Warhammer 40,000: Boarding Actions (and a White Dwarf)

I picked up a copy of Warhammer 40,000: Boarding Actions yesterday. It contains rules and scenarios for playing battles aboard voidships and space hulks in the 41st millennium! I have a PILE of the spaceship interior terrain from that year of buying all the Kill Team sets (which I never got around to playing - or even assembling!) 

I figured I have it, I might as well paint it up and use it. 

One thing that is surprising about this book is that it is almost ALL rules and scenarios... like, almost 300 pages of it. There are over fifty scenarios, rules amendments for fighting shipboard battles and rules for building boarding parties for all the factions - with a minimal background fluff!!

While I was at my FLGS, I also picked up White Dwarf #511 from April. It is a special issue focusing on the Emperor's Children... since I'm playing Emperor's children, I figured it might be handy - if only for painting inspiration. 

There I did know that it included the rules for using Emperor's Children in Boarding Actions (as the Boarding Actions rules do not include them as it was published before there even was an Emperor's Children faction - other than just using the generic Chaos Space Marines rules and calling them Emperor's Children).

I was delighted to find the magazine also included and alternate Emperor's Children Combat Patrol. The standard Combat Patrol - which is available as a box set - includes units which I do not own (like, $140 worth of units!). At some point I was resigned to buying it at some point... but the Emperor's Children Combat Patrol included in the magazine is made up of THINGS I ALREADY OWN!? YAY!! Mind you, half of it is things I still need to paint... but both units were on the painting priority list, already, so... 

The disappointing thing about the magazine was the Emperor's Children in Boarding Party rules... there are only two FOUR units you are allowed to take!? Two characters; Lucious the Eternal (an Epic Hero) and a Lord Kakophonist (both of which I do not have and wasn't planning to pick up any time soon!?). No Lord Exultant... No Sorcerers... and Two Infantry Units; Flawless Blades and Terminiator Squads.  No Infractors... No Tormentors... (the core troops) Not even Noise Marines...!? WTF!? 

Ah well... It's not like I have any of the terrain painted yet. It's not like I have a shortage of other armies I'll be able to field in Boarding Actions... 

Guess maybe I might be picking up that Combat Patrol after all.. (to get the Flawless Blades!) 

This month's White Dwarf is another special focused on Khorne... so... maybe I'll be buying that one too... 

Game Plan 2025 - Q3

Half way through the year! It's time to take a moment and look back at the previous quarter and maybe do some planning (or guessing at) what I might do over the next few months! 

Q2 in Review

Here's what I'd planned for Q2... and how it went... 

(you can find the original post here: Game Plan 2025 - Q2)

Q2 GAMES

I played 18 games in the Second Quarter of 2025:

• Warhammer Quest: Cursed City x10
• Advanced Song of Blades and Heroes x5
• Bolt Action: Third Edition x2
• Warhammer 40,000 (Tenth Edition) x1

Below is a bit of a breakdown of what I'd planned and how it went. 

Warhammer Quest

This had been going extremely well through the first quarter... I expected we would continue to play through the second... The only question was; Would we finish the game in the second quarter? Or would we STILL BE PLAYING!?  I had figured it would take a MINIMUM of seven more sessions to complete the initial campaign in Cursed City (but it seemed more likely to take eleven or more). 

In the end we played almost weekly and got in TEN games of Warhammer Quest: Cursed City this quarter. We will definitely finish off the initial campaign in the next few weeks or so! Woo! 

Role-Playing Games 

I had wondered if we might get the in-person Soulbound game going again... 

We did not... 

I did, however start a NEW campaign on Tuesday evenings... The Campaign for Ravensflight - initially the plans were to use Five Leagues from the Borderlands for the campaign system and Advanced Song of Blades and Heroes for playing out the tabletop skrimishes... in the end I dropped the idea of the using Five Leagues from the Borderlands and just made up my own scenarios that narratively followed on from the previous one... it was kind of more of a "role-playing lite" series of linked skimish adventures... but was fun! 

After only five sessions, the leader of the expedition died along with Finnegan's main character (the wizard! after he'd already lost one of his characters in the first encounter!?) and we had considered a hard reboot of the campaign and made up some new characters but then got busy doing other things. It was a lot of fun! I would love to get something like that (or some other role-playing game!) going at some point. I'd initially thought when we're done Warhammer Quest: Cursed City... But my interests seem to be shifting elsewhere. 

World War Two - Bolt Action, etc...

I thought FOR SURE I would be playing a LOT of Bolt Action through the Second Quarter. I wasn't so sure we'd keep playing Five Men at Kursk or Five Men in Normandy, but didn't rule out OTHER games! 

Previously we'd be mostly playing games set in North Africa - and a few smaller ones in the Pacific Theatre of Operations (partly due to availability of mats to play on!). As Orion was ordering a Hungarian army, I expected focus to shift to the Eastern Front as well! 

I ended up playing Only playing ONE GAME in April (which I never even got around to posting a game report for), and NONE in May, and then only ONE MORE game  in June!? 

Other Warhammer Games - Age of Sigmar/Underworlds/40K

I hadn't written all of these off entirely... I mean, I WAS still playing Warhammer Quest, so some part of my brain was still interested in the Age of Sigmar setting...

I DID get in one game of 40K and even before that I had also hoped I might get to painting a few more Eldar..?  or maybe a few of the Emperor's Children...? Possibly pick up the new Astra Militarum codex and reorg all those armies to be ready for action...?

At the beginning of May, Orion travelled to Calgary to play in the  - a World Championship of Warhammer qualifier event with two or three Golden Tickets up for grabs! She did not win one of those, but came back feeling inspired to play Warhammer Quest again!! But I didn't end up playing a single game... 

With the release of the new setting for Spearhead, I even got thinking about playing that again! So far, I have not... 

Board Games 

I was really feeling that I was missing playing a lot of the board games we'd played in the past... and hoped to play more... but realistically I wasn't sure if I'd have the time or energy to organize and play regular board games... AND play Warhammer Quest every week... AND play Bolt Action (or other miniatures games)... AND write up game reports... AND paint new miniatures for Bolt Action (or other miniatures games)... AND possibly organize and run a role-playing game... 

Though we had talked about playing Terraforming Mars a few times, in the end we played no board games this quarter...

Solo Miniature Games 

At the beginning of the quarter I was still feeling it would be fun to continue the current solo games... 

Paras in Normandy

Pulp Adventure

Five Parsecs from Home

and still hoped I'd get around to trying out Devilry Afoote... 

But as with board games... What little time I ended up playing games, I was actually playing games WITH people, so found it hard to fit in some additional solo games on the side! 

