Warhammer World GT3 – Game 2 Tyranids v Orks

Game 2 of GT3 and Morgan Cole and I have been asked to play live on Warhammer TV! I obviously had to concentrate a lot on the game so pictures were taken only sparingly and I’m a bit shaky on what happened but I’ll be going back over the Twitch feed to try and recollect but I’m only part way through so far. Either way if you have a Twitch subscription you can watch the game here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/229954502

The low down:

• Roving Patrol [Chapter Approved mission]
• Dawn of War
• Morgan chose deployment zone, 
• I either won first turn, or seized – I went first that’s for sure.

Aside from the honour of being on Warhammer TV and the achievement of my dream I was almost totally unprepared for the enormity of the game. I had tried to split my army into three on the drive down to Nottingham so I had a start but I just could make neither head nor tail of the mission. I was allowed to deploy the Skyshield regardless [no one could reconcile how Fortifications fit into the deployment so they just made a decision there and then] and luckily I rolled to start with my first third – which I think was

• Warriors
• Hive Guard
• Tervigon
• Termagants

I deployed the Hive Guard in the ruins to shoot at anything heading towards the centre objective. The Skyshield sat on the other objective. I was lucky that both Trygon’s arrived as reserves, with their tunnel buddies. On top of that my Warlord Flyrant.

Tervigon and Termagants swarmed to secure the centre objective and then in the midst of everything I totally messed up shooting the mob of boys with my Devgaunts. 

When I came to the Genestealers and their charge I suddenly realised Morgan had deftly removed all the nearest model and a 9″ charge was now 11″ at least! I failed charges by all on both flanks.

I was feeling totally out of my depth and then Morgan brought on his reserves, a second truck and mobs of boyz.

The Boyz swarmed the Genestealers and at least I had the sense to kick off with Caustic Blood, knowing just how many hits these guys have. 

And they stayed true to form and managed to butcher the lot of them and the Trygon too!

Morgan then unleashed a second stroke of tactical genius. Alongside his second mob of Boyz he brought on a Painboy [or Weirdboy, not sure] behind storage tank No.31. He was out of sight of the Devgaunts and so charged. In 8th you can charge without Line of Sight and ironically you cannot overwatch without it! Which I think is the opposite to 7th. So he made the 7″ charge on the Devgaunts – tying up all 25 Termagants and was safely able to bundle the remaining Mob of Boyz in without fear of overwatch! 

A genius move I couldn’t help but admire, even after all the Termagants were butchered. The Termagants in the centre also took a pummeling, losing 11 of their number but I replenished 10 of them in my turn thanks to the Tervigon.

I think the Warlord Flyrant was down to around four wounds so I retreated to use his Devourer shots on the big Mob. Meanwhile the Trygon charged one of the Trukks.

Which looks like it got smashed only to leave the Trygon surrounded by disembarked grumpy Orks, angry at the loss of their boat.

Moar Mek Guns arrived with the last of Morgan’s army and the mob on the right flank decided to solve the issue in the centre of the board.

Morgan then cast Da Jump – Perilling in the process as his Weirdboy dumped 20 Orks in my deployment zone.

Boyz start butchering Termagants, I think I employed Caustic Blood again, I’d brought my Rippers on too to throw in and add to the numbers holding the objective.

Da Jump Boyz manage to make a phenomenal charge against the Hive Guard. Unsurprisingly they are cleaved up like kebab skewers

In response I bring the last Flyrant in and the Broodlord to whittle down their numbers. My dice rolling is appaling at this stage though. I can’t get anything to do what I want, even Morgan begins to feel for my lack of success. It’s reasonable that there are specific Warhammer TV dice – it helps them show up on TV and it means we’re both using supplied dice, not our own [which is fair] but they are really big dice, something I was not prepared for and with relatively small hand not equipped for either, ha, ha! Ceri said the same thing afterwards.

The Flyrant gets killed by the Tank Bustas and then a series of shots at the Warriors on the Skyshield manages to completely bypass the invulnerrable save and all three die! The battle rages on in the middle of the board with the Termagants being crushed between the Boyz they were in combat with and the Orks that had killed the Hive Guard and cleverly removed sufficient models from the attack of the Broodlord and Flyrant to be out of combat.

With the Termagants gone there was nothing I could do and we called the game. It was afterwards I found out I’d only scored 82pts worth of damage, and we’d only completed two turns. However, I realised my dream and despite the result on paper it was an amazing game, Morgan’s tactics in particular raised the bar, hopefully something I will look into how I can apply also – charging from out of LoS for instance.

Anyway, a fab game and Nick and Ceri were super-appreciative of our efforts, so I can’t ask for more. On to game 3!

