Dark Angels vs. Rebels: Even More Combat Cards

This would be a simple engagement. Hit dirtside, locate the remaining rebel forces hiding in the ruins of the previous day's orbital bombardment. Eliminate said rebels for the glory of the Emperor. Collect the sacred bolter round casings for the chapter's armory, pack up, and head for home. These are just rebels, they can't put up too much of a fight, right?

Captain Tracto of the fourth company Dark Angels made planetfall personally to oversee the last of the enemy had been put to the sword. His handpicked assault force consisted of several teams of tactical marine fire-teams, an armored Rhino, assault marines, and more. Even the dreadnought Brother James was present.

This battle features the two forces I posted about a few days ago. Still hot on the heels of the recent Combat Cards wave that has been the only minis rules played at the house this year Miller and I went all out and played with the recommended 36 point lists. I love playing 40k "a different way", and like the last battle using the SuperSystem rules, this one also turned out to be a fun, narrative battle in the 40k universe without having to crack open a 40k rulebook.

Using xenos cloaking technology, two rebel infiltrators appear by the Dark Angels Rhino and plant makeshift seismic charges on its hull, destroying it in a ball of flame.

Part of the simplicity of Combat Cards is that it is more of an abstraction of the battle instead of a verbatim blow-by-blow report. As the rules state, the detailed reports are better left to the logistics team back at headquarters.

In the above action with the destroyed Rhino, the Infiltrators were 'down one' because their attack wasn't greater than the target's armor. They were however shooting in the rear arc, so they were up one meaning it was a wash, whatever was drawn off the deck would be the result. 'Eliminated' of course was the first damage card of the game and the Rhino was destroyed before it even had a turn!

You never know what you're going to get when you flip a card for damage. This also means even a lowly grunt armed with a pistol has a shot in the dark taking out an armored walker. Did he really shoot the walker? No, maybe he shot a fuel tank nearby or something, thus the combat abstraction the cards supply.

The dreadnought covers a Tactical marine advance


The middle of the field became a choke point full of overlapping fields of fire. Miller's elite Behemoth unit, the trio of Ogryns took root and began shooting everything they could see. My Techmarine was pinned down, then taken out of action, and I had a single Infantry unit working their way over there. More fighting ensued and if not for the redeeming grace of covering terrain the marines would've been wiped out.


As it turned out the marines weathered the storm and emerged unscathed. Dreadnought Brother James on the other hand did not make it, having lost a close fought melee with the Ogryns. The Ogryn unit, however, was also slain, as was a nearby unit of enemy infantry.

The rebel leader held his action atop a balcony, waiting for the first unfortunate target to open the door. He found his mark as three Dark Angels came scrambling up the ruins, trying to ferret out the enemy. Their armor proved too thick and their prize was the head of the rebel forces, both literally and figuratively.

A refurbished aerial assault drone was the one ace up the rebels' sleeve that the Dark Angels didn't see coming. As tactical marines took their revenge for the destroyed Rhino, a lone enemy power armored trooper (Mechanized unit) closed with them. Again the marines' prowess held...until he drone showed up tearing the Dark Angels to shreds.

The Dark Angels weren't without their own aerial units, as the robed angels of death, Dark Angel assault marines, flew strafing runs over and over again across the battlefield. Here a lone assault marines bears down on an advancing infantry unit, unfortunately the rebels had an aerial defensive asset in the form of a towering mecha equipped with AA-guns.

A cat-and-mouse game ensued for a good portion of the battle between a single Mechanized power armor trooper on the rebels' side and a Dark Angel devastator (Anti-Armor unit). Having so many units per side it became a game of trying to decide which units would act each turn since you didn't have enough activations each turn to get them all in the game. Sometimes a lone unit without a wide variety of targets didn't get a lot of game action, just because another unit elsewhere was more vital.

It was a tough battle, going back and forth for most of the game, but the tide turned in the Dark Angel's favor strongly in the last few turns of the game giving them the victory, but at a price higher than they envisioned they would be paying.

We felt more comfortable with the rules, they came off rather easily actually. Although we doubled the sizes of our forces, the speed of the game had picked up so much thanks to better familiarity it took roughly the same amount of time, if just a bit longer. We still messed up some of the rules, but those have since been cleared up thanks to one of the game's play testers, Mike Z. All in all, another good game and anything that helps get figs on the table to duke it out is always a good thing. Until next time!

Forces for Combat Cards

We finally got in a full-sized game of Tactical Assault: Combat Cards this last week. Picking up a few tips from our first two trial runs we added a full roster of thirty six points per side and included a much wider variety of troop and unit types. There's more than a few innovative mechanics in the game itself, which initially drew me to it, but the other thing was the 'use anything off the shelf' aspect of it. Drawing on that, let's look at the two forces for the battle.


