Sunday, November 25, 2018

Ordo Malleus Inquisitor

Last week Finnegan was sick. Earlier this week it was The Girl. Now I've been sick since Friday.... So production has slowed somewhat... I did managed to finish off this 40K Inquisitor - He's been lurking about my painting desk for the last year (I think I picked him up on Boxing Day...?). With the Grey Knights finished (or, at least, the first batch of them!), I figured they would need an Inquisitor to lead them into battle against the Daemons of the Warp! Originally I'd started to paint this fellows armour in black, but decided to change that up after I finished the Grey Knights so he'd sort of match... a bit... At one point I thought I might be able to pass him off as a Grey Knight champion, but then realized the combined-bolter is not something the Grey Knights use... Ah, well... they need an Inquisitor anyway...



Inquisitor from Games Workshop.

I really should have come up with a name for this fellow....



Here he is consulting with another Inquisitor (the other one I own - that's painted!)



And here he is with the Grey Knights he may one day lead into battle!


Coming soon to Tims Miniature Wargaming Blog:

We didn't get in any Kill Team this weekend - I was too sick and everyone else just wanted to finish binge-watching Agents of SHIELD Season Four before we had to return it to the library - 22 episodes in ONE WEEK - that's a lot to ask of anyone... Maybe next weekend...

I have some Miniatorum priests that seem to have moved to the front of the workbench which I may try to finish off... as well as the remaining crew of the New Dawn - Eulcia Vhale's Vessel...

Wednesday, November 21, 2018

Grey Knights Kill Team

I know what you're thinking... "WTF, Tim!? ANOTHER Kill Team!? GREY KNIGHTS!? Where did these even come from!?"

Well, funny story about that...

A couple weekends ago there was a Bitz Swap organized by the local league at our FLGS and I went out to it... It was a little overwhelming. One dude had a 50L tub of random bitz people were sorting through. Others had stuff organized into baggies with prices on them, but there was just too much to look through. I did have a look at a few things and bought a couple bags of random imperial bitz, a huge bag full of Orky bitz (mostly arms, heads and shootas), a Marine with a heavy bolter... and then I found this bag full of what looked like older metal marines. There was eight or ten of them in there and the price on the bag was $5. I asked the fellow if it was $5  each of for the whole bag. He said for the whole bag - no one wants that metal 'junk' anymore... Well I wasn't going to pass up a bag o' ten metal marines - whatever they were - could have been chaos, for all I knew (which actually would have been really cool too).

When I got home and had a better look at things, it turned out it was a whole bag of Grey Knights!? Nine of them! Two had the arm bolters and power halberd-thingies and the rest had flamer-like-things! Boom! Instant Kill Team.

Upon reading up on them, I realized I could only use two of the Incinerators. But, with two of those and the two other regular guys (if anything about Grey Knights can be described as "regular") I had 80 points! If I could find one more regular dude I'd have a five-man kill team at 98-99 points.

So I had a look at Ebay to see if I could find another Grey Knight of this vintage for a not-too-unreasonable price and, not only did I find a metal Grey Knight, I found a metal Grey Knight Justicar! So now I have a leader on the way from The Troll Trader and once he's done I'll have a complete Great Knight Kill Team at 99 points...



Grey Knight Kill Team

Now... GW gives their Marines classic fancy-schmancy names - inspired by Greek or Roman names.. like Gideon or Marius or Erasmus or Valdar... I got it in my head to go with... more common names...



Brother Blake with Storm Bolter and Nemesis Force Halberd



Brother Trevor with Incinerator



Brother Curtis with Storm Bolter and Nemesis Force Halberd



Brother Scott with Incinerator

I was trying to think of names for these and got thinking about the name Gideon (as one of the terminators from Space Hulk is names Sergeant Gideon) and that got me thinking of Gideon Graves - one of the characters from Scott Pilgrim... so the first one I named was Scott... I could have names them all after Characters from Scott Pilgrim, but then  Neville Longbottoms toad Trevor popped into my head... I can't remember what lead me to think of the other names...

I think the Justicar will be named Jeff.



