3rd Company Dark Angels vs Salamanders

 

"It's not easy being green"

I invited my mate Sgt Waz over to give me a lesson on how 7^th Ed. 40K works and see where he was up to with his Armies on Parade work. I haven’t been an active player of 40K since 6^th Edition, and even then I can count on one hand how many actual games I played; most of my experience comes from earlier rule-sets. Needless to say, I have a lot of catching up to do and my only experience with flyers has been a disastrous outing against a Heldrake with my Nids.

The Sergeant brought a superb little Salamanders force led by Vulkan He’stan (I call him “Charlton”). It included two tactical squads with Rhino transports, a terminator squad, a Landraider Redeemer, Stormraven, two Storm Talons and a Venerable Dreadnought. The addition of the flyers makes this a very different force to the one I haunted with my Nids early in 6^th (I took Charlton's head many times).

I put together a force of 3^rd Company Dark Angels, knowing full well that they would be unequal to the task. My command squad was led by Balam, armed with the Lion’s Roar combi-plasma. I also armed Company Champion Valefor with the Monster Slayer of Caliban, which is naughty; Sgt Waz and have never let rules get in the way of a good laugh. I also took the Standard of Devastation because I wanted to see how useful it was with two squads of bog-standard tactical marines. I piled them all in transports: a Razorback with twin-linked lascannons for the Command, a Landraider and a Rhino for the troops. Backing them up I chose a Venerable Dreadnought and a Chaplain Dreadnought. With my remaining points I brought along a Landspeeder with a Multimelta and my Techmarine with Power Field Generator.

So, I was nominally mobile with no air defence or real ability to apply pressure to the backfield…

Deployment

 Turn 1

We played using the Tactical Objectives cards and 6 objective markers. Sgt Waz set up first and chose to take the first turn (I failed to seize the initiative). Straight away he was getting up in my grill with the Stormtalons in the hunt for First Blood. He also moved his Redeemer up blocking passage across the river and setting up a contest for my closest objective markers. During the shooting phase my front line got hammered with assault cannon and lascannon shots, which were ineffective thanks to the Power Field Generator.

In return I maneuvered to improve my LOS and reduced the hull points of the Stormtalons with two penetrating lascannon shots. Vehicles are tougher to kill these days!

Turn 2

In the second turn Sgt Waz picked up his objective cards and chuckled to himself. He scored a point just for controlling a marker near his deployment zone and his Stormraven came thundering onto the board. He deployed his terminators and took First Blood by destroying my Chaplain Dreadnought. The Terminators charged my Landraider but couldn’t take it down. I picked up two identical objective cards that award d3+3 victory points for controlling every objective marker (fat chance).

My reserve Landspeeder landed behind the Redeemer and lined up a Multimelta shot. I deployed my Tactical squad and Command squad in position to shoot the terminators and moved my Venerable Dreadnought in place to charge the Redeemer. Lascannons slammed the Storm Talons out of the air and Company Master Balam opened up with the Lion’s Roar combi-plasma, immolating two terminators and two of my own tactical marines. If only Dark Angels were as good with plasma as Salamanders are with… everything else that is hot. The remaining fire took out another terminator and another tactical marine who overheated his plasma gun. The Landspeeder behind the Redeemer missed its million dollar shot. In the assault phase I knocked a hull point off the Redeemer.

 

When you're backing up in your own deployment zone during an objectives game, you are losing.

Turn 3

Sgt Waz earned another two point for holding objectives in his own backfield, and picked up some more easily achievable objectives. The Stormraven deployed his Venerable Dreadnought, Tactical squad and Charlton in my backfield, then moved to charge my Razorback with his terminators. The Redeemer and surviving terminators poured fire (literally) into my marines, torching five tactical marines but only one Command squad veteran. The Venerable Dreadnought missed its shot at my Landraider, but the Stormraven holed my Rhino. In close combat Charlton killed the Veteran Sergeant he challenged and the Terminators on the other side of my deployment zone destroyed my Razorback. In return I knocked two hull points off the Venerable Dreadnought and set up a charge with my own Dreadnought. My Command squad executed the final Terminator and my Landspeeder moved on hastily to contest an objective Sgt Waz had been holding with an empty Rhino. In close combat my Venerable Dreadnought utterly failed, needing to only remove one hull point to destroy his counterpart.

