Epic: Payback at Bandar Setan

Previously in the ongoing battle between the loyalists and traitors over the desert world of Lautan Lama, the loyalists of Legio Crucius defeated a Legio Venefica ambush in the streets of Bandar Setan. And now the war continues, as the traitors are out for revenge.

My opponent brought a Precept Maniple that happened to be exactly the same points value as last time, consisting of a Warlord, Warbringer, Reaver and two Warhounds.

Legio Crucius Precept Maniple

Warlord Battle Titan - 385 pts

 Sunfury Plasma Annihilator - 45 pts

 Belicosa Volcano Cannon - 55 pts

 Carapace Apocalypse Missile Launchers - 15 pts

 Terminus Override - 30 pts = 530 points

Warbringer Nemesis Titan - 325 pts

 Gatling Blaster - 15 pts

 Laser Blaster - 25 pts

 Mori Quake Cannon - 20 pts = 385 points

Reaver Battle Titan - 250 pts

 Melta Cannon - 35 pts

 Gatling Blaster - 15 pts

 Turbo Laser Destructor - 20 pts = 320 points

Warhound Scout Titan - 180 pts

 Plasma Blastgun - 30 pts

 Vulcan Mega Bolter - 10 pts = 220 points

Warhound Scout Titan - 180 pts

 Turbo Laser Destructor - 20 pts

 Vulcan Mega Bolter - 10 pts = 210 points

I countered them with pretty much the same guys I had last time, except I armed both Reavers for close combat.

Legio LXIX Venefica Ferrox Maniple

Reaver Battle Titan Cum ergo videritis abominationem desolationis, quæ dicta est a Lorgar propheta, stantem in loco sancto, qui legit, intelligat; princeps seniores Modthryth - 250 pts

 Melta Cannon - 35 pts

 Power Fist - 20 pts

 Vulcan Mega Bolter - 10 pts

 Reinforced plating - 10 pts = 325 points 

Reaver Battle Titan Deos tuos non colimus, et thronum auream, quam erexisti, non adoramus - 250 pts

Chainfist - 20 pts

Gatling Blaster - 15 pts

Turbo Laser Destructor - 20 pts

Reinforced plating - 10 pts = 315 points [640] 

Warhound Scout Titan Et regnum erit velut ferrum - 180 pts

 Turbo Laser Destructor - 20 pts

 Vulcan Mega Bolter - 10 pts = 210 points [850] 

Warhound Scout Titan Regnum transiit a te - 180 pts

 Turbo Laser Destructor - 20 pts

 Vulcan Mega Bolter - 10 pts = 210 points [1060] 

Dire Wolf Scout Titan Ipse revelat profunda et abscondita, et novit in tenebris constituta - 210 points

 Ardex Defensor Mega-Bolter - 10 pts

 Neutron Laser - 45 pts 

Reinforced plating - 10 pts = 275 points [1335] 

Cerastus Knight Banner Hircine - 130 pts

 2 × shock lance and ion gauntlet shield - 40 pts = 170 points [1505] 

Questoris Knight Banner Azura - 120 pts

 4 × Questoris melee weapon - 20

 2 × thermal cannon - 20 = 160 points [1665]

**

We set up my Dropzone Commander buildings and scratchbuilt terrain on a 4'×4' surface, and decided we'd play a Meeting Engagement. 

We rolled for objectives, and I picked Glory and Honour, meaning I'd have to destroy his Warlord. Last time I played, I set myself a goal of learning to tackle my opponent's big Titans, so I figured this was my chance. Said opponent picked Vital Cargo, which meant that one of his Titans would, unbeknownst to me but beknownst to him, be carrying some important cargo that needs to be transported over my table edge. My secondary objective was that I'd score victory points for every table quarter that had my units in it but no enemies, and he'd score victory points for every Titan he had in my deployment zone.

The deployment zones were pretty shallow, and we weren't using Stratagems, so we both just more or less deployed our Titans in a row. I had the Questoris Knights of Banner Azura in the center and the Cerastuses of Hircine on the right flank. Finding the Warlord on my far left, set up my Dire Wolf Ipse revelat profunda et abscondita, et novit in tenebris constituta opposite it.

When I saw the Warlord camped out in the far left corner behind the tank farm and the rest of the loyalist forces massed in the center, I figured that my strategy would be to let them come to me and see if I could lure the Warlord out. So on the first turn, I advanced cautiously and took some pot shots at the Warlord with the In tenebris's neutron laser, to no real effect. The loyalists, winners of two past battles, strode forward with confidence.

