intro

A random series of articles on war gaming in 40K, FOW and other systems. The headings are, WiP; Conversions and models in various states of assembly. PiP; Paint works on various models. Mission Critical; scenarios or missions to bring a bit of a twist to a normal game. MiA; rules for units and characters that could/should/might appear in a game. Dig In; How to guides on making various types of terrain for different game systems. Sit Rep; Battle reports and after action reports on games played

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

PIP (FOW) the trouble with the russians..

...Is that there is hundreds of them to paint. Well 130 actually. The Plastic soldier company 15mm russians finally get some attention and painted. For 18.00 euro I got 24 stands of dudes. That is an over sized late war company or any under sized mid war company depending on the day. I also about twenty dudes left over but there is only so many man pointing models you can use.

 1st company 

You get five of these in the box
Painting method;
(using just Valejo paints)
  • models were made and stuck to some plastic card cut to size.
  • The models were then undercoat grey (its the new black).
  • The models were base coated a water down khaki.
  • Helmets were painted russian green
  • Guns and handles were painted flat brown.
  • SMG,grenades and MMG were painted oil steel
  • Hands and faces were painted flat flesh
  • Backpacks and pouches for each platoon was painted a different shade of brown to act as unit markings.
  • The whole model was given a wash of smoke.
  • The based was covered in wood filler (which dries brown and provide texture)
  • Scatter grass was then glue in patches to the base.





 
I think there are at least four 15mm ww2 manufacturers in this photo

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Dig in (40K);hills and trees

Finally finished my first terrain set in Dresden.  With over a dozen hills and the same number of Forst I can cover an entire 6x8 table.

The hills are made with styrodur (blue foam). I tried to hide the seam between levels by roughening the sides but it did not work that well next time I just cover the sides in paper mache to hide the seam.

For painting the hills were undercoated flat grey. By varying the water to paint ratio in the coat an uneven coat was formed. the base color was chocloate brown again with the water to paint ratio varied the overall result was a more natural looking hill with a lot of different shade. The hills were then hilighted desert yellow.

The trees were picked up at the local home deco store.At three euro for 30cm30cm I got a fair few. To make them look a bit more wild and natural I added in some plastic aquarium plants. They are not quite yet finished I still to make a better base for them. 

  
















Saturday, June 4, 2011

Sitrep (40K); Dresden Clay Pigeon Shoot final round

Round 5 vs Klemens (tournament organiser, 3rd place last year)


Storm troopers



Mission; Annihilation
Deployment; Diagonal (modified version of spearhead)

Special rules;
We will back:
Any troop unit destoryed can be recycled. Doesn't affected vechicles or non standard troops eg nobz
Battlefeild conditions:
Roll a D6 for each piece of terrain (1-2: burning- counts as dangerous terrain, 3-4:Smoking- +1 cover save, 5-6: no effect)

lots of Storm troopers

The enemy;
1 Company command squad with astrodroid
1 platoon commnad squad with flamers in a chimera (PCS)
3 squads of infantry one with attached cossimar
2 heavy weapons squads
1 storm trooper squad (ST)
1 vet squad in chimera
1 special weapons squad (SWS)
1 Vendetta
1 Leman Russ
1 Basilick
1 squad of penal legion
1 squad of rough riders
1 squad of halfings
1 squad of three pigeons
1 squad of sentinels

IG sentinels

The game;
Klemens had one of the best armies at the event, well themed and brilliantly executed. I was really looking forward to playing his army.
The Orks won the roll off and opted to deploy first. They picked the deployment zone to force the guard into the open. The entire army deployed except De I's who opted to out flank.

Sky commander Walker and R2-D6

The Guard countered, Klemens used his trophy from last year as terrain to provide cover for the heavy weapons teams. The penal legion, rough riders, vendetta, SWS,ST,PCS and vendetta opted to reserve. Everything else deployed. To top it off the guard stole the initiative and one the first shot from the ratlings popped my pigeon.

Guard in cover, losing the initiative and the pigeon was not parted on the plan. The orks surged forward. Guard reinforcement arrived with the PCS moving and debussing four flamers near Fraggit's mob. The legion arrived and moved in support. Importantly neither the rough riders,ST or SWS in vendetta arrived. The CCS moved forward and deployed to block the Battle wagons. The command squad destroyed Skull Hamma. The Leman Russ and Basilisk fired on and missed the Warboss elsewhere the guard opened fire destroying Crushinator and flaming Fraggits mob. The legion assaulted and pinned Fraggits mob in combat.

Storm troopers and Orks fight on

Things were definitely not going according to plan. Lungbusta pushed forward and deployed Naggog's mob. The Warboss went after the company command squad.. Maggits mob moved behind Naggog's boyz in case the rough riders showed up. The warboss and friends destroyed the command squad, Fraggi'ts mob finished off the penal legion but were now facing four flame throwers again. Naggog's mob got in a good multiple charge engaging all the heavy weapon squads the sentinels and the blob of guard. The Killa kans destroyed a squad of vets.

