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Welcome everyone,

I am Roadkill Zombie and this is my first attempt at a Blog. I have recently been inspired by Filbert’s Specialist Games blog and thought it would be great to show my own attempts at playing some of the older GW games that I have.
A little bit about me. I have been playing GW Wargames since 1995 and I have amassed quite a collection of miniatures in that amount of time. Most of them were bought at the time of release but others I have collected over the years from people getting out of gaming. Sadly most of it is not painted because I am super lazy when it comes to putting paint to brush.
Even though I have collected a large amount of these older games, I have not really spent a lot of time playing them as I have concentrated on Warhammer 40,000 and Warhammer Fantasy. So I have finally decided that it is time for me to get more involved in the older GW games, especially since I already own them. So I have invited some friends of mine to join me on this journey into the wonderful world of GW’s older games. And I want to invite all of you to follow me on this journey as well.
I can’t promise that everything will be painted but I can promise you that you will get to see some of the greatest games GW ever made.
So sit back and enjoy as we journey through the land of GW’s past.


First up, is a map I painted for an Epic Space Marine/Warhammer 40,000 campaign using the Mighty Empires and Planetary Empires maps. The Campaign set I am using for this Campaign is the map based one from the old 6th edition Warhammer Fantasy Battles Generals Compendium. But I re wrote the whole thing to be used in 7th edition Warhammer 40,000 and Epic Space Marine 2nd edition.













I had the idea to use some of my Epic Space Marine models to mark where the armies are in the Campaign Map and used the flags with different colors to show who owns which hexagon.

Hopefully soon I will be able to get some pics up of the game between the Eldar and the Ultramarines using Epic Space Marine 2nd edition. I'm also going to see if I can get some Man o War pics up soon. Stay tuned.

RZ


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Well, I can't seem to find my old pictures of the Epic Space Marine battle between the Eldar and the Ultramarines. Sorry about that folks. I guess I will just have to play another game and take more recent pics of it.

Anyway, I have a game of Man o War with my friend Charles on Saturday. This will be his first game of naval combat so hopefully he really enjoys it. He has an unhealthy love of anything Nurgle so of course he will play the Chaos Nurgle fleet. I will play the Empire and try to teach him the game. So I decided I would break out both of the navies and put them on the table with their respective cards, take pictures, and let everyone enjoy what a fully painted Man o War game can look like. Now I just have to get some 3d terrain and paint it so it looks good. But for now, the terrain out of the boxed set will have to do.

So, I hope you all enjoy the fleets that will be debuting in my very first battle report, coming sometime after Saturday.

RZ

Seeing all that Man O' War is too awesome.

I'm glad you like them. I anticipate a lot more fleets making their way into this blog in the future.

For those of you who don't know, Man o War is one of the early GW games that focused on naval fleet battles between the different races of the Warhammer "Old World", The Man o War rulebook has a copyright date of 1993 and was written by Nigel Stillman, Andy Jones, and Bill King.

It is an elegant system in that you have to be careful how you position your fleet as you deploy and move or you could end up getting crushed. At first it looks easy to deploy but there are quite a few different ways to do it depending on your battle plan and what navy you have chosen.

The game is also simple in the way it plays as there are cards that tell you where your cannon shot has hit and what it does. It's pretty easy once you get used to it.

You can tell it was made in the early days though as back in the 90's GW games tended to have lots of cards and chits and counters and stuff. But to me that was what drew me into GW games. they were very colorful and it all just looked so good when a game was in full progress.

So I'm going to try to get the battle report done for the game between myself and Charles that we played yesterday. It may take a few posts to do so because sometimes when I take too long the website times out and my posts disappear. Anyway I hope you all enjoy it.

We chose fleets by looking at the Nurgle and Empire fleet lists in the Man o War book and the Plague Fleet book. The Chaos roster said Charles had to pick at least one Nurgle Plagueship. This ship has catapults onboard that are loaded down with plague-spores, excrement, rotting material and the infectious filth of decay. When they hit a ship they not only cause damage, but also have a chance of causing Nurgle's Rot. The most foul disease Nurgle has ever unleashed upon the material universe. This ship is so infested with Nurgle's diseases that it leaves behind a fetid slime trail as it moves across the ocean. Any ship that crosses it has the chance of contracting Nurgle's Rot as well. It is so bad that any ship that even touches the Nurgle Plagueship automatically contracts Nurgle's Rot. Nurgle's Rot can kill crew, and even rot out the timbers of a ship, causing it to sink to the bottom of the sea. Nasty stuff indeed!

Charles was also obligated to take a unit of three Nurgle Plaguecrushers as well. These ships, while not quite as nasty as the Nurgle Plagueship, have many similar abilities. They don't have as many catapults as the Nurgle Plagueship, the two that they do have can only fire forward. And they don't leave a slime trail behind them. Other than that, they are almost the same.

Charles was allowed to take a Chaos Sorceror as well that also comes with a bane Tower of Tzeentch. A Bane tower of Tzeentch is basically a flying fortress that can use its power to skim above the water super fast, or shoot Bolts of Tzeentch at the enemy, or a little bit of both, depending on how you use its resources.

He was also allowed to take a Lord of Change. A Lord of Change is a nasty close combat opponent that can terrify any ships crew that it decides to attack, can only be shot at by anti-flyer weaponry or defensive fire from the crew of the ship, or attacked by other flyers. when it terrifies crew though, the crew don't get to attack it in any way. It can also loan power in the magic phase to a Chaos Sorceror. If it does so it has a chance to destroy its self in the process but this chance is very small so it is almost always worth it to take one.

He was also obligated to take one squadron of Chaos Deathgalleys. Deathgalleys are ships filled with Chaos Cultists that are fanatically loyal to a certain Chaos Power. So much so that each ship receives a free Chaos Reward Card at the beginning of the game. The ships themselves only have a forward facing Cannon and a ram, oars, and sails.

So Charles chose this fleet.

1 Nurgle Plaugeship
1 squadron of three Nurgle Plaguecrushers
1 squadron of three Nurgle Plaguecrushers
1 Bane Tower of Tzeentch with a Chaos Sorceror (always a Wizard Lord. Wizard Lords get a +1 to dispel rolls and casting rolls during the Magic Phase)
1 Lord of Change
1 squadron of three Chaos Deathgalleys allied to Nurgle.
2 Chaos Rewards of Nurgle (these go on the Nurgle Plagueship)

he drew Hideous Stench and Tentacles for his Nurgle Plagueship. Hideous Stench gave the Nurgle Plagueship a 9" bubble that made any enemy within that range suffer a -1to their boarding action dice. Tentacles rips enemy sailors from the decks of their ships if they get close enough, effectively killing crew.

The three Deathgalleys drew Warty Scales, Vomit Blast, and Plagueship. Warty Scales gave the Chaos Deathgalley that had it a +1 armour to all hit locations. Vomit Blast gave the Chaos Deathgalley that had it three shots that gave a -2 to the saving throws for the locations hit, and Plagueship gave the Chaos Deathgalley that had it the ability to infect any ship that comes too close with Nurgles Rot.

This is his fleet


As the Empire, I was required to have at least one Empire Greatship. the Empire Greatship can only move by sail so is at the mercy of the wind, unlike nearly every Nurgle ship which has paddlewheels or oars in case the wind blows against them. But it has a great many cannons on board facing in every direction.They come loaded down with five crew counters and you can add an Admiral for free. The admiral gives a +1 bonus to any boarding actions. I was also required to take at least one squadron of three Empire Wolfships. these ships move under both oars and sails and have cannons from both sides and three to the front. They also come with three crew each for boarding actions and a large ram for some below the waterline damage. A squadron of three of these are deadly indeed! Next I was required to take a squadron of Empire Wargalleys. These have a cannon facing front, a Ram, oars and sails, and a few crew for boarding actions. I could also take a Wizard Lord that would give me some magic defense and offense.

The Empire have two ship types that are very interesting. The first is a giant Empire Great Cannon that they built a ship hull around called a Hellhammer and the other is an Empire Mortar that they put onto a ship to fire over other ships. The Empire Great Cannon can do massive damage to other ships, causing two hits in one location instead of just one, and the empire Mortar can crash thorugh different decks of a ship, damaging it from top to bottom, just like the catapults onboard the Nurgle ships, only with a greater range.

