Triple Nickles all Heads Up!

Captain Jaxxson, 1st Armored Company Commander of the Triple Nickles Regiment, stood on the front glacis of his heavily damaged Chimera.  Here and there around the abandoned campus, smoke and activity billowed from around other vehicles that comprised the company.  Servitors and tech priests alike were moving to repair damage, weld plates, and reload empty magazines.  Fighting could be heard in the distance, where other Companies of the 555th Cadian were holding the line.    

Sergeant Cullin – tank commander of the Leman Russ Demolisher “Daisy” looked on from his turret position.  His best friend, Sergeant Abbott of the Lehman Russ Demolisher “Dorris” was attaching a recovery chain from Dorris to Daisy.  Dorris was sitting in the shallow river, its engine compartment flooded with water.  Dorris and Daisy had attacked up the river bed into the enemy center, which worked well until Dorris found a deeper hole in the riverbed, and flooded out the engine compartment, leaving just the turret above the water.  

Corporal Smithson, 555th Cadian, 1^st Armored Company, 3^rd Veteran Squad, was lucky.  Half his squad had become casualties when their Chimera had taken a lascannon hit to the flank and exploded.  Everyone that had been in the squad compartment was injured or dead - but Smithson, a meltagunner -   and others who had been forward and fighting from the turret - had survived the initial explosion.  By the end of the day, only three members of the squad remained functional.  Battlefields are very dangerous places...even for grenadiers from Cadia.   

1850 Points - Contact Lost - Astra Militarum vs SPACEWOLVES

OPFOR:

Spacewolf Battle Leader, runic armor, combimelta, PS

Rune Priest

Grey Hunters, 5, melta, Razorback, TLLC (Outflanking)

Grey Hunters, 6, melta, Razorback, TLLC

Grey Hunters, 9, melta, Rhino (Outflanking)

Long Fangs, 5, 2 ML, 2 HB, Drop Pod

Wolf Riders, 3, 1 w/ TH/SS

Wolf Riders, 3, 1 w/ TH/SS

Venerable Dread, Frost Axe/Shield

Venerable Dread, Frost Axe/Shield

Flying Refrigerator

Deployment and Turn 1

Here is a shot of the beginning of the first turn.  I was to deploy first and go first - I knew I'd have two Spacewolf units outflanking me - but I had no idea which flank.  I went strong on the right flank, with a teaser of units on the left.  Regardless, i needed to get to objectives!  My opponent seized the initiative and began flanking right and left, with his Venerable heading up the center.

Just another angle...

Turn 2

Outflanking!  In comes the Razorback with the Rune Priest and the Battle Leader in the Rhino...this photo is a bit misleading...the Spacewolf captain HAD dismounted with his retinue of 9 Grey Hunters...only to eat the firepower of the Punsher and 3 Chimeras...I was leaving the razorback alone - because it contained more guys that unless I forced them out, would have to waste time before they could assault - Here the Captain is down to one wound...the Chimera with 3rd Squad is damaged and immobilized.

Meanwhile in the Center - my Valkyrie worked over the other Razorback and got the Grey Hunters to Dismount, where the Manticore and Artillery Barrage could work them over.  Bad scatters meant safe Wolves...First blood did go to the Spacewolves when their right flank assault popped a Chimera with a Thunderhammer (no photo).  

Turn 3

Just a peak at the core at the beginning of the turn.  Neither of us had been drawing good cards.   

You can never go wrong with good graphiti on a Guard flyer....

Spacewolves continue moving forward.  Dorris is immobilized in the river.  The Spacewolf flyer has not been moved (yet) - but goes into Hover mode and with side shots, takes Dorris totally out of action.  In the backfield - I'd grav-chute inserted the reaction force - veterans with flamers - and ran them to spread out.  It would give the Spacewolves something to react to, certainly!

Meanwhile on the left flank - Squad 3's Chimera exploded, with 4 casualties.  They did not break!  In return fire, I'd killed the Battle Leader for first blood.  The Wolves in the Razorback looked like they did not want to come out and play...

But then they did.  Here in Turn 6, You can see some of the aftermath.  The Punisher is dead - killed by a dread.  So is Squad 2's Chimera...The Rune Priest lost his azorback , and the Battle leader's Rhino is also wrecked.  I'm driving to actually occupy all 6 objectives...and with Obsec, I can...

