An Aegis Line too Far...

After suffering a close defeat by the Ultrmarines, Duke Sliscus had merciously tortured Haud Dico for his failure.  The Archon now not only wanted revenge on the Ultramarines, but also sought a way to acquire additional strength to strike back at his master.  One of his most loyal spies had managed to find a lead to a fragment of the lost relic that had once served as a weapon of unimaginable power.  As far as the Duke was concerned, Haud Dico would simply be going on a raiding mission to take out his frustrations on the planet's populace.  In actuality, Haud Dico had much bigger plans in mind...

 

The battle for Angamar had spread the Ultramarine forces across the surface of the planet in search and destroy missions against the xenos.  Calgar had withdrawn to the Battle Barge Octavious in order to direct the full campaign.  Captain Tragan had been given elements of the Second Company along with a contingent of Calgar's personal Honor Guard to pursue the Dark Eldar.  Reports indicated that the normally mobile Dark Eldar had momentarily paused near the site of one of the many ruins that dotted the planet's landscape.  For the Dark Eldar to remain in one place too long meant they were searching for somthing either very valuable or very, very dangerous...

 

2000 Grey Knights/SM vs 2150 Dark Eldar

Bob vs Ned (Written by Ned)

 

Darkness Falls...

Don't mess with the boys in blue...

Calgar strode across the lava field, the massive Armor of Antilochus allowing him to easily step over the veins of lava that criss-crossed the blackened landscape.  His thundering steps slowed to a stop, and he lifted his gaze towards the skies.  Volcanic ash formed low-hanging clouds that partially obscured the jagged outcroppings of rock that jutted from the earth.  It was no wonder that the Dark Eldar were utilizing this area as a base of operations for conducting their raids across the planet.  The lightning raids were almost always over before the defenders could react in force, and at best the Ultramarines were only able to destroy the stragglers who lingered too long in the search of extra plunder.  Calgar hoped that by striking at the heart of the Dark Eldar force, he could engage them on his own terms and finally deliver a crushing blow...

Duke Sliscus observed the Ultramarine advance from his Venom high in the ash clouds and laughed at their hubris.  For such a slow, ponderous adversary to think themselves capable of "ambushing" the Dark Eldar was the height of folly.  With a contemptous wave of his hand, he motioned for the real ambush to begin...

The sky darkened and turned black as if the very sun had been blotted out.  The unmistakable scream of Dark Eldar engines roaring to life pierced the darkness.  Calgar bellowed across the din, "Defense Pattern Delta!  Engage searchlights and prepare for contact!" With the composure developed from a thousand battles, he calmly toggled his comm-link, to call forth the two dreadnoughts who had been armed for this exact contingency.  "Brother Agnathio, Brother Ultracius it is time." 

GK/SM vs Dark Eldar(Written by Bob-from the best of his memory)

Bob vs Ned

BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD... Angels?



While initial reports had indicated that Mephiston's force of Blood Angels had been utterly destroyed, remnants of the battered and broken half-company had been able to fight their way free of the ambush.  Even, Mephiston, who had been laid low by dark lances, had managed to survive the battle with timely ministrations from the Sanguinary Priests.  He awoke from his recovery to a waiting transmission from the Chapter Master of the Ultramarines who desired to meet and formulate a combined battle strategy to liberate the planet...

Marneus Calgar and a small contingent of Honor Guard supported by elements of the Second Company had taken up positions in the ruins surrounding the Droman manufactorum.  The Ultramarines had initially moved to shore up the manufactorum's defenses while the Blood Angels had been fighting in the western desert, and Calgar anxiously awaited the return of Mephiston and the Blood Angels to coordinate the counter-offensive against the xenos forces.  With the a thundering roar of its enginges, the Blood Angels Thunderhawk 'Sanguine Fury' swung low over the landscape and disgorged Mephiston and his strike force across the small valley from the Ultramarines.  As Calgar and his retinue of Honor Guard began marching across the valley to meet his allies, Librarian Muran continued his investigation of the shards recovered from the Eldar.  The pieces appeared to be the shattered remnants of a very large crystal.  It was obvious that while many fit together, an even larger number were still missing.  Muran picked up two pieces that appeared like they should fit and lifted them towards the light to examine their edges.  As he brought them close together, the pieces suddenly leapt from his hands and snapped together, releasing a shockwave across the valley...

Calgar watched as the shockwave raced across the valley and through the ranks of the approaching Blood Angels.  It was not strong enough to unsteady the footing of him or his retinue, but the Blood Angels were visibly shaken by it.  The slow, measured steps of the Assault Marines picked up speed and the orderly march quickly accelerated.  Had they been an adversary, Calgar would have sworn that approaching Marines were beginning to charge.  Before he could dismiss the thought, the unmistakable cries of "For Sanguinius! For the Emperor!", rolled across the valley.  His mind racing, Calgar bellowed, "Ultramarines!  Defend yourselves!" and stepped forward to meet the incoming threat...