So my fleet looked like this:

1 Empire Greatship
1 squadron of 3 Wolfships
1 squadron of 3 Wargalleys
1 squadron of 3 Hellhammers
1 squadron of 3 Ironfists
1 Wizard Lord
1 Man o War card

Man o War cards are improvements that can be added to a Man o War size ship that give it extra abilities. I drew Divine Icon of Wrath, which gave my Empire Greatship 2 extra attack dice when firing from the front, but only if the ship I am firing at is in the first range band of the firing template.

this is my fleet


Admiral Reinholdt Von Klink stood on the stern of his Imperial Greatship, the "Karl Franz", looking through his spyglass for any signs of trouble. His fleet had been on high alert for weeks as reports came in to Marienburg of strange things happening to the fishing fleets. There were reports of the Coming of Chaos, of the sea transforming before the eyes of terrified sailors, into misshapen forms. Of islands turning into billowing clouds of smoke and even of islands moving as if propelled by an unseen force, towards the fishermens boats.

Reinholdt had heard of the tales of the Coming of Chaos from millennia before but he never believed it. The fact that the Empire was taking it serious and not treating it as just a legend from long ago filled him with an overwhelming sense of fear and dread in equal measure.

Suddenly the lookout in the crows nest gave a shout. "Land Ho!"

Admiral Reinholdt looked up to see which direction the watchman was pointing. It was to the west. Turning to look through his spyglass, the Admiral watched as the landmass came closer. It seemed to be an island chain.

As they approached the first island a large cloud of multi colored smoke began to coalesce in front of the ship. The cloud started to roil and bubble as if the sea were boiling. The cloud changed colors from blue and yellow to green and black. Yet as the ship got closer to the island, it seemed the cloud never got closer to the ship. It stayed the exact same distance away. As the Karl Franz got closer to the island chain suddenly the islands started transforming into many different things.

One caught on fire and burned away, the fire spreading out to cover much of the sea, setting parts of the sea itself on fire. Another turned a sickly red color before turning into thick, coagulated blood that spread out across the water. Another island became covered in a thick black mass of oily cloud with lightning arcing through it. The cloud rolled across the sea as it expanded, engulfing some birds that its birthing had disturbed as the island transformed. The birds warped and changed into flying blobs of blue and yellow flesh with leathery wings, tentacles, and hundreds of human looking eyes. Two more islands turned into jagged slabs of Iron which then started to randomly move across the sea. In the distance, Suddenly a loud smashing sound echoed across the sea. As Admiral Reinholdt looked, he could see two islands that had suddenly begun to smash together like a giant mouth, crushing a hapless dolphin that was swimming between them. It continued to crash together making a terrible grinding noise of rock upon rock.

Admiral Reinhold looked on, dreading what he might see next, and then he spotted them. In the distance, giant hulks of rotten timber and bloated flesh sailed closer to his fleet. Leering Cultists and Chaos Warriors scuttled and strode across the decks, ordering their underlings to ready the catapults. He watched as the depraved worshipers of Nurgle loaded the catapults with Bloated sacs of rot and filth.

He knew he must hold them off at all costs or they would sail south and infest the Empire with all manner of disease, possibly even destroying the world. Admiral Reinholdt choked back his fear and barked out orders to his men to get ready for battle and signal the fleet to assemble in formation. Then he told his first mate to wake up the Wizard, the End Times were upon them.



This is the pre-game set up. We decided to try out the Chaos Terrain because we thought it would be cool to have some cool terrain to fight over besides just islands. So Chuck rolled really well for changing the regular terrain into chaos terrain, needing a 4+ to change them. He rolled a 4+ seven times!...lucky git!

We rolled a dice to see which direction the wind was blowing and it turned up a 3 so it was blowing south. Any odd number it starts south, any even number it starts north. Initiative rolls then determine if the wind changes after the initial set up.

I won the roll to decide which table side I can set up on so I chose the east side of the table. So Chuck would have the west side. We took turns placing a Man o War, Independent ship, flyer, and squadrons. So deployment ended up looking like this:


The Empire fleets deployment.


The Nurgle fleets deployment.

Turn 1 Initiative phase the Empire won initiative. Turn 1 Magic phase, the Empire wizard gets 4 spells randomly drawn from the spell deck. He also has to choose a college of magic so I chose the college of light magic. In the magic phase the person with initiative starts the magic phase by trying to cast a spell, then the other wizard can try to dispel it, then the other wizard can try to cast a spell and the first wizard can try to dispel it. So the Empire Wizard Lord tried to cast the spell "Serpents of Doom" which immobilizes a ship for a turn, but the Wizard failed to cast it. Next, the Chaos Sorceror tried to cast "Wind of Chaos", which would have created a huge template that he could place over some of my ships, then blow them a random distance in a direction he chooses. He succeeded in casting it. So I had to dispel it and needed a 7 on a d6 to do so!..yikes! so because I have a Wizard Lord I get a +1 to my dispels, so I would need a 6 to dispel this. Luckily I rolled and got that six!. Yay Wizard Lord! Way to show those Chaos scum who's boss!

A few more spells were thrown around but none of them succeeded so the magic phase was over.

Turn 1 battle phase: The Boiling Mist terrain piece moves 3" south, affecting nothing. The Nurgle fleet simply moves forward trying to get into range with all of its weapons. The main bulk of the Empire fleet moves up to try to get into range of the Nurgle fleet but the Wolfship squadron decides to try to skirt past the large island on the right of the fleet and possibly flank the Nurgle fleet.

The Iron Crags near the nurgle fleet move 1" east, while the one near the Empire fleet stays put.


turn one movement


Nurgle's side from turn one


Empire turn 1


Nurgle turn 1


Turn 2 initiative phase we both rolled 4's so the wind changed so that it was going west. We rolled again and Chaos won.

Turn 2 magic phase the Lord of Change decided to augment the magic of the Chaos Sorceror with three extra power!. Ouch! So the Chaos Sorceror (who's power level is equivalent or greater than a the Empire Wizard Lord) tried to cast Vision of Dispair on my lead Wolfship, succeeds, but cannot roll the dice high enough to affect the crew. If he had passed the crew would have all stood around not defending themselves or shooting the cannons, or moving the ship...Needless to say I'm glad he didn't roll high enough.

The Empire Wizard Lord then tried to cast Spectre but failed. The Chaos Sorceror was done and just defended with his remaining spells. Next, the Empire Wizard Lord then tried to cast Fog of Limbo on the Wolfship Flagship and fails, but because it is light magic and he is a light magic Wizard he re rolls and passes, so the Wolfship Flagship now has +2 to all saving throws for this turn.

Next, the Empire Wizard Lord casts Panic on the Nurgle fleet and succeeds. The Chaos sorcerer fails to dispel it so the Nurgle fleet loses initiative for the turn.

Then the Empire Wizard Lord casts Hellstorm on the flagship of the plaguecrushers on the Empire left. It creates a whirlpool that stops any ship that touches it from moving unless they can roll a 5+ to get out and last for the rest of the game. It doesn't get dispelled.

Turn 2 battle phase the Boiling Mist terrain piece is blown 4 inches west.
The Empire Wolfships moved up to get into range of the plaguecrushers on the Empire right. the Plaguecrushers on the right then maneuver to shoot at the lead wolfship. The plague catapults fired, blew through the sails, fell through the decks, and caused one below the waterline hit. luckily the Empire Wolfship made its save on the next ones so no damage happened. The shots then cause Nurgle's Rot on the Wolfship

The Empire then moved up the squadron of Wargalleys but their cannons fell short and couldn't hit anything.

The Lord of Change, seeing the danger the Wolfships are, decides to fly up to the first one and attack it. He terrifies the crew, who cannot fight back, and he kills one crew, then decides not to press the attack.

The Hellhammers moved up and shot one plaguecrusher but it made its save. The other two didn't fire as they had maneuvered too close to the rest of the fleet and would hit them if they fired.

The Bane Tower of Tzeentch then moved forward very fast.

The Ironfists moved forward to shoot, aiming at the plaguecrushers on the Empire right but missed every shot.

In the End Phase 2 the Iron Crags both moved north but really didn't affect the game much.

Nurgle's rot does nothing this turn on the Wolfship.

I just realized I forgot to take pics of turn two but will have turn 3 pics up tomorrow.

Turn 3 Initiative Phase , Chaos wins and the wind direction stays to the west.

