Batrep: Space Marines v Imperial Guard

On Thursday, March 24th, a friend and I got some practice in for the upcoming "Throne of Skulls" tournament that will be held in Las Vegas, Nevada this summer. Because Throne of Skulls is a 1500 point tournament, we played that amount.

The mission we rolled was a pitched battle, annihilation.

First, my 1500 Imperial Guard list.

Command Platoon w/3 Plasma Guns
Chimera w/Hull Heavy Flamer
10 Veterans w/2 Meltaguns, Shotguns
Platoon Command w/3 Flamers
Chimera w/Hull Heavy Flamer
Infantry Squad w/Autocannon, Flamer
Chimera w/Hull Heavy Flamer
Infantry Squad w/Autocannon, Flamer
Chimera
Special Weapons Squad w/3 Meltaguns
7Psyker Battle Squad
Chimera
Valkyrie w/Multiple Rocket Pods
Vendetta
Vendetta
Manticore
Manticore

My opponent was Aaron Blough (Dobie Gillis) from http://themanypostsofdobiegillis.blogspot.com/
He brought with him his "Shadow Guard" Space Marines

Pedro Cantor
Librarian w/Gate of Infinity, Null Zone
10 Sternguard w/2 Meltaguns, Powerfist
Drop Pod
5 Assault Terminators w/1 Lightning Claw, 4 Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield
10 Tactical Marines w/Lascannon, Meltagun
10 Tactical Marines w/Lascannon, Meltagun
6 Devastators w/4 Missile Launchers
6 Devastators w/4 Missile Launchers

I won the roll to Deploy and go first. I deployed in a "Castle Style" in the center of my deployment zone using Chimeras and the Valkyrie as a sort of "Bubble Wrap" to keep my Manticores safe from Deep Striking Melta.

Dobie deployed his army mostly in the ruins in his deployment zone.

Two pictures of our deployment.



So, I scouted my Valkyrie and one of my Vendettas forward, I hid the other Vendetta behind the Fortress of Redemption.

Suddenly, Aaron steals the initiative!

Turn 1:
Aaron: His only Drop Pod (filled with Sternguard and Pedro) lands behind my Vendetta (carrying my Command Platoon). Aaron has no other movement.
The meltaguns explode the Vendetta. From the Command Squad, my lasgunner dies, two plasma gunners die, and my company commander takes a wound. Devastators take the multi-laser off of the Valkyrie, the lascannon from a tactical squad stuns it. The other squad of devastators explodes the Psyker battle squads Chimera, killing the overseer and 4 psykers; they fail their pinning test. The command squad fails their morale test and breaks away from the sternguard.

Me: The Command Squad continues to fall back. I advance most of my chimeras. The manticores and remaining Vendetta stay put. My Valkyrie moves flat out in front of the devastators and tactical squad in the left ruins.
The plasma gunner from the command squad kills himself.
The Veterans use their shotguns and melta to kill 3 sternguard.
The first Manticore hits the left devastator squad and kills the sergeant and 4 missile launchers, leaving the bolter guy behind. (Terrible rolling on Aarons' part), but sadly, they are not pinned.
The other Manticore opens up on the other devastator squad, killing the sergeant, bolter, and one missile launcher.
The Chimeras and vendetta combine to reduce the sternguard squad to Pedro, the powerfist, and a meltagun.
My veterans assault and kill the powerfist sternguard and do a wound to Pedro. In return, Pedro kills two veterans. Drawn Combat.

Two Pictures from the bottom of turn 1:



Turn 2:
Aaron: The lone devastator boltgunner moves to hide. The Librarian uses "Gate of Infinity" to move himself and the terminators in front of my lines. They run 3 inches.
The lascannon stuns the left Manticore, sadly this was the best Aaron could do in his shooting phase.
In assault, I lose 3 veterans and cause zero wounds, unluckily for me, the vets hold their ground.

Me: I do exactly no movement.
The Manticore fires and kills 4 boltguns, the lascannon, and the meltagun from the center tactical squad. The Valkyrie kills 5 bolters off of the other tactical squad (off of 6 wounds, 5 saves failed). The rest of my army combines to kill 2 ThunderHammer & Storm Shield terminators. No one fails their break tests.
In assault, I lose a vet to the melta Sternguard, do no wounds, and lose 3 to Pedro. I promptly break, and get run down...

Two pictures from the bottom of turn 2.




