No battle reports for Early November

Mantis Warriors assassinate the Nobz in a wartruk. Such Fun!

Due to my work schedule and poor timing, I was unable to attend the Armchair Ambassador's night. Terry put on a game of pre-dreadnoughts using 1/3000 naval miniatures. I heard good things about the game but have no photos.

Likewise I missed the SNS game night where Jeff G put on another game of Blackpowder Napoleonics. A fun time was had by all, but alas, I again have no photos.

So, in the interest of keeping your interest, I include a couple of photos of a Warhammer 40K game I played against Dave B quite some time ago. My older-figures Mantis Warriors Space Marines fought a tough battle against his Space Orks.

One way to take down a warlord.

(Note the old-style dreadnought!)

In the meantime, I'm busy priming and painting a French tank company for Flames of War using the BlitzKrieg army lists. These troops will counterattack the blitzing Germans in the Tanksgiving FOW battle at GAJO on Saturday. Hopefully a worthy account will follow.

Space Hulk action

It's vacation time, and with both myself and my brother off work for a while we decided to get in a game or two or Space Hulk. We played it down at GAJO so that any interested store visitors could see what the game looks like when played. It just so happens that Chris was busy painting one of the Space Marine Terminators for the store copy.

Set-up for scenario 1: Suicide Mission

We started with the first scenario, Suicide Mission. It was aptly named. A squad of five terminators have to fight their way down the spaceship corridors and reach a control room, where the heavy flamer must destroy the controls before the Genestealer aliens could activate the escape pods and get away to infiltrate a nearby planet.

Squad Plasticus prepares to attack. Heavy Flamer in the middle.

The Space Marine player gets 5 marines. The Alien player gets two reinforcement counters each turn, which could be converted into 1, 2, or 3 aliens each. There is an endless supply of aliens for this scenario, so the marines really have to hurry to get to the control room before being overwhelmed. No one is coming back from this mission...

Uh-oh! Trapped!

Once the heavy flamer figure is killed, the scenario ends, and both David and I lost as we took turns playing this scenario. I got a little closer to the room but that's all. This really is a suicide mission. Can the Terminators ever win this one? I don't know.

Flame on! 4 Genestealers are about to be barbecued.

The key is to learn how to use the heavy flamer to incinerate aliens and block their passages as you move forward. Alas, the flamer only has 6 shots available, and no reloads.

Third game. Scenario 2.

For our final game we tried out scenario 2, Exterminate. The marines have a much better chance in this scenario. Unfortunately, they are spread out all over the tiles, and have to plan carefully what areas to defend. In this game, there are a set number of genestealers available, and it's a simple matter of wiping out the marines, or getting wiped out/sealed off by the marines. This scenario introduced the Assault cannon (oh, yeah!!!) and the sergeant armed with thunder hammer and storm shield, who is deadly wicked in close combat. I won this scenario by just strategically placing the marines along open lines of fire and shooting the aliens dead. Finally Dave got a bunch of the aliens tosneak down a corridor while I was clearing a storm bolter jam, and the sergeant had to risk everything by wading into the bunch of them and smearing alien guts all over the corridors. He eventually fell, but the aliens were hunted down and killed.

This is a super fun game. It's pricey, but this is a high quality set of tiles and the best minis they've done for the game. After seeing how Chris painted up one of the terminators, I can't wait to get mine painted up.

Last Stand in the Brimtok Bush

Weird planets have weird forests. This time my Mantis Warriors had a 500 point patrol up against a 500 point force of rampaging Space Orks.  Annihilation mission, Spearhead setup. Played at GAJO. Dave Baker played the unstoppable Orks.

Main Mob advances while stormboys leapfrog past them.

Mantis Warriors use cover. Firelanes ready...

The Chaplain joined up with the tactical squad. The scouts tried to pick lines of fire on probable ork approaches. The attack bike squadron zoomed out to harass the mobs. My main idea was to try to lay out lines of fire to hose down the horde of greenies. It was not to be...

Wait - where's the Boss and the nobz goin'?

