Battle Report 59- 1850 pts White Scars vs White Scars

This week's battle report features my White Scars taking on Allan's White Scars in another practice of my list for the upcoming Caledonian Revolution tournament.

 

Last week, I played Innes and his compact, deathstar-containing army and my White Scars list fared pretty well. This week, I played a very different type of army. Allan likes to field his White Scars with as many bodies as possible and lots of bikes. In fact, the board would be swarmed with bikes in this game and I would get to see just how annoying it is to go up against those jinking White Scars.

 

My army consisted of:

Scarblade Strike Force

Hunting Force

Khan- Moondrakken (with CS or K)

Command Squad- Bikes, Apothecary, 4 grav guns, 4 storm shields (CS)

6 Bikers- 2 grav guns, sergeant with meltabombs (BS1)

6 Bikers- 2 grav guns, sergeant with meltabombs (BS2)

Attack Bike- Multimelta (AB)

6 Scout Bikers- 2 Grenades launchers, sergeant with meltabombs and homing beacon (SB)

Stormbringer Squadron

5 Scouts- bolt pistols, combat weapons, sergeant with meltabombs (S1)

Landspeeder Storm- Heavy Bolter, Cerberus Launcher (LS1)

Landspeeder- Multimelta, Typhoon Missile Launcher (L)

 

Combined Arms Detachment

Librarian- Bike, Hunter's Eye, Meltabombs, Mastery Level 2, Force Sword (with CS or L)

5 Scouts- Camo cloaks, sniper rifles (SS)

5 Scouts- Bolters, sergeant with meltabombs (S2)

Landspeeder Storm- Heavy Bolter, Cerberus Launcher (LS2)

3 Bikers- 2 meltaguns, sergeant with meltabombs (BS3)

3 Centurions- Grav cannons and grav amps, hurricane bolters (C)

Drop Pod (DP)

Stormtalon- TL assault cannon, Skyhammer missile launcher (ST)

My warlord trait was fixed with Khan (giving me re-rolls for morale and pinning tests and Scout moves for my bikes and transports). My Librarian got Psychic Shriek and Prescience. I decided that Shriek would be useful against so many bikers and Prescience should help my units hit if I managed to cast it.

Battle Report 58- 1850 pts White Scars vs Space Marines/Imperial Knight

This week's battle report is a tournament practice game where my White Scars take on Innes' forces of Space Marines with an allied Imperial Knight. Innes and I are both attending Caledonian Revolution in the summer and I was interested in playtesting my army in the ETC mission format.

 

I have previously discussed one of my proposed lists for the tournament. This is based on a Scarblade Strike Force with a Combined Arms Detachment thrown in as well to give me access to a Librarian and the Grav Centurions.

 

As a reminder, my list is:
Scarblade Strike Force

Hunting Force

Khan- Moondrakken (with CS)

Command Squad- Bikes, Apothecary, 4 grav guns, 4 storm shields (CS)

6 Bikers- 2 grav guns, sergeant with meltabombs (BS1)

6 Bikers- 2 grav guns, sergeant with meltabombs (BS2)

Attack Bike- Multimelta (AB)

6 Scout Bikers- 2 Grenades launchers, sergeant with meltabombs and homing beacon (SB)

Stormbringer Squadron

5 Scouts- bolt pistols, combat weapons, sergeant with meltabombs (S1)

Landspeeder Storm- Heavy Bolter, Cerberus Launcher (LS1)

Landspeeder- Multimelta, Typhoon Missile Launcher (L)

 

Combined Arms Detachment

Librarian- Bike, Hunter's Eye, Meltabombs, Mastery Level 2, Force Sword (with CS)

5 Scouts- Camo cloaks, sniper rifles (SS)

5 Scouts- Bolters, sergeant with meltabombs (S2)

Landspeeder Storm- Heavy Bolter, Cerberus Launcher (LS2)

3 Bikers- 2 meltaguns, sergeant with meltabombs (BS3)

3 Centurions- Grav cannons and grav amps, hurricane bolters (C)

Drop Pod (DP)

Stormtalon- TL assault cannon, Skyhammer missile launcher (ST)

My warlord trait was fixed with Khan (giving me re-rolls for morale and pinning tests and Scout moves for my bikes and transports). My Librarian decided to roll on the Technomancy table and got Subvert Machine, Blessing of the Machine and Warpmetal Armour. Not the best powers for my army, I was hoping for one of the haywire powers or auto-glance powers for taking on Innes' Knight (spoilers for below!). Warpmetal Armour could be useful for making my Command Squad even tougher.

Battle Report 57- 1500 pts Orks vs Dark Eldar

This week's battle report sees my Orks taking on James' Dark Eldar in the Contact Lost maelstrom mission.
A little while ago, I posted my proposed armies up for the upcoming Double Trouble tournament. There was a huge outpouring for me to take my Orks along- they are an army that I have never taken to one of Alex's events so far and one that I don't get to play often enough. They are also one of my favourite armies to play as they are simply so much fun. I decided I will start playing more games with them in the run up to Double Trouble so that I can get used to their rules once more and start testing some additional potential lists.

For my army, I decided to see if I could beat the puny Dark Eldar at their own game and went for a fast moving Speed Freaks type army, but with masses of bodies in true Orky style.