Somebody got showered with love from the last Bombardment and lasgun fire...

My Valkyrie had zoomed of to the corner Turn 4, and then went into Hover Mode to get back to claim an objective down below - as backup from the 1st Squad Vets who were going Move! Move! Move! below to claim objective #5.   I'm WINNING now, 13 to 10.  

Just a final view before cleanup. We called it at the end of Turn 6, with the Spacewolves just having a flyer, wounded rune priest, a Long Fang Sergeant, a Wolf rider sergeant, and Venerable dread remaining in play.  

I'd lost 4 Chimeras, two Lehman Russ Tanks,  and maybe a 10th of my infantry models.  The Manticore missile racks were empty... 

Aftermath

It was a good game.  My opponent and I talked about how things might have been better for him if he'd been more aggressive at the onset of the game, as some of his units were not used to full potential (such as having the Rune Priest not use 4 rounds of Psychic Phase from being inside the Razorback, not using both squads of Wolves in his flanking attack, and not picking out the Manticore and Master of the Ordnance as priority targets).  

I cannot recall, but this MIGHT be the first game I've won as all-guard!

(my basic army list - now rev3 - is over at Bolter and Chainsword...

MING

From Rage to Salvation 2015 - Painting up more Blood Angels

Just a quick data burst.

Over at Bolter and Chainsword, I decided to sign up to participate in the "From Rage to Salvation 2015" painting event.  I've vowed to paint up a Furioso Dreadnought and a unit of 10 Death Company models.  I really needed the extra motivation!  The Furioso allows me to try some of the other BA detachments/formations for which its a required choice.  

You can find out more here on the painting challenge:

 http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/313135-from-rage-to-salvation-2015/

I have the Furioso now built - with the arms all set, I'll be able to field it as either a Furioso with dual fists, MM, and HF, magnagrapples, or a Furioso with fragcannon, fist, heavy flammer and magnagrapples.

The Death Company will be a squad of the original, 10, metal models from over 18 years ago -  it was one of the first boxes of 40K stuff I'd bought, and they were disassembled and de-painted about 3 years ago, after never having been used.  I'll be replacing all of their original arms and such with updated blood angel death company bits, and will keep them on foot.  I might also have somewhere a red rhino to repaint to be their ride when they are not being airlifted.  

I hope to have a bunch of in-progress pix here soon - it should be pretty good!  Overall, I have until November 30th to get them all finished!  Look for them on a table top soon!

In a Self-Made Slump

Well, 5 games without a win, since my "Gaming Year" started in mid-August, is best categorized as a slump.  I think we've all been through them.  This one, typically, is self-made.  to recap:

Game 1 - BAs vs Tau.  Loss. The game was the relic, pitting by BAs against a very suit and plasma heavy tau list.  I did run off with the relic, and the game ended Turn 7 with one of the lowest scores possible (2-1).

Game 2 - BAs vs DAs.  Draw. The game went the distance, and at the bitter end, instead of going for points, I'd decided to toy with Samael on his Lawn-Mower landspeeder, and it cost me to create a draw instead of a victory.  Not a big deal, the game was a bunch of fun, pitting two great armies against each other.

Game 3 - BAs vs unbound all-skimmer Eldar.  Loss.  The game was an experimental game, my opponent had a list he'd brought looking to use every skimmer in his arsenal.  On a table he set up.  It was an interesting challenge - I did manage to destroy maybe half of his army, but that would not matter for the points.  Towards the end I was throwing units forward with reckless abandon, just to see if they could make it to assault the next skimmer in range.

Game 4 - IG vs Footy Eldar.  Loss.  The game was also experimental, to test a scenario for a campaign written by someone else.  All we showed was that the defender would get slaughtered.  It resulted in clarifications on the scenario/mission, which we've yet to play (but hopefully soon). I also used the feedback from this and comments at Bolter and Chainsword to develop a revised list.  I was short a Chimera too when I unpacked.  It was probably the first time I'd played IG in over a year, and something rarely seen locally.    

Game 5 - IG vs Tyranids.  Loss. Yep. Played last night.  Overall, it will cause further revisions to my 1850 IG list (already inked last night as rev3)...even in this game, with revisions from rev2, I'd forgotten to bring another Chimera, so it caused a last minute list revision.  So without much more than that as an intro - here are the photos and thoughts from last night:

Here is my list - Command squad, 5 veteran squads, 4 chimeras, a hotshot demi-squad, manicore, 2 demolishers, and 2 vendettas.  Master of the odnance, master of the fleet.  A sprinkling of meltaguns and plasma guns and flamers.  Not too bad.  The small squad of elites would ride in a Vendetta.

Opponent's list.  The Artillery node, flyrant, carnifexes, gaunts, warriors, pretty much all shooty or templatey.  Able to generate 8 or so warp changes just for being there.

      He deployed first and wanted to go first.  I seized.  We were playing the mission where you only drew cards for the objectives you held.  I drew an unscorable card for the first turn.  In shooting, my own templates and massed heavy bolters killed off a third of hist total number of gaunts, and left a few wounds on some big bugs.  I'm sitting right now on 3 objectives.  I'd gotten the outflanking AM warlord trait, but only got a 1 for the D3, so one Demolisher was in reserves with the Vendettas.  That was mistake number 1.  Mistake number 2 was forgetting the Master of the Ordnance.      

In my my opponent's turn 1 he'd popped the central Chimera, and then his artillery node killed off the disembarked squad.  Here is a shot in the middle of turn 2 or so.  Yep, I got all my reserves, and Vendettas shot at the Flyrant, but failed to drop it.  The other Demolisher came in at my lower left corner (out of the photo here), and was poised to head forward.  I was able to get more wounds on big bugs and kill more gaunts.   I felt i was doing pretty good.  The Manticore got me three templates this turn (just two the first turn).  I also remembered to use the artillery barrage from the Master of Ordnance.

Better overview here.  But now the really shooty Tyranids are closing in and everything seemed totally twin linked and S6 or greater.

 Middle of Turn 3.  The Flyrant moved off the table in my turn 3 by specuial rule, and returned in his movement phase (below) to shoot into the rear armor of the Vendetta.  He was making 3++ saves like a champ too.  On his turn 2, he'd wrecked the Manticore.  

Just another view.  I'd killed off his Carnifex and other units on my right, and wanted to start moving forward with my commend Chimera next turn...Mistake #4 or so - for fun, I'd grav shoot deployed the elites with their AP3 hotshot guns hoping to kill the last Carnifex on my left.  Nope...twas' not to be...in response, the living artillery node made quick work of them.  

Middle of the 4th was just a mere 4-3, bugs winning.  We were both just sitting at best on 2 objectives, and the cards we were drawing were horrible...

Here the Tyranids are in the movement phase of Turn 4. My Vendetta has gone off to the back corner to look at getting linebreaker on turn 5. My opponent is looking to wreck my last two Chimeras and Demolisher in odrer to get at the tasty bits on the insides...

And they did...here we are in Turn 5.  My commander's Chimara was wrecked, and half the squad dispatched by the living artillery barrage.  So I dismounted the other squad from their immobilized ride, to try to bring it down (the Flyrant), as it had maybe two wounds left.  I failed.  

Just another view.  My opponent tried hard to kill off my Commander to get STWL, but he would also fail.     

Quick view at the end.  I did get Linebreaker.    

Final score - 6 to 5, Tyranids win.  

So, I've already gotten feedback from another player to just stop playing IG till their new Codex comes out...

But, I'm just a sucker for doing it over and over until I get it right. In this case, I'm really wanting to learn about the IG and make them work for me!  

Overall, the next list tries to have less points tied up in flying reserves, and more in firepower I can apply on Turn 1.  

Here's looking forward to next week...

Other stuff I'm up to is another painting challenge at B&C - I'm working on a Furiouso and 10 more DC marines.  Look for photo progress here soon.

We also have the Standish Standoff V tournament in just 4+ weeks.  I still have no idea what I'll bring for that.  If I cannot solve the IG riddle to Victory before then, I'll probably go back to BAs or Ultramarines!  

What are your thoughts? I need some insights or training from an experienced IG Master....

Gettin' Pegs off Da Vox

I realized I had some jpegs of some games still on my phone from two games last month - I've been too busy with stuff!  So here they are before I delete them.  They were from two games that I've tracked as losses, but both were not serious games, but stuff we thought we'd do to just "see what could happen".  Both games involve Eldar, so if you like "them pointed ear gits", this post may become your favorite of the week!

