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Thursday, August 30, 2012

The Aegis and the Torturer - weird combo?

Heya all, I am typing this right now in the middle of the nigt after I woke up to a weird eureka (-ish) moment. I managed to figure out how to use the aegis defense line, wracks and a haemonculus ancient in an otherwise mobile army.

The Aegis is the prime candidate as it is small enough to not be obstructed by dick terain deployment moves and can blend well wih other terrain. It could also be used in synch with the wracks as their fnp combined with that cover could help in objective camping and that liquifier gun of theirs are awesome at suh skullduggery. With a few haemonculus with liquifiers they can definitely hold the fort.

But wait....to make it even more asshole-ish I could upgrade one of them to a haemonculus ancient to allow for his superior BS to take over the defense weapon and blast stuff. Due to the higher BS I can actually make the icarus lascannon idea work as I could maximize the single shot and spend less points for the defense line (quad cannons are hella expensive) while making it more useful. Quad cannons are cool too but I feel that the icarus lascannon fits the Dark Eldar theme more easily than the quad cannon (not to mention cheaper).

Can also be comboed with baron for a further increase in cover saves but I think that this is just pushing it. This is going into my out-of-the-box shelf and I may use this in conjunction with allies and stuff. Also it provides for some interesting modelling experience.


Tuesday, August 28, 2012

A concept for the Black Crusade Roleplay game

Well, I am currently in San Francisco visiting my sister and since I am not really near anything resembling a 40k miniature for a week or so, I am essentially stuck with building army lists and also trying to plan for a Black Crusades RP campaign. 

Do it for the Evulz!
It is a rather intriguing thing to try and make a campaign with villains in mind, as the dynamics of having them not doing anything that resemble good can push a GM to a much greater height of storytelling. So far, I am trying to make a Riddick-like campaign for the PCs to play in and putting them in a prison planet in the first place and escape it. From there it is basically just dumping them in situations where they are damned if they do, damned if they don't, which is a specialty of mine whenever I become the GM (would love to play around with Necrons and Dark Eldar as well in the storyline).

Nonetheless, I will have to see if there are any dudes/dudettes that are interested in the game to play the campaign.

Monday, August 27, 2012

Holistic Mumbo - An Advice on the Dark City Forum

Heya all, just wanted to post a reply that I have given to a dude in the Dark City Forum since I felt like giving it in a poem. Managed to get a lot of approval from my fellow Archons lol.



For some reason, the reason unknown, 
I feel like giving an advice in an unusual fashion. 
So here's something I made, all on my own,
Hopefully this will help you answer your frustration.

A new edition is like a relit candle,
The new flame comes and the old flame perish.
A new experience is hard to handle,
But properly mastered, it can be taken with relish.

Exploit everything written in the tome,
Everything within is a saving grace.
Once the time of troubles come
Own them you will, on top of the race

Be afraid and hide in the shade,
Less everything turn to ash.
Be so fast that you fade,
Less you stay put and crash.

Be ready to bear the lances,
Crack the armoured shell.
Once they out taking their chances,
Cackle loudly and give them hell.

Poison in numbers is never an excess,
For it is a must to inflict pain.
Position yourself to create an access,
For it shall break them in twain.

These words heeded and you shall not sway,
And you shall be happy for the rest of the way.

Monday, August 20, 2012

Hm.......Should I even go into this route for my Dark Eldar?


While I was making several 1999+ 1 lists, I wondered what happened if I just decide to just go for the shooty route? What if I eschew close combat entirely? With that I made this list over here.  It is somewhat boring to look at, but I believe it could also be quite a nasty list. Only problem with this list is that there is no assaulting elements and it would find some difficulty in breaking open some infantry blobs. I would like to call this my Gangland shooting list.



Build this list using the Battlescribe program, which is a very nice app to use. Not to mention that it is also free as compared to the Army Builder program.



