Tau'ch! (ouch) that hurt....

     Last night I played a game against Jeremy and his Tau army with Eldar support.  We played a Purge the Alien game with Dawn of War setup.  Needless to say, I did not purge enough aliens....

My List:
HQ:
Sammael: Jetbike
Librarian: Bike, Auspex
Command: Apothecary, Standard of Devastation, Grenade
Troop:
RWASx6: 2 Melta, Typhoon
RWASx6: 2 Melta, Typhoon
RWASx6: 2 Plasma, Typhoon
RWASx6: 2 Plasma, Typhoon
RWASx6: 2 Plasma, Landspeeder w/ MM
Fast:
White Knightsx5

His List: (due to the campaign, he got an extra 150 points to spend on this army, not that it made too much difference....)

HQ:
Commander Shas'o: Missle, Plasma, Shield, Multi-tracker
Bodyguard: Frag, Plasma, Shield
Bodyguard: Missle, Plasma, Shield
Farseer: Warding, Witnessing, Spirit Stones


Troop:
Firewarriorx12: 3x Carbine, Bonding Knife
Firewarriorx12: 3x Carbine, Bonding Knife
Dire Avengers: Bladestorm, Defend, Diresword

Elite:
Crisis Suit: Fustion, Missle
Stealth Suits: 2x,Burst Cannon, Fusion
Wraithguardx6: Warlock, Wave Serpent w/ TL Starcannon



Heavy:
Hammerhead: 2x Burst Cannon, Disruption Pod, Blacksun Filter
Hammerhead: Smart Missle, Disruption Pod, Blacksun Filter
Broadside: Smart Missle, Shield Drone
Wraithlord: Catapult, Wraithblade

Defense Line w/ Quad Gun

     So the combination of me being an idiot, plus him playing a good game resulted in me getting wiped off the table after 6 turns.  I was obviously too concerned with my Command Squad dying to S10 Railgun shots that I mis-used almost my entire army.  It started with the deployment:

    I deployed and used my scout move to get the Command Squad to hide behind the forward stack of containers.  You can see the giant blob of bikes on the near side of them.  I also forgot to deploy my two HQ unit where they were supposed to go, and I made myself live with it, not asking for any favors so I could put them in the right spot.  Well, I finally learned that Hammerheads have a secondary shot that is a large blast.  I learned this while getting hit 10 times from each shot.  The front row had to re-roll their successful armor saves due to Misfortune from the Farseer, too.  I surely would have never made this mistake with my old 'nilla White Scars list.  The Standard of Devastation is good, but you have to have your bikes ALIVE to use it.  After his first round of shooting, I believe I had a pile of about 13 dead bikes.  He made a great move with his Wave serpent to block the only open path to his front line, too. 

     After that beating, I was already hurting, and for the remainder of the game I feel I rolled at or below average.  I know that 3 turns of shooting all 4 Landspeeders at his Hammerheads (and a couple shots at the Wraithlord) resulted in just one glancing hit.  As I moved everyone forward, there was not a lot I could do.  I know I killed a few Dire Avengers, causing them to flee off the board.  The Broadside fell back, too, but was still on the board.  I did manage to kill his Wraithlord, who was coming right at me.  The melta squad and Knights moved up the right flank to get closer, hugging those containers for cover and line of sight blocking. 
     On the second turn, all of his remaining suits came in from reserve and deepstruck behind my lines.  I would have to choose between continuing toward his line and back-tracking to counter them.  Also the Wraithguard got out of their transport and shot me up.  I learned to spread out more, but I lost my Librarian and some more bikes.  The Apothecary and Champion died as well. 
     On my turn, there was little to do.  My Multi-melta Speeder did not arrive due to his warlord trait.  I ignored the Stealth team and used one plasma squad to go after his Shas'o and bodyguard.   I hit his Wraithguard with a Rad Grenade, but still needed 5's to wound them.  Even with the Standard, 20 shots was not near enough to wear them down.  They got charged and I believe we tied combat.  Sam'E Khan charged the lone suit, and wounded himself moving in, but killed the sucker.  I put a wound on his HQ but we still were stuck in combat. 
     Turn 3 saw me lose Sam'E and somemore bikes from everywhere.  More of the same...  Oh, and I failed all 3 of my Hit 'n Run rolls, so no shooting then charging...
     I finally got the flanking melta squad into combat with Firewarriors and a farseer in his lines.  I won combat but they held tight.  I hit his Broadside with 7 AP2 wounds from the Knights and killed it.  Lost the final bike fighting his HQ.   Not too much to report here either. 

