Return of the Soroibus Tortus

With the new Codex: Emperor's Children, I've had to massively reorganize my old Emperor's Children force - that was organized using the rules in the previous edition's Chaos Space Marines Codexes... Really, it was a bit disappointing how much things changed. 

In previous editions, Noise Marines, if taken in a force with the Emperor's Children key words, they were considered Troops or Battleline - your basic troops that you can take as many as you want of (or six units, instead of just three, in the most recent edition) and they could be in units of five to ten... 

In the current edition Noise Marines are fielded in units of six (no more, no less - which makes sense, being the magic number of Slaanesh!) but are NOT BATTLELINE!! Meaning I can only take a MAXIMUM of THREE units of these - a grand total of eighteen Noise Marines!? 

While they weren't all painted, I already had THIRTY Noise Marines!? Then I got twelve more in the Champions of Slaanesh box set!? 

What am I to do with all these Noise Marines!?

I haven't decided ultimately what will happen to ALL of them... but for the time being, I've decided to rebase the ones I've painted (as they are now fielded on 40mm bases!?) and painted up any of the older ones I need to fill out three units of six of the older models as fast as I can and use those... 

What will I do with the dozen other old ones I have...?! I don't know.... 

What will I do with the dozen NEW ones I have...? I don't know... I could just sell them while the Noise Marines are still popular..? Or just keep them around and paint them for funsies... or paint them to replace the old ones (eventually) 

For now, however, I've painted two of the older ones to add to the Soroibus Tortus...

The two new ones... 

Soroibus Tortus Noise Marines

The unit was inspired by the American heavy metal band Twisted Sister and the costumes they wore on the cover of The Best of the Atlantic Years album... 

Sometimes when coming up with names for 40K, I just latinize them, sort of... I'm not sure how I got to Sororibus Tortas...  I'm guessing it was based on Torta (Twisted?) and Soror (Sister)...?  

I could have gone with Perversa Sorore... or Fraternitas Torta... or Fraternitas Perversa!? Alas... Sticking with the original name I came up with for them! 

I have three or four more of the older Noise Marines to finish up to complete the three units... 

When they're done, I could potentially field 740 points of stuff... 

• Daemon Prince of Slaanesh (1)  195 pts
• Lord Exultant (1) 80 pts
• Sorcerer (1) 60 pts
• Noise Marines (6) 135 pts
• Noise Marines (6) 135 pts
• Noise Marines (6) 135 pts

Here's what I've done so far.. 

That's an OLD Keeper of Secrets I'm using as my Daemon Prince of Slaanesh. the Daemon Prince of Slaanesh I now armed with an infernal cannon... Not sure I wonder if I should convert that to have something shooty like...?

Or... maybe that dangly bit I added between their legs could be the Infernal Cannon... I mean... It IS Slaanesh we're talking about here!?

Mutant Plants!?

These have been sitting on my workbench, mostly finished for far too long. Like, for YEARS! A few weeks ago I decided to spend a moment and just finish them off... but didn't get around to finishing up the bases until last night!?

Mutant Plants!

I think the miniatures were from one of the Reaper Bones kickstarters...?

While they could be some nasty carnivorous plant in some Death World jungle, I thought they might also be fun to use as Mutant Plants in a post-apocalyptic warband for use with Mutants and Death-Ray Guns... Or maybe Mutant Crawl Classics...? 

I'd thought of naming them - and even writing their names on their bases, but couldn't decide on names... I thought maybe plant names that are also people names, like Fern and Rose... Or maybe something boring like Bob and Jo... or maybe after some other character pair like Bert and Ernie or Thelma and Louise... 

Anybody out there in bloggerland have any fun ideas for names for Mutant Plants!?

On other news... 

I've been assembling and prepping some Emperor's Children from the Champions of Slaanesh box I picked up back in March. I've also been converting a few of the Chaos Space Marines I already had to look more like the Tormentors and Infractors of the Emperor's Children. Also started working on the Lord Exultant again.

While doing all this I've been listening to Renegades: Lords of Excess, which was fun. It was refreshing to see the Emperor's Children NOT portrayed as all-drug-adled-psychopath-BDSM-torture-daemons-all-the-time! 

Of course that's got me thinking even MORE about 40K again (and Wrath & Glory... and possibly returning to Blackstone Fortress when we finish the Cursed City campaigns!) 

Radukar and some Pretty Dice

I did a thing... 

