Back on the trail, with sculpting complete painting resumes, the arms have had the initial work done, now I'm gonna get his horse done - and it can only be a white charger for Ackland - before finishing work on the Colonel himself.
The plan is to try an get him finished over the course of the comming week, I'll then be away for a weekend with finishing the Malcador next on the cards.
Saturday, 22 November 2008
Thursday, 20 November 2008
Imperial Guard Rumours - New Rumours and a Summary
I'm not much of a rumour monger, and this certainly is'nt something I'd ever really planned on posting on this blog, but with the well known prospect of a new Codex Imperial Guard it's hard for me to ignore the exiciting rumours of whats comming soon - even more so on having some new rumours which as far as I'm aware have not previously come to light.
So whats new?
Well through a good friend who recently spent a lengthy amount of time with a senior member of the design studio I've gleemed two potential rules which were mentioned and presumeably then have at least been considered for the new codex.
Firstly is some form of 'Special Orders', the jist of this is that Officers allow Guardsmen to carry out some form of check (presumeably leadership), this then grants them a bonus in a specific action, the example I was given being a bonus in shooting. This is I suppose much like how Special Orders work in Battlefleet Gothic, and would I guess blend in quite nicely with the existing Leadership special rule. Perhaps infanct this is what 'Platoon Drill' is as has previously been rumoured.
Secondly, the Studio are apparently very much aware of the issue that Guard can have with Annilation Missions given that at present a full Guard Platoon might give away as many as 7 Kill Points for comparable points too perhaps 3 Kill Points in many other armies. One proposed solution under consideration is a literal reversal of the Space Marines Combat Squads rule, except under the Guard version a Platoon normally of seperate units may at the start of the game elect to form one BIG unit. I'm not entirely sure how useful a solution this really is at the moment, certainly at first glance it sounds great, but such a move would tie all those squads together with no option to split their firepower not to mention the potential for the whole unit to be locked in one combat.
Anyway, thats the new bits, while I'm at it in this post I'll just summarise briefly some of the other rumours which have emerged - a liberal dose salt is advised (with the above as well).
Codex Imperial Guard:
-Released ~April 2009
-Docturines Gone
-"Much Love" for all three Branches of the Imperial Guard, Infantry, Armour and Artillery
-Additional Special Characters added to unlock special rules etc
-Leman Russ Squadrons/Platoons
-Rules allowing Russes to move and fire all weapons
-30pt Price Drop on Chimera inc. basic weapons fit (http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/pdf/ia2-update.pdf)
-New Special Rules for Chimera, Armoured Firebase & Mobile Command Unit (http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/pdf/ia2-update.pdf)
-In the region of 30 Variants of Vehicles - presumeably this relates to weapons fits
-Infantry Platoon of 45 Guardsmen in the region of 200pts
-Possible attachment to Infantry Platoons of other units such as Tanks
-Platoon Drill allowing squads of a single Platoon too negate the 4+ cover save cofferred by shooting through friendly units from their own platoon.
Model Releases:
-Recut and updated all plastic: Leman Russ (inc. variants such as Demolisher on sprue), Chimera, Helhound (possibly in one kit)
-Plastic Command Squad
-Plastic Storm Troopers
-Plastic Valkyerie
So whats new?
Well through a good friend who recently spent a lengthy amount of time with a senior member of the design studio I've gleemed two potential rules which were mentioned and presumeably then have at least been considered for the new codex.
Firstly is some form of 'Special Orders', the jist of this is that Officers allow Guardsmen to carry out some form of check (presumeably leadership), this then grants them a bonus in a specific action, the example I was given being a bonus in shooting. This is I suppose much like how Special Orders work in Battlefleet Gothic, and would I guess blend in quite nicely with the existing Leadership special rule. Perhaps infanct this is what 'Platoon Drill' is as has previously been rumoured.
Secondly, the Studio are apparently very much aware of the issue that Guard can have with Annilation Missions given that at present a full Guard Platoon might give away as many as 7 Kill Points for comparable points too perhaps 3 Kill Points in many other armies. One proposed solution under consideration is a literal reversal of the Space Marines Combat Squads rule, except under the Guard version a Platoon normally of seperate units may at the start of the game elect to form one BIG unit. I'm not entirely sure how useful a solution this really is at the moment, certainly at first glance it sounds great, but such a move would tie all those squads together with no option to split their firepower not to mention the potential for the whole unit to be locked in one combat.
