My 1st round of Shadow War!

o/

As the title says, this past weekend was my 1st try at the new Necromunda 1.3 Shadow War! Having three players, Bob, Screech and myself, we tried out the Grab the cache scenario. What follows is my usual photo-dump/pseudo battle report.

Da Long Ways Dezert Groop deploys for battle.

Wait, wah? Screech is...is, advancing?!?

On my first turm, the (now named) 'Mo Dakka' pumps a stream of big shoota rounds at Bob's team leader, taking him out of the game before he ever got to move!

Da boys spread out, shootas blazing!

Screech's Space Wolf scouts do the same.

Note the scouts alarmingly effective camoflage!

On his 3rd turn (of continuous shooting) Mo Dakka made his 2nd kill of the game, emptying his big shoota's ammo drum into another of Bob's Cadians, scoring no less than 3 wounds!

lol, Screech's Scout rolled a '1' to hit!

Whereas all 3 boys, each shooting with an average of 2 shots a piece also all missed! So much fail in this building...

Sarge was taken down by an unseen scout, the other still failed to hit and was taken out when the remaining two boys charged and killed him! Also, and well after this point we had realized that we had forgotten about the automatic break tests when a model is taken out of action within 2" of another.

Bob and I observing Screech's bad rolling.

Shenanigan's in progress...

...requiring a consultation of the rules...

...Bob's not helping...

...until he got tired of us not finding the answer...

Moving on, I'm sure all of the confusion was caused by the notion of Screech's scout reaching the central objective FIRST!

Sarge's killer is taken down!

Mo Dakka, sprints towards the table's center!

It seems as though Bob forgot that this wasn't a squad based game, as his Cadians advance enmass.

Where he swiftly took 2 counters.

Da boys moved in close, gunz blazing and took down the grenade launcher gunner. Only to both be pinned in turn. Following this, we (as in Bob and I) realized the bottle test is at 25% casualties, not 50% as we had thought. Immediately thereafter we both promptly failed our tests, handing Screech a swift victory!

Welp, poor LD rolls resulting in Screech's sudden win aside (which Bob was a little less than pleased with), it was a fun game. As the battlefield debut of my WWII Orks, I'm happy with them racking up the most kills of the game...or at least I think they did. I didn't really keep count (because Orks, math...yeah about that), regardless it was fun and I look forward to playing some more in the future.

Urbie-Warfare!

Woot!

Rather than the usual 'Look! I painted (or only half painted) one mini...or I built a mini.' nonsense that I've been posting here of late. Instead with this post I have FOUR painted minis to show off! That's...like a whole month's worth for me (well, ranting aside)! Also Neverness, you can stop reading now as this is a Battletech post.

Purple Urbies!!!

Urbanmechs as you may well know are my favorite type of mech in Battletech and for the 1st time ever, I have a fully painted lance of them! These are painted in the colors of the Free World's League Militia, and whilst the FWLM isn't the most prolific Urbie user, their neighbor and frequent sparring partner, the Capellan Confederation is! Thus I'll be able to use them as pretty-much any available variant.

Kushial, the cars are perfect for basing if you haven't used them for anything yet.

The one with the plasticard base is my original urbie, and will always be the lance leader after its first shot ever fired took out a 100-ton King Crab (and no, I will never stop mentioning that glorious moment!).

Where the 30ton foot prints meets the road...

I'm rather fond of their bases, painting the rocks up as rubble, and adding in some 6mm scaled cars, it looks as though these urban defense mechs are doing a piss poor job of defending whatever city they're stationed in. I wanted to use my grey/black rubble flock, but apparently that's buried in the game room somewhere and I gave up on searching. Thus, it looks like this city had some green spaces before it was blasted into ruins!

Now, no promises I'll be productive before my next post, but there's always a chance...

We dusted off the X-Wing minis for a game.

Seriously, why did we stop playing this?

My 'BLT' Y-wings were rolling all hits (and exactly ZERO evades) almost all game! 

Its such a great game, it really is! Game night withered and died on the vine once again, and we relocated it to our house with our buddy Hoss. Following pizza, we each perused thru our various squadron lists, found one to each's liking, and played a three-for-all! Amy was running Empire and Hoss and I both had Rebels. Unfortunately, Hoss had a home emergency mid-game and to leave early.

After his two remaining fighters peeled off, Wolfy and I continued on. Eventually, the Empire was down to just Vader and Dark Curse, whereas I still had all 4 fighters. Seeing her line up for her trademark Imperial 'fuck you/flying off the table when all is lost' maneuver,  I tried to block Vader with a Y-wing, only to have it fly off the table instead!

And just like that, Vader was gone! Dark Curse stuck around for another turn due to distance from the table's edge, but my nearest Y didn't have a prayer in catching up to Curse's TIE. Hell, I couldn't even get into range! Still, it was a fun game despite Hoss's early departure.

The new Age of Ultramar Marines

Image stolen from erion (or something like that) on the beasts of War forum.

Following the formal unveiling of the new Primaris Space Marines, the 40k followers on teh interwebz have lost their collective shit! Dozens of Facebook and blog posts (like this one) editorializing their thoughts on why the size change, or praising the true scale marines that should have always been, or raging whilst running the cash grab banner up the pole (again, as usual)! Sometimes they're just screaming in ALL CAPS about self-entitled snowflakes (whilst resembling the same such self-entitled snowflakes themselves) as in our gaming group's FB page...

Officially, the fluff has been retconned *updated* yet again. This time to fit new 'inventions' into the SM rosters, though admittedly these are far better than the previous putting a marine inside of a marine debacle of miniature design. I believe the narrative goes something like this: with the rebirth of the Smurf Primarch, the technologically stagnant Imperium of Man is once again on the invention train! First up: Roboute Girlyman is improving upon the Emperor's work!

HERESY! *BLAM!*

(The Inquisition knows who approved of this notion and is coming for you if you did...)

Don't worry folks! GW's Marketing department has said:  You're army isn't obsolete...unless of course you read the following line below from the 1st link above: 

"...Some, Guilliman has forged into new Space Marine Chapters, whole brotherhoods comprised only of these new warriors..."

Hmmm...odds are they'll just stop making the old 'little' marines eventually and well then again maybe your space marine army is obsolete after all. Unless of course the sudden eviceration of decades of fluff (wherein both the successors and surviving legions-turned-chapters of the other primarchs, who rightfully venerate their's above all others, and none of whom would ever degrade their precious geneseed with the addition of Girlyman's no matter how beneficial...) doesn't matter to you.

Commencing fluff rant in 3...2...eh, nevermind.

Yeah, seriously, I don't care. My primary marine army is made of 30K Alpha Legionnaires. True, I'm sure they'll give the new, 8th ed-Age of Ultramar a try as good ol' CSMs. But I won't be rushing out to buy a whole new army to replace my existing one. Besides, they're chaos not loyalists right? 

Sorry ebay, but you can't have these!

Well, rumor has it the new Deathguard will also be primaris sized (apparently Nurgle's boys needed more cow bell too!), and that chaos has gotten bigger marines as well. Sing it: Retcon, retcon-yeah we're moving on. 

Ooh! I know: Fabius Bile did it! Yeah! Let's blame that guy! Or hell, the warp actually warping the bodies of the marines whom are directly exposed to it does have a ring of obviousness doesn't it?

Sure I could see a few of these new Primaris marines popping up in my Alpha Legion ranks because, well, we've infiltrated every fucking marine army anyways by this point, right? Well that or I was thinking one of the new bigger marines would make for a cool Alpharius/Omegon conversion. More of a paint job than a conversion as all I'd have to do is scrape off that infernal aquila on his chest plate. The FW fluff books discount the Alpha Legion's twin-primarchs as false rumors anyways, so its not like Omegon will get an official mini any time soon if ever. That and it'll be easier than converting a Sigmarine into Alpharius as so many AL players do currently.

I also have the last dregs of the Rainbow Warriors who fall into the 'ACCESS DENIED.' category of SM chapters. Indeed, the Imperium as a whole would seem to agree that they'd best be left as forgotten. As such, I doubt ol' Girlyman will be offering them any of these new marines, even if they are/were the only successor chapter of his with a girly name! 

So, as such my 2 existing marine armies are pretty much exempt from this new fad aside from maybe picking up one or two for counts as primarchs. 

My suggestion for anyone starting a new army which already consists of (invariably unpainted) 'regular' marines? Might I suggest the Black Dragons? Always a favorite of mine, this mutant bunch has had geneseed instability issues since the beginning, sometimes resulting in oversized marines (among other things), so sprinkling a few of these new primaris marines into the ranks is if anything: completely fluffy for them! 

As a closing thought on the subject: I do wonder that if these new marines make the old go the way of the ancient Thunder Warriors (albeit with vastly superior resources with which to fight), could GW be setting the scene for an eventual 2nd Space Marine Heresy?

I've been pondering Battletech again...

o/

Battletech is a game we play only vary rarely. Mainly as games (often fought till one side has been wiped out) seem to take forever to conclude. That said, I really do enjoy the background fluff, indeed I'm currently reading the 1st Succession War PDF. Normally we play at the 8000 point mark which isn't much to be honest, rather mechs can really absorb a lot of punishment and keep on going.

Looking to thwart the issue of endless games without conclusion (my longest to date clocked in at 12 hours or so before I threw in the towel and told my opponent: You win, now get out, I'm done! (or something to that effect). I thought I'd try devising a scenario of my own for a future game, where total annihilation shouldn't be the objective. Instead escaping an ambush intact is! Or...at least having my unit commanders do so.

So here's what I came up with:

Backstory:

TBAGers, the resurrection! (following their 15mm demise)

The 3rd Succession War has been raging for years, luckily though your backwater world has come thru unscathed until now. Your Successor House/Periphery Realm’s* mortal enemies have sent a mercenary battalion (insert whichever here, but in this particular case) known as The Buffet Assault group (TBAGers) on a raid to strip your planet of whatever military stores it can find. As you ready your militia forces, you research your adversaries only to discover that the TBAGers have a reputation for employing simple, mob-like tactics and suffering from consistently mediocre leadership. Odds are, this raid will prove to be no different…

Landing unopposed, they quickly established a beach-head around their drop ships. The TBAGers' primary combat companies have aggressively moved towards their objectives brushing aside what little resistance that could be mustered in their path. Even though your militia units reacted quickly, they are too lightly armed to deflect the oncoming horde. However your scout lance has spotted an opportunity that could throw this entire raid into disarray…

Overconfident, the TBAGers combat elements are all but running amok, while your scout lance has reported that their command company is advancing at (quote) ‘a leisurely stroll’. Sensing an opportunity for a decapitation strike, you’ve let the main force bypass unawares, whilst your remaining militia wait in ambush for the TBAGers' commanders to blunder right into the kill zone!

————————————————————————————————————————

Scenario:

8000 points per side, all level 1 technology. 

This variant will lose that torso
mounted cannon and gain a...um,
backpack?

The attacker (TBAGers) need their command units to escape the ambush and link up with the main raiding force. The ‘command units’ consist of a Cyclops CP-10-HQ**, and three ‘Command Squads’ of infantry, each mounted in their own transport vehicle. 

The TBAGers need to get the Cyclops and at least one infantry squad to escape the ambush via the opposing player’s table edge in 6 turns (or less) to win. If only one of those two escape, the game is a tie, if none escape then the defender wins. 

Due to the confusion caused by the ambush, the defender automatically has the initiative, and no TBAGers units may advance faster than cruising speed in the first turn.  

————————————————————————————————————————

* Yes its kind generic, but anyone can plug whichever locations/factions they like. 

**The Collapsable Command Module carried by the Cyclops is anything but tech level 1, however it never actually comes into use during this scenario.

****

Currently I lack the infantry and their transports as well as the requisite Cyclops mech needed to try this out. However Kushial and I will trade an Awesome for a Cyclops when next we meet, and I already have the rest selected for purchase. I'm just waiting on a few ebay sales to finance them. Once all of that is complete, I hopefully will be able to schedule a game and give this a try!

The Cataphractii are plodding along....

I mean that literally.

This week I only managed to build two! 

Still...progress is progress, even if its only at a snail's pace.

Neverness NEEDS a challenge!!!

My buddy Neverness' blog has hit the 6 year mark (approximately) and he's giving away a Space Marine painted by him! Okay, so you can get it as is but where's the fun in that, right? He's a very talented painter (art school does that to you) and as such, I think what his post is really about, is the want of a new 'challenge' (aside from finishing a project in a timely manner, snicker...).

Here's some suggestions that you can give him if you win:

How bout a marine painted in the original Tiger Claws' color scheme?

(((shudder)))

Or a marine painted up in chocolate chip or some other camo?

Yeah this would suck...

Or, if you really want to twist the screws, how bout one of his FAVORITE chapters: have him paint up an ANGRY MARINE!!!!

They're so angry, they don't even care about typos in their memes!

