Battlefleet

So I've been showing off the Lions of Harlech, but I haven't shown yet how they project that power beyond their own star system.  The debut of my Avenger Strike Fighter on Saturday got me thinking more about the fleet component of the Lions.  Therefore this blog post is on that.  Battlefleet Gothic is one of the specialty games that I've never gotten a chance to play before, but I love the look of the Imperial ships.  I picked some marine vessels up on the cheap several years back but not nearly enough to represent the Lion's entire fleet of course.

First up is the fluff part of the fleet.  I think it'd be fun to build out the entire force though.  Gothic scale Thunderhawks are probably the only way I'll own any of those as well.

Fleet Command
    1 Battlebarge
        Caernarfon, Captain Jacob Wellsley
    8 Strike Cruisers
        Cardiff, Captain Ian Siarles
        Powys, Captain Mori Stenshoel
        Swansea, Captain Liam Caudell
        Conwy, Captain Mithos Henke
        Caerphilly, Captain Malcolm Greystroke
        Rhiannon, Captain Cedraig Faulkner
        Blodeuwedd, Captain Bertraum Mallory
        Gorsedd, Captain Hiram MacGuinness
    11 Gladius-class Frigates
    7 Nova-class Frigates
    14 Hunter-class Destroyers
    22 Thunderhawk Gunships
    10 Thunderhawk Transporters

The Caernarfon

The Caernarfon

I've only managed to get one of the Strike Cruisers so far as eBay is getting pretty ridiculous for Battlefleet Gothic prices.  I'd like to build the fleet on up at some point, but that's on hold.  The Rhiannon is only partially painted at this point but it like so many other parts of the chapter are on the To Do List. (along with a couple hundred marines, eight dreadnoughts, thirty some vehicles, .... I need to find a way to hire a full time painter I think.)

The Rhiannon with two Gladius Frigates and two Nova Frigates

a dozen Hunter-class Destroyers

a pair of BattleTech ships used as fleet train vessels

Their fleet was once larger but the Battlebarge Colwyn and several strike cruisers were lost during the Lion's crusading years.  Once arriving at Cymru, the Battlebarge Gwynfedd and another strike cruiser was cannibalized to build the Fortress Monastery.  Having now re-established itself with the Imperium, the Lions have acquired their two newest strike cruisers Cardiff and Gorsedd.

So that's the fleet as it exists so far, though it's skewed heavily toward escorts at the moment.  And if anyone in the area here who plays Gothic and wants to walk me through a game or two, say the word and we'll set something up.

Air Power

So the time has come to show off my air power at present.  Flyers are something I've only got into in the past year with the Stormtalon being my first one.  I've since added a few options and I've got a few others on my wish list.  I definitely want to see about a Fire Raptor and a Caestus Assault Ram at some point.  And of course like every marine player, I'd love a Thunderhawk but that's way way way down the list on things to get.

So first up on the list is my newest flyer Flaming Death, the Avenger fighter, that RTVortil was kind enough to paint up for me.  Fluff wise, I've put this figher in Commodore Gregorie Pelliose's 1154th Fighter Wing, A Flight of the 317th Squadron.  Being an Imperial Navy fighter, I didn't want to do it in the same color scheme as my marines but I wanted something that wouldn't stand out way different either.  What we went with was a WWII American Naval inspired scheme with a blue on top and a gray underneath.

 

Then we have the Stormtalon Deliwr Marwolaeth (Death Dealer).  The canopy got misplaced on this and once I find a replacement it'll be totally done.  I'm a fan of the skyhammer missile launcher to go with the assault cannon and like the amount of shots that configuration generates for strafing runs.

This is a pair of Horten He-347s from Dust Tactics that I picked up online for a very reasonable price that I'm going to use as stand in Stormtalons.  They have about the same footprint and have a great look to them.  I've named these two Awyr Helwyr (Sky Hunter) and Awyr Marchog (Sky Knight).  One of these just needs a few touchups and some decals added to Imperial it up a bit while the second needs a fair bit more work.  I need to get them both 40K flying bases as well.

Then we come to the Stormraven Awyr Llew (Sky Lion).  I need to get back to work on it at some point as it's only about 80% assembled.  This is a great delivery system to get an Ironclad, a Sternguard squad and a lot of fire power into one pin point strike to overload part of you opponent's force.  This is one of my favorite tactics to use at times.

And last of all is the Drop Pod contingent.  There are three assembled and painted, one primed, one partially assembled, and three still on sprues needing to be put together.  The partial one will probably end up as terrain at some point due to the fact that when I got it the directions were missing and as it was the first one I had assembled, it went together wrong and now the upright pieces between the doors don't fit on.  Of the three painted ones, one of them earned a name for itself as was mentioned here.  This drop pod was named Cadarn which is Welsh for Steadfast which seems appropriate.

So that's my air power as it stands at present.  I've really come to love the Stormtalon and the Avenger is just a sexy beast of a fighter, so I'm looking forward to what other flyers I can work into my growing air force and what capabilities they can bring to the tabletop.

9th Company

To paraphrase Grand Moff Tarkin, I think it is time we demonstrated the full firepower of this chapter.

I've always like the idea of the 9th Company.  The sheer amount of fire power it represents that can be brought to bear against an enemy of the Imperium is fun to behold.  The majority of this company is made up of plasma cannons with some lascannons as well.  A few missile launchers and multi-meltas round out the selection.  I won a large ebay lot back last fall that had close to 30 plasma cannon marines and a dozen lascannon marines.  This lot lead to the creation of the 9th Company which was rounded out with old school bolter marines not used in the 6th Company.

9th Company, Reserve Devastator Company "Hammer Strikes"
Captain Breidh Aislinn
    Company Champion Julius Candless
    Company Standard Bearer Piotr Eichner
    10 Devastator Squads
    2 Dreadnoughts
    7 Rhinos
    3 Razorbacks

 
And since it's a Devastator Company, I thought it only appropriate that the command squad was also a Devastator Squad.  It's fun little tweaks like this that make this scale so enjoyable.  Plus seeing an apothecary in a devestator squad is fun to see.

So that brings the total fire power of the company in at 20 plasma cannons, 11 lascannons, 5 multi-meltas, 4 missile launchers, 1 power sword, 7 power fists, 8 bolt pistols, and 59 bolters.  Nothing like overwhelming fire power for when you want it really really dead.

Over the next few days I'm still working on the 3rd Company blog, the flyers blog, and I should have a battle report from Saturday evening as well.  Hope you all are enjoying following my show of the chapter as much as I'm enjoying showcasing it.

Supporting Fire Power From The Armory

Alright, so first off I guess no one wanted the honorable mention for guessing my naming convention for Dreadnoughts.  For the record, I'm using River from Middle Earth in the J. R. R. Tolkien universe to name my Dreadnoughts.  It's a great tip of the hat to a very enjoyable universe with plenty to draw from for names.

So moving on, what is an army without some tanks and supporting artillery fire?  The armory is decently stocked with the fun sort of things to bring out and lay waste to an opponent though some of these only rarely see the tabletop these days.  It's enough of an armory to keep the techmarines busy when they're not working on all the Dreadnoughts and Landraiders.

First up is the long range suppression fire in the form of a pair of Whirlwinds.  With the amount of cover saves available these days and considering how many Eldar I end up playing, I really ought to get at least one of these in my list more often to make use of the Incendiary Missiles.  Striping cover away from those cowering space hippies is simply too good a trick to miss.

Next up is the trio of Vindicators.  I've always been a fan of the fire power potential of this vehicle between the cannon and the siege shield, but unfortunately it tends to be a bit of a fire magnet.  You can normally keep one alive for at least one shot by hiding behind terrain then plowing through via the siege shield, but keeping it around for a second shot is a very rare thing.  I've yet to have one stay alive beyond the third turn in quite a long while.

Last of all is the three Predators.  One of these is the triple lascannon variant while the other two are autocannons with the heavy bolter sponsons.  The amount of shots that a predator can represent is nice though I tend to go for a devestator squad more often than not in my lists.

While this is a pretty decent amount of firepower, I have a feeling that I'll end up adding to this pool at some point in time though no plans for the immediate future.  Mainly due to the fact that all three types together are outnumbered by the landraiders if for no other reason.  I haven't decided on a naming theme for these vehicles yet, so if anyone has a suggestion, I'm open to ideas.

So coming up in the next few blog posts are my flyers (the beginnings of a small air fleet anyway), the 3rd and 9th Companies, and the Battle Report for this coming Saturday evening's game.  Also my Pig Iron transport is finally enroute and it will be in a blog hopefully toward the end of next week as well.

Dreadnoughts

Let me just start this post by admitting that I love Dreadnoughts.  To me they're one of the most iconic symbols of space marine power along side the bolter marine and the Landraider.  With that admission, why I have just so many Dreadnoughts and wouldn't mind having more is explained.  I know a lot of people have written Dreadnoughts off as a viable unit in a marine army, but between Drop Pods and the Stormraven, they just have too many ways to get there fast to crush a foe.

To borrow a couple lines from a Dream Evil song ...
Can't bend what's made of metal
We're reinforced with steel
We never will surrender
We never kneel

First up, the leader of my Conclave of Ancients for the Lions of Harlech, the Chaplain Dreadnought Celebrant.  I'm not sold on the rules for the Chaplain Dreadnought but I love the way the model looks and when I had a chance to get one on eBay pretty cheap I went for it.

After that is the Contemptor Dreadnought Sirannon.  The Contemptor is probably the nicest looking version of the Dreadnought they've made so far.  This one is armed with dual Kheres Assault Cannons and the Missile Launcher.

The other Contemptor that is finished is Malduin.  He has a Kheres Assault Cannon and a Dreadnought Close Combat Weapon with built in Heavy Flamer.

After that are the Ironclad Dreadnoughts Gilrain and Glanhir.  These two have been seen quite often on the tabletop as I love the Ironclad as a unit in my armies.  Both have underslung meltaguns and heavy flamers.

Next in line is a pair of Venerable Dreadnoughts Celduin and Celebros.  First has the Plasma Cannon and the second an Assault Cannon.

Following them, we have the Contemptor Dreadnought Greylin and the Ironclad Dreadnought Maulduin.  I need to assemble and put the arms on the Contemptor still.  I plan to do the Contemptor with Assault Cannon and Dreadnought Close Combat Weapon.  The Ironclad has meltagun and heavy flamer under it's Close Combat Weapons.

The Dreadnoughts Norbourn and Taeglin are next in line.  Both have Multimeltas and Close Combat Weapons.

And then finally we have the Dreadnoughts Morthond, Gelion, and Harnen.  The first has Close Combat Weapon and Assault Cannon, the second has Missile Launcher and Assault Cannon, and the third has Multimelta and Close Combat Weapon.

I'll give whoever figures out and post the naming convention for my Dreadnoughts a mention in the next blog post.  The literary fans among you should get it fairly quick I should think.  I still want to add a couple dual autocannon Dreadnoughts at some point and I'm sure I'll find a reason to two to add some others as well.

Getting shot to pieces by oversize cockroaches

So this Sat I got to be the fill in Neverness (which I proved by rolling like him quite convincingly at times) in a 2000 point game against WarFrog.  It was Relic mission with normal long table edge deployment.  He was playing Tyranids with an interesting wrinkle and I had my Lions of course.

Warfrog's List
Flying Hive Tyrant w/ devourers
2 Carnifexs with 2 sets of devourers
2 Carnifexs with 2 sets of devourers
30 Termaguants
30 Termaguants
Tervigon
2 Venomthropes
Venomthrope
2 Hive Guard
Living Artillery Node Formation
Sky Shield

Lions List
Captain w/ Relic Blade, Artificer Armor, and Storm Shield (in Stormraven)
Command Squad w/ Champion, Apothecary, and 3 Vets with Power Weapons
10 man Tactical Squad w/ Flamer, Combi-flamer, and Missile Launcher
10 man Tactical Squad w/ Flamer, Combi-flamer, and Missile Launcher
10 man Tactical Squad w/ Flamer and Missile Launcher
10 Sternguard in Drop Pod
Ironclad w/ Heavy Flamer and Meltagun in Drop Pod
Ironclad w/ Heavy Flamer and Meltagun (in Stormraven)
Stormraven w/ Multimelta and Lascannon
Thunderfire Cannon
Vindicator w/ Siege Shield
Landspeeder w/ Heavy Bolter
Landspeeder w/ Heavy Bolter

Lions Gathered

Tyranids Deploying

Lions Deployed

Warfrog won the roll to go first and I didn't even come close to seizing the initiative.  He only advanced his Tyrant in flying mode, the carnifexes, and the unit of 2 Venomthropes to give cover to the carnifexes.  Living artillery fire killed off 5 of 10 marines in a tactical squad.

My turn was very unsuccessful.  The Sternguard drop podded in front of his lines.  Two tactical squads advanced toward the relic and then I opened fire on his lines.  The vindicator hit two carnifexes but he made both cover saves.  The Sternguard rapidfired poisoned ammo into the Carnifex but only caused 2 wounds thanks to saves..  The Thunderfire put it's shots into the Hiveguard and surrounding guants but only killed a guant.

His turn the Tyrant moved up and landed to take on the Vindicator and the Carnifexes advanced again.  His heavy fire took out 4 of the 5 man tactical and took 4 out of the 10 man tactical.  Then his Tyrant shooting glanced the Vindicator to death.

The Stormraven showed up but the Ironclad didn't.  The Multimelta, Lascannon, and 2 missiles only managed to inflict one wound on the Tyrant.  The dice weren't being kind to me as the lascannon rolled a 1 to wound and the missiles both rolled 1s to hit.  Thunderfire got a couple more guants.

The Sternguard got decimated from the Tyranid shooting.  He took a hull point off the Stormraven as well with a glancing hit.  He also took a hull point off the drop pod as two carnifexes moved onto the relic.  Tyrant regened a wound.  Lone marine died and the 5 man squad was shot down to one flamer marine.

The Ironclad didn't show again.  The Stormraven swung around into hover mode and unloaded it's cargo.  The Ironclad in it heavy flamered 5 guants.  The lone marine with a flamer moved up and failed to wound a carnifex.  Thunderfire got the venomthrope on the Sky Shield and a couple guants.  Stormraven put two wounds on the Tyrant.  Drop pods killed a venomthrope.  Captain and command squad charged the two carnifexes at the relic with the flamer marine.  Lost one of command squad to overwatch.  Ironclad charged three guants.  1 Carnifex was killed and the other wounded, lost 3 command squad to crush.

His tyrant leaped over the stormraven.  The two carnifex glanced the stormraven to death. Biovore artillery tried to kill the Thunderfire but did nothing.  Tyrant charged in and killed Ironclad.  Captain used the relic blade to finish off the carnifex and the lone tactical marine with flamer moved onto relic.  Tyrant regened a wound.

 Other Ironclad finally showed up and into the meatgrinder he went.  He heavy flamered 5 more guants and the command squad charged the guant horde and try and finish them off.  Thunderfire tried to kill a little more on the Sky Shield ineffectively due to saves made.

Tyrant jumped into the middle and killed the Ironclad with shooting.  Carnifexes moved over and killed the one lone marine with the relic with overwhelming firepower.  Tervigon moved to the middle and spawned a 9 man guant unit but plugged itself up.  After deploying them, they then ran onto the Relic.  I killed some more guants in close combat with none lost.  His Tyrant regened a wound.

I killed the last three of the guants in close combat and consolidated off.  Only killed a couple of the relic guants with the drop pods.  Last tactical squad in the bunker and the thunderfire combined to put 4 wounds on the Tervigon but couldn't finish it off.  I went ahead and called it at that point.  If there was a turn 6, he'd have easily killed my captain and the one vet with him from the 2 shooting carnifex, the shooting tyrant and the exocrine, biovores, warriors shooting, etc.

The exocrine with that Living Artillery Node formation on a sky shield bubble wrapped with guants and a venomthrope thrown in to improve the cover save up to a 2+ is just nasty to go up against.  And 4 carnifex putting out 48 str 6 rerolling missed shots is hard to shift due to the sheer weight of fire power.  I was constantly having to make 17, 18, 19 saves on my marines and it was melting them away fast.  And with that many shots, they'll glance a flyer to death fast as well.  I'll have to do some thinking on how to deal with it.  I'm sure there is a counter, I'll just have to plan it a bit better.

So I Got My Imperial Knight

This Tuesday in the early afternoon, I swung by the FLGS and picked up my Imperial Knight.  Which promptly lead to an afternoon and evening of building since the Knight Companion book was delayed in shipping or I'd have spent a lot of time reading instead of building.

 

For the record
   1.  I love the look of the knight and it went together fairly easy.
   2.  I hate the little handrail and similar bits.  I have fairly chunky fingers and little fiddly bits
        don't cooperate.
   3.  I think the thermal cannon would be more valuable in combat, but I just love the look of
        the battle cannon more so that's what it got.

So the legs were first up in the directions and went really smoothly.

Next up was the torso and I got fairly well into it when disaster struck.  The bottle of glue ran empty which lead to a break to run out for glue and dinner since I was already out and hadn't eaten yet.

So reinforced with a new bottle of glue (and a just in case spare), the torso continued.  I also finished the might chain sword arm as well.

This is where I took a thought break.  I know with what I regularly face for foes, that the thermal cannon would pay huge dividends, but in the end the battle cannon won out.  I'm building this for aesthetics more than what it's going to do which is why that weapon won out.  I like the longer lance like look of the battle cannon.

As can be seen, some tweaks were made to give it more of my personal flair as well.  The Black Templar vehicle upgrade bit (the sword with chains and cross one) was added to the hanging banner.  A few Kotobukiya MSG vent bits added some detail along with a couple purity seals.  Then a small banner pole which is where I'll put the pilot's personal coat of arms was added to the upper hull along with a sashimono style banner pole.

I finally decided on a House name, colors, and coat of arms for the time being at least.  My original plan was to base it on the Order of St. John and the island of Malta.  Too many French, Spanish, and Italian names that really didn't fit into the overall theme of my fluff with the other groups changed my mind.  So I went back to the drawing board and fell on the idea of Beowulf.  So the Knightly House of Heorot on the Knight World of Jutland was born lead by the Eorl Hrothgar.

Eorl will by the Lord or Seneschal leading the Knightly House
Thane will be a normal Knight
Ceorl will be a Knight Apparent

The color scheme is going to be quarter dark red and bone white along the lines of the following image.  I'm thinking dark brass for edging and black and dark metallics for the under skeleton of the Knight.

The coat of arms will be Imperial Eagles to show allegiance to local Imperial Forces (namely the Lions of Harlech).  The Eagle will be mixed with the House Sigils of a black rook with a sword lengthwise through it on the bone white background.

The Imperial Knight Paladin that I build will be piloted by the Thane Eadgils whose personal coat of arms I'm stilling thinking on though I'm leaning toward crossed axes.

So that's all for now and I'll see what I can come up with for next time.

Eridani Light Horse

Ok, so time for a brief blog break from 40K to show off one of my other forces.  RTVortil, this means you can stop reading now.

This is the 7th Striker Battalion (Nigel's Nightslayers) of the 21st Striker Regiment (Four Horsemen).  The Eridani Light Horse have always been one of my favorite canon organizations in the BattleTech universe.  My thanks to Cheef, Murl, Hive Angel, and Screech for getting me going in BattleTech after I'd been wanting to play the system since back in my college days.

Big thanks go to Murl both for getting me an unseen Wolverine, which is hands down my favorite mech, and for gifting me with a plethora of background fluff which is allowing me to organize my force along the 2025's force org of the Eridani Light Horse.  All the lance weight classes, unit organization, lance call signs, etc are canon, just names and mechs are different due to my preference on mechs and the fact that FASA was horrible at giving generic people names.  The Battalion commander's name was not changed.

For each lance description, I'll be using the following as a guide to explain where I'm at with the unit.
X  = Fully Painted, Based, and Decaled
*  = Fully Painted and Based
-   = Fully Painted, Needs Based
o  = Model Owned

Battalion Command Lance (Nigel's Guards)

X    Major Jameson Nigel, Flashman
*    Ian Branscombe, Victor
-    Blake Holmes, Zeus
o    Emily Haerdesky, Mauler

11th Company (Pelham's Company)
Red Seven Lance

X    Captain Timothy Pelham, Wolverine
-    Madilyn Pritchart, Dervish
*    Paul Malherbe, Quickdraw
*    Douglas Brandei, Valkyrie

Blue Seven Lance

*    Lt. Elizabeth Henke, Wolverine
-    Jeffery Olmsted, Wolverine
-    Shannon Allenby, Panther
*    Eric Donovan, Thorn

Gold Seven Lance

-    Lt. Harold Crane, Catapult
X    Mark Bronson, Archer
-    Andrew Holbrook, Trebuchet
X    Elaine Hathoway, Quickdraw

12th Company (Lightning Company)
Silver Lance

-    Captain Li Hsien, Dragon
-    Andrea Oates, Quickdraw
-    Matthew Tourni, Centurian
-    Elliot Sullivan, Highlander

Black Lance

-    Lt. Vincent McCrory, Griffin
-    Marc Baird, Hollander, Wolverine
-    James Cross, Enforcer
-    Chelsea Dobbs, Centurian

Purple Lance

-    Lt. Lisa Brackhaven, Wolverine
X    Sean Boehlert, Jenner
X    Neil Crowley, Jenner
-    Sheila Banich, Wolverine

27th Company (Wolfhounds)
Green Lance

*    Major Pierre Bouchard, Highlander
*    Andrea Clavell, Awesome
o    Malcolm Forbes, Awesome (both arms somehow missing)
-    Ibrahim Ghosn, Dragon

White Lance

-    Lt. Lloyd Bancroft, Centurian
-    Timothy Leahy, Whitworth
-    Katherine Burke, Enforcer
-    Roger Waterly, Whitworth

Platinum Lance

(Still needs to be aquired)
    Lt. Edmund Dempsey
    Elliot Watkinson
    Terrence Pretloe
    Jessica Hearns

Then we have some support from another part of the 21st Striker Regiment, the 1st Armored Infantry Battalion.

Alpha Company, First Platoon

These microarmor halftracks will end up being 4 stands of mechanized infantry.
        Lt. Hector Torres
  o    Sgt. George Osbourne
  o    Cpl. Allison Blaire
  o    Cpl. Ian O'Cleary
  o    Cpl. Jason Allenby

Alpha Company, Fourth Platoon

      Lt. Vince Tulane
o    Sgt. Patricia Parks, Goblin Medium Tank
o    Cpl. Nathan Holmes, Goblin Medium Tank
o    Cpl. Richard Pressby, Goblin Medium Tank
o    Cpl. Dayvid Webley, Goblin Medium Tank

Tin Can Company, Strike Lance

-    Lt Llewellyn Trent, Ontos
-    Simon Griffith, Ontos
o    Doug Puller, Hetzer
o    Jamie Redmund, Hetzer
o    Collin Westworth, Ontos
o    Linnet Paulus, Ontos

Tin Can Company, Recon Lance

One Saladin seems to have run off on a mission and is currently AWOL.
*    Lt. Owen Rache, Saladin
-    Edward Niven, Saladin
    Amanda Downing
    David Brogues

Boomer Company, Command Lance

-    Captain Greerson Holland, Sturmfeur
-    Lt, Paul Sandoval, LRM Carrier
o    Lt. Manfred VanGeller, LRM Carrier
o    Lt. Trevor Gillespee, LRM Carrier
o    Lt. Victoria Pollack, LRM Carrier
    Lt. Thomas Clavell

And that's where the force stands at the moment.  I've got a bit of painting and a lot of basing still to do on them.  I still need to get another Sturmfeur for the boomer company lance and a couple skulkers for the tin can recon lance.  As far as mechs go, I'm wanting to add some Grasshoppers, maybe another Quickdraw, and then some recon mechs like Wasp, Cicada, Phoenix Hawk, etc to build the last lance and to retire the Enforcers and Whitworths I'm not a huge fan of but they make decent line fillers.

So that's my Eridani Light Horse, hope you all enjoyed.