Warhammer World GT3 – Game 1 Tyranids v Orks

First game of GT3 and I’m facing the spectacularly bearded Ben Briscoe and his filthy looking Orks made up of excellent Battle Wagon – Taurox Conversions and some of the artillery guns kitbashed from spare [looted!] Tau weaponry. As mentioned my recollection of the battles are really sketchy so I will do my best

The low down:

• Re-supply Drop [Chapter Approved mission]
• Hammer and Anvil – Table Ends deployment
• I chose deployment zone, but I deployed last unit [giving Ben +1 to win first turn], 
• Ben won first turn, I failed to seize

Skyshield and most of my none reserve deplyment on the board. I did not use Alien Cunning to remove the Warlord Flyrant, instead opting for Tenacious Survivor as my Warlord Trait.

Orks tried to shoot me down but couldn’t manage to get First Blood.

Ork War Boss channeling the WAAARRGH! – handy LED lights powered by a battery in the base.

The other ‘raving’ Weird Boy with his glow sticks.

My turn and I used Metabolic Overdrive on the Tervigon to sprint up the board, followed by Termagants to hold the objective. Flyrant swooped on top of the foundry towers.

My Trygon arrived with the Devgaunts and my plan actually worked in that the Tervigon was now in range to buff them [re-roll 1’s to hit]. The other Trygon and Genestealers arrived at the back of the board and the second Flyrant was inbetween them.

My Trygon made the charge on one of the Trukks

 

The Trygon struck…

… and ended the Trukk for first blood. I don’t think the Tankbusters inside took any wounds and disembarked to the top of the towers.

I swooped the Flyrant down to take out the Battlewagon

The Flyrants ill-conceived charge on the Battle Wagon resulted in taking 5 wounds for not much damage inflicted.

Genestealers made the charge on the Grots with the Mek-guns [?]. I wiped out a unit of grots so one gun was decommissioned, sort of. Second Trygon made the charge on another Trukk. Smashed the trukk killing a couple of Tankbuster inside this time.

I don’t know the name of the Ork biker Warlord but he led the counter offensive on the Trygon with a mob of Boyz backing him up.

Weirdboy powers up the Orks with plus one attacks.

20 Orks get in doing 100 attacks! The Trygon could not stand against so many Choppas!

With only 5 wounds left the second Trygon also fell to the Biker Warlord.

One of the Mobs charged the Genestealers

And managed to chop 16 of the 17 Genestealers into little pieces. Probably would have been handy to choose the Caustic Blood stratagem in this instance…

My remaining Stealer killed two in return but would die from battle shock.

Boyz tried to chop up the Flyrant.

Which I think they must have succeeded as I don;t see him elsewhere.

As time was running out we had got to turn three and Ben rolled to remove the two redundant Alpha Objectives, choosing one nearest his grots, one behind the Aquila strongpoint and one by my Felshborer Termagants. The Fleshborer Gaunt objective was the Alpha supply drop. With the mob of Orks having a party after killing the Trygon, they were unaware of the Tervigon and Gaunts about to spoil the fun.

They bundled the lot of them.

And killed all but the War Boss.

Fleshborer Gaunts finished off most of the Boyz who’d killed my Warlord in the shooting phase.

Then killed the remainder, while holding the Alpha objective.

Weird Boy had headed for an objective but my Rippers had already cheekily been there before it was revealed it was not an Alpha. Battle Wagon headed for Line Breaker.

My Flyrant had secured the other Beta objective. But a squad of Kommandos came on in a last ditch attempt to steal it out from under the Hive. They would make the charge but Overwatch and my Monstrous Rending Claws would see them finished.

I’d somehow secured a victory holding both Alpha and Beta objectives. The fact I had been on all but one of them before the Alpha and Beta were revealed gave me the advantage in holding on to them. Ben was a great sport, patiently waiting while I confirmed the scoring nature of the Skyshield ahead of the tournament. I managed to to do only 609pts of damage though and lost a significant amount in return.

I think the Flyrant assaulting the Battle Wagon was a mistake but it stopped the momentum of the Orks at least. I’d imagine a completely different result if they’d driven unopposed around the board dropping the big mobs off on the objectives I was so tenuously holding. Hive Guard were shockingly poor though.

Anyway, on to game 2

NMTBW Game 1 – 2000pts battle report – Dark Angels v Orks

Nevermind the Blog Wars, Alex From the Fangs return to full scale singles tournaments, the friendliest of tournaments and the 7th event I’ve attended that Alex has organised [he’ll start to think I’m stalking him next]. First game was with Tom Kendrick and his Orks. Apparently it was his second tournament as well.

The low down:

•  Cleanse and Capture [3 objectives per turn]
•  Blood Points
• Dawn of War deployment
• I went second

The initial deployment, cover was sparse unfortunately, aside from the four ruins there was only the Ork mudbath for me to hide my scouts in on top of an objective [just in case it popped up in my Maelstrom].

They were pretty close to all these Orks and Ghazgkhull too, which was intimidating. He had these two  big mobs of Boyz, a Weirdboy, Painboy, Ghazgkhull, Lootas, and an Ork Nob on a bike.