Q2 MINIATURES

Ooof! I did NOT get nearly as much done this past Quarter. In the first Quarter I managed to paint 199 x 28mm foot figures, four mounted and TEN tanks and other vehicles... This quarter I painted less than a third of that! 

It was clear at the beginning of the quarter that my focus was mainly ONE thing... 

World War Two - Bolt Action

This seemed to be where things were mostly focused for the forseeable future. I had been working on forces for the desert war in North Africa and the Pacific. 

I'd acquired a BUNCH of tanks to play in the sand and hoped that would be the primary focus for the Second Quarter. 

What I did end up assembling and painting was... 

• 1x German Spotter
• 3x USMC Forward Observers
• 2x Chindit Anti-Tank Rifle Crew
• 2x Japanese Anti-Tank Rifle Crew
• 4x USMC War Dogs and Handlers
• 19x Fallshirmjäger

But during this period I pick up another 55 WW2 infantry and four more vehicles!? 

• 10x Fallschirmjäger Squad (Tropical Uniform)
• 10x Gebirgsjäger
• 4x USMC War Dogs and Handlers
• 3x USMC Forward Observers
• 3x 1940 French Casualties 
• 7x 1940 French Weapons team crews
• 4x Afrika Korps Pak 36 light anti-tank gun and crew
• 2x Chindit Anti-Tank Rifle crew
• 2x Japanese Anti-Tank Rifle crew
• 1x Death Korps of Krieg Engineer (Free Miniature of the Month)
• 10x WW2 Gurkhas
• 6x Fallshirmjäger Weapons Teams
• 1x Chi-Ha Japanese tank (Q2) 
• 1x Vought F4U Corsair
• 1x Stug III
• 1x Stug III

Warhammer Games

Age of Sigmar/Underworlds/40K/Cursed City/Soulbound

I did finish Torgilius the Chamberlain - the only mini I needed to finish for Warhammer Quest: Cursed City! (other than two Mysterious Object markers!) 

I'd planned to get started on the last few things I need for Warhammer Quest: Cursed City - Night Wars... the Fell Bats and Radukar the Beast!? I did BUY Radukar the Beast and I've had the Fell Bats assembled and primed for a while... but I did not get them painted 

I'd hoped perhaps that painting stuff for Night Wars might be expanded again into larger Age of Sigmar forces...? Maybe paint up some of the other Soulblight Gravelords when I work on these few things...?  That hasn't happened, so far.. .

If we'd gotten Soulbound going again, I'd hoped that might get me working on some of the Chaos foes that could be encountered - primarily the Disciples of Tzeentch, but also Skaven and Slaves to Darkness... alas... 

I DID start working on the Emperor's Children - reorganizing some of the things I already have and assembling and priming the Champions of Slaanesh I bought at the end of the First Quarter 

I did rebase 18 Noise Marines onto 40mm bases (as that's what they're on now!?) and I did paint up two new Noise Marines to finish up one unit. I have another four to finish up to complete the other two units. I also finished up an odd Possessed Heretic Astartes!

Unfortunately I also picked up a Chaos Daemons Combat Patrol box and Radukar the Beast, which has kind of put me back in the red to end this Quarter. 

Other Games

I did acknowledge that there was always the possibility that I could decide I needed to paint stuff for something else entirely... Thinking the most likely possibilities would be for the Solo games - Sci-fi stuff for Five Parsecs from Home or Pulp Adventure stuff....

In the end I painted a few things for the new role-playing/skirmish campaign

• 1x Wizard
• 1x Halfling Assassin
• 12x Assorted Fantasy Characters

and some random Mutant Plants... 

Painting progress and game playing dropped significantly over the second Quarter. Part of it was because it's spring and other things were going on... part of it was... "family drama", I guess you could call it... that put a LOT of things on hold. 

so... for the next three months... 

GAME PLAN 2025 - Q3

What to do in the Third Quarter...?

I feel like interests are shifting and Warhammer 40,000 might return to be a focus for the Third Quarter!?

GAMES

I will probably play some games... likely continuing what I've been doing for the last quarter/year so far... with some slight shifts...

Warhammer Quest

It has been a lot of fun playing this with Amanda and Finnegan! In the Third Quarter we will definitely finish off the initial quest in Warhammer Quest: Cursed City and then likely move on to working our way through Warhammer Quest: Cursed City - NIGHT WARS! 

I haven't even opened the Night Wars box, let alone read any of the content, so I have NO IDEA how long that will take... I imagine it won't take 30 missions like the first quest did, and could possibly be finished up over the summer (by the end of Q3)!

After that...? 

I really like this format of play and Amanda, Finnegan and I have been having a lot of fun playing through the campaign. We have a few options to continue on... 

There is still Silver Tower we have not played through. I still have to finish a numbe r of minatures for that one, but that could likely be finished by the time we're done Night Wars... 

There is also Blackstone Fortress! Amanda and I played through the initial campaign back in 2020/2021 and carried on playing some of the adventures in the Annual and the Dreaded Ambul campaign. I still have the Ascension, Deadly Alliance, No Respite, Traitor Command, and Escalation expansions to play through!!

OR we could maybe take a break and focus on... Role-Playing...? 

I have a feeling, if we finish Night Wars before the end of the Quarter, we might return to Blackstone Fortress! I checked with Finnegan and Amanda and both seem interested in that. 

Role-Playing Games 

As mentioned above I had a lot of fun playing that rpg-lite skirmish adventure campaign and I'd like to revisit that (or SOME kind of role-playing game!) But I'm not sure I'm going to be able to get that going on while still playing Warhammer Quest (and other games!). 

With a renewed interest in Warhammer 40,000 my thoughts have returned to Wrath & Glory and the possibility of starting up a campaign (or two!?) either online or in-person (or BOTH!?)... I've suggested maybe I could run a few one-shot adventures for players to try out different archetypes and Tiers over the summer and then maybe in the fall get an ongoing campaign going. 

World War Two - Bolt Action

Despite the slow down in games and painting in the Second Quarter, I do hope things will pick up again in the next quarter. I have an idea for a skirmish campaign involving some of Orion's Hungarians - when she gets enough done - and then I imagine there will be a lot of campaigning on the Eastern Front with them! 

Warhamer 40,000

At the tail end of the Second Quarter the 40K bug caught me again and I've been busily working on Emperor's Children and assorted other stuff, while listening to 40K audio books. I got in one game (with my Aeldari, versus Orions Space wolves...). Despite that disaster, it's got me thinking about 40K again. 

