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Today is our local GT for 2009, and I've decided to participate with my trusty 7th Galen Rockhounds. The pointage is set at 1850 and the GT involves 5 games over 2 days. For now I will post pics of my army, with the exact list as well as the results of the games to follow in the next few days.

Here are the pics:


Task Force Rex


HQ - Command Group Fernando


Elites - Inquisitor Rex leads the Hand of Seven


Elites - The AGENT of Death (Sly Marbo)


Troops - Veterans, Shawn's Bastards


Troops - First Platoon, Sherard's Guards


Troops - Second Platoon, Sherwin's Hounds


Fast Attack - Scout Sentinel "Rooster", Vendetta "Emperor's Eagle", Harley's Raiders (Rough riders)


Heavy support - Manticore "Hailstorm", Basilisk "Rain of Death", Hydra "Flyswatter"

That's it. 100 models in a 1850 list. Let's see if it can make the grade in the next 2 days.

Army lists and reports to follow (hope I can get enough pics!)

Hey, cool looking paintjob, i love the hydra conversion in particular, what parts did you use ?

Forlorne wrote:Hey, cool looking paintjob, i love the hydra conversion in particular, what parts did you use ?

it was easy. Aegis autocannons plus the turret ring mounted on top of the rear hatch, a hatch to cover the hole of the original chimera turret, and the chimera lasgun ports and sights were filed off.

I saw someone extend the barrels of the quad cannons. It would look better I think.

Great looking army. the colors look good.

I love the rough riders on the world war 2 looking motorcycles! Great conversions....looking forward to the batreps.

Second on the Rough Riders, those look great.

I really like the way you have some brush on your vehicles as well.

What did you do for the Manticore? I now feel bad about simply sticking a Whirlwind turret on a chimera.

Where did you get the bikes for the riders? I want some!!

Thanks for the compliments!

The RR bikes are cheap plastic ones bought at a local toy shop. You, the ones where you have bit and pieces (a plastic jeep, cheap small tanks, toy soldiers etc.) but lo and behold I saw a single plastic bike among them. I bought 10 sets, kept the bikes, and donated the rest to charity. Unfortunately, this was around 4 years ago and i havent seen the same thing since.

For the manticore, I used the base of the whirlwind turret (with part of the stand where the whirlwind launchers are connected), a plastic tube, and 2 stands from the plastic IG mortar for the V shaped sprongs where the rockets are magnetised to. I used also used bits from the empire flagellant set for the scroll, and bits from the aegis gun turret for the top.

Anyway, on to the report.

Whew day 1 was tiring, and full of surprises....

In general each scenario has 3 objectives (primary, secondary, tertiary) worth 15,
10, and 5 at max, for a total of 30 points if you get it all...

My Army list

HQ: CCS with autocannon, standard, astropath, in a chimera with ML and HB

Elite: 1 Agent of Death (Marbo)

Elite: 1 inquisitor with bolter-flamer, 2 mystic, 2 hierophant, 2 meltagun warriors (will embark in the Platoon 1 squad 1 chimera)

Troops: Platoon 1: PCS with 3 melta, 1 flamer, in chimera with ML and HF
1 squad with AC and GL, chimera with ML and HB (to transport the inquisitorial unit)
1 squad with AC and GL, chimera with ML and HF (to transport the SWS with 3 meltas)
1 SWS with 3 meltas

Troops: Platoon 2: PCS with 2 flamers, 2 meltas, officer with Bp, in a chimera with ML and HF
2 squads with AC and GL
1 SWS with 2 flamers and a demo charge (rides the vendetta)

Troops: veteran squad with 2 meltas, 1 flamer, sergeant with plasma pistol, in a chimera with ML and HF

Fast: 1 Vendetta
Fast: 1 scout sentinel with multiL
Fast: 8 rough riders

Heavy: manticore
Heavy: basilisk
Heavy: hydra

Scenario 1 Annihilation at dawn
Similar to pitched battle deployment except it is deploy until 14", with a pushback of 24". first 3 turns have night fighting rules.

Primary: modified KP: Troops 1 KP, HQ 3 KP, all the rest 2 KP
Secondary: Score 500 more VP's
Tertiary: Kill all troops choices

My opponent was Felix with his Green/black Pedro Kantor led SM army:

HQ: Pedro Cantor (joins 1 unit of sternguard)
Elites: 2 sternguard units (PF, meltas) in Rhinos
Troops: 2 Tac squads with PF, meltas, multimeltas, in rhinos
Troops: 1 Shooty scout with a Missile L and sniper rifles, 1 CC unit with ccw and pistols
Heavy: 1 vindicator
Heavy: 1 Dev squad with 3 ML, 1 razorback with TL lascannon

He won the toss and elected to go first. He had only the CC scout unit in reserve to outflank.

I elect to keep the vendetta (with SWS squad), sentinel, RR, and the AGENT (of course) in reserve.


My setup. Pushback 24" practically forces me to deploy at the very edge of my side.

SM turn 1
the 2 tac squads and 1 sternguard squad in rhinos move forward 12" and pop smoke. The vindicator and razorback move 6". The rhino with Cantor + sternguard stay put.
Nighfighting takes it toll. Cantor calls and orbital bombardment which kills only 1 guardsman as it scatters, and nothing else hurts the IG.

