So morning after the night before.  This time I’m reflecting on a farcical performance by the Crimson Fists v Imperial Guard.

In this 600PT battle I had:

• SM Captain (Bolt Gun)
• SM Librarian (Nothing – Machine Curse and The Avenger psychic powers)
• 10 Man Tactical Squad (Flamer, Missile Launcher)
• 5 Man Terminator Squad (Assault Cannon)

My mate had a Leman Russ (no, never), Chimera and a whack load of Valhallans, Mordians and Tallarns.

The mission was ‘purge the enemy’.  In short the marines were terrible bar the terminators.  Only marines left were two terminators by the time the game ended at the end of turn 5.  The defeat was like one victory point to me versus a gazillion to my mate.  My mate’s MVP was a single Mordian who blocked a 3 terminator assault after being shot at and then following a failed assault dice role from the terminator (not for the first time in the game dare I say).  That block stopped me from moving into the side of the Russ with my power fists.  On the next turn the guards man bailed into the Chimera losing the chance of a victory point as he was the last man standing in the unit at the end of the game.  No marine deserved even an MVP nomination let alone an award.

Although this was such a poor showing, I have learned a few things out of my first two games of 40K:

Terminators -

• Hard as nails
• Assault cannon hit or miss
• Awful at assault dice roles

SM Captain -

• Current status (TERRIBLE!!!)
• Note for next game – stop running around with no support like a loon (Game Two – Zero kills – joke)

Librarian -

• Big Question Mark even after one game (such a waste of 100 pts)

Consider employing a rhino in future games to get into range more quickly and to provide cover for the marines.

Well that’s enough complaining for one blog.  Current project is 5 close combat terminators with hammers and shields for the Crimson Fists.  By the time they are finished Dark Vengeance should be here (happy days, Word Bearers at the ready).  Next battle I should have some photos – they didn’t turn out too well (what’s with the blur on my camera).  Also will get some models posted on the next blog.

Until next time.

I had been pondering for quite a while as to what I was going to use my blog for.  Eventually I decided that it would be useful for documenting my journey back to 40K.  It would include things like picking an army, watching it grow, learning the rules again (likes/dislikes) and some battle reports.

But first the back story……

I originally collected 40K back in the early 90s when at school.  Back then it was 2^nd Edition.  We had to put up with those good old one piece/one pose models.  I never really collected a set army.  I kept buying models every time a new army was released – Space Wolves, Imperial Guard, Sisters of Battle (yes, they did have their own army book back then).  To this day, Nids still don’t appeal to me.

Back then, the thing that put me off the most about 40K was spending 2 hours delving through the war gear book when picking an army list and arguing with my friends over ‘line of sight’.  Also I tended to have more fun playing with my Beastman/Chaos Dwarf Warhammer army against my friend’s Nagash-led Undead horde.

So what got me back to 40K.  Well my mate decided in 2009 to start collecting Warhammer again and I started out with the Bretonnians.  I had no love at all for 40K back then and often felt it was a waste of a White Dwarf subscription flicking past the 40K articles.  Then in 2011, I was going on holiday and decided to buy ‘Horus Rising’ as it was the one thing that I really did like about 40K.  It didn’t take many chapters to get me hooked.  That was followed by a trip to Games Day and I knew then I had to collect a Space Marine army, regardless of what the game play was like.

Back story complete, where am I now.  At the moment I am working through a Crimson Fist army (mainly because I like blue, but can’t stand Ultramarines).  So far the army is made up with the ‘Assault on Black Reach’ Space Marines, the Space Marine Battleforce and some additional extras (Pedro Kantor included).  Painted so far are the Black Reach Marines and a Librarian in Terminator armour.  As I knew 6^th Edition was coming out, I didn’t bother looking over the 5^th Edition rules.

Three weeks ago I played my first game of 40K in over 10 years.  500pts ‘to the death’ game against my friend’s CSM.  I won the game with 2 terminator and 3 tactical marines left.  That’s what my mate gets for whipping out a CSM Level 2 Sorcerer in our first game back.  Thought I was done for when I saw that model considering I didn’t even have enough points for my dreadnought.  Highlight of the match was when my SM captain was killed by a krak missile (no armour save) at the end of turn 4.  By that stage he had only managed to kill 2 CSM.  Overall it was an enjoyable game and a promising start to 40K.

What I’m up to at the moment is that I’ve purchased the Catachan Battleforce as allies for the Marines.  Then I went one step further when I saw Dark Vengeance.  I’ve decided to do up a small Dark Angel force (add some of my unpainted Marines from the box sets) and then go all out on a CSM army (that what happens when you read the Heresy).  Second battle is coming up this week against Imperial Guard – Dreadnought v Leman Russ.

In further entries I hope to post pictures of the work-in-progress Crimson Fists and see them through to completion before moving on to the DA or CSM.  Note to self:  as great as the Necrons look – AVOID, AVOID, AVOID………….

Until next time.