     The rest of the match was him mopping up what was left.  I finally got my speeder from reserve on turn 4 and shot a Hammerhead in the rear.  Still didn' kill it with AP1!!!!  I had terrible generalship and bad luck, but I don't want to take away from how well he played against me.  He made some great moves to take me out.  I can't wait to play him again so I can take what I learned and put it to practice.  Now, I'm looking for that Ice Pack.....

100 point Imperial List

     Last night, I tried out my new 100 point Imperial list for X-wing miniatures game.  I had found some material about deploying them in a 2-wide, 3-deep formation to keep them within range 1 of each other.  This lets me take advantage of the Swarm Tactics and Howlrunners abilities.  Here is the list

Tie Advanced: Darth Vader - Swarm Tactics
Tie Fighter: Howlrunner - Swarm Tactics
Tie Fighter: Obsidian Squadron
Tie Fighter: Academy Pilot
Tie Fighter: Academy Pilot
Tie Fighter: Academy Pilot

     The trick with the deployment is that you cannot fit this formation in the deploymen zone, as it is too deep.  There is a good way to deploy the rear row ships on either side at a 45 degree angle.  On the first move, you can get them behind the rest.

     In my first game with them, I was up against Cupid who was playing a very elite 3-ship Rebel build using Wedge with Garven and Dutch tag-teaming off each other.  They had some droid upgrades, too.  He ended up flying right into my saturation zone of fire with Wedge on turn 2.  I used Swarm Tactics and Howlrunners re-roll to take out Wedge before his other pilots even got to fire.  I had some good rolls with my Evades and everybody survived.  Turn 3 saw every ship from both sides perform a Kiogoran flip and we were all facing each other again.  This time, I took down Dutch in his Y-wing.  After the next movement, the scene looked bad for the Rebel Scum with all 6 of my ships having him in their sights....

     Needless to say, the game was over after that turn.  Now, given that I rolled well and he rolled bad, I still feel that this list is dangerous.  This was only my second game using the Empire, and the previous time was not nearly as much of a swarm.  I will indeed be using this in the future, but first I need to get me another Tie fighter, as I was borrowing one from Cupid. 

     Also, I really like my GF9 game mat, even though it is overpriced.  In addition to looking great and having clearly defined borders, the texture of the surface prevents a lot of the accidental movement that happens with slick surfaces.  What do you think?

What Chaos Space Marines?......

      This Thursday night, I faced a Chaos Space Marine Army. We played the Crusade Mission with 5 objectives, and Hammer and Anvil deployment.

WHITE SCARS:

The Fritos are a proxy for a Landraider.....

Sammael
Librarian: Lvl 2 Mastery, SM Bike, Power Field Generator
Command Squad: Apothecary, Champion, Standard of Devastation, RW Grenade Launcher

RWAS x6: Melta x2, Attack Bike w/ Multi-melta, Melta Bombs
RWAS x6: Melta x2, Attack Bike w/ Multi-melta, Melta Bombs
RWAS x6: Plasma x2, Landspeeder Typhoon, Melta Bombs
RWAS x6: Plasma x2, Landspeeder Typhoon, Melta Bombs
RWAS x6: Plasma x2, Combi-plasma

White Knights x6: Melta Bombs


Chaos Space Marines:
Kharn the Betrayer
Chaos Lord: Jump Pack
Cultists x10: Heavy Stubber
Cultists x10: Heavy Stubber
Night Lords x10: Plasma Gun, LasCannon
Night Lords x10: Plasma Gun, LasCannon
Night Lords x10: Plasma Gun, LasCannon
Khorne Berzerkers x10:
Havocs x5: 3x Heavy Bolters, Missle Launcher
Raptors x10: Melta Gun x2
Raptors x5: Melta Gun x2
Hellbrute: Plasma Cannon
Hellbrute: Plasma Cannon
Predator: T.L. LasCannon, Heavy Bolters


     I won the roll-off to go first.  I set up as I always do; Command Squad in the center with each Bike Squad within 6" of the Standard of Devastation.  My White Knights, Speeders, and Attack Bikes took the right flank, or more acurately, the right side.  Short table edges don't really work too well for any kind of flanking maneuvers.  He infiltrated one unit of Night Lords into the trees behind the shrine due to his warlord trait.  I used my scout move to put every  Bike Squad within 24" of the infiltrated unit.  Then he managed to Seize the Initiative. 

