Medusan Wardens

What's On My Table: 11/17/2016

After last weekend's event, things have slowed down a bit on the hobby front. The 40k Escalation League continues on, and I scored full points in round 1, putting me somewhere in the top 5 or so. Attempting to continue this momentum, I started painting up my new Medusan Immortals squad for 30k. I plan to use them as Command Squads in 40k, with storm shields and special weapons. They should be a pretty rock-hard unit :)

I am trying to convince my sweetheart to let me get a Caestus Assault Ram for them, but I may have to settle for a papercraft proxy until I can convince her!

Today an old friend of mine met me at the game shop to get in a League game. It was 1000 points, my Iron Hands versus his Orks. He was able to field a surprising number of units for 1000 points. I played an Anvil Strike Force, using an Armored Task Force and a Land Raider as my HQ. I was able to put a surprising amount of firepower out in the opening turns, but eventually I was reduced to my solitary Land Raider by turn 5. Despite being able to shoot 2 times per turn, it finally succumbed to the tide of green powerklaws and rokkits at the end of turn 5, signalling my tabling. AV13 spam is fun, but I would definitely had preferred to take more Dreads. I would have liked to drop the Tactical squad I was required to bring (league rules, I had to take 2 units I used in the previous round) and instead take another Contemptor, but I was already locked in so I had to make do.

It also would have helped to remember I had both a pintle-mounted stormbolter and a Multimelta on my Landraider. I would have inflicted much more damage had I remembered those...

ChowHammer 2016 - Carnage for Charity (Round 3 Report)

PART 3: Tau vs. Iron Hands at the Pagan Idol

For my last game, I was matched up against a fluff/narrative list of Tau that included an Ethereal, Fire Warriors, Breachers, Crisis Suits, Hammerheads, and some bigger suits that I don't recall the names of!

The mission was a modified Relic mission, with a strange figure moving about randomly on the battlefield. The Relic was actually a sentient being of great malevolence, attempting to steal the Cornucopia of Life. To hold it, you had to pass successful Strength and Initiative checks to lock it down.

I didn't get as many pictures during this round, as it was getting late and we were playing as quickly as possible.

Basically though, I deployed very aggressively and took the first turn, tearing the turret off of one of the Hammerheads before he had a chance to shoot with it by weight of combined fire from the razorbacks. I marched up with my plasma command squad, tearing into the Crisis suits. My Grav-Cents locked down the left side of the board, and my Dreads went straight up the middle.

Very quickly it started going pretty unfortunately for my opponent. He's a good guy, new to the hobby, but he grasps the rules very well and was refreshing to play against. I felt a little guilty having such a competitive list against his somewhat narrative list, but I suppose in a competitive setting my list was probably not the most competitive one he saw today.

He conceded in turn 4, after I had wiped most of his units. I held the Relic with my Dreadnought, but he scored a morale victory for himself by destroying my Contemptor (which was unscathed thus far) with a lucky shot from the big mechabot in the rear (yeah I know, I don't play Tau enough).

The rest of the evening, I roamed around looking at other people's models. I didn't happen to get any pictures, but luckily the shop owner did, and put them on the store's Facebook page: Here:

For posterity, I'll repost some of my favorites here- 

Warhound Titan

Mastodon

 

Harridan

Tau suit of some kind or other

Another shot of the Ork superheavy bomber

So I didn't win any of the main prizes. Our local group doesn't usually do painting prizes, which I was kind of disappointed with, considering that I spent the week preceding the event working furiously to paint and base enough units to field a fully-painted army.

However, for winning the Round 3 match, all winners of their 3rd round got a special prize for their effort and for sticking it out until the end...

The Bearer of the Cornucopia, now tribute to my victory over the Tau.