The first game - only three pictures.  We wanted to see how effective an unbound, all Eldar skimmer tank army list would be - its not often you can put 1850 points of just skimmers on a table - including some from Forgeworld!  All I had was a BA 1850 list typical for what I was playing at the time - in reality, the game was alot of fun, with BA's on foot trying their hardest to get the best of a fleet of Eldar skimmers.  If I was to try the game again, it would have been better with all the buildings as ruins, as the BA's struggled with the terrain at times, which more favored the Eldar.  I tried to mitigate that by keeping much of the BA's in reserves turn 1, which helped a little bit. The ability for jinking though.....jeez....

Here we are around Turn 2 - The BA's are trying desperately to clear the left flank.  The pod had come in Turn 1, and acted as a beacon for the other units arriving turn 2.  Eldar strength was weaker on this flank, and their skimmer tanks and lighter elements were jinking everywhere.

This is in the Eldar turn 3, and you can get a broader view of the game.  

Just another view. The Eldar probably could have forced the issue and tabled the BA's, but ultimately kept good discipline to focus on the Maelstrom points.  I think at the very end (Turn 6?) the score was maybe like 14-9, Eldar winning.  The BA's mostly kept concentrated on the left flank, but eventually fought their way to the center, taking out about half of the Eldar skimmers in total.   Like I said, lots of LOS blocking terrain, but no real terrain offering cover.  If you hid behind a building, it was easy for Eldar skimmers to just move to the sides and get viable shots down range into the BAs.  Slay the warlord was given to the Eldar when the Librarian Angelus periled himself twice...

Now for something totally unexpected - I broke out the 555th Cadian "Triple Nickles" for a test game vs Eldar to try out a scenario for a fall-winter campaign.  Again, the though was, try out the scenario and see "what might happen".  I set up the terrain more in a narrative fashion, and we played the scenario for the first game as originally written - the defender (AM) would deploy first in a box bound by 4 objective markers, and go second.  The defender could deep strike then using mission-specific mechanics, and then start the firefight - as a "surprise" attack.  No real surprise here...it was a bloodbath.

Here is the Eldar army at 1850 Points ready to deploy.

Here is the 55th, happily laagered and awaiting more supplies to be delivered.  In reality, I'd apparently left another Chimera at the house, so had adjusted the army slightly to account for that - as an improvement, I should have had swapped a veteran squad to the command squad - instead left the commander in the open around the barrels in the center.  

Here we are with the Eldar now deployed.  Dice will start to roll, and models head back to their Army Builder foam cases...

The Warp Spyders jump forward and get ready to start the shooting...

Meanwhile on the left flank...

Here we are around the end of Eldar Turn 1. Daisy the Demolisher exploded.  manticore wrecked.  Command squad eliminated. Three veteran squads on foot decimated.    

End of AM Turn 1.  Some damage to the Eldar - but not nearly enough.  Not a single eldar unit could be eliminated.  

Up on the high ground, destiny awaits. 

The Eldar advance into the perimeter. This fight is going hand-to-hand.  Radio calls frantically go out for evac and for Spooky and Puff.  

I hate Spyders.  They tell me if you shoot one, it will rain...

It's now down to trench knives and rifle buts. 

Dorris the Demolisher is getting the haywire treatment...

The Mantis warriors finally get to swarm on that last Chimera...

Wytches in a frenzy...

Overflight arrives, but its too late...

Brrrrrrrp......Brrrrrrp....

Brrrrrrp....

"Eldar looting...not entirely unheard of....I heard they have a penchant for taking watches and those little keys you open canned rations with.  They seemed fascinated by them, and tend to collect them on gold chains. Well, that's what the sarge tells us..." Corporal Smithson, 555th Cadian

Scoring for the mission yielded a 24-0 Victory for the Eldar.  

Overall, based on this, we got the CO to change the deployment for the attacker, just to give the defender a bit more hope.  We'd decided that if the game had been played with the Eldar as the defender, the results very much would have been the opposite.  The overall first strike was just way to overpowering.  

Hope you enjoyed the photos...now I can get them off my phone!