On  my left he also had another mob of Boyz and a Weirdboy, two big blasta guns [or whatever] on the tower, a Battle Wagon full of Tank Busters, and two Dakka Jets, one on each flank.

I had the Black Knights, Devastators and Land Speeder Typhoon [in the ruin] on the left flank to try and deal with them, while my Knight held the centre…

Tom’s first turn and naturally everything moved up with the Dakka Jets zooming forward. The right Dakka Jet managed to rip apart my Ravenwing Bike Squad, leaving just my Plasma Gun toting biker alive.

The left flank moved forward too.

Then the Weird Boy cast ‘da jump’ and flung 20-30 Ork Boyz right up in the face of my Black Knights. The Dakka Jet, big weapons and Tank Buster blasted all their worth at the Imperial Knight, stripping  a load of wounds off it thanks to some pretty appalling dice rolls on my saving throws. But by the end of turn 1 Tom had failed to score any VPs.

With limited experience I had no idea if charging the Boyz with my Black Knights was sensible or suicide. But killing a fair few with Plasma Talons helped reduce the overwhelming numbers of greenskins. The Knight went for the Battle Wagon, by this stage just on 5 wounds [whether from the previous round or after some lucky tankbuster overwatch], but he was pretty damaged.

My Dark Talon had dropped it’s Stasis Bomb on the big blob and I moved the remaining Ravenwing bike, Librarian and Techmarine to support the Scouts as I believe Tom needed to score that objective. At some point I kick myself for not shooting the Scouts at Ghazgkhull, Toms says to go ahead but I say no it’s too late now we’ve moved into the assault phase. About five minutes later I suddenly realise I didn’t shoot with the Dark Talon either. Thanks to dropping the Stasis Bomb in the movement phase I’d just figured I’d done it. But 24 Bolter shots on that mob of Boyz would have come in real handy, not to mention the Rift Cannon on the Dakkajet! You live and learn

The end of the turn and the Orks suffered so much damage the failed their morale and amazingly the Ravenwing had seen them all off. Meanwhile the Knight is now on three wounds.

The Dakka jet zooms past the ruins.

His partner coming in from the right for a side by side pass. The Battle Wagon falls back, meaning the Tankbusters thankfully can’t shoot the Knight but opens it up to attack from the weapons platform, that promptly whiff!

Boyz line up on my spirited but outnumbered defence of the mudbath jacuzzi.

And get swamped, in both senses of the word. The Ravenwing Biker gets chopped down and all but the Scout Sergeant. Techmarine and Librarian survive but not enough bodies to stop the Orks claiming the objective which thanks to another objective scored meant Tom walked away with 4Vps this turn!

Tactical Squad with Flamer move up to support the remaining guys in the mudbath.

My Black Knights move up to secure an objective at the base of the ruins and the Dark Talon Zooms over. Shooting at the Battle Wagon destroys it.

The Tank Busters now out in the open among the smoking wreckage of their Battle Wagon.

Moar shooting at the weapons in the towers.

Lots of shooting at the Dakkajets but I can only reduce them to 2 and 4 wounds, which still gets me half Blood Points each, but I was close to getting full points on both.

With the Battle Wagon gone the Knight charges the big mob of Boyz, stomping with his Titanic Feet. I’m not sure how it ended up, but I think his feet were a lot greener by the end of it.

A big melee took place in the mudbath, making it more a bloodbath. No idea how it ended up either but ultimately I scored 2 VPs this turn. The we ran out of time I think.

This was a really great game with Tom and felt tactical and unlike many of the 8th edition games I’ve played so far. I lost on VPs 4-2 but somehow won on Blood Points killing 700pts+ compared to losing just 532. I must kick myself for not shooting the Dark Talon, he might have had a decisive impact on the game with his 24 shots but winning on Blood Points was a ‘win’ for me. I surprised myself by thinking that was all I needed to consider the whole event a success regardless of what was yet to come!

On to game 2…

If you’re interested in any more of my Battle Reports, point your cogitators here: www.40kaddict.uk/p/battle-reports.html

1500pts battle report – Tyranids v Orks – game 2

Round 2 and Aidan was my next opponent. It turns out it was his 4th game of 40k and given some of the lists that had been brought the guys running the event had advised him to take a Stompa just to stop him being mauled completely. Of course for Purge the Alien that does me no favours whatsoever but given his newbie status I was more than happy to go through this like it was a friendly game. Although with hindsight, due to the time constraints, I probably didn’t spend as much time helping him learn the game as I would have liked.

Psychic Powers Winged Tyrant HQ Tervigon CC TR Broodlord Zoanthrope Dominion Dominion Dominion Warp Blast Paroxysm Paroxysm The Horror Onslaught Warp Blast

The low down:

• Eternal War mission – Purge the Alien
• Vanguard Strike
• I went second whatever happened with deployment and whoever went first.
• Warlord Trait – + Seize the Initiative and +1 to my reserve roll
• Not sure about night fighting.