I am currently Bronzing the prize, and will be keeping it as my first trophy since playing Iron Hands :P

ChowHammer 2016 - Carnage for Charity (Round 2 Report)

PART 2: Orks vs. Iron Hands on The Barren Steppes

For my second game of the day, I played yet another Ork player. This time, it was a mechanized Meganob list coupled with a particularly brutal Bomber detachment, including the super heavy bomber! It was quite an impressive model, with the contents of practically an entire bitz box dumped onto it.

I wasted a turn of shooting on it before I realized it was a pointless exercise. I was under the impression that knocking 3 points off a Superheavy gave you a VP, but in this tournament that ended up not being the case.

This game went south pretty quickly. I strong-sided my right side of the board, on an objective on my side of the board. Grav-Cents and my Grav-heavy tactical squad hunkered down, dumping shots on an advancing truck full of Meganobz. I popped the truck and the Nobz hopped out, which I then proceeded to dump bucketfuls of Grav-cannon fire from the Grav-Cents. Unfortunately for me, my opponent had a large stockpile of event tickets (see prior report) and burned through a large number of them to give the Meganobz invulnerable save rerolls.

 

Once you let nobz into your Cents, you are gonna have a bad time...

I murdered most of them before they arrived, but his Warboss managed to make contact and begun to slaughter the hapless Centurions wholesale at that point.

Meanwhile, my poor tactical sub-squad (only a single grav-gun as the special weapon) tried to take the hill objective. Finding their weapons ineffective against the Deffdread, they quickly became fertilizer for Ork agricultural endeavors.

My Iron Father quickly leaped up to the top in order to continue the fight, shrugging off multiple hits from the Deffdread and slaying it in single combat with his mighty Chainfist. Unfortunately, however, his command squad didn't accompany him and found themselves beset upon by hordes of the greenskins!

In the end, I realized I should have read the mission objectives better. Thinking that all objectives were of equal value, I attempted to claim the hill, when in reality the objectives in our deployment zones were worth double points. So I lost this game pretty soundly.

ChowHammer 2016 - Carnage for Charity (Round 1 Report)

Part 1: The Feudal World

Intro:

The Carnage for Charity event is a great event held every year at my local game store. It's a fun and wacky day of gaming that directly benefits the local community by donating all proceeds to a local support shelter. We also round up tons of donations in clothes, food, and personal hygiene supplies. We also make it into somewhat of a pot-luck event, where everybody brings food! Thus, ChowHammer is a very popular event in these parts. Bonus internet points if you know which one is me!

Breaking previous records, we had a 22 player turnout this year. We raised $1148 for the MyHouse shelter, as well as a huge amount of clothes and food. For donating, players were awarded "tickets" based on an approximate value of their donations, which were used for fun in-game effects. You could use tickets on shenanigans such as rerolling dice, forcing an opponent to reroll dice, giving a unit FNP or an invulnerable save for the turn... etc.

You also could use the tickets you earned to gain entry for some very unusual units! The Points Limit for the tournament was 2000 points, but with tickets, you could buy "slots" for a Superheavy unit, or even use 30k lists! I had considered using 30k Iron Hands but decided against it this time. I stuck with a familiar 40k Fist of Medusa formation, with a decent mix of Grav, Dreadnoughts, and tough Command Squads.

PART 1: Iron Hands Fist of Medusa Vs. Ork CAD on the Feudal World

In round 1, I drew one of my old friends "from the good ole days." We have played many games together since I entered the game at the end of 4th edition, so it was a very laid back and fun game! He was playing Orks in a CAD, mostly mechanized in trucks, wagons, or riding bikes.

Mechanized Boyz with Heavy Armor, they used Trucks and Battlewagons to leap across the board. Using my superior ranged weaponry of the Lazorbacks and Dreadnoughts, I managed to explode a Battlewagon and wreck a truck, as well as break a unit of ork bikes, before they got too close. But it wasn't enough...

  

Didn't take long to get in my front lines!

On the other side of the board, my Command Squads made short work of a biker squad and a squad of nobz on foot, vaporizing them in a hail of plasma discharge.