IG turn 1
I embark the inquisitor and the melta SWS in the 2 1st platoon chimeras, and move some of my chimeras forward, and the closer distances means searchlights and good night fight rolls see both rhinos of the tac squads destroyed. 5 scouts are also killed, and they flee. 6 Tac marines in the middle squad are also killed, but they hold. I now lead in KP 2-0.


Wrecked rhino


Exploded rhino


Only 2 scouts remain!

SM Turn 2
The CC scout outflanks, but appears on my left table edge far from the action. The shooty scout unit decides to make a run to the rear in order to avoid becoming a KP statistic. The lead sternguard unit dismounts in front of the chimeras, while the vindicator, razorback, and the cantor sternguard unit moves forward (the latter firing smoke).
Shooting does no major damage except the veteran's chimera being immobilized, but the sternguard assault 2 chimeras, but only the chimera carrying the inquisitor gets a destroyed heavy bolter and is shaken.


The sternguard assault!

IG turn 2
Only the vendetta and sentinel arrives via outflanking, with the sentinel arriving besides the devastator squad and the razorback, and the vendetta appearing beside the other whole tac squad running forward, the SWS team with the demo charge and flamers disembarking. The inquisitor disembarks preparing to deal with the sternguard.

Shooting decimates the sternguard and running tac squad. The razorback and vindicator are immobilized, with the vindicator also losing it's cannon. The sentinel assaults the razorback, but fails to penetrate the rear armor of the tank. I fail to wipe out anything, though.


The sternguard are down to 3!


The sentinel outflanks amidst the devsquad and the razorback.

SM turn 3
Pedro cantor senses the need for results, thus he and his sternguard squad disembark in the attempt to penetrate the chimera lines. The depleted sternguard unit makes a beeline for the inquisitor. The outflanking scout unit attempts to catch up to all the action by moving through cover and running.

The razorback and dev squad attempt to remove the sentinel by shooting, but amazingly it manages to survive all those shots, being immobilized, weapon destroyed, and stunned only. The sternguard and surviving central tac squad do a combined assault on the chimeras of a PCS and the veterans, and the Veterans chimera blows up, killing 5 vets who end up pinned. The other depleted sternguard squad charges the inquisitor and his unit. Both sides lose a model, but the inquisitor is also dealt a wound. However both units remain locked in combat. The depleted tac squad also charges the flamer/demo SWS unit, killing 2 and forcing them to flee, as the guardsmen manage to outrun the marines.


The vets are pinned as their chimera explodes!


The SWS flees!


Locked combat between sternguard and inquisitor.

Score is now 2-1 in my favor

IG turn 3
The AGENT (marbo) in the central forest, ready to lob his demo charge at the central tac squad. My PCS squad disembarks in order to deal with the outflanking scouts.

The demo charge plus shooting from the chimera and their passengers ensure the central tac squad is destroyed. A sternguard rhino is also destroyed. The CC scouts as well as other marine squads lose more men due to shooting.

At this point the organizer calls for time. We only manage to do 3 turns (since setup took too long and the tourney started a bit late, so scenario 1 ended up abbreviated). At this point I had 5 KP (the rhino of the sternguard is 2 points as it is a dedicated transport for an elite unit) and removing the fleeing SWS team that gave Felix 2 KP.



I had the primary, but neither of us could claim the secondary and tertiary points. Thus I ended up with 20 points out of 30.

Nice game Felix! On to round 2!

I've been a fan of your army since the last time I saw it - nice to see some new units. I like the variety of troopers you have, and the various converted details! The color scheme is also striking.
Keep up the good work!

Thanks Kestral! I shall do my best!

Anyway, here is round 2:

This is one of the most EXTREME scenarios I have ever played in an official tournament!

Vortex Grenade!!! (A taste of second edition cheese) and Capture and control

Dawn of war deplyment as per the 40k rulebook. 4 objective markers are also placed on the board.

Special rules (read this!!!): Vortex grenade: Each player assigns 1 specific model in secret to be carrying the vortex grenade. It is used like a demo charge, except that a small blast template is used, and the effect is that anything it touches is sucked into warp and is gone. As in POOF! The template remains, and at the start of each turn the template disappears, then reapperas 2d6 away in a random direction. If a double is rolled the vortex disappears. Wow.

Primary objective: objective control by scoring units as defined in the rulebook.
Secondary: Score more than 500 VP than the opponent
Tertiary: Kill the LEAST expensive enemy unit.

Anyway, my opponent was Matthew and his eldar. He had:

1 Eldrad ulthran joining 7 warlocks with assorted powers in a wave serpent
2 fire dragon units also in serpents
3 5 man dire avenger units, 2 in serpents, 1 riding the falcon
1 falcon
2 fire prisms

Mat won the roll and decided to hold the prisms as reserves while the rest came in turn 1. In response I decide to deploy nothing, with marbo, the vendetta, sentinel, as RR in reserve. I assign the vortex grenade to 1 lasgunner in the SWS team with the 2 flamers and the demo charge.

Eldar turn 1
Mat just comes in on his right corner


The skimmers come in. Eldrad's serpent is the black and white one.

IG turn 1
I come in the middle, but fan out to my right. My 2 blobbed units also make use of the "run,run,run" command and reach the 2 objectives on my side. Night fight means no shooting in the first turn!


My entry.

Eldar turn 2
The 2 prisms come in from reserve, and they enter via his other corner on his left side. Eldrad only manages to get 2 fortunes in, as the inquisitor's psychic hood negates one. Majority of the transports then moves flat out in an effort to outflank my extreme left. Eldar shooting is minimal, and the fire prisms only manage to kill 3 guardsmen in my right blob, as going to ground helped mitigate the worst of the shooting.

IG turn 2
The vendetta, sentinel, and RR come in. The sentinel outflanks to the rear of the fire prisms, while the vendetta moves 12" to end at the rear of the mass of skimmers. The SWS team dismembarks, flamers being ignited and the demo charge and vortex grenade primed! The chimeras on my left group move forward to engage the fire prisms, while the RR attempt to engage the serpent of eldrad.

The shooting phase begins. It proves to be effective! The rearmost fire prism is destroyed, as is 1 serpent carrying a dire avenger unit, which is then wiped out by a heavy chimera heavy flamer. The falcon's pulse laser is destroyed and is shaken, and another serpent and the lead prism is also shaken. Their speed helped in negating the results of other successful hits. More critically, the vortex grenade scatters to the front of the eldar skimmers, hitting nothing!

The RR assault eldrad's skimmer, but despite 17 attacks fail to roll a single 6!


The sentinel outflanks. The rear prism is wrecked, while the other is shaken.


Carnage among the eldar vehicles, but the vortex grenade (small blast template) misses!

Eldar turn 3

I suggest to Mat that at the start of each turn we let the player whose turn it is roll for the scatter of the existing vortex. So Mat rolls, and it scatters and clips eldrad's serpent! POOF! 1/3 of his army down the drain!


Eldrad, his warlocks, and the serpent goes POOF!

Stunned, Mat bravely maneuvers his shaken falcon and serpent to complete the flanking move right at the edge of my left side. He also moves the shaken prism flat out forward. He first disembarks both his fire dragon units in order to deal with the vendetta and a chimera. He then reveals that the exarch of the fire dragon unit in front the chimera carries his vortex grenade.

Fire dragon shooting predictably wipes out the vendetta and the chimera, as well as the demo charge SWS. The exarch throws the vortex grenade towards the rear of the chimera, hoping it will scatter towards the other chimeras in the rear, but things go HORRIBLY wrong as despite the high BS it scatters on top of the falcon and the serpent who were outflanking my left. POOF both vehicles are gone!




The fire dragons do their job, but their vortex grenade removes 2 of their own vehicles!

At this point Mat wants to concede, but the organizers convince him to try for the tertiary objective, which means killing my sentinel (which is my least expensive unit) for the 5 points.

IG turn 3
The AGENT does not come out, and my shooting stuns the prism. At this point Matthew concedes, as he was relying on that to kill the sentinel.

I get the full 30 points, and take advantage of the long break as this game ended very early due to Mat's unbelievably bad luck! Thanks for the game Mat you are a trooper!

Damn - those things are nasty!

I really like your use of the out-flanking Sentinel - he's money!

Yes indeed! And as you will see the single sentinel will continue to prove it's worth!

On to round 3 and the last game for day 1.

My opponent was Wiley and his Ultramarines. He brought a great balanced list with the FF:

Chaplain in terminator armor
7 termies (5 TH/SS, 2 LC)
2 Tacs with (1 with PF, combiplasma, plasma, 1 w/ PF, melta) in rhinos
2 scout units (4 snipers, 1 ML each)
1 LRC
2 6 man dev squads with 4 ML

Scenario: Chance Encounter! Night fight is in effect on turn 1.

Deployment was spearhead. Primary objective is unknown until 50 minutes into the game. Secondary is to score 750 or more points than the opponent, and tertiary is to eliminate all the HQ choices, including dedicated transports.

For the 3rd straight time my opponent wins the dice roll and sets up first. Wiley sets up his vehicles close to the limit in the middle, while the dev squads use a large rocky castle formation as a firebase. The dreadnought sets up nearby behind the vehicles. I deploy my units deep, making sure my HS choices are beyond range of the dev squads, my infantry blobs are in front with cover, and my chimeras deploy in a wedge, using the central woods for cover. As usual, my vendetta, sentinel, RR, and the AGENT are in reserves. Wiley then infiltrates his scouts on a hill on the quarter adjacent to his.


SM deployment


My deployment

SM turn 1
Only the LRC moves forward and manages to illuminate the chimera of PCS 1. Sunsequent shooting wrecks it. The PCS manage to file out in good order.


First blood to the marines!

IG turn 1
My chimeras start to move, some in the lead pop smoke in order to provide cover to the ones behind. I had a very distinct feeling that objective claiming would the primary, so I move the veteran's chimera to my left to enter that quarter, and the others go forward towards the scouts on the hill.

Shooting sees the LRC shaken, and 2 scouts die, but hold.


SM turn 2
With night fight gone, both rhinos conataining the tac squads move forward and pop smoke. The LRC moves towards my left quarter and also pops smoke.

Wiley makes a conscious effort to deny my mobility by shooting at the chimeras, and he manages to destroy 1, immobilize the chimera where the inquisitor had embarked, and destroy the multilaser and HF of the other. At this point the primary objective is revealed, and I am right in that it involves capturing the Corners of the table by within 6" of it with a scoring unit!


The chimeras receive all the attention from the Ultramarines!!!

IG turn 2
The astropath proves its worth by making all my reserves come in, at the side I wanted them to come in (for the vendetta and sentinel). The sentinel outflanks besides the dev squads, and the AGENT emerges from the shadows behind them. The vendetta moves 12" and disembarks the flamer+dc SWS besides the hill with the scouts. The chimera with no weapons moves forward and pops smoke, and the infanry from the destroyed chimeras now make a beeline towards the corner of the quarter where the scouts are located. The Vet chimera is in a perfect location to make a beeline for the corner of my left quarter, and they do so.

