Gaming Table Gets a Game

Last night, Jeanie finally caved and played a game of 40k with me! We played just shy of 1,000 points. She used her Eldar because she wanted to play with the Harlequins and I used the Ultramarines because I don't have enough Knights Bellicose ready to use yet.

The game ended after Turn 5 with me as the victor. She gave me a run for my money, though. I will admit that the game ended with a small amount of frustration on account of us having to keep stopping to check the rules. I haven't played many games of 7th edition, so I wasn't as familiar with the rules and had to keep looking things up.

Take a look at how the game went!

The starting lineup!

Jeanie considers her move.

Our first experience with the Psychic Phase.

The Ultramarines take some losses.

Close combat!

Both sides take losses.

Captain Sicarius 

End of the game!

Next time, I'll have progress on my next painting progress and a plan on what's coming up next! Keep checking back and have fun painting!

Ultramarines vs. Eldar

Not long ago, my best friend Sean Tipper came over to visit. One day during his visit we went down to Dice Age to get a game in. There isn't enough terrain ready for the table at the house or we would have put up a battle report from there so you guys could see the terrain table in action. I was really curious how a heavily forested board would play since that's mainly what my fist terrain table would play like. We rolled for terrain and then put trees on the board wherever we could.

I thought it was a pretty fun game! It was my first time playing 7th Edition and I haven't used my models in a while, so I ended up learning a lot. Check out the pictures below to see how the game went!

Trees everywhere!

A heavily forested board should let me know how the table
at home will turn out.

All set up!

The two remaining Ultramarines from the combat squad make
a final push for the objective in the trees. They never made it.

See the dreadnought? Being the only armor on the table,
he went down pretty quick.

Epic combat! Captain Sicarius did pretty well!

The devastators taking out a target of opportunity.

Sicarius in the end

Stretching out from an objective to see around a hill

The Eldar holding two objectives

In the end, Sean won with the Eldar. It was a really fun game. I'm looking forward to getting some terrain done so that I can have games like this at home. That being said, the next Knights Bellicose squad is almost completed! It'll be my most lively squad to date because I plan on making it available for use in kill team games. Next up will be a few trees to use on the terrain table! Keep checking back to see how things turn out!

Until next time, have fun painting!

Trying the New Eldar

Yesterday, I went down to Games Workshop: Eastport Plaza to see if I could get a game. I haven't played with the Eldar since the new codex came out, so I wanted to try them out. I ended up finding a game with Avery and Eric, who play Space Marines and Necrons, respectively. We played a 1,500 point game with my army verses the two of them (it's how the points ended up). In order for me to round out to a nice even 1,500 points, I used the Eldar as my main force and allied in a few squads of my Ultramarines.

We played for objectives, so when you see my Titan crew wandering around the board, that's why. They were the objectives.

The pictures below tell most of the story, but I'll give you a few highlights first. For starters, I took 6 troop choices (2 Guardians, 2 Dire Avengers, & 2 Tactical Squads), an Autarch, a Farseer, a Space Marine captain, and to a lesser extent, a dreadnaught. When you look through the pictures, you'll notice that the dreadnaught isn't in any of them. Why is that, you ask? Because it was immediately destroyed before it could take its first shot.

Also, in most of the pictures, the only Space Marines you'll see are mine. This is because the entirety of Avery's force was outflanking or deep striking and didn't make it on until late in the game.

That being said, I was still annihilated. Eric's Tesla-whatevers just killed squad after squad. In the end, I ended up losing, but I still learned a whole lot about how the new Eldar play, as well as what choices I should make in the future to have more successful games.

Check out the pictures below to see how the battle went!

Battle lines are drawn

Awesomely airbrushed Necron vehicles:
the bane of my existance

Eldar Guardians worked out amazingly well, even if they
didn't make it to the end of the game.

Space Marine allies outflank me!

This is the end. . .

 In hobby news, the last squad of Eldar Guardians is coming along swimmingly. I'm really looking forward to having them finished. When this last squad is done, I'll have all my troops done for both armies and I can focus on painting the fun stuff! Keep checking back to see the progress on the final troop squad!

1,750 Point Battle

This past Monday, I went down to my local game store, Dice Age Games to attend my regular Monday night game. Monday is their 40k night. Instead of playing my regular 1,000 point Ultramarine list like I have been doing, I decided to combine the Ultramarnes and the Eldar to create a 1,750 list. This was my first time using an allied force and the result was pretty cool! I really like how I can use the strengths of one army to fill in the shortcomings in another. This should increase the variety of army lists we'll see at tournaments and simple friendly games.

The idea came up when my rules-advisor and best friend, Sean Tipper, came to visit me from California. While he was here, he gave me the idea of using my Grey Knights to augment my Ultramarines force. When I throw in an Inquisitor with them, that's a quick way to add 250 points into my army. It also makes me want to finish up that Arbites squad to use as a squad of Inquisitorial henchmen, but that's neither here nor there.

When he showed me the allies table and we learned that the Space Marines and Eldar can fight together, it opened up a whole new world of possibilities for army lists. In the short term, it means I can play larger games quicker by combining forces. Check out the pictures below to see both armies fighting together for once!

