Battle Report 1

So I had my first ever Warhammer 40K game yesterday. It was a 750-point game and I planted 2 Imperial Knights down on the table. A friend, Clement, suggested a three-way game and I whole-heartedly supported the idea. More fun to have more people playing after all.

So my 2 Imperial Knights (1 Paladin, 1 Errant) faced off against a Tyranid swarm that contained 2 Hive Tyrants with wings, a Genestealer brood and 2 Mucolid Spores. And an Ultramarines contingent with a Librarian and a  meltasquad, 2 Tactical squads in Razorbacks with twin-linked lascannons and Land Speeders with flamers and meltaguns.

The 2 Imperial Knights and the Tyranid swarm

So yeah, these are our forces. I have a single Knight Paladin and a Knight Errant, who became my Warlord. I was lucky with the roll, I made him a Seneschal. I had to make the roll because I only have 2 Knights as opposed to 3. Ouch. Anyway, I got lucky with the roll. My Knight Paladin rolled a 4 and remained a Knight. I also rolled the Warlord Trait Master of the Hunt, but I never got to use it. You'll see why later.

Deployed my 2 Knights inside a couple of ruins. Cover save, ha ha.

So I deployed my 2 Knights next to each other at the edge of the table. Hid them in ruins to give them cover saves. As it turned out, it was pretty stupid of me to do so......

The Hive Tyrants are swooping in

And my friend had deployed his flying Hive Tyrants from an adjacent side earlier, so....yeah.

The Genestealer brood and Mucolid Spores in reserve!

3 Land speeders in reserve!

The Ultramarines deploy

 The Space Marines deploy on the opposite side of the table, hiding their Razorbacks behind a couple of structures. Bah, the cowards!

Anyway, the first turn begins.

I trudged along the ruins in my Knight Paladin, sweeping through the surroundings for any signs of Tyranid activity in the proximity. The early intelligence reports we received from Atlas Prime warned us of Genestealer sightings, and we were taking no chances. Those things were known to have torn apart Terminator armor, and while our Knights were more durable than those puny Terminators of the Adeptus Astartes, I shudder to think about my mount getting ripped open like a can as those insidious aliens crawl all over my wrecked adamantium armor, their claws reaching for me......

The auspex sounded, alerting me to an anamoly in the distance. Opening up my vox, I contacted my detachment leader. Unlike most of the Knightly detachments that loyally served the Imperium, House Yato considered their Knights part of the Draconis Regiment that was part of the billions of Astra Militarum guardsmen fighting all over the galaxy. We were soldiers, not nobles, but we were usually ranked higher than the average trooper. I had just received my rank of Lieutenant recently, after completing my knight training in the Draconis Collegia Titanica, and I was placed in Captain Taro Kobayashi's detachment.

"Sir, it seems like there are a couple of Razorbacks approaching our position. I think they might be allies......"

No sooner than I completed my sentence, the stinging blast of a lascannon seared through the ruins I was camping my Knight in, barely missing my Knight by mere inches.

"Traitors," Captain Kobayashi hissed, his voice taut over the vox. "Kill them all!"

I replied with a couple of thundering shots from my Rapid Battle Cannon, the heavy shells arcing from over the ruins and into the direction where the lascannon had came from, behind a couple of short structures. I could barely make out the silhouette of a mounted lascannon, and to my dismay the Razorback managed to swerve and use the structure as cover. Concrete came rumbling down as my shots hit home, but no damage was done to the Razorback.

"Damn......"

"Let's charge them!"

Kobayashi was about to stomp his way out of the ruins when a new warning screeched through my Knight systems. To my left, I could see shadowy silhouettes crawling through a building and converging on our position.

"Sir! Genestealers on our left! They've infiltrated the ruins!"

Cursing, Captain Kobayashi twisted his Knight around and leveled his Thermal Cannon at the ruins. A roar bellowed in the air as a massive thermal lance ripped into the ruins, disintegrating one of the figures. The rest scattered, running back into the ruins for cover.

"This isn't good, sir." I swallowed as I studied my auspexes, which was lighting up with threats. "We're being attacked on both sides......"

As if to punctuate my statement, a Hive Tyrant descended upon me from the sky, its massive wings spreading like some angel of death. Or demon. Something hit my ion shield and richocheted harmlessly, but I wasn't able to relax. Not with such a monstrosity right in front of me.