Klemens revealed his secret mission which turned his blob squad into a fearless, feel no pain squad.

The flamers got into their chimera and flamed Fraggits mob again. The vendetta showed up with the special weapons squad. The Vets chimera was immobilised trying to get away for the Killa kans. The Warboss was tank shocked by the company command squad's chimera with the result he failed and fled with the Big Mek and the Nobz. They fled too close for comfort to the tank shocking chimeras. Maggit's mob took fire from pretty much everything losing a lot of boyz, Lord Snips was destroyed by the Leman Russ. The IG pigeons broke cover and started to move forward. The big scrap continued with Naggog's mob now battling the feel no pain blob squad.

 
The Green tide moves into position

The survivors of Fraggit's mob destroyed the PCS chimera but the four flame throwers escaped injury and were ready to fire again. Maggit's mob charged into the big scrap with Maggots getting in a multi charge on the chimera that had tank shocked the boss. The Killa Kans finished of the vets immobilised Chimera.
The guard got more enforcement in the form of the rough riders aad the storm troops. The storm troops deep struck near the warboss to stop him rallying. The flamer squad opened fire and killed all of Fraggit's boyz causing the nob to flee. The rough riders charged into the big scrap. the IG armour started to go after the Killa Kans reducing the squad to a single model. The big scrap continued with the rough riders taking down a dozen of orks but the boyz continued to fight on.

Jedi and storm troopers try to stop the green tide

The deff koptas finally arrived and gunned down the flamer squad. The orks and guard continued to fight on with the jedi (aka veteran sergeants) cutting more than a few boyz down.
The guard switched its attention to the grots who went to ground to avoid any casualties. The big scrap carried on with the rough rider squad being destroyed in the melee. The guard pigeons darted forward and flamed the fleeing warboss killing the Big Mek and the nobz and making the warboss flee of table. The big fight continued with both sides taking casulties but neither side backing down.
The Deff Koptas went after the ratling but the buzz saw koptas took a wound moving through terrain then crashed in the assault move leaving the the other kopta out of assault range.
The guard started to redeploy around the main fight in case things went bad. The tanks again fired on the grots who refused to die.

View from the vendetta

The last deff kopta finished of the ratlings in assault and the big scrap finally ended when Naggog ripped off the head of sky commander walker, the last guard model standing, but all that was left was a Naggog, Maggit and a few boyz. The guard tanks tanked the few boyz left Maggits mob broke and ran. The vendetta opened fire killing Naggog and making his last ork flee.
In the final round the last Killa Kan broke cover and opened fire on the storm troopers. The frist shot hit and killed several troopers but the squad held firm. The second shot missed but hit the enemy pigeons killing two. Before the last pigeon could release what was happening the deff kopta opened fire and turn the bird into a cloud of feathers.
The game end a draw victory conditions meant the boyz had to get kill point margin bigger than five for a solid win. After the game the margin was +4.

The result; 10-10 draw
secret mission incomplete
enemy pigeons killed = 3
friendly pigeons alive = 0

Summary:
The event ended with the boyz undefeated. All of the games had been hard fought and fun. I got everybodies pigeons and completed most of the secret missions.  The Orks final place was first.(sweet, first win in Germany).
As a bonus I get to use this years trophy as a free terrain piece for next years event. Since the prize is an Inquisitorial monument I think the sisters will get the honour of defending it. Although converting the pigeons into squigeons is very appealing.

1st place trophy (guess who is tipped to defend next year)

A big thanks to the organisers, Klemens and Micheal, my opponents Klemens, Eric, Micheal, Arne and Steffan and the all players at the event.
More photos can be seen here and also on bob page here.


Friday, June 3, 2011

Sitrep (40K); Dresden Clay Pigeon Shoot round four

Round 4 vs Eric

Mission; Ojective grab
One objective in the centre of each quadrant and a fifth objective in the centre of the table.

Orks get ready to rumble

Secret mission: Head Hunter
The Swarm lord must die to complete the mission. However, when he dies the gaunts can fire the artillery strike and it will autohit.

Deployment; Dawn of War

Special rules;
Artillery strike, each objective held by a scoring unit give the player a free artillery strike (R: unlimited STR: 8 AP:2 Massive blast). The artlillery strike always scatters 4D6. Each artillery strike is a one shot weapon.

The enemy; Tyranids
1 Warrior Prime
1 Swarm lord
2 broods of Hive guard
1 brood of bodyguards
1 brood of ten gaunts
1 Trvygon
2 Mysteoic spores
1 brood of Bivores
1 brood of 15 genestealers with lord
1 brood of 2 zyanotrophes

The city was infested with genestealers

The game;
Tyranids in a city fight, nuts, at least the wagons have deff rollas. An added complication was that the Swarm Lord  had to die after as many as possible artillery strikes could be fired.

