1500pts battle report - Dark Angels v Dark Angels - game 1

First game and I'm drawn against Hendrik from Germany. We've met at previous Blog Wars [where I played against his friend Tobias] and Double Trouble [where I faced his brother Kai-Uwe]. This was such a nice pairing as I'd really appreciated Hendrik's support of the event and travelling all the way. Of course given recent GW news we entered into some good natured banter about who was the loyalist Dark Angels and who were obviously more loyalist ;) He had a slight advantage bringing Azrael, he is their Chapter Master afterall, but I pointed out he could just as easily have been Cyper or an Alpha Legion guy in disguise. He did also bring a Deredeo dreadnought with Missile Launcher, a Land Raider Helios, two Razorbacks with tactical Squads, Azreal and Command Squad retinue in a pod and a Nephilim Jetfigther. So my air superiority was well and truly lost!

The low down:

• One of the Maelstrom missions - 3 cards per turn
• Vanguard Strike
• Warlord Trait - Warlord and 3 Units get Infiltrate
• Liam got a Maelstrom Warlord Trait that allowed him to discard even the numbered objectives
• I set up second and failed to seize the initiative
• No night fighting. 

The best thing about this game was that Hendrik, from the off, was not treating it like a competition. PeteB had said a number of times it should be like a Tuesday night round at your mates and this what it was. I think Hendrik realised his force was a little unconventional and I was inexperienced with the Dark Angels [which probably means they were too young for them to be Heretics ;) So he was giving me advice about deployment and tactics. With my extra infiltrating units I deployed quite far forwards.

Hendrik's line was centred on the Helios with the Deredeo holding the 'high' ground and flanked by Razorbacks.

His drop pod arrived to secure objective 4 [I think]

With Azrael and his honour gouard inside.

Although my Ravenwing were the most dangerous threat Azrael targetted the Tactical Squad. I lost either 2 or 3 and the broke and ran towards the perceived safety of my Bastion.

The Bikes would be next on Azrael's list to hunt, but in the mean time had to jink to avoid shots from other quarters.

On the other flank the Razorback advanced, disgorging troops btu they failed to get through the bolstered defences of the science station. Hendrik scored the maximum 2 VPs for the turn on objectives.

My turn and the Ravenwing skirted round the rock outcrop, they focussed on the Tactical squad, just five guys and so close to the board it could be an easy kill. Unfortunately Jink makes my shooting go awry and the unit survives.

My automatic drop pod turned up, sending Brother Cask forth to melta the Helios. Again Hendrik advised me on where to drop the pod, providing an obstruction to the Helios's shooting/movement.

My Land Speeder Typhoons, Basiton, Devastators and regrouped Tactical squad shot at Azrael and his guard.

As the dust settled only Azrael and one marine was left standing.

Having killed the attached Librarian I take Witch Hunter and Overwhelming Firepower for 2 VPs, [First Blood too for that matter].

Hephilim arrives but cannot kill Cask. I think it took a Hull Point from my Quad Gun.

Azrael wreaks vengeance - Dark Vengeance on the Ravenwing.

Slaying them all!

My turn 2 and the Dark Talon zooms on. Out of the firing arc of the Deredeo's cannons I boldly refuse to Jink from it's missiles and survive.

In return fire up the Rift Cannon and BOOM!

Vortex! Sadly I only do 1 damage to the Dread.

I end the turn on another 2 VPs

The Nephilim enters into a dogfight with the Dark Talon, I think I was forced to Jink this time. Even so I think I was shaken.

One fo the Razorback's picks up it's squad and advances onto the landing pad.

My turn 2 and the second pod arrives, disgorging troops to try and secure Obj 2.

The shakend Dark Talon continued on it's merry way, just staying on the board.

Typhoons redployed to target the Razorback on my right flank but could not destroy it. The Scouts had broken in the previous turn but regrouped without any target to shoot at.

1 VP for Obj 2.

Nephilim goes for the Scouts, but they're just too hidden to fall, which cannot be said about the Dereadnought's pod. Not sure when Brother Cask fell but looks like he will need to be interred again if we caan recover his remains.

Tactical squad charge what remains in the bunker and my Techmarine charges the Deredeo. Hendrik's force is reduced to one and my Techmarine is stomped by the Deredeo. Thinking about it should I have got my 2+ save? Is a dreadnought only AP2 when it has a Dreadnought Close Combat weapon? Anyway, as my Warlord fell I did suddenly think didn't I have something else with a 2+ save? And my eyes dropped to see the Deathwing Command Squad I'd not rolled to bring on all game! You have to laugh - Hendrik and I did...

