Friday 30 December 2016

New year

Well, Christmas is done and dusted for another year and its time to think of the new year resolutions! Ill post these up shortly, but before here's a little list of my new toys!

MDF terrain, this set from ebay;



Ok, so not much so far. This is mostly due to the fact that Christmas arrangements went a little haywire this year. Travel plans were adjusted at the last minute due to the weather warnings and flights were changed with only 3 hours until check in closed. So you can imagine the rush! Christmas celebrations at home were abandoned until the new year, along with all the presents. Christmas at the inlaws has been concluded and were just starting on Christmas at my parents, so still time for more 40k goodness!

Well, there will be an update on all of this later, until then I hope you all have a safe and enjoyable new year!

Tuesday 27 December 2016

The Russian's are at it again

Well, I think that our Russian friends have been at it again. Over the last month the sites had quite a few visitors!

As you can see, over 300 visitors from Russia alone, that's nearly as many as I get from everywhere usually! Ok, so for some this will probably be inconsequential numbers, but for my little piece of the 40k universe, its pretty significant.

Anyway, random post over!

Edit: as of this lunch time the counties 328!

Friday 23 December 2016

Xmas post

Image result for christmas

Well its nearly Xmas time and no doubt a lot of you are getting ready to celebrate with family and friends. Right now were on out way south to the inlaws for Christmas before heading further south to my parents for new year.

I hope you all get everything you want and Santa is generous to you all this year! With luck ill receive lots of 40k goodness!

Merry Christmas and a happy new year to you all!

Friday 16 December 2016

Blood Angles Demi Company list review

Following on from last week, I've updated my Knights list. I know that I can still use the Baal strikeforce and don't have to change to the angels blade formations, but its pretty clear that the old FOC system is going to end up getting scrapped in favour of this system. So it therefore makes sense when I'm just about to start painting the Knights, having finished the Hjaltland LI, to paint them to the new formations rather then have to eventually repaint them from the FOC.

I'm going to go through my old list first and then the new list so that they can be compared, as there are a few changes, both interns of losses and additions.


HQ
Captain - 210
Valours Edge, Artificer armour, Storm Shield, Razorback

Priest - 96
Pistol, Angles Wings, Crown Angelic

Troop
Tac - 165
10 marines, Hand Flamer, Flamer, Heavy Flamer

Tac - 215
10 marines, Hand Flamer, Flamer, Heavy Flamer, Rhino, Stormbolter

Elite
Command Squad - 190
Standard, 3 Storm Shields, 3 Power Weapons

Vanguard - 215
5 Vets w/jump packs, 4x Lighting Claws, Power Axe, Power Sword, Power Maul

Death Company - 265
Jumppack, 3x power mauls, 3x plasma pistol, 2x thunder hammers, 2x boltguns

Lemartes - 130

FA
Assault - 175
10x Marines, melta bomb

Assault - 195
10x Marines, power fist,

Heavy
Baal Pred - 145
Bolter Sponsons, Extra Armour

With the options for the new formations I decided to go for the Angels Blade Strike Force and the basic Demi-company. For the auxiliary option I decided to go with the DC formation instead of the rapid assault force, mostly as both can perform the same function with jump troops, but the DC are just better with more options


Command

Leaders of the Angelic Host (286pts)

Command Squad (200pts)
Jump Packs, 4x lightning claws, power axe, champion, novitiate - modified vanguard vets, loose one vet to the novitiate, only way to get the unit in to the force.

Sanguinary Priest (86pts)
Bolt Pistol, Chainsword, Jump pack, The Crown Angelic - only one relic allowed so lost the Angels Wings.


Core (940pts)

Battle Demi-company

Assault Squad (170pts)
10x Assault Marines, Jump Packs - same as before, just running solo now.

Captain (120pts)
Bolt Pistol, Power weapon, Storm shield - lost the relic blade and artificer armour, as well as razorback.

Command Squad (175pts)
3x power swords, 3x stormshields, champion, noviate - lost the standard, not an issue.

Devastator Squad (110pts)
4x Heavy bolter - new unit, replaces Baal Pred, not as good but no choice in the matter.

Dreadnought (100pts)
Multi-melta - new unit, don't want it but no choice.

Tactical Squad (85pts)
5x marines, Flamer, Hand Flamer -all three tactical squads are minimum size as I don't have point to max them out, also they lost a transport, stupid dreads.

