FROM OBSCURUS WITH LOVE

Awesomefest 2010 - The Aftermath!

2010-12-12T18:57:00.028Z

Folks,
Last Saturday saw the conclusion of yet another awesome awesomefest! This time the points where bumped up to 1500 a side - not attempted since the first time we played! However, while that time took us a whole day for 1 game, this time we managed to have 2 high-octane games done in half the time!

Here's a summary of the games we played:
Game 1
Objective:
Team with the most scoring units within 3" of the central objective win.
Teams:
Michael (Eldar) & Neil (Necrons)
VS
Alan (Marines) & Rob (Marines)
Summary:
Definately a long-range game, with both teams most manouvering and volleying fire at eachother from their respective sides. The game was made interesting by Alan and Rob's Terminators... last Awesomefest they were pretty much the flavour of the month, as Rob's Terminators steamrolled any defence that was mustered against them. This time everyone was expecting them, and with a brass balled deep strike in the middle of enemy territory, they were lit up like the 4th of July. And then charged.
The game finished with Neil's Phlanax of 18 Necrons and Lord marched forward and plonked themselves on the objective.

Outcome:

TEAM 1 (Eldar & Necrons) - 1VP

TEAM 2 (Marines & Marines) - 0VP
Units of the game:
Team 1 - Eldar Pathfinders
These guys were the nemesis of Marines as they sniped from the ruined tower - with the AP1 shots bringing getting in plenty of kills, and their Camoline cloaks allowing them to weather a huge amount of firepower!
Team 2 - Praetor Cantor
Despite not doing much all game, once a squad of Marines and Terminators were ambushed and wiped out as they attempted to push for the objective, an insanely well-placed Orbital Strike wiped out about half of the Eldar infantry!

Photos:

Dire Avengers sneek around the Administratum ready to set up the ambush...

Guardians holding the right flank.

The Terminators deep strike behind enemy lines. Photo taken before they were Doomed, Bladestormed, Shurikenned, and charged.

Game 2

Objective:

Team with scorring units controlling most objectives win (one in each deployment zone)
Teams:

Michael (Eldar 500pts), Rob (Marines 500pts) & Suzie (500pts)

Neil (Necron 750pts), Alan (Marines 750pts)

Summary:
In terms of winning/losing - this was certainly one of the most bizarre games I've played! The game started with Alan taking a huge hit as a Doom and Bladestorm combo wiped out all but 1 marine from a fully kitted out Tac Squad in Turn 1. Alan replied with ANOTHER uncannily accurate Orbital Strike from Praetor Cantor, followed by a Razorback wiping out my entire Dire Avenger squad.

This was met on the other side of the board with the Necon Monolith floating forward, ignoring all shots at it blasted huge chunks out of the scorring units attempting to hold the objective - it's advance only halted by a screen of Terminators attempting to hammer at it. But just as things looked bleak - a bold charge down the middle with the mounted Khorne Bezerkers allowed them to ambush the 18 Necron Warriors, and following a Sweeping Advance, phased out the entire army Necron army!

Now Alan was against 3 players, with only a single Space Marine allowing him to hold the objective - only a charge away from 8 Khorne Beserkers! Regardless, Alan decided to slap fate round the face and continued play. Charging Praetor Cantor recklessly into them - over the next 2 turns he managed to wipe them all out! By now his Terminators teleported down to reinforce the single marine - who since he was hiding behind a wall, could not be taken down, despite a last ditch storm bolter through a window... a micraculous draw from the jaws of defeat!

Outcome:

TEAM 1 (Eldar, Chaos & Marines) - 1VP

TEAM 2 (Necrons & Marines) - 1VP

Units of the Match:

Team 1 - Khorne Beserkers

With pie plates and all manor of deadly firepower being slammed onto our scoring troops by the objective, they were on the verge of buckling - but thanks to the Beserkers charging across the board and striking right at the Necron heart, they single-handledly managed to turn a near loss into a near win!

Team 2 - Praetor Cantor

ANOTHER GODDAMNED ORBITAL STRIKE OF DEATH! A second time landing bang on target to devistating effect, and saving the sole Marine survivor by, I dunno, single-handledly wiping out an 8-man Beserker squad in close combat! If we had a unit of the day, it would definately be this guy!

Photos:

A shot of Team 1 at deployment...

