2000pts battle report - Imperial Knights & Dark Angels v Astra Militarum - LCO 1

I'd had opportunity to see my match up from the Best Cost Pairings App and the Honest Wargamer review a couple of days before:

Keith Martin-White [www.hexwar.com] had around 9 Leman Russes with 90 conscripts in three rows in front of them. Having played Ben the other day with his Aeldari and he'd 'screened' his vehicles with three blobs of Dire Avengers alongside each other I realised that the conscripts would be in rows and the guys were right - how was I going to get through them? Keith had deployed right at the back so my only option was to try and smash through his army. Perhaps with hindsight I should have flanked from the right, forcing him to move his tanks to get a firing angle but instead I went head on, luckily I somehow won the first turn, even with Keith finishing deployment first.

The Lancer made an 11" Flank Speed Advance and was in the faces of the Conscripts from the off. The Dark Talon got into the back-field, dropping a Stasis Bomb but only killing 5 Conscripts. I then made the dubious decision to split fire between the first two ranks of conscripts. I'm not sure what my reasoning was, that I would ultimately have to pile through both of them anyway. Frustratingly Keith had Petrov's pistol [Relic] that meant any failed Morale check could be reduced to just 1 casualty. 

The bikes managed to do a fair bit of shooting on the 'scripts but left me without any models to charge. 

The Lancer managed to finish off quite a few of the first rank of 'scripts but they just fell back in their turn.

Leaving it exposed and easy prey for the Russes, I think he was destroyed by the 2nd or 3rd tank even with rotated Ion Shields leaving the rest to target my remaining forces. He might have blown up I'm not sure. Primary objectives it was Keith with 3 VPs to my 1 [we worked out secondaries at the end]

Turn 2 and Euronymous gets into the back line but again the bubble wrap prevented him from getting at anything worthy. The Dark Talon continued to strafe the 'scripts.

The Warglaives got into the mix, while one went around the ruins so he was obscured with the bikes seeking to capture the objective and be within striking distance of support. 

'Scripts fell back leaving Euronymous exposed like the Lancer and similarly he was blasted apart but he exploded taking quite a few with him and doing more damage to the Russes than he had with his weapons. I think he actually took one of them out! I managed to kill 1, hold 1, kill more and hold more for 4 VPs to Keith's 2. It was 5:5 on primaries but most of my army was smoking wrecks and there were more tanks than I could deal with.

The Warglaives managed to break through the lines and get at the tanks, but not without one losing 8 wounds. Unfortunately the one in the right couldn't kill his target,

but the damaged Armiger somehow took out his!

With few targets to choose from my pretty useless Predator was picked off with ease. We each scored 3 VPs turn 3, with me holding more and Keith killing more.

Turn 4 and I was pretty much just trying hold objectives but it was futile. The Armiger's were destroyed, again I think at least 1 blew up doing more damage than they'd actually achieved in anger!

The tanks steam rolled my scouts

and wiped out the Dark Talon, their massed Battle Cannons too much even for this supersonic flyer.

Turn 4 and Keith was able to wipe me out, ultimately scoring 16 primary VPs and 9 secondaries. I managed 8 primary and 6 secondary. Final score was 25:14 to Keith.

A tough game but nothing I hadn't expected. Keith knew his army, knew his plan and stuck to it. I'm not entirely sure what I could have done apart from focused on a single unit of 'scripts at a time or tried to flank him, although alternating deployment might have prevented that option.

Still, a good challenge and having set the bar low my next match-up might be more my speed...

2000pts battle report - Imperial Knights & Dark Angels v Eldar

Before the Last Chance Open Ben and I had a game, both to familiarise ourselves with the ITC format and it's Primary and Secondary missions and to also familiarise ourselves with our respective armies. I had a little advantage as I'd run my Knights previously in our last game and the Lancer & Warglaives at Double Trouble 4

However Ben had borrowed an Aeldari army off Otty, it had a Scorpion Heavy Grav Tank, a Warp Hunter, Pheonix strike aircraft, Farseers on bikes, Shining Spears and 3 units of 10 Dire Avengers. You can see their disposition below.

I faced off with the Lancer taking the lead, backed up by the Warglaives and Euronymous while my tac squads took cover behind the church and my Scouts held the objective in the ruined watchtower.

I won the first turn and my Lancer did Flank Speed right down the centre of the village [Hogsmeade? 😉 The Warglaives moved to the outskirts and their Thermal Spears, alongside the Thermal Cannon of Euronymous took out the Warp Hunter for a 'cheeky First Strtike'. My Plasma Cannon blew up first shot, but Dark Angels get to re-roll if their stationary, so survived afterall.