Tactical Squad (90pts)
5x marines, Heavy flamer, Hand Flamer

Tactical Squad (90pts)
5x marines, Heavy flamer, Hand Flamer


 Auxiliary

Death Company Strike Force

Death Company Chaplain (150pts)
Crozius Arcanum, The Angel's Wing - replaces Lemartes, 

Death Company Dreadnought (125pts) - no choice, don't  want it.

Death Company Squad (175pts)
3x Bolt Pistol, 2x Bolter, 3x Chainsword, 5x Death Company Marine , Jump Pack, 2x Thunder Hammer - half the old DC, the heavy hitters

Death Company Squad (115pts)
5x Bolt Pistol, 5x Chainsword, 5x Death Company Marine, Jump Pack - transferred assault marines  make up the numbers. Running as basic as possible. 

Death Company Squad (205pts)
2x Bolt Pistol, 2x Chainsword, 5x Death Company Marine, Jump Pack, 3x Plasma Pistol, 3x Power Weapon - the other half of the old squad.

As you can see there is quite a change between the two lists. One issue is the lack of transports for the tactical marines. This means that they will either be stationary for most of the game or be foot slogging across the board, both of which are not ideal. Its at this point that I will moan about the inclusion on the dreadnoughts in to both lists, without them i could afford the transports that I need, by my count 2 rhino's and a razorback. I could cut points from the death company force, but they are the hard hitting part of the force and need to be armed effectively. As it is, I'm happy with the new list. It retains its fluff, kinda, but more importantly, it retains all the jump infantry!

Friday 9 December 2016

Blood angles demi company review


So with the not so recent release of the Angles Blade supplement, the Blood Angles, and therefore the Eagle Knights, have new ways to be fielded. When the Angles of Death supplement came out, it changed how I looked at the Disciples, and this has done the same to the Knights. However, what are the options and are they ones that I will be able or willing to field? Ill go through all the options and look at there options as to whether they are any good for me or if they fit my fluff.

Ill start with the command options of the Angels Blade Strike Force

First up is the Golden host, which consists of the sanguinor or Dante and a unit sanguinary guard. As I have none of these units, they won't be making an appearance, even with the cool ability to charge from reserve.

Chapter ancients consists of various dreadnoughts. Seeing as I'm being forced to field dreads in the main formations, I've no interest in fielding more as command units.

Leader of the angelic host gives you numerous options for commanders. The list includes a Terminator Captain or Captain Tycho, a Librarian or Mephiston, a Sanguinary Priest or Brother Corbulo, in addition you can take a command squad or a storm raven. This is my command option of choice, although Tycho, Mephiston and Corbulo are more or less not options as I don't own the models and they are BA specific and I try and stay away from chapter specific models. The terminator captain is also out as it doesn't fit with my fluff. This means that its either a librarian or a sanguinary priest, both of which are good options. In my Initial list I had a librarian but later changed it to a priest and I think ill be sticking to this. The main reason is that fielding my vanguard vets is now a lot harder, so they will be switching up to form the command squad option within this command choice. The storm raven is not an option as I don't own any.

The core choices are nothing out of the ordinary, with the standard demi-Company and the archangels demi-company.


The 10th Company Ambush Force is the same as the marine version with 3-5 scouts squads or scout bike squads. Not owning any scouts is a bit of a pain as these are cheap ways of filling the auxiliary slots. Anyway, as I don't own any scouts I can't field this.

The Lucifer Armoured Task Force could be a fun formation to field but with a techpriest, 1 to 3 predators of either type (Baal or standard) and 1 to 3 land raiders of any type, I'm quite a few models short! I could convert some Rhinos and a techpriest but I'm still short a raider.

The Storm raven Squadron is a straight up no go, I don't own a storm raven let alone the 2 needed to field the force.

The Rapid Assault Force is another good option with 1 - 3 units of Assault Marines, Bikes, Attack Bikes or Land Speeder. As I have no speeders or attack bikes so there not options and although I have bikes and they do fit the fluff in terms of speed and mobility, they are for the Guardians ravenwing, and as such i would not look to field them here. That leaves the assault marines, which fit perfectly with my current army, and would mean that with the Demi-Company I would be able to field all my assault marines as I currently do.

The Fire Support Force is the last option and consists of 1-3 units of Devastators, Vindicators or Whirlwinds. I don't own any vindicators or whirlwinds, although I probably could convert some rhinos. Devastators are a better bet as I own plenty but they don't seem a very good fit for the Knights.

This is all the options for the main formation, but there is another option, Lost brotherhood strike force. This consists of the death company as the core of the force.


