Sitrep (40K) Caledonian Uprising Part 1

So much for cutting back on the tournaments this year. I could not even wait until Warpcon to get my frist tournament of the new year in :)
Caledonian Uprising, aka the ETC team Scotland qualifier, got the green light because,
1) It was nearest event on at the time.
2) Dave offered to put me up for the weekend (He did not know this at the time)
3) It was being hosted at Maelstorm Games which was somewhere I wanted an excuse to visit.
4) The opposition is pretty much the entire ETC teams for Scotland, Wales, England and some of Northern Iron so a good scrap is in the offing.
5) with a planning we might be able to get a fancy warhammer world table for a game.

All of the above meant it was time for a crusade

The Caledonian Crusade
Canoness The lady Tabita Woe
Celesians mission with squads Rose, Thorn, Sword.
Sisters mission with squads Miriya, Iona, Cassandra
Exorcist squadron with exorcists  Revenge, Heretics Folly, Retribution Inbound
Immolator squadron with immolators Ardent, His Will, Divine Pronouncement
Rhino squadron  with rhinos Blessed, Sanctity, Inviolable


Round -1;
Mission; annihilation
Deployment; sort of pitch battle
Opponent; Dave and John Vs Alan and myself
The forces;

Arriving early on Friday and with a bit of planning we arranged a trip to warhammer world and managed to get a game in on one of their feature tables. After randomly determining pairs Dave and John paired up against Alan and myself.  So Blood Angels and Space Wolves Vs Tau and Sisters.

 

Who knows what terrors lie beyond those gates

Game;

 The sister and tau deployed first.  Because the features table was only 12'x6' we agreed to only use a section of it, with only Alan and his Tau rail guns wanting to use the whole table.  The wolf/angel alliance respond with the wolves deploying in the fortress and all the Angels opting to deep strike.  Not much happened for the first turn with the sisters and Tau taking potshot at the wolves chipping of a few wounds here and there, with little in return.

Charge of the wolves

Turn two got interesting with the arrival on fo the first wave of Blood Angels.  A 10 Assault marine squad, land raider with terminators,librarian and priest all deep struck danger close to the Sisters flank. With a blood lance and multiple meltas in close range it was looking grim. But fortunately when the dust had settle there were no casualties.

Long Fangs take aim

With the first marine deployed the sisters/Tau alliance got to work.  The Tau drip feed the wolves small units while all the time whittling them down until they were destroyed.  The Sisters found themselves in close range of marines and went on a flamer/meltagun rampage destroying the first wave and the reinforcements when they showed up.  Lady Tabita struck down over a dozen assault marines in close combat and walked away without a scratch.

 Surrounded but not undaunted

By the end of the game the Blood Angels were wiped out and the surviving wolves were hunkered down.  The Tau were damaged but largely intact while the sisters had lost two vehicles and a dozen sisters spread across all the squads.

 

That is what a 12"x6" themed table looks like

Result; Sister Victorious


Round 1; 
Table; 27
Mission; multiple objectives
Deployment; Dawn of War
Opponent; Peter
His army; Flesh Tearers
3 las/plas razorbacks
1 landraider
1 terminator thunderhammer/storm sheild squad
Libarian
2 Predators
1 Dreadnought

Game;

I had played Peter before the last time was  UK GT heat 2 table 1. He fought me to a draw and ended my claim on frist place so this was time for pay back.

The frist two turns were cagey, with Peter trying to use his multple lascannons to immoblise the sisters while they in turn tried to work through cover to get into close range.

 

Peter takes aim

 

 Veteran Sargent Corbula

Turn three was the tipping point when a long range shot from a melta gun dsestroyed the landraider.  With the Terminator down to walking the Sisters pressed the attack in the centre.  Lady Tabita squads, Rose, Thorn and Cassandra broke through destroying two squads of Tearers in the process.  The Flesh tearers tried to close the gap  but the Celestians and the Cannoness peeled of and blocked there path catching them in a cross fire with the exocrist. Lady Tabita again saw close combat this time destroying the terminators squad after it had softened up by the exocists.

 

 Sisters seeks shelter behind Sanctity

  

 Before going on the offensive

 

By the end of the game Peter had a single scoring holding an objective with a few vechicle dotting the feild while the Sister held three objective and were largley intact.

