Thursday 11 October 2018

2000pts battle report - Imperial Knights & Dark Angels v ORKTOBER!

Ben has been busy home renovating recently so it's been a challenge to arrange a gaming but as we've all signed up for the Last Chance Open we thought we'd better learn how to play 40k again 😃 We rolled Front Line Assault deployment map - long-ways arrow. We were trying to understand the ITC rules but I think we gave up in the end - bodes well for January!


Ben has just 2,000pts of Orks so his army had no options or opportunity to fine-tune. Lots of Boyz, Nobz, Bikerz and Tankbusters in Trukks. There was also Snikkrot and his Kommandos.


I took my Cerastus, 2 Warglaives, My Knight Errant [as a Freeblade], 2 min Dark Angel Tactical Squads [one with Plasma cannon], Scout Snipers, Techmarine, Chaplain, 2 Ravenwing bike squads with Plasma Guns and my Old Skool Predator - in use for the first time ever.


Ben won first turn and I failed to steal. As you can see everything got up in my face pretty quick.


Snikrott's Komandos appeared on my flank, although he turned up in the middle of the board.


There was a lot of greenskins coming my way, they killed one of the Ravenwing and failed to make their charge but I really began to worry I had too many targets.


Made even more worrisome when the Tankbusters, their bombsquiggs and small dakka fire took out one of my Warglaives


Snikrott made a big charge into one of my Tac Squads, but my Chaplain Heroically Intervened to steal their resolve. He killed 2 Marines and in return was taken to his last wound thanks to the Chaplain and his bonuses on the Dark Angels. The Bikerz completed an 11" charge on the Lancer, surrounding him alongside their Warboss and Painboy. The mob managed to do very little, one wound or so but it would suffer 8 wounds in total at the hands of the Warboss and other Characters. In return it lanced the Painboy to oblivion, didn't quite kill the Warboss and stomped on a couple of bikes.


My turn 1, the Ravewing moved to the woods with the Predator moving to intercept the Kommandos and sit on the objective. Looking at the table it felt like I had far too many threats and not enough bodies/attacks to deal with them all. I wasn't even sure on the most urgent target priority.


I did however figure the Tankbusters were high on that list  and I was able to blow up their Trukk and take some of them with it. The remaining Warglaive moved to take them out.


Than Lancer Fell back, luckily I didn't move him far before I started it's charge as it only made 2" - so much for it's big gangly legs. The Tac Squad and Chaplain also moved to assault the Warboss on his bike. Euronymous the Fallen Knight moved to multi-charge the bikes and the Trukk full of boyz. He was also back up by the Ravenwing who moved to the midpoint between the two Trukks to give me options.


The Lancer and his buddies were able to smash the Ork centre. With the Trukk also tied up that left the Ravewning free.


They assaulted the Trukk on my left flank to keep the Scouts safe and hold the Orks at bay. I'm not sure if Ben was counting up or down on his wounds on the '3 dice' there but my bikes had taken 1 wound [possibly in overwatch].


Not sure what damage they did.


But they suffered a casualty in return. I think that was the end of my turn 1 and we'd managed to do it in just 3 hours! How rubbish are we?


As it was getting late there didn't seem much point in carrying on. Although there was plenty still on the board I'd effectively removed most of Ben's heavy hitters meaning he'd struggle to damage my Knights. The only thing he wanted to see was what his mob of Boyz would do to the Knight.


As it turns out not very much, I think I got wounded 5 times.


And my saving throws were on fire!


We called it there with many questions still unanswered. Our ITC prep was useless, we couldn't even follow the secondary missions [even though they appear straightforward it's keeping track of them] so we've no idea what we scored, we gave up. 

Ben's Orks are completely uncompetitive. They are what he has unfortunately and new Codex or no he's doubtful now he'll run them. He'd require major investment of units and painting to be ready in time. He's far less competitive than when we first started playing but like all of us we don;t want to be steam-rolled either. He's thinking of switching back to his Astra Militarum but throwing in a Super-Heavy.

I was pretty impressed with my army. I was sad the Warglaive got plinked first turn but much like Alex's situation in my last game at DT4 - a loss of a single Warglaive is a small price to pay to then succeed with everything else. The bike's did OK, I forgot how good they are with their 4 bolter shots each at Rapid Fire range, Plus the Plasma Gun. I'm undecided on some items, the Predator was cool but it's not very fluffy a Dark Talon might be a more suitable replacement but it's 20pts more I can't really afford. Alternatively I could add two more bike squads or a unit of Black Knights plus change? 