Anyway, thats the new bits, while I'm at it in this post I'll just summarise briefly some of the other rumours which have emerged - a liberal dose salt is advised (with the above as well).
Codex Imperial Guard:
-Released ~April 2009
-Docturines Gone
-"Much Love" for all three Branches of the Imperial Guard, Infantry, Armour and Artillery
-Additional Special Characters added to unlock special rules etc
-Leman Russ Squadrons/Platoons
-Rules allowing Russes to move and fire all weapons
-30pt Price Drop on Chimera inc. basic weapons fit (http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/pdf/ia2-update.pdf)
-New Special Rules for Chimera, Armoured Firebase & Mobile Command Unit (http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/pdf/ia2-update.pdf)
-In the region of 30 Variants of Vehicles - presumeably this relates to weapons fits
-Infantry Platoon of 45 Guardsmen in the region of 200pts
-Possible attachment to Infantry Platoons of other units such as Tanks
-Platoon Drill allowing squads of a single Platoon too negate the 4+ cover save cofferred by shooting through friendly units from their own platoon.
Model Releases:
-Recut and updated all plastic: Leman Russ (inc. variants such as Demolisher on sprue), Chimera, Helhound (possibly in one kit)
-Plastic Command Squad
-Plastic Storm Troopers
-Plastic Valkyerie
Wednesday, 12 November 2008
UK 40k Grand Tournament Heat 2 2008
Well it's been and gone for another year, I'll try and sum up my experiences, hell I even actually managed a few pictures this year(!) during some of my games, but as always with these things I make apologiese in advance because I have a terrible head for names!
For this years event I went up as part of the Exeter Inquisition Team, my local GCN Club based at the Exeter GW Store, meeting 6-10pm every Tuesday (shameless plug), 6 of us made the journey including Jonathan & Tim (Tritessa) both with Daemons, James (lomo) with Tau, Marcus with Imperial Guard, Richard (darkangeldentist) with Dark Angels (he who eventually finished in 2nd place!) and of course myself with my Sisters.
First off my list then,
HQ
Canoness inc. Eviscerator, Bolt Pistol, Cloak of St.Aspira, Book of St.Lucius, Jump Pack @116pts
Elites
Celestian Squad inc. Veteran Sister Superior with Power Weapon, Bolt Pistol, Book of St. Lucius, 9 Celestians, Heavy Flamer, Flamer @173pts
Rhino inc. Extra Armour, Smoke Launcher @58pts
Celestian Squad inc. Veteran Sister Superior with Power Weapon, Bolt Pistol, Book of St. Lucius, 9 Celestians, Heavy Flamer, Flamer @173pts
Rhino inc. Extra Armour, Smoke Launcher @58pts
Troops
Battle Sister Squad inc. Veteran Sister Superior with Bolter, Book of St.Lucius, 9 Battle Sisters, Heavy Flamer, Meltagun @151pts
Rhino inc. Extra Armour, Smoke Launcher @58pts
Battle Sister Squad inc. Veteran Sister Superior with Bolter, Book of St.Lucius, 9 Battle Sisters, Heavy Flamer, Meltagun @151pts
Rhino inc. Extra Armour, Smoke Launcher @58pts
Fast Attack
Seraphim Squad inc. Veteran Sister Superior with Bolt Pistol, Eviscerator, Book of St.Lucius, 7 Seraphim, 2 Twin Hand Flamers @230pts
Heavy Support
Exorcist @135pts
Exorcist @135pts
So Mechanised Sisters, hard to shift with their Books of St.Lucius and pretty mobile, with some decent anti-tank, lots of anti-personel and a quite competent combat unit in the form of the Canoness and the Seraphim if needed as such. I'd post a whole army shot, but I'm afraid one does'nt currently exist - besides the fact the army is'nt really finished (I was still painting on the morning of the second day!) some parts took a bit of a tumble on the second day and now need some repairs, they will get done, eventually.
