Monday, June 30, 2008

Mike and Justin's 1500 point game

We played 40k at Justin's place on the floor, which made my legs cramp. Please no cramps jokes. Justin had an army of Thousand Sons, a Defiler, and Typhus and two Havoc squads. My army was a destroyer lord and 3 Wraiths, two squads of Destroyers, 2 units of Warriors, a Monolith, and some Immortals.

The field was so littered with terrain (50-55%) that his Rhinos were pretty useless and my Monolith only killed a single marine, if that.

I won the roll off and chose first turn which turned out to be nightfighting. I moved my destroyers closer but stayed hidden from his huge grouping of ThSons since they had Ap3 guns. I moved my Monolith forward 6", teleported my Wraiths and Destroyer Lord through the portal, moved them a further 12" and assaulted a 5man Havoc Squad that was positioned a little too close killing 3 of them and a Wraith fell over. I also moved some Warriors and Immortals closer firing at the Defiler straight across from them destroying its battle cannon.

Justin sped his bikes forward rapid firing into the Immortals felling 1. His rhinos moved forward, one crashing into a building. His Defiler strode forward as well firing its lascannon to fell another Immortal. His Havoc squad and ThSons unit 2 couldn't see my guys. His ThSons unit 1 managed to join the combat with the Wraiths. After hitting with 11 out of 12 attacks the ThSons failed to even cause one wound on a 4+. He wounded the Lord with a 6+ and the lord's armour failed him. Two ThSons and one Havoc die. Pile in.

My second turn the one Immortal popped back up. I moved all my destroyers across from the ThSons unit 2 in the open. I warped the Wraiths through the Monolith, the wraith repairs, and moved them next to the ThSons unit 2. 5 died from combined shooting of all the destroyers and a unit of warriors. The Monolith fired its arc everywhere killing a single ThSons from unit 1. My Warriors and Immortals manage to kill off 2 bikers. My Wraiths and Lord charge the ThSons unit 2 killing one of them and a Wraith is felled.

Justin moves Typhus close to the combat. The Defiler fleets but remains too far to charge the warriors. His last biker moves up near the Immortals. He fires 2 lascannons, a missile launcher and heavy bolter from his remaining havoc squad at my destroyers, the lascannons hit but fail to wound on a 2+. His other heavy bolter remaining from his other Havoc squad fells one destroyer. Typhus charges in, and his daemon weapon attacks himself on a 1. His biker kills 4 Immortals permanently, the last one stands his ground. His ThSons unit 2 is left with 2 guys.

My turn 3. The wraith stands back up and I warp them out of combat again moving them close to the ThSons unit 1. The Monolith has advanced into the open field for his Havocs to see. I move the warriors close to his biker preparing a counter assault. The shooting ended up killing the last two ThSons of unit 2. My Wraiths attacked ThSons unit 1 killing 1 and taking no wounds back. My warriors finished off the biker.

Justin's turn 3. His Defiler moves closer to the warriors. Typhus moves near my Monolith. His Havocs fire and kill off another destroyer. This doesn't matter much as Typhus uses his Winds of Chaos psychic power to glance and immobilize it. In combat the Defiler kills some warriors before they run and get caught in a sweeping advance. The Immortal was also attacked and ran off the board. The wraiths killed a bunch of ThSons and caught them in a sweeping advance as they tried to run.

My turn 4. The Wraiths took off towards the full Havoc squad and the Lord separated to finish off the last guy of the other. The destroyers positioned themselves to fire at the threatening Defiler and to try and pick off one of the rhinos. His rhinos and Defiler survived though the Defiler with one less combat arm. The wraiths killed 2 of the Havocs and the Lord finished off the single havoc that had escaped before.

Justin's Turn 4. Typhus moves and kills 3 warriors, I forget to do WBB rolls for them. His defiler tries but can't reach the warriors on top of a 6" building, though I'm not sure if vehicles can go up floors. His Havoc squad loses another guy and ends up running and being caught in a sweeping advance.