In fluff terms this army would represent a group of special forces troopers with a couple of ad-hoc support units thrown in on loan from the local PDF and the like. Let's break them down:

• x1 Recon Unit, 3pts
• x1 Infiltrator Unit, 3pts
• x3 Infantry Units, 2pts ea.
• x2 Mechanized Units, 4pts ea.
• x1 Command Unit, 2pts
• x2 Aerial Defense Units, 3pts ea.
• x1 Aerial Unit, 2pts
• x1 Behemoth Unit, 6pts
• Total: 36pts

I like the Mechanized units in here being just one figure each. This really lends them that 'power armored' supreme soldier feel. The Infantry units and Command unit are both filled with an appropriate amount of figs, four and two troops respectively and the Infiltrator unit seems reasonable with a small, two-man team. The Recon unit is just one fig, which I might've done a little differently, as it is, it better be one heck of a recon trooper! The Aerial Defense units are neat because they're 15mm figures, so scale in this case is a little abstract. I like to think they really are fifteen foot anti-air mecha, I just don't have any in 28mm! Finally we see a lone aerial unit, a bit of Toy Story whimsy masquerading as a flight drone and another unit of what is becoming a Behemoth staple, a three-Ogryn strong unit.


For the opposing force I wanted to use my (very underused) Dark Angels figures. I also set out with a specific structure in mind, trying to represent an basic military unit with specialist units added on in mission-specific roles. Let's break them down:

• x4 Infantry Units, 2pts ea.
• x1 Command, 2pts
• x1 Engineer, 3pts
• x1 Infiltrator, 3pts
• x1 Anti-armor, 3pts
• x2 Aerial Units, 2pts ea.
• x1 Behemoth, 6pts
• x1 Armored, 5pts
• Total: 34pts (just realized I shorted myself!)

I was quite pleased with my little assault force here, it's very Dark Angels in nature, and fits the Combat Cards rules very well. One thing I should've changed up from the start was making my Infantry Units into Mechanized Units instead. They might cost twice as much per unit, but these are power armored space marines, the Mechanized Unit stats are just for these kinds of troops, I kind of under-statted them by making them mere Infantry. I could've save some points by not taking the Engineer (Techmarine). He was able to participate in some combat, but the Engineer specific rules that applied to him never were applicable in the battle. I loved seeing the Rhino in there as an Armored Unit, although it got taken out in a lucky hit early on, and the Dreadnought makes perfect sense as a Behemoth. The rest are usual suspects; a sniper scout as Infiltrator, a Captain model as the Command unit (edit: captain provided by Tristan over at GW Pertinent, thanks again!), Multi-melta trooper as Anti-armor, and don't forget a pair of jump-pack equipped aerial troopers.

All in all, when I started reading the rules of Tactical Assault, I kept thinking of all the unpainted 15mm stuff I have and how great it would be to paint up unit-specific stands to game with. That idea is still in my head, but there's something to be said about pulling out these old troopers too and breathing new life into them. I should have the AAR regarding both of these forces up soon. Until next time!

Assemble the Deathwatch!

After wrapping up the Techmarine the other day I figured it might be a while before I paint any other troopers so I figured a muster shot was in order. I do have three other figures (two regular and one Terminator) to paint up, but they're not even in the HUD so they'll linger a while in the bits bins. Here's the breakdown...

Tactical, Apothecary, and Librarian Ultramarines

Tactical and Techmarine Black Templars

Tactical, Apothecary, and Assault Sons of Minos

Blood Angel and Salamander Tactical Marines

Devastator, Assault, and Tactical Dark Angels

The others I mentioned will get painted up eventually and added here, making for fifteen total Deathwatch troopers and a single Terminator Captain. They are; a White Scars tactical Marine, a Fists (Imperial or Crimson) Assault Marine, and the aforementioned captain whose parent chapter I don't know yet.

Mk6 Deathwatch Techmarine

On the eve of the last Deathwatch RPG game I finished up this figure for one of the players at the table. When rolling up his armor and armor histories he got both the Mark 6 Corvus armor as well as the "xenos foe" history. I don't remember the details exactly but basically his armor has the claw of some alien embedded in it. This old school Techmarine model is perfect for that since it has a Genestealer claw adorning the right shoulder.


Over at Constantly Ricking Obscurity there is an amazingly awesome tutorial on how to make your own servo-arms. It came about a month after I kit-bashed the one you see here, but it's good to know for future reference.


