Blood Angels, now there’s a chapter to be feared!

Another Sunday has passed, the last AGS of the year, a low turnout but fun was had. First to arrive was Mickey, soon followed by Dan. Mike had bought along the blood raven space marines and Dan had his Blood Angels, an unpleasant taste is in my mouth as I write the name of the last chapter. It is the taste of defeat. Dan suggested a 1000 point battle, a simple annihilation, simple my foot. We rolled for deployment, although Dan won the roll he insisted that I deploy first. An unusual tactic, but I soon discovered why, Dan was fielding and entire force comprised of assault squads. Turn 1: since there were no BA’s on the table all I could do was take up a defensive position and hunker down in the hope that one of my five squads would sight movement on the battle field. Turn 2: As my Terminator squad teleported onto the battlefield, the wail of jump packs filled the air as a squad of Blood Angels descended from above heading for my devastator squad. As they fell from the sky their jump packs stuttered and died. The marines plummeted to the ground, smashing through the floor of a building, their bodies crushed from the impact; all that could be done was to mutter a prayer to the Emperor to guard their souls. The rest of the force must have become apprehensive about performing an orbital drop as no other Marines arrived to collect their fallen brethren. Turn three: Blood Angels rained from the sky, this time none of the jump packs failed and they took position in some of the ruins of a once great city. The battle brothers of the ninth legion expected them to advance, instead they withdrew, making full use of available cover. A few shots were hurled at the warriors of the Chapter Aurelius, none of which did any real damage. The Terminator Squad and the Dreadnought moved in on one of the Blood Angel squads, the Dreadnought launched a krak missile into the unit, bringing down one of them. It then unleashed a ball of plasma fire, despatching two marines. The Terminator squad opened fire with an assault cannon and four storm Bolters, bringing down four more men. The Devastator squad also opened fire, further reducing the enemy squads number by three. Unfortunately the Plasma cannon overheated, the Marine carrying the weapon managed to avoid serious injury.

From the top of another ruin a squad of snipers fired at the same squad, although the shots found their marks they failed to bring down any of the Blood Angels. Once again the BA’s did not act as anticipated. I expected the squad that had taken losses to move against either the Terminators or the Dreadnought, instead they retreated further into the ruin. It appeared they were apprehensive about firing upon their own, whatever their plan was it was soon to be played out. Turn 4, the air was once again filled with the all too familiar scream of jump packs, Dante and a squad appeared behind the devastator squad. Dante fired his Infernus pistol into the squad, although the shot hit, the targeted marines armour protected him and no damage was taken, the rest of the squad fired bolters into the squad, bring one of them down, removing the hazard of the las-cannon. Suddenly the blood Angels poured out of the protection of the ruin and opened fire with flamers, choosing the Devastator squad as their target but doing no harm. Dante then led his squad into combat with the Devastator squad, eradicating them before they had a chance to strike back. The unit of blood Angels that had been reduced to just two men charged toward the Terminators, no doubt hoping to bring them down with chain swords and pistol fire. Although they managed to slay two of the Terminator squad the retaliation was merciless and the last two members of the blood angel squad were cut down, their blood staining the ground. The Terminators found no solace in this victory; they were fighting not only for their lives but for the honour of the chapter Aurelius. The blood Angels are devoutly loyal in the service of the Emperor and have sworn to eradicate any that do not swear allegiance to the god emperor. The Terminators and the Dreadnought turned their attention to squad Dante. Storm bolter and assault cannon fire tore through the air, felling two of the squad, Dante remained untouched. Meanwhile the sniper squad, eager to join the fray, reposition so that they stood a better chance of targeting Dante. By the time they had braced their weapons the Terminators had already charged into combat. Squad Dante were too quick and unrelenting in their assault, cutting the mighty Terminators down before they could act. Turn five saw the final squad of blood angels make landfall close to the tactical squad that had so far missed any of the action, The Angels fired into the squad killing two men. Squad Dante broke and their commanding officer tore into the Dreadnoughts armour, damaging the servos that operate the legs; the continued assault resulted in the Dreadnoughts plasma cannon being ripped from its mounting, all the machine could do was pivot on the spot in the hope of acquiring a target lock with the missile pod. The remainder of squad Dante slaughtered the sniper squad. The Ninth legions captain broke cover, firing a melta shot at Commander Dante, although the shot scored a hit, the emperor was watching over his favoured son and he survived the shot. The tactical squad fired on the assault squad that had attacked them moments before, although the entire squad was slain, the battle forces victory was short lived as the remaining members of squad Dante eviscerated the Ninths captain but not before he could cleave in two one of them. Dante stood victorious over the fallen captain, there was nothing more the remaining space marines of the chapter Aurelius could other than retreat, carrying with them the hope that one day their honour will be restored and they would once again be embraced by the Emperor they lived to serve. Until then they will continue to fight all enemies, whether they be a part of the Xenos threat to the future of mankind, or the brethren they longed to fight beside under a single cause. On receiving the news that his men had failed to find a world where the disgraced ninth legion could find respite, Chapter Master Marcus Aurelius destroyed a console on his battle barges bridge, vowing that for the next encounter his warriors would show no mercy, no relent, they would eradicate the next enemy from the galaxy and send them begging for the Emperors grace.

Kaboooooooom!

I mentioned in yesterdays post that my favourite part of the hobby is painting, I’ve been painting for around twenty years now and even in my quietest point I managed to paint one model every few months. I have my favourites and there are some that I’ve disliked.

It’s all down to personal preference, but I prefer to paint the plastic models, I think it's the way that the quality of the moulding process has improved. When GW produced the very first set of plastic Space Marines (RT01) I remember them well, mainly for the lack of detail and that they went together quite badly. A box of current plastic marines can be used to build a squad with individual models in dramatic poses with a variety of ranged and close assault weapons. i also own original copies of the first edition of Space Hulk, the Genestealers haven’t changed much, but the terminators have undergone a major design change. I bought a boxed set of termies about fifteen years ago, maybe longer, I thought they were fantastic pieces, highly detailed and quite simple to put together. the same models, now in plastic are incredible. there is so much room for conversion and a wide selection of options. don’t get me wrong, there are some very fine metal models available, the Ork Shok attack gun being just one example. the model is so well detailed and the sculptor has put so much effort into telling a story with the model. from the expression on the big meks face to the little snotling clawing at the ground desperately trying to escape the horrible fate that awaits him. with time, skill and effort, this model looks amazing and makes a fine addition to any Ork force, plus it’s quite scary when your adversary announces that he’s going to fire the damn thing. when you consider that it can, with a good dice roll, unleash a strength 12 AP2 large blast. I, for one, wince in fear when the strength dice are rolled and I find myself praying that a double one is rolled. I honestly don’t know which is the nastier weapon, that or the Stompas supa-gatler. all i know is that I’ve had squads on the receiving end of both and fare badly against them. What Ork weapons lack in reliability, they make up for in the ability to decimate a force. So I wonder what my readers like about the game, maybe they would be gracious enough to leave a comment telling us about their favourite aspect of the GW multiverse.

On the subject of readers, I’ve noticed that the majority of them appear to be from the States, it would be interesting to get their perspective on the game.

For the Emperor!

It’s all in the game.

After reading an article in this month’s WD, I got to thinking what the hobby means to me, I make no secret of the fact that I prefer painting and only wish that I could paint to GW standards. I really enjoy seeing other people’s models and the quality of some goes beyond the pros who work for GW. Seeing a model go from plastic kit to a beautiful finished piece is a real thrill. When one of the lads shows me some of their work I make a point of noticing the good effort they have given to painting rather than looking at a model and telling them it’s a bad job, these guys are young and as an older player I feel that I just make every effort to encourage them to stick with the hobby. In truth I’ve seen many styles of painting from the lads, some have improved greatly where as others have continued to slap paint on with a 2 inch brush. Some listen to the advice I give others completely disregard it. Of course it’s their choice and it’s not my place to tell them that their work is bad, but I think that if I can help them improve the way they paint then I will continue to do so.