Probably due to his inexperience Aidan set the Stompa up in the far right which gave me the opportunity to set up on the far left and hope I could avoid the Super-heavy for as long as possible. Interesting note – this was a resin Realm of Battle board!

Luckily I had a lot of cover to keep my safe [potentially]. First turn I lost a few Gaunts due to poor Skyshield saves. More importantly I lost my Zoanthrope.

In return I pushed forwards and managed to kill up but 1 of the Tankbusters on the hill behind the statues. Couldn’t quite get that kill point. Probably about here I realised that the Zoanthrope in a pod behind the Stompa might have got me a Lancing hit on him and forced him to kill the Zoie leaving the rest of my force unmolested. But with time short avoidance was still probably the better tactic.

Clearly at turn 3, I’d been using cover and the Venomtrhope to keep my MCs alive as long as possible.

The Stompa was having none of it though and redoubled his efforts to kill what he could.

Luckily for me the MCs survived, unluckily the Venomtrhope did not so now they were all exposed. i did take out the lone tankbuster.

I also took out another mob so I was up on 2VPs. The Tyrannocyte arrived and my Devgaunts let rip but only amounted to 1 wound on the mega-nobs 😦 They were going to die.

Aidan blasted the Flyrant to pieces with tons of inaccurate fire he just couldn’t avoid

Final score was 7:4 to Aidan. He scored 4 kills, First Blood, Slay the Warlord and Line Breaker. I managed to kill 3 [not sure what the third was] and Linebreaker.

I hope Aidan had a good game, sure a Stompa was a bad match up for me and the organisers were apologetic for suggesting he take it but these things happen. Like I say I wish I’d been able to help him a bit more in learning the game but I suspect in a few months it’ll be moot anyway. Ha!

The tale of 5 Kill Teamers [or 4 Kill Teamer and 1 cheater!]

I don’t know what celestial alignment occured to get 5 of the hobby crew in one room but we only went and done it. Ben hosted Liam, Otty, PeteB and myself for a night of Kill Team, even more surprsing when you take into account PeteB has moved over to Age of Sigmar! So we set up on a 4’x4′ playing the Supply Drop mission.

Ben chose the typically orky position of facing off against everyone in the middle of the board. Nobs on bikes and his tank busters.

Otty brought his Inquisition Force and it was round about now he realised he’d cheated and brought a HQ – his Inquisitor. We let it pass on the udnerstanding that he would never live it down, forever!

Liam brought evil space pixies.

PeteB had some Chaos Space Marines hiding in a shoe box, next time I imagine it’ll be Khorne Daemonkin. I brought four Ravenwing bikes and my Sniper scouts, with a Missile Launcher.

We rolled off for who went first, I think it was Liam, PeteB, Otty, Ben and then myself. Realistically it was a nightmare to follow what was going on for a coherent battle report. Pretty much everyone scored a ‘first strike’ [First Blood in their first turn] Liam took out PeteB’s lone Missile Launcher marine in the tower next to him. PeteB picked up a valuable supply drop and we all seemed to target and kill a specialist so we were each 2 or 3 VPs up each by the end of turn 1.

Personally I was able to take out the nearest threat to my scouts – the three Chaos Marines. Then I charged my Ravenwing at Ben’s bikes. I’d killed one biker with the plasma gun then the Warlord charged his Warlord and was cut down in overwatch which thanks to Ben’s Warlord trait netted him 3 VPs for almost no effort and left my army worse off than I’d hoped. Other amusing things included Liam’s Venom getting stuck on a crater [or immobilized by Ben’s bomb Squig] meaning his Incubi had to foot slog across the board. Otty’s Servitors kept on getting mind-locked so hardly advanced out of their DZ

My Scouts remained pretty much steadfast for the game, while PeteB was morale checking quite early on. His shooting seemed to be always spot on but his 10,000 year old ammo couldn;t wound for toffee. While my Ravenwing entered into combat with an Ork biker, we had 3 rounds each at combat with me getting 1s and 2s to hit and then getting 5s for Hit & Run it was ludicrously comical. The deadlock was only broken by a Deathcult Assassin getting in on the melee and killing both parties!

The end result saw Ben, who was currently out of reach on at least 10 VPs being tabled, so he was out of the scoring, with Liam also with no models on the board. We then got points for other forcess that routed or killed. Otty was the only faction not to rout so PeteB and I got 3 VPs each bringing us both up to 9 and Otty was on 5 but got 4 VPs for the other factions.

That left the three of us in a three way tie for first place with PeteB and I taking a moral victory as we did not cheat 🙂 Bottom line we had an absolute blast and we were done by 11:30. A great night was had by all and although it;s crushingly bad when any model dies in this game it’s also highly amusing. Everything is so valuable, the stakes are so much higher and although a 5-way game skews the game into weird territories I think it worked out OK. I’ll look forward to our next game.

