RTT Breakdown

Long time no post - sorry about that.

Anyways - I had the opportunity to bring my constantly growing Guard army to a local Rogue Trader tournament on Saturday. The event was put together by a friendly local discount game store called Games by Gamers.

The list I brought looked like this:

HQ:
-Company Command Squad
(Astropath, Master of the Fleet, Chimera, Vox)

-Inquisitor Lord
(Psychic Hood, 3 Mystics, Sanctuary, Bolt Pistol + CCW)

Troops:

-Veteran Squad
(3 Grenade Launchers, Missile Launcher, Vox, Forward Sentries)

-Veteran Squad
(Shotguns,3x Melta)

-(3X)Veteran Squad
(3x Melta, Chimera w/hull heavy flamer and multi-laser)

Fast Attack:

-Vendetta

Heavy Support:

-2 Griffons

-2 Leman Russ Battle Tanks
(Hull heavy flamers)

-2 Leman Russ Battle Tanks
(Hull heavy flamers)


The first scenario was pretty straight forward. There was one primary objective, which was placed in the center of the table. Extra battle points could be earned by killing the opponent's most expensive HQ choice, controlling the most table quarters, and scoring the most kill points.

I should mention that the name of the scenario was "More meat for the grinder," and keeping with that theme there was one rather odd special rule. Destroyed troops choices automatically respawned on the controlling player's table edge at the start of their next turn. Perhaps not the most balanced special rule - but it definitely made things interesting.

My opponent was a newer Tyranid player. He was running a Hive Tyrant, two melee fexes, three zoanthroapes, a few broods of warriors, some ripper swarms, a couple units of genestealers, and a ton of gaunts.

The tyranids won the first turn - and ran forward at full speed. The only shooting was one less than spectacular barbed strangler shot and a few attempts to warp blast my armor, handily negated by my Inquisitor Lord's psychic hood.

The guard got comfortable, heavy flamers at the ready, and opened up with the artillery.

Fun fact: Bugs don't like pie. Two griffons and four russes bring a lot of pie...

It took a couple turns for him to get into assault range with anything, and the master of the fleet hurt the genestealers which he chose to outflank with.

When the nids did get close enough to assault the hull heavy flamers on the chimeras and russes opened up - claiming a good number of them. I was also able to take advantage of the scenario special rule by throwing my vet squads in front of his MCs doing a melta wound or two - enough to provoke him into assaulting them - then after they were wiped out in his turn they walked back on from my table edge (conveniently in melta range) and finished 'em off.

Other noteworthy events include:

-A vet squad surviving two rounds of combat with genestealers.
-The Vendetta showed up late despite the astropath, but made up for it by killing the hive tyrant in one shooting phase.
-The same Vendetta won me the primary objective by zooming over on to the objective on the last turn - vet squad in tow.

In the end I won the game 16-4.

Game two was spearhead deployment with two objectives - one in each players deployment zone. The catch was that the objective scattered 1d6" in a random direction every turn. Secondary objectives were the same as round one.

This time around I was matched with a veteran demon player. ...It was rough.
The game started out auspiciously enough when he ruled a two when determining which wave he got in his first turn.

I won the roll off for first turn, and unfortunately the scenario didn't allow me to choose to go second. So I deployed as defensively as possible. I deployed one Chimera empty in the front near the center of the table.The Inquisitor and mystics were placed right behind so they could hop in on the first turn and draw out a "do not deep-strike" zone in an attempt to funnel him through the other flank. On the other flank of my DZ I spread out my footsloggers in neatly spaced lines to try and create a deep strike danger zone. All of my tanks and artillery castled up in the backfield - heavy flamer chimeras in the front, then leman russes, then the Griffons hiding behind terrain.

On his turn he brought in a unit of bloodletters, demonettes, pink horrors, and a Keeper of Secrets on my flank with the footslogging vets - but he kept a safe distance. A soul grinder showed up on the other flank with the Inquisitor - but he kept his distance as well.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to throw up Sanctuary since I had to move the Inquisitor to get in the Chimera (it did pop smoke though) so he took some shots at it which were thankfully ineffective. He ran most everything else other than the horrors which put a dent in the first vet squad who promptly went to ground.

In my turn the Russes and griffons put a pretty big dent in the bloodletters (the only unit on the table at that point with an icon) and took out most of the horrors. The inquisitor threw up sanctuary - and kept it up for most of the game - effectively blocking that flank completely (it also happened to be where my objective was).

From here it was essentially a game of "How many can I kill before it's too late?"

The answer: Not enough.

Before too long there was a bloodthirster running rampant in the back of my lines - and at that point there's just no coming back.

I made a tactical error in throwing my vendetta and its melta-cargo at the soul grinder who was really too far away to threaten much of anything. The Vendetta's lascannons failed to damage it - it turned around and punched it out of the sky. The vets popped out of the wreckage a little worse for wear and tried to melt it, missed two out of three melta shots, and then I rolled a one on the damage table for the one shot that penned it which the grinder ignored. Then it ate my vets.