Regardless at GT4 I'll have to lose 250 points, which will either start with the Predator or one of the Warglaives and I'll have to find 70 points from somewhere else... lots to think on.

Tuesday 9 October 2018

Google+ commenting


Back in January 2017 I decided to switch to Google+ commenting as an experiment. Keeping up with replying to comments had become a challenge due to certain IT restrictions. I thought this might help alleviate the problem and it helped somewhat, but I have noticed that not all comments showed up in my G+ notifications so often went unnoticed and thus unanswered.

That said I had been thinking recently that I should perhaps switch back to blogger's in-built commenting function. It's far from perfect, doesn't offer me the opportunity to respond directly but does collate all my comments in one place and gives me a record of them all. It would appear though that this decision is ultimately out of my hands, in that Google has announced it will be winding down G+ itself over the next 10 months.

So, I'll probably switch sooner rather than later but it also means the variety of 40k groups I occasionaly showcase finished miniatures to will also be gone, shame.

Friday 5 October 2018

Imperial Knights - House Corvus Twins in manufactorum pt3. 'first base'

With my base 'iced' with tile adhesive it was time to put on some sand and slate. I freely admit I hadn;t really thought about the placement of the slate and so the sand needed to go some way to blending it all in. However when the Knight was put in place it just looked so dull. There was just too much empty space and I thouhg it needed something in the foreground to break ot up...


I may have gone a little overboard though. It definitely solves the problem but it's a little overwhelming in some respects. Overall it's better though so I can live with it.


I found th eplastic tube in the garage, no idea what it was from but new it would work. I had some Drop Pod harnesses to use as supports, the round thing was another bit that PeteB gave me years ago that looked like a cool pipe manifold. I then used masking tape to make pipe collars, wrapping them round the pipe.


I had to dig/drill/gouge out chunks of grout/slate/MDF to fit it all in and then Valejo Red Oxid [sic] paste to blend it all in


I also added the extra bit of slate to where the Knight will be fixed, it adds another few degrees of backwards lean so it balances the pose better.


This is even leaning too far forwards, once it's glued it'll be better. The left foot does make a nice interaction with the silhouette of the pipe though.


I mean I've no idea where that foot is going to land, if the pipe is likely to be stomped on but the context of the huge Knight makes the oversized pipework less silly.


So it all got primed with Red Oxide car primer and I cannot convey the sense of satisfaction this gave me. I'm on to painting, familiar territory it feels like progress. Going back and putting the pipes on was a setback now I could taste the advancement.


And yet I've still got the other Knights legs and base to do. Both need their weapons options built and magnetised as well as their Carapaces finished off and heads magnetised.


There is so much to do and although there is a big milestone sense of achievement to move onto some painting a reality check has tempered some of that satisfaction, sadly. Nevermind, I can paint this separatelt to completion and use that momentum to help me get through all the other build elements. I might be more productive and efficient to be solely in 'build mode' but motivationally I need painting to feel like there's progress.

Imperial Knights - House Corvus Twins in Manufactorum
Parts: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |

Thursday 4 October 2018

Last Chance Open 2019

YouTube sensation Aceface and Dice and Decks [the hobby shop formerly known as Wargames] are back with another one of their ITC tournaments. The Last Chance Open 2019, as the name suggests is the last chance to score big in ITC for those rankings and help secure places in the big ITC events.


As such it's a far more competitive gaming experience than me or my crew are used to, but when an internationally recognised two day tournament is going on in 'sunny Southport', only 20 minutes from my house it'd be rude not to. So we're all on board, Liam, Otty, Ben and myself [Scott might even turn up too]. We've no illusions about our chances but the 11th to 13th January dates means it will be ideal tournie prep for us for GT4 the following month.


There are still tickets available at £60 for the weekend. If the remaining 30 are sold Martin has mentioned he will release an additional 30 tickets to bring it up to 150 gamers [double what he had at the Last chance Open 2018]. If this does well he's planning to expand again next year to what could become one of the biggest gaming events in the UK. The venue he's secured is the Southport Theatre and Convention Centre what we affectionately call the Floral [where we've attended Rock Nights since 1992] so it can handle almost 300 folk in the future!






So check out the Facebook page for more information, or visit Dice and Decks where you can buy tickets.