After the Necrons phased out... look on Alan's face made my year :)

Battle Report – The Gate Opens

2009-10-08T23:35:00.031+01:00

It's taken a fair bit (much longer than I imagined it would have taken!), but I've finally written my first battle report! This game was the final match of our 500pt Doubles tournament, with myself and Admiral Drax facing the heretical denizens of Chaos – a Khorne-Daemon army and Thousand Sons. Let me know what you think, since this is my first report, it's no doubt a bit rusty; any critique' will certainly be welcome for me to remember for the next one!

Prologue

“It was true – the crisis was much worse than could have been predicted, though Epistolary Tharoden knew there was still hope. A bone-shattering splinter of lightening lit up the crimson storm-filled horizon, for an instant illuminating a contorted face amongst the billowing clouds. Unfortunately given the circumstances, this was probably not a trick of the eye. The Emperor’s Tarrot led him here, but what was to be an investigation for the taint of Chaos in a civilised and Emperor-fearing world, his arrival appeared to have triggered a planet-wide rebellion sooner than the Heretics had planned. His thoughts were briefly interrupted by a chime. “Brother Epistolary, Thunderhawk confirmed en route, arrival in 12 minutes”. This report was punctuated by the deep snap of a Bolt Pistol from a nearby Marine, exploding the chest of what was the last of the Neophytes. Tharoden was too late it seems, the portal had began to open - the monstrous Daemon Mat’Ne’vh will soon be arriving, and with it damnation of the planet Calne Major… but this grand conspiracy was not isolated to a single planet, and word must get back to the Chapter if this event is not to soon be repeated on a dozen other worlds. The first rain from the laden clouds began to fall. A drop landing on his outstretched hand shown it to be a deep red ochre; he needn’t taste to know it was blood. Between the bright flashes of lightening and deep bellows of thunder, he could hear the unmistakable din of an Imperial motorcade coming from the South West. Calne had not completely forsaken the Emperor; there were still light pockets of resistance, among them the remnants of the Cadian troops from the 2/24th on permanent station here. They had paid a great price to buy time for Tharroden’s detachment to assault the Chaos Portal, proving their strength of faith; and thus gaining an opportunity to die in the service of the Emperor elsewhere.
An overlay transmitted from the Command Razorback shown there to be hidden activity near their location; it appeared that the actions of the loyal Guard and finally encouraged the true architects of the conspiracy to reveal themselves, Marines of Chaos, their fallen brothers. These warped Heretics of Chaos were now moving to ensure no-one left this planet.
“TO WAR BROTHERS!” Fifteen of the Emperor’s Finest replied, but while Tharoden was in no doubt of their response, the voices were interspaced with hissing; the air was now alive with static. Leading the Assault Marines through what was now a cascading downpour of blood, Tharoden knew that the barriers between the material and warp were failing; Faith will soon be as important a weapon in this fight as their Bolters.

Lightening blistered overhead; the face appeared to be laughing.”

Objective

A cataclysmic event was taking place on the planet, and the race was on to escape – the centre point is marked as the evacuation location, and the side with the most Troop VPs within 3” of the centre of the board by the end of the game would be victorious.

Army Lists

Loyalists
Angels of Fortitude 500pts
HQ
Librarian
- The Avenger
- Might of Ancients

TROOPS
Tactical Squad (10)
- Power Sword
- Flamer
- Missile Launcher
- Razorback (to carry Assault Squad & Librarian)

FAST ATTACK
Assault Squad (5)
- Power Sword
- Rhino

Landspeeder
- Heavy Bolter

Cadian 2/24th
TROOPS
Infantry Pl. HQ Squad (5)
Officer’s plasma pistol and CCW
Grenade launcher x3
Chimera (Multilaser and hull heavy bolter)

Infantry Squad 1 (10)
Plasma gun
Chimera (Multilaser and hull heavy bolter)

Infantry Squad 1 (10)
Melta gun
Chimera (Multilaser and hull heavy bolter)

ELITES
Hardened Veterans (10)
Heavy flamer
Grenade Launcher x2
Chimera (Multilaser and hull heavy flamer)