I still have FIVE more of these old metal Grey Knights with Incinerators... I have no use for them as I can only use two in a Kill Team... having more than one Kill Team of Grey Knights would be silly... and I'm NOT going to ever expand this force into a full 40K detachment... So if anyone needs one (or two?) I'd be happy to trade them for... some other older metal 40K minis?


Coming Soon to Tim's Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Not sure... I have some epic titans on workbench, of all things, but I'm losing steam on those (as I'm probably not going to be playing with them any time soon). Maybe I'll get on with some Rogue Trader minis...? Mice & Mystics...? maybe the Justicar will show up and I'll get that finished off!

Friday, November 16, 2018

Cadians

...or some sort of generic 40K Imperial Guard...

I finished off the last of the old-school metal radians I have this week. Well... ALMOST all of them... there is still a standard bearer who is going to need some extra work and an artillery officer... But in terms of the sharp-end infantry grunts... well, THEY are all finished!!



The new (and yet, not-so-new) guys.

These are all older metal Cadians from Games Workshop. I picked them up off eBay not so long ago - along with a few of the others I've already painted. A couple I picked up from my friend Paul when he was offloading them a few years ago. Some of the others, however, are some of the oldest GW figures I own - the "Rogue Trader Era" ones. I striped and repainted them in the last few years to use as "veterans".



The Entire Force!

(I'm not going to say "so far" because I really have no desire to add any more to this. I already have THREE OTHER Imperial guard forces - Tallarn, Guaiacan/Catachan, and Valhallan - I really don't need a fourth! Of course, I probably didn't really "need" a second or third...)

Unfortunately I seem to have acquired enough for three squads, two regular infantry squads, one veteran squad... and THREE COMMAND SQUADS!?  This seems like it's a nucleus for an entire company - with a company command and two platoon commands! The intention here was not to use these as a force for 40K, but rather as a force for Kill Team (or other smaller scale SF skirmish games?) or with Wrath & Glory (if it ever comes out!?)

The force is actually not a bad size for Kill Team - loads of infantry with a few options for special weapons... The only thing I might add (if I were to use them for Kill Team is a couple snipers)

Here are the individual squads...



Command Squad #1 - The Company Commander (and a casualty and a commissar and... an extra dude...?)



Command Squad #2 - Platoon Commander



Command Squad #3 - Another Platoon Commander



Veteran Squad (half of these I've had for over 25 years! though they were repainted more recently)



Infantry Squad #1



Infantry Squad #2



Assorted vehicle crew - despite the fact that I have no vehicles for this force and have no intention of acquiring any... perhaps these need to be repurposed as Tallarn crew...


Coming soon to Tim's Miniature Wargaming Blog: 

Well it is Friday and we've been trying to play Kill Team on Fridays... Finnegan seems in a better spirits today - Maybe we'll get some games in this evening and I'll be able to post reports of those actions over the weekend....?

I do have the standard Bearer and Artillery Officer on the workbench with an assortment of other 40K characters - mostly Imperial-types. Terrain bits are lurking nearby...

Thursday, November 15, 2018

Fearless Foraging

4.868.018.M41

Sergeant Hammer was released after only a few cycles in the medicae facility at the expansive
Haldivar Starport. He had required some serious bone refabrication and muscle stitching and rebuilding, but didn't require any organ regrowth. "Peachy" McGough and Loiselle were kept in quarantine and not allowed to return with him - as they had potentially been exposed to some unknown xenos parasites. 


It was Hammer's intention to muster the section and anyone else he could and much back out into the jungle to hunt down the vile Xenos that had killed "Doc" Sanders and grievously wounded himself and others. In a debriefing at the Squadron HQ he had leaned the creatures they encountered were the hated "Tyranids". It was imperative to gather as much intelligence as possible about the numbers and dispositions of the terrible xenos threat - to determine the extent of the infestation and where best to direct orbital bombardment. 

However, upon return to the Troop's Forward Operation Base, he found a situation with a more dire need of resolution! The rations had not been making it through from Haldivar Starport. Apparently parts of it had been overrun by Ork Raiders. So instead of hunting the vile xenos Hammer was tasked with taking his team out to forage for anything edible in the wretched, dangerous jungle that surrounded them....



On Monday evening Amanda was feeling a bit tired so we played hooky from our ballroom dance class and played a little Kill Team instead...


