Campaigning in 40K Part 4- The Progress So Far

Hey there Chaos followers one and all! Old Man Chaos is back from a trip to the seventh circle of the Eye of Terror, so to speak. I recently moved, which was a "slight" ordeal. It has been a couple of weeks since I put paintbrush to model (nor have I been able to post), which is disappointing; but life goes on! I should be back to painting in no time at all, once I get my new digs set up.

Using the old charge plastic counters to show attacks on the map

So, for this article I'm going to summarize my Trovana Prime campaign as it went these past few months. If you have been following my series, you know that I have longed to do a big campaign. I have only ever done one (which was a lot of fun but collapsed under its own weight- the rules were a bit too much). After years of fiddling and streamlining, I came up with a new campaign ruleset- the Judgement of Trovana Prime.

My zombie list wrecked havoc- but the Imperials still won!

So, we began the campaign in earnest this summer- I kept it small- it was my brother, my friend (and newly converted 40K fanatic) Brian and myself. I set up the campaign narrative as such that all three factions- Space Marines, Imperial Guard, and Chaos could reasonably all fight each other. I was excited- it would be time to see if my new rules panned out as well as I hoped.

Brian learned to fear Defilers and Soul Grinders

Thankfully, I can report that the campaign rules have functioned much better than our last iteration. The map phase is cleaner, the environmental tables work well, and the "Plot Threads" have added some spice to the proceedings so far (more on that in a second).  The game has been fast paced with lots of battles happening.

However, it was not without hiccups. After a few battles, my brother said he was done with the campaign- he just didn't want to commit the time needed for such a lengthy game. That was quite frustrating- but I wrote it into the plot, saying law and order has almost broken down, and while some guard are active, the Adeptus Astartes are in charge now. It made narrative sense, thankfully.

The campaign has been a ride, that is for sure. Ironically, I have only won a few games, while newcomer Brian has used his Ultramarines/Grey Knights to wipe the floor with my Chaos forces. I am in no way sore about it- I just can't believe that after all this time of wanting a campaign I am performing so poorly! I suppose that war has its fortunes, good and bad. It has certainly pushed me to experiment with other lists/ideas...

If I'm using Noise Marines the situation MUST be desperate

Yet, all is not lost. At our most recent game, Brian decided to bring forth his Imperial Knight for the second time. If you recall from my "Plot Threads" posting, the Imperial Knight, Baneblade, and Lord of Skulls all count as Lords of War for their faction. If they are destroyed, they cannot be used for the rest of the campaign. Brian had previously used the Imperial Knight in one of our earlier games; the Knight was brutal; the Knight was simply vicious.I barely scratched him.

Veritas of House Dilabor marches against the forces of Chaos

So, Brian boasted that he was bringing the Knight in for our most recent battle. I decided, rather than go for victory, I would instead go for his Knight. I created a list of Traitor Guardsmen, using the Astra Millitarum book. Thus I had a ton of lascannons, tanks, and more. I took tons of shots at him in the first turn doing significant damage in the process (his ion shields blocked some, sadly). However, he was still alive and kicking.

This tank crew was assigned the task of destroying the Imperial Knight

 In his first turn, he retaliated, blowing up scores of guardsmen and stomping two tanks as if they were paper- I really thought my gambit was going to fail. But, at the start of the second turn, my remaining Traitor Guard lascannon teams whittled away the remaining  hull points, and the Knight was destroyed (and what a roll!). This is exactly the result I wanted- now he cannot use the damnable thing any more, giving me an opening in future games to use the Lord of Skulls with a bit more safety.

The Lascannon crew that destroyed Veritas

The game did go as expected afterwards- once I killed the Knight the Space Marines and Grey Knights sought revenge, and it was ugly. They just cut through my remaining guardsmen like a scythe, and there was little I could do to stop them. The Imperial Knight had done so much damage in a single turn that I could not regroup enough. I conceded the game, but Brian knew victory had cost him dearly. The loss of Veritas of House Dilabor could alter the entire campaign. I have never been so happy about losing a game!

The die roll that spelled the doom of Veritas, Knight of House Dilabor

We have not been able to play the campaign for the past few weeks due to my moving. Now that I am (kind of) settled, I intend to strike back ever harder at my worthy opponent. I will let you know the progress of the campaign, as well as the modelling I will be able to accomplish once I set up my new hobby area- did I hear someone say Voidraven Bomber? Lol

Until next time...