Chaos
Chaos Daemons

TROOPS
8 Bloodletters of Khorne

8 Bloodletters of Khorne

ELITES
3 Bloodcrushers of Khorne

3 Bloodcrushers of Khorne

Chaos Renegades

TROOPS
8 Thousand Sons
Aspiring Sorcerer Wind of Chaos

ELITES
10 Chosen Chaos Marines
Plasma gun
Plasma pistol

Deployment

We rolled off, and needed to deploy first – myself in the North-East corner, and Drax in the South-West, no further than 12 x 12” from our respective corners. Both of our armies having the focus on mobility, it would not serve us well to try and slug it out in our respective corners; and so we deployed aggressively with our transports pointed towards the centre in the hopes that we can out manoeuvre our opponents and bring our force to bare on a divided opponent. I elected to keep my Landspeeder in reserve – so it can come in where I need it to help counter the Bloodletters as and when they appear.
The Chaos deployment was quite straight forward – the Thousand Sons were interestingly gunning for Drax, with the Sons and Sorcerer behind the hill separating them, and the unit of Chosen taking the opportunity to deploy behind Drax’s Chimera, no doubt wanting to tear through the rear armour with the plasma guns – but it was a gamble - could they get any decent hits in before Drax’s convoy speeds away?

TURN 1 (Chaos)

First the Khorne daemons arrived – A unit of Bloodletters materialised between mine and Drax’s force, essentially cutting me off from a clean path to join with his forces, and this was promptly followed by three Bloodcrushers appearing further towards Drax’s lines. Fortunately the Bloodcrushers scattered wildly towards the unit of Thousand sons – for what good that did, it may have brought Drax a modicum of breathing space before they get in range to charge.
With a brisk march, the Thousand Sons scaled the hill, and the Chosen marines snuck forward (or whatever passes for sneaking when you have a 8ft gold Chaos Icon bolted to your back) to some cover behind the Chimeras.
The din of revving engines of the Imperial transports were suddenly interrupted by the shriek of Plasma crashing into the rear of the nearest Chimera. Bursting into flames, hatches were thrown open and the surviving Veterans jumped out, only to be further scythed down by unholy Bolter fire from the Thousand Sons. Showing true grit, the last three of them rallied.
It was only the beginning of the first turn, but already the intention was clear – Drax was starting the game pinned and besieged from all sides, and it doesn’t look like the Daemon player wanted me to help out in a hurry…

Chaos Chosen fire on Drax from behind.

TURN 1 (Loyalists)

Jumping my marines into the Rhino and gunning the engines, I raced toward Drax at an angle to entice the Bloodletters to draw themselves away from the centre objective, and away from Drax – I was hoping my full speed sprint will mean if the Daemons took the bait, they wouldn’t be able to do much damage. Meanwhile, my Assault squad and Librarian hopped into the Razorback which stayed put for the time being – I wanted some distance between my transports to force some hard decisions on where the Daemon player wants to Deep Strike.
Meanwhile in a hark back to the days of the Wild West, Drax’s Chimeras circled into an impressive ‘Ring of Fire’ (well, ‘Semi-Circle’, but it sounds less grand), as the surviving Veterans sprinted northward to protect the Chimeras from anything that got to close (a more cynical observer would call them a ‘Speed Bump’). Having his special weapon troops stick their heads out of the firing points, Multi-Lasers and Grenades went flying, killing a Bloodcrusher and a Thousand Son. Equally impressively, a heady mix of tough cover, blessed armour and guardsman accuracy left the infiltrating Chosen unscathed!
In relation, the Astartes firing was very quiet – only the Razorback’s Twin Heavy bolter barked out, knocking down one of the Bloodletters.

TURN 2 (Chaos)

The second turn began with the other unit of Bloodcrushers appearing menacingly behind my Razorback and Rhino. Sensing an opportunity too good to miss, the Bloodletters moved into a position to charge my Rhino, while the Thousand Sons continued their procession until they were at the crest of the hill and a short range from Drax’s Chimeras. The first unit of Bloodcrushers stampeded towards the Guard defence…
Like before, the firepower came crashing into the Chimeras – this time the Plasmas managed to destroy the Multilaser of a second vehicle, while we were shocked to find that the ‘Wind of Chaos’ was able to glance vehicles on a 4+! Again unfortunately for us, he passed his psychic test passed and he achieved just that, but unfortunately for him he only stunned the vehicle.
Finally, the Bloodletters charged into the Rhino, but the speed it was travelling at meant they weren’t able to lay any blow hard enough to cause any damage.

