Battle Report: Skirmish on Medusa V

The sun was high in the sky as M'dlaka led his hardened command squad of veterans toward the spires of one of the ruined cities on Medusa V. In the centre of the city was the remains of a highly sacred cathedral, a shrine which could not be allowed to fall into Xenos hands. M'dlaka and his command squad were captaining a task force comprised of tactical squad Kan'mi and the dreadnought brothers Mareni and Sho'bana. They entered through one of the northern valleys, and came across the settlement. It still lay untouched. Should they hurry, they may be able to enter the city before - A small shockwave caught his attention, coming from the direction of the cathedral. M'dlaka looked toward it and twisted a dial on the side of his helm, zooming in on the shrine's ramparts. There, he caught a flash of purple armour and red lens. It was an XV25 stealth team - The Tau were here...

My new terrain was christened today, so I thought I'd mark the event with a narrative opening to the battle report. It was myself with my Salamanders against Lee and his Tau in a 700pt game. The armies were as follows:
- Salamanders
-- Captain M'dlaka and Command Squad D'loko
-- Tactical Squad Kan'mi
-- Dreadnought Brothers Mareni and Sho'bana
- T'au
-- Commander Battlesuit and two XV8 Crisis Battlesuit Bodyguards
-- Two teams of six Fire Warrior Shas'ui
-- XV25 Shas'vre Stealth Team
-- Five Gun Drones
-- One Piranha
The main terrain setup was as below:

Excuse the blurry photos, the game was intense so we snapped the images off quickly.

The battle began quickly with the bulk of the Space Marine forces moving into the city through the Industrial complex, with the Command Squad and Dreadnought Sho'bana quickly taking the Basilica Administratum to the top centre right of the photograph. The Tau retaliated by moving in through the Sanctum Imperialis' to the left. The combined force of the Piranha and one of the Battlesuits chewed through Dreadnought Mareni's legs and right arm with seeker missiles and burst cannons. The tactical squad moved deeper into the industrial complex and took shelter in some ruins, while the Stealth Team on top of the cathedral and M'dlaka's command squad on top of the Basilica got caught in a firefight over the rooftops.

Peekaboo, I see you!

Dreadnought Sho'bana took advantage of the diversion by moving round the back of the shrine and getting into a mexican stand-off with another Crisis Battlesuit.

The Dread chipped away two out of three of the Battlesuit's wounds before the Commander blew him up. Down below the tactical squad fired off a few shots at the Piranha and the other Battlesuit before taking casualties and backing off. The squad then made a tactical run across open ground to regroup with the Command Squad (sans its sergeant and standard bearer, who had been taken down by a Fire Warrior team's pulse rifles). The gamble paid off well, with them surviving the explosion of Brother Mareni after his disabled shell was finally destroyed and only having one casualty under Tau fire. The command squad and the tactical squad switched places, so the former was able to get into the cathedral and the latter could draw the incoming fire away. The tactical squad survived for a while, but eventually succumbed to the blasts.

*Insert Heroic Music Here*

The command squad clambered to the top of the cathedral and entered into a fierce close-combat fight with the stealth team. They emerged victorious, and the shrine had been liberated from the immediate Xenos incursion. 

However, they still had to ensure the others would not reclaim it, others who straight after the fight shot the company flamer in the head and sent him tumbling from the top of the ruins. Captain M'dlaka and his Company Champion and Apothecary then clambered down from the tower and entered onto the battlefield to meet their destiny.

The Piranha attempted to flank the trio, but ended up travelling to the opposite end of the board for no reason (Don't ask). M'dlaka shot the wounded Battlesuit square in the face, but his companions were gunned down and he retreated to the top of a nearby building. There, he realised Tau forces were going to overwhelm the city, and he had to stop the cathedral from falling into enemy hands. His last act before the searing heat of the returning Piranha's seeker missiles melted through his power armour and found charcoal-coloured flesh was to arm a bomb at the top of the tower, ensuring that the shrine would remain unpurified.

THE RESULT:
- Salamander Casualties

-- Captain M'dlaka and Command Squad D'loko
-- Tactical Squad Kan'mi
-- Dreadnought Brothers Mareni and Sho'bana
- T'au Casualties
-- One XV8 Crisis Battlesuit Bodyguard
-- Two Shas'ui Fire Warriors
-- One XV25 Stealth Team of Three

This image sums up the game perfectly.

VERDICT: The best game of Warhammer I've ever played.

The Christmas Haul...