The shooting phase proves decisive in neutralizing the SM firebase. The SWS team as well as fire from my platoons only lave 1 remaining from each squad, and both promptly flee towards their own lines. The AGENT, the sentinel, and the basilisk reduce the dev squads to 2 models each, with the basilisk also removing the assault cannon off the dreadnought. the manticore shakes the LRC again.


The scouts are decimated and the survivors flee!


The dev squads suffer the same fate!

SM turn 3
The surviving scouts rally. The ML carrying stays put to shoot, while the other makes a beeline towards the corner in his own quarter. The rhinos also do the same by moving backwards towards their own quarters. Only the LRC moves forward, right into the middle towards the IG firebase. The dreadnought spots the sentinel and readies to assault, while 1 dev squad attempts to bash the AGENT's skull in.

The sentinel fulfills it's role as a fire magnet, and for a second time survives the shooting phase without weapons and immobilized. The vendetta is stunned. The SWS team is shot, fails its morale check, and flees. The ensuing assault phase sees the dreadnought paste the sentinel, and the AGENT is eliminated by the dev squad even though he strikes first, his poisoned claws failing to find a weak spot in their armor.


The LRC drives down the guts of the IG quarter, the RR waiting to ambush the its passengers.


The marines take out the intruders in close combat

IG turn 3
The dismounted infantry continue to make a beeline towards the corner, but positioning themselves to shoot at the tac rhino in front of the vendetta. The veterans safely park on the left corner. Shooting shakes and immobilizes the LRC, and the ML scout falls. The rhino on top of the hill is immobilized.


The infantry converge while the rhino is immobilized in front of the stunned vendetta.

SM turn 4
The termies + chaplain dismount and move forward, readying themselves to assault. The last scout attempts to move and run to be within 6" of his own corner. The tac in front of the vendetta stays put, ready to shoot. The dreadnought runs in order to support that quarter.

Shooting sees the vendetta stunned again. The LRC uses the machine spirit to kill 1 RR, while the termies assault 1 IG squad, in the end only the grenadier is left alive, fleeing while the termies consolidate in front of the 2nd line of guardsmen.

IG turn 4
PCS 1 moves on the LRC well within lethal meltagun range, while the IG infantry continue to move in order to support the vendetta. The RR spot the terminators and make their move for the charge.

Shooting sees the LRC destroyed, while the tac rhino is damaged. Mass gunfire slams into the termies, and after all is clear the chaplain is down to 1 wound, and 1 LC and 1 TH/SS termies remain. The charge of the RR kills the chaplain (hereby fulfilling the tertiary objective) but fail miserable versus the regular termies, and promptly flee.


The LRC is destroyed!


The termies are gunned down!


Tertiary objective achieved!

At this time is called. I win the primary and tertiary, with the secondary a draw, for a total of 25 pts.

Great game Wiley!

At the end of the first day I am dead tired, but am pleased with the 3-0 result. Tomorrow sees me in table 1!

Great reports, well played so far. Good luck with the rest of the tournie.

In that second game I was somewhat surprised that the Eldar player didn't move flat out with everything as he had the 2nd turn as Eldar have no firepower in Nightfight conditions. Vortex grenades are nasty and in a mid sized game like this they are really overpowered with no way to counter them. Something to be left for Apocalpyse imo.

I have to say you were fortunate you immobilised the LRC when you did (I missed it my first read through and wondered what the hell the Marine player was doing lol). If I was the Marine player that 3rd turn picture of the LRC facing off against most of your army is pretty good for me, a 12" move + 2" disembark + 6" charge with the Terminator squad (probably through terrain admittedly) would result in a multicharge against a couple of units, a combination of the RR, both Platoons and the Inquisitor's unit could be charged (obviously not all of them though).

I think Matthew simply did not want to be too far forward for my chimeras to get a good searchlight roll. In addition, by coming in turn 1` Eldrad did not get a chance to cast fortune, so he played defensive for his turn 2 where eldrad could do his psychic powers thing (assuming he gets through the psychic hood)

Ah you cannot multicharge units spread out that way, as you MUST remain in coherency while moving your units to touch unengaged models. Most people miss that rule when moving to assault, as they tend to move models wide apart in order to multicharge, which just cannot be done.

Yes indeed the LRC got immobilized in time. However that is what the manticore is for. On good days that LRC would have popped open earlier, but I'm obviously happy things turned out the way it did!

Great report, looks like your army is really coming together as well. Very cool paint scheme, not a real fan of the manticore, it looks very weedy. Love your infantry and roughriders

Well played this far, but how did you end up with 20pts in the first game if you only managed primary?

Vortex grenade was kinda silly, but at least it was nowhere near "remove all terrain", your opponent was just extremly unlucky, and that seemed to make it game-changing

Illumini wrote:Great report, looks like your army is really coming together as well. Very cool paint scheme, not a real fan of the manticore, it looks very weedy. Love your infantry and roughriders

Well played this far, but how did you end up with 20pts in the first game if you only managed primary?

Vortex grenade was kinda silly, but at least it was nowhere near "remove all terrain", your opponent was just extremly unlucky, and that seemed to make it game-changing

Ah in the first game we had a draw on the secondary (error there) so 15+5 = 20 pts. And yes Matthew was REALLY unlucky. maybe he forgot to make his offering to Khaine that morning.

