Epic A: 1st 3k Battle Report (or how to die in 3 easy steps...)

Hey Folks,

Tim came around a few weeks ago for this game, Real Life has been annoying so I have been a bit slack blogging sorry.

This was the first 3000pt game I have played with my new built Deathskullz...and its was fun, but painful!

The Battlefield: My snow table with some swamps and roads I made for FOW with Tim's Epic Buildings. The Eldar are deployed mainly on the left foreground with Rangers garrisoned of his center objectives. I have big guns and the Warband holding my center with the rest of the Horde positioned to move up and fill the gaps.

Eldar center...lots of fast shooty stuff

Stompa Mob on the road ready to move up and support the big gunz

Da Fat Boy himself at the back ready to move up and support the center warband

Where my big gunz used to be :(  Aspect Warrior air assault with supporting Shining Spears and Revenants wasted them in short order

Gunwagons and Stompa Mob moves up to counter the Eldar assault...

And get obliterated :(  Here the Fat Boy has moved over to engage the Shining Spears, and he wastes them good.

Center Warband surges through the Scout Screen, only to get shot up in the fire fight...

While the Vampire circles round and wrecks the Supa Stompa's supporting Stompa's and Kans (as they were broken)

And the Eldar center moves up and wipes out the Warband

A sole Gunwagon mob hides from the victorious Eldar

While the Fat Boy takes all the fire the Eldar can throw at him, and is one Blast Marker off being Broken.

So overall I was taken to school, and out Activated as I only had 7 activations to Tim's 10.  It was a brutal lesson but still a fun game, and Tim is awesome to play.  He played it much better then me (as you might expect) an it showed...some of the fire fight set ups he pulled off were evil!

I will go on record as this reconfirms my general hatred of all the pointy ears, regardless of game system!  Stupid Panzies :)

I'm working on some converted Skorcha's to help get my Activation count up, and hope to give Tim a rematch sometime soon.

Cheers
Jason

BFG: Star Wars Campaign Update turns 4-7

Hey Folks,

Here are the maps for turns 4 and 6 of the Star Wars campaign as mentioned here

 And Turns 6 and 7: Note I have started to put blurbs in on the maps so you can follow the action easier :)

So as you can see Imperial expansion seems unopposed, while the alien Chiss and Vaagri start to mass around the edges of the Imperial Occupation Zone.  Meanwhile my poor Rebels are trying to avoid confrontation and build up a solid base to work from as my early expansion policy failed twice!

Unfortunately for me you have to fight Battles to get any repairs, replacements or refits so I will be trying to pick a nice soft target for my next engagement.

It appears that the eBay Shipyards have dispatched reinforcements my way, so hopefully they should arrive soon and then we can show these Aliens and Imperials some "Diplomacy"...I guess we will see how that goes in Turn 8, and it looks like the action is about to heat up!

Cheers
Jason

Epic A: Gargant Finished and the Horde Reachs 3000pts

Hey Folks,

Finished the Great Gargant;

"What you looking at Punk?"

Nuclear Powered Twin Supa Blasta

Warlord Kruga's new ride

With some Ladz for scale, its a Big Un :)

The Finished 3k Horde.

So the Deathskullz are up to 3000pts now, just enough for a standard size game.  Tim is coming round tomorrow so I will take some photo's and do a Battle Report of their first outing in force.

Yay for having another completed army :)  I might do a bit of work on my Impetus Romans next, as well as a bit of commission work for a mates Chaos Warhammer Fantasy army.
Cheers
Jason

Epic A: WIP Great Gargant

Hey Folks,

I may be slightly maimed but I have still been able to do a bit of work on my next Epic Armageddon unit, A Great Gargant.  It originally started as a "normal" Gargant but ended up a bit bigger then intended, so I upgraded it to "Great" and armed it with two Twin Soopagunz and a belly Soopagun.  It also has two shoulder mounted Big Gunz (made from cut down FOW Soviet KV8 Flameguns cut down) and a multitude of big shootas.