Turn 3 Magic Phase, With a great outpouring of power the Chaos Sorceror casts the spell "Plague Sea". The Empire Wizard Lord tries desperately to dispel it but to no avail. The sea takes on a bilious green hue coagulating to the texture of cold blood and the wind stifled. The entire Empire fleet becomes immobile for the entire turn 3!

In return, in an effort to save the lead Wolfship that is being ravaged by the Lord of Change, the Empire Wizard Lord casts "Heal" on the crew of the ship and they gain back a crew counter.

The Chaos Sorceror has expended all of his power for the Plague Sea spell that he cast so he does nothing for the rest of the magic phase.

The Empire Wizard Lord then casts "Repair" on the bows of the lead Wolfship, repairing the 3 cannons that fire forward.

Turn 3 Battle Phase the Boiling Mist moves 5" to the west. Then the plaguecrusher squadron on the Empire left tries to get out of the whirlpool cast by the Empire Wizard Lord in turn 2 but only one ship fails to get out so only the other two ships try to move into position but only one ins close enough to fire. It fires a shot at the left most ship in the Empire Wargalley squadron, hitting the mast, blowing through it, The plague ridden catapult shot then falls to the oar deck, blowing through that as well, and finally blowing a hole straight through the hull! Ouch! Luckily though, the Wargalley is still afloat and the catapult shot does not cause Nurgle's Rot.

The Lord of Change, seeing the magic surround the crew of the lead Wolfship, laughs to himself at the futile efforts of the Empire and attacks the ship again, killing another crew, then not pressing the attack. He is toying with them at this point, giving them false hope of surviving this. Using his foresight, the Lord of Change looks into the future and sees a grim future for the Wolfships and its crew, then chuckles to himself again.

In return the Lead Wolfship fires its forward facing Cannons at the Bane Tower of Tzeentch and watches with disappointment as no damage is caused.

Then the Chaos Lord aboard the Plagueship orders the squadron of plaguecrushers on the Empire right to move into position to fire on the lead Wolfship. They do so and the first shot hits the Forcastle, blows through it, falls to the bows, blows through that too, falls to the Below the Waterline, and punches a hole through the ships hull. The second one hits the main deck and blows through it, hits the oar deck and blows through it, falls to the below the waterline location and punches another hole through the hull again. It also causes Nurgle's Rot! The third ship decides to fire at the Wolfship Squadron Leader with its Plague Catapult. Hitting the Main Mast, blasting through it, falling onto the Main Deck and blasting through that before stopping, but not before causing Nurgles Rot!

The Bane Tower of Tzeentch fires a Bolt of Tzeentch at the lead Wolfship, aiming low and blowing through the Stern location.

Turn 3 End Phase the Iron Crags both continue to move south. The Nurgles rot on the Wolfship Squadron leader kills a crew, but the one on the lead wolfship causes a below the waterline hit and sinks the lead Wolfship! Curse nurgle and his evil poxes!


Turn 3 from Empire side


Turn 3 from Nurgle side


Empire after turn 3


Nurgle after turn 3

Turn 4 Initiative we rolled double 3's so the wind changed again to the south. We rolled again and Chaos Won initiative again.

Turn 4 Magic Phase the Chaos Sorceror succeeds in casting Plague of Flies at the Wolfship Squadron Flagship. The Empire Wizard Lord fails to dispel it and the spell proceeds to kill off the remaining crew of the Wolfship Flagship and it becomes and abandoned ship! Yikes! One ship lost to the magic phase. This turn certainly isn't starting well for the Empire. The Empire Wizard Lord then tries to cast "Blood Silver" which would deflect all spells cast this turn back at the caster and succeeds in casting the spell!. The Chaos Sorceror, sensing something ominous about to come from the Empire Wizard Lord puts a lot of power into his dispel and successfully dispels the Blood Silver spell. But this leaves the Chaos Sorceror with no more power to cast spells so the Empire Wizard Lord successfully casts the spell Wind Master, changing the wind direction back to the west so that it is going against the Chaos fleet! Now if they wish to move, they are slowed down at least as they have to use oars or paddlewheels, not sails.

Turn 4 Battle Phase the Bane Tower of Tzeentch moves 6" to the south, using all of its power to do so.

The Empire Greatship, now with the wind at its back, sails forward and gets into a position to broadside the Chaos Deathgalleys. The Empire Greatship lets loose a large volley of cannonfire, blowing a hole in the forecastle but that is all.

The Chaos Deathgalleys then fire on the Empire Greatship, damaging the forecastle and stern.

The Empire Wargalleys then ram the Nurgle Plaguecrushers to the Empire Left. The Nurgle Plaguecrushers to the Empire right move and fire on the Empire Wargalley that has moved in front of the Empire Greatship but miss, while the Empire Ironfists shoot over the Chaos Deathgalleys to the Nurgle Plaguecrushers on the Empire right, damaging the foremast and taking out the forward Nurgle Plaguecrushers forward Plague Catapults. The Nurgle Plaguecrusher still locked in the whirlpool tried to get out but couldn't. Even though the Empire Wargalleys had rammed the Nurgle plaguecrushers to the left, the Nurgle Plaguecrushers made their below the waterline saves and remained undamaged. The crews of the wargalleys didn't dare board the Nurgle Plaguecrushers for fear of contracting Nurgle's Rot, so they stayed put.

The Empire Hellhammers fired on the Nurgle Plaguecrusher flagship. But only managed to destroy the sails.

The Chaos Lord of Change moved off to go after the last of the Empire Wolfships.

End Phase turn 4 the crew of the Wolfship that sunk drown as no ship can get to them to rescue them, while the Iron Crags nearest Nurgle's fleet moves east and the one nearest the Empire fleet actually moves off of the table.


Empire turn 4


another view of turn 4


Turn 4 from Nurgle side


another view of turn 4 from Nurgle side

Turn 5 initiative the Empire wins initiative. The wind direction does not change and continues to blow west.

Turn 5 Magic Phase The Empire Wizard Lord notices a strange glow coming from the farthest Chaos Deathgalley on the right and sees a strange green cloud billowing and bubbling from the mouth of a cultist on board. Realizing he is about to vomit a foul noxious green cloud all over the Empire fleet he targets the ship with the spell "Raging Insanity". This spell makes it so that the enemy crew can do nothing but fight in a boarding action this turn. They can't fire the catapults, and can't use their Chaos reward.

The Chaos Sorceror aboard the Bane Tower of Tzeentch does not try to dispel it in fear of failing as he drew plenty of spells but no power cards. So the Chaos Sorceror casts no spells this turn either.

The Empire Wizard Lord then casts "Causeway of Light which creates a bridge from the deck of the Empire Greatship to the deck of the Chaos Deathgalley that he just cast Raging Insanity on. 5 crew and the Admiral assult the Chaos Deathgalley, killing a crew, before racing back across the causeway before it disappears and they become stranded.

Turn 5 Battle Phase the Boiling Mist moves 3" west. The Empire Ironfists fire their mortars at the Nurgle Plagueship, sending a mortar shell through the aft mast and destroying the aft plague catapult. Sadly, one of their shots deviates back 6 inches directly on to the Ironfist that fired the shot! The mortar shell proceeds to destroy the mortar that it came from and also blow a hole in the hull as it plunges into the below the waterline location and I fail the save! talk about unlucky! that crew needs to be flogged!

The Nurgle Plaguecrushers on the Empire left then board the two Wargalleys that rammed them and kill all of the crew. In revenge, the remaining Empire Wargalley rams the Chaos Deathgalley on the far right sinking it!. No more vomit from that ship!

One of the Chaos Deathgalleys shoots its cannon at the Empire Greatship, aiming low, hitting the forecastle, but the Greatship made its save. The other Chaos Deathgalley fires its cannon at the last Empire Wargalley, hitting the oar deck, and destroying the oars.

The Empire greatship then sails around the Ironfists, trying to get into position so it can later move forward and blast the Nurgle Plaguecrushers on the right but gets caught sailing into the wind as it turns. It then fires its aft cannons at the Flagship of the Nurgle Plaguecrusher squadron on the Empire left, destroying the flagships paddlewheel.

The Lord of Change attacked the last of the Empire Wolfship but the combat was tied as the crew of the Wolfship overcame the terror of the Lord of Change and, seeing what he had done to the crew of the first Wolfship, fought valiantly, wounding the lord of Change but also losing a crew in the process.

