And so it is here once again, Christmas!
There's not much more to say then that for now, beyond that I hope all have a healthy and enjoyable Christmas!
There are more updates on the way from various projects, Praetorian Heads and Ogryns especially however, they will however be sporadic for a while as I'm currently in the process of moving into a new apartment.
Thursday 24 December 2009
Thursday 10 December 2009
Tournament Report - UK GT Heat 3 (Part 2)
Day two was make or break time, qualification on Generalshop tends to require a minimum of 102 Game Points with a high number of Victory Points, that equates to a minimum of 3 Wins and a Draw out of the six games. A few of Exeter Inquisition players were out of the running, a couple were very well place with at least a couple of wins, so far I sat on 41 Game Points with a win, a loss and a draw.
Game 4 -
Colin Tough #84 - Eldar - Dawn of War, Seize Ground
Colin's army on the face of it was'nt the most nasty out there, Eldrad, a unit of Fire Dragons, two units of Warp Spiders, an Avatar, Wraithlord, a Falcon Grav Tank, and 3 units of 3 Jet Bikes - which of course are the objective takers. He deployed just the Avatar with all but the Jet Bikes comming on turn 1, I meanwhile deployed a combined squad in the center, the Anti-Tank Squad and Command Squad with everything every arriving turn 1 apart from the Roughriders.
I admit I felt quite confident at first, believing I could deal with the Avatar, Wraithlord and the Warp Spiders without too much pain, though accepting that the Falcon with Eldrad and Fire Dragons would cause me some hurt - leaving me to deal with the Bikes. I was rather wrong.
A poor decision in deploying the big Infantry Squad lead to them getting assaulted by the Avatar without it having to take a turn of shooting in full few of my firebase with almost inevitable consequences on the left flank. Meanwhile the Warp Spiders with a perfect Warp Jump made cover by the skin of their teeth also denying me vital shots and giving him cover saves against my big guns, I took a few down but nothing like enough. The Falcon and Fire Dragons did'nt prove quite as painful as I'd feared initially, though the Veterans I'd sent in the hope of stopping them paid a high price on my right, Eldrad fustrated me at every turn with Fortune and Doom meanwhile. With the core of my Firebase disintergrating it became a battle for survival more then anything else, and I did manage to not quite get tabled by a whisker, but was powerless to stop the Jet Bikes from taking the majority of the objectives.
Colin made intelligent use of cover and reserves, which when combined with a few good dice at the right time and a bad deployment choice of my part gave him control of the game almost from the second turn onwards resulting in a well deserved win. It goes to show that a sloppy deployment and a bit of overconfidence can really hurt when the pieces fall into place to take advantage of it, definately a lesson worth learning. He went on to finish 29th overal.
Game 5 -
Ken Goodall #58 - Space Marines - Spearhead, Capture & Control
Last year I came up against Khan on a Bike with my Sisters, and there's a player at the club who uses a White Scar Bike army to devastating effect, until this game I've never seen him used on foot, but with the units in the army I knew this was going to be a tough one. As well as Khan Ken's army included a Librarian, a Scout Squad, a Tactucal Squad with a Razorback, a Terminator Assault Squad in a Landraider Redeemer, a Vanguard Veteran Squad in a Razorback and a small Bike unit with a Multi-Melta Attack Bike.
The Scouts and the Tactical Squad deployed, combat squading with one unit in the Razorback the other in cover on his objective, I carefully placed my own objective as far in the center as I could away from the coming outflank move, using a couple of Infantry Squads to disrupt any assault while my firebase held the center, the Roughriders and Valkyrie with it's Veterans doing in reserve the later outflanking.
My first couple of turns were spent tackling his deployed force, but with good cover I caused few casualties though the Razorback was immobilised and weapon destroyed, then the Landraider showed up with the Terminators and Librarian. The Librarian set about the shielding squads while the Landraider pushed forward - in a commedy which was set to last two or three turns the Librarian fluffed his rolls though I was unable to do anything in return also. In the following turn the Bikes arrived on the other flank threatening my Leman Russ with the Khan and Vanguard Veterans in their Razorback in my deployment zone, while the Terminators set about an infantry squad wiping them out in short order but leaving them exposed. The Valkyrie arrived and deployed it's Veterans to deal with the Bikes which is did quite successfully - bar the Attack Bike which was left on one wound, the Vendetta Veterans disembarked and set upon the Landraider stunning it while the rest of the army laid into the Terminators just about bringing them down with the Roughriders finishing the job, these then took up a defensive position around the firebase to shield them from charge while aided by Khan and the Vanguard Veterans the Librarian was saved from the ongoing combats in which he'd done so poorly - but then so had I!
After a turn hiding behind the Landraider - which was still alive thanks to my inability to roll anything but 1's when penetrating it - the Khan, Librarian and Vanguard Veterans now set about my Firebase, crucially with a combat which continued into my turn, the Librarian was brought down as were a couple of the Vanguard but I just did'nt have enough bodies to halt them - they slowly munched their way forward to my objective, which they eventually contested with the Landraider before finally wiping out all my scoring units in that part of the battlefield. Essentially this left my only chance at a win in dropping the Valkyrie borne Veteran Squad onto his objective and clearing it of marines, unfortuantely there were now two squads there, the depleated first combat squad (one marine) and the fresh second one which had disembarked from their Razorback whiel I'd be concentrating on my objective. The Veterans got in place on turn 5 contesting the objective but just could'nt clear the marines in cover and were promptly thrown back in assault on turn 6 leaving Ken holding his objective and with me unable to contest anything.
As it went the game could easily have gone the other way if I'd managed to pop the Landraider with two turns of twin-linked Meltagun fire - that failiure really did cost me dearly and it kept troops engaged which could have been better employed against his Vanguard Veterans, the two Redeemer Flamers were just too dangous too not tackle. I probably should of saved the Roughriders as well for the Vanguard Veterans and Khan instead of finishing of the Terminators, I'd of had more chance of dealing with those two with numbers then I did of dealing with the former. I certainly can't fault anything Ken did, he played it flawlessly to my eyes and was an utter gentleman about it. There's always a little bit of antipcation about the game which seals the fate of qualifying or not as it can bring out the worst in a gamer, Ken however was an absolute pleasure to play against. Having won this game however regretfully he did'nt manage to qualify finishing 90th after losing his last game.
Game 6 -
Darren #72 - Space Marines - Pitched Battle, Annilation
I've been on the low tables before for game 6, so it's not unfamiliar territory to me at all - and I can honestly say I love the games that take place here. With both players knowing that they can't qualify it seems to lead to games which are purely about the fun of it with no other motivation. It's lead to situations like when I played an all infantry Space Wolf list a few years ago with Gun Line Guard, I could of sat back and annilated him - I did'nt, I assaulted him instead!
My last game saw me playing against Darren with his Relicator's Scout force, the army was very much a work in progress but it's got a lot of potential for a fine army once the painting is finished with lots of unique conversions and ideas, such as a disturbingly biological Powerfist on one Scout Sergeant and the Legion of the Damned being used to count as Relictors Brethen lost in the warp, their souls drawn to fight for the chapter once more by a Librarian. What followed was the most enojoyable game of the weekend.
Darren's army consisted of three big units of Scouts, two aggressive ones one Snipers with Sergeant Telion, there was also the Librarian with the Legion of the Damned, a Scout Bike a Thunderfire Cannon and Whirlwind.
I deployed a combined infantry squad in the building in my deployment zone, flanked by armour, the rest of my infantry were deployed mostly on the left flank where there was lots of cover, with a smaller force in the center, Valkyrie went into reserve to outflank, the Roughriders just in reserve. He deployed a Thunderfire Cannon, the Sniper Scout Squad Vindicator and Whirlwind, the rest outflanked apart from the Librarian and Legion of the Damned which were to deep strike. Jokingly at the start I told Darren that my aim for the game was to finish with a regular Guard Infantry Squad in his deployment zone - without Air Transport.
The first act of the game saw cluster mines from the Scout Bikers cause some hurt to the combined infantry squad in the building - should of seen it comming, but they held on, then my Infantry advanced on the left while my center held bar one infantry which pushed forward, the Vendetta took out the Thunderfire Cannon the Anti-Tank Squad the Whirlwind and everything else started firing at the Sniper Scouts felling a couple.
My second turn began quickly with my left flank infantry now about half way across the board, the Sniper Scouts went to ground from where I simple could'nt shift them however the Vindicator was popped by the Vendetta.
In Darrens turn the majority of his Scouts on foot showed up, and too a man arrived on the right hand side of the table - where there was nothing, neither cover nore Guardsmen. That would simple become a shooting gallery with a predictable result, so I suggested to him we made a game of it and agreed that they all infact arrived on the left flank where the terrain and guardsmen were both plentiful! Game on. The Scouts quickly ripped through the majority of my infantry with only a single full strength squad and a few survivors left.
Then it was the turn of the (Air) Cavalry, the Valkyrie arrived on the left flank deployed it's Veterans and the Vendetta formed up alongside it also dropping it's Veterans into the fray, the survivors of the infantry meanwhile formed up to take on another Scout Squad and the Demolisher brought it's guns to bear on a unit of Scout Bikers - a lone Guard infantry squad in the center was now 3/4 of the way across the board. The Sniper Scouts remained pinned while my infantry did it's work, one squad was almost wiped out by the Veterans, another badly mauled by the regular infantry and the Demolisher lived upto it's name. I then assaulted with one mauled infantry squad into one of the damaged scout units, with casulaties on both sides resulting in a drawn combat. In his turn the Legion of the Damned arrived stunning and immobiling the Demolisher, while the remaining Scount squad not enaged in combat wiped out one of the Veteran units, in return his other remaining scout squad already locked in combat was finished off with some lucky rolls - they made a line straight for the other squad.
The Roughriders arrived, assaulting and killing one Legionarrie, a couple more felled by guns before being wiped out in return, as the Leman Russ and some remaining unegaged infantry manouvered to get line of sight to them, the remaining Veterans were bolstered by the victorious Infantry Squad meanwhile finished off the Scouts. Finally the infantry squad in the center assaulted the Sniper Scouts dragging their Lascannon behind them. The Legion of the Damned then assaulted the Demolisher finishing it off, while elsewhere combat and movement continued.