The Contemptor put up a valiant fight, but fell to a band of Waaagh'ing Nobz with Powerklawz! The tactical squads were as grass before the scythe, however, falling in droves without inflicting much damage to the bloodthirsty horde.

Taking a battlewagon ram head on, the Drednought stood defiant!

Meanwhile, a wave of boys descended upon my centurions.

Grabbing the objective, my Dreadnought hunkered down for the remainder of the last turn. The boys turned their fury onto my Razorback, attempting to secure more VPs through unit kills. They succeeded in popping 2 out of my 3 razorbacks in the last turn, securing the win by a single VP! It was a fun and close game throughout.

When Iron meets Traitors: 1850 Big Guns Never Tire

As usual, I was pretty good at taking pictures of the game I had with a friend of mine, but only for the first couple turns. Big Guns Never Tire at 1850 points, final score was 10-13 in my opponent's favor. It was a close game throughout, however, and a lot of fun!

A few key turning points in the battle were:

• Early on, not only did my Land Raider actually managed to explode a Maulerfiend, but my Slow-and-Purposeful unit of Heavy Bolters (thanks Captain in Cataphractii armor) managed to shoot an unit of bikers that hadn't gotten to move yet, causing them to flee off the table edge and netting me First Blood.

• I nailed my terminators in the deepstrike, getting them exactly where I wanted them to go. Before I could charge, however, a unit of CSM and a Warpsmith charged them, locking them in CC. My terminators, all armed with chainfists or powerfists, proceeded to whiff every to-hit roll they made for the next two turns, while the Warpsmith chopped them to bits. Only one member survived by fleeing the combat, only to be gunned down the next turn. The price of cowardice... This was probably the most costly point of the game, and very likely determined the outcome. Had that unit survived, it would have gone on to charge another Heavy Support Forgefiend and contested the 5th objective.

• A poor rhino was taken down to 1 HP and immobilized in the first turn by an angry maulerfiend, where it stayed for the entire game. It finally fixed itself during turn 5, and was immediately destroyed by an Obliterator :(

• A maulerfiend charged my Captain, getting him down to one wound. He failed his leadership and retreated from the combat, allowing him to get an It Will Not Die roll off. He then joined a Command Squad and proceeded to wipe a unit of Chaos Terminators off of an objective, crushing the last remaining two members with his Chainfist.

Some other great moments are are probably there, but it's nearly 1AM and I am wiped out from painting all last night, so they have left my head. Looking forward to more games with this chap, as his Chaos lists are always hard-hitting and fun!

Keeping Up With The Tanks: Iron Hands Techmarine on Bike

So in order to keep up with tanks in an Armored Task Force, I decided I needed to make a more mechanized version of a Techmarine. I also dig the idea of a Conversion Beamer, blasting things from afar and staying in the backline with a mobile kiting unit, making the techmarine a dual-purpose unit.

So, here is the finished product, after much kitbashing and converting. I'm pretty happy with the result, and look forward to using it in the future.

Hammer of the Gorgon

Finished my terminator squad, which I dub "Hammer of the Gorgon." These bruisers are going to be used as Gorgon Terminators, and are equipped with heavy anti-vehicular weaponry in the form of multiple chainfists. These guys are intended to hunt Superheavies, and as the toughest terminators available to the Iron Hands, they may just survive long enough to do it. Hopefully I can flesh out this squad to full-size in the future, to ensure the success of their mission.

Kitbash Corner: Techmarine Bike with Conversion Beamer

I am in the very early stages of kitbashing a Techmarine on a Bike with a Conversion Beamer (duh, I said that in the title, huh?).

This is why it's good to save your extra bits. With enough bits knocking around in my box, I was able to piece together a fairly convincing servo arm and Conversion Beamer. Basically all I did was cut the fins off a rocket and the tip of a Lascannon, and put the rocket shaft in line with the Lascannon barrel. Looks fairly convincing. A few bobs and bits and he was ready to go! I just need to get a good solid coat of primer on it and it'll all look fine.

Here's a few other angles:

I am making up a custom front shield (since the old one is MIA) and filing off the rest of the Ravenwing iconography. After that, it should be pretty much wrapped up!

First of the Gorgons

My hammerbearer is done and painted. I may go back and add more extreme highlights later but I have a lot to paint so speed was more important at this point.

Escalation League Report: Nov. 1, 2016

GAME 1- Iron Hands vs Custodes/Assassin (Above)

GAME 2- Iron Hands vs Salamanders (Below)

These small 750 point games are pretty much like Rock/Paper/Scissors. In my first match, I was hoping to hold the upper hand with my Contemptor. The only unit able to reliably hurt my contemptor was killed early on, but the game swung drastically in my opponent's favor when a lucky deepstrike brought a unit of Custodes down directly behind my Contemptor, where the volume of shots managed to glance it to death. His lucky rolling vs. my unlucky rolling equaled one dead dreadnought... After that, his custodes mopped up my units pretty easily. It was the first time I had been wiped off the table in a while! One of my major mistakes was forgetting my It Will Not Die roll on my Captain during the first turn. Another would be having my Contemptor in a position that allowed it to be glanced to death in the rear armor :(

In my second, I was playing against Salamanders. They had a Landraider Crusader that I was originally worried about, but my Grav cannon immobilized it pretty easily. Once immobilized, I was able to keep my Contemptor away from the Multimelta it had, and thus able to blow it up with my Grav cannons pretty much with impunity. Once the Land Raider Crusader was destroyed, his tactical squad was ill-equipped to deal with the Dreadnought, which bullied the unit mercilessly. I held both objectives by game's end. Also of note, my Iron Father (captain) killed the assault squad single-handedly, suffering only one wound, which he subsequently regenerated with his It Will Not Die roll.

Overall, I had a very good time rolling dice with some new opponents. Even when I was losing, I had fun. Thank you to my opponents tonight, I look forward to crossing swords again in the future!

Battlepoints earned for the Escalation Period: 7/8
Painting points earned for the Escalation Period: 3/4
Total Points for the Escalation Period:10/10
Total Points for the League: 10/10
Win/Draw/Loss Record: 1/0/1

Round 1... FIGHT!

Today is the first day of our local group's 40k Escalation League. Since my Prospero stuff is yet unpainted, and my league grants extra points for fielding painted units, I will be showing with my already-painted Iron Hands force. It is a pretty simple force, as you can see. It's hard to pack much into a 750 point list.

Hopefully some other people will show up with fully painted armies too. If so, I will be sure to snap some pictures!

Weekend update: Building a Legion (Part 2)

Finally finished! I ran into a problem when constructing my sisters squad... I found that two of the swords were bent on the sprue! I was mad at first but I decided I could make it work, so I just swapped two of the swords for a couple of flamers. I really hope that they can mix and match weapons in 30k when their rules get released, otherwise I'll be needing another BoP box...

I also made a Support squad of Meltaguns (the especially sharp eyed will notice one of them is a plasmagun in the back... that's because I needed to make one for my other support squad, and I have a meltagun guy in mk IV to replace him).

Lastly, I made a second Heavy Support Squad of Heavy Bolters. I kept the sergeant without the heavy weapon so I could also use it as a devastator squad in 40k if need arises. I finished off the box by making the remaining 10 Legionnaires.

So, out of this box, I now have a total of 20 Legionnaires, 5 Support Squadmembers, 5 Heavy Support Squadmembers, 5 Gorgon terminators, 5 spear-wielding Custodes, and a sisters squad with 2 flamers.

Now I have a pretty solid 30k force, that also can be used in 40k. I am pretty pleased with how my Iron Hands are progressing! Now I just have to paint it all.... -___-