Warlord poking out the top hatch

Mega Blasta Twin Soopagunz

Mega Shoota Twin Soopagunz

Size Comparison. Gargant, Supa Stompa, Stompa, Dreadnaught, Killa Kan

I'm not sure how he compares to the actual GW models for size, but he is pretty fat!  IIRC Jesse's Gargant models were pretty small.

Looking forward to painting him and unleashing him on Tim on Monday in my second Epic Game :)

Cheers
Jason

Why Geeks shouldnt DIY :(

Hey Folks,

Yesterday I was putting in some posts for a garden fence.  I'd put six posts in and had almost finished putting in the last one when I missed the post with my metal mallet, this was the result;

And that's the pretty picture (Jamie's seen the gross one!).  Somehow I managed to smash the end off (literally) my ring finger.  A trip to the A&E resulted in my Wedding Ring needing to be cut off, as well as the end 10mm of  my finger and nail being amputated.   I'm going to be one of THOSE people with the funny fingers.

Ah well, it wasn't my Right hand thankfully and I can still play Xbox.  Typing is alot slower though!

Cheers
Jason

Epic A: Fighta Bomma's

Hey Folks,

I finished these the other day, the first four Fighta Bomma's;

These are converted from a 1:350 scale US Navy Aircraft set.  The front two were Phantoms, the back right one a Hawkeye and the back left a Prowler

I basicly just added "orky" bits and guns plus hacked up the existing frames

The engines are 40k scale Ork Stikk Bombz.

 Overall I think they are OK, but not quite what I envisioned.  I'll be making slightly different ones for the remaining three I think.             

Below is a shot of the Horde so far, its ~ 2200pts now I think.

I'm going to need a bigger fish tank soon!

So its getting there. There will be a brief hiatus while I paint ups some Roman Equites Alares medium Cavalry for Impetus, and then its onto some more tanks and Gunfortress'es for the Blitz Brigades

Cheers
Jason

Epic A: Big Gunz Mob + Stupid Earthquakes :(

Hey Folks,

As you all know we had two more big aftershocks yesterday.  Once again we got off lightly and fortunately I am on leave so was home with the family already.  Kids were a bit freaked out but are fine now, they continually amaze me with how resilient they are.  Otherwise its business as usual in "Quakechurch" (nice term Pooch)

I'm now paranoid after the February earthquake wasted my man barbie collection so store all my stuff in closed lid boxes, so luckily nothing was damaged. I have even managed to finish off another Epic Armageddon unit, my Big Gunz Mob;

Big Gunz Mob with the Skud Launchas

Looks almost like a Soviet "God of War" :)

I plan to add another Nobz unit when I get some more 30mm washers

And the WIP shot.  Most of the guns are Flames of War 15mm scale German PaK36's  or Soviet 45mm Obr 1942 guns with the barrels cut off.  I have also used a standard Shock Attack gun on a FOW MG Tripod as well as a 40k Chaos Smoke Launcher as a Rokkit Launcha. The gun trails are a mix of scratch built ones and various support weapon bases from FOW.

So another unit down.

This is what I am working towards

• Big Warband (20 stands), 2 Stormboyz - Done
• Normal Warband (10 stands) inc Warlord, 1 Stormboyz, 2 Battlewagons, 2 Flakwagons, Battlefortress
• Big Big Gunz Mob (10 stands) inc 2 Oddboy Soopagunz - Done 
• Normal Blitz Brigade (4 tanks) inc 2 Flakwagons, Gunwagon and Oddboy Zzaapgun. Gunfortress - Done
• Normal Blitz Brigade as above, Mostly Done just have to build the Gunfortress (its next) and a Flakwagon
• Big Blitz Brigade (8 tanks) inc 4 Flakwagons, 2 Gunwagons, 2 Oddboy Soopaguns and 2 Gunfortress's
• Mekboy Stompa Mob inc 3 Stompas, Supa Stompa, 2 Dreadnoughts, 2 Killa Kans - Done

That's 3000pts using the Army Forge Online army Creator Official 2009 Handbook list.  Too 4K I just add;

• Gargant
• 7 Fighta Bommas

As a nice easy bump.