We are between two and five games from finishing Warhammer Quest: Cursed City... depending on whether it is decided to bring Octern up to fourth level or to just go hunt down Radukar as soon as four of them are at fourth level!?

So I thought I best get Radukar the BEAST - one of the nemeses in Night Wars - the sequel to Night City. (because * spoilers! * apparently Radukar doesn't die... he just gets ANGRIER!)  

But also EMPEROR'S CHILDREN DICE!!

They go nice with the Slaanesh dice I picked up earlier. 

(the Slaanesh dice are easier to read than they look in this picture... the angle I took the pick at made them reflect a lot of the very bright light in the game room...) 

Though, apparently they were selling dice in sets of 20 at that time, and now they only sell them in sets of 16... 

I guess I should get all the Emperor's Children painted up then...? 

40K - Action on on Calispass IX

 It's been a while since I've played Warhammer 40,000. 

A new Space Wolves Codex is on the way and an Army Box with new models and special edition codex was released in the last week or so - which Orion picked up and has been itching to play with... So I suggested we play a game! 

I did pick up the new Codex: Aeldari back in February, but I haven't played them in... five or six years!? (I may have used some in a few Kill Team games, though...). 

THE SITUATION

Farseer Thymiltelyir of the Biel-Tymm Fleet foresaw the Mon-keigh building of a refinery on Calispass IX was a little too close to some ancient Aeldari ruins and should they find any of the artifacts lost within, it could be ruinous for the Aeldari. A force was dispatched to dissuade the Mon-Keigh from further encroaching on the site. 

Unfortunately, Farseer Thymiltelyir did not foresee the presence of the worst of the Mon-Keigh; the brutal and savage beasts that call themselves "Space Wolves"... 

THE SCENARIO

Just to keep things simple, we played the very basic Only War scenario from the Warhammer 40,000 (Tenth Edition) Core Rulebook. There are four Objective locations. A single point is awarded at the end of each players Command Phase (after the first tun) for each Objective held (to a maxim um of three points per turn). 

That's it. 

THE FORCES

Aeldari Force

Farseer Thymiltelyir  (with Psychic Destructor enhancement) 

Warlocks Adrellewi and Broelwyn of the Chorus of the Emerald Reaping Warlock Conclave

Shrine of the Fading Night Dire Avengers led by Exarch Bylizek

Shrine of the Dawning Confluence Dire Avengers led by Exarch Thodelwynn

Shrine of the Crawling Fury Warp Spiders led by Exarch Latrodectus

Maesenir's Rangers

Myardak's Rangers 

Kaedoreth's Rangers

Wraithguard

Space Wolves Force

Bjorn the Fell-Handed

Ragnar Blackmane leading ten Blood Claws 

Wolf Guard Battle Leader leading six Wolf Guard Headtakers and six Hunting Wolves

Wolf Guard Battle Leader (with Wolf Touched enhancement) leading Wulfen (with Thundershields!) 

A pack of six Fenrisian Wolves

THE GAME

The Mon-keigh's new a refinery on Calispass IX

The brutal savages of the Space Wolves are there waiting... 

Kaedoreth's Rangers infiltrated ahead of the main Aeldari force, signalled back the presence of the unexpected defenders. It was decided to go ahead with the raid. 

Farseer Thymiltelyir lead the Chorus of the Emerald Reaping Warlock Conclave and some Wraithguard forward, while Thodelwynn, Exarch of the Shrine of the Dawning Confluence Dire Avengers, held his troops back to defend one of the Ancient Aeldari ruin sites. 

The Wraithguard brought fire upon an anceint dreadnaught within the refinery, damaging it slightly... 

Shrine of the Crawling Fury Warp Spiders surged past Myardak's Rangers to seize one of the locations the Farseer determined would be ideal to set demolition charges. the were followed by Shrine of the Fading Night Dire Avengers led by Exarch Bylizek. 

Before they could even start setting the charges, they were assaulted by the brutal and savage Wulfen, led by a Wolf Guard Battle Leader. The Warp Spiders let loose with their Death Spinners and shredded three of the Wulfen, before they were upon them. 