My turn 5. The destroyers turboboost away. The Wraiths and Lord move to the immobile rhino, assaulting and exploding it. The warriors fire at the Defiler finally finishing off the Daemonic walker.

Justin's Turn 5. Typhus fires at the Monolith finally killing it.

My Turn 6. I turboboost everything I can towards the center which is the objective.

Justin's Turn 5. Typhus kills 3 destroyers.

Final Score: Michael: 1537
Justin: 788

Final Thoughts:

Justin needs to stop driving his bikes right in front of my guys and include a lot more regular guys to heavy weapons inside his havoc squads. Also his rhinos were probably not appropriate for a unit that wants to slowly advance and shoot, though if they got into rapidfire range I'd be messed up fast. I also think the defiler could have just spent his time back firing the battlecannon from far away rather than trying to get into combat. Also, he has some very terrible rolls as far as luck. He rolled so many ones it was ridiculous.

I love first turn assaulting with Wraiths and a Destroyer Lord. I cannot let a Defiler get into combat with me. It's like a Dreadnought on steroids. 5 attacks on the charge leave a unit of S4 guys very vulnerable. It was pointless shooting at the bikers since I can always wound them hand to hand anyways and they aren't as damaging. Despite not killing much the Monolith helped a lot tactically. I redeployed my Wraiths 3 times in that game.

Sunday, June 29, 2008

salamander pics (finally)



wow, I can't believe how long it took me to paint these bastards. I was pretty impressed with how they turned out, when I started playing I never thought I'd have models that look like this (I expected em to look more like over-sized bugs actually). unfortunatly you can't tell that from these pics, pat's cam is hardly the best one on the market these days. I'mma try and find a real camera (I'm accepting donations if anyone would be so kind), but I get the feeling you'll be seeing these bad boys in person before that happens. I'm still pretty bummed you guys couldn't come down, although paintball was the shits today with all the rain and whatnot. hopefully you guys can get down on launch weekend like B said, although I have no idea how we'd get to play in store that day, it'll be busy as hell (which is pretty busy nowadays, you have no idea how hard it is to get a seat anywhere).

Pictures 2






Pictures 1

Sorry about the blur guys my cam sucks but pics are up.



Wednesday, June 11, 2008

An Update on Warhammer Matches (And other housekeeping)

Alright, I haven't posted in a while, due to a combination of laziness, starting to actually work, and not having anything to update. However, I do have a wide variety of topics to go over.

First of all: Warhammer 40k Matches

I went on a bit of a binge playing Warhammer 40k back in May and at the beginning of June, although I then went off and haven't played in about two weeks now.

My first game back was 1500 points Vs. Geoff's Tau, I had my Modified list based on the one that fared fairly well against Marines (Chaos and Imperial alike) but was taught a lesson that there really isn't such a thing as a list that can be equally effective across all players. (At least for the Imperial Guard anyway, and I don't care what you have to say on the matter Mike!)

I had my Two Leman Russes kitted out to the minimum with a Lascannon and extra armour, as well as Demolisher with the Sponsons. I also had a hellhound and one Chimera loaded with stormtroopers, along with Three Squads of Guardsmen in a Platoon and 30 Conscripts backed by a Commissar

Geoff had a Hammerhead, a Skyray, a Piranha, three Crisis suits, a crisis command suit, a squad of Stealth suits, a squad of Pathfinders, and of course, two basic squads of Firewarriors.

We played on a map that as it turned out, we set it up to play short edge to short edge only to both realize in ignorance that there was no scenario that used such rules (Somehow we overlooked this fact) so the table was already setup with a hodgepodge of buildings and cover facing lengthwise rather than width wise.