The big and often commented upon weakness of the list is the lack of scoring units given I've favoured a pair of Celestian units over more Battle Sisters, my reasoning for this is fairly simple, the Celetians as a faithful unit are ideal to spearhead my force, as a faithful unit they can take casualties which given my usual form would snipe off the unit Veteran with regular battle sisters, further I've found that their rule of always hitting on 3's against most enemies in close combat has a habbit of really comming in handy and swinging combats, they may well only be S3 but as any Guard player will tell you everything counts if theres enough of it! As a mechanised list the Rhino's also give up some easy kill points which has proven a pain at times, with 12 for the army as a whole.
The GT consists of six games played over two days, with roughly 150 gamers taing part and all games after the first being played against the next nearest ranked player (so 1st & 2nd play, 3rd & 4th play etc.)
Game 1 - Annilation, Dawn of War
Played against a balanced Chaos Space Marine list including a Lash Prince, two units of Obliterators, a unit of Plague Marines in a Rhino, a unit of Marines in a Rhino, a unit of Noise Marines, and a Defiller.
The first game saw my full force arrive on turn one, jumping on the isolated Daemon Prince and cutting him down in one go with massed bolters. The majority of my Infantry and the Seraphim then set upon his mounted Infantry and their Transports proving easily upto the job with minor losses, the Exorcists picking on his vehicles with great success. A unit of Celestians however were overwealmed by the Noise Marines on one flank, a unit which proved a real thorn in my side right through to the end. However it was too little too late, he was left with a Rhino backed into one corner, the Noise Marines and one unit of Obliterator's, leaving me with a win for 6VP's to 3.
Game 2 - Capture and Control, Pitched Battle
Played against a Marine army with Kantor, a unit of Sternguard in a Drop Pod, a unit of Terminators, two units of Tactical Marines, a Landraider and a Vindicator.
I deployed with all but one unit of Sisters, with the Canoness, Seraphim, a unit if Sisters and Celestians heading for his objective which was guarded by Kantor in the Landraider with the Terminators, the Vindicator and one Tactical Squad in Combat Squads, with two other Combat Squads on the other flank. Things initially went pretty well with the Celestians dealing with a Tactical Squad, the Seraphim and Canoness the Landraider, second Combat Squad and Vindicator. The Stern Guard arrived, split into Combat Squads but failed to shift the Celestians who proceaded to take out one Combat Squad before being destroyed themselves. The Exorcists meanwhile dealt with one of the other Combat Squads. The unit of Battle Sisters in reserve arrived finishing off the Sternguard, while combat continued with the Canoness and remaining Seraphim facing down the Terminators - I came off worst here but with no scoring units left to either of us there it did'nt really matter. The three remaining Tactical marines of his last Combat Squad on the other flank arrived to combat the Battle Sisters, forced and morale check and laughed as they ran off - I was'nt quite so amused, as it left him with one objective to none and then the game ended. I think my most disappointing result, as I really thought I had it in the bag until the last few rolls of the dice, that said though I really take my hat off to my opponent, I had in my mind him on the ropes and he pulled through by not giving up on the mission objectives, just how it should be played, an excellent game.
Game 3 - Annilation, Pitched Battle
Played against a Marine army including Khan, a Chaplain, 3 units of Space Marine Bikers, an Attack Bike, a unit of Terminators, a Whirlwind, Vindicator and Landspeeder.
My biggest regret of the weekend was not getting a picture of this game as his army arrived, everything outflanked, with everything bar the Landspeeder arriving on turn 2 and everything but the Vindicator on one flank, all those bikers arriving together was a damn impressive and quite terrifying sight - I certainly did'nt believe I had too much of a chance hacing played against Ravenwing a great deal. I'd circled my forces in the center of my deployment zone ready to react to whichever side he arrived on, as they turned up one squad of the Celestians acted as a speed bump to give me a chance to muster for my main resistance while the Canoness and Seraphim went after and dispatched the Terminator's. The Celestians were butchered by the Chaplains unit while the Canones and Seraphim were set upon by the Khan and his unit initiating a combat which would go on for almost the duration of the game. The remaining Celestians annilated the smallest Biker Squadron before moving to aid the Seraphim, while the Exorcists and Battle Sisters set about the Chaplains unit, initially with little success another unit of Battle Sisters paying the price. However the following turn saw things go more my way, the Chaplain and last biker being destroyed by Exorcist fire while the last of the Khans Bikers were cut down - in exchange for the last of my Celestians - leaving it a single combat between Khan and Canoness. The next turn saw the Khan cut down, the Vindicator destroyed by the Exorcist and Landspeeder shaken by the combined fire of my Rhino's, which skipped off out of site under covering fire from the Whirlwind which had spent the game mostly shaking my Rhino's due to the proximety of his bikes to my infantry. The result was an unexpected win to me.