**

On the second turn, some heavy exchanges of fire developed in the middle of the battlefield, with my Princeps Seniores in the Cum ergo videritis abominationem desolationis, quæ dicta est a Lorgar propheta, stantem in loco sancto, qui legit, intelligat and the Regnum transiit a te facing the Crucius Reaver and a Warhound, supported by the Questoris Knights. We knocked down the Reaver's shields, and the Knights charged forward and opened up on it, missing completely with their thermal cannons.

Further to my right, the Deos tuos non colimus, et thronum auream, quam erexisti, non adoramus and Et regnum erit velut ferrum took on the enemy Warbringer and another Warhound, while Knight Banner Hircine raced around Dataran Tinggi Komunis to outflank them. The Regnum ferrum lost its shields, but together my Titans managed to strip the Warbringer of its void shields as well.

Meanwhile, the duel between the Crucius Warlord and the In tenebris continued, with a salvo from the Warlord's Apocalypse Missile Launchers collapsing the Dire Wolf's shields, but the In tenebris scored a hit with its neutron laser and shut down the Warlord!

Sadly, very few of my Titans were in a position to make use of this opportunity: the Regnum transiit's turbo-laser destructor managed to knock out the Warlord's Sunfury. And so Turn 2 ended with the battle well underway.

**

As Turn 3 started, the enemy Warhound in the center used a First Fire order to strip the last shields off the Abominatio desolationis, while the other Warhound made a dash for my table edge. The In tenebris withdrew behind a building to relight its void shields and vent a badly overheating reactor. A volcano cannon blast from the Warlord damaged the Abominatio desolationis and wiped out two of the Questoris Knights, but they came on nonetheless.

The last survivor of Banner Azura attacked the Reaver, knocking out both of its arm weapons. The Abominatio desolationis was grievously damaged by the enemy Warlord's fire, and its own shooting at the Crucius Reaver was ineffective. When the enemy Warhound scored a direct hit with its plasma blastgun, it was all over for my Reaver.

At the beginning of the battle, we had both rolled for Princeps Traits from our respective Legio tables. I got Beyond Death, which meant that as the Abominatio received its deathblow, Princeps Seniores Modthryth coolly steered the Reaver right at the enemy, where it exploded with a massive magazine detonation. The explosion damaged the enemy Reaver and Warbringer, brought the adjacent building crashing down, and destroyed the last remaining Questoris Knight.

Meanwhile, the Non adoramus took heavy fire from the Crucius Warbringer, but managed to get close enough that it couldn't use its Quake Cannon. The Regnum ferrum, still reeling from a hit from the same Quake Cannon, peeled off in pursuit of the enemy Warhound. Cerastus Banner Hircine got close to the Warbringer, but their fire was ineffective.

**

On Turn 4, I declared charges. The Non adoramus, its shields shot to pieces and legs damaged, hauled itself at the Crucius Warbringer with its locomotors screaming and the Traitor allegiance ability Unbridled Hatred activated. Its chain fist carved up the Warbringer, sending it spinning around and firing wildly, damaging one of the Cerastus Knights, until it fell over onto the Non adoramus, doing even more damage!

As the enemy Warlord crashed through the tank farm, the Cerastus Knights charged past it to avenge the Abominatio. Their shock lances speared through the Crucius Reaver's armor and sent it sprawling over the remains of the traitor Reaver.

The final act of the drama was played out at the traitor table edge, where the Warhound carrying the vital cargo was making a mad dash for safety. The pursuing Regnum ferrum couldn't do enough damage to stop it, so the In tenebris sprang into action.

With its neutron laser and Ardex mega-bolters not doing enough to bring down the Warhound and the battle on the line, the Princeps of the In tenebris steered her Titan right into the enemy in a desperate smash attack. The Crucius Warhound exploded!

And with that, the fourth turn and the game came to an end. With Legio Crucius's valuable cargo lost to the enemy and none of their Titans in the traitor deployment zone, the loyalists scored no victory points. Legio Venefica failed to destroy the enemy Warlord, but they controlled two table quarters at the end of the game, so the Second Battle of Bandar Setan went to the traitors 6-0 on victory points.

**

That was a great and tremendously entertaining game. I do want to say that it was ridiculous that I won every single roll-off for the Opus Titanica. My opponent played well and it was a hell of a fight.