The Dark Talon couldn't quite make the distance to deploy the Stasis Bomb but shot at the Dire Avengers. They were from a Craftworld that made it -1 to hit so I didn't do too much damage. The Lancer went to charge and I think it whiffed on 3", I rerolled the 1 to get another 1 [typically].

Ben's turn and the Pheonix and bikes flanked round to the watchtower [Shrieking Shack?]

The Scorpion moved to the side to get a better angle on the Lancer and position the Dire Avengers between it and the Knight.

The Aspect warriors reformed to force the Knight to engage them before it could get to the Grav Tank.

Unfortunately the Scorpion couldn't quite penetrate the Lancer's shields [thanks to some obscene dice rolling and rotating Ion Shields] and it only lost 3 of its 27 wounds to the titan killing weaponry aimed at it. The Dark Talon was less lucky though, being wiped out by the superior airborne firepower of the Phoenix. I think the Jetbikes failed their charge on the scouts, thanks to killing a couple of the nearest ones.

Turn 2 and my Warglaive made it into the back of Ben's DZ, assaulting the other squad of jetbikes. The Lancer multi-charged the middle unit of Dire Avengers and the one on its left.

The second Warglaive went for the bikes going after my scouts and managed to take them down to just 1 remaining. Euronymous backed up the Lancer.

On the other side of the battlefield on my right I'd sent my Ravenwing to mop up some scout hiding in an abandoned farm. I think one of them had been killed in Ben's turn but they made a silly charge to get in their faces.

The Lancer stomped all over the Aeldari, while the Warglaive smashed the jetbike aside allowing it to consolidate onto the objective. 

Ben's turn 2 and the Warglaive was left in the dust as the Jetbike move to oust the last scout from its sniper perch.

The Scropion continued to evade the approaching super heavy Knightly host.

It targeted all it's weaponry at Euronymous and was able to strip 23 of its 24 wounds in one shooting.

I'm not sure what happened next, I think the Lancer and Warglaive might have wiped out the Dire Avengers and the Scorpion might have taken some damage but it was possibly -2 to hit so perhaps not. We eventually called it but I think Ben was pretty downbeat about his chances.

His lack of success with the Scorpion had dampened his enthusiasm for the LCO. It just hadn't performed quite as he'd expected. A Knight killer is one thing and it came close to deleting Euronymous in one go but with Ion saves and the chance to miss it's a lot of eggs to put in one basket, although the Warp Hunter is a fair support, having lost it first turn it never really got chance to add it's weight to the game. The Pheonix did OK, you can just see one of its wings in the pic above, I actually thought it had died, not sure if it did at some point but it was v. difficult to hit so probably not.

At the time I didn't realise Ben should have split his Dire Avengers into ranks, instead of groups alongside each other, that would have been a far better bubble wrap, but even so the dense terrain and many bodies meant I struggled to get my Knights through the village. It was an OK game in the end, Ben felt outgunned/outclassed, which is never any fun but at least we had a better idea of what was in store for us, bring on the LCO!

Imperial Knights - House Corvus Twins in manufactorum pt10. Chevrons

I cogitated an awful lot about the chevrons. I was trying to balance what I've already done with the Lancer and Warglaives but also take the opportunity to expand so there was a little more variety instead of sticking to some hard rules. Firstly my chevrons are not chevrons, that would be a V or A shape. These are just angled stripes but I'll be still calling them chevrons. Secondly, mine angle backwards, while Raven chevrons are more the V toward the head. And I also don't add the white line between the black and yellow. My house Corvus can be a little different as an offshoot branch of Raven.

But the big thing on this guy is his chevrons are twice as thick on the carapace as I normally do. Raven has some fluff about the more experienced you are the thicker they get [although it also says they eschew heraldic indentifiers that normally indicate higher ranks...? Go figure?]. I also covered one third of the carapace. I see this guy as a little more experienced Knight Crusader who stands back and shoots.

Whereas the running Knight is a young Gallant and so he has narrower chevrons that only cover the angled edge. This is the mirror of my Lancer and the Warglaives have similar reflected schemes.

On top of the stripes I also painted some panels black, again with mirrored panelling.

The orange got an Iyanden Dark Sun highlight but I was keen to keep some of the orange base showing.

The Gallants stripes were a bit inconsistent with thickness unfortunately but it's not too noticeable.

Chevron stripes on the shin plate too. Not a particularly common choice on Raven, invariably the inner panels are both black but this was a choice on the Lancer that I'm continuing on my other Knights, again to add a subtle amendment to the scheme but also because I haven't done too much with the chevrons on the carapace.

Should I ever get a Dominus class knight I will definitely do the entire carapace as a chevron but for now these colours are done. Further highlights will be added after decals and damage. I've also got to prime the small-arms weaponry, can't have bare plastic stubbers.