Geoff went first, and in short turn, annihilated my Demolisher by calling down six seeker missiles on the side armour using the thrice damned tracking ability of them. (He uses the Pathfinders to light the tank up, then rushes his Piranha and Hammerhead which both had Seeker Missiles, along with an additional two from the Skyray for good measure, pretty much instant death for the Tank)

He also set up his Stealth suits against my 30 Conscripts that weren't in cover (And had their commander have the misfortune of going second) so he tore up the squad in short order. Having a full squad of 12 Stealth suits able to fire 3 Burst Cannon shots each does not make for a pretty sight. Subsequent popshotting took out some Guardsmen and other thing.

Over the Period of the rest of the game he melted away the majority of my force (All my tanks save for the Hellhound and the Chimera were dead by turn two). The Guardsmen faced their traditional last stand scenario where they hide in the forest and shoot back at the Firewarriors and suits with what they have. However it was a Secure and Control game, so Geoff basically spent the last two turns claiming the objectives. It was a sad day for the 412th Infantry, as it usually is against the Tau.

I then played again at the Summer Campaign set up by a local Warhammer enthusiast, it was a modified Force Organization Chart, You only had to take One Troop and an HQ was optional, but you couldn't have more than 2 Elites, One Fast attack and One Heavy Support.

Seeing as the limit was 500 points, I figured that I probably shouldn't call in the Armoured Support and went with an All-Infantry list. It worked pretty well. I had One Platoon with Three Squads, each squad with a Grenade Launcher and Heavy Bolter, and the Command Squad had a heavy bolter. The HQ had a Anti-Tank Support Squad of all Lascannons and the Command Squad itself had a Lascannon. So that made for 12 Heavy Bolter Shots and 4 Lascannon shots on a good day.

The Map was largely clear, except for a big rock in the middle, a ruined building in the bottom right corner and another ruin straddling the middle left side and a hill on the center of the top right quadrant. The mission was Cleanse.

My first game was against Geoff's Tau, and it smelt of Sweet revenge. Having sunk a significant amount of points into a Hammerhead, I was only to pleased to blow it off the face of the map on the first turn, after he had fired with its impotent main cannon. My Guardsmen, which had deployed in and around the ruin milled about for the first two turns, one squad made a break for the hill and the other made a break for the rock. The last squad provided cover fire.

The squad running for the hill took light casualties while the one running for the rock took no casualties. I managed to kill a gun drone or two on the way there. My Lascannons soaked up crisis suit fire the whole game but managed to survive to the end, denying full points. My Guardsmen duked it out with the holed up firewarriors, killing almost all of them at the cost of a squad and a half of Guardsmen. It reminds me of World War One trench battles. No one wants to leave cover, but one side has to because you can't really inflict any harm in the other trench from 200 feet away. I was the one who had to move, but thanks to the early destruction of the Hammerhead, the game went to me.

The Second game was lighting fast, it was against a Space Marine force of Five Terminators, Ten Marines and Five Attack Bikes. It was hilly terrain with a crag in the middle forcing either side to go through a bottleneck. It was Secure and Control

I deployed most of the Platoon on the large hill and the Anti-Tank Squad on a Size Two hill by my HQ Squad. I took pot shots and killed most of the Basic Marine troop, however, his bikes broke out and started terrorizing my squads (Vapourizing guardsmen with its feared Multi-Melta) while capturing points. As well, his Terminators Deepstriked in the midst of my forces, and while I managed to whittle them down from five to two, one of them had a heavy flamer. He roasted my Anti-Tank Squad and my HQ Squad, I secured two points to his three by the end of it, but the game was lost.

Third Game was one of my most favorite in a long time. It was against a Tyranid player who had spend many years out of the hobby and was just getting back into it. He had a large force of Guants and Hormagaunts, along with Warriors and an expensive Close Combat Broodlord with a large Genestealer Guard.

