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!