Anyway, I've gotten my grubby paws on a few more Warriors...
I think I'm definitely going to kitbash myself some plastic Crypteks. I got the resin one, and I can't say I'm impressed.
So, 24 Warriors, more or less done. About 36 more to go...
Saturday, December 24, 2011
NECROOOONS!!!
Just a little update in between Apocalypse posts. Will get round to finishing the 2nd half, promise.
Anyway, I've gotten my grubby paws on a few more Warriors...
I think I'm definitely going to kitbash myself some plastic Crypteks. I got the resin one, and I can't say I'm impressed.
So, 24 Warriors, more or less done. About 36 more to go...
Anyway, I've gotten my grubby paws on a few more Warriors...
I think I'm definitely going to kitbash myself some plastic Crypteks. I got the resin one, and I can't say I'm impressed.
So, 24 Warriors, more or less done. About 36 more to go...
Sunday, December 18, 2011
APOCALYPSE!!!111!! Part 1 of 2
Played my first game of Apocalypse on Sunday. I've never seen all my painted Angels in one place before, let alone in battle, so I figured I'd give it a whirl.
I've no idea how many points we put on the board in total, but if I had to guess, I'd say:
Wong's Blood Angels: ~8,000pts
Yee How's Imperial Guard: ~5,000pts (nice pic unavailable)
Syaz's Ultramarines: ~6,000pts
My Blood Angels: ~4,800pts
Yeah, that's all ~4,800pts in that picture. Ones to watch:
- the Stormraven with a Reclusiarch, 5 Death Company marines and a DC Dreadnought; and
- the Land Raider Redeemer with Librarian, Sanguinary Priest and 5 Assault Terminators.
Now, I'm pretty sure there was some kind of backstory to this game, but hell, at that table were gathered the kind of player who gives not a toss about fluff and is just out to bring forth their armies and kick ass.
Attackers: Blood Angels
Attackers' Objectives:
- Primary - Blow up the big statue on the hill. AV14, 2 structure points, 2 void shields.
- Secondary - Kill all the Ultramarine HQ choices: Marneus Calgar in power armour, 2 Chaplains, Chaplain Cassius, and 1 Librarian.
Strategic Assets: Flank March, Careful Planning.
Defenders: The Imperium (Ultramarines + Imperial Guard).
Defenders' Objectives:
- Primary - Don't let the defenders achieve their primary objective.
- Secondary - At least 1 Baal Predator or Furioso Dreadnought must survive to the end of the battle.
Strategic Assets: Disruptor Beacon, Shield Generator
The board
Pretty much anything on the board which isn't an AV14 bastion/bunker or a ruin is an AV12 building. The big golden statue is the primary objective, and here we see the Ultramarines forces in mid-deployment...
The Setup:
Here we can see the Imperial forces have deployed to fend off a frontal assault. Guardsmen in the bastions, huge guns poised to blast apart anything that gets past the bastions, and horrifying amounts of demolisher and plasma cannons placed to cover any open areas within the compound. And just for extra safety, the disruption beacon was placed in the middle of it all, covering the bastions and most of the central compound. Clearly, the Imperials rightly feared the brutal precision of the Blood Angel's deep strike tactics. What they didn't realize, however, was exactly what strategic assets we had chosen...
Uhuh. You read that right. Half the Blood Angels would be coming in from BEHIND the Imperial lines. And the Imperials were so worried about Stormravens dropping from the sky, they'd placed the disruption beacon too far forward. The first turn would be a very nasty surprise indeed...
By the way, for the purpose of the Careful Planning card, we counted one transport and its contents as a single unit. So, a Stormraven, carrying a chaplain, 5 Death Company marines and a Death Company Dreadnought = 1 unit.
Rolling off, the Blood Angels took the first turn.
Turn 1
Summary: Against the Imperials expectations, the Blood Angels turned up from behind, unleashing the might of multiple Stormravens and Land Raiders and their lethal cargoes!
Blood Angels:
Luckily for the Imperials, some abyssmally bad luck meant the Angels didn't quite do as much damage as anticipated. All the Stormravens released their payloads of Bloodstrike missiles, knocking down the statue's void shields and shredding a Tactical squad that happened to be between my Assault Terminators and Marneus Calgar. Meanwhile, squads of black-clad Terminators piled out of Landraider Crusaders and Redeemers and tore into the vulnerable rear armour of whatever hapless vehicle happened to be in range. In addition to all this carnage, a pair of krak missile streaked out to strike down the Disruption Beacon in preparation for a drop pod assault in Turn 2.
Imperials:
The Imperial response was swift but lacklustre. Most of the Imperial Guard elements were manning the walls, far from the surprise onslaught. Quite importantly, 3 Vindicators were out of position and swung round to meet the threat, chugging away at top speed so those demolisher cannons don't go to waste. That having been said, the firepower they could bring to bear was still quite formidable, since a lot of the Blood Angel's shooting went into the statue, to minimal effect. As a result, the Imperials had quite a bit of gunishment to wield, damaging several vehicles, notably immobilizing my Stormraven carrying the Sternguard Veterans, which could have quite easily caused quite a lot of damage if I put a volley from their combi-weapons in the right place.
Highlights
None shall stay my wrath!!! I let loose the Death Company Dreadnought from my Stormraven and it didn't disappoint, quickly shredding a nearby 5-man assault squad and killing the attached Chaplain with combat resolution.
3 Chimeras, a Tactical combat squad and 2 multimelta attack bikes all converged on my Death Company Dreadnought, but in an uncharacteristic string of truly remarkable luck, a total of 6 melta weapons (all in melta range, mind you), 3 plasmaguns and 2 multilasers blazed away at the deranged dreadnought, causing 3 penetrating hits, all of which got either a crew shaken or stunned result, which, of course, a Death Company Dreadnought, simply DOES NOT CARE ABOUT. As a side note, one plasmagunner even roasted himself trying to fire his gun, which was probably a mercy, given what happened next...
Kill Calgar! My Assault Terminators comprise 4 Terminators with Lightning Claws and 1 with a Thunder Hammer, accompanied by a Librarian and Sanguinary Priest. Assuming a good psychic check, that means 16 S5 I5 power weapon attacks, with rerolls to hit and wound. That's quite enough to put the hurt on damn near anything it charges, and plain vanilla Terminators without Storm Shields should have been a walk in the park... Alas, it wasn't to be...
I rolled fairly below average with my claws, and he made an absurd number of 5+ invulnerable saves. What started with this...
... ended with this...
But it wasn't all bad news. During the Imperial turn, the dice gods smiled on me. Chaplain Cassius joined the combat and failed to do anything. I made a few lucky invulnerable saves, and by the end of the Imperial turn, Calgar found himself surrounded by 2 Terminators with Lightning Claws, a Librarian and a Sanguinary Priest. Meanwhile, thanks to horrible failures of combat resolution, Chaplain Cassius went down! How sad is that? The one guy in the vaunted Ultramarines chapter who gets to address Marneus Calgar as 'young Calgar' rushes to his aid, only to achieve buggerall and get himself killed, right in front of Calgar's face!
Anyway, that's it for now. Stay tuned for Turns 2 and 3...
I've no idea how many points we put on the board in total, but if I had to guess, I'd say:
Wong's Blood Angels: ~8,000pts
Not pictured: The horde of power armoured marines on the other table.
Yee How's Imperial Guard: ~5,000pts (nice pic unavailable)
Syaz's Ultramarines: ~6,000pts
Not pictured: A shit-tonne more Smurfs on the other table and in carry cases.
My Blood Angels: ~4,800pts
Yeah, that's all ~4,800pts in that picture. Ones to watch:- the Stormraven with a Reclusiarch, 5 Death Company marines and a DC Dreadnought; and
- the Land Raider Redeemer with Librarian, Sanguinary Priest and 5 Assault Terminators.
Now, I'm pretty sure there was some kind of backstory to this game, but hell, at that table were gathered the kind of player who gives not a toss about fluff and is just out to bring forth their armies and kick ass.
Attackers: Blood Angels
Attackers' Objectives:
- Primary - Blow up the big statue on the hill. AV14, 2 structure points, 2 void shields.
- Secondary - Kill all the Ultramarine HQ choices: Marneus Calgar in power armour, 2 Chaplains, Chaplain Cassius, and 1 Librarian.
Strategic Assets: Flank March, Careful Planning.
Defenders: The Imperium (Ultramarines + Imperial Guard).
Defenders' Objectives:
- Primary - Don't let the defenders achieve their primary objective.
- Secondary - At least 1 Baal Predator or Furioso Dreadnought must survive to the end of the battle.
Strategic Assets: Disruptor Beacon, Shield Generator
The board
Pretty much anything on the board which isn't an AV14 bastion/bunker or a ruin is an AV12 building. The big golden statue is the primary objective, and here we see the Ultramarines forces in mid-deployment...
The Setup:
Here we can see the Imperial forces have deployed to fend off a frontal assault. Guardsmen in the bastions, huge guns poised to blast apart anything that gets past the bastions, and horrifying amounts of demolisher and plasma cannons placed to cover any open areas within the compound. And just for extra safety, the disruption beacon was placed in the middle of it all, covering the bastions and most of the central compound. Clearly, the Imperials rightly feared the brutal precision of the Blood Angel's deep strike tactics. What they didn't realize, however, was exactly what strategic assets we had chosen...
Uhuh. You read that right. Half the Blood Angels would be coming in from BEHIND the Imperial lines. And the Imperials were so worried about Stormravens dropping from the sky, they'd placed the disruption beacon too far forward. The first turn would be a very nasty surprise indeed...
By the way, for the purpose of the Careful Planning card, we counted one transport and its contents as a single unit. So, a Stormraven, carrying a chaplain, 5 Death Company marines and a Death Company Dreadnought = 1 unit.
Rolling off, the Blood Angels took the first turn.
Turn 1
Summary: Against the Imperials expectations, the Blood Angels turned up from behind, unleashing the might of multiple Stormravens and Land Raiders and their lethal cargoes!
End of Blood Angel's movement phase. This is going to get messy...
Blood Angels:
Luckily for the Imperials, some abyssmally bad luck meant the Angels didn't quite do as much damage as anticipated. All the Stormravens released their payloads of Bloodstrike missiles, knocking down the statue's void shields and shredding a Tactical squad that happened to be between my Assault Terminators and Marneus Calgar. Meanwhile, squads of black-clad Terminators piled out of Landraider Crusaders and Redeemers and tore into the vulnerable rear armour of whatever hapless vehicle happened to be in range. In addition to all this carnage, a pair of krak missile streaked out to strike down the Disruption Beacon in preparation for a drop pod assault in Turn 2.
Imperials:
The Imperial response was swift but lacklustre. Most of the Imperial Guard elements were manning the walls, far from the surprise onslaught. Quite importantly, 3 Vindicators were out of position and swung round to meet the threat, chugging away at top speed so those demolisher cannons don't go to waste. That having been said, the firepower they could bring to bear was still quite formidable, since a lot of the Blood Angel's shooting went into the statue, to minimal effect. As a result, the Imperials had quite a bit of gunishment to wield, damaging several vehicles, notably immobilizing my Stormraven carrying the Sternguard Veterans, which could have quite easily caused quite a lot of damage if I put a volley from their combi-weapons in the right place.
Highlights
None shall stay my wrath!!! I let loose the Death Company Dreadnought from my Stormraven and it didn't disappoint, quickly shredding a nearby 5-man assault squad and killing the attached Chaplain with combat resolution.
3 Chimeras, a Tactical combat squad and 2 multimelta attack bikes all converged on my Death Company Dreadnought, but in an uncharacteristic string of truly remarkable luck, a total of 6 melta weapons (all in melta range, mind you), 3 plasmaguns and 2 multilasers blazed away at the deranged dreadnought, causing 3 penetrating hits, all of which got either a crew shaken or stunned result, which, of course, a Death Company Dreadnought, simply DOES NOT CARE ABOUT. As a side note, one plasmagunner even roasted himself trying to fire his gun, which was probably a mercy, given what happened next...
Kill Calgar! My Assault Terminators comprise 4 Terminators with Lightning Claws and 1 with a Thunder Hammer, accompanied by a Librarian and Sanguinary Priest. Assuming a good psychic check, that means 16 S5 I5 power weapon attacks, with rerolls to hit and wound. That's quite enough to put the hurt on damn near anything it charges, and plain vanilla Terminators without Storm Shields should have been a walk in the park... Alas, it wasn't to be...
I rolled fairly below average with my claws, and he made an absurd number of 5+ invulnerable saves. What started with this...
GRAAAAAARRGGGHHH!!!
... ended with this...
But it wasn't all bad news. During the Imperial turn, the dice gods smiled on me. Chaplain Cassius joined the combat and failed to do anything. I made a few lucky invulnerable saves, and by the end of the Imperial turn, Calgar found himself surrounded by 2 Terminators with Lightning Claws, a Librarian and a Sanguinary Priest. Meanwhile, thanks to horrible failures of combat resolution, Chaplain Cassius went down! How sad is that? The one guy in the vaunted Ultramarines chapter who gets to address Marneus Calgar as 'young Calgar' rushes to his aid, only to achieve buggerall and get himself killed, right in front of Calgar's face!Anyway, that's it for now. Stay tuned for Turns 2 and 3...