The Warhammer 40K Social Contract in Action

Hey there Chaos Cultists, great and small! Summer is upon us, which means I'm going to try to get in a ton of Warhammer 40K stuff done- models painted, games played, and even, yes... a campaign. I'll blog about that at another point, but it looks like that I'll be having a campaign with my friend and my brother... a nice 3 force campaign of my own devising. Like I said, I'll get into that in the next posting or two...

The Lord of Skulls prepares for battle

At any rate, I played a game last week at my local store. My opponent was a younger person (younger than me, at any rate). I have played him before at the store- fun opponent, serious player but willing to laugh off mistakes. He is also a good modeller and painter, in my opinion.

This thing is huge! It is inevitable that GW will make plastic Titans sooner or later...

Well, we had decided the week before that we would fight, and yes, we would go with a Lord of War. I was very excited, as I have never gotten to use my Lord of Skulls before. The day of the battle, the guy tells me that he has a Leviathan brand "Knight" (and damn it, that it is a huge model- very nice, although it lacks the finer details of a GW model). I was fine with this (I don't care if it isn't GW). However, he had a special request- could it instead count as a Lord of Skulls as well?

This was an odd combination, and it didn't work that well.

Now, he has Black Templars and Dark Angels. There should be no way that they can have a Lord of Skulls without it being "Come the Apocalypse". AT LEAST. Plus, the model is radically different from a Lord of Skulls. The Leviathan model could pass as a Knight (A big one, to be sure), but I don't know about a Lord of Skulls... However, thinking that I have played this guy before, and the fact that he was very excited about it (he even had a backstory for it)... how could I say no? So I agreed. Then, he asked if we could go up to 3K points. Now, I only brought a few extra things with me... so I ended up with a squad of Spawn, a Dark Apostle, and a Bloodthirster. Again, not what I planned, but hey, its all in fun.

Kill! Maim! Burn! Indeed

Right there is what I think GW is getting at with 7th (unbounded and the like). We talked about it beforehand, and came to an agreement. Plus, he even had a storyline in mind. This is the type of thing that a Tournament would go beszerk over, but in a friendly game, why not? Besides, now we would be evenly matched- no way to complain that taking a LoW was unfair or anything. I now envisioned that this game would be brutal, and it would be anybodies game. I won for placement, and put my LoS on the far side of the board with a Maulerfiend and a Warpsmith in Rhino for support. My opponent placed his LoS opposite mine- he said that he was dying to see them fight, and that the Emperor was blessing him... The guy wanted to play straight up kill points, and that's all, again I agreed. Ultimately, our lists were almost 3K points

Well painted, with subtle conversions and nice winter basing.

The game, as it turns out, did not go as either of us predicted. In my first turn, my LoS did some damage to the nearby Centurions (those are tough bastards). My Helbrute destroyed his pesky thunderfire cannon quickly. I then advanced my rhino and Maulerfiend on with the LoS. On the other side, I drove up my other rhino (containing Kharn) and a squad of Spawn with a Dark Apostle.

The Black Templar Lord of War has its sights set on single combat.

Then, my opponent went. The first thing he did was advance his LoS so that it was literally face to face with mine. He really wanted this up close. So, he charged. When he rolled with his destroyer weapon, he rolled poorly, rolling mostly ones and a 4. I lost 3 hull points. He was not happy. Then I rolled. I rolled a couple of ones myself, but also a 6. Then, on the D table, I rolled a 6 again. I killed his LoS outright. One blow. Gone. Even his cataclysmic explosion did little, though it took a HP from my Maulerfiend. I laughed and said how crazy that was...

I rolled well on the Destroyer table- praise Khorne and the Skull Throne!

Sadly, the guy was upset. Angry. Mad that he lost his LoS so early- and it was on his charge besides. Because he was so pissed, the rest of the game wasn't as fun. I  and some other guys tried to tell him to buck up, as the dice could have easily gone the other way, but it was no use. He was mad and that was that.

The forces of Khorne advance!

The rest of the game was interesting, though not surprising. His Chapter Master and squad tore through the Spawns. My Maulerfiend finished off the Centurions up close. And my LoS began to take out chunks of his army as he moved toward the center of the field.

And they both bite the dust!

That Contemptor is awesome, even if it cleaved me in twain.

Then, his Chapter Master gets to Kharn, and they duel. Interestingly, both died simultaneously- the legend of my Kharn continues, as this is how he has met his end in several games recently. His  Contemptor Dred tore my Helbrute apart in spectacular fashion. Then, my 2 Heldrakes came on the board, and began to incinerate things (I only take 2 Heldrakes IF I know my opponent is fielding lots of flyers or if it is well over 2K points), and the Templar/Bezerker battle ended with but a handful of Templars left. The Maulerfiend was destroyed by shots from his Devastator squad.

A major moment in the game in  my view...

The Templars did have a Stormtalon, and it zeroed in on one Heldrake. I took Jink, but it wasn't needed as he failed to hit. Yikes- bad rolls. My other Heldrake would later vector strike him and actually destroy it (my rolls were dead on for most of the game when it counted). That meant my Heldrakes were the masters of the sky. My Lord of Skulls was now nearing the center, killing off what was left (including those Devastators). Finally, my Bloodthirster appeared. He shot at him and grounded him, then he had the Contemptor and Terminators charge him. The Contemptor rolled poorly, and again the guy was pissed. My Bloodthirster then killed some terminators.

... since it meant that I could do this in later turns.

At this point, my opponent decided to concede. With the Lord of Skulls dominating, he couldn't win. He killed several of my units, but I had killed more, and that killing would continue unabated, while he had less and less to kill my units. Ultimately, I had 2 Heldrakes, the Lord of Skulls, a Warpsmith and 9 Bezerkers, and a Rhino. He had his Land Raider, and the terminators and conemptor locked with the Bloodthirster. Even IF he had killed the Daemon, the Lord of Skulls was ready to smash that Contemptor to pieces and shoot the terminators.

He made some mistakes. Once his LoS was dead, he decided to pretty much ignore mine. His Centurions were killed before they could act, true, but he had a Landraider, Storm Talon, and Devastators. They should have shot all they had at the thing. But he didn't. Thus, my Lord of Skulls could strike with impunity.

The Heldrake's point of view

His anger had gotten the better of him. Once the game was done he said that Lords of War were stupid and that his army sucks. I told him a single die roll of 6 was what changed everything. I said that I play Khorne Bezerkers- everyone says they suck due to the difficulty of CC armies in 7th- and yet I won. There are many factors, and that next time or the time after he would win. It was to no avail. He was upset and that was it.

Look, it happens sometimes- every player loses their cool at one point or another. In my younger days I would get pissed (Red Terror, Pete?). I understand. But even in my worst moments, I was still sportsmanlike. Shake hands. Have a laugh. Swear revenge.

I felt bad for him, but at the same time... if HE rolled that 6 on the Destroyer table- would he have felt bad for me? And besides, I agreed to every request he made- can it be a Lord of Skulls? Can we just play kill points? Can you increase your list to 3K? As far as I'm concerned, I lived up to my end of the social contract. I hope that he will put this loss in perspective and laugh it off at some point.

Other than that, I have a 2K point game tomorrow against Ultramarines, and I will be looking forward to starting the campaign soon. And I finished some models that I plan on showing soon. And I have mini- movie reviews. And... wow... when did it get so busy here at the Chaos Corner?

Until next time...

For Your Approval: The Skulltaker!

Hey there my fellow 40K lunatics. Old Man Chaos is back with another edition of Chaos Corner. First I want to talk about some upcoming 40K stuff, then- like the title says- I've got some pics of my Skulltaker, Daemon of Khorne. Let's get with it then...

First off, I am liking the look of the Imperial Knight. I haven't gotten the WD yet, but the pics have been online for over a week now, so... I like the look of the model, and since Gw is absolutely moving in the bigger and bigger Lord of War direction, this guy fits right into that. Rumors are that they can be fielded as allies to any army (Chaos Knight? Done. Ork Looted- sure. Necron--- uh- Corrupt Mechanicum?). For Space Marine players in particular, this may be a good thing. Their only option for Escalation is the incredibly expensive Thunderhawk. Thus, they can now have a Knight instead. As for me, I am not sure IF I will get one just now... I have for Chaos the Lord of Skulls, a Plague Titan, a Plaguereaper, etc. As for my Ultramarines- well, I have been working on them recently, but I don't know if I want a big guy for a force that I will only use once in a while.