Ah I agree. I should make the manticore rockets much larger. I'll change them once I find something suitable. for the meantime I make do with what I have, as ordering forge world from where I live is iffy, as you never know if customs will make you their "flavor of the month", if you know what I mean.

Let us know if you find some better rockets, I have the same size issue with the rockets on my own conversion.

Okay! It is now the second day and I start it on table 1. My opponent is Martie and his Elite Ork force. He fields:

Ghazgull Thrakka
Ork Warboss in Mega armor
2 units of 4 x meganobz, each in a battlewagon with a boarding plank, red paint job, big shootas, grot riggers
1 kommando unit led by Snikrot
2 units of 15xlootas
15 gretchin led a runtherder
2 Battlewagons with big shootas to carry the lootas

The Scenario: marked for Death
Primary: Kill the HQ unit which has been picked as the "commander of the force" (mine was the CCS, his was obviously Ghazskull) If none or both are killed, the result is a draw.
Secondary: score 750 more points
Tertiary: Eliminate the most expensive unit.

Deployment is pitched battle. And for the 4th straight game my opponent wins first turn.

Martie's deployment is really simple. The 2 loota battlewagons deploy using buildings for cover, with the one on my right having an additional screen of gretchin to the right (my view). In front of them deploy the 2 nobz battlewagons, with ghazgull joining the unit facing my left. Snikrot comes from reserve to outflank, as expected.


Ork deployment

I decide to split my deployment. Half of my infantry deploy in both of my corners, without blobbing together (more disposable screens can hopefully slow the orks down if they hit my lines), and I lump the basilisk and manticore in my left corner together with my HQ chimera, and use infantry and other chimeras to flank their sides to prevent Snikrot from getting at them. On the right corner I put the hydra, the inquisitor unit behind a borrowed chimera, and a PCS chimera. I also deploy the RR in the ruins together with the infantry. Split deployment also gives the advantage of using the autocannons at the side armor of the battlewagons, as I fully expect them to make a beeline for the left hand corner, or may cause him to divert units and attention to my right hand corner.


My left corner deployment


My right corner deployment (pardon the poor focus)

For today I did not get to jot down notes as the games are crucial, hence will try to narrate what happened by memory and by the pictures. I also hand over my camera to my buddy jhei.

Ork turn 1
As expected, both nobz battle wagons rumble forward 13". Martie makes the decision to split his force and go for both corners, so my bait was accepted!

Shooting is brief but effective, as the lootas destroy a chimera and the hydra is shaken.


Left corner - Platoon 1 PCS is wrecked


Right corner - The Hydra is shaken

IG turn 1
Movement is minimal, although I start to move the RR out of the ruins, and PCS1 also moves out to act as a bait/screen versus the orks. I also move the shaken hydra more towards my corner, ensuring it was out of range of the left group of lootas, who just barely grazed it at 48". The inquisitor embarks, and both right most chimeras move forward to hopefully flank the battlewagon.

The battlewagons prove surprisingly resistant to a lot of fire at its side armor, but finally ghazgull's battlewagons explodes, and the other one is wrecked. Each nobz unit takes 1 wound to shooting, and the rear lootas battlewagons manage to escape intact.


The right battlewagon is wrecked


Ghazgull's wagon explodes!


Left corner - End of IG turn 1. Which unit shall get Ghaz's attention next turn?

Ork turn 2
Snikrot fails to appear, and Ghazgull bellows "WAAAAGGGHHH" at the top of his voice. Both units then move forward, Ghaz electing to go for the RR unit.

The lootaz shoot, and the chimera carrying the inquisitor is immobilized. Other shooting has minimal effect, and both meganobz units fleet 6" due to the waagghh, before assaulting. However, the right group critically gets a low slow but purposeful roll on the assault, and ends up short.

The RR unit is predictably wiped out, BUT manage to take out a meganob before going down. Ghaz then consolidates closer to the IG lines.


Right corner - the meganobz fail to get into close combat!!!


The RR are killed, but take a nobz down as well!

IG turn 2
The AGENT and the sentinel manage to turn up, with the astropath ensuring the sentinel outflanks beside the gretchin. The AGENT was hiding in the ruins all along near the artillery firebase, and he primes his demo charge versus The Beast of Armageddon.The meltagun SWS team dismounts also to lend fire as well.

On the right corner, the PCS 2 chimera curls back towards the meganobz, while the inquisitorial unit stays put to fire through the hatch.

The artillery prove their worth by exploding the rear right loota battlewagon, and 5 lootas fail to jump clear of the vehicle. The survivors take cover in the resulting (imaginary) crater. On the right corner, IG shooting is tepid as only 1 meganobz is taken down, but on the left corner a demo charge, massed lasgun, grenade launcher, autocannon, multilaser, and meltagun fire take out 2 more maganobz, and ghaz is reduced to 1 wound. The sentinel kills a gretchin with a multilaser, assaults the unit, but fail to stomp on a single one as the gretchin scurry out of the way. The combat is a draw!


The sentinel outflanks the gretchin!


The right battlewagon explodes as 10 lootas manage to jump clear!


Left corner - IG shooting leaves Ghaz 1 wound and 1 bodyguard remaining.

Ork turn 3
Snikrot turns up, and decides to support Ghaz. Ghaz sneaks through a gap and readies to assault the PCS and meltagun SWS. On the right corner, the other nobz unit prepares to assault throught he ruins.

