Neeeeeooorrrrrrrrmmmmmmmmm!

So I know I said last week that blogger Pel and I would be trying out our first Zone Raiders game but to no avail. Sadly, he had family commitments and couldn't make club day so we'll postpone that game for another day. Instead, I joined Tank, McBeth and McBeth Jnr for a couple of rounds of Aeronautica Imperialis.

A review of sorts
Let me preface this by saying I wanted to hate this game. I wanted to hate it so much. I wanted to complain about the hex based map, clunky mechanics, the sameness of the game, the stupid scale of the models and all sorts of other things. I wanted to hate it so I don't have to buy sweet sweet 10mm scale Corvus Blackstars.

And I can't. I can't hate it at all. This game is a hoot. It was great fun, full of flavour and very slick. I'm not going to go through the mechanics or anything like that but I'll point out the things I enjoyed about the game and the things I didn't (spoilers: there's only 2)

The game is pretty straight forward - I go, you go - with a couple of tweaks to the turn order depending on circumstances. The players determine manoeuvres and then zoom their planes about, going faster or slower, gaining or losing height (and speed as a result). You pick your manoeuvres before you find out who's going first and if you get it wrong, this is the result:

The immediate aftermath of that shot was the Fury being shot down and the Thunderbolt taking three Ork Dakkajets in revenge. It was an astonishing round of shooting that kept Tank and I in that game! 

Anyway, a further point about the moving - the manoeuvres give you so much flexibility with how and when you perform your turns and things that the dogfights are really just that. It feels odd at first but once you get used to the abstraction, it's excellent for gameplay. Compared to the durdling turns of something like X-Wing, it's a much more exciting way to play too.

Getting your manoeuvre choice right! 

The flavour is definitely embedded in the game. The Imperial planes are well armed and tough, trained for manoeuverability and mid-range combat. The Orks are stupid fast, lightly armoured and very heavily armed for close range combat. Ork Dakkajets are 25% faster than Thunderbolts but the Thunderbolt pilots have access to some quite shenaniganery turns that the Orks can't do. Ork Bommers are insanely heavily armed and quite a lot faster than Marauders which are much more brickily traditional.

Finally, the models are amazing. It's very easy to pick the Thunderbolt Fury from the Thunderbolt just by checking out the nose guns. The detailing is clear and they look genuinely like scaled down versions of the 28mm equivalents. The ball mounts for the planes also let you tip your planes side to side or up and down to go along with your neeeeeooorrrrrrrrmmmmmmmmm noises

Thunderbolt (left) and Thunderbolt Fury (right). Note underslung nose guns.

Dakkadakkadakka

Are there some negatives? Yes. The scale still annoys me. <rant> I get that it's the same scale as Adeptus Titanicus. I get that 10mm gives you some opportunity to make some really beautiful models (GW are SO good at this and I've already said, but it bears repeating, the models in AI are amazing) but can we just admit that Epic scale games are coming back. Please? Apocalypse is fine (and we will be trying it in 6mm in 2020. Stay tuned for that) but FFS. </rant>

The only other bugbear is an old chestnut. It's currently a two-faction game and there are only five or six available models for it. It feels like it has all the design space to add in all the flyers from the regular 40K universe and from Forgeworld but they aren't there and there's been no evidence, one way or the other, that the game is going to go wider. I assume it will - GW has some great models in this space - but I will wait and see before I leap into this particular game.

Also, I played a game of 40K with McBeth Jnr yesterday. It was rough for him without enough serious AT to scare a Leman Russ (until some Grey Knight Paladins ripped it a new one) and his saves were just dire which is funny when you're the Guard player shooting down Space Marines with flashlights. Anyway, the highlight for me was this:

Something something walk me closer something something

In which Inquisitor Karamazov spent umpteen turns fighting Black Templar assault marines. The Throne of Judgement's Stompy Feet stomped good. He at least survived where Greyfax was cut down easily by the Emperors Champion and my third Inquisitor died to Storm Bolters. Yep. Grim.

