Battleshots!: Black Templars vs. Tau Empire

Had a nice game with Matt this weekend so that he could get a grip on Tau rules. I also had a good chance to brush up on all the intricacies of the Tau book. Markerlights and Support Systems-galore.

It turned out to be quite the bloody affair. The game was roughly 800 points per side playing The Relic mission. The Black Templars had some crazy-good armour save rolling in turn 7, allowing them to hold on to the relic and grab the win.

Matt is currently busting his ass to get stuff painted and finished so that he can join the Sumnal campaign. The speed that he's finishing things is pretty insane, especially when you consider that these are some of the first miniatures that he has ever painted. Impressive stuff. I'll make sure to grab more/better photos next game - especially his Kroot.

Photos after the break.

Keep in mind, some of the Tau is unfinished.

Sumnal: The Coming Storm

A few weeks ago, while selling some models locally, I ran into a gamer who shared a very similar mentality about 40k and how the game is played. It just so happens that he also runs the very excellent Studio Hobby Thumbs (click here). Through our communications back and forth, we decided that we were going to start up a small gaming group and run an escalation-style, narratively-focused campaign.

The Sumnal battle report posted previously was just the first step in a long line of forthcoming games.

Once again, our goals are to re-learn the sixth edition of Warhammer 40,000 and slowly build/renovate/expand our respective armies.

After an awesome first game with Matt, the tone of this campaign has been set. Soulless machines have begun their endless march across Sumnal's wastelands and pious Space Marines are quickly rushing to the planet's defence.

Sumnal's second front was now about to open against a very eager Mr. Hobby Thumbs. It was an epic showdown between my Necrons and his very nice Red Scorpions force.

Review: Architect of Fate

"All this is past. I am a weaver of fate, an oracle who sees all the paths of the future. That is my power, my advantage."

Architect of Fate is a collection of novellas set around the Eye of Terror that feature Kairos Fateweaver - the famed greater daemon of Tzeentch.

Well... at least that's how Black Library has marketed this anthology. Architect of Fate is often puzzling, not very enjoyable, and surprisingly boring. Until the last story, you're also not quite sure what many of these stories have to do with Fateweaver (Hint: not all of them do).

This collections is probably best reviewed in four separate pieces. An overall rating will be given at the end.

Review: Blood and Fire

"Take a child, allow it to develop without ever understanding the frailties of human weakness, and force it to grow through ingesting nothing but the virtues of obedience, loyalty, and combat prowess. Surround it in ceramite. Arm it with fire. Tell it that it answers to no authority beyond its equally powerful, equally unrestrained brothers.
 

That is a Space Marine."

Blood and Fire is the follow up novella to Aaron Dembski-Bowden's critically acclaimed Helsreach, the second book of the Space Marine Battles series. Blood and Fire chronicles Reclusiarch Grimaldus's fervent struggles to aid the Celestial Lions, a chapter that has been brought to the edge of extinction by the Inquisition. While educating his pupil, Cyneric, Grimaldus must decide the ultimate fate of this fellow chapter and forever shape the outcome of the war for Armageddon.

Sumnal: A Warhammer 40,000 Narrative Campaign

This post and battle report marks the first few steps in the beginning of a narrative campaign/gaming experiment that my gaming group is starting.

We won't be tracking wins or losses. We won't be fielding competitive net-lists. We won't be min-maxing, or any of that nonsense.

What we will be doing is fielding beautiful, fully painted armies on some great terrain. We will be forging a strong narrative between our games and watching an epic story unfold. We will be starting small, relearning Warhammer 40,000 properly, and building/rebuilding/renovating our respective armies.

Here begins the last days of Sumnal.

Review: Death of Integrity

"Come to me, xenos, and learn a little early the ultimate fate of all your kind!"

I have a real love/hate thing going on with the Space Marine Battles books. A few have been superb, some merely decent, and a couple are downright terrible.

Guy Haley's Death of Integrity is not just one of the better Space Marine Battles books, but it's arguably one my favourite pieces of 40K fiction out there today.

I didn't know what to expect when I purchased it. Although it had mostly favorable reviews, it also looked like it featured two mostly forgettable astartes chapters and a tired premise. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised; Death of Integrity blew me away. It definitely stands up there with Rynn's World, and, dare I say, it comes close to the greatness of Helsreach.

Adeptus Arbites: Law and Order in the 41st Millenium...

A while ago, I got lucky and managed to snag a decent sized group of Arbites off of a forum that I like to hang out on. They've always been favorite models of mine and can make for great, thematic skirmishes. Arbites represent a great piece of 40k lore and really, who doesn't love an army of Judge Dredds?

I really couldn't wait for them to arrive and to paint them up.

Rogue Trader: Forsaken Bounty

The Sovereign Venture - Magnus Locke's flagship vessel.

Over the holidays, I had the chance to catch up with a few friends and run them through Fantasy Flight Games' introductory Rogue Trader adventure - Forsaken Bounty. This adventure was part of 2010's Free RPG Day and is available for download on FFG's website. Make sure to grab the extra characters and the follow-up adventure, Dark Frontier.