1500pts battle report - Tyranids v Necrons

Games have become quite a rarity since 8th edition hit. You've seen my views shift over the half dozen or so games I've played thus far, in particular the last game with PeteB helped move me to a position of acceptance and understanding. I think most of that was due to approaching it less from a competitive sense and more from a learning opportunity, but PeteB was really the architect of that. With this in mind I hoped to replicate that role with Ben and his transition less painfully to 8th thanks to the games under my belt. I'm not entirely sure I was successful but you be the judge. We only went for 1500pts and unawares of the Imperial Guard Codex he decided to try his Necrons for the first time with a mixed list of Warriors, Immortals, a Triarch Stalker, C'tan Deceiver, Imotekh, some Scarabs, Flayed Ones and a Cryptek.

I went with a similar list to when I played PeteB, just managed to shoehorn a Trygon Prime, Malanthrope and four Hive Guard into the mix.

The low down:

• Cleanse and Control
• Table Corners deployment
• Got to choose deployment zone, but deployed last unit [giving Ben first turn], failed to seize.

Choosing this corner meant I had the real LoS blocking ruins to hide the Hive Guard in, as much as the extra terrain in the other corner seemed appealing I imagined moving out of the DZ would render it pointless once the battle lines met.

The C'tan and Triarch deployed closest with Imotekh in the ruin.

Everything in my army except the Carnifex managed to take advantage of the Malanthrope's cloud cover. Unfortunately Imotekh has a special rule adding +1 To Hit, negating the cloud cover :(

Turn 1 and Ben would move his C'tan into the ruin on the right and bring on his Flayed ones in the back of my DZ.

Imotekh brought forth a storm of lightning, instantly killing two Hive Guard with Mortal Wounds. One Carnifex took two wounds and the other just one while the Tervigon also suffered only to be hit by the Triarch's Heat Ray removing half it's wounds. I subsequently forgot about Tenacious Survivor. No First Blood but Ben scored a VP holding one of his objectives.

My turn, and I draw hold objective 6 [out of shot on the hilltop to the left] for two turns - not a chance [I'd discard it at the end of the turn, with hindsight a mistake]. Advance - move all my units out of my DZ. I then do Priority Orders, a new mission I'd never seen before. You draw this and it is a mission solely for your Warlord, who then draws another objective and should he acheive the second objective he scores and additional 3VPs from the Priority Orders mission. My secondary objective - secure objective 3, which is on the hill between the ruins and trees top right. However, my Tervigon was limping along at 6" move thanks to it's wounds. I spreade out, leaving some of the Devgaunts to pepper the C'tan with Devourer grubs and decided to tie him up with the Carnifex. The remaining gaunts brought the Flayed Ones down to just four left. The Stealers moved onto the road leaving me options against the Triarch or the Immortals.

The Carnifex charged the C'tan and despite my rerolls and all the Devgaunt wounds he lived on his last wound and in return killed one Carnifex outright for First Blood.

Genestealers went through the Immortals, leaving 4 behind, one would then 'get back up'. Unfortunately my Broodlord couldn't keep up with them and was left rather exposed on the roadside. As the turn finished the Flayed Ones failed ther Morale appallingly and they fled back to their pocket charnal universe. I'd forgotten to bring on the Trygon or Rippers but felt that may actually be a good thing to have the reinforcements later in the game.

With the Broodlord separated the Stalker scuttled forwards and it's Heat Ray, alongside additional supporting fire, brought the Broodlord down to it's last 2 wounds.

It then stomped all over it's corpse...

... and consolidated next to the Honoured Imperium statue. The Scarabs surrounded the Malanthrope but weren't able to do much damage [despite hitting on 3s, y'know my Rippers hit on 5's and they're roughly the same points...]

Having killed the last Carnifex the C'tan consolidate. I then got Supremacy - hold three objectives. I moved the gaunts onto objective 5 but still within range of the C'tan. I also brought the rippers onto objective 6 on the hill to the top left [remember that objective 6 card I discarded...].

The Devgaunts popped the C'tan with weight of fire.

The Hive Guard got lucky pinging the remaining wounds off the Stalker. In fairness to Ben he hadn't been playing 'Living Metal' or his 'Quantum Shielding' rules correctly but this turn he got the Shielding rolls but to no avail. Over on the other side of the board my Trygon had appeared, needing an 8" charge against the Warriors to get into assault but more importantly get within range of the objective to score Supremacy. My Last re-roll got me the charge. The Genestealers had sliced easily through the remaining Immortals in Ben's turn, leading me to believe I'd perhaps not done all the attacks they were supposed to do in my first turn.

But as they were within 1" of the Immortals, Cryptek and Stormlord I could pile into them, although I'm sure with better positioning I could have perhaps consolidated further away in Ben's turn to then allow me to charge in my turn. Lessons to learn. Anyway, the Cryptek got spanked, a couple of Immortals fell and the Stormlord took a couple of wounds.