I'm not sure exactly where that's going to take me this quarter. I do not love matched play.... so I picked up the most recent Crusade book (for playing narrative campaigns) and am hoping we might get to play though - or at least start - a campaign over the summer. I want to finish up enough of the Emperor's Children to play with them! Amanda said she might be willing to play some games, so I might need to figure out a force for her. 

I could also see giving Combat Patrol a try...? It's a smaller game similar to Age of Sigmar Spearhead. 

Other Warhammer Games - Age of Sigmar/Underworlds/Soulbound/etc.

I STILL haven't written all of these off entirely... I mean, I'm STILL playing Warhammer Quest, so some part of my brain is still interested in the Age of Sigmar setting at least somewhat!? 

Some people on the discord were talking about playing Spearhead again - and I could see trying to get in a game or two. 

I feel completely out of the loop with what's going on with Warhammer Underworlds these days... There have been a few new decks released and I have not picked them up... 

Board Games 

WOW! I have missed playing board games... but with all the other games going on each week - each requiring some prep beforehand and a game report after... I'm not sure I'll have the TIME to play any board games... 

Solo Miniature Games 

It would be fun to continue the current solo games... 

• Paras in Normandy
• Pulp Adventure
• Five Parsecs from Home

I's also still LOVE to try out Devilry Afoote Campaign I got all set up for...

AND I continue to have SO MANY IDEAS about other campaigns I could play... 

I'll just keep those in my back pocket for now, in case any of the current active in-person campaigns Im actually playing with others fizzle... 

MINIATURES

What will I get up to PAINTING the next few months...?

As always, it will be likely dictated by the games I end up playing. As outlined above that will probably be Warhammer 40,000, Bolt Action, and Warhammer Quest... and possibly Age of Sigmar...? 

World War Two - Bolt Action

I could spend the rest of the year just painting World War Two stuff for Bolt Action (or... any WW2 game...) and not run out of stuff... If I COULD I'd like to finish up the following... 

• 4x  Matilda II
• 5x  Cruiser Mk1 (A9)
• 2x  Italian M14/41 tank
• Italian Colonial Troops (10) 
• Italian Breda AA gun
• 8th Army 6 pounder and crew
• Gebirgsjager Squad (10) 
• 1940 French Army Casualties and weapons teams (10) 
• ~50x Fallschirmjager  
• 2x  Panzer IV
• 2x Panther
• Japanese Army Chi Ha tank 
• 3x DAK Panzer III
• DAK Howitzer and crew
• DAK AT gun
• DAK Sdkfz 222 Armoured Car
• DAKPanzer IV
• 2x Stug III

Not sure how much (or ANY) of this is going to happen... but we can dream. I guess it will depend on how much Orion wants to play later in the summer and fall. Playing always motivates painting!!

Warhammer 40,000

I like the idea of trying out Combat Patrol - the smaller skirmishy version of 40K - very similar to Age of Sigmar: Spearhead. But they are fixed forces and I don't have the exact units required to field ANY of them... and I am loathe to BUY any more stuff at this point. 

I did end up buying a Chaos Daemons Combat Patrol last week... Partly to have a force I could try out Combat Patrol with... but also because there are rules for unbound wandering Daemons in the Armageddon Crusade campaign... and also they could be used in my Age of Sigmar Blades of Khorne army... AND, most importantly, the force is being discontinued and I wanted to get one before they all disappeared! 

In the last week I've gotten them all based and assembled and primed and hopefully within the week I'll be able to finish them all off!!

Other than that, I think the primary focus for this will be getting some Emperor's Children painted - enough to field a 1000 point Crusade Force for campaining on Armageddon. 

I MAY also end up breaking down and getting the Emperor's Children Combat Patrol, if I can find anyone else that's even remotely interested in playing. As with most boxed sets, it's way cheaper to buy the box than the individual units. The units in the box that I'd need (2 units of Flawless Blades) individually would cost $140... the Combat Patrol is $200 (which would give me two more units worth $135 - Lord Exultant and Infractors - which I could always do with more of...) 

Regardless... I already have loads of Emperor's Children to paint! 

Currrently to paint:

• Lord Exultant
• 20 Tormentors
• 20 Infractors
• 10 Chaos Terminators 

This, with the stuff I already have, would get me to about 1660 points - plenty of options for a starting Crusade force. Picking up the Combat Patrol would put me well over 2000. IF I picked up the Combat Patrol, that would add: 

• ANOTHER Lord Exultant
• 10 MORE Infrators
• 6 Flawless Blades

I think I have to make myself a deal that I have to finish at least the Lord Exultant that I already have, one unit of Infractors and one unit of Tormentors before I can reasonably buy myself an Emperor's Children Combat Patrol... 

To put together a 1000 point force of Ynnari for Amanda I need to paint 

• Yvraine 
• Ynnari Archon 
• 5-10 Ynnari Kabalite Warriors 
• Ynnari Succubus 

To expand the force, I have more Ynnari Reavers and Wyches and a Venom and other members of the Triumvirate of the Ynnead that I could paint... 

Warhammer Quest

I will definitely be painting up Radukar the Beast and the Fell Bats needed for Cursed City: Night Wars. 

After that...? I guess it depends which game we play next. 

There are Grot Skuttlings, a couple Skaven, a few Familiars, the Gaunt Summoner, and two of the heroes I'd need to finish up to play Silver Tower. 

For Blackstone Fortress there are miniatures for all the expansion campaigns I have that would need painting... 

Other Warhammer Games

I still have other Warhammer Games in the back of my mind...  I COULD see myself knocking out the rest of the stuff needed for a Soulblight Gravelords Spearhead army... (or maybe the Stormcast Eternals...?) - 

The Khorne Daemons from the Chaos Daemons Combat Patrol are all useable in Age of Sigmar... 

Other Games

Song of Blades and Heroes...?

other Ganesha Games...?

All the Solo games...?

If I got playing these again, I could end up painting stuff for them... buuuuuuut... realistically, I don't see that happening this Quarter! 

Possessed Heretic Astartes

 A random single figure rolling off the painting desk that doesn't really fit in with anything else I'll be posting any time soon... 

Possessed Heretic Astartes 

I have not come up with a name for him yet... 

Not sure when or how I will ever make use of him... 

He has a brother, Lorgag, which I finished ages ago. 

Lorgag led a small band of Chaos Space marines, back when the leader of a Generic Chaos Space Marine squad could be led by a champion sporting a Chain Axe... And, maybe Generic Chaos Space Marines still can...? But not-so-much the Emperor's Children. 

So I probably won't find much use for him in 40K... but there's always Wrath & Glory (which I've been thinking a lot about again, lately, and has no such limitations!)

