Daemons, they're everywhere, I tell you.

For our regular game, Shaun and I tried a daemon bash. In all the years that I have played 40K, I have never played daemons against daemons. It was interesting, and different from normal games in that everything has an invulnerale save and is fearless. The carnage is spectacular. We both failed to get our chosen demi-force on the table and had to settle for the smaller. The objectives were the daemon statue, the ruined fort and the temple, and we agreed that all units were scoring.

I played an all-Slaaneshi force while Shaun had a Khorne army. I landed closer to the objectives and controlled two on the drop. Shaun got the third.


I siezed the Temple and Fort, with a strategy of holding by pre-emptive attacks. My experience of Slaaneshi daemons is that they are not good defensively so should be used offensively.


The Seekers charged and topped a Herald of Khorne but then got creamed. I charged my daemonettes off the Fort into the massed ranks of Khornites and my daemon prince charged the juggers and bloodletter. This proved to be optimistic as a strategy, even foolish.


My centre was wiped out and Shaun captured the Fort. I still held the Temple. On turn six I dropped my last reinforcement right on top of the Statue. Shaun, went second, moved into close combat but failed to dislodge me.

So at the end, I held the Temple, Shaun the Fort, and the Statue was contested - a very satisfying draw.

The Xmas Game

The Lambshead family, now the Lambshead-Fordham family after this months nuptials, always sit down after Xmas dinner for a game en famille. This year it was City Monopololy. The mem'sahib won with £52m worth of property. No 1 daughter came second with £42m and I had £25m, My new son-in-law showed earnings of only £50K after tax dedections, he is employed as an accountant in real life, and No2 daughter had spent all her money at Top shop and was bust.

Apocolypse Verdun

The Autumn Holiday has arrived so it is time for an Apocolypse! We used a six table board with a wide boulevard seperating two lines of buildings and leading to a park. The battle objectives were to control tables.


Inquisitor Shaun found evidence that Chapter Master Mike of the Dark Angels was treating with Xenos scum - his father Stephen. Our noble Inquisitor demanded an explanation but none was forthcoming so he formed a purging team based around a Stormlord that he used to anchor his left flank.



He also co-opted a mechanised detachment from the Imperial Guard, commanded by me. I divided my force into three. In the centre I deployed a baneblade backed up by a Leman Russ and a Hydra.



I placed a Leman Russ platoon, two depleted troops, on the right flank with a Colossus. The latter has a siege mortor with a twenty foot range so it could cover the table from this point.




Mike and Stephen opted for an agressive strategy. The Dark Angels deep struck on the left flank, bottling in the Inquisitorial forces.


Similarly, Stephen pushed his skimmers into our line. Shaun and I wreaked carnage on their forces but we lost sight of our objectives somewhere in the five turns that we played.


Late on I brought my third force on, two Valkyrie carring veterans, to contest their rear areas but it was too little too late.


At the end of the game my tanks were still embroiled on our start line.

I looked at the slaughter and had the happy delusion that the forces of light had won. It was some time before reality soaked into the spongy mass that I am pleased to call my brain. We did not even control our own objectives, let alone our theirs.

So congratulations to Mike and Stephen who focussed on victory, made a plan and stuck to it.

Planet Strike - First Game

I played my first game of Planetstrike last weekend. I was the attacker with a Daemon Army and my friend Shaun deployed his IG and three Bastions as the defenders. Both armies were around 2,000 points.

I started with the Firestorm and rolled nine attacks. We agreed that Guard units targetted could take cover in their lines. Ducking and covering gave them a 2+ save so few were killed but most units were 'gone to ground'.

All the daemons can deep-strike by definition so the bulk of my army arrived on turn one in the midst of the defenses and could assault straight from deep strike (Planet Strike rule). We agreed a house rule that the Guard would still get the 2+ save on the first turn of combat but that only delayed matters a little. By the end of turn three the Guard were mincemeet and it was all over.

The Bations Interceptor guns had little impact on the game, performing better as normal guns.

The Planet Strike Rules combine to make a daemon attacker damn near unstoppable; there was nothing Shaun could do.

One could remove the firestorm from daemons as that would leave the defender up and shooting on turn one.

Anyone else played a game yet?

John

The Taking of Firebase 812

There was a breakthrough in the siege lines around Vrak in front of Renegade Firebase 812.

