Weekly Chronicle 2020 #35

This past week was not too bad, at least a model for Warhammer 40,000, I completed (my 'Invictor Tactical Warsuit') and my son and I squeezed in a 1000 point game of Warhammer 40,000 on Saturday using the "Open War" gaming cards to setup our mission.

For that game, I decided to break out my Black Templars and surprised my son with them, I really thought I was going to lose this game as I was outnumbered greatly (I decided to use a 'Land Raider Crusader' as a Transport.  The main objective of the game was to pick up the Objective from the center of the board and hang onto until end of the Battle Round 5.  We had a lot of Fight phases in this game with them starting fairly early in the game (a change from playing Imperial Fists) and my Black Templars held there own, actually so well that I managed to squeak out the Win (barely).  It was a cheezy Move, but it was still movement (Falling Back out of combat to retrieve the Objective at the bottom of Round 5).

Well this week I am on a much needed vacation and will be heading up North for most of the week, but when I come back a long time friend (Gamer Addict Frank) will be coming up on Friday and spending the weekend getting in some game.  It will be a decent mixture of Warhammer 40,000, X-Wing , Arena Rex and probably some MeSBG.  So stay tuned.....

Models Completed: 1

Games Played: 1

W40K: Imperial Fists 'Invictor Tactical Warsuit I'

I cannot believe it has already been a month and a half since I last painted anything for my Warhammer 40,000 Imperial Fist army, but now I can finally say my 'Invictor Tactical Warsuit' is completed.

As I mentioned in yesterdays blog, I just do not have much motivation (an event) to get my models completed, so it has been I paint when I feel like painting approach, and it has been slow.  We'll see what happens come October and the new Space Marines Codex gets released and lists are changing, I am sure that will require me to get some more models completed.

Invictor Tactical Warsuit I

Invictor Tactical Warsuit I

Painting Points: 10

Weekly Chronicle 2020 #34

Same old same old, it has been about a repeating pattern ever since COVID-19 hit the world, all events cancelled and a little gaming at home.  Besides the excitement of attending events, and the camaraderie of players, going to events gave me motivation to get more models painted.  I would think of some list ideas and then I would paint the required models for that list.  Right now with everything being cancelled there is no motivation to quickly paint anything, so it is a little bit here and little bit there.

Well yesterday morning was some more of the 'there' and hopefully tomorrow I will have a finished model for the site.  We are having a friend come up to visit Labor Day weekend for a weekend of gaming, so my goal was to get a few more models completed by then.

Gaming this past week was on a par, Saturday my son and I played a GT2020 mission with 1500 points, this was a pretty good point limit as it did not have too many models of the board (at least for me, I was giving my 'Relic Leviathan Dreadnought' another hooah before the new book comes out for it.  My Imperial Fists took the victory 69-31.

Not sure what we will be playing this coming Saturday, maybe a couple different smaller games....we'll see as the weekend gets closer.

Models Completed: 0

Games Played: 1

Weekly Chronicle 2020 #33

Well this week was not too bad, I at least was able to get in a couple of games in over the weekend.  We might as well start with those today.  With my son working both days this past weekend and coming home in the afternoon, we (think mainly it was I) decided we will just do some 500 point Combat Patrol for Warhammer 40,000.

On Saturday we broke out the new "Open War" deck and randomly generated our game from the cards.  Playing the "Open War" cards is not as high scoring as playing Matched Played or GT2020 missions since the Objectives are usually not worth as many points and there are no Secondary Objectives, but it is a nice way to quickly get a game setup.  Both days I played my Imperial Fists, but on Saturday went with a slightly more assault list than my usual shooty lists.  It did not work out to well for me and I was cleared from the battlefield and lost 5-15.

Sunday was another 500 point Combat Patrol, but this time it was a Matched Play mission from the rulebook with Secondary Objectives.  At 500 points it is really tough to take the backbone of my army (my Centurions) so I had to make do with some of the smaller units.  This battle was tough and kept going back and forth.  I finally was able to the Dark Angels down to one Tactical Squad left, but he was still holding an Objective with a Banner on it.  Even though the below image shows that I lost 45-46, the finally tally was actually 46-48 in favor of the Dark Angels (we originally forgot to add the additional point per banner at the end of the game).

In regards to painting this week, well nothing was completed......but I did finally sit down and start adding some color to my 'Invictor Tactical Warsuit'.  A little bit hear and there and it will finally get completed, I would like to have it done for this weekend if possible, but we shall see.

Models Completed: 0

Games Played: 2

Guild Ball: The Death Of Guild Ball (August 2020)

Yesterday was a pretty sad day for Guild Ball fans, Steamforged Games announced the "End of Guild Ball" was on September 1st 2020.  I had a feeling something was coming when last week during their GenCon keynote they had no mention of the game and then yesterday came the announcement.  The Guild Ball players are pretty upset with the article, not because the game is ending, but also that Steamforged put most of the blame on the competitive players, which if it was not for the competitive players, the game probably would have ended long ago.

It was not the players, it was Steamforged Games themselves that killed the game due to their lack of communication over the last 2 years, killing their Pundit volunteer program and especially their fiasco of trying to produce models and keep a stock on them.  When you have nothing to sell because of production issues for just about a year, that is your fault, not the competitors.  We were still out there playing and promoting your game.

I honestly could say Guild Ball was one of my top favorite games.  I loved the story arc, I loved the models, and I loved the low count of models needed to play the game, and I loved the COMPETITIVE players, they were probably the nicest bunch of tournament players I have ever met before.  It was an enjoyment traveling to different events last year and meeting new players.

Grant it this year has seen no games played of Guild Ball for me with my renewal interest in Warhammer 40,000, but I wont count out getting in 1-2 games before the year is up.  We still have all the models and the latest rules/cards so there is nothing saying that it cannot be played still.  Who knows, maybe we'll try and even squeeze one game in this weekend.

Weekly Chronicle 2020 #32

I have to admit it was yet again another slow week, as I stated numerous times, even though we are still in a pandemic, I have been super busy with work.

I did manage to get one model completed last week and it was 'Tribune' for Arena Rex, so at least something was completed.  My 'Invictor Tactical Warsuit' is now sitting on my painting table and I am hoping this weekend it will start to get some colors.

On the gaming side, nothing was played.  Honestly this was probably more due to the NHL restarting and all of us watching last week, it will be tough for the next few weeks, but our plan is to at least squeeze in a small game over the weekend.

Models Completed: 1

Games Played: 0

Arena Rex: Ludus Magnus ‘Tribune’

It has been a long time since I painted anything for Arena Rex, but after an afternoon of a few games a couple of weeks back, I felt like getting another model down on my painting table.

With the excitement of Indomitus for Warhammer 40,000, he took a little bit longer than expected, but 'Tribune' for my Ludus Magnus is now completed.

Tribune

Tribune

Painting Points: 2

Weekly Chronicle 2020 #31 (Michigan GT Cancelled)

It was not another great week for painting, but I did get quite a few models assembled from the new Warhammer 40,000 Indomitus box.  I still have a lot more to build, but at the moment do not have a "rush" on any of the models.  Most of the models from the Indomitus box will be used for my Imperial Fists, but mainly when I want to play an "assault" style game instead of my usually "shooty" game.

My highest priority model to get completed will be my 'Invictor Tactical Warsuit', it is assembled and primed and will be hitting the painting table sometime soon, not sure when it will get done, but hopefully this coming weekend I'll be able to sit down and get some of it done.

I mentioned last week that I started on an Arena Rex model, 'Tribune'.  He will be getting completed and posted tomorrow so that way it leaves room for the 'Tactical Warsuit'.

On the gaming side of the week, one game of Warhammer 40,000 was played on Friday....really not sure how this weekend will pan out, it is looking pretty busy with "real work".

Also this morning, it was announced that the 2020 Michigan GT that was slated for October has been officially cancelled.  With the state of Michigan still limiting their gatherings to 10 people, it was the only decision that they had.

Models Completed: 0

Games Played: 1

Battle Report: W40K 7/31/2020 (GT2020 "Scorched Earth")

Friday afternoon I took the half day off from work so my son and I can try a full 2000 point game of Warhammer 40,000 using the new new "Grand Tournament 2020" missions and rules.  We ended up rolling mission "Retrieval Mission" but with the way the deployment is for that mission it is not easy to play on our board setup and turned the page and played that mission, it was "Scorched Earth".

We proceeded to select our Secondary Objectives and my Imperial Fists choose; "Thin Their Lines", "Bring It Down" and "Raze" from the Mission.  My sons Dark Angels choose; "Raise Banner", "Grind Them Down" and "Assassinate".

I was Defender and selected my Deployment Zone and placed my first unit down, a 'Whirlwind' hidden behind a some Obscuring Area Terrain.  We finished deploying and then rolled off who will go first or second.  The Dark Angels won this roll and elected to go first.  

My Imperial Fists lost a Unit of 'Tactical Marines' and my 'Invictor Tactical Warsuit' took some heavy damage but he managed to stay alive, it was time for the Imperial Fists to fire back and we sure did.  First turn is where we get the best of our Combat Doctrine against Vehicles so that it what we were shooting for.  The Imperial Fists managed to destroy a 'Razorback', 'Land Raider Crusader' and did some damage on a 'Predator'.  I managed to keep the Dark Angels from scoring on their Secondary "Bring Them Down". 

Scoring the Primary Objectives each Round we were keeping it pretty even, it was not till Round 5 where I was able to take the go ahead on the Primaries.  The Dark Angels were scoring points with "Raise Banner" and I was with "Thin Their Lines" and "Bring It Down".  My Turn 3 I brought in my two Units of 'Eradicators' (first time trying them out) from "Strategic Reserves" and one Unit took out a 'Dreadnought' while the second Unit managed to take out a lone 'Primaris Captain', both of these Dark Angel Units were holding an Objective, so it was a good Turn.

By the end of Round 5, my Imperial Fists managed to wipe out the Dark Angels, but using the new scoring sheet with points for Primary and Secondary Objectives in 9th Edition, the game was much closer.  Imperial Fists 57, Dark Angels 32.