Space Marine the review

What, you hadn't noticed this game was coming out?  You live in a cave with no internet access?

I've really enjoyed the Dawn of War series of games and even a few of the others like Fire Warrior and Squad Command so when I saw this one was being offered I couldn't resist.  A quick trip to Steam and a preorder had me playing the two demo levels and eagerly awaiting the full game to unlock.  Was I happy with it?  Just click below to find out.

And in case you don't like suspense, or have a weak heart, yes I liked it.  My painting table will sadly gather dust for a while.

Warmachine

I guess this was actually something I got started on last winter, but became a side project.  Something to paint and occasionally play with the kids.  Suddenly there is interest in it from the rest of the friends I game with.  My rag tag band will be joined by 4 more armies shortly, and I've picked up the pace on painting mine.

I've got Fletcher's army, about 35 points of Menoth.
Morgan's army, about 35 points of Khador
My army, about 20 points of mercenaries
Some Cygnar.  OK, a lot of Cygnar thanks to ebay and the FLGS consignment case.

They are going to be up against some more Cygnar, some pirate mercenaries, and two as yet undecided armies.

We've had a few games, so far I'm 2:2 on win loss, but most importantly this has been a big help to learning the rules.  I've won with Khador (against Cygnar), won with Menoth (against Khador) and lost twice with my mercenaries (against Cygnar both times).  Last nights second game was a lot of fun and pretty close.  I was busy destroying his army, and probably would have had him knocked out in one more turn as all he had left with three troops and a crippled jack.  He'd managed to injure my warcast earlier though with a lucky shot from his Defender warjack.  He pulled off a flank with his warcaster and managed to get a shot on mine.  Coupled with the earlier damage it was enough to drop him.

I think we'll be mixing in quite a bit more Warmachine in the future.  Now I have a better understanding of the rules I'd like to get my kids back playing it (rather than just playing with the minis) as well.

Airbrushing

OK, I'm new to the world of the airbrushing and still working on perfecting parts of my technique.  I've tried a few vehicles and the whole hairspray/salt thang.  I had a  bunch of Warmachine troops that I'd wanted to get started on having picked them up used and depainted them quite a while ago.  The family was off camping so when I got home from work I set up for an airbrushing session.  Got The Overlords (.co.uk) playing on my computer and off I went.  3 hours and 5 minutes later I had painted...
12 dreadnought weapons
1 heavy warjack
2 light warjacks
3 Khador Man-o-wars
6 Rangers
6 Arcane Tempest Gun Mages
6 Winterguard
18 Long gunners
3 Stormsmiths
1 Man-hunter
1 Warcaster
1 Widowmaker Marksman
13 bases
OK, none of those are finished, I can't do detail, but these are all primed, base coated and then a highlight coat.  42 troops, 6 jack size things, and 25 bits.  Not bad.
Oh yeah and halfway done on a Spitfire MkVb.
Pretty damn good for a bit over 3 hours.  Would have taken weeks otherwise.

Grey Knights vs Raven Guard at 1000 points.

Another fun game, quick too when you only play 1,000 points and elite armies.  Apologies for just one crappy photo. I Completely forgot until too late.

The Grey knights

Inquisitor with rad and psychotroke grenades.

Venerable Dreadnought with Assault Cannon and psybolt ammo.

6-man Purifier squad with 2 psycannons, 3 halberds, and a master-crafted daemon hammer.

5-man terminator squad with daemon hammer, halberds, psycannon, sword.

10-man Strike Squad with 2 psycannons, 3 halberds, justicar with master crafted falchions.

The Ravenguard.

Chaplain

10 Assault Marines, sgt with power fist and storm shield

10 Scouts loaded for close combat

10 more scouts loaded for close combat

5 more scouts loaded for close combat, riding in a Scout Landspeeder

An Ironclad dreadnought in a drop pod.

Game type was Seize ground with 5 objectives, deployment in the corners.  I won the roll off and elected to go second.

Grey Knights vs Bike Marines at 1000 points

Had time for a quick game today, despite arriving later.  I'd changed my Grey Knight list just to try some different units and was against Dave's Silver Skull bikers.  Only a couple of photos, we were trying to play quickly, and my grey knights aren't painted yet so not much to show off.

My army
Inquisitor with rad and psychotroke grenades.
Venerable Dreadnought with Assault Cannon and psybolt ammo.
6-man Purifier squad with 2 psycannons, 3 halberds, and a master-crafted daemon hammer.
5-man terminator squad with hammer, halberds, psycannon, sword.
10-man Strike Squad with 2 psycannons, 3 halberds, justicar with master crafted falchions.

His army.
Captain on bike with relic blade, digital weapons.
Command squad full of storm shields and lightning claws and power fists plus an apothecary
6-man bike squad with flamer and multimelta attack bike.
10-man bike squad with flamer, melta gun and multimelta attack bike.

Capture and Control, Dawn of War, I'm player 1.

GK turn 1.
The strike squad with the inquisitor set up in terrain next to one objective.  The terminators set up in terrain across the board from the other objective.  The dreadnought and purifiers come on and run straight for the center.

SS turn 1.
Everyone rolls on and head across the board.  Good rolls mean the terrain has barely any affect.  Only a bit of shooting in range but it is enough to put some wounds on the strike squad.  The inquisitor takes one for the team.

GK turn 2.
The dreadnought and purifiers move up.  There is only a limited amount of shooting in range from the termies and dreadnought and it does nothing.

SS turn 2.
They all roll forward and 2 squads open fire on the strike squad, killing a couple of knights.  The small bike squad open fire on the dreadnought but do nothing.

GK Turn 3.
The strike squad pumps a lot of fire into the big bike squad.  After some poor to hit rolls they kill just one bike.  Pretty weak for 24 dice rolled to hit.  The dread, terminators and purifiers drop shots onto the small bike squad killing three including the attack bike.

SS Turn 3.
The big bike squad and command squad are almost on the strike squad.  Bolter fire drops another couple of knights before the bikes engage.  The psychtroke grenades help keep the combat going my reducing the Steel Skulls to 1 attack each.  Doesn't matter too much as the strike squad do pretty badly and just kill 1 bike while being reduced to 2 guys and the inquisitor killed.  They hold.  The bike squad that got shot up pulls away to try and get some cover from the purifiers and dreadnought.

