I'm back again ya'll

Painting Stormtroopers Tempestus (Tempestii?)

Hi kids, it's me again, your favorite censored publisher. Today it's 0:06 when I'm typing this sentence (that's midnight for all the possible Americans and whatnots who use the A.M P.M system) and I couldn't give a rat's ass about censorship so there ya go.

Now that that's out of the way, here is a short tutorialesque text for you on

HOW TO PAINT TYROSIAN STORMTROOPERS TEMPESTII

of course with images. Let's get started.

So first off you probably want to do cut the pieces off the sprue. I know I did. Now glue the legs to the base and assemble the torso. This may take experience but it is very rewarding once you get it right. Just jam that fucker on the base and hold it still so that it glues into the position you want it to. Right.

  Next up you should have these pieces:

- Legs (glued to the base)

- Torso halves (assembled)

- Right hand (glued to the weapon)

- Left hand.

Paint-wise I use Blood red and Skull White or what the fuck ever they are nowadays. You might want to look that ups since I'm too lazy to and painted the way I do, these miniatures will get you all the street cred money respect envy fucks given when you play with these. Apply red on the torso, knee pads, shoulder guards, elbows, genital area, boots and ass pad. Paint all cloth white.

Glue the torso on and paint the trims and hip slabs metal. I use Ironbreaker for the additional game ten points to gryffindor nice look of it. You should also paint the roof of the shoulder lamp bling whatcahama-call-it red. Keep adjusting the paint layers and fix mistakes.

 Give him a head. I chose that one because it's simple enough and looks awesome, truly. Position the head as you want to, I made him look right. He also has the hands point his las-gun upwards, effectively giving the appearance that he is looking at something or turning quickly, flinging the gun over. I painted the so called lamp or night vision gear and his eyes green, starting with Dark Angels green and working up to Snot green and the Moot green.

The helmet was painted so that the top of it is red, with the trims, mask and ears being metal. I begun painting the straps on his arms and legs Graveyard Earth, which for the new hobbyists is essentially a light brown close ,but not quite, to toffee (or fudge, if you don't speak universal candy). Anyway, next up I pretty much went back and forth on these steps and playing GTA V until the first layers (red, metal, brown) were done. The piping on the gun was given the same treatment as the eyes. I painted the Imperial Aquila metal as with the scope and barrel. The fleshy bits of the hands were painted Cadian Fleshtone or whatever it is, something like that.

Next up the washing: Ogryn Flesh, The Green (forgot it's name and too lazy to check) and Devlan Mud (brown, essentially). Devlan mud was put all over except the pipes, eyes and hands. Green was put on piping and eyes, and finally Ogryn flesh was put on the hands.


I went to the grocery store to get snacks.
(Alepa if I remember correctly, which doesn't really matter except that if you ever find yourself in Finland and its late in the evening, the nearest Alepa is usually open the longest.) Krhm. Lastly, I took the fitting backpack and started working on that, but didn't feel like finishing it today. I did, however, glue the hands on.

                                                                      Looking good there.

                                                                   


So, on the to-do-list for future updates (which are as unlikely as sentient rocks knowing me, to be honest): arm scanners; backpack; stuff.

See ya next time then, which may take some time or be tomorrow I dunno. Bye ya'll

- MaGGoT

A new army, but what's next?

Your favourite gretchin Simson here again, bringing you a little update on my newest project: Dark Angels army. I playtested my very first 1000 point list today, against a Chaos army that included something like 30 Cultists (three squads), bunch of Khorne 'Zerkers, Maulerfiend and Slaneesh Sorcerer & Daemon Prince, both of them level 3 psykers. My list (for those who didn't read the previous post) included total of 15 Tactical Marines, five of them behind ADL, the rest in a Rhino. Besides that a Ravenwing Command squad with Librarian, Ravenwing squad and a Darkshroud.

I won't do a detailed batrep here. Partly because we never finished the game because the store closed and other part is because I honestly forgot to take pictures.

But overall it went something like this:
We played with the new tactical objectives, each turn you must have three of them and at the end of your turn you may disregard one of them. The Librarian had Misfortune and Perfect Timing from Divination (thusly aquiring Presience with psychic focus) and as my Warlord he got Feel no Pain from the big rulebook, personal traits.

My new army started with the classical story of hunting the fallen

The Chaos had loads of psychic powers and Sorcerer as Warlord.

I started the game and Scouted forward and started the game. I advanced quickly, trying to do enough damage in the first turn with loads of plasma. However, since he had twice the psychic dice I got, he dominated the psychic phase. I didn't get the perfect timing on so the damage I did was small. After that he started a counter-attack, getting into close combat with my command squad who got their butts kicked by the Demon Prince and sorcerer. On the other hand my Tacticals were succesful, wiping out the rest of his Berzerkers. After that it was my turn. The Librarian had escaped and my Ravenwing squad flanked the Maulerfiend, getting plasma shots to it's rear armor but leaving it alive. Even in close combat he survived since my Ravenwing Sergeant missed his melta bomb.

While they were stuck in a combat with the Maulerfiend, the rest of my army got chopped to pieces as five of my Tacticals died to Psychic Shriek from the sorcerer and Daemon Prince sought out my Librarian and slayed him. After that we had to quit since the store was about to close. The game did not go well as I was far more aggressive than I should've been against so cc-orientated army. I also clearly didn't master my army as I forgot both Grim Resolve (stubborn on all of my guys) and Preferred Enemy (CSM) that my Command Squad and Librarian had. It was unfortunate how they didn't meet my expectations because of poor positioning and the amount of mastery levels my opponent had... On the other hand, I'm pretty happy with both the Tactical Squad that did their duty and stood their ground, nearly killing my opponent's Warlord before time ran out and my Ravenwing squad that was able to deal good damage thanks to their speed.