My turn saw lots of movement and I aimed to bring mroe guns to bear on the Legion of the Damned, with only a few remaining. I was confident next turn would see their demise however, while combat continued against the Sniper Scouts. Of course now the Librarian used the Gate to move the Legion of the Damned to attack the Valkyrie from behind, it promptly blew up killing the last of the Infantry Squad which had seen the demise of two units of scouts in combat, however in the same turn the Sniper Scouts were finished off, leaving me with an infantry squad (still pulling it's Lascannon along). In my final turn the last of the Legion of the Damned and the Librarian fell leaving the field to the Guard.
And with that fantasticly fun last game (much kudos to Darren!) I failed to qualify on Generalship, my final place was ranked as 124th, however that is'nt quite right as they entered the results for my last game in reverse recording it as a defeat for me, which means in fact it should have been something around 86th rather then Darren as was recorded in the final results sheet (no idea on what my final VPs would have been had they been correctly entered, I'd esimate around 5000VPs though given I tabled or almost tabled two opponents (3000VPs) and averaged I estimate about 500VPs minimum in the other four games.
Except it was'nt quite the end of it.
At lunch on the first day everyone sets out their armies so the judges can view them and for selection of the Best Army nominations, except this year before the first game on day two I was thrilled when they announced my name amongst those selected as one of the 8 nominations. The public vote took place secretly following lunch on the second day with 5 places available for qualification for those who recieved the most votes.
I still did'nt expect to qualify however as I felt that many of the other armies nominated were techniclly more advanced when it came to painting and would thus get more of the vote. However much to my delight I was one of the six nominated who recieved qualification based on the Best Army Public Vote results (I'm assuming as it's only supposed to be five that two must have been drawn in votes), though I've no idea of the rankings other then that Best Army Award went to a brilliant Traitor Guard army. So that means I'll be at this years Throne of Skulls Final in March - it's gonna be Guard, but we'll have to see what the list itself will shape up as yet!
Game 4 -
Colin Tough #84 - Eldar - Dawn of War, Seize Ground
Colin's army on the face of it was'nt the most nasty out there, Eldrad, a unit of Fire Dragons, two units of Warp Spiders, an Avatar, Wraithlord, a Falcon Grav Tank, and 3 units of 3 Jet Bikes - which of course are the objective takers. He deployed just the Avatar with all but the Jet Bikes comming on turn 1, I meanwhile deployed a combined squad in the center, the Anti-Tank Squad and Command Squad with everything every arriving turn 1 apart from the Roughriders.
I admit I felt quite confident at first, believing I could deal with the Avatar, Wraithlord and the Warp Spiders without too much pain, though accepting that the Falcon with Eldrad and Fire Dragons would cause me some hurt - leaving me to deal with the Bikes. I was rather wrong.
A poor decision in deploying the big Infantry Squad lead to them getting assaulted by the Avatar without it having to take a turn of shooting in full few of my firebase with almost inevitable consequences on the left flank. Meanwhile the Warp Spiders with a perfect Warp Jump made cover by the skin of their teeth also denying me vital shots and giving him cover saves against my big guns, I took a few down but nothing like enough. The Falcon and Fire Dragons did'nt prove quite as painful as I'd feared initially, though the Veterans I'd sent in the hope of stopping them paid a high price on my right, Eldrad fustrated me at every turn with Fortune and Doom meanwhile. With the core of my Firebase disintergrating it became a battle for survival more then anything else, and I did manage to not quite get tabled by a whisker, but was powerless to stop the Jet Bikes from taking the majority of the objectives.
Colin made intelligent use of cover and reserves, which when combined with a few good dice at the right time and a bad deployment choice of my part gave him control of the game almost from the second turn onwards resulting in a well deserved win. It goes to show that a sloppy deployment and a bit of overconfidence can really hurt when the pieces fall into place to take advantage of it, definately a lesson worth learning. He went on to finish 29th overal.
Game 5 -
Ken Goodall #58 - Space Marines - Spearhead, Capture & Control
Last year I came up against Khan on a Bike with my Sisters, and there's a player at the club who uses a White Scar Bike army to devastating effect, until this game I've never seen him used on foot, but with the units in the army I knew this was going to be a tough one. As well as Khan Ken's army included a Librarian, a Scout Squad, a Tactucal Squad with a Razorback, a Terminator Assault Squad in a Landraider Redeemer, a Vanguard Veteran Squad in a Razorback and a small Bike unit with a Multi-Melta Attack Bike.
The Scouts and the Tactical Squad deployed, combat squading with one unit in the Razorback the other in cover on his objective, I carefully placed my own objective as far in the center as I could away from the coming outflank move, using a couple of Infantry Squads to disrupt any assault while my firebase held the center, the Roughriders and Valkyrie with it's Veterans doing in reserve the later outflanking.
My first couple of turns were spent tackling his deployed force, but with good cover I caused few casualties though the Razorback was immobilised and weapon destroyed, then the Landraider showed up with the Terminators and Librarian. The Librarian set about the shielding squads while the Landraider pushed forward - in a commedy which was set to last two or three turns the Librarian fluffed his rolls though I was unable to do anything in return also. In the following turn the Bikes arrived on the other flank threatening my Leman Russ with the Khan and Vanguard Veterans in their Razorback in my deployment zone, while the Terminators set about an infantry squad wiping them out in short order but leaving them exposed. The Valkyrie arrived and deployed it's Veterans to deal with the Bikes which is did quite successfully - bar the Attack Bike which was left on one wound, the Vendetta Veterans disembarked and set upon the Landraider stunning it while the rest of the army laid into the Terminators just about bringing them down with the Roughriders finishing the job, these then took up a defensive position around the firebase to shield them from charge while aided by Khan and the Vanguard Veterans the Librarian was saved from the ongoing combats in which he'd done so poorly - but then so had I!
After a turn hiding behind the Landraider - which was still alive thanks to my inability to roll anything but 1's when penetrating it - the Khan, Librarian and Vanguard Veterans now set about my Firebase, crucially with a combat which continued into my turn, the Librarian was brought down as were a couple of the Vanguard but I just did'nt have enough bodies to halt them - they slowly munched their way forward to my objective, which they eventually contested with the Landraider before finally wiping out all my scoring units in that part of the battlefield. Essentially this left my only chance at a win in dropping the Valkyrie borne Veteran Squad onto his objective and clearing it of marines, unfortuantely there were now two squads there, the depleated first combat squad (one marine) and the fresh second one which had disembarked from their Razorback whiel I'd be concentrating on my objective. The Veterans got in place on turn 5 contesting the objective but just could'nt clear the marines in cover and were promptly thrown back in assault on turn 6 leaving Ken holding his objective and with me unable to contest anything.
As it went the game could easily have gone the other way if I'd managed to pop the Landraider with two turns of twin-linked Meltagun fire - that failiure really did cost me dearly and it kept troops engaged which could have been better employed against his Vanguard Veterans, the two Redeemer Flamers were just too dangous too not tackle. I probably should of saved the Roughriders as well for the Vanguard Veterans and Khan instead of finishing of the Terminators, I'd of had more chance of dealing with those two with numbers then I did of dealing with the former. I certainly can't fault anything Ken did, he played it flawlessly to my eyes and was an utter gentleman about it. There's always a little bit of antipcation about the game which seals the fate of qualifying or not as it can bring out the worst in a gamer, Ken however was an absolute pleasure to play against. Having won this game however regretfully he did'nt manage to qualify finishing 90th after losing his last game.
Game 6 -
Darren #72 - Space Marines - Pitched Battle, Annilation
I've been on the low tables before for game 6, so it's not unfamiliar territory to me at all - and I can honestly say I love the games that take place here. With both players knowing that they can't qualify it seems to lead to games which are purely about the fun of it with no other motivation. It's lead to situations like when I played an all infantry Space Wolf list a few years ago with Gun Line Guard, I could of sat back and annilated him - I did'nt, I assaulted him instead!
My last game saw me playing against Darren with his Relicator's Scout force, the army was very much a work in progress but it's got a lot of potential for a fine army once the painting is finished with lots of unique conversions and ideas, such as a disturbingly biological Powerfist on one Scout Sergeant and the Legion of the Damned being used to count as Relictors Brethen lost in the warp, their souls drawn to fight for the chapter once more by a Librarian. What followed was the most enojoyable game of the weekend.
Darren's army consisted of three big units of Scouts, two aggressive ones one Snipers with Sergeant Telion, there was also the Librarian with the Legion of the Damned, a Scout Bike a Thunderfire Cannon and Whirlwind.
I deployed a combined infantry squad in the building in my deployment zone, flanked by armour, the rest of my infantry were deployed mostly on the left flank where there was lots of cover, with a smaller force in the center, Valkyrie went into reserve to outflank, the Roughriders just in reserve. He deployed a Thunderfire Cannon, the Sniper Scout Squad Vindicator and Whirlwind, the rest outflanked apart from the Librarian and Legion of the Damned which were to deep strike. Jokingly at the start I told Darren that my aim for the game was to finish with a regular Guard Infantry Squad in his deployment zone - without Air Transport.
The first act of the game saw cluster mines from the Scout Bikers cause some hurt to the combined infantry squad in the building - should of seen it comming, but they held on, then my Infantry advanced on the left while my center held bar one infantry which pushed forward, the Vendetta took out the Thunderfire Cannon the Anti-Tank Squad the Whirlwind and everything else started firing at the Sniper Scouts felling a couple.
My second turn began quickly with my left flank infantry now about half way across the board, the Sniper Scouts went to ground from where I simple could'nt shift them however the Vindicator was popped by the Vendetta.
In Darrens turn the majority of his Scouts on foot showed up, and too a man arrived on the right hand side of the table - where there was nothing, neither cover nore Guardsmen. That would simple become a shooting gallery with a predictable result, so I suggested to him we made a game of it and agreed that they all infact arrived on the left flank where the terrain and guardsmen were both plentiful! Game on. The Scouts quickly ripped through the majority of my infantry with only a single full strength squad and a few survivors left.
