Slowburn Month 2: 2v2 Games Day at ITE Central

It is the end of Month 2 for the Slowburn League at Titan Games and this time we had the opportunity to participate in a Games Day. This was held in conjunction with the Campus Game Fest held over at ITE Central. Starting at 12PM, we broke off into groups of 2. Owing to the size of the venue, each 2v2 grouping only had 4x4 play space. It was a little cramp but overall it turned out excellent. 

Keeping the games simple, these were the rules we played to:

1. 500 points per player. This army must be fully painted with completed bases.
2. Armies should be composed using detachments or formations found in the main rulebook or faction specific books.
3. Two Rounds of games with random pairing per round (i.e. you will be playing with a random player each Round). Pairing will be drawn out of a hat.
4. You will be playing two of the six Maelstrom Missions from the main 40k Rulebook. The mission will be randomly determined on the actual Games Day itself.
5. The pair will score and are treated as one individual throughout that pairing.
6. The pair will nominate a Warlord for that Round and declare it to the opponent.
7. For the duration of the pairing, both players share Maelstrom Mission Victory Objectives and Points.
8. Faction restrictions remain the same (e.g. Come the Apocalypse remain Come the Apocalypse – all restrictions remain).
9. Power Dice for the Psychic Phase will be determined based on 1D6 and this will be shared by the pair.
10. For the purpose of the 2v2, the pair will use the Tactical Mission Objective cards instead of the faction specific cards.
11. Win: 3 points, Lose: 1 point, Draw: 2 points. Tie breakers are determined using the difference in Maelstrom Mission Victory Points so do keep track of your round scores and report it to the Organizer. 

The Participants were:
1. Wei Ming
2. Samuel Kan
3. Mark Ong
4. Edward Goh
5. Austin
6. Timothy Dorville
7. XY
8. Charles Lee
9. Raymond Tan
10. Marshall Sim
11. Rico Chia
12. Melvin Cheng
13. Alan Maybury
14. Tze Min Lim

With 14 players, it meant 2 players had to duke it out as a 1v1 which turned out to be excellent. It created a scenario where you need to bring balanced lists! 

Here are some pics of the event and some of the games I played in. 

The first mission was Contact Lost, forcing us each to capture Objectives in order to generate more Tactical Objectives

My first match up was with Charles and he brought Grey Knights. Our opponents were Alan and Defeng who played Dark Eldar and Imperial Guard. It was a close game and at the end, we lost by 1 VP! If that Drop Pod had survived, we would have secured Line Breaker and drew the game! 

The table to my right had Rico (Necrons) and Sam (Nids) paired up against Marshall (IG) and Edward (Chaos)

More games at the back with White Scars by Zim vs Necrons by XY. Not too sure who were the others. 

Rico as always pulling out best painted stuff! So sickly sweet! 

We played on Table 1 and this was aptly named. We kept rolling ones.

Glorious last stand by Librarian Xavier (Charles Xavier, get it? X-Men reference right there)

After consolidating the results, YC (whom I have to thank for the excellent job of creating a powerful spreadsheet with Defeng to monitor the results) put us into our next pairs. I was teamed up with Tim and played against Alan (AGAIN!) and Marshall.

The second mission was The Spoils of War, where each side will "share" Secure Objective cards, effectively allowing you to "steal" the opponents' Tactical Objectives.

Tim and I decided to play the Refused Flank strategy and went for the objectives from turn 1.

Behind me, Zim was playing with Melvin and Charles was teamed up with Defeng

First Turn

This game was extremely hard fought with the game going strong early. I have found a new hero in my list and he will be getting an Honour Roll for his armour. His name is Hiron and he will be promoted!

Brother Hiron's unit disembarked from his Drop Pod together with Sergeant Gorro. It was deep in enemy territory and he had a desperate mission. Gorro opened fire on the Chimera hidden behind the ruins and managed to take it out with his Combo Melta. Subsequently, the Guardsmen realised the threat and opened up on the unit, taking everyone out except for Hiron. Brother Hiron threw himself through the wall, punching through the broken door and came face to face with the enemy Warlord. Picking himself up, he fired with his Bolt Pistol and let out a resounding shout to the Emperor and charged right in. Sanguinus was with him that day. He struck true and felled a Guardsmen. The enemy was caught surprised by the moment and having seen what the embodiment of the Emperor could do, quaked in their pants. The enemy Warlord would have no more of this and fled the battlefield. Brother Hiron picked himself up, leaped up to take cover in the ruins. Mission was a success. 

Brother Hiron's actions managed to secure the Tactical Objective twice and scored my team 3VPs for Slaying the Warlord. A true hero.

Brother Calistus joined up with the Wolves to provide some good Feel (No Pain). 

After tabulating the scores, the top scoring players were Tze Min and Edward. Tze Min came out as numero uno due to VP scores while Edward came in 2nd. Marshall came in 3rd.

It was an awesome day. Not only we managed to play with different people, but the hall was full of other gaming goodness. I hope you guys all felt the same way too!

750 points for next month! I will be working my lists to play at the 1000 point Games Day we will be running at the end of Month 4 so stay tuned! 

Kill Team 2v2

After we finished the Month End Show and Tell, a majority of the boyz broke off to play some good old Kill Team. YC, Marshall, Mark and myself decided to slug it out. It was a 2v2 with Kill Teams. 

Marshall and myself would form the Red Alliance while YC and Mark would form Team Lime (YC's army is yellow while Mark was playing Greenskins). 4x4 table, we rolled and got the 1st Mission from the book. It was a race to get the objectives. 

Deployed and ready to engage

Mandatory Crotch Shot. Lime deployment

The Blood Angels advance while the brave Guardsmen hang back

A sea of red

The Limes advance under the cover of the buildings

2 objectives were in Lime's zone so we had to push forward, the BA taking the brunt of the firepower

Manny tanked 10 wounds and made all his saves. A true hero

Leaving only Brother Fazio to guard the right flank

That pesky Gretchin eventually shot Manny down

With the Blood Angels down, the Guardsmen now had to advance

Under punishing shots, the Lime Alliance fell

This Gretchin had glorious luck surviving shots after shots. It was only a powerful charge by Sergeant Bruce that killed him

The Red Alliance managed to wipe the table and took the game home. Ouch

Now that Month 1 is over, the true games will begin as players start to escalate and add units to their armies. To make it more interesting, each player can supplement their armies from their existing collections as long as they are able to complete their 250 points pledge at the end of Month 2.This will be an interesting time! 

Hobby Update and Slowburn Games

So I managed to get some new materials on my Scouts and hope to use it to contrast against the lighter grey. However, after showing it to Rico at Titan today, he suggested maybe I paint them darker grey so not to draw attention away from the actual mini. I will try adding tuft once Titan brings it in. Here's a pic of what it looked like prior to the touch-up

Hobby update!

Marshall had some extra time today and invited me to play a game prior to dinner with his GF. I opted to play a 500 point game with the following list:

Brother Calistarius: Librarian in Terminator armour, Storm Bolter and Force Axe
Orion's Scout Squad: 5 Scouts with Sniper Rifles and Camo cloaks
Rayzor's Tactical Squad: 10 Tactical Marines with Multimelta
Sicaran Battle Tank with lascannon sponsons and Dozer Blade

Marshall fielded a force with Pask in his Punisher, Leman Russ Vanquisher, 2 units of Veterans with Autocannons. A quick calculation at the end of the game revealed that Marshall took about 570 points. This is the quick rep.

We played the Maelstrom Mission 2: Contact Lost. Marsh won the roll to go first and I failed to sieze the initiative.

I deployed the force in a semi refused flank

Love this view! 

Marsh scores 2 VP

And another VP in Turn 2

Pask survives on 1 Hull Point and I am struggling to take that tank out

Finally managed to score 1VP

But in Turn 3, Marsh scores another

I charge into his unit in Turn 3 and ran them off the board

Managed to score 1 VP

About Turn 4, I had little left. I could not take down that Punisher. Arm14 

So I conceded the game at the end of 4. There was little I could do to take down that Punisher which I felt single handedly forced my game. I have also realised an inherent weakness with my list. I swapped the Multi Melta for a Lascannon and brought in another Marine toting a Grav Gun to complement Sergeant Rayzor. I have also downgraded the Librarian to just Power Armour keeping him cheap and allowing my Tacticals to chase after opponents fleeing.

We had some time so we whipped out our 200 point Kill Team lists out. We rolled the King of the Hill mission.

Red vs Red! 

Unfortunately I lost every man to those lasguns! Looks like I forgot to turn my armour on! 

I knew I needed some heavy weapon options in my Tactical Squad so I picked up a box of Devastators. Unfortunately it lacked Blood Angel iconography so I whipped out my extra box of Blood Angels Tactical Marines. I swapped the shoulder pads, legs and front chest piece (on hindsight, the chest piece was not necessary).

Work work! 

Even added a broken pipe to his base for urban goodness

Hope you guys are enjoying your hobby too! 

