Saturday 26 October 2019

Post-tourney reflections

Anyone who knows me knows I don't take gaming at all seriously. I like to pretend on occasion and have occasionally graced the top tables where the magic has come together but that's as much about being lucky as good ;)

I have just finished a 40K comp where I came 21st out of 32. Not staggering by any stretch and not quite reaching my usual spot of gloriously mid-table. But I went into this comp with a really good headspace and it made for a better weekend. It was serious ITC and I knew full well I was taking a fluffy Guard list with no real idea what I was doing.

So why play? It got the army painted and it taught me a lot about how to play Guard. And that was what I set out to get from the weekend. I did not expect to win a game (and I only won one, and only on points) but I wanted to take some lessons about how I could get the best out of a fun army that didn't have all the choices commonly found in competitive Guard armies. And that's what I got. And I know there's a couple more cool things I can add to enjoy using this army more. Pushing Bullgryns out of the back of a Valkyrie is going to be on the agenda...

Also, I meant to take lots of photos. Totally forgot. But I had a great game to finish up against a Grey Knights and Knight army driven by blogger Scotty's Padawan Apprentice and he reminded me to take photos. I didn't take remotely enough to batrep the game, but I have a few great moments. He drove the Knights and Knights really well and aside from a few shocking die rolls, comfortably tabled me on turn 5. Some pics of the hilarity:
In the distance you can probably see the silhouette of the OTHER Vindicare. He shot first. 
This was turn 2. Yup. 2. That Leman Russ on the right was basically dead and those Guardsmen? Lets say it didn't go well. 

Assassin-based revenge...

At the end of the game, Canis Rex limped onto the Objective. 
It was a close game that I techincally won on points despite being utterly smashed! Grandmaster Voldus survived on one wound (no thanks to my Ratlings. Again.) as did Canis Rex. My Primaris Psyker tried SO hard to Psychic Maelstrom that Knight off the board. SO HARD. But no. And he was stomped by the Knight for trying. It was a really enjoyable game against a great opponent. It bookended the great game I started the weekend with.

To close, I also got some painting votes. Not many, but some. And that's never happened before and I'm super proud of that. It's not a stunningly painted army but it is tidy, to a good tabletop standard, and it's well finished with transfers and basing and it looks like a cohesive force. I'm really quite pleased about that. :)

Next Time
That's a really good question. I've been so focussed on the Guard that I don't know what I'll be working on for the next week. We've been talking about Frostgrave again and I've got a couple of models that have been screaming out to be done. I think it might be their time.

Saturday 19 October 2019

Finishing touches...

Despite having an event coming up, I've had to really force myself to get to painting! A few early morning starts have helped to cobble together a paintjob on some classic Stormtroopers:


They're black and red in advance of the release of revised Inquisition rules in next month's White Dwarf. I'm optimistic they might become an actual list choice. Plus I really needed to not paint something green! 

They came second-hand and getting the original paint off was a real challenge but worth the effort as they are quite fun. Also, gotta love that weapon loadout. Not optimal. But then, when have I ever done anything that remotely resembles optimal? 

And here's the whole army ready to go for next weekend: 

The Valkryrie had to come off it's base to fit in the photo! Anyway, 1750 points of Guard is a lot - I'm putting nearly 80 infantry on the park I think. 

Next time
A comp report on how it all goes and some photos of the best of my games. I have low expectations of success but then that's never been the point of these things for me. I'm done for deadlines I think at that point so it might be back to fun projects (although slightly bitsy I suspect) for the rest of the year. 

Saturday 12 October 2019

Inquisitio, Pars Duorum

+++ GURIJA HIVE, HOJJA JOROGALNA +++
+++ Command Post, B Company, 377 Krieg Siege Regiment +++

She heard the 'Incoming' call from the sentries on the high ground. Still alert. That was promising.

The Cadian column, such as it was, marched into the Krieg encampment around the Astropathic Choir buildings and stomped to a well-drilled halt. Under her broad brimmed hat, Inquistor Miranda al-Ghraile of the Ordo Xenos let her lips curl into a small smile. She enjoyed being in the company of Cadian troopers. Their determination and drill showed how good they were as soldiers and their discipline left them unusually resistant to corruption for regular mortals.

Their Colonel spoke surprisingly softly to a junior officer who promptly set about dispersing the Cadian forces into defensive positions alongside the troopers of Krieg.
From their midst, the Inquistor strode into the Krieg CP. She grabbed the first officer she saw by the lapels "where is he?" she demanded. He stammered and and gestured to the rear.She heard him shouting something about power packs before she saw him. "Aldo! Stop brutalising that man. Ammunition is in short supply planet-wide."
After a moments silence he responded. "Inquisitor al-Ghraile. I thought I sensed your black mood on this world. Why are you here?"

