The Caellach Sector

Oops

2011-07-31T23:50:00.000-07:00

I believe I said that I would get a battle report of the next game. Well, I forgot to take pictures or notes.... And this is only my 4th game.

The cliff notes version:

My list: Protectorate of Menoth
eFeora

Crusader
Dervish
Revenger
Vigilant

4 man Choir of Menoth
6 man Temple Flameguard
Vassal Mechanik

Oops, I was 4pts short.

Enemy list: Protectorate of Menoth

Thyra

Crusader
Vigilant
Castigator

Daughters of the Flame
Knights Exemplar

Knights Exemplar Seneschal

Opponent goes first.

Turn 1 has us both positioning our units. Daughters of the Flame take his right flank while Knights with the Castigator take his left, everything else in the middle.

I have the Flameguard on my right with the Dervish; Revenger taking the my left and everyone else in the middle.

Turn 2 sees my opponent get his Daughters in around my Revenger dinking it for a bit of damage. Nobody else of his gets into a fight.

I counter charge the Daughters with my vigilant taking them in the flank and getting 1 for my trouble and spreading my focus too thin. I use convection to take down a Daughter and put the Focus onto the Revenger who gets 1 more Daughter. The Dervish gets into combat and takes down a Knight and puts the fire effect on his Vigiliant.

Turn 3 sees my opponent pop his feat giving his entire army a free 2 inch teleport. He charges his Knights into my Flameguard and half the Flameguard goes down. His Crusader gets into my Vigilant's back arc and puts a bit of hurt on it. The Daughters break off and use their Acrobatics to go straight up my line to my warcaster but fail to hurt her. Thyra pops 2 inches, uses her Acrobatics to go through the line of Flameguard and gets into hand to hand with Feora. Ultimately she only puts 7 damage on Feora and starts to worry (it too all her focus to do that much). At this point the Daughters and Thyra are on fire for their trouble. Desperate, my opponent uses his Seneschal to charge my Crusader, puts a couple of severe but not system crippling hits on it and then Smite goes off and pushes the Crusader through the Daughters and into the warcasters. Daughters go down quickly and both warcasters taking negligible hits but are knocked down. That was the last activation for my opponent and he calls the game.

The game ended with Thyra still technically alive, but knocked down with Feora and a Crusader next to her and in the middle of my group.

Thoughts:
My opponent used a very gutsy move to get Thyra into combat with Feora, but a little bad rolling and a over-zealousness meant that I was able to take the day.

It was a good game a great lesson that there are old Warcasters and there are bold Warcasters, but there are few old, bold Warcasters.

The Protectorate forces grow

2011-07-28T14:17:00.000-07:00

I've recently picked a Vigilant and Dervish. One of them will end up replacing the never-quite-satisfactory Redeemer in my lists.

Currently my 25pt list includes:

eFeora

Crusader
Dervish
Revenger
Vanquisher

4 man Choir
6 man Temple Flameguard
1 Vassal Mechanik

I'll take pics of the next fight and see if I can do a battle report.

Google+

2011-07-12T14:36:00.001-07:00

So far so good. I really like the better control of what information goes to each group of people.

Warmachine

2011-06-29T13:53:00.001-07:00

Now that I have quit active purchasing, painting and playing Warhammer (FB and 40K) I have been shopping for a new game.

I looked at Dust Tactics by Fantasy Flight. I found the rules to be fun, but overall the game is a bit immature for me to jump into.

I also looked into Flames of War. Unfortunately there isn't anyone who actually knows how to play here in Bakersfield or Tehachapi.

Warmachine had long ago come to my area but was known for having one of the rudest and irritating individuals with no job and too much time to pester other players. However ... he now has a job that keeps him away for long stretches and has been banned from most stores. I gave Warmachine a second look and have found that I like it.

The Protectorate of Menoth caught my eye for it's looks and vaguely Christian symbology. I now have a reasonable little warband built and it has been bloodied in combat against Hordes (Trollbloods I believe) and came out victorious.

Now I am looking to refine the list and fix any issues that have snuck into the list. I've heard Epic Kreoss is ridiculous and I think another Choir might be a good idea.

Currently:

Epic Feora
Reg. Kreoss

Paladin of the Wall

Vanquisher
Crusader
Revenger
Redeemer

Temple Flameguard
Choir

Alright, I'm done

2011-06-29T13:40:00.000-07:00

with Games Workshop.

You and I had a good run. But your rules have been lacking, your support has been inconsistent. Your prices have been hiked one too many times. Your schedule of releases is lacking. I do like your models, but I can't afford them. Your lack of support has killed the game in my area.

I've found someone new. Warmachine isn't what Warhammer (FB and 40K) are. It is better in many areas and I don't have to drop $400+ to get an army playable.

I will be ebaying many of my minis over the next few months. I'll post here as needed.

Digital Camo, 2nd day appeal

2010-12-28T20:51:00.000-08:00

So after sleeping on the paint job for a few days, I'm thinking I am going to have to make the individual squares considerably larger. The small spotting makes it too busy and camouflages the details.

Painting digital camo, first try

2010-12-05T18:03:00.000-08:00

So I decided to try a blue-based digital camo for a tank. I got the idea of having a small unit of local arbites (or MPs) that got caught up in the defense of their world. We won't ask why arbites had a Manticore (or the Hellhound variants that are next on the paint queue).

I really should have taken pics throughout the painting process, but here is the finished product.

The short answer on how I did it was to take a piece of foam from a foam tray, cut and rough it up a bit. Put just a bit of paint on it and dabbed at the model.

I think it went well enough, I'll refine it on the other Manticore and the Hellhounds.

Random wishlisting

2010-03-26T00:41:00.000-07:00

I got to thinking about what I would like to see in a Sisters of Battle or Witch Hunters codex. So just whipped out a little wishlist for fun.

Plastics duh
Hospitaliers grant FNP
Dialogus grant reroll reserve
Celestians get CCW and True Grit:Bolter I like this idea a lot, the old models still work, they keep their shooty feel while still being better in CC
Seraphim get option to double tap pistols either retaining or replacing the twinlink
Ammo option for Exorcist or perhaps a volley or squads
Repressors in the codex
A variety of saints to choose from
Cannoness options a la Chapter Master
Improved saves against psychics 5+ instead of 6+
Cannot take psychic in army for a little balance and flavor
More sensible Repentia squads?

Honestly I would be thrilled with half this. I would even accept them just rewriting the codex with up-to-date rules and costs and not changing anything.

Lack of a game store

2010-03-03T11:35:00.000-08:00

So yeah, the one true wargame store here in Bakersfield closed their doors at the end of last year. Bakersfield doesn't have much a culture and the hobby couldn't hold the place up in a recession.

So the next two runners up start vying for the wargame crowd. It comes down to two stores.

You have store A and store B (I'll leave names out for now).

Store A thinks that having a 4x4 table crowded into the back, 2 copies of the Tyranid Codex and a couple of boxes qualifies it as a wargame location. No events, only a vague "we meet on X day".

Store B seems to think that if you build it they will come. Except that it is in the basement of another building and has no advertising. Oh, and their stock makes store A look like a fully stocked store.

In short, I think I will be playing at friends houses and driving to LA for my Warhammer fix.

Awesome paint jobs 2

2010-02-03T23:35:00.000-08:00

After too much silent time I find myself needing to show off an army that I saw on BxC. These guys are Blood Ravens, the Space Marine chapter from Dawn of War. Since there isn't really a single collection of the pics I am just going to link the entire thread in the forum.

Blood Ravens

Space Marine Tactical Squad

2009-11-20T11:32:00.000-08:00

When the Imperial Guard codex was on the horizon I eagerly jumped on it. Partially because IG was the original army I wanted to play and partially because I was burnt out on my Marines.

I did some reflection recently and I think I figured out why I was so burnt out on them. All of my tactical marines (at least the so-called "bolter dudes" and most of the sargeants) were from Battle for Maccragge and Black Reach box sets. Bascially it meant that I had an army full of cookie cutter troops.

No wonder I was burnt out, I had assembled and painted over 40 nearly identical marines.

I picked up a box of Tactical Marines yesterday and built one. Getting a chance to customize a marine has fixed a lot of the issues I think I had.

Been working

2009-11-10T13:47:00.000-08:00

As anyone who hangs out at The Gaming Experience here in Bakersfield can tell you, I have been covering the table with models being painted. I am nearing completion of the 55 odd man penal* company.

Once I am done I promise pics. Clansittingducks better hold me to it...

*Meant to be a small point legal army on its own so there is a Company Command Squad, Veteran Squad and 2 Chimeras while trying to maintain the penal legion feel.

Alright, I've had enough

2009-11-02T20:58:00.001-08:00

Enough with cookie cutter anime heroes and bad guys.

Bad guy:
I want to kill (so and so for a reason or everyone for no reason)
Laughs maniacally
Beats/kills up someone just because they can
Laughs more

Good guy:
But I don't want to hurt anyone
I don't want anyone to get hurt
Someone else please solve this

Seriously, when I think of all the Bond villains (which are pretty stereotype) they all had defined motives other than simply because I am insane (which the usually were too). Even insane people have an objective, it may not be quite in line with what sane people would do, but they have one. It is sad when the average Bond villain has more depth than most things I have dragged out of the average anime.

You would think that I have snapped watching some Dragon Ball Z episode or something, but no, Phantom has done it for me, never mind the 1 step forward 2 steps back that most of the characters have taken at one point or another in their development; it is time for the climax, so everyone is just bat shit insane. No rhyme, no reason, nothing.

As I think back on it, the only real character that has been absolutely evil that didn't do the above was Johan from Monster, although across 70 odd episodes he may have once or twice. Even that most insane character still had a motive and a shred of thought process for his actions.

Seriously, is it too hard to have a bad guy that actually has a plan that has anything to do with anything? Scythe just randomly sets up people to fight and die. Not even his enemies, just pits his servants against bystanders and each other; despite having shown no real psychopathic tendencies for the other 20 odd episodes.

I think I will just leave this series unfinished. I will probably be happier with the various endings that I can imagine than the one I will get.

The unexpected

2009-11-02T15:55:00.001-08:00

I love it when I am playing 40K and try a "what the hell" style move and it works out. I played a friendly game of 40K on Saturday with my Imperial Guard against Chaos Marines.

We were both playing assault oriented armies, Berserkers vs. Penal Legion. My opponent ended up a little bottlenecked and I tried to take advantage and immobilize his lead Rhino. Well, a ridiculous amount of shooting later it was still going strong (no glancing/penetrating hits). So, I tried my last resort item.

I charged with my sentinels. I ended up immobilizing the vehicle and gumming up the passage in between the terrain pieces well enough to actually halt his army in addition to blocking the Berserkers in the Rhino.

Moral of the story, 55 point sentinels are well worth it to body block a tank column.

Got Space Hulk

2009-09-21T15:38:00.000-07:00

My LGS finally got it's shipment of Space Hulk after much drama between them and Games Workshop. I must say that you are paying by the weight for this thing. At least they didn't skimp on quality. I haven't had a chance to paint the figures yet but they are insanely detailed.

Space Hulk!

2009-09-04T14:54:00.001-07:00

Space Hulk comes out today at my LGS. Can't wait.

Been a while

2009-08-31T13:54:00.000-07:00

I haven't done too much with my armies as of late. Been busy running Dark Heresy and working too much.

I recently picked up some of the new Leman Russ variants. The kits go together effortlessly and simply. The tracks are keyed so they only fit where they are supposed to go and everything. The 3 turret options are nice. I built the "Plasma Spam" variant Russes. The Executioner with plasma cannon sponsons.

I decided to go with a Forgeworld/Mechanicus color scheme for them and picked up a can of Army Painter Pure Red colored primer. The stuff is almost as bright as Blood Red from GW and made a perfect Mars color when washed with Baal Red.

I will post pics when they are done.

Battle Report

2009-07-07T10:58:00.001-07:00

This will be the first battle report I have done here, so don't expect much out of the formatting and/or pics department.

Game setup:
2500 pts
Capture and Control
Spearhead deployment

Me: Space Marines

Master of the Forge
Terminator Chaplain
Terminator Assault Squad in LRC
5x Dreadnoughts, varying flavors and armaments
2x full Tac Squads in Rhinos
1x full scout sniper squad w/ telion
1x half tac squad in TLLC razorback
3x landspeeders w/ heavy flamer and multimelta

Them: Orks

Warboss on bike w/ nob bikers
Warboss on foot w/ nobs in truck
2x 30 man boyz squads
3x looted wagon
lootas

Deployment - Orks

Orks deployed with a looted wagon, a squad of boys and the truck on my right; Nobs were center, with Lootas hiding near the objective; two wagons and more boyz on my left.

Deployment - Marines

LRC front and center with 3 dreadnoughts (inc. Ven.) next to it with the Master of the Forge in base to base with the dreads. A combat squad w/ lascannon 3 storeys up in terrain with a combat squad w/ plasma cannon on the point w/ absolutely no fire lanes. Scouts in a small bunker back and right in my deployment. Rhinos and Razorback on the left.

Turn one - Orks

Looted wagons fire to little effect (1 dead scout). And nob bikers push forward directly towards my lines and LRC. Lootas take apart (2x weapon destroyed, immoblize) a dreadnought without killing it.

Turn 1 - Marines

Lascannon fire stuns 1 looted wagon, knocks the gun off the other two. Truck gets destroyed and disgorges it's nobz about 20" from the nearest enemy. Miscellaneous shooting kills a couple boyz and puts a couple wounds on the nobs on foot and on bikes. LRC moves towards the nob bikers and Termies assault out to the nob bikers, killing all but 3 and making the bikers run this turn. Dreadnoughts advance. Master of the forge repairs the multimelta on the damaged dread.

Turn 2 - Orks

Bikers keep running. Assorted gunfire kills 2 terminators. Looted wagon w/out gun goes crazy and moves forward 12", tank shocking the fearless termies, didn't bother with death or glory. Lootas took down a dreadnought.

Turn 2 - Marines

Terminators get back into the Land Raider to avoid the small arms fire. Speeders fail to come in. Rhinos and Razorbacks form a column moving up the ork flank (my left). More random gunfire at the nobs. Stunned the one looted wagon w/ gun again. Lascannon fire wrecks a wagon right in front of the scouts, line of sight for them is toast.

Turn 3 - Orks

The venerable dreadnought is killed by the lootas. The destroyed trucks and wagons are now completly blocking lines of sight for the scouts. Nobz try to WAAAGH to get to the scouts but fail. Nobody assaults.

Turn 3 - Marines

LRC moves forward and the terminators assault a 30 man nob squad. The 5 man squad deploys and the sgt combi-metla's one of the surviving wagons. The Rhinos move forward to drop their teams in front of the right hand ork boyz and rapid fire. Landspeeders come in behind the ork lines, but I forget to shoot with them.

Turn 4 - Orks

Boyz on my left flank assault the squad that killed the wagon. Boyz on right assault the terminators. A Rokkit knocks the Assault cannon off the LRC. Lootas take down one of the speeders. The remaining landspeeders are taken down by the lootas. Boyz leave the objective.

Turn 4 - Marines

Despite being horribly outnumbered the 5 man squad keeps fighting. Terminators are being worn away. Master of the Forge goes to repair the LRC.

Turn 5 - Orks

Left hand ork boyz win combat and move towards my objective. Surviving wagon tries to tank shock its way into my lines but is too far away. Boyz and nobs continue combat and whittle away the terminators.

Turn 5 - Marines

The last terminator, the chaplain dies fighting the orks boys and nobs. LRC and remaining dreads make a last dash to defend while the Rhinos dash to the enemy objective. Rolled game ends.

Game ended with Marines winning 1-0.

Thoughts:
Marines could have handled the dreads better and given the point holding squad a better fire lane. Scouts could have been given a better place too.

Orks should have kept all together. Spreading out the boyz and nobs broke a lot of his fighting ability. As a list issue the Ork player needed a small squad of boyz for objective babysitting.

Cool Mini

2009-06-25T21:20:00.001-07:00

I just spotted an awesome concept and paint job over in Epic Duck Studio's gallery.

Tau Stealthsuit

Sorry for the delay

2009-06-25T21:01:00.000-07:00

California state budget being what it is an me being a state worker left me working longer days than before and less time to blog.

Just gonna post a couple quick(ish) thoughts up regarding Warhammer 40k.

Leman Russ BT or Vanquisher? Utility vs. Tank killiness.
Basilisks? Better get a couple more.
Valkyries ... huge ... bullet magnets ...
Space Marines ... feeling unloved
Inquisition ... backing up the IG

Valkyrie 42-A done!

2009-05-31T02:21:00.000-07:00

After a while, here are some pictures from the Warhammer 40k front. Specifically my Imperial guard force.

After hearing that our local game store didn't have any completed Valkyries I spent half the night assmebling and painting mine. Here is the result. Nothing to write home about but I am somewhat pleased with the result. We will see how much touch up it needs after I go to sleep.

Sorry for the slightly odd choice of picture locations, the kitchen had the best lighting.

Through the back door. Trying to show the gunners.
Random shot.
For a little bit of scale, that is a Commissar on the base.
One more overall shot.

I was going for a simple Navy gray. I think it is almost too plain, but I wanted to make it feel like it wasn't exactly part of my ground-pounder guard force.

Imperial Guard revamp

2009-05-18T23:13:00.000-07:00

Well, back to the Warhammer 40k front. After getting a bit painted, inventory of my bits and pocketbook, I have done some revamping of my intended IG list.

After taking a look at what my pocketbook and painting table can take, I have revamped my Imperial Guard list.

Command Squad, meltaguns

Infantry Platoon
3x Infantry Squads w/Flamers or Grenade Launchers
2x Heavy Weapons squads w/ Missile Launchers

Veteran Squad w/shotguns, sarge w/bolt pistol and power sword

Valkyrie Squadron (3x) w/Lascannons, rocket pods, door gunners

Leman Russ Squad (2x Battle Tank) w/ Battle Cannons, whatever else

Artillery Battery (1-2x Basilisk)

Much later I think I will get 3 stormtrooper squads to ride in the Valkyries. The IG apocalypse formations look simply deadly. It should be great.

For those of you who play Inquisition, I was wondering what you would consider taking for an Inquisitor's retinue. Comments?

New Race?

2009-05-15T14:01:00.000-07:00

So, Bell of Lost Souls has put together enough whispering coming out of Games Workshop to say that they think a new race is being planned for 40k/Fantasy. Right now they think it is at least a year off and that it won't be a humanoid race.

Personally I was hoping for Adeptus Mechanicus or Exodite Eldar. But since those are both humanoid I don't really know.

What do you guys think?

Imperial Guard

2009-05-15T13:57:00.001-07:00

Well, after more work on my Imperial Guard, tentatively the Caellach First Regiment, I still don't have a camera for nice pictures.

What I have done,
2x Infantry Squad
1x Command Squad
1/3 Heavy Weapons Team

Basically I have 1 minimalistic platoon. I hope to keep moving forward.

For the Emperor.

Awesome paint jobs 1

2009-05-05T16:38:00.000-07:00

I have decided that I am going to have to start (re)posting awesome paint jobs when I see them. I will do my best to give credit where it is due. I also may post pictures, or just links, depending on where I got the pictures from, permission, etc.

For our first installment, I found some very well painted Ultramarines. I found this on Bolter and Chainsword and rather than steal their bandwidth or his pictures I will simply link them. The vindicator is a must see (first link).

Vindicator

The rest of the army

It makes me feel good about the hobby to know that we have painters of this skill.

Tackling a large project

2009-05-05T09:09:00.000-07:00

I have started painting my IG force. I am looking at over 50 models to paint and probably more.

So far I have been painting the models on the sprue and then assembling them and fixing just the clip marks. This has kept me from getting too bored and frustrated with them.

I have also been alternating what types of squads I work on to keep things fresh.

Any other ideas on what I can do to keep things moving?

15/70 done.

Cameras

2009-05-04T08:36:00.000-07:00

I have been meaning to get a digital camera for some time, but am unsure of what type to get. I need one that is good for close up pictures but other than that I don't really have any requirements.

Any thoughts?

Warhammer 40k Imperial Guard list

2009-04-29T16:38:00.000-07:00

This is my first Warhammer 40K post, the previous ones being regarding the volunteer program that was the impetus for this blog's creation.

For those of you who don't know, Warhammer 40K (or more properly, Warhammer 40,000) is a table-top sci-fi wargame. You assemble and paint the models that make your army and you play against other players and the armies that they have created.

In a few days the new Codex (rulebook) for Imperial Guard comes out and I couldn't help but plan a small(ish) army of Imperial Guard.

So here is the sketch. Missile based heavy weapons teams protected by infantry squads while the Command Squads catch rides in the Valkyries and come in from the sides or wherever.

HQ
Company Command Squad with:
Astropath, plasma guns

Troops
2x Infantry Platoons each with:
2x Infantry Squads w/ Flamers/Grenade Launchers
1x Heavy Weapons Squads
1x Platoon Command Squad w/ plasma guns

Fast Attack
Valkyrie Squadron
3x Valkyries, 1 w/ Lascannon upgrade