Shooting is effective again for the orks! Lootas and the big shoota from the last battlewagon support Ghaz as the veteran's chimera explodes, the veterans whittled down to the commander and special wepaons. A loota also manages to kill the AGENT despite him going to ground.

In the assault phase, Snikrot wipes out the screening squad and consolidates into the ruins. Ghazgull and the last nobz pull off a combined charge versus the greatest threats, the meltagun armed SWS and PCS. However, the previous wounds open a gap in Ghaz's armor, as a bayonet pierces the hole and manages to fell the Beast of Armageddon!!!! The last nobz angrily kills some guardsmen from the SWS team, but both units refuse to flee in plain sight of the company banner fluttering out of the command chimera!

On the right, the meganobz squad wipes out a screening squad. Sensing the demise of Ghaz (of course he is not dead, just incapacitated), they consolidate towards the left corner. The sentinel/gretchin combat is a draw again.


Snikrot appears as the AGENT is felled by a loota round.


The Kommandos consolidate into the ruins, as Ghaz and the Nobz assault PCS1 and the SWS!


Ghaz is felled! Primary objective achieved! The guardsmen hold!

IG turn 3
The vendetta still fails to show up. On the right corner, PCS2 makes a mad rush towards the 10 lootas in the crater, and the squad disemebarks, 2 flamers at ready. Similarly, on the left corner, the empty chimera curls into heavy flamer range of snikrot's unit, with the veterans in support. With the movement of these chimeras, the CCS chimeras moves 12" directly behind the wreck of the PCS chimera, as I reckon in a couple of turns I can safely transport my HQ squad to safety and deny martie the draw. The Manticore and basilisk also move right 6", enabling them to draw a bead through the building at the last remaining battlewagon. The inquisitorial squad disembarks and moves into shooting range of the meganobz making a rush towards the left corner.

In the shooting phase, the PCS2 squad kills all but 2 lootas, who hold fast! Shooting at the Warboss unit only kills 1. On the left, the chimera HF and flamers and meltas of the veterans kill 8 of Snikrot's boyz, but they hold fast!

In the assault phase, the sentinel/gretchin duel again do nothing! The last meganobz from ghaz's unit wins combat, and PCS1 flees. However, the last meltagunner of the SWS heroically stays in combat!

Ork turn 4
The right warboss unit continues to huff and wheeze in order to reach the left corner. The surviving kommandos prepare to assault both the IG squad and last veterans who are screening the vehicles.

The lootas have another great shooting round. They spot the command chimera through the gap, and manage to wreck it! The last 2 lootas also manage to wreck the chimera which HF'd snikrot's unit.

Assault sees the sentinel kill a gretchin, and the unit ignore's the runtherd's whip and flee offboard. The sentinel consolidates towards the last 2 lootas. The nobz finally kills the meltagunner and consolidates towards the company command squad. Snikrot's unit wipes out the veterans and the IG squad.


The CCS chimera is wrecked as the guardsmen fight to buy time for the CCS to escape!

IG turn 4
The vendetta FINALLY arrives, and the astropath ensures it enters the left corner. The flamer at demo charge SWS team disembark beside the kommandos. The CCS decides to stay put behind the chimera, as running out in the open will expose them to the whole loota squad as well as the Warboss unit closing in on the right.

Shooting proves to be devastating. The artillery finally causes the last BW to explode. Snikrot's unit as well as the lootas on the right are finally wiped out, and the Warboss unit is reduced to the warboss and 2 nobz. Ghazgull's last nob still shrugs off all shots.


The vendetta arrives to turn the tide!


The last battlewagon explodes!

At this point time is called. WHEW!!!! I get the primary, draw on the secondary, and get the tertiary for a total of 25 pts.

Great game Martie! that was a tense and enjoyable game!

The final round is next!

Very VERY tense game, although, his ork army seems really small...

I've always liked the fact that you have a secret AGENT in your force lol. How's the artillery battery working out? I've never seen 1 of each before.

Tense but fun. No real issues with mutual respect on both sides.

In the last game the ability to choose to fire indirect was instrumental in cracking the wagons. I usually hold them to fire last as I let my direct fire weapons make the attempt first to crack transports, then indirect fire the survivors. However, it ended up that I fired indirect on the wagons, and an open topped side armor value of 12 is poor defense versus s9 and s10 ordnance, especially as the manticore managed to get multiple hits in....

In addition, believe it or not ALL my HS choices survived all my 5 games....as attention is usually focused on my chimeras and their passengers, and I deploy deep enough or angled enough to avoid most of the enemy's long range antitank weapons.

Grats on the wins (those posted so far).

Have been curious to see your army for a while.

Ok, the final match! I am both apprehensive and relieved at the same time. Relieved because I shall be facing Paulo, who plays in the same store as me and thus is a very familiar face and a friend, but apprehensive since I shall be facing his newly painted IG army! yes indeed 2 IG armies at the top table!

His list was the ff: (take note, his models are the resin death korps minis!)
1 CCS with an astropath, 3 meltaguns, a standard, in a chimera with Ml and HF
1 Marbo (bobba fett like model, complete with a crossbow)
1 full PBS squad, in a chimera with Ml and HF
1 vet squad, with meltas, in a chimera with Ml and HF
2 PCS (1 with 4 flamers, 1 with 4 meltas) each in a chimera with a Ml and HF
4 squads with autocannon and GL
3 SWS units (2 with flamers, 1 with meltaguns)
3 vendettas with HB sponsons (carries SWS teams)
1 manticore
1 hydra

Yikes that's a lot of flamers......