The command option is 1 to 3 Lemartes, Astorath, or a Death Company Chaplain. Having a chaplain in the core I would probably go with Lemartes, even though I generally stay away from named characters. The core is the same as the Death Company Strike Force above with 3 DC squads, a dread and a chaplain. With these options, the formation is a possibility, however the auxiliary options are not great.

The auxiliary options are the Archangels Orbital Intervention Force, the 10th Company Ambush Force, the Lucifer Armoured Squadron, the Stormraven Squadron, and the Rapid Assault Squadron. Of these only the rapid assault force is any good it clashed with the DC for models as both would really require jump packs.

The Demi-company is similar to the standard marine one, but has two notable exceptions. The first is the choice for the commander with either captain/command squad or chaplain/furioso dread options. Of these, ill be going with the captain and command squad option as I don't own any models that can be used as a furioso dread. That and I already have the command squad setup. The rest of the demi-company is formed of e tactical squads, one assault squad and a devastator squad. The annoying addition is that you also have to take a dread, just a standard one but still, I'd rather not have to take one. From this option, I would be looking to field the units as cheaply as possible, but still retain the chapters flavour and flamers!

The other option is the Archangels Demi-company formed of a terminator captain, 5 units of either sternguard, vanguard, assault terminators or standard terminator's. In addition you need to field 2 furioso dreads. This option again is not viable as I have no furioso dreads. In addition fielding terminators in any form is not in the chapters fluff. I could get away with just a captain and then the sternguard and vanguards and could still keep my fluff, but the dreads still present a problem.

The Auxiliary options also give some issues. There are lots of options but as usual there are quite a few that are not any good for me as I don't have the models or they doubt fit the fluff.

The first option is probably the best, the Death company strike force consisting of 3 squads of death company, a death company dread and the new death company chaplain. This is defiantly a prime choice for me, as it fits the fluff and gives some cool rules, its just a shame that I have to take another dread I don't want!

The Archangels Orbital Intervention Force consists of 3 squads assault terminators or standard terminators. Again, not fielding terminators, so not an option, even with the charging from reserve.

All in all, while there are lots of options, there are only a few that are any good for me due to the composition of many of the formations. With all these options in mind I have been looking my list and will post an updated list next week.

Friday 2 December 2016

club open day

A couple of weekends ago the local gaming clubs, 2 or 3 of them, depending upon who you talk to, got together for their annual open day. The event is held at the community center, with an open door to everyone passing through. While its not the most visited attraction it does generate a fair bit of interest, even if that interest is just from those passing by, going to other events or clubs in the building. This is the 2nd time we've run the event and this year I pushed for a 40k presence, as last time this was lacking. Unfortunately my pushing led to me being picked to organize and run the table! With some help from a couple of other members we managed to pull off quite a good show, even if we only played two games! 

We decided to run a simplified version of the game, removing a lot of the more complex to hit and wound system. As such all units were given a basic to hit and to would roll, 3+ for both rolls for marines and 4+ for guard and all were given a set saving throw, regardless of the weapon shooting. We thought that this wouldbe the easiest way for new players to get into the game quickly, something GW have also done with the Battle for Vendros" sets. For the actual game we again borrowed from GW, using the Lost Patrol idea, only on a full size mat rather than a hex tile system. 

A small display of models, from terminator's and chapter masters through to Scions and a Company command squad

The various force options played out, Tactical Marines, Scout Marines, Scions, Imperial Guardsmen and/or veterans. At the back are the various vehicles used for extraction.

Unfortunately, I have lost the pictures from the actual games end our table layout, including a very cool setup with some old skool Kasrkins guarding a landed Valkyrie. It looked awesome, two flames each side of the tail ramp, a rifleman standing just by the wings facing backwards, having just stepped out of the side doors, and a sgts standing in the jungle clearing to the rear, looking expectantly to the jungle for the remnants of the guard squad they'd been sent to extract.

The games we played went rather well, with the scouts from the first game holding there position in the center, taking on all the nids that came within range with only one casualty due to close combat. The second game saw a squad of marines annihilating all before them as they moved at will over the board. Both games were played by young kids, about 8/10 years old and they seemed to enjoy the games, one only stopped playing because his mum told him he had to leave! Hopefully the seeds have been planted.......

There were a few issues with the game though that will need ironing out, namely the fact that the nids kept running off the table! We went for a standard 6" move in a random direction. This resulted in several units running on and then running off in quick succession! On one occasion it was a 20 "man" squad of termagaunts! Not sure how to fix this apart from keep rolling until they don't run off the board!

I hope to run this again at the club one day, but set it up a bit, make it harder and more likely to fail, challenge some of the old hands so to speak.