My army consisted of:
Warboss- Eavy Armour, Power Klaw, Shoota, Bosspole (with SB1)
Painboy (with SB1)
18 Slugga Boyz- inc Nob with Power Klaw and Bosspole (SB1)
12 Slugga Boyz- inc Nob with Power Klaw and Bosspole (SB2)
Trukk- Big Shoota (T2)
12 Slugga Boyz- inc Nob with Power Klaw and Bosspole (SB3)
Trukk- Big Shoota (T3)
12 Slugga Boyz- inc Nob with Big Choppa and Bosspole (SB4)
Trukk- Big Shoota (T4)
12 Slugga Boyz- inc Nob with Big Choppa and Bosspole (SB5)
Trukk- Big Shoota (T5)
9 Tankbustas (TB)
Trukk- big shoota (T1)
6 Warbikers- Nob with Power Klaw and Bosspole (W)
Looted Wagon- Ard case, Killcannon, Big Shoota (LW)
Dakkajet- 3 Supa shootas (D)
2 Scorchas (S)
Battlewagon- Extra armour, 2 Big Shootas (B)

Stronghold V Battle Report 2- White Scars vs Eldar

Welcome to the second battle report from my games at the recent Stronghold V tournament. After a great result in the first game, I found myself up against Aiden's fantastic blue Eldar army in the second game of the day.
 

The second mission was Crusade with 5 objectives and Vanguard Strike deployment. This is a good mission for my white scars, I could use my mobility to grab the objectives at the end of the game, assuming I could survive long enough to be able to do so.

As a reminder, my army consisted of:

COMBINED ARMS DETACHMENT

Librarian- Level 2 psyker, Bike, Hunter's Eye, Mantle of the Stormseer, Force Sword, Meltabombs (with CS or L)

5 Command Squad- Bikes, Apothecary, 4 veterans with grav guns, stormshields and 2 with meltabombs (CS)

5 Bikers- 2 grav guns, sergeant with meltabombs (BS1)

5 Bikers- 2 grav guns, sergeant with meltabombs (BS2)

5 Scouts- sergeant with meltabombs (S)

Landspeeder Storm- Heavy Bolter, Cerberus missile launcher (LS)

Drop Pod- storm bolter (DP)

3 Scout Bikers- One grenade launcher, sergeant with meltabombs and locator beacon (SB)

Stormtalon- TL assault cannons, skyhammer missile launcher (ST)

Centurion Devastators- Grav cannons and grav amps, hurricaine bolters (C)

My warlord trait was Merciless Warrior, giving me re-rolls to any sweeping advance roll. My psychic powers for this game were Psychic Shriek and Prescience.

Stronghold V Battle Report 1- White Scars vs White Scars/Mechanicus

This is my first battle report from the recent Stronghold V tournament that I attended in Glasgow. This tournament was for 1250 pts made up of a Combined Arms Detachment (with optional allied detachment) and would be played out over 4 different missions. I have previously discussed some of the rules of the tournament and my initial list for my White Scars.

The first mission of the day was the Contact Lost maelstrom mission. This mission allows you to draw a card for each objective that you hold at the start of the turn, so it is important to try and hold the objectives while also scoring your maelstrom cards. I was hopeful that my fast moving, objective secured army would do well in this mission.

 

My army consisted of:

COMBINED ARMS DETACHMENT

Librarian- Level 2 psyker, Bike, Hunter's Eye, Mantle of the Stormseer, Force Sword, Meltabombs (with CS or L)

5 Command Squad- Bikes, Apothecary, 4 veterans with grav guns, stormshields and 2 with meltabombs (CS)

5 Bikers- 2 grav guns, sergeant with meltabombs (BS1)

5 Bikers- 2 grav guns, sergeant with meltabombs (BS2)

5 Scouts- sergeant with meltabombs (S)

Landspeeder Storm- Heavy Bolter, Cerberus missile launcher (LS)

Drop Pod- storm bolter (DP)

3 Scout Bikers- One grenade launcher, sergeant with meltabombs and locator beacon (SB)

Stormtalon- TL assault cannons, skyhammer missile launcher (ST)

Centurion Devastators- Grav cannons and grav amps, hurricaine bolters (C)

For my warlord trait, I rolled on the tactical deck and got Master of Fate, allowing me to re-roll the victory points result for a maelstrom card where a random number of points is required. I liked this as it can be annoying to constantly roll a 1 on all your D3 victory points re-rolls for maelstrom cards. My Librarian got Psychic Shriek and Prescience for his psychic powers.

Battle Report 52- 1250 pts White Scars vs Dark Angels

This week's battle report sees my White Scars take on James' Dark Angels army. This would be another practice game for the upcoming Stronghold V tournament I would be attending. I have previously discussed the army I would be taking and my thoughts on its strengths and weaknesses. Based on feedback and another practice game, I decided to drop the attack bike and take some of my Scout Bikers that I had recently finished painting. We decided to play the Contact Lost maelstrom mission as this would be used at the tournament.

My army consisted of:

COMBINED ARMS DETACHMENT

Librarian- Level 2 psyker, Bike, Hunter's Eye, Mantle of the Stormseer, Force Sword, Meltabombs (with CS)

5 Command Squad- Bikes, Apothecary, 4 veterans with grav guns, stormshields and 2 with meltabombs (CS)

5 Bikers- 2 grav guns, sergeant with power lance and meltabombs (BS1)

5 Bikers- 2 grav guns, sergeant with meltabombs (BS2)

5 Scouts- sergeant with meltabombs (S1)

Landspeeder Storm- Heavy Bolter, Cerberus missile launcher (LS)

Drop Pod- storm bolter (DP)

3 Scout Bikers- One grenade launcher, sergeant with meltabombs and locator beacon (SB)

Stormtalon- TL assault cannons, skyhammer missile launcher (S2)
Centurion Devastators- Grav cannons and grav amps, hurricaine bolters (C)

My warlord trait was Deadly Ambush (giving me +1 or -1 to reserve rolls), I re-rolled and got the same result. My Librarian rolled on the Librarius deck. These new powers will not be allowed at the tournament, but I wanted to give them a go after reviewing them recently. I rolled on the table and got Fury of the Ancients, Null Zone and Emperor's Wrath. Not the best powers on the table, but could be useful in the game.

