Adeptus Titanicus Reaver Titan number two, plus mini Knights!

Hello!

Back to the time of the Horus Heresy for some more Adeptus Titanicus stuff! Firstly, I got a few cute little mini knights! These are cool little models, but a bit fiddly, and I relied mostly on drybrushing and washes for them. I went with the House Malinax scheme partially because it ties in visually with the white-ish heads of my titans, while contrasting with the rest of the scheme, but mostly because it's got a cool scorpion transfer.

I'm not sure how much good three Knights will do on their own on the tabletop, but they seem fun to have running around supporting a proper titan. Speaking of which, here is Reaver number two...

I'm pretty pleased with this one. I followed the same steps as before, but with the benefit of experience this one was easier than the others. I deliberately took the more extreme approach to my 'mostly black' scheme than the Warlord, who ended up with a lot of red, so as not to distract from all the bonus bling on this kit.

In particular, I had fun painting that crest on the carapace - there is a transfer under there, partially covered by washes and silver chipping over the decaying gold.

As with the others, the weapons are magnetised to allow different load outs. I'm particularly happy with the chainfist and the extra weathering on it. Sharp eyed readers might note that the chainfist is built to be left handed, while the powerfist from the other Reaver kit was built right handed...

And here are the new Knights alongside the two Reaver brothers, including what must be the coolest looking set up - twin melee weapons and a turbo laser destructor for a hat. I think the pair ended up looking rather cool together, a nice contrast between the more aggressive looking red carapace striding forward and the passive, uncaring black one standing back to blast the enemies of Legio Mortis.

Battle Report - Orks vs Necrons

Hello!

As I posted recently, I went to play a couple of games at Warhammer World against Dave from the DZTV community (excellent discord channel for patrons by the way, thoroughly recommend if you want to talk rubbish, see pictures of people's pets and arrange games of 40k), so here is game two! It's Orks this time against the Necrons.

After a hefty lunch at Bugman's and waving awkwardly at Duncan, we didn't want to waste too much time, so we went for the same scenario as before - Cleanse and Capture, Dawn of War deployment.

My list was essentially the selection I took to the Rynn's World narrative game, plus some Boyz. It was a Battalion, a Vanguard and a Spearhead:

HQ: Warboss (Warlord Trait: Brutal but Cunnin', relic: Brogg's Buzzbomb), Force Field Big Mek, 2x Wierdboyz
Troops: 2x 25 Boyz (sluggas and choppas), 10 Boyz (Shootas)
Elites: WAAAGH Banner Nob, 10 Nobz (mostly Big Choppas), 10 Tankbustas
Heavy Support: Killkannon Battlewagon, Deffrolla Battlewagon, Gorkanaut, Deffdread

(Spellchecker did not like that list!)

Dave took mostly the same units as before, but swapped a few of the big guns out for a super heavy - the Obelisk. Never faced one before, apparently it has supercharged tesla guns...

HQ: Overlord, Lord, Destroyer Lord, Cryptek
Troops: 10 Tesla Immortals, 10 Gauss Immortals, 20 Warriors
Fast Attack: 6 Tomb Blades (might have been 6 in the first list, can't remember!), 2x 5 Destroyers
Lord of War: Obelisk

Here we are deployed. not pictured are Tomb Blades on the right flank, Tankbustas in a Wagon and the 10 Boyz on the left flank and the Obelisk ready to teleport in!

Necrons got the first turn, but as was tradition at this point, the cards didn't give many points. The Destroyers had a good go at blasting the Battlewagon carrying the Nobz, reducing it down to 4 wounds, but otherwise I was largely unscathed.

In my turn one, the Orks shoved forward where possible, and I got an achievable objective - to defend one that a big boyz mob was standing on. In the Psychic phase, I noticed a nice gap Dave's Immortals had left by moving forward...

Da Jump went off on the other big boyz mob. Some incidental shooting happend, then we went onto the charge phase...

The Deffdread used Ramming Speed to charge into the Destroyers, killing a couple (not enough really). The Boyz on the far left were the real disappointment however, failing the charge on the Immortals AND the Warriors. The Necrons of course promptly turned around and removed them.

The other big unit of Ork Boyz were casually defending the objective, when a bunch of tesla Tomb Blades, and a floaty tesla death brick appeared. They were also removed.

Destoyers broke the Tankbustas' wagon, and some extra shooting stripped down the 10 man Boyz mob to three. Ouch! On the plus side the ones that disengaged from the Dread somehow failed to kill it. The Boyz had taken a battering in turn 2, but the Necrons didn't earn many points from it, so I was still in the game.

Continue where we left off. Not much from the cards again, so we pushed forward and got stuck in. Shooting from the Gorkanaut and a ramming from the Battlewagon killed off a good chunk of the Immortals, and the Tankbustas and Deffdread chipped a few Destroyers away from the two units. Again, not enough thanks to Reanimation Protocols.