The Empire Hellhammers maneuver to block forward movement of the right most Nurgle Plaguecrushers,

The Nurgle Plagueship moves into the center of the Empire fleet, hoping to slime a ship or two but gets nothing.

The Nurgle Plaguecrushers on the Empire right move to shoot at the Empire Greatship, blowing up the broadside cannons, but not able to get through the below the waterline location and not causing Nurgle's Rot.

Turn 5 End Phase. The Nurgle Plaguecrushers on the right scuttle both of the Empire Greatships that they boarded. The Iron Crags don't move this turn. The Nurgle's Rot on the left Wargalley kills the crew and leaves the ship abandoned.


Turn 5 Empire


another view


and another

from Nurgle side


another from Nurgle side


Empire after turn 5


Nurgle after turn 5

Turn 6 Initiative The Chaos side wins initiative and the wind stays the same, blowing to the West.

Turn 6 Magic Phase. Again, the Chaos Sorceror has a bunch of spells but no power cards. He decides to not use the Lord of Change to augment his spellcasting for fear of rolling badly and losing the Lord of Change. So he does nothing this magic phase.

The Empire Wizard Lord tries to cast Soaring Disk. This spell would have allowed the Empire Wizard Lord to pluck the Chaos Sorceror from the Bane Tower of Tzeentch, and place him on any other ship in the Chaos fleet. If he would have succeeded with the spell the Chaos Sorceror would have been put on one of the Nurgle Plaguecrushers that I planned on targeting with one of my hellhammers this turn, hopefully sinking the ship and making the Chaos Sorceror swim around until he drown. Alas, this was not to be as the Empire Wizard Lord could not roll high enough to succeed on the spell.

Turn 6 Battle Phase. The Nurgle Plagueship butted up against the Empire Greatship to do a boarding action, automatically causing Nurgle's Rot to infect the Greatship, and then boarded, but proceeded to lose one crew. The Empire Greatship won so they decided to cut grapples and end the combat.

The last Empire Wolfship then moves past the Lord of Change (as they drove him off last turn), shoots its three cannons at the rearmost Plaguecrusher from the Nurgle Plaguecrusher squadron on the Empire right, and proceeds to cause no damage.

The Bane Tower of Tzeentch fires a Bolt of Tzeentch at the last Empire Wolfship but only damages the stern.

The first Empire Hellhammer then moves up and fires at the nearest Deathgalley, damaging its sails. Then moves backward 3" by the force of the cannon. The second Empire Hellhammer shoots at the middle Nurgle Plaguecrusher on the right of the Empire fleet, hits the forecastle, causing two points of damage and a critical hit. The critical hit then causes two points of below the waterline damage to the Nurgle Plaguecrusher and sinks the ship! the ship then gets pushed 3" backwards by the force of the cannon. The third Hellhammer moves up to the Nurgle Plaguecrusher near the rear of the Plaguecrusher squadron on the right of the Empire fleet, shoots its cannon, hitting the plaguetower, causing two hits and a critical hit. The critical hit causes panic in the crew who then call on the captain to save them, but the crew mutiny instead! They lose one crew counter as the crew jump ship! Then, the Empire Helhammer moves 3 inches backwards due to the force of the cannon, runs aground on an island, cracks its hull wide open and sinks! Curse my luck!

The rest of the Chaos fleet proceeds to concentrate on the Ironfist with the red pennant, causing damage to every location except the last below the waterline hit and also causing Nurgle's Rot.

The last Chaos Deathgalley decides to board the Hellhammer with the white pennant and try to do a boarding action but are all killed by the crew of the Hellhammer, making the Chaos Deathgalley abandoned!

Turn 6 End Phase the Nurgle's Rot on the Ironfist with the red pennant kills off the crew, leaving the ship abandoned, while the crew of the white pennant Hellhammer scuttle the Chaos Deathgalley. The Iron Crags move 4" east.


Empire turn 6


Nurgle turn 6


Empire turn 6


Another Empire turn 6


Nurgle Turn 6

Turn 7 Initiative Empire win Initiative and the wind stays the same, blowing West.

Turn 7 Magic Phase the Empire Wizard Lord tries to cast "Storm Strike" and fails. This spell would have had a ship lose a crew.

The Chaos Sorceror then successfully gets a boost from the Lord of Change for 3 power and successfully casts Carnage, giving all Chaos ships involved in a boarding action this turn a +2 modifier to the dice rolls. The Empire Wizard Lord fails to dispel it.

The Empire Wizard Lord then tries to cast Chill Bones but fails. This would have stopped a ship from firing.

The Chaos Sorceror is done casting spells for the turn so the Empire Wizard Lord then tries to cast Storm Force, succeeds, but is promptly dispelled by the Chaos Sorceror. Storm Force would have reduced visibility to close range, nullifying all of the Plague Catapults, and making ramming and boarding impossible until the next turn.

Turn 7 Battle Phase The Empire Greatship moves around the big island and shoots at the Nurgle Plaguecrusher at the back of the Plaguecrusher squadron on the Empire right. He uses his Man o War card to get two extra cannon shots off for a total of 3 cannon shots from the front! (it could have been 4 cannon shots but sadly, one was damaged earlier in the game) the Empire Greatship proceeds to blow away the Nurgle Plaguecrushers paddlewheel and sails, immobilizing the ship.

In return, the other Nurgle Plaguecrusher in the squadron shot the last Empire Wolfship, blowing away the broadside cannons and the oars.

The Empire Wolfship then moves forward, shoots its three cannons a the rear plaguecrusher, hits it, causing two critical hits, cracking the hull and sinking the ship!

The last Deathgalley moves up to the Hellhammer flagship and initiates a boarding action, killing off the last of the crew.

The Ironfists attack the Nurgle Plaguecrusher squadron on the left of the Empire fleet and do only damage some sails.

The Lord of Change then decides he will go pick on something easier than a Wolfship and flies towards the Ironfists. They use defensive fire, causing another wound!...sadly the ensuing round of combat goes badly for the Ironfists and the lord of Change kills off the crew, making the ship go abandoned.

The Nurgle Plagueship pushes its paddlewheel in reverse and backs up to touch the last Empire Wargalley, automatically causing Nurgle's Rot and doing a boarding action. They easily kill all of the crew as the Nurgle Plagueship is loaded down with a Chaos Lord and three Chaos Warrior crew, not cultists.

The last Hellhammer, tried to attack the last Deathgalley with a boarding action but because of the carnage spell, foolishly gave up their lives, thus abandoning the Hellhammer.

The Bane Tower of Tzeentch shot at the Empire Greatship, damaging the main mast but nothing else.

The Nurgle Plaguecrushers on the left of the Empire fleet shot their plague catapults at the Empire Ironfist with the black pennant, and sunk it!

Turn 7 End Phase. the Nurgle fleet scuttles the last Empire Wargalley, and the last Empire Hellhammer. The Iron Crags don't move. Admiral Reinholdt decides he has lost and rather than get what little he has left of his fleet killed, he disengages. Woe to the Empire as Chaos is on the move!


Empire turn 7


Turn 7 again


Nurgle turn 7


Nurgle turn 7 again


Empire after turn 7


Nurgle after turn 7


Whew!...well, I learned a few things. It isn't easy trying to do a battle report. I will have to be more thorough next time. And I learned that Chaos is a really potent force in Man o War. I have never played against them before. Remember though that this was a learning game and I was trying to teach Chuck some of the cool things in this game. He said he had a lot of fun and he can't wait to play another game. But not too soon because I want to do a different game next time around.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed it, even though it is a little rough in places.
Rz

It was my first game but I have to say GAMES WORKSHOP should put this back up for sale. It was an absolute blast to play. The learning curve wasn't to bad either.

It just makes sense game wise and when ha play it then you too will see it's fun.

Thx zombie

Chas out

Man, I forgot how much book keeping the game involved! Almost as much as X-wing. <Rimshot!>

Still, thanks for sharing! Great game and good fun!

@ Lungpickle. You're welcome. I think you will find that most of the games from this time period in GW history were very fun but my most favorite is definitely Man o War.

@Easy E. Yeah, there is definitely a lot of book keeping involved, but it is SO worth it. I knew Star Wars X-Wing had book keeping but it hadn't occurred to me that Man o War would have just as much. haha, good times.

Thanks for the comments about the bat rep. I'm glad you like it.

