Updates: Vogen '09 & Tale of Painters

Today's post is a quick update on my two main projects, should any of you out there be following them. I'll start with the more boring of the two:

Tale of Painters 3: Jokered 

Regular readers will have noticed that there's not been much new painting around here of late. In fact I've only painted 2/3rds of a single Terminator this month, indeed I've not had much time for 40k at all recently. I'm not going to bore you with the reasons for this but it does mean I've have to use my one 'Joker' in the Tale of Painters Comp. The joker effectively allows you to get away with submitting no painted models for a month without going out of the competition. 

I've had to play this card a bit earlier than I had planned, but we are now half way through & I'm confident I can see the project through to the end. My current schedule only demands one painted model a week - as I only I have 7 Deathwing, 3 Ravenwing & Belial left to complete.

For those interested in the overall competition, here are a few statistics that the fantastic organiser Cyric the Mad complied: 

• 54 Entrants
  
• 54% have Jokered out (i.e. left the competition)
  
• 24% are on-track
  
• 22% are a little behind 

Given that rate of attrition I don't feel so bad! I strongly suggest you have a root around on the Librarium projects forum, there are some excellent ToP armies being built. 

And on to update two...

Vogen '09 Update

Well, after Malcom Wilson asked for a proper Vogen Campaign update I though I had better bring it all up to speed. 

The two battle reports that have been written so far have dealt with my Dark Angels' games up till Campaign turn 8. 

The start of Campaign turn 9 looked something like this:

As you can see there were three major conflicts on the day, but we only managed to get round to 2 of them. Both turned out to be Apocalypse games and, although I was unable to take detailed battle reports, I have a few snaps of both of them. 

1. Necrons vs. Eldar - 2500pts Apoc. (For 8 contested victory points)

From what I saw of this game, it was a (sometimes) surprisingly close contest between Wookie (using elements of my Eldar models) & Vessey's Necrons. It seemed for a while that the entirely Mech. Eldar force might keep itself out of the Necron clutches. However after stretching his force a little too far Wookie was eventually bogged down and taken to pieces by the C'tan, who were both present! 

Necrons: 3 Objectives     Eldar: 1 Objective

This victory won Vessey three territories and leaves him at the head of the leaderboard. Wookie on the other hand is in dire straights. Boxed in and with no VP's he is going to need to work hard to turn things around. His occupation of the Water Plant allows does allow him to strike anywhere in the city, but he's going to have to be clever to use that to his advantage. 

2. Dark Angels Vs. Tyranids - 2500pts (For 4 Contested Victory Points) 

Determined to see off any challengers Alex showed his love of Forge World by bringing no less than 3 (!!!!) Gargantuan Creatures to the table. His two Hierodules and one Harridan dominated my combined Dark Angels/Imperial forces, and the table soon became a tank grave yard. I also had some terrible luck with deep strike, with one Deathwing Squad being lost to the warp while another ended up in an entirely useless spot. This was crucial as their 2+ saves were the only thing standing up the Tyranid fire.

Tyranids: 2 Objectives     Dark Angels: 2 Objective

With some admittedly clever maneuvers I managed to scrape a draw against the beasts. However, this did not help me. Draws in campaign games are decided by victory points (who wrote these rules!!??.....oh yeah, I did) and by the end Alex had claimed more than double the VP's I had. This left him in control of Angel Square, and me in some desperate need of Super Heavy support. 

So, after this day's games we were left with the following:

The game between Sam and Alex is hopefully going to be played shortly. However I'm afraid after that there will be no updates until Easter time, when we all reconvene. I hope this has wetted your appetite enough till then! I certainly can't wait to exact some vengeance on Alex, and work out how to get out of this mess I find myself in...

Anyway, this 'short update' got a tad more detailed than I had planned, but here's hoping that nobody is complaining! I'd love to hear any thoughts you have on the update. I've also got two non-campaign battle reports to write up for the blog soon (including one with my Saim-Hann!) and hopefully there will be some painting updates soon.

Thanks for reading guys! 

Battle Report 23-12-08: Dark Angels Vs. Tyranids - 1500pts

Well, after a positive reaction to my first Vogen Battle Report, I've written up the second. Hopefully this one will be a little shorter!

