Over-Troubled Waters

One of the areas of Carnevale I haven't really gone into yet is the wackier and more monstrous sculpts. As such, when giving instructions for potential Christmas presents, I asked for some 'big-gribblies' from the Rashaar faction.

Mrs Cheaphammer is not afraid of wandering into my FLGS asking questions for which she has no context and so I received a pair of Lesser Ugdru as part of my gift.

Admittedly, Lesser Ugdru are not the biggest of gribblies available to the Rashaar, but they are definitely gribbly. 

Also, I may already have two from the starter set, but they are the sort of thing that it feels right to have multiples of, and they are different sculpts too.

I was delighted with this gift.

When I came to painting them I wanted to ensure they matched the two I already owned. Fortunately, I'd meticulously listed the paints I'd used on them when I posted almost three years ago.

As I still had all the necessary paints, it was an easy recipe to follow.

The only bit of awkwardness came from one of the bases, as I needed to reclaim one of the 40mm resin bases from another miniature, and as such there were chewed up bits that needed masking.

The leaping Lesser Ugdru's foot (his ankle REALLY worries me) sorted one of the ugly areas whilst a small pile of gubbins from various sprues and bits boxes did for the other.

All in all, I'm pleased with these two, but I do still want some bigger gribblies.

Finally, I've got around to painting the third of the pack of MDF bridges I bought for the game when I first got into it.

Again, I've tried to match styles I used three years ago, and I think I've been successful.

In other news, I've managed to sell a chunk of old metal Blood Bowl miniatures, and so the Lead Mountain has taken a bit of a hit. I'm really hoping to make inroads into it this year.

Acquired: -71
Painted: 42
Lead Mountain: 544

Ambassador, you're spoiling us!

As anybody with any class knows, any Ambassador's reception worth the name requires several key ingredients:

• An eclectic array of well-travelled guests,
• Ostentatious outfits,
• Foil-wrapped hazelnut chocolates,
• Well-trained and discreet staff,
• After-party bloodletting in the streets.

The Foreign Delegates bring all of them and more to Patricians faction of Carnevale...well, apart from the chocolates.

After reacquainting myself with the more vibrant palette I use for Carnevale on some Reaper Bones miniatures last week, I settled down to paint the Foreign Delegates set I received as a Christmas present.

As with the last set of Patricians I painted, I was a little intimidated by the miniatures until I actually started painting. The finery and detail on the miniatures works really well with the contrast paints, washes and dry brushing I rely on.

Obviously, given the name of the set, there are two Foreign Dignitaries included in the box.

I'm assuming that this one is meant to be from the British landed gentry as he appears to be dressed for the hunt. Given what takes place at Patrician masqueratas, he's probably dressed totally appropriately.

Tally ho!

The other Foreign Dignitary is much more ornate and foppish. He's probably French.

This is the model I was most intimidated by, due to all the details, but I'm learning that with models this detailed I should let the miniature do the work for me. 

In game, whilst they are effective fighters, the Foreign Dignitaries also support their Venetian Noble hosts by helping them to replenish both Will and Command points.

Also included in the set are two Merchants who bring a little bit of short-ranged firepower and are able to use their gold to motivate other henchmen.

This portly fellow marks my first use of the Leviadon Blue contrast paint on his coat. I was pleased I got a chance to test it out as I'm intending to paint some Space Hulk Genestealers in the classic blue and purple scheme and Talassar Blue is too bright.

Speaking of Talassar Blue, that's the colour I used on this more piratical Merchant's coat. This chap is clearly more active in his acquisition of trade goods than his compatriot.

If you are looking at this miniature and thinking that his ankle joint looks fragile, you'd be right. I managed to snap it during clean up. However, resin miniatures fix really easily and I've probably ended up making his leg more secure.

The final model in the Foreign Delegates set is this Venetian Spy, although Sniper would be nearer the mark as she brings some much needed range to what is currently a close combat oriented force. The long rifle allows her to cover almost the whole board if she can find an appropriate firing position.

I really like painting the models in this game in the long flowing dresses. I've never known this about myself and I should perhaps steer future purchases for all sorts of games in this direction.

Oh, I broke her foot off too.

The final miniature in this little group is the last of the Reaper Bones miniatures I picked up on Amazon. 