Blood Crushers appear behind the Marines

TURN 2 (Loyalists)

While very welcome, the reserve Landspeeder decided that we were doing fine enough without it, so the crew stuck around in the Hanger enjoying the gothic equivalent of tea and crumpets.
Following the battering, the Rhino nonchalantly continued forwards a few inches before applying the handbrake, and hearing the commotion outside, my Tactical squad promptly disembarked to greet the Bloodletters. The Bloodcrushers behind me were very unexpected - being my first game against Daemons, I was starting to appreciate how well they do at messing up a good old-fashioned plan! I didn’t need to whiteness a charge from them to know it would hurt, so believing this to be the best opportunity I had before they started running all over the place, I disembarked and moved my Assault squad and Librarian and moved to engage – time to see how tough they really were!
Showing what they were made of, Drax’s guardsmen stayed put and continued to lay on the fire power… a heady mix of Multilasers, Heavy Bolters, Grenade Launchers and even a Plasma pistol went flying, claiming a couple of Thousand sons and a wound off a Bloodcrusher. Leaping well ahead to protect the Chimeras, the three Veterans pumped and poured shotgun buck and burning promethium against the Bloodcrushers, successfully putting one down!
An explosion of rapid bolter fire, an impromptu promethium shower, and the distant rapid thudding of a Razorback’s Heavy bolter later, all but two Bloodletters remained.
Blasting at them with their Bolt pistols and yelling a war cry, my Librarian led his accompanying assault squad against the Khornate beasts. The Librarian took the opportunity to call on the Might of Ancients, and a clash of blades against teeth/horns/etc. ensued – one Assault marine fell, but the Librarian managed to wound a Bloodcrusher! …. And I then discovered that they were immune to the effects of my Force Sword… An ‘Oh buggar’ moment if I ever seen one. I passed my morale check, and the fight continues. Things didn’t go to plan on the southern edge either, as the Veterans got a little too cocky and charged the two remaining Bloodcrushers… only to be splattered or cut down without even slowing them!

Tactical Squad ambushes the Bloodletters

Librarian and Assault Marines charge the Bloodcrushers.

TURN 3 (Chaos)

The last remaining daemon unit materialized, and promptly moved to claim the evacuation point. Meanwhile, the noose tightened further as the Bloodcrushers sped forward and the Thousands Sons marched down the hill. The Chosen opened fire again, but this time the Plasma gun malfunctioned! The save was made, but unfortunately for Drax one of the shots still got through, and with shriek and thud, flames erupted from a second destroyed transport. The guard fared better this time, and the seven survivors moved into a defensive position to engage the Chosen. The Bloodcrusher made a final sprint towards Drax’s lines, and were now just out of charge range. Finally, the Tzeentch Aspiring Sorcerer called for the Wind of Chaos, which threatened to engulf two Chimeras, one of whom was housing the command squad. It appeared that Tzeentch had offended the Dice Gods, as no favour would be found here – shouting an agonizing cry, the Champion realised his fate as the daemons of the warp took him to meet his master, and the vision ports of two Chimeras fogged up with the collective sigh of relief from fifteen Guardsmen.
Showing an annoying sense of tenacity, the two remaining Bloodletters shook themselves off and jumped into my Tactical Squad, cutting five down before succumbing to the barrage of Rifle butts. Meanwhile behind them, with the initiative now lost, the fight against the Bloodcrushers was starting to go badly for the Marines. Now the surprise had passed, the beasts got stuck into their favourite hobby of goring Power-Armoured marines. Though the Boys in (Regal) Blue didn’t give up without a fight; the valiant sacrifice of the Veteran Sgt. Felled one of them, leaving both a wounded Librarian and limping Bloodcrusher to square off against each other…

Thousand Sons approach the Chimeras

TURN 3 (Loyalists)

