Painting Update - Squadhammer, Badgers & Burrows

 It's almost the end of the year, so here's one last look at what I've painted in the closing weeks of 2021.

I wanted to finished at least a small force of Astral Claws for my Squadhammer project. I added a Razorback to the mix to complement all of the infantry units I had done so far.

I also completed a Captain to lead the force. Combined with the rest (Tactical Marines, Dreadnought, Assault Marines), that should give me enough elements to play a decent game of Squadhammer and I can add more later on. 

My end-of-the-year meanderings also led me to finally pull out my small collection of Badgers & Burrows and get a starter warband painted. 

These are delightful miniatures to paint, full of character. I feel like I need to get more colors so I have more options for the rest of them!

Painting Update - WWII, 40k

While the local slow grow Bolt Action league has started, I was focused more on learning the rules than taking pictures so I didn't take any pictures to make an after-action report. 

However, I did finish up a few support pieces for my platoon. 

The panzerschreck is a little overkill for 500 point games (it's not like anyone is bringing tanks, and even armored cars aren't showing up), but it will be useful when the games start getting larger.

The flamethrower, however, is a beauty in small games, especially when used in scenarios that allow outflanking. It's always a surprise to the enemy when the two-man team appears halfway down a flank, opens fire (pun intended), and routs an entire unit in one go. I'm also proud of how well the flames turned out.

The last models for my Slow Grow Germans were another officer (who can act as a Captain if I ever need a higher officer) and a medic. I don't see medics get used very often in Bolt Action, but it's a nice addition to have.

My local game store is going to have a painting competition using some Primaris freebies. I don't play 40k, but I hopped in anyway. So I chose to paint the mini as a Rainbow Warrior (yes, that's a Chapter in the universe).

Who Brought the Big Guns? - Warhammer 40k AAR

With Warhammer 40,000's 8th edition release, Kevyn and I have been drawn back by its siren's call. The rules seem alright, although we're somewhat wary of some of the stuff we've seen on other tables. 

The scenario was Big Guns Never Tire and deployment was Dawn of War. We were playing with the combined 7th and 8th edition starter sets. Kevyn had Chaos and Death Guard, while I was playing with Dark Angels backed by Primaris Marines.

I finished deploying first, and Kevyn failed to steal the first turn.

My units shuffled forward into cover and took potshots where they could. The forces of chaos charged forward, returning fire.

Both sides continued to exchange fire. The Deathwing Terminators teleported behind the Chaos lines and fired on the Sorcerer and Cultists protecting one of the Objectives.

The battle essentially turned into three engagements. A Chaos force led by a Lord and supported by Chosen, Cultists, and and Hellbrute assaulted an objective held by a Tactical Squad and Ravenwing Bikers.

In the Center, a Plague Drone and Poxwalkers bore down on the main contingent of Marines - the Captain, Librarian, and Primaris Lieutenants with two Intercessors and a Hellblaster squad (funnily enough, the only Heavy Support option on either side).

The Deathwing Terminators sprinted into combat (after rolling an 11 for their charge distance). They tore through the Cultists and the Chaos psyker.

As the game neared it's conclusion, the score was still almost even. Kevyn's assault on the objective on the left side was complete after annihilating the Marines defending it. But the Deathwing had also secured the objective they had attacked, and the Plague Drone and Poxwalkers had been killed.

The game came down to a single Primaris Lieutenant who attempted to grab an objective in the last turn. Kevyn's Lord of Contagion wasn't having any of that, first slaughtering the last of the Intercessors, and then taking the head of the Lieutenant off with his weapon.

The score was 8 to 7, with the Marines just managing to secure victory.

Endgame - Shadow War: Armageddon AAR

For the final week, the various gangs fighting in Armageddon came together for one final battle. 

This seven player game saw Orks, Chaos, Grey Knights, Skitarii, Inquisition, Tau, and a Vindicare Assassin, with alliances and betrayals constantly shifting as player's fortunes rose and fell with the dice. The last remaining kill team on the table (apart from the Vindicare) would be the campaign's overall winner

The early part of the game saw most of the combat focus on John's Chaos, easily the scariest of the factions on the table thanks to its equipment and skill. Meanwhile, the Skitarii and Inquisition warbands skirmished with the Tau. The Chaos kill team was the first to bottle due to casualties.

As the game progressed, the focus shifted to the Orks, who had managed to escape attention up until that point. Once the guns were turned on the greenskins, however, their numbers quickly began to dwindle.

The Tau bottled next, and the remaining Grey Knights were killed off and removed from the table. Once their Nob fell, the Orks also retreated, leaving only the Skitarii with a single model, and the Inquisition with two. The Vindicare ended up taking a shot at the lone Mechanicum soldier, taking him out with a Hellfire round and ending the game with the Inquisition winning the campaign.

It was a fun game and campaign, and it has energized the group for the arrival of 8th Edition (which I will not be taking part of, but I wish them the best).

Ride the Tide - Shadow War: Armageddon AAR

Last Wednesday, the SWAg group gathered for the last night before the big "end game."

Mike and I showed up first, and we rolled the Ambush scenario, with the Orks surprising a group of Grey Knights in the ruins of a hive.

The sheer weight of fire from the Orks (and some poor rolling on Mike's part) saw all of the Grey Knights fall over the course of the battle, apart from the Terminator Mike had hired. It was only towards the end of the battle that Mike realized the Orks had no guns or close-combat weapons that could hurt the Terminator. The walking tank lumbered out of the ruins, psycannon blasting away at Orks in cover and daemonhammer turning the charging boys into piles of steaming, crimson jelly. It was only a failed bottle test that likely managed to save the Orks from losing the game.

I then played against John and his Chaos warband in a Kill Team Fight.

This was a long, drawn out affair with plenty of casualties as both sides engaged with tons of lead and flashing blades. The game ended when the Orks failed a bottle check while the Chaos warband had only a single Cultist still up.

Feeling Green - Shadow War: Armageddon AAR

With the Harlequins shelved, it was up to Gutchoppa and his mob of boyz to take the fight to the ruins of Armageddon. 

My first game was against John and his Chaos kill team. The mission was Hit and Run, with the Orks attacking. My kill team needed to destroy a Promethium tank that John had placed atop the landing pad. 

The Orks managed to destroy the tank in the first turn thanks to a full-auto blast from a Spanner with a big shoota. The Orks then scrambled to get off the table as more Chaos Marines moved onto the table. Half the kill team was taken out in close combat with the servants of the Dark Gods, but as the greenskins managed to avoid bottling, they technically "won" the mission. And that's the best kind of winning.

I then faced Zach and his Inquisition warband. We rolled up Ambush, with the Orks defending. The Orks failed to counter-ambush, and had to crowd into the middle of the table.

The game went back and forth, with the Inquisition taking the first bottle check. But the Inquisitor kept his retinue in line, engaging the Ork Nob in close combat. Eventually the Orks' nerve failed, and the greenskins broke, leaving the Inquisition victorious.

Next was Chris and his Skitarii. The game was Kill Team Fight.

Both sides engaged with long-range fire. The Orks got lucky and managed to take out the Skitarii sniper in the first turn. The Nob led most of the Kill team around the right side of the table, but the Mechanicum soldiers bottled before the Orks could get stuck in.

The last game was against Bill and his Chaos. We got Kill Team Fight for the scenario.

The game went quickly, with Chaos Bottling after three of their members (two Marines and a Cultist) went down to the Orks' wall of lead.

Bowing Out - Shadow War: Armageddon AAR

The group gathered on Wednesday for more games on the war-torn world of Armageddon. 

The first game was against Mike and his Grey Knights in the Raid scenario. The Grey Knights would be defending against Harlequins, who would need to destroy the entrance to a bunker before reinforcements could arrive. 

The Harlequins rushed the two Grey Knights that had deployed, with both falling in close combat to the xenos. The bunker entrance fell soon after. The Grey Knight reinforcements didn't arrive until late in the game, but were unable to stop the Harlequins from retreating off the table and winning the game. 

The second game was against Pat and his Imperial Guard, who had managed to Ambush the Harlequins.

Unfortunately, the guard had split up, leaving a convenient group of three troopers vulnerable to the Harlequin's speed. The xenos ran out of cover, their prismatic blur keeping the worse of the enemy's fire at bay. A single round of close combat was enough to down all three of the guardsmen, forcing a bottle check and ending the game.

Finally, I faced off against John and his Chaos. This was a straight Kill Team Fight, as John wanted to see just how nasty a full force of Harlequins could be.

The answer? Very, very nasty. Despite the Chaos Marines essentially hunkering down at the opposite end of the table, that didn't prevent at least two of the Harlequins from getting into close combat. The final tally end the end of the game saw three Harlequins and seven Chaos Space Marines taken out of the game, with Chaos bottling.

So, I've decided to drop the Harlequins. They're simply too powerful for the league, and even increasing their invulnerable save to 5+ doesn't change the fact that they're difficult to hit at range, and are absolute monsters in both shooting and close combat. I picked up a couple boxes of Ork boyz to make a new, hopefully fairer, kill team.

