A Rather Lengthy Enmity

It seems that every time our armies go toe to toe we decimate each other. Every game is almost too close to call, and this one did not disappoint - Dark Elves versus Skaven grudge-match go!

New Arrival

 

I've made a new addition to my wood elf force. This instead of painting dryads, something I only dread unfortunately.

Skaven in the Snow

Crank that shit ratty, crank it good!

This strange looking variant of the doom-flayer first appeared during Clan Vrixis’ assault on the dwarf hold of Karak Izor carved into Copper Mountain. Although the mines were nearly exhausted of metals, the warpstone contained in the heart of the ancient mountain (and dwarf slag heaps) made the fortress a tempting target. The well-equipped Clan Vrixis, accompanied by Skryre engineers, attempted a rock-cracking sneak attack from below in the depths of a harsh winter. The clan’s overzealous Warlord Grittix insisted on the use of nearly all the explosives brought and the Skryre engineers were only too happy to agree. The resulting blast brought sent a good portion of Karak Izor and many rudely awakened dwarves plummeting into the abyss. However, this massive collapse sealed off any entrances cracked open, and the dwarves were now preparing for the Skaven’s subterranean assault.

I washed it with a new & crappy brush which left hairs everywhere that are surprisingly stiff/horsey.

Out of bombs and furious at his blunder, Warlord Grittix ordered his army to assault from above, entering from a mineshaft in the pass leading up Copper Mountain. Upon emerging, the pallid faces and dim eyes of the ratmen were stung by blinding snow and ice. A massive blizzard had sealed the pass, slowing the progress of the cumbersome and unprepared Skaven war machines required to crack dwarven walls. Warpfire throwers were employed to melt a path, as were battalions of slaves to dig, but both expended too quickly at the task and were needed for the coming assault. The frustrated engineers were blamed for the explosion’s earlier failure and ordered to devise a way to clear the snow in time to reach the dwarves before they recovered.

Bits and bobs (and a backpack) were used to make the generator. The cart is the old Skull Pass dwarf cart cleaned of all ornate fanciery. Augers are some weird wall screws I found in the Darkster's basement and the cage is balsa wood.

Tinkering with a well-sized warp generator and some mining equipment (brought in anticipation of quick success) soon produced a self-propelled machine capable of clearing snow at a prodigious rate. The snow was thrown by mining augers, leaving a path big enough for the war machines to get through. Although it allowed the Skaven to clear the pass in a day, the assault was no surprise to the dwarves and was stiffly repulsed, although much of the Karak Izor was battered down in the process. Pressed into combat against the armoured walls of dwarves, the new device quickly proved as efficient at slaughter as purpose-built doom-flayers.

Augers spin clockwise (from right) to fling snow/limbs.
Wooden cage keeps rat somewhat dry/safe.
Spikes and skulls are scary.

The device was brought along when the clan made its battered return to the Under-Empire. It was taken by Clan Skryre as part of repayment for the lost profits on this near-success, and similar devices were soon produced as cheaper alternatives to the conventional doom-flayer design. Grey Seer Skribbins, with a beady eye for sweet deals, snapped up a few of the devices for trial in his coming campaigns...

Eternal Crusade

So, it seems that there's to be a new 40k game. This time, however, it seems they are trying to revive the dark millenium-style MMORPG experience. We all would have loved to see the multiplayer titan battles in DM, but sadly the studio THQ (also behind Dawn of War) went bankrupt and the project died.

So, a few years later, we have another company going for essentially the same thing. I was certainly  not the first to compare the two, but apparently they are totally separate projects. Eternal Crusade is styled an action-MMORPG, meaning that the combat more resembles Halo than WoW, both in the precision/timing divide and in the existence of pilot-able vehicles. And, you know, dakka.

Whereas the traditional MMO has the player leveling up and increasing in power over time, Eternal Crusade`s focus is much more on replayable battles - in my opinion they are taking the success of the recent Space Marine game and comparing it favourably to the curdled milk sponge that was Warhammer Online.

The problem with WAR's model was that it was simply too similar to WoW. Warcraft has the fantasy MMO market, period. Pretty much no other game can touch that, and that was even more the case five years ago when WAR was released. The leveling experience had some cool gimmicks (public quests and PvP experience are cool in theory, at least until you remember you're on the internet and people are assholes), but overall I had already played that game, in Azeroth. The people who had to clean up WAR's shit-stained, drooling carcass learned that you cant crack that lvl 90 citadel.