Turn three I think was another bad card draw for the 'crons, but they killed off some more Orks and may have picked up the odd point. The Deffdread, the Tankbustas and the last Battlewagon were all removed, the latter disgorging a mob of Nobz who played the Loot It! stratagem to get a 3+ save from the wreckage and become effectively Primaris Orks.

With most of the Orky assets gone, I got a good draw. Overwhelming Firepower, Give it Sum Dakka and Assassinate. That meant I got two points for killing the remains of the Immortals in the shooting phase, before the Nobz piled into the Destroyers and their Lord, killing him but sadly leaving one Destroyer intact (even after spending CP to fight again). Three points was a big swing, I think putting me into the lead. However, more importantly from the Orky perspective, the Gorkanaut charged into the Obelisk, stripping 10 wounds off it.

Turn 4, the Destroyers turned their guns on the Nobz. Being tough old Snakebites, they took a fair bit of killing, but the last one was eventually scoured from the battlegrid. Elsewhere the Tomb Blades were having a go at beating up my characters, with limited success. The Obelisk floated away and took some wounds off the Gorkanaut, leaving it on it's middle bracket.

With the death of the Nobz, my chance of stealing a win was pretty much gone, but there was still a big brick of death to kill, so we made that the mission!

The Gorkanaut, Big Mek, banner Nob and Warboss Redtoof charged in, and smashed away at it. Redtoof tore big chunks out of the living metal, but in the end I think the Big Mek gave it a hefty clang with his spanner to finish it off. I think Dave had one command point left, so he obviously used it to re roll the explosion result, and got a six! The Nob perished, as did Redtoof, previously hurt by the Tomb Blades. That was slay the warlord which, regardless of consistently poor cards, put Dave in essentially an unassailable lead. So that's where I conceded.

The Gorkanaut and the Big Mek - all that remained of the Ork force, facing down against most of the Destroyers. I think I must have killed enough over the course of the game to wipe both units, but Reanimation Protocols is a thing, and it really kicked in during this game! When your shooting is so unreliable, it's hard to ensure you kill off whole units, which is obviously the optimal tactic for fighting 'crons.

In any case, it was another fun game. It's always good when Orks do some krumpin', even if they get beat up as well. The Necrons won, but of course, Orks is never beaten! We can always come back for another go!

Video Battle Report with SorcererDave - Tyranids vs Orks

Hello!

It's another SorcererDave battle report, this time my Tyranids vs his Orks. We played a 'normal' game, 1750 points matched play, Cleanse and Capture. Of course, we had to have a bit of a narrative twist, so the game takes place inside a space hulk - we played it as though the wall terrain pieces went up to the ceiling, meaning they couldn't be seen or moved over. This made the game very interesting, and suited our two melee focused armies down to the... metal plated floor?

As usual, we had a blast, and I hope that translates well to the video. SorcererDave always does a great job with the editing, especially the intro/outro, which are a nice touch for what isn't primarily a narrative game. I know I am a bit biased on this, but I really think these battle reports are deserving of many more views than they usually get, and it'd be nice to see SorcererDave talked about in the same sentence as the 'big names' in YouTube battle reports. I really hope you all like them as well (even the ones that I'm not in!)

Battle Report - Adeptus Mechanicus/Imperial Knights vs Necrons

Hello!

I recently took a trip down to Warhammer World to play a couple of games against Dave, a fellow DZTV patron. Dave brought his Necrons, and I took 2000 points each of Orks and Ad Mech/Knights.

In the first game of the day, the forces of the Imperium from Explorator fleet Helios, took on the Necrons using the Mephrit Dynastic code in a classic matched play, 2000 points, Dawn of War deployment, Cleanse and Capture mission. (That's Maelstrom, 3 cards a turn, every turn.)

His list was a battalion, spearhead and outrider (I think), something like this:
HQ: Overlord, Lord, Cryptek, Destroyer Lord
Troops: 10 Tesla Immortals, 10 Gauss Immortals, 20 Warriors
Fast Attack: 5 Tomb Blades, 2x 5 Destroyers
Heavy Support: 2x Doomsday Ark, 1 Sentry Pylon (the small one from Forgeworld)

I know Necrons aren't top tier competitive at the moment, but this looked like a reasonably beefy list to me. Luckily I'd brought some firepower. My list consisted of a Ryza battalion and a Taranis super heavy detachment. Lady Helena was the warlord, piloting the Knight Valiant 'The Defiant Flame', taking the Ion Bulwark trait and the relic the Armour of Sainted Ion.

HQ: Tech Priest Dominus, Enginseer
Troops: 10 Vanguard, 10 Rangers, 3 Breachers, 6 Destroyers
Elites: Cybernetica Datasmith
Heavy Support: 2 Kastelan Robots (all phosphor blasters), 1 Neutron Onager
Lord of War: 2x Armiger Warglaive, 1x Valiant (#rightdominus)

Deployment started with me plonking down the Valiant right in the middle, and Dave aiming all the big guns in his army at it. A decent amount of Large, Line Of Sight Blocking Terrain meant that we were both able to largely hide our respective destroyers. I put my remaining vehicles with big damage weapons on the flank to hunt the DDAs, largely forgetting that quantum shielding is a thing. Dave finished deploying first, and there was no seize, so the Necrons went first. (And the AdMech immediately starting chanting a Shroudpsalm.)

