Stop Dying You Cowards! Campaign Game 3

The third game of our campaign was yesterday. Once again I found myself up against The Judge. He narrowly defeated the forces of the Cabal of the Jade Dragon last time and once again he pulled victory out of the rear of his power armor.

The forces of the Cabal were on the defensive and this 1000pt match-up was heavy on the fast attack. This meant 2 squads of 5 Reaver Jet bikes and a squad of 3 Hellions. Even though I did not have to field and HQ I did. I had Archon Asurcanix with 8 of his Incubi. I also took a Warrior raider squad. The judge brought a 10 man vanguard veteran squad all with storm shields and power weapons. They had jump pack and Captain Shriek was leading them A scout squad and land speeder rounded out his list.

Turn one saw the Vanguard Veterans advance. The Archon and Incubi dismounted form their raider to meet them as the raider moved off and fired a volley of disintegrator fire into them. One of the Reaver squads was wiped out by the veterans and the hellions, warriors and second Reaver squad moved to hit the veterans on the flank.

The Archon and Incubi hammered on the Veterans and a few of the Incubi fell as well. The scouts came on and engaged the second Reaver squad. All was going well until The Archon, thinking of self preservation, ran from combat after the last Incubi was slain. The Mon-Keigh were slow though and did not catch him. The raiding party abandoned by their Archon did not phase them. The warriors cut down the scouts after they beat on the jet bikes and slew the last of them. The warriors then took out the land speeder. They also killed the remaining Vanguard veteran and inflicted 2 wounds on Shriek in a hail of splinter fire.

Sadly only Shriek and the scout sergeant survived. I was wiped out and even though it was a kill point game I could not have won as he only had 4 and I had 8. It was more of a moral victory to take every last one of the wretched Mon-keigh with me as the warriors died..

Things would have gone differently if the Archon had not run. Oh well There is always next time.  Maybe The Archon will be be over his concussion by then.  He is really starting to make me mad.  We owe paybacks to Chaplin Stonewall, Brother Overkill and now Sgt. Badass and the Sunshine kids.  Bright yellow scouts ugh.
Vengeance will be mine and it will be very slow and very creative.

Until then............

Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death wakes, War calls!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Swift Death: Eldar Fast Attack

Being able to close quickly with your opponent is important in 5^th edition. The usual method is transports and deep striking units. Most units fall under the Fast slot in the organization chart. The Eldar being a quick and fast race have some very nice fast attack choices. Warp Spiders, Swooping Hawks, Shining spears and Vyper Squadrons gives you four very different options for your army.

Since 3 out of 4 fast attack choices are Aspect Warriors I will only touch on them briefly since they were all covered in individual detail in my Aspects of Khaine series.

Warp Spiders are deep strike specialists. Since they are jump infantry and have the warp jump packs they are very mobile and can cause a lot of chaos in the enemies rear. Armed with strength 6 weapons they can easily deal with tougher infantry and light vehicles and then jump away from harm. I don't use them often which some find odd. Don't get me wrong they are great back field skirmishers but they don't fit into my play style often. They are a stronger choice than swooping hawks though in most situations. Swooping Hawks are more lightly armed but are better at taking out vehicles. Since transports and mechanized forces are a lot more common now I use Swooping hawks more. They have the Intercept power so they never have worse than a +4 to hit vehicles and they have Haywire Grenades which are very effective in disabling vehicles. Especially vehicles with high armor values, since you don't roll for armor penetration. They are mobile and can bring some nice massed fire for light infantry. I have an idea for an 1850 list for Adepticon this year that involves the Hawks, but more on that as it develops.

Shining spears are quite specialized and really don't fit well in most lists. This is a shame because they really are effective in dealing with heavy infantry and light vehicles. They work well in support of Guardian Jet bike Squads and Vyper Squadrons. They can hit and run squads so they can take maximum advantage of their laser lances. Firing a volley in before assaulting usually wipes most squads out. You only run into problems if they fail to hit then run and get stuck in combat. I personally like turbo boosting them across the table and killing any manticore or other long range artillery that might give my advancing troops some trouble. Drawing lots of fire is ok when you have the unit fortuned and a +3 cover save thanks to the turbo boost.