GK Turn 4.
The dreadnought opens fire on the remaining bikes on the small squad.  Between the assault cannon and storm bolter they are wiped out.  The terminators and purifiers look over at the objective, look at the fight going on and decide they'd rather be in the fight.  The close combat with the strike squad ends, predictably, with them being wiped without doing any more damage.  For a 10 man squad with HQ they really did very little.  Plus, the bikes are now sitting on my objective.

SS Turn 4.
The remaining bike squad, command squad, and captain are now all in the open.  Low rolls for movement out of terrain limits them and they decide to head towards the terminators, opening fire with bolt guns.  5 bolter wounds.  3 ones rolled for saves.  Yeah pretty shitty.  At least the command squad didn't do much shooting.  One of the downed terminators was Justicar Thawn.  The command squad then multi assaults the dreadnought and two remaining terminators.  The terminators and dreadnought get 7 power weapon hits, 3 of which only need a 2 to wound.  And, a lot more 1s later that turns into 1 wound with the captain saves.  The remaining terminators die but the dread survives. Not by best turn of rolling.

GK Turn 5.
Thawn gets up, really annoyed now.  He dives back into combat with the command squad and puts a wound on the captain before being knocked down again.  The purifiers move up and shoot at the big bike squad, but get nothing.

SS Turn 5.
The command squad and captain attack the dreadnought.  The captain does nothing, but the power fist manages to immobilize and stun it.  At this stage immobilize is acceptable so I don't ask for a venerable re-roll.  The big bike squad take shots at the purifiers and one falls to their fire.


GK Turn 6.
Thawn gets up, tis but a flesh wound.  He decides he's a bit low on ammo and runs off towards the objective, making it there with a decent difficult terrain roll.  The purifiers move up to assault the captain and command squad.  They put a wound on the captain and reduce the command squad to one bike.  The dreadnought misses but is tagged by the power fist that fortunately just stuns again.

SS Turn 6.
The Captain manages to kill one more Purifier while the power fist guy and the dreadnought just wave at each other.  The bike squad hit Thawn with bolter fire although he is hidden from some of the squad.  They manage to get a few wounds on him and up comes another 1.

GK Turn 7.
Thawn doesn't come back so I've lost that objective and the game.  The purifiers finally bring down the captain and reduce the command squad to one guy with his faithful storm shield (he probably made 7 or 8 saves by Daves estimation.).  The dread misses.

SS Turn 7.
The big bike squad stays where it is on the objective.  The last command squad guy is finally flattened by the purifiers.  All that is left on the table is his 1 bike squad, almost at full strength with 7 guys left, and my dreadnought and purifiers.

So in all, fun game.  I don't think I really screwed anything up but made one possibly poor choice, I should have held either the terminators or strike squad back and deep striked them on to the other objective.  Instead I'd held everyone together to try and bring a lot of fire power to the middle of the board.  Dave countered by bringing everyone in further down so he could pound the strike squad without too much return fire to start with.  I'd never played against bikes before.  Toughness 5, fast movement, and relentless twin linked bolters mean they can put out a lot of hurt.  Turn 4 was what really hurt me.  Failing 3 of 5 2+ saves and then watching as my assault failed badly was a big swing for just two sets of rolling right near each other.  Otherwise it would have been closer as I'd have had a few terminators left to bring the fight to the attack bikes and at least contest the objective.

MWC Posts - Grey Knight Minis

I've written a few articles on the Grey Knight minis as I succumbed to newcodexitis and decided to build a GK force.  Well that and as I have an IG army and with the Knights being elite and therefore low in numbers it would be easy to do.

We have the following posts available for your reading pleasure.

A cheap and easy Rifleman dreadnought conversion.
http://miniaturewargameconversions.blogspot.com/2011/04/rogue-trader-rifleman-dreadnought.html

First impressions on the new Grey Knight sets.
http://miniaturewargameconversions.blogspot.com/2011/04/rogue-trader-grey-knight-models-first.html

How to cheaply bulk out your Grey Knight forces with the combat squad set.
http://miniaturewargameconversions.blogspot.com/2011/04/rogue-trader-cheap-knights.html

Miniature Wargame Conversions - Posts update

First MWC Post

I wanted to start cross linking my MWC posts to this blog so it keeps busy.  Here's my first post back in April.

Grey Knights - Second battle

Had another game with the knights.  Another 1,000 pointer and I played the same list as I didn't have time to change anything and add in the new models I picked up.

Playing against blood angels with a reclusiarch and 2 sanguinary priests supporting 3 10-man assault squads.

Capture and control, pitched battle, I had turn 1.  Turn 1 didn't make much difference as Justin plays this as a full reserve army.

So, turn 1, Grey Knights hang out, exchange stories.

Turn 1 Blood Angels, descending I guess.

Turn 2, Grey Knights throw out some warp quake, mill around a bit.

Turn 2 Blood Angels, still descending.

Turn 3 Grey Knights.  Warp Quake, and OMGWTFBBQ, where are the bad guys?

Turn 3 Blood Angels.  Thud, all three squads land.  A good distance away because of the warp quake.  All come in safe and run forward.  Fortunately, being a bit late means they were in too much of a hurry to get their nerd rage ability going.

Turn 4 Grey Knights.  Realized I was forgetting to roll for the Paladin, at least he arrives but too late to be an extra hazard for the opponent.  OK Cool, lots of targets, open fire.  The rifle dread with its 2 twin linked, Strength 8 autocannons of doom, and a total of 2 Psycannons and 13 storm bolters are all in range, 34 shots.  And they kill one dude.  Sensibly, they all back up a bit.

Turn 4 Blood Angels.  All the squads jump forwards.  The first squad open fire with bolt pistols on the interceptors near them and kill one guy.  I take out the one closest to them.  Now they are out of assault range.  The other squads watch this and leave off the shooting.

