#BattleReport - 1,000pts Imperial Knights v Tyranids

Afternoon #WarHamFam and #WarhammerCommunity I've been playing TENTH! #New40k Despite having a backlog of #MESBG and #Turnip28 [not] battle reports to record I thought I'd do this while it was fresh in my mind. Leviathan is due today, with my rulebook, but Otty, Ben, Liam and I decided to give TENTH a crack. Naturally, nobody had printed the Core Rules, or Quickstart Guide and only one of us had their Index rules and datacards printed out. I'll leave you to draw your own conclusion as to who had prepared in some way...

Anyway, Ben had prepared a list of Otty to use his nids - Old One Eye, a Carnifex, 10 Hormagaunts, 10 Termagants, 2 broods of Warriors [1 ranged, 1 melee], Hive Guard, Zoanthropes, Trygon, 5 Genestealers. I had a knight Preceptor with Unyielding Paragon [reduces AP by 1] and Stormspear Rocket Pod, 2 Helverins and 2 Warglaives. If I'm honest I thought Otty was at a distinct disadvantage - lots of little bugs with weak weapons and talons - how could they possibly effect the towering Imperial Knights... Otty got first go, and straight out of the gate the Genestealers scouted forward 8".

Which meant they had an easy first turn charge into one of my Warglaives. Otty had chosen Hyper-Aggression as his Hyper-Adaptation which meant every creature had [LETHAL-HITS] on vehicles/monsters. That means even the littlest bug, a roll of a 6 and it auto-wounds! Oh dear...

I was very lucky though and did some amazing saves with limited wounds across my knights. My Warlgaive managed to kill  just two of the Genestealers, which was underwhelming.

Otty had pushed forward and the Ranged Warrior's were slightly exposed and the Hive Guard with Shock Cannons, although taking some cover were now within range of more guns.

Shots from the top Warglaive, Helverin and Preceptor managed to wipe out the Ranged Warriors and one Hive Guard went down. I think the other Warglaive managed to squish the Genestealers.

I'd made a better impact, but now I had Hormagaunts swamping the other Helverin and OOE+Carnifex needed a 11" charge to get the freed-up Warglaive - Otty rolled a 6 and 1, CP re-rolled the 1 and got a 6 and managed to wipe out the Warglaive. I got to attack back before dying with a stratagem and dished out soem wounds but not enough to make a difference. Meanwhile, my Helverin stomped on a few Hormagaunts. On the far side [out of shot] the other Warglaive took a wound from 5 shots in range of the Devgaunts. Then the Zoanthropes blasted it to pieces dealing the exact amount of damage it had left. That lucky Termagant had saved the day for Otty!

Naturally we were getting all sorts of rules wrong, we weren't both receiving CPs in the command phase, just the person who's turn it was. So I was running out of CPs every turn and we hadn't worked out that vehicles could shoot in and out of combat [for -1 to hit]. As it was I tried the best with my shooting and ended up needing a reroll on the Preceptor to do decent damage on the Carnifex. Then I charged and immediately remembered the plan was to Tank Shock them and roll 14 dice with the potential for six 6's. But I'd spent my CP

As it was the Reaper took out the Carnifex and did a few wounds on OOE, but he regenerated most of them. And then the Trygon burrowed up and charged the Knight from behind.

The Melee Warriors managed to link up with the Hormagaunts and inflict even more damage on the Helverin but I was very lucky with saves and Feel No Pain. Lastly I was swinging at Old One Eye and managed to get 3 hits on him, 3+ to wound...

Unbelievable! There wasn't much I could do after this. 

The Preceptor got smashed by the monsters. I think both Warriors got killed, by the remaining Helverin Autocannons but the Prime survived and the Armiger in combat could only stomp on 2 of the remaining Hormagaunts. We called it as I had little chance at this stage and it was late. 

So, what do I think? I liked the game, just enough rules and complexity, but I hated not having the physical book, or even the Quick Start. It was a nightmare trying to use the app for both Otty's army and the Core Rule .pdf, while also taking pictures. 1000pts feels like as good size while we find our feet. Hopefully, when we're all on board with the rules and familiar with them it'll feel easier but even with this streamlining there were still times where explaining the rules felt just really hard - in direct contrast to Turnip28 and Bolt Action. But we'll keep at it. We all had fun and both factions, that on paper looked great [my Knights and Ben's Astra Militarum] were beaten by the weaker Tyranids and the much smaller but elite heavy World Eaters. Surprising lessons learned for next time. Now to await Leviathan and build some bugs...