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Batrep: Back to the Angels!
Just got in a good 1750pt scrap yesterday with a new BA list I've been working on - Double Death Star!
HQ
Librarian
Elites
Chaplain
Sanguinary Priest
5 Assault terminators - 4 with Lightning claws, 1 with hammer and shield, in a Land Raider Redeemer with multimelta and extra armour
Troops
5 Assault marines with Sgt power weapon and a meltagun, in a Lasplas Razorback
5 Assault marines with Sgt power weapon and a meltagun, in a Lasplas Razorback
5 Death Company, 2 with power weapons, 1 with power fist
Death company Dreadnought with Blood talons and magna grapple
Heavy Support
Stormraven with TL assault cannon, Typhoon launchers and extra armour
Predator with autocannon and lascannon sponsons
The Land Raider Redeemer holds the Assault Terminators, Sanguinary Priest and Librarian. The Stormraven delivers the Death Company, chaplain and the DC Dreadnought. The idea is generally to use the Stormraven to deposit a lot of Death Company Anger right in the middle of the enemy to cause as much havoc as possible, then smash whatever's left with the Terminators.
Edwin's Unholy Nidzilla list
HQ
Swarm Lord
Winged hive tyrant with 2 pairs of scything talons and Hive commander
Elites
The Doom of Malantai in a Mycetic Spore
3 Zoanthropes in a Mycentic Spore
Troops
12 Termagants
11 Termagants
Heavy Support
3 Trygon Primes with adrenal glands
Mission: Capture and Control (1 objective in each deployment zone)
Deployment: Spearhead (table quarters)
Tyranids have the first turn.
Terrain is mostly clear with a few buildings and bits of area terrain here and there.
Tyranids reserve everything, I put my whole army on the board to wait for the onslaught...
Turn 1
Tyranids - Nothing. Everyone's in reserve!
Blood Angels - I scoot the bulk of my army forward 12", with one Razorback hanging behind to camp on the objective. The Predator sits behind my LR Redeemer, with it's rear armour firmly placed against the Redeemer's back, in case those Trygons pop up behind me...
Turn 2
Tyranids - Between the winged tyrant and the Swarmlord, everything came in on a 2+, so the WHOLE Nid army came in, Termagants from each flank, Trygons burst from the ground, 2 behind the Blood Angels and one in the middle, the Doom of Malantai, the Zoanthropes and the Winged Tyrant to the front and throughout this stunning assault, the Swarmlord, strode in from the Nid table edge. A horrific deluge of fire from the Trygon Primes' containment spines wrecked one Razorback and exploded another. The Zoanthropes attempted to fire their Warp Lances, but the Librarian managed to use his psychic hood and dispel all three shots.
Blood Angels - The Storm Raven swung back round to deliver the Death Company and the Dreadnought into the Trygons behind me. One assault squad made for a brood of Termagants that strayed too close beside the 2 Trygons, the other backed away together with the LR Redeemer to make use of the 6" Feel No Pain + Furious Charge bubble afforded by the Sanguinary Priest within to attack the middle Trygon in concert with the Terminators and Librarian. The Predator moved to take pot shots at the Doom.
Shooting mostly did nothing but the Stormraven and DC Dread managed to knock a couple of wounds off one of the rear Trygons. Assault was much more satisfying. One Assault squad charged the Termagants to my right, the DC Dread charged one Trygon Prime, the Death Company charged another and the other assault squad charged another together with the Terminators. All the Trygons and the termagants were wiped out a the cost of only 3 Death Company marines! That's 800 points of Nids wiped off the board in 1 assault phase!
Turn 3 to End
The rest of the game, not so interesting. What else happened?
- The Winged Tyrant cast Paroxysm on the Terminators and wiped them out over 3 rounds of combat, then blew up the LR Redeemer, before succumbing to concentrated firepower from the Stormraven and Predator.
- The Doom of Malantai fell to a shot from the DC Dread's magnagrapple (yay, instakill!). The DC Dread then immobilized itself on difficult terrain and spent the rest of the game raging.
- The Zoanthropes fell to abuse from the Redeemer, Stormraven and Predator.
This left me with one measly assault squad to camp on my objective together with an angry immobile Dreadnought nearby, and he had a Swarmlord to babysit the Termagants on his objective. If the game could go on ad infinitum, I suppose I could have picked away at the remnants of his army with my Stormraven and Predator, but the game ended and it was a hard-fought draw, with laurels nudged in the general direction of the Blood Angels for having more points left alive on the table than the Nids.
Afterthoughts
This was my first game against a very experienced and truly vicious Nidzilla player, so I was pretty chuffed with how things turned out, but more than anything else, I was well impressed with the sheer amount of damage my list could dish out with a good, mass charge. 3 Trygon Primes in one assault! That's just insane!
Were there any major mistakes by either player? For me, I don't really think so, though perhaps I could have kept my Razorbacks back-to-back in Turn 1. That would have seriously upped my chances of surviving the initial onslaught of Tyranid Turn 2 and who knows? Maybe I could have gotten in a shot or 2 with my Razorbacks... On his part, I'm not sure what he could have done. Having his first Zoanthrope salvo shut down by the Librarian was plain unlucky. I think his big mistake was not being more aggressive with the Swarmlord. That thing is a monster in close combat and I think he could have tabled me if he just continued to march it straight into my army and pop a can of whupass.
Just before this game I had another one with a significantly less experienced Nid player. Even then, it was quite enlightening to find out the limits of what 5 Assault Terminators could do, exactly. The lesson was this: Just stay the hell away from Tyranid HQ choices. Between Paroxysm, Lash Whips and all the other monstrous nastiness they have, Assault Terminators (as I'm playing them, with 4 claws and 1 hammer) are just better used elsewhere, like shredding Nid tank-beasts, such as Trygons, Carnifexes, Tervigons, and Tyrannofexes. And even then, that's only IF I can charge them with the influence of the Sanguinary Priest.
Would I change anything about this list? Right now, I'm thinking of keeping the 2 Death Stars (Stormraven full of DC, Redeemer full of Terminators) and fiddling about with the rest of the list. But what to do? More staying power? More dakka? Scouts? Dakkapreds? Assault marines? I dunno. For the moment, I'd like a couple more games against some other opponents before I figure out what this army needs. Until then, there's painting to be done!
HQ
Librarian
Elites
Chaplain
Sanguinary Priest
5 Assault terminators - 4 with Lightning claws, 1 with hammer and shield, in a Land Raider Redeemer with multimelta and extra armour
Troops
5 Assault marines with Sgt power weapon and a meltagun, in a Lasplas Razorback
5 Assault marines with Sgt power weapon and a meltagun, in a Lasplas Razorback
5 Death Company, 2 with power weapons, 1 with power fist
Death company Dreadnought with Blood talons and magna grapple
Heavy Support
Stormraven with TL assault cannon, Typhoon launchers and extra armour
Predator with autocannon and lascannon sponsons
The Land Raider Redeemer holds the Assault Terminators, Sanguinary Priest and Librarian. The Stormraven delivers the Death Company, chaplain and the DC Dreadnought. The idea is generally to use the Stormraven to deposit a lot of Death Company Anger right in the middle of the enemy to cause as much havoc as possible, then smash whatever's left with the Terminators.
Edwin's Unholy Nidzilla list
HQ
Swarm Lord
Winged hive tyrant with 2 pairs of scything talons and Hive commander
Elites
The Doom of Malantai in a Mycetic Spore
3 Zoanthropes in a Mycentic Spore
Troops
12 Termagants
11 Termagants
Heavy Support
3 Trygon Primes with adrenal glands
Mission: Capture and Control (1 objective in each deployment zone)
Deployment: Spearhead (table quarters)
Tyranids have the first turn.
Terrain is mostly clear with a few buildings and bits of area terrain here and there.
Tyranids reserve everything, I put my whole army on the board to wait for the onslaught...
Turn 1
Tyranids - Nothing. Everyone's in reserve!
Blood Angels - I scoot the bulk of my army forward 12", with one Razorback hanging behind to camp on the objective. The Predator sits behind my LR Redeemer, with it's rear armour firmly placed against the Redeemer's back, in case those Trygons pop up behind me...
Turn 2
Tyranids - Between the winged tyrant and the Swarmlord, everything came in on a 2+, so the WHOLE Nid army came in, Termagants from each flank, Trygons burst from the ground, 2 behind the Blood Angels and one in the middle, the Doom of Malantai, the Zoanthropes and the Winged Tyrant to the front and throughout this stunning assault, the Swarmlord, strode in from the Nid table edge. A horrific deluge of fire from the Trygon Primes' containment spines wrecked one Razorback and exploded another. The Zoanthropes attempted to fire their Warp Lances, but the Librarian managed to use his psychic hood and dispel all three shots.
Blood Angels - The Storm Raven swung back round to deliver the Death Company and the Dreadnought into the Trygons behind me. One assault squad made for a brood of Termagants that strayed too close beside the 2 Trygons, the other backed away together with the LR Redeemer to make use of the 6" Feel No Pain + Furious Charge bubble afforded by the Sanguinary Priest within to attack the middle Trygon in concert with the Terminators and Librarian. The Predator moved to take pot shots at the Doom.
Shooting mostly did nothing but the Stormraven and DC Dread managed to knock a couple of wounds off one of the rear Trygons. Assault was much more satisfying. One Assault squad charged the Termagants to my right, the DC Dread charged one Trygon Prime, the Death Company charged another and the other assault squad charged another together with the Terminators. All the Trygons and the termagants were wiped out a the cost of only 3 Death Company marines! That's 800 points of Nids wiped off the board in 1 assault phase!
Turn 3 to End
The rest of the game, not so interesting. What else happened?
- The Winged Tyrant cast Paroxysm on the Terminators and wiped them out over 3 rounds of combat, then blew up the LR Redeemer, before succumbing to concentrated firepower from the Stormraven and Predator.
- The Doom of Malantai fell to a shot from the DC Dread's magnagrapple (yay, instakill!). The DC Dread then immobilized itself on difficult terrain and spent the rest of the game raging.
- The Zoanthropes fell to abuse from the Redeemer, Stormraven and Predator.
This left me with one measly assault squad to camp on my objective together with an angry immobile Dreadnought nearby, and he had a Swarmlord to babysit the Termagants on his objective. If the game could go on ad infinitum, I suppose I could have picked away at the remnants of his army with my Stormraven and Predator, but the game ended and it was a hard-fought draw, with laurels nudged in the general direction of the Blood Angels for having more points left alive on the table than the Nids.
Afterthoughts
This was my first game against a very experienced and truly vicious Nidzilla player, so I was pretty chuffed with how things turned out, but more than anything else, I was well impressed with the sheer amount of damage my list could dish out with a good, mass charge. 3 Trygon Primes in one assault! That's just insane!
Were there any major mistakes by either player? For me, I don't really think so, though perhaps I could have kept my Razorbacks back-to-back in Turn 1. That would have seriously upped my chances of surviving the initial onslaught of Tyranid Turn 2 and who knows? Maybe I could have gotten in a shot or 2 with my Razorbacks... On his part, I'm not sure what he could have done. Having his first Zoanthrope salvo shut down by the Librarian was plain unlucky. I think his big mistake was not being more aggressive with the Swarmlord. That thing is a monster in close combat and I think he could have tabled me if he just continued to march it straight into my army and pop a can of whupass.
Just before this game I had another one with a significantly less experienced Nid player. Even then, it was quite enlightening to find out the limits of what 5 Assault Terminators could do, exactly. The lesson was this: Just stay the hell away from Tyranid HQ choices. Between Paroxysm, Lash Whips and all the other monstrous nastiness they have, Assault Terminators (as I'm playing them, with 4 claws and 1 hammer) are just better used elsewhere, like shredding Nid tank-beasts, such as Trygons, Carnifexes, Tervigons, and Tyrannofexes. And even then, that's only IF I can charge them with the influence of the Sanguinary Priest.
Would I change anything about this list? Right now, I'm thinking of keeping the 2 Death Stars (Stormraven full of DC, Redeemer full of Terminators) and fiddling about with the rest of the list. But what to do? More staying power? More dakka? Scouts? Dakkapreds? Assault marines? I dunno. For the moment, I'd like a couple more games against some other opponents before I figure out what this army needs. Until then, there's painting to be done!
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Current projects
Okay, it's been a while since I've had the time to post. Here's what's going on with the armies I play:
Blood Angels
The Angels took a backseat to Necron enthusiasm for a while. Now it's the Necrons which are on hold, I'll be looking at 2 more ways to play my Angels. For those who've forgotten, I usually run a mechanized list, with 4 Razorbacks, 2 combiPreds and 2 Baal Preds as the core of the army. Now I'm looking to try out 2 completely different playstyles:
1) Jump army! Yep, a Descent of Angels list. I've already got 2 full Assault Squads, a Librarian with a jump pack, and 2 jumping Priests, so I figured it would be fun to try. I'll be looking to field Sanguinary Guard, too, coz I just love the models!