+ HQ + (150pts)
* Duke Sliscus the Serpent (150pts)
        (Contraband, Fleet, Independent Character, Low Orbit Raid, Night Vision, Power from Pain,
         The Serpent's Venom)
         Blast Pistol, Combat drugs (Combat Drugs), Ghostplate Armour, Plasma Grenades,
         Shadowfield, The Serpent's Bite

+ Elites + (579pts)
* Kabalite Trueborn (233pts)
        * Raider (70pts)
            Nightshield (10pts)
        * 9x Trueborn (163pts)
            (Fleet, Night Vision, Power from Pain)
            7x Shardcarbine (35pts), 2x Splinter Cannon (20pts)

* Kabalite Trueborn (173pts)
        * 4x Trueborn (108pts)
            (Fleet, Night Vision, Power from Pain)
            4x Blaster (60pts)
        * Venom (65pts)
            Flickerfield, Splinter Cannon (10pts)

* Kabalite Trueborn (173pts)
        * 4x Trueborn (108pts)
            (Fleet, Night Vision, Power from Pain)
            4x Blaster (60pts)
        * Venom (65pts)
            Flickerfield, Splinter Cannon (10pts)

+ Troops + (830pts)
* Kabalite Warriors (130pts)
        * Raider (70pts)
            Dark Lance, Nightshield (10pts)
        * 5x Warriors (60pts)
            (Fleet, Night Vision, Power from Pain)
            Blaster (15pts), 4x Splinter Rifle

* Kabalite Warriors (130pts)
        * Raider (70pts)
            Dark Lance, Nightshield (10pts)
        * 5x Warriors (60pts)
            (Fleet, Night Vision, Power from Pain)
            Blaster (15pts), 4x Splinter Rifle

* Kabalite Warriors (160pts)
        * Raider (70pts)
            Dark Lance, Splinter Racks (10pts)
        * 10x Warriors (90pts)
            (Fleet, Night Vision, Power from Pain)
            10x Splinter Rifle

* Kabalite Warriors (160pts)
        * Raider (70pts)
            Dark Lance, Splinter Racks (10pts)
        * 10x Warriors (90pts)
            (Fleet, Night Vision, Power from Pain)
            10x Splinter Rifle

* Kabalite Warriors (125pts)
        * Venom (65pts)
            Flickerfield, Splinter Cannon (10pts)
        * 5x Warriors (60pts)
            (Fleet, Night Vision, Power from Pain)
            Blaster (15pts), 4x Splinter Rifle

* Kabalite Warriors (125pts)
        * Venom (65pts)
            Flickerfield, Splinter Cannon (10pts)
        * 5x Warriors (60pts)
            (Fleet, Night Vision, Power from Pain)
            Blaster (15pts), 4x Splinter Rifle

+ Heavy Support + (425pts)
* Ravager (115pts)
        (Aerial Assault, Night Vision)
        Dark Lance, Dark Lance, Dark Lance, Nightshield (10pts)

* Ravager (115pts)
        (Aerial Assault, Night Vision)
        Dark Lance, Dark Lance, Dark Lance, Nightshield (10pts)

* Voidraven Bomber (195pts)
        (Aerial Assault, Deep Strike, Night Vision, Supersonic)
        Flickerfield (10pts), Shatterfield Missile (10pts), Shatterfield Missile (10pts), Shatterfield Missile
        (10pts), Shatterfield Missile (10pts), 2x Void Lance, Void Mine


Sunday, August 19, 2012

More playtesting and more finetuning.

With more playtesting, the more I understand the strength and weaknesses of my army than before in 6th edition. With that I will make a rundown of my experiences trying to have a slow evolution of my 5th edition list to 6th edition.


The Units
Archon: I still like the Archon, works well enough. But nonetheless I find that the Archon needs a new bunch of bodyguards to work her magic as the Wyches are unnaturally flimsy now. This also means that perhaps it is time to consider looking at some very unconventional alternatives to my list. Have always wanted to try the Grotesque.....

Baron and Beastmasters: These two must be mentioned together as they are supposed to work in unison with each other. So far in my playtesting, I find that I am having mixed results with them. They are what they are; tough, powerful and able to contest objectives if needed to. My only problem with them is that it is much harder to move them around than initially expected as a result of moderately skilled players would be making firelanes that can rip anyone out in the open. Another issue is the size of their bases actually makes things a little more cumbersome to use despite being much less cumbersome than a gigantic bunch of Hellions. Will have to remedy this problem somehow.

Wyches: They are surprisingly decent even without the Haemonculus, but now I noticed that their role is less of the tarpit assaulter and more of the anti-tank destroyers. From the looks of it, I am assured that wyches are not as important to me in 6th than in 5th. That saying, I always find wyches a very clunky unit to use even in 5th. The main thing still going for them is that they are scoring units, and with more playtesting, I hope to find out if they truly deserve the boot.