I do however make 2 VPs for Behind Enemy Lines and the scouts holding Obj3

Next turn and this is the only picture I took - scoring a VP, either for the Nephilim or a Razorback, not sure which. I know the Terminators did come on, perhaps they shot the Razorback in the back?

This was the final score, although with First Blood and Linebreaker I should have been on 10 and Hendrik should have +1 for Slay the Warlord.

There wasn't much left of my army. My notorious Bastion had survived a game, booking the trend but a lot had died and yet somehow I'd won - good cards I guess. It was the super-relaxed attitude from Hendrik that made the game for me though, I almost felt he'd been robbed of the victory, he definitely did not deserve to lose.

That also means, I believe this is the first time I've ever won game 1 of a tournament! Anyway, what matter is it was a good game and we invited Hendrik to the local curry house that night rather than leave him on his own. Birthday Bash really did it's job well!

Old Stuff Day 2017

It's old stuff day 2017. A few years ago now warhammer39999 wanted to join a movement to rediscover lost gems from the world of hobby blogs. To choose one of your own blogposts that your most proud of, or may not have got the attention it deserved or any thing that may warrant some necromantic blogpost bothering. On top of that you were to share blogposts from other bloggers which you thought deserved the same spotlight of attention before they were returned to their dark nightmare infested slumbers.

Last year I managed to cover all my bases by just pointing you to the previous years Old Stuff Day posts - treasure trove of lost gems. This year I'm going to point you all to my Showcase page. I'm constantly looking through my blog, searching for my To Done pictures I thought it made sense to try and collate them in one spot. Although technically it's new it does link to all my old stuff and once again reminds me I've painted a bucketload of stuff these past 6+ years, something my teen self could never have dreamed of. I'm not sure if I've got everything yet but so far it's pretty comprehensive:

www.40kaddict.uk/p/showcase-2.html

I also wanted to share this battle report from Throne of Skulls last year. Again it's a post I keep referring back to - playing the oh-so competitive nids against four Imperial Knights [with the extra benefits their formation brings] and destroying three out of the four knights was pretty special. The game was in the balance for a number of reasons but it definitely reminds me that you can still pull off a satisfying result against even the worst odds.

Game 2 Imperial Knights.

Lastly, forgive my indulgence but I thought it timely to explain why the Birthday Bash meant so much to me. It's been 4 years since my Dad was taken from is, I still miss him and I see him more in my own face in the mirror as I get older. It's just one of the hose things though.

 

So here are some of the old posts I've stumbled upon or recalled their outright genius from other bloggers since the last Old Stuff Day. I thought you all should be made aware of them and to scurry away and discover these perhaps forgotten gems.

First up are two connected posts regarding pointillism and stippling in your painting, sprocketssmallworld has a link to the massivevoodoo post so they're both here as they're awesome. Stippling is something I've adopted, both for my metallics and some armoured vehicles to approximate texture and therefore hide any poor highlighting thanks to the uneven stippling. Additionally using pointillism - mainly on my stealers and nids has added a next level of detail. It can be fiddly, it feels like a lot of effort to put very little paint on the model but it can just raise the quality far beyond the effort involved, check 'em out.
http://sproketsmallworld.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/spots-before-your-eyes-guide-to.html
http://massivevoodoo.blogspot.co.uk/2009/09/tutorial-making-skin-with-dot-grain.html

How can you have an Old Stuff Day without referencing Ron From The Warp? The original grand-daddy of hobby blogging, the benchmark by which we all measured ourselves and aspired to be. Think back to when you might have been added to his blog roll, now that felt like an achievement. Ron returned recently with a Space Hulk blog that sadly seems to have disappeared back into the warp but the original blog remains and it's as valid and packed with treasures as it always was. If you're new to hobby blogging and don't know about From The Warp, you're forgiven as soon as you  investigate it's awesomeness, it's a reward more than a penance. However, this post is less entertainment and more a stark reminder as folk are still to this day suffering the effects of frosting and it's 7 years on. Just stop with the Purity Seal, learn from this!
http://fromthewarp.blogspot.co.uk/2009/09/varnishing-without-frosting.html