2) Death Star! 5 Assault Termies (4 claws, 1 hammer) riding in a Redeemer with a Librarian and a Priest. Pass the psychic check for Unleash Rage and that's 16 S5 I5 power weapons attacks, with rerolls to hit and wound. And the squad has Feel No Pain, to boot. Outside of Grey Knights, there's really not much which can stand up to that...
3) Something with Stormravens! I dunno, I still haven't quite figured this one out yet, but I've got 2 nearly painted Stormravens, and by damn, I want to field them in battle in some way...
Necrons
I've been playing quite a few games using my Angels to proxy as Necrons and I have to say: I'm completely hooked!
I've been playing with a list centred around 20 Warriors marching about with an orb-wielding phaeron, flanked by 2 Ghost Arks each loaded with 9 Warriors and a Harbinger of Destruction and it's been awesome. The blob of warriors attracts an insane amount of firepower, but between the orb and the Arks, that blob is insanely tough to kill with shooting. It has, however, fallen to assault, pretty much every game it was assaulted... So far, I've tried out this style of Necron list against IG, Tau and Grey Knights.
Against Tau, the Warrior Blob is nigh unstoppable. Turn after turn, it weathered the abuse from 2 teams of battlesuits, 3 Broadsides and a Hammerhead, leaving the rest of my army free to outflank and chew away at the edges.
The IG opponent I usually play against favours big blobs of infantry. I've played twice against him. The first time round I lost and only later realized that due to a horrible miscalculation, I was fighting with a ~250 pt handicap. The 2nd time round, the dice simply weren't with me. In that game, I managed to fail 5 out of 6 armour saves with my Immortals (5 ones!), and a vital assault with my Scarabs into one of his Leman Russes fell flat on its face, when I only rolled 5 hits out of 20 attacks hitting on a 4+. Not to mention the absurd number of below average volleys of gauss fire...
Against the Grey Knights (Draigowing), I played using 2 huge Warrior blobs. A bit unwieldly, but in this game, the Doomsday Ark really shone, helping me to wipe out a squad of the dreaded Paladins.
In all the abovementioned games, I fielded a Doomsday Ark and 2 Annihilation Barges. I found that the barges certainly get the job done for the points invested in them, but I've mixed feelings about the Doomsday Ark. Its tremendous range, firepower and physical presence on the battlefield make it a VERY enticing target for the enemy. In every battle, my opponent detached a small force specifically to destroy the Ark. That in itself is a pretty useful trait of the Ark, but at that amount of points, I really wonder if I'm not better off with a team of 3 Canoptek Spyders pooping out Scarabs, with 25 pts left over for miscellaneous gadgets for the Lords and/or Crypteks...
I think the list still needs a bit of tweaking before I make any major investment. In any case, I'll be coming back to them after I sort out my Angels, perhaps in early 2012...
Chaos Marines
Gathering dust. I like that army and all, but every game I've played has been a fight against getting wiped out. It's ok, I'll busy myself with the other armies until the rumoured Chaos Legions codex turns up sometime in 2012.
Grey Knights
Gathering dust. I'll be back for them someday...
And that's it from me. Next update in... the hell I know. It'll happen when it happens...
Blood Angels
The Angels took a backseat to Necron enthusiasm for a while. Now it's the Necrons which are on hold, I'll be looking at 2 more ways to play my Angels. For those who've forgotten, I usually run a mechanized list, with 4 Razorbacks, 2 combiPreds and 2 Baal Preds as the core of the army. Now I'm looking to try out 2 completely different playstyles:
1) Jump army! Yep, a Descent of Angels list. I've already got 2 full Assault Squads, a Librarian with a jump pack, and 2 jumping Priests, so I figured it would be fun to try. I'll be looking to field Sanguinary Guard, too, coz I just love the models!
2) Death Star! 5 Assault Termies (4 claws, 1 hammer) riding in a Redeemer with a Librarian and a Priest. Pass the psychic check for Unleash Rage and that's 16 S5 I5 power weapons attacks, with rerolls to hit and wound. And the squad has Feel No Pain, to boot. Outside of Grey Knights, there's really not much which can stand up to that...
3) Something with Stormravens! I dunno, I still haven't quite figured this one out yet, but I've got 2 nearly painted Stormravens, and by damn, I want to field them in battle in some way...
Necrons
I've been playing quite a few games using my Angels to proxy as Necrons and I have to say: I'm completely hooked!
I've been playing with a list centred around 20 Warriors marching about with an orb-wielding phaeron, flanked by 2 Ghost Arks each loaded with 9 Warriors and a Harbinger of Destruction and it's been awesome. The blob of warriors attracts an insane amount of firepower, but between the orb and the Arks, that blob is insanely tough to kill with shooting. It has, however, fallen to assault, pretty much every game it was assaulted... So far, I've tried out this style of Necron list against IG, Tau and Grey Knights.
Against Tau, the Warrior Blob is nigh unstoppable. Turn after turn, it weathered the abuse from 2 teams of battlesuits, 3 Broadsides and a Hammerhead, leaving the rest of my army free to outflank and chew away at the edges.
The IG opponent I usually play against favours big blobs of infantry. I've played twice against him. The first time round I lost and only later realized that due to a horrible miscalculation, I was fighting with a ~250 pt handicap. The 2nd time round, the dice simply weren't with me. In that game, I managed to fail 5 out of 6 armour saves with my Immortals (5 ones!), and a vital assault with my Scarabs into one of his Leman Russes fell flat on its face, when I only rolled 5 hits out of 20 attacks hitting on a 4+. Not to mention the absurd number of below average volleys of gauss fire...
Against the Grey Knights (Draigowing), I played using 2 huge Warrior blobs. A bit unwieldly, but in this game, the Doomsday Ark really shone, helping me to wipe out a squad of the dreaded Paladins.
In all the abovementioned games, I fielded a Doomsday Ark and 2 Annihilation Barges. I found that the barges certainly get the job done for the points invested in them, but I've mixed feelings about the Doomsday Ark. Its tremendous range, firepower and physical presence on the battlefield make it a VERY enticing target for the enemy. In every battle, my opponent detached a small force specifically to destroy the Ark. That in itself is a pretty useful trait of the Ark, but at that amount of points, I really wonder if I'm not better off with a team of 3 Canoptek Spyders pooping out Scarabs, with 25 pts left over for miscellaneous gadgets for the Lords and/or Crypteks...
I think the list still needs a bit of tweaking before I make any major investment. In any case, I'll be coming back to them after I sort out my Angels, perhaps in early 2012...
Chaos Marines
Gathering dust. I like that army and all, but every game I've played has been a fight against getting wiped out. It's ok, I'll busy myself with the other armies until the rumoured Chaos Legions codex turns up sometime in 2012.
Grey Knights
Gathering dust. I'll be back for them someday...
And that's it from me. Next update in... the hell I know. It'll happen when it happens...
Monday, November 7, 2011
Necrons: First impressions
I just got my grubby paws on the Necron Codex over the weekend and I have to say, I like what I'm seeing and here's why...
Fluff-wise, I kind of like it. I know a lot of people out there are totally turned off by the Tomb Kings in space vibe, but I kind of like having Necron Lords all over the place each with their own characters and foibles. It's a complete about-turn from the fluff from the previous codex, but I think this one gives it a bit more scope for depth and expanding the fluff. That having been said, I've always been pretty easy to satisfy, fluff-wise. The army list, however...
Necron Warriors are now 13 points. 13 points! That pretty much decided how I wanted to play this. I'd always imagine Necrons as rank upon rank of Necrons Warriors, plodding inexorably forward, blazing away with their Gauss Flayers, weathering horrific amounts of firepower, and that's just what they do. Here's an example of some fun I had with Warriors:
1) Took a squad of 20 Warriors, accompanied with a Necron Overlord with the Phaeron upgrade and a Resurrection Orb. What this means is that those 20 Warriors now come back on a 4+ and are Relentless. Behind said squad is a Ghost Ark, happily feeding new Warriors to replace the ones that refused to get up.
2) Enemy shooting phase, the squad takes some ranged abuse. No biggy, about half get back up, but here's the thing. I take the casualties from the rear ranks and put the reanimated ones in coherency in the front. I've now effectively moved forward ~3" (2" for coherency, ~1" for the base) and it's not even my turn yet.
3) My turn and the Ghost Ark activates. At the start of my Movement Phase, I place 1D3 Warriors in coherency, again in the front. Since my opponent opened fire during his turn, I've now crept forward 6", and I still haven't carried out my Movement Phase!
This kind of shenanigan is a pretty useful way to make otherwise unwieldly blobs of Necron Warriors surprisingly mobile. And with 20 relentless Warriors, you can glance pretty much any vehicle to death or near-uselessness in a salvo.
Of course, it's not all hunky dory. For all their resilience to ranged abuse, swarms of Warriors are pretty vulnerable to a reasonably strong assault. A few power weapons to bully the Warriors, and whoops, there goes the combat! And with an Initiative of 2, they're very, very prone indeed to getting taken apart in a Sweeping Advance.
I'm still experimenting with the army list, but for now, I'm leaning towards an army centred around 2 Phaeron-led swarms of Warriors marching around the battlefield shredding everything their path with an absurd number of Gauss shots. The list has plenty of scope to field all sorts of fun gadgets (the Doom Scythe looks SO fun!) but for now, I've pretty much set my sights on a very Warrior-heavy Necron army for early 2012.
Fluff-wise, I kind of like it. I know a lot of people out there are totally turned off by the Tomb Kings in space vibe, but I kind of like having Necron Lords all over the place each with their own characters and foibles. It's a complete about-turn from the fluff from the previous codex, but I think this one gives it a bit more scope for depth and expanding the fluff. That having been said, I've always been pretty easy to satisfy, fluff-wise. The army list, however...
Necron Warriors are now 13 points. 13 points! That pretty much decided how I wanted to play this. I'd always imagine Necrons as rank upon rank of Necrons Warriors, plodding inexorably forward, blazing away with their Gauss Flayers, weathering horrific amounts of firepower, and that's just what they do. Here's an example of some fun I had with Warriors:
1) Took a squad of 20 Warriors, accompanied with a Necron Overlord with the Phaeron upgrade and a Resurrection Orb. What this means is that those 20 Warriors now come back on a 4+ and are Relentless. Behind said squad is a Ghost Ark, happily feeding new Warriors to replace the ones that refused to get up.
2) Enemy shooting phase, the squad takes some ranged abuse. No biggy, about half get back up, but here's the thing. I take the casualties from the rear ranks and put the reanimated ones in coherency in the front. I've now effectively moved forward ~3" (2" for coherency, ~1" for the base) and it's not even my turn yet.
3) My turn and the Ghost Ark activates. At the start of my Movement Phase, I place 1D3 Warriors in coherency, again in the front. Since my opponent opened fire during his turn, I've now crept forward 6", and I still haven't carried out my Movement Phase!
This kind of shenanigan is a pretty useful way to make otherwise unwieldly blobs of Necron Warriors surprisingly mobile. And with 20 relentless Warriors, you can glance pretty much any vehicle to death or near-uselessness in a salvo.
Of course, it's not all hunky dory. For all their resilience to ranged abuse, swarms of Warriors are pretty vulnerable to a reasonably strong assault. A few power weapons to bully the Warriors, and whoops, there goes the combat! And with an Initiative of 2, they're very, very prone indeed to getting taken apart in a Sweeping Advance.
I'm still experimenting with the army list, but for now, I'm leaning towards an army centred around 2 Phaeron-led swarms of Warriors marching around the battlefield shredding everything their path with an absurd number of Gauss shots. The list has plenty of scope to field all sorts of fun gadgets (the Doom Scythe looks SO fun!) but for now, I've pretty much set my sights on a very Warrior-heavy Necron army for early 2012.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Comics Mart Midvalley WH40k Mini-Mayhem Tournament!
I've just come back from a teeny tiny tourney. Really teeny tiny. 12 players, each with 750pt armies, playing on 3' x 4' boards. Each player plays 3 games against 3 other randomly determined players, with randomly determined missions drawn from the warped imagination of the organizer.
Here's the list I took:
HQ
Librarian with Shield of Sanguinius and Fear of the Darkness
Troops
5 man Assault Squad in a Razorback
- 1 meltagun
- Sgt has a powerfist
- Razorback has Lascannon and Twin-linked Plasmagun
5 man Assault Squad in a Razorback
- 1 meltagun
- Razorback has Lascannon and Twin-linked Plasmagun
5 man Assault Squad in a Razorback
- 1 flamer
- Razorback has Lascannon and Twin-linked Plasmagun
Heavy Support
Predator with Lascannon sponsons
And that's a total of 750pts on the nose.
How'd I do, well...
Game 1 - Vs Tau (CK)
Enemy list:
HQ
Shas'o with 2 shield drones, plasma rifle, missile pod and shield generator
Elites
3 Crisis suits, 3 with missle pods, then 1 fusion blaster, 1 plasma rifle and 1 with another missile pod, 2 shield drones, and something else I don't remember.
Troops
2 squads of 12 Firewarriors with photon grenades
Heavy Support
Broadside with multi-tracker
Mission - Wipe out the opposing player's Troops choices.
I moved first.
