A Call to Arms

Well, this will be another entry title to avoid if you aren't interested in wargaming.

With the re-emergence of the Nemesis Crown in the forests of the Empire, I have been persuaded to join in the Warhammer Fantasy Battle campaign over the summer.

The first problem was, of course, which army to go for. This was tricky.

My first thought was to go for Night Goblins. Completely unreliable troops, and lots of random-but-potentially-lethal special options (squigs!). They would have made an interesting change from the Dark Angels, however one thing stopped me. Night Goblins are green. And black. And I have painted a lot of green and black troops.

Okay...

I've always liked the look of the undead armies, and very nearly ended up collecting an undead horde when I first got into gaming. Nowadays, there are two routes, Vampire Counts and Tomb Kings. The latter is an Egyptian feel to things, and concentrates mostly on skeletons and variations thereof. Vampire Counts allows other undead, but with both armies you need lots of troops...which fall apart (literally) once your commanders are killed.

To cut a long story short* I've gone for Empire troops. Not the most imaginative choice, perhaps, but more scope for a different colour scheme to other things I have, and there are some tactical challenges to using them.

Over the last couple of weeks I've picked up a couple of cheap sets from eBay, and with the freebies I looted at the weekend I've now got a reasonable starting force of 1,000 points.

All the troops I have are assembled and undercoated and I'll make a start on them this week.








* Too late!

White Dwarf XXX

It seems that a lot of things are marking 30 years this year. As well as myself and Star Wars (released last week in 1977) the White Dwarf magazine has been running for thirty years as well.

GW were holding huge events all weekend, including a mega tank battle at the Bath store. This was fun, albeit total confusion. Jasper and I managed to field 21 vehicles in total (mostly wrecks and works in progress from me) and even then didn't have the highest count.

Jasper:
Leman Russ
Rhino
Dreadnought (good ol' Bomb Magnet himself!)

Mine:
Land Raider
3 Razorbacks
1 Whirlwind
Dreadnought
2 Leman Russ
Chimera
Predator
3 Land Speeders
1 Attack bike

Wrecks:
Predator, 3 Rhinos, Vindicator

The game itself was manic; Jasper and I ended up overseeing our end of the table, as we had eight grots taking part who weren't to hot on the game mechanics. Fun, but hard work. We managed to stop one little tyke from bullying smaller players into using his (loose) interpretation of the rules - surprisingly this meant he didn't kill things as easily, whilst his opponents had a chance at killing us. Once we realised what he was doing, out losses began mounting at a more realistic rate. Total losses were around 5-6 of the above list, whilst we racked up something similar. This was despite our Slanesh allies going nuts and attacking us by mistake (losing a Razorback) and my total inability to kill a group of bikers (firing the entire arsenal from the Land Raider, Leman Russ, Whirlwind and two Razor backs at them, for no kills). Matt fared better, as he was able to successfully roll the dice.

"Man of the Match" has to go to the little girl who had 'borrowed' two of her Dad's Carnifex models to add to our side. These are biologically engineered creatures from the Tyranid army (think Alien) who scour planets for biological matter to use (think Independence Day). The creatures are usually nasty enough, but these guys ripped through at least five tanks without taking a wound. She had great fun rolling all the dice and removing the 'dead' tanks.

After two hours of play, and having helped our side take out almost all the enemy at our end of the table (mopping up, really, after the Carnifex rampage), our opponents decided they wanted to defect; so Jasper and I packed our force away, and left the survivors to it.

During the fun and games, I managed to get several Empire sprues of plastics (enough for a couple of complete units!) whilst Matt has now started his Tau (well, once he finds his feet).

So a fun day, even if rather geeky.

From the Front Line - Beginings

This was something I put together in preparation for a WH40K campaign running soon at the local GW. As the Dark Angels Commander, this is the background to our forces being present.



Beginnings

The Dark Angels battle fleet had been shadowing the Imperial ship for months. Years of investigation by the Dark Angels agents across a hundred worlds had led to a full third of the Chapter being re-deployed. The opportunity to locate another Fallen was too great to miss. However the Eldar surprise attack on their quarry had complicated matters.

Deep in the bowels of the ship, in the most sacred Sanctum, five cowled figures stood in a circle. The air was thick with incense, shrouding the men as much as their hooded robes. The glow of vidscreens added a haunting backlight that only made the faces in the hoods even darker.

The door hissed open, and another figure arrived. The swirl of air allowed a brief glimpse of blue power armour emblazoned with runes and psychic hexes.

“Is it true?” one of the hoods asked of the new comer.

“Brothers, it is confirmed. Some images were intercepted just before the Eldar attacked. They show a Mark I Aquila-class shuttle leaving the Corvinus as she came under fire. Markings are consistent with those used by the Legion.”

“Then it is one of the Fallen?”

“Unconfirmed.”

“What happened to the shuttle?”

“Our observerators saw the shuttle hit and enter the atmosphere. Assessment is that it was badly damaged, but not critically. A 48% chance of survival for crew and passengers. 89% for Adeptus Astartes. Best estimate for a landing point is ...” He gestured at a vidscreen, “Here. Close to this city.”

“Then the time for secrecy is over. It matters not that we are detected now.” One of the figure straightened up, and threw back his hood. “We should deploy forces before further Imperial forces arrive.”

“They may already be on their way. A distress call was sent before out Astropath could intercept it. There are at least two Imperial Guard fleets in the area, including Astartes reinforcements. The Ultramarines 2nd fleet is closest.”

“Very well. Send word to our brothers. Deploy the Ravenwing to the crash site. Prepare support forces to launch a drop pod assault and establish a beach head as soon as possible. And ready my armour. I shall over see this operation personally.”

“Yes, Master.”

Bremen

I managed to wangle a two-day trip to Bremen this week, which allowed me an evening to wander around the Alt Stadt. I had dinner at the windmill.











And finally, the Musicians of Bremen

Dyrham Park - Tulip Mania

A few weeks ago I went over to Dyrham Park for the Tulip Mania event. The house and family had strong links with tulips and the Netherlands, and so has a big weekend each May when the tulips flower.

Alas, many of the tulips are inside the house where I could not take photos, but here are a few from the morning's walk.

Looking across at the church.


I had to wonder where the occupant had gone...



A couple of shots of the tulips...






On the way back I managed to find the herd of deer.

From the Front Line - The Great Squig Hopper Derby

The local GW store is running a series of events to mark the 30th year of White Dwarf.

One of these will be the Squig Hopper Derby.

The problem I had is that I don't have a squig. Or a rider for it. Easily resolved, of course.

I managed to paint these in a little over an afternoon, from undercoat to varnish.

So, here is Dodge, the Goblin Champion-to-be, riding his squig "Vyper".

From the Front Line - Movie Marines and Ordnance

Okay, last night was interesting.

First up...Movie Marines!

Some donut (sic) in the US WD team decided that the current Marine stats line didn't reflect the marines from the stories. So he created Movie Marines.

Each marine is an Independent Character with stats WS, BS, S, T = 6 and two wounds a piece and four attacks.
Bolters are Assault 4, S6, AP4, and Rending.
Bolt pistols are Assault 4, S6, AP4, and Rending.
Frag missiles are ordnance template, S6, AP3
Krak missiles are small template, S10, AP1
Chainswords are Rending.
Armour save 3+ with re-roll, 3+ invulnerable save.

Each Marine is 100 points (although perhaps 150 from later information)

With the month of fun to celebrate 30 years of WD, they were running a movie marine challenge - take on the squad of ten with a 1000 point army (upped to 1500 after my game) with a potential prize for whomever kills most movie marines before being wiped out.

I managed to nail one of them before I was wiped out. Fun to try once.

What really pissed me off was the GW guy running it, herein known as Dopey. He's from the Bristol store, and was all "oh, these are how marines are supposed to be!", having seen the issue of WD that contained the rules. He came in part way through my game, after Zak had started us off (hence the mistake in points values) and we were playing the scenario where each side is trying to get off the opposite table edge. When he mentioned the Independent character bit, I pointed out (with tongue in cheek and half my army gone) that the movie marines now had no scoring units. "Oh, but they're movie marines, you don't play scenarios with them, they just kill everything!" was the reply. He didn't like our questions about how "Movie Guard" or "Movie Eldar" would work, since they too seem to be far more powerful in the stories...

Whilst I did enjoy the game as a one-off, I wasn't prepared to play again, even as the Movie Marine player (far too one sided!).

Anyway, had a second game against George and his Eldar (the little fellow can really paint well!). We had to call it a day after turn three as Dopey (GW guy) wanted to cash up early. I lost, having lost the entire Ravenwing squadron...but that's another story. I fielded a heavy bolter in the tactical squad, and oh boy is that good at mowing down Eldar. I think the guy single headedly accounted for 10 kills. The rest came from the Whirlwind. Ohboyohboyohboy. Indirect fire, S5 against T3 troops. With a template big enough to nail 3-6 models per turn. Amazing against squads that are skulking behind cover trying to avoid be hit by a mad man with a heavy bolter! And all for 85 points. Me need more. I can see why they are so useful in Cities of Death (not what we were using). You just plonk it behind a nice big piece of scenery so that nothing can see you. And then point and say "Die!". Ahem.

Lord of the 300

Went to see 300, or rather, Lord of the Rings (The Tarantino Edit).

A good film, don't get me wrong, I couldn't help spotting the LotR inspiration...

...the heroes are being followed by a lone figure with long fingers (first scene he wraps them around a rock). Cue "preciousssssss" comments.

...the cave troll was back. I guess he was one of the few people for whom LotR didn't really kick start the flagging career.

...the Oliphaunts had been given remodelled rider's stations, and a coat of paint.

...an amulet passed from one to another before departure.

Some of the Immortals even looked like Orcs.

Imagery that was clearly cut from the final edit included
- the Spartan king standing at the head of the gorge shouting "You shall not pass!" at the approaching Persians
- his wife reforging his family's broken sword...

Mind you, it was a whole lot better than the travesty that was Troy...

New toy

I succumbed and bought a juicer. My only condition was that anything I drink must be made from mostly fruit. Veggie-based drinks just do not appeal.
I've only had a couple of days to experiment , but have so far found the following:

Things That Can Be Juiced:
Squishy fruit
Squishy vegetables
Not-so squishy vegetables

Things That Cannot or Should Not Be Juiced:
Squishy Fruit with Hard Centres (anyone know how to dig peach stones out of brick work?)
Celery (you can juice it, but it tastes like crap)
Cfer the Neighbourhood Cat (won't fit down the pipe)

In addition, I have learnt that:

(a) You need a jug to collect the juice. The worktop doesn't work so well for this.
(b) Even oranges will fire back up the spout and hit the ceiling if one neglects to use the pushy-downy stick thing.

I'm working on a way to make (b) an effective missile defence system. But I'm going to need more oranges, and a long handled mop.

International Star Wars Day!

Just wanted to remind everyone that today is International Star Wars Day.

May the Fourth be with you.

I'll get my coat before the beatings begin.

From the Front Line - Dark Angels,Third Company

Following a conversation with Jasper a few weeks ago, I realised that I have a lot of marines. Many marines, if you speak Troll.

So I was thinking...a company of marines would be interesting...

For those unfamiliar with the space marines, each Chapter (e.g. Dark Angels) are organised into 10 Companies. Each Company comprises of 100 marines, in 10 squads. Yes, similar to the Romans.

Of these, the First company are the veterans, who wear the heavy Terminator armour (known as Deathwing for Dark Angels). T
The Dark Angels second company is the Ravenwing, different to other Chapters. These are the one riding bikes/Land Speeders and provide a scouting role.

The Dark Angels 3rd Company is Battle company, that is it comprises a mix of different troops for tactical flexibility. Six tactical squads, two Devastator and two Assault.

So far, I'm an assault squad and two Tactical squads short, but I do have a lot to paint at the moment! With the assault squad finally finished, the first Devastator squad is underway. At some point I also have the Ravenwing squadron to paint.

Finally, my Rhino/Razorback conversions are nearly completed. The Rhino personnel carrier is a chassis used in almost all space marine vehicles. The Razorback adds a small turret to the top, and the Whirlwind a larger MLRS-style rocket pod. Instead of buying a chassis for each tank, I picked up four second-hand rhinos and removed the top doors. This panel is a pair of doors in the Rhino, but is replaced by a turret mount for the other vehicles.

Instead of gluing the turret panel in place, I've left it loose. One way up, and it's a turret mount, turn it over and it's an access hatch. The turret itself can then be inserted, do far I have the option of Lascannon, heavy bolters or Whirlwind multi-launcher for two of them. I'll include some photos soon of them.

From the Front Line - More Plasma!

As mentioned in the battle report for this week, I fielded plasma cannons for the first time. Until now, I haven't done this, as I wasn't convinced of their usefulness, especially in light of the Gets Hot! rule, which gives a 1 in 6 chance of the weapon over heating when it fires. This means the marine gets hit by the weapons super-heated coolant as it vents to prevent the plasma exploding. An armour saving throw is needed to survive*. However, as we showed it's not too much of a problem as the marine usually passes his armour save. By taking two or three plasma cannon, the risk of losing all your heavy weapons this way is reduced further.

Lascannon are the ultimate (well, not so ultimate as they were in 2nd Ed) anti-tank weapon, at S9. Plasma cannons are S8, which doesn't make a lot of difference against lightly armoured vehicles.

Against troops, the plasma cannon is just as effective against those hit. My reluctance to use the plasma cannon was the logic that the small blast template would normally only cover one troop, assuming the enemy squad is spread out. Whilst it is generally good practice to ensure your squads are spread out to avoid ordnance/blast weapons, in practice there are always going to be cases where this isn't possible (teleporting troops for instance). Therefore you could reasonably expect to hit one model, maybe two with most shots, and if lucky three or four. Each hit is most likely going to result in a kill, even against terminators.

So, it's likely that I'll be putting the plasma cannon into the Tactical squads more often in future.



*I've seen on Warseer that some people interpret this rule as saying the weapon effectively hits the firer, and so no armour save would be allowed (AP2 weapon against 3+ armour). However, no one I've played against interprets it that way, and fluff-wise it's clear that it's coolant not an actual hit.