The Orks won the roll off, Fraggit's and Maggit's mobs opted to deploy. By spreading thin the boyz covered their entire table half forcing any inflitrating genestealers to deploy at best 12” from their table edge. They also controlled three objectives from turn one. The rest of the mobs opted to roll on turn one, except De I's who opted to outflank. The Tyranids replied with all their broods moving in turn one.

Lungbusta immbolised itself rolling on crashing near one of the objectives. Maggit and Fraggits mob tried to form up into proper mobs while the rest of the army pushed forward. The tyranids arrived by night fighting deprived them of targets.

Turn two saw Skullhamma immobilised itself driving over a rock. The boyz retaliated by firing three artillery strikes and barely missing Fraggit's mob. The big mek fixed Skullhamma with a couple blows of the hammer. The De I's arrived and went after the gaunt squad approaching an objective. They shot them up a bit before assualting into cover to kill a few more.

The Tvrygon pumped out a squad of gaunts which move to capture an objective . They fired the artillery strike but missed the mobs. The genestealers advanced on to Maggits mob. The Tyrnids opened fire killing boyz and doing superfical damage to the dreads. Maggits mob whooped for joy went the genestealers failed their assault into cover roll. The swarm lord and his bodygaurd went after the deff koptas and turned them into raw meat.

The Orcs pushed forward. Maggits mob opened up on the genestealers killing a few, The killa kans added to the carnage killing a few more and a few boyz for good measure. Fraggits mob opened up on the gaunts taking them down. Else where the boyz pushed forward while the grots claimed an objective abandoned by Maggits mob. It was the tyranids turn to laugh when the killa kans failed their assault into cover roll. Meaning Maggits mob would have to go it alone aganist the genestealers. The results were not good with a lot of boyz falling for little return. The mob took more casualties due to being fearless.

The Tyrvgon made its last brood of gaunts who rushed to help the genestealers. The Tyrvgon and the other gaunt brood moved to capture a distance objective. The Swarm lord and the rest of the tryanids opted to push forward. The genestealers reinforced with the gaunts finished off Maggits mob and the genestealers push forward after the grots while the gaunts fell back to an objective.

The lose of Maggits mob was the effective collapse of one of the flanks. Naggogs mob decided to debuss from Lungbusta and moved to secure objective abandoned by Fraggits mob. Under pressure the rest of boyz opted to Waaagh. Lord Snips and Fraggits mob hit the swarm lord. Crushinator engaged a brood of zaonytorpes with an attached warrior prime. The nobz debussed and went after the gaunts that had assist in destroying Maggits mob. The Boss debussed and went after a brood of hive guard. The killa kans opened fire on the genestealers killing them all bar the brood lord. They also nearly scored a glancing hit on Skullhamma. The Nobz opted to burn rather than fight the gaunts destroying the squad. The fight between the swarmlords retinue and the orks did not go well for the Orks and a few more boyz fell to fearless wounds but between Fraggits and lord Snips claws the bodygaurds started to fall while the boyz killed of all the pigeons which had attached to the Swarmlord for protection. The rest of the combats were one sides affairs with Crushinator killing the prime, the warboss killed of the hive guard while the kill kans crushed the broodlord.

Speed and aggression are no match for some grots in Kans

The tyranids retaliated firing to msyetics spores the first hit Naggog's mob killing a few boyz but not much else. The second targeted my pigeon who had to go to ground to survive. The remaining free tyranids units went after objectives. The Trvygon attacked the nobz hoping to kill them to secure an objective. The Gaunts ran towards another objective. A last squad of brood guard destroyed the Skull Hamma with a rear shoot. In combat the Swarm lord turn its attention to Lord Snips ripping of its legs and one its claws. In reply the boyz finished of the body guard and got the swarm lord down to his last wound. Fraggits mob took the immobilisation of Lord Snips as its que to leave so it fled combat leaving the dread to face the Lord alone. The Crushinator finished of the Zaonythorpes. While the nobz survived their encounter with the tvrgyon.

Swarm Lord vents his rage on Fraggit's mob

The spore tried to get a taste of pigeon but could not hit him

With three objective safely secure the warboss went after the Trvygon between him and the nobz they killed it and claimed a fourth objective. Crushinator went after the gaunts but failed an assault into cover move. The Swarm lord vented his rage on Lord Snips riping off more arms. But Lord Snips fought back finished off the Lord.