Opponents: Bob (GK/SM) versus Jeff (Blood Angels) - Written by Bob

Ultramarine First Contact

Ultramarine aircraft arrive to support the beleaguered defenders

The vanguard of Calgar's force made landfall on Angamar to find the Forge World fully engulfed in a raging battle.  While the Dark Angel and Blood Angels forces had focused on recapturing the vital Manufactorums, the Ultramarines turned their attention to securing the planet's defensive fortifications.  The xenos had shown remarkably little interest in actually controlling the planet or its facilities to this point--they only seemed to be searching for something... 

One sector showed a particularly high amount of Eldar activity.  After the Battle of Orr's Sepulchre, Calgar recognized the lengths the treacherous xenos would go to steal any artifact that they thought could give them power.  But like Orr's Sepulchre, Calgar wanted nothing more than to make sure that once again the Eldar left empty-handed...

Opponents: Bob (GK/SM) versus Noah (Eldar)

NOVA List and Theme Items for Narrative

T-shirt back design

My wife and I spent the last couple of nights working on my "Theme Gear" for the NOVA.  We used one of our friends' Cricket cutters to make the T-shirt.  The details of the Narrative are still a little sketchy, so I went with a fairly straight-forward design based on the old "Uncle Sam Wants You" posters.  The PAX is basically the new planetwide police/defense force, so I thought it would be a good reference.  The front pocket has a small design of the Air Force Memorial.

Down to two lists for NOVA!

Picture is unrelated... but still super cool!

After doing some debating and flipping some coins, I have narrowed down my options for the NOVA Narrative event to two main options.  I will either take my Honor Guard Grey Knights or Vanilla Marines with a non-Pally GK contingent.  Overall, I am expecting the Narrative to be a little more low-key than the GT, so my list decisions are being decided largely by theme and what I have painted well.  For example, I decided that Dread Calgar is a requirement in whichever list I take. I just love the model too much not to use it.  That pretty much ruled out the Vanilla Marine list unless I take allies.

Help me pick my NOVA list!

So I am currently scrambling to finalize my list for the NOVA Narrative Event.  When I registered, I completely missed the part about submitting my list ahead of time.  The draft primer can be found here, but the main highlights are:

2000 points (NOT 1999+1) with full use of Double FOC and Allies
Forgeworld is allowed, but no Superheavies/Gaurgantuan Creatures (could be interesting)
8 Points for completing two Missions each round
8 Points for KPs each round
10 Theme points for modeling/converting to match the narrative
"Infamy" points for completing random objectives (probably my main goal)
Painting Score (not much I can do about that in three weeks with the upcoming move)

Updating the Honor Guard for 6th

I am already very happy with my Honor Guard list, so I really only see making minor tweaks to bring them into 6th Edition.  It was already a solid list with a lot of flexibility, so it made the transition pretty well in its current form.  Yes, all the units lost AP2 Force Weapons, but that isn't a deal breaker.  My current list is:

Draigo
Paladins (5) with DH x2, Halberd x2, Pyscannon x2, and Banner
GKSS (5) with Pyscannon and Pysback with SL
GKSS (5) with Pyscannon and Pysback with SL
GKSS (5) with Pyscannon and Pysback with SL
GKSS (5) with Pyscannon and Pysback with SL
Venerable Pysfleman
Pysfleman Dread
Stormraven with TLMM and TLPC and SL
Dread Calgar with Teleporter

The main units that had some changes include:

First Game of 6th Edition... 1st Impressions

The new "I-win" Button

I played my first game of 6th Edition this afternoon and I have to say I am really looking forward to the changes.  I took the following army which works out to approximately 1999 points:

Primary Detachment (Space Marines)
Libby with Null Zone/Avenger
Tactical Squad with Flamer/ML and Rhino
Tactical Squad with Flamer/Lascannon and Rhino
3 MM Attack Bikes
2 MM/HF Landspeeders
Stormtalon with Typhoon ML
Autocannon/Lascannon Predator

Allied Detachment (Honorguard Counts As Grey Knights)
Draigo
5 Pallies with Brotherhood Banner and Pyscannon x2
5 GKSS with Pyscannon and Pysback
Pysfleman

Paladins survived!!!!

Just when you thought the Nerfbat got them...

