Categories
Blood Angels Space Marines Kill Team Miniatures Tyranids Warhammer 40k

Kill Team battle report: Blood Angels vs. Tyranids

Reagan and I got together on July 7th for our second match, Tyranids (him) vs. Blood Angels (me) playing the Secure Archaeotech mission.

I’m not sure I have the stamina to post a battle report for every game I play, but as long as I do and it’s fun I’m going to keep doing it. It’s just so damned exciting actually seeing my little war mans running around and getting played with!

The ‘nids are the first team I’ve painted up explicitly for Kill Team, so for now they only come in one version: 3 Tyranid Warriors (venom cannon plus melee, weaponbeast, and deathspitter/melee) and 4 Genestealers (2 scything/rending, 3 double rending).

This was my second outing with my Blood Angels, and I’d fought against them once, so I knew what I wanted: Bolter Discipline. My plan was to buy that ploy every single turn, so I had my leader with a bolter, 1 heavy bolter guy, 3 grunts with bolters, and 1 plasma gunner. (In hindsight, against a team where 5/8 have an invulnerable save, I should just have foregone plasma for a sixth bolter.)

Board layout is definitely more art than science, but take three — with input from both of us — was the most fun setup yet.

I put something like 25-30 hours into reworking my Genestealers and painting up the Warriors so they’d be ready for today. Having an upcoming match on the calendar is a great painting motivator!

This meeting of G.R.O.S.S. (Get Rid Of Slimy Space marines, shout out to my fellow Calvin and Hobbes fans) is now called to order.
My squad during deployment.
Reagan’s tendril of Hive Fleet Balaur deploys in conga line formation.
Marines move up.
Angry space bugs approach, ominously
Stepping out for the first shot of the game. I need to name this guy at some point.

For the entire first Turning Point, I felt like I was living Aliens. I’d built the Tyranid team, so I had a good idea how fearsome they were. Six dudes against eight of these multi-limbed monstrosities felt like it could only go one way (badly for the six dudes).

Reagan held me, if memory serves, one dead Genestealer and nearly zero shots on his entire team, and I don’t think I got a single overwatch shot. This felt like a perfect first turn for the bugs, and it was super frustrating to play against (in a fun way!).

A Tyranid Warrior advances.

I adore the way base size matters in Kill Team. I figured the Tyranids — on 50 mm bases — would be easy to shoot, but maybe also have good lines of sight for shooting because their heads were so high.

What hadn’t considered, and what Reagan immediately figured out, was that it’s really easy to keep a model on a 50 mm base with a conceal order in cover, denying the shooty red lads all their shooty.

The conga line breaks up.
A Marine is about to have a bad day.
Bolter Discipline, step up to ensure zero cover, dakka dakka dakka.
One heavy bolter, 17/18 wounds on the Warrior!
This felt very tactical, very Space Marine-y: spread out but with good reason, taking cover and vantage points, advancing with purpose.
Venom cannon vs. plasma. At scale, that cannon is like 12 feet long!
The venom cannon continues to put in the work.
One of our final confrontations, Reagan’s leader vs. a Marine who was carrying one objective and hovering around another.

My die rolls were consistently good, while a surprising number of Reagan’s rolls really stank. If he hadn’t been rolling cold, this could easily have turned into a win for the bugs.

Pretty much every time a bug got into melee, a Marine got deleted. I stood off as best I could, and in hindsight (as in I’m realizing it right now, as I write this post!) those early activations when I couldn’t shoot much weren’t such a bad thing. They set me up for a pivotal turn two, when advancing on my dudes meant getting shot a whole bunch.

Kill Team is really hitting every mark for me, and it’s a 9/10 game well on its way to being a 10/10.

Out now: The Unlucky Isles

The Unlucky Isles [affiliate link], the first system-neutral guidebook for my Godsbarrow fantasy campaign setting, is now on DriveThruRPG.
Categories
Blood Angels Space Marines Miniatures Warhammer 40k

Mini 40k battle report: first game of 10th Edition

I’ve gone from painting and not playing to, at least for now, doing a fun amount of both. It’s great!

On July 2nd, Shay and I kicked the tires on 10th Edition with an old-school combat patrol game: half-size map, 500 points a side (rather than the new bespoke Combat Patrol mode in 10th).

Here’s how this one went:

Blood Angels return to their waiting voidship, ready to be anointed with sacred oils.

Battle-brother: Brother Dolos, you’ve returned victorious! How went the battle against the foul xenos?

Brother Dolos: Actually, they were Dark Angels.

Battle-brother: You do know we’re on the same side, right?

Brother Dolos: […]

Battle-brother: No doubt they had fallen to chaos. Such a tragedy! And where is our beloved chapter master, Commander Dante?

Brother Dolos: Feigns shock. You mean he’s not here? He was right behind me a moment ago, that’s so weird.

Our board setup. Shay taught me about ensuring gaps wide enough for the largest models, in this case my Rhino.

Shay fielded a squad of Deathwing Terminators led by a Captain in Terminator Armour, and two squads of bikers.

My goal was to field as many units I hadn’t tried yet as possible, so I rolled out with Commander Dante leading Squad Adamo, Assault Marines with Jump Packs; Squad Cain, Scout Snipers; Squad Dolos, Infiltrators; and the Rhino Relentless.

Deployment, with Dante and his Assault Marines in reserve.

We got a few things wrong, notably placing two pairs of objectives that were too close together.

Squad Dolos deployed next to an objective, which was pretty much my whole strategy: Everything I fielded except the Rhino could deploy on an objective rather than in my deployment zone.
Shay’s rad bikers.
I knew from our first match how brutal these Deathwing Terminators were going to be in battle.
This is just as intimidating in person.
Dante and his squad take the field. Poor placement on my part allowed them to be shot at immediately, a portent of things to come.
Squad Cain mostly camped this objective, but they got a few long-range shots in.
The board towards the end of the game, with Dante and his squad making an ill-advised advance.
In one round, Shay’s Terminators annihilated Commander Dante and what was left of his squad. Like I said: brutal!

Despite him dying in what was essentially a skirmish of no strategic import, I was thoroughly impressed by Commander Dante. He’s more expensive than some entire squads, but his pistol, Perdition, and the Axe Mortalis both put in some serious work.

We called this game for time. It was a ton of fun, just like our previous match.

40k app thoughts

I tried using just the app for this game — no hard copy reference material at all. While it was great for building my list, it’s pretty bad for referencing most units during play since it doesn’t truncate their options down to the actual wargear you selected. Every weapon profile appears on the unit, and that can lead to a lot of scrolling back and forth.

The rules reference is pretty solid, although finding one specific thing can be a challenge. About half the time I looked something up, it would have been much faster to be flipping through a book.

Since BattleScribe looks like it’s never going to update to 10th Edition, I need to find a way to solve these two issues for my next 40k game. I might print out and coil-bind the free core rules, print this awesome quick reference from Reddit, and then print out my datasheets and annotate them with my wargear choices.

Given the current state of the 40k app, the availability of free datasheets and points, and the simplicity of list building now that unit sizes are fixed and wargear options are simplified, I wouldn’t pay a subscription fee for the app as it stands now. If they address how army lists work as a play reference, I’d consider it depending on the pricing.

Out now: The Unlucky Isles

The Unlucky Isles [affiliate link], the first system-neutral guidebook for my Godsbarrow fantasy campaign setting, is now on DriveThruRPG.
Categories
Blood Angels Space Marines Grey Knights Miniatures Warhammer 40k

My first game of 40k since 1993: Blood Angels vs. Dark Angels

Despite a near-lifelong simmering love for the 40k universe, until this past weekend I’d only played 40k once or twice. That was back in 1993, when I pitted a box of Squats against my then-girlfriend’s Tyranids for a game or two. For a variety of reasons — some good, some irrational, let’s file them all under “it’s complicated” — I wrote off 40k for the next, uh, 27 years.

In 2020, I decided to start painting 40k minis with an eye to maybe playing the game again at some point. The pandemic’s “official” start date, March 12, was about two weeks later, so I spent the next three years painting 40k minis without actually playing the game. That got me properly into miniature painting as a hobby in its own right.

But once things opening up again lined up with a shift in my family’s pandemic risk calculations, it was time to kick those 40k tires. So on June 10, 2023, I met up with my friend Shay to play the first game of 40k I’d played in 30 years — with two fully painted forces, on a fully painted table, to boot! It was a blast.

Blood Angels vs. Dark Angels

We played a stripped-down 9th Edition Combat Patrol learning game: no CP, no stratagems, no secondary objectives. Shay is a veteran 40k player, but hadn’t played in several years; we muddled through things together.

40k, at least in 9th edition, is an odd mix of relatively simple rules but a complex array of extras, fiddly bits, and exceptions. Even with all the stuff we ignored, it still took us two hours to play two rounds. A fun two rounds! But it’s a commitment.

I know we got some stuff wrong, but despite that, and even after just a single game, the strategic and tactical decision space has opened up for me. I learned stuff; I’d build my force and play differently next time. I came away with plenty of rules questions, but those will smooth out over time. The bones are sturdy. This is a game I’d love to keep playing.

A light battle report

Due to some technical hurdles, we had to work out Shay’s points on the spot with only my copy of the Adeptus Astartes Codex for reference. Those points have changed over the years since that book came out — which didn’t occur to us at the time — so in hindsight I had an unintentional 52-point edge on Shay. I’m also pretty sure 2x Plasma Cannon isn’t a valid option, and I forgot to get my Sergeant out of the case (the first Blood Angel model I painted for 40k, no less!).

Our scenario was Incisive Attack, minus the secondary objectives.

Blood Angels, 497 pts.

  • Chaplain Arrius
  • Close Combat TerminatorsSquad Barakiel – 1st Company, 1st Squad – 4 Terminators led by Sergeant Barakiel (5x Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield)
  • Tactical MarinesSquad Karios – 2nd Company, 1st Squad – 7 Space Marines (6x Bolter, 1x Heavy Bolter) led by Sergeant Karios (Chain Sword and Hand Flamer)
  • Primaris InfiltratorsSquad Dolos – 2nd Company, 3rd Squad – 4 Space Marines led by Sergeant Dolos (5x Marksman Bolt Carbine)

Dark Angels, 445 pts.

  • Terminator Captain (Storm Bolter, Power Sword)
  • Terminators – 5 Terminators (4x Storm Bolter and Power Fist, 1x Assault Cannon)
  • Tactical Marines – 10 Space Marines (8x Bolter, 2x Plasma Cannon)

We played two rounds and the start of a third, and called the game at that point for a late lunch. My Blood Angels won, but again: points imbalance.

The fun was the important part, and man is it every bit as fun to play with fully painted armies as I’d hoped it would be! There’s a real immersive joy to seeing these little dudes on the table.

It’s Bolter time!

My pictures didn’t turn out great, largely due to a mix of interior lighting and my desire to focus on the game rather than the photos. I’ve spared you the irredeemably blurry ones.

Mustering our forces. I’ve had that dice tray for 15 years, but I think this is its first usage for a minis game.

We played at Mox Ballard, which has excellent gaming tables and terrain. It was great to be able to uncover only the amount of battlefield we needed while using the covered half of the table for dice and storage.

The first draft of our table. It got a few tweaks before we actually deployed our minis.

Looking at the Incisive Attack mission map after the fact, I see that I somehow put our deployment zones too close to each other. If we’d deployed differently, that really could have turned this knife fight in a phone booth into a chainsaw fight in a phone booth.

I think this is turn one. I’ve just deployed my Infiltrators on objective 4, and both of us still have our Terminators in their respective Teleportarium chambers.
Squad Karios in the foreground, Squad Dolos near the top.

Our Tactical Squads took plenty of pot shots at each other, which is how I learned that even vanilla Marines are pretty tough.

Dark Angels with a commanding field of fire.
Shay’s Deathwing Terminators make their entrance.

This was my decisive play, although I didn’t realize it at the time. Once my Terminators started taking fire, I got to see just how tough they really are — especially with Storm Shields. We both spent a lot of points on our Termies, but man were they worth it.

Squad Barakiel (right) teleports in next to Squad Dolos.
My Terminators make a push for objective 2 — and Shay’s Tactical Marines.
Close combat ensues.
The scrimmage from afar.

My Terminators clinched things by wiping out a chunk of Shay’s Tactical Squad and claiming objective 1.

This fight proved decisive. Storm Shields and Thunder Hammers are amazing.

We both had a ton of fun with this short match. The glitches, shortened game, and outcome played no role in how much fun this was for me. Getting to play 40k for the first time in decades, with my friend, with an army I painted was an absolute hoot.

We’re on the cusp of 10th Edition, so this might turn out to be the only game of 9th Edition I play. I’ve already started learning the 10th Edition rules.

What’s that on the horizon? MOAR TERMINATORS

And, somewhat predictably…I’ve also started planning a fifth army. Terminators were my favorite thing in the 40k universe before I saw them in action. And now, after seeing how well their performance matches the fiction — they just laugh at small arms fire! — I love them even more.

Just a couple hours after our match, I started drafting Grey Knights lists. Terminators as troops! Tiny knight helmets! The Baby Bjorn of doom! Terminators as far as the eye can see!

Out now: The Unlucky Isles

The Unlucky Isles [affiliate link], the first system-neutral guidebook for my Godsbarrow fantasy campaign setting, is now on DriveThruRPG.
Categories
BattleTech Miniatures

Pure joy: playing BattleTech with my kiddo

I haven’t played BattleTech in 20 years, and if you’d told me a few years ago — when I started enjoying miniature painting, and painting Warhammer 40k stuff every day — that my first-ever game using miniatures I’d painted would be BattleTech, or would be played with my kiddo, Lark, I wouldn’t have believed you.

We used the old (2015, I think?) Alpha Strike Quick Start intro scenario, for which I painted four specific ‘Mechs to make two balanced teams of two: Marauder and Valkyrie (Lark) vs. Archer and Wasp (me), with the win condition being first heavy ‘Mech destroyed.

Lark surveys the battlefield during the first turn
The first face-off between the two heavies; both took a solid hit
Things are looking grim for that Marauder
Lark’s damaged Marauder takes cover in the woods about halfway through our game
A beautiful move by Lark, who won initiative: getting into my Archer’s rear arc; the game could have gone either way at this point
My Archer survived this rear-gunning, and I stacked my Wasp behind the Marauder to close out the game

Last year I got to play D&D with Lark for the first time, and playing BattleTech — the wargame I’ve loved the longest and played the most — with Lark was just as awesome an experience. We had a blast, and we’re already looking forward to our second game on a larger map, two full lances per side (these four plus the next batch that I painted with our second game in mind).

One of my favorite moments was watching Lark get a ‘Mech’s-eye view to establish line of sight for the first time and being excited by how much fun that was. Sharing the visceral and tactile joys of miniatures wargaming with Lark was just pure joy for me.

On top of that, Alpha Strike was a great intro for Lark, a great return to the game for me, and not in any way “kiddy BattleTech.” AS 100% succeeds in distilling CBT into a shorter, punchier game without losing sight of what makes BattleTech fun. It’s streamlined and simplified, but not in any way simplistic. That’s a thing of beauty.

The core box is one of the best values in gaming, too: It’s actually everything you need to start playing, and for barely more than the ‘Mechs would cost in separate force packs.

I took some time during our game to talk a bit about the differences between AS and CBT, and I suspect Lark and I may have some CBT in our future, too.

What a fantastic Saturday all around!

Out now: The Unlucky Isles

The Unlucky Isles [affiliate link], the first system-neutral guidebook for my Godsbarrow fantasy campaign setting, is now on DriveThruRPG.