The set up was perfect, it was a take and hold scenario with a bunker in the middle. On my side there was a Size three building, a firing lane, a hill with another firing lane beside it and another hill. On his side, he had one large hill and some pillars. I set up my Heavy Bolters in the firing lanes, and my Lascannons in the size three building, so they could see over the whole map. Being take and hold the center I made him come to me, and he certainly did. Rushing the bunker with his Gaunts he secured it first turn, only to have them chewed up by Lasguns and Heavy Bolter rounds. I killed all his Warriors first turn with Lascannons so that made his gaunts keep close to his Brood Lord.

For the first two turns he just brought up his Gaunts to secure the bunker, only to have them chewed up by Bolter and Lasgun fire. I popped several Genestealers with the Lascannons on turn two. Since all his Gaunts were kitted to be Close-Combat, he couldn't even fire back, so they just melted away on their way to my firing lines. By Turn three all he had left were three gaunts from one of the squads. He was legitimately bringing up the 'Stealers, but since they were attached to the Broodlord, they didn't move too fast. Upon being notified that turn three was the last turn of the night before the campaign finished for the day, I rushed my entire army (Save the Lascannons) into the three gaunts. Since I had taken such minimal casualties the whole game (I lost a Sargent and one Lascannon loader) I basically had my full force assault. It was 66 Guardsmen attacks vs 6 Gaunt attacks, it was beautiful.

Although he had all his Genestealers and Broodlord intact, which were worth a significant number of points, they would have been shot to death by turn six, as they still had two turns to go from turn three to get to my lines. I won 500-0. It. Was. Awesome.

Finally, I played against Patrick a few weeks ago, against his Chaos force. It was 1000 points, I had two tanks, one Chimera and three squads of Guardsmen. He had one squad of Chaos Marines, one squad of Thousand Sun Marines, One Demon Prince and a squad of Obliterators. The only thing noteworthy about that battle is that Thousand Sun Marines are the most durable marines I have ever seen ever. I sunk so many shots into them and still didn't kill them all! Since they're fearless I can't hope for them to run away. Also, Demon Princes aren't that scary. Although he managed to Cleave his way through one half strength squad and two full strength squad, he still got gunned down by basic Guardsmen.

And oh yeah, I won, by the slimmest of Margins. Basically because Basic Chaos Marines die just as good to Battlecannon as their Imperial Marine buddies. I Heart Battlecannons.

In Painting News, I haven't gotten any more painted since I took that picture. Friends and Stargate SG-1 have been a big drain on time recently, as well as an unexplained urge to go biking. I'll be camping this weekend so I doubt I'll get much painting done anytime soon.

I haven't played any Board Games Recently either, its been quite sad. In the perspective of this blog, I haven't DONE a whole lot. I played Twilight Imperium a few weeks back, it was interesting, but not $100 Price tag for the game interesting. If someone else in Halifax owned it I'd play it occasionally. My current obsession is getting someone to play Axis and Allies: Pacific with me. Tear.

Out of Mikes Suggestions I support Ian's Apartment, Nerd Central and"The Base" (Simply because it sounds hilariously conspiratorial "Psst... Hey guys, I'll meet you back at base in 10")

Personally, I figure it can just be known as "The Apartment" since I figure that since everyone on residence in this blog will be in one place, anyone coming to visit won't have to tell anyone else where they're going, it'll just be assumed. They could just as well say they were going to Saint Mary's Residence and have that understood.

Finally, I'm reading this really Awesome Series by Harry Turtledove called "The Great War" which is alternate history answering the question "What would World War One have looked like if the South Won the American Civil War?" There is one book before the series which is just as good, and six books after. I know everyone isn't much on reading for fun, but its very enjoyable.

I'm also looking forward to Soul Calibur 4, so long as they don't screw it up with their Star Wars bit. I'm also looking forward to Kane's Wrath, which I'm going to get at some point.

In Conclusion, the Imperial Guard really are awesome, despite what Mike thinks.

And if Mike edits my posts again I'm revoking his Admin powers.