Go Down In A Blaze of Glory

I can only imagine the naming meeting at Games Workshop for Tzeentch Daemons was running late. After all the Fluxmasters, Changecasters and Fateskimmers, they finally got to the Chariot carrying an Exalted Flamer and decided on...Burning Chariot.

I'm not going to go into how I've painted it because it's basically a combination of how I did the Screamers, Exalted Flamer and other Discs, so my earlier posts will tell you everything you need to know (follow the Tzeentch link in the sidebar).

Suffice to say that I'm really pleased with how the Screamers turned our, but I'm less than impressed with my choices regarding the Flamer.

In game, the Burning Chariot is something akin to a light tank. It has manoeuvrability, acceptable anti-tank capability and decent close combat potential.

Ever since Matt produced his surprise Japanese army for Bolt Action, there's been a running theme in our gaming group of ambushing each other with things we'd kept secret.

Therefore, prior to our game of 40k, I'd not mentioned to Pete that I was working on the Burning Chariot and was aiming to produce it with an, "ah-haaa!"

However, my surprise Chariot moment was somewhat undermined when I arrived at Pete's and he greeted me with a surprise entire Imperial Guard army and a much bigger "ah-haaaaa!"

We set up for a matched play incursion game using the Ransack scenario, which involves six objectives, and scoring primary points if you control two, control three and control more than your opponent.

My army consisted of:

HQ

- Daemon Prince

- The Changeling

- Fluxmaster

Troops

- 10 Pink Horrors

- 10 Pink Horrors

- 10 Brimstone Horrors

Elite

- Exalted Flamer

- 3 Flamers

Fast Attack

- 4 Screamers

Heavy Support

- Burning Chariot

For my secondary objectives I chose: Malefic Terror as I thought I'd stand a decent chance of making Imperial Guardsmen run away; Engage On All Fronts as I had decent manoeuvrability; and Psychic Interrogation as I believed that I'd remember to do the psychic action each turn (spoiler...I didn't).

Pete's army consisted of guns. Lots of guns.

HQ

- Company Commander

- Tank Commander

Troops

- Infantry Squad

- Infantry Squad

- Infantry Squad

Elite

- Commander Squad

- Tech-Priest Enginseer

- Commissar

Fast Attack

- Sentinel

Heavy Support

- Wyvern Launcher

- Leman Russ Battle Tank

In terms of secondary objectives, Pete chose three that dovetailed well: For The Emperor meant that he'd score for each unit he destroyed; as five of my units were psykers he would also score for Abhor The Witch for each if them he killed; and whilst he was killing units, Grind Them Down would see him score if he killed more units than I did.

Fortunately, I got the first turn and barrelled forwards and moved forwards inflicting damage across Pete's lines (unfortunately nobody failed morale checks). I knew I had to close the ground as I would lose a shooting battle.

In a worrying sign of things to come, I rolled a double 1 on my first psychic test, forgot to do psychic interrogation and positioned my characters in a way that would leave then exposed if the leas unit of Pink Horrors was destroyed.

I managed to get a charge off with my Screamers, but the Sentinel survived their attack on one wound.

Now it was Pete's turn to shoot back.

Suffice to say that Pete had noticed my poor positioning and proceeded to unleash a storm of lasguns and mortar fire onto them, wiping out the Horrors and allowing the Fluxmaster to be banished back to the warp by sustained multi-melta fire from the Tank Commander.

Then, I'm what can only be described as Tzerntch laughing at me, the other Leman Russ pummelled the Daemon Prince with Battle Cannon and Heavy Bolter shells and I failed an abominable abount of 3+ 'Invulnerable' saves.

By the start of the second turn, I'd lost half of my force and the only u it that had a reasonable chance of dealing with the tanks.

I knew the game was lost, and so it was damage limitation time.

My Exalted Flamer finished off the Sentinel, which blew up, injuring the Commissar. I brought my Flamers in from the warp and they deleted the Mortars. However, the Burning Chariot failed to destroy the Guardsmen holding the objective and they also didn't run (this was to become a theme).

The Screamers went on a suicide run to assassinate the Company Commander as his ability to regenerate command points was annoying me.

In Pete's turn he concentrated on trying to clear my units out of his lines with another volley of devastating firepower. However, when the smoke cleared, even though the Flamers and Burning Chariot had been incinerated, a single Screamer remained on one wound.

This allowed me in my turn 3 to fall back to contest Pete's central objective, and concentrate my fire on the Guardsmen and Commissar on Pete's right flank, destroying them, gaining points for failed leadership tests and denying Pete any primary points for the turn.

There was nothing I could do about the tanks.