Sad story.

In the end - he kicked the crap out of me. He won on every part of the mission except for my objective which, even with the wonky scatter rule managed to stay in the sanctuary zone of my inquisitor lord's chimera.
By the end of turn six my end of the board was filled with a bunch of burning wrecks, and two greater demons running amok.....and the remnants of my last veteran squad sitting on my objective. They were giving my inquisitor's chimera a big hug - staying just within the sanctuary zone.

So I'll take a small moral victory for that at least.

The demon player also went on to win 1st overall in the tourney – so I don't feel too bad about getting stomped on.

The last round was pitched battle deployment, and each player placed three objectives in their deployment zone.

This time around my opponent was playing a First Company Salamanders army using the Dark Angels codex for the ability to take terminators as troops. He took Belial, five squads of termies – all with storm bolters, one assault cannon each, and some chain fists mixed in here and there – and three Vindicators. He noted my Mystics and the master of the fleet and opted not to Deathwing assault in. The three Vindicators castled up in the corner across from most of my armor surrounded by three of the five termie squads. The other two squads including Belial and the apothecary hung back in a ruin, mostly out of line of sight -camping on an objective and making it obscenely difficult for me to get the secondary objective of destroying the unit with the highest point cost.

I got first turn and over reacted a bit to the triple vindicators. I moved up two chimeras and the vendetta, all filled with melta vets, and by next turn they had blown up two of the Vindicators and scored weapon destroyed and immobilized results on the third one.

Things went down hill pretty quick after that. The Griffons missed their intended target, and after using the accurate bombardment rule for a re-roll it scattered onto the melta vets which had just popped out of the a Vendetta, killing about half of them. Nearby terminators took care of the rest of them in the next turn, and an assault cannon to the rear knocked the Vendetta out of the sky.

Assault cannons and multi-charges did an admirable job of taking out most of my chimeras and the vets inside. With the loss of my melta guns and the vendetta I was completely out of AP 1 and 2 weapons, and I just didn't have the volume of fire to get past his 2+ armor saves. (Plus the apothecary negated two or three of the failed saves throughout the game which is handy.

He ended up winning all the battle points that round, and second place overall in the tournament.

Personally, while my battle points for generalship were less than spectacular I did pretty well in sportsmanship and painting. I placed fifth out of twelve overall – not too shabby I suppose.

The event was a lot of fun, all of my opponents were great, and I learned a lot about my army's strengths and weaknesses.

Overall I think the list that I brought performs pretty well against heavy mech and MEQs. All of the pie plates and heavy flamers work wonders on hordes (although I have yet to play against Orks with it.)

Against demons and small elite armies like Deathwing.....it needs some tweaks.

Mostly I just don't have the volume of fire to take out things like greater demons and terminators. This epiphany has me considering a hybrid Platoon/Vets list.

My colleague and frequent opponent Rob played in the tournament as well. Oddly enough he played the nid army and the demon army as well, and he had the foresight to take pictures - so if you want to see his take on them check it out here.

Sergeant Lukas Bastonne

Sergeant Bastonne, like his colleague Gunnery Sergeant Harker, is another unique character upgrade for Imperial Guard Veteran squads. Bastonne is kind of pricey, weighing in at 60 pts - so for the same points you get get another Chimera and for a bit more Marbo or a Hydra - but he brings some unique benefits with him. In addition to the standard veteran wargear Bastonne is equipped with carapace armor, a hot-shot laspistol, and a power sword (would have been better if he could have held out for a power fist -but whaddayagonnado?) Handy gear to have in some circumstances - but not jaw-dropping by any means. More importantly, Bastonne gets a leadership bump up to Ld 10.

"It's Up to Us Lads!"
What makes Bastonne so potentially useful is his ability to give one order to his unit after all other orders are given. Even better, Bastonne has access to all of the Company Command Squad and Platoon Command Squad orders. This ability is potentially huge, as most Guard players acquainted with the new codex will know. And did I mention that his leadership is higher than your typical company commander?
(Though in my test game with him I still brought along a vox-caster. Good thing too since on two occasions I rolled box-cars when attempting to order the squad. One of those times was when using "First Rank Fire, Second Rank Fire!" on a group of Fire Dragons in rapid fire range, and the last thing you want your vets to do in a situation like that is to stop what they're doing and stare into space like confused Ogryn.)


"Never Give Up, Never Surrender!"
Bastonne's other special ability is "Never Give Up, Never Surrender!" This rule essentially turns Bastonne and his squad into Space Marines!
.....Well, Strength 3 Toughness 3 Space Marines, with crappy armor and flashlights instead of bolters....
What I mean by that is as long as Bastonne is alive the squad will always be able to regroup, regardless of squad strength and other restrictions.
This is potentially handy, but here I really have to agree with Stalek's analysis. The unit is really too fragile for this ability to make much difference, and unfortunately the unit can't regroup when they're dead.