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!?

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...? 

The Six Sweet Sultry Saturday Seductions of Slaanesh

(try saying THAT six times, quickly!) 

I have been waiting for an Emperor's Children codex for YEARS... It was some time during 8th edition that I got it in my head that I should just play CHAOS. I hate having to play my Imperial Guard against other Imperial forces - and there are a LOT of people out there with Imperial forces (between all the marines and guard and Mechanicus and knights, etc). Playing Eldar there is always the possibility of playing against Eldar... (I was still thinking in terms of playing at tournaments at this point). Chaos seemed fun and colourful and they'll fight ANYONE - even OTHER CHAOS forces. So I started working on an Emperor's Children force using the generic Chaos Space Marines codex (only Deathguard and Thousand Sons had their own, at that point).

And I waited... and waited... and WAITED... 

You could play Emperor's Children (sort of) with the Chaos Space Marines... There were Noise Marines (or, rather, you could hunt down old metal ones on Ebay, or buy a conversion kit to convert regular Chaos Space Marines into Noise Marines...) I did a bit of both and amassed THIRTY of them!? Normally they were "elites" but if you were running Emperor's Children, they became TROOPS! 

In Ninth Edition, I THINK there were similar rules... I was playing less during ninth edition and so I didn't buy the Chaos Space Marines codex when it came out... I was REALLY hoping there'd be an Emperor's Children codex eventually... but there wasn't... (World Eaters got their own Codex during Ninth Edition!) 

I've been playing even lass during tenth edition... 

So when they hinted at the end of 2024 that there'd be Emperor's Children in 2025, I... wasn't THAT stoked. I was happy they were finally doing that... but I hadn't played in almost a year and was VERY interested in Age of Sigmar at the moment. 

When they previewed the new minis earlier this year and started dropping hints about the codex and rules and a launch box... I waffled. I didn't really think I'd get to painting and playing with them, as I was still super focused on Age of Sigmar... I did think about MAYBE picking up the launch box...? They are usually INCREDIBLE deals... it would get me the Codex and some of the new minis... I wasn't sure if I really NEEDED any as I have QUITE A BIT of Chaos stuff... and... like THIRTY Noise Marines....

I noted at one point the Noise Marines were going to be sold (and fielded) in units of six, which wasn't a problem, because conveniently thirty is easily divisible by six! Instead of six units of five (or three units of ten). I'd have five units of six (or, presumably, two units of twelve and a unit of six...). Easy Peasy... 

I saw the announcement that it would be coming up for pre-order the following week three weeks ago, and I still wasn't sure... I saw it went up for pre-order two weeks ago and, at that point decided maybe I should pick it up! I'll get back to playing 40K at some point and if ever I think I'd want the new Noise Marine figures, maybe I should. So I contacted my local FLGS and asked if they'd set aside one of the ones they got in for me... and they said all the ones they were getting were spoken for. 

(This has never happened before... for every other game that sold out online within an hour of pre-orders going live - Blackstone Fortress, Cursed City, a few of the Kill Team boxes, etc - I always got a copy! Mind you, I usually asked about them weeks before the pre-orders go live...) 

I checked online and the Warhammer website sold out within minutes. I checked a half-dozen Canadian online retailers, and they'd all sold out as well... 

I snoozed... I losed... 

At that point I decided this was the universe telling me just to give up on it and paint my damned Aeldari if I wanted to work on 40K stuff...

So, I let it go and moved on... 

And ordered a BUNCH of World War Two miniatures... 

Somehow, even though it's been over a year, completely forgot that WE HAVE A WARHAMMER STORE in Saskatoon now and, despite the fact that the Mail Order pre-order sold out... the STORES would be getting copies... and I completely forgot about that until Friday evening... 

...when the local Warhammer Store posted this on their facebook page!!

I had a hard time getting to sleep friday night as I was so annoyed with myself for not having thought of that!? And also there was a bit of me that still kind-of wanted to go and get one... but also a large part of me wished I'd never seen that and was really happy to have moved onto Bolt Action and returned to World War Two gaming and just wanted to let it go... 

I mentioned it to Amanda in the morning and I didn't even propose the idea getting, I just mentioned that the store had some and I felt silly that I hadn't thought of that and recognized that I'd moved on and spent the money on other things.... 

And she said I should just go get one..!?  

So Saturday morning I rode out to the Warhammer Store!

And just before noon, I bought the last of the six copies they had!

I pedalled home as fast as I could and like a little kid at Xmas I  tore into that box!

So many fun things! 

Fancy cards... though... it didn't seem like there were a lot of them...?

Fancy new Special Edition Codex... started flipping through it.

There are not a LOT of Data Sheets (or whatever they're called now)... a LOT of the stuff I have is NOT in the book... Uggggghhhh.... am I STILL going to have to buy the Chaos Space Marine book to field all my things!? Where's he page that says what other chaos things I can take that are in the Chaos Space Marine book...?

(There is NOT such a page...)

My Emperor's Children force went from this... (yeah, there's still a lot that needs painting... ) 

• Chaos Lord in Terminator Armour (1) 95 pts
• Heretic Astartes Daemon Prince (1) 180 pts
• Sorcerer (1) 60 pts
• Master of Possession (1) 80 pts
• Fabius Bile (2) 85 pts
• Accursed Cultists (8) 105 pts
• Cultist Mob (10) 55 pts 
• Cultist Mob (20) 110 pts
• Dark Commune (5) 65 pts
• Fellgor Beastmen (10) 95 pts (which I forgot to include in the picture...) 
• Noise Marines (10) 170 pts
• Noise Marines (10) 170 pts
• Noise Marines (10) 170 pts
• Raptors (5)  90 pts
• Chaos Terminator Squad (10) 390 pts
• Obliterators (2) 180 pts
• Traitor Guardsmen Squad (10) 70 pts (which I forgot to include in the picture...) 
• Traitor Guardsmen Squad (10) 70 pts (which I forgot to include in the picture...) 
• Traitor Guardsmen Squad (10) 70 pts (which I forgot to include in the picture...) 
• Venomcrawler (1) 120 pts

Total: 2430 pts! 

to this... HALF the stuff I have... no longer playable as Emperors Children...

• Lord Exultant (Old Chaos Lord) (1) 85 pts
• Daemon Prince of Slaanesh (1) 195 pts (the old Keeper of Secrets) 
• Sorceress 70 pts
• Tormentors (old Chaos Space Marines - with bolters and plasma guns) (10) 190
• Infractors (old Chaos Space Marines - with bolter pistols and close combat weapons) (5) 95 pts
• Noise Marines (6) 135 pts
• Noise Marines (6) 135 pts 
• Noise Marines (6) 135 pts 
• Chaos Terminators (5) 175 pts
• Chaos Terminators (5) 175 pts

Total: 1390 pts

(plus the stuff that came in the new box... that adds another 465 points)

Also, if I take one type of Detachment, I can add all sorts of Daemons of Slaanesh - which I have a LOT of! 