The Landspeeder came onto the field just in time from the centre-west to aim for the new Bloodletters. Jumping out of the Chimera in well a disciplined drill, the Armoured Fist assembled a double ranked firing line facing the galloping Bloodcrushers. Back towards the centre of the board, the Rhino moved to allow the Tactical Squad a route to attempt to clear the Bloodletters from the evacuation point.
A deafening noise erupted along the battlefield as the immediate area around evacuation point exploded in a spectrum of smoke, rubble, flame and gore as the Heavy Bolters from the Landspeeder and Razorback smashed into the Bloodletters, while bolters from the Rhino and Tactical squad thudded inwards below an arching jet of liquid promethium. No mortal men could have expected to survive such a barrage, but alas, there were nothing mortal about them – a mix of fortunate invulnerable saves and the wise move of Going to Ground meant there were still three standing when the smoke cleared.
While this barrage of fire took place, Drax’s men stood firm as the Commanding Officer gave the order to prepare for “First Rank Fire, Second Rank Fire”. Two Chimeras poured Las, Bolt and grenade rounds into the Bloodcrushers, causing a wound. The shout was then given to the guardsmen to fire, and they laid down a barrage of las fire in well practiced drill… bringing the bronze leviathan crashing down, stopping just in front of their feet. The victorious cheers from the guardsmen had apparently spurred their comrades on, as the remaining Chimera and Special weapons crew brought down another two Thousand Sons. The southern squad of infantry were still getting their bearings and rolling around to put out any smouldering flames; only a few shots landed on target, and they failed to wound.
A heroic victory in the south was balanced by a tragic defeat in the North – despite putting up a valiant fight, Librarian Tharoden was finally slain by the Bloodcrusher.

The Guard slays the beast.

TURN 4 (Chaos)

With a bellow of rage, the remaining Bloodcrusher began stampeding after the Tactical squad, as the Bloodletters stood back up; intent on preventing any Astartes passing through them to get to the evacuation point in time. Over on the South West, all the efforts were now concentrated on trying to get to the centre, whether it be to escape, or prevent it! Unfortunately for the Tzeentch player, his eagerness to destroy Drax had now left him quite far (at least for a Thousand Son) from the centre point, and even an impressive dice roll had prevented them from quite getting there. Trying to keep the Guard from getting away, the Chosen jumped out from their cover to try and take out some armour with the remaining Plasma Pistol, which subsequently missed, while the remaining Bloodcrusher continued running to close the distance between it and the Marines.

TURN 4 (Loyalists)

It appeared that there was no way Drax was going to be able to make it to the evacuation point in time, but in an act of defiance, gunned the engines to give chase against the remaining Thousand Sons. At this point, the two minute warning was given, and the Marines were still 11” away, with three Bloodletters intent on stopping them! The outcome of the game was now focused on the last actions of 5 Astartes…
In a last minute gambit, the Marines moved forward 6”. Everything else was ignored, and we went straight for shooting. The Heavy Bolters from the Landspeeder and Razorback barked out, taking down the Bloodletters. The final die was rolled to see how far the Marines would run… and a 6!

The Marines escape!

Conclusion

“Lt. Melvill’s heart swelled as he saw the Thunderhawk soaring away to the distance with the few remaining Astartes – this was not how he would have imagined his death, but at least it would count for something. His thoughts were interrupted by a bone-rattling shockwave that sent the Chimeras skidding across the now blood-soaked ground, knocking everyone off their feet. The recognition of the source hit Melvill like a hammer, and any sense of righteousness he previously held was replaced by a much more baser feeling. Terror. The Portal was open, Mat’Ne’vh had arrived.”

The Portal opens...

An exciting end to a very exciting game – Drax did a fantastic job of weathering the exotic storm of unholy fire, and brought together a great cinematic moment of the Guardsmen taking down the Bloodcrusher in a true ‘Zulu/300’-esque move. It was also my first game against Chaos in the 5th Edition, and first against Daemons – I have to consider myself lucky that the Tzeentch player wasn’t gunning for me, and had kept my Rhino positioned as a screen to prevent the player from entertaining any thoughts of firing at my Tac squad with their AP3 relentless bolters! I very much enjoyed going against the Daemons too – their Deep Strike deployment really added a true ‘Chaos’ element to the game, and the figures were a joy to see!

Unit of the Match
My unit of the match had to be my Tac squad – not only did they manage to bag a lot of Bloodletters, but they also managed to win us the game – with a sprint! (I’ve never been able to get this unit to jog further than 2”… though I suppose the imminent approach of a planet-destroying daemon can be quite a good motivator!)

A First Time for Everything...