"Show some respect, Aldo. YOU asked for MY Ordo's help. We're here."

He sneered. "You are here, Miranda, and that is not much use to me when we are beset on all sides by the perfidious Xenos and the ancient enemy." Her vox-link chimed, as if on cue, as a jet black Thunderhawk Gunship circled around the Krieg encampment before landing on the boulevard alongside the CP.

"No. Aldo. We are here..."

...
...
...

The stench of putrefaction rolled over the lines. The Kriegsmen, in their gasmasks, appeared not to notice too much but the Cadian sergeants began giving orders to their men. Vox units across the lines began to chatter as sentries spotted a wall of walking corpses, shambling alongside a wall of jerkily animated silvered warriors. Inquisitor al-Ghraile conferred briefly with Sergeant Androkles of the Deathwatch. "Options, Sergeant?" she asked. "We will attack, Inquisitor. There are no other options."

"Are the Astartes...advancing?" Signifer Welham seemed utterly confused as Kill Team Androkles  stepped out of it's prepared positions and advanced on the enemy, bolt rifles blazing. Next to him, Aldo tore the vox from the hands of the Cadian Colonel. "MEN OF CADIA AND OF KRIEG. THE ENEMY IS UPON US." he bellowed. "IN THE NAME OF THE ALMIGHTY GOD EMPEROR OF MANKIND YOU WILL HOLD THIS LINE!" Heavy weapon fire erupted along the Imperial Guard line and the troopers cheered as the Corrupted Knight was felled by concentrated fire from the House Hawkshroud knight, Arcus, and lascannon and missile fire from the Guard lines.
As if from nowhere, a Valkyrie transport whizzed overhead, it's rocket pods strafing the ground ahead of it, as a platoon of Tempestus Scions leapt from it's rear door. They dropped on grav chutes, firing into the Necron rear as they descended. No sooner had they touched down and taken cover in a nearby shell crater then a scream rent the air.

With almost pinpoint precision, a red and white drop pod hit the ground and disgorged a squad of Adeptus Astartes from the Storm Lords, led by an Epistolary of their chapter. The Librarian saluted the Tempestus Sergeant with his Force Stave as his battle brothers gunned down the first of the Necron's overseers and turned their fire on a second.
The Necrons slowed as their leaders were slaughtered by the combined might of the Storm Lords and the Militarum Tempestus while the Cadians blazed away at their front lines with accurate and effective lasgun fire, blunting their forward advance. On the Imperial left, the plague-ridden zombie swarm continued their shambling and to their rear the gross and distended forms of a platoon of Death Guard Heretics and the hulking mass and wings of a mighty daemon.
As the zombies closed on the Imperial lines, Krieg assault Sentinels and Kill Team Androkles turned their fire on the putrescence, hoping to hold it back. The Deathwatch could only look on as the Daemon Prince thumped it's enormous wings, leapt through the air and fell upon the Krieg lines with an unnatural rage. The troopers held, thanks only to the exhortations of Commissar Vhen, who found himself the unfortunate target of the daemon's wrath. Vhen fended off the beast with some skillful swordplay and leapt clear as the Hawkshroud Knight turned it's mighty autocannons on the daemon prince and turned the beast into a disgusting pool of filth.
Darkness fell over the Storm Lords and Scions as another fallen Knight stepped onto the boulevard over their heads. Shouts went up across the Imperial lines as heavy weapon fire turned on the knight. Inquisitor Aldo directed the Guard autocannons to fire on the Necron flier, recalling his experience days earlier on the Imperial Cathedral forecourt. The fallen Knight turned it's wrath on the Scions while the Necron leader's foul technologies brought down many of the Storm Lords. As the befouled knight turned back to the Imperial lines, almost as one, the three Imperial psykers turned their minds to the task and felled it with their combined mental fortitude, before Epistolary Camedes and his remaining battle brothers were taken by floating Necron horrors.
Inquisitor al-Ghraile watched in horror as the foul pestilent zombies pulled down another Sentinel and tore open it's cabin to get to the pilot. She drew her sword and looked around. "Commissar Krause? Shall we?" Krause answered by drawing her own blade and the two  charged into the morass of plague-ridden foulness. Hacking about left and right the zombies fell under the swords of the two black-clad heroes. Suddenly, the ground shook as another corpulent daemon prince dropped from the skies and began laying about itself with an enormous rusty sword...

...
...
...

