Jolemai's Blog of WIPs, Battle Reports and Musings

[Jolemai]

Beer order has now been placed for the Apocalypse battle.

 

1 x 9 gallon keg of Enville Ale

1 x 9 gallon keg of Enville White

 

All being well, we may actually play some 40k too...

[Jolemai]

I've also updated my 1250 DC list to the current Codex on the off chance I get a game with it soon. The DC theme I've opted for is that of a jump theme, with my mounted DC theme becoming the 1850 list  - but only when I get around to re-doing it :)

[Jolemai]

Rough tally of my painted army (and thus legal for my group's Apocalypse game) comes in at 6672 including wargear. This is what I'll be aiming to take:

 

HQ

Captain Tycho

2 x Captain

Astorath

2 x Chaplain

Mephiston

2 x Librarian

Furioso Librarian Dreadnought

Corbulo

1 x Sanguinary Priest

1 x Techmarine

 

Troops

3 x Scout Squads

2 x Tactical Squads

 

Elites

4 x Death Company

Lemartes

1 x Command Squad

1 x Sternguard Veterans

1 x Dreadnought

 

Fast Attack

1 x Attack Bike

1 x Land Speeder

1 x Assault Squad

2 x Rhino

2 x Razorback

1 x Drop Pod

 

Heavy Support

1 x Stormraven Gunship

1 x Whirlwind

1 x Devastator Squad

 

Lord of War

Dante

1 x Cerberus (with upgrades and Legacies of Glory choices, this is over 500 points!)

 

Allies

1 x Callidus Assassin

1 x Vindicare Assassin

1 x Inquisitor

1 x Imperial Knight Paladin

 

Now all I have to do is to fit them all into BSFs...

 

Btw, I'll be likely talking about this for the next few weeks or so!

[Jolemai]

... and yes, I'll do a photo of my poorly painted army when it's ready. Still got to move the following on from the undercoat stage:

 

Blood Champion

2 x Captain

Cerberus

Dante

Furioso Librarian Dreadnought (sarcophagus and furioso force halberd only)

Lemartes

Techmarine

 

three weeks to go...

[Shaezus]

Ooh..a Cerberus..yum, lemme see! Why not use that whirlwind as a scorpius counts-as? What are you up against?

[Jolemai]

Ooh..a Cerberus..yum, lemme see! Why not use that whirlwind as a scorpius counts-as? What are you up against?

 

It's still kinda like this, but white, black and without the flash. I hope to have it red, black and silver by the start of next week and I'll certainly post a WIP when I can.

 

The confirmed players are Eldar (~ 10k), Imperial Guard (~ 5k), Adeptus Titanicus (~10k), Chaos Space Marines (~10k), Space Marines (~ 5k), my Blood Angels (~ 6.5k) and a sprinkling of Tau. Another player will have some of the titans at his command and we're waiting until the end of the week to determine teams and points as that's when the deadline is for saying how much you can commit.

 

So whilst a Scorpius would likely benefit me more, I don't want to run any "counts as" so as to not give any confusion given the number of models on the field. Can always ask though!

[Jolemai]

Nice days to go! It's 21.5k per side...

 

Team Order:

Blood Angels (including one Imperial Knight Paladin, one Cerberus Heavy Tank Destroyer)

Space Marines

Eldar (including two Revenant Titans and one Phantom Titan)

 

Team Disorder:

Chaos Space Marines (including one Imperial Chaos Knight Errant)

Astra Militarum, Tempestus Scions and Space Marines (including one Baneblade, Praetor Armoured Assault Launcher and Shadowsword)

Legio Titanicus (four Warhound Titans and two Reaver Titans)

 

After final tweaks I'm taking 6776 worth of my collection, formed into four Baal Strike Forces.