Then it was the turn of the (Air) Cavalry, the Valkyrie arrived on the left flank deployed it's Veterans and the Vendetta formed up alongside it also dropping it's Veterans into the fray, the survivors of the infantry meanwhile formed up to take on another Scout Squad and the Demolisher brought it's guns to bear on a unit of Scout Bikers - a lone Guard infantry squad in the center was now 3/4 of the way across the board. The Sniper Scouts remained pinned while my infantry did it's work, one squad was almost wiped out by the Veterans, another badly mauled by the regular infantry and the Demolisher lived upto it's name. I then assaulted with one mauled infantry squad into one of the damaged scout units, with casulaties on both sides resulting in a drawn combat. In his turn the Legion of the Damned arrived stunning and immobiling the Demolisher, while the remaining Scount squad not enaged in combat wiped out one of the Veteran units, in return his other remaining scout squad already locked in combat was finished off with some lucky rolls - they made a line straight for the other squad.
The Roughriders arrived, assaulting and killing one Legionarrie, a couple more felled by guns before being wiped out in return, as the Leman Russ and some remaining unegaged infantry manouvered to get line of sight to them, the remaining Veterans were bolstered by the victorious Infantry Squad meanwhile finished off the Scouts. Finally the infantry squad in the center assaulted the Sniper Scouts dragging their Lascannon behind them. The Legion of the Damned then assaulted the Demolisher finishing it off, while elsewhere combat and movement continued.
My turn saw lots of movement and I aimed to bring mroe guns to bear on the Legion of the Damned, with only a few remaining. I was confident next turn would see their demise however, while combat continued against the Sniper Scouts. Of course now the Librarian used the Gate to move the Legion of the Damned to attack the Valkyrie from behind, it promptly blew up killing the last of the Infantry Squad which had seen the demise of two units of scouts in combat, however in the same turn the Sniper Scouts were finished off, leaving me with an infantry squad (still pulling it's Lascannon along). In my final turn the last of the Legion of the Damned and the Librarian fell leaving the field to the Guard.
And with that fantasticly fun last game (much kudos to Darren!) I failed to qualify on Generalship, my final place was ranked as 124th, however that is'nt quite right as they entered the results for my last game in reverse recording it as a defeat for me, which means in fact it should have been something around 86th rather then Darren as was recorded in the final results sheet (no idea on what my final VPs would have been had they been correctly entered, I'd esimate around 5000VPs though given I tabled or almost tabled two opponents (3000VPs) and averaged I estimate about 500VPs minimum in the other four games.
Except it was'nt quite the end of it.
At lunch on the first day everyone sets out their armies so the judges can view them and for selection of the Best Army nominations, except this year before the first game on day two I was thrilled when they announced my name amongst those selected as one of the 8 nominations. The public vote took place secretly following lunch on the second day with 5 places available for qualification for those who recieved the most votes.
I still did'nt expect to qualify however as I felt that many of the other armies nominated were techniclly more advanced when it came to painting and would thus get more of the vote. However much to my delight I was one of the six nominated who recieved qualification based on the Best Army Public Vote results (I'm assuming as it's only supposed to be five that two must have been drawn in votes), though I've no idea of the rankings other then that Best Army Award went to a brilliant Traitor Guard army. So that means I'll be at this years Throne of Skulls Final in March - it's gonna be Guard, but we'll have to see what the list itself will shape up as yet!
Saturday 5 December 2009
Rumours - Incomming! New Imperial Guard Artillery
GW have sent out an email regarding the new Battle Mission's book, these are the missions which were rumour a while ago to be released as a book, then were due to appear in White Dwarf and now it appears are back in their own book, they'll mostly feature race specific missions, definately one to look forward too.
However the bit which is really interesting is the note that additional releases will be timed around this, which I quote include "new sets for Space Marines, Orks and the Imperial Guard released alongside Battle Missions in March."
What sets you may ask, well the picture attached is fairly revealing - look at that Basilisk, it's the new Chimera chasis which to me equals only one thing - the new artillery kit is on it's way.
However the bit which is really interesting is the note that additional releases will be timed around this, which I quote include "new sets for Space Marines, Orks and the Imperial Guard released alongside Battle Missions in March."
What sets you may ask, well the picture attached is fairly revealing - look at that Basilisk, it's the new Chimera chasis which to me equals only one thing - the new artillery kit is on it's way.
Friday 4 December 2009
Tournament Report - UK GT 2009 Heat 3 (Part 1)
For this years 40k Throne of Skulls Tournament the Exeter Inquisition fielded a team of 11 players including myself, we headed up on the Friday morning, getting in a few games at Warhammer World (before invading Bugman's - sorry if anyone wanted a 'quiet' drink that evening!).
This year I fielded the Praetorian's, after taking a break last year with my Sisters of Battle, the list I ended up taking was'nt my first choice, I'd hoped to include Pyskers having played around with these quite a bit in my earlier games, however this was the best I felt I could put together at the time, it was as follows;
HQ
Company Command Squad inc. Autocannon, Company Standard @75pts
TROOPS
Platoon Command Squad inc. 2 Flamers @40pts
Infantry Squad inc. Lascannon, Plasma Gun @85pts
Infantry Squad inc. Lascannon, Plasma Gun @85pts
Infantry Squad inc. Lascannon, Plasma Gun @85pts
Infantry Squad inc. Autocannon, Plasma Gun @75pts
Infantry Squad inc. Autocannon, Grenade Launcher @65pts
Heavy Weapons Squad inc. 3 Lascannon @105pts
Veteran Squad inc. 3 Meltaguns @100pts
Veteran Squad inc. 3 Meltaguns @100pts
FAST ATTACK
Valkyrie inc. Multilaser, Multiple Rocket Pods @130pts
Vendetta inc. 3x Twin-Linked Lascannon @130pts
Roughriders inc. 6 Roughriders @65pts
HEAVY SUPPORT
Leman Russ inc. Hull Heavy Bolter, Sponson Heavy Bolters @170pts
Leman Russ Demolisher inc. Hull Heavy Bolter, Sponson Heavy Bolters @185pts
Total - 1500pts
Game 1 -
Robert Etheringson #35 - Eldar - Spearhead, Sieze Ground
Rob was fielding a very mixed Eldar army, it included an Autuch, Farseer, Banshee's in a Wave Serpeant, Dark Reapers, Dire Avengers, two units of Guardians, Rangers, Swooping Hawks, a Wraithlord and a Fire Prism.
Three objectives were rolled up and were placed in a rough triangle in the center of the board, I then won the roll off and elected to go first.
I formed a sizeable Infantry Firebase holding one objective spearheaded by the Demolisher with the Vendetta on one flank and the Valkyrie on the other, with the Russ to the rear and the Roughriders in reserve. Rob's quarter was quite sparse in terms of cover, the Guardians, Dire Avengers and Wraithlord deployed mid table, with a clear intent on supporting a push on one objective, to my right in some woodland, the vehicles behind this and the Reapers with the Farseer at the very rear, the Swooping Hawks with the Autuch went in reserve while the Rangers infiltrated onto the objective in the woods on my right.
With my Scout move the Vendetta moved to draw line of sight to the Eldar tanks while the Valkyrie turbo boosted 12" away from the Fire Prism ready to disgorge one of the Veteran units - which it did as Rob failed to take the iniative. The Valk then targetted and with support of much of my center routed the Guardians while the Vendetta imobilised the Wave Serpeant, I did turn a significant portion of firepower at the Rangers also but this proved ineffective. In his turn the Veteran Squad was wiped out, while what remained of his force advanced with the exception of the Dark Reapers and Rangers. Without their transports and lacking much in the way of cover the majority of the Eldar Infantry fell over the next couple of turns in what was basicly a shooting gallery as my firebase stood it's ground with little loss, the Swooping Hawks eventually arrived but scattered off, the result was I was able to place them away from my firebase giving me a couple of turns with which to tackle them. At the end of the game I held two of the three objectives, he had left an immobilised and weaponless Wave Serpeant the Dark Reapers and the Farseer.
Rob went on unfortunately to finish up in last place with no win's over the weekend, while I'm no Eldar player I fear much of that was probably down to his list which did'nt seem to have a little of everything, but not enough of anything.
Game 2 -
Davide Bowanno #50 - Chaos Space Marines - Pitched Battle, Annilation
Davide's list was nasty, and as my first Italian opponent I was I'm slightly ashamed to say a little cautious as their teams do have something of an unfortunate reputation which I need'nt expand upon except to say I did'nt encounter it. Davide was an absolute model opponent, an excellent sportsman and indeed gamer, the game that followed was very enjoyable. His list included two Windged Daemon Princes with Lash of Submission, a unit of Plague Marines and one of Berserkers both in Rhino's, 8 Terminators, and two units of Obliterators one of 3 models, one of 2.
Winning the roll off I elected to deploy everything bar the Roughriders in the hope that maximum resistance would offset my disadvanatge in Kill Points available to my opponent, further I elected to deploy largely without comining squads, my logic being with two Lash Princes any such units would become a prime target, instead I deployed in a clump with my more expendable units to the fore to prevent more important units being dragged forwards easily. I still think this was a sound decision though the game really did'nt play my way.
Initially I hoped to use one Squad of Veterans to knock out one of the Daemon Princes, instead they left it standing on one wound and as I'd expected were quickly knocked out in return. There on in each round of shooting caused damage, but always by not quite enough for the desired results. The Princes managed to between them to double team one side of my line, though the initially wounded one was killed, my opponent meanwhile played intelligently only exposing his forces to the an absolute minimum (for example his Berserkers, transportless, knocked out a Veteran Squad before retiring into good cover denying me the chance to ring sufficient firepower to bare. The Terminator Squad pinned the Leman Russ to one corner while the Roughriders were sent packing when they were caught in the destruction of the Demolisher, the timely arrival of the Obliterators Deep Striking from reserve sealed my fate. At the end of the day this mission was an uphill struggle for me given the opponent, a bit more luck with the dice might have seen things turn out differently but as I mentioned Davide was an excellent opponent and played the mission flawlessly - and that is a compliment in this case, I'd expect nothing less in this sort of enviroment.
It's no surprise to me given the list and Davide's generalship that he went on too finish 2nd Overal in the Tournament, only losing out on 1st place by Victory Points, I'd play him again any time I got the chance though!
