Dark Angels - Bastions

If there's one undeniable truth I've learned in design, it's that big numbers always look cool. It was always the plan to put some on the Bastion, I just never figured out how I was going to do it as the shape pretty much precluded that possibility. A lot of the time spent on the quad guns was a stalling tactic trying to help resolve how I was going to put the big numbers on. In the end I just measured two panels and then put a number in it with the stencil text leaving a hand join between the two. I then cut them out but given how it was a font that was used in Word it meant I was beholden to the stencil gap - if I'd done this in Illsutrator [which would have taken about 5 minutes] I could ahve then turned it to outlines and then split the two parts and given a better gap to work with. However, the stencil was put in place and a coffee stirrer placed on the insideof the corner to act as a 'paint shield'. This gave me a sharp enough edge and a consistent gutter between the two halves.

Bastions 4 and 9, I then added some paint drips and started to apply weathering similar to the Aquila Lander/Imperial Knight.

The westhering was sponged Rhinox Hide followed by sponged Valejo Heavy Red.

The Quad Gun also progressed and I picked out all those circular doodads as orange for no real reason.

The other side of the bastions. Number 9 had some Gun metal applied, similar to the Lander but immediately I regretted it as weathering of this sort is not exposed metal, it's just dirt and rust. I added some Typhus Corrosion to try and cover it up.

Gilbert approves of this remedial action, it;s still nto right and I'll try some orange rust on it too but it's progressing.

I just have to bring number 4 up to the same point then there are a lot of small details to do, which won't make much progress shots but will take significant effort. Verdigris will be one of those but it may be a little different this time around...

Dark Angels - Bastions and quad gun

With the Imperial Knight complete it's time to move onto the Bastions and Quad Gun. Initially the Bastions did not appeal so I went small - the Heavy Bolter emplaced weaponry needed doing and I was really pleased with the shading I did with just watered black that gave quite a dishevelled finish. Still a little weathering and detail on the servo skulls but a good start.

I then moved onto the Quad Gun, got some green highlights on the base, did the metallics on the banding  and the gun itself.

Reconciling the colours on the top section was challenging, it;s been on my mind for a few weeks now but the solution was simple enough once I did it. I still wanted some green on top, it still had to have that Dark Angel connection as too much brass was going to kill it.

As you can see I'm a few days on from this now - three days doing the Quad Gun and still not complete. I also put in a session on the Bastions - more to come next time.

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...