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 Lions Return

 Mark this day, and remember;  For the Lions have returned to the field of battle! 

A report on this game is coming soon! 

Also I think I make have Kushail back on here again soon assuming the tech issue has been solved. Fingers crossed! 

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.

Villains and a Couple Allies

Well, due to unforeseen difficulties, Cheef and I didn't get to play this past Saturday night, but we're working on a reschedule.  Still excited about the game and we'll see how it goes.  However, the night free did give me a chance to work on a some more Bolt Action super powers.

First up my allies finally got a Bucky to partner up with Captain America.  Most of the ones I had seen I didn't care for, but finally stumbled across one that I liked and he's now part of the crew.  He was a simple rebase and that's it.

And even though I only have a British Bolt Action army, I wanted to do some Axis Supers/Enhanced as well just because it's been fun and not expensive at all to do these.  Just a small collection of villains to start with, but there are more planned.

Baron Blood (John Falsworth)
    Union Jack's younger brother who was disappointed by his lack of recognition like
    his older brother, John sought out Dracula as a source of power.  Enslaved by the
    evil monster, he became Baron Blood and was used to assist the Axis cause.
Yes, this isn't the Baron Blood model, but I can't stand the look of him even though he makes a great model as a counterpoint to Union Jack and Spitfire.  So Dark Hawk gets vilified with a rebasing to fill in instead.

 

Iron Cross (Helmut Gruler)
    A German champion with an armored suit that gave him enhanced abilities, he was
    a reluctant combatant for the Nazi regime who felt it nessecary to fight for his country
A foe of Ironman getting re-purposed here with a rebasing and a slight dry brush to bring out the detail on the solid green armor.

U-Man (Merrano)
    An Atlantean who challenged Namor for the throne, he was banished and turned to
    German scientist to enhance his abilities and help him claim the throne of Atlantis.
Another foe of the Invaders that I wanted to use that didn't have a model, but Black Manta makes a perfect substitute.  He was rebased and given a light dry brush to accent the black armor/suit.  I don't like the swords he has and they'll be replaced once I find something I like.

 

Batroc (Georges Batroc)
    French collaborator trained in various martial arts and close combat tactics as well as
    various means of infiltration and sabotage

Not a WW2 villain but the character makes sense, is a cool villain, and helps pull in the occupied French territory.  A quick rebase and he joined the vault of villains.

Feuerkopf (Hans Wilhelm)
    German scientist who found a way to safely channel fire by means of a special fuel
    and protective suit.
I've always liked the character Pyro as a villain, so he was a quick re-purposing as a villain of my creation in the vein of pulp type characters.  Quick easy rebase and the foes of liberty continue to grow.

So that's where we're at for now.  I still want to do a Baron Zemo, Red Skull, Crossbones, and Chameleon  for sure.  Perhaps a few more as I get an idea.  Being the holidays, it's been a bit busy at work for me so not a ton of free hobby time lately which makes these easy conversion so much fun.  That's all for now this go around.  Thanks for stopping by and I'll see you next time!

Gearing Up To Go Again

Leftenant Franklin Smythe, newly graduated from Kilbourne Academy, was sorely disappointed when he was assigned command of an armored lance in a militia command no less.  But then Caselton was visited by a raiding lance of Marik Militia and he saw his chance for glory.  Using his personality to overwhelm his rather meek commanding officer, he was now on the way to lead a reprisal raid against the same militia unit that attacked Caselton.  He and his two platoons of armor will return to glory, promotions, and recognition.  He'd show them all he should be in charge of a line unit of mechs or die trying.

So the all UrbanMech battle was a lot of fun and we decided to follow it up with an all armor battle that will take place tomorrow evening.  It's set for 8,000 Battle Value per side which should shake out to right at 8 or so vehicles.  Well for me it was 8 anyway, a nice round 2 platoons.  We'll see how this round of battle comes out with the first round being a draw.  Considering the size of my BattleTech collection, it feels good to get some fo them on the table.

I also got a few more models for my Bolt Action heroes.  First up is a Dr. Mid-Nite.  A great classic JLA-er, he was one I definitely wanted to work into the collection.  He got a quick rebasing and into the group he went.  He had a great pose and detailing, so I'm happy I found this version of him.

I couldn't tell you who this model was orginally but he'll be acting as a Green Hornet in my force.  A nice pulp fiction favorite that has too much personality to not be included.  He's not quite the original but he's close enough that it'll work for me.

I also did a couple noncombatants up to represent scientists to be used as high value targets for Bolt Action games.  They're nice models and after a rebasing didn't need any touch ups and are good to go.

So that's all for now and I'm glad you all stopped by.  I should have the BattleTech BatRep up sometime early next week unless the weather causes some issues with playing the game.  That's all for now and I'll see you next time!

Frontline BattleTech Units In Action

So this past Saturday I got to celebrate part of my birthday with a game of BattleTech against Cheef.  To make it even more unique and memorable, we went with identical forces so no need to point up lists.  So we broke out the cutting edge of technology and pitted a lance of UrbanMechs from my Davion's Caselton Militia against his lance of UrbanMechs from the Marik Militia.  Once the terrain was set up, we would be having as Cheef put it "Urban Warfare in the Woods".

This was also a chance to get not only my larger BattleTech terrain that I've been working on onto the table but also all my finished scatter terrain as well.  We set up on a 4x4 table with plenty of room for our very slow mechs to maneuver.  I set up my terrain as the defender with HPG Station, mobile satellite launch platform, a new power station I've been working on (more on it in a post later this week), the storage tanks, and then the small terrain such as a couple bunkers, defensive towers, and sensor stations.  My small factory piece is on the hill and just off to the right bottom edge of the picture.

So here we see our antagonists for a pre-fight picture.  It was nice to have an all painted battle as the next table over featured a second BattleTech game that was silver on silver.  Whaaaaaat two BattleTech games being played at the same time?  I know, crazy right?  While we had the nice clean high tech looking lanced of painted and based UrbanMechs, they had a fugly Blitzkreig and some other stuff.  So winner our game for the cool factor.

Here we are all deployed in the picture above.  Marik has three mechs coming through the woods and the fourth up on a hill for support fire.  My Davions are looking to repel the invaders and hopefully gain enough scrap and parts to keep their own mechs in top fighting shape.  I mean it's always good when the replacements come to you right?

Early on we saw some ranged shots from all the AC/10s but few hits.  All of our pilots seemed quite rusty but since the mechs are lightly armored, even a single hit from an AC/10 does serious damage.

As we got closer to each other, the hits started to add up.  I was definitely more lucky than Cheef when it came to achieving critical hits but he was getting more hits overall.  We both had 3 mechs in the woods battling while my fourth had a long range duel with his fourth on the hill where they both battered each other senseless.

The first "kill" of the game was one of mine who lost a leg and was rendered combat ineffective.  I ended up finally taking out one of his as well by getting down to being able to pretty much hit it anywhere for it to die.  So about this point I managed to get a head shot with two criticals that take out the pilot with extreme efficiency.  So after having my 3 facing his 4, it's now in my advantage with 3 on 2.

Several mechs are getting to the point of barely functional at this point in the game.  I ended up with one mech that had lost both weapons, had no where left to absorb a hit left, and is too slow to retreat, so what to do .....

That's right, it still has jump jets so who WOULDN'T do a death from above attack?  It doesn't matter that he took a shot on the way in and denied the actual attack, the sight of an UrbanMech trying to Death From Above another UrbanMech is cool as all get out!

But as he DID get finished off ont he way in, this puts us both at two mechs upright, enough armor between them to have one intact UrbanMech, and 3 small lasers as their combined armament because we're all out of AC/10 ammo at this point.  I have one mech that is barely intact and the other while in much better shape, doesn't have a small laser.  Cheef has one mech that has taken both engine and heat sink crits to the point that shooting the small laser or even walking will overheat it and then a mech that was tottering with little left like mine was.  So at this point we called it a draw and the remnants of both sides withdrew before some squirrels or a possom came down out of one of the trees to finish them all off.

Cause yeah, UrbanMechs are THAT cool!

All in all it was a very fun game with some memorable moments.  I'm definitely looking forward to doing something similar again sometime.  So that's all we have for now and thanks for stopping by!  See you all next time!

Bolt Action Super Heroes

So being in retail management, this has been a busy couple weeks for me but I did manage to scrape together a bit of hobby time.  So as it turns out HeroClix is really cheap to expand into for Bolt Action conversion when buying off eBay if you get a few at a time to qualify for free shipping.  I spent less than $20 and ended up with around a dozen new characters which after normal war gaming prices was a nice change of pace.  This is going to be a long one so strap in, grab some popcorn, and enjoy the ride.

First up, I've finally ended up with a name for the group.  I based them in England, though they go where needed to do their assignments, and folded it into the British way of naming things for the war effort.  Thus we have the OSS(E) or rather the Office of Special Services (Enhanced).  The Office of Special Service (Empowered) was formed shortly after the regular Office of Special Service.  Pulling in operatives from multiple allied nations, mainly the British Empire and the United States, this organization operates under the mandate to support allied campaigns, counter Axis empowered operatives, and deal with various empowered and occult investigations.  They also assist with protecting high ranking Allied politicians and officers from nontraditional threats.

The overall head of the force is John Constantine with Captain America and Union Jack acting as his field commanders when operatives are acting in a group.  This is a mix of Marvel, DC, 40s Pulp, and other sources for form my group and it's been a bit of fun doing the research into some of them.  There is also one so far that is a creation of mine based on multiple other characters and ideas.

John Constantine
    A working class occult detective and con man in London, he often consults and assists
    with some of the more bizarre investigations that occur in England.  He was tapped to
    lead this new organization.  This model was originally a Roy Raymond Jr. Clix.
    Other than a rebasing, I think he stands in well for Constantine.

Captain America (Steve Rodgers)
    Volunteer who with the use of a secret serum became a United States super soldier
    who can be used as officer in normal Bolt Action Games  This model was the WW2
    Clix version of Captain America.  He got a wash layer, a Bolt Action Tommy Gun, and
    some Bolt Action ammo pouches.

Union Jack (Brian Falsworth)
    British commando from a moderately influential family who can be used as squad
    leader in normal Bolt Action Games.  This is the Union Jack Clix with a Bolt Action
    Tommy Gun, pouches, and a backpack to give him a more commando look.

Black Knight (Edward Garrett)
    Part of a line of British descendants of Sir Percy of Scandia destined to be the wielder
    of enchanted medieval sword.  I really liked the look of this Clix when it arrived and I
    only did a rebasing.

Pendragon (Edward Cawdor)
    Current chosen champion of the Lady of the Lake and imbued with the enhanced
    abilities from the Spirit of Britain itself.  This is the one I created using Captain
    Britain as a rough guide as well as other WW2 era characters such as Spirit of
    America and Uncle Sam

Namor
    Atlantean Prince temporarily assisting the Allied cause.  Other than a light wash to show
    detail on the Clix, all that he needed was a rebasing.

Human Torch (Android)
    Android created by US Scientist capable of turning into flame and flight.  As an android,
    he's a pretty interesting backstory and just had to be part of the group.  This model had a
    really nice look to it and just got rebased.

Spitfire (Jacqueline Falsworth)
    Daughter of a minor British noble who was a WW1 superhero, she gained super
    speed due to a combination of being bitten by a vampire and a resulting blood
    transfusion from the android Human Torch.  This member of the Marvel
    Invaders just got a rebase and is set to be the team's speedster.

The Rocketeer (Cliff Secord)
    A stunt pilot, found an experimental jet pack and put it to use assisting the US war
    effort.  This model definitely was the one that had the most done to it.  It started
    out as an Aztec Hero Clix.  The Jacket and gloves were repainted from black to brown
    leather, a slight wash over the white pants for a more of a khaki colored look, the
    helmet repainted from copper to brass, a converted 40K Imperial Guard flamethrower
    pack converted to his rocket pack, and then lastly a rebasing.  I've always like the concept
    of the Rocketeer for his 40s Pulp style and I'm pretty happy with how he came out.

Lady Blackhawk (Linda Blake)
    Member of the multinational Blackhawk Squadron and can be used as a forward air
    observer in a regular Bolt Action game.  This team wouldn't have been complete
    without a representative of the elite group of international pilots, the Blackhawks.
    Lady Blackhawk was the only one of the two options in Clix that I liked the look of,
    so she got to join the team.

Sandman (Wesley Dodds)
    US scientist with a gas gun used to sedate his enemies.  Another iconic member of the
    Justice Society who I just had to include.  This Clix had the iconic look down well, so
    I just rebased this model.

Liberty Bell (Libby Lawrence)
    Imbued with enhanced speed, strength, and stamina by a mystical connection
    through the Liberty Bell to the Spirit of America.  This character has a very
    convoluted and complex backstory that I'll admit to greatly trimming down to
    use here.  As far as working with the model, the pants received a good wash to
    get closer to a khaki color as the shade of yellow that they were painted was
    waaaay to close to flesh color and at a glance, she looked to be naked from the
    waist down.  After that, she just received the standard rebasing.

Phantom Lady (Sandra Knight)
    Daughter of a US Senator, who uses a "Black Light Projector" to blind her enemies
    and turn herself invisible  I liked how they pulled off the change from visible to
    invisible on this Clix, so all I did was the rebasing.

the Atom (Al Pratt)
    US Army tank driver who gained super strength during a battle against a German
    super soldier by accidentally absorbing some of his powers.  Another fairly iconic
    member of the DC Justice Society, the Atom seemed like a good fit for the team.
    All the Clix needed was a rebase.

The Invisible Man (Jack Griffin)
    British scientist who uses his research into optics and light refraction to turn himself
    invisible.  He agreed to help the British war effort in exchange for pardons for
    crimes he committed.  I liked the role he played in the League of Extraordinary
    Gentlemen and wanted to include him.  The Clix was one called Invisible Kid and
    just got a rebase to fit in with the rest.


I have a couple models that I got because I like the look of them.  One I think is going to end up as the Green Hornet and the other is going to end up as the western themed JLA character Vigilante.  I also am trying to find a Thor Clix I like to represent Norway and Denmark.  The other possible members I'm keeping a look out for options to use include Phantom (the Ghost Who Walks), a Dr Fate, Hawkman, and perhaps a JSA Green Lantern.

Anyway, that's all for now and thanks for visiting.  Don't forget to stop over at Da Long Wayz Dezert Groop to follow Cheef's work on one of my Leviathan Dreadnoughts.  He's just really getting started with it and it should be a lot of fun seeing what all he does.