him to within spitting distance of the closest Tactical squad. His Purestrains, however, don't seem to have read the memo, and amble behind him at a leisurely pace. I have to spend a command point just to get them close enough to soak up some of the boss's wounds.

(hmm ... two CPs spent and I've only rolled two dice. Maybe I should have tried for that battalion)

My Acolytes stay hidden away from trouble, and I keep my other Purestrains in ambush for the moment (frankly, I don't trust my dice rolling to land them anywhere useful).

But the Devastators may not be an issue, as I've got a killer psychic phase coming up: I attempt Mind Control on one of the Centurions. With 3D6, I easily overpower the poor guy's Leadership, and then make him turn his guns on his comrades. Unfortunately, it appears the only thing Centurions are better at than shooting is actually getting shot, and I fail to do any wounds at all.

It gets worse from there... Kraken cunningly plays the Tables Turned stratagem from the scenario. For 2 command points, a unit that has been shot at can now take a turn of shooting. Ulp.

It gets worse from there ... my ever-eager Patriarch is by far the closest model, so he's going to take the full brunt of their shooting. His invulnerable save does its best, and the lazy Purestrains try and absorb his hits, but at the end of it, eight of my genestealers are dead and the Patriarch is down to his last two wounds.

(that really hurt - but how could I have foreseen Kraken had that ability ... other than actually reading the scenario properly)

So my strike force has lost a little of its edge - let's see what the shooting can do. The Neophytes' big weapons all miss, but they do gun down a single marine with their autoguns - at last, I get something!

The Patriarch drags his sorry ass into combat with the tactical squad, survives the overwatch and rips two of them down. It's a bit sub-par, but at least he can't get shot in combat.

In the morale phase, the two surviving Purestrains decide they've had enough, and leave to explore the possibilities of a franchise reboot.

Space Marines Turn 1 

Well, the first turn certainly could have been a lot worse for me, but there's another unit of purestrain out there somewhere, and a hulking great Patriarch right up in my grill.

The scouts and unengaged tactial marines both advance, sprinting for the doors and backed up by the Lieutenant. The Captain moves up ready to counter-charge the Patriarch, and the Devastators stomp gently along behind, providing fire support.

And what support it is! A single fusillade is easily enough to deplete the Neophyte unit to the extent that the few survivors bug out immediately. And in combat, the Captain's Power Lifter Relic Blade proves more than a match for Daddy Long Legs, especially since it's run out of ablative children. Splat, and we're in the pipe, five by five. Whatever that means.

Genestealer Cult Turn 2

It's probably time to play the ace up my sleeve while I still have some sleeves left. The second unit of Purestrains deploy from Ambush, and get quite a good roll, dropping within charge range of the Devastators. I must surely be a match for the big guns in close combat, and if I can take them down, I may be able to deplete Kraken's force sufficiently that he can't escape the ambush (he needs one-third to survive).

The remaining Acolytes are less optimistic about their chances against the massed firepower, and sneak into the tunnels, hoping to bushwhack the escapees as they run.

The Purestrains make the charge, though it costs me my last command point and couple of causalities to overwatch. The useless buggers then proceed to whiff their entire round of attacks, leaving the Centurions with not so much as a scratch.

In return, the Centurions pulp the Purestrains, leaving the few survivors to scatter.

I sense I'm not going to turn the tide with five Acolytes, and so concede the fight.

Result - Victory to the USCM!

Redeploy

Seeing as this only took about an hour, we have plenty of time for a rematch.

This time, as my sensoriums clear, I discover that there are in fact no blips surrounding my position. In fact, all I know is that there's no contact with the colony and a xenomorph may be involved. Great.

Ha-ha! I deployed everything in Genestealer Ambush! Not something I've have been able to do in Matched Play, but fine for Narrative (especially this Narrative). I don't spend any command points to make the night fighting last longer, as I sense I may need them for my Ambush rolls.

Deployment this time is a nice box with the Centurions up front. They're slow, but if they could somehow get off the table, they're valuable enough that I'd win straight off.

Genestealer Cult Turn 1

My gamble pays off - I roll high for all five of my ambushing units. The Patriarch, one pack of Purestrains, and the Acolytes all converge on the Centurions (we've got a grudge to settle here). The Neophytes roll so well, they get an extra turn of shooting (although with movement, night and their rubbish BS, they hit nothing). With no more room up front, the remaining brood of Purestrains lurk ominously in the rear.

In the Psychic phase, I've swapped out Mind Control for Mass Hypnosis. While not as dramatic as taking over an enemy model, it may be one of the best powers in the game: one enemy unit cannot Overwatch, fights last (even if it charged) and subtracts 1 to hit. I slap it on the Centurions without hesitation.

"Look into my eyes ... directly into my eyes."

In the Shooting phase, the Neophytes continue to miss every shot they take, and we're into the assault!

Free from Overwatch, my Patriarch leaps into the fray against the Centurions. His Purestrains follow that example ... with a double 1. I spend a command point to shift their lazy hides - but I still get a one. There are clearly some unresolved Daddy issues here, and the brood don't want to support him.

Luckily, the Acolytes are more loyal and complete their charge, revving up their various mining apparatus as they do so.

In the rear, the second unit of Purestrains also fail their charge (seriously, what is wrong with these genestealers? Did someone throw a load of facehuggers into the sloths enclosure?)

Combat begins: the Heavy Rock Drill and the Heavy Rock Cutter finally get to demonstrate why they are ideal for taking down heavily-armoured, multi-wound targets. They snag a Centurion apiece, while the Patriarch and remaining Acolytles tear down the last one.

Before Kraken has time to wonder why he's not getting a counterattack, I've consolidated towards the two squads of tactical marines. (I mean for both the Patriarch and Acolytes to go into the same one, but battle is a confusing place, especially when fought over Skype. Besides, this Patriarch is clearly something of a loner, and the more squads in combat, the less they'll shoot at me, so I'll go with it).

I don't think he'd have been able to - he has to consolidate towards the nearest unit, and that left him no choice.

A much better first turn than last time - over to the Corps!

Space Marines Turn 1

That's it, man. Game over, man. Game over! What the f*** are we gonna do now? What are we gonna do?

Obviously, I'm going to get my shit together, pull back to a safe distance and nuke the site from orbit. From what I understand, it's the only way to be sure.

Sadly, I don't have the CPs for a tactical nuke. So as before, the scouts and unengaged tactical squad run for it, while the leaders move up to provide support.

The LT wastes a nearby purestrain with his Bolter, which at least removes their extra attack on the charge. Then from close range, the marines fighting the Patriarch unload their bolt pistols and score a cheeky pair of wounds, and Captain Ripley once again finishes the job with her Relic Blade.

For the second fight in a row - you could at least use an airlock next time.

Gorman then also charges into the Acolytes, but this doesn't go very well. Not only does he lose a wound to Overwatch, he fails to kill any of them with his axe. Then they drill through his foot and cut him in half with their power scissors, and that's it for him.

Genestealer Cult Turn 2

There goes another Patriarch, but he was clearly slowing us down. Smash the Patriarchy!

My two packs of Purestrains close in on two squads like a perfect pincer: tactical to the front, scouts to the rear. A couple fall to overwatch, but I think this may go their way.

In the Shooting phase, the Neophytes take revenge for their fallen papa by actually managing to hit the Captain - one with a Seismic Cannon and again, more gallingly, with a humble autogun.

The Assault phase brings the Acolytes into the Captain, losing a couple of guys to overwatch, but fortunately, none of the special assault weapons (which are still dripping gore and rent armour from the Centurions and hapless Lieutenant).

Both Purestrains make their charges, with only a couple lost to overwatch.

The Purestrains go to town on the marines, tearing both squads to pieces many times over.

Even better, the Acolytes continue their bid for MVP and tear down the Captain - the Power Loader falls!

Space Marines Turn 2

Technically, I've already lost. But let's not get hung up on the technicalities! There are aliens to kill, and if I can table Stylus before turn five, I'm still in with a chance!

The remaining squad advance with a mean look in their eyes. Sarge turns and roasts a pair of crispy Acolytes with his combi-flamer, then joins in the rest of the fire on the neophytes, shooting down a handful in preparation for the charge.

When it comes, the overwatch fire is pretty tame. Almost like someone took their magazines so they couldn't rupture the coolant system or something. Whatever the reason, I take advantage and break some skulls - we're down to knives and sharp sticks here!

Despite a sterling effort, it's not quite enough to break the Cultists, and their morale check sees a mere one more fleeing for its life. Which leaves me as the filling in what is soon to be a spikey alien death sandwich.

Genestealer Cult Turn 3

Yes, there's not much more to tell: the Purestrains make huge advance rolls, and with the marines still locked in combat with the handful of plucky Neophytes, Kraken doesn't even get a chance to overwatch as we all charge in.

There is some jostling for position on who gets to make the kills, but suffice to say we should draw a veil over what happens and cut to the shots of the genestealers breaking out the toothpicks.

Result - Victory to the Genestealer Cults!

Locker Room

Consider me a convert - sign me up for 40k and give me a faceful of ovipositor! That was a lot of fun! Being a close cousin of Age of Sigmar, the rules were easy enough to pick up, but I'd say this may be even better than its counterpart. The tweaks around shooting, the command points and stratagems ... I'm ready for a lot more of this.

Playing the Genestealer Cults was tremendous fun too. I'm not sure I'd want to commit to building an army, since Leofa already has them, and it would be good to keep things diverse. But, it's always good to have a second army (although I should probably paint the first one first)

There's some good stuff in that list - love the Acolytes, love the pschyic powers, I'll bet even the Patriarch is good once I stop playing him like a total Burke. Ready to get it on!

Excellent! Looking at the deployment, I was fairly confident I'd lose this game after getting overrun with 'Stealers in the first turn. Pulling a surprise win out of the bag was great, but I reckon we could put that down to Stylus's inexperience - the re-run allowed him to maximise his ambush tricks, and went down much more as I expected it to.

Very much as you'd expect, the Marines win as long as they can keep shooting, and the Cults win when they make it into assault. Nice to see that a Space Marine Captain can deal with a Patriarch on the countercharge, although I very much doubt he'd survive a one-on-one charge from it either.

The units bear this out individually as well. Our heroes are vicious but frail when left unsupported by troops. The Centurions can obliterate enemies with weight of fire, but are no match for dedicated close combat troops. And my troopers are reliable but not really exceptional, or fielded in squads large enough to put a big dent in enemies, although they clearly outclass mere cultists.

I really should have put some points into a Librarian next time, those psychic powers were nasty! The mass hypnosis was a big problem in the second game, and I was lucky first time round when the mind controlled Centurion whiffed his attacks - could have been very costly.

More soon!

Deep Cleanse: Space Marines vs Chaos

August 13, 2017, 6:00 am

≫ Next: When Doves Cry: Crypt Angels vs Dark Angels

≪ Previous: Short Controlled Bursts: Space Marines vs Genestealer Cults

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We remain in the 41st millennium for our next battle report: the humble Space Marines take on a mixed bag of Chaos!

Gee, that's a lot of Smite!

It's an all-Skype Fight Night!

I, Stylus, am back in the 40k saddle. This time, borrowing from Kasfunatu's considerable collection to put a 1000pt Adeptus Astartes force against a mixed bag of Chaos Marine and Daemons. Death to the heretic!

Crypt Angels

• Captain (Warlord) - Master-crafted boltgun, Relic Blade
• Primaris Lieutenant - Master-crafted auto bolt rifle
• Techmarine - Power Axe, Servo Arm
• Dreadnought - Assault cannon, Dreadnought combat weapon, Heavy flamer
• Dreadnought - Twin autocannon, Twin autocannon
• 6 x Company Veterans - Sgt: Power Sword, Grav-Pistol; 1 x Flamer, 2 x Meltagun
• 5 x Tactical Squad - Flamer
• 5 x Tactical Squad - Missile Launcher
• 5 x Scout Squad - Camo Cloaks, Sniper Rifles
• 1 x Rhino - Storm Bolter

Battalion Detachment, Vanguard Detachment: 7 Command Points

This list is probably stretched a little thin: my Veteran squad is understaffed and my tactical squads are light on equipment. But it's my first Space Marine army, and I'm greedy to try out everything.

I'm expecting a lot from the Dreadnoughts in this list: the regular one to take the brunt of the fighting, while the double-twin autocannon (the 'Rifle Dread') blazes away from the backline (with the Lieutenant to re-roll wounds and the Techmarine to keep him healthy).

With only close-range weapons, the Veteran squad can ride the Rhino to close in, aided by my close-combat Captain. The Scouts are for basic sniping, or anything that might need mortal wounds, and the regular Tactical squads are for plugging gaps and objective grabbing.

NB The Lieutenant being a Primaris was something of a goof: I didn't know they came in regular flavour until after I'd spent the points, and couldn't be bothered rejigging it.

Crypt Daemons

• Winged Daemon Prince of Khorne (Warlord) - warp bolter, extra talons
• Ahriman on Disc
• 20 x Bloodletters - Instrument
• 11 x Horrors (10 brimstone and 1 blue)
• 11 x Horrors (10 brimstone and 1 blue)
• 4 x Screamers
• 1 x Heldrake - baleflamer

Battalion Detachment: 6 Command Points

This seemed a very efficient, if not fragile, way to get the troop tax done such that I can play as a Battalion (we all know how vital those command points can be, right?) With a min sized block of horrors, who can be freely taken from their smaller ranks, I can have an objective squatting unit with a 4++ save that can (as I long as I draw line of the blue) cast Smite once per turn - all for 25 points! In a previous game one unit held up a big Tyranid tank for three turns. 

In fact this is pretty much that same list that I had used against the 'nids. I had played at 1600 so dropped the knight, a screamer, and my back up blue horrors are downgraded bring it down to 1000. I am reminded how expensive those knights are again; I can't imagine playing one in any smaller game.

