8k Batrep and Assassins Progress

Well hello there! Welcome to another Death By Die post, this time an update on the assassins from the Execution Force boxed game and a battle report! 

Heres how the assassins are looking so far, still some details to get done but they're almost there! 

Below is the Vindicare assassin, like I said some neatning up is needed but you get the general idea on how they'll look. I've yet to play the game but used this game in the following battlereport and he did well.

Heres the Eversor assassin, I wasn't sure whether to go for the traditional bone skull or go dark grey with the rest of the body suit, but thought the bone would stand out more. Can imagine an unsuspecting target seeing the skull floating int he air several feet away from him, only for it to zoom forward, claw lunging for their face and skull laughing like Skeletor! 

So the batrep was a doubles game, myself and Shaun with his Imperial Fists against a Death Guard/Khorne combo with Rhys and Chris. Chris also had his newly converted Khorne Knight with him, yikes! 2l points per army, so 8k in total! I used White Scars tactics, factoring I'd get close to whatever was coming at me and boltering/grav'ing my enemies to death. Then against Chaos I wondered if this was a good idea as they're better in combat! We dployed first, and I took the right while Shaun set up on the left, both of us sharing the middle.

The enemy answered with Chris' Knight deploying against Shaun, whose army consisted of mainly bolters, and my bikers found themselves against 10 Nurgle terminators with not only a Chaos Lord (represented by Mortarion) but Typhus too. Their central consisted of a strong force of Chaos Marines with 2 units of havocs with autocannons and some weapons platforms. I scouted forward and in the first turn took 7-8 terminators out due to a few bolt guns fiding the weak points in the armour and the gravs crumpling away the millenia old terminator armour. The Weapon platforms were destroyed before they could fire, and Shauns Honour Guard unit reupted from their Krohmus Guard borrowed Redeemer to leap into assault with infiltrating chaos marines, who were cut down by the verterans in yellow.

The second turn saw the Knight beocming a threat as it charged forward... but not quite far enough to attack Shauns lines. A chaos vindicator was finished off from a combined strike of my deepstriking dreadnought and some Imperial Fists supporting fire. Typhus, the Chaos lord and remaining terminators lurched forward, a plague wind killing a couple of my bikers who responded with more bolter/grav fire and then Khan (at least my version of him) charging in. Khan however took 2 wounds with Khan unable to wound the mighty Chaos general. The terminators were finished off however and the white scars retreated via their hit and run ability. 

With the Chaos Knight almost on Shaun a lot of fire was poured into it. Most of Shauns shooting proved ineffectual but my two lascannon armed predators were able to take a few hull points off, my storm talon adding to the weight of fire. IT was not enough however... and it stepped forward into the Honour Guard. 

My assault Squad failed to get into combat, and were then shot up by the Chaos Marines they were about to target and lef tme with my Captain wounded and one assault marine left. My Dreadnought was destroyed by Chris' Terminators who then pursued the Knight to back it up, but the Havocs entrenched on an objectiv were left with just he champion from the Fists suppressing fire. My bikers lined up the Chaos Lord and finished him off as my main unit revved around the landing pad to charge the unit that had initially been the target of my assault marines, wiping them out to a man. More Havocs were butchered, some by my captain and remaining assault marine others by the storm talon. 

Thats a lot of firepower for a chaos lord to withstand! 

The honour guard clinged on for life against the onslaught of the Knight, the captain unable to dent the machine with his power fist. The Chaos left flank had crumbled though, and Krohmus Guard were flooding over to support the Imperial Fists. 

With just a couple of the honour guard left along with their captain, my jump pack captain and shauns contemptor rushed in to aid the fists. The contemptor failed to dent the great machine, who aimed his attacks at the Imperial Fists commander who barely avoided the blow. As my woundeed captain was about to land a blow with his mighty thunder hammer the Chaos Knight staggered back the Fists Captain punching a great hole in the machines knee setting off a chain reaction of explosions. Then this happened.

Extreme pie plate moment! My captain was killed in the resultant ecxplosion, where everyone else survived... typical! haha. The Fists captain had finally delivered the blow he'd been unable too, and finished the machine off. 