Next Time
Goodness knows. I've still got dudes to finish for Warpstorm and I've managed to acquire some original Imperial Guard Stormtroopers who need stripping (and repainting for that event) so I need to crack on. I've also recently acquired a very nice Druid from Hasslefree who will be a character in an upcoming run at the Warhammer RPG dropping in as an Amber Wizard.

September Workbench

Finished things! 

This is my first ever Leman Russ. And damn was it fun to put together and paint. It's a great kit. And, much to my delight, it even survived having the sponsons snapped off, taken apart and put back together once I realised I'd put the multimeltas on the wrong sides. Ugh.

It's an Eradicator, which is widely regarded as utter trash in game, but that muzzle break is basically the coolest thing on a tank ever. So I put kill markings on it. I had to fit a dozer blade on it because it's meant to be a kind of bunker assault tank and a dozer blade is most correct.

Works in Progress

I'm also midway through the last two vehicles I'll need for Maelstrom or Warpstorm or whatever the heck the thing I'm playing in at the end of October is called.

This is the lascannon Sentinel, who is the sergeant for the squadron of Sentinels I'll be fielding. They're kind of terrible but they a) look amazing and b) at some point I will ripple fire Hunter-killer missiles at something. It won't go well, but the mental picture will be awesome!

This is my second Leman Russ - with ALL the plasma. It should be fun. Or terrible. I can't decide. But I will have a Tech Priest Engineseer following it around fixing it up after my inevitable rolling of loads of ones.

I have also acquired a second-hand Basilisk. It's in pretty good nick and will definitely work for me. I've already removed the commanders hatch and patched the gap in the heavy bolter. I'll replace the hatch with a new one and add the necessary heavy stubber that goes on ALL cupolas.

The rails off the back are completely gone, as is the ladder. Blogger Pooch is hooking me up with the back rails off his Hydra that he hasn't used and a ladder as well and I've got all the bits to make up some crew. I'm also going to put a rear facing dozer blade on it because it's an SPG and an SPG should have a recoil spade.

Next Time
Blogger Pel and I have tentatively scheduled our first proper game of Zone Raiders so I'll batrep that and add a few thoughts about the game - especially with list building being a thing we need to do.

My first couple of read throughs of the full rules have been really positive and the gaps that have been filled from the demo version we played look REALLY cool. A game that has asymmetric missions to set completely different sets of mission objectives for each player is super cool.

Aid Unlooked For

+++ RUMOR INQUISITIO +++

+++ Transmitted: GURIJA HIVE ASTROPATHIC CHOIR +++
+++ Received:  MALLEUS CONCLAVE CICATRIX MALEDICTUM +++
+++ Via: ORDO XENOS, DEATHWATCH FORT PYKMAN +++

+++ Transmitted: M41.999 +++

+++ Inquisitor: ALDO, GNAEUS LEPIDUS +++
+++ Subject: HOJJA JOROGALNA INVASION +++

+++ Security Level: SCARLET +++

+++ START +++

Gurija Hive remains under siege. Imperial Forces are retreating on multiple fronts. The Ancient Enemy presses on all sides and the Xenos continue to take advantage of our weakness. The Hive has lost many resources but defensive buildings still hold. 

On this day, I have led soldiers of the Cadian 33rd into battle against the foul, inhuman Necron and defeated him. In an effort to acquire intelligence about our enemy's plans I commandeered Delta Platoon of II Company, Cadian 33rd. We attacked the Necron in the urban areas in front of the Imperial Cathedral. 

The Cadians Attack

The Cadians advanced across a wide frontage and poured accurate fire into the Necron. The Imperial Guard's anti-infantry weapons were largely ineffective, except against the heavy weapon wielding Necrons who fell with suspicious ease. I note that, despite excellent shooting from their anti-armour weapons, the Xenos flyer's shielding appeared impervious to our most powerful weapons, ignoring direct hits from even lascannons! 

