Thursday, December 31, 2009

Game Day 2009 at Greedo's


So Game Day 2009 (not to be confused with Games Day, done by GW) has come and gone and it was a blast! Greedo and I were able to play 2 games of 40k, a game of Axis and Allies: Europe (with Fathers) and a game of Space Hulk (with Fathers). We linked the 40k games and the Space Hulk game into a mini-campaign and it went something like this:

First game of a mini-campaign. A rogue planetary governor has decieded that he will no longer follow the Throne on Holy Terra and declares himself to be the new Emperor. Space Wolf Strike force intercepts distress call from remaining few loyalists and move to crush the rebellion. The Wolves conduct an initial capture and control against the Traitorous scum and table them losing a single marine at 1500 pts.

Second game of a mini-campaign. Pressing the advantage from the furry of their initial success the Wolves drive straight for the governor, to cut the head off the snake (literally!). This time they encounter much stiffer resistance in the form of the governor's elite mechanized force backed with anti-aircraft guns and heavy tanks. The governor is slain by a berserking Ragnar Blackmane while the rest of the force takes terrible losses. (Greedo thought this should have been a minor win for me or a tie, I though it was a win for him, but since I'm playing in a campaign and can use the pts we agreed that I "won"). Upon killing the governor it is determined that he was only a pawn of a gene-steeler cult that had infected the upper echlon's of the planets society. The Steelers have fled aboard the Space Hulk "Frightful Anguish."

Final game of the mini-campaign. The Wolves bravely entered "Frightful Anguish" and made slow progress initially. The Steelers tested the defenses, propping for holes until they finally were able to sneak into the Marines midst. Several Wolf Guard went down swinging and in the end it was the Wolves that were able to accomplish their mission and destroy the slumbering Primarch and Magus of the Steeler cult.

In the annual Axis and Allies game with the Fathers we were playing the Europe version. It takes place in 1942 I believe and the US is just entering the war and Germany is at the height of it's power. I played ze' Germans, Greedo the USSR, my Dad the UK and Greedo's the US.

The game started with the normal push of Germans into the USSR which met with limited success and the German Navy thumping the crap out of the Royal Navy (some very lucky rolling). The Russians counter attack and are successfully defended but not across the whole front. The UK attempts to give the Royal Navy a chance by getting 3 cruisers. The US sends some air power to the UK and begins increasing the strength of their Navy to deal with the German Uboats.

Next round the German Navy takes out a great deal of the UK convoy lines across the Atlantic while attacking the newly minted UK cruisers. On the western front Germany begins a delaying action against the Russians while transport ships are built and deployed. The Russians continue their advance reclaiming all of the territory they had lost and setting themselves up for a significant push into German next turn. The UK hurting from their loss of income are only able to afford a bomber. The US opens several of the convoy lanes and allows some much needed income to flow into the UK coffers.

In an all or nothing move the Germans launch an amphibious landing against the UK. The offensive consists of 3 Panzer Divisions and 2 Infantry Divisions supported by 3 fighter wings, 2 bomber wings a cruisers and battleship. The UK falls with only a single bomber wing and Panzer Division left. The remaining Uboats in-circle the island to stop friendly re-enforcements and win Germany the game.

The Games was awesome fun and I had a couple lucky dice rolls and the Allies had a couple of unlucky ones. This game would have gone the other way with just 1 or 2 more kills for the Allied side as if the Amphibious landing had failed the USSR was set to roll all over German in the coming turns.

I had an awesome time and can't wait for Game Day 2010!

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Adama falls!!

In a daring move Gub's Orks backed up by a great deal of Xeno/Heretic support launched a successful planet strike against Adama. This would have bee a crippling blow if it wasn't for the opening of several new warp lanes to allow for the Imperials to regroup. The other planet strike that failed was Twinlinked's Necrons attempted to take Hersaded. It looks like the Imperials are finally getting their act together and the loss of Adama is really starting to make all the Imperials commanders realize that they are going to have to start working together. I've voted that Sallieman be made the new Lord Marshall of the Locara sector, but we will have to see if other Imperial commanders agree. It looks like I'm going to get my wish and face off against Gub and his Orks again, just this time it is going to be a boarding action. This means I may have a chance to win some good pts and help out the Imperial side.

Monday, December 28, 2009

Upcoming BL HH novels!

Most of you are already aware of Thousands Sons and Prospero Burns but here are a couple that you may not have known were coming down the pipe.
Available in Feb 2010


Available Aug 2010

Available Nov 2010

I don't know about you but these look amazing!

New Warp Lanes means new plan!

With the creation of new Warp lanes it is now possible to move around the map much fast and there are more places to launch attacks and more places to defend from. Worlds like Los Deimos and Adama just became more valuable for controlling traffic on the "Imperial side" of the sector. I'm thinking about moving to Riel as it is now directly in the way and should help be get into a boarding action a little sooner.

Imperial's finally begin to mobilize

Finally the Imperial Warmachine is starting to mobilize! After much hand ringing and debate the War Council has begun to make decisions and move Imperials forces to Samiel (where a brand spanking new Space Station (with covered exhaust vents) has been built), Harsaded and Adama. These movements were done to bolster the defences of those planets and choke off the warp lanes cutting the Xeno offensive in half (ok, maybe it's more like 1/8 but you get the idea). With Game Day (Greedo and I have an annual day) happening shortly I can see the Wolves fighting traitor guard and Steelers within a Hulk happening soon. I thought that Ann00bis and Gub were going to conduct a planet strike but nothing like that has been announced yet, so I'm still hoping that I can swoop in and get a couple of boarding actions against Gub's Ork Horde.

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Broodlord #2...

The main prize I received for winning Con-Quest Calgary was the new Space Hulk boxed set. After checking through the different figures I have to say that the sculpts are really well done. I didnt really have much reason to paint this chap until I read some rumors that Broodlords are going to become akin to Veteran Sergents or Ork Nobz...upgrade characters to genestealers!

Overall I am fairly happy with how this chap turned out. I do wish there was more armor plates on this guy to paint purple to help tie into the rest of the army. One thing I am going to do is leave the extended carapace pieces off of the regular stealers for his squad (because I dont think they can take them in the new dex anyways) so they will match him and make it easier to tell the difference between the two squads.



Next Up: I just finished building 10 more Hormagaunts to bring that squad to 30, so that is what I will be painting next. After that I am going to paint the second unit of Genestealers (8)and then I am going to build/convert/paint one more Tyrant Guard. Once those are finished it is on to building some more warriors (I will probably leave the arms off of them until I see the new weapon rules). As the new models are released I will be posting a lot of new figs (can't WAIT for the Trygon!!!)

Termigants...

As the new codex gets closer and closer and the rumors that both Termigants and Hormagaunts are getting cheaper points wise I figured that I might as well beef up both of those units. I just finished painting the next batch of 10 Termigants to bring the squad size up to 30. For the last 10 I went out of my way to add more "marine" bits to the bases to help tie in with the rest of the army. I figured since I have no idea what the new rules are I might as well paint things I am fairly confident aren't going to change.

Saturday, December 19, 2009

The Xeno invasion continues!

I wasn't able to play any games this week and my plan to have the enemy is working just not like I had hoped. Instead the enemy has gone around my sub-sector and looks like they are attempting to take Adama and Harsaded. I was under the impression that you needed to announce a planet strike on the turn that you tried to but I'm still a little unclear. A major note is the creation of the Daughter of Venus Space Station. It is located in Samiel and charges all enemy who transit through or stay in Samiel they are taxed 50 pts or whatever they have until they run out and are emergency transported back to their home world. I'm going to be seeing Greedo in a week or so and I think that we will be able to get a couple of games in so that means I should be able to get a couple more points for the Imperial Side. I'm interested to see what happens over the next week with planet strikes and movement of Xeno forces. Plus we have the big tournament coming on 28 Feb and the results of that may help swing the favour of the campaign to the Imperium's favour.

Friday, December 18, 2009

Annual Axies and Allies Game approaches!

This year Greedo and I have worked out our schedules to allow for the annual Axies and Allies game to take place. We started a couple years back playing with Greedo's Dad, Greedo's older brother, my Dad and I. It looks like Greedo's older brother won't be around this year so we may end up playing the Pacific Theatre version of the game. If you haven't tried this game you should look into it especially with the updated rules and new units like Artillery and Cruiser. Last time we played the Brits developed heavy bombers early and were able to almost completely destroy Germans ability to maintain the war effort. This coupled with Berlin being left undefended allowed for a faster than normal killing blow to the Axis. The Japanese fought on but as I'm sure you all know it is only a matter of time and then the US becomes such a power house. Will the Axis meet the same fate this year? Time will only tell....

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

A week late but here was the first Locara map updates

This is basically how the campaign started following a 1250 pt tournament. Winners at the tournament were given first choice of planets and a head start on collecting points. I unfortunately was unable to make it to the tourny but I hear it was an awesome time. Like with all beginnings there were some missteps like all the Imperial players near Hera. We all weren't totally sure of the rules and were trying to conduct a planet stirke but we weren't nearly coordinated enough. I think that next time we will be able to pull it off. If your interested in learning more about or joining the campaign check it out here.

Interested in Return to Locara Campaign?

If anyone is interested in playing in the campaign it is possible to not be in the area and still play a significant role. For full details and to sign up check out this link. I asked Orbital101 why the actual games of 40k seemed to means so little, basically a way to generate points. His answer was that he wanted people that aren't around here to be able to play wherever they are and still be able to contribute. So if you interested check it out. I go by the same handle on Deep Space as I do here, Big Willie.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

New look!

I wasn't happy with the way that the blog looked when I tried to add pictures that were a little larger so I changed the format a little. I hope that you all like the changes, I'm also hoping that I will get some more battle reports and maybe a video battle report in the future.

Return to Locara

For the last month or so the Ottawa 40k community has started a campaign called "Return to Locara." I've never had the chance to play in a campaign of this complexity and number of people playing. The head guru of this campaign is also the main reason why Ottawa has a fantastic major tournament "The Game Summit" which runs a winter and summer skirmish. Thanks for all the work Orbital101. Rules are fairly simple, you have to play the same Army book throughout and you have to be on either the Imperial or Xeno/Heretic side. Games can be played against anyone so long as they are on the other side and you can report 3 games per week. 3 pts for a win, 2 for a tie and 1 for a loss. There are a couple of other ways to gain pts and it doesn't have to be 40k that you play it can be any 40k based game (Space hulk, Epic, Inq and Rogue Trader). The pts are then turned in for moving around in the sector or conducting planetstrikes and boarding actions. One of the big things that I was surprised about was how much more I'm enjoying playing a campaign vs tournament play. I know that I still have a bit of the old "go out and thump your opponent" but it's starting to fade. One of the major things I've noticed is that it is harder to organize all the campaign players than I would have thought. Not to say that there hasn't been an effort one of the local guys even started our own Imperial Forum so we can coordinate our defense and restoration of peace in the Locara sector. I've attached a copy of the campaign map below so that you can follow our progress. In turns of games I've been playing against lots of Orks lately and been fairly lucky which has generated some good points. I'm looking forward to having some more good games and playing in the next tournament in support of the campaign on 28 Feb.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

3 of da Ogryns is done Boss

So here are 3 of the Ogryns that I greenstuffed a month or two ago. They turned out quite well. Details I quite like are the eye pieces, and even stains on their white shirts (see the back of the middle guy), and the stubble on their chins. The headgear also turned out very well I think. I've almost finished the other 2, and then onto the last Sentinal. Can't wait to see how these guys do in battle..