Although I’ve said that I would rather paint, I do enjoy a game, I’m happy to play against the lads and older players/ I’m also happy to be corrected if I get a rule wrong, especially if it’s one of the youngsters that corrects me, it shows that they’re taking the time to learn the rules.

I wouldn’t consider myself a competitive player, I like to win, that’s the point of playing any game. But I can also lose gracefully. I will congratulate an opponent when they take down a powerful unit and share in their victory. At times I’ll remind my opponent that they’ve forgotten to deep strike or take advantage of a situation, and every now and then I’ll use their forgetfulness to my advantage, something I’m sure we’ve all done at one point.

When I supervise games for the lads, I will point out a flaw in their opponents’ tactics, this usually results in cries of despair from the other player, but then I do the same for them and they soon realise that I am helping them improve their game, they soon learn to avoid making the same mistakes.

If I had to choose a favourite opponent for me, it would have to be Smiffy. Our games are good fun and we both enjoy playing. When he and I play we tend to expose weak areas in each other’s army. Of course this also means that we both get to the shop to buy something to fill that gap and look forward to trying out a new vehicle or squad. That was the reason I bought a sniper squad and a very good purchase it was. I suspect Smiffy has rectified a few flaws in his army, most likely to combat the dreadnought plasma cannon. No doubt this will mean that I need to add something that will deal with his new addition, namely an assault squad, at the moment I don’t have anything that’s really hack and slash so something that is primarily close combat might be a good idea. I would really like to get a Necron Tomb Stalker, I’m sure it make like work of Smiffy chaos Space marines and it would look very cool on the table.

Looking to the future I plan to have the Tau table ready within the first half of 2011, a whole new army to field will make for some interesting games, and I’m sure Smiffy looks forward to putting his CSM’s against them.

Have fun, and roll well

Toodles

K

Sundays meet up

I uppose I should have done this one before the entry about the visit to kentish Rogues, but never mind.

Sundays session was a bit quiet, including me there was only two people there until 13:00, I have to admit that I was a bit dissapointed with the low turn out, but the weather didn't help.

My Necrons went up against Dans Blood Angels, although I didn't do too bad I still had to phase out so no win there, I then went up against Dark Eldar, it seems that GW have, once again created yet another Marine crushing army. The Dark Eldar have a host of special rules that make them almost invincible in close combat and almost impossible to hit with ranged weapons, the Necrons had to phase out from that battle too. My win/loss ratio isn't looking too good at the moment, I need to pull something out of the hat soon otherwise everyone will have beaten my Necrons, maybe it's time to dust off the Marines and see how they fare for a change.

with a little bit of tweaking I could pull a few wins from somewhere, I may also have to sacrifice a bottle of oom Bar to Randomonia so that she blesses my dice again, I don't know what I've done, but I defenitely seem to be out of favour with her at the moment.

So that's it for a while, hopefully next month attendance will be back up to standard, maybe the promise of mince pies will draw the crowds in, we shall see!

See ya soon.
K

A change of Scene

Tonight, being Monday, Smiffy and I popped along to meet up with the members of a gaming group called The Kentish Rogues. They're a welcoming bunch and I was soon involved in a six player game, Necrons and two seperate Tyrannid forces v Space Wolves, Imperial Guard and Tau. On the second table, forces of the Imperium battles against a mass Orc war band which I suspect may have been comprise of a couple of different clans.
Our table was limited to 750 points and despite our best efforts the combined Tyrannid and Necron forces were out matched by the opposing side, I think the end result was the opposing side holding an objective whilst we held none, so it meant a loss for my team.
My problem was that with 750 points I cant get a Monolith on the table, if I had done then, possibly, game would have had a different end result.

I've been thinking about my Tau army a lot over the past few weeks, it's a shame that they're sitting in boxes waiting to be painted, especially when I consider the Forge World model I have for the force.

I managed to get a few photos from tonight and I shall post them on The Hythe Tyrant facebook page and I shall try and post them on the Kentish Rogues forum.

I've been reading a lot of the possible changes to the Necron Codex, this may be out early next year. I have to admit that I'm really looking forward to the realease as it could mean that the Necrons will be re-established as a force to be reckoned with, plus some of the models that I've put off getting for my collection because of expense will be available in plastic. this means that I'll bee able to add some powerful units to my force will, all being well, will make them very difficult to beat, huzzah. It's been a while since I've had anything to look forward to release wise, But given the fact that I favour my the Necrons over the Space Marines I reaaly can't wait to see what the powers that be do with the souless machines.

I should really disregard the Marines, I have a good force and when I finish the models that are still boxed they too will be quite formidable on the battlefield, although I suspect that the Chapter Aurelius could benefit from the addition of at least one squad of assault marines. I'll have to have a game with Smiffy to give it a try out, you never know.

The next Sunday meet up for the Hythe Tyrant "adult" division will be December 12, in addition to a minimum 750 point army, mince pies will be compulsory.

Hope to see as many of you there as possible, ta ta for now.
May the goddess Randomonia bless your dice rolls.
Regards
K

No sir, I don’t like ‘nids

Battle report number one,

Data was fielding Tyranids, including more ‘stealers than you can shake a stick at, a Hive Tyrant, four Warriors and a Trygon.

In response I was fielding two Necron Lords, one on a Destroyer body and equipped with a war scythe, a resurrection orb and a phylactery, the second lord, on foot had a Staff of light, a phase shifter, a phylactery and a second resurrection orb. The lords were supported by twenty Necron Warriors, three heavy destroyers and three destroyers.

I got first go, moving the heavy destroyers into position they fired on the Trygon, despite three S9 AP2 hits they only managed to inflict two wounds on the monster, with nothing else to do this turn, It was over to Data to begin tearing my Necron down. His first act was to move the horde of ‘stealers into position so that they would be able to assault at the end of his turn. The Trygon and the Warriors moved toward the Heavy Destroyers. The Hive Tyrant fired its heavy venom cannon at a squad of Necron Warriors; this bought two down, one from the targeted squad and one from the second squad as a result of scatter. Then came the assault phase, with 6 attacks each and plus one for being on the charge, six warriors fell to rending claws. For my second turn I moved the Heavy Destroyer and their lighter brethren, along with the destroyer lord, into a position where they could bring the full force of their weapons to bear on the Trygon, although the beast was hit with eight out of twelve shots it was only reduced to one wound, with one squad of warriors locked in close combat and the second out of range, I had no choice but to end my turn. Data threw another venom cannon shot in the direction of the second squad of warriors, fortunately this went wide of the mark and scattered away from the squad. The warriors did the same on the destroyers, bringing down a heavy destroyer; hopefully the res orb would bring it back into the fray. A second round of close combat bought down more warriors, curse those rending claws. At the beginning of my third turn I lost a heavy destroyer due to a failed WBB roll. I moved the three destroyers into a better position to take down a squad of Genestealers, Data lost six of them. In his previous turn Data had regenerated the Trygon restoring two wounds. Three shots from the heavy destroyers removed two wounds again from the Trygon, the venom cannon from Data’s warriors bought down a destroyer, then the Trygon moved into close assault. If it wasn’t for the Destroyer lords res orb, the match would have finished a lot sooner. I lost two destroyers to the assault from the Trygon and four more warriors to the ‘stealers. My fourth turn, I was getting desperate, the warriors, now clear of close assault for the moment, fired on the Genestealers. Three were gunned down, but it wouldn’t be enough, they would be all but eradicated in a few moments. On the other side of the table, things weren’t going any better. The Trygon had once again regenerated and was back up to three wounds. Although the venom cannon shots were wasted, the close assaults from the Trygon and a handful of ‘stealers took care of the Destroyer lord and one of the heavy destroyers and that was it. With over 75% of my force gone, the Necrons phased out.