Game 3 -
Lorzeno Millella #19 - Space Marines - Dawn of War, Capture & Control
Lorenzo, another of the Italian contingent also had something which to me was a daunting prospect, 3 full size Space Marine Tactical Squads two broken down to combat squads, a Thundefire Cannon, a Scout Squad in a Landspeeder Storm and a big Terminator Assault Squad with a Terminator Librarian and Shrike - so yes the later all out flanked!
My game plan was simple, hold my own objective tooth and nail against the expected Terminators and use the Valkyrie and Vendetta born Squads to contest my opponents. I deployed a 3 squad unit on the objective aong with the Anti-Tank Squad and Command Squad, everything else comming on turn 1.
I made two critical mistakes however, the Valkyrie really should have gone into normal reserve and out flanked to make the contest rather then going for maximum resistance, and I really should'nt of under estimated the Thunderfire Cannon - though in my defence for the later at least I've never looked at what it's capable of before. My infantry held up well initially, despite bombardment from the Thunderfire despite losing a whopping 20 Guardsmen in one turn of shooting and I was able to knock out the Tactical Squads for the most part which wer'nt on his objective. However I really did'nt appreciate how quickly it was eating up my manpower. The the the Terminators and Scouts showed up and I was perhaps at half strength. Massing my firepower I was able to deal with the majority of the Terminators and the Librarian with the help of the Roughriders who showed up at just the right time, however Shrike passed everyone of his Invulnables despite directing a good portion of the squad at him. The scouts then set about my Guardsmen supported by what remained of the Terminators and Shrike, ripping them apart in short order leaving me with only a few remanents of Infantry and the Russ.
Unable to contest his objective with both Valk and Vendetta knocked out, I was left scrabling to retake my own. On turn 6 I was finally able to take out the last Terminator who was sitting on my objective with the Leman Russes Heavy Bolters, leaving a previously routed Veteran Squad able to make it onto my objective by about half an inch to spare, it really was a draw by the skin of my teeth as he had elected not to walk the Veterans off the table to avoid a dangerous terrain test for crossing the wreck of the Valkyrie.
I believe Lorzeno went on to finish 112th, in honesty I'm quite surprised he was'nt higher up the table as he was a good player with a solid if not killer list.
This year I fielded the Praetorian's, after taking a break last year with my Sisters of Battle, the list I ended up taking was'nt my first choice, I'd hoped to include Pyskers having played around with these quite a bit in my earlier games, however this was the best I felt I could put together at the time, it was as follows;
HQ
Company Command Squad inc. Autocannon, Company Standard @75pts
TROOPS
Platoon Command Squad inc. 2 Flamers @40pts
Infantry Squad inc. Lascannon, Plasma Gun @85pts
Infantry Squad inc. Lascannon, Plasma Gun @85pts
Infantry Squad inc. Lascannon, Plasma Gun @85pts
Infantry Squad inc. Autocannon, Plasma Gun @75pts
Infantry Squad inc. Autocannon, Grenade Launcher @65pts
Heavy Weapons Squad inc. 3 Lascannon @105pts
Veteran Squad inc. 3 Meltaguns @100pts
Veteran Squad inc. 3 Meltaguns @100pts
FAST ATTACK
Valkyrie inc. Multilaser, Multiple Rocket Pods @130pts
Vendetta inc. 3x Twin-Linked Lascannon @130pts
Roughriders inc. 6 Roughriders @65pts
HEAVY SUPPORT
Leman Russ inc. Hull Heavy Bolter, Sponson Heavy Bolters @170pts
Leman Russ Demolisher inc. Hull Heavy Bolter, Sponson Heavy Bolters @185pts
Total - 1500pts
Game 1 -
Robert Etheringson #35 - Eldar - Spearhead, Sieze Ground
Rob was fielding a very mixed Eldar army, it included an Autuch, Farseer, Banshee's in a Wave Serpeant, Dark Reapers, Dire Avengers, two units of Guardians, Rangers, Swooping Hawks, a Wraithlord and a Fire Prism.
Three objectives were rolled up and were placed in a rough triangle in the center of the board, I then won the roll off and elected to go first.
I formed a sizeable Infantry Firebase holding one objective spearheaded by the Demolisher with the Vendetta on one flank and the Valkyrie on the other, with the Russ to the rear and the Roughriders in reserve. Rob's quarter was quite sparse in terms of cover, the Guardians, Dire Avengers and Wraithlord deployed mid table, with a clear intent on supporting a push on one objective, to my right in some woodland, the vehicles behind this and the Reapers with the Farseer at the very rear, the Swooping Hawks with the Autuch went in reserve while the Rangers infiltrated onto the objective in the woods on my right.
With my Scout move the Vendetta moved to draw line of sight to the Eldar tanks while the Valkyrie turbo boosted 12" away from the Fire Prism ready to disgorge one of the Veteran units - which it did as Rob failed to take the iniative. The Valk then targetted and with support of much of my center routed the Guardians while the Vendetta imobilised the Wave Serpeant, I did turn a significant portion of firepower at the Rangers also but this proved ineffective. In his turn the Veteran Squad was wiped out, while what remained of his force advanced with the exception of the Dark Reapers and Rangers. Without their transports and lacking much in the way of cover the majority of the Eldar Infantry fell over the next couple of turns in what was basicly a shooting gallery as my firebase stood it's ground with little loss, the Swooping Hawks eventually arrived but scattered off, the result was I was able to place them away from my firebase giving me a couple of turns with which to tackle them. At the end of the game I held two of the three objectives, he had left an immobilised and weaponless Wave Serpeant the Dark Reapers and the Farseer.
Rob went on unfortunately to finish up in last place with no win's over the weekend, while I'm no Eldar player I fear much of that was probably down to his list which did'nt seem to have a little of everything, but not enough of anything.
Game 2 -
Davide Bowanno #50 - Chaos Space Marines - Pitched Battle, Annilation
Davide's list was nasty, and as my first Italian opponent I was I'm slightly ashamed to say a little cautious as their teams do have something of an unfortunate reputation which I need'nt expand upon except to say I did'nt encounter it. Davide was an absolute model opponent, an excellent sportsman and indeed gamer, the game that followed was very enjoyable. His list included two Windged Daemon Princes with Lash of Submission, a unit of Plague Marines and one of Berserkers both in Rhino's, 8 Terminators, and two units of Obliterators one of 3 models, one of 2.
Winning the roll off I elected to deploy everything bar the Roughriders in the hope that maximum resistance would offset my disadvanatge in Kill Points available to my opponent, further I elected to deploy largely without comining squads, my logic being with two Lash Princes any such units would become a prime target, instead I deployed in a clump with my more expendable units to the fore to prevent more important units being dragged forwards easily. I still think this was a sound decision though the game really did'nt play my way.
Initially I hoped to use one Squad of Veterans to knock out one of the Daemon Princes, instead they left it standing on one wound and as I'd expected were quickly knocked out in return. There on in each round of shooting caused damage, but always by not quite enough for the desired results. The Princes managed to between them to double team one side of my line, though the initially wounded one was killed, my opponent meanwhile played intelligently only exposing his forces to the an absolute minimum (for example his Berserkers, transportless, knocked out a Veteran Squad before retiring into good cover denying me the chance to ring sufficient firepower to bare. The Terminator Squad pinned the Leman Russ to one corner while the Roughriders were sent packing when they were caught in the destruction of the Demolisher, the timely arrival of the Obliterators Deep Striking from reserve sealed my fate. At the end of the day this mission was an uphill struggle for me given the opponent, a bit more luck with the dice might have seen things turn out differently but as I mentioned Davide was an excellent opponent and played the mission flawlessly - and that is a compliment in this case, I'd expect nothing less in this sort of enviroment.
It's no surprise to me given the list and Davide's generalship that he went on too finish 2nd Overal in the Tournament, only losing out on 1st place by Victory Points, I'd play him again any time I got the chance though!
Game 3 -
Lorzeno Millella #19 - Space Marines - Dawn of War, Capture & Control
Lorenzo, another of the Italian contingent also had something which to me was a daunting prospect, 3 full size Space Marine Tactical Squads two broken down to combat squads, a Thundefire Cannon, a Scout Squad in a Landspeeder Storm and a big Terminator Assault Squad with a Terminator Librarian and Shrike - so yes the later all out flanked!
My game plan was simple, hold my own objective tooth and nail against the expected Terminators and use the Valkyrie and Vendetta born Squads to contest my opponents. I deployed a 3 squad unit on the objective aong with the Anti-Tank Squad and Command Squad, everything else comming on turn 1.
I made two critical mistakes however, the Valkyrie really should have gone into normal reserve and out flanked to make the contest rather then going for maximum resistance, and I really should'nt of under estimated the Thunderfire Cannon - though in my defence for the later at least I've never looked at what it's capable of before. My infantry held up well initially, despite bombardment from the Thunderfire despite losing a whopping 20 Guardsmen in one turn of shooting and I was able to knock out the Tactical Squads for the most part which wer'nt on his objective. However I really did'nt appreciate how quickly it was eating up my manpower. The the the Terminators and Scouts showed up and I was perhaps at half strength. Massing my firepower I was able to deal with the majority of the Terminators and the Librarian with the help of the Roughriders who showed up at just the right time, however Shrike passed everyone of his Invulnables despite directing a good portion of the squad at him. The scouts then set about my Guardsmen supported by what remained of the Terminators and Shrike, ripping them apart in short order leaving me with only a few remanents of Infantry and the Russ.
Unable to contest his objective with both Valk and Vendetta knocked out, I was left scrabling to retake my own. On turn 6 I was finally able to take out the last Terminator who was sitting on my objective with the Leman Russes Heavy Bolters, leaving a previously routed Veteran Squad able to make it onto my objective by about half an inch to spare, it really was a draw by the skin of my teeth as he had elected not to walk the Veterans off the table to avoid a dangerous terrain test for crossing the wreck of the Valkyrie.
I believe Lorzeno went on to finish 112th, in honesty I'm quite surprised he was'nt higher up the table as he was a good player with a solid if not killer list.
Imperial Navy Valkyrie & Vendetta (Part 4)
Well the terrible truth is I never did get my Valkyrie finished for the GT, let alone the Vendetta(!), the Valkyrie is very nearly there though, this is it in it's current state, with a picture taken at the UK GT by Mars who posts on the Warhammer Forum and Heresy Online.