As dusk settled on Gurija Hive, Gnaeus Aldo looked up as he heard the roar of Thunderhawk engines for the second time that day. From it's rear door stepped a single Primaris Space Marine, clad in jet black armour, offset by the white shoulder pauldron that marked him out as an Apothecary. The Marine walked slowly and carefully among the dead, occasionally kneeling for a time, before storing a small vial on his belt and moving on.

The Apothecary stood for a final time, cradling something small and broken. Aldo realised he was carrying the body of Inquisitor al-Ghraile. He lifted his aching body and limped over to where the Marine was standing. "She fought with honour this day, Brother Apothecary, and will be celebrated in the annals of the Ordo Malleus." The Primaris looked down. "Thank you Inquisitor. Her loss will be felt at Pykman. Now, where are my brother Storm Lords?"

Aldo gestured off into the darkness. The Apothecary stared for a while, then turned on his heel and strode off without another word, presumably to perform the last rites of the Adeptus Astartes on those brave brothers of the Storm Lords chapter. As he watched the Deathwatch Marine's armour merge with the darkness, the Inquisitor realised what this victory had wrought.


+++ BLESSED IS THE MIND TOO SMALL FOR DOUBT +++
+++ THE GOD EMPEROR PROTECTS +++

Narrative Campaigns? 
Amen to these. Scotty ran a slick campaign with some great custom missions and some excellent little add ins. Everyone who played it enjoyed it and it was a pleasure to play some really casual and fun games against a variety of lists and opponents. When playing casually, 40K plays really well at low points values.

I think our club will be seeing a few more of these in the new year. Goodness knows, there are enough games we can play that allow for campaigns and pretty much every skirmish game on the block has all the necessary bits. So Necromunda, Frostgrave, Dracula's America and probably another 40K one could all easily find their way to the calendar.

Next time
Some classic, early 2000s GW metals for 40K are currently on the painting desk and I'm hoping I'll have my first ever 3D printed model to paint!

Friday 11 October 2019

Narrative Campaign Day 3: Prelude

Narrative campaign day 3 is tomorrow and it's doubles, so here is a prelude to get you started....

Excerpt from the personal log of Captain Keller. Commanding Officer, B Company, 377th Krieg Siege Regiment deployed on Torak.

The vox link had been transmitting a constant drone for the entirety of the second day of fighting.

The drone of the vox mixed with the drone of the flies swarming across the remains of the hive workers throwing themselves at the makeshift barricades we erected across the streets.

Lasrounds have minimal effect, apparently the walking, diseased remnants of imperial citizens were rendered additional vitality by the dark powers that animated them.

And so my soldiers spent the entire day fighting across the barricades, never giving an inch, never gaining a step.

And so it was that the Astropaths lived to see another sunrise.

I'd stopped noticing the buzzing long before then.

Captain Keller and aide, outside the shrine to Saint Valeria on the second day of the Battle of Gurija Hive
On the third day, the Valkyrie landed, it's downwash breaking the hastily erected, but long held barriers. My flamer teams out clearing bodies scrambled for cover as the aircraft landed.

A brute of a man in ornate armour stepped off the back rank, striding straight to me. His voice spoke with a tone thick with authority, power and the demand to be heard and obeyed.

"Captain" the brute said, flashing an Inquisitorial rosette.

An Inquistorial Brute apparently.

I bet the Lord Commissar would have enjoyed this, but she was off touring the line. Lucky her.

"I am Inquisitor Gnaeus Aldo. You now fall under my command. We must hold this ground, this place shall be the linchpin on which the defense of this hive rests.

The remnants of the Cadian 33rd will be with us shortly, as will the honoured brothers of the Deathwatch. 

Other allies will come, but I fear they will not arrive before the enemy does.

I trust Arcus of House Hawkshroud is still with you, and it's spirit is filled with the Emperor's fury?"

As if in answer, Arcus' cannons erupted into life from further down the line. Arcus was conserving it's ammunition, so what it had fired at had clearly warranted the extra attention. The fact that Arcus had ceased fire indicated that whatever it was, it was no longer a threat.

"And your men? How many remain?"

Whatever answer I gave, it wasn't enough. The Inquisitor stomped off, evidently in the direction of Arcus' cannon fire, and the Lord Commissar. His shiny, clean armoured form a stark contrast to the drab, dishevelled and dirty soldiers he passed. Their eyes, hidden behind their orange lenses and thick masks barely marked his passing with any note.

I know now that moment in which I considered how many servitors were required to clean the dust of his shining armour was the last moment of peace I would get that day....


Tuesday 8 October 2019

Pooch's September Update


Well, it's a late update (damnit). But, little man had a birthday and a birthday party over the weekend which sucked up my time.

Seemed only right that my first late update came the day after my first early update right?

1. Paint a new 40k Army (On track)
September was a good month for the Krieg, I managed to finish up....
- My last 10 Guardsmen, meaning I now have 5 fully completed squads
- Another Commissar
- The Vindicare and Callidus Assassins
- a SHADOWSWORD

Let's start with the infantry.  By finishing up these last 10, that means that I have completed all of the Krieg infantry I have got! 5 Infantry Squads, 1 Special Weapon Squad, 2 Command Squads, a squad of Stormtroopers and a Veteran Squad make up my full allotment of infantry!

It is the Guard after all!

There are many Krieg Infantry

Close up of the new Vox-Casters. Krieg infantry, with Cadian Voxcasters
Another Commissar to keep the soldiers in line

This is such a cool pose

Onto the Assassins. My plan was to paint one per month.... but I bought the Vindicare, and then put the Callidus on back order (it wasn't in stock). And then they both arrived at the same time. So it would have been rude to not just paint em both, right?

And importantly, now I have finished X-FORCE!

Callidus and Vindicare

X-FORCE!

Lastly, but certainly not least, is the Shadowsword. I got it pre-made from a trading site for a bit of a steal, and it's sat undercoated for nigh on 6 months. It was a super sunny day one weekend, and that inspired me to get it done. My method was to use different spray cans and masking tape to do a representation of a WW1 German tank camo scheme (yes, purple is historically accurate). Ended up working more or less how I wanted it to. Always a good plan to test a new method on your most expensive model right?

Side view!

3/4 view

And with a Commissar to scale
2. Create a table of terrain to support a game (Completed)

3. Make a modular piece of terrain (Not Done)
But, I still have a plan. And the pieces. Just not so much of the prioritisation....

4. Paint a naval fleet (Completed)
But also as a bonus, I got these two Brigs for Black Seas from a Wargames Illustrated. Well, more accurately, I bought these two Brigs and got a Wargames Illustrated for free....

I painted them up as French vessels, and much like McZ's review of Aeronautica, I wanted to not like them. I really did. But they were a dream to paint, and even without sails or rigging they look great. I'm sorely tempted for more, but right now I am going to resist.



5. Finish something for an army I haven't used in a year, and take it to a tournament (Completed)

6. Buy a starter box and paint all of it (Completed)

7. Paint every miniature for a game I own (Completed)

8. Paint a Space Marine Hero each month (On track)
This was the one most at risk of failing this month, I only completed these two the night before the end of the month (oops)!

When the original Space Marine Heroes came out in Japan, there were actually 13 models, but only 9 released in NZ. To find the other 4 missing models, I had to buy the Space Marine Adventures box  from Barnes and Noble in the US, and have it shipped out to me. Such is the price you pay to be a completionist! But, looking at these two models, I am really happy with my choice to do that.

Heavy Bolter and Comms Guy

Heavy Bolter and Comms guy 2
Another month down, and two more Space Marine Heroes done!

9. Paint a stand alone force (Completed)

10. Update and improve a table of terrain (Completed)

11. Paint something Napoleonic (Not done)
But it is started!

12. Finish something I should have last year (Completed)

Mortywatch!
Morty now has a base, and colourful minions!

Now with added base!

And many little friends!
Next up? With all of the Krieg infantry done, it's onto tanks. And I have many. Oh and I will be back playing the Narrative Comp too!



Saturday 5 October 2019

Warpstorm Inbound

Warpstorm is a few weeks away. I still have one unit to paint. And I have to finish stripping the paint off it first. So I did the easy job first - finishing the vehicles. 

First off, Sentinel 6 for my Sentinel Squadron:
Sentinel 6: Lascannon
Sentinel Squadron with longarms
A little part of me still wants to paint another 6 and have a full Sentinel company. I have a nice idea for how do to it kind of thematically, but it's really an appallingly bad idea.

I've also completed the Plasma Russ:
Dayglo blue is awesome

So much Russ!! 
The Plasma Russ seems quite terrible on paper, but if I can have a Techpriest durdling around after it repairing the inevitable 1s, then I should be golden.

Next Time
A battle report of some sort. Either the next story from the journey of Inquisitor Gnaeus Aldo and the hapless Cadian 33rd or a test game or two for Warpstorm to see what the world is like when I put X-FORCE on the park. I'm also working on tidying up a bunch of my Infinity models for our eventual first proper game of Zone Raiders so I might throw those in too. :)