To this end, so the story goes, in Eternal Crusade, once you select a class, your basic capabilities are the same as any one else's; as you progress through the game you unlock specialized wargear and tactical abilities, but presumably your character is never less powerful than anyone elses. This lets you get right into the most intense gameplay right from the get-go, while still maintaining the satisfaction of advancement. Hopefully the power differential will not too badly skew the game balance, although as they are going for a factional rivalry, its inevitable that we will get the "orks iz overpowered, spess mahreens are too shitty" etc.

Just a few notes as regards whats already been spoiled. There are four playable races so far (pic below), though they optimistically note that more will gestate over the lifetime of Crusade.

Right now they havent determined what payment model they are going with, although it seems that in any case they will have multiple fees- apart from the game key itself you're looking at either microtransactions (for bits of new gear and doodads and such) or a monthly subscription (ala premium). The way that they put it, they hope to build a lively community with this game so hopefully they will have alot of freebies, or hopefully a free to play option. Theyve also mentioned player organizations (guilds or battle companies or what have you) based off of orbiting warships, so thats really fucking cool too. 

Honestly, though, as this game in not slated for release until the end of 2015, I cant get my hopes up too high yet. I remember when my excitement for Warhammer Online reached a peak fully a year before the game was released. How many goddamn delays did we have for that game? I waited and waited and watched all of those maddening development diaries. How many other amazing projects have been strangled over their elongated development cycle? I just hope this promising project meets no catastrophe of its own, and hopefully by 2015 they will have a game I would be willing to pay for. 

Mines/Roads

I was getting tired of our poorly sized, poorly designed minefields for Flames of War. The clear plastic markers would be good, if they weren't 6x2 instead of 8x2. So I sat down and constructed myself a good one for my engineers.

8x2 like all real minefields.

This unfortunate Italian conscript is having a rough day.

This little German lost his legs.

After the minefield I was still hankerin' for some modelin'. I cleaned up the leftover sand and inspiration struck. By peeling apart some foam board and giving it a light spray with a grey/silver spray paint it became nicely pitted like pavement. I proceeded to complete 15' of roads broken down into 20x12" 3x4" 2x6" and 6x2".

The roads compared to my little minefield.

Roads, roads, roads

I made a 6x4 table of Saskatchewan. That half-track driver hates his life.

All in all, I think I made my Parachute Engineers proud.

New Space Marines

As you all may know I am not only the Ork player of our little gaming group. When I started gaming, my first army was Dark Angels. Though I now introduce myself as an Ork player first, I still feel a strong connection to my other little green models. That is why I want to complain about/give praise to some new Space Marines.

I'll start of on a good note with a model that I'm gonna buy when my local gaming dungeon gets it in.

Yes, I am talking about the Space Marine Stalker/Hunter. I don't even know what it does and I want it. Not only is it a badass, but the set comes with enough extra bits to build a Krazy Killa Kan (KKK for short). I'm thinking of making the rokkit-meister and taking the sweet gatling guns to make Kan arms. I've always been a big fan of the Space Marine vehicles. Since they're all based off of the same chassis, they feel a little more uniform and practical than most things in the 41st millennium.


Now onto one of the worse models out there, the Centurions.

I mean they're Space Marines designed with the sole purpose of making fat people feel better about themselves. Maybe if they weren't painted in such bright colors they'ed look a little better, but they just look so damn stumpy. I feel that they've only been put into the book to give marines a Toughness 5 option like Obliterators (I'm pretty sure they're T5 correct me if I'm wrong) and at $94 for three of these fuckers I can guarantee you I will not purchase them.

Unless maybe I can turn them into Kans...

Lastly, when did this badass come out?

I'm not gonna lie, I first found him looking for pictures for this post. I don't need another Librarian, but this dude and cherub are pretty cool. I like his beard, but I'm not so sure about the force staff. I never found force staffs particularly useful or cool.

Anyways I think I'll stop, before I start complaining about the Thunderfire Cannon AKA the worst thing ever. I mean what kind of Space Marine uses towed artillery?

The worst kind of Space Marine, that's who.

The Dead Awaken

 First, a few banshees that I painted up for my burgeoning Vampire Counts army.

Euphemia, reknown for her terribly dramatic suicide and subsequent haunting in the poor town of Blutfurt in Southern Ostmark.

The Banshee Queen Clotilde. None but those dreaded immortals who summon her know the origins of this reviled witch.

And this is the assembled legions of the Imperial Guard which stand ever vigilant in our gaming den.