Throwback Attack - Warhammer 40k AAR

This week, I hope you'll allow me a little trip down memory lane.

Back in 2008, I had just recently entered the wargaming hobby in a way that I'm sure many can relate too - with a small collection of Warhammer 40k miniatures from Games Workshop. I was collecting Space Marines - plain, vanilla Marines, nothing fancy - back in the heyday of 5th Edition. My friend Curt, who's miniatures have appeared on the blog before, had started collecting before me, and had amassed a decent mob of Orks. 

Back in those days, we didn't have painted miniatures, or decent terrain. We played with our grey toy soldiers on battlefields made from books and LEGO structures, on a pool table in Curt's basement. The hobby was new to us, completely fresh, and we didn't mind that our games looked nothing like the intricately detailed pictures in the 5th Edition rulebook. 

Time having moved on, Curt and I don't really play 40k anymore. My Marines have been sold and are hopefully in someone else's collection now. Curt still has his Orks, but they mostly reside in boxes along with some Catachans and Chaos Marines. I haven't really played 40k since 5th, and while Curt has the 6th Edition rulebook, it has really only been thumbed through more out of curiosity than any serious use. 

So when Curt expressed an interest in having a small game of 40k (750 points max), I agreed. And we made sure to make the game as much like the old days as possible.

Curt was using the 6th Edition Codex for his Chaos Marines. He took a Chaos Lord, a Chaos Marines Squad, a Cultist squad, a Thousand Sons squad, and a Chaos Predator with an autocannon and lascannon sponsons. 

I played as the Orks, using Curt's increasingly ragged 5th Edition codex. I had a Warboss, two big mobs of Boyz - one with Sluggas, Choppas, and Rokkits, the other with Shootas and Big Shootas - and two small squads of Lootas and Warbikes.

The battlefield was... well, let's say it was nostalgic, resembling the battlefields of our teen years. We were deploying lengthwise, with five objective markers scattered across the table. 

The Ork deployment saw the Warbikes take up one flank, and the Shoota mob on the other. A phalanx of Choppa boyz lined up for an advance up the middle, while the Lootas took advantage of the long, flat elevation. A decidedly cowardly Warboss hid behind a six-pack carton.

The forces of Chaos arrayed themselves to take advantage of their superior shooting. The Predator lined up against the Warbikes, and the Chaos Lord, Marines, and Thousand Sons deployed forward. The Cultists, only wielding autopistols, cowered behind the intervening terrain.

I had managed to get the first turn, which was fairly important, as a lot of the Ork's strengths rely on getting into close combat, and the table had fairly open lanes of fire that Curt's Chaos forces could shoot down. Of course, that meant that Curt was nearly guaranteed to seize the initiative from me. Which he did.

My Orks slowly advanced up the table, under covering from from the Lootas and the Shoota boyz. It would be a reoccurring problem for me in this game that I would forget all about the Warboss, and so he didn't get much use - or any at all, really. 

Curt's two squads of Marines held the line, firing into my mobs, while his Predator picked off my warbikers turn by turn. I'm also being forced, at his insistence, to make mention that he did make the first kill, and so received First Blood. 

My phalanx of Choppa boyz slowly trudged their way forward into the hail of bolter shells. I had decided to take two mobs of thirty boyz each, meaning I could afford a few casualties. The Thousand Sons squad (in all silver) was also preoccupied by the other approaching ork mob. 

My boyz finally closed and decided to get a good crumpin' in on the Chaos Marines. The Chaos Lord decided to opt out of the combat. The duel between the Aspiring Champion and my Nob (er...) ended with the Champion being torn in two by the Nob's power klaw, and the massive amount of dice I ended up rolling for the ork close combat attacks resulted in all but two of the rest of the Marines dead and fleeing. 

Curt's Predator had, with sniper-like accuracy, managed to reduce my Warbike squad down to just the Nob. Curt's Marines weren't doing quite as well, with the Thousand Sons squad staring down the various sized barrels of a number of Shootas and Big Shootas.

The Chaos Lord attempted to intercept the Nob Biker, but both missed with their attacks. The Thousand Sons continued to fall back, with a Rubric Marine periodically falling to the dense cloud of incoming lead. 

My Choppa mob decided to get stuck in with the Chaos Lord, who finally went down. Freed up from combat, the Nob warbiker drove up to the Predator and hit it with several Immobilization and Weapon Destroyed results. 

We decided to call the game then, as Curt had run out of units and we had both run out of beer.

The game was fun - if a little confusing, thanks to our mixing of 5th and 6th Edition rules - and it was also inspiring in a way. I'm currently rooting through the house for cardboard and other little items that can be used for ruins if we decide to play again. Hopefully I'll have an update on that soon.