Potential Uses:
The only way that I've used Bastonne thus far is with three meltas and deployed in a Vendetta. This is especially useful assuming you can get first turn - scout the Vendetta up 24", move up to 12" more, pop out the veterans with meltas and "Bring it Down!" for some extra killy first turn vehicular homicide. Then you just have to hope that they survive the ensuing explosion (There's a potential use for "Never Give up Never Surrender!")

Carapace Armor could be useful in cases such as the one outlined above - but I think that doctrines in conjunction with upgrade characters are cost-prohibitive. (ie: 195 pts for a vet squad with Bastonne, 3 Meltas, Vox, and Carapace Armor - for the same points you could two vet squads with two meltas and some change left over)

I must admit that I am tempted to give Bastonne's unit "Demolitions" for the ability to have a twin linked Demo Charge (although for the order to work it would have to be targeting a vehicle or MC,) but I think that's more of a case of "Holy crap that would be awesome!" rather than an effective (and cost-effective) option.

Overall, I like Bastonne. He's an especially effective tank-hunter("Bring it Down!") and last minute objective grabber ("Move, Move, Move!") but his utility varies substantially depending upon the composition of the rest of the army. Playing a static gun-line? Leave Bastonne at home. In a Chimera or Valk though he can make an excellent forward assault element.

The (Mostly) Finished Vendetta

I snapped a couple photos of my (mostly) finished Vendetta before a game against Rob's Eldar earlier today.

Overall I'm pretty happy with it - it still needs some touch ups/detailing which I imagine I'll get around to eventually. The cockpit glass is tinted red in part to hide a modeling mishap - but I think it gives it a Chaosy, demonic possession look which works well for Traitor Guard.

Modeling Fail!

Argh. Earlier this evening I managed to spill a mostly full beer on to half of a squad of freshly-painted forgeworld Chaos renegade guardsmen. THEN, while trying to clean up the resulting mess I managed to knock over the tub of static grass which I was using, and of course, the lid was not securely in place.

:(

Ciaphas Cain: Hero of the Imperium

I've been on an Imperial Guard kick lately in terms of gaming and fluff. I'll just blame it on the new codex. Regardless, I've made my way through the entirety of Dan Abnett's excellent "Gaunt's Ghosts" series as well as a few one-shotters such as Gunheads. Recently I've picked up the first Ciaphas Cain omnibus, penned by Sandy Mitchell. I have to admit that I was skeptical about this release, mostly because I am skeptical of every Black Library release by an author which I am not already familiar with (Dan Abnett FTW!) However, Mr. Mitchell has proven that my reservations were unfounded.

I am only about half way through with the first book, but I already feel compelled to write about it. I find Mitchell's satiric take on the grim darkness of the 41st millennium refreshing. Too often Black Library authors tend to take themselves and their creations far too seriously and the results are unengaging plot-lines and overly stiff, boring, under-developed characters. Mitchell on the other hand has a narrative voice reminiscent of such notable literary figures as Kurt Vonnegut Jr. and Jonathan Ames(Minus the perversion.)

Commissar Cain proves to be an intriguing departure from the standard fare of Black Library protagonists. His cowardice, which is consistently misconstrued as heroism due to an unusual series of events, leads him to ever greater fame and glory within Imperial circles. For example, early in his career Cain finds himself fleeing from a horde of termagaunts, leaving a comrade to be ripped to shreds in the process. However, while running from the gaunts Cain finds himself headed straight for a particularly angry Hive Tyrant. So, in the interest of his own self-preservation he turns tail and heads for the lesser of the two evils - the relatively wimpy gaunts - cutting a number of them up with his chainsword (and seemingly risking his life to rescue a low-ranking trooper) before he and his comrade are rescued by supporting fire which annhillates the Tyranid threat. Of course, his perceived penchant for glory causes him to be assigned to increasingly dangerous assignments- quite contrary to Cain's personal wishes.

Excellent stuff so far.

Gunnery Sergeant Harker

Gunnery Sergeant Harker is the ultimate bad-boy of the Imperial Guard codex. Well, second to Marbo anyways. The chief difference between the two is that while Marbo is stuck out on his own, Harker is an upgrade for a Veteran Sergeant - thus he is substantially more survivable most of the time. (Marbo's demo charge doesn't particularly help with the whole survivability thing.)

Harker gives his unit a number of pretty substantial benefits. First and foremost, the unit gains the universal special rules infiltrate, stealth, and move through cover. The squad also gains a heavy weapon in the form of Harker's heavy bolter, and since he is relentless it does not slow the unit down. He also has feel no pain, something I have a hard time remembering when I use him, but that is unfortunately not passed on to the rest of his unit. :(

Harker costs 55 points, the same as a chimera, which sounds kind of steep for a veteran sergeant, but when all of his benefits are taken into account I think he's a steal.