So next up, Epic Space Marine. Remember that first group of pictures with the Mighty Empires and Planetary Empires map I showed first? The reason I showed it was because it is an ongoing campaign that I and Chuck are doing and he's playing Ultramarines vs my Eldar. Occasionally we'll be attacked by raiding parties of Chaos or rampaging Tyranids that have made their way to the planet. And I wanted to show how you can incorporate more modern things into GW games from the past to help you have more fun playing them.

In this case, I know I will have a game against the Ultramarines in the future that we want to play using Epic Space Marine, not Warhammer 40,000, so I was wondering what I should take as far as my armies go. The Warhammer 40,000 games we play are 3,000 each so I figured we may as well do the Epic Space Marine games at 3,000 points each as well. This will keep them small enough that we can get the battle done in a reasonable amount of time.

So this is what I was thinking of for my Eldar





Hopefully this will be enough to stop the ultramarines from taking the next Hexagon of what my Eldar see as an Eldar Maiden World that the Ultramarines want to add to their empire of Ultramar.

Farseer Lilrethian reached up and touched the rune on the top of the chamber door. The rune glowed an iridescent blue before fading. Stepping through the archway, Farseer Lilrethian gave a nod to the silent guardian constructs standing just inside the entrance. Walking through the wraithbone hallways until he reached the balcony, he looked down onto the assembled Eldar below.

“Honored Warriors of Iyanden”, he began.

“Today is a day of destiny, for as I speak to you now, the misguided slaves of the Corpse God of Mankind defile and destroy our Maiden World. Millions of years ago, our ancestors seeded this planet with life. It was a paradise of nature, where every flower, every tree, every river would sing to the Eldar soul. Many Eldar came here to seek solace and to reflect on the meaning of life. By the time of the fall, our Exodite bretheren claimed this planet as their own and set about to keep it safe from intruders so our memories of what once was would never fade.

But that time has passed. Our Exodite bretheren have been slain, their achievements desecrated. At every opportunity the slave warriors of the Corpse God, these “Ultramarines” , have killed and captured our Eldar cousins. They have built cities and industry on our once vibrant world, making it a stinking cesspool of Mon-Kheig filth!

We can no longer stand by and let them destroy our heritage. We must bring all of the might of Craftworld Iyanden to bear. Do not let them desecrate Coranamanshemash any longer! Bring them to the destruction they seek! TO WAR!”

Farseer Lilrethian watched as the assembled Eldar made their way to the Falcon Grav Tank and Wave Serpent transports that would take them to the world below. They would make it in time. They HAD to make it in time. If the humans got a hold of the ancient Eldar artifact that was buried under the burning garden of Khaine, there is no telling what sort of evil they could unleash upon the galaxy.


And this is what I was thinking about taking for Chaos. Adorable aren't they?









Magnus dropped more shaved bone into the swirling liquid near his feet. Saying a few words of sorcery, he tried once again to read the portents.

“On the seventeenth day of *** the *** will cause fire to rain from the sky. All shall be burned and none survive. The heavens shall weep and ash will cover the land. The earth will split and a new time arises. *** will be ascendant and none shall bar his way. He shall take the*** as his own and arise from the pit. Death will follow him, and *** be his forever. He shall ***for an eternity. Great *** will arise and oppose him. Yet he shall not waver. All of creation will***. The false***shall be thrown down. His legions scattered, his *** left bare for all to see. Thus shall the*** end. Thus shall***come to pass”.

“AGAIN!” Magnus roared, his gigantic form casting a shadow over the council. They grabbed one of their own, stripped him down, and carved into his flesh, ripping and tearing away bone. The sorcerer screamed in agony before succumbing to his wounds. The council quickly took the shaved bone fragments to the Primarch, who dropped them into the liquid at his feet. Magnus once again said a few words of sorcery, and tried to read the portents. He was just about ready to kill them all for incompetence for not getting the shaved bone to him quick enough when a subtle waver in the magic caught his attention. He had seen this before, subtle changes occurring here and there. Subtle shifts in the fabric of reality.

Magnus let a tendril of magic touch him and could feel the presence on the other side trying to manipulate it. He could feel the changes being made as he read the portents. Only one type of mortal creature could do such things with such skill. They had almost fooled him. ELDAR! They were here! He knew he must act fast if he were to aquire the artifact. He had long known it had been hidden somewhere on this world. Yet he thought the Imperium had killed off all of the Eldar protecting it when they commited genocide on the ancient Exodites that inhabited this planet. His years of planning were about to be undone!

Quickly Magnus ordered his legion to assemble for war. They must find this artifact and bring it to Magnus at any cost. With the chant of the Thousand Sons, his legion moved to their awaiting drop ships.

“All is dust, All is dust”



Will the Eldar be able to stop the expansion of the Ultramarines on the planet? Or will the Ultramarines purge the Xenos for the glory of the Emperor? Or will the traitorous forces of Chaos decide to come out of hiding and engage the Ultramarines before they can secure the planet?

More, more, more!!!

 notprop wrote:
More, more, more!!!

I'm glad you like it. This is inspiring me to want to paint more too so I definitely plan on doing as many of these different games as I can convince my friends to play.

So an update on the Epic game. It turns out that the Chaos forces decided to ambush the Eldar before they could stop the advance of the Ultramarines futher onto the planet. We haven't played it yet as Real Life has gotten in the way this week but we plan to do it soon. In the meantime, all this week I have been trying to increase my Battlefleet Gothic collection as I only had Tyranids, Space Marines, and a Blackstone Fortress. So after some negotiating I ended up with a very large Eldar Corsairs navy, an Imperial Navy, another Blackstone Fortress, and a Ramilies Class Star Fort.















Thank you to Lyquis for these great Battlefleet Gothic minis that he was willing to part with.

So this is the whole Imperial fleet (except for two ships that I still have to build. They're still on the sprue) I'll probably be magnetizing the base of the Emperor class Battleship just so I can store it properly.



Now if I can just get motivated to paint more!

BFG is such a great looking game. Love the pic of ships docked at the fort.

And here is the Eldar fleet I acquired recently



A few ships need repair but all the parts for every ship are there. And of course they all need a good paint job

Loving those Imperial ships. Simple, but effective looking colour scheme that really works. The rest of the thread is also a joy to read.

@youwashock: I love that pic too. It was surprisingly hard to get the ships positioned so the boarding tubes didn't look like they were going to unlikely areas of the ships.

Now if I can just convince my friends to play it!

@BrookM: I wish I could take credit for that paint job but I can't. I got them from Lyquis and he said that many many years ago he got them from someone else, but he couldn't remember that person's name. Luckily I like the paint job just as much as you do and I know I can replicate it so thats what color my Imperial Navy will be. Thank you for the comments. I'm glad to see this little blog is enjoyable to you. That makes it worth doing.

So to Lyquis' anonymous painter, kudos sir.

Also, again, another thank you to Lyquis for the large Eldar fleet. Eventually I will drive the 70 miles to challenge you with those Eldar!

So, an update on the Epic Space Marine/40k campaign.

After the forces of Chaos decided to ambush the Eldar, the Ultramarine player (Chuck), remembered that his Ultramarines have a campaign ability that he would like to use. The ability is that if two forces move into one hex and a battle is declared, before the battle happens, the ultramarine player (any space marine army actually) can declare that they are going to ambush one of the banners that are involved in the battle before they get to the battle. Basically they declare a surgical strike and need a 5 or a 6 on a D6 in order to do it. If they do it, the banner that is not attacked by the space marines now has to fall back to the previous hexagon that they were in before they moved and the battle now occurs between the Ultramarines and their declared target. Of course, in classic chuck style, he rolls a 6 after declaring that he will surgically strike the now revealed Chaos forces.

But suddenly Real Life interfered again so we all of a sudden didn't have the entire night to do a bat rep so chuck suggested we just play 40k and save the bat rep for a day when we both have time.

So we will. After the 40k game, we decided that we would sit down and have him choose what the Ultramarines wanted to take to the battle, So here it is:









Chuck chose to take two Warhound Scout Titans but did not own them so I will be loaning him two of mine for this game.







See that Thunderhawk Gunship card for 50 points? Yeah, that is what thunderhawk gunships used to look like...aren't you glad they changed the design?

Marneus Calgar stood next to the holo pict projector examining it intently for any signs of elder. Earlier Ultramarine expeditions on this planet, now named Romanus IV, had cleansed the Xenos from its surface, yet something didn't feel right. His instincts told him that the Eldar were not quite gone from this planet. Reaching up and turning the holographic dial on the projector, Marneus zoomed in on the area where he had sent the Legio Ignatius Scout Titans to look for any more signs of Eldar activity. He could see the titans moving swiftly through the terrain, deftly avoiding rock outcroppings and fallen trees, He watched as they crested a hill and stopped. Patching in to the Hammer of Righteousness' Princeps vid goggles, Marneus saw from the view of the Princepts a large patch of reality begin to bend and twist. It looked as if the rocks and trees were swirling in a whirlpool, then reality split open and out stepped a large black monstrosity. It had flames painted onto it's legs, a leering visage of a daemon with a huge cannon coming out of its mouth. A massive missile rack protruded from its back and two flags with the symbols of Khorne rose above the missile launcher. In its right hand was a large multi barreled cannon and in its left, a huge chain axe attached to a melta fist.

Banelord! thought Marneus.

Behind the Banelord a giant flying reptile mixed with mechanical parts flew, It was colored blue and yellow and belched flames as it flew over the forest, setting much of it on fire. Behind them came marines in blue and yellow armour. Marneus identified them as Thousand Sons.

Quickly he ordered the Scout Titans to withdraw and report back to base. Marneus wondered why they were here. What did Chaos want with this planet? The implications were many. Could they want it for its natural resources? Were they planning on just razing it so the Imperium could not use it? or were they looking for something. The only way he could be sure was to capture someone of rank and interrogate them.

Calling in his attendant, Marneus ordered the 2nd battle company to assemble for transport. They were tasked with ambushing the Chaos force assembling on the planet below. Marneus would accompany them on this mission. He needed to know for certain what Chaos planned on doing. With a confident stride, Marneus headed for the drop ships, battle plans already forming in his mind.





Automatically Appended Next Post:
So today I've been trying to sort through that big Eldar fleet I got from Lyquis to see exactly how many of each ship I have. And in doing so, I've been noticing some ships that don't quite seem to fit with the pictures I have in my Battlefleet Gothic books of what the Eldar ships should look like. What I mean by that is, some ships look very similar to each other but only have slight differences. I will post a few pics to show you all what I mean.

So here we have a Hellbore Frigate. It looks exactly like the picture of a Hellbore frigate in the Battlefleet Gothic book



Yet I have another one that looks very similar except for the small difference of the fin coming off of the back is obviously different, and so is the gun on the front.



and here they are together so you can see the differences.



Next is the Aconite Frigate. This too looks exactly like the pic in the BFG book



Yet I have one that looks almost the same except for the fact that this one seems to have fins coming out of the sides of it instead of what look like some kind of cylinder on the original one



Then there is the Hemlock Destroyer. This one also looks like the picture in the BFG book.



But the back fin on this one is different



and for comparison



Then we have the Nightshade Destroyer. Once more, this one looks exactly like the ones in the book do.



notice how the first one has only three pinions on its wings?



Yet this one has four pinions?

So my question is for those of you who are more knowlegable about Eldar Battlefleet Gothic models. Did GW make variations on the Eldar models? Are these models that don't look exactly like the ones in the book actually just newer sculpts? or are they some other type of model? Does anyone know?

I don't really know much about BFG but have you tried the Stuff of Legends catalogue?

http://www.solegends.com/citcat2005spc/c2005spcp0061-02.htm

Yup, I tried there. They didn't really have any info on it, thank you for trying though. But I did some looking on Ebay today and I saw an unopened blister of some Eldar ships and noticed that it had the parts for both of the different kind of ships. I believe it was the Aconite Frigate. So at least now I know that it was in fact just a different sculpt for the same models.

So what that means is I have more models of the same type than I thought. I now have:

1 Eldar Voidstalker Battleship
5 Eldar Shadow Cruisers
1 Eldar Eclipse Cruiser
2 Eldar Aurora Light Cruisers
12 Eldar hellbore Frigates
10 Eldar Aconite Frigates
16 Eldar Nightshade Destroyers
12 Hemlock Destroyers

Wow, that is a lot of Eldar. Normally I would say that is too much but Lyquis has a very massive fleet of Imperial ships so hopefully someday I will be able to challenge him to a very large battle so we can both use all of our ships.

Anyway, I just put up the battlefield for the Epic game on Saturday and took pictures so it should look something like this. Enjoy.

Here's the whole table.


And in no particular order, different shots from around the table.

Great looking table. Should make for quite a battle.

Heck of an Eldar fleet, too. Cool models. Even when I decided to sell off my BFG stuff I had to hang on to the Void Stalker.

If I had to sell off my BFG stuff, I'd be right there with ya. That ship is just too cool to want to sell. But I never will. I like my models too much to sell them off. But ships have always been my thing. Even when I joined the Navy I wanted to be the guy that got to deal with the tactics and strategies of naval warfare so I became an Operations Specialist.

Today, while sitting at work, I was talking with a friend of mine about Battlefleet Gothic and how cool it would be to make some terrain like planets, asteroids, nebula, dust clouds, etc. in 3d. My friend then tells me he would rather have the terrain in 2d because somehow 3d terrain causes issues with Battlefleet Gothic because it seems to be a game that is made with 2d in mind.

So, I looked in my Battlefleet Gothic set to see what they had available and it isn't much really. But they did at least have a large planet that can be flipped to show a gas giant.

So here's the planet from the boxed set.


And here's the Gas Giant side



Those are kinda cool as far as 2d terrain goes I guess. But I thought the habitable planet looked a little cartoony. Not that I mind cartoony really, but I wanted to have a few more planets that might look a little better than that. So I broke out my mapping program and made these new planets for when I finally get to playing Battlefleet Gothic.

My habitable planet


Another


And another


And another


A Rust World


A smaller planet


And a small Ice World


And finally a Death World


Now I just print them on to card stock, and I'm going to cut them out and glue them to some thicker cardstock that won't fit into my printer.

Eventually I plan to make some Asteroids, some more planets with rings around them like Saturn, hopefully if I can figure out how, some Nebula, some full on Asteroid Fields, and anything else I can think of. Does anyone else have any good ideas of what I could try to make?

Well, Saturday has come and gone, but it brought with it a very large storm front that caused all kinds of havoc from broken power lines to trees being knocked down to power outages to more than 150,000 people. The storm front is still here and blowing strong, but not as bad as Saturday.

So this Saturday Chuck and I had scheduled our game of Epic Space Marine to happen at my house and it was supposed to be a Chaos force ambushing his Ultramarines. After much frustration at the power flickering on and off before it finally went out for good for quite a few hours, Chuck and I decided we had let things get in the way of this game for far too long and we were just going to play it out and see what happens.

So we played the game, sometimes by candlelight as our only light source, but we finished it. So I will be trying through the power flickers and the wind and rain to try to get this battle report on to Dakka for all of your enjoyment.

Without further delay, the beginnings of the battle report.


So we decided to choose armies to 3000 points. Chuck made his selection of models weeks ago as did I. Chuck chose to run this:





and I chose to run this:





But as I read through the "how to choose a Chaos force" section of the renegades supplement, I realized my army choice was illegal. The book says every Chaos Greater Daemon or Primarch must have a minimum of three support cards to accompany it. While I had chosen three for the Lord of Battle, I had only chosen two for Magnus the Red.

So I had to change it up and finally came up with this as my final army choice:







With the army choices figured out, it was time to move on to setting up the table.

We decided to just set it up so that it looks pleasing and has fire lanes and cover for both sides of the table. We also chose to put some trees on the table, sort of like parks in the city, and had at least two hills blocking the long lanes of open ground on the sides of the table. It ended up looking like this:









At the start of the game the Chaos player is supposed to draw three Chaos Reward cards for each Greater Daemon in his army. Since I had chosen a Lord of Battles, and Magnus the Red, that gave me six Chaos Reward cards that I drew randomly from the Chaos Reward card deck, after shuffling it of course. Since Magnus the Red can take his legion, and did, the Thousand Sons also generate a specific Chaos Reward card that can only be played on them.

So for the Thousand Sons, their Chaos Reward card is called Magic of Tzeentch. This card is played on any thousand sons unit in the combat phase of the game. The unit gets to make an extra attack this turn, combining their magical power to create basically a vortex of pure Warp energy and shoot it at any enemy unit within 25 centimeters. Oh yes, I forgot to mention, Epic Space Marine is played using Centimeters, not Inches.

The other six Chaos Reward cards I drew were-Brightly Patterned Skin, Warty Skin, Skull Face, Enormously Fat, Tentacles, and Horns. Brightly Patterned skin causes enemy models to have a -1 to hit modifier in addition to any other to hit modifiers. Warty Skin causes all the models in the target unit to increase their saving throw by +1. If they don't have a save then they get to have one on e 6+. Skull Face causes an enemy unit to immediately take a morale test. If they fail it they go on to fallback orders and must follow the rules for fallback. Enormously Fat allows a friendly model to attack its enemy with a flying body slam, which hits automatically and causes the opponent to immediately make a saving throw. Tentacles makes all models in the target unit have a +1 to their Close Assult Factor for the turn it is used. Horns does the exact same thing.

So with my Chaos Reward cards chosen, we move on to placing objectives. Each objective is worth 5 points. you can also gain more points by breaking and destroying enemy units and models.
Each person begins by alternating placing 4 objectives a piece.
(notice the Microwave isn't on...power's out again!)








The objectives have to be placed 25 centimeters apart from one another and also cannot be in either person's deployment zone. Deployment zones are roughly from the back edge of the table to about 21 centimeters out, staying 25 centimeters away from either side table edge.

Then it came time for deployment. Normally you are supposed to erect a wall or something to block off the opponent watching how you deploy, or one alternate method is to make a map of the battlefield and draw where your models will be deployed. The third method is to alternate placing units/models on the table in an I go you go fashion. We chose that method because it would be faster than drawing a map or trying to find something to put over the table to hide half of it from each other.

Normally I would go into detail about how we deployed but because I am afraid I may lose power again, I will just let people see from the pictures how we deployed.

Chuck's Deployment:











and my deployment:







Magnus the Red searched the skein's of magic that wound through the chamber of Wizards on his personal drop ship. His was the last Drop Ship to leave the Desolator Class Battleship, the Eternity of Pain. Magnus had drawn powerful sorceries around his Battleship when approaching the planet to hide it from the Eldar and the ultramarines who were warring on the surface below. He knew that Marneus Calgar, the Chapter Master of the Ultramarines was a capable commander that a man would be a fool to underestimate. Magnus watched as Marneus commanded the forces of the Ultramarines in the scouring of the planet from the ancient Eldar Exodite colony that had lived here since the fall of the Eldar. He watched as the Eldar masterfully attacked from different directions and drew the ultramarines into killing zones, cutting them down as they tried to escape. Yet, for all their effort, the Eldar failed to destroy the Ultramarines. For every Eldar trick, Marneus had the answer. To the Eldar it was almost as if Marneus could see their future. Eventually the Ultramarines were victorious in destroying them all.

Then the others came. The Craftworld ones. These aliens were much more powerful than the Exodites had lived on the planet below. They had an entire craftworlds worth of Eldar weaponry at their disposal. Magnus would have a hard time fighting them if he allowed them to gather in strength. He knew that if he could pull off an ambush he would then be able to bring his Thousand Sons in full force to the planet and defeat the Eldar. He could capture one of their Farseers and torture him long enough to find out where the Artifact was.

Magnus finished searching the magic skein for the right place to open his portal to send his forces through. He said a few power words and a swirling vortex of energy ripped reality apart, opening a portal to the world below. Out stepped his allied Khorne Lord of Battles, then the Firelord flew out and over the Lord of Battle's head. It spotted some movement in the woods a few yards away and flew over the woods, letting out a huge gout of Eldritch fire. Eldar Rangers that had been hiding in the woods screamed and died. Then Magnus stepped through.

A few days later, the ambush was set. Magnus's sorcery predicted that it was not quite time for the Rangers to report back to the Eldar just yet so now would be the time to move out and find them. Suddenly, contrails filled the sky, arching across to the other side of the approaching city. Magnus knew he only had moments before battle would erupt. Curse these Ultramarines for meddling in his affairs. He would destroy these loyalists in short order and hopefully continue with his plans. But how did Marneus Calgar know Magnus was here? How would he know where and when to strike?



The game begins by having both sides give orders to their individual squads or models. The types of orders that can be given are:

First Fire Orders: Models on First Fire orders do not move during the movement phase but can fire all of their weapons during the First Fire segment of the Combat Phase. They are the only ones allowed to fire at models trying to charge them.

Advance Orders: Models on Advance orders may move their full move distance and can only fire in the Advance Fire segment of the Combat Phase.

Charge Orders: Models on Charge orders can move double their move distance. The cannot however shoot at all that turn.

Fall Back Orders: Models on Fall Back Orders must immediately fall back double their full move distance towards their table edge.

Some units such as certain command units do not need to be given orders and always act as if they had been given charge orders for movement and first fire orders for shooting.

Once all orders are placed, you roll initiative.

Turn 1 Initiative is won by Chaos.

Then orders are revealed

Ultramarine Orders:









Chaos Orders:









The player who has the initiative can determine wether he will move first or second in the turn.

Turn 1 movement. Since I won initiative I make the Ultramarines move first so I can react to chucks movement. Models on Advance or Charge orders move now. Chuck gave every model he had Advance orders this turn, while I gave Advance orders to all of my models except for the Khorne Fleshhounds. Chuck proceeds to move his entire army straight forward. Then when I move, my Chaos marines on my left flank get into their Rhino's while the one detachment I left behind the building goes into the building this turn. Chuck flew his Thunderhawk Gunship WAY too close to my lines so I moved Magnus the Red up to engage him in the first fire segment. I flew my Firelord over low so I can try to use the buildings as cover. Then I planned on doing a bombing run next turn and flaming a bunch of Rhino's packed with marines.

Next comes the Psychic phase but neither of us had Psykers so it didn't matter. (Magnus not a Psyker? Whaaa?.... I know RIGHT?)

Turn 1 Combat Phase:

Turn 1 First Fire Segment: Magnus opens his one red cyclopean eye and shoots at the Thunderhawk Gunship with it. he needs a 2 to hit as there is no cover, but he does have to add 25 centimeters to the range of what he is shooting at because the Thunderhawk Gunship is flying high. luckily, Magnus's Beam of Power from his eye has a 100 CM range! Of course, Magnus hits, and because it is such a powerful weapon it negates any kind of Armour Save so the thunderhawk just goes down in a fiery ball of doom for the pilots. The Ultramarines Command Land Raider then shoots at my Doomblaster
Daemon Engines but misses.

Turn 1 Close Combat segment: We were too far away for any kind of close combat so nothing happened there.

Turn 1 Advance Fire segment: The Khorne Lord of Battle shoots his Deathstorm at the yellow and white predator squadron and also at the vindicator squadron. He ends up killing one vindicator, then shoots his Doomburner at the yellow and white predators killing one of them as well.

The surviving vindicators had moved to where they could see the Firelord and shot it out of the sky!...I rolled two ones in a row for saves on that thing, but with the vindicators ability to ignor cover modifiers to hit, Chuck was able to lay down the hurt.

The Daemon Engines "Doomblasters of Khorne" fire on the Land Raiders but fail to penetrate their armour.

The Yellow Warhound Titan shoots at the Khorne Fleshhounds and kills one.

The Chaos marines that moved into the building are out of range of anyone this turn.

The yellow and white predator squadron shot at the Lord of Battle but missed.

The Banelord then fires it's Havoc missile at one of the Rhino's on the extreme right and kills it with the two squads of marines that were inside. Then its hellstrike Cannon shoots at and kills one of the Land Raiders and takes down a void shield on the Green Warhound Titan.

The Land raider detachment on the left of the little squadron he has them in shot at the Doomblasters and killed one, then shot the Banelord and took off two Void Shields.

At this point I've run out of shots but the Ultramarines can still shoot a little. So the Blue Predator Squadron shoots at the Lord of Battle, getting 3 hits. Now when you hit the Lord of Battle or a Titan of any type, you have to roll two special dice that tell you if your shot deviates from where you were aiming( I believe it is supposed to simulate shooting at such great distances that the accuracy goes down) after picking a spot on the Titan location sheet and choosing where you are trying to hit. So with Chucks first shot he decided to aim for the most bottom body section. rolls the dice and the shot deviates off of the Titan, causing the shot to completely miss. The second one deviates to the knee and and the third one hits right where he was aiming. I make my saves for both locations, I then proceed to roll double 1's for my saves!

