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.