I sat down and had some personal time with the 6th Edition rulebook tonight, and I think it is going to be a good edition.  I am not going to spend a lot of time breaking down the new 6th Edition Rulebook, as there are many other sites that will do a much better job of it, and I need to work through a lot of the nuances such as the new Psyker Powers.  All I have to say is that I am very excited about the update and think it makes a lot of armies a lot more viable.  Some big winners are:

Last Hoorah for the Honorguard (for a while)

My FLGS held a 2500 point tournament yesterday with Comp and Painting scores, so I brought out the Honorguard again.  I was actually looking to bring my Vanilla Marines, as 2500 actually makes Calgar reasonably viable.  However, I sold quite a few models a while back, so could no longer field a 2500 point list I liked.  I took the following list:

Draigo (Chapter Champion)
5 Pallies with Brotherhood Banner (TDA Honorguard)
5 GKSS with Pyscannon and Pysback with SL (PA Honorguard)
5 GKSS with Pyscannon and Pysback with SL (PA Honorguard)
5 GKSS with Pyscannon and Pysback with SL (PA Honorguard)
5 GKSS with Pyscannon and Pysback with SL (PA Honorguard)
5 GKSS with Pyscannon and Passback (PA Honorguard)
Stormraven with TLMM and TLPC and SL
Venerable Dread with AC and Pysbolts
Vindicare (Telion)
Dreadknight with Incinerator and Personal Teleporter (CALGAR!)
Pysfleman
Pysfleman

Finished Stormraven... Honorguard almost done!

I spent the weekend finishing up the last model for my Honorguard Counts As GK army and I am pretty stoked about how it turned out!  I also finished up five more Honorguard so my 2K list is pretty much done.  I just want to put together a display board for the tournament before I take full army photos.

Honorguard against Steel Rain... for all the marbles

As I mentioned in my two previous posts, I had the opportunity to play in a 2K tournament on Sunday. My first round was a lucky, but convincing win against an SW list, while my second round was solid victory over a Newcron army.  My list was:

Draigo
Paladins (5) with DH x2, Halberd x2, Pyscannon x2, and Banner
GKSS (5) with Pyscannon and Pysback with SL
GKSS (5) with Pyscannon and Pysback with SL
GKSS (5) with Pyscannon and Pysback with SL
GKSS (5) with Pyscannon and Pysback with SL
Venerable Rifleman
Rifleman Dread
Stormraven with TLMM and TLPC and SL
Dread Calgar with Teleporter

The tournament itself was a three-round tournament with each of the three deployments. The objectives for each round were the same: three sieze ground objectives, two capture and control objectives, and KPs. Winning an objective was worth 10 points, draws were worth 5, and losses 0 for a max of 30 points per round. I didn't get army lists from my opponents so I am going from memory.

Round 3
Deployment: Spearhead

So I rolled into the third round with 60 points and was paired off with a Space Marine player who had also received 60 points from his previous rounds.  I don't think either of the next two people had 40 points, and I think I had a sizeable VP lead, so I just needed to force a draw to win the Tournament.  However, when I saw his list, I knew I was facing an uphill battle:

Vulkan
Tactical Squad with PF, MG, MM, and DP
Tactical Squad with PW, Flamer, MM, and Rhino
Tactical Squad with PW, Flamer, ML, and Rhino
Scout Squad (10) with Snipers and Cloaks
Ironclad with DP
Ironclad with DP
Devestators (5) with MLx3 and LC and TLLC Razorback
Devestators (5) with MLx3 and LC and TLLC Razorback
Thunderfire Cannon

Honorguard are afraid of the dark? (GK vs Necron Batrep)

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I had the opportunity to play in a 2K tournament on Sunday.  My first round was a lucky, but convincing win against an SW list.  My list was:

Draigo
Paladins (5) with DH x2, Halberd x2, Pyscannon x2, and Banner
GKSS (5) with Pyscannon and Pysback with SL
GKSS (5) with Pyscannon and Pysback with SL
GKSS (5) with Pyscannon and Pysback with SL
GKSS (5) with Pyscannon and Pysback with SL
Venerable Rifleman
Rifleman Dread
Stormraven with TLMM and TLPC and SL
Dread Calgar with Teleporter

The tournament itself was a three-round tournament with each of the three deployments. The objectives for each round were the same: three sieze ground objectives, two capture and control objectives, and KPs. Winning an objective was worth 10 points, draws were worth 5, and losses 0 for a max of 30 points per round. I didn't get army lists from my opponents so I am going from memory.

Round 2
Deployment: Pitched Battle

For the second round, I was paired off against a Newcron player with an interesting list.  He was still in the process of finishing his army, so he was lacking some of what I would consider the harder units in the codex.  His list was:

Stormlord
3 Lords with Scythe and Res Orb
1 Transmorg Cryptek with Harp
20 Warriors with Ghost Ark
20 Warriors
20 Warriors
5 Lychguard with Scythes
7 Deathmarks
1 Heavy Destroyer and 3-4 Destroyers

Honey Calgar don't care!

