Space Wolf Thunderwolf Calvary on the table

I was able to give my Thunderwolf Cavalry a try on the table last weekend.  I knew they were going to dish out some pain but I didn't realize how bad they could be. They only beat up some sisters, so I didn't have to face any powerfists and I am sure they will cause me some problems in the future.  I didn't realize how different their movement is (slow regular movement, and long charge) from most units, and it took me a few turns to get the hang of it. 

We played one of the battle missions, pillage, from the Chaos section.  It had an interesting mechanic where you got points for touching an objective at the end of each of opponents turn.  This was a bit different than the normal just hold it at the end of the game mission.


The setup.  You can see the gold objectives on the board (one is about 8 inches in front of the rhino in the lower left).

 After the second turn. The mission forced you to put your army in reserves, I got most of what I needed, except my long fangs, on the second turn.

 My Thunderwolf Calvary chased a unit off the objective in the middle and headed over to attack another unit.  On the left you can't see it, but outflanking units wrecked my Long Fangs and I had to send some Grey Hunters after them.

 The outflanking units proved to be difficult to blow up and kept tank shocking me.

 My opponent moved a few units in trying to get my Grey Hunters off this objective, the Thunderwolf Calvary came in and simultaneously destroyed two units of sisters before they could shoot my unit off the objective.

 The game ended with me holding two objectives, my opponent had one (I had just tank shocked a unit off of one) and a score of 8-6.  It was a close game, and if a few things had not gone my way I would have lost.  This army is such a forgiving army to mistakes, it is no wonder it has done so well in the competitive scene for so long.

New Games Workshop Paint Line - First Impressions

I headed down to my local Games Workshop store to see the new paints on Saturday.  They had set up some painting stations with a small sampling of the new paint line so you could get a taste for how they worked.  Any local Games Workshop store should have them moving forward to try, though from what I have heard once they run out they will not have more for folks to try.

I didn't actually put brush to model, but I spent some time checking out what others did and getting opinions on the paints from my betters.  I am a firm believer in the engineering rule, why invent something when you can look it up, so for me the verdict is out and I'll wait until what I hear from the experts.  I did have some impressions.

The biggest change is it looks like you won't need to thin down your paint much at all.  The paint flows much better, and the new washes, what they call shades, seem to flow into cracks and not pool as much as the old washes did.  The base line is much more extensive as well.

The dry stuff, was interesting.  I have moved away from drybrushing, so I don't know how much use I will get out of it, but it may really help those that use it significantly in their painting.  This stuff has the consistency of a paste, almost like spackle. 

 This was a "dry" metallic.

While some of the advanced painters may not see a huge benefit to these changes, what I see is how Games Workshop has made it much "easier" to get better looking models on the table, and that's a win for everyone.

Collecting Flames of War - Incoming Soviets!

Over the weekend I picked up a friend's Soviet army for Flames of War.  I've been wanting to get into this game for some time, and decided to take my friend up on his offer as he has been looking to divest himself of the Soviets for a while. 

I am really not sure what I got, other then I have a ton of infantry, some tanks and some artillery pieces.  I spent some time today sorting through them (lucky for me, to keep the units separated my friend had numbered the bases)

Pictures from the 2012 Bay Area Open Narrative Event - Run by Big Jim

I'm finally getting around to posting up some pictures from the Narrative Event I played in during the Bay Area Open, run by Big Jim of Galaxy in Flames.  I can't say enough good things about how well run the game was, and how much detail and excitement the scenario created.   The easiest way to convey how awesome it was, is to say that my team and I got our teeth kicked in and still had more fun playing 40k then I have had in a long time.   It was not a simple Apocalypse game.  There were tactical cards played that could affect and improve units, there was a side table with a battle against some NPCs over an artifact was going on, it was non stop fun.  

The game was based on points.  Points were scored by holding objectives with models each turn and by capturing the object in the side game.  The side game could only be entered by portals that would randomly appear in certain parts of the table and units had to run into them to get onto the side game. 

On with the game!

The board is set up.  It was three "eight foot by four foot" sections that equaled a really big place to play. 

 Before the game we drew chips to get special tactics cards that would affect our, or our teammates units.

Starting to deploy.

 My Imperial guard are around my baneblade in the middle of the picture.  Myself and the other Guard player took up the middle.

 The far flank was defended against the Necrons by our Space Marine player, Tim, who was playing a very cool dreadnought list with his Badab War Minotaurs.

 Carl, of The Independent Characters,  couldn't quite get his vehicles to fit in the trees, so they just got a tree hat.

 The Necrons on our flank.

 The middle of the board was filled with models on both sides.

 The other flank, we were facing Necrons as well, and our Sisters of Battle player would defend our other flank from Necrons.

 The terrain was amazing.  On one of the buildings...

 Second turn the craziness really started as the Chaos deep striking began in earnest.

 My baneblade did everything it could to take down this Demon Prince (who was a special character, created for this event) and just could not drop him...

 The imperial guard had mostly destroyed the horror unit and the Grey Knights finished them off.

 The baneblade's days were numbered, there was just too much chaos.

 The sisters fought hard against the necrons.

 The obliterators got really close and managed to to roll a six to damage...and a six on the chart....and the baneblade blew up with a nine inch radius of death.

 It destroyed many models (including the obliterators and at least a third of my guard) and even took out the building next to it.

 Chaos continued it's rampage...

 Carl's terminators got in our other guard player's lines and started to wreck face.

 The imperial guard just couldn't get it done, even with the Emperor's finest weapon, the lasgun.

 The Grey Knights did a lot of damage, but there was just too much chaos.

 We tried to get our opponents at least off of their objectives (the red and white poker chips are objective markers), but this would prove futile.

 The "other" game, which was taking place to get the artifact.   The item in the middle was protected by green bugs.

 Chaos was pretty much unstoppable, too many demons!

 We fared a bit better in the side game, though it was still pretty tough going.

 Surprisingly, my command squad took down the herald without much trouble.

 Khorne Bezerkers came a knockin'.

 The green bugs just kept spawning and we couldn't kill them fast enough.

 At this point the game was over.  The armies of Disorder had taken a commanding lead in points (scoring objectives being held) and had almost complete control of the middle and left flanks.  Our Space Marine player was the only one able to keep them at bay.