 

"Wait... are they on our side...?"

 

 

 

Executed.

 

Epic fail to penetrate.

Turn 4

By this stage it was clear the game was over and the Salamanders had beaten me soundly. Sgt Waz had a pile of completed objectives whilst I was stuck with impossible ones, mainly due to the limitations of my list, deployment and the immense pressure he able to bring to bear so rapidly. And, seriously, Salamandars get to re-roll everything! We played out one more turn with the loss of my tactical squad (facing Charlton), my Landraider to multiple twin-linked multimelta shots and half of my Command Squad. My Landspeeder missed another shot at the Rhino and Balam failed to do any damage with his powerfist on the Redeemer.

So… lesson learned and fun had. The game has certainly changed since I was last competitive, and I have some work to do before I see success again. Time to get some flyers and get some Deathwing/Ravenwing synergy going on.

See you across the table,

M4cr0

Armies on Parade

Have you got a fellow gamer that constantly throws down the gauntlet, pushing you to become a better painter and modeller? Well, for me that person is Sgt Waz. He has always been ahead of the curve when it comes to painting techniques and converting, at least in my local gaming group. The Sergeant is always willing to lend a hand and participate in painting workshops, particularly at the pointy end of a project, though every now and then he'll glue your turret on crooked (Bwah ha ha: out comes the razor saw!). Since I have known him he has worked on many projects, including Black Templars, Eldar, Tyranids, Salamanders and Sisters of Battle. Here are a couple of his pieces:

 

 

The Sergeant and I have been playing 40K together for about 10 years, having studied together in the same research lab. In fact, the first year we worked together I didn’t even see him for the first 6 months. I did cover for him almost every day though:

PhD supervisor: “Where is [Sgt Waz]?”

Me: “In the biolab.”

Now, I had no idea whether he was there or not, that was just what we said. He was probably at Games Workshop or the movies or something. Since then he has helped me with many projects, including my Deathwing Librarian and Deathwatch Techmarine.

He has the wonderful habit of giving Birthday presents that are fully constructed, painted and ready to play (I tend to fiddle around with them a fraction just to make myself feel useful). One such model, which the guys gave me last year, is having some work done to it right now… so keep an eye out for it.

This year Sgt Waz is going to be entering his Nid army in an Armies on Parade competition and, as I don’t have the conviction yet to enter myself, I thought I would share his progress. As you can see he has nearly finished his display board and I am reliably told that he is working to base all of his Nids so that they are consistent. I have no idea how he is going to place everything, but I am looking forward to finding out. He has also modelled some smoke and installed LEDs to represent an engine fire and illuminate the turbo laser compartment.

 

 

When he has populated the display with some Nids I’ll get him to send me another couple of shots. I have only had the pleasure of playing alongside his Hivefleet once, in the twilight of the last Nid Codex, but we stole so many genes. Cheers Sergeant and good luck!

See you across the table,

M4cr0

Pirates of the Spanish Main

Hi folks,

In case you missed it, last Friday was international Talk Like a Pirate Day. It reminded me of a game I played a while back, circa 2005, called Pirates of the Spanish Main. My bucks party that year had a particularly… pirate-esque theme. My close mates bought a broad spectrum of rum and a bog-load of Pirates of the Spanish Main booster packs. We divvied them up, most of us having absolutely no idea what to expect, and constructed our fleets. You generally get two ships per pack, though I managed to get a real monster, the HMS Lord Algernon, which took up a pack all by itself. I also snaffled a nasty Pirate Captain called Blackheart. I have no idea how that game ended, or who won, it was that kind of night.

Anyway, I managed to find my fleet whilst cleaning up my garage the other night, so I cracked it out and had a game with the wifey. The game itself is quite simple. Each player chooses a fleet of ships and can choose to take special crew members. Islands are placed around the playing area, each with a secret quantity of treasure. To win the game you need to get at least half the available treasure to your home island.

 

Each ship has its own:

1)      movement characteristic based on the edges of the card stock (S/Short Edge, L/Long Edge or any combination)

2)      Number of masts (which act as hit points),

3)      Storage space (used to transport treasure and crew)

4)      Cannons which vary in power and range

5)      Special abilities

HMS Lord Algernon, for example, has S manoeuvrability (blaaargh), 5 masts (wow), 3 storage (not bad), two short range cannons and three long range cannons that all cause damage on 3s (amazing) and the ability to ignore the first mast lost result each turn if it has not lost any masts previously. In short: this ship is an absolute tank.

 

 

For the game we split my fleet in two. I took HMS Lord Algernon and the Zephyr, a highly manoeuvrable boat that is good at boarding raids. Wifey took the Batavian Bat, which is a reasonably fast three master which is resistant to long range fire, and the El Ladron, a close range monster with three masts.

Early in the game I zipped the Zephyr forwards to grab some loot, but she was sunk fairly quickly by El Ladron. HMS Lord Algernon replied by stripping the Batavian Bat of its masts over two turns of brutal fire.

 

El Ladron and HMS Lord Algernon docked at opposite ends of the treasure island and spent a few turns loading up gold. Both ships fired some long range shots as we pulled away and headed for our respective home islands. El Ladron lost two masts but used its superior speed to pull out of range to undergo repairs. Wifey flipped her treasure pieces and found that she had recovered a whopping 5 gold; 1 gold away from victory. HMS Lord Algernon crawled into harbour to unload 3 gold, then headed straight back out.

 

 

The race was on, I decided to forego the opportunity to repair in order to make it back to the island before El Ladron. I captured the last pieces of gold but copped a deadly broadside that took me down to two masts. After weighing up the options I rammed El Ladron, taking down its final mast and leaving it derelict. As I pulled away, a sniping long range shot finally sank it.

 

 

After the game wifey and I did a quick search to see if we could buy some more packs. Considering the fact that the game is no longer being produced, there are quite a few online shops with boosters still in stock. Maybe sometime in the future we’ll pick up another fleet so that we can play a proper game against each other. In the meantime, I know there have to be some fleets hidden away in my mates’ collections. Have a look guys, it would be great to hoist the colours one more time.

See you across the table,

M4cr0

Iron Snakes: Veteran Sergeant Thanatos

 

 

                

"As for you, Achilles, no one was ever yet so fortunate as you have been, nor ever will be, for you were adored by all us Argives as long as you were alive, and now that you are here you are a great prince among the dead. Do not, therefore, take it so much to heart even if you are dead."

"'Say not a word,' he answered, 'in death's favour; I would rather be a paid servant in a poor man's house and be above ground than king of kings among the dead.'"

 

Homer's Oddysey (Book XI)

 

Hi folks,

 

I have finally finished the Veteran Sergeant of my Iron Snakes Sternguard: Veteran Sergeant Thanatos. The last step of the painting process involved painting the spear tip, which was a little pain in the butt. I tried out quite a few ideas before settling on a blue glow effect. The project itself was inspired by the passage above, in which Odysseus meets his friend Achilles in the underworld. 

 







 



In Greek mythology, Thanatos (Death) is the twin of Hypnos (Sleep). He is described as follows:

"...the other has a heart of iron, and his spirit within him is pitiless as bronze: whomsoever of men he has once seized he holds fast: and he is hateful even to the deathless gods."

Now that sounds like he means business! I have some ideas for house-rules that will represent this guy as a seemingly deathless, pitiless, champion of close combat. There will be more about that when I get this little force finished in a few months time...

See you across the table,

M4cr0

P.S. I really need a new camera, my phone just isn't cutting it. It is so hard to justify the expenditure when there are other cool things to buy!