Warhammer World 40k Doubles Weekend Report

As some of you know last weekend was the 40k Doubles at Warhammer World, and me and Tom ('Havarel' - who should be posting on this blog soon) took our Blood Angels and Imperial Guard for a run. It was a great couple of days, and some VERY VERY close games. I thoroughly recommend it to anyone, just be quick in getting the tickets as they sell out with a few hours!

If you want to have a nosey at some of the awesome armies that were taking part that day, head over to the Warhammer World Facebook page. I unfortunately didn't get to play against any of those nominated for Best Army, but the armies I did play against all looked great. Especially my last opponent (see below).

Anyway, the report:

Game 1: Blood Angels & Space Wolves - The Angel & The Wolf
A very tough game for the first one on Saturday, and a crap load of bad luck for us. We deployed aggressively, trying to use the first turn to fly into their deployment zone, keeping them away from the objectives. Unfortunately, they seized the initiative... and it all went downhill from there. A vast chuck of our armour was taken out first turn, including my Stormraven (leaving my termys stranded). Managed to claw our way towards the objectives, but couldn't contest them long enough to wrangle out a draw.

Game 1

Game 2: Chaos Space Marines - American Gangsters
This was such a good game, and some great opponents. We were happy to play non-normal marines, even if we were facing 8 obliterators, lash, and lots of nurgle! We ALMOST won this game as well, drawing on kill points on turn 5. Unfortunately turn 6 was rolled, AND turn 7, and we were taken apart. This team actually came in 22nd overall, so was impressed that we faired so well against them! So... 2 losses? Surely an easier game next right?

Surfing Libby

Game 3: Blood Angels & Space Wolves - Blood Wolves
Ah yes, the dynamic duo again, angels and wolves. Although to be fair, this was a totally different list to play against. In fact, this is the only game where we thought were going to lose from the first few turns, and it actually turned out to be a draw! Managed to do some shenanigans with my Razorback throwing a Grey Hunter squad off an objective, and my Stormraven immobilising itself on top of an objective during the last turn stops us from losing our third game in a row.

Heroic Last Stand...

Game 4: Blood Angels & Space Wolves - Tooth & Claw
For smeg sake... seriously?! Ok, whatever. Was actually a really fun game, another close one where we would have won on turn 5 due to objectives, but it carried on to 6. Also had an epic 'wreck pileup' in the middle of the board: The middle objective was literally surrounded by flaming dangerous terrain! Chock down another loss.

Junkyard Inferno!

Game 5: Orks - Gears of Waagh!!!
YES! Finally a xenos army. And what an army, I mean look at the photos below. Unfortunately we won this one, and I do mean unfortunately: They were two great guys who were a bit fed up by the end of the day (they had the same results as us, but had less close games...), and there army just couldn't hit anything to save their green skins. Was a fun army to play against, but didn't have the same feeling of tactical play as our other games. But at least we got a single win during the weekend!

Gears of Waagh!!!

Dogfight!

Final Result
So... 3 losses, a draw, and a win. Final position was 94th out of 115 I think. Slightly higher than last year! We'll definitely try and go again next year, but taking two different armies. There are WAY to many imperial armies present, so we're already prepping a Tau and Chaos alliance!

Darth Meer

Kill Team Rules Playtest and Hobby Updates

Our playtest of the Kill Team ruleset at Warhammer World yesterday went well. The game was super quick (~30min), and flowed nicely. Could have done with a bit more cover-giving intervening terrain such as barrels, walls, and misc obstacles though - both teams dropped like flies pretty quickly. Although we have very limited choice of board as the bloomin' 40k Throne of Skulls was on!

Busy Warhammer World

There were a few questions about force selection (esp in the Chaos Marines codex) that will have to be in a mini FAQ. Something I'll just add to as we encounter issues. We also came up with a few new rules, in addition to the one we already created - see earlier posts, to make the game faster and more akin to a skirmish ruleset.

Running
Instead of using the normal rules for running, use the following rules in a game of Kill Team: Every model may Run in the Movement phase, this adds 6" on to a models maximum movement (so an Infantry models can move 12" instead of 6"). If a model Runs, they may not shoot or assault that turn. They may still assault if they have the Fleet special rule.

Climbing/Jumping
A model in Kill Team may climb walls and jump gaps up to 6" high/wide during their movement phase. To do this they must move up to the wall or gap and still have enough movement left to be able to climb or jump the distance required. The model must pass an Initiative test. If they pass, they climb or jump successfully and may continue moving if they have any movement left. If they fail when climbing up, the model simply stays at the bottom of the wall. If they fail when climbing down or jumping a gap, they fall: The model falls from the point they started to climb/fall and takes an automatic hit equal to the distance they fell in inches.

Nerve:
Any model must take a Leadership test if any friendly model is killed within 3”. If failed, the model is immediately subject to the ‘going to ground’ rule.

Area of Effect:

There are items that are carried by one model that affect the whole unit to which they are attached. As every model counts as a single unit in Kill Team the item would be of limited use. In games of Kill Team these items will instead have an Area of Effect. Any friendly model within 6” of a model carrying one of these items gains the benefits from the item.

