On the art of rolling 1s

[roland murat]

I've not bored you all silly for a while so here it goes

The Setting Dawn

I had against Ol's Marines with Eldar allies at 1,500 last night

My list was:

Libby
Tactical squad - ML, Fl, PF combi melta
Tactical squad - ML, melta, PF
Scouts - ML, PF
Term assault squad - TH/SS
Term assault squad - TH/ss

2 vindis with extra storm bolters
Redeemer

The mission was crusader played down the length of the board.

The game began well with the threat from the vindi's causing problems even with night fighting. A general advance and more movement from Ol's assault marines roasted by the redeemer but the fists got cut down by pathfinders.

I had a unit of termies deep striking that refused to come down robbing me of an attacking option and my army got worn down. The arrival of some war walkers saw my casulties start to mount and my vindis were taken down.

An epic fight between 2 units of termies seemed to go on forever but Ol put in a tactical combat squad that made the diference. Ol won 2-1 on objectives.

Lessons

Using reserves is not reliable
I really need something that can cope with enemy air
Terminator spam isnt great for SM

50 Shades of Pink

It turns out Elves cannot be trusted as the wood elf contingent has pulled out the alliance. Blood will flow for this. Fortunately, as a result of a historic alliance formed by the Duke of Yorke in the reign of Roland I, a lizardman army is available.

This alliance came about when a small force captured the now popular holiday result of Skeggi. The defeated norse were found to have a large amount of treasure which, it transpired, had be stolen from a nearby city. The occupants of that city wanted them back.

The Duke was able to avoid the destruction of his force by canny diplomacy. The brutal execution of the norse prisoners and return of the holy items saw the local slann form an alliance with the men of Albion. This was re-affirmed in the recent lustrian campaign.

A small lizardman force has recently been training in Salisbury plain and, with the withdrawal of the elves, they quickly agreed to join the invasion of the badlands.

Until next time. I bet you can hardly wait.

[cunningmatt]

Until next time. I bet you can hardly wait.

I can't! Excited to see how our campaign will go!

[roland murat]

50 Shades of Pink

The campaign is underway with a race for a lost city.

No sooner had the Albion forces secured a base of operations than wierd and wonderful sightings began to be reported. To west a tower, a small settlement to the north and a cave rammed with gold to the south. Bodmin reacted quickly and the armies marched.

The canny commander sent the forces from the college towards the tower to gather what knowledge they could. As the army approached and ensured the ground was secured all was eerily quiet and the part-time lecturer opted to hold his ground.

To the north the Bishop's host headed for the settlement, only to be slowed by local rain. Unable to reach the town, scouts reported heavy Skaven activity with a number of armies on the march and heading south. The wet, tired troops were set to work and the position was fortified to restrict any potential for a land grab by the chaos worshippers.

To the South Bodmin found his intelligence reports had been faked. Warriors and beastmen armies were mving in his direction and a trap had nearly been sprung. Nearly, but not quite. All was not lost as geologists found iron deposits and the Royal Engineers constructed a new mine complex.

Word soon reached Bodmin from his allies. The Dwarves had found an idol to the dark gods and had moved to destroy it. To the far north the lizards had built a mine and expanded there lands, threatening the skaven empire and pushing towards the lost city.

[roland murat]

50 shades of pink

'It's all been quiet Bishop; a report of the ground shaking, but not seri...'

The ground shook. The ground roared in protest and the walls fell.

'To arms men. Captains form your regiments. Prepare for an attack.'

The army of the church mustered as the hordes of evil ratmen marched south. The sappers had destroyed Castle Crookesmoor, opening the invasion route. To the east the magic shool's contingent was engaged and the Bishop decided he would try and stop the momentum of the attacking army. With a daring counter assault the army of the church advanced against the dwarven city that had recently fallen to the foul beasts. The skaven generalwas pushed back within the ancient walls but the glorious host was unable to storm the defences before retiring in good order.

Far to the south the rumours of wealth had not been as unfounded as feared. In caverns leading off the new mining complex revealed a hidden stash of items, including a miraculously shiny sword.

[roland murat]

50 shades of pink

Men of Albion before us march the forces of hell. The evil beastmen must be driven from our lands, destroyed like the scum they are. Today we shall win a mighty victory and the tale shall be told through the ages. To battle and glory.

Or not.

