1500pt battle report - nids Vs Grey Knights

A while back I promised Erle I would try to be more detailed in my battle reports and include army lists. I have to confess that may not be a promise I can follow up on as I seem to incapable of retaining enough information to match up to the number of pics I take. Even less than 24 hours later I occasionally can't seem work out why I took a photo of a specific dice roll - it must be important but sometimes it's just lost on me. Then again a battle report usually takes an hour or two to write up so I'm not sure if I can commit to any extra investment, feel free 'unfollow' me now the standards are slipping!

Anyway I finally got to go round to PeteB's for a match up with his Grey Knights. I haven't played him since before Throne of Skulls, far too long. We went with 1,500pts and the wife gave me strict instructions to begin and end the battle on the same day - so no creepign in at 1:00am. First up apologies for pics, I used my camera phone which was less receptive than usual. Also of note is I left my Trygon at home so a frankly traitorous Nemesis Dreadknight filled in. When I say traiterous you may think he was betraying the Grey Knights but as you'll see his performance was particularly dire that I think he may have been fighting for them all along.

I went with the 2 Tervigon's, tried out the Winged Hive Tyrant again and ran with 5 Hive Guard, no Warriors or Warrior Primes this time. The Trygon, Doom in a pod, 10 Devgaunts and min Broodlord/Adrenal Stealer's and Defence Line. I think my powers were as follow:

Psychic Powers Tervigon HQ Tervigon Troop Broodlord [Adrenal] Hive tyrant Enfeeble Enfeeble Enfeeble Warp Speed Iron Arm Iron Arm NA Life Leech Iron Arm

PeteB, had Coteaz with some Guard in a Chimera, a Rhino with some Heavy Weapon Servitors two squads in Power Armour, A nemesis Dreadknight and a Storm Raven with another unit inside. The Mission was Big Guns Never Tire with Hammer and Anvil setup on a 5' x 4' board [he knows he bought 8 of those 2' x 2' sheets but could only find 5 so split one]. 5 objectives, one each in our Deployment Zones - the back of the ruins top left, behind Defence Line top right, first floor balcony of ruins bottom left, between woods and ruins bottom right and the black escape hatch middle right. PeteB set up first but I won the initiative and elected to go first [?!]

Broodlord Perils for warp!

Troop Tervigon spawns 9 gaunts [and poops out] into the ruins with the objective in the bottom left and heads off. HQ Tervigon heads for the centre, Hive Tyrant swoops [Iron Armed +2 or +3 I think] Trygon supports. 3 Hive guard Advance to just short of the Defence line on the left, the other two advance into the ruins on the right, all short of range.

Don't forget, that Dreadknight is my Trygon. The Hive Tyrant manages to kill three of the space marines behind the Defence Line which I think beat the odds by around one.

Devgaunts advance into the woods.

Trygon suffers two wounds.

Hive Guard take a loss and an additional wound from the Dreadknight and Rhino.

Broodlord perils for Warps Speed again!

HQ Tervigon spawns 5 gaunts and poops out. they're going to assault the Dreadknight ahead of the Tervigon. Doom arrives spot on, sucking 1 wound of the Dreadknight. Due to Warp Quake I couldn't put it behind the Defence Line and if it had gone near the Chimera there was something else which would have allowed his unit Interceptor!

Hive Tyrant swoops above the Bastion, Trygon heads fro the Defence Line and Devgaunts move up but only first three are within range of the Grey Knights.

I'd stupidly forgotten to move the HQ Tervigon through the building to support the Termagants in assaulting the Dreadknight. The suffer one loss and despite hitting it a few times fail to damage it.

Combined fire from the Tyrant, Devgaunts and Trygon reduce the Knight squad to 3 but they stand fast.

Everything in the Rhino, Chimera and the three remaining Knights behind the Defence line let rip on the Trygon.

He dies securing both First Blood and a Heavy Support Victory Point for PeteB! [curses].