Also had a nice relaxing 1500 point game. We used two of our less used armies and was good to see them on the table again. It's also nice to be able to outnumber an opponent for once!:

Cadian 501st vs Emperors Children (Red Rhinos = Chimeras...)

Progress is slow on highlighting my Stormraven for the 40k doubles tournament this coming weekend, see below for what I've done so far (sorry for crappy phone pic, will do a proper photo when its finished). Just the Stormraven, a Razorback, and a 5-man squad to highlight in 4 days... Might be able to do it!

Stormraven WIP

Darth Meer

Blood Angels vs Imperial Guard 1750 Battle Report

Thought I’d have a crack at writing a battle report of the 1750 point 40kGT practice game I had. Instead of a wall of text, I’ve decided to go with a ‘spotlights’ type affair – with only the interesting points. None of that “I rolled a 1, he rolled a 6” stuff. Let me know what you think of this first attempt.  Also, sorry for phone photos...

Codicier Armand and his retinue

Blood Angels Army:

• Librarian Armand - Terminator Armour, Storm Shield, Fear of the Darkness, Unleash Rage
• Terminator Squad Khayman (5) - Thunder Hammer and Storm Shields
• Sanguinary Priests (2) - 2x Power Weapons, 2x Melta Bombs
• Assault Squad Corvinus (9) - Thunder Hammer, Meltagun, Rhino
• Assault Squad Tanis (9) - Power Fist, Meltagun, Rhino
• Assault Squad Mael (5) - Razorback w/ TL Lascannon
• Baal Predator - Assault Cannon, Heavy Bolters, Searchlight
• Baal Predator - Flamestorm Cannon, Heavy Flamers, Dozer Blade
• Dreadnought - TL Lascannon, Heavy Flamer
• Stormraven - TL Lacannon, TL Multimelta

Blood Angels Strike Force Crimson Death

 Imperial Guard Army:

• Company Command Squad (5) - 2x Meltagun, Lascannon, Officer of the Fleet, Chimera
• Veteran Squad (10) - Autocannon, 2x Plasma Gun
• Veteran Squad (10) - Autocannon, 2x Plasma Gun
• Veteran Squad (10) - 3x Meltagun, Chimera
• Veteran Squad (10) - 3x Meltagun, Missile Launcher, Chimera
• Armoured Sentinel Squadron (2) - 2x Plasma Cannon
• Bane Wolf
• Vendetta
• Hydra
• Leman Russ Demolisher Squadron (2)
• Leman Russ Battle Tank

Vardian 101st Imperial Guard Regiment

Pre-game

• Capture and Control with Spearhead was rolled for mission and deployment.
• Imperial Guard army deployed and took first turn.
• Blood Angels forgot to scout Baals... Doh!

Deployment

 Imperial Guard Turn 1

• Leman Russ Demolishers, Bane Wolf and Sentinels move up to get better firing lines.
• Vendetta causes 2 penetrating hits on the Stormraven and destroys it! Terminators bail out.
• Demolisher squadron targets Terminator squad but causes no casualties, a Chimera takes a pot shot with it Multilaser and kills one.

Blood Angels Turn 1

• Assault Squad Mael jumps out Razorback onto home objective, Razorback zooms off to find its target. Everything else flies forwards.
• Terminator Squad charges Sentinel squadron and explodes both walkers, consolidating closer to the IG objective.

Terminators send the Sentinel squadron to the junk yard

Imperial Guard Turn 2

• Most IG tanks shuffle backwards away from the Terminators.
• Vendetta shoots at a Baal Predator, destroying its Assault Cannon and immobilising it.
• The Leman Russ Battle Tank kills a single Terminator with a Plasma Cannon shot.
• A Lascannon from the Command Squad kills another Terminator.
• The Plasma wielding Veterans unleash death upon the remaining Terminators and wipe out the squad, leaving just the Librarian.

Blood Angels Turn 2

• Flamer Baal rams 18” into a Demolisher, stunning it (which is converted to a shaken as its in a squadron).
• Librarian uses Fear of the Darkness on the Veterans holding the objectives, they fail their Ld test and flee off the board.
• Razorback shakes Hydra.

Good old fashioned Rhino rush

Imperial Guard Turn 3

• No manoeuvring except for pivots.
• Vendetta disintegrates Librarian.
• Chimera shakes a Rhino.
• Melta Veterans explode Flamer Baal.
• Battle Tank immobilises a Rhino.

Blood Angels Turn 3

• Assault Squad Tanis jumps out of their immobilised Rhino into cover, shoots their Meltagun at a Bane Wolf but only stuns it.
• Rhino moves 12” towards enemy objective - Assault Squad Corvinus jumps out and destroys the Command Squad’s Chimera with melta.
• Razorback and Dreadnought shoot at the Battle Tank, casing a shaken and immobilised results.
• Assault Squad Corvinus charges Command Squad through their transports wreck, wiping them out.

End of Turn 3

Imperial Guard Turn 4

• Hydra immobilises the Razorback and destroys its Lascannon.
• Both the Demolishers and a Chimera target the Assault Squad Tanis, but only cause 3 kills. Enough for them to take a morale check and fail, fleeing back through the woods.

  

Blood Angels Turn 4

• Assault Squad Corvinus explodes a Veteran’s Chimera, killing 4 Veterans in the blast.
• Assault Squad Tanis regroups and explodes the Hydra.

End of Turn 4

Imperial Guard Turn 5

• Moves remaining Veterans onto home objective.
• Bane Wolf flames Assault Squad Corvinus, kills only 2 due to Feel no Pain.
• Demolisher also kills only 2 (even though the squad has no cover).
• Vendetta stuns Rhino.
• Battle Tank overshots Assault Squad Tanis but shakes Rhino instead.

Blood Angels Turn 5

• Assault Squad Tanis meltas the Battle Cannon off the Leman Russ, then assaults and a meltabomb destroys the tank.
• Assault Squad Corvinus charges Veteran Squad on objective, kills 6, sweeping advances them and claims the objective for their own. Winning the game 2-0!

End of Game snapshot

Sorry It's Been So Long

September has been a very dry month for blogging unfortunately due to not actually get much hobby done! Mainly due to social craziness, and the fact both Space Marine and Deus Ex have been eating any spare time I have. Both are awesome games by the way, I totally recommend them to anyone.

Anyway, as I've already said not much hobby this month. Built and basecoated my new 5-man naked Assault Squad for my 1.5k Blood Angels list, as well as adding a few new recruits to my Mordheim warband for the campaign (4th game this Wednesday - will try and remember to take some photos).

Also had an epic 4000 point game yesterday at Warhammer World, as we figured it would be pretty empty due to GamesDay (another borefest according to some friends that went, glad I didn't waste my time this year). Here are some photos. Was my 2500 points of Blood Angels and 1500 points of Imperial Guards versus Tom's mahoosive Chaos army.

Most of my current 40k collection.

Mass Hysteria!

Blood Angels Vs Imperial Guard 1500 Points - Testing The New List

Had a game with my new, tweaked list last night against Guard... ouch. Far more effective than I thought it would be. Although that might be influenced by my love of Spearhead deployment, and my opponents hate for it. To recap:

• Librarian - Shield, Rage = 100
• Honour Guard x5 - PF, PG x4, Drop Pod = 235
• Sanguinary Priest x2 - PW x2 = 130
• Assault Squad x9 - TH, MG, Rhino = 227
• Assault Squad x9 - PF, MG, Rhino = 222
• Assault Squad x5 - Razorback w/ TL Lascannon = 155
• Baal Predator - Flamestorm Cannon, Heavy Flamers = 140
• Baal Predator - TL Assault Cannon, Heavy Bolters = 145
• Dreadnought - TL Lascannon, Heavy Flamer = 145

= 1499

I wanted more of an 'all-comers' list than the last one, so dropped the Vindicator and Predator for a 5 man Ass Squad with Razorback (the much needed deckchair unit to sit on the home objective, armed with a nice TL Lascannon) and a Dreadnought (with lascannon for more anti-tank, plus the ability to protect the razorback from outflankers, and still having some long-range punch).

My opponent (you know who you are) ran this list (from what i remember):

• Command Squad - Master of the Fleet, 2x Meltagun, Lascannon, Chimera
• Veteran Squad - 3x Meltagun, Chimera
• Veteran Squad - 2x Plasma, Missile Launcher, Chimera
• Platoon Command Squad - ?
• 40 man Blob Squad - Commissar, 4x Flamers
• 3x Heavy Weapon Teams - 3x Autocannons
• 2x Armoured Sentinels - 2x Plasma Cannons
• Devildog (the melta blast one right?)
• Hellhound (the ap3 flamer one right?)
• Leman Russ Battle Tank - Plasma Cannon sponsons

I think that was it...

Turned out it the my list worked pretty well, even against guard (my list is designed more towards MEQ). The Razorback did its job, with the only damage result suffered coming from a ramming Devildog (it was an immobilised result - RESULT! Wasnt't going to move anyway). The Dreadnought managed to rush forward and twat a Leman Russ to death - Strength 10 vs rear armour 10 = fun times. My Rhinos and Baal Predators did their usual Fast vehicle shenanigans and pinned the Guard into a nice killing field for my Power Fist/Thunder Hammer wielding (maybe khorne worshipping) Assault Squads to do their thing.

The event that might have hit the nail in the coffin for the game though was my Baal assault cannoning the Command Squad Chimera, rolling a 7 for damage (rending ap1), and killing over half of the 40 man guard squad in the resulting explosion from the objective... My opponent preceded to rip his list in half and vow to return with 3 more veteran squads with heavy weapons in chimeras... and maybe a Vendetta or two. Will see how the list does in that game!

The 40 Man Blob - About to die in an explosion from their own Commander's Chimera...

-Meer