 

 Lady Tabita best the last of the Terminators in close combat.

Result; Sister Victorious

Round 2; Table 7
Mission; Capture the flag
Deployment; Pitch battle
Opponent; Sean Gill (Orks)
His army;
2 Big Meks with bubbles
9 kill kans
2 dreads
2 mobs of lootas
2 mobs of boyz
2 Koptas
His was army nominated for best painted and looked impressive

How about lunch? (Unknown Waaagh)

Game;

The flags were deployed in diagonal opposite corners meaning that Sean deployed his army in two large groups and the big meks with lootas deployed the in the centre to cover both groups.  In response the sisters deployed in the center to threaten both flags.  First to go were the lootas with combined exorcists fire making a mob flee of the table, while the second squad was cleansed by flamers from an assault sister squad.  Mean while one group of Orks moved quickly towards the Sisters flag while the other hunkered down around theirs.

 Kan wall

With the lootas gone the Sisters transports had free run while the exorcist started to target kill kans.  Squads Iona, Sword and Thorn when after the Ork objective while the other squads when after the advancing ork group. At this stage Lady Tabita met her first but not last martyrdom when she assaulted a mob of boyz. Squad Rose and herself fell trying to draw the scoring unit away from the objective.

The Ork koptas showed but were ineffective and quickly seen off by Sword squad.  The exorcist managed to strip the Garrison group of all their dread and kill kan support and squads Iona and Thorn cleansed and claimed the objective fire and melta.

First maytrdom of Lady Tabita

Elsewhere, Lady Tabita sacrifice was not in vain as squad Cassandra destroyed the last scoring ork mob. But the kill kans continued to fight on destroying squad Miriya that was trying to defend the Sisters objective.

The game end with the sisters holding the ork objective and while the last two Orc models a pari of kill kans contested the sisters objective.

 

Last stand of Squad Miriya

Result; Sister Victorious


Round 3; table 2
Mission; Annihilation
Deployment; Spearhead
Opponent; James playing daemons
His army;
2 Great Unclean One (GUO)
2 flesh hound packs
1 blood crusher pack
2 Fiend pack
1 Flamer pack
3 Plague bearer pack
1 Disc pack

 Sisters prepare for Daemons 

Game;

The Sisters went second and covered their deployment zone in troops and vehicles.  The wrong first wave of daemon showed up, just packs of Plague Beares, Flamers, Discs and some hounds. Most of them opting to deepstrike behind cover or run into cover. The Sisters counter fire was poor with only a few Disc succumbing to the emperor's wrath. The Daemon second wave all arrived bar one pack.  One of the GUO had a mishap and end up in the far corner of the battle Field. The flesh hounds pounced on squad Rose making short work of them.

 

Blood Crushers

The sisters replied by cleansing the Fiends by fire and bolter while another squad cleansed the flamers.  Lady Tabita met her second maytredom trying to stop a GUO from attacking the Exorcist squad. The Daemons retorted by destroying squad Iona and Ardent, His Will, Divine Pronouncement, Revenge,Blessed, Sanctity.

Flesh hounds on a rampage 

The Sisters struck back banishing the GUO, Blood Crushers ,screamers and both packs of flesh hounds. A quick head count put the Daemons ahead by one kill point at which point they broke contact and went to ground.  The game ended with the sisters desperately trying and failing to kill the last plague from the only pack they could see

Result; Sisters defeated

Two wins and a lose put me on 45 points out of 60 not a bad start.  As a plus the organisers published the next days pairings. With only two Sisters army in the entire event guess what was the pairing for table five.

 

Agents for the office of the UK Witch Hunter General

mission critical, (FOW) ; Break out at Spree forest

Break out at Spree forest  28th of April 1945

Overview;

The situation is hopeless. The Russian army has surrounded Berlin and in closing in for the kill.  To the south the 9th army has been encircled in the Spree fores.  Its only hope is to break the encirclement and flee to the west to surrounded to the western allies.

Design note; This mission was adapted to FOW from Andy Turlington's breakout at Baruth mission in his the WWII Eastern front skirmish scenarios book.

Terrain;

The battle field is set-up as per the map shown.