Top of 1:


Start of the game.

     Night fighting was in effect so his shooting was almost useless.  My jink saves, combined with the stealth and shrouded bonuses, were giving me all the saves I needed.  I made all my 3+ saves on the regular bikes, but failed one from a Plasma Cannon on a 2+!!!  One bike down, 39 to go....






Bottom of turn 1.

Bottom of 2:
     Well, that certainly could have gone worse.  I was making saves like a boss.  My movement in turn one saw me moving the Bike blob up to get some more of his units within 24".  I wanted to be sure to finish off the unit that infiltrated, and then have some shots left over to work on those Cultists.  I was concerned with the threat range of both of his Raptor squads, so I made sure to stay well back from them.  I also used my Attack bikes to screen the unit of White Knights, who deployed in cover to force a difficult terrain roll if they did try to charge.  Shooting saw the infiltrators, and the front row of Cultists wiped out.  I got 4 more from the second unit of Cultists and 3 Berzerkers, too.  My Librarian rolled box cars and lost a wound.  The Hellbrute on my right made all his saves from the Landspeeders. 

End of turn 1.

Top of 2:

Top of turn 2.

     In his movement phase, he pushed his Cultists, Raptors, Berzerkers, and Night Lords all forward at full speed.  Shooting was again ineffective, managing 2 more dead bikes and a wounded attack bike.  A generous 12" move from the raptors saw them able to assault the Attack bike.  They did 3 wounds, but I saved them all and performed a Hit & Run toward his Predator while the Raptors consolidated 1" into the woods.  3 down, 37 to go.


Middle of turn 2.

End of 2.

Bottom of 2:
    My movement consisted of moving the Attack Bikes and Landspeeders full speed toward the Predator and Hellbrute.  The White Knights moved up into rapid fire range of the Berzerkers.  Everyone else simply moved about a half inch forward to get their Jink saves.  The Attack Bikes and Landspeeders only managed to immobilize the Hellbrute.  The White Knights unloaded on the Berzerkers, killing them all, but Kharn made his invuln save.  The Librarian 'Mind Shackled' a Night Lord and made him take out a Cultist.  More shooting took out the last of the Cultists and half of the nearest Night Lords.  I almost forgot to fire on the Raptors, and had to finish them with bikes from my left side.  My small squad finished them off.  I forgot to charge with the White Knights, but it was probably for the best.

Top of 3:
     He moved up his large Raptor squad and Kharn made his way toward my lines.  More shooting was directed at my Command Squad, but I was making saves I shouldn't have been.  The only damage came from the assault of the Raptors and Kharn on my White Knights.  Kharn wiped them out at I5 before anyone else could even blink....  7 down, 33 to go.

Bottom of 3:
     My movement was again just enough to get a Jink save.  I poured everything into the Raptors and Kharn, killing them all.  My Attack Bikes finally quit shooting trees and hit the damn Hellbrute, getting another imobilized result, which took an additional hull point and killed it.  Then I managed to blow a Heavy Bolter off the Predator. 

Top of 4:
     He started moving his remaining Hellbrute towards me with the remainder of a Night Lords squad.  This turn I lost quite a few bikes to his shooting and he got started to break down the Command squad.  I think I lost about 8 or 9 bikes in this round, including the Champion, Apothecary and Librarian. 

Middle of 4.

Bottom of 4:
     That certainly didn't feel good, I need to finish him off ASAP.  I moved up the melta squad in front of the Hellbrute and everyone else came forward to get into range of the nearest Night Lords.  I took out some Night Lords with the Landspeeders and blew up the Predator with the Attack Biks.  Melta blew up the Hellbrute and bolters finished the night lords in my face.  Plasma took down some more Night Lords.  So close....



Top of 5.

Top of 5:
       He finally finished off the Standard Bearer, but too late.  Still going strong...











Bottom of 5:
     Moping up everything I can, and he concedes with just a few models left. 


