Of Tank Aces and Excuses

Wahey! A post! The world must be ending!

No, I've just finally set time aside to, well, you know, make a post.

Since the last update I have fought three battles of 40K - only two of which were actually completed, the other having to be called in my side's favour at the close of turn three - and painted two figures, and refurbed (to borrow a phrase) three Leman Russ tanks that I have had since I was 10.

Of the three, one had damaged side sponsons and a tank commander figure. So I tore off the sponsons, glued in some hatches to cover the holes, and elongated the barrel of the Battle Cannon with a second example that I had. Et voila, I had a Vanquisher variant Leman Russ! And with a 'Tank Ace' character model as well.

As far as the games went... the first game was a multi-player bash marking the inauguration of the games club I've informally set up, with myself (Guard), SB (Guard), P (Eldar), JB (Dark Angels) and JS (Orks). It should be noted that A and J, his wife, came too, but played Zombie Dice and spectated. This was SB and P's first experience with 40K (although P is an experienced Fantasy Battle player), and they had a great time - thankfully. We won, although we also didn't get past turn three.

Game 1, Pre-Deployment: SB contemplates the madness ahead of her.

Game 1 - Victory! JB and JS hang their heads in shame while P takes the salute.

The second game, I fought A's proxied Necron army with my Guard, and got utterly, horribly, completely destroyed. I killed one Necron Destroyer. One. And lost almost my whole army. In less than three turns? Urgh. Horrible. That was the first time my Vanquisher saw action, too. I didn't bother paying the points to upgrade to the Tank Ace. And I promptly missed with every shot.

Game 2: Turn 1. I have advanced two of my platoons, and there my luck ended.

Anyway, this time round, in the third game, I paid for the upgrade, and killed two Dreadnoughts, a Predator, and an Attack Bike. SUCCESS! I still lost the game though*. Bloody Kill Points. On the bright side I got to paint some kill rings for the vehicle kills onto the barrel of the Vanquisher Cannon, so now my Tank Ace is on the way to actually being one.

Game 3: The first kill (note instantly applied kill ring)! Tank Ace Captain Count Geranium of Bigbush and Littletree punches a Dark Angels Dreadnought off its feet with a high-velocity armour-piercing shell. He would go on to destroy a Predator and a Furioso Dreadnought before ending the game by obliterating an Attack Bike.

Game 3: The End. Here you can see the shattered remnants of my Guard army, and the pitiful remains of the Ork-Marine alliance - three Space Marines, the Dark Angels Grand Master, Ghazkull and two Nobs in a Trukk, a Warbuggy, a Zzap Gun and (off the board) a Blood Angels Predator and the Dark Angels Landspeeder Vengeance. The three Meganobs to the bottom left were dead, courtesy of the Demolisher Squadron.

Game 3: The Victor! Without this Landspeeder fleeing the field and denying me a chance to kill it, I could have dragged the game to a bloody draw (with some luck).

Thanks to Panther Six Actual, I have also been hooked by BattleTech again, and am seriously contemplating purchasing a Lance of St Ives Compact 'mechs to play against my good friend C's Capellan Death Commandos.

In addition to this new interest, I am yet to finish the Hybrid baddies for JB, although they are primed and the first coat of Boltgun Metal was applied yesterday. So I have actually started them.

Next update, hopefully tomorrow, I will post pictures of the tanks, the figures, and the in-progress Hybrid baddies.

Painting Points:
2013: 59 (19x 28mm, 2x 54mm, 2x tanks)

* (Ork) Battle Mission: Cut 'N' Run,  3,000 points of Guard versus three  1,000 point armies: Orks, Blood Angels and Dark Angels. Final kill points: 20-32 in the enemy's favour. I started the game with 87 men, 6 Sentinels, 2 Griffons, 2 Leman Russ, 1 Vanquisher, 2 Demolishers, and 8 Chimeras. I ended it with 2 Demolishers, 1 mobile Leman Russ, 1 Vanquisher, 1 immobilised Leman Russ, 1 Chimera and 1 immobilised Chimera. Meanwhile, 5 of my infantry had fled the board alive.