Lands to Raid

So, this blog post is for the heavy support transports we all love, Landraiders.

The fleet assembled

So yeah .... I've got a few landraiders.  They make great visuals on the tabletop, and the different variants allow for very different play styles and tactics.

Crusading

So there are three landraider crusaders, the one in the front the only one that's painted to the Lions' color scheme.

Standard Pattern

Only two of the standard landraiders but I'm starting to enjoy this pattern more and more as the twinlinked lascannons on the durability of the landraider hull really can be a game changer.

Burn it, burn it all!

My pair of landraider redeemers which use to be my favorite version back in the previous marine codex.  I frequently played a list with Vulkan in it and he gave the redeemer a big boost by twin linking that meltagun and flame cannon sponsons.  These days I rarely field this variant.

Bringing all firepower to bear

And then finally there are my two Terminus Ultras.  I've not got to field either of them yet, but I really want to one of these days.  Five lascannons with three of them twin-linked just has to be devastating to hit with.

And that's my collection so far.  The reason I say so far is that I really want to get an Achilles.  An Ares with that Vindicator cannon could also be fun to have.  But having watched a number of battle reports on them now, the Achilles with a techmarine inside is about as close to invulnerable as a landraider can get.  It's immune to the extra D6 pen from melta, immune to lance, can take a dozer blade to help not immobilize on terrain since it lacks a front assault hatch, ...   Then look at it's firepower.  It has a thunderfire cannon in the front, twin-linked multimelta sponsons, and can add the multimelta pintle as well.  Yeah, one of these at least is on the want list.

So that's where I am at with the landraiders and we'll see what I come up with for my next post.

Daemonic Incursion Repulsed

So this Saturday evening I got a game in against Murl's Chaos Daemons.  It was a 1500 point game with it being Emperor's Will and long table edge deployment.  I haven't gotten to play Murl in a while so I was looking forward to this game, as he's always a fun guy to play against.

The Lions gathered for battle

The Lions of Harlech
Captain w/ artificer, relic blade, and storm shield
10 man Tactical Squad w/ meltagun and missile launcher
10 man Tactical Squad w/ missile launcher
5 Thunderhammer Terminators in a Landraider w/ multimelta
10 Sternguard in a Drop Pod
Ironclad w/ heavy flamer and meltagun in a Drop Pod
Thunderfire Cannon

Lions deployed for battle

Daemons gathered from the warp

Chaos Daemons
I'll add his list here when he messages it to me this evening.

Daemons deployed plus flying daemon prince off screen left and plaguebears in building on screen edge

Hellfire rounds for that 2+ to wound really thins out threats

Turn One
Murl failed to seize so I had first turn.  My first move was to drop the Sternguard right in front of the daemonettes to jam up his flank while my landraider advanced toward the middle of the board to be ready to counter the daemon princes in the middle of the board.  The sternguard wounded 11, killing 8 daemonettes.  The thunderfire cannon had a shot on the plaguebearers holding his objective and used the anti-cover shot to inflict 12 wounds killing 8 of those as well.  The landraider shot at the Keeper of Secrets but didn't wound him due to saves made.

Plaguebearers after Thunderfire shots

Murl's turn saw him aim his flying daemon prince after my Thunderfire as he now knew what it could do.  His other big guys advanced toward the middle while the flying bugs followed them.  The daemonettes moved up to charge the sternguard.  He failed to cast enfeeble or hemorrhage on the Sternguard earning a perils wound on his nurgle prince and then put a perils on his flying DP trying to hemorrhage the techmarine on the Thunderfire.  Daemonettes charged and I failed to get any overwatch hits with 20 shots.  His squad leader challenged and killed my sternguard sgt (no surprise there but it limited the damage) while the regulars killed none.  The nine sternguard remaining then beat the 4 daemonettes to a pulp which killed the leader with instability.  Sternguard then consolidated behind the cottage in his deployment zone.

Advancing on his objective (daemons on board edge are awaiting to be summoned still)

Turn 2
My Ironclad arrived this turn and I dropped it in front of his flying bugs to try and further jam up his advance while my Landraider moved up as well with the terminators disembarking.  Sternguard moved across the board to be able to shoot at the 4 plaguebearers on his objective.  Sternguard killed 3 plaguebearers with long range shooting.  A tactical squad, thunderfire, and landraider combined to put 1 wound on the Keeper of Secrets while the Ironclad and drop pods managed to kill a flying bug.  Terminators then charged the Keeper.  Keeper managed to inflict 3 wounds but storm shields proved their worth with no one lost.  The hammers then replied to send to Keeper back to learn more Secrets in the warp.  I then consolidated into the cover in the middle.

Keeper lost his secret but here comes "Big Daddy"

Murl's reserve squad showed up and he was forced to deploy them to cover his objective.  He then moved the flying bugs up and his flying prince went from zooming to swooping to charge my Thunderfire.  His "Big Daddy" Nurgle Prince then advanced on the terminators.  He got off enfeeble, then followed with hemmorage with warp speed on himself.  I lost one terminator to the hemorrhage then made the next save to stop the loss there.  Drones assaulted the landraider but failed to get any 6s for the touch of rust.  Flying prince easily killed the techmarine but in an odd turn of events, took 2 wounds from overwatch on the way in.  Big Daddy charged the terminators and killed one but took 1 wound in return.

The look of those flying bugs is really cool.  And as flying cavalry real maneuverable as well

Got the Thunderfire but just one wound remains

 Turn Three
Sternguard continued to advance on his objective while the landraider moved over and turned to bring fire on the flying bugs.  Ironclad advanced on the bugs as well.  The tactical squad on my objective managed to get the one wound to finish off his flying prince while he was still on the ground.  Landraider, Ironclad, and the other Tactical combined to kill one bug and take a wound off the last one.  Sternguard killed 4 daemons from the newly arrived squad.  Ironclad then charged and killed the last bug while the terminator fight saw another terminator killed but another wound on the prince as well.

Murl's turn three went fairly quick.  His daemon squad moved more into cover and then he got enfeeble off on the terminators again.  The terminators once more got a wound in for a loss of a terminator.

Got there just in time

Turn Four
My sternguard killed the last plaguebearer from the original squad while my landraider killed a pair of daemons from the new squad.  The Ironclad then charged in to assist the terminator.  The DP lost his 5th of 7 wounds to the Ironclad while slaying the last terminator.

Both tacticals and the captain with the home objective well in hand

At this point Murl conceded as I had first blood, line breaker, my objective and had 9 sternguard and a landraider about to pour fire into the 7 or so daemons on his objective.  His last big guy was down to two wounds and was still in combat with an untouched Ironclad.  I think he could have got the Ironclad with smash but that would just have him in a ring of fire from everything else.

My losses of the night

All in all, I think my battle plan went fairly well.  I got him stuck in combat well short of my line and since the techmarine got really lucky with overwatch, got to kill his outflanking flyer before he could threaten my objective as well.  Taking the option to deepstrike his reserve on my half by hurting his plaguebearers so early helped as well.  Between him not having any luck at all on DP saves (Big Daddy made only one save in close combat between invul and Feel No Pain, and didn't make a single it will not die roll) and my upsetting what he planned to do, I kept him off his game a bit.  All in all an enjoyable game and I look forward to playing him again soon.

Interestingly enough, the most amusing part of the whole night came on the ride home back to Morristown.  RTVortil took a bit of a drubbing from Amy/Cheef's Taudar.  Roughly halfway home he had one of those AH HA! moments and realized that he'd forgotten pain tokens the entire game and some of his witches who were gunned down might have survived if he'd taken those Feel No Pain rolls.


On the flip side of things, I picked up a few marines from Cheef which with some random fellows I already owned will be forming the initial core of the 7th Company which will just leave the 8th Company not worked on.  So sometime this year I should be just one company shy of a full chapter.

Harlech's Grellon

So inspired by the various special guard/advisory forces that have been appearing throughout the Horus Heresy series from the Morlocks to Mournival to Phoenix Guard and so on, I created my own force, the Grellon.  Grellon is a Welsh word which means "flock".  Lions and other predators often have a lot of birds which live in and around them, so the Chapter Master as the alpha male lion with a flock around him seemed to make sense in my head.

The Order of Harlech's Grellon
    This is a special order within the Chapter consisting of a dozen veterans not within the normal command rank who act as both guardians for the Chapter Master and special advisors for him.  These veterans are picked by an assembly of the chapter's company commanders, the Chapter Master, and other select leaders of the chapter.  If one of these marines is ever chosen to promote to the rank of Captain or something similar, they'd leave the Grellon and a new veteran would be inducted.

Harlech's Grellon (11 Veterans)
    Veteran Sergeant Malfoy Cadwgan
    Veteran Sergeant Wesly Karrde
    Veteran Sergeant Bleddyn
    Veteran  Pelleaon
    Veteran Aeddon
    Veteran Maelgwyn Gwynedd
    Sternguard Veteran  Tobin
    Sternguard Veteran Pieter Kralle
    Sternguard Veteran Corvis
    Vanguard Veteran Julius Dorja
    Vanguard Veteran Owain


So far I've converted models for seven of the eleven characters and here's what we've got so far.

Veteran Sergeant Malfoy Cadwgan
     This is my Welsh Piper model.  He's made with a captain's legs and backpack, terminus crux shoulder pad, a Black Templar torso, an Imp Guard vehicle antennae for the pack, second party cloak and base, and a few other bits.  The bagpipe is stuff modeled for the bag, and the pipes themselves are bits of blackpowder weapons from a pirate range that I had bought a couple years back to use for Mordheim conversions.

Veteran Sergeant Bleddyn
    This is the metal classic veteran sgt that's been around for a number of years now.  I haven't made any tweaks to this one, I think he's cool just the way he is.

Veteran Aeddon
      This marine consists of Sanguinary Guard legs, Templar torso and pistol, FW head, and then the banner and power fist are from the Captain box.

Sternguard Veteran Pieter Kralle
     Sanguinary guard legs again for this fellow (I love the dynamic look to those legs in that set), veteran shoulder pads, and Sang Guard torso this time as well.  The pack started as a plasma cannon pack with bits added for the comm upgrade.  I need to reprime this one and a couple others due to the weather not cooperating as well as it should that day.

 

Sternguard Veteran Corvis
     This is one of the communication upgrade marines from the Forge World Horus Heresy series of models.  The only tweaks I've made to this guy is a shoulder pad swap and a purity scroll on the backpack.

 

Vanguard Veteran Julius Dorja
      This model is mainly company champion bits, shoulder pad from captain kit and one crux pad, and then a Forge World jump pack.

Vanguard Veteran Owain
    This marine is a Forge World assault marine with a Sang Guard power sword for the only conversion to him.


And that is my Grellon so far.  Still looking for ideas and inspiration on the last four and then that's when I'll see about paint jobs for them all as a group.  If anyone out there has an idea for one of the missing models, feel free to comment or drop me a message with it.

6th Reserve Tactical Company

I'm going a bit old school on this one as a tip of the hat to Neverness who in addition to being nice enough to get me going on this blog, also has a collection of old school GW items that he's yet to even open that would make some museums envious.  So, this blog post is on my 6th Company, one of the Tactical Reserve Companies.

That's right, an entire company of the original 3 part plastic marines

6th Company, Reserve Tactical Company "Wardens of Honor"
Captain Eamonn Sidhe
    Company Champion Dafydd Gwilyn
    Company Standard Bearer Padraig Haig
    10 Tactical Squads
    3 Dreadnoughts
    9 Rhinos
    4 Razorbacks

For those of you keeping count, with the 7 pictured in the 2nd Company photos, this makes a total of 15 Rhinos and there are still 4 that haven't made a picture yet.  (I know, I have a problem, but that problem is not running out of Rhino's so far.)

To the left ....

And to the right ....

This company is, except for the command squad, made up of the original plastic 3 part marines.  I finally got to go to a Games Day this past year and at a local game store picked up a huge bag of close to 200 of these guys for roughly $100 (sgts, missile launchers, and meltagunners included) and yes, that means almost an entire other company is made of these guys as well.

We're the semi-modern throwbacks

The command squad is made up of the Captain and some 3 part marines from the Assault on Black Reach set just to keep the theme going for the Company.  It just seemed like an appropriate way to round out the force.

So that's 4 Companies down and still 4 more to share with you with 2 more to build sometime in the future.

Rolling long odds to a single VP

So I got in a game this Saturday versus Bob's Dark Angels.  The lists were at 1750 and the Relic mission with long table edge deployment.  I've not played Bob before now though we've had a few conversations.  It was an enjoyable game where both of us had some very wonky and streaky dice rolls.

Dark Angels assembled

Dark Angels
Unknown HQ (didn't step out of hiding until last game turn so never did anything)
6 man Terminator squad w/ 2 chain fists and a plasma cannon
6 man Terminator squad w/ Assault Cannon
5 Knights
6 Bikes with Multimelta Attack Bike
3 full Tactical Squads w/ plasma gun and plasma cannon

Dark Angels deployed

Lions on the prowl

Lions of HarlechCaptain w/ artificer, relic blade, storm shield
3 ten man Tactical Squads w/ melta, missile launcher, and combi-melta
5 TH/SS Assault Terminators in a Landraider w/ pintle Multimelta
Ironclad w/ melta and heavy flamer in a Drop Pod
10 Sternguard in a Drop Pod
5 man Devastator Squad w/ 4 missile launchers

Lions of Harlech Deployed

Turn OneI had won the roll and choose to go first.  I started with a general push by the three tactical squads and the land raider towards the Relic in the middle.  The Ironclad drop pod landed right in front of the bike squad where I hoped to kill a few of them.  As it turns out, that was a forlorn hope.  The Ironclad failed to hit with the meltagun and failed to wound with the heavy flamer.  My Dev squad and the landraider combined to kill 5 guys out of central DA tactical squad.

The DA turn at least had his bikes bottled up in the corner between the Ironclad and the Drop Pod.  However the Attack Bike made quick work of the Dreadnought which couldn't even be bothered to kill someone with it's explosion.  His other shooting took a marine out of one Tac Squad and two out of another one.

Don't worry, I won't be here long

Turn Two
My Sternguard failed to show up this turn and I continued my general push forward.  This put my central squad just shy of gaining the relic this turn.  I continued to shoot the central enemy squad since they were perched to shoot down on the Relic.  My landraider and some long range Tactical bolter shots killed another 4 of them which left just the Sgt.  My Dev squad killed a long marine out of a second squad.  His dice just didn't want that center squad to live as he failed just about every save be it armor or cover.

They're HEEEEERE

He started his turn with the Deathwing Assault.  I was lucky here in that since my drop pod and Ironclad had boxed in his bikers, they weren't midfield with that teleport homer.  His Multimelta bike struck again, this time killing the Drop Pod which took a DA tac marine with it in the explosion.  The terminators shooting took out half the tactical squad with my Captain and then I lost a couple marines off my flanking tactical squad.

Why won't those Deathwing just die?

Turn Three
My Sternguard once again failed to arrive and I turn almost my entire army on the terminators in the center of my deployment zone.  I figured if I could kill those or at least all but one or two, I could then assault the Knights with my Thundernators.  Well best laid plans and all that jazz, because after 3 combi-melta shots, 2 lascannons, 2 missile launchers, 2 melta guns, 3 assault cannon shots, a multimelta, and roughly 20 bolter worth of wounds later .... one Terminator was dead.  These were obviously Fallen Dark Angels in league with the Dark Powers because they just wouldn't fail a 5+ invul save.  My dev squad killed a few guys out of a tactical squad and I then assaulted the terminators with my Thunderhammers and hoped to deal with the Knights later. I lost 1 Terminator and killed 3 of his so that worked out alright.

His turn three saw him get a glance on my landraider with his attack bike and a few various marines were killed from random shots.  The sole survivor started charging across to try and get to the relic.  The 2/3rds squad on his right flank also started across the open ground for the Relic as well.  His Knights then charged into my terminators.  He charged up the maces and inflicted an even 10 wounds, which the Emperor protected from as I made 9 out of 10 saves.  The thunderhammers struck back killing the lone regular terminator left and and killed a Knight as well.

Turn 4
Alright, so the Sternguard now auto arrive and land just in front of his bikers and close enough to the building that the Dark Angels using the balcony really can't see more than a couple of them.  My mostly intact central squad grabbed the Relic and moved back some with it while the two survivors of the squad by the slid into a sacrificial blocking position or at least to provide some cover.  The landraider killed a couple marines in his right flank squad and the Dev squad got a couple more.  I tried to use the machine spirit to multimelta the lone sgt but failed to wound so he got to be killed by a couple bolters instead.  Sternguard made up for arriving late and killed 2 bikers and the attack bike.  In the attack phase the maces got one terminator due to a failed save and the thunderhammers killed a Knight for a tied combat.

During his turn he concentrated on shooting at the Relic squad or advancing toward it but I only lost a couple marines.  His bikes charged into my Sternguard and we both lost one for a tied combat.  Knights didn't kill anyone and the Thunderhammers did the same. He charged my landraider with his last terminator squad and he failed to pin with two chainfist hits and no glances from the 5 powerfist hits.  Definitely got lucky there as you don't see a 3 rolled on 2d6 for chainfists very often much less on two rolls in a row.

Turn 5
I moved back a bit more with the Relic and kept my blocking pair in position.  I killed all but 2 marines from his right flank squad and then it was on to combat where the Sternguard and bikers did nothing to each other due to saves and bad rolling by us both.  I charged my Captain in to assist the terminators where he killed one, the terminators killed one and the Knights did nothing, but they're fearless so there we stood.

So much death

His turn six saw his shooting everything he could at the squad with the Relic and this brought out his HQ finally.  He managed to kill half the remaining squad which put the Relic four inches away from the closest survivor and thus unclaimed.  I finally remembered that sternguard had krak grenades and for the loss of one Sternguard to the bikers, finished the bikers off.  The battle of storm shields and 2+ armor saves saw no one dead.

We rolled to see if there was another turn and lo it was over.  Relic unclaimed, both warlords alive, no line breaker, and Bob with First Blood.  I think if this had gone one more turn I could have pulled out the win as I think the Relic would have remained unclaimed but my Sternguard were ready to put 16 shots into his Warlord as well as grab linebreaker.  But as it stood, it was a 1-0 win for him on secondaries.  It was a good fun close game, and I'm looking forward to getting another game in against him.  We both had some abysmal saving rolls at times and then each had one major saving roll where stuff just wouldn't die at all which made it quite interesting at times while we both tried to adjust to what should have happened but didn't.

Next up for the blog will most likely be a post highlighting some of the Lions of Harlech's vehicle armory.

Chapter Beliefs and Traditions

Ok, this is another part of the chapter fluff that I had a lot of fun coming up with.  This part is largely inspired by Dan Abnett's Brothers of the Snake which is hands down one of my top three Black Library novels of all time.  (For those curious, Mechanicum by Graham McNeill and Deathwatch by Steve Parker are the other two in my top three.  Abnett's Know No Fear also gets an honorable mention, because who doesn't want to see Baneblades raining down on the snooty Ultramarines?)  There is also some inspiration by the Doom Eagles chapter which I've always enjoyed the fluff of, but just never liked their color scheme (plus I'd go nuts playing a chapter with an already written fluff but that's just one of my idiosyncrasies).



Chapter Beliefs and Traditions
Heated Omens
    With the Cymru system being such a cold, ice covered landscape, it is believed by the chapter that it is a bad omen for a newly inducted battle brother's first deployment to be on a desert or some other hot climate, dooming the marine to an ill fated life of service and some fell end in his future.

The Long Cold Night
    On the eve of anniversary of their Chapter's reconnection with the Imperium, the oldest veteran and the youngest initiate stand watch together out upon the Lyr Glacier from the setting sun until the following sunrise in remembrance of their long tenure apart from the Emperor's guidance and light.

 Snow Raven's Lament
    One of the native species of the ice moon Braelich is the Snow Raven.  These reclusive and rare animals are rarely seen and are viewed as omens and harbringers of great wisdom and knowledge.  When one is found dead, it is seen as a great loss and leads to a week of fasting and introspective studies.

The Hunt
    When an intiate is deemed ready to ascend to the rank of battle brother, he is sent out upon the Lyr Glacier and the frozen wilds beyond to hunt one of the ice lions of Cymru.  If he survives a month out upon the ice, he is recieved back among his brothers as one of them when he returns with his kill.  If it takes the intiate less than a week, he is seen as truely marked for greatness.

The Order of Harlech's Grellon
    This is a special order within the Chapter consisting of a dozen veterans not within the normal command rank who act as both guardians for the Chapter Master and special advisors for him.  These veterans are picked by an assembly of the chapter's company commanders, the Chapter Master, and other select leaders of the chapter.  Only those who've shown the highest level of honor in their service, words, and deeds will be considered for admission to the Grellon.

The Shrine of Lady de Winter
    A small shrine honoring a local Cymru saint, Saint Kath'rine Rhias who led the faithful of the system through several lean years of failed hydroponic crops, exists on a small moon orbiting Cymru II.  Those slated to lead a command out on a mission for the Chapter spend an evening alone in the shrine for the guidance and blessings of the Emperor before setting out.  A small number of priests sworn to silence tend and maintain the shrine.

The Circle of Honor
    This is a special tournament held every five years in which each chapter company sends it's champion to represent it.  The winning champion is given the chapter banner Lion's Honor to safekeep until the next tournament as well as being granted the title "Defender of Honor".  2nd Company's Champion Petyr Harisal has won this event the past three times it has been held and is the current Defender of Honor.

Ice Burial
    When the remains of a fallen battle brother are returned to Cymru, they are cremated and the urn is buried into the Lyr Glacier for an eternal standing of watch over the chapter.  If a battle brother's remains are not able to be recovered, an empty urn is buried instead so that all those who have served will take their place of honor.

The Big Boys

So I thought it was time to show off my big boys which are in various degrees of completion.

First up is the Kingfisher which is a Warhound Titan under the command of Princeps Kristoff Harrington from the Legio Praetor.

I'm hunting you down ....

Second up is the quartet of Super Heavy Tanks from the 1st Cymric Heavy Guards Regiment under the command of General Albrecht Rabenstein.  There are 2 Baneblades, 1 Shadowsword, and 1 Stormlord.  All of these are how I got them off eBay and the total spent on them is just under $250 so I'm quite pleased with the result from what was spent on them.  All but one of them I found posted in the wrong part of eBay ( I mean yeah it's a model kit but would you look for them in the plastic model section and not under games?).  These are all how I got them so I probably need to one day see about getting the primed Baneblade and the Stormlord to match the other two.

slow rolling thunder is coming

And last of all is the one that I picked up at this past Games Day at the Forge World booth but haven't worked on yet.  It's an imposing pile of resin and it can be a bit daunting.  So I give you the Spartan also know as the Land Raider On Steroids.

THIS ... IS ... SPARTAN!

So, that's my heavier than needed for regular 40K collection so far.  I'd like to add a few other pieces in the future (I'm looking at you Cestus and you Reaver Titan) but probably won't be in the near or foreseeable future anyway.

2nd Company

Up for this blog post is my Second Company.  Again, the vehicles listed in the company organization are fluff only, not owned though this is the company that I come closest with.  I'm only going to do transports in the different company pictures and do a separate post on the Dreadnoughts.  I've always loved Dreadnoughts so am planning to do a post with all of them together.  This company picture has about half my Rhino complement and all of my razorbacks.

2nd Company Assembled

2nd Company, Battle Company "Guardians of Honor"
Captain Aithne Cystennin, Master of the Watch
    Company Champion Petyr Harisal, Defender of Honor
    Company Standard Bearer Owyn Ghiscari
    6 Tactical Squads
    2 Assault Squads
    2 Devastator Squads
    5 Dreadnoughts
    9 Rhinos
    4 Razorbacks

Command Squad

My Command Squads are made up of the models I use for Sternguard as well as the Apothecaries and extra special weapons models for the Tactical Squads.

And as a little correction of errors, it seems that some guys went on deployment and missed out on the memo on when company pictures were going to be taken.  A dozen scouts and six terminators ended up in a box on a shelf separated from the rest of my 40K models and didn't make the appropriate blog posts.  So here are their belated appearance.

We really do exist.