     I'm glad he had no Helldrakes.  I need to mod this list to be able to handle those guys.  We'll have to see. 

Nurgle Daemons

     I wanted to post the pics of Dan's Nurgle HQ and Daemon Princes.  I forgot to get pictures of them when we played and I very much enjoyed playing against his army and him.  He does a great job of modeling and painting.  He is admittedly more into the painting and modeling than gaming, as am I.  I really like the little Nurgling in the hand of the Daemon Prince.  I probably should have gotten a better pic of the Prince with the Plague Drone rotors for wings, but you get the idea.  Anyway, here ya go!!!!!!!!!!!!

3000 point Planetstrike

Saturday was a 3000 point planetstrike game vs. Alec and his Chaos Daemons w/ Choas Marines allies.  My list was approximately as follows:

Space Marines
Captain - relic blade, storm bolter
Tac Squad x10 - power fist, flamer, lascannon
Tac Squad x10 - power fist, flamer, lascannon
Tac Squad x10 - power sword, melta gun, heavy bolter
Assault Squad x10 - power fist, 2x plasma pistol, flamer
3x Landspeeder - typhoon missles
2x Landspeeder - multi-melta
Devastator Squad x5 - 4x missle launcher
2x Vindicator - siege shield
2x Predator - lascannon sponsons
2x Storm Talon - assault cannon, heavy bolter

Blood Angels
Chaplain - power fist
Death Company x8 - Power Fist
Storm Raven - heavy bolter, assault cannon

I honestly don't know what he had, but here is a guess.

Chaos Daemons
Khorne HQ
Khorne Daemon Prince
Tzeentch Daemon Prince
20 Bloodletters
20 Bloodletters
20 Pink Horrors
10 Flesh Hounds
3 Blood Crushers
3 Screamers of Tzeentch
Soul Grinder of Nurgle
Chaos Space Marines
5x Marines, Melta guns
Helldrake
8x Terminators w/ Landraider

     I chose to go with 3 bastions, using the dropzone denial strategem.  I feel it is usually the way to go.  This lets me set up right on the board edge and stay as far from the other 3 edges as I can.  He then chose the short edge to the right of my board edge.  I like to have a ring of difficult terrain around my buildings, just to slow down anything that is looking to charge in.  Here is how I set them up:























     I put the Devastator squad on top of the small bastion in the middle.  The 3 Tac squads were spread out between the other 2 bastions (top and inside), the rhino, and inside the middle bastion.  My tanks were divided onto either side. 

    He started the game with the Firestorm attacks, of which he got 7.  I don't think a single one of these didn't wreck some face.  When Planetstrike came out, blast weapons only got half strength if the center hole wasn't over the target.  Now, in 6th edition, they can scatter and hit multiple targets at their full strength.  Which happened.  A LOT!  Here is my setup after the Firestorm:

     One of the bastions colapsed completely, killing 4 guys inside and 2 on top.  I lost a Rhino and a Vindicator, too.  All my other tanks lost at least 1 Hull Point.  Then he rolled for his reserves and got most of what he wanted.  He also had instruments in most of his daemon units, so he could bring another unit on from reserve if the unit with the instrument comes in.  Here is how he deployed:

     One unit, which I think was a big group of Raptors with a lord attached, scattered onto my guys and were destroyed.  His shooting was pretty devastating, taking out all of my tanks.  He then assaulted the Tac squad with a big Daemon guy, killing the sergeant in a challenge.  Overall, he did quite a bit of damage, but I still had my heavy hitters coming in....

     My reserves showed up.  I got everything except for my assault squad, which had a mishap and had to go back into reserves.  The melta speeders hit their mark next to the Landraider and blew it up.  The first storm talon scattered, but remained behind the Helldrake for rear armour shots.  The second one scattered almost onto the other, but I could rotate it to prevent it from touching.  This, however, meant the Helldrake was no longer in his arc of fire.  The storm raven came on from the short edge to the left of my bastions, not wanting to risk a deep strike mishap.  The first Stormtalon got some great rolls and took down the Helldrake.  My Sternguard dropped in on the Pink Horrors and Bloodletters.  Taking a decent chunk out of both.  Overall, I didn't make a big enough dent in them to prevent what was coming, but it still felt good to kill some Chaos scum....