Battle Report 51- 1250 pts White Scars vs White Scars/Dark Angels

This week's battle report features two tournament lists in a practice game for the upcoming Stronghold V. Innes and I decided to give our respective lists an airing to see how they performed. I would be taking my White Scars (you can find the restrictions of the tournament and my discussions on my list in a previous post), while Innes would also be taking White Scars with a Dark Angels allied detachment. As this is a tournament practice game, I thought I might delve a bit more into my reasoning for certain decisions as the game goes on.

I am also using some new look turn maps in this report. After almost a year of using Battle Chronicler, I finally decided to have a go putting the actual terrain and some backgrounds into the reports. Thanks to Nick from the Burning Eye for linking me the tutorial on how to do this. I think it makes a big difference to the maps, let me know what you think of them in the comments section.

As a reminder, my army consisted of (in red and white):

COMBINED ARMS DETACHMENT

Librarian- Level 2 psyker, Bike, Hunter's Eye, Mantle of the Stormseer, Force Sword, Meltabombs (with CS)

5 Command Squad- Bikes, Apothecary, 4 veterans with grav guns, stormshields and meltabombs (CS)

5 Bikers- 2 grav guns, sergeant with power lance and meltabombs (BS1)

5 Bikers- 2 grav guns, sergeant with meltabombs (BS2)

5 Scouts- sergeant with meltabombs (S1)

Landspeeder Storm- Heavy Bolter, Cerberus missile launcher (LS)

Drop Pod- storm bolter (DP)

Attack Bike- Multimelta (AB)

Stormtalon- TL assault cannons, skyhammer missile launcher (S2)

 Centurion Devastators- Grav cannons and grav amps, hurricaine bolters (C)

I rolled for my warlord trait, getting Unrivalled Hunter. I re-rolled this, but got the same result. This gives me +1S and +1A in challenges.
For my psychic powers, I first rolled on Telepathy and got Hallucination, but changed it for Psychic Shriek. I then rolled on Divination and got Foreboding. I decided to keep this after looking at Innes' list; if I was charged by his characters, I would want full BS overwatching grav guns to try and deal with them.

Battle Report 50- 1500 pts Astra Militarum vs Dark Eldar

Welcome to my 50th battle report on the blog!

This week's battle report sees my Astra Militarum army taking on James' Dark Eldar. James is one of the few players that I have not yet fought in the Medusa IV campaign (or at all, in fact), so he took the opportunity to attack one my tiles in the campaign.

We decided that in order to have a fun game, we would steer away from the heavier elements of the armies. James wanted to run a Wych-themed army and I decided not to take any Wyverns or a Punisher, as these would likely shred his army quite easily.

Due to the campaign rules, I would get 150 pts extra for my army, however, James would get a +2 bonus to choosing deployment zone and getting the first turn.

 

For my army, I took:

Company Command- Vox, Company Standard, 2 Plasma guns, Astropath, Officer of the Fleet (CC)

Priest (with S1A)

Priest (with S2A)

Commissar (with HBT)

Commissar (with LT)

Primaris Psyker- level 1 (with CC)

 

Platoon Command 1- 2 Flamers, Vox (PC1)

Infantry Squad 1A- Autocannon, Vox (S1A)

Infantry Squad 1B- Autocannon (S1A)

Infantry Squad 1C- Autocannon, Vox (S1C)

Heavy Weapons Team 1- Heavy Bolters (HBT)

Heavy Weapons Team 2- Missile Launchers (MLT)

 

Platoon Command 2- 2 Flamers, Vox (PC2)

Infantry Squad 2A- Grenade launcher, vox (S2A)

Infantry Squad 2B- Grenade launcher (S2A)

Infantry Squad 2C- Grenade launcher, vox (S2C)

Heavy Weapons Team 3- Lascannons (LT)

 

10 Veterans- Grenadiers, 3 Meltaguns (V1)

Chimera- Dozer Blade, Extra Armour (C1)

 

Leman Russ- Battle Cannon, Lascannon, Heavy Bolter sponsons (LR)

Vendetta- 3 TL Lascannons (V2)

 

Aegis defence line- Quad Gun

 

My warlord trait gave my command squad Relentless. My Astropath got Psychic Shriek and Mental Fortitude, my Primaris got Prescience and Misfortune.

 

For my army, I decided to go infantry heavy. I took a company command to give me orders, along with an astropath and master of the fleet to help with my reserve rolls. I took two priests and two commissars to keep my units in check.

Two large infantry platoons were then added; one with autocannons and one with grenade launchers. I added three heavy weapons teams to deal with the Dark Eldar and their vehicles. A unit of veterans in a Chimera would give me some mobility in my army.

 

I added a Leman Russ with battle cannon to hopefully avoid those annoying Feel no Pain rolls that all Dark Eldar seem to have, as well as a Vendetta to deal with any vehicles or enemy flyers. Along this line, I also took an Aegis line and Quad gun.

 

With 50 pts left over, I decided to take a Primaris psyker. The Prescience re-rolls would be useful if I managed to cast it over the course of the game.

