NMTBW Game 2 - 2000pts battle report - Dark Angels v Blood Angels

Next up was Thomas Capper, he and his brother go to loads of the local events but this is the first time I've faced him. I was actually quite pleased about this as I figured he'd be pretty clued up on the rules so might speed things up and help iron out my lack of knowledge in the Dark Angels - he was running Blood Angels so there was overlap in equipment stats at the very least.

The low down:

• Cleanse and Capture [3 objectives per turn]
• Blood Points
• Hammer and Anvil deployment
• I went second

I pretty much deployed across my DZ, Knight in the centre, bikes to it's right, Dark Talon it's left.

Thomas had a couple of Rhinos with Death Company in, a load of Scouts, a Baal Predator and a Predator Annihilator, Librarian Dreadnought, Mephiston and Sanguinary Guard. I didn't take any more pictures of Thomas's turn but he scored 6 VPs thanks to Supremacy (2VPs) and Priority Objective 4 (4VPs) which he was sat on top of. So I had a real challenge on my hands.

My turn and I had drawn Objective 1 twice, I don't recall where that was but I could score it with ease. Which left me to try and deal with the Scouts and the Dreadnought. The scouts got shot to pieces and I got the Black Knights into assault with the Librarian, unfortunately the Apothecary couldn't keep up.

The Biker Squad went for the scouts int he centre of the battlefield.

The Dark Talon dropped the Stasis Bomb on the Sanguinary Guard - it killed one and wounded another, I hadn't realised they had 2 wounds each [or a 2+ save!] no wonder it was 306 points for the squad. Mephiston was holding that objective backfield [for which he'd won 4 VPs for Thomas]. But it also blew up the Predator Annihilator. The Rift Cannon did 6 Damage and then a further 3 Mortal Wounds with the Rift Vortex. It must have had damage from something else as it's no longer in play.

The Black Knights hacked at the Dreadnought, I did some damage but not enough to end it.

One of the Rhinos got popped and his tactical Squad got out.

The Dreadnought hit back and left all but the Huntsmaster and another Black Knight [Banner just for show] alive.

Thomas's turn 2, the Tactical Squad rounded the central rock formation. My Techmarine had taken cover behind after suffering wounds in the first turn.

The Dark Talon looks to have been obliterated, I think close shooting from the Inferno Pistols of the Sanguinary followed by being assaulted by them - there's not much it can do against a Power Fist!

Mephiston moved up with the Death Company who wiped out the Ravenwing bike squad with ease. However, he still had three units in his DZ for Hold the Line and 1VP.

The Dreadnought couldn't stand the Corvus Hammers, it was on 2 wounds and I think I used two Command Points to attack first killing it. I needed objective 5 in my turn, so now it was secure.

The Baal Predator succumbed to shooting with the Imperial Knight bearing down on the Sanguinary Guard. 

More shooting took out most of the Tactical Squad and the Techmarine and Librarian assaulted them to blunt their advance.

I managed to kill at least one in combat, whoopie do!

The Knight managed to kill four of the Sanguinary Guard, I think with his Reaper Chainsword.

Thomas's turn and Mephiston took out my two HQ's although the Librarian had initially denied his 'Blood Boil' power. Meanwhile the Death Company got to grips with the Ravenwing Knights as they had to secure Objective 5 and needed to outnumber the Ravenwing or kill them to do it.

Which they did.

My turn 3 and I draw Kingslayer - Mephiston must die. but I have a bucketload of Bolter shells, a Knight and my Warlord to do it. I sweep the bike round so it can try to take out the Sanguinary Guard if Mephiston falls to the other elements.

The Knight and Tactical Squad kill Mephiston for 1 VP.

The Apothecary assaults the Sanguinary Guard.

but without and 6s on his Corvus Hammer the Guard shrugs off the attacks and punches him with his Power Fist killing him outright.

We run another turn each where Thomas secures objective 5 again and I secure objective 3. The final score is 9VPs to Thomas, 5Vps for me but 1361BPs to me and losing 1082BPs. So another loss on VPs but win on BPs, practically unheard of for me but again a very tactical game and far more rewarding 8th edition.

One other point of interest was Thomas pointing out my Plasma Gun toting Ravenwing biker could fire both his twin Bolt Guns and his Plasma Gun, which I could scarcely believe. You see, I knew Thomas would know this shiz. But then I started to think, why can't they all fire their Bolt Pistols too? Well it would appear that there's an answer to that question and gosh darn it, it's only in the rules. Pistols specifically state the model may either fire their main weapon or the pistol, that's it. I'd even had a moment where I reverted to 7th and was of the belief I couldn't charge having fired the Bolt Guns because they weren't Assault. OK, so the rules are anaemic in places but quite often the rules are right there, or if they're not there, then they don't exist! Of course the Bolt Pistols also mean I could have had a round of shooting while the bikers were locked in combat, which I forgot. #stilllearning

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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

Terrain is everything - 'Brian the Sewer Vent'

You all know I like terrain, but there is one particular piece of scratchbuilt terrain I'm partiuclarly fond of and recently I discovered it pride of place on the Catachan Jungle Fighters box. Now I've contacted GW a couple of times for more information. If they had any background information on it, who built it, when it was built, if there was a tutorial in White Dwarf showing it’s construction? I’ve always been interested to know what it’s function is ‘fluff-wise’, what’s the story behind it?

But the responses, although pertinent have never answered any of those questions. On a whim I decided to post again on the Warhammer 40,000 Facebook Group and while I was at it showcase where it's snuck into the background of normal army shots.

As I kept on posting I got a little giddy with the hope of finding what its name was and instead decided to seize the initiative, rolled a '6' and called it 'Brian the Sewer Vent'.

Which then prompted me to set up a Brian the Sewer Vent Facebook page, as you do!

But then the GW Community Team responded with the absolute best answer EVER!

There's much more in the comments worth reading.

And I then shared it among some of the other 40k and terrain groups which means the Brian the Sewer Vent Facebook Page has over 170 followers!

This is a prime example of the new GW Community engagement and I absolutely love it. I'm also going to enjoy playign around with Facebook to collate more sightings of Brian over the years. It appears in the grimdark 41st millennium there's not only WAR, but a few laughs too ;)