New edition - New Army II

So as well as Dan starting a new army with his Necrons. I have also taken the release of 8th and the subsequent re-balance of all the factions to start a new army.

To avoid the suspense, I have chosen one of the older or elder races in the galaxy; the Craftworld Eldar or Aeldari (as they are now known).

I have always been drawn to the Elves from Tolkien lore, especially their ethereal (not to be confused with T’au) appearance and demeanour. Now this is Sci-Fi so I am using the tenuous thread of Elves in Space to satisfy my curiosity. What sold it for me was reading through Gav Thorpe’s excellent Path of the Eldar series, it really gave me an insight into the enigmatic elder, though don’t be surprised if you see a Striking Scorpion soon! When I mentioned my choice of Army to one of the guys, he laughed and said ‘You always play the good guys!’

The other reason for choosing Eldar is the stigma associated with playing a powerful army.  I have only played against Eldar once with my Ultramarines in 7th and it didn’t go well for me! Now they are quite lack lustre (though there are some powerful combos) and its exactly why I have felt it’s the right time to start this army.

Enough of my ramblings, I have chosen to break with my usual tradition of using existing Craftworlds and I have decided to feature my own Craftworld, Kei-Lorien.

It was lost in the eye since the Fall, but safely anchored in a redundant tunnel of the webway, to avoid attracted unwanted attention the Seer council cast a psychic veil over the Craftworld. Therefore isolating itself from the galaxy at large. However the Great Warp storm changed all that, now the Eldar of Kei-Lorien venture forth

I have three distinct themes in mind for this army, based on the concepts of Speed, Bastion and Willpower.  One arm will be a Windrider raiding host, jetbikes and more jetbikes, the second is a traditional warhost, with a few Aspect squads within and the third will use the Wraith constructs to destroy the enemy.

So far I have managed to pick up a Farseer Skyrunner, a squad of Wind riders and a small Eldar Battleforce to paint up, I have chosen a Purple scheme which I will update you soon with the results.
Stay tuned …

x

Tarsiss 4 - Incom gaming

Hi all,

Just a quick one this time as I didn't get much time to take photos etc. Me and Toby  (tbe heresy bro team ) attended another heresy event on the 23/24th September at incom gaming in Cheltenham. It was a narrative weekend as are most events played over 5 games in 2 days.

The venue was a oub/club called the 2 pigs which at first glance can look a bit rough but it's all good for rolling some dice.

I took the wolves with russ and Toby took his raven guard. We both had some great games including some zone mortalis.

We both took some wins and some losses but overall we helped ensure that the loyalists were successful in taking the planet.

There were some ridiculously well painted armies with some great conversions. Best painted by TOs and peoples choice award(!) Was the same guy and well deserved, his ultramarines were fantastic.

I managed to get best sporting (i wasn't a tool!) Trophy which was awesome.

Incom gaming are running 3 events next year and I would highly recommend attending.

Next up hate vs vanguard!!

The Imperial Truths first Blood - Element Games - Part 1

Hi all,

Recently me and Toby attended one of Greg Dan's Imperial Truths Podcasts events . In the last few years he has held them at Firestorm Games in Cardiff; this year he is organising three events, one already held in London alongside the 40k GT, one at Stockport at Element Games (this one) and another in Derby in November. Greg's events are great, they are very fluff related and there's not many gamey people that attend so your almost certain to get 5 good games.

First Blood

The format of the event is 5 games over the weekend at 3000 points. this is slightly different to his last few which have had two games at 1500 points and the rest at 3000. Its a nice change as you only have to run one list (not that there's too much of an issue but after a weekend of beer and gaming the less you have to think the better!).

First blood sees the opening of the war for the Mal-Raen system, which is rich in resources required for the forces to wage war in the name of the Emperor or the Warmaster dependent upon your loyalty.

Armies

There was a nice spread of lists in attendance at this event and are listed at the links below:

Loyalists

Traitors

Venue

Element Games is a great event space. It can hold about 100 people and has a massive shop! It also has a great little bar which is supplied with a decent array of boozy drinks. It all makes it an ideal gaming space.