Battle Report 47- 1850 pts White Scars vs Tau

This week's battle report is another from the Medusa IV campaign that I am running. This campaign turn, Yans' Tau decided to attack my Guard's Shield Generator tile that had recently repelled an attack from Armel's Eldar.

As I had been playing my Guard the last few weeks, I asked if Yans wouldn't mind me using my White Scars, as I was keen to finally try out the new White Scars formations from the Kauyon supplement. Fortunately, he agreed and I was able to put together a Scarblade Strike Force for the game.

 

My army consisted of:

SCARBLADE STRIKE FORCE

HUNTING FORCE

Captain- Bike, Hunter's Eye, Glaive of Vengeance, Storm Shield (with CS)

5 Command Squad- Banner of the Eagle, Apothecary, 4 grav guns, 4 Storm Shields (CS)

8 Bikers- Sergeant with power axe and meltabombs, 2 Grav guns (B1)

8 Bikers- Sergeant with power axe and meltabombs, 2 Grav guns (B2)

3 Scout Bikers- Astartes grenade launcher, sergeant has meltabombs (SB)

Attack Bike- Multimelta (AB1)

Attack Bike- Multimelta (AB2)

 

STORMLANCE BATTLE DEMI-COMPANY

Chaplain- Bike, Auspex, Meltabombs (with CS)

5 Tactical Marines- Meltagun, sergeant has meltabombs (TM1)

Rhino (R1)

10 Tactical Marines- Grav gun, sergeant has meltabombs (TM2)

Rhino (R2)
10 Tactical Marines- Flamer, sergeant has meltabombs (TM3)
Rhino (R3)
5 Devastators- 4 grav cannons (D)
Rhino (R4)
Attack Bike- Heavy Bolter (AB3)

SPEARTIP STRIKE FORCE
5 Scouts- sergeant has meltabombs (S)
Landspeeder storm- Heavy bolter, Cerberus missile launcher (LS)
Landspeeder- Multimelta, Typhoon missile launcher (L)

My warlord trait initially gave me Deadly Ambush (+1 to my reserve rolls or -1 to my opponents), but I re-rolled and got Hammer of Khan, giving my warlord (the Captain) D3 hammer of wrath hits.

My force was led by a Captain wielding the Hunter's Eye and the Glaive of Vengeance for some close combat punch. He would be leading the Hunting Force, featuring two large 8-man bike squads, a scout bike squad and two attack bikes. The large bike squads were to take advantage of the formations rules, giving me double hammer of wrath hits if I had at least 5 models in the unit. The two attack bikes were armed with multimeltas to take on the heavier battle suits of the Tau.

The formation also allows me to choose a primary target (an enemy HQ) and secondary and tertiary targets. I get re-rolls to hit and to wound against the primary target, then the secondary once the primary is dead and so on. This should be very useful for my special weapons and multimeltas at taking on the Tau commander.

Next, I took a Stormlance to try out the formation. This consists of 4 units mounted in Rhinos and an attack bike. The units must start in the Rhinos, but get re-rolls to hit against units holding objectives and get to make a free move after shooting, even allowing them to get back in their transport if they can. This should be great for the Devastators, allowing me to deploy and fire all four grav cannons then get back in the relative safety of the squad's Rhino.

Finally, I took a Speartip strike force, allowing me to take one of my favourite units- the Scouts and Landspeeder storm. I also took an anti-tank Landspeeder for some more firepower. The Scouts are the only objective secured unit in my army, quite a big change as I normally like to take a lot of objective secured units.

On top of that, the Scarblade gives me re-rollable hammer of wrath wounds if I charge over 8" and, more importantly, gives me re-rolls to my Hit and Run tests (anyone who regularly reads my Ravenwing and White Scars battle reports will know that I have a tendency to fluff these at the most inopportune times).

EDIT: It has been pointed out that my army is above points (thanks to Nate for spotting this). My army comes in at around 2070 pts instead of 1850 pts. Apologies to Yans for this error, I must have missed out a squad when I was adding up the total.

Battle Report 46- 1500 pts Astra Militarum vs Eldar

This week's battle report was one of my campaign games from my Medusa IV map campaign. Armel's Eldar (a powerful faction in the campaign) had decided to try and usurp the Shield Generator tile from my Planetary defence force, so we found ourselves in conflict for the first time during the campaign. I know how strong the Eldar are at the moment and was interested to see how the game would turn out.

 

Thanks to the campaign rules, I would have a 50 pts bonus to my army, hopefully it would make all the difference. My army consisted of:

COMBINED ARMS DETACHMENT

Company Command Squad- Vox, 2 plasma guns, Company Standard, Laurels of Command (CC)
Priest (with S1A)
Priest (with S2C)
Commissar (with LT)
Commissar (with MLT)
Primaris Psyker- Level 1 psyker (with S1A)

Platoon Command 1- 2 Flamers, Vox (PC1)
Infantry Squad 1A- Autocannon, Vox (S1A)
Infantry Squad 1A- Autocannon (S2A)
Infantry Squad 1B- Autocannon, Vox (S1B)
Heavy Weapons Team 1- Lascannons (LT)
Heavy Weapons Team 2- Heavy Bolters (HBT)

Platoon Command 2- 2 Flamers, Vox (PC2)
Chimera- Multilaser, Heavy Bolter, Extra Armour, Dozer blades (C1)
Infantry Squad 2A- Grenade Launcher, vox (S2A)
Infantry Squad 2B- Grenade Launcher, vox (S2B)
Infantry Squad 2C- Grenade Launcher (S2C)
Heavy Weapons Team 3- Missile Launchers (MLT)

Veterans- 3 Meltaguns (V)
Chimera- Multilaser, Heavy Bolter, Extra Armour, Dozer blades (C2)