Deployment

We're playing the 'Cleanse and Capture' mission - which scatters six objectives across the field, and we have three mission cards per turn (with the option for one discard, or drawing a fresh one when the mission is achieved). Slay the Warlord, First Blood and Linebreaker are also in play.

My fire base of Rifle Dread, Techmarine, Lieutenant and Missile Tac Squad take position in the centre of the field, behind the cover of a wall, and with good fields of fire.

The Captain and Veterans deploy in the Rhino, just ahead of them, with the Assault Dread on their flank.

The Scouts occupy the top of the tower, and the Flamer Tac Squad lurk behind them.

My horrors crowd around two of the objectives; the bloodletters take centre stage ready to charge for the middle of the board; and the flying fast troops take alternate flanks.

Turn 1 - Space Marines

With fewest drops, I have the option to go first. In hindsight, and knowing how few guns were in that army, I probably should have chosen to go second. But I was raring to go, so off I went.

And I tried to steal; if I had thought about it: I shouldn't have attempted. Thankfully I did not steal.

My objective cards aren't great: Cast a Psychic Power (I can't), Kill a Psyker (either Ahriman or the two units of Horrors - both rocking some invulnerable saves), or Seize the objective in the forest -currently occupied by Horrors.

The Rhino and Assault Dread advance up the field, the Flamer Squad jump into the nearest house, everyone stands still to shoot what they can.

The Scouts turn their sniper rifles on Ahriman, as I'm feeling ill-disposed towards psykers (not having any myself). His invulnerable save sees him good, but the last Scout (who was out of range of Ahriman) does plink a wound off the Heldrake.

All my other heavy weapons also turn on the Heldrake, taking off another six wounds.

Ow

It's a slow start, but it's a start.

It's a decent start, the Heldrake is already less than optimal, at least it is about to shrug a bit of that off as fleshmetal coalesces.

Turn 1 - Chaos

The squatting horrors bunker down and prepare for the long war of standing still and occasional smites for things that get too close. 

The Heldrake is sent towards the tower, wanting to clear out those scouts before they take out the heroes. Bloodletters advance towards the central objective. The northern flank move full out forward; but still hoping to make the charge difficult.

Shooting is effective and the scouts are all but removed.

With a 3 mortal wounds from the Horrors' Smite! I thought they would be tucked up cosy in cover with their Camo Cloaks, but you can't do anything about the mind bullets.

I was lucky with objective cards and could already claim for sitting on the one I was on.

Turn 2 - Space Marines

I begin by discarding my Cast a Psychic Power card and my new mission is to get into the enemy deployment zone. My army isn't that mobile, but a well-motivated Rhino might do it.

And probably can run over my squishy horrors with ease.

My Flamer Tac squad fall back from the Heldrake, and my Assault Dread Advances towards the Screamers. My Captain and Veterans disembark from the Rhino and also move to the Screamers. The Rhino itself vaults an obstacle to contest on objective with the Horrors.

My shooting is mediocre: I pile a lot of shots in to the Heldrake, but it's still left limping on one wound. My Veterans and Dreadnought take down a few Screamers and a couple of Bloodletters.

In the assault phase, my Dreadnought charges into the Screamers, but my Captain falls short. Having learned my lesson about not leaving my warlord on his own from the last game, I choose to keep my Veterans back, so they stay between him and the Bloodletters.

The Dreadnought tears down a Screamer, and is untouched in return, but my line feels decidedly ramshackle, and I'm nowhere near gaining any objective points.

Turn 2 - Chaos

The heldrake eyes up the marines, and then the scouts and too impatiently I decide to stay still to ensure the Scout's death, and then I could shoot the marines. I soon realise after the horrors Smite the last two scouts that the heldrake can't see the veterans (see locker room chat) and so does nothing this turn.

The other horrors wince and try and hurt the rhino: failing.

With the captain now exposed, my prince opts for warlord-showdown and charged in. 

Ahriman flies and then pscyhics himself further to behind the building and gazes and smites the Lieutenant to within a breath of his death.

(The Lt is down to his last wound - the extra one he gets for being a Primaris. Not so silly now, eh?)

The bloodletters charge the marine squad. A couple are lost to flaming overwatch; but the the butchery that followed saw the squad dismembered.

The screamer is holding up the Dread for now.

I've claimed killing a unit in combat, another objective I am sitting on, and killing the warlord twice (once for the slay and once from a card) and first blood as the scouts die.

My poor Captain never even got a chance to strike back (and with a Relic Blade, he'd have given that Daemon something to think about). My Iron Halo save let me down so badly that not even spending a Command Point to reroll would have helped.

Turn 3 - Space Marines

Oh dear, this is all going south very quickly, but I still have firepower on my side.

My Flamer Tac squad move around to get a bead on the tenacious Heldrake, my Lieutenant scurries behind the Rifle Dread so he's no longer the closest target, and my Rhino moves back to contest the centre objective (assuming I can clear all those Bloodletters off it).

In the shooting phase, the Heldrake takes most of what I have, and is still left on its last wound! (he is getting one back each turn). In the end, I have to spilt the autocannon fire from my Rifle Dread: half into the Heldrake and half into the Daemon Prince. Not only does the flying beastie fall, but I just about take out the Deamon Prince too - I get Slay The Warlord!

Just enough. This would be a nice time to remember about command points and use one for a reroll. I didn't and the warlord falls.

Turn 3 - Chaos

The screamer has done well holding up the dreadnought but the Khornate swords, fresh with veteran blood now charge in and slice the exoskeleton and armour apart.

Ahriman flies to a position of safety, invisible to the gunline, and plinks some wounds from the rhino.

I had to abandon the central objective, and I need to get it and then hold it for two independent points.... I'll be back.

Turn 4 - Space Marines

Fare thee well, Assault Dread, at least you drew off the Bloodletters from the central objective and clumped them into a nice target for me. I blast away with everything I have, taking out more than half the unit (although I think Kasfunatu wisely spent two Command Points to ensure they auto-pass their morale test).

Elsewhere, the Flamer Tac squad give up on dislodging the Horrors from the forest (I could have taken them in combat, I just wasn't optimistic about all the Smite raining down on me) and start yomping toward the centre.

Turn 4 - Chaos

Everything targets the Rhino and as a result also manage to get closer to central objective.

It's taken out.

I even spend a Command Point to try and get it to explode, but it's not playing ball. (I have quite a lot of CPs left - there has been no borderline dice rolls for me to spend them on, so I should have read up on the available Stratagems).

Turn 5 - Space Marines

I exchange another objective card and get one that tells me to seize the objective outside the big building - the one my Flamer squad has been fighting over for most of the battle, but has now left. I throw it into the air and keep moving towards the centre: I'm so far behind on objective points now, I'm just fighting for honour.

Moving up into the centre with my Missile Tac squad, and closing in with the Flamer squad, I unleash everything onto the Bloodletters, taking out all but two of them.

Turn 5 - Chaos

I need to grab a different objective and so the northern horrors make an advance and run towards the antenna for another easy victory point.

My remaining bloodletters and herald camp on the central objective, claiming it for now, but unlikely to hold and defend it.

Ahriman, the chicken, stays hidden; crossing fingers that everything is about to end.

Turn 6 - Space Marines

It didn't.

My targets are running low now: the Horrors are too far back, squatting on some plumb objectives, and Ahriman is very sensibly hiding behind an outhouse. I clean up the remaining Bloodletters and plink off the last Screamer before charging into the Herald.

This is where I learn that it's probably not a good idea to take on a Herald of Khorne in close combat with a bare-bones Tactical squad, but at least my guys put two wounds on him before getting scythed down.

But you have enough there to stop me claiming I have defended it; so that's good.

Turn 6 - Chaos

The herald disposes of the remaining interlopers to his central prize.

Everybody camps and claims more victory points with the and hopes that they are about to be summoned back to their realm in a glorious fanfare.... There are not many left to celebrate! 

Then the call comes for home.

Result: 9-2 Victory to Chaos

Locker Room

I may have been trounced, but that was a lot of fun. Indeed, in terms of losses, it was a lot more even than I'd feared. That may be one of the good factors the new 40k has brought over from Age of Sigmar - battles tend to be bloody affairs on both sides, so complete tablings are now rarer.

My tactics were all over the place: I definitely should have held back and shot with everything, rather than wander forward aimlessly. But the Rifle Dread did wonders for fire support and I'd want one of those in a future army.

Yes, he was good. I have my eye on him

I took a awful lot of damage from Smite, and without a Librarian to counter, there was no answer but to weather it (or kill the damn psyker). Horrors really are a great way to get budget psykers in the army. And speaking of surprise deamons, I'm much warier of Bloodletters now I know what they can do.

The bloodletters are better on the charge (+1A and +1S) and when accompanied by a herald (+1S) and with the awful -3AP swords which occasionally do double damage they can make mince of the right targets... if they charge. In their last outing they were wiped out on turn one to a bunch of charging broodlord enchanced genestealers.

As always after games (and apologies as still new) my horrors were rolling two psychic dice. I don't think it turned the tide much. Whilst the unit in the woods cleaned up the scouts more easily than they should - it also left a Heldrake with his baleflamer and charge unused in a a round and I reckon he could have taken out the two scouts. On the other front, the rhino was hit badly by it, but then suffered so much overkill from the bloodletters that again the 3 extra wounds made no impact on the the game. But must get better at remembering key things like that!

The heldrake wasn't the MVP I had seen when playing against either T'au or Nids; but I suppose it soaked up a lot of fire which might have gone elsewhere. I still don't think I'd leave home without one.

Yes, the Heldrake may have underperformed because I put so much effort into killing it early on. I had visions of it engaging my backline, so I couldn't shoot with the Rifle Dread etc, then flitting away to breath fire on me.

What my list really lacked was mobility: other than the lone Rhino, I had no means of getting anywhere fast, which was critical in an objective-based game. A shame, as my other draft lists had Jump Marines and Terminators in it - maybe that's one for the rematch.

Whilst I have a 1600 version of this available if you want to augment and rematch, I don't think I'd be keeping Ahriman. He just doesn't synergise well and is not enough to carry anything by himself. A nice ally, and I wanted to try it: but time to try something else.

When Doves Cry: Crypt Angels vs Dark Angels

August 13, 2017, 10:00 pm

≫ Next: What the Hell Are You?

≪ Previous: Deep Cleanse: Space Marines vs Chaos

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Keep your grouping tight

It's All-Skype Fight Night

40K is definitely flavour of the month right now. Here's a third battle report, fought in nearly as many days, and it's one for the power armour fans out there. Marine on marine action, hot hot hot!


Kas and Kraken here. I'm fielding the Crypt Angels, Kas is taking the stern 1st Legion, in a competition to see who is the most angelic.

Into the Maelstrom of War, and we've Lost Contact today. So we start with no particular mission, and the more objectives we can hold, the more objective options will open up to us. Luckily neither of us are coming in with much of a plan, or, well, we both have plans, they just aren't very complex or nuanced.

Armies

Crypt Angels

Two detachments for me - I really wanted to try out Imperial Knights, and there was no way I'd have points for three in a 1000 point game. I squeezed a selection of Elites into a Vanguard to make up some Marine allies, and that was that.

Super-Heavy Auxiliary Detachment (House Taranis)

• Knight Warden (Avenger Gatling Cannon, Reaper Chainsword, Heavy Stubber, Heavy Flamer, Titanic Feet)

Vanguard Detachment (+1 CP, Crypt Angels Chapter, Chapter Tactics: The Flesh is Weak)

• HQ - Epistolary Naxramus, Terminator Librarian with Force Axe, Warlord Trait: Iron Resolve, Relic: Armour Indomitus, Powers: Smite, Might of Heroes and Null Zone
• Elite 1 - 5 x Vanguard Veterans with Jump Packs. Sarge has Stormshield and Power Sword, the rest have standard kit bar one with Melta Bombs
• Elite 2 - 5 x Sternguard Veterans, standard gear plus two combi-grav guns
• Elite 3 - 5 x Terminators, all standard gear

My plan is basically to run the Warden towards the enemy, firing as I go and then duffing things up with the big chainsword. All terminators will be held in the teleport chamber, ready to either snatch objectives or run in and hit things as needed, with the Stern and Van vets providing shooting or assault support.

About twenty minutes before we're due to play, I realise I haven't paid the points for the Terminator's equipment! Damn points values. I do appreciate what GW are trying to do with Power Values and so on, but it would a lot easier to work out if you paid a simple set points value for a model plus its basic, listed wargear, and then paid extra for any alternate wargear and so on. Hey ho - Kas got an extra 70 points to spend as a result, which meant he got some last minute reinforcements.

Dark Angels (they're still Crypt Angels, just using Dark Angels tactics having bitten them etc)

Vanguard Detachment (+1 CP, Chapter Tactics: Storm of Fire... Rite of War... xxxxx )

• HQ - Azrael  (+1 CP)
• HQ - Techmarine
• Troops - 6 x Scouts all with sniper rifles and camo cloaks
• Elite 1 - Venerable Dreadnought with double twin autocannons
• Elite 2 - Venerable Dreadnought with double twin autocannons
• Elite 3 - Dreadnought with double twin autocannons
• Fast Attack - Darkshroud w/ Heavy Bolter
• Heavy - Whirlwhind w/ vengeance launcher

So playing a shooty army, I naturally took the shooty tactic; but told Kraken the wrong one. It's okay though: we forgot to use them until most of the way through the game; so I had not used it, nor used the one I instructed or the one intended. AND with all that said... apparently, Dark Angels are not Space Marines. So they aren't even allowed this chapter tactics anyway! Guess DA players have to wait for their own book.

I think Rites of War is your Warlord Trait, which you'd wrongly selected when you really wanted Storm of Fire. Didn't make any difference, though, as you say!

I struggled in building this list; not being able to get everything I wanted in and balancing with troop tax of one description whilst still getting enough command points.

I settled on a Vanguard detachment and going dreadnought heavy. Initially one of the dreads was actually some wannabe-servitors, but when Kraken gave me a bonus 70 points, they were replaced with an ordinary rifledread.

