Return of the Mini Minis

 Back when I was deep into 40K, I was alsos into Battlefleet Gothic and Epic 40K / Epic Armageddon as well. In fact, for Epic I had a large Eldar army and large Chaos Space Marine Army. I love the game system and I lover those armies, but during the great depressive episode of 2014 they went with everything else, and out of all the models I sold, I wish I had kept my Epic models the most. There is something about that game system that just feels so good. 

So when Thunder said "Hey, I have the starter set for Legions Imperialis, want to give it a try?" I knew there was a danger of falling into love again. I was hessitant because the sysstem is based in 30K and had no Xenos forces, but I was intrigued. One small game and I was hooked. I decided after a falses start to go with the Dark Mechanicum because damn those stalker constructs look terrifying. I bought a few boxes, started painting them up, and Thunder and I met again, my burgeoning Dark Mechs versus his Solar Auxilia in a 600 pts contest.

The Dark Mechanicum of the fallen forge world of Hephaestus Secondus.

The awesomely painted Solar Auxilia.

The mission had 6 points. The two closest to our zones were worth the least, the ones closest to opponent's zone was worth the most, even in the middle two.

Deployed!

Ready and waiting.

The two Errax Butchers rush up behind a "building" for cover, looking to close to use their mechandrites to slice and dice.

The Ogryns dive into some rubble for cover while some dudes prime their lasguns.

Tech thralls garrison a building while the jump pack Harpax asssault contructs prepare to charge. The long range Tenebrax archer overwatches the crossfire.

Those Solar Aux turned out to be really nasty power axe weilding guys. The Sentinels behind are there for moral support.

The Erraxes charge in and try to dislodge the Aux defenders while the Malcador tanks swing around to return fire to the Tenebrax.

The Ogryn Charonites prepare chain fists and arc welders for the counter charge.

The Serperos Overlords open fire while more tech thralls advance and garrison a building under the watchful eye of the commanding Scintilax and Arch Magos with his Mrymidon bodyguard.

The Leman Russ detachment opens fire with their vanquisher cannons!

The Harpax charge trying to dislodge the power axe dudes but were easily fended off.

The Dark Mech have pushed forward, but will they survive the push back?

The Ogryns charge the Erraxes but the close combat constructs throw the big guys back.

The Lord Commander starts to worry.

The Sentinels jumped into the fray between the Harpax and the Power Axe Dudes and in the end only the Sentinels were left standing (Note: I was using the wrong value for the close combat ability of the Harpaxes, they should have lost much earlier than this).

On the west flank, the Erraxes and Orgryns fight to the death and the Leman Russes clean up the last wound of the contstructs, but the Scintilax and Myrmidon reinforcements look to control the point.

The last Malcador and Auxilia troopers advance as the east tech thralls and Tenebrax pull back.

The Serperos continue to advance.

In the centre the Myrmidon Destructors clear out the last Malacador and infantry with their conversion beams.

The tech thralls and Tenebrax ensure the Solar Aux cannot secure the valuable south west point.

In the North east point the constructs and tech thralls push onto the Leman Russ tanks.

The last survivng Sentinel decided to reinforce the rear .... on another table.

With that, the Dark Mech had the lead in the victory points at the end of 5 turns. Huge amount of fun, and lots learned. Looking forward to more games of Legions Imperialis!