It was Mr Pink who first showed me how it was possible to sculpt sculpt Tyranid terrain pieces. Without his Tyranid Defence Line [even before Fortifications became a unit choice] I'd have not tried my own, which would have not led to my Tyranid Bastion, Capillary Towers/Skyshield Landing pad and my more recent ongoing Void Shield Generator. So I've included the link below in honour of the huge inspiration to my own efforts. Alongside that is a more recent post from last year where Mr Pink painted some Sector Imperialis bases in a style that is just gorgeous. There's a fully fledged tutorial for you to follow
http://www.modernsynthesist.com/2011/04/old-strains-tyranid-barricades.html 
http://www.modernsynthesist.com/2016/11/sector-imperialis-easy-urban-basing.html

Another recent post that snuck into my 'Old Stuff Day' gems is from Ross Graham. It's a cheap DIY dice tray. When we can we like to dice roll in boxes and this seems like a really cool tray. IKEA is a day out for me but I may consider doing something inspired by this, but maybe with bigger sides. Regardless, you can follow the guide or remix it to suit your own needs as I probably will.
http://rossgraham.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/cheap-diy-dice-tray-in-15-steps.html

Birthday Bash 2.0

I'm about to start writing my battle reports for the Birthday Bash but thought I'd just post an interim post event review to tide you over. First up I was given this pretty cool laser etched aluminium paque by one of the attendees. Unfortunately I was too surprised to think straight and ask his name but it's such a cool gift, I really appreciate it and if you follow the blog let me know in the comments so I can thank you by name.

There were 26 entrants in the end coming to Southport from as far afield as Germany, Scotland and Pete and I [on the right in the picture below] all the way from Ormskirk, about 10 minutes away ;) As far as I could tell everything went smoothly, no problems. I think the only mistake was not preparing a Favourite player certificate which again if the winner can let me know I can prepare one and send it on

Michael Corr was overall competition winner in the end with his Deathwatch.

Liam, Otty and Ben also had a great time.

Not least because Liam walked away with Best Painted Army [again!]

And Ben also took the best painted Troop model with his Necron Warrior, something I;ve been insisting is fantastic since the very first time I played [and lost] against them!

My games were also good fun and I'll be sharing reports in due course.

I really hope everyone had a good time, it's our first proper event and I know we need to do better in certain aspects but I think we did alright in the end. Thanks everyone for coming and we'll hopefully be doing it again next year. Anyone wants to leave any feedback feel free so we can make it better next time. Thanks again.

March 2nd is Old Stuff Day

Just a heads up March 2nd is Old Stuff Day A few years ago now warhammer39999 wanted to join a movement to rediscover lost gems from the world of hobby blogs and it's still going strong today. To choose one or more of your own blogposts that you're most proud of, or may not have got the attention it deserved or any thing that may warrant some necromantic blogpost bothering. On top of that you are to share blogposts from other bloggers which you think deserves the same spotlight of attention before they're returned to their dark nightmare infested slumbers.

So if you have a blog don't forget to root through your old posts and rediscover those hidden gems. Feel free to use the Old Stuff Day poster by Firstkeeper from DeviantArt.

Birthday Bash 2.0 - Moar updates

A little over a week away until the Birthday Bash you can see I've been a busy boy preparing some objective cards. Here's the front of them with the Birthday Bash artwork. I've sliced and diced like a sushi chef over the last few weeks and got about 36 set done. If I need anymore it'll take but a minute to get them ready printed and cut. Everyone will get a set but should a last minute rush leave us short theres always the slightly clunky table to roll on ;)

And the reverse, with all the missions and 1VP per objective. As you can only score 2 maximum per turn the D3 objectives didn't make sense. That turns things like Supremacy and Ascendancy on their heads, as now that's a considerable task for just one measly, or potentially valuable point! But at least you won't get folk galloping away with the lead without opportunity to make a come back.

Now, when we did the original Birthday Bash [ Game1 Eldar | Game2 Grey Orks | Game3 Riptides ] Liam went home with this fabulous trophy.

PeteB thought this would make a much better prize for the winner [not the Heldrake mind, it's just there for scale]!

And I've also prepared the certificates

 Of course the spirit of the event is less about winning and more about taking part. It's the opportunity to spend time with people who share our interests and remember to have a good time. With over 30 people turning up it's already looking like we'll do it again [in case you couldn't make it]. We'll definitely be having a look at how it can improve hopefully we'll have a clearer plan once we've had the event.