The Wulfen Have Awoken My Daemons

Hey there folks! Welcome back to the Corners of Chaos. I'm still thinking about last week's Tournament. That was a lot of fun. There's supposed to be another in April- hopefully that weekend will be clear so that I can go.

I just finished the Curse of the Wulfen book. I love the story- a saga of heroes, misguided heroes, and some villains too, in the form of Chaos daemons. I also love the friggin' cliffhanger of an ending too. Wow. I am really looking forward to the conclusion (assuming they are following the format of the previous campaign book releases).

Of course, my eye was immediately drawn to the Daemons part of the rules. I am slightly disappointed with the Daemonic Incursion "Decurion". The number of models (and points) required to take these formations make it fairly impractical. You simply don't have the points in most 1800-2000 point games to fill out the Incursion and have the flexibility that the Daemons codex actually provides. I mean, you can possibly have both a Tallyband the Tzeentch formation (9 units!!). It blows.

However, if you take ONE of the formations AND instead use CAD... well, then it is possible to build a decent army around a solid core of the Formations. I could well take a Tallyband, and then take a standard detachment with a few other daemon types. That, I think, would work really well. I could (thanks to my numerous Daemonkin) also do the same with a Murderhost. Tzeentch and Slaanesh- well, I don't have enough models for those, and I doubt I ever will.

I am appreciative of the god-specific psychic powers, artifacts, and warlord traits. Several of the warlord traits are actually useful, and some of those artifacts can be nasty. I am pleased they expanded this after the rather too narrow scope of the original Daemon codex. Oh- another bonus- you can now take the new Bloodthirster and give him Lesser,  Greater, and Exalted Gifts. That ain't too shabby.

Of course, all this talk of Daemons really got me thinking. I told you before, the lure of Chaos is very strong, and I can only be away for so long before I get sucked back in. Well, thanks to the Wulfen book- I'm doing Chaos again. Now, don't get me wrong- I still have Mechanicus I'm working on. I'm enjoying that army so I will continue to build on it. However.... must... paint... Daemons! LOL

After reading Wulfen and dreaming of a Tallyband, I counted my Plaguebearers and Nurglings. I had 6 between the two unit types (provided I use the minimum sizes for each). So... you know what I had to do. I decided to buy one more box of the plastic Plaguebearers of course! Now I have 7 units (and of course, I already have a Herald of Nurgle).

I love this "new" plastic kit. Don't get me wrong- the metal ones from 4th (I think) edition are really nice. At the time, they were the best. I enjoyed painting those (I think it was in 2002 or so). Those metal models inspired me greatly, impacting my modeling work in many ways. I had already been doing Plague Marines, but doing the Daemons pushed my painting techniques further, thus influencing my painting of subsequent Plague Marines. Indeed, painting these metal Plaguebearers made me a much better painter- I only started seriously painting in 2000- and my Dark Eldar were quite plain. Using the old White Dwarf articles, I learned about new techniques and applied them to the Plaguebearers. I really upped my painting with them. (Truly, that is something I truly miss with White Dwarf magazine as it is now. It is merely a sales brochure- I loved the old WD that had hobby and story articles that INSPIRED).

Anyways, as I assembled my Plaguebearers I decided I would do something totally different. I decided I would spray them white and then do their flesh ONLY using washes. It is a technique that I have NEVER used before. Naturally, I have used washes (recesses, to alter a hue), but never have I used washes to primarily paint a model. I have read about the technique (WD had a few articles when the new paints were released, but mostly I read about it online).

So, I used different wash combos on different Plaguebearers. For some, I used Cammoshade to make the sickly, pale green that has been the trademark of my Plague stuff since day 1. However, the washes allowed me to get a nice color much more quickly.

For others, I used alternating coats of Fleshshade and Sepia. This gave them a more fleshy, yet still sickly appearance. Though my original Plague stuff was NOT this color, I had since painted Nurgle stuff in all kinds of colors, as long as they were disgusting (though I still primarily do that pale and sickly green, I have enough colors interspersed that they still form a coherent looking army).

On one, I used Fleshade and Earthshade. That guy looks the most different. However, he still looks like part of the same Daemonic force. I think I may paint future Nurgle stuff with that color combo, as I like how dirty it looks.

There was only one model I had a mishap with. I used Bel Tan Green on one- yikes. Waaaaaayy too green. I tried to put Cammoshade over, but to no avail. So, I had no choice but to re-coat him with Deathworld paint, followed by Cammo wash. Despite this error, he still came out looking like his festering brothers. (Note to self- don't use Bel Tan Green over white again. Ever.)

