CXI kicks butt at Ironbuilder III!

Poney took biggest piece count (640, to Gordon's 519 and Cargill's 319), while Gordon took best conversion. Pictures of Headtaker are coming up-- he incorporates Rogue Trader Marine Legs, a Skaven Tail, and loads of Marine and Berzerker bits from various eras in GW history.



These can be seen a little bigger at my photobucket



(I wanted him armed with a plasma pistol, and wanted him to be WYSIWYG. On the other hand, I wanted him to be busy taking skulls, since Aspiring Champions of Khorne are called "Skull Champions." Thus Headtaker's pistol came to be in his third hand, at the end of a tentacle growing out of his forehead. And now you know the rest of the story... /paul.harvey )

It definitely helped that Thursday and Friday were devoted to clipping and cleaning pieces, putting bits into labelled pill-bottles for quicker assembly-- nothing was glued, of course, but everything was readied, and the conversion planned out.

Cargill, with whom Marcellus split prizes at the last Ironbuilder took the prize for most vehicles (with a Linebreaker Squadron, a Baal Predator, and a Suppression Force featuring Sammael's Flying Land Raider).

The game, which Poney skipped, went to Cargill after six grueling turns of his forces vs. Gordon's Witch Hunter Inquisitor Lord w/ retinue, 12 berzerkers, 21 Kroot, 8 Fire Warriors with Marker Drone, 3 Stealth Suits with a Fusion Blaster (Meltagun), a small squadron of Gun Drones, and a fusion Blaster-armed Piranha. A solid victory to him, not a crushing one, and not a slaughter-- the MVP award goes to Buzzy the Gun Drone, who made Sammael cry and run away at top speed in turn 2 (Buzzy and his partner Dizzy left the Piranha in Turn 1, and the Piranha Shook Sammael's Crew, whereupon Sam ran 24" straight away to the far corner of the table)! In turn 6, Buzzy was still around, having made several armor saves and having spent the game plinking at rear and side armors of various tanks, finally emptying his Twin Linked Pulse Carbines into the rear of the Flying Land Raider, whose Crew the Inquisitor Lord's Inferno Pistol had already managed to Stun.

If all were as it should be, Buzzy really ought to have asploded the Flying Land Raider, but, alas, it was not to be. Nevertheless, his cache has been carefully downloaded to Fire Caste Central Command, to serve as a template for the next generation of Drone AI. His statue will stand somewhere, surely!

Merry Christmas from the Sisters!

We're here to Save the trees!

A Merry Christmas, all

As well as any other holidays you have recently celebrated... we're building the new shelves and moving the minis, and will be playing more over the holidays.

Poney and I have gotten a few games of Monsters Menace America (Avalon Hill) in, and it's pretty fun. Email us if you want to do boardgaming or tabletopping this week, as we're pretty available.

Aaron, if you've gotten those Necrons painted, how'd ya like to put 'em on the table and get some games in with 'em?

Well, to all a good night, and a wonderful Christmas morning to you.

Hundreds of them, Thousands of them...

Gaunts!!!

I got my endless swarm today!

Now to put them all together, paint them, and put them into broods!

Oh yeah, it's gonna be fun!

Heh.

Dalyth Apocalypse Terrain Note!

Atreides has reminded me that as the Bridge to Gelbryn is a Vital Objective for both sides, it makes sense to lay down one small restriction in this scenario.

Neither side can afford to destroy this bridge. The Imperium cannot take immediate advantage of victory if it is destroyed; the Tau cannot press their foes back without it in place.

For that reason, weapons with the Ordnance special rule may not target the bridge itself or any units on the bridge. To be clear, "the bridge" refers to the foam-core span and ramps in this game. Single-shot weapons of high strength are fine (Lascannons, Railguns). Pie-plates without Ordnance rules are also fine (Hammerhead Submunitions, for example). Targetting models that are not on the span or ramp themselves although their fellow unit members are is fine.

Feel free to email with questions!
(note: no, objections are not questions)
See you Sunday!

Five days to Dalyth Apocalypse!

Just a reminder to players to have your 2500/2750 point lists ready-- note that Apocalypse battles do not use a Force Organization Chart, so feel free to use any choices from your lists. I've printed out the FAQs from Codices: Space Marines, Witch Hunters, and Tau Empire. :-) There isn't a FAQ for Chaos Space Marines or Orks. :-(

Marcellus and we each have a set of templates, so that's covered, and Marcellus is bringing tons of terrain. The store opens at noon on Sundays, so please be there ready to set up and play. We can order pizza at the shop, and I suggest picking up some for Abe as well, to thank him for staying open for us.

We have a date and a place for Apocalypse.

December 16th, 2007, at Battleforge Games. Be there at opening to get ready to throw down for the climax of the Dalyth campaign, as Chaos, Tau, and Orks take on the Imperium. We'll have at least until 6 PM, and may persuade Abe to stay open until 8 PM for us to play (so expect the "Time Limit" to be either 5 or 7). Marcellus left the bridge with us, so I can cut out a solid foundation for it (so that models can be placed on it confidently), and with luck it can even be clamped in place.

We'll have an approximately 6 by 6 foot table, joined by a bridge to another 6 by 6 foot table, with a 2 foot gap representing the river outside the city of Gelbryn. The energy coils normally charged by the river flow have been backcharged, making the river impassable terrain. This means that while fast skimmers can Turbo Boost over the river itself, only the bridge is safe for foot or surface travel, which makes the bridge center a Vital Objective (worth 2) for both sides. To put it even more bluntly, you cannot end movement over the river. There, boom, done.

Lot of good discussion today at Battleforge on a map campaign that Marcellus wants to run. Proposals included specific terrain effects, use of the Dawn of War: Dark Crusade map, rules for leveled experience, and revisions to the BGB experience rules for this upcoming campaign. Be sure to give input! (the world is run by those who show up, and those who speak up)

Update: Check your emails for Daniel's drafts of revised Experience and Points escalation systems.

Dalyth Apocalypse Planning

I've asked Kirk if we can have the game room at the Lair for Sunday 12/16/07. We'll get a yea or nay on Saturday when we see him for the CP Tourney.

combat patrol tourney this Saturday!

The Lair will be hosting a 500 point Combat Patrol tourney this Saturday, December 1st. We're planning on going to do a little playification, and hope to see folks there!

Sunday, we can hammer down the last of the planning for the Dalyth Prime Apocalypse battle, set for the 16th of December. We'll check with Kirk to see if the Lair is available as a venue the very next time we see him-- Saturday at the latest, but likely sooner, if the moonlighting checks arrive today. If y'all see him before then, would you ask as well?

Apocalypse Extinction... and CXI is there!

Kirk at Dragon's Lair put on an Apocalypse Event today, and we had some old and some new faces, and a lot of fun. Mike, Poney, and Gordon brought 3,000 points each, Ray (of double blind Space Hulk fame) brought three ForgeWorld/Armorcast Titans, and Cameron and Kevin brought Eldar and DA Successors, respectively.

So, it lined up as Imperium vs. Commie-Mutant-Traitors, and was off to a good start. The Commie-Mutant-Traitors won the Deploy bid at 3 minutes, and did our best to box the Imperials in a bit. The Imperials did their best to teach us the joys of Destroyer Weapon goodness. Since I wanted to field painted troops only (although I was too much of a weedy wet to get all 3000 points fully painted, based, and sealed), I decided to field Chaos rather than Tau, and so got to play with the new Codex a bit. It's certainly powerful, no argument there, but I'm still not sure how I feel about it-- I went for oldstyle hardcore forces, with my only deliberate cheesiness being two pairs of Obliterators.

We got through three turns before the timer went off, and left it there. A fun game, all in all, and a variation on "normal" 40K that I would definitely play again with good friends.

Kudos to Kirk for building a nice table with good terrain, and to opening up the event to an alternate prize scheme: either a smaller prize for every participant, or winning side takes all. As we chose it, everyone walked away with something nice-- thanks again, Kirk, for arranging a fun event!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of CXI

...and to all both you guests and lurkers out there! We're still waiting for moonlighting checks to arrive (they'll come today, they'll come today, they'll come today... ) and otherwise enjoying the time off-- and the best martial arts movie Bruce Lee didn't get to make, "Circle of Iron." Okay, maybe "best" is a bit of a misnomer...

...anyway, look forward to seeing some of you folks at the Apocalypse Extinction Tourney tomorrow. I'll be bringing Chaos (less painting needed to reach 3,000 painted points!). Have a happy!

A Good Campaign!

This last campaign went really well, Thank you Gordon! They were fun scenarios, fairly balanced and the bonuses from the small games were not game-winners, but added to the play.

Here’s what I’ve learned or not learned from playing my Sisters:

What I’ve learned:

1) Take as many Celestines and Seraphim as possible.
2) Tanks are fun, but become immobile/die quickly.
3) A Canoness or Palatine is good people to have.
4) I hate priests.
5) I can paint my troops in less than a day and that I am a good painter!
6) The “Rapid Fire” rules.
7) How to allocate wounds better.
8) Giving everyone who can have a power weapon, a power weapon, no matter the cost.
9) How to move my flamer and “special weapons” into range.
10) Patience. Don’t try to do everything on turn one.
11) Always remember the objective.

What I haven’t learned:

1) How to use the Inquisitor Lord and retinue effectively.
2) How to get the Sisters into “Kick-ass” shooting range without getting charged next turn.
3) Combining the firepower of my troops.
4) Not to whine so much when my favorite squad gets killed off/runs away.
5) How to use my “Acts of Faith”.
6) Every little single detail that every little person on the list can do. (Give me ‘Nids, one size fits all!)
7) Being pro-active instead of being reactive.