Of all the Deathwatch I figure the Techmarines are the most particular about their equipment, so I kept the backpack/servo-arm and the helmet traditional red. I also painted everything with a lot of wear-and-tear, scratches, dings, and dents. The right pauldron is covered by the Genestealer claw, so you can't see parent chapter livery (this Techmarine is a Black Templar) and the left pauldron looks to be a mass of nuts, bolts, and wires. Not exactly the Deathwatch symbol and crest, but I didn't want to hack up a classic model.

L to R: Librarian, Techmarine, Tactical, Devastator, and Apothecary

Here's the whole five-man team of RPG player character models. There is still one model missing, and that would be Andy's Space Shark assault marine (can't find any pics of it but here's some of his Deathwatch). Our RPG group is a little different from the tabletop group in that most of the RPG guys don't currently paint figures, that's why I painted all of these up for them to use in our Deathwatch sessions.

Deathwatch Marines: Specialists

Today we have two more Deathwatch characters. This time around is an Ultramarines Librarian and a Dark Angels Devastator marine. The latter is armed with an ambiguous "heavy weapon" and the former has a psychically enhanced force weapon (sword).


I used a Black Templars backpack for the librarian because it had a thick tome chained to it, I figured it fir his theme. The Dark Angel was a whole bunch of trimming and ad-hoc'ing with various bits and pieces. Hey, I used "ad hoc" as a verb!


I have no idea where I got the Ultramarine's bolter from, but I love it. It's got an extra large casing, and a scope with 'doohickey' wires. I used an Ultramarine decal on the librarian and an embossed icon for the Dark Angel. Funny thing though, the librarian was supposed to be a Blood Angle marine! Oh well...


Regular and Dark Angel-specific Deathwatch ceremonial pads


The librarian was killing me. I wanted to give him glowing eyes to represent "raw psyker power" and I wanted his honkin' big force sword to glow in a similar manner to match. I used a mix of wet-blending and dry-brushing on the sword and I'm fairly happy with how it turned out, it does look a bit better in person. The eyes, I dunno, I'm not happy with them but I kept redoing them so much I got kind of over it. Did I mention I did the wrong chapter?


Hmm, I am torn on this one. I went with a new style and I wanted to basically make him look un-40k, and un-space marine. I think I accomplished that, however now that he's "un" those things, I don't know if I like it or not. The player this figure is for isn't a tabletop gamer, nor is he all that knowledgeable in the 40k universe, so it doesn't matter, it's a "cool figure with a big gun" in the end.

Dark Angels Captain Tracto

Master Tracto squeezed through the massive Deathwing Terminators guarding the ruined bridge of the Vespillo. His heavy armor boots crunched the broken and burned chiten of the tyranid bodies the Deathwing had tracked down and destroyed. "What have you found, Brother Paganus?" he demanded of his Techmarine. "I want off this hulk now."

Free minis are good. Free minis that are painted, well, even better. But how often do you get free minis, that are painted...to a high standard? Not often indeed. Thanks to Tristan's excellent contest a while back at GWP, that's exactly what I got.

I've been a Dark Angels player forever, but for some reason I never picked up this old school fig, which is a crying shame. The sculpt is absolutely wonderful and holds its own against any modern sculpts today, and I would even put it above the likes of Azrael and the rest of the mid-90's special characters.


Needless to say, a good sculpt is nothing it you gunk it up with a bad paint job. I've seen Tristan's Blood Bowl teams and the like before, so I knew I'd be getting something I wouldn't have to smile, politely thank for the prize...then soak it in Simple Green.

Being a captain model, Tristan went with the more distinguishing bone-white of the Deathwing. Being an ancient, venerable hero, Tristan opted for a 'dirtied' up version to boot. Coupled with the brighter white 4th company knee badge, and the Dark Angels green cape, he strikes a very distinctive pose (and looks great).


Tracto's been already in my mythos for a while. The text I opened the post with is from a very old, now defunct attempt we did at a points based 40k campaign called Trucidos. If you're a newcomer to Mik's Minis, you may not know about it, we left the site up for posterity, but it's pretty much a ghost town now. Hetero-lifemate Andy whipped up that opening text on the fly as fluff to launch the whole campaign, and the name "Tracto" has stuck ever since.

He's recently duked it out in his first big battle too, and I should mention his power armor never even suffered a dent! Here's Tracto's mission briefing for that battle. Originally I had a different model for Tracto, but obviously that one's going to shelved...or perhaps in gamer karmic fashion, I'll give away the old to make room for the new?

