Starting Dominion

Top-Down of the 3-way

This past weekend, I played some Necromunda with my brother and best friend.  We threw down a three-way fight: Escher-Orlock-Palatine Enforcers.

This was followed by setting up a Dominion campaign between the three of us.  My best friend is playing The Goddesses, an Escher Gang.  My brother is playing the Palatine Enforcers of Sector 225.  I am playing my Orlock gang, the Lowland gang.

We got the skeleton setup and the territories selected.  Our first moves, the Goddesses moved into a Stinger Mould Sprawl.  The Lowlands faced off again the Palatine Enforces in a Stand-Off.  While the Lowlands succeeded in taking down the Enforcer Captain, multiple members of the Lowland gang were taken out of action and the gang bottled.  The Lowlands retreated from securing the services of the Rogue Doc.

The Occuption phase moves have all been planned out and we know the games we need to play - just have to play them!

Ruins of Istvaan III

Initial Positions

On Sunday, I played a game of Horus Heresy against a guy new to the area.  He owns a great looking Sons of Horus army.  He soundly won with his Justarian Terminators and Contemptor Dreadnought handling my loyalist World Eaters without much support from the Veteran Tactical Squad.  My Terminators were unable to take down the Contemptor in two rounds of combat, which was disappointing.

Blood Covered Halls

Unfortunately, those halls were mostly covered in the blood of my World Eaters, another World Eater force, and an Emperor's Children force.  Overall, I went 0-2 and in both cases found my priciest unit, Butchers up against units it could not hurt - an Ultramarines Dreadnought and Mechanicum Kastalans.

Sergeant & brothers hold a door way against Mechanicum Cult forces

III Legion Astrates prepare for the incoming Ultramarine Dreadnaughts

This past Sunday, I took part in a local Horus Heresy Zone Mortalis (ZM) event.  Each player was told to bring a 750 point Combatant list (after the break).

Winning on Objectives

Slowly Advancing Death Guard

I played another game of Horus Heresy Zone Mortalis this weekend.  This time against a Death Guard.  In this instance, I ran Kharn and the Butchers as stand-ins for Loyalist World Eaters Praetor and Terminators.  It was another Pyrrhic victory, with just the Praetor and a single Rampager surviving, again.  I won by managing to keep the Death Guard from my deployment zone and rolling a six to end the game on turn 5.

MVP

The MVP of the game was definitely the Death Guard Mortis Dreadnaught with a pair of Kheres Assault Cannons and my inability to roll successfully.  Over the course of two turns, the Dreadnaught caused my two tactical squads to break and run, off the table.   My only actual success was my Praetor slaying three Grave Wardens and breaking the unit.

The ongoing failure of my World Eaters to achieve casualty success is rather annoying.  I am heavily considering investing in a Tactical Support Squad carrying Plasma Guns.

On the modeling/painting front, an Ultramarines squad is in work.  Taking on 10 Astrates is a bit of a task, right off the bat.

Bloody Victory

End of Turn 2; No Blood Split Yet

This past Saturday, I played another game of Zone Mortalis against Salamanders (same opponent).  I learned from last time, sort of.  I attempted to slow down my advance and generally did not run headlong into the Fire Drakes (aside from the Butchers).  The Fire Drakes dominance are making me heavily consider adding another unit, not just the loyalist swaps, to the army.

I made the right plays in the late game.  At the bottom of turn 5, I had two models - Kharn and a Rampager.  The lone Rampager was sent to claim the all important objective.  The Fire Drakes were out of place.  Kharn made a mad-dash at the Pyroclast looking to claim the center objective.  He took a wound on the way-in, but slayed a Pyroclast in return.  More shots through the link.

Traitors led by Kharn!

Kharn the Bloody

I have finished my 1,000 points of World Eaters (Traitors), completing Kharn this past Sunday.  I have transferred him to a 32 mm base in the same style as the rest of the force.  The Martian red has been a great basing choice for the World Eaters.

Kharn was great to paint and an excellent culmination of the techniques I practiced throughout the rest of the force.  As one should, I paid extra attention to details that I overlooked on the mass infantry.

I am most looking forward to playing some more games of Zone Mortalis with fully painted force.  Hopefully, my number of opponents will also increase.  I have yet to settle on my next project.  One of them is to add loyalist replacements for Kharn and the Butchers to my World Eaters collection, but we will save that for next weekend's blog post.

Kharn's Zone Mortalis assault force

More shots of Kharn past the link.

First Blood

This past weekend (12 Mar 2016), I played my second game of Horus Heresy Zone Mortalis.  It, like the first was against the warriors of Legion XVIII, Salamanders.  The short version is that Fire Drakes are an incredibly tough unit, especially against other Astrates.  This includes thrashing Butchers.  The World Eaters nearly brought it to a tie, but failed to dislodge a unit of Salamander Breachers from the tying objective.

Battle begins and the World Eater force is engaged by Fire Drakes

Rampagers Ready

Angron's Gladiators

I have completed the five Rampagers and am satisfied with the result.  The biggest challenge on getting these Marines painted was simply spending the time to do so.  I have been distracted by video games in the evening again, which delayed what was a few night effort for several weeks.  I finished them up fairly quickly this past Saturday.

I am not focusing on my approach to the Butchers and getting Kharn onto a 32 mm base and still being able to go on his scenic base.

1,000 Points to Paint

31 World Eaters to Paint

I have fully acquired all the miniatures needed for my 1,000 points of World Eaters for Zone Mortalis.  It is a pair of Tactical Squads, one with Chain-Bayonets (close combat weapons) and one with Chainaxes, a squad of Rampagers, a squad of Butchers, and Kharn.  Actual painting is at least a few weeks away as I finish up the other two projects, Eldar and Kingdom of Denmark.

More Marines for the XII

A rare, cautious World Eater Sergeant

In early June, alongside The Horus Heresy Tempest V, I ordered 5 Mk 3 & 10 Mark4 Space Marines, Mk4 Power Weapons kit, 10 Chainaxes, a set of Mk3 World Eaters shoulder pads, and some Ultramarines bits (for reasons).  I have a plan to get to 1,000 points of World Eaters, mostly geared towards Zone Mortalis games.   At the core of this list is two Tactical Squads, one with additional Close Combat weapons (chain bayonets) and the other with Chainaxes.

A Sergeant with a Power Fist leads the more standard Squad III, while his brother Sergeant with Lightning Claws leads the chainaxes equiped Squad V.  I have decided to go for a mix of armor marks in each squad.  The World Eaters do not seem like a Legion to focus on standardizing equipment, but instead rewarding those with combat prowess (thanks to my friend Colby for the suggestion).  More pictures follow.

Making a Two-Dimensional Zone Mortalis Board

Dark Angels defend their ship from attack by Saim-Hann Eldar.

A follow-up to my 6 December discussion of how to create a fun, versatile, and durable two-dimensional Zone Mortalis board, with additional pictures of my Zone Mortalis board and how to make a Zone Mortalis board of your very own!  




 

Works in Progress...

Since my last (and first) post, I think I have accomplished a great deal without having ever actually finished anything!  Like any true Sagittarius, I have begun many new and exciting projects, among them:

    - Designing a Zone Mortalis board and playing a game or two;
    - Converting my own "Blue Falcons" Chapter of Space Marines into Crimson Fists;
    - Custom-building a Crimson Fists captain, who will count-as Pedro Cantor in-game;
    - Building a drop pod (what a nightmare that was!);
    - Buying and building squadrons of Aeronautica Imperialis models - Eldar, Imperial, and Space Marine; and
    - Buying (but not building, yet) a fleet of Imperial cruisers, escorts, and Space Marine strike cruisers for Battlefleet Gothic.

I'll take the bolter; you just stand there and look pretty!

I am now terribly thrilled at the prospect of being able to play a multiphase campaign in space, in the air, and (tactically, at least) on the ground.  I have no plans for getting into Epic at this time, although Rob has always spoken quite highly of it; I have too many other projects to complete, first, and frankly, I don't have the brain-space to learn yet another complicated rule-set.  After all, I still have a thesis to write!  And, now that the decision I have been waiting for is being published, I can really begin my work in earnest.  Once more unto the breach!  Let's take that hill!!  FOR THE EMPEROR!!!

Additionally, around-about the time I began serious work on the Moritat, I also painted a number of my Night Goblins.  Although I have not made very much progress with them, I have nonetheless posted some pictures of them here, as well.