This game was a bit silly. I clumped my armour together, keeping my Librarian in a Razorback behind the other 2 Razorback. The terrain was pretty open, so I planned to slowly advance, using my lascannon to blast away the Shas'O and the Broadside he had attached himself to, then shred the Firewarriors at my leisure. My opponent opted to keep his Firewarriors back and close to his board edge, one squad on each flank, then intended to pounce when I got close. Things went pretty differently for both of us...
Turn one, I killed nothing but a blasted shield drone. He blew up a Razorback. 2 marines died in the explosion.
Turn two, I killed sodall. He blew up a Razorback. The Librarian's Razorback is still unscathed.
Turn three, I killed buggerall (I hate shield drones!!!). The Crisis Suits deep strike, and scatter right next to the now-footslogging and fairly angry Assault marines plodding behind my Librarian's Razorback. They blast away, but the cover afforded by the craters that used to be my Razorbacks meant only 1 marine got killed.
Turn four, the squad with the Librarian detaches, disembarks and all 3 Assault squads proceed to brutally maul the Crisis Suits. One survives and jetpacks away. Meanwhile, the Librarian darts forward in his Razorback, hops out (keeping out of sight of that wretched Broadside) and casts Fear of the Darkness on one squad of Firewarriors on my left. They run off the board. My some miracle, the Razorback survives the shooting from the retreating Crisis Suit, the Shas'O, the Broadside, and the remaining Firewarriors.
Turn five, the Librarian steps out from behind the Razorback, then casts Fear of the Darkness on the other squad of Firewarriors. They run off the board. The game is mine!
Game 2 - Vs Chaos Marines (Mark)
The enemy:
HQ
Daemon Prince with wings
Elites
Chaos Dreadnought with 2 close combat weapons
Troops
10 Plague Marines with 2 meltaguns and a champion with combimelta and power fist.
Heavy Support
1 Chaos Land Raider
Mission - a King of the Hill style game with a point awarded each turn to the player with a Troops choice within 3" of an objective in the center of the board. Also, if any player has lost all his Troops choices, on a die roll of 4+ at the beginning of his turn, he automatically loses.
Chaos moved first.
With a game like this, his plan was obvious: move the Land Raider up, then park his plague ridden hide on the objective, which happened to be sitting in the middle of a crater, commonly considered area terrain in this particular FLGS. He deployed his Raider in the open, right in the middle, with the Prince and Dreadnought hiding behind it.
Turn one, I got obscenely lucky, stole the initiave and immobilized his Land Raider in a volley of Lascannon fire! From then onwards, I whittled away at his Plague marines with my tanks, wiping them out. He then lost due to the No Troops Autolose on a 4+ rule, which is just as well, because his Prince was busily chewing up my Troops choices... Still, victory to me!
Game 3 - Vs Vanilla Marines (Marcus)
The enemy:
HQ
Captain on a Bike with lotsa bells and whistles
Troops
2 full Bike Squads with all the melta that could be fit, with Powerfists on the Seargents for good measure
Fast Attack
Land Speeder Typhoon
Mission - Each player has an objective marker with 3 wounds and some other stats to make it fairly durable. The idea is to kill the opponent's objective marker, which could only be done in close combat. Each player could only deploy his marker 6" away or less from his table edge.
Biker horde got the first turn.
This game I got absolutely shredded. I clumped my armour together as usual, on my right, then left the objective about 6" to the left and the plan was to focus all my gunishment on one squad, then the other. What actually happened...
Both squads of bikers turbo boosted forward, one squad down each flank. My army encircled one group, disembarked, and fired every gun I had at my disposal... And caused nothing. 1 wound on a bemused Attack Bike and that was it. That was an obscene number of cover saves to make! That squad tied up my army in assault, the other assaulted my objective and that was that. Ah, well...
Looking back, though, I don't think there was much I could have done against an army like that, especially not on a 3' x 4' board and not with an army like mine. I was mildly vexed by the profound lack of decent carnage this game, but hey, a mission's a mission, eh?
And that's how my day went. On a side note, during the 2nd game of the day, I spotted the biker army not having quite so much fun against some Tyranids (which later went on to win the tourney):
The Emperor can only protect so many times, Brother Captain...
And that's that. Heap big thanks to Comics Mart for organizing this, much fun was had by all... except maybe for this poor devil with this really nice Tau army who apparently got so badly mauled in the first 2 games he didn't stick around for the 3rd...
Anyway, there's work to be done! Until next time...
Here's the list I took:
HQ
Librarian with Shield of Sanguinius and Fear of the Darkness
Troops
5 man Assault Squad in a Razorback
- 1 meltagun
- Sgt has a powerfist
- Razorback has Lascannon and Twin-linked Plasmagun
5 man Assault Squad in a Razorback
- 1 meltagun
- Razorback has Lascannon and Twin-linked Plasmagun
5 man Assault Squad in a Razorback
- 1 flamer
- Razorback has Lascannon and Twin-linked Plasmagun
Heavy Support
Predator with Lascannon sponsons
And that's a total of 750pts on the nose.
How'd I do, well...
Game 1 - Vs Tau (CK)
Enemy list:
HQ
Shas'o with 2 shield drones, plasma rifle, missile pod and shield generator
Elites
3 Crisis suits, 3 with missle pods, then 1 fusion blaster, 1 plasma rifle and 1 with another missile pod, 2 shield drones, and something else I don't remember.
Troops
2 squads of 12 Firewarriors with photon grenades
Heavy Support
Broadside with multi-tracker
Mission - Wipe out the opposing player's Troops choices.
I moved first.
This game was a bit silly. I clumped my armour together, keeping my Librarian in a Razorback behind the other 2 Razorback. The terrain was pretty open, so I planned to slowly advance, using my lascannon to blast away the Shas'O and the Broadside he had attached himself to, then shred the Firewarriors at my leisure. My opponent opted to keep his Firewarriors back and close to his board edge, one squad on each flank, then intended to pounce when I got close. Things went pretty differently for both of us...
Turn one, I killed nothing but a blasted shield drone. He blew up a Razorback. 2 marines died in the explosion.
Turn two, I killed sodall. He blew up a Razorback. The Librarian's Razorback is still unscathed.
Turn three, I killed buggerall (I hate shield drones!!!). The Crisis Suits deep strike, and scatter right next to the now-footslogging and fairly angry Assault marines plodding behind my Librarian's Razorback. They blast away, but the cover afforded by the craters that used to be my Razorbacks meant only 1 marine got killed.
Turn four, the squad with the Librarian detaches, disembarks and all 3 Assault squads proceed to brutally maul the Crisis Suits. One survives and jetpacks away. Meanwhile, the Librarian darts forward in his Razorback, hops out (keeping out of sight of that wretched Broadside) and casts Fear of the Darkness on one squad of Firewarriors on my left. They run off the board. My some miracle, the Razorback survives the shooting from the retreating Crisis Suit, the Shas'O, the Broadside, and the remaining Firewarriors.
Turn five, the Librarian steps out from behind the Razorback, then casts Fear of the Darkness on the other squad of Firewarriors. They run off the board. The game is mine!
Game 2 - Vs Chaos Marines (Mark)
The enemy:
HQ
Daemon Prince with wings
Elites
Chaos Dreadnought with 2 close combat weapons
Troops
10 Plague Marines with 2 meltaguns and a champion with combimelta and power fist.
Heavy Support
1 Chaos Land Raider
Mission - a King of the Hill style game with a point awarded each turn to the player with a Troops choice within 3" of an objective in the center of the board. Also, if any player has lost all his Troops choices, on a die roll of 4+ at the beginning of his turn, he automatically loses.
Chaos moved first.
With a game like this, his plan was obvious: move the Land Raider up, then park his plague ridden hide on the objective, which happened to be sitting in the middle of a crater, commonly considered area terrain in this particular FLGS. He deployed his Raider in the open, right in the middle, with the Prince and Dreadnought hiding behind it.
Turn one, I got obscenely lucky, stole the initiave and immobilized his Land Raider in a volley of Lascannon fire! From then onwards, I whittled away at his Plague marines with my tanks, wiping them out. He then lost due to the No Troops Autolose on a 4+ rule, which is just as well, because his Prince was busily chewing up my Troops choices... Still, victory to me!
Game 3 - Vs Vanilla Marines (Marcus)
The enemy:
HQ
Captain on a Bike with lotsa bells and whistles
Troops
2 full Bike Squads with all the melta that could be fit, with Powerfists on the Seargents for good measure
Fast Attack
Land Speeder Typhoon
Mission - Each player has an objective marker with 3 wounds and some other stats to make it fairly durable. The idea is to kill the opponent's objective marker, which could only be done in close combat. Each player could only deploy his marker 6" away or less from his table edge.
Biker horde got the first turn.
This game I got absolutely shredded. I clumped my armour together as usual, on my right, then left the objective about 6" to the left and the plan was to focus all my gunishment on one squad, then the other. What actually happened...
Both squads of bikers turbo boosted forward, one squad down each flank. My army encircled one group, disembarked, and fired every gun I had at my disposal... And caused nothing. 1 wound on a bemused Attack Bike and that was it. That was an obscene number of cover saves to make! That squad tied up my army in assault, the other assaulted my objective and that was that. Ah, well...
Looking back, though, I don't think there was much I could have done against an army like that, especially not on a 3' x 4' board and not with an army like mine. I was mildly vexed by the profound lack of decent carnage this game, but hey, a mission's a mission, eh?
And that's how my day went. On a side note, during the 2nd game of the day, I spotted the biker army not having quite so much fun against some Tyranids (which later went on to win the tourney):
The Emperor can only protect so many times, Brother Captain... And that's that. Heap big thanks to Comics Mart for organizing this, much fun was had by all... except maybe for this poor devil with this really nice Tau army who apparently got so badly mauled in the first 2 games he didn't stick around for the 3rd...
Anyway, there's work to be done! Until next time...
Sunday, October 16, 2011
A New Codex Looms: Necrons!
Saw this thread and I'm now fairly excited! Seriously, this is so awesome! I've been eyeballing the Necrons for ages and always had a soft spot for the fluff, but never got into them, mostly because the 4th Ed codex is rubbish, there're too many metal models (yuck!) and nothing about actually playing them as an army actually appealed to me. Now this!
Lotsa new models (PLASTICS!!! YEEEAAAAHH!!!) lotsa new rules and from the look of the rumours, the new Necrons will be playable as a horde army, which is absolutely up my alley. Looks like I've a lovely new project for 2012...
In other news, I've just sent off an order for some Blood Angel-y goodness. Am looking to complete 1750pts of all-jump goodness, then try out another list using an Assault Terminator death star. As such, my gaming expenditure will be on hold for a couple of months...
Lotsa new models (PLASTICS!!! YEEEAAAAHH!!!) lotsa new rules and from the look of the rumours, the new Necrons will be playable as a horde army, which is absolutely up my alley. Looks like I've a lovely new project for 2012...
In other news, I've just sent off an order for some Blood Angel-y goodness. Am looking to complete 1750pts of all-jump goodness, then try out another list using an Assault Terminator death star. As such, my gaming expenditure will be on hold for a couple of months...
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Some battle updates
Not quite batreps but just keeping track of some recent scraps my armies have had.
Chaos Space Marines
I've been using this army list quite a bit with, predictably, limited success. The thing is I've thrown this army together with models I just like using, and I generally refuse to touch two of the Ruinous Powers, that is, Slaanesh (because I don't like the daemonette models) and Nurgle (because they're disgustin'). The last 3 games I've had with them can be summarised as follows:
Vs Tau - Capture and Control, Pitched Battle. My Chaos army's first proper (if partially painted) outing. Vindicator and Defiler got blatted in the 2nd turn, but amazingly enough, the bikers picked up the slack, tearing across the board and smashing every Crisis and Broadside suit within reach. Daemon Prince turned up in turn 4, but was shredded my massed pulse rifle fire before he could do anything. The game ended as a draw.
Vs Mechanized Imperial Guard - Capture and Control, Dawn of War. Vindicator made itself useful, blowing up a Leman Russ Executioner with it's first shot. The bikers, however, were wiped out by the obscene firepower of Knight Commander Pask leading a squadron of 2 heavily kitted-out Leman Russ Exterminators. That squadron proceed to shred anything Pask laid his eyes on with near impunity, including the Daemon Prince, who failed EVERY reserve roll by 1 pip, then turned up on turn 5 to get obliterated by Pask. The game ended on Turn 5 as a draw, though I could quite easily have been wiped off the table during turn 6. I had one squad of Chaos Marines left on the board and nothing else, he had more than half his army.
Vs Blood Angels - Capture and Control, Dawn of War. Played against a list with 2 death star units each riding in a Stormraven, Assault Terminators in one, Death Company and a Furioso Dreadnought in the other. The Furioso Dread stomped around with Blood Talons, wiping out both my units of Chaos Space Marines, the Sanguinor killed all my Khorne Berzerkers. Oh, and for the first time in 4 games, the Chaos Biker Lord stabbed himself with his daemon weapon. He was obviously making up for lost time, because he did so twice. Game ended with the total annihilation of my army on Turn 6.
What have I learnt from this? Not much that I wasn't previously aware of, truth be told. I know my unit of Bikers is the same as throwing 500pts into, at best, a liability, or at worst, a hole. I'd like to keep them, but man, at 33pts each, they are horrifically overcosted. I'll be putting the Chaos aside for a while to work on the Angels, but I'm well aware that if I want to win games, the bikers simply have to go. On the upside, I've now got a perfectly reasonable 1250pt list. Maybe the next time the Chaos Marine codex is updated, eh?
Blood Angels
I tried using a Descent of Angels list for the first time today, albeit a teeny tiny one, at 750pts:
750pts of DoA army really doesn't look like much...
HQ
Librarian with Jump pack, meltabombs, Shield of Sanguinius and Unleash Rage, 130 pts
Elites
2 Sanguinary Priests with jump packs, 150pts
Troops
2 10-man squads of Assault Marines, each with 2 meltaguns and a powerfist for the Sgt, 470pts
750pts on the nose, 100% WYSIWYG and mostly painted. :-)
I played them against Tau, Capture and Control, Dawn of War. Just played today, so I remember taking on a Shas'O with 2 shield drones, a squad of 3 Crisis Suits with twin-linked Missile Pods, 2 squads of 10 Firewarriors and 8 Pathfinders with their Devilfish.
I kept things simple, this being a small engagement on a small (3' x 4') board, with one priest attached to each 10-man squad and the Librarian attached to one of these identical squads. The whole army was in reserve, and I intended to drop in, maul anything on his objective then, if necessary, hop away back to my objective. What actually happened was:
Turn 1 - The Tau started first and shuffled onto the board and that was it.
Turn 2 - The Tau Crisis suits scooched closer to my objective, the Pathfinders, 1 squad of Firewarriors and the Shas'O camped around theirs. The Angels did not arrive.
Turn 3 - More Tau shufflin' about, the Tau not parked on their objective plod closer to mine. The Assault Marines without the Librarian arrive, shoot the Devilfish in the rear and immobilize it.
Turn 4 - The Pathfinders put 5 markerlights on the Assault Marines and the rest of the Tau army proceed to maul it with everything they have. The thing is, without any Railguns, Fusion Blasters or Plasmarifles, 750pts worth of Tau firepower inflicted only 4 casualties on the marines. The Librarian's squad arrived, then the first squad multi-charged the pathfinders and a squad of Firewarriors, wiping out the Pathfinders and grinding away some Firewarriors.
Turn 5 - The Tau shoot the Librarian's squad, killing 1. After my assault phase, in which the Librarian's squad multicharged the Shas'O and the remaining Firewarrior squad, we decided to call it a day, as the only Tau units left were a wounded Shas'O and 2 Firewarriors, both locked in combat, 3 Crisis Suits and the Devilfish.
This was quite an education as to the sheer staying power granted by Feel No Pain. That having been said, the Tau army didn't have a single weapon to negate FNP, so that can't have been fun for my opponent...
Anyway, no really deep thoughts for now. No time, there's work that needs doing. Maybe later...
Chaos Space Marines
I've been using this army list quite a bit with, predictably, limited success. The thing is I've thrown this army together with models I just like using, and I generally refuse to touch two of the Ruinous Powers, that is, Slaanesh (because I don't like the daemonette models) and Nurgle (because they're disgustin'). The last 3 games I've had with them can be summarised as follows:
Vs Tau - Capture and Control, Pitched Battle. My Chaos army's first proper (if partially painted) outing. Vindicator and Defiler got blatted in the 2nd turn, but amazingly enough, the bikers picked up the slack, tearing across the board and smashing every Crisis and Broadside suit within reach. Daemon Prince turned up in turn 4, but was shredded my massed pulse rifle fire before he could do anything. The game ended as a draw.
Vs Mechanized Imperial Guard - Capture and Control, Dawn of War. Vindicator made itself useful, blowing up a Leman Russ Executioner with it's first shot. The bikers, however, were wiped out by the obscene firepower of Knight Commander Pask leading a squadron of 2 heavily kitted-out Leman Russ Exterminators. That squadron proceed to shred anything Pask laid his eyes on with near impunity, including the Daemon Prince, who failed EVERY reserve roll by 1 pip, then turned up on turn 5 to get obliterated by Pask. The game ended on Turn 5 as a draw, though I could quite easily have been wiped off the table during turn 6. I had one squad of Chaos Marines left on the board and nothing else, he had more than half his army.
Vs Blood Angels - Capture and Control, Dawn of War. Played against a list with 2 death star units each riding in a Stormraven, Assault Terminators in one, Death Company and a Furioso Dreadnought in the other. The Furioso Dread stomped around with Blood Talons, wiping out both my units of Chaos Space Marines, the Sanguinor killed all my Khorne Berzerkers. Oh, and for the first time in 4 games, the Chaos Biker Lord stabbed himself with his daemon weapon. He was obviously making up for lost time, because he did so twice. Game ended with the total annihilation of my army on Turn 6.
What have I learnt from this? Not much that I wasn't previously aware of, truth be told. I know my unit of Bikers is the same as throwing 500pts into, at best, a liability, or at worst, a hole. I'd like to keep them, but man, at 33pts each, they are horrifically overcosted. I'll be putting the Chaos aside for a while to work on the Angels, but I'm well aware that if I want to win games, the bikers simply have to go. On the upside, I've now got a perfectly reasonable 1250pt list. Maybe the next time the Chaos Marine codex is updated, eh?
Blood Angels
I tried using a Descent of Angels list for the first time today, albeit a teeny tiny one, at 750pts:
750pts of DoA army really doesn't look like much...HQ
Librarian with Jump pack, meltabombs, Shield of Sanguinius and Unleash Rage, 130 pts
Elites
2 Sanguinary Priests with jump packs, 150pts
Troops
2 10-man squads of Assault Marines, each with 2 meltaguns and a powerfist for the Sgt, 470pts
750pts on the nose, 100% WYSIWYG and mostly painted. :-)
I played them against Tau, Capture and Control, Dawn of War. Just played today, so I remember taking on a Shas'O with 2 shield drones, a squad of 3 Crisis Suits with twin-linked Missile Pods, 2 squads of 10 Firewarriors and 8 Pathfinders with their Devilfish.
I kept things simple, this being a small engagement on a small (3' x 4') board, with one priest attached to each 10-man squad and the Librarian attached to one of these identical squads. The whole army was in reserve, and I intended to drop in, maul anything on his objective then, if necessary, hop away back to my objective. What actually happened was:
Turn 1 - The Tau started first and shuffled onto the board and that was it.
Turn 2 - The Tau Crisis suits scooched closer to my objective, the Pathfinders, 1 squad of Firewarriors and the Shas'O camped around theirs. The Angels did not arrive.
Turn 3 - More Tau shufflin' about, the Tau not parked on their objective plod closer to mine. The Assault Marines without the Librarian arrive, shoot the Devilfish in the rear and immobilize it.
Turn 4 - The Pathfinders put 5 markerlights on the Assault Marines and the rest of the Tau army proceed to maul it with everything they have. The thing is, without any Railguns, Fusion Blasters or Plasmarifles, 750pts worth of Tau firepower inflicted only 4 casualties on the marines. The Librarian's squad arrived, then the first squad multi-charged the pathfinders and a squad of Firewarriors, wiping out the Pathfinders and grinding away some Firewarriors.
Turn 5 - The Tau shoot the Librarian's squad, killing 1. After my assault phase, in which the Librarian's squad multicharged the Shas'O and the remaining Firewarrior squad, we decided to call it a day, as the only Tau units left were a wounded Shas'O and 2 Firewarriors, both locked in combat, 3 Crisis Suits and the Devilfish.
This was quite an education as to the sheer staying power granted by Feel No Pain. That having been said, the Tau army didn't have a single weapon to negate FNP, so that can't have been fun for my opponent...
Anyway, no really deep thoughts for now. No time, there's work that needs doing. Maybe later...
Friday, September 30, 2011
Completely random and somewhat overdue update
Hokay, since last week's super heavy injection of plastic crack (i.e. the huge pile of Chaos stuff), I've kinda lost myself in lotsa building and painting and stuff. And of course an occasional game with the lovely Chaos army. Anyway, I won't bore you with the Chaos stuff, seeing as there's really nothing interesting there besides the Daemon Prince (who has still never gotten into assault) and the Biker Lord (who had a GLORIOUS time last game when he detached, rode his bike into a building and wiped out a unit each of Pathfinders and Firewarriors). Oh, there's the daemonically possessed Vindicator, I suppose... but that's in the car right now, and I can't be arsed to get it. Next post will the Vindicator, promise.
Anyway, while making the Chaos army happen, I looked at all my other WIP models and tallied up my armies:
1. Mechanized Blood Angels (LOTS of fun)
2. Grey Knights (small Draigowing, never seen action, on hold)
3. Chaos Space Marines (total self-denial of cheese, i.e. no Plague Marines, no Lash, no Obliterators. 500pts of BIKER FUN!)
4. ???
At which point I decided on the 4th army: Descent of Angels! So, after a bit of rummaging through the bits and the codex, I put together a 1750pt list which I am now slowly assembling and painting up. Some pics:
Tadah! All-plastic jump-pack librarian! Still painting in the final details. Staff, psychic hood and head from the Grey Knights kit, breastplate from the Baal Predator kit, legs, left shoulder pad and jump pack from the Death Company kit, right should pad from Sanguinary Guard, and bolt pistol from... I'm not sure where, but now that I look at this pic, I really should have been better about those mould lines. A couple more views:
I'll be looking to field Sanguinary Guard in my army, too, mainly because I just love the look of the models and I want a unit that really seriously stands way out above the others, next to the Honour Guard, of course. Here's a test model in progress:
The death masks are probably going to be the most significant piece of non-WYSIWYG-ness in the army. I just love the look of them but don't think it's worth paying 25pts for the ability. In any case, the other helmets in the Sanguinary Guard kit are all going to my kitbashed Honour Guard.
So, that's it for now. It's a beautiful Saturday morning and there is gaming to be done! Til next time...
Anyway, while making the Chaos army happen, I looked at all my other WIP models and tallied up my armies:
1. Mechanized Blood Angels (LOTS of fun)
2. Grey Knights (small Draigowing, never seen action, on hold)
3. Chaos Space Marines (total self-denial of cheese, i.e. no Plague Marines, no Lash, no Obliterators. 500pts of BIKER FUN!)
4. ???
At which point I decided on the 4th army: Descent of Angels! So, after a bit of rummaging through the bits and the codex, I put together a 1750pt list which I am now slowly assembling and painting up. Some pics:
Tadah! All-plastic jump-pack librarian! Still painting in the final details. Staff, psychic hood and head from the Grey Knights kit, breastplate from the Baal Predator kit, legs, left shoulder pad and jump pack from the Death Company kit, right should pad from Sanguinary Guard, and bolt pistol from... I'm not sure where, but now that I look at this pic, I really should have been better about those mould lines. A couple more views:
I'll be looking to field Sanguinary Guard in my army, too, mainly because I just love the look of the models and I want a unit that really seriously stands way out above the others, next to the Honour Guard, of course. Here's a test model in progress:
The death masks are probably going to be the most significant piece of non-WYSIWYG-ness in the army. I just love the look of them but don't think it's worth paying 25pts for the ability. In any case, the other helmets in the Sanguinary Guard kit are all going to my kitbashed Honour Guard.
So, that's it for now. It's a beautiful Saturday morning and there is gaming to be done! Til next time...
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
WIP: Chaos, Vindicator, Defiler, Rhino, etc...
Bwahaha! Big honking pile of plastic crack arrived on Friday, which, after a little work, will mean my army stands at this 1750pt bundlle of joy:
HQ
Daemon Prince with wings and Warptime, 155pts
Chaos Lord of bike, with Mark of Khorne, Daemon Weapon and meltabombs, 175pts
Troops
10 Chaos Marines, with 2 meltaguns, Aspiring champion with powerfist and Rhino with Havoc Launcher, 260pts
10 Chaos Marines, with 2 meltaguns, Aspiring champion with powerfist and Rhino with Havoc Launcher, 260pts
8 Khorne Berzerkers, with 2 plasma pistols, Skull Champion with powerfist and Rhino, 273pts
Fast attack
7 Chaos Bikers with 2 meltaguns, Icon of Khorne, Biker Champion with powerfist and meltabombs, 326pts
Heavy support
Chaos Vindicator with Daemonic Possession, 145pts
Defiler with Havoc launcher, 155pts
Total: 1749pts
Anyway, some pics are in order I suppose:
From left to right, what you're seeing is 6 Chaos marines with Bolters, 1 with a meltagun, 2 Aspiring Champions with Powerfists, 1 Rhino with a Havoc Launcher and a Chaos Vindicator. Those 6 marines with bolters are actually these guys. I love 'em. They're just great for bulking out those CSM squads, letting me use the more detailed models for things like special weapons, icon bearers and Aspiring Champions. For the moment, I've got 2 full squads of CSMs, but I'm pretty much all set to expand with perhaps another 2 full squads.
