I figured I’d give the Drop Pod army another shot, as it can be quite an amusing little side-army (hah, side-army… Expensive little distraction, wouldn’t you say?!)

Leigh, getting wise to the drop pod situation after our last game, decided to keep most of his force in reserve – a risky gambit, but sensible nonetheless.

Opting for a split deployment, Sean’s forces held their right flank, while a small group of Leigh’s troops set up on the left. Craig deployed most of his force opposite Sean.

We were lucky enough to get turn 1, which saw my Ironclad Dreadnought land and toast a few guardsmen – I had planned to assault, but in my eagerness, I burnt away the wrong unit and so was left standing around – luckily it was within minimum range of the Basilisks and the only heavy weapons nearby were some heavy bolters.

My Sternguard landed more central on the Guard’s board-edge, and, backed up by two tactical squads which had also dropped in, they proceeded to decimate a large unit of conscripts with massed bolter-fire.

The guard players first turn was spent re-arranging their lines slightly to adapt to the new threat – although some good shooting meant that a lot of my own marines went down under heavy fire from the Medusa and Leman Russ Executioner, with the added insult of seeing my remaining Sternguard heroically dive for cover under a Siege Mortar shell (Craig’s quote of ‘Emperor’s Finest my arse’ pretty much summed it up!).

As we started our second turn, I managed to fluff up my reserve rolls, with my assault squad being the only other pod out of four to arrive. I decided to put pressure on Leigh’s side of the board and landed them near his lines. My units which had arrived in turn 1 returned fire with the guarsdmen near the centre of the board, while my Ironclad decided to bash in the Griffon, which it did in due course. Craig’s two dreadnoughts made a good account of themselves, shaking or stunning two Leman Russes on Sean’s extreme right, while his Attack Bikes yet again proved their worth by gunning down various units (aside from the near-invincible Command HQ with their blasted Medic…).

Leigh’s reserve rolls were a little better, with his Leman Russ squadron showing up, along with one unit of his Rough Riders, plus a platoon commander and two armoured fist units. Figuring out how to get them on the board, however, was another story.

As expected, my assault squad bore the brunt of the rough rider charge, but thanks to some poor dice on Leigh’s part, I was able to weather the storm and hold the horsemen at bay for a turn. The Leman Russes came on towards the centre of the board and began pummeling my Marines (who were luckily in cover for the most part, and so didn’t suffer as many casualties as I’d feared).

Sean began to pour fire in at Craig’s Tactical squads and Librarian who had slowly been advancing towards his lines, and was lucky enough to see the psyker fall under a hail of Lasgun fire. One of the Armoured Fist units which had arrived in support of the Rough Riders managed to destroy the Seismic Hammer on my Ironclad (blasted rear-armour). By the end of turn two, things weren’t looking too rosy for the Astartes.

Turn 3 began with my final 3 drop pods showing up, putting my Captain, Command Squad and two more Tactical Squads into the fight – one Tactical squad landed on the Guard’s right-flank to reinforce Craig’s units, while my Command Squad and fourth Tactical unit landed centrally to bolster my own attack. The Ironclad, angered at the audacity of the newly arrived Armoured Fist unit, decided to charge in and batter the Chimera, immobilising it and taking off both weapons, leaving the squad inside helpless as they couldn’t deploy or fire for a turn. With a lucky meltagun shot, I managed to blow the Battle Cannon off of one Leman Russ, while during the assault phase I managed to destroy two more Leman Russes and blow another weapon off. (I have the bizarre Squadron rules to thank for that…)

With time running out, we squeezed in a final turn – my Ironclad, with help from the Assault Squad, finished off the Armoured Fist unit, while over on the right flank the Marines mopped up the rest of the guard resistance. Some late arrivals in the form of snipers and a second unit of Rough Riders still weren’t enough to turn the tide, and eventually the Marines prevailed.

I do enjoy using my Drop Pod army, although I think it’ll take a back-seat and only come out in bigger games – I’m going to go back to a more traditional foot-slogging Marine list, which is what I’m more used to. Plus I have two Vindicators just sitting around collecting dust at the moment!

The last few weeks have seen me dust-off my Scouts and prepare them for a few outings on the tabletop – I also picked up five more Scout bikes and three Landspeeder Storms for them, and yesterday saw their first outing as a coherent force.