DOH!! 

(Oh, they can all still be used in 40K... just not as Emperor's Children, I'd have to pick up the Chaos Space Marine codex and field them as Black Legion or some other "generic" Chaos Space Marine force... Am I going to DO that... probably not anytime soon!)

AND THEN!

Hang on a moment... NOISE MARINES AREN'T "BATTELINE"!??!

THEY CAN ONLY BE FIELDED IN UNITS OF SIX!? 

So.... I went from being able to field units of 5-20 in Eight Edition... and as many units as I could stuff into a detachment... to units of 5-10 in ninth edition (could still do it with the thirty I had!) and could still do so at the beginning of tenth (and, presumably the current 10th Edition Chaos Space Marines Codex still allows it - though I expect an errata will change that with the release of the Emperor's Children). I never picked it up, but I assume there may have been a similar rule that if you were playing Emperor's Children, noise marines would be battleline (therefore allowing you to take up to six units of ten...) 

But now they are definitely no longer Battleline... and just have the six in each unit and cannot be reinforced (to twelve)... So in an Emperor's Children army according to this now codex, I can only field EIGHTEEN Noise Marines... 

I now have FORTY-TWO of them!? 

FML... 

I guess this falls under BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR!!?

Also the new Noise Marines look like they are going to be HUGE - they will dwarf the old ones... Heck, they look like they're going to dwarf my old Terminator!? 

Do I keep the old ones and just play with those (and put them on the bigger 40mm bases)!? Sell off the new ones? Or build and paint the new ones and retire the old ones...? Or use one unit of three of them... Hang onto the others in hopes there are Apocalypse rules at some point in the future again!?

I'll admit I was a little disappointed upon this realization, but I am not despairing.  

I am trying to stay mostly focused on finishing up forces for Bolt Action. I did assemble the Lord Exultant. 

Warhammer 40,000 - 10th Edition

 There is a new edition of Warhammer 40K in the pipe. The start box is currently in preorder, sort of... it sold out within minutes of it going up for pre-order!? If I really wanted a copy, I'm sure I could get one from my FLGS... but I don't. I may not even buy the main book - at least not straight away. 

GW has released the core rules as a free PDF along with ALL the new datasheets and point costs. Which is nice. Now that the points are out, as of today, I've been looking over my forces and seeing what I can put together. 

WHY!? Am I actually going to PLAY the damned game...? Maybe! There is a tournament coming up in July that I'm seriously considering going to. 

The tournament is Battleforce Recon. It's a smaller event with smaller forces (1000 points!). I attended in 2018 and in 2019 - and it was good fun! I signed up for it in 2020... but.. COVID happened... They ran it last year (2022), but I just wasn't ready for hanging out in crowds at that point. I'm not sure I'm all that exited about it still... but... 

This year, like in 2018, everyone will be playing with brand new forces for a brand new edition. In 2018, Warhammer 40000 - 8th Edition had just come out and none of the new codexes has been released and everyone was playing with Index armies. The armies will change as new codexes get released... but for now everyone has armies with limited abilities and special rules to keep track of. 

So I have been looking at my various forces and pondering how they are to be organized under the new rules. One thing that has really changed with 10th edition is, as far as I can tell, they have completely ditched detachments. The only requirement is that you have at least ONE Character model - to lead your force... and... that's pretty much it...? Beyond that you can take up to three of anything else that isn't a Unique unit or character, and up to six of anything that is labelled "Battleline" - those are generally your bog standard infantry soldiers... 

THIS caused be SOME anxiety as I have Many, MANY Imperial Guard Infantry Squads!? But yesterday they released the new data cards for the Astra Militarum and I'm still, theoretically, going to be able to field up to 12 squads... sort of... Astra Militarum "squads" can now be fielded in 10 or 20 model units... (yikes!).

Also, I have enough tanks to, theoretically, (once they are all painted) field and entire tank squadron! The new construction rules have kind of wrecked that plan as none of those tanks are "Battleline"!? Not even the standard Leman Russ Battle Tank... All of the variants have their own Data Card, so I can take up to three of each - three standard Battletanks, three Vanquishers (bigger gun, better at taking out vehicles), three Executioners (giant plasma cannon), three Punishers (giant gattling cannon), three... you get the idea. It will kind of force me to field way more of the special variants - I'd originally intended to have three platoons of three - each platoon having two Battle Tanks and one of the special variants... Ah well... How many times and I actually going to roll out with that full Tank Squadron. Honestly the time I finish it, there will be at least one new edition out - and it may have entirely changed by then!? 

This will make things a little EASIER for my Aeldari force, however. If you recall with the previous (9th edition) Codex - Dire Avengers, which had been "Troops" in previous editions and formed the core of my Aeldari fighting force, has become Elites and only Rangers and Guardians were allowed as Troops... which meant the corps of my figthing forces would be Rangers (who, technically, aren't even part of any particular Craftworld, they just show up to fight alongside, from time to time) and/or Guardians (who are just ordinary citizens that are pressed into service in dire circumstances)!? 

Now I no longer HAVE to include Rangers OR Guardians - I can have a force made up of entirely Aspect Warriors - the real warfighters of the Aeldari Craft worlds... 

So below is what some of the forces I have might look like - what I can field now... in some cases what I could potentially field if I got all the stuff I have painted... and what I might take to Battleforce Recon. 

Did I mention they got rid of power ratings...? Oh, they got rid of Power Ratings alright... But points have been super streamlined. Units are just; a unit of X include y troops for Z points... not points per model and points per weapon and every different option... which is kind of what they tried to do with Power Rating... but now they're doing it with points (basically the Power Rating x20 = points...) People like the bigger numbers I guess...? 2000 points sounds like a more supstatian force that one that's got a power rating of 100...?

Harlequins

Now, Harlequins have been lumped back in with the craftworlders and can be included as part of any Aeldari force... but I was looking at things and realized I could almost put together a 1000 point force of JUST HARLEQUINS... It might be tough to get them all painted in time for Battleforce Recon... but sometimes a DEADLINE is just what I NEED to do such a thing. 

The Current Troupe - Troupe of the Eternal Lament

What I have done:

• Troupe Master - 55 points
• Shadowseer - 60 points
• Solitaire - 115 Points
• Death Jester - 70 points
• Death Jester - 70 points
• Death Jester - 70 points
• Troupe (6) - 75 points 

Total: 515 points

BUT I do also have another 26 Troupe players if various states of paintedness. Originally I was going to organize them into four more units of 6 (with two spares left over) ... but that would be five Troupes... and TROUPES are NOT Battleline... No matter I can just reorganize them into THREE TROUPES. Troupes can be fielded in groups of five, six, eleven, or twelve...? (I THINK this is because the current Harlequin box comes with six miniatures... but one of those miniatures can be used to make your Troupe Master - which would leave you only five for a unit).

So I am ONE miniature shy of being able to field three Troupes of eleven. 

OR four miniatures shy of being able to field three troupes of TWELVE!? 

(I think Keiran had some spare metal Harlequins that they had picked up insome used lot... I may be able to steal/buy those from them!)

If so, I would be able to field the force as: 

• Troupe Master - 55 points
• Shadowseer - 60 points
• Solitaire - 115 Points
• Death Jester - 70 points
• Death Jester - 70 points
• Death Jester - 70 points
• Troupe (11) - 165 points 
• Troupe (11) - 165 points 
• Troupe (11) - 165 points 

Total: 935

Which would leave me 65 points... Perhaps they could be joined by a unit of rangers (55 points)

OR (If I did manage to scrounge up four more Harlequin players... 

• Troupe Master - 55 points
• Shadowseer - 60 points
• Solitaire - 115 Points
• Death Jester - 70 points
• Death Jester - 70 points
• Death Jester - 70 points
• Troupe (12) - 180 points 
• Troupe (12) - 180 points 
• Troupe (12) - 180 points 

Total: 980 points - I could make the Shadowseer a Reader of Runes for +20 points and that would be 1000 points even... 

OR maybe I could field two Troupes of 12 and one Troupe of six and add in an Aeldari War Walker - that I could paint up in all sorts of fun Harlequinesque colours!?  

Aeldari

This is the rest of the Aeldari that I have currently painted. I have loads more in various states of completion - including a few units that are VERY CLOSE to being complete... but this is what is DONE and ready to play right now! 

• Farseer Thymiltelyir (1) - 65 points
• Warlock Conclave (2 -Adryllewi and Broelwyn) - 60 points
• Rangers (5) - 55 points
• Rangers (5) - 55 points
• Rangers (5) - 55 points
• Shrine of the Fading Night Dire Avengers (10) - 140 points
• Shrine of the to-be-named-shrine Dire Avengers (10) - 140 points
• Warp Spiders of the Shrine of the Mean Red Spiders (10) - 200 points
• Wraithlord Kloethades (1) - 160 points
• Wraithlord Phinyndros (1) - 160 points
• Wraithlord Melynaearian (1) - 160 points

Total: 1150 points

Boom! That right there is a force big enough for Battleforce Recon, right there! I just have to drop one of the Wraithlords and I've got 990 points! 

The Stuff that is closest to being finished include

• Dark Reapers (5) - 75 points
• Howling Banshees (10) - 170 points
• Autarch (1) - 65 points
• Warlocks (4) - 120 points
• Farseer (1) - 65 points
• Guardians (11) - 110

That would be another 605 points, for a total of 1755. Just need another 245 points for a 2000point force.

Of course, I could mix in the Craftworlders and Harlequins... and that would be 1665 points without having to paint a single thing... 

I have SO MANY other things I could paint up to add to the force... Like thousands of points more... But there is little point even considering those at the moment. 

Cadia

I have LOADS of Astra Militarum, but I thought I've had a quick look at what the small force of Cadians might add up to for a smaller tournament. (I'm not SUPER excited about bringing Imperial forces to a tournament, as there are SO MANY other Imperial forces... and it's always a bit lame fighting other Imperial forces... but anyway) 

• Platoon Command Squad - 60 points
• Platoon Command Squad - 60 points
• Cadian Shock Troops - 65 points
• Cadian Shock Troops - 65 points
• Cadian Shock Troops - 65 points
• Cadian Shock Troops - 65 points
• Commissar - 35 points
• Commissar - 35 points
• Regimental Preacher - 35 points
• Regimental Preacher - 35 points
• Heavy Weapon Squad - 60 points

Total: 580 points...

Not much, it seems. I'd need a lot more to bring that up to 1000!? The few things I have that I could finish up and add to the force amounts to: 

Platoon Command Squad - 60 points

CREED! (using old model in place of new one) - 55 points

Kasrkin - 120 points

Primaris Psyker - 60 points

Total: +295 points  = 875 points

A Leman Russ Battle Tank is 195 points. I could add that and remove a few of the others to make 1000 points. 

Tallarn Desert Raiders

Stuff that I currently have painted )I'd have to drop ONE of the Platoon Command Squads, above, as I can only have THREE!?): 

• Platoon Command Squad (5) - 60 points
• Platoon Command Squad (5) - 60 points
• Platoon Command Squad (5) - 60 points
• Infantry Squad (9) - 65 points
• Infantry Squad (9) - 65 points
• Infantry Squad (9) - 65 points
• Infantry Squad (18) - 130 points
• Infantry Squad (18) - 130 points
• Infantry Squad (18) - 130 points
• Commissar - 35 points
• Commissar - 35 points
• Primaris Psyker - 60 points
• Regimental Preacher - 35 points
• Heavy Weapon Squad - 60 points
• Heavy Weapon Squad - 60 points
• Heavy Weapon Squad - 60 points
• Rough Riders (5) - 80 points
• Rough Riders (5) - 80 points
• Rough Riders (5) - 80 points
• Leman Russ Battle Tank - 195 points
• Leman Russ Battle Tank - 195 points
• Leman Russ Vanquisher - 190 points
• Leman Russ Punisher - 180 points
• Leman Russ Demolisher - 220 points
• Scout Sentinel - 50 points
• Taurox - 65 points
• Shadowsword - 440 points

Total: 2885

So... lots already done... 

What would 1000 points look like? Looking at what I took to the 2018 Battleforce Recon... 

• Platoon Command Squad (5) - 60 points
• Platoon Command Squad (5) - 60 points
• Platoon Command Squad (5) - 60 points
• Infantry Squad (18) - 130 points
• Infantry Squad (18) - 130 points
• Infantry Squad (18) - 130 points
• Heavy Weapon Squad - 60 points
• Heavy Weapon Squad - 60 points
• Scout Sentinel (1) - 50 points
• Roughriders (10) - 160
• Leman Russ Punisher - 180 points

Total: 1080

Close, I'd have to shave off 80 points. I guess I could just take five Rough Riders...? That would make 1000 points, even... 