Although the Tervigon was heading for Objective 3 I decided to support the Malanthrope, forgetting it's wounds meant it would now be hitting on 5s. Despite this a base or two were squished.

The Trygon killed all but one Warrior, then four got back up again!

In Ben's turn the Tyrgon ate the four new Warriors, but still one remained. The Immortals surrounded the Stealers chopping down a couple. The Stormlord again took a couple of wounds but regenerated one thanks to Living Metal.

I then failed my Morale quite spetacularly [as did the lone Necron Warrior] and both our units perished.

Having been tied up long enough with the Scarabs the Tervigon and Malanthrope fell back. allowing me to reposition the Termagants almost outside my DZ and surround the Scarabs and shoot them to pieces.

At this point we called it. Ben had 2 VPs, plus First Blood. I only had 1 from my D3 VPs for Supremacy [I know, after all that effort too]. However, I'd been on objective 5 for a turn, would be outside my DZ next turn and my Tervigon would be on Objective 3 also, and the Trygon had Linebreaker ultimately scoring me an additional 8VPs.

There were quite a few times during the game we discussed how best to position models to take advantage of the Assault and Pile-in rules, which felt like a learning experience for both of us but sadly Ben ended up feeling even more dejected about the nature of the game and the effectiveness of Necrons in particular. I've been playing him and his Necrons for over five years and only beaten them once, in part due to having a unit of Genestealers I shouldn't have had. It was no doubt disappointing, especially as I thought his first turn was relatively successful. I certainly felt there was more nuance to this game and opportunity for tactics. It's still a flurry of activity early on and yet the subsequent turns still seem to take forever despite the casualties.

A good game, a win, but sadly not the result we both hoped for I fear...

If you're interested in any more of my Battle Reports, point your cogitators here: www.40kaddict.uk/p/battle-reports.html

Deathwatch - "Woah, we're half way there"

These guys are essentially complete at this stage. Ordinarily I'd have saved the pictures for their 'To Done' shoot but I had to take pictures for a 2 month painting challenge on the Tyranid Hive forum and as I'm short of content I may as well share. I didn't quite get the full squad done but my revised estimate of half was exceed by one thanks to completing the Blood Angel - Antor Delassio.

I'm really excited with these now, I actually can't wait to play Deathwatch Overkill once the entire Kill Team is complete.

So despite my patience beginning to run out I'm really chuffed. They all still need varnishing and some effects with Tamiya Clear etc. Otherwise, V. pleased.

The remaining Deathwatch have had some highlights done so there's just some individual details to overcome - colours to represent Force Weapons and psychic powers being a particular quandry, not to mention Jetek Suberei... They should all be done this week and I can then focus on the Sentinels, three weeks to AoP...

Dreadtober 2017

Thanks to my own Hobby Season commitments it's always been very difficult to fit in the various hobby challenges that go on throughout the year but somehow I realised my AoP Sentinels may well fit the bill for Dreadtober and luckily Todd agreed I should give it a go so they will form my entry.

It's a little odd though as they'll need to be done by 23rd October and I've still to finish of the far more important Deathwatch. It could well be that I only have 2 weeks to paint these which is far beyond what I'm comfortable with [do you see how I wrote that without resulting to the now universal cliche that has eclipsed all forms of saying the same thing, grrr, I blame X-factor]. Anyway I'll keep you up-to-date when progress begins #dreadtober

Deathwatch! - Patience is a virtue

I'll be honest, I'm getting a little tired of these. Every night an hour, hour and a half and there still seems so much left to do. As Marcelis says though there's the law of diminishing returns though and I'm of the opinion to just let some of this stuff go. Of course then my OCD kicks in and I feel like I've let myself down by not doing the best I can, but time is running out and if I want any chance of completing the Sentinels for AoP I have to get onto them ASAP. I think at this stage I may well have abandoned the new board, sadly.

Anyway I've inadvertantly split Kill Team Cassius in half, completing the black highlights on these and in an effort to move things on may not even bother with tidying up the line highlights with some additional black shading asI'm not sure it adds anything. You can see from Garran Branatar I followed up on my decision with Green lenses. I still need to done down some of the metals, add the flames and pick out a few details and then it's edge the base and varnish.

Zameon Gydrael is next and as you can see I've tied it into my Dark Angels by having the weathered brass and bronze. He may well join my Veteran Squad should I ever get round to deciding what weapons they're having. I'll have gone through 3 Codices and an Index without settling on something, maybe just the rule of cool? Anyway, I tried something a little different on Zameon's Power Sword. I was looking at Duncan's Simple Power Sword Glow Tutorial, but swapped Guilliman Blue for a thinned Bahama Blue and went OTT with the Nihilakh Oxide. I still wasn't convinced and with so much Verdigris on it anyway needed to do something to make it more 'powered' so brought in the pure white glow. It's still not quite what I was after but it'll do. Zameon just needs his plasma pistol finishing off.