Space Wolves Army List

For this event Russ would be having a rest at home (he didn't do so well at the last event!) so I brought the Glaive. Its nice to be able to have the choice of 2 different LoW, and as I haven't used it for a while I decided it would be fun to take.

Dan Evans, Bristol Vanguard Space Wolves: ‘Prospero Censure Force’ - RoW: Bloodied Claws

HQ

Geigor ‘Fell Hand’ – 135pts

Priest of Fenris (Speaker of the Dead) – Brynjar ‘Oath Maker’ - 105, – Power Armour, Power Fist -20 – 125pts

Priest of Fenris (Speaker of the Dead) – Steinar ‘Grim Fang’ - 105, – Artificer Armour – 10, Melta Bombs – 5, Power Fist – 20 – 140pts

Elites

Deathsworn – ‘Morkai’s Breath’ – 175, Melta Bombs – 20, Great Frost Blade – 10 – 205pts

Troops

‘The Breakers of Wills’ - Grey Slayers x 10 – 125, 2 x Combat shield -6, Power Fist – 10, Power Weapon – 5, Heavy Chain Blade – 3, Combi-weapon – 5 ++ Huscarl: Artificer Armour – 10, Great Frost Blade – 15, Melta Bombs – 5  + +Dedicated Transport: Rhino – 35 – 219pts

‘The Thread Cutters’ - Grey Slayers x 10 – 125, 2 x Combat shield -6, Power Fist – 10, Power weapon – 5, Heavy Chain Blade – 3, Combi-weapon – 5 ++ Huscarl: Artificer Armour – 10, Great Frost Blade – 15, Melta Bombs – 5  + +Dedicated Transport: Rhino – 35 – 219pts

‘The Wolf Kings Chosen’ - Grey Slayers x 10 – 125, + 3 grey slayers – 30, 2 x Combat shield -6, 2 x Power Fist – 20, 2 x Power weapon – 10, Heavy Chain Blade – 3, Combi-weapon – 5 ++ Huscarl: Artificer Armour – 10, Great Frost Blade – 15 - 224pts

Fast Attack

Anvillus Drop Pod - ‘Void Breaker’ – 115pts

Javelin Attack Speeder – ‘Traitor’s Bane’ -55pts

Heavy Support

Spartan Assault Tank – ‘Fist of Russ’ – 305, Armoured ceramite – 20, Dozer blad-5,Flare shield – 45 – 375pts

Leviathan Siege Dreadnought – ‘Hearth Breaker’– 270, Armoured ceramite – 20, Graviton Flux Bombard – 20 325pts

Sicarian Venator – ‘Helspite’ – 190, Armoured ceramite – 20 – 210pts

Lord of War

Legion Glaive Special Weapons Tank – ‘Bite of Fenris’  - 625,Armoured ceramite – 25 -650pts Total 2997pts

Games

Before I go into any of the games, i'll start by saying that this is one of the funniest events ive ever been to! Its got nothing to do with the fact that by the second game on the Saturday I had been plied with several beers by my second opponent (Max) or that this was followed up by playing his friend straight after in my third game (Phil) who did the same. it was juts such a relaxed atmosphere and my opponents were so chilled out with their approach to the games that it was a pleasure to play.

For those that think 7th edition is dead, I would say NO it isn't, as long as you have a decent opponent who doesn't rules lawyer and is chilled out you'll have a great game still. 8th edition is good, but its not without its faults, and I find it can get a bit samey the more you play. Anyway, more about Heresy!

Game 1 - Chris - Solar Auxlia

Chris was a great opponent and was running a different solar list. He had the solar version of the venator (which worried me immensely) as well as some cyclops remote controlled 'cars'. I hadn't seen these before and wasn't too worried until Chris told me that when they charged they blew up in a small D blast!!!! (someone at forgeworld had obviously been plating too much grand theft auto) They were awesome, they only had the movement of infantry, but my Spartan and dedicated close combat army didn't really want to get involved!

The mission was war of lies which was basically secure as many objectives as you can (there were a total of 5) and at the end of the game, each you secured allows you to roll a D6 which gives you a different number of VPs (even minus VPs!).