Throne of Skulls March 2016 – Battle 0, Tyranids Vs Tau, Eldar and Orks

For the life of me I can’t remember anything about this game and I can;t find my notes either. We’d travelled don on the Friday and arrived to play on the Spyral Prime table, Otty and I using nids, Ben, Scott and Liam with the holy/’unholy’ alliance of Tau, Eldar and Orks! 

We were using the City Fight Maelstrom cards I’d got from a couple of White Dwarfs long time back – glad they finally got some use. We also had some sewers we could come out with and the other guys booby trapped a number of buildings. Also, because of the table I didn’t take my Skyshield but had Deathleaper instead, a bit more points but he is pants. Ultimately though we never finished the game. Warhammer World closes at 8pm so we had to pack up, which was a shame. Anyway these are just pictures to enjoy mostly, if they sparek any memories I’ll drop em in but for the most part just sit back and enjoy the pretty pictures.

.

My Genestealer literally got outflanked by these Boyz and slaughtered.

Bring on the big boys!

For the most part the Tau were ignored, Otty concentrating on the Eldar while I dealt with the Orks.

My Purestrains climbed on top of this landing pad, discovered it was booby trapped and then found out it was a dud!

I loaned Otty the Hive Guard as I felt they’d be more effective against the Wave Serpents, which they were. Meanwhile my Purestrains got oblitereated by the Riptides.

‘Sons of Anorky’

I think we got beaten in the end, I recall Otty had tried to kill off a Riptide with Devourer gaunts. He had 60 shots and managed to put a few wounds on one. It was the sensible thing to do as anything else wouldn;t have allowed them to utilise they’re guns. However, that did mean the Tau held the centre objective for two turns scoring them a VP and ultimately winning the game. At the that stage though we porbably didn’t know the game was going to be so short but it was good fun and some nice pictures too

1700pt battle report – Tyranids v Orks

With Throne of Skulls approaching Ben suggested we have a game, the last time I played 40k was in 2015! So I cranked out a 1700pt list of nids with Manufactorum Stealers, 2 Flyrants and 2 Carnifex, my Malanthrope for a change, Skyshield and Tevigon + tax and a unit of Rippers. I think this is my list with the most firepower 48 Brainleech shots.

Psychic Powers Winged Tyrant 1 Winged tyrant 2 Zoanthrope Tervigon Dominion Dominion Dominion Dominion Psychic Scream Onslaught Warp Blast Warp Blast Catalyst Warp Blast Catalyst

The low down:

• Into The Maelstrom – Maelstrom missions [ever decreasing from 6 cards] and ‘Carnage points’ for killed units. Vanguard Strike
• Warlord Trait – Move through cover [ruins], Stealth [ruins]
• Night fighting first turn, won deployment, went first, Ben failed to steal the initiative.

I set up with the Skyshield sat next to number one objective in the wood, objective 3 was in the ruins in front which I surrounded with 20 Stealers backed up by my two Carnifex.

I only exposed the five Stealers in the abandoned Ork Void Sheild Generator in Ben’s DZ

Ben’s Orks had these two objectives within easy distance,

with objective 4 just in front of the crashed Aquila on the right

Within striking distance of my Stealers.

Everything else of mine sat on the Skyshield.

I draw my 6 cards and luckily get objectives 1 [secured by the Skyshield], 4 [just in front of the ruins] and two copies of objective 3 [held by the Stealers]. So these four are in the bag when I venture one stealer out to get O4. I also get Behind Enemy Lines so swoop my Flyant forwards to get this [next turn I’d realise that as it was Swooping it’s not scoring so I had to reclaim the card and lose the 5th VP. On the plus side he was in position to cast Warp Blast and subsequent shooting would wreck the Trukk getting me First Blood as well – a good first turn.

In response Ben drew cards and was easily able to secure objectives 2 and 4 by killing the lone Stealer holding it. In securing enough objectives he also gained Ascendency and got 2VPs from his D3 – 4VPs a piece at the end of the turn but that wasn’t the headline… pot shots were taken at the Flyrant who lost a wound despite Jinking but stayed in the air.

Ben’s Nobz jumped out and multi charged the occupants of the Ruins, his plan was to leverage Rampage [+D3 attacks when againsta foe of greater numbers, I think] but they didn’t have that rule.

He charged anyway, taking on two Broods of five Stealers AND a Carnifex! So no Rampage and no extra attack on the charge, Ithought I could do some real damage here but the premier close combat unit of 40k managed to just do three wounds to the Nobz thanks to Doc Gotsnikk

In return the Nobz did 10 wounds on the 10 Stealers and this was my save!

The Carnifex pitched in and squashed two Nobz only to be disected by Grotsnikk and anothe Nob with a Power Klaw – 290pts in one assault gone!

Ben consolidated his 1″, I guess the Orks were a little tired after killing most of middle force.

I drew my 3 cards for the turn, all pretty useless and would ultimately achieve nothing. I did however swoop my Flyrant Warlord over to cast Psychic Scream on the Nobz and bikers but typically failed to get it off. I did shoot the Bikers enoguh to cause them to flee, which was a bonus. Everything else retreated from the green tide as I hoped weight of numbers would hold them back. I spawned 10 Gaunts to add to the meat shield.

