Battlefleet Gothic Battle Report: Convoy

Mission

In convoy, a fleet is trying to protect a convoy of transports through an enemy blockade.  The enemy is spread out thin to catch the convoy, so there might be a chance to punch through the blockade.  In this scenario, the defender takes 100pts for every two free transports.  The attacker recieves random forces from a table, on which they get D3 + (transports/2) rolls.

Forces

Alan – Imperial Navy

Lunar class Cruiser

Dauntless Light Cruiser (Torpedoes)

Dauntless Light Cruiser (Torpedoes)

Four Transports

Four Transports

Eric – Chaos (Got 5 rolls on chart, rolled 6,5,5,5,1)

Carnage class cruiser

3 Idolater escorts (lance boats)

3 Infidel escorts (torpedo boats)

3 Infidel escorts (torpedo boats)

2 Dreadclaw Assault boats

Setup

Primary Biosphere, medium planet, 2 moons.  Planet was in lower left corner.  Moon 1 in upper left, moon 2 almost in exact center of board.  1 gas/dust cloud high center.  2 Asteroid belts lower right.

Deployment

I deployed my marker beacons in a “W” shaped pattern with the Carnage class cruiser in the middle and the Infidels on the ends.  Alan’s convoy came on from the left.

Turn 1 Imperial Navy

Alan brought in his 3 warships and no transports.  One was close enough to reveal the closest beacon, 3 Infidels.  2 were destroyed, the third on BFI.

Turn 1 Chaos

Revealed Assault Boats, which hid behind the medium planet.  Surviving Infidel moved behind main Imperial lines.

Turn 2 Imperial Navy

Alan brought on his transports.  He moved up and turned to get line of sight to shoot the last Infidel.  Infidel failed check to BFI, but amazingly survived.  Assault Boats and boarding torpedoes attack transports, with no effect.

Turn 2 Chaos

Farthest marker revealed as 2nd Infidel squadron.  Fails to All Ahead full.  Lone Infidel attempts to board transport.  Tie causes neither ship to be removed.

Turn 3 Imperial Navy

Fleet moves up to engage, fires at Infidel Squadron 2, no effect at extremem range.  Dauntless cruisers reload ordnance.

Turn 3 Chaos

All remaining markers revealed.  Chaos forces engage Imperial fleet, do minor damage.  Lone Infidel reloads ordnance, fires, kills one transport with Boarding  Torpedoes.

Turn 4 Imperial Navy

Dauntless cruisers lock on, fire on Idolaters and Infidels.  One Idolater destoyed.  Transports fire on lone Infidel, no effect.

Turn 4 Chaos

Carnage class cruiser moves throught imperial lines, draws bead on transports, destroys one.  Infidel squadron fires torpedoes, kills one transport.  Idolaters also kill one transport.

Turn 5 Imperial Navy

Imperials bring forces to bear on escorts.  BFI rolls make only one Infidel die.

Turn 5 Chaos

Further shooting reduces imperial transports to 2.  Game ceded.

Analysis

Convoy is HARD.  It is almost impossible for the convoy to make it if the enemy has rolled well, and the bigger the game the better they can be.  The defender is better off with smaller ships like the Dauntless or some escorts.  The attacker needs to essentially ignore the main lines and get through to the transports.  If the defender rushes ahead, this is actually easy.  The defender needs to slow it down and blast anything that comes close.

Memorable Games: Joe’s Map Campaign

Most gaming clubs work like this: everyone shows up, people who arrive find others and say “want to play X points?” and then they do.  However, there is a more complex way to play that covers the struggle to dominate an entire world.

I speak of the venerated Map Campaign.  To some, the pinnacle of the gaming experience.  Map campaigns are immersive and engaging.  They make casual game nights into fights for the fate of a world.

Some explanation for those unfamiliar with Map Campaigns.  The person running the campaign creates a map with territories on it.  These are then distributed to the various players/teams.  Some territories could give special bonuses, such as an airport giving the owning player the ability to attack far away territories, or a factory letting players replenish their forces more easily.  Players can attack other players territories to take control.  Often, players’ army lists are limited, so that taking heavy losses can be worse than losing.  The object of the campaign is to take over all of the map.

Joe put on a team based map campaign back in the Mary Mayo days.  There were four teams, each with three players.  My team consisted of myself (Azure Flames Space Marines) Scott (Cadian 401st Imperial Guard) and Lexington (unknown Imperial Guard regiment, which has since been sold).  We were the white team, facing the red, blue, and black teams.  There were several odd matchups, including Maestro’s Blood Angels with Dan’s Tau and some Chaos and Space Marine pairings.

In Joe’s campaign, the amount of territory you held gave you points to replenish destroyed units, so teams had to ration their points to the players that would make their forces more effective.  We ended up spending a lot of points on Lexington, as he was our “holding force.”  Lexington’s guard army essentially took the worst beatings other players had to offer, and Scott and I pushed out and gained territory.  This ended up working really well.

Joe’s campaign also had cards Joe made himself and each player had one that was shared by the team.  Cards had varying effects, among them: “They have a Cave Troll!” which would add a Troll to your forces.

Some highlights:

-I won one of the rare crushing victories against Dan’s Tau.  This had a lot to do with some bad deep strike rolls on his part and some good setup on mine.  He played the “Play the same battle over again.” card, and so I played the “The battle doesn’t get fought.” card, negating that.  I lost the victory, but forced him to use that incredibly valuable card for nothing.  As a bonus, his team did not conquer our territory.

-During the whole campaign, Maestro’s Blood Angels used the “Rhino Wedge” tactic, essentially driving empty rhinos around, and parking them in a V shape.  Then, his Death Company would hide in the V of this formation and not be a valid shooting target.  It was a terrible rules error in 3rd ed that allowed this to be viable, making this a real deadly combination.  Maestro was finally stymied by Scott.  Maestro attacked us and played a card that let him bring 2500 pts to a 2000 pt game.  He set up.  Scott set up his invincible Cadian gun line.  Maestro ceded the fight and put his models away.  Scott won that game with a STARE.

-In another epic battle with Dan, Chaplain Alexsandr, my Terminator Chaplain pulled victory out of defeat.  In 3rd ed there was a mission in which the defender (me) splits their forces in half, and DOESN’T GET TO USE THE SECOND HALF.  Half of your army is GONE.  However, the enemy has to kill EVERY model left or they lose.  The last turn had only Chaplain Alexsandr on my side in close combat with Commander Farsight.  The battle dragged on (because Dan kept making 4+ invulnerable saves) until the end of the game.  After the game, Dan and I rolled out one more round of close combat.  Alexsandr made three 4+ invuls and FINALLY killed Farsight.  Woo!

-Lexington also faced off with Maestro, taking as many plasma guns as he could.  Ideally, enough of these SHOULD pop a Rhino, but I guess no on ever told Maestro that as his invincible boxes of doom approached Lex’s lines.  That Rhino Wedge technique was good on average, but without dedicated anti-tank or a lucky roll it was UNSTOPPABLE.

-EDIT: According to game master Joe himself, Dan blew all his points that could normally be used to buy units and spent them on cards.  He then used every card against Scott in one night.  Scott lost, but we replaced his losses immediately, and Dan was out of cards.

Endgame

In the end, our victories outweighed our losses and we ended up winning the campaign handily, even when the other 3 teams all turned against us.  It was a blast, but I don’t reccomend it more than once a year for a group.  It’s a lot of work and it’s not the only reason you should play.

Rukkstud ‘Andfoot, da Piston-Poundin’ Stormboy

Modeling

Rukkstud uses mostly parts from the new Plastic Nob box.  The feet were removed and replaced with a slugga and choppa hand.  The backpack’s base is a plank from the Ork Trukk sprue, with a new plastic Stormboy backpack and two Castellan class missiles from the Space Marine Whirlwind sprue.

The pistons are clear plastic tubes, sawed into the correct lengths.  The tubes were capped by filling the ends with putty.  The rivets are putty blobs, flattened.  The rod connecting the pistons is plasticard, inserted into holes drilled through the cured putty.  Rukkstud is mounted on a flying stand in a normal base.

Painting

Rukkstud was dipped.  Extra mud was added to the pistons, to show he usually walks on those.

Background

Orks are not afraid of injury. In fact, they live to fight. However, most Orks find being severely injured a situation of grave ponderance.

Because then you have to go to da’ Dok.

And no one wants that. Well, a few madboyz might not mind being cut on for fun, and sure some doks are good at what they do, but in Poindexta Smartyskull’s camp, Dok Gillgivva is a rightly feared icon both because of his propensity for giving a patient gills, but also because he is quite big, and strong. So, Orks injured in battle (or out of battle, as is the case with Rukkstud) often do not go to the dok, as they prefer to breathe air for what time they have left to live.

Rukkstud (who was then called Flashzagga da Reckless) chose not to go see the dok when he was injured. One of the Kans got loose again, and managed to neatly slice both of Flashzagga’s arms off. Without the arms, his Rokkit pack fell off, and nearly squished his adjutant, Runtee

Runtee, being a quick witted Grot, grabbed up his master’s arms and suggested that rather than seeing da Dok, that they see da Mek instead. Flashzagga agreed, partly because he was a quart low on blood and did not have very good decision making abilities at the time. The conversation with Manik Upzindownz went like this: 

“Oi Mek! Dat kan took me armz off at da shoulder! Youse gots any bioniks dat would make it so’z I’z still a Stormboy?” 

“Well, lemme see. First we gotta” *KLANG*

The next thing Flashzagga realized, he had a headache, he was on a table, and his arms had been replaced by giant adamantium pistons. Furious and groggy, he tore out of his restraints before Upzindowns could install the various power-assist systems needed to make lifting the piston-arms easier. Flashzagga limped out of the tent like an ape, flinging both pistons out, then balancing on them and jumping forward. He finally found that Runtee had been eaten by a Squighound, and that the hound had eaten most of his upper arms as well. Furious, Flashzagga attempted to smash the Squighound with one of the pistons. This proved difficult as the pistons were enormously heavy, but soon, the Squighound fled, and he was left with his hands. He awkwardly picked them up in his mouth, and finally went to see Dok Gillgivva.

“Dok, I’z in a bind. Dat crazee mek done gave me piston arms! I needs my hands, dok, and not any gills. Now do it wif no anna-stetic, cuz I wanna be wide awake.”

Flashzagga had always been known for his temper. The dok, sadly, put away his anesthetic mallet and considered the situation. The arms were gone, but the boy needed hands. Can’t go at the shoulders, the boy wants the pistons. Hmmmm….

” ‘Ow much you like dem feet?”

“Don’ care much for feet, gots pistons now! You finkin’ wot I’m finkin?”

He was.

After about a week of getting used to having hands at the end of his legs, Rukkstud (as he now called himself) went back to Upzindowns, finished the installation, and had him make a Rokkit pack powerful enough to lift both him and the pistons. Now, Rukkstud ‘Andfoot crashes into crowds of his enemies, pistons blazing. When he lands, his hand-foot dexterity makes his close combat skills a frightful sight to behold. His temper is still as violent as ever, and he routinely shoots or pistons Stormboyz fleeing from combat, or indeed anyone who makes fun of his prized piston-arms or hand-feet.

Memorable Games: Fighting Catachans in the Jungle, and Brother Jonathan

There was an axiom in 3rd edtion 40K: Never fight the Catachans in the Jungle.  They got all sorts of wicked benefits, and their low armor was negated by having cover saves everywhere.

During my first summer at college, we used to play in Joe’s garage.  Joe’s army choices at the time were the Angels Sacrosanct, a Blood Angels successor, and some Catachan Jungle Fighters.  Once, in Joe’s garage, we set up a jungle fight.  We used a green board, some tree bases, and created some white paper templates and strips about 3″ wide.  The templates were clearings, and the strips paths.  Everywhere else was forest.  Who wanted to fight the Catachans in such terrain?

Enter the Azure Flames, newly swelled from almost a full summer of obsessive-compulsive collecting and painting.  I took a 1500 point list that contained 11 flamers and 2 heavy flamers, all infantry.  I marched across the board, burning as I went.  Catachans don’t get cover saves from flamers.  Embarrassing Jungle Fighters in the Jungle is impressive.

Joe got his revenge.  In a normal later game Joe took a Leman Russ battle tank that sat hull down behind a chest high wall, and shrugged off every weapon fired at it.  Worse, he had some decent close combat ability, which killed at least one squad.  However there was a silver lining.  One tactical squad was whittled down to one bolter marine who stood toe-to-toe with a commander with a power weapon and a commisar with power fist, and a command squad.  This lone marine stood for SIX ROUNDS OF COMBAT, killed a few guardsmen and fought so fiercely that the commander would have fled, had the commisar not shot him in the head!  This marine was the first of my models that earned a name.  Brother Jonathan of the 2nd squad 4th company.  I still field him on a regular basis.

Konquata Monitors Saurus Warriors

Saurus Warriors!

Next: more Skinks for Journeymen, and then Kroxigor!

How I learned to Strip (not as hot as it sounds).

Painting is variable.  Usually you get better over time.  What happens, then, when you look at old models and say “that’s not good enough anymore”?  Or, what happens if you buy some bitz or models off of ebay that were painted by a blind idiot with a toothbrush?  You need to get rid of that paint.

Stripping models is important for any model gamer.  There are several methods, some of which work better than others.

The first models I stripped used a high pH liquid soap called Super Clean.  This was incredibly inconvenient, and only worked after repeated soakings and scrubbings.  The next thing I tried was pure toluene.  It worked fine, but only for pewter minis.  It ATE a plastic base I threw in by accident.  Plus you need to do it outside as toluene has awful fumes.  For a while I tried Isopropyl Alcohol.  This worked almost as well as Super Clean, and with less hassle but more scrubbing.

Then I was stripping some Necromunda gangers I bought at Gen Con.  I used undilluted Pine Sol.  The painte FELL off the minis when I barely touched them.  It was the greatest success I’ve had stripping.  Lexington said he tried Pine Sol on plastics and it lost a little bit of detail when soaked overnight, but it stripped the old pewter Land Speeder he’s had for decades.

For a final verdict, I choose Pine Sol.  If I need to strip plastic, I’l try diluting it 50/50 with water and scrubbing after a few hours rather than letting it soak all night.  But on metals it works WONDERS.

Space Marine Battlefleet Gothic Fleet

My Azure Flames Battlefleet Gothic fleet.  2 Battle Barges, 5 Strike Cruisers, 6 Nova Frigates, 6 Gladius Frigates and 10 Hunter Destroyers.

Jelnac, Master of the Forge of the Azure Flames with Conversion Beamer

Modeling

Jelnac’s torso is the Blood Angel Techmarine with Jump Pack torso.  Standard bike and legs.  Modded left palmtop to be textured like the right one, from Torquemada Coteaz with the Thunder Hammer.  Backpack is a standard old Techmarine Servo Arm.

The Conversion Beamer was based on the old Conversion Beamer (see pic above, the blue gun).  The Sidecar was a standard pewter attack bike sidecar.  I used a Chaos Defiler Battle Cannon mount for the hinge.  It is attached to the sidecar with a filed piece of Defiler armor and some putty.  The Chaos star was filed off, and a seven-toothed cog sculpted.  Into this cog, I pressed the filed down skull from a Servo Skull which looks like the Ad Mech logo.

The central plasma coil is a Gene Seed canister from the Battle For Macragge box set.  Sprue and plasticard rod made the rest of the body.  The lower cable is guitar wire.  The dish is a Tau Battle Suit Shield Generator, filed and puttied to be a smooth dish.  Part of a Space Marine Radar Dish antenna (the small one from the new sprue) comes up from the bottom.  The antenna is an old antenna from the 2nd ed Space Marine Vehicle sprue.

Painting

The only painting flourish I’m proud of is the screen on Jelnac’s bike.  I painted a Matrix-code-like pattern of falling green characters, blending from Scorpion Green to a mix of Snot and Dark Angels green.

Backstory

The Azure Flames are barely 400 years old as of the end of M41. How, then, did they get a Pre-Heresy weapon in their arsenal? This conversion beamer belonged to the Myridian Suns Space Marine Chapter. When they fell to Chaos, the Azure Flames cleansed their homeworld of Myridia and destroyed every last Myridian Sun. Their Geneseed was quarantined and their wargear studiously poured over by the Techmarines and Librarium of the Azure Flames to prevent the taint of Chaos from touching the chapter. Few artifacts were salvaged, most were corrupted beyond hope of salvation by the traitors, but Brother Jelnac brought forth the remains of a Conversion Beamer taken from the Master of the Forge of the Myridian Suns. The Beamer was damaged, as Jelnac had smashed part of it with his Thunder Hammer during the fight.

After being declared free of taint, the Beamer was given to Jelnac. The old power source was damaged beyond repair, and the matter inversion coil was totaled. Jelnac modified a plasma coil to replace the matter inversion coil, and mounted the beamer on a Space Marine Attack Bike to provide power. Now, one of the most ancient weapons of mankind is at the disposal of the Azure Flames.

Why they call me “The Madman”

My nickname is “The Madman” and it’s well deserved.  For those who know me, or have trawled the archives of this blog, you know that I tend to take modeling and painting seriously.  I put a lot of effort into each mini, and I don’t do jobs that are “just good enough.”  I take every aspect of the game to the extreme.  I make every model as well as I can, even taking the time to pin minis that will probably break (Privateer Press, I’m looking at you!)  I paint every model to a quality that I can be proud of, no Black Primars or three-color tabletop standards for me.  I play every game as well as I can.  I write stories that get out the creative impulses trying to break out of my brain.  This is the Four Strands ethos: take every aspect as far as you can.

This explains why some may call me “mad.”  However, it’s not how I got my name.  During my senior year at Michigan State, we had been unceremoniously kicked out of our previous playing grounds in Mary Mayo residence hall.  Rant about that will come at another time and have HUGE CUSSES.  We re-located to the basement of Owen Graduate Hall.  One day, some reporters for the local campus rag of lies and failure, The State News, arrived to chronicle our gaming club.

During their visit, we staged a game, and tried to explain our hobby to these talentless hacks.  I told them the general format of the rules, and said that there were more, showing them the rulebook.  Several other comments were made by myself and others.

EDIT: Lexington reminded me that halfway through the interview the “writer” up and left without telling his photographer!  He was so confused when his colleague ditched him.  Perhaps he was the unpopular photographer.

The next day, we read the article in the paper.  Saying that things were blown out of proportion would be an understatement.  My quotes were taken out of context, and PUT IN ALL CAPS LIEK I WAS SHOUTING!!!!!111111ONE  In addition, several other comments (regarding the insanity of Games Workshop’s business model in 2004) were attributed to me, making me sound like a deranged raving lunatic.

From then on, I was called “The Madman” and took to the nickname with a perverse sense of glee.  “Hi!  I’m The Madman!  Would you like a cookie?” *disturbing grin*

ZOMG DOUBLE EDIT: The original article here, thanks to Scott: http://statenews.com/index.php/article/2004/09/group_peacefully_participates_in_combat

Manik Upzindownz, da Mad Mek

Modeling

Manik uses the Assault on Black Reach plastic Warboss.  His Big Shoota was cut out of his hand, and his hand was cut off and turned 90 degrees to hold the handlebars of the bike.  The wrist was joined with putty.  The legs were modded to fit a bike, which included destroying the tabard.  The Arrows are cut from plasticard.

The Trike Conversion entailed using a regular Ork Bike wheel for the third wheel and a Trukk wheel for the front wheel.  The third wheel was held on using the ammo belt as an extension.  The guns include two Ork Bike guns and an Imperial Guard Autocannon.  Extra Ammo canisters were added.  The Front shocks of the bike were sawn apart, and the main bars replaced with bent brass rods.  The Plasma Cannon comes from the old pewter Chaos Space Marine Dreadnought.  The bit was sawed apart using a jeweler’s saw which was INTENSELY PAINFUL to do.  The jaws are standard Ork Bike fronts.

Painting was done using the standard dipping method.  Extra care was given to the reds and yellows to make them pop.  Boltgun metal was added to edges on the back banner to make it appear worn.

Background

Never challenge a Weirdboy to a Staring Contest. Not even if the prize is the tastiest squig you’ve ever seen.

Mag da Mekboy made this mistake. For two years he hung out with the Madboys, making as much sense as a Grot Warboss, until he attempted to open up his head to fix his broken wires. Amazingly, he succeeded, and put his brain back in, half upside down.

Ever since then, he has managed to be at least coherent on good days, alternating with barking mad on bad days. Some boyz say that he even talks different when he’s gone off the deep end, like a different Ork altogether. This earned him his name, Manik Upzindownz.

Years of madness honed his imagination, and he is responsible for Smartyskull’s one Gargant, a massive smoking monstrosity called “Da Gentul Teddy Bear.” Do not ask Manik why; he will shoot you in the kneecaps.

In battle, Manik is rarely seen without his Shokk Attack Gun (on “stable days”) or his souped up Dakkabike 9000 (on less than stable days). He fights for Smartyskull because a half super-ork-brained, half humie-machine-brained hulking warlord who enjoys tea and smashing stuff is the obviouschoice for a leader. He is the only one of Smartyskulls Lieutenants that requires absolutely no bribery.

Often, this forces Smartyskull to put Upzindownz in command of raids he cannot attend, though Smartyskull is often afraid Upzindowns will not follow orders and instead lose it entirely and orate about the beauty of the squighound’s bark for hours on end, as he does bi-weekly at scheduled speeches attended by the bored or stupid.