Arloc Mechanica: Super40K Battle

The ruins of Arlos Mechanica

When was the last time you were playing 40k and your Orc Warboss was duking it out in a total slugfest with a Space Marine commander? Not too long ago? All right, but during the slugfest did your Orc pick up a piece of terrain, like a small car, and slam the commander with it, knocking him back half a foot on the tabletop crashing through debris on the way. Then the commander stands up, dusts himself off and plows back into the Orc, tackling him and crashing through a wrecked Rhino in the process.

This is what I've been wanting, highly cinematic, over-the-top action in the 40k setting. Is your Eldar Autarch about to launch into an important attack? Why not preface it with a long-winded soliloquy speaking of themselves in the third person first? This isn't the first time we sought alternate ways to play in what is a great universe, and fun minis. Well, we had the answer the whole time in the second edition rules of SuperSystem, the excellent superhero miniatures game.


Leading up to the battle I wrote the general setup here and came up with four separate groups to participate. These are basically superhero groups on paper, proxied with 40k models and forces. I gotta tell you, the port over from hero to sci-fi was incredibly easy. A Space Marine is basically a superhero anyway, so this was a no-brainer.

Each group consisted of three units; a character model (or two) and at least one 'henchmen' group. Henchmen groups are exactly as they sound. The one exception were the Dark Angels, which had two units (a character and a really powerful character), one of which couldn't come onto the table right away. The "good guy" forces are found here and the "bad guy" aliens are found here.

I setup the game with something similar to a con perspective. I wanted "allied" sides of two teams each, but I also wanted everyone to have their own, unique objectives that even their ally didn't know about. I slanted these mission briefs quite a bit so it might even come down to a four-way free-for-all battle. Obviously I borrowed heavily from our historic Vikings game last summer. On to the battle.


Orc boyz and a Deffkopta see a lone Dark Angel in the distance...

Tau Gun Drones surrounding an Imperial Guard team taking cover...


...and gun them all down to a man


A Vindicare Assassin waits to take the shot...

The Ethereal stalks the Imperial Priest while Tau Drones surround him


Orcs cautiously advance when a Dreadnought teleports in from orbit!


Carnage ensues!


Warboss Magstuf and the Deffkopta wade in on the massive Dreadnought


Magstuff and Tracto epically duke it out


Magstuff picks up an old escape pod and slams Tracto with it...


The Ethereal's blade skills are more than a match for the Imperial Priest


Parting shot; the Vindicare guns down the Ethereal in the distance

All in all we had a blast. The SuperSystem rules are now in third edition, and a lot of the hero building has been tweaked. The rules themselves are straight forward and easy to pick up on the fly, two of the guys (two of our Chris') playing in this battle had never used them before,and Andy and I were both rusty, our last super battle being three years ago.

This was the feel I had been shooting for too; a bold Imperial hero with a small band of soldiers and a sniper lurking somewhere on the battlefield. A single Dark Angel and a massive Dreadnought versus a dozen Orcs. The action was as over-the-top as we wanted, and gameplay went quickly. I need to slightly alter some of the mission briefings and better define individual objectives.

SuperSystem also allows for non-combat actions as well, so if you have someone who needs to crack the code on a security door, pull the hatch off of an escape pod, or make a science type roll on some new organism, it's all in there. This can lead to all sorts of cool scenarios. As far as this particular scenario went, we'll have to play it again now that we're more familiar with the rules and see how things pan out. Being comic book based, scenarios and back-story become more vital than ever and even a basic rooftop brawl can be entertaining.

Arloc Mechanica Mission Briefing: Imperial Forces

Dark Angels Space Marines:

**Begin Transmission**
Praise the Emperor.
Brother-Captain Othniel, our travels have been successful. Brother Jakoubek and I were ready to leave this system when our ally, Inquisitor Artiger, contacted me in secret. A dire artifact, the unholy Victory Machine, has been unearthed on a nearby moon and should it fall into the wrong hands, any hands, it would be heresy. There are those in the Imperium who would see the artifact acquired, Artiger and I agree that this cannot be allowed to happen under any circumstances. He is using what resources he has available to teleport us to the surface of the moon. A precise strike from his cruiser in orbit should render the artifact a non-issue. Brother James and myself only need to find its location. Alien heretics are noted to be in the area as well, presumably looking for the same device. They will suffer.
Praise the Emperor.
Chapter Master Tristan Tracto
**End Transmission**

Primary Objective: Destroy the device known as the Victory Machine.
Secondary Objective: Destroy any alien presence.
Tertiary Objective: Destroy any opposing presence.

Chapter Master Tracto has served with honor and distinction in the Dark Angels space marine chapter for centuries. He wields the Sword of Durendal, a chapter artifact said to have been wielded by El‘Jonson himself. In addition he wears an ancient suit of Articifer Power Armor and a custom bolt pistol sidearm rests on his hip. The latter is rarely used; Tracto prefers to dispatch his foes in melee combat.

Venerable Battle-Brother Jakoubek fell in battle hundreds of years ago. Mortally wounded and crippled beyond repair he was placed within the tomb-sarcophagus of a Dreadnought. Since then he has become the living embodiment of a war machine, utilizing his vast array of weaponry to its fullest effect. Trusted advisor and friend to Tracto, Venerable Battle-Brother Jakoubek will often accompany the chapter master on many off-mission endeavors as well as investigations and protocol matters.

Name:	Dreadnought Brother James
BP / AP:	170 / 8 [18]
Attributes:	Strength: 7 [2], Agility: 5 Mind: 3, Resolve: 6
Powers:	Armor x4 Combat Sense x4 Extra Attacks (+1AP) Extra Move x10 Knockback Resistance x3 Melee Attacks x3 Ranged Attack (9D, 30”) -AoE (Blast) -Chain Attack -Rapid Fire -Super Damage x1 Super Strength x2 Vehicle -Level 3 -Giant Robot -Independent -No Carrier (-8) -Turret
Vitality:	13

Name:	Chapter Master Tracto
BP / AP:	85 / 7
Attributes:	Strength: 4 [1], Agility: 4 Mind: 3, Resolve: 5
Powers:	Armor x3 Combat Sense x3 Density Increase -Immovable Iron Will x2 Knockback Resistance x2 Melee Attacks x2 Super-Strength x1 -Super Knockback
Vitality:	9

Imperial Guard:

Dear “Reverend” Soble,

You may have fooled the others of the council but I know what you are, you are a soldier of the Imperium and you cannot turn your back on that responsibility. You have far too much experience in battle, and far too many grafts and bionics frankly, for you to turn to faith and wander aimlessly as a vagabond preacher. You owe the Imperium of Man.

On paper you are still under orders, and therefore under my command, for another two months. That is just enough time to send you to the edge of the system and investigate rumors of Quandan’s fleet returning as nothing but wreckage. You can pick your own team, but I want you away from system central for a good while. Perhaps when you return you will know your place.

Planetary Governor Sulpheus Mape

Primary Objective: Obtain and protect the Victory Machine.

Secondary Objective: Destroy all intact scanning stations.

Tertiary Objective: Find alternative transport from the planet.

Reverend Shamus Soble is well on his way to retirement in the private sector. A massively built man, he has adopted an unassuming guise in that of a street preacher. A far cry from the decorated veteran he once was. Though his zeal for the Emperor of Mankind is honest he detests what his corrupted government in his sector has become and longs to strike out on his own. His contacts have heard rumors that a device from long ago, dating back to before even Mars was terra-formed, has been marooned on the very moon he has been sent to. If he can retrieve this item it can be his key to writing his own destiny.

Vindicare Assassin Mendel is one of the few remaining soldiers who have served alongside Soble in battle decades past. He is a deadly shot with his Archangel sniper rifle and manages close assault roles just as easily, dispatching foes with vibro-blade and Gyrojet pistol alike. He wears an advanced armored bodysuit and multi-suite mask.

Imperial Guardsmen are countless among the galaxy. These particular troopers, hand picked by Soble, are veterans of his last company. They have served Soble in many roles and will follow him to hell and back if only asked. They are equipped with standard issue flak armor and use special issue lasguns which fire an enhanced beam that shifts between dimensional layers in a manner very similar to the psy-bolts used by the Grey Knights.

Name:	Vindicare Assassin Mendel
BP / AP:	85 / 8
Attributes:	Strength: 3, Agility: 6 Mind: 2, Resolve: 5
Powers:	Armor x2 Combat Sense x3 Extra Attacks (+1AP) Force Field x1 Fortune x2 Ranged Attack (9D, 32”) -Extended Range x1 -Rapid Fire
Vitality:	8

Name:	Reverend Shamus Soble
BP / AP:	85 / 7
Attributes:	Strength: 6 [2], Agility: 3 Mind: 4, Resolve: 4
Powers:	Armor x3 Combat Sense x5 Knockback Resistance x3 Melee Attacks x3 Super-Strength x2 -Super-Knockback x2
Vitality:	10

Name:	Imperial Guardsmen
BP:	85
AP:	6 [8]
Attributes:	Strength: 4 Agility: 4 [1] Mind: 2 Resolve: 4
Powers:	Armor x3 Combat Sense x3 Enhanced Senses Extra Movement x2 Knockback Resistance x1 Ranged Attack (8D, 30”) -Affects Ethereal -Rapid Fire Super-Agility x1
Vitality:	Henchmen Group x5