The Legion of the Damned Arrive!

We were unexpectedly aided by the appearance of the Adeptus Astartes known as Legionem Damnatorum. They emerged from the dark on our left flank and attacked the Xenos. They slew many Necrons and extensively damaged the Necron flyer. The Necron attempted to stall the Astartes with explosive insectoid robots but they were summarily demolished. My attempts to contact the Space Marines went unanswered. They seemed content to attack the Necron and I was content to leave them. 

Facing down the Annihilation Barge

The Cadian infantry on my right flank were assailed and nearly wiped out by insectoid swarms and would have been destroyed if not for the timely and heroic intervention of Commissar Eckhardt and an autonomous Ambot bought into combat by the Cadian captain. Their possession of non-standard issue tech has been noted and will be reported.  Our Sentinels and permitted abhuman snipers turned the enemy flank as the Necron redeployed to fight the Astartes.

Gnaeus Aldo leads from the front! 

I successfully led the Cadians and their command squad into the heart of the Necron infantry and slew many, although despite our efforts they continued to rise from the dead. They retreated and we continued to charge, taking intensive fire as we assaulted.  Many Cadians were lost and I myself was wounded by their alien weaponry, even my Tactical Dreadnought armour was inadequate protection from their foul technologies. 

The Cadians bayonet some Necrons!

The Necron attempted to dislodge the mysterious Astartes even sending in their leader to destroy the mysterious Marines. Despite my inability to contact them, they withdrew from the Necron, bolters firing, and a crack shot from one of the Guard Sentinels felled the Necron leader. 

The Legionem Damnatorum secured the intelligence while the Cadian soldiers finished off the Xenos horde. The Cadians have performed adequately. I have personally commended Signifer Welham for his recovery of the Cadian standard, despite serious wounds and I have suggested to Lieutenant Arctura that he reprimand the platoon's mortar crew for their poor fire rates. 

I expect reinforcements from the remnants of Epsilon and Zeta Platoons to hold my position before we assault the Cathedral. I have set what cogitators I can access to decoding the intelligence and will report it's contents provided we can maintain an Astropathic link. 

The Imperial Guard reports our victories are few in this hive. I have sufficient resources to face the Ancient Enemy should he appear. I have heard that our own Chamber Militant has entered the fray against the Ork but we are ill equipped to face further engagements with the WAAAGH or the Necron. My report is also enclosed to ORDO XENOS and to the nearby Fort Pykman of the Deathwatch for their information should they be able to intervene. 

+++ IGNORANCE IS THE SHIELD OF THE WEAK +++
+++ TUETUR PRINCIPEM +++
+++ END +++

Next Time

That was fun! Again! Anyway, I've got three vehicles and a squad of dudes to paint before a 40K comp in late October so I'm focussing on those but Pelarel and I are plotting a game of Zone Raiders with the full rules in a couple of weeks so I might need to do some work for that. Also, I need to get stuck into my last pile of M60s for a big game of TY coming up but oh! the IDF Sand. 

What should you take from that? Painting post next week. Battle report the week after. 

DAMN!

Lazy blog title FTW! Lazy blog all round really. It's been a bit of a busy week and I haven't had a lot of hobby time due mostly to indulging in other hobbies!

I did start on my Damned Legionnaires this week and ripped through the black and base colours for the not black quite quickly: 

The nine base colours

and worked through one to the end to see how he came out: 

Pretty happy with how he's come out too. Having the flames carved into the panels does make them easier to paint, especially when you're a touch lazy. This was probably one of the easier ones to do and he took a couple of hours, so the rest present a bit more of a challenge. I'll work through them one at a time and aim to have them all done by next Saturday.

While I was faffing around I also got this beauty built:

This is my second Russ for my Guard army for Warpstorm here in October. The mega-plasma is a bit silly but I quite like it. I'm waiting on an accessories sprue that Tank picked up for me over the weekend to finish it off (stubber, commander, spare fuel tank and and doodads) but it will act as my big scary wreck stuff tank rather than the other assault oriented Russ.