Turn 5 Grey Knights.  OK lads, lets stop them getting the assault.  All the weapons open fire.  This time an incinerator, 3 psycannons (1 as heavy, 2 as assault), 17 storm bolters, 1 heavy incinerator, the rifle dread, and a bolt pistol.  Forty seven shots plus a total of 7 more hits from the 2 incinerators.  I killed 3 guys.  What the hell.  But anyway, we are in assault range, pile in guys.  Five Interceptors with one halberd on the justicar against 10 blood angels with Sanguinary Priest.  We win 3 kills to 2 but they hold.  Five strike squad with swords and the Inquisitor against 10 man assault squad with Reclusiarch.  Didn't realize the IC had to be in base to base to count.  OK, rule learned, now will I remember.  Killed 1 each, combat tied.  Five Interceptors with halberds against 10 blood angels with Sanguinary Priest.  We win 3 kills to 2 but they also hold.

Oh, and the Paladin is now over hanging out by their objective.  And, I completely forgot hammer hand.  Will I remember next turn?  It would have got me a few more wounds as well.

Turn 5 Blood Angels.  Nothing but assaults.  Knights lose a guy on the left but hold.  Knight lose all but the Inquisitor and justicar in the middle but hold.  Knights lose a couple of guys on the right but hold.

At this stage I'm winning one held, one contested.  But, turn 6 does arrive.

Turn 6 Grey knights.  The dreadnought doesn't have much to do so just positions for a better shot later.  If I was paying any attention I would have realized he had nothing that could hurt in and would have had it tar pit a unit.  Bad move on my part.  I'm also lax on moving my dreadknight and move it forward so it can assault.  I only move it a few inches as its more than close enough.  The Paladin moves back towards the fight so he'll have something possibly to do.  Assault phase, here comes the dreadknight to help out the interceptors.  Except I had stupidly miss judged, should have moved the full 6", now he can't reach assault.  The interceptors on the left get wiped but take all but the priest with them.  The strike squad in the middle is down to just the inquisitor who holds, the interceptors on the right get wiped but take another couple of guys with them.

And yeah, forgot hammer hand again.  Idiot.

Turn 6 Blood Angels.  The sanguinary priest joins up with the reclusiarch and 3 others to kill the inquisitor.  The assault squad on the right try and jump past the dreadknight to get to the objective.  The strike squad defending it is about 4 inches away and in difficult terrain and they come up short.

I'm still winning one held, one contested.  But, turn 7 also arrives.

Turn 7 Grey Knights.  The Rifle Dread, paladin, dreadknight, and last strike squad all have  clear shots.  So we have the two TL autocannons, 5 stormbolters, and a psycannon in heavy for 18 shots, and a heavy incinerator tagging 5 guys.  I kill 2 with storm bolters and 1 with the incinerator.

Again, I should have been moving the dread in to fight, I also should have moved the strike squad off to assault.  Bad planning.  The dreadknight assaults, only manages to kill 1 and takes a wound.

Turn 7 Blood Angels.  The dreadknight and assault squad carry on fighting.  It kills 1 and takes a wound.  The other remaining squad jump in to assault getting a good enough roll to make it into difficult terrain.  With the initiative bonuses of their furious charge and some really good rolling, the strike squad are wiped out by just the power weapons on the priest and reclusiarch.  Which means at the very end of the game he has one objective and I have none.

So, why did I lose.  Aside from really crap shooting.  I should have made better use of the dreadnought and brought it out to fight.  I should have remembered hammerhand.  I shouldn't have been so relaxed on movement.  And, I should have taken control on the last turn and pulled my knights off to assault, giving me a much more even fight.

Hmm, lets go back and add up the amount of shooting.  12 S8 AP4 shots, 20 S7 AP4 shots, 70 S4 AP5 shots and S6 flamer shots tagging 12 guys.  And I managed to kill I think 7 guys by shooting.  I wonder what mathhammer says I should have got.  Two squads had feel no pain, but the S8 shots punch through that.  Heavy shots, should have had 25 hits, 21 wounds, 7 failed saves with another 1 saved by feel no pain.  The storm bolters should give 46 hits, 23 wounds, 8 failed saves and another 3 saved by feel no pain.  The incinerators should have generated 10 wounds, 5 failed saves, another 2 saved by feel no pain.  So averages say I get 13 when I only in fact got 7.  In a small game that's enough difference to mean the special characters survived when they otherwise may have died and made things a little easier near the end.  When even averages say only 1 in 10 shots is going to kill it lets you know how tough these guys are.

Dreadknight close combat dosen't look good either.  It killed 2 guys.  7 attacks should have given me 4.  Guess I need to roll my dice a bunch more, they have a few bad roles to get rid of. 

And, all that being said, it was still a fun game against a great opponent.  Plus my kids were running around and they enjoyed watching all the multitude of games going on.  Also a big thank you to Justin who let one of my kids raid his bits box.  Now I owe him.  :)

1000 Point Grey Knight List

As its the army I'm working on and did well in its first outing I thought I'd share the list and the thoughts behind it.  One key limit though, I really don't own much Grey Knight stuff.  I'll mention after the list the other options I currently have.

HQ - Ordo Malleus Inquisitor, Daemon Hammer, Artificer Armor, 3 skull probes - 64 Points
Elite - Paladin - just basic, no upgrades - 55 points
Troops - Strike Squad - 5 Man - Justicar with Daemon Hammer, Knight with Psycannon - 120 points
Strike Squad - 5 Man - Justicar, Knight with Psycannon - 110 points
Fast - Interceptor Squad - 5 Man - Justicar with halberd.  Knight with Incinertor and 3 Knights with pairs of falchions - 185 points
Interceptor Squad - 5 Man - Justicar, Psycannon, 4 halberds - 160 points
Heavy - Dreadknight - With Heavy Incinerator and Nemesis Daemon Hammer - 170 points
Dreadnought - 2x TL autocannon with psybolt ammo - 135 points

22 Troops, 1 vehicle, 1 badass.


With only 1000 points and expensive troops I had to save where I could.  A cheap HQ seemed like a good start, and would tag along with the second strike squad, thereby providing them a hammer.  The Paladin was destined to deep strike.  The plan for him was to arrive in enemy lines and give them something to think about, or if that was not needed, just drop near a skull probe where he'd be nice and safe.  The strike squads would depend on the mission, but likely something I'd need to be careful with if objectives were an issue.  Consequently these were balanced by the interceptors who were going to be the first attack wave.  The dreadknight is there as an effective "hey everyone, shoot at me not the soft guys" as well as a way of causing panic if he hits the enemy lines.  The heavy inferno cannon was great, it really did some good damage.  And lastly, the dreadnought was the firepower.  Risky having just one, as if he dropped it would leave me with just 3 psycannons to deal with vehicles.  With fortitude though, it was hard to drop him.