We both felt that we had played our earlier games somewhat cautiously, and wanted to do something different this time. I wanted to have a go at his Warlord, but when it hid behind the tank farm and I found that they had picked the Vital Cargo objective, it was clear that my job was to stop the loyalists. We got into some excellent brawls, and enjoyed ourselves.

I'm very excited that my miniature-buying hiatus is coming to an end, because this game has really underlined how much I want a Warlord. I'm also stupidly excited about Legions Imperialis, as we've provisionally agreed that some time next year, Legio Crucius will face an entire traitor army. I can't wait.

Horus Heresy: As Cups for a Wedding

A couple of years ago, I made a bet with a friend, and I won. I used the money to buy something very silly: a Termite. Since the bet involved matters of a personal nature, an appropriate name for the Termite in my naming scheme is As Cups for a Wedding.

**

Cleaning up the resin was much less painful than I expected.

Much to my surprise, building the model was also just really simple. There's not that many bits, and they all just fit together very, very nicely. Not at all what I expected!

I picked volkite chargers as the weapon option because volkites are cool, but I magnetized them in case I change my mind.

It's a big old drill, by the way.

Painting the Termite was quite satisfying, with the tracks and drill and so on in Gunmetal and the sides in Dark Red. What cemented my choice of Word Bearers as my legion was that I somehow weirdly enjoy painting dark red, and I liked it here as well. The Termite bears its name on the lower surfaces.

The volkite chargers are in Copper, and the army badges are at the back.

I think it's a handsome beast.

**

So, a surprisingly easy build and paint job, and an excellent addition to my little Horus Heresy collection. Frankly, I've been so busy with work and other things that my hobby activities have taken a bit of a back seat. But I'm very happy I got this done.

Let's Play Victory at Sea

So, I've painted the Royal Navy fleet and the German fleet for Victory at Sea, and even bought the starter set and rulebook. It's high time we tried playing it!

**

Since we just want to get a feel for the rules, we went for a small 200-point skirmish. On the German side, my fictional Admiral Hipper-class cruiser, the Admiral Bellingshausen; for the British, HMS Belfast and the two Tribal-class destroyers, HMS Cossack and Bedouin. The starter set comes with a booklet that has all the rules in it, as well as nifty little turning gauges. Each fleet box has cards for all the ships inside.

To be perfectly honest, this was a very short battle. The Admiral Bellingshausen scored some hits on the Belfast and damaged the destroyers, but not enough: Cossack's torpedoes missed, but Bedouin scored a direct hit and the Bellingshausen blew up!

So that was it! I'm glad to report that the rules were very easy to pick up: some fairly simple D6 rolls and easy book-keeping, and a manageable amount of special rules. This  very brief game was fun enough that I definitely hope to do this again.

**

Before my miniature-buying hiatus, I picked up the Schleswig-Holstein. A German pre-dreadnought battleship and veteran of Jutland, she fired the opening shots of World War II against Poland.

She's also hilariously tiny. Here she is next to a Type 1936A destroyer and a Hipper:

Wikipedia confirms this is pretty much right: the Schleswig-Holstein was 127m long and 22m abeam, to the 1936A's 125m. So she's absolutely dwarfed by the 200-meter Admiral Hipper.

**

The starter set, Battle for the Pacific, comes with three Japanese cruisers and three destroyers, as well as three US cruisers and a whopping six Fletcher-class destroyers.

All the cruisers are in the lighter resin and are very good quality models. The destroyers are in the darker, softer resin, and will need more work. A couple are wonky enough to need boiling.

I'm going to start with the Japanese ships since I've got a bit of an Axis thing going here. 

As per David Williams's Naval Camouflage 1914-1945 and this excellent website, with only very few exceptions, Imperial Japanese Navy warships were painted a uniform grey. I've seen several people use London Grey for the hull and Mahogany Brown for decks on cruisers and larger ships, so I'm going with that. I painted the Fubuki-class destroyers London Grey, with black tops for the smokestacks, and I think it worked great.

One thing I like to do is differentiate between individual ships, even when the models don't; destroyers don't have ship names on the bases, but just the class. With most navies, this is easy: I just freehand the pennant number on there. The Japanese, however, didn't use them. So freehand it is...

The Furutaka is in London Grey, with Mahogany Brown decks.

And so are the Mogami and Kumano.