Next Time
A report from Inquisitor Gnaeus Aldo of the Ordo Malleus on the ongoing Imperial defence of
Gurenja Hive - it's Narrative Campaign day 2 and as Pooch is not going to be there, I thought I'd turn my hand to an attempt at the narrative report of games 3 and 4.

One whole year.

Some stuff! 

I've managed to do a bit of painting this week, somehow. I've rebased my Teutonic Order Light Cavalry as a regiment of Villein Reconnoiterers and split my Teutonic crossbow (who were just awful in Impetus) into a couple of troops of Villein Bowmen for KoW.

I did a couple of the doods from Blackstone Fortress too. The Navigator will stand in for an Astropath in my Guard army. The robot....not sure yet. I have high hopes that one of these days I'll be able to drop him (like some of the other adventurers) into a game of 40K. 

Finally, I painted a couple of classic Wardancers for my Vanguard / Frostgrave Elves. 

And now, some blog thoughts

I can't believe I managed 52 of these. Some were a bit ropey, I admit, but I got a post up every week for a solid year. And I tell you something - I'm going to keep doing it. It's good fun and it's good motivation for me.

So what have I achieved painting wise in the last 12 months? This:

Not a bad effort right?

Clearly it's pretty heavily dominated by 40K as, having started back into a game I hadn't played since 1997, I have gone all in. I think all the nerds have gone....further than any of us expected and the TY army is mostly new. There's 5 more M60s to come but that's basically done. There's three more bases of Knights to do for KoW and that's done. There's still a bit of Guard and some Deathwatch to do as well. They're in the to do pile.

I looked back at my Christmas post about what I was going to do this year and, amazingly, I've done most of it. I am shocked. I haven't repainted my Arcanists for DracAm (although they're in the Simple Green) and I've still got a few Elves to do for Kings of War / Vanguard but most of it is done. I have also managed to play some Necromunda, and go all in on Marines for TY.

I still haven't managed to try Cruel Seas or Adeptus Titanicus (since I still haven't done the Slaanesh Titan Conversions I promised myself) but I've got four months for that. And McBeth has pointed out that Northstar are doing some 17th Century Spanish which might mean I'll need to give Impetus Baroque a go. It seems to be less dependent on large units (since most units are large) but I want to see how well balanced Tercios are since that's what I want to do.

For the next year, as the painting pile has been noticeably and manifestly reduced, I'm going to try and get more battle report type posts in. There's still plenty to do and a few other games I haven't managed to play.

Next Time
I pack all that stuff away. :) I've got a few other things in the 'mostly done' pile so I think I'll get onto those and work on the 1-year project. What's the 1-year project? If you stayed this long, it's this:

I've always wanted some Legion of the Damned so I bought some. And they're cool. We've got our second round of our local narrative 40K campaign and a squad of Damned Legionnaires seems, given how badly the Imperium side is doing in the campaign, the kind of unlooked for aid we need.

Pooch's August Update

Wait, an update actually on time on the last day of the month? Madness.

Statistically speaking it was probably going to happen once....

1. Paint a new 40k Army (On track)
Well, another month, another lot of Krieg got finished. This time there were three Autocannon teams, two Sentinels, a Hellhound and the second in my Execution Force!

Once again I am super thankful for some of the other club members both having an airbrush, and being competent with it. It's making the dull grey much more lively than it's name suggests! Anyway, on to what I got done...

Hellhound. It's the forgeworld Artemia pattern hellhound, and it's flipping gorgeous.

Two sentinels, each with a Heavy Flamer and a Hunter-Killer. So, so awful. Fun tho!

Autocannons. Made using normal Krieg models, plus scavenged autocannons, Anvil Industries tripods and some spare arms from Krieg Tank gunners for the firing models

And another angle on them

The smiling skull face of the Eversor Assassin. 2 of 4 assassins done!