The plan was simple. Clump everything in a group to maximise Azrael's bonuses and shoot with everything we've got. Try and kill enough to then rush for objective scoring. 

I was scared by the knight and so was going to have to concentrate on that.

Terrain and Deployment

Here's the field plus numbered objectives. I lost the roll-off for objective placing, which meant I got to pick deployment, which is quite a big bonus in this sort of game.

Yes, realised that afterwards, and might be tempted to burn a command point to lose that roll off in future.

Mind you, if you lose it, you start deploying second and are thus less likely to get the first turn unless your army is much smaller. Swings and roundabouts. And bolters.

Anyway, I went with a Spearhead Assault and took the left-hand side as you're looking at it. I didn't realise (I was mapping from orbit skype) that as we were playing with relatively small forces, the table was only 5' long, so these maps are a bit generous with lateral movement as a result.

4x4 was a bit small for 1000 and I found 4x6 a bit big. When we get quicker and go up to a more standard 1500-1800 range then we can open back up.

I slapped the Vanguards in the trees, on top of Objective 4, and the Sternguards in the house beside Objective 2. The Warden went in front of the trees, opposite what looked ominously like the light of a gathering Deathstar, and the Terminators start doing stretching exercises in the Teleportarium.

I put everything in a double 6" bubble of Azrael and Darkshroud. (note: The Whirlwind is not the other side of the building).

My smaller army means I'm done deploying first, and therefore get first turn. Unless Kas steals it on a 6!

Failed. It's too risky for a precious command point.

Crypt Angels Turn 1

Off we go with the Knight, stomping down the field and shooting. Alas, I'm firing into the twin bubbles of Darkshroud Stealth and Azrael's Giant Iron Halo (TM), and although I chip a pair of wounds off the Darkshroud, it's nothing the Techmarine can't buff out next turn.

The objective card I draw as my starter is to get a squad inside my opponent's deployment zone. Job done, thanks to the magic of teleporting! While they're there, the Terminators and Librarian decide to deal with the sniper scouts. A quick Smite, a round of shooting and two rather lucky long-bomb charges, and the scouts are all safely locked up in a cupboard in their cottage. Or so we shall assume, for the more squeamish of our readers.

First Blood to me too! Although I have also lost a Terminator to Overwatch fire. As I quite forgot I had given one an Assault Cannon, let's assume it was him. Idiot.

That was horrifyingly efficient. Two objective points up and I'm one unit down. Okay I did not expect much from the snipers, but at least a go.

Dark Angels Turn 1

My movement phases are going to be pretty uninspiring. With every Kraken unit in a building or wood apart from the knight; and the knight being my biggest concern: I open fire with everything I have got and use all my abilities (see locker room) and managed to knock it down 25%... not enough to be impactful.

Well, 33% - I'd kissed 8/24 wounds goodbye. So if I wasn't any slower yet, I was also fairly worried about getting in out of the rain asap. Rust, you know.

Crypt Angels Turn 2

New objectives - Advance, Take and Hold Objective 2 and Big Game Hunter. Well, I'm not advancing anywhere. The Veterans are deploying their Storm Loungers and enjoying the fireworks from afar, thanks. And Kas doesn't have any models with ten or more wounds, so my trophy wall will have to wait.

Well at least that's something!

The Knight is looking a little the worse for wear, so I'd better try and get into the relative safety of close combat as soon as I can. He advances, but quite slowly - I roll and then re-roll a 1, but it's looking reasonable for a charge.

Wiping Scout Squad off themselves, the Terminators head for the gunline. The Librarian buffs the Terminators with Might of Heroes, thinking that the extra toughness strength and attacks will be handy if we make it to melee.

Which we don't. Shooting is a bit of not much, although the Termies manage to wing the nearby dreadnought by sheer weight of fire. Then they fluff their charges, although at least they don't get hurt by the Overwatch fire.

The Knight also fails the charge - he's eight inches off, and I get six with a five-one split. CPs to the rescue, and so he makes it in, taking another pair of wounds to autocannon fire as he charges the junior dreadnought at the front.

Amazingly, I fail to kill the little pest in the ensuing fight. Azrael's magic hat saves the Chainsword attacks, but I clip a couple of wounds off by kicking the can in the shin. I score points for taking and holding Objective 2, then discard Big Game Hunter, and that's me done for now.

Dark Angels Turn 2

I back up an inch, but that's a third of dreadnought firepower not shooting. The techmarine runs around patching things up and then shooting continues on the knight. I am hurting it, but not quick enough. I needed a bit more punch. A primaris LT or captain for rerolls would have helped (see locker room).

Crypt Angels Turn 3

New Objectives - Area Denial, Take and Hold Objective 1, Something else that I forget because I can't do it. Area Denial is a ridiculous steal, the middle is totally free of bodies right now, and it's a free d3 VP to me!

Neither of us were there, it was a free steal for either. I am drawing cards for the other side of the board. Not looking good for me, and the knight and termies are there in my bubble doing their thing.

Shooting at this range can't help but knock a few wounds off here and there. Both Terminators and Warden shoot up the nearest Dreadnoughts, clipping a few but killing none. The psychic phase gets me a nice reliable pair of Smite wounds on the nearest Dreadnought, leaving it with but one, and I buff the Terminators again.

Then it's charge time, and the Warden is feeling cocky so charges both the nearest Dreadnought. I lose another pair of wounds to the twin Overwatch, but the Dreaddies are left looking a little wan in the face of the coming fight. Similarly, the Terminators swamp their foe, taking a little scratch from Overwatch, but then it's clobbering time.

Again, the Knight doesn't do quite as well as I'd hoped. But it's enough to leave both his foes on almost no wounds, and he takes none in return. The Terminators utterly murder their Dreadnought, and consolidate into the nearby Whirlwind.

Area Denial claimed, and if I only roll 1, it doesn't matter. Not like I worked hard for it.

Dark Angels Turn 3

I have two of three cards requiring me to be in the centre of the board and there are points for grabs if I can take out the warlord. 

So the shroud stamps on the accelerator and heads, slowly, for the centre. The engaged vehicles back up in different directions with the techmarine hastily hammer bits of armour back on.

Azrael gets ready to charge the warlord; it's going to be okay I think.

It's at this point we remember warlord traits (at this point, I still thought I was eligble as a space marine) ... and remember that all my shots which scored a 6 to wound would have been -1AP. Given I was needing 5 or 6 to wound anyway, there was likely to be a good chunk there. Damn.

Then I check something and kick myself as I re-read chapter master. Nadgers! All my to hit rolls could have been rerolled in the bubble. Expletive Expletive Expletive!

I concede. My shooty army was not going to hold up and I'd missed my chance (by my own double stupidity) and did not stand a chance against the knight now.

Result: 4-1 Victory to the Crypt Angels!

Lockorium

Hmm. It's a slightly hollow win, all things considered. If Kas's gunline had remembered how it worked, I reckon the Knight should have been a very great deal more injured by the time it reached the Deathstar. If it reached it at all! Which I think I would have, but maybe a turn later, and maybe a lot less effectively. All the same, I was lucky there were no dedicated anti-armour guns in Kas's list. A lascannon or two would probably have finished me off.

Still smarting. But it is my own fault. Will try this list again at some point... with the right rules. 

Mind you, the Termies would still have got there, and they proved just as effective. More so, in fact, with the amount of attacks they could fistpump out. Maybe I should have taken Assault Termies? Or no, actually, their firepower was also helping as they stomped slowly forwards.

It was combination of shooting all those rapid fire bolters were making a big impact.

I was lucky with Objective cards too, which confirms my suspicion of them as a random element. Although it's fun, the luck of the draw is likely to be conclusive in terms of winning. I like that area control gives you more chances, but all the same, I think I prefer the certainties of Eternal War missions. Kas drew stinkers, which was demoralising as well as inconvenient.

I quite like the random element, but yes there is the potential of easy points if the right cards are drawn.

Knights work well, it turns out. Although mostly as a distraction while the rest of your army gets to work. It was big and tough enough to soak up two rounds of his entire army shooting at it, even with the accidental rules nerf, and that's well worth the points by itself. Once it reached combat, Kas's shooty army was effectively neutered, so maybe taking a close combat guardian next time might be an idea.

I have played a knight once in 8th too but took a full out shooty one and kept it gunning any nids that came towards it; it was nice to see how terrifying it was in combat. 

Well, maybe next time I'll give him a proper beating! Until then, Kraken out.

A win's a win.

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What the Hell Are You?

August 16, 2017, 12:00 am

≫ Next: Scout Car

≪ Previous: When Doves Cry: Crypt Angels vs Dark Angels

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So yeah, these AvP minis.


Kas owns the AvP game from Prodos that was kickstarted a couple of years back, I think it was. I don't think he's played it yet, so I can't really tell you anything about it. It's got everything from the films in it? Although the AvP films are pretty crap, really. Let's go with the old AvP game from 2000, that was pretty decent. It's got everything you'd expect from that.

Plus lots of shiny board sections.

Great models! Very detailed. Bendy resin, though, which makes them a pain to superglue. And worse, not easy to drybrush for fear of snapping bits off. And even worse, terrible on the board, I strongly suspect! Great that they captured the long, threshing tails of the Aliens. But finding a way to do so without them trailing right over any neighbouring square would have been a better idea. The game is actually being rereleased around now, I believe, with single-piece plastic figures instead of these ones, and I can understand why.

Paintwise, I tried to stay relatively canonical with what I was doing. This makes the xenomorphs a fairly simple exercise in black and silver, using gloss Nuln Oil and some freehand silver work to make the floor look like the inside of a colony, seeing as I totally lack the basing bits to do that otherwise.

The Queen is obviously the worst offender for giant tail overlap, but at least she's taller than the other models, which mitigates the problem to a degree.

These Praetorians have it best, I think - the tail is curled round and secured against its own thigh. Stronger, but still looks good - just a shame that it's in three tiny resin sections that were a massive pain to glue.

Awww, they just want a hug.

Predalien. Going to a costume party as the Joker.

The Marines and Predators got alternate bases, mostly to reinforce the idea that they're on different teams. But also because drawing metal sheeting is boring, and I have the attention span of a dragonfly. I wanted to do slick concrete, so I used actual modelling concrete! Doesn't look like concrete on a model, though, it's too rough.

Cows don't look like cows on film.

You'd probably need plaster of paris for that, and there was no way I was pouring that over their feet. Gives them a bit of heft as it is, and leaves them suitable for tabletop as well as board.

Anytime. Although let's be honest, it was the eighties. Where else would you find a monster wearing a full-body fishnet stocking?

I'm going to cut your name right into him

Predator hounds? Wow. I clearly haven't scraped the sequel barrel hard enough yet.

Have you got time to duck?

You can't see the eyes of the demon, until him come callin'.

It changed colours, like the chameleon. I had a go at decloaking - it's very hard to paint, basically. I'm not displeased with it, but it never looks quite right. Why can't GW release invisible paint?

I did manage to stick some random bits of 40K plastic on, at least - sprues, spare Tau suit heads, chunks of Dreadnought, whatever looked reasonable. Plus some dried spaghetti as piping, which I haven't done since primary school. Not a great building material, in all honesty. Too sticky and fragile.

Painting Guide: -

• 
  
• Xenomorphs - Chaos Black spraycoat, heavy Leadbelcher drybrush, Nuln Oil Gloss wash, Ironbreaker and Runefang drybrushes, Stormhost Silver on teeth and claws. Same on the bases, but black line work done with the laundry pen
• Marine Armour - Mournfang basecoat. Orkhide Shade splodges with Pallid Wychflesh stripes, then Ironbreaker linework on the edges
• Marine Drabs - Karak Stone and Deathworld Forest splodges, Agrax Earthshade wash and Hiveworld Ash drybrush. Abaddon Black straps, then Skrag Brown holsters and pouches, finished with a little Tyrant Skull
• Predators - Mournfang Brown basecoat again. Rakarth Flesh with an Agrax Earthshade wash, then Rakarth drybrush and Pallid Wychflesh finish. Abaddon Black lightly and carefully drybrushed for the netting. Dryad Bark for straps. Abaddon Black dreadlocks with Wazdakka Red and Balthazar Gold beads. 
• Predator Armour - Ironbreaker with Agrax Earthshade, then Runefang drybrush. 
• Predator Helmets - Karak Stone, Agrax wash, Terminatus Stone drybrush and a touch of Praxeti White. Khorne red and Evil Suns Scarlet eyes. 

You'll have seen them make their gaming debut in the 40K game from last week. Who knows when they'll see their actual home system, though? Probably not before another turgid and thin sequel is released, that's my bet. Which I'll still watch greedily, because I'm an idiot.

"Minus 0.4 metres? That's inside my spleen!"

Scout Car

September 5, 2017, 12:08 pm

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Break's over! Back to the war.

Scouts again. They're a nice relaxed quintet, these five. Just taking it easy, having a sit and a rest before the next wave of alien menaces arrive to attack. 

Rather like me, actually, I've been on holiday for the last few weeks. Paint fatigue was setting in, probably caused by painting too many Adeptus Astartes and genestealer cultists, then thinking that I'd mix it up by painting that USCM and Xenomorph set. They're still Space Marines and Xenos, dummy.

They weren't always the grey camo pattern you see here. I got my wires crossed and thought I had free choice of colours, but it turned out they were supposed to match the other scouts from earlier this year. So my original choice of red, yellow and white got a hasty recoating, and we'll pretend it never happened. 

There was this whole classic playing card scheme I had worked out, with ace to ten insignia and everything. Ah well! Another time.

Leofa is quite the master of kitbashing, and despite their humble appearances, these five are no exceptions. For as somnolent as they appear, they are in fact ready to spring into action at a moment's notice. On their hover chariot!

All aboard!

Bet they play mailbox baseball. Only with Ork heads. And chainswords. So Orkbox Chainball. Or as we call it today, 40K.

