Gaming with my Son - Nids Vs Eldar 500pts

I think this is the first time we've played:

• on our new table 
• with the new Ferron Proxima battlemat
• with my son playing his Eldar
• with the Ferron Fire Firs
• with the DoW Plasma Generator

So 500pts, I took the BS/RC Prime, a load of Hormagaunts, Devgaunts, Biovore and Genestealers. I didn't take a Tervigon as I though it'd be a nightmare for him. He took a load of Guardians with a Bright Lance support weapon, Swooping Hawks, a Farseer as HQ and 3 Guardian Jetbikes. Here's the start with 3 objectives.

The Guardians take cover in the Ferron Bindweed.

The Tyranids hold the high ground next to the Plasma Generator.

The main swarm is driven to secure the Hive Node objective in the centre of the board.

Under the psychic control of the Prime the Hormagaunts leap forwards intent on securing the Hive Node.

As the alien menace bounds forwards the Eldar move out of the bindweed and take aim at the Prime who had not decided to 'join' the Hormagaunt brood. They manage to take a couple of wounds off him at which point I realise he is my only Synapse Creature on the board so I make a note to join him to the unit next turn IF he survives!

The Diving Eagles swoop out of the sky the Exarch's Sun Rifle a bright light of death amongst the Tyranids.

The jetbikes fly in from the flank the second objective is in the copse of Ferron Fire Firs to their right.

The Hormagaunts keep moving forwards, using the hill as cover, the Prime joins their brood hoping to use them as a meat shield.

The Devgaunts have taken cover in the coffee plaza ruins where the third hive node objective resides.

Teh Diving Eagles continue to blast away with their Sun Rifle and other weapons, taking a heavy toll on the Hormagaunts.

The Guardians press forwards, a stray spore mine floating aimlessly about the battlefield.

The Farseer strides toward the objective in brave defiance of the encroaching horde, while the jetbikes scream forwards to add support.

The Hormagaunts charge the Farseer, their Scything Talons proving too much for the Eldar mage [he didn't see that coming]

The Devgaunts move forwards to both hold the objective and hopefully add fire support against the Diving Eagles.

The Hormagaunts consolidated towards the Eagles who in turn charged them in their turn.

The Guardians spread out to add maximum fire support but stay out of charge range. The Jetbike heads back to the second objective.

The Guardians continue to rain shurikens into the Tyranids and hopefully thin the swarm.

The Jetbike, having narrowly weaved through the dense Fire Firs suddenly spots the arrival of nine Genestealers.

They charge into the copse, and despite the dense foliage they tear the Jetbike to shreds with their rending claws.

 

The Hormagaunts are completely decimated by shuriken fire, so the Devgaunts stretch their brood to try and capture both objectives 

With the prime hidden by cover he wills the brood to form a chain bridging the gap between node points

With the Devgaunts out of range the Guardians target the Prime, taking cover behind the trees.

But their storm of shurikens shreds foliage and Tyranid flesh alike as the remove the last of the Primes wounds leaving the central objective unsecured.

With the objective free the Guardians move forwards both to capture it and to get a bet firing angle on the remaining Devgaunts.

The Devgaunts skulk back towards the Hive Node

 

Meanwhile the Genestealers secure the other objective

The aerial view from the Eldar Craft Ship

The Synapse view from the Tyranid Kraken Hive Vessel.

It was a good game, I helped him a bit, particularly with arranging his Guardians to maximise his shooting. He overestimated his Farseer's ability but he was committed before it was too late and there was just no way he could survive the Hormaguants and Prime, but if he'd have taken that one wound off in combat...

With another couple of turns his volleys of shuriken fire could have dislodged the Devgaunts, and eventually the stealers but the end result was a 2:1 victory for me. My lesson was always remember how many Synapse Creatures you're using and protect them!

Gaming with my Son - Bloodbowl 2nd Edition

As my Blood Bowl painting efforts continue I managed to gee up some enthusiasm from the eldest to have a game, it was either that or 40k and he opted for the fantasy American Football. Of course I've only ever played 2nd Edition and I don't have the current 'Living Rulebook' for modern play so we stuck with what I know. In the past we just did the basic rules but I decided to up the ante and go with the advanced set and we had elves versus skaven, here's the end of my Son's first turn, no head to head shenanigans in 2nd Edition, and I never liked the kick-off rules brought back in with the Blood Bowl companion.

