New Year's Destruction!

++Black Templars beat(en) down++

So I headed over to one of my local Games Workshop Warhammer stores for a New Year's game of 40K. This was my first trip to the Harajuku shop in Tokyo, and I enjoyed stepping into a GW as it is something I rarely do - even rarer that I play a game on site.

My opponent and I had previously agreed 1,500 points. I decided to take Black Templars, and he brought Daemons. Not having played a game in ages, I took a very standard list that I had read about online as it matched the models that I have (and I really didn't have any idea about my opponent's models or list).

TL:DR
In a game of Purge the Alien I got crushed and we called it at the 5th.

• Enemy VPs: 12?! (2 from destroying my independent characters. 7  from eliminating my units, 3 from Firstblood, Linebreaker, and Kill the Warlord)
• My VPs: 2 (1 from eliminating a unit, 1 from an enemy Deepstrike mishap)

Lessons learned:

• Templars yearn to get up close and personal. Let them! (I let my Tau gene rule my head and tried to rely on firepower from the back. Didn't work!) Otherwise you are just wasting the (limited) Chapter Tactics we have that come into play when advancing or getting into close combat.
• It is one thing to have Adamantium Will, but Daemons bring SO much psychic power to the table you should expect to just eat it. 
• With dedicated transports/ vehicles giving up Victory Points, fragile skimmers and flyers are easy points (and a lot of psychic shooting will take them down!)
• Space Marines are of course going to go down to massed flamers.

First, my list:

+++ Black Templars 1500 pts  +++

+ HQ +

• Chaplain [Bolt Pistol, Crozius Arcanum]
• The Emperor's Champion

+ Elites +

Sternguard Veteran Squad

• x2 Veteran [Combi-Grav]
• x2 Veteran [Combi-Melta]
• x1 Veteran Sergeant [Bolt Pistol, Chainsword]

Venerable Dreadnought [Assault Cannon, Powerfist w/ Built-in Storm Bolter]

Drop Pod [Storm Bolter]

+ Troops +

Crusader Squad [Rhino]

• Sword Brother [Boltgun, Boltgun, Melta bombs]
• x3 Initiates [Boltgun]
• Initiate (Heavy Weapon) [Multi-Melta]
• Initiate (Special Weapon) [Flamer]
• x2 Neophytes [Space Marine Shotgun]

Crusader Squad

• Sword Brother [Chainsword, Melta bombs, Power Fist]
• x6 Initiate [Chainsword]
• Initiate (Heavy Weapon) [Multi-Melta]
• Initiate (Special Weapon) [Flamer]
• x6 Neophyte [Chainsword]

Land Raider Crusader [Extra armour, Multi-Melta]

+ Fast Attack +

• x2 Land Speeder Typhoons [Heavy Bolter, Typhoon Missile Launcher]
• x1 Stormtalon Gunship [Twin-Linked Assault Cannon, Typhoon Missile Launcher]

Created with BattleScribe (http://www.battlescribe.net)

The plan was simple:

1. Put the big Templar squad and the Emperor's Champion in the Landraider.
2. Keep the smaller squad with the Rhino back field for objectives.
3. Deepstrike everything else, using the Landspeeders and Stormtalon to harass anything on objectives, or threaten my opponents back field.

(Edit) My opponent's Daemons list (1,499 points)

Daemonic Incursion detachment:

x1 Lord of Change (Exalted Reward)

x1 Daemon Prince (Lvl 1 psyker)

x1 Daemon Flock of 8 Chaos Furies

Warpflame Host

x1 Herald of Tzeentch (Lvl 3 psyker, Exalted locus, exalted reward, paradox)

x2 Exalted Flamers of Tzeentch

x11 Pink Horrors

x11 Pink Horrors

x11 Pink Horrors

x11 Pink Horrors

x3 Flamers of Tzeentch

x3 Flamers of Tzeentch

x3 Flamers of Tzeentch

So what went wrong?

a.) I didn't get stuck in and stayed on my side of the board with my LRC and big CC squad, effectively wasting them for most of the game!

b.) Relying on my guns to whittle down the enemy was a mistake. Sure I had plenty of Typhoon missile launchers and cannon support from the LRC but I just didn't manage to finish off some units.

c.) Without taking advantage of the Black Templar Chapter tactics, a regular Crusader squad is going to struggle in CC, and a Chaplain is no wrecking ball!

d.) Multiple flamers make short work of Space Marines.

Visual Highlights (and lowlights)

Brother Marius drops in and takes a stand, by good fortune blocking the board.

Dreadnought Brother Marius had a fortunate Drop Pod arrival, not going where I wanted, but still managing to block the center of the board and take down a fair number of daemons before being destroyed.

Brother Marius faces the Daemon horde alone.