The battle lines are drawn

Ultramarines and Eldar, ready to fight!

Guardians holding the objective (red crystal)

Captain Sicarius joins up with 1st squad

In gaming news, all the rumors around here point to Eldar being the next army to get updated, with Space Marines coming in shortly after that. With the promise of new rules and new models on the horizon, I won't be working on any Space Marines or Eldar after I finish the Guardian squad I'm currently working on. While I wait for the new armies to come out, I'm going to work on my Grey Knights, Inquisitor, and Arbites to use as my allied force. Since I'm using them out of the Grey Knights codex (which isn't changing any time soon) and they're allies of convenience for both the Eldar and the Space Marines, I can work on them with no threat of their rules changing or new models coming out. Keep checking back to see how the new Grey Knighs come out and what cool conversions I do when working on the Arbites!

Battle Report: Ultramarines vs. Orks

Yesterday, I headed down to my local Games Workshop and played a game with Tom, who I met that day. We played 1,000 points because that's all I had finished. You can see my list on the Ultramarines page. I don't remember exactly what he brought because I'm not all that familiar with Orks, but I do remember Snikrot, a Warboss, a squad of Nobz, and a bunch of Kommandos.

I let Tom thumb through my copy of the Battle Missions book and he found the All-Round Defense mission, which neither of us had ever played before. I deployed in the center of the map and he infiltrated two units into the ruins on either side of me.

Ultramarines deployed

Orks push in through the perimeter

 Tom and his Orks went first. He moved his two squads through the ruins and sacrificed his shooting to run them a bit closer.. On my turn, I opened up on them with everything I had in an attempt to keep them outside my perimeter. The Orks stayed their ground, leapt into my perimeter, and assaulted me on Turn 2.

Kill them before they get too close!

This is where my sergeant dies. . .

First Squad lost combat by losing 4 models, one of which was the squad's sergeant. They passed their leadership test and stayed their ground. The rest of the Ultramarines responded by shooting at the other squad and bringing it down to just two kommandos remaining. They also passed their leadership test and stayed in the fight.

First Squad runs!

By now, Tom has brought in the rest of his army from reserves. The Orks assault Second Squad with kommandos in their turn and end up running. In response, I decided to shoot my entire army at the newly arrived Nobz unit. Miraculously, they didn't die. They were, however, under strength and running away.

Warboss leading the Nobz

Turn 4 ended up being the final turn due to time constraints on both sides. In a last-ditch effort, the Warboss and his boyz failed to finish off first squad and the game ended in an Astartes victory. If I had it to do over, I would have definitely made some different decisions because I'm not so sure I would have survived six full turns. Good game, Tom!

Getting Back into Gaming

A few months ago, I had moved into a new apartment. It was far enough from my old place that I needed to start going to a closer Games Workshop. A few days ago, I finally had the opportunity to go in and introduce myself.

I brought in my Titan and all the Ultramarines that I had finished. I also brought in the Devastator squad that I was still working on. I've never transported an unfinished squad before, so I was a little worried. Thankfully, they were okay. No paint rubbed off at all.

After showing up and introducing myself, I was able to play a 1,000 point game with someone I had met there. He was pretty new to the game and I hadn't played in a long time, so we left our rule books open and figured stuff out together.

My opponent: Chaos Space Marines

The 2nd Company takes aim at the Chaos downrange

Marking the bases helps since they have no arms yet

I ended up winning in the end, but the match taught me a few things about how to use my army. I learned that I'm not set up well for close combat. He brought two squads of jump infantry and I was luckily able to blow them off the table before they got to my gun line.

All in all, it was a good trip. I'm still going to focus on painting, but I think I'll start making time every once in a while to head down there and get a game in more often.

Vacation to California, Met IC Podcast

On Wednesday, my wife and I left for a vacation to California to visit my buddy and his fiancee. He's an avid 40k gamer, so we went down to Game Kastle, his local gaming store, and played a game. My Ultramarines managed to beat his Tau in a game of victory points. It was a little close at the end, but after not playing a game for as long as I had, I think I did pretty well.

Ultramarines Devastators searching for Tau targets.

A few days later, we went back down to the same store for a flea market they were hosting. While I was there, I ran into Carl Tuttle from The Independent Characters, my favorite podcast! It was one of the highlights of the trip so far. I got a picture with him and Geoff, and then showed him some of my Ultramarines. For those of you who listen to the show, Carl is starting an Ultramarines army for his painting challenge, so I thought it would be neat to show him my army.

Left to right: Geoff, myself, and Carl

On the topic of Ultramarines, I'm reworking my entire Ultramarines army. In a few days time, I should have all new army lists posted. I think they're going to work a whole lot better than what I currently have. Keep checking back to see what I've come up with.

Lastly, and maybe most importantly, I've started working on my third (and final) Ultramarines Tactical Squad. I'm taking pictures after each step. Shortly after the squad is completed, I plan on posting a step-by-step tutorial on painting Space Marine armor using my techniques. Now that the Titan is done, producing tutorials is my main focus. Every squad I make should produce another tutorial or two for the How To page. Keep checking back; new content is on the way!