I would be facing Sean (of Lucky 88th fame), who would be using his Guard army. We were also joined by two younger club members who brought more Guard and some Tyranids.

Set-up for me was rather easy, as I kept my speeders in reserve and so only deployed my captain and command squad, who were placed in a wood for some much-needed cover from the two Leman Russ and Medusa mortar which were present.

Once Sean’s gunline had been set up, I placed my Scouts in the ruins near the centre of the board, with my Scout bikes taking up position ready to hit the right flank. Some oversights on my part meant that I didn’t get a first turn charge off with them – the beauty of the bikes having both Scout and Infiltrate means they can scoot up with their Scout move, then take their first turn move and charge, however I assumed that first turn charges weren’t allowed, which meant my bikes were left in the open and were promptly obliterated by the three tanks.

However, driving up and unloading 6 Frag templates plus a hail of twin-linked Bolter shots was more than sufficient to eliminate the infantry screen surrounding the tanks, and so when my Speeders arrived, they were able to get in close and knock out both the Russes and the Medusa in a couple of turns – Anti-tank for Marines is now pretty plentiful what with Krak Grenades being issued all-round, and vehicles getting hit in the Rear when assaulted is a definite bonus.

In the centre of the board, my standard Scout units fared very well, trading fire with Guard units, seeing them off the board bit by bit, and finally despatching a Broodlord and retinue with massed firepower.

Given that two other players were also in the mix, I can’t help but feel that I haven’t been able to properly test out the scouts yet, so another outing or two will give me a good idea of what they’re capable of on their own. I suspect they’ll struggle against tougher armies such as Orks or Marines, but I’m sure in a big game they would be a hell of a laugh to use.

Ever since I saw my friend’s Raptor Scout army (waaaaay back in my Maelstrom Crew days), I was inspired to create my own. It began with the metal scouts I had already. DDWG were having a campaign involving Space Marines so I got around to re-painting my scouts. In the beginning, they’d had this horrible blue, red and white colour scheme which really didn’t help them when it came to sneaking up on things. They then went over to Codex Grey, but I felt this was still too bright for infiltrating in. Finally, I bit the bullet and mixed my own dark grey using Codex Grey and some black ink.

Going with this vibe, i repainted all of my scouts (at this stage, only comprising of about 15 metal scouts) in more appropriate colours, whilst still remaining in keeping with the colours of my other Space Marines.

With the release of plastic scouts during the short-lived 4th edition of 40k, my plans for an entire army of scouts were realised. I picked up quite a few boxes of them and began formulating an army of scouts. Of course, the 4th Edition codex was a lot more forgiving to ‘custom’ armies such as this, and so my command squad was able to take such skills as Infiltrate, which really kept things in theme.

Alas, that’s changed now in the 5th Edition codex, although it has allowed me to bolster the ranks of the scouts by taking Scout Bikes (finally in plastic) and the new Landspeeder Storm, which, as of last night, I now own three of.

I’m planning to run a few games with the Scouts and see how they fare. Of course, I expect them to lose horribly. Watch this space.

On September 26th I, along with several members of DDWG attended a 40k doubles tournament hosted by Calne Gaming Club – 1000pts per team in 4 games over the course of a day. We had a fantastic time (even if Adam and I only managed 10th place out of 13 teams with our 120 Orks and Kroot).

When we first heard about the weekend, Adam and I said we should just aim to take an absolute mass of troops and not a lot else – the look on peoples faces when they saw the veritable sea of models was priceless. We weren’t in it to win at all, although we were quite keen to get the wooden spoon for last place (but, sadly, this wasn’t to be).

A quick recap:

Game 1 (vs Orks/Chaos):

A rather small opposing force consisting of a few Ork Bikers and a mob in a Trukk plus a unit of Chaos Marines in a Rhino and a squad of Havocs – due to some appalling luck on the Ork players’ part, he lost all of his units to me by turn 4, while Adam’s Kroot dealt with the Chaos Marines, seeing them off of the second objective and winning the game for us.

Result: Victory.

Game 2 (vs Space Marine Scouts):

This game was against what later transpired to be the winning team, which was thoroughly deserved by the Father and Son pairing – it’s given me a new respect for my own Scout Army after seeing what masses of them are capable of! We were on the back foot from turn 1 and eventually our forces were systematically eradicated over the course of the 4 turns.

Result: Defeat.

