Blog Wars - The Aftermath

Well i returned home late last night after an excellent days gaming at the newly founded 'Blog Wars' tournament, which was held in Mansfield at Maelstrom Games. I have to say, it was a blast!

For me, this tournament attracted all the right kinds of people. Though it was a tournament, it was always advertised as a Friendly Tournament, more of a community meeting than a tooth-and-nail competition! It was really great to meet some of the other bloggers out there, people who you only know by Blog and alias! As for the venue, well, it was perfect. The place was huge, with more than enough gaming tables to accommodate three times our numbers! The terrain provided was also great, with a good mix of GW and home-made features.
So how'd it  go? I took my Elysians to this one, as its probably the only tournament that I'm EVER gonna be able to take an Imperial Armour list, and out of the 3 games played, i managed 2 Draws and 1 Loss. The point of taking the Elysians (besides being my favorite army!) was to see how they performed in a more competitive setting against more optimised lists. The results speak for themselves, and the lack of serious firepower really let the Elysians down this time.

I tried to take notes for full battle reports, but by the middle of the second game, i lost the will! So what you've got here is a brief summary of each game, followed by some random pictures!
The first game was Spearhead and Seize Ground. GW may as well called this mission 'Draw' 'cos it was exactly that for most people! I played Mick from Claws & Fists and his Space Wolves. Every list had to include a Special Character, so Mick took Bjorn the Fell Handed! Mick went first and deployed defensively around his objective at the rear of the table, i followed suit. The game basically consisted of pot-shots at each other from a distance, with the fast skimmers trying to contest the objectives! I managed to Outflank 2 Vulture Gunships and a Valkyrie full of Vet's onto his objective, but after 2 turns they were destroyed by one (or all!) of Mick's many Long Fang squads! It was a good, smooth game which ended in a Draw (cue shocked intakes of breath!)

The second game was against Drew from Excommunicate Traitoris and his Imperial Guard. The Special Character he took was Sergeant Harker, though he didn't get much of a look in this game. This mission was Dawn of War deployment with Annihilation. From the start Drew outgunned my quite significantly with 2 Leman Russ, 2 Hydras and a Vendetta Squadron- perfect for taking out my flimsy AV12 flyers! And that's exactly what he did, with terrifying accuracy! I barely got out of my deployment zone, spending most of my time trying to hide from his big guns! The 2 Vultures didn't get a single shot off before they were turned to scrap by his Hydras and Vendettas! Coupled with the fact my dice were rebelling against me (yes, i AM blaming my dice for this one!!) it became pretty one sided. The game mercifully ended on turn 5, and Drew claimed victory at 11KP to 5KP.

The final game was against our gracious host, Alex from From the Fang and his Space Wolves. The Special Character he took was Ragnar Blackmane, which he used to terrifying effect! The deployment was Pitched Battle and the mission was Capture and Control. Objective games are where the Elysians really excel, but another list full of Long Fangs was really gonna ruin my day! Alex went first and consolidated most of his forces on the right flank where 3 objectives were placed. The left flank had 2 with only a token force guarding them. I decided to keep all my forces in reserve bar Captain Gerek, the Ground Scanner, and the 2 Vendettas with Vet's in them. The game pretty much went as expected, my Outflanking forces contesting objectives and making a pain of themselves, while Alex's Long Fangs kept up the heat on my flyers. I managed to take the left flank by turn 4 (a very resilient Lone Wolf made the task VERY difficult!) but by then my scoring units were either chopped to pieces by Ragnar (who killed 2 entire squads on his own!) or fleeing. I have to say, my Leadership rolls had a lot to be desired in this tournament!! My only options by this stage were to contest the 2 objectives Alex held with my flyers, and leave the others unclaimed. So by the end of Turn 5 that was the situation. Alex had all his Meltas and Chainfists in position ready to turn my contesting flyers to scrap should the game go into Turn 6, now all that was left was a roll of  the dice. And that's when Mrs GunGrave turned up, and the fate of the game was placed in her delicate hands! Following a stern briefing, and the threat of a single-woman's life should she fail me, she rolled the dice..........and rolled a 1!! HA, i couldn't believe it - the game ended in a Draw. I was very pleased to say the least, and i couldn't possibly comment on how Alex felt (but i could take an educated guess!) All in all it was a very good game, and my favorite of the day!