**

So I do have to say I quite like Victory at Sea so far: I'm enjoying painting the miniatures, and the game itself seems fun. I hope I get to play some more!

Warhammer 40,000: Let's Paint Space Elves

At this, the heart of Fulbra sank within him; for he had heard numerous tales of Uccastrog in bygone years; and the tales were not such as would reassure a stranded traveler. Uccastrog, which lay far to the east of Cyntrom, was commonly known as the Isle of the Torturers; and men said that all who landed upon it unaware, or were cast thither by the seas, were imprisoned by the inhabitants and were subjected later to unending curious tortures whose infliction formed the chief delight of these cruel beings.

 - Clark Ashton Smith, the Isle of the Torturers

I had my eye on a Dark Eldar Voidraven bomber for quite a while. I don't know why I want to build one, but I do; I just think it looks cool, like a GI Joe plane that you'd have fondly looked at at the toy store as a kid but that was way too expensive. Perhaps it isn't a coincidence, because at some point I realized that the actual GI Joe aircraft the Voidraven looks like is the Night Raven, which appears in one of my favorite stories, Showdown! So if I just paint the Voidraven in Cobra colors, all of a sudden I also have a color scheme for my Dark Eldar. I'm calling the bomber the Hospitality of the Isle of Uccastrog.

**

Technically, this does not count as starting a new army! Because I already own a box of Dark Eldar Wyches from who knows how long ago. I have no recollection whatsoever of buying them. I also picked up an, ahem, Dark Side space elf Kabalite Champion from the good folks at Wargame Exclusive as part of another order; she will be joining us as the Succubus Ilvaa. Wargame Exclusive were clearly getting in on the GW trend of ludicrously high bases, so I made Ilvaa stand on a random pile of skulls I had lying around instead.

Since I have all these ladies, clearly I'm making a Wych Cult detachment. What with the colors and everything, I think I'm calling them the Cult of the Venom Dreaming. The bomber can also be a Wych Cult plane, so I think this is a winner.

The Kabalite Champion is a lovely model, and my painting skills can't do it any kind of justice. I stuck a marine pistol holster to her thigh just in case I want to actually use the model and someone decides to be an asshole about WYSIWYG, and also because I thought it looked kinda cool. Anyway here she is.

**

While I was waiting for my bomber to show up, it occurred to me that I have another model I was planning to use as an Eldar character: Lupita Love from Raging Heroes. Here she is as Harlequin Solitaire Jolenta, from the Masque of the Dying Sun.

**

Then it's on to the Voidraven! I'm delighted to find that the crew of two can be easily livened up a little with some conversion parts.

By the way, surely that should be bombardiere rather than artigliere in the Italian. I started with the pilot, who was a bit boring, but it was easy enough to swap in a Wych torso and a Brother Vinni head.

Meanwhile, magnetizing the missile pods was fairly easy.

I also magnetized the bomb, by the fairly simple expedient of cutting off the tab in the bomb bay and sticking a magnet on it, and slipping a thinner magnet inside the bomb casing.

It fits quite snugly.

**

So I had the fuselage well underway, but I liked that Kabalite Champion model so much, I decided to get another one and convert her into my bombardier. This involved repositioning her legs, using the arms from the original bombardier model, and a new Statuesque bionic head.

The pose is quite something, and I feel like this was a very succesful conversion.

**

Unfortunately, after this succesful crew conversion came the hard part. The main fuselage is made up of two big, complicatedly contoured parts, and of course they don't fit together properly. This bit of the instructions is not as easy as it looks.

Getting the two fuselage halves to stick together took some strenuous efforts with clamps and some superglue where plastic cement just wasn't good enough. Not an experience I would care to repeat.

I have to admit that after the clamps came off and some filler went into the gaps, the model sat on my shelf for quite a while. Then, though, the Dark Eldar DLC came out for Gladius, and I decided it was high time to finish this damn model! So I stuck on the wings and finished the underside.

This is my first attempt at a symbol for the Venom Dreaming and an army badge for my Eldar.

I also inscribed the name of the aircraft and the cult on it, but kept the overall paint job quite simple, with Black Grey as the main color, Royal Purple highlights and Deep Green text.

No way am I taking any closeups!

**

And so the Voidraven is finally done. It was a bit of a miserable build, to be honest, although I'm quite proud of my bombardier conversion. I'm still very much enjoying actually finishing models I've started, so with apologies to my friendly neighborhood game store, I may keep this not buying new models thing up next year as well...