SCENARIO

We played the Fearless Foraging scenario from the Death World Kill Zone Box. Essentially there were five objective markers. At the end of each turn the side controlling each rolled on a table... you either got bitten by something (One mortal wound) or found nothing or found something useful (+1 Command point or +1-3 Victory Points)


FORCES

2 Section, 3 Troop, A Squadron, #2 Commando, 222nd Guaiacan Commando Regiment
Sergeant Hammer - Guard Sergeant - Bolt Pistol & Chainsword - Leader - Level 1 - 1xp - 5 points
Corporal Hunt - Guard - Lasgun - Scout - Level 1 - 2xp - 5 points
Corporal O'Rielly - Guard - Lasgun & Voxcaster - Comms - Level 1 - 0xp - 10 points
Private Quincy - Guard - Lasgun  -  Level 1 - 1xp - 5 points
Private Morse - Guard - Lasgun  -  Level 1 - 1xp - 5 points
Private Dane - Guard - Lasgun  -  Level 1 - 1xp - 5 points
Private Taylor - Guard - Lasgun  -  Level 1 - 1xp - 5 points
Private Sack - Guard - Lasgun  -  Level 1 - 0xp - 5 points
Private Pierce - Guard - Lasgun  -  Level 1 - 0xp - 5 points
Private Hawkins - Guard - Lasgun  -  Level 1 - 0xp - 5 points
Private Johnson - Guard Gunner - Plasma gun  -  Level 1 - 0xp - 8 points
Corporal Jules  - Special Weapon Guard - Lasgun  -  Level 1 - 0xp - 5 points
Private Johnson - Special Weapon Gunner - Flamer  -  Level 1 - 1xp - 8 points
Private Broad - Special Weapon Gunner - Sniper Rifle - Sniper  -  Level 1 - 2xp - 6 points
Private Farnsworth  - Special Weapon Gunner - Meltagun  -  Level 1 - 1xp - 8 points

Total 90 points.
Intelligence 8
Materiel 8
Morale 8
Territory 7

On roster but not on mission
Private McGough - Guard - Lasgun  -  Level 1 - 1xp - 5 points
Private Loiselle - Guard Gunner - Grenade Launcher  -  Level 1 - 1xp - 5 points



The Crimson Wave
Vulvatrix of the Crimson Wave - Wych Cult Hekatrix - Leader - Blast Pistol and Agonizer - 13 points
Thrixxesh Xoshi - Kabalite Gunner - Sniper Specialist -  Dark Lance - 12 points
Khatryx Veluxis - Wych Fighter - Zealot Specialist - Razorflails - 11 points
Kladys Vaganix - Wych Fighter - Combat Specialist - Hydra Gauntlets - 11 points
Peiythia Labiyx - Wych Fighter - Shardnet and Impaler - 11 points
Asphyxa Noiyr- Wych - Splinter Pistol and Hekatari Blade - 8 points
Adalyx Bloodslyk - Wych - Splinter Pistol and Hekatari Blade - 8 points
Klitlyx Slythk - Wych - Splinter Pistol and Hekatari Blade - 8 points
Saphisykh Vhrex - Kabalite Warrior - Splinter Rifle - 7 points
Draeven Starr - Kabalite Warrior - Splinter Rifle - 7 points

96 points
Intelligence 8
Materiel 8
Morale 8
Territory 8


THE GAME

The Kill Zone Special Rule we rolled for in this game was "Aggressive Fauna" - same as I had for my game against Bruce.



Deployment was in a triangle shape centred on the long edges with objective markers in the centre and four others halfway between centre and the corners.



Drukhari set up...

ROUND ONE

The team was beginning to get used to moving in the jungle - knew what flora and fauna to look out for - ones that could be eaten, others to be avoided at all costs! 

It was a bit of a shock yet ANOTHER Xenos race prowling around in their Area of Operations! 

When Cpl. Hunt, the team's scout, first spotted them he thought they might be another patrol, but there were no others in the A.O. He thought for a moment it might be locals - or perhaps the Archenemy - which was said to have corrupted the insurgents... but then he saw them move - Lithe and darting and inhumanly fast... He knew it must be another Xenos race entirely - perhaps the dreaded Aeldari! 