Friday 25 November 2016

The new GW, moving at speed

While I have finished writing up the Northern Invasion 4 batreps and reviews, I still have a couple of friendly battle reports to write up, two games I played withthe Eagle Knights after I had finished my tournament games. At the present rate these will probably  not appear till after the new year now, as there are a few other posts that have planned and GW keep throwing their spanners in The works! I will be posting  up a review of the new BA formations, or rather my view on the ones that will be ofany use to me and also a modified Eagle Knights list, taking in to account the new formations. In addition my club had an open day a last weekend, so a post will be fling up about that. But right now I'm gonna talk about the run of GW releases, especially this;


Now, I know a few people have been a bit down about what this may hold, but I'm really excited! Were looking at Sisters, of both the battle and silent variety, plus inquisition and assassins. This is just great, many of the things I want to field all together in one place! Now, it does mean that I might have to have a rethink. The latest rumours that I have read are suggesting that alongside the Sisters of Battle, there will be Assassins, Inquisition, Grey Knights and Deathwatch. Now, I'm not sure on this, as Deathwatch have just had a codex and Grey Knights have their own, full codex already. So, unless this just contains a few pre-set formation, I cant see how it will contain them. Either way it gives me some problems. GW are really on a roll at the moment in terms of releases, with this book and also the Traitor Legions book, along side the new Thousand Sons stuff, plus bringing back lots of OOP models through Made to Order. Then there is Blood Bowl! This may see me buying some models for that as well, luckily you don't need many!

With all these different releases and the speed at which they are being released is really good but is causing me no end of headaches in terms of my model collection! With every new Imperial release, I have to completely re-evaluate my armies, and with the latest release I will have to have a major rethink!

I love SoB's and have wanted some in my collection for a while, with the release of plastic sisters, I will be getting some, but I cant just keep adding to my collection of grey plastic. With the release of the Angels Blade and the new BA Demi-Company, the Eagle Knights will be getting a reshuffle, as I'll talk about in a future post, and the Dark Guardians are still on hold and probably will be for some time. I really want to start a Deathwatch force to go with my Inquisition, as I like all the rules and the kill team setup and it fits in with my fluff. However, with a Sisters army and a Deathwatch force, it mean somethings got to give. Unfortunately first on the chopping board are the Emperors Disciples. As a vanilla marine army they are probably my least favourite army and lack some of the character of the Knights and Disciples. Also up for the chop are all the extra Guard models I have lying around. I think that selling the models is the best way to go, as it will release funds and also clear space. It will be sad to see them go, but there not needed here and I've only got limited space to store things. Some stuff wont be sold, some of the Disciples marines will be redeployed to the Knights, to fill out the Demi-Company, and some of the Guard will be seconded to the Inquisition, for the possible formation of a second retinue should it be necessary to split the Inquisitors.

So in the end I should end up with my Hjaltland LI, Hrossey MV, Dagr Ormr MT, Eagle Knight, Dark Guardians, Inquisition, SoB and Deathwatch. Its gonna take a while and probably going to change again!

Friday 18 November 2016

NI4 Game review

Well, after completing 4 games during northern invasion 4, three of which counted and a fourth which didn't, I came away with a nice little trophy. All of my games were great fun and my opponents friendly and good sports. So after all these games, what did I learn?

To be honest and without trying to sound big headed, not a lot. There were some lessons learnt, as there is every time I play a new player or army, or even a different form of an know army. I will go in to these in a second, button the whole I didn't learn much for one simple reason, my army list hasn't changed much in several years. There have been a few additions and subtractions over that time, but the core units have remained the same and I've tried all sorts of different tactics and play styles in that time, so now I know my army and their rules inside and out. Its this knowledge that served me well and why I didn't learn anything ground breaking during the weekend.

So, what did I notice?

Some people still haven't grasped the concept of playing the objectives. I don't mean this as in they completely ignore the objectives, but more in terms that they try and hold objectives from turn 2. Sitting in the open from turn 2 is not a good idea for any unit really, you only need the objective on turn 5. Stay away and stay hidden, move only when you need to, something I learnt the hard way along time ago.

Psykers are still a pain, either to remember to actually use, for those who don't use them much, and to keep track off, for those that do. Buying the psychic power cards was one of the best things I did. I use them in every game, granted only the Divination ones, and place them on top of any unit which has had powers used on them. This can be an issue with prescience, as I run two Psykers but only have one card! A few times, those FNP rolls were forgotton or the extra invun save, sometimes it would have made no difference, sometimes it might. Keeping track of your powers and also knowing exactly what they do has always seemed to be an issue. I always run the same set of powers, divination, so I've have become quite use to their powers and how to play the them.