Anyway, I was coming in with a 4-0 record. His record was 3 wins and a draw. This was going to be good.

For the final game, the organizers basically made sure there were no funky stuff: It was a classic "cleanse" mission, with a twist. No reserves are allowed, unless a unit MUST come from reserve! So no outflanking!

Objectives: Primary: Claim a table quarter by having a scoring unit as defined in the 40k unit in it which is at least 50% in strength, and there is no other scoring unit on the table.
Secondary: Score at least 750 pts more than the enemy
Tertiary: Kill half of the enemies worth of KP

For the first time, I win the die roll. I pick the quarter with the high ruin, and blob my squads in it, occupying the high floors, the HS units behind the building. I decide to form 2 "task forces" in order to claim the 2 quarters adjacent to mine.

Paulo then deploys. While his line squads deploy similarly in a ruin in the center of his quarter, he overloads most of his units in front of my left quarter, leaving a few chimeras and a vendetta to contest my right quarter.

I then scout my vendetta to the corner of the left quarter and the sentinel directly forward. he then scouts his 2vendettas into the same quarter, while the 3rd scouts into the front right quarter, behind a building. A staredown! Pau then tries to steal the initiative, but fails!


My deployment (after scout moves)


Paulo's deployment (after scout moves)

At this point we were both tired, and with so many units I cannot remember exactly what happened when, so I will narrate more the "flow of the battle", highlighting points which I remember were crucial. Anyway, for a finals game the mood was very casual, as we both were happy to be on table 1 in the final game!

Anyway, I move my 2 prongs towards their respective targetted quarters. The RR move up to support the left quadrant. I decide to use smoke on the lead chimeras in order to provide cover to the rest. My strategy was to ignore his firebase, as it would take a lot of firepower to remove those blobbed squads. I decide that the fight will be in the uncontested quarters. Anyway, the first shooting turn provides an omen of things to come, as even with successful orders I end up missing with most of my shots, and of those which manage to penetrate the results were anemic on the vehicle damage rolls! Even the hydra fails to penetrate a vendetta! With a sinking feeling, I fire my artillery last, and the manticore proves spectacular by blowing up his hydra and removing the missile launchers from his manticore! His HS has been neutralized! Much better!


My prongs move into action!

On his turn, he moves his vendettas forward into firing position to target the flanks of my right group of chimeras. the chimeras which were unaffected move up in support. His shooting proves much more effective since all my chimera in my right flank gets affected, with 1 blowing up! In this step he has taken the initiative away from me, since with my right prong neutralized a prolonged firefight on my left would be disadvantageous, as he has more units loaded there.


kaboom! The vendettas and chimeras stop my right flank attack cold!

The next few turns get into a blur, as it got very bloody. It was basically a ping pong match, with transports getting blown up, then the infantry retaliating. What helped him was that more of my units got pinned after their transport got wrecked, making them sitting ducks the next turn.

Anyway, I remember downing both vendettas on the left quarter, with 1 exploding. His chimeras also start getting damaged, but too few were getting destroyed, as the vehicle damage rolls were not kind. I lead up with the inquisitor's unit, as it was not scoring and I was hoping they would be the first target, not my more valuable troops. His PBS was pure murder for a couple of turns, since despite the inquisitor having a ld of 10 versus the 9 of the PBS, I fail to neutralize their psychic powers. As a result, weaken resolve causes the unit from the destroyed chimera on the right to flee of board, and later on a spot on psychic blast wipes out all my RRs as they were readying to charge themselves into action the next turn!!! The inquisitor unit pops their transport and they are practically wiped out down to the overseer as I exact retribution (not a smart move as I should have been killing troops, but I was pissed and took to eliminating them with a passion!). The AGENT also democharges the CCS down to the commander (in order to remove the banner which may cause Paulo's units to reroll morale checks). He later charges the surviving commander, but he must forgotten to take his meds (or more likely took too many) as he fluffs close combat spectacularly, and is taken down! As predicted, Paulo focuses his shots initially on the inquisitor, but carapace armor helped a lot and the inquisitor and a meltagunner survive, and they proceed to take out one of his troops in close combat. My vendetta is finally wrecked near the end of the game, but the flamer unit inside is critically pinned. Luckily I still had a PCS in an immobilized chimera, who managed to stay inside the vehicle and survived to contest the left quarter. Another example of the dice gods abandoning me was when the PCS had a nice angle to be able to flame grill 1 of Pau's units. 5 flamer hits should at least give 4 dead guardsmen. And then I roll 5 1's to wound. Ah, a golden moment which I made sure to have captured on film...


Left quarter action. The PBS fries the brains of the entire RR unit amid bloody carnage on both sides!!!


Retribution on the PBS! Marbo blasts the CCS into oblivion while the commander survives!


The AGENT: "You are mine". The enemy commander: "Think again!" as he bashes the AGENT's skull.


My vendetta is finally wrecked, its occupants pinned


A perfect flamer shot! Apparently the guardsman forgot to load up his fuel tanks, as I roll 5 1's!!!!

