Thursday 28 July 2016

Battle Report: Death from the Skies, Astra Militarum vs Grey Knights, 1750 points


Playing Imperial Guard / Astra Militarum is not necessarily "easy mode". For starters, you end up having to lug cases like this through the London rush hour to get to your games. One of my old regular opponents from when I was playing 40K more regularly laid down a challenge, and who was I to turn away from a challenge?


We decided to go up to 1,750 points to fit in a few more toys, and to make sure we had some flyers. I wanted to try out these new "Death from the Skies" rules, and my opponent was kind enough to agree. The mission ended up being lengthwise deployment, card missions, the one where you don't know what your opponent has.


Two teleporting Dreadknights and a Land Raider full of Purifiers? Lovely. Also, there were some deep striking terminators and two Storm Ravens. Ooh! Both of the Dreadknights could teleport. This wasn't going to go well...


The first new thing Death from the Skies introduces is a new "Dogfight" phase for flyers in reserve. You don't have to use it if you don't want to, and if one person wants to avoid a dogfight, then they can roll to try and get out of it. You both select one of three moves to work out distance, work out facing, and work out who gets to shoot by reading off a little table.

First dogfight, and I got the drop on the Storm Raven, and my Vendetta put a glancing hit onto it. My opponent was certainly looking a little nervous as I opened up with three twin linked lascannons!


Then, in came the Grey Knight Terminators and Librarian, teleporting in under the Skyshield Landing pad I'd deployed by conscripts on.


The Dreadknights did their teleport shunt trick, with one moving to deal with the Praetorians.


The other Dreadknight dropped in at the centre of the line to try and carve it's way through to the Hydra.


The radical Xenos Inquisitor leading the Praetorians, my army Warlord, was charged by the Dreadknight. To give the Praetorians some credit, they and the Inquisitor managed to hold the blasted thing up for ages, dying in droves, bayonetting it for a wound, and generally tying it up for most of the battle.


Dogfight number two. It, erm, didn't go so well. Roundly outmanoeuvred, I ended up with the blasted thing right on my tail and within optimal multi-melta range. Unsurprisingly, the Vendetta did not survive the experience...


The Grey Knight Land Raider tried to fit through a narrow gap between the bunker and the wood. It proceeded to get jammed in among the trees, and unable to move.


Some revenge was had - the Leman Russ Executioner and Demolisher opened fire on the Grey Knights, along with the Heavy Plasma Cannon Sentinels... The Grey Knight Librarian evaporated, along with all but one of the squad, cowering behind a pillar where the last of the crossfire couldn't quite see him.


The Dreadknight jumped across, peppering the side of the Hydra with shots to try and make the sky safe for the Grey Knight flyers.


But it was the Grey Knight Terminator charging in who finished it off.


The Vendetta gone, the Storm Ravens raced onto the field, ramjets screaming.


The Purifiers disembarked from the damaged Land Raider, closing with the nearby Guardsmen and their associated witch.


The powers of their Cleansing Flame obliterated the psyker, and many of his bodyguard.


It was starting to not look good for the Astra Militarum.


The flyers assisted with the mop up operation, wiping out the conscripts.


While the Dreadknight took revenge on the Sentinels.


Finally, to smoking Leman Russes, both barely held together, was all that was left of the proud Astra Militarum...


The Grey Knights have a policy of no witnesses. While the rogue Inquisitor and his pet witch were dead, none would carry word of their activities back to the Imperium.

Monday 25 July 2016

Malifaux Changeling Proxy finished, and an Age of Sigmar scheme...


So, first up, I've managed to get the last Malifaux Changeling proxy finished. Apart from that bit of grey at the front which of course I only noticed as I was uploading the blasted thing. It'll be gone by the time he hits the table, I promise. The miniature is, as with the other two proxies, from Heresy. You should buy his stuff. It's pretty darned good.


I did have a bit of a disaster at the weekend with this model, though. Here's a WiP, just as I'm trying to blend the highlights. The hot weather was murdering my blending!


This is the wonder-juice that fixed it. It's amazingly good, though can be frustrating if you're trying to speed paint! I used a bit too much with another model I was painting that weekend (not finished, so no pics yet), and it took forever to dry!


I also finished assembling this lovely swamp witch. She's available from Krakon Games, should you be of a mind. She's going to go alongside a Troll Outpost sculpt I picked up a Kickstarter a while ago.


Next up on the painting table is this lovely tree person from the Circle of Chaos Kickstarter. I mostly grabbed him as a quick speed paint with a grab bag of assorted paints I've not used before to see what they're like. He's not quite finished yet, so once he's done, I'll get a post up about him.



Age of Sigmar Tale of Gamers

So there I was, chatting away on the social medias about the new General's Handbook and all the models I hadn't painted when up popped James Holloway of Gonzo History: Gaming Edition. He suggested perhaps a joint blog thing, wherein we would get some Age of Sigmar stuff painted up. After a bit of maths and checking of my busy schedule, I accepted the challenge!

We're not against other people joining in, though, so this is a call for other shmucks / bloggers to join in. We're looking to try and get 1,000 points of Age of Sigmar stuff painted between August and December - with 5 months, thats about 200 points a month.

