40k City Fight Battle
Mission: Annihilation
Deployment: Opposite Quarters
Size: 2,000 points per side
Stratagems: Ammo Dump, and a bunch of others
Forces: Fallen Dark Angels/Orks vs. Ultramarines/Cadian Guard
City Fight, Cities of Death, I don't even know what we were playing. I do know that the vaunted 'gamer sweetspot' is not where we are at with 40k. We simply just don't play it enough to make it enjoyable when we actually do play. I'm saying "we" a whole lot, but I can speak just for myself too, I just don't know the rules, I don't know my army, I don't know anything about the mechanics of 5th edition 40k apparently. This last week made that all too clear. There's no excuse to have to look up the rules on how to cast a psychic power during a game. If you don't know, don't take a librarian. If you don't know how hits against an armored vehicle work, don't take a dreadnought, the list goes on and on.
What do I like? I love the models in 40k, any faction, any type just about, the models are just cool, plain and simple. I love a battle-strewn table full of buildings and bunkers and rubble. I love the fluff, the grit and the struggle. I love the narrative created during or after the game. I love hanging out with my friends, rolling dice, and pushing around little toy soldiers going "pew pew". What I don't love are, you guessed it, the rules. Be that as it may, I need to learn the rules properly and make the best of them, there's no excuse otherwise.
We played an omega level city fight game, but honestly, the "city fight" influence fled my mind before turn one. The cool thing was the table; we filled a 4x6 portion of the game table with all manner of urban terrain. It made for some very tight quarters and looked pretty neat, especially from a mode's eye view of the action.
Great blogs run on great pics I've always said, and although I am not claiming my blog to be great, it's something I strive for nonetheless. To that end, I now give you mucho eye candy from the battle itself. We started kind of late, and had to quit halfway through, so there wasn't a clear winner. Also, Flounder left his new Tyranid codex (and army list) at home, so we had to call an audbile at the last minute and let him use my Dark Angels. Since he allied with Biscuit's space Orks, we decided to make the Dark Angels part of the Fallen. On the other side of the table, Andy and I jointly led a combined army of Cadians and Ultramarines. I gotta give Andy credit, for being a pretty anti-GW rules guy, he was pretty enthusiastic.
lots of building, big and small...
the industrial crane by a battery of generators
more terrain pics, it really was a neat environment
my Ultramarines made a showing this time out
Biscuit's Ork horde is shaping up to be pretty darn impressive
Initial deployment of Ultramarines and their Cadian allies
the Cadians utilized the 'ammo dump' stratagem...
...as did the Valkyrie!
Originally I deployed my old-school scouts on the crane, because it looked cool. After measuring it though, they were so high up in the air, their bolt pistols were out of range of any targets! You can see tiny Ork images far below them on the ground.
I eventually opted for a barricade for the scouts instead
Narrow alleyways for the Orks
SPANG! Immobilized Dreadnought on turn one, arrrgh!
Ork truk "negotiating" the tight turns
Flame on! Marine heavy and regular Cadian flamers couldn't stop the truk
Ork Boyz disembark and charge into melee under the crane
Fallen Dark Angel snipers lend cover fire to the advancing Ork mob
The squad that moved around a lot, but never found the fight
Yes, you're seeing it right, a proxy Chimera dozer blade courtesy of Lego!
That crane looks very cool!
ReplyDelete(and boy, do does old-school scouts bring back memories!)
I'm totally with you on the blog=photos front too
Cheers
Donogh
Where did you get the crane!? I would loving something like that for my 15mm stuff.
ReplyDeleteThanks guys! Donogh, the other were giving me a hard time for my little mullet-mohawk scouts with their fluted sleeves!
ReplyDeleteThe excellent crane's credit goes all to Andy:
http://littleleadheroes.wordpress.com/2009/01/26/crane-finished/
We've used it a few times in battle reports on here. Forget which ones though, one was 5150 if I remember...
Nice pics and terrain!
ReplyDeleteThose are some great pics Mik. The crane is awesome! I find I'm in a similar boat with WHFB, last time I played was 4th edition, so there are many changes.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with your statement "if you have to look it up, don't play it" (eg. libby or dread) - that's definitely the BEST way to learn! Maybe play some smaller point battles so you aren't forcing a couple turns to take all day? We've been playing some tournaments at a local hobby store - 40K in 40 mins @ 400 points.
Nice looking game Mik. Nice to see a 40K game that a) has a respectable amount of terrain and b) appears to have some maneuver space instead of being wall-to-wall troops.
ReplyDeleteI also agree about the bit on not having to look things up. As long as your group is willing to just go with a ruling on thiungs you can't find right away, then it's no biggie. The other thing that helps is to make good cheat sheets. Having a pre-prepared cheat sheet for your various forces with their special rules and such can really help. Just pull out the one you need for that day and away you go. Plus the act of writing said cheat sheet will impress the knowledge into your brain.
Love the crane! Uriel would be pleased with the Ultramarine chapter you have there! By the Emperor!
ReplyDelete@Tristan and Brian: Yeah, I was kinda down on the whole thing when I wrote it, so my comments seem a bit harsh, they were levied at me though, since I fielded both the librarian and the dread!
ReplyDeleteI just felt kinda guilty? when it was turn and I didn't know the first thing to do with either model because I was clueless. You're right though, the best way to learn is to get stuck in.
@Double B and ACG: Thanks as always!
Hey Bill (and Eli), you two were mentioned in the last Minions podcast, did you know that?
Um...no, I didn't. Might have to give it a listen.
ReplyDelete-Eli