What initially attracted me to Harker was my frequent use of the "Forward Sentries Doctrine" in my objective sitting vet squads. The doctrine is 30 points and the benefits are the "Stealth" USR and defensive grenades. For 55 points Harker nets you Stealth, (30 points) a BS 4 Relentless Heavy Bolter (10 Points*), Infiltrate, and Move Through Cover (both priceless.)

My first inclination for using Harker was in much the same way that I used my Camo-Cloaked Vet Squads, essentially a camping heavy weapon squad that is extremely difficult to dislodge thanks to their (potentially 2+ when gone to ground) cover save. My first couple builds for Harker's squad included three snipers and a missile launcher. With that build you've got a solid mixed-use unit able to take on light armor and infantry that's extremely difficult to dislodge from cover. Harker's ability to infiltrate also allows you to give them the best possible location to utilize their strengths.

Overall, it's not a bad use of the guy - but I admit it's not optimized.

I'm thinking that in order to take full advantage of all of Harker's benefits he needs to be mobile - not slowed down by any heavy weapon teams. I'm thinking that a veteran squad with Harker and three flamers would make perfect infantry hunters. Infiltrate makes them superb for taking out light infantry that likes to hang around the backfield and depends upon cover such as Ork Lootas, Eldar Rangers, Tau Pathfinders, and the like.

It is also worth considering dropping them in a Chimera with a hull heavy flamer for an additional 55 points (though this makes them pretty pricey at about 195 points.) Since the Chimera is a dedicated transport the "Infiltrate" USR is passed along to it - allowing for outflanking Chimera-flamer BBQ time! An astropath in the Company Command Squad can make this especially worthwhile, pretty much ensuring they come in where you want them. Also, since Harker is relentless he can fire his heavy bolter out the top hatch of the Chimera so long as it doesn't move more than 6" - AND since (according to the most recent 40k rules FAQ) the vet squad and the chimera are two different units they do not have to fire at the same target. So given the right circumstances the chimera could ruin someone's afternoon with it's hull heavy flamer and Harker and company could put the hurt on someone else entirely.

So, that's my take on Harker. I'd be interested to hear others' opinions of him as I haven't seen a whole lot of discussion on him yet. Probably as he's been overshadowed by Marbo, Al'rahem, Chenkov, Straken, Nork, and the like.

Veteran Sniper Conversion Brainstorm

The picture is from an article on Games Workshop's website about kitbashing guard infantry. Available here.

I've been inspired by the gentleman on the left who is kitbashed with bits from a Baneblade crewman and the arms from the WHFB Empire Handgunners kit. I'm thinking that I could use that method with some of these gents to make some snipers for my veteran squads:



It could make for a unique looking unit. Now to get the bits for a test model....

More Tanks! We need more tanks!

I was able to get a game in (well, more like 1.083) Rob today. Rob was playing a revised version of his Mechdar list which included:
-Prince Yriel
-Farseer
-3 Squads of Dire Avengers (In Wave Serpents)
-2 Falcons (Loaded with 6 Fire Dragons each)
-Fire Prism
-8 Warp Spiders

My list was:

Company Command Squad
+Vox-caster
+Chimera (Multi-laser/Heavy Bolter)

Inquisitor Lord
+Psychic Hood
+Bolt Pistol/CCW
+2 Mystics
+Familiar

Veteran Squad
+Missile Launcher
+3 Sniper Rifles
+Forward Sentries Doctrine
+Vox-caster

Veteran Squad
+Gunny Sgt. Harker
+3 Sniper Rifles
+Missile Launcher
+Vox-caster

Veteran Squad
+Shotguns
+3 Melta guns

Veteran Squad (2X)
+3 Melta guns
+Shotguns
+Chimera(Multi-Laser/Heavy Flamer)

Vendetta (2X)

LRBT Squadron:
-Leman Russ Battle Tank
-Leman Russ Demolisher

Leman Russ Battle Tank

Artillery Battery: 3 Hydras

TOTAL: 1850 pts/16 KP/69 Models

The first game lasted fifteen minutes or so. I won the dice off for first turn, and my opponent promptly castled his grav tanks in a corner behind a large piece of terrain. The Vendettas unloaded their melta-armed cargo (with the help of their 24" scout move) as well as their twin linked lascannons, the russes and hydras spoke, and after the pile of smoking grav-tank carcasses reached the requisite height the game was forfeit without the filthy xenos firing a single shot.

As the first game proved less than satisfactory, we re-deployed with the same mission and terrain and tried again. This time around he held his entire force in reserve - counting on Yriel to bring them on to the table without too much delay.

This is where I made a couple of critical errors.

Over-zealous and encouraged by my initial quick victory I pressed the charge - infiltrating Harker and his squad into terrain in his Deployment zone and moved the two Vendettas up with a 24" scout move, and another 24" during the first turn to bring them right up by the long table edge.