There's a little bit of paint rubbed off from the nose on the near side in the course of transporting it too Nottingham, but otherwise it's very nearly there, the underside of the wings need varnishing and some decals need adding to the top of the wings - possibly also some nose art, I'm as yet undecided on that subject!
There's a little bit of paint rubbed off from the nose on the near side in the course of transporting it too Nottingham, but otherwise it's very nearly there, the underside of the wings need varnishing and some decals need adding to the top of the wings - possibly also some nose art, I'm as yet undecided on that subject!
Wednesday 2 December 2009
Hobby Fund (1st December)
Well November was damn quiet on the blog front as I found myself snowed under getting my Grand Tournament list ready in time (more on this soon) - added to which I've been house hunting for a place to rent, just awaiting references and I'll be on the move.
The hobby fund saw very little activity, a couple of minor sales and one purchase for my WFB Chaos Army which thanks to the first of the vouchers I recieved following success at the Dice & Dagger tourny came to a staggering £1.15 - I suspect that things wont change much in the coming month either as I've once again got my hands full needing to finish the Praetorian Ogryns and of course with Christmas just around the corner. The New Year will see the Hobby Fund reach the grand old age of 1 year and a resurgence in it - hopefully.
The hobby fund saw very little activity, a couple of minor sales and one purchase for my WFB Chaos Army which thanks to the first of the vouchers I recieved following success at the Dice & Dagger tourny came to a staggering £1.15 - I suspect that things wont change much in the coming month either as I've once again got my hands full needing to finish the Praetorian Ogryns and of course with Christmas just around the corner. The New Year will see the Hobby Fund reach the grand old age of 1 year and a resurgence in it - hopefully.
- Starting Balance 1st November = £106.15
- Sales in November = £13.00
- Sales Fee's in November = -£0.59
- Purchases in November = -£1.15
- Misc Income/Outgoings = £0.00
- Reaver Fund Repayment = £0.00
- Balance 1st December = £117.41
- Reaver Fund Outstanding = £325.00
Monday 16 November 2009
Tournament Report - Blood Oath 40k Doubles Tournament
On 8th November, myself and three others from the Exeter Inquisition jumped in the car at the unholy hour of 8am (well it was a Sunday), and headed for the Blood Oath Doubles Tournament which was being hosted by The Dice & Dagger Club, which are based in Stratton which is just outside Bude.
It was only a small event, doubles format with 6 teams taking part, each player had 750pts standard force org for 1500pt armies per side and played three objective based missions.
My list was as follows,
Command HQ
inc. Company Standard, Autocannon
Infantry Platoon
Command Section inc. Autocannon
Infantry Squad inc. Lascannon & Plasma Gun
Infantry Squad inc. Lascannon & Plasma Gun
Infantry Squad inc. Autocannon & Flamer
Veteran Squad inc. 3x Meltaguns
Valkyrie inc. Rocket Pods
Leman Russ inc. Hull Heavy Bolter & Sponson Heavy Bolters
I paired up with James, aka lomo, who was fielding Tau for the event, his list included (note this is'nt quite complete, I'm not up on my Tau!).
Shas'ui inc. Twin-Linked Fusion Blaster, Shield Generator
Crisis Suit Team inc. 2 Suits with Plasma & Missile Pods, Drone Controlers and 2 Shield Drones
6 Fire Warriors
Devilfish inc. SMS, Disruption Pods
Kroot Squad inc. 10 Kroot(?), 5 Kroot Hounds
Hammerhead inc. Railgun, SMS, Multi-tracker, Disruption Pods
Game 1 -
The first game was played against a Chaos Space Marine & Necron alliance, the Necrons included a couple of Warrior Squads, a Lord and... a Monolith, while the Chaos Marines included a Chaos Lord, a couple of CSM Squads in Rhino's with Havoc Launchers and a Vindicator.
The Mission used four objectives, which were then numbered 1-4, each player rolled a dice to select one of the objectives which that team then had to hold, on a 5 or 6 you could choose which objective. Both sides ended up needing to secure one in our objective zone, and also one in their own deployment zone, which were corner edges.
Our opponents had first turn and swept forwards - apart from the Monolith and one squad of Necron Warriors, the later were positioned to hold their objective, the former failed a difficult terrain test in a position where we were out of it's range, I dont think we fired a shot at it the whole game.
It was probably as well though, as our shooting was truely terrible for the first few turns, the Possessed Vindicator soaked up most of our shots - when they hit - with no benefit to us, while the Rhino's were at best Stunned, and mostly shaken. It was'nt until our reserves arrived - and they got close - that things started to really swing our way. The Veterans arrived and immobilised the Chaos Lords Rhino, they got out and butchered the Guardsmen, but the Tau Crisis Suits and Devilfish, supported by the Valkyrie whittled them down, the survivors including the Lord then assaulted the Kroot and after a couple of rounds of combat were wiped out leaving us in control of one of our objectives. On the other side Guardsmen were being cut down quickly, but the Leman Russ scored a bullseye at close range cutting the larger CSM squad down y over half, with the remaining Guard guns reducing the squad to just it's Flamer, this chap then proceaded to finish off all but two of a merged Guard Squad before assaulting them, killing a Heavy Weapons Team before being cut down by a Sergeant.
With only the Necron Troops choices left, one of which was hunkered down covering one of their own objectives, one of which was now alone and rather exposed the game ended, meanwhile one of our objectives was safely controlled, the other was very bloodied but still also ours ensuring a win.
Game 2 -
Game two saw us playing a Marine list with Pedro Cantor and an Eldar list, the Marines included a small Assault Squad, a couple of Tactical Squads one in a Rhino, Pedro and a Dreadnought, while the Eldar included a Holofielded Falcon, a Farseer, two units of three Jetbikes, a unit of Dire Avengers, one of Striking Scorpians and one of Fire Dragons.
The mission was to secure ANY two of four objectives with table quarter deployment zones. Both sides deployed almost in full, with the Kroot and Striking Scorpians both electing to outflank.
We however had first turn and immeadiately put the Valkyrie's scout move to good use, turbo-boosting into a position from which the Veterans could disembark on turn one to have a crack at the Falcon. This it did, destroying it easily, and though in return we lost both (though killing most of the Fire Dragons in the process as the Valkyrie exploaded) we thought it was a worthwhile sacrifice. The Rhino quickly followed along with one Jet Bike unit, the other being forced to hide, in stripping them of their mobility it was now a long ranged gunbattle with the Tau moving along the board edge to secure a second objective (the guard deployed on one objective) and eventually to deny a third. We had the ranged firepower and bodies to do this, while they did'nt. The Striking Scorpians did cause some hurt in almost wiping out the Crisis suits, but the Kroot's timely arrival countered this and finished them off.
To me this was probably one of the scariest pairs with so much mobility they could have run rings around us, I really think if we'd not be fortunate enough to deal with this early in the game we'd have had a difficult time with them on any mission.
Game 3 -
The final game saw us playing against another Praetorian army, this time paired with Blood Angels, the Blood Angels were not numerous with two Assault Squads and a large Death Company with a Chaplain, while the Guard included a Command HQ, Heavy Weapons Squad, two small Platoons mostly mounted with three Chimera, a Hydra and a Griffon.
The mission was quite different from the others, both sides had two objectives, the mission was to destroy your opponents, to do this an Infantry unit had to move into contact with them in the movement phase and remain there until the end of the assault phase with a pitched battle deployment.
They had first turn, but we took a gamble moving the Valkyrie with it's Veterans just short of one of their objectives, which was somewhat exposed (in all the missions each objective was placed by then scattered D6") with it's Scout move. Their army was fairly well spread across their edge, with a Chimera wall advancing on one flank behind which the Death Company advanced, another Assault Squad and mobile unit was on the other side which advanced with the Guard HQ, Hydra, and a couple more Squads in the center, we played refused flank meanwhile being able to cover both our objectives sufficiently from this deployment. Despite most of the armies firepower being directed at the Valkyrie it's survived with only a shaken result and the loss of a Multilaser.
In our turn the Veterans deployed and moved onto one of their objectives destroying it during the turn, meanwhile we set about hamming the advancing Guard and Marines, despite the Chimera wall we were able to get a few shots at the Death Company, crucially including the Leman Russ cutting the squad down to just the Chaplain and a couple of Death Company, the Crisis suits then placed themselves in such a way using their Jetpack move that the Death Company could reach them, but not the objective (for the greater good an all!).
The Veterans were duely cut down, as were the Crisis suits, but unable to reach the objective the remaining Death Company and Chaplain were quickly finished off in our shooting phase, meanwhile one of the Guard squads was similarly dispatched. The Chimera and remaining Guard Squad were then set upon by the Kroot.
The only remaining threat to our objectives now was a deep striking Assault Marine Squad hidden in a blind spot, this of course is when the Griffon came into play, pinning one of my own squads in place for a couple of turns where they were just able to assault, however the Guardsmen held on just long enough, leaving the Marines exposed in our turn. It still almost went very very wrong, what remained of our entire army shot at them, but still a couple remained, it took the Leman Russ to make a second bullseye at very short range (as in an inch from the end of the barrel) to finish them off.
With one objective destroyed to none we won our third game placing us first overal, I also picked up best army which is always a welcome bonus! The other Exeter Inquisition team faired well also finishing up second.
Unfortunately we had to leave shortly after the results were announced from what was an excellently run tournament, and though with lots of back slapping there was a sense of guilt we as the visitors were leaving with all the prizes so quickly when they had a club evening to which we were invited to attend. I think we all agreed we'd be back up there sometime soon for one of their regular meetings though and I can only recommend if your ever in the area with an army you do the same, the Dice & Dagger Club are a great bunch of guys!
It was only a small event, doubles format with 6 teams taking part, each player had 750pts standard force org for 1500pt armies per side and played three objective based missions.
My list was as follows,
Command HQ
inc. Company Standard, Autocannon
Infantry Platoon
Command Section inc. Autocannon
Infantry Squad inc. Lascannon & Plasma Gun
Infantry Squad inc. Lascannon & Plasma Gun
Infantry Squad inc. Autocannon & Flamer
Veteran Squad inc. 3x Meltaguns
Valkyrie inc. Rocket Pods
Leman Russ inc. Hull Heavy Bolter & Sponson Heavy Bolters
I paired up with James, aka lomo, who was fielding Tau for the event, his list included (note this is'nt quite complete, I'm not up on my Tau!).
Shas'ui inc. Twin-Linked Fusion Blaster, Shield Generator
Crisis Suit Team inc. 2 Suits with Plasma & Missile Pods, Drone Controlers and 2 Shield Drones
6 Fire Warriors
Devilfish inc. SMS, Disruption Pods
Kroot Squad inc. 10 Kroot(?), 5 Kroot Hounds
Hammerhead inc. Railgun, SMS, Multi-tracker, Disruption Pods
Game 1 -
The first game was played against a Chaos Space Marine & Necron alliance, the Necrons included a couple of Warrior Squads, a Lord and... a Monolith, while the Chaos Marines included a Chaos Lord, a couple of CSM Squads in Rhino's with Havoc Launchers and a Vindicator.
The Mission used four objectives, which were then numbered 1-4, each player rolled a dice to select one of the objectives which that team then had to hold, on a 5 or 6 you could choose which objective. Both sides ended up needing to secure one in our objective zone, and also one in their own deployment zone, which were corner edges.
Our opponents had first turn and swept forwards - apart from the Monolith and one squad of Necron Warriors, the later were positioned to hold their objective, the former failed a difficult terrain test in a position where we were out of it's range, I dont think we fired a shot at it the whole game.
It was probably as well though, as our shooting was truely terrible for the first few turns, the Possessed Vindicator soaked up most of our shots - when they hit - with no benefit to us, while the Rhino's were at best Stunned, and mostly shaken. It was'nt until our reserves arrived - and they got close - that things started to really swing our way. The Veterans arrived and immobilised the Chaos Lords Rhino, they got out and butchered the Guardsmen, but the Tau Crisis Suits and Devilfish, supported by the Valkyrie whittled them down, the survivors including the Lord then assaulted the Kroot and after a couple of rounds of combat were wiped out leaving us in control of one of our objectives. On the other side Guardsmen were being cut down quickly, but the Leman Russ scored a bullseye at close range cutting the larger CSM squad down y over half, with the remaining Guard guns reducing the squad to just it's Flamer, this chap then proceaded to finish off all but two of a merged Guard Squad before assaulting them, killing a Heavy Weapons Team before being cut down by a Sergeant.
With only the Necron Troops choices left, one of which was hunkered down covering one of their own objectives, one of which was now alone and rather exposed the game ended, meanwhile one of our objectives was safely controlled, the other was very bloodied but still also ours ensuring a win.
Game 2 -
Game two saw us playing a Marine list with Pedro Cantor and an Eldar list, the Marines included a small Assault Squad, a couple of Tactical Squads one in a Rhino, Pedro and a Dreadnought, while the Eldar included a Holofielded Falcon, a Farseer, two units of three Jetbikes, a unit of Dire Avengers, one of Striking Scorpians and one of Fire Dragons.
The mission was to secure ANY two of four objectives with table quarter deployment zones. Both sides deployed almost in full, with the Kroot and Striking Scorpians both electing to outflank.
We however had first turn and immeadiately put the Valkyrie's scout move to good use, turbo-boosting into a position from which the Veterans could disembark on turn one to have a crack at the Falcon. This it did, destroying it easily, and though in return we lost both (though killing most of the Fire Dragons in the process as the Valkyrie exploaded) we thought it was a worthwhile sacrifice. The Rhino quickly followed along with one Jet Bike unit, the other being forced to hide, in stripping them of their mobility it was now a long ranged gunbattle with the Tau moving along the board edge to secure a second objective (the guard deployed on one objective) and eventually to deny a third. We had the ranged firepower and bodies to do this, while they did'nt. The Striking Scorpians did cause some hurt in almost wiping out the Crisis suits, but the Kroot's timely arrival countered this and finished them off.
To me this was probably one of the scariest pairs with so much mobility they could have run rings around us, I really think if we'd not be fortunate enough to deal with this early in the game we'd have had a difficult time with them on any mission.
Game 3 -
The final game saw us playing against another Praetorian army, this time paired with Blood Angels, the Blood Angels were not numerous with two Assault Squads and a large Death Company with a Chaplain, while the Guard included a Command HQ, Heavy Weapons Squad, two small Platoons mostly mounted with three Chimera, a Hydra and a Griffon.
The mission was quite different from the others, both sides had two objectives, the mission was to destroy your opponents, to do this an Infantry unit had to move into contact with them in the movement phase and remain there until the end of the assault phase with a pitched battle deployment.
They had first turn, but we took a gamble moving the Valkyrie with it's Veterans just short of one of their objectives, which was somewhat exposed (in all the missions each objective was placed by then scattered D6") with it's Scout move. Their army was fairly well spread across their edge, with a Chimera wall advancing on one flank behind which the Death Company advanced, another Assault Squad and mobile unit was on the other side which advanced with the Guard HQ, Hydra, and a couple more Squads in the center, we played refused flank meanwhile being able to cover both our objectives sufficiently from this deployment. Despite most of the armies firepower being directed at the Valkyrie it's survived with only a shaken result and the loss of a Multilaser.
In our turn the Veterans deployed and moved onto one of their objectives destroying it during the turn, meanwhile we set about hamming the advancing Guard and Marines, despite the Chimera wall we were able to get a few shots at the Death Company, crucially including the Leman Russ cutting the squad down to just the Chaplain and a couple of Death Company, the Crisis suits then placed themselves in such a way using their Jetpack move that the Death Company could reach them, but not the objective (for the greater good an all!).
The Veterans were duely cut down, as were the Crisis suits, but unable to reach the objective the remaining Death Company and Chaplain were quickly finished off in our shooting phase, meanwhile one of the Guard squads was similarly dispatched. The Chimera and remaining Guard Squad were then set upon by the Kroot.
The only remaining threat to our objectives now was a deep striking Assault Marine Squad hidden in a blind spot, this of course is when the Griffon came into play, pinning one of my own squads in place for a couple of turns where they were just able to assault, however the Guardsmen held on just long enough, leaving the Marines exposed in our turn. It still almost went very very wrong, what remained of our entire army shot at them, but still a couple remained, it took the Leman Russ to make a second bullseye at very short range (as in an inch from the end of the barrel) to finish them off.
With one objective destroyed to none we won our third game placing us first overal, I also picked up best army which is always a welcome bonus! The other Exeter Inquisition team faired well also finishing up second.
Unfortunately we had to leave shortly after the results were announced from what was an excellently run tournament, and though with lots of back slapping there was a sense of guilt we as the visitors were leaving with all the prizes so quickly when they had a club evening to which we were invited to attend. I think we all agreed we'd be back up there sometime soon for one of their regular meetings though and I can only recommend if your ever in the area with an army you do the same, the Dice & Dagger Club are a great bunch of guys!
Monday 2 November 2009
Hobby Fund (1st November)
Hobby Fund update time, not much to report really... Except blowing the budget on that Reaver!
So then, rather then emptying the Hobby Fund an being in debt I've decided to run a seperate Reaver Fund, which basicly means paying it back over time to my suffering bank account, I'll aim to start paying it off this comming month, which will probably be quiet again bar a few random purchases I need to make for various projects.
So then, rather then emptying the Hobby Fund an being in debt I've decided to run a seperate Reaver Fund, which basicly means paying it back over time to my suffering bank account, I'll aim to start paying it off this comming month, which will probably be quiet again bar a few random purchases I need to make for various projects.
- Starting Balance 1st October = £107.15
- Sales in October = £8.00
- Sales Fee's in October = -£0.47
- Purchases in October = -£8.70
- Misc Income/Outgoings = £0.18
- Reaver Fund Repayment = £0.00
- Balance 1st November = £106.16
- Reaver Fund Outstanding = £325.00
Saturday 31 October 2009
FTW Round Table - What is your MUST HAVE unit in your army?
It's been a while since I've taken part in a FTW collaborative post, but I thought I'd jump in with my thoughts on this one while I catch up on my corresspondants and tuck into a quick bite to eat.
The current Imperial Guard codex offered up lot's of nie new tasty treats for army commanders, we've got nasty tricks with our Pysker Battle Squads, excellent mobility and devtasting firepower combined in the form of Valkyrie's and Vendetta's, Storm Troopers with their much hyped AP3 Helguns and much more besides. My favourite, must have unit remains the same as it has for as long as I can remember though - yep, it's still those pesky Roughriders.
Despite early rumours to the contray which suggested that they'd gain a Lance in addition to their Laspistol & Close Combat Weapon, these turned out to be false, a basic five man squad with Veteran Sergeant (now just Sergeant) and Lances remains the same cost, though additional models can be added at stonking 1pt less then before... (yes a little sarcasm) and Special Weapons are now always an option for the squad if you so wish - though I still dont see why you would!
We did get the option of a Special Character of course, Mogul Kamir, and he is potentially useful, Furious Charge is handy though it balances off somewhat againt Rage which can make his unit a little unwielding against a smart opponent while Fearless is as always a double edged sword. But I'll leave him aside, I don't use him.
The simple fact is for a Guard army which is'nt ultra mobile a little Counter Assault can go a long way, that little cheap assault unit has a big range charge range with fleet and a nasty punch which means few units can truly disregard it as a low level threat because getting jumped by them hurts. It leaves your Command Squads free to issues orders and fire their own weapons without being needed for counter-assault and leaves you not needing expensive Ogryns (though that said they are of course a bit more viable then previously) and as ever they remain cheap making them disposable.
Thursday 29 October 2009
Imperial Navy Valkyrie & Vendetta (Part 3)
Tick follow, tock follow, tick follow, tock.
Times running out, this time next month my heat at this years GT will be over - and I'm painting like a crazy man.
The focus of my fustrations at the moment is my Valkyrie, with a revised list and loan of someone elses Vendetta it's the last thing I MUST get finished in time though obviously I'd like to get my own Vendetta finished as well, however for the time being I'm pleased to say so far, so good.