Yup, Leofa has lovingly magnetised them so they can pop off their bases and onto this Land Speeder Storm. Amazing work, some very patient work with glue and earth magnets there. There is a video somewhere of them being assembled and reassembled, taken at the last 'Boot, and if we're lucky Stylus may be able to add it to the blog at some stage. Stay tuned! 

CMON CMON CMON

September 6, 2017, 2:39 am

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Move over, Dungeon Saga. Time to plumb some new depths.

Gah. Eyes. What kind of an idiot puts them right under the deep brim of a big floppy hat? Bloody wizards.

Massive Darkness finally arrived in Sweden last week. Our container ship got delayed, so we were amongst the last Kickstarters to get our deliveries. But boy, was it worth the wait!

Owen the Paladin. Paladin of Fury, in fact, to give him his full class title. His stubble looks blue in this photo, that's probably why he's so cross.

A fuller writeup to follow in due course, but Kas, Leofa and I have already played and enjoyed the game itself. By way of a brief review, I'd say it's basically everything Mantic could have achieved with Dungeon Saga but done better. The models are great and the game is swift, simple and entertaining.

Sybil the Nightshade Ranger in a very summery frock.

Whisper the Bloodmoon Nightrunner. A very different class to plain old 'Rogue', obviously.

Maybe a little lighter? In terms of detail in the gameplay, as well as perhaps difficulty for the heroes? It's not quite as tough as Zombicide, for example, which it shares more than a few mechanics with. But it's so much faster to play than DS that I don't give a hoot. And not having a GM is a blast.

Bjorn isn't just a Barbarian. He's a Shadow Barbarian. Because the game is set in the darkness, you see. So it's thematically appropriate.

Now, my current painting production line is still way out the door. But I couldn't resist slapping some pigments on a few of these guys, ready for play. So the core set heroes got done, then a pair of monsters. I really like the cartoony feel they have, it matches the game's artwork very well without making them too weird a match for other fantasy games.

Hellhound! I know the flames could have come out better if I'd been a bit more exacting over the white. But it's the usual thing, that the model looks fine and my awful photography does it limited justice. I swear, your honour.

After this taster, though, the plan will be to trek through the usual endless supply of doors and minions before getting the rest of the wonderful monsters done. Mind you, I can't grumble. Best doors I've ever seen in a dungeon game, and I've seen a few. So they won't be long in appearing, you can bet.

Yes, Chromatis, you're right. Friendship is magic.

Brayherd Battletome

September 12, 2017, 2:59 am

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Always the neglected sibling of the chaos faction, if the absence of a battletome for the Brayherds gets your goat, then look no further than this splendid hobby creation:

An unofficial battletome by Hobbyhammer, this is easily as good as the real thing: fluff, battleplans, warscrolls, allegiance and artefacts, pitched battle and skirmish points - all of it laid out in the recognisable Age of Sigmar style.

(There is even a hobby section - check out page 33 for a contribution by our very own WoffBoot.)

Judging by their inclusion in General's Handbook 2017, we won't getting an official Brayherd book for a while, so this will do very nicely.

It's almost enough to make me want to paint up the remainder of my Brayherd models, after this battalion box somehow fell into my eBay basket...

Just fell in there, I tell you.

Nobody Expects The Orkquistion: Orks vs Inquisition

September 15, 2017, 12:33 am

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Our Chief Weapons are Surprise, Ruthless Efficiency and Fright!
It's All-Skype Fight Night!

I, Stylus, will continue our tour of 8th Edition Warhammer 40k with an army of mine that hasn't seen action since 1992 - the Orks! Some of the original models (with their original paint jobs) will feature, along with some of the most outrageous proxy models we have ever used. Waaaagh!

Mission

Maelstrom of War: Spoils of War - we're delving into the Objective Cards (I really like these) and this mission allows you a maximum of three per turn. Both sides can compete for 'Secure Objective X' cards, and whoever has more of these at the end of the turn gets an additional victory point.

In addition, there are the usual First Blood, Slay the Warlord and Linbreaker rules. We also added the house rule that objectives that would have been impossible to achieve from the start of the game (i.e. Scour the Skies against the Ork player) may be discarded.

Armies

Nozz-Taal Ghaaagh! - Orks

Oh dear, I was afraid you'd ask about this.

Not having owned a 40k army for the past seven editions, I was a bit stuck for choices, and my selection was based on what might look half-decent on the pitch.

I managed to unearth my original Space Orks (£11.99 for 36 x multi-pose plastics. Stop crying), so despite their hideous appearance, they were an auto-include. As was the mighty Battlewagon - which is still an awesome model, albeit the size of a Trukk nowadays.

Command models were made up with Ironjawz, who port over quite nicely, and Moria Goblins made a nice big mob of Grots, who'll never live long enough to matter anyway.

• HQ 1 - Warboss in Mega Armour, Kustom Shoota, Power Klaw, Warlord (Tenacious Survivor)
• HQ 2 - Weirdboy, Weirdboy Staff, Smite & Da Jump
• HQ 3 - Big Mek, Kustom Force Field, Choppa, Grot Oiler
• Elite 1 - Runtherd, Slugga, Squig Hound
• Elite 2 - Nob with Waaagh! Banner, Kustom Shoota, Waaagh! Banner
• Elite 3 - 3 x Meganobz, 2 x Power Klaw, 2 x Kombi Weapon with Skorcha, 1 x Two Killsaws
• Troop 1 - 20 x Boyz, Sluggas, Choppas, 2 x Rokkit Launcha, 1 x Power Klaw
• Troop 2 - 10 x Boyz, Shootas, 1 x Big Shoota
• Troop 3 - 25 Gretchin, Grot Blasta
• Transport 1 - Trukk, Big Shoota, Wreckin' Ball

1000 pts - Battalion Detachment

Inquisition

Well, if we're playing the nostalgia card, then I'm going with Inquisitors. Kraken here, remembering the glory of bygone days. The sole remnants of my 40K collection (I once had four armies, dontcha know), I've still got a vague idea of them leading a restored force for modern 40K. So in fact this army list was one I theoryhammered together earlier this year, just before the Indexes came out. 

• HQ 1 - Inquisitor Coteaz! Smite and Terrify, Warlord w. Tenacious Survivor
• HQ 2 - a Xenos Inquisitor! Combi-flamer, plasma pistol and Psyker, Mental Fortitude and Smite
• HQ 3 - Tempestor Prime! Rod of Office and Power Maul

• Elite 1 - 6 Acolytes with Stormbolters and Laspistols
• Elite 2 - 6 Acolytes with Laspistols and Chainswords and possibly a Rack

• Troops 1 - 10 Tempestus Scions, feat. 6 hotshot lasguns, a sarge-type with hotshot laspistol and chainsword, a vox operator with hotshot laspistol and two hotshot volley guns, they all have frag and krak grenades and an almost fanatical dedication to the Emperor
• Troops 2 - 10 Tempestus Scions as above, only this time a pair of grenade launchers in place of the volley guns
• Troops 3 - 5 Scions feat. 2 hotshot lasguns, a vox operator, a flamer and the sarge has taken an expensive Power Axe instead of his chainsword

• Dedicated Transport 1 - Taurox Prime with Taurox Gatling Gun and twin hotshot volley guns,
• Dedicated Transport 2 - Taurox Prime with Battle Cannon and twin Autocannons
• Dedicated Transport 3 - Valkyrie Flyer with Multilaser and Hellstrike Missiles

Inquisitors are hard-hitting, but very squishy. By leading this list, they're really just there as a token splash of close combat revenge. Mind you, the ablative acolytes could be useful - maybe even more so if I'd realised I could upgrade their laspistols to bolt pistols for free. Damn you, confusing rulebooks!

The other arm of this Battalion is from the Tempestus Scions. Two blocks of ranged firepower, a smaller unit to pack into a transport and get up close, then some cheap and nasty Taurox Primes (what are those weapon options? They are absurdly powerful for what are essentially minivans) and a Valkyrie for speed and toughness. 

It's not that they need the transport options, exactly, as they can just drop from the sky if needed. But this gives me deployment options out the wazoo, including the ability to place the army inside vehicles to finish placing first. Finally, a cheap leader in the form of the Tempestor Prime to boost shooting, and we're done. If they do well enough, I may even buy and paint some. 

Deployment

I lose the roll to place our objectives, which means I get to pick the zones. Hmm - the Orks are close combat orientated, I'm fast and shooty, so I want a good, deep table to maximise the distance between us. I also know I'm getting first pick of table edge, so I try to sneak the objectives to favour the side I want. Bit of a flaw to this system, I'd say - I think there should be a roll-off for table edge choosing after placing the objectives, to prevent this exact shenanigan.

Hammer and Anvil - so we play lengthways, with a 24" No Man's Land between us. As gift to my ageing knees, I got myself a couple of wallpaper tables to play on, and lifted myself off the floor.

And a gift to the table, I got a lovely new gaming mat from Gamemat.eu - these seem fairly common among proper battle reporters (the ones who don't proxy with children's toys), and I can see why. It's a lovely print, with a great 'mousemat' material that makes it solid to play upon and easy to store. This one is the 'Sands of Time' mat - a badlands/desert print with a dry river bed, and it's a treat to roll dice upon.

Nice! 

Although it does highlight that I am very short on scenery - even a barren wastelands needs some more stuff on it.

I deploy my biggest mob of Slugga Boyz in the centre, just ahead of Objective 3, backed up by the Meganobz and the Warboss' retinue. On their left flank is the Trukk carrying the Shoota Boyz.

Further to the right, swarming over Objective 5, is the Runtherd and his Grots.

My guys pack into the buildings, mostly. One troop of Scions upstairs in a ruined shack with the Prime and Objective 1, and the battle-cannon-armed Taurox outside if they need to roll out.

Coteaz stands as far forward as he can, posing dramatically in the central ruins with his loyal acolytes behind him. 

And hovering over objective 4 is the Valkyrie, containing the smaller Scion squad, the Xenos Inquisitor and her acolytes, with the Gatling Taurox (Scion squad two inside) just in front. Let's take to the sky!

Turn 1 - Inquisition

My draw of objective cards gets me Advance (not just yet, thanks, there are three objectives in my deployment zone), No Prisoners, which is also a tall order in turn one, and Secure Objective 5, which is currently underneath all the Gretchin. Hmm. 

Well, best get to it - there's no way I'll capture Objective 5 this turn, but there's a slim chance I could at least stop the Orks having it. Dog in the manger, me. So the Valkyrie and Gatling Taurox get as close as they can, which leaves the heli right next to it and the jeep parked half-way up the field, conveniently by Objective 6. 

I'm out of range for psychics, so straight on to shooting, where the Battlecannon Taurox and Valkyrie between them take more than half the Trukk's wounds. Then the Gatling Taurox makes a nice mess out of the Gretchin, but their Runtherd's Squig just eats a couple rather than letting them flee. 

So that means the Orks can steal the jerry cans that are Objective 5, and I'm already losing! Hooray!

Turn 1 - Orks

I'm already up one Victory Point and I haven't even done anything! I love these missions!

My luck doesn't go so well when I draw my first cards: Blood & Guts, Assassinate and Scour the Skies. All these are technically possible, but I can't see it happening this turn.

Nonetheless, I am a little daunted by the firepower that's been thrown at me, so I decide to advance with everything I've got and close up the distance.

The exception are the surviving Gretchin, who stay let rip with their Grot Blastas and actually manage to take a couple of wounds off the Valkyrie - go Grots!

Prior to that, my Weirdboy has used Da Jump (brilliant psychic power - I can't imagine using anything else) to teleport the Meganobz across the field.

However, Inquisitor Coteaz is onto this kind of chicanery, and has an ability to order an out-of-sequence round of shooting at any unexpected visitors. For all that, the Acolytes' stormbolter shots just bounce off the mega-armour.

In the charge phase, the Meganobs make the long run (with the aid of a command point) and get stuck into the Gatling Taurox. Sadly, the Power Klaws whiff their attacks, and though the Kill Saws make up the deficient by hacking off seven wounds, that vehicle really ought to be scrap metal by now.

No objectives secured this turn - but I'm still one up.

Turn 2 - Inquisition 

My new objective turns out to be Priority Orders! This is worth a ton, but can only be claimed by my Warlord, Coteaz, and turns out to be Big Game Hunter, which means killing a model with ten wounds or more. There's only one of these around, the Trukk, and while Coteaz could probably nail it with his giant hammer, he'd struggle to get there. Plus he needs to deal with the Meganobs, so I grit my teeth and get on with it. 

The Valkyie spills its troops all round the Gretchin, and they scamper about to give them range on the Weirdboy. Elsewhere, the battered Gatling Taurox drops the kids off at the pool Objective 6, then limps forward, away from the Meganobs.

In the psychic phase, Coteaz fries a Meganob with Smite, while the Xenos 'Quisitor fries herself with a snake-eyed attempt. Which remains snake-eyed even after a command point, dammit! 

The Battlecannon roars again, and the Trukk is done. The Orks inside pile out of the front, which is very sporting of them - now they're in range of the Scions in the building, who promptly light them up fairly convincingly, leaving just three alive, who scarper cheerfully in the morale phase later on.

The other Scion squad and the stormbolter-armed acolytes chug away at the Meganobs, and despite a hefty application of ammo, knock a single wound off them. Whereas the Gretchin are butchered by flamers and hotshot laspistols. I also charge in to finish them off, and as the dust settles, there's just two left. 

Coteaz has also thoughtfully Terrified the Meganobs, so charges in unscathed. Bash, bash - down they go.

That Terrify spell was particularly damaging - you don't usually expect much from Overwatch, but these Meganobz were tooled up with Skorchas for that very occasion.

With only two Grots remaining, I'll never pass the Morale check, so my Runtherd unleashes his trusty Squighound once again, who promptly eats both survivors - leave nothing for the enemy!