Turn 3:
Aaron: Aaron moves the center tactical squad out of the building and behind it (blocking Line-of-Sight). Aaron then moves the lone boltgun devastator onto the ground floor of the left-most ruin.
His other missile devs open up and wreck the Chimera carrying my melta special weapon squad. His lascannon immobilizes my Valkyrie. The terminators, in an ill-advised move assault the melta squad through difficult terrain, but roll a "1" and a "2" for distance and fail the assault. Pedro and the meltagunner assault the rear of the Platoon Command Chimera, and whiff the 4+ to hit roll.

Me: I move my far right Chimera forward. I move my Melta weapons squad toward the Terminators. The flamers and meltas are able to kill the lightning claw terminator and put a wound on the librarian. The vendetta kills the melta sternguard (giving me my first kill point)
Some Lasguns and an Autocannon do the last two wounds to Pedro, killing him.
The first manticore fires and kills the sergeant, a bolter, and the lascannon off of the left tactical squad. The other manticore does 4 wounds to the librarian and terminators, but they make all of their saves. My other firepower kills 2 of 3 missile devastators.
The tactical squad on the left breaks and runs 7 inches. The terminator squad also breaks, and runs 7.

Two pictures from the bottom of turn 3:



Turn 4:
Aaron: The librarian attempts to "Gate of Infinity", but perils on a double 6 and kills himself.
The terminators continue to flee, the lone missile devastator whiffs and everyone else hides.

Me: I kill the last missile devastator with 3 lascannons, 2 multi-lasers, and a heavy bolter.
The Manticore kills a boltgun from the hiding tactical squad and a terminator.
The terminator breaks off of the board.
At this point, I am up in kill points and Aaron has ~7 modes left. He concedes.

Two pictures from the bottom of Turn 4:



-Mike

Winter League Update

So, for my final game in the Winter League...my opponent had to drop out of the league.
I ended up playing against the league organizer as a "ringer".

I did not do a batrep of the game due to time constraints.
My opponent brought "Nob Bikers"!
He had 2 Warbosses on Bikes, 2 10-man Nob Biker units (all armed individually), a 12-15 man boys squad, and snikrot with some Kommandos.

We were playing "Capture and Control" (aka, "Capture the Draw").
I deployed my objective in the center of my deployment zone and castled and bubble-wrapped against Snikrot. My opponent for whatever reason reserved his entire army. (is he afraid of all of my ranged firepower, lol?)

So, in this game, I was not playing for a win, I played for a draw, which I easily received after his units came in piecemeal and he had to hold an entire 10 man Nob Biker squad in his zone to capture his objective.

So, I end the league at 6-0-2. The finals have been delayed for about 2 months at this point so everyone has an opportunity to get all of their games in. I will keep you guys in the loop about the finals. (after all an 1850 point army is on the line!)

-Mike

Springtime is here.

So, spring is almost here, which for me heralds the start of the Spring/Summer tournament circuit.

I currently have 3 main events planned.
-Battle for Blobs Park (put on by the Inner Circle Gaming Club)
-Throne of Skulls (Las Vegas, put on by Games Workshop)
-The NOVA Open (Virginia, put on by Mike Brandt)

To prepare, I have a lot of painting, list testing, and practice to do...

I leave you with this picture of my Blood Rodeo force. (Which may or may not be making an appearance)

-Mike

What have I been doing lately?

Well, I was on travel for work for a little while (and that may continue in the near future), but I wanted to share a bit of what I was doing.

The first is an update on the daemons project. In the photo you can see the beginning of my Herald of Khorne on chariot, some bases for my heralds of tzeentch, the fiends I assembled (don't worry, I do not like the yellow), 10 Horrors of Tzeentch (I am pleased with how the pink came out), and 10 Plaguebearers of Nurgle.


Next we have a recently completed squad for my Alpha Legion project. The squad is armed with Autocannon and Plasma Gun. In the background is my Chaos Terminator Lord.


Now that I look at it, the picture quality kind of sucks ass...sorry.

-Mike

Fantasy Battle Report

My brother and I got together for a game of Fantasy on January 11th.
We decided to play the first mission in the book, at 2000 points. Sadly, most of my fantasy terrain was at a friends house, so we made due with minimal terrain.
I brought the Dark Elves. (consisting of the only models I own)

Supreme Sorceress w/Extra Level, Talisman of Preservation, Sacrificial Dagger, Ironcurse Icon, Lore of Death

Sorceress w/Extra Level, Dispel Scroll, Lore of Shadow
Sorceress w/Extra Level, Tome of Furion, Seal of Ghrond, Lore of Metal
Master w/Heavy Armor, Shield, Sea Dragon Cloak, Black Dragon Egg, Great Weapon, Battle Standard