Vypers have always been my favorite. I remember when they came out in the mid 90's. It really set the tone for the models that came later. Vyper squadrons are my favorite mobile heavy weapons support unit. You can give them a nice mix of weapons and upgrades and they are fast skimmers. My typical Vyper squadron consists of 3. Two armed with scatter lasers and one with a bright lance. This gives a good mix of anti infantry and anti tank. Though you have the option to give them holo-fields I would not do so. They are only armor 10 and are open topped so you would be essentially wasting 105 points. I would however arm them with shuriken cannons as the secondary weapon though. This allows for multiple weapon destroyed results and still gives you a decent heavy weapon in the event the turret weapon is destroyed, which it will be. You can also really lay into units if you only move 6 inches. My only complaint is of course the ballistic skill of 3. Oh how I long for Crystal targeting matrices. A well placed doom can make up for lack of hits though by maximizing wounds.

Vypers act like a fighter screen for the tanks and Wraithlords. They can't be ignored because of the weapons they carry. It forces your opponent to choose his shots wisely and split his fire. This is really important when you are out numbered and your opponent is maximized for heavy weapon spamming. The less he can concentrate fire the better.

So there's my two cents about Eldar Fast Attack. Next time we will tackle Elites. Before that though game 3 of the campaign and the “End Of days” Tournament this Saturday hosted by Evolution games and brought to us by the boys at Dark Future Games.

So until then................

Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes, War Calls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good books and even better Fluff

I love to read. I have read fantasy and sci-fi books since I was 6. The first book I read cover to cover was 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Vern. I Skipped the books for kids and tweens and jumped right into Bradbury, Clark, Heinlein and of course Tolkien.

The point is I love to read and the Black Library is probably the only branch of GW that does not anger me. Other than the lack of good 40K fiction from an Eldar's perspective, Gav Thorpe let me down with “Path of The Warrior”, I enjoy the books immensely. For new players the books are an excellent source of fluff and background to the game. Not everybody has been playing since the hallowed days of Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader. I thought I would share some of my favorites and ones I have recommended to those who want to get to know the universe. One of the players in my Rogue Trader Campaign asked for recommendation for background since he does not play 40k and for a good RPG character you need background information. So here are some of my favorite series.

You will notice a theme as to who writes my favorites as well. Dan Abnett is my favorite author. He really captures the universe and the characters are memorable. There is a very real and visceral feel to his books. The newest series he had contributed books to is of course the Horus Heresy series of novels. These are great books that really shed light on a past that is shrouded in mysticism and legend. “Horus Rising” is the first book and written by Mr. Abnett. Graham McNeill Actually wrote my favorite book in this series. “Fulgrim” details the fall of the Primarch of the Emperors Children and really gets disturbing at points. Plus there is a cameo by everybody's favorite Farseer.

My favorite Series though has to be the Gaunts Ghosts series by Dan Abnett. These are a very good and really show you things from the average grunts point of view. The characters are very colorful and you get attached to them. The Eisenhorn books are also great. You follow the adventures of Inquisitor Gregor Eisenhorn. Its in the same realistic style you come to expect from Abnett. The Enforcer trilogy by Matt Farrer is also a favorite. It follows the Adeptus Arbitus officer Shira Calpurnia and her enforcement of imperial law in the Hydraphur system.

I really don't read novels about space marines though. They tend to be epic and over the top in just about every aspect. The Death Watch series and the Book Rynns World is pretty good though.

If you want good fluff book Xenology is awesome. Not only does it have a nice narrative in the form of a series of log entries it also details most of the races in the 40k universe in epic detail.

So read the Heresy books and Gaunts Ghosts for some good reads. Basically Read Dan Abnett and you will get all the fluff you can stand.

So next time we will be talking about Eldar Fast Attack and about the End of Days Tournament being hosted at Evolution games on August 21^st and run by Dark Future Games.

Until Then......

Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes, War Calls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Say Hello to My Little Friend! Eldar Heavy Support.

Long range support and big guns are an essential part of an army list. The Heavy support choice provides your list with much needed killing power for both armor and infantry. The only trouble you really run into is that you are limited to three choices and you have several good ones. The Eldar codex itself has seven. Dark Reapers, Wraithlords, War Walkers, Support Platforms, Night Spinners, Falcons and Fire Prisms. It can be very hard to choose only 3 units at times.

As with most Eldar lists you have to choose the right tool for the job that will work in conjunction with the rest of the army. If you read the blog a lot you should notice a running theme. A mantra if you will of how to build and Eldar list. There must be balance and support. One unit has a job and supports the other units that cannot do that job or do not do it well.

If you look at the different choices in the heavy support section, or any of the different option sections, you will start to see the different units fill specific rolls and will excel in different situations. For Example, take the Falcon. The Falcon can be very well armed and has a transport capacity. Its weapons load out for the second turret weapon can be different depending on what roll you want it to fill. Outfitted with a scatter laser and its pulse laser it can be a support vehicle to assist a small unit of Dire Avengers hold an objective. Put a bright lance on it and you have a tank killer that can deliver anti tank troops close to the enemy. The falcon can be the focus or a unit taken to support the unit it is transporting. In this way it is like the ubiquitous Dire Avenger. It is a multi role lynch pin unit. It can provide fire support, tank busting, and transportation. In contrast the Fire Prism is a dedicated main battle tank. When used I conjunction with other Fire Prisms you can bust open pretty much anything. It can be used as an anti infantry unit though once the enemy armor is gone. Thanks to having the ability to fire in two different modes and the ability to combine beams the large blast mode can easily deal with massed troops, especially when you combine beams with another Fire Prism. Since this makes the tanks big targets it may be advisable to equip shuriken cannons to them for the inevitable main weapon destruction. Holo Fields also increase your chances of living. There is some utility, but the unit has a specific main function. Kill Tanks.

Night Spinners and support platforms fall under the artillery classification. Support platforms are actual artillery while night spinners are tanks that have a weapon that is basically long range support artillery. Units like these are best used to defend static locations. The night spinner can move and still fire so this works the best with a mobile force. I don't use either that often. When doing a planet strike mission or an Apocalypse game I use them heavily especially if I am defending. Distortion cannons are nice for denying heavy targets access to your position while vibro cannons can indiscriminately lay into any units. The night spinner basically replaces the Shadow Weaver support platform as the Weapon is better rules wise. Dark Reapers also kind of fall into the category as they need to sit back and pepper the opposing force from afar. Dark Reapers can kill light vehicles, or at least glance them to death. The Exarch can bring vehicles down but I tend to use Dark Reapers sparingly unless I know I am facing heavily armored foot troops, like my favorite genetically enhanced frat boys the space marines. Dark Reapers are best used for killing infantry. Decent strength and low AP means lost of dead troops. As always Guide and liberally Doom units for best effect.

Wraithlords and War Walkers are seen in a lot of my lists. I have never seen so much fear from an opponent, as when I field more than one Wraithlord. Blessed with high strength and a toughness of 8 Wraithlords are line breakers. Keeping them in close support of a Guardian unit or Seer council is best. This keep them close to a warlock for wraith sight tests. Always remember to have at least one Spirit Seer centrally located moving with the lords. I always make my Guardian unit Warlocks Spirit Seers if I am fielding Wraithlords. Wraithlords take a lot of fire and can dish out a lot of punishment. Most infantry units can't hurt it in close combat and most vehicles can't withstand an assault by it. Be wary of snipers though. Yes lascannons and melta guns can hurt them, but massed sniper fire can bring them down a lot quicker.

War Walkers are great for massed fire. The particular favorite is 3 all armed with scatter lasers. 24 strength 6 shots anybody. That spam aside arming them with a mix of scatter lasers and bright lances, maybe missile launchers, makes them a very flexible and deadly unit. Being able to outflank and use them as scouts is also a perk. I like to outflank them usually as they come in usually around turn 3 and lay into the rear guard of the enemy to great and devastating effect. They can support units already advanced up or take the heat off of them so they can advance.

So there you have it Heavy Support. So I think we will cover Fast attack Next time. Also I will be detailing plans for the next campaign game and the machinations of my partner and I for the End of Days Tournament that Dark Future Games is having on August 21^st at Evolution Games here in good old Lansing. Find details Here.

So until then...................

Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes, War Calls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rogue Trader: Session 2

Session two of my Rouge Trader games sees our explorers take to space as they have uncovered some secrets left behind by Quintis's father. We last left out hero’s on the cusp of a trade deal moving agricultural goods to the Forge World Iconix from the Agro world of Satire 7 in the Malconis system. The deal was originally set up by Marik Tarsus with some rather unfavorable terms. It was a two way trade route as Iconix would be supplying equipment and machinery as well as new seed strains as Iconix specializes in biological items and is predominately under the auspices of the Magos Biologis. The crew was feeling rather good after their tumble with the thugs in the market place from session one . Quintis starts the talks and finds that the dynasty would be shouldering a lot of the costs involved and would actually be loosing money by doing this deal. After some hard negotiating and the Magos Gabriel finding some classified information concerning a plague that was turning crops to mulch. Whit this revelation it was clear the Cartel was more interested in the Magos's on Iconix fixing the crops than receiving machinery. The information was not public as this would weaken their bargaining position. So Despite Quintis's lack of tact and bargaining skills he made a successful deal.

With the deal concluded Forgemaster Lennox of Iconix gives the group a data crystal with a large amount of star charts and system survey data that would normally not be available to anybody outside the upper echelons of the Adeptus Mechanicus. This was the reason for the bad terms of the trade deal. After grilling Angelica for information the crew discovers that Marik Tarsus was involved in the Xenos artifact trade and that he was looking for a specific item. He had become obsessed with finding said item and this was the reason the dynasty had withered away to nothing. They also learn that Marik found the Cathedral Terra on one such expedition in the orbit of a world many months away by warp travel. By this time Gaius had identified the odd parts of the ship that were Xenos to possibly be Eldar in origin.

The group decides they need some answers, to who attacked them and why, what was the artifact that Marik was looking for and where did the Cathedral Terra come from.

Joker along with Quintis interrogates the one remaining thug that attacked them. They find out he works for another Rogue Trader named Nathaniel Allen. He is out for vengeance against Marik Tarsus for the death of his son. They also find out that another group was supposed to be hitting a second target that was an associate of Marik's on Tarlac Alpha, in the Solomon system which was about a weeks travel away.

As the are leaving the system they encounter another ship. The ship belongs to Inquisitor Simon Locke of the Ordo Xenos. He demands to board and once there questions the crew about Marik and his dealings. His tech adept is unable to pull any information from the cogitators as Magos Gabriel thwarts their attempts with his crack coding skills. The Inquisitor leaves without whatever it was he was looking for and the crew makes the transition to warp space. The ship makes the journey very very quickly and arrives after only a day.

As they transition and get oriented they pick up a distress signal form a ship near by. An older vessel Identifying itself as the Grace of Sophia is under attack by to raider vessels. The Cathedral Charges in and easily disables one of the raiders. The other runs as it does not want to take on a ship the size of a cruiser. Turns out this is the contact the crew was looking for. Lady Charlabelle Armelain boards the Cathedral Terra to thank the captain as the rest of the crew helps with repairs to her vessel. Joker boards the enemy raider with a security contingent and quells the crew quite easily.

The Lady doe s not know why Allen wants her as well, but she does ask a favor, and a share of the profits, to Quintis if he would be willing to transport 2 passengers she is carrying. The share is 25 Eldar Dream stones. Very rare and very expensive. Through the right channels this could help rebuild the dynasty. Quintis agrees. The passengers are brought on board shrouded.

The crew meets them in private in the trophy room on board the Terra. The lady introduces Farseer Iyanna Althoran of Ulthwe and her body guard the Exarch Solvanus , a Striking Scorpion. Needless to say there is some shock.

With the Exception of Gaius I am really surprised by the acceptance of the Xenos on the ship. This proves to be very useful for me in later sessions. It would seem the group is caught up in something big after only just getting hold of the Writ of Trade. Everybody should have expected Eldar honestly. I do run a 40K Eldar blog. Things get a lot more interesting. Things get pretty epic. Whats the point of doing a Rouge Trader game is you don't go big.

So next time session 3. Before that though we will be delving into heavy support choices for the Eldar army.

Until then......................

Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes, War Calls!!!!!!!!!