Warriors: The 5-man warriors with their transports are still amazing in my games, so there will not be any true changes to them. With the points freed up from not having wyches, I may be able to put in even more warriors than before, especially some of the 10-man gunboat variety to help me more with the scoring aspect of the list.

Trueborn: They kick ass. They work the same as they do in 5th, which is a relief. With overwatch, they are also quite formidable. Keeping them in my lists.

Razorwings: One Razorwing is quite nice, but interestingly the law of Inverse Ninja Strength is in effect for the Razorwings. For one, having more than one flyers can be very powerful during their first entry run, but after that they they have restrictions in their movement arks which needs to be obeyed less they crash. In essence, with two of these things moving around, they actually restrict each other movement and I dare not even think about what happens when 3 of them are flying around the field. But this also brings me to another thought; if that is the case, I could actually benefit more from a Voidraven than a Razorwing. Thus, playtesting with the Voidraven (with razorwing proxies) would be a wise idea to see if the lone Razorwing deserves to be replaced by the Voidraven.

Venoms: Still kicks a lot of ass, even more so in 6th. The weaker hull points is not very important for the Venom as their survival rate is more or less the same as it is in 5th. They will stay in my list.

Raiders: Raiders are also amazing in ferrying my troops around the battlefield. The Dark lance is just a weapon used for targets of opportunity. Survival of these guys have went up a lot, and the nightshields assured me that only the longest-ranged weapons are a threat to the Raiders.

The Plan
So far the plan  is working well enough, but there are some clots and loose ends which requires me to think in many different ways. From the looks of it, I need even faster non-vehicle contesters to truly bring the hurt and help me in the main weakness of my list; lack of contesting units.

With these in mind, I am also thinking about other units that may work well enough in my list (which means more playtesting on my part);

Wracks: They could potentially play a role in my army as they are tougher than the normal file-and-line Dark Eldar troops but that also means that I may have to drop one of the HQs to allow a Haemonculus to make the Wracks a troop choice. Unfortunately for me, that means that my Archon may have to take the boot.

Grotesque: Big and bulky, they now laugh at power weapons and are strong enough to bash people's brains out. May consider using them, but unsure how they could be fitted into my list's synergy.

Hellions: They are a good unit, but a very complicated unit to use as I will have to spend a significant amount of points to make them combat effective (Hellionstar combo). Still under consideration.

Reavers: They are perhaps the units that I find to be the best in plugging out the holes in my list, as they are tough, fast and they can help in both the anti-tank and anti-infantry section of my list. The main thing however is to see what is the magic ratio that I must take for them to be truly effective. That and also seeing what I could take out to fit them in.


Such a headache, but a good one as I will have to adapt or lose out. I have experienced and survived the transition of an edition before, and I can do it again. :P




Saturday, August 18, 2012

General ideas and thoughts about the upcoming starter

Heya 

Let's start with the Dark Angels. 

Model-wise the Dark Angels' composition is quite an interesting mix. We could see 2 HQs right off the bat (excluding the Limited Edition Chaplain) which are impressive sculpts for snap-on miniatures. The Terminators are also interesting that they are perhaps the first instance of a 'Heresy' mark of Terminator armour with lots of studs on their armour. However the Ravenwing bikers and the Marines is what pulled the overall impressive look of the miniatures down as the Ravenwing bikers and Marines do not look any different from the normal mooks.

For some reason I think of the Chappie as an Iron Chef....
However, game-wise we could see that there is a lot of game mechanics involved in the Space Marine repertoire (teleporting, bikers, plasma, psychic, etc) thus allowing the newbies to get a feel of the many myriad rules of 40k. and. In addition, it seems that this could be some foreshadowing of Dark Angels as being the plasma-kings of the Imperials as befitting their fluff. Perhaps it could be the cheapest/strongest option in the book that could not be ignored. Only time will tell.

Termies cool, Ravenwing not so....
As for the Chaos guys, model-wise GW have truly outdone themselves this time. Seriously I am throwing money on my computer screen and screaming "SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!!!"

DAYUM
Even without the Red to make the models pop out even more, the sculpts is truly impressive and put all the normal Chaos Marine stuff  (and even the loyalists) to shame. Seriously....this is just too much. The Hellbrute is the one the internet is most amazed about as it is a truly dymanic model with a lot of details on it. The Chosens are stunning as well and the Chaos lord can be a Chosen champion if the need arise in the new Chaos codex.