I forget the final score but myself and Shaun had won by a good margin, and the field was ours. It was so good to have a nice sizeable game of 40k again though, its shown me how much I've missed playing the game. Fingers crossed at club we'll be able to get a club Chaos army, and when Aluns back I'm gonna see if he fancies doing a campaign or something. See how it goes anyways!

Now, IU couldn't leave without having a couple of pictures of Chris' Knight.

Apart from using some spare Chaos bits I think he said the head was taken from the new Bloodthirster model, and it fits it incredibly well. Such an evil looking beast!

Even though I did a lot of damage to it it took a hell of a beating to destroy, and it makes me fancy a Knight of my own to suppoert my Marines. Maybe in the future we'll see a Krohmus Guard Knight!

Space Marine Command Tanks + Update

Well, talk about feeling like a stranger in your own house!

Yes folks, its been a while since an update has taken place on this very blog, but theres been a lot happening. Unfortunately not enough hobby wise! But rejoice, for there has been some goings on. 

First of all, as a huge Space Marine fan I'm gibbering and foaming at the mouth over these new additions to the Astartes.

Behold the Command versions of the Rhino and the Land Raider.  The pintle mounted plasma guns intrigue me, but the thing I like the look of the most is the Graviton gun on the Land Raider. I'm hoping its a grav cannon, that'll be an awesome addition to the tanks armament and I'll be scooping one of those up!

I actually started to put together a box of the new tactical marines earlier this year, but so far only have this guy painted up to some sort of standard. He was used in a little tourney I participated in a couple of weeks ago which I'll have more info on in a bit. I've got another 5 marines built but so far no paint on them either. 

I did get my grubby shovels on this too. I'm still yet to play or build any of the models but I've always been an Assassin fan so felt this was a needed purchase. The quality of the board and models is stunning, and I'm intrigued that its also one play too. When I've had a few games on my own and with people, I'll share some thoughts!

Its been a while since I've played 40k, so when I heard that the Crow Valley Crusaders in Cwmbran were holding a nice little tournament I had to get down there for it. 1500 points per army, 3 games played over the day. I didn't really hope to win or anything but I did want fun as I'd been missing the game a little. 

My first game was against Ultramarines, and a player called Shane I believe. My first turn went pretty well, taking out 4 of his fivce devastators, two centurions and a few other marines. He hit back hard though and we got bogged down into a game of who can make the most armour saves. And for the first time, I actually won that stand off! Such a close game though and if the game had finished early I'd have lost but was able to grab the relic and get a win. Thats better than expected already!

My second game was drawn and lo and behold, it was Mike! Yes the same Mike that myself and Alun has had some run ins against, this time against his jetbike heavy Eldar army. Another stupidly close game but this time edged by Mike claiming my objective and being unable to get to his. As always though we had a lot of fun, and much blood was shed! His Fire Dragons saving 11 hits from a heavy flamer toting Dreadnought only for my thunderfire cannon to flatten them in a devastating bombardment. Damn those Dire Avengers though!

My third and final game was against Byron, who was using Dark Angels. His first turn went well as he killed my Thunderfire Cannon, Missile Launcher Devastators and Lascannon armed predator. I almost wept! I did manage to get back in the game though, I blew up his land raider with a single meltagun shot and my storm talon came on to down his nephilim, and the game swung back and forward until I just managed to wipe him off the board. Another user of centurions and they were pretty effective in this game as Byron managed to get closer to me and use those devastating grav cannons to full effect. Really close game though but a second win!

As the results stood at the end Mike and Scott had won, both using Eldar and I finished in a rather good 5th place out of 11. The best bit though was every game was close and every opponent was fantastic to play against. Having not played for a wee while its always a bonus to come back and play three games in one day, all of which were immensely fun. I need more 40k!

Lastly from a couple of weeks ago a game of Xwing myself, Bam and Louis played at club.

With Scum coming out (which reminds me that I'll have to show off my repaints at some point) we now have three factions for three player games. Louis took Scum, I took Rebels and Bam took the Imperials.

It was an edgey game with all of us worried who'd make the first move, Louis splitting his forces to attack both me and Bam. As our forces reacted we ended up in a fierce firefight and left Louis after a couple of his headhunters were blown up. His Slave One was unmolested and by the time me and Bam had finished slapping each other it was easy pickings for Louis. I was wiped out first, then Bam. Really good game though and the dynamic is much different to a regular two player game of Xwing.

