Battle #2 Ultras vs Guard

Alex wanted to play 40k again, and I was itching to try to learn how 5th ed. Imperial Guard works.  I'm still not clear on how orders work, but I *think* I did it right.  If not, Alex was none the wiser. Also, while the game technically ended in a draw, he was clearly beating me, and he knew it.

For these first few games, the battles are set up more like a 1st edition Rogue Trader game than a modern game.  I let Alex choose the units he wanted, roughly tallied the cost (a little over 1000 pts) and I selected an IG force that was also roughly 1000pts.  I bet he had a few points on me, but I'm sure the forces will practically equal.  Easily saved a half-hour of math just guessing the points.

This is not meant to be a battle report. It's just photos I took of the battle, with captions explaining generally what the photo is displaying.

Ogryn, Chimera Transports (filled with troopers), Leman Russ  tanks leading the charge.

Land Speeder, Assault Squad, and Tac Squads hiding in the woods.

The Brothers Grimm, twin dreadnaughts.

Following a feeble attempt at Tank Shock, the dreadnaught turned around and blasted my tank with its lascannon. The terminators didn't get to assault, as there was nothing left of my tank.

Neither Chimera had any practical way to deal with a dreadnaught.

Guardsmen, DISEMBARK!!!

After wasting the Russ, the terminators and one of the brothers Grimm set their sights on a full Chimera.

At the Imperial Guard objective (an old Robot) the last Marine in his squad fights the Platoon commander. Eventually the commander would win.  

The other Chimera releases its troops (they were safer inside, it turns out.)

The Company Command Squad direct the Ogryn and the remaining troopers.

After routing the Guardsmen, the Chimera (Stunned) is next.

A Tac squad gets read to storm the hill, and eliminate that pesky Platoon Commander now alone guarding the objective.

The game ended at the end of Turn 4, with no winner.  Alex had the clear advantage as his Marines were about to storm the objective and I didn't have guardsmen anywhere near his objective.

I've already found several rules we were playing incorrectly, and I suspect I'll find more.  Alex described the battle as EPIC (which of course is a whole 'nuther thing) and I have to agree.  It was a good one.

-Adam!!!

Magnificent Magnetics

In my Speeders post I had an unpainted Rogue Trader Space Marine Land Speeder.  Since posting that the speeder has been (mostly) painted, as you'll see.  Also since posting my first package of wee magnets has arrived from Hong Kong. I had never even heard of magnetizing miniatures until just the last few weeks, but now that I've seen what they're like, I can see the appeal. All that and it's pretty darn easy to do.

You can see the magnet  just above the red 'bottle' next to the marine seated on the right.  It's the silver disk. Originally there was a post  that was used to mount the weapon.

This was originally an Attack Bike Multimelta, but I've got lots of them and the  Speeder I bought was missing its weapon. They're the same, except I had to hack the mount off of this, which I wouldn't be using anyway.

I just pop that baby right on there like so...

And there it is.  The "green stuff" that's holding the magnet on the weapon isn't quite dry, so I can't paint it quite yet.

Here are my two speeders together. The one on the right has an old fashioned glued-on weapon.  Yuck!

I have a whole bunch of magnets, and from what I gather, other players go crazy magnetizing almost anything.  I bought three Imperial Guard Sentinels off Ebay and every little thing on them is magnetized. I'll may have to remove some of those for a sturdier model, but then again, maybe not.  It's clearly a great solution for a lot of situations.  I can't wait to find out what else might work.

-Adam!!!

Speeders, Speeders, Speeders.

One of the worst miniatures in the history of Warhammer 40k is the original Rogue Trader Land Speeder.  So naturally, I have three of them. Painted up it looks ok, but the mold is bad so there's lots of flash, nothing fits together right, and it's just plain weird looking.  Usually I prefer the older stuff to new, but this is the one exception. Modern speeders (including the chunky 2nd version, which I don't have) are simply better.

My three old-time speeders.  The middle one was just completed today.

Space Marine Land Speeder. 95% completed. I'm going to copy the antenna that goes on the back so I have a second one for the unfinished speeder (pictured on the right, above.)

One version of the Genestealer Cult army list allowed them to have speeders.  Like this one, I would expect.

Even I have to admit, this is a much better model.

-Adam!!!