Vogen '09 Campaign - Battle Report 2

Dark Angels vs. Tyranids - 1500pts

The Gauntlet

My second game of the Vogen Campaign took place on turn 7 and was for control of both the North End of Snipers Alley and Angel Square. We rolled off to see if we would play a normal 

mission (as per Angel Square) or the Gauntlet Mission (as per Snipers Alley) and got The Gauntlet. 

My opponent was Alex, my oldest 40K mate, playing his trusty Tyranids (which appear in various states of disrepair). His army is far from WYSIWYG, but he is a good player so we let him off in the interests of a better game!

Mission 

Its worth saying a few words about The Gauntlet mission as its not one everyone will be familiar with. We are using an adapted version from the old Cityfight expansion. 

In essence the attacker must try to get more than half his units off the board and the defender must stop him. Damaged units/vehicles do count towards this tally. 

The defender must split up his forces into two halves. One of these halves is randomly picked and deployed anywhere more than 12'' from a table edge. After this players roll off and winner gets to place an 'entry point' for the attacker and the looser gets to place an 'exit point'. 

The attacker goes first and must move his forces onto the board, entering within 6'' of the entry point. His units can exit within 6'' of the exit point. 

The attackers reserves (if he has any) come on from his entry point and the defenders reserves enter on a randomly determined table edge.

I believe that is it...

Army Lists

(Click on image for a larger version)

Because of my limited Dark Angels models I went with my standard 1500pts List, which I knew would probably struggle with some of those larger 'nids. 

Alex tailored his list to the mission (as my campaign rules allow), and took a large number of fast 'nids, including a winged Tyrant, winged Warriors & winged Rippers. These were backed up by large Homogaunt broods, a walking Tyrant and a Lictor. 

He would need to get 4 units off the board to win. 

Deployment & Turn 1

I split my army into two halves, and got to use the one with Belial, his squad, the Land Raider and elements of the Ravenwing. I deployed them loosely across the board, as they would be able to get to where they were needed fast. 

I lost the roll off for placing the entry point, which I preferred as I was able to plonk the exit point where I wanted (they are represented by the green markers on the map).

In the first turn Alex brought all his units bar the Lictor, and struggled to find space for them all. In his shooting face the majority of units ran, with the Hive Tyrant loosing off a Warp Blast at Land Raider to no effect. 

In my turn I reordered my forces, moving the Land Raider & Speeder away from the oncoming horde, and moving the bikers in to support them. The Land Raider was able to cause a wound on the Flyrant, but it was clear all I could do was hold and await reinforcements. 

Tyranid Units Successfully Exited: 0

Turn 2

Before continuing his rapid advance Alex managed to call up his Lictor from reserves. Cunningly he deployed in a piece of terrain within spitting distance of his exit point and promptly ran it off the board in his shooting phase.

The rest of the swarm moved forward, the Warriors flying and running to make good use of cover. Again the only unit not to run was the Flyrant who fired off his warp blast at the Land Raider and was this time was successful in blowing it sky high (that damned tank is yet to do me any good!). Thankfully Belial and his terminators escaped unharmed. 

In my second turn I managed to get everything but my second Deathwing squad onto the table, 

and made some great rolls for their random entry points. The Tac. Marines and Attack 

Bike appeared in the Tyranids rear, and moved to apply some pressure. Belial, eager to avenge the loss of his Land Raider's Machine Spirit advanced into the maw of the horde. 

In my shooting phase the Land Speeder & Attack Bike both took a wound off the Flyrant, leaving it on 1 wound. The Tac. Marines managed to kill 10 Hormagaunts. 

In combat Belial and his squad proved fearsome as always. Unable to charge the Flyrant due to intervening models, they instead performed a split charge on the Hormagaunts and Flying Rippers. They caused 13 wounds for no loss, wiping out the Rippers and damaging the Gaunts. Of course in addition to this the Gaunts were fearless, and thus has to take a further 13 saves on the one brood, crippling it (Does any body else think that the Fearless rule needs a clear up??! It works fine for me but its murder for 'nids!).

Tyranid Units Successfully Exited: 1

Turn 3

In turn 3, as throughout the game, Alex kept his eyes on the mission and avoided direct combat.His winged warriors soared over terrain, ready to run off the board, while both Tyrants swung

round the engaged Deathwing toward the exit point. The unengaged Hormagaunt brood found itself out of synapse range and fled towards the Hive Tyrants - a fact that played into Alex's hands.  In the shooting phase the warriors ran off the board, with the Tyrants in close pursuit. Finally in the combat phase Belial unsurprisingly finished off the gaunts. 