Firebase 812 was heavily fortified with plastcrete walls on top of a ridge overlooking a killing zone that was cleared of cover except for a downed shuttle. Heavy mortars from here supported the front trenches. After they fell, the mortars were used to bombard Imperial infantry consolidating on the position. The Krieg infantry requested support and a Cadian armoured battlegroup was despatched through the gap on a deep raid.

Long range artillery laid smoke across the front of the firebase. When it cleared, the battlegroup was within range.

The Renegades were horrified to see two Baneblades on the left flank and a squadron of Leman Russ on the right. Four squads of veterans and the company commander motored up the centre in chimeras. The firebase had just three anti-tank cannon and two dug in Malcadors for protection.

The first three pictures show the start lines and the closure of the battlegroup. Imperial tanks swept the parapets with fire. The defenders hunkered down. Most of the fire was deflected by the fortifications but not all.

The chimeras approached cautiously, firing as they came. This gave the defenders time to bombard the APCs, immobilising a couple. The Lieutenant in command of the chimeras panicked and debussed the Imperial veteran squads too far away from the defenders. Out in the open, the Imperials suffered heavy casualties from renegade shells.

The Baneblades climbed the ridge and fired down into the firebase, causing havoc. At this point, what was left of the renegade infantry and light vehicles poured from the outflanked fortifications to engage the Imperial forces. The Ogryn attacked the chimeras with various blunt objects. They managed to wreck the paintwork before expiring of drug overdose. The renegades had more luck against the Imperial infantry, wiping them out.

The firebase commander and squad threw themselves at a Baneblade, shooting it up with meltaguns and meltabombs. They blew three or four holes in the heavy armour but failed to do anything but minor damage.

The firebase was finished.

The battle took three nights to play and was great fun. I lost about 2K points of my 3K army. I destroyed about 1K points of Imperials. Fortifications are really effective; I only took fatal losses after my perimeter was breached. Heavy mortars are lethal against soft-skins but ineffective against armour.

The Vrak Renegade army list can hold its own against the new IG codex. I lost because I took the wrong army.

First battle with new IG codex

I played Shaun on our usual Sunday game. We both used the new IG Codex. It was clear that an IG army has a quite different feel now. It is much more dangerous. I used a platoon, two veteran squads, a command squad with commissar and primaris psycher, two squadrons of mixed Leman Russ tanks and a basic Valkyrie. I am in the process of building a new army to ake advantage of the new rules (many still unpainted). Shaun used a 4th edition army.

I used mobility to turn Shaun's left flank and roll up his line. Shaun had his usual appalling luck with dice but, even so, the new army outperformed the old one. The Valkyrie caused havoc. Exterminators are vicious anti-infantry machines. The Vanquisher is a useful tank hunter. Shaun's armoured Sentinels with lascannons turned out to be series bits of kit.

The real stars were the tooled up command squads. They get units stuck in and they are lethal combat squads. Command squads are so, so important.

Air Raid

My regular opponent, Shaun, and I have been working on a new scenario - Air Raid.

The idea is to set up a base, could be an airbase, a fire support base, HQ, supply dump or some combination.

The base is attacked from the air, including a number of flyers using the Apocalypse flyer rules. Non flyers have to be delivered by air, including jetbikes, teleports, deep strike etc. The defender should have air defence weapons. Winning and losing is about the amount of damage inflicted, depending on the scenario. The attacker has the first turn.

The game only last three turns. Air raids are quick in and outs. Apart from anything else, the planes run out of ammo and fuel.

Organised forces, such as Tau and Eldar use programmed entry. They write down, which turn their assets will appear. Only half can appear on the first turn.

Everyone else uses the reserves rule, with the proviso that you start rolling on turn 1, bumping all the probabilities up one turn.

We did a simple scenario to test the concept in our Sunday game. Basically it worked. I used my Flying Circus and rolled amazing dice throughout. All assets but the fightabomba arrived on turn 1. Shaun had his usual bad luck.

Six Deffcoptas swept across the base and un loaded on the Hydra, knocking it out on turn 1. That was critical. Three fightas shot up the Basilisks, knocking one out and the Black Baron strafed the Imperial flyers to no effect. The return fire from the shocked imperials went wild and failed to hit.

The fightabomba arrived on turn two and rocketed the Gorgon, but missed. The deffcoptas split into two squadrons. One took out an ammo crate and the other a Basilisk. The fightas all missed.

Leutenant Sparky, hastily put the spark plugs back in and drove the base's second Hydra out of the servicing depot. It took out a fighta with its first burst.

