Battle Report: Blood Bowl 11/28/2020 (Humans vs Wood Elves)

Our pre-order for Blood Bowl Second Season Edition was picked up by my son on Friday from our LGS, and yesterday was our first adventure in the game (my first Blood Bowl game in 15 years).

My son was playing a new Wood Elves team that he recently purchased and assembled, and I went ahead and quickly assembled a Humans team a few days before to have ready for this game.  The box set does come with a team of Imperial Nobles and Black Orcs, but I knew I was not going to be staying up late Friday night to assemble these.

We played a full game of 11 players each on the Pitch, 8 Turns each per Half, and I knew that since this was our first time that it was going to take awhile, I had planned on starting at around 12:00 PM and finishing by 6:00 PM, and sure enough I was right on schedule.  The goal eventually is to get these games down to about 2.5-3 hours, but that is also the reason why I have invested in Blood Bowl 7's Pitch's to speed up the game (smaller Pitch, 7 players a side, 6 Turns each).

Also in this game we wanted to try out situations where there may not always come up as much, especially with Fouling and Long Passes, and those Long Passes sure came in handy.

For the Humans first Touchdown (my team), I went for a Long Bomb Pass to my 'Catcher' in the End Zone, and the dice gods were with me as I made the Pass and Catch for the Touchdown.  Later in the Second Half I also did another Pass (not Long Bomb) to my 'Catcher' in the End Zone for a second Touchdown, but that one was to tie up the game 2-2.

It came down to the final Turn for each of us and I had another chance for a third Touchdown, my good ole 'Thrower' who was reliable all game went to pick up the ball and failed his Agility roll, it was my last chance, I just had to hope the Wood Elves had nothing going for them.  Sure enough where the ball landed, it was just out of reach for the Wood Elves to score, so the game ended in a Draw 2-2.

The game was fun, really needs to be shorter for us, it would be nice to be able to get in 2 games in this time frame.  I think next time we will try 7's and see how that plays.

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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.

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Weekly Chronicle 2020 #25

Week #25 was nothing special, it has been a pretty slow 2nd Quarter for painting (with all the conventions being cancelled, which usually motivate me to paint), but we did get manage to get in 2 games this weekend of Warhammer 40,000.

On Saturday we played a quick 500 point game before we headed down to our LGS for the new 'Fabius Bile' and "War of the "Spider" and I played some of the Chaos models I put together against Salamanders.  We played a mission from Chapter Approved 2019, and it was a first win for the Chaos.

The yesterday (Father's Day) my son and I played a 1850 ITC test mission for the upcoming Buckeye Battles.  I have a few ideas if what I want to run in my 1850 (with just slight variations between them) but we only have a couple more weeks before our lists need to be submitted.

Round 1 started off strong for the Dark Angels killing 3 Units of my Imperial Fists, but in Round 2 the Imperial Fists lifted themselves off the ground and fought back getting a 25-6 win.

In this game I had played my 'Leviathan Dreadnought' since it has been a while since I last played him, but I am leaning on cutting him and swapping in 3 other models for it.  I think at 1850 I may be better off with more models.

Models Completed: 0

Games Played: 2

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Weekly Chronicle 2020 #24 (Buckeye Battles 2020 Announced)

We are almost half way through 2020 and what a weird year it has been.  COVID-19 and BLM has really changed up our plans for conventions this year.  The two biggest events we were planning to attend, AdeptiCon and NOVA Open were both cancelled.

Yesterday afternoon while playing a 1000 point Warhammer 40,000 game with my son (see below), I did a quick check on Facebook and I noticed in one of my Groups that someone shared a Warhammer 40,000 ITC GT event for July 18th called the "Buckeye Battles".  Being from the Midwest, I know what "buckeye" refers too which is the state of Ohio, and back long ago from my Warhammer Fantasy days I have heard of the "Buckeye Battles" which is a long running event.  I decided to take a look at the event description and noticed it was being held at the Game Room in Toledo, OH (I have been there a few years ago for a Warmachine event, and the space is really big).  "Buckeye Battles" 40K GT will be an 1850 point ITC rules and the cost of registration is only $30.  When I saw it was being held at the Game Room which is just a little over 2.5 hours for us, my son and I talked about if we wanted to go.  Seeing how everything was cancelled until at least the Renegade Open in November, we decided to go ahead and sign up for the event.  More than likely it will also be one last hurrah! for 8th Edition and 9th will be coming ou shortly after.  So now we have a month to prep our lists and get in some 1850 practice.