Chris had the first turn and apart from a few hull points didn't manage to do too much, my first turn was pretty much the same, although my leviathan did manage to charge one of his dracosians, doing some damage to it. 

Second turn saw chris advance everything he could (the ogryns were pushing up the board after the grey slayers. he managed to take a rhino out and put some hull points on the other rhino. He fluffed his shots against the Spartan but more importantly, his little demo cars were advancing to my big stuff! My second turn saw most of my units move up hesitantly trying to get some shots on his super heavy vehicles before my infantry could get out. I managed to finish the dracosian off and charge the second one.

Chris's third turn saw a far amount happen. Firstly his ogryn managed to get deep into my lines and take another rhino out before he shot the grey slayers with his thudd guns. The cyclops then charged my Spartan and anvillus pod, the Spartan was lucky and only lost about 3 hull points, the pod however was smashed by the roll of a 6 and a 3. The deathsworn didn't mind too much as that was three of the little D bombs down. My 3rd turn was the turning point I think. The ogryns were weakened through shooting by the grey slayers, the remaining cyclops were destroyed by using antitank weapons (they really scared me!) and I got a great shot off with the glaive which helped turn the tide massively. I charged the ogryns with the grey slayers and managed to do some wounds but not many. the deathsworn managed to destroy the venator equivilant.

Time was running short and we decided that we would end on the fourth turn. The game was pretty much over as chris had no more vehicles left it was all about him trying to survive his two remaining units on the objevctive he was currently scoring. He tried to distract me with his warlord as he split him and charged my speaker of the dead. the fight was a draw with chris makinghis invun saves. My turn four saw me advance most of my army to sit on objectives.

My anti tank weapons targeted the ogryns destroying them, whilst the Spartan moved forward to claim an objective. My deathsworn tried to take out some guys standing on the ledge of the big building where chris's objective was being held by using a stasis bomb. There must have been a stiff breeze as the sodding grenade flew back on top of the deathsworn killing them all! (this actually got me an award, but its always bitter sweet!).

I managed to kill his warlord but didn't have enough units close enough to charge his main squad so we called it there.

The final score was 12 - 4 however I managed to roll a 6 on the war of lies table which meant I lost D3 VPs (I rolled a 3) so the final score was 10 -4.

Great game and great opponent.

Spaces wolves win.

Game 2 - Max - Iron Warriors Armoured Assault

Of all the previewed lists I saw before the event, the two armoured assault lists were the ones id didn't want to face. However, its not just the list, its the player that makes the game and my god Max was such fun!

The mission was the one where you get specific points for each unit in your enemies deployment zone, and tanks were scoring!

I'm not a big drinker, however, its rude not to have a few beers when theres a bar there and your hotels a 3 minute walk away! Id had a few beers by this point and I warn anyone who drinks when they play not to try and keep up with obviously a quicker drinker than yourself! I think by the end of the game we had drunk 5 beers by which point I couldn't see the numbers on the dice!

Max had first turn and didn't put much on the table, I think he was afraid of the glaive doing some damage to his forgeworld Marchaious omega. that tank was a beast however as some other LoW it only had 6 HP. 

His first turn was a stunner, pretty much everything shot at the glaive, including his HQ with his conversion beamer stripping it to 1 HP (including a very ballsly deepsrtike in a pod by his melta vets causing three explosion results!) My heart fluttered a bit during that turn as I wanted at least one turn of shooting with it. My first tunr saw me concentrate fire with the glaive at his Omega and made short work of it. the last thing I needed was for it to be dropping templates on my troops when they were out of their vehicles. I don't think anything else got hit, the deathsworn dropped in and stayed in their pod ( it would take them until the last turn to actually get out and do something as I was trying to catch his vehicles from one side of the board to the other!).

Max continued his great shooting in the remaining turns of the game taking rhinos out and using his predators to great use tearing the grey slayers to pieces when they disembarked. His tanks pushed very aggressively to my side of the board to score and his leviathan and dread were causing havoc in my back lines. His fire raptor was also a bugger to deal with as it was mowing my infantry to shreds.