This means that Inquisition scores First Blood! I also claim No Prisoners, having wiped out three squads, and roll a two. Three VPs - we're in the lead!

Turn 2 - Orks

I capitalise on actually having an enemy I can get to grips with, and my remaining forces (which has diminished to the Slugga mob and the leaders) making a sharp turn to the right and bearing down upon Objective 5.

The Runtherd quickly scrapers out of combat, leaving the Xenos Inquisitor and his acolytes open to getting shot.

In the Psychic phase, I have no need to jump anywhere else on the board, so settle for blasting the Inquisitor with some Smite (that he promptly splashes onto a couple of devoted Acolytes).

In the shooting phase, I open up on the damaged Taurox. By spending a Command Point, I actually manage to wound it with a Rokkit Launcha - at which point Kraken spends a Command Point to reroll his armour save and survive. Remaining heavy fire chips off another wound, leaving the Taurox with two left.

The Sluggas charge into all three units: Inquisitor, Acolytes and Scions, taking three casualties in Overwatch (in hindsight, I should really have left the Runtherd in there). They leave space for the Warboss to make it in too, but he may find himself surplus to requirements.

The Valkyrie was hovering at this point, so I was lucky it didn't end up getting attacked too.

With their close-combat numbers, plus the buffs from the Waaagh! Banner, the Slugga Boyz kill all the imperials before I'd even finished rolling my dice. That's three units destroyed in close combat (so that's Blood & Guts - I roll 2 on a D3), plus a character killed (Assassinate) and I'm back in the lead.

Turn 3 - Inquisition 

New orders! Overwhelming Firepower, which is probably doable, and Defend Objective 1. This is easy enough, as I've got a squad camping on it, and valuable, so that's nice. 

Coteaz and his acolytes move up towards Objective 6, joining forces with the Scion squad there, as the Gatling Taurox lurches back towards them. And the Valkyrie zooms over to the far side of the field, away from the defunct bodies of its previous cargo. 

I get locked down in the psychic phase, so it's straight on to shooting. Here, the Slugga boys take a reasonable clutch of casualties to Taurox, Acolyte, Coteaz and Scion firepower. And the Valkyrie impresses by landing a Hellstrike Missile on the Big Mek, blowing the tinkerer and his irritating bubble field up!

So I can claim Overwhelming Firepower from killing the Big Mek, but that's it for now. And I'm staring at what is still quite a lot of Orks...

Turn 3 - Orks

Two fresh objective cards for me (the Scour the Skies objective is still hanging around like a stubborn stain - much like the Valkyrie) - and it's an interesting draw. Secure Objective 5 (which is the grot-littered heap of barrels we've all been fighting over, that I currently possess) and Secure Objective 4 (which is in a building in the far corner, nowhere near anyone's troops). As well as both being within my grasp, having so many 'Secure'-type objectives puts me in good stead for the Steal the Loot bonus at the end of the battle.

The Warboss leads his Boyz and the Waaagh! banner towards Coteaz and the damaged Taurox, while the Weirdboy sits on Objective 5 to claim it. Beckoning over the Runtherd, he casts Da Jump to send him to Objective 4 - only to have Inquisitor Coteaz deny it.

Phew - this eats my last Command Point (can't remember where the rest went, but I'd been steadily munching through them to deal with various whiffed wound rolls), and probably keeps me in the game, as the Orks are getting dangerously ahead on VPs. 

Vengeance is swift when my Warboss makes a huge advance, followed by a long charge that sets up a clash of the warlords. The Nob with the Waaagh! Banner and the Slugga Boyz mob around the Tauroz, to finally finish it off.

The Warboss goes first with his power Klaw, and once all his attacks are done, he's inflicted five wounds on Coteaz - just enough to kill him. Unfortunately, Coteaz' devoted band of Acolytes is still at his heel, and they all leap in front of the blows to fall in his stead. With his return strikes, Coteaz smashes six wounds from the Warboss, who has no such ablative allies, and is left on a single wound.

(NB Throughout the game, we forgot the Tenacious Survivor ability on both Warlords. Let's just say they chose something different)

In the fight with the Taurox, the Nob insisted on going first, bringing down the Waaagh! Banner to completely obliterate the vehicle (what kind of banner is this?) before the Boyz get to fight.

The banner must have struck the promethium tank, as the Tauroz then exploded, killing two Slugga Boyz, one Scion and blasting three wounds off the idiotic Nob who did all the damage in the first place.

The Slugga Boyz don't get to fight this time, but they do consolidate into the unit of Scions, so they're locked in combat too.

So not looking great for me, but I am still sitting pretty on Objective 5 (there must be something fantastic in those barrels).

Turn 4 - Inquisition 

No new orders for me, so I get on with butchering Orks in the midfield. The Tempestor Prime nips downstairs into the Battlecannon Taurox, which heads off towards the middle of the field and Objective 3. The Valkyrie hovers off towards the enemy deployment zone, with Linebreaker on its mind. Can flyers claim that? I guess we'll find out later!

The psychic phase sees the Ork Boss smitten in short order. Which leaves Coteaz free to shoot, terrify and assault the remaining Sluggas with his acolyte, as the Scions retreat in close order. The Sluggas don't manage to hurt Coteaz at all, and he kills enough of them that the pitiful remainders leg it. 

I get Slay The Warlord! And also Defend Objective 1, which the loyal and lazy Scion squad has been looking after all this time. The field is pretty much mine, now, but I'm still behind on VPs and the tricksy Orks still have some cunnin' planz left. 

Turn 4 - Orks

Turning his attention from the Big Green, my Weirdnob is probably wondering where the rest of the army has gone. As the Runtherd scrambles for cover inside the nearest building, the Weirdnob casts Da Jump to send himself across the battlefield to the relative safety of Objective 4.

All I need to to now is somehow keep two wounded characters alive long enough for the scenario to end.

Turn 5 - Inquisition

I draw Psychological Warfare as a new objective, which is just irritating. With just two characters left, I can't get it, but I could have earlier in the game and therefore can't ditch it! Ah, if only I hadn't wasted all my CPs earlier...

The Scions and Battlecannon Taurox converge on the building with the Weirdboy in it, angrily toting their guns. Even though the Scions had to run to get there, they're in range of the shouty voice of their Prime, who tells them to ignore the usual rules and shoot anyway. Together with the Taurox, they blast the wretched psyker down, although it's too late to stop the damage being done - he's claimed that Objective, and the precious VPs that went with it. 

Coteaz and the Valkyrie hunt for the Runtboy, but he's too well hidden. Curses! 

No objectives secured this turn, and probably not much game left. I've lost track of VPs rather by this point. We're pretty evenly matched, I think, but I know the Orks are getting extra ones for claiming all this loot. If I could just... hold... on....

Turn 5 - Orks

As my Runtherd cowers in his building, awaiting the inevitable, I get a lucky draw - Area Denial. As long as there are no enemy in the centre of the board (and there aren't - they're all on the outskirts hunting me), I get a Victory Point - I'll take it!

More critically, I get to decide if the mission ends now. Despite using my last Command Point, I can't roll the required 1 or 2 - the fight goes on!

Both Turn 6s

At this point, with the Valkyrie bearing down upon the Runtherd, I concede that he's not going to survive this round of shooting. Sportingly, Kraken doesn't want to win by annihilating me, and so we play this out on objectives alone.

With his Valkyrie gaining Linebreaker, the only scoring objective in Kraken's hand is Advance. This means he needs to get the unit of Scions that have been cowering in their ruin all game out and across the field.

A quick measure reveals that the sluggards will need two turns to get across - if the game ends now, they'll still be in their own deployment zone.

In accordance with the rules of fate as I have always experienced them, the game immediately ends. 

Final Victory points

Orks: Secure Objective 5, Blood & Guts (2), Assassinate, Secure Objective 5 (again!), Secure Objective 4, Area Denial and Steal The Loot = 8VPs

Inquisition: First Blood and No Prisoners (2), Overwhelming Firepower, Slay The Warlord, Defend Objective 1 (2) and Linebreaker = 8VPs

Final total: 8 vs 8 VPs - a draw!

Confession Time/Lorker Room

That was a great game of 40k (and I should know, I have played three of them you know). Despite getting thoroughly tabled, the mission objectives managed to keep me in the game and certainly made a more entertaining challenge than just grinding away at each other.

Yup - a proper back and forth! 

If I were to refresh my Ork army (and let's not rule anything out), I would need some more Boyz. Properly supported, the Sluggas are brutal in close combat, but they are not durable. The Grots were an unexpected bonus - with a Runtherd to keep them in line, they can make some very decent objective squatters.

The Weirdboy was my MVP - being able to deepstrike all over the table gave me some badly-needed mobility.

The Gatling Taurox was mine. The threat of all that firepower meant it attracted a lot of attention and somehow scraped through long enough to save other, squishier targets. Although all it really killed were some Gretchin and Slugga Boyz, it more than paid for itself by protected lesser targets. 

Coteaz did very well too - not so much the other Inquisitor, who was just too easily bashed to death by a huge pile of Orks. Still, my own fault, that. Don't run a shooty army up close to a melee army, is possibly the take-home point from that seminar.

I could probably save points by cutting down on the Warboss' retinue - the Waaagh! Banner is a must-have, but the Big Mek can probably be saved for bigger games. The poor Meganobz never really got a chance to shine, but that was their misfortune for encountering the Coteaz himself.

I'll have to look into getting some guns that can actually achieve something other than loud noise - Tankbustas or Lootas, perhaps. Or maybe just paint up my Battlewagon into the real thing.

Oh dear. I'm probably going to have to buy some Start Collecting boxes - these fast, flexible stormtroopers were too much fun. Sigh.

Still, we had a good scrap and ended up with the loot - that's a win by any orkish standards!

10 Angry Men

September 16, 2017, 5:58 am

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I couldn't do the full twelve. Khorne didn't have the patience.


The End Times probably isn't many people's favourite part of Warhammer. At least it didn't last long, and the rules abuse and idiotic fluff-death is now pretty much behind us. Still, it did bring out a last gasp of decent models, and if these Skull-Whatever-They-Ares aren't my favourite of the lot, they're still a good paint.

Which is lucky, because I was painting two batches of the same model. Almost - hurray for the magic of magnets, which allows the upper torsos of these psychopaths to be switched round at will.

The Skullreapers are decent sculpts, as over-muscled loonies go, but I'm not quite convinced that I like their weapons. Crazy daemon blades of various sorts, and a nice mix of styles, but perhaps just a tad over the top? If that's a legitimate complaint about GW stuff? I gave a few of them some tatoos, just so that there was another colour than red involved.

The Wrathmongers (heh - silly name) are my favourite of the two. Amazing sense of movement from the plastic chains, and if they're a little fragile, it's not as bad as it looks. They got a little spackling of Blood For The Blood God, because it would be rude not to.

You know what else impressed me? Both units rank up really well. And that's no mean feat with all the mad weapon skills on display. No idea how they handle on the battlefield, but the Wrathmongers look the more fun of the two option - they drive the enemy crazy as well as themselves, and every time one dies, one of your opponent's models goes nuts and you get to make a free attack with them. Sounds fluffy, at the very least. Skullreapers have a similar sort of thing, where they might cause mortal wounds as they die, and they also look slightly more effective overall, but I still don't like the models as much.

Painting Guide:

• Basecoat - Mephiston Red spray
• Flesh - Barbarian Skin (from Army Painter), Reikland Flesh wash, Barbarian Skin again, Kislev Flesh highlights
• Red Armour - Carroberg Crimson over the basecoat, then Evil Suns Scarlet and Wild Rider Red layering
• Gold Trim - Balthasar Gold with Reikland Flesh Gloss wash, Auric Armour Gold layer and Sigmarite Drybrush
• Wrathmonger Flail Heads - Karak Stone, Agrax Earthshade, Karak Stone again, Terminatus Stone drybrush
• Bone - A standard mix of XV88 with Agrax, then Ushabti Bone, Tyrant Skull and a little Pallid Wychflesh
• Black Leathery Bits - Abaddon Black, Nuln Oil Gloss, Eshin Grey, Shadow Grey drybrush
• Bases - Just sand, Steel Legion Drab and Karak Stone drybrush. Could do with some flock over the top, but I'm out at present, and also not sure what Kasfunatu would want for grass here. 

Just three squads of infantry left in my current queue of commissions

Games Workshop's Two and a Half Men remake was destined for greatness

Back Door Man

September 18, 2017, 5:43 am

≫ Next: Plaguing Away From Home: Crimson Fists vs Death Guard

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Some days, I despair of myself. This week, I got excited by tiny plastic doors.


These are the Massive Darkness doors, although they'd obviously work perfectly well for any game that requires tiny doors. You name it - Dungeon Saga, Heroquest, the dolls' house for Age of Sigmar Sylvaneth Families, CMON's forthcoming Larry Greyson game, they're all good.

They're hinged! That's why I got all overexcited. Just like the Advanced Heroquest doors of old, although tougher (made of resin), more varied (three different designs) and more functional (tiny stoppers and clippy bits, so they stay in whichever position you put them in, although the contact points mean the paint will almost certainly get scraped over time).

Fast to paint, in the way that only scenery can be. Basecoats of various browns or blacks, washes then drybrushes from GW's World of Brown series, metals done over the top. About three hours, all told, and nice to have them out of they way so they aren't clouding my horizon like the chore furniture sort of is. I still have a bunch of spare Dungeon Saga portals and tables to do, and I can't see it happening unless I find some way of making them interesting again, and let's face it, they never were.

Oh god, that means I've got the chests to do next. Weep.

Heeeeere's Owen!

---

Plaguing Away From Home: Crimson Fists vs Death Guard

September 19, 2017, 1:00 am

≫ Next: Thousand Sons Dressing

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Infect Them With Our Blight!
It's All-Skype Fight Night!

Hot on the heels of our last battle report, I, Stylus, find myself back in the general's chair. This time, I'm trading in the nice, healthy green of the Orks for the verdant putrescence that is the Death Guard.