     At this point, he started killing everything, and I esentially stopped taking pictures as I was too busy putting away my dead models.  I his flying Daemon Prince used vector strike to bring down my Stormraven, killing all but 2 Death Co and imobilizing the Dread.  Another Daemon prince took down a Storm Talon with vector strike, too.  His Bloodletters all had Melta bombs due to the strategem that he chose, as so were ruining my bastions. 

     I have to say that Chaos Daemons as Planetstrike Attackers is a really rough army to beat.  I think Alec will be using this to his advantage in our campaign on Thursday nights.  I feel that the best strategy is to reserve as much as you can to prevent the firestorm damage.  Then maybe I will deploy in the center and use the force field strategem that protects from firestorm damage.  I definitely need to get in some more games to see how I like Planetstrike in 6th edition.

!!White Scars kill 99.99% of Germs!!

     Last night was the start of our campaign league at Fantasy Games.  My first game was against Dan, playing an all-Nurgle Daemon army.  I'm currently unfamiliar with the new codex, so I don't know exactly what his list was.  Here's my best guess:

Nurgle, please...

Big Fat Decaying HQ Guy: gross stuff, some psychic thing
Flying Daemon Prince type guy:
Flying Daemon Prince type guy:
Flying Daemon Prince type guy:
9x Nurglings w/ Herald
9x Nurglings w/ Kumar
10x Plaguebearers
10x Plaguebearers
10x Plaguebearers

Plaguebearers

   I need to get some pics of his HQ and Daemon Prince guys.  His army was painted up awesome-ly.  I really liked all his little conversions and I want to get a pic of the flying prince that has the rotor things from the Plague Drone instead of wings.  My list was the same as usual.  I'm keeping with it until I figure out what needs to change.  I can tell already, I'm gonna need something to help with those single- and dual-Helldrake lists.

HQ:
Sammael: Corvex (jetbike)
Librarian: SM Bike, Level 2 Psycher, Power Field Generator
RW Command Squad: Apothecary, Champion, Standard of Devastation,

Troops: RWAS=Ravenwing Attack Squadron x6
RWAS: Melta Gun x2, Attack Bike w/ MM
RWAS: Melta Gun x2, Attack Bike w/ MM
RWAS: Plasma Gun x2, Landspeeder Typhoon w/ HB
RWAS: Plasma Gun x2, Landspeeder Typhoon w/ HB
RWAS: Combi-Plasma, Plasma Gun x2, Attack Bike w/ MM

Fast:
Black Knights: Power Weapon


"WHITE Knights"

     We played the "Big Guns Never Tire" mission (5 objectives) with Dawn of War deployment.  I'm a fan of this deployment as it allows me the most space and a flexible setup.  He won the roll-off and set up first.  Keeping as much in reserves as he could, he deployed all 3 Daemon Princes and the HQ guy, putting them in or behind cover so they could take advantage of their "Shrouded" rule.  The HQ and one guy were in the center (seen on the far left, below).  He deployed a unit of Plaguebearers on the right in some trees with the other 2 princes next to them (near where you see the tape measure, below).  My deployment was predictable.  With no template or blast weapons to worry about, I put the command squad in the middle of my bike blob, centered between his 2 groups of guys.  Every RWAS was within 6" of the Standard of Devastation for maximum Salvo goodness.  My Landspeeders took up the rear and the Black Knights (I'm gonna call them White Knights from now on, just look at em!) deployed on the right flank.  I used my scout move to get the main blob forward a couple of inches and the WHITE Knights moved down his flank.  I lost one biker to a failed dangerous terrain test before the game even started!

    
Top of 1:
    The game started off bad for him, and just got worse from there.  I seized the initiative, which is just too good.  I rolled Invisibility for a psychic power and cast it on my command squad.  GO 2+ COVER SAVE!!!!  My first goal was to get his nearest prince to take a grounded test.  The first squad managed to score 3 snap shots, but he passed the grounding.  The next squad managed 7 snap shots; grounding him and doing a couple of wounds.  Then the White Knights plasma'd him up for a couple more wounds.  Another squad took him out with bolter fire.  So I tried the same thing on the other prince on the right.  Esentially got the same thing to happen and had him missing 2 big guys at the end of the turn.  I tried to do the same to the last prince, but I had run out of guns.  I have no assault moves.