Game 4 - Capture and Control,
Played against a Marine army with Shrike, a Terminator Squad in a Landraider, three Tactical Squads in Drop Pods and an Assault Squad.
This was quite an interesting one, I was given first turn and as his army started in reserve. I deployed with all but a squad of Sisters on one flank, intending to push forward with everything on his objective while the Exorcists and the Ssister in reserve held my own, the Canoness and Seraphim acting as flank guard against Shrike and his Assault Squad if they arrived in the right place. The first part of the plan went well, I dealt fairly effectively with the first two tactical squads, and the Canoness with the help of some Faith split Shrike in half when he arrived on flank. However at that point things started to go wrong, my squads being whittled down and the Canoness taking a Powerfist to the face - the couple of Assault Marines left then proceading to chase off a full Celestian unit which were readying to take on the Terminators with Divine Guidance. However I still had two Battle Sister units, though both had taken casualties, in mobile Rhino's, one made it too his objective facing off against a Landraider, the other was caught and surrounded by assault marines and terminators before they could get to my objective. The result was a draw as he had nothing to take my objective with by the time the game ended and the Landraider proved resistant to a Meltagun shot at close range and my remaining Exorcist.
Game 5 - Seize Ground, Spearhead
Played against a Blood Angels force including Dante, 2 Venerable Dreadnoughts, 2 Vindicators, a pair of Tactical Squads (5 man) and a number of small Assault Squads I think 4 but I can't quite remember and a small Death Company.
This mission is not one that favours my army, luckily only three objectives were rolled up which gave me a fighting chance, we both went for a full deployment and squared off on opposite sides of some fairly restrictive terrain. The first couple of turns were spent largely manouvering to get into a good position, my plan was too pick off the small marine squads and Vindicators with the exorcists while the Canoness and Seraphim went for the Dreadnoughts, the first bit started to work, the second bit did'nt and Canoness taking a Powerfist to the face and the Seraphim failing to damage their opponent, there on in things really did'nt go my way, one Vindicator went down, as did the Tactical Marines, the Death Company and a couple of the Assault Squads, but my own casualties rose rapidly. I think that was largely down to solid play from my opponent and my own initially flawed plan, I should of Exorcised the Dreads instead. Anyway, I somehow managed to keep one Battle Sister Squad alive long enough to take one objective, a Rhino backed up by a Exorcist which had lost it's armament contesting another, I actually almost dared hope I could still pull off a win but my opponent was able to pull some contesting Battle Sisters off the remaining objective with a well planned assault move, in the end I scraped a draw which I'm not entirely convinced I deserved, defaintely from my point of view the hardest fought game of the weekend though.
Game 6 - Annilation, Pitched Battle
Played against Chaos Marines with a Sorceror, Chaos Lord, two Marine Squads in Rhino's, two units of Obliterator's, a Vindicator and a small Chosen unit.
Probably my favourite game of the weekend, we were both quite relaxed about the idea of qualifying at this point, though a win for either of us meant qualification. I stole the iniative which lead to an Infantry clash in the center, my sisters quickly annilating the majority of the marines with the aid of Divine Guidance, the Lord and Sorceror both succumbing to weight of numbers - and a Canoness who must surely have been suffering from Blood Rage! However just as things looked to be going my way Rhino's started exploding in style three in quick succession, each taking a handful of tightly packed sisters with them, a very effective game leveler. The Lord and a unit Champion proved stubborn enough too hold me up and bring the game into his favour, before two long I was down to a Rhino, some Celestians, the Canoness with one Seraphim an Exorcist and a couple of lone Battle Sisters trying not to get killed, while he had some Obliterator's, two Rhinos, and Vindicator the Celesitans became pinned when their Rhino was destroyed, while the Exorcist took out a unit of Obliterator's, realising I was just behind on KP's the Canoness elected to stand in the face of a Rhino Tank Shock... and got squished at which point the game ended, a total blood bath but a win to him 8KP's to 6 with a grand total of about 10 models left on the board between us.