There's lots of other new stuff swirling in the Warp. The Legion of the Damned codex looks tasty (I am interested in them, but know little actually about them). There's also some pics of a Chaos Helbrute that is clearly NOT the one in the Dark Vengeance Starter Box. It looks downright imposing- but I already have 3 (!) Plague Dreadnoughts, and I have 1 for the Bezerkers. But... it looks so cool! However, this could mean that the other Chaos rumors are true, including Chosen, new Chaos Space Marines (with more god-specific gear), and hopefully even mini-codexes for the legions / god-specific armies. That would be a spicy meatball, and I am looking forward to all of that.

So, now let's look at my Skulltaker. I believe I got him in that Daemon army box that I bought when the Daemon Codex first came out. I really like the current Bloodletters (although the 3rd edition ones were also badass), and Skulltaker looks like a stronger, more brutal version of them.

The first thing that everyone notices (and loves) about the model is the cape of skulls. I decided to augment that by putting him on a skull base (where did I get those bases from again?). By doing so, it looks like the skulls are just spilling from his cape all over the ground- due to the warp the skulls just keep coming, and flowing wherever he goes. Imagine a daemonic Pigpen of skulls, and you get the idea. Opponents are always drawn to him as a result (good or bad- more on that in a moment). He is a walking pile of skulls, and that gets him noticed.

The red skin I did in keeping with my Bloodletters- after all, he is the same as them, just better. I used black ink for the recesses and to accentuate the musculature. He certainly looks devilish as a result. I also did the eyes and horns in a similar way to my Bloodletters- black horns with grey highlights for the ridges. His eyes  were yellow, again like the Bloodletters.

I am also particularly fond of the skull he is holding, complete with part of the backbone / spinal cord. The fact that it has burst into flame is a great idea, and I enjoyed painting it on fire (I kept thinking of Ghost Rider, though I decided to do the flame in traditional fire colors rather than warp flame).

 In game, the guy is a beast, though with one or two glaring flaws. First, he has to foot slog to get up to the opponent, during which time he tends to get shot all to hell. Or, if you deepstrike him in, he has to wait a turn, during which he... yes, gets shot to hell. In the last game I played, He teleported in with a squad of Bloodletters. They managed to survive a hail of bullets and then got in and wiped out a unit of marines. However, my opponent wisely moved everything away from him. Thus, he had to walk- and that's when my opponents Stormtalon came in and- yes, you know- shot him to hell. I am not whining about it or saying that he should have a 2+++++ save or anything like that- I'm just telling you my experiences with him. No whining, just the facts.

While he is a bullet magnet, you can use him to draw fire, thus saving your other units and giving them a chance to get into position. Daemons are tricky to use- and no, I do not even HAVE Fateweaver, and don't use Screamerstar, if you're wondering. But, I do like the Daemons overall- and the Warp Storm table has never hurt me too badly, and has helped (my brother's Grey Knight champion became a Daemon- Hahahaha!).

As soon as the spring comes and I get more time, I will be playing more. I have some combinations to try- using the Chaos Marine and Chaos Daemon books a bit more closely to see what I can do. I also want to play a game of Escalation and use my Lord of Skulls. I think in a couple more weeks, and I'll be back at it.

Well, that's all for now. I'll be back next week- hopefully we'll know a lot more about the Knight and other goodies on the way. Until next time...

Musings on Escalation

Hey there Chaos heretics and traitors! Old Man Chaos is back with a bit of review/thoughts/musings on GW's latest offering, Escalation. Now, I have been working on my Lord of Skulls diligently (a big model with a surprising amount of details). It's looking good, but I have a lot to go. I was given the Lord of Skulls by my wife and brother for my birthday- before there were real whispers of Escalation. I wanted the model when it first came out with Apocalypse in July, but I didn't have the scratch for it. Little did I know that when I got it that there would be a possibility that I could use it in regular games! I had just wanted it to be a centerpiece for my Khorne Bezerker army (and for the occasional Apoc game). Now, with Escalation, my plans on the Lord of Skulls may change.

I want to give my 2 cents about the Escalation book, but it is a complicated matter. From my viewpoint, the book is intriguing with interesting possibilities. Others may not be so sure. So, let me dissect it on an issue per issue basis:

The Escalation Book as a GW Product: My subject here is, is it worth buying? That's a complicated answer. If you don't have and don't plan to have the super heavies they have in this book (about a dozen or so), then don't bother with it, there's nothing here for you. If you do have super-heavies and but you don't want to use them outside of Apoc, then, again, don't bother with the book- especially if you already have the Apoc book, as it is pretty much a repeat of the rules found therein. However, if you have always dreamed of using your super heavy on a more frequent basis (but not liking those big Apoc battles), then this is the book for you. It gives you the rules, allowing you to incorporate your super heavy "Lord of War" into all regular battles. The book in general has a nice presentation, with a short story, the super heavy rules, data sheets, and lots of nice artwork. The best part, in my opinion, is the extra missions that the book provides- 9 in total. Some are straightforward, others are actually really cool and offer incredible challenges- in fact the writers admit that some are very difficult for one side or another- thus heroic victories and hopeless defeats are made.

Will Escalation "Unbalance" The Game: This is, I think, a simpler question, despite the howls of rage on the Internet. Some believe that the superheavies are so powerful, that they will destroy an entire army in one turn and can't be stopped at all. First off, I don't think many players will bring their Lords of War to many random pick up games. Why? For one thing, people may not want to put up with opponents whining about it, but, for a more important reason, the simple fact is MOST super heavies are just so damn expensive (points wise). Indeed, in a 2000 point game, most of the super heavies make up a huge part of your army points, leaving you with little to use otherwise. Further, they give bonuses to the player WITHOUT the super heavy, including an extra victory point for every 3 HP taken from the Lord of War- which can make all the difference in a game. Finally, most super heavies are not invulnerable. Since both glances and pens take HPs (with pens taking off an additional D3), concentrated fire can take out- it may take a turn or two, but it can be done. And then, since the Lord of War tends to cost lots of points, then the Lord of War player will be left with little else, and probably lose. I personally think Escalation will make games a bit more unpredictable if people embrace it, but I don't think it will ruin the game at all. I think, if the players accept it, it will just be one more variable in planning and playing (on top of supplements, special character sheets (like Bel'akor, allies, etc), and I think this additional variety will be a good thing.

Which Super-Heavies: Sadly, the book is very limited in terms of which super heavies are allowed in regular 40K games. Now, I wouldn't want to see anything that was TOO overpowered. However, I am disappointed that my Plague Marines can't take their Plaguereaper (its in Apoc, but not in Escalation), which is a shame. I can understand that I can't take my Plague Titan, but still... There are certainly things left out that could have been in. However, I suspect that, based on GWs digital release schedule, there may be more super heavy datasheets released, with the moniker "Escalation-approved" or something like that. Especially if Escalation is accepted by players readily. How will GW know? If they sell more Baneblades, Lord of Skulls, etc. But where's the plastic Thunderhawk?

Who Benefits The Most From Escalation: most of the super heavies are quite costly for their points. The Lord of Skulls is 100 times the sacred number of Khorne (if you catch my drift). That's a lot of scratch for an 1800 or 2000 point game. Must of the super heavies are in that upper range. However, the various Baneblade variants are in a decent price range. Imperial Guard players can take a Baneblade and still have points left over for their cheap troops and some Leman Russ'. In my opinion, Guard players are going to be even more dangerous! Space Marines get the least, as who can afford a Thunderhawk to begin with... unless a cheaper plastic one is coming...

So, what's the verdict? I won't actually give this a rating, as I think your mileage will vary depending on your views on super heavies. If you don't have one and don't plan on one, there's little point in getting this. However, if you want to blow the dust off that Baneblade or Harridan this is the book for you. If you have been drooling over the Necron Tesseract, this may push you over the edge. However, the question that everyone has is will Escalation have a negative impact on the game? I do not believe so, as I feel that GW has really done a good job of keeping it pretty even. Lords of War are incredibly powerful, but glances and pens are certainly doable, and if the Lord of War is vanquished, it will be an easy job to roll up the rest of that force.

Ultimately, time will tell, but I just think that Escalation represents just one more contingency to plan for. Personally, thinking of the fluff, it's pretty exciting, as this just makes the battlefield more nihilistic, which is what this universe is all about. I believe that if I were playing a series with a particular player/friend, this would be a fun story to tell on the battlefield- one battle is 1000 points, the next is 1800, then the last would be 2000 with a Lord of War thrown in for the exciting climax. Sounds fun to me. I am hoping that I can get the chance to play a match in a couple of weeks.

For the record, I am getting the other book, Stronghold Assault, for Christmas, so I can give my impressions then.

Until next time...