2. Create a table of terrain to support a new game (Completed)

3. Make a modular terrain piece (Not done)
I think I have a plan for this now. Not that I have done any work or anything beyond the plan on it tho!

4. Paint a naval fleet (Completed)

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)
Another month rolls around, and another Space Marine Hero got done! This time it's the Sergeant of the squad, armed with a chainsword and a grav pistol.

Dramatic pose is dramatic

Chainswords. Because practicality is not an important attribute in the 41st millenium

But not only did I complete the Sergeant, I also finished up a Space Marine Librarian for the Storm Lords too! This model basically came about because I wanted to play with the new Games Workshop contrast paints over metallics, before I used them in a commission. The recipie I used was a black undercoat, followed by Leadbelcher, then Necron Compound drybrush. And then gave it a good coat of the contrast paint Talassar Blue.

And that's it. And I really, really like how it came out. Which means I have DEFINITELY followed a similar method for the commission piece.

Space Wizard!

More Space Wizard!

The back of a Space Wizard!

9. Paint a stand alone force (Completed)

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

11. Paint something Napoleonic (Not done)
I've got a plan (or two). Not actioned yet!

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

Mortywatch
Pretty simple one this month. Remember how last month I did half of the back of Morty? I did the other half this month.

I am liking the purple/off white/brown combo

Probably could do with some anti-bacterial wash after holding him....

So that's it, another month gone. Next month? I only have 10 Krieg to go. I really should finish them off. And maybe crank my way through a few more of the vehicles? Not sure if I will pick much more up for myself, I have a few commissions to knock off this month too.

Pooch

Who is the King of War?

It's not been a particularly productive week this week. I ran out of primer and it's taken me until today to get more. Having said that, I arranged with bloggers McBeth and Scotty to get in a couple of games of Kings of War at our club day yesterday and so I checked out whether the stuff I had painted and ready for basing could make up a tolerable 1500 point army. The answer was....just.

So I took out everything I could on Tuesday and got to basing with basically every spare bit of time and at ~1930 on Friday night, chucked on the last lot of flock. I said last week I was happier with the dayglo green flock. Still happier.

Villein Plowshares with Knightly assistance. Still some transfers to do tho! 

Order of the Brotherhood Foot

Villein Initiates. Surprisingly Effective. 

Order of the Abyssal Hunt. Oh damn! 

I've just been into the basement to prime the missing seven knights and four foot I need to finish up the bases I have got and I'm currently waiting on the release of Warlord Games' treemen to find a sensible replacement for the Elementals in the army.

The games! 

Lined up before assaulting the undead hordes

Against McBeth, the army performed fairly well. I comfortably out-cavalried his cavalry and even the relatively ordinary Villein Initiates steamrolled his better infantry. A unit of skeletons vs the regiment of Order of the Abyssal Hunt was objectively unfair. About as unfair as Lady Ilona murderating a bunch of cheeky AF peasants who charged her! In the end it was looking like a game where the Brotherhood would roll all the Undead infantry (I was always going to struggle with the two Vampires) until in one turn McBeth threw a 10, an 11 and a 12 for nerve tests and I lost ALL my cavalry units in one go. Ouch. But it was a close match and a lot of fun. 

Against Scotty, we went at it hammer and tongs. I sent the Forsaken Knight and a unit of Villeins into his elite infantry and blew them off the board in one go (FLUKE!) The following turn, he did the same to all my Order of the Brotherhood foot. We basically rumbled around the middle of the board and punched each other repeatedly during which I rolled FOUR double-1s on Nerve Tests. In a row. AARRGGHH!! After four turns, I'd finally rolled up all of his VERY effective heavy infantry but there wasn't a lot of my dudes left either. Again, a close match and a lot of fun. Scotty had some really interesting army choices - his pikemen were super mean and he had a warbeast monster thing that was staggeringly effective. I'm going to need one of those. Soon. 

It has made me wonder about another army. So tempting right now. But I will finish this one first. 