So head on over and fill up his comments section with your favorite of his posts and get entered into a fun little contest as well. Congrats Neverness!!

(Oh and uh...lol, you're welcome buddy!)

The curious life of a Forgeworld rhino upgrade set

o/

The base of the Praetor in my prior post got me thinking about the Rhino door on which that mini stands: a ‘leftover’ Forgeworld piece. How does that happen anyways?

In the end I think this was one of my better FW purchases.

Like many geeks wanting a prettier rhino, I bought the Imperial Fists’ rhino door upgrade kit for my old Iron Hands army (the demise of which pre-dates this blog, 4th ed 40k i think). I had to buy the Imperial Fists set as at the time, Forgeworld didn’t make any Iron Hands upgrade kits. Wanting to spread the love around, I decided to put the front plate on a predator and the doors onto a rhino. 

I've recycled this pic soooo many times...

The predator served its army (fully painted) till the Iron Hands’ eBay sale, but stayed behind, as did the as-yet unpainted Rhino. The Predator was repainted in the colors of the Dark Hands space marine chapter, an Imperial Fists’ successor and garnered great renown (in my opinion anyways) when it got an honorable mention in an Atlanta Gamesday golden daemon competition's 'open' category (I forget the year). The fact that it did so whilst being a repaint made it all the better!

The Dark Hands didn’t stay around too long, also going the way of eBay (but I will note that the new owner messaged me asking for instructions in hopes of matching the army’s paint scheme which made me quite happy). Once again, the predator stayed behind, and except for a brief stint with the Subjugator’s chapter, it remains in a display case. 

It seems that the Honorable Mention was to be this tank’s downfall, as it was often targeted first for that specific reason alone, as more than one opponent told me…the bastards! 

As for the doors, I decided to add an allied Crimson fists’ squad and rhino to one of my armies, I forget which, but possibly the Dark Hands. Only a few minis were painted (the rhino only partially) before I tired of painting that color scheme (adult ADHD for the win)!

The half-painted Crimson Fists’ rhino’s only notable action was when it was parked in plain sight in one of my grandmother’s dollhouses, yet remained unseen for 4 days! She was not happy when on removing it there were (quote) ‘tank tracks in the carpeting!’

Not this tanks' best view, but no doubt Neverness will recall its demise with glee!

I believe that it was during mid-to-late 5th ed 40k when Da Long Wayz Dezert Groop itself took possession of the rhino and konverted it into a looted wagon with a BOOM gun! Its (somewhat reliably) served with them ever since, though during the ‘konverting’ stage, one door was popped out to be replaced with a plain door bearing an Ork icon, and it landed in purgatory my bitz box where it bounced around for some years. 

Well, at least one of them got an Imperial Fists paint job.

Skip forward to the present (late 7th ed) and I took this last remaining Imperial Fist rhino door and ‘battle-damaged’ the hell out of it for the very short-lived Captain Woo, of Word Bearers’ fame. Woo died before painting, only to be replaced by Praetor T, who now stands upon this last rhino door.

Sorry if this was a bit long-winded, but the recollection that one upgrade kit was split between 3 different models, for three different armies, over the course of 3 different 40k editions amused me, and I thought it needed telling. 

Alpha Legion Cataphractii Praetor is complete!

o/

Despite his skin tone, he's been dubbed 'Praetor T' after his paint job survived unscathed from a fall into a (mostly) empty glass of iced Tea!

Overall I’m quite pleased with the mini even though the gold doesn’t match my Asirnoth mini. That means I undercoated the gold on that model with something else (Averland sunset perhaps?). Oh well. It looks fine as is, and I won’t be painting any more gold till I buy something else!

My Beloved Wolfy is especially fond of how they cloak's decal came out. Mind you that was the second one as the first attempt met in dismal failure (and was accompanied by a considerable amount of profanity!).

Evidence of yet another combatant on this mysteriously
red-sanded nightmare of a world!

Cleansing the galaxy of the Imperium's allies, foes and xenos invaders alike is a dirty business, and as such his armor is quite dirty as per my usual preference. I’m also really fond of how his base turned out! He’s standing upon what’s left of an Imperial Fists’ Rhino door. Its a leftover Forgeworld piece (and how does that happen?) and leaves little to the imagination as to the fate of the Rhino from whence it came…

With this guy out of the way, Its back to Cataphractii Terminator assembly for me!