5th Company Luna Fangs

5th Company Lunar Fangs
Space Marines (5th Edition)
Alex S (abschleicher@yahoo.com)

Captain Priad

During the start of the Heresy the Luna Wolves where renamed Sons of Horus and attacked a planet called Isstvan III. Loken lead the battle with his favorite squad of veterans. He received word that Horus betrayed them and was firing virus bombs on to the city and the rest of the planet in order to kill his followers that he did not think where going to go with him to chaos. Loken ordered his men in to cover to save them from the virus that was spreading. Loken then tells his men that plan on following him to the death that they are no longer Sons of Horus because he betrayed them so they are the Luna Wolves.

The Forces that betrayed them came down to the surface and attack Loken’s band. Loken went after Abaddon and was never seen again. His favorite Sergeant Nero Vipus took over and lead his brothers to an armored bunker that would save them from the incoming shells of the traitor legions.

Vipus tried to contact any loyal legion in the area until marines of the salamanders legion found them and took them in to check if they where clean of taint from chaos. They where found clean of both physical and mental taint at the time. The Salamanders help replenish the Luna Wolves to one chapter and escorted them to terra to be judged by the Emperor. The Emperor judged them and found them to be loyal. He told Nero Vipus to rename the chapter as the Luna Fangs in order to be a fang in the side to the black legion They then repainted their armor to be black until they finished off the last of the black legion.

The current Chapter Master ordered Captain Priad to take his company to secure the Charadon Sector for the Luna Fangs. He gave Priad a squad of terminator, vanguards, and scouts to complete this mission.

The War for False Hope Campaign
10th Place - 3 Points
Battles Won6/4/2009 - The Battle for Asoria
8/29/2009 - The Battle for Lycos

Battles Lost
6/6/2009 - The Battle for Pershing II
10/3/2009 – The Battle for Dershin

Battles Tied
-none-

King of the Hill Campaign
Battles Won
10/11/2009 vs Sword Angels (3000 pt Capture & Control)
1/31/2010 vs Legion (1500 pts, Dawn of War)

Battles Lost
-none-

Battles Tied
-none-

Hambali 501st Regiment - “The Jokers”

Hambali 501st Regiment - “The Jokers”
“Only in death will they allow you to go back home.”
Imperial Guard (5th Edition)
Ed M (emlynar@hotmail.com)

The Hambali System, also known as the “Waypoint to Terra”, is located at the mid-point between Holy Terra and Cadia. The system is known for its merchant activity, large star ports, and long serving Merchant Clans that facilitate the transfer of materials and men to Cadia.

Hambali only has 255 standing regiments and the 501st is an aberration. Because many of the officers are members of Clans that have a lot of influence, summary executions are not politically viable. Instead, the 501st was formed as a regiment to assign those who have problems with authority or have embarrassed the Clans in some way. Even the commissars assigned to the regiment have cut their careers short because of some political mistake or another.

Colonel Tyne Ciath

Colonel Tyne Ciath
Acting Commander Officer, Hambali 501st Regiment
“Your battle-plan reeks of cowardice and urine.”

Colonel Tyne Ciath is best known for the incident when he urinated on the desk of Lord General Yonsil to express his displeasure with his most recent changes to his battle plans during the Givins Rebellion. Because the Ciath Clan held significant interests in the merchant exchanges of the Hambali System, execution would not have been the politically correct course of action.

Colonel Ciath was assigned as Acting Commanding Officer of the Hambali 501st Regiment after a friendly-fire incident took the life of General Reavus after the light from Astronomican became too weak to shine in the False Hope sector where the regiment was stationed. Strangely, there was no battle recorded on the day of the general’s death.

Siabolst Ghan

Siabolst Ghan
Primaris Psyker
"I'm 224 years old. Forgive me if I'm grumpy in the morning."

Ghan, a former inquisitor, still fights for the Emperor but has released himself from the shackles of the Imperium. Wanted by the Inquisition and Chaos alike, he will frequently lead the Jokers into battle with his Psyker Battle Squad.

Commissar Neth Stykes
Commissar, Hambali 501st Regiment
“THAT?!? It’s only a flesh wound! Apply a tourniquet above the knee, get off your arse, pick up your frakkin’ gun and get back into fight!”

Commissar Stykes was assigned to the Hambali 501st after performing a summary execution of Colonel Yuthis for cowardice. Colonel Yuthis was the only son of the Lord Governor of Hambali IV.

Major Colm “Ordy” Ortinez
Master of Ordinance, Fleet Liaison Officer, 14th Hambali Fleet
“What the frak did I do wrong to get assigned to you?”

Colm Ortinez was declared psychologically unfit for naval service and was assigned to the 14th Hambali Fleet in support of the 501st Regiment.

Lieutenant Stad Gorvinsk
Commander, First Platoon, Hambali 501st Regiment
“I bet you twenty cigarettes I can just graze his ear.”
Lt. Gorvinsk, once an aspiring leader in the Gorvinsk Merchant Clan, lost half of his family’s holdings in a single hand of Regincide. After being beaten severely by his uncle, he woke up in a infantry hospital wearing a uniform.

Sergeant Berg Barnes

Sergeant Berg Barnes, aka “The Marlboro Man”
Sergeant, no assigned platoon, Hambali 501st Regiment
“I need a cigarette.”

Sgt. Barnes has walked away from experiences that should have killed him on multiple occasions. He completely lost his squad 37 times, being the sole survivor for some inexplicable reason. While he retains the rank of Sergeant, he no longer leads a squad as no one will follow him into battle.

First Squad

http://berkswarhammer40k.blogspot.com/2009/07/hambali-501-jokers-first-squad.html

From Hambali 501 - The Jokers

The Hambali 501st Tank Companies

During the War for False Hope Campaign, many changes were done to the organization of the Hambali 501st Regiment that were not sanctioned by the Departmento Munitorum. In fact, approval for these changes was never even asked for.

The challenges of the False Hope campaign forces the remnants of the smashed armor companies to work closely with the infantry companies of the Jokers. These remnants were brought together under the leadership of the 501st command structure and, over time, simply combined with the 501st Regiment.

The 501st Regiment now includes multiple armored companies. The First Tank Company, led by Lt. Ray Finkle, contains ten Leman Russ tanks with multiple weapon variants. The Second Company contains The Death Jester, a massive Baneblade that has seen multiple actions. The Third Company contains the Holy Hail, a Stormlord that is used as a mobile command post. The Fourth and Fifth Companies are support units that contain the lightly armored Hellhounds and other variants.

First Armored Company

Tank Squad Bravo

Riddler (B01) and Wise Crack (B02)

See more of Bravo Squad by clicking here.

Tank Squad Charlie
Bad Humor (C01) and Jester (C02)

See more of Charlie Squad by clicking here.
Kill List
C01 - Bad Humor
Dark Angel's Razorback
Dark Angel's Rhino

C02- Jester
Salamander's Predator
Dark Angel's Rhino

Third Armored Company
The Holy Hail - Stormlord variant

See more of the Holy Hail by clicking here.

The War for False Hope Campaign
3rd Place - 54 Points

Battles Won
6/6/2009 - The Battle for Jarata

7/21/2009 - The Battle for Orion Prime

8/15/2009 - The Hunt for Ghan

9/5/2009 - The Battle for Gunron

Battles Lost
5/27/2009 - The Battle for Lyseria

6/11/2009 - The Second Battle for Solus Grimm

8/29/2009 - The Battle for Lycos

9/19/2009 - The Battle for Sarosh

Battles Tied
5/23/2009 - The Battle for Sebastion's Strait

King of the Hill Campaign

Battles Won

10/31/2009 vs Gallen's Chaos (1000 pts Annihilation)

12/3/2009 vs. Dark Angels (2000 pt Annihilation, score 7-4)

Battles Lost

9/17/2009 vs Krogg's Karnage (1500 pt Annihilation)

12/10/2009 vs Krogg's Karnage (1850 pt Sieze Ground Pitched Battle)

1/23/2010 vs The Heartbreakers (1500 pt Seize Ground)
Battles Tied
-None-

Other Notable Battles
9/19/2009 The 1st Company Tyrannic War Vets defeated the Jokers in a 2000 pt PlanetStrike (Jokers were the defenders)

11/22/2009 The Siege of Iron Hold. The Jokers, with the help of Keith's Plague Marines, defeated Erik's Marines/Imperial Guard/Grey Knights and Andy's Salamanders in a 10,000 pt PlanetStrike Apocalypse game. Click here for more details.

1/2/2010 victory against Charlie "Dark Lance" (Dark Eldar). 500 pts. modified missions from the War for False Hope rulebook.

1/10/2010 Battle for Berks Tournament. Second place overall winner.

Eldar vs Guard = Eldar on Ebay!

Play-Testing the Campaign Rules

by Erik

Well this simple blog update is from a game Ed and I played on Saturday at Hobbytown. This was a trial run of the campaign rules that are now posted and we feel that this was an interesting game to say the least. In typical footslogger attitude Ed chose to bring along his Imperial Guard army while I chose to bring along an eldar force. The agreed game was 750pts and was decided by rolling beforehand what asset’s we would be able to use before the game. Needless to say we both ended up with 25 extra points to be used in our army list. Interesting indeed……

Well onto the game as it played out, we decided to set the table up with a more urban environment and placed buildings in a very orderly fashion. It just so ended up with the two taller/larger buildings ended up in the middle of no man’s land that went diagonally across the 4’ x 4’ playing area we decided to play. With a small temple plaza in the middle.

Once the board was setup we then went about the placement of objective markers and determining of the purpose of the battle and victory conditions. Well as it would seem once the dice were rolled the objective markers did not matter as the conditions of victory were simple. Ed’s forces had to stay in his deployment zone and basically control it while my own forces were required to penetrate deep into his deployment zone. Interesting indeed since he clearly had me outnumbered but did not seem to be outgunned……or so I thought.

It now comes to this moment that I have to make it clear that Ed and I had decided to play test the new IG Codex from the rumor mills and information that Ed was able to obtain online. I became very clear during this game that I would be playing an IG army this year.

First turn,

Ed rolled to deploy first and to go first in this turn, it should be said that we ran into a small snag at this point since the roll to see who would go first ended in a tie the first roll and then again in the second roll. This was the cause of a brief discussion of the campaign rules that ended in another roll but a change to the rules themselves. Of course the emperor was on Ed’s side and he won the first turn.

Well an IG squad decided to start shooting at a group of Banshees that were making their way towards a building in the deployment zone. They managed to kill one banshee while another squad of IG troopers decided to burn out a group Pathfinders I had hidden in the other large building in the deployment zone kill 3 of them in the first turn. Ed’s heavy support troops carrying missile launchers fired three rockets in a squad of jet bikes missing twice but one lucky missile struck a rider and caused him to come crashing to the ground. At this point I was beginning to worry that I was going to lose most of my forces on the first turn due to the large number of shots I had to roll what little saves I had. Some of the guardsmen from a nearby squad encouraged by seeing the jet bike come crashing down to the ground decided to fire there grenade launchers into the building fearful of the pathfinders sniper attack. While one of the grenades bounced off the building and landed close to the missile troops whose flak armor seemed to actually save them did manage to shred one another pathfinder to bits and throw him out a window too much whooping and hollering to the IG forces on the ground in front of the building. At this point a small group of Harlequins who were dancing around making merry time with the group of guardsmen in front of the building with the pathfinders in it were immediately found motors dropping down on them from yet another heavy weapon squad. Felling 4 harlequins to the barrages dangerous effects. Oh and somewhere in here I managed to lose a falcon grav tank as well although I don’t recall how.


Now onto my turn, with what meager forces were left to me. My jet bikes swoop around a building and commence a strafing run on the missile launcher squad that took out one of the riders. They managed to take out one missile launcher team in the process. Snipers take their shot at the command squad hoping to take out the master of ordnance. There shots are infective and do nothing. I managed to get the banshees into assault with the squad that took out one of them and the take out 7 of the vile humans for the loss of their sister. The lonely Harlequin dances into the guardsmen in front of the sniper building and causes one wound to a guardsman which is saved. But the harlequin takes 4 wounds and I need a 5+ to save them. Well wouldn’t you know it I rolled 4 dice and came up with 4’s, so the guardsmen are yet again victorious in the simple brute force attack?

Turn 2

The remaining falcon is shot at and all but taken out by a mass of shots. Ed’s only vehicle a chimera with bolters takes a quick shot at the bikes attacking the missile squad but the shots go wide as the bikes swoop and sway thru the rounds. The remaining pathfinder in the building is once again burned out by holy flames from the squad in front of the building. I have to note there were three flamers in this veteran squad. At this point the jet bikes seem to be worrying the guardsmen as a storm of motor shells begin to fall and manage to take out a another bike. The 3 remaining guardsmen in assault with the banshee squad are still attacking them but the banshees manage to take them out with little problems before they can do anything.

Now I have to say at this point the game was all but over since I barely made a dent into the IG. But I did learn a lesson with using the eldar. I do not like them and will quickly put this army on ebay once they are painted.

From Ed: Forget whatever rumors you may have heard about the new Guard codex. The truth is far better.

This is the first codex written for 5th edition rules, and it shows. For 750 points I fielded 65 men and a Chimera. I was able to lay down so much fire it was ridiculous. The command squads can give orders (that may or may not be obeyed), giving huge advantages during the game. Of course, being Guard, they rarely hit what they aim at and they die almost instantly.

You have to be a certain type of player to play Eldar – which is why I sold my army to Eric and why he will now sell it on EBay. It also takes a certain type of player to play Guard. You need to get use to dying, not being obeyed, falling back, and scattering templates back onto yourself.

The War for False Hope Campaign

Click to download

On the southern edge of the Eastern Fringe to the galactic south of Black Reach in the Charadon Sector is the sector known as False Hope. Hundreds of worlds cut off from the light of the Astronomican, the Light of the Emperor. The Imperium of Man had not experienced such a time since the Age of Strife twenty millennium ago.

Thus begins our campaign: The War for False Hope.

Click on the image above to download the rules and look them over. For those in the Berks Warhammer 40K club, the campaign coordinator email address is BerksWarhammer40K@hotmail.com. All correspondences for this campaign (registration, questions, etc) should be sent to this email address.

If you live near Reading, PA, I encourage you to join the club and play in this campaign. If you don’t, then feel free to use this campaign in your group or club. The rules are quite flexible and can accommodate a lot of different scenarios.

The campaign will run from Memorial Day weekend to the beginning of December. Decide which army you wish to play and register with the campaign coordinator. Then get paintin’, because there are advantages to having a fully painted army.

By the end of this campaign you will fully know what it means to be completely immersed in this little hobby of ours. You will be a better commander of your army. You will have a better appreciation of the codex you are using. And your fingers will be stained the color of your models and you will smell like modeling glue.

May the best gamer win and may the rest acknowledge his greatness.

The Emperor Protects.

~Inquisitor Lord Aki

Comics

Objective Markers

In preparation for our upcoming campaign, "The War for False Hope", we are each required to make two objective markers that match the theme of our army. Seeing as I am going to be playing Imperial Guard, the above marker seemed appropriate.

Picture of the Week

This one is brought to you by 40K Orgins .

Lost and Found: The Battle of Sythron IV, Part 5

Joe's bikers destroy Erik's stormtroopers

Leaping Towards the Objectives
With the amount of time it took for the multiple close combats and guard shooting, it became obvious that turn three was going to be the last turn.

The last of Joe's Marines walked in from the table edge and three bikers destroyed Erik's stormtroopers that had disembarked on the previous turn to take the "forgotten" objective. The rest of the marines shot everything they had into my Grey Knights and terminators that sat on the objective in No Man's Land.

My personal objective was "The leader of your army believes that only in death does duty end. Martyr the highest point-value character in your army. The more glorious the death the better. Circle who this character is on your army list or write down which character he is before the game begins." The leader of my army was the Brother-Captain that had survived the blast from his exploding Crusader. Joe unleashed all of his Predator lascannon shots into the terminator squad causing only one unsaved wound. Not knowing what my personal objective was, Joe was pleased when I removed the Brother-Captain from play. He had no idea I had just scored a point.

Brother-Captain Haud Nomen martyrs himself for the team

The rest of his Marines shot rapid-fire and took out six Grey Knights. If he had not done this and assaulted instead, the objective would have been contested. As it turned out, the objective clearly belonged to me and Erik.

Plague Marine's Last Stand
Keith moved his surviving Rhino to block the line of sight my guardsmen and stormtroopers had on his two surviving Plague Marines. They were on the objective, but so was Erik's Chimera and Baneblade.

Keith's wall of Rhinos can be seen at the bottom

Erik and I didn't have any scoring units that could reach the objective and Keith couldn't remove the armor we had there, so no one could claim the point for it.

Keith's Demon Prince killed another two Grey Knights, but was still locked in close combat and couldn't move to contest the objective the guardsmen were sitting on.

The Vortex Grenade made another move - straight onto the objective. For the entire game two Armored Fist squads, three Inquisitorial Stormtrooper squads and an Inquisitor protected the objective. Now it was removed from play with the random movement of the vortex.

Grey Knights Second Wave
On the other end of the table, Keith unloaded more Plague Marines from a Rhino and took the objective. Joe brought in Marneus Calgar with a retinue and began pounding on one of Erik's Terminator Squads and a Dreadnought. Only Calgar, a Grey Knight Terminator and the Dreadnought survived and they were locked in close combat.

Another squad of Brian's Grey Knights arrived to fight Erik's Terminators so they couldn't reach the objective. Keith's Baneblade, which had been waiting patiently near the table edge since the first turn, unleashed it's fury on Erik's Terminators, robbing Brian his opportunity to have his knights fight Erik's knights.

That was when the second wave arrived. Four squads of Erik's Grey Knights and one squad of my Grey Knight Terminators showed up at the table edge. I had finally remembered to use my strategic asset, Precision Strike, which allowed all our to-hit roles against Keith's Plague Marines to score on a 2+.

The second wave of Grey Knights

My Basilisk opened up on Keith's Rhino, but it scattered and the Rhino survived. The storm bolters and psycannons opened fire on the Plague Marines while one squad of Grey Knights sprinted forward to contest the objective. Only two of the Plague Marines survived, but the Grey Knights has achieved their goal: the objective was contested.

The Tricks of an Inquisitor
My Inquisitor didn't only bring an assassin, he also brought three Daemonhosts. Their goal was simple: to contest the objective on the roof of the three floor building. Brian's Grey Knights held the roof and third floor.

My first Daemonhost landed on the second floor and scattered behind the building. I rolled a six, so he had Warp Strength, but it was completely useless as he was standing in the middle of the road.

My second Daemonhost landed on the second floor, but he scattered to the front of the building. He also got Warp Strength. Again, useless.

The third Daemonhost landed on the second floor, but didn't scatter. As if that wasn't good enough, I rolled the teleport power and he landed one inch from the objective. There was no need to assault - the objective was contested.

Daemonhosts arrive!

Stormtroopers to the Rescue!
In a bold move that had been planned weeks before the battle even started, Erik's Stormtrooper squad swooped in on their Valkyrie and landed on the objective in the minefield. Only one stormtrooper was lost, but the objective was clearly uncontested.

The objective in the minefield

Erik and I had the two objectives in No Man's Land, giving us two points. I had achieved my personal objective (the martyrdom of my Brother-Captain), which gave us another point.

Keith, Brian, and Joe did not have an objective that wasn't contested. The score was 3-0.

Aftermath
If you have never played Apocalypse before, I want you to think of the most exciting game of WH40K you have ever played. Then imagine that game on steroids.

Playing on such a huge scale against multiple players brings out the absolute best this game has to offer.

It's not just the huge templates taking out the toughest units that makes the game so much fun. It's the personalities you play against. From Keith feeling the loss of each Plague Marine as if they were his own children to Brian's cold and calculating command decisions, playing against multiple players at once forces you to consider the effects your decision will have not just against one general, but many.

It brings the game experience to a whole new level.

More pictures of this battle can be seen here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/InquisitorAki/LostAndFoundTheBattleOfSythronIV

Lost and Found: The Battle of Sythron IV, Part 4

Keith's Plague Marines and Demon Prince enter from the table edge.

Armies Unleashed
On turn two, half of everyone's army came into play. Nearly 3,000 points of hell, death, and destruction walked in from the table edge.

Keith had chosen the Flank March strategic asset, allowing him to come in from any table edge. This wasn't much of a surprise to us after his two-minute setup gambit. Two Rhinos full of Plague Marines, a Vindicator and a Demon Prince entered the table hungry for some guardsmen and stormtroopers. Brian noticed the well-armed Inquisitor with a retinue that included a mystic and warned Keith to not even think about deep-striking. The mystic allows the entire retinue to take a "free-shot" at any deep-striking unit within 4D6.

The Demon Prince started chomping on the first guard squad it touched, but only killed four. The sergeant, seeing four of his men killed in one move, stabbed the beast with everything he had. The Demon looked down at the single wound that was inflicted and howled in laughter.

Even though the guard lost their assault with a three wound difference (bringing their Leadership down to five), they stood their ground and the Demon was locked in close combat.

That is when a squad of Grey Knights and a Callidus assassin jumped into the fray from the table edge. The Demon Prince, seeing the Knights were more of a threat, struck out and killed three.

Grey Knights, Guardsmen, and an Assassin try to take down a Demon Prince

Thumping Guns
Seeing where the Vindicator and Plague Marines came in, Erik simply turned one of his Baneblades around and started thumping everything in sight. My Baneblade came in at the table edge in such a way that it was impossible to miss any of Keith's Traitor Marines.

Hearing the commotion, 45 men - stormtroopers and regular guard along with an Inquisitor and his retinue, all turned and opened fire on the Plague Marines. Combined with the strength of Chimeras with flamers and heavy bolters and two Baneblade tanks, only two Plague Marines remained standing. Even with the "Feel-No-Pain" rule that has each of us players swearing under our breath at Keith, nothing could withstand that much firepower.

The two Marines were standing in front of the objective that Erik and I, for some unknown reason, completely forgot about. Erik deployed his stormtroopers from a nearby Chimera in the hopes of grabbing the objective on the next turn.

The surviving two Plague Marines stare down the barrel of a Baneblade

The Thrill of Big Explosions
Brian also brought a Callidus assassin, but this one was armed with a Vortex Grenade, his selected strategic asset. When a Callidus arrives, she does not scatter, making her one of the most lethal deep-striking characters in the game.

She arrived right in front of Erik's Baneblade that took out Brian's Grey Knight squad in the first turn. My Inquisitor did not have line of sight and couldn't take the free-shot that the mystic provides.

The Vortex Grenade landed on top of the Baneblade and took off two structure points instantly. The grenade scatters 2D6" every player turn, and it moved off the Baneblade on took out one of my Chimera's during my turn.

Battle-Brother vs Battle-Brother
Some of Joe's Space Marines came in from the edge of the board close to one of the objectives in No-Man's Land. I already had two squads of Grey Knights holding it and a Grey Knight Terminator squad lurched forward in a Crusader in anticipation of the attack. Two Grey Knight Dreadnoughts were also there, but one had both weapons blown off in the first turn. He was going to race forward to engage anyone in close combat.

A good shot from a Predator destroyed my Land Raider Crusader and made it explode. The enraged terminators weren't affected by the blast and marched toward the Predator, thirsty for revenge. I knew more marines would be arriving from that edge during the next turn and was setting things up to ensure they didn't get within six inches of my objective.

Waves of Grey Knights
On the far edge of the table, Erik also revealed that he had chosen the Flank March strategic asset and brought in his first wave to take the objective furthest into the enemy's territory. Three squads of Grey Knight Terminators fell on the squad of Space Marines, completely destroying them with ease.

Even though there was a Rhino full of Plague Marines hiding behind a wall close to the objective, the Knights were confident that the prize was going to be theirs.

The first wave of Grey Knights

The Battle for Nothing - Part II
The armored battle that wasn't near any objective continued. Brian's Grey Knight Terminators climbed over Rhino wreckage and destroyed one of my Leman Russ tanks. They started hitting the side of Erik's Land Raider Prometheus, but to no avail. His marines got out of the Land Raider on the side opposite of the terminators and started taunting them.

The Battle for Nothing continues!

Tomorrow: Part V - End game

Lost and Found: The Battle of Sythron IV, Part 3

Between that Baneblade on the left and the trees is another objective!

Forgotten Objectives
On the first turn, I moved my Grey Knights, Dreadnoughts, and Grey Knight Terminator squad toward the objective in no-man's land. Their job was simple - hold that objective at all costs. The terminators were in a Land Raider Crusader, and I figured that would be needed as the objective was not far from the table edge where Keith, Brian, and Joe were no doubt waiting for deploy half their army in the next turn.

Erik and I were so focused on thinking about turn two - when and how are we going to bring our reserves in, that we completely ignored the second objective hidden in the trees in our deployment zone.

The Battle for Nothing
The real action in the first turn was the armor diversion I named "The Battle for Nothing". Brian's two Crusaders vomited two squads of Grey Knight Terminators, who proceeded to rip open three Predators like tin cans. One even exploded, but the Terminators weren't affected.

The Grey Knight Terminators are the ultimate can openers

One of the Leman Russ tanks shot at a squad of the Terminators at point blank range, but only one fell to the blast.

Brian's personal objective for the game was "The drivers in your army like to run into things. You must ram at least three vehicles during the game". Even though he had two Crusaders and one Land Raider and was staring at three Predators, two Leman Russ', and another Land Raider, he ignored his personal glory to ensure that Erik's armor was destroyed.

Thinning the Crowd
The only other action in turn one was the long range shooting. One of Erik's Baneblade's took out a Grey Knight squad, leaving only the Justicar standing in the middle of the road. My Basilisk hit Brian's Inquisitor squad on a roof-top and removed everyone except the inquisitor and an acolyte.

Brian feels the full affect of the Baneblade's cannon as his Grey Knight squad (upper right) is all but removed in a single shot

Everyone was anxiously awaiting the next turn when the reserves would arrive.

Tomorrow: Part IV - assets are revealed.

Lost and Found: The Battle of Sythron IV, Part 2

Blocking an objective with men and armor

A Simple Game of Mass Destruction
This was our first Apocalypse game, our first experience with the relaxed rules of force organization. When planning for an apocalypse game you look at the points you can take and think, wow, I can take everything. In reality, though, you will still find yourself restricted by points like you are in a regular game.

We had five players: Erik and I made up one team of Daemonhunters and Imperial Guard and Keith, Brian, and Joe made up the other team of Daemonhunters, Space Marines, and Plague Marines. Each team was made up of 9,000 points and selected three strategic assets and three personal objectives.

The personal objectives were chosen before the game started and could not be shared with anyone else, ever your own team members. If the personal objective was achieved, then the team gained an extra point. An example of a personal objective was: " You and your allied commander have a long lasting rivalry. Kill a unit leader (sergant, officer, etc.) of your team-mate in a 'friendly-fire' incident. Remember, you are not allowed to target your own team-member's units." These objectives are awesome when playing in teams as it adds an unexpected element to the game. It forces you to make decisions in the game which will earn you some stern looks by your baffled teammates as you make some unexpected moves.

Joe had told us beforehand that he was going to arrive late, so we agreed that Erik and I would ensure that we each had 1,500 points in strategic reserves so we did not overwhelm the other force completely in turn one before Joe arrived. His arrival in turn two worked out smoothly with half of his army coming in from the table edges.

The Two Minute Setup
Keith's Plague Marines are extremely assaulty and ride in Rhinos. While Erik and I had anticipated this, we thought he would line them up on the edge of No Man's Land and rush them forward. One of Erik's strategic assets was minefields and we both brought three Tarantula Sentry Guns with twin-linked lascannons. Yes, they only have a ballistic skill of two, but when placed in front of a minefield and two inches apart, it created an impassable wall of strength 10 armor.

We knew that they would win the time bid and get to choose their deployment zone and set up first. We were counting on it so we knew where to set up the minefield and sentry guns. Setting up a bunch of Rhinos would take much less time that the squads of men that Erik and I had.

What we didn't expect was their bid would be two minutes.

Keith put a few models down in the two minutes and it was Brian that was scrambling with his Land Raiders, Crusaders, Grey Knights and Inquisitor squads. Keith just stood back, looking at the board while his Rhinos sat on the set up table. He wasn't setting up for the push across No Man's Land.

Yes, that is an objective marker on the roof. Try taking that!

A squad of Brian's Grey Knights guarded the objective on the roof of a three floor building. His Crusaders lined up on the edge of No Man's Land, just asking for someone to try to pass them. One of Keith's Demon Prince's set up behind the Crusaders, just to make sure no one even thought of passing through. Brian's Land Raider and Keith's Baneblade sat back and waited to take pot-shots at the entire line.

Erik and I set up the minefield and sentry guns in front of the objective in the center of the board. Everyone pretty much agreed that the objective was dead - no one wanted to touch it. The objective furthest into our deployment zone was the new home of two Armored Fist squads and three Inquisitorial Stormtrooper squads with a wall of Chimeras and two Baneblades preventing anyone from attacking them straight on.

Across No Man's Land from Brian's Crusaders and Keith's Demon Prince Erik set up his Predator Assassin Squadron, a Land Raider Prometheus, and two Dreadnoughts. I set up two Leman Russ tanks and a Basilisk sat behind a broken wall to take pot shots at the opposing army.

The plan Erik and I had (I think this was our 47th plan in less than five minutes) was to make it appear that we would push across No Man's Land toward the two objectives in Keith's and Brian's deployment zone. This would tie up their armor and some shots from their Baneblade. I later named this area the Battle for Nothing.

Setup for the Battle for Nothing

Erik's second strategic asset was Flank March and he had six squads of Grey Knights and Grey Knight Terminators that were poised to march in on their side of the table that had an objective less than 18 inches from the table edge.

It's More Than Just A Game!
We were set up on a 12"x6" table and the furthest space between two objectives was more than ten feet. That is a lot of area to cover.

While the board was set up before anyone arrived, the location of the objectives was determined the old-fashion way. Each team placed three objectives - one in their deployment zone, one in No Man's Land, and one in the opposing team's deployment zone.

It was a pure basement game - we had munchies, brownies, chocolates, and pork barbeque. We'll forgive Erik for forgetting the wings, but I'm sure his wife enjoyed them when she found them on the counter after he left in the morning.

Muchies - an absolute requirement in basement games

Playing in a store is great, but it is much more relaxed at someone's home.

Tomorrow: Part III - the shooting starts!

Lost and Found: The Battle of Sythron IV, Part 1

During the battle between Imperium and Chaos forces on the edge of the Sythron System an Imperial Aquilla Lander escaped the destruction of the cruiser Emperor's Divine Will and crash landed on the planet Sythron IV. Nobody noticed the ship escaping. It was only noticed during the review of the battle and sensor logs by the Departmento Muitorum six months after the battle occurred.

Since the discovery, many rumors surfaced concerning the passengers and fate of the lander. Some say that the lander was empty. Some claim it was a chaos spy escaping, and a spy within the battle-fleet would explain why the Chaos attack was so successful. The Inquisition officially denies that any lander was launched.

The most persistent rumor is that the lander was piloted by Inquisitor Ortiz as he was carrying Chaos troops movement information. Another persistent rumor is that a high member of the Adeptus Mechanius was carrying pieces of a Standard Template Construct. And yet another rumor is that a Khorne worshipper had infiltrated the Imperium Inquisition and was making his escape with chaos artifacts.

Regardless of which rumor is true, or even if all the rumors are true, this much is certain: the contents of the lander has piqued the interest of a lot of parties.

As forces of Chaos and the Imperium descend upon planet, communications are found to be sporadic and broken. The secrecy of the contents of the lander has forced many different elements to come together in search of the treasure. Space Marines, Imperial Guard, the Inquisition, Grey Knights of the Ordo Malleus, and Chaos Marines from the Traitor Legions all come for their own purpose, seeking either a prize or to prevent perceived threats from falling into the wrong hands. Each believes in their cause and distrusts the other armies they see readying for battle.

Sythron IV was an Eldar maiden-world that fell to the forces of Chaos, was reclaimed by the Eldar, fell to the forces of the Imperium, reclaimed by Chaos, and fought over continuously for over half a millennium. After the cataclysmic Battle of Sorrows in 548M41, the world was finally abandoned with the destruction of the Eldar Webway Portal and the Chaos Warp Rift. Hundreds of years after the battle, the ruins of Imperial civilization can still be found among the slowly returning vegetation, but not other signs of life can be found on the planet.

The lander crashed on outskirts of Hydra City and six beacons, supposedly from cargo containers, are detected around the wreckage. The quickly assembled forces gather in orbit around the planet, not one force strong enough for an outright attack against another in space.

Who will capture the "prize"? Are any of the rumors true? Will alliances be made in secret against allies because of questionable motives? Or were all the rumors, lies, and stories an attempt by the Chaos Gods to lure many forces on this desolate world for no other reason than to shed blood?

TANKHAMMER!

For those times when you need to feed your Warhammer addictions, but only have an hour or two to spare, I bring you Tankhammer! These rules are made to quickly set up and play a game in as little as 30 minutes. They are also flexible enough to play an apocalypse type game without spending all day doing it.

The idea came from a couple of the younger players in our group who understand that rules are to be used as a guideline. Personally, I’m a recovering rules-lawyer, so I need to have something written down before I play.

The one glaring problem with these rules is the lack of consideration for the Nids. If you have a Nid player, though, you can work out which models will be considered a “tank”.

Rules:

1 - At least half your army must be armor (armor being defined as tanks, transports, skimmers, and walkers).

2 - Any formations, Imperial Armor, or Apocalypse data sheets from any army can be used.

3 - You must bring your army list.

4 - No proxy or "play-as" models. Everything must be WYSISYG.

5 - No super-heavies in games less than 1,000 points.

6 - Nothing can be taken in reserves. The only thing that can come in as reserves are units that are listed as "come in as reserves even if reserves are not normally allowed".

Game Play:

1 - Role to determine who goes first. Whoever wins the roll chooses which side of the board will be their deployment zone.

2 - Deployment: whoever goes first deploys ONE unit. The second play then deploys ONE unit. The first and second player go back and forth until all units are deployed. All units will be deployed within 25% of the distance across the board. For example, a 4'x4' board will have a 12" deployment zone from the table edge.

3 - Whoever deployed first moves first.

4 - The game will continue until all of a player's armor units are destroyed or until the agreed upon time limit is reached.

Scoring:

1 point for each armor model destroyed. Transports are counted as an individual unit (no need to destroy the troops to get a point).

1 extra point if the armor model is destroyed by a non-armor model (troops take out armor).

2 extra points if the armor model is a super-heavy.

No points are granted for non-armor units being destroyed.