Throughout the game I rolled very poorly, and the attack bikers failed to slow anyone down. All they did was attract the attention of the biggest mob!

Suddenly the truck backs up and out spill the Nobz!

Stormboyz jump in just in time...

It's Whomping time!

Everybody Piles In. Most everyone dies.

I rolled bad for assaults, too. The marines were strong enough not to run away, so they died off in ones and twos. Or threes and fours. The Scouts rushed in to help the chaplain. The main mob, having finished off the attack bikes, rushed in after them. When it was all said and done, the marines had been wiped out and there were but few orks left.  

A chance for revenge will be coming soon...

2nd Brimtok battle

The Brimtok Campaign is off to a good start finally. Another game has taken place between my Mantis Warrior space marines and my brother's Tau forces. Our battle this time was a 1500 point space marine force versus 1000 points of Tau. Advantage marines, but the Tau got extra bonuses in the form of orbital bombardment and anti-plant barrage. The struggle was for an observation post located in a mountainous and forested region. Unfortunately, I don't have any mountain terrain, so hilly would have to do (small hills). You be the judge:

The mission was Annihilation and the deployment was Dawn of War.  Not a good prospect for the Tau, as they were on the short points end of the stick. This time I thought I would put my heavy hitters in the center of the line and flank with lighter forces.

Marine scouts infiltrate through woods and brush.

Too late! Tau infantry have reached the larger post. Tau commander approaching.

The Crisis battlesuits moving in with a unit of gun drones.

The allied Leman Russ could pose quite a problem!

The Tau commander is moving under the platform.

Scouts reach the edge of the woods and engage the Tau. One scout down!

The attack bikes moved around the scout's side to flank the large platform. By now, the Tau had taken the smaller platform as well and a hovercraft was entering the field by that tower. My Chaplain joined a squad of tactical marines heading for the small platform while my Devastators, Whirlwind, Vindicator, and Dreadnought headed toward the Leman Russ.

The Mantis Warriors move up.

The Landspeeder and attack bikes figured to flank the large platform and engage the gun drones and Crisis battlesuits. The scouts job was to pin the Tau infantry in the platform. The Whirlwind wanted to stay out of line of sight and fire barrages. But what to do about the Leman Russ?

Mantis Warriors keep the Tau from taking the platform.

But watch out for the Hovertank!

I tried to knock out the Tau vehicles with Hunter Killer missiles, but those all missed. All fire directed at the Leman Russ was either too short or missed. At least the Tactical squad kept the Tau infantry from advancing. Lucky for me, the Tau commander kept forgetting to use his marker lights and guided missiles launched from the hovertank! This would have been a perfect time for the Tau to use an anti-plant barrage to wipe out the cover for the marines, but it was completely forgotten. Unfortunately, for the Tau, the opening orbital bombardment was a disappointment as well.

Frack! The Crisis unit has joined up at the platform and begins eliminating the scouts. 

Bad luck for the marines. The Landspeeder gets shot down, and the attack bikes take hits. The Vindicator weapon is destroyed, and no missile launchers seem able to get any glancing hits on the Leman Russ. Then luck changes a bit. A lascannon hit stuns the Leman Russ crew. The Tau commander rushes out to engage the tactical squad.

Tau Crisis battlesuits attack!

David launched his Crisis unit toward the scouts to use his flamers. The scouts took casualties but stayed in action. The gun drones were whittled down by the attack bikes. And now, the Crisis unit was in view of the dreadnought.

Tactical Squad and Chaplain Maximus engage the Tau commander.

The tactical squad assaulted the Tau commander and cleaned his clock. The dreadnought began picking off Crisis battlesuits. The Whirlwind made a mess of Tau infantry on the platform.

The Dreadnought makes a mess of the Crisis Unit.

The Dreadnought eventually finishes off the Crisis unit, the remaining scouts finish the Tau on the platform, and the attack bike ends the gun drones. The lascannon in the devastator unit has had the only luck with the Leman Russ so far.

Chaplain Maximus and the Tactical squad assault the Leman Russ!