The woods are impassable to vehicles and count as difficult terrain for other teams. They are also on fire (see special rules).

Deployment;

The Russian force deploy first and can deploy anywhere west of Baruth. The IS2 start the game in tank pits.

The German roll on from the eastern road.

The forces

The Russain defenders – 2180 pts

1 Motostrelkovy Battalion HQ  -30pts

2 companies of Motostrelkovy (each with two platoons and one attached anti-tank rifle platoon) – 490 pts

2 Tank platoons (IS2 tanks, each with 5 tanks). - 1660pts

The German attackers -2145 pts

1 Gepanzerte panzergrenadier Company HQ (with attached anti-tank section) - 115pts

2  Gepanzerte panzergrenadier platoons (each with panzerfaust/SMG command and two squads) - 420pts

1 Heavy tank platoon (with four king tigers) - 1360

1 Gepanzerte panzergrenadier pioner platoon ( with panzerfaust/SMG command and two squads) -250 pts

Special rules

Woods on fire;

After three days of bitter fighting the Spree forest has been set on fire.  This has the following effects.

-There is heavy smoke, Night fighting rules apply.

-In addition any teams in the forest must take a skill test if they fail they take an automatic hit which can be saved as normal.

Victory conditions;

The game last until one side concedes, or the game reaches turn 12 and there is no German platoon above half strength west of Baruth.

The Germans win if they get one platoon or more above half strength to exit the western table edge and other result is a Russian win.

 IS2 on the prowl

 

Russian SMG company move through a deserted village 

Company of T34s on the way to the front

 

 Panthers on the prowl

 German garrison prepares to stand its ground

Russian assualt company makes ready

Dig In (FOW); gun emplacements

Been a while since I did a modelling piece. the following is how I made some of the gun emplacement bases for my FOW artillery and guns.

Materials;

• 1-2mm thick Plastic card
• FOW artillery base
• FOW gun
• Scissors
• pencils
• Balsa wood
• insulating foam
• polyfilla
• Catty litter
• PVA glue

Method;

• A FOW artillery base and the pencil were used to trace out the artillery base shapes on the plastic card
• A scissors was used to cut out the bases.
• Insulating foam was cut into small sections 1x1x3(cms)
• The gun was placed on the base and the insulating foam was arranged around it in a interesting shape.
• Once happy with the shape the foam was bevelled (sloped) on the side opposite the gun.
• PVA glue was used to secure the foam to the base.
• The gun was removed and Balsa wood strips were glued to the gun side on the embankment*.
• Once the foam and the woods was secure filla was coated on to the foam taking care not to cover the wood.
• To break up the filla effect small catty scatter was stuck into the filla as it dried.
• Once dried the model can be painted as normal.

* one option to do is before gluing the balsa woods section to the base to score them with a knife to create the effect of wooden planking for this method the  wood plank effect was to be done during the painting of the model with a fine brush.

 

Bases with foam and woods glued in place

 

front view of emplacement when completed

Rear view of emplacement when completed

 

Top rear view of emplacement when completed

 

Top front view of emplacement when completed

Top side view of emplacement when completed

Below are some painted examples from my Germans 

With the anti tankgun  the polyfilla was painted green then covered with leaf scatter to make it look like a bush.

PiP (Fow) russian guns and German grenadiers

Still chipping away at the Russian guns below are some of the latest recruits

The only new painting method tried was using Testors Dullcoate to varnish the models instead of army painter matt coat.  It was bit of disaster with the initial coat turning everything white. I tried multiple coats heating the can, cooling the can, shaking the can and below is the result. White varnish is still present on some of the models but it is not as bad as the frist coat.

 

Platoons 3 and 4 from the front

  

Platoons 3 and 4 from the rear

platoon 3 again

platoon 4

Not to be out done the Germans got some reinforcements in the from of a early/mid war grenadier platoon from forged in battle.

(I like their vehicles but the infantry are only average, nice but average)

PIP (40K); Dark Eldar

The Kabal of the House of Pain now stands at 1 Archon, 10 warriors and 10 wycthes.  The Archon is called lord Malwrath based of the dark eldar lord in a short story called mistress babeah gift about a dark lord out to impress a lady friend.