Yes, I was the one prepared[ish]

Battle Reports #Turnip28

Afternoon, I've been a fan of Max FitzGerald's Turnip28 for ages. Although it's not like I need another game to get into or have the time the aesthetic fascinates me - Napoleonic/Medieval root based vegetable warfare with funny names. The colours are so unlike how I paint, not high contrast saturated highlights so the challenge of total grunge and browns rally appeals. That said it was Otty who had the spare figures and time to make not one but two armies to play with his son. They're a bit brighter than I'd do but he was doing them the way he son wanted them. Anyway, he suggested us having a game, which although I was intrigued I'd had such fun with Middle Earth Bolt Action I doubted this could live up to those heady heights... but I was wrong. I was so excited I had to write the reports up, although if I was a true 'content creator' this would probably nose dive my algorithm, but I don't care about that nonsense 😁

OK, simple setup, 5 objectives - the pigs and 2 wagons in my half and two wagons in Otty's son's. I had a stump gun and he had brutes and chaff's [skirmishers] instead but it seemed like a balanced force.

My Stump Gun got an early kill in a preliminary bombardment.

I'd pushed forward with the super-fast moving Whelps and charged his Whelps. I was really successful with hitting but he saved more. He hit badly but I saved badly and ended up losing with only one Whelp legging it.

This allowed my Fodder pikes to join my Toff on the right. My Stump Gun fired properly and decimated his crossbow Fodder, who ran away.

My Pike fodder got into the trench and took out the Whelps. The Stump Gun totally obliterated the opposing Toff - everything hit, everything wounded - it was like he'd been in a nutri-bullet!

I think Otty's son made a tactical error he. We realised his Chaff were untouchable - skirmish and in cover I just couldn't hit him in cover, but instead of using that to his advantage he marched out of the ruins to secure the pigs. This put him in charge range of my musket Fodder who killed all but one of the Chaff.

Brutes shambled out of the cemetery.

And slaughtered my fodder in the trench. But then they were exposed to the stump gun who blasted them to pieces

All that was left was the black powder smoke and the taint of burnt veg. But my Toff got killed by some crossbow fire and suddenly my advantage was in doubt. Otty's son had secured 2 objective. and now I only had the 1.

I could move to secure a second, to draw or I could charge the Toady in the wagon top left, with Whelp to capture the objective. But I needed to pass a blunder, get a high 2D6 charge, survive a dangerous terrain test hurdling the trench and then win the combat. Draw or gamble a win/loss. I went for glory, passed all I needed to and cut the Toff down with ease.

OK, plenty of first game mistakes were noted afterwards but all things considered a really good game. There's still an advantage for going first but that's mitigated by activating only a toff/Toady and a unit at a time. So there is little hanging around with passive play. I really, really enjoyed it.

So much so, we had a second game and it wasn't even 10pm! Otty took the reigns this time and we swapped forces as he was convinced the Stump Gun was too good. I was lucky again to win deploying objectives first so I did take advantage of that keeping 3 of them in my half but I deployed conservatively making use of the available terrain.

This is turn 2, a lot had happened, Otty's whelps had breached the cemetery [with 1 dying on the railings], but my Chaff had obliterated them shooting through the gates [we'd later discover I should have added +1 to my Inaccuracy but the dice were hot so it might not have made a difference. But otty followed up with the Fodder Pikes. He had 11 at this stage, his first 8 dice were mainly 5s and 6's on the dangerous terrain test climbing the railing. 

The remaining 3 dice were all 1's, but one of the dice landed out of the box so he re-rolled it in the box and got a 1! 🤣 I was n hysterics at this point.

The remaining 8 charged the Whelps but they were too traumatised from the loss of their chums, got battered and clambered back over the railings - killing another 1 or 2 in the process! 🤣

My brutes charged the musket Fodder, which had been peppered with Chaff and crossbows from my Fodder. The legged it but not before doing some damage to the Brutes.

Otty's Toady killed the Brutes Toady, but I think that opened him up to be shot at by something.