Game 3 (vs Chaos Marines/Traitor Guard):

John P and George from DDWG were our opponents for game 3. Having known both of them for several years I knew this game wasn’t going to be easy – the first couple of turns looked like things were going our way, until a couple of bad rolls and an oversight on my part meant that we lost quite decisively in the end. Bugger.

Result: Defeat.

Game 4 (vs Imperial Guard):

Mark and Leigh, another pair from DDWG who I’ve had the privilege of knowing for several years were our final opponents for the day – what really made the game for us was the central Mars Bar objective (even if it went unclaimed by the end of the game. Due to the split deployment of this mission Adam and I had elected to basically ignore one of the players and concentrate all of our efforts eradicating the other. Leigh was unlucky enough to deploy closest to me and so he drew the short straw. After a few turns of continued pumelling from my Orks up close and Adam’s Kroot from afar, we managed to clear the table of Leigh’s forces, while a couple of lucky Kroot kept Mark’s troops from closing on the objective.

Result: Draw.

Space Hulk:

Following the day of gaming in Calne, I resumed work on my Space Hulk models – all of them are based up, and I’ve now begun the lengthy task of painting them up. I decided at a later stage (after the basing photos were taken) to add magnets to the bases of each Terminator – this would come in hand for attaching the Artefact and C.A.T. to in the missions which require them. It certainly helps keep track of who’s got hold of what, and makes it easier to keep the smaller bits together.

Also, I’ve finally finished painting up the first set of cardboard tiles/counters – I’ve painted over the bare cardboard edges of each and every counter/door/floor tile with a relevant colour – it takes a bit of time but the end result is worth it.

We’ve been playing through the missions gradually at the club, and we’re getting close to finishing the first run through of the campaign – it’s still proving very difficult for the Marines to pull off a win, but they certainly rack up the kills even if they lose.

I’ve now got to finish off one unit of Terminators ready for our club’s Art of War competition – originally I’d planned to use the Assault on Black Reach models to recreate a ‘last stand’ scenario, but this has fallen by the wayside in favour of the far more visually appealing Space Hulk. Once my Mac’s back in action I’ll work on getting some more photography on the site (plus update a few things here and there).

Big 40k Game

Finally, I just thought I’d detail the events of yesterday’s big game of 40k played between 8 of us at the club. Normally we’d save the bigger games for our extended sessions at the end of the month, however, as I’m going away to Amsterdam at the end of this month, I suggested we brought it forward by a couple of weeks, which thankfully everyone agreed to (although I think to be honest, any excuse for a big game will suffice for many wargamers!)

Four Space Marine players (myself, John P, George and Craig) faced off against four Guard players (Sean, Greg, Mark and Leigh). We let the guard set up a defensive line, and explained that we’d be going after their four highest ranking Officers (each representing the four players). The usual mass of infantry and tanks was set up across from us and we began to wonder just how quickly we’d be putting our glorious Astartes back into our cases…

Sean was on hand with his camera for photography, and took quite a few photos as the game went on, so hopefully we’ll see those online soon!

Craig, John, George and I had all been discussing our strategy throughout the week – Craig and George would form a base of fire while John and I got in amongst the Guard lines and caused havoc, hopefully taking out the Commanders in short order. A last minute idea by Craig and George to put all of our armoured vehicles on an opposite flank proved worthwhile, as it meant the guard’s fire was split enough to give most of us respite from the big guns.

The game began with an orbital bombardment which managed to stun a few tanks and hitting a command squad, leaving only the commander standing! Once the (quite frankly laughable) effects of the barrage had been worked out, we began the game in earnest, with my first wave of Drop Pods slamming home just behind Greg and Sean’s commanding officers. Out piled an Ironclad Dreadnought, two Tactical Squads and the obligatory Sternguard squad (with their ‘magic bullets’!). Also, John’s Sternguard also dropped in alongside my units.  Suffice it to say that our Marines went to town on the closest Guard units and tanks, reducing them to bullet-riddled corpses or burning hulks in short order.

Elsewhere on the field, Craig and George securely held our lines with their mass of Tactical and Devastator units, trading fire at range with the Guard. A large recon element of Mechanised infantry plus Rough Riders sallied forth on the Guard’s left flank, moving out to meet the armoured element we’d placed to oppose them – this side of the battlefield was particularly bloody, although being in the thick of it on the other end of the Guard lines, reports were sporadic.

