40K Campaign: Ilsha a Bloody Draw

Above: Imperial Guard Storm Troopers deep strike into the heart of the Ork mob in a desperate bid to seize an objective.

Waagh Big Mik and von Lopez's Imperial Guard clashed over the forge world of Ilsha. The 1000 point battle raged for 5 turns, a Seize and Control scenario with a Dawn of War deployment. In the end, neither army could claim any of the the three objectives.

Unit of the game for the Imperial Guard has to be their Hellhounds with their incredibly effective flamers... 24" range, lay the template in any direction to cover as many models as possible, Strength 6. This fearsome weapon accounted for at least 30 Orks and was the lynchpin of the Guard defense.

The Ork hero was undoubtedly the Ork Nob and his power klaw who started with a mob of 22 boyz, that was quickly reduced to 8, then 4, then just himself. He kept passing his Leadership tests and ended up destroying an IG vehicle singlehandedly (or single klaw'edly), then turned to maul two units of Guard.

In game terms this was a draw, in campaign terms a victory for the Imperial Guard; since they owned the planet they get to keep it in case of a draw.

On a final note, it was once again a pleasure to play Alex; he is a fierce competitor but a real gentleman.

Kid Day a Great Success!

James hosted another fun and funny day for kids at the Metro Wargamers Club. The afternoon started with the youth brigade huddled around James' homegrown WW2 tank game played on his hand made, beautiful scenary. As the afternoon unfolded, kids got involved in games of Warhammer 40K, Lord of the RIngs, Fire and Axe, and Wings of War. Pizza, soda, lots of laughs, and plenty of quality time with the kids. Many thanks to James for running the event, and to the parents who brought their sons (and daughter!) down for the fun.

Medieval Peasants - Various Manufacturers

Medieval peasants are often ignored by wargamers since they are not very useful on a wargaming table. However, medieval peasants were involved in battles, sieges and skirmishes of the period. Medieval commanders often used them as laborers, camp followers, arrow fodder or as a last resort. Peasants even had their own armies sometimes, such as during peasant uprisings in France during 100 years war, Hussite armies in Bohemia and Peasant Wars in Germany.

Here are photos of peasants from different manufacturers and review of the models




Above are peasants from Italian company Mirliton. They came from their excellent range of early 14th century Italian militia armies. Most models are city militia, but those specifically labeled peasants. Figures come with variety of peasant weapons such as clubs, pitchforks, scythes, axes, etc. Figures can be given shields and pole arms to make them more like city militias.



Figures above are from interesting company from NY state. I bought these long time ago and don't remember the name, but think that this company doesn't exist anymore. They made unusual figures such as camp followers, soldiers making rude gestures, high nobility, execution vignettes, etc. Sculpting is a bit cartoony, but poses are interesting. If you know the name of the company - let me know as I threw away the blisters.



Foundry civilians from their 100 years war range. Interesting poses, well sculpted. 2 figures in the center are the same, painted differently.


Foundry peasants from 100 years war and probably from their 13th century range. Figure on the left suppose to be just an old man pointing, but I converted him for some reason I don't remember. He now holds mace in his left hand and wears old rusty helmet - GW bits. Some, if not all of those models use to be old GW Bretonians.


Foundry 15th century peasants. Slightly smaller than their other peasants, they fit together nevertheless. Nice sculpts, easy to paint, full of character.


Foundry Scott ribaulds. Figures like that can be easily added to peasants or back ranks of your infantry formations because of very poor clothing these figures have. Very small details make them Scots so there should be no problem using them for other nationalities.


Figures above came from various Fantasy manufacturers, some, if not all of them, are not in business anymore. Fantasy manufacturers often have figures that are suitable for historical periods. Two figures in the center suppose to be slingers, but slings broke off almost immediately and I gave them hand weapons instead. I have no idea what companies made those as I threw away blisters years ago.


Camp followers and their "manager". Women are from NY company with unusual figures I mention before. Monk is an old Citadel figure, I think.


Old Glory figures from their 100 years war "Crecy" range. 30 figures that came in one bag are all different with various heads and weapons switched between the bodies. Above are 6 hammer poses that were in my bag.


Old Glory peasants with pick hammers and axes.


Old Glory peasants with clubs and 2 handed axes.


Old Glory peasants with scythes and chain mace.

Old Glory peasants with flails and pitchforks. All the figures from that bag were very good sculpts and painted up very well.

Compare various manufacturers. Left to right: Mirliton, 100YW Foundry, WotR Foundry, Old Glory, Unknown company, NY company and Unknown other company. You can see that figures are more or less the same height. They mix together pretty well because of the similar head and fist sizes, few mm in height makes no difference.

Igor

Arkham Horror League: Sunday December 21

The intrepid investigators of the Metro Wargamers Arkham Horror League Team will face
their greatest challenge to date in the third scenario of the series. This time the game
includes the Dunwich Horror expansion and some nasty dangerous modifications to the
behavior of monsters.

http://new.fantasyflightgames.com/ffg_content/Arkham_Horror/ah-league-scenario3.\
pdf

Up to 5 players can join in; there are 3 - 4 regulars but we can always make room for you!
Contact Mike Willner willner90@msn.com if you want more info or plan to attend.

The game starts at 12:30 (ish) on this Sundayjavascript:void(0)

Tanks for Kids! Sunday, December 28th

James will host a World War II tank miniatures battle for the kids of members and guests on Sunday, December 28th from 12 noon to 4 PM. This is always a lot of fun for the kids; James runs a great game and teaches the rules to beginners as he goes. Pry the kids away from the Wii and computers and get them down in the trenches at Metro Wargamers!

A bridge to far

Major Kenobi stormed past the guards into the HQ tent. They knew him and dared not stop him. He looked pretty upset.



“I have troops by the objective! BY THE OBJECTIVE, do you hear?!”
“We have order to evacuate immediately.” Major General Perez rose calmly not impressed by the major ferocity.

“1st company has bled and holds the enemy at bay. They firmly hold the fortress at the cost of many men!

My veteran contingents are wiped out to the man; still victory is at hand. Give me more time. Give me the order and I will give you victory!”
Perez looked out the window deep in thought. “Please explain how we can pull this off?”
“I deployed the 1st company at the fortress and attract all the enemy firepower.”



“The fortress is not the objective Major.”
“Precisely, I drew the bulk of the enemy to this area while the paratroopers landing to reinforce a major push to the three objectives to the east.”
“A foolish maneuver that saw Alpha squad to land on a minefield we established and get wiped out.”




“Acceptable losses! Nevertheless, we have virtually exterminated all enemy to the east with the support of hellhounds, a sentinel and some men.”
“We have orders”
“Damn orders!”
“You are in danger of insubordination.”
“I will return with a victory! You will…”
BANG!
Commissar Esposito, aiming his smoking bolt gun at General Perez asked, “Do we have a problem?”
Wiping the specks of blood from his forehead, “No, we don’t”.
Imperial Guard and Sisters of Battle fight to a draw. Gaylord retains control of Ubusi

Witches at the stake

“We have been ordered to hold this house at all costs! Setup your firing lanes and kill whoever crosses it! We are not leaving!” Sergeant Feathers paced from window to window seeking the enemy. “Sir, our shots have no effect! We can’t stop them!”
“Shut up, you son of a bitch! Keep firing until they fall. That armor cannot hold much longer!”
Trooper Wong suddenly turns and with great exuberance yells “I got one bitch! I got one bitch! Look at her, I got…” His face disappeared in a bloody explosion as a bolter round hits the back of his head and explodes.


“KEEP FIRING!”
A flame throwing armored vehicle rolls from the right flank and begins to pour hellish promethium at the advancing screaming women. Battle cannon rounds begin to firing from some far sector at the right.
Feathers crouches and sights where the incoming support is coming from with his binoculars.

He sees one mad power armored Sister of Battle attempting to storm the battle tanks supporting him. “She’s toast.”
Suddenly in a brilliant flash and thundering explosion, she is gone.
“Emperor protects! Support is here!”
The Imperial Guard holds Cartagena with a decisive victory over the Sisters of Battle

Warhammer 40K: Three Games, Two Draws, One Loss

Saturday's 1500 point battle between the Ultramarines (Zack Johnson) and Witch Hunters (myself) resulted in a draw. Novachi was an uncontrolled hive world that the Witch Hunters were trying to claim.

The map was built around interesting terrain pieces already at the club. Igor's dark age keep had Zack's electric fencepost barrier fortifying the keep's roof. The enceinte was surrounded on three sides by Igor's matching walls and towers, and the club's single-piece, curvy desert castle wall with catwalk took up the fourth. On the opposite side of the battlefield, a tall, rectangular guard tower faced off against the castle behind hills and trees.

The Ultramarines defended the castle as one battlefield objective, while the Witch Hunters defended the guard tower as the second. The boys in blue had three named baddies fighting on their side - the great general Caligar, the Chief Librarian Tigurius, and the Scout Sergeant Telion - and an additional librarian to boot. Luckily, the nuns with guns were led by an Inquisitor Lord with a psychic hood - an item that could potentially nullify the librarians’ abilities. The nuns also had the advantage of higher numbers - a trade-off to being unmechanized infantry.

With much less mobility than the marines, the Sisters of Battle were quickly surrounded and outflanked before they could move and run to attack the castle’s gatehouse. Fortunately, they were not overcome despite being outmaneuvered. With close range targets available, they dealt out strong volleys of fire before getting assaulted. The center of the battle remained stuck in the area between the two structures. While a Imperial Culexus assassin managed to strike at Tigurius at the castle’s top floor, wounding him, and circling Ultramarine Landspeeders fired on the guard tower, slowly killing the Inquisitor Lord guarding it, this was not sufficient for either side to conclusively claim both structures. The battle, bloody as it was, resulted in a draw.

Novachi would fall to Witch Hunter control in two weeks, if no other battles shift them out.

----

Sunday had two battles. Alex, as the Imperial Guard, was testing a 1750 point list for an upcoming tournament. He would be fielding the same forces for both battles. The Imperial Guard's currently in the lead in the campaign. In response, the Witch Hunters attacked the Imperial Guard's fortified forge world of Cartagena as its first battle - Alex's starting planet.

Going by 40k’s lingo for these things, the victory condition was going to be ‘annihilation,’ the deployment was going to be ‘spearhead.’ Annihilation's bad for the unit-heavy Imperial Guard. This victory condition means the side which destroys the most complete units will win. Organized like a regular military force, each individual company of guardmen has three to five platoons within it. Each platoon, rather than the company as a whole, counts as the destroyable unit. Typically, at the same strength level, the Imperial Guard could lose something like 20-30 units, while other forces could lose no more than 8-15. On the other hand, a spearhead initial deployment meant that forces would start on opposite corners, the furthest deployment possible in a standard game. This is bad for my short-range, slow-moving Witch Hunter forces - still dominated by unmechanized infantry.

After deployment, the battle began. Imperial Guard artillery and armor shelled the heck out of my forces, dealing continued and high casualties from the get-go. Yet when they got to shorter range, one volley of fire from a Sisters of Battle squad - even at 10-20% manpower - proved capable of destroying entire Imperial Guard platoons at a time. As a result by turn 5, following some truly heinous numbers of casualties to artillery and tank fire, there remained an outside chance for the Witch Hunters to claim a victory. They'd paid their casualties to move to a position to hit hard. Alas, it was not to be, as the bit of luck needed for that circumstance never materialized - the Imperial Guard won the day decisively.

Cartagena remains in the hands of the Imperial Guard; following the campaign rules, the Imperial Guard gains 1 VP for successfully defending a fortified planet.

For the second battle, the Imperial Guard attacked the Witch Hunter's planet of Ubusi, a civilized world. The mission gave four objectives, and what's usually considered 'standard' deployment - opposite sides on the battlefield’s long edge, nothing within 12" of the center line. My second army of the day had more models in it, balanced by less anti-tank capability. Fortunately, on this battlefield, three of the four objectives within walking distance of the Witch Hunters.

This gave the Witch Hunters an early advantage in claiming objectives, which the Imperial Guard whittled down as time went on - it was their turn to press forward, and mine to hold the line. By the end of turn 6, it was a nail biter of a tie, with each side solidly holding one objective, and the other two objectives under very strong pressure by the Guard (almost completely lost to me but not yet gained by the Guard). Fortunately, this planet was already under Witch Hunter control - the end of the battle at turn 6 meant this battle would end a draw.

Ubusi remains in the hands of the Witch Hunters, with fortifications completely in three weeks, if no other battles shift them out.

----

While I think I know the tricky rules of the Witch Hunters fairly well, I'm still learning 'generalship' - the tactical and strategic side to playing a game. And the painting. Fun games with folks like Zack and Alex help a lot!

Warhammer 40K: Stalemate on Roo

The 1850 pt confrontation on Roo between the Ultramarines (Tim Staines) and the Necrons (Mike Willner) resulted in a hard fought draw. The battle was a Capture and Control scenario played out in a Dawn of War deployment. Both objectives were placed on the same side of the board, barely 24" apart, both within 6" of the short edge of the board; thus the action was focused on that flank.

Mike's Necron army deployed first with a unit of warriors and the Necron Lord on the objective, and a second warrior unit perched in a ruined tomb mid board. The Space Marines deployed their assault infantry near the tomb, and a tactical squad with their Captain on their objective as well.

Most of the Necrons entered turn 1, holding a Monolith, Flayed Ones, and Scarabs in reserve. All the Marines rolled on first turn, forming a broad firing line of Rhinos, tactical squads and Predator tank The fire fight around the tomb started immediately with the assault marines, tac squad and warriors exchanging fire.

The second turn saw the dread Necron Monolith deep strike directly into the middle of the Ultramarine position, using the gauss flux cannon to terrible effect. Marine squads fired away and pushed forward, and after two turns, the charging Brother Dreadnaught destroyed the destructive pyramid. Meanwhile, the line of Rhinos and supporting infantry took on deep striking Scarabs, Flayed Ones and heavy Destroyers.

Several turns of heavy fighting around the tomb near the objectives saw Necrons mowed down by tac squads and las cannon fire from the tanks, only to self repair and return to the fray. The Necron Tomb Spyders were very busy reforming the shattered robots.

By the fourth turn both players were focused on the holding their objectives while seeking to contest the opponent. Destroyers, tanks, Rhinos, Spyders all converged on the closely spaced objectives, and for two turns sought to somehow break the powerful defensive positions. Every unit on the board was engaged, but to no avail... the game ended at the end of turn six with both sides in firm control of their objectives, but with no units positioned to contest the opponent.

Tim was a great opponent, a real sportsman, and played a great game of 40K given his relative new-ness to the game. It was a lot of fun. Also, Tim took lots of photos, some of which will be displayed on the Pictures tab of our website http://www.nycwargames.com/Pictures.html

In campaign terms, the Necrons are raiders and will simply retreat to their tombs, leaving Tim's Space Marines in occupying Roo. If uncontested or undefeated, he will control Roo in two weeks.

Warhammer 40K Campaign: 4 Games this Weekend!

The Metro Wargamers Warhammer 40K tournament has really taken off: several new players and armies have joined, and several exciting battles have been completed. This weekend promises to be action packed, with 4 games scheduled.

Saturday (start times from 12:30 - 1:00 PM):
- Hatred More Ancient then Time: A force of Ultramarines (Tim Staines) scouting Roo stir up a nest of Emperor-hating Necrons (Mike Willner). Mike invites any beginners or learners to join him to play some life-hating robots. http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/Metrowargamers/message/6121

- The Empire Strikes Back: The remnants of a defeated Ultramarine force (Zack Johnson) trace Lady Etro's (Gaylord Tang) Witch Hunters to their next destination, intent on challanging them. A battle is joined on Novachi.

Sunday (start time 1'ish):
- Passing Strikes: With the battle at Ubusi surprisingly in her favor, Lady Etro (Gaylord Tang) decided to press her advantage. She ordered a split in her forces, to press an attack on more fronts while initiative was on their side. Her Mandate's
mission was at the top of her mind; for her own purposes, more battles, if not more worlds, would help matters come to a head. The stubborn and valiant Imperial Guard commander (Alex Lopez) prepares to defend Cartagena while at the same time counters the Witch Hunters by attacking Ubusi.

To join the fun contact Gaylord Tang gaylord500@gmail.com . Follow the exploits and view results on our Yahoo group http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/Metrowargamers/ and read battle reports here.