Wyvern 1 (W1)
Wyvern 2 (W2)
Aegis Defence Line

Culexus Assassin (A)

For my army, I decided to focus on an infantry heavy force backed up by two Wyverns. The army was led by a company command squad with a Regimental standard to help keep my units in check and the Laurels of Command to give me more control over the closer units. I then took two large infantry platoons- one armed with Autocannons and the other with grenade launchers. Three heavy weapons teams were also added to the platoons; lascannons and missile launchers to deal with a Wraithknight or any vehicles, and heavy bolters to deal with jetbikes or fragile Eldar bodies.
A unit of veterans with meltaguns in a Chimera would be there to grab objectives and deal with any armoured threats. I also took 2 wyverns as these should hopefully make a mess of any jetbikes or foot units and an Aegis line to keep the bulk of my army safe.

I decided not to take any battle tanks in the army. Between D weapons and Bright Lances, I did not think that any tanks would survive long enough to be useful.

I also decided to take a Culexus assassin to try and shut down any Eldar psykers that Armel decided to field. I bought the Assassins game in order to get all 4 assassin models and this is the first time that I would be using any of them in a game.

My plan was to swamp the objectives with masses of Guardsmen to win the game through a war of attrition- hopefully I had more bodies than Armel could kill in a game.

My warlord trait was Draconian Disciplinarian. This would be useful, allowing me to ignore morale checks caused by the Eldar shooting within range of the Warlord. My Primaris got Prescience and Foreboding.

Battle Report 45- 2500 pts Orks vs Astra Militarum

A couple of weeks ago, my Astra Militarum took on Seb's Orks in the maelstrom mission, Spoils of War. This week's battle report is a switch around, as my Orks take on Adam's Astra Militarum at Spoils of War. We were playing the game at my house, so decided to up the points level to 2500 as we had no time restrictions on the game. We would both be using race specific maelstrom decks, me with the Ork deck and Adam with the new Cadian deck.

My army consisted of two Combined Arms Detachments, featuring:
 

Warboss- Power Claw, Eavy Armour, Shoota, Bosspole, Da Lucky Stikk (with SB2)

Weirdboy- Level 2 psyker (with SB1)

Big Mek- Eavy Armour, Kustom Force Field (with SB1)

Painboy (with SB2)

30 Boyz- Nob with power claw and bosspole, sluggas, choppas (SB1)

30 Boyz- Nob with Uge Choppa and bosspole, Shootas, 3 Big Shootas (Sh)

18 Boyz- Nob with power claw and bosspole, sluggas, choppas, Eavy Armour (SB2)

30 Gretchin- 3 Runtherds, squighound (G)

12 Tankbustas (T)

Trukk- Armour plates (Tr2)

5 Meganobz- TL shootas (M)

Trukk- Armour plates (Tr1)

16 Stormboyz- Nob with power claw and bosspole (St)

Wartrakk- Scorcha (W1)

Wartrakk- Scorcha (W2)

6 Warbikers (WB)

3 Bubblechukkas- 6 extra crew, Mek (BC)

Deff Dread- 3 Power claws, Scorcha (DD)

3 Killa Kans- Grotzookas (KK)

Battlewagon- Armour plates, 3 Big Shootas (B)

I decided to split my army in two. One part would feature large mobs with the supports of a Dread and Kans to move towards the main force of the guard army, the other featured faster moving elements to swamp the enemy army at speed and take out the biggest threats first. The faster units would also help with the maelstrom objectives that came up.

I started the force with the HQ units; Warboss with power claw, Big Mek with Kustom Force Field, Weirdboy and Painboy. One of each of the big hitters should provide some variety in the army. I then took two large mobs of boyz, one of slugga boyz and one of shoota boyz and a large mob of gretchin. For some firepower, I took three Bubblechukkas. This artillery uses a large blast and variable strength and AP and should be able to damage the guard lines no matter how poorly I roll. The Tankbustas were there to hopefully take care of any of Adam's tanks, while the meganobz should hopefully draw a fair amount of firepower.

My warlord trait was Prophet of the Waaagh, while the Weirdboy got Eadbanger, Warpath and Frazzle.

Battle Report 44- 1500 pts Astra Militarum vs Orks

This week's battle report features a set game in my Medusa IV campaign, where Seb's Orks attacked one the power plants guarded by my Astra Militarum army. The battle was to be 1500 pts and I was curious to see what Seb would bring. He has such an extensive collection of Orks that you are never quite sure what he will be fielding; will it be an all walker army? A green horde? Biker heavy? Or a combination of everything.

I also wanted to go for an infantry heavy force for my Guard. I like the nature of the Astra Militarum fielding hordes of infantry, backed up by a few tanks.

 

My army consisted of:
 

COMBINED ARMS DETACHMENT

Tank Commander Pask- 2 Punisher tanks with heavy bolter sponsons. (PCT and P)

Company Command Squad- 2 Plasma guns, Regimental standard, Vox caster (CS)

Priest- Autogun (with S1A)

 

Infantry Platoon 1

Platoon Command- 2 Flamers, vox caster (PC1)

Infantry Squad- Grenade launcher, vox caster (S1A)

Infantry Squad- Grenade launcher, vox caster (S1A)

Infantry Squad- Grenade launcher (S1B)

Heavy Weapons Team- Missile Launchers (HWT)

Infantry Platoon 2

Platoon Command- 2 Flamers, vox caster (PC2)

Infantry Squad- Autocannon, vox caster (S2A)

Infantry Squad- Autocannon, vox caster (S2A)

Infantry Squad- Autocannon (S2B)

Infantry Squad- Heavy Bolter (S2C)

Infantry Squad (S2D)

Chimera- Multilaser, Heavy Bolter, Extra Armour, Dozer Blades (C1)

 

Veteran Squad- 3 Meltaguns (V)

Chimera- Multilaser, Heavy Bolter, Extra Armour, Dozer Blades (C2)

 

Wyvern (W)

 

I went for Tank Commander Pask with an additional Punisher. With two Punisher tanks, I should be able to put out a lot of firepower to suit whatever Seb brought along (the rending from Pask's punisher cannon may help with any Deff Dreads). I also brought a command squad to issue orders to my infantry units and a Priest to keep them in check.