The rest of the details I painted with regular paints and the technical paints. The guts I did Khorne Red, then I brightened them up with lighter reds, finally adding pink to some of the intestines. Then I followed this by using Blood for the Blood god technical paint. Nice and goopy in some spots.

The swords I did with Leadbelcher, followed by Typhus Corrosion technical paint. This gave them a filthy look. As for the eyes, I used my old technique of painting the entire eye area white, followed by a Mephiston Red eye rim, and finally a slit of black for the iris.

For the sores and tumor looking stuff, I used various contrasting washes (yes, Bel Tan Green works for this stage, as does purple and yellow) and the Nurgle's Rot technical paint around/over the sores, then used white to highlight the top of the sores.

Finally, I put gobs of Nurgle's Rot on their swords, their sores, some of their mouths, and running down their legs and onto the bases. Once all of that was done, I used 'Ardcoat over the entire model- sword and all (EXCEPT the banner). This gloss varnish makes them look extra slimy and sickly.

Oh- forgot one thing. My Plague champion I put a zombie head on. The one think about the kit I don't like is that SOME of the poses are limited. The champion is posed so that his sword is sticking straight up. I decided that, since there was little I could do with the sword, I put a zombie head on the Plaguebearer, thus making him look different from the others. After all, according to the mythology, anyone killed by one of Nurgle's plagues becomes a Plaguebearer in the warp. So- why not look slightly "man-ish"?

Now- a confession. I enjoyed painting these guys so much that... at last week's Tourney, I bought a Start Collecting! Daemons of Nurgle box... That means I have more Nurgle stuff to keep me busy. I told you- Chaos will always have me in its grasp! Hehe! As for the ones I just finished, they match quite well with the rest of my Nurgle Daemons- as I mix and match them, they would form a very unified force- all the colors of filth and rot. I think I will paint my next batch of Nurgle stuff in the same manner with the washes, as I like the results of this technique.

I also wanted to show off some terrain I recently finished for my friend Joe. As you may recall, we recently finished his ice world table (it is beautiful for sure). Joe had the old wrecked ship terrain from an old 40K boxed set from the early 2000s. He asked if I would paint it for him.

So, I painted the ship to be Dark Angels, which is now is primary army that he's working on. I did it simply, Caliban Green with lighter green highlights. As for the snow, I started with Kantor Blue, then used brighter blues. Then, I followed with a liberal drybrush of Russ Grey, followed by brighter greys and whites, making sure to leave the blue beneath. It gives the whole thing an icy appearance. If you paint it just snow white, you lose a ton of detail and visually its rather dull. The blue under the white gives it the appearance of glacial ice or something.

These didn't take me long to do. I used Blood technical paint to give it a little something interesting. I also put on some Dark Angel transfers. With all the pieces together, they really make a nice set of terrain pieces, and the ice blue will go with Joe's table perfectly.

So- that's everything for now. I'll be back next time with undoubtedly more Daemons, but I will be getting back to Mechanicus as well very soon.

Until next time...

For Your Consideration: Plague Drones of Nurgle

Hey there my fellow denizens of the warp. Old man Chaos is back with another installment of the Chaos Corner. This summer hasn't been quite as relaxing as I had hoped thus far, but that's life. However, I have finished some models though, so without further ado, I present for your consideration.... Plague Drones of Nurgle!

I had gotten my first three Plague Drones when they first came out. These first three were a pain to put together, and I struggled to find a good paint scheme for the flies. I tried some things that I felt just didn't work. I then got sidetracked with other projects that just kept popping up. The real problem was that I just didn't find a good look for the bugs. The Plaguebearers I could do in my sleep, but these giant, ugly flies... I just didn't know what to do.

Then at Christmas, I received another 3 from my wife. I didn't put them together at first at all- again, other projects kept coming. Then, about a month and a half ago, I had the urge to put the new three together. Now that I knew what to do, these new 3 went together very quickly. With that, I became inspired to push ahead and get them painted. Once I hit upon the right combination (and a few great ideas from my friend Pete), I got into a groove and felt confident in how they were turning out.

So, what did I end up doing? For the fly bodies, I started with a Zandri Dust basecoat followed by a rather liberal shading of Earthshade. Then, I did a light drybrushing of Karak Stone. The result was a somewhat pale but very bloated looking color. After so many experiments, I really liked how they came out.

For their carapace and legs I did black with Stegadon Green OR Incubi Darkness edge highlights (I alternated on which I used, as I liked both). The wings I give all due credit to Pete, who had a great idea. The wings would be basecoated with Rakarth Flesh. Then, there would be one of three washes: green, blue, or purple. This was followed up by a coat of gloss varnish. Thus, the wings now had an iridescent look, and the different washes ensures that the bugs wings are all unique, yet certainly look like a unified force.

I was also very liberal with my the technical paints, slime and blood. While you certainly can go too far with these paints, I figured daemons can absolutely look a little more extreme and that's fine. After all, these buggers (ha ha) are quite large and, while not a centerpiece for the army, they do stand out. So, I put some extra slime to make them look all Nurgly. I particularly put slime on/in the proboscis- ewww indeed.

I finished them a couple of weeks ago, but I didn't get to take pics of them until today actually. Did I mention that my studio set is really good? I do enjoy taking pics with it. Simple to use, with great results. All I need is a more professional camera...

Well, I hope that you liked the models. I am looking forward to using them pretty soon. Until next time...

A Couple of Battle Reports

Hey there my fellow mutants, heretics, and traitors. Old Man Chaos is back with another exciting blog post... wait... do I hear snoring? Ok- so maybe I think my posts are more exciting than they actually are. But hey, its my blog, so I can think what I want. Tough audience...

Anyways, I have been fortunate to have the time to play at my local store. I have been going more frequently than I used to- I am now playing once a week, give or take. That is more than I have played in a long time, and I have learned so much about 6th edition, and my own armies, in particular. I have also had a blast. Win lose or draw, the games have been fun, frantic, and fast paced. I also learned to hate Centurions (lethal to Marines and such... I'll have to swamp them with zombies when I have the chance).

For the past two weeks, I have played against Frank "the tank". Or rather, Frank "the drop pod". Frank plays Space Wolves, and he plays them like I have never seen. He has their special characters all in ONE SQUAD. They are the ultimate killers, ready to take on just about anybody (Logan, Njal, and Arjac, plus two terminators for good measure). Frank also uses the Thunderwolf cavalry to great effect. Oh, and he drops his guys down in drop pods.


So, as I said, I played 2 games with Frank. The first game I played against him with my Khorne Bezerkers, led by Kharn himself. The game was a ton of fun, and filled with a lot of back and forth throughout (a tense and close game is just the way I like it- very exciting).

I discovered that Space Wolves are more than equal to Khorne Bezerkers. I had a very very tough time with his Thunderwolves in particular. Since Bezerkers only get +1 S on the charge only (thanks Codex nerf), I simply didn't have the strength to tear through them (that's what they did to me). His Thunderwolves killed everything they ran into pretty much. His magic also did a number on my Heldrake. Ugh.

I gave as good as I got though. There was an epic duel in which Kharn went toe to toe with Logan- and they killed each other at the same time! Khorne cares not from whence the blood flows, as long as it flows, I suppose. I ultimately won due to linebreaker, but it was just too damn close.

Then, we decided to play again in 2 weeks... he would tweak his Space Wolf list, but he wanted to face off against my Plague Marines. I decided that I would take a very different list from what I'm used to though. I took Typhus and 75 zombies (3 squads) for a start. I figured I would just try to swamp his units and drown them in flesh eating undead. I also copied something a Space Marine player did against me- I took 3 Dreadnoughts (excuse me, Hellbrutes) with Lascannon and bolter/cc weapon. I had two squads of 5 Plague Marines each with 2 Rhinos. Finally, I had the requisite Heldrake, and I decided to take a Vindicator (shouldn't they call it a "Hell-dicator" just too keep up the Hell theme?). But that left me a lot of points shy of 2000. So, I chose to take Deamonic allies. 14 Plaguebearers and a juicy Great Unclean One, complete with a Greater and Exalted Gift (which I rolled Unholy- allowing me to re-roll failed inv svs- excellent).

The game was afoot, with the mission being the Emperor's Will. I placed my zombies all over my board edge- with Typhus and a squad of zombies on the objective, placed near the center of my deployment zone. With the tanks and hellbrutes filling in the rest of the spots, he was unable to drop the pods BEHIND me, as he did last game. However, dropping them in front of me proved to be almost as disasterous. His Longfangs and Rune Priest took pot shots at my Dreadnoughts, destroying one the first turn, the next turn (the 3rd was safely on the other side of the board, and was OK).

