Now that I have got the whole “how good does this army look?” thing out of the way, let’s get down to it – how do you go about dismantling these foul Chaos scum on the battlefield? How do you show Perturabo’s whelps just what 10,000 years of Heresy means to a Thunder Hammer?

With a batrep, naturally. And look, here comes one now.

Jamie and I agreed on a 1500 point game to let him test out his new Tournament army:

Iron Warriors 5th Grand Company
1500pts Chaos Space Marine army list

HQ:
Warsmith Abhorred Riddick
Daemon Prince 110, Close Combat weapon, Fearless, 5+ Invulnerable save,
Eternal Warriors, Wings 20 – 130

Elites:

Terminators squad 7: Tormentia
4 Chaos Terminators 120, Terminator Armour, Power Weapon, 4 Combi Plasma 20 – 140

Terminators squad 8: Proeliator
4 Chaos Terminators 120, Terminator Armour, Power Weapon, 4 Combi Plasma 20 – 140

Troops:

Chaos Space Marine squad 1: Iupatus Proeliator
9 Chaos Space Marines 135, Bolter, Bolt Pistol, Close Combat Weapon, Frag Grenades, Krak Grenades, 1 Melta Gun 10, 1 Autocannon 10, Icon of Glory 10
Champion 30, Bolter, Bolt Pistol, Frag Grenades, Krak Grenades, Power Weapon 15 – 210

Rhino 35, Smoke Launcher, Search light, Combi Bolter, Extra Armour – 50

Chaos Space Marine squad 2: Be Graphicus
9 Chaos Space Marines 135, Bolter, Bolt Pistol, Close Combat Weapon, Frag Grenades, Krak Grenades, 1 Melta Gun 10, 1 Autocannon 10, Icon of Glory 10
Champion 30, Bolter, Bolt Pistol, Frag Grenades, Krak Grenades, Power Weapon 15 – 210

Rhino 35, Smoke Launcher, Search light, Combi Bolter, Extra Armour – 50

Chaos Space Marine squad 3: Apocalypse
9 Chaos Space Marines 135, Bolter, Bolt Pistol, Close Combat Weapon, Frag Grenades, Krak Grenades, 1 Melta Gun 10, 1 Autocannon 10, Icon of Glory 10
Champion 30, Bolter, Bolt Pistol, Frag Grenades, Krak Grenades, Power Fist 25 – 220

Rhino 35, Smoke Launcher, Search light, Combi Bolter, Extra Armour – 50

Heavy Support

Obliterators squad 5: Excessus Fillius
2 Obliterators 225, Power Fist, Obliterator weapon, Fearless, 5+ Invulnerable save,
Slow & Purposeful, Deep Strike – 150

Obliterators squad 4: Oburo
1 Obliterators 150, Power Fist, Obliterator weapon, Fearless, 5+ Invulnerable save,
Slow & Purposeful, Deep Strike – 75

Obliterators squad 6: Hydra Infensus
1 Obliterators 150, Power Fist, Obliterator weapon, Fearless, 5+ Invulnerable save,
Slow & Purposeful, Deep Strike – 75

Total: 1500 points

HQ: 130
Elites: 280
Troops: 790
Fast Attack: 0
Heavy Support: 300

12 Kill Points
3 Tanks
43 Models

I already had a 1000pt Ravenwing list I had played against Robert’s Orks not too long ago (got some pics of that somewhere), so I added on 500pts of Deathwing to get this:

Dark Angels Army List 1500

HQ – Master of the Deathwing, Belial (130)
• Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield
Total: 130
HQ – Master of the Ravenwing, Sammael (205)
• Landspeeder
• Twin-linked Heavy Bolter
• Twin-linked Assault Cannon
Total: 205

Elites – Dreadnought Kaelen (125)
• Venerable (+20)
• Assault Cannon
• Dreadnought Close Combat Weapon
• Heavy Flamer (+5)
• Smoke Launcher
• Searchlight
Total: 150

Troops – Deathwing Terminator Squad Agares (215)
• 5 x Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield
• Cyclone Missile Launcher (+20)
Total: 235
Troops – Deathwing Terminator Squad Butator (215)
• 5 x Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield
• Cyclone Missile Launcher (+20)
Total: 235
Troops – Ravenwing Attack Squadron Raven’s Beak (120)
• 1 Ravenwing Sergeant with Plasma Pistol (+15)
• 2 Ravenwing Bikers with Meltaguns (+20)
• Attack Bike with Multimelta (+50)
Total: 205
Troops – Ravenwing Attack Squadron Raven’s Eye (120)
• 1 Ravenwing Sergeant
• 2 Ravenwing Bikers with Meltaguns (+20)
• Attack Bike with Multimelta (+50)
Total: 190

Fast Attack – Ravenwing LandSpeeder Talon’s Edge (65)
• Multi-melta
• Typhoon Missile Launcher (+10)
Total: 75
Fast Attack – Ravenwing LandSpeeder Raptor’s Claw (65)
• Multi-melta
• Typhoon Missile Launcher (+10)
Total: 75

Total: 1500

I took the Dreadnought because (a) they look awesome and (b) I wanted a good excuse to get my Forgeworld Dark Angels Venerable Dread painted up. In the end I didn’t have enough time to finish painting it, but it was good enough to field. I spent the majority of my painting time ahead of the game getting six Ravenwing bikers painted. Two nights it took. For me, that is epic quick. The results are a trifle sloppy, but they meet my new 40k gaming standard – Good Enough.

Two HQs in 1500 points (esp two named characters) is silly, but so are men in armour riding bikes. I learned to live with it

We rolled and got KP with Pitched Battle deployment (I would have preferred something from Battle Missions, but Jamie wanted to practice for some tournament). I won the roll and elected to go first.

I opted to put one Deathwing squad in normal reserve (not Deathwing Assault, as I didn’t want them coming down first Turn) as well as one squad of Ravenwing. The Deathwing would deepstrike and the bikes opted to outflank.

The Iron Warriors kept both units of Terminators in reserve, to deepstrike.

Deployment

Here is my deployment, although my bikes have already made their Scout Move. You can see the Iron Warriors deployed in response opposite, and behind the ruins on my right.

My plan was to run up and kill ‘em all Not too subtle, perhaps. I knew I had to take care of the Obliterators, as they would be deadly unless I got up close with some Melta. I was trusting to my Attack Bikes to take care of them. Everything else would pop open the Rhinos and the Terminators would hit the contents with hammers until the battlefield was studded with Iron Warriors, driven into the ground like pegs! Meanwhile, the Dreadnought would try not to die without killing anything…

Turn 1

My bikes and Attack Bike moved up and exploded the nearest Rhino. I shot at the Iron Warriors, put a Wound on the Daemon Prince (softening him up for later), and the Terminators and Dread ran.

In reply, the de-meched Iron Warriors charged my Ravenwing and killed all but one. The Obliterators’ shooting put a Plasma Cannon wound on Belial, but nothing else. The others Rhinos moved up and popped smoke.

Turn 2

Both my reserves came in. My Ravenwing arrived on the wrong side of the table and turbo-boosted 24″. The Terminators came down courtesy of the Ravenwing’s Teleport Homers, and ran 5″ to split up.

I couldn’t shoot at the melee, so everything (literally) fired at the lead Rhino, but despite three penetrating hits getting through, all I could roll was 1s and 2s. Bleh.

The Venerable Dread charged, and wiffed his attacks. I think that if I could have opened up that Rhino and charged with the Dread things might have turned out differently – it certainly had the feeling of a pivotal moment as shot after shot failed to do anything.

The other two Rhinos moved up, but the Iron Warriors inside did not get out.

The Iron Warriors finished off my last bike in melee, and then charged the deep-striking Terminators and the Attack Bike, helped out by the two Obliterators who also charged in.

Four of my five Terminators died in a shocking display of 1s being rolled, but the last one and the Attack Bike made their Fearless saves. The Terminators did manage to kill both Obliterators before they died, however.

The Daemon Prince charged my Dreadnought

and managed to kill him before he swung.

Turn 3

I shot at the lead Rhino and, without smoke up this time, managed to blow it up easily. I then put another Wound on the Daemon Prince with a Landspeeder. Everything else shot at the contents of the exploded Rhino, killing a few, and then Belial and chums charged in and wiped out the remainder, before consolidating back 5″. I was lucky with this consolidation move, as I really wanted to get out of charge range of the Iron Warriors in the third Rhino and the Daemon Prince. I figured I could handle one, but not both.

The Attack Bike in the back field killed an Obliterator.

The mid-field melee carried on, but the last Terminator died, and the Attack Bike was on one wound.

Both squads of Terminators arrived from reserve. Both Deep Striking off of Icons, one landed right in front of my Ravenwing, and the other dropped in terrain right next to Belial’s squad. The third Rhino disgorged its passengers, who moved up assault Belial.

In shooting, the first group of Chaos Terminators wiped out the Ravenwing squad with their Plasma. The second group tried the same thing on Belial’s squad, but only succeeded in hurting Belial (aka The Plasma Sponge).

The Iron Warriors who had disembarked and the second unit of Chaos Terminators were blocking the Daemon Prince from getting within charge range of Belial – exactly as I had hoped. Then the Iron Warriors failed to get enough on their Difficult Terrain roll to make the charge, and Belial’s squad were left with no-one charging them.

The mid-field melee ended, with the plucky Attack Bike finally succumbing to the massed Iron Warriors, who consolidated into terrain to my left.

Turn 4

Not much left on the table. I did a KP calculation, and realised that I might still win, as the Iron Warriors had some juicy KP units on the table – a Rhino, a lone Obliterator and a Daemon Prince on 1 Wound. Belial could not really reach any of these apart from the Daemon Prince, but he died to shooting from a Landspeeder, so I charged Belial’s squad into the Chaos Terminators, and killed them all, losing two. The consolidation dice were not as kind this time, and his squad stayed well within charge range of the Iron Warriors. The speeders (inc Sammael) moved back 6″.

The Iron Warriors Stunned one of my Landspeeders and Shook the other. They then charged what was left of Belial’s squad, killing all of them.

Turn 5

One Landspeeder was Stunned, and it would die to assault this Turn easily. All I had left to shoot with was Sammael, so the other Landspeeder moved out of Line of Sight. Sammael’s shooting did not kill anything.

The Iron Warriors destroyed the Stunned Landspeeder, and the game was over.

Result: Iron Warriors took the victory 9KP to 7KP.

Comments: It was a very good game, as both sides committed themselves to mid-field, with reserves swinging the action this way and that, and plenty of movement and assaults to keep things exciting.

One thing this game taught me is just how fragile at 1500 points a Ravenwing Biker Squad is. Three T5 guys with a 3+ save cannot do anything in assault, and when using their meltas they put themselves close enough to be wiped out on the next Turn. Actually, due to being T5 there is a decent chance they will survive and the melee will only end on my Turn, losing me a Turn of shooting at the enemy assaulters.

I could make them better in melee with (i) more bodies (the squad goes up to six) (ii) close combat upgrades on the Sergeant (iii) a Banner and/ or an Apothecary or (iv) a Biker Chaplain. As a command squad, a 6-bike unit with all those upgrades is still not a dedicated close combat unit, as most of them will just be swinging at S4 with no power weapons, but the unit itself will be very expensive. So, I can make them better in melee, but not good enough to be worth the cost. I guess I just have to pick and choose better where I deploy them and what I use them to kill. If I can work it so they can open up a transport and then a unit of Deathwing can run to give them cover or – better yet – assault the contents, that is definitely the best of both worlds.

I now have the contents of the Ravenwing Battleforce assembled, and here they are.

The boxset does not come with any special weapons for your bikers.  I had a couple of meltaguns to hand that I had bitz-ordered a while back, another on a squad of tactical marines I will probably never use and a fourth that comes with the Dark Angels Veterans boxset.  That gives me two squads of three bikes, with a veteran sargeant and two melta guns in each.  One veteran sergeant has a plasma pistol, since I have 15pts spare in my 1750 list.  The other veteran sergeant has a magnetised left arm with a variety of options; chainsword, power sword, crozius (if I want to run him as a bike Chaplain) and a power fist.  I gave him a skull face under the hood and a skull backback (I think it is the Apothecary backpack) so that he looks like a Chaplain if I need him to be one.  Otherwise he looks like a normal veteran sergeant.

None of the bikers are glued to their bikes (except the Attack Bike, where I accidentally glued both guys down).  This should make priming and painting a whole lot easier.

For the magnets I used 2mmx0.5mmmm rare earth magnets.  They are just strong enough to hold the arms in place without moving.  A 2mm drill bit makes a hole in the shoulder and in the arm so that there is no gap on the model.

I also have a couple of multimelta attack bikes and Sammael in his Landspeeder.

Still to do: assemble third multimelta attack bike, and add two meltaguns to another unit of three Ravenwing bikes I bought off Ebay a while back.  That will give me three Ravenwing squads to support my Deathwing with buckets of outflanking/ scouting melta.

Deathwing

I mentioned a while back that I wanted to bling my existing Deathwing army as much as possible.  That meant a large bits order for things like missing Crux Terminatus shoulder pads, shoulder shields and sergeant/ squad banners.  I need to prime all of these tiny little bits before I glue them on the models and start painting.  If I just aim the spray primer at them, these bits will go flying all over the place.  I bought some double-sided sticky tape from the poundshop (for £1!) and you can see the bits all stuck down to it here.

I sprayed them after taking this photo, and none of them moved at all.  Success!

Converted Deathwing Terminator

I put together the first of my new Deathwing Terminators tonight, and here he is.

The main body and right arm are from the Assault Terminator box.  The legs are from the Dark Angels Veteran box.

The left arm is also from the Dark Angels Veteran box – I took the one wielding the power sword and cut the sword and hand away.  I then used a open hand from the Grey Knight Terminators box and rested that on the shield.

The shield and right shoulder pad are from Scibor Miniatures.  They both fit in with the styling on my Belial conversion, although the shield is smaller (the boss should have the biggest of everything!).  A note on the Scibor shoulder pads – they are large.  As you can see.  Way to big for marines, and still on the large side even for Terminators.  However, on the inside they won’t fit Terminator arms, and I had to take my Dremel to them with the sanding wheel to open them up enough to glue them onto the arm properly.  Bear in mind, and wear a dust mask!

The head is from the Assault Terminator box, with a custom greenstuff hood, for that Dark Angels look.  It took a few goes to get right, and to get the greenstuff thin enough.  What I did was to roll out a sausage shape and then sandwich it in the clear plastic wrap the greenstuff comes in (well watered so it won’t stick).  Then I used my craft knife handle as a rolling pin and flattened it out.  Then I cut it to shape and peeled it off, and wrapped it round his noggin.

Lastly, I want to go with a Mjolnir look on all the Thunder Hammers in this squad, so I cut the normal Thunder Hammer down quite a bit.  I will smooth out the join line with some greenstuff.  I love the way it looks; short and brutal, like the Terminator equivalent of a sawn-off shotgun.

Primed and Assembled Forgeworld Venerable Dreadnought

I got this guy assembled and primed.  What a gorgeous model!  Painting this is going to be a lot of fun

His arms are magnetised, his feet are pinned but not glued to the base and the ball-and-socket joint at his waist is not glued either, so he comes apart for painting easily.  Oh, and his head isn’t glued in, either!

Here is a video:

Image from The Dark Fortress

Building The List

You know that you’re not supposed to change your list the day before the tournament, right?  And if that is true, changing your list on the drive to the tournament is probably some kind of capital offence.  Off with my head, I guess, because that’s what I did

EDIT:  My original list was:

• Belial with TH/SS
• 5 Deathwing Terminators w/ TH/SS, Cyclone Missile Launcher and an Apothecary
• 3 x 5 Deathwing Terminators w/ 2 TH/SS, 1 Twin Lightning Claw, 1 Cyclone Missile Launcher,  1 Storm Bolter/Power Fist and 1 Storm Bolter/ Chainfist
• 3 Dreadnoughts w/ TL Autocannon and Missile Launcher
• 3 Ravenwing Landspeeders w/ Typhoon Missile Launcher and Heavy Bolter

After spending all that effort getting the Autocannon and Missile Launcher arms for three dreadnoughts, I decided not to use them at all.  Let us explore my fail and see if we can learn anything

What happened was, I was taking a look at my list, and I realised I had made a Tau list out of Deathwing: I was maxing out the shooting potential and, just like Tau, was light on Troops as a result.  Not as bad as my regular “Two Troops” Tau lists, but still a bit light for an army that can legitimately field Troops and nothing but and still hope to compete.  So, in an effort to de-Tau my thinking, I dropped two Dreadnoughts entirely and used the spare points to get myself another Deathwing squad.  Then I started to play around with things.

My original list had one squad (essentially a command squad) with all TH/SS.  The remaining three squads were all the same, with 2 TH/SS apiece and then a mix of shooting and Lightning Claws.

I decided that I was going to have to play more adventurously than I was used to with my Tau, and so I would need a more durable forward line.  I took two TH/SS models from the 4^th squad and put one each into the 2^nd and 3^rd squads.  Then I made the 4^th squad shooty, with four Storm Bolters and Power Fists, one set of paired LC and a CML.  They would stand behind the TH/SS squads, gaining cover saves to make up for the invulnerable saves they had lost, and would provide supporting fire.  They could hold home objectives and, with their 24″ range, still contribute to the fight.

After dropping the two Dreadnoughts, I decided that my 5^th squad would be identical to the 4^th.  Nothing like a little redundancy!

With what seemed to be sufficient shooting in the list, there did not seem to be much need for a fire support Dreadnought any longer.  I decided I would rather have one that could shoot and be a threat in close combat, so I gave it back a DCCW.  I put on the heavy flamer to deal with hordes just that little bit better.  For the main weapon arm, I had the option of TL Autocannon, Assault Cannon or Multi-melta.  I always miss with one-shot weapons, and while 2 S7 shots are very useful, I thought the 4 Rending shots of the Assault Cannon might seem more dangerous to an opponent, so Assault Cannon it was.

With this being the only Dreadnought in the list, it would be a target, and so making it Venerable seemed like a good option at +20 pts.

That left points for either Extra Armour or for a Deathwing Banner to go in the 1^st squad.  I reckoned that I didn’t want to put too many points into defensive upgrades, so opted for the Banner, making Belial and his squad even more killy than before

I did all this re-thinking the night before, made three variant lists, put the models for all three into a case and picked one on the way to the tournament.  The list I played with was:

• Belial with TH/SS
• 5 Deathwing Terminators w/ TH/SS, Cyclone Missile Launcher, Deathwing Banner and an Apothecary
• 2 x 5 Deathwing Terminators w/ 3 TH/SS, 1 Twin Lightning Claw, 1 Cyclone Missile Launcher and  1 Storm Bolter/Chainfist
• 2 x 5 Deathwing Terminators w/ 1 Storm Bolter/ Power Weapon, 1 Twin Lighting Claws and Cyclone Missile Launcher and 3 Storm Bolter/ Power Fists
• 1 Venerable Dreadnought w/ Assault Cannon, Dreadnought Close Combat Weapon and Heavy Flamer
• 3 Ravenwing Landspeeders w/ Typhoon Missile Launcher and Heavy Bolter 

Image from The Dark Fortress

Making Changes

After playing this list in three games I was very pleased with it.  It had options, it had deployment flexibility, it had movement, plus lots of shooting and assault threat.  It was a lot of fun

At its most basic, this army puts out 16 S8 AP3 shots a Turn.  That is more than three units of Long Fangs can manage, and against 50% more targets.  Of those 16, 6 are easily suppressed as they are on AV10 hulls, but the other 10 shots are going to be very hard to stop, and every unit in the army can move 6″ without any loss of shooting.  Add to that 10 Storm Bolters, 3 Heavy Bolters and the armament of the Dreadnought, and it comes to something that is not too shabby when it is all firing at the same enemy infantry unit

On movement, Deathwing Assault gives this army great Turn 1 coverage, with (crucially) the resilience to survive once it lands.  Try telling that to my Crisis Suits!  Not only that but the three Landspeeders give me options for side shots at armour, blocking enemy Land Raiders and last Turn contest moves (if they survive that long).  Add in the infantry squads that can always move and shoot, and this army is always going places, Turn by Turn.   That adds up.  They cannot chase down skimmers and the like, but they have enough presence to take mid-table and, from there, enough ranged firepower so that there is nowhere to hide on the tabletop.

The assault threat of this army is obvious, and getting tied up with tarpit units is the only serious risk.  Not even Draigo Paladins like this many Thunder Hammers!

The weak link is the Dreadnought, but dammit I love Dreadnoughts (see below for just how much!).  As “home objective” minders go, he is pretty good.  You need melta bombs or chainfists to melee him to death.  You won’t tank shock him out the way, and with Venerable status Ramming him is not a good idea.  One unit of four power fists and this guy minding the store is more than most army’s forward assaults can hope to take on and beat comprehensively.  On the downside, he is vulnerable to melta and has a hard time getting cover saves (although a unit of, say, Terminators would provide it, if only I had one of those handy…)  He could be swapped for an Interrogator Chaplain, say, or a Predator, but I am sticking with him.

Taken together, what this list gives me is options.  I love having them.  I can take part in and influence the outcome of the game in all three phases with reliability and redundancy.  Options – the new black

The only thing I would change is to drop the LC in the 4^th and 5^th squads for another Storm Bolter and Power Fist.  Another four shots per Turn is always welcome.

The Dreadnought was a great fire magnet, but was very survivable due to cover and Venerable status.  I could give it a multimelta, but I doubt that would increase the perceived threat that much, and a lone melta gun in the list won’t make any real difference.

Moving Forward

I want to make my Deathwing army look as fluffy as possibly, so with that in mind I have been ordering stuff from bits sites and from Forgeworld.  Here are my aims:

1.  Banners on all the squad sergeants.  For the banners I will use Dark Angels Veteran Backpack banners, with some additional purity seals on them.  I also ordered a Terminator Sergeant Small Banner as well, for a little variety.  I might use that for Belial’s own Master Of The Deathwing Banner.  I will paint the squad banners to match this fantastic guide.  The freehand should be easy.  To attach the banners I ordered six pairs of 2mm x 1mm rare earth magnets.  They should be strong enough, and will let me remove the banners for transport.

2.  Squad markings.  One odd thing about the Deathwing is that there are no official squad markings, so it seems players kind of make up their own.  I used numbers on the base edge for the tournament, and Greg (the other Deathwing player there) had coloured each squad’s base edge differently.  However, Forgeworld make a transfer sheet for the Dark Angels with loads of numbers on it, and I think I can fit those on the right shoulder pad (or maybe the right knee) to give each model a squad number to match their sergeant’s banner.

Image from The Dark Fortress

3.  Shoulder shields and shoulder pads.  Shamefully, four of my models do not have the Crux Terminatus left shoulder pad, and sixteen do not have the shoulder shields.  I have ordered the bits for these.  I hope to do some heraldry on the shoulder shields like that shown in the image to the left (click to see the whole thing – it looks fantastic, and there is more here)

4.  Battle Banner.  In games where I don’t bring the Deathwing Company Banner as wargear, the Deathwing will still take to the field with a Battle Banner.  I ordered a Space Marine Command Squad Large Banner to use for this.  More freehand needed, but not too hard.

5.  Venerable Dreadnought.  I only have one in my list, but I don’t have the venerable model.  The old metal one is ace, but I dislike all-metal models, and the new plastic one is meh.  So, I have ordered a Forgeworld Dark Angels Venerable Dreadnought.  For the arms options I went with a Dreadfire Close Combat left arm.  I could have gone for the usual close combat arm, but this one looks very unusual, plus it has a built-in heavy flamer.  For the right arm I picked the Assault Cannon, for the reasons above.  For a base I ordered a Dark Arts Miniatures 60mm Rock base.

6.  Belial’s Command Squad.  Although I have an all TH/SS command squad for Belial, I did not paint (or assemble) the torsos of those models.  I want something special, so I have picked up a box of Assault Terminators, a box of Grey Knight Terminators and a box of Dark Angels Veterans.  In addition, I ordered the Lion shoulderpads and Angel shields from Scibor Miniatures.  They should go very well with the Belial model’s detailing.  I will try using very short thunder hammers with these guys – kind of like Mjolnir!  I know that is a bit Space Wolves, but I think it will look cool.  For bases, I ordered some Dark Arts Miniatures 40mm Rock bases.

Counter Attack was on Saturday, through in Edinburgh.  1750 points of 40k.  A sword day.  A red day.  A dreich day – it was pissin’ rain the whole time

I took my Deathwing and, to my considerable surprise, I placed and came third   Not bad, especially considering that I hadn’t played a game of 40k since June, and that was with 1000pts of Tau.  Last outing with the Deathwing was May!

I will do a post tomorrow about my list, which I changed at the last minute.

I took a fair amount of video of the games (more of Games 1 and 3, not so much of Game 2) and plenty of photos, so expect some kind of Youtube thing in a few days.  In the meantime, here is a basic summary.

Game 1

I played Jonathan Long’s Space Wolves.  The mission was Pitched Battle, Capture and Control.  The twist was that you placed your objective in your opponent’s deployment zone.  That one twist is brilliant – inspired.  It turns a dull game where the objectives are 7′ apart and in cover/ atop a building into one where they are 24″ apart and out in the open.

Jon had brought a mixed list with three drop pods, two razorbacks, a whirlwind, some scouts, one unit of Long Fangs, one unit of terminators (they went in the pod) and four units of Grey Hunters.

I set up in what would be my standard deployment: TH/SS squads to the front, giving cover saves to the two shooty squads in the back.  The Landspeeders did what they would do all day and utilised cover to minimise/ avoid Heavy Support fire but maintain LOS to key enemy units.

Turn 1 saw Jon’s drop pods come in and Jaws of the World Wolf gave me a bit of a fright, losing two Termies right away.  However, the rest of their shooting did not amount to much and I assaulted the two units with basically my whole army.  The Wolf Guard and Grey Hunters/ Wolf Priest went down to AP3 shooting and Thunder Hammers.  After that I started marching across the table with Belial making a beeline for the enemy Objective, backed up by one other unit and all the shooting I could muster, mister.

The scouts came on and tied up a shooty unit in CC, before the Dread marched in and showed them his pimp hand.  He later got blown up when a Venerable re-roll defied the odds and came up 6!

Jon’s rolling was pretty poor all game, and I didn’t roll many 1s.  With the Deathwing, that is usually all you need to know!

The game ended with Belial & two squads tearing into the last Grey Hunter squad and the Long Fangs in a multi-assault that left the Space Wolves with only the Whirlwind and one Drop Pod on the table for a 20-0 victory to the Deathwing at the end of Turn 4.  With all the VPs I had accumulated, I headed for Table 1!

Game 2

More Space Wolves!  In the last game we had been denied the traditional meeting of champions as the Rune Priest fell to shooting, but maybe this game the Wolves would send their best man out to meet Belial and re-enact the Jonson/ Russ fisticuffs one more time.

Tom Russell’s army was full of Razorbacks (3 or 4 I think), and it had 3 Long Fangs with Las/ ML, a Land Raider Redeemer, four units of Grey Hunters with Wolf Guard in every squad and a Rune Priest with Murderous Hurricane.

The mission was Dawn of War and Annihilation.  The twist was that five Objectives were placed on the table (one in the middle, and one in the middle of each table quarter).  Holding an Objective meant +2KP.

Around Turn 2 I knew what a bad mistake I had made, and around Turn 3 I was joking with Tom that the game was basically over.  See, I won the dice roll and opted to go second.  What I should have done was put all the Termies into Deathwing Assault, and chosen the three TH/SS units to come in on Turn 1.  There was enough terrain to keep all three Landspeeders out of LOS of his Long Fangs, so those three Deathwing units, plus a smoked Venerable Dread, would have been the only targets on Turn 1.  On Turn 2 they would have ended the Long Fangs and mopped up.  In theory, natch – the usual caveats apply with any Deathwing Assault!

Instead, I opted to walk everything on my board edge and trudge across the table, taking Lascannon and ML fire the whole game.  The stupid – it burns!

It got even worse with Murderous Hurricane slowing Belial and his squad down, and taking a casualty through Dangerous Terrain rolls.  The stupid – it trips and dies!  And then burns.

I had lost two Terminator squads by Turn 3, and those were the ones with the 3++ saves in them, leaving only the remains of Belial’s squad and the two shooty squads.  On the plus side, the Venerable Dread was unkillable and the terrain was keeping the Landspeeders safe from all of Tom’s Long Fangs.

What turned the game was an ill-fated decision by Tom to charge Belial and his Standard Bearer with a unit of Grey Hunters.  The GH lost badly, broke and ran, and Belial wound up in threat range of some Long Fangs.  From then on Belial charged unit after unit, taking along his trusty Banner Bearer for that +1A, and everything he charged held in combat on my Turn and was wiped out on Tom’s Turn, meaning Belial was safe from shooting from Turn 4 until the game ended on Turn 7!

Ultimately, it came down to a Ld roll on a unit of Long Fangs charged by Belial on my Turn 7.  Fail it, on a -3, and they would run off the table and give me the KP I needed to win.  They passed, and the result was a draw.  Awesomely close game, despite the Deathwing seeming to be down and out by Turn 3 due to my awful deployment choice.

Game 3

There was one other Deathwing player there and I got to play him.  Fine by me – just so long as it wasn’t Space Wolves again!

Greg Findlay’s Deathwing is all Terminators, without support.  A Librarian as a second HQ meant he was fielding six Deathwing squads.  They were all a mix of TH/SS, LC and PF/SB, with the heavier weapons being a mix of CML and Assault Cannons.

Mission was Spearhead and Seize Ground.  There was a set four Objectives.  The twist in this mission just happened to screw me badly – the player who killed the most of their opponent’s Elite, Fast Attack and Heavy Support units counted as holding a fifth Objective.  Since Greg’s Deathwing had none of these, all he had to do was down a single Landspeeder at some point in the game and he would get his +1 Objective.

Although Greg won the roll to place the first Objective I once again won the roll for first turn.  I gave it to Greg, because not only was this an objective game, but I wanted to see how he deployed.  I figured I could count on him killing at least one Landspeeder.  That didn’t mean I was going to make it easy for him, but I knew I had to play with that expectation.  That meant I had to hold three Objectives to win.  They were fairly evenly spaced, and I knew that my only hope was to try and take his army on a bit at a time with all of mine.  So I gave him first Turn.  He deployed three units widely spaced around his table quarter and put the other three into Deathwing Assault.  Perfect!  I deployed in a tight castle formation, leaving him plenty of room on either side to drop in.  I was hoping that he might split his drops to either side, and/ or that scatter would feed me something to kill.  I would then swing my whole army in that direction and try and take him on a squad at a time.

Ultimately, that is how the game went.  I kept my Dreadnought out of sight behind terrain, popping him out so that he could only see (and be shot at by) one enemy unit at a time.  I kept all three Landspeeders in reserve, and brought them on keeping them behind terrain as much as I could, but still giving them targets to shoot at.

I killed the two deep-striking squads early on, and then pressed ahead on the right flank, ignoring his left flank.  The third squad turned up from reserve and met the same fate as the first two.  He downed a Speeder (inevitably) on Turn 3, so at that point I started taking risks with the rest (and with the Dread).

His own Belial squad (plus Libby) basically sat the whole game out, minding his home Objective.  I think this was an error on his part, as his Librarian’s force weapon was the one thing Belial had to fear.  Landspeeders jumped around as the game drew to a close, contesting Objectives I could not claim with my footsloggers, and the game ended with me claiming two Objectives and Greg claiming one.  I really wish I had jumped my last Landspeeder forward to contest that one on Turn 6 – I had a squad moving up to assault and pull him away, but that depended on the game going to Turn 7, and it ended on Turn 6 in a draw.

Another close but very exciting game, with loads of Termie on Termie action.  My deployment in this game, plus the superior shooting in my list, gave me the edge here, and made up for the hole the mission special rule put me in.

My large VP total from Game 1 ensured that I pipped Greg for third spot.

Summary

This was easily one of my best tournament experiences.  A load of new faces that I hadn’t seen before, matched with an army that I find a lot of fun to play, but more than that the opponents were uniformly great sports and great guys, all of whom I would gladly play again.

And in a surprise move, I got two votes for Best Army!  Although Jamie Farquhar swept to his customary victory in this category (with his bar-raising this time consisting of bringing half an Imperial City as a display board), I was dead chuffed

Photos, videos and list comments to follow.

Click for a larger version

I stayed up silly late last night and got the final two terminators done to a tabletop standard, and finished a whole lot of touch ups, bases, highlighting and so on.

Tonight I will paint the weapons on the two unfinished Land Speeders, and then pack it all away for tomorrow morning.

My bits for the Cyclone Missile Launchers didn’t turn up in time, so I am using some Tau bits for three of them.  They actually look pretty good, and if I have time tonight I will paint them in Deathwing colours.

Belial has a space on his armour for a banner.  I am in two minds whether I should do one tonight.  I haven’t paid the points for one (there is no need to make his squad any more killy than it is) but banners are so iconicly 40k it is hard to pass up the opportunity to do one.  We’ll see how much time I have.

The basing on Belial is not my first choice, but I felt I ought to base him in line with the rest of the army, which I bought with those old-style, all-flocked bases.  It would take too long to redo them, but in the future I think I will buy 20+ resin scenic bases and do them proud.

I terms of packing them away, I have a few options.  The flying stands are removable as are the Dreadnought arms, so I shouldn’t have any problems fitting them in a case.

For info – I painted Belial, the Apothecary in Squad 1 (at the back), the two TH/SS Terminators in Squads 2 & 3, and the arms for all the other TH/SS Termies in the army, plus the magnetised weapon arms on all three Dreadnoughts.  The rest was painted by someone else, so I have just been matching his work as closely as possible.

(EDIT: Doh.  Just occured to me that I should put the Cyclone Missile Launchers on the Lightning Claw models.  That gives me an extra 3 Storm Bolters to shoot each Turn.  Good thing they’re not glued in place)

(EDIT 2:  Just checked my army list and the Cyclones are on the TH/SS models.  Reverse facepalm? )

Belial Conversion

Every Deathwing (by definition) needs a Belial.  Mine had lightning claws, but for the tournament this Saturday I decided that I wanted a proper figurehead model, so I opted for a Belial with a Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield based on the Forgeworld Lufgt Huron model.

Seriously, Lufgt?  Lugft?  However you spell it (and GW spell it both ways), you cannot pronounce it.  Perhaps if you have some kind of forked tongue and daemonic teeth you could manage it – but, does that mean he was always destined to fall to Chaos?!?!  Was his fate gifted him by his mother and father?  “We will give him a name he can only pronounce with suitable mutations!  Praise Nurgle and pass the baby-wipes!”  Or did he fall to Chaos out of sheer frustration at trying and failing to tell call-centre staff his name?  “Lufgt.  It’s Lufgt Huron.  Not Lift.  Not Luft.  Not Luff-git.  Bloody Lufgt Huron!  What?  Huh?  No, I can’t remember my password!  Just tell me my balance, or I’ll have you turned into a servitor!!  What?  You already are one?  Sod, it – Chaos, here I come.” The mind boggles!

Oh, yes.  Painting blog.  Sorry.  Couple of things to note about this model.  One is that without my Windsor and Newton Kolinsky Sable Series 7 Size 1 brush this would have been ten times harder to do.  You have no idea how much control over paint placement, detail and paint flow you can have with a brush until you try one of those.  Otherwise, it’s like wearing a blast shield and trying to paint with the Force.  I know, wrong IP.  Sue me.

The second point is that I used an alcohol-based paint for the gold.  Wow.  Just wow.  I will do an HD video of this guy just so you can see how it looks as you move the figure around.  It is impossible to consider going back to acrylic gold after using this stuff.  Don’t use your Windsor and Newton Kolinsky Sable Series 7 brush, though, as the alcohol will dry out natural bristles.  Try washing your hair in vodka if you don’t believe me.

I did a few test models with the Liquid Gold, and found out that applying it makes it look like you have electro-plated the model.  This is good and bad.  Good in that you could probably sell your model to a kid as a “real gold Space Marine” and then run away before the crying starts.  Or you could just stand there and watch him cry – he’s a kid, what’s he going to do?  Bad in that all the usual problems of scale come into play, and it looks like a model, not like a Space Marine.  The shadows are notable by dint of not being there at all.  Even a wash doesn’t really help, and dulls down the gold.  What I did was to base coat with a mix of a medium brown and Vallejo Brass.  Tin Bitz would probably do as well.  Then I washed it with undiluted Vallejo Brown Ink.  Then I basically dry-brushed the Liquid Gold on.  Before you hold up your hands in horror at the dusty abomination that is dry-brushing, know well that because the medium is alcohol and because the metallic particles are so fine, the end result looks nothing like actual dry-brushing.  The end result looks like King Midas and Montezuma joined forces in some parallel dimension, snuck into your house and superglued antique gold to your model (I know because that actually happened once).

Infinity – Another Try

My first (and last) game of Infinity did not grab me.  I was expecting another miniatures game like the ones I have played to date, so I pretty much threw my people forward to see what they did.  They died, and I was left unimpressed.

This time I played it as more of a tactical shooter, and I have to say I enjoyed it a whole lot more.  Rather than trying to accomplish something on my Turn, I found myself thinking about what my opponent would do on his, and setting up my models to capitalise on that.  Overlapping fields of fire, no approach uncovered, areas choked off with anti-personnel mines – that kind of thing.  It was a fun game, and very different to other miniatures games I have played.

That said, Infinity badly needs an objective system.  Something to make you need to move about and to force you into harm’s way.  Maybe I am missing something, but it seems like unless one player is willing to push the pace, the game could get very slow and cagey.  I am sure more games will help.

BTW – this time out I took Nomads.  I like them a lot better than I did the Haqqislam.  A bit more cartoony.  I don’t like too much realism in games like this.

Puppet Wars

From the good peoples at Wyrd, I am fortunate enough to have a complete set of Puppet Wars, plus all four of the initial Booster Packs, along with two of the Gencon-only models.  Woot!  There is a video here of my swag-bag that I could not resist taking, because it is not every day Santa says, “f**k it, Xmas is coming early for this punk.”  (and Santa does swear like a trooper – I have a vivid childhood memory of waking up late on Xmas Eve, and hearing Santa stumbling around downstairs and swearing up a storm as he stubbed his toes in the dark.  He sounded drunk as well, now I think about it, but most every Santa I met in a shopping centre Grotto as a kid smelled of booze, so that makes sense.  That crinkly, brittle beard?  Washed in vodka)

Deathwing

Just got a couple of Terminators to paint tonight, and then tomorrow night I can get the whole lot touched up, based and packed away.  Simples.

Test game?  Nah.  No time.  It’s Deathwing – how hard can it be? 

To be honest, I am just looking forward to shuffling models around and rolling some dice.  The armies at Counter-Attack! are usually excellent, so I will get some HD video of them.  And maybe try and shoot some of my games, too.

"REPENT!"

Painting like mad to try and get this army ready for next Saturday, and I finished these guys last night.

I painted the Apothecary, and the arms on the other four.Forgeworld shoulder pads on all five. Belial will join this squad in the games.

I am still getting to grips with filming with this new camera and, particularly, editing the resulting footage (640Mb files FTW!), but in the meantime here is an edited video of me converting the Belial in the last post.  You probably need to click through to Youtube in order to access the 720p version.

Yes, the alarmingly large hands and soothing, horse-whispering voice of Sholto have finally arrived on the Internet   Hopefully, this will be the first of many HD videos, batreps and so on, so I can really add some different content to the posts here.