In my turn I rolled for my remaining Deathwing squad, needing them to help slow down the Tyrants, but unfortunately they didn't seem to know that there was a war on and stayed on the Battle Barge. I moved my forces as best I could, swinging the Ravenwing bikers round to get clear shots and reversing the Land Speeder so it formed a mini blockade around the exit point. 

My main mistake of this game was with Belial and his unit. Although I was clearly in range to get 

a charge on the walking tyrant I briefly considered attempting to advance through terrain to get to the last Gaunt brood. While doing this I absent mindedly rolled a difficult terrain test, forgetting I would have to abide by the result either way. The 3'' that I rolled left effectively left my close combat monsters out of the game for a turn. Damn!!

My shooting was equally disappointing, 2 Multi-Melta & 2 Meltaguns completely failing to take the last wound off the Flyrant. In desperation, and seeking to stop it flying off the board next turn, I charged the Flyrant with my bikers. Unsurprisingly they failed to wound it and suffered three casualties for their trouble. But they passed their morale check and had hopefully bought enough time for my second Deathwing squad to arrive and have an impact. 

Tyranid Units Successfully Exited: 2

Turn 4

At this stage in the game Alex needed to get two more units off the board to win, and had three left to play with. His fist priority was naturally to dislodge his Flyrant from combat. To this

end he moved the walking Tyrant up to support, and to take advantage of the extra movement afforded from charging. The remaining gaunts made some terrible difficult terrain rolls, and crawled towards the board edge. The combat phase was short lived as the brave Ravenwing were cruelly ripped apart by the combined force of the two monsters. (Please excuse the fact that the second Tyrant lacks a body!)

I started my turn feeling pretty confident. All I had to do was use my remaining Multi-Meltas to down the Flyrant and then gun down the Gaunts to secure a win. Well, things did not go to plan...

Firstly my second Deathwing squad refused to finish their nap as I rolled a 1 on my reserve dice. To add to this Belial yet again scored low on his difficult terrain test, as he and his squad attempted to leave the ruin they had entangled themselves in. The shooting phase also offered no relief as both Multi-Meltas failed to hit the Flyrant! 

After this dram tic set of failures it seemed that the Hive would take the day...

Tyranid Units Successfully Exited: 2

Turn 5 & 6

The first move of Alex's turn was to fly his Flyrant off the board, leaving him one unit shy of victory. However, neither the remaining Tyrant or Gaunts appeared to have the movement to make it off the board. Both ended up charging the Land Speeder guarding the exit. Despite the fact that all the Tyrants attacks failed to hit (contrary to what my maps say, the Speeder had moved at cruising speed the turn before), it still retained all its wounds and just had to survive a turn of shooting to exit the board. 

My turn...

After what seemed like an age, the second Deathwing squad finally turned up. They deepstruck as close as possible to the action, using the Attack Bike's teleport homer. My forces formed a ring around the surviving Tyranids. None would be able to make a charge, so it would be down to shooting!

There was a glimmer of hope when the Tac. Marines managed to wipe out the Gaunt brood with rapid fire. However the combined fire of both Terminator squads, Attack Bike & Landspeeder only managed to take 3 wounds off the Tyrants, leaving it with 1 wound left. I simply didn't have enough heavy weapons to bring to bear, and Alex was able to move the Tyrant off at the start of his 6th turn, resulting in:

Tyranid Units Successfully Exited: 4

Tyranid Victory 

Well, an interesting mission leading to a tense game. Alex commented that it was interesting playing a game where he didn't really want to engage the enemy. His tailored list did help him but he also played a great game, keeping his eyes on the mission and resisting the urge to charge in and rip some marines apart.

This loss really hurt me in campaign terms as I lost two territories and am now pretty much boxed in. It left Alex in a very strong position, within striking distance of taking the lead. Hopefully I can redeem myself at a later date!

Hope you enjoyed the read, I'm really enjoying adding some actual battle reports to the blog. That said, I am finally back to painting after the crimbo break - so hopefully so more updates on that soon.