You can see I also did a white stripe down the front of his faceplate and the bottom of its mouthguard. White/cream is a further addition to my scheme. Raven does feature white sparingly, my use is on the ion shields and the head. I'd liked to have used it more but I just can't reconcile it next to the chevrons, another reason why it doesn't edge the black and yellow stripes. Anyway, decals next so gloss varnish on all the armour plates.

Imperial Knights - House Corvus Twins in Manufactorum
Parts: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |

We begin week 4 [out of six] of Radiotherapy at the Clatterbridge Cancer Centre for my hero. \The weekend was reasonably quiet, he's beginning to get tired a little quicker but his radiologist pointed out just how much of his body is being treated so that's understandable. On Friday his hair really started to come out and he found it so uncomfortable that night he decided he wanted to go to the barbers the next morning 

We've been taking the boys to Your Barbers in Ormskirk for years and although we're not on first name terms with them they were incredibly understanding and supportive. By the end there was just a small bit of hair left, surprisingly round his surgery scar. The owner wouldn't take any payment and asked us to put it in a charity, which we did at Clatterbridge yesterday.

Also we received some financial support from the Family Fund this included some money for clothes [he's had a lot of new pyjamas] bedding and support for transport, which with a daily 50 mile roundtrip and twice through the Mersey Tunnel is really helpful. Interestingly I understand the tunnel was featured in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt1. I think it's meant to be the Dartford Tunnel, and is for the entrance/exit but the inside sequence with Hagrid's bike is the Queensway Tunnel, which we take on a Tuesday. I think it was easier to film there than Dartford and they look similar too.

Anyway, it all helps and we're still being positive.

Imperial Knights - House Corvus Twins in manufactorum pt9. 'brass, brassy, bronze, brass'

And back to my old 'friend' the metallics. I must confess there was a very particular emotion I can't quite describe when I was at this stage. My brassy bronze approach has always been challenging since the first time I did it on my drop pod.

It's a result I love but can be a real slog to do despite it just stippling on metallic paints. There's no finesse [look at that big blob of gold on that side vent] but it still takes a while and the paint ends up thick and gloopy and I fear for the brushes, even the knackered ones I use to achieve all the texture.

I did sponge it on in places too which I think helps. Once again it's Warplock Bronze, Balthasar Gold, Retributor Armour, Valejo 'gold and gunmetal' mix.

But it's all going to be washed and weathered too so it doesn't need to be perfect.

Now these pics might be earlier than the above ones just after the Retributor Armour coat or post wash, not sure but you can see how rough I've been. Too much faffing to fix it so bear with...

More close-ups of the sponging.

More of the same.

The hips look pretty cool whereas those ends to the side-pods look bloomin rough.

'The Imperial Knight in front of you is a Questoris'. Once again just the bare metal from the back view.

The second knight, just a little more planted.

The two Knights together, I keep building them up after a session. It's silly really as it means I have to disassemble them before I start painting the next session but they do look cool.

So despite all the things going on these are progressing quite reasonably and with no real deadline now for them there's less pressure. Despite that I might actually be going to bed later than normal, regularly ending up at 12:30am instead of 12. That said I'm enjoying it [now the metals are done anyways].

However, the weapons were all still at Warplock Bronze phase [ore even grey plastic in the pics above!] so I still have all those to paint too. I'll no doubt kick myself that these two elements are not progressing simultaneously - the panels and chassis will be completed and then the weapons will be almost starting from scratch. That's the joy of batch painting, it's smaller gains along the way but the pay off is much bigger at the end. But go with the flow and if my motivation is the armour and then weathering the chassis who am I to argue... with myself 😕

Imperial Knights - House Corvus Twins in Manufactorum
Parts: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |

We begin week 3 [out of six] of Radiotherapy at the Clatterbridge Cancer Centre for my hero. Yesterday was a bit of a challenge as he woke up feeling sick and with pain in his lower back, which we think is due to an unrelated issue with his coccyx. We spent the morning at Alder Hey just to be sure but it was a bit of a wake up call. Friday had also been bad, again with nausea but the extra prescribed anti-sickness tablets had meant the weekend had been almost normal until 5am Sunday morning. 

That said he did brilliantly today and he's back to his normal self and in school for a lesson. We had a chat with his consultant and he's still sporting a full head of hair which is surprising us all... who knows. Anyway, 'hump week' - after this it's down hill. Week 4 will be the last full treatment and then 5 and 6 is a different machine, quicker and less intense. So we get these two weeks out of the way and keep up with the anti-sickness tablets and it should be a fair bit easier on everyone.