The Montgisard Crusade

[Lippy]

Here we go, another little update.

 

Pleased to say I finished my Crusader Squads and have moved on.

 

http://i.imgur.com/bWBlYHhl.jpg?1

 

As previously, I went with 5 CCW and 5 Boltguns. In the CCW you'll see a PowerAxe with I'm very much looking forward to wielding against some filth witch or xenos, or better, a Xenos-Witch!

 

http://i.imgur.com/pDrJmnvl.jpg

 

I'm not as pleased with the Power Axe as I was with the Power Sword on my first squad, but still, I think it looks nice. When I move on to some Elite combat units I hope to do the Cut&Shut poweraxe that has two blades back to back.

 

Then the Boltguns

 

http://i.imgur.com/Bipkaumm.jpg?1

 

And Melta. Standard.

 

 

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Being able to finish these guys meant I was able to move on to the model I'm most excited about

 

http://i.imgur.com/G8uunfzl.jpg

 

I'm all about magnets and interchangeability so I've built it as a joint Crusader / Godhammer, but frankly it'll be a Crusader for the majority of its working life.

[Lippy]

Whilst I'm doing my LandRaider, I'm trying to think hard about my next purchase(s).

 

I'm intent on getting some Assault Terminators, so that's settled.

Emperor's Champion and a Chaplain - The deathwatch one because the crozius is just better!

But after that I'm not sure which way to go.

 

I'm thinking about Vanguard Vets, blinging them up and using them as Honour Guard. Will magnetise the jumppacks so I can use them as such if required, but largely HonourGuard. Mainly for all the CCWs available - is this a suitable path?

 

Maybe a Vindicator. Love the demolisher cannon, and Armour too.

 

5x Scouts, but they're just boring when theres so many other toys...

 

StormTalon - I know they're the nuts, so maybe this would provide some back up to the fun stuff.

 

StormRaven - The model is a bit of an boxy looking thing in my mind. But then the idea of either an hnourguard coming in to save the day like proper superheroes, and dropping my dreadnought off on the way... so cinematic! Or the Terminators going in to bring some pain! Perhaps a little further down the line.

 

ThunderFire Cannon - I know they're good, and the model/unit just intrigues me, but its not at the top of my list.

 

Captain & CommandSquad (honourguard) - I will need to get a non TDA Marshal/castellan from somewhere. I don't like the silly winged helmet from the new Company Command box, but then I have other heads I could use. How modular is the captain kit? Will I just be stuck with the weapons hes modelled with?

 

More DropPods, Razorbacks, Crusaders - I will want to add more as I go, but not yet!

Devastators... I'm very undecided.

 

Funny thing is, I haven't used my army yet. My process of not fielding anything not finished is meaning I haven't had a chance. Once the LRC is done I'll be ready though.

 

Any advice appreciated!

[Brother Christopher]

If you want something useful from a gaming perspective, I won't offer any assistance. I'd recommend some heavy support (Vindicator because who wouldn't want one or Thunderfire cannon because the model is very cool and it's great value pointwise if you want to play the game). Next, something knightly: Vanguards. Regarding your PA Captain, I'd recommend kitbashing one or fidning a nice metal model to go with. The captain kit I'm thinking of is rather uninspiring.

[Lippy]

Yeah, perhaps the order I've listed the options in is sort of an order of priority in a Freudian kind of way!

I'm going to kit all my Elites out with Capes and tabards/loincloths anyway, so they can be a sort of Marshal's Household without trying to be.

 

The Captain model is a tough one for me.

 

I don't like this model https://www.games-workshop.com/en-GB/Space-Marine-Captain

The Iron Halo is silly, and won't look that great against black armour. And I find Grav to be a current abomination on the game, so I'd want to chop it off, but from the sprue, it looks like I could be a challenge too far!

 

https://www.games-workshop.com/en-GB/Space-Marine-Company-Command-2016

This is the one with the silly helmet that I just don't like.

But like I said, I can easily swap it out. And give him some other weapons. The rest of the models might not be a bad place to start for my honour guard either- they have the banner!