A scarily small force when you put it next to the millions of bodies and tanks that are IG.  It did its job well though.  As options I could have also run the OM IQ as Coteaz and replaced the strike squads with chimeras full of acolytes with various guns.  I could also have replaced the paladin with a foot acolyte squad to leave parked on a home objective or sit in cover.  The Dreadknight also has all its weapon options.  I like the incinerator (burninator) but will try the psycannon, and even probably the gatling psilencer, to see who they run.  I'd also like the sword, but it was too much for a 1000 point list.

Oh yeah, and we played Falchions as giving +1 attacks.  Really, anyone who reads the Falchion description in the codex and takes that to mean they give +2 attacks is a real WAAC arsehole who will probably sell their Grey Knights once the FAQ comes out.

Grey Knights - First battle

Had a fun evening at the FLGS with a 1000 point battle against IG.  I had my kids around and so with keeping an eye on them I completely forgot to take any photos.  Please imaging that my Grey Knights all have awesome paint jobs as I have even touched most of them yet.  :)  Apologies for the included photo, really crap but at least it shows what I used.

My force
Ordo Malleus Inquisitor, Daemon Hammer, Artificer Armor, 3 skull probes
Paladin - just basic, no upgrades
Strike Squad - 5 Man - Justicar with Daemon Hammer, Knight with Psycannon
Strike Squad - 5 Man - Justicar, Knight with Psycannon
Interceptor Squad - 5 Man - Justicar with halberd.  Incinertor and 3 pairs of falchions
Interceptor Squad - 5 Man - Justicar, Psycannon, 4 halberds
Dreadknight - With Heavy Incinerator and Nemesis Daemon Hammer
Dreadnought - 2x TL autocannon with psybolt ammo

His Force
Command squad with lascannon, plasma gun
2x Platoon Command with lascannon, melta gun
6x Infantry with auto cannons and meltas or lascannons
3x sentinals with lascannons
2x Leman Russ - basic

He took player 1, it was capture and control, pitched battle.  The objectives ended up in opposite corners, both behind cover.  He set up both russes in the middle, one troop squad (PCS and 2IS) either side with the CCS on his objective.  Sentinels were kept in reserve. I set up a strike and interceptor squad at either end, dreadnought near my objective, dreadknight in the middle as that gave it the only bit of cover big enough to protect it from the Russes.  I failed to steal the initiative.

Oh, and this was a rusty player (IG) vs. a very rusty player with a new army (GK) so plenty of mistakes were made.

IG Turn 1
Not much for the IG to see without moving.  Russ one moved forward and fired at a strike squad, killing one. Russ two went towards the opposite end and tagged an interceptor squad, killing three.  A few autocannons opened up killing another of the interceptors and denting paint on the dreadknight.  When you only have 22 guys, loosing 5 in turn one didn't feel good.

GK Turn 1
The lonely interceptor heads for the board edge, but too far to reach it so he'll be back.  The dreadknight starts to run forward but is too far away to do much of anything as he'd started with some big cover between him the the paid of Russes.  The strike squad near my objective move forward and open fire on a guard infantry squad.  Only one in range though and he doesn't do anything.  At the other end, the strike squad shunt forward and land right in front of the IG command squad.  They open fire, all guns blazing, and just kill to guys.  Pretty pathetic really. The strike squad on that side tries to move through difficult terrain.  1 for movement, 1 for running.  Yay.  The dreadnought though starts to earn its points.  It shuffles forwards and puts shots into the side armor of one of the Russes.  Boom, wrecked.  Turn 1 was nasty for both sides.

IG turn 2
The first sentinel shows up, lined up across from the dreadnought.  One guard squad moves around to support the command squad but everyone else stays stationary.  Lots of heavy weapons fire but all it does is kill one strike squad dude, shake the dreadnought (a glance from the russ) and scratch a bit more paint on the dreadknight.  The command squad open fire on the interceptors and kill 2.  The infantry behind them join in the fight and kill 2 more.

GK Turn 2
The dreadknight continues to run forward, still out of range, but safer with one russ down.  The paladin deep strikes in but mishaps.  He ends up in the far back corner, too far to be any use at all.
The strike squad in the open move forward far enough to put a lot of shots into an infantry squad and kill 4.  The dreadnought passes its psychic test so is back in the game.  It shoots at the other Russ, but now is hitting front armor.  It gets lucky and glances, the Russ won't be shooting next turn.  The other strike squad stuck on the hill continue to run forward.  1 for movement, 2 for running.  Damn.  The lone interceptor down one end gets it together, un slings his incinerator and hits shunt to drop in front of an infantry squad.  Five guardsmen go up in flames.  The lone interceptor at the other end shots at the command squad leaving just the commander standing who he then runs in and beats down with the back end of his psycannon.

IG turn 3
Another Sentinel arrives and parks next to the first.  I had skull probes around my objective to stop him dropping there.  The Russ moves for better positioning, but that is about it.  Lots of lascannon and autocannon fire.  The dreadknight eats plenty without taking a wound and the dreadnought is shaken again.  The lone interceptor that burnt some guardsmen gets drowned in a hail of fire.  The lone interceptor that beat down the command squad manages somehow to survive.

GK Turn 3
The lone interceptor runs towards the infantry squad that killed his team mates.  He drops one on the way in, and then another two in close combat.  The infantry squad fail to hurt him so he cuts them down as they try and run.  The dreadknight is finally in range for its heavy incinerator.  It lets fly, burning half a squad of infantry men.  The strike squad defending their objective have moved far enough out that they can engage the sentinels.  A stream of psycannon and stormbolter shots blow off the lascannon and immobilize it, effectively out the game.  The dreadnought backs up away from the fire of the Russ and turns its canons on the other sentinel, easily destroying it.  And finally, the guys stuck on the hill roll a 6 and make it clear.  Only just though and too far away to hit anything.

IG turn 4
The last sentinel arrives, at the other end this time to try and contest their objective.  The Russ shoots at the strike squad moving that way and kills one.  The other infantry squad near the IG objective opens fire on the last interceptor and kills him.  Autocannon fire also kills one of the strike squad at the other end.  More shooting thuds into the dreadknight which happily makes its save.