 

Strike Force Enville

 

BSF 1

 

Sanguinary Priest

Librarian

Scout Squad

Scout Squad

Lemartes

Death Company

Dante

Attack Bike

Land Speeder

 

BSF 2

 

Furioso Librarian Dreadnought

~ Legacy of Glory: Battle of Calth, Burning of Prospero

Chaplain

Scout Squad

Tactical Squad (Drop Pod, Legacy of Glory: Istvaan V Dropsite Massacre)

Sternguard (Rhino)

Death Company (Rhino)

Command Squad (Razorback)

Dreadnought

~ Legacy of Glory: Battle of Sarosh

Devastator Squad

Whirlwind

Cerberus Heavy Tank Destroyer

~ Legacy of Glory: Schism of Mars, Battle of Terra

 

BSF 3

 

Mephiston

Corbulo

Tactical Squad

Tactical Squad

Assault Squad

Stormraven Gunship

Death Company (Razorback)

 

BSF 4

 

Librarian

Chaplain

Scout Squad

Tactical Squad

Death Company

Devastators

 

Extra

 

Tycho

Captain

Captain

Astorath

Techmarine

Callidus Assassin

Vindicare Assassin

Inquisitor

Imperial Knight Paladin

 

As far as plans go, the Techmarine will hide behind the Cerberus who will neuter the hardest looking titan once the Void Shields are down (things like Hunter Killer Missiles are perfect for this). The Callidus will deploy right next to the AM command and cause havoc, whilst I'll try and get my Knight into combat with a titan or two.

 

My psychic Inquisitor, with all the grenades, will ride with a Chaplain and the DC in their Rhino. This will be flanked by the Sternguard (with Tycho) and the Command Squad (with a Captain). The Stormraven will be delayed as it contains Mephiston, Corbulo, the RAS and the Librarian Dreadnought... The Pod has a small plasma surprise for the Chaos Havocs (Chaos will likely be the biggest threat to us).

 

I have nine jump DC with a Librarian, Sanguinary Priest, Dante, Lemartes and Astorath in reserve... The rest will just do what they can.

 

It's going to be great!

[Shaezus]

Is anyone taking movement trays? :p

 

Oh...you know that Cerberus pic...

[Jolemai]

Yayayaya.

 

Soon .

Edited January 22, 2015 by Jolemai

[Jolemai]

Just for Shaezus, one extremely bad photo of the Cerberus.

Currently it's at the minimal level acceptable for my groups Apocalypse battle (three base colours and based where appropriate). What I need to do next is (probably in this order is):

• Finish of magnetising the sponsons
• Shade the recess
• Apply the next two or more coats if needs
• Highlight
• Detail

I also want to use the following technique on the barrels but I'm not sure if they are suitable.

[Shaezus]

**slobber**

 

What sponsons are you going for? Do you mind me asking how exactly you magnetize them? Something I've thought about but never tried.

 

Those guns...beast...definitely deserve the full painting treatment.

[Jolemai]

My first time magnetising anything... I've put some on the hinges of the main gun (1x5 mm, not sure if it was strong enough really) and I'm going to put some on the sponsons to enable me to use both. Will probably pop them on the top and bottom of the gun, then have another on the targetter (shown on the top) and the tubing underneath (not shown). Will likely use some really small ones for that. Right now, the front plate, guns, sponsons and tracks are blu-tacced...

 

With a choice between a heavy bolter and a lascannon, I've opted for the former for this battle as 1) I can also have one on the pintle (other options being a heavy flamer or a multi melta) and 2) I don't get on with lascannons.

 

I also bought the Space Marine Tank Crew set and I'll have the chap on the left with the twin-linked boltgun sat on top at some point.

Also, the sponsons appear to be like those on the Deimos and Sicaran kits.

[Shaezus]

How do the magnets fix on? Is superglue ok? Seriously, blutac is underrated.

 

Lascannons are the ultimate tease. From 8 games with sicarans, three of which I ran two sicarans, I think there's been only two times when both lascannons hit. And is it me or does the one that hit usually roll 1 to wound or fail to pen?

[Jolemai]

Yup. Always the case the with the single lascannon.

 

Superglue is fine for magnets but sometimes, there is some prep-work to do. If it helps, there's a guide in the AM forum that I've found to be rather useful.

[Jolemai]

Another WIP. Can you guess who?

Next stage is to apply a wash to his armour, then to drybush some more gold and maybe a light dusting of silver. Then to work up the whites and the remaining detail. Oh, and to finish the base to something acceptable. Should turn out to be similar to my Tycho (from an earlier post) when he's done.

[Shaezus]

He's gonna look good. I tried out drybrushing a very very fine amount of runefang steel on my recent Dante, it makes a surprising difference. Very cool.

[Jolemai]

Aye. I've got pots of Mithril Silver (Runefang Steel) coming out of my ears, so maybe ;)

[Jolemai]

Turn three over, two turns to go tomorrow.

 

There's a Reaver and a Phantom remaining (the latter being insane - it instagibs Imperial Titans).

 

BA highlights so far: my Imperial Knight has butchered a Warhound and Praetor Assault Launcher in combat, my Cerberus successfully neutered a triple TLD Reaver for a turn and then got singles out the turn after. We've since respawned it... And my Sternguard popped a Warhound too.

 

So much fun :D

[Jolemai]

Having had time to digest the Codex there aren't too many nerfs at all really. Most of the them are simply changes that bring us into line with the other Chapter's Codicies and our Wardisms have been reigned in and/or realigned. Coupled with (in most cases) a price drop, I'm quite happy with the new book. However, now we have the quandary about making our lists legal again.

 

What I've tried to do is have a theme for each of my main "TAC" lists. These are:

 

1250 - Death Company

1500 - Light Mech

1750 - Hybrid

1850 - Death Company

2000 - Hybrid/Light Mech

 

Naturally, each will need an update but the main one right now is the 1500 list, with the changes starting from here. Basically this will be my first game using the new Codex and whilst I want it to remain a Light Mech TAC list, I'm up against my regular Eldar opponent...

 

What surprised me the most was that even with the points reduction I appear to be worse off than before, so I'm just trying to get my head around what else I can do to get the best out of this force. Opinions welcome

 

Re-done my 2000 point list to become a "heavy mech take all comers" list following the changes outlined in our new Codex. C&C appreciated.

[Jolemai]

Apocalypse 2015 review

An Imperial Guard and Space Marine force operating out of the planet Envillie in the Brown system have been corrupted by the ruinous powers. A strike force of Blood Angels and Redemption’s Fists Space Marines have been sent to purge the Chaos force, however, upon reaching Envillie intelligence about the size of enemy force was found to be incorrect. Six omnipotent Titans of the Machine God had also been awoken and coerced to the cause.
Within the Brown system and close to Envillie is an Eldar Webway Portal. The Farseers of the Biel’Tan have being watching the war on Envillie progress and have seen that the Mon’keigh are outnumbered and outmatched. With the planet being so close to Eldar Maiden World space it has been deemed too much of a risk to let Chaos take the planet and so they decide to balance the sides...

Teams

Team Order ~ 21.5k
Eldar, ~ 11k including two Revenant Titans and one Phantom Titan

Redemption’s Fists Space Marines ~ 3.5k

Blood Angels ~ 6.5k including one Super Heavy and one Imperial Knight

Team Disorder~ 21.5k
Chaos Space Marines ~ 5k including one Chaos Knight

Astra Militarum and Space Marines ~ 6k including one Super Heavy

Astra Miliarum ~ 10.5k including two Super Heavies, four Warhound Titans and two Reaver Titans

Schedule

Board size: 8x6

Friday night: Deployment (and pre-game stuff)

Saturday: Turns one and two take two hours each. Scheduled break, then turn three (two hours each).

Sunday: Scheduled break. Turns four and five take 90 minutes each.

House Rules

- All models including fortifications must be painted to a battle ready standard (minimum of three colours) and based (where appropriate).
- Unnatural Disasters won't be used
- Skyshield Landing Pad can't be used to give Super Heavy's or Gargantuan Creatures 4++ save.
- Invisibility causes anything attacking the unit to be at BS1 and WS1 rather than snapshots
- Each players army is considered to be Allies of Convenience with other players armies on the same side.
- Players with more than once army in their force follow the normal rules for allies.
- Warp charge points will be generated per side. So 1D6 + whatever the side generates from units.
- All models must be WYSIWYG.
- Strategic assets or stuff that allows you to get terrain, units, etc can only be used if we have the correct and painted models to represent them.