So another year, finishing with 82points, 20points short of qualification given I'd chalked up a descent amount of Victory Points. Maybe a little disappointed to have come so close yet again, but as always seems to be the case my most enjoyable GT to date, the people were as ever great fun, courtious, the very model of how a hobbiest's should be, there were some excellent armies, with some inspiring conversions and superb paint jobs. Many people are put off by the percieved view that the GT's are the exclusive realm of WAAC Cheese Mongering Power Gamers, it's simply not the case - give it a go!
For this years event I went up as part of the Exeter Inquisition Team, my local GCN Club based at the Exeter GW Store, meeting 6-10pm every Tuesday (shameless plug), 6 of us made the journey including Jonathan & Tim (Tritessa) both with Daemons, James (lomo) with Tau, Marcus with Imperial Guard, Richard (darkangeldentist) with Dark Angels (he who eventually finished in 2nd place!) and of course myself with my Sisters.
First off my list then,
HQ
Canoness inc. Eviscerator, Bolt Pistol, Cloak of St.Aspira, Book of St.Lucius, Jump Pack @116pts
Elites
Celestian Squad inc. Veteran Sister Superior with Power Weapon, Bolt Pistol, Book of St. Lucius, 9 Celestians, Heavy Flamer, Flamer @173pts
Rhino inc. Extra Armour, Smoke Launcher @58pts
Celestian Squad inc. Veteran Sister Superior with Power Weapon, Bolt Pistol, Book of St. Lucius, 9 Celestians, Heavy Flamer, Flamer @173pts
Rhino inc. Extra Armour, Smoke Launcher @58pts
Troops
Battle Sister Squad inc. Veteran Sister Superior with Bolter, Book of St.Lucius, 9 Battle Sisters, Heavy Flamer, Meltagun @151pts
Rhino inc. Extra Armour, Smoke Launcher @58pts
Battle Sister Squad inc. Veteran Sister Superior with Bolter, Book of St.Lucius, 9 Battle Sisters, Heavy Flamer, Meltagun @151pts
Rhino inc. Extra Armour, Smoke Launcher @58pts
Fast Attack
Seraphim Squad inc. Veteran Sister Superior with Bolt Pistol, Eviscerator, Book of St.Lucius, 7 Seraphim, 2 Twin Hand Flamers @230pts
Heavy Support
Exorcist @135pts
Exorcist @135pts
So Mechanised Sisters, hard to shift with their Books of St.Lucius and pretty mobile, with some decent anti-tank, lots of anti-personel and a quite competent combat unit in the form of the Canoness and the Seraphim if needed as such. I'd post a whole army shot, but I'm afraid one does'nt currently exist - besides the fact the army is'nt really finished (I was still painting on the morning of the second day!) some parts took a bit of a tumble on the second day and now need some repairs, they will get done, eventually.
The big and often commented upon weakness of the list is the lack of scoring units given I've favoured a pair of Celestian units over more Battle Sisters, my reasoning for this is fairly simple, the Celetians as a faithful unit are ideal to spearhead my force, as a faithful unit they can take casualties which given my usual form would snipe off the unit Veteran with regular battle sisters, further I've found that their rule of always hitting on 3's against most enemies in close combat has a habbit of really comming in handy and swinging combats, they may well only be S3 but as any Guard player will tell you everything counts if theres enough of it! As a mechanised list the Rhino's also give up some easy kill points which has proven a pain at times, with 12 for the army as a whole.
The GT consists of six games played over two days, with roughly 150 gamers taing part and all games after the first being played against the next nearest ranked player (so 1st & 2nd play, 3rd & 4th play etc.)
Game 1 - Annilation, Dawn of War
Played against a balanced Chaos Space Marine list including a Lash Prince, two units of Obliterators, a unit of Plague Marines in a Rhino, a unit of Marines in a Rhino, a unit of Noise Marines, and a Defiller.