Company Master Malachiar

So after this promising beginning, what to do next? Tough to say. I'm certain that I will continue building and playing Dark Angels for a while. They clearly have boots to fill now that I'm officially finished with Eldar and it starts to seem clear that my  Space Wolves aren't inspiring me enough since I haven't bought a single thing for them in eight months after I bought the first of them.

So my plan is to continue and make them a working force. But that takes some time and work. And a good plan. After my first rush of inspiration where I just gathered everything I could and threw something green on it, it would seem  a good idea to think for a while. Decide what units do I need and how will I get them.
At the moment I have:

10x Tactical Marines
Rhino (wip)
Librarian (wip)
Company Master
Ravenwing Command Squad
Ravenwing Attack Squadron, six bikes
Darkshroud


The Fast Attack slot is clearly capable of great things, but my weak spot is at the moment in the Troops section. It would be easy to slap another Tactical Squad, but I don't truly like them. A jack-of-all-trades, master of none unit fits somewhere in the field but in long range specializing is the way to go. And we are Angels of Vengeance, not some Ultramarines or Imperial Fists, so might as well make the army cool. Another thing is my HQ choice. I wasn't happy with my Librarian in the last game. Of course it was some bad rolling and you should never decide things based on one game, but for warlord he's a bit weak with no inv and only 3+ armor. After concidering the different options I have decided two possible ways to continue making my first proper list of 1000 points.


Belial
5x Deathwing Terminators
10x Tactical Marines in Rhino
4x Ravenwing Bikes with dual Plasma
4x Ravenwing Bikes with dual Melta

Or, alternative way. A bit more fluffy with less competitive choices, altough I would love to create this one because of awesomeness!

Company Master
5x Company Veterans in Drop Pod, tons of Plasma...
5x Tactical Marines
5x Tactical Marines
6x Ravenwing Bikes
6x Ravenwing Bikes



The second list would be awesome to build, it has interesting parts and fun units, but to be honest it doesn't work as a list. Tough to say, but the first list solves my problem of having only one troops choice pretty well and gives me an excuse to use special character. On the other hand, Deathwing isn't my favourite and I'd prefer not to mix all three ways together. I wish there was a legit way to play Ravenwing/Greenwing combo without two Tactical Squads. I believe that Azrael might be worth looking into here...

But that's all I'm sharing with you today. Wish me luck on this new project, it will be needed. And hey, good luck to your hobbyism as well! Greetings from Espoo and farewell, Simson out!

33 hours, 36 euros and two cups of cocoa later: A new army!

This is my epic story of how I finally started my Dark Angels army.
So let me start this by saying something: this might have been the most fun army project I've done!
Well, I've only had few but it's still something.

After that information, let's start. Couple of days earlier, on a sunny Thursday afternoon I was on my way home from a friend (yes, I have friends, shut up). On my way I had to switch to another bus in Helsinki, near my local GW. There I had this strange spontaneous feeling that the Ravenwing was an awesome army. I've tought about it earlier but I just never felt like it was worth my money. However, as I waited for my next bus I couldn't resist it and went to visit the Games-Workshop. After being there for something like six minutes, I made up my mind, borrowed some money and bought two things: box of Ravenwing Bikers and a bottle of Caliban Green.

Let's get started!

With those I ran to my bus and travelled home where I still had a few hours of evening left so I naturally opened the box and started the work right away. I assembled only one of the bikers and then took a bit of a brake. Then the rare kind of motivation struck me. I have always liked the bikes in 40k and had nine Blood Angels bikes that hardly saw the tabletop. They deserved better so I took all of them (including my Librarian and Sanguinary Priest) and started working. First I had to hide the red and as I'm lazy my solution was to simply spray over them and since Ravenwing is all about "black is the new black" it actually helped me a lot. The next part was to make them Dark Angelistic-ish(?). Luckily, the Ravenwing Bike Squad box is an awesome purchase. It includes tons of DA/RW bits that gave my bikes a new look. Unfortunately I didn't have enough rear wings for all of them so I'll have to be creative in the following days.

First models painted!

I started painting my first bikes. They were already black, so it was somewhat quick, altough I hate painting bikes if they are already built, it's sometimes difficult to reach some places there. But they needed a bit more than the right color so I did some minor details (well, it is debatable if the bolters, the wings and Ravenwing sigils are "minor details"). However, it was getting pretty late so I settled for a simple solution and after those different metallic/white parts were done I highlited couple of spots with Chainmail and gave the tires some colour as well with Calthan brown on the bottom. I managed to paint six bikes out of ten. After that I left the project, finished my hot chocolate and decided to continue later.


After a long night and day, "later" became. It was about 8pm on Friday evening when I returned to home from my relatives. It didn't take long for me to regain the motivation of yesterday and I was going again.

Re-creating the bikes was a ton of fun but I still had a problem. As I didn't have Sammael or Azrael, they couldn't be my whole army. The 7th edition has an answer for this of course, but I prefer not to use unbound unless I truly have to. Luckily, I still had an extra Tactical Squad from the old Dark Vengeance box. And in what chapter do they belong? You guessed it, Dark Angels. I had nine marines unpainted, but both of my sergeants were already in red. So now it was time for some Caliban green! I started painting them and I was so excited for the cool looks that I actually sought my Dark Vengeance Company Master and painted it quickly. While painting I talked to my friend and we agreed to play today. I started to create my first 1000 point list of Dark Angels because I truly wanted to see them in the field. After pondering a while I realised that the Tacticals needed a ride. So I searched my collection and found an unpainted Rhino I had bought from my friend a while ago. Guess what else I found? Darkshroud, an old gift from a friend! Perfect, it was just the piece I needed for my army.

The Rhino was still in it's black so I just took my bigger brush and started working on it. After couple of hours I managed to finish my whole list and I was happy. Some models lacked details but were good enough for the tabletop. 

So this is a simplified version of my list.

Tactical Squad Raphael and their Rhino will be in charge of my midfield control

Level 2 Librarian on a bike

(3) Ravenwing Command Squad
- Apotechary

(10) Tactical Squad
- Rhino

(5) Tactical Squad
- Aegis Defence Line with Quad-gun

(6) Ravenwing Squad

Darkshroud

It lacks all the uprgades, but the rule of thumb is that every squad is filled with Plasma and Sergeants were uprgaded to Veterans and had Melta bombs (except for the little Tac squad). I also wanted to try an interesting little object. The Perfidious Relic of the Unforgiven, which gives my Librarian both Adamantium Will and Fear. Now my Librarian has a nice +2 to it's deny the witch rolls, +3 against lvl 1 psykers. Sweet! The model actually looks so cool, I believe I will buy it sooner or later.


At the time I'm writing this, it's 2am on Saturday morning. I would love to publish this text this very instant, but I think it needs some photos and I need some sleep before my game. So this is where I finish my writing for now...
...And this is where I continue.This morning I started painting again and continued with finishing my Librarian and painting couple bikes more.

Ravenwing Command Squad

I think that this pretty boy will be my next project. God, I love this model!

Well guys, that's all for today. I will return shortly to give a brief report of my game and the future of this project. There's still a lot to do with this group and numerous chances to expand it! What might be my next purchase or stage of this project? We shall see. Now, farewell!

- Simson

Touching up the IG

 The Astra Militarum Guards of Tyros:

This image post, rather than a text one, focuses on my latest painting project. The guards regiment shown is my own one and I like to call them the Guards of Tyros for reasons I will explain later (at my own pace as always). I paid extra attention on the one with the Vox. 

-MaGGoT

The merry bunch. Notice the green chord on the flame thrower, to be changed into metal as I chose it to be more fitting.

 

The Voxcaster (?).

 

 I forgot the purpose of this image and I may have removed the one that would explain it to me, but of well

Portraying the highlights I worked on this session

 Did the pipes/chords on the back

 

 Did some repairs

 Highlights on the chainsword and on the pistol

 The pistol again

These last few images are a showcase of the w.i.p model after this session.

I hope you enjoyed and see ya next time sometime. I might also play a game, once I'm finished with these.

Tactica: Blood Angels (part 2: "Troops & Transports")

So after a while I continued with my project of making BA at least a decent army. And here might be the most difficult part to write since our troops are numerous (unless I'm mistaking, Blood Angels have the biggest amount of "natural troops" so troops that don't need any HQ to be troops). You know. Total of five different troop choices and not one of them great. We have solid choices and then some unstable ones, but none game-breaker. But let's see what we got:

Troops

Tactical Marines:
I'll be brief here. They can hold an objective and advance in a Rhino, but they cost a lot when compared to their actual effect in game. If you want an all-shooty list for BA, go nuts and take these as they will suit your theme. In an assault list they will be easily left behind and Rhino is a lot of points for a metal bawks with zero shooting abilities. If they could get a special weapons for five guys like regular Tacticals, I'd be happy. But now they're no. Preferred load-outs:

• 10 Tacticals in a Rhino. Flamer + ML + combi-gun to Sgt.
• 5 Tacticals, meltagun + combi-melta in Drop Pod with some nasty special character. They'll blow up a tank (hopefully) and bodyguard your HQ or Priest or anyone. Corbulo might do fine bodyguarding them as a scoring unit.

Scouts:
Once again there are guys who could be much more reliable and useful if we had the toys that regular Marines have (hinthint: a Skimmer that can carry these guys). They are here to fill the Tactical Marine's job for BA. They are cheap. They keep the objective. That's it. Note that the Sgt. can still take combi-guns and Power Fist so a larger squad might have uses. But still, if you want CC-abilities, the Scouts are somewhat poor answer and if you want bolterfire there's always a bunch of Tacticals for you. I guess Snipers would be the way to go. But since they are medicore with their relatively high cost and ineffectiveness of BS3 snipers, don't count on it. Preferred load-outs:

• 5 Scouts with Snipers and camo cloaks. Cheap objective-keepers. The ML/HB is not worth it in my opinion.
• 7-8 Scouts. CCW's and Sergeant with combi-gun. Why? You can take the Locator Beacon for reserves. It may be little help for our Assault Marines, but remember that Terminators still benefit here. A random unit that has little use in competitive game but will make a fun unit that supports your other army and after it runs to the nearest objective.

Death Company:
Yes. None can argue with they killing power. But many argue with their usefulness. Let's list the Pro's and Cons:
- expensive
- too powerful charge will wipe the enemy in first turn and leave DC as a target.
- jump pack option costs ridiculously much
- they rely on charge a lot
- not scoring
+ expensive? yes, but for 20 points you have a marine with WS5, Relentless, FnP, Furious Charge, Fearless and Rage.
+ choose your targets and they'll wipe it out
+ unlimited PW's

So lots of cons, but they are still valid choice if you wish to get rid of some enemy unit. Of course the Chaplain/Reclusiarch is a good addition to them, but is not needed as even five guys can deal 25 WS5 S5 hits on charge with I4 and they have 3+ armor and Feel no Pain. What they truly need is a transport. Land Raider is reliable, but expensive. Drop Pod is quickest but will leave the unit exposed for a turn. Rhino/Razorback choice isn't impossible, but needs some positioning and some more luck. Preferred load-outs:

• 6 Death Company in Razorback with bolters and Thunder Hammer.
• 9 Death Company in Drop Pod, bolters and a Power Fist or two. Add in either Reclusiarch or Corbulo.

I really think that unless you have them in LR, bolters is a way to go, simply because they still have Relentless so rapid fire bolters + charge. And PW's and such work in DC squad because they can't be challenged out.

Death Company Dreadnought:
This is limited to one for every five DC in your army. But still, a Dreadnought as a troops choice. 
Awesome. This allows unque lists with total of 11 Dreanoughts (three Furiosos as Elites, three regular as Heavy Support , 25 DC, leaving 5 troops slots and all can be filled with DC Dreads). 23 on dual FOC. I won't even count how many you can take if you have double FOC and Astorath... So that's awesome. You know what else is? His CC-abilities. Still has WS5 and 5 attacks on charge (3 + 1 for two DCCW's + 2 for charge/Rage). Speaking of which, always take two Blood Talons. Just too good to pass. After hitting you will kill anything unless it has 2+ armor and even then something. Once again delivery is important so Drop Pod is your way to go.

Assault Marines:
The heart and sould of any Blood Angels army. They are relatively cheap, handle hordes in CC and can get a special weapon for every five guys. The Sergeant should take a PW (or Fist) for them to actually do something in fight. But they are still troops, they aren't meant for killing the enemy army, that's a job for elites, fast attack and heavy support.  They are mobile and can therefore take objectives for you while killing some squashy enemy troops. Always remember Decent of Angels. With only d6 scatter they can reliably deep strike behind terrain in cover and jump over it the next turn. Another thing to remember is their 35-point discount on transports. Preferred load-outs:

• 10 Assault Marines, 2x Meltagun, Power Axe. They need Priest and cover to survive.
• 5 Assault Marines, special weapon of your choice, 20-point Razorback. Really cheap unit that can take an objective and provide supporting fire with Plasma gun & Razorback combo and they act as an counter-assault unit if enemy gets too close. My personal favourite.

Troops overall:

This might be my favourite squad in my collections

Well you know how troops are. I guess I wouldn't field any of these if they weren't mandatory. But they play an important role in any army. Always remember that this game is about objectives so that's what your troops should focus on, not killing the enemy. The best scenario is of course if you manage to do both of these. My top three best troops for Blood Angels:
1) Assault Marines. Why? They are reliable and have mobility, which is the key behind every succesful army. Small fast squads that do well in close combat, this is what BA is about.
2) Scouts. Why? A little squishy maybe, but basically every load-out works for these guys. Wanna keep objective? They're like Tacticals that can take HB. Squishy Guardsmen ahead? Charge! MC's? Let me fetch my sniper.
3) Death Company. Why? They may not be scoring, but they will demolish anything on charge when equipped right.


Dedicated Transports

Rhino:
Pass. It's expensive and only works for full Tactical Squads. If you have them, I'd still concider leaving it at home. Mainly because we also have...

...Razorback:
Only five points more expensive than Rhino and packs some fire-power. Regular Heavy Bolter is reliable anti-infantry, tl-Lascannon helps your anti-tank, Assault Cannon is good, but expensive and my favourite is tl-Plasma Gun and Lascannon. A combination that only works with BA since our tanks are fast. Move 12" and fire both guns.

Drop Pod:
It's dirt cheap (comes free for ASM), fastest way of delievery and won't mishap. Allows Dreadnoughts to get quickly to their targets and let's you fire in the rear armor of enemy tanks. Melta will also like since it has so short range. One benefit of pods is also that you can have reliable first turn deep strike that will easily give you first blood when played right (Furioso, Sternguard).

Land Raiders:
Yes, they are Transports for BA. They are awesome. Good for Assault Marines and Death Company, but meh for Tacticals/Sternguard because the ability to assault is wasted. It is expensive so in games less than 1500 points I'm really on the edge of using it. One of the best BA lists include squads of five Assault Marines in 4-5 Land Raiders, but they are expensive money-wise so it's not meant for everyone. But remember that they also give you serious fire support, so which one is the best choice?
Redeemer specialises in close-quaters and is ideal if you're against 3+/4+ armor saves. Transport capacity of 12 and it being 10 points cheaper makes it a medicore all around choice.
Crusader is better against hordes but also needs to get close. It also has the biggest transport capacity so if you have big squads it will be a good choice
Regular one has best anti-tank abilities so it can fill gaps in your army, but the HB doesn't mix with that. It also has transtport capacity of only ten models which is not cool. A solid choice if you have small squad.

Transports overall:
Pretty much every one of them works and when combined with Assault Squads they become relatively cheap as well (okay, 215 points may not be cheap, I get it). But you know what? There's one thing I must say. You see, each army has one unwritten rule. The Rule you shall not break. For Blood Angels it's simple: never, under any circumstances and I mean never. May you deep strike a land raider. Just don't or I'll hunt you down. Anyway, top three:
1) Razorback. Why? It's fast vehicle, it has nice gun (and good uprgades). What else is there to say?
2) Land Raider Redeemer. Why? Do I really need to explain why a AV14 vehicle that has two S6AP3 flamers, power of the machine spirit, transport capacity of twelve and assault ramp is good? Well, there you had it. It gets your CC-freaks efficently to the enemy and kills infantry reliably while doing so.
3) Drop Pod. Why? It gets whatever you want where-ever you want in turn one. I like to add in locator beacon to make it the center of my following deep strikers.