Hammer quietly whispered his orders to the others: "Broad, you and O'Rielly stay here, cover us and  and snipe at targets of opportunity. Quincy and Morse, you secure that bush with the big purple fruits, try to grab a few if you can in case we have to bug out. Taylor and Farnsworth, you're with me, we're heading left, The rest of you are with Corporal Jules. Dane and Pierce, look for more edibles, while the rest of you cover them and keep those wretched xenos filth at bay!" 



Private Broad set up and sniped at the Kabalite gunner with the Dark Lance... and missed... it was his first and only chance. The Kabalite gunner spotted the enemy sniper and took him down! 



Cpl. Jules flanked right with Dane, Pierce, and all the others. There was movement to their front so they lit up the jungle with Flame, plasma and lasgun fire. The Xenos were fast moving and hard to get a fix on in the dense jungle. Hawkins was sure he hit one of them, and saw her go down... 

(It was Vulvatrix, Hakatrix of the Crimson Wave, their leader....)



Cpl Hunt Scouted forward up the centre and found a hive full of buzzing insects, that oozed a sweet smelling viscous fluid, he made note of it, but then had to turn his attention elsewhere... 



Out of nowhere flashed a gaunt, lithe xenos that slashed at him with strange, glistening, many-bladed weapons. One raked him hard across the back of his neck and arms, cutting deeply - But hunt fought on! 

(At the end of Round One we each held two objective markers, both sides received +3 VP for their foraging! Tasty nuts and berries! Seems like an odd thing to be doing in the MIDDLE of a skirmish!?)

ROUND TWO



Suddenly there was more upon them! One attacked Taylor and Farnsworth and another with vicious gauntlets joined the attack on Cpl. Hunt - Luckily Sergeant Hammer had come to his aid! The one with the slashing weapons continued her relentless assault on Hunt and took him out of action. Hammer tried to strike at them with his chainsword, but the were just too quick! 

Farnsworth was stabbed in the thigh with a cruelly barbed bayonet-like instrument on the end of his attackers rife. 



Elsewhere Hawkins and Johnson skirmished forwards to see if Hawkins really did take down one of the enigmatic Aeldari.... They found no trace of the aeldari Hawkins swore he shot... but they did find a number of small animals that someone had trapped and killed, but dropped in a hurry. 

Another of the Xenos charged Pte. Sack - who had been following along behind Hawkins and Johnson. They parried each others blows in a brief but desperate melee. 

Leaving Pte Broad, who was busy binding the massive hole in he's side from the Dark Lance, Cpl. O'Rielly moved forward to try and help spot for one of the others. He bounded up to Pte. Dyck's position and helped him spot the Kabalite sniper lurking in the trees. A blast of super-heated particles from Dyck's plasma gun but that terrible menace out of action! 

(at the end of Round Two I rolled 2 for all three of the objectives I controlled "nothing; keep looking!" while Amanda gained another 3 Victory Points from the SINGLE objective she held!? WTF!? there must have been some juicy, juicy mangoes over in that corner of the table! Half of Amanda's team were either taken out or had flesh wounds... but she didn't fail the break test!)


ROUND THREE



Johnson roared "SACK! GET OUT OF THERE!" Sack ducked the Eldar Warriors swing and took off  into the jungle, before the Kabalite could react, Johnson lit him up with fire! 

The Sergeant likewise fell back from his assailants - which was a bit more tricky (Wyches... have to actually beat them both in a roll-off to fall back from them - but he DID!!). With the Sergeant out of the way, Dyck took one of them down with his Plasma gun! 

The Sergeant crouched in the bushes a moment, the ferocity and violence of the Xenos attack had left him reeling and he nearly passed out from the searing pain in his belly where the one with the barbed gauntlets had slashed him. (Sarge failed a nerve test!)

(Foraging - Hawkins was bitten - mortal wound! - but only turned out to be a flesh wound, The other locations gained us +4 VP, unfortunately the Drukhari were still in control of two and they ALSO gained +4 VP!

ROUND FOUR



While crouching in the Jungle gathering himself to strike back out again at the enemy, the Sarge took a shot in his back from a splinter pistol! 

Taylor and Farnsworth were still in a desperate melee with the Kabalite warrior that had attacked them. 

The Plasma gunner took down a third Drukari Wych!

For foraging this round, the three objective I held netted me 3 victory points and 1 command point. the single objective the Drukhari held gave them another +3VP!?  We would be rolling for game end... but BEFORE that Amanda had to decide if she was going to make a Strategic Withdrawal. At this point they had only three left on the table, one of whom was shaken... but they were ahead with the victory points 13-10, I think...? She decided discretion was the better part of valour and decided to withdraw before her ENTIRE team was wiped out... I think she was getting a bit tired too (or MORE tired, as she'd started out a bit tired).

Hammer, Hawkins, Hunt, and Jules all survived their wounds and would be stitched up and ready for action again before the team was sent out again. Pte. Broads wound from the Dark Lance would require some special medical attention - growing back part of his liver and stomach! He would be convalescing for some time. I managed to use ALL of the Specialists tactic cards before they were taken out of action so all gained +2XP which brought all but the new comms specialist two second level. The Sergeant took the "Bold" ability, Cpl. Hunt took "Pathfinder" and Pte. Broad took "Sharpshooter" Both the Regular Guard and Special Weapons Fire Teams made it to second level as well. The Guard Fire Team gained the "Skilled" ability (re-roll 1s when shooting) and the Special Weapons Fire Team gained "Die Hard" (-1 to injury rolls for them).

Seven of the Drukhari had been taken out of action - all but one would heal up in time for the next action. Asphisyk was taken back through the web way and would be convalescing in Comoraugh for a spell before seeing action again. Her Combat Specialist and Zealot made it to Level 2 - the former took the "Warrior Adept" ability and the latter took "Flagellant".

I feel like I got off really lucky... I had some crazy lucky shots early in the game which really thinned out the Drukhari, and then numbers and volume of fire... and the luckiest plasma gunner ever carried me through. If Amanda had decided to stick it out and rolled a one or two to see if the game ended that would have been in and she would have won with all the victory points she had!


Coming Soon to Tim's Miniature Wargaming Blog: 

I've mostly finished up the old-school metal Cadians I've been painting this week. I should get some pictures up on the blog tomorrow... I'll have about a platoon of them - good enough for Kill Team or Wrath & Glory (if it ever comes out!?).

After that...? Mice? Rats? Gellerpox Infected? Spaceship interior bits? assorted other 40K terrain bits? who knows...

Not sure if we'll be playing again tomorrow... Bruce isn't available. Amanda is out doing another Karma Class to raise money for Diabetes Canada. Finnegan woke up this morning puking and has been puking all day long! Might be another weekend in watching TV - if we can prop him up. He was saying as long as he was lying down he was mostly okay - it was when he sat up that he felt nauseous and started throwing up again. I set him up with an audiobook and he's been laying in bed all day listening to that...

Maybe The Girl and I will get in a game tomorrow, if she doesn't end up coming down with what Finnegan's got! Looking forward to that... MORE Eldar...

Monday, November 12, 2018

Wall of Martyrs Bunker and Bugs

A few things rolling off the workbench this weekend...



First, the Wall of Martyrs Bunker that came with the Wall of Martyrs Kill Zone



I still have a second section of trench and then a few more pieces that make up an "imperial defence emplacement" - all the sections are modular and can be mixed and matched with the trench bits...



It seems like this bunker should be able to match up with the trench line - with the side doors, but the ends of the trenches and emplacement bits have slots and table to fit together - and the bunker lacks a slot for the trench/emplacement tab to fit into... I guess I could carve one into it...

I also finally got started on some of the Rogue Trader miniatures - I am determined to paint these and play all the scenarios before jumping into Warhammer Quest: Blackstone Fortress (which I and VERY excited about!!)! I've kind of started by cherry-picking some of the low-hanging fruit... there is SO MUCH DETAIL on all these Rogue Trader minis...



The Eyestiner Swarm for the Gellerpox Infected faction...



Cursemites.

Yeah... started with the icky bugs... There are also some "Sludge-grubs"... then I'll have to start in on the Glitchlings and Gellerpox Mutants and then tackle the Nightmare Hulks... I'll have to mix in some easier to paint minis with all these...


Coming Soon to Tim's Miniature Wargaming Blog:

I have some generic (easy-to-paint) Cadian guard on the workbench at the moment...

I had hoped to play some more Kill Team this (long) weekend... but that's seeming less likely. Hopefully we'll get in a game over the week.

Sunday, November 11, 2018

Guaiacan Commandoes Arrive on Xoxigar

4.812.018.M41
Xoxigar Tertium
Agravian subcontinent
Sector 43 - The Area of Operations for the 222nd Guaiacan Commando Regiment

After such a long transit through the warp and painfully slow movements to orbit their destination world and the woefully disorganized planetfall, Sergeant Hammer knew his troopers were NOT in their best form. Despite all the sim-training throughout the voyage and the constant physical training, their heads were not "in the game". They lacked a sense of urgency. The usual razor sharp edge of their bodies and minds had been dulled. Sergeant Hammer decided the best thing he could do for them was to get them out patrolling in the jungle - pushing hard - looking to make contact with the enemy... The rest of the squadron could finish setting up their forward operation base.

Sergeant hammer mustered his section, grabbed "Doc" Sanders, and a couple of the gunners from the troop's special weapons section and headed out for a long range patrol. After a day it was evident this jungle was much more like the dangerous jungles of Brind's World, where they had previously been deployed, than the forests of Guaiancan. The unfamiliar was itself as dangerous as it was lush and beautiful, never mind the vicious and aggressive xenos fauna! Within six hours he'd already had to call in two medevacs just from tangles with the local vegetation. But the scheme was working - without even contacting the enemy his troopers were on point again - sharper as a finely honed Guaiacan blade...

The second day passed without incident.

On the third day Corporal Hunt, The patrol's scout, reported back that there was a patrol of Xenos headed their way - and they WEREN'T the Orks they were expecting to run into out here! Sergeant Hammer spread out his section and prepared a hasty ambush...



Corporal Hunt and Private Broad, the Sniper from the Special Weapons Section, set up on the left flank with a good view of the xenos' vector of approach.



He set the other two gunners from the special weapons section; Pte. "Blazer" Johnson with his flamer and Pte. Farnsworth with his meltagun, along with Pte. Quincy from his own section.



In the middle Sergeant Hammer set up the rest of his section - directly in the xenos path of advance.



The fearsome xenos warriors advancing through the deadly jungle towards Sergeant Hammer's daring ambush.



The xenos were lightning quick, before he was even able to give the signal, one of them zipped right past Hammer's position with the deftness of a Harboran Tree Rat!

Hammer gave his signal and the jungle lit up with the flash of lasers and explosions from grenades.  Whether it was that they were too long aboard a ship without active targets to shoot at, or the dense cover of the jungle, or the incredible speed with which the xenos could react and move, or the thickness of the armoured plates the bug-like xenos were covered it, the commando's fire seemed entirely ineffective!

The Xenos reacted with terrifying speed and violence. Some of them even began to shoot back - though it was with no sort of bullet or energy weapon Sergeant hammer had ever encountered. Corporal Loiselle was hit with something that looked like large maggots that were covered in some sort of viscous fluid that melted part of her armour and her flesh! the maggots then tried burrowing into her arm, but she quickly carved them out with her knife and returned to firing her grenade launcher! Then Peachy Mcgoo was hit with a similar volley of maggots, before he could dig the first out he was hit by a second volley from another direction - but McGoo fought on! "Shoota" Danes flak vest was splattered with an entirely different bio-weapon - writhing, shiny black-headed worm-like creatures! He quickly brushed them off and crushed them underfoot!

In the middle of this a lizard-like-creature darted out of the booth and took a chunk out of "Blazer" Johnson's leg!

The Xenos pushed right through the section's position! The section kept the fire up, and though a few hits were definitely scored, wounding the vile xenos, none were wounded enough to be slowed down much!

"Gimme some STIM!" Sergeant hammer thundered at Doc Sanders. Doc's stem injector, alway kept in a handy holster, was meant to keep dying soldiers alive long enough to make it back to a regimental aid post, but some had found it also gave the living the boost they needed to give them an edge in close combat. Doc dutifully shot a dose into Sergeant Hammer's bulging biceps, then Hammer was off. bounding out of cover to chase down one of the Xeno with his bolt pistol and chainsword!