I'll be using her as a Servant, and she fits in really well with the official miniature in this role. As such I made an effort to get her in the same colours to present her clothing as a uniform.

Technically she's part of a village mob, but I can imagine the staff that accompany the partygoers out into the streets being given responsibility for lighting the way (and being the most obvious targets).

With my Patricians force doubled in size I should look at playing a game with them, as they still haven't seen action. I have some time this week, so maybe.

Acquired: -26

Painted: 39

Lead Mountain: 592

Saints & Sinners

I've been struggling a little with motivation to paint more Chaos Marauders, and so I've decided to take a little bit of a sojourn back through the streets of Venice and use Carnevale as a palette cleanser.

Before getting stuck in to some of the resin TTCombat miniatures, I opted to break myself in with a couple of miniatures I'd picked up with an Amazon voucher I received for completing a survey for the government.

It turns out it's quite hard to spend only £10 on Amazon as a wargamer.

Fortunately, Reaper Bones came to my rescue with a set of three townsfolk who wouldn't look totally out of place in a game of Carnevale.

The Monk would obviously join the forces of the Vatican as a Priest. The Courtesan could have joined the Guild or Patricians, but I've chosen to put her with my ad hoc Strigoi as a Vampire Noble (demoting the current incumbent to Common Vampire).

The third miniature is a member of the Village Mob, and as she's wearing an apron and wielding a rolling pin, I've chosen for her to join the Patricians as a Servant.

Of the three, the Monk is the one I was least sure would fit with the aesthetic of Carnevale, as he's a bit cartoony. I wasn't too worried as my Vatican forces have recently veered quite sharply away from being official.

However, the fact that he's a bit rotund does mean that the pudgy face and fingers are less problematic, and his well fed frame and the golden bracelets do point to the corruption present in the Vatican forces in the Carnevale setting.

In terms of painting, I went with a travelling friar look (using some colour inspiration from the costumes in The Name of the Rose. Contrast paints, washes and dry brushing did the work; nothing clever.

I changed the sleeves to a light colour to give a bit more definition and prevent him being too much of a shapeless lump.

I really like the Courtesan model (apart from he fingers that just meld into her shoulder) and she does scale well with the Carnevale range. The only reason she didn't remain a Courtesan with the Patricians was that I have already drafted my Reaper Cinderella into that role.

Therefore she will be my new Vampire Noble as she is somewhat taller and more commanding than the Doctor Who miniature that I had been using for the purpose.

In terms of painting, again I've mainly used contrast paints, but I put more time into highlighting the folds in the dress and the skin.

I'm really pleased with the hair, although this might make her a little too similar to the Madame if the House of Virtue if I ever pick up that set.

The bit I'm least keen on is the eyes, which are a bit big and staring. However, by adding shade around her eyes she now looks like she's stepped out of a Tim Burton animation, which seems appropriate for the Strigoi.

All in all I'm pleased with these two and the third model is coming along nicely with the Patricians I'm painting. They are a reminder that whilst the Reaper Bones line has its limitations, the sculpts are very good and I should pay more attention to them when looking for cheaper alternatives.

Acquired: -26

Painted: 33

Lead Mountain: 598

Badaboom!

And so I took myself back down to Warhammer World for a second day of playing Combat Patrol as part of the Badab War narrative event run by Arbitor Ian's YouTube channel.

The war was heating up and things were about to explode...well the game sizes and turn lengths were, at any rate.

The second day saw me being involved in two four player games, essentially using the doubles format, with scenarios reflecting specific actions in the Badab War.

Despite liking the game so far, I'm not sure how well Combat Patrol doubles up in this way as we came across a few rules interactions which became a bit too powerful when applied to two armies at the same time.

However, fun was had nonetheless.

Game 4 - The Vyaniah Raids

The secessionist world of Vyaniah was a hub of shipping for the war efford, defended by the Astral Claws, and as such became the target of  raids by the loyalist forces. But the Astral Claws were not the only defenders, and the raids were hampered by the emergence of a new threat - the Tyrant’s Legion!

This game saw my Astral Claws defending the Vyaniah orbital defence batteries against a raiding force of my old nemeses the Minotaurs and the Howling Griffons.

To bolster the lines I was joined by the somewhat numerous Tyrant's Legion who had the benefit of a scenario rule that allowed their destroyed units come back on from reserve.

Therefore the defending forces under the command of myself and Clarkie were:

Astral Claws

Corpsetaker Apothecary and 2 Servitors
10 Tactical Marines
5 Devastator Marines
Dreadnought

Tyrant's Legion

Command Squad

10 Shock Troops

10 Shock Troops 

Field Ordnance Battery

Armoured Sentinel

However, intent on overrunning our positions were the somewhat familiar forces controlled by Andrew and Will, who I had played yesterday.

Minotaurs

Captain in Gravis Armour 

3 Bladeguard Veterans 

5 Helblasters

10 Intercessors

Howling Griffons

Captain in Terminator Armour

Librarian in Terminator Armour

5 Terminators 

5 Infernus Marines

The Loyalists had the first turn and advanced upon our lines and the Minotaurs' Helblasters somewhat predictably started to bully my Devastators as they had yesterday.

Return fire on our following turn did reduce their effectiveness, but I remain somewhat traumatised that across two games Andrew didn't fail a single hazardous check for his plasma guns.

On our right my Dreadnought and melee troops advanced towards a rematch with the Minotaurs' Bladeguard.

The second turn saw Clarkie use a strategem which slowed the enemy advanced and stopped them charging. This is the one that felt a bit too powerful in a larger game as it affected both enemy forces and benefitted me significantly in a way no other strategem could.

However, Will brought his Terminators in anyway, but these were in the mid-table area as we had used our numerical advantage to screen out our deployment zone.

Withe the enemy unable to charge, the Astral Claws took full advantage and the Dreadnought ploughed into a squad of Intercessors, obliterating them, whilst the Corpsetaker and his compatriots brought down the Minotaurs' Captain and braced for the counter charge from the Bladeguard.

However, when it came, the Dreadnought was able to use a heroic intervention to get into combat, but could not stop the Corpsetaker from being killed.

Meanwhile, on the other flank, a thin silver line of Tactical Marines took heavy casualties from the Infernus Marines, but served to hold up the advance towards our deployment zone.

Eventually, the Terminators were able to charge and drive back the Shock Troops, but could not capture the objective due to clever use of a flag.

Ultimately, the Loyalists couldn't close the gap that had been caused by the Tyrant's Legion (Astra Militarum) secondary objective which allowed us to score points for keeping the enemy out of our deployment zone.

Again, this felt a bit much as usually they would be holding the line with squishy humans rather than power armoured Space Marines, and so it felt like Will and Andrew had walked into a perfect storm.

Secessionists 51 - Loyalists 35

Game 5 - The Fall of Surngraad

The Raptors’ taking of the fortress of Surngraad was a stroke of tactical genius. Raptors forces were landed hundreds of km away from the 

fortress, and marchd through frozen blizzards to take the defenders unawares. The Astral Claws garrison was misdirected and confused, and 

once the Raptors took the citadel, their allies in the Salamanders could teleport heavy assault elements in to finish the job.

Once again on the defensive, I was joined by some Astral Claws veterans (in every sense of the word, there were some extremely old models in play) commanded by Nathan.

The scenario saw Ben's Raptors trying to capture an objective to allow Simon's Salamanders to teleport in and catch in a vice.

The Secessionist forces defending the citadel, and spread out as much as possible to prevent shenanigans, were as follows:

Astral Claws Garrison

Corpsetaker Apothecary and 2 Servitors
10 Tactical Marines
5 Devastator Marines
Dreadnought

Astral Claws Veterans

Captain in Terminator Armour

Librarian in Terminator Armour

5 Terminators 

5 Infernus Marines

Meanwhile the infiltrating enemy force that began the game consisted of:

Raptors Infiltrators

Captain in Terminator Armour

Librarian in Terminator Armour

5 Terminators 

5 Infernus Marines

However, the attack got of to a somewhat limp start as after lighting up the Dreadnought and dropping it to just two wounds, both the Terminators (with the Librarian) and the Terminator Captain failed to charge into contact, despite both units being able to reroll. The Terminators rolled snakeyes twice!

Needless to say l, this reprieve for the Dreadnought was about to be exploited as it and the Veteran Terminators charged the Raptors elites and cut them down to a man.

Meanwhile, the Corpsetaker's unit cane under metaphorical and literal fire as the Infernus Marines bathed them in flames causing significant casualties.

In return, half of the Raptors unit was cut down in close combat.

On the second turn, success on a different table saw reinforcements dropping in all over the board:

Salamanders

Captain in Terminator Armour

Librarian in Terminator Armour

5 Terminators 

5 Infernus Marines

Whilst the Terminator squad arrived on one flank, looking to avenge the Raptors, the Salamanders Captain sought out his opposite number in a duel that would ultimately see the Astral Claws commander come out on top.

The Infernus Market nes demonstrated the Salamanders' vaunted skill with flame when they beat the Devastators to the punch and used overwatch to kill half the unit.

Unfortunately, the return fire inflicted similar damage in them.

The second Terminator on Terminator clash was initiated and getting the charge was proven once again to be crucial as the Salamanders had the better of the exchange.

That was until the Dreadnought piled in, killing almost the entire squad across two rounds of combat and although the reverted hero ultimately succumbed, when the dust settled, only the two Librariand were left standing.

Targetted fire brought down the last of the Loyalist Infernus Marines, leaving just the Raptors Captain and the Salamanders Librarian in play.

Whilst battered, the remaining Astral Claws were more than enough to prevent the enemy from catching two of the three objectives, meaning that victory was assured and rendered the secondary objectives both sides had scored somewhat meaningless.

This game was defined by Ben's hideously bad luck with his charge rolls on his first turn, causing the Loyalists to lose a third of their forces without reply. Ben and Simon fought well to keep the game in doubt despite that.

Secessionists 58 - Loyalists 19

With a second victory complete, my tally for the event was 3 wins, 1 draw and a loss. I definitely feel the beneficiary of circumstances that were nothing to do with me for two of those results, but it's still a better ratio than I've had in most versions of 40k that I've played.

As my results were part of a larger campaign, I'm not going to reveal the overall result of the weekend. You'll need to watch Arbitor Ian's next Tale of Four Badab Gamers video to find out the fate of the sector.

As for me, well I set a resolution to get out more this year and this weekend proved why. I met some really nice people and played some really fun games. The next Badab War event will be sometime in the spring, so I'm going to see if I can make it.

Is Combat Patrol an enjoyable format? Yes, very much so. Does it work as a doubles game? I'm not sure, both games overran significantly. Am I now hooked on 40k 10th edition? The jury's out as I probably have to play a couple of larger games before I can commit to an answer.

Nevertheless, I've had a cracking good time, and that's what matters.

Badabing!

Today I took myself and my Astral Claws down to Warhammer World to participate in the Tale of 4 Gamers Badab War campaign run by Arbitor Ian's YouTube channel.

This is actually the second event of the campaign (confusingly it's Phase III of the war); as there was a Kill Team event held in November that I was unable to attend.

As this is a Combat Patrol event, my force is using the rules for the OOP Dark Zealots (a Chaos Space Marine Combat Patrol). Given what fate waits for the Astral Claws after the war, this seems more than appropriate.

One of the nice things about Combat Patrol is that you don't need to worry about choosing your army, as it's selected for you. Therefore, my force consists of:

• 1 Corpsetaker Apothecary (Dark Apostle) with 2 Servitors (Disciples)
• 10 Tactical Marines (Chaos Legionaries)
• 5 Devastator Marines (Havocs)
• 1 Dreadnought (Hellbrute)

In preparing for the event, I did have a little painting that I needed to do.

Firstly I needed to paint up my final monopose Marine as I needed a Meltagun in my Tactical Squad. The gun itself was cobbled together from various bits, but looks the part.

As we were playing in Warhammer World, my Servitors weren't appropriate as they aren't Games Workshop miniatures. Therefore I painted up a second Goliath Juve so they could be used as stand-ins.

Finally, I wanted to distinguish my two Heavy Bolters, as one of them would be proxied as a Reaper Chaincannon. Without any alternate barrels knocking around I opted to go for putting a chain bayonet on one simply to make the difference clear.

With that all done, I made my way to Nottingham this morning to take part in the twenty-ish person event.

Game 1 - Bull by the Horns

My first opponent was Andrew with his Minotaurs force. He had opted to use the current Dark Angels Combat Patrol which consists of:

1 Captain in Gravis Armour

3 Bladeguard Veterans 

5 Hellblasters

10 Intercessors

The game would see the newly reinforced Loyalists conducting Sweeping Raids into Secessionist space following the stalemate in the Phase II Kill Team event.

I got the first turn but failed to make a telling impact as Andrew used the terrain to negate my ranger advantage.

On his turn he pushed his Hellblasters forward and obliterated my Devastators, leaving me no option but to try to get stuck in.

I pushed my close combat troops forwards to try to capture the mid-table objectives, but they were met by a Captain and some Bladeguard who were packing the most effective invulnerable saves I ever seen and despite the Bladeguard being cut down, they took the Dreadnought and most of my unit with them.

Meanwhile, my combat squad armed with bolters tried to take out the advancing Intercessors, but had to content themselves with simply holding my home objective.

Ultimately the battle came down to my Corpsetaker Apothecary against Andrew's Captain, a fight that was won by the Minotaur, but left him with a single wound.

With the game pretty much over, we called the result on turn 4 as nothing was going to change.

Minotaurs 70 - Astral Claws 43

Game 2: The Head of the Snake

Despite my loss, the Secessionists had won the first round and so now we were aiming to push back the Loyalists with a Display of Might.

I matched up against Jack's Sons of Medusa, which it turned out were also based on the Dark Angels Combat Patrol, and so also consisted of:

1 Captain in Gravis Armour

3 Bladeguard Veterans 

5 Hellblasters

10 Intercessors

The fates unkindly conspired against Jack in this game as not only had I already learned that the real threat was the Hellblasters, but he also proceeded to have absolutely horrendous luck when rolling saves throughout the game.

After I'd driven back his Hellblasters with my concentrated fire, my Dreadnought could advance with impunity and I had a significant advantage in firepower.

Unfortunately for Jack, the scenario required us to advance, and so he made a valiant push with his Bladeguard, but a failed charge saw them out up from all angles.

Ultimately, the Dreadnought strode unchallenged down my right flank; concentrated Bolter fire not enough to deter it, whilst the Gravis Captain was met and defeated by the Corpsetaker and his entourage, his gene-seed added to the Astral Claws' stockpiles.

Astral Claws 58 - Sons of Medusa 25

Game 3 - Howl You Doin'?

With the Secessionists winning the second round as well, we were now pushing out to capture the Loyalist Forward Outposts.

In this game I was matched against Will's Howling Griffons. Like many players at the event, he is using the standard Space Marine Combat Patrol which consists of:

1 Captain in Terminator Armour

1 Librarian in Terminator Armour 

5 Terminators

5 Infernus Marines

I really liked how this game fits so well into the narrative as my Astral Claws pushed into a built up area to find it apparently defended by only a small squad of Howling Griffons.

It looked and felt like a trap.

A trap which was sprung when a whole load of Terminators deep struck into my back line, capturing my home objective and almost obliterating the Corpsetaker's unit and leaving him alone.

Realising that I stood no chance against the Terminators with my units so spread out, I opted to push towards the enemy deployment zone, capturing objectives on the way, in an attempt to match the Howling Griffons build up of victory points.

The Corpsetaker charged into the remaining Infernus Marines whilst the Havoks and remaining Tactical Marines positioned themselves on the mid-table objectives knowing that the Terminators were coming.

The Dreadnought moved to help the Tactical Marines, who found themselves overmatched by the Terminator Captain, and helped them hold onto the objective for an extra turn, until the main squad of Terminators arrived and cut them all to pieces.

Meanwhile, the Corpsetaker ran hell for leather into to enemy deployment zone to grab their valuable objective, putting pressure on the Howling Griffons.

On their final turn, the scores were close, but the Astral Claws would win if they still held two objectives at the end of the game.

However, the Terminators made a long charge (after judicious use of a Command Point) to reach the hiding Devastators and destroy them in hand to hand combat.

Astral Claws 56 - Howling Griffons 52

I ended the day with a loss, a win and a draw. However I don't yet know how the round went for the Secessionists.

The day has been really fun. I've met some excellent people and enjoyed playing games against opponents who have the same limited exposure to 10th edition as me, and so we've been learning together.

So far, I like the Combat Patrol format as it's going ven us time to get our heads around the rules.

The best bit?

I get to go back again tomorrow.

Acquired: -26
Painted: 31
Lead Mountain: 600