Its probably activation light, but given how quickly units can die, and my Ork's crappy armour I like bigger units.  Its also pretty mobile, and has a shed load of firepower, so its Shooty/ Speedy as opposed to Stompy.  It can still Stomp, but needs to be selective.

I also have taken lots of Gunfortress/ Battlefortress's as while they are, well, crap (no Reinforced Armour and a nasty Critical) I reckon that if I have heaps of them (5) plus the Supa Stompa and Gargant to draw fire they wont get obliterated straight away due to target saturation.

Quite looking forward to get these done and playing a big game!

Cheers
Jason

If your having Problems leaving comments on People Blogs...

...go here

Looks like the best thing to do is clear your browsing history and cookie cache (and reopen it to make sure its gone) then restart your browser.

Also uncheck the "stay logged on" tick box for the Google Blogger/ Gmail login screen.

I haven't been able to leave comments for ages, and now I can so it seems to work.  Apparently they are working on it.

Cheers
Jason

Epic A: Warlords Warband, Skud Launchas and Gunfortress

Hey Folks,

I have finished the second warband, led by a Warlord as well as two Oddboy Soopagunz and a Gunfortress.

Gunfortress. Scratchbuilt out of two Gunwagons, 3 Gunwagon turrets and 5 old Battlewagon turrets + lots of bits

Given these tend to die spectacularly I figured making it nuclear powered worked!

Oddboy Soopagunz "Skud Launcha's" - These will go with a forthcoming Big Gunz Mob

The Slavers get blast shields...

...the Grotz don't!

Stormboyz blasting off in (mostly) the right direction

The Stormboyz from the back.

Warband!

Warlord Kruga himself. He has red bitz to make him stand out a bit more :)

Da Horde so far :)

So they are getting there.  Next up I am going to convert up a Big Gunz Mob with 8 Big Gunz, the 2 Skud Launcha Soopa Gunz and a couple of Nobz

Cheers
Jason

BFG: Star Wars Campaign Update 3

Hey Folks,

The BFG: Star Wars Campaign has escalated to include local Chiss Defense Force and the nasty Vaagari Raiders. 

Turn 4 saw

• The Imperial 1st Fleet move from Avidich back to Csilla while the 2nd Fleet held at Naporar
• The Rebels move to an Occupy Copero
• The newly arrive Vaagari move to and Occupy Sarvchi
• The Chiss assault the Imperial 2nd Fleet at Naporar. This resulted in a Draw and the Chiss fell back to Ornfra. Casualties were light on both sideswith a few escorts being destroyed.

Turn 5 saw

• The Imperial 1st Fleet moving to and Occupying Rentor while the 2nd Fleet holds at Naporar
• The Chiss moving to Noris
• The Vaagari and the Rebels both moved towards each other and the Battle of Copero saw the Rebels forced holding the feild but too badly damaged to hold the system. The Dreadnought "Indomitible" was lost with all hands after Vaagari arsonists in Boarding Torpedoes set multiple fires (7!) throughout the ship. Sadley she failed to disengage and burned before exploding. The Vaagari had a two of thier light cruisers crippled and a handfull of escorts destroyed but the Rebels also lost the Correlian Corvette sqaudron. The Vaagari claim Copero and the Rebels retreat in disorder to Csaus, whith Admiral Mari'nara being demoted in disgrace

I'll add photos later when I dont have a baby trying to eat my lap top!

Cheers
Jason

Epic A: First Game with the Waaagh

Hey Folks,

Jonathan very kindly showed me the ropes with my first Epic game tonight.  I lost most of the Horde, and the game in the End but it was super fun!

