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Tau in Action

November 26, 2015, 12:13 pm
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I've managed to get in three games with my Tau. They did very well, shooting up Blood Angels, Orks, and Eldar. Still lost two out of three games on victory points. That is one of the things I really like about the Maelstrom of War missions. Objectives really count. 

The Tau are still very bad at Hand to Hand, but to be fair, few armies can stand up to twenty Striking Scorpions AND their Phoenix Lord being dumped in their lap. Stupid jinking Wave Serpents.

Shooting is still the Tau's game, and they can bring a lot of heat, especially when I remember to use the makerlights in the correct order. Commander Longstrike is my current favorite, perhaps a bit overpriced, but he is a great Tank Killer. Taking Hammerheads in a squadron of three is something I haven't tried yet. I do like the +1 BS boost, but not having split fire is a little worrisome. Oh sure, you will do a lot of damage to the unit you are shooting at, but it is still only one unit. I will give a try in my next game.
I only picked up one new model in this go around, the Coldstar/Enforcer Command suit. It is a excellent kit, and a welcome addition to my army. Makes the boss really stand out. While I am a huge fan of Mecha battlesuits, the large Stormsurge unit did nothing for me. I would rather have another Riptide or two. Hmm. That's a good idea...

For the Greater Good!
Just Stop Charging us!
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Happy Holidays

December 25, 2015, 8:55 am
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We here at Atomic Warlords wish you and yours a Happy Holiday season, no matter what ruinous power you give allegiance to. Inquisitor Santa may feel differently though...




The Emperor Protects
And He sees you while you're sleeping


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State of the Warlords

January 1, 2016, 11:15 am
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Happy New Year and all that. Let me yap about what the new year holds for the Atomic Warlords. Increased coverage of board games, a few more posts than last year, and a couple of big-ish projects.

I have been told several times that people prefer more, shorter posts over fewer, longer ones. I am going to endeavor to do that. I am aware that the Amazon Affiliates sidebar is AFU and I'm trying to get that straightened out. I will look into a few new miniature game systems, Gates of Antares, MERCS, and Warpath.

We are planning a 40K campaign for the spring, and a small unit Kill-Team/Necromunda type campaign as well. There are three armies of mine that need paint this year in addition to painting a few board game figure sets. Lots to do this year, it will be fun.

The Emperor Protects
He helps those who help themselves first



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Something Big on the Way

January 22, 2016, 11:40 am
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Well, somebody here did a silly thing. An incredibly awesome thing. Warlord Jeff bought a Mars Class Warlord Titan from Forge World. Yuuup. The pinnacle of 40K giant robots, and he has given it to me to bring to life. I can't say I didn't squeal like a schoolgirl, because that wouldn't be dignified.

It is currently on backorder, apparently Forge World is selling them at a good rate, and the kit takes a lot of time and effort to manufacture, no big surprise there.

I have built a Thunderhawk and a Warhound, and those were serious and often frustrating efforts. The Warlord is about four time the mass of a Warhound. It will be a heck of a thing. Be assured the titan-sized task of its construction and painting will be covered here. I'll try and keep the profanity and crying to a minimum.  

The God-Machine Protects
Oh my, yes
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Tyranid Attack Mission

January 29, 2016, 1:21 pm
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Way back in 2nd Edition 40K there was a tense mission called "Tyranid Attack". The 'Nids had six turns to kill everything on the table. All their dead units came back on as reinforcements. They usually won. Now it's time to redo this classic mission for 7th.

The Armies
Choose armies to an agreed point total.

The Battlefield
Set up terrain then roll for random deployment zones.

Deployment
Roll to choose deployment zone, defenders set up first.

First Turn
The Tyranids are the attacker and get first turn.

Game Length
The mission uses variable game length.

Victory Conditions
The Tyranid player wins if there are no defending units on the field at the end of the game.
Units that are falling back or in reserve are at the end are not considered for victory conditions.

Mission Special Rules
Reserves

At the start of the turn, the Tyranid player forms her destroyed units into squads. These squads may be deployed with a different size than they started with, but must still conform to minimum/maximum squad sizes. Then the Tyranid player rolls for each squad. On a 4+ that unit is placed anywhere in the Tyranid's deployment zone or into ongoing reserves if desired.
Then rolls for reserves (if any) are made as normal.