The Necrons got into position and opened up across the lines. Extermination Protocols were used to put some hurt on the Valiant, which soaked up the majority of the firepower. It was dropped down to 12 wounds, and degraded, but still very much a threat. Elsewhere the canticles of the Omnissiah saved most of the damage to the rest of the force. The card gods were not kind (a bit of a theme of the day) and Dave started with zero points.

In retaliation, the Adeptus Mechanicus formed up their gunline. Elimination Volley, Binaric Override and Plasma Specialists were spent to make the Kataphron Destroyers and the Kastelan Robots into killing machines. Between them and the Onager a full squad of Necron Destroyers and one of the Doomsday Arks were destroyed. The Conflaguration cannon also crisped a destroyer from the other unit, before the charge phase ensued. I had drawn a card that required my Knights to get into combat, and all three of them did, though they didn't really do much after that - Lady Helena failed to crush any of the Tomb Blades, while both Armigers sliced a couple of Immortals from the Gauss squad, only for them to get back up. I got D3 points regardless, and rolled a one, putting me 2-0 up.

In turn two, the Necrons were on the back foot, but they were not done yet. The Assassination card was drawn, so the Tomb Blades lined up a firing squad around the Enginseer and everything else pointed their guns at Lady Helena's Valiant. Lots of dice were rolled, including plenty of Taranis 6+ saves by me, but in the end...

The Valiant was destroyed. It took pretty much the entire Necron list to do it though, including the remaining Doomsday Ark which had been eyeing up the Onager. I had to reroll a die to ensure it didn't explode, so I could attempt to play Our Darkest Hour, and bring the venerable machine back to it's feet. Sadly I failed the 4+ roll required by the stratagem, and unable to reroll a second time in the phase, Helena was forced to eject.

Amusingly enough, the Enginseer survived the Tomb Blade's volley, and in my turn I set about surrounding them. I had drawn a card that required me to clear my deployment zone, and those pesky Tomb Blades were in the way! Speaking of in the way, there was a big building between the two sides' Destroyers, so I had to move around a bit and split my fire between the DDA and the immortals.

Doomsday Ark destroyed, and the Armigers finally removed the Gauss Immortals, but my mob of characters plus the Breachers and Vanguard failed to take out the Tomb Blades, denying me any points.

The Necrons were losing assets, but at this point (turn 3) were in the lead 3-2. The cards didn't help much though, so it would stay that way for the time being. The Destroyers exterminated the Breachers, while the last Tomb Blades flew away to hide and deny me clearing my lines.

I think I drew Witch Hunter at this point, so it was just operation kill stuff. The noose closed around the Necron forces, before the Destroyers reached out and blasted away the last of their Necron namesakes, as well as removing the Pylon. The Kastelans, not to be outdone, eliminated the warriors. Apart from the rogue Tomb Blades, who refused to die, the Necrons were restricted to a very small castle around their characters.

With the majority of their forces depleted, the Necrons got sneaky... 

Dave drew Big Game Hunter, and used the Veil of Darkness to move the Destroyer Lord and the Immortals over to target the Onager, while being well out of line of sight to the Kataphrons or the robots. They stripped wounds off it, degrading it, but not destroying it.

While the rest of my army wandered around the terrain to try and draw a bead on either the Immortals or the Tomb Blades, one Armiger was tasked with hunting the Necron warlord and his retinue, for lack of any better objectives. (Psychological Warfare wasn't looking likely!)

The other Armiger went over the assist the Onager against the Immortals, who stubbornly refused to die. Thanks to poor card draws and this one Immortal in my deployment zone, if the game had ended on turn 5, it would have been a Necron Victory, against all the odds.

Luckily for me, the game continued, the Necrons failed to kill the Onager and for once I drew a decent card - Area Denial, scoring D3 points and finally putting me ahead. At this point Dave conceded, with one Immortal and a handful of characters he wasn't looking like getting back into the game if there were a turn 7.

We both agreed it was an excellent game. The Necrons took a beating but remained in the game all the way till turn 6. The cards were amusingly against us both, at one point Dave picked up Priority Orders Received - Domination, which, unless you have six warlords is just about as impossible as it gets. I know a lot of people hate the Maelstrom cards for this reason, but I think for this game it really made it interesting. Most Eternal War missions would pretty much have been over by turn two in this case, and here we were, with the Necrons almost pulling off a steal of a victory!

Anyway, thanks to Dave for a great game. Keep an eye on the blog, as there is another report coming soon when the Orks take on those sneaky robots!