The Wulfen crashed into the Warp Spiders with a terrifying fury, smashing and shattering flesh and bone and equipment. With so many injured and/or rendered ineffective with shattered equipment, Exarch Latrodectus called for the Shrine of the Crawling Fury Warp Spiders to retire to the rendezvous point in preparation to return to the fleet via a webway portal 

So shocked by the violence of the Wulfen's assault, the Shrine of the Fading Night Dire Avengers did not even have a chance to react to a second Wolf Guard Battle Leader leading a troop of Headhunters assaulted from their flank, through the Shardwrack Spines. 

A few of the Dire Avengers were immediately cut down by the murderous Headtakers. Exarch Bylizek ordered the remains of the squad to lay down suppressing fire to give the injured a chance to escape, then all fell back to the rendezvous point. They may have beaten them, but they would not be taking any heads today!

Elsewhere, Ragnar Blackmane and his Blood Claws, along with a pack of Fenrisian Wolves savaged Maesenir's Rangers then attempted to storm the position held by Exarch Thodelwynn and the Shrine of the Dawning Confluence Dire Avengers. Thodelwynn and the Shrine of the Dawning Confluence Dire Avengers were a bit more prepared than their compatriots. Thodelwynn directed a the Dire Avengers to unload vicious volley of monofilament shurikens at the stampeding brutes, slaughtering all but Blackmane... 

The Dire Avengers then charged in and, with the aid of the Farseer and warlocks...  

...brought down the famed leader of the Space Wolves. 

meanwhile the Wraithguard finished off the pack of wolves and siezed one of the objectives. 

The Wraithguard exchanged fire with the ancient dreadnaught in the refinery... 

Meanwhile, the headtakers quickly redeployed to the opposite flank of the battle!?

All but Maesenir (leader of one of the Ranger groups that had been savaged by Ragnar Blackmane and his barbaric Blood Claws) moved forward to try and hold one of the objectives long enough to start planting demolition charges.  

More fire was exchanged with the Headtakers and the Dreadnaught, chipping away at the forces on both sides. 

Eventually the Headtakers and their Wolf Guard Battle Leader charged in. 

Maesenir continued taking pot shots with his long rifle and planting demolition charges to destroy evidence of the Anceint Aeldari ruins. 

He hoped the rest of his rangers made it back to the rendezvous point. Two had been seriously injured... 

The sounds of escalating violence drew the Wulfen away from the position their commander had told them to hold... 

More of the Wraithguard were smashed and Dire Avengers injured. Farseer Thymiltelyir decided the situation was untenable and had the remaining forces exact an ordered retreat to the rendezvous point. The Farseer and Warlocks gathered the spririt stones of the Wraithguard and escorted the injured Dire Avengers off the battlefield. 

Exarch Thodelwynn stayed to hold back the beasts of the Mon-Keigh... 

Maesenir, distracted by the violence in the distance was unable to concentrate on setting up demolition charges... (failed a battleshock test and no longer counted as holding the objective). 

The Beastly Wolfen rounded the corner and it was time for the Exarch to give up the position. He'd held it long enough for the others to get away. There was no glory in dying this day.. 

The Wolf Guard Battle Leader and last surviving Headtaker had finally spotted the hidden Ranger and decided they should chase him off. Maesenir faded into the forest and made his way back to the Rendezvous point just in time to travel with the rest of the force. 

Despite slaying many of the absurd genetically-enhanced mon-keigh, what was gained strategically was too little compared to the Aeldari losses. Despite access to the best flesh and bone weavers, two were killed in action (Daelwynneth of the Shrine of the Fading Night Dire Avengers and Aurelys of Maesenir's Rangers) and others were so grievously injured, they had to leave the Path of the Warrior (or Outcast) and find new paths to walk in life. Klofaryl's head injury meant the could not focus to be an effective ranger. Holemenes and Bothrenon of Shrine of the Fading Night Dire Avengers lost and arm and a leg, respectively, and neither of the replacements grown for them were strong enough to continue their path. Farseer Thymiltelyir  took a bolter round to the spine and was crippled for some cycles. Many others spent many cycles in painful and difficult recovery and it would be a long time before they rejoined the path. 

What actually happened in the game...?

I had to go first and moved up, taking an objective with the Warp Spiders... because that's what we have to do... right? Then the space wolves went and the Warp Spiders, a unit of Dire Avengers and a unit of Rangers were charged and wiped out... Three of my seven units of troops gone in the first round. 

The next round the other two units of Rangers were destroyed. 

I did take out ONE unit of Space Wolves... chipped away at another... but didn't really 

I think I ended with 4-5 victory points and Orion would have scored... 10?  or so...?