The sides are done bar detailing, and I'm now doing the belly, then it'll be the top section, cockbit, engines, detailing and finally getting the wings done, I'm lucky enough to have a few days off so I'm hoping to get it more or less finished by the end of the weekend.
Back to work!
Times running out, this time next month my heat at this years GT will be over - and I'm painting like a crazy man.
The focus of my fustrations at the moment is my Valkyrie, with a revised list and loan of someone elses Vendetta it's the last thing I MUST get finished in time though obviously I'd like to get my own Vendetta finished as well, however for the time being I'm pleased to say so far, so good.
The sides are done bar detailing, and I'm now doing the belly, then it'll be the top section, cockbit, engines, detailing and finally getting the wings done, I'm lucky enough to have a few days off so I'm hoping to get it more or less finished by the end of the weekend.
Back to work!
Tuesday 27 October 2009
I've done something very silly...
Yes, as the title says I've done something very silly, which has kind of blown the Hobby Fund out of the water!
Now in my defence, it was a real bargin, almost 50% off from Forgeworld's price, especially given as it was someone from Exeter's other gaming club which meant no postage to pay either. I hav'nt quite decided how to justify it other then that yet! Though it is such a lovely model that it may be that it does'nt need it! It won't see the light of day for a while yet, the Warhound still needs finishing (and I must admit I am itching to get on with that), only the GT and commissions are holding me off.
I was'nt going to mention it quite yet, but a couple of people at Exeter Inquisition were demanding to know why there was no news of it - while bets were being placed on how long it would take me to finish it, talk of flying pigs and four angry men on horseback yelling something about a big game of Apocolypse were the common theme!
Now in my defence, it was a real bargin, almost 50% off from Forgeworld's price, especially given as it was someone from Exeter's other gaming club which meant no postage to pay either. I hav'nt quite decided how to justify it other then that yet! Though it is such a lovely model that it may be that it does'nt need it! It won't see the light of day for a while yet, the Warhound still needs finishing (and I must admit I am itching to get on with that), only the GT and commissions are holding me off.
I was'nt going to mention it quite yet, but a couple of people at Exeter Inquisition were demanding to know why there was no news of it - while bets were being placed on how long it would take me to finish it, talk of flying pigs and four angry men on horseback yelling something about a big game of Apocolypse were the common theme!
Commission - 54mm Female Head (Part 2)
After much tweaking I think I've got a much out of this project as I'm going too, especially given time is short. Truth be told I'm not 100% happy with the result, but it's a difficult call to make when it's my first attempt at something quite like this, the real test will be if the customer likes it as ever and how it looks if and when it get's used!
The face itself I'm fairly happy with, the hair has been the sticking point as I've been trying to get it to look similar to Ivy Valentines with only a partial success and several attempts, I think this is something I will have to practice some more once time allows.
Anyway enough babbling, I've got things to do!
The face itself I'm fairly happy with, the hair has been the sticking point as I've been trying to get it to look similar to Ivy Valentines with only a partial success and several attempts, I think this is something I will have to practice some more once time allows.
Anyway enough babbling, I've got things to do!
Friday 23 October 2009
More D Company Infantry (Part 3)
Well thats that, the 14 Guardsmen are finished, Sergeants for 1st & 2nd Platoons and some new spare Special Weapons. Not really much more to say then that at the moment, I'll get better pirctures when I have time, right now I'm about to do another bit of sculpting and then it's straight in to the Valkyrie.
Monday 19 October 2009
EVENT - The Leeds Night Owls Warhammer 40,000 GT
I've been asked by a fellow Praetorian Wolfy, aka Ralph from the GCN Club "Leeds Night Owls", to post the following and as it's a good cause I'm only too happy to obliege, might have to see if I can attend myself! Anyway over to him!
Introducing the Leeds Night Owls Warhammer 40,000 GT
Sunday 7th February 2010 10:00 - 18:00 TBC
As some of you may know I am planning to go to Africa next year to work in a school for 4 weeks. To do this I have to raise £3500. We are already close, around £2500, but still need to make that bit extra. So, to hopefully boost the fund up a bit, I'm planning to organise a Tournament in the new year, with the following layout. If you would like to join in, or have any comments/suggestions on how to make it better, then please feel free to drop me a line.
General Info:
Prize Info:
Prizes Awarded For:
Sunday 7th February 2010 10:00 - 18:00 TBC
As some of you may know I am planning to go to Africa next year to work in a school for 4 weeks. To do this I have to raise £3500. We are already close, around £2500, but still need to make that bit extra. So, to hopefully boost the fund up a bit, I'm planning to organise a Tournament in the new year, with the following layout. If you would like to join in, or have any comments/suggestions on how to make it better, then please feel free to drop me a line.
General Info:
1500 Points, 3 Rounds. (2 Hours Per Round; your game will be stopped if it reaches the 2 hour mark!)
Prize Info:
Prizes Awarded For:
Prize Fund so Far (Still to be assigned to what they are won with):
Various Games Workshop Vouchers totalling to £100
Wooden Spoon (Guess which award that is for!)
One Kaiser Rushforth Aluminium Case with Foam Trays of your Choice
Selection of Scenery as provided by PG Scenics
Selection of Great Escape Models supplied by eBob - Miniatures
Schedule for the Day:
10:00 - 11:00 Arrive and organise first round players
11:00 - 13:00 First round (Players randomised against Each other, Setup: Pitched Battle, Mission Objective: Sieze Ground)
13:00 – 13:15 Players organise their armies on a table and voting is taken on best army/theme etc
13:15 – 13:30 Lunch and organise round 2 players
13:30 – 15:30 Round 2 and organise round 3 players (Round 1 Winners randomised against other round one winners, Same with losers, Setup: Pitched Battle, Mission Objective: Annihalation)
15:30 – 17:30 Round 3 (Round 2 Winners randomised against other round 2 winners, Same with losers, Setup: Pitched Battle, Mission Objective: Capture and Control)
17:30 – 18:00 Organise winners of categories, winners announced, Pack up
Scoring:
3 Points Win
1 Point Draw
0 Points Loss
To sign up:
Email me at the below address or in THIS thread on the Leeds Night Owl forum if your interested in signing up, and for any other comments! I cant thank you enough for your support!
Thursday 15 October 2009
Medusa V Campaign Praetorian Background
Taken from the GW Medusa V Campaign Website
Extract 1
From the darkness they came, massive matt grey drop ships, manufactorum sized behemoths trailed by roaring plasma exhaust gases. They dropped from the heavens onto the especially cleared landing field surrounding Sybilla Tertius, the marshalling grounds of the Imperial Guard, touching down with a crash of thunder and a palpable tremble of the ground.
Even before the engines had silenced the huge bow doors dropped open, slamming to the ground, within moment the first of the hundred’s of brightly uniformed troops began to emerge in perfect marching order. Groups of Navy personnel and Guardsmen, themselves clothes in less elaborate uniform watched on. Some laughed and joked at the ‘toy soldiers’, others feeling a strange swelling in their chests, martial pride, stirred by the sight of this body of men perfect uniforms crisp and clean, lasguns gleaming in the gathering light, all of them moving as one.
The masses of men began forming up in squares, company formation it seemed, each block an hundred or so strong while heavy weapons batteries formed up to their flanks, the barrels of gun metal and brass glinting in the rising sun.
Impossibly, a small group of officers emerged from the drop ships gasping maw, each mounted atop a perfect white steed, the half dozen or so men trotted to another small group of officers stood before the assembled regiment.
“Colonel Inglis, sir! 57th Praetorian ready for inspection, sir!”
“Thankyou Captain, inform the Dropship commander he may return to the Faile for the 75th Regiment now.”
The scene was repeated over a dozen times that day, infantry, cavalry, armour and artillery each as immaculate and perfect in their synchronisation, a full two Brigades of Praetoria’s finest troops ready to serve and die in the Emperor’s name on this doomed world.
Extract 2
“Everyone out now, into the ditch! Move, move, move!”
Three trucks were already burning, the stinking smell of burning human fat fanning out with the belching black smoke, the civilian vehicles simply weren’t built to withstand even small arms fire. Unable to go off-road around the road block ahead the column was pinned and even now more traitors were surrounding them. The Medusan PDF stood their ground, but seriously outnumbered and lacking heavy support – their two VP-12 Armored Cars having been smashed to pieces in the first exchange of fire - they were fighting a losing battle.
Lieutenant Straeker, escort commander, didn’t know whether his distress call had been heard, his Vox man was now dead, his ruined corpse propped against one of the big trucks wheels along with far too many of his men - what little real cover existed concealing the civilians. Popping up from behind his boulder he snapped off a couple more shots with his laspistol into the advancing mass of heretics, he prayed to the Emperor for deliverance.
With a roar of thunder two Thunderbolt Fighter-Bombers sped overhead, spilling cluster munitions from their wing mounts, the lightly armored traitors died in droves, shrapnel cutting down many of those not engulfed by the explosive wave. The traitors went to ground in what little cover existed, aghast from the unexpected attack. Even as they recovered their wits the aircraft returned, their bombs exhausted the heavy cannon they mounted spitting death into the survivors of their first run.
This time the thunder didn’t fade, alongside the roadway pulling up alongside and shielding the convoy a column of armored vehicles advanced, a half dozen Chimera’s, a Salamander command vehicle and a pair of venerable Leman Russ battle tanks. Straeker stared open mouthed at the bold crimson and cream livery, glancing at the nearest armored behemoth he glanced emblazoned below the commanders cowl ‘Praetorian LVII’ – Imperial Guard!
As one the Guardsmen, scarlet tunics and dark blue breeches spilled out into perfect line formation all while their armored support poured a whither suppressive fire upon the cowering traitors. An officer stepped down from the Salamander, glancing at his now formed up infantry force.
“Sergeant, fix bayonets.”
In one fluid motion 16” of gleaming steel connected to each Lasgun.
The Officer drew a glowing blue powersword and pointed it towards the foe.
“Die-hards, ADVANCE!”