Grimly revving up my Reaper Chainsword as I watched the winged Hive Tyrant glide away and trying to respond with a couple of heavy stubber shots of my own, I steeled myself for the battle that was to come.

And to make matters worse, a drop pod crashed right down in front of Captain Kobyashi's Knight, leaving a contrail of screaming fire in its wake......

Genestealers have successfully infiltrated the ruins!

Clement's Genestealer brood successfully infiltrated into the ruin on my Knights' left.

Fly, Hive Tyrant, fly!

 First, one Hive Tyrant flew upon my Knight's position.

The Imperial Knight emerges unscathed from the Hive Tyrant's attempted assault.

So Clement's first Hive Tyrant tried a Haywire attack against my Knight Paladin......and failed. Yay.

The Hive Tyrant attacks the Razorback

Clement's 2nd Hive Tyrant has more success against the Razorback, taking a hull point off it. Yay. On the other hand, I elected to have my Knights remain hiding in the ruins and taking potshots at everyone else. My Knight Paladin fired twice at the only visible Razorback, but it made both its cover saves. Lucky bastard.

My Knight Errant had a little more luck. Targeting the Genestealers with his Thermal Cannon, he killed only 1 of them. The rest made their cover saves. Damn. Things are just not working out for my Knights.

I finished my turn with a couple of stubber shots on the flying Hive Tyrant and got three hits. Unfortunately, none of them wounded. The bloody guy was tough. Strength 4 also sucks.

Drop pod! Melta Space Marine squad quickly runs out

Daniel then dropped his drop pod of Space Marines in front of my Warlord. Uh oh.

Razorback hiding inside the citadel?

 He then moved one of his Razorbacks up to hide inside the gates. Oh well.

The melta assault begins

Ouch. Just ouch. 2 Meltaguns scored 2 penetrating hits and 1 explode result, scouring 4 hull points off my Warlord, who failed his freaking Ion Shield saves. WHY DO YOU HAVE TO DO THIS TO ME, DICE GODS?! Well, he did score a single save against 1 Meltagun penetrating shot, but really? A Seneschal with a 3+ save failing 3 out of 4 saves (including the combi-melta later)? Ouch. How unlucky.

 And then the librarian finished him off with a freaking combi-melta penetrating shot that took off ALL his hull points, and as usual I failed the save AGAIN. And then I rolled a 6 on the Catastrophic Damage table and took out 2 of the Marines. The rest passed their armor save, though. Sigh. What bad luck. On the bright side, there was nothing the explosion could do to my remaining Knight Paladin.

But Daniel had scored Slay the Warlord and First Blood at my expense. Ouch.

The aftermath of the Catastrophic Explosion

It happened so quickly I couldn't see what was going on. The Space Marines - were they traitor Marines? - filed out of the drop pod in a clipped, precise fashion, laying down a volley of fire from their meltaguns at close range. The sizzling, destructive beams lanced into Kobayashi's Knight, his Ion Shield only deflecting one of them, and melted his adamantium armor. At least one of the shots must have hit his reactor because the next moment Koyabashi's Knight went up in smoke as it blew up, the titanic explosion thundering across the ruins and incinerating 2 of the Marines who were unfortunate enough not to get away in time.

I weathered the blow, my Ion Shield flaring up as it took the brunt of the shockwave, and though I managed to escape the devastating spectacle unscathed, I could hardly say the same for my former detachment leader.

"Im...impossible......"

In just a few moments, a mighty Knight had fallen, laid to waste by just five Space Marines and a single Librarian.

 The Razorbacks attempted to shoot the flying Hive Tyrant, who jinked and avoided a snapshot that would have done heavy damage if it had hit.

Fly, Hive Tyrant, fly!

The second turn begins

As with the last turn the psychic phase came up with nothing for the Tyranids. The Space Marines fared better, having twin-linked and Prescience, which will continue in the next turn. The Mucolid Spores arrive from reserve, and the Genestealers move a mere 2 inches, the Muicolid Spores run 3 inches, while the Hive Tyrants fly away, tossing off a few snap shots with their leech shooter thingy. 3 of those snapshots actually hit! How lucky. And with the Razorback's poor armor, Clement succeeded in wrecking it with a glance and 2 penetrating hits. Yay. One less Razorback to worry about.