10 Dark Elf Repeater Crossbowmen w/Musician
10 Dark Elf Repeater Crossbowmen w/Musician
10 Dark Elf Repeater Crossbowmen w/Musician
30 Dark Elf Warriors w/Shields, Full Command

19 Black Guard w/Full Command, Banner of Eternal Flame, Crimson Death
19 Black Guard w/Full Command, Banner of Murder, Relic Sword

Bryan bought Skaven (all models are from Island of Blood)

Warlord w/Hand Weapon, Warpstone Armor, Talisman of Preservation, Poison Attacks, Tail Weapon

Chieftain w/Halberd, Battle Standard
Warlock Engineer w/Extra Level, Warp Energy Condenser
Warlock Engineer w/Extra Level, Doom Rocket
Warlock Engineer w/Extra Level, Feedback Scroll
Warlock Engineer w/Dispel Magic

20 Clanrats w/Shields, Full Command
Warpfire Thrower
20 Clanrats w/Shields, Full Command
Warpfire Thrower
20 Clanrats w/Shields, Full Command
Warpfire Thrower
20 Clanrats w/Spears, Shields, Full Command
Poisoned Wind Mortar
20 Clanrats w/Spears, Shields, Full Command
Poisoned Wind Mortar
20 Clanrats w/Spears, Shields, Full Command
Poisoned Wind Mortar

2 Rat Ogres, Beastmaster
2 Rat Ogres, Beastmaster

I deployed first and finished first. We basically lined up across from one another.
Two pictures of the deployment.


I win the roll to go first.
Turn 1:
Me: I move everyone basically forward. In my magic phase, I kill 3 rats with the Purple Sun of Xereus. I hit the Battle Standard Bearer (BSB) with Mystifying Miasma.
In my shooting phase I kill 4 rats from the BSB unit and 4 from the generals unit.

Bryan: The Rat Ogres move up on Bryan's right. On his left, the 3 Skaven blocks move forward Warp Lightning kills 4 Black Guard. The mortars kill 2 more Black Guard from each unit. (ouch)

Two pictures from the bottom of turn 1:




Turn 2:
Me: I move up and move a unit of Black Guard into the Tower.
In the Magic Phase, I use the Fate of "Bjunda" and kill off the BSB. I use "Soulblight" on every enemy unit within 24 inches. In the process, I suffer 2 miscasts. Due to this, I wound every sorceress and lose 4 Spearmen. In my shooting phase, I manage to kill a Mortar and a warpfire thrower.

Bryan: The skaven on the right charge a unit of Crossbowmen. In his magic phase, he miscasts a "Scorch", killing 4 Spearmen and a Crossbowmen. He then fails to cast "Death Frenzy".
In the shooting phase, both Warpfire throwers misfire, and then, a mortar misfires (for the "Hat Trick"). The other mortar kills a few models.
In close combat, the Dark Elves lose 3 and kill 2 Skaven, losing by 5. I roll snake eyes. Game on!

Two pics from the bottom of turn 2:


Turn 3:
Me: I charge the Black Guard at a Skaven unit, they flee. I charge another unit with the Spearmen (BSB and Supreme Sorceress) they Hold.
In my magic phase, I miscast something, killing the Shadow Sorceress and 5 Crossbowmen.
My shooting then kills no one. Crap.
In close combat, I kill 3 Skaven, lose 1 Crossbowmen and tie the combat.
In the other combat, I kill 7 Skaven, lose 4 Spearmen and break the Skaven (who are run down)
Their destruction causes 2 nearby spear units to break (poor Skaven Leadership!!)

Bryan: My BSB eats her Black Dragon egg, party time. The rat ogres charge the side of the Spearmen block. One Skaven unit rallies, the other runs 3 inches. Warpfire goes off and kills 6 from one Black Guard squad and 7 from the other. (ouch)
In close combat, the Skaven kill the Crossbowmen. The Rat Ogres and Mortar that I charged both die. I lose a warrior. The lone Beastmaster breaks.

Two pics from the bottom of Turn 3:



Turn 4:
Me: I charge with both units of Blackguard and the Spearmen group. Hold, Stand and shoot, and Hold are the charge reactions. I lose no black guard to the shooting. My Magic phase fails epically. My shooting kills a mortar.
In Close combat the Black guard lose 3 (including champion) but kill 7 (including champion)
The Skaven break and get away. The Spearmen wipe out the Skaven spear block.

Bryan: No charges. The Rat ogre unit marches. The packmaster continues running, the spears run off the board. The General and his friends rally. In his magic phase he attempts "Death Frenzy" but I dispel it.
The warpfire thrower kills 6 Black Guard. The Black Guard beat down the cannon they overran into.