Week #24 was not a bad week either for me hobby/gaming wise.  'Captain Lysander' was finally completed for my Imperial Fists and we did manage to get in a 1000 point ITC game yesterday afternoon.  It was my Imperial Fists vs Dark Angels and it was a pretty tight battle.  Final outcome was 23-15 in favor of my Imperial Fists.  I got to try out a 'Thunderfire Cannon' for the first time and I a still unsure yet about it, especially with the recent change in Doctrines, it is a little less effective.

Not sure what my plans are for this coming week, I have some re-basing to do on a couple models fro my sons Dark Angels, and my decide to start on the 'Thunderfire Cannon' in case I elect to use it for the "Buckeye Battles".

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W40K: Warhammer 40,000 9th Edition Announced! and Battle Report

Yesterday morning Games Workshop held their "The BIG Warhammer 40,000 Preview Online" on Twitch.tv and the very first preview they showed was this video teaser along with their new logo on the left.

It was followed up by the official announcement of Warhammer 40,000 9th Edition, and I am really excited about this.  Although I got back in Warhammer 40,000 late in 8th Edition, the announcement of 9th seemed to have awoken me inside and get me excited for the game again, something that during this pandemic lock down and all the conventions being cancelled has dampened my mood for gaming.

Games Workshop claims that all current Codex's will still be valid and playable and this is just a cleanup of the rules with some changes.  No official date was announced when this be released but you can visit the new Warhammer 40,000 website and sign up for details.  From a former Games Workshop Manager (and now a store owner) his prediction is that it will be available for pre-order at the end of this month with a release of mid June in time for Games Workshops fiscal year.

For a look at all the previews that were announced yesterday for Warhammer 40,000 you can see it all on the Warhammer Community page HERE.

Once we were done watching the Preview it was time to get our armies prepared for battle as my son and I played an ITC 2000 point game of Imperial Fists vs Dark Angels.  My list was not as tough as it could of been, but my bread and butter Unit of 'Centurions' were in there and they wrecked havoc.

Through the first 3 Rounds of the game, the Dark Angels actually had a lead over my Imperial Fists, but by Round 4 I had thinned them down quite a bit and the tides were now shifting towards my Imperial Fists.  The game went till end of Round 6 and my Imperial Fists did manage to get the win.

I still have quite a few more models that need painting and assembling for the Imperial Fists to keep me busy for quite a while, now it will be to find some time to actually start painting again.  I think once the new rulebook gets released, or we have confirmation that NOVA Open or Renegade Open will still be on later this year, I will then get back into the painting mode.

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Battle Report: Kill Team 3/22/2020 (Core "Sweep And Clear")

On Sunday I rolled out my new TABLEWAR Kill Team mat, set up some terrain and my son and I played our very first Warhammer 40,000 Kill Team game at 125 points each of my Imperial Fists vs Dark Angels.

I decided to start with one of the Matched Play missions in the Core Rulebook, so the mission was "Sweep And Clear".

The objective of this mission was to secure Objectives at the end of the battle with each one being worth 3 VP and earning 1 VP for each enemy taken out of action.

At the end of the battle (which happened at the end of Round 4) we were all tied up on enemies killed at 3 a piece, but the Dark Angels were holding 3 Objectives to the Imperial Fists 1, so my Imperial Fists had lost the first game of Kill Team 12-6.

For our very first game of Kill Team, we did not use the "Scouting Phase", which I noticed events like AdeptiCon do not use this phase also during setup of the mission, and we did not use any Command Points yet.  We wanted to get an idea of how the game mechanics worked before using Command Points.  When we play on Friday, we'll add the Command Points in and see how the game goes.

I think once we get all the mechanics down with the game, this will be a very nice fast pace game to play, it will even allow to try out different armies/models that I have been looking at.

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Battle Report: W40K 3/21/2020 (ITC2020 "Cut to the Heart")

This past Saturday my son and I played our first 2000 point game of Warhammer 40K (8th) using the ITC2020 Missions (second time playing with the full ITC rules).  Instead of just randomly rolling a mission from the packet, we are making our way through the packet first and the second mission was "Cut to the Heart".

It was Imperial Fists once again for me and Dark Angels for my son with a twist that he added 'Draigo' from the Grey Knights as an Auxiliary Support Detachment.  My Secondary Missions consisted of: Marked for Death, Ground Control and Old School, my son chose: Born for Greatness, Behind Enemy Lines and Old School.

I had a pretty decent Turn 1 where I managed to kill 4 Units to my sons 1 and took an early lead for the Round 4-2.  The Dark Angels tried to keep it close with most Rounds scoring 4-2 for the Imperial Fists and although the Imperial Fists just about tabled the Dark Angels, they still scored quite a few points between the Primary and Secondary Missions.  The end result was a 32-17 win for the Imperial Fists.  Right now the Dark Angels do not have much that can isolate my Centurions, they are just wreaking havoc and a core essential for my Imperial Fists.  'Draigo' did come into my battle lines and wreak havoc on my 'Whirlwind' and 'Eliminator' Units and then finally taking out my Warlord 'Chapter Master Captain' before he could be slain himself.

I am working on a 2000 point list to try without the Centurions in them, they will not be fully painted by the weekend, but that's OK.

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Battle Report: W40K 3/14/2020 (ITC2020 "Seize Ground")

As I mentioned this morning, I was able to get in two games yesterday (with the first being MeSBG) and the second game was Warhammer 40,000. 

The new rules for ITC 2020 were recently released at the end of February and we were going to wait till after AdeptiCon was over to start playing these rules/missions, but since AdeptiCon was over, we thought we would try our first full ITC game with 1500 points, seeing how it was our first time playing with all the Secondary Missions/Objectives we wanted to make sure we were playing it right (next weekend we will try a full 2000 point game).

Since it was running a bit late after our MeSBG game, I just decided to play my 1500 point Imperial Fist list that I was planning on for the AdeptiCon Friendly.

For now, we just started with the first Mission in the ITC packet, "Seize Ground".

I chose my Secondary Missions of: Headhunter, Marked for Death and Ground Control.  My son with his Dark Angels choose: Born for Greatness, Behind Enemy Lines and Old School.

My son chose to go second and pick the Deployment Map and his Deployment Zone, so my Imperial Fists were going first.

Well the Imperial Fists with their 'Centurion' squad are now match for the Dark Angels, the Fists managed to table the Dark Angels.  Although, the Dark Angels had a pesty Captain that just did not want to die, and actually took out Tor in close combat.  That was the moral victory for the Dark Angels.

End result was 33-7 Imperial Fists.

I actually enjoyed playing the ITC Mission and scoring each Turn/Round on the score sheets (I printed/lamented custom one for Imperial Fists and Dark Angels).  Looking forward to trying the rest of the missions.

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Battle Report: MeSBG 3/14/2020 (Matched Play "Destroy The Supplies")

Yesterday my son and I actually got to play 2 games on a Saturday and the first game of the day was Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game (MeSBG).  Even before AdeptiCon 2020 was cancelled, our plan was to get in a game of MeSBG yesterday so my son can have a little practice before AdeptiCon. 

Games Workshop recently released a new "Matched Play Guide" supplement for the game which is basically a book full of scenarios for tournament play, most of the upcoming tournament will be using this new supplement for events, so my son elected to pick one out of his book and chose "Destroy The Supplies".  Seeing how he wanted to practice is half of his Doubles tournament list, the game was 400 points each.

I was playing my Army of the Dead led by the King, and my son had Gondor which was led by Aragorn.  I used the deployment behind the shallow waters to my advantage to help slow down his army and allow me to pick and choose fights.  My warband on my left flank took out the 3 Gondorians across from them, although the dice were not with me on wounding models in this game so it took some time, but they managed to get thorough and then score the Objective.  I broke off a piece of right flank to go and score Objectives also, and I was able to destroy all 3 Objectives across the board for 6 VP's.  I protected my own Objectives as best as I could but did manage to give up 4 VP's in them.

The Gondorians were near breaking and Aragorn decided to break away from his battle with The King to try and slay as many Dead as he could, time was not on his side and the Gondorians broke and then lost the game 8-5 once their army hit 25%.

Not sure when I will play MeSBG again, but my son his hoping for another game with Gamer Addict Frank when he comes up to visit us in two weeks.

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Battle Report: W40K 3/7/2020 (AdeptiCon "Negotiation Breakdown")

Well my new 'Primaris Aggressors' squad hit the table for the first time yesterday in a 1000 point practice game for the AdeptiCon Team Tournament.  I am debating on running the 'Aggressors' instead of a 'Redemptor Dreadnought' and after yesterdays game leaning more towards doing so.  With the recent FAQ to the Space Marine Doctrines, the 'Aggressors' really benefit in Turns 2+ and can help in the later stages of the game, and also maybe as a protector Unit for my 'Centurions'.

We elected to play the first mission in the Team Tournament packet, "Negotiation Breakdown", now since we were not playing with a teammate in this Mission, the Primary Objectives were only scored by one Team Detachment.

My Imperial Fists were still able to table the Dark Angels winning the Mission 25-1.  I was able to score 9 points from the Primary Objective, 12 from the Secondary Objective and 4 from Tertiary Objectives.  My 'Aggressors' were able to eliminate a 10 man Unit of 'Intercessors' along with capturing an enemy Objective for me.

Next weekend will probably play another one from the Team Tournament packet and I can make my final decision on the 'Aggressors'.

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Battle Report: W40K 2/29/2020 (AdeptiCon "Burn It Down")

Yesterday my son and I spent our time playing through the latest FAQ changes for Space Marines in a 1500 point game using one of the AdeptiCon 2020 Championship Missions "Burn It Down".

I enjoyed playing this mission, from the Deployment Zone being 15" to the fact you had to make a decision on whether or not you want to hold an Objective or destroy it and then the added benefits of playing for Tertiary Objectives.

Now what about the new Doctrines for Space Marines? Yes not being able to sit in the Devastator Doctrine all game hurts my Imperial Fists, but it honestly was not bad.  My Auto Bolt Rifles then gained an advantage in Turns 2 & 3.

I was a little scared in this game with going Second, but my Imperial Fists held there ground and I was slowly able to pick off Dark Angel Units one by one and finally wiping them out by Turn 5 and at the same time holding onto some Objectives.  The Imperial Fists scored 35 points to the Dark Angels 1 and in AdeptiCon tournament results scoring, the Imperial Fists would have scored 40 and the Dark Angels 0.

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Battle Report: W40K 2/22/2020 (CA2019 "Crusade")

Yesterday morning I drove out to Michigan City, IN to Heroes Haven Comics & Games and met up with a long time friend from IL to get in a practice game of Warhammer 40K.  In preparation for the AdeptiCon Friendly tournament, the game was 1500 points and my friend was playing an Eldar force (first time facing Eldar in a very very long time) and I was playing with my Imperial Fists.

We rolled off for the Mission from the Chapter Approved Eternal War and came up with "Crusade".

We then starting placing 6 Objective Markers across the table.

Next we rolled for Attacker/Defender and I lost the roll and my friend Chris chose to be the Attacker so I then proceeded to roll for the Deployment Map and rolled "Search and Destroy" and selected my Deployment Zone (which I ended up choosing the wrong one).  The Zone I gave Chris already had 2 Objective Markers in it so it was going to be an uphill battle.

Chris deployed first and then myself and then the game began.

The Eldar had some pretty good First Turn shooting with the 'Dark Reapers' destroying my 'Redemptor Dreadnought' and his bikes shooting and charging my 'Scouts' with the 'Scouts' getting wiped out.  Chris scored 1 VP to destroying a Unit in the First Turn.

My First Turn was not as good as it could have been, but my 'Centurion Devastators' did manage to destroy his 'Falcon' scoring me 1 VP and then I followed up and proceeded to kill the 'Fire Dragon' that were inside with some other models.

There was a lot of back and forth going on, but Chris was scoring 2-3 VP's per Turn from sitting on Objectives to my only 1 VP so I was following behind fast.

I think the highlight of the game was when 'Tor' charged into his 'Avatar'.  His 'Avatar' was already doing work on my 'Centurions' so it was payback.  'Tor' just demolished the 'Avatar', but a Stratagem brought him back with 6 Wounds and proceeded to do all but 1 damage to 'Tor', 'Tor' was still standing.

The following Turn after Charge fights were fought, I interrupted the Fight with "Counter Offensive" and proceeded to have 'Tor' strike down the 'Avatar' again before he was able to bring down 'Tor' and it worked.  Later in the game 'Tor' was also able to finish off one of his last bikers before succumbing to his last Wound.

From Turn 4 on it was mainly just securing the existing Objectives we had as I was too far away from securing any new ones.  At the end of Turn 6, my Imperial Fists ended up losing 17-7.  I still had my 'Chapter Master Captain/Warlord', 'Primaris Chaplain', 2x 'Eliminators' and a Unit of 'Intercessors' with Stalkers.  Chris had his Unit of 'Dark Reapers' and Unit of 'Dire Avengers'.  Those 2 Units he had scored him 10 VP's sitting on their Objectives and I could not reach them....bad pick of Deployment Zone for me.

It was a good game and great to play Chris after all these years.  We are going to try and do this about every other month alternating between Michigan City and possibly someplace closer to him.

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