On to the Campaign - Triple Nickels Reporting In

Captain Jaxxson, the Commander of Company "B", brooded over lunch in his command Chimera.  His Company was the first to land on Sable Prime, the largest inhabited planet in the Sable System,  Ultima Segmentum.  The Cadian 555th "Triple Nickels" Regiment was far from home.  Lunch was getting to be his favorite part of the day.  Bread, tinned beef, and a hot broth.  In one hand he held a sandwich, and in the other, a dataslate showing the local map overlain with his deployed forces.  His current mission was to hold the ground, securing it for the arrival of other companies.  In the distance, small arms fire was hear sporadically, as the local PDF patrols swept through the city behind him...inside his Chimera, radio traffic hummed along between the forces on the ground and the fleet overhead.  Jaxxson hated this part of any new campaign the most - the wait for real orders.  The fact that Cadian troops were sent to the Sable system gave him a pause - it could only mean one thing...the taint of Chaos... 

Sergeant Cullin, tank commander of the Lehman Russ Demolisher “Daisy”, and Sergeant Abbott, tank commander of the Lehman Russ Demolisher “Dorris”, leaned against Daisy and continued their discussion on the best ways to play cards against the best poker players on Company "A".  Taking their credits was always on their minds.  Nearby, their tank crews were helping the veterans of Company B set up an Aegis Defense Line, that amazing, portable, Cadian-built, modular wall system, strong enough to give cover to troops from all but the largest blast or flamer weapons.  Overall, the atmosphere was relaxed for the Cadians.  The small amount of small arms fire was something that they were used to - just background noise.  That background noise meant "all things were normal" or "Unbroken".  It's when you sat waiting and everything was quiet that you became worried...  

The Sable System Campaign
Hey everyone!  Just wanted to get a quick post out there.  It has been what, over a year or more since I played as Imperial Guard in 40K.  I'd never really got the knack for it - when I used my IG in the past, it was typically as an allied detachment.

One of our irregulars in our 40K group has expressed an interest in running a narrative campaign - you can go and get the gist of it here:

http://brianberman.blogspot.com/2015/09/sable-system-narrative-campaign.html

So last night, in preparation for a possible campaign-focused game today, I decided to drag out the 555th Regiment, build an 1850 Point List, and offer to take on the role of a defender in the first mission. Overall, the storyline will build as we go, so come back here and check in to see what the Triple Nickels run into over at Sable Prime. It looks like new narrative missions and effects will come out monthly, so playing the IG should be a great experience.  I'll hopefully get a battle report here with photos in the next week or so!  One thing that became apparent was that I'm short a few regular troopers, and some of my models have yet to see more than primer!  The army list I selected is a pretty good representation of Company B - It's not designed to be a deathstar - its designed to be a typical unit not tooled up for any particular mission except to hold a landing area.  I did get some ideas for it from the guy over at Elite40K and his ongoing Astra Militarum work.  My force is almost totally WYSIWIG - I might have to get some new turrets though and retool all of the tanks to 7th edition requirements.

Standish Standoff
ALSO on the docket is preparation to play in the Standish Standoff 2015 - probably one of the best 3-game tournament events in Maine!  Tickets, BTW, are up for order at Crossroad Game's website, and more information can be gleaned from their Facebook event feed and normal website calendar.  If you are in New England - the store is about 30 minutes from downtown Portland - the event is in early November!  I've played in it or helped work it since it started.  It is always a great time, the tables are always great looking, and the social aspects are always fun.  I've yet to decide whether to bring my Blood Angels, or an Ultramarines Battle Company.

All for now,

MING  

The 200th

As you may recall, I use the app "Untapped" as an important tool to participate in my beer hobby.  This weekend - on Sunday - I reached a key goal - my 200th different beer logged into my records.

This beer - from Stone Brewing - is available at RSVP in my local area - and as number 200, it was awesome!  And just perfect for the Patriots-Bills football game!  And of course, it earned me another badge!

Now, that's not my 200th beer since I started untapped...its the 200th DIFFERENT beer I've had.  So far, I've logged beers 288 times, earning 116 different badges.  At most schools, I'd be within 4 beers of a Bachelors Degree!

Anyhow - just sharing in my accomplishment.  It's not like I'd won 200 games of 40K (yet).  For those wondering, at an average of say, $4 a beer - my beer hobby spend probably exceeds what I spend on gaming in total.  And as some of you know from getting a game in at my house, 40K and Beer make a great pairing!