The new ships coming out look great too, already eyeing up a K-wing, Hounds Tooth and the Kirhaxz Fighter. Hopfully some more news on when they'll be out will arrive soon.

Anyways thats the end of this update, hopefully the next won't be so far in advance!

Sons of Anarchy and the 50k

Greetings overlords, to another DBD post. Yes, two in one week, tis madness! First of all however, I have to thank you all for this.

My humble blog about gaming, whether it is war or board based, has reached 50,000 views. I'm a little surprised as it wasn't long ago I posted about the 40,000 views and I'v ebeen to busy over the last few months to be that active, but still people come from far and wide to look at some of the oddities I've posted, and I cannot thank you enough. 

A quick pic of the grots I took to Dragondaze, largely done bar a few details and I will prob do bases at some point too. Better pictures will come when they're finished!

But now for the main event of this post! 

As I mentioned on the Dragondaze post, I'd bought myself a new game, Sons of Anarchy. I absolutely love the show, so the game was appealing to me immensely. 

You start off with a screen, with which to hide your stash behind, your club house with the basic rules and what you have, and then a series of locations across which you ride and exploit via specific area traits. For example, one location may allow you to buy 2 guns and 2 contraband for four cash, then another will allow you to sell one gun for four cash. Did I mention that cash is key? Well whoever ends up with the most cash wins the game, so combo-ing these deals is key to getting the most cash. 

Obviously. if you're a fan of SoA like myself you know that this game sounds a little too quiet for a Men of Mayhem game... well thats where the throwdowns come in. If two gangs are in a location, that area cannot be exploited. A throwdown however can be ordered where the two games go at it in a fight. Prospects give you +1, Members give you +2, and if you choose to use a gun, they can give you +3/ Also, if guns are used and whether you win or lose the dice roll, players choose which of their members go to hospital and potentially die. Theres an ER room and St Thomas location cards for a reason! You also gain heat for such actions, which can lead to you finding it harder to deal drugs in the contraband phase. Here, players secretly hold how many drugs they wish to deal, and depending on the combined total you get different amounts for each contraband. The less, the more its worth, where as if a lot of drugs are being sold you flood the market and make them worth less.

Its a great little game that takes little more than an hour, although now we know how to play it'll take even less. Above you can see how my stash was hidden, and I ended up winning the game too, think watching the show gave me an edge! I thoroughly enjoyed playing the game tho and look forward to a full four player game. Even if you're not a fan of the series I think people will enjoy playing this, so its a great little game to mix in with other games you play. And for £30-35 its a good price point. 

We also cracked out Munchkin to give a new member an intro to tabletop gaming, and he ended up with the best starting hand I've ever seen. At level 3 he had a level 16 combat capability... lucky sod! He ended up winning too so he was well chuffed with himself. I'm hoping next monday some X-wing will be played, having some withdrawel symptoms so hopefully a member will be looking for a game. Thats all for now though!

Batreps: CVC Longest Night Visit!

So Friday night I noticed the Crow Valley Crusaders, a club based in Cwmbran and occasional visitors to our own Tredegar Reavers, were having one of their more famed events. The Longest Night. Plenty of dice rolling from 3pm on Saturday til 6pm Sunday. Oh yes! Myself and Alun went down with some 40k and managed to get a couple of good games in... and the pizza...

Heres some of the CVC lads playing Game of Thrones, Alun has this and it looks awesome, deffo need to play this soon! 

All hail pizza. What was that Byron? Order over £50 and its all half price? SWEET! 

Not sure what the best thing about the pizza was, that it lasted longer than Aluns Eldar, or that it was one tasty summa' bitch! 

Check these beauties out too, Alun wondered where the cape was from.... 

Then we were told they were ALL based on Calgar. So much money, but so much love! I love the look of these guys, just awesome conversion work! Even using one body they all look different, good lesson in posing there folks! 

Onto the first of two games... the first I played against Alun who was using Eldar. Wave Serpents, are dicks. With this in mind I wondered what the best way to shoot them down was. Then it hit me. Don't shoot em, Power Fist or Krak Grenade em! My list consisted of two full assault squads, two tactical squads, bikers with Khan, devs, TF cannon and a lascannon pred plus a dreadnought with multi melta in a drop pod. Of course, the Legion of the Damned appeared too... 

Both my assault squads jumped as far up as they could, and the scouting Rhino (its a vindicator, but I forgot rhinos so had to use him) dropping out its guys straight away, they were almost in the Eldar deployment zone in turn one. Most of my fire went on the dark reapers... not all, cause they died with some shooting left. I hate those guys, they're deadly! 

Alun retaliated but didn't do much damage due to night fighting, and I consolidated by assaulting a prism with one unit of assault marines, which they destroyed, the surviving forward tactical squad blew up a wave serpent, Khan split from the squad and also assaulted a serpent, his hammer of wrath alone blowing it up. I can see him wheelie-ing up and into the cockpit killing the driver then skidding back down as it explodes! the bikes fail to assault some fire dragons, and I lose a few to fire. The other assault squad gets stuck in combat for the next few turns with some Direavengers who prove difficult to shift. Dreadnought makes a 10" assault into another serpent and wrecks it, Farseer and warlocks exposed! 

The game ends in my fourth turn, and Aluns force is wiped out. I won 9-0 in the end, having gained first blood, kill the warlord and linebreaker along with the two objectives (Emperors Will). I don't think Alun expected a fast moving force and I caught the elfling offguard. Score!

The second game was a bit more important... on our last visit we got beat up on quite a bit, so we wanted to regain some club pride. 1500 points per player, doubles! So I had to team up against the person I'd just tabled... hmm! All of the enemies shooting pretty much got poured into my bikes. Khan and the attack bike survived, but thats it! Our shooting did little, couple of Chaos termies died and a few troops but not much. 

Mikes Fireraptor came on but luckily did little, and in reply my Adeptus Stormwing comes on, the Stormraven doing nothing but the one stormtalons assault cannons takes down the flyer. We both do some damage to each other, wave serpents take down more of the enemies troops, the thunderfire cannon slowing the enemy advance down and a couple of the contemptors are stunned, weakening them for later fire. 

Khan kills a plaguemarine champion before hit and running out and into combat with the Chaos Lord, and gets kill as he strikes the Chaos Lord down after I rolled a 6 and the player failed to save, instant death ya'll! He gets one VP, I get two due to Khans trait. Couple of eldar tanks succumb to enemy firepower, although they lose a few of their own along with a couple of the contemptors. My thunderhammer terminators assault the plaguemarines on the relic and are able to wipe them out, although it takes two turns to do so! Aluns Dire Avengers are able to take the objective and hold onto it. 

I believe the game finished 2-5 to us, we had the objective and 2 vps from the warlord kill, and the CVC guys had one for first blood and one for killing Khan. We had a hell of a laugh playing this, the Chaos players dice rolling for saves was incredible, and I had to shake his hand 12 times for rolling four 5's or 6's to save a unit being destroyed, impressive stuff! Hopefully we'll be able to visit the Crow Valley Crusaders more often, and vice versa.... we have some coming up tonight so I'm expecting more battling tonight! 

Also saturday we have International Tabletop Day coming up at the Reavers, cannot wait for this!

No Quarter: Biggest Game Yet!

It been a while, but I've been a busy lad over the last couple of weeks with an enormous amount of work to get done! However, to make up for this here is a guest post by Huw Williams, with details on how his game, No Quarter, went on our last all dayer less than a week ago. Enjoy! 

Saturday saw the biggest and for my money, most successful play-test of the "No Quarter!" ruleset, yet staged.

The scenario was chosen to accomodate as many players as possible, from various factions, working towards the same objective. This was a terror-raid organised by the British against one of the largest towns of the Spanish Main; 'Portocabino' Portocabino, 'the jewel of the Yucatan', is a Spanish colonial town which has become rich in the rum, raisin and chocolate trade, it is also a major exporter of silver from the mines inland in which British prisoners are worked to death. It has a deep water harbour which is approached through a narrow channel among treacherous sandbars. This approach is guarded by a stone built fort mounting massively heavy artillery.