From the Front Line - A Multitude of Angels

Last nights game needed some fluff to explain the battle. Dark Angels versus Dark Angels. (we were the first two players to arrive, that's all!). Instead of admitting that Dark Angels could be conned into fighting each other by the evil machinations of Cypher, we agreed it was merely a training exercise. Using live ammunition, obviously.

1,500 points was a larger game than normal, but this did allow me to field the full 10-man assault squad (the additional five men being finally finished), the Deathwing squad and two full tactical squads (one with plasma cannon to try it out).

I won't go into a full write up, as it's tricky to remember in enough details. However, a few key moments are listed.

Opponent's Land Raider stops at the objective and out pops a squad of assault Deathwing. They can't my assault squad me due to the range, but I don't really want to let them charge me. Preparing to sell themselves dearly, every man and his dog opens fire at the Deathwing. When the dust settled, all five had been killed, two by the plasma cannon.

My dreadnought (with no close combat weapon) managed to blow away the oncoming enemy dreadnought (fully equipped for close combat).

My Interrogator Chaplain gets charged by his Librarian in terminator armour...I roll four hits and three wounds; the librarian trips over his force axe and misses complexly, then fails to save. Oops. :)

My squad of Deathwing finally arrive on turn four, in the middle of the enemy's deployment zone. Taking fire from three combat squads (including a plasma cannon), they calmly advance, take two of the squads down to below-half (i.e. non-scoring) with shooting and wipe out the third who was daft enough to charge them in an attempt to slow them down. On my final turn they march up to the objective.

Lessons Learnt:

Plasma cannon are useful. Of the three on the table, only one managed to kill himself from the Gets Hot! rule. This was despite on guy rolling a 1 to hit on every turn. Whilst I was pleased to kill two terminators (three were hit) with the plasma cannon hit, I was grateful not to lose any of my own when they were clumped together on arrival. My single plasma cannon was responsible for two terminator kills, a Land Raider and three marines. Not bad.

Remember the objective. My opponent seemed to forget what the objective was once his main assault force was gone. With careful fire control, I am sure he could have whittled my scoring units down so they would not count - instead he concentrated fire on squads that were already down below half strength. I caught myself almost doing the same, but fortunately remembered what we were trying to achieve. Whilst I was happy to wipe out the main threat, I ensured some fire power was directed at the combat squads to the rear of his deployment so as to prevent them from running forwards to grab the objective at the last moment.

Don't send assault squads into the objective on the first turn...I was carried away by the massive squad of ten men, and they ended up fighting around the objective with little support. They were ineffective against the Deathwing, and couldn't kill the Land Raider. Whilst they did wipe out one squad and the Librarian, this was what my 'usual' five-man squad would do. I should have sent them down one flank to take out the sniping heavy weapons. Here, they would not have been taking so much fire, and would have swamped any squads they charged.

Doris' Diary

Although we have still not reached Weatherby, Boris and I have travelled and seen things you wouldn't believe. Cyrodill is a far more beautiful, and dangerous, place than I had realised.

The Oblivion crisis is over, it would seem. Whilst we knew Zauna was somehow involved in closing the gates, and knew she was something of a hero to the people of Kvatch, it is only now that I have realised just how vital she was to our victory. She left us a couple of weeks ago at the house in Skingrad. A nice place, paid for from her adventuring as a retirement home. She seems to feel the need to keep things on display, perhaps she grew up with very little of her own, and likes to remind herself how things have changed for her. Anyway, she has left on her own a few times before, usually for no more than a day or two at the most. This time she was gone for nearly two weeks. We had begun to worry, but she turned up. Somehow she was different than before. Darker.

I didn't find out until later that she had been part of a plan to destroy the great gate outside Bruma, and went on to Imperial City where she fought side-by-side with Chancellor Ottoca and Emperor Martin before Akatosh materialised and saved everyone.

We've seen the dragon statue in the Temple District, and find it hard to believe anyone there survived at all. The statue of Zauna in Bruma (take a look if you go there, it's near the north gate) has really captured her likeness.

Oh, I forgot to add - we have a new member to our little group. After Zauna's success in the Arena to become Grand Champion, there's this fan who seems to adore her. However, he's a complete pain in the backside. Always jumping around fawning after her and generally getting in the way. He's a total coward as well, and runs away at the first sign of trouble. Instead of telling him to beat it, Zauna seems intent on letting him stay. She loses her temper with him occasionally, and thumps him if he gets in the way. Doris and I are plotting on ways to get him into trouble - watching him jump into lava or waving his torch around in a cave to act as a decoy to the monsters inside. It keeps our spirits up.

Weatherby still awaits us, but Zauna has said it is not far now.