This army comprises up to three seperate companies, and their attendant support weapons.
Notice the Baneblade. 

Flames of War: Red Dawn Battle Report

Bon-journo. Ages ago the Darkster and I made rules for, and played, a beach landing scenario. With school starting up posts from me will probably slow down a bit. The rules were pretty simple. 

1. The Defender deploys his entire force, holding 1 platoon in Ambush.
2. The Attacker places 1 objective 18" away from the beach and no more than 6" within any table edge.
3. Each of the Attacker's Platoons is broken down into Squads and issued a landing craft based on it's composition.
1. There are 2 types of Landing Craft: Small and Large.
2.  Heavy Tanks and Heavy Guns (and any crew) are 1 per Large Craft, Medium and Light Tanks as well as Medium Guns (and any crew) are 2 per Large Craft.
3. Small Craft fit 1 Squad or 2 Light Guns (and any crew)
4. Soviet Companies are instead broken into Platoons
5. Landing craft have 1 Passenger Fired AA .50cal and are Armour 1 Front and Side and Armour 0 top.
6. If a landing craft is destroyed so are all models inside.
4. Attacker gets first turn placing all his landing craft at the beach, models may not move out of landing craft the turn they come on. This is to represent the Defender shooting at the craft as they approach. Models move out of the craft as if in Rough Terrain.
5. Attacker has sustained attack. On a D6 roll equal to or greater than the turn number any fully destroyed Squad comes back at the Reserves step of the next turn.
6. Attacker gets a Naval Bombardment at the start of every Shooting Phase, To Hit 4+, Anti Tank 5, Firepower 2+, ranging in on 4+. The template must be placed 16" away from friendly models.
7. If the Attacker takes the objective, they win. If the Attacker surrenders or has no troops left, the Defender wins.

So those are the rules. The first thing we did was set up a sweet beach to assault. The back-story is that the Russians are attacking Hawaii. Good enough? Yep.

Setup

 We used a blue blanket as the water, it actually turned out pretty sweet! We clamped it down and were ready to go!

Setup

My View

Deployment:
Deployment was pretty simple, I was playing a para engineer coy so I took cover and placed a huge minefield across the beach. One can picture the luxurious beachfront turned into fortified seawall.

Turn 1

Turn 1:
The Darkster's first turn was uneventful. The Landing craft puttered  towards the beach, the Soviets inside praying to the all powerful Athismo. His Naval Bombardment failed to range in. Other than that no shooting was done.

The Soviets are coming!!!

My first turn was also kind of disappointing. My aircraft did nothing, my artillery only managed to kill 1 Small Landing Craft, and my tanks fired wildly in random directions because they are evidently manned by the mentally disabled. Stopping them before the beach no longer looked like an option.

Turn 2

Turn 2:
The second turn is where things got interesting. Almost all of Darko's landing craft spewed their Russian innards upon the beach, making for a terrifying scene. He had placed his tanks on both flanks in an attempt to pincer my behind. That said, the stress of landing hampered the crews' ability to lay down effective fire. His ISUs managed to kill only one Sherman.

Turn 2

My turn was somewhat more effective. My M10 tank destroyers lived up to their name, ambushing and fucking the ISU right to shit. This meant my left flank was now free to cruse down the beach fucking shit up. My artillery and aircraft did a little damage to the T-34s on my right, but, as there were so many, I knew the next turn would hurt alot.

Turn 3

Turn 3:
It was a pretty scary turn for the Americans. Darko got his hoards of T-34s up to my line and surprised me with flamethrowers. His sappers failed to get through the minefield in front of them though, taking heavy casualties from mines and machine guns. Despite this Darko shifted the weight of his forces onto my right, and it nearly buckled, I needed a quick response.

Turn 4

Fortunately for me, those un-engaged M10s and Sherman's were racing across the beach. I brought all guns to bear on those T-34s knowing that if they went, the Darkster's infantry didn't stand a chance. I managed to kill a few more T-34s leaving him with 5. I had him on the ropes.

End Game

Turn 4:
This was Darko's last chance. He had to stop my counter attack before it drove him off the beach he charged his infantry and tanks towards mine it what would be the decisive clash of this battle. The inexperienced Russian gunners failed in their mission, leaving themselves open to the deadly fire of my 76mm guns.



With the fall of the T-34s it was only a matter of time till the Russian infantry broke, the few T-34's that came back in the 5th turn didn't make much of a difference, the majority of them died before the hit land. It was truly a great day for democracy.