In our haste to refuel our beer, I forgot to get pictures of turn 4.

Turn 5:
Me: I charge the Warpfire cannon and the Generals unit.
In my magic phase, I miscast but am able to put the generals unit at -1 S, -1 T.
I have epic shooting and kill a Rat Ogre and his Packmaster.
The Blackguard destroy the warpfire cannon and the unit with the general, running them down.
At this point, Bryan concedes.

Here are 3 pictures showing the chaos at the end of the battle.




-Mike

"And these spirits shall rise up against the children of men and against the women, because they have proceeded from them."

Demons, or more correctly, Daemons.

Having played Fantasy Chaos and 40k Chaos I amassed a collection of Daemon models.
I sold my Mortal and Chaos Space Marine armies. I have some daemons left over.
My friend Leigh intended to purchase some of the new plastic Bloodcrushers to convert into Thunderwolf Cavalry.
We decided to combine our efforts and create a Chaos Daemons army for 40k.

Through playtest we worked out a core list that revolves around the following units.
-Skulltaker on Chariot
-Herald of Khorne on Chariot
-Herald of Tzeentch on Chariot w/Bolt
-Herald of Tzeentch on Chariot w/Bolt
-5 Horrors w/Bolt
-5 Horrors w/Bolt
-5 Horrors w/Bolt
-5 Horrors w/Bolt
-5 Plaguebearers
-5 Plaguebearers
-6 Fiends of Slaanesh
-6 Bloodcrushers w/all upgrades
-6 Bloodcrushers w/all upgrades
(This fills all HQ, Troop, and Elite choices on the standard Force Org. chart)

We each seasoned the list to taste by adding Heavy Support and Fast choices.

We divided our core list between us to purchase model and paint.
I was tasked with purchasing, building/converting/painting the following:
-Herald of Khorne on Chariot
-Herald of Tzeentch on Chariot w/Bolt
-Herald of Tzeentch on Chariot w/Bolt
-5 Horrors w/Bolt
-5 Horrors w/Bolt
-5 Horrors w/Bolt
-5 Horrors w/Bolt
-5 Plaguebearers
-5 Plaguebearers
-6 Fiends of Slaanesh

I already acquired 3 Fiends and a box of Horrors from a "Bizarre Bazaar". I owned another box of horrors and plaguebearers. I would need to convert the Heralds and Chariots.

As I work through this, and other projects, I hope to post my progress on here. Stay tuned.

-Mike

HobbyGame: Planetstrike

My friend Jason challenged me to a game of Planetstrike. Planetstrike is a very fun game when used as such. Planetstrike is not for tournament play, but is perfectly suited for campaigns and narrative games.
We played Saturday, January 8th, 2011.
2000 points each. Jason is the Attacker, I am the Defender.
We decided to play the first mission in the Planetstrike book, Planetfall.
For those of you unaware, each fortification is an objective and the player with the most objectives (by models in Base-to-base) wins.
I decided to bring the Eldar, since they were in my car from playing the day before.

-Eldrad
-Maugan Ra
-Prince Yriel
-10 Dire Avengers w/Exarch, Power Weapon and Shimmershield, Defend
-10 Dire Avengers w/Exarch, Power Weapon and Shimmershield, Defend
-10 Dire Avengers w/Exarch, Diresword and Shuriken Pistol, Defend
-8 Harlequins w/8 Harlequins Kisses
-10 Striking Scorpions w/Exarch, Scorpions Claw
-5 Dark Reapers w/Exarch, Eldar Missile Launcher, Fast Shot
-Wraithlord w/Wraithsword, Eldar Missile Launcher
-Wraithlord w/Wraithsword, Eldar Missile Launcher
-Wraithlord w/Wraithsword, Eldar Missile Launcher

Jason brought his Legion of the Damned.

-Chaplain w/Terminator Armor, Combi-Melta, Meltabombs, Digital Weapons
-Chaplain w/Terminator Armor, Combi-Melta, Meltabombs, Digital Weapons
-7 Legion of the Damned w/Flamer, Heavy Flamer, Powerfist
-7 Legion of the Damned w/Flamer, Heavy Flamer, Powerfist
-7 Legion of the Damned w/Meltagun, Multi-Melta, Powerweapon
-7 Legion of the Damned w/Meltagun, Multi-Melta, Powerweapon
-7 Legion of the Damned w/Meltagun, Multi-Melta, Powerweapon
-7 Legion of the Damned w/Meltagun, Multi-Melta, Powerweapon

I set up terrain using a Fortress of Redemption and 2 Bastions with a big ruin between them. This is shown in the photo below.
For my stratagems, I put a void shield on the tower, and a power generator on the Lascannon portion of the Fortress. I had an escape hatch ready on the gray bunker and a krak attack for when Jason Deep Striked his forces.