 

https://www.games-workshop.com/en-GB/Space-Marine-Commander-2015

This fella might be the one. He looks like he comes with a fair number of options.

 

 

Having listed all that, I do have my Terminator marshal who could just roll out with the Terminator squad anyway. I'm not going ultra competitive anyway!

[Marshal Mattias]

The Command Squad Captain is a cool model - nice dynamic pose. The head is a separate piece and easily swapped. I successfully cut the weapons at the wrist and magnetised them, but the actual arms are separate too I think - basically nothing too hard about changing his weapon options and overall look if you want to. (I swapped out a shoulder pad for a BT one too). Check my sig link/crusade thread for my WIP on it (it was relatively recent so probably only a couple pages back at most).

 

I think it is by far the best commander model they made in a while, unless you go forgeworld. Bear in mind the command squad box is quite dated compared to the rest of the SM line - while it has some good bits in there, it's not packed with stuff like the new Tactical/Vamguard etc. I used almost entirely upgrade sprue/other kits and the unique bits like apothecary arms/banner to make my command squad. The rest of that box is being used to build some extra heavy weapon marines (who can be a little more static and are on the table less frequently).

[Lippy]

I see him, and did when you first posted him.

He's awesome and definitely what I was thinking of doing. Binning the helm and giving him a new look!

 

The command squad bits may then form the basis of my honour guard but adding a little more Zeal!

 

Anyway, I'm thinking I'll follow the order I've listed them on.

Termies, EC, Chap, Vanguard, Vindi and maybe some neophytes somewhere along the line!

[Lippy]

With quite a quick turnaround (much faster than I had expected) I present my first Land Raider Crusader Zeal Wagon.
In honesty, the hard work was already done in building and spraying it 10 days ago. But still I’m proud of it:

 

http://i.imgur.com/TKWAZiAl.jpg

 

It oozes with character imo, and you can instantly see why it’s so iconic.
I magnetized the sponsons so it can be a Redeemer or Godhammer too, but it’s initially going to carrying 10+ Crusaders so I’ll give it some time before trying the other options (though the redeemer may never happen!).

 

http://i.imgur.com/NUo6gG2l.jpg

I may have added a few to many artefacts to it and in certain places I think there’s a too many skulls (such as the sponsons) and crosses. Like above where there’s three in a row!

 

http://i.imgur.com/w9XEHf3l.jpg

 

The Black Templar Upgrades were just made for our vehicles, and I love the sword on this side as a relic of a past campaign (in my dreams our High Marshal used it to slay some foul Daemon…).

 

http://i.imgur.com/zZpyUEzl.jpg

 

I hope I can use it to guide my Initiates to some heroic moments in His name!

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

That is all I have for now, likely to be until Santa comes and my wife lets me treat myself!
Terminators, Vanguard Vets and a Vindicator are my plan. And an Emperor’s Champion perhaps.

[Lippy]

In addition to this little update… I debuted the Montgisard Crusade at my local club last night.

 

I prearranged a 1250 pts each, 2v2 game.

 

I used everything above, plus borrowed a Vindicator from my teammate.
HQ – Artificer Marshal w/ Shield eternal, and Powerfist
Troops – Crusader squad 1- SwordBro Pwrswrd, PwrAxe, Flamer, 7 CCW Initiates
Crusader squad 2- Meltagun, 4 Boltguns, Razorback w/LasPlas
Crusader squad 3- Lascannon, Plasma gun, 3 Boltguns
Elite- Ven.Dread Assault Cannon. Droppod
Hvy- Vindicator

 

My teammate brought Marines:
Ultramarines
Tigarius
2x standard Tacticals.
 

Ravenguard 1st Co. Task Force
1x Assault Termies, 1x Shooty w/flamer, 1x Vanguards, 1x Sternguard Droppod (w/ a mix of combi/noncombi gravs &meltas I think)

Clearly this was meant as a friendly fun game. My teammate normally plays Wolves, so came at it with the right intention (to try something new a fun).