Storm Raven arrives and put two wounds on the Tyrant, but he doesn't get shot out of the air at least.

2 wounds from the Doom on the Dreadknight, here comes the Invulnerable save, which prevents it from being wiped off the board.

Hive Guard get 1 glance and 3 pens on the Rhino but none of the pens blow it up leaving the vehicle wrecked and the occupants taking cover behind it's charred remains.

The other two Hive Guard hit the Chimera and manage to blow it up, a number of the Guard inside die but some survive due to Coteaz's 4+ invulnerable save. A good turn for the Hive Guard.

The Tervigon gets off his a$$ and makes it into combat with the Dreadknight leaving only 1 wound on it.

Once again the exact significance of these dice eludes me but I think they may be saving throws because although the Tyrant is showing only two wound he doesn't feature in any further pictures so I guess he was killed at this point...

A Grey Knight squad gets dropped off by the Storm Raven, they roast the Mycetic Spore.

but then suffer the consequences of standing too close to the Doom. Meanwhile the Dreadknight finally succumbs to the combat/Doom and I gain a VP for a heavy Support kill.

The Storm Raven puts 2 wounds on the troop Tervigon.

I peril yet again though on what I'm not sure.

The HQ Tervigon moves round the wrecked Rhino, I realise the force halberds will kill him but I have no option. The two Termagants scramble over the Rhino but one dies due to dangerous terrain.

The Tervigon fails to stop the Force Weapon's doing what they do and PeteB gets Slay the Warlord.

Knights consolidate to the centre.

Another important dice roll lost in the mists of time and a brain like Swiss Cheese [apologies]

I think this was the view after the Knights eradicated the last of the Hive Guard holding these ruins on the hill in the centre.

Remaining Stealers are shot off the objective by the Storm Raven

The Doom goes for Coteaz

I think this was Coteaz's Leadership roll, which meant he didn't succomb to the Doom.

The Storm Raven shoots up the back of the Tervigon

The game ended on turn 5 with, I believe, a final score of 6VPs to PeteB and 4 to me. Once again I have to apologise for the rather patchy report. Part of me is compelled to write them but I've noticed recently they're actually getting harder to record. I'll have to find a better way, taking pictures is one thing but taking notes too, whilst trying to keep everything tidy AND play the game maybe taking the proverbial. We'll see how the next one goes... Well played to PeteB for getting the Knights to deliver on their winning potential. I'll have to think of a way to counter this now ;)

'nids part 66 - Ymgarl Genestealers Primed

Having finished the Ymgarl conversions it was time to prime them and I'm sure the eagle-eyed amongst you will have noticed these have not been primed white as normal. You would be correct, the simple reason being I ran out of white primer part way through.

The lovely fluffy excuse goes something like this: personally I don't hold much with the idea that your Tyranids will often reflect the planet they're on colour wise, insomuch as in an initial invasion the brood may not have assimilated enough native genetic material to adapt their colouring to their surroundings. However, I have started to introduce more reds into my Hive Fleet, and certainly in regards to Ymgarls who have lain dormant on the planet and in the process absorbed the natural elements in their surroundings I think I can introduce a little more.

That's not to say these will have red armoured plates but I will be accentuating those bits that were traditionally my 'liver washed browns' as more towards the reds and pinks of my Hive Guard weapons [incidentally that Olive Oil has evaporated a bit revealing the frosting again :( ]

Instant update, and here's the first coat of my cheap 'Latte' craft acrylic. I only really wanted to show this for just how brutally untidy this coat needs to be.

I'm quietly confident all the other colour blocked in will help tidy this up but the actual messiness and poor coverage should allow at least a hint of the red oxide undercoat to show through.

It's quite scary in a way as although this will follow the method I've painted the entire brood I do think there's  quite a lot that's different in the process too.

Hopefully the 'fluff' can explain the discrepancies if they're too apparent but we'll see how it goes.