The consolidation of the tactical squad after defeating the Tau commander put them in range to assault the immobilized Leman Russ (lucky lascannon shot!). Their grenades did the trick just barely, knocking out the tank. The Tau now remembered to use their marker lights but failed to get a lock. The hovertank moved in towards the smaller platform to engage the marines.

Last moves of the Tau. Their marker light just wouldn't engage!

Maximus and the boys assault the hovertank!

Maximus and the Tactical squad just barely manage to knock out the hovertank at the end. I forget who wiped out the last of the Tau infantry. A devastating win for the Mantis Warriors.

Our next battles should be a couple of 500-point patrol games of Space Marines versus the Space Orks!

For the SNS game night in June, we're planning two games: Field of Glory ancients, and some sort of WW2 dogfighting game in the Pacific. This weekend many of us will be involved in the GAJO store D-Day games using Flames of War.

Brimtok Campaign - 1st battle

Some of us in the group also dabble in various sci-fi and fantasy games, including the various Games Workshop products. Nothing like a campaign to provide incentive for gaming, so Dave Baker created a planet named Brimtok which needs fighting over. It seems the industrious Tau have been spreading their influence throughout the region, and have managed to swing over planet Brimtok to their side. The Imperial Guard regiments stationed there have given up on the Imperium and have sided with the Tau. Well, we can't have that now, can we? So, the Space Marines have been summoned to give each side a bloody nose and sort things out. Unfortunately, some Chaos forces and their allied Ork forces have entered the arena in the hope of taking advantage of the mess.

Our first game pits my Mantis Warrior space marines versus a combined Tau/Traitor Guard force. 1500 points against about 1200-1300 points. The photo at the top is our battlefield, an Imperial orchard farm.

Above, Dave D sets up his Tau/Guard with fast forces on the wings and the Tau commander and a Leman Rus in the center. Marine objective is the hill.

The Mantis Warriors deployed in similar fashion. The Tau objective is the farm building.

As the battle begins, one of the planet's giant natural lifeforms makes an ominous appearance! Slightly larger than an Ork Stompa and smaller than a Titan, the enormous felinus giganticus (who goes by the name of "Mutton") strode across the battlefield, perhaps attracted by all the commotion. Weaving between the large yet deftly moving legs of the creature, a Tau squad moves forward to support their advancing right wing recon.

Mantis Warriors engage the Tau right wing. The scout scout moves quickly into the orchard while the Rhino and dreadnought move up. The landspeeder begins gunning down hovering drones before turning toward the Tau hovercraft.

The Tau commander moves up a well as the Guard tank. The tank is the 800 pound gorilla in the room. How to stop it?

Mutton the war cat settles down in a nearby lair, oblivious to the noises of battle nearby. The Mantis Warrior assault bikes and Devastator squad begin picking off the Guard sentinels.

On the marine left,a shootout begins between the Tau and Mantis Warriors. The Landspeeder is shot down but takes out half the drones. A squad of marines debarks from the Rhino before it might get destroyed...

The Sentinels take hits. In the center (left of picture), the marine Vindicator and the Guard Leman Russ trade wasted shots at each other.

Aaaieee! Disaster hits a Guard squad. Well, actually it was heavy bolter fire, not the giant claws reaching out for tasty morsels of mortals.

As the Leman Rus moves toward the Vindicator in the center of the marine line, a Guard squad moves through an orchard in support. Vindicator fire is joined by Whirlwind fire, but nothing seems to slow down the tank.

Attrition on the marine right wing. The assault bikes are lost but the Devastator squad takes out sentinels and guardsmen. 

The Tau commander engages in hand-to-hand with the scouts in the orchard. Not seen on the marine left, the Tau lose the drones and hovercraft. The dreadnought moves to assist the scouts. In the center, the Vindicator is finally destroyed (has not survived a game yet) and the Terminators take some casualties but wipe out the Guard squad. Tau infantry drop like flies (big, humanoid ones). 

Then we ran out of time, and called the game. The Mantis Warriors just squeak by on points, with no objectives taken by either side.  Good game to learn the rules, however!