On the third turn the fightabomba dropped its full bombload on the parked Vulture - hur, hur, hur - a most satisfying bang. No other major damage was inflicted. In reply the Hydra took a second fighta down and an AA autocannon on a Salamander took a third.

The Circus decided to disengage at this point.

So the Orks lost three fightas.

The Imperials lost a Vulture, two Basilisks, a Hydra and a supply crate.

The Orks had a tactical victory but, strategically, I am not so sure. The orks lost three planes taking out three strategic assets. Counting a squadron of deffcoptas as equal to a plane that is three out of seven ‘units’, a loss rate of 43%. That seems high, even for Orks.

Conclusion: The scenario is great fun and all over in a couple of hours. We could easily double the size of the forces. The Imperials needed more firepower (which is why we brought the Hydra back).

John

PS Sorry about poor photos.

Siege of Vrak Sideshow

Unknown to the Imperium, Eldar came creeping from their webway onto Vraks. They searched an area of the planet well away from the contested city. A place where there is an old ruined temple. Other warp-energised eyes saw them. Eyes in psychers that passed messages to the Cardinal from the Gods. The aliens must be stopped.

A Vrak Renegade force sneaked from the eastern city to interdict the Eldar. The Cardinal sent two Malcador and an infantry platoon including a squad of Disciples and Enhanced Ogryn. The force was heavy in artillery with light and heavy mortor batteries and an antitank battery.

The Mortor barrages forced the Eldar to make a lightning strike at the Vrak line with their elite aspect warriors. After some initial successes, notably slaughtering the anti-tank battery, the warriors were attrited away by massed autogun and heavy bolter fire, and hand to hand combat with drug crazed Ogryn. All the time, mortors pounded their main force.

Both Malcador suffered engine failures, a fault of the breed, but served as immobile strongpoints.

John

The Eldar withdrew, leaving the field to the renegades. Whatever was in the temple was now the property of the heretic cardinal.

Clash at Formalhite

Ghastly Xenos desecrated His Imperial Majesty's city of Formalhite by their presence. The Imperial Guard despatched a substantial force to cleanse the Emperor's territory. Unfortunately, they had to destroy the city to save it - now where have I heard that before?

The cowardly Xenos fled the city during the initial bombardment but returned to meet the righteous anger of the Guard. The initial probing forces met on the Boulevard of Angels. The Guard lost a two Chimera APCs, a Salamander Scout, two Sentinel Scouts and a few Guardsmen. The traitors lost several jetbikes, walkers and infantry. Their demon-avatar blasphemy was also destroyed.

A tactical victory to the Guard Commanders, Sean and me. However the heretics, Stephen and Mike claim to be undefeated and promise retribution.

The Baneblade was the Hero of the Guard, surviving a storm of fire and hitting back. The jetbikes were the Eldar Heros, causing mahem and being very difficult to kill.

Ork Clash

Sunday Game

My mate Sean's Ork warboss disagreed with my my warboss about who was to be warlord. Naturally they settled it the traditional Orky way - wiv da stompas.

Sean fielded a stompa supported by battlewagons, deffcoptas and truks. My warboss turned up with his Skullhamma and Flyboy Buggles made an appearance over the battlefield.

The deffcoptas showed a miracaculous ability to survive by jinking, surviving my supa-gatler without loss; it did jam on the first burst.

Buggles had minimal impact on the game. He slammed two supa-rokkits into Sean's stompa, but they bounced off the armour and then he was chased off by dakka from the truks and battlewagons.

I charged Sean's stompa with mine, inflicting terrible damage and winning the game.

The only problem is that it is possible that the driver was stunned when it charged. So I may have won by cheating. Oh well, all's fair in love and war.

Floor Games

It has been many, many years, since I got down on the floor to play toy soldiers. The game involved Airfix toy soldiers and marbles, as I recall. Yesterday my regular opponent Sean, and I, played out an Apocylypse game with super-heavy tanks.

Sean's loyalists were trying to run armoured fist units through a smashed up hab complex on Vrak. The heretical Cardinal's men (me) were trying to blunt the assault. We finally settled on a draw. I immobilised a Baneblade and shot up four Chimeras stopping the attack but I lost a Leman Russ and had a Malcador very heavily damaged (almost certainly a combat loss as it would never get back home).

The game plays quite differently at this scale. Lascannons are often out of range. A Shadowsword needs to hang well back out of lascannon range.

Great fun. Next time Sean vows to field his titan.