 The town itself is a charming example of colonial architecture famous for its many fine taverns eateries and brothels. The cathedral of St ignacious The Flatulent houses fabulous treasures wrought in Peruvian silver, gold and emeralds, while the Governor himself is rightly famous for his extensive collection of modern money.

At the waters edge is the rowdy dockside district with warehouses crammed with the produce of the indies and to the South is the Creole quarter a charming tangle of slum-housing peopled by casual labourers and their sultry dark-eyed women.

This then is the place upon which proud Britannia would unleash bloody murder.

To get a fleet together to do this kind of shit aint easy.

You need a lot of boats mounting a lot of artillery, you need rough men willing to do bloody murder for the price of an egg and cress sandwich and you need a convenient patsy to take the fall when it all goes tits-up.

As luck would have it we got all three hanging round the docks in jamaica. A motley fleet of French and ex-Spanish pirates, privateers under government contract and Captain Carl and his Royal Navy frigate, who had already failed his last three missions and could be quietly blamed for everything and hanged if it all went wrong

Carl had a pig of a job ahead of him, not only was the port defended by the fortress but there was a garrison of infantry in the town and two 40 gun Spanish men-o-war anchored ready to defend the channel into the harbour. Add to this the fact that none of his fleet were inclined to obey his orders or take him seriously and you can see that it weren't going to be an office picnic.

Oh no.

I never thought for one minute this game was going to get any further than the entrance to the channel. I kinda assumed the two well-armed, heavily manned Spanish men o war would blow them to bits, or Carls ship at least. Shows what I know.

Before the game started any players with the gold or gems could 'buy' improvements to their ships, extra hull, rigging or speed points, I also gave those who had serious money an opportunity to buy information about the town. Lou did this and got a map showing him where the major stashes of cash were and the information that the fort had less than half its guns and garrison in place.

One major arse-pain during the set-up was the no-show of the second umpire. under the informal rule of 'Don't Got, Can't Have' it was decided that his man o war would not come into play until it had cleared for action, loaded guns and weighed anchor, a process that wuld take fifteen moves! 

"Kick-off" came at about 11 am with the British 'fleet' entering the board line abreast, Carl in the HMS Obvious taking the narrow channel to the South, the others heading down the main roadstead or set risk crossing the sandbanks.

The Spanish flagship, guns double-loaded with chainshot turned slightly and headed boldly out to meet them. The red flag at her mast-head indicated 'No Quarter' given or expected, the sun flashing off the gilded works on her stern she advanced along the narrow channel directly into a storm of shite.

Accurate long-range gunnery from one of the privateers splintered her mainmast which crashed down anchoring her to a sand bar. In her struggle to get free the HMS obvious got the drop on her, come alongside and lashed her with a full broadside of grapeshot which killed or maimed half the crew.

Shocked silence among the Spanish and the pirates: Carl had done something right.

As the Spaniard limped further into the channel to reorganise and return, Carl turned North into the harbour to protect the fleet from the guns of the fort.

As my old great granma said "Never get into a head to head pissing contest with a spanish fort, me gosson". And so Carl found a good third of his rigging points shot off by the wicked long heavy guns of fort Santa Monica Di Verjazzel. Turning back out to sea, he came up on the second Spanish man o war as she got under way and shielded the pirate fleet as it either crashed ashore or turned like jackals on the shipping in the bay.

Captain De La Haye's brutal band o' buckos were first to bring their bad attitudes and general surly demeanours to bear on the port and in a rampage of several hours they looted the dock-side warehouses and stores and sent a party to rob the Central Bank of The Indies before heading back out to sea.

Then the first of the privateers unloaded his cargo of mayhem. in a bold move Cap'n Aaron beached his sloop in a landing-craft stylee, allowing his band of hardened salts and marines to stor ashore.

The Juan Carlos's ('Juankers' for short) hadnt been idle, tho the garrison was strck' with the yellow jack, some brave officers gathered together such men in the taverns and bawdy houses who could still raise a blade to build barricades and face the on-rush. They clashed among the chandlers shops and stores East of the main square and a deadly duel began: Spanish pluck 'gainst English steel and lead!

Out upon the bay the city's fate was sealed. Captain Carl Parfitt turned his frigate to the East, pulled along of the second Spanish warship. and give them the same medicine already dispensed to their sister ship. The decks were littered with blood brains and broken bodies; They had never even had time or leisure to load or run out a single gun.

 The surviving Spanishers struck colours and handed their swords over to the prize crew come over from the obvious. Part at least of the British armada was struggling; Alun had wedged his boat against a sand-bar and was in danger of a good bombing from the fort, while Mikes crew had yielded to the several blandishments of Spanish gold and betrayed the British plan to the enemy!

Back in the town looting and terror and the clash of steel held sway, one stranded Spanish sea-captain and his officers held off the marines and privateers of Capn' Aaron but more were arriving and might soon overwhelm them. It wasn't looking good for Spanish interests in the town so it was that with a heavy head and a couple of heavy iron bound chests the town governor bravely ordered his butler to prepare his coach for a quick escape.

Back out in the harbour things were changing rapidly, Captain Owain, he of the long-lie-in, finally rocked up in his brig of many leaks straight into an artillery duel with the damaged Spanish flagship. In the event it was an inconclusive exchange and the Spanisher manouvered hard to shake him off and head towards Carl to cut off his escape with the other captured man o war.

 Pretty much all resistance was over in the town now, the last of the spanish sailors and civilians were starting to leg it into the forests and swamps, only three bastions remained: The garrison of the artillery fort whose shot were now landing uncomfortably close to the ships anchored at the docks and the bishop and his retinue who had shuttered and barred themselves inside the cathedral...... Oh and the governors entourage who had set off in his coach for the safety of nearby Cartagena, but first had to get through the town...

BANG! 64 pound of iron shot and chain tore through captain De La hay's rigging convincing him that his work in Portocabino was finally done, before another could land he decided to cut his cables and scarper. his place was taken by Owain who came in for a perfect landing to back up his partner in sea-crime, Aaron in sacking the town. The heavy guns at the fort reloaded slowly so most of the time could only gaze upon the horrors of the sacking helplessly. Time was on their side though, sooner or later they would smash any ship anchored in the bay.... unless they were silenced.

 

There was one last desperate chance open to the spaniards; The flagship was heading back, her starboard guns loaded and skeleton crewed with a will, she bore down on HMS Obvious. once more these adversaries drew board and board and....

Carl aced it again with a combination of grapeshot and musketry he killed her captain, slaughtered her crew and in no time siezed her with a boarding party and was sailing back to Jamaica at the had of a captured flotilla, looking forward to tea and medals with the governor and all the buns and well-born ladies his tongue could cope with.

With the spanish navy dealt with the majority of the pirates now headed back out to sea, seeing no profit in braving the forts guns any longer. Only the privateers of captains Owain and aaron remained. They were wicked and set on looting the rest of the town and the cathedral in particular which had gotten away with it till now. A peach fell into their lap as the roving gangs of liquored up old salts captured the Governr in his coach not once but twice, forcing him to pay a ransom both times.

 

Finally they let the coach and most of its occupants go but kept a hold of him for bargaining purposes.  unfortunately with the departure of the fleet, the forts guns were now playing their two sloops with iron and it was only a matter of time before they would fine themselves stranded in the town. They made a plan: Owain would dismount one of his cannons onto a cart to blow in the cathedral doors and Aaron would take the great stone fort. Now I was reasonably confident that the fort would hold, it was well provisioned and armed and nigh on impregnable.

 

It took him four moves.

With the garrison conquered, the cathedral opened and looted, it only remained to burn down the whole town. After that they made off into the gathering night, with the flames of the burning hospital and orphanage of Santiago dabbling their sails a soothing crimson. It had been a profitable venture, even if the 'governor' turned out to be just some random wino in a nice suit the real governor had used as a diversion, they were both well-pleased with their haul.

The End

And there we have it, another truly epic game of No Quarter brought to you by Huw, if you'd like to know more and see and even purchase some of the models, you can go here to Scurvy Dog 25mm Pirate Miniatures on facebook. I'll have more from the all dayer concerning the games of 40k played, but we from the Tredegar Reavers hope you enjoyed this post!