I then took two large infantry platoons. One with grenade launchers, so that they could move and fire to full effect, the other with Autocannons to provide some mid-strength firepower to the army. I was able to add a chimera infantry squad and heavy bolter squad to the platoons as well. The addition of some missile launchers would give me some variety if facing armour or mobs of boyz. Both platoon command squads got dual flamers for when the Orks got in close.

 

In order to help target armour, I took a unit of Veterans with 3 meltaguns in a chimera. Both transports got dozer blades and extra armour to keep them moving. Finally, I rounded the list off with a wyvern. These are pretty much essential in a guard army, providing some serious firepower to my list.

Pask was my warlord and got Old Grudges (preferred enemy) for his warlord trait. I decided to combine two of the grenade launcher infantry squads into one unit and two of the Autocannon squads into one unit.

Hobby Sunday 14/02/16- Objectives and White Scars

A happy valentines day to one and all! As my love for you all knows no bounds, I thought I would provide you with the gift of another hobby Sunday (what lucky people you are).

 

Anyways, moving on. After lasts week's foray into actually doing some hobby work, I continued with some painting that I had not got round to finishing. Back in September last year, I put together some objective markers and got a little bit of paint on them. I finally got back round to finishing them off this week. I didn't go too extravagant with them, just some quick drybrushing and washes to pick out the details. I finally added some transfer numbers so that they could be used in maelstrom missions. I now have two sets complete to donate to the local club to hopefully encourage people to play more maelstrom missions.

Doubles Tournament Game 3- White Scars/Mechanicus vs Space Marines/Chaos Space Marines

Welcome to the final battle report of the Doubles Tournament that Innes and I attended at 6s2Hit in Edinburgh. We had won our first game and lost our second game, so went into the final game hoping for a win to have succeeded in over half our games. Our opponents for the third game were Page and Fowler, commanding an army of Space Marines and Chaos Space Marines (what a heretical alliance!).

I've been asked to try and make the pictures larger for my battle reports, so have tried to do so. What do you think of the new ones? Too big or just the right size now?

As a reminder, our armies were:

 

Combined Arms Detachment

Kor'sarro Khan- Moondakken (with CS)

Librarian- Mastery level 1, Bike, Meltabombs, Hunter's Eye (with CS or L)

5 Command Squad- 4 Grav guns, Apothecary, Storm Shield (CS)

5 Bikers- 2 Grav guns, sergeant has meltabombs (B1)

5 Bikers- 2 Grav guns, sergeant has meltabombs (B2)

5 Scouts- Bolt pistols, combat weapons, Sergeant has Meltabombs (S)

Landspeeder Storm- Cerberus launcher, Heavy bolter (LS)

Drop Pod- Storm Bolter (DP)

Stormtalon- TL assault cannons, Skyhammer missile launcher (ST)

 

Dominus Maniple

Tech Priest Dominus- Raiment of the Technomartyr, Volkite Blaster, Macrostubber, Conversion Field (with V)

5 Skitarri Vanguard- 2 Plasma Calivers, Omnispex, Vanguard Alpha with Red Carbine. (V)

2 Onager Dunecrawlers- Neutron Laser and Cognis Heavy Stubber, Cognis Manipulator (D)

 

Oathsworn Detachment

Mechanicum Cerastus Knight Atropos- Occular Augmetics. (K)

Our supreme warlord was Khan, while in this game Innes' warlord trait gave his warlord haywire. My Librarian got Mental Fortitude and Psychic Shriek.

Doubles Tournament Game 2- White Scars/Mechanicus vs Space Marines/Mechanicus

Game 2 of the 6s2Hit double tournament saw our combined White Scars/Mechanicus army take on a Space Marine/Mechanicus army, with not one, but two Imperial Knights in the force! Our opponents for game 2 were Cameron and Aaron, who had also won their first game.

As a reminder, our armies were:

 

Combined Arms Detachment

Kor'sarro Khan- Moondakken (with CS)

Librarian- Mastery level 1, Bike, Meltabombs, Hunter's Eye (with CS or L)

5 Command Squad- 4 Grav guns, Apothecary, Storm Shield (CS)

5 Bikers- 2 Grav guns, sergeant has meltabombs (B1)

5 Bikers- 2 Grav guns, sergeant has meltabombs (B2)

5 Scouts- Bolt pistols, combat weapons, Sergeant has Meltabombs (S)

Landspeeder Storm- Cerberus launcher, Heavy bolter (LS)

Drop Pod- Storm Bolter (DP)

Stormtalon- TL assault cannons, Skyhammer missile launcher (ST)

 

Dominus Maniple

Tech Priest Dominus- Raiment of the Technomartyr, Volkite Blaster, Macrostubber, Conversion Field (with V)

5 Skitarri Vanguard- 2 Plasma Calivers, Omnispex, Vanguard Alpha with Red Carbine. (V)

2 Onager Dunecrawlers- Neutron Laser and Cognis Heavy Stubber, Cognis Manipulator (D)

 

Oathsworn Detachment

Mechanicum Cerastus Knight Atropos- Occular Augmetics. (K)

Our supreme warlord was Khan, while in this game Innes' warlord trait allowed him to choose the mysterious objective when it was revealed. My Librarian got Dominate and Psychic Shriek.

Doubles Tournament Game 1- White Scars/Mechanicus vs Dark Eldar/Tau

Welcome to my first battle report from a recent doubles tournament held at 6s2Hit in Edinburgh. Innes and I travelled through on a rather cold and windy Sunday morning with our armies to see how we would fare against the competition.

I had never been to the store before, but really enjoyed the experience. One half of the store has six 6x4 gaming tables, the other half has the café area where you can get hot food and drinks (I had an awesome coronation chicken Panini and chocolate brownie for lunch). They also have display cases with painted armies and the retail area, where you can pick stuff up for a variety of different game systems. They also had an awesome display on one of the walls with a bunch of different boxed sets from various editions of 40k and fantasy, as well as some other games. It was a really nice store, I will be keeping an eye out for any more events and recommend you take a look if you are ever in the Edinburgh area.

On to the tournament itself: Teams were comprised of 2 players, each with 1000 pts to spend on their army. Other than that, there were no restrictions. Armies could be bound, unbound or made up of formations, and Forgeworld units were allowed. The missions would be maelstrom, determined at each round by rolling in the book (the same mission for all games that turn). Each player would have their own warlord with warlord traits, but would need to choose a Supreme warlord for each game (who would give up Slay the Warlord when killed). Each player would also draw from their own maelstrom deck and could only score their own cards (e.g. you would only score Secure Objective 6 if your own units held it, not if your partner's units held the objective only). Impossible cards had to be kept and you could discard one card each turn.

With no restrictions in place other than the points limit, we did not know what to expect in all three games.

 

My army consisted of:

Combined Arms Detachment

Kor'sarro Khan- Moondakken (with CS)

Librarian- Mastery level 1, Bike, Meltabombs, Hunter's Eye (with CS or L)

5 Command Squad- 4 Grav guns, Apothecary, Storm Shield (CS)

5 Bikers- 2 Grav guns, sergeant has meltabombs (B1)

5 Bikers- 2 Grav guns, sergeant has meltabombs (B2)

5 Scouts- Bolt pistols, combat weapons, Sergeant has Meltabombs (S)

Landspeeder Storm- Cerberus launcher, Heavy bolter (LS)

Drop Pod- Storm Bolter (DP)

Stormtalon- TL assault cannons, Skyhammer missile launcher (ST)

 

Innes' 1000 points army consisted of:
 

Dominus Maniple

Tech Priest Dominus- Raiment of the Technomartyr, Volkite Blaster, Macrostubber, Conversion Field (TD)

5 Skitarri Vanguard- 2 Plasma Calivers, Omnispex, Vanguard Alpha with Red Carbine. (V)

2 Onager Dunecrawlers- Neutron Laser and Cognis Heavy Stubber, Cognis Manipulator (D)

 

Oathsworn Detachment

Mechanicum Cerastus Knight Atropos- Occular Augmetics. (K)

My army was designed to be very fast for grabbing maelstrom objectives, plus armed to the teeth with grav weaponry for taking on any tough units such as Wraithknights, Riptides, etc. The only change to the Mechanicus army was reducing the Vanguard squad from 10 to 5 (to utilise the drop pod) and the addition of another Dunecrawler. Innes' army had the hard hitters with the Imperial Knight (armed with D weapons) and the Dunecrawlers.

For the first game, our supreme warlord was Khan. My Librarian got Hallucination and Psychic Shriek for his powers. Innes' Dominus got to make one weapon master-crafted as his warlord trait.

Battle Report 40- 2000 pts White Scars/Mechanicus vs Tau

This week's battle report features a combined army of my White Scars and Innes' Mechanicus taking on Shaun's Tau (complete with Stormsurge!). Innes and I were practicing for an upcoming doubles tournament (the reports for which will be coming soon) and wanted to test our army against a tough force. Enter Shaun's Tau, who have been racking up a string of victories in the Medusa IV campaign.

We would be playing a maelstrom mission at 2000 pts, in what promised to be a hyper competitive game. Those with an aversion to cheese should look away now.

 

My 1000 points army consisted of:

Kor'sarro Khan- Moondakken (with CS)

Librarian- Mastery level 1, Bike, Meltabombs, Hunter's Eye (with CS or L)

5 Command Squad- 4 Grav guns, Apothecary, Storm Shield (CS)

5 Bikers- 2 Grav guns, sergeant has meltabombs (B1)

5 Bikers- 2 Grav guns, sergeant has meltabombs (B2)

5 Scouts- Bolt pistols, combat weapons, Sergeant has Meltabombs (S)

Landspeeder Storm- Cerberus launcher, Heavy bolter (LS)

Drop Pod- Storm Bolter (DP)

Stormtalon- TL assault cannons, Skyhammer missile launcher (ST)

 

Innes' 1000 points army consisted of:
 

Dominus Maniple

Tech Priest Dominus- Raiment of the Technomartyr, Volkite Blaster, Macrostubber, Conversion Field, Infoslave skull (TD)

10 Skitarri Vanguard- 3 Plasma Calivers, Omnispex, Vanguard Alpha with Arc Pistol and Arc Maul, Conversion Field and Radium. (V)

Onager Dunecrawler- Neutron Laser and Cognis Heavy Stubber, Cognis Manipulator (D)

 

Oathsworn Detachment

Mechanicum Cerastus Knight Atropos- Occular Augmetics. (K)

Khan was the warlord to give me Scout and the Librarian rolled on Telepathy, actually managing to get Invisibilty, along with Psychic Shriek.
 