GK turn 4
The knights want both objective so one strike squad backs off to their home objective while the other moves then runs towards the IG objective.  The Malleus inquisitor hits the power button on his daemon hammer and moves towards the sentinel.  The dreadnaught pulls forwards and opens up on the front armor of the Russ, no effect.  The Dreadknight turns on the burninator, reduces a squad to one guy and then squashes him with his daemon hammer.

IG Turn 5
The Russ pops a shot at the defending strike squad before they disappear from view.  A direct hit, reducing them to one guy.  One of the lascannons can see the paladin who has been moving forward in a vague attempt to be relevant.  Dead Paladin from some lascannon instant death.  The rest of the table concentrate fire on the dreadknight which is now in the guard lines.  It makes all the saves it needs to.

GK Turn 5
The lone defending strike squad member hangs out back at the GK objective, probably reading Grey Knight books to keep himself calm.  The 3 survivors of the other strike squad make it to the enemy objective and exchange high fives.  The inquisitor creeps up behind the sentinel and taps it on the shoulder.  With a daemon hammer.  The sentinel misses its attack and then turns into a large explosion which fails to hurt anything.  The dreadknight burninates another squad just killing two.  He steps in for a bit of hammer time and finishes the job that way.  The dreadnaught again tags the Russ and again does nothing but annoy them.

IG turn 6
The Russ shoots at the Dreadnought, pinning hit but again just shakes it.  Everyone else opens up again on the dreadknight which again withers the shots.  By this stage though, there aren't many shots coming in.

GK Turn 6
Another psychic test for the dreadnought and it shakes of the shaken result.  It again guns for the Russ, this time scoring two glances.  Immobilized and shaken.  The dreadknight gets another burninate in but only adds two to the barbecue and is too far to assault anything.

And that is the end of the game, The knights win, 2-0.

Thoughts
Seth had some bad rolling, lots of misses but it is guard so you expect that.  I had some good rolling, particularly with the Dreadknight who didn't ever take damage.  The dreadknight excelled, the psy-dakkadread did great and in general the ability of the knights to move and fire to almost full effect really showed off.  Loosing the interceptor squads early felt bad, but better the shooting went there than into other things.  Makes me think minimum points interceptors as a sacrificial first wave may be a good idea.  Pity I didn't get to play with the paladin, I was looking forward to seeing what he could do if he reached close combat.

Screw ups wise, we forgot orders which could have helped kill my offensive interceptors earlier and maybe helped put some wounds on the dreadknight.  We also forgot to ID the heavy weapons team as the burninator is strength 6, and lastly I forgot hammerhand the times I made it into combat.  Thing is, not sure I even needed it.  Seems like against a mostly foot guard the knights have a fairly easy day.

Miniature Wargame Conversions

Welcome anyone from MWC who decided to head over here and see some more of my work.  I've been enjoying MWC for a while so I'm looking forward to contributing.

Grey Knights First Arrivals

Of course with the Grey Knights being an elite codex this is probably 2,000 points worth.  An old, early mark of terminator armor.  Storm bolter and power fist.  Hope it fits, cool model.  A GK librarian with force sword, a GK terminator with psycannon and force sword, 3 skull servitors, and 10 acolytes.  And the acolytes have Oni masks to scare off daemons.  Appropriate huh.

Them Orks will loot anything

Last Monday there was a bounty of bitz in the bitz bins at the FLGS.  As well as a bunch of gratefully purchased IG legs there was this little termagant (termagaunt?).  Well I don't have a tyranid army, but my youngest son has a looty Ork army.  So here we have it, probably to use as a 'counts as' nob due to the size of it.  The Looted Termagant.  May have to actually buy some more and make a whole squad.

Space Marines vs Orks 1500

My second game while I learn the rules, against the very patient and helpful Dave.  This time I borrowed the Ultramarines that are 30/70 mine and my eldest sons.

My force
Captain (relic blade, artificer armor, iron halo)
Command Squad (Company Champion, Apoth, two lightning claws and a powers sword)
Together, riding in a Land Raider Crusader with melta gun.

Tactical Marines with flamer and lascannon.  Half the squad riding in a TL Heavy Bolter/Storm bolter Razorback.
Scouts, 5 snipers, 1 heavy bolter and Sgt Telion

Dreadnought with Multimelta
Sternguard (meltagun, power sword, couple of combi weapons) Riding in a TL Lascannon/Stormbolter Razoback.

Landspeeder Typhoon with multimelta.

His Force

Battlewagon with a big mech and an ass load of nobs and a pain boy.
Trukk o' boys and a power claw nob
Trukk with war boss and other stuff
20 boyz
3 deff copters (separate units)
15 Lootas
Getchin Lobba

Game type was Annihilation, set up was spearhead and I was first player.

I chose a corner with some big terrain in it that would give my marines a great field of fine.  Then realized most was too close to the table center.  Raider was set to come charging round the left side, razorbacks and dread around the right.  The land speeder held back to see what happened and the las cannon squad sat on a hill.

His forces arrived as a big cluster in the middle.  Supported by lootas and the lobba behind and the copters coming up the long edge.

My scouts arrived on a couple of hill tops ready to sit in cover and start popping stuff.  His Copters skimmed forward towards the snipers and dreadnought.

And then he stole the initiative.  Bummer.

Orks 1 - Trukks and wagon move forward, one copter shoots the DCCW off the dread and then charges it.  Two copters charge the snipers, killing all but one.  Fire from the Lootas and Lobba does nothing.

Marines 1 - The Raider decides to man up and speeds out towards the Battle wagon, guns blazing.  And missing.  Nothing but a few dents as the now worried command squad climb out.  But the battle wagon heading towards the Raider gave side armor to the razorbacks.  As they pull forward the TL lascannon lights up the battle wagon which explodes in a pile of orky parts.  The Land speeder kills a copter, the various marines and TL Heavy bolter razorback start whittling down the boys squad.  The command squad run to assault the Orc nobs.  Unfortunately the tide of luck has turned against the marines and the command squad gets wiped out after killing one nob and just putting wounds on a couple of others.  The Captain is the only one left standing.  In a nice example of know you codex (like I said, I'm learning) and remember to bring you codex, I screwed up with on deployment.  Well kind of, Dave messed up on one rule but seeing as everything was from his memory it is no big deal.  I had Telion and the scout heavy bolter off to the side to pop trukks.  Except Dave thought Hellfire rounds was all it could fire, and those were no use against trukks.  So unfortunately all these guys did was slow down one of the trukks.