A squad of Sternguard drop onto the table to high ground, but their poisoned weapons fail to do any damage to one of the larger Daemons (bad luck? Or was this ordained?)

5 Sternguard drop onto the Flyer pad, overlooking the enemy below.

A Chaplain makes his final stand, his squad all but obliterated by Flamer and Close Combat.

When I decided to disembark my big Templar squad, I intended to move into close combat and then leapfrog from that into the next Daemon unit. However, I failed the charge miserably, leaving the squad out in the open.

Big Crusader squad takes to the field...felt good.

This allowed them to be surrounded by flamers. A unit of three appeared....

...until Daemon flamers turned up to turn this into a barbecue party. Three at right.

 ...then one more at top (a big one!) and the remaining flamer from another unit (at bottom.) Under all of these flamer attacks, the squad got roasted!

...and another flame attack from below, and ALSO from top left. Voila! No Templars!

Stormtalon v. Flying Daemon Prince? That is a one way ticket to hell for the flyer!

Despite being tabled, I had a good time. My opponent was friendly and patient, and we had some good laughs at fate and dice rolls (I rolled x4 ones at least once, but some other good rolls too).

Happy New Year!

p.s. If you are ever in the Harajuku area, don't hesitate to drop into the Warhammer store there. Although very small, it has very friendly staff, a decent selection of items, and a small gaming area in the main shop too. (Also, it is only a few minutes walk from the station.)

Back in Black!

Well, it certainly does sound as though the Black Templars have come out of the new Codex quite well.

Chatter over at the Bolter and Chainsword points to a whole lot of excitement around some units that hadn't been that widely used in the previous codex simply because there were other more effective options, and which I happen to own but didn't use before! (always a nice bonus to realize you have a model to put on the table!)

But now...

The Emperor's Champion really is a Champion!

My Emperor's Champion

Now with x3 attacks at Strength 6, AP2, instant death on a 6 AND re-rolls in a challenge? Sounds pretty good!  The EC has always been an interesting part of the fluff - gifted with a vision and a big sword - now he might just actually perform as a Champion on the table, as well as in print.

See "The Emperor's Champion is a Big Winner in the new 'Dex"

Grimaldus, now new and improved...

Methinks you will be joining my next crusade...

Not only has his points cost become a bit more reasonable (150) but he (his servitors) now grant Feel No Pain to UNITS within a 6 inch bubble. I think previously that rule only granted FNP to Models within 6 inches, so this significantly ups the game for units around him. (Stick him a Landraider Crusader and units around the Crusader will be affected?)

See "Grim just got cheap enough to be worth runnin"

Kids these days...
...actually can shoot fight worth a damn. 

Black Templar Neophytes (Templars in training) being Space Marine Scouts, have had their Weapon Skill and Ballistic Skill improved back to WS4 and BS4, the same as a regular marine. I guess they will be more expensive then previously, but from a BT game point of view (where they could make up around half of a Crusader Squad to bulk up the squad to a large size and act as meat shields) this is interesting...

...but not without controversy from a fluff/ game point of view.

"If they are a Space Marine in training, then they shouldn't have the same stats as Space Marines"
or
"In game terms, making more and more units WS4, BS4 is getting ridiculous!"

See "How do you feel about WS 4 BS 4 Space Marine Scouts"

Looking forward to learning more as the new Codex gets devoured and tested by more experience players than I.

++++++++++

In other news, I will be naming a squad in honour of Christopher Lee, who sadly passed away last week...

...RIP to a man who played Dracula, Sherlock Holmes, Mycroft Holmes, Count Dooku, Frankenstein, Saruman, Scaramanga, and many more...
...and who also happened to be (probably), a secret agent, and (definitely) an actor who out-Bacons Kevin Bacon in any game of "6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon" 
...and an award winning Heavy Metal artist.

If you think you are man enough (and can handle the feeling that you are by comparison a pathetic loser), read more about Sir Lee here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Lee 

(TL;DR: "22 Incredible Facts about the Life and Career of Sir Christopher Lee".)

Metal for the Metal God!

Tampering with the Templars?

Hmmm, interested to see a post today over at Bell of Lost Souls with a snippet of BT information from the new Space Marine Codex, this time about Chapter Tactics in the new book. Looks like some changes?

Holy Crusaders?
Lost Librarius?
Righteous Zeal?

If nothing else, it is good to see the Black Templars listed there.

There was a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth in the run up to the last Marines book, with everyone wondering what would happen - would the Templars disappear entirely? That turned out not to be the case, despite some changes. Although I have only used them a few times, they are turning into one of my favorite armies. That COULD be because I only started with them in the most recent edition so the changes didn't make much impact on me. The way I see it though, even if there are some rules changes, you still get to kit them out with with chainswords and run (or wheel) them across the field.