I had so much luck with my leviathan this game. I managed to drop my grav flux bombard on his leviathan and its pod causing double hull point damage on his dread leaving it one 2 HP. I then melta'd him and cause another hull point and removing one of his close combat weapons. I managed to destroy the pod using my hits in combat at I5.

My Spartan took a few shots at his HQ (sicarian) and managed to destroy it before my grey slayers (what was left of them) charged what they could. On the right hand side of the board managed to destroy a squadron of his predators whilst the warlord and his retinue ran and charged his little parking lot in my deployment zone. We didn't roll the attacks etc as Max said it was pretty obvious his tanks would be destroyed; we called it there!

Fantastic game with a fantastic opponent.

Space Wolves win (narrowly!)

Game 3 - Phil - Sons Of Horus

If my second game was a bit messy, it was a set up for my third. Phil and Max were good friends (and both big drinkers) and I swear they had set me up for a beating (through the medium of drink)!

Phil was playing a brilliantly painted SoH army with a great rust effect (obviously Horus didn't care about maintenance long before he decided to go bad).

The list included two flyers (a fire raptor and a ceastus assault ram with terminators), a preator, six javelin speeders and some tactical marines, ten volkite dudes and three graviton rapier platforms.

He started with very little on the board (two rhinos, his volkite squad and his rapier crew). He had first turn and managed to strip 3 HP from my Spartan and that's pretty much it. I managed to whittle his  volkite squad down to about 3 men using the glaive and pushed everything up knowing that he had shed loads of reserves coming on at some point.

Hi reserves came on (aprat from his assault ram) and they did their business. it hurt but could have gone worse. The Spartan was down and the grey slayers had to disembark right next to the assault squad that had just deep struck behind it. the speeders nailed the rhinos and put some hurt on the grey slayers.

I managed to deal with the speeders in my turn. Using the grey slayer squads to shoot them and strip them of HP. a couple were destroyed, especially when I turned the glaive around on them. The grey slayers assaulted and killed the assault squad and the deathsworn did what they do against the graviton rapier team.

At the end of the next turn, the assault ram had come in and set up for a next turn charge on the glaive and he used his tactical squad to move around and shoot the slayers. I managed to finish the speeders off and set a few shots against his flyer to which he jinked, and forced the glaive to finish off a squad of speeders (I was hoping for the terminators to fall out of the assault ram so I could volkite them).

Phils next turn saw my glaive get charged and destroyed as well as my leviathan. At this point it was a draw and we were both happy to call it there.

Another great game with a great opponent.

Space Wolves Draw.

New Edition - New Army

Hi All,

New Army

As most of us have already experienced, 8th edition is a nice change up to the old ruleset. It streamlines a ruleset that has both good and bad points and allows for a quicker and more bloody game. I'm a fan, and am enjoying it, so much so I went back to an army I started over a year ago and decided to actually complete them for 2000 points. the army in question is Necron's.

I've always enjoyed the fluff regarding the Necron's (apart from that fluff about the Blood Angels!!). Their new rules in this edition are great and the re-animation rule is pretty damn cool and matches their fluff to a tee!

In addition to the fluff, I also wanted an army that was easy to paint (but one I could add something different too).

I started the army with the Necron starter set. The set includes 1 overload, 12 warriors (odd number!), 3 bases of scarabs, and a triarch stalker. All of these models will feature in my army. The overlord as a compulsory HQ (probably a lord), the warriors will be beefed up to either 15 or 20, the scarabs will be used to soak up some firepower and protect against charges and the triarch stalker will be there to buff the army (it allows other Necron units to re-roll 1s if they shoot at the same target).

Painting

To get the correct colour I decided to use army painter primer chainmail spray. I like the spray as its pretty thick and gives a great primed surface to either paint over or use as a base. After the base coat, I then use a 50/50 mix of Agrax Earthshade wash and chaos black. I think that the wash alone doesn't darken the metal enough for me as I like it to be more dirty. after the wash I let it dry I drybrush the model with lead belcher and then dry brush it again with Necron compound. this second drybrush provides a very light metal surface on top of a darker metal on top of the washed metal. This effect comes into is own when those areas are glazed.

This is the second time i've used glazes; the first time being when I used them for the power weapons on my 30K iron warriors after a chat with Rob Hill about how he did his Solar Auxilia armies glow effect. 