2009-10-02T23:04:00.031+01:00

Last weekend was spent taking place in the first every 40k tournament for both myself and friend Mr Drax, and we had an absolute blast!
The event was in a place called Calne, aptly called ‘Calenage’, and was a 500pt Combat Patrol ‘Doubles’ tournament. Wanting to keep mobile, and fearing any CC/mob armies, we decided to go for a combined Mech force – Drax’s armylist can be found here.
In contrast to his (relative) Red Army, here’s the rather smaller list I took with me:

HQ
Librarian
- The Avenger
- Might of Ancients

TROOPS
Tactical Squad (10)
- Power Sword
- Flamer
- Missile Launcher
- Razorback (to carry Assault Squad & Librarian)

FAST ATTACK
Assault Squad (5)
- Power Sword
- Rhino

Landspeeder
- Heavy Bolter

TOTAL: 500pts

Each game was incredibly exciting and different from the last, and our opponents were all great people to play against – whether it be light-hearted when bad dice rolls came their way, or being patient enough to explain rules that we weren’t familiar with.
In all we played 4 games :

Game 1 – Capture Objectives (1 per team)
Our first game had us paired up against a couple of Guard players - (one of who I found to be TSNI from the blog 'Lucky 88s'!) on a rural map intersected by a River, with a bridge allowing easy crossing. This game introduced me to the horror that was Armoured Sentinals – being unaware of a lot of the new Guard codex, this caught me completely unawares, and while one Heavy Plasma toting monster was raining fire down on my Power-Armoured men, the others were making steps to either contest the objective or tie up my remaining Marine squads. Fortunately once outflanked, my Landspeeder and Drax’s Plasmas made short work of them. Except for that damned Plasma Cannon one lurking in the distance… Unfortunately when the time ran out we had pushed into their corner but it would have taken a few more turns of combat if we were going to be able to push to contest their object.

Result – Draw (Win on Victory Points)

Game 2 – Capture Objectives (2 per team)
Our second game had us pitted against another two guard players, this time on a volcanic map with the Skyshield Landing pad. Their armies were again mass infantry barring 3 Chimeras, so while they placed their objectives at the board edge, we both took a side – I place my objective in an area of ‘No man’s land’ so they’ve have to go without cover saves if they wanted to try and claim it, and Drax placed his in the centre-right by some craters. Even better, we rolled off, and won – so we decided to deploy on their side meaning we started with their objectives, and were able to deploy by our objectives too! The game essentially boiled down to a massive firefight – Chimera tank battles on Drax’s side, while my marines just hunkered down by the forward objective and gunned down any squad who tried to leave their cover.

Result – Win (Win on Victory Points)

My Marines weathering the storm by the leftmost objective

Drax's men learning the true defination of 'Dangerous Terrain'!

Game 3 – Kill Points
Unfortunately, anyone who knows me is probably well aware of my distain for this game mode – I feel it rewards or punishes people on their army composition in a way that has no real bearing on what actually happens in the game. And as if to reinforce my bad feelings about this game mode, we found the game was over before it even began – we were up against 1000k point army of Orks, which if we wiped out to the man, would net us only 3 Kill Points (two maxed out boyz & Biker Nob squad. Despite that, the opponents were again great sports, and I finally managed to discover how mind-numbingly resilient a Biker Nob squad is! We tried to limit the damage by keeping our entire force in reserve, and while their charge was quite devastating (3 Chimeras + lots of passengers!), our counter-attack managed to finish them. The game ended shortly after, but at least we managed to kill those damn Nobs!

Result – Loss (Win on Victory points)

The Calvary arrives...

...Followed by the Biker Nobs

There's a time for tactics, and then there's a time for mobbing!

Thats 5 down, only 56 to go!

Game 4 – Escape
Our final game was based on a mass evacuation from the planet, and had a special goal where by the end of the final turn, the army with most points worth of troops within 3” would win! A fantastic game, and the first I’ve had against both Tsench and a Daemon army – this one I’ll hold back on the details for now, and have a go at creating a proper Battle Report in my next blog post!

Finally the end of the day came, scores were tallied, and we came a very nice 5th out of 14!

Unit of the Day: Landspeeder
Surprisingly, I believe my unit of the day had to have been my Landspeeder - in the previous edition I found it would never stand much of a chance of making its points back, but in a target-rich Mech army and, the Heavy Bolter ranges allowing me to fly around and let rip an eye-watering 6 shots in each salvo, it proved a wonderful menace to my opponents!

