Names

What is in a name?

When I started out gaming, the first time I have to choose a nick for myself was when I played Diablo.

Then, the name I chose was Pelleon, which was a misspelling of Pellaeon, from Timonthy Zahn's Star Wars Trilogy.

Pelleon was my Paladin. Which was apt, as Pelleon from the book series is a loyal, honourable man. Funny how, the names we use creates for itself its own back-story.

Then I played MageWars, and used Pelleon as my nick also. But in the process, I created a new nick, a new character. JaeRoler.

This gaming nick stuck with me as it was the first name that I created out of thin air.
JaeRoler is a mage. Someone steeped in the arcane arts. I used him elsewhere also, but to me, JaeRoler has always been one that steps around with a field of arcane power.

JaeRoler came with a backstory too. He is a powerful master of the necromantic arts, who was once a general. He was a general in the service of a young queen whose small kingdom faced much threats, from within and without. As events unfold, the queen drew men of calibre to her side and help her defend and expand her rule. These are the 48 of which JaeRoler was one. But dark clouds swirl as the queen became more and more embittered by the continous carnage, until one black day, she delved deep into the forbidden lore and begged for the powers of darkness to aid her.

It would seem that at this point, the 48 would turn against her new demonic form. But 12 of them remained loyal to her. And JaeRoler is one of the 12. As a result, he turned to the dark arts too for their powers and became a necromancer. Although the queen and her 12 loyal generals were finally defeated, JaeRoler's body was never recovered from the carnage and remains to this day, missing.

Another character that I liked to use is Luc'viel, a character I created for my Warhammer games. Luc'viel is a Dark Elf of noble blood, and used as my general commanding my dark elf armies. He is the 3rd son of a baron, and is impetous, desiring to win battles and bring glory to himself, so that he can be made a noble in his own right.

Luc'viel fits in the way I play warhammer. Fast, mobile, hits strong and direct. It was something drilled into me when I played against Daniel's dwarfs. And it stuck.

I also used Luc'viel for my assassin in Ragnarok Online, and in doing so, created the other 2 brothers for him. Luc'varl and Luc'vane.

When I played KoL, i used the name Eman Retcarahc and Ravolyn.
I used Eman nowadays to register for websites bah?

Then I watched Legend of the Galactic Heroes, and got immersed with the generals under Reinhardt.

Of these characters, Mecklinger, Bittenfeld and Steinmetz stood out to me, and to a part Eisenarch. So I used their names when playing WoW.

But all in all, JaeRoler remains the me that I want to be.

What a month....

The month of October is so frigging a mess.

So many things happened in the space of 4 weeks that some things are a bit hard to digest.
I'm looking forward to the end of October. Hopefully November clears some things up.

Life is a freaking roller-coaster ride. There were so many ups and downs, twists and turns.
Sometimes I am left questioning the meaning of life. Sometimes i am left questioning what's the whole bloody point.

Yet no one is to blame for how the things collide. No one can be blamed for how things turned out. Yet people felt hurt. People felt sadness. People cried.

I felt happiness. I felt sadness. I cried. I felt despondent. I felt uneasy. I felt flabbergasted.
I felt speechless. I felt disappointment. I felt despair. I felt hurt. I felt that there's really no point.
I felt that there's really no hope. I felt happy. I felt sad. I felt 'good riddance!'. I felt lost.
I felt worry. I felt at ease. I felt troubled. I felt shock.

In the very end, perhaps the answer was still...



42.

Civ 5 and others

4 games played on Civ 5.

1 game on easy and 3 on normal. What have I learnt? Cultural difficulty cannot be achieved through keeping ur empire small despite the original game design.

A small empire means a small income. A small income means only a small army can be maintained.

And with only a small army, the bigger fishes want to play rough as the incentive is there for them. They have bigger armies, bigger budget surpluses and more tech points per turn, meaning better types of troops.

Playing aggressively militarily makes life in Civ 5 so much easier.

On to other things.

I am not one who believes in the latest gadgets or expensive wallets as regular gifts. Once in a while, I don't mind, but not too often. The biggest gifts I can think of that I can give, is my heart, and a home to call our own. =P

Ode to Chariot

Speed is thy name,
Aggression is thy game.
Cold is the steel,
Lance that pierces through.

Without further ado...

I think Defu and YC wants to see my new list. So here it is :

Lvl 4 Supreme Sorceress (Shadow)
Dispel Scroll

DE Noble Heavy Armour / Shield / Sea Dragon Cloak / Lance / Cold One
DE Noble Heavy Armour / Shield / Sea Dragon Cloak / Lance / Cold One
De Noble Heavy Armour / Shield / Sea Dragon Cloak / Crimson Death / Dark Pegasus

(Cold One Noble is 1+ AS, 0+ against shooting. DP Noble is 2+ AS, 1+ against shooting)

12 Dark Elf Xbx with Musician (for free reform)
11 Dark Elf Xbx with Musician

5 Dark Riders with Xbx
5 Dark Riders with Xbx
5 Dark Riders with Xbx

5 Cold One Knights Full Command
5 Cold One Knights Full Command
3 Cold One Chariots

2 Hydras


I used to run Lord on Cold One, Death Star CoK, support CoK, 3 Dark Riders and 2 Hydras.
This list is a hark back to that list, but without the Lord and Death Star.

Each Noble is now leading his own CoK unit, providing the threat on 2 sides. Concentrated fire can destroy each CoK unit but it buys time for the other to come up.

The addition of 3 Chariots to the list now that the S7 auto-explode is gone adds so much more tactical flexibility to this list as compared to my old list. I used to run Hydra Banner for its +1 attack to my front rank, which is an extra 5 attacks on S6. Now I trade that for S5 impact hits.

So what if Hydra's breath weapon is a 1-shot only now? I never did use the Hydra for its breath weapon. It's still my combat goddess. 7 S5 Eternal Hatred attacks. It may only be I2 so I smell lots of Purple Suns headed its way.

One of the most interesting part of this list is the Dark Pegasus Noble. He can fulfil many roles and is considered an extra to my army list. If he dies, no big deal. But he provides a very real threat to various people, and this is taught to me by Defu.

Sunglasses anyone?

Another slew of battles

I played 2 games yesterday, 1 against Yanxian's Slann and 1 against Defu's HE.

For the first battle, it roughly went like this, Slann managed to pull DE lvl 4 Supreme Sorc down into the Dwellers Below and nullified DE magic. DE Cold One Knights and 1 Cold One Chariot could only kill the skink priest and some skinks on top of the Stegadon, but could not bring the beast down. Counter charges by the Slann infantry block killed off the left flank. The right flank, the Cold One Chariots and Cold One Knights managed to deal some heavy damage to the Slann infantry block but cold-blooded rules allowed the Slann infantry to stay the fight.

After the Slann Mage-Priest dominated magic, it was game over for the Dark Elf.

What have I learnt from this battle?

Spearelf Infantry Blocks are useless as anything threatening but extra power dice for a Supreme Sorceress with a Sacrifical Dagger. Not enough oomph in them to carry the day against S4T4 Slanns. Perhaps against Goblins or Empire with their equal T3.

Chariots do work. Most of the damage I dealt came from my Chariots and their impact hits that smashed into infantry blocks. Against any other poorer infantry blocks, they would have carried the day. I could have broken the right flank Slann Infantry too if I did not roll double 2s for a 3+ armour save for my Cold One Knights. Those 2 combat res meant that I could not carry the right flank too and could have made the battle closer than it ended. But such are the whims of the dice gods.

I cannot out-magic the Slann Mage-Priest. Not with so many extra abilities and items. Metal hasn't made its impact on the game as I had hoped it would. I won't go so far as condemning the lore itself to the dustheap though. I do believe that it has its uses, just not against someone who outmagicked me.

The 2nd game against Defu proved my original thesis.

CHARIOTS ROCKS. BIG TIME.

He brought 7 Chariots (2 White-lions and 5 Tiranoc) against my 3 Chariots and the results showed.

The game ended fast and the main action occured between the Chariots charging each side wildly. T5 Chariots taking S5 impact hits will also die. When the dust settled and my chariots were left lying crumbled, the infantry blocks were swiftly dealt with.

Book of Hoeth wasn't as much a big threat as those 7 Chariots running wild amongst T3 5+AS infantry blocks.

In the end, massive infantry blocks still wasn't my style. It's probably a call for me to return to my roots. The roots hammered into my playstyle by Daniel, the fast mobile army of multiple Dark Riders and Cold One Knights running wild.

