Newb List

So I have officially branched out my repertoire of GW stuff, I have succumbed into getting some 40k stuff. All I have right now is the Tau and IG codexi, and that is all I plan on for the moment. I have played several games of 40k with Bob's stuff, and am familiar with the lore and have been playing fantasy for 10+ years so I am not quite the uber newb, but this is my first stab at putting a real list together. One last caviat, I don't have the big rule book so a lot of this stuff is french to me at the moment, what does Heavy mean vs Assult vs Ordance and some of this other stuff.

1499pts_______I think

Company Command Squad            144pts
-Company Commander: power weapon, bolt gun, carapace armor, melta bomb and camo gear
-Vox caster, medi pack, regimental standard, carapace armor & camo gear

Infantry Platoon x 2
Platoon Command Squad             70pts
-melta bombs, vox caster, platoon standard, melta gun & heavy flamer
Infantry Squad        70pts
-melta bombs, vox caster, melta gun
Infantry Squad        65pts
-melta bombs, vox caster, flamer
Infantry Squad        70pts
-melta bombs, vox caster, melta gun
Heavy Weapon Squad      85pts
-Heavy Bolter, Autocannon & Lascannon

Hydra Battery        140pts
-additional Hydra

Leman Russ Squadron        (err points - 485 I think, number changes every time I add it up)
Leman Russ Vanquisher     155pts
-extra armor, heavy flamer sponsons
Leman Russ Battle Tank     180pts
-extra armor, heavy flamer sponsons, lascannon
Leman Russ Eradicator       150pts
-extra armor, heavy flamer sponson, lascannon

I tried to be as balanced as possible, built my infantry squads to deal with other infantry, mostly through numbers & orders, but with the melta bombs and lascannon they are a threat to armor. Command Squad mostly built to keep them alive and issuing orders to the infantry. Hydra Battery to deal with enemy air, really not  sure how many to take, or how effective they are and so forth; if there is no air threat they are support for the guardsmen dealing with heavier infantry and Warrior level nids, this is what i think in my mind anyway. The Leman Russ Squadron is also built to deal with any threat but main focus will be destroying enemy armor, I wanted them to have the heavy flamers to deal with infantry that got to close which has been my experience in the few games i have had. Will try to play with points to get another Vanquisher in there instead of Eradicator.

Anyway this is my first stab, trying to be competitive but not tournament level cheese, would love to hear any comments and suggestions on my build. A couple of the changes i have in mind are taking the Leman Russes as tank commander squad and upping some of the tanks. Others would be the drop of the hydras if there is no air for some other support. I don't have any models so any suggestions will be considered and won't not fit my army, i know i know double negative.

Hooked on Phoenix Part Duex

 
Turn Four
Dwarf Turn,
Dwarf Warriors charge Swordmasters in the flank. Great Weapon warriors charge fleeing Seaguard, don't make it. Longbeards attempt to charge but fail setting up Silver Helm charge. Shooting Quarrellers kill a crew of the Eagle Claw Bolt Thrower, Thunderers and Grimm shoot Phoenix killing it. Combat, Ironbreakers and Warriors kill all but five of the Swordmasters, who flee through reformed Seaguard, who pass panic, Ironbreakers reform to face invincible Phoenix Guard. Elf turn, Dragon positions itself near warriors with shields, Phoenix Guard charge Ironbreakers, fleeing Seaguard rally, mage continues to flee, silver helms charge Longbeards. Shooting Eagle Claw kills more Quarrellers, reformed Seaguard shoot at Warriors w/ great weapons fail to kill. Other Seaguard shoot and kill a warrior in the other unit. Combat Phoenix Guard continue to munch Dwarves winning combat against the Ironbreakers, who flee and are run down with the Runelord. Silver Helms kill one on charge and horse bites a Longbeard in the face, Longbeards and Belegar kill two Silverhelm combat locked.

Turn Five
Dwarf Turn,
Warriors with shields charge Seaguard, warriors with great weapons charge the other Seaguard. Phoenix returns to life. Shooting the Quarrellers kill a Phoenix guard somehow, the thunderers and Grimm get a round of shooting into the phoenix causing several wounds. Silver helms kill another two Longbeards, but lose all but one from the rest of the unit, who flee but aren't caught, Longbeards are facing away from reformed Phoenix. Warriors with great weapons defeat their Seaguard and run them down, warriors with shields defeat Seaguard on charge, who run and are caught, overrun brings them into combat with reformed Swordmasters, win that combat killing the remaining Swordmasters, reform to face their death by Dragon and rider. Elves, Phoenix charges rear of Longbeards, mage rallies, spell is dispelled later. Dragon charges warriors with shields. Phoenix Guard move to engage Warriors w/ great weapons, Silver Helm rally and faces Longbeards. Combat, dragon and rider kill many of the warriors leaving thane and front rank, who passes break test on needed snake eyes. Phoenix kills a Longbeard before being smashed by Longbeards and Belegar.