Ben would score objective 3 and 6 this turn as well as Hold the Line, taking his score to 7. He managed to catch my Carnifex who was extremely lucky with his Feel No Pain roll from Catalyst.

Meanwhile he threw everything at trying to kill my Warlord, or the Zoanthrope to get Witch Hunter. The Zoie shuck everything off but the Flyrant got hit and hit the ground but managed to descend gracefully without any successive injury.

With the Flyrant grounded the Warboss pounced but was outmatched and took a wound.

My go and I drew cards to kill a character and issue a challenge, missions that had D3 VPs for 3 of each and both missions fells short by one of those D3s leaving me with 2 VPs this turn. The Malanthrope came close to killing the Boss but the Nobz slaughtered most of the Rippers leaving them to turn their attention to bigger things next turn. The Warlord Flyrant got Psychic Scream off killing the biker boss then targetted the trukk holding O6. If I wrecked it the Boyz would have to diembark giving me something to charge. Sadly it was an 11″ charge and I only made 10″

Ben’s turn and he had to secure objective 2, twice which was easy as his bikes rallied next to it before exiting the table [damn!]. The Boyz in turn assaulted the Flyrant still trying to secure Witch Hunter and Slay the Warlord

Somehow the other Flyrant was on the ground, I may have landed him last turn and assaulted the Tank Busters

But he was ultimately outmatched and killed gaining Ben Witch Hunter and his 10th VP of the game.

The Flyrant manages to kill of the Boyz.

The Malanthrope and Rippers get killed and so too the Zoanthrope by the looks of it – double Witch Hunter!

After some initial success with the Termagants counter attack against the Kommandos they slowly began to roll through them.

Whittling them away.

Somehow the Tervigon also got popped, I can;t remember how, but it took a lot of gaunts with it.

The Kommandos cleared the top of the Skyshield, and I can’t remember what this dice roll was for but it was clearly not good news.

In my last turn I;d managed to secure objective 5, twice and get within 12″ of Ben’s table edge with two remaining Genestealers who’d spent the game cowering just for this reason. With the Flyrant on the ground Ben rolled over him. He’d already got 2 VPs for two objective 6s and then got another 3 VPs from a D3 for ‘no prisoners’

The warlord got a battering, down to 3 wounds and then the slower combats added another 4 saves to be made

Which reulted in the last wound

And slay the Warlord, plus Line breaker.

Final score 17-10 and Ben tabled me for the first time ever! I’m going to leave this now and do a separate aftermath post but please do feel free to comment until then about how you think it went wrong [for me obviousl] and how it could be improved.

1850pt battle report – Dark Angels v Orks

Ben asked me for a last minute game the other night so I took the opportunity to get some more practice in with the Dark Angels and this time borrowed his Cerastus so I could field my potential Blog Wars list

The low down:

• Hammer and Anvil
• Kill points
• Night fighting, won deployment, elected to deploy first and go first.
• Warlord Trait – Ezekiel – Fearless to all units within 12″
• Psychic powers:

1. Psychic Shriek
2. Terrify
3. Shrouding
4. Mental Fortitude

I had my Devastators in my Bastion, this time with an armorium cherub [the Watcher] which I never actually used.

I had Ezexiel taking cover in the wrecked Rhino from the blasted copse, we ‘Forged the Narrative’ that the Orks had blown up the tank prior to the game starting and the squad were abotu to leave it’s confines. The Cerastus had the lead, in front of the other Combat Squad and the scouts while the Plasma Cannon Tactical squad held the sacred shrine. There was only 7 in this squad as I had to drop a couple of member to fit the Cerastus in. One unit of Deathwing and the Techmarine were int he Land Raider the others were dee striking.

Ben’s set up, this time with a fair few tank busters.

I was able to wreck one of the Trukks thanks to the Devastators Missile Launchers but then was unable to use the Quad Gun because the target was no more. First strike to me.

Big Shootas managed to get some good field of fire from their vantage points but I’m not sure they did much damage in their first turn [certainly no First Strike] thanks to stupidly good cover saves helped by Ezekiel casting Shrouding and night fighting too. I think the Knight may have taken a Hull Point or two though.

My turn two and the Deathwing arrive and shoot up the back of one of the trukks but not sufficient to wreck it. Ezekiel leapt from cover and raced up behind the Land raider hoping to get in range for Psychic Scream, which he did but couldn’t hit!

The Painboys trukk had come down my left flank and the Scouts had not alternative but to assault. They were going to die in the Ork turn with only overwatch to reward their sacrifice, so I may as well assault and get twice my attacks at a better ‘to hit’ roll. Sadly they failed to do anything more than perhaps 1 wound and were promptly slaughtered.