Wednesday 3 October 2018

Dark Angels - Ravenwing Dark Shroud part 4

This is pathetic really. I don't know what it is about the Dark Shroud that doesn't inspire me, but I put some wash on the Bone and Angels then highlighted the bone, then I moved back onto the Shadespire models 🤣


Such a window of opportunity now shut as the Knights take centre-stage. Frustratingly I kind of need this painted too as if I can't complete both Knights I'l rely more on my Dark Angels to fill out my army and specifically the Ravenwing which this will help with. However, it's far more progressed than wither of the Knights so there is chance it could be brought back online and completed if the need and, more importantly, the will was there.

Anyway, short and sweet, Knights are up next.




Monday 1 October 2018

Deatwatch Overkillin'

When I went round to Liam's we had a game of Kill Team, with his son taking Skitarii and I used his Genestealer Cult. It was an interesting revision of the game I was particularly interested in the oversized tokens which could be streamlined a little bit to keep track of you actions.

However, we also had a game of Deathwatch Overkill. We started off the first mission, which I still believe you have to be some kind of special unlucky to lose as the Marines. Unfortunately I seem to have misplaced Jetek Suberei and Garran Branatar so he was reduced to taking these guys:
  • Ortan Cassius - Ultramarine Chaplain
  • Rodricus Grytt - Imperial Fist, Frag Cannon
  • Drenn Redblade - Space Wolf, chainsword
  • Jensus Natorian - Blood Raven Librarian
Cassius is pretty tough though so I don't think there were any disadvantages to this choice. I think at this stage he's already killed a Neophyte on the left and two Acolytes on the right.


It became clear Liam had grasped the importance of controlling my ambush points with Redblade and Cassius securing most of the right one and Natorian the other, although there was room just for my an Aberrant and Acolyte to arrive. Another Aberrant and Acolyte came in from their deployment having. Mining Lasers and Neophytes rushed the Ultramarine and Space Wolf.


Who blasted them to pieces with area effect weapons.


The Librarian was only able to take out one cultist, luckily for him it was the Aberrant


I think I managed to wound Rodricus Grytt but he healed himself while Cassius came forward to offer support, killing the Acolyte and Abberant.


More Cultists arrived but Cassius had joined Redblade to prevent more ambushes from that entrance. In response the section was booby-trapped while my Cultists lurked offboard.


Having spotted the charges Cassius and Redblade were forced out of the ambush point but still managed to kill the two Acolytes nearby. Grytt and Natorian also killed two Acolytes on the other side of the board.


But the Blood Raven had overstretched himself and the two remaining Genestealers managed to find chinks in his armour and bring him low.


With righteous fury at the loss of his brethren Cassius crossed the board taking on 5 Neophytes that had just burst from the depths.


Thanks to a Gambit bringing on more Ambushes there were Cultists coming from everywhere.


But Cassius blasted the five Neophytes apart while Redblade took out two Acolytes.


A further Acolyte bit the dust which gave Liam the win.


As usual we still played out the turn, even though the game was decided and the mangy Space Pup bit the dust for my own satisfaction.


Once again a really fun game, of course it gets better when you have access to the extra models, both deathwatch and Cultists, use the bigger board set ups and have a bigger deck of cards to play with. I really like the game, it feels a lot easier and quicker to play than the likes of Space Hulk and the Broodmind deck offers just the right amount of tactics without being too complex and gamey. I'd love to play out all the missions one day.











Friday 28 September 2018

Warhammer Underworlds Shadespire Steelhearts Champions - almost there

With the preliminary basing of one Knight out of the way I felt sated enough I could try and move these closer to completion. I did all the obsidian weaponry and highlighted the leather on hilts and kilts.


I also did the obligatory glowing eyes with some dubious results. Then I added some battle-damage to the armour which I was even less pleased about. It doesn't look quite as bad in this picture but I thought it was too harsh and spoiled the prisitine look.


But these guys will have been in Shadespire for eons, brand new armour isn't an option so with one damaged and two undamaged I had a choice - fix the damaged one or push on through with the other two...


And I went for damage, this time with Skavenblight Dinge and used a sponge for more randomness. I think it was the right decision, although the execution was better this time it was still not quite right. however, better to try and fail [slightly] than to take the easy route.


I also added the [other] obligatory verdigris on the armour, some extra highlights and a little white stripe on his cloak.



Now to varnish and they're done!