The shot that hits the wheel damages it and stops the Lord of Battle may no longer turn towards the left. The second shot hits the body and rips through it, causing an explosion. Dozens of captive souls break free of their confinement and howl off into the Warp. The Lord of Battles' close assult factor is halved for the rest of the game, and it may only move or fire if I first roll a 4+ on a d6....well, at least he's still alive....





Turn 1 End Phase: We pick up all of the Orders counters, count up Victory Points, and try to get void shields back on our titans. We need to roll a 5+ per down shield. Neither of us gets a shield back.

Turn 1 Victory Points: A 3000 point game means either side only needs to get to 40 Victory Points to win. So this turn the Ultramarines got 29 VP, Chaos 11...wow...he's whooping me. I had better get that Banelord in there to do some damage and fast!

Epic Space Marine turn 2.

Turn 2 Orders phase: I give everyone advance orders except the Thousand Sons who have moved into the buildings in the center of my line. Chuck gives everybody Advance orders except for his Imperial Bikes. He gives them charge orders.

we roll initiative again and Chaos wins, making the Ultramarines go first. I know it will cause one of my detachments of Thousand Sons to get charged while they are still in their Rhino's but it will also mean I get to move my Banelord Titan to react to wherever he moves. That could be critical in the battle. We reveal orders.

Turn 2 Movement: As I suspected chuck moves his bikes up to engage my Thousand Sons in Rhino's on the left. His center again moves forward, but his devastators move backward and set up in the building. His titans move a little to my left. My Thousand Sons get out of their tanks and set up a firing line on the predators and vindicators. My Banelord charges the Land Raiders, making it into contact with the center one. My Lord of Battle tries to move but cannot roll a 4+.











The Psychic phase comes and goes. On to the Combat Phase.

Turn 2 Combat Phase:

Turn 2 First Fire Segment: The Thousand Sons that moved into the building in the center open fire on the Vindicator squadron on their left and watch with satisfaction as one goes up in a ball of fire.

The Ultramarine Commanders Land Raider shoots at a Doomblaster with its Twin Linked lascannon and kills it as its armour is punched and it cannot save. The captive souls inside are released into the void with the ensuing explosion.

Magnus fires his Eye at the Green Warhound Titan, taking down its last Void Shield. Next turn he should be able to kill it if it cannot get its Void Shields back. No one else is on First Fire so it goes to...

Turn 2 Close Combat Segment: The bikes that moved into the Rhino's during the movement phase easily destroy them as they plant Melta Bomb charges all over the tanks before the troops inside can get out. All three Rhino's go up in flames as the Melta Bombs explode, killing all of the marines inside the Rhino's.

The Banelord easily crushes the Land Raider it made contact with and roars a challenge to the rest of the Ultramarines force in triumph.

Turn 2 Advance fire segment: The Lord of Battle tries to shoot this turn and luckily I roll a 5 so it can. The Lord of Battle opens up with its Hull Firethrowers on the Imperial Bikes, killing one stand. It fires its Head Cannon at the white and yellow predator squadron and sends a battlecannon shell through the hull of a predator, killing it. The Deathstorm Cannon opens fire on the last of the yellow and white squadron, killing it and also sending fire into the Blue squadron of predators, killing one of those as well.

The Blue Land Raider squadron farthest left in the formation shoots at the Banelord and brings down another Void Shield. The Thousand Sons in the center of the table that set up the firing line shot at the bikes that just attacked their brothers and kill one stand.

The center Land Raiders in the formation also shoot at the Banelord and bring down two more Void Shields.

The Doomblaster Daemon Engines fire on the Land Speeders that have moved into the building, killing a few, then collapsing the building and killing the rest.

The Devastators that moved into the building open fire on the Banelord Chaos Titan, hitting it 4 times, bringing down the last void shield and getting 3 hits through. Chuck chooses the Head location. The first shot deviates up to the weapon rack on the top of the titan, the second shot hits the weapon, and the third shot goes down and hits the plasma reactor! If that plasma reactor blows up, he could klll most of his Land Raider company and anything else caught in the blast. Luckily though, the TItan makes all of its saves!.

The Vindicator then opens fire on the Thousand Sons at the center of the table and kills one stand.

The blue Predator squadron all fire at the Lord of Battle and hit once. Chuck aims for the center of the body but the Lord of Battle makes its save.

Then the right Land Raider Squadron opens fire on the unprotected Banelord and hits 4 times! Chuck picks the head again for location and rolls the dice 4 times. The 1st shot goes left and hits the right gun, the 2nd goes up to the weapon on the Titan's carapace and the 3rd and 4th are dead on. The titan saves both weapon shots but then proceeds to roll 1's for both headshot saves! With a great big grin on his face Chuck proceeds to roll the first dice for damage and immediately rolls a 6 on the Head damage table!





The Titan is killed, falling diagonally backwards onto the building it is standing next to. The building makes its saving throw however and is not destroyed by the falling titan.

Turn 2 End Phase: We remove counters, count up the victory points...Ultramarines 46, Chaos, 14. A sound victory for the Emperors Finest as they successfully ambush the Chaos forces and route them from the field.



















Well, I hope you enjoyed what little I could bring you from this battle. It was nerve wracking, not only because of what was going on in game but because I was not sure if we would even get the power back on.

I think the next game I do might be Battlefleet Gothic. Mainly because I love ship games but also because, lets face it, Battlefleet Gothic just oozes cool. Admittedly I've only ever played one game of it so that means it will be a learning game for me. But it should be lots of fun.

All of those old school Epic buildings warms my heart. I wants them!

I love em too. I still have to work on a few of them so that they stay together better. I'm sure if you look close enough you can see where some of the buildings didn't want to stand up straight.

So I just got in a Chaos fleet for my Battlefleet Gothic from ebay. Whoever made them did a great job as they are covered in green stuff that is modeled to look like the ships are infested with Nurgle's Rot. Some of them were a bit broken when they arrived so I have had to do repairs but I haven't been able to get to the smaller escorts yet.

These ships are too nice to not take pics of and put on my blog so I took pictures of the bigger ones.

Enjoy













Now if I can only find a model of the Terminus Est

This weekend Chuck and I made our way to Portland Oregon and decided to check out the local game stores while we were there. We went to Guardian Games and looked around a bit. It's a large store that caters to all kinds of games, from everything GW to board games and role playing games, card games, and they even had some old video games for sale. It was an incredibly busy store that had a lot to choose from.

Chuck and I decided we would hang out for a while and learn to play Battlefleet Gothic. While I don't have a bat rep or anything, I at least have a few pics of our deployment. If you were at Guardian Games on Sunday you might have seen us.

So, I finally had the time to fix up the escorts for my Battlefleet Gothic Chaos fleet so all of the broken parts are now fixed. They still need some paint touch ups but at least they are playable now. Anyway, I thought you might want to see them.

Enjoy

I got some paint on some Dwarf Nautilus Submarines and Dwarf Monitor Ships of the Line for Man o War. I decided that I want to finally finish those as they have been sitting around half painted for many years. But the have gotten banged around a bit and now the paint is chipped a little, so back to the paint table I guess


Dwarf Nautilus


And Dwarf Monitors

So I got a call from a friend of mine that lives on the other side of the country and he keeps asking me what that "Blackwing" thing is on my computer screen with one of my Epic pics in this blog. So Lee, rather than tell you and your friends over there what it is on the phone, I figured I would just share it in full here on my blog. Oh, and Lee, you should quit lurking and make an account!

I've been playing D&D since I was 12 years old. I'm 47 now and decided it was time to actually build up that world I have had floating around in my brain for years. I'm not a good artist and have had no formal training in any type of computer graphics of any kind. But I wanted to make a great looking map for my campaign. So I researched map making programs and finally settled on Profantasy's Campaign Cartographer. It is so versatile that I can make campaign maps for just about any genre of game I want. It's got planetary stuff for 40k, stuff for D&D, stuff for Warhammer, for Shadowrun, etc.
It has a bit of a learning curve but once you learn it what you can make is astounding.

So this is one of my concept kingdoms for my world called "Blackwing"



and this is another concept kingdom I came up with but haven't named yet. I decided to make the map more whimsical just because I liked the style.



And this is a miniatures map I made for D&D Next from the module Night of the Seven Swords. It's an Oriental Adventures module from 1st edition AD&D. That module doesn't have a miniatures sized map so I decided to make one of the last encounter when the party is attacked by a ninja clan at an inn.





So, I hope you all enjoy them.