A lvl 4 Supreme Sorceress is still necessary though as her +4 to dispel is necessary to counter an opponent's wizard. But I'm beginning to feel that against races that are better in the magicks than Dark Elf (or possibly just that Book and the oversized toad), I'm better off treating her as a scroll caddy and put my faith in good old steel.

But hey, if YC decides to bring his Skaven or Vampires into the field, she might become important again.

On a sidenote, my new list is out.

To be a better man

I need to be, I have to be.

Layton's EVIL grasp.

That's right, a big bold capital EVIL.

Courtesy of my friend's NDS that I'm helping to increase her collection of games, I've been using it myself to play a few games. The end result is that I'm still aching to buy a console to play with, especially during those long waits in Civ 5 that happens during the late-game. (Yes, it takes more than a min for the AI to play out its moves on those huge maps in the end-game. Too many units to direct I suppose?)

I entered the world of Prof Layton on a whim under heavy recommendation from CM. Truly, the game is good. But it does confirm something that I have subconsciously known. I suck with visual puzzles. Give me a worded puzzle or a logic puzzle anytime, but visual puzzles stump me.

I'm so bad with it that I had to resort to using walkthroughs to get through particular visual puzzles.

Now if Sakura Taisen releases games for the DS soon, I might consider getting a 2nd hand DS. Heh.

2nd Post-game Thoughts.

Another battle, another insight gained, another point mused.

Despite all that "000h-aaah" over the Black Guards in 8th Ed, I seriously felt that they have not being pulling their weight. ASF + Hatred is deadly against MSUs which crumble against the I6, 2 attacks per model. But the real meat that I want to chew are those infantry blocks.

Step-up rules means that for every 10 basic infantry model I kill, another 10 step into their place and force me to make my own saves. With only a 5+ save, that's not enough. Sad to say, but Black Guards got nerfed a little bit in 8th Ed. Where we used to go I6 ASF on some infantry block and no one strikes back, now we feel the full pain of their strike backs and worse, steadfast rules means they are stubborn if they have more ranks than me. Cheap basic infantry blocks will definitely have more ranks than me.

Does it mean a return to my Hydra/Cok days of old?

I don't think so. My chariots now make their return in lieu of the Hydras, so people are now going to stare at 3 Chariots running around instead of 2 Hydras. Impact hits + T5 + 3+ armour save means they survive longer against those pesky infantry blocks than T3 + 5+ armour save Black Guards. I may not be able to break them on the charge, but I really do get to tie them down.

On the other hand, I have I5 cheap infantry blocks. @7 pts a spearelf, I can field a few of them in. HE may still overpower them since they have ASF (and free Hatred), but against any other army, I have I5 and Hatred.

Possibly 3 blocks of Spearelves (1 to take over from the Black Guards) and it will free some points for a 3rd Chariot on table.

Protecting the Supreme Sorceress will also be another thing to watch out for during battle. She hasn't survived any of the 8th ed battles yet so I need to work on protecting her.

Schools of Thoughts...

Many important philosophies had arisen in ancient China that formed the various schools of thoughts that we know.

They all argued that they have the 'solution' to saving a country, a society, a civilization but we all know that what they cherished may not be as perfect a solution as they proclaimed.

But that doesn't mean that what they preach is useless though, just that I feel that different philosophies have better application in some areas than others. For example,

Legalism focuses on the rule of law, which is good in empowering a country. How a society is to be governed and controlled.
Confucianism focuses on love of people, which is good in guiding one's actions. How one interacts with others to produce a harmonious society.
Taoism focuses on what it means to be, which is good in guiding one's life. How one achieves contentment and happiness amongst the mundane life that we face.

One cannot be the practicer of only one single school of thought.

Gaming and Econs

How come it feels like you need a diploma in economics to play certain games?

Cause that's exactly how I felt when playing Paradox Interactive's Victoria 2. Not that it's a bad game, it's actually very fun and interesting. But the way their econs work is not for the faint-hearted.

Usually games ship with this kind of design. Population gives you taxes. The higher your population, the higher the taxes you get. How your people get paid is not of your concern, but they always have money to pay their taxes.

But Victoria 2's system is different. Their population is divided into different class groups. You have farmers, labourers, clerks, craftsmans, bureaucrats, soldiers, officers, clergymen etc.

Farmers get paid when people buy their produce. Labourers, clerks, craftsman get paid when people buy manufactured goods. Soldiers, officers get paid by the government (that is YOU) and their salary is defined by how much you put into the defense budget. Bureaucrats and clergymen are the same, but is defined by the Admin budget and the Education budget seperately.

What does this mean?

If your taxes is low, and your government spending is high, what immediately comes to mind is to reduce the defense/admin/education budget to reduce your spending. But what really happens is that as your soldiers/officers/bureacrats/clergymen get lower salaries.....they pay lower taxes.

So lower spending = lower tax intake. And they get less money to pay for the goods they need from the farmers and labourers. And their tax contributions drop.

Which means I see a downward spiral in my economy once it gets in, and I cannot see how I can turn things around. Other than take massive loans while raking up spending to give people money to spend aka FDR and push the economy up.

Keynes, anyone?

Post-first game Thoughts

After the first game of playtesting, I've discovered some new things about my list. Some modification is in order.

With the Str 7 auto-explode rule gone for chariots, I will no longer be griefed by our resident beardy one or a Str 5 model holding a great weapon. Instead, Chariots make a return to the big scene, big time.

Chariots have Swiftstride, which gives them extra range as a charging unit. Impact hits give them a nice edge in combat, although the Step-up rule has reduced its effectiveness. Against MSUs, Chariots can be deadly. What's better than 1 Chariot charging into a unit and dealing impact hits? 2 Chariots.

I've been relooking into the magic schools and alas, I cannot take lore of Beast. Dark Elf is restricted to only, Dark, Fire, Death, Shadow and Metal. With a level 4 DE Sorceress, Fire and Metal seems encouraging. A few spells from Metal seems fun.

The signature spell Searing Doom ensures that any knights facing me starts to shiver in their collective boots. Even chariots with 3+~4+ armour saves start to worry. It's less useful against horde armies, but elite troops beware. With 2D6 wounds on a 20+, even pesky warmachines start to worry.

Plague of Rust reduces armour saves, so it's not supposed to work in tandem with Searing Doom. But it gives my charging units an added edge in combat.

Enchanted Blades is good for me, letting my warmachines or other shooters gain an edge. RBTs on a 3+ to hit anyone? (2+ for short range!)

Glittering Robe gives my units an extra 5+ armour save that can be combined. So my honour guard of spearelves (shielded) has the chance to become 3+ armour save.

Gehenna is less useful but it's a direct damage spell character killer. They get Look-Out Sir for each hit but a series of good rolls and I get to knock at least 2~3 wounds. This spell is especially useful against Characters mounted on a monstrous mount or even a Dragon. They don't have Look Out Sir rolls and even a T7 dragon is wounded on their armour save. Useless against Giants, but there's other weapons in the arsenal to deal with that.

Transmutation of Lead is the other part of the Enchanted Blades, reducing the effectiveness of the opponent's shooters.

Final Transmutation is supposed to be the horde killer. 36" range, every model dies on a 5+, no saves, not even ward saves allowed. That 40-rat Clanrats unit bearing done on me will start to lose some drops in the ocean early early on.

And the new Army emerges... DE 2250

Now that the real onslaught of the 8th Ed fever is upon us, time to retool a new list.
This is a test list to see how the army works with the new rules.

General
Lvl 4 Supreme Sorceress
Tome of Furion
Sacrifical Dagger
Pendent of Khaeleth

Noble
Armour of Darkness
Crimson Deat

5x Dark Riders w/ RBX x2

10x CrossbowElf w/ Musician x2

30x Shielded SpearElves w/Full Command x2

31x Black Guards w/ Full Command
Banner of Hag Graef

Cold One Chariot

Cold One Chariot

2x RBT

This is not the Old Guard...

...because they are not. These are not the Victrix models but the ones from Perry Miniatures.

I haven't assembled the Victrix ones yet.

These are French Line Infantry models from Perry Miniatures. They are as tall as the GW ones but not as fat. There are a LOT of extra heads in the sprue. Apparently, I can cut off the heads off the models and then cement in the extra heads. And some of those heads are damn nice.

At this moment, I won't. But I might use those heads for the next few boxes (intent already there) to bring out some different characters.

On another note, I played another Fantasy game yesterday impromptu. I used the Skaven rulebook and YC's models. The highnote of the game came right off the start when the Greyseer tried to grow whiskers on Teclis (oh what fun if that spell actually IF-ed on 9 dices rolled.).