My Aspiring Champions all use big freaky mutated arms from the Possessed Marines sprue. I figure they look a good deal more warped and Chaos-y. Besides, the Possessed came with the Battleforce, and seriously, I have no reason to actually field Possessed Marines...
I try to fit the Rhinos with Havoc Launchers when I can. In my first game (with quite a bit of proxying) using this list, they were a huge help, especially with 48" range and just enough shebang to seriously maul toughness 3 critters.
The Vindicator just had to have Daemonic Possession. When you're chucking out bigass blast markers, BS3 is not a problem, and it's a very small price to pay compared to the ability to ignore Stunned and Shaken results.
Anyway, here's one more pic, before I go and make some grey plastic black:
DEFFY!! Ah, I can't wait to stomp around the table with this baby... Of course, all those lovely big, flat panels of armour will be covered in script of some sort, all in good time. First, there's spraying to be done! Til next time...
HQ
Daemon Prince with wings and Warptime, 155pts
Chaos Lord of bike, with Mark of Khorne, Daemon Weapon and meltabombs, 175pts
Troops
10 Chaos Marines, with 2 meltaguns, Aspiring champion with powerfist and Rhino with Havoc Launcher, 260pts
10 Chaos Marines, with 2 meltaguns, Aspiring champion with powerfist and Rhino with Havoc Launcher, 260pts
8 Khorne Berzerkers, with 2 plasma pistols, Skull Champion with powerfist and Rhino, 273pts
Fast attack
7 Chaos Bikers with 2 meltaguns, Icon of Khorne, Biker Champion with powerfist and meltabombs, 326pts
Heavy support
Chaos Vindicator with Daemonic Possession, 145pts
Defiler with Havoc launcher, 155pts
Total: 1749pts
Anyway, some pics are in order I suppose:
From left to right, what you're seeing is 6 Chaos marines with Bolters, 1 with a meltagun, 2 Aspiring Champions with Powerfists, 1 Rhino with a Havoc Launcher and a Chaos Vindicator. Those 6 marines with bolters are actually these guys. I love 'em. They're just great for bulking out those CSM squads, letting me use the more detailed models for things like special weapons, icon bearers and Aspiring Champions. For the moment, I've got 2 full squads of CSMs, but I'm pretty much all set to expand with perhaps another 2 full squads.
My Aspiring Champions all use big freaky mutated arms from the Possessed Marines sprue. I figure they look a good deal more warped and Chaos-y. Besides, the Possessed came with the Battleforce, and seriously, I have no reason to actually field Possessed Marines...
I try to fit the Rhinos with Havoc Launchers when I can. In my first game (with quite a bit of proxying) using this list, they were a huge help, especially with 48" range and just enough shebang to seriously maul toughness 3 critters.
The Vindicator just had to have Daemonic Possession. When you're chucking out bigass blast markers, BS3 is not a problem, and it's a very small price to pay compared to the ability to ignore Stunned and Shaken results.
Anyway, here's one more pic, before I go and make some grey plastic black:
DEFFY!! Ah, I can't wait to stomp around the table with this baby... Of course, all those lovely big, flat panels of armour will be covered in script of some sort, all in good time. First, there's spraying to be done! Til next time...
Friday, September 16, 2011
Batrep: 1750pts, Blood Angels vs Tau
I am feeling chuffed! I've just tried out a new army list (which has sod-all to do with the Terminators and Assault Marines AND Sanguinary Priests whose pretty pics I've been posting, but oh, well... ) and it performed gloriously in a game yesterday against CK's Tau. Anyway, my list as it stands:
HQ - 100pts
Librarian with Shield and Lance
Troops - 780pts
5-man Assault Squad
- Meltagun
- Sgt Infernus Pistol
- Sgt Power Weapon
- Razorback w/ Lascannon + Twin-linked Plasmagun
5-man Assault Squad
- Meltagun
- Sgt Infernus Pistol
- Sgt Power Weapon
- Razorback w/ Lascannon + Twin-linked Plasmagun
5-man Assault Squad
- Meltagun
- Sgt Infernus Pistol
- Sgt Power Weapon
- Razorback w/ Lascannon + Twin-linked Plasmagun
5-man Assault Squad
- Meltagun
- Sgt Infernus Pistol
- Sgt Power Weapon
- Razorback w/ Twin-linked Assault Cannon
Fast Attack - 470pts
Baal Predator w/ Heavy Bolter Sponsons
Baal Predator w/ Heavy Bolter Sponsons
2 Land Speeder Typhoons
Heavy Support - 400pts
5-man Devastator Squad w/ 4 Missile Launchers
Predator w/ Autocannon + Lascannon sponsons
Predator w/ Autocannon + Lascannon sponsons
Total - 1750pts
Tau Army (This is from memory, and I'm not that familiar with the Tau codex, so I'm assuming that this is about 1750pts)
HQ
Shas'O w/ Plasma Rifle, Missile Pods, ? and 2 Shield Drones
Elites
3 Crisis Suits with Plasma Rifle and Missle Pod
3 Crisis Suits with Twin-linked Missile Pods
6 Stealthsuits, all with Burst Cannons
Troops
8 Firewarriors
8 Firewarriors
8 Firewarriors
Fast Attack
8 Pathfinders w/ Devilfish
Heavy Support
Hammerhead w/ big honkin' Railgun
Skyray
3 Broadside Battlesuits
Terrain - Mostly open terrain, with a few buildings/ruins near the edges of the board and a ruin around the middle.
Mission - Sieze ground, 3 objectives. numbered as follows:
1 - On my left, about 18' from the left table edge and 4' closer to my side from the center.
2 - On my right, about 20' from the right table edge and 15' from his table edge.
3 - On my right, about 28' from the right table edge and 15' from my table edge.
Deployment - Dawn of War, Tau go first.
Tau Deployment
Shas'O and 2 teams of Firewarriors hunkered down in a building near objective 2. Stealthsuits outflank.
Blood Angel Deployment
Librarian in a Razorback with an assault squad hid in a ruin about a foot to my right from objective 1. Baal Predators outflank. There were no outbreaks of Red Thirst.
Turn 1
His army moved on the the table, all clustered around his Shas'O and ready to shred anything that came near objective 2, with the Crisis teams poised behind a ruin near the centre set to jump out next turn and lay down some gunishment. One Crisis team pushed further ahead with its jet packs, looking to use a crater to cover its advance, but took a wound in the process.
I moved up with my Librarian in his Razorback, and the other 3 Razorbacks surged up behind. The two combi-preds moved up on my right to take up firing positions, with the Devastators running into a ruin near my center. The Landspeeders turbo-boosted along my left table edge.
On seeing the layout of the board at this point, my strategy was clear in my mind:
1) The Razorbacks would surge towards objective 2, using the ruins, smoke, and the Librarian's Shield of Sanguinius as cover , then disembark and brutalize those Tau pansies with some chainsword love.
2) The combi-preds and Devastators would provide covering fire, hopefully hurting some of the Tau vehicles.
3) The Landspeeders would lend supporting fire to the Razorback advance in 1).
4) The rearmost Razorback's squad would disembark, claiming objective 1. Any spare Razorbacks from the advance in 1) would double back near the game's end to take objective 3.
5) The Baal Preds, when they came in, would lend harass the flanks as opportunity arose.
Because I'm too lazy to give a turn by turn account, I'm going to look at how the game went in relation to my Grand Planne laid out above:
1) Razorback advance - This went as planned, with the Razorback guns inflicting some casualties on the Crisis suits as they advanced. 1 squad disembarked to meltagun a Devilfish that tried to get in the way then went back to claim objective 1. The Librarian's squad was forced to disembark as their Razorback was wrecked about 3 inches from the the Tau positions. The Librarian's Shield proved invaluable on several occassions, and really made a big difference in making sure my Assault Squads reached the Tau lines. He also managed to skewer a couple of Crisis suits with his Lance, which was fun. Another squad hopped out to contest objective 2 and beat up some Firewarriors sitting on it. This squad was then assaulted by the Shas'O and another squad of Firewarriors, whom they beat in combat and sweeping advanced to death (huzzah!), leaving 3 survivors to sit comfortably on objective 2.
2) The 2 combi-preds were marked for much ranged brutality by the Broadsides, the Skyray and the Hammerhead, and were predictably shredded by turn 2. This being my first time playing Devastators, I stupidly forgot to move them in turn 2, pretty much wasting a whole round of shooting. In turn 4, they managed to fire a salvo of frag missiles into a squad of Firewarriors, killing 4, but achieved nothing else. Though it doesn't look like they did much, the combi-preds did perform an extremely important function: distract the Tau big guns so my assault squads could do their dirty work.
3) The Landspeeders managed to let loose 1 salvo with Heavy Bolters and Krak missiles into a Crisis team. It did NOTHING. Stupid cover saves. Then 6 Stealthsuits outflanked right behind them and shredded them in turn 3.
4) See 1). That squad which headed back for objective 1 didn't have any Stealthsuit trouble from 3). Why? See 5)...
5) Both Baals chose to pop up on Turn 3, on the same side of the board as the Stealthsuits. Retribution! Or so I thought. I left 1 to maul the Stealthsuits and 1 puttered along, lending some dakka to the all-important Razorback advance. What happened in the subsequent turns made me facepalm... Turn 3 - 3 Stealthsuits killed at point-blank range. Turn 4 - Stealthsuits rally, then shoot the supporting Baal in the side, stunning it. I maul them, with the remaining Baal some more, reducing them to 1 lonely Stealthsuit, who keeps his nerve and continues the fight. Turn 5 - The Lone Stealthsuit hops behind my supporting Baal and wrecks it. I am not pleased. The other Baal terminates him with extreme prejudice, but the damage is done. 6 Stealthsuits have destroyed 2 Landspeeders, a Baal Predator and tied up another. My Fast Attack section has disappointed me greatly...
So, by the end of turn 5, all 3 objectives were mine. The game went on to Turn 6, but by the end of Tau Turn 6, it was very clear the Tau had no chance of winning, and I was rushing to finish the game in time for dinner with a nice lass, we shook hands and called it a day.
Afterthoughts
I am pleased. This game marked something of a departure from my usual way of playing my army. Usually I tend to keep my distance and pick at the enemy with my vehicles, which included 2 Stormravens. Here, I've swapped out the Stormravens in favour of 2 Landspeeder Typhoons, 1 Devastator Squad and a combi-pred, and was much more in-your-face with the Assault Squads. The newly-painted Librarian performed beautifully, and didn't blat himself with Perils of the Warp even once! All-in-all, the game went according to plan, and I am pleased.
That having been said, there were some clear errors on my opponent's part. Strategically, bunching up all 3 of his Troops in one place in an objectives game was a bad idea. Even if he had managed to get lucky and horribly maul my army with shooting, he'd never have been able to stop me from grabbing at least objectives 1 and 3 while all 3 of his troops choices sat on objective 2. Tactically, there was a point when he stuck a Devilfish in the face of my Razorbacks, hoping to block my advance. Unfortunately, all it did was give me cover from his shooting. But then again, I don't think he expected me to make quite as many 5+ cover saves as I did.
Anyway, in case I haven't mentioned it enough, I am pleased with how my Angels performed. Except for the Fast Attack section. And the Heavy Support, I suppose. But enough of this, my landspeeders need paint, because as we all know, nice paintjobs make the dice gods smile on you...
HQ - 100pts
Librarian with Shield and Lance
Troops - 780pts
5-man Assault Squad
- Meltagun
- Sgt Infernus Pistol
- Sgt Power Weapon
- Razorback w/ Lascannon + Twin-linked Plasmagun
5-man Assault Squad
- Meltagun
- Sgt Infernus Pistol
- Sgt Power Weapon
- Razorback w/ Lascannon + Twin-linked Plasmagun
5-man Assault Squad
- Meltagun
- Sgt Infernus Pistol
- Sgt Power Weapon
- Razorback w/ Lascannon + Twin-linked Plasmagun
5-man Assault Squad
- Meltagun
- Sgt Infernus Pistol
- Sgt Power Weapon
- Razorback w/ Twin-linked Assault Cannon
Fast Attack - 470pts
Baal Predator w/ Heavy Bolter Sponsons
Baal Predator w/ Heavy Bolter Sponsons
2 Land Speeder Typhoons
Heavy Support - 400pts
5-man Devastator Squad w/ 4 Missile Launchers
Predator w/ Autocannon + Lascannon sponsons
Predator w/ Autocannon + Lascannon sponsons
Total - 1750pts
Tau Army (This is from memory, and I'm not that familiar with the Tau codex, so I'm assuming that this is about 1750pts)
HQ
Shas'O w/ Plasma Rifle, Missile Pods, ? and 2 Shield Drones
Elites
3 Crisis Suits with Plasma Rifle and Missle Pod
3 Crisis Suits with Twin-linked Missile Pods
6 Stealthsuits, all with Burst Cannons
Troops
8 Firewarriors
8 Firewarriors
8 Firewarriors
Fast Attack
8 Pathfinders w/ Devilfish
Heavy Support
Hammerhead w/ big honkin' Railgun
Skyray
3 Broadside Battlesuits
Terrain - Mostly open terrain, with a few buildings/ruins near the edges of the board and a ruin around the middle.
