The days of Captain Sicarius

  "Make no mistake, Brother- our former commander was every bit the hero that the legends tell.  Sicarius was a storm of willpower, leading the Guardians of the Temple to victory after victory.  And he made it look easy...

  "Before the time of the Great Rift and the return of Lord Guilliman, the 2nd company was everywhere earning glory and accolades like a young Lord Calgar.  In fact, there was a series of battles against the Death Guard that became lessons on their own.  You see, Sicarius had intelligence and a quick mind, plus the passion to win despite the odds.  There was a particular fuel station that was being held by the traitors and their warp-cursed artillery.  Sicarius loaded us up in transports and went to work- it was only hours between landing and engaging!  In a matter of minutes, we had those sickly traitors completely surrounded and facing defeat.  As Lord Guilliman's great work teaches- a battle should be won before boots touch ground.  Sicarius was a natural..."

  I FINALLY got some time off of work and immediately recruited my son for a game or two.  After the last many defeats, he's feeling a little demoralized (and I can't blame him) so I suggested that we try a smaller game AND I use older stuff.  He agreed and I developed a little storyline here- 

  There's an old fuel station, always helpful to warring forces, and the forces of Chaos had taken it some time before.  The Ultramarines, of course, have to respond and take it back.  This perfectly matches up with our armies' makeup and the scenarios have 'attackers' and 'defenders'.  This was before the Gathering Storm, so the Ultramarines were still being led by Sicarius and weren't rocking any of the Cawl-built upgrades.  This was one of the smaller battles that led up to the full invasion of Ultramar, with enemy forces looking to fortify there staging points.  In any case, the Ultramarines are aware that the Death Guard are using artillery and so brought transports as a response.  

  And that's it!  Now that all the fluff is done, let's get to some versing!

Forces and Battlefield
  First off is the battlefield- it's a sparsely populated area with ruins and natural features around the fuel station.  All terrain features offer cover and while line-of-sight is pretty open to account for smaller forces on a bigger field.  We didn't use any of the 'fancy' stuff, like the gaming mats or Cityfight terrain because the armies are going to have unpainted models.  (I should note that my goal of getting at least one other army painted this years was definitely derailed due to work.) 

  The battle was from the new Chapter Approved 2019, called "Scorched Earth", and included 6 objectives to be placed so two are in each deployment zone and two more are in 'no-man's land'.  Forces gain victory points, starting in Round 2, for holding objectives and can earn more points by destroying the opponent's.  The scenario represented two armies trying to take ground and remove the enemy, which is perfect considering the storyline!

Death Guard- included a brand-new Daemon Prince guarded by three Nightshroud Terminators, a Lord of Chaos to hang out with three Plagueburst Mortars, and a Malignant Plaguecaster.  Three units of Plague Marines, a shooty Helbrute, and a couple of other characters rounded out the army for 1500 points. 

Ultramarines- led by Sicarius and his Vanguard bodyguard riding in a Land Raider, two full Tactical Squads in Rhinos, a combat squad with a lascannon in a Razorback, and a small Assault Squad led by a Chaplain.  There was also a Librarian and a unit of sniper Scouts in there to bring it up to 1500 points.  

Deployment
  Since the Ultramarines were the attackers, they had to choose their deployment zone and deploy first.  Sicarius assumed that the artillery would be set up in the far corner and wanted to keep the ancient Land Raider safe and deployed it to the left of the enemy lines.  The Assault Squad and Razorback would deploy on the side with the artillery and move as fast as they could to disrupt that crippling firepower.  The rest of the forces were put into positions to rush up and claim objectives as fast as possible.  Sicarius'  hunches were correct...
 
  The Death Guard responded by setting the artillery up as far from the hammer of the Land Raider as they could and the rest of the Death Guard were spread to handle comers from any part of the battlefield.  The Daemon Prince and his bodyguard stood defiantly in the center, ready to respond wherever the corpse-worshipers thought themselves safe. 

The board is set.  The pieces are moving...

Battle Round 1
  The battle started with the attackers jumping ahead as fast as they could.  The Ultramarines moved all of the transports are fast as they could and claimed objectives everywhere.  The Razorback disembarked its troops onto an objective and then provided a screen for the Assault Squad and a shelter for the slower Librarian.  Its goal was to threaten the battery but it sprayed some Assault Cannons into Plague Marines anyway, felling one. 

  The center of the battlefield saw a Rhino disembark half its Tactical Squad onto an objective and then rush forward to claim the center and screen the Daemon Prince.  This was followed by the snipers taking advantage of the distraction and felling one of the Deathshroud Terminators and wounding the daemon-lord. 


  Finally, the Land Raider and escorting Rhino moved up to claim the left flank and lay some firepower into the enemies in the trees.  Combined bolter fire filled a Plague Marine and focused lascannons managed to damage the Helbrute a small bit.   There was little else for the Ultramarines to do and the damage output was minimal.  But the loyalists held four objectives and were going to be tough to dislodge. 

Ultramarines Turn 1

  The Death Guard responded by showing off their power.  The Helbrute fired back at the Land Raider and heavily damaged it right away while the Death Guard on the other side of the battlefield simply marched foward, unafraid of the Ultramarines.  The Mortars split off and targeted the Scouts and transports with everything they had.  The artillery had little effect on the camo-clad snipers, killing two as they sought cover in the woods.  Faring much better, the Razorback rushing right at them was exploded under a half-dozen entropy cannon shots, earning the heretics First Strike!

  The moment of intimidation came when the Daemon Prince and his bodyguard dashed foward.  Raising scythe and warp-forged sword high in the air, they eviscerated the Rhino instantly and watched as five marines emerged from the wreckage to face their doom.  With a gleeful smile, the Daemon Prince bellowed their fate and prepared for the counter...

Death Guard Turn 1

Battle Round 2
  The Ultramarines instantly gained four victory points, holding four objectives at the beginning of their turn.  But they knew they had to take advantage.  The Assault Squad continued to push forward, followed by the Librarian and an especially eager Chaplain.  With loud encouragement and a little psychic boost, the jump marines were able to strike through the woods and engage two of the Plagueburst Mortars.  The artillery would be lessoned for at least a turn...

  On the other side of the battlefield, the remaining Rhino disembarked its squad and immediately rammed the Helbrute.  The squad climbed the ruins and established a new firing position, hoping gun down the Daemon Prince's guard.  The Land Raider had to reverse course and try to get its occupants towards the daemon-lord but was much slower after taking so much damage. 

  To try to blunt some of the attack as Sicarius' group crawled over, the combat squad left the woods to the Scouts and moved to support their brothers.  With some well-placed firepower and nerves of steel, another of the Terminators was cut down and the last one wounded.  The Daemon Prince and his guardian knew what was coming next.

  With the battlecry "Courage and Honor!", the surviving Tactical marines charged right into the Daemon Prince.  While they knew it would be their death, they knew no fear and meant to fight.  The valuable time they would buy their commander was worth the dutiful sacrifice. 

Ultramarines Turn 2

  The Death Guard were not deterred and noted the Ultramarines were spread thinly.  Unfortunately, the Chaos force held no objectives as the two in their deployment zone were contested or claimed by the loyalists.  It still had not occured to the Daemon Prince just how tactical the Ultramarines were being.

  Rhw The artillery tanks simply retreated from the Assault Squads and exposed them to the firepower of the Death Guard squads, now moving to support their tanks.  With a few squeezes of triggers, the jump marines were eliminated and the battery could resume their task.  The untouched Mortar tank continued to lob shells at the Scouts, felling another one, and trying desperately to finish the Land Raider with no success.  The Helbrute, meanwhile, retreated from the Rhino and reclaimed the objective point, leaving a lord to beat at the armored side out of boredom.

  The Daemon Prince surveyed it all proudly.  It took a moment for him to remember the Ultramarines at his feet.  With little effort, he swung his daemonic weapon around and cleaved the squad completely down.  He and his wounded bodyguard reclaimed the central objective and eagerly awaited the next wave of loyalists to slay.

Death Guard Turn 2

Battle Round 2- Ultramarines 4, Death Guard 1

Battle Round 3
  The crescendo of the battle was finally here and the Ultramarines had to make many decisions to guarantee their victory.  They currently held three objectives, gaining three more victory points and pushing their lead higher.  Keeping that lead was going to require tactics...

  The Rhino, now fighting against a Chaos Lord and doing nothing, retreated to close the retreat angle of the Daemon Prince.  At the same time, the Land Raider disembarked the Veterans and Captain Sicarius and crawled forward to surround the prince and keep Sicarius' prey penned in.  The combat squad continued to advance and lay down fire until the final Deathshroud Terminator was stripped away.  The duel of warlords was at hand...

  The other flank of the battlefield saw the Chaplain and Librarian, without their support, dutifully charging at the artillery again.  The Chaos Lord that was guiding the artillery tried to intervene, but the Chaplain simply smashed him with his holy crozius and consolidated into the vehicles.  These characters would let nothing stand in the way of their task.

  Most importantly, the duel of warlords began and shook the battlefield.  Sicarius, backed up by his Veterans, charged the Daemon Prince and arrogantly declared his challenge.  With unmatched skill and masterful swordsmanship, the marine Captain wounded the enemy gravely.  But it wasn't enough.  With blood spittle flying from his mutated mouth, the Daemon Prince brought his massive warp-forged blade down to cleave Sicarius down.  At the last moment, Sicarius brought a flurry of blows in and dispatched the prince with his last breath.  When the tremors stopped, both characters lie on the ground, lethally wounded.  Both warlords lay slain... 

Ultramarines Turn 3

  The Death Guard were reeling from such an onslaught, seeing their warlord and one of the lords cut down in the same moment!  Worse, they only controlled two objectives, meaning that they weren't scoring many points against an army single-minded in their focus on points.  But all was not lost yet...

  The Plague Marine Squads continued their advance, even taking some time to shoot into the Ultramarines that were holding an objective point in the ruins.  With the trademark Death Guard rapid-fire rules, they put tons of bolter and plasma fire into the unit, leaving only the loyalist armed with the lascannon surviving, then to be shelled by one of the Mortars.  With some ridiculous luck, the ruins he cowered in saved him and allowed the Ultramarines to hold that objective. 

  The other Mortaor continued to shell the sniper hidden in the trees, only to be foiled by the camo cloak some more.  The Helbrute tried in vain to take down the Land Raider, but he wasn't able to put enough damage on the hulking tank and stayed content to hold the nearest objective for now. 

Death Guard Turn 3

Battle Round 3- Ultramarines 8, Death Guard 4

Battle Round 4
  Feeling victory now at hand and controlling almost all of the battlefield at this point, the Ultramarines began the process of consolidating.  They had lost Captain Sicarius, but had kept four of the objectives, giving them another four Victory Points.  The Death Guard knew that the battle was out-of-hand. 

  The Veterans picked up their severely wounded Captain and embarked back onto the damaged Land Raider, while the Combat squad did the same thing and embarked back into a Rhino.  The Rhino rushed foward and rammed the nearest unit of Plague Marines, hoping to keep them occupied and give the heroes some support. Unfortunately, the Plague Champion with a power fist had different ideas, popping the transport and forcing the survivors to face the traitorous scum. 

  The Librarian and Chaplain continued to run through the lines, now switching their attention a bit.  The Chaplain charged away and easily wiped out a unit of traitors while the Librarian added some firepower and then charged at a Mortar.  Unfortunately, the daemon-spirit sensed the psyker and blasted him with an entropy cannon.  Only dust remained and the artillery were suddenly safe. 

  The Land Raider and Tactical Squad on the other flank quickly destroyed the Helbrute and the Land Raider even tried to run over the lord still hiding in the area.  More than anything, it took that objective away and established even more board control for the Ultramarines.  The rest of the army did little but shuffle to ensure that they were able to hold their positions. 

Ultramarines Turn 4

  The Death Guard were losing ground quickly but still had plenty of artillery to wound the Ultramarines with, but it would require some discretion.  The Death Guard at least held one objective and could potentially knock the loyalists off of two.  Careful maneuvering and aimed fire...

  The Ultramarine with the lascannon needed to die and took the brunt of an entire Mortar- and survived!  The sniper Scout hiding in the woods also needed to die and took an entire other Mortar- and also survived!  The last Mortar tried to damage the unkillable Land Raider and also failed.

  The Plague Marines bitterly gunned down the combat squad in front of them and the other squad of Plague Marines watched as the Chaplain mowed some down only to be crushed by a power fist.  The Death Guard didn't cause the damage they needed to, but there was some vindication in the destruction they did get. 

Death Guard Turn 4

Battle Round 4- Ultramarines 12, Death Guard 5

Conclusion
  The battle was finished as the Ultramarines were able to clear and claim most of the field around the fuel station.  While they weren't able to destroy the artillery, the Ultramarines were able to take down the Daemon Prince but at the loss of Sicarius. 

  "The Captain was grievously wounded that day, but being able to slay that monstrous Daemon Prince was worth the price.  Sicarius knew exactly how to build his force and then use it to engage the enemy.  Most importantly, he was willing to sacrifice everything to ensure victory.

  "Don't believe the story is over, young marine.  The traitors aren't so keen on quitting and Sicarius seems to fight a lot of battles over and over.  This fuel station turns out to be much more than a single victory on his roll of honor.  There's more lessons to be learned, some the hard way..."

The things my wife is into...

  I can proudly say that my efforts over the last two decades has paid off.  My wife is a hobbyist.  But it's rather strange the things that she enjoys...

  First off, she's much more into AoS than 40k.  In fact, she has an equivalent amount of undead as I do Ultramarines (and I have the high credit card debt to prove it).  While I have plenty of Fantasy armies (Aelves, Free Peoples, Slaves to Darkness, Greenskins), she can equal most of them with just skeletons and ghosts.  Worse, her Legions of Nagash and Nighthaunt are already mostly painted while I have exactly one model painted from my Ironjaws.  It's embarrassing. 

  Second, my wife loves 'fantasy' more than scifi.  This is obvious not only in the point above but in her D&D choices and even board games that we play.  The best example I have is the Joan of Arc game, where she is not interested in the massive French cavalry charges or royal intrigue that drives the story.  Oh no- she wants ghosts and skeletons and zombies and werewolves and the Devil (in whatever form)!  There seems to be some consequences to all those years of work...

  Finally, she's imbued with the luck in games that I, AN ACTUAL GAMER, don't seem to enjoy.  While I have been known to do well in tournies and even help some others refine their style, she just wins.  Like, doesn't even know how she does it wins.   Undead making FNP saves like champs, hitting with every attack from a Harbinger unit, and even playing soccer with a Knight against hordes of renegades!  It can be frustrating, and my son is more often the victim than I am (which may explain his disdain of AoS). 

  I've done such a good job of dragging my wife into the hobby that she's even started a blog.  In this blog, she discusses all sorts of things about life.  I took notice when she posted some work that she'd done, because it was more undead that already gave me nightmares.  And she did a fantastic job at it.  This Mourngul, courtesy of my buddy in his quest to see me lose hard and often, has been in the wife's army a number of times already and I've found the only way to handle it is to stay very far away.  It won't die and it puts out insane damage.  Check it out!

 

  She did a great post on her blog all about it and I recommend checking it out.  My love of the hobby and posting about it has rubbed off on her- SUCCESS!  And that Mourngul does not look friendly...

  Have you had any impressive 'conversion' stories like this?  We know wives and partners can often be resistant, but so can friends!  Let me know the story in the comments below.  

Happy Hobbying!

Four-eyes plus five!

  I'm so focused on trying to get my Chaos marines painted that I don't have time to paint other projects right now.  And Emprah knows I have a ton of projects.  My wife decided to help out and picked up one of those projects for me.  Of course it had to be for her favorite game...

  When my buddy came down to visit, we played a ton of Underworlds.  Like, a ton.  And now he's coming down for a visit in a couple of months again, so we have to get more painted!  With almost all the Shadespire warbands painted (only the Skaven and Vanguard left), we needed to get to some Nightvault going.  Luckily, I haven't built most of those, so it was an easy choice.  Remember that focus on Chaos?

  This warband is one that my son showed some interest in and so did my wife, so it was definitely on the docket already.  Because of their fantastical nature and the magical foundation, the Eyes of the Nine definitely got some attention.  Being a follower of the pantheon in general, I don't know a whole lot about Tzeentch's representatives, so I'm curious to see these guys in action.

Eyes of the Nine
  This warband, dispatched by one of the nine Gaunt Summoners, is trying to build a magical portal back to its own realm to escape from the clutches of Nagash's punishment.  Their magical nature gives them some fantastic abilities, including the ability to summon a Blue Horror back to the battlefield each round!  They have speed, but very little defense and so depend on a ton of glory-point grabs based on objective points and casting spells.

  The warband's leader, Vortemis the All-seeing, is a wizard with the ability to cast spells and even has a range 3 spell attack.  His melee weapon is no joke either, with a range and damage of 2 and rolling 2 dice for hammers!  With four wounds and a 4 movement, he's definitely the most powerful member of the band as far as causing damage.  He also has the ability to use an action to summon a Blue Horror daemon back to a starting hex, so he's got some definite utility on the battlefield.  

  Those daemons, including the Blue Horror and Brimstone Horror, are very fragile, but they have the ability to cause a great deal of damage very quickly.  And killing the Blue Horror spawns the Brimstone (which attacks twice in his activation), allowing Vortemis to summon the Blue Horror right back!  It's a really neat little 'evolution' mechanic that really capture's the magic.  

 Now for the 'beatstick' part of the army- K'charik and the two Acolytes.  The daemon monster has a very powerful great blade and gets inspired by being near a caster when they cast a spell (Tzeentch!), plus a shield defense for toughness.  The two cultists, on the other hand, have few wounds and barely any defense, but they come with the ability to attack up to range 3.  The cultists and leader all get inspired by successfully attacking at range 3- a strange inspire condition for a daemonic warband, for sure!

  I can't say that this warband is very confusing.  In fact, it still fits very well with the theme set by Garrek's Reavers, another Chaos Warband.  But it is interesting to see the Tzeentchian habit of fire and range where the Reavers are all about smacking and slashing.  

  I really love the wife's work on this band.  She didn't think that she would do it justice and still pulled it off amazingly.  I keep trying to tell her that she's better than she thinks, and this warband (not being bones or boo-sheets) proves it.  And I really want to play them now too!

Let me know what you think or what you're working on in the comments below.  As always, happy hobbying!

Obliteration is at hand

  I've continued hard on the crusade to paint these armies, and the Chaos Space Marines are seeing progress for it.  In this case, I've returned to my Obliterators, because they're really good and probably the only reason my army ever wins.  

  It's funny too, because I used to be a hater of these guys.  Not only were they too powerful when they first came out, but I dealt with scores of opponents from all over the country bringing these things to destroy me.  I even got a unit of three and then promptly gave them away without regret.  It was sad.  But after losing so many games and finding myself with some extra money, I finally bit the bullet and bought another full unit (at much higher cost than they used to be, of course). 

  I actually also like these old metal ones better than the new plastic ones that GW released in the Shadowspear box.  I think this old version captures the 'daemonic' nature of the Obliterators so much more.  Unfortunately, being old and metal meant that there was much more work to do on these models than I anticipated.  If you look closely at the pics, you can see flashing in various places that I didn't notice.  The models just have so much detail!  And that's why I like them...

  To start with, I'm going to show off some of the progress bits, then I'm going to finish with the actual pics of the models.  To begin the 'hobby' part, I basecoated these models with Khorne Red and Leadbelcher and basecoated all the flesh with Bugman's Glow and the wires with black.  I then liberally washed the models with Agrax Earthshade...

  You'll notice that I also painted the weapons with Flayed One Flesh for that creamy bone color.  This was to start that 'ghostly' effect that I wanted to achieve on their guns.  See, Obliterators create weapons from imagination and blast the enemy with them- materializing whatever guns they need from warp power.  I wanted to represent that with a greenish glow.  

  After the cream color dried, I washed the weapons with Biel-tan Green wash.  It's important to see that I tried to wash over the fleshy areas that produced the weapons as well, but it didn't turn out as strong as I'd hoped.   

  So I took some watered-down Moot Green and 'washed' it over those transition points.  You can see that it faded into the flesh color and the green-washed bone color quite nicely!

  You'll see later how I drybrushed the weapons with white and BOOM!  It easily achieved the affect I was looking for.  The other technique I wanted to show off and test out was how I was going to paint the flesh parts of the model.  When I get to painting Possessed, it might be necessary...

  As noted above, I started by basecoating the flesh in Bugman's Glow.  I then gave all the flesh a liberal wash of Carroburg Crimson and let that dry.  

  Once I had the time, I layered the flesh with Cadian Fleshtone and then a shorter layer of Kislev Flesh.  The important part with the final color is not highlighting from one end of the flesh to the other- paint just the middle.  This lighter 'middle' gives the flesh that organic, 'stretched' feel.  

Obliterators

  This is easily one of the top units in the Chaos Space Marine codex.  With four wounds at Toughness 5 and a 2+ armor save plus a 5+ daemonic save, they are VERY hard to take out.  Worse, they have guns that fire six shots that can either mow away infantry or demolish Imperial (or Chaos) Knights!  And in case you think that close combat is safe, they don't hit very lightly either.  

  Obliterators have a major advantage that keeps them safe- the ability to deep strike onto the battlefield!  This keeps the enemy from being able to engage them until they've had a chance to slag something.  Add the Mark of Slaanesh so they have the ability to fire those powerful weapons twice in the same phase and the devastation they put out can make even Rogal Dorn jealous.  

  The only drawback to this unit is their cost.  They will set you back almost 350 points for three of the buggers.  But they are worth every point...

  I even had that extra motivation and decided to add a tiny bit of blue-glow effect.  I imagine that this could represent their teleportation hardware or something.  More importantly, it adds even more colors to the unit, making the Obliterators the most colorful unit in my army!  

  There's the next unit done, more to come.  Let me know what you've been working on in the comments below.  And, as always, Happy Hobbying!