Pte. Quincy saw the Sergeant charge and moved to flank his opponent and stab it in the back with his bayonet while the Sarge had it distracted... but the beast was too fast - it turned and brushed off the Sergeant's attacks and then counterattacked brutally savaging Sergeant hammer. Pte. Quincy's attacks were useless as the creature simply moved to fast. After the sergeant was down the creature smiley darted off into the jungle.



As the bulk of the Xenos Swarm rushed past, a gargantuan beast turned and sprayed the squad with more of the wriggling worms from a giant giant conceal appendage. "Shoota" Dane and Bobby Taylor saw the creature and ducked for cover, but Doc Sanders had been watching the sergeant and seen him go down and was preparing to rush to his aid when he was splattered with a mess of writhing worms. His midsection melted away and the worms quickly burrowed into his chest cavity and started making their way to his brain! Doc Sanders died in agony, screaming to the last moment.

Then the Xenos were gone - vanishing into the jungle as quickly as they had appeared. Luckily, for Hammer's section, their tireless, single-minded instinct compelled them onward to some other unknowable purpose....

Hammer's hand transceiver had been destroyed in the assault so they were unable to call in a medieval and the wounded had to limp back towards their forward operations base before they bumped into a patrol with a working vox-caster who were able to call in a valkyrie for them. Doc's body had been immolated in the jungle where he had fallen, they figured they couldn't risk letting whatever had burrowed into him to gestate and potentially infect the entire base. As it was Hammer, Loiselle, Peachy, and Johnson were all shipped back to the regiment's field hospital where they could be put into a proper quarantine, scanned and kept under observation for a period to ensure they were not hosting any hostile organisms...



Bruce (with half his head cut off!?) with his Tyranid Kill Team ready to be ambushed by my Astra Militarum.

This past Friday Bruce came over and we played out a few more actions for out Kill Team Campaign for Xoxigar. Bruce painted a few new minis for his tyranid Kill Team - a pair of Tyranid Warriors and a few Termagants.

Bruce and I played in the Deathworld Forest Kill Zone. We picked the "Daring Ambush" scenario card - which had come with the Kill Zone set. The Guaiacans were the attackers and the Tyranids the defenders. The defenders won if they got more than half of their original number off the opposite edge of the table before the end of the game. Bruce was able to do this by the end of the movement phase on Round Three.

Though I cause a couple flesh wounds on a Termagaunt and a Genestealer, and knocked ONE wound off one of the Tyranid Warriors, the Tyranids, effectively, took no casualties in the game. The Tyranid Warrior Heavy Specialist gained two experience points (for using his specialist tactic) and all the others gained one experience. I don't think any of them levelled up...? The Tyranids and Termagants were new recruits and I don't think either of the genestealers fielded had two experience...

The Sergeant, who had been taken out of action by a genestealer, and peachy, whose two flesh wounds went bad and ended up with him counting as out-of-action at the end of the game, both survived. "Doc" Sanders died. The other two with flesh wounds were okay as well. The Sniper and Scout both gained +2 experience points - I HAD meant to save a command point for the Sergeant to make use of his tactic when he and Quincy were fighting the genestealer, but forgot and ended up using it for a command re-roll in the shooting phase! Everyone else gained +1 experience point. The loss of the action struck fear into the hearts of the Guaiacans, and made them more cautious about how far they would patrol out into the jungle - they lost 1 Territory.


Elsewhere on Xoxigar Tertium...

After their raid on the vast Munitorum facility at the Haldivar Starport, the Darukk Jawbusta's decided to take up residence in the facility - since there was so much eats and bullets on hand. Despite the landing of an entire Imperial Guard Regiment, the starport and the Munitorum compound were so vast it was easy enough for them to camp out and not be found... for a while...

The Harlequins of the The Blood Orange Ballet, in their quest to root out all the taint of chaos on Xoxigar led them to the Munitorum facility at the Haldivar Starport... The taint of chaos ran deep through the population of Xoxigar Tertium and cultists also used the vastness of the Munitorum facility at the starport to hide-in-plain sight their fetishes and relics.