Next up, a Tyranid  Attack BatRep


The Hive Hungers
And is Coming For Lunch
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Overrun by Tyranids

February 12, 2016, 4:01 pm
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Knights and Imperial Guard make a valiant last stand against the swarms of the Hive mind.
2500 point battle using the Tyranid Attack mission from last post. What a slugfest it was. It was one of those games that came down to the wire and could have easily gone either way.
I took my standard Baronial Court of four Knights, and rounded off my army with a large platoon of Steel Legion Guardsmen. The Tyranid players brought a whole lot of heavies including the Barbed Hierodule, eight Carnifex, and three Tygons, plus much more. I had my work cut out for me. Good thing I brought a lot of big guns.
Mrs. Blackheart focused on the Guardsmen until they were all Ripper chow. My Knight Paladin took a pounding from the Hierodule's mighty Bio-cannons and exploded. The Baron's Ion shield worked much better than it should have and saved him from certain death a few times.
The Tygons arrived en mass and got into it with the Errant and Crusader. I killed three of them in hand to hand, but ultimately was torn apart.

Fun Tip: Don't stand right next to something that might explode with a "D"...

The Baron was the last man standing for a while, but his shields could not hold out indefinitely and he was felled by the Hierodule at the end of tun five. So close!
I really like this mission, it has a cinematic quality to it. The endless stream of Tyranids, the relentless pressure to kill and survive just one more turn, it makes for a great gaming experience. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

Next: Zombicide goes back in time!

It's Okay, the Hive is really into Recycling
Really Gross, Sticky Recycling

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Zombicide: Black Plague

February 19, 2016, 2:11 pm
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The Zombie producing machine that is Guillotine Games/Cool Mini-or-Not just keeps on rolling. This time they take us to a gritter time of no running water or Wi-Fi. Wait, that would be any zombie apocalypse. Is this one just a reskin with swords and such?

Yes, but with enough improvements to make it worth you time. Or if you just prefer the Medieval Fantasy theme.

At its dead heart, Zombicide Black Plague (ZBP from now on) is pretty much your baseline Zombicide. You wander around the map looking for better weapons and gear, kill a bunch of zombies, and achieve the missions goals. Or die trying. Still a fast moving, fun game for 1-6 players.
What ZBP does better than the first versions is pretty much everything, just in small amounts. The new plastic player trays are fantastic and make keeping all your stuff and stats easily accessible. Plus, they have added a body slot to put armor or some gear. The color coded plastic rings to go around your player mini was a good idea, instead of trying to figure out whose figure was light aqua, and whose was seafoam.
The rules have been cleaned up a little bit, but still could have benefitted from an editing pass, some of the wording is clunky, but still understandable after a read or three.

The Zombvivors are gone, which I feel is for the best, I was never a fan of the way they were implemented. It is much easier to heal your characters now, so player eliminations will not be as frequent. The Necromancer is a nice addition as a bad guy, but I kinda wanted it as a "boss monster" rather than a special wandering monster. Still adds nice flavor, they just show up too often.
The miniatures themselves are very nice sculpts, with a good variety of poses for the undead. I was a little let down in the lack of variation in the weapons, but I guess there is only so much they felt like doing. One weapon's stats in particular, The Great Sword, makes no sense to us, so we will work out some kind of house rule for it.
There are magic spells in the game, but anyone can use them, which is good from a game standpoint, but a bit jarring from a typical fantasy setting. "Oh sure, we all use magic, it's easy!" I guess to be in the Fantasy Hero Union you have to get qualified on spell usage.

There is a tidal wave of expansions coming for this game, we got in on the Kickstarter, so an nearly unusable number of new heroes and cards will be here soon as well as the first expansion which adds werewolves. That is the big question for us: How many fantasy monsters are they going to add? How fast will it make the game an overencumbered mess? Maybe they will keep things separated: Zombie missions, Werewolf missions, Troll missions, etc.  I hope so, or it will turn into too much of a good thing like the original Zombicide did if you weren't very careful.  