The true jewel of the starter set.
However, the main honourary mention actually goes to the Cultist as right here is essentially what I consider as the best deal in the whole starter box. With the cultist, you can essentially start a third army/Allies in the form of Traitor Guard or even use them as Penal Legionnaires with the proper conversions. There is also the visual brilliance that you could get some Empire Flagellants and Catachans/Cadians and make the squad even more chaotic than before to complement their overall looks. These guys....just brilliant despite their humble looks.

Gamewise, the army is geared to work in close combat with the Chosen being very powerful if the balance is to be considered within this starter set. We could also deduce that this is in effect for the new Chaos Marines book. The Hellbrute looks to be a buffed Dreadnought and is perhaps the general counter to the whole marine list as only the Terminators could take it down with any amount of certainty. The Chaos Lord's role is something I find a challenge to figure out as there must be a mechanic in place that makes it the equivalent of 2 Marine HQ, but what mechanic could make that is currently unknown to me.

The Cultist in my opinion serves to become a form of buffer for the Chaos Marine elements to work their magic. In addition it appears that they come in two flavours; Close combat and shooty. Perhaps they could be given marks to make them even more useful than before, perhaps Chaos will get a form of the Skaven's shooting at enemies trapped in close combat.

What do you guys think about the starter set as a whole?


Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Aug 25th - Other Worlds 1500 pt 40k NOVA Tourname

Heya all, I do not know if you guys play around the Portland area like I do, but if you do I would like to promote the Other Worlds Games version of the NOVA style Tournament. Although I will be unable to make it for this tournament as I will be out of town to visit my sister, but nonetheless as a person who truly supports my LGS I would like for others to come in and have some fun with this tournament format.

P.S: The wording on the promotional event sheet is meant for all point levels, so do not be worried that there is double FOC in 1500 pts as the event will definitely follow the guidelines from the rulebook.



Aug 25th - Other Worlds 1500 pt 40k NOVA Tournament

Other Worlds Games
6350 SW Capitol Highway Portland, OR
(503)244-0290

We'll be using 2012 NOVA open style missions for each game with army lists of 1500 points.

We are also using the GW FAQS, NOVA FAQ and our own FAQ:OWG FAQ

We are only using the missions format from the NOVA Open. We are not using the other rules from the NOVA Primer.

That means:
Fortifications - In!
Allies - In!
Double Focs - In!
Mysterious Objectives - In!
Warlord Traits - In!
Random Psychic power selection - In!

Terrain & Fortifications:
Terrain will be set-up ahead of time by the T.O. because of time constraints on the tournament. When deploying fortifications, the players will deploy their fortifications on the table by starting with the player that deployed first and alternating between each player until all fortifications are deployed. Fortifications must replace a similar amount of terrain features on the table to the area that the fortification takes up. The removed terrain should be placed to the side of the table to be collected by the T.O. Fortifications can only be placed in their controlling player's deployment zone.

Power Weapons:
In any case where a model is equipped with one or more Power Weapons, you must both MODEL the weapon to the appropriate type (Sword, Ax, Maul, Lance), and list which weapon is equipped on that particular model within your Army List.

We will be playing three 2 hour games with the following time conditions:
- All games go at least 6 turns, or until time runs out.
- At the end of game turn 6, roll a d6: on a 1- 3, the game ends; on a 4-6, play a 7th turn until time runs out.
- Do not begin a new game turn of any kind if there are less than 20 minutes remaining in the round.

All players must bring 5 typed copies of their army lists to the tournament. There is no minimum standard of painting required, non-GW models are welcome to the board, all scratch built models must be approved by the T.O. prior to the tournament. All models must be as WISYWG as possible.

T.O. email: rosecityminis@gmail.com

Buy in is $15 dollars and all prizes will once again be in the form of store credit! First place will have the option to use part of their prize to buy one of the few remaining 25th Anniversary Space Marine Models!

In order to reserve your spot, you must register and pay for the tournament otherwise you just may miss out on a seat.

Doors will open at 11am and play will begin as close to 12:00pm as possible. Play will continue until 6pm or as close to that as we can get.

There are no scheduled breaks during this tournament. You can of course bring food in or order it to the store. Please no outside sodas in the store as we sell several kinds. Bringing in you own coffee, tea, or water is perfectly fine.

Dark Eldar vs Orks 2k - A Big Tutorial Game

Vespera is finally out from the restoration sarcophagus and is now quite literally bloodthirsty. She can not wait to get into the next raid and slaughter as much as she could. To her surprise her Archdracon did not decide on staging a coup to take on her Kabal, and he kept his word. However as she soon discover there is also another reason why the Kabal is not taken over by her Archdracon; Her father.

"Oh hello my dear, finally out of Haemonculi coven? I hoped that you are not bored out of your skull." Her father is sitting in her throne room knitting some kind of clothing from the muscle fiber of a still-living and screaming victim chained onto a rack. As Vespera watches on, she noticed that his handmaidens are slowly flaying the skin and slowly unravelling the muscles in order for the old Archon to use a continuous strand of muscle to knit the clothing. And then her sight shifted and to her chagrin, she noticed her brother looking at himself on a hand-held mirror.

"Why is 
he here?" Vespera asked her father. It was then that her father stopped the knitting and looked upon them with glee. Vespera's inner thoughts are now flashing a lot of red flags, but she kept her poise and walked gracefully towards her relatives.

"While you were out cold,I managed to get our hands upon some fascinating creatures mainly in the form of a flock of Ghosthawks. They are fine specimens those creatures.....but they do need to get out from the webway from time to time to have a nice little walk. Apparently there is something about Commorragh that agitates them." Aethandir kept his hand-held mirror and held out his hand. Soon enough an ethereal mist landed upon his hands, and materialized itself into a vaguely avian-like being. Vespera could see why the men wanted to keep these creatures as they are truly marvelous to look at.

"Perhaps it is your face that is the cause of their agitation." But then suddenly several loud primal roars resonate in the air* and Vespera realized that she is now surrounded by five creatures, each almost as tall as she is but significantly large in size. The creatures appear have a generally canid body and similar body structure but each one has a mutation of sorts. Some had horns while others have serpentine-like mouths snapping where horns are located upon the creature. At the very least, each animal have their own unique quirk that allow a person to notice the difference between the creatures. Each of the creatures are now snarling at Vespera and indeed was about to attack Vespera until a sharp whistle from her brother caused the creatures to stop.

"Hush now, quiet now. She means me no harm....at least for now." The creatures then walked slowly towards her brother and lingered around him like kittens. Vespera's mind could not even comprehend how those things snuck up to her like that. Her senses are unnaturally sharp, and those thing just made her feel like a true prey.

"What.... in Commorragh are those?!" Vespera points at the creatures, trying to keep her composure. In return, the creatures snarled at her ferociously*. Vespera is quite intimidated by these creatures.

"Oh these? These are some creatures that I asked the haemonculi to create for me for my personal amusement....that is the way I punish those who tried to assassinate me. I just love to give them a scent and let them hunt down my Hellions by themselves. but perhaps they are doing their job too well for now I am also out of traitors to feed them. So they need to take a walk as well."

"So...you want to join me on my raid so that you could have your animals take a walk?" Vespera looked at her father with disapproval, but he looked at her and smiled.

"Well, there is no harm playing with your brother right?"

*Replicate video 5 times and play them at the same time.


Well, here is another battle report from me (not the short summaries) and this time I am bringing what I call the 'wincest team' on the table. I actually came to the LGS expecting a league match, but instead my opponent is not present for some reason and thus I have to arrange a match for another day. But on the other hand, I managed to play with this kid who wanted to try out his 2000 pts list and wanted to face a tough Dark Eldar list. I figured that since I have nothing to lose I might as well just get into it. But then unfortunately, as we are deploying our stuff I think that I may have to club the seal or that he may be the most cunning kid I ever known (usually the former, rarely the latter).

Here's my list;

HQ
1. Archon (Warlord)
Agoniser
Venom Blade
Haywire Grenade
Combat Drugs
Shadowfield

Total pts: 130 pts

2. Baron Sathonyx
Custom Skyboard
Hellglaive
Splinter Pistol
Phantasm Grenade Launcher
Shadowfield

total pts: 105 pts

Elites
1. Kabalite Trueborn Squad
4 x Kabalite Trueborn with Blaster
Venom with 2 Splinter Cannon

Total pts: 173 pts

2. Kabalite Trueborn Squad
4 x Kabalite Trueborn with Blaster
Venom with 2 Splinter Cannon

Total pts: 173 pts

Troops
1. Kabalite Warriors Squad
4 x Kabalite Warriors
1 x Kabalite with Blaster
Venom with 2 Splinter Cannon

Total pts: 125 pts

2. Kabalite Warriors Squad
4 x Kabalite Warriors
1 x Kabalite with Blaster
Venom with 2 Splinter Cannon

Total pts: 125 pts

3. Kabalite Warriors Squad
4 x Kabalite Warriors
1 x Kabalite with Blaster
Raider with Nighshields

Total pts: 130 pts

4. Kabalite Warriors Squad
4 x Kabalite Warriors
1 x Kabalite with Blaster
Raider with Nighshields

Total pts: 130 pts

5. Wyches
7 x Wyches with Haywire Grenades
1 x Hekatrix with Venom Blade and Haywire grenades
Raider with Nighshields

Total pts: 181 pts

6. Wyches
7 x Wyches with Haywire Grenades
1 x Hekatrix with Venom Blade and Haywire grenades
Raider with Nighshields

Total pts: 181 pts

Fast Attack
1. Beastmaster Pack
2 x Beasmaters
1 x Beastmaster with Venom Blade
5 x Khymeara
4 x Razorwing Flock

Total pts: 161

Heavy Support
1. Ravager
3 x Dark Lances
Nightshields

Total pts: 115 pts

2. Ravager
3 x Dark Lances
Nightshields

Total pts: 115 pts

3. Razorwing Fighter
4 x Monoscythe Missiles
2 x Dark lances
1 x Twin-linked Splinter rifle
Flickerfield

Total pts: 155 pts

As for his list;

Ork Warboss with Mega Armour (warlord)
Big Mek with KFF

6 tabnkbustas
4 Biker Nobs
5 Lootas
5 Nobs on foot
3 Mega Armoured Nobs (troops)
2 squads of Gretchins (10 each)
3 Deffkoptas with twinlinked rokkits
10 Boyz in a Trukk
5 Stormboyz
Boomwagon
Battlewagon with a Killkannon, 4 Rokkits and a big shoota

The kid is using that double FOC thing. That's why boys and girls, that one should be careful when you agree to a 2000 pts game these days.

As you can see this is our table;



Lots of ruins, and was designed for the league games. I was supposed to play on this table too apparently. The deployment style that we rolled up is one of the new deployment styles where we deployed at the short table edges instead of the long table edge. The mission is the good o' Capture and Control (one objective each).

We both rolled for our warlord traits and here is what we got

Warboss: His warlord and anything within 12" of his warlord gets +1 to their charging roll. Yikes!
Vespera: Outflanking units have Acute senses while warlord is still alive. Bollocks.....I got nothing of that sort.

I then rolled for my drugs and I got +1 Strength. This would definitely help me against the bikers and the Warboss.

He won the rolls for choosing table sides and objectives, so he deploys first. His Stormboyz are in reserve, while my Razorwing fighter is in reserve.

And..... here is what he did;


And here's what I did;


I will definitely say that this is perhaps my most beautiful deployment ever.  ;D

We then proceed to roll to see if there is nightfighting, and alas there is no nightfighting.

P.S: Btw, the objectives are in the center of the buildings where the majority of our forces are deployed.

I attempt to seize the initiative, but I failed. With that the game begins.

Turn1
As Vespera enters into realspace, she noticed that her brother is being led by his pets to the building and she could only wonder what have they found. But soon enough before she could even ask him about what is going on several large rounds landed around the ground and if it were not for the nightshields her ship would have been vapourized. Oh well, she could focus instead on the battle. Before long, her forces had acquired targets and are now systematically culling them.

"Milady, it appears that the Orks are infesting this place."


Orks


He moved a number of his unit before he went on to the shooting phase. To my opponent's chagrin, his lootas are unable to shoot at my Raider as a result of that final 6" of the loota being severed by the Nightshield upgrade.

Dark Eldar



Without further delay, I spread my forces out and aimed my Venoms at the Biker Nobs and most of my raiders and ravagers moved to get a clear line of sight towards the closest target that they could see; the Looted Wagon.

I decided to let the beastmaster pack and the Baron to stay in the runs and guard it for a while until one of my Kabalites get kicked out of their vehicle. At the meantime, they managed to trigger the mysterious objective , revealing its nature as a Skyfire Nexus.

With relative ease, I managed to kill the Looted Wagon and also kill 3 of the Biker Nobs. Unfortunately for me they held their ground.

Turn 2
"What is it , what is it?" Aethandir voiced out to his pets. The loud booming primal bark continued on and as Aethandir looked on, he could see that it is an intact Imperial Skyfire Nexus. A fine specimen indeed, nonetheless his pets are not the kinds that will be swayed by some shiny object. Then suddenly several of the ghosthawks shriek and swooped down avoiding some of the large canids and flew towards Aethandir carrying a piece of green flesh.

"Ah.....so all of you wanted a piece of Ork huh?" The calmer pur of the hounds and the whistling sounds of the ghosthawks only served to enforce the point on Aethandir. Oh alright, let us move. But not before I put this webway portal to send this artifact back...

********

Meanwhile, Vespera proceed to move on along the lines and was poised to hunt the warboss all the while listening to all the usual explosions whens suddenly that primal roar echoed in her ears again. She turned around and as she watched, the beasts lept and flew from the flaming explosions into the horde of boyz and started ripping them apart. The boyz immediately broke and are escaping but the creatures are merciless. Before long, they are now gnawing on their flesh and bones. Vespera suddenly had a fleeting thought that she was glad that she is not the target of those creatures.


Orks

He rolled for the Stormboyz and then....nothing happened. No Stormies this turn.

Well, he decided to move his Deffkoptas down the long table edge and the battlewagon and the Nobs went ahead and moved down in the trails of the deffkopta as well. The Biker Nob proceed to move closer to the Raider carrying Vespera while his trukk disgorged the boyz.

In the shooting phase, his lootas managed to down one of my Raiders, and his boyz and trukk managed to shoot down one of the Trueborn Venoms. He attempted to assault  Vespera's Raider with his biker Nob and also the Trueborns with his boyz, but he is unable to reach either one of them. Vespera's squad fired an overwatch towards the biker nob and he got a wound.

Dark Eldar




I rolled for my Razorwing but it did not come in.

The Kabalites Warriors who lost the transport immediately ran back to the objective. Everything else? FORWARD! One of my Wych squads decide to disembark with the intent of killing that Biker Nob.

In my shooting phase, Vespera's Raider turboboosted towards the ork "Fortress" while my forces gun down anything that is in sight. The resulting firefest saw that the battlewagon lost a hull point, the Tankbustas and Lootas getting wiped out, and half of the boyz died from the exploding trukk.

My Wyches assaulted the lone Biker Nob while the beastmaster pack charged the Boyz. Thanks to overwatch, one of the wyches got gunned down. The result of both assaults are as clear as night and day and my bunch of assaulters consolidated.







However......just as we are about to start turn 3........his mom came. Apparently he needs to go. D'oh! So with that we ended our game there and then and thanks to the First Blood that I have gotten I won by one VP.


Post-Game and Afterthought
The raid turned out to be success, and many Ork slaves were caught. Indeed, Vespera managed to capture the Warboss alive and the Warboss is now captive in her private gym, for her to spar on a daily basis (with obvious restrictions). But what actually caught her by surprise is how her brother actually is very kind to his beast entourage. It has even gone to the point of him play-wrestling with his big creature-things and singing along with his ghosthawks. They look very very domesticated save for the fact that Vespera have seen it firsthand how these things make Orks run like scared little humans. She then made a mental note to herself; never let those things near her favoured human slaves.

Speaking of which, she will have to give them new dresses and toys and play with them now.......



Okay, I will honestly say this; this definitely feels like seal-clubbing on so many levels. I thought that the kid would be bringing some nasty ork list or something and prepared myself instinctively against the nastiness of Orks, but then as he was deploying I realized that this is a kid we are talking about here. He got not clue about a tough Dark Eldar list, and I did a 'Shock and Awe' to his mind like how the US did the same to Iraq. And from the look of his list it looks like he cobbled it up from a bunch of Black reach stuff and some other random models.

But nonetheless, as we played the game we talked and I taught him some aspects of the game (he is somewhat familiar with 5th which made it easier) and some tricks as well. I also told him that my lances can kill his battlewagon silly as well and advised that he should be more careful about the tank when facing against Dark Eldar. So in the end, at least he is not thinking that I am enjoying clubbing him like a seal but instead as a person who also wants to try and let him win.

In more ways than one, this reminds me of my first time playing 40k during 4th edition, but instead of people curbstomping me without telling me the rules proper I went on ahead and taught the kid a number of things that seal-clubbers will not do. Not sure if I can remove the mental trauma of a Dark Eldar shooting phase out of his mind though, as I am unable to do so even with the veterans of the game.


P.S: Just remembered The tankbustasonce  The DAr told me about it and looking at my own pics.They failed to shoot anything before I killed them hence why I totally forgotten to write about them. -__