We're both using models we mostly already have (apart from maybe fixing an under strength unit or so), but if you want to be buying new stuff, feel free and go ahead. I'm also hoping in January that at least James and I will be able to get a game in against each other with our newly painted complete playable force.

So - if you're interested, drop James or I a note, and we can have a chat about people getting involved. If it's just the two of us, though, I'm sure we'll manage, like some kind of super nerdy buddy cop movie. Except with wargamers.

Monday 18 July 2016

Getting the motor running


I remembered where my paint brushes were! This is a work in progress on the last Heresy Miniatures figure I'm using as a Changeling for Malifaux. I've been pretty heavy on assembling stuff for the past few weeks, but I really got in the mood for painting a few bits and pieces this weekend, so got to work on this little half finished fellow.


Of course, I didn't spend the entire weekend on that. The other hobby relevant thing I did was starting to sort out the horror that was my old paints bag.


I cleared a space on the work table and set up this wondrous thing for a bunch of my paints. You can pick them up from HobbyZone. Luckily, I picked mine up shortly before certain poor choices crashed the value of the pound.


This one still needs to find a place on the table, but fits smaller pots. I still need to pick up another stand for some of the middle sized pots - old GW, current Forge World air and Cote d'Arms stuff.

Beyond that, the plan is to just start plugging through all the different things I have to do! Schemes bubbling in my head include getting a small Age of Sigmar force up and running, starting on the Cypher project, and any number of the boxed games I own - including getting started on Horus Heresy!

Monday 11 July 2016

Heresy Miniatures: More than a little awesome


 Last Sunday, I headed down to Dark Sphere, as they were having a day of assembly and painting - primarily for Age of Sigmar, but really for anything you fancied. They had staff on hand for beginners, but as I pretend to know what I'm doing, I got on with assembling the massive pile of stuff on my 'to do' pile at the moment.


In an effort to keep my stash under control, I've been giving Peachey Models some money to assemble some of my stuff. The latest batch they got was a bunch of figures from Heresy Miniatures.


I'd asked for the models not to be based, so I could be fussy and do my own thing with the basing. So, in between the other projects, I got all the basing on the Heresy stuff finished off and them all ready for undercoating.


With larger orders, you will sometimes get some extra figures. These zombies were free with this order - I've not quite worked out what I'm going to do with them yet, but they're really nice, so I'm sure I'll find a use for them.


Some of these models are going to find their way into my Chaos forces - these will probably serve as marauders or thugs, depending on which edition I'm playing at the time.


This delightful lady would not be out of place in many Frostgrave warbands.


I got her on the principle that you can never have too many wizards, and she can serve as a fantasy civilian just as easily as a spell caster in an army.


This fierce cheiftan will be leading a warband of non GW figures in my Chaos forces.


Whereas here, we have a ragged, undercover member of the Ordo Chronos. The xenotech he's holding is probably dangerous. Filthy radicals!


And another cool female wizard figure. Looking forward to painting her up in time.

Tuesday 5 July 2016

Battle Report: Astra Militarum vs Dark Eldar (playing the wife at 40K at Warhammer World)


My wife is very wise. When we needed to travel back from Sheffield to London, she pointed out that Nottingham wasn't all that far out of the way. The challenge was laid down with her taking her Dark Eldar for a spin, while I got to use various of my new Guard units I've had painted recently.


We did have a little bit of a miscommunication, as she brought the last army she fought with at 750 points, while I brought 1500 points... Oops! Fortunately, we noticed before we started playing, she found a few more models at the bottom of her case, and I dropped a couple of things out.


Deployed in the centre were my Praetorians, painted ably by Pirate Viking Painting.


The Rogue Painter got my Armoured Sentinels done, and was good enough to get poached by Siege Studios.  They held the right flank (using Overlords objective cards as objective markers).


The Praetorians advanced into the centre, aiming for the objective by the bunker. The Guard managed to get a bit of an early lead on objectives, claiming a few points.


But the Dark Eldar advanced back, and it wasn't going to go well for the Guard.



The Vendetta roared on, destroying the Raider on the right flank along with the Armoured Sentinels.


As you may guess, a short while later, the Praetorian line infantry weren't with us any more...


The command Chimera on the left flank got smoked, with the command crew bailing out.


The centre was looking remarkably shaky with the loss of the main infantry.
 

 The Kabalite Trueborn flanked the left flank infantry platoon, raining down death on them.


The command section is over-run, wiped out to a man without a chance to run.


And soon, the army warlord is under siege. The Command HQ wasn't going to hold out for long...


The infantry are dropping like flies all over the battlefield, but the Guard had picked up an early lead with objectives and the Dark Eldar were catching up fast.


For turn after turn, the Dark Eldar tried to wreck the Leman Russ.


With little to lose, it tried to make them flee with a tank shock, but it wasn't to be...

 

Even the anti tank far out on the right flank was getting run down. But security was starting to look at us funny because everyone else had gone home, and we had to pack up in a hurry!

In the end, Sim sort of won 8-7, because I'd forgotten to move my flier to claim an objective, but she graciously let me count it, bringing the score to an 8-8 draw. There was mayhem, there was carnage, and it was excellent fun. It really didn't matter who won, because I was playing a fun game of 40K with someone awesome...