On the right flank, I was in a quandrary whether to dismount the infantry in the last 2 chimeras. I decide to use them as bunkers, only dismounting them in the later turns since I felt dismounting them now will just result in getting them killed. With my other mobile elements engaged, I focus the long range autocannons as well as artillery in trying to pop the vendetta and 2 chimeras, then hoping to shoot/blast the passengers in order to claim the quarter. It was also a good idea to try to kill the vehicles, as they are easier KP in order to fulfill the tertiary objective. At least in theory, anyway. The 2 chimeras ended up surviving as useless hulks, but alive nevertheless. Their passengers dismounted and made good use of the ruins to sneak through my chimera bunkers. The sentinel is wrecked, and despite several hits the vendetta kept on getting stunned. I finally manage to down it on my last turn. I managed to push my only surviving chimera to the quarter with the passengers intact, and crossed fingers, hoping it survives and we get a draw. Alas it was not to be, as it gets cracked open, and the infantry flame grilled by the SWS team which got out of his wrecked vendetta. Going second does have it's advantages!


Close, but not quite enough! Paulo claims the right quarter.

Paulo claims 2 quarters to my 1, with 1 contested. We both kill enough to get the tertiary objective, and draw on the secondary. He gets 25 pts, and I get 10. We also realized later than during the later turns Paulo totally forgot about Boba Fett (his marbo!), and thus he was never used!

In retrospect what I should have done was to move my blob in the lower floor forward in order to support and claim the right quarter, as with his depleted units I'm sure he did not have enough firepower to wipe it out. But well that is the benefit of hindsight!

As all the smoke clears and the judges tally all the points, there was a delay as there seemed to be a discussion! This was made clear when the final decision was announced! Although I had accumulated enough points early on, one of our other players, Pat, managed to get a massacre on table 2! Paulo's victory over me made him have 2 points over me in the final generalship score, which also tied with Pat's. However, my painting score was higher, so I ended up tied with Pat for the Best overall. Thus the final decision was this: Paulo wins best general, and Pat and I co share the Best overall result. Very gracious of the organizers!

So best overall goes to my guard as well as Pat's Space wolves (he used a very lean list with Njal, 2 troops choices in 2 land raiders, and a unit of the new wolf cavalry...Pat had a record of 3 wins, 1 draw, 1 loss to Paulo, but his 3 wins were all massacres). So the top 2 trophies went to the latest codexes!

All in all I had a great time! Even my loss was great fun as it was down the wire, with an almost casual atmosphere (except when I was trying to wipe out the PBS!!), and came at the hands of a good opponent, which is the essence of 40k gaming!!!

Good job with the army and great job on the paint scheme. The blue is nice and bright but not to bright.

Congrats on the success. I really like your army, well played!

Thanks to y'all! I hope I showed examples of the usefulness of rough riders and scout sentinels as cheap FA choices. It's not what they kill but the effect they have on the game that counts.

freddieyu1 wrote:Thanks to y'all! I hope I showed examples of the usefulness of rough riders and scout sentinels as cheap FA choices. It's not what they kill but the effect they have on the game that counts.

You've definitely shown a use for at least the 35 point Scout Sentinel. I've never played around with the one I own (battleforce inclusion) so it'll be thrown in to practice games to see if I can use it to the same effect.

With a single sentinel, it is much easier to outflank in very tight quarters, thus it is easier to come in behind enemy tanks and such. In addition, it's much easier to hide. It survived in 3 out of 5 games. So much for being something which many players assume will not last a game!

The RR were not given a chance to show their stuff, but they did their roles just the same. In game 1 they never came out of reserve dspite the astropath. If they had, there is a strong chance I could have gotten additional KP for either finishing off a tac or the other sternguard unit. In game 2, it was all vortex madness anyway. In game 3, they got me the tertiary objective by killing the chaplain in the last turn, as I allocated a lot of attacks to him versus the regular terminators, so job done! In game 4, I intentionally strung them out as a bait unit for ghaz's unit to attack. You could argue that I could have used the IG squad in the ruins for this, but that would have left a huge gap through the ruins for ghaz to get at the artillery and the CCS. Ghaz did take the bait, and they went down dying and taking down a meganobz as they were supposed to. If they did not attack the RR, then the counterattack would have done serious damage to the meganobz I'm sure. In the last game, I blame it on the failed dispel attempt on the PBS, else they could have really helped in taking out the troops on foot.

Again, both FA units can do something which the vendettas and dogs cannot do, and that is be CHEAP mobile units that can participate in the assault phase. Remember that both cost way below the skimmers and dogs, and are (usually) non scoring so are really expendable, in the same way that marbo is expendable. Their loss you just shrug. If you lose a dog or skimmer you grimace. Delay and disruption to take the initiative away from the enemy can do a great deal to contribute to the overall victory, as I have hopefully shown here.

great reports and congrats.

I love the look of your army, and our HS aside, I am running a very similar army. It was nice to see how it did against some of those lists.

quick question, your last opponent's PBS, what are they constructed from? (they look like Jedi, was that on purpose? )

Paulo still used the death kormps minis, but used putty (green stuff) for the cloak, then empire spearman arms to make the staves.

For you they look like jedi, for me they look like nazgul (and I treated them as such in my game)!

Dainty Twerp wrote:great reports and congrats.

I love the look of your army, and our HS aside, I am running a very similar army. It was nice to see how it did against some of those lists.

quick question, your last opponent's PBS, what are they constructed from? (they look like Jedi, was that on purpose? )

Good eye, I'm a big fan of starwars hence the look (freddie calls my converted Marbo, Bobba Fett). Freddie is right, I used WHFB spears but some of the arms had to be converted for a more dynamic feel. The converted arms are from melted sprue then covered with putty.