Anyway, that's enough blabbering from me, safe to say it was an amazing time, I've definately been bitten by the tournament bug, and am looking forward to my next smackdown!

It's Been a Long Time Baby...

2009-09-14T22:56:00.009+01:00

Well that's not good - well over half a year since my last update! I must confess that the first half of the year has been unforgivably quiet in the 40k front, but thankfully I've lept off the wagon in style, and am taking part in my first Tournament with my dear friend Admiral Drax, and am hosting a weekend campaign for a number of my friends this winter!

Anyway I'll be getting onto thoes in later posts, but for the mean time I at least have something to show for the time I've been away - my Librarian has now finally been completed...

I'm quite happy with how he's turned out, though the camera seems to have the uncanny knack of magnifying mistakes, and seems to seperate the blending done on the sword. On another note, working on him after plastic figures certainly helps me appreciate how I really, really really hate metal figures - the paint seems to wear off them so quickly it's terrifying! If anyone has any advice on how to treat metal figures so that you don't have to handle them like new born babies, while not making them glossy or degrading the quality of the finish, I would absolutly love to hear it!!

...Right then, by my watch, I reckon I now have around two weeks to assemble and paint the other half of my 500pt army to be ready for the tournament. Ah.

The Little Things in Life/Next on the Hit List

2008-12-16T00:08:00.021Z

Phew! Well it's a day later than planned, but considering my past performance, I'm very chuffed I have finished a combat squad before my frustratingly slow painting speed driven me to despair! Anyway, below is the completed combat squad which will form part of Tactical Squad Laurentius (1 figure away from a ten man squad, how annoying!).

I've taken the time to paint these marines how I originally intended, and will be going back to my previous miniatures to bring them up to scratch. New details are as follows:
- These units are from the 4th Company, Angels of Fortitude. To show this, the company number is now emblazoned onto the chapter symbol of each shoulder pad.
- Each Marine's suit of Power Armour is as much an ancient and revered relic as it is an item of protection. Heroic deeds are chronicled by the artificer to be proudly worn alongside the discipline and Chapter symbols. These are seen as the italic script on the shoulder pads.
- Purity Seals. More a slap on my own wrist - whether these are Oaths of the Moment (See Horus Heresy novels), or Purity Seals; there would very well be something written on them! I had a previous habit of leaving them blank (abet shaded), which unless the battle brother intending to use it for autographs from the Command Squad, wouldn't make much sense.

And now we just need someone to lead this happy bunch of Warrior Monks!
Considering I am currently aiming for a 500pt army, I felt that the large cost of a Captain wouldn't allow me to tool him up effectively without seriously impacting the rest of my list, so I have decided to go with a more cost-effective solution of a Librarian:

I've always had an affinity for Ezekiel of the Dark Angels - his hooded cloak and proud banner for me best captured the visage of mystery and reverence the Librarians commanded. What I've done is made a small alteration to the figure by replacing his Force Sword model with the mighty blade from the Company Champion, while using the Banner from the Captain sprue in place of the old paper-banner Ezekiel used to don. As you can see, I've just to finish stripping the last of the old paint off him (God bless Fairy Power Spray!), and will then have something meaty to crack on with over the holidays - wish me luck!

Dawn of War 2 - Multiplayer at Last!

2008-12-13T18:42:00.004Z

Like any rustic 40k Connisseur, I've been following the development of Dawn of War 2 with a keen interest. After watching the RPG ethos take a large president over the single player gameplay, I (and I know a few others) were getting conserned over the amount of attention they would be placing into the multiplayer. And quite frankly, watching a game demo being performed by someone who doesn't know how to play at GamesDay 2008 didn't help. Don't get me wrong, I like the single player campaign as much as the next man/nerd, but these days it is the multiplayer experience that saves the day.

Well, the latest video posted by Relic certainly has taken great steps to putting my fears to bed - take a look!

http://uk.pc.ign.com/dor/objects/14243516/warhammer-40000-dawn-of-war-ii/videos/first_look_dowii_multiplayer_121208.html;jsessionid=1q165m6k6aqvp

Now this should be a blast!