The Razorback is wrecked! Yay!

As the Space Marines piled out of the wrecked Razorback, the other Hive Tyrant attempted to attack my surviving Knight Paladin, once again throwing a Haywire attack and the leech gun thingy that could have scored a couple of glancing hits if my Ion Shield hadn't blocked it. Phew. Good save there. If only I was as lucky with my poor Knight Errant......

I then fired a couple of battle cannon shots at the poor Space marines who piled out of the Razorback and killed 2 of them. I directed the stubber at the Librarian and he made his armor saves. Damn. Lucky rolls, Daniel.

I ended up charging the drop pod because I couldn't charge the poor Space Marines, and I wrecked it with a Hammer of Wrath penetrating blow and a few melee attacks. Yay.

Charge! The Knight attacks the drop pod.

 The Land Speeders come on from reserve and wipe out the Genestealers with their flamers. All eight of them. Oh, wow. They did what my Knight Errant couldn't do, and with less points too. Then again, flamers ignore cover, so good choice there. The Razorback takes off 1 hull point from my Knight Paladin with a glancing shot with his lascannon. The surviving tactical squads kill the 2 helpless Mucolid Spores.

The roar of engines echoed through the air as three Land Speeders crashed down onto the terrain, their flamers blazing with burning promethium. Descending upon the ruins where the Genestealers were hidden, they let loose a massive gout of flame that washed over the screeching Xenos, incinerating them into ash.

Unfortunately, I couldn't spare much attention to them. My focus remained on the three Space Marines and one Librarian in front of me, the group already shifting their meltaguns to burn my armor out. The flamers might scorch the front of my armor, blackening the surface at most, but the meltaguns were the real threat, able to melt huge gaping holes in my otherwise formidable armor.

I had to focus on them for now if I were to get out of this alive.

Imperial Knight vs. Space Marines

The 3 Space Marines and Librarian attack my Imperial Knight and take off 2 hull points with the meltaguns, leaving him with only 3 hull points left. Ouch. The Krak grenade failed, though. Ouch. But my Knight Paladin survives this time!

Hive Tyrant swoops on the tactical squads.

Turn 3. The Hive Tyrant with wings finally succeeds in its psychic phase this time and casts horror on the Space Marine tactical squad, causing them to go to ground. It then whacked them, causing 4 hits, 3 wounds and killing 2 of them. 1 made his armor save. The 2nd flying Hive Tyrant had flown to converge on the tactical squads and hit the last surviving marine 3 times, causing 3 wounds. And guess what? The Space Marine made all his armor saves. What the hell......

Needless to say, I fired a couple of battlecannon shots on the marines and the last Razorback, and they all made their cover saves. Not a single one died. Daniel was incredibly lucky with his save rolls, a trend that will continue. Dice gods, why?!

I then charged the Space Marines, and lost a hull point from overwatch, the meltaguns failing but a krak grenade actually stripping it off from a lucky shot. Ouch. 2 hull points left. I then killed one marine with a Hammer of Wrath. Yay. During melee, one died thanks to my Destroyer weapon, but I was always rolling ones, and missing all my melee hits or stomp hits. And even when the stomp landed, they made their freaking armor saves. As I said, Daniel's luck with dice is amazing.

After my turn, Daniel turned his land speeders around to fire everything they had at the flying Hive Tyrants. Needless to say, they all missed. Hah!

Daniel then continued the close combat and failed to hurt my Imperial Knight, and once again I fail to kill any with my Destroyer weapon, rolling nothing but ones. What the hell!? I got lucky with the stomp attack this time, though, with a single six to help me remove a Space Marine from play. In other words, all that was left was a single Librarian locked in combat with my Knight Paladin. Hilarious.

Imperial Knight absolutely destroying Space Marines in combat, but can't kill the freaking Librarian.

And so the game ends here because I had to leave for remedial training (National Service, sigh). Well, it was a fun and good game, and my Knight Paladin survived till the end. 1 more turn and perhaps I would have killed the Librarian (come on, my dice rolls can't be that unlucky forever).

I charged at the traitor Marines, eager for their blood and thirsty for vengeance. House Yato did not allow their foes to escape unscathed. Even if I died here, I would exact bloody vengeance for Kobayashi's death.

I swung my Reaper Chainsword down, my Ion Shield scattering the Marines' pathetic meltagun shots off as I bore down on them. The first Marine died, ripped into two by my screaming chainsword. The others immediately scattered, but a second one was not so lucky, impaled by the grinding teeth of my whirring chainsword.

The Librarian whirled around to face me, gracefully evading my attacks and flinging a krak grenade into my face. I staggered back, stunned as the bomb went off and cracked the front adamantium armor, but I suppressed the pain that surged through me in the form of sensory feedback that resulted from my connection with my mount and grimly marched forward.

I will not be denied my vengeance.

I stomped on the surviving two Marines mercilessly, and while the Librarian was quick to get out of the way, his comrade was not so lucky, his scream cut off as the heavy foot of my armor crushed him into a bloody paste.

The Librarian met my glare with a cool gaze, psychic energy crackling around him. It felt as if he could see me face-to-face even through my armor.

I hesitated.

And then the Librarian frowned as his vox-caster burst to life. A babble of voices streamed incoherently from the device, the voices too inaudible for my auditory sensors to pick up. An expression of surprise flickered on his face and then he laid down his staff and held his hands up. I watched him curiously, wondering if this was somehow a trap. Traitor Marines, especially their Librarians, were cunning and not above deceit, something that was at odds with our Knightly code of honor.

But my gut instinct told me something was wrong. The Librarian in front of me didn't look like a Traitor Marine. He was still mostly human, without the abhorrent mutations that plagued most of his kind.

"It seems...there has been some sort of mistake," the Librarian said apologetically as he glanced around the bloodied ruins, a wave of exhaustion and regret entering his tone. "We have been fighting the wrong enemy."

Confused, I opened up a vox channel, allowing the Librarian to hear my voice. "What do you mean?"

"We are both servants of the Emperor, are we not?" the Librarian had picked up his stave again, but showed no intention of continuing the fight. "It appears we were misinformed when we were told that there were Traitor Knights present."

A cold feeling ran up my gut when I digested the implication of his admission.

It meant that I had been slaughtering warriors of the Adeptus Astartes all this time......?

All right, so there you have it, the first battle report done. My Imperial Knights were absolutely annihilated by the Space Marines, and in a one-on-one fight, I most likely would have been tabled in the first two turns. On the other hand, the Tyranids couldn't do anything to me at all. Poor guys. So it's either I destroy my opponent or my opponent wipe the floor with me. At least my Imperial Knight survived till the end, so it wasn't a total loss. YAY!

How......funny. Anyway, I look forward to playing with my Imperial Knights again. I hope I can play a game of Escalation soon. Someone has a Stompa, and I want to pit my Imperial Knights and Shadowsword against the Stompa and Orks. Yay! If I ever succeed in getting that battle, I'll write a battle report for it!

My Vendettas and Leman Russ Executioner

On another note, I've finished building my poor Vendetta, so now I have two Vendettas! Yay. My air force is looking pretty healthy now. Not only that, I also have a Leman Russ Executioner! I'll build my second one next week, but for now they're done!

2 Vendettas and a Leman Russ Executioner.

Wow, the Vendettas are huge. Look at how they are so much bigger than my poor Leman Russ Executioner!

Leman Russ Executioner

Yeah, I built the variant with plasma cannon sponsons and lascannon. This will be my Tank Commander for many games. Will build his Leman Russ squad next week, the second Leman Russ Executioner is waiting to be fixed. Yay.

My Imperial Guard army is slowly shaping up! Anyway, I also had my first ever Warhammer 40K battle, and my Imperial Knights basically got murdered. Well, one survived, but still......anyway, I'll have the battle report up soon. Please be patient.

All painted!

After giving all my Veterans plasma guns, I finally had a chance to paint them today. So they're all painted now. The Draconis Regiment's colors are black and gold, so that was what I chose to paint them. The color scheme looks pretty cool, but unfortunately my painting skills are horrible. Oh well. I tried.

All the Draconis infantry painted!

The Doomhammer is also painted!

The Vendetta is also painted!

Somehow I managed to receive my own glass case now. A Vendetta and probably a Vulture will be joining them soon.

So yeah, everything's painted. But I just bought 2 Leman Russ Executioners and a 2nd Vendetta. Have to build and paint them too. Oh well. And then I'll order a Vulture in April. We'll see what happens in May. Either I get a 3rd Imperial Knight or I'll buy some Skitarii. I'll decide then. Since no one wants to play against my Imperial Knights, it might be pointless getting a 3rd one......

The Skitarii are here!

The Skitarii are finally here! Head over to the Grumpy Guardsman's blog for more details. I can't wait, they look absolutely awesome! I want those for troop choices! YAY!

I have always been a big fan of the Skitarii, especially in the novels. I always see them in Ciaphas Cain novels, and I ended up reading Mechanicum by Graham McNeill, which was awesome. So yes, Skitarii all the way for me. I want the Skitarii!

Imperial Guard Infantry

I've finally completed my Imperial Guard infantry. Or...should I call them Astra Militarum now? What the hell, I'll stick to Imperial Guard. Too used to using Imperial Guard.

Oh, and good news. The Skitarii and Mechanicus Cult codex and models are going to be announced at the end of March! White Dwarf just put a binary code called "ALL HAIL MARS!" in their latest issue. I can't wait! The Skitarii are one of my favorite armies, because...well, I love giant robots. Hence my Imperial Knights. I'll be getting a 3rd Imperial Knight in May, for now I'll concentrate on buying my Leman Russ Executioner and Forge World flyers and stuff. My army is nearly complete. Or actually I can already field an army, but I still want my Leman Russ Executioner and plasma guns first. Still waiting for my plasma guns and Knights of the Imperium novella to be delivered to me.

I wonder what they'll have for the Skitarii, I can't wait! WOOHOO! All hail Mars! I wonder if the Skitarii will have access to hellguns, otherwise known as hot-shot lasguns. I love those guns.

Anyway, without further ado, here's my completed Imperial Guard infantry.

Half completed Imperial Guard infantry. Was in a rush that day.

Finally completed my infantry today. One Company Command Squad equipped with plasma gun and meltagun, 2 Veteran Squads, equipped with 1 heavy flamer and 4 flamers. 

There's so little space my Draconis Imperial Guardsmen are forced to clamber all over the Doomhammer! Well, it's supposed to be a super-heavy transport anyway......

So there you have it, my Imperial Guard-Imperial Knight army is finally "complete". I just need a Leman Russ Executioner and a 3rd Imperial Knight and I'll be playing regularly. Oh, I'll also want a couple of Forge World flyers and round off my Tau Empire/Farsight Enclaves allies by getting a Crisis Battlesuit team and a Crisis Commander. Yay. Once I'm free in the summer, I'll begin writing the adventures of the Draconis Regiment. I hope to learn from Sandy Mitchell and Graham McNeil, but my writing is pretty horrible. Oh well.

For the Emperor!

And so my super-heavy tank is built!

Would have posted this earlier, but I was too busy writing my thesis, responding to emails and doing work. I wanted to write a bit more for my story, but I was too tired, which is too bad. And my thesis and work take priority over the story.

So before I go to bed on the back of an exhausting day, here's the Stormsword/Shadowsword/variants that I've finally finished building today.

Thankfully, I found out that I can have up to five different variants of the Shadowsword. YAY! I just need to swap the barrels here and there. I might not even need the magnets, but admittedly the barrels are very loose and have the tendency to fall off. Argh. Anyway, here they are.

The Banehammer! With a Commissar and a couple of heavy flamers nearby. Not sure if I'll use the Banehammer much.

The signature Shadowsword! Be careful, its Volcano Cannon can immolate even a Titan in destructive fury.

The Banesword. Having the capability to reach out and touch someone. Maybe I can troll the Warhammer players several tables away.

The Doomhammer. Now this I will be using most of the time. I'm going to need his transport capacity and his Strength 10 AP 1 Magma Cannon is going to be fun.

My favorite, the Stormsword. The other one that I'll be using the most as well. Particularly in urban environments when I need to throw around Ignores Cover Apocalyptic Blasts pie-plates. Yay.

And if you recall, I'm writing a story. These super-heavy tanks belong to the Draconis Regiment! The two Shadowsword variants that will show up the most are as mentioned, the Doomhammer and the Stormsword. The Doomhammer of the 4th Draconis Regiment, The Emperor's Wrath, is usually used as a super transport for Plasma veterans. The Draconis Regiment is known for specializing in plasma weapons, so I'm going to load up 1 Company Command Squad with Kurov's Aquila and 4 plasma guns, 2 Veteran squads with a total of 6 plasma guns (and 2 lascannons from the heavy weapon squads) into the Doomhammer and park it on an objective, melting any enemy that dares draw close in white-hot plasma. And give it a Leman Russ Executioner escort while at it.

The Stormsword, The Emperor's Vengeance, will also feature prominently in the story. In fact, when they first break into the Tau Empire's hangar, it will be The Emperor's Vengeance and the 2 Imperial Knights who create a violent diversion while the plasma gunners, heavy flamers and Veteran squads sneak in to steal the Riptide, Broadside and Hammerhead gunship. And Crisis Battlesuits, if I eventually get my hands on them.

I'm thinking of adding a Forge World Stormblade to my collection, but we'll see if I still have the finds come May or June. Ack. If I do, the Stormblade will be The Emperor's Fury. Sorry, I'm bad at coming up with names. Or the Draconis Regiment is. ;)

Confrontation! The Imperial Knights and Imperial Guard face off against a small Tau Empire force.

All painted!

I've finally painted all the models I've owned originally! Except the Vendetta, which I just only bought and built last week, but all the Tau models (Riptide, Broadside, Hammerhead) and all my Imperial Knights are finally painted!

Here is a picture of my painted Imperial Knights (and the Vendetta because I was gluing its twin-linked lascannon back onto its wing).

All my Imperial Knights have been painted!

The poor Vendetta hasn't been painted yet, but I've used my spray paint and coated it entirely in black paint. It'll be using the same color scheme as my Imperial Knights. Black, gold, yellow, a bit of red and white. Yay,

The whole army (except the Vendetta) has been painted!

Even bigger news. I've finally gotten my hands on a Baneblade! WOOHOO! And a Company Command Squad. I'll be able to finally finish my army at this rate. By Thursday if all goes well. I'm still waiting on my 2 Veteran squads and Leman Russ Executioner, and if they come on Thursday, just in time for me to assemble them, my army will be complete. YAY!

I'm going to build a Doomhammer, magnetize it so that I can swap it for a Stormsword sometimes. I'll be using these 2 variants the most.

And so I've finally bought a Baneblade! As well as a Company Command Squad

The Doomhammer is very useful as a mega-transport because I'm going to load all my infantry into the Doomhammer and leave them inside there. I'll need to buy plasma guns and 3 heavy weapon teams. We'll see. I'll see what happens on Thursday - if my Veteran troops and Leman Russ Executioner arrive, I'll order the plasma guns and heavy weapon teams online.

The idea is to have a Company Command Squad with Kurov's Aquila and 2 Veteran squads using the Doomhammer as a transport. They will be armed with 8 to 10 plasma guns and 2 autocannons or 1 autocannon and 1 lascannon, depending on the build. Since 10 of them can shoot from the troop loading bay, I'll be raining down either 10 plasma volleys or 8 plasma volleys and a couple of autocannon bursts. Makes more sense, right? With a Leman Russ Executioner, fully equipped with plasma cannons, as an escort, and 2 Imperial Knights protecting the Doomhammer, the Draconis Regiment is going to be a very plasma-orientated army. Yay. Though it hurts to have only 1 Vendetta, and I do wish I could get more Leman Russ Executioners, but hey. It's fine. We'll see what happens. I also need to experiment a bit with my Stormsword build as well so we'll see.

I might get a couple of Forgeworld flyers (a Vulture Gunship with Punisher cannons and an Avenger Strike Fighter with autocannons) in April, depending, and finish up with 2 Leman Russ Executioners in May. As I said, we'll see what happens. I can't wait!

And I can probably start writing the Draconis Regiment story this month or next month. Scratch that, I'll write it after I finish writing my thesis. Actually, my thesis is the reason for my late post. Yeah, I'm posting this at 3am because I've spent the last couple of hours writing my thesis instead - not the fault of my thesis, actually. I was feeling very sick so I took a nap for a couple of hours and woke up at 11.30pm. So I really only spent 2 hours or so on writing my thesis (and I did make good progress, so I'm still pleased with it). Juggling a thesis with my hobby is going to be difficult, but it's worth it. I think.

As always, for the Emperor!