I have to admit, it was a good game, not a close one. I was out matched in close assault and the amount of attacks that stealers have meant that the Necron warriors stood no chance. I may have to review the options I have available in the Necron force and drop in some flayed ones and a couple of wraiths. All in all I was happy with the way the battle went, I may have phased out, but at least I took a few of Data’s stealers on the way.

Battle report #2

Chaos Space Marines v Necrons 750 points

Steve (Smiffy) was fielding a chaos Dreadnought, 2 8 man squads of Chaos Marines, A Terminator lord and a chaos spawn, with a 5 man(?) squad of Plague bearers of Nurgle and a three man squad of Chaos Terminators in reserve.

I was fielding a Necron lord, 20 Necron Warriors, 3 Destroyers and 3 heavy destroyers.

Steve won the roll off and took first turn, His first act was to roll for the dreadnought, he rolled badly and it ended up inactive for the duration of the turn, a squad of 8 marines headed toward the 20 Warriors and the Lord. The other 8 man squad came out from the safety of a ruined building and the spawn did likewise, but from the other side of the same ruin. The squad that had move in closer to the Warriors opened fire, equipped with plasma weapons they would have presented a problem, but having a resurrection orb in play meant that the three fallen warriors could benefit from it and roll a WBB on my first turn. With nothing else to shoot and not quite close enough for close combat, Steve ended his first turn

After a relatively successful WBB roll, I lost one of the three warriors, my first move was to have one of the Heavy Destroyers so that it was in range of the Dreadnought, the two remaining Heavy destroyers and the three Destroyers moved into firing range of the spawn and one of the eight man squads, and the Lord and two squads of Warriors advanced toward the second 8 squad of Chaos Marines.

The Heavy Destroyer that had been sent in for the Dreadnought fired a shot that would have caused a glancing hit, but because the Dread was partly covered by a building it was saved by a 4+ cover save. The other HD’s fired on the spawn, bringing it down to one wound. The Destroyers now had a choice of targets, try to finish off the Spawn or attempt to reduce the numbers of the squad of Chaos Marines, considering that Destroyers fire three shots each, all that fire power for one Spawn would be a waste, however nine shots into a squad of 8 marines could be quite effective, so it was the Marines that took the brunt of the Gauss Cannons, three of the Marines fell. The Lord and the 2 squads of ten Warriors fired on the other squad, but the marines Armour saves negated the wounds.

Steve’s second turn, he tried to deep strike his Chaos Terminators on but they scattered off the table, the resulting mishap roll they were delayed. Smiffy’s dreadnought moved toward the Heavy Destroyer that tried to gun it down, the Squad of Marines that lost ranks to the Destroyers moved toward them and the Spawn advanced on the same Destroyer squad. The Terminator Lord remained hidden in the safety of a ruin. The Dreadnought fire it’s Multi-melta, scoring a hit but failing to wound. The Marine squad that had been fired on by the warriors moved closer, and then fired on the warriors, no losses due to a really bad roll. The other Marines attempted to bring down the destroyers, they managed to bring one down and since they were too far from the res orb there wouldn’t be a WBB. The other squad moved into close assault, lots of attacks meant that I lost another two warriors. The Warriors didn’t fare so well, only cutting down one marine, since the marines won the combat the warriors had to make a morale test, fortunately they passed and remained in combat. The dreadnought moved into close assault with the Heavy destroyer, the dread won and I lost a unit.

A WBB roll at the start of my second turn bought back one of the Warriors lost to a close assault, one of the two remaining HD’s moved to a better vantage point where it could endeavour to take out the spawn, the other one moved to a position between two ruins in order to get LOS on the Dreadnought. The destroyers fired on the squad of marines, bringing down another two, a Heavy destroyer made short work of the spawn reducing it to 0 wounds, the other fired on the Dread, a successful to hit followed by a roll of five meant that I’d scored a penetrating hit on the Dreadnought and it lost its multi melta. Close assault from the Warriors hacked into the other marines, removing two of them; this was followed by 4 attacks from the Necron Lord which killed another two. The Chaos Marines lost both assaults but although they passed the morale test from the warriors assault they failed the one from the Lord and ran, unfortunately the Lord did not roll high enough for a sweeping advance.

Smiffy tried again to bring in his terminators, this time they came down into a squad of Necron Warriors and the mishap roll enabled me to put them where I chose, so they ended up as far away from the battle as possible. He also bought in the Plague Bearers. The Dread moved toward the Heavy Destroyer and since it was now only armed with bolters, there was no point in a ranged attack from it. The squad that had suffered losses in close assault continued to retreat and the other squad of marines remained stationary and fired at the Destroyers. The shots from the plasma weapons were Smiffy’s only chance of inflicting any real damage. His dice rolls let him down; he missed with one and rolled a one with the other destroying the marine in the process.

Six shots from the Destroyers Gauss Cannons took out the remainder of a Marine squad, and 15 shots from Gauss flayers took out the Plague bearers. The Necron Lords Staff of Light took down the retreating marines and a penetrating hit from a Heavy Destroyer wrecked the Chaos Dreadnought.

The Terminators moved closer and the terminator lord came out of hiding, he was close enough to enter into close assault with the destroyers, it went well for Chaos and not so well for the Necrons, I lost both of the Destroyers.

I moved a heavy destroyer into range of the terminator lord and moved a squad of Warriors in the direction of the terminator lord. I also moved the Necron Lord and, the somewhat depleted, second squad of warriors towards the termie lord. I attempted to bring the Mighty Chaos lord down with gauss flayer fire but a 2+ armour save was more than a match.

Turn six for Smiffy and his Terminators were now in range of of the heavy destroyers and melta gun fire from combi-weapons bought then down. The chaos Terminator Lord now turned his attention to my Warriors, Fortunately 3+ saves saw off his gun fire.

Turn six for me saw the opportunity to bring the Necron Lords Staff of Light to bear on the Terminators, this time the 2+ saves were of no use and the terminators fell, the warriors fired on the terminator lord causing 2 wounds. The Necron Lord Moved into close assault with the Terminator Lord, luckily the Terminator Lords power fist caused him to react slowly. My Necron Lord was on the charge, and that meant 4 attacks, all four hit and three of those wounded, it was now down to armour saves. Out of three saves Smiffy only needed to fail one and victory would be mine, luck was on my side for this battle and the terminator lord failed one of the three armour saves.

So I now had a loss and a win, both of the battles were very close and I thought I was heading toward a second loss, if Smiffy had made those last three saves he would have taken out my Necron Lord on the next turn and the Necrons would have phased out.

Every time I play Smiffy I have a really good game, but it also gives us a chance to evaluate our forces, I’m fairly certain that the next time I go up against Smiffy, he will have a surprise or two for me and I will have to re-assess my Necron force. I’m trying really hard not to get any new models until the release of the new codex and redesign of certain units. So I hope Smiffy doesn’t throw anything too nasty at me.

Time is the fire in which we all burn!

Hello, sorry there hasn’t been a great deal of activity on this blog for a while. it’s completely my fault, mainly because i don’t get the time to write stuff out. a quick update on last months adult gaming session, I lost! The Necrons went up against Chaos daemons and they trounced me. I need to rethink my strategy and, perhaps cheat a little by having a good read through the Daemons codex.

In the coming soon area of GW are the Dark Eldar. Although I didn’t attend Games day, I have seen some of the photos that were taken by people who did attend. Some of the models are astounding, the GW designers have truly out done themselves. No I shall not be starting a new army, I’m having enough trouble with the ones I have.

Forge World have also been busy, not only are there new models for the Orks and Space Marines, the Necron now have the Tomb Stalker. What can I say but “Oh my god, I want at least one!” the model itself is fantastic and if it’s well painted it will look amazing on a table.

As just about every gamer now knows, GW have released The Island of Blood to coincide with the release of WFB 8th edition. As with Assault on Black Reach, GW have done a brilliant job on IoB, The models are very high on the wow factor and the boxed set is incredible value for money. coming in at between £55 to £60, it contains at least £100 worth of models, plus rule book, templates and dice. I haven’t got my copy yet, it’s on my Christmas list. I’m looking forward to learning the WFB rule set, all i need to work out is which army to keep. I took a shine to the Skaven when they were first introduced way back in 1986, back then they were merely a “free gift” team for the original Blood Bowl. it didn’t take too long for the nasty little beggars to became very popular amongst WFB players. With a new set of models from the IoB set and the new army book released earlier this year, I think they make an excellent option as the army choice for my first foray into the olde worlde.

On the event front we have an adult gaming session on Sunday 17th October, I’ve extended an invite to the guys of Kentish Rogues to join us, and hope that we have a contingent of their members join us.

On the subject of the possibility of more people attending the Sunday session, I wonder if it’s worth considering looking for a larger venue for the once a month meet up. Whilst it’s extremely generous of Sue to allow us to use the shop on a Sunday, we are limited to two and a half tables, and if our attendees show an increase, which I hope they do, we will eventually need a larger venue.

I haven’t yet had the opportunity to get along to the Kentish Rogues Monday night session, I’ve been tied up with responsibilities at home, but once I do manage to show my face I shall post a report here.

A couple of the guys that come along to the shop on Saturday and Sunday have been and they’ve said that The chaps at KR are a friendly and welcoming group, so I’m keen to get along and meet them.

It’ll be nice to game with new people, and from what I understand some of the guys at Kentish Rogues are open to a spot of good old fashioned RPGing, I wonder if I can get a group interested in a bit of 2nd edition AD&D? here’s hoping!

Well that’s about all for now, may your dice roll well.

Take care.

K

Tactics are NOT small minty confections.

There was quite a turn out for today’s session. If this trend continues, we may have to find a larger venue. A warm welcome to Barry and Tim from Kentish Rogues, they were fielding Space Wolves and Eldar. They game at the hamlet hotel and we have an invite to attend and see what they do, their next meeting is Monday 23^rd August and they have a meet up every two weeks. I won’t be able to get along this week, but I may go along to the next meeting. They start at 7pm and run through until 10:30, I think. Unfortunately they have an over 18 policy, so the young bloods will have to wait a few years.

Our third new chap was a lad named martin, he fielded Blood Angels against Data and Mickey’s Tyranids and Imperial Guard, an odd teaming but they still lost, tee hee.

Dan and Dave S went up against Barry and Tim, sadly shop duties kept me away from the gaming so I don’t know who played who played who, but I do know that Dave S didn’t fare too well. Dan's report should be arriving soon.

Pete and Ali arrived later in the afternoon and Ali accepted the challenge I made last month to take on her ‘nids.

After a bit of jiggery pokery with my list I finally had it sorted and was ready to lay down some gauss flavoured smackdown on their chitinous hides. I’d even bought three Heavy destroyers for the event. I only fielded two.

So the challenge was met and I won the roll off, Ali attempted to seize initiative but the goddess Randomonia chose not to bless her die and she rolled a three.

The heavy destroyers moved into position, unfortunately only one of them had line of site on anything targetable, the lone destroyer opened fire, hitting the target only to have the wound saved. My squad of five destroyers took position at the far end of two building either side of the road, quickly acquiring target locks on a squad of Genestealers. The destroyers unleashed a torrent of gauss fire, disintegrating ten of the ‘stealers. The Monolith lumbered forward but could not get line of sight on the enemy.

A shot rang out, taking down a destroyer, fortunately the self repair systems started to activate.

The space between the buildings seemed to fill with Genestealers, they used their large claws to gain purchase on the road surface and fell upon the destroyers tearing them asunder, their claws cutting through the metal of the destroyer’s bodies with little effort leaving gleaming debris in their wake.

Two squads of Necron Warriors and a Lord advanced on the stealers, gauss fire reduced them to atoms. The Monolith activated the particle whip in an effort to take down a squad of gaunts that were entrenched between two small buildings; the shot went wide of its mark dissipating harmlessly on one of the buildings. The heavy destroyer fired at a squad of Tyranid Warriors; although one was wounded it was not enough to bring it down.

Beneath the Necron Warriors the ground erupted as a Mawloc burst out of the ground the barbs on the flanks of this monstrosity tore some of the warriors apart, others were crushed under the rubble that fell from the massive beast. The battle was not going well for the Necrons, their only hope now was the Monoliths particle whip and the heavy gauss cannons mounted on the destroyers, but they were destroyed by venom cannon fire. The Nightbringer attempted to injure the Mawloc to no avail as it burrowed back underground. The Necron Lord and a squad of warriors eradicated some of the Genestealers, there was no time to celebrate the victory as the stealers charged into the warriors ripping them asunder, leaving the Lord with no option than to withdraw from the battle, taking the remainder of the Necron force with it.

So there you have it, I suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Tyranids, to add to the humiliation of the loss, I was beaten by an army controlled by a girl.

However, later in the afternoon, Pete, Ali and I had a HQ skirmish, as I had chosen to field the Nightbringer the points were set at 360. Pete fielded The Keeper of Secrets, A Bloodletter and daemonette and Ali chose a Hive Tyrant and a Warrior. It was agreed that we’d roll off at the start of each turn. Pete went first, the two lesser Daemons head for the Nightbringer, whilst the Keeper of secrets made for the Hive Tyrant. Ali’s Tyranids held their ground. The Nightbringer moved towards the heralds. The next turn I went first, I chose to maintain the advance on the lesser daemons. The C’tan sent a lightning arc toward them, inflicting a wound on the Herald of Khorne, the Nightbringer then moved into close assault using the gaze of flame and wounding the herald of Slaanesh. The heralds returned the assault, causing two wounds. The keeper of secrets continued to hunt down the Tyranids. Pete had the initiative for turn three and had gained ground on the Hive Tyrant. Wounds were caused and saved, then the Tyrant wounded the Keeper. His heralds once again attacked the Nightbringer, etheric blast drove the Daemonette from the fray and the lesser daemon failed to cause any wounds. The retaliation was a little more successful and Khornes herald became nothing more than a memory. Ali’s turn saw her attempt to slay the Keeper of Secrets but her efforts were fruitless and cost her dearly as the Keeper ended its life. The warrior ran away, My Necron God finished of the remaining herald and then turned its attention to the Keeper. Whilst it took a turn or two, it was a mighty fight, one worthy of the inhuman entities that were locked together in a struggle for victory. The Keeper failed to inflict any wounds, however this was not the case for the Nightbringer, it caused four wounds on the keeper of Secrets. The only thing to do now was to seek out revenge for the earlier Necron defeat. The warrior had encamped in a building. Since the Nightbringer was too large to fit inside it had no other option than to attempt to bring the warrior to its end with the lightning arc. Many volleys were exchanged but none of the warriors hit home, and under a constant barrage of lightning the warrior eventually fell.

A fitting end to a good day, I’m happy with the result of my second game, and I had two very worthy opponents. A huge thanks to everyone that turned up today, I look forward to doing it again on the 19^th of September.

IG lay the smackdown!

Disturbed from their slumber by the howling of landing craft, the rumble of tanks and the barking of orders, A solitary Necron Warrior was sent forth to assess the situation. Humans, in the guise of Imperial Guard. The Necron Lord activated his minions to teach these young upstarts the error of their ways. The Necrons broke ground and a single Monolith emerged from the stasis tomb, as they observed the terrain they immediately came under heavy fire, momentarily bringing a Destroyer to the ground, fortunately the microscopic repair drones restored it and it rose back, along with five other destroyers they opened fire on the heavy weapon platforms that had dealt the first blow, disintegrating them and removing them as a threat. Again the Guardsmen opened fire, this time there target was the Monolith, unleashing rounds from two tank mounted Battle cannon and lascannon, although these weapons found their mark, they failed to inflict any damage upon the great machine. In response the destroyers once more turned their gauss cannons upon the human fools, sending half a squad back to their precious emperor, as this was happening the Monolith moved ponderously forward into a position where it could discharge its particle whip. The battle cannon sounded again, this time two destroyers were bought down and their self repair system were unable to function, they evaporated into the ether, and their components would be used again. On the other side of the battle field a Chimera opened fire on a squad of warriors destroying four of their numbers, these humans would pay for their insolence. The remaining four Destroyers opened fire on a squad of Guardsmen again, reducing them to molecules in a heartbeat, The Monolith expelled the full fury of the particle whip on the chimera, rending it and four of its crew to nothing more than a pile of smouldering slag and melted flesh. The Monolith took a hit from the battle cannons, this time the antigrav drives were disabled and the huge machine sank to the ground. The second take moved in on the destroyers, opening its weapons and rending a third to a hunk of useless metal. Meanwhile the warrior squad that had taken casualties from the Chimera were moving into position to take out her remaining crew. One of the tank commanders had unwittingly bought his vehicle within range of the Monoliths particle whip, the weapon destroyed the Leman Russ tank with little effort, and the remaining destroyers cut down the brave but foolish guardsmen. The remaining tank withdrew to what was deemed to be a safe distance and the remaining guardsmen made a futile attempt to bring down the remaining destroyers, to no avail. The last tank turned its attention to the second squad of warriors heading toward the Imperials line, the cannon failed to inflict significant damage, taking down only two warriors. The first squad had gained a firm firing position on the remnants of the Chimeras crew; they dissolved instantly as streams of gauss fire tore through them. The single Leman Russ was just within range of the particle whip, due to the extreme range the shot managed to only shake the crew, making it impossible for the crew to acquire a significant target lock. A shot that seemed to come from nowhere the cut down first squad of warriors, despite taking heavy fire, the second squad took no losses; it was the same for the destroyers. The destroyers advanced on the guardsmen and they were followed by the warriors and the Necron lord. A hail of gauss fire tore the guardsmen asunder and the Monoliths particle whip dissolved the squad that destroyed the first warrior squad. The Leman Russ fired another shot at the Monolith, again failing to inflict any damage. Once again fire fell from the sky, melting the bodies of the Necron Warriors, it was at this point that the Necron Lord realised that the battle was lost and withdrew the Necron forces from the battle field, taking the fallen with him and returning to the stasis tomb to await another chance to eradicate the human infection from the universe.

Quite simply “wow”!

Who would have thought that after three years and a fair few lads and lasses through the doors that we have such a strong and loyal group of members. today, the 11th of July 2010, the Apple j-ax Warhammer 40,000 gaming group had its first tournament, and what roaring success it has been! Firstly a huge thank you to everyone involved, both the gamers and the people behind the scenes, a particularly large thank you to Sue for all her hard work in organising the event.

If I'm honest I initially thought that most of the guys who were with us at the beginning would have moved on to pastures new by now, but many of the lads are still with us and come along almost every Saturday. Without the regular players today would probably not have happened. I for one an very proud of what we have achieved, we may be a small, independent, and we may not get it right first time, but we work well. the lads that attend the gaming days are brilliant, they’re well behaved and polite and they clearly enjoy the game, and of course that’s the most important thing. Ours is a hobby that is open to all, young, old, novice and veterans, and the hobby attracts so many different types of people. we welcome all through our doors, from part time players to full time painters. the great thing about the hobby is that we, as gamers and painters, are happy to share our skills and tactics. of course there’s rivalry and debates over which army is the more powerful, everyone knows it’s Necrons, but the debates are limited to talking smack, and that’s not really taken seriously.

I sat for a moment, and I really do mean a moment I must have walked as far today as I did last Sunday. I was looking around at  the gaming action and the guys playing their games and I thought, “we have something really good here!” I’d imagine that the great and the good in Nottingham would frown upon what we do, we bend, break and at times completely ignore the rules, well lets be honest they do get in the way sometimes.

Well today saw the culmination of many years of botched games and disagreements over whether or not a Carnifex gets an armour save against a bolt pistol. something in the region of forty games were played today, excluding a few hiccups today went really well.

Congratulations  to our two first place winners, James in the 500 point group and Will in the 1000 point group. whilst all the guys played well and every single one of them deserves a mention here, there are too many of them, Will gets a mention, not only because he won his group and overall winner of the first ever Apple j-ax tournament, but because his first game was a well deserved win. Will was up against a strong Necron army and, perhaps, a little out gunned, for the first three turns Wills opponent had the game firmly in his favour, but on turn four the whole game switched, Primarily down to the fact that a Trygon Prime and a Mawloc couldn’t do anything to take out a Monolith. fortunately Will had the points in his favour, bringing him the victory. Pictures of the event will soon be found on the Apple J-ax facebook group, feel free to take a look.

So once again a huge thank you to everyone, from the guys franticly running from table to table checking rules and solving disputes to the mums selling refreshments in the corner of the room, you are all fantastic.

I, for one, am looking forward to our next big event, I hope that many of the lads involved today will still be with us for it too.

Here’s to the future!

I do not like the bitter taste of defeat!

Another mid month Sunday has come and gone, a small turn out this month but I think it’s better to have a small amount of players than a large turnout than have people sitting around waiting and getting bored.

My game was rather a struggle today, Necrons v Tau 1500 points.

The force comprised of 40 warriors, 6 destroyers, a monolith, a Necron lord and the Nightbringer. I started out thinking that it was going to be a walkover. I was mistaken! It went pear shaped from the get go when I failed my seize the initiative roll. The Tau took position and opened up on the Monolith with rail gun fire, successfully disabling one of the gauss flux arc emitters. I soon lost a destroyer, to the Hammerheads rail gun, damaged beyond repair. At this point the Tau appeared to be retreating, strange that they should initiate a skirmish then withdraw after releasing a few ineffective shots. The Necrons then noticed movement in the copse on the outskirts of the deserted town, Kroot! A subservient race now allied with the Tau Empire. The Monolith unleashed the particle whip in an effort to force these forest dwellers out of hiding. Certain that, at least, some of their numbers were eradicated by this shot. To ensure that the Kroot were bought down, the warriors to the starboard side of the monolith flooded the woodland with gauss fire. This time the panicked howls of the remaining Kroot indicated that they had, indeed, lost some of their comrades. However, these Kroot appear to have strong hearts. They tree line fell silent as the destroyers moved in. Again gauss fire bathed the trees, and again there was no indication of how many of the Kroot were bought down.

The Tau retaliated for the loss of some, if not all of the jungle fighters. Once again opening up with rail guns on the Monolith, this time to no avail, the shots were absorbed by the hull of the machine. Then from above several small disk like machines fell upon a squad of warriors, temporarily disabling one of their numbers. The Necron Lord realised how the Tau intended to fight this battle, hit and run tactics. In response the warriors introduced the drones to the effects of gauss and incinerated them. The remaining destroyers once again fired into the woods, still unsure of the status of the threat the Necron Lord bought his staff of light to bear and decimated the Kroot. Confident that this particular enemy would no longer be an issue he turned his attention to the battle ahead. The monolith released another particle whip, this time on the hammerhead. The rail gun mounted on its hull posed a major threat to the entire force. Although the shot struck home it had no effect. The destroyers turned their weapons on the hammerhead, these shots were also wasted, possibly the Tau have some form of ablative armour which is resistant to gauss fire. Meanwhile the warriors began to advance. The Tau rail guns sounded again, a shot found its mark and the monolith sank to the ground immobilised, another shot tore through the hull of the Monolith. The light from the interior flickered twice and then went dark, effectively removing the monolith from the fight. Just as the Monolith fell silent more of the Tau force appeared behind it. They opened fire on the Nightbringer, with no effect. The warriors sprang to their gods defence and removed the offenders from existence. The Necron Lord raised his war scythe above his head then he and forty Necron warriors vanished, above a squad of pathfinders a haze appeared, for a moment it seemed that the lord and the squad of warriors were about to descend upon the Tau, but fate plays a fickle hand. The exit vortex could not maintain stability, snapping shut and sealing the lord and the warriors nowhere, lost in the void. Leaving just ten warriors in the fight and the Nightbringer the Tau rained down upon the warriors with flamers reducing the squad to just six warriors, realising this fight was lost the Nightbringer vanished into the void, taking the remaining warriors with him and removing all trace of the Necron presence. It would seem the Tau are a threat, the rail guns are powerful enough to tear a Monolith apart, a Necron fleet will be despatched to the Tau home world and they shall offered a choice, join us, or die!

The next Adult gaming Sunday will be on the 18^th of July, I think I’ll give the Chapter Aurelius a chance to show the Tau the meaning of the word defeat.

fun and games

hello all, First I must apologise for the lack of activity on the blog, things have gotten away from me this week and I've not been able to write up a battle report on the Sunday session.

Once again a big thank you to the guys who turned up for the day.

So far as the battles went, Dan took on Mikey in an all out effort to get the young padawan up to speed on some of the rules. Imperial Guard v Blood Angels, I have no idea of the result, but I think Dan took the victory. I took on Smiffy in an epic battle between Chaos Space marines and The Necrons. It gave me a chance to field my beautifully painted Deceiver; I've taken my Necrons up against Steve's CSM's before and usually fare quite well. This time was different. For some reason Steve's marines were not going down to the gauss fire as easily as they usually do. the addition of a Chaos dreadnought armed with a multi-melta was also a worry. At least I had a primary target, that and the havoc squad that were encamped on top of a building. Necron Destroyers tore into them, brining their number down by just under half. If I remember correctly, the Dread was bought to a standstill by the Monoliths particle whip.  the game resulted in a draw, although I really think Steve had it, he turned the battle around in turn three, then in turn four his Terminator squad and Infiltrators plus the Terminator lord and his retinue finally stopped playing poker, realised there was a battle going on and finally came in on deep strike. It was at this point I started to lose my lead. So although Steve called it a draw, I think it's weighted more in Smiffy’s favour.

I'm looking for a rematch and I'm fairly sure that Steve will be happy to oblige.

The next adult session is arranged for the 13th of June.

I've also set up a forum that will be open to all to make use of. If you have any ideas for boards, please get in touch and let me know. You can send me messages via the yahoo group, or you can mail me via kalon@ntlworld.com. The forum can be found here:

http://hythe-tyrant.proboards.com/index.cgi

There’s nothing worse than needing a 6 and rolling four ones!

Yet another Saturday has come and gone, as I looked at some of the guys playing and chatting I felt a certain rush of pride. Most of the lads have been coming to the shop since we started their grasp of the rules and knowledge of tactics has grown incredibly well. When Sue and I first set the group up we were still on fourth edition rules and whilst Sue had no knowledge of the game, my knowledge was primarily first edition and a smattering of second. I stopped playing 40k about 15ish years ago and parted with an army that was in excess of 3500 points. The game is now on its fifth edition of the rulebook and there are several expansions that weren’t even considered when I first started playing.

I was introduced to the game when Games Workshop first published Space Hulk; I still have my original copy complete with the Genestealer and Deathwing expansions. Last year GW published a limited print run of third edition SH. Naturally I had to have a copy, I got home with my rather heavy box, ripped off the cellophane wrapping and admired every last component. It’s very well produced and pays excellent tribute to the very first edition. In fact the first mission that is played is exactly the same as the first mission in the original game. The models that come with the game are, and I don’t use this phrase lightly, exquisite, original SH terminator models were a bit dull. With very little detail and they were all identical, the only way of telling one from another was by placing the flamer component on a model. The new models are so well sculpted each one has a unique pose and individual detailing. No two models are the same. The Genestealers have been reworked as well, although there are less ‘stealers in the box, first Ed had around 40, the new copy has only 19 purestrain Genestealers and a Brood Lord, but again no to models are the same. I am looking forward to painting them and I plan to follow the published painting guide as closely as I possibly can. A first for me as I prefer to steer away from the GW paint schemes as they can be a bit hard going. Apart from finishing Bens Necrons, finishing my Space Marines, starting the Tau, making a start on my buildings and a couple of side projects, I hope to have the Space Hulk models painted by Christmas. I was hoping to have them done in time for the June tournament, but that seems a bit unlikely now. It’s not impossible but it is a bit of a challenge to have the models painted to a high standard so that we can run a few demo games on the day.

Anyway I’ve digressed a little from my opening paragraph, what I was leading into was the pride I feel when I watch the guys at the shop. They have learned so much and play so well, I was wondering if I’m needed there anymore. It was always my plan to get the group established and then hand it over to the younger guys and let them run it how they wish. But now I have a new project in hand with getting the older players sessions established, I know that it’s not all me, there are others who are involved. Not least Sue, she is so generous in allowing the lads use of what is effectively a quarter of her shop space for a group of noisy oiks to throw dice and run around like mad things, plus giving us permission to use the shop once a month for the bigger boys to do exactly the same.

I must admit the one thing that bothers me with the younger players is there lack of focus. I played against two of them today. What should have been a 90 minute 6turn game turned into a thirty minutes two turn game. With the two lads investigating new and interesting ways of doing up their boot laces, I could have had the game won and the table cleared in those two turns. Not to mention the constant questions about my tactics and how I managed to eradicate entire squads. I would have minded if it was a different question each time, being asked 40 times what the AP (armour piercing) value of a lascannon is, does get a bit tedious eventually. I was told that my marines has won the battle, but I think that had the game been a little more flowing and my opponents a little more attentive, I may have played on a little longer. The problem is that I’m ensuring I leave the shop a bit earlier than usual so that I can be home in time for Dr Who. So in about two months I’ll have to make sure I take my keys with so that I can lock up at the end of the day as I don’t doubt there will be a few times when we over run in the evening.

I hope that in a few years time when the group is still going I shall be there sitting in a corner yelling at the guys to keep the noise down and concentrate on their games as I’m fairly certain that some of the lads that come now will still coming along, even if it does mean upsetting the girlfriend so as they can play with their toy soldiers.

No battle reports this week as I didn’t have a particularly memorable game, next time I take on two opponents I will let them know beforehand that I expect them to pay full attention to what’s happening on the table and not their footwear fastenings.

Happiness is hyper-cooled plasma cannons!

Ta ta!

From little acorns…

Wow, quite simply, wow. what a turn out for last Sunday! There were, including myself, 7 people at the shop on Sunday. ok so 7 may not sound much, but considering it’s only the second session and last session there was 3, our numbers have more than doubled. a total of 5 games were played, the Blood angels faced of against an Ork warband. A Necron Force taught the forces of Chaos a lesson in making sure you’ve got something that can score penetrating hits against a monolith, the Blood angels then faced of against a Tau Force. from what I could gather the Blood Angels took the victory by a very narrow margin. the Chapter Aurelius then faced off against a rather stubborn Imperial Guard force led by the traitor Yarrick. It took some work but the traitor finally fell under a barrage of Whirlwind bombardment and plasma fire, but he fell none the less. Although the 9th took casualties due some poorly made choices in the location of frag missile placemen. eventually the 9th Legion stood victorious over the fool hardy guardsmen. Although Marcus Aurelius’ heart hangs heavy at the thought of slaying so many of the Emperors finest. but if they insist on hunting his men down then he is left with no option than to unleash the hounds of battle. another battle that took place was between the forces of Chaos. Who, still licking the wounds inflicted upon them earlier by the Necrons, encountered a rogue Tyrannid force. The Chaos Marines were not having a good day as I believe they lost what appeared to be a simple bug hunt*. I suspect a rematch on that one is on the cards, that will make for an interesting day.

I am almost ready to start painting the Tau Force that has been a WIP for far too long. I can’t wait to have the chance to get the army on the battle field and unleash them against any who are foolish enough to think they have a chance of victory against them. For the greater good!

See you Saturday

Steve

*additional entry: It has been bought to my attention by the commander of the Chaos Force that the above battle report may be somewhat inaccurate. Therefore said commander has informed me that he will be submitting his own report on this skirmish. Seems to me that a defeat is still a defeat no matter how much you pretty it up. but hey ho! I look forward to receiving the ammended report and once I have it I'll add it to the blog and the relevant yahoo group. I did suggest that he could use the excuse, ahem, reasoning that he had been using my dice, we all know how rubbish they are. I expect I'll get my ear bent for the additional entry but there ya go!

++++++++++++++ INCOMING TRANSMISSION ++++++++++++++

RECEIVED:- CITADEL OF JUSTICE, TERRA

DATE:- 5681753M41

ASTROPATH DUCT:- KALON

AUTHOR:- **********

TITLE:- INTERCEPTED TRANSMISSION

16^th May 2010 Standard Terra Time (death to the false Emperor).

On the above date a warp storm hit the Battle Force of the Demon Prince ’Pestilent Spore’ causing two of its Battle Frigates to be sent to unknown Planets.

The first arrived above a planet which showed no form of life on scanners, but had a high reading of energy near the centre of what appeared to be a destroyed city. Unable to find any records of the planet in his ships data records the Lord of Nurgle decided to send three squads of Chaos Space Marines and a Dreadnought armed with Multi-melta to ascertain what the power source was.

The Chaos Marines were immediately attacked and subsequently overwhelmed by a force of metal machines that were regenerated by a pyramid shaped building that appeared to float above the ground. The Chaos Lord, unsure of what his troops on the ground were relaying to him, did deep strike into the battle zone with three of his Terminator retinue; straight in front of the ’pyramid’. The Terminators each released a bolt of melta fire from their combi-weapons but were unable to do any damage to the ’pyramid’; they were then destroyed disgustingly quickly by the weapons used by the machines. The Dreadnought faired just as badly being unable to get in shooting range of the ’pyramid’ before it was immobilised.

The second Battle Frigate arrived above a planet with endless life sign readings. Never one to miss an opportunity to spread the word (and diseased spore) of Nurgle, the Chaos Lord in charge of this Frigate dispatched troops to the planet and included 2 spawn and a Havoc squad.

The planet had been taken by Tyranids and the Chaos Space Marines were soon heavily engaged with Genestealer hordes; the spawn attacked but must have been forsaken by the Gods as they turned to puppies and were both swiftly destroyed. The Marines managed to destroy the Genestealers but suffered heavy casualties in the fighting. The Havoc squad managed to cause multiple wounds to an attacking Harpy (a beautifully converted model by the way) but failed to destroy it when they wasted shots at an approaching Hive Tyrant. The Tyrant was subsequently destroyed by an Aspiring Champion with power fist. A moment of panic set in when a Mawloc attempted to enter the battle, but the creature had a mishap and disappeared into the warp.

Throughout the battle the Chaos Lord, and Terminator retinue, attempted to Deep strike to no-avail; the Battle Frigate had obviously been damaged by the warp storm!

I had great fun playing both games and soon realised that heavy weapons are a must have when fighting both the Necrons and Tyranids. Both games ended after turn 4 - against the Necrons because my Chaos Marines had been slaughtered (I couldn’t roll what I wanted all game) - against the ’Nids due to time constraints. I managed to win the Tyranid battle on points scored, mainly because the Mawloc managed to scatter off the table edge when it attempted to enter play; needless to say I was extremely grateful for this. I would like to have been able to get in a fifth turn to see how my Lord and retinue would cope; maybe next time!

+++++++++++++++TRANSMISSION ENDS+++++++++++++++++++

Pease Take Note

Hello gang,
A bit of a grumble, last Saturday a few of those attending the gaming day were more than a little uncontrollable. PLEASE, remember that we are in the public eye and have to set a good example. the way the guys behave is a direct reflection on the shop. when young folk are running around shouting and playing about, customers don't want to come in. no customers means that Sue's business is at risk. we MUST do everything possible to show members of the public that the average 14-18 year olds are not out of control louts. It came very close to people getting injured last week. this will NOT be tolerated. If you want to run around like mad things, please find the appropriate location to do so. the shop isn't it. In direct response to last Saturday, Sue and I ask that you limit the amount of high energy drinks you have when at the shop. if you want to hang out with your mates, be somewhere else.
Message ends
Rgds
Steve

a bit disappointed!

Hi gang,
sadly the first adult gaming session didn't get off to a resounding start. Including myself there were only two others turned up. So a big thank you to Steve and David, also to David for a very enjoyable game. I'm beginning to think that I should class Necrons as a preferred enemy, as I would get bonuses against them and might stand a chance. :O) Having looked at the calendar for the next few weeks, I shall ask Sue if i can do another session on Sunday 18th of April. I'll publicise it better and hopefully attract a bit more interest. The point limit of 1000 to 1500 seems to work. I would like to have an Apocalypse game one Sunday as it would give players a chance to field the big stuff such as super-heavies.
I'll draw a poster up that advertises the next session and hope to see a few more people next time. Maybe the offer of free tea and cake may prove to be an incentive.

This first adult session saw a pitched battle between the Chapter Aurelius and the mechanical menace that are the Necrons. It had come to the attention of the chapters Techmarines that some Necron tech had been detected on deserted planet near the Crisium Border. Three Tactical squads, a devastator squad and a scout squad were accompanied by two dreadnought had been tasked with retrieving as much of the Xenos tech as possible. What initially appeared to be a routine retrieval soon became a violent and costly encounter. Unknown to the troops on the ground, a Necron force had also made land fall on this remote barren world, intent on regaining their own. Silently the Necron skimmers that are classified as destroyers and Heavy Destroyers floated across the terrain. Upon sighting a dreadnought they unleashed a stream of unearthly gauss fire ripping through the Dreadnoughts armour and sending it to the four winds. Squad tertius made its way to the nearest objective and dug in. In the distance a mass of gleaming metal indicated that a unit of warriors were also making headway to an objective. Meanwhile the scouts reported that the force had been accompanied by an entity classed as a Necron Lord. The Scouts were ordered to consider this a major threat and concentrate their fire on it alone. After a volley of shells and missile fire, the Necron Lord suffered major damage but its internal systems had yet to be breached. The second dreadnought, seeking revenge for his fallen comrade entered the fray. Determined to bring down the foul abomination that had slain his brethren, before the vengeance could be exacted one of the skimmers bought its gauss cannon to bear, shearing off the Dreadnoughts missile pod. Squad tertius reported that the Warriors were gaining the advantage and would soon be laying claim to an objective, this would not be tolerated. Squad tertius opened fire, bringing down just two of the warriors. At the same time the mighty dreadnought hurled a raging ball of plasma at the destroyers, rending one of there number to nothing more than a pool of molten metal. Once again the scouts launched a hail of gunfire at the lord but to no avail, the Lord stood defiant against them. As squad Primus advanced toward the third objective there numbers were diminished by yet more gauss cannon fire. The unit of warriors that were initially observed by squad tertius returned fire, gauss pulses melting the valiant hearts of three of the squad. the dreadnought tried again to bring down another skimmer, however the loss off the missile pod had, it appeared affected the targeting system, and the shot missed it's mark. The skimmer, realising that even a damaged dreadnought is a significant threat, exacted the full power of both gauss cannon and heavy gauss cannon upon the dreadnought. These shots exploited already damaged systems and caused and overload in the power cells destroying the machine and the brave warrior it housed. Then an area of the battle field burst open as a vast quantity of small insect like machines tore up from beneath the ground. Undaunted by this unexpected turn of events squad primus tore the beasts apart with bolter fire, flamer burst and a well aimed plasma shot. The scarabs received enough of a warning that they retreated from the squad. They swarmed over and into squad secundus, ripping holes in the marines armour and lacerating flesh. Two members of squad secundus fell to the swarm. On the other side of the battlefield, three destroyers were preparing to ambush the scout squad. What they had not anticipated was the devastator squad that lay in wait of them. The destroyers entered the devastators’ line of sight and they were immediately cut down by the heavy weapons. Sensing defeat the Necron lord secluded itself from the snipers scopes, instructing it's cohort of warriors to fire upon the weakened squad primus. Their shots found their targets and the squad was soon reduced to just four men. Using their bolters to smash the carapaces of the scarab’s squad’s secundus and tertius obliterated them, only to be further cut down by yet more gauss fire. The Necron lord used its war scythe to cut down two of the remainder of squad primus. Despite a valiant stand the final two were soon sent to the comfort of the Emperor. The scouts were also decimated by gauss fire, although their valiant efforts will be remembered for eternity. Squad Primus were also eradicated. Realising that the battle was lost and the tech could not be retrieved, the remaining soldiers were withdrawn from a world which now belonged to the Necrons. Another crushing defeat at the hand of this inhuman abhorrence. When the chapter next encounters a Necron force they will receive the full fury of Aurelian fury and hatred and not one of them shall leave the battlefield intact, this we swear in the Emperor’s name!

see you all soon.
rgds
Steve

Stompa, duz zakly wot it sez on da tin!

Another Saturday has passed, and once again victory was snatched from me. This time an Ork Stompa was my downfall, one ten man squad a devastator squad and two dreadnoughts, one armed with a twin linked lascannon and a missile launcher, the other carried a plasma cannon and a missile launcher, not that they helped much. I was pretty much doomed from the roll off. I rolled a 1, my opponent rolled higher, thus the trend was set. on his first turn the Stompa opened up with the Supa-gatla and that was pretty much the end of it. heavy fire from this terrible weapon destroyed one Dreadnought then proceeded on to the first squad, removing four of its number. the weapon was then bought to bear on the dev squad obliterating three men. the other two stood their ground, seeming unfazed by the loss of their comrades. moments later i lost the second Dreadnought. once again the hot metal of Orkish gatla fire rained down upon the tac squad sending another three men to the Emperors grace. the remainder of the squad held their ground in the face of overwhelming odds. another round of red hot death finished of the dev Squad and then the gun fell silent. a moments relent and then the stompas Deth Kannon put an end to this all too brief skirmish. Fortunately i was not alone on this day of infamy. The Stompa went on to decimate Smiffys Chaos force.

despite everything that’s said about them the Orks know how to wield death, it’s almost an art form for them. If i have the misfortune to encounter another of these metal monstrosities, I shall unleash the full force of the Chapter Aurelius and bring it down with lascannon and plasma fire,

I have sacrificed too many men. I've made too many compromises already; too many retreats. They invade our space, and we fall back. They destroy entire worlds, and we fall back. Not again. The line must be drawn here! This far, no further! And I will make them pay for what they've done

War has never been so much fun

Smiffy and I finally finished the Orcs for the shop, and I’ve also made headway into Bens’ Necrons. I had the stonkingly brilliant idea of altering the stance of one of the warriors. I have a spare skull from a set of terminators, so I’ve repositioned the legs of one of the models so that the left foot is resting on the skull. This meant that the right leg had to be straightened. So far it looks good and I hope Ben will be pleased with end result. When it’s finished I’ll post a pic of it alongside a standard warrior so that the difference can be seen. Once the Necrons are done I can crack on with Mike’s Mumak and then I can alternate between finishing the Space Marines and stating the Tau. There have been some significant additions to the Marine army. Including the new plastic venerable Dreadnought, it is a rather nice model and will make a fine addition to the force.

Ben came to the shop on Saturday, he had a game, playing my Necrons against a small marine force, I got first strike, but on his first turn he decimated my force, wiping out one full squad, and half of the second. I lost the other half of the second squad when they routed after failing a moral test. My second turn saw my third squad attempt retaliation, but they only managed to take down four Necron Warriors. Fortunately I managed to immobilise and then stun his Monolith, effectively removing that threat. However, on his second and final turn, he realised that my Devastator heavy weapon squad were a significant threat and proceeded to eliminate them. He then turned the rest of his force on my third and final squad, cutting them down in a frenzy of gauss fire, reducing the squad to just four men. So Ben had a clear victory, hopefully, he’ll be back next week so that I can exact some revenge on him for such a crushing defeat. The Chapter Aurelius are thirsty for blood and no Xenos is safe.

Well I can’t think of anything else so I shall sign off.

Night all

A new era dawns for the Imperium

Welcome one and all to the random thoughts and ramblings of a Warhammer 40k gamer. Here in you will find a wide and varied array of subjects from simple modelling and painting through to complex conversions and battle reports. This blog will also be the home of the Apple j-ax gaming group updates, keeping the players informed of upcoming events such as the tournament in July. Remember the tournament is being held for you and its success is down to you. More information will be available soon, including an info pack detailing the guidelines for the event. There will also be info on the yahoo group site, which can be found at: http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/apple_j-ax/

I will soon be using the new battle missions book to set up more mission based games, I’ve had the book for a little under a week now and what I’ve read so far it is probably the handiest book that the standard game player can own. It’s aimed at standard sized armies and average game lengths. So I will start putting some of the missions in play soon.

Those who attend the shop regularly will have noticed some changes in the layout of the shop. This has been done to divide the gaming group from the customers, as things were getting a little intimidating for the people who were trying to buy things that are stored in that half of the shop. We have also extended the sessions to one hour. It is hoped that this will allow players to set up and clear the table and still manage to fit in a 45 minute game.

When we do introduce more mission based games it would be great if the players could write battle reports to be posted here. I am also finalising with Sue, a monthly Sunday afternoon session for mature players. Keep your eyes peeled on this page for further updates. Pending Sue’s approval, we should be able to have our first session sometime in March.

Well that’s about it for now, I look forward to your feedback and welcome comments. Please remember that this is a work in progress and a few kinks will need to be smoothed out so bear with me as I compose entries and reply to your feedback.

If you wish to contact me directly, you can mail me at qeylon@yahoo.com

May all your die rolls be high.