Orks 2 - A trukk roars forward towards the raider, its load of boyz pour forth and the nob smacks his power fist into the tank.  Nothing.  The mass of nobs in the center manage to kill the captain.  He'd done really well on saves, but then fails one against an instant death weapon.  The copter fighting the Dread tried to break off but can't.  The dread also can't hit worth a damn.  In 5 turns of fighting he hits once, and that is saved.  The other copter misses the TL Las razorback with rockets but manages to hit it in assault and turns it into a crater.  Five of the six sternguard climb out.  Lootas open fire on the land speeder and get a ton of penetrates. The lobba does nothing.

Marines Turn 2 - The Ork command squad did any Orky victory dance, completely missing the Land raider baking up a bit for a clear shot.  The Raider opens fire and the Mech, nobs, pain boy are reduced to two.  The sternguard put a wound on the copter but leave it to the lascannon to finish the job.  The other copter and dread carry on hugging or whatever they were doing.  The rest of the marines and the other razor back carry on pinging fire off the boyz and a couple more drop.

Orks Turn 3 - The boyz over near the land raider have another go at it with the same result.  But the more inspiring command squad nobs that survived earn their keep by immediately destroying it.  Things aren't looking too good for the marines.  The lootas kill another marine off and even the Lobba manages to kill a Sternguard.  Telion is down to just one man with him after more fire from the trukk heading his way.  The copter and dread continue hugging.

marines turn 3 - First good news is the one remaining sniper scout is clear and can get back in the game.  He runs back to get in a better position for later.  Telion continues to be useless as his squad does nothing.  The marines and sternguard put some more hurt on the boyz now getting dangerously close but still just about in cover.  The copter and dread thing drags on.  Get a room or something.

Orks Turn 4 - Telion finally bites it and the trukk heads off to join the rest.  The boyz by the dead Raider jump back in their truck and get ready to join a new fight.  The two remaining nobs climb the hill to shortcut getting back into action.  The copter finally destroys the dread.  Its victory is short lived.  The Lootas kill another marine, the lobba hits but no kills, while the boig boyz mob carries on forward but now mostly out of cover.

Marines turn 4 - Seeing the nobs moving, a few of the marines move back for a clear shot.  First the las cannon and remaining marine on the hill shoot.  And miss.  Then a few bolters open up, killing one and wounding the other.  Finally the sniper scout, all alone at the base of a towering cliff, takes his shot.  The last nob is dead.  The razorback opens fire on the boyz out in the open.  Not a good time to be an Ork.  The Sternguard turn their meltagun on the Copter and slag it.

Orks turn 5 - The Boyz let out a cry of waagh and make it into combat, just about reaching the 4 remaining sterngaurd.  The Lootas ping off another marine leaving a single guy on the hill the Lobba again does nothing, and two trukks of boyz zip across the battlefield.  The boyz and the sternguard fight does not go well for the boyz.  The sternguard out wound them, they fail to escape and are destroyed.

marines turn 5 - Not a lot to do, the scout, marines, and razorback don't have range to anything, the lootas being too far away and everything else being on the wrong side of obstructions.  The only hope for a final bit of glory is the one remaining sternguard with a meltagun.  He dives across a crater to take a shot at the first trukk.  The crater slowed him down too much however, and he's just out of range.  Everyone else backs up and finds better positions to receive the orks and avoid the lootas.

We roll the dice, a 1, end of game.

Ork losses - Big Mech, Wagon, Nob squad, Boz Squad, 3 deff copters
Marine losses - Captain, Command squad, Raider, Razorback, Dreadnough, Scout squad

I had one man left in three squads, would have taken bad losses in turn 6 and would have been tabled if there was a turn 7.  So a victory for the marines, but a hollow one.  And a big thanks to Dave who I'm learning lots from, even if I will need to correct him on the scout heavy bolter thing.

Lessons learned.

If I'd known the rules better, Telions squad would have had three rounds of BS6 heavy bolter fire into the trucks.  Bad dice rolls can see a good command squad eaten by nobs, and Sternguard are awesome.

Holy pinning batman

One of my kids got some Warmachine Protectorate of Menoth stuff for his birthday.  A paladin of the wall.  Three pieces, no problem, just put the cloak on after it is painted.  The Avatar of Menoth.  Eighteen pieces including some that look like they will be really annoying with thin attachment areas.  Damn, that is going to take a while.   A box of Exemplar Errants.  Six of them but each appears to be at least 4 pieces, maybe 5 as I only had a quick look. now I've had a good look is many pieces for a total of 44 bits of metal to pin and glue.

I see lots of drilling, staples and superglue in my future.  As much as I like metal stuff for the weight, this would be so much easier if these were plastic.

UPDATE:
OK, couple of days later and the arms are all pinned and attached.  I'm starting on the shoulder pads but they are even more fiddly.  Limited contact areas so super glue would not hold well.  If I pinned it I'd be drilling right through the pin that attaches the arm to the body so that is no good.  I tried gorilla glue and it went OK on the first guy.  Second one I made a mess on though.  With gorilla glue you need pressure on the joint while it hardens, and it hardens slowly.  Which means rubber bands around things and trying to get them in just the right place.  First guy I did two at once.  Second guy I tried that, but after making a whole mess of everything I'll leave it to one at a time from now on.  This will be slow.

Army Transport Miniature Case Review

I've previously kept most of my minis in bits boxes.  When they are plastic it seems OK.  If they are tough enough to be played with they should be tough enough to be transported next to a few more of their kin.

And then we got into Warmachine where the minis are predominantly metal, heavy, and often multi piece.  Time for a new solution, and the $60 Army Transport case seemed like a good deal vs $130 for the Battle Foam equivalent.  Overall I think it was worth the $60 as any padded case seems to run fairly pricey.  Here's my thoughts on it.