Next Time

It's the anniversary of my restarting blogging regularly. The project I was hoping to do for it has arrived in country but I won't have it in hand till Wednesday and there's literally zero way it'll get done for Sunday photos. If I can get the assembly done though, I'll totally blog it. Anyway, next time will be a bit of reflection and retrospection about getting back into this and a new thing or two that I'll be doing this week. 

A Flappy Knight!

I posted these three years ago when I finally painted my Teutonic Order for Impetus. And I've run them a handful of times in that game and found that it's not a game that really let that army work all that well. There's a new version out, which I'll happily try out my Byzantines with but in the meantime, it occurred to me that these guys might have a life in Kings of War instead.

I made one big mistake with that army - a dark basing with a dark flock and I didn't like the look of it much. So while I'm rebasing for Kings of War, I'm going back to good old fashioned dayglo green!

I've started with the army HQ since it was a relatively easy effort to rebase. Much happier with the bright green too.

 Since KoW is a fantasy game, it would be rude to not have a wizard. The Brotherhood list in KoW has water wizards but that seemed wrong for a Teutonic Order army so I picked up a classic GW Amber Wizard. He's likely to do double duty when we get back to playing Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay as well. The army should also have Water Elementals but I think, given the theme, I'll have treemen instead. Mantic have just dropped some new ones that will warrant a look.

Finally, I painted this guy. He'll be a Brotherhood 'Order of Redemption' hero with his Pegasus. He still needs a flag but I'm waiting for all the transfers to dry so I can safely handle him to put it on. I've got a couple more to do who'll become a unit as well - the box came (amazingly) with 4 Pegasi, one of which has gone to blogger Scotty for his army, and a sprue of Teutonic Order knights. The unit should have three but I doubt I'd fit three on a 150mm wide base, given that this one is nearly 100mm wide at the wingtips!

Workbench
Given my fairly unrelenting focus on Guardsmen of late, and Pooch reminding me that there isn't that many painting weeks before the competition I'm painting those Guardsmen for, I still have a couple of fairly serious bits of work to do. But I also don't have some of those bits yet. So I got to work on the workbench. I've managed to get 5 M60s assembled for my TY army, the third Sentinel for my Guard, a new Deathwatch Biker and 7 out of 9 new Primaris Marines for a longer-ranged Fortis Kill Team for my Deathwatch. The new updates for Space Marines from GW have got this project up the priority list quite quickly!

Next Time
Maybe some sci-fi? Maybe not. I'm also only a couple of weeks away from one year of weekly posts which is quite exciting. I've got a bit of plan for a painting project that I've always wanted to do but that but it does depend on it arriving from the UK between now and then.

Narrative Campaign Day One: Krieg Battle Report

Trying something a little different to go with the 40k Narrative Campaign we are running over the next 3 months. This is a recap of the first two games, and since Scott has put so much work into the narrative elements, seems rude to not lean into that and do a narrative recap of the battles!

I'll do better at getting photos next time....

Pooch

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

The 377th Krieg Siege Regiment was spent.

Over two years in the mud, defending a minor Forgeworld from the predations of Chaos had expended much of their seemingly unlimited manpower and material.

Torak was meant to be a recovery, a place to meet reinforcements being supplied from Krieg herself, a staging base before being sent to the next siege. Barracked on the northern side of Gurenja Hive, the Krieg soldiers had quickly found the local populace to be unfriendly at best.

Perhaps that was why I wasn't surprised when the Lord Commissar Krause entered the container serving as my command post. Local workers rebelling, needed to be put down before they caused problems to the factory output. We needed to secure a key pipeline, and ensure that any traitors were introduced to the sharp end of a Mk42 Entrenching Tool. She used all of the right words to get any Krieg soldier ready to fight- talk of heretics, rebellions and the foul taint of chaos. I haven't had a chance to ask her whether she knew what we were really going to be up against.