Turn Six
Dwarf Turn,
Warriors w/ great weapons turn to face Phoenix Guard. Quarrellers manage to kill another Phoenix Guard, bringing their total losses up to 5. Grimm shoots remaining Silver Helm out of his saddle. Phoenix stays ashes for the time being but flameburst kills two Longbeards, leaving 9 and Belegar. Combat, dragon and rider kill off remaining warriors, Thane stays locked in combat. Elf Turn. Phoenix Guard charge warriors, mage attempts to cast spell but fails, Phoenix decides it has had enough and stays dead. eagle claw kills another Quarreller leaving 5. Phoenix Guard continue march of destruction killing many warriors but combat locked at end. Dragon and Rider wound Thane twice, but with runes he has one left, thane kills the rider, combat locked. Game Ends.

Final Tally Dwarves have (slightly)under 1100pts left, mostly in heroes. Elves have over 850. Technical Draw.
However taking into account some of the rules we usually don't apply the tie would have been more in my favor, 100pts for killing his dragon riding general, 100pts for killing/running down his BSB. Then a net 50 for capturing 4 flags, Seaguard, Seaguard, Swordmasters and Silver Helms; while you took two of mine, Hammerers and Ironbreakers.


John's Thoughts.
Things could have gone much better, with all the times i shot the dragon with the cannon and organ gun it should have died. The organ gun shot at it twice at least 30 times total at s6 it should have been dead. Also the unkillable Phoenix Guard munched all my Hammerers, my Ironbreakers with Runelord, and a good number of Warriors with great weapons, and all they lost were 5 models. That's after at least 6 or 7 rounds of combat and plenty of shooting thrown in. My MVP might have been my warriors with shields and attached Thane. They killed off a lot of Swordmasters, ran down the Seaguard after beating them, killed off remaining Swordmasters, and somehow stuck around against the Dragon. Thane killing the rider was amazing way to finish off the game. Many grudges have been struck out on this battle while several others have been added. Bob get your dragon sorted out, moon is T6 not the T7 you said, the T7 was why I didn't engage it half the time because I assumed I couldn't wound it with S4 shooting/combat also it probably would have taken more wounds from what I did throw at it at its real toughness.

Bob's Thoughts
The Phoenix Guard were definitely the MVP of my side of the fight. 4+ Ward Save and some hot dice rolls made them perform above and beyond in this match. They will probably receive some plastic reinforcements to bulk out the unit and priority painting status as a reward for a job well done. I was pleased with the way the dragon handled. This was the first time I have fielded one and it did not let me down, except with the breath attack. I think that will be reserved for close combat from now on. A lot of my problems came from my continuing inability to pass relatively easy Break Tests. Losing combat by one and promptly failing my Leadership test seems to be a reoccurring theme in my Fantasy games. The Phoenix performed okay. The D6 roll for magic seemed to hurt more than it helped. Speaking of magic, what a truly uneventful component of the game. I never seemed to be able to get anything going thanks to crap rolls for the winds. I also want to make a brief mention of a rule that I find incredibly stupid. Automatically loosing a unit's banner when fleeing, and automatically having your BSB killed if they break is ridiculous in my opinion. I understand they way it is presented in the rules. The banner bearer fights to the end even if the unit breaks, but often times the banners and musicians would NOT fight in the front ranks once combat started. It also would make more sense for the banner to be taken with a fleeing unit, as they would want to preserve the regimental colors. That is of course only my opinion. In the end, it was a close fought game and a hell of a lot of fun. 

Hooked on Phoenix, Part 1

                                                                         VS           







 So Bob and I got together and had a 3k fantasy battle to determine who is the masta. His High Elves vs. my Dwarves. These are both armies we have had for a long time, but its been a long time since they have seen each other and it made a really interesting match with all the new stuff on the field.