Unfortunately for all involved.. those artifacts were being held in the area now occupied by Darukk Jawbusta's Orks... and when the Harlequins of the The Blood Orange Ballet came to destroy them, Darukk Jawbusta figured they were after HIS loot!!!



The kids played in the Sector Munitorum Kill Zone. They played the "Extreme Measures" scenario. The Harlequin attackers had to set charges on objective markers and have more markers with charges set on them by the end of the game than not to win.



All set up and ready to go! The Orks had picked set traps in the Scout Phase. The Harlequins had picked disarm traps...



The Orks in their deployment zone - ready to defend their loot!!



The Harlequins of the Blood Orange Ballet, descend out of the webways into the munitorum facility to strike quickly and fade away...



They did not expect to find ORKS at their target location... Humans - either munitorum guards or chaos cultists, sure... but what in the name of the Cegorach were Orks doing here!



As they began to plant their charges the Orks swarmed out of the crates and all the nooks and crannies between them.



They would have to work fast!



But the Orks infestation was deep and they came from everywhere.



The Harlequins were quickly overwhelmed.



Soon their focus shifted from the mission to a fight for survival.



The Orks were relentless and it was soon apparent that they would not be able to carry out their mission in the middle of a melee with a hoard of orcs.



The mission was abandoned and the Harlequins retreated into the Webway...

The Orks suffered three out of action, Smashface (the veteran), Gargnal (a regular Boy), and Da Bomb Speshulist. Smashface and Gargnal recovered from their wounds, but the Da Bomb Speshulist died of his wounds. The Leader, Veteran and Combat Specialists all gained +2 experience - bringing all of them to Level 2. The Boyz also gained +2 experience which brought them to level 2 as well. The Boyz gained the Die Hard ability (-1 from all injury rolls for them!)

The Harlequins suffered four our of faction, all eventually recovered from their wounds. The Combat and Medic Specialists made level 2, as did the regular Players fireteam. The Players also gained the Die Hard ability. The loss was a blow to The Blood Orange Ballet (-1 Morale)


Coming Soon to Tim's Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Hopefully some more Kill Team! I'm hoping I might be able to talk Amanda into playing a game sometime this weekend. She wasn't able to play Friday night as she'd been out leading a Karma Class at the Yoga studio she works part time at (karma classes are pay-what-you -want affairs and all the money is donated to a charity - as it is Diabetes Awareness month, Amanda is raising money for the JDRF). As everyone but me and Amanda have played two games in the campaign, I figured if we could get an extra game in, we'd be caught up to everyone else.

On the painting front... I've been kind of all over the place... can't seem to get motivated to get painting things that I feel like I SHOULD be doing.. mostly I've been working on a bunker that goes along with the Wall of Martyrs line. I'll probably have pics of that up shortly.

This week I'm starting work on the Hobby Bunker/basement games room in earnest. Partly to have a place to play a few larger games of 40K in the coming weeks, but also so I can get on with the renovations over the next month.

The games of 40K are to test out forces for an Apocalypse event I'm going to be playing in in February or March. It's a team event and I'm pairing up with a fellow that has Knights and Adeptus Mechainicus stuff. Each team had 300 Power Level (150 PL each) - that's, like, 3000 points each, 6000 points on a side, 12000 points on a 8x6 table... should be pretty awesome. I'm probably going to field Pardis Purpura (my Warhound Titan), the Shadowsword, and the something similar to the Brigade I  took to the Battleforce Recon Tournament in March of this year.

(Earlier this week, I'd been bidding on a second Armorcast Warhound Titan on Ebay - thinking I could bring TWO warhounds to the apocalypse event - they're 75 power level each!  I'd meant to just pick it up for the Buy-It-Now price, but while I waited to confirm with Amanda that she wouldn't execute me for doing so, someone else put in a bid. I went to snipe it on Friday morning, but there was a last minute bidding war and it went for $40USD MORE than the original buy-it-now price... DOH!! Today I was offered a "second chance" on it, which has happened a few times and started to make me wonder if it isn't the sellers bidding it up auctions with a shill accounts and then went they happen to outbid the highest bidder, they offer it as a "second chance" - at a much higher price that it would have been if the "winning bidder" simply hadn't been involved in the auction at all... I'll just wait and see if they relist it back at the original buy-it-now price).