The game brought back a lot of fond memories. Fond memories of me and YC pairing up. Us two are the well-known fluffers in dice-rolling, which created many hapzardous and eventually hilarious results for our armies. The misfiring Warp Cannon which did a Death Ray stunt on the entire battleline (ours) and many others.

Skaven is a fun army to play, as long as your aim is not winning. It's too random for some but you will always end up with a good laugh while playing. I should borrow YC's Skavens more.

The Eagle Has Landed...

Word has come in that my Imperial Legion has arrived. That's right, the Old Guard is here.

Tml I'll rush off to meet the guys and collect them, then I'll have the time of my life putting them together. Muahahaha.

Withdrawal Symptoms...

On the same day that I finally grabbed the chance to play against Nids, I also grabbed a game against YC in 8th Ed Fantasy. 1k Points. I was using a hastily drawn up DE list and YC was using a hastily drawn up HE list by Defu. The game was to let me get some knowledge on the changes in 8th Ed.

What an eye-opener the game was.

The changes are in a few rules of the game, but these rules have made the game so different.

One of the most core part of Fantasy was Charging, and now Charging is randomised. No longer does our experienced eye gives us the ability to decide if a charge is possible. With the 2D6 implementation, the success of a charge now lies in the luck of my roll.

How it really really affects our meta-game still bears testing out. But can Fantasy gamers recover from a failed charge that resulted from a bad roll? Things become more fast and furious.
HE is really boosted in 8th Ed. ASF now gives them hatred as well as they get to re-roll failed hit rolls if their Initiative is equal or higher. This makes Swordmasters ridiculously nice. Hatred + high WS + ASF + Str 5 + 2 attacks each = Yes Sir, may I have more?

YC used to complain that he prefers Hatred to ASF. Now HE gets both. This makes it more important for DE to get the ASF banner for our unit-killer. ASF will cancel each other out and we still get our Hatred. I guess my CoK won't get retired any time soon. Or maybe it is time for my Black Guards to step up to the batter's mound.

For HE, Dragon Princes with their I6 also appears attractive. MSUing Dragon Princes/Swordmasters may reap benefits while I only have one ASF banner.

Magic is also fiercer now, and bringing a decent-levelled Wizard seems to be a must now, if only to get the bonus to dispel to cancel the opponent's bonus to cast.

I went to PI (which was nearby) after the games and was seduced by something innocuously mild.

MUNCHKINS!!

Since CM has the card game, I went ahead and bought an expansion set to go along with his. I'm looking forward to getting some games with him and Eileen. Backstabbing is back with a vengeance. =D

Together with the introduction of RPG-ness into my life, I began to suffer from withdrawal symptoms. It's been literally months since I had immersed myself in RPGs. The current game of the month is Starcraft 2, but I've already completed the campaign and is now in multiplayer mode. And this is after a month of playing Civ 4 Colonization and a few months of Civ 4 HoTK mod. And the game before this was Anno 1404.

I need a Dungeon Crawler and I would love for anyone to recommend me a good Dungeon Crawler that I can sink into. One that has replayability and random rewards. Already, Diablo 2 has started its beckoning to me. Perhaps I may re-install this excellent game...


Now.

First game against Nids.

Finally back in action this month, and first game against Raymond's Tyranids. It's a new enemy and I totally relished the chance to get claws sinked into my men.

Raymond asked for a 1k game as he was preparing for a tournament (that involved plenty of MIG - Mech IG) and so I obliged.

The MIG list that I took was :

CC Squad - 4 Meltas - Chimera

CC Squad - 4 Meltas - Chimera

Vet Squad - 3 Meltas - Chimera

Vet Squad - 3 Meltas - Chimera

3 x Banewolfs

Raymond's Nids had :

2x Tervigon

2 x 2 Hive Guard

1 Doom on Malan'tai

2 x 8 Genestealers

1x 10 T.Gaunt Brood

Mission : KP
Deployment : Dawn of War

I deployed 1 CCS and the 2 Melta-vets mid-table and Raymond reserved everything.

Turn 1 came and went with nothing happening. IG units came in to take the midfield. Nids came in the Tervigons which sprouted more Broods. 1 rolled double 5s and had its *** jammed. Hive Guard shot nothing due to Nightfight rules.

Turn 2, IG tried to thin down the ranks of the Gaunts providing cover for the Hive Guards. Nids came in DoM behind the Vets and 1 Genestealers swarming in from outflank ready to eat sardines. Spore immobed 1 CCS Chimera. Hive Guards managed to pop open 1 Chimera and its Melta-vets came out. Doom leeched 3 more wounds off the Vets but rolled 6 for its D3. Genestealers fed well.

Turn 3 saw the IG melting the Spore down into goo. 1 Hive Guard failed cover saves and was melted. 1 Banewolf flamed the Genestealers down to 3. Nids came in last Genestealer which managed to wep destroy 1 chem cannon off a Banewolf. Hive Guards moved up but were useless. Tervigons finally came out of hiding to open cans. The 3 remaining Genestealers from the first batch immobed the Banewolf that flamed it.

Turn 4 saw the newly-introduced Genestealers chem-flamed away. 1 Hive Guard unit was finally fully removed after failing cover saves. Last remaining Genestealers were all melted to death. Doom came to eat a CCS that came out of a immobed Chimera. 1 Tervigon sprouted eggs but again rolled double 5s. No more bugs hatching. The same Tervigon popped open the last Melta-vet chimera, exposing the juicy bits inside. 2nd Tervigon ripped a Banewolf apart.

Turn 5 saw the last moving Banewolf tank shock the Tervigon out of its way and flaming 2 wounds out of the last Hive Guard unit. The juicy Melta-vets took down the last Hive Guard before been eaten by the hungry Gaunts surrounding them. 2nd CCS melted Doom into goo. Sensing KPs, the Tervigons went on a Banewolf-hunting spree, taking down the last 2 Banewolfs and an immobed Chimera.

Turn 6 saw the IG CCS melting down Gaunts, earning 1 more KP. Nids failed to claim 1 last KP when the CCommander threw 5 and 6 for 2 5+ invul saves.

Game ended in a draw with 8 KPs apiece.

The Elves have risen...

And my order of Mantic elves from maelstrom has arrived and collected.
Thanks to YC for ordering them using his account.

I have already assembled one of the boxsets, that is 20 spearelves, 20 bowelves, 10 scouts and 1 RBT.

I like the SpearElves. They may look obscenely thin as compared to other models, (looking more like skeletons of elves than the actual elves..), but their model looks nice. One thing I especially liked was that for the arm of the elves holding the spear, they created a clip on option. There's a round bit jutting out from where the arm is on the main body and the arms have a whole on them.

This allows you to basically clip the arms on and try out different poses, as well as swivelling the arms around to achieve different angles on the spears and thus different poses too.

One part I didn't quite like was that they reused the same body mold for the spearelves as well as the bowelves. Basically, the only difference between both is that one has a arm holding a spear and the other has a arm holding a bow.

One Pro I can think of having the body this way is that in the event I want more spearelves (since I have left-over arms), I can easily switch the bow-arms for spear-arms. Thereby changing the configuration of 50 from the 20-20-10 mix. But then the left-over arms I have number only 2 per box, so it will take a few boxes before it makes a significant impact.

But the con is that sharing the same body mold, they look the same. There isn't any elf doing the in the midst of shooting pose. And my bowelves all have shields. It seems like they created spearelves first, and then created the bow-arms as an afterthought to add variety.

The RBT was simple to assemble. It doesn't really have the same wow factor that the GW Dark Elf RBT had, but it suffices (since the HE RBT also didn't have any wow factors..). The GW Dark Elf RBT stands by itself as one of the best models out there.

I cast a cursory glance over my models from GW, and I note that other than my 20 Spearelves, 16 (or so) Executioners and 12 Black Guards, the rest I have are Cavalry. The addition of 100 elves into the mix would significantly boost the infantry numbers although only 50 is assembled now.

But now... I can't wait for my Napoleonic Guards to arrive.

Bloodthirst sated.

A bloodthirsty JaeRoler starved of blood is not a happy JaeRoler.

Thus said, after work got in the way for the past 3 weeks, I finally had another game with YC on Saturday.

I used the modified Psyker list and it worked to a certain extent. However, I'm still not sure how it would stand up to a shooty/twc-heavy Space Wolves list. Nor how it would sustain its fight against Daniel's Deep-striking Dante list. But it's the flavour of the month so I'll keep using it until I have fully explored its weakness.

