Friday, March 13, 2015

Alladin's Morning Coffee Musings #8 - Oops, I did it again...

Well, it's sure been a while!

Things have been busy over on my end, with lots of Hobby-related (and unrelated) things keeping me on my toes and away from posting. To get the boring stuff out of the way, the last few weeks have seen me do a bunch of painting in my house, as well as installing new closets to maximize space. The only advantage is that my Office/Hobby room now has better organization, allowing me to store more of my gear!

From the hobby side of things, there is LOTS to share!

First, I tried my hand at painting my Vindicare & Jokaero, but quickly realized I needed a few extra colours so that derailed progress. In the meantime I worked toward wrapping up the remaining hits on my list. The bad news is that I caved in and went out and bought a Hive Tyrant kit plus a box of Gargoyles...


...I know, I know... WHOMP WHOMP WHOMP...    : ^ \


...but wait! I have a good reason! I am currently in the midst of a 40k Campaign! It's a pretty cool set-up. There are 5 players (originally 6, one dropped out) and each started around a map of a city. Then, every turn (each week, but if people can't find the time to play their designated matches the turn can be extended) you can move into the city and secure different "sectors." All sectors have a points value, and some of them have additional benefits or rules (i.e. +1 to reserve rolls, a free bombardment at the start of your game, etc.). The game ends after 5 turns, or if any player has taken (and held for 2 turns) the Palace in the centre of the map. Otherwise, it is based on total points at the end of the 5th turn.

Planet Exodus - the setting of the Campaign

So far it's been a cool campaign, but because one player quit early in the process, the opportunity for battles has been limited. We are currently on Turn 4, and only 2 battles have been fought. However, it looks as if there will be at least 3 this turn, and probably another 3 on Turn 5, unless the person holding the Palace survives the challenge this week and takes it all...

...and somehow that person is ME! Muahaha! I secured the Palace unmolested last turn, after winning my first game against an Ork player the week before!

Now I just have to withstand a challenge from Tau (aka not a snowball's chance in hell) and I am the winner. Let's be clear, I do NOT expect to win against Tau. Even though I have an extra 300 points I can use on Fortifications, the models I have are not optimized to manage him adequately. That's not to say I won't give it the old college try, but he has won against every army he's faced (outside of the campaign and in).

We will likely be playing the following weekend, at 1750 pts. The only Fortification I own is an Aegis Defense Line with Quad Cannon. I may mash up a Comms Relay too to help with my reserve rolls, though, to be honest, I am still not sure about using the extra points. If I lose, it makes it look even worse. If I win, I won with a leg up on my competitor. I know it is more of a narrative campaign, but still I like my wins/losses to be clean.

But on to the better news, I WON MY FIRST GAME! It was a fun affair, but the Ork player severely underestimated the strength of dual Flyrants and a Harpy, and did not prepare his list accordingly. The other 'nid player he faced outside of the campaign was a pure assault army, so he expected me to behave this way as well. Therefore, he spent his points on Boy mobs and blast templates. I won the game without losing much more than a unit of hormagaunts and a few termigants, thanks to my Venomthrope giving most of my ground units a 2+ due to a massive ruin near the centre of the board. I also rolled on the Strategic Chart, and got the Stealth (ruins) trait, meaning my flyers were always a 3+ in any ruin, allowing me to circle the board. Finally, I had 8 Psychic dice to none, so between Cover, Flyers and the Psychic Phase he had no answer. By the end of the game my Flyrants were circling his backfield Psychic Screaming and Brainleeching everyone to death. I don't think he will make the same mistake twice, however!

I would post a battle rep, and still might do a *really* quick summary, but it was almost 2 weeks ago now and my memory is fuzzy. However, I do have a post-battle fluff summary co-written by the Ork player which I will probably put on here shortly. This will have to wait since I am determined to get back to painting miniatures today, so I am now off to go run the few errands I have and then back home to my hobby desk!

Updates soon!

3 comments:

  1. You can throw an ammo dump behind the aegis. Anything near the ammo dump rerolls 1's when shooting.

    If you had a bastion, I'd say take void shields, they really help the nids!
    Congrats on the win!

    Can't wait to see what you do with the flyrant!

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  2. Was thinking of either Comms relay or quad gun for range - will see! I wish I had void shields :(

    The Flyrant is basically done, i magnetized everything and modelled his wings a fair bit more forward. Still have to finish up the pinning support then greenstuff some wing membrane to hide my pins!

    Lucky addition: I managed to snag 3 pairs of Fex crushing claws from someone - for the price of 2 rippers! He did not want them and I use them for my Brainleech conversions, so I am covered... Now I just have to convert!

    Slow day at work today so I will spend some time catching up with other blogs I have been sorely ignoring the last few weeks....

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    1. I hear you on blog catch ups...I was at adepticon, and I didn't see another blog for five days, and boy was there a backlog!!!!

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