Bloody Sunday

 "You hear that?" 

"Hmmm? What?"

"Chanting," the soldier said lowly, "They are coming."

The second man sighed. "Did we get confirmation we can pull back?"

"No," he replied. Grimly he lifted viewers to his goggles. "I think they have an ogryn." 

"Dammit." Another sigh. "Well then.... for Cadia?" 

"For Cadia."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

On Sunday I got together with Tinqiu and sent in my Blooded Traitor Guard versus his veteran Kasrkin. The board was Volkus #4, the mission, Extraction. 

The 12 members of the Blooded spread out across the deployment zone but the heavy concentration was on the west flank.

In the centre were men ready to support either side while guarding the middle objective.

The Kasrkin in cover ready to take high ground and rein down accurate Hotshot lasfire.

The board is ready.

The Ogryn rushed up the flank, forcing the sniper to reconsider his position or get charged next turn.

The plasma gunner hunkers down behind a portable barricade.

On the east flank, a trooper advances.

In the east stronghold, the Kasrkin melta gunner moved inside to get ready for turn two but the traitor Enforcer moved up and riddled him with bolt pistol rounds. He survived... for now.

Seeing an opprotunity to get first blood, the traitor sharpshooter ran up and finished him off!

The Kasrkin moved into position on the high ground for turn two.

At the start of turn 2 (on the back of some serious lucky init rolls even though the rereoll was forced), the Enforcer ran up and power fisted the trooper on the east flank.

The sharpshooters trading fire! The loyalist was a better shot but could not get the kill shot.

In the centre, the flenser searched for the objective but it was not there.... where could it be?

Back on the east flank the Kasrkin commander charged and cut down the Enforcer, and was quickly patched up from his wounds by the medic. Is this the start of the Kasrkin's turnaround?

In the west stronghold the Vox operator moved in to start the search but a tropper ran up and fired over the wall, missing his shots.

The Ogryn charged the trooper at the wall and severely wounded him but failed to kill. The Melta gunner ran up to shoot the recon operator but also failed to kill.  The traitor melta gunner was cut down! The Traitor Cheiften ran in and searched for the Objective in the west stronghold and found it, but was sniped dead for his efforts. The pendulum has swung to the Kasrkin! The Traitors are panicking as their numbers dwindle faster than the Loyalists!

(Imagine masssive explosion)
The traitor grenadier ran up and whipped his dyabolic bomb at the Kasrkin and killed two, the recon operator and the grenade launcher gunner. The traitor plasma gunner killed another. The Pendulum began to swing back.

The Kasrkin sniper has the high ground, can he turn the tide?

At the beginning of turn 3, things are desperate for the Imperials. The traitors have scored 5 points to 0 for the crit op, while the Kill Op is in their favour but not by much. Both sides have a a point or two in the tac op.

On the west flank the Butcher charges and kills the commander while the medic stocially prepares to hold his ground.

In the centre the jubilant Grenadier's armour is shredded by return fire desspite the smoke, but instead of hiding he whips krak grenades ineffectually at the high ground shrouded in smoke. The trooper makes him pay for his insolence.

The Flenser runs up under the shadow of the ruins while the Corpseman secures the objective marker.

At the end of three turns the Kasrkin were mathematically out of the chance of winning (they could not get close enough to secure the objective and even wiping me out did not get enough points to catch me if I did nothing else) so we called it there after a vicous and hard fought battle.

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!