Double Trouble 3 Thoughts and stuff

Hello!

Yesterday I attended Double Trouble 3, a 40k randomised doubles event run by Alex Brown of the From The Fang blog and hosted by Element Games in Stockport. I had a great time, it was very much a ‘beer and pretzels’ event (except that I was driving - taking the scenic M62 over the Pennines was a nice bonus) with a wide array of thematic armies and people playing in the spirit of fun rather than cutthroat competition.

I took Tyranids, as covered here. I was pleased with their performance overall, they proved a pretty tough nut to crack and it was pretty scary when both Tyrannofexes got to double fire their Acid Sprays. I’ll not run down all my games here, instead I’ll make separate posts for each battle report to follow soon. However, I can reveal one of my Tyrannofexes did me proud in the painting competition. I ‘won’ the monster/vehicle category via having the second most votes after the reveal that the most votes went to a model that wasn’t painted by the player who entered it. I didn’t really have hopes of winning anything so I’m pretty happy with that and the £10 voucher that came with it.

During the event I got to catch up a bit with Dave Weston, who runs the Confessions of a 40K Addict blog. Dave and I first met many years ago when we attended a doubles tournament at Warhammer World, after my initial partner dropped out and I asked for a replacement on a Tyranid forum. We promptly came second and were nominated for the best army award (you’ll see why if you click the link and look at his stuff). With that in mind I was secretly hoping I’d get teamed up with his rather beautiful, best army winning Genestealer Cult, it would have seemed quite appropriate, but sadly wasn’t to be. (Photo below shamelessly stolen from Dave’s blog.)

Overall I really enjoyed the day, the event was smoothly run, the venue was excellent and everyone I spoke to or played with were on top form. Sadly this may have been the last such event due to Alex selfishly deciding his family is more important than slaving away at organising events for strangers, however he is running one more as yet undecided event, which I think will be on the 1st of September. Hopefully I’ll be there!

Steam Powered Gorkanaut WIP

Hello!

There has been a lot of excitement recently in the 40K community about big stompy robots, so I thought I’d get the wrong end of the stick and build an Ork one. (Though for the Ad Mech there are a couple of Armiger Warglaives on their way as well.) I also thought it was about time to post something Orky on the blog given that I’ve taken the name of my Warboss for it. The construction is pretty standard with a couple of minor plasticard additions. I sprayed it on the sprue (generally not a great idea) because I wanted to make sure I didn’t spray the doors shut.

The story goes that my Snakebite boyz ‘found’ a Gorkanaut no one else was using. While it is a big piece of overly complex technology, it’s also a great big walking idol to Gork (and Mork, a bit) so they obviously felt compelled to use it. Sometimes though the internal combustion engine can be a bit of a pain, so at first sign of failure the boyz ripped it out and installed a good old reliable steam engine, that only has a small chance of exploding hilariously from the pressure.

I’m hoping to paint up the inside to look like it’s glowing from the holes in that hatch, which will be revealed when the doors are open. Otherwise the outside will be nice and rusty, and covered in soot.

Double Trouble Preview

Hello!

In one week I will be attending Double Trouble, a 40k doubles tournament held at Element Games, run by Alex Brown of the From The Fang blog. Except it’s no ordinary doubles tournament, because your partner is randomly chosen. But you don’t get stuck with them, because in each game your partner is randomised again! Details here.

This is the third version of the event (I think), I went to the one two years ago, taking my Adeptus Mechanicus force that, at the time, was 750 points with literally everything, so it was a good fit. After dealing out two tablings (one of which was over the total number of Victory points of their starting army thanks to a summoned Bloodthirster) and being involved in a bloodbath of a loss I got to go home with a trophy. I had a great time.

This year I’m taking my Tyranids, and looking to similarly kill lots of stuff and more or less ignore objectives. I decided I’d take a small force that would work well as a block of melty death on it’s own, largely independent of whatever my partners are bringing. So it’s these guys:

They are a Battalion using Hive Fleet Jormungandr, and the list is something like this:

HQ:
Hive Tyrant, Claws, Adrenal glands, the Miasma Cannon. His psychic powers are The Horror and Catalyst
Malanthrope - Warlord with the Insidious Threat trait

Troops:
2 broods of 3 Ripper Swarms
17 Termagants

Heavy Support:
2 Tyrannofexes with Acid Spray


So the plan is everything bunches up into a bubble of -1 to hit, ignore cover and synapse except the Rippers who go off and do a token effort at claiming objectives or just get in the way of stuff. With Jormungandr these guys should be fairly tough and hopefully they can park up on turn 1 or 2 and start melting things. It’s probably (read: definitely) not the most optimised list, but it should be fun!

This is the first tournament I’ve been to since starting the blog, so hopefully I can take lots of pictures that don’t suck and post a nice report for you all to read. I’m definitely looking forward to it!

More Admech - Skitarii Vanguard

Hello!