Dread Calgar... he takes what he wants!

I had an opportunity to make it out to a small 2K tournament yesterday, so I dusted off my Honorguard (Counts As GK) army and bumped it up to 2K.  I didn't use the 2K list I posted earlier because some models are still under construction.  Here is what I took:

Draigo
Paladins (5) with DH x2, Halberd x2, Pyscannon x2, and Banner
GKSS (5) with Pyscannon and Pysback with SL
GKSS (5) with Pyscannon and Pysback with SL
GKSS (5) with Pyscannon and Pysback with SL
GKSS (5) with Pyscannon and Pysback with SL
Venerable Rifleman
Rifleman Dread
Stormraven with TLMM and TLPC and SL
Dread Calgar with Teleporter

More Honor Guard... Almost done

I took some time yesterday to base/model a few more Honorguard to fill out my 2K list.  I now have four Terminators, and 10 PAGKs that are ready for some paint.  Once I finish them and another Pysback, I will have my 2K list completed.  I still have a box of PAGKs and Sang Guard ready to be turned into Interceptors/Purifiers, but I do not have a list that utilizes them just yet, so they are on the backburner.  In the meantime, I plan on building up a 2K Necron army.... dun dun dunnnnnnn  

"Improved" 2K Honor Guard List

Future Thrawn Model

After doing some playing around with Army Builder, I am leaning towards tweaking my 2K Honor Guard build.  While Draigo and five Pallies can survive pretty well at 1500, I think their effectiveness is somewhat suspect at 2K, where an opponent can throw a lot more firepower at them every turn.  Torrenting them down actually comes into play.  At that point, I either have to commit to a full ten-man unit or drop them completely.  Because of this, I am looking at switching out for Termies led by Thawn (aka Chapter Champion) and supported by a Librarian.  I lose some of the flexibility of Grand Strategy, but gain more bodies, another Razorback, and a teleporter for the Dreadknight (which should make him more of a legitimate threat).  Here is what it looks like:

More Honorguard Battle Summaries

Chapter Champion and TDA Honorguard

I have been playing a lot of Minecraft lately, so I have been on a bit of a 40K hiatus.  However, the "semi-local friendly gaming store" hosted another 1500 tournament this Saturday.  I am starting to really get into the 1500 scene... it's cheaper and does seem to allow older/themed armies to compete better than at the higher levels.  I decided to bust out my Ultramarine Honorguard (Counts as GK) again and here's how they did:

Tournament Overview
The tournament was a three-round RTT-like tournament with Battle, Painting, and Comp Scores.  There were about 20 people with a solid mix of armies.  I saw IG, Marines, BT, GK, Eldar, Orks, a couple of Necrons, and a couple of DE.  Noticibly absent were SW and BA.... two tournaments in a row without them.  The missions were based on normal missions (KP and Sieze Ground) with slight "Christmas Theme" twists.  The games were broken down into Major/Minor/Tie with 2 bonus points per round.  Unfortunately, not a single one of my opponents had an extra army list, so I am going from memory.  My army consisted of:

Draigo (Chapter Champ)
5 Pallies with 2 Pyscannons, 2 DHs, and Brother Hood Banner
5 GKSS with Pyscannon and Pysback
5 GKSS with Pyscannon and Pysback
5 GKSS with Pyscannon and Pysback
2 Pyflemen
1 Dreadknight with no upgrades (CALGAR!)

It's a really weird/unbalanced army, and I was really worried about the DE lists floating around.  I almost busted out my normal Space Marine army, but ended up just saying "screw it."

Honour Guard Update!

Chapter Master Calgar... ready for a fight! (In his DK armor)

I finally sat down and cranked through a lot of my modeling/painting backlog in the last couple of weeks.  My lovely wife was kind enough to Greenstuff cloaks for my models, and I was able to block off time to focus on painting.  These pictures are pretty terrible, but show an update of my progress:

New Draigo List

I think I might have a handle on a reasonably competitive Draigo list now.  I stole most of it from Hulksmash.  I won't have as much S8+ target saturation as my previous lists, but I think the extra bodies will compensate:

HQ
Draigo

Troops
GKSS with Pyscannons x2, Pysbolts, and Rhino
GKSS with Pyscannons x2, Pysbolts, and Rhino
Paladin Squad
  DH and MC Pyscannon
  Halberd and MC Pyscannon
  Halberd
  Sword
  DH

Elites
Purifier Squad (5) with Pyscannon x2 and Rhino
Purifier Squad (5) with Pyscannon x2 and Rhino

Heavy
Dreadknight with Teleporter
Pysfleman
Pysfleman

5 Termies from hell, 30 Marines, 4 Rhinos, a DK, and 2 Pysflemen seems like a fairly solid force.