My army was designed to be fast and hard hitting. Khan was there to provide Scout to the army, as well as a leadership buff thanks to his Warlord Trait. The Librarian was there to take the Hunter's Eye to give me some Ignores Cover shooting and the +1 BS should help out with the psychic shriek. He was also fortunate enough to get Invisibility.

Battle Report 37- 1500 pts Dark Angels vs Tau

Welcome to my first battle report of 2016! This week's battle report saw my Dark Angels take on Scott's Tau in an Eternal War mission. I had not played against Scott before, but had played with him in a Doubles Tournament where my White Scars and his Tau took on an Astra Militarum/Adeptus Mechanicus army. I would be interesting to see how the game progressed.

 

My army consisted of:

Interrogator-Chaplain- Bike, Auspex, Mace of Redemption (IC)

Librarian- Mastery level 2, Bike (L)

10 Tactical Marines- Plasma gun, sergeant with meltabombs (TS1)

Rhino (R)

5 Tactical Marines- Plasma Cannon (TS2)

5 Devastators- 3 Missile Launchers, Lascannon (D1)

Dreadnought- Assault Cannon, Heavy Flamer (D2)

Drop Pod (DP)

5 Black Knights- Huntsmaster has meltabombs (BK)

5 Ravenwing Bikers- 2 Grav guns, sergeant has meltabombs (RB1)

4 Ravenwing Bikers- 2 Meltaguns, sergeant has meltabombs (RB2)
Darkshroud- Assault Cannon (D3)

Whirlwind (W)

 

My warlord trait gave me Feel no Pain when in range of an objective. My psychic powers were Mind Worm, Righteous Repugnance and Mind Wipe.

 

A different army from what I have been running with my Dark Angels (a lot fewer bikers than normal!). I chose the Interrogator-Chaplain to lead the force. Armed with a Mace of Redemption, he is a formidable force in combat and a huge boost for the Black Knights I was taking. He was backed up by a Librarian on a bike. With the lack of Tau psykers, I was hopeful that he would be able to achieve something in the game.

I then take a tactical squad in a rhino for some objective grabbing and a unit with a plasma cannon (great for taking on Tau suits). The Devastators were also picked to provide some high strength firepower to deal with any big Tau suits that Scott may bring.

I also wanted to try out a Dreadnought in a drop pod to add some punch to the army. A heavy flamer and assault cannon should make a mess of any fire warriors when it arrives. I added three unit of bikers; the almost-compulsory black knights and two units of bikers with grav guns and meltaguns for dealing with any Riptides. Lastly, I took a Whirlwind to target any Fire Warriors in the army.

 

Battle Report 35- 1750 pts White Scars vs Chaos Space Marines

This week's battle report sees my White Scars take on Iain's Chaos Space Marines. Iain is a recent addition to the Medusa IV map campaign that I am running and we finally got a chance to play one another (we have had games scheduled in the past that were cancelled last minute due to illness or weather).

I have been playing the same kind of army with my White Scars for a while now, practising for tournaments and refining my standard list. I decided for this game to try something new, to take units that I wouldn't normally play and to mix things up a little.

 

My list consisted of:

COMBINED ARMS DETACHMENT

Captain- Bike, Glaive of Vengeance, Hunter's Eye

5 Command Squad- Banner of the Eagle, Apothecary, 3 Grav guns, 2 Storm Shields

5 Bikers- 2 grav guns, Sergeant with power axe and meltabombs

5 Bikers- 2 grav guns, Sergeant with power axe and meltabombs

Stormraven- TL assault cannons, TL Heavy Bolters, 4 Missiles, 2 Hurricane bolters

5 Terminators- Thunder Hammers and Storm Shields

 

SKYHAMMER ANNIHILATION FORCE

5 Devastators- 4 Missile Launchers

Drop Pod- Deathwind Missile Launcher, Locator Beacon

5 Devastators- 4 Heavy Bolters

Drop Pod- Locator Beacon

5 Assault Marines- Sergeant with Power fist and meltabombs

5 Assault Marines- Flamer, Sergeant with Power Sword and Meltabombs

 

Battle Report 34- 1200 pts Orks vs Orks

This week's battle report features a civil war between Ork Clans- My Deathskulls army takes on Sebastian's Bad Moon Orks in a straight up brawl for supremacy.

My army consisted of:

Warboss- Power Claw, Shoota, Eavy Armour, Bosspole (With SL1)

Painboy (With SL1)

25 Shoota Boyz- Nob with power claw and Bosspole, 3 Big Shootas (SB1)

24 Slugga Boyz- Nob with power claw and Bosspole, 3 Big Shootas (SL1)

16 Stormboyz- Nob with power claw and Bosspole (ST1)

6 Warbikers- Nob with power claw and Bosspole (WB)

12 Slugga Boyz- Trukk with big shoota (TB)

Wartrakk- Scorcha (W1)

Wartrakk- Scorcha (W2)

Deff Dread- 3 Power Claws, Scorcha (DD)

 

My army is always led by a Warboss. He is the toughest in the mob and allows me to Waaagh if I want to. I took him with a power claw and some armour for protection. I also supported him with a Painboy. I thought he would be more useful than a Big Mek with Kustom force field, as I would get the Feel no Pain bonus in combat too.