Double Action - This Very Ground and Warhammer 40,000 AAR

So I'm going to try to aim for mid-week as an update time, every week. Missed last week because, you know, holidays and all that. That being said, while my painting hasn't been getting done (still working on C's Fallschirmjager), C and I did manage to get in a couple of demo games.

Thou are not yet dead, my Father

The above was the last thing the Senecan Half-king Tanaghrisson said to French Commander Joseph Coulon de Jumonville - technically 'Tu n'es pas encore mort, mon père' - before driving his hatchet into the man's head and using his brains as a hand wash. This was after one of the first major skirmishes of the French and Indian War, which has been a period that I've slowly began to find more and more interest in. I can probably blame one of my college teachers whose class covered the history of the British army.

I've decided to being wargaming the period with 15mm figures from Old Glory's Blue Moon line and Iron Ivan Games' 'This Very Ground' ruleset. You can find a review of the rules over at Anatoli's Game Room, which has sadly gone on hiatus at the moment. Well, what do you know, he's back (and playing another FIW GAME AAAAAARGH). In fact, it was Anatoli's review that really made me want to get a copy of the rules.

This Christmas, my wish came true, and I found not only the rules but enough figures under the tree to try out the first scenario in the game. The scenario featured an Indian attack party attempting to set fire to a stockbuilding, and the local militia's attempt to stop them. Curt gladly took the role as the marauding savages, and I took command of the outnumbered militia.

The above picture shows the game a couple of moves in - the Indians had two warbands (one with the torches needed to burn down the building in the top left of the defensive area) come from his side, while another warband approached from the far left.

The game is an altogether bloody affair - while it can be difficult to hit at times when shooting at someone in cover, or when fighting in close combat, weapons are generally deadly enough that once someone is hit, they're generally going down. This is doubly-so for melee, when both sides fight to the last man. This was demonstrated when the 3 militia in the top left were charged by the 7 Indians near them - while they managed to drag two Indians down with them, the Militia were quickly cut down (and, I'd imagine, scalped).

In the end, the Militia managed to squeak out a win, with only 7 of the original 16 men surviving the fight - their officer managed to get himself killed while trying to hunt down the Indian Sachem. The Indians lost about half their own number (originally 31), but most of those casualties came from the group carrying the torches.

'This Very Ground' turned out to be a fun set of rules, and I'm hoping that Curt will not mind if we break them out a few more times. The American militia are next up on the painting table, followed by the Indians, and then from Canadian Militia.

Warhammer 40k: 6th Edition
Curt received a copy of the 6th edition rules for Christmas and wanted to get a demo game in, to which I agreed. He brought over 500 points worth of Orks (Boyz and Truckz) and Imperial Guard (Veteran Squads and Chimeras).

The game type featured 6 objective markers of various worth (1 worth 4 points, 2 worth 3 points, 2 worth 2 points, and 1 worth 1 point). These were placed by Curt and I, taking turns, and it went that essentially 3 were on my side, and 3 on his.

When they were turned over, to Curt's horror (and my glee!) we found that the 4 and 3 point objectives were on my side, and the 2 and 1 point objectives were on his. All I had to do was lame it out until the end of turn 5 and hope that my fail-dice wouldn't... fail me.

And they didn't! Despite losing one mob of Boyz to Curt's aggressive push on my left, and losing my Warboss to a game of Flashlight tag with a squad of Veterans, I managed to win 7-3. I also received points for blowing up the Imperial Guard Fast Attack choice (a lone Chicken-walker thing whose name escapes me at the moment (edit: Sentinel. Thanks to Curt for pointing that out)) and for getting First Blood (again, Chicken-walker). C received an additional point for killing my Warboss.

Initial thoughts on the limited experience of 6th is that it's... well, it's 40k. The new war-leader-quality roll-off in the beginning didn't have much of a difference on the game. While I like the new 'snapshot' abilities that allow heavy weapons to fire on the move, and the defensive-fire mechanic in melee, I still don't get the 2d6 roll for melee charge (and the first person to utter the word 'cinematic' is getting a Chaos-dreadnought-in-a-sock to the back of the head). While I won't be rushing out to any of the nearby FLGS's to get new 40k stuff, I won't object to when Curt wants to bring his stuff over for a game.

Edit: Curt reminded me of the new vehicle rules. Love 'em. Vehicle HP is easy to follow with the right markers, and the fact that you can't stuck-lock vehicles, while still making them kill-able to glancing hits, means that they can still make a difference around the table.

And that's that! Hopefully I'll be back next week with a new batrep and some actual painting updates.