Another deadly volley took out the Exalted Flamer and most of the Horrors. Fortunately, Pete had killed so much that his Tank Commander was out of position and had nothing to shoot at.

Ha! Sucks to be him!

The game was up. With the Changeling and Brinstone Horrors scoring me a measly few primary points, I sent the last of the Horrors into the centre of Pete's lines to finish off his Command Squad to try and gain an extra point and reduce his primary score once again.

Having a succeeded in that, they were subsequently shot off the board, as was the Changeling. It turns out the tanks don't stay out of position for long as they can apparently move.

Pete was able to pick up the full 15 primary points on his final turn leaving the score at: 72 - 43

Given that I lost half my army in the first turn, I actually think I played the rest of the game reasonably well, denying Pete points and keeping things relatively close until the last turn.

As is now usual with 40k, here are Captain Hindsight's thoughts on the game:

1. I really need to pay attention to the positioning of my characters in the early turns.
2. I need to concentrate my firepower and make sure I remove enemy units.
3. If I'm going to use a Warpcraft Secondary, I need to give that as a job to a character and focus them on it.
4. I probably need more Pink Horrors to form a more robust core to my army.
5. I need to convince Pete to get more line of sight blocking terrain.

The game was enjoyable, but messing up the first turn was a bit frustrating. 40k in all the editions I've played, remains one of the most unforgiving games I've encountered and things go south quickly.

The Burning Chariot only counts as a single model painted, but it does leave me with just a handful of Daemons left to paint in the backlog.

Acquired: 48

Painted: 69 (ooer missus)

A Hill To Die On

You know what I need in my life? 

Another ongoing campaign.

Therefore, after our Flight to the Ford game at the weekend, Matt and I decided to get a Battle Companies campaign started. I opted to run with a Rohan warband.

Introducing...Leofric's Muster:

Leofric Fasthelm - Leader, Throwing Spear & Shield

Grimleth - Sergeant, Sword & Bow

Heruthain - Sergeant, Axe & Shield

Balca - Warrior, Axe & Shield

Deorfa - Warrior, Sword & Shield

Gram - Warrior, Throwing Spear & Shield

Freaor - Warrior, Sword & Bow

Matt brought along his Goblin Town 'horde' which I'm not sure if he's going to name as I suspect he doesn't want to get too attached.

We randomly generated our scenario as A Show of Strength. I think this favoured me as the winner would be determined by how many wounds our leaders inflicted. 

Leofric was probably going to have a much easier time wounding Goblins than the Goblin Chief was going to have against men with shields.

Aware that a pack of Goblins were marauding close to their village, Leofric mustered his warriors and led them in pursuit of the foul creatures.

Aware of his ranged advantage, Leofric opted to draw the Goblins on to him with bow fire, rather than attempt to chase them down.

The Goblins took the bait but used cover to their advantage to avoid taking early casualties from the men's bows.

However, Leofric had chosen his ground well and the last dash across the open saw some Goblins fall with arrows or spears embedded in them.

Nevertheless, the gibbering tide kept advancing.

The lines clashed but the Goblins had been whittled down to a point where they could not outnumber the men across the whole line.

The initial charge was repulsed and Leofric, holding the place of honour on the right flank had already begun his tally of wounding blows.

The battle wore on and some of the Rohirrim were dragged down by the Goblin Chief and his henchmen. And yet, for every man that fell, another Goblin succumbed too.

Ultimately, Leofric led the final charges on the surprisingly brave Goblins. Driving them away from the village. If not for good, then at least for now.

A fine victory for Leofric's first battle and he led from the front, wounding four of the gibbering horde, whilst the Goblin Chief managed to inflict two wounds against the more heavily armoured men.

After the battle, it was discovered that Balca has been injured and would need to miss the next battle, but Heruthain and Deorfa would make full recoveries.

Leofric was made a Knight and  rewarded by his liege lord with a fine horse for his heroism and will now be a terror to the foes of Rohan as he also gained the Fearsome Charge trait.

Grimleth the Ranger's deadly accuracy also gained him notoriety, but this was compounded with how he had stood heroically in a shieldwall, without a shield (he gained Defence +1).

The Goblins didn't gain any skills, but only one of them died of their wounds, although a couple were injured.

And so we're off on a new campaign. It looks like games are small and fast and so we sould be abke to gey a few done in a night. It will make fir a good option when several if us are available at the same time.

In other unrelated news, I've ticked off another box on the Hobby Bingo card as I finally managed to get into the new Element Games store in Sheffield for some supplies, which I suppose counts as supporting my local gaming store.

No more painting done though for now, however, I'm now on my Easter holidays, so I should be getting on with things soon.

Back in the Saddle

Following their encounter with the Nazgul at Weathertop, Aragorn and the Hobbits head as quickly as they can to Rivendell. En route they meet up with Arwen Evenstar who guides them through the wilderness towards the Ford of Bruinen.

However, there are five riders close behind, and they may well find the ford held against them.

The Quest of the Ringbearer finally gets underway again after a five month hiatus caused by purchasing, painting and just doing other things.

We are now at the final step of Book 1 of The Fellowship of the Ring, the Flight to the Ford, where Arwen (supported by Aragorn and the Hobbits) must get Frodo across the river whilst being chased by all nine Ringwraiths.

Matt was delighted to find out that this scenario saw the return of random movement for the Black Riders exhausted horses (with a 1 in 6 chance of them collapsing) and similar chance that four of the Nazgul don't even show up in trying to cut off escape from the flanks.

In addition, the Ringwraiths all had two less Will points each, dramatically shortening their shelf life, but this was countered by Aragorn, Frodo and Sam losing their Might points (although Aragorn still had his bonus point per round) and Frodo was down to zero Fate after being stabbed at Weathertop...even though he wasn't.

The heroes needed to kill all nine Ringwraiths, whilst the servants of Mordor just had to kill Frodo.

Turn 1

A thundering of hooves signalled the arrival of the chasing Wraiths and with a cry of, "Noro lim, Asfaloth!" Arwen spurs her noble steed to race off towards the ford.

Aragorn and the Hobbits valiantly give chase, but are unable to keep up. However, two of the Nazgul turn and attempt to transfix Aragon, but fail.

Turn 2

Arwen gallops off even further into the distance, looking like she is going to get Frodo across the river with ease.

Aragorn charges into the two Riders that attempted to transfix him, easily defeating them in combat and cutting down one.

Meanwhile, two more Nazgul appear from the south, attempting to cut off Arwen's escape.

Turn 3

Sauron's minions gain the initiative for the first time and I make a potentially costly decision to not call a Heroic Move with Arwen's single point of Might, allowing the Witchking to get close enough to successfully compel Arwen to drop her sword and turn her horse around to face him.

"Come back! To Mordor we will take you."

In the ensuing combat, Frodo and Arwen actually prevail (using Arwen's Might), but stand very little chance of hurting the Lord of the Nazgul.

Turn 4

"Put on the Ring!"

Frodo is compelled by the Witch King, causing Asfaloth to flee, dumping the Hobbit and the Elf onto the ground (also causing Arwen to turn into Glorfindel).

The ensuing charge is robbed of some potency when on of the black horses collapses, but Arwen and Frodo are pulled into separate fights which they somehow both win, proving that there are other powers in the world, besides the will of evil.

Meanwhile, Aragorn called a Heroic Move allowing him to catch up with and despatch another Ringwraith.

Turn 5

The forces of good gain the initiative and Frodo musters the courage to remove the Ring and head for the safety of his friends, whilst Arwen bravely charges the Witch King to keep him out if the fight.

However, three more Nazgul home in on the Hobbit, with horses collapsing under them as they arrive.

Charged from behind, Arwen succumbs to the power of the Witch King, and Frodo is wounded but one of the Nazgul is dispelled as it ran out of Will.

Howevet, with Aragorn now in striking range, the tide was about to turn.

Turn 6

Despite losing the initiative, Aragorn frustrates the Nazgul by calling a Heroic Move and allowing Frodo to get behind him.

Short on Will the Ringwraiths move in, desperate to inflict a final wound on Frodo, but perennial 'Fool of a Took' Merry defies expectations and bravely charges the mounted Nazgul, evening the odds for his cousin.

In a puff of frustration, the crowd of Ringwraiths dissipates in a final expenditure of Will, leaving a thin black line between the heroes and the ford.

Turns 7+

Without enough remaining Will to directly confront Aragorn (or even the Hobbits), but only needing to inflict one more wound on Frodo, the Nazgul try a less direct approach.

Moving round the flank they attempt to hit the Ringbearer with black darts, but fail in quick succession and dissipate.

Only the Witch King now stood in the way, and with a single Will Point the game was up.

Aragon and the Hobbits made it across the Ford to Rivendell, where the ranger was about to face some awkward questions from Elrond as to the whereabouts of his daughter.

In terms of the campaign, Rivendell is a rest point and so all of the characters will be back up to full health. Frodo was definitely the bravest companion and I suppose that Arwen was the 'Fool of a Took', being compelled, disarmed, dismounted and defeated in quick succession.

So far things seem to be going to plan. Just like in the books, Frodo has only been stabbed once, although it was crossing the Brandywine rather than at Weathertop.

Upcoming adventures need me to procure a pack of playing cards and a whole host of Wargs, and so the next outing to Middle Earth will involve a return to Rohan, but not in the way you might expect.

Here Comes The Big Boss

Back to Carnevale to finish off the contents of the starter set with the leaders of the factions: the Capodecina of the Guild and the Magi-Rashaar of (unsurprisingly) the Rashaar.

Leaders are an essential part of of any gang in Carnevale, and each faction only has two or three to choose from.

As the most powerful characters, they seem to set the tone of how your gang will play.

The Capodecina is a duelist and thief, skilled at leaping across rooftops to attack from above, with some heavy Assassin's Creed vibes.

I'm quite pleased with how he's come out despite the fact that something about this photo makes him look a bit scruffier than in real life.

I had fun painting the Magi-Rashaar, a fish man sorcerer and cult leader. I didn't really know how I was going to paint him and so made it up as I went along.

I liked using this model to tie the different greens of the slaves and the fish monsters together.

One thing that is quite noticeable with both the Magi-Rashaar and the Capodecina is that they are larger than the other human members if their gang.

It's not so much of an issue with the Magi-Rashaar, as he's a fish man and so can be whatever size he is. However, the scale difference between the Capodecina and the Fishermen is quite significant. I know that people can be different sizes, but the Fishermen are supposed to be burly types in game terms, so the difference doesn't sit right.

However, I really like the eclectic nature of the Guild gang, with the dark red tieing them together as a cohesive whole.

Similarly, the Rashaar come together as a monstrous collective which unites two halves: the bright green of the Cult of Dagon and the slimy green of the fish monsters.

As I've now completed the contents of the starter box, I'm using this as an excuse to tick off two more boxes on my Hobby Bingo card. Finishing of 'good' and 'evil' armies fir my favourite game.

Admittedly, there is some stretching here:

• 'Finish' is always a difficult term for me, but these are two playable gang and have no more models to paint and no immediate plans to buy more,
• They are small for 'armies', but it's in the context of a skirmish game,
• 'Good' is a strong term for the murderous, blackmailing gangsters of the Guild, but they are closer to that concept than anyone's else in the game,
• I'm choosing to use the term 'favourite' to mean 'current focus'.

Anyway, the boxes are ticked. Please file any complaints or objections in your nearest waste disposal receptacle.

Acquired: 48

Painted: 68

Seeing Doubles?

I've decided to take a short break from my ongoing adventures in Venice and head back to Etheria, with a short stop over Pulp City, where the women in both locations have an air of the familiar.

The first additions I've made to the Great Rebellion in a long time are Angella, Queen of Brightmoon and a Brightmoon Guard, who, if you look closely, appear to be the same miniature at heart.

This is actually totally appropriate for the original version of She-Ra in the 80's as all the female characters (with the obvious exception of Madame Razz) were animated exactly the same, just with hair and clothing altered.

As the Queen of Brightmoon, Angella is ultimately the leader of the Great Rebellion (although She-Ra does most of the heavy lifting as the rest of them are morons). She's also supposed to be the mother of Glimmer, despite looking no older. It's not clear whether this was as a result of good genes, cosmetic surgery, magic or teen pregnancy.

Answers on a postcard.

I'm a little worried that I used too much paint on these models and that it looks a bit too thick. I'm not sure whether this is because I'm using brighter colours and so need more coats, my paints need replacing, the resin texture gives this impression or I'm just getting sloppy.

Answers on a postcard.

The female Brightmoon Guard is a nice addition to the rank and file, adding to the two male guards and the two male 'archers' I've done previously. Given that all of the authority figures in Brightmoon are female, it follows that the Palace would be an equal opportunities employer.

She's got a bit of a black eye as I'm messed up the face. This is the sort of thing that only becomes apparent to my fading eyesight in a photograph, so I'll probably leave it rather than risk mucking things up further.

One task I always find a bit challenging is going back to a project and getting new additions to fit in with what I've already done. I think I've done a decent job, but I am conscious that these two do confirm that my painting style has move towards the cartoony over time.

I suppose that's what happens when your output focuses on superheroes and Saturday mornings.

On the subject of superheroes, this is Striga. She is a member of the Shadow Axis team from Kitbash Games for Pulp City.

If she seems familiar, it's because I used the same model as a base for my Alche-Miss conversion for Freedom Force. I picked up a second model at the same time as I knew I could add her into my team.

I really must play Pulp City at some point.

I've not ticked off any Hobby Bingo goals for a while, so I've decided that Striga counts as finishing an army project I've already started.

I may possibly add to the Shadow Axis in future, but Striga is the last model I own for them and I have no plans to expand their numbers at the moment. So that's 'finished' enough for my purposes.

Acquired: 48

Painted: 66