I hear YC's call for a more balanced BA list though. Putting his faith in 3 assault-heavy squads that tries to get in close isn't working as well as intended. There's not enough bodies to survive a large template AP2 strikes. There's not enough firepower to force out my melta-vets earlier than intended so that they get chewed up in assault, rather than let them survive long enough to drop their demo charge.

Landspeeders seem to be the ideal counter. Especially when armed with both heavy flamer and multi-meltas. That means dropping the inefficient LandRaider and its cargo for more Rhino-backed troops and LandSpeeders. Playtesting is needed...so that means more battles? XD

Some of you probably know that I'm preparing to spurge on more Elves for the upcoming 8th ed. I just ordered through YC some 100 elven models from Mantic games for a cool 71 pounds. This includes 4 Bolt-thrower models which normally costs 15 pounds from GW. Each.

Their skeleton models look damn nice too. So I'm really tempted to buy a few as proxies just for the sake of their looks. But I'm not a painter so those skeletons might end up like my goblins, getting painted by someone else. (hehehehe)
(note to Daniel : I'm fine with pink hearts on skeletons so knock yourself out.)

YC drew my attention to Perry Miniature's 28mm Napoleonic war figures, since he knows I'm into napoleonic war miniatures too. What I didn't read properly before was the number of models per box. I thought it was the usual 20 for 15 pounds. A closer look revealed that it's actually 42 for the 15 pounds. Now that I'm in the splurge mood for the month, I should be picking up a few boxes. I have an aversion to metal miniatures so the hard plastic models fit me just fine. On the same note, Victrix also provides hard plastic 28mm napoleonic miniatures. Especially of interest to me is the 60-figure Old Guard set.

2 box of Infantry (1 each) and 1 box of Cavalry sounds just about right.

Modified 1.75k Psyker Battle Squad list.

So I've taken a relook at the list I created at YC's house.


The new list adds more firepower by dropping 1 LR Punisher (which I took just to dish out volume of fire) and the Primaris Psyker (which I still couldn't figure out how to throw at Space Marines) to add a Infantry Platoon with its requisite HWTs. I also dropped the Master of Ordnance as this list prizes mobility in my eyes rather than have the CCS sit in a corner and throw template.


So the new list looks like this :


Company Command Squad
Meltagun x4
Chimera


Veteran Squad
Meltagun x3
Demolitions Doctrine
Chimera


Veteran Squad
Meltagun x3
Demolitions Doctrine
Chimera


Platoon Command Squad
Meltagun x3
Chimera


Infantry Squad with Lascannon Heavy Weapon


Infantry Squad with Lascannon Heavy Weapon


Heavy Weapon Team with 2 Lascannon and 1 Autocannon


Heavy Weapon Team with 2 Lascannon and 1 Autocannon


Psyker Battle Squad with 5 more Psykers (total 9)
Chimera


Psyker Battle Squad with 5 more Psykers (total 9)
Chimera


Ratlings x10


Leman Russ Demolisher with Lascannon


Leman Russ Demolisher with Lascannon


So the idea of the list is to have the Melta-vets support the LR Demolisher in charging the front lines of the enemy. Right behind the Demolishers are the Psykers who are there to do Weaken Resolve on any enemy units affected by the Ratlings' Pinning or taken casualties by the Melta/Lascannons.

Fresh from Japan

Nisaus went to Japan recently for holidays and didn't forget to bring something he knew I would definitely love back.

That's right, those 2 Gundam gashaphons you see. Apparently they are new gundam suits from the newest series in the franchise, Gundam Unicorn.

Don't they look lovely?

They are also perfect as proxies for either Dreadnoughts or Sentinels hehe.

Another fresh round of battles

Played a few games at YC's place today, against BA and SWs as a welcoming party to Sam's return to our fold from the underside of the globe.

First game was against Sam's BA list which consisted of 4 Sanguin Guard units, Dante, Sanguinor and 3 Sanguin Priests (yep, total Sanguin fluffs.)

Won the game with the semi-footy list 6KP to 5Kp after Sam spent 3 turns trying to outflank through my refused flank. He suffered some hate from the dice gods, which ultimately cost him the game. First set of poor rolls was 1 Sanguin Squad getting wiped out in the first turn of IG shooting while moving past the building terrain (with windows), after I threw 3 rounds of Fire on My Target! on them (using HWT Lascannons) forcing his cover saves to be rerolled.
Then Sanguinor came in to eat 2 HWTs but got lased by a 3rd HWT. 1 More Sanguin Squad got melted/lased by a 4th HWT and some Melta-Vets.

2nd game was against Defu's Podding Dreadnought list which was quite a handful to handle. He dropped 3 Drop-pods with Dreadnoughts right in front of my lines in the first turn and proceeded to flame/melt the HWTs.
Time spent trying to melt and lase the Dreadnoughts down bought time for his Fleeting Thunderwolves to come in and feast. Once the Thunderwolves hit my lines, it was game over.

3rd game was again against Defu's DreadPod list. I had created a new list on the spot, using the Psyker Battle Squad/Ratling Pinning Combo to try and buy time.

The non-foot Foot List

After numerous calls to play a non-foot list, I have finally changed my basic list to have a bit more tanks in them.

1750 points

Company Command Squad
Commandant Lukas von Steinmetz
Major Winston Fletcher (MoO)
Liasion Officer Captain Fabian Leif (OotF)
Bodyguards x2
Grenade Launcher
Chimera

Lord Commissar Zhenkrov
Powerfist

Platoon Command Squad

Infantry Squad with 1 Meltagun x2
Heavy Weapon Team with Lascannons x5

Veteran Squad with 3 Meltaguns
Demolitions Doctrine
Chimera

Veteran Squad with 3 Meltaguns
Demolitions Doctrine
Chimera

Leman Russ Battle Tank with Lascannon x2

IG vs BA 1.75k Summary

Played a game against Daniel's BA list. His BA is totally different from YC's, involving Dante in an assault squad, and drop-podding assault squads and Dreadnoughts.

His list is :

Dante
Assault Squadx10
Sanguin Priest (this squad reserves)

Mephiston

Assault Squadx10
Drop pod

Dreadnought
Drop pod

Dreadnought
Drop pod

Death Coy
Rhino

Vindicator


Mission was Capture and Control, Deployment was Spearhead and BA went first.

IG used Creed's list again, but drops the infantry squads into 4 squads max, adds a vet squad that outflanks and adds Marbo. Vet Squad, Marbo and the Leman Russ reserves.


The game went basically like this.

Turn 1 :
BA drops dreadnoughts in front of the HWTs and attempt to flame them off. DC and Mephiston goes for broke towards IG positions.
IG destroys both Dreadnoughts, stuns Vindicator and wrecks DC Rhino.

Turn 2 :
BA Dante flies in, and proceeds to flame (3 flamers) Creed's CCS and deals 11 wounds, killing all but Creed. Last Assault Squad also drops in, divides into 2 Squads and shoots some HWTs. Mephiston eats a HWT.
IG fails to bring in any reserve. Creed moves away and the surrounding HWTs wipes out a 5 man Assault Squad.

Turn 3 :
BA Dante destroys more HWTs. Assault Squad is assault-blocked by a 20 man Infantry Squad and assaults in. Mephiston eats 1 more Infantry Squad. Creed dies to shooting.
IG brings in all reserves. Veteran Squad outflanks and goes to capture undefended BA objective.
Marbo pops up near Dante and demo charges his Assault Squad, killing 7 marines. Leman Russ comes in and templates Dante's squad.

Turn 4 :
BA Dante tries to destroy Leman Russ but fails with only 1 Wep Destroyed result. Marbo dies. Assault Squad eats the 20 man Infantry Squad. Vindicator tries to template Vet squad off but fails.
IG continues advance towards BA objective. More shooting fails to stop the BA from moping up the rest of the HWTs.

Turn 5 :
BA Vindicator again fails to template off Veteran Squad. 3 men Assault Squad captures IG objective.
IG Vet Squad melts Vindicator. Tries to contest IG objective with 1 last remaining HWT.

Turn 6 :
BA destroys Leman Russ. Finishes eating all troops on IG side of table.

Game ends in draw as IG claim BA objective and BA claims IG objective.


Outflanking Vets saved the day by claiming the undefended BA objective.
BA went assault mad and swept the IG side with deepstriking Dante and drop pods.
Marbo is crazy.
3 flamers in an deepstriking assault squad that doesn't scatter is very painful for IG foot list as they are AP 5 and ignores my cover saves.