(My thinking on this was flawed. For some reason I had it in my head that he wouldn't be able to come on to the table where there were enemy units within 12". So, I tried to force him to come in on the right side of his deployment zone where they would be easy targets for the Russes and Hydras. Of course...that is not the case - and I think I just had the infiltrate/scout rules stuck in my head for some reason or another.)


Yriel paid off big for him and he managed to get his entire army on his 2nd turn.

My mistake cost me both Vendettas. (Their cover saves could only help so much)Harker's veteran squad felt the pain as well when they were shot up and assaulted by warp spiders.

My other mistake was failing to pop smoke on my russes. Thankfully that mistake didn't cost me as much as it could have as the Vendettas took priority for his brightlances.

Despite my initial tactical epic fail the game turned out to be extraordinarily close.

Other highlights include:

-The Warp Spiders breaking and running off the board the turn after they came in.

-Prince Yriel (not attached to a unit, and vulnerable to instant death) eating a dead-on battlecannon shot from a Russ...which rolled a one to wound him. (!!!)

-Prince Yriel dedicating two shooting phases and two assault phases to killing that particular Russ.

-Hydras proving that they are just as good as Lootas at popping skimmers.

-A Wave Serpent full of Avengers pulling up to contest an objective late in the game being wrecked by melta vets. The dire avengers which popped out ate a LOT of fire and failed their pinning check when hit by sniper fire. Their inability to contest let me pull out a narrow win.

A Brief Guard Update

I've had a couple weeks now to play around with the Guard codex, and so far it's been working out fairly well. I've lost many more games than I've won thus far, but I feel like I am starting to get a handle on the codex. Getting over the "new, shiny" factor which comprises a large portion of the codex is a big part of that.

The answer I've found is....TANKS! And lots of them!

My latest list looks something like this:

HQ:

Company Command Squad
(Vox,Autocannon,Chimera)

Inquisitor Lord
(Psychic Hood, Bolt Pistol/CCW,3 Mystics)

TROOPS:

Veteran Squad
(Lascannon, 3 Sniper Rifles, Forward Sentries, Vox)

Veteran Squad
(Missile Launcher, 3 Sniper Rifles, Forward Sentries, Vox)

Veteran Squad
(Shotguns, 3 Melta guns)

Veteran Squad
(Shotguns, 3 Melta guns, Grenadiers, Chimera)

Veteran Squad
(Shotguns, 3 Melta guns, Grenadiers, Chimera)

FAST ATTACK:

Vendetta

HEAVY SUPPORT:

Leman Russ Battle Tank


Leman Russ Battle Tank


Leman Russ Squadron:

1.)Leman Russ Battle Tank
(Camo Netting)

2.)Leman Russ Executioner
(Plasma Sponsons,Knight Commander Pask, Camo Netting)


I imagine I will eventually drop a Russ to add in a Psyker battle squad mounted in a Chimera (sometime when I'm not facing down Runes of Warding every game.) I will also eventually either buff the Inquisitor Lord's retinue so that he is capable of contributing something other than hiding in the corner waiting for someone to try and use a psychic power or deepstrike nearby. Some heavy bolters perhaps? Either that or drop him in favor of an Elites choice Inquisitor with Mystics and a hood to shave points.

I have also discovered:

-Valkyries, while fragile, make excellent melta-vet delivery devices. (Especially with a 24" scout move.)

-The Leman Russ Executioner is extraordinarily expensive when kitted out properly (Plasma Sponsons, Commander Pask, Camo Netting, and perhaps a vare-bones Russ as an ablative tank to soak up some fire,) but it's worth it. :)

The potential for a 3+ cover save on AV 14 makes this tank, which ordinarily would be #1 on the target priority list, a much less attractive target.

-The Imperial Guard Alpha Strike is amazing. Case in point: a game with Rob that lasted approximately 25 minutes- or one shooting phase.

One of these days I'll get around to trying a Platoon-based list, but for right now...Vets are just too damn cool.


I've been able to get some modeling in as well. My first Forgeworld order finally came in - so I've been able to start on the Chaos Renegades which will serve as my vets in the final list. Haven't had time to snap any decent pictures of them yet, but I will hopefully update with those later.

In the meantime here's one of the objective markers I threw together while waiting for some washes to dry the other day.



More to come eventually!

Valkyrie Base #1

I finally remembered to pick up some batteries for my camera, and managed to take a few shots of my first Valkyrie base. It is currently in the "Good enough for now - one day I will come back and actually finish it" purgatory where 99% of my projects end up.

It was a lot of fun putting this together, and it gave me a chance to go through my over-flowing bitz box (not to mention finally paint at least one of the storm boyz that have been sitting on the shelf for months.)




I'll get some pics of the Valk on the base whenever it's completely finished.


For the second Valk's base I'm thinking of sacrificing a AoBR dread and a couple of the battered land speeders I've got lying around in the bits box.

Hmmm....

INCOMING!

This post is coming a bit late as all my loot actually came in on May 1st, but....The Imperial Guard have arrived!