 

Our opponents were the opposite it would seem:
Tau
Ethereal
2x2 Crisis Suits w/fusion/plasma
2x4 Marker drones
Riptide
Stormsurge
Nurgle Demons (I’m not too hot on the names for this lot)
Great Unclean One
Cultists squads
Plague Zombies
2xSpawn
Maulerfiend
Chaos Bikers & Lord
Renegade Knight

 

I mean seriously… 2 Superheavies! Normally a 1250pts list wouldn’t get near one. Even a single Riptide is something I’d worry about including. It was going to be tough.

 

We seized after deploying second. My teammate was intent on taking the Stormsurge down, but his Sternguard only took off 2 or 3 wounds. He wanted me to focus on it too, but my Dreadnought could only take one wound.

Their first turn was brutal. Stormsurge blew up my LRC :’(, then the knight melta’d 9 of the 11 guys who fell out. Chaptermaster and one initiate lived. Stormsurge also blew up the Vindicator… The Demons then assaulted the Sternguard and Tigarius, which I think lasted a second turn, but I’m not certain. Either way they were wiped out quickly! Spawn charged the Vanguard and won! But we forgot they were fearless and let them run away… Nearly off the board!

 

Our Terminators showed up second turn, but it was already too late! Only real thing that happened was my Dreadnought charging the unclean one. He won the combat! But demons are demons…

 

They then turned to the Terminators and my other troops. Crisis suits showed up and wrecked the Razorback. Shooty terminators were whittled down to one man and similarly the Assault ones were too. The Chaos bikes and Lord then joined the Venerable’s assault… Dreadnought would hold with 1 hullpoint remaining!

 

I shot the crisis suits and took one down, but they had shield drones so it was a bit of a struggle. Chapter Master stopped being a whimp, got up (he was pinned on turn one!) and charge the plague zombies. He stayed there until the end of the game and would eventually win… Eventually. By this point I think we had 1 Vanguard Vet, 1 Lightning claw terminator, and maybe 6 total marines. My initiates charged the crisis suit, but the drones being init.4 and invuns helped it lots. Dreadnought killed a biker.

 

Long story short, we ended it after turn 4, knowing we would have been tabled turn 5 anyway, but drew on maelstrom…

 

Things I learnt from this game:
They will target my LRC, especially with that much inside it.
Push the Vindicator up with the LRC – He didn’t get a shot off as he was too far away.
Don’t hide with my Razorback, and Las/Plas squad. They sat at the back and were just sitting ducks.
Venerable Dreadnought is a hero.
Don’t bring a Superheavy to a friendly game if you want to have fun.

 

 

I’m not deterred by this poor showing by any stretch. And I know that against a much fairer opponent I might have seen a little more they can do.
(But when I say fair I mean a fairer matchup. The opponent’s themselves were fine!)

[Brother Christopher]

Ah, the Land Raider Crusader. Always a nice addition to any SM force, let alone a Crusade. A shame it is so misrepresented when it comes to rules.

 

For the game, I hope that you at least had some fun. It surely is nice to see your (painted) army on the table top. However, what you've described is basically everything that I find wrong with 40K. I want to stay (relatively) positive about the state of the game, but these types of incidents (which in fact happen so often that I'm afraid they elude the definition of an 'incident') in friendly games should not take place. A good thing they didn't field a Witch conclave, but with so much Tau, why would they need it anyways?

[Lippy]

Yeah, As I'm still a Tau player, I now understand the hate! Having said that, I don't own a StormSurge, and only have one Riptide.

I find manoeuvring Devilfish riding firewarriors, hiding stealth teams and wasting one-shot Hammerheads much more fun than Smashing them with just a couple of big toys and not having to think about it beforehand. By the third turn the tau player wasn't bothering with his jump moves or even using his marker lights hardly. Just rubbish.

 

On our club forum, I kind of have to say 'this is what I'm bringing. don't tailor your list, but please try to balance yours against it'. There's so much trust you have to place in your opponent, and some people just don't understand that a closely fought battle is more fun than just obliterating the enemy.

 

Nevertheless, I have faith that most people think the same way as me, and it was just unfortunate that this fell on my Crusade's first bonding session.