IG vs BA 1.75k

After the massacre by our friendly neighbourhood Space Wolves, I've changed the list a bit.

Gone were 2 Infantry Squads, replaced by 2 Special Weapons Squad, 1 with demo charge and 1 with 2 melta to face YC's BA (Mephiston makes his appearance.)

Mission : Capture and Control
Deployment : Pitched Battle (again!)
All annotations are again from pov of camera.

Deployment : As per the Pics above.

BA has 2 Assault Squads in the 2 Rhinos below.

Assault Termies with Sanguin Priest in Land Raider Redeemer.

Mephiston deploys inside area terrain.

Baal Predator reserves.

IG has multiple Infantry Squads spread over. Creed is on the 2nd floor of the top building.

Special Weapon Squad with demo charge in reserve.

Turn 1 :

BA moves everything forward and pops smoke. Mephiston fails psyker test and takes 1 wound.

IG immobs Dreadnought. Seeing an unprotected Mephiston = 3 rounds of Fire on My Target! (successful cover saves must be rerolled) sees Mephiston taking another 2 wounds from AP2 Lascannons. 1 Infantry Squad and 1 Platoon Command Squad tries to move left towards BA objective.

Turn 2 :

BA Rhino tries to tank shock HWT but they pass their morale. Mephiston assaults and eats 1 infantry squad holding objective in forest. Termies disembark and eats a HWT.

Baal Predator comes in from reserve on top flank, flames 1 Infantry Squad and 1 Platoon Command Squad. Infantry Squad panics off.

IG Fires on My Target on Mephiston and kills him. Bring It Down! immobs Baal Predator and destroys 1 Flamer turret. Shots into LR:R and Termies shrugged off.

Turn 3 :

BA tries to tank shock more troops but failed to panic any off. Dreadnought stormbolters Platoon Command Squad (with 2 men left) into oblivion. Termies multi-charges an Infantry Squad and HWT and eats both. LR:R moves away to attack Creed's side of the flank (top). 1 Assault marine disembarks and eats the HWT at the bottom.

IG wrecks a Rhino with Bring It Down! More firepower kills 2 Termies that lost their Feel No Pain. (mistake on YC's part). Leman Russes tries to template as much marines as possible.

Turn 4 :

BA Assault Marines and Termies eat more Infantry Squads and 1 more HWT. LR:R moves into sight of 1 HWT. It shoots at the Leman Russes and gets a lucky pen, immobs 1 tank which wrecks due to squadron rules.

IG Bring It Down! wrecks LR:R with a lucky pen. Leman Russ continues to template marines.

Synchronised shooting sees Assault marines and Termies taking casualties.

Turn 5 :

BA eats last HWT and 1 more Infantry Squad through assaults by Termies and Assault marines. 2nd Assault marines moves to capture IG objective.

IG fails to template off objective holding Marines. Assault Squad with Priest wiped out through shooting. Termies shot to 1 Termie left.

Game Ends with BA holding 1 objective to IG 0.

IG vs SW 1.75k AAR

Before I add new battle pics into my camera, it's time to download the old ones and update the AAR.

Above are the 2 pics of the IG deployment and SW post-movement.

It's me (IG) vs Krom (SW)

Mission is KP and deployment is Pitched Battle.

Space Wolves has first turn

Pov annotations shall be from the viewpoint of the camera.

Turn 1 :

SW moves up the wolves guarding the Wolf Lord into terrain for cover. The 2 Landspeeders with Melta rushes around the top left building for cover against Lascannon, intending to melt/flame their way down the flank. 2 Dreadnoughts move along the upper firelane to get closer to IG lines. Razorbacks decide to stand and shoot.

First round of shooting sees SW forcing 2 HWTs to take morale (both failed) and 1 HWT totally eaten by 7 unsaved wounds.

IG tries to spread out but fails to deal any significant damage. 1 Landspeeder got its flamer destroyed and 1 Razorback stunned.

Turn 2 :

SW continues its shooting rampage with the Razorbacks. The 2 Landspeeders flies into difficult terrain to try and snipe-melt Leman Russ. 1 failed DT test = 1 wrecked Landspeeder. Snipe-melting failed to pen. Wolf lord gets closer.

IG shooting barrage manages to thin Fenrisian Wolf pack. Last Landspeeder wrecked. Rest of shooting still failed to do anything.

Turn 3 :

SW continues moving Wolf Lord closer. Razorbacks with TLLC managed to explode 1 Leman Russ which caught 11 IG troopers in the subsequent fireball. 1 unit of 19 troopers (left out of 30) promptly failed morale on a 11 and fled.

IG barrages kills off Wolf Pack and Wolf Lord is now alone.

Turn 4 :

SW Wolf Lord assaults into Creed and promptly had dinner. Razorback + Missiles + Murderous Hurricane accounted for 2 more HWTs. IG line broken.

IG tries to deal damage as it comes in but fails to kill off Wolf Lord.

Turn 5 :

SW kills off the Infantry Squads on bottom flank and IG concedes.

As stated in the earlier post, after the first round of shooting, I found myself short on firepower compared against the Space Wolves. I had 8 Lascannons left with the rest being lasguns. Volume fire can kill the wolves but not Dreadnoughts and Razorbacks. The Long Fangs were hurting the infantry with missile pies after missile pies.

This has prompted a major update to my list.

Baptism of Fire

So I tested my list against 2 Space Marine chapters today. I'll post the AAR later, but I'll just write my thoughts here so the AAR won't be so cluttered.

Playing against Defu's Razorbacks exposed a weakness in the list (which is always good to find out.)

There is a decidedly lack of ability for the list to recover against vehicles after the HWTs are spammed to death by missile templates. I lost 3 HWTs in the first turn of SW's shooting. Subsequently, lasguns shots are useless against vehicle armour. Defu's Razorbacks then proceeded to mope up the infantry squads with the HWT threat neutralised.

My deployment against Defu sucked terribly. I need to learn to deploy more efficiently and not waste the potential firepower by picketing here and there.

The list needs to adapt. Creed is useless when there is no one for him to order around. 1round of shooting was all it took for Defu to hammer my army into submission.

I dropped more infantry bodies against the BA in favour of some SWS.

The deployment against YC was improved as I decided to forgo the objective and instead deployed so that I can shoot at his troops trying to claim my objective.

So in the end, IG shot. And BA assaulted. The battle showcased how both armies worked I think.

In shooting, IG performed. My HWTs wrecked 2 Rhinos and 1 Landraider, immobed the Dreadnought and wep destroyed its stormbolter, immob and wep destroyed the Baal Predator that scouted in on my flank. The HWTs also killed Mephiston, dealing 4 out of 5 wounds to him (he suffered 1 wound failing a perils). Massed lasguns shot dead 1 librarian, 3 termies and some assault marines. LRBT templates and Master of Ordnance templates accounted for another 1 termie and some assault marines. BA basically had only the epistolary and sanguin priest, 1 termie and 2 assault marines on table at the end of turn 5. The dreadnought and baal predator was immobed and ignored. And this is after he had the first turn, moving everyone max distance and popping smoke in the first turn.

In assault, BA excelled. The Rhinos and Land Raider did their job, delivering their packages to the desired destinations intact. The 2 assault squads and assault termies ate 1 platoon command squad, 3 infantry squads and 5 of my HWTs in multiple charges/combat. 1 Sanguin priest and 1 assault termie was poised to assault the rest of my infantry squads and company command squad

Descent of Angels

Screams of the dying echoed in the air.

The Blood Angels and Space Wolves had dropped into an undefended cratered plain five klicks away. Establishing a beachhead there, their Rhinos had started to rumble forth towards the city. The Blood Angels led the assault from the front, whilst the Space Wolves hunted from the sides. The 13th Julian had deployed on the outskirts of the city, hoping to blast the Empire's advance to smithereens in the open fields. But Blood Angels are still masters of the assault, shrugging off the numerous blasts and gunshots, and plowed into the huddled ranks of the guardsmen, to do what they do best.

Killing, murdering, massacring.

The array of lascannon squads had melted away in the assault by Blood Angels, their crews firing their cannons to the last moment and died defending their guns. The smoking hulls of the Rhinos in front of them were testaments to their dedication.

Commandant Lukas surveyed the scenes of carnage. Lieutenant Morgan had done well. His well-drilled men had stood their ground and poured volleys after volleys of fire into the enemy ranks. He and his company had died well too, slaughtered to a man while defending their posts. They had taken an entire squad of Space Marines with them into the world beyond, including a vaulted Librarian. Morgan and his men will be missed.

"Commandant, Land Raider to the right." Major Fletcher brought Luka's attention to the present. A Land Raider, massive assault tank of the Blood Angels, had rumbled into view, its assault cannons firing wildly. A screaming whirl echoed in the air as a hidden lascannon squad sighted the Land Raider. Its shots tore its way through the thin air, trying to rend the armour off the Land Raider. The Land Raider's hull darkened as it absorbed the lascannon firepower. Then suddenly, the Land Raider shuddered as the lascannons found a weakened spot in its hull. The engine melted and exploded, throwing the Land Raider into the air as it imploded. A screaming Space Marine stumbled out of an opened seam in the hull as his body melted.

"Commandant, the battle is lost. They have taken the fields to the left." A lone figure strode into the room. Lord Commissar Zhenkrov pointed his gloved hand at the map strewn over the table.

"The Marines are now fast approaching this position from our exposed flank. Lieutenant Pagge's men are still holding their ground but they will not last long. I believe it is time we save what we can and retreat. Space Wolves Razorbacks have also been sighted in the hills beyond the outskirts. Their movement indicates that they are trying to envelop us. Delay, and we will be cut off."

Commandant Lukas considered the map for a moment. "Radio Captain Pierce. Tell him to get his tank company out of here. We may have lost this city, but the war continues. We will rendevous at the town of Mabec."

Lukas turned towards the window. Out there once lies a city glorifying the greatness of the Emperor. But his people had seen the truth. The truth of the corruption and manipulation that claimed the Emperor's legacy and perverted it. Now this corrupted Empire is here, to crush his people.

But not without a fight.

And a new Commandant emerges.

So it's probably time for me to let the fluff flow into my army. A name to that model overseeing the battles which I conduct (even if he kisses not bite the dust ever so often). And to commemorate that momentous(!!) event, I even have a new list drawn up, ready to battle against the misguided miscreants of the Communis- I mean Unholy Emperor. (I am after all, designed to be a traitor guard.)

And thus Commandant Lukas von Steinmetz is unveiled, commanding the 13th Julian Regiment, a small dusty planet (with two moons) on the outer reaches of the Empire.

The 1.75k list is as follows :

Company Command Squad
Lord Castellan Creed (Lukas using his rules)
Master of Ordnance
Officer of the Fleet
Bodyguards x2

Lord Commissar

Platoon Command Squad

Infantry Squad with 1 Melta
Infantry Squad with 1 Grenade Launcher
Infantry Squad x2

HWT with Lascannon x3

Platoon Command Squad

Infantry Squad with 1 Melta
Infantry Squad with 1 Grenande Launcher
Infantry Squad x2

HWT with Lascannon x3

Leman Russ Battle Tank with Lascannon x2

I need....

More games. That's a fact.

And against more types of armies too.

There's so many armies that I have not faced yet. Tyranids, Tau, Necrons, various SM chapters. Another IG.

I've been facing off against SM/SW/BA, Eldar and Chaos. And it's been fun. But I think I need to test my lists in different situations against more armies. To have a feel of pain they can dish out and how I can handle them.

Apparently I'm American

After a do-1-or-don't-1 tussle for the past few months, I finally bought a box of Tamiya US GI Infantry 1/48 box. Inside was supposed to be 13 infantry models and 2 tank crewmen.

The bad news is that the 2 tank crewmen are missing their lower half and cannot be used for other purposes.

The good news is that the models at 1/48 scale are just nice to be proxied as troopers. As you can see in the pic above, they are thinner than the normal cadian troopers but stand just as tall. The poses are more varied too.

Other good news is that of the 13 infantry models stated, 9 are actual single models. The other 4 models are actually a machine-gun crew and a bazooka crew. So I actually get 9 troopers and 2 HWTs per box. All I need now are bases and I can draft them into my infantry platoons.

IG vs BA 1.75k AAR

As a follow-up to what YC posted in the batrep. But now with pics.
Terrain :

YC is on the left, I'm on the right. YC goes first.
Annotations will be from pov of this pic.

Deployment :

BA deploys 1 Assault Squad in Rhino behind bottom-most building.
1 Assault Squad in Rhino deploys behind center building.
Sanguinor deploys in center.

IG deploys Company Command Squad in top-right forest, snaking 2 bodyguards out with the Commander.
3 HWTs deploy in forest, hill and side of hill around the Commander.
20 man combined Infantry Squad deploys behind the HWT on hill, wrapping it.
50 man Conscripts deploys in a toga line in front of everyone, snaking around the 18 inch away from BA units.
Platoon Command Squad deploys inbetween HWTs.

(The white templates are Lascannon HWTs)
(The long snaking line in the front is conscripts)

(The long snaking line at the back is a 20 man Infantry Squad)

Turn 1 :



BA comes in 1 Landspeeder Melta on bottom side to land beside the Rhino.
Bottom Rhino pushes up towards centre conscripts line and pops smoke.
Center Rhino pushes up towards topside conscripts line and pops smoke.
Sanguinor walks foward.
Baal Predator comes in on topmost corner.
Scouts comes in towards the bottom forest.
Dreadnought drops in front of Conscripts line.

(those wolves are also proxy HWTs)

IG 2 HWTs with 1 Platoon Command Squad comes in at the bottom.

2 Leman Russ comes in at center behind conscripts (in the space provided)

1 more HWT come in above LRBTs.

1 Lord Commissar comes in towards the middle of the 3 HWTs in the initial deployment.

20m Infantry links up with Lord Commissar to give him wounds.

First round of shooting sees the topside Rhino wrecked and the assault marines coming out.
FRFSRF by the platoon commander to the conscripts sees an insane 100+ shots pouring into the assault marines and 4 deaths.

Turn 2 :

BA topside Assault Squad assaults the conscripts with Sanguinor, drawing them nearer to the line but still failing to move them by much (only shortens it by 12 inch). Conscripts loses combat, runs and dies.
Dreadnought assaults 1 HWT at bottom, killing the HWT.
Bottomside Assault Squad disembarks, assaults bottom Platoon Command Squad and wipes them. Rhino speeds back into its own lines to deny KP.
Landspeeder speeds in around the bottom building to land side armour shots at LRBT with melta but fails to penetrate.
Baal Predator decides to hide behind buildings for the time being.

IG comes in 30 man Infantry Squad at bottom to lay down some Rapid Fire into bottom Assault Squads killing a few.
LRBTs push upwards to land some templates on Scouts in forest who promptly went to ground.
20 man Infantry Squad moves into position to pour FRFSRF into Sanguinor. Even a 2+ Armour Save did not manage to stop the volume of dice rolls that resulted in enough 1s for Sanguinor to eat 2 wounds. Follow-up Rapid Fire by Platoon Command Squad (9 shots) produced 1 unsaved wound for Sanguinor to die.
Bottom 2 HWTs immobs Landspeeder.
Top 2 HWTs wreck Dreadnought and saves LRBT from str 10 bloodfist.

Turn 3 :

BA Bottom Assault Squad shoots the HWT, breaking them and forcing them to run for their lives.
Top side Assault Squad assaults HWT in forest and eats them, consolidates into forest.
3 HWTs left.
Sanguinary Guards deepstrike in, tries to inferno the LRBTs but failed, dealing 2 Weapon Destroyed and 1 Shaken. 1 LRBT is now weaponless.

IG 30 man Infantry Squad continues RF into BA Assault Squad, killing a few.
More Rapid Fire into the top BA Assault Squad, wiping the unit out.

(IG Line secured after turn 4)

Turn 4 :

BA Droppod tries to kill squishies but fails. Baal Predator moves out into sight but fails to dakka dakka. BA Assault Squad assaults into 30 man Infantry Squad but draws. Sanguinary Guards multi-assaults 2 HWTs and eats both. 1 HWT left.

IG 30 man Infantry Squad draws combat with Assault Squad again. Bring It Down! to last HWT brings Baal Predator down (wreck). LRBT and 20 man Infantry Squad wipes out Sanguinary Guard.

Turn 5 :

BA last remaining Assault Squad finally eats 30 man Infantry Squad. (I lost by 1 but rolled 8 for leadership so failed by 1.)

IG LRBTs turn around to template Assault Squad into oblivion.

Turn 6 :

BA Scouts decided to save their lives and embarks into Rhino and flees.

IG earns 2 more KP by Bring It Down! the Droppod. LRBT template + lascannon produces 1 Weapon Destroyed and 1 Immob on Landspeeder, which combined with previous Immob = wreck.

Turn 7 :

Game ends as Rhino scoots to far corner.

PBI 1.75k List

Aaaand the PBI list makes its appearance.

It's not balanced or anything. The original list I made was illegal so I had to make some last minute changes. My original concept was to have 2 Company Command Squads issuing orders fast and furious while 2 Lord Commissars stand around and let the orders get through with their 6 inch leadership bonus.

With multiple HWTs and Infantry Squads standing in line, this means that any vehicles coming into sight becomes targets for Bring It Down! and the not-so-squishies that disembark from them comes under FRFSRF.

Realising that I'm restricted to 2 HQ puts paid to that concept.

So here's the revised list made on the fly (and used against YC's BA):

HQ -

Company Command Squad
Master of Ordnance (he instils fear in others)
Officer of the Fleet (to delay opponent reserves from coming in and give me more time to chew existing units up.)
Bodyguards x2 (to eat wounds)

Lord Commissar

Troops -

Platoon Command Squad Alpha

Infantry Squad x3
Heavy Weapon Team with Lascannons x3

Platoon Command Squad Beta

Infantry Squad x2
Heavy Weapon Team with Lascannons x3
Conscripts Squad with +30. (total 50 Conscripts on table)

Heavy Support -

Leman Russ Battle Tank with Lascannon x2

Which comes to a total of 1.68k pts. So I miscalculated (again) and forgot about the points for the dropped Lord Commissar.

The concept for this army is massed HWT and massed troops bubblewrapping.
There's a total of 6 HWT and that's 18 lascannons deployed on the field. At a rate of 2 HWTs dying per turn, it takes 3 turns of shooting/killing to deplete my lascannons. This gives me at least 2 turns of 2 Bring It Down! to stop enemy vehicles.

The Infantry Squads is used to bubble wrap objectives, HWTs and basically make a nuisance of themselves. If it is a KP mission, they combine squads to deny KP. If it is an objective mission, they are 5 scoring units by themselves.

The Lord Commissar is ideally to be placed within 6 inches of 3 HWTs. (4 if the terrain suits me.). He provides a leadership of 10 to any orders being issued to them and a leadership of 10 in case they need to take morale checks from shooting losses.
The Company Commander has a Command Range of 12 inch, so he is also nearby and has enough range to issue orders to 2 of these 3 HWTs.
The 3 HWTs need not be able to see the same target, since only 2 of them get Bring It Down! anyway.

The other 3 HWTs are placed where they are needed to add some Str 9 AP 2 firepower to the local firefight.

The Conscripts is the interesting part of the equation. Their original design is to eat wounds. For the Lord Commissar. This is acheived by them standing in 1 single line at the back, with 1 snaking line leading all the way to the Lord Commissar. Any shots/templates that comes the Lord Commissar's way gets diverted to the guy on the end of the toga line. It's a glorious death I heard.

It'll take time to use this list properly, and definitely time to deploy this list on the board (hehe).

The PBI

Inspired by another post detailing a Foot Slog army list, I have decided to revisit the Poor Bloody Infantry.

I feel that it has not yet been fully utilized and hope to create a list that is fluffy and fun to play, though I sense that ominous boom in the distance that signifies what the dice gods have to say.

A post on some special characters brought my attention to our Lawrence of Arabia-esque Capt Al'Rahem. For an investment of 70 points, I gain outflank for his platoon (but not the whole army as the post suggested). It'll add a new dimenion to the way the battle plays out, especially when some HWTs or SWS enters the field to contest objectives that were considered out of reach by my initial deployment.

Wargames History - Traitor Guard edition

Since YC (crazyrat) wrote his story about how he was inducted into the wargaming industry, I guess it would make a good idea to write a bit also, to share with each of us our own background.

I have to confess that I have always been a gamer (though not exactly the tabletop type).
It has always been my destiny to spend countless hours huddled, forming big armies and dreaming of epic battles.

My drop into the rabbit hole that leads to the fantasical world of wargaming started at a tender age of six, through an impulsive buy by my father while out for dinner one night as a family.

It was a packet of toy soldiers.

These soldiers were the normal WW2 toy soldiers you see once in a while, hanging by the packet or with a cardboard base (as mine was), colour coded in different countries. They are 1/72 size. Mine was divided into 6 countries, some 160 in strength total. I still have them with me, packed in a bag.

I spent countless sleepless hours in primary school with my plasticine, forming them into big models with toothpicks as either spears or guns.

As I entered secondary school, I stumbled upon the computer. Namely the Koei historical simulation series (RoTK, L'Empereur). Gone are the battles where twenty soldiers duked it out. An entire empire of armies led by renown generals are now at my disposal. My obsession with large armies continued with the Civ games by Sid Meier.

Even as I had deviated from miniatures into the virtual, I had continued my collection of 1/72 models. I knew this store in Katong Shopping Centre that sells models from my childhood times. It is presently still there. It is from this store that I grew my 1/72 army when my spending power increased, from knights to celtic warriors and napoleonic troops guarding artillery batteries (they number now in the 600s).

But Fate still has the last laugh. I met Daniel (The Beardy One) while serving NS as our offices were near each other. Chance has it that I met him again, in NUS, when I stumbled upon him in the same lecture hall. We began our reacquaintance. I mentioned to him one day about this new store in Katong that sells Warhammer Fantasy, the new GW store in Plaza Singapura and how I would like to one day game. It was then that he revealed that he played WHF before as a dwarf. My fate as a wargamer is sealed.

I browsed through the selection in the GW store, and finally decided to take on the mantle of a Dark Elf (6th Ed). My first GW buy was the Druchii Army Book and a box of 16 Spearmen.

I started my Dark Elf Army and never looked back, despite severe trauma in Daniel's hands (I still hold grudges against the Dwarven Gunline). Fate continues its IF rolls such that one day, I was playing with Daniel in one of the Engin Faculty tutorial rooms when Chan saw us one day. I think he was every bit surprised to see 2 Fantasy players playing using 6 desks as the battleground.

I met YC's Skavens and then was introduced to Raymond's Elves. It was also there that I met Yanxian and Sam. We began to game regularly at their place until they moved.

I continued gaming with Daniel and Sam with battles hosted in a variety of locations (floor gaming was my specialty since I did not have a table big enough for the board at my house). Then YC joined us back to game at Kenny's place and then over at his side.

I was the last person to enter 40k as I liked my spears and swords. But I finally did join as a IG as I liked the notion of tank armies plowing through the battlefield (my army lists is a hint).

YC introduced Defu to us and our gaming continues.

Will I still be gaming in 10 years time? You bet.
I will continue to battle, parley and beg with the dice gods years from now.

Wargaming is in my blood, my soul.

JaeRoler here, signing out.

2k BA/IG vs BA/SW

As promised, the links to the photos taken of the Battle Missions game.

http://picasaweb.google.com/117707184615144879014/29MayBR#

You can read the ramblings in the captions.

After-Action Thoughts :

SW is reasonably frustrated with his inability to inflict KPs. IG came in first turn to pummel the unit that is most reasonably poised to strike and then proceeded to eat up the SW units that were spread around and approaching piecemeal. His armour/invul saves were also exceedingly poor with many 3+ invul saves fluffed.

The terrain and deployment rules forced many units to come within melta range of each other very fast.

SW's army list is ill-suited for such Missions. Would have worked as the Attacker.

Daniel's assault marines were stuck inside an immob Rhino for most of the game and did not get near enough action.

YC's BA were baited by Daniel's BA and spent most of their time in top left (my pov) corner stomping their fellow BAs into the ground. they did not manage to disturb IG lines.

AGDOBAG

Another Glorious Day Of Blood And Gore

As you might have guessed it, there was another day of bloodied fields and darkened skies.

4 of us gathered round in the usual place for a gaming session.

We decided to play a game of Battle Mission of 2v2, 1k for each player.

We designed our lists first, then rolled to see who pairs with who, missions, and deployment.

I (Traitor Guards) paired with Daniel (Traitor Blood Angels) against YC (Blood Angels) and Defu (Space Wolves). I and Daniel decided on Space Marines Battle Missions and Daniel rolled to get Surprise Attack. YC and Defu deploys first and we will come in from the edge of table. It is a KP mission.

IG Army : HQ - Command Squad

Troops - Veteran Squad with 3 Meltaguns in Chimera

Troops - Veteran Squad with 3 Meltaguns in Chimera

Fast Attack - 2 Banewolfs with Multi-Melta and Dozerblades

Heavy Support - 2 LR Battle Tanks with Lascannon

Daniel's Blood Angels : HQ - Reclusiarch

Troops - 10 men Assault Squad in Rhino

Troops - 5 men Death Coy in Razorback

Fast Attack - 3 Men Scout Assault Bike

Elites - 6 Vanguard Veterans

Heavy Support - Baal Predator

Defu's Space Wolves

I didn't capture YC's Blood Angels.

IG 1750 list

This is a new 1750 pt list that I've been knocking around for a bit.

I dropped the special character and dropped counter-assault component of the old list in favour of more shooting in the form of troop choices.

HQ

Command Squad
Master of Ordnance (you guys missed him yet? =D)
Chimera

Troop

Veteran Squad with 3 Meltagun
Chimera

Veteran Squad with 3 Meltagun
Chimera

Platoon Command Squad
Autocannon Heavy Weapon

Infantry Squad

Infantry Squad

Heavy Weapon Team with 3 Lascannon

Heavy Weapon Team with 3 Lascannon

Fast Attack

Armoured Sentinels x2
Plasma Cannon x2

Banewolf with Multi-Melta x2
Dozerblade x2

Heavy Support

Leman Russ Battle Tank with Lascannon

Leman Russ Battle Tank with Lascannon

Elites

Psyker Battle Squad with 5 additional Psykers
Chimera


Psykers is the new thing to try for this list, 165 pts that is easily converted into other "to-try" things.

I dropped the 3rd Veteran Melta squad, the Scout Sentinels with Lascannons and 1 Plasma A.Sentinel to bring in 2 Infantry Squads (for scoring and cos they are compulsory for a Infantry Platoon) and 2 Lascannon HW Teams (the real meat).

Rather than 3 Scout Sentinels for Mecheezto's chewing, I give 6 Lascannons spread over 2 targets. Less melting available, but I boost my long range AP2 shooting.

Master of Ordnance makes a reappearance, now inside a Chimera's protective shell. He seldom makes his points back (due to the long distance shifting of the large blast template...) but he offers a very tempting target away from the rest of the army. The Chimera he is in is not for movement but rather, protection. You can prevent him from shooting by shaking the Chimera, but any shots directed at a AV12 is one that is not aiming my other squishies.

Even a Land Raider should beware the 2 Lascannon HW teams with the Bring It Down! order.

The 2 LRBT are outfitted with 1 Lascannon each to add more Str 9 AP2 goodness in gunning down the Space Marines as they come.

A Traitor not a Painter

I wanted to use Field Grey as the basis for my clone trooper armies (well...those IG guardsmen do come from the same mould don't they?) like the WW2 germans.

However, the helmet and armour is now a problem. What to use to match the Field Grey uniform?

Leman Russ...

I realised (and keeps forgetting) that I can fire 2 weapons off a Leman Russ that has moved at combat speed.

Which means that my Leman Russ with Lascannon/some-other-weapon should be making a comeback soon.

On a un-related note, there's something I want to try against Krom's wolves. Should be fun.

IG vs BA 1.75k After Action Report

2nd game I played against our resident rat's BA list (with macheezeto powah!).



The list I'm using is the Col Straken mech list.



Mission Type : Seize Ground

Number of Objectives : 5

Deployment : Dawn of War
(all flank annotations are from my pov)







Deployment Phase :



IG : Deployed 1 Veteran Squad inside white building in centre, commanding both 2nd and 3rd floor. 2nd Veteran Squad in Chimera deployed beside forest in right flank.

BA : Mephisto deployed at forest in left flank together with a Death Coy unit in Rhino.


1st Turn :


IG came in 2 LRBT, Scout Sentinels and 1 empty Chimera on the left to shoot at Mephisto.
Col Straken in Chimera and another Vet in Chimera came in between the white centre building and the forest on the right. 3 Armoured Sentinels deployed behind them.
1st Round of shooting came and went with the entire IG force peering into the Darkness and seeing nothing.


BA pushed Mephisto down towards the Scout Sentinels (taking 1 wound for failing psyker test) and the DC Rhino pushed towards the white building objective. Dreadnought dropped in BA half and moved behind the right building to take cover. LRR came in on the right. Razorback came in the centre and tried to shoot the Chimeras. Mephisto fleeted and ate 1 Scout Sentinel for breakfast.


2nd Turn :


IG Veteran Squad in objective building melted open DC Rhino and exposed the goodies inside. 2 LRBTs and 3 Armoured Sentinels with Plasma Cannon began laying 5 templates on the DC. The Sun shined, the Emperor went to sleep and all 5 templates rolled hit. 13 hits, and DC found itself down to half strength. Mephisto finished off the rest of the Scout Sentinels and decided to have LRBTs for lunch. *buuuurp*


BA pushed DC towards objective building and Mephisto rattled the first LRBT. LRR sped down the right flank and Dreadnought came out of hiding to support. Razorback moved towards the left flank to have an unhindered TLLC shot against the 2nd LRBT.


3rd Turn :


IG Banewolfs came in from reserves and flamed the DC. FRFSRF from white objective Vets saw the DC melted to 1 guy left. Mephisto flexed and the 1st LRBT exploded.


BA Mephisto assaulted the Banewolfs, dealing 1 shaken and 2 Weapon destroyed. 1 Banewolf is now weaponless. Surviving DC with Inferno Pistol exploded the 2nd LRBT. LRR cut into IG right flank, deposited its Termies and they proceeded to immob/wep destroyed the Chimera guarding the flank. Dreadnought assaulted the 2nd Chimera in the center and immobed it.


4th Turn :


IG Banewolfs skipped its way out of danger, failing the first DT roll but passing the second (Dozerblades!). Veteran Squads poured out of the immobed Chimeras. Dreadnought was melted into a wreck by the Vets with meltas. 2nd Vets and 3 Armoured Sentinels melted/templated away at the Termies but only scored 1 kill (Storm Shield saved 4 out of 5 AP1/2 wounds). White objective vets melted Mephisto down to 2 wounds.


BA Mephisto decided to feast on Vets for dinner. Termies assaulted the 2nd Vet Squad and chewed them out, leaving 1 surviving Sergeant to run for his life. LRR blasted the last Vet Squad scoring 4 kills. They fled.


5th Turn :

IG Armoured Sentinels continued templating away at the Termies but failed to score kills due to Storm Shield. Col Straken's Squad hammered away at Mephisto and brought him down to 1 wound. Banewolf finally melted the last DC. Chimera on left flank tried to ram the Razorback but failed to score.


BA Assault Squad came out of Razorback and assaulted Chimera. 2nd Assault Squad started to move out of hiding and claimed 1 objective. Termies assaulted the Armoured Sentinels and wrecked one. LRR continued its rampage against the last Vet Squad, flaming them into oblivion. Mephisto cratered Col Straken's Chimera and assaulted him in the same turn. 3 Vets died but Straken crushed Mephisto's skull in one death grip.


Last IG scoring unit lost.


6th Turn (game continued) :


IG Col Straken assaulted Termies, taking one down but failing to eat more due to Storm Shield. Banewolf tried to melta Razorback but missed.


BA Termies exploded 1 more Armoured Sentinel. Resulting explosion killed Col Straken.


It was decided to end the game at this point as IG has zero scoring units left and could not muster enough power to challenge the 1 objective claimed by BA.


BA 1 IG 0

IG 1.75k w/ Col Straken

A new list that I created based on my previous IG mech-assault list.

It drops the techpriest and downgrades the LR: Executioner to bring in Straken and another Mechanized Veteran Squad.

HQ

Company Command Squad with Col Straken, Combat Medic (FnP), 2 Bodyguards, 2 Meltaguns.
Chimera Dedicated Transport

Troops

Veteran Squad with 3x Meltagun
Chimera

Veteran Squad with 3x Meltagun
Chimera

Veteran Squad with 3x Meltagun
Chimera

Fast Attack

Scout Sentinel x3
Lascannon x3

Armoured Sentinel x3
Plasma Cannon x3

Banewolf x2
Melta-cannon x2
Dozerblade x2

Heavy Support

LRBT

LRBT

The idea is for 2 Veteran Squads to move hand in hand to push forward with Col Straken as a counter-assaulting support. 3 Sentinels (which 3 depends on situation) will move in tandem.

LRBTs are to hang back in a corner somewhere and drop templates. Not as scary as a LR:Exe but they should attract their fair share of animosity.

Banewolf will as always start in reserve and then move to plug any gaps along the line.

Initial Post

Since I don't have author's privilege at YC's blog yet, I suppose I could just start a new blog (since I don't have one) and then post the report here.

This could also serve as the place where I muse over new crazy army lists (hehe).

I don't see the need to restrict it to strictly warhammer stuffs so there may be posts regarding other things in life.