My disembarked Terminators shot up the Orks nearest so I no longer could meet my charge roll. I also kept the Techmarine with them. which in Ben’s turn I realised was a mistake as he could have trekked over to the Knight and tried to fix his Hull Points. I think the Knight was able to wreck Ghazgkhull’s trukk though, but it may have taken far more fire than it should have done.

With their ride imobilised the Tank Busters set forth with a couple of Bomb Squigs adding a Hull Point or two to the Knight.

The Dakkajet turned up but I’m not sure he was particularly effective.

Which was irrelevant really as Ghazgkhull was bearing down on them.

Things were not going to end well.

Kommandos turned up and I immediately remembered their burners and just how useless that bolstered 3+ cover really was.

 

 But there was still plenty going on in the middle of the board.

 

Having killed the Scouts the Panboy and krew headed for the Tac squad

The get into Kombat and wreck face.

It seems the Dark Angels were sporting some Apprentice-crafted armour! So the four marines were chopped up with hardly a wound in return.

 

Orks consolidated onto the crashed Aquila.

Ghazgkhull got into combat having shot three of the Terminators. It’s one thing to have a full compliment of Deathwing in that assault but just three was never going to hold up against the Orks.

The Knight was charged by the Tank Busters who managed to get another 2 Hull Points on him through various means.

My other Deathwing were surrounded also with one Terminator being lost before the charge. The Techmarine was trapped in the assault too

Ghazgkhull finishes the Deathwing off with ease and moves back up the field.

The Tank Busters blow the Knight up which takes out all but two of their number.

With most everyone dead I decided to call it.

Even with a Knight I feel utterly out-classed with the Dark Angels. I’m not sure if it’s early days getting to know them, the fact I have units that are sub-optimal, the wrong tactics or a tough opponent going up against hordes. Bottom line is that although this was a fun game, and we had a right old laugh, the fact it suddenly fell apart so spectacularly was not fun and the army is just painful to use at the moment.

Therefore, I cannot anticipate with any joy taking this current army list to BWX. Sure it’s a ‘non-competitive’ tournament so sub-optimal is fine but if it needs to be sub-optimal it will have to look cool and right now it’s neither. So, following this I’ve abandoned the Dangles for BWX, it will be nids again. I’m hoping to try a different list with more Monstrous Creatures but we’ll have to see.

1500pt battle report – Dark Angels v Orks, Game 3

The low down:

• Vanguard strike
• Emperor’s Relice – 3 Objectives, your own [worth 5pts], centre [worth 10], opponents [worth 15]
• No night fighting, lost deployment, deployed second, failed to steal the initiative.
• Warlord Trait – Ezekiel – Fearless to all units within 12″
• Psychic powers:

1. Psychic Shriek
2. Terrify
3. Hallucination
4. Shrouding

I know, I see it too, the absolute lack of cover on my side of the table, which is why I bring my own bastion! To be fair though I’d been on Ferron Proxima for the first two games and I had offered more terrain for this table [even though they had some] but everyone else had played on it and I really didn’t think terrain would affect the outcome.

Ben had tonnes of Orks and I was pretty certain I was never going to be able to kill enough to pull a win out of this so I was resigned to sending the First legion out to their doom. I did however get to sneak my scouts behind the Ork enemy lines.

But as Ben took his first turn it would appear the Orks new exactly where they were, backed their trukk up to the edge of the building and jumped out, managing to shoot two of the squad with a third covering himself in his camo cloak to evade the incoming fire.

But by then it was too late, the Boyz had seen the scouts and charged in with a 12″ charge, Hammer of Wrath killing the scout taking cover in his cloak as they rolled over him and the Ork boss butchering the remainder on his own.

With whoops of glee they promptly left the corpses before they’d even hit ground, turned back and got back to the trukk ready to drive off next turn to find more victims [oh we laughed!]. Ben scored First Strike for this.

With the other trukks holding the centre objective I used the opportunity to pour fire into their flanks.

Ghazghkull’s trukk got wrecked and the other trukk lost it’s gunner, so I made my First Strike but the impending shock of Orks on the WAAAAAGH! was less comforting.

I think one of the Tactical squads Bolters were responsible for the penetrating shot that killed the gunner. The Dark Angels really are blessed with some quality ammo – first Typhus, now an Ork Trukk!

Ben’s Kommandos arrived behind me, Ghazghkull and his mob headed towards the Tactical squad in the lava crater and the other Nobz leapt from the trukk and went for the Tactical Squad in the centre of the board.

The Kommandos were kitted out with Burners and a Power Klaw. It was almost as if they’d known from the start they’d have to deal guys in cover and a Bastion. Suddenly the only thing I had some confidence in their durability was lost.

Ghazghkull’s mob were keen to get to grips with my Dark Angels.

Which they managed to do.

Leaving only one Marine alive to hold the line.

Ghazghkull himself wanted to take on the biggest thing on the board, even if it wasn’t moving…

and charged the Bastion.