Mission - Sieze ground, 3 objectives. numbered as follows:
1 - On my left, about 18' from the left table edge and 4' closer to my side from the center.
2 - On my right, about 20' from the right table edge and 15' from his table edge.
3 - On my right, about 28' from the right table edge and 15' from my table edge.
Deployment - Dawn of War, Tau go first.
Tau Deployment
Shas'O and 2 teams of Firewarriors hunkered down in a building near objective 2. Stealthsuits outflank.
Blood Angel Deployment
Librarian in a Razorback with an assault squad hid in a ruin about a foot to my right from objective 1. Baal Predators outflank. There were no outbreaks of Red Thirst.
Turn 1
His army moved on the the table, all clustered around his Shas'O and ready to shred anything that came near objective 2, with the Crisis teams poised behind a ruin near the centre set to jump out next turn and lay down some gunishment. One Crisis team pushed further ahead with its jet packs, looking to use a crater to cover its advance, but took a wound in the process.
I moved up with my Librarian in his Razorback, and the other 3 Razorbacks surged up behind. The two combi-preds moved up on my right to take up firing positions, with the Devastators running into a ruin near my center. The Landspeeders turbo-boosted along my left table edge.
On seeing the layout of the board at this point, my strategy was clear in my mind:
1) The Razorbacks would surge towards objective 2, using the ruins, smoke, and the Librarian's Shield of Sanguinius as cover , then disembark and brutalize those Tau pansies with some chainsword love.
2) The combi-preds and Devastators would provide covering fire, hopefully hurting some of the Tau vehicles.
3) The Landspeeders would lend supporting fire to the Razorback advance in 1).
4) The rearmost Razorback's squad would disembark, claiming objective 1. Any spare Razorbacks from the advance in 1) would double back near the game's end to take objective 3.
5) The Baal Preds, when they came in, would lend harass the flanks as opportunity arose.
Because I'm too lazy to give a turn by turn account, I'm going to look at how the game went in relation to my Grand Planne laid out above:
1) Razorback advance - This went as planned, with the Razorback guns inflicting some casualties on the Crisis suits as they advanced. 1 squad disembarked to meltagun a Devilfish that tried to get in the way then went back to claim objective 1. The Librarian's squad was forced to disembark as their Razorback was wrecked about 3 inches from the the Tau positions. The Librarian's Shield proved invaluable on several occassions, and really made a big difference in making sure my Assault Squads reached the Tau lines. He also managed to skewer a couple of Crisis suits with his Lance, which was fun. Another squad hopped out to contest objective 2 and beat up some Firewarriors sitting on it. This squad was then assaulted by the Shas'O and another squad of Firewarriors, whom they beat in combat and sweeping advanced to death (huzzah!), leaving 3 survivors to sit comfortably on objective 2.
2) The 2 combi-preds were marked for much ranged brutality by the Broadsides, the Skyray and the Hammerhead, and were predictably shredded by turn 2. This being my first time playing Devastators, I stupidly forgot to move them in turn 2, pretty much wasting a whole round of shooting. In turn 4, they managed to fire a salvo of frag missiles into a squad of Firewarriors, killing 4, but achieved nothing else. Though it doesn't look like they did much, the combi-preds did perform an extremely important function: distract the Tau big guns so my assault squads could do their dirty work.
3) The Landspeeders managed to let loose 1 salvo with Heavy Bolters and Krak missiles into a Crisis team. It did NOTHING. Stupid cover saves. Then 6 Stealthsuits outflanked right behind them and shredded them in turn 3.
4) See 1). That squad which headed back for objective 1 didn't have any Stealthsuit trouble from 3). Why? See 5)...
5) Both Baals chose to pop up on Turn 3, on the same side of the board as the Stealthsuits. Retribution! Or so I thought. I left 1 to maul the Stealthsuits and 1 puttered along, lending some dakka to the all-important Razorback advance. What happened in the subsequent turns made me facepalm... Turn 3 - 3 Stealthsuits killed at point-blank range. Turn 4 - Stealthsuits rally, then shoot the supporting Baal in the side, stunning it. I maul them, with the remaining Baal some more, reducing them to 1 lonely Stealthsuit, who keeps his nerve and continues the fight. Turn 5 - The Lone Stealthsuit hops behind my supporting Baal and wrecks it. I am not pleased. The other Baal terminates him with extreme prejudice, but the damage is done. 6 Stealthsuits have destroyed 2 Landspeeders, a Baal Predator and tied up another. My Fast Attack section has disappointed me greatly...
So, by the end of turn 5, all 3 objectives were mine. The game went on to Turn 6, but by the end of Tau Turn 6, it was very clear the Tau had no chance of winning, and I was rushing to finish the game in time for dinner with a nice lass, we shook hands and called it a day.
Afterthoughts
I am pleased. This game marked something of a departure from my usual way of playing my army. Usually I tend to keep my distance and pick at the enemy with my vehicles, which included 2 Stormravens. Here, I've swapped out the Stormravens in favour of 2 Landspeeder Typhoons, 1 Devastator Squad and a combi-pred, and was much more in-your-face with the Assault Squads. The newly-painted Librarian performed beautifully, and didn't blat himself with Perils of the Warp even once! All-in-all, the game went according to plan, and I am pleased.
That having been said, there were some clear errors on my opponent's part. Strategically, bunching up all 3 of his Troops in one place in an objectives game was a bad idea. Even if he had managed to get lucky and horribly maul my army with shooting, he'd never have been able to stop me from grabbing at least objectives 1 and 3 while all 3 of his troops choices sat on objective 2. Tactically, there was a point when he stuck a Devilfish in the face of my Razorbacks, hoping to block my advance. Unfortunately, all it did was give me cover from his shooting. But then again, I don't think he expected me to make quite as many 5+ cover saves as I did.
Anyway, in case I haven't mentioned it enough, I am pleased with how my Angels performed. Except for the Fast Attack section. And the Heavy Support, I suppose. But enough of this, my landspeeders need paint, because as we all know, nice paintjobs make the dice gods smile on you...
Monday, September 12, 2011
WIP: Blood Angel this, that and the other...
I swear, nothing highlights to me quite how scatterbrained I am as much as my painting habits... I've got a whole heap of stuff for this post, some done, some WIP and most ready for the tabletop. So, in no particular order:
Librarians
The Terminator Librarian on the left is one of the first I painted up. Still some way to go, but I never got round to finishing him. Doubt I will anytime soon. Every time I fielded him in battle he'd either get eaten up by Perils of the Warp, or end up as a smoking crater following an insane barrage of plasma cannon fire.
Axe and plasma pistol librarian in the middle is the one I've used most, though I never use the plasma pistol, thus making him the most regular culprit in the non-WYSIWYG-ness of my army to date. He and the terminator librarian have their armour done in simple Regal Blue with Ice Blue line highlights.
Book librarian is my most recent addition, having just been finished earlier this morning. I wanted a brighter blue so this one is actually Mordian Blue, then layered with Ultramarine Blue, washed with Asurmen Blue, and finally line highlighted with Ice Blue. I am pleased with this blue.
The force weapons on all three use the same colours for the blending. Mechrite Red, then Blood Red, then Blazing Orange, then finally Golden Yellow.
I look forward to many games with my librarian and his Book of Doom leading my army into battle... :-)
Land Speeder Typhoons
I'm currently looking to field two of these, mostly because I like how those lovely big Blood Angel crests from the Baal Predator kit fit so nicely on the hood of these things. Here you can see one of them just after spraying with Krylon Burgundy. I'll be waiting until I've got some more models ready before I move on to the next stage, i.e. spraying with Blood Red.
These days almost all my models get their heads sprayed seperately. Why? Well, pretty much every infantry model in my army is either an assault marine (yellow helmet), devastator marine (blue helmet), a veteran (golden helmet) or bare-headed. I suppose one of these days I might turn towards playing a more traditional, tactical marine heavy army, but not anytime soon, I don't think...
Sanguinary Priests
Almost done painting these. I felt the one on the left needed a more swish chainsword, so I gave him that little spirally pattern. Looks great at on the tabletop, and it's pretty easy to do, especially since Iyanden Darksun can go right onto black in a stroke.
All my Blood Angels without helmets (and with hair) are blonde. Those lovely locks are done with a base coat of Snakebite Leather, followed with streaks of Bubonic Brown, then touched with streaks of Golden Yellow.
Terminator Assault Squad
These guys are pretty much ready for the tabletop, but there are so many nice big open areas on their armour, I just have to fill it up with happy little details of some sort. Still haven't decided, but when it happens, it'll turn up on this blog.
Assault Marines
My third Razorback squad finally got their squad marking - a black blood drop on a yellow background. And one of these days, I'll finish up the 4th...
These are the sergeants for my 2 squads of marines with jump packs. I'm still 5 marines short of 2 full 10-man squads. And unfortunately, the sergeant on the left didn't get the memo when it was time for everyone to go blonde. I'll sort him out soon enough...
Sternguard Veterans
Finally, my Sternguard veterans. There's still quite a bit to be done, but I'm liking how they're turning out. Just need to find bits for that 2nd heavy flamer. And of course arrange some suitable transport for them...
And that's it for today. Next up... pfft, who am I kidding? I don't plan that far ahead...
Librarians
The Terminator Librarian on the left is one of the first I painted up. Still some way to go, but I never got round to finishing him. Doubt I will anytime soon. Every time I fielded him in battle he'd either get eaten up by Perils of the Warp, or end up as a smoking crater following an insane barrage of plasma cannon fire.Axe and plasma pistol librarian in the middle is the one I've used most, though I never use the plasma pistol, thus making him the most regular culprit in the non-WYSIWYG-ness of my army to date. He and the terminator librarian have their armour done in simple Regal Blue with Ice Blue line highlights.
Book librarian is my most recent addition, having just been finished earlier this morning. I wanted a brighter blue so this one is actually Mordian Blue, then layered with Ultramarine Blue, washed with Asurmen Blue, and finally line highlighted with Ice Blue. I am pleased with this blue.
The force weapons on all three use the same colours for the blending. Mechrite Red, then Blood Red, then Blazing Orange, then finally Golden Yellow.
I look forward to many games with my librarian and his Book of Doom leading my army into battle... :-)
Land Speeder Typhoons
I'm currently looking to field two of these, mostly because I like how those lovely big Blood Angel crests from the Baal Predator kit fit so nicely on the hood of these things. Here you can see one of them just after spraying with Krylon Burgundy. I'll be waiting until I've got some more models ready before I move on to the next stage, i.e. spraying with Blood Red.These days almost all my models get their heads sprayed seperately. Why? Well, pretty much every infantry model in my army is either an assault marine (yellow helmet), devastator marine (blue helmet), a veteran (golden helmet) or bare-headed. I suppose one of these days I might turn towards playing a more traditional, tactical marine heavy army, but not anytime soon, I don't think...
Sanguinary Priests
Almost done painting these. I felt the one on the left needed a more swish chainsword, so I gave him that little spirally pattern. Looks great at on the tabletop, and it's pretty easy to do, especially since Iyanden Darksun can go right onto black in a stroke.All my Blood Angels without helmets (and with hair) are blonde. Those lovely locks are done with a base coat of Snakebite Leather, followed with streaks of Bubonic Brown, then touched with streaks of Golden Yellow.
Terminator Assault Squad
These guys are pretty much ready for the tabletop, but there are so many nice big open areas on their armour, I just have to fill it up with happy little details of some sort. Still haven't decided, but when it happens, it'll turn up on this blog.Assault Marines
My third Razorback squad finally got their squad marking - a black blood drop on a yellow background. And one of these days, I'll finish up the 4th...
These are the sergeants for my 2 squads of marines with jump packs. I'm still 5 marines short of 2 full 10-man squads. And unfortunately, the sergeant on the left didn't get the memo when it was time for everyone to go blonde. I'll sort him out soon enough...Sternguard Veterans
Finally, my Sternguard veterans. There's still quite a bit to be done, but I'm liking how they're turning out. Just need to find bits for that 2nd heavy flamer. And of course arrange some suitable transport for them...And that's it for today. Next up... pfft, who am I kidding? I don't plan that far ahead...
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
I am totally this guy...
This guy, right here:
And THIS especially strikes a chord with me:
I don't know... Maybe it's a little irrational, but I know first-hand that a LOT of effort can go into assembling and painting up an army, so it's just a little pet peeve of mine to see grey plastic on the table, or even a shamelessly shoddy paintjob, especially by the kind of player who's plays really competitively and just wants to win games...
Anyway, enough of that, there's painting to be done!
And THIS especially strikes a chord with me:
I don't know... Maybe it's a little irrational, but I know first-hand that a LOT of effort can go into assembling and painting up an army, so it's just a little pet peeve of mine to see grey plastic on the table, or even a shamelessly shoddy paintjob, especially by the kind of player who's plays really competitively and just wants to win games...
Anyway, enough of that, there's painting to be done!
Thursday, September 1, 2011
WIP: BA Assault Terminators and Assault Marines 3
Another progress check on the Assault Terminators and jump marines. Let's start with the terminators...
More or less acceptable on most tabletops...