The method;
(AP=army painter GW =games workshop V =vallejo)

The models were under coated AP bestial brown.
The armour was painted V Oily steel.
The tunics and leggings were painted V german grey
The flesh was painted GW space wolf grey
The guns were painted GW brazen brass with the tubing painted GW snot green.
The hair and plumes were painted V flat white.
Lord Malwriath armour was painted GW burnished gold (because he is the boss and needs to stick out).
His cloak and the other warriors sashes were painted GW liche purple ( going forward each squad's sash will be painted a different color for squad markings).
The blades were painted GW shiney silver with the handles painted GW bleached bone.
The bases were done the same as the chaos deamons test bases
A few test washes were done on a couple of models and in the end the armour was left without a washes while everything else was given a black wash.
Only lord Malwrath was varnished (since he was a metal figure).

Lord Malwrath

Wash test V black wash (right), no wash (centre), V smoke wash (left)

Wycthes (got to admired the movement in the models)

mission critical (FOW); Dyhernfurth Raid

Dyhernfurth, Eastern front, 5 Feb 1945

Mission Overview;
Kampfgruppe O’Donnell is in the thick of it again.  This time they have been ordered to secure the village of Dyhernfurth so that scientists and technicians can destroy a secret chemical weapon  supply housed in a factory in the village.

Design note; The scenario is adapted for FOW from Faron Bell’s battlefront mission. Worth a read if you want the full back ground on the mission.

Set-up;
The set-up is as per map.  The main features are the chemical works, the village of Dyhernfurth, the bridge.

Russians get the frist turn.

Forces;
German forces;
@ Dyhernfurth
1 Grenadier platoon with attached HMG team (all teams, bar the HMG, have panzerfausts)
@ the chemical works
1 Grenadier platoon with attached HMG team (all teams, bar the HMG, have panzerfausts)
@ hill 109, south of the bridge (see hidden special rules)
1 Panzer grenadier anti aircraft platoon (2 sdkfz 10/5)
1 88 gun

Arriving from reserve from either the south or west roads (player decides before the game begins)
1 Panzer platoon (4 Panther tanks)

Can be deployed with any of the above forces;
Company HQ (panzerfaust/SMG with sd kfz151/1 halftracks)
Attached anti tank section with sd kfz151/1 halftrack
1 Gepanzerte cannon platoon (2 sdkfz 251/9)
1 Grenaider anti tank platoon (2 7.5cm Pak40’s)

Russian
@ The castle (see drunk special rule)
1 Strelkovy company (3 platoons with attached HMG)
1 Strelkovy machince gun company (1 HMG platoon)
1 Strelkovy mortar company (1 mortar platoon)

@ Kranz (see not ready special rule)
1 Guards heavy tank company (5 IS-2)
1 motostrelkovy (HQ with HGM platoon and 2 motor rifle platoon)

@ The railway station (see not ready special rule)
1 Tankovy company (7 T34-85s)
1 motostrelkovy (HQ with HGM platoon and 2 motor rifle platoon)

In delayed reserve (entering from North road, one roll for both units)
1 Tankovy company (4 T34-85s)
1 motostrelkovy (HQ with 1 motor rifle platoon)

Special rules;
Hidden:
The 88 and the AA platoon start the game in ambush but must be deployed on the hill when they arrive.
Drunk:
The Russian at the castle have found a cache of wine and have helped themselves as a result they are pretty drunk.  The garrison passes any motivation test of 2+ but always counts as conscripts for any skill tests.

Not ready;
The units at Kranz and the railway station are currently waiting resupply and are not ready for combat each team must pass a skill test before it can move.

Victory conditions;
The game last 12 turns.
Decisive Russian win if the chemical works, the village of Dyhernfurth, the bridge are captured.
Minor Russian win if the chemical works is captured.
German win if they hold the chemical works at the end of the game.
Any other result is a draw

Aerial view of the battlefield

 

 German grenadiers defend Dyhernfurth

 88 engages an IS2 company

 Russian assault on Dyhernfurth begins

 Panthers to the rescue

 IS2's V Panthers

 The Russian assault on the chemical factory gets hit in the flank

 Russian infantry makes its final assault on the chemical factory.