A number of his skaven ran upfield with his thrower hanging back completely undefended, lets just say he was very new to the game.

You don't see that every day, a three armed, be-tentacled giant mutant rat!

After some deft play and a few blocks one of his Skaven was deaded, 2 K.O.ed and 2 stunned but he'd still managed to slip through my defensive line and thrown the ball to a scuttling little rat fella - 1-0 to the skaven.

So, next round and I start off with the ball. 

At the end of the first turn my elves are heading upfield, I suppose this illustrates we they all start in the middle now.

Some punishing blocks put a lot of my elves on the floor, I'm not even sure where the ball is, it seemed to bounce around that pile of flattened individuals in the middle.

I think this picture pretty much describes what happened, the catcher managed to break free for the end-zone and my thrower managed to get in a simple pass to gain a draw.

That was it, we packed up after that. I think it was a fun little game. I know the new rules have that if you fail a block, throw or tackle etc. and it's a turnover from playing Blood Bowl on the DS but I kind of enjoyed the original you get to keep on blocking, rolling armour saves next block and on and on. The new rules add more tension, any fail could be your doom but it ends up a bit more tactical, a bit more like chess. Every move has to be made with 'what will happen if I fail?' in mind and so you have to try and plan your moves in a set order. It's interesting and perhaps more of a challenge but I feel 2nd Edition is a little quicker because if you do fail so what you just make your next block. It's like in 40k when you have a target you absolutely must kill and so if one thing misses you fire at it with another until you bring it down. Could you imagine if your turn in 40k was over if a unit missed? Of course they're different game mechanics and amounts of figures involved but it's an interesting thought.

'nids part 38 - The ebay goodness just keeps on giving

With the Warrior/Hive Guard conversion frenzy and the five new Termagants I forgot to show off the second reason I bought my bitz pack [after the Hive Node objective markers] Ymgarl Genestealers. OK there's none of the Tendril faces but the extra carapace armour and Scything Talons should differentiate them or at least when the armour is blue you'll definitely see a difference.

Of course one issue is I only have 4, but perhaps another bitz purchase should solve that issue and who knows what else I'll benefit from because of it?

Don't forget my  Ymgarl Genestealers. Mutation counters

'nids part 37 - Devilgaunts

My Devgaunts continue apace. Purchasde from my gaming and car sharing buddy Mark they've had all the washes and the chitin highlights done.

I love devourers, they work out expensive at 5pts a piece but a unit of 10 with 30 shots sure does focus folks attention elsewhere.

They make nice formations too.

Next up is the Toxin sacs, 2nd highlights, Bonewhite and claws.

As with the Broodlord, instant update! Originally I was neat with the Toxin Sacs, Dark Angel green only going in the  exposed part of the sac with the liver fleshy bits still showing but then as I put more highlights on  I thought 'sod it' lets have them all 'glowy' or implying the toxicity of the sacs suffuse both the fleshy bits as well as the orb glands that produce the poisons.

and I love 'em, hence why I used the green on the Broodlord. The colour fits in really well with my existing scheme and also allows me that opportunity to separate out units should I choose to field 2 squads of 10.

Poisened Toxin Sacs - yummy!

Claw highlights, Boenwhite and bases still to do.

Terrain is everything - Dawn of War Plasma Generator part 10

I've glued it together. I bit the bullet and just did it as I've so much on my plate at the moment I just want to feel like something is done and dusted but I don't know if you can see but something has changed since last we saw the Plasma Generator...

... do you notice just how big the air bubbles are at the top, compare them to the previous post and you willl see somehow the gel is evaporating and the hot melt glue seal isn't sufficient to prevent oxygen getting in.

 

I'm not sure what to do about it, I'm as surprised as you that it actually happened. The only silver lining is if I leave it upside down for long enough when we play I can leave it upright and the terrain actually moves throughout the game! Yeah, not much of a silver lining

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