Adding some heayy support to deal with all that MSU- Whirlwind scorpius done-

As mentioned before i am attending my first tournament in early June this year, and to prepare for the tournament i ma currently adding as many vehicles that i can without compromising what i consider quality of my painting. To that end i've wanted to add a Whirlwind scorpius. 

So what differs a Scorpius from the standard 40k version i hear the sonorous crickets residing in my blogosphere chant. 

Well with 36" S6 AP3 blast, ordnance we are off to a decent start, furthermore, if i stand still with it, i instead get to shoot 1+d3 blasts due to the rocket barrage rule. 

Now even though i intend to go with a vehicle heavy list and specialize on Anti tank, and with my team mate carrying a lion share of the anti infantry duty, it would still be remiss of me if i did not consider the theme of my army, and i can't see a self contained unit of my 108'th going on kill missions without someway of clearing out all that infantry that will stagger out of the smoking wrecks of all the tanks i hope to shoot out, it will also give me a slightly better way of managing hordes. 

So here goes. 

Two weeks ago i built the kit in it's entirety, it is a pretty easy one to build, if you'v ever built a deimos pattern rhino you more or less know what to expect, with the purchase of my new heat gun the two weeks hence i had a new way of easily remedying any potential resin warp. So after gluing my fingers together ONLY twice, this is where we are 

I then broke out ye' olde' airbrush and kicked off with a simply layer of vallejo air black, and then went to town with my Vallejo acryllic metall. Two thin coats and easy peasy here we are

simple masking tape works for me 

i then taped the tracks and all details i wanted to remain a plain gun detail, like the tracks, the turrets and such. The i did two thin coats of Calth blue form FW, and did some quick shading with nuln black gloss. I also did some copper details with vallejo copper.

Now, for me, i always take the airbrush apart after my acryllics, and put it into my Ultra sonic cleaner before doing clears, as the metall pigments have a risk of clogging it otherwise

Nearing completion 

I then moved on to doing details, metallics for all the rivets ( around fourty per chassis ;_;) the reds for all lenses, metalls for the bolt guns and the rocket turret and some black for the smoke exhausts and the bolter casing.

To differentiate pure "support" tanks, as opposed to my "assault" tanks i decided to freehand a simple black stripe on the front, and leave the skirts unpainted, as opposed to my predators where i have black skirts and a clear front.

added some unbroken chains transfers on the turret, just for the effect 

Now ,as an aside, i tend to find that the Forge world alpha legion transfers white transfers look best on the clear white background, and that the silver ones look best on the black background. As for the green ones? no idea.



Well, unlike my other tanks i have as of yet to decide if i am going to chip these tanks or not, i probably will, but for now it feels nice to have an untouched one :D

What is everyone else up to?

The cadox conflagration part four- unbidden it rises

The fourth match of the campaign took place in Sector 245, which was one of the six randomly generated Armorium sectors that i had drawn up for the campaign map.

For the second leg of the Campaign i wrote six narrative scenarios (more about this later) and i also generated six random zones (three city fight missions, and three Raid missions) that allowed for a more streamlined and faster experience

So the Glorious III'd had returned in force, this time we had gone up to 1500 pts.

For this game i rolled an armored breakthrough army, which at 1500 turned out to be a fukken' awfull idea. The army list was more less like this

Two predators with Autocannon turrets and HB sponsoons
one Whirlwind scorpius
One sicaran (my warlord) with Lascannon sponsoons
A heavy support squad with autocannons in a Rhino with Multimelta
Contemptor mortis with twin kheres and a frag launcher
A veteran squad with two meltaguns, a sergeant with a fist, and some combi plasma with a rhino with MM
a five man strong Plasma support squad with a rhino with Heavy bolter

Wherein the last two were outflanking

My opponent ran two Phoenix terminators and a praetor with spear
a champion
two troops with sergeants with spears
one HS team with five autocannons
thirty man squad with cultists and a force commander with a PF and armor.

So more or less the same as last time, sans the breachers and with a HS team

We rolled for the city fight and we got the "hold ground" wherein we received points for each unit killed, as well as for each ruin held at the end of the game. Easy enough.

I positioned my Sicaran behind some buildings, with the predators deploying in some open ruins to keep an open venue of fire.

tactical ambush

The HS team deployed on the left flank to try and bail into some ruins and hunker down. The Contemptor went into a building and awaited the inevitable cult horde approaching me

ready to advance 

with my scorpius taken an open terrain to get potshots at targets of opportunity, which is good since i have to chose between 1+D3 shots if stationary or 1 if i move.

Rockets loaded, and cycling for fire 

My opponent deployed his HS in a ruins with a good view of my tanks

targets acquired

While his 30 strong cults deployed in a building and were ready to rush me at a given glance

the cults exhort their debaseed rituals with some men of the III'd and march to war 

Not to spoil the outcome. But to represent the vicious fighting going on in the skies above, at the start of our turns we get to place a large blast template (controlling player) with S6 AP4 and it then scatters 4d6. Now, during the entire game i scattered ZERO of these rolls, and managed to kill around 18 cultists this way, which was more than ANY shooting did towards them.

Still, moving on.


harrowmaster perun opened the cupola to his bespoke sicaran tank and took in the view of the ruins ahead. The sector had since long been abandoned by it's auxiliary milita, they had presumably been called to quell one of the many masterfully orchestrated long before his legion had even set foot on the planet. "The victory won before we even made planetfall" he gleefully mused to himself. 

He set his turret to swivel and get a better view, despite the viscous inter atmospheric dogfighting in the skies above there was little to worry about, his sicaran had been customized as his rank deserved, meaning that it was of  a construction to withstand all but the heaviest armaments. The turrets cycle closed he activated his vox bead and gave curt, precise instructions to his troops. The ironbreakers sent to secure the more angular buildings to the west, while his veterans were tasked with moving a long way north to rendezvous after securing the northern roads, treacher was not merely expected, when fighting the III legion it was a given. They might take their amusement in strange things, but unfortunately it did not make them worse warriors. His orders were to seize the ruined sector, to facilitate a later extraction of resources. 

He would have his prize, regardless the price paid


 the first turn was mine, and rather uneventfull, i shot at this HS squad and took out two members, they fled 3" which was just down the level they were on. I shot at his cult and managed to kill one, and i mainly manouvered my tanks to get better lanes of fire.

The HS squad jumped out of their transport and snapshot all their guns at a tactical squad opposite them

CONTACT

 on his first turn his HS squad rallied, and moved 3", and snapshot into my rhino, and blew it up.

their transport denied them, they advanced into hell 

meanwhile his cult advanced, moving A LOT faster than i had taken into account, meaning that they got VERY close to my predator.

laughing, dancing, cavorting to an unseen tune, they advanced forward 

This is what i had looking down at me turn two,

i fired everything to little effect.None of my reserves wanted to come in.
 And before i knew it, it was his turn two.

Maru skara meant he walked on turn two, no rolls about it

Advance!

his cults had ran the last turn ,and having zealot and rending he charged my tank, making a mockery of it's armor value 10

Generally considered a bad day 

his terminators set a brisk tempo and moved ahead with murder on their mind. And shot out my scorpius immediately.

His tactical squad with a champion charged into my Heavy support squad, letting their foe feel the difference in skill at arms.

" what of fairness ,legionnaire? such considerations only matter when you face a TRUE foe. Not rabble such as these"

After wiping my men they advanced towards my main tank line attempting a pincer maneuver.

Turn three, and all according to plan my plasma team came in on the left flank, took aim at the tactical squad and let loose. Wiping them out to a man. My Sicaran changed pace and moved to support the left flank, all but abandoning the centre.


"They are ignoring all losses! They are strong beyond their slight forms and are tearing our rear armor apart, the fuel cells are compromis-" 

The vox ending as the predator tank in front of him exploding in a fireball, and despite it , the hunched deformed beings advanced as to the flames did not burn them ,and as tough the bolt shells striking them were not ripping flesh from their bones. The harrowmaster was not immune to such madness, but it perturbed him to see mere humans attempt to defy him. Firing his accelator cannon into the mob, the vox crackled to life again 

"flank move detected, tactical dreadnought armor identified, third legion elite approaching on the east flank, harrowmaster, advise!"

Smirking to himself he made the decision in what he imagined must be noting short of  a miraculous speed to the rabble in front of him

"second predator group, perform a firing retreat! join me on the left flank, the centre cannot hold!" 

"lord harrowmaster, we cannot comply, our tracks have been thrown, we are locked in position, we will deny them this ground, Hydra dominatus indomitus!" 

"understood, croas, join me on the left flank!" 

The contemptor merely voxed a short two-tap tone back in confirmation. 

Firing a his lascannons in defiance at the terminators now advancing at a disconcerting pace, he took course for the left flank, he would have his DAMNED price. 


So my one predator got immobilized in a ruin about 8" from the cult horde, and my sicaran changed and moved straight at the left corner, to avoid being caught in a pincer. and with the hope of being able to lure them out of the ruins, and shoot at them, or consolidate my firing into house after house

Altering the plan 

the field at the end of my turn three

 And at the onset of his turn four the mayhem continued, I lost another predator tank, and the contemptor bit it from consolidated firing.

Meanwhile it was time for my turn four (the last one, incidently)



My Veteran squad finally arrived from their LONG outflanking move, and while doing so managed to catch his deployment zone unawares. Firing two meltaguns and three combi weapons resulted in wiping his ten man tactical squad, and let me run into the now empty ruins. Garnering me another ruin to count points for and him with one less scoring unit.

Veteran sergeant Bielok moves to dislodge some Emperors chidlren 

Below is the remaining bulk of his forces. His Force commander surviving yet another battle to spread their debauchery among the general population.

Veteran sergeant Bielok gave the trigger of his bolter another squeeze and shattered another purple helmet making ruin of the astartes within. Wordlessly he led his bespoken veterans of the shattered path into the ruins, his vox trooper ensuring the integrity of the supply crate within. 
It was a thin line to thread he mused, to some his delayed arrival might seem TO fortuitous, he might seem to have arrived at just to perfect a moment to sway the flow of battle, yet he was confident that the harrowmaster would acknowledge him for his bold strike. It was not something his brother legions could appreciate, and brother legions he still considered them,despite the blood on his greaves proving such sentiment hollow, the twentieth appreciated and encouraged initiative, drive and yes, naked ambition, provided that it was for the good of the legion as a whole. For how could their drive to secure lord Alpharius resources succeed if his most able sons did not prove their worth in the coin he most valued? 

Pict of Veteran sergeant Bielok

And so it ended. 9-7, after all the dead had been tallied and the ruins counted.

His force commander gained a wound and got a better cover save in ruins, and i decided to make my Veteran sergeant a Centurion for the rest of the campaign

After rolling on the custom D20 my opponent gained an auxiliary drive and some extra bombs to distribute, and i gained the ability to fortify my deployment zone for one game.


A good, and bloody game.

The cadox conflagration part two- The cult of pleasure seekers

The second matchin ouir campaign was of a shorter nature, it was against a very pleasant EC player, he arrived a bit after the starft date so we played a 1200 pts game (which was the limit we had actually set for the day)

The armies (if I recall correctly) were more or less like this

I had two veteran squads

One squad with two melta guns, a sergeant with a combi melta. Veterans tactics: marksmen

One squad with two heavy bolters , a sergeant with power fist, power dagger. Veterans tactics: marksmen

A recon squad with shotgun and recon armor, placed in outflanking reserves

A saboteur who outflanked with combiplasma, cameloline and a power dagger (i like giving him the dagger, although it is limited in it's usefullnes in regards to his Attacks and WS, it just feels like something an operative would have)

A Delegatus with a power sword

A cortus contemptor (same as last time, Mezoa the elder) with a plasma cannon and CCW with heavy flamer

A five-man support squad with Volkite calivers

My opponent was a noble member of the III Legion who was supported by a hedonistic cult that was seeing the opportunity to overthrow their narrow minded masters, and finally proclaim their fealty to their own desires above all.

If I remember correctly he had

Five phoenix terminators all with spears

Five regular terminators with an autocannon (tartaros pattern armor)

A ten-man squad of breachers
A champion with a phoenix spear
A praetor with spears, digi weapons and some other trimmings

As well as an allied cults and milita,the models were the goblins from GW's Hobbit range, but modified with slanesh bits, and looked really thematically appropriate. Oppressed in in the lower levels of the hab-blocks where their obsessions have twisted their minds and bodies. Led by a converted "goblin king" mini, with an awesome mad max fury road- like steel mask and a staff dedicated to their dark master

Cult horde, tainted flesh
A blob with twenty fearless, zealot, rending, feel no pain cultists
And their force commander had a power-fist and power armor

Deployment was "high ground" so the striker (me) selects a circle and deploys within it, and the defender deploys outside

The mission was that both sides were tasked with locating a valuable relic, in this case a biochemical implant that gave the squad feel no pain and fearless (!) the Defender was allowed to place it, so it was placed in a corner between our forces

We had a mysterious objective this time as well.

this is what it looked like at the onset of the mission.

The gene-implant was placed in a safe in the ruin inbetween his breachers and his cultists

Really simple deployment, the melta vets at the fore, the calivers in the ruins providing cover fire, and (hidden behind the wall) the HB vet's are ready to move towards the ruins.

as the striker i had turn one, and he did not success in seizing it.

The squads of the fifteenth hyprotic cell of the Alpha legions presence moved through the rubble of what had once been the population centre of Cadox V, bolters moving from side to side as if expecting the blasted hab block to rise up in anger at their mere appearance. Consul Vilos crackled an order over the vox net in hydra cant "fifteen to ten, through the loop" The support squad quickly ascended to the second floor of a burnt out cafe, taking position to cover the open streets. 

The contemptor chassi of Mezoa the elder took point and advanced, Vilos was not sure if Mezoa still imagined himself a tutor of the squads he accompanied, or if it was the result of his unstable internment that led him onward, but regardless of shattered mind he was a powerful ally, if a fickle one

"advancing to the com signal, eight through five, young vilos, you will wish to see this" 

Grating at the young part vilos ordered one of his squads onward, tailing mezoa lest his lust for battle once more got a hold of him 

arriving at the unexpected comsignal, sergeant orlant found a fellow legionnaire, or parts of him at least, the faded violet of his armor designating him as one of III'd legion. 

"Accursed hounds of perfidy! cowardly fiends of debased heresy! the warmaster is a fool! you patron a whore! you know not what you do!

The wrath of his words had little effects on the first squad, men of lesser convictions might feel shame at recanting their erstwhile "oaths" but the XX'th legion knew where their loyalties lie 

Suddenly a strange sonorous sound echoed through the abandoned streets,a chorus of ecstatic and frantic screaming, and through the mists they appeared, Deranged, flailing and utterly removed from their senses humans approached the astartes. "Light the way, ten by eight" he ordered the support squad, The coruscating beams of volkite struck the flailing madmen, although many fell they came ever onward. Suddenly the world caugh fire as Mezoa shoot a mighty gout of flame into the street ahead, and followed suit with a heated ball of plasma, utterly annihilating the wall in front of them. Yet this did nothing to deterr the maddened horde. As Cavos struggled to understand what happened, Mezoa rushed into the horde grabbing one in his mighty claws and throwing it away, as one does with refuse. The vox crackled to life and reported that to their side, and ahead of them the "noble" warriors of the III'd appeared. Using the maddened horde as a distraction and as cover, they came, clad in the unmistakable outline of terminator armor they moved with a speed that belied their tremendous size. 

"Open fire, melta guns to the fore, delay them!, do not let them reach the building" 

As bolt fire started to whine through the air, the battle proper took speed, and all plans ahead were as much ash as the cultists that had opposed Mezoa"


So with the mysterious note being "tormented loyalist" we had a very fluffy start to the mission , the III'd legion surrounded me, with a group of breachers on the right flank, and terminators on each side of my deployment, and their cultists in front of me. I finally got to shoot S6 AP5 on something wher it was actually efficient (choom!) meanwhile my contemptors flamer took out a couple of cultists , and then I charged in, however,his fearless cultists with rending were probably glad to pay the butchers bill with a smile on their lips

boxed in on every side i had no choice but to advance

My Veterans, both squads, shot everything they had on terminators in front of me, where his HQ  was placed.

 And then it got a bit sad, I managed to get about twelve rolls of sixes on "to wound" and thus had (without counting the meltaguns) twelve AP 2 shots (that's what sniper will do for you ), so on the first turn his main HQ squad of terminators bit the dust, and on his second turn all but five breachers died, who then charged me (noble men on the III'd indeed!) whereupon another three died in overwatch O_O

His champion closed the distance, got into my veteran squad, wiped out half of it, and then got taken down by my delegatus with a power sword ( he hadn't bothered with Artificer armor)


And on my turn two, my saboteur came in, threw his D6 S5 AP2 autohit (no cover saves) on my opponents second group of terminators. And killed two of them.......

My recon marines outflanked into the abandoned house and took the relic. With him losing all but twenty cultists and three terminators, we called it a game.


My opponent, who was a really good player. Had incredibly bad luck, but took it with a stoic grace i can but envy and realize that i lack wholesale.

so the result of Character progression after two matches, my praetor now has  +1 attack, and gets plus one incover save in ruins
My delegatus has move through cover
And my saboteur has +1 in strength and move through cover.

After this the next step of the campaign will move on to the military district

The laputan technocracy rises- How to easily paint Castellax

A while back an ad popped up in the local "buy/sell/trade" section of the Swedish40k forum. Within it there was an offer of buying a bunch of mechanicum models, assembled and only lightly primed with a leadbelcher Spray can. 

As mentioned in my previous post, i've made a "one year commitment" to the Age of darkness podcast and my commitment is that i'm going to roll up a Mechanicum detachment to play beside my Alpha legion army (that's swollen considerably and is now around 3500 points) I've made the assumption that around 1500 pts is a good basis for both an allied force, as well as being a good size for just playing it straight up. 

Now what i have not decided is what form of Mechanicum i want to play. For those that don't know there are basically three kinds of mechanicum forces (very easily broken down) 

ordo reductor 

The siege breakers, the OG's of siegecraft and armor cracking. They get access to a lot of tanks and heavy weaponry plattforms, but are regulated in what sort of 'bots they can roll out 

Legio cybernetica

The 'bot masters, they are locked into taking a lot of bot's and locked out of taking an abundance of tanks, but get bonuses to the Mechanicum psyschic power equivalent, and get better bot's overall

Taghmata omnissiah

Bog standard army, being a combined army representing the might of a forge world host going to war. Myrmidion war sirens call, 'bots are marshalled, tanks are rolled out and Magii are called to perform their grim duties. 

Now i was initially leaning towards Reductor, as i am really enthralled (pun definetly intended ) with the Thallax modell and they are a mainstay of the army. But with the acquisiton of a lot of 'bots i am a bite more suited to run Cybernetica. 

But after some due consideration i've decided to generate my own forgeworld (nothing new here) and with that i am going to forge a path for my "Laputan technocracy"

The story is pretty easy, it's a direct response to Swift's work ,and they are more or less a harmless magos technocracy that are unable to see the need of working with the general populace, and are brutally overthrown and sworn to subordination for my 108'th Alpha legion army. But they will be building their strength and move towards liberating themselves, seeking out forbidden knowledge to free themselves, and in the meanwhile damn them self too far from the wider imperiums graces, and still have room to BUY MORE SHIT when the new Angelus book is released. 

Now, moving on to the castellaxii i bought. 

I knew that what i wanted for my Castellaxes was something that worked with my Thallaxii 

And as such the main colors used would be 

* Copper

* darkened gunmetal 

* black 

The models looked like this when i got them 

A good price AND assembled? BOUGHT

 Just easily painted with leadbelcher, and perfectly assembled in my opinion. Now after that i went over them with my Harder and steenbeck pro with a simple two color combo

i belive i have sung their praises enough

The copper for Shoulderpads, armguards, legguards and the head itself. But i quickly found that the head looked a bit....meh, so i went back and hit it with my new Vallejo acryllic gold

which i had no idea that it was so bright. But still it would need a shade regardless. 

And this is where you will be be pre shading. 

Now you need to go quite liberally with Agrax earthshade for a worn look, and then use some warpainter bronze (or warplock bronze) to do edge highlighting. 

I then hit the two skulls with Vallejo old bone and then agrax and the highlight with old bone. And all the lenses with the "spiritstone red" gemstone color to get a lens like red.

You then simply decide if you want the power core on the back to be "all glowy and shit" this is purely aestetic, and i belive it is supposed to be skull, but with a skull at the front and on the Mauler boltcannon it seemed better to me to be a dormant or active power core. 

I then use some dark red for the back cabling (marries well into the copper) and some metallic blues for other cabling. 

Then for contrast i do one should black.

AND DONE

That is everything, a fairly quick, and good looking modell (in my opinion) I then use variations of martian ironcrust as martian iron earth doesn't work on larger modells. While applying some Mechanicum transfers on the black shoulderpad and the black body. 

now i still need to clean up some small details and do pigments. But this is probably pretty good for tabletop or a bit above. At least i am very happy with it. 

 

Just a quick shotout i simply CANNOT reccommend Microsol and microset sufficiently. Thanks Verangian heresy podcast for reccommending it.

If you've ever used transfers and have been frustrated how the lack of adhering to the shape of the modell, or how it does not "melt" into the modell as a whole Go get some, cheap and TOTALLY worth it. 

Next up is these little badbots 

The cadox conflagration Part one - The battle for the residential district- The end of three centuries of Doxian rule

So a few weeks ago our campaign started, it was time for the "Cadox conflagration."

The campaign was played at SLG gaming in "gamla stan in stockholm", but seeing as we had three guaranteed players and fifteen "maybe" (the most meaningless button on facebook!), We chose to start with a bigger match with the two of us there. 

We had decided from the outset that we would run a campaign series that mainly took place in urban environments (so we could run the city fighting rules from HH 4 conquest) and also steal some scenarios from there.

The first game was between me (alpha legion) who had orcestrated a riot on the strategically significant hive world of Cadox IV, which was being garrisoned by a contingent of loyalist Iron Warriors, "The Last Loyal Sons" and being supported by an assortment of Allies (so as to allow more to participate) And so our campaign started with the Alpha Legion launching massive landing in the residential zone.

The campaign itself is quite straightforward.

Three hab-block district
Five mechanicum (industrial districts)
Five military (fortified districtss)

Which allows us to play several smaller games, as well as a few bigger ones if we feel inclined. as mentioned before we use the Conquest upgrade system, ie if you win a match, you can either roll for a small boost to your stats, or among the abilites offered. But the requirement is that you have a named  character, to enable an ongoing narrative.


The first game became very interesting, we started playing 3000 pts IW against 3000 PTs AL where the Alpha Legion landed in strength and tried to break straight into a seat of ruling for the IW. We got the assignment where my opponent had to choose a kind of headquarters. And fluff appropriately enough, he chose a "governmental headquarters", we only had an ork model to use as a governor (later a mutated nobleman ) so the scenario was clear.

After the first riots that had burned down most of the noble family palazzo,the Iron Warriors had chosen to reinforce their presence with a considerable detachment of soldiers and artillery, and proceeded to personally locked down the Governor to assert his loyalty. The assignment was easy, If i got into his HQ, I got five points, (and had a puppet to facilitate the takeover of the planet and make possible further riots) and if he held it he got five points.

Deployment was .... new to us both. It was based on splitting up all the ruins into two, and the assigned defender may choose half (six in this case) and then the attacker(who may start) deploy his troops in the others. Not between, WITHIN THE HOUSES.

After choosing houses, it looked like this for deployment.

the Alpha legion dice are my ruins, the black ones his

Governor's palace down in the righhand corner, the ruins that are behind the fortifications.


As well as a picture of  the other corner of the zone


The armies were very different form each other.

 the Alpha Legion had a predominantly armored lis,consisting of Three predators, a land raider phobos with my praetor and command squad in, two contemptors, a rhino with a plasma team, a sicarian, a damocles and  two rapierlaser destroyers.

In outflanking I had ten recon marines with shotguns, a veteran squad with two HBs and some miscellaneous, a saboteur with combimelta and ten manna meltaveterans with meltabombs and various equipment.

 the Iron warriors had a very infantry heavy list.

Ten siege terminators, two groups of twenty vanilla marines with an apothecary each, a group of eight heavy support with missiles, a warsmith with a terminator bodyguard, and a siege breaker with two domitar iron circle bots (fukken awesome) three meltabike outriders and three thudmortars with phosphex . As well as a five-member plasma cannon HS team.

We move on to deployment. I do not know if you have ever tried to deploy a sicarian, land raider or predator squadron inside of a house. But it's tricky, but it became fluffy as all hell, they started otu masked before the assault, and for the first move they had to drive straight through the houses (and hope the ones on the dices are far away). My Damcles ishanging at the rear and my praetor deploys at the far end of a straight line to the objective. We agreed that we both can deploy up to 3 "around the house as well

Forced to quickly adapt, the 108'th expeditionary force overcharges their fuel cells and prepare to forge a path

Alpha legion reveals their presence after having miscalculated the erratic sunrises of Cadox prime

Mezoa the elder and his subordinate plasma group come from their hidden position only to be welcomed by the fence legion's front guard

I remain positive in any case. I have a bad location, but I have the first turn and what's the worst that can ...



aaahhhhh FFfffffffuuuuuuuuu.........and this is why i no longer loan out my dice

We play with the mysterious wreckage rule from the conquest book , so as the Iron Warriors are advancing, their siegebreaker Barban Falk finds a familiar signal, while his iron circle takes on my contemptor he finds his prize. A Castellax in hibernation, activating it the uncompromising warrior attacks everything in its vicinity (we rolled for on our own turns and we got it unerringly every other turn, fluffy and fun)

Barban Falcon finds an unexpected ally

After the first turn, phosphex rains over my rapiers, my plasma team is dead and my opponent starts shooting at my predator squadron.

During my turn, my damocles releases it's bombardment, and takes out exactly two missile launcher men. All tanks succeed with their difficult terrain tests and drive through the houses n, my predator squadron is shooting everything they have on the two domitars approaching me, while i use Potms on his terminators heading right at me. My land raider drives out 6" unleashing my praetor that shoots, and then charges 10" straight into his now weakened terminator bodyguard,

duel of fates 

My praetor Votan charges into his warsmith Dantioc and utters a challenge.

We have about as many attacks, although I have more (thanks power daggers) after a lot of rolling, I get three hits, a killing blow goes straight to the neck, but the Warsmith's powerfield negates the deadly blow. He remains on 1 wound after a round with naked paragon blades clashing. Then the remains of my bodyguard stab him in the back with the power daggers  with a distinct "Julius Caesar on the senate staircase" vibe 

which was interesting as just before this, we discussed dueling as a concept. For honorable legions, those hungry for glory, like the Emperor's children, Blood angels, Dark Angels or Sons of Horus, dueling is a true cause in itself. But for the Iron Warriors and Alpha Legion, we thought that my praetor dueling against him, and after we measured our skills, Votan subtly nodded towards his bannermen , who activated his chainfist and put it in the back of the distracted warsmith.

A peculiar smile came over the warsmiths ruined features as his lips moved wordlessly in his olympian dialect, and was then followed by a hoarse statement of "i win anyway" Votan smiled mirthlessly as he raised his power dagger for the final blow, this was knife work, hardly worthy of his artificer wrought blade. "You have a peculiar concept of victory olympian, but having met your primarch i have seen what you deign to call success. So i hardly blame you. A faint whistle caught his attention and he raised his attention to his bannermen "incoming mortar shells my praetor responded andrisj, "hardly a concern, our armor is hardly touched by such things, stand fast" Dursaj the keeper of honors remained staring upwards and replied curtly "blue streaks, incoming phosphex!" Swearing Votan moved away from his downed opponent, "to the landraider!, the day will be ours yet!"

So on turn two,  the phosphex rains down over my praetor, I went to the men's room while my opponent rolled quad mortars. When I got back I had 36 hits, and about 12 wounds 

the result was that my praetor and my herald survived. The rest of his remaining domitars and the rest of his loyal sons held all the terrain they could.

So on my turn two arrived what I hoped would save me

Recon marines

a saboteur and two veteran squads 



I  wanted to see what recon armor, chameleoline, shotguns and melta bombs could do for me. Therefore the recon marines 

They ran into terrain, shot shotguns as if this was a john woo movie and took a house on the opponent's side, replacing the shot with his twenty-man squad. My veterans shot everything that they had straight into the twenty-one man IW squad in terrain. And the few precision shots I rolled was able to shoot down his sergeant, apothecary and vexilia. But nothing more. IW did not give a shit. Morale is for those who care about their fellows.

My saboteour was a real hero, he flippedup two floors, knifed two plasma marines, and his"SABOTAGE!" Blew away two siege terminators.

Immobilized checks also started to arrive, so my predator squadron, and my sicarian got stuck in ruins, so my army got bogged down

turn three was marked by my veterans starting to die, my saboteur was stuck on a roof, and I had few options left. I realized I had ONE chance to try and take this match

Wide spread vox returns were being routed to the land raider, the Alpha legions nigh compulsive need for battlefield control were painting Praetor votan a clear summary of the field of battle. And it was not one that aligned with his view of reality. He looked over to Dursaj, theone member of his bannermen, bannerman at this juncture he noted bitterly, still able to carry the day. His recon company had been clear, advance was not merely impossible, which the XX'th relished, it would be suicidal. And Votan prided himself on never wasting resources. The praetor tensed his jaw and gave the one command he found would let him take the day. "ALL remaining vehicles and walkers, follow my lead, into the Pallazzo, overcharge all powerplants, clear the way and let us show these íron warriors what endurance truly entails. Hydra dominatus 

So my land raider went through a house, drove straight to the governor's palace and drove into his terminators who failed to stand up and flee.

 

The last remaining rhino went flatout through his movement, passed a difficult terrain test and drove the last inches into his artillery, who failed with LD and died, two out of three and the last fled

In the last turn we played, his terminators fled from the board. About 500 pts.

We finished the match there, meaning that the Alpha legion took the first part of Hab blocks. And now has a puppet commander.