Seriously, don't do it. Ever.

And there you go. Some good units, some not so good but all valid choices. These two should work together as the backbone of your army. But that's all you're gonna get from me today. I'll return sooner or later with the final part that focuses on Fast Attack and Heavy Support. I also realised that I forgot to add Honor Guard in my HQ section so that is also coming up!


- Simson

The old enemy (BA vs. CSM, 1600p)

The title says it all. This Saturday we played another game (go check out the previous one!) between me and Roba. Here are the lists:
Chaos Space Marines

HQ
Abaddon
Sorcerer (lvl 3)
- Force Sword


Elites
Khorne Berzerkers (10)
- Rhino
Helbrute
- MM/PF
Helbrute
- TL-Lascannon, PF



Troops
Chaos Marines (9)
- Bolters/CCW's, Mark of Khorne
- Rhino
Cultists (17)

Fast Attack
Chaos Bikers (3)
- Mark of Khorne
- Champion has meltagun
Heldrake

Heavy Support
Forgefiend

Blood Angels

HQ
Reclusiarch

Elites
Sanguinary Priests (2)
- On Bike, Power Axe
- With Jump Pack
Furioso Dreadnought
- Frag Cannon, Heavy Flamer, Drop Pod
Terminator Squad (6)
- Assault Cannon, two Chainfists

Troops
Death Company (6)
- Bolters, Thunder Hammer
- Land Raider Redeemer
Assault Squad (10)
- Flamers, Power Axe

Fast Attack
Baal Predator
- TL-Assault Cannon, Heavy Bolters
Attack Bikes (2)
- Multi-meltas

Blood Angel deployment. Objective partly hidden behind the building

Pre-game

The game mode was crusade and we ended up with four objectives. I got to deploy first and placed my Assault squad in the ruins and my tanks on my flanks. Land Raider on the right and Baal Predator on the left with Bikes behind it. Furioso and the Terminators stayed in reserves.

Then Chaos deployed it's Rhino on the right side with Sorcerer (who btw had all three powers from Tcheentch table, but the primaris) and nine marines. The other Rhino with Berzerkers went in the middle and both Helbrute and Forgefiend were strictly behind it. The Cultists hid in the ruins with the objective. His other Dreadnought was on the right side and Abaddon went in the reserves. He managed to steal the initiative and begun the game.

Turn 1

Chaos after Turn 1 movement

Chaos Bikes moved up and Turbo-boosted them behind the forest. His Rhinos moved up 12" each and the walkers followed. A lot of shooting with his Rhinos, but since they had to snap-shot, nothing happened. He tried to kill my Predator with Lascannon on the Dread, but only glanced it. His Sorcerer fired his doombolt at it and it exploded, giving away First Blood.

I simply love this guy

My Drop Pod arrived and I took a risk by positioning it's rear armor towards the Helbrute and it's MM, but I knew there was no winning if I didn't get the Cultists out of that objective. I scattered a bit, but after my disembark move I was in great position. My Attack Bikes moved forward as the Assault Marines moved (didn't use Jump Packs) and ran towards the objective at my side. Meanwhile the Land Raider tought that those Bikers were annoying and flamed two of them. The Champion survived. Attack Bikes blew up the Rhino with their MM's, killing one marine in the explosion. My Fragioso then fired, killing 10 out of 17 Cultists with Frag Cannon, and four more with Heavy Flamer. They failed their Ld check and ran at the edge of the table.

Turn 2

His Cultists weren't able to regroup and left the table, but in exchange they got Heldrake and Abaddon from the reserves, which is a pretty good deal if you ask me. Heldrake flew across the board and stopped between my Bikes and Marines. Abaddon didn't scatter and landed near the ruins and the impassable building. The nearby Rhino moved 6" towards him and Berzerkers disembarked. The CSM squad with Sorcerer moved at my Bikes. Meanwhile his lone bike took positions in front of my Raider. Chaos Forgefiend moved at my Marines. The Helbrute decided that my Furioso was a sitting duck with it's rear armor showing and moved towards it. In shooting phase he then fired his Multi-melta at Furioso. He did hit and rolled 2d6 on armour penetration. He managed to roll double-ones, getting only a glance. Well that's rather unlucky. Both Abaddon and Chaos Marines fired at my Bikers, doing a single wound. Heldrake didn't harm my Marines with his Vector Strike, but Baleflamer killed about half of them, including Sergeant. The lonely Chaos Biker shot meltagun at my LR. It managed to cause a Crew Stunned result so my Raider just hanged in there. In assault phase pretty much my every unit got charged. Forgefiend killed two Marines with zero challenge, but they stood their ground (guite foolishly). I couldn't choose to withdraw as I had a theoretical chance of killing it with my Kraks. Bikes got charged by Chaos Marines and his Sorcerer declared a challenge which I accepted with my Priest. Power Axe did little good since he managed to hit with all four attacks and wounded with three of those, and my FnP just couldn't do the same kind of miracle. The Chaos Marines didn't lose a single guy, but made two wounds so I lost a bike. The last Bike ran but stayed on board with one wound. He consoliated towards the objective. Then it was my turn to be lucky. Once again it happened with my Furioso who got three hits with Overwatch, got two penetrating hits due to Rending, and blew up the Helbrute before it even got close.

