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.