Today, for those cave-dwellers out there, was Christmas. I received a few Warhammer gifts today, including an Imperial Sector, and therefore my Christmas (at least the parts not taken up by watching Doctor Who or stuffing my face) consisted of gluing, slicing and mangling plastic. The end result was a load more buildings, meaning my terrain selection now stands at:

5 Manufactorums (2 medium, 2 small and 1 tiny, but I built this to go together modularly to form one large complex)

4 Basilica Administratums (1 extra large, 1 large, 1 medium and 1 small)

2 Sanctum Imperialis' (1 medium and 1 extra large)

1 Shrine of the Aquila

2 Gothic Ruins

2 Hills

1 Random Scratch Built piece of Manufactorum machinery

6 Urban Ruins and Barricades

8 Pieces of Aegis Defense Line

5 Craters

Expect pictures soon...

Into the fires of battle, unto the anvil of war!

Just a look at my full 1400pt Salamander Space Marine Army before myself and Callum (Ork player) battle on Friday.

Overall Army

Here it is in full view, on a tile of Realm of Battle gameboard and embellished with some Battlefield Accessories. As you can see, it is not fully painted yet. It's primarily infantry as we play mostly cityfights.

This is Captain M'dlaka and his command squad, led by Veteran Sergeant D'loko. It is comprised of Company Champion, Company Flamer, Apothecary and Standard Bearer.

The two Dreadnoughts, Brother Mareni, blessed with Dreadnought Armour in 998.M41 during the Third War for Armageddon and Brother Sho'bana, blessed with Dreadnought Armour in 999.M41 while fighting Eldar and Orks. (Note: Brother Sho'bana is an Assault on Black Reach Dreadnought and has the boring plain base, so I stuck some random offcuts of Building sprues on for aesthetics.)

Tactical Squad Kan'mi, led by Sgt. Kan'mi, a relatively new sergeant.

Tactical Squad Dre'ka, led by Sgt. Dre'ka, a rugged sergeant who had a vendetta against Orks since losing his mortal arm to them in a skirmish in 996.M41

Combat Squad 'Fires of Vulkan', tasked with holding objectives and providing the Tactical Squads with covering fire. (Note: This is my newest unit and as such is in extremely early stages of construction/painting.)

Terminator Squad Iklwa, led by Veteran Sergeant Iklwa, an esteemed squad of great valour.

Assault Squad 'Flames from Above', who lead the spearhead and take the high ground, swooping down later to bring close combat fury to the enemy.

Scout Squad 'Sniper Fury', who follow the Assault Squad and hold their high ground after the Assault Marines have descended upon the enemy (Note: I know that the sergeant is missing a hand, it needs re-gluing...)

*****

I have a checklist I hope to complete by Friday morning and the big game in regards to painting (in order):

- Basecoat everything green

- Finish painting Command Squad

- Finish painting Brother Sho'bana

More 40k stuff!

After a fairly long time, I have some new updates on my Warhammer 40,000 games. It's mostly a gallery of the most recent game but there's also some info about it.

This game was Salamanders, Tau and Chaos battling it out inside a former Ultramarines settlement.

The Setup

It was a 500pt game, and my Salamanders' forces were comprised of a Commander, a Tactical squad, a Combat squad and my ever faithful Dreadnought. Lee's Tau deployed a Crisis Battlesuit, a Fire Warrior team and a gun drone team. He also had a Stealth team in reserve. Guy's Chaos Space Marines fielded an army of a Rhino, five Chaos Space Marines, eight Khorne Berserkers and five Possessed Marines. Guy was also extremely lucky and rolled a six prior to the game for his Possessed, meaning they all had power weapons.

The Salamanders enter the city.

Tau survey the scene.

It was a very enjoyable game. Due to some unlucky rolls on my part...

Very unlucky.

Very very unlucky

... I was out first. There was then a very intense battle between the Tau and the Chaos, until eventually the time was up and Guy and Lee called it a draw in the name of sportsmanship.

Next time: I air my Citadel Realm of Battle Gameboard for the first time...

Warhammer 40,000 - More Terrain!

In my last 40k post, I mentioned needing more terrain. Well, after going to my local Games Workshop (local being a 40-minute train journey) I came home Friday afternoon with two Cities of Death building sets, a Basilica Administratum and a Manufactorum, of which I already have one of each. After a night of rigorous hard work.

Five hours of non-stop cutting doesn't do wonders for your thumb. 

I found this picture of my cat amongst the construction photos.
It was too funny not to post.