So now some pictures. They'll probably be out of sequence, but they're just some snapshots of the day.

The set up at Maelstrom Games

Outflanking Valkyrie and Vet's contesting objectives in Game 1

Vendettas guard my objective in Game 1

Vultures Outflank onto Micks objective in Game 1

More guard duties for the Vet's in Game 1

Drew's Imperial Guard ready for judging

Drew's Vendetta Gunship

Some Elysian Drop Troops from Drew

Drew's Hydras that i really liked!

A great novelty Ork!

Cool Objective marker

An interesting Tau colour scheme

The worlds only yellow Blood Angels!

Some nice freehand work

The tournaments only Drago

Some more cool objective markers

A home-made Harker!

The Hydras eye up my Vendetta in Game 2

The Elysians hide during deployment in Game 2

A Valkyrie-Off in Game 2!

Rangnar Blackmane makes a move for the objective in Game 3

Some very concerned Guardsmen in Game 3!!

Outflank! Game 3

More Outflanking in Game 3

Sentinels tackle the Lone Wolf in Game 3

Once enough men had died, and the friendly gloating had subsided, it was time for the awards! I'm sorry to say that i can only remember the wining army of the tournament, which was a Dark Eldar list, but i cant remember the guys name - sorry dude! It goes without saying that i didn't rank very well, coming somewhere in the 20's! Check out Alex's blog over the next few days for details of that one. There was also a raffle, with some Finecast/Gash-cast minis as the prizes. I dipped out in that one to.

HOWEVER, I'm very pleased to say that i was voted Best Painted Army for the tournament!! There was one catch though......i drew with another guy for this award, and that was Drew and his Imperial Guard who i played in game 2! As it turned out, i voted for Drew's army myself (kinda wish i hadn't now - DOH!) as it was a really well painted and characterful army in a desert camo theme. His Hydras were especially nice!! We decided to split the prize of £25 store credit at Maelstrom, and i picked up the novel 'The Chapters Due', a Uriel Ventris book which i hadn't read yet. The remaining money that i didn't use i gave to Drew, in an unfathomable act of kindness! I haven't got any armies on the go at the moment and probably wont have for the near future, so i figured that he could make better use of the money than me!

So that's it, back to the Forge to get the Vostroyans ready for the tournament in Exeter in a few weeks time. I for one will look forward to the next 'Blog Wars', which will be a real highlight in my tournament calender in the future! A big thanks to Alex again for organising a great day!

The GunGrave

Apocalypse Battle Report - Imperials and Eldar vs Orks and Nights Lords

I've never done a battle report on this blog before, but decided to give it a go and document the battle that was fought yesterday with some buddies from my gaming club. It'll be long, and it'll probably be a bit ropey - you have been warned!

My Elysians and Death Korps of Krieg Armoured Regiment and Legio Titanicus forces were teamed with Lewys and his Crimson Fist Space Marines and a small force of mysterious Eldar! We faced Dai and his innumerable Orks hordes and a small force of Night Lords Traitor Marines, commanded by Patrick. Both sides totalled about 8000pts each. We had a time limit of about 6 hours, so we'd have to be snappy to get a few turns in.

Deployment

We forwent the usual bidding process to save time, and instead split the table diagonally and got both sides deployed simultaneously. We then chose our Strategic Assets. I chose the Minefield Asset in an effort to protect the Reaver Titan. Lewys took the Vortex Grenade (never leave home without one!) Dai took Flank March as well as the Rocks that are granted to him by the presence of Ghazghkull on the field. Patrick went with the Vortex Grenade as well. We then rolled off to see who would go first - the forces of Evil won the roll, and chose to go first.