More Adeptus Mechanicus work recently. This time some troops, Skitarii Vanguard! I decided to go Vanguard rather than Rangers as I already have a unit of Rangers and now that the Ryza Forge World Dogma is a thing I thought I might occasionally use the -1 toughness ability from the Vanguard's Rad Saturation to benefit the reroll wound rolls of a 1 in melee. If I remember the trait even exists of course! So here they are:

Of course the Radium Carbines have to glow green. It's radiation! I also tried to make their armour look especially dirty, as they have a certain trench warfare feel to them. Perhaps the servitors that clean their armour keep dying of radiation poisoning?

The full squad is 10, all with Radium Carbines, an Enhanced Data-tether and a Powersword on the Alpha. The sword is a bit of a luxury that will be one of the first things to drop when I need to shave points (though it might catch some people out with the aforementioned -1 toughness) so I painted it gold rather than glowing to represent a normal sword if required. I also plan to use the Data-tether as a second Alpha if I need to split the unit into two for minimum size troops.

They may be a bit busy, but I'm fairly happy with how the turned out. The glowing shoulder lamps in particular I'm happy with, as I used a similar technique on my Ranger squad but it wasn't quite as noticeable.

And here we have the Skitarii Vanguard in it's natural habitat - alongside the other Skitarii infantry. You'll notice the orange is a bit redder for this unit - while it's not as obvious in real life, it is a sad result of my ever diminishing pot of Macharius Solar Orange. *Cries in binary*

Adeptus Mechanicus on the workbench - Ruststalkers

Hello!

I've been working on my Ad Mech. Forge World Ryza and allied Knights from House Taranis! I have a small force (including this Imperial Knight) that I am expanding out to give myself some further options, including the contents of Forgebane and some other purchases.

For a bit of fun, I'm taking part in the ETL over on the Bolter and Chainsword forum, a annual-ish painting competition/motivation device. It boils down to me needing to paint all this by August:

So first up I started on the Sicarian Ruststalkers, an eBay purchase already built and sprayed silver. Had a bit of fun painting the Transonic weapons, trying my (somewhat unsteady) hand at Duncan's method. Also saw an excuse to whack a transfer on the Princeps.

And after that I got all buildy on Plasma Destroyers number 4, 5 and 6 - Seen here next to no. 1. Some minor modifications here from the Breachers for variety. Then later got rad saturated gluing Skitarii Vanguard together - Seen alongside a painted Ranger Alpha. Was planning a bare-bones squad with the Data-tether, but I couldn't resist adding a cheeky 4 point power sword on the Alpha. Might get some use out of Rad Saturation combining with the Ryza reroll 1s to wound.

Ad Mech Update - Kataphron Destroyers

Hello!

I've done some more work on my Ryza Adeptus Mechanicus, finishing the 3 Plasma Culverin armed Kataphron Destroyers, boosting my existing unit to 6. Here they are:

As you might be able to see, I love the Forge World weathering powders, which were used extensively here, dulled down at the end with a blast of purity seal. I'm pleased with the overall look of the plasma glow (though it is not very impressive up close and in person, it does photograph quite well!) and with how well they match the previous 3, which I painted some time ago and since forgot all the steps I took! I also couldn't resist some pics of all 6 together:

Finally, since it is related, here is a sneaky peak at my army for my next game against John. No new models in this one but some sneaky individuals from the Wife's collection that haven't yet seen the table in 8th...

Battle Report - Adeptus Mechanicus vs Chaos Space Marines

Hello!

I played another game against regular-opponent-John this week. I took Adeptus Mechanicus and friends, he took Chaos Marines, and we both had Knights! It was 2000 points, Maelstrom mission: Sealed Orders.

I took a Ryza Battalion, a Super Heavy Auxiliary and the special FAQ Assassin Vanguard. I was interested to see how useful the Assassins are now in 8th/post FAQ.

HQ: Tech Priest Dominus, Tech Priest Enginseer

Troops: 10 Rangers, 3 Arc Breachers, 3 Plasma Destroyers

Elites: Callidus, Culexus, Eversor and Vindicare Assassins, Cybernetica Datasmith

Heavy Support: Neutron Onager, 3 Robots, 2 with guns, 1 with fists (I'm experimenting with mixed units as a combat deterrent)

Lord of War: Knight Crusader aka Lord Camulus

John took an Emperor's Children Battalion and a Superheavy Auxiliary.

HQ: Lord on Steed, Sorcerer on Steed, Prince

Troops: 2 units of about 12 Cultists, 18 Noise Marines

Heavy Support: Deredeo Dread with Butcher Cannon Arrays, Leviathan Dread with Butcher cannon and Claw

Lord of War: Renegade Acheron (this thing is scary)

Deployment. We tied on the roll to go first twice, but John got it in the end after getting his force down first.

I tried to hide my destroyers behind the blue crates but they were never going to get out of LoS of all those Noise Marines. I chose Shroudpsalm for my first Canticle.

John's first turn was fairly brutal, though low scoring. All his shooting killed the Destroyers, forced the Rangers to flee and dropped the Breachers to a single model who proceeded to get stomped on by the Knight. A lot of fire also went into the Kastelans, but thanks to Aegis Protocols they all survived. John got a point for an objective and one for first blood.

In response I brought on the Vindicare in the watch tower (he proceeded to take a single wound off the Sorcerer and do nothing else) and mobilised the Knight. Lord Camulus fired up the Thermal Cannon and blasted a huge chunk of wounds off the Acheron, and with assistance from the Onager and Dominus' Weapon XCIX relic reduced it below half. The Gatling cannon went into the Noise Marines, as did the double shooting Kastelans, reducing them to just the two Blastmasters after morale. 

Camulus positioned himself for a good kick up the rear of that naughty Knight. In hindsight I should have charged from the Acheron's right hand side to stay away from the Leviathan, but I couldn't resist a cheeky bum kicking.

Camulus took heavy damage from the overwatch but kicked away to reduce the renegade to 4 wounds. The brave Datasmith also went in, dealing another wound with his powerfist. The stumbling Acheron did a couple of wounds to the Datasmith in return. I scored a point for an objective and discarded a bunch of difficult cards.

In John's turn heavy firepower got rid of the Robots, even though I rolled for Canticles and got Shroudpsalm again. A bit of fire also stripped some wounds from my Knight, before melee happened. The Warptimed Leviathan barreled into Camulus, aided by the Prince, while the limping Acheron charged in to finish off the Datasmith. Overwatch was disappointing, and the Leviathan hit and wounded all four times, going right through the Knight's armour. Then I rolled a 6...

The resulting explosion wounded the Leviathan and the Prince, killed the Renegade Knight before it could fight, leaving the Datasmith standing alone on 1 wound! Most of my army was dead but it was totally worth it for that!

My turn 2 and I brought in the remaining Assassins. The Eversor popped up at the back to kill some cultists and claim Behind Enemy Lines. The Culexus appeared near-ish the Sorcerer, blasting him, though not fatally. The Callidus (who, by the way, had cost John 2 extra command points in the first turn so was probably already ahead at this point) aimed for the seriously wounded prince with her Neural Shredder, dropping it to 2 wounds before charging in. Elsewhere the Vindicare missed the Sorcerer, while the Ryza forces put a bit of damage on the Leviathan.

In combat the Callidus only landed one wound with the C'tan Phase Sword, leaving the Prince to strike back. She died horribly.

At this point I'd also scored a defend objective, so was perhaps ahead on points, but I didn't have much left. In fact, apart from the Onager, it was all character.

John set about removing the Assassins, killing off the Eversor and Vindicare with ease, but getting stuck on the Culexus. The brave Datasmith who totally needs a name survived the Leviathan's meltagun and helflamers, but fell to it's claw, though only by 1 failed save (I command pointed it, I felt he had earned it at this stage, but it wasn't to be.) The Prince and Sorcerer ran away from the Culexus and started scoring some objectives.

More cards for me on turn 3, but not a lot I could do. My remaining Ad Mech forces, the Dominus and the Onager (and, technically the Enginseer, though he was little more than a speed bump), fired into the Leviathan, hurting but not killing it. The Culexus ran away from combat to scare to Prince a bit. In John's turn not much changed apart from the Enginseer got crushed. I rolled Shroudpsalm again and the Deredeo and Blastmasters shot at my Warlord but he tanked it all.

Elsewhere the Chaos Lord caught up with the Culexus in a combat that was destined to last a long time...

Not much left over the final few turns, we both picked up a few points here and there but John definitely had the board control. We went on to turn 6, eventually the Culexus fell, but the Dominus stood tall, constantly repairing himself and passing saves left and right.

This hero of the Imperium just would not die, and is probably now 90% lead after being hit by about a million butcher cannon shots.

Sadly that Leviathan lived on 1 wound, Neutron Laser failing to wound at the end. I was left with a 'destroy a unit' card, which, combined with the Linebreaker the Leviathan was earning would have been a 2 point difference. In the end it mattered not, counting up the points John won a not-quite comfortable victory with 8 points to 5.

It was one of those games, where the luck was all over the place and the dice had their own idea of how things were going to go down. Putting my Knight in position to get charged was definitely a mistake, but one I'd gladly make for the hilarious 10 inch explosion that it resulted in. I also could have deployed my Kataphron units in much better positions. They were too close and able to get deleted turn one, I should have made better use of their range and ability to move and shoot. Finally the Assassins, I'm not convinced. I think they would have been really good if I'd had first turn and still had an army when they showed up, but after the FAQ it's too much of an investment to take all of them and wait till turn 2 for most of them to do things. Having said that the Callidus' ability to cost command points is very annoying, and the Culexus is very tough to shift. I feel like the Eversor might be handy given the right targets, but the Vindicare was pretty disappointing.