Bolt Action - Streets of Stalingrad!

 Orion had a free afternoon, so I set up a quick scenario in the Streets of Stalingrad (or, really, it could be any ruined city on the eastern front... Orion pointed out it would work well for the siege of Budapest when she gets enough of her Hungarians done!) 

That matt is newer, but those that have been following some time will recognize these ruins from many a battle from.. Stalingrad to post apocalypse to Frostrgrave. 

I provided both forces and, because we were using a smaller matt, built them around 500 points. 

The Germans, which Orion took, included:

Platoon Commander (Regular) + 2 men + 2x SMG + pistol = 57

First Infantry Squad (Regular) NCO + 9 men with LMG and SMG = 119 points

Second Infantry Squad (Regular) NCO + 9 men with LMG and SMG = 119 points

Third Infantry Squad (Regular) NCO + 9 men with LMG and SMG = 119 points

Medic (Regular) = 23 points

Sniper Team (Regular) = 52 points

Total = 489 points

The Soviets, which I played, included:

Platoon Commander (Regular) + 2 men = 50

First (Heavy) Infantry Squad (Regular) NCO + 7 men with 2x LMG and SMG = 114 points

Second (Heavy) Infantry Squad (Regular) NCO + 7 men with 2x LMG and SMG = 114 points

Third (Light) Infantry Squad (Regular) NCO + 8 men with LMG and SMG = 109 points

Fourth (Light) Infantry Squad (Regular) NCO + 8 men with LMG and SMG = 109 points

Total = 496 points

The basic scenario was that the area had been vacated by both sides during a particularly heavy bombardment and when the dust settled, both sides tasked a platoon with reestablishing control of the area. 

We used Battle Scenario rules: Seek and Destroy victory conditions, Meeting Engagement deployment type, and Long Edges deployment zones.... except we used the short edges and played across the length of the matt... but that's because the matt is HALF the size of a regular battlefield (and playing with forces half the size of a regular force) and so the distance across was essentially the same... 

Soviet forces infiltrating into the area on the first turn.. 

Teh Germans cautiously enter the mission area. 

the two sides spot each other. 

A German sniper team takes a shot at an approaching Soviet patrol and is pinned by the return fire. 

Soviets approaching in the distance

German and Soviet squads start exchanging fire as they encounter each other moving amongst the rubble. 

Advancing Soviets encounter a German squad that's fortified itself in a ruined building and begin exchanging fire

So... I needed fives to hit... 

More Soviets spot Germans across the way and begin exchanging fire with them as well. 

A general firefight ensues, mostly between squads hunkered down in the cover of the brick and concrete rubble. 

Germans attempt to maneuver closer. 

A German squad is caught in the open and... not entirely wiped out due to continued terrible dice rolls! 

Soviets taking casualties from accurate German fire. 

Germans maneuvering again. 

So the Soviets that had caught the German squad in the open, got to go first in the next round and desperately wanted to light them up before they got to cover - or assaulted their position. As they had pin markers they had to make an order test... 

FUBAR... 

...and so they ran! 

Right past the Platoon commander!?

Luckily the Platoon commander and assistants took up their positions and fired on the Germans in the open! 

Another Soviet squad moved out into the open to get a line of fire on them and light them up. 

Another Soviet squad taking serious casualties. So many that they needed to make a moral test... and failed and fled the field of battle! 

Platoon Commander continues to pour fire on the Germans in the street who'd become pinned down at this point. Flanking fire from the squad that had panicked and fled the building but rallied and returned on the pinned units flank. 

Soviet squad that had been shooting on the Germans in the street ran for the cover the wiped out platoon had been in.

The German platoon command team tried to assault the Soviet infantry squad!? The Germans did manage to take out two of the defending Soviets... but were themselves wiped out!? 

Positions at the end of the game. 

 The game ended at the end of the sixth turn. I was ahead by a victory point but not enough to win. Really could have gone either way if we'd played another turn...  

I also had a hat! 

Good fun. Fairly quick game and I didn't COMPLETELY forget ALL of the rules... (even though we hadn't played for a month and a half, so... there's that!) 

I never did finish the battle report from the last game.. and.. honestly... I'm not sure I'm going to get to it at this point!? I do plan to finish up the last three Warhammer Quest game reports (They're mostly done!) 

Not sure if we're going to get in too many more games until July... Hopefully Orion will have enough of her Hungarians done that we can play with those!