All in all, I recommend it. It is a fun co-op zombie slaying game with swords and spells.
Eight decapitations out ten.

Go Roll Some Dice
And Chop up some Undead



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What's in the Box?

March 12, 2016, 1:04 pm
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I've been down with Nurgle's "Death-Flu Blessings" for the last two weeks, no fun at all. Time to play catch-up.

A little while ago the UPS dropship delivered a rather large box on my doorstep. Big enough for a least seven Gwyneth Paltrow sized heads (or Willian Shatner if you prefer). In it are...
 More boxes! From distant England, my Warlord Titan has arrived. The red boxes contain the Warlord's legs and torso.The white boxes contain the Warlord's head, shoulder Turbolasers, and a pair of Volcano Cannons.  In the boxes are bags. Lots of bags.
That is just one of the large red boxes. The second one is filled with very big parts.
Nice box art.

A far cry from the blurry two sheet photocopy that served as a rough assembly guide for my Warhound Titan, the Warlord's Construction Guide is a slick full-color book using the CAD drawings.
That is a lot of parts for just the legs and torso. All the sub-kits have a similar guide. It is really well though out and implemented. 
I did an inventory of all the parts the night I received the Titan, two hours later I discovered I was missing a part from the head. Thank the Emperor for a complete parts breakdown. I emailed Forge World and the replacement was on it's way. Fast and friendly customer service. Thanks lads!
This will be  a massive undertaking, but my Enginseer staff assures me it will be glorious. I'm in the middle of (another) Dark Angel expansion and upgrade, but the Warlord shall rise after that project is complete in a month or so.

The God-Machine Protects
With really nice resin


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X-Wing: Stop The Transports

March 18, 2016, 7:09 pm
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And now for a excellent X-Wing battle. It was a mission thought up on the fly, two GR-75 transports with escorts have to made it out of the blockade zone. Enforcing the No-Fly Zone is an Imperial Raider and six TIE fighters.
We played on opposite sides of  a 6'x4' area, which seemed to work out fine, aside from two turns with no shooting. On turn three, everybody's favorite decision time: The Merge!
 
This is where your plan goes to die. For example, stopping short in front of a triplet of B-Wings. Not good. Two of my TIEs died in a hail of fire. It is always that fine balance of executing The Plan, but being flexible enough to take advantage of opportunities, and/or admitting The Plan has gone to hell and devising a new, better one without becoming bogged down in half measures and indecision. Like my Left Flank TIEs. Only one of which will get run over by a transport in two turns due to a poor not-quite decision now. 
I was able to take out a B-Wing with the Raider's Quad Lasers, and do some good damage to a transport and the Millennium Falcon with the Raider's heavy guns. I love the Raider! Plus it's fun seeing all the fighters panic when they realize you may run them over.
Of course I was guilty of that when it finally occurred to me that two of my TIEs where in a fatal attack vector to the transports. One just barely squeaked by, the the other one had a head on with destiny.
At least he took out a shield on the GR-75 when he went. Damn rookies. His wingman who escaped the collision died from a point-blank barrage from Wes Janson's X-Wing. Now I have one TIE left, but at least it is square on the Falcon's six and blasting away to good effect.
The B-Wings make a mess of the Raider's shields, but I manage to destroy one of them and a Rebel transport. My last TIE gets smoked by the A-Wing. Now the Raider is all alone with a X-Wing and a B-Wing in it's rear arc. Which has no guns. Bad show.
On what turned out to be the last turn, The Raider finished off the Falcon and did a lot of hits on the last transport. The B & X-wing get past the shields and do a few hull points on the Raider. We had to call the game due to time constraints.But what a good game! I don't play it enough, but I do love me some X-Wing. 

Next up: Deathwatch

May the Dice be With You
Because Bad Rolls Lead to Fear

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Overkill

March 31, 2016, 11:41 am
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Deathwatch: Overkill is Games Workshop's latest in their resurgence of 40K stand-alone games. It is a tactical combat game featuring two long neglected forces, Deathwatch Space Marines, and the Genestealer Cult.
The Components
What is is in this box? A whole lot of awesome minis, eight very pretty, double sided board sections, Character cards, the ambush deck, a range ruler, some six sided dice, and the rulebook with nine missions and a linking campaign for them.

The figures are very detailed and easy to assemble. They are mono-pose, but that is not a real issue for me as there is good variety in the poses. The Deathwatch get the full spectrum of Marines, including two jump packs, a terminator, a bike, a librarian, and a chaplain.
 The Cult have an even wider range of figures. The Genestealer Patriarch steals the show, being a huge Genestealer standing on a pipe end. The Magus and Primus are very good looking as well. Two purestrain genestealers and a pair of familiars round out the command elements. The Cultists have sixteen 3/4th gen hybrids with twelve autoguns, two grenade launchers, and two with mining lasers. A nice dozen 1/2nd gen hybrids armed with pistols and close combat fun. Rounding out the cult are four Aberrants with industrial weapons.

The Game
Neat stuff, but is it any good? Short answer? Yes. Overkill is a short, sharp tactical game. Missions last 20-60 minutes tops.

The Deathwatch Marines are killing machines, but they are badly outnumbered. The turn structure reflects this well. The Cult gets Ambush cards to either add more forces, or as a Gambit, which is some sort of trickery. Marines, move, then the Cult moves, Deathwatch shoots, Cult shoots, Deathwatch shoots again! Oh yeah, not to be trifled with.

 All the Deathwatch Marines, the Patriarch, Primus, and Magus have two wounds. The rest of the cult have one. The Marines can heal their wound if they forgo shooting in a phase. Even with Deathwatch's badassery it often turns into a tense game as the cult just keep popping up.


The Fluff
Overkill follows Killteam Cassius as they investigate the disappearance of an Inquisitor on the mining hellhole know as Ghosar Quintus. Mayhem ensues.

Concise bios of all eleven members of the Killteam, weapon profiles, and artwork are well interspersed throughout the book.

The narrative that flows in the margins of the rulebook is an engaging story of one of the first encounters with the Genestealer Cult. And why some Marines should not be invited to parties.


Conclusion
I like it. It's fun, fast, and has that right "feel". It is not super detailed but it works. Rules for Stormtroopers are in next week's White Dwarf along with a new mission. It's nice to see it get some support. With a little effort it could be expanded further.

Now I'm thinking about stats for a Commissar and a Inquisitor.

The Four-Armed Emperor Protects
Just Join us and See

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What Are You Rebelling Against?

April 15, 2016, 11:26 am
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Star Wars: Rebellion is Fantasy Flight's latest Star Wars game and it brings a lot (literally) to the table. It is a grand scale game set right before the events of Episode IV.  It comes with a huge, beautiful, map, and over 150 fantastic plastic miniatures, plus stand-up Leaders, dice, cards and markers. All high-grade Fantasy Flight Games quality.

At first glance it looks like a Axis & Allies or Twilight Imperium style conquer-the-galaxy type game. But it isn't. What we have here is a character driver wargame. Each side has a pool of Leaders who initiate all actions. Missions are the heart of this game. Each player gets a hand of Missions cards, which can be as diverse as Starting work on a second Death Star to recruiting allies for the Rebellion.

Gameplay is not complicated, but many hard choices await you. The turn starts with players assigning Leaders to Missions or holding them in reserve to either move units or challenge enemy Leaders on their Missions. Then players attempt to execute their Missions, taking alternate turns to do so. If a Mission is not challenged it succeeds. A Leader who is in reserve can be sent to a System and have any adjacent unit move to that system. Ground units and TIE fighters have to be carried, and all starships have a transport value. If there is enemy units in that system combat is fought.
Combat is quick and fun, with your Leaders influencing the battle. The battles are fought in space and on the ground in separate steps, with either side able to disengage after a round of combat.

At the end of the turn the Imperial player gets vital Probe Droid cards which inform where the Rebel base isn't. Leaders are recruited and units get built and deployed. The lager units can take up to three turns to construct.

The game ends when the Rebel base is found and destroyed by the Empire, or the Rebellion gets enough Reputation to start a galaxy-wide revolt and unseat the Empire. The turn track marker moves up the track as turns go by, and the Rebel Reputation marker goes down the same track as they complete Objectives. When they meet the Rebels win. It's very unsettling for the Imperial player to watch the two makers slowly move towards each other.

It is not all fun and games for the Rebel player. Laughably outnumbered at the start of the game they must seek new allies in which to build new units, and increase Reputation.  All without hinting at where their secret base is.

Rebel leaders can get captured, interrogated for information, rescued, and Farmboy Luke can get trained by Yoda and turn into Awesome Jedi Luke. A lot of cool things go on in this game. One of the only downsides is the playtime tends to run long, in the 2-3 hours range. It doesn't drag, there is very little downtime for the players, it just can go for a bit.

In our most recent game, the Rebels got Mon Calamari early and started to produce Cruisers, which the Imperial player disliked. With his fleet tied up fighting the Rebel fleet, he sent that ambassador of good will, Grand Moff Tarkin and the Death Star. Boom goes the planet. Which the Secret Rebel Base was also on. Propper win for the Empire!  
Star Wars: Rebellion is a very good game. It is as playable with 3 or 4 players as it is with 2. The game is easy to get into, and offers lots of choices during play.
Highly recommend.

Go Roll Some Dice
And Blow Up Some Planets
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Dawn of War III

May 3, 2016, 10:01 am
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Well. That is a hell of a thing. Now we just have to wait a few months to see any real gameplay shots. Still, I am very excited, here's hoping it has bigger scale battles than Dawn of War II.
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Multi-Tool Whirlwind

May 13, 2016, 2:42 pm
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Waaay back in the early 1990's my Whirlwinds were the backbone of my army for both 40K and Space Marine (Epic). Of course the Marines didn't have a lot to choose from. But that was what made them good. Five different tanks tailored for different roles, all working together.

The Whirlwind was the long range bombardment, sure, but it had a decent anti-tank role as well. There were no rules for aircraft yet, but in the fluff it was said a few times the Whirlwind was the also the Space Marines anti-aircraft platform, which makes perfect sense. Space Marines have some of the best tech of the Imperium, so a AFV that packed multi-purpose missiles fits them perfectly.
I had made a pair of Whirlwinds as shown in White Dwarf #117 using left-over Rhino parts and bases. They rocked.
Then came 2nd edition, and the fancy new metal turret, but weaker rules.
A myriad of newer Space Marine vehicles arrived and the mighty Whirlwind begun its decades long slide into near-uselessness. Forge World brought forth a dedicated anti-aircraft version, The  Hyperios, but it still lacked the utility of the original Whirlwind. The new Hunter/Stalker is a good AA platform but: A)is still only just a AA tank, and B) not for the Blood Angels, Space Wolves, and (most importantly for me), the Dark Angels.

So what to do? House Rule time.  

The Space Marines clearly have the tech for a missile launcher that has different ammo types. The basic Infantry Missile Launcher, and the Typhoon Missile launcher do this well. So should the Whirlwind, just bigger and better. Here in my simple proposal:

The Whirlwind is armed with a Vengeance Missile Launcher. Like the Typhoon launcher, it can be fired one of several different ways each turn.

Frag warhead:  Range:12"-72" Str:5, AP:4, Large blast, Barrage 2
Krak warhead: Range: 48" Str:8, AP:3, Heavy 2

May add one addition missile type:

Incendiary warhead, Range:12"-72" Str:4, AP:5, Large blast, Barrage 2, ignores cover, +15 points
Flakk Missile, Range: 48" Str:7, AP2, Skyfire 2, +20 points

I think this goes a long way to making the Whirlwind a viable weapon again. It is not as good as any dedicated platform like the Basilisk or Hunter, but it can do it all, and that is what the Marines need.

The Emperor Protects
And Rains Death Upon the Heritics

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Highway to the...

May 27, 2016, 1:40 pm
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Carnage Asada 2016 is almost upon us. By popular demand, the Top Gun Tournament of Champions is back! This year's mission is to destroy an Ork convoy before it can escape off the far (12') end of the tables. There will be lots of Ork anti-aircraft and targets of opportunity to distract the fighter heroes.

My flyer range has expanded a bit since our last outing. I have added a Heldrake, and a trio of Tyranid mini-Rodans, but no Marine Flyers. I decided to (finally) assemble and paint a Nephilim Fighter for my Dark Angels.

It is a nice kit, no-fuss assembly. I do like its blunt, semi- A-10 Warthog feel. The Ravenwing paint scheme makes for some fast painting.

Good armor, lots of weapons. I'll see how it performs on Monday, raining death upon the Ork hordes.

The Emperor Protects
But Always Bet on Black
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Carnage Asada 2016

June 10, 2016, 10:14 am
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Grilled food, rum, and plastic warplanes battling it out on the tabletop. What better way to spend Memorial day? (The beach was totally overcast) None better! Here is how our version of Wacky Air Combat Racers went.
Three flyers set up side by side at the far end of a twelve foot table. The Ork convoy is about seven feet from them. The Ork Battlewagons and trukks must drive 12" every turn towards the edge of the table and safety. All the escorting Ladz must turn and attack the marauding aircraft. On turn two a pair of Ork fighters show up.

The attacking flyers may not attack each other. Mission is over after five turns or all the attackers are shot down. Points are scored for kills. Highest points wins.
First mission saw Blood Angels, Necron, and Dark Angels take to the skies. I did well with my fancy new Nephilim Fighter, right up to the point when I got blown out of the sky by a volley rockets fired by a squad of Dethkoptas. Pete's Necron Crensent 'o Doom zapped many Orks but was brought down by the Black Baron. The Blood Angel Stromraven, flown by Matt, tore up the greenskins with its huge array of weapons until it too was felled by some very hot dice.

The second mission had the defending champion, Mrs. Blackheart with her Eldar Death machine, Jeff taking a Valkyrie Vendetta, and Colleen using a Khorne Heldrake.
The Heldrake was very effective with the vector assault and Hades autocannon. A mob of Ork bikers finally brought the rampaging mecha-beast down. The Valkyrie and the Crimson hunter had outstanding runs, laying waste to the convoy. The Eldar fighter was shot down by the dreaded Black Baron, who in turn was smoked by the Valkyrie. Turn five ended and the Imperial gunship was the last one airborne.
After the totaling of the points, Jeff with the Valkyrie squeaked out a win over the Eldar! The Blood Angels rounded off the podium with a close third place.
A very enjoyable and fast moving event. Next time I'm just going to bring my Thunderhawk...

The Emperor Protects
He obviously had money riding on it

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Dread Mob Attack

June 24, 2016, 10:53 am
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Time for an old fashioned BattRep. I brought 3K of Orky Dread Mob fun. A Stompa, MegaDread, Gorkanaut, four Dreads, and six Kans, backed up by a bunch of boyz in trukks with some air cover to boot.
On the other side of the table was a bunch of jerks all in red: Blood Angels and Eldar. They also brought a bunch of walker types. Matt's Blood Angels bringing five dreadnoughts of all flavors, and Mrs. Blackheart had two Wraithlord, and a Wraithknight. Of course they took non-walkers as well.  It wasn't a boing battle.
It was one of those classic "I'm totally winning!" for the first two turns kinda games. Both sides dice where a bit on the cold side, but I was doing far more damage than I was taking, and raking in the victory points via tactical objectives. My Stompa had only taken one damage point. It looked like this would be a swift game.
Then three happened. My dice took a nap. I drew terrible objectives. Missed two charges. Spilled my drink.
The Eldar-Marine Alliance had no such issues. The Wraithknight dropped my Stompa with some fantastic shooting. The Gorkanaut and Megadread also blew up this turn. I thought I could still rally and pull this out.
I did alright. Killed off a Terminator squad and a Wraithlord. The Elar and marines quickly put an end to thoughts of victory by wiping everyone but my tankbustas off the table.
Phoenix Lords. Very good at breaking things. We called it at the end of turn five. Orks 8, Eldar/Blood Angels 12. A fun game with some unique army lists.

Next up: Time to talk about turn structure.

Stomp Them All!
Wait, where did they get so many Fusion Guns?
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Don't Pet the Nexu

July 29, 2016, 3:47 pm
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...And in closing, I would like to reiterate that I feel adding a adult Nexu to the petting zoo remains a very poor choice, even if it does lower overall feeding bills.

Hi everybody (at least everybody who is still reading this) I had a wee accident (with a wild animal) and have been out of it for the last four-ish weeks. It will be another six weeks before the cast comes off, so no Titan build just yet. I am so ready!

I do have a few reviews and battle reports lined up, so please join me as we will start back up next week. Thank for your patience.


So Many Teeth, so Much Blood
Yes, Mistakes Where Made 

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Sanctus Reach: The PC Version

August 2, 2016, 4:43 pm
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It looks like we are finally getting a turn based 40K game again! Not a lot of info at the moment, but it is turn based fun with Space Wolves, Orks, and Imperial Knights.
It promises a long campaign and a skirmish mode. Thirty plus units and heroes. Units can be leveled up and be carried over between battles. Sounds great!
It's been a very long time since Chaos Gate, by SSI, the last squad sized, turn based 40K game. I have high hopes for this one. It has a November release date at the moment.

For Russ and the All-Father!
Death for the Pixel Xenos!
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Codex Deathwatch: Quick Look

August 12, 2016, 4:13 pm
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The book I never thought would happen is in my hands. Codex Deathwatch. Upon a fast skim through, it is everything I wanted, plus a side helping of damnnn. Making Deathwatch its own army is an interesting choice to begin with, previously only being available as an allied squad.
 The lore does support Deathwatch heading out en mass to deal with a threat that a small team could not. The heart of the army (and the only troop choice) is the Veteran squad. Talk about options. Anybody can take any ranged, melee, or special weapon. Plus up to four heavy weapons. Yikes.
Of course this will make the squads get real expensive real fast. Especially if you add the new fancy Corvus Blackstar Dropships as a transport. Which I will.
Terminators, Vanguard Vets, and Bikers (no attack bikes) round out the infantry types. All of those squads are limited to five models. Regular and Venerable Dreadnoughts are available as Elites. All three types of Land Raiders make up the only heavy choices. Some really unique wargear are available, such as the amazing Deathwatch Frag Cannon, Heavy Thunder Hammer, and Infernus Heavy Bolter. And so many different formations.

Overall it is a very nice book. Lots of good artwork, lots of pictures of well painted models, good history and fluff. I'm going to have a long look at all the game stuff this weekend as I plan out my army.

Death to the Xenos
Not Just the Ugly Ones. All of Them.


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Labor Day Battles

September 9, 2016, 12:38 pm
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Time for some BBQ and 40k battles! We have yet to try out the fun of hot, Knight-on-Knight action. Fortunately, Peter is building a household of Knights under new management. He brought a pair still under construction to do battle with the Imperial lapdogs.
The Hydra

The Dark Paladin
The two Fallen Knights were joined by a Lord of Skulls for a nice 1703 point force. In the first battle I took my Four Horsemen. It made for a swift match. Minor damage was done by each side in the shooting phases. The real fun happened in close combat.

Four Super-heavy walkers enter, one Lord of Skulls leaves. It gets really bloody when everyone has Destroyer close combat weapons. Very entertaining though.
On the other flank, The Baron took down the twin battlecannon armed Chaos Knight in close combat. Even without a D weapon it still did a good amount of damage to the Baron's suit. 
The badly damage Baron charged the damaged and very angry Lord of Skulls. Stupid Daemon saves.
However, in the next shooting phase my last Knight, a Crusader brought the Lord of Skulls down with a hail of fire from the Avenger Gatling Cannon. Narrow win for the Imperium!

The second battle saw Matt's Blood Angels with a new friend. He had just finished his new Freeblade, Scriptum. Named as such because its armor is cover in the text of its glorious deeds. Matt painted them on with a brush. The effect is quite striking.  
Scriptum
Unfortunately I had camera problems during the second battle, brought on by too much Rum. So the few shots I did take are all blurry. Sorry Matt and Peter! The game did end in a win for Chaos. 

The next time we try a big mech fight we will bring in some hapless infantry and see how that goes. Overall the games were fun and fast. It was nice have a lot of the big models on the table.

The Emperor Protects
And Probably Invented BBQ


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