Total War, 9 Players massive game!

The Flames of War Community (albeit very very small one) came together to play a Total-War game for the departure of one of our players Raj, who will be leaving for New Zealand for a change of environment. We wish him all the best in his endeavors and don't forget to buy more Flames of War stuff as New Zealand is the home of FOW!

Each side had 4 forces amounting to 2000pts each roughly. I did not keep track of the battle as it was huge and I was busy playing it. But here are some pictures of the throwdown that happened that day.

And oh, the Allies won.

Themed Terrain: On a Budget

In continuation of Sam's space battles, he presents to us Way-Station HALICON 17-1

I tried to make a space ship themed terrain board some time back but did not really complete it. Too much real life, too little time LOL!

I decided to go with some themed terrain instead. It'll be suitable for space ship-orbital themed battlefield. I made these with a waystation or space station in mind rather than a ship.

I've got a few ideas from visit to Daiso where $2 can get you some really nice stuff. Well here goes ;)

1) Bridge + Tacticum


This is the holo field like thingy where Imperial Strategos plan their invasion or just watch planetary traffic till boredom sets in.

I got these clear holders and a hexagonal pill box. I plan to prime the pill box black and just drybrush on some Boltgun Metal. The clear holders will be for the advanced computer screens with shipboard data painted on. I'm looking for glowy paint. Any recommendations? Inspiration below:

The panels can also be painted in the style of the human control room of the movie Avatar. Nice graphics there.

So this is how the Bridge/Tacticum will look like. Terminator there for scale purposes.

I think it'll look smashing once the colors are on :)


2) Hydroponics

I really like the way plants can be grown even in outer space. Gives an organic touch to the otherwise steel and wire environment of deep space stations.

The general idea. Small plastic containers which I think people use to store beads plus some grassy terrain. Or any type of vegetation terrain. And presto! Hydroponics! It can also double up as an oxygen production piece.

I did some work on Hydroponics during last weekend so there's actually much more to see.

I just need to add some white glue and flock some parts with sand. Prime the base black and drybrush Boltgun Metal again before placing the vege-vats back on. Top right hand corner of above pic is a small air-pump terminal/station.

3) Logic Stacks/ Computer Servers


Nothing much to say here 'cept that every ship and station needs some processing capacity. The Logic Stacks also have great potential to be line of sight blocking terrain.

So these are some pen holders for $2 bucks each. I overturned them and placed them on a base. And you got your Logic Stacks.

I'll probably still prime them black-er and paint some glowy blue lines on 'em.

4) The Cryo-Chambers

I managed to get me hands on some containers for fishing undersea use. $2 for two in a pack.

Bed for six crew members. No breakfast though.

An Imperial Guardsmen getting a rude awakening from the a Deathwing Terminator hehe!

5) The Locker Room

The ol' Locker Room. A confined pace where many have found that they could actually fit into with some 'help'.

Some more pill boxes. $2 for two in a pack.

I just turned them on the side to represent lockers. Will have to prime and boltgun metal them before mounting them on a base. Guardsman Joe here again, anxiously trying to get out of the locker room before being stuffed into said locker.

Its been a rough Monday for me. Hope its been better for all you folks out there.
And I hope you have been entertained by my post ;)

Have a great week ahead everyone!

40K Narratives On the Battlefield

Another brilliant post by Sam.

Its been quite an eventful week with much happening at work and the wife going for an operation. All has turned out well, and its just been a tremendous relief. Anyways, I did remember a conversation with Ray (aka enrgie) about combining our Tyranid forces for a battle. This sparked off a tangent for me as I kinda imagined how awesome it would be to do it Aliens-style ;)

I used the existing 6th Edition Missions to play around with a narrative battle. And this is the strange result of my mind.

The narrative and victory/loss conditions are made from the perspective of the Space Marine rather than the Tyranids due to my lack of understanding of Tyranid psyche lol!

Outpost Station Halicon

Missions Used (all from 6th ed):
Crusade
Purge the Alien
Big Guns Never Tire
The Scouring
The Emperor's Will
The Relic

Chapter 1: Into the Breach



The Black Templars make entry into the Halicon via a breach in the lower decks and arrive using Drop Pod insertion.

Mission: The Emperor's Will
Synopsis: Your forces have made entry into the Halicon. You need to establish a beach head for further reinforcements to arrive.

If Victorious,

Mission: Big Guns Never Tire
Synopsis: Having established a secure base, your forces reinforce the staging point with formidable weaponary.

If Loss
Mission: The Scouring
Synopsis: Your forces may have failed to secure the staging point. But fortune favours the bold as your remaining forces use speed to secure remaining viable staging areas for the coming battles.

Chapter 2: The Jaws of Death

Terminators of the Dark Angels find themselves surrounded by foul xenos while trying to recover some information from the Halicon's logic stacks.

Mission: Purge the Alien
Synopsis: The alien menace is now fully aware of your presence. They come for your strike force in vengeful bloodthirsty waves of teeth and claw. Blunt their attack and make the enemy fear your might.

If Victorious:
Mission: The Relic
Synopsis: Within the ship is an artifact of great power and of xenos origins. You must secure the artifact for you sense it will aid your cause.

Note: In the case of The Relic, maybe the artifact would really contribute to in-game usage. Like increased WS for the squad in possession of it, for example.

If Loss,
Mission: Crusade
Synopsis: You have lost the artifact...for now. You will need to retreat to more defensive positions and secure supplies for your wounded. You also inadverdently stumble upon a monstrous evil.

Chapter 3: The Brood Mother

Last pict-image sent from Brother Marciel's suit of Squad Feran's encounter with a monstrous Tyranid beast.

Mission: Purge the Alien (modified)
Synopsis: Your forces have discovered the source of this taint. The foul beating heart of the Voidscream. An immense beast, a Tyranid Dominatrix! You muster your forces for war! This is it. Purge the Alien!!

Note: The final battle is always expected to be a dramatic one. And its ok to add some interesting rules and creatures/ characters to reflect its conclusion.

Primary Objective: Slay the Brood Mother

Creation of a nice 'Boss Type' monster or leader at the end of the narrative should also be quite the treat. But care methinks must be taken not to overdo it. I have created my version of a Dominatrix just for laughs.

Tyranid Dominatrix
WS BS S T W I A Ld Sv
6 4 8 7 6 5 4 10 2+
Special Rules: Monstrous Creature, Rending Claws, Bio Acid, Rage, Fearless, Psyker, Synapse Creature, Implant Attack, Armored Shell, Shadow of the Warp.

Broodmother: Roll a D6 on Turn 3 onwards, on a 3+ the Dominatrix detaches herself from the birthing sac. She is now free to move, run or assault. When immobile, she can choose to spawn D6 Warriors every alternate turn. She can no longer spawn Warriors if detached from birthing sac.

Special Rules:

Note: You can also add Special Rules into the narrative to give it that added challenge.

Prepared Assault
Tyranid Organisms able to Infiltrate or Outflank can do so on any terrain piece. They can also assault the turn they come into play if they pass an Initiative test.

Without Number
As per the rule. Troop choices can be recycled. Coming in at random table edge next turn if destroyed in current turn.

Hope you have enjoyed the read ;)

UK Games Day 2012

Some of you may have seen these but they look awesome. I have been looking at various pictures but these stand out the most. Thought I would share it with all! 

Batrep 1750 Tyranids vs Blood Angels

Got in a 1750 40k game with Marshall yesterday over at Battle Bunker. It was a grudge match. And if you haven't seen the original game, go check it out! 

So the forces we were playing were similar to our original game. Both of us wanted to keep testing our forces just to see how it works on the table under different conditions. 

Pre-Battle Setup

Deployment: Hammer and Anvil
Mission: The Scouring

Warlord Traits:
Tyranids - Your Warlord counts as a Objective Capturing model
Blood Angels - Night Attacker (You can choose if Night Fight takes place Turn 1 or not)

Psychic Powers:
Tyranids:
Flyrant (Warlord) - Iron Arm, Enfeeble
Flyrant - Iron Arm, Life Leech
Doom of Malantai - Psychic Shriek from the Telepathy deck

Blood Angels:
Librarian (Warlord) - Default
Librarian -  Default

The army lists are the same as those found here. 

On to the battle report proper. After setting the terrain up, we picked up the 6 dice (randomized) and placed them on the objective counters. Marshall had 4, 3, 1 and I had 3, 2, 2 on our table halves. Damn, I am going to fight for this one.

Tyranid Deployment

Having learnt from the past game with Marshall, I have chose to go for a heavy flank approach, pushing into the side with the objectives.

Blood Angels' deployment

Marshall kept most of his infantry back in his deployment zone and to keep out of my Flyrants and Hive Guards

1st Turn Tyranids

Surged forward with my Nids pushing the Warlord (painted one) and the Albino Flyrant up. Since most of his units are so far behind I reasoned that I could contest the points really early game and then sweep in to his lines keeping him away from them. Not much happened after that but running.

First turn pooping then JAMS! Good news is that the mysterious objective is turns my shooting into Skyfire

1st Turn Blood Angels

So they are all huddled in together...so comfy

Blood Angels move up

Turn 2 Tyranids

Doom of Malantai lands in turn 2 and so did the rest of my Gants who were in Reserves. Scattered 10" towards the 3 point objective

Turn 2 Tyranids movement

Jumped into the building to wait the inevitable Storm Raven. Now I have Skyfire

Tyrant opens fire on the Assault Squad in the open with plans to charge him into that unit

Unfortunately during the Assault turn I failed the charge leaving this Tyrant in the open. Sigh

I failed to cast Iron Arm so wrapped my Tyrant with Gargs so prevent the Storm Raven incoming. 

After all that shooting only one Marine died...

Turn 2 Blood Angels

Shooting killed off most of my Gargs opening him up to the Storm Raven. Unfortunately the Storm Raven was a few inches short! OMG my Tyrant will survive!

Since I failed to charge in my turn, Marshall charged in his Marines

Whack whack whack

He then dies. No surprise

Marshall then charges into my Gargs removing most of them

Doom hovers in during Turn 3 Movement. Tyrant flies over to the altar area to threaten the other unit

Positioned all the units to contest and threaten his Marine unit

Charged in the large brood of 16 into this melee

Casted FNP on the Trygon

Charged everyone in Turn 3

Melee continues

All charges hit. 

Blood Angels failed their Morale but I managed to pursue with my Trygon.

And I fled from combat but there are 2 units so they remain in contact

This is going to be a protracted fight

Took out more Marines from that unit

Un-oh

In drops the Death Co and the other unit hiding in the Bastion. 

The Death Co is one unit that I both fear and loathe. In anticipation of them coming in, I placed my Tyrant here hoping to weather the charge with a +3T and +3S.

Doom gone

Last two Marines get swamped in Tyranids Turn 3

I managed to take out the Storm Raven using the two units of Hive Guard. Nice!
However, the Blood Angels manage to drop the Death Co before the Raven got blown out of the air.

Drop drop drop

I get charged in Turn 3 BA. Nothing I can do so I channeled all attacks into the Chaplain (rolled 6's)

Managed to kill the Chaplain before the Death Co could strike removing their reroll misses! This blunted their charge by a mile. Tyrant survives.

Marines deleted the unit of white Gants

I wiped out the remaining in the melee but there was another unit just behind

Melee continues this time with a FNP buff LOL!

Combat continues in Turn 4 with another +3T/S. Yahoo

Charged both Trygon and Gants into the combat, taking 2 wounds on Overwatch. Dafuq!

Combat continues

Finally cleared the 2 Marines so I moved them to the objective at the back of the BA table edge

Last 2!

More melee! 

Turn 4 I went directly for the objective behind his lines

Turn 5 I just moved up my Hive Guards up

Charged in everything

Kill kill

Turn 5- not much left

Tyrant moves up to the altar to wait for the next round of combat in the event the Trygon falls

The Gants held in Reserve swamping the 4 point objective

With the Tyrant in combat, nothing survives

Looks like Tyranids won the day. Blood Angels were annihilated. Ommm nommm nommm

Captured

Captured

 

Captured

I guess the objectives no longer mattered now that the Marines were all gone. Was not as close as the previous game but I still enjoyed the game. Terrain looks good too!