So there are things to be learned, but I know that I am improving.

Thanks to all my opponents for their support!

Dalyth Prime Final Rankings!

Today, the last battles were fought for the Dalyth Prime campaign, our second campaign so far and the first custom-written one. Thanks to the players for getting through all five rounds with no forfeits (hey, not even the BoLS PreHeresy campaign can make that claim)!

Here are the standings:
1. Daniel (74)
2. Mike (60 VP)
3. Aaron (59 VP)
4. Marcellus (43 VP)
5. Gordon (38 VP)
6. Poney (26)

Reminder for the Apocalypse Battle coming up in December, Daniel, Aaron, and Gordon get a free Battle Honor for a single surviving unit! My Broadsides rolled a... 6! Rapid Deployment! The only one that does absolutely nothing for an Apocalypse game!

Also, the field now opens for the next campaign. Who's interested in putting one together? Who's playing? What's the story? And stuff!

Playing Russell's Blood Angels!

I got to play an enjoyable game last night with my old friend Russell, whom Marcellus also knows, and whom Daniel has played before too. Take and Hold, 2K points. Lots of Assaulty Marines backed up by a pair of Baal Predators and a Vindicator; Death Company with Chaplain and Flying Librarian accompanying some of the Assaulters.

I hope we'll see more of Russell and his Storm Troopers playing with CXI, and I'll be interested to see how his army develops!

Round Five Battle Links

For round five, Aaron and Marcellus battle it out.

Poney's Sisters attack the Tau.

Chaos attacks the Orks.

Round Five Summaries coming!

I'm going to be cooped up for the BP study tomorrow, and not getting out till Wednesday afternoon. I should probably have summaries up for late Wednesday evening.

I'll bring copies Sunday as usual, for the beginning of round 5!

Reminder about Round 4 small games: Marcellus has a KT-assassination mission attacking vs Aaron, Mike has a 500 pt Recon mission (BGB, 83) attacking Daniel, and Gordon has a KT-sabotage attacking Poney's Sisters to complete by Saturday.

Work In Progress

Foamcore sheet: $2.75
Glue: $1.00
Generic slimfast cans: $4.50 for half dozen
Scratchbuilding your own Thunderhawk Gunship?

Priceless.

Dragon's Lair 40K Escalation League begins!

The Hive Queen and I went down to the Lair for this, with 500 points of Combat Patrolliness that included one mandatory HQ and one mandatory Troop, no ordnance, no 2+ saves, no more than 2 wounds in a model. And yes, my models all had colors, in fact, I made sure all my Shas'la and Shas'ui were in full Scorpion Green armor. Poney likewise did a bang-up job of having her Immolator ready and her sisters in nice basic paints!

Poney ran a variation on the sisters force she tried out at the Forge last week; I ran a variation on the Tau force that had opposed it.

I got to play the event organizer for a nice, solid win-- he ran DA successors, a chaplain with command squad of bolter jockeys, two 5 man tacs in two HB razorbacks. Extra Armor on one razorback was the sole upgrade. He had a good army, with good tactics, and his dice hated his guts today. I lost my Stealth Suits to the greater good; my MVPs were a sextet of Fire Caste Warriors in the rocks who were charged by five, then four, tac marines, and over two close combat phases killed them all with no losses. Let me say that again: killed them all with no losses. Sweet Leaping Jeebus.

Poney had to team up with a BA player versus footy Eldar and Larry Prinzivalle's marines (props to Larry here-- he was subbing in for a guy who was turned away because he hadn't bothered to put two colors on his models. Speaking of which, props to Mr. Dragonforce the organizer for turning the fellow away. Not easy or fun to do, but he made his league rules stick). I think she would have preferred to win or lose her own fight, especially since her partner had some odd ideas about what he could or couldn't do (read, he never fired a pistol shot, because he was fielding a chaplain with death company and assault marines with pistols, and thought he couldn't fight or assault if he fired). The table, bar Poney, also was exceedingly off on ICs fighting in Close Combat, too. How hard is it to read the rules, and then understand that an IC counts as though it were a separate unit? Apparently, VERY. Oh well.

Old Timer Heath showed up (he's been away helping his wife open a vet clinic, and the like, but was Jonesing to play), and would have done a little better (read: his Stealers would have gotten into assault) had he rechecked the stats (bolters are AP5, not AP4, Scuttlers/Scouts can always use their ability independent of scenario, etc). A few other old faces were there, even another Tau force (with KROOT!) in Sacea urban armor.

Next event is in two weeks, and forces are bumped up by 250 points, still holding to the same Combat Patrolly structure (we shift to the normal force org chart at 1000).

Good times, yo.

Requesting feedback

I have written some basic ground rules for tournaments they are posted here. Please let me know what you think.

When is GW going to realease new FAQs?

So I posed a request to the High Lords of GW about a few weeks back on the Kommando board. I requested that us mild mannered gammers in Austin want GW to produce all new FAQ's. This is the response that was received today from Chris Gohlinghorst, the GW guy in charge of the Kommando Program:

I posed this question to Jeremy Vetock this weekend at the BaltimoreGT (he's the head of the games dev team at the Global Studios). Allesio is in charge of the FAQ process and, as we speak, is now beginning the whole FAQ project (he just wrapped up work on a rather huge project, so I'm told he can now focus on the FAQs).

I'd be surprised if we see anything before summer given the scope of the task at hand, but it's nice to hear first hand that they know theFAQs needs updating and, in fact, have a hard-core rules heads now taking care of it.

Well there it is. At least we have a possible projected time frame. I'm now curious what that "rather huge project" is all about?

Pictures from Kill Team action last Thursday

Transmission: Astramalleus Command

From: Norran Victos, Commander 4th Company Occupation Detachment
To: Leviah Milham, Commander Dalyth Expeditionary Force

The Forces of Chaos are aggressive, but not strong enough to stand up to the Sons of Guilleman, we bearers of the Emperor's Wrath.

We received your transmission on the equipment left for us at grid 7-gamma-53. I prepared a party to retrieve it and found a Chaos force approaching the same position. Perhaps one of their foul Sorcerers divined our presence or the materiel. I prepared our forces to face them.

Not having demonstrable superiority in forces, I chose to use a weakness against them: their pride. I believed that their fixation on fighting and combat would buy us the time to retrieve the equipment and I was correct. 6th Tactical rushed into the center to engage the enemy's heavy weapons troops in a center rock formation and held 2 squads at bay while 8th Devastator provided support fire. Chaos Terminators and more heavy weapons appeared but were dispatched by Devastator fire and the arrival of our own Terminators. Their leader was formidable, downing both 4th Tactical and Dreadnought Brother Onfidik but as he/it reveled in the battle, 2nd Tactical gathered the materiel and when it had been collected, we broke off the engagement and left them empty handed.

Once again, I must offer 6th Tactical up for honor. Their holding of the center managed to both weaken the Chaos force severely and bring my strategy to fruition.

We stopped them here, but this demonstrates to me that they have a strong enough presence to patrol in force and mount sorties from their main position. And if they can send such a Champion that can fell a squad and a Dreadnought single-handedly on a mission of this nature, they must either have significant force or be incredibly desperate and while the latter is preferred, neither is a good prospect.

Once again, I request reinforcements, but if you have been able to only offer these weapons and equipment to aid us, there must be greater things afoot. I hope that when I see you again, my old friend, you will be well.

Sir, we have been at this for weeks. There is barely a man who has not been wounded. Apothecary Talban is working at a feverish rate. Indeed, he has proved the most valuable man in this campaign. My own wounds are grievous, but nothing compared to some that our men have faced. And yet we would do it again for as long as is required to fulfill our duties to the Chapter and to the Emperor.

Hail to the Emperor and the Grand Satrap,

Norran Victos
In Command
4th Company Occupation Detachment

We are the mailed fist of the Emperor.

Tyranids Monsterous Creatures

Many of us were talking about the stats for my resin Nid creatures that I have but have never used.

We started talking about getting the stats and remembered that "White Dwarf" once did a Chapters Approve article about them.

Well, this morning I found that article, WD #254 March.

I'll be looking at that article for use for Apoc! Then we can post those stats here once done!

Just keeping everybody up to date!

Aun'el Dalyth Rakithia, to the loyal Shas of Gel'bryn Fourth Security Cadre:

Courage!

Your Shas'O is recovering from wounds taken in service to Dalyth Prime, and will be returning to you, as you will be inspired to hear. I was most heartened by your performance in the recent engagement with the Orkoid visitors who mistakenly landed near Gel'bryn. Thanks to our vision, the policy of reduction in Orkoid numbers is proving successful, and will soon result in the departure of survivors for other worlds, more suited to our Greater Good.

In continuation of this policy, you will be preserving the security of the Aun Hall of Wise Concord on the outskirts of Gel'Bryn itself, in preparation for a parley with the Gue'la known as the Scarlet Crania. I know that you will rise above even your normal efficiency and prowess in such proximity to our example.

Remember, your sacrifices make this world safer, every day. Every duty you perform benefits millions whom you will never meet, but whose destinies we are blessed to cherish. We give you our thanks.

Memorials for those who have served us to the utmost will be held at rotaa 12, dec 3.

Courage!

Aun'el Dalyth Rakithia

Personal IM from the Lady Jeremina

...imagine our surprise when we found out who we were fighting! Were we embarrassed! Here we were thinking that we finally caught up to that Chaos squad only to find some old Space Marines taking a stroll through the city!

Well of course when we found them getting ready to attack us, we attacked them. It's only natural! It wasn't any one's fault really! It just happened! If it wasn't for those few stormtroopers fighting their way into the Marines HQ, we might not have been able to stop the Marines from rampaging everywhere!

Well, we're going to continue to search for those heretics in that city. We're sure to catch up to them soon!

and yes, post pix of your wedding! Say "hi" to the Emperor's Children! HA!HA!(Just kidding! Your kids aren't that bad...) :-)

Love, LJ.

**********

For the Battle Honors that my Stormtroopers won, is called "Natural Survivors". Fits them well, don't you think? The Council witnessed my roll.

Round Four, Battle Three

Here is Poney and Aaron's battle for Round Four. Poney, be sure you've chosen your Battle Honor for the Inquisitorial Storm Troopers!

Round Four, Battle Two

Here is the mission for Mike and Gordon for Round Four.
RESULTS (11 PM Saturday 11/3/07): Victory for the Orks, after an all-important Leadership test on the pivotal Nob unit right at board edge, to either fall back toward board center due to shooting casualties (failing to get off the board and win) or press forward off the board (and win). Good game, well played.

Round Four, Battle One

This is the mission for Marcellus and Daniel in Round Four of the Dalyth Prime campaign. Marcellus, be sure you've chosen your battle honor from the last big game, and please announce it to us!

Shas'ui Kethran, special combined reconnaissance force, to Aun'el Dalyth Rakithia

Excellence,

We have completed our tour of the area you identified for us, and have indeed found signs of Orkoid infestation. Attached, please find our scans of terrain and distribution of Orkoid life-signs, along with thermal and ore scans of the primitive machines these latest invaders are operating.

With rapid response, there seems a chance of Containment of their violence, and perhaps a redirection of their energies towards those who are already providing such disharmony. Our Kroot associates are eager for "another go" and several kinbands began impromptu celebrations upon our report back to base.

We await further orders, and look forward to serving our new Shas'O, whoever that might be.



Living to serve your vision,

Kethran Dalyth,
Shas'ui, Special Combined Reconnaissance Force.

Transmission: Astramalleus Command

From: Norran Victos, Commander 4th Company Occupation Detachment

To: Leviah Milham, Commander Dalyth Expeditionary Force

We have met the enemy and they are us. By "us" I mean Imperial servants.

We moved to occupy an abandoned settlement near the main southern ridge during a night maneuver, hoping to catch the Tau and Orks in the area unaware. We met enemy fire and proceeded to counter the force projected. We were quickly able to reach their command center and parley with their leaders though I have been told by the rear guard that a pair of messengers from their side managed to reach us at our Command Center at around the same time. Special mention has been earned by 6th Tactical. 6th Tac managed to quickly and efficiently subdue one of the opposing squads, enter their Command Center and hold it against multiple onslaughts by the Crimson Skull leader St. Celestine. Actions such as this do great honor to us all.

It is a terrible thing indeed when loyal servants of the Emperor fight. He smiled upon none of our endeavors on the field and a bloodier fight I have never seen. By the time the mistake was known and sorted out, many of the loyal on both sides were downed. Once the truth was revealed, both sides moved quickly to aid the recuperation of the other. Of course, had the Crimson Skull notified us of their presence, this could have been avoided in the first place. But this is the least of our worries.

I have been informed by the Cannoness of the Crimson Skulls that they are here on the trail of a demon leading a Chaos band. We have, of course, volunteered to help them. They have given us the location of the Chaos force and we intend to strike it at the next opportunity. I pray that Librarian Nostradh is able to join the battle. His abilities would be invaluable. However, I do not doubt that his current incapacitation is due to the Chaos presence in the area.

The situation here has grown more out of control with each passing day. Where are the reinforcements? I can only assume that some difficulty has befallen Command. There have been no communications from you in weeks. With the current situation, I cannot return to try to render aid lest all we have fought for here fall apart. I will continue sending reports and hope that you are listening. Emperor be with you in whatever situation you now face and Emperor be with us when we strike the scions of the foul Betrayer.

Hail to the Emperor and the Grand Satrap,

Norran Victos
In Command
4th Company Occupation Detachment

Words can deepen faith but actions strengthen it.

Tourney Talk

I begin this with an apology to every opponent I have ever played in a tournament where I dragged my feet and not allowed the game to complete all rounds of play. Mind you I have usually lost those games anyway, but I am now severely cognizant of the annoyance that this can cause. Now that has been said I will say that the preceding informs the rest of my Saturday tourney experience.

Round 1
Dark Angels vs. Dark Angels
Result: Massacred
Mission: Fire Sweep
Lesson Learned: Pay Attention
Game Time: 40 minutes for 5 complete rounds (I threw the towel in.)

I played against my good friend Frank. I started out real strong with my Preliminary Bombardment affecting 3 units. On turn one I punished his units with withering fire, and I was well on my way to a victory. Right up until the turn 3 assault where I had a complete lapse of reason and reacted to my opponent instead of responded. Failure to dog-pile his assault unit and poor casualty pulls completely cost me the game.

Round 2
Dark Angels vs. Necrons
Result: Draw
Mission: Urban Assault
Lesson Learned: Dragging your feet is annoying to your opponent
Game Time: 60 minutes 3 complete rounds played

This time I played against an opponent that I have never played before. His name was Joe and, from the looks of it he was freshly getting into the hobby. He fielded 2 Necron warrior squads, 1 Destroyer Squad, a Tomb Spider, a Monolith, and as always a Necron Lord with the ever popular Orb. His turn 1 took him 20 minutes to do and all he did was wound a marine. On Turn 1 I popped his Monolith, wiped out his Destroyers, and put a wound on the Tomb Spider. (All in less than 5 minutes.)

His turn 2 he charged a 5 man Tactical squad with a Tomb Spider and two scarab swarms, killed two marines, but I put two wounds on him also. His shooting once again managed to do squat. My Turn 2 I brought his squad within the target building down to below half with shooting (they would recover to just above half at the start of his turn.) I was able to assault the Tomb Spider with my master and the squad that the master was in. This time the Scarab swarms were evaporated with a power fist and the master’s power sword.

On his turn 3 he charges the center of the board with his under-strength warrior squad. I make short work of the tomb spider but now am locked with the warriors because they passed their morale check. My turn comes around and it is announced, “Finish the turn you are on.” I shake my head then wipe out the warrior squad in Melee and then consolidate into the target building. Thus I forced the draw.

One more turn I would have charged him, he would have phased out, and I would have had a Victorious Slaughter. The morale here is: Please, be considerate to your opponent and don’t drag your feet.

Round 3
Dark Angels vs. Tyranids
Result: Minor Loss
Mission: Urban???
Lesson Learned: Dragging your feet is annoying to your opponent
Game Time: 60 minutes 3 complete rounds played

I have played bugs countless times I’m not going to rehash this fight because like all bug fights I was charged on turn 1 and had no hope of reaching my objective in his deployment zone by end game. Every round was like pulling teeth because every time I measured range to something or placed a pie plate down he insisted to look at it himself. Normally this would not be a problem, but he took his damn sweet time lining things up and contesting every shot. In the end after spending a minute or two he would agree that what I said was actually what happened. I would file this under the fine art of chewing up your opponent’s time to hide the fact that you are actually the one wasting time.

In the end it was ruled because he had a scoring unit in my building (even though I had three scoring units engaged in melee with them) and I had none in his that it was a minor win for the bugs. (FYI where I come from that is a draw.) This caused me to tie with last place and we rolled off for the third place prize. I lost, of course. Oh well at least the Necron player was able to build his army a little more, and maybe we can see more folks at the Lair.

Lessons for the Future
First if I ever host an event where objective only missions are used I will make sure that the term draw and win are firmly defined before the event, so that there are no crazy spot decisions. Next finished games will be part of the scoring system. Finally I will have a defined way to decide final rankings where players have identical scores. Identical ranking scores could be decided via who had more painted, or maybe via the crazy sportsmanship score.

The Big Question
Did I have fun? Well I can say I mostly had fun. Game 1 was a hoot. My other two opponents weren’t much to write home about. I feel that really if I help build the Lair Community that we will start getting a better stock of players.

Next Tourney: Can we say possible Codex Ork Preview?

Round Four scenarios coming...

Round Four scenarios should go up in the next day or so.

Rules discussion from Thursday night

I have managed to find the rules that Marcellus and Poney needed to have at their disposal Thursday night. One forgotten rule cost Marcellus dearly. Others cost Poney several opportunities to use her most horrific weapons. In the end, both parties were hampered, and neither party got hold of what they needed, so it seems fair leaving results as they stand-- however, in view of the fact that they were both Fate's Red-Headed (Man)-Beeyotch that night, I agree that both sides should be accounted "winners" and not losers, wherefore both may nominate a surviving scoring unit to receive a Battle Honor.

Here are the relevant passages:


BGB 48: "ASSAULTED WHILE FALLING BACK
"A unit that is assaulted while falling back must check to regroup immediately (see Regrouping below), before any charging models are moved. No modifiers apply to the check in this case and even units which would not normally be allowed to regroup are allowed to make the check.

"If successful, the unit regroups and will fight the close combat normally. If it fails to regroup then the unit is scattered and destroyed. Note that this rule applies if a unit consolidates into enemies falling back too."

We checked "And they shall know no fear," all of us, several times, and here are the words we failed to note:

BGB 74: "AND THEY SHALL KNOW NO FEAR
Space Marines automatically pass Morale tests to regroup, and can take such tests even if the squad has been reduced to less than 50% by casulaties, though all other criteria apply." (emphasis added)

We caught the section immediately following this, that Marines are not destroyed by Sweeping Advances. What we all failed to see was that consolidation into Falling-Back enemies forces a Regroup test, and ATSKNF then specifically lets Marines auto-pass that Regroup test.

Apologies to all parties, and encouragement to read them rules, folks, because I can miss things.

Iron Builder II: Electric Boogaloo

So I hit the Lair for today's Iron Builder. Psyberwolfe showed up for the Cities of Death tourney and Democratus popped in for moral support, but was unable to stay. I and one other person showed up for the Iron Builder. And we both went into it full bore. Well, for a while anyway. Realizing that we were the only two in it, we talked to the coordinator and decided to split the four tanks that were available for the four categories: piece count, most vehicles, best conversion and last man standing victor. But we still, in a more relaxed and friendly way, competed in our hearts because that's what you do!

In the end, we were still judged to see how things broke down. Surprisingly to both of us, he won piece count by ONE piece. We each had three vehicles but I also built an attack bike and that was used to break the tie so I won. His plasma gun Marine shielding his face was a cute conversion, but my Command Rhino got best conversion. As for the final battle, well, I had a tac squad, a Rhino, two Tornado speeders and an attack bike while he had half a battle force, two Drednaughts, a Predator and three special characters. I ceded the fight to him. Two and two, we tied. As the Ethereal Council would so aptly say, "the dice don't lie".

The best part is that since we each got two tanks, our coordinator gave us each a Suppression Force. So, the CXI now has two Whirlwinds and a speeder to add to it's trophy case!

Psyberwolfe was still playing when I left so GOOOO DARK ANGELS! And not those other Dark Angels, but the GOOD Dark Angels! Bring us more glory!

And remember everyone, half of victory is showing up on the field. Now you know... and knowing is half the battle!

Apocolypse Data Sheets

So what happened to the flash in the pan data sheets? Well according to my sources at GW an over zealous web tech put them on the intarweb a little early so they were yanked as soon as the mistake was noticed. No Worries! They will be back mid November, so if you you don't have them you will be able to get them. Also we will get more datasheets come December.

Blog Notes from the Librarium

Alrighty!

Since this blog is a WIP I thought I would display a miniature WIP of my own.

Stuff to keep your eye on:
- Austin Specific Blog Links
- New and improved Logo Title banner (90% done)
- The Librarium actually posting more

That is all for now. For my fellow CXI'ers I may hold a basic bloging followed by painting class in the near future.

Chaos on the Move

All units report successfully relocating to quadrant 7-B of the abandoned metropolis. Forward elements met resistance in the city center and were forced to sweep and clear the area. It seems that the native Xenos forces are more substantial than first believed. As a result of this unexpectedly strong resistance, our squad of Berzerkers was taken out of action by weight of enemy missile fire. While replacement troops are quite enthusiastic to join the fray, they are somewhat lacking in battle experience. Time will tell if they live up to the high standards lord Lucius (his boldness knows no bounds!) has set for this glorious army.

Heavy use of warp powers by our sorcerer have caused some disturbances in the Immaterium, making it more difficult to commune with the Powers. As a result, Lucius (through his unmatched intellect!) has called a temporary ban on such heavy-handed use of Sorcerous powers. They are not to be used unless the fate of this campaign is at stake.

Our force of Plague Marines has again acquitted itself in battle and has earned the further blessings of their patron lord. Battle Honors bestowed upon them should serve as motivation for the others. The gifts of the Ruinous Powers are showered upon those who serve well!

Our redeployed scouts have reported another force of Space Marines in the wilderness to the West. These cursed Imperials are like cockroaches! We must strike at them before they can link up with the other Imperial forces on the planet. Our Seers have informed us that there is someone in the ranks of this force who has great potential to thwart our plans. He must be eliminated to tilt the tide of battle in our favor. Assassin teams have been dispatched and have been instructed to report success - or not report back at all.

Aun'O Dalyth Meh'Xian to Aun'El Dalyth Rakithia, Transmission Begins.

Brother,

We have read with no little alarm your request to replace Shas'O Dalyth Lorossa. Her performance has been cause for some concern, and her injuries make the question of her further service moot. Your suggestons regarding the reorganization of the Kau'ui of which she formerly was steward seem prudent.

As for your petition to take personal command of the Kau'ui, this has raised some discussion among us. It is not our opinion that this step should be taken lightly, and yet the Kau'ui must be led, and cannot simply stand idle while a new Shas'O is transferred or promoted to command of this sector. We therefore grant you our provisional approval.

You will pass down immediate orders that Lorossa's Kau'ui should retreat in the direction of the nearest Space Marine contingent, that those invaders may be drawn into conflict with their dissident allies and thereby weaken one another. The Kau'ui's remnants, together with new recruits, will be airlifted to the site of an Ork incursion near to Gel'Bryn. Containment and elimination of this threat is vital.

Let the restoration of harmony to Dalyth Prime be declared the Greater Good by all who hear our voice and read our words. Let our destiny go forward.

Know the tranquillity of conviction, my brother Aun.

Meh'Xian

Industrial Terrain

Within the CXI we own two complete sets of Necromunda Terrain. This terrain has served us well through countless campaigns, games of Necromunda and various and sundry other games. Thanks to those at Club Workshed I have seen an interesting Industrial Terrain Set.

This set is made by Litko Aerosystems. Currently there is no price on this set, but for my money It looks pretty good. Apparently it is a modular set that you buy idividual modules for and in time you can end up with the picture above. According to the PDF within the site they are looking at a November 1, 2007 realease date.

Scout Report to Lady Jeramena

Dear Lady,

We have both good news and sad. Our sister troop, while reconning, was destroyed by some fellow marines who are obviously under the spell of "Chaos" of some sort. Why else would they attack and destroy our sisters like that? Just because our sisters sneaked around quiet like to see what all the noise was about. (An evil party of some sort that we were not invited to!)

We ourselves saw this happen while we avoided those evil men with our "conga line of silence". So somewhere in the middle of this city is their comm center. It must be destroyed before they entice other faithful marines to follow suit.

I beseech you to send a full destruction force to rid ourselves of these poor deluded fools and make them an example to others.

yours,

Sister Fecilcia.

CXI presence felt at Battleforge

I got to play two excellent games last night at the Forge. The first of the evening was my official match for the Heresy-era campaign. I played my Chaos against Chris Long's Alpha Legion. The last time I faced Chris he was beating me senseless with his mech Eldar at a BFG tournament, so I have to admit that I was a little intimidated. It was a Night Fighting (Cleanse) mission, so we set up in opposite quadrants. Throughout the battle, spotting distance rolls played havoc with both my and Chris' ranged combat. During the setup phase the enemy army looked a little thin until he revealed that most of his army was infiltrating...the sneaky git! Due to the immense pressure from all the units popping up around me, I uncharacteristically took first turn. Once again the Noise Marines proved their worth as they piled into a rhino and drove up next to Chris' Veteran squad and killed eight(!) of them with a Doom Siren from the Fire Point - effectively eliminating his most expensive squad. Chris also placed two units of cultists behind cover at his two quarter edges so that they could do a one-turn dash to claim the adjacent quarters. This put pressure on me to move out and attack. Several very tough rounds of close combat ensued in the center where I lost my poor Daemon Prince to a tech marine (that backpack powerfist thing is awesome!) and a cool Alpha Legion character. My Raptors jumped out and killed a tank and were then gunned down like tribbles. The Defiler managed to run across the board without dying and tied up the enemy Devastator squads in combat for the rest of the game (pack your Power Fists, kids, or pay the price). The poor Vindicator killed a Predator and was then killed in its own right. The Khorne Berzerkers (led by Lucius) cut a furious swathe up the left flank, eventually killing 3 enemy units (including one of the sneaky cultists units) and claiming that quadrant without loosing any of its own number. The Plague Marines did what they do best, absorbing an enormous amount of fire before finally succumbing in a puss ridden explosion.

End result: 2 table quarters for Chaos, 1 quarter for Alpha Legion, 1 contested quarter. Victory!

Chris was a real sport and was patient with my rules questions, even when I was being obstinate. Being hopped up on vicadin and caffeine put me in an odd mood and he rolled with it. So give him a friendly CXI greeting next time you see him.

The second battle of the evening was a 'for fun' mega battle. Mike and I teamed up (Orks & Chaos) against Frank and Abe (Dark Angels and Alpha Legion) with 1500 points per player. Needless to say, we didn't get through all 6 turns - but we had a blast. Those infiltrating Alpha Guys popped up all around our forces and then had the audacity to take first turn. Ork trukks blew up all around us from Abe's Las/Plas squads. Then began the long footslogging tromp to the center where a massive brawl ensued between a pile of marines and a zillion Orks. It was a hell of a time. I spent most of the game trading ineffective long range fire with Abe on my side of the board. In a bitter surprise, I lost nearly all my plague marines to bolter fire from a tiny 5-man marine squad. Sometimes the dice gods play mean. MVP would have to go to Frank's whirlwind which chipped the Warboss' unit down through the whole game, scoring 8 unsaved wounds in the last turn! Mike's Trukk Boyz finally pulled free of their wreckage and managed to knock a few beakie hedz around.

Though we ended early, victory went to the Space Marines. We'll get them next time!

All in all it was a great time. BFG was packed to the gills and at one point there were 7 simultaneous battles happening, with even more people waiting their turn - building models and generally kibitzing.

Huzzah!

Dalyth Prime Round Two Small Games Reminder

Summarized here.

Round Three, Battle Three

Here is Aaron and Mike's Round 3 battle! It's a little game of "plant the flag"...

Round Three, Battle Two

Here is the scenario for Daniel and Gordon's Cityfight for round three!

Round Three, Battle One

Here is the scenario for Marcellus and Poney's game for Round Three! Since Marcellus is gone for the weekend, y'all will want to get this scheduled and played sometime before November 4th!

Recon Report: Dayleth Prime Campaign, Week 3

Our scouting teams have returned from the target metropolis. Lucius (laud his unmatched might!) was wise to transfer leaders between squads to better foster the exchange of tactical knowledge. Unit leaders have now been restored to their squads in preperation for offensive operations.

Note to the quartermaster: Begin searching for a new Noviciate Sorcerer to lead the Tzeench contingent. The Khorne squad reports that the Sorcerer assigned to their unit was killed by enemy chainaxes. This unfortunate turn of events means that our Rubric Marines will be unavailable for the assault on the city.

The most detailed reconnaissance came from the Nurgle squad led by the Slaaneshi Aspirant, Quintius. Having entered the city for recon, Quintius decided to make it an "in force" operation. Many of the more barbaric native forces (ref: Kroot) were on patrol in the northern quadrant. These forces were purged from the area with acceptable losses. An extensive sewer system was discovered below the city streets. Detailed schematics of the tunnels may prove useful in the fight to come. Evacuation of the stronghold is now complete and our forces are moving to capture the city proper.

In the name of Lucius, sublime swordmaster of the Wastes!

CXI Represented at BattleForge Tournament

Thanks to the campaign as a motivator, I now have sufficient chaos units to muster 2000 points. So last Saturday I went down to Battleforge and signed up for the tournament. I got to speak with several of the players before the tourney and found that there were two Nidzilla lists, two Blood Angels, a Tau and some bog standard marines.

My first battle ended up being a fun one against Russel and his Blood Angels. It was a fast-paced game since we both wanted to get into hand-to-hand as quickly as possible. The special rules of the mission worked in my favor. I was awarded 200 points for every enemy scoring unit I destroyed and Russel fielded 5-man tactical squads. Lots of quick bonus points pushed me up to a Major Victory.

The second battle was against a Nidzilla list and run by a very good and friendly player. The special rules had a line of darkness moving across the board 12" every turn. We must have been on a very small moon. While I did get beat to a bloody pulp, I learned a lot and had fun. It's amazing what a difference a decent human being for an opponent can make. Even a slaughter can be entertaining and social.

For the final battle, the two Nid lists fought for 1st and 2nd place. I had to fight another Blood Angels list to see who would claim 3rd. This one decided to play a stand-and-shoot approach. I used cover as best as I could and eventually had to make the dash into the enemy. My Daemon Lord did some excellent damage, killing a Dreadnought and several mortals. My Raptor squad penetrated a Land Raider, entangling the Death Company - but was then left in the open and gunned down. The game was still in balance until the very last turn when I managed to kill off just enough enemy troops to edge out a victory.

I got 3rd place and a $50 box of Chaos stuff. Not bad for a tournament with no entry fee.

Observations:
I love going second. Even when I win the roll-off, I chose to go second and it made all the difference. Having the last word in turn 6 is very powerful, provided you can keep your forces in good order to that point.

Nurlge Marines are awesome on defense. They form the perfect screening unit for more shooty units like Noise Marines.

Land Raiders aren't spooky to me any more. As big as they are, they can only shoot at most 6 times in a game and only at 1 unit at a time.

Final Thoughts:
I relly need help from my fellow CXI members for training. I'm at best an average to above average player and would love to hone my skills further. Big bugs really scare me and I want to learn how to handle them. I need effective tactics to counter Nidzilla.

CXI represent.

Well, it was a brutal game, but I managed to pull off victory for the Tau(Diasporex) for the second week of the Fly Lords' PreHeresy tourney, making it 1 Slaughter, 1 Win, 1 Loss. You may see me walking a bit funny, from all the anal rape I was experiencing, and I had to use every single trick in my arsenal to pull this off, but given that I was (1) robbed of my vehicles and most potent weapons, and (2) dealing with two opponents each chock full of special rules, and (3) the special rules of the scenario favored the Marines, it was a bit satisfying to use the Emperor's Children's special character's rule against him to end things while they still seemd to favor me a bit.

Guh.

Kill Team on Tuesday with the redoubtable Daniel, who has kindly informed me ahead of time of the mutables and special kit so that I can plan-- thanks, D!

Kudos also to Mike for upholding our good name at the Apocalypse tourney at the Lair yesterday!

Hey, btw, Mike-- what sort of tchotchkes do we get from GW for being an official club again? Just wanted to check on this.

Report Received, Reply Begins:

Aun'El Dalyth Rakithia to Shas'O Dalyth Lorossa,

Shas'O:

I have read your reports of the efforts at attrition of invading forces along the Hub-Gel'bryn corridor, and I find myself highly displeased. Your reports speak of a few la'rua of Gue'vesa Marines and their primitive vehicles destroyed, while you have allowed a unit of Finishers to teleport and join with the invasion force, and a heavily armored Earth Marauder to escape your grasp with its troop intact.

I tell you I have not heard of such difficulties from the other Shas'O in this Tio've, and I will not hear of them from you a third time. Your idiosyncratic Crisis Suit arrangements will be brought more into line with orthodox Fire Knife configuration at once. Further, your habit of restraint in the face of invaders will cease, likewise at once.

I have reviewed your accounts of the injuries to the Steadyfoot la'rua, and the rumors they passed along to you of incursions into city ruins. I have had civilians evacuated from the cities you have mentioned, after confirming via orbital surveillance that these areas are indeed at risk of enemy penetration. You will proceed to the northernmost of these cities at once, and arrange to make any attempts at occupying those ruins as painful and ruinous to the invader as possible.

Your Shaper, Proj Nar Gel'bryn, informs me as well that other Kinbands have told him of Ork presence in system, and of their trailing a raiding band along a corridor west of your position. Our Hunters from Pech have a longstanding hatred of the Orks, for which reason I am ordering you to seed your forces heavily with them. I am also dispatching a Por'ui to seek out this "second faction" Marine group you have mentioned to me. If the smaller faction can be allied with us briefly, we may be able to turn these invaders one upon the other, and so obviate an expensive evacuation and recolonization.

Do not fail me again. Neither of us wishes me to be forced to enter the battlefield and to relieve you of command in the presence of my troops.

Rakithia out.

(Something I missed last night-- Melta Weapons are AP1, so that any Glancing Hit is a Penetrating Hit, forcing debarkation of passengers. This would made one damage roll on the Land Raider with tacsquad and Chaplain a "Vehicle Destroyed" instead of "Weapon Destroyed", giving me the game. Oh, well, I snoozed, I losed.)

Transmission: Astramalleus Command

From: Norran Victos, Commander 4th Company Occupation Detachment
To: Leviah Milham, Commander Dalyth Expeditionary Force

Late afternoon, we received a distress call from cargo transport 144254A moving some of the more advanced pieces captured with the Maglev hub. The maglev line had been broken and the transport derailed. Several of our patrols encountered Tau (the Xenos race we fought earlier) and a mercenary race working for them in a number of minor skirmishes. A detachment was dispatched to drive away Tau marauders who sabotaged the transport. The detachment arrived to encounter a previously unencountered Orc warband. It set upon the detachment and inflicted serious losses upon us. Their numbers more than made up for our bolter fire. Their War Machine was so heavily armored that even 8th Devastator's Lascannons could not stay it. For the sake of the greater mission, I ordered our men to cut their losses and leave the field. I take full responsibility for their retreat. It is far better to retreat and reconsider a losing position than to let glory and fighting spirit drive men to a fruitless and pointless death. Even still, Librarian Nostradh was gravely wounded in the battle. He will live, but his recuperation time will be a great loss, even if it is merely the few days projected.

What are Orcs doing here? There had been nothing in the briefings about greenskin presence on the planet. I never imagined they would be here and therefore never prepared the Detachment for the possibility. That is a mistake I shall never make again. Perhaps these are the "fortunes of war" you often talk about, sir. I give you now the fortune that awaits them. When we find them next, we shall show them the lessons in raiding we have learned at their hands.

We have begun picking up coded Imperial transmissions. If these are the reinforcements I requested in the last communication, they can contact us on the attached channels to follow. If they are other Imperial units, are you at all aware of their size and nature? Both we and they could benefit from an exchange of first hand information.

I mentioned Librarian Nostradh's unfortunate debilitation. According to the apothecary treating him, Nostradh, while under anesthesia, kept making strange statements and cries about "demons" and "dangers from the warp". I pray to the Emperor that they were the ramblings of a dreaming and fevered mind but I know that Librarians are sensitive to many things that other Marines are not. If the Orcs were drawn to something on this world, it is plausible that other things have been attracted also.

My recommendations are that we find a way to lead the Tau to the Orcs. Orcs will fight anything and Tau seem to be committed to defending this world. If we can point the two sides at one another and let them waste their strength fighting, we should easily be able to sweep up the pieces. We will remain mobile. If engaged, we will fight, but whenever possible, we will attempt to lead the two sides together. If we can take them both with little effort, it will be a far better victory.

We await reinforcements and bind our wounds. Tomorrow is another day and another battle.

Hail to the Emperor and the Grand Satrap,

Norran Victos
In Command
4th Company Occupation Detachment

Praise the bolter, for it is the savior of Mankind.

The Lady Jeramena's Report

Generals,

Today I take over a new Order of our Sisters nicknamed the "Red Skulls". After the embarrassing performance of the last Lady there was no choice for her but to retire to the Repentia squad and let her body die in battle and let her soul marry the Emperor.

I was impressed with the Cannoness and her retinue hearing about their ability to stand toe to toe with some mean and evil Chaos in Terminator armor. We recovered their bodies and have given a relic of them to each of the Dominion squad members in hopes that the Cannoness's sacrifice will encourage them to more greatness in the Emperor's name.

Although the tanks were recaptured after we found the Daemonspawn gone, we are now on the hunt for this Chaos. Rumor has it that they went to some war-torn city. We await the return of our last scouting party into this city.

If one Chapter of our Marines have fallen over to Chaos then, so may others. We have our scouts in the field and are eagerly awaiting their inquisitions.

I must cut this short as the seating arrangements are to be made and the decision of who gets to run the Penitent Engine is again up for "grabs".

Yours, The Lady Jeramena.
***************************

Why the "Red Skulls"? Cause I smash my brains in. every. single. time. I play!

Ironbuilders Tourney at the Lair: CXI represent, yo.

Remember when we showed up to build terrain and got paid on blisters? No, the good kind. Right.

Well, we got to play on that terrain Saturday when Kurt at the Lair ran the overdue but welcome Ironbuilders Tourney, wherein you bring any unassembled 40K models you want, build them, and then play with what you built. Poney and I arrived a little before noon, and Mike was already there building Ravenwing. She set to work on Sisters and Bugs, I on Captain Stern, a Kroot Shaper, and Khorne Berzerkers. After lunch, I shifted to doing Kroot and she set to work on a Carnifex.

At 5, time was called. First, "Best Conversion" was judged. Mike's Master of the Ravenwing, a cusomtbuilt Tau Crisis Suit, and my Skull Champion were the entrants. I'm glad to say the incredibly annoying work of cutting the ring on the melta-grenade and gluing it with Poney's liquid glue so that it appeared to be looped around one fang paid off well (in addition to the custom weapon swaps and hand rotations), because I got a Tau Skyray tank out of it! The "Most Built" went to Joe, whose part count (the criterion used) beat my 140-something at well over 200! (damn new chaos marines with their trillion little parts! ;-) Mike got a Rhino for his beautiful Master of the Ravenwing on Landspeeder, as Best Vehicle (indeed, the ONLY vehicle!), which was a special category seeing as this Tourney was supposed to help kick off Apocalypse.

Then the game. Remember the buildings? Yep. The terrain board that was in progress the night we showed up to build buildings was finished, a really nice cityscape board with a nasty crater at one end and a broken highway at the other. And our buildings, now painted, were lovingly arranged along it. Marcellus' Basilica pieces were done especially beautifully. The game itself was a grueling "Last Man Standing" slugfest, which saw the single Tau suit eliminated early on and the next player's scouts and chaplain taken out by Joe's Chaos/Eldar/Grey Knight coalition. Poney and I began our slog across the board, having formed an alliance with Mike to take out Joe first then duke it out amongst ourselves, figuring that it would come down to the Carnifex, the Master of the Wing on his Flying Landraider (an AV14 Landspeeder--- WTF?), and Brother Captain Stern of the Grey Knights. Unfortunately, Poney blew a target priority check and targetted my Kroot with a single shot that was saved. I would have let that pass, if she hadn't taken the next turn to run a brood of spinegaunts over to my kroot and then deliberately opened fire on them, and at that point the alliance fell apart.

In the end, only Stern and the Wing made it over to the over side of the board, with Stern wiping out most of the chaos troops before going down in a hail of blows, and the Wingmaster having eliminated every other model that could actually damage him-- so Joe conceded, ending a four hour game, a nine hour (for us) tourney, and winning Mike anohter Rhino, bringing him ever closer to his company Apocalypse formation goal (only four more to go, Mike!).

Good times, and CXI gave 'em what for.

Witches at the walls

Recovering from the battle against the Space Marines, we found a suitable structure to use as a strongpoint for repairs and resupply. The Mechanicus Infernus had to toil several nights and sacrifice many native inhabitants to bind a new power source for the wrecked Defiler. Imperial forces on the planet are not yet fully aware of our allegance and so have not focused on attacking us.

However, today we narrowly escaped being discovered by the Sisters of Battle themselves. An Inquisitor Lord apparently detected the daemonic energies present within Lucius the Eternal (may he gloriously reign!) and attacked our fortress while the bulk of our forces were out on patrol. One unit of the witches managed to get within the walls and in sight of Lucius himself (blessed be his glorious might!) as an Immolator bathed the ramparts in fire. Fortunately, our elite Terminator squad was in conference with Lucius when the walls were breached and they managed, just, to intercept and eliminate the trespassers. Praise must also be given to our Obliterator cult who held the north wall against an assault by the Lord Inquisitor herself.

The witches who fled will no doubt return to this location in force. We must, therefore, relocate to a new secure location. Returning patrols have spotted the ruins of a large city nearby. We can find ample shelter in its shattered remains. Xenos activity has been reported in the area. Lucius, in his infinite wisdom, will dispatch a recon team to get a measure of the terrain before we move in and claim it. Champions from all units are now fighting in the arena to decide who will get the honor of this mission.

Round Two, Small Battles

Here are the Kill-Team missions for Round Two, which are optional and may be replayed as many times as both players agree.

1. Poney's Sisters carry out an Escape mission on Marcellus' Marine Brutes in a ruined Cityscape. Results: (not played yet). Effects: Winner gets Comm Center as a bonus strategem in Battle 3A.

2. Daniel's Chaos Marines attempt Reconnaissance of the ruins of a Tau cityscape before invasion commences. Results: (not played yet). Effects: Sewer Rats may be taken by the winner.

3. Aaron's Marines are assigned to Sabotage a building within Mike's Ork infested ruins. Results: (not played yet). Effects: Marines get a bonus Demolitions strategem if they win.

Grrr! Grrr!

Here are some pictures from my Friday's Night game with Frank the Ultramarine player:

I'm getting better and better, slowly...

Last night I played Frank the Ultramarine player in a very good game. Earlier in the day I got cold feet and was thinking that I didn't want to play, but went anyway.

Frank is always a good player and seems happy to help people along. Of course he won, but I got some moral victories on my own.

The worst critique he gave me about my army was that it was "too good". He said that some of units needed to have their points shaved to get more models. I don't agree as without those points the units wouldn't make it across the board! I'll have a look and see if a little bit points couldn't be shaved though. :-)

The other moral victories were in the way he played. Several times he stopped for a while on his turn to think about who to shoot or if he wanted to get into H2H or not. He said "Crap!" a couple of times. And I made him scrafice several units so that my 'stealers didn't get to his Captain. (His Captain gave all his units a 10 leadership. Which he needed to keep from running away when I won the H2H.)

It was funny because he kept wanting his men to run so on his turn so that he could then shoot the 'stealers, but his Captain made them stay!

Anyway, it was a crushing victory for him. I was somewhat disappointed. I would really like to play someone like an Ultamarine who doesn't know that they are playing 'Nids. If they know that they are playing 'Nids then they make a shooty army and stand on table edge and shoot! I would like to play against just a regular army list to see how I do.

BTW, Frank took a neat picture of the battle where my warriors were surrounded on a hill full of marines. He also took a panaramic one of my Old One Eye. I'll post the pic as soon as we get it.! It looked sooooo coool!

A night of 40K at the Forge

Poney, Daniel, and I were at Battleforge tonight, for two games of Pre-Heresy goodness. Ultramarine Frank and Poney duked it out (stay tuned for a great group photo of the Smurfs with Old One Eye!), and I took on Travis(?) and Chris Davis, who both fielded Thousand Sons. I had Laer, which is a mixed Tau/Tyranid list. Very much a standard list for me, except for 8 Stealers and a Lictor. It was an Alpha Cleanse, and I think I can say without fear of contradiction that I ate their respective lunches.

We all know that Broadsides are a nightmare, and that Hammerheads are nasty. MVP of the night, however, goes to the Sniper Drone Team that was charged by a lone surviving Terminator and killed it stone dead. Yeah, it was just the one unsaved wound, but I take these victories where I can git 'em.

Now, to fight Brandon with this list in "The Scouring of Laeran" on Sunday at Battleforge, while y'all have your Battles on Dalyth Prime.

Hope to see folks at the Ironbuilders' Tourney tomorrow at the Lair!

Round Two, Battle Three

Here is the battle briefing for Poney's Witch Hunters attacking Daniel's Chaos Marines, in the Raid scenario, "Terminate the Daemonvessel."

Round Two, Battle Two

Here is the battle briefing for Aaron and Gordon's Ambush battle. It will be a full briefing momentarily. I wanted to get Battle 2C up first, as it's not in the Big Book, so the players can't really study it themselves.

Round Two, Battle One

Here is the briefing for Mike's battle with Marcellus. It will become a full briefing momentarily.

Club Night at the Lair!

Last night, we at CXI got to go build Imperial Ruins/Buildings for the Lair's new 40K terrain tables. Kurt, the new 40K Events Coordinator at the shop offered pay in blisters, which worked just fine-- I glued buildings for about four hours, and walked out with a Captain Stern Grey Knights blister, which is about twenty bucks MSRP, or minimum wage-- and that's fair. Other folks got Broodlords, Obliterators, an Imagifer, and I think Marcellus got a Librarian (not Evie!).

For the Ironbuilders Tourney this weekend, I think I'll pick up the Grey Knights Termies box, and bring them, with Stern, my Cadians boz and my Land Raider, and make a Daemonhunters army to field at the event. I'll prime and paint the interior pieces on the sprue first, though, so that I don't spoil that part of the model by assembling it quickly on Saturday.

Hope to see the rest of you there!

First Round Small Battle Summary

Here are the current results and effects for the small battles for Round One. They'll be udpated as new info comes in!

Round Two scenarios to be posted soon!

Daily Report, Shaper Proj Nar Gel'Bryn

Shaper Proj Nar Gel'Bryn to Shas'O Dalyth Lorossa,

Greetings and fine feasting to your excellence.

My Kindred have guarded your fine artillery machines with great and delicious vigor along the MagLev corridor between Gel'Bryn and North Central Hub. We have repelled Gue'la incursion in woodlands eastwards and westwards, with Kindred losses of nine in two score, and much new material with which to fortify the Kindred for your great good. We preserve Gue'la materials for your use and study, in honor of our agreement, and your Kor'vesa protector is ready for return in good working order. It is most vigorous, but its control unit is most uncomfortable and interferes with hearing and balance.

The armor of these Gue'la is different from that which you told me to seek, and my Kindred are backtracking now to determine if they also have brought more fighting kin along the corridor. We will bring you sure and trustworthy word of their location, that you may commence hunting. There we hope to take our rightful part, and your fine machines will be ready to give their loud warcall as well.

My Kindred thank and bless you for your benefitting our development, and for this latest addition to our genetic treasures most especially*. My rifle is ready to heed your call.

Shaper Proj Nar Gel'Bryn
Kroot Kindred, "We Who Are Led."




*Literally, "with loud and joyous belchings"

Translated by
Por'ui Nilassar, Linguistic Attache
Gel'Bryn Transmission Facility
Dalyth Prime

Transmission: Astramalleus Command

From: Norran Victos, Commander 4th Company Occupation Detachment
To: Leviah Milham, Commander Dalyth Expeditionary Force

[[REPORT FOLLOWS]]

I am glad to report that my first command has resulted in victory. The Drop Pod deployment went smoothly and all units involved landed more or less without incident. 10th Assault landed pincered between two enemy tanks and was incapacitated to the man. 2nd Tactical and 3rd/1st Terminator Team also took heavy casualties but few of the wounds inflicted upon any of the three squads will have long term consequences. They should all be fit for the next mission.

After landing in and around the transportation hub, we were set upon by several armored speeder tanks. Chaplain Reemes, leading the remaining active members of 10th Assault, bravely assaulted one of them and managed to keep it occupied and ineffective most of the engagement. A unit of battle suits soon joined the fray but they were driven off by the arrival of 3rd/1st Terminator under my personal command. 4th and 6th Tactical arrived soon after to occupy the hub and to provide support for Reemes bold maneuver. Our forces held and cleared enough landing ground to other forces to land and mop up.

I recommend commendation for Chaplain Reemes. His aggressive actions prevented the enemy from using their armor to greatest advantage, making our victory more certain.

I have also been investigating the transportation hub. Quite a bit of enemy cargo was captured and an inventory has been appended to this report. Something seems odd about it. There's far too much cargo here for a small planetary outpost. Also there was quite a bit of armor fielded against us. Armor, especially Speeder Armor, requires quite a bit of upkeep which, along with the cargo captured, makes me think that perhaps this outpost is larger than we previously expected. It is possible that luck was with us and this was a major hub defended as heavily as was possible by the garrison force but that is not an assumption I'm willing to make at this time.

We await our next mission. I recommend pushing along the transport lines and disrupting their flow of materiel. If they have any strength, they will soon counter attack here. They have begun bombarding our positions so I expect counter attack within the next 48 to 72 hours. It would be better to slow them down before they get here and buy time for reinforcements to arrive. I look forward to your arrival and thank you again for this opportunity to show my command abilities.

Hail to the Emperor and the Grand Satrap,

Norran Victos
In Command
4th Company Occupation Detachment

The leisure of rest can only be enjoyed by the dead.

Chaos Ascendant (Battle Report 1)

Finally we make planet fall! Our time in the Warp was well spent, as Lucius lowered the Gellar field and allowed all on board to experience the glory of the Immaterium. Those who would not see the truth were sacrificed to the fell powers, and favor was heaped upon us by the dark Gods.
It took little time for the worshipers of the False Emperor to discover us in their midst and they dispatched a force to eliminate us before we could spread the True Word any further.

What follows is a report of this first struggle to bring freedom to all on Dayleth.

_Imperial Forces_

HQ
Librarian (Fury of the Ancients, Fear the Darkness)

ELITE
5 Terminators (2 Auto Cannon)

TROOP
Tac Squad Alpha
10 Marines (Missile Launcher, Plasmagun)

Tac Squad Beta
10 Marines (Missile Launcher, Plasmagun)

Tac Squad Gamma
10 Marines (Missile Launcher, Plasmagun)

HEAVY SUPPORT
1 Predator Annihilator w/ Lascannon Sponsons

Devastator Squad (4 Lascannons)

_Chaos Forces_

HQ
Lucius the Eternal

Daemon Prince

TROOP
7 Plague Marines (Plasmagun, Meltagun, Power Fist)
-Rhino

8 Khorne Berserkers (2 Plasma Pistol, Power Fist)
-Rhino

FAST ATTACK
10 Raptor (2 Meltaguns, Paired Lightning Claws, Icon of Slaanesh)

HEAVY SUPPORT
Defiler (Reaper AC, Extra CCW)

Vindicator (Daemonic Possession)

TURN 1

Marine:
The Marines decided that it was best to stand their ground and fire on the approaching forces of Chaos.

Marines started the turn with a full strike from the Predator into the side armor of the Vindicator. Luck was with the Vindicator and it suffered a single 'Crew Stunned' result which was ignored due to Daemonic Possession. The Librarian unleashed his 'Fury' power but failed to wound or pin any chaos units. All other units were out of LOS from the enemy and thus held their ground.

Chaos:
Chaos movement was a flurry of activity as the entire force advanced. The Khorne Rhino and Defiler moved forward toward the Devastator squad. The Vindicator moved up the center hoping to put the tower between itself and the Predator. The Plague Marine Rhino also moved up the right flank. All Rhinos popped smoke. The Daemon Prince and the Raptor squad flew over a small forest and began moving toward the Imperial left flank.

The Defiler fired a Battle Cannon round at the Devastator squad and managed to kill 3 of them in the blast. One of the Raptors managed a long range melta blast at the Predator, but failed to have any affect. All other units were out of range.

TURN 2

Marine:
Again, the Marines enjoyed good positioning in cover and opted to stand and shoot.

The Devastator squad unleashed a full volley of Lascannon fire into the Defiler, reducing it to component parts. Two Tactical squads used their Missile Launchers against the Vindicator but only managed to shake it - again ignored due to Daemonic Possession. The Predator combined fire with the Terminator squad to slay the Daemon Prince at range. With a howl of rage it dissipated back to into the warp. Tactical squad Gamma fired at the fast approaching Raptors and slew 5 of them. Though greatly reduced, the Raptors refused to fall back.

Chaos:
The Khorne Rhino now moved another 12" toward the Devastators and unloaded a Berserker Squad led by none other than Lucius. The Nurgle Rhino moved forward and unloaded 7 Plague Marines. The Vindicator was now in a position where the Predator could not see it, so it prepared to fire. The Raptor squad leapt forward to the edge of the Marine lines and made ready to charge.

Pistol fire from the Khorne troops killed one marine in the Devastator squad. The Doom Siren of Lucius killed another. A huge cannon shot from the Vindicator managed to kill 2 members of Tac Squad Beta. The Plague Marines fired plasma and melta at the Predator stunning it for the turn.

The Raptors then charged into cover to attack Tac Squad Gamma and killed 4 of them, loosing one of their own in the melee.

TURN 3

Marine:
The Marine Terminators moved around cover to gain full fields of fire into the Chaos forces. All other units held their ground.

The Devastator squad had limited Line of Sight to the Berserkers but knew that they must kill them before being charged. They fired into the Khorne Berserkers, killing 2 of them. Tac squad Beta fired its missile at the Vindicator again, but to no affect. Tac squad Alpha fired a long range volley at the Berserkers and killed 1. The Terminator squad fired fully into the Plague marines scoring many hits (including 4 rends) from Assault Cannons, but the blessing of Nurgle was on them and only 3 perished under the onslaught. The Librarian once again unleashed Fury of the Ancients against the Plague Marines but they would not be cowed.

Fighting between the Raptors and Squad Gamma continued, with only the brave Marine Sergeant surviving the Slaanesh-blessed blades of the Raptors.

Chaos:
Lucius Separated from his squad to flank the Devastator squad as the Berserkers charged forward into the fray. The Khorne Rhino moved to block LOS from Tac Squad Alpha and give the butchers some privacy. The Plague Marines marched forward toward the Terminators and Predator. The Nurgle Rhino moved in front of the Predator, hoping to block its view of enemy units.

Lucius began the firing phase by unleashing another Doom Siren, killing one more Devastator. The Khorne Berserkers held their fire. The Vindicator again fired on Squad Beta and killed two more of them. The Plague Marines fired on the Terminators with plasma, melta and bolters - killing 2 of the giants, wounding the Librarian and forcing them to fall back.

The Raptors finished off the lone Sergeant and moved into deep cover. Lucius and the Berserkers charged into the Devastators and wiped them out in furious fighting - loosing one more Berserker in the process. They then consolidated behind cover to avoid fire from Tac Squad Alpha.

TURN 4

Marine:
All forces stood to fight.

The Predator fired a full salvo of Lascannons at the Rhino at point blank range, managing only to stun it. The terminators attempted some long range fire at the Plague Marines but to little affect. Tac Squads Alpha and Beta fired missile launchers at the Vindicator again, failing to do damage. All in all a rough shooting phase for the Marines.

Chaos:
The Raptors move behind the Predator in an attempt to exploit the weak rear armor. The Plague Marines again march forward toward the Terminators in order to bring their guns to bear. Lucius rejoins the Berserkers and they wait to see if they are needed. The Khorne Rhino moves again to place itself between Tac Squad Alpha and the Vindicator, hoping that it can help spare the valuable asset.

The Vindicator fires another volley at Tac Squad Beta, killing another two marines. The Raptors fire meltas at the rear of the Predator, knocking out its turret Lascannon. The Plague Marines fire again at the Terminators with Plasma and bolters, killing another Terminator and the Librarian himself! The hail of fire proves too much for them as they fall back off of the field of battle.

The Raptors then assault the Predator with a meltabomb but only manage to stun the vehicle.

TURN 5

Marine:
The Predator takes a risk and drives out of the cover and away from the Raptors. All other units hold their ground as they recover from the loss of their leader.

Tac Squad Alpha fires missiles and plasma at the Khorne Rhino, destroying it. Squad Beta again fires on the Vindicator, but the vehicle seems impenetrable.

Chaos:
The raptors take to the air, again gaining position behind the Predator. The Plague Marines load up into the Nurgle Rhino and begin to move toward Tac Squad Beta.

The Raptors fire meltas again at the Predator, again only stunning the crew despite the weak rear armor. The Vindicator fails to hit Squad Beta with its cannon.

Then the Raptors charge the Predator and finally manage to destroy it with close combat weapons.

TURN 6

Marine:
Squads Alpha and Beta hold their ground, swearing to sell their lives well.

Squads Alpha and Beta fire missiles at the Vindicator once again, but it again survives.

Chaos:
The Plague Marines unload from the Rhino and move up to fire upon Squad Beta. The Rhino then attempts to Tank Shock the unit out of its cover. The brave missile trooper holds his ground and immobilizes the Rhino mere inches from his feet. The raptor squad moves toward Squad Beta but is too far to do any harm. The Khorne Berserkers with Lucius move out of cover and toward Squad Alpha - hoping for a successful charge.

Withering fire from the Plague Marines reduces Squad Beta to two troopers - both special weapons marines. Fire from the Berserkers and Lucius manage to kill 2 members of Squad Alpha. The Vindicator holds its fire for fear of damaging its own troops.

No chaos units are able to make the charge distance to the Marines and so the battle is ended.

CASUALTIES
Marines:
Librarian
Terminator Squad
Tactical Squad Beta - 1/2 str
Tactical Squad Gamma
Devastator Squad
Predator

Chaos:
Daemon Prince
Khorne Rhino
Raptor Squad - 1/2 str
Defiler

RESULT
Chaos Decisive Victory

MVP Units
Marines:
Predator Annihilator: For delivering the killing blow to the Daemon Prince and tying up the Raptor force.

Chaos:
Death Guard: For forcing a Terminator squad off the board and killing the Librarian

Reporting: MagLev 1 has fallen.

Transmission, Shas'O Dalyth Lorossa to Aun'El Dalyth Rakithia.

Esteemed Aun'El,

I must report that MagLev Hub 1 has fallen to Gue'la control. In accordance with your instructions, I have dispatched most of my forces along the length of the Hub-Gel'bryn corridor, and arranged for continuous bombardment of the Gue'la vehicles and troops. Consequently, the station itself was guarded by the Pathfinder La'Rua Choosers of the Slain and my own Crisis Team. The Choosers were supported by Hammerhead None Shall Oppose, and the area mined and seeded with personal transponders.

Gue'La landing pods of the Marine unit designated "Star Hammers" assaulted the area in force, along with jump-equipped close assault troops and a unit of Finisher Teleportation troops. We were able to slow the advance of many of these, but in so doing, have lost control of our central task, the security of the station itself and thus the rapid transportation of troops and materiel throughout this corridor.

We are evacuating the Choosers for medical attention, together with my two Crisis Shas'vre. We request refit and repair of weaponry for None Shall Oppose, and recommend her Kor'ui pilot for commendation. My own injuries are inconsequential, treated in the field. My scars I shall bear in penance for having failed you in my mission.

I am proceeding south ahead of the Gue'la advance, to rejoin the remainder of our Kau'ui and commence attrition of Gue'la forces. I have also to report from conferral with evacuation Kor'ui that infighting may have broken out among factions of the invaders themselves. Without any Greater Good to guide them in a single vision, how can they not fall into conflict and chaos?

I await further instruction, and accept the penalties you deem appropriate for my failure.

Shas'O Dalyth Lorossa,
Gel'bryn Kau'ui

Lady Mary's Report

Transmission begins:

While visiting the shrine of a fallen hero, Saint Marcus, we were attacked by the xeno's known as Orks. Their vicious green hordes overtook us without warning! Their numbers were so large and the intrusion was so sudden that our abilities did not manifest. Obviously they had some great deamon Psyker with them as it impeded my ability to fight "fire with fire".

Our fellow sisters fought bravely! Even the men did their job well. Those who were repenting their spotted souls redeemed themselves as they fought off those nasty little grots and helped to defend the shrine.

Two priestess to keep an eye on, Julia and Petricia, ran from battle, but then the Emperor's courage filled them and they turned to fight till their deaths. They might need some time in "The Engine" to think about their cowardice. The former Sister Eve did her job well. She did not get her fires off before being overcome by stronger xenos.

After the carnage the xenos then proceeded to "loot" all the bodies and tanks of their weapons and other items. This kept them from desecrating the shrine as they could not see the importance of such a place, such is the proof that they have no soul and therefore should be destroyed.

Then the reinforcements arrived and they scattered. Thank the Emperor.

We have heard reports that some dreaded Chaos creatures are in the area. We shall send a team out to investigate as soon as we regroup.

Transmission out.

First Round, Third Battle

This scenario is for Mike's Orks and Poney's Witch Hunters.

First Round, Second Battle

This scenario is for Daniel's Chaos forces and Aaron's marines.

First Round, First Battle

Here is the first of the Battle Briefings in the Campaign for Dalyth Prime.
This one is for Marcellus' Marines and Gordon's Tau Empire.

Mad Macks Boyz Grow

Oi! So there we wuz gettin' our boyz ready to take out a girlie 'ummie fort. Den out uv nowhere comes 3 more grot mobz and 2 more mobz of boyz. Oi diss is gonna be a succezvul Waaghh! Toes 'ummies better beware of me Mad Macks da new leader ov teh Blood Axe Boyz. Oi oi oi!!!

The Power of Chaos Compels You!

From the depths of the Eye of Terror boil forth the legions of Chaos. We too heed the clarion call to arms. Let the warrior who's skill in battle is unmatched call himself master. All others are chattle for the Warp. I accept any challenge that is offered in good faith. Let our unity be rooted in mutual love of the ring of steel on steel. May the blood of heroes and cowards alike soak the soil of countless worlds. In the name of...

oh, look...shiny!

Lucius the Eternal
Champion of Slaanesh
1st Place, Nurgling Eating Contest of Vaxion IV (117 years running)

The Hive Mind Controls!

The Hive Mind dictates these words:

**crunch, crunch**oh Hi! This is the Hive Queen and let me tell y'all a little about myself:

Turn ons: dice rolling, H2H, rending claws, accessories

Turn offs: math, flamers, lascannons to the face

Now back to eating "leftovers"...Marines just go to the hips...

Oh yes, look for the Sisters of Battle squad soon! Just don't call them "sissies"!

Catch y'all later... **crunch, crunch**

The Hive Mind releases control...

In the Name of His Imperial Majesty,

...Lord of Terra, Destroyer of Horus, Master of Legions, Father of Chapters, the Emperor of Mankind and all Human Dominions, I, Representative of the Grand Satrap of Besradine who is Chapter Master of the Astramalleus, do accept this truce and welcome to this table any and all sentients in the hope that we may face together the greater challenges and threats to our greater kinds.

Selah.


Wen Dunnigan
Captain, 2nd Company
The Ancient and Glorious Astramalleus

Tau Empire, transmission begins.

Having received invitation from our treaty allies the Imperium of Man, we the Ethereal Council of Dalyth Prime join in welcoming you to CXI, the Adeptus Astragalactica. We hope that you will see the wisdom of being guided by our vision, creating the Greater Good for all races.

Some of you already know our benevolence, and we welcome you back again. Others of you are newly learning of it, and we ask you to consider well what you see here. In order that you should appreciate the value of cooperation with our vision, we will prepare for you a transmission of the significant events that led to the formation of our treaty with the Imperium of Man, and acquainting you with the noteworthy terms of that treaty.

(a side-note: the second "a" in "Astragalactica" is not a misspelling. The neologism was intentionally formed from the Greek words "astragale," meaning dice, and "galaxia," the Milky Way.)

It Begins

Well gentle Blog denziens welcome to the the beginning of our Club blog. This blog will be organic and based solely upon the whims of the members of the club. Let the adventure begin!