Imperial Guard forces

Right flank

Imperial Forces in the city ruins

Ork and Chaos lines

Left flank

Space Marine forces

Evil Turn 1

The Orks and Night Lords Surged forward across no-mans-land, eating up the inches in order to close with the enemy. A small squad of infiltrators, Snikrot and a squad of Komandos no less, moved closer to the Imperial gun line on the right flank, threatening a squadron of Leman Russ Battle Tanks. In the centre, Wazdakka and his war bikers turbo boosted towards the Bastion and its gallant defenders, while the Stompas lingered in the rear of the field.

Evil forces advance

Snikrot and Komandos assault the Leman Russ

The Shooting Phase saw Dai's Wierdboy cast a psychic power that gave the entire army a 6in WAAAGH! enabling the Orks to close yet further with the Imperial defenders. The forces of Evil also took this opportunity to use their Rocks Strategic Asset, to little effect. The 3 rocks scattered so wildly that they either missed the board or hit nothing (much to the relief of Lewys and myself!) The Stompas targeted the Reaver with Rockets, but failed to penetrate the Void Shields. The remainder of the Ork and Night Lords forces opted to Run and try and engage the Imperials next turn.

The Assault Phase saw only one assault, when the Komandos engaged the Leman Russ Squadron on the right flank. They shockingly caused only one Crew Shaken result which was ignored due to the Squadron rules. Now it was the Imperials turn!

Good Turn 1

I decided to keep the whole of the Elysian force in reserve, half of which came on this turn. A Vulture Gunship and Valkyrie entered behind the Ork lines on the left flank, while the second Vulture entered on the right flank. Captain Gerek and his ground scanner entered rather un-heroically, under the feet of the Reaver! The mysterious Eldar decided to move on the Lootas occupying the Skyshield Landing pad on the left flank, deep striking a squad of Warp Spiders directly in front of them (and unfortunately loosing the Exarch!)

Elysians enter on the left flank

The Vulture Gunship enters on the right flank

The Warp Spiders Deep Strike

The rest of the Imperial force was largely static, myself and Lewys quite content to let the enemy taste our firepower at maximum range! In the ruins of the city, the two Vultures of the Krieg Armoured Regiment moved to engage the Komandos, while two Leman Russ Squadrons moved to better firing positions to take on Ghazkull and his Mega Nobz advancing around the minefield.

The Vultures move into possition

The shooting phase began with the outflanking Elysians on the left targeting a large Boyz squad led by the Wierdboy. Only 9 Boyz fell to the massed firepower of the Punishers and Rocket Pods! The Warp Spiders fared no better, only managing to kill 4 Lootas. The situation in the centre looked bleak for the Space Marine defenders, as the two squads occupying the Bastion only managed to fell 2 War bikers. Terminators and Dreadnoughts in the ruins lent their firepower to the efforts in the centre of the field, killing 7 Stormboyz.

Space Marines target the War Bikkers

Space Marine forces target the Stormboyz

On the right flank, the Imperial Tank Commanders took a fearsome toll on Ghazghkull's retinue, with two Leman Russ squadrons killing 7 Mega Nobz with their massed firepower. The Elysian Vulture Gunship spooled up its Punisher Cannons and deprived Ghazkull of a further 10 Nobz. The Krieg Baneblade taking cover in the ruins targeted a large squadron of Deffkoptas racing towards the Imperial tanks and unleashed its full fury into their ranks, but only killing 7. The two Vultures of the Krieg Armoured targeted Snikrot and his Kommandos, reducing the entire squad to paste with their twin linked Punisher Cannons!

The Baneblade decimates the Deffkoptas

Leman Russ Squadrons firing on Ghazghkull while he skirts the edge of the minefield

Finally Praetorian the God-Machine unleashed its deadly arsenal! The Apocalypse Missile Launcher targeted a large unit of Ork Boyz in the centre, killing all 30 of them! The Gatling Blaster fared equally well, killing 7 Ork Bikers in the centre. Finally the Laser Blaster targeted the Stompa supporting the Ork push in the centre, scoring direct hits with all 3 of its 'Streangth D' shots! The blasts Stunned the Crew, destroyed the dreaded Supa-Gattla, and inflicted a Drive Damaged result.