With so many Power Klaw attacks the Bastion just couldn’t stand and was destroyed

To make matters worse I then had to roll to try and save the five Devastators atop the battlements, the explosive debris was just sufficient to kill every last one of them.

 Ghazghkull was left hoping that Gork or Mork were pleased he’d destoyed the biggest Green thing on the board because it wasn’t ‘Orky’!

A Pain Boy and War Boss managed to charge the Plasma Cannon Combat Squad and would ultimately wipe them out.

The remaining Nobz multi-assaulted one Combat Squad of Tacticals and my Land Raider.

The Pain Boy was nigh unstoppable, partly because of his FnP and partly because my Marines were pretty ineffective.

I’m not sure this situation lasted for long, I think the Dark Angels were squashed eventually.

The Deathwing arrived, technically they mishapped and all died [they deviated within 1″ of  Ghazghkull] but Ben was feeling generous [or just wanted more ‘ummies to kill] and allowed them to teleport in anyways.

The other Terminators appeared in his Deployment Zone but that was not good news as due to the dodgy way artillery rules work all those Gretchin are technically T7, so I was never going to shift them off his objective, instead I had the boyz back up their trukk and surge forth.

Ezekiel and the Techmarine entered the fray. I’ve found Ezekiel to be quite handy in a fight, definitely a better choice than Asmodai but I really need to find a better way to work with him as the Land Raider doesn’t allow him to cast any powers until he gets out. I also need to get the Techmarine’s rules down so I can play him correctly.

The Mob in the crater finished off the last of the Tctical Squad and headed for the newly appeared Terminators.

Ghazghkull got there first though with the Kommandos a close second, so the mob stood and watched jeering on support from the sidelines.

All the Orks bundled in

Despite being the Dark Angels finest there was only one inevitable outcome

 

The same would hold true for the other Deathwing, but as it would have taken too long to play out the inevitable we decided to call it.

Ezekiel and the Techmarine wouldn’t have broken their deadlock either.

The final score was something ridiculous like 22-2 although I’m pretty sure it would have been 33-2 because despite Ezekiel contesting that centre objective, he would not have survived losing me Slay the Warlord and the objective.

So, what have I learned? The Bastion didn’t survived in only 1 game, the Land Raider was equally unlucky. Whether adding in a Knight will take pressure off those units I don’t know but as I’ve already observed it only take one penetrating hit to be unlucky and lose a pivotal part of my army. I’m pretty sure a Knight will take a lot of fire, perhaps leaving the Land Raider, and more likely the Bastion unmolested. 

I was impressed with Ezekiel, he’s a much better choice, even without an invul save, but the 2+ armour is quite good and it matches up nicely with the Techmarine and other Terminators. How I better utilise his prodigious psychig ability is the greater mystery. I also went solely Telepathy which gave me a lot of options, sadly most of the powers I rolled were pretty dire. Psychic Scream is awesome as a Primaris, it’s just of little use when he’s locked in a box for a turn or two!

Ultimately I was just as torn between taking these to Blog Wars or nids as I was before. I still have to paint my Knight, still have to finish the Tactical Squad. The Bastion and Land Raider ‘will do’ but I’ll have to find a way to fit the Terminators in and currently that looks pretty tough without removing yet more upgrades from my units. I may have enjoyed the games more than I expected and managed to win one but I don’t imagine my BW opponents will be as kind. That’s not to say their uber competitive, but it’s a tournament afterall, even if it’s supposed to be fun first and foremost. Bottom line is given my army choices and the sacrifices I’ll have to make – paring down units etc. It wouldn’t take a beardy cheese list to do me over, any old opponent is going to make my day difficult. So the question is – am I comfortable with that or do I at least want fighting chance with a fully painted army I’m happy with?

We’ll have to see…

The Autumn Awesome – Ben’s pre-Blog Wars 1,500pt mini tournament

Ben suggested a little mini-tournament for last weekend, using Blog Wars rules but at a reduced points size because I’m already struggling to make 1,500pts and I was worried about game times too. Inbetween my own games I took a few pictures of the other guys games so thought I’d share these separately so you can enjoy the miniatures. Although PeteB won’t be able to make BWX he brought his Eldar, mainly footdar with a Fire Prism and some War Walkers.

Ben went with his Ork horde with Ghaz and a bunch of bosses and nobz.

This was the kill points game, first of the day.

Ghazghkull did a magnificent job of sneaking up on these Dark Reapers.

Such a great lunch, worth waiting until about 1pm for anyway 😉

To save time moving around, Pete and Liam ended the day on my board. Sadly the footdar found it tough securing the three objectives on this board but by the howls of frustration from Liam it sounded like Karandras was up to his usual awesomeness, he certainly did my Dark Angels over!

Darn Hellflies.

Liam’s MVPs – the Obliterators

It still amazes me that that Land Raider is scratchbuilt!

The Walking Dead

And by the end of the night their was Blood for the Blood G.O.D. [even if there was no Khorne on the battlefield!]