First Blood and the Baal Predator
was no more

The Terminators arrived from reserves and I placed them behind the enemy Dreadnought to shoot my Assault Cannon at it's rear armor. However, they scattered partly off the board and I got delayed result from my mishap roll. After my lonely Bike regrouped and moved at Chaos Sorcerer. Then my Furioso moved towards the actual battle. That was all my moving. Drop Pod tried to shoot Berzerkers, but they lived. With Power of the Machine Spirit I shot my Assault Cannon on Land Raider and killed the lonely Biker. Then my Attack bike shot the enemy. Missed with the Multi-melta and killed a single marine with bolter (Sorcerer was closest but he made his Look out Sir! roll). After that my Bike tried to assault them, but died on Overwatch... Forgefiend kicked Marine ass and killed them all (well, all but one who ran from the board). He then consoliated towards my Furioso.

Turn 3

Not looking too good for the sons of Sanguinius

The chaos Dreadnought moved to the ruins and Abaddon just moved near it with nothing to do. Forgefiend galloped at my Furioso and Berzerkers moved towards my table edge. The Heldrake then turned and flew a bit to the left. His Lascannon fired at my Raider but did nothing. That might have been the only thing to happen at his shooting phase. Forgefiend then charged at my Furioso and it blew up.

My Terminators finally arrived and tried the same thing as last turn. This time they didn't scatter. My LR moved at Berzerkers. The Death Company came out (finally) and after a bunch of shooting from their bolters and the Land Raider two or three Berzerkers went down. With Power of the Machine Spirit I flamed two Marines in the left. The Terminators tried to shoot at Dreadnought, doing a pen from Assault cannon but he made his cover save. Then I charged with Death Company, wiping Berzerkers out and lost two guys. I consoliated behind LR.

Turn 4

We can handle this...

The Heldrake flew off the table. Meanwhile Abaddon and Dreadnought decided that my Terminators should die and moved there. Forgefiend moved across the table (again) and the last Rhino moved 12" at Chaos Marines. His Srocerer used the template spell and killed three of my DC. Forgefiend charge the Raider and got it Immobilised, Abaddon and Dreadnougth charged at Termies and Abaddon killed my Sgt. in challenge while the Dreadnought killed two Termies. The remaining two then took a hull point off of it. And the last Chaos Marine and the Sorcerer charged at my Reclusiarch/DC. In challenge I did a wound and he did nothing, and my Death Company killed the last scoring model in the game.

Nope, we can't

In my turn I had little to do. I shot at Forgefiend with Raider but did nothing, the Pod fired at it's ass and didn't even hit. Then we continued the close combats. Abaddon made short work of my Termies and moved away with Dreadnought following. Then my Reclusiarch killed his Sorcerer and they moved to the ruins.

Turn 5

Abaddon moved and ran towards my last survivors, the Rhino tried to shoot at them and Forgefiend destroyed my Raider. The Heldrake arrived from Reserves but didn't do anything.

I decided as my last desperate assault to destroy the Rhino. That I did and the Rhino exploded. After it I moved at the objective, the Reclusiarch left the last DC then. That was pretty much it. So we rolled and the game continued.

Turn 6

Heldrake turned to the right and flew to the forests. Then Abaddon moved and charged my Reclusiarch and Forgefiend charged the last DC.
Both won the battle with zero problem and the game ended.

Post-game

So in the end there was four objectives, and not a single scoring unit left. The Chaos had Abaddon, Heldrake, Dreadnought and Forgefiend left with no infantry and the only BA model on the field was Drop Pod (so technically, I wasn't tabled, ahHA!!).
Chaos was couple of inches away from the Linebreaker and the ending score was simple:

Chaos Space Marines: 2

(First Blood; Slay the Warlord)

Blood Angels: 0

A fun game with lots of unlucky rolls and random successes. For me this was a day of random overwatch (the dual sixes on two meltaguns in the previous game and the Furioso) andlate reserves.
Thank you for reading, be sure to comment if/when we failed at some rules!

- Simson

The all-mighty Heldrake!

Retirement.

 

7500 points of a well spent Saturday

Hope I don't get sued for this...

So this Saturday I paid a visit to my local game store, Poromagia. We played a game of 3750 points between four players. The game was Purge the Alien. With no furhter delay, here are the players, teams and lists.

Team 1

2000 points of Eldar.
Player: Samuli

The deployment. The table behind treeline isn't part of the battlefield

HQ
Avatar of Khaine (Warlord)
- Crushing Blow, Fast Shot, Monster Hunter

Elites
Striking Scorpions (10)
Wraithguard (5)
Fire Dragons (5)
- Wave Serpent (TL- Starcannon, Holofields)

Troops
Guardian Jetbikes (6)
Guardian Jetbikes (6)
Dire Avengers (5)
Dire Avengers (10)
- Exarch, Diresword, Disarming Strike
- Wave Serpent (TL-Bright Lance)

Fast Attack
Crimson Hunter
- Exarch

Heavy Support
Wraithknight
- Suncannon/Scattershield
Vaul's Wrath Support Weapon (2)
- Shadow Weavers


1750 points of Blood Angels
Player: Simson

HQ
Reclusiarch

Eldar/Blood Angels reserves/guys in transports

Elites
Terminator Squad (6)
- Assault Cannon, two Chainfists
Furioso Dreadnought
- Frag Cannon, Heavy Flamer and Drop Pod
Sanguinary Priests (3)
- Brother Corbulo
- Priest on Bike
- Priest with Jump Pack

Troops
Assault Squad (10)
- Flamers, Power Axe
Assault Squad (10)
- Meltaguns, Power Fist
- Land Raider Redeemer