The AM/IG Orders seem to confuse a few people. I've had some try and dispel them, some argue that I can't use them as the psychic phase was over, even people tell me I can use an order as I used it last turn. I guess that its just something different that not many people use. There is not really anything similar in other armies, so I can understand the confusion. One thing I have to remember is not to waste orders, like issuing ignores cover on a marine squad who are going to be using a 3+ armour save and not a 5+ cover save! It doesn't happen very often but I do it occasionally. Also, sometimes there are no orders worth issuing, so its pointless issuing order for that sake of it, not only does it waste time but it does kinda look silly as well.

One other, related point is know your rules. Whilst I know the majority of my rules, there are some I will have forgotten, and with all the rules in the game its not surprising. However, some people seem not to know many of theirs, they know they have the rule but not what it means or even where to find them. I've got rules wrong in the past (see below!) but I know 90% of my rules and a good portion of the main rules. Some people seem to need to recheck their rules every turn, I don't know if this is lack of confidence or knowledge but it is time consuming.

As for getting rules wrong, I've been playing Overwatch wrong! I've never taken/allowed cover saves from Overwatch. At the tournament I've learnt that you can take saves. I have always played it as the enemy has charged up and as such aren't in cover, so no cover saves but if I had thought about it, I would have realised I was playing it wrong, as you do Overwatch before movement, with the models in their original place and so would take account of cover etc. So not only can this cause you to fail a charge by loosing men but in theory can mean you couldn't charge, as you can't charge what you can't see. Something to remember, probably most useful for the D.Angles.

When I read though this post it makes me sound like a grumpy old man! Believe it or not, its not supposed to be a dig at other players, which even i have to admit it sounds a lot like it! They were the few thoughts that occurred to me over the course of the tournament, and I though I would put it down on paper, so to speak.

The next tournament up this way is the club Xmas tournament, which I shall unfortunately miss as I will  south with family. This will be the third Xmas tournament I will have missed, which is slightly annoying as there good fun by all accounts, generally including all sorts of silliness. Hopefully ill join in one year!

Ill leave this here, as when I was sorting out for outer open day (posts to follow at some point!) I came across my score card for Northern Invasion 4.

modified to 13, 12, 18 (missed a kill point on the last game) total 43

Friday 11 November 2016

NI4 Game 4

So, I ended up playing a fourth game, but the score would not count towards my total. This was due to the odd number of participants and the issues that occurred at the start of the tournament (I won't go in to them again, I've moaned enough about them!). I'm not sure if this was the best way to make up the games, as I was playing sabotage rather than for points. The game however was really enjoyable.

Deployment

So, I was wondering how to play this game. Aggressive or defensive? I deployed first and went for a usual set-up, however I decided to push the wyverns up in to one of the ruins for some cover, try and keep them away from the big scary beasts. I had nothing but the flyers and their squads in reserve.

The forces of the imperium.

My opposition flooded his side of the table with models. 2 large broods of Gargoyles and to large groups of Gaunts on opposite sides of the table, 4 flyers, 2 flying Hive Tyrants and 2 Crones started on the table. Rounding everything off were a couple of Tyranid Warrior broods. Oh, and a couple of Zoanthropes and some spore mine things in reserve.

A very scary nids deployment.

If you can't be seen, to can't be hit. Hiding in the ruins

Turn 1

I knew that his flyers were going to be on me in no time at all, but I didn't really have anything for dealing with them apart from the autocannons and they didn't have line of sight. So my main target was either one of the Gaunts or the Gargoyles. I went for the Gargoyles as I thought that they were the greater threat, mainly due to their speed. I fired the Wyverns at the squad and with all the re-rolls managed to eliminate a whole unit, earning first blood in the process. Only 26 points left available! I took a couple of pot shots at some Warriors, but did little.

First blood!

My opponent replied in brutal fashion, with his flyers moving right up and taking on my Wyverns ! After a lot of shooting, including two template haywire shots! But my Wyverns went pop, not a good start. In the rest of the shooting, a number of guardsmen got hit, but the majority of the fire-power went on the Wyverns. Everything else ran to get in range.
 
Oh crap!

Wyverns about to die.

The hoard approaches, Crone to the front, Gaunts in the centre and Warriors to the rear!

Turn 2

With the flyers right on my doorstep and both my Wyverns down and out, things were looking pretty dire. The only bit of luck was managing to ground one of the crones, which was then dispatched with massed lass fire!

Now you see it (bottom left)

Now you don't! 1 down 3 to go!