We mobilised quickly, a "show of force" was required against the traitors. As I watched the long, loping strides of the Armiger Arcus of House Hawkshroud on our flank, it took all of my experience to not begin thinking about what sort of "protein" my aide would be able to rustle up to add to the rations for our evening meal.

As we approached the factory district, our radios died. No voice, no static, no nothing. Just silence. Ahead of us, the factories were shrouded in fog, the silence emanating from there further adding to my sense of unease. I deployed squads to secure the right flank of the pipeline, and pushed our scouts forward.

Forward deployment in the factory district

The stillness was broken by two bright spears of light, coalescing on the hull of one of the scout sentinels. As it crumpled to the ground, Arcus begain firing, and I saw the shapes emerging from the fog. 

Barely audible over the Arcus' booming cannons was the sound of battle emerging from our right flank. I never saw what happened, but what little I could discern from the leader of our Jager squad Sgt. Fischer were of a monstrous demon emerging out of the fog, slaughtering third squad and most of the Jagers. Quite how he managed to not only survive, but kill the beast is something I will never quite be able to comprehend.

I never saw the right flank because of what had emerged from the fog. Shambling forward in ruined Manufactorum and PDF uniforms came what seemed to be a hundred of the enemy. The remaining sentinels strode forward, belching flames at what was now clearly locals who had given themselves over to the god of plague and pestilence. Wreathed in fire, the pox walkers continued on, surrounding the sentinels.

Honoured are those who sacrifice.

Thankful for the distraction, we poured the fire on to the enemy. Arcus' cannons cut swathes through the enemy, only to have the gaps in the ranks filled immediately with yet more of the enemy. 

First one, then another sentinel was dragged down under the sheer weight of bodies. The detonation of their fuel cells barely registering on the horde of bodies that now swarmed past them towards our defensive line.

The Lord Commissar ordered the withdrawl, apparently when Fischer killed the big demon some of our vox relays came back. Once we had established contact with command, my second call was to the nearest Basilisk battery with range to our location. We were almost at the end of our phased withdrawl when the first earthshaker rounds began landing on top of the position we had just vacated. We used the cover from the battery to begin our withdrawl.

It was from the commander of that Basilisk battery that I learned that this wasn't an isolated incident, but rather the opening moves in something far worse. Our withdrawl orders were to return to, and secure the Astropathic Choir Hall, a suitably gothic sounding name for a bleak, monolithic structure. The Astropaths were critical to send communications out to nearby starships and planets for reinforcements. We were the lucky ones who were the closest to it, so we had to secure it.

Lucky us.

We didn't get to within two clicks of the Choir Hall when the enemy sprang their ambush. Our orders were clear, we had to push through the ambush and reach the Choir Hall.

Deployment to repel the ambush

It was Arcus' cannons that once again welcomed the battle, tearing apart an enemy walker with it's heavy shells. Seeing a large, winged beast looming behind some ruins, I ordered Fischer's Jagers, my command squad and 2nd squad to bring it down. The characteristic whine of the plasmagun sounded wrong as the four gunners prepared to fire.

As each soldier pulled the trigger, their weapons exploded. Four veteran soldiers, with reliable plasma weapons. Killed by plasma cells created by workers who bore secret allegiances to dark gods. It was not without a large amount of trepidation did I fire my own plasma pistol, only to have it fizz and sputter- but thankfully not detonate.

We brought that monstrosity down eventually, but not before it had killed all of my command squad, all of 2nd squad and brought down most of Fischer's men. I think it was Fischer himself who brought it down, his hot-shot laspistol bearing none of the power cell problems of the plasma weapons.

Caught up in my own private war, I had missed watching the spectacle of Arcus dueling with two monstrous demonic beasts which could summon weaponry from their very person.

I missed the sacrifice of our Special Weapon Squad, Specialist Weber holding the demolition charge tight to his chest as the enemy sorcerer impaled him, killing both in the ensuing fireball.

I missed the heroism of those who left the sounds of battle, and screams of the dying to ensure that Krieg were the first to reach the Choir Hall.