Fast Attack
Attack Bikes (2)
- Multi-meltas

Baal Predator
- TL-Assault Cannon and Heavy Bolters

Team 2

Team two: Janne/Yanne (left) and Tomi/Roba

2000 points of Grey Knights
Player: Yanne

HQ
Inquisitor Coteaz
Librarian (lvl 3)
- Terminator Armor

Troops
Terminators (5)
- Daemon Hammer and Banner
Terminators (5)
- Psycannon
Purifier Squad (10)
- in Stormraven

Deployment pt1

Fast Attack
Stormraven Gunship
- TL-Lascannon, Hurricane Bolters
Interceptor Squad (5)
- Halberd
- Razorback, TL-Assault Cannon

Heavy Support
Nemesis Dreadknight (psyker lvl 1)
- Psycannon and Greatsword
Dreadnought
- TL-Lascannon

Deployment pt2

Deployment pt3. A Hammerhead is partly seen and Sky Ray
is in the left of it, outside the picture

1750 points of Tau
Player: Roba

HQ
Battlesuit Commander (Warlord)
- Iridium Suit, Command & Control node, Multi-spectrum sensor suite
Cadre Fireblade

Elites
XV104 Riptide
- Ion accelerator, SMS, Stimulant Injector, Early warning overdrive
XV8 Battlesuit Team (3)
- 4x Plasma Rifles, Fusion Blaster, Stimulant Injector
XV25 Stealth Team (3)
- Fusion Blaster

Troops
Kroot Squad (15)
- Snipers
Firewarriors (12)
Firewarriors (6)

Tau/GK reserves (Raven not seen in the picture)

Fast Attack
Pathfinders (10)
- Shas'ui

Heavy Support
Hammerhead Gunship
- Disruption pods, Targeting relay, SMS
Sky Ray Gunship
- Disruption pods, Targeting relay, SMS

Pre-game

So Team 1 started the deployment. We played for killpoints and I think the Deployment was called Vanguard Strike? You know, the corners. So we deployed. The Jetbikes took the center of our deployment zone with the Serpents and the Wraithknight. Dire Avengers hanged in the forest. Reclusiarch and Corbulo went in the Land Raider that was placed in the right side, while the other Assault Squad and my Bikes went in the left corner. Scorpions Inflintrated in the ruins in front of my marines. The rest stayed in reserves. Avatar got the Split fire as Warlord trait, but that was less than useless so we ignored it. Oh, and the one time I remembered to roll Red Thirst it didn't work on anyone.

Suddenly, a wild Coteaz arrives.
Too proud to look at the camera.

The Tau deployed in the corner, with tanks behind and Riptide and Commander in the left side with Battlesuits in the middle. The Kroot went in the forest on the right and Pathfinders up in the trees, which we agreed not to be impassable. Both the Dreadknight and the 'Nought went in the right side of deployment zone, partly behind the line of sight-blocking building. Besides them were the Stealth team. The Terminators went behind the trees and Kroot in the right and the Interceptor squad hid in the ruins, with other Termie squad in front of them (with Coteaz). Their Razorback left them and went near the right side of the Dreadknight. Cadre went in the reserves with the Firewarriors. Their WL-trait was -1 modifier to our reserve rolls. Pretty good since we had a lot in there.

The Psychic powers were rolled, they didn't try to steal the initiative and we started the game.

Turn 1

Say hello to my little friend!

So the single Drop Pod came in and my Fragioso with it. It landed near the Kroot and didn't scatter. My whole army just moved forward as the Bikes took better positions and Assault squad moved and ran behind the nearest wall. The Raider moved 18" forward. We decided not to move the Jetbikes and Wave Serpents just adjusted their positions, while the Knight moved forward. Then started the shooting phase, where my Furioso managed to kill a total of eleven Kroot with his Frag Cannon and another two with Heavy Flamer. The Drop Pod's Storm Bolter tried to finish off the two remaining Kroot but only did a single wound and the last one lived, even tough I (foolishly) tried to shoot him with the only Bike in range. Then the Shadow Weavers tried as well but Kroot went down and passed all of his coversaves. One Serpent fired its Serpent Shield towards the Pathfinders, and killed one of them, after which they failed their Pinning test. We nearly missed the First Blood since the Kroot survived, but after that the Knight fired it's Suncannon at the Termies and Coteaz. Four wounds, no invunerable saves made, failed Look out Sir! and Coteaz being only T3 meant that three Termies died and Coteaz was insta-killed. A shame since this was the first time I saw him on tabletop and he died first, giving us First Blood. The lonely Kroot then ran out of board.

"Hello!"

The Tau wasn't too eager to advance so they just moved a little bit around, but the Librarian and his bodyguard Termies moved towards the Furioso and the other Terminators moved to the ruins. Both the Knight and the Nought moved a bit. Librarian gave misfortune to the Scorpions and Dreadknight shot at them with his large blast, killing five. The Terminators shot my Assault Marines with Psybolt Cannon, but with 3+ armor and Feel No Pain none died. Razorback shot at my Bikers, but didn't do a thing due to T5, jink and FnP. Both the Hammerhead and the Dreadnought tried to mess with Land Raider, but didn't harm it. The Riptide shot a lot against Wraithknight and with monsterhunter and some re-rolls made two wounds. Scorpions falied their Ld and ran from the board. Terminators then assaulted my Furioso, who got two rending wounds on overwatch and killed two Terminators. He then killed one more in close combat, and the Termies did nothing, since they only had a single weapon that could harm him.

Succesful reserve rolls. Something I rarely see in my games.

Turn 2

Land Raider survives a drop from 1000 feets but those trees
trees were too much for it.