The first game saw my full force arrive on turn one, jumping on the isolated Daemon Prince and cutting him down in one go with massed bolters. The majority of my Infantry and the Seraphim then set upon his mounted Infantry and their Transports proving easily upto the job with minor losses, the Exorcists picking on his vehicles with great success. A unit of Celestians however were overwealmed by the Noise Marines on one flank, a unit which proved a real thorn in my side right through to the end. However it was too little too late, he was left with a Rhino backed into one corner, the Noise Marines and one unit of Obliterator's, leaving me with a win for 6VP's to 3.
Game 2 - Capture and Control, Pitched Battle
Played against a Marine army with Kantor, a unit of Sternguard in a Drop Pod, a unit of Terminators, two units of Tactical Marines, a Landraider and a Vindicator.
I deployed with all but one unit of Sisters, with the Canoness, Seraphim, a unit if Sisters and Celestians heading for his objective which was guarded by Kantor in the Landraider with the Terminators, the Vindicator and one Tactical Squad in Combat Squads, with two other Combat Squads on the other flank. Things initially went pretty well with the Celestians dealing with a Tactical Squad, the Seraphim and Canoness the Landraider, second Combat Squad and Vindicator. The Stern Guard arrived, split into Combat Squads but failed to shift the Celestians who proceaded to take out one Combat Squad before being destroyed themselves. The Exorcists meanwhile dealt with one of the other Combat Squads. The unit of Battle Sisters in reserve arrived finishing off the Sternguard, while combat continued with the Canoness and remaining Seraphim facing down the Terminators - I came off worst here but with no scoring units left to either of us there it did'nt really matter. The three remaining Tactical marines of his last Combat Squad on the other flank arrived to combat the Battle Sisters, forced and morale check and laughed as they ran off - I was'nt quite so amused, as it left him with one objective to none and then the game ended. I think my most disappointing result, as I really thought I had it in the bag until the last few rolls of the dice, that said though I really take my hat off to my opponent, I had in my mind him on the ropes and he pulled through by not giving up on the mission objectives, just how it should be played, an excellent game.
Game 3 - Annilation, Pitched Battle
Played against a Marine army including Khan, a Chaplain, 3 units of Space Marine Bikers, an Attack Bike, a unit of Terminators, a Whirlwind, Vindicator and Landspeeder.
My biggest regret of the weekend was not getting a picture of this game as his army arrived, everything outflanked, with everything bar the Landspeeder arriving on turn 2 and everything but the Vindicator on one flank, all those bikers arriving together was a damn impressive and quite terrifying sight - I certainly did'nt believe I had too much of a chance hacing played against Ravenwing a great deal. I'd circled my forces in the center of my deployment zone ready to react to whichever side he arrived on, as they turned up one squad of the Celestians acted as a speed bump to give me a chance to muster for my main resistance while the Canoness and Seraphim went after and dispatched the Terminator's. The Celestians were butchered by the Chaplains unit while the Canones and Seraphim were set upon by the Khan and his unit initiating a combat which would go on for almost the duration of the game. The remaining Celestians annilated the smallest Biker Squadron before moving to aid the Seraphim, while the Exorcists and Battle Sisters set about the Chaplains unit, initially with little success another unit of Battle Sisters paying the price. However the following turn saw things go more my way, the Chaplain and last biker being destroyed by Exorcist fire while the last of the Khans Bikers were cut down - in exchange for the last of my Celestians - leaving it a single combat between Khan and Canoness. The next turn saw the Khan cut down, the Vindicator destroyed by the Exorcist and Landspeeder shaken by the combined fire of my Rhino's, which skipped off out of site under covering fire from the Whirlwind which had spent the game mostly shaking my Rhino's due to the proximety of his bikes to my infantry. The result was an unexpected win to me.
Game 4 - Capture and Control,
Played against a Marine army with Shrike, a Terminator Squad in a Landraider, three Tactical Squads in Drop Pods and an Assault Squad.
This was quite an interesting one, I was given first turn and as his army started in reserve. I deployed with all but a squad of Sisters on one flank, intending to push forward with everything on his objective while the Exorcists and the Ssister in reserve held my own, the Canoness and Seraphim acting as flank guard against Shrike and his Assault Squad if they arrived in the right place. The first part of the plan went well, I dealt fairly effectively with the first two tactical squads, and the Canoness with the help of some Faith split Shrike in half when he arrived on flank. However at that point things started to go wrong, my squads being whittled down and the Canoness taking a Powerfist to the face - the couple of Assault Marines left then proceading to chase off a full Celestian unit which were readying to take on the Terminators with Divine Guidance. However I still had two Battle Sister units, though both had taken casualties, in mobile Rhino's, one made it too his objective facing off against a Landraider, the other was caught and surrounded by assault marines and terminators before they could get to my objective. The result was a draw as he had nothing to take my objective with by the time the game ended and the Landraider proved resistant to a Meltagun shot at close range and my remaining Exorcist.
Game 5 - Seize Ground, Spearhead
Played against a Blood Angels force including Dante, 2 Venerable Dreadnoughts, 2 Vindicators, a pair of Tactical Squads (5 man) and a number of small Assault Squads I think 4 but I can't quite remember and a small Death Company.
This mission is not one that favours my army, luckily only three objectives were rolled up which gave me a fighting chance, we both went for a full deployment and squared off on opposite sides of some fairly restrictive terrain. The first couple of turns were spent largely manouvering to get into a good position, my plan was too pick off the small marine squads and Vindicators with the exorcists while the Canoness and Seraphim went for the Dreadnoughts, the first bit started to work, the second bit did'nt and Canoness taking a Powerfist to the face and the Seraphim failing to damage their opponent, there on in things really did'nt go my way, one Vindicator went down, as did the Tactical Marines, the Death Company and a couple of the Assault Squads, but my own casualties rose rapidly. I think that was largely down to solid play from my opponent and my own initially flawed plan, I should of Exorcised the Dreads instead. Anyway, I somehow managed to keep one Battle Sister Squad alive long enough to take one objective, a Rhino backed up by a Exorcist which had lost it's armament contesting another, I actually almost dared hope I could still pull off a win but my opponent was able to pull some contesting Battle Sisters off the remaining objective with a well planned assault move, in the end I scraped a draw which I'm not entirely convinced I deserved, defaintely from my point of view the hardest fought game of the weekend though.
Game 6 - Annilation, Pitched Battle
Played against Chaos Marines with a Sorceror, Chaos Lord, two Marine Squads in Rhino's, two units of Obliterator's, a Vindicator and a small Chosen unit.
Probably my favourite game of the weekend, we were both quite relaxed about the idea of qualifying at this point, though a win for either of us meant qualification. I stole the iniative which lead to an Infantry clash in the center, my sisters quickly annilating the majority of the marines with the aid of Divine Guidance, the Lord and Sorceror both succumbing to weight of numbers - and a Canoness who must surely have been suffering from Blood Rage! However just as things looked to be going my way Rhino's started exploding in style three in quick succession, each taking a handful of tightly packed sisters with them, a very effective game leveler. The Lord and a unit Champion proved stubborn enough too hold me up and bring the game into his favour, before two long I was down to a Rhino, some Celestians, the Canoness with one Seraphim an Exorcist and a couple of lone Battle Sisters trying not to get killed, while he had some Obliterator's, two Rhinos, and Vindicator the Celesitans became pinned when their Rhino was destroyed, while the Exorcist took out a unit of Obliterator's, realising I was just behind on KP's the Canoness elected to stand in the face of a Rhino Tank Shock... and got squished at which point the game ended, a total blood bath but a win to him 8KP's to 6 with a grand total of about 10 models left on the board between us.
So another year, finishing with 82points, 20points short of qualification given I'd chalked up a descent amount of Victory Points. Maybe a little disappointed to have come so close yet again, but as always seems to be the case my most enjoyable GT to date, the people were as ever great fun, courtious, the very model of how a hobbiest's should be, there were some excellent armies, with some inspiring conversions and superb paint jobs. Many people are put off by the percieved view that the GT's are the exclusive realm of WAAC Cheese Mongering Power Gamers, it's simply not the case - give it a go!
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