Dwarves
Belegar
Runelord, Master Rune of Balance, Rune of Spellbreaking, Rune of Fury, 2 Rune of Iron and a Rune of Stone

Grimm Burloksson
Thane-Fiery Ring of Thori, Rune of Cleaving, Rune of Iron
Master Engineer- dwarf handgun

20 Dwarf Warriors w/ shields & Full Command (FC)
20 Dwarf Warriors w/ great weapons FC
10 Thunderers
10 Quarellers w/ shields
20 Longbeards w/ shield, greatweapon & FC

23 Ironbreakers, FC
20 Hammerers, FC, Master Rune of Valaya
Cannon

Organ Gun, Rune of Penetrations

High Elves
Prince- Star lance, Talisman of Preservation, Dragon Armor, shield, Potion of Toughness on Moon Dragon

Noble, BSB, Warbanner, dragon armor,shield, Ironcurse Icon
Mage, Lvl 2 Barded Horse
Mage, Lvl 2

8 Silver Helms, shields, FC
25 Seaguard, shields, FC
25 Seaguard, Shields, FC

24 Swordmasters, FC
25 Phoenix Guard, FC

Flamespyre Phoenix
2 Eagle Claw Bolt Throwers

Deployment
Scattered terrain, a few hills and some trees which largely got ignored/ weren't a factor
John's Left to Right
Quarellers far left, Warriors w/ shields, Ironbreakers w/ Runelord, Hammerers on the left. Organ Gun and Master Engineer on hill in the middle. Then Warriors w/ great weapon, Longbeards w/ Belegar, Thunderers, and cannon with Grimm.
Elves, Johns left to right
Bolt thrower far left, Swordmaster and BSB, Seaguard. Phoenix Guard and other bolt thrower in the middle. Seaguard, dragon, silver helms and Phoenix on far right.

Deployment 

Dwarves go first, general movement forward, Quarellers kill a Swordmaster, organ gun kills bolt thrower in the middle, cannon wounds Lord. Elves march up, Bolt thrower kills 3 hammerers, Seaguard drop another one. All magic did was boost one shooting. On both flanks units lining up for charges, dragon and phoenix in particular are carefully positioned to do damage.

Turn Two
Hammerers move towards phoenix guard, Ironbreakers move towards Seaguard and warriors towards Swordmasters. One right flank warriors square up on Seaguard, Longbeards try to position for combat w/ either Dragon or Phoenix. Quarellers, kill another Swordmaster, organ gun wounds dragon twice, cannon shot ward saved, thunderers shot phoenix wounding once, Grimm shot phoenix and wounds again. Elven turn, Seaguard attempt to charge Ironbreakers but fail, Swordmasters lurk threateningly, Phoenix Guard engage Hammerers in what would be the most one sided fight of the game. Other seaguard shot warriors and failed to wound. Dragon flies next to organ gun and shoots flame attack at organ gun but fails to wound. Silver Helms line up a charge for next turn, phoenix charges cannon, and promptly wipes out the crew and over runs off the table to get away from vengeful shooting. Magic failed to wound but buffs Phoenix Guard to WS 8, BS8 and I 8 against the helpless hammerers. Phoenix guard munch 6 hammerers but starts a trend of passing their ward saves, return only kills one. Break test passed.

Turn Three
Ironbreakers charged the Seaguard, make it, lose one to shooting. Warriors with great weapons charge Seaguard in the middle. Longbeards charge silver helms who run away. Warriors move up to support Ironbreakers if Swordmasters charge them in the flank. Quarellers kill mounted mage, thunderers reform so cant shoot, Organ gun, wounds dragon once, so lord has one wound left and dragon has 2. Combat, Hammerers continue to get munched, only 1 left at end of phase, maybe kill one Phoenix Guard for loss of 7. Warriors w/ great weapons win combat by 1, Seaguard break, killing standard bearer hahaha ("ass" -Bob), they get away but flee through mage who then panics and spends most of the rest of the game fleeing. Ironbreakers force their Seaguard to flee but reform and face Swordmasters. Elven turn, Seaguard on the left rally, Seaguard in the middle flee, mage flees, Silverhelms run. Phoenix re-enters the battle field and fire flies over the Longbeards killing 3. Dragon enters combat with organ gun crew. magic nothing they are all dead or fleeing, that's what you get for messing with fickle magic. Shooting, bolt thrower killed two Quarellers. Combat Swordmasters kill several Ironbreakers and lose several in return, combat locked. Phoenix Guard kill off hammerer and reform towards Ironbreakers. Dragon and lord munch the organ gun and overrun deep behind Ironbreaker combat.

See the rest of the part in Part 2!

A Touch of Heresy: Part Deux

 Howdy, folks! Today I want to show you some of the painting I have done on a recent Forge World order I made. First off, here is what I ordered: 1 Mk IV Command, 2 Mk II Armour Sets, 6 Mk IV Armour Sets, 2 Mk IV upgrade sets, and 2 Dark Angel transfer sheets (these are freaking awesome by the way). I have assembled and primed all of the models and I have decided to make two complete squads, and use the other models as test models for Heresy era Legions I want to collect in the future. In the case of the loyalist Legions I will use them as part of the 40k armies I already have. So lets take a look at the works in progress for what I have been working on!

Sons of Horus 

I have decided to paint on of the squads as Sons of Horus. I wanted to make them as a force of Sons recently after the Triumph of Ullanor and the renaming of the Legion. They are a loyalist force lead by a Terran veteran. Their armour reflects the sea green of the early Sons rather than the later abyssal green of the later Sons. They will also retain a more organized appearance rather than the decent into Cthonian glyphs and panoply, hence the transverse crest of the Sargent.

Emperor's Children

The other squad as well as the command models are being painted as Emperor's Children. Since I already had a model almost completed I figured I should make something to accompany it. I may change that converted model to a veteran rather than a Centurion, but I haven't decided yet. I have opted for a darker, more imperial looking purple for their armour. I also wanted them to have more gold and decoration on their armour, even on individual Legionaries. The Emperor's Children had a reputation for ornate armour and a penchant for spectacle and pomp. I want them to look imperious and regal.

Stay tuned for more 30k goodness as I get these finished and paint up some of my other models! Happy gaming!

Wrath of the Damned: An Old Collection Revisited.

 Greetings, gentle readers! In today's article I want to focus on one of my armies that hasn't gotten much love in many, many years. These past few weeks I have been cheating on my lover power armour with a old flame. That's right folks, I busted out the Eldar! I first started collecting Eldar way back in the mists of time (aka Third Edition). In fact, if memory serves (which it does only occasionally) the Eldar were either my second or third 40k army ( Dark Angels were the first). Back in the day, I themed my army around a force from Ulthwe Craftworld. That meant more Guardians and fewer Aspect Warriors, and of course a large contingent of Farseers and Warlocks. Ulthwe Craftworld in the lore has a large force of professional soldiers in the form of Black Guardians with a smaller number of Aspect shrines than most other Craftworlds. This, coupled with a large Seer Council, made for a challenging force to play. In the old Craftworld book the Ulthwe army could take a dedicated Seer Council as a HQ choice. This allowed for up to five Farseers and a large number of Warlocks ( I can't remember how many exactly) as a single HQ. This made for a rather ridiculous amount of psychic powers on the table potentially. The times I played them I really enjoyed the army. The last time they saw the light of the gaming table was around the introduction of 5th edition. So with that in mind, a trip to my folk's house inspired me to retrieve them and get them back on the table.    

So what all do I have in my collection? Well, not as much as I remembered. The collection looks something like this:

Autarch
Farseers (5)
Spirit Seer
Warlocks (12)

Howling Banshees (9)
Wratihguard (5)
Wraithlord
1 Heavy Support Platform
Dire Avengers (15)
Swooping Hawks(7)
Guardian Defenders (56)
Storm Guardians (16)
Scatter Laser and Starcannon Platforms
3 Jet Bikes
1 Vyper
1 Falcon
1 Wave Serpent (old Forge World conversion kit)
1 War Walker with Bright Lance and Scatter Laser

Getting Them Back on the Table

 Recently I have gotten two games in with the Eldar. One was 1850 points against the Blood Angels and the other was part of a unholy alliance with the Necrons (with Kaldor Draigo and Paladins) in a 2v2 2000 point battle. The game against the Blood Angels was pretty bloody (har har). I got destroyed rather convincingly, but it was a lot of fun. The star of the game was definitely a lone Wraithguard who absorbed a hilarious amount of firepower for most of the game. Howling Banshees performed well in close combat and managed to wipe out a unit of ten Sternguard with a Priest and Warlord Librarian. Some other things I have learned is that: managing psychic power is a pain in the ass, Shuriken Catapult range is a major issue, cover is my friend, and lastly I need to pick up a few things to make the army more effective. Next time I use them I will try and get a proper battle report written up. 

Painting

I don't really have a lot of the army painted, and what I do have was painted many years ago (aka not as well as they could be). Despite my painting abilities in my youth, I don't plan on repainting anything that has been completed. So to take a break from painting my Heresy era Marines I have decided to paint a "test" model for each unit. Here are the work in progress models for Guardians, Dire Avengers, Wraithguard, and Howling Banshees. 

So, moving forward I have a few ideas about what to add, but I would welcome suggestions from people who have more games under their belts. That being said, I DO NOT want to make an army that is a min/maxed Jet Council. I abhor internet power lists. Until next time, happy gaming!