A counter attack by airborne Guard units was proved rather unlucky when they were systematically picked apart by the Marines on our back lines – never underestimate Whirlwinds and the humble Tactical squad – 30 Stormtroopers and a Vulture were dealt with in short order!

John’s Land Raider Crusader loaded with Assault Terminators suffered an unlucky hit which immobilised the vehicle, leaving the veterans the task of marching forwards under fire. Luckily their 2+ armour save held out and most of the unit made it into combat with the centre of the Guard line.

By the time John’s Assault troops landed and my second wave of Drop Pods hit the floor, one half of the guard lines was all but done for – we cleared out the occupying troops quickly and moved into the buildings to shelter from the inevitable shelling which was to follow. More Guard reserves arrived although they were also mopped up quickly by the second wave of deep striking Marines.

A careless move by the Guard meant that a third commander was slain as he was caught out in the open by two Attack Bikes which had made it through the defensive lines. This left us with one objective left – the seemingly unbeatable Commisar Yarrick.

Yarrick managed to fend off several Jump Pack assault squads from George and John, and tragically we ran out of time before the Ironclad Dreadnought could assault him. He’s definitely on our hit list for next time!

Another fantastic afternoon of gaming – I’m sure the other players would love to share their highlights – feel free to add a comment.

Mission 1 was over relatively quickly. After running through the rules with the three players using the Blood Angels, they got off to a flying start, tearing their way through Genestealers left, right and centre before a lucky set of Command Points let the Heavy Flamer have a burst of speed and burn the objective, winning the mission for the Astartes. Admittedly, I was a bit of a one-sided GM in this one, and pretty much gave the Marines the game on a plate when I spotted they were a turn away from victory.

Mission 2 was far closer, with one squad of Marines having to fend off a horde of xenomorphs. Things started well for the Marines until a few inopportune jams and misses meant that the ‘stealers got in and butchered them – leaving it down to just one lone Terminator on overwatch which eventually carried the day, despatching the final few Genestealers in a hail of bullets. For the most part, the Marine players held their own, although there were a few words of advice given here and there.

Mission 3 was where we hit what I feel to be a bit of a snag. It would seem that from the relatively balanced first two missions, the game swings heavily in favour of the Genestealers, making it nigh on impossible for the Space Marines to win. Admittedly, I tried to keep my mouth shut as much as possible, lest I end up playing the game for the Marine players (and I’m no expert on the game by any stretch of the imagination). However, my judgement is most likely skewed at this point due to the relative inexperience of the Marine players in comparison to the Genestealer players, so I think a re-match of mission 3 is in order, from both sides of the coin.

Next week we’re continuing with the missions, starting on Mission 4, although I’m tempted to make a few house rules for the game, but also try a version using 40k Rules – although I’ll need to ramp up the amount of Genestealers to compensate (not necessarily a bad thing, however!). I’m not sure how this will sit with the veteran players, as, to quote one of them, ‘the beauty of the game is in it’s simplicity’, which is very true. I think I’ll still give it a go anyway, it’ll be fun to see Terminators taking down lots of Genestealers in their near impenetrable armour!

The Marines managed to breeze the first mission, until the Tyranid players wised up and started putting the pressure on – to the point where mission 2 came right down to the wire, while Mission 3 saw the Marines drop like flies! I can’t wait to continue the fight next week with the next few missions!

In other news, I saw District 9 last night – what a fantastic film! Definitely my favourite film this year – so much so that I’m off to see it again tonight!

I’ve also managed to build my two objective markers for Calneage on the 26th – 20 more Boyz to paint and then a few days of basing – I’m aiming to get the 20 boyz done over the course of this week. Pics to follow once all of them are done. Coupled with 60 Kroot, it should be an hilarious day of gaming – I’m not sure how players will cope, I don’t think they’ll be expecting 120 models in 1000 points!

Also, there’s a size comparison shot of the Broodlord next to a Genestealer, for those who are a little sceptical of his size. Rest assured he’s noticably bigger!

Hopefully, by the time you read this (all two of you…), I’ll have installed, with the help of my esteemed webmaster Paul, a new WordPress-powered blog onto the site.

Get me all Web 2.0 all of a sudden!

I’ve been working through building all the models from the new Space Hulk, which arrived in the post today. Coming soon is a new article detailing my progress with this fantastic kit!

I’ll keep it short for now, but keep your eyes peeled!