PAINTING: Baneblade rolls off the production line!

The behemoth is finished.

I was supposed to be playing Blood Bowl with Gary last night but work interfered and he couldn't make it. That gave me the opportunity to complete my Baneblade.

I had already painted the hull and repainted the weapons and tracks black. I went over everything metallic with Boltgun Metal then washed it with Black Ink. Then I highlighted the black on the weapons and fuel holders with Charadon Granite.

I really enjoyed painting all the lenses and lights. I chose a red base colour for the lights and blue for the vision lenses. The searchlight was blended from Mechrite Red through Blood Red right up
to Fiery Orange. I feel like I'm 'getting my eye' in with the gradation of colours and subtle painting effects now, having had a bit more practice in the past few weeks.

I've also deliberately gone out of my way to try the Foundation paints and I'm liking them a lot. For the blue vision lenses I started with Necron Abyss, mixed in some Mordian Blue and ended up with Ice Blue highlights. I'm really looking forward to getting some gloss varnish on these bad boys.

It was only when I came to paint the fuel tanks that I discovered I had stuck one set on upside down. Ooops. Still, it's a very minor detail that no-one will spot. Will they?

I spent a bit of time on the exhausts to make them look like they have had some use. I dribbled some Chestnut Ink on there then, when it had dried, I drybrushed some Chaos Black on the ends. I kept the shrine fairly simple with a Boltgun Metal drybrush. I picked out the skulls and figure with Tin Bitz, Brazen Brass and Burnished Gold and then completed the purity seals using Dheneb Stone and Calthan Brown.

You can see how much weathering I added to the tank on the close up of the Baneblade rear and on the sides of the tank. Stuff like this adds so much character to the tank it is well worth the extra work. I drybrushed Calthan Brown around the tracks and bottom half to show dried dirt, then went for Scorched Brown over the top to represent recently churned up mud. I used an old brush to flick Brown Ink all up the sides and bottom of the Baneblade to add yet another layer of grime. The final touch was to add a few clumps of static grass to represent clods of earth trapped in the tracks.

Last but not least I had to name the Baneblade. Normally I'm great at this sort of thing but I had a real mental block this time. I Eventually settled on Gladiator and painted it on the name plaque. It didn't look right; both the name itself and the way I had painted it. I painted the name out and had another ponder. Next I chose Goliath and carefully painted that in. It still looked pants. I also discovered that my Basilisk was named Goliath. Again I painted the name away.

In desperation I searched through all my old transfer sheets and found Justus Extremis. I liked the font and the name seemed to have some gravitas so I went with that.

Justus Extremis. That'll do.

Now I need to come up with a history for it and get it out onto the Apocalypse battlefield!

PAINTING: Starting the Baneblade

I've had a day off work today so I've been able to indulge in some gaming activities. It's about time.

Normally I do all my computer based stuff, including updating my blogs, first and then try to squeeze in some painting later. More often than not I either get nothing painted or much less than I had thought - probably because I get sidetracked and start surf the internet. Today I dived straight in on painting my Baneblade.


The key to regaining my painting mojo was making a big effort to spend thirty minutes painting after work during the week. I drybrushed Orkhide Shade in ragged stripes over the tank on Monday night. That was it. Then on Wednesday I highlighted the green with a light drybrush of Knarloc Green. Again, not a lot. On Thursday I drybrushed Calthan Brown on the other parts of the hull. Nothing to write home about. Friday saw me highlighting that with Tau Sept Ochre. Still not much, but it all stacked up. It meant that I felt like I was getting somewhere and I didn't have it all to do today.


I was trying to match the paintjobs on my other Cadian tanks but I couldn't remember the colours I'd used for them (note to self - keep a painting diary). Instead I used the Foundation paints to approximate the colours. The green has come out pretty close although the higher pigment count means it is a lot richer. The brown stripes are much more yellow than I had expected and don't match at all. Again the colour is far richer and deeper than the regular paints, I like it, so I decided to keep it and not change it. It's a Baneblade, it's different from the other vehicles anyway so I'll not worry about it.


This morning I used Brown Ink to wash around the rivets (and there are a lot of rivets on this monster). In the afternoon my task was to re-undercoat everything but the hull with Chaos Black. This included the tracks, weapons, engine and icons. It was a laborious job but will pave the way for me to complete the tank over the weekend (I hope).

I did no painting on Tuesday night because Gary came over and we got a couple of games of Blood Bowl in. We played Dwarfs against Chaos and Dark Elves versus Undead. You can read the after match reports on my Blood Bowl blog here.

GENERAL: Post Christmas round-up

My posting has been a bit erratic during the holiday season but I'm hoping things will start to settle down now. I've been ill, as has my girlfriend's dad, work has been demanding and I'm back on the fitness trail following my Christmas indulgence, so there have been plenty of distractions. While real life will always intrude on my gaming life, I'm still excited to be running this blog and I hope 2008 will be a great gaming year!

Over the next few weeks I'll be porting more stuff over from my static HTML site - like the book reviews - but I'll also be adding lots of new content. Just to prove I have been doing something I thought I'd show you my works in progress. I didn't manage to paint all my Chaos models before the turn of the New Year. I completed the Plague Marines and Plague Bearers but my Khorne contingent are still on the painting table.


So far I have completed the bronze on both sets of models. Next I need to focus on the Khorne Berzerkers and get the red paint on their armour. That's the biggest job left; it'll just be the detailing to get them finished after that. Then I'll concentrate on the Daemons. They're similar to the Plague Bearers in that there are only two real areas to paint on the model; flesh and weapons. I painted the Plague Bearers in just six hours and with the Bloodletters weapons already done the Khorne daemons should be just as quick to do.

While I wasn't finishing off my Chaos models I was putting together this bad boy.


I didn't have the time or inclination to paint for a week or so, so I started to construct my Baneblade. I bought this at Games Day 2007 and it has been whispering to me from it's box ever since. It's a really nice model to put together. I used the guide in White Dwarf and hardly had to refer to the official instructions at all.


There's nothing really special about this Baneblade. I didn't magnetize it or make the weapons switchable, nor did I pick an unusual weapon configuration. I liked the basic weapon loadout anyway and wanted to keep things as easy as possible for myself during the construction and painting. Besides I wanted the tank to have its own history and 'personality' so I felt I had to have the courage of my convictions and simply build it, paint it and play it as is in my games.
The only thing I did was add a mix of sand, PVA glue and flock to the tank tracks to represent churned up mud. This will allow the Baneblade to match my other Cadian Imperial Guard tanks.

And yes, I have decided to build this as an Imperial Baneblade rather than a Chaos one as I had originally intended. That's because I dropped £55 on the Brass Scorpion kit. I felt it would balance things out to have a super heavy on each side rather than two in one force and none in the other. This is especially important because Gary doesn't seem to have gotten excited by Apocalypse at all. I don't even think he has taken the shrink wrap off his book yet! That means it's highly unlikely he will build a super heavy himself. Ho hum.

The rest of my gaming time has been taken up with playing games against Gary in our 40k campaign. I've posted up the latest battle report here if you'd like to check it out.

So that's where I am at the moment. I'll plod on with my Chaos troops and let you know when they're finished then I'll start on the Baneblade.

Over and out.

APOCALYPSE: Cadian Imperial Guard

Here is the Apocalypse list for my main Imperial Guard army, the Cadian 271st.


HQ

• Command section
• Heroic Senior Officer with power weapon
• Master vox
• Medic
• Standard bearer
• Sanctioned Psyker

Elites

• 4 Ogryn
• 10 Stormtroopers, melta gun, plasma gun

Troops

• Infantry platoon
• Command section, Junior Officer with powerfist, 2 plasma guns, melta gun
• Infantry squad, missile launcher, grenade launcher, vox caster
• Infantry squad, missile launcher, grenade launcher, vox caster
• Infantry squad, missile launcher, grenade launcher
• Armoured Fist, 10 infantry, flamer, vox, Chimera, multi laser, heavy bolter, heavy stubber, hunter killer missile
• 20 Conscripts

Fast Attack

• 3 Sentinels, 2 multi lasers, autocannon

Heavy Support

• Demolisher, lascannon, plasma sponsons
• Leman Russ, Heavy bolter
• Basilisk, indirect
• Heavy Weapon Platoon
• Anti tank squad, 3 Lascannons
• Command section, junior officer, missile launcher
• Heavy Weapon Platoon
• 3 Mortars
• Command section, Junior officer with plasma pistol and power weapon, vox caster, 3 melta guns

Points: 1896

I've left out many of the possible toys and options in favour of a simpler army but it does weaken the list significantly. In particular, I have not selected any doctrines, deep striking or infiltrating. Still, there are 3 ordnance guns, a load of mid-high strength weapons and over a hundred models so they should contribute something in a battle.

APOCALYPSE: Imperial Guard

I've just come off the back of a really busy period; I've been out and about four nights of the last five. Consequently I'm absolutely knackered tonight and I've crawled onto my blog to keep you up to date with what I've been up to and what I'll be doing in the near future.

I've transferred the final battle report from this blog over to my dedicated blog. You can read it here. That means that from now on, all the battle reports I post in the future will go directly onto that blog and I'll be constantly updating it with old games that have never appeared on this blog, just on my old website. I'll still flag new reports up on this primary blog as and when.

I got back from work tonight to find a note from DHL saying they were unable to deliver a parcel. I'm pretty sure this is my Apocalypse stuff, including the Baneblade. Aaaarggh, I want APOCALYPSE stuff NOW! I'll have to pick it up from the depot tomorrow night. All my other projects will have to wait while I put the Baneblade together and paint the behemoth. The only decision will be whether to add it to my Cadian Imperial Guard or paint it in Chaos colours for my Exigator Chaos Space Marines and later for my Renegade Militia. Whatever, I desperately need to get my Blood Angels tactical marines painted first so I can actually start playing the army.

Meanwhile, I'm still ploughing through the remainder of my Games Day swag. I'm over halfway through Descent of Angels and will finish it by the weekend, I think. My opinion so far is meh. There has been far too much pre-Imperial build up with kids driving the plot, obviously so that they can go on to become Space Marines later. I'm hoping that it will pick up now that the Legion has been reunited with it's Primarch.

Having finished and reviewed Apocalypse I have moved on to the next glossy book on my pile; Aeronautica Imperialis. Once I've finished this I need to read the supplement Tactica Aeronautica. I reckon I'll be buying models for this game sometime in the second half of next year if I enjoy the rulebooks. I'll keep you all informed.

And now, eventually, I can get onto the main reason for this post. Below is an Apocalypse army list for all the odds and sods of my various Imperial Guard projects outside of my main army - Cadians.


HQ

• Commissar Yarrick
• Commissar Gaunt
• Command squad
• Heroic senior officer (Corbec), plasma gun, veteran with standard (Milo), medic (Dorden), sniper rifle (Mkoll)*

Elites

• 10 Stormtroopers, plasma gun

Troops

• Infantry platoon
• Command squad, junior officer with bolt pistol, 4 guardsmen (Praetorian)
  
• Infantry squad, autocannon, melta gun (Praetorian)
• Infantry squad, lascannon, plasma gun (Catachan)
• Infantry platoon (Catachan)
• Command squad, junior officer with bolt pistol, flamer, 3 guardsmen
• Infantry squad, flamer
• Infantry squad, flamer
• Infantry squad, heavy bolter, flamer, veteran sergeant with bolt pistol

Heavy Support

• Mortar squad

*Not strictly legal but it was the best way I could find to represent the Tanith models I have.

This is a real hotch potch of models dredged from the back of my cupboard. They've never seen the light of day for many moons and an Apocalypse game is probably the only time they ever will. The next army list I'll post will be my 'proper' Imperial Guard army, my Cadians.

Righto, I'm off to paint some Blood Angels.

REVIEW: Siege of Vraks

I'm back with a review post, but don't get too excited - my posting will still be erratic over the next few weeks.


Siege of Vraks is a slimmer than usual Imperial Armour book because it is split across two volumes. This first instalment concerns the initial 9 years of the siege; it's inception, the gruelling fight between the Death Korps of Krieg and the Renegade Militia under Cardinal Xaphan, and the intervention of the Dark Angels Space Marines. It ends unresolved, with dark hints that Chaos forces are to reinforce the Renegades more openly.

The book has four main sections. The background to the conflict is the largest section. It suffers from the same problems as previous books, namely spelling mistakes and clumsy writing, but the ideas are good. In tone and spirit it is pure 40k, especially the reasoning behind the decision to lay siege rather than pursue other options (such as planetary bombardment). The relationship between the Imperial Guard and the Space Marines is interesting because it illustrates that although the two forces are on the same side, they do not necessarily communicate well about the war and their objectives. This friction explains much about the Imperium as a whole.

The narrative serves as a jumping-off point for the scenarios, which are a much smaller portion of the book. There are 7 in total. I think they provide interesting games as they are largely devoid of Space Marines. 40k is a completely different game without their dominance.

The Death Korps of Krieg army list represents an Imperial Guard army at siege and is composed mostly of infantry and artillery. I have heard some murmurs of complaint from some players because it is relatively prescriptive in it's list choices. I think this is necessary as surely part of Forgeworld's remit is to provide alternatives and variations on Games Workshop's core army lists. If you want a regular Imperial Guard army then use the GW codex (with Death Korps of Krieg doctrines if required). The Forgeworld list represents a siege variant.

The second army list is for the Renegade Militia. It allows you to play an IG regiment that has just 'turned' to Chaos, so it only has a handful of changes from the standard IG list. Morale is random, which makes for a characterful choice; it's great for narrative or scenario driven play but competitive players will hate the randomness. Ogryns have been tweaked as have the psykers.

Of course, the best thing about both armies is the fantastic range of new models Forgeworld have produced for them. I need another army like I need a hole in the head but I'm tempted by both of these forces.

The artwork is, if anything, even better than that of previous Imperial Armour books. Some people complain about the repeated vehicle technical drawings with slightly different paint schemes, but they are well done. The treated photographs of the models are really superb but I think the best artwork is reserved for the full colour plates of the major combatants. These represent a Death Korps infantryman, a grenadier, a Renegade Militiaman and an Orgyn Berserker. A special mention must be made of the poster which comes with the book. This has a map of the battlefield on Vraks on one side which is just crying out to be used for a campaign, and a diagram of the Death Korps infantry squad and company organisation on the other.

Excellent stuff.

All in all, then, I think this is a very good publication and deserves an 8 out of 10.

Scores

All of my reviews end in a score out of ten for the product. The table below explains what that score means.

• 10/10 Perfect, absolutely nothing better
• 9/10 Excellent, highly recommended
• 8/10 Very good, recommended
• 7/10 Good
• 6/10 Above average, some problems
• 5/10 Average, some good points some bad points
• 4/10 Below average, some redeeming features
• 3/10 Poor, major flaws
• 2/10 Very poor, avoid if possible
• 1/10 Absolutely appalling

ARMY LIST: Chaos Renegade Militia wrap up

After a few days wait to see if any further advice would be forthcoming it is time to take another look at my Chaos Renegade Militia army list threads.

I finally got some responses on the Warhammer Forum. It was bad advice. They advised me to drop the lascannons, use carapace armour and load up my vehicles with Hunter Killer missiles. No thanks.

Nobody had added anything to the discussion on Dakka Dakka. Funnily enough a lot of other IG threads have sprung up there. It's nice to be in fashion.

There was nothing more to come from Warseer, either.

So I reckon my second version of the list is the one I will go with. As well as being a fairly solid list in itself, it will be easy to build upon with Forgeworld units.

Now I just have to put my Blood Angel list together.

OPINION: Chaos Renegade Militia army development

So, that Chaos Renegade Militia army list then. Before I leap right in and start buying models for any army I like to have a concept in mind for the army, how it will fight on the battlefield, which models I need to buy and how I will paint them. I thought I'd let you in on this process with the Chaos Renegade Militia as it is more complex than usual and will hopefully give you an insight into just how much (over) analysis I put into this gaming thang.

General concepts

• This is an army I want to be able to play with for a long time. As far as I possibly can I want to make it edition and codex proof. Forgeworld models are expensive and I plan to spend a long time modelling and painting the army. I don't want all that hard work to go to waste because I overemphasise unusual units or formations. I want to choose a wide range of units which are not dependent on special rules, unusual wargear or wacky deployment.
• In order to get most use out of the army I want to be able to play it at tournaments as well as in casual play. Forgeworld army lists aren't allowed in most tournaments so I would like to be able to use the army as a 'straight' Imperial Guard list. I'll basically build the first 1500 points of the army with no 'Forgeworld only' units and then include the Forgeworld goodies as extras later.
• Forgeworld have sculpted some gorgeous Chaos Militia models and I want to include as many of these in my army as possible. That means choosing models not just on their battlefield prowess but including them just because they look good. This will obviously compromise the competitiveness of the army but it is a hit I am willing to take.
• I have painted an Imperial Guard army before and painting unit after unit of infantry gets very boring, very quickly. Therefore, I want to include lots and lots of vehicles in the army.
• I want to include as many 'signature' units of the Militia list as I can, to ensure that my army is representative. This should also help to define it's character and make it distinctive from other Imperial Guard armies. In practical terms this means choosing Priests, Psykers and heavy weapon platoons. Ogryns will be included but because they differ between the IG codex and the Militia list I'll do them as extras.

List building
With all of the above in mind I now have to sit down and write the list. As a guideline I'll use my notes on the elements of a competitive army. To paraphrase, I need to:

• Optimise for escalation (start all models on the board or off the board).
• Emphasise firepower over assault (mobile shooting is best).
• Include mobile objective grabbers.
• Be durable (having redundancy).
• Assume I will be fighting MEQ's and arm myself accordingly.
• Include a pushback unit.
• Include an infiltrating unit.
• Maximise my scoring units.
• Try to fill out the full force organisation chart.

Of course, these are all just goals and it is unlikely I will be able to stick to all of them, especially considering the wider army concepts I outlined earlier. These elements are also generic and not keyed to a specific army. I also have some Imperial Guard specific ideas I'd like to adhere to.

• Command squads are there to provide leadership - not to be in the firing line or to be crammed full of wargear.
• Individually, most IG units are fragile. Their strength comes in numbers so always try to take at least two of each unit.
• Vehicles kill infantry and infantry kill vehicles. Give the infantry tank killing equipment.
• Don't be shy in maxing out on heavy support. IG have little in the way of assault ability so big guns are a necessity.
• Include at least one infantry squad for every 300 points spent.

This is all the stuff that is going round my head before I have even made my first list! I'll have a bit of a think, scratch out a list and maybe post it on a couple of forums to see if it could be improved and then I'll bring it back to lone pilgrim for the official unveiling.

If you have an hints, tips or comments, please get in touch.

The Masterplan

I've been mulling things over for a while and I've now got a masterplan for my gaming future.

I began thinking about this because of my Warhammer Fantasy Chaos army. I massively underestimated how long it would take me to build and paint this force. My original idea was to start at 500 points and then escalate our battles by 250 points per week until we had 2000 point armies. Gary managed this quite easily, his approach to get as many models constructed and painted as possible in one run, then not do anything for weeks after. I kept holding him back, my painting much slower and more methodical. My time for painting was severely curtailed by work, this blog and many other commitments.

So the first part of my plan is to be realistic about what I can achieve. Here's what I think I can do comfortably.

• Paint one 40k 1500 point army per year.
• I can also paint a few 'fun' models to complete a second army or for a secondary game system (e.g. a team for Blood Bowl, a gang for Necromunda, more models for my Fantasy Chaos army).
• I can finish one terrain project.
• I can complete one or two sections of my website (e.g. a sub-sector of the Skolarii Sector, update the Blood Bowl section).
• Update my blog every one or two days.
  

That gives me a wide range of projects which I can dip in and out of over the whole year. The official Games Workshop tournament season runs from 1st August to 31st July, so it makes sense to fit my year around this timetable. I plan to attend the 40k Grand Tournament every year, and this will allow me to go with a different force each time.

The 1500 point army per year also fits in with my long term aims for 40k. There are 11 main forces and factions in 40k. I want each faction represented as models in the Skolarii Sector. Of course, some armies are more relevant to the sector than others. The main protagonists are:

• Imperial Guard (Cadian 271st and many other regiments)
  
• Orks (common right across the sector)
  
• Chaos (Exigators and The Hooded renegades)
  
• Space Marines (Blood Angels)
  
• Daemonhunters (fighting the Chaos invasions)
  

Secondary armies are:

• Tau (Third Sphere expansionists)
  
• Tyranids (splinter fleet has devoured Dyram)
  
• Witch Hunters (small commandery)
  
• Eldar (small craftworld, Harlequins fighting Chaos)
  

And tertiary armies are:

• Dark Eldar (scattered pirate raids)
  
• Necrons (single tomb world)

I'll work through the list from top to bottom until I have a 1500 point army of each faction.

Aside from 40k, there are other games I'd like to play. Some will inform the Skolarii Sector too, such as Battlefleet Gothic which would allow me to simulate space battles, especially the first and second Chaos invasions. Aeronautica Imperialis looks excellent, and though I don't have the rulebook or any models, I'd love to fight out some dogfights between Imperial Navy Wings and Chaos Hellblades. I have some Inquisitor figures and they will allow me to uncover some intrigue in the sector, especially amongst the Inquisitorial factions. Epic would let me play some larger scale battles and would be great to depict large Imperial Guard armies fighting the Ork hordes. Finally, I could get into Necromunda to simulate the gang wars in a Hive somewhere in the sector.

Outside of 40k, there are several other systems I enjoy. I've been getting into WHFB with my Chaos Horde, so I could always add more models to that army, or I could collect another. I have a massive bunch of old Wood Elf miniatures which could easily be used as the basis for my second army. Warmaster appeals to me because of the scale; it's how I imagine these semi-historical battles should look. The models are relatively cheap and quick to paint, so I could finish a force or two quite rapidly. Last, but not least, is Blood Bowl. This is one of my favourite ever games, and I have played numerous leagues over the years. Gary and I played through one a while back and will use the same teams when we return to it. I do like the look of those pro elves, though.

Phew! That's quite a list of stuff I see in my gaming future. Some of it years off. And of course, I have no idea what Games Workshop will do in the coming time. They might release new games, armies and expansions which could make me re-evaluate my plans. In the meantime, at least I have a direction.

So, that's the long-term, what about the short-term?

Here's what I plan to achieve over the next tournament season.

• I will build and paint 1500 points of Forgeworld Renegade Imperial Guard.
• I will add some models to my Blood Angels Space Marines to bring them up to 1500 points, and they will be my main tournament army for the year.
• I will finish my trench gaming board (which is currently half built).
• I will complete subsector 1 (the Salazar systems) for the Skolarii Sector.
• I will get all my battle reports up on my website (around 150 of them!).

Wish me luck!

Imperial Guard versus Tau mega battle

My local GW store organised an Imperial Guard versus Tau mega battle and I dusted off my Cadian 271st to participate. I built up a modest 1400 point army with minimal wargear because I always forget to use it in big battles. My IG allies were Vostroyan mechanised on the far left, Cadians led by our overall commander Ursarkar Creed on my immediate left and a Cadian 27th Armoured Company on my right. I reckon we had about 10,000 points. Unfortunately the main Tau force, commanded by the organiser of the game, didn't show up. That left just two Tau armies to oppose us with approximately 6,000 points.

The initial plan was to play a cleanse variant, with the winner of each board section being decided by whoever had the most scoring units present. There was to be no deep strike, infiltrate, scout moves or any other complicated time consuming stuff. You can see the general deployment in the picture below (taken after both sides 1st turn).


An early theme was the targeting of the Tau Ethereal with our ordnance weapons. I think he survived a Basilisk, Demolisher and Leman Russ shot on the first turn alone! It quickly became apparent that no-one was taking the battle too seriously so we all ran our armies directly toward each other. Our shooting was absolutely abysmal. My entire 1400 point army, which included 3 missile launchers, 3 multilasers, 1 heavy bolter, 1 autocannon and two ordnance templates didn't kill a single enemy model (on one frag shot I rolled six partial hits and got none). The rest of our combined firepower dropped a Devilfish and routed a unit of Kroot and a Fire Warrior squad. Shocking.


The only saving grace was that the Tau shooting was just as bad, and most of our tanks survived the first turn. With the Armoured company on my right engaging the Mech Tau I swung most of my units into the centre to support Creed and our allied Inquisitors in their push forward. I used my Russ and Demolisher to advance the Stormtroopers and Ogryn and zoomed my Armoured Fist out to flame the central building. Of course, they fluffed their hits and were wiped out in return. My Conscripts lost three quarters of their members and two of my Sentinels got popped.

We got two more ordnance shots on the Ethereal but still he survived! As we severely outnumbered the Tau, we allowed them to use reserves, and they dropped several gun drone units behind our advancing lines. They also dropped a Vespid unit down next to my Command Squad, killing four Guardsmen. Kennell survived.

On the third turn we finally nailed the Ethereal and several Tau units ran. We continued our central push, and my two ordnance shots failed to kill a Tau Crisis suit but the Conscripts took him out with rapid firing lasguns! My Cadian allies wanted to charge into the Vespid with my assistance but I refused, reasoning that supporting fire would do more damage. Predictably I only killed two and my Guard allies were not happy. Still - they managed to hang on and win in the following assault phase. I lost my last Sentinel and the Demolisher to return fire, while my Ogryns were decimated.

We had ran out of time so I had one final survey of the battlefield. The Vostroyans had taken heavy casualties but had held the left flank. The two mech forces on the right had fought each other to a standstill. Vicious short range firefights had broken out in the centre but we had Creed and Kell and our Inquisitor and retinue all in combat.

It was a good game - a bit ragged around the edges but tremendous fun. I'd love to do it again sometime.