Only one assault played out this phase, as an Eldar Avatar broke cover from behind a Bastion and charged Wazdakka! The warlords wounded each other once, drawing the combat.

Evil Turn 2

The Orks and Night Lords continued to advance across the field, despite their horrendous losses! The Stompa on the left flank turned its attention to the Elysians that had outflanked them, while the other continued to limp forwards. The remains of the right flank continued to advance around the minefield in an effort to engage the tanks.

In a moment of sheer horror, Dai used Flank March to deploy 120 Ork Boyz with a Pain Boy in front of the shocked Space Marines! Dai rubbed his hands with barley contained anticipation for the coming assault phase! 

BOO!

The remaining Stormboyz in the centre advance towards the Avatar, while Zagstruk splits from the squad to try and engage the Space Marines. A squad of Night Lords bikes also moves closer to the Avatar to lend their talent to the coming assault.

The Traitor Marines decided to show their hand, Deep Striking 2 large squads of Terminators amongst the Imperial defenders. Their evil pacts with the Ruinous Powers no doubt enabling Patrick to roll two 'Hits' on the scatter dice! One squad materialised behind the Space Marine lines, while the other appeared directly in front of the Baneblade.

Chaos Terminators Deep Strike in front of the Armoured Regiment

Chaos Terminators Deep Strike behind the Space Marines

The Evil shooting turn was more productive this round. The Stompa on the left flank targeted the newly arrived Elysians, destroying the Vulture and the Valkyrie with its Supa-Gattla before its ammo feed ran dry. 3 Veterans die as the ruined Valkyrie crashes to the deck, but they pass their pinning check.

Stompa following the destruction of the Vulture and Valkyrie

In the centre, the Orks continue to advance, opting to run for the most part. On the right, the Deffkoptas fire a huge amount of Rokkits at a Vulture Gunship, Stunning it. The Traitor Terminators in front of the Baneblade unleashed their Vortex Grenade, scoring a direct hit on the front of the Baneblade! The Emperor must have been watching over the crew, as it only lost 1 of its 3 Structure points to the doomsday weapon. The other Traitor Terminator squad mowed down many Space marines before the Chaos Gods started granting their dice 1's!

The Vortex Grenade sucks up a Structure Point!

The assault phase saw Zagrot take on a squad of Sternguard in the ruins, killing 4 of them. Zagrot took numerous wounds in reply, but managed to keep one wound and prolong the combat. The Stormboyz and the Night Lords bikers charged the Avatar. The ensuing combat saw Wazdakka slain, but the Avatar was in turn killed by a Daemon blade. Another squad of War Bikkers charged the Bastion, inflicting no damage.

Then it was the turn of the Green tide, who crashed into the Space Marines! A charge of this size saw a Scout Squad, a Tactical Squad, a Dreadnought, a Terminator Squad and Petro Kantor himself sucked into the melee! The unfortunate Scouts were wiped out, falling under the 84 attacks directed at them! The Tactical Squad loose 6 of their number, and kill 5 in reply. The Terminators fared better, only loosing one or two battle brothers. Patro Kantor takes on the Warboss leading the Tide, wounding him twice and emerging unscathed! The Dreadnought is brought down by massed Power Klaws, but kills 6 in the resulting explosion. The loss of so many Orks barely put a dent in their numbers, and the combat was to continue for another round.

The Green Tide smashes into the Space Marine lines

Good Turn 2

The remaining Elysian Forces outflank and emerge on the left, reinforcing their comrades earlier attack. Another Valkyrie, 2 Vendettas and 2 Sentinel Squadrons emerge to lend their firepower to the cause. The remnants of the Veteran squad advance on the Orks. Things remained static in the centre of the field, the Space Marines in the Bastion wisely opting to take shelter behind the reinforced adamantium walls. A squad of Vanguard Veterans moved to engage the Chaos Terminators in their midst, while the tanks on the right flank moved to engage Ghazkull and his remaining 4 man retinue. The Vortex Grenade scattered onto a Vulture Gunship, Immobilising it. Imperial mechanised elements move to address the Chaos Terminators while the Baneblade retreats to get a clear shot at the second Terminator squad.