The Lost Treasure of Mikelantis, and a WIP Update

2008-12-07T15:18:00.009Z

I'd like to make a confession that may or may not rock the very foundations of your world - I am not the tidiest of people. Now the weather was getting rather brisk, I took it a fine time to empty my garage of bags of refuse which really should have been done when the contents vaguely resembled grass, or at least before they became black plastic vessels of 'Essence de Nurgle'. Taking the opportunity to see what else I could throw away, I delved into what at first appeared to be a large pile of old junk. As I peeled back the top layer of quilt covers, I was temporarily blinded by a bright, golden light; I had re-discovered the lost treasure of Mikelantis!

This long forgotten treasure trove, much like a Pirate's horde, is a vast collection of figures donated by people for the benevolent cause of gaming on-tap; countless Tyranids, Marines, Orks, Eldar, odd Rogue Trader era figures, and even Chaos vehicles riced up with painted toothpicks are here. Of note however, are these two figures I found:

I've always loved the old Black Templar's Emperor's Champion - the dynamic pose is better than any other variation, and the Black Sword is one of the best sword model's available IMO. Also, considering the whole iconography of the Angles of Fortitude is a Chalice, what is more fitting than an Apothecary flaunting the a relic pictured on every shoulder pad in the chapter? Once I've finished my 500pt army, a Command Squad will be one of my priorities, and with iconic figures like these in them, it'll be a very exciting project for me to get my teeth into!

Speaking of projects, the progress on my 5-man Combat squad is progressing at a steady pace - most of the major work is done, needing just the finer details which touch wood, will just take another week tops...

The Humble Beginnings of a Fledgling Chapter (500pt Armylist)

2008-12-01T23:57:00.009Z

You could say I was hankering for a game, but that would be an understatement akin to saying 'James Bond had no objection to Tuxedos'. From my pool of resources, I currently have the following to play with:
19 Marines (5 being painted)
1 Dreadnaught
1 Landspeeder
1 SM Captain (unpainted)
1 Rhino (unassembled)
With these, my aim was to come up with an armylist which used as much of my existing completed figures as possible (shorter turn around time), while trying to keep it competitive and flexible enough to take on all-comers. Therefore without further ado, below is my 500pt armylist I am aiming to have completed before Christmas:

Captain: 115
- Power Sword
(10) Marine Squad: 170
- Flamer
- Missile Launcher
(5) Marine Squad: 90
- Combi-Flamer
Dreadnaught: 115
- Assault Cannon
TOTAL: 500

That gives me 16 men on the ground, supported by a stonking big weapons platform. Unfortunately I've had to sacrifice manoeuvrability for durability and firepower on this list - past games have taught me the hard way that token investments into speed without enough support allows the enemy to focus on your transport/lone speeder etc. with minimal effort. My aim is to rely on Astartes armour to weather any long range firepower until I can hold objectives and/or bring some nasty close range firepower to bear. Against Hordes, I'm relying on my Captain and Dreadnaught to hold their own, with the Flamers being brought to bear as and when they can! Clearly this list will benefit most from some dirty urban combat, where they can storm through the buildings where they have more cover.
However, the big unknown for me is fielding a Dreadnaught in such a small game - it feels to me like a gamble; he may win the day by being able to bring such awesome mobile firepower to the game while being a CC monster; or he may lose it by simply being a points sink that attracts every anti-armour weapon like honey to a Bee...
Of course, the proof is in the pudding, so watch this space! And any feedback/better ideas always welcome :)

The Battle Barge Launches...

2008-11-28T21:23:00.010Z

After 11 years in a hobby which can be best described as 'Heroinly moreish', I'd have expected to have collated a veritable Chapter's worth of Marines; when instead I appear to have a rag-tag mob of Ruffians something more akin to Kelly's heroes. But alas, the unpainted puppy-dog eyes of my Astartes Captain has led me to the Emperor's Light, and I'm now on a mission to take my Marines from the depths of anonymity to the giddying heights of notoriety!

This blog will chronicle their progress as I build the Space Marine Chapter 'Angels of Fortitude' from a half-painted A-Team (sans transport), to a lavishly pimped army of Jedi’s - while pertaining ambitions of world (tournament) domination with a sense of determination that please even a pushy mum.

Special thanks to Admiral Drax for both providing the inspiration to create a blog, and leading me to despise anything that even vaguely resembles a Guardsman with a plasma gun. Now it's time to crack open the Royal Blue paint, pin up the cheesy motivational posters, and let the Astartes recruitment drive begin!