Jason chose the long table edge as his "DZ", but it was irrelevant. I set up my forces, I put a Dire Avenger squad in each annex of the Fortress. In the tower, I placed Eldrad, Yriel, Maugan Ra, and the Dark Reapers. I placed the Scorpions in the darker Bastion and the Harlequins in the gray bastion with the Escape Hatch. I deployed my last squad of Dire Avengers in the ruins between the Bunkers manning 2 interceptor auto-cannons.
Two photos of my deployment.


Jason informed me that he was using the Stratagem, "Approaching Absolute Zero" which is a Stratagem from GW's website that reduced the Armor Save of all units by 1. It also lowers the Armor Value of all Vehicle units by 1. Ouch.
Jason then launched his Firestorm, of which he received seven shots.
He manages to put two wounds on the Yellow Wraithlord next to the Fortress.
He then commences the Planetstrike
Turn 1:

Jason: 4 of 6 units arrive from reserves. ( 3 Multi-Melta, Melta(MM/M) and a Heavy Flamer/Flamer (HF/F unit plus Chaplain).
I unleash the Krak Attack and kill 1 from one of the MM/M Squads.
The Interceptor guns manage a monstrous 6 casualties on another MM/M squad.
Jason then unleashes another of his stratagems, "Teleport Attack" on my main tower.
Maugan Ra, Yriel, and the Dark Reaper Exarch all die. (~450 points, ouch.)
Jasons Multi-Meltas then explode the Lascannon Annex, 3 Dire Avengers die in the explosion.
Another MMM squad puts the last wound on the wounded Wraithlord, he dies.
The HF/F squad and Chaplain combine to kill two more Dire Avengers.

Me: I doom 2 squads and Guide the Dark Reapers. I pop the "Escape hatch" and the Harlequins run out towards the 6-man MM/M squad. The Dark Reapers and Dire Avengers combine to kill all of the HF/F squad except for the Flamer and Chaplain, who takes a wound.
The Harlequins charge and wipe out everyone from the wounded MM/M squad except the MM model himself, the Harlequins lose 1 model.

Two pictures from the bottom of Turn 1:


Turn 2:

Jason: The last two squads of Reserves arrive for Jason (MM/M and HF/F + Chaplain)
They get excellent Deep Strike rolls.
The MM's remove the void shield from the tower and stun the tower.
The Heavy Flamer and Chaplain kill 4 Dire Avengers, only the Exarch remains.
The newly arrived unit of HF/F+Chaplain charge the Harlequins.
The Harlequins kill the final MM model out of one of the original MM/M squads, but they lose 3, break, and run off the board.

Me: The Dire Avengers hop out of the Missile Annex. The gray Wraithlord moves up towards a MM/M squad. The Dire Avengers roll awesome and kill all of the HF/F+C squad except for the HF, the Fist Sergeant, and the Chaplain (who has a wound). The wraithlord double flames the MM/M squad and kills two. He then charges in and does nothing 0-0 draw.

Two pictures from the bottom of turn 2.


Turn 3:

Jason: Jason separates his Chaplain off towards the Dire Avenger Exarch, the Fist Sergeant and HF move toward the Wraithlord. The Chaplain bolters the Exarch to death. The Fist and HF charge the Wraithlord, but miss. The Wraithlord also misses. 0-0 Draw.

Me: Eldrad fortunes his squad. He Dooms the Fist/HF unit and the MM/M unit.
The Automated weapons kill the Chaplain. The Dire Avengers kill a bolter and Melta from the MM/M squad, the Autocannons and Reapers finish off the rest.
In the assault, neither of us do anything to each other.

Two pictures from the bottom of Turn 3:



Turn 4:

Jason: The Chaplain uses his Combi-Melta to remove the Interceptor gun from the Tower. He then assaults it and Meltabombs it into a wreck. The assault is still 0-0.

Me: I guide the Dire Avengers. They kill the Chaplain. Eldrad Mind Wars the MM guy to death. The Dire Avengers assault the HF but nether do any wounds.
The second Wraithlord enters the fray. They kill the Fist and HF.

Two pics from the bottom of Turn 4:



Turn 5 and on: All of Jasons models are locked in assault. The Dire Avengers kill the HF on his turn 5. After that it is just the Wraithlords punching the Legion of the Damned, but at the end, Jason did not lose every model.

I end up controlling three objectives to Jason's zero.
Here are 3 pictures from the end of the game: