Dreadtober Part 3

Well, I got a bit off track for the middle of the month there and didn't get quite as much done as I had hoped to for Dreadtober. I had hoped to get seven total Dreadnoughts painted but didn't make it to that end goal. I did finish the three Contemptor Dreadnoughts to go with the two Autocannon Dreadnoughts for a total of five finished for the month. The Ironclad will have to roll over for another project and the other basic Dread will need more work before he can get painted as he keeps snapping off his base at the ankles for some reason.

So that's what we got done this Dreadtober and after missing participating for several years, it was nice to use it as motivation to get some more of my Dread collection painted. See you all next time!

Dreadtober Part 2

So this past weekend there was an attempt at getting a second game of 40K in to continue learning the current edition. The Lions of Harlech were going to be facing off against Neverness' Black Legion contingent. Between the realization that I could actually do it as well as an ode to the Dreadtober theme, I was going to be running a full Dreadnought list. A Chaplain Dreadnought leading a pair each of Contemptors and Ironclads with a Leviathan along as well. The planned game was derailed by the inclusion of a 3rd Party who both made the game more complicated than it needed to be, but also through his gaming style and way of doing things just totally took all the fun out of the experience. Neverness and I are going to see about a second attempt at that game using the same lists at some point in the future which I'm looking forward to. I think he was genuinely surprised when he saw my list and we did get one cool interaction with the two Ironclads charging a Hellbrute for a short and brutal combat.

Now onto the hobby portion of the Dreadtober experience. First up we have the pair of regular Dreadnoughts with paired arms of Autocannons. These Dreadnoughts have been built like this since around 6th Edition and to be honest, I'm not even sure if it is a weapon option any more, but they look too cool to be changing so this is how they'll be staying.

And the last part of the update is that I've made progress painting on the three Contemptors. I'm hoping to have these three completed by the end of this coming weekend for the next update. That will leave me an Ironclad and the other regular Dreadnought to get painted. Progress feels like it is going well and I think I'll be able to finish the plan by the end of the month. So that is where things stand as of now and I'll see you all next week for the next post.

Dreadtober Is Upon Us

So it's been a few years since I've done anything really with 40K especially on the model side of things other than trimming down the collection to something more resembling reasonable. I'm no longer a few squads away from having an entire chapter's worth of infantry and the vehicles have been trimmed down as well. I've kept all the painted models as well as a small selection of unpainted that I didn't want to part with. A fair hunk were sold off and another contingent was sprung on Corey which since he only does a couple squads in a chapter, was enough for him to do 7 or 8 different forces.

So I've got all the Lions of Harlech better organized now for showing them off and while I have a nice contingent of Dreadnaughts (all 28 of them), too large a percent of them are unpainted (11 of them). So with the start of Dreadtober, which I haven't praticipated in quite a while, I'm going to go aggressive and aim to get 7 total Dreadnaughts painted. I'll be looking to finish 3 Contemptors, 1 Ironclad, and 3 regular Dreadnaughts. If I finish this challenge, that will leave me 1 Contemptor (which needs a left arm) and 3 Leviathans that need painting.

I'll be actually making it back up to gaming in Johnson City this coming weekend and I think I'll be getting a rematch game against Joel. I greatly was misguessing on how close combat would work so I hopefully I'll be able to work that and other lessons into the next game. I still need to pick up a current marine codex which will help greatly but it hasn't fit into the budget yet. I also need to finish going through my paints and see what is still viable to use. Almost all my Vallejo and Model Color bottles are good with thier twist tops, though a few of them have seperated to the point that I can't get them to remix. All the GW washes seem to be in good shape but the few foundation paints and some of the regular GW paints have harded badly with those flip top lids that don't seem to seal really well. I also have some Tamiya Color paints that have held up well as well, though these are almost all for use on my Battletech miniatures. So that is the current state of things on the Lions of Harlech front. I'll be aiming to do another post in a week to show where I'm at with the Dreadnaughts for Dreadtober. So that is where things stand for the moment and we'll see how it all goes!

The Lions Of Harlech vs. Deathwatch

 "Inquisitor, the Xenos archeotech have been located in the Askaye System. However there is a problem,"

The ancient Inquisitor looked up from the viewer of his cogitator, annoyed to have his entertainment interrupted.

"What problem?" He murmured sharply.

The adept responded fearfully, "Adeptus Astartes. A group from the Lions Of Harlech chapter have already reached the planet and are attempting to retrieve the items."

"What? They were rumored to be lost in the Imperium Nihilus. Well, this can not come to pass, they know not what they are meddling with! Dispatch the Deathwatch, have them bring back the xenos archeotech!"

"It shall be done my lord!" The adept hastily left the chamber while the Inquisitor return to his entertainment. 

+++++++++++++×

Kushail returns to Johnson City with a thousand points of Lions of Harlech in tow. This is his first game of 40k since the early days of 8th edition. So we spent a good amount of time reviewing the rules and catching each other up (I'm not rusty but I'm not a sharp tack either). We decided for fluff reasons that our forces, being both from the Imperium, would be at odds with each other due to the importance of whatever the objectives really are.  The Open War mission Stand Off worked good for this, and we thought it would make for a good "get back into the groove" mission for Kushail. The Deployment and Twist cards were randomly chosen. Although I think we ended up ignoring that Twist card ultimately. 

The game to be played. 

And here are the armies, both at 1000pts each. The Deathwatch featured some models in their battlefield debut. The Chaplain (the army Warlord), Landraider, Venerable Dreadnought, are fighting for the first time along with Killteam Neverness, Killteam Chroneth and a Squad of Deathwatch Terminators. Chroneth and the Terminators are still WIP units in regards to their painting, but battle-ready enough. 

Deathwatch Force, 1K. 

I should have asked for Kushail's list. Oops. Well, I will do what I can to recall what he had in this list. I know the Captain had an awesome relic blade. The Leviathan Dreadnought is the much hyped Doom Of Neverness. The Contemptor Dreadnought, two squads of Tactical Marines with  a Plasma Gun in each one and a Devastator Squad with Heavy Bolters. 

1k of Lions of Harlech. 

And here is our table layout. The three Killteam objectives are already placed. 

The field is set. 

Here is the Lions Of Harlech deployment:

Lions of Harlech deploy. 

And the here is the Deathwatch Deployment. I had a Ruse card that allowed me to deploy three units outside of my DZ, so the Landraider, Squad Neverness and the Chaplain took advantage of this. The squad and Chaplain were embarked inside the Landraider. 

Deathwatch deployment. 

The Lions won the roll off to go first and  the shooting took a few wounds from the Landraider, the maneuver of the turn was the Contemptor Dreads successful charge into the Landraider! Thankfully the Landraider didn't take too much damage, but it's now on the edge of dropping down a stat step. In return, the Landraider hits back well, it just couldn't get past the Dreadnought's armor.

Contemptor charges the Landraider. 

The Lions first turn was spent wisely moving up their units to get within reach of the center Objective while holding onto the one in their DZ.

The Lions advance. 

Deathwatch Turn One. Believe it or not, this is my first game of 9th using a vehicle that was engaged in this manner (usually their just landed like a boil on turn one). Reading the rules it seemed I could get the embarked troops out of the vehicle so long as they didn't end up within Engagement range. Out the side hatch they all went. I had them fire at the Leviathan (I don't think they even scratched it) then charge the Contemptor. They put a few wounds on it but the ability to reduce incoming Wounds by one point made this thing very tough! The Chaplain took some wounds but made the saves needed to stay alive. Honorable mention must go to the Heavy Bolter guy who scored a wound on the Contemptor with just his fist

My other units, Squad Chroneth and the Venerable Dreadnought targeted the distant Devastator Squad. I used Special Issue ammo, the Kraken Bolts, which extended their range by 6" and added +1 to their save modifier. It was enough to put a hurt on them from afar, with the Venerable Dreadnought contributing to the kill count.

Disembark and charge!

Turn Two, and the Lions in the center of the field advance on and claim the objective. And the Leviathan Dreadnought wanted in on the action and charged into the melee. 

Quagmire on the left flank. 

Unlike the previous game I chronicled on here, my ability to make my saves was uncanny. Although the Landraider was taking some damage and the Chaplain was a punch away from death, they held on!

At the start of the Deathwatch turn 2, I spent the points on a Stratagem that allowed me to shift my Combat Doctrine back to Devastator. I had the Landraider fallback as it was essentially useless in combat and I needed it's firepower elsewhere. I brought the Terminators in who blasted away some of the Tactical squad on the middle objective, and that Devastator Doctrine really helped with that. The heavy bolters of Kill Team Chroneth also benefited from this and I kept their Special Ammo load out the same as last time to get that extra 6" advantage. The Lion Devastator Squad was really starting to feel the pain now and they lost a few more models in the Morale Phase. 

The Chaplain lives, thanks to a Command Point Re-Roll!

The Chaplain and Killteam Neverness focused their fury on the Contemptor and they took out. Much to Kushail's disappointment the Contemptor failed to explode. 

The Contemptor falls. 

The Terminators made their charge  and was locked in combat with the Tactical Squad in the middle of the table, fighting over that 2 point objective. On Turn 3, the Lions Of Harlech Captain (surely this guy has name?) Charged into the fray and sliced down a Terminator with his relic blade. 

The Terminators crash into one of the Lions Tactial squads. 

Back on turn 2 the Deathwatch Venerable Dreadnought had charged into the other Tactical Squad and that fight continued on into the turn 3. 

The battle is in full swing. 

Having the Contemptor gone the Chaplain and the members of Killteam Neverness continued their focus on the Leviathan. They whittled a few wounds off of it while surviving the hits thrown at them. The guy with the powersword was wounded and yet he was the one who was performing the best. Seems to be luck. Maybe I should've keep these guys with their standard loadout? 

Tarpit tussle!

Turn 3 and the tussle continued. No units were killed in this round, but the Deathwatch whittled down more of their opponents than the Lions did. 

Venerable Dread vs. Lions Tacticals. 

The Terminators were unable to wipe out the Tactical Squad but they did outnumber them which earned them the tie-breaker for Objective Secure. 

The Captain vs the Terminators. 

We decided to end the game at the end of the third turn. It was clear that our units were grid-locked in such a way that the Deathwatch would continue to reap an advantage on objective points. Even if the the Lions had scored some wins with some of the units they were engaged with (I believe they could have), they wouldn't have a way to catch up on points.

And it was getting late and we were tired. So we agreed to call it. Here is how the point broke down: 

• LIONS OF HARLECH: 3
• DEATHWATCH: 7

This is the end of things.  

Now, this was a 'get back into the groove' kind of battle to get Kushial acquainted with the 9th edition rules. It was a good exercise I think and it gave us a measure of what some of these things could do. Looking back on it, Kushial would rather have held back the Leviathan to capitalize on it's shooting capabilities. I felt the same in regard to the Landraider. It was all fun in the end, and it was nice to push little figures around with Kushial again. Hopefully we'll see him and Lions get some more games in. 

In other news, I think we got the whole account issue sorted out and hopefully we'll see some posts from Kushial again soon. 

Until next time, 

-Neverness

The Doom of Neverness.

Our friend Da Masta Cheef recently painted a Leviathan Dreadnought for Kushial's Lions of Harlech army. It has been nick-named the "Doom of Neverness" by Cheef over the course of comments and blog posts as it is most likely going to be kicking the ass of one of my armies at some future point.

Recently I stopped in at our local game night where Cheef offically handed this model over to Kushial.

This is how it was given to him.

And since Cheef has already showcased this on his blog I will let these pics I snapped do the rest of the talking:

Front (AKA kill position)

The scary side.

The soft crunchy side.

The riddle-you-with-this side.

It's a beaut huh? Well done Cheef! Below is a pic showing it next to the model that Kushial provided to Cheef for him to use as a visual guide. They look awesome together, and the Leviathan just towers over the other dread. I am sure not looking forward to the pain this thing will bring...but at least I can laugh at the color of it's underware. 😁

Who is your daddy?

That's it for me. Kushial should be back at some point whenever he overcomes the technical issues he has been having. And when the old Lion returns, I have no doubt he will have a proper name and back story for this thing.

Catch you later!

-Neverness.

Lions of Harlech vs. Chaos -8th ed Battle.

Hello.
Neverness here along with Kushial. We played a game of Warhammer 40,000 8th edition this past Sunday. It was my first game and his 4th (?) of the new edition. What follows is a brief overview with comments from us both regarding the game and our thoughts on the new edition. Enjoy!

Kushial- Actually, it was my 3rd game of 8th, but they've been so spread out it almost felt like a first game.  There was plenty of book referral for both of us.  This is also our first time trying to do a dual writer post, so hopefully this turns out well.

The Lions of Harlech, steadfast against the traitors!

Neverness: I was excited to see that Army Builder was finally updated in support of the new edition. However they are behind, which is quite understandable considering the sheer amount of rules GW has flooded the market with since the new edition launched just a few months ago. As a result, just the Index books are currently supported. And I am OK with that. So the army I brought was strictly from the Index, while Kushial's is from the current Codex: Space Marines. It was my idea to try out the Open War cards. In hindsight we probably should have stuck with one of the basic missions in the rulebook, but these looked too fun not to try out.

Kushial: I think the issue was less the Open War Cards and more the ones we drew.  That card limiting shots to 12 inches max on turn one really was a major curve ball.  It would be interesting to try some of the other cards.  Though you also found the flaw in the Army Builder set up currently in that it doesn't have a way to do the degrading effects of being wounded on vehicles.  Not sure how they're going to add that in there without making the unit entries even longer than they are currently.

Neverness: We drew Objective: Invasion, Twist: Dead of Night and the Deployment card was a weird Triangle deployment. We somehow forgot about the Ruse card. Oops!

Open War, a good way to mix it up.

Neverness: The objectives were placed. I brought the street lights I recently painted for the other table, and we decided it would make a fun Narnia vibe if these were our objectives. Lonely lamp posts in a snowy place. Truly something worth dying for!

Chaos left flank.

Space Marines deployment zone.

Chaos right flank.

Kushial:  Here in the deployment is where I think you really threw me an advantage, especially with the range limitation on shooting.  Letting me concentrate my entire army on about half of yours early on made things a bit easier for me in the mid game turns.  I guess you were going to try and do a flank maneuver with the Landraider but you went so wide with it that combined with the Twist Card it didn't come into play until turn five which was the last that we played.

Neverness: This particular set-up was not very forgiving. Placement is crucial in any game but in this set-up, and with this edition, it can literally determine if you are going succeed or fail. Ironically the Twist card probably saved me at this stage as much as it hampered me as it spared my units from the attentions of the Lion's Devestator Squads. But, as Kushial points out, it totally kept the Landraider from being effective until the last turn or this game. Again, deployment is crucial. 

Kushial:  I think that was the fastest I've seen a unit of Khorne Berserkers that size vanish.  Between the Contemptor's Kheres Assault Cannon, the Tactical Squad's shots, and the Sky Talon straffing with Heavy Bolters and Twin Assault Cannon, those Berserkers got a lot of wounds laid into them.  And your dice seemed all too willing to be my accomplices.

Neverness: The lack of cover and LOS blocking features made the Khorne Berserkers sitting ducks. The 2 CP Stratagem that let them auto-save their morale test allowed them to stay in the fight a bit longer. They put some damage on the flyer, which was nice, but not effective enough. They just couldn't cope with that level of firepower. Also, when it came to charge, the dice foiled me hard. By the bottom of Turn 2 they were all dead.

When tank drivers have more bloodlust than a Hellbrute...

Kushial:  Ah, that poor, poor, lost soul driving that Vindicator, such a foul joke was played on him.  You wanted to hit my Dread with everything you could so the Hellbrute declares charge, the Chaos leader on his steed declares a charge, and just to throw in the kitchen sink so does the Vindicator.  And then only the Vindicator makes it into combat with the other two not coming even close on their charge rolls.  I see him spilling the blood of some comrades once they get back home.

Neverness: Like you said Kushial, that was a joke. Being my first 8th ed game I wanted to see how a tank worked in Close Combat, as 'fighting' tanks is a new concept in this game. But my thinking here was that the Vindicator would provide a support role for the Hellbrute and/or the Warlord on Juggernaut. So I charged that Dreadnought with my Vindicator. I think this was my biggest tactical blunder in the whole game and it's not one I am soon to forget. It did survive this encounter but it was beaten all the way down to 2 Wounds and greatly reduced in effectiveness.

Straffing runs are fun!

Kushial:  I liked the Sky Talon in the last edition.  I think I love it in this one.  It puts out so many shots between the two Heavy Bolters and the Twin Assault Cannon.  It killed 6 or so Berserkers on Turn 1, almost turned your commander into a greasy spot until we remembered your Warlord Trait, and then took out your traitor marines holding your objective.  Definitely was my MVP for the game.

Neverness: Oh no doubt. MVP of the whole game! I need one of these for my Ultramarines! 
It is truly a gunship now. The assault cannons are back in a big way and they bring the pain for sure. I had 6 saves to make with Juggernaut riding Warlord and botched all 6 of them. We remembered his Warlord Trait which allowed him to ignore failed saves on a 6+ which kept him in the game for a bit longer. It was the scariest moment in the game for me. But it made a difference as he was able to assist the Hellbrute with taking out that annoying Dreadnought before consolidating into the marines behind it. 

Consolidating is back!

Neverness: In Kushial's turn, the marines focused on bringing down my Warlord and despite his re-rolls, his wounds were too grievous to keep in the battle.

Chaos right flank collapses.

Kushial:  Alright, we've got THIS half the board cleansed, now to work on the OTHER half.  For the Emperor!  For Dorn! and for Harlech!

Chaos Terminators vs. the entire Lions of Harlech force! 

Neverness: I had my Chaos Terminators port in near the Lion's back line. I knew they would be juicy targets but I also knew they could dish out some death. They were able to eliminate one of the Devestator Squads and wound the Venerable Dreadnought before damn near the entire Lions of Harlech army gunned them into oblivion.

Kushial:  Oh look, Terminators out in the open.  Ready, Aim, .....  Yes, while they came in where they could hurt me some, they really were wide open for counter fire to rip into them.  There really was no other option though that seemed any better.

Gunship clearing objectives...

Kushial:  I need to figure out a way to do a stream of brass coming down in the wake of this thing to really show how much firepower it dishes out.


Neverness: An assortment of perforated corpses on the base might convey that too...

Hell to blast. 

Kushial:  While I wish I had this small unit of Void Lions painted for the battle as they were the only unit I fielded that wasn't completely painted and based, it was definitely fun trying them out.  While a bit expensive point wise, they definitely dish out some heavy firepower with those Plasma Incinerators.

Neverness: I was impressed with these guys as well. They can really dish out the death. I found them to be very imposing. My weakened Vindicator took some shots at them but was unable to hit with the Demolisher Cannon due to it's BS baving been reduced to 5+. They contributed greatly to the demise of the Chaos Terminators, who just couldn't roll enough 5+ invulnerable saves to save their lives. 

Also, their bases look awesome on this table!

Hellbrute wants to play!

Neverness: The Hellbrute was probably the MVP of my army for this game. He charged a another Contemptor Dreadnought and destroyed in Close Combat. In the above pic, you can see where he ended up after he consolidated. It was like he busted through a barrier and was now in reach of more meaty targets to pulverize. However, what I like about that pic also is that the Lions are facing the direction that the Chaos Terminators were, and you know they are all going to turn around and offer that Hellbrute the same attention...

So far away.

Neverness: If the Hellbrute is my MVP, than the Landraider was my MWP (Most Wasted Player). The deployment of that machine hurt it's ability to fire as did the Twist card, not that the Lions minded much. It eventually closed in enough to annihilate the Venerable Dreadnought though.

Kushial:  No way I could finish off the Land Raider, but I definitely think I could have taken the Hellbrute and Vindicator off had we played one more turn.  I think Nurgle has been messing with your dice to keep the devotees of Khorne from gaining any favors or blessings.

Objective Secured, the Lions have saved Narnia!

Kushial:  Well, both of us were victims of the new Morale Check rules.  While I like that they definitely keep the game moving, they can be brutal if you put enough wounds into a unit.  Needing to roll a -2 for those Berserkers thus forcing you to burn Command Points to keep the last few on the table definitely helped me later on from you possibly doing something more damaging to me instead.  Being able to use my Command Points offensively while you had to use yours to keep models on the table hampered you some I think.  But back to the Morale Check rules, while I lost a few marines to it, you lost what?  A terminator, several Beserkers, and a couple of the other Chaos marines to them?

Neverness: Morale, is indeed, a very powerful aspect in this edition in determining whether or not you are going to have a unit make it to the next Turn or not. In the past, I tend to not like games that are decided on Morale, but I need a few more games in before I can truly judge this one. Close Combat is definitely different and I think it is harder in this edition to eliminate an opposing unit in this phase than in previous editions. I still think 5th edition was best in regards to Close Combat.

So that was our game. Again, I need a few more games in before I can truly judge 8th edition, but so far I think I like it. It is different though, and the definitely the most radical change in the rule set since 2nd ed transitioned to 4rd ed, so there is definitely going to be some growing pains for awhile I think.

Thanks for reading this, we hope to have another battle report like this one in the near future!

Kushial: This has been an interesting way to write a blog post.  It might be interesting to give it another go some other time in the future.  As for all of you out there, thanks for reading and we'll see you all next time!

Dreadtober Coming To An End

So as Dreadtober comes to an end, I've made a big push whenever I had a bit of time to see about finishing what all I could which includes a few surprises for you all I hope.  I'm super pleased with how the month went over all.

First up I've managed to complete the painting of a total of 7 Dreadnoughts in all.  In addition to the three Black Reach Dreadnoughts, there is the dual twin autocannon Dreadnought and an assault cannon and missile launcher Dreadnought.  Finally there is a Contemptor and my Eddie.

Here's a bit of a better picture of the Eddie.  He's an interesting model and a great piece of GW 40K history.  I'm happy to finally have him painted.

Lastly for the updates I tackled my Chaplain Dreadnought.  While I made good progress on his paint, I don't believe that I'll have him done before Dreadtober ends but I will be pushing through to get him done.  He's got all the base colors in place but still needs wash layers, basing, some touch ups, and some detailing such as purity seals, etc.  Since I focused on painting the last half of the month, the Primaris Dreadnought only made it to the torso being assembled.  I'm going to see about getting him finished being assembled in November.

So all told, I will finish Dreadtober with 7 Dreadnoughts completely painted and one soon to be finished.  This will put my Dreadnoughts at 13 Dreadnoughts fully painted and based, 1 Dreadnought partially painted and 11 unpainted Dreadnoughts (technically 12 counting the partially assembled one).  For the first time, over half my Dreadnoughts are painted.  I might be having my own personal Dreadcember event to get some more completed as it's been nice to make some serious progress.

Don't forget to check out Cheef's and Neverness' progress on their Dreadtober projects as well.  Being not as talented painter using a much simpler paint scheme I might have painted more Dreadnoughts but theirs are both quite better looking than mine.

So that's all for now and I'll see you all next time.