Veterans leading the charge to the Choir Hall

I did not miss watching the Lord Commissar duel the traitor Space Marines. Unnaturally quick, the enemy charged through the defensive fire, one succumbing to a krak missile fired at point blank range. The remaining two drove straight at the Lord Commissar, one catching her in his immense powerfist, squeezing her and then tossing her aside with a sigh of what could only be described as disappointment. 

I was there to witness the Lord Commissar stand up. I saw her rise as a divine instrument of the Emperor's wrath.

I was there to watch her level her bolt pistol and shoot both traitors in the head as they slaughtered the last members of first squad.

And I was there to steady her as she almost fell again.

I am writing this from the defenses we have erected around the Choir Hall. From my position I can see the remaining squads attempting to cobble together their ammunition. Arcus is lit up by the lights of welding torches, great rents torn into it's armour by the day's battles. I don't know what fresh horror tomorrow will bring....

So what have we learned about Guard?

Weeeeeeelllllll.....

Let's look at something fun first - PERMITTED ABHUMANS!

 

Because I'd already painted 40-some GW Cadians, I figured I'd find something else to be my Veterans in my Guard army. Cue Victoria Miniatures 'Broolian Beastguard' or, in my case, Imperial Beastmen - the PERMITTED ABHUMANS! I can't say I really enjoyed the assembly all that much although some of that is certainly my fault, but I really enjoyed painting them. The details are crisp, the castings were lovely and the kit design was easy to drop in the shotguns and meltaguns. And they look great!

So the Guard army is looking very close to complete. I have a third Sentinel to paint and a couple of Leman Russ for a competition later in the year but otherwise, I think I might be done with my reinforced platoon of Guardsmen. Which is good, because as GW are reworking Space Marines for 40K at the mo, I'll be putting some more time and work into my Deathwatch.

Narrative! 
This went better than I thought it would TBH. Guardsmen are surprisingly effective, providing you can keep them alive. The Guard orders are remarkably flexible (although I am going to have to get some more officers to make it really sing) and lasguns aren't altogether terrible when you can use First Rank Fire, Second Rank Fire.

Rather than go into a blow by blow of the two games I'll summarise the adventures of Inquisitor Gnaeus Aldo. The first game was against blogger Pel's Emperors Children. It was an absolute bloodbath (1-0 to Pel in the end) with two real highlights - Guard heavy weapons popping the Emperor's Children Helbrute was fun and the deep striking Obliterators taking my Inquisitor out before tying up a pair of Guard squads for most of the game.

Forward Manipulus Aldo! 

Guardsmen! Advance! 

OBLITERATORS! OBLITERATE! 

The end of Game 1

Another highlight from round one for blogger Pooch:

Poxwalkers!!

Turns out that two Sentinels can't kick that many Poxwalkers to death...

Game two was a dash across the board against new player Ben's Orks. The new Ork codex is cool. It's really, really cool. It's hilariously designed to be fluffy and also effective. I'd almost be tempted if I could face a painting project of that magnitude!

The armoured wedge of Guardsmen made it a long way across the board (it was such a tight game I completely forgot to take photos. But in the end, all the Guardsmen were killed getting the officer cadre off the table. Unfortunately Mortis and Ordiantus, piloting the Valkyrie, buzzed around the table strafing Orks and didn't leave the table in time to give victory to Manipulus Aldo. But being able to have two units of Guardsmen rapid fire lasguns into an Ork boyz unit at short range is amazing. And then they get wrecked by Nobz.

It was a lot of fun. For the next narrative day, I'm hoping to be able to put together a fun list still based on Manipulus Aldo, but with a Deathwatch Kill Team included this time as well. It might even be the Fortis Kill Team...

Next Time
I'm going to take a break from the sci-fi posts for a while and get to work on a project to rebase my Teutonic Order for Kings of War. I will be painting a few new models for that, so expect to see those in the future. I've also picked up the last 5 M60s for my Marines in TY and I'm quite keen to nail those down too.