Fraggit's mob opted for a tactical withdraw rather than continue fighting the Swarm Lord

The game ended with the Orks holding four objectives

The result; sold win 20-0
Secret mission: completed
Enemy pigeons killed: 4
Friendly pigeons alive; 1 


Thursday, June 2, 2011

Sitrep (40K); Dresden Clay Pigeon Shoot round 3

Round 3 vs Micheal (tournament organizer,writer of all the secret missions and last year's winner)
Mission; Capture the flag with four objectives each table quarter
Secret mission: Get 'em
The large unit of Dire avengers must die to complete the secret mission

Deployment; Spearhead
Special rules; none

The enemy;
1 Farseer on bike
1 unit of 6 warlocks on bikes
2 Hornets
1 Warp Hunter
1 NightSpinner
1 Wave Serpent
1 unit of ten Fire Dragon with exarch and up grades
1 unit of ten Dire Avengers with exarch and up grades
1 unit of five Dire Avengers
1 unit of ten harlequins with upgrades.

Eldar aka Space Panies                                                                      

The game;
The Hornets and Warp Hunter looked cool. The presence of a bike lock council was a bit of problem. Having won last year’s event Micheal had the option of using his trophy as cover. Being vehicle heavy, less terrain was better so he opted not to use it. The discussion on terrain needed a roll off since I want the bunkers to count as intact while the elder were less keen. Eldar won the roll off so the grots would have to hide in ruins.

seems intact to me

The Orc won the dice off and opted to deploy first deploying the grots the pigeon and Maggits mob on the far flank with the grots claiming the objective in the Orks quarter while Maggit’s mob were poised to rush the opposite objective. De I’s opted to out flank. Everything else went in reserve. The elder opted to deploy everything bar the small squad of Dire’s. Their pigeons went into the large Dire unit.

Maggits mob made a break for the other objective while the grots made themselves comfortable. The Eldar duly moved towards Maggits mob. The Night Spinner scored a hit forcing the mob to start taking dangerous terrain test.

Turn two saw the trap spring as all the orks bar Fraggit’s mob rolled into play. Lungbusta went full speed ahead and off loaded Naggog’s mob near the bikelocks, Skullhamma also went full speed ahead and dropped off Bork near the large Dire unit. Maggit’s mob changed course and went after the bikelocks. There was no shooting since everybody was either running or opted to Waaagh into position. Bork assaulted the dire avengers and started eating pigeons. Naggogs and Maggits mobs hopped on the fortuned council and a nearby Hornet. Most of the council survived but the farseer got ripped apart by Naggog and the Hornet was destroyed by Maggit.

Orks engage the council and a near by hornet

Surrounded by targets the eldar started to react. The Wave serpent with fire dragons coasted forward and debussed the squad in close range on Skullhamma. The harlequins were out of position and tried to redeploy as fast as they could. Everything else open fire resulting in a lot of scratched paint work, Skullhamma got the worst of it suffering the attention of the Fire Dragons which below off all its weapons and immobilized the vehicle. With the Farseer gone the bike locks did not last longing freeing the boyz for more mischief. Bork ate the last of the pigeons.

Harlequins try to redeploy to get into the fight

Outraged by the damage done to their ride the Nobz turned the flamers on the Fire Dragons killing them all expect the exarch. What was left of Maggit’s mob went after a nearby objective while Naggog’s mob got it into their head they could take down the harlequins and so moved forward. Not content with the pigeons Bork started to eat the Dire Avengers. Much to his disgust they got in two wounds in the process. De I’s got into combat with a lurking hornet and blew it up.
Under pressure, the second squad of Dires arrived and moves to capture a nearby objective. The Warp Hunter hit the nobs wounding a few. The Harlequins got in an assault on Naggog’s mob wiping it out. The Night spinner killed a few grots who had not gone to ground fast enough. The Fire Dragon exarch assaulted and blew-up Skullhamma.

Last stand of the Fire Dragons

Fraggit’s mob arrived and walked on to a nearby objective*. The loss of Naggog’s mob was not in vain as the Harlequins were now in range of the Crushinator who assaulted and killed a few. Bork finshed off the last of the Dires he was fighting and opted for a tactical withdraw. The Nobz killed the exarch who had blown up their ride.

Nobz avenge the loss of the Skulhamma

The eldar destroyed De I’s while they were trying to sneak after the last dire avenger squad. Remaining vehicles fired on Fraggit’s mob. The harlequins tried to flee but could not escape the embrace of the Crushinator who killed a few more.
Maggits mob claimed their objective. Lord Snips joined the Crushinator to pulverize the harlequins who still stuck it out.
The closing turns saw the harlequins final escape from the dreads only to die while trying to clear maggit’s mob from their objective. Elsewhere the orks were static.

The result; draw 13 -10 to the orks
Secret mission = accomplished
Enemy pigeons dead = 4
Friendly pigeons alive = 1

*which was worthless since some objectives had no value in the game. I had thought I was 3-1 for a win. Note to self read the mission pack again before the event.