 

Another thing I learnt, which I forgot to list:

4x Boltgunners are probably better to shoot with Rapidfire than charging a small crisis suit team.

[Marshal Mattias]

You fought well brother - there is much honour in stepping up to do battle with an opponent, even when he has the advantage. Well played to hold them to a maelstrom draw too - sometimes playing the objective is enough ;)

 

Perhaps offer some feedback before the next game at that size - in 1250 points, nobody wants or expects to be facing apocalypse-suited units. Perhaps a gentlemans agreement is in order - no LoW/super heavy without prior discussion?

[NoPityNoRemorseNoFear]

Commiserations, I know what it is like to play in games like that, my friends do it all the time! 

 

My most recent encounter: I recently designed a 1st co. strike force (or whatever it is called) formation for a maelstrom against one of my friends. It was a drop pod list which planned to make as much of the -2 ld special rule and combining that with our CT for a "mass melee charge and sweep-athon" However when I got there, I found that he had brought a formation of 4 imperial knights and three 5 man tac squads with one lascannon each. Needless to say I got wiped half way through turn 3 as he just hid his models on the board edge and obliterated everything on the board.

 

What I normally have to do is ask for no LOW or apocalypse units, otherwise they will be on the board guaranteed!

[Lippy]

Yeah it sucks, but then there are some underlying reasons why it happened.

 

We do normally have a system where you arrange a 'friendly' game or 'competitive' game. and the word Friendly suggests fluffy and fun.

 

But then the Tau guy is a kid who recently sold all of his fluffier models (firewarriors and hammerheads) in order to buy the larger more competitive models... So I should've expected a rough ride.

 

Anyway, no complaining/whinging anymore... Onwards!

[Lippy]

No new models yet, but I played another two games featuring my fledling crusade.

 

First was a small 1000pts against Space Wolves

I had (though I'm sure you can guess what):

 

Marshal - Artificer, Shield Eternal, PwrFist

Crusader Sqd1- 8x CCWs, 1x Pwr Axe, SwrdBro w/Pwr Swrd - LRC w/ MM

Crusader Sqd2- 1x Lascannon, 1x Plasma, 3x Boltgun - Razorback w/LasPlas

Ven Dreadnought - Assault Cannon, Storm bolt - DropPod

 

My opponent is a really nice guy, and plays to have a laugh, unwind and drink a beer.

 

Wolves were (something like)

Wolfguard battle Wolf

Bloodclaw Wolves - In a Flying Wolf

Grey hunter Wolves

Dreadnought Wolf w/DropWolf

Thunderwolf CavalWolves

 

OK I jest, but that's the crux of it!

 

Mission was a taken one of the MWG Path to Glory videos

 

Lots of buildings - One objective, secretly and independently placed underneath one piece of terrain.

If a model finishes its turn in base contact with a piece of terrain they can make an Init test. If passed, you get to lift it up and see if the objective is there. Winner is the person who controls the objective at the end of the game.

Vanguard strike and we were only able to deploy one unit on the first turn, with up to one unit arriving on each following turn.

 

The game was fun overall, Though I got tabled :(

 

First turn he deployed his grey hunters and onto a ruin in his corner. No objective.

We agreed I could null deploy with just my droppodded Dready coming on. He took out 2 marines, but failed his Initiative to search a ruin.

 

Turn 2, we decided he could roll to bring on 2 units as he had 1 more in his list than me.

His Stormwolf came on, and thus ruined my day. He always brings at least one of these, and it always seems to do a great job. Even my Tau struggle against it. All those highstrength shots, and being an assault carrier... :(

He took a hull off my dread and immobilised it.

Typically his thunderwolves came on into a nice piece of terrain, looked underneath and low and behold.... boo!

 

My LRC came on and zipped up. I flat outed further forward to go for the doggies!

 

Turn 3, his Dreadnought came down infront of my Crusader and scraped off a Hullpoint.

The plane blew up my dreadnought whilst coming for my crusader... sad times.

 

My razorback came on and went forward instead of trying to plink away at the plane.

My crusader plowed on and immobilised his dreadnought (take that!) and chanced a wound off the doggies but no cigar.

 

By turn 4 it was obvious how it would go, but the way it did just hurt.

He dropped down to hover, and let his bloodclaws out. Then he wrecked my LandRaider. The guys disembarked as best I could to avoid it, but they were then multicharged by the bloodclaws and the thunderwolves... Not many survived, but combat continued.

 

Razorback snapshot at the plane, nothing.

I then lost combat totally.

 

Guess what happened next!

 

Tabled...

 

 

The mission is a good idea, but definitely needs more models/units to make it last a little longer. He also accidentally showed me that the objective was in that piece so I aimed for it, whereas I think we could have continued searching other buildings for it and maybe had less of a brawl.

 

I'm not sure why it ended up so badly for me though. Probably just the fact that at 1000pts I have half wrapped up in a one-trick pony that isn't hard to counter. But the unit that hurt me the most was the flyer... at 1000pts bringing one is mean, but his argument was that its 200pts+ and a flying Landraider, as apose to my land-landraider. Fair argument, but I didn't expect to need skyfire at this level.

 

My next game was different again!

[Marshal Mattias]

Good effort, but yeah - that's a tough points level for our Crusaders-in-LRC shtick. I have found it best at 1500+ where it can be the hammer of your list but not the whole list on its own, if you know what I mean. Flyers are hard to handle at that points level too, which is why they tend to start showing up at 1000+ in most factions. I'd usually have a stormtalon in my list then, simply because there won't be many threats to it on the table, and it is a cheap and mobile platform for some decent mid-level firepower. I don't play against wolves much, but if I do I will surely be aiming every gun I can find at those thunderwolves - they are a power unit which needs to be dealt with before it gets into combat with... well anything :/

 

It's an interesting mission type, not one I have played before. Seems like it would be a game-changing advantage to find the objective first!

[Lippy]

The second of my most recent games was against my DarkAngels friend.

 

We're old friends of about 15+ years and no matter what points/armies we play it always ends up a close game. We also forget rules lots and just house rule things without need for discussion for how it should be... Beer and Pretzels style!

 

We played 1850 pts, meaning I'd need to ally something in. My Guard obviously!

 

Marshal - Same as above! I'll try something else soon I swear...

 

Crusader Sqd1 - Same as above and with an LRC... I may try something else, maybe...

Crusader Sqd2- Las/Plas, Razorback Las/Plas... Keep reading I promise there's something new!!

Crusader Sqd3- Meltagun, 4x Boltguns. DropPod w/ Missiles

 

VenDread - Lascannons

 

Allied Astra Militarum

Company Command Sqd - Vox, Chimera

Infantry Platoon - Command Squad w/ 4x Meltagun

3x Infantry Squads, Blobbed. with a Priest.

Leman Russ Demolisher

Vendetta

 

He plays fluffy armies and features Ravenwing, Deathwing and Greenwing wherever possible.

 

Ravenwing Formation (sorry, I don't know what one)

Landspeeder - MultiMelta

2 squads of 3 Ravenwing bikers. Plasma guns.

 

Deathwing (the one where they get to choose when they arrive)

5x Thunderhammers, Lbrarian

5x shooties w/assault cannon.

 

Demi Company

2x Tac Sqd - boltguns and Rhino,

Devastators - 4x Lascannons. Razorback Lascannon

Assault Sqd with Chaplain

Dreadnought w/Assault cannon & Droppod

 

There was a plasma cannon squad there somewhere too, but not sure where.

 

We decided to play an Altar of War mission, Space Marines Mission 5 - Emperor's Fist.

Essentially- Table split into 4 quarters. Deploy in opposite corners. Three objectives, one in centre of board, then one in centre of the non-deployment quarters. Only Fast attack can deploy, but you can roll for reserves 1st turn providing they're in a vehicle.

 

Turn 1

He deployed first - Ravenwing on the ground.

I had nothing (decided the vendetta would arrive as normal flyer reserves).

SpaceMarines have first turn and so I rolled for my LRC, Dreadnought, Company Command Squad, and Vendetta all to arrive. DropPod came on also (we agreed this).

DropPod tried for the centre objective, missed they were able to get out into the terrain holding the target.

LandRaider took the vanguard and flat outed toward one of the corner objectives, with Dreadnought hiding behind.

Vendetta flew on from the very corner 18inches - He had an excellent first shot and immobilised the landspeeder.

Company commander hung back waiting for the blob to arrive.

 

Only one of his Rhinos arrived, and hid behind a mound.

The bikes aimed for the flanks, clearly the landspeeder was meant to take the middle.

Dreadnought droppodded to the centre and took my crusaders down to 2.

 

​Turn 2

My razorback and Blobsquad both came on. Demolisher only thing left off the board.

The blob aimed for one bike squad, backed up by the command squad.

My razorback went for the other flank and bike squad, but without having line of sight flat outted closer.

Landraider joined the razorback and Killed 1 bike with it's Assault Cannon or maybe the multimelta. Either way, they failed their leadership and ran off the board! woohoo! Very important.

My Vendetta flew onwards and unloaded the 4 meltas from the platoon squad. They scattered and were out of range of his dreadnought. but they were at least safe!

My dreadnought continued to walk forward. He may have shot the his Dreadnought but failed to glance (maybe due to cover).

 

A Lot of his stuff came on.

Rhino Tac Squad joined the other one.

Assault Squad dropped down with his bikes nearest my blob.

The Deathwing both used the beacon from the landspeeder. The 12" meant he could just about encircle the centre objective (ish) but you could see what his original plan was! The shooties shot some of my blob, as did the bikes who were local to them.

Dreadnought climbed up and shot my crusaders off the centre objective.

 

​Turn 3

​The game was neatly Poised.

My Demolisher came on and joined the blob. He shot at the bikes and assault squad too, but I forgot about the rerollable jink. I hit 3 bikes and 3 assault troops, but he saves all the jinks and I rolled three 1s for the wounding assault squad... gah!

My Guardsmen managed to take down the two assault squad that should have died - 29 lasguns and 2 dead marines. Fair trade!

My razorback finished off onto the objective theyd targeted and offloaded the crusaders.

my LRC went onwards and, knowing what would have happened anyway, I disembarked the Crusaders. They assaulted the Thunderhammers. I didn't do so well, and fell back. but I did kill a terminator, which is always a bonus!

My Dreadnought and Crusader conspired to Immobilise his dreadnought which was good news as he was in a good position to do some damage.

The melta gunners couldn't get a good enough shot on the dreadnought and failed miserably.

Vendetta flew off to arrive again later.

 

His devastators arrived , but he wanted to walk them on next to the razorback. they snapshotted the landraider and missed. so did the razorback.

The Marines all shot at my Crusaders and whittled us down further.

The shooty termies grazed my Chimera, but the assault squad meltabombed it.

His bikes assaulted my fearless blob - they won, but Fearless is the real deal. He did lose a bike too!

The thunderhammer guys then assaulted my main crusaders, but it was essentially handbags, though I think I may have come off better. We definitely went on further!

 

​Turn 4

​Lots of assaulting happened, but some significant shooting too.

My Las Plas squad tried to hurt the razorback but nothing of note happened.

The Razorback however took our 2 Devastators and they proceeded to run off the board.

My LRC and Demolisher took out the shooty Termies,

Dreadnought and company commander assaulted and beat down the chaplain and assault squad.

Crusade squad and termies continued, but His thunder hammers did very poorly and I took another terminator out. It was going well.

Blob squad  finished against 1 bike. He forgot to Hit and Run though!!

... I forgot to bring my vendetta back on...

 

Another very similar turn happened. Assaulting but also some very poor shooting from the Dark Angels. He manoeuvred his rhinos and tactical squads towards the objectives.

 

​Turn 5

​I was winning the battle, but had lost the war by this point as he was very clever by claiming the objectives.

It ended up with me finishing off his librarian, but he claimed the corner objectives with his rhinos for an overall win of 6-2.

[Lippy]

So some things I've learnt from those two games-

 

Understandbly, the 500pt LRC Crusaders and Chapter master/captain is a huge point sink. But its all i have right now, so I'll stick with it and tinker with my tactics.

 

From trying to walk my dreadnought, I definitely prefer DropPodding him. He gets in your face and poses a threat. I walked him with a Lascannon- even though it's twinlinked and BS5, if it doesn't Penetrate, then its a bit of a whiff. Though walking him made him last a bit longer. Overall, I prefer the assault cannon.

 

I thought of my LemanRuss Demolisher as a pseudo Vindicator, and feel that moving him up with the LandRaider will provide my opponent with a choice of threat. Just hope he is only able to make one choice!

 

Razorback - I'm not sold on it yet. Las/Plas load out it definitely not optimal, but then the Lascannon is the same as I said with the Ven. Dread. If the one shot fails to Pen then its a bit 'meh'. Assault cannons are my fav, but I need an extra turret. I've not tried a rhino yet....

 

Las Plas crusader squad - I knew it was stupid before I built it. But I'm positive there's a way to make them work. I will try something different.

 

MeltaGun crusader squad - unsure.

 

 

For my first three games as a Templar, I am 0-3 for losses. But I will not let that dishearten me, for I know that the crusade is an eternal one, and He will help me find a way to bring my enemies to their knees!

 

Thanks for reading thus far. I know there's a lot of words up there so I appreciate if you have any pointers in relation to any of it.

[Lippy]

Good effort, but yeah - that's a tough points level for our Crusaders-in-LRC shtick. I have found it best at 1500+ where it can be the hammer of your list but not the whole list on its own, if you know what I mean. Flyers are hard to handle at that points level too, which is why they tend to start showing up at 1000+ in most factions. I'd usually have a stormtalon in my list then, simply because there won't be many threats to it on the table, and it is a cheap and mobile platform for some decent mid-level firepower. I don't play against wolves much, but if I do I will surely be aiming every gun I can find at those thunderwolves - they are a power unit which needs to be dealt with before it gets into combat with... well anything :/

 

It's an interesting mission type, not one I have played before. Seems like it would be a game-changing advantage to find the objective first!

Hey man,

Thanks for the advice. Definitely agree that the LRC-Crusaders being my one and only tactic is my main problem at the moment. But I know that the more I learn now, I'll be better off in the Spring for the very important event that may happen!

I don't want to criticise him for bringing a flyer at 1000pts because I know he doesn't play to win, but yeah... rough. I have a Storm Talon on its way though, Looking forward to pointing that at it next time round.

I too normally aim everything at the wolves, but with the restrictions in the mission it was pretty hard. He also played them very differently and camped on his found objective for a turn.. very unwolfy!

 

The mission was definitely one I'd do again, but I'd ideally have another objective and/or larger points. Also we should have tried harder to keep it secret...

[Lippy]

Wow!

*blows dust away*

I've not posted here for a while... Good news is I've done a fair amount since.

 

First up:

Vindicator

http://i.imgur.com/Z2JjCM0.jpg?1

Really love this model and the in game too. Such a great distraction unit to take fire away from my LRC, even if it does make me sad when it gets pummeled and blown up by turn 2! Also, it sucks when it scatters off wildly... that makes me sad too

http://i.imgur.com/Ra5GLRG.jpg?1

 

 

Next up is my Terminators.

http://i.imgur.com/gBMwGst.jpg?1

This was my first real experience of using greenstuff but I wanted to make sure they were fully fledged Sword Brethren with cloaks and tabards. It was fun chopping and building them. Everyone is magnetized at the shoulders, but I expect they'll run either as 2x LC ad 3x TH, or 5x TH.

http://i.imgur.com/c0Dr7xs.jpg?1

I only had three of the FW shields when i took this. But since then my friend gave me 2 of the Anvil Industry (i think or spellcrow) StormShields which work well enough, so I can field 5 TH/SS all 'templard up'.

 

 

Third: Helbrecht

 

http://i.imgur.com/SiHoJqP.jpg?2

Really love the model. I know people dont like the head, but I think he looks great. I painted him in the classic gold as I love how he's a shining example of the crusade.

 

http://i.imgur.com/yfvjauf.jpg?1

I like all the little trinkets and the chains etc. Really gives him character.

 

And last, but first amongst equals

the Emperor's Champion.

http://i.imgur.com/CFE4vJ6.jpg?1
I like the standard colours for him as they show him as just a standard initiate plucked from the crowd who has been ordained with all that the Emperor stands for. Some would call it ZEAL.

http://i.imgur.com/dF8E1NR.jpg?1
I will get round to touching up all the bevels with black... I promise!

 

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I've also played a number more games as you'd expect and am starting to learn how this army works.

 

I generally buddy my vindicator with my land raider and move up the board together like so

http://i.imgur.com/s6H6RZu.jpg

Most of my opponents aim straight from the vindicator which is fine by me.

 

 

I've given the Castellans of the Imperium a few goes. My best results have come with using Commander Pask. But he is a lot of points. He provides another more imminent threat to my opponent that's AV14 so needs the big guns.

http://i.imgur.com/YT8ntfG.jpg?1

Although I think above he got ruined by those coptas (the crusaders avenged him though!).

 

 

A priest with the crusaders is so good too. Especially with Litanies of Faith. I've proxied in some guardsmen as Neophytes a few times to create a blob and CounterAttack/Rage along with Hatred, and Rerolls to Wound... ooofff that causes some pain, and they then have staying power afterwards.

http://i.imgur.com/SdNUvBf.jpg?2

 

 

I best trick is to bring my terminator's out of the land raider too early, wreck open the opposing spartan and then die horribly by the counter assault... I put that down to over exuberance.

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Thanks for reading. Now I'm up to date on all the other posts and have a little experience I hope to contribute more.

 

My next update is a StormHawk/StormTalon which I've managed to make interchangeable, but the base is waiting a little finishing.

[AndrewChristlieb]

Looking good brother! I like the Gold Helbrecht too, he stands out a bit from the rank and file which is fitting for his position and it looks awesome. I'm digging your bases too, think I'm going to try something similar on my EC if I ever get around to finishing it

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Excellent work on the Vindicator and the Terminator Assault Squad.

[Lippy]

Cheers guys.

Having lots of fun and always get complimented on the bases. It's such a simple but effective style. And as someone mentioned previously, They do look great when they're all lined up together. It makes me want moarrrr!

[Pearson73]

Terminators looking good, as are the bases.

[Lippy]

To continue the theme of Bases, here's my newly finished StormHawk/Storm Talon:

 

http://i.imgur.com/Vr8MX7r.jpg?2

 

It was really important that the base matched the rest of my Templars, but I knew the tiles just wouldn't have the same effect if they were on their own. So I bought a building...

 

http://i.imgur.com/ojqHQh3.jpg?1

 

Thankfully my local club has oodles amounts of Terrain, but this has now made me want to use the rest of the kit to do a full building. That or its inspired me to do something bigger. Perhaps with a Knight or a bigger Flyer?

 

http://i.imgur.com/uxnx6Se.jpg?1

 

This StormHawkStormTalon kit was great. I'm all about the magnets, but I didn't need to use one on this! There's a small amount of bluetac used to make sure the wobbly bits don't come off mid-flight, but on the whole it just fits together and sits there.

 

http://i.imgur.com/p6Q7Gv5.jpg?1 

 

I've used the StormHawk once, and thought it was great at what it does. a 2Shot Lascannon, Skyhammer and Assault Cannon? Ripped open a predator at first try. I just hope that 8th Ed doesn't bring the DFtS flyer roles into ruling (my club has vetoed it so flyers can still shoot at full BS at the ground).

 

Going to give the StormTalon a whirl tomorrow night.

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Next on the bench are my Vanguard Veterans. Thanks to not using any for this flyer, I've magnetised literally everything from the shoulders. Every shoulder, wrist, weapon, shield... It may take me a while to paint every option, but I just couldn't stop once I'd started!

[Psykic_scribe]

Stormhawk is great, and an interesting base will make it stand out on the board.

 

Also congratulations on the success of the Terminator cloaks. (I am biased, as I have made a big push into cloaks for my Sword Brethren)