Materials are kind of second class.  Not bad, but not top notch.  Looks OK at the moment but feels like it could wear out easily.  I hope to be proven wrong.
The front pockets are pretty tight.  Room for a thin manual, some cards, a few dice.  Anything thicker though, like the ever present Chessex blocks of 36 dice, there is no way to store in here.
The zipper only runs around the top which limits access.  You want something out that bottom tray?  You are going to be removing every other tray to get to it.
The trays that come standard with the 'full' version are 6x 1 inch trays and 2x 2.5 inch trays.  1 inch is about 25mm.  Warmachine small bases are 30mm.  Yeah, problem there if you are buying this for Warmachine.  You can buy an empty bag and get 1.5" and 2.5" trays separately.  Thing is it costs more that way, now you are looking at close to $80.

Tray dimensions are 7.5" by 12.5".  In pull out squares that's 13x24.  You can shuffle them around a bit, but unless you have lots of really bulky guys that is about 18 small minis per layer.  As a guide, a regular marine will fit in a 3x3, Devastator or Sergeant, 3x4, Standard Bearer 3x5 or 3x6.
If you spring for one of the 3 or 4 inch foam layers (and the bag will hold 11 vertical inches of foam) you can get most vehicles in.  A layer will fit 3 transports (trukks, chimeras, razorbacks) or 1 large vehicle (land raider, battle wagon) and a transport.  It'll only really fit two Russes as they are kind of chunky.  The biggest stuff though, like a Valkyrie will not fit in this.  Well not unless you break off the wings and front antenna.

So am I happy with the bag?  Yeah, I guess.  Kind of wishing I'd sunk the extra into one of the dedicated Battle Foam bags though.  Yeah, twice the price, but bigger, better built (it seems, no first hand experience) and just better designed.  Plus, the Warmachine version has trays designed to fit Warmachine minis, rather than the too thin standard Army Transporter trays, and a big ol' Warmachine logo on the front.  While the Army Transporter does its job, it feels too much like a cooler bag someone shoved foam trays into.

Just a test

I wanted to see how the mobile email part worked.  That way I can annoy people by posting during a game.

To keep the gaming theme going though here are a couple of shots of the kids having fun painting their own minis.

Dawn of a new blog

As regular listeners will notice, things are a little different here. A new domain name, http://www.bladefall.com/ for one.  And a new look for the same basic layout which I hope you like.  A few things to fix, like why did my favorites disappear?  more later.

Grey Knights

Apparently they will kick much ass when the new codex comes out.  The 'Say ni' ability for one is great.

So anyway, I had a few Grey Knight minis and wanted to use them as painting experiments.  For this latest one I got my wet palette wet for the first time.  It worked, the paint I was blending for shading (adeptus battle grey to codex grey) did stay wet.  It also soaks in a fair bit so you need lots of paint.  Plus, dropper bottles would be good, I use GW pots so transferring to the palette makes a mess.  I wanted to at least make a vague stab at the NMM method of painting.  It came out OK, looks good, although not metallic.  More like just realistically shaded grey.  I took time to figure out where light would be falling and got it right for the most part.  I also took some time on the lettering panels, basing them in Chardon Granite with a dry brush of gold across them before I started the rest of the mini.  Pity because you really can't tell.  Oh yeah, and Secret Weapon ruined temple base.  Seemed appropriate.

I've got a GK termie with psycannon, one with force sword, and another standard, but heresy era, termie that is painted grey.  Add those to a death cult assassin and a load of IG stormtroopers that can be Warrior Acolytes.  Do I have an army yet?  :)

Warmachine - wave one finished

I've finally finished the first set of Warmachine minis we picked up at christmas.  This is the Khador and Menoth battle boxes, a few mercenary solos, and then some Cygnar stuff and a couple of units rescued from the consignment case at the FLGS. 

From Cygnar with have my "best ever consignment case purchase™"  These three were $20, unassembled and all crammed into one box.  Caine, a Stormclad and a Defender for a 13 point start.  Happy with how they came out, although I need to redo the eyes on the war caster.  I suck at eyes.

From Menoth we have the 11 point start of Fletcher's army, a basic Menoth battle box.  Again, fairly happy with how they came out.  Only issue is a like a dirty, battle worn kind of look.  On the white though its killed detail some.  I may go back and try and tidy these up a little.

From Khador we have the17 point start of Morgan's army, a basic Khador battle box with a unit of Doom Reavers.  These all came together well, I'm happy with how the came out.

And lastly, assorted mercenaries.  Greygore Boomhowler and Co, Taryn Di La Rovissi, Rutger Shaw and  Dannon Blyth and Bull.  The Greygore lot were the other consignment case find.  The rest were picked up just because they were cool minis.  They'll be useful to balance points out though when we start playing and learning the rules as there are 14 points worth here in 4 selections.

We've got a few more coming.  I've got Reinholdt and the other half of some Khador Mekanics sitting on the painting table (first half are done).  Then the kids are getting a couple of the cheapo minis for valentines day, and Fletcher is getting a bunch of Menoth stuff for his birthday.  I'll say one thing for Warmachine, seems like getting a good, playable army together is far quicker and cheaper than 40K.  Obviously its a smaller scale game, but with a lower entry cost building a nice custom army or two is no big deal.

Imperial Guard vs Necron at 1250 points.

Had my first game in something like 18 years.  It was a lot of fun despite barely hanging in to the end of the 7th and loosing one objective to none.
I was playing guard, we were at 1250 points.

HQ - CCS with two meltas, power sword
Troops - PCS with flamer
IS with flamer, autocannon
IS with flamer, autocannon, commissar
Veterans with melta, shotguns, power fist
Veterans with plasma, lasgun, plasma pistol riding in a chimera
Fast - Autocannon sentinel
Vendetta
Heavy - LRBT with heavy bolter sponsons
LR Demolisher
Manticore

I played against Necron which was
HQ - Lord on demolisher body with war scythe and phylactery.
Elite - squad of 10 flayed ones.
Troops - 2 warrior squads (10 or 12 in a squad I think)
Fast - 3 wraiths, 5 destroyers
Heavy - 2 tomb spiders

We had two objectives, roughly in the middle of each half and were deploying along long edges.
He took first turn and set up down one end.  I set up my LRBT and manticore in the opposite corner with the foot troops around them.  I had the demolisher, chimera/plasma vets and vendetta/melta vets in the middle to hit one side.  He infiltrated the flayers towards my troops, I kept the sentinel in reserve.

OK, not sure if everything is correct but the rough version of it is as follows.

Turn 1 - he immobilizes the vendetta despite its turbo boost and it lands behind cover so it now can't see much to shoot.
I drop a demolisher round, 2 template storm eagle,  battle cannon round and assorted multilaser and heavy bolter fire onto the middle of his troops/destroyers/lord.  I manage to down 1 warrior the gets back up and put one wound on the lord.  Yeah, bad rolls considering all the artillery was on target.  The guard open up on the flayed ones and do nothing.

Turn 2 - the wraiths roll up to find the vets that had got out the downed vendetta  and wipe them out.  Spectacular failure there.  The destroyers stun the chimera and shake the demolisher.  The flayed ones don't get very far.
The manticore and LRBT down a destroyer and a couple of warriors.  The plasma vets realize they can see the lord and open fire.  The lord drops.  The 30 guardsmen continue firing at the flayed ones and do nothing.  I think the quote was 'your dice are crapping on you and mine are giving me love'.  Even operation 'Deploy happy meal unicorn' failed to stop the flayed ones.

Turn 3 - The lord gets back up with one wound but decides to go help out the flayed ones.  The wraiths blow up the chimera but it drops one of them.  The destroyers fire at the plasma vets and kill a couple.  The flayed ones make it into combat.  A bunch of guard die.  It is the only flayed one to fail a save the entire game.
The LRBT and manticore do some decent damage in the midfield taking out a few warriors a destroyer, and the Lord.  Again.  The plasma vets tag the wraiths and take them out.  The demolisher knocks out a couple more warriors.  More guard die to flayed ones including most of the PCS and all but one heavy weapon team.  The CCS shoots at the flayed ones and kill one.  The only one to die all game.

Turn 4 - The lord gets up again, on two wounds this time, goes and finds the LRBT and blows it up.  The flayed ones arrive and kill all the CCS aside from the commander.  The demolisher is now weaponless and immobilized but doesn't die. 
The Manticore still does good with its last storm eagle, another warrior and another destroyer.  The Commander dies leaving me with 4 troops left.  But yay, the sentinel finally puts in an appearance, shoots and does nothing.

Turn 5 - The flayed ones finally drop the commander and run off towards the chimera.  The destroyers target the disabled demolisher but do nothing.  The lord comes back for the plasma vets and does nothing and takes no damage back.  Everything else is out the way.
The manticore opens fire with the heavy bolter, doing nothing.  The sentinel manages to kill a warrior and the unit fails the only leadership test failed by Necron the entire game and run away from the objective.  Small miracles.  This time the lord kills all but one vet who manages to put a wound on him before breaking combat and running for the table edge.

Turn 6 - The flayed ones and lord surround the manticore and by some small miracle do nothing but knock the heavy bolter off.  The destroyers kill the disabled demolisher.  Nothing else is in any position to do anything.  Aside from the 3 warriors who run off the table.
The sentinel pops shots at the destroyers to no effect.  The manticore plows through the surrounding troops and tries to leg it.

Turn 7 - The lord and flayed ones chase the manticore and for the second turn it amazingly survives.
The sentinel pops shots at the other warriors to no effect.
Game over, he has one objective, I have none.

So that's it.  Biggest failure, the melta vets in the vendetta that achieved nothing.  Best, the manticore gave me 7 templates of hits and the plasma vets did great.  The sentinel did show up late, but cleared an objective without ever taking a hit. The lord ate 6 wounds worth of hits when he could have been out turn two, and the flayed ones seemed to have extra magic armor the way they made saving throws.  Because of that the flayed ones destroyed my back field, and the lord kept me busy in the middle letting his destroyers do more damage.

Most importantly though, it was a lot of fun and I learned the rules a lot better, all the better to teach my kids.  Next week I'll be back with 1500 in vanilla marines that are half my kids, and half my old army from back when I last played.

More Warmachine minis finished

 

Been making good progress on the Warmachine figures my kids got for xmas.  The two units of troops are now done (Doom Reavers and Greygore Boomhowler and Co) and the Khador warcaster is done.  Now I just need to finish the Menoth warcaster and all the jacks and its done.  And all of those are at least 75% complete so it'll all be looking purty pretty soon.

Of course there is more on its way.  I managed to get a Cygnar battle box for $20 on ebay, and its Fletcher's birthday in a couple of weeks and he's said he'd like some more for his Menoth army.  Seeing as the painting is what I really enjoy, no complaints there.

Helsreach - mini book review

Haven't read any Black Library before but thought I'd give it a try.  I have a few to read too after they did the free kindle downloads for a while and then I found a few at a used book store.  A few blogs seem to recommend this as one of the best so I figured it'd be a good place to start.  So, in a few words...

Would I recommend it?  Yes.  It was a very easy read.  Gripping enough to keep you reading late into the night, and although its a large book it has big print so doesn't take long to read (4 nights for me).  Plenty of characters to get into, you get a good feel for the Imperial side, and there is plenty of cool stuff.  Negatives?  Well the orks are a bit of a characterless mob, and the Black Templars are a bunch of dicks.

If you like some 40K books and haven't read this one though, go ahead, its worth it.

Warmachine - first completed minis

I'd originally picked up a Warmachine piece in the consignment case of my FLGS just because I thought it was a cool model.  Turned out there were three in the box I bought, 2 heavies and a warcaster.  Took them home, downloaded the freebie quickstart rules and figured it looked like a good game.  My kids also took a look and were interested so I got them a couple of the starter battle boxes for christmas and a couple of mercenary solos myself.  These are all assembled, and in various stages of being painted, but the first 5 are finished. 

Got to say they are very nice models.  The warjacks are decent, but the characters are well above average.  Better casting quality than what I'm used to from the GW metals.  I picked up some Secret Weapon bases and the snow kit for these guys.  All comes together really well.

Soft Snow

Just a quick example shot of this.  I've been itching to try the one of the snow effects offered over st Secret Weapon so I picked up his winter scenics kits.   Really easy to use, and really effective.  There is a tutorial on his site that shows different ways of mixing the snow.  I'm liking the snow/realistic water blend as its a little softer then the snow/PVA.  So props to the kit, if anyone has been looking for a similar effect this is an easy and effective way of getting it.