Comments more than welcome!

Battle Report 23-12-08: Dark Angels Vs. Necrons - 1500pts

Hello all, and welcome to my first post of 2009! It hopefully will be a good'un...

Vogen '09 Campaign - Battle Report 1

Dark Angels vs. Necrons - 1500pts

Annihilation - Dawn of War

The first game of the Vogen Campaign for my Dark Angels took place in the early stages (around turn 5/6) and was for control of Sniper's Alley in the Western End of the City.

My opponent was Tom, a long time 40k friend, though one new to playing Necrons.

Army Lists

(Click on Image for a Larger Version)

For this 1500pts game I took my standard all comers 1500pts List. It would be the lists first outing so I was very interested to see how it performed...

Annihilation would normally be a perfect mission for my Dark Angles as the list totals a very reasonable 9 Kill Points. However Tom's army also totaled 9 KP and had a large amount of Necrons, with their annoying 3+ saves and We Will Be Back Rolls. I was surprised not to see a Monolith. I had expected one, which I planed to ignore and go for the phase out. With those points instead rolled into a large number of warrior squads, getting a phase out would be tricky...

We rolled for mission and got Annihilation with Dawn of War Deployment*.

*We actually forgot to play the Gauntlet mission as we should have done in this territory. 

Deployment

I won the roll of for deployment/turn and, keen to put Tom on the back foot, I chose to go first.

I decided to deploy my Tac Marine into a position of good cover in the central ruins, supported by my second Terminator Squad. I was unable to deploy my main strength (Belial & his squad) as I wanted them in their Land Raider which, as a Heavy Support choice, would be unable to deploy.

In response Tom deployed two Warrior squads and the Necron Lord to the field, in buildings on the far top left corner of the board. Evidently he was wary of my Terminators!

Tactical Marine's deploy in the central buildings, supported by the Deathwing.

Turn 1

In my first turn I moved on all my forces onto the board directly opposite to Tom's Warriors & Lord. I considered outflanking my Ravenwing but I

decided it was better to deploy in strength and use the board edge to limit Tom's ability to gang up on me. He had the numbers after all.

In the course of this movement my Land Raider, containing Belial and his squad mounted a hill and managed to immobilise itself (we had decided the hills would be played as difficult terrain) - this was a less than flying start! It would appear the Belial and his men would be walking from this point...

My Tac. Marines and Deathwing advanced to the center of the field, attempting to get a better view of the Necron Warriors on the left. However, they were unable to draw line of sight to their opponents in the shooting phase, and all other Dark Angles shooting was ineffective. The Deathwing in the center ran, in order to reach cover.

In the Necron turn Tom brought his all forces to the field, forming a long screen of metal along his board edge. Seeing that many Necrons all laid out, I realised I would be in for a challenge!

Due to movement Tom had little fire on his first turn, with the Heavy Destroyers notably failing to leave a mark. I his assault phase Tom charged my Termis with his Scrab Swarm, killing 1. In response the Deathwing managed to deal a measly two wounds to a base. * At this point I should mention that we had something of a rules fail. We both thought that power fists should cause extra wounds to scarab swarms but after checking the Swarms rule in the rulebook we could find no mention of it. We didn't think to check the Necron Codex (which states that weapons that doubles a base's toughness will kill it) - but with my long gap in gaming and Tom's inexperience with the codex an honest mistake was made. One that would cost me!

Dark Angels: 0KPs Necrons: 0KPs

Turn 2

In my second turn Belial and his squad bailed from the immobilised Land Raider and made for the Necron lines as fast as possible. My plan was to concentrate fire on one portion of the Necron force at a time, starting with the left and working my way along. I had to isolate his forces as best I could. To this end the Ravenwing bikers and Land Speeder moved up with Belial, using the central buildings to shield them from the bulk of the Necron army.

In the shooting phase the Tac. marines poured fire into the advancing Warriors, felling 4. The Ravenwing and Land Raider killed a similar number from the Warrior squad hunkered down in the building. However, frustratingly, Tom would proceed to make ALL his We Will Be Back Rolls at the start of his turn. The only real achievement was the Attack Bike destroying a Heavy Destroyer at maximum range (and earning a kill point). Belial and his squad also got 6 on their run roll, setting them up for a charge next turn.

In his turn Tom started to advance his phalanxes of Necrons, moving toward the left - and the bulk of my forces. The two central Warrior squads & the Pariahs poured fire into my woefully exposed Tac. Marines and killed 7 of them, including the Lascannon and Plasma gunner. In the face of this onslaught, the remaining three marines broke and withdrew from the building.

The remainder of Tom's shooting was directed at Belial's Terminators, who proceeded to weather everything thrown at them, a trend that was set to continue!

In the combat phases of both player turns the Scarabs and Deathwing continued to trade blows, with the little buggers managing to fell two more of the Emperor's finest!

Dark Angels: 1KPs Necrons: 0KPs

Turn 3

It was evident by the 3rd turn that I was going to have to start inflicting some major casualties soon. Those large warrior squads were still intact, and were proving difficult to scratch, much less wipe out. Damn WWBB! Although I was up on KP's, the Tac. Marines and Deathwing in the center were effectively out of the game, which seriously limited my offensive capabilities.

I started by withdrawing the Tac. Marines and their Rhino. Forming 2 exceptionally vulnerable KP's between them I figured it was better to get them far out of the fight. The Ravenwing were using their cover to good effect (or so I thought) so they stayed put and continued to pour fire into the Warriors on the left, supported by the Land Raider.

It was Belial and his squad who gave me real hope of starting to make a dent in the Necrons. After shooting their Heavy Flamer his squad tore through the nearest Necron warrior squad and easily slew them all for no loss, despite the fact that they were charging into cover.

However, my victory was a bitter one. The presence of the Necron Lord's Resurrection Orb meant that the Warriors would be able to take WWBB tests next turn, despite my power weapons, denying me a kill point. The Necron Lord swiftly became my new primary target!

In his turn Tom's weight of numbers really started to show. After making a number of successful

WWBB rolls he moved his warriors and Pariahs en mass towards the Ravenwing, who now looked stupidly exposed. His only other movement was to move his Necron Lord away from the rampaging Belial, towards the relative safety of the Necron Warrior Squad behind the top left building.

The shooting phase went much as expected, the Ravenwing bikers being wiped out by a torrent of Gauss fire. To add insult to injury the Last Heavy Destroyer managed to stun my Land Speeder, leaving it staring at massed warriors, unable to escape.

In the combat phase the scarabs took down another Terminator, leaving one left to face the swarm.

Dark Angels: 1KPs Necrons: 1KPs

Turn 4


Moving into the 4th turn I realised that I had very little options left to me. Belial and his Deathwing were only real effective unit remaining, so they had to start racking up the kill points. To that end I moved them round the back of the top left building, to charge the Necrons behind it. The Rhino containing the remains of the Tac. Squad moved to the rear and greater safety.

After loosing off a few shots into the gathered Necrons Belial & his Terminators crashed into the Necrons, managing to perform a split charge on both a Necron Warrior squad (containing the Lord) & the last Heavy Destroyer. Packing a sickening 16 Lightning Claw attacks, 4 Power Weapon attacks & 8 Power Fist attacks on the charge, the result was never really in doubt - the Deathwing killed all 10 Warriors and the Destroyer for no loss. 

The real icing on the cake was the fact that I was unable to kill the Necron Lord (he was at the back of the Warrior unit and I couldn't target him). If he had died in combat he, and all the other Necrons around him, would have had a chance of making thier WWBB rolls with the Resurrection Orb. As it was the unwounded Lord had to attempt a Leadership test with a -11 modifier. Unsurprisingly he failed his test and fled off the table, taking the Res. Orb with him and rewarding me with a clean 3KP from one combat!

My victory was tempered by the fact that the rule-breaking scarabs finished off the other Deathwing Squad, leaving them free to bear down on my remaining units. 

Shocked by the loss of the Lord Tom was able to do little else other than move his forces away from the Terminators and toward the remains of the Ravenwing. The scarabs also tore down the flank towards my Rhino. In the shooting phase the massed Gauss completely destroyed my stunned Land Speeder, and destroyed the Assault Cannon and Multi-Melta on the Crusader. 

 

Dark Angels: 4KPs Necrons: 3KPs

Turn 5

Realising it was now down to Belial put me in the clear, I moved him and his squad round the building to begin chasing the Necron warriors. My only other movement was to further retreat the Rhino, putting as much space between it and the Scarabs as possible. 

Again after a brief shooting phase Belial and his squad managed to reach the rearmost Warrior squad and caused 9 casualties for no loss. The reaming Necron fled toward his table edge. I was concerned that this victory put me rather close to the ten man Paraiah squad, but it this stage I had to ramp up those KPs and trust in my Terminators. 

In his turn, in what I considered a surprise move, Tom moved his scarabs toward my Land Raider, as opposed to moving to take the Rhino and Tac. Marines. In his shooting phase Tom split his fire between the Land Raider and the Terminators. Though he caused no casualties to the Terminators he destroyed the remaining weapons on the Land Raider which (combined with the fact it was immobilised) earned him a kill point. To add to my annoyance the Necron all on his own rolled only fled a further 2 inches, narrowly staying on the board and denying me a kill point, opening up the possibility of a draw!

Dice was rolled, and the game (thankfully) continued. 

Dark Angels: 4KPs Necrons: 4KPs

Turn 6

In turn 6 the main event was the complete destruction of the Pariahs by the Deathwing. After suffering 6 wounds from Power Claws/Power Weapons the Pariahs failed to hit with any of their return attacks and were easily finished by the remaining Power Fists.

At the start of Tom's turn the fleeing Necron Warrior finally left the table, leaving him two kill points behing. Tom used his turn to try and kill the Attack Bike but, just to rub salt in his wounds, it survived the shooting of two Necron Warrior squads and a scarab charge. 

Rolling at the end of the turn we got a 1, and the game ended with the following result:

Dark Angels: 6KPs Necrons: 4KPs

Dark Angels Victory!

After a hard fought battle the Dark Angels stood victorious and took the North End of Sniper's Alley. Although I was unable to try out the bike's teleport homers in this battle I did confirm the fact that Belial and his squad is indeed a force to be reckoned with. They alone earned me all but one of my kill points. It also makes me wonder havoc the second squad would have caused if we had followed the rules properly and they had finished off the Scarabs...

Look out for my next battle report coming soon, which pits my Dark Angels against the forces of the Great Devourer. 

I hope you all enjoyed the Battle Report, please let me know what you think!

The Vogen '09 Campaign

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse:'

Well. Except for me writing blog updates... 

First off, Merry Christmas everybody, I hope you all have great days, and thanks for taking the time out to read my humble blog! 

In my last post I promised you all some Dark Angels Battle Reports. Well, before I get to them I want to show you all something I have been organising over the last few weeks. 

I'm a student (a bit of background on the author there!) and I don't tend to play many games while at university. However, I have a good core of friends back home who have the GW bug and I take the opportunity to get as many games as possible done over the holidays. Well, having always wanted to run a campaign I decided to organise one, planning to run it from now till late summer '09. Because we can only meet up during our holidays its obviously going to be a slow burning affair, but it should help to link our games up over the next year. 

Vogen '09 is essentially the old cityfight campaign released by GW with a few adaptions made by myself to bring it up to date with 5th ed. I also devised a mechanism for random game sizes (including the chance to play apocalypse games), modified some of the scenarios and changed the rules on alliances. Check out my versions of the relevant rules here:

Campaign Main Rules

Map Location Rules

Campaign Map

I held the first 'campaign day' at my house yesterday, and managed to squeeze 3 boards in two rooms. This is my house, not a well equipped gaming club so I apologise in advance for the quality of some the scenery and gaming surfaces!

We've got six campaign players:

Alex - Playing Tyranids

Conor - Playing Dark Angels (This is yours truly)

Mullen - Playing Black Templars 

Sam - Playing Imperial Guard

Vessey - Playing Necrons

Wookie - Playing Eldar

...and after the first days play the campaign looked like this:

On the first day there were 4 campaign games played (including two by me) as well as a further three non-campaign games (including one with my Dark Angels). All the games I played in are currently in the process of being written up for you all to see, along with a break down of what happened to everybody else on the campaign. 

I'm hoping that over the next few months this campaign should provide some interesting battle reports for you all. We already have another game day lined up for early next year, to resolve some of the contested territories we have on the map above. 

So, before I turn to my bed and await some GW related gifts (more on that later), here are a few sneak-peak pictures of the battle reports to come: