Small Project Done: Proxy Khorne Combat Patrol XP Store Army

 Finished a small project. XP Store has two large collections as store armies. One Chaos Space Marines and one Dark Angels. Both are in a rather bad state, though the CSM is easier to refurbish. I decided to extract a Khorne Berzerker Combat Patrol. This would provide us with an extra army for new players or people who do not own a force and want to participate. For free I thus took this project on. I always wanted to paint a Khorne Berzerker force (back when I started 40k in 3rd edition), and thus this was a good chance to get that want satiated. The force is a proxy force, so players will need to decide what stands for what with the published Combat Patrol list. Here are photos and a video of the collection. Miniatures are form all over the history of Warhammer 40k. I enjoyed building this force. I will also be building a Dark Angel proxy Combat Patrol.

Sixth game of the year: Remote Brave Little Belgium

 Played a remote game of Brave Little Belgium with Onur. I took the Germans, he took the Entente. I had a good first turns with the Germans, with Liege falling quickly. The 1st Army was able to reach Ghent in time for giving me the victory. Namur fell quickly to the 3rd and 2nd Army, while an epic battle for Ghent erupted between the 5th French Army and the 1st German Army. By the end of the game the Belgian Army was destroyed, and British EF  left with one battered infantry division. The 1st Germany Army had lost half its units but held Ghent, while the 2nd German Army was also cut to pieces (by the BEF around Mons), while the 3rd Army had suffered losses but was still a strategic threat poised to enter France. The 4th Germany Army was marching towards the French border.  The French 5th and 4th Armies were still a strategic force and located between the two German Armies in the north. All in all a fun game.

Fifth Game of the Year: Legion Imperialis

 This Tuesday we had another game of Legion Imperialis with Vern. A learning game (so it and the combat patrol learning game I ran for my friend count as one game together), I once more led the Alpha Legion vs the Solar Auxilia. We got two turns in before having to call quits. I really like the order system and alternating activations. Combat went more quickly this time. But we did notice several ways to abuse the rules (kamikaze transports). All in all a good foundation but as always with GW, several holes in the rules that require home rules. The highlight of the game was Vern's 8 sentinels bringing down my Warhound Titan.

Milestone and learning game: Undead and Remote Combat Patrol

 I reached a milestone in my Fantasy Undead Project. I now have a force that can be used in a 4 point Saga: Age of Magic Game. Undead are all Citadel Miniatures.

Flesh and Steel vs. Bone and Malice

I also ran a two turn remote learning game of Combat Patrol for my friend Kostas. Here are a couple of pictures.

Project Done: 28mm Chivalric force for Saga inspired from the Araswell contingent in Mark Smylie's "Blackheart"

 While I am still working on the Erid and Dain Dania contingents inspired by the Black Day Battle in Mark Smylie's Artesia series, I have completed the Araswell contingent inspired by the "Blackheart" novel in the same setting. I used 28mm Perry Miniatures plastic War of the Roses Foot Knights and Infantry, and Old Glory War of the Roses crossbowmen. It took me about a year and half to finish this. Cost for these specific is about 35 USD (from a total of 100 USD for all three projects-Erid & Dain Dania and Araswell). 

The force is organized with Saga: Age of Magic in mind using the Great Kingdoms list. Thus a warlord, two units of hearthguard (4 each), one unit of warriors (8), and one unit of levies (12 crossbows) 

Fourth Game of the Year: Combat Patrol. Same old, same old.

 The usual weekly/bi-weekly  game of combat patrol at XP saw me once more pit my Tau against Darren's Necrons. This time I did generate about 20-25 VPs before being wiped out by Turn Three. We also were able to play those three turns in a hour and 15 minutes. While I lost once more a strategy vs. the Necrons is starting to come up

1) There is no point to separate your force and hunt objectives. You need all the firepower you can get. 

2) The Destroyers are a priority target. With 9 wounds they will need at least 27 shots to be killed in one turn of shooting. Thus you need all your units focusing on them. 

3) Once you have killed them you can start hunting objectives. You will need to make up any starting loss ration using your secondary objectives.

Thus for bad or for good versus Necrons your tactic needs to be the fortress. This a) increases your chance of killing Necron units b) maximizes the chance of attaining the secondary objectives c) maximizes the effect of observers and auras. This is not an army to scatter vs. this opponent. 

The pictures. The good thing is that in just one month I have gotten in four games. Not bad, not bad at all. 

Third Game of the New Year: Xenos Rampant VIP Extraction

 After last weeks game of 40k Combat Patrol, I got the chance to host a remote game with my friend Tasos from Greece. We played Xenos Rampant, pitting my Hegemony (Tau) forces vs. the Despoilers (Death Guard). The game was 24 points a side, on a 36x36 inch table (adjusted deployment zones). I played the defending Hegemony while Tasos played the attacking Despoilers. We used discord for the video feed.

In the end the more aggressive play of Tasos and the more units at his availability (thanks to cheap Militia Rabble Poxwalkers) carried the day. The Hegemony vizier is now in the tender hands of the Despoilers.  Final score was 10 to 3. 

From a game point of view, Xenos Rampant once more delivered a fast and satisfying game. We played 10 turns in two hours. There was little need to remember the rules as the system is intuitive and as long as you got good unit cards, you only need to look up powers etc. Compared to 40k Combat Patrol it does provide more of a chance for the looser to at least do some damage to the winner. The Combat Patro 40k stratagems do provide some extra gameplay at the cost of time. Also the fact that all units in XR block movement and line of sight, does provide a bit more of a ranked game feel to it, compared to the more fluid movements of 40k CP. In the end two different games, but easily both have a place in my hobby life. 

Photos

The Despoilers 

Hegemony force

The table after deployment, view from the Hegemony corner

View from the Despoilers corner

The prize. A Hegemony vizier. "I feel rather exposed here"

General Pictures from the action 

General Advance 

The battle in full development!

Oh no! The Vizier is captured by the Lord of Despoilers

Can the Hegemony Commander make it in time?

The Lord Despoiler, dragging his prisoner, charges the Commander, and kills the brave soul in cruel close combat.