Looking forward to getting my hands on the Codex...
... The printed version that is!
(I won't make the same mistake I did last year in getting the PDF version. It simply wasn't as accessible as the iBook/ Apple version, sadly.)

Hobby update - High Elves and Templars

"Artists Paint Brushes adapted with Photoshop" by Si Griffiths.
Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

Hi everyone,

Just a quick update on what has been on my workbench (ahem, "Kitchen Table") this month.

High Elf Ellyrion Reavers. (50% done)

Ellyrion Reaver

Ellyrion Reaver Champion

I've been continuing to beef up my High Elves, and thought a good project would be to knock out x10 Ellyrion Reavers. I thought they would be quick - what a mistake! For some reason these are taking ages! They are just very, very detailed, and quite challenging to paint once assembled (I received them this way).

I've got most of the basecoats down, so should be able to start on washes and highlights this week.

Mounted High Elf Prince/ Noble (30% done)

High Elf Noble (mounted)

As I have 8 Silver Helms painted up, I thought I should tackle this guy as he will add a fair amount of hitting power, and bring the unit up to nine (apparently taking them in a 3 x 3 formation works quite well.) Not sure if I will add a banner to him yet.

Black Templar Space Marines page update.

Noting that I hadn't updated the page for a while, I added pictures of the Stormtalon (I'd had the vehicle painted for a while, but stalled on the base until last week) and also two Whirlwinds I painted up a while ago. I think the page is up to date now.

Hopefully I'll have the High Elves done this week.

Cheers,

Black Templars Stormtalon

"The Wild Wunz"

++comm_record:attack_wing_vengeance++location:nu_birmingham_prime++

Even with his senses elevated to almost painfully sensitive levels by his armor, Battle Brother Vale struggled to see through his damaged canopy. Worse yet, despite his umbilical connection to the sensors of the Stormtalon in which he sat, he struggled to pierce the black inky pall of swirling rain and pollution that was the planet's atmosphere. 
"Wild Wunz..." he thought.
"...how could those greenskins still be on this forsaken planet?"

After all, hadn't the combined might of the Emperor's finest and their Imperial navy allies decimated their enemies in orbit months ago, stranding them on the surface and dooming them to a slow death in the poisoned atmosphere? He and his brothers felt sure that would have meant that none of the hated enemy would be alive by now...

His terrain-following radar suddenly sent a subtle warning into his mind through his suit, snapping him out of his thoughts and pulling his eyes to the green instrument panel in front of him.

A structure, several clicks ahead - just large enough to necessitate a pass to scan for signs of the enemy.

Under normal circumstances, the networked senses of his Stormtalon, combined with those of the elements of the fleet in low orbit, would have clearly picked up any signs of life for hundreds of kilometers around. Instead, the pollution in the atmosphere and the unusual weather meant that he was operating on visuals and the Stormtalon's limited sensor suite alone.

Through the darkness the structure appeared. He could vaguely make out a rockrete bunker, towers and defensive walls.

Pulling back on the control column, Vale brought the 'Talon to a halt in the air, thrusters automatically adjusting to point down and enabling him to enter into a hover. As he had been taught so many centuries ago by Flight-Lector Malory, he went into Search/ Sweep protocol - ++Searchlight - ON++
++Firing mode:SLAVE++
++Local signal search: ON++
++Cannon - ARMED++

For a moment, he felt the slight pressure in his skull confirm the autocannon as being aligned to his vision. With the 'Talon stable, he now began to rotate in place through 360 degrees, the twin-barreled weapon following his gaze. He peered into the pool of light cast by the searchlight as it illuminated the darkness, his helmet lenses automatically switching to protect his vision.

Nothing.

The detritus of an abandoned position. Piles of filthy rags. Empty ammo boxes strewn about. 
More ammo boxes...and lots of graffiti. He peered at the ugly script. Judging from the rudimentary marks and crude language, Clan Wild Wunz of Waaagh Gutrip had been here.

But now? 

A flash of light on his port site. "Wha..?" 

Vale had no time to think further. All surprise was smashed from his mind by the force of the impact and explosion on his port upper-hull. The talon flipped up and over on it's side before crashing into the mud and turning over at least twice. As the craft came to rest, the sound of rending metal and smaller explosions receded. Helmet systems suppressed everything other than the blaring sensor alarms and the oddly calm voice of the auto-pilot cataloging damaged systems and advising him to abandon his craft.

Tensing the fibre muscles in his armour to their maximum levels, he punched the broken canopy with all his strength. It shattered into thousands of pieces, falling all around him and his ejector seat. Grabbing the edge of the canopy with his left hand, Vale reached down with his right and retrieved his short sword, deftly attaching its scabbard to the magnetic lock points on his thigh. He pulled himself up and out with both hands, only to slide uncontrolled down the side of the cockpit, sliding headfirst into the thick mud. 

Driven by years of training, Vale pulled himself up into a defensive position. A slight crouch, left shoulder down toward any enemy, back to the hull. His right hand came to rest lightly on the pommel of his short sword on his right thigh (from where it could be drawn up and thrust directly quickly forward without reaching across his body and exposing his right side). His left hand reached down to his holster, only to find it empty. Realizing his bolt pistol must have been thrown out of the holster from the force of the crash, he reached up and removed his helmet. Lenses smeared with mud and dirt would only impede his vision for whatever was to come.

The rain felt...warm? ran down his face. Into his eyes. Stung!
He blinked. Tried to see. 

Through the rain, he sensed movement, then the slow emergence of a shape (shapes?) through the gloom. 

His fingers slowly closed around the grip of his sword. Silently repeating a prayer of battle inviting the Emperor to guide his blade, he slid the short sword from it's place, raising and extending it to a horizontal position, point towards the shape in front of him.

He gently touched the control stud. The power unit crackled into life, projecting a blue corona of impenetrable energy that illuminated the blade - and the crowd gathering in front of him. 

The figures moved closer. There was no urgency in their movement. It was almost...casual.
The stride, the very bulk was familiar, but he knew well that there should be no others in this zone with marine armour. He knew in that instant what and who he faced. 

The deep, metallic voice through the rain only confirmed his suspicions.

"Greetings brother, from the Crimson Slaughter"

++END++END++END++END+END

Looking back through my posts for the last year or so, I realized that I hadn't posted any final pictures of my completed Space Marine Stormtalon here on the blog. I've been pretty good about posting stuff on Google+ and that has sometimes meant not taking time to write here.

To rectify this, here are some photos of the Stormtalon. As I looked through the photos, I remembered that this was the first time I first tried Object Source Lighting (OSL) on a model - the glow on the pilot's chest from the instrument panel. It worked out ok (but not great).

Cheers!

Multi-role Rhinos...

There is something pretty cool about the Space Marine Rhino...

Two Rhinos, used as Razorbacks (turrets removable)

 Although in shape it is different, its reputation for reliability reminds me of the kind of rugged performance you imagine a Russian APC/ AFV (Armoured personnel/ Fighting Vehicle) might have. In other words, hard to stop, easy to fix!

For that reason, as well as looking forward to working on a couple of Whirlwind models (see image below), I also thought about how I could adapt them/ make them "multi-role" and use them as Predators if I wanted to. 

X2 Rhino chassis, with missile launchers (Whirlwind)

I remembered that months ago I bought a couple of predator turret sprues. As the Whirlwind turrets I have didn't come glued into place, I realized that I could simply keep them loose and then replace them with the autocannon turrets you see below. 

Predator Autocannon/ Lascannon turret sprues

However, I also quickly remembered that I can't make them into Predators without sponsons, and those I don't have.  A quick search on ebay and my problem was fixed. The additional sponson sprues should arrive in a couple of weeks. 

To keep these two Rhino chassis totally adaptable however, I will either need to magnetize the sides of the Rhino chassis and the sponsons or resign myself to blu-tack when I want to use them as Predators. (Note: The latter actually isn't a bad option at all, requires zero prep, and usually survives a battle without any problems)

Lascannon Predator 

Lascannon Predator 2

With 7th edition (or is it 6.5?) apparently just around the corner, and the opportunity to have "unbound" armies, is there a "Predator-heavy army" in my future?

Cheers,

Finished Black Templars Sternguard - photo extravaganza

Yes, they're the Sternguard, veteran space marines who specialize in using firepower to take down specific targets or reinforcing other positions (special ammo and combi-weapons for the win...)

Actually, though these aren't just any old sternguard, these are Black Templar sternguard, and naturally that makes them twice as hard as any other Space Marine Chapter. 

It took me 4 months to get these guys done (the journey began after scouring eBay and getting a ton of bitz in January)

You might think that being BT makes these guys easier to paint. After all, BT painting is usually about black and white (with a dash or red) but in fact, it took me ages to get my colour scheme together. It was the fluff that actually threw me a bit. Usually, Space Marine veterans are a colorful lot, with Sternguard particularly fashionable - lots of braid, gold and other bits and pieces to indicate their status. 
So what to do though with BT Sternguard? 
After all, BT are a pretty serious lot, and (to my mind) not as likely to go for all the bling that others might. They have a bit of a puritanical look after all (some seriously unfashionable hair cuts around). 

For that reason I decided to have the majority of these veterans stay with gunmetal/ silver ornaments, and kept the gold for the sergeants or other senior looking lads. Ornamental braid are in red or yellow (just for a change...)

And here are the results. Hope you like them!

Heavy flamers...Burn, baby, burn!

Cheers!