Eventually, I had constructed the pictured building from the Basilica Administratum set and one medium and one small building from the Manufactorum set. With the leftover bits plus some stuff from the Battlefield Accessories, an old CD Tower and a plastic lid, I also built a two-part cooling tower type thing. Leaving the glue to dry, the next day I began to paint. First was a layer of Chaos Black spray paint as the undercoat.

Basecoat done.

Then came building up the layers. I like my buildings dark, so everything was done with drybrushing. I used Scorched Brown, Tin Bitz and Shining Gold on my Basilica Administratum building. On my Manufactorums and the cooling tower I used Codex Grey, Boltgun Metal and Tin Bitz. It came out looking pretty snazzy. Below are some action shots.

New Battle Report coming soon...

Warhammer 40,000 Battle Report - Battle for Chapel Manufactorum

Today, myself and friend Callum set out to play a Warhammer 40,000 match... I collect the Salamander chapter of the Space Marines and he collects Orks. With not much scenery to spare, we decided to play a limited game with only 500 or so points worth of army.

THE SETUP

The setup

On my side I was using a Tactical Squad of 10 Marines, including a sergeant with chain-sword, a marine with a flamer and a marine with a multi-melter, a Terminator Squad and a Dreadnought.

My Salamanders

Callum had a mob of 20 Ork Boyz, a group of 10 Ork Nobz, 3 Deffkopters and an Ork Warboss.

Callum's Orks

The synopsis we decided upon was that Orks had taken a ruined church on a hill overlooking a small manufactorum complex. A small task force of Salamders had been dispatched to deal with them.

The Manufactorum Complex, comprised of the Manufactorum and an overlooking Administration building

After rolling, I got highest so got first turn...

TURN 1
Not much happened this turn. My Salamanders pushed forward a little way and the Ork Nobz and Deffkopters moved to intercept.

The end of Turn 1

TURN 2
I moved my Marines further toward the complex, while the Orks managed to get close enough to begin firing. Despite a lethal attempt by the Deffkopters, the Tactical Squad came out unharmed. The Nobz also attempted to shoot the Terminators, but you can guess how that turned out.

Pictured: A hard-nut.

The result of turn 2

TURN 3
Finally, the action began! I moved straight in and annihilated one of Callum's two Nob squads with my Dreadnought. Apparently assault cannon rounds are quite adept and massacring oversized goblins. The Terminators were not so lucky, as despite a valiant attempt to hit the Nobz apparently you can't shoot through solid walls. Callum attempted retaliation with the Deffkopters and the squad of Boyz but to no avail.

The result of turn 3

TURN 4
I finally got my Terminators into the manufactorum, and in celebration shot the Ork warboss down to one wound. The Dreadnought continued to kick some ass and wiped out the rest of the Ork nobz bar one.

This guy is my favourite unit. Seriously, he freakin' rocks.

Credit where credit is due though. The brave little Ork Nob succeeded his leadership test and stood firm.

Not bad, little Ork. Not bad.

At last, Callum then finally took out some of my marines. One of his Deffkopters got a lucky hit in and blew up one of the marines in my tactical squad. Then, after leaving the sanctuary of their hillside fortress, the Ork Boyz took out another one with their three Big Shootas. Unfortunately, brave little last Ork Nob didn't manage to kill anything.

The result of turn 4

TURN 5
With all my marines now safely housed within the manufactorum complex, I used my outside guard, the Dreadnought, to mow down four Ork Boyz. The hiding Terminators finished off the last Nob and the tactical squad took down another two Ork Boyz. Callum's Ork Boyz then unleashed the fury of twelve pissed off green-skins and their hulking master, and let loose a firestorm of bullets. All of which either bounced off the walls or the marine's armour. Oh well...

The result of turn 5

TURN 6
My Dreadnought stayed on form and took down a further five Ork Boyz. However, keeping up the good work, the Terminators and the Tactical Squad then finished off most of the others, including the Ork Warboss, leaving about six Boyz. These six then decided to seek retribution by charging the Dreadnought and taking down a leg and its assault cannon. Not to be deterred, the Dreadnought still took down two more Ork Boyz The Deffkopters tried to get the Terminators, who were once again saved by walls.

The result of turn 6

TURN 7
The Tactical Squad and Terminators then proceeded to blow the living daylights out of the Deffkopters. At which point the Orks, or rather Callum, surrendered.

THE RESULT
Space Marine Casualties:
2 Space Marines

Ork Casualties:
16 Ork Boyz,
10 Ork Nobz,
1 Ork Warboss,
3 Ork Deffkopters

One leg down, one arm down, still awesome.

THE VERDICT
We need more terrain...

The First Post

Well. This is my blog! Nothing much here yet, but there will be...