With a battle for a wizards tower underway the skaven launched a swift assault. The slower moving humans had difficulty reacting and struggled to deal with the A-bomb as they tried to form a battle line. A vermin lord grabbed a focus point  (using storm of magic rules) and was able to launch a few fireballs robbing the outriders I was using of their effectiveness.

Two rogre blocks and the A-bomb was too much to handle and with a charge of the Reiksguard getting bogged down I failed to take the initiative. In the end my army controlled the area around the tower in the centre of the table (which cast a random spell at the nearest unit each turn) for a 500 point bonus but that wass all the points I got and so the skaven won by 1,000 points with my general picking up a pshycological injury, the nature of which to be decided.

[roland murat]

I'm falling a bit behind so here goes...

50 shades of pink

"Men of Albion. Before us lies a horde of foul beasts. They would take all you have worked so hard to gain and despoil all you hold dear. We may be outnumbered this dead but we shall prevail and the poets will tell of this battle for decades to come. On men of Albion, for your King, for glory and for riches..."

The Professor woke with a start. He was lying on a crude strecher and looked around in desperation. This was not an army celebrating a glorious victory; this was a broken army in retreat. Slowly he began to remember: the screams of the wounded; the heat of fireballs; the moment of unbridled terror as the rat orge punched him in the face; and the pain. The pain had been to a degree he had never felt before but it had been fleeting as his head rocked back and darkness claimed him.

Now he did not feel terror, anger or hate but instead a sense of calm filled him. Next time, next time it would be different

[roland murat]

A stroll in the countryside

I had my first game of FoW last weekend, taking command of an army fighting to restore the glory of a once great nation against those which sought to break its spirit. Yep I was the Germans and the mission (it was a campaign game) was to capture a bridge and crossroads at the village of Bourg Madame. The battle was scheduled to end at 3.30 pm in real time and kicked off around 10.30am

My forces:

Panzer Brigade - 2 x Panzer 1, 3 x Pz II
                           5 x Pz II, 3 x Pz III

Infantry - Command, light mortar in Sdkfz 251
                HQ, 3x2 Rifle/MG stands in Sdkfz 251
                HQ, 3x2 Rifle/MG stands in trucks

                3 x 37mm Anti-tank guns
Recon     2x Sdkfz 222 and 2x sdkz 221
Forward artillery observer
               2x 20mm AA guns mounted in a vehicle
Pioneers HQ 2x3 stands
Off table 105 mm gun
Priority air support

Reserves

4 Inf units, 2 x 2 Infantry guns, 2 x 2 HMG and 2 Mortar units

Terrain

The game was played on a larger than normal table with deployment on the short edges. Right of centre running from my deployment zone to the other end of the table was a road which passed a chateau and crossed a river in the french deployment zone. About 2/3 of the way across the table the road split and ran past a farm and up to a second bridge by a bunker. The main bit of the road ran through the village and was connected to the cross roads.

Turn 1

An infantry unit checked the farm with support from the 20mm and PZ 1's finding it empty otherwise my army pushed up the road at a steady pace.

Turn 2

The force at the farm pushes forward towards an orchard and french troops are spotted by a recon unit by, but not in, the chateau. The infantry in the 1/2 tracks moves up with tanks and AT guns in support to engage the dug in french infantry. At this point an ambush was launched from the orchard on my left with 2 25mm AT guns opening fire and blowing up 2 recon vehicles (the unit had been divided into 2 blocks of 2 armoured cars). On the rights the 1/2 track infantry opened fire and launched an assault. The french pushed back the attackers but were forced to withdraw after suffering heavy casulties.

French T2

Light tanks emerged from cover around the chateau and destroyed the PzIs and an artilery strike caused the 1/2 track infantry to rout.

T3

No reserves arrived and an artillery srtike took out a french infantry gun. The Orchard was cleared by the infantry around the farm and 2 tanks were blown up by PzIIIs.

F T3

The remain tanks moved up and the artillery killed 2 stands of pioneers. The tanks assaulted the pioneers, who fell back.

T4

The French tanks were quickly taken out, clearing the west side of the river and German artillery started to batter the town. Whilst the clear out operation moved forward another ambush was triggered but no damage was done by a 25mm AT gun.

F T4

No reserves and firing has no effect. Good turn that.

T5

Finally a unit of infantry arrived to support the attack and raced up the main road toward the village. The inf by the orchard moved into cover opposite the bridge on the let which was defended by an infantry unit, 2 25mm AT guns and a bunker with a 45 (or 47) mm AT gun. German artilerry and aircraft hit the village.

F T5

3 Souma tanks turn up and move into the village taking up positons around the x road. Shooting ineffective.

T6

German tanks lined the west bank of the river and engaged the french infantry in the town along with the artilery (my observer was on the roof of the chateau with a commanding view of the village). The inf and pioneers on my right pushed forward to cross the bridge and storm the houses by the river. A stuka blew up one of the newly arrived tanks

F T6

Some Renault tanks (that can't move and fire) arrive on my left flank threatening the infantry by the bridge which have no real AT equipment.

T7

A renault is destroyed by an airstrike and an infantry assault on the village pushed some french infantry off the river bank and into the village but at the cost of heavy casulties.

F T7

Some infantry guns and 47mm AT guns arrive to support the defence. The fast firing french artilery (which gets re-rolls to hit if it is correctly called down) again causes no damage and the renaults push across the bridge on the left in an attempt to launch a counter attack. The G inf in the village is wiped out by MG fire.

T8

Another wave of german troops move onto the bridge on the right and reinforcements start to arrive in numbers (finally). 2 Fr infantry units are broken.

F T8

The fire from the village breaks the pioneers crossing the bridge.

T9

Artillery and air power is not effective, tanks and  AT guns move to counter the renault assault and some houses fall to german troops. More reserves arrive.

F T9

Some light casulties inflicted.

T10   

The Renaults are badly mauled and break whilst the new infantry units launched a large assault on the town. With the french troops getting bashed up the commander calls it a day and evacuates what he can of his army. The town fell 10 minutes before the cutoff point when the Corps commander would seek decide the attack should be recalled.

A close battle. My opponent had expected an assault on the seemingly weak left flank and placed his main AT capacity there to maul the panzers. Sadly the trap was so subtle I didn't take the bait and chose route 1 and launched a series of frontal assaults to batter my way into the village. Although the french commanders were poor the troops they led were capable of putting up a fight when given a reasonable opportunity and this seemed to be recreated by the rules.

[roland murat]

I've not provided an update on the campaign for a while so I guess that should be corrected. Miss me? Probably not.

50 shades of pink

The Earl of Bodmin stood on the city walls and considered the task ahead of him. The Chaos army had been camped outside the city for a couple of weeks and food was starting to run low. Fortunately the impatience of the enemy meant they lacked the heart for a formal sige and the Albion army was intact. The vile forces from the north began the assault and with a shrug of his shoulders he joined his bodyguard, a proud unit of knights.

Missile fire rained down on the advancing horde to little effect and soon marauders and warriors were climbing the walls under a hail of rocks and boiling oil. Assault after assault was pushed back but the prowess of the warriors began to tell and the Albion army began to give ground allowing sections of the wall to fall. A unit of Inner Circle tried to regain the initiative by riding out only to be utterly destroyed by some marauders and the chaos BSB. Oops.

As the army of Albion desperatly tried to re-organise and sections of the wall started to be re-taken with the detruction of the enemy regiment of renown horns began to blow and the thump of drums became audible over the sounds of battle. At the same time sections of the wall began to collapse. The dwarf army tasked with holding the catacombs had failed and the skaven were on the field.

With the failure of his allies, the Earl knew his depleted forces could not hold on for long. In a brave gesture the Earl launched a charge, smashing through the remaining marauders and taking on the entire skaven army. A unit of Rogers were next to fall and then came the Abomb. So that would be game over then.

Still, the regiment of renown champion becomes a captain that cannot take magic items and I gained another artifact giving me total of 5. Albion may be battered on the field but it shall be victorious. Hopefully.

[roland murat]

Quick topic change

I saw a man out jogging with two creatures from hell the other morning. He was exercising his demons.

[roland murat]

T'ain't easy bein' green

They say once a world has been invaded by Orks it is never free of their taint. For a world like OG that has been a warzone more time than Belgium it is no surprise that greenskins roam the landscape.

The most recent fighting saw the hordes of Fie-uld Marshal Ramma make headway, only to be stopped by the Deathwing just before the waagh's momentum became unstoppable. The survivors of the titanic battle have scattered with an enterprising Nob gathering a few ladz and some hangers on before heading to the spires of the nearest hive....