Extract 3
+++++ Incomming Transmission +++++
+++++ Source: Field Command Post, 5 Kloms NE Point 89 Cithaeron Line+++++
+++++ Author: Colonel Inglis, Praetorian 57th +++++
+++++ Destination: Edethor Sector High Command +++++
Honoured Sirs,
I am pleased to report initial success in our advance on the Cithareon Line, we are currently holding position at our current location pending resupply and reinforcement before assaulting the lines themselves. Advancing in Regimental Battleline Formation we encountered a considerable Xenos Tyranid horde comprising in the region of eight to ten thousand Tyranid organisms, largely of the Gaunt genus (according to our accompanying Magos Biologis). Very few larger organisms were encountered, an fact the Magos finds most intriguing and urged me to make you aware of.
With little in the way of cover for our opposition to take advanatage of, and given our preparedness, casualties on our part were minimal (see attached assesment) though ammunition was reduced by some 40%. Our patrols have continued to encounter isolated Brood-groups throughout the past 24 standard hours. We are due to be joined by a further two Regiments and a full Astartes Company of the Strike Masters Chapter by 1100 tomorrow; we shall commence our assault on Point 89 and establish conditions on the Cithaeron Line at this point.
Your servant,
Colonel Leopold Inglis
Praetorian 57th Foot
+++++ Transmission Ends +++++
I'll 'fess up now, that the three above published fan written extracts were sent in by one 'Col.Gravis', a bloody ungifted author who should never be allowed to put pen to paper. I've been pretty unsure where to include them, but then they were published onto the official site by those running the GW Campaign, so I suppose they could be considered at least partly canon.
Extract 4
Edafos North-East
Colonel Inglis, of the Praetorian 57th, must receive a special commendation this week for leading the successful expedition to reclaim some portion of the abandoned Cithaeron Line, reaching as far as Point 89. The reports from this front indicate a force of some 10,000 Tyranid creatures, mostly from the Gaunt Genus; interestingly, very few larger beasts were encountered. Other units are moving to press this attack and give support to this advantage gained in the past few days.
Extract 1
From the darkness they came, massive matt grey drop ships, manufactorum sized behemoths trailed by roaring plasma exhaust gases. They dropped from the heavens onto the especially cleared landing field surrounding Sybilla Tertius, the marshalling grounds of the Imperial Guard, touching down with a crash of thunder and a palpable tremble of the ground.
Even before the engines had silenced the huge bow doors dropped open, slamming to the ground, within moment the first of the hundred’s of brightly uniformed troops began to emerge in perfect marching order. Groups of Navy personnel and Guardsmen, themselves clothes in less elaborate uniform watched on. Some laughed and joked at the ‘toy soldiers’, others feeling a strange swelling in their chests, martial pride, stirred by the sight of this body of men perfect uniforms crisp and clean, lasguns gleaming in the gathering light, all of them moving as one.
The masses of men began forming up in squares, company formation it seemed, each block an hundred or so strong while heavy weapons batteries formed up to their flanks, the barrels of gun metal and brass glinting in the rising sun.
Impossibly, a small group of officers emerged from the drop ships gasping maw, each mounted atop a perfect white steed, the half dozen or so men trotted to another small group of officers stood before the assembled regiment.
“Colonel Inglis, sir! 57th Praetorian ready for inspection, sir!”
“Thankyou Captain, inform the Dropship commander he may return to the Faile for the 75th Regiment now.”
The scene was repeated over a dozen times that day, infantry, cavalry, armour and artillery each as immaculate and perfect in their synchronisation, a full two Brigades of Praetoria’s finest troops ready to serve and die in the Emperor’s name on this doomed world.
Extract 2
“Everyone out now, into the ditch! Move, move, move!”
Three trucks were already burning, the stinking smell of burning human fat fanning out with the belching black smoke, the civilian vehicles simply weren’t built to withstand even small arms fire. Unable to go off-road around the road block ahead the column was pinned and even now more traitors were surrounding them. The Medusan PDF stood their ground, but seriously outnumbered and lacking heavy support – their two VP-12 Armored Cars having been smashed to pieces in the first exchange of fire - they were fighting a losing battle.
Lieutenant Straeker, escort commander, didn’t know whether his distress call had been heard, his Vox man was now dead, his ruined corpse propped against one of the big trucks wheels along with far too many of his men - what little real cover existed concealing the civilians. Popping up from behind his boulder he snapped off a couple more shots with his laspistol into the advancing mass of heretics, he prayed to the Emperor for deliverance.
With a roar of thunder two Thunderbolt Fighter-Bombers sped overhead, spilling cluster munitions from their wing mounts, the lightly armored traitors died in droves, shrapnel cutting down many of those not engulfed by the explosive wave. The traitors went to ground in what little cover existed, aghast from the unexpected attack. Even as they recovered their wits the aircraft returned, their bombs exhausted the heavy cannon they mounted spitting death into the survivors of their first run.
This time the thunder didn’t fade, alongside the roadway pulling up alongside and shielding the convoy a column of armored vehicles advanced, a half dozen Chimera’s, a Salamander command vehicle and a pair of venerable Leman Russ battle tanks. Straeker stared open mouthed at the bold crimson and cream livery, glancing at the nearest armored behemoth he glanced emblazoned below the commanders cowl ‘Praetorian LVII’ – Imperial Guard!
As one the Guardsmen, scarlet tunics and dark blue breeches spilled out into perfect line formation all while their armored support poured a whither suppressive fire upon the cowering traitors. An officer stepped down from the Salamander, glancing at his now formed up infantry force.
“Sergeant, fix bayonets.”
In one fluid motion 16” of gleaming steel connected to each Lasgun.
The Officer drew a glowing blue powersword and pointed it towards the foe.
“Die-hards, ADVANCE!”
Extract 3
+++++ Incomming Transmission +++++
+++++ Source: Field Command Post, 5 Kloms NE Point 89 Cithaeron Line+++++
+++++ Author: Colonel Inglis, Praetorian 57th +++++
+++++ Destination: Edethor Sector High Command +++++
Honoured Sirs,
I am pleased to report initial success in our advance on the Cithareon Line, we are currently holding position at our current location pending resupply and reinforcement before assaulting the lines themselves. Advancing in Regimental Battleline Formation we encountered a considerable Xenos Tyranid horde comprising in the region of eight to ten thousand Tyranid organisms, largely of the Gaunt genus (according to our accompanying Magos Biologis). Very few larger organisms were encountered, an fact the Magos finds most intriguing and urged me to make you aware of.
With little in the way of cover for our opposition to take advanatage of, and given our preparedness, casualties on our part were minimal (see attached assesment) though ammunition was reduced by some 40%. Our patrols have continued to encounter isolated Brood-groups throughout the past 24 standard hours. We are due to be joined by a further two Regiments and a full Astartes Company of the Strike Masters Chapter by 1100 tomorrow; we shall commence our assault on Point 89 and establish conditions on the Cithaeron Line at this point.
Your servant,
Colonel Leopold Inglis
Praetorian 57th Foot
+++++ Transmission Ends +++++
I'll 'fess up now, that the three above published fan written extracts were sent in by one 'Col.Gravis', a bloody ungifted author who should never be allowed to put pen to paper. I've been pretty unsure where to include them, but then they were published onto the official site by those running the GW Campaign, so I suppose they could be considered at least partly canon.
Extract 4
Edafos North-East
Colonel Inglis, of the Praetorian 57th, must receive a special commendation this week for leading the successful expedition to reclaim some portion of the abandoned Cithaeron Line, reaching as far as Point 89. The reports from this front indicate a force of some 10,000 Tyranid creatures, mostly from the Gaunt Genus; interestingly, very few larger beasts were encountered. Other units are moving to press this attack and give support to this advantage gained in the past few days.
Friday 9 October 2009
Commission - Vostroyan Nork Deddog (Part 2)
Another quick update, the Vostroyan Nork Deddog conversion I've been working on as a commission is comming along nicely, the chainmail is finished now, and I'm in the process of tidying up the collar. Once thats sorted I'll get on with the arms before going back over the whole model to detail it (for example the facial hair, aquilla on the chest and boots), I'm really enjoying this project!
Thursday 8 October 2009
More D Company Infantry (Part 2)
And just to prove it's not all just other peoples models I'm doing, work continues on the small batch of guardsmen I'm painting. I've reached the stage where I'm working on the red now, and somehow it does'nt seem so painful anymore. I dont know about you but the first few stages of painting models - especially big blocks of them - always feels like it takes forever (okay in my case it probably does!), it is litterally painful. Then suddenly there comes a point where things start to take shape, when the model ceases to be blocks of colour and is starting to take on a more of a finished look, where it all starts to come together. I know well from experience that I've reached that stage with these guys now, the red stage - I actually cant wait to get on with them again!
The Praetorian Imperial Guard Miniature Range
A Brief History of the Praetorian Imperial Guard Miniature Range
The Praetorian's were created for the 1997 UK Gamesday's Mega Display'Massacre at Big Toof River' . The original models were based on Alan and Michael Perry's Mordian Iron Guard, for the most part simply head swaps though some additional models were also created including the Standard Bearer and Kneeling with Lasgun poses.
Due too subsequent interest in the models GW made the decision to release a platoon sizedLimited Edition Box Set , this was followed by a blister release and their inclusion in the GW catalogue though some sources maintain this was an 'accident'.
The Praetorian range was finally dropped from production in late 2007 as part of GW's reorganisation of their Mail Order and Back Catalogue/Classic Miniatures service.
The Original Miniature Range
The Complete Praetorian Imperial Guard Miniature Range as released was as follows.
The 'Praetorian Sentinel' was released as a blister pack, this was the boxy Mk2 metal Sentinel but with a Praetorian Gunner Torso to replace the usual Cadian pilot, if you happen to have one of these (i.e. the actual Praetorian one), it'd be great to complete the article with a picture against a plain white background.
The Praetorian's were created for the 1997 UK Gamesday's Mega Display
Due too subsequent interest in the models GW made the decision to release a platoon sized
The Praetorian range was finally dropped from production in late 2007 as part of GW's reorganisation of their Mail Order and Back Catalogue/Classic Miniatures service.
The Original Miniature Range
The Complete Praetorian Imperial Guard Miniature Range as released was as follows.
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The 'Praetorian Sentinel' was released as a blister pack, this was the boxy Mk2 metal Sentinel but with a Praetorian Gunner Torso to replace the usual Cadian pilot, if you happen to have one of these (i.e. the actual Praetorian one), it'd be great to complete the article with a picture against a plain white background.
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