Chaos Space Marines

This was the force I've been thinking of building up to take to any tournaments... because Chaos Space Marines will fight ANYONE - including EACH OTHER!? 

I don't really have a recent picture of the entire force... this is most of them... 

But there have also been more Noise Marines added since the above picture was taken... 

Currently the full force looks like:

Heratic Astartes Daemon Prince (1) - 180 points

Chaos Lord in Terminator Armour (1) - 100 points

Sorcerer (1) - 60 points

Master of Possession (1) - 70 points

Legionaires (5) - 100 points

Noise Marines (5) - 85 points

Noise Marines (5) - 85 points

Noise Marines (5) - 85 points

Obliterators (2) - 160 points  

Traitor Guardsmen (10) - 70 points 

Traitor Guardsmen (10) - 70 points 

Cultist Mob (10) - 55 points

Venomcrawler (1) - 140 points 

Total: 1160

Again - could go with these and not have to paint a thing! I'd just need to lose 160 points from these...? Maybe lose the Master of Possession and a unit of Traitor Guard and the Cultists...? Add in some Intoxicating Elixers?

I have no end of minis I could paint up to add to this force as well... another 15 Noise Marines, 20 Chaos Space marine Legionnaires, 10 Terminators, 5 Raptors,  and so many cultists and accursed cultists and mutants and Dark Commune... 

Well... I have some options for Battleforce Recon (if I end up going)... and I have lots I could just get playing with, if the mood struck (though I'd have to get creative about where I'd play, as the game room is still out of commission!). Maybe I should stick to Kill Team and Warcry as planned... 

40 (+)Days of 40K - Part Six

 I took a bit of a break and now I'm getting back to working on these... but maybe not so quick as before (because I DO want to get some MINIATURES painted!?)

#29 - Primaris Eliminator of the Tangermarines Space Marine Chapter. 

#30 - J'Frer of the Soroibus Tortus Noise Marine band

Another illustration based on a miniature of my own... 

Soroibus Tortus - from left to right; J'Frer, Marcus, D'Snydr, Ajax, and Fingur. They are part of a small detachment of Emperor's Children led by Deamon Prince Garfongdong.

#34 - Servo-Skull

A Servo-Skull is a cybernetic floating drone made of electronics, machinery, anti-gravity field generators... and the skull and brain of a deceased citizen of the Imperium - so they may continue their duty to the Emperor even after their body has passed.

#35 - Khorne Berserker

I was very excited to see that there is a World Eaters Codex, along with NEW plastic Khorne Berserkers, in the pipe... Not because I care about the World Eaters, at all... but because if they do a World Eaters, it means they're finally getting around to giving the other chaos gods some attention... Death Guard (Nurgle) and Thousands Sons (Tzeentch) have had codexes and their own lines of specialist troops for a while. Surely this indicates and Emperor's Children codex (and plastic Noise Marines - not that I NEED MORE!?) could be not too far off as well...? 

I had hoped it might have been around the same time as the new Hedonites of Slaanesh Battle Tome for Age of Sigmar... since they adding new Slaanesh Daemons and upgrading the models of some older ones... alas, it was not to be. 

Kill Team - Game Two

Wind howled across the ruined city of Folgard as the Kill Team approached.  

Millenia ago it has once been a vibrant prosperous city, like so many cities on Xoxigar Prime. But as the planet cooled and residents emigrated to the inner core worlds of Xoxigar Secondus (the newly established Forge World) and Xoxigar Tertium (even more recently terraformed agriworld) the cities of Xoxigar Prime fell into disrepair and were eventually abandoned altogether. Now Folgard, as so many of the other great cities of the planet, stand a silent sentinel to a once great past, frozen in snow and ice. 

Folgard is no longer a ghost town, however. After nearly a thousand years of vacancy, a few hundred souls have taken up residence among the ruins in the past few cycles. The Traitor Knight and his lackeys and minions. Also the Heretic Astartes that came from off world to aid the Traitor Knight in his bid to take the planet for his own. 

The Kill Team was made up of members of the Imperial Knight's House Guard. The team had come here as part of a reconnaissance mission to determine the numbers and dispositions of the force gathered here. How many had survived the uprising? What was the status of the Traitor Knight? How many had come from off world? Was is a force of the Heretic Astartes as they feared? What were they up to...? 

The force, far from their home base, has suffered innumerable set-backs. Lacking adequate fuel and supplies, half of their vehicles had to be abandoned before they even got close to Folgard. Those that did make it found little shelter that had not already been claimed by the enemy. The mission quickly changed from that of reconnaissance to simple survival. They would be sure to take a few of the traitors with them, though! 

Orion came by on Wednesday and we decided to take a break from necromunda to try out the new Kill Team. His copy had only arrived earlier that day and he'd only breifly perused the rulebook and hadn't even watched the How To Play Videos. So, as with the previous game, the day before, we just quickly bodged some stuff together and played a quick game to figure things out. 

I thought he was going to be bringing Adepta Sororitas... but instead he brought some Imperial Guard. Guard worked though. to fit the Xoxigar Narrative I dubbed them "Household Guard" (see above). Unfortunately, Orion had made the same mistake I had, thinking you could have one of each support weapon in each FIRE TEAM and so a few grenade launchers were now useless to him. I loaned him a Guard with a plasma gun and he carried on from there. Looking at these pictures, I still don't think he had enough troopers on the table...? Or maybe he meant to take the Tactical Assets (Artillery Barrage/Marked Air Strike/Guided Missile/Strafing Run) and forgot to use them...? 

Ah, well.. "LEARNING GAME"

I took a Traitor Marine Kill Team

It included a Heratic Astartes Fire Team with an Aspiring Champion and two Regular Heratic Astartes (One of them COULD have taken a support weapon... but the only one I had was a flamer... and they don't seem like they're going to be awesome - bolters are better) and a Cultist Fire Team - representing the Traitor Knights minions - all with Autoguns and one Heavy Stubber. 

Traitor Marines can use ANY of the TacOps card options (Seek and Destroy/Recon/Infiltration/Security). I chose Infiltration and they are WAY more fun than the Seek and Destroy options I had for the Harlequins the day before! And I was even able to SCORE some of them! 

Orion went with Security for his Team. 

Again, we didn't bother with extra equipment or sorting out a Base of Operations. 

SCENARIO

AGain, we did Mission 1.1 from the Core Book - as I was already familiar with it and it seemed interesting enough and not focused on eliminating the Enemy, but holding objectives - which, I think, Guard (and cultists!) SHOULD excel at, with their numbers

THE GAME

I set up my cultists spread out to sieze as many objectives as possible - and execute my Tac Ops. 

The Marines were concentrated to take the fight directly to the Guard and keep them busy, whittling them down, while my Cultists did the work of scoring VPs.

Teh Guard were mostly bunched up in cover. I think he was thinking the all needed to be close together to recieve orders... or maybe he wanted them all close to the medic, so he could use the MEDIC! ability when one of them inevitably got blasted apart by Marine Bolters! 

TURNING POINT ONE

I revealed one of my TacOps - I guess I didn't have to... but I put it out there on the table to remind myself it was a thing I could do. SABOTAGE! Basically if I have an Operative within 1" of a terrain feature with the Heavy trait, withing 6" of the Enemy Drop Zone, I can do a 2AP action to sabotage it! doing so gains me 1VP - I could do it once per such piece on the table. I think there were four potential pieces. As it required 2AP, there was no way I could do it on the first Turning Point. Best I could do would be to put people in position to do so. The more prudent thing to to would be to reveal it ON the Turning Point I was in position to start blowing shit up... or peeing in the grain bin... or... whatever... 

The Veteran Guard Gunner armed with a Plasma gun started things off...  

He took a shot at Lorgag, the Heratic Astartes Aspiring Champion, and grievously wounded him! Yikes! Plasma Guns are (STILL) nasty (at least you can't take FOUR of them!?) 

Argnbaal - one of the Traitor Marines stormed across the table and blasted apart the Grenadier - before he could finish off the Champion. Had that medic not been there to administer immediate first aid... he SOULD have been finished... Alas, he wasn't and with the one wound recovered by the prompt aid from "Doc", he finished off the Champion with a Krak Grenade. 

DAMN! 

Those are even NASTIER!? 

Cultists moved forward to seccure and loot objectives gaining VP. 

The Veteran Guard Team's 2IC decided to charge Argnbaal... 

BIG! 

MISTAKE! 

It has become lear to me that, in this game, charging an opponent that is better at melee than you, is just giving them an opportunity to kill you FOR FREE! 

Argnbaal crushed the poor fellows ribs and shattered an arm with his bare hands... 

Well... bare hands...  in Power Armour Gauntlets... 

Vusour advanced under cover and secured and looted another Objective. 

Sithoth did the same. 

I think this was where everyone was at at the end of Turning Point One. 

TURNING POINT TWO

AT this point I decided to use TWO Strategic Ploys - no sense in just sitting on these Command Points I'm accumulating. I used Malicious Volleys - which is basically the same as the Marine Bolter Discipline Ploy, allowing me to take TWO shoot actions with a Marine, as long as that Marine doesn't do a fight action, and Hateful Assault - also the equivalent of the Space Marine ploy that allows them to do the FIGHT Action twice, as long as they don't shoot. 

Xanthaleng, one of my Chaos Space Marines went first and used the Malicious Volleys to shoot at that pesky Grenadier with the Krak Grenades. He failed to take him out with the first shots. DID take him out with the second... but again "Doc" came to the rescue with the "MEDIC!" ability and returned the Grenadier to the table with one wound... Seeing the greivously wounded grenadier prop himself back up and brace his Grenade Launcher to fire back, Xanthaleng used his last Action Point to get the fü¢k out of there and move clear out of LOS, behind one of the shipping containers! 

I don't remember what the Guard did with their first activation. 

Argnbaal went next. He used his first Fight action to finish off the 2IC that was in contact with him, charged across the Plasma conduits and finished off the GReadier with his BARE HANDS!

Well... you know what I mean...

Mortmek made a run for the Enemy Killzone Edge! 

One action brought him within 1" of the edge and I was able to reveal my second TacOps card; INTERLOPER - I had to nominate one Operative at the beginning of the game (secretly writing it down) and when that Operative was within 1" of the Killzone Edge spend 1AP to do the "Interlope" action and scurry off the table to gain 2VP!!!

Infiltration TacOps RULE! 

Well... as long as you have chaff like Cultists that won't be missed. 

Teh one other I had, that I didn't use, and likely woudn't have was "Cpture Hostage & Infiltrate" - If an Enemy Operative was incapacitated withing 2" of a Friendly Operative, I could remove my Operative from the table to gain 1VP (dragging the injured Enemy off for interrogation back at base) it would be worth it if it were a Cultist... but not the Marines. 

More looting objectives and taking useless pot shots at teh Guard in cover down teh way. 

Autoguns are.... not good... 

Finding not a lot to shoot at... my Cultist Gunner actually moved into position to sabotage one of the Terrain Pieces in the following Turning Point. 

The Zealot Veteran that had ended up in Engagement Range of Argnbaal when he'd charged the Grenadier, wisely Fell Back out of Engagement Range and Dashed to contest one of the Objectives before I could loot and score it. I just moved another Cultist in and scored it anyway... 

TURNING POINT THREE

Used the same two Strategic Ploys again - just in case anyone was silly enough to try and charge the Marines before they activated...

Arngbaal leapt over the Plasma Conduit and, making good use of Malicious Volleys blasted apart the zealot and... one of the other Guard cowering nearby... 

And... at that point we had to call it, as Orion had to be somewhere else... 

I was totally set up to score LOADS more Victory Points that turn. 

Zorithus was ready to start sabotaging... 

Kazmort was ready to do some more looting. 

As was Sithoth... 

And Vusour... 

And these guys... 

And Chazmaz, the Cultist Gunner with the Heavy Stubber was poised to do some Sabotage as well... 

As it was the score was 9-5 for the Traitor Marines, I would have scored 6 more in the Third Turning Point and potentially a few more in the final one... 

The Guard might have gotten a few more... buuuuut... There was no way they would have caught up... 

Mind you, as I mentioned earlier, they didn't actually have enough boots on the ground - or forgot to make use of the aforementioned Tactical Assets (Artillery Barrage/Marked Air Strike/Guided Missile/Strafing Run) which would have made a HUGE difference - if they'd been used earlier in the game and managed to take out more of the Marines. 

HAd they been deployed a bit more spread out, they possibly could have denied me a lot of points by seizing scoring - or at least contesting objectives. 

THOUGHTS

Marines of all stripes and colours are murderiferous-kill-machines! 

Flashlights... er... lasguns suck. 

Yes, the Guard did poorly here... but I think actually making use of all the specialists the Veteran Guard have to offer might make a bit of adifference - and playing to their strengths - NUMBERS - swarm the board with objective securing bodies! 

I'm super excited to play again. I had a game lined up for today, but my friend had to bail. Finnegan and i are planning to play again on the weekend - possibly Sunday...?