I have to say, I'm feeling a bit ambiguous about this squad. On the one hand, it's all there, with a sergeant who, by virtue of the winged chalice perched (from the Sanguinary Guard set) over his head, very clearly looks like he's leading the squad. But on the other hand, Brother Claudio of Space Hulk fame...
GRAAAAARRRGGGHH!!!!
Brother Claudio seems a bit too swish for this squad. It's a very detailed model and I don't think any amount of painting on my part can help Claudio blend in - he's got more jewelly bits on him than most Eldar! Still, comparing him to my older models, I'm pretty pleased, because even as a work in progress, I think I'm seeing improvement in my painting skillz. Here's a pic of Deino and Claudio, judge for yourself:
Does the wee base give Claudio an unfair advantage?
Moving on, here's how my first full squad of jump marines is looking now:
I'm rather pleased with the mellow yellowness of those heads. I picked up the technique somewhere (I think the GW site) by some guy with an Imperial Fists army.
Protip: If you want to learn to paint a particular colour, best to get the technique off someone who has it as his chapter colours. e.g. Ultramarines for blue, Crimson Fists for dark blue, Salamanders for green, Dark Angels for dark green/bone white and so on and so forth.
Why? Because they paint a LOT of that colour and odds are they've gotten good at getting the right balance of quick, efficient and looks awesome.
I play Blood Angels, and I LOVE. MY. REDS!!!
Oh, anyway, how I did the mello-yello helmets:
1) Spray black. Not white, because those eyes are really better off left black.
2) Iyanden Darksun. It's a Foundation colour, so thin it down and use as many coats as necessary to have a good, solid ochre colour.
3) Devlan Mud wash into the recesses.
4) Layer and touch up with Golden Yellow.
As for line highlighting, I'm not sure what next. I'm thinking either Sunburst Yellow or Bleached Bone for a really exaggerated, eye-catching highlight.
There's one thing about this squad that I'm not really satisfied with but I'll let it slip coz these buggers are a Troops choice. Take a peek at the Sanguinary Priests:
How much Skull White was used in the making of these Priests? None. What you're seeing there is Codex Grey, layered with Space Wolf Grey.
The middle Priest is the most recent addition. His lovely glossy hair is what happens when you use Krylon Satin Finish on bare plastic. A wee bit too shiny, but it doesn't matter, I'll be making him blonde soon enough.
I do realize my priests look a little plain compared to some I've seen. This is because:
1) Brother Corbulo, Sanguinary High Priest, doesn't really look all that flashy himself; and
2) I've been a cheapskate and split the parts for 1 apothecary between my 3 priests.
In between painting, I've also been rummaging through the bits box for the next elements in my army:
- Devastator squad with 4 missile launchers (sprayed and ready)
- 2nd jump marine squad with 2 meltaguns and powerfist Sgt. (5 are WIP. Need 5 more, including 1 meltagun.)
- Devastator squad with 4 plasma cannons. (2 plasma cannons waiting for spraying. Not enough parts for the rest... :-(... )
Time to dig around e-bay for bits, I think...
More or less acceptable on most tabletops...
I have to say, I'm feeling a bit ambiguous about this squad. On the one hand, it's all there, with a sergeant who, by virtue of the winged chalice perched (from the Sanguinary Guard set) over his head, very clearly looks like he's leading the squad. But on the other hand, Brother Claudio of Space Hulk fame...
GRAAAAARRRGGGHH!!!!
Brother Claudio seems a bit too swish for this squad. It's a very detailed model and I don't think any amount of painting on my part can help Claudio blend in - he's got more jewelly bits on him than most Eldar! Still, comparing him to my older models, I'm pretty pleased, because even as a work in progress, I think I'm seeing improvement in my painting skillz. Here's a pic of Deino and Claudio, judge for yourself:
Does the wee base give Claudio an unfair advantage?
Moving on, here's how my first full squad of jump marines is looking now:
I'm rather pleased with the mellow yellowness of those heads. I picked up the technique somewhere (I think the GW site) by some guy with an Imperial Fists army.
Protip: If you want to learn to paint a particular colour, best to get the technique off someone who has it as his chapter colours. e.g. Ultramarines for blue, Crimson Fists for dark blue, Salamanders for green, Dark Angels for dark green/bone white and so on and so forth.
Why? Because they paint a LOT of that colour and odds are they've gotten good at getting the right balance of quick, efficient and looks awesome.
I play Blood Angels, and I LOVE. MY. REDS!!!
Oh, anyway, how I did the mello-yello helmets:
1) Spray black. Not white, because those eyes are really better off left black.
2) Iyanden Darksun. It's a Foundation colour, so thin it down and use as many coats as necessary to have a good, solid ochre colour.
3) Devlan Mud wash into the recesses.
4) Layer and touch up with Golden Yellow.
As for line highlighting, I'm not sure what next. I'm thinking either Sunburst Yellow or Bleached Bone for a really exaggerated, eye-catching highlight.
There's one thing about this squad that I'm not really satisfied with but I'll let it slip coz these buggers are a Troops choice. Take a peek at the Sanguinary Priests:
How much Skull White was used in the making of these Priests? None. What you're seeing there is Codex Grey, layered with Space Wolf Grey.
The middle Priest is the most recent addition. His lovely glossy hair is what happens when you use Krylon Satin Finish on bare plastic. A wee bit too shiny, but it doesn't matter, I'll be making him blonde soon enough.
I do realize my priests look a little plain compared to some I've seen. This is because:
1) Brother Corbulo, Sanguinary High Priest, doesn't really look all that flashy himself; and
2) I've been a cheapskate and split the parts for 1 apothecary between my 3 priests.
In between painting, I've also been rummaging through the bits box for the next elements in my army:
- Devastator squad with 4 missile launchers (sprayed and ready)
- 2nd jump marine squad with 2 meltaguns and powerfist Sgt. (5 are WIP. Need 5 more, including 1 meltagun.)
- Devastator squad with 4 plasma cannons. (2 plasma cannons waiting for spraying. Not enough parts for the rest... :-(... )
Time to dig around e-bay for bits, I think...
Sunday, August 28, 2011
WIP: BA Assault Terminators and Assault Marines 2
Spent chunks of the weekend catching up on painting. Assembly line painting is BORING, but at least it makes for consistent results:
I'm quite pleased with how the red turned out. Remember, this is the first time I'm using the Spray Gun on infantry models. Here's a pic of a couple of jump marines with a couple of my Razorback Marines for contrast:
Thanks to the new camera you can see I've some way to go. They should come to about the same shade of red when I'm done hightlighting. I'll be looking to field 2 10-man squads of jump marines (with 2 meltaguns and a powerfist, of course). Just assembled 5 today, out of my bits box, together with a converted Sternguard Veteran with heavy flamer and one more Sanguinary Priest.
Since the heads of ALL of them won't be in Blood Red, I'm doing them seperately. The Sternguard's Heavy Flamer was made by clipping off the end of a Multimelta, then just plugging on an appropriately clipped and filed nozzle from a Terminator Heavy Flamer.
I picked up a Terminator Squad over the weekend. Since I already had Lightning Claws left over, I built 2 more Lightning Claw termies, and one with a Cyclone Missile Launcher. The others will be saved for later. Drawing inspiration from the Blood Angel Supreme, Jawaballs, I've decided to field my Assault Terminator Death Star as follows:
1) 5-man Assault Terminator Squad. 4 with Lightning Claws, 1 with Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield.
2) 1 plain Librarian with Unleash Rage and Sanguine Sword (or whatever power I decide is fun, but Unleash Rage is a must).
3) 1 plain Sanguinary Priest.
That's 355 pts of pain right there, which, of course has to be delivered in a suitable brutal assault transport, like a Stormraven or a Land Raider Crusader. Here's a couple of them as they are now:
As for other elements in the army, I'll go through them item by item:
Sanguinary Priests:
I intend to have 3 in total. 1 plain one to hang with the Assault Terminators, and 2 jumpy ones to go with the Assault Marines. I was a little worried that splitting bits that were meant to make 1 Apothecary would "dilute" the look of the Sanguinary Priests and make it a little hard to spot on the battlefield, but after painting the white banding on the pauldrons, I'm pretty content with the Priests as they are.
Sternguard Veterans:
Here's a typical member of my Sternguard:
You may not have seen it in previous pictures of my Sternguard, but that little wing thing on the right pauldron is the unifying element to the look of my Sternguard. Anyway, I've fielded Sternguard once or twice, as a squad of 5 or 6 loaded with combi-weapons. They're great fun, but now I'm looking to try and play them as a squad of 5, with 2 Heavy Flamers, hurtling around the board in a Razorback armed with twin-linked heavy flamers. And combi-flamers for everyone else. I might have to call them Squad Trogdor.
I love Blood Angels. There are just so many things to try out! Not all of which are efficacious, obviously, but it's all fun...
Anyway, it's late, so that's it from me. Until next time...
I'm quite pleased with how the red turned out. Remember, this is the first time I'm using the Spray Gun on infantry models. Here's a pic of a couple of jump marines with a couple of my Razorback Marines for contrast:
Thanks to the new camera you can see I've some way to go. They should come to about the same shade of red when I'm done hightlighting. I'll be looking to field 2 10-man squads of jump marines (with 2 meltaguns and a powerfist, of course). Just assembled 5 today, out of my bits box, together with a converted Sternguard Veteran with heavy flamer and one more Sanguinary Priest.
Since the heads of ALL of them won't be in Blood Red, I'm doing them seperately. The Sternguard's Heavy Flamer was made by clipping off the end of a Multimelta, then just plugging on an appropriately clipped and filed nozzle from a Terminator Heavy Flamer.
I picked up a Terminator Squad over the weekend. Since I already had Lightning Claws left over, I built 2 more Lightning Claw termies, and one with a Cyclone Missile Launcher. The others will be saved for later. Drawing inspiration from the Blood Angel Supreme, Jawaballs, I've decided to field my Assault Terminator Death Star as follows:
1) 5-man Assault Terminator Squad. 4 with Lightning Claws, 1 with Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield.
2) 1 plain Librarian with Unleash Rage and Sanguine Sword (or whatever power I decide is fun, but Unleash Rage is a must).
3) 1 plain Sanguinary Priest.
That's 355 pts of pain right there, which, of course has to be delivered in a suitable brutal assault transport, like a Stormraven or a Land Raider Crusader. Here's a couple of them as they are now:
As for other elements in the army, I'll go through them item by item:
Sanguinary Priests:
I intend to have 3 in total. 1 plain one to hang with the Assault Terminators, and 2 jumpy ones to go with the Assault Marines. I was a little worried that splitting bits that were meant to make 1 Apothecary would "dilute" the look of the Sanguinary Priests and make it a little hard to spot on the battlefield, but after painting the white banding on the pauldrons, I'm pretty content with the Priests as they are.
Sternguard Veterans:
Here's a typical member of my Sternguard:
You may not have seen it in previous pictures of my Sternguard, but that little wing thing on the right pauldron is the unifying element to the look of my Sternguard. Anyway, I've fielded Sternguard once or twice, as a squad of 5 or 6 loaded with combi-weapons. They're great fun, but now I'm looking to try and play them as a squad of 5, with 2 Heavy Flamers, hurtling around the board in a Razorback armed with twin-linked heavy flamers. And combi-flamers for everyone else. I might have to call them Squad Trogdor.
I love Blood Angels. There are just so many things to try out! Not all of which are efficacious, obviously, but it's all fun...
Anyway, it's late, so that's it from me. Until next time...
Yay! New Camera!
I've just gotten my hands on a lovely Sony Cybershot and have been snapping away at bits of my army...
Here's the Captain, Aphael of the 2nd Company. Why 2nd? Well, for the benefit of those not intimately familiar with the fluff...
Don't mind the Japanese. Anyway, 2nd Company's markings are nice and easy to paint, is what I'm getting at. Of course, a Captain in a Blood Angel army is about as useful as an immobilized Death Company Dreadnought. Here's a more useful HQ choice, with the obligatory bodyguard:
And here's what I did with a Lemartes model, for use on the rare occassions when I decide to field Death Company.
Next, my Chaos Lord, because I'm just rather pleased with how that arm turned out :-D
I went back and went over the Daemon Prince with Ogryn Flesh, then layered again with thinned-down Blood Red, to deepen the shadows a bit. Also decided to highlight the tips of the fingers to Bubonic Brown.
Okay, next up, a closer look at the current WIP...
Here's the Captain, Aphael of the 2nd Company. Why 2nd? Well, for the benefit of those not intimately familiar with the fluff...
Don't mind the Japanese. Anyway, 2nd Company's markings are nice and easy to paint, is what I'm getting at. Of course, a Captain in a Blood Angel army is about as useful as an immobilized Death Company Dreadnought. Here's a more useful HQ choice, with the obligatory bodyguard:
And here's what I did with a Lemartes model, for use on the rare occassions when I decide to field Death Company.
Next, my Chaos Lord, because I'm just rather pleased with how that arm turned out :-D
I went back and went over the Daemon Prince with Ogryn Flesh, then layered again with thinned-down Blood Red, to deepen the shadows a bit. Also decided to highlight the tips of the fingers to Bubonic Brown.
Okay, next up, a closer look at the current WIP...
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