1250pt battle report - nids Vs Necrons

Got to go to the last games night of the year at my local friendly neighbourhood gaming club - that gives you an idea of how long it takes to write and fit these reports into my blogging schedule. Anyway I was hoping to fit in my next 40k campaign game. We're up to 1250 points now. I missed the 1000pt month as one week I turned up I ended up playing a young lad and his Necrons, it being one of his first games of 6th edition - so that didn't feature in the campaign. My next visit the club wa sshut due to poor attendance. C'est la vie.

This game once again slipped outside of the campaign but it wa still 1250 points against a guy called Dan who've I'd never met before. A straight forward Necron force built around two Triarch Stalkers, three Spyders, an Annihilation Barge and Immortals with Gauss Blasters, no Mindshackle Scarabs [phew] and few upgrades other than Reanimation Protocol buffs [I think].

Psychic Powers Tervigon HQ Tal Tervigon T CC  Broodlord [Adrenal] Enfeeble Enfeeble Enfeeble Haemorrhage Warp Speed NA Life Leech

We got The Relic [spore pod on top of the dilapidated Bastion 5+ cover save] with Dawn of War setup, I let him go first. I set up mainly asymmetrically to his force,

 but with my Hive Guard hidden in this building on the right flank, supported by the Warriors, Prime and Devgaunts

Turn 1 and the Triarch Stalkers, Immortals [that can target] and anything else shoot and destroy the Infiltrated Stealers and Broodlord. First Blood to Dan [must stop overextending like this].

Tervigon takes a wound.

10 Termagants spawned into the dilapidated Bastion [they're on the floor below].

Two glancing hits on one of the Stalkers thanks to the Brood of 3 Hive Guard, Warriors and Devgaunts advance within ruins but don't come out.

Dan take's out the ScyTal Tervigon - in this instance it's the HQ Tervigon and also wounds the Clawed Tervigon [troop]

Termagants get roasted in the bastion and the undamaged Stalker assaults the Hormagaunts who kills a few.

Troop Tervigon spawns 6 or 7 and aassaults the Stalker back and flattens it. I don't think I ever rolled anything other than Warp Speed +2 all game

The other Stalker gets blown up by Hive Guard

The Trygon manages to get into combat with the Immortals, Cryptek and Overlord. I wanted to go for the Barge but it levitated up to the ruin in the top left. He takes a couple of wounds from overwatch and kills around four in return but the Overlord does serious damage on him and most of the Immortals get back up again. I realise I can't win this war of attrition. The Overlord has too much killing power and enough Immortals to weather the damage then Trygon can give but there's nothing I can get in to support it before the inevitable.

I have a choice at this point whether to assault the Spyders or the Annihilation Barge, left or right, one or the other. I choose the Spyders hoping if I win at least I can get a consolidation back towards the Barge. I manage to put two wounds on the Spyders prior to this assault from Hive Guard. The Tervigon slams a further 4 wounds into them leaving one Spyder left and takes 1 wound in return.

The Trygon survives two turns of combat before finally succumbing to the inevitable.

Tervigon finished the Spyder off and consolidates 4"

On the right flank the Devgaunts and Warriors had come out and whittled down the Immortals on that flank, in the process two Warriors got zapped. Fearful that my Synapse on the flank would go the Warriors retreated back into the ruins as I realised assaulting them would not bring about their doom, only weight of fire, which that flank had in spades already.

The Tervigon poops out with the last of his Termagants secruing the Relic together with a lone Gaunt [no adrenal gland marking - see it is a useful brood indicator] from a previously spawned brood.

Here comes the 'Hail Mary Play' - Dan Tank Shocks the brood, but Immobilises himself on the Bastion Walls. He shoots with the Tesla weapons killing all but 1 of the Termagants and arcing and killing the lone Gaunt. I guess I should have turned left with the Tervigon!

The Tyranid Warrior is killed off and the Prime takes two wounds from the remaining Mortals on the right.

But the return fire and Devgaunts kills all the remaing unit.

The Tervigon makes Line Breaker and the situation with the Relic becomes a stalemate. I can't pick up the Relic because I can't end my turn next to the Barge. I can't pick it up and run because you can't run and you can only pick it up at the end of the turn so no move and move back. I'm sure there was room to argue this perhaps even move pick it up and assault the barge but if you can't run with it you probably shouldn't be assaulting [although it doesn't say either way in the rules]. Anyway, the Hive Guard managed to move just within range but the 2 or 3 penetrating hits only succeeded in shaking the crew. That was turn 5 and the game had to finish.

The game would have continued to turn 6 but the Immortals wouldn't have made the roof on the quick dice roll Dan made leavign it as a stalemate. 1VP each First Blood for Dan, Line Breaker for me [Note that although my HQ Tervigon died he was not me Warlord. I was using my campaign list and the Prime is my Warlord in that].

Overall a good game, the HQ Tervigon went early and the Stealers paid for a poor setup choice. The Trygon suffered from an under-estimation of the unit he was assaulting. It was far more durable than I thought it would be. The Crushing Clawed tervigon was a beast - a Triarch Stalker and 3 Canoptek Spyders to it's name. Of course if it had smashed the Barge I may have won but there would have been still Spyders to contend with and they would have probably slaughtered the units in the Bastion too. Anyway the game played as it did and I'll take a draw, learn from it and come back with a new tactic from the Hive Mind. 

BloodBowl Skaven 2

With the Dark Angels on hiatus until I've looked at the Codex and decided [read up on the nets what I should take] what I want I continue apace with the Skaven Blood Bowl team. I'm not sure why, originally the local friendly neighbourhood gaming club was going to have a tournament in June/July 2012 but given the change in the organising team I think it was shelved. Still I've never had a fully painted BB team and it's on my To Do List 2012/13 and it keeps me off the streets.

Having surprised myself with my Rat Ogre effort I continued the application of orange to the 16 remaining rat-men. 

I think at this stage there was another set of highlights to do and then some very fine bonewhite bits as the most extreme highlights and areas of wear on the likes of the rips and torn edges of their loin cloths.

Following that I will be blacking in all the straps and rivets :( I hate doing the rivets, they're just as bad as the studs on the BB Elves

After that I'll be doing all the eyes. They're all warpstone affected albinos so their eyes will be glowing green instead of the normal non-glowy red variety...

All the studs will be highlighted once, and any buckles, metals will be silver with some rust effects on it.

Then there's just the bases, which will be brown or 'mud planet basing' and that may even spawn a thread of it's own because the technique is really clever, I bet you can't guess!

"What's App Doc?" 2 - War Dice Lite

When I first thought of doing gaming related App posts I had a number of Apps that were useful. One in particular was an App called Warhammer 40k Combat Assistant. Essentially it was a dice rolling App and it was really useful. Since then it's disappeared, but a replacement turned up a few months afterwards called War Dice Lite. Essentially it's the same app, possibly removing the 40k reference for Copyright reasons and open up the market to any game requireing dice rolling.

As you can see the app creates a field of dice allowing you to add and subtract dice to compelete your roll. To be honest that's about as much as I've played with it. Ultimately it's never going to replace the tactile feel of rolling dice. However I believe there are a number of ways this could replace using dice. For one, it's free so if you're just starting out you can save a few quid by using this and I've no doubt that with a bit of practice you could become very adept at playing your game solely using War Dice Lite potentialy speeding up game play.

Additionally I believe it's an essential tool for any gamer even one who has a mountain of dice and no desire to replace it with an App purely because there will come that fateful day when you may forget your dice, or as I did lose a scatter dice, if you've got your phone you can still play on

Als, there's War Dice Pro for £1.99 which has added functionality if you develop a taste for the app. Meanwhile I suggest you go look at the free version and see what you think.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.roardog.WarDiceLite&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwyLDEsImNvbS5yb2FyZG9nLldhckRpY2VMaXRlIl0.