Batrep: Epic, 40k

If you've arrived at Death By Die thinking this is a battle report of an Epic 40k game, I apologise. If you've come here thinking this is a game of 40k that was Epic, welcome, my friend.

As you may know, a few months ago myself and Alun visited the Crow Valley Crusaders and played against an Imperial Fist/Iron Hands combo. And we lost. Aluns Dark Eldar was shot down quickly and I couldn't do much but be overwhelmed by numbers. We went down to the longest night on the weekend, and beat Mike, one of the players we'd previously lost too. But it wasn't that fulfilling... Shaun, who had commanded the Imperial Fists was otherwise busy being a Lannister and taking over (well, trying too) Westeros. Monday night however at the Reavers, who would challange us to a game, but that very pair of ruffians, Mike and Shaun. It was Imperial Fists and Iron Hands again, this time Alun chose his regular Eldar army after they proved succesful on Saturday (except against me ha). 

2000 points per player, all about the kills.

For a comprehensive list of the armies we took, then please accept my apologies for I have none. The photo above shows deployment, my reinforcments consisted of a ten man strong Legion of the Damned unit, Stormtalon and 5 Sterguard in drop pod with combimeltas looking for that first blood.

And you'll be glad to know I got it! I took out one of Mikes Plasma Predators, nasty buggers especially to power armour! We managed to take down a nice little chunk of the boys troops too, no total squads but there were whittled down with as much as we could fire, night fighting restricting us from concentrating fire too much. Aluns Dark Reapers also did well, the Exarch particularly.

Mike and Shaun struck back, by not knowing where to deploy their drop pods.

Lets be honest, sticking down your drop pods can take longer than deployment. Whats in them? Whats the biggest threat? This was the best bit though.... Shaun trying to explain to Mike that he couldn't get into melta range to kill my vindicator because the drop pod was in the way. Mike said he'd get rid of it, but then 5 minutes were needed to explain that he can't move into range to shoot it in the shooting phase. I think Alun was using his psyker abilities to strike discord in the Crow Valley ranks!

Mikes Contemptor jumped out and shot my Land Raider in the jacksie, causing a glancing hit. Shauns came down in front of Aluns Dark Reapers, whose destruction made them a prime target. Although they were battered, a couple still stood at the end of the turn. Elsewhere casualties were limited, although one of my five man squads took a couple of casualties and fled back, but regrouped safely.

All my reserves made it on, which is a relief as it rarely happens!

The storm talon races up the left flank, to give Aluns eldar some support and the Legion of the Damned materialse in the CVC lads deployment zone, also on the left. A brutal display of firing by the ghostly marines takes out Shauns Heavy Bolter devs, and in return Mikes plasma pred takes out 7 of the legionaires. I'd taken 14 wounds and lost 7.... what on earth! My sterguard were charged but killed a terminator with an overwatching melta hit, and my land raider bites the dust after a charge from Mikes contemptor. I fire at it with a lascannon and multimelta but do nothing, bloody contemptors! Again, casualties to both of our troops is taken and we both suffer some losses. Alun does get some charges into Shauns Sternguard and Chapter master, and a brutal combat erupts, each side taking some casualties but fighting on.

So my Land Raider is lost, out comes Vincent Eniko wielding the Burning Blade and holding aloft his Shield Eternal leading the Terminators on to charge into Mikes Terminators and Shauns Land Raider Achilles. I roll a three to charge. I do get into contact with the terminators but I'm half an inch away from the tank... Eniko had Furious Charge from his warlord trait and the termies could have done some serious damage to the landraider, now, I doubt I'd scratch it... or get to it even! Mikes termies duly died however so not all bad. The Legion of the Damned, well, two that were left, charged into the ruins and sent the scouts to their graves. Alun took out the Contemptor and more people died in combat, with Shauns Chapter Master finally dying to the Archons attacks. Elsewere the stormtalon took out some infantry, my thunderfire cannon was smashed apart, and Mike lost one of his contemptors too.

We had no idea who was winning at this point, each side claiming a lot of kills so we fought on. Aluns gravtanks flew across the board, although 2 were blown up, the firewarriors being taken down by small arms fire and a Termie charge. Mikes Chapter Master headed out to attack another Eldar tank, and I aimed my own Chapter Master at him. My termies were slowly taking out tactical marines but not quick enough to earn any points, although they did previously take two hull points off an achilles(yes there were two). Aluns Archon swept into more marines killing another unit with his incubi. The Legion of the Damned sergeant, now on his own, took on the Techmarine that was manning the Imperial Fists Thunderfire, aiming to reap revenge for the loss of my own artillery. And revenge was gained, the sarge slicing the Techmarines helmut down the middle with his power axe. I lost two Combat squads this turn, one to termie firepower and the other to the contemptor on my right. My stormtalon fired everything into Mikes second plasma pred and it blew up, phew!

The board was looking emptier now, both sides had taken a beating and there was no clear winner. My Chapter Master swept into Mikes, Termies still trying to deal with the tactical squad. although I didn't lose any, there was just too many with only 4 attacks per turn, especially with how I roll dice! A couple more squads were finished off, Aluns Dire Avengers fleeing and counted as a point, stormtalon finishing off one of Shauns Tactical Sqauds. The battle of the Chapter Masters could prove important so it seemed!

 The Chapter Masters struck each other, Mikes having a power axe and armour from the Clan Raukaan. I got some hits and wounds, but Mike saved them bar one. He cause two on me, and I too lost one. Drawn! Next combat phase I caused a wound on the Iron Father, and Mike failed his save. In return, he swung back and the wound bounced off the shield. It could potentially come down to a morale test then? Mike rolled, and it came up a six. Chapter Masters would have fought on! I'll take that as a morale victory though, cause more wounds! 

So we added up the points, myself and Alun had lost 17 units. When I saw that I thought we'd lost... but Shaun announced they'd lost 16. However, we'd gained First Blood, Slay the Warlord, and Linebreaker. A win by just two points, I couldn't believe it! To be fair, no matter what the score was I felt like we'd won because it was one of the most enjoyable games of 40k I'd ever played and one of the finest examples of why I love this game. Little moments, good luck, bad luck, tense dice rolls, and excellent people to play with and against. It doesn't get much better than that I can tell you! I'm sure I've forgotten some events from the game, but if the lads want to add comments then hopefully they will. Can't always have the victors tell the tale after all!

I think we'll have to do something special next time, perhaps an even bigger game. How my Legion sarge survived I don't know, truly a legend amongst the dead marines. Another dead Land Raider though! Thanks to these guys we now know how barrage works properly, as we wasn't sure before. For now though, thats it from me. Wrestlemania is coming up Sunday, and on Saturday is our very own event for International Tabletop Day so expect a report on that with plenty of photos!

Apocalypse Batrep,30k Eldar vs Space Marines

Well here she is, I've not posted for over a week or so as I've been busy and had this monstrosity to get ready for posting! About a week and a half ago, we at the Tredegar Reavers had one of our much loved amongst members all day events. Huw put on a game of No Quarter which I will post about soon, Huws finding some time to get some things written up about the game played by him, Louis and Mike. As soon as I get the text I'll knock the post out with some pictures. As for the rest of us, which was myself, Jordan, Bam, Alun and Andrew, we organised a nice chunky game of Apocalypse. 15k per side, 30k in total. You may have remembered a while ago I painted up a Realm of Battle board for the club, well I've now painted a second to match which meant we had this to put scenary and armies on, I was rather proud of myself! 

Anyway, onto the game. Alun and Andrew controlled an Eldar and Dark Eldar combination, Wave Serpents, Raiders, Ravagers and a handful of flyers took to battle. With them, was a Revenant Titan. This beastie worried us a little as we had no superheavies of our own, but we did have some D-weapon capability in the form of a Predator Assassin Squadron, IF they survived. The Imperial allies consisted of Krohmus Guard, Bam with Imperial Fists (yet to be painted!) and Jordan with his Company of Space Wolves. One warning before we start, I've gone into storytelling mode. Look out!

The numbers of the Eldar seemed far too few to worry about, but it looked as though they were about to mount an attack. Thornarim, the Krohmus Guard Scout Sergeant carefully observed the yellow wraithboned transports of the Eldar as they hovered delicately into view. The Squat had fought Eldar before, and crushed a few of their heads in with his own fists after his position had been attacked by armoured Aspect Warriors in green armour. 'Fast buggers, but land a punch on them and they go down like anything' Thornarim thought to himself. He heard a new noise come into the area, similar to the grav-engines of the Eldar but whinier, more painful sounding the Demiurg thought. Into view came a slim skimmer, with a pointed hull with small sails on and filled with Eldar in much more spikier armour than he had ever seen the pointy eared Xenos wear before. Thornarim spoke into his comms... 'Lads, you seeing this?' Scout Harkin replied 'Dark Eldar, it seems the Eldar numbers could be greater than we thought Sergeant'. Thornarim felt his hand stroke the barrel of his sniper rifle and smiled to himself. 'Soon you'll be giving those pointy eared bastards holes in the heads' he said to himself, but for now his orders were strictly observation. 

After a few minutes, the Dark Eldar skimmer shot off to the west and the Eldar started mobilising to a new position. Even with these new allies they'd be hard pressed to break the Adeptus thought Thornarim. Not only were the Krohmus Guard here, but the company of Ragnar Blackmane of the Space Wolves was present along with Captain Danarth Lysander and a force of Imperial Fists too. Suddenly his comms went off. 'Sergeant Thornarim, this is Eniko. What news for me friend?' 'Well, its not just the Eldar we got, its their darker brothers too. All bastards though' said the stunted sergeant. 'Librarian Shiori said he's picking up psychic interference, he and the other librarians are trying to sense whats happening but Brother Lysander mentioned webway portals, so be aware' the Chapter Master announced. 'If they're attacking they have a surprise or three planned, we'll need you and your squads sniper rifles back at base. Disperse and return.'  'Aye' Thornarim replied and then passed the orders onto his unit. Just as he was about to turn and make his way back to the command centre he felt something wasn't right. He turned again and saw that there was one Eldar transport still hovered in the small clearing. Several Eldar in ornate armour and strange looking helms all gathered in a semi-circle. As he zoomed in he could see the air bristling in front of them, as if a storm was coming. suddenly lighting came from nowhere and the area in front of the psykers cackled and a chill wind picked up. The electricity picked up until the air was torn, a portal into which Thornarim could see the warp space circling around inside it. It grew from the size of a dreadnought into something a good dozen of the Eldar skimmers could fit through at once. Thornarim flicked his comms back on. 'Vincent, seems the Librarians were right. They're making a huge tear in reality, this isn't good'. 'Thornarim, are there forces coming out?' Negative, noth.... Wait a second... Oh shit. Its something big. Must be 60ft at least... Thin body with a gun on each arm, doesn't look friendly' the Squat reported. 'Titan. Scout class by the sound of it. Thornarim, get back to base. Your unit will be needed. With haste brother' Eniko ordered. 'Aye, hasty be right!' Thornarim said as he left his spot.
 

Brother Ithala ordered his Predator squadron into place. It had been joined by an Imperial Fists predator, all fitted in the Annihilater pattern and it seemed to make sense to keep them together to concentrate firepower on the heaviest enemy armour. Orders mentioned that a scout class titan could be part of the Eldar force, and Ithala knew the combination of 15 lascannons in his squadron would help deal some damage. Movement could be seen across the more open ground and Eldar forces could be seen across the way. Yellow vehicles hovered into view, along with Dark Eldar skimmers to the right flank. Then the Titan hovered into view. Above the ruins of what had been an Imperial town was the immense Eldar construct, and even Ithala felt a sense of ugency to destroy the fearsome yet graceful looking thing. Ithala had heard of these before, and instantly relayed his knowledge to the other tanks in his squadron. 'Those weapons are Pulsars, long ranged and absolutely lethal. Aim for the head with everything you've got when it comes into range!' ordered Ithala. Suddenly the guns on the Eldar Titan glowed a pale blue. In the central ground between the amassed armies energy fizzled and two webway portals ripped open real space and more Dark Eldar skimmers flew out. The comms went crazy with reports of Dark Eldar units appearing behind Imperial lines, skimmers, female warriors scantily clad with all manner of combat weapons, Eldar with bodies mutilated and large mechanical beasts hovering in the air trying to snap the defenders in half with huge claws. Ithala's attention was squarely on the Titan. The predators all turned to bring the Titan to their fore. As they did, Ithala saw a drop pod ram into the ground near the Titan. The Pulsars lit up and tore the Predator behind Ithala up causing a massive explosion. In literally seconds it had turned to absolute chaos. Another two shots from the other Pulsar blew up a Krohmus Guard Land Raider, Ithala angrily shouting 'AVENGE OUR BROTHERS, AIM FOR THE HEAD!' He saw the Titan's left Pulsar fall as its shoulder socket disintegrated, melta shots coming from the Sternguard who had drop podded in crippling its firepower. The Predator to his right opened up, but the shot flew past the titan, the image flickering slightly. 'Holofields, aim to the left!' he yelled as the Imperial Fists predator shot the lascannons smashed into the other shoulder, making the Titan stagger back. Ithala pulled the trigger on his own lascannons and unleashed three energy beams into the Titans head.

There was a horrendous shriek and the Revenants head exploded, the huge machine collapsing towards the Imperial line. Eldar flyers swarmed in over the explosion and missiles spun from the craft into the bikes that were zooming forward. Most of the Krohmus Guard bikes were smashed apart but the Fists bikes continued on, joining with the Krohmus attack bike that had survived the blasts and rearing around a ruin towards two smaller Dark Eldar skimmers. Vincent Eniko, Chapter Master of the Krohmus Guard, looked through the holograph screen in his Land raider 'The Colossus'. 'This is bridge Captain Raforno, coordinates my Lord?' 'Concentrate on the grav tanks heading towards the base, we need them slowed down so more fire can be brought to bear' ordered Eniko. Yes my Lord' answered Raforno, and within seconds a large explosion could be heard even within the confines of the Colossus. As the mighty machine sped around the now banking Imperial Fists bikes Eniko saw something he hadn't expected. Guardsmen. All bore inquisitorial badges, was a Radical Inquisitor working with the Eldar? 'Ready to disembark, we assault these heretics!' Vincent roared as the engines of the Colossus echoed its Chapter Masters' thoughts and stormed straight towards the Guardsmen. As the assault ramp lowered, the small yet wide figure of Koll bounded forward as Vincent Eniko, Chaplain Gyozo and his Honour Guard followed. They were superhumans, but even they struggled to keep up with a Chainaxe carrying Squat. 

Eniko suddenly thought about the day he first met the demiurg warrior. When the Krohmus Guard had rescued the small clan of Squats from a Chaos invasion one of the Squats had turned traitor, and Koll was the brother of the heretic. Kolls brother, Ufnaud, had become unstable and fled the invisible world on one of the ancient ships that the Demiurg once used to cargo materials from their mines to other clans for trading. He had somehow come into contact with the  Chaos Lord Balekith, who had wanted to claim the cloaking technology the Squats had used to remain unknown for his own evil deeds. Koll had been sickened by his brothers actions, and had renounced his family name, swearing that he will kill his brother or die trying. After the battle, Koll had shaven his hair off leaving a mohawk, apparantly copying tales of great ancestors and legends. When the Krohmus Guard had taken the Squat survivors to Mars, a handful had decided to stay with the Adeptus Astartes to not only serve with them on the battlebarges and with the Techmarines but to also fight alongside the Space Marines. Eniko thought of Thornarim, whose keen aim had killed scores of Xenos and Traitors. Koll was even deadlier, but his forte' was in combat. The Chapter Master was adept in combat, but after he had seen Koll slaughter 8 Bezerkers with little effort, he knew the stuntied fellow was a supreme combat monster.

 Before the Honour Guard and Eniko could put blade to flesh, Koll had already decapitated 3 Guardsmen and dismembered two more. The unit were wiped out in just a few seconds. Eniko and the Honour Guard pressed themselves against the building the Guardsmen had been next too, and could see the battle in the centre of the lines was brutal. A Krohmus Guard Vindicator was blown up as a stormraven flew overheard, guns blazing away taking down Dark Eldar flyers with ease. It had seemed the orbital blast hadn't taken many of the skimmers down, as there were still almost a dozen flying towards the northwest most corver of the base. As he looked up, he saw what he thought were ghosts, and Koll leapt over his and with a grim whisper claimed, 'mine'. Eniko ordered his honour guard back into the Colossus, they would head towards the middle ground and hunt for more clues as to the Guardsmen and the Inquisitorial badges they had. As they turned the corner Eniko saw something that was fearsome yet welcoming. A cold blueish glow appeared from nowehere and twenty Legionaires of the Damned appeared, guns firing into buildings nearby with human screams being heard even over the gunfire of the battle. Vincent had seen these warriors before, and always had they been on the side of the Kromus Guard. 'The Emperor gives us strength my Lord' said Chaplain Gyozo.

Koll leapt up the ruins onto the second floor of the building, firing off a shot from his grav pistol sending one of the Eldar Rangers falling. Three fired their sniper rifles at him but he was too fast, even for the Eldar. He chopped the arms off one as it still aimed its rifle, with his chainaxe tearing two more in half. 'Your race is dead, you do not belong here' a ghostly voice said. 'All dead? Then your eyes are lying, come make sure we're all dead you bastard' shouted Koll. The sound of energy fizzing into life came from behind, and Koll spun to block a strike that most Marines would have lost their head too. Koll stood face to face with another Ranger, but one whose appearence suggested more veteran and bestowed than a simple Eldar scout. 'Our Farseers saw your races death years ago, the Great Devourer consumed you.' Aye, but they didn't like the taste of me, like old boots I am.' Koll retorted, swinging his axe around wounding the Xenos Scouts arm with a huge gash. The Eldar whinced in pain as it brought its sword up, desperate to land a blow on Koll. The Demiurg blocked easily, but another Ranger had hit him across the back of the neck with its rifle. As he turned his chainaxe bit deep into its waist, chopping the Ranger into half. The talkative Eldar however managed to jab its power sword towards Kolls head. Koll felt the heat of the blade slice his side and spun towards the Eldar, quickly grabbing his arm and pulled him over his head and over the edge of the platform they were fighting on. The Ranger managed to avoid falling by deftly grabbing a girder and swinging himself to safety. The Eldar Ranger was battered but had escaped the Squat. Koll glanced at his wound and almost smiled at it. Leaping across a gap in the ruins he saw the spectral Legion of the Damned fighting with Dark Eldar, smashing armoured warriors with ease he could see the Archon had dispatched one of the ghostly warriors but was now retreating back. 'Mine' Koll said.

Thornarim took aim, and the last Wych fell from the raider as the driver pulled away. Reloading his sniper rifle he turned around to see scout Torstein fire a krak missile at another raider, missing the vehicle but hitting a Dark Eldar warrior off and exploding as missile and xenos hit the ground.  Another Raider was hit by a Demolisher shell, and the occupants, more wyches, flew from its chassis and crashed into the groud. Four were killed from the crash but the rest leapt up eager to fight, and started to dance their way up the wall of the base towards Thornarim's squad. Three more Wyches fell as the scouts fired rounds but two still came, one opened the throat of scout Phanius before being knocked to the ground by scout Torstein but another spilt blood. Pirouetting between two of the Scouts she flipped over another, all three of the young Krohmus Guard having their heads taken from their shoulders. This Wych meant busines, and headed straight for Thornarim. As the old Squat took aim he fired a round which hit the female xenos in the hip, she took the shot and spun around, planting one of her blades in the neck of Thornarim. Torstein came at the Wych from behind, and she struck him in the stomach with a wickedly spiked heel. He clutched at her ankle, and swung her off the platform where she landed on her neck, the breaking bones being heard over the noise of battle. Torstein and scout brother Aryx ran towards Thornarim, who was slumped against the wall of the platform. 'Apply pressure quick, you'll be fine sergeant I swear it!' shouted Torstein in a panic. 'Of course I'll be fine' the stricken Squat said. 'A pain in the neck won't kill you.....' and Thornarims eyes closed. 

Chapter Master Eniko was recieving reports from all over the battlefield. Ragnar Blackmane and a group of the young Blood Claws had battled Dark Eldar that were mutilated and supported by strange clawed hovering mechanical beasts, the rest of his Great Company held the western flank against a sea of Dark Eldar Jetbikes. Lysander had intercepted a Seer Council and a vicious combat was being fought between the two sides nether side being able to clutch the initiative. Eldar were mounting towards to the gate of the base and had to be stopped. Even though the base was open from above, the gate held the controls to the base and could be sabotaged. Eniko would rather see the gate destroyed than it held by the cunning Xenos. Thornarim had been struck down, but his squad had defended not just the old Squat but their part of the wall, testament to the teachings of Enikos short friend. The Imperial air support had been superb. Xenos flyers had been taken down systematically and the Stormravens and Stormtalons of the Krohmus Guard and Imperial Fists now poured fire into the ground based Eldar units, working their way back to the gate of the base to defend the vital point. 

The Colossus was about to pull away until more heat readings were picked up by its sensors. 'What is it?' questioned Eniko. 'More Eldar, coming in from behind' replied Chaplain Gyozo, 'Koll will have to deal with them my Lord, we have targets in front.' Eniko looked and in front of the Colossus was a Venom skimmer. Onboard he could see the veterans of the Dark Eldar, the Incubi and knew they were deadly opponents. 'Ready to arms my brothers...' and suddenly Eniko paused. 'Back to Koll, he needs our support!' 'But my Lord, the Archon and his retinue?' They're being handled Orneus, the Emperor watches, and fights with us.' Orneus looked at the holograph screen and could see that the Legion of the Damned had joined combat with the Archon and his retinue. Two of the warriors vanished from blows by the Archon but the rest took out the Incubi. The Archon fled, knowing fear for the first time in his life most likely thought Eniko as the strange warriors of the Damned butchered his fellow Xenos. The Archon sprinted back, and met up with the Eldar reinforcments. Howling Banshees, with an Exarch, met the Archon and readied themselves to serve death. The Archon, now supported by more Eldar gained confidence and strode forward with the armoured women and headed towards Kolls position. The Colossus sped forward, the assault ramp once more thundering down to the ground where Chapter Master Eniko, Orneus Gyozo and the honour guard spilled out into the Archon and the Banshees. 'Man, Woman, all pointy eared bastards!!!' screamed Koll as jumped from the first floor of the building, chainaxe spinning flicking blood off its small teeth as the Squat targeted the Exarch. Eniko aimed for the Archon, the Xenos commander having the same idea. 

The Honour Guard fought against the Banshees, and gained the upperhand as they killed three with well aimed blows. The Aspect Warriors were fast but just couldn't cut through the armour of the Krohmus Guards finest. Koll swung maniacally at the Eldar, whose lithe frame danced around the strokes as if taunting the Squat. His eyes keened and stopped swinging the chainaxe, the Banshee immediately struck and Koll sidestepped the darting power sword and headbutted the Banshee, her mask cracked and fell off revealing her face. 'Pretty lass, too bad you're dead' announced Koll as the chainaxe met the side of her cranium, splattering flesh and gore everywhere. The Archon yelled and the remaining Banshees fled with the Dark Eldar leader. Eniko looked around and saw that the Eldar had been eradicated from the gate, although the gate itself had collapsed under the gratuitous firepower the Imperial allies had thrown at it. Koll approached, a satisfied smile visible under the blood covering the Squats face and giant mohawk. 'Any left laddy?' 'I'm awaiting reports Koll. Thornarims been injured, bad too by the sounds of it. We'll get back to the Colossus and head to base. Honour Guard Gormedes shouted 'Lord, the Legion has just disappeared, bodies of dead Guardsmen where they stood!' Eniko, Koll, Gyozo and the rest of the Honour Guard turned the corner to see the devastation the Legion of the Damned had caused. Over thirty bodies were strewn in a small space between some ruins, the greying ash turned red from the blood, and more bodies lay elsewhere. 'My Lord, if this is the work of our beloved Emperor then he doesn't mean to give mercy to those who once served him'. Eniko paused for a second then turned around. 'And neither do we. Those who turn their backs to Chaos or Xenos are our enemy, and our wrath is their end.' 'Aye, kill all the bastards I will' said Koll smugly. 

'Lord Blackmane, how do you fare?' asked Eniko into his comms. 'Bloodied, but the enemy is broken. Fun fight too.' the Space Wolf replied. Eniko couldn't see Koll but knew he was smiling, the Squat had got on well with the Space Wolves, although they, as most Imperial authorities often felt at first contact with Koll, was that some 'mutant or deviant' should not be allowed part of the Adeptus Astartes. Eniko knew the situation could be problematic, but did the Imperial Guard not employ Ratlings and Ogryns? If they fight for the Emperor then why should they not fight beside us? The Adeptus Mechanicas had opened their mechancal arms when Kyrann Locke, Master of the Forge of the Krohmus Guard, had informed them that Squats were with the fleet and heading to Mars to share knowledge of ancient tech with them. The Krohmus Guard had already benefitted from the Demiurg in this sense. Gravguns, once thought to be incredibly difficult to manufacture, were created in a much easier method by Squat 'Smiths'. It still took time and many days to create the weapons, but it was progress. Something, Eniko thought, he saw little of these days in the Imperium. 'We'll be back at base shortly Lord Blackmane' said Vincent. 'Captain Lysander, how do you fare?' The comms remained silent....

'The Xenos Commander slipped away' Lysander replied a few moments later. 'One moment the Hammer of Dorn was about to cave his skull in, the next, he vanished. We slaughtered his retinue however, now making way to base. Seems the enemy are routed Lord Eniko' Lysander spoke. 'It would appear so, we will rendezvous with Lord Blackmane in 20 minutes and assess the damage. I hear repairs are needed to the gate.' 'What gate?' Lysander replied dryly. 

As the Colossus rumbled steadily towards the base, Eniko reviewed the damage. Parts of the Eldar Titan were still visible, although all smoked from the explosion that tore it up. Where the gate once stood, came into view. Eldar vehicles, belonging to both Craftworld and their darker kin, were demolished around the walls of the base. Some of the skimmers had simply floated above the battlements and dropped their cargo off, but the base was now secure. The Land Raider slowly opened its ramp, and the passengers disembarked from the Colossus. Battle scars surrounded the ramparts, but the only traces of xenos were burnt remains and dead bodies. 'What news on Thornarim and his Scouts?' Eniko asked the Command Squad. Apothecary Floxeus was about to answer but was interrupted. 'I'll be fine' said a raspy voice. Eniko glanced over and saw Thornarim limping towards him, a bloodied mess but still standing. 'I was almost worried Thorny, didn't think a poncy Eldar could cut that deep through Squat skin though' Koll beamed as he took Thornarim in his arms and hugged him. Thornarim looked at his blood spattered friend, 'I see you've been doing the damage Koll' Thornarim replied, Kolls smile widening in response. 

Chapter Master Eniko looked around as they Imperial forces had defended the base. The Eldar were a cunning race however, 'one minute they fight us, the next they aide us. Then we join in battle again' Eniko thought as he looked at several dead Eldar bodies. Fight with or against them, they were never to be trusted. Lysanders Stormraven flew overhead as Ragnar and his retinue of Blood Claws entered the base. Marines from differing Chapters embraced, Eniko felt pride beaming from his body as brothers not just from his Krohmus Gaurd, but first founding Chapters embraced his warriors as equals. His Chapter was young, but they were certainly not inexperienced, and having the respect of Heroes of such magnitude as Lysander and Ragnar Blackmane made Eniko proud to be an Astartes and fight alongside the distinguished Chapters. He had no doubt they would fight alongside each other many more times too, the battle was won, but war, is eternal.

And there we go folks! If you read all of that then I highly appreciate it and will reward you with not having to go through that again for a good while! As always playing a big Apocalypse game was a great spectacle, and its always motivational to get your armies painted. As some of the players had new armies, this just wasn't possible but it still looked pretty good and I think it will spur people on to get things prepared for when we have another epic battle. 

I'm no tentirely sure of the score, but it didn't clearly represent how much carnage had taken place on the table. The Imperium held most of the objetives but only because we had gone second and were able to take the Eldar allies off a couple of the objectives at the end and claim them for ourselves. Bloody pointy ears! I hope you enjoyed the post, even if it was just the pictures. Hopefully I'll have a No Quarter post soon along with some other projects I'm working on. But for now, go rest your eyes and listen to some soothing music... or go roll some dice and kill some Xenos!

Batrep: Vs Dark Eldar

Here goes it. Aluns last game before heading off back to learn about Religion and why the Imperium really is the way forward (its true, he's thinking of doing Salamanders). Alun said he wanted something nice and juicy, and this would be his first game on his own with the Dark Eldar after the beating we took the day before down at the Crow Valley Crusaders. I wanted revenge for his fragility, he wanted revenge for... well being SAWFT!!! 2500k points per side, Hammer and Anvil deployment and the mission...

The Scouring. 

Alun won the dice roll to deploy and go first and so set up. I deployed my Krohmus Guard and failed to seize the initiative. Deployment can be seen below! I didn't pay much attention to Aluns deployment at all, I just made sure the two objectives in my deployment zone were nearby and that my units were in as much cover as was afforded to them. The Thunderfire set back in cover with the ruins bolstered. With nightfighting in effect, I'd get a nice 2+ cover save. Vindicator and Predator to my left would cover that side while my bikers and missile launcher devs covered the right. The Adeptus Astartes Stormwing would be in reserves, as would a Tactical Squad and Dreadnought in/on the Stormraven. The Legion of the Damned would also be deepstriking in the situation best suited to where I felt they were needed.

Alun kicked off by firing his Rangers at my Thunderfire cannon. And killing it. That hurt! One of my most dangerous units destroyed by some rangers, and it was first blood. My bikers were targeted and I lost a couple from a Dark Reaper barrage and Raider fire. my left most tactical squad also suffered a few casualties.

My return fire was pretty pitiful, only managing a hull point off a raider and shaking the Ravager so it would only snapfire in Aluns second turn.

Speaking of Aluns second turn, he managed to wipe out a tactical squad, claim an objective on the middle left, and advanced more with venoms and raiders. Vindicator had 2 hullpoints stripped from one of the razorwings, while the other cause some more tactical marines to die. I lost a few more bikes this turn and was left with the Chaplain, flamer and Chapter Master. My predator managed a bit more damage to a flanking raider but just stunned it, but then I was able to cause some real damage. Aluns advance with his raiders and venoms on my right flank had them lined up nicely, so the vindicator turned and unleashed a demolisher cannon shot, blowing up the venom  and destroying a weapon off a raider. One of the incubi died from the explosion too. The devastators, whose salvo last turn did nothing to a raider loaded up some flakk missiles and took aim at a razorwing, unable to blow it up but causing its velocity to be locked. The Chapter Master, gunning his engine unleashed an orbital bombardment upon the same targets,killing the other incubi and blowing the already damaged raider up too, some warriors dying in the wreckage. Having targeted the incubi my Chapter Master charged in challanging the archon. No wounds were caused however and the fight went on.

 Alun advanced with what he could, and another score of Krohmus Guard died. The Devastators were killed by venom fire, the Vindicator was finished off and the second tactical squad were also butched after frying some Dark Eldar warriors who were on an objective, the two survivors fleeing. Combat again was fruitless, so I hit and ran with the bikes ready to charge again in my turn. It was not looking good! 

Thankfully the Stormwing and Legion decided that turn three was the time to show up, and never had some reinforcements been so welcome! The stormraven flew in to the left, Tactical squad inside ready to gain vengeance for their fallen brothers. The Dreadnought surveyed the carnage below and readied its heavy flamers, Xenos scum would burn for the loss of its younger brethren! The stromtalons flew to the right, killing some warriors from one squad and damaging the other razorwing. The Legion materialised in Aluns deployment zone, landing near the 4 point objective in an effort to deny him these points. They were able to kill some Dark Reapers, and most importantly their exarch whose missile launcher had spilt much blood. The Chapter Master swept back into the Archon, and finally killed him. If he could survive the next turn he might be able to deny another objective to the Dark Eldar and keep me in the fight.

 Alas, the Chapter Master fell. Aluns Rangers spilt out of the ruins to claim the middle right objective, worth 2 points. The venom dropped his Warlord Archon and her Incubi retinue on my right most objective worth 3 points, along with some wyches that had survived the flames of my dreadnaught previously. I managed to get the tactical squad back to my other objective which was also worth 3 points, so at the moment the score was about 7-3 to Alun. Needing to carefully concentrate my firepower I thought carefully. After my Predator was able to kill a few incubi, the Stormraven would target the Archon with much of its fire power but the assault cannons would fire at the wyches on the objective. I fired two missiles and the multimelta, and lo and behold the Archon died, its Shadowfield unable to susatin the barrage. The assault cannon tore the wyches apart, and Alun had lost an objective and linebreaker. My surviving stormtalon concentrated its firepower upon the rangers, killing just three. Alun rolled his morale check, and they ran! Alun had lost the other objective, his warlord and no linebreaker, giving me the game in an incredibly close affair.

I honestly thought Alun had this in the bag in turn three. I didn't think my reserves would do much, and even though the Legion didn't kill much, they prevented Alun four points in his deployment zone. The Stormraven did well, as did the tactical squad inside claiming an objective which proved vital. Alun was unlucky to lose his Warlord, but I'll take that anyday, I was unluccky not to have done more damage earlier! Those Razorwing things are brutal, those missiles tore my Tactical sqauds apart, as did the splinter cannon fire. I didn't realise venoms had so much firepower either, my Devs had no idea what hit them! I was too aggressive with the bikes and let too many out on show. Had there been a few more later on my Chapter Master may have survived and cut through more Dark Eldar on the right flank, but we learn from mistakes. 

A great close game against Alun as usual and as fun as always. Til next time pointy ears!

New Tyranid Codex Thoughts and Batrep

So the new Tyranid Codex has been released, and there is much talk floating around the internet about the book and from what I've encountered its pretty negative. I've never used the Nids before, and only ever played against them once with the old Tau codex and got hammered. With the release our Tyranid player Jacob offered me to a game, and choosing my Krohmus Guard I duly accepted. First of all, thoughts on the Codex pregame.

Jacob mentioned that a fair whack of the codex had been copied and pasted from the previous dex. This is unfortunate, but it is a nicely put together book regardless and I'm sure if you're a newcomer to gribblies, you'll enjoy the book immensely.

Rules wise its hard to offer much as I don't have much experience with them. I've always felt that things with a toughness and wounds beats out armour, as its incredibly hard to kill them on one turn unlike vehicles where you can penetrate and explode them. Many of the big nasties in the nid book are toughness 5-6 with 5-6 wounds, thats a lot of firepower to down these beasts. To me, a mix of big and small nids would be the most appealing army, perhaps not competitively but just for fun. Lots of little guys being goaded forward by synapse seems like a great image, tearing their way towards an unfortunate gunline where they either get shot down or overwhelm the defenders. 

As always, the art is fantastic and this piece with the nids taking on orks really caught my eye. The map of tendrils attacking areas of space was nice too and theres plenty of eye candy in the book. 

 So onto the battle then. We'd decided to do 1500 points, and not having any idea what Jacob was taking I went for a list designed to dent them early on and hopefully deal out enough firepower to slowly mow the numbers down as they advanced. My list was:

Barebones librarian, 2 tactical squads, one in a drop pod, dreadnought with TL heavy flamer and heavy flamer in a drop pod, predator with AC and HB's, 8xdevastators with 4 missile launchers, 10 scouts with rifles, missile launcher and telion, 5 bikers with two gravguns and combi grav and ten legion of the damned with flamer and heavy flamer. 

The basic thought was to use the bikers to pick on something big and take it out in one go, with some supporting fire if needed. The dread would come down and torch a big unit of gaunts that are closest to my main block of troops and the legion of the damned would either act as a screen coming down near my main force or deepstrile behind to try and distract and cause as much damage as possible. 

I deployed and Jacob set up his force. 3 Tervigons, 3 Zoanthropes, about 80-90 termagaunts, an exocrine, and deathleaper stood across from me or were in reserves. 

 First turn and the Dread droppods near a huge guant unit and torches a good 12-15 of them, but the nearby Tervigon charges in and damages the dread. I was lucky not to lose it in one turn as Jacob had two pens but didn't get to explode it. The bikers revved forward and unleashed a torrent of gravfire at the right most tervigon, killing the beast. My scouts targeted the Zoanthrope to the right, a krak missile finding its mark and instant killing the xenos. I managed to take a couple of wounds off the exocrine but it regenerated back up to 5. The nids rushed forward, gaunts mainly running forward to close ground to get ready to attack. One tervigon however rolled a double to spawn and would be unable to create anymore, whereas the other created 9 guants.

Tactical squad in drop pod deployed to the west, hoping to pile in some firepower using the Tactical Doctrine. The firepower tore apart guants but 9 still stood and charged the tactical squad in return. The bikers redployed and unleashed more graviton firepower, this time at the exocrine. Fairly poor dice rolling only took two wounds off, although the scouts managed to take another two off leaving it on just one wound. The predator fired and failed to do anything. The only thing left that could do anything was a lascannon toting tactical marine. I unleashed the shot, hit, but rolled a one to wound. Dammit! The Exocrine regenned two wounds to take it back up to 3, and blew up a few of my devastators, cover saving them from all being wiped out. The main Tervigon finished off my dreadnought and stormed alongside the gaunts assaulting my tactical marines. It managed to kill one marine after Jacob rolled badly but I did no damage back, mainly through a power that took my WS and BS down to just 1! I did kill a couple of gaunts and lost another marine. 

The Legion of the Damned appear at the back of the Tyranid line engulfing some gaunts in prometheum, then get assault by a tervigon and later on two units of gaunts, one from reserve and one spawned by said Tervigon. True to legend, they sponge up a tremndous amount of attacks and I only lose three for the rest of the game. They take out a unit of gaunts, leave the other with just a couple of models and keep a Tervigon locked in combat. Distraction and spongeness complete!

The bikers got assailted by a huge unit of gaunts, and I lost two in the first turn of combat but managed to kill a few in return. The gaunts were having a lot of trouble wounding the T5 bikers though so I felt safe they'd survive. A drop pod stormbolter killed a last gaunt to get a kill point, and the exocrine was finally finished off before it could wipe out my devastators. They however had a huge unit of gaunts and deathleaper to worry about. I advanced my Librarian and tactical squad out of the ruins on the right to back up the other tactical squad. I'd gained Iron Arm for the libby and was confident he could deal some damage to even the bigger beasties.

Deathleaper and the gaunts assaulted my Devs and took them down to two models, while my bikers stood resolute and unharmable almost to the other unit of gaunts, but only managed to kill a few due to lack of attacks. The Tervigon to my right was unable to cause enough wounds to the tactical squad to wipe them out, and the game ended before my libby could test his strength against something juicy.

We ended the game and I was up about 8-2, I was close to losing a couple of units but I'd done enough damage to blunt the Tyranid attack... for now!

Jacobs overall thoughts on the army is that they've been nerded, and I can see what he means. However Jacob hasn't played very often and is a little rusty of the rules. I think diverting a tervigon away from the main advance to take care of my legion of the damned wasn't a good move, but I don't think he realised just how durable a unit they are. Taking out a tervigon and zoanthrope in the first turn was inlucky too, but now he knows how deadly Gravguns are and if he has the choice will take the first turn to try and deal with them. After he's had a few more games it'll be interesting to see if he still has the same view or not. Hopefully not and he'll have found his footing witht he army again and get back to his biomass collecting ways! 

From my perspective it was an enjoyable game, seeing a wave of gaunts and some bigger beasts across from me was unnerving, and I did wonder if my force would be any good. It proved to be fairly effective however with most of the units doing well. I look forward to more games against Jacob as he's always fun to play against, and when he gains some confidence I'm sure his tactical gribbliness will be hard to beat!

Saturday Salvo: Xwing, Chaos vs Imperum Marines

So the weekend is here, and I've got a nice chunky post for you all. I took a visit down to Cwmbran a couple of days ago, met up with one of the fine men of the Crow Valley Crusaders who sold me a Vindicator and Land Raider Redeemer for a very nice sum. They've both been undercoated and will be worked on in the next couple of weeks! While there I popped into GW, and got to watch a good game of 40k between Tau and an Imperial Fists and Aurora Chapter force. The Tau's gunline proved too much and the Riptide caused a lot of damage. Great fun to watch though. I also picked these guys up, and combined them with parts from the new Tactical Squad and Sternguard box sets.

Grav-guns ahoy! Two Grav-guns and a Combi-grav, should prove deadly and as they're so quick they can quickly advance and pour deadly fire into the most heavily armoured infantry the enemy can muster... or big buggers like Riptides, Greater Daemons and Wraithknights... after playing Alun a couple of weeks ago and decimating his Bloodthirster with them I needed to purchase! Also, my Chapter Master is pretty much done too so thought I'd take a better pic of him. 

I'm still not 100% on the flames but happy enough to not redo this guy anytime soon, as he looks good on the tabletop and thats what matters for me! When my greenstuff skills get much better I may go back then and redo the sword but for now I'm sure he'll get plenty of kills. 

Also got some better pics of my Skaven inspired Chaos Marine, who I've now based. Doesn't look too bad if I may say so myself, so will probably get a squad done to see how they look combined. Plus with the amount of conversion ideas I'm getting a small force may slowly come!

Last Monday at club I also got to have a quick game of X-wing, so heres some pictures! Jason has become a big fan of this game and has most of the ships, but we kept things simple for my first game. 60pts each would mean about 3 ships for me and about double for Jase. 

I took a prototype pilot A-wing, which proved really useful even though I didn't expect much. It took some hullpoints off a tie fighter in the first turn and proved difficult for the tiefighters to lock onto because of its speed. I lost an Xwing but was able to take all the tiefighters out with the A and Xwings. 

I really enjoyed the simplicity of the game, and the second guessing of movement and what abilities to use. Do you focus to survive or lock on to try and take the enemy down, or use a special ability to shake someone following you? So nice having only two phases, moving and shooting. Means theres less to forget!

Next time I'll try the Imperial forces, see what its like having all those tiefighters to control! Perhaps see if I can try a larger game too, as this only took about 45 minutes! Ideal for having a series of quick games, switching sides or even linking them together. 

The models are also really cool, well painted and look really good on the table. Jase also had the cool gaming mat you can see in the pictures, and with the size only being 3x3 you can easily fit it onto most dining tables, which means gaming is easier to come by! Can't be a bad thing at all! 

So coming up soon will hopefully be painted bikers, Redeemer and Vindicator. Hopefully I'll do a few more Chaos Marines too using Skaven and Beastmen bits, just to see what I can come up with. We'll be having an alldayer in the middle of December so I cannot wait to get some gaming done then, see what we can come up with!

Codex Inquisitor and Batrep vs Daemons

Can it truly be? Has the Kev of Immense Size managed to prise his filthy paws from writing up business stuff and off the black smooth plastic of the Xbox 360 controller? Yes he bloody has! Things have been a little hectic lately, and when I've had free time its either been spent on the streets of Los Santos or attempting to get a life's dream off the ground and into full blown mode. Before I get into a battle report though, a few things first! 

A Better World opened up in Merthyr Tydfil (althought better known locally as Mordor Tydfil) in the last couple of weeks and is an amazing little gaming/comic book shop. Paul, the guy behind it all is also hoping to come to club soon to get into gaming, and we're only too happy to help. If you're in South Wales go visit!

This is also coming out in a little over a week, but why am I bothered about it? Well, conversion possibilities for a start! We've all seen in Blanchitsu the focus on Inquisitor style warbands (which I still think is some sort of marketing strategy for a possible Inquisitor boxed game) and I'm incredibly tempted to get this to be able to add Inquisitors and hopefully assassins into my Krohmus Guard.

So onto the MAIN EVENT OF THE EVENING!!! 

In the red, blue, purple, black and white corner is the KROHMUS GUARD! In the... well, very odd entity of warp thats all over the shop, the EVIL DAEMONS OF ALUN THE ELF-RUFFIAN!!! Bit of a big game too, as we're both using 3000 points, yes, THREE THOUSAND! points playing the Big Guns Never Tire on a Vanguard deployment.

Alun won the dice roll and wanted me to set up and go first. I didn't have much terrain, so using the Techmarine with the thunderfire cannon I boosted the only ruins in my deployment zone and formed a strong firebase there with Devs, TF Cannon, Tactical Squad and the Scorpius Relic Whirlwind (proxying the normal WW as one, wanted to try it out) among these simple ruins. The Bikes set up on the dz edge, and the Vindicator covered my left flank.

Alun responded with plaguebearers on his objective, blood letter units in the centre, bloodthirster and juggernauts on my left flank. On my right flank behind a building was a Keeper of Secrets and a Daemon Prince. Finally Alun placed a soulgrinder in the middle. Ouch! Nightfighting for first turn!

Looking to get First Blood I bring a DP down and shred a bunch of bloodletters, but its not enough. Theres not a lot to happen due to nightfighting but I do take a hullpoint off the soulgrinder and stun it and also take a wound off the keeper of secrets. Finally the vindicator launchers a shell into the three juggernauts and kills two outright. Score! Aluns forces move up and he conjures some despicable spells upon himself, but thats about it for his first turn. Well, he does pretty much destroy my tactical squad with his Daemon Prince but thats to be expected! 

In my next turn I launch more fire into the Daemonnic lines. Daemon Prince loses a couple of wounds, the BloodThirster is taken down to just two wounds by the gravguns on the bikers who then charge in, lose two of their number but finish him off. The Vindicator kills several of a bloodletter unit, the whirlwind finishes off the Soulgrinder after I rolled four hits, two sixes to penetrate then blowing it up with Alun failing his Invulnerable save. That thing scared me so to see it die was awesome! My Chapter Master and Daemon Prince do battle, I forget orbital bombardment AGAIN but do kill the beast even though I lose two wounds. Aluns reinforcements begin to appear, materialising all over to support his army. 

The Lord of Change appears, and starts using its trickery. Luckily it cannot move and will be targeted next turn! Bloodletters spill into my second tactical squad in drop pod on the left flank, and I have 4 left. I do manage to whittle them down though so I may have a change. The last juggernaut exacts revenge against the vindicator by wrecking it and some daemonettes run onto the objective in the central position after appearing nearby. My response, as so often is, SHOOOOOOOOOT!!!!!

My biker captain charges into the last couple of bloodletters and instead of using the power axe I use his base initiative attacks to try and kill them... and he does! Last three members are saved. The other bikes spin around to kill th last juggernaut, and do so, the grav gun taking its toll on the red beast. Daemonettes and Terminators clash, with the daughters of Slaanesh gaining the upper hand. My Chapter Master wanders into the combat that now includes a keeper of secrets but is mortally wounded. The last termie breaks from combat and runs back 10". The Keeper of Secrets then attracts not handsome egotistical men or beautiful women, but bullets and laser beams. He soons slumps to the ground and disappears.

More Daemons appear but each is met with controlled bursts of assault cannon fire, frag missiles and bolter rounds as they're all cut down. Bikers move onto the central objevtive, giving me two while I'm able to finish off the plaguebearers thanks to the Thunderfire Cannon, two storm talons and the last three marines of the left flank drop pod unit. Theres another Daemon prince appearence who is brought down by two overwatching Krakmissiles, and the lone termie is able to deal with another lone daemonette in a slow combat. Horrors are dismantled by the Legion of the Damned, Whirlwind and tactical squad on my ruins and the battlefiel finally grows quiet. 

The Krohmus Guard have wiped the Daemons from the battlefield. I'd somehow tabled Alun! Score wise its about 10-2, which clearly deserves a fistpump! No doubt what won it for me was target choice, making sure I brought down what was most lethal like the juggernauts, bloodthirster and Keeper of Secrets key targets. The Keeper of Secrets took a beating too, starting with an extra wound and having FnP made it a machine! The Whirlwind performed awesomely well, D3+1 shots if not moving was devastating, especially ST8ap3 blasts! The Thunderfire caused a lot of damage, as did my faith in boltguns. It was nice to have my dice perform reasonably well too, Aluns wasn't bad but mine were just much better! I'm sure there were plenty more moments that had us both laughing but my memory is horrific lately.

At club Jase has got himself X-wing so I'm hoping to try that out soon, otherwise I'll see what new conquests the Krohmus Guard can claim for the Imperium!