Report

Deployment

Team Order won the roll for deployment and first turn. The Warmaster, Eldrad Ulthuan, opted to deploy just over a quarter of their forces including all five Super Heavies. Team Disorder deployed up to a half of their force including all ten of their Super Heavies. It was then that Abaddon invoked the power of Khorne and with a yell of “Blood for the Blood God” seized the initiative…

Turn One

Popping counter measures our firebase activated their Shield Generator asset and the Eldar used their xenos trickery to shroud their entire force. Whilst the hated enemy advanced and some reinforcements arrived, their firebase pounded away from a distance. Earthshaker Cannons blew up Bastions, Warhounds fried those on the SkyShield and Titans Weaponry fired upon the Phantom. Despite landing many hits that were true, (and on many a heretic that had teleported too close), only 11 HP were removed. A Callidus found skulking around the Guard HQ and was quickly dispatched.

Now the forces of order could respond. Amidst the Pods arriving and troops Deep Striking in, the Paladin, Jolemai, advanced on the left flank but failed to charge a Warhound by half an inch. Meanwhile, its sister Warhound was detonated by the Phantom’s pulsar. The twin Revenants moved out to play havoc and further psychic madness bolstered the Titan’s saves. Then the Marines got to work with the missiles, knocking down Void Shields on various Titans. With the defenses of the Reaver, -][- REDACTED -][- down, our ancient Cerberus neutered the beast rendering it’s two Laser Blasters and Double-Barreled Turbo Laser inactive.

Turn Two

The second turn began as did the first, with those hungry for blood advancing and reinforcements arriving. Laughing at the carnage, whichever Chaos God was watching respawned the Hellbrute pack around the Phantom so they could continue to play with it. Having now become a priority target, the Cerberus was destroyed by a striding Mars-pattern Warhound while the Chaos Knight, hungry for carnage, closed in the Imperial lines. Some particularly fearless heretics even charged a Revenant. Once again, the direct followers of Chaos suffered from “friendly fire” – perhaps not all had been deceived/betrayed on Enville?

With further reinforcements arriving from Imperials and xenos alike, the fight was brought to the traitors. Jolemai assaulted his Warhound and destroyed it with ease, and with the void shields once again deactivated, the Phantom engaged the neutered Reaver and blew it to smithereens. Meanwhile, the trap around the Chaos Knight had been sprung and with firing happening on all sides, the beast’s corrupted machine spirit was released.

Turn Three

Turn three began in earnest with a tide of reinforcements arriving on foot for the traitors. Ranks upon ranks of arch enemy shored up their backline which pushed the rest further towards the meat grinder. Still the shells rained down, and still the supporting fire took its toll. Be’Lakor himself engaged a Revenant in combat whilst its twin was decimated through massed titan fire. The Phantom was taking fire too despite its defenses being shored up and fortuned, and had eleven HP remaining…

What remaining of the Imperial reserves committed to the battle and in a feat of craftsmanship that only few Chapters could have probably done, the Techmarines managed to patch up the Cerberus enough for it to return to battle… However, the damage to its primary weapon had yet to adequately recover and the second Reaver survived its touch. In a display of raw power, the Phantom detonated a third Warhound (in addition to a Shadowsword) and the final one was dispatched by our Sternguard under Captain Tycho’s direction. Mephiston, Corbulo and their entourage cleared up the mess around the now-downed Revenant (but left Be’Lakor alone) while the Jolemai carved his way through the Praetor with ease.

Turn Four

However, this had left the Paladin in no man’s land and completely at the mercy of the heretic’s guns. When the smoke cleared, Jolemai lay broken on the ground (fortunately, the pilot escaped to construct another machine…). With a roar of frustration at seeing his preferred quarry gunned down, Be’Lakor issued a challenge. How amongst the Blood Angels would answer the call? A Sergeant stepped up buying time for his squad but sadly was no match for the Daemon. Meanwhile, the guns finally took their toll on the Phantom and as it fell, it landed on the Cerberus rendering it obsolete once more. It was here that our Warlord was injured in combat. Our lord Dante and his advisors Astorath, Lemartes, a Sanguinary High Priest, a Librarian and a host of Death Company bodyguards almost withstood an Apocalyptic missile barrage but it was just too much. To add further insult, a new Praetor entered the field…

With that, the Wayportal crackled into life. Enlarged to an almighty size two more Revenant Titans strode through and entered the fiery cauldron of this battle. Their weapons sang death and joined in the counter fire, leaving the last Reaver Titan with one HP. It was then that the Vindicare revealed himself. Having waiting for the exact moment he cocked a Turbo-Penetrator round and let loose a shot that slowed time itself. As it struck true and assassinated the Princeps onboard, the Reaver went into catastrophic meltdown and suddenly, the board became much smaller… Whilst this was happening, Be’Lakor charged Mephiston. Despite an impressive nine STR 10 INT 9 attacks, the invisible Be’Lakor dodged the lot before striking down the Lord of Death but, the guns were being silenced. A small contingent of Scouts had entered the field and they were slowly destroying the traitor’s artillery.

Turn Five

The final turn began the same as the last did with the traitors pushing forward to claim as much ground and to do as much damage as possible. However, what little of the forces remained was now apparent and their shots bounced harmlessly off armour and the holo-fields of the dancing Revenants. Be’Lakor issued a challenge once more and only Corbulo remaining to accept it. Corbulo is said to be blessed by our Primarch and this certainly did his reputation no harm as he banished the Daemon from Enville and defiantly claimed the objective that lay before him.

With this, the Forces of Order pressed home their advantage by claiming the majority of the Objectives and by destroying the remaining Super Heavy vehicles. However, Abaddon had now presented himself. With both the Redemption’s Fists’ Chapter Master and Eldrad Ulthaun calling in their Finest Hours, the Chapter Master issued and All Out Attack on his squad enabling them to charge into Abaddon, whilst Eldrad sent the Avatar in who reached combat with a roll of eleven. As the bikes slammed in and a cheeky wound was caused on Abaddon, a challenge was issued to the Chapter Master. Being Invisible, he naturally accepted and neither warrior managed to damage each other. With that, Avatar bellowed something akin to amateurs in Eldar tongue and proceeded to rip Abaddon to shreds. However, Abaddon’s tale doesn’t end here. Eldritch blue light flooded the battlefield and Abaddon, along with the remaining Forces of Disorder vanished, leaving the day to the Eldar and Space Marines.

Final Score – Order 40:12 Disorder!

[CaptainHelion]

Damn, that was quite a read. Sounds like a hell of a weekend!

[Shaezus]

Awesome read. Never seen so much stuff on the table! Must have been great fun.

[Chaplain_Sam]

Great read! Good stuff Jolemai. It makes me want to empty my shelves for a big game.

[Praefectus Invictus]

Nice win Jolemai!

[Jolemai]

Cheers all. It was pretty epic and a lot of fun. We made 24 wrecked markers and they were all used up by the end of the game. It's also really surprising how much smaller the table became when the Phantom was destroyed. Then there's things that happen which rarely do, such as my Stormraven and Drop Pod not only surviving but never being shot at. It's quite unusual. Chucking 10+ dice at Psychic spells because you can, and so on. On another note, prescienced missile launcher Devastators and Dreadnoughts armed with assault cannons and missile launchers are amazing at knocking out void shields.

 

Highlights included the Vindicare popping the last Reaver (he did nothing else all game), Corbulo slaying Be'Lakor, my Knight rampaging down the flank and being allowed to do so because there were other priority targets, the look on my opponents face when my Cerberus stopped his dual lasblaster and double-barreled turbo laser (that's 8 STR D 5" blast shots) Reaver from doing anything for a turn (mwahahaha), and the phenomenal shooting power of the Phantom.

 

Thing is though, I'm hard pressed to decide what unit got the man of the match award. My stuff either died or did as was expected of it