Raid Thwarted!: Campaign Scenario 2 Aftermath

Well the second mission went well....to begin with. The forces of the Cabal of the Jade Dragon landed on the first turn with the exception of one Raider squad. The Judges space marines took a very forward position. Two combat squads set up in cover with a rhino behind a hill and a rather brave scout squad setting up almost at point. The Raiders carrying the Wyches, Archon and warriors advanced supported by the Ravager and the Talos The marines took few casualties with one squad falling back. Unfortunately for the Judge it was the combat squad containing the plasma cannon. No reinforcements came to the Cabals rescue as they slaughtered the Marines in the middle of the table to the man with a minimal amount of casualties. The Marines however received back up as both dreadnoughts, Including venerable brother “Overkill” and a Vindicator hit the field of battle. The Talos fresh with the fallen marines went to attack the closest dreadnought, which appeared at the flank of the Cabal. The Ravager was decimated by that dreadnought while Brother Overkill rained death on a raider. The Archon, not completely over his concussion from the previous battle, leapt from his raider, The Skiff of Pain, with his retinue to finish the last of the marines while Brother Chaplin “Stonewall” and the second Vindicator came to the table. The Talos fell to a dreadnought which succumbed as well to the Talos's vicious claws. The Vindicator nearest the Cabal took out a Raider and the squad of warriors it held failed to return the favor. Brother Chaplin Stonewall began a retreat leading the remaining Wyches and the Archon and his retinue back towards the landing Zone of the Cabal. In her Zealousness to reach the prey the Succubus of the Wyches died in ecstasy as she overdosed on combat drugs. So in the end the marines managed to hold on.

The Judge put up one hell of s fight. I should have expected as much. In the end I had 6 kill points to his 7. Things started out great for me, but my dice failed me at some key moments. Being ballsy by having my Succubus take 3 combat drugs and being rewarded with triple 5's was not awesome.

So the Next Scenario is a fast attack heavy 1000 point affair. More on that later.

Saturday I will have session 2 of the Rogue Trader game up. Sadly I forgot my notes while I was in the writing mood.

So until then..............

Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes, War Calls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Second Raid...... I hope its a raid anyway.

Well I have another campaign game on Wednesday and this time it will be a full army instead of a 200 point patrol and raiding party. Samsquatch Monster has posted the details of the Scenario on Dark Future games, but to sum it up for the lazy who don't want to click the link I have 1500 points to work with. I can take up to 2 Heavy choices and 1 fast. Attackers can have up to 2 HQ's, up to 4 elites and 1-6 troops. Defenders can have up to 2 elites, 1 HQ and 2-6 Troops choices.

This was not a hard build for me honestly. Dark Eldar armies are pretty easy to build and the core of the force is always going to be Warrior squads, or I should say Raider Squads. 10 man squads with a dark lance and blaster are the way to go. If you have spare points a nicely equipped sybarite is a welcome edition but not a real necessity. Then you equip their Raider with a dark lance or dizzy, maybe a Horrorfex, and night shields and it is good to go. I have 4 raider squads in the defending list. I want as much on the board as possible as anything that is not a troop choice starts in reserve for the defenders. This way if my opponent is unlucky to have a quarter or half of his forces end up in reserve I can overwhelm him with fire and then pick off the units coming in from reserve. One thing I did do which I have not done yet is I have a warrior squad on foot equipped with lots of heavy weapons. This was to give my force an anchor and retreat point. I can station them in cover and pick off the major threats to my transports. This is a kill point game so I have to play smart as I have a ton of kill points in the force, 12 to be exact. I have 2 Ravagers and my Archon that will be in reserve if I am defending.

My attack list is a bit more aggressive. It is basically the same as the defending list but the troops are better equipped and I eliminated 2 warriors squads in favor of a wych squad on a raider. It is a mobile force that is meant to do what Dark Eldar do best. Blitzkrieg in and destroy everything they are not planning on taking. I am going to be working on an Archon conversion this week as I have discovered the beauty of giving him a Tormentor helm and Punisher as well as a combat drug dispenser. Strength 5 with a power weapon in close combat anybody? With initiative 7? Yeah its pretty nice especially when combined with a 2+ invo save thanks to the shadow field.. But nothing is to good for the leader of the Cabal of the Jade Dragon.

Hows the name? It came to me this week as I was contemplating the paint scheme already on the models and how I was going to either finish them or tweak the paint a bit so it suited my vision a little more.

So we will see how Wednesday goes. I will post the results and after battle report this weekend. I am also working on a post for session 2 of my Rogue Trader game. I should have that this weekend as well.

Until then.........

Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes, War Calls!!!!!!!!!