Middle of turn 1.

Bottom of 1:

     He didn't have a lot to do.  The Plaguebearers moved toward the White Knights while the last prince flew at me full speed, intent on revenge.  The HQ moved onto the hill for some of that area terrain cover.  My first experience with the warpstorm table was a result of 11.  This caused my Librarian to take a leadership test on 3d6, which he failed.  This turned him into a Herald of Nurgle, crap!  The plague bearers attempted to charge the White Knights, but I rolled 5 snap shots and killed 4 guys.  They were then out of the charge range.  The Prince declared a charge at the combi-plasma squad in front.  I lost both of my plasma gunners to "gets hot" rolls.  He was still in charge range by about a millimeter.  He hit me 3 times but rolled all ones so no damage was done.  They used Hit & Run to get out while the prince consolidated into the trees. 

End of Turn 1: 

Top of 2:
     I use my moves to get everone within 24" of both the Plaguebearers and the Prince.  Shooting makes short work of the Prince who made enough saves to require more of my attention than I wanted to give him.  My old Librarian, now in Nurgle form, didn't last long.  The Plaguebearers took some plasma and bolt shells to the face, and then got assaulted by the guys who know how, finishing them off.  I tried to finish off the HQ and end the game, but all of my Multi-meltas rolled 1's to-hit and the T7 was too much for the few remaining bolter shots.  I think I only managed one wound. 

Middle of turn 2.

Bottom of 2:
     He got all of his reserves except for the one unit of Nurglings he wanted.  See below for how he chose to have them deepstrike.  The HQ casted Enfeeble on one of my attack bikes and failed his psychic test for another power. There was very little he could do. No units had shooting attacks and Nurgle daemons are slow and purposeful so they can't run. His turn was done.

End of turn 2.

Top of 3:
     My turn consisted of moving the command squad up into the woods near the Nurglings.  They got within 12" to make use of the Ravenwing Grenade Launcher.  Again, the rest of the full bike squads got within 6" of the Standard.  The White Knights backed up to be 9" from the nearest Plaguebearers for the double tap.  The small squad moved in front of them for a screen.  I used the Rad Grenade coming from the command squad and got a hit, reducing the Nurglings to T2.  Sammael hit dead on with his plasma cannon, too.  With the Nurglings at T2, they were being insta-killed by bolter fire.  Notice the complete lack of Nurglings at the end of the turn....  I also took down the HQ and did some damage to two of the plaguebearers squads.  I managed to get one attack bike into range to charge some Nurglings, trying to tie up the unit.  I killed off one, but they have those poisoned attacks, so the attack bike was killed and the Plaguebearers consolidated closer to me instead.

Middle of turn 3.

Bottom of 3:
     His last unit came in from reserve.  He rolled a 9 on the Warpstorm table which causes a S8 blast hit on an enemy unit on the roll of a 6.  He got four 6's out of 12 units, NICE!  The first shot scattered into his Plaguebearers, killing one.  I lost 2 or 3 bikes from it all.  Thank god for my 5+ Jink save.  His small unit of Plaguebearers charged my screening unit, but got wiped out by the bikers.  Another unit charged the Bikes in front of my command squad.  I think we actually tied that combat, and my guys failed their Hit & Run roll.


Bottom of turn 3.

Top of 4:
     I moved everyone toward his remaining units.  The Nurglings got hit with the Rad Grenade again and they were shot to death by the White Knights.  The full squad of Plaguebearers was shot up and charged, getting wiped out.  We finished off the combat from the previous turn, and he was left with one Plaguebearer.  He conceded to me at this point.

Middle of turn 4 and End of the game.

 

     I have to say that that Standard of Devastation is just incredible when used correctly.  At the start of the game I was fearing all those big guys, but the tons of re-rollable shots helped me ground them and then helped pile on the wounds.  I will say for sure that he had some horrible luck, starting with me Seizing and his triple 1's on his Daemon Prince's charge.  I, on the other hand, was rolling great.  I had 2 times that I fired with a full squad of bikers and didn't miss a shot out of 24.  Honestly, I lost more models to my own Gets Hot, failed Dangerous Terrain tests, and random Warpstorm results then I did from his attacks.  I still need to figure out how to deal with certain builds with this list, but I have some ideas involving twin-linked shots up the Wazoo.  I just hope he had some fun, too!!!




