The rest of the units did little. The centre held the line but the PCS ran for the ruins at the top of the table. The newly arrived Valkyrie targeted one unit of Gaunts, killing a number, but not wiping them out.

My opposition continued his advance. Pretty much everything but the flyers and the Warriors ran forward. The flyers went to work on the troops, removing a number of the guardsmen, as did the Warriors, even though they only had one shot, a blast, in range.

Moving in for the kill.

At this point in the game, the points were pretty even, with me on two and my opposition on just one, but things still had a long way to go. I was now playing to deny and not really for points.

End of turn 2. A lack of guardsmen in the centre

Turn 3

Its hard to see, but if you look through the window on the left, you can just see a Gaunts head peaking around the corner of the building in the middle of the table. (Trust me its there!)

For the first time in all the battles, my Promethium Relay Pipe come in to there own. The unit of Gaunts moving towards the centre objective get the full force of thee torrent flamers and a bunch of lasguns, killing all but one Gaunt! On the left side, the flamers and lasgun fire take the other Gaunts down to half strength. I also take a chance this turn, and decide to Grav-Chute insert my vet squad, something I generally don't like doing, and for good reason, when 2 of my squad manage to splat themselves all over a building. The rest run in to the cover of said building, with the intention of going for both line breaker and his objective.

One gaunt, holding the objective. 

My opponent continued attacking with the flyers. One moved in to glide to keep firing at the guardsmen, the other swung around going for new targets. The left Gaunts recover and move up, but not in to the building, keeping out of flamer range. The Warriors start there moves forward as well. By this point, I'm starting to run out of units, but I've not given up many points at this point.

The onslaught continues!

End of turn 3, and the grunts on both sides have been feeling the pain!

Turn 4

As there is little I can really do to all the flying beasts, I decide to move. My left squad moves towards the objective, removing some more Gaunts in the process, with the flamers hanging back to keep the torrent rule. On the right hand side, the PCS move up and issue an order to themselves, to fire and move, flaming the Gargoyles on that side. As a result of 4 flamers, the squad is removed, clearing the way for the PCS to take the objective. In another point saving move, the two psykers break form the centre squads and move off with the left squad, running away from the flyers in the centre. The Vendetta went in to hover and dropped of the plasma command squad, with a lot more accuracy than the last drop! I did put the Vendetta in a dangerous position. The squad didn't fire though as they charged in to the two units, the last Gaunt and the Zoanthrope, both of which were on the objective.

Advance!

The table at the top of turn 4.

Moving for the objective.

Combat.

My opposition continued his relentless assault on my squads, killing off the command squad and killing my warlord and more importantly earning himself a number of points. Unfortunately, my gamble didn't pay off and my vendetta was brought down. The combat in the centre continued with nothing happening, which was not good for my part, as I wanted to break out to be able to fire in my turn.

End of turn 4

Turn 5

By the beginning of turn 5 it was pretty clear that I had managed to complete my objective of reducing the points my opposition was getting. I had sacrificed a few units, but that had been necessary.

For my turn I just moved to secure the objective, the PCS on the right, the Blob on the left and the vets ran for my oppositions objective, while the remnants of the centre blob held mine. The centre objective was still contested at this point, but I managed to destroy the Zoanthrope during the assault phase.

My opposition did his bit and went for kill points, taking down the now hovering Valkyrie and also opening up on the plasma command squad in the centre with his Warriors, as a result the command squad was down to the commander on 1 wound. The flyers also eliminated the last of the centre blob squad, which was taken with one of the swooping flyers. There was not much else that happened as it was clear that my opposition was not able to gain the number of points needed to win the tournament.

End game, apart from the squad at the bottom is dead.

At the end of the game, the score were, 10 to me, First Blood, Line breaker, 4 for objectives and 4 kill points, and my opposition had 12, Line breaker, Slay the Warlord, 7 kill points and 3 objectives. While this was a loss, my only one of the tournament, it was in fact a successful game, I gave away only 12 points, short of the 21 my opposition needed to win. In many respects, this game wound have ended differently had we both been playing for points. At the start of the game I was on 25 and my opponent was on 23. This would have put us on 35 a piece, and drawing. What would have happen, I don't know, but it would have gone on to tertiary points (Warlord, first blood and line breaker) and i might have still been able to win. However, if we had of been playing for points, i might have played differently, keeping both flyers in zooming and gone for the last of the Gaunts for more points. We also made a few mistakes at the end, with the plasma command squad commander surviving a strength 6 hit which should have killed him outright, giving a kill point and also enabling him to take the centre objective. This would have put his score to 15 and potentially winning the tournament. Its all academic though, as my points were already decided.

End game - loss - 10 (FB, LB, 4obj, 4 kp) - 12 (LB, StW, 7kp, 3obj)

Tuesday 8 November 2016

NI4 game 3

Game 3, and my final tournament game. There was some discussion about who was going to play who, as the general consensus was that top two should play, then next two and so on, Al la the Swiss system. However, that meant that my would be opponent was still playing (a long running 5 hour epic of a match!). There was the added complexity that some people were playing in the AoS tournament the next day, so it was not really possible to role the games over until tomorrow. This lead me to play a different player, a fellow from my own club, who id played my one and only practice match against! Although this time he was playing a slightly different list.

Deployment

I deployed first and yes, I deployed in standard fashion. Wyverns behind the main blob squad, with pcs on the left flank and command squad in the building. The other blob squad and priest outflanked due to my warlord trait again. I also gained draconian discipline, which want great as most units are fearless due to the priests.

The guard lines, pretty much as usual.

My opponent, having faced my Wyverns in the past, spread out. All his armour, something my Wyverns can't harm, was on his left,my right, facing my Wyverns and his bikes went to the opposite corner. They spread out as far forward as possible ready to advance on my troops. His scouts pushed forward,snipers in the tower in front of the bikes and the other squad hid behind the building on the other side, ready to take the objective in the building.

Marine deployment. Vehicles on his left.....

.....Bikes on his right. Oh and snipers in the tower and scouts just visible behind the far building. 

The battle field, wayward marines on the left, loyal guardsmen of the emperor on the right

Now, I can't quite figure out what's happening as I've got it down that I deployed first, but my opponent moved first. I don't remember him stealing the initiative but unless my notes are wrong, which is possible, he must have. Anyway, on to turn 1.

Turn 1

My opponent went full advance with his turn, no shooting apart from the scouts, who did little. The Land raider and rhino went full pelt across the board, driving to within inches of my lines. The bikes also moved up, ready to pounce on the left flank of my lines.

For once, I got some good psychic powers and actually got them off! Most of the games I had poor luck with the dice, failing to get off most of my powers or only generating 3 or 4 dice in total, making it hard to generate powers. This game however, I had misfortune, rending is a great power to have, as the bikes found out to there disadvantage. Being able to place rending on a target unit, rather then a shooting unit is very good and they Wyverns took full advantage, with ignores cover removing the jink save and shred maximizing my wounds, the unit suffered. A full squad including attack bike plus captain were reduced to an attack bike on one wound. The captain tanked a couple on his invun, but with 6 rending hits plus twice as many normal hits, the squad was doomed. A number of scouts also fell to autocannon fire, but the vehicles remained unharmed.

The remnants of the bikers

Raider and rhino up close and personal.

Turn 2

Things took a turn for the worse here. The raider got as close as it could before disembarking its cargo, as did the rhino. This meant I had a squad of 10 marines and a 5 man squad with librarian terminator on my doorstep. The Libby and squad tried to assault the command squad in the tower, but had to go around another unit and didn't quite make it. The other squad, raider and rhino opened up on my blob squad in the middle. There want much left by the end of it!

A big hole where some guardsmen use to be

I was quite happy with my reply. The command squad, pcs and blob all replied, along side the newly arrived Valkyrie. As a result, both squads were down to half strength, although this want quite enough as it turned out. The last of the snipers were dispatched by the Wyverns, I thought it was to much of a risk to try for the marines in front of me.

Smaller holes where some marines use to be.

Turn 3

There were some fun end games this time. To start with the land raider tried to move off of its perch, and managed to get itself stuck! The rhino disappeared off somewhere, still got no idea where it was going. The marines on the other hand carried on forward and were joined by the reminding scouts. As a result of all the fire power and some assaults, the centre squad was destroyed along with the majority of the command squad. Only the pcs survived the onslaught. At some point during this a Wyverns disappeared, not quite sure where or when, but it went somewhere. I suspect it might have fallen to the raiders assault cannon or the whirlwind.

During my turn, the vendetta turned up and did have an impact, destroying the rhino. The Valkyrie engaged the whirlwind, destroying the rockets, not that they had much to fire at any more. The pcs ran for there lives, straight in to the central building to take the objective there and the wyvern decided it was time to leave as well and headed for the left objective. There was little point in hanging around to get destroyed by the raider or the marines.  The slap fest between the Libby and his squad and the command squad continued, I say marines and command squad, but by this point we were down to just the Libby and my warlord, not quite sure how the rest of the marines were dead by this point, alongside the command squad, as I would have thought at least 1 marine should have survived. The other marine squad also made quick work of the last of the central blob squad.