In my turn, I fired a lot at his HQ killer squad, to little effect. They even made their inv svs against the demolisher cannon (which I fired waaaay too clost to Typhus, luckily no drift). My 3rd dread destroyed his Rhino, stranding his 10 men on the far side of the board (too far from their objective, but nowhere near the action). I moved one Rhino the left flank, while my other Rhino unloaded its men and they shot at the HQ killer squad (again, no effect). My left flank zombies moved up (with the Rhino). Typhus and the zombies charged the triple threat HQ squad and challenged Arjac. Neither fell in the first round, and zombies died, but the 2 terminator guards were taken down.

Turn 2, his other drop pod comes down, behind the zombies I had advanced- which at this point was fine with me, as the zombies couldn't make it to his objective opposite the field, and Typhus would need all of the zombies at his disposal- better to concentrate all the heavy action on my end so I could respond faster and time him down. His Longfangs killed the 2nd dread, and destroyed the vindicator (damn split fire). Then, it was combat time. Typhus and Arjac continued to piss each other off but couldn't land the killing blow, while Logan seemed reluctant to kill any zombies. Meanwhile, the Thunderwolves charged my Plague Marines. They had been able to run through my Bezerkers in the last game, but with the Plague Marine toughness of 5 and blight grenades denying them their +1A on the charge, the wolves only managed to kill 2 Marines.

At the bottom of turn 2, all my reserves arrived. My Heldrake clawed at his drop pod squad at the back, then moved and torched his retreating Rhino squad, killing a handful. My Plaguebearers arrived, but scattered very far away- and into difficult terrain, and 3 died! Bad luck, but since I had the instrument and banner, I brought in the Unclean One 6" from them- still far, but he could reach the Thunderwolves in a turn or 2. I continued to move the Rhino up the left flank, being protected by the Heldrake now (and my dread was still available to cover them too). Speaking of, I pivoted my dread to fire at the rear drop pod squad, and then they were charged by my zombies. Meanwhile, my last zombie squad charged the Thunderwolves, now ensuring that they would be tied up for a while too. Now, all 3 zombie squads were in combat. Unfortunately, at this juncture, Typhus got killed. So Frank now had First Blood (the first dread) and now slay the warlord, and Linebreaker too. However, his Thunderwolves, drop pod squad, and HQ killers were all tied up in an endless tide of the undead.

Turn 3 was the "turning point", ultimately. Frank made a tactical mistake early on (I made plenty myself- leaving my dreads and vindicator far too exposed, just for example). He left NO troops with HIS objective. It was in a ruin, with his Longfangs/Rune Priest on the roof. At this point Frank began to realize what I was doing. With 3/4 of his army fighting zombies, I was racing the Rhino to his objective. And, covered by the Heldrake, this would be a real problem for him. He moved his ex-Rhino squad near the ruin. Meanwhile, he split his Longfang fire- he shot at my GUO- and he mocked them with his re-roll of inv svs. He also fired at the Heldrake. Even with the casting of prescience, he could not roll the 6s that he needed. That was where it ultimately hinged- he should have hit the Rhino instead- it would have meant that my Plague Marines would have been stranded a bit too far out to get to his objective. His combat was more of the same as before- he killed handfuls of zombies, but they took a few of his guys down too (even whittled down one of the Thunderwolves). In my 3rd, I pressed forward with my plan. The Heldrake burned his whole Longfang squad, with only the Rune priest surviving. But not for long- my 3rd dreadnought fired his twin las and vaporized him- great shot. Now all that remained was the ex Rhino squad near the objective. I also advanced my GUO and he charged the Thunderwolves- killing their leader (he was a character too I think... too many characters). They finished off the last Plague Marine, but the zombies held on. The zombie slaughter continued, but Arjac fell to them. Finally, the drop pod squad was slowly being wiped out (his squad leader just couldn't get enough attacks).

Turn 4, Frankie had his ex-rhino guys at the objective, ready to fight any interloper. The close combat went on in my zone, BUT- his HQ squad killed the last zombie in that assault- this was a problem for me, as they could go and tip the balance of either of the other 2 combats. The Thunderwolves continued to suffer against the GUO. But- in a bit of great luck, the drop pod squad bit the dust, and the zombies did feast- and they were free to move in my turn. In my half, my Heldrake did the only thing it could- it incinerated the last of the ex Rhino squad. Now my Rhino had a clear path and parked near the objective. My now unengaged zombie squad moved toward MY objective. The GUO and Thunderwolves continued to hurt one another, but this combat wasn't going anywhere.

Turn 5, Frank split his HQ squad up, sending Njal after my zombies, with his spell/effect electrocuting some of them, but not enough. Meanwhile, he had Logan charge the GUO- and it was another battle of attrition. In my half, I pulled my men out of the Rhino, and claimed his objective. I had my zombies move in toward my objective, but Njal was close enough to contest- my dread had fired at him, but couldn't pull off the same miracle twice, and Njal's inv sv shrugged the las shot off.

The fight was over. I won, 4 to 3. He had slay, linebreaker, and first blood. I had 3 for his objective and linebreaker. The game was intense, and just one different choice by Frank's longfangs could have changed the whole game. It was a blast to play, and both participants were good sports and honorable warriors.

Frank is a great player and a strong painter. His Thunderwolves look amazing, complete with the snow effect base. I can't wait to see him paint the rest of his army. And, Frank has challenged me to another fight- he wants his Grey Knights to go against my Daemons. I think he just wants revenge, but how can I refuse? Haha! That will be a heck of a battle!

Until next time...

Battle Report: Dawn of the Dead!

Welcome back to another edition of Chaos Corner- your favorite place for Warhammer 40K goodness. I've got a battle report for you- I'll keep it brief. I fought my Grey Knight opponent once again. My others of my gaming group have had some things going on in their lives (marriages and such), so we haven't gotten a chance to play as much. That should change by the summer, if the new Eldar codex rumors are true. I'll also have time to play at my local store once the summer comes.

Deamons and Chaos Marines fighting together- as nature intended!

At any rate, my brother decided to play his Grey Knights once again (one day, he'll go back to Imperial Guard). It was his usual list. As for me, I decided to go for a Chaos alliance- Plague Marines and Nurgle Daemons. I've been excited by this possibility for a while, and I was very anxious to try it out.

The Dead Will Walk The Earth

I had Typhus as my leader, plus I took a Dark Apostle as HQ choices. I took 2 squads of 30 zombies apiece (One squad for Typhus and the other for the Apostle). In addition, I had a squad of 7 Plague Marines (with 2 Meltas) in a Rhino equipped with Dirge Casters. These forces were backed up by a Predator with Twin Lascannon turret and sponson Heavy Bolters. The Daemon contingent had 2 squads of 14 Plaguebearers and a Great Unclean One, who was waiting in the Warp, just waiting to deep strike into the carnage.

My brother then surprised me by suggesting that we play one of the missions that I posted here- the Dawn of The Dead mission, since I already was taking zombies. I was thrilled to try out one of my crafted missions, so I agreed (see the Dawn of the Dead mission in my post New Battle Missions). We set up the table, as per the deployment I described in that mission. He had the bottom quarter, and I had the other 3. We had to be at least 6" away from the boundary. My mission was to wipe out his troop choices in 6 turns (his 10 Marines and 2 squads of 5 Terminators apiece- 20 men I had to eat or kill). His mission was to keep them alive until dawn (or turn 6).

I had a serious placement problem...

 I made a stupid mistake at the outset. I placed my Plaguebearers first, with my zombies further back. This was stupid placement on my part, especially since my "Dawn of The Dead" roll gave all zombies +1A!! My thoughts were that the Daemons would get in there and hurt the Grey Knights, but not kill them. Then, the zombies would move on in, cleaning up the job. My Plague Marines and Predator would provide the fire support. A good plan, but as I said, I placed the zombies a bit too far back. It took them way too long to move up the field. Once they got close, the battle was already over.

My Brother always plays great defensive campaigns...

 Of course, I once again underestimated my brother's ability to play defensively. He has always been very good at such scenarios- basically he adopts a "Come and get me attitude" toward playing in defense- and he is damn good at it- withdrawing rather than advancing- making me do the work of getting to him. In this mission, he hid his troops in a series of manufactorum ruins. Thus, his Marines and Terminators got a 4+ cover save- I literally had to go to him, and he made me pay for every inch.

I bet that was expensive!

The game started off well (deceptively) for me. My Plaguebearers charged his Land Raider, and using Touch of Rust, they managed to score 4(!!) glancing hits- thus his Land Raider was a wreck. My brother was unpreturbed though. In his turn, his Dreadnought turned the corner and laid waste to most of the Plaguebearers that wrecked the LR. His Grey Knight Terminators opened fire on the zombie squad coming from the ruins- A lot of casualties. Stupidly, I decided to put them back into cover to await my Plague Marines to arrive via Rhino- 2 Meltas would put a good whomping on them, allowing the zombies to move forward- but that wouldn't be until turn 3 at the earliest.

What possessed me to HIDE the zombies!?!

My Great Unclean One- affectionately known as "Jimmy"...

In my second turn, my Great Unclean One appeared near the second Plaguebearer squad (thanks to the Icon no scattering) though he was nearing the Dreadknight. Typhus' zombies moved upfield, while the Apostle's took cover. My Predator shot at the Dreadknight, but missed (twice with Twin Linked!!). My Plaguebears began to move toward the Dreadnought, and my Rhino advanced behind them. In his turn, he moved the Dreadknight toward me, but still a bit to far for him to charge. His Dreadnought and Terminators shot the Plaguebearers, but just a few still clung to life.

The Great Unclean One is  to open for business- and business is good!

The Death Guard are about to unleash strong fire discipline on the Grey Knights

Top of turn 3, I move my Predator to get a better shot at the troops in the manufactorum. I shot using snap shots, killing one. I moved the Apostle's zombies out of cover again, knowing that the Rhino was drawing near. It pulled up, and the Death Guard deployed. They put good fire discipline on the Terminators at the top of the factory, killing 1.  One squad of Plagueberers advanced down the street, while the other squad charged the Dreadknight- I used their Plaguebanner, thus allowing them to hit in 2+. My brother took 1 wound. Then I threw in the GUO- my Daemon lost a hit point but passed his Ld. The Dreadknight took another wound. For the Grey Knight turn, my brother's dreadnought killed off the one squad of Plaguebearers, and took some shots at the zombies, since my Rhino provided a good screen. In the Grey Knight's 3rd turn, he shot at my Death Guard, killing one. The Dreadnought had no choice but to shoot at the zombies- killing a score more. Finally, his Dreadknight succumbed to my Great Unclean One- plus several of the Plaguebearers were alive to fight on.

It's going to be tough to get them out of their positions...

At my turn 4- I tried to put on the full court press- I advanced my GUO and Plaguebearers toward the Marines in the factory- and the 2nd squad of terminators just under the walkway. My Typhus zombies advanced (but they were just too damn far away). My Death Guard shot at the terminators on the walkway, killing all but one, who was on the other side of the walkway (hidden from view, which would haunt me later). Meanwhile, my Predator finally got into the fight, killing a few more Marines on the other walkway. In his phase, his Dreadnought continued to shoot at my zombies, killing another handful. His marines on the lower walkway shot at my GUO- that much storm bolter and psilencer fire is a bit too much- my GUO lost 2 wounds!! His Terminators on the ground also took a few shots, and the GUO lost another wound.

The Death Guard advance through the ruins to get at the other Terminators.

The zombies were just too far away to make a difference.

 By turn 5, I realized that my zombies just weren't going to make it in time. I needed my Death Gaurd and the Great Unclean One to get in there and take out the rest of his men. The GUO used his primaris power, killing all but one of the Marines on the lower walkway. The Predator then finished the job. My Dark Apostle broke from the zombie squad and charged the Dreadnought, hoping to score 6s. He did not. But neither did the Dread hurt him (both arms were shooting arms). The Death Guard were making their way to through the ruins to get to the ground level Terminator squad. They technically were not behind cover, so in turn 6 I could use the Meltas and hopefully make him fail those saves.

I just couldn't get to him...

Decision time- Turn 6. This would be the game. I had my GUO jump up to the lower platform and used his Primaris Power on the lone Terminator who was hiding at the top with Captain Stern. The Primaris power hit, but he rolled his invulnerable save. Damn. Technically, the game was over right there. My Death Guard fired at the terminators, only killing one. The zombies were nearing, but they were just too far off- if only I had one more turn! Alas, I did not, and my brother won.

In a way, it was fitting. In the tradition of the zombie movie- the heroes faced quiet moments until all hell broke lose. When it did, many of them died; but, at the very end, there are a handful of survivors, which was was the case here. Despite my last full effort, he had 1 Terminator from one squad and 4 from the other still alive. Out of 20, 5 were left. That meant that he won. Once again, I must give kudos to my brother for fighting a great defensive campaign. He made my forces die for every inch, and ultimately I just didn't have enough time. Again, my big mistake was to put the zombies too far back- I was too conservative with them.

"I choose not to run"

Regardless of win or loss, it was a great match. There was a lot of tension, some great dice rolls, a lot of back and forth... There was a thrill about using my own mission rules- must try out the other ones I made/tweaked. The battle was a ton of fun, a classic 40K match for us. My brother gloated all weekend about his victory. When I asked him for a rematch, he said "I choose not to run"! Haha! He will though, he will... and then vengeance will be mine!!

Until next time...