And in the bold corner, making his all-skype fight night battle report debut, iiiiiiiiiiit's LE-O-FAAAAA!  Hi [waves]  I'll be bringing my Wombles.

Mission

Eternal War: The Relic - this one is as simple as it gets: there is a single objective in the centre of the table. Get it and hold it. Only infantry can claim or carry the Relic, no other victory conditions apply.

This is when I start worrying that I've taken far too many vehicles for 1000pts...

Armies

The Congregation of Vapours - Death Guard

I was limited to what models my host could provide (essentially the models from Dark Imperium, First Strike and Blightwar), but I've no complaints, as I want to try them all.

I have a reasonably durable meat shield in the Poxwalkers, Plaguebearers and Nurglings, which should help me deliver Typhus into close combat, where he has a good chance of scything anything down.

I could wish for some more Plague Marines (10 were available, but I went with 7 as an offering to Grandfather Nurgle), but at least I can score 6 Command Points from this lot.

• HQ 1 - Typhus, Manreaper, The Destroyer Hive, Blight grenades, Miasma of Pestilence, Gift of Contagion, Warlord w. Legendary Fighter
• HQ 2 - Malignant Plaguecaster, Corrupted staff, Bolt pistol, Miasma of Pestilence, Gift of Contagion
• Elite 1 - Noxious Blightbringer, Cursed Plague Bell, Plasma pistol
• Troop 1 - 7 x Plague Marines, 4 Boltguns, 6 Bolt pistol, 6 Plague knives, 1 Plasma gun, 1 Blight launcher, 1 Plasma pistol, 1 Power fist, 1 Icon of Despair
• Troop 2 - 16 x Poxwalkers, Improvised weapons
• Troop 3 - 10 x Plaguebearers, Plaguesword, Instrument of Chaos, Daemonic Icon
• Troop 4 - 4 x Nurglings - Diseased claws and teeth
• Fast Attack 1 - Foetid Bloat-drone 2 x Plaguespitters, 1 x Plague Probe

999pts - Battalion Detachment

Crimson Fists

I was also limited to what the host could provide, but that meant I only had myself to blame!  I'd tried something similar to this before but decided to switch out lascannons for assault cannons and also dropped an apothecary somewhere along the line.

• HQ 1 - Pedro Kantor, Dorn’s Arrow, Power fist, Frag & Krak grenades, Warlord w. Tenacious Survivor
• HQ 2 - Chaplain, Crozius Arcanum, Bolt pistol, Frag & Krak grenades
• HQ 3 - Techmarine, Power axe, Servo-arm, Bolt pistol, Frag & Krak grenades
• Elite 1 - Dreadnought, Assault cannon, Storm bolter, Dreadnought combat weapon.
• Elite 2 - Dreadnought, Assault cannon, Heavy flamer, Dreadnought combat weapon.
• Troops 1 - 5 x Tactical Marines, Sergeant with Power fist and Storm bolter; Flamer, Boltguns, Bolt pistols, Frag & Krak grenades.
• Troops 2 - 5 x Tactical Marines, Sergeant with Power fist and Storm bolter; Flamer, Boltguns, Bolt pistols, Frag & Krak grenades.
• Dedicated Transport 1 - Razorback, Twin assault cannon, Storm bolter, Hunter-killer missile
• Dedicated Transport 2 - Razorback, Twin assault cannon, Storm bolter, Hunter-killer missile

999pts - Patrol Detachment + Auxiliary Support Detachment

Deployment

Search and Destroy - appropriately enough for this mission, although it does leave me in quite a bare sector of the map, staring down a lot of dakka with a long walk ahead of me.

I deploy as close to the Relic as permitted: staring with an arc of Plaguebearers, anchored on each flank with Nurglings and Poxwalkers.

The Foetid Bloat-drone goes at the far edge, in the hope of being out of range of something, while the Plague Marines hunker down in the ruin, for some cover saves.

Typhus and the Plaguecaster go with the Poxwalkers, and the Blightbringer goes behind the Plague Marines.

My plan is to essentially weather the storm of bullets coming my way, then try and overwhelm the Relic before it gets too far. At least I have numbers in my favour, so if it comes down to an infantry scramble over the Relic, I have a chance.

I mirror my opponent and deploy as close as possible, with troops in transports to steal the extra 3" move.

Turn 1 - Crimson Fists

Phew - with my limited infantry options, I'm glad I got to go first. The Tactical Marines closest to the Relic jump out and make a dash for the Relic. The Chaplain, who was cadging a ride too, picks it up and the combat squad form a defensive arc around him.

Kantor disembarks and takes up a central command position, with his combat squad forming a gunline in front of the Razorback.

Both Hunter-Killer missiles hit the Foetid Bloat-drone and take off four wounds. The transports and Dreadnoughts then pepper the Plague Marines, Poxwalkers and Plaguebearers with lead - we won't be seeing a large swathe of them again in a hurry. Wrong! Stylus found a loophole in the Warp and put the whole daemon unit back on the table.

Reality blinked when I rolled a '1' for Morale, and then restored all six of my fallen Plaguebearers. Marvellous!

Turn 1 - Death Guard

Well, that was a frightening amount of shooting! And while my cheeky Plaguebearer resurrection helped to mitigate my losses, I need to close up before I suffer another round.

Urged on by the Blightbringer, the surviving Plague Marines hoof towards the centre. The Foetid Bloat-drone scoots behind a building, in the hopes of staying alive long enough to make a quick interception of the relic. Everything else moves up to charge the luckless tactical squads.

In the psychic phase, my Plaguecaster puts Miasma of Pestilence on the Plague Marines, but fails his Gift of Contagion. Speaking of fails, I completely forgot that Typhus is also a Psyker and skipped past his two spells.

In the shooting phase, I realise just how little firepower I have, and manage to do nothing with it.
In the charge phase, the Nurglings jump onto the tactical squad on the left flank, and everything else - Typhus, Plaguecaster, Poxwalkers and Plaguebearers - hit the tactical squad in the centre. The Plaguebearers take a few Overwatch casualties going in.

In the fight phase, Typhus swings his Manreaper, but Leofa manages to make a couple of saves and only three marines fall before him. Leofa then spends two command points to interrupt, and whack a couple of wounds off the Plaguecaster with his Power Fist Sergeant.

He needn't have bothered, as the Plaguecaster, Plaguebearers and Poxwalkers all whiff their attacks - two marines are left standing, and they even pass their morale check with ease!
On the far side, two swarms of Nurglings are scattered in return for, predictably, no Imperial losses.

Turn 2 - Crimson Fists

The Chaplain makes a swift retreat with the relic. His bodyguard combat squad choose to withdraw from melee, presenting a nice target for the big guns. Which do their job well and clear the board of the remaining Poxwalkers and Plaguebearers.

On the flank, the other combat squad manage to whittle the Nurglings down to a single resolute base. 

Turn 2 - Death Guard

Okay, so the Relic is high-tailing it out of here, and all my cannon fodder has been swept away, but I'm close to Leofa's gunline, and a little faith should see me through.

Typhus and the Plaguecaster edge past the two-man tactical squad, eyeing up a charge on the Dreadnought. The Foetid Bloat-drone can't get within shooting range without Advancing, so I move him closer to the Dreadnought to spew off a few wounds. The rest of the Plague Marines and the Blightbringer trudge forward (maybe I should have put them in front).

The remaining swarm of Nurglings falls back from combat, rather than face the inevitable squishing.
In the psychic phase, Typhus remembers he has powers and promptly Smites away the smaller tactical squad, but fails Gift of Contagion. The Plaguecaster once again puts Miasma of Pestilence on the Plague Marines, but fails his Gift of Contagion attempt (why does no-one want my gifts!)

In the shooting phase, the Plague Marines and Foetid Bloat-drone fail to kill anything (although I did assume he only had one Plaguespitter, rather than two), but Typhus is close enough to the Dreadnought for his super-pistol to chip off two wounds.

In the charge phase, Typhus closes up with the Dreadnought, losing a wound to Overwatch. The Plaguecaster follows him in, since close combat is probably safer.

Typhus once again swings for the fences, and gets in just enough wounds to kill the Dreadnought. He and the Plaguecaster consolidate into the closest Razorback, so at least he won't be shooting next turn.

Turn 3 - Crimson Fists

Well, I got off lightly there I think!  The Chaplain doesn't stop running, cradling the precious Relic as he goes.  The engaged Razorback withdraws to a safe distance while the other and the remaining Dreadnought tear into the surviving Death Guard characters with assault cannons.

Even the untouched combat squad jump up on a platform and have a go, using their bolters to chip off Typhus' very last wound.

Turn 3 - Death Guard

Damn, Typhus chose a bad time to roll like a chump for his armour/resilience saves. Maybe I should have taken Tenacious Survivor on top of everything else.

The best Hail Mary plan I can summon up is to kill all the Crimson Fist infantry (would have been a lot easier with Typhus alive), then I can at least reduce Leofa to a minor victory (since none of his models would be able to actually pick up the Relic).

But since all his remaining characters are better than me in close combat, and he still has five assault cannons pointing at me, I throw everything at the last Dreadnought, in the hopes of salvaging some pride.

No such luck: I pop off a tactical marine with some shooting, and then declare charges into the Dreadnought. The Blightbringer loses three wounds to Overwatch, then fails his charge. The Plague Marines lose two of the number to Overwatch, but at least the Sergeant makes it in, allowing the Foetid Bloat-drone and Nurglings to complete their hopeful assaults.

When the Power Fist Sergeant misses both his attacks, I know it's a lost cause. The Dreadnought survives everything, then clobbers the Foetid Bloat-drone, who explodes and showers everything with mortal wounds - taking some of the Crimson Fists and crucially killing my last Plague Marine and Nurgling.

Turn 4

Left alone and on a single wound, the Blightbringer goes down to a hail of assault cannon fire, a dozen shells ricocheting off his Cursed Plague Bell to ring in the Crimson Fists victory.

Locker Room Decontamination

Ouch. Clearly I've got a lot to learn about playing the Death Guard and walking very slowing into a hail of bullets is not the best tactic.

"It's the last thing the enemy would expect!"

Yes, the assault cannons certainly worked better than the lascannons did against Orks in their last outing. 

Still: a good game. The Relic seems a punishing scenario for slow-moving armies that deploy last. Unless you seize the initiative, you're going to be on the back foot. But I think what really did for me was a gunline with Pedro Kantor at its heart. Very characterful for the Crimson Fists, but a bugger to come up against with a close-combat force.

I've always loved the Crimson Fists (hell, my minis are from 1992!) so its nice to see them actually work on the battlefield. They lost their previous 2 games, so this was something of a surprise win for me.

For all that, I enjoyed playing them. Typhus is a great warlord (once I remember all his rules - I could have had him deepstrike in) and a second squad of Plague Marines should give me more durability and firepower.

I might leave the deamons at home - enjoyable though it was to hear the incredulity in Leofa's voice when I informed him that all the Plaguebearers he had painstaking shot off would be returning ("They do what now?..."). In terms of cannon fodder, Poxwalkers are cheaper, and boosted nicely by Typhus (just don't expect them to kill anything).

Yeah, you were rather tied by my poxy (a-hem) collection of minis. Sorry.

I might give the Blightbringer a miss too - the Plague Marines are horrendously slow, but 80pts just to chivy them along doesn't seem worth it. Maybe if I did have a second squad, he would start to show value.

The Tallyman can now add another loss to my name. Still, it's better than my Age of Sigmar record.

I demand another game soon so balance can be restored to the Force!

Thousand Sons Dressing

September 26, 2017, 12:00 am

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This isn't what you think. I haven't been sucked into 40k. This is not the beginnings of a new army. You can all go about your business.

For seven editions, I've successfully dodged the grim dark lure of the far future, but 8th Edition was just too much for me. Time to turn and face the strange.

I can't quite remember what prompted me to select Thousand Sons when I finally chose an army. I had a shortlist of at least half a dozen, and my motives are sketchy in those heady days of summer, but I do remember being quite taken with this chap, back in the old Rogue Trader days.

I was Rubric before it was cool.

Also, I knew I wanted an elite army, so I could get it ready for the table in a reasonably quick time. So that ruled out some of the ones I was eyeing up: Imperial Guard, Tyranids, Orks (although the Orks are never truly vanquished - more on them later).

What better than a couple of boxes of Thousand Sons? All that durability and low model count, and I could be off to the races with less than a score of models!

It didn't hurt that I had already been bitten by the gold-and-turquoise bug after painting up my small Age of Sigmar Tzeentchians (note that they all have the same bases for some lovely cross-pollination possibilities).

However, it turns out I was somewhat deceived (my own fault in the choice of patron god) by how quickly these guys could get painted. The Rubric Marines have been sitting on my painting table for the better part of a month.

My slow pace has been a combination of:

• Moving house (which involved, more importantly, relocating my painting desk)
• A greater-than usual level of painting-table distraction. My ardour for Age of Sigmar hasn't lessened and I still have two new armies in progress.
• Having to cut in blue paint between all that gold filigree is DAMN FIDDLY!

In fairness, once all that armour was done, adding the final details was a pretty brisk process. Being a 40k newbie, I didn't try anything too ambitious and stuck fairly devoutly to Warhammer Duncan's guide:

• Gold armour: Retributor Armour base, Reikland Flashshade wash, Golden Griffon drybrush
• Blue armour: Thousand Sons base, Nuln Oil wash, Thousand Sons layer, Ahriman Blue layer
• Straps & gun barrels: Ironbreaker base, Nuln Oil wash
• 'King Tut' headdress: Blue (as armour) + Yellow (Averland Sunset base, Cassendora Yellow wash, Yriel Yellow layer)
• Loincloths: Celestra Grey base, Drakenhof Nightshade wash, Ulthuan Grey layer
• Bolter: Skavenblight Dinge base, Nuln Oil wash, Dawnstone drybrush
• Eyes: Ulthuan Grey base, Biel-Tan Green wash
• Gems: Stormhost Silver base, Waystone Green glaze
• Icon of flame: Ulthuan Grey base, Nihilakh Oxide wash, Coelia Greenshade layer
• Sorcerer's cloak: Screamer Pink base, Nuln Oil wash, Khorne Red layer 

I had to use actual layering, and tried out gemstone paint for the first time. This new universe is pushing me, I can tell you.

And decals! I haven't used decals since an unfortunate foray into Airfix at the age of 12.

(applying them hasn't gotten any less nerve-wracking)

Tricky as it was to reach all the nooks and crannies of the backpacks and shoulderplates, I did possess the foresight not to attach the weapons until everything was painted (or Khorne alone knows how I would have painted the chestplates even half-decent).

In fact, I got cocky during the assembly and magnetized a lot of the weapon options at the wrist, so I could switch between bolter and warpflamer (I'm not sure a squad of ten warpflamers would be very practical, but they'd be a hoot to Overwatch).

As it turned out, while the unpainted models could switch around their weapons snugly, that extra millimetre of paint made them such a tight squeeze that I was starting to despair of ever getting them there in there first place.

Only with a great scraping of paint, and possible breaking off the arms would I be able to change over the weapons. So magnetized or not, the weapons you see are the ones they've got. If I want to change it up, I'll just have to deploy my imagination.

A more successful use of magnets came with the big boy, above. I can equip one of the Rubrics with a Reaper Autocannon when their number reaches ten (this is my only quibble with the unit - surely it has to be nine?). But the other option is to combat-squad them into groups of five, each led by a Sorcerer - but the box only allows you to build one.

Since that means the Autocannon marine and the second Sorcerer are mutually exclusive, I magentized the arms (at the shoulders this time - I wasn't going to mess about with the hands on this one) and gave him a spare Force Stave from the Sorcerer's pack.

Unfortunately, I makes him look like he's trying to fish his hat our of the duckpond,

So I mothballed that stave, and gave him another set of Sorcerer's wargear. That works better, and now I can add a Warpflame pistol to my Warpflamer squad of fiery death.

Last but not least, the Aspiring Sorcerer himself. And if I understand the fluff correctly, the only model in the unit with a will of his own, and not condemned to be a dust-filled automation.

He even moves 1" further than the rest of his squad. As rules go, this is fairly pointless and very characterful - and therefore my favourite kind of rule.

His cloak even gets a splash of crimson, to hearken back to the glory days.

So that's the unit done. I won't deny it was a bit of a slog, but I love the final effect and reckon I've learned a few tricks to speed up the works. 

For now, they're all the Rubrics I'll have - at the moment, I'm having too much 'kid in a candy store' kind of fun to paint things in a tactically astute way (did I mention the Orks?)

I should have 1,000pts (one for each son) before Christmas. Hardly a massive force, but crucially ... our Warhammer 40,000 gallery now has an army not painted by Kraken (9:1 and counting).

Cult Movie

September 27, 2017, 12:00 am

≫ Next: Some People Are Worth Melta For: Salamanders vs Renegade Knight

≪ Previous: Thousand Sons Dressing

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I got to feeling like a machine, and that's no way to feel.

Who's the black conscript team
That'll kill you with retooled machines? (Shaft)
You're damn right

Who are the men that would risk your necks for the hive mind, man? (Shaft)
Can ya dig it?

Who's the cult that won't cop out when there's danger all about? (Shaft)
Right on

You see these miner guys, they had bad mothers (Shut your mouth)
But I'm talkin' about Genestealers (Then we can dig it)

They are complicated men and no one understands them but the Hive Mind (Mine Shaft)

etc

That's quite enough of that. Which is lucky, as they're also the last cultist troopers, I think - job done. I also managed to squeeze in a pair of Warrior Priests from Massive Darkness, Malleus and Veronica.

Some People Are Worth Melta For: Salamanders vs Renegade Knight

October 2, 2017, 12:00 am

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"Bringing a Knight to a 1,000pt game would be too reductive!"

"Nah - as the only target on the board, you'd kill it easy!"

Only one way to find out...

Everyone pile on the Traitor Knight!
It's All-Skype Fight Night!

This battle is rooted in a question: if I, Stylus, were to face a kitted-out Knight in a low-points game, would I get an ass-whooping? I thought I would, so if I lost, I was still going to win my bet.

And I, Leofa, was still going to have to contribute something to my second battle report so, either way, I lose. 

Armies

Long Tall Salamanders

HQ 1 - Chaplain in Terminator Armour, Crozius arcanum, Combi-melta.
Relic: The Salamander's Mantle (+1T). Warlord: Anvil of Strength +1S)

HQ 2 - Lieutenant, Power Fist, Combi-flamer

Elite 1 - 5 x Terminator Assault Squad, Lightning Claws (sgt), 4 x Thunder hammer and storm shield, Teleport Homer

Elite 2 - Ironclad Dreadnought, Seismic hammer, Meltagun, Heavy flamer, Dreadnought combat weapon

Elite 3 - Dreadnought, Assault cannon, Heavy flamer, Dreadnought combat weapon

Troop 1 - 5 x Tactical Squad, Combi-melta (sgt), Meltagun

Transport - Razorback, Twin lascannons, Hunter-killer missile

1000pts - Vanguard Detachment, 4 CPs

When I was putting together a list that could face a Knight, I found myself browsing a lot of melta (for the Knight) and flamers (for the cheap troops that I assumed would be the only ones that could fit in the list). With that, the choice of Salamanders as a Chapter is obvious, although their nifty tactic of re-rolling failed hits and wounds per unit doesn't hurt either.

I couldn't decide whether I would fare better at range, or close combat, so I split the difference. the Thunder Hammer Terminators were to drop in and assault the Knight, with the Chaplain joining them to re-roll their misses. The Ironclad could also do some freaky damage with this Seismic hammer.

The other Dreadnought would be a useful backup. The tactical squad brings a little extra melta and the Lieutenant offers some re-rolling for their wounds. The Razorback would hopefully get them across into melta range quickly, and offer some fire support of its own.

The Venal Swords ...with Questor Traitoris back-up

LoW 1 - Renegade Knight, Avenger Gatling Cannon, Heavy Flamer, Rapid-fire Battle Cannon, Heavy Stubber, Additional Heavy Stubber, Stormspear Rocket Pod

HQ 1 - Chaos Lord on Bike, Combi-Bolter on bike, Plasma Pistol, Power Sword (Relic: Murder Sword)

HQ 2 - Chaos Lord with Jump Pack, Pair of Lightning Claws

HQ 3 - Chaos Sorcerer - Warlord (Unholy Fortitude), Bolt Pistol, Force Sword, Death Hex & Prescience

Elite 1 - 5 x Chaos Chosen, Bolt Pistol, Boltgun

998pts, Supreme Command Detachment, 4 CPs

In retrospect, Stylus' idea of spamming expendables might have been more sensible, but I hadn't taken my lovingly painted* Renegades to war yet so they deserved the outing.  The initial plan would be to hold the characters back so thy can't be targeted and then let them mop up the remains / objectives once the Knight and most of the enemy have bitten the dust. 

*When I say "painted", I mean by Kraken, of course. And when I say "lovingly", I mean begrudgingly.

Deployment

The Scouring - as we're playing on a 4x4 board, we reduced the standard six objectives to four, worth 2pts, 1pt (inferior, top-left)) or 4pts (superior, top-right). Hammer and Anvil deployment.

As I placed last, I deployed first. I went with the side with the superior objective, naturally, and then did my best to hide from the Knight's frightening firepower by cowering behind the buildings.

The Dreadnought and Ironclad stood behind the building in the top left. The Lieutenant and Tactical Squad piled into the Razorback, who hid behind the building in the bottom-right.

The Chaplain and Terminators went into the teleportation chamber, and I braced myself to weather the first turn of shooting.

The Knight took cover from the lascannons and the rest of my troops hid behind a building.  Now to shoot these disciples of the false Emperor dead...

Turn 1 - Salamanders

I steal the initiative!

Bugger.

While I can't turn down this unexpected fortune, I really wasn't set-up for this. The Razorback scoots out from hiding, while the Dreadnoughts begin their slow waddle across the battlefield.

In the enemy's deployment zone, the Chaplain and Terminators drop in unannounced, keeping their fingers crossed for a long charge.

In the shooting phase, the Razorback lascannons off five wounds from the Knight, though its hunter-killer missile goes wide. The Chaplain's combi-melta takes off four more wounds until Leofa remembers he has an Ion Field. The shot is foiled, although I'm now wishing I had taken a lot more melta.

In the assault phase, the Terminators fall woefully short, and now I'm really wishing I had given them ranged weapons, as they're stuck in the Renegades' castle with nothing to do. To add insult to injury, one of them drops to the Knight's Overwatch.

Turn 1 - Renegades

Right, I'm going to have to make short work of his lascannons and meltas otherwise I'm not going to last long. Accordingly, both Chaos Lords line up to charge the Chaplain before he gets a chance to melt my Knight again.

Meanwhile, the Sorcerer relieves the Terminators of their invulnerable save, allowing the Knight to gun them all down in the shooting phase. But I've not focussed enough fire on the Razorback and leave it standing with two wounds - I reckon I'll pay for that later...

In the assault phase, the jump-pack Lord charges the Chaplain, who makes his melta overwatch, but is foiled by my invulnerable save. This leaves the biker Lord to charge with impunity, dropping the Chaplain to the murder sword.

That is one nasty relic. With Terminator armour and +1T, I was hopeful of at least surviving long enough to hit back. But the Murder Sword inflicts one mortal wound every time it hits the intended target (not wounds, hits - did we read that right?).

Turn 2 - Salamanders

Ouch! Not even one Terminator left to retreat on its teleport homer (this was my backup plan for scoring a cheeky objective). Half my army's gone, with First Blood and Slay the Warlord gone with it. Turn 2, and I'm already just playing for pride.

Clinging onto its last few wounds, the Razorback stays still. With more confidence in thin air than the Razorback's survivability, the Tactical Squad and Lieutenant jump out and make a huge advance move downfield.

Both the Dreadnought and Ironclad advance forward, knowing they have to weather at least one more round of shooting.

In the shooting phase, the Razorback lascannons hit the Knight, but bounces off the ion field.

And that's it. No further shooting, just advancing forward trying to close the range. What am I, genestealers?

Turn 2 - Renegades

Realising, I only have one more round of shooting before the Dreads charge me, the Chosen move up to screen the Knight, and the Lords get lined up to take on the Dreads in melee next turn.

The Sorcerer Smites two wounds off the Dreadnought and now to my favourite part - the shooting phase!

Which the Knight shooting whiffs almost completely, only taking out one tactical marine. Gah! At my other troops manage to whittle down the Dreadnought’s wounds a bit more.  But that damn razorback  is still on 1 wound!

Turn 3 - Salamanders

That was a very fortunate turn for my guys to survive a storm of dakka. Hardly able to believe its luck, the Razorback stays still. The Tactical Squad and Lieutenant get ever-closer to the Knight. The Dreadnought walks forward warming up its Assault Cannon, while the Ironclad advances, needing to get something into melee.

The poor Razorback turrets fail to wound, the Dreadnought flamer kills two of the Chosen and the Ironclad melta (a fraction away from the Knight) kills another.

The Dreadnought also opens up on the Knight with its Assault Cannon. Not the best choice of weapon, when I could have easily hosed down the Chosen, but if I knock off just one more wound, it will drop a level of effectiveness, and I could do with reducing its BS before the next turn. Vulkan is with me, and I actually manage to get a wound through - but it gets saved!

The Tactical squad's melta has better luck, and takes four wounds off the Knight. Now I'm starting to regret an earlier draft where I had a veteran squad loaded out with these things.

In the morale phase, the two remaining Chosen pass easily.

Turn 3 - Renegades

I'm not out of the woods yet - the Knight is getting less effective and my marines are being chipped away too. The Knight edges back around to target the tactical squad and the Lords move in ready to charge the Dreadnoughts.

The Sorcerer Smites another brace of wounds fromthe Dreadnought and now to my favourite part - the shooting phase!

...Which is mercifully more effective this time. The Razorback finally goes down, as does the Dreadnought, and the Ironclad is taken down to four wounds. That's more like it. 

Both Lords then assault the Ironclad, but the jump-pack Lord is killed by Overwatch. The biker Lord (who also takes an Overwatch wound) chips away three wounds leaving him on one.  And when the Ironclad strikes back with his combat weapon he returns the favour and leaves the Lord on just one wound too. It seems no one can quite finish the job today. 

This may have been a decisive mistake on my part: with a choice between the Seismic Hammer and Dreadnought fist, I went with the latter, favouring more attacks over higher-damage ones. But since I only sneaked one hit through, I'd rather it had been the 5-damage one (instant death), rather than the 3-damage one (which needed two successful hits). Having my Ironclad tied up for my next turn was not going to help my cause.

Turn 4 - Salamanders

Arrrgh! That one last wound on the Chaos Lord is making all the difference! If the Ironclad were free to move and shoot, he'd have the Knight all lined up in melta range. As it is, I have to waste my time squishing Evil Knievel here.

The Tactical squad gets into close-melta range and open up with both guns, doing eleven wounds to the Knight.

If that wasn't sufficient, they follow up in the assault phase with a charge on the Knight, losing only one to Overwatch. With the path cleared, the Lieutenant gears up his Power Fist and joins them.

The Ironclad, predictably, kills the Chaos Lord dead, then can only watch as four Astartes take on the Renegade Knight. He's a big fella, but with only two wounds left on his profile, I dare to dream.

The Lieutenant smashes away with his Power Fist. Three attacks are saved, but one sneaks through. I roll D3 - only one wound!

The Tactical marines then take on the impossible take with their combat knives. One of them actually scores a wound on the behemoth - and it's saved.

Turn 4 - Renegades

The Sorcerer Smites off the Ironclad. The Knight withdraws and opens up with everything and wipes out the Tactical Squad and Lt.

In The Knight Garden

Objectives? What objectives. I may have been tabled, but I was right about one this: plop a Knight down at this level, and it all becomes a game of hunt-the-Knight.

So considering my army build, tactics, and deployment were completely hopeless, I think I did quite well to take it to the wire. If only one more dice roll had gone my way (having the Ironclad free to melta the Knight, flame the Chosen, and charge the Sorcerer, for example, could have cleared the field in Turn 4), I could be looking at a very unjustly-deserved victory.

It all went wrong before it began. Stealing the initiative proved, as it did last time, to be a poisoned chalice. My plan to sit back and counter-punch was scuppered, and I had to react quickly. In retrospect, maybe I should have held back my Terminators until a later turn, dropping them in when the Renegades' formation had begun to string out, rather than right in the middle of a castle. Certainly, my Chaplain had no business going anywhere near that murder sword.

In fact, a plan that relied on Assault Terminators making a 9" charge is one pretty much doomed to fail. If I had given them some nice combi-meltas they could have wreaked plenty of havoc from range and not needed a Chaplain to accompany them.

The rest of the army seemed to hold up well. The Dreadnoughts were hitty and durable, the Tactical Squad nearly saved the day. I like the Salamander Chapter tactic - it's not game-breaking, since you can get a similar effect with Captains and Lieutenants, but it does mitigate against unlucky rolls. And in games of this size, it allows each unit to feel the benefit, rather than needing the character's bubble effect.

The poor Chaplain never got a chance to shine, but I'd still swap him out for Librarian, since I miss not having anything to do in the Psychic Phase (oh, for a last-turn Smite!).

In short, it was a fun time that had my head fizzing for better ways to take down a Knight, but I don't think I'm in a hurry to do so again.

For me, it was a good back-and-forth game, with many a swing of predicted outcome: after the lascannon and melta in the first turn I thought "I'm doomed", then after my first shooting phase I thought "this game's mine" and then when the knight was taken perilously close to death I was all "dooooom!" again. But that's pretty much my emotional journey through most games so nothing out of the ordinary I suppose... 

Knightfall: Aeldari vs Renegade Knight

October 3, 2017, 3:41 pm

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This lance ain't so bright

It's All-Skype Fight Night!

Yes, it's us again. Kraken vs Leofa (Hi!), and hot from the success of his Renegade Knight against the noble Salamanders, Leofa is bringing the big lug up against the elegant eldar. I mean Aeldaer. Aeildairy. You know, the Vowel People, them.

Armies

The Venal Swords

LoW1 - Renegade Knight, Avenger Gatling Cannon, Heavy Flamer, Rapid-fire Battle Cannon, Heavy Stubber, Additional Heavy Stubber, Stormspear Rocket Pod

HQ1 - Chaos Lord on Bike, Combi-Bolter on bike, Plasma Pistol, Power Sword (Relic: Murder Sword)

HQ2 - Chaos Lord with Jump Pack, Pair of Lightning Claws

HQ3 - Chaos Sorcerer - Warlord (Unholy Fortitude), Bolt Pistol, Force Sword, Death Hex & Prescience

Elite1 - 5 x Chaos Chosen, Bolt Pistol, Boltgun

998pts, Supreme Command Detachment, 4 CPs

Nothing to note here - its the same list as last time :-)  And it's only fair to ask my opponent in advance whether he wants to Fight the Knight or not, so he can tool up appropriately...


Craftworld Dyns'tain

HQ1 - Farseer with Witchblade and Shuriken Pistol, Guide and Doom powers, and is also the Warlord, with Tenacious Survivor
HQ2 - Autarch with Fusion Gun, Power Sword and Banshee Mask
HQ3 - Warlock Conclave x2, Witchblades and Shuri Pistols, Conceal/Reveal power
Troop1 - 10 Guardians w. Shuriken Catapults and a weapons platform with a Bright Lance
Troop2 - Same again, cheers
Troop3 - 10 Rangers with their standard gear
Elite1 - 6 Fire Dragons including an Exarch with a Dragon's Breath Flamer
Heavy1 - 6 Dark Reapers including an Exarch, Reaper Launchers all round

I've never played as the Eldar, but I've always had a bit of a crush on them from afar. I like the small MSU idea, and the reputation they have for being a finesse army that requires some skill to use well. (Not the reputation they had from the last edition, of course, which was that of an instant-win cheaters option.)

Obviously, I need to be tooled for bear as I'm up against a Knight, and Leofa's collection doesn't include any Eldar vehicles. Meep. Still, a clutch of Fusion Guns at close range will probably put a nice molten dent in the bugger, and the Reapers and Bright Lances might give it pause for thought.

The Guardians are decent at fairly close range but not much cop otherwise, so they're really there as cheap filler. The HQ choices are all solid, especially the psychic powers of the Farseer, and the Rangers ought to be able to scare anything they focus fire on. Mortal wounds and free targeting of characters? Yes please! Plus, they're harder to hit than usual thanks to Chameleoline. A decent round of shooting or two, and I should have a decent chance.

Terrain and Setup

Leofa's excellent cardstock terrain is in full effect here, so an abandoned colony or research station of some kind provides our backdrop.

Not my personal card stock obviously, but that of Battle Systems, courtesy of their SciFi2 Kickstarter campaign.  It really is very versatile and nowhere near as fiddly to assemble as their dungeon terrain, which I also have.

Leofa wins the roll-off for deployment choice, so we're going Dawn of War, side-to-side across the field, and he picks the left side.

We're playing Secure and Control. Each of us has a single objective marker placed in our deployment zones. Mine was in the bottom right, Leofa's in the top left, although they aren't shown on the maps here.

I start deployment first, but finish last. My army is just that much larger than the Renegades.

I bunker down behind the nearest building - counting on the cover it provides the Knight and completely concealing my characters. The Chosen form a vanguard on a convenient nearby balcony.  

Broadly, I spread out in a line. The objective is guarded by a squad of guardians at the bottom backed by Warlocks; the Reapers stick in cover up the north end. In the middle is a pack of Guardians, the Autarch, the Farseer and the Fire Dragons, all camping out behind solid line-of-sight-blocking terrain. The Rangers deploy in the Webway, but once Leofa's stuff is out, they pop out on the roof of a building in the north midfield. Nice cover, good lines of sight and even close enough to threaten the enemy objective, which is temptingly unguarded. 

Leofa has the first turn, even after I spend a CP to try and steal it. Bah! 

Renegades Turn 1

The biker Lord heads towards the Rangers. (In retrospect the jumppack Lord should have followed his lead, but for some unknown reason I left him put.)  The Sorcerer entered the ruin to get in Range of the Rangers. The rest stood their ground. 

Out of denial range of the Farseer, the Sorcerer manages to Smite the Rangers and buff the Chosen. But then the shooting phase is a bit of a wash out - having targeted all the big guns on the Reapers there are still 3 standing! and only guardian drops to the remainder.  Harumph. 

Eldar Turn 1

Well, that was a kinder introduction to Knight Firepower than I could have hoped for. It's not going to last, though, so I'd better try and capitalise on it. 

The troops in the middle move up into as much cover as they can, hiding around the husk of a hab block. The Reapers think about running behind the big block, but in the end I decide to leave them be -  although really, if they'd backed off by about five inches, they'd have been out of the Knight's range but still able to hit it, so that was a mistake. 

Worse, the Knight is also just outside of range for the Farseer's Doom. So I Doom the Chaos Sorceror instead, and he fails to stop me. Guide is immediately slapped on the Rangers, who have an idea of who to shoot now. The Warlocks cast Conceal, as they do throughout the game, making the Guardians harder to hit. 

The Sorceror nearly dies under the eldritch-guided sniper fire, and staggers out with a single wound left! Alas, this is all I achieve. The Bright Lances both miss the Knight, and the Reaper launchers patter off it like snowflakes. Seeing far into the future, the Farseer determines that the return fire is unlikely to be as kind...

Renegades Turn 2

Ok, so my Warlord is clinging on to his last wound, time to run for cover! Meanwhile the biker Lord advances on the Rangers and the jumppack Lord reaches the corner of the building where I should have prepped him last turn. 

The Sorcerer smites the Rangers again but this time decides to offer Diabolic Strength to the biker Lord in his one-man-mission against the Rangers. 

The shooting phase is thankfully somewhat more effective than last time - I allocate just enough shooting to the Reapers and the remainder destroys the forward unit of Guardians. First blood! 

Finally, the biker Lord charges the Rangers.  Now, I did check with my opponent before even advancing this turn: "my bike can ride up the 45-degree slope of that building right?". But it turns out in the world of 40k bikes don't even need a slope: they can scale vertical walls if they wish.*

If I wasn't amazed when Street Hawk here suddenly appears over the ledge of the building, the Rangers certainly were. Their overwatch misses, although there are only two left after the smiting they just took.

Anyway, no such ridiculousness here; he climbs the slope and makes short work of the few remaining Rangers. 

Eldar Turn 2

That's more like it! Three squads gone, and everything to play for. 

The Eldar have a traditional dislike of trick cyclists. Running the Fire Dragons forward is likely a terrible idea (I should have done it earlier, and at least made the enemy gunline split its fire more, I now realise), but at least they can hose Fusion guns in all directions. The Farseer deploys his psychic powers to Doom the Biker Lord, and then smacks him with a Smite for good measure. 

Shooting continues to disappoint, however. The Fire Dragons and the Autarch combined just about manage to melt the Biker Lord, but it's damn close. Splitting their fire to take out a single Chaos Chosen still feels worth it, though, just to slightly close the odds on the return firestorm I can look forward to. 

Once again, the Bright Lance misses, despite CPs being thrown liberally at it. 

Renegades Turn 3

I have been let off very lightly by his heavy weapons missing all the time!

Right, those fusion guns are too close for comfort now - so I move the Knight much, much closer of course. Because that's how I roll. But just for good measure the jumppack Lord advances for backup. 

The Sorcerer buffs the Lord, then the shooting phase deals with the majority of the Dragons.  That leaves the Knight to finish them off in the combat phase while the Lord makes a start on the Autarch. 

It should go without saying that the sole living Fire Dragon fails to damage the Knight when he hits in Overwatch.

Eldar Turn 3

The Farseer emerges from cover, runs up the stairs, has his Smite blocked by the Chaos Sorcerer and fails to cast Doom on the Jump Lord. Frustrated, he shoots his shuriken Pistol at the Knight, which at least makes him look epic. 

Yeah, I wish.

Despite hitting with all his attacks, the Autarch fails to wound the un-Doomed Jump Lord, who promptly pulls all his arms off. 

We won't talk about the Bright Lance. 

Renegades Turn 4

It's at this point I start doing some mental maths: although I have first blood and am literally slaying his army, if the game ends on turn 5 and he still has a single model on that objective I lose. Time to run my Sorcerer onto my objective I think! 

I turn the big guns on the surviving Guardian squad and, once we realise they don't have the character keyword, the Warlocks behind. All but one Warlock drop. The Knight then charges the Farseer for the Final Epic Duel...

Eldar Turn 4

All or nothing! Do or die! 

As he's stuck in combat, I decide to go down fighting. A good smite could finish off the wounded Jump Lord, and then it's just the Knight to go. Easy peasy. 

Alas, the smite goes off on a double six. The Perils of the Warp claim the Farseer, and the resultant warp explosion kills the Jump Lord (so mission accomplished, obviously) and even knock a toe-plate off the Knight. 

Take that!

The remaining Warlock casts some runes to Conceal himself, fails, and considers a change of careers. He at least can take satisfaction in the removal of the malfunctioning Bright Lances from the armoury. 

Renegades Turn 5

When the Gatling Cannon opens up, I feel confident I can make the eleven saves I need to stay in the game. Oddly, this proves misplaced. 

Result: Major Victory to the Renegades!

Aeftermaeth

Can anyone say they were entirely surprised? (Not I)

Well, I can. Using the tools I had at my disposal, I thought I'd make a much bigger dent in the Knight than I actually did. But it's my own silly fault, not the dice. 

Here's what I should have done - stuck both Guardian Squads up the top end, ready to run round the building with the Fire Dragons and all the HQs. Except the Warlock Conclave, who'd be camping on my objective down the bottom with the Rangers and the Reapers. Knowing I wouldn't have first turn, I should have made sure the Reapers were out of the Knight's range, so he'd have to move to engage (bringing him nearer the Fire Dragons). 

20:20 hindsight, right there.

Then the Rangers hang back, buffed by the Warlocks and sniping anything in range, while the Reapers could also be buffed and blasting at the Knight. The rest of the Army attempts to go grab the objective, and hopes to ambush the Knight if it comes for us. 

Now, it took me an additional two days to think of this plan. Which means finesse armies probably aren't for me - but it was my first outing with Eldar, and the speed at which they can reposition along with their Psychic powers are pretty decent. With a dedicated troop transport or two, or possible some heavier armour in support, this might have been a contender. As it is, tears in rain, but hey ho, can't win 'em all!

This certainly felt easier than the Knight's last outing. But I don't believe for a minute it was just your dice-rolling or tactics: my Eldar army is in Dire need of some Heavy Armour.  I have a box of Wraithguard who will be added soon, but then I need to decide between buying a tank (which could probs be alternatively fielded as a transport) or a Wraithknight - not as deadly as in 7th, but I do like the model...

Now that would be a good match up - Knight vs Wraithknight! Vampire heavy flyer transports or Lynx superheavies are probably both on the silly side of money, but would also make splendid options. A tank that can turn into a flyer? Maybe Spiderbiker wasn't so ridiculous after all...


*About these walls... A biker or other vehicle can't end its move above ground level inside ruins, and it might be wise to check with your opponent whether or not they feel buildings share this rule or not before a match. Also note that the DVLA does not recommend driving your bike up supporting buttresses, regardless of tire width.