For the close combat weapons and the joints between the triarch stalker, I have used Gulliman Blue; for the warriors weapons and the glow for other bits I have used Waywatcher green. As with all glazes, they have to be built up over a number of applications, but the time and effort it worth it. The glaze is thin enough that the lighter drybrushing can be seen through it and the levels of lightness can be seen which provides a great shading effect.

This is all I've done so far; I have just brought some Lychguard, some more warriors and Immortals which will be done next. Ill try and use this blog to show the progress.

I encourage you to use this blog for all of your projects whether it be 40k or X-wing, wherever your hobby takes you. Just drop me a line on facebook or through the Bristol Vanguard forum and ill send you a link.

Dan

Parnassus - Phase 1

 The Shrieving of Parnassus – End of Phase One

Well it’s the end of the first phase of our group’s local narrative campaign and much shrieving was done!

The action was kicked off by the militia exploring the jungles, they discovered a small laboratory operated by none other than Gahlan Surlack.  Disturbed by the intrusion of the Loyalist forces, Surlack unleashed his fiendish creations upon the unsuspecting militia and decimated them.

The Death Guard arrived planetside and found little left from their prior orbital bombardment. Kursk surveyed the gloomy rad filled wastes as was drawn to a small golden speck moving at pace. Little did he realise that forces of the Ten Thousand has landed on Parnassus seeking answers from the ruins of Isstvan.

Safe to say the DG were caught by surprise by the Custodes, in particularly their highly tough troops!

The Death Guard caught the Militia in their Noose, the Shadow War mission played for this match was Noose, which meant that an independent character had to be assassinated. A template was laid down and obliterated in the first shot of the match.

A force of Alpha Legion and their Militia Serfs encountered a loyalist force comprised of Shattered Legions and Solar Auxillia. Much fire was exchanged but it ended in a stalemate both sides retiring to lick their wounds.

Later, a lone company of the Vkla Fenryka penetrated Surlacks secret laboratory under the jungle. The resultant carnage pitted the World Eaters savagery against the Vkla Fenryka’s ferociousness. Scars from the Night of the Wolf had faded but memories were still raw.  Ultimately it was the grim determination of the Vkla Fenryka that prevailed.


Finally, the Salamanders were traversing the Rad Wastes looking for their next traitor target. They didn’t have to wait long because the
The mission was Hunter/Hunted, where half of your army has to be in reserve. Salamanders had 3 units of outflankers while the DG had to put heavy weapon support squads in reserve, which immediately put their gunline disadvantage. The deployment was quarters, which restricted where they could deploy and aided the Neikia getting right in his face.

The Overall standings for Phase One:

Phase 1: challenges played
T1 Alpha v Custodes, hive city – Postponed.
L1 Militia v World Eaters, death forest, - loyalist lose challenge.
T2 Deathguard v Custodes, death forest. Traitors lose challenge.
L2 Ultramarines vs Word bearers, Postponed.
T3 Militia + Alpha vs Shattered Legions & Militia. Draw (traitor lose challenge).
L3 Wolves v World eaters. Hive city. Loyalist win challenge
T4 Death Guard at Rad wastes v Militia. Traitor win challenge.
L4 Sallies v DG at Rad Wastes. Loyalist win challenge
T5 DG vs Militia At Hive City. Traitor win challenge
L6 Wolves vs Alpha legion at Forest. Loyalist win challenge.

Standings

Forest. Traitor Nil. Loyalist 1
Hive. Loyalists 1. Traitor 1.
Rad waste. Traitor 1. Loyalist 1

The Shrieving of Parnassus - A Narrative Campaign

Kicking off our group Narrative campaign is the Shrieving of Parnassus. The backstory of this campaign stems from the Victory is Vengeance campaign our gaming group ran last year. Our Kill Team heroes have escaped or left the Istvaan system and are either looking for revenge against the traitors or to looking to purge the Loyalists further before they could regroup an form a counter resistance to the Warmaster's diabolical plans.

There will be separate posts on the Loyalist and Traitor forces coming shortly, there you will meet our Characters (Be they Heroes or Villians).

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Location

The Parnassan system occupies a particularly stable part of the warp close to the Istvaan system. For many of the loyalist forces this was their first return to active duty after escaping the Istvaan massacre, and they burned with the desire to avenge themselves on the traitors. Other loyalists were fighting their first conflicts against their former brothers, having answered emergency calls to assist them in taking this system. 

For the traitor part, the majority of the traitor forces had moved through this system already onto other warzones, leaving a motley collection of different legions forced to fight a bloody rearguard and ensure that the loyalist did not seize control of this system and thus cut off traitor communications. 

Parnassus Prime is a notorious death world, which is colonised as of necessity due to its proximity to the Parnassan warp gate. The overwhelming majority of the population is concentrated in a single hive city, Parnassus Sigma. There are rumours, like those surrounding Caliban, that the forests of Parnassus are tainted in some way. Its tainted enough to warrant a Primarch to investigate it, in the hope to uncover more fell secrets about the Warp.

As the bulk of the traitor forces passed through the system, Mortarion ordered a light atomic bombardment of Parnassus Sigma, concentrated on the dock area, to break the resistance of the local garrison. Festering in this area of nuclear annhilation is a strategic point needed for a beachead onto the World.

The Armies:

Loyalist Forces

The Loyalist forces are scattered, broken and without solid leadership. Horus dealt them a huge blow at Isstvan and the shockwaves of that atrocity were felt for lights years around. Our forces are facing a tough test, cut off from their Legion, Primarch and Imperium they must rally together and claim the Parnassan System in the name of the Emperor.

The Loyalist forces represented are:

Salamanders - Spirits of Neikea

Ultramarines - XLII Company 

Imperial Firsts (or Raven Guard)

Raven Guard

Vkla Fenryka

Luna Wolves (Shattered Legion)

Imperial Militia w. Ultramarines

Solar Auxilia - The Dune Lions

Blackshields - Dolarhyde's Dudes

Talons of the Emperor

Warmaster's Forces

Fresh from crushing their fellow legion brothers at Isstvan V, most if not all have had a taste of Astartes blood. Ordered onward to conquer Worlds in the Warmaster's name the forces of Horus Lupercal spread out into the Galaxy. The resistance that these Warbands met on Parnassus is fierecer than first expected, they now must push on and claim this World and system for the Warmaster's campaign.

The Warmaster's Forces represented are:

Death Guard

Militia Army Cults

Thousand Sons

Word Bearers

Thousand Sons

World Beaters (Khorne Butchers)

Iron Warriors

Death Guard

Alpha Legion

Scenarios

Our campaign is split into four phases roughly lasting 2 week each, starting on Sunday 23 April 2017.  At the end of the campaign we will be fighting a large apocalypse battle (or battles depending on the number interested) at Bristol Independant Gaming (BIG). This will be on the last day of the campaign Sunday 18th June at 2pm, (Its Father’s day so we may get away with it) 

We will be using the missions in the Shadow War ruleset from Book VI- Retribution. 

In the first phase the following Stragegic Objectives will be fought over:

Strategic Objective 1: Rad wastes (former docks).

These are the former dockyards of Parnassus Sigma. The atomic bombardment here was particularly fierce and so the Rad Wastes special rule applies to all battles fought here. The scenery should be ruins, pools of toxic waste, craters and glassy black plains.

Strategic Objective 2: Parnassus Sigma hive city outskirts.

This city was heavily damaged by the atomantic bombardment, and its people are struggling to survive and rebuild. The space marines, as usual, rather than helping, are fighting bloody skirmishes throughout the city sprawl. No special rules apply to this battlefield, but the scenery should be ruins, walkways, and gantries.

  

Strategic Objective 3: Death world guerrillas.

The majority of Parnassus is covered with the famously deadly Parnassan fauna. However, inevitably, it is chock full of valuable chemicals and artefacts, and therefore well worth fighting over. Spending too much time in the woods sends space marines a bit odd (ordinary folks just tend to die before they go insane.

Thanks for  reading so far, hopefully we'll have an update on our campaign as the week's progress!

Stay Tuned!

Happy Shrieving!