I think it was my Toff, while my Brutes wiped out the last of the Pike Fodder.

Otty's Toff tried to secure the objective but my Brute got in there and we traded about twenty dice roles - each unable to get a hit and when we did making lucky saves.

But eventually The Brute pulled him down and mulched him into the dirt.

With my Toff holding the cemetery objective, Brute holding Otty's baggage train my Whelps marched to capture the barrels, casually floating over the railings festooned with dead, red, fodder. All that was left of the reds was one fodder running for the hills and the totally panicked Stump Gun

SO. MUCH. FUN. The game is simple and I know we're playing the basic version [wrongly] but the mistakes we identified make sense and I've no doubt we will mater it in time. I desperately want my own guys ot paint up but will happily wait until I've cleared some things from my TO DO LIST. Anyway, rocking up and just using the figures that are there is part of the appeal. I don't have to unpack anything, or pack it up at the end of the day. The painting is already done and even better, we finished 2 games by midnight.

I've realised, the game is irrelevant so long as it is fun. Currently, with MESBG, Middle Earth Bolt Action and now Turnip28 we've 3 systems that are tactical, fun, funny and ready to go. 10th edition 40k has a lot to catch up to this lot. But, even if it fails there are plenty of options here to expand and explore while still enjoying playing toy soldiers with my mates!

Not a Battle Report - Middle Earth Battle Strategy Game - Charge of the Rohirrim

Afternoon #WarHamFam and #WarhammerCommunity I've been playing #MESBG again. I genuinely wish I had more time and was more organised. It frustrates me that I can't get these battle reports properly recorded but they just take too long. Even if it was just for my own records it would appease my tortured soul. Instead you'll get some photos I'm compelled to share with limited context, uderming any effort to bother going through them!

Anyway, Otty and I decided to play the Charge of the Rohirrim from the Two Towers a few weeks back. He's been playing this scenario a lot, adding elements to both factions to create a more film accurate game, but still keep some balance between the two factions. I ended up with the Rohirrim and he was the Uruk Hai.

I think you can guess how the first few images are going to look. The Horse Lords move forward, closing the gap. He has no ranged weaponry, while I have bows and some throwing spears. With no terrain to worry about this comes down to positioning, judging distances, who gets turn priority and then how you go about taking advantage of heroic moves, combat and charge tactics.

Otty moved the Uruk Hai forward, soI was probably within firing range here and started to take some pot-shots with my archers. 

I then decided to move over to the right flank, forcing Otty to make decisions about what to do.

His line shrank back and started to condense into the top right corner. I kept out of charge range, but in throwing spear range while a group of archers halted their charge to take aimed shots at the orcs as they fell back. I wanted Gandalf to sorcerous blast one of the Uruk Hai off the board, but we couldn't find if it was possible in the rules. 😔

As I reformed, Otty fell back to the edge of the battlefield, which put me out of range for my throwing spears.

But what arrows did find their mark were true and 8 Uruk Hai were slain before our lines had even met.

More repositioning, I was convinced that corralling him into this corner was going to allow me apply overwhelming force when they charged in.

Charge!

Unfortunately I misjudged the charge and only half my force made it into the Uruk Hai to take advantage of Gandalf's blinding light.

After my dice had been running hot there was a sudden swing in fortune and Otty managed to bring down quite a few horse and riders. He was even able to reach my back line.

I reformed and charged again but the forces of evil started to swamp my cavalry.

Otty's dice rolling was brutal, with his banners being particularly effective about bringing about changes to the outcome of our combats.

At this stage I think I was broken and Gandalf was consigned to skirting the background rallying the troops so they didn't run away but the outcome was almost inevitable now.

The slow demise of the great horse lords

A few Uruk Hai fall, but more Rohirrim run for the hills. Going...

...going...

...gone! Eomer falls and with the second character gone I lose the game.

It's amazing how much fun I can have from a game I have no 'investment' in. That seems misleading as I've bought Moria Goblins, but I mean this is a random scenario, these aren't my figures, I've not brought them with me. It's just freeing to see what happens. If I lose I don't feel bad, if I win I don't feel amazing - it's just the experience and admittedly it's random dice roles that define the outcome but it's those outcomes that create the drama and humour. I love it to bits I just wish 40k  was so straightforward and engaging, because I've invested so much in that.