Vendetta arrives to support the valkyrie

Guardsmen? What guardsmen?

Slap fest, unfortunately people wearing TDA tend to slap harder than those without.

End of turn 3 and there's a slight lack of models!



Turn 4

By this point in the game my opposition had little remaining on the board. With just one scout squad, a 5 man marine squad, an immobilized land raider and a Libby on 1 wound.oh and I think the whirlwind was still alive at this point, hiding at the back after having lost its missiles  some point. I think it might have been the Valkyrie that did the damage. There was little damage done from my opponent at this point. The marines mostly manoeuvred to claim objectives.

In  turn, my last squad decided to turn up,  thankfully came in on a useful side. With this squad turning up and moving  claim an objective, at the same time trying to eliminate the last scout squad. They managed to remove 7 models and force a moral test, which was failed! Although they only ran a couple of inches, not quite enough. My Valkyrie also dropped off the  to take the objective in my opponents half, and removed the whirlwind for a added bonus. The vendetta moved to drop off the plasma command squad next turn. The pcs ran  hid in the centre building and claimed that objective, while the last Wyverns went full pelt for the other objective, not quite making it this turn but within easy reach next turn.

The major talking point was the slap fest between the Libby and my warlord. in my opponents turn, the Libby fluffed all his attacks and I failed  wound, in  turn the Libby got just one attack through, but it was all that was required. After 3 battles my warlord had finally fallen. His consolidation put him at  bottom of the tower, ready to strike at my blob squad.


Better late than never, the second squad arrives.

The battlefield, not much remains.


The Libby triumphant at last!

Turn 5

At this stage in the game two things were very clear, I was winning and there was nothing my opponent could  about it, and I couldn't table my opponent. I could possibly take out all his foot troops but with  raider parked in the middle, a tabling was out of the question.

My opponent tried as last gamble to keep the objective on the right, moving his scouts back in  the building and pushing  the Libby before using smite to remove a large portion of the squad. By the time the shooting was  done, the squad  down to just over half strength. Things went from bad to worse for the squad in my turn, as decided to try and assault to ensure I removed that squad. I lost a man to overwatch but made the charge, loosing a further couple of guys in assault, being reduced to just 7 guardsmen and a priest.  To make matters even worse, my attacks, even with zealot, were a disaster. As a result only 2 scouts died, leaving one to contest the objective!

In other news, the  command squad jumped out  the now hovering vendetta and attempted to plasma the marines to death, something they managed but not before 2 of them fried themselves with gets hot rolls! This resulted in a failed moral test and running off the board! At least they killed the marines.

Elsewhere on the table, the the pcs went firm on the centre objective and the Wyverns parked up on the left one. The vets consolidated on my opponents objective and the two flyers ganged up and killed  the Libby for some payback. Thus the game ended.

The flyers removing the libby.

The last stand

Still standing! All that remains of the marines

At the end of a good game there was little on the table. Both sides had taken heavy losses though out the game. My opponent had very little, a scout and an immobilized raider, I had a Wyvern, vet squad, pcs, 7 guardsmen with  priest and the two flyers. While it sounds a lot, only the vets and the vendetta could do anything against the raider, and the vets were over a turn away from being able to do anything. The fact is though that I still had only 24 of 76 guardsmen left, and half my ground vehicles were destroyed. A war of attrition, one the guard are quite good at!

Points wise, my opponent scored slay the warlord and line breaker plus 6 kill points for a total of 8 and I scored first blood, slay the warlord and line breaker, 8 kill points and 7 objective points, for a total of 18. If the plasma command hadn't been such rubbish soldiers and looked after their weapons properly and the others had sharpen their knives properly (there Catachans! Their knives should be razor sharp already!) it could have been even higher. But that's just greedy really, as an 18 to 8 win is pretty good really.

End game

end game - win - 18 (FB, StW, LB, 7 obj, 8 KP) - 8 (LB, StW, 6 KP)

So, at this pointy tournament should have been over and I was sitting on 43 points, a good strong position, with my nearest rival (another club mate) sitting on 23, 21 points behind and  game to play. There are at least 16 points on every table, 10 objective, 3 for warlord, first blood and line breaker, plus 3 for the CAD (1 HQ and 2 troops). that meant that 21 points was not unachievable depending upon the opposition. As it turnout i was the only available player, the two other players having already played my next opponent. So with 21 points needed, I was offering 27 points, with 14 kill points on offer. It was going to be a very different game for me.