I had between 1750 to 1850 odd points (depending which version of the lists you used) and my army consisted of;

• Big Warband with Warlord (4 nobz, 12 boyz, 4 Grotz) and 2 Oddboy Soopaguns
• Mekboy Stompa Mob with Supa Stompa, 3 Stompas, 2 Dreads and 2 Killa Kans
• Blitz Brigade with Oddboy Zzaap Gunwagon and 2 Extra Flakwagons
• Blitz Brigade with Oddboy Zzaap Gunwagon, an Extra Flakwagon and a Gunfortress

Johnathan had an Infantry heavy Marine army with no Whirlwinds, Air Support or Armour.  Or Teleporting terminators - looks like he was going soft on the n00b while I had two War Engines and multiple Macroweapons!  Didn't I feel like a cheesy git :P

 Warband garrisoned off the first Take and Hold objective (in the ruins) The rockets are my Oddboyz "Skud Launcha" soopagunz. Directly across from them are a Devastator unit (4 stands) with 2 Dreadnoughts and a Tactical unit (6 stands) with the Marine Commander. John was shocked by how big the unit was when I deployed it!

 Mob on the Road and the Blitz Brigade with the Gunfortress in reserve

 the other Blitz Brigade faces off against (along way away) another Tactical and Devastator unit. John has two Assault units deployed centrally as his mobile reserve

 halfway through the first turn. John gets initive (unsurprisingly) and his Devastator and Tactical units pour fire into my Warband. The Stompa Mob Doubles up the road and blows away three Devastator stands with their Macroweapon Barrage and Big Guns. My Warband then Engages the Devastator and Tactical Marines but ends up mostly in a Fire Fight, so gets wasted and falls back at half strength.

 casualties after the first turn, Epic is Brutal!

In turn one I also moved my Blitz Brigade with Gunfortress up and pounded away at the Tactical and Devastator's that had driven off my Warband, finishing off the Devastators.  On the other flank the Blitz Brigade moved up and hid behind the hill, only to be pounce on and shot at without loss by a Tactical Formation in rhinos with supporting Devastators behind them.  John's Assault Marines both moved over to the flank where my Warband was.

I didn't take any photos of turn two but somehow I won the roll to go first so Doubled the Stompa Mob over by the hill where the Blitz Brigade were and pounded the Tactical Marines on the hill.  Macroweapon Barrage and Big Gunz killed 3 stands and luckily I managed to retain the initiative the Blitz Brigade who Sustained Fire (needing a 4+) into the Tacticals kill a couple more and Breaking them. John went next and called a combined Engage on the other flank with his Commander and  the two Assault Marine units that pounded my Warband again, killed the Warlord, and drove them off broken and down to three stands :(  Support fire from the Blitz Brigade did not alot. My Blitz Brigade with Gunfortress Sustained Fire into the tactical marines and killed a couple more forcing them to break.

My Stompa Mob now doubles back to the center again and unleashes on one of the Assault Marines, driving them back and getting them down to one stand, which my Warband remnant promptly engages and kills. On the other flank my Biltz Brigade decides they are better off mashing Devastator's in combat instead of trading fire with them so Engage and are slaughtered by counter attacking Dreadnoughts, which wipe them out.

So I am down to the Stompa Mob and Epic checks Victory conditions at the end of turn three.  John's last move is a March with the Rhino mounted Tactical Marines I forced off the hill earlier.  Its a long move but they just make it over to my undefended Blitz.  The Devastator's that had seen off my Blitz Brigade move onto a Take and Hold so that gives John the Take and Hold Objective as well as I don't have anything on his side of the table, so he gets They Shall not Pass as well.  2-0 to the Marines!

SO first impressions are that Epic Armageddon is really fun.  Its bloody and brutal in assaults and firefights, I had thought my large warband would survive longer then it did!  It has a really tactical feel though and the alternate activations and initiative sequence leads to some interesting dilemma's to resolve.  I love the way the Orks fight so will be happily building up more to get the army to 3K at least. 

Cheers for taking this n00b to school Jonathan :)

Cheers

Jason