500 point X-wing Battle!!!!!

     Last night I got together with my friend Cupid and we combined all of our X-wing miniatures for the BIGGEST battle of all time!!!!  Big for us anyway, 250 points per side.  We each had a teammate to help us: Bill and I were the Rebel Scum while he and Brian played the Imperials. 

     Now, the lists:

Imperial:

Tie Fighter: Academy Pilot
Tie Fighter: Academy Pilot
Tie Fighter: Black Squadron, Expose
Tie Fighter: Backstabber
Tie Fighter: Howlrunner, Swarm Tactics
Tie Fighter: Dark Curse
Tie Fighter: Mauler Mithel
Tie Advanced: Tempest Squadron, Concussion Missles
Tie Advanced: Darth Vader, Expert Handling
Tie Interceptor: Soontir Fel, Daredevil
Firespray: Boba Fett, Heavy Laser Cannon, Assault Missles


Rebel:

X-wing: Wedge Antilles, R5-K6
X-wing: Luke Skywalker, shiled upgrade
X-wing: Biggs Darklighter, R2-D2
X-wing:Garven Dreis
Y-wing: Dutch Vander, Ion Cannon
Y-wing: Horton Salm, Proton Torpedos
A-wing: Arvel Crynyd, Stealth Device
YT-1300: Han Solo, Millenium Falcon, Cluster Missles, Chewy


     This battle was too big to remember everthing that happened, but let's just say we stomped them.  My teammate Bill was rolling like a boss, getting at least 3 kills with 3 or more hits.  One time he even got 3 criticals!  We ended the game once it got late enough, and the rebels had not even lost a ship.  Biggs kept drawing their fire and regenerating shields with R2.  Han used the cluster missles to take out a Tie from max range in one turn. 

End of turn 2

End of turn 2

Add caption

New HQ models for my White Scars!!!

     I'm quite the perfectionist when it comes to a lot of things, and conversion work is one of them.  That's probably why it's taken me almost a month to get my new HQ models put together.  Since the release of the Dark Angels codex, I have been playing a Ravenwing army with my White Scars.  I know I might catch some greif over this, but you buy over 70 Space Marine Bikes and play the vanilla codex.  I don't even care if I win or lose, it's simply the army that I have always wanted. 

     Now I have a couple of guys to lead it, too.  I purchased the Sammael model a few weeks back.  I have to say that I didn't know what all the complaining about Finecast was until I got this.  The way GW describes them as having a "few" bubbles is a joke.  I had air bubbles on things like hydraulic hoses where 75% of the hose was missing.  I don't think that filling it in with glue, as they suggest, is gonna cut it.  I had to get out the green stuff and get it as close to what it should be as I could.  I will admit that I am glad I don't have the old metal model.  That thing could double as a weapon and I have heard that it would snap flying stands like it was its job.  Another problem is the warping of the parts.  They are admittedly much easier to bend BACK into shape then metal, but metal was never this far off.  I felt like I was goin to have to break the left leg and right handlebar just to get them to reach.  And the sword was the worst.  It was literally bent on three planes.  Fortunately, I had planned on replacing it with a sword from the White Scars biker upgrade bits. 

     For the conversion work, I mostly just had to remove anything that had Dark Angels iconography.  There was the chest plate, the front of the neck guard, the end of his cape/cloak, the left leg..... I also don't know why Sammael has a giant book on his jetbike.  Maybe he has a final coming up that he just HAS TO study for.  I took it off to use later, as you will see.  I was also not a huge fan of the bird on the front.  Not that I don't like the looks of it, but it seems too Ravenwing.  My plan was to add a nice White Scars-y lightning bolt.  I made it by freehanding it onto some .060 plasticard then cutting it out.  That was actually harder than I thought because the plastic is so thick that the blade wants to bend the small points of the lightning bolt.  I kept the wings on the front, but didn't put on the head and body of the bird.  I used a little green stuff to fill in the space and then put the bolt right in the middle.  After I had that in place, I felt that it was kind of too flat.  I know I could help it with some cool paint later, but I saw the head and just had to stick it on there.  I think it is pretty dumb, but I like it.

 

 

     I also did some work to get my Librarian on a Bike finished.  Here are some pics: