Pre summer gaming summary and hobby challenge June

Again it has been a while since I have
played regularly, and by that I mean almost weekly gaming. However, after finishing my
Warriors of Chaos Army some time ago, I have been able to “get in” several 40K
games (and Fantasy games), so I guess I am “back in the saddle again”. Of course
focusing on 40K in this blogg, I decided to present another “quick summary” of
my recent games.

2000p Grey Knights with Imperial Guard
(Espen) vs Ultramarines

A very pleasant evening indeed! However, as
I soon discovered, my “Razorback/Vindicator list" is not the only army with decent
armour save / armour value and high output! We played two games.

Purge The Alien/Vanguard Strike. In game
one I was forced to split my units behind buildings in order to get cover first
two turns, meaning that my opponent could “castle” in one corner getting the
maximum out of each possible “fire lane” the city streets provided. I kept many
units in reserve, but when my Vindicators arrived and failed to inflict decent
damage, my army was picked apart. My opponent won a solid victory.

Crusade/Hammer and Anvil. In game two we
played on my desert gaming board. A more open battlefield, and it was time for the
Ultramarines to have their revenge…. – NOT. Again my Vindicators struggled to
get within range before they where shot to peaces by my opponents heavy tanks.
And even though I managed to hit a lot it does not really matter when that
second dice roll end up with 1-2… By all means, kudos to my opponent, his army
was “rock hard” and he played it well. My opponent again won a solid victory!

Next time Espen, next time :)

 

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2000p Chaos Space marines (Jørn) vs Tyranids

During my last tournament I played a game against a Tyranid player who fielded a horde of Genestealers. It has been a while since I played this army so I decided to give them a go.

Crusade/Hammer and Anvil. It was all in – or nothing. The most memorable moment was Jørns face when he faced 60 Genestealers infiltrating as close as possible to his gun line:) At first the Tyranids made good progress, rapidly advancing on the Chaos line. But of course, the Chaos army “backed” a litle bit, showing of an impressive disciplined bolter drill action, weathering down the advancing units. The Nids eventually reached the Chaos battle line. But striking last due to assaulting through difficult terrain, the units that did get in to combat was over powered and killed. Victory to Chaos Space marines.

Note: A fun game, but I curse the f… that deprived the Nids of their old “Flesh Hooks” (assault grenades) in the new Codex Tyranids. What is the point of having an army that is "all about assault" if they are not good at it (rant/despair/and so forth…)?

 

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2000p Necrons (Tom-Erik) vs Ultramarines

It was time to bring forth an old army list, a list I have not played since 5^th edition. Big Guns Never Tire/Vanguard Strike.

I must admit that I find Tom-Erik’s Necron list very fun to play against. With two flyers, two Stalkers, Two Barges and several “tar pit units”, it has become a hard nut to crack (for me anyway). First turn my “gun line” failed to do significant damage, and the Necrons advanced taking out over half of my tanks by the end of turn two (damn death ray, and mee not beeing more carefull)! But finally the Ultramarines remaining gun line elements rolled a decent average, laying waste to almost all but a Stalker that had advanced. The Ultramarines suddenly threatened the Necron main line and their objectives, the Necron now having to switch focus to a more defensive strategy. The game ended after turn 5, and the tally showed a victory for the Ultramarines. 

Comment: This was a game where I managed to kill 4 of my own Plasma Marines....

 

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2000p Dark Eldar (André) vs Ultramarines

Again another “city fight”. Crusade/Vanguard Strike. The Dark Eldar massed in centre of their deployment zone, but seeing the Ultramarines castling in and around the “Shrine of Aquila”, they made a tactical retreat. Taking cover out of range from the Ultramarines, the Dark Eldar was a bit surprised when the Ultramarines reserves entered the game straight into the Dark Eldar battle line. Of course the “Ultramarines spearhead” assault was destroyed, but the spearhead managed to kill/destroy a decent tally of Dark Eldar before they where shot to pieces. And by the time the Dark Eldar had re arranged their battle line, the remaining Ultramarines had gotten a good footing on three of the five objectives, threatening a fourth objective. The Dark Eldar where forced to focus on securing the two remaining objectives, managing to kill of the smaller advancing units from the Ultramarines trying to contest the fourth. The game ended after turn 5, and the tally showed a victory for the Ultramarines.

Comment: Never ever have I managed to kill of so many of my own models due to 1 – 2 rolls on armour saves, in example: two times I rolled four 1 in a row! Got to get me some new dice....

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What’s next? I pledge to finish my
Stormtalon Gunship by the end of June.

Cheers,

Ørnulv

ULTRAMAR AUXILIA (the decision is made)

In a previous post, covering my planned hobby activities for 2013, a decision to go with Imperial Guard ore Tau was one of the most important. It is going to be – Imperial Guard (Ultramar Auxilia).

I first thought I should build and paint this army in piece and quite, presenting it as a “surprise” during the annual TSB tour to my summer cabin (august 2014). Of course, it would not have been the most exiting (or unexpected news), but since people have witnessed me buying models, and visitors have seen boxes stack in my battle bunker, I decided it was better to share my decision (this will at least enable me to post army in progress posts and participate in the monthly hobby pledge on TSB). Start up is planned in September 2013.

During my trip to Nottingham, before Christmas, I bought some IG flyers. On my recent trip to London, I bought pretty much the rest of the army. Still not certain if I will use the Cadian “heads”, and I will have to buy extra weapons etc, but the bulk of the models (including a Super heavy I bought from Linus) are now stored safely in my hobby room. 

Some may say: “Wait a minute, Space Marine Chapters don’t keep/control their own IG anymore (post herecy)!” Well, Ultramar seems to be an “exception” (of cores, after all they are the “marines-marines” and can be trusted.... - as Trond often reminds me;)). I quote from the Lexicanum: “Each world (in the Ultramar realm; rem. from the post author) also maintains their own Planetary Defence Force, a well-disciplined and equipped force known as the Ultramar Auxilia. These forces are similarly exempt from the tithe system; however, the efficiency and prosperity of Ultramar is such that several hundred regiments are maintained to join the Imperial Guard when needed”.

Colours? Still out on that one. Initially I opted for a white and blue colour scheme (like the Ultramarines Scouts). But it has been done before, and actually, I have decided to leave that kind of “look” to other guard armies (Mordian etc), and will therefore focus on trying to make the colours “believable” as far as camo etc goes (after all, they don’t have power armour). I will try to implement some blue and some markings connecting the army to “Ultramar”, but have still not decided how I will go about insignia, markings etc yet. Currently I am looking at various airbrushes hoping everything will be ready for assembly after the summer holiday.

Cheers,

Ørnulv