Edryc Setorax had a similar effect on his Power Claws, still need to add the white. Just some very minor tweaks and some bits on the pillar he's leaping off/landing on. Perhaps do something with his feathers again weird 'Ravens' that are supposed to be white, yellow and black...?!

Vael Donatus, I'm less than impresse with his Pteruges [the kilt strip thing] but I didn;t do a good job on the last one I did [some Assault on Black Reach model?] either. All of these need some further tweaks on their bases and all their purity seals need a Soft Tone sepia wash since the little script has been added [poorly as usual].

Rupert Grint is the final of the five

All of these are almost complete and once I've done those bits mentioned and their bases they'll join Mr Redblade in waiting for their varnishing. The rest of Squad Cassius has also had some additional tweaks alongside the Space Hulk Librarian. I'm hoping they'll all be complete [ready for varnish at least] by the end of the week, but we'll not mention Jetek Suberei...

Deathwatch! - Momentum

I'm having to play some wonderful mind games with myself at the moment where I try not to think too mcuh about what I'm doing lest the whoe project grinds to a halt. Luckily with so many different elements on the Deathwatch I can quickly jump from one part ot another - all the Deathwatch arms for instance where achieved in one sitting and then all the cold trim was added and washed. Some other parts have been less successdul [eyes, damn you!], but despite it all progress has been made and their completion draws inexorably closer. There are still plenty of elemnt to do - highlighting/shadowing the black in particular is a big remaining task, but with that out of the way all the remaining tasks will be many but small and therefore I should be ticking them off quite rapidly

For those wondering about the black highlights, it was this guide recently in White Dwarf that I was looking at. I've not followed it closely but it's a great starting point.

And also why I was looking at yellow eyes.

So I did a Photoshop mock-up with yellow...

red...

and green and ultimately went with the Green. There are currently only 4 with lenses anyway so I really don't need to continue the debate on the subject than the opinions already gratefully received on Facebook, a decision was needed so I could crack on.

And with time so critical I was quite stern with myself to only focus on the Deathwatch and not spend time on the Dark Angel Terminator Librarian... Of course that thought some became the thing I wanted to focus on the most and inevitably painted his armour blue.

And being incredibly weak willed and impressionable I completed the second highlights. It's like in a recent episeod of Taskmaster where they said that if you think the word 'salivate' you automatically do... [your welcome].

And in a completely unrelated note I had the amazing fortune at Chester Comic Con to meet 'my' Bond girl, the awesome Caroline Munro. Maybe need to frame this in the man-cave...

Whats on my palette?

Bless me readers for I have sinned, it's been nearly 3 months since my last confession.

For the most part you all knew what was on it anyway. I pushed on through the Genestealer Cult and felt like I was casually getting into the Deathwatch, however that's now become something of an urgent task.

My To Do List has down my Armies on Parade board. This is nothing grand, just a new red planet 2'x2' that has an area that has been tiled with large pre-cast concrete slabs. I have some sheets of MDF that have nice pre-painted tiles on. They came from my Great-Aunt's house when it was sold and I thought one would make an interesting base for the tile. But Armies on Parade begins on the 23rd October, which means it's just 4 weeks away. In this time I need the Deathwatch done, which is doable. I expect them to be complete in a week or two [although I have my doubts about the White Scar biker Jetek Suberei, but no loss if he doesn't make it].

But something that would make the theme of my Cultists attacking the Deathwatch defending a small storage compound so much better - these two. Now getting the board, Deathwatch and Sentinels completed in 4 weeks is nigh impossible, for me that is. I might make two but three is a stretch.

So the priority will be Deathwatch and Sentinels. I can try and print a new backdrop, as that won't impact my hobby time at home and potentially one of my existing flat Realm of Battle boards will suffice if there is no time to create a new one. Obviously that will mean I flatly abandoned my To Do List goal, but if the Sentinels get done that will more than make up for it. But with just 28 days until AoP time management is key and by the looks of it I have quite the challenge given the speed I paint.

In a future post I might be looking at AoP a bit in more detail as new information is on their website for this years Parade. In particular the new categories are of interest:

• Young Bloods (up to 15 years old)
  Celebrating great armies from our youngest generation of hobbyists
• First Army
  No matter how old you are, if this is your first fully painted army, you can be in the running for this award.
• Monsters and Machines
  For those of you with armies of Monsters, Knights and Behemoths
• Best Theme
  Whether the inspiration is from a Black Library novel, a piece of artwork, or a classic force from the background and lore, this is one for those of you who love to represent a narrative with your armies.
• Best Scenic Board
  For those who love to create spectacular scenery for your displays
• Best Painted
  For you painters out there – fill your displays with your finest work to compete for this award.

Not entirely sure where mine fits in, possibly best theme, but it seems clear that although there are now plenty of opportunities to win its clear you can now only win, no second and third place awards. Everbody gets an entry pin which is great because I think it's taking part that is key, I'm just disappointed that it looks like there'll be no bronze medals anymore and I so wanted one to complete my set...
Anyway, we'll look again nearer the time.