Terminators arrived behind the Interceptor squad and didn't scatter. The Crimson Hunter also arrived and flew towards Riptide, while my Baal Predator stayed in reserves, mainly because of the Tau warlod trait. Both my bikes and Assault Marines moved against the Dreadknight. Six Jetbikes turbo-boosted behind them and the other half went to the center. The Dire Avengers just moved towards. My Land Raider crashed into two small trees and got Immobilised, so my plan didn't exactly work as my Assault Marines, Corbulo and HQ didn't get to CC and were left in the open. Avatar moved next to them. The Raider still shot the Assault Cannon at Riptide but didn't harm it. The Wave Serpents also moved around with nothing to do, making couple of shot but killing like three Pathfinders. Oh, and the Serpent also got Immobilised when trying to fly at the ruins. My Terminators fired at the GK squad, killing two guys. Vauls Wrath Big Guns shot at Stealth team behind the building. The first scattered on my bikers, but I made my Jink save and the next one scattered off, hitting only Knight who wasn't wounded. Then the Wraithknight shot his Suncannon at Tau Battlesuits. In the end, another GK marine died, one suit took a wound and the Razorback exploded somehow. Both my ASM and Bikers shot at Dreadknight, but did nothing. I then charged and did two wounds in total, but lost both Attack Bikes and two marines, who then ran. The lonely Priest on Bike stayed. The close combat continued and Terminators blew up my Dreadnought. They took a wound from explosion, and he decided to give it to his Librarian.

Farewell Fragioso!

The Firewarriors arrived from reserves and entered the field from their table-edge. The Librarian tried to Misfortune the Jetbikers, but got double sixes and died since he had only one wound left. The Interceptor squad used their Personal Teleporters to move with the Termies at the right side.Other Terminators moved trough ruins to charge at my Assault marines. The Stealth suits came to help and Battlesuits engaged the Terminators, while the Dreadnought moved towards the Jetbikes. He then tried to flame them with Heavy Flamer and shot his Lascannon, but they didn't do anything. Both the Terminators and Stealth suits fired at my Assault squad got 7 wounds on them. One marine died, but Corbulo was second closest and made all six 2+ Feel no Pains. Riptide tried to kill the Avatar and did manage get three wounds on him as Samuli failed all of his saves. Sky Ray marked the Crimson Hunter. Firewarriors fired at it, luckily getting two glances on it. The Hammerhead shot and blew up the Wave Serpent (with a help of Pathfinder markerlights) and the explosion killed three Fragons inside, and the rest ran, but stayed on board. Battlesuits tried to kill the BA Terminators, but after some unlucky rolls, didn't do anything. Jet Pack moves: Stealth suits moved right, behind the building and both the Riptide and Battlesuits moved only three inches each. The 'Nought then charged and killed two Jetbikes, who were Fearless due to the Avatar hanging close. Terminators charged on both sides, killing the Drop Pod on the right and losing a guy on two succesful overwatch shots with meltagun. The last guy got in CC, but Reclusiarch killed him before he got to hit. Oh, right. And the Dreadknight killed my Priest with no problem (other than three out of four hits failed).

Turn 3

Guess who's back!

My Baal Predator got it's wheel broken and the Wraithguard went to fix it so they both stayed in reserves for one more turn. The running marines regrouped (but the Fragons didn't, and ran from the board) and flew towards the Stealth suits. Meanwhile the Crimson Hunter turned 90 degrees and barely moved. The other Assault Squad and Terminators moved at Riptide, surrounding it. The Jetbikes moved towards the GK Termies, while Avatar moved to help the other ones locked in combat. The Avengers and Wraithknight moved around pointlessly, leaving the dirty work to the worhtless marines (typical Eldar behaviour, pff). Well, the Knight did shoot at Firewarriors, killing most of them (four FW's and Cadre survived). My Assault Marines with the Priest flamed the Stealth suits. As the Jetbikes made Terminators weep. Well, would've made if there were any left. Then after big bunch of shooting from my ASM and Terminators, the Riptide lost a single wound (yes!!). The Avatar charged the Dreadnought and destroyed it, losing a wound. Meanwhile my army charged the Riptide. A big bunch of overwatching took it's time, but no-one died on it. His Rippie challenged and as I declined, he decided that my Reclusiarch didn't get to hit. The rest of my army struck, getting the re-rolls to hit from charging with Reclusiarch. It went down to two wounds, then he tried to kill my Termies and killed one of them, after a single succesful Invunerable save. Rest of the Terminators killed the Riptide with no problem. His commander ran and I caught him.

Their following turn was a short one as the Tau just fired everything they got, killing one Terminator and the GK's moved around and shot couple of Jetbikes down. The Battlesuits then did the last desperate charge at my Marines doing nothing and dying. We decided that the game was over, since there was like ten enemy models left, half of them Firewarriors. (Four FW's Cadre, the two tanks, two Grey Knights and Dreadknight left against half of the Eldars and somewhat 15 marines).

Post-game

Battlefield in the end.

The score was 7-7 before even counting the losses of Tau which included the Warlord kill. Besides that we had First Blood and Linebreaker, so we just decided not to count them and call it a day.

The Blood Angels - Eldar alliance was declared victorious and the players shook hands with each other.



P.S.
Since we had a lot of reserves, and the game was a short one here's a small memorial in
honor of the units that never saw the battlefield:

'Twas a good game! Janne and Samuli (left) making
the last hand shake.

Wraithguard
Baal Predator
Stormraven
Purifier squad inside the forementioned SR
Six Firewarriors

P.P.S.
After that we still had enough time for a single game of 1600 points played between my Blood Angels and Roba's Chaos. Coming soon!

Thank you for reading, Simson out!!

Blood Angels dead pile in the end.
Oh, and the tank that didn't show up. Damn Walder Frey.