Not pictured are a Cadian Command Squad, more Cadians, and some assorted Forge World Chaos Renegade bits.

So far I've got one Valk mostly finished and based, and I'm just getting started on the second one. I must say: the kit is awesome. It's got some of the best features I've seen in a GW kit: functional sliding doors, pivoting heavy bolter assemblies,and most importantly....a flying base that actually works!

The batteries of my camera died before I could get any pictures of the built Valk and base, but I will eventually take some and throw them up here.

In the mean time...I have started work on the second Valk, and decided to try a salt mask to weather it. (As detailed in this tutorial.)

I am very happy with the results:





Now to detail the interior and actually put it together!

As far as gaming with the IG - got my first game in Friday with Rob. (He did a write-up on it on his blog if you're interested in how it played out.)
My list needs some tweaking, and it will be a big adjustment after playing Orks for so long - but I like it!

Goin Out With a....BOOM!

I haven't had a chance to update in a while - I'm just going to blame that on final exams and Resident Evil 5 rather than on my own laziness....
Updates should be a bit more regular now, for a time at least, as things have slowed down a good bit.
(Plus - I got my IG pre-order stuff in at Hobbytown yesterday. Woo! Now I just have to wait for all my Forgeworld stuff to get here...Argh.)

So yesterday I got a game in with the greenskins before they are put on the shelf in favor of the new shinies in the Guard codex. I tried something a bit unorthodox list-wise as the last few games my lootas have been....unreliable at best, mainly due to poor deployment and an extremely mobile enemy. So this time I opted for rokkits - and lots of them.

My list was:

HQ:

-Warboss on bike (Power klaw, Attack squig, Cybork body)

-Big Mek (KFF, Armor, Burna)

Troops:

-Trukk Mob with Nob (PK/BP/Armor)
-20 Shoota Boys with Nob (PK/BP/Armor) and 2 Big Shootas
(Riding in battlewagon)
-20 Slugga Boys with Nob (PK/BP/Armor) and 2 Rokkits
(Riding in battlewagon)
-11 Grots with Runtherd

Elites:

-15 Lootas
-15 Tankbustas with Nob (BP, Armor) and 3 Bomb-Squigs
(Riding in battlewagon)

Fast Attack:

(2x) -3 Warbuggies with TL Rokkits

Heavy Support:
(3x) - Battlewagon (2 Big Shootas, Ram, Red Paint)


His list was mechanized Eldar with a Jet-bike Seer Council (Farseer attached), 3 Wave Serpents loaded with Dire Avengers (+Exarch and bladestorm), 2 Falcons each holding a unit of five Fire Dragons, and a Fire Prism.

We randomly placed terrain with the aid of a scatter die, and rolled up Capture and Control with Dawn of War deployment. His objective went in the ruin in the far corner of his DZ, with the Seer Council temporarily parked on it. My objective went in to the ruin on the opposite corner of the table where it was promptly swarmed by grots,who were (conveniently) completely out of line of sight of.....well...everything.

Before I go any further I should mention that when I was writing my list I had debated over upgrading the warbuggies to wartrakks for the ability to re-roll dangerous terrain tests, but in the end I decided that since the main draw of the unit was its low-cost, relatively accurate, ranged anti-tank fire I should run them as barebones as possible. Dangerous terrain is only an issue 16.5% of the time when moving through terrain anyways, right? No big deal.

He gets first turn and zooms his grav-tanks on to the table at full-speed for the cover saves as they have nothing to shoot at anyways. I move my vehicles up in an Orky flying V formation with the Trukk riding point closely tailed by the two wagons filled with boys, the tank-busta/KFF wagon hides torwards the back, and the two squads of war-buggies move up on the flanks. I was able to get everyone within the 6" bubble of the Mek's Kheese -er...Kustom Force Field to take advantage of the 4+ cover saves.

Highlights:

-Remember that bit about the war-buggy/Wartrakk debate? Well - early in the game I take the chance with one of my units of buggies and attempt to move through a piece of terrain that was between them and a juicy chunk o' grav tank. I roll three ones for my dangerous terrain tests, and thanks to the vehicle squadron rules the entire unit is destroyed. Later I have to move the other unit through terrain and roll another one - another buggy runs into a tree. "WAAAAAGH!! *KEEERUNCH*" The last two war-buggies somehow survive the entire game despite being an AV 10 open-topped vehicle squadron.
In the end, I killed more of my vehicles than my opponent did.

-Tank-bustas in a wagon can be ridiculously effective against mechanized opponents. (Durrrr....)
Their massed rokkit fire accounted for most of the flaming grav-tank husks that littered the battlefield. The glory-hogs rule can make them a tricky unit to use however, and it takes some practice to make them really shine. For example, I misjudged the distances - thinking I could set up a mob of boys to assault a stunned wave serpent and use the tank-bustas to pop a nearby fire prism. Unfortunately, the aforementioned wave serpent was an inch or two closer to the tank-bustas than the prism, so they had to blow the hell out of that. And the surviving dire avengers that fell out of the back of the burning wave serpent were an inch or so outside of the aforementioned boys' assault range.

-My opponent managed to fail his psychic test for fortuning his Seer Council twice during the game. Both times I threw as much firepower as I possible could into them, and the council made all of their saves without needing the re-roll. Gah.

-The dice rolled both ways though. My opponents shooting was less than spectacular for a good portion of the game, and in the last couple turns my tank-bustas had to charge his seer council - which by rights should have annihilated them - but the seers only managed to do 4 wounds, two of which I managed to negate by making 6+ armor saves. Then the tank-bustas and their big mek buddy somehow managed to KO two of them, tying combat, and locking them in combat for another turn at a very crucial moment.

-Bottom of turn 6 I got a wagon full of boys in to assault range of the dire avengers sitting on his objective, promptly wiped them out and claimed the objective.

We roll for another turn, and the die comes up a six. Crap.

Turn 7: He moves the remnants of his last dire avenger squad into within 3" of his objective. T
he Seer Council, having finally wiped out the tank-bustas they had been locked in assault with doom the orks holding the objective and drop three destructor templates on them.

They die horrible, horrible deaths.

I throw my entire army - what's left of it anyways - into that unit of dire avengers, and they fall...barely.
The grots on my objective throw up their arms in jubilation - Victory!

...but at what cost?

At the end of turn 7 the only living things left on the battlefield were the Farseer, Seer Council, one battlewagon, two war buggies, most of the lootas, and the scaredy grots.

So - around 75% casualties on both sides. It was a bloody one, and a nail-biter up until the very end.

Next week I plan to give the new IG Codex a spin.

It's Not Easy Bein' Green...

I was able to get a game in against Rob's Mechanized Eldar earlier today - well most of a game - we called it early due to prevalence of funnel clouds amongst other things.

My list:

HQ:
-Big Mek(Burna,KFF)
-Warboss(Kombi-Skorcha,Powerklaw,Attack Squig,Heavy Armor, Cybork)

Troops:
-19 Slugga Boys (Nob:HA/BP/PK) X2

-30 Shoota Boys (Nob:BP/PK)

-12 Slugga Boys (Trukk, Nob: BP/PK/HA)X2

-19 Grots

Elites:
-10 Lootas x3

Heavy Support:
-Battlewagon (2 Big Shootas, Ram) X2

His list included the Seer Council of DOOM, several wave serpents, a couple falcons, a fire prism, Dire Avengers in the Serpent, and some small units of Fire Dragons (though I never actually saw them as they stayed tucked away in their transports)

We rolled up Capture and Control with Spearhead deployment, Rob got the first turn, and I failed to seize the initiative.

My two wagons (loaded with slugga boys, one with the Warboss, and the other with the Mek) were deployed in the front, trusting the durability of AV 14 with a 4+ cover save, and giving cover to the lootas behind them. The two trukks deployed around the wagons, within 6" to take advantage of the 4+ cover of the KFF. The lootas were deployed in an effort to get the best possible firing arcs while keeping cover, one in the back of the board behind the wagons, the other two of the flanks. My big mob of shootas stays in reserve for lack of space, and the hope to come from the table edge and get some juicy falcon-flank.

Turn 1 Highlights:

Grav-tanks hover about a bit then the shooting begins.
A twin-linked brightlance goes into the Big Mek's Wagon.
*BOOM* HEADSHOT!
It penetrates, I roll a one for my cover save, it wrecks.

Another brightlance hits the Warboss's wagon.
*BOOM* HEADSHOT!
It penetrates, I roll a two for my cover save, it explodes violently.

Trukk number 1 is similarly maimed: I roll a 3 for my cover save, and a 1 for my ramshackle roll.

Trukk number 2 is mercifully spared, merely getting a stunned result.

....Not auspicious....

Bottom of Turn 1:

Now the fun begins! The lootas are ready to unleash hell upon those damn girly-dress wearin' space elves and their funky flying tank-skimmer things.

Loota unit number one scores two penetrating hits and two glances against a wave serpent, and.....gets two shaken results and two stunned results.

It doesn't get any better after that....the two other units of lootas yield similar results, and come the end of the turn the eldar force is unscathed - other than a couple of shaken/stunned grav-tanks.

Other game highlights include:
The warboss burning a tightly knit group of dire avengers with his kombi-skorcha, scoring seven hits, he needed anything but ones to kill, and of course - I rolled four ones. (!!!)

I ended up conceding the game after that. The weather was getting pretty horrid with talk of tornadoes and such anyways, so it was probably for the best.

Otherwise it would have technically ended as a tactical draw since neither of us were anywhere near the opposing objective, but I was maimed pretty thoroughly in terms of kill points and victory points.

All things considered it was a good game.

The dice can't always been on your side I suppose.

Renegard Guard Progress Part Deux

And the promised Basilisk Pics:

Renegade Guard Progress Report

With the new Guard codex getting closer by the second I've been working feverishly on my Renegade Guard army. I've recently acquired several Leman Russes on the cheap through E-Bay and some local trades, and have actually about finished two of them. My first basilisk is done as well, but alas my camera's batteries are dead - so that will have to come later.

Now I just have to finish the other two Russes, the demolisher, three more chimeras, the hellhound, twelve or so heavy weapon teams, and eighty or so guardsmen.

And of course the two or three Valkyries which will be in my possession come May...

Hooray for progress!

I also have to get around to converting a bunch of sanctioned psykers, as it looks like they will actually be viable this time around. I think I'm going to use the Empire Flagellant bodies from the WHFB range, with some Catachan arms for the Laspistol + CCW, and the helmetless CSM heads. I already have two or three that I put together intending to use as Stormtroopers/Vets - but I think they'll be more appropriate as psykers.

On to the pictures:

"Dark Heresy: Creatures Anathema" Thoughts

I received my copy of Dark Heresy: Creatures Anathema in the mail yesterday, and finally got around to looking through it earlier today.

(Note: I ordered the core rulebook at the same time, but have not received it yet, so I am hindered some what by my lack of knowledge on the actual rules.)

For those who aren't familiar with it, Dark Heresy is a tabletop role-playing game set in the dark universe of Warhammer 40,000. Creatures Anathema does for Dark Heresy what the assorted "Monstrous Manuals" did for Dungeons and Dragons, it provides Game Masters and players with the means to incorporate new creatures, villians, xenos, and all manner of other varmints into their adventures. This volume includes information on mutations, "forbidden science," death worlds, vermin, xenos (including assorted orks, tyranids, and eldar among others), and the minions of chaos.

Let me start by saying: this book is beautiful. Fantasy Flight has done an amazing job on this and the other Dark Heresy books I've had the chance to flip through.
Are you taking notes Games Workshop? This is what your codices should look like.

The layout of the book is fantastic. The artwork is spectacular. The fluff is detailed and interesting (especially the "handwritten" journal of Inquisitor Felroth Gelt scattered throughout.) And the included "Adventure Seeds," could prove exceedingly useful for GMs looking for a bit of inspiration.

My only real gripe about the book so far is that it seems that while the quality of Fantasy Flight's publication is vastly superior to Games Workshop, they could use some help with their copy-editing. Now, I haven't actually looked through the book in detail yet, so perhaps the work as a whole is not so bad. However, I am likely biased due to the fact that the very first time I opened the book (to a random page) my delicate sensibilities were assailed by the phrase:

"...these weapons is not Unreliable in the hands of an Ork."

Fortunately, that foible is minor compared to the book's strengths. The only real drawback with this and the other Dark Heresy books is the price tag. They are great books, and Fantasy Flight knows it - but they're not too hard to find at a discount (Hint: AMAZON.)

I Can Has Blog?

Okay, so - the primary focus of this blog is going to be Warhammer 40,000 so why not jump right in?

Right now I'm playing Orks, the one army that I own that is "finished." Well - sort of.
As finished as an Ork army can be I suppose. Here's my most recent list, a slight variant on the "Battlewagon Brigade" theme:

HQ:

Warboss (Kombi-Skorcha/Powerklaw/Heavy Armor/Attack Squig/Cybork)
Total: 120 pts

Big Mek (Kustom Force Field,Heavy Armor,Burna)
Total: 110 pts

TROOPS

12 Slugga Boyz
Nob(PK/BP/HA)
+Trukk(Ram)
Total: 157

12 Slugga Boyz
Nob(PK/BP/HA)
+Trukk(Ram)
Total: 157

19 Slugga Boys
Nob(PK/BP/HA)
Total: 159

19 Slugga Boys
Nob(PK/BP/HA)
Total: 159

30 Shoota Boyz(3 Rokkits)
Nob(BP/PK)
Total: 250 pts

19 Grots (Runtherd)
Total: 67 pts


ELITES

15 Lootas –225 pts

15 Lootas – 225 pts


HEAVY SUPPORT

Battlewagon(Red Paint,2 Big Shootas,Ram)
Total: 110 pts

Battlewagon (Red Paint,2 Big Shootas,Ram)
Total: 110 pts

Total: 1,849 points/147 Models/14 Kill points


-Typically, the boss and 19 boys ride in one wagon, and the KFF Mek and the other 19 boys ride in the other.
-The two trukks flank the wagons, taking advantage of the KFF's 4+ cover save.
-The Grots serve as cheap flower-picking objective sitters and a nice wide meat shield for my firebase when needed.
-The lootas....ruin something's day.

I was able to give it a test-run against Rob's mech-eldar this week, with great success. It was really his poor reserve rolls that swung the game though, so I might have to give it another run soon.

Overall though the list seems pretty solid, as it takes advantage of Orks' biggest strengths: loads of dakka and plenty of boys.