Anyways, I have a special article here for your approval.My friend Joe and I have recently put the "finishing" touches on his "new" gaming table, and we just played our inaugural game on it. I know that I have written about this table before (Part 1 and Part 2 and Part 3 if you are interested in an "in-depth" look).
In brief, I once had a huge gaming table. However, after getting married and "life event" stuff, I was no longer able to keep the large battlezone. So I gave it to my friend Joe. Now, for him as well, "life events" intervened, and for a while he did nothing with the table. But, in recent months, Joe's life has settled a bit and he has once again gotten the 40K bug. Since last summer, we have worked to create a new gaming table, made from the ashes of my old one.
Basically, Joe wanted something different from the cityfight table that I made. So, we just flipped the table over. Once again, Pete planned the design and cut the foam, while I would work to paint the table. Joe would help with both, but he's mostly a "supervisor" LOL.
So, what type of table did Joe want? Why, an ice world table, of course! Joe has visions of a Hoth-like situation- cold, desolate, frozen. Of course, he is currently building Dark Angels as opposed to Space Wolves (which is what I'd do if I had a damn snow table), but that's not important. Once the table was painted (blue with heavy stippling of white texture paint on top), we then set out to make the frozen lake / river that takes up a chunk of the table. We decided to use lots of water effects. It worked great, though the stuff isn't as resilient as resin (such as what Pete used on his lava table). The ice LOOKS great, though we may have to revisit it later with resin or something else.
In the meantime, I also made several terrain pieces for the board, complete with ice and snow. I used both 40K and Fantasy pieces. I painted up the prometheum pipes I had laying around. I also finished the Fortress of Redemption (that Pete and Joe had given me for the holidays a few years ago)- I decided to give it some ice and snow and give it to Joe, since he's now playing Dark Angels. I'll still get to use it, so that's the important thing. Finally, I bought some Christmas trees for decorating holiday villages- on sale! So I bought 2 bags of them. We could make a small forest on the table if we wanted to (and we just might).
So, after working on it off and on for so long, the table was finally ready to be played on. I must say that Joe has the perfect "man cave" set up. The gaming table is in his garage. Now, the garage is finished, but it could only fit one car and not much else. However, it is LARGE enough to make an entire man cave out of it. Whilst he is still working on it, he has already put a small couch in there, and a space heater. With a bit more time, effort, and purchases of essentials, Joe will have the perfect gaming space. Heck- it is big enough to put a smaller table in there as well. We could have a small game going at the same time as the big one. Perhaps 2 elite squads are in the facility under the frozen lake, desperately battling to control the super weapon within. Or, if GW finally gets its act together, we could do a Battlefleet Gothic game alongside- the fight on the planet and in the stars above... the possibilities are endless.
So, about a week and a half ago, we fought our first game on the table. I decided that I HAD to use Khorne Daemonkin against his Dark Angels. Loyalist versus Chaos, as nature intended. Plus, I thought the red would look striking against the white and blue frozen board (it certainly did).
The mission was Secure the Relic, which was placed dead center on the table. Joe was clearly out for blood from our last game in which I played Mechanicus (see HERE). My Mechanicum forces brutalized Joe, and now he wanted to make me pay for it, There would be no mercy, no quarter in this game. It was also the idea that he wanted to win on HIS table for the first time out that made the game extra spicy.
However, I wasn't going to go quietly into that good night. I built up a rather effective Khorne list (I actually used a variation of it at one of the tournaments). I allied it with CSM Codex, to get Kharn and a Heldrake (cultists being the mandatory Troop). Once again, Joe did not know much about the Daemonkin, as he has not faced anything quite like this before (the book has far different synergy than a traditional CSM / CD alliance). I, on the other hand, have had some experience against the new DA book (sadly, I was beaten handily but the Tournament Organizer who used DA). However, I learned from that, and planned to use that knowledge against Joe.
First, I was determined to rush EVERYTHING forward. Nobody waits, everyone goes. Now, this meant casualties. My Daemon Prince got zapped immediately by Joe's Dreadnoughts. His terminators made short work of my bikers. My cultists were used as cannon fodder, naturally.
My aces in the hole were my Maulerfiends and Flesh Hounds. These two are very very effective. I decided to run the 3 Maulerfiends together, rather than spread them out across the battlefield. This meant that if they collided with ANYTHING in CC, that enemy would die, no question. The Flesh Hounds, with their 2 wounds each and S5 on the charge are great at killing Space Marines, or at the very least tying them up for several turns. Any +3 armor saves would be toasted by my third ace- my Heldrake. He would make quick work of Joe's regular Marines.
The game was certainly a back and forth. As more of my stuff died, I summoned Bloodletters and a new Daemon Prince to replace the one he killed. The Drake/Mauler/Hound combo was taking its toll on Joe. It didn't help matters that some of his Deep Striking terminators scattered off the board- and were LOST! Good times, good times.
Ironically, it was my bikers and cultists that actually won me the game. They played a crucial role, delaying the advance of Joe's terminators toward the Relic. Due to the delay, my newly minted Daemon Prince grabbed the Relic first, and began slowly walking away with it. The terminators just finished up when my Maulerfiends were swinging round, fresh from killing a squad of terminators and Devastators. They were now flanking, and took out those pesky relic-seeking terminators as well. Plus, my Heldrake was also flying in support, torching a squad of Space Marines (that had been tied down by my hounds).
The game ended with my DP in possession of the Relic, with Rhinos and Khorne Bezerkers led by Khorne in protective support. Ultimately, the score was 5 to 2. I got 3 for the Relic, 1 for Slay, 1 for Linebraker (Maulerfiends were in his zone by that point). He got 1 for Slay and 1 for First Blood (both for shooting my first DP to death).
The game was a ton of fun, and the beautiful table certainly helped to make it an evocative setting to our battle. Joe vowed revenge once more, and I have no doubt that he shall have it, sooner or later. Nevertheless, the Scions of Gorechild have gotten a hold on an important Dark Angel relic. Who knows what that Daemon Prince will do to desecrate it?
(Please note- I took few pics of Joe's models because they are either grey plastic or just coated black. Once he works on them I'll be sure to put them on my blog).
Have a Happy New Year. Until Next Time...
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