Terminators, Terminators Everywhere

Many years ago when I was at university, in the dim and distant past when 4th Edition 40K was the current thing, I had and ran a Deathwing army that I painted up as Righteous Fists 1st Company. It was reasonably successful, although I do remember one game where an Eldar Exarch single-handedly annihilated my Assault Terminator squad along with the accompanying Chaplain in a single round of combat. Mind you, such defeats were offset by quite a few victories, and the 2+/5+ save was a heady change from the 4+ and 5+ of my usual Imperial Guard armies. Alas, a few years later when I was poor and needed money I ended up selling that army, and thought no more of the Deathwing until the release of 6th Edition 40K and its starter set with Dark Angels, which included a Dark Angel Terminator Squad.

The boxed set starter squad on the right, and the multipart Deathwing squad I got shortly after on the left.

I got hold of it, and then it sat around for a while, and then I slowly painted it. I didn't want to do Dark Angels specifically, so I had a flick through their successor chapters for a colour scheme that I liked the look of. I eventually settled on the Angels of Redemption, with a nice half-and-half green and bone paintjob, and painted them up. Then I added another squad, and that was how it was for a few more years...

...until GW announced they were going to be updating their Terminator models! I knew that the new ones would be larger and wouldn't fit alongside my two existing squads, so at the end of last year I picked up all the squads I needed for the army itself. Then, in the early part of this year, I painted them up - and here is the retrospective of the army so far:

Second Cyclone MLRS squad showing Cyclone Terminator and Sergeant at front

Second Cyclone MLRS squad showing the three standard Terminators at front

Second Assault Cannon squad with heavy weapon Terminator and Sergeant at front, standard Terminators at rear

Command Squad, with Apothecary (rear left), Company Standard (centre rear), Terminator with lightning claws (rear right), Sergeant with thunder hammer and storm shield (front left), and Terminator with heavy flamer (front right)

Company Master with thunder hammer and storm shield, front view

Detail view of the storm shield

Rear view of the company master

Converted Blood Angels Terminator Librarian - I still need to do something with that blank shoulder pad...

Rear of the Librarian

I still have two Dreadnoughts half painted, but functionally I have a 4th Edition Deathwing army - Company Master, Librarian, Terminator Command Squad, and four squads of Terminators. A friend of mine has 3D printed two Dreadnought Drop Pods for me, so when I get my hands on them I'll finish the Dreadnoughts and that'll be the full force. No Land Raiders because the idea is the whole thing just Deep Strikes in all the time.

This, by the way, is a long-winded way of saying "didn't do any painting today"! Who knows, I might get those Crusaders finished tomorrow...

"I Use Diplomacy!"

So we finished the mini-campaign tonight. Sia-Lan Wezz and Rann I-Kanu's last mission saw them tasked by Naboo Defence Force Brigadier-Gen Dannt and Queen's Advisor Sabe to accompany Special Operative Lilla Tane to a camp outside Theed to infiltrate and reconnoitre 'the Movement', a shadowy organisation led by a mysterious man known only as the Master.

After a shaky briefing ("Kryptonite? What?") the pair of teenage Jedi drove in their speeder to the swamp that housed the threatening organisation... and crashed. A falling tree hit their speeder and smashed it up, scattering their gear and soaking them. They were then attacked by a swamp beast, and Rann I-Kanu dealt with it pretty quickly - his lightning reflexes really helped - despite at first attempting to, well, use Diplomacy.

They camped out and were roused in the early hours by Tane, who had heard some noises - this turned out to be three Gungans who, despite only being able to communicate by mime, took the group to the Movement's camp. There was a minor hiccup where they all fell in some quicksand, but otherwise, uninjured apart from their pride, they all reached the sinister, dark encampment safely.

A Sith Lord attacked! But it was an illusion, broken by Rann moving faster than the attacking Sith and hitting it for 13 damage... breaking the illusion. Which hadn't affected Tane at all, or the guards on the gate. Nor did it put the Padawans off, and they entered the camp (Rann using Diplomacy! to keep his lightsabre).

After talking for a while to various NPCs about the Movement, they were invited by the man who'd met them at the gate, one Comrade Kibbs, who took them to see The Master.

This is where it all unravelled. Their carefully thought out deception "Yeh we're err Jedi who err left! yes we left. We killed our Masters and came here to look for... umm... power!" was useless, because the Master was none other than Lo-Jad, Sia-Lan's missing teacher!

It turned out that Lo-Jad and Rann's Master had stumbled across a Sith artifact, the Dark Throne, in the ruins at the heart of the swamp. The Dark Side was strong here, and Lo-Jad had succumbed, killing Ali-Vor and gathering an army of mercenaries, pirates, and weak-willed reprobates around him to who knows what end.

He attacked, knowing he had to kill the Padawans in order to maintain the element of surprise. Tane's life was snuffed out instantly, Lo-Jad snapping her neck from afar with the Force. Then Lo-Jad leapt across the room, aiming a kick at Rann's head - to which the response was, predictably, "I use Diplomacy!"

It didn't work.

Lots of acrobatic fighting occured, and eventually, after much blaster fire and lightsabering, Rann got the killing blow in, and Lo-Jad died. With his death the Movement fell apart, as it had been held together by the Dark Throne's power channelled through Lo-Jad.

Obi-Wan Kenobi himself arrived the next day with a unit of Naboo Defence Force troops and Brig.Gen. Dannt to tell the Padawans that they had to return to Coruscant and the Jedi Temple to be fully debriefed... and debriefed they were! So impressed by their actions and their foiling of Lo-Jad's evil, the High Council saw fit to knight the two on the spot.

The next campaign will see us revisit Rann I-Kanu some ten years later, as the Clone Wars begin. Stay tuned!

In modelling and painting news, I've been busy the last few days:

The last five figures from the first third of my Traitor Guard army, 'B' Company, XV Karaboudjani Kataphraktoi. L-R: 3rd Platoon 2nd Squad Sergeant, Company HQ Bodyguard, and three members of the Weapons Platoon's assault squad (three flame-throwers!). These chaps kind of mark the completion of an army, sort of, were it not for the fact that I still have to paint three Sentinels, a Demolisher, and a Hellhound just for B Company. Then I have started collecting figures for A Company and intend to do C Company as well as Battalion Command and various other attached assets. Ho hum. But it's a start!

 

Another squad of Deathwing, this time made from the amazing Deathwing Command boxed set. So may bits! The only gripe is that there is only one possible pose for the Sergeant's power sword, and more than one Terminator doing that in an army will look ridiculous. So I may be forced - forced, I tell you - to pick up a box or two of standard Terminators just for the power sword arms.

Dark Angels Librarian from the Dark Vengeance boxed set. A beautiful model that's a lot simpler to paint up than he at first appears. He is for sale in my eBay shop for just £20, with free postage!

 I have also been busily rebasing and touching up my Righteous Fists Space Marines in line with the Amalthean Crusade project. They have gone from a temperate warzone to the desert! I think the brown bases really compliments the colour scheme and makes the figures pop like they didn't before. I am keen to knock them on the head - I have a few figures to paint and then I can declare them 'half done' as a force (they need another two Tactical Squads and some armoured support really).

Scouts - old metal ones, including (centre) the old Veteran Sergeant Naaman special character figure released in 1997? Game wise a bit jack-of-all-trades and master of none, but I like the background aspect of two sniper teams led by an angry drill sergeant type.

Tactical Squad II Polix. A deadly force! Meltas up the wazoo and a Veteran Sergeant just to top it off. I really like these figures even though there are still mold lines and sloppy painting from when they were originally done all over the place. Oh, and Polix needs a back banner.

 Last time these fellas saw action was against my old friend SRB's Space Marines way back in 2004? Might even have been 2003. I remember them jump packing up the center of the board and laying into something power-armoured. Now they're gunning for Tau...

Newly painted stuff! Well, work in progress anyway. The Sergeant got assembled yesterday from various bits and the armless Heavy Bolter gunner was worked up from pale grey to what you see there today. The two Rogue Trader marines I bought at a Bring and Buy in Colours 2001 I think.

So there we have it - a pretty long and picture-heavy update! Hopefully more like that soon. In the meantime, why not head over to my eBay shop and see if anything catches your eye, or go over to Dragon's Hoard and e-mail me if you fancy getting your hands on new release Eldar at 12% off RRP? Tell me you swung by my blog by heading your e-mail 'The Weeks Work' and I'll give you a 15% discount!

Painting Points: 6
2013 Total: 140 (95x 28mm, 2x 54mm, 3x tanks)

Blast From The Past

Tonight JY and JS came over to try out my copy of the now out of print Wizards of the Coast Star Wars RPG. We played through most of the missions in the introductory boxed set, with JY and JS taking the roles of, respectively, Sia-Lin Wezz and R.I.K, two Jedi Padawans seperated from their masters in Theed, capital of Naboo, during the Trade Federation Invasion.

Much fun was had - it was the first time I'd GM'd for some time, and using the counters and scripted missions was great, enabling me to grind back into gear and proving a blast for both Wezz and R.I.K:

Mission 2 - Wezz and Rik engage a light force of Battle Droids and Niemoidians to rescue a group of Naboo soldiers, airmen and civilians. The laid-out counters closest to the camera caused much consternation of this nature:

It wasn't. The Trade Federation really were that useless.

However, in the end, the two brave Padawans wound up in a POW camp after bravely sacrificing themselves to allow a decoy Queen, a handmaiden, and two Palace Guard to leg it into the palace and, together with the real Queen, Obi-Wan, Anakin et al, defeat the Trade Federation.

How did they get caught? Well, Wezz tried to Force Push too hard and knocked herself out (on a d20, rolled a 2, used a Force Point, rolled a 1, used her last Force Point... and rolled a 1) while Rik took on a battle tank and lost.

But they got so far and did so well that they levelled up to Level 3 and will be getting a secret mission on Monday, concluding the mini-campaign and potentially seeing their characters - well, best not give too much away.

A welcome blast from the past; I'd bought all my Star Wars RPG stuff in 2006, in my first year at university!

In between missions, while they sorted out new skills and suchlike, I started to rebase and repaint my Righteous Fists. No longer fighting in the temperate zones, they have been posted to the deserts! Pictures up tomorrow probably once I've finished the Scouts. I also built a squad of Deathwing today, and reassembled some of my broken Righteous Fists so that now I have a functioning army: 2 HQ choices, 2 Elites, 2 Troops, 2 Fast Attack and 2 Heavy Support. I could do with some more vehicles probably, and maybe some more Tac Marines, but for now they'll do (once I get them rebased, and in some cases painted that is!).

More Dark Angels, And A Battle!

Today was pretty good, wargame-wise. I finished (well, apart from the bases - still undecided about those) the Deathwing squad, and painted up a Dark Angels Tactical Marine from the 4th Company (him and his squad will be for sale once they're all done). Then, JY came over with his Tau and some Terminators and we had a 1000 point game. We'd been giving each other talk about smashing each other's armies, but as it turned out... well, read on:

Mission 2 (6th Edition 40K Rulebook):

Tau:

HQ1:
Commander with twin-linked plasma rifles, drone controller
Bodyguard with twin-linked missile pods
Bodyguard with twin-linked fusion blasters
Missile drone, 4 marker-light drones, shield drone

HQ2:
Fireblade with marker-light and pulse rifle

Elite 1:
Stealth Team with fusion blaster, marker-light, target-lock
Missile drone, shield drone

Elite 2:
Stealth Team with marker-light, target-lock
Two marker-light drones

Troops 1:
12 Firewarriors with pulse rifles, marker-light

Troops 2:
12 Firewarriors with pulse rifles, marker-light

Fast Attack 1:
Piranha with fusion blaster


Fast Attack 2:
Piranha with fusion blaster

That came to 1,052 points. I had:

Deathwing Strike Force:

HQ:
Grand Master Belial (unpainted) with storm bolter and sword of silence

Elite:
Venerable Dreadnought (Sentinel) with two twin-linked autocannon and extra armour

Elite:
Deathwing Knights (Assault Terminators) with Perfidious Relic

Troops 1:
Deathwing Squad with assault cannon and chainfist

Troops 2:
Deathwing Squad with cyclone missile launcher (based Terminator) and chainfist

Totalling 1,053 points!

I lost the roll to choose table edge, and lost the roll to deploy and the roll to go first. Bah.

The battlefield, seen from my deployment zone. I elected to 'Deathwing Assault' with my two Deathwing Terminator units, as Belial had a Teleport Homer... but he needed to be on the board prior to my squads' arrival in turn 2.

Deployment: the perfidious xeno scum have clustered together to minimise my Deep Strike advantage.

Tau Turn 1 - marker-light hit! The Dreadnought is immobilised! But it should have been destroyed, so that was a relief.

 End Tau Turn 1: No casualties apart from an immobilised Dreadnought. Hmm.

Deathwing Turn 1 - the quad autocannons opened up to no effect (thanks to the Piranha's Jink save), and the Knights moved up in lockstep, trusting to their 2+/3+ save and the God-Emperor to protect them from harm.

Tau Turn 2 - the Dreadnought is targeted for destruction. Four marker-light hits mean that Piranha is hitting on 2s and ignoring the cover save granted by the ruin. Result? Weapon destroyed.

Tau Turn 2 - a bucketload of dice later, and two Deathwing Knights are dead - and Belial is down to one wound!? Arrrgh!

Deathwing Turn 2 - Reinforcements arrive! I'm feeling a bit more confident now.

Deathwing Turn 2 - "Open fire!" The new arrivals blaze away at the command squad, killing both bodyguards and a shield drone.

Tau Turn 3 - Return fire kills four of the First Squad, and the Piranha again fails to kill the Dreadnought.

 Deathwing Turn 3 - The Dreadnought explodes the Piranha. KABOOM.

Deathwing Turn 3 - Elsewhere, the Knights and remaining Terminators move up and shooting from the Cyclone squad kills seven Tau from the roof. The chainfist-wearing survivor of First Squad gets overwatched to death by the nearby Stealth Team as he tries to charge the Piranha. Oops.

Tau Turn 4 - Still not dead! Down to one hull point, needing only a 4 to destroy the Dreadnought, the Piranha rolls ... a 3. On 2d6.

Tau Turn 4 - On the other hand, the Deathwing Knights are very dead. Very, very dead. Marker-lights are nasty!

 Deathwing Turn 4 - the Dreadnought knocks a hull point off the remaining Piranha, and the Cyclone Squad - now joined by Belial - legs it to the gate of the house. An attempt to move into the garden and thus into assault range of the Firewarriors fails when I roll a 1 for their run distance. Bah!

Tau Turn 5 - Potentially the last turn of the game, and we are tied at 2VP each. The Piranha moves away, its Fusion Blaster gone, and targets the Terminators (along with everything else). The result is inevitable. They absorb the shooting of the whole remaining Tau force and only Belial and the Cyclone Terminator survive.

Deathwing Turn 5 - HA! The Dreadnought wrecks the Piranha, putting me on 3VP to 2, and (after completley ineffectual shooting from the Terminators, made worse by forgetting to fire the Cyclone), Belial and his remaining marine charge the Stealth Team...

...only for overwatch to kill the Cyclone Terminator and the Shield Drone to save two of the Stealth Team from certain death. Belial survives the nine return attacks, and with that, the game ends - a draw. 3 VP each!

So honour was satisfied and a rematch in order. 1,100 points of Deathwing versus 1,100 points of Tau. Who shall prevail? Frankly if I'd had my head on properly I wouldn't've made so many silly mistakes. The 2+/5+ saves really helped me a lot, but footslogging towards Tau is always a Bad Idea. Next time I should just risk the scatter and drop on top of the little blue swines regardless...

Anyway, I also painted these fellows up - bases, as is the fashion at the moment, remain to be done:

Currently I am thinking of basing the Deathwing as if they are on a truly alien world - maybe a cobalt desert or a Martian-style surface? Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

One of the Tactical Marines from the Dark Vengeance set. A lovely model that painted up easily and well. One down, nine to go... they will be based in my standard earth/grass style for sale.

Painting Points: 2
2013 Total: 134 (89x 28mm, 2x 54mm, 3x tanks)