Outflanking Elysians

Vulture Gunships put Ghazghkull in their sights

Mechanised eliments target the Chaos Terminators

The shooting phase saw the Elysians on the left flank wipe out another 30 Boyz, leaving the Wierdboy to fail his morale check and flee into the knives of the waiting Elysian Squad, who promptly dispatched him. The Vendettas put the Stompa in their sights, and fired all their Lascannons into the monstrosity. They managed to claim a Structure Point and Stun the crew. The Space Marines in the Bastion continue to pour fire down upon their Warbikker assailants, killing a handful of them.

The Elysians pour their fire into the Ork Boyz

The Vendettas target the Stompa

In the ruins of the city, the Chimeras of the Armoured Regiment target the Terminator squad and open up with their Multi-Lasers and Autocannons, thinning their numbers. The Vanguard Veterans do the same, killing 2 more. The Leman Russ squadrons target Ghazkull but failed to kill either him or his retinue. The Vultures fare batter taking another 2 Nobz down.

The Space Marine Tactical squads sheltering in the ruins pour fire down onto the Terminators in front of the Baneblade, but failed to kill any. The Banblade then shows them how its done, and fires its Heavy Bolters, Lascannons and Demolisher Cannon, killing 4 and causing the survivor to flee! The Banblade Cannon targets the remaining Deffkopptas, killing 2 and forcing the sole survivor to flee. The right flank is secure, apart from the obvious problem of Ghazkull!!

Then the guns of Praetorian spoke! The Apocalypse Missile Launcher decimates another 30 strong squad of Ork Boyz, while the Laser Destructor only manages to Stun the second Stompa. The Gatling-Blaster addresses a 10 man squad of Chaos Raptors, banishing the whole squad back to the Warp!

The Assault Phase saw the Vanguard charge the Chaos Terminators, killing 5 but loosing 3. The Green Tide continued its assault as the Space Marines put more of their brothers into the fray. The Tactical Squad was wiped out, as was the remnants of Petro Kantors squad. Petro himself slew the Ork Warboss in heroic fashion, but is in turn killed by massed Power Klaws. The Terminators take minimal casualties, and fight on once the combat was resolved.

Vanguard Veterans take on the Chaos Terminators

Space Marines tackle the Green Tide

Petro Kantors last stand

Aftermath

So we decided to call it a day after 2 full turns, but had a great game none-the-less! We called it a draw as both sides inflicted a fearsome amount of death on each other!

So i  hope you like this report. I'm sure that their were numerous other actions that have been omitted/forgotten, but you've seen the most important bits of the game! I've enjoyed writing this report, and think I'll try a battle report on a regular 40K game next time. Now the fun's all over its back to painting. With Blog Wars next week, i need to tidy up the Elysians before they make their tournament debut!

The GunGrave

Things are Starting to get (Super) Heavy!

I've got a long awaited Apocalypse game tomorrow, and to mark the occasion (and take a break from my Vostroyans) i decided to repaint one of the Krieg Baneblades. It now matches the rest of the Krieg armour!

Vehicle designation. Twenty-Third Company, First Vehicle.

Krieg Tank Commander:

I'll eventually get around to putting the Super Heavy Engine Filter Set from Forgeworld on this beast, as well as on the other vehicles of this company. With the price rises around the corner, I'm looking more at improving the existing forces that i have, and getting all those things that i always meant to do, done!

I'll be taking my camera to the Apocalypse game tomorrow, so I'll get some action shots up on here! Its been AGES since Praetorian walked, so I'm really looking forward to it! Along with the Reaver I'll also be fielding the Elysians and the Death Korps Armoured Regiment (making a modest 5,700pts!) With the Vostroyans and the Krieg Siege Regiment still undergoing repaint, i thought it best to leave them out of this one.

Pics tomorrow!

The GunGrave