Apocalypse: Shield of Baal Exterminatus

After 7 weeks of hard campaigning and both sides have their rewards for their factions, it was time for the finale. I would also like to thank Titan Games for being excellent hosts, being supportive by dedicating a place for us to play and giving us participation prizes. 

Shout-out goes out to all the players who participated and continued in the drive to secure the Baal System. 

This time it would be something different. Rather than just using the apocalypse ruleset and win conditions, we would be using the 8th scenario from the Shield of Baal Exterminatus. These were the forces that partook in the grand battle of Tartoros: Fallen Hope.

Tyranids brought a total of 9,000 points of gribllies including a BioTitan (Alien Queen)

The Alliance of Imperials and Necrons used their 600 extra points to purchase massive structures and Imperial Knights

Based on the scenario, the Tyranids had to deploy first and the Imperials would go first. The mission was simple, secure the objective sitting in the middle of the Tyranid table.

Shield of Baal - Apocalypse

After 6 weeks of campaigning, each faction scored bonuses for the final game which took place yesterday at Titan Games. Props to them for supporting this campaign, providing us not only a dedicated place to play but supplying us with food and even sponsoring the prizes at the end! 

As for the players, each player contributed to the greater fight by taking on opponents on the opposing faction and scoring bonuses which helped in the Apocalypse. 

Apoc in progress

Batrep 1850: Shield of Baal - Week 3 Astra Militarium vs Hivefleet Leviathan

Fresh off the disastrous Week 2 where the Imperium forces were forced into a massive rout by the Hivefleet Leviathan, remnants of the 43rd Vallorians have pulled back into the city of Asphodex to consolidate our defences and try to stem this tide called Hivefleet Leviathan.

Excerpt from logged communications, Sector 13, Asphodex, Day 18 :

0650 - 43rd Vallorians have reached Sector 13. Assuming defense of sector. Regiment at 43% combat efficiency. Request immediate resupply. 

0845 - Request acknowledged. Enginseers enroute for mechanical repairs. Knight Paladin of House Thenn seconded to 43rd Vallorians.

1315 - Multiple xenos signatures registered at outskirts of Sector 13 and approaching. Request immediate air support and back-up. 

1338 - Xenos sightings acknowledged. 43rd Vallorians are to hold Sector 13 for the Emperor.

1345 - Sector 13 is under attack. I repeat, Sector 13 is under heavy Xenos attack. 

1437 - Zone 3 is lost. I repeat Zone 3 is lost. All other zones under heavy attack.

1542 - Multiple zones lost. I repeat, multiple zones lost. We need immediate back-up. We cannot hold out for long. May the Emperor protect us all...

++++++++++++

With a new army list that now has Flyers in my list, I played a 1850 game against Marshall's Hivefleet Leviathan.

I brought :

Tank Commander in LR Eradicator w/ Lascannon and Multi-melta sponsons.
in squadron with 1x LR Eradicator w/ Lascannon and Multi-melta sponsons.

Enginseer w/ 2x Servitors w/ Multi-Melta
Enginseer w/ 2x Servitors w/ Multi-Melta

Veteran Squad w/ 3 Meltaguns in Chimera
Platoon Command Squad
2x Infantry Squad w/ Meltagun
2x Heavy Weapon Team w/ 2x Autocannon and 1 Lascannon

3x Vendetta Squadrons

1x Knight Paladin

Marshall brought :

2x Flyrants
2x Malanthrope
3x Hive Guards
20x Termagants
3x Moculid Mines
2x Ripper Swarms
Unit of 3 Biovares
Unit of 3 Warriors
Exocrine
3x Carniflexes dakka-style

Batrep: Hivefleet Leviathan vs Astra Militarum - Battle for Lysios

Continuing the 7 part series for the Shield of Baal campaign that I am running at Titan Games, this is one of the games that contributed to the Tyranid war effort.

Week 2: The Great Corral

Lysios was the first planet in the Cryptus System to feel the full weight of the Tyranid invasion. Lysios is a desolate wilderness, its lands and cities scoured by a slow-moving tidal wave of water and debris. The inhabitants lived in huge crawler hulks, constantly moving to keep ahead of the perpetual tsunami. When the Tyranids struck, the crawler hulks were drawn up into a defensive corral, protected from the Tyranids by the Warriors of the Imperium.

An additional Strategic Asset for the winning Faction during the Apocalypse on Cryptus following all rules for Selecting Strategic Assets (pg 30 of the Apocalypse Book)

Mission with special rules

Deployment map

ABOcalypse June 2014

And so we gathered for a ABO Apocalypse game at Titan Games recently. It was great fun gathering with friends to play a 40k Apocalypse game although some of us could not make it due to the Plaguefather. Nevertheless, we had great fun!

We were playing 6.5k a side with IG and Marines on all sides. Several Super Heavies made the field too. I had wanted to play with 4 Imperial Knight Paladins marching forward together alongside fellow IG beef_nuggets but due to unforeseen circumstances I had to play against him and so I had 1 Imperial Knight Paladin against his 3.

So it was the crazyrat and me (Chaos) against Skanwy and beef_nuggets (Imperium). Death to the False Emperor! It's me and crazyrat together again and our epic fellowship will continue with more fluffs.

We were playing with 4 objectives, 1 in each deployment zone and 2 in no man's land.

                                                                Setting up the units.

ABO First 7th Edtion Apocalypse game

Had our first Apocalypse game. Got the chance to organize the game with ABO gaming buddies. 

Using 7th edition 40K rules. The game was planned to be played at around 10k points per side with 6 players. Due to Nurgle striking 2 players, we had to play the game with 6.5k points per side with 4 players. Got to thank Titan Games LGS for hosting the game.

Imperium 

IG - 4k

Flesh tearers (BA) - 2.5k

Chaos

IG - 4k

Alpha Legion (30k) - 2.5k

The game was a blast. Never had such crazy fun in 40k for awhile, with super heavies failing spectacularly, daemons summoning left and right, rampaging knight titans, mass air battles between the IG. The action never stop.. well before turn 4. I will let Jaeroler post the more detail post on the game. Here are some pictures..

Alpha Legion Terminators strike at the heart of the Imperium lines

Batrep: Altansar Eldar vs Astra Militarum 1850

Just finished a game with Abdullah over at PI Midpoint. 1850 of Eldar vs Astra Militarum. I brought my usual list comprising the following:

HQ
Farseer: Jetbike, Witchblade, Runes of Witnessing
Farseer: Jetbike, Witchblade, Runes of Witnessing

Troops
Dire Avengers x5: Wave Serpent (TL Scatter Laser, Shuriken Cannon, Holo Fields)
Guardians x10: Wave Serpent (TL Scatter Laser, Shuriken Cannon, Holo Fields)
Guardians x10: Wave Serpent (TL Scatter Laser, Shuriken Cannon, Holo Fields)
Jetbikers x3
Jetbikers x3
Jetbikers x3

Fast Attack
Warp Spiders x8
Warp Spiders x8

Heavy
War Walkers x3: Each armed with Bright Lances x2
Wraithknight: Heavy Wraithcannons x2

The Altansar army gathers for war

Taurox Prime: Fire Engines of the Imperium

The Taurox, definitely one of the more controversial kits in recent times. You either loved it or totally loathed it. But like many GW kits it would eventually fit into the range as we get used to the model and accept the fluff in the wider scheme of the 40K universe. 

I honestly vomitted in my mouth the first time I saw the leaked pics. And I thought to myself that's money saved. But as I looked at the model in various colorways it slowly settled down as an "ok" model. 

Initially I contemplated painting up the Scions & Taurox the same as my main Guard army, Cadians which were blue and white. But after reading the fluff and the Militarum Tempestus codex I realized that they operated more like an external strike force from the usual Guard regiments. So I wanted to paint them up as striking and different as the rest of my Guard regiments. (Cadians were Blue, Catachans were Green/Grey and Steel Legion were Russian Green). 

I settled on a Red & White colour scheme to make them stand out from the normal grunts. And went on to do a little research on real world red/white schemes. I then came across my local Civil Defence forces Fire Engines. 

Started out with the usual Black Primer and worked straight into the airbrushing. Did a basic post shading with white and then the model was hit with a generous spray of Vallejo Model Air Italian Red. I also worked on the armour of the Scion troopers as well.

 The next highlight step was with Vallejo Model Air Orange.

 Working the details I began with the metal areas with Citadel Mithril Silver.

 Followed by the usual black wash all over to shade and dull it down. I used Army Painter Dark Tone. Which is extremely similar to the old Citadel range of washes Badab Black. So similar i suspect it's the exact same stuff. It even smells the same. Don't take my word for it go smell it for yourself.

 After all the shade was dried I applied the White colours. With my usual method of painting white